September 20th, 2009
Recognising the need to change
This week I would like to pass on an excerpt from a book I’ve read recently which I think is very appropriate to the times we are experiencing.
The excerpt is from “Creating Money: Attracting Abundance” by Sanaya Roman and Duane Packer.
“Is a job, career or situation that used to work no longer working for you? Perhaps what you once loved to do has become a “have to” or lost its sense of newness and aliveness. No matter what level of prosperity and abundance you have achieved, there may come a time when your picture of where you want to be, or think you ought to be, does not match where you are.
It is important to know when to change course. No job, business or activity will be perfect forever unless you are willing to constantly update it, for as you grow the things around you need to be revised. Sometimes a simple change will do. Other times the only way you will be able to go to the next level will be to let go of everything you have and start over with something completely different.”
“Creating your life’s work doesn’t come from choosing safety and comfort over growth. It comes from choosing and taking the actions that help you get where you want to go. Learn to embrace your challenges with love rather than avoiding them. Start by doing something that is a slight reach for you; take on a slightly more challenging project than you normally tackle, or learn a new skill. When you do things that make you reach, the rewards are great. You will feel invigorated and energised afterward.”
“It is a challenge to love rather than dislike what you are leaving. If you focus on what you want, what you would love to have, and go toward it, you will have it. The more you dislike something, the more you may be stuck with it. One of the principles of the universe is that every situation in your life is teaching you how to love. You cannot leave something until you love it. You are tied to things you don’t like. If you hate something, you will be drawn to it again and again (even though the person or form may change) until you love it. Once you love it, you are free from it.”
Food for thought!
“If you hate something, you will be drawn to it again and again (even though the person or form may change) until you love it. Once you love it, you are free from it.”
I have to DISAGREE with the author here. you don’t have to love anything to be free from it. It is simply changing your way of thinking and your attitude to be free from something or someone.
For example, where I work now, It’s just OK. I am focusing on June and moving on from there. I don’t have to love my job to be free from it. I will do the best that I can and continue searching for other jobs.
Shawn
Comment by Shawn — September 23, 2009 @ 8:49 pm
Hi Shawn,
Yes, I thought that sentence would create debate, it appears to be quite an advanced spiritual concept. I can see the sense in it however; if we hate something and are thus giving the thing attention and energy, it won’t disappear from our lives, although of course, you are right, it is our attitude to something that is important. And if our attiutude towards it is love, love frees us of everything!
Comment by Janice — September 24, 2009 @ 7:47 am
Janice, I still disagree because the author is trying to put it in all facets of our life. It’s not about loving anything you hate. it’s about changing your attitude about it and doing the work to make a changein your life. This author is WAY OFF in more ways than one.
This is in no way any advanced spiritual concept. This has been expressed MUCH BETTER by authors from the 60s.
Shawn
Comment by Shawn — September 24, 2009 @ 2:29 pm
Love and hate are relative terms. What does someone mean when he/she says these words? Love is a word. It means very different things to different people but if we say we love something we are giving it our attention, big time, for different reasons, but maybe our attention is not as special as we like to think.
Comment by charless — September 26, 2009 @ 9:32 pm
Well, I’ll try again, please feel free to delete this if you so wish.
Love is an idea that means different things to different people. In its pure form it’s manifested by the capacity to put the loved one’s needs above your own - no matter what the consequences. The ability to do this is very rare. For most people so-called love for someone is an expression of need.
Unfortunately there are no laws or rules or rituals that allow us to navigate through, much less control, our lives. We have to deal with who we are and we can’t just attract in whatever suits us or makes us feel comfortable and secure by following a few superficial practices laid out in a best-selling book.
These rules and laws and so on are like the training wheels on a child’s bike. When you’re ready to take them off and just face the mystery you’re ready to start.
Comment by charless — September 27, 2009 @ 6:51 pm
Dear Janice,
I just discovered your blog and have very much enjoyed reading this and past entries. This one is totally relevant to my life right now as I am also in the process of “changing course” from a career that has become tedious (translating, both in-house and freelance) to one that I’m quite excited about (starting a language school in Andalucía). So as I’m sure you can imagine I was quite happy to discover all of the information you have so kindly provided in your blog posts.
With respect to this particular blog, I have to say that I can see where Shawn’s coming from as far as not feeling it necessary to learn to love what he’s leaving in order to be free of it. I would also tend to think that a certain level of acceptance that doesn’t involve focusing on what you don’t like about the current situation would suffice, in combination with turning your thoughts toward your future project. I saw in some of your other posts that you mentioned the teachings of Jerry and Esther Hicks - I’ve also followed them for more than 10 years now and can totally relate to the concept of releasing resistance, but is actual love really necessary? As they say at least, it’s good to focus on what you don’t want just long enough to recognize that you don’t want that in your life, and then concentrate on what you do want. However, maybe these are just semantic issues - perhaps the authors you quoted above also mean acceptance/complete lack of resistance when they use the word love. Anyway I’m in trouble if I need to learn to love my current work!
Comment by Susan — September 28, 2009 @ 3:30 pm
Susan,
Thanks for understanding what I was writing. I fell that we don’t have to show love to anything or even onyone that we hate or dislike in order to be ree from it or that person. I accepted that I didn’t like living with my roommate and I moved on and we no longer talk. I am free from him and I wish him the best in his life and hope that he finally gets the help that he needs. There was no need for me to love him at all in order to be free from him.
Charles, I also understand your point of view and have reallyenjoyed reading what you have to say. It’s a strange concept to try and describe feelings, especially love and hate. We cn only say our reaction to these two feelings because they produce a variety of emotions for many people.
In the end, we have to choose the path that’s best for us that brings happiness.
Shawn
Comment by Shawn — September 29, 2009 @ 3:50 pm