What Is Your Ideal Lifestyle…
Discover What Is and What is To Be on Your Journey of Life…
Click the two cards below to see what Present and Future you have drawn. Then click again to get the description and recommendations for your specific situation. Watch for follow-up emails with even more information to guide you…
Be sure to write down the names of your two cards, so you can access additional information later.
Passive Income Lifestyle
This card will tell you how things are now…
Nama Station
Forgiveness
Overview
When we are caught up in the dramas of our ego-minds, it is easy for us to fall into the habit of playing the BS Game—that is, the “Blame-Shame Game”. When someone else does something that causes us discomfort, upset or pain, we put ourselves into the role of victim and the other person into the role of perpetrator. In this way, we give all our power away to the perpetrator—who may not even be aware of the fact that s/he has done something “wrong”. In allowing ourselves to slip into this finger-pointing pattern, we often end up creating even more pain and upset for ourselves, while secretly hoping for the other person to suffer.
Nama Station teaches us about the powerful healing capabilities of Forgiveness, a tool whose sole purpose is to give ourselves permission to release ourselves from our own pain and suffering. When we forgive, it really has nothing to do with the so-called perpetrator! It is really all about letting go of something over which we have no control, and—without forgetting or condoning or agreeing with actual bad behavior—releasing ourselves from the prison of our own negative thinking, and reclaiming our power.
Situation
Somebody in your life has said or done something to you that seemed to come from malicious intent, and it has been causing you a lot of internal upset and emotional pain. The event in question happened at some time in the past—perhaps even the distant past—but it continues to haunt you today. The other person has not apologized or taken responsibility for the event, and apparently does not see things the same way you do. Worse, the other person doesn’t seem to recognize or acknowledge the pain that s/he caused you, and this is adding to your ongoing anger and resentment. You find yourself wishing the worst for this person, perhaps even dreaming of violence or retribution.
Whether this situation happened relatively recently or sometime in the more distant past, the fact that you are dwelling on it now is causing you a great deal of discomfort, upset or pain.
Recommendation
First and foremost is Safety. It is assumed in this discussion that you have taken all necessary steps to protect yourself from any potentially dangerous conditions or situations, and that, if appropriate, you have also alerted any law enforcement or other relevant support personnel.
It is important for you to find a way to quiet the voices in your head so that you can return to a grounded, centered state. One of the best ways for you to do this is to Forgive the person who is holding your ego-mind hostage. It may seem like a very difficult task right now, but if you can remember that Forgiveness is not about condoning or forgetting someone else’s behavior, or letting him/her off the hook, and that it is really about giving yourself permission to release yourself from the pain you are creating by keeping the situation alive in your mind, then you will find it much easier to find Forgiveness in your heart—and this will quickly bring healing into your life.
When you are in a safe and quiet place, go through the 5 simple steps below:
- Understand the wrong-doing. What actually happened? Was it done deliberately, or did it happen by accident? Do you know the perptrator’s real intention or motivation, or is that something you are simply making up as part of your ego-mind story? What were the consequences? Which consequences were the direct result of the perpetrator’s actions, and which ones are the result of your own thinking patterns?
- Acknowledge and validate your judgments and feelings. Notice what kinds of thoughts and judgments you have about the perpetrator. Are you attached to “getting even” or finding justice or having your revenge? What do you imagine you might gain by following through on your vengeful thoughts? What are you feeling emotionally about all of this?
- Express and release your emotional energy. Allow yourself to fully experience and express the emotional energy associated with this situation. Some of this energy may be locked in place because of previous attempts to “stuff it”, so give yourself permission to feel it all. Allow it to pass through you so that the pain dissipates and eventually disappears.
- Own your part in the situation. This is not about making yourself wrong for whatever happened; it’s part of the process for raising awareness about your part of the situation. Did you do something that might have triggered the other person’s behavior? Was there a part of you that derived pleasure from pushing the other person’s buttons? Did you do something after the fact to make matters worse? Could you have done anything to improve, mitigate or resolve the situation?
