Encouragement builds confidence. It’s an internal growth that develops when one feels encouraged. Confidence comes from within and is the result of proper and timely encouragement as the child grows. The more confident one is, the more self-sufficient and steadfast to who they are to become.

By contrast, praise requires external acknowledgement which creates a dependency on approval from others. The more needy one is for approval, the more they can succumb to the wishes of others due to fear of rejection or not knowing what they truly believe.

Examples of Encouragement vs. Praise:

Praise: “I like what you did.”    Encouragement: “Wow, you were very creative with that.”

Praise: ” I’m proud of you.”   Encouragement: “I’m happy for you that you had the initiative to work so hard at that. Great job.”

Praise: ” I love that.”   Encouragement:  ” Those seem like some great ideas. What other ideas do you have?”

The primary difference is the “I” and the “you”. The key is whether the  message is geared toward making you happy, or helping the child realize that what they think and feel matters. And asking questions are a huge key to developing encouragement. The partner key is then to actually listen to what is being shared.

Other examples of encouragement might be:  “You seem to have some real talent there.”,  “Which one feels right to you?”,  and “How do you think we should proceed?”

Of course, it all must be sincere or the recipient will see right through it. But it just takes the  desire and some practice to retrain oneself to offer encouragement instead of praise.

The development of happy, strong, productive, and emotionally well-adjusted children is key to any prosperous and joyfilled society.  Sounds like a Divine goal to me. Least of all, our children are worth it.

God bless our children.

Blessings

Irene

Expectations are those things that we want in the way that we think we want them. But when we say a prayer asking for something, God knows best to what we want. We only think we do. Letting go of how we envision our prayer fulfillment and letting Him work His magic for us can be very difficult.

When we set up expectations, we limit ourselves to what is currently in our perception. But our Lord’s perception and awareness is infinite. How much more then can we be gifted when we allow ourselves to open up to that infinity and all that He wishes to give us?

God answers prayers in one of three ways:

Yes, Not yet, and I have something better in mind.

So wouldn’t that mean that the more we trust in God and what He knows instead of what we think we know, then the easier and more fulfilled our prayers become?

I’m not saying it’s easy, only simple. But like everything else, it takes practice to learn how to let go. I know that I still have much to learn and am appreciative of life’s challenges that provide such opportunities before me. That part has gotten much easier for me. After all, it’s all a part of riding His Hand.

Trusting in Him so that our partnership can grow into a vision in His name will yield what we want. But this way, it will be exactly what we want.

Blessings

Irene

Self acceptance is a necessary awareness to wholeness and health. The greater the self-acceptance, the less stress on the soul and the greater the inner peace.  That increased inner peace then affects our physiology in healing ways.

To consider oneself as “unworthy” as I have heard some people say, or some feel subconsciously, does no one any good. How can we honor our Creator when we condemn His creation? The more we accept ourselves as His beautiful works of art, the more we honor Him and each other. This in turns reminds me of what Jesus said about loving God and each other.

To accept yourself at an even deeper and greater level than you do now might seem frightening as it is like jumping into new territory. That’s understandable but no worries. The part of you that is feeling the fear of letting go or growing is akin to your ego. It is, in a sense, afraid of dying. You can let it know, or remind yourself, that it is not dying but evolving and evolving closer to God.

Several years ago the awareness was graced to me that as I seek Truth, I will find Myself. Since then I have learned that the more I learn who God Is and grow in my relationship with Him, the more I learn about who I am and the greater I keep accepting who I am in that relationship. The more I open myself to God’s love and unknown, the more I allow His grace to flow through me and the more I grow toward and with Him. You can too.

The answer is in the question and in the trusting of God. Can you ask yourself, “What would it be like if I were to accept myself more?” Can you ask it with a child’s curiosity? Can you ask it with an honest wonderment of the unknown? Then let it go and let God. Let it go to the Infinity of God and all the possibilities He has available to you. Let go of expectations of what you may think it should look like, and be open to the surprises that His Love wishes to share. And then check back with yourself in a few months and ask what you notice and what’s different and enjoy.

Blessings,

Irene

Special thanks to Dr. Richard Bartlett of http://matrixenergetics.com for the awareness that the answer is in the question, of which I am only beginning to learn and am very excited about.

