Meditate & Believe Right

08 Mar

Meditate On ...Let the Lord be magnified, who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant. Psalm 35:27 Jesus Is Interested In Your Success Jesus delights in blessing you. It is His good pleasure to see you blessed in every area of your life. Now, don’t put a limit on His blessings in your life. The blessings of the Lord are not (as some may erroneously believe) just seen in material things. Jesus is infinitely interested in your total well-being. He is interested in your family, career, fulfillment in life, marriage, ministry, and boy, does the list go on! When it comes to your desires, hopes and dreams, there is no detail that is too minuscule, minute or insignificant for Jesus. Trust me, if it matters to you, it matters to Him! Even if you go to Him in prayer to remove that small pimple on your nose, He is not going to look at you and reply mockingly, “Hey buddy, don’t you know that I’ve got a whole universe to run? Come to Me when you have a bigger prayer request.” No way! A thousand times no! Jesus will never ridicule or deride your concerns as petty. He is never dismissive or condescending. If it bothers you, it “bothers” Him, and He wants to fix it because He is interested in your success and total well-being!

God's Grace Gives You A Reason to Celebrate

CURRENT TEACHING SERIES Good News About Grace

God’s Grace Gives You a Reason to Celebrate By Rick Warren — Mar 8, 2016 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV) You can’t earn grace. You can’t work for it. You don’t deserve it. The Bible teaches, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV). You can only receive grace by faith. That’s good news! That’s a reason to celebrate. The Bible is full of stories illustrating God’s grace. Maybe the most familiar of those stories is of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15. As you might remember, the father in this story has two boys. One day the younger one says, “Dad, I’m splitting. I want my half of the family inheritance right now so I can leave.” So he takes half of the family inheritance and moves to a foreign country. He then wastes his life on wine, women, and song. After a few months, he realizes he has blown everything he has. He ends up in a pig trough feeding pigs. Flat on his back, he’s thinking, “What am I doing here? I know I blew it. It’s all my own fault, but the people who work for my dad as servants live better than this.” He decides to go home and tell his father, “Dad, I know I blew it. I admit it. I wasted half the family inheritance. I do not deserve to be called your son. But just hire me as a servant, and I’ll work for you the rest of my life because even your servants live better than I’m living now.” Yet the Bible says the father was both loving and gracious toward his son. When he saw the son coming home from a long distance, he ran out to meet him with a giant bear hug. Then the father threw a party for his wayward son. That’s how God responds to us when we accept the grace of God. The angels in Heaven have a party every time one person responds to the grace of God. When we accept the grace of God into our lives, it means our past is forgiven, we have a purpose for living, and we have an eternal home in Heaven. That’s good news. That’s a reason to party! You can learn more about how to accept God’s grace and have a real reason to party at my website, rickwarren.org. When you’re there, click on the “Know God” tab. You’ll find a video and a guide explaining what it means to trust your life to Jesus. Let me know if you pray along with the prayer by writing me at rick@rickwarren.org. PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick >> Talk It Over What are some ways you’ve tried to earn the grace of God throughout your life? How did you celebrate your decision to follow Jesus? Sometimes our reaction to the story of the Prodigal Son is impacted by our own relationship with our parents. How do you think your reaction has been influenced by how you relate with your parents?

The Thoughts of a Champion Post by Victoria Osteen on March 8, 2016     God calls us more than conquerors! We are not slaves to circumstances. We are not captive to our thoughts, but we can choose our thoughts and choose to think the thoughts of heaven. We can think the thoughts of our Champion, Jesus Christ because He is the one who made us more than a conqueror! When I think of a conqueror, I think of two boxers in a boxing ring. They go out there in confidence, smack each other, and they don't fall down. They keep at it because they are champions, and they are fighting for the prize. If they get knocked down, they don't stay down, they bounce right back up. Champions have bounce back in them, and you have bounce back in you! In order to stand strong like a champion in life, you have to have mental bounce back. How do we keep that mental bounce back? It's tied to our emotional bank account. In the natural, you wouldn't think of writing a check without having any money in your account. You work to make sure it's covered. We have to do the same with our emotions. We have to make sure we are covered. When you think about the mental toughness of those boxers, you know they have disciplined their thoughts. They don't go into the ring and think, "If I get hit, I'm done." No, they prepare their minds. They have gotten to the place where they believe they are champions. I believe too often we allow ourselves to sink below who we really are. We have to raise the level of our thinking. If we don't raise our thinking to the standard of a champion, we won't ever meet the standard of a champion. God gave His life as a champion through Christ Jesus, and we have to attach our thoughts to His thoughts. We have the mind of Christ so we should think the thoughts of Christ! What are you thinking about yourself today? What is God saying about you? Are you saying and thinking what He is? Are you thinking the thoughts of a champion? "In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." (Romans 8:37, NIV)

