creative | Self-Help Books

This is the image of a painter with their palette of beautiful an colorful oil paints

Each one of us creates our personal reality through our perceptions.

Perception is how we interpret our environment through physical sensation. Whether we are conscious of it or not, our perceptions determine the way in which we see and experience absolutely everything in our lives. One way to understand our individual perceptions is to imagine that we are all born with our own personal paint brushes and a palette with an infinite array of colors. Our lives are the neutral canvas on which each of us paints our own individual pictures, depending on how we perceive our experiences.

The greatest divine gift given to humanity is free will

to choose our personal perceptions.

Will is defined by Webster as follows: to determine by an act of choice; the mental powers manifested as wishing, choosing, desiring, or intending. When we are aware that we can choose our perceptions, we empower ourselves to live consciously and, through our thoughts and imagination, we can choose how we want to perceive our experiences.

Each of us is an artist painting our own personal reality

through our unique perceptions.

We tend to label only certain types of people as “being creative,” such as dancers, artists, singers, sculptors, and chefs. The truth is that each one of us is an artist painting our own personal reality with the brush of every thought we have.

While we may all be looking at the same scenery, each person’s picture is different because we all sense life in a unique and individual way. One person’s picture may be delicate brushes with a few objects of pastel colors, another a very busy picture in broad strokes of vivid colors, yet another in all different shades of the same color with no objects at all. Two world-renowned artists demonstrate this contrast of world view beautifully. Picasso expressed his feelings through dramatic and bold art using seemingly random strokes of deep, vibrant colors. Monet’s art was a gentle expression of nature through pastel colors using delicate, intricate strokes.

This is why we can all experience the same thing, yet have entirely different responses. It also explains why ten people can interpret the same situation in ten different ways, each one thinking that he or she is “right.” It does not matter how anyone else sees the scenery, the individual pictures of how we perceive situations with our minds are what is real for each one of us.

Understanding that everyone has an entirely different way of perceiving their life experiences helps us to embrace another person’s point of view without judgment. It also helps us to appreciate the infinite number of ways in which each one of us expresses our feelings and views of life. Through our acceptance of the differences within each other, we honor the gift each one of us brings through the genuine expression of our true self.

You can read more about how we create our own reality through our perceptions on page 36, The Power of Oneness. Live The Life You Choose.

What are some ways in which you express your creative nature?

Love and Light,

Sandra

Sign with clouds behind that says, "Self-Worth

Do you constantly long for wonderful things in your life that just don’t seem to be happening? Perhaps you are hoping for more love in your relationships, greater financial abundance, a career you truly enjoy, and better health. You have worked hard, may have thought about the quality of life you desire in countless ways, imagined it, and prayed for it – and still, it just doesn’t seem to be manifesting into your reality!

So why aren’t your hopes and dreams for a better life coming true?

In your pure state of spirituality, there is a higher aspect of yourself that already knows you deserve to be loved, joyful, healthy, peaceful and living in abundance. This is the natural way of being your Essential Self, or often times referred to as your Higher Self, that is connected to spiritual truth. When your thoughts are in harmony with your truth, you remember that you DESERVE to receive all of these blessings.

There is also another aspect of yourself, which is the ego part of your mind, that dwells on thoughts of fear. All thought is creative, so whatever you are experiencing is a giant mirror reflecting your predominant thoughts. When you focus on fear, you create fearful circumstances. When you choose to focus on unconditional love, you create loving experiences. Since fear is the opposite of love, when you choose thoughts of fear, you are blocking the flow of blessings that naturally flow to you through the energy of unconditional love.

One major way in which we block the flow of blessings manifesting into our physical reality is through guilt and shame.

When we hold on to these self-defeating fearful emotions, we are basically sending out a conflicting message to the Universe: “Yes, I ask for all these blessings to come into my life; but no, I can’t accept them because I am not deserving.” By doing this, we are separating our Spiritual Self from our Physical Self and are standing in our own way of receiving, Not surprisingly, we don’t feel like we are in the flow of life.

If you are feeling guilty or shameful, you are most likely dwelling on the past and judging yourself for all the things you have said or done to hurt yourself and others. Perhaps the rationalization you are using for holding onto guilt and shame is that you feel the need to punish yourself for the many things you may have said or done in the past that you now perceive as “wrong.” The problem is that this type of self-flagellation does not heal anyone or anything. In truth, holding onto guilt and self-punishment is a form of ego that confirms victimhood. If not expressed and transformed, chances are that your feelings of guilt and shame will turn into long-term resentment, bitterness, and anger because you are not being kind to yourself.

Express your feelings

Feeling guilty and shameful at times is human and appropriate. This is why it is important to be honest with yourself about your feelings and express them in a constructive way. Talking with a non-judgmental friend or professional health practitioner, spending time with people you love, participating in physical activity, and being with nature are just a few ways to let out your emotions. Expressing your feelings of guilt and shame is healthy – on the other hand, making these feelings a permanent foundation for your beliefs about yourself is extremely damaging. It can become a constant excuse for denying yourself the quality of life you want to live.

Forgive Yourself

After you express your feelings, FORGIVE YOURSELF. Forgiving yourself does not mean that you just forget about everything. Forgiveness is a choice to stop living in the past and adjust your thoughts to focus in present time, where all possibilities exist. Forgiving yourself actually requires that you take full responsibility to choose healthier thoughts and actions. Since the past is already behind you, you now have a choice: you can drag along the pain and sorrow of your past experiences, or you can carry forward the lessons and growth that you have gained from dealing with the many challenges in your life. While this may seem like an oversimplification, this single decision will have a healing effect on your thoughts, your feelings, and your actions – in other words, it will change your whole reality!

Then make a commitment to yourself to be as honest and kind as you know to be to yourself and others from this point forward. This intention, based on forgiveness of self and others, requires an enormous amount of practice every day in every way. It is more than worth it because it harmonizes your thoughts with the frequency of Universal Love and will clear the way for you to receive the infinite blessings you DESERVE.

Love and Light,

Sandra

Tag Archives: creative

You are the Artist Painting the Picture of Your Life

You Are Worthy!