I am up very early again.  I want to write.  FMTV offers a Transcendence master class which focuses on nutrition, meditation, and empowering and limiting beliefs.  I have decided to add the Transcendence class to my new Aspirations in Joyful Vibrance “little black book” notebook.

 

Here is one of the exercises from the master class workbook:

 

What do you want to achieve in life?	How would achieving this make you feel?	What empowering beliefs do you need to achieve this?
I want to lose to 50 kg.	I would feel joy and have a great sense of accomplishment. I would feel better in my clothes. I would feel better about the way I look.	I need to believe I will do this. I will stay within my calorie budget to lose 1/2 pound/week. I will abstain from gluten, sugar, GMO’s, hydrogenated oils, artificial sweeteners, and refined grains as they will inflame me and prevent or retard weight loss.
I want to live mindfully.	I would feel less anxiety and depression. I would have joyful vibrance!	A mindful life is a better way to live.

 

 

 

Awaken the Giant Within also has an exercise to 1) list your empowering beliefs and 2) list your limiting beliefs.  This has been a hard exercise for me to do and I have been struggling with it throughout the day.  I believe in a Creator God.  I choose to believe that Christ is the Creator God, but I do not have 100% certainty of that.  He is a good possibility however.  I am always looking for more references to support that belief.

 

 

I have a relationship with Christ, and I am always getting more references or experiences to support it.  However, there are other possible explanations for what I have experienced.  Since I have been locked up for the way I relate to Christ, I have mixed feelings about whether my relationship with Him is empowering.  Paul of the New Testament was locked up for his beliefs too, so perhaps my experience is no different.  Paul preached with a great deal of certainty, despite the persecution he encountered.

 

 

Certainty and conviction are sometimes feared in our society (and in Paul’s), and yet there is much you can do with them.  I suppose that when I am not manic, I tend to keep a margin of uncertainty in my beliefs to avoid going overboard with conviction.  That seems to be a safety net for me.  However, does that rob me of my power?  Can I stay rational and yet have so much certainty I can do almost anything I undertake?  It seems that rationality always forces you to consider the pros and cons of every situation.  However, I can get so mired in considering pros and cons, I do not act.  Action is step two in the Success Mechanism.  Perhaps more certainty than I have currently would be empowering.

 

 

I have ventured into sharing my prayers on the Internet, and boldly I have sometimes even shared the answers to those prayers.  So far, no one has locked me up over it, though I do have that underlying fear.  Why do I venture to do that?  I want to share because I think deep within everyone is a divine voice that can give answers to deep, perplexing questions.  I want to encourage others to listen to that voice deep within as it can be empowering.  Is it God?  Is it just the Higher Self?  Or is it merely intuition?  I do not know.  However, I believe that “following your heart” is very valuable, and should be encouraged.  We cannot always find the answers “out there.”  The answers to many things must come from within.

 

 

Perhaps my belief that I can get divine answers from within is an empowering belief.  I have certainly made a great many decisions consulting with that Voice.  I have tempered my anger on many occasions by gaining a more divine perspective to situations I find myself in.  The Voice is a constant friend.

 

 

What I do not understand is that the Voice seems to change its mind from time to time.  Would God change His mind?  And yet, sometimes I find new information that compels me to believe that my former stance was in error.  Then the Voice sometimes leads me into a completely new way of life from what it had espoused earlier.  So does that mean the Voice is not God, or does it mean that God changes His mind?  I have reasoned that God works with the best of my understanding at any one time, and then when my understanding changes, something new may be apparent.  However, then again, I could be wrong.  I always allow for the possibility of being wrong.

 

Maybe that is not certainty, but it does involve a certain amount of humility.  In the meantime I keep learning and growing, gleaning from various faith traditions tidbits that can be incorporated into my belief structure.  I take my belief structure apart from time to time and rebuild it again, trying to keep it new and robust enough to withstand the stresses of modern-day living.  What can I do to my beliefs to make them more empowering?

 

 

Mindfulness is a concept from Buddhism, which has become westernized.  I think it is very valuable and should be incorporated into every faith tradition and corporate structure.  I especially try to incorporate mindfulness into my driving.  Even though I get stressed from driving, I seek to mitigate that by paying full attention.  I do not listen to the radio, use the telephone, or engage heavily in conversation while I am driving.  I focus on what I am doing and the environment around me.  I have a good safety record to show for that.

 

Eating is another area where mindfulness is warranted.  Lately, I have been slowing down more and more.  My husband has been after me for years to slow down.  I have had ulcers, probably from eating too fast.  Now that my life has a slower pace, I find I can eat mindfully.  I plan to continue this practice.

 

Even walking can be done mindfully, as we take notice of the feeling in our feet as we take each footstep.  Sometimes I spend my time walking talking with my Higher Power, but perhaps I could keep my mind more silent.  That is an area where I could transform my life.

 

Mindfulness is hugely useful in pain management.  Sometimes, by being with my pain, I can get it to totally disappear.  I rarely need pain medication.  The only pain medication I have used for a long time is the herb butterbur.

 

 

As far as limiting beliefs go, I am sure I have many.  I probably have limiting beliefs about my driving.  Since I am driving mindfully, I am probably safer than I give myself credit for, so I should not be so anxious afterwards.

 

I have limited myself by not returning to work except for an occasional contract job.  I came close to surmounting that limiting belief when my mother said, “You’ll never be able to work again.”  I confess that I had a hard time not believing her.  I have so far not gained enough references to prove to myself that I can work again.  Now I realize from Tony Robbins that you do not have to build your table of belief for limiting beliefs.  I do not need to assemble all the reasons why working again is impossible.  I only need to assemble empowering beliefs.  For now, I have a job as a blogger, not to mention being a full-time housewife.  If it ever becomes necessary, I will shed my limiting beliefs about working.

 

 

In the meantime, I will build empowering experiences for the activities I do undertake.

 

Today, I had a pile of boxes that needed to go out.  I started flattening them, breaking through the glue on them, and found that I could get them all flattened with my bare hands.  I put them all in a pile and was able to take them all out in one trip.  I felt empowered once I was done because my inner voice said I could do what I was doing, and I proved it right.  That may seem extremely simple and mundane, but a belief in one’s capabilities flows into every aspect of life.

 

 

 

EVENING Prayer

Dear Lord,   Thank You for being there tonight.  I have been sorting my empowering and limiting beliefs today.   You have protected me and provided for me for all these years.  What can I do now that would be of benefit to society?  How can I be empowered?   I made a bold move to leave everything and come to Colorado.  My husband went through a lot of medical trials during the first part of our marriage.  For a few days, it looked like I would go back to Utah.  However, I returned to my Colorado home to an even better relationship with my husband.   Lord, things are challenging still.  Recently I suffered some more depression, but I came out of it before it got really deep.  I pray that I can prevent relapses.   Perhaps my most empowering belief is that I have Your Voice in my heart.  That Voice changes its agenda from time to time, which puzzles me.  However, I am changing too.  I suppose I should not wonder about that.   I am planning to soon bring the belongings I left in Utah to Colorado.  Unfortunately, our small condo is not large enough to hold them all, but I can rent a storage space for them nearby.  Help me to use wisdom about what to do.   Help me and my readers to assemble a set of empowering beliefs, fully referenced with experiences.  Help us to accomplish whatever we deem important, and empower us with the beliefs needed to do that.   Amen.

 

If you would like to join me in this journey from the beginning, please start with Day One.