Stop Fighting Life

Stop Fighting Life

Dr. Lissa Rankin | March 3, 2016 | Giving, Living, Loving

 I have two friends who are trying to do beautiful things in the world. One is an ardent environmentalist who really passionately yearns to save the biosphere and protect the planet. The other is a social worker serving abused, abandoned, neglected, traumatized children in a community where most people are hooked on meth. Both carry so much pain in their deeply empathic hearts that their own bodies are suffering. I worry that these two are killing themselves with those broken open, bleeding, service-oriented hearts. Yet, I see in them a painful pattern that leads to unnecessary suffering, one I recognize because I’m still in the process of breaking this pattern myself. But it’s not easy. Breaking this kind of pattern is like trying to put an octopus to bed. The minute you get two arms tucked quietly under the covers, six more arms of the pattern sneak out!
Here’s what I wish I could say to these two extraordinary big-hearted activists:

To be on the front lines of service work, you have to stop fighting what is.

Yes, it hurts that our biosphere is at risk. Yes, it breaks our hearts that innocent children are violated every day. We can’t skip those emotions. They remind us that we’re humans with sensitive hearts, and this is a good thing. In his work with grief, Francis Weller acknowledges the five gates of grief—the grief of losing a loved one, the grief for places within us that are hidden in shame or banished from our awareness, the grief of our loss of connection with nature and each other, the grief for what we hoped for but never received, and ancestral grief. In our culture, we often only acknowledge and respect the first gate—losing a loved one. But these other gates of grief are real and to neglect them or fail to feel them means either living in denial or “spiritual bypassing,” whereby we use spiritual principles or practices to skip painful emotions. Grief can’t be skipped, so I would never tell my two friends to avoid the pain they feel. However, we can get stuck in the story of “the world is wrong.”

Once we’ve grieved what hurts, we have to stop fighting life. @Lissarankin (Click to Tweet!)

The world is the way it is. This is what is. We can keep fighting life and suffering needlessly or we can choose to let go of the painful story that says that the biosphere shouldn’t be dying. Let go of the gut-wrenching agony that says children should not be abused and neglected. Let go of the part of you that thinks you—and you alone—are here to fix this brokenness in the world. Let go of any story that says that if you take a day off or turn your back on yet another client or say no to yet another climate change conference, the world will fall apart and it will be all your fault.
What if the world isn’t broken? What if there is Divine perfection in things just as they are?

Embracing Paradox

Holding this perspective requires the ability to inhabit non-dual awareness. You have to be able to hold the paradox that allows you to simultaneous experience the grief of a dying biosphere or the pain of watching a child get abused while also realizing that life is perfect just as it is, that there is a Divine order in all things that the mind can’t possibly understand. Unless people on the front lines of service can be in agreement with even the painful aspects of life, they carry so much pain that they become burned out or sick or suicidal, and their ability to do their service work is limited. It’s yet another paradox to realize that you can only stay on the front lines as long as you can take care of yourself, prioritizing your own self-care before you consider the needs of the planet or the needs of abused children. Excessive self-sacrifice limits your service. It’s not sustainable. You’ll be forced to slow down and help others less, even if it means getting the cosmic bitch slap of a cancer diagnosis.
It helps to inhabit the consciousness of this mantra. “I am in agreement with life, and I resist nothing.”
This doesn’t mean that you don’t feel pain or experience empathy. It doesn’t mean you detach and become cold and unfeeling. It doesn’t mean you throw up your hands in helpless desperation and sit by passively as you witness seeming atrocities without trying to serve life. It doesn’t mean you don’t stop taking actions to protect the biosphere or keep an abused child safe. It just means you do it from a different consciousness, one that recognizes that on one level, all is well just as it is. You don’t need your righteous anger to motivate you. You don’t need to stay stuck in your heartbreak in order to love the planet or its children. When all of that falls away, you will still serve love because it’s who you are. It’s what you do.
I don’t know why things we deem horrible happen to seemingly innocent people. Life is a mystery I’ve given up trying to unravel. Perhaps we humans have soul contracts that require us to go through certain life ordeals in order to grow as souls, in order to become One with the Divine, and perhaps things are as they should be on some plane we can’t possible understand with our human minds. Or maybe not.
What I do know is that it’s possible to hold a consciousness that allows that life is already perfect just as it is while still taking actions to make the world a safer, healthier, more loving place.