- Re-connect to compassion and unconditional love. After your emotional energy has passed and you have honestly reflected on the whole situation, allow yourself to reconnect naturally and gently to compassion. Find a place of compassion for the other person, who may have been (and may still be) suffering from struggles of his or her own. Find a place of compassion for yourself and whatever struggle you’ve been going through, and release yourself from thoughts of revenge. Give yourself permission to forgive the other person; in the quiet silence of your mind, simply say “I forgive you.” At the same time, give yourself permission to forgive yourself; in your mind imagine that you are speaking to yourself, and say silently “I forgive you.”
You may need to go through this exercise a few times before all of the energy completely dissipates. Remember, the other person does not need to know you are doing this—the exercise is completely for you, and you alone. But do notice how much lighter and more open you feel each time you complete the exercise. Invite and embrace that lightness, and allow it to inform the way you show up going forward.
For more information about this topic, please see the full program at Life Mastery Way (and remember the name of your card).
Easy Do-It-Yourself
This card will tell you how things are now…
Destiny Point
Purpose
Overview
Everyone has a reason for being here in the physical world. The problem is that many of us aren’t really aware of our true Purpose. Instead, we follow our inner desires and passions (which are often influenced by ego-minds that want us to show up so as to conform to the expectations of the world), and end up in places and situations that we didn’t really have in mind. This is because we were following a default purpose instead of a true spiritual purpose.
In Destiny Point, we dive deep into the concept of Purpose and discover ways to know with conviction why we are really here. Then we take our understanding and apply it to all of our choices, agreements, and commitments going forward.
Situation
Recently, you have been experiencing a kind of aimlessness or pointlessness in your life. You have been questioning yourself and wondering why you are doing a lot of the things you are doing. You are likely noticing thoughts like the following in your mind:
- What is the point of this job | relationship | life | etc.?
- Nothing about my life makes any sense right now.
- I can’t figure out which way I’m supposed to go!
Depending on the frequency and intensity of these thoughts and stories, you may be feeling some hopelessness or despair, or possibly even some mild depression. Your condition may well be related to a disconnection from your Purpose for being.
Recommendation
Having a powerful connection to your Purpose can do wonders for improving your outlook on life. Your Purpose serves as a type of internal navigation system that can guide you in every area of your life; as such, it gives you a way to focus your energy and ensure that everything you think, say, do or feel is aligned in the best direction for your life. Being disconnected from your Purpose is much like turning off your internal navigation system. You end up driving blind, so to speak, which makes it very hard to get where you want to go. In truth, your internal navigation system is never really off-line; you may just be in a situation where you are not paying attention to it.
Reconnecting to your Purpose can be pretty straight-forward.
- Bring awareness to your situation—awareness of what is going on around you and within you. Notice, in particular, all the ways that your behavior is out of alignment with your Purpose.
- Notice whether you have deviated from your Purpose because of any external factors. Are you allowing yourself to be lured away by other things that may seem more interesting? Are you perhaps being manipulated by an unconscious desire to do things that others want you to do, even though you know they aren’t necessarily right for you? Have you perhaps forgotten your Purpose altogether?
- Whatever you discover, be gentle with yourself, and honor yourself for having the courage to be honest with yourself.
- To reconnect to your Purpose, you can do this short visualization. In a seated position with your eyes closed, allow yourself to breathe slowly and gently. As you become more relaxed, see yourself sitting at the top of a hill that allows you to see in all directions. Imagine that the world below you is exactly like the world of your deepest heart’s desire. See the people below interacting with one another in a way that supports your vision of the ideal world. See that everyone’s needs are all met, and that your world is in total harmony. Now, ask yourself this question: What part to I play in creating this world of my dreams? How do I show up to make it a reality? Allow the answers to bubble up into your awareness, knowing that they are written indelibly in your memory. Allow yourself to come back to the present moment.
- Take some time to journal your experience. Write down the words that describe the world of your dreams. These will typically be inspirational adjectives, and you may have many of them. Then write down all the things you saw yourself doing (action words) to bring that world into reality.
The combination of vision and action that you harvest from your visualization is the core of your Purpose for being. Write it down, anchor it into your body, and bring it consciously into your daily life. Let it inform everything you think, say, do or feel from this moment onward.
For more information about this topic, please see the full program at Life Mastery Way (and remember the name of your card).