Accepting a helping hand or steadfastness of a friend standing with you are metaphors for trust. This is much like what it is when we trust God, for our Lord is always there with His helping hand and standing with us when we need support. Deep and profound healing requires trust as our systems use it as a resource for healing. We need to feel safe when we undergo the healing process. And the greatest safety lies in trusting in God. Where is our safety if all else is weaker than God and we look elsewhere?

This does not mean to not trust someone that we do, because it is His Spirit within us that gives us life. When the Spirit is partnered with one’s consciousness and heart, they are most certainly trustworthy. But it does mean to let ourselves be open to unknown Truth He holds for us. Our limited awareness tends to create expectations about how things are supposed to be instead of letting God’s love create a whole new world for us by being open to His infinite possibilities. And it is within one of these unknown possibilities that the healing we need can be accessed.

Once we learn how to settle and center ourselves into a state of presence and stillness, then we can access different parts of our system that want help. I always begin with prayer, and then open myself to listening to what comes. The question becomes to notice what I notice or observe. When I notice a part of me that feels “off” or “not right” somehow, I use my trust in God to allow it to heal.

Notice that I didn’t say, “make it heal”, but rather to allow it. I let go and let God. I hold in my awareness the piece requesting help and the intention of letting go and letting God, knowing that healing will happen. I know that that the Holy Spirit will work it’s magic as that is the nature of God’s Love. It is the healing power. So it simply does what love does if we let it. And healing happens.

It’s something that anybody can do. It just takes some education and practice, just like anything else worth doing.

Blessings,

Irene

(Graced to me tonight as I opened myself to God and listened.)

Blessings,

Irene

So I’ve been in a thoughtful mood recently and here’s one of the musings I’ve been having. Thought you might enjoy.

Everything and everyone is connected. Everything is in a constant state of dynamics. So as we elevate ourselves, those around us also elevate after some time that the dynamic forces at work have been allowed to manifest. If we don’t properly care for ourselves, then as we are “down”, that energy will tend to create the dynamics to bring those around us “down”. It tends to depend on which energy is stronger at the time.

Recall a time when you were feeling pretty good, then you come home and someone else there is in a foul mood. Did they take it out on you somehow? Did you let it get to you? Did it affect you somehow?

Most likely it did. The same is with the reverse. It comes down to A) how present we are to be able to see what’s going on and then take the time to decide how do deal with it, or B) if we are not present and we tend to react instead of observe and decide. When we are present, we become aware of our choices. We have the power to choose how we want to deal with it.

It goes along what Eleanor Roosevelt said. She said, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” That is one of my favorite quotes, and it’s true. There have been many times that someone has said something negative to me and it then brought me down. That is, I let it. Why? Ignorance. I didn’t know who I was and how it is God’s Spirit and God’s Love within me that is the true me.

I know that all pain expressed comes from pain felt. So I hold to the awareness that if the negative person wasn’t in the kind of pain they were in, then what they said or did would have been different. And it would have been positive, because their pain would not have blocked the path of God’s Spirit from shining through.

And I pray to God to help me continue to grow in that awareness that I may know it in myself and others. What better way to begin to help others than to see God, His Spirit and His Love as each person’s essence?

Blessings,
Irene

Resource Tip: Presence (being grounded/in the now/centered) is key to healing and awareness. Holistic healing therapies are great for helping one to gain presence as are being out in nature, some breathing exercises, some meditation, some kinds of exercise, various exercises in observation, and spending time with God. Feel free to share more if I missed any.

God created us to help elevate others when they’re not feeling as strong. Once they are strong again, then they can be more efficient in helping others. And the more lifting and elevating of others we do, the closer we are to God and His Graces within us and around us. The stronger, wiser, calmer, and more loving we become. the flowing of God’s Love elevates all that are touched by it.
But it’s hard to lift others when we ourselves are “down”. Too many people focus on helping others without properly caring for themselves, leaving themselves in need of care. Many seem to think that taking care of themselves is somehow being selfish. But our bodies are a gift from God. Self-care has nothing to do with selfishness. Self-care is about honoring the spirit of God within us.
We are the spirit of God manifest. The more we allow our hearts to connect in oneness with God’s Love, the more His Hand is allowed to work through us.
Elevation from within to the elevation of all.
Thank you, Lord.
Blessings,
Irene

I was speaking to a friend today who seemed to have little understanding of exactly what intuition is. As I tried to explain it to him, I realized that my communication of it was inefficient. I know what it is and how to recognize it. But I’ve been developing it for so long now that I almost forgot what it was like before I began my training and I’m not sure how to explain it. Here goes attempt #1.