The Universe Doesn’t Need You to Be in Charge

Also essential to making this shift is realizing that you alone cannot save the world. Believe it or not, the Universe doesn’t need you to single-handedly take charge and fix what you judge as broken in the world. It’s laughable when you think about it. How arrogant are we to think that our singular actions are essential to saving the biosphere or protecting every child on the planet from being abused? And yet, herein lies the paradox again. As Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Yes. This is true. We are not meant to just sit by in a state of learned helplessness and watch children getting abused or oceans getting polluted. And yet, if any one person dropped off the planet, it would not significantly affect the state of the biosphere or the number of abused children on the planet.
We’re special, but we’re not special. We matter, but we don’t matter. Every act of love we offer is significant, and yet we are a wisp of energy on a wisp of a planet spinning in a vast galaxy of infinite stars. We are here to serve love in the world, to fulfill our callings, to do what we can to make this world a better place, and yet, life is perfect just as it is, we must accept what is and stop fighting life, and no single individual can save the world.

What a Relief!

Once we realize this, not just in our heads, but in our hearts, we can rest. Our nervous systems can relax. We can let go of the heaviness in our hearts that comes from fighting life or perceiving the world as broken. We can feel our grief fully and not get stuck in it, so we can also feel the joy that exists in the world right now, riding shotgun just next to the grief. Then, from this peaceful, centered place of stillness inside, we can say yes to our callings, do what we can to serve love in the world, and rest in the refuge of our own hearts, in tribal communion with the other beings who inhabit this planet with us.

Let Love Flow

From that calm, centered place of stillness, we can let love flow through us unimpeded without suffering burn out or carrying the weight of the world on our shoulders in a way that prevents us from being able to fully enjoy and savor the pleasures of life. Then we no longer see it as our responsibility to save every child, every tree, or every hurting soul. We don’t have to feel guilty for taking a day or a week or a month off to go sit amongst the spring blossoms and bathe in sunbeams. We no longer have to carry the burden of all of the pain that exists in this world, yet we are not bypassing the pain either. We are simply allowing life to be as it is, moving different energies through us as we experience things. We are not grasping at what we want and we are not resisting what we don’t want. We are simply being with what is.
We feel love. We feel grief. We feel anger. We feel ecstasy. These emotions flow through us like clouds in the sky, always changing, always moving through us and allowing themselves to be fully experienced and expressed, never getting stuck or being resisted. Then we can serve love in the world without impediment, without taking on all the world’s pain as our own. Then we are free to just be human, with all of its bliss and all of its pain, with no separation between the sacred and the profane. Then . . . finally . . . we can rest in beingness and allow the stillness of this calm space inside to leap us into inspired action, as we allow ourselves to be a benevolent presence in the world.

A Meditation

I attended Joe Dispenza’s advanced mediation workshop in Tacoma, Washington, where I studied what he’s up to as part of my research for a future book Sacred Medicine. By 6 a.m. one morning, I was hooked up to an EEG machine as Joe guided us into a deep meditation, which I dedicated to Mother Earth. During the meditation, I saw all 500 of us in the room as light beings on a rescue mission to bring consciousness to our planet, and I felt the love in the room swelling in my own heart and all around me, until I saw love missiles being cast towards Syria and other terrorist installations, love fireworks raining down on the rainforests, and love bombs exploding in the hearts of people inside corrupt systems everywhere, such that they were suddenly unable to continue business as usual. My whole body started pulsing all the way out to my skin and tears streamed down my face as I felt myself leave my body and look down upon our planet as if from space. The green and blue ball of earth had two big eyes on her and she was gazing at me with the soft, tender eyes of a mother. I heard the mantra repeat itself, “I am in agreement with life, and I resist nothing.”
My heart is bursting.
With love,
Lissa

Meditate On This

Meditate On For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. John 3:16–17 God So Loves You Jesus is the apple of God’s eye. He is God’s darling Son, His infinite joy and delight. Yet, God gave Jesus up for you. That’s how much God loves you. Just think about it: If you knew you could save a dying person by giving up something precious to you, would you go as far as to give up your only child whom you dearly love for that person? Yet, that is exactly what God did to save you. Jesus, His beloved Son, died on the cross to cleanse you, heal you and redeem you—spirit, soul and body! That is how precious you are to God! Today, meditate on this truth and let God’s amazing love wash over you. It will drive out every fear, put strength and boldness in your heart, and cause you to walk in His provision, protection and peace.