Easy Do-It-For-You…
This card will tell you how things will be in the future…
Peaceful Heart Meadow
Acceptance
Overview
Our ego-minds spend a great deal of time trying to keep us safe—sometimes in ways that, on close inspection, may seem quite dysfunctional. We often find ourselves trying to make sense of our circumstances by putting our own spin on things—that is, we analyze, explain, justify, or interpret our situations without really making any effort to accept them as they are. In other words, we unconsciously tend to reject what is in favor of our own story or thinking about what is.
In Peaceful Heart Meadow, we begin to learn about the first Key Skill: Acceptance. As we become more aware of what is, our first priority is to accept it as it is. That is, we suspend our judgments, conclusions or stories about it, so that we can grok it more clearly for what it really is—rather than for what we think it is.
Acceptance is not about agreeing with anything; it’s not about condoning anything; it’s not about believing in anything. All of those actions—agreeing, condoning, believing—require you to analyze, explain, justify or interpret what is, which puts you back into your ego-mind, and disconnects you from your innate ability to accept. Acceptance is simply about being fully aware of what is and acknowledging it as such—in other words, Acceptance is Awareness without Story. If you get out of your head and into your heart, you engage your natural power to accept what is. Once you have accepted it for what it really is, then and only then can you actually do something about it.
Situation
You are in the center of a confluence of events and circumstances that will lead to a situation you will find intolerable or unacceptable. Your unconscious reaction to this situation will put you in a place of powerful resistance to what is happening, and your resistance will in turn complicate the situation and exacerbate your own discomfort and upset. If you are not careful, this may lead to additional hardship or heartbreak for you.
Recommendation
You may not be able to change or stop whatever circumstances are coming your way, but you can certainly prepare yourself so that you are able to deal with them from a place of calm equanimity. The way to do this is to practice Acceptance for situations that are relatively easy to accept; then, as you gain confidence in your ability, you will find that bringing the same level of Acceptance to more challenging situations will become easier.
For a situation which has not yet come into being, it may be difficult for you to cultivate an accepting attitude in advance. However, you can use the Future Presence process to help you:
- Use your imagination to create a challenging but realistic scenario that has a reasonably high likelihood of coming to pass in your life. Put this scenario somewhere into your future, and imagine that it is something that is certain to happen.
- In your mind travel forward to a time a few days following the event in question, and begin to imagine that you dealt with the situation with complete success, because you were able to fully accept it as it was.
- In your mind, conduct a short interview with your future self. Ask him/her the following questions:
- How did you stay fully present and aware during this difficult time?
- When you found yourself resisting the situation, how did you bring yourself back to a place of Acceptance?
- What difference did your Acceptance make in your handling of the situation?
- What were you thinking as the situation progressed?
- What were you feeling?
- How do you feel now that the situation has passed?
- Take note of all the answers that you get, and bring your new understanding back to the present moment.
Recognize and understand that you have the capability to accept any situation for what it is, no matter how challenging it might appear to be. You can use this new understanding to prepare you more fully for what is yet to come.
For more information about this topic, please see the full program at Life Mastery Way (and remember the name of your card).
Assetizing…
This card will tell you how things are now…
Destiny Point
Purpose
Overview
Everyone has a reason for being here in the physical world. The problem is that many of us aren’t really aware of our true Purpose. Instead, we follow our inner desires and passions (which are often influenced by ego-minds that want us to show up so as to conform to the expectations of the world), and end up in places and situations that we didn’t really have in mind. This is because we were following a default purpose instead of a true spiritual purpose.
In Destiny Point, we dive deep into the concept of Purpose and discover ways to know with conviction why we are really here. Then we take our understanding and apply it to all of our choices, agreements, and commitments going forward.
Situation
Recently, you have been experiencing a kind of aimlessness or pointlessness in your life. You have been questioning yourself and wondering why you are doing a lot of the things you are doing. You are likely noticing thoughts like the following in your mind:
- What is the point of this job | relationship | life | etc.?
- Nothing about my life makes any sense right now.
- I can’t figure out which way I’m supposed to go!
Depending on the frequency and intensity of these thoughts and stories, you may be feeling some hopelessness or despair, or possibly even some mild depression. Your condition may well be related to a disconnection from your Purpose for being.