I’m well aware that the expression of intuition comes in many forms, i.e. gut feelings, visions, sensing when one decision is better than another without knowing why, etc. But the bottom line is that it is the communication of the Holy Spirit to us. Our sensing or “hearing” that communication is our sixth sense awareness.

As God’s children, we are spirit and inseparable from Him. It is God’s Love, the Infinite Consciousness that He Is, that makes it impossible for us to be separate from Him. Any sense of separation is an illusion and the reason for our pain.

But when we open ourselves to hearing Him, we open ourselves to All that He Is. That includes His guidance and messages that we can experience in so many ways. Gut feelings, instincts, dreams, visions, and sensing things that are intangible but real are all examples of the Holy Spirit letting us know something that is helpful if we listen.

Most of us can probably remember a time when someone told us something and it didn’t feel right. We couldn’t put our finger on it, but something just didn’t feel right. Then we find out sometime down the road that the person lied. Where does that sensation of something not feeling right come from?  It is God’s Spirit within us that is our life. Without It there is no life. Of our own selves we do nothing. It all comes from God as we are infinitely connected as One and His Love provides us the touch of the Holy Spirit. Our intuition. Our connection between the physical/limited awareness and the spiritual and unknown.

I think my friend is much more intuitive than he realizes. I think, rather I feel/sense that his lack of awareness is more about not knowing how to identify or be aware that many of the things he knows are intuition. He simply hasn’t been taught intuitive awareness. If and when he does learn intuitive awareness, he’s going to know a great empowerment and feel like he’s been invited to a party with God. It’s going to be a lot of fun! I know. I’m still there.

Let’s be open to hearing God by allowing our intuition to grow. Then more of us can party. The more the merrier!

Blessings,

Irene

As it is the season where goals and plans are made and refined, I’ve been reading some postings about what other people are saying are their goals. Since our goals are always positive (no one ever says I want to be miserable), I wondered about the numerous reasons that they sometimes lack fruition. And wondered, “How can I help?”

When we get negative on ourselves, listening to the same old negative crap that our subconscious tell ourselves, we bring ourselves down. The energy to bring ourselves up now needs to be doubled. We need the energy/positivity to bring ourselves back to our “normal selves” or base point, and then the energy/positivity to push ourselves even higher. That’s hard ass work! It becomes all too easy to let ourselves feel down, and thus the excuses for not accomplishing start to gain momentum. (Been there, done that. Still learning to break some “bad” thinking habits.)

That happens when we rely on ourselves as a sense of self, instead of having a sense of Self as one united with God.

Can you imagine the power and potential within you if you were to let the power of God flow through you? God’s Love is the infinite power. Within you there is no limit except that which you impose upon yourself because it is God’s Spirit that is within you.

When we ask for something, God may say “Yes”, “Not now”, or “I have something better in mind”. But when we request of Him, He does not say no. God’s Love cannot deny us our growth and development. It’s why we are His children. God’s Love cannot deny us support and encouragement. He is the Perfect Parent. God is infinite and all Its abundance is what He wants for us. But we must look “up” for it, not “down”. No one is ever brought up by being held down.

So why do we hold ourselves down?

The question is rhetorical. One way or another, it always comes down to fear or anger.

The answer to the problem, however, is practical. Either choose the positive thoughts that can make or let it happen, or choose the negative thoughts that stop you from being and becoming as Spirit knows you can be. We always have the power of choice and to choose. As children of God, we have the power to cocreate our reality. I know that much of the talk out there right now is about we having the power to create our reality, and that is true. But of our own selves we do nothing. All our power is from God, the Infinite Consciousness of Love that Is.