Joel & Victoria's Blog

Remember His Power Post by Victoria Osteen on March 4, 2016     We all have times when we wonder how our circumstances could ever change or work out. Maybe someone else is involved in your situation, and you think they have to change before anything can happen. Maybe you have a big dream in your heart and you can see it from a distance, but you don't have the resources right now, or you think you don't have the education or know the right people. It's easy to look at things from a natural perspective, but if we limit our options to what we see, we will live a very limited life. I believe God is saying today, "I haven't asked you to walk by sight, I've asked you to walk by faith. I've asked you to remember My great power toward you." Most times, when God asks you to do something, it's going to be over your head. It's going to be bigger than yourself. If it weren't, you wouldn't need God. You wouldn't need to walk by faith because you could do it in your own strength and ability. If you feel a little overwhelmed, know that's when God's power will enter into your life. Psalm 78 says, "They vexed the Holy One of Israel because they did not remember His power. They turned back and limited God." The children of Israel were facing some obstacles, but they didn't remember God's power. They didn't think about how He parted the Red Sea; they didn't think about how He brought water out of a rock. They weren't considering how far He had brought them. Instead, they were frustrated and looked back at their circumstances. That's what limited God's power in their lives. Today, I encourage you to remember His power! Consider what He has done in the past. Consider what His Word says. Focus on His miraculous deeds. Know that He is working behind the scenes on your behalf. He is limitless, and His limitless power is available to you!

Happiness Habit: The Power of Grateful Prayers

CURRENT TEACHING SERIES The Habits of Happiness

Happiness Habit: The Power of Grateful Prayers By Rick Warren — Feb 22, 2016 “Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God's peace.” (Philippians 4:6-7a NLT) In Philippians 4:6-7 we find one of the most difficult verses in the entire Bible to obey: “Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God's peace” (NLT). It’s not easy to stop worrying about the often-scary, everyday parts of our lives, but God tells us how in the next part of the verse: “Pray about everything … and thank him for all he has done.” Grateful prayer brings peace. God says, when you start to worry, pray. Parents understand the power of grateful prayers. Most parents wouldn’t appreciate their children always making requests without saying “thank you” for what they’ve already received. God sees it the same way. He wants us to ask him for what we need and want. More than 20 times in the New Testament, we’re told to “ask” him. But he wants us to ask with gratefulness. The Bible urges us to be specific in our requests — and our praises. Instead of a simple “thank you for everything,” he wants us to tell him what we’re grateful for. When I say to my wife, “I'm so grateful for you,” she tells me to be specific. She likes to hear what I appreciate about her and what I'm grateful for about her. God does, too. So when you pray, tell God what you’re thankful for. Prayer is one of the most important ways we tell God “thank you.” Thanking God in advance is a big step of faith. When we have the faith to thank God ahead of time, miracles happen. The more thankful we are, the more God works in our lives. The Bible says that God inhabits the praise of his people. He uses our thanksgiving as an instrument of power in our lives.  So, what are you thankful for? PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick >> Talk It Over Why do you think gratitude is so important for our spiritual lives? Being as specific as possible, for what are you thankful to God? Spend some time in prayer thanking God for those things. What are some ways you believe God will bless you in the future? Thank God for those things — even before they happen.

How to Overcome Adversity

Tips for Overcoming Adversity

By Z. Hereford

Whether we like it or not, adversity is part of life. Overcoming adversity is one of the biggest hurdles we face.