Recommendation
Having a powerful connection to your Purpose can do wonders for improving your outlook on life. Your Purpose serves as a type of internal navigation system that can guide you in every area of your life; as such, it gives you a way to focus your energy and ensure that everything you think, say, do or feel is aligned in the best direction for your life. Being disconnected from your Purpose is much like turning off your internal navigation system. You end up driving blind, so to speak, which makes it very hard to get where you want to go. In truth, your internal navigation system is never really off-line; you may just be in a situation where you are not paying attention to it.
Reconnecting to your Purpose can be pretty straight-forward.
- Bring awareness to your situation—awareness of what is going on around you and within you. Notice, in particular, all the ways that your behavior is out of alignment with your Purpose.
- Notice whether you have deviated from your Purpose because of any external factors. Are you allowing yourself to be lured away by other things that may seem more interesting? Are you perhaps being manipulated by an unconscious desire to do things that others want you to do, even though you know they aren’t necessarily right for you? Have you perhaps forgotten your Purpose altogether?
- Whatever you discover, be gentle with yourself, and honor yourself for having the courage to be honest with yourself.
- To reconnect to your Purpose, you can do this short visualization. In a seated position with your eyes closed, allow yourself to breathe slowly and gently. As you become more relaxed, see yourself sitting at the top of a hill that allows you to see in all directions. Imagine that the world below you is exactly like the world of your deepest heart’s desire. See the people below interacting with one another in a way that supports your vision of the ideal world. See that everyone’s needs are all met, and that your world is in total harmony. Now, ask yourself this question: What part to I play in creating this world of my dreams? How do I show up to make it a reality? Allow the answers to bubble up into your awareness, knowing that they are written indelibly in your memory. Allow yourself to come back to the present moment.
- Take some time to journal your experience. Write down the words that describe the world of your dreams. These will typically be inspirational adjectives, and you may have many of them. Then write down all the things you saw yourself doing (action words) to bring that world into reality.
The combination of vision and action that you harvest from your visualization is the core of your Purpose for being. Write it down, anchor it into your body, and bring it consciously into your daily life. Let it inform everything you think, say, do or feel from this moment onward.
For more information about this topic, please see the full program at Life Mastery Way (and remember the name of your card).
Automated Modeling
This card will tell you how things are now…
Nama Station
Forgiveness
Overview
When we are caught up in the dramas of our ego-minds, it is easy for us to fall into the habit of playing the BS Game—that is, the “Blame-Shame Game”. When someone else does something that causes us discomfort, upset or pain, we put ourselves into the role of victim and the other person into the role of perpetrator. In this way, we give all our power away to the perpetrator—who may not even be aware of the fact that s/he has done something “wrong”. In allowing ourselves to slip into this finger-pointing pattern, we often end up creating even more pain and upset for ourselves, while secretly hoping for the other person to suffer.
Nama Station teaches us about the powerful healing capabilities of Forgiveness, a tool whose sole purpose is to give ourselves permission to release ourselves from our own pain and suffering. When we forgive, it really has nothing to do with the so-called perpetrator! It is really all about letting go of something over which we have no control, and—without forgetting or condoning or agreeing with actual bad behavior—releasing ourselves from the prison of our own negative thinking, and reclaiming our power.
Situation
Somebody in your life has said or done something to you that seemed to come from malicious intent, and it has been causing you a lot of internal upset and emotional pain. The event in question happened at some time in the past—perhaps even the distant past—but it continues to haunt you today. The other person has not apologized or taken responsibility for the event, and apparently does not see things the same way you do. Worse, the other person doesn’t seem to recognize or acknowledge the pain that s/he caused you, and this is adding to your ongoing anger and resentment. You find yourself wishing the worst for this person, perhaps even dreaming of violence or retribution.
Whether this situation happened relatively recently or sometime in the more distant past, the fact that you are dwelling on it now is causing you a great deal of discomfort, upset or pain.
Recommendation
First and foremost is Safety. It is assumed in this discussion that you have taken all necessary steps to protect yourself from any potentially dangerous conditions or situations, and that, if appropriate, you have also alerted any law enforcement or other relevant support personnel.
It is important for you to find a way to quiet the voices in your head so that you can return to a grounded, centered state. One of the best ways for you to do this is to Forgive the person who is holding your ego-mind hostage. It may seem like a very difficult task right now, but if you can remember that Forgiveness is not about condoning or forgetting someone else’s behavior, or letting him/her off the hook, and that it is really about giving yourself permission to release yourself from the pain you are creating by keeping the situation alive in your mind, then you will find it much easier to find Forgiveness in your heart—and this will quickly bring healing into your life.
