July 25    

Today's quotation:

When I'm trusting and being myself. . . everything in my life reflects this by falling into place easily, often miraculously.


Shakti Gawain

Today's Meditation:

Trust is an amazing power.  When we trust ourselves or others, we add a certain power to whatever we're doing, a certain positive energy that allows us to approach our tasks with confidence and enthusiasm.  And when we approach things this way, we can accomplish a great deal in very effective ways.  And when our accomplishments start to reflect our trust in ourselves, then other things in life start to fall into place, also, as our levels of positive energy grow and expand in our lives.

When we trust ourselves, it's easier to be ourselves--to act in ways that are authentic and unique to us.  When our confidence levels are high, there's no need to put on airs or put on any kind of show, for we can make things happen simply with a little bit of positive effort.  And once they start happening, we learn very quickly that much of what might have been holding us back was our tendency to try to act as we thought others wanted us to act, or in ways that we thought would impress others.  It's no wonder things don't fall into place when we're not even being and trusting ourselves!

Once you realize just who you are and just what an authentic action is for you--an action that truly reflects your thoughts and beliefs and desires--then it's easy to act like yourself and to start trusting yourself and your motives and your actions.  We start to see more synchronicity in our lives as life begins to respond to our trust and our love and our authenticity.  We also start to find fulfillment in activities that reflect our authentic selves, activities that are true to who we are.  If I go to the opera just to impress others, that's one thing, but if I find an activity that I truly enjoy, that's another.

At work, in relationships, in school, at meetings--how often do we slip into roles rather than allowing ourselves to be ourselves, and trusting that person?

Things can fall into place easily in our lives, but we have to let them do so.  Acting from a place that's not true to who we are is a barrier, not a catalyst, and it doesn't allow us to trust ourselves.  After all, it's hard to trust ourselves when we're doing things we don't really feel comfortable doing.

Questions to consider:

What are some barriers to trusting yourself?  How did those barriers come to be?

When have you noticed that things fall into place easily in your life?  What factors have been in place at those times?

When are you more likely to allow yourself to be yourself?  How often do you search out those situations?

For further thought:

Nasreddin brought a bow and arrows with him to the country fair, and his students all came to see their teacher compete in the archery contest.  Like all other contestants, Nasreddin was given three shots at the target.  Before he took his first shot, Nasreddin put on the kind of hat a soldier wears and stood up very straight.  Then he pulled the bow back hard and fired.  Nasreddin missed the target completely, and the crowd laughed mightily at him.


Nasreddin picked up the bow once more and drew it back.  This time he used much less strength, and although the arrow flew straight at the target, it fell far short.

Nasreddin had only his third shot left.  He simply turned to face the target and fired the third arrow.  It hit dead center, and the whole crowd went crazy!  Everyone wanted to know how he made the last shot after not even having come close with the first two.

"I'll tell you," Nasreddin said.  "For the first shot, I was imagining I was a soldier and a terrible enemy faced me.  Fear caused the arrow to fly high over the target.  When I took the second shot, I was thinking like a man who had missed his first one and was so nervous he could not concentrate.  