Surrendering to God is not about relinquishing power. It is about letting the power of God flow through you. Be open to that and let yourself experience the power of God’s Love flowing through you. Let yourself be open to knowing that we are not separate from God and each other, but always infinitely connected as it is God’s Spirit that is the lifeforce in everyone of us. Be open to oneness with God and let the Truth, Power, and Love that Be also become one with you. With your intent set on being one with God and opening yourself to His truth, then you are open to the truest and most powerful guidance and force. How then, can anything (other than yourself) stop you from accomplishing anything you want and becoming who you want?

Here’s what I want for this year (not in any order):

To apply my awareness into action unlike I ever have before and grow my business where I reach and help so many people that the miracle elevates us to a whole new level of awareness.

To let go of my ego and what’s left about worrying about what people may think about me.

To see financial freedom in sight at the very least.

To be able to help my husband retire.

To know what it means through all of me to have God as my Partner.

To complete my certification in Matrix Energetics. To continue to grow as one with God.

To establish momentum in my purpose to help people Self-realize.

To learn the business side of my business more efficiently.

To be there for and elevate my family, friends and others as needed and when needed.

To help my eyes, hip, and cranial base to resolution.

To have excellent timing.

To do the scorpion (yoga pose)

To know and Be.

What do you want in God’s name? What do you want that comes from the purity of your heart? Invite a partnership with God, then go for it! Remember to take time to listen often to His guidance. It’s not a partnership unless you are working together. And He knows more than you. I’d listen to Him as often as possible if I were you.  Come from a place of stillness (Psalm 46:10) and open yourself to listening while holding the intent of being open to our Lord. Come from a place of stillness and tune into what feels right. Don’t let your ego get in the way. Remember, He’s your Partner. He succeeds when you succeed. He just wants to guide you to that success.

I’ll keep working it on this end. Let me know how it goes for you.

Blessings,

Irene

Merry Christmas!

I was remembering what a gentleman shared at at the first Millionaire Mind Intensive I attended.  (I love Peak Potentials.  http://www.peakpotentials.com/new/ ) He was a Christian and was torn between how he was raised to believe that we’re supposed to be “poor” because of something that was in the Bible, and how what Peak Potentials made sense about the more wealth we have, the more we can then share and make the world a better place.

I felt for him because his pain was obvious and I held him in my heart. I’m sure we all did. So I held him in my heart and let it go into God’s Hand. I don’t know what happened to him, except that I’m sure the new awareness planted a seed that would help him grow in new and better ways. Amen.

Isn’t that the best gift that we can give someone? Holding someone in our heart and letting it go into God’s Love and Truth can be a powerful seed for someone’s soul. The developer and teacher of Matrix Energetics, Dr. Richard Bartlett ( http://www.matrixenergetics.com/ ) shares something in his newest book, The Physics of Miracles that feels so right. He mentions that “…it is somewhat sad that we continue to limit our interactions with others to the realm of the merely human. We are the Door to the Divine, not the Doer.”  Within each one of us, the world, the universe, and the unknown are billions, trillions, and infinite complex processes and interactions. As Dr. Richard Bartlett so brilliantly put it, how are we supposed to keep track of all that?  Wouldn’t it be easier to let God keep track of it for us and guide its interaction for us? Wouldn’t it be easier to let ourselves be His Door and be open to new and infinite possibilities as opposed to being only one door as ourselves? As I’ve shared with many, with God all things are possible and that the only limits that exist are those which we impose upon ourselves.

Imagine opening the heart to the unknown. Imagine the abundance and Truth of God’s Love being allowed to pour within and throughout us the more and more we can let go and let God. It is only by letting go and being open that we can be receptive to His Gifts. Otherwise, our preconceived beliefs and perceptions create a wall that limit us to those frameworks. How much more will God do for us if we let Him and allow ourselves to get out of our own way? That is not necessary for us to answer, but to be open to all that God Is is so we don’t limit ourselves. Focused intent on what we want is good, but the how and the extent to what that can entail might be best left in His unlimited Hands.

Let go, be open, let His Truth fill you, then follow your heart.

Holding this in our heart might be the best gift we can give ourselves and others this Christmas. The more open the heart, the more love can be received. And the more love we hold for others, the more we can affect them in a positive way. Afterall, isn’t the Love that Jesus gave us what Christmas is about?

Peace, Love, and Blessings,

Irene