When you are in a safe and quiet place, go through the 5 simple steps below:
- Understand the wrong-doing. What actually happened? Was it done deliberately, or did it happen by accident? Do you know the perptrator’s real intention or motivation, or is that something you are simply making up as part of your ego-mind story? What were the consequences? Which consequences were the direct result of the perpetrator’s actions, and which ones are the result of your own thinking patterns?
- Acknowledge and validate your judgments and feelings. Notice what kinds of thoughts and judgments you have about the perpetrator. Are you attached to “getting even” or finding justice or having your revenge? What do you imagine you might gain by following through on your vengeful thoughts? What are you feeling emotionally about all of this?
- Express and release your emotional energy. Allow yourself to fully experience and express the emotional energy associated with this situation. Some of this energy may be locked in place because of previous attempts to “stuff it”, so give yourself permission to feel it all. Allow it to pass through you so that the pain dissipates and eventually disappears.
- Own your part in the situation. This is not about making yourself wrong for whatever happened; it’s part of the process for raising awareness about your part of the situation. Did you do something that might have triggered the other person’s behavior? Was there a part of you that derived pleasure from pushing the other person’s buttons? Did you do something after the fact to make matters worse? Could you have done anything to improve, mitigate or resolve the situation?
- Re-connect to compassion and unconditional love. After your emotional energy has passed and you have honestly reflected on the whole situation, allow yourself to reconnect naturally and gently to compassion. Find a place of compassion for the other person, who may have been (and may still be) suffering from struggles of his or her own. Find a place of compassion for yourself and whatever struggle you’ve been going through, and release yourself from thoughts of revenge. Give yourself permission to forgive the other person; in the quiet silence of your mind, simply say “I forgive you.” At the same time, give yourself permission to forgive yourself; in your mind imagine that you are speaking to yourself, and say silently “I forgive you.”
You may need to go through this exercise a few times before all of the energy completely dissipates. Remember, the other person does not need to know you are doing this—the exercise is completely for you, and you alone. But do notice how much lighter and more open you feel each time you complete the exercise. Invite and embrace that lightness, and allow it to inform the way you show up going forward.
For more information about this topic, please see the full program at Life Mastery Way (and remember the name of your card).
Cash Pumping In…
This card will tell you how things will be in the future…
River of Grace
Flow
Overview
When we come into the physical world, we arrive in a state of sacred flow. We are excited and happy to be in our new surroundings, full of curiosity, and eager to venture onto the path of our adventures. We aren’t troubled by the past or worried about the future; we are simply present in the here-and-now, full of wonder for whatever shows up next.
But soon enough, life happens, and we find ourselves bound and restricted by ever more complicated rules and guidelines and demands. Soon enough, the sacred flow is nowhere to be found, and life becomes more of a struggle and challenge than an adventure.
When we visit River of Grace, we are gently and lovingly reminded of the natural state we arrived in. Here, we learn about Flow—the idea of presence in action—and how we can reclaim it and maintain it in our everyday life.
Situation
You are well aware that something important is going to take place in your life in the next few days or weeks. It is something you have been anticipating with a mixture of excitement and fear. You are worrying about possible negative consequences of this event’s arrival, and obsession with these fearful thoughts makes it difficult for you to stay focused on important things that need your attention right now.
Recommendation
The only two times when nothing can be done are Yesterday and Tomorrow. If you focus your attention on either of them, you are depriving yourself of the gift of Today.
It may well be true that something you have anticipated for a while is soon to appear, and it will bring with it whatever it brings. You can worry about how this event will show up, about how it will impact you, about all the things that could possibly go wrong, yes, you can do all that if you want to. But what is it costing you to concern yourself this way about something that has not yet happened? Wouldn’t you find your life less stressful if you could stop this worrisome future-think?
Bring yourself back to the present, to the here-and-now, and allow yourself to experience what is here right now. Here’s a little trick you can do to help you re-ground yourself:
- Imagine that the event you are anticipating has already arrived, and that everything about it turned out more or less as expected. Notice the relief you feel, and the immediate sense of relaxation that shows up as a result.