As Havelock Ellis wrote, "Pain and death are part of life. To reject them is to reject life itself." Problems, large and small, present themselves to us throughout our whole existence.
Regardless of how sharp, clever, or happy-go-lucky we are, we will encounter struggle, challenges, difficulties and at times, heart wrenching moments. Is this meant to be a negative, cynical assessment of what we have to look forward to?
Not at all!
In fact, thank goodness for adversity! Learning to deal with and overcoming adversity is what builds character and resilience. Every challenge and every difficulty we successfully confront in life serves to strengthen our will, confidence and ability to conquer future obstacles. Herodotus, the Greek philosopher, said, "Adversity has the effect of drawing out strength and qualities of a man that would have lain dormant in its absence."
When you respond positively and constructively to your biggest challenges the qualities of strength, courage, character and perseverance emerge from deep inside of you.
Of course, since we are human, it is very easy to get caught up in the self pity, unfairness of life, or 'why me?' traps. When we do, we fail to recognize the opportunities for wisdom and growth that accompany adversity. However, as soon we allow ourselves to think more clearly, we are able to let go of self-defeating and unproductive thoughts and get down to the business of dealing with what's before us.

The Tips For Overcoming Adversity

1. Be aware of, and accept that adversity is inevitable in life. As has already been pointed out, adversity is part of life. To avoid or resist it will only make it persist. Everywhere you look in the world there is unmistakable struggle. There are floods, tsunamis, wars, and calamities of all types. Even within your own circle of family and friends there is death, loss and tragedy. Although pain is inevitable, suffering is optional. So what do you do?

2. Build your internal resources. Before adversity hits, work on cultivating emotional strength, courage and discipline. When you make yourself aware that certain difficulties are inevitable, you can prepare yourself mentally for confronting adversity head-on. It would be no different than a warrior going to battle. He (or she) prepares himself physically and mentally for any possibility. He knows it could be ugly, daunting, and grueling, but he is equipped. More often than not, when you're prepared for the worst, the worst never happens, or it's much less severe than anticipated. Another invaluable inner resource is faith. Faith that everything will work out; faith that there is always light at the end of the tunnel, and faith that "this too shall pass." Everything in life has its place and purpose.


3. Build your external resources. Build a support system of family and friends. When the going gets tough, we all need encouragement and support. We need someone to talk to; someone to help ease the burden. You would be surprised to discover how often a friend has had a similar experience and can help guide you through the difficult time. Even just knowing a friend is there when you need them can be most comforting.

4. That which does not kill you doesn't always make stronger. Sorry Nietzsche! While I agree with Nietzsche, in principle that - "that what does not kill you will make you stronger", I do not necessarily agree with him in practice. For instance, if you do not have enough built-up resilience or experience in dealing with difficulty, adversity can crush you. On the other hand, if do you have sufficient resilience, then indeed it will make you stronger. How so, you ask? Resilience like any muscle is built up gradually and exponentially with repeated exposure to obstacles. If you lack practice in confronting obstacles (as when you choose to avoid them), one traumatic event can take you down.
To underscore this point, developmental research has shown that traumatized children are more, rather than less, likely to be traumatized again. Likewise, those who grow up in tough neighborhoods become weaker, not stronger, and are more likely to struggle in life.

5. Take inspiration and learn from others who have dealt successfully with adversity. There are many inspiring stories of people who overcame seemingly insurmountable odds. They triumphed over their adversities to live successful, productive lives instead of surrendering to it.

Here are some examples:

Helen Keller: Lost her sight and hearing due to a mysterious fever when she was only 18 months old. She overcame her deafness and blindness to become a strong, educated woman who spoke about, and promoted, women's rights.

Winston Churchill: Overcame a stuttering problem and poor performance in school to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and one of the most influential political leaders of the twentieth century. He was also known for his powerful and rousing speeches.

Wilma Rudolph: The Olympian born prematurely, the 20th of 22 children. She overcame double pneumonia, scarlet fever and polio to become winner of three Gold medals in track at the 1960 Rome Olympic Games.

Lance Armstrong: Overcame testicular cancer which spread to the brain and lungs (he was told he had only a 40% chance of survival) to come back and win the Tour de France seven more times!

*** Lance has since admitted to taking steroids during his cycling career, however, he did still battle cancer and overcame immense odds. It's unfortunate that his career was not as exemplary as his will to overcome adversity.

J.K. Rowling: Born to a poor family; left a bad marriage with a young baby to live on government assistance; wrote her first Harry Potter book and was turned down by most publishers until Bloomsbury Publishing picked it up. Need I say more?

Determination, resilience, and persistence enabled all of these great people to push past their adversities and prevail. If they could do it, surely the rest of us can summon the strength and courage to do overcome our adversities!

Points to Consider

• The difficult times in life help us appreciate when things are going smoothly.
• Look for the learning opportunities in every adverse situation.
• Decide whether you will allow your experience to make, or break you. Depending upon how you choose to perceive it, it could go either way.
•  Be prepared to accept the worst, should it occur. When you have prepared yourself mentally for the worst, it rarely ever happens, and if it does, it seems less so because you are better equipped to handle it.
• Cultivate faith, courage and resilience. The more of these qualities with which you are armed, the lesser the impact of the adversity.
• Remind yourself that adversity is part of life. Accepting adversity, helps you overcome it.

Overcoming adversity is one of our main challenges in life. When we resolve to confront and overcome it, we become expert at dealing with it and consequently triumph over our day-to-day struggles.

Do You Have Self-Love?

Do You Have Self-Love?

Christine Arylo | March 1, 2016 | Living, Loving

No woman would tell her daughters or any other woman or girl, “Hey you, don’t love yourself, that’s selfish.” Chances are that if asked, “Do you love yourself?” most women would say, “Yes, of course I do,” when in fact the majority don’t really have a clue what self-love actually means, or requires.
This lack of understanding about self-love isn’t surprising when you consider that the current definition of self-love on dictionary.com is ‘conceit, vanity and narcissism’ (no kidding!) Or when you look at the pressures today’s woman faces knowing she can do anything, but is exhausted by her attempts to do and be everything.

So how do you know if you really love yourself?

First you need to know a few facts about self-love:
1. Self-love isn’t something you have, self-love is something you choose in every moment of every day. In your daily choices and thoughts, you can either choose fear, guilt, shame, stress and criticism for and towards yourself, or you can choose to give yourself love, such as compassion, care, respect, and acceptance. And that can be hard to do.
2. The challenge is not in knowing what you should do to love yourself, but in giving yourself permission to take the loving act. Most of us know what the self-loving things are we should do – like take good care of ourselves, only have respectful relationships, believe in ourselves and go for our dreams to name a few – but we let guilt, fear and shame deter us from making the self-loving choices.
3. Self-esteem is not the same thing as self-love. You can have self-esteem and still not really love yourself. Self-esteem is a part of self-love – 1/10th to be exact! You need all ten areas of self-love strong and growing. Because even with high self esteem, without self-compassion, self-care, self-respect and more, you will still make unloving choices for yourself, things like over-giving/over-doing/over-working, staying in bad relationships, or settling for less.

After studying self-love now for over a decade – living it and teaching it – what I’ve noticed is “Do you love yourself?” is not a yes/no question.

It’s not either you love yourself or you don’t love yourself. But instead there are ways that you really love yourself well. Ways in which you totally show up for yourself, areas in your life when you easily choose the loving act or thought over fear, blame, shame, guilt, pressure, stress and criticism. And, there are other ways in which you sell yourself short, put your needs last or don’t honor them at all, and don’t accept yourself. These are the places where it is hard for you to give yourself permission to do what a best friend would tell you to do.
Our power – and your happiness – comes in knowing where you are weak in self-love and where you are strong, and then making conscious choices and taking simple but mighty actions to grow that area of self-love that most needs your attention. What you focus on grows.

The 10 Branches of Self-Love: Take a Self-Love Pulse Check

Sometimes self-love can feel so vast and esoteric, too big to even know where to begin. But self-love can be broken down into eleven distinct parts, that give you clues and specifics as to where to focus your attention and growth (I call these the branches of self-love, which I wrote lots about in Madly in Love with ME, a self-love guidebook. Think of self-love like a tree, where you need all branches and the roots to be strong to be healthy and vibrant.)
Every person has some area where they need to strengthen their ability to make loving choices for themselves.
For you maybe it’s self-compassion, being compassionate with yourself when you fail, so instead of berating yourself you console yourself.
Or for you perhaps you are a rockstar at work, lots of self-esteem, but a disaster in romantic relationships, lacking self-respect and self-honor.
Or maybe you play small, live life repressed instead of fully expressed, or look to other people for answers, not trusting your own Inner Wisdom, lacking self-empowerment, self-expression and self-trust.
Or maybe you over give, over work, over do, exhausting yourself, suffering from weak self-care, self-pleasure and self-worth.