- Now, simply allow the event to be a wonderful memory in your mind, something that you can cherish any time you are feeling a little stressed out. Allow this memory to be so important to you that it seems almost like a peak experience.
- Bring the emotional energy if this experience back into the present moment, and notice how you are feeling right now.
Focus your attention on your renewed sense of aliveness, and let that inform all your thoughts, words and actions going forward. Anytime you find yourself slipping back into worry mode, come back to this exercise and let it ground you and bring you back to Flow.
For more information about this topic, please see the full program at Life Mastery Way (and remember the name of your card).
Awakening
This card will tell you how things will be in the future…
River of Grace
Flow
Overview
When we come into the physical world, we arrive in a state of sacred flow. We are excited and happy to be in our new surroundings, full of curiosity, and eager to venture onto the path of our adventures. We aren’t troubled by the past or worried about the future; we are simply present in the here-and-now, full of wonder for whatever shows up next.
But soon enough, life happens, and we find ourselves bound and restricted by ever more complicated rules and guidelines and demands. Soon enough, the sacred flow is nowhere to be found, and life becomes more of a struggle and challenge than an adventure.
When we visit River of Grace, we are gently and lovingly reminded of the natural state we arrived in. Here, we learn about Flow—the idea of presence in action—and how we can reclaim it and maintain it in our everyday life.
Situation
You are well aware that something important is going to take place in your life in the next few days or weeks. It is something you have been anticipating with a mixture of excitement and fear. You are worrying about possible negative consequences of this event’s arrival, and obsession with these fearful thoughts makes it difficult for you to stay focused on important things that need your attention right now.
Recommendation
The only two times when nothing can be done are Yesterday and Tomorrow. If you focus your attention on either of them, you are depriving yourself of the gift of Today.
It may well be true that something you have anticipated for a while is soon to appear, and it will bring with it whatever it brings. You can worry about how this event will show up, about how it will impact you, about all the things that could possibly go wrong, yes, you can do all that if you want to. But what is it costing you to concern yourself this way about something that has not yet happened? Wouldn’t you find your life less stressful if you could stop this worrisome future-think?
Bring yourself back to the present, to the here-and-now, and allow yourself to experience what is here right now. Here’s a little trick you can do to help you re-ground yourself:
- Imagine that the event you are anticipating has already arrived, and that everything about it turned out more or less as expected. Notice the relief you feel, and the immediate sense of relaxation that shows up as a result.
- Now, simply allow the event to be a wonderful memory in your mind, something that you can cherish any time you are feeling a little stressed out. Allow this memory to be so important to you that it seems almost like a peak experience.
- Bring the emotional energy if this experience back into the present moment, and notice how you are feeling right now.
Focus your attention on your renewed sense of aliveness, and let that inform all your thoughts, words and actions going forward. Anytime you find yourself slipping back into worry mode, come back to this exercise and let it ground you and bring you back to Flow.
For more information about this topic, please see the full program at Life Mastery Way (and remember the name of your card).
Igniting…
This card will tell you how things will be in the future…
Peaceful Heart Meadow
Acceptance
Overview
Our ego-minds spend a great deal of time trying to keep us safe—sometimes in ways that, on close inspection, may seem quite dysfunctional. We often find ourselves trying to make sense of our circumstances by putting our own spin on things—that is, we analyze, explain, justify, or interpret our situations without really making any effort to accept them as they are. In other words, we unconsciously tend to reject what is in favor of our own story or thinking about what is.
In Peaceful Heart Meadow, we begin to learn about the first Key Skill: Acceptance. As we become more aware of what is, our first priority is to accept it as it is. That is, we suspend our judgments, conclusions or stories about it, so that we can grok it more clearly for what it really is—rather than for what we think it is.
Acceptance is not about agreeing with anything; it’s not about condoning anything; it’s not about believing in anything. All of those actions—agreeing, condoning, believing—require you to analyze, explain, justify or interpret what is, which puts you back into your ego-mind, and disconnects you from your innate ability to accept. Acceptance is simply about being fully aware of what is and acknowledging it as such—in other words, Acceptance is Awareness without Story. If you get out of your head and into your heart, you engage your natural power to accept what is. Once you have accepted it for what it really is, then and only then can you actually do something about it.
Situation
You are in the center of a confluence of events and circumstances that will lead to a situation you will find intolerable or unacceptable. Your unconscious reaction to this situation will put you in a place of powerful resistance to what is happening, and your resistance will in turn complicate the situation and exacerbate your own discomfort and upset. If you are not careful, this may lead to additional hardship or heartbreak for you.
Recommendation
You may not be able to change or stop whatever circumstances are coming your way, but you can certainly prepare yourself so that you are able to deal with them from a place of calm equanimity. The way to do this is to practice Acceptance for situations that are relatively easy to accept; then, as you gain confidence in your ability, you will find that bringing the same level of Acceptance to more challenging situations will become easier.
For a situation which has not yet come into being, it may be difficult for you to cultivate an accepting attitude in advance. However, you can use the Future Presence process to help you:
- Use your imagination to create a challenging but realistic scenario that has a reasonably high likelihood of coming to pass in your life. Put this scenario somewhere into your future, and imagine that it is something that is certain to happen.
- In your mind travel forward to a time a few days following the event in question, and begin to imagine that you dealt with the situation with complete success, because you were able to fully accept it as it was.
- In your mind, conduct a short interview with your future self. Ask him/her the following questions:
- How did you stay fully present and aware during this difficult time?
- When you found yourself resisting the situation, how did you bring yourself back to a place of Acceptance?
- What difference did your Acceptance make in your handling of the situation?
- What were you thinking as the situation progressed?
- What were you feeling?
- How do you feel now that the situation has passed?
- Take note of all the answers that you get, and bring your new understanding back to the present moment.
Recognize and understand that you have the capability to accept any situation for what it is, no matter how challenging it might appear to be. You can use this new understanding to prepare you more fully for what is yet to come.
For more information about this topic, please see the full program at Life Mastery Way (and remember the name of your card).
Focusing…
This card will tell you how things will be in the future…
River of Grace
Flow
Overview
When we come into the physical world, we arrive in a state of sacred flow. We are excited and happy to be in our new surroundings, full of curiosity, and eager to venture onto the path of our adventures. We aren’t troubled by the past or worried about the future; we are simply present in the here-and-now, full of wonder for whatever shows up next.
But soon enough, life happens, and we find ourselves bound and restricted by ever more complicated rules and guidelines and demands. Soon enough, the sacred flow is nowhere to be found, and life becomes more of a struggle and challenge than an adventure.
When we visit River of Grace, we are gently and lovingly reminded of the natural state we arrived in. Here, we learn about Flow—the idea of presence in action—and how we can reclaim it and maintain it in our everyday life.
Situation
You are well aware that something important is going to take place in your life in the next few days or weeks. It is something you have been anticipating with a mixture of excitement and fear. You are worrying about possible negative consequences of this event’s arrival, and obsession with these fearful thoughts makes it difficult for you to stay focused on important things that need your attention right now.
Recommendation
The only two times when nothing can be done are Yesterday and Tomorrow. If you focus your attention on either of them, you are depriving yourself of the gift of Today.
It may well be true that something you have anticipated for a while is soon to appear, and it will bring with it whatever it brings. You can worry about how this event will show up, about how it will impact you, about all the things that could possibly go wrong, yes, you can do all that if you want to. But what is it costing you to concern yourself this way about something that has not yet happened? Wouldn’t you find your life less stressful if you could stop this worrisome future-think?
Bring yourself back to the present, to the here-and-now, and allow yourself to experience what is here right now. Here’s a little trick you can do to help you re-ground yourself:
- Imagine that the event you are anticipating has already arrived, and that everything about it turned out more or less as expected. Notice the relief you feel, and the immediate sense of relaxation that shows up as a result.
- Now, simply allow the event to be a wonderful memory in your mind, something that you can cherish any time you are feeling a little stressed out. Allow this memory to be so important to you that it seems almost like a peak experience.
- Bring the emotional energy if this experience back into the present moment, and notice how you are feeling right now.
Focus your attention on your renewed sense of aliveness, and let that inform all your thoughts, words and actions going forward. Anytime you find yourself slipping back into worry mode, come back to this exercise and let it ground you and bring you back to Flow.
For more information about this topic, please see the full program at Life Mastery Way (and remember the name of your card).