The question to ask yourself is “What branch of self-love most needs my attention, love and focus this year, so that I can grow stronger in my ability to take the self-loving acts that supports me to create the life my heart and soul desire?
As a starting point, you can take this short self-love pulse check and see which branches of self-love feel the weakest or like it needs the most attention? Ask yourself on a scale of one to five, with five being strong and one weak, how you rate in each area of self-love:

• Self-awareness & honesty: You know who you truly are and who you are not, and you have an unwavering commitment to truth about how your actions, thoughts and choices affect your reality and the people around you.

• Self-acceptance: You like who you are, and you don’t compare yourself to others, or wish you could be someone else, including a younger version of yourself. You adore and appreciate who you are, including your body. You acknowledge yourself, often.

• Self-care: You make sure you get what you need everyday on all levels – emotional, physical, spiritual – every day, without guilt, sacrifice or needing to be a martyr. You don’t over-work, over-give or over-do.

• Self-compassion & self-forgiveness: You open your heart to be a loving witness to yourself, without judgment, by sending yourself waves of kindness, understanding and forgiveness that touch, heal and transform your imperfections and humanness through the presence of your unconditional love. You don’t have a constant criticism or perfectionism machine running in your mind.

• Self-trust: You listen to and follow the guidance of your inner voice, believing that you know what is right for you even when other people think or say otherwise. You trust your inner wisdom over conventional wisdom.

• Self-esteem: You have a strong belief in and regard for yourself, a strong confidence in your ability to do and be anything and you believe your gifts are valuable.

• Self-expression : You let the world see you, fully, truthfully and without apology or holding back. Full, free expression of your heart and soul.

• Self-empowerment: You take charge of and responsibility for your life by acting to create the life you really desire, without apology or requiring approval from others.

• Self-respect & self-honor: You only make choices that respect and honor the sacred soul that you are, especially in relationships. You only have loving, respectful relationships.

• Self-pleasure: You consistently create, receive and experience joy, no matter how much work there is to do, ensuring always that your soul is fully fed and nourished.

• Self-worth: You value yourself immensely based on who you are inside, not on what you achieve, amass or what other people say. You know what motivates and drives you, and you are not motivated for a need for outside validation, recognition, approval, affection, etc. You live your life by your internal value systems not those of society or other people.

My recommendation is to find one area of self love you are strong in, and keep cultivating that part of your relationship with yourself. Then find one area of self-love in which you are weak, and choose to focus on that area all year long, day by day making choices that reflect you giving yourself love in that way.
Self love is one of the foundations of everything in our lives – our relationships with others, our health, our career, our finances, everything.

Focus on the foundation and the rest of your life gets stronger. @ChristineArylo
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To reveal where you are strong in self love and where you can love yourself even more, go here to take the Self Love Quiz: www.selflovequiz.com.

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Christine Arylo, m.b.a., is an inspirational catalyst, transformational teacher and best-selling self-love author who teaches people how to put their most important partnership first, the one with themselves, so that they can create the life their souls crave. The popular author of the go-to book on relationships Choosing ME before WE and the self-love handbook, Madly in Love with ME, the Daring Adventure to Becoming Your Own Best Friend, and her newest Reform Your Inner Mean Girl. She’s affectionately known as the “Queen of Self-Love” for her groundbreaking work in self-love, including founding the international day of self-love on Feb 13th. Arylo is the co-founder of the self-love and empowerment school for women, Inner Mean Girl Reform School.  You can follow here on Twitter, FB or visit her sites here & here.

Meditate & Believe Right

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01 Mar

Meditate On But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Corinthians 3:18 Transformation And Victory Through Beholding Jesus The greatest miracle that Peter experienced happened one night when he stepped out of his boat in the middle of a storm at Jesus’ word. That night, the winds were wild and the waves, boisterous. But as long as Peter kept his eyes on Jesus, he did the impossible—he walked on water. Jesus was walking on the water and when Peter looked at Jesus, he became like Jesus and did the supernatural. God’s Word declares that “we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” Beloved, when you keep your focus on Jesus, you are transformed into His image from glory to glory. You are transformed by beholding, not by working. When you see that Jesus is above the storms of your life, you will effortlessly rise above those storms. So instead of looking at how insurmountable your circumstances and challenges are, turn away from them and keep your eyes on Jesus. While it may sound impractical, it is the most powerful thing you can do, and Jesus will cause you to reign over every storm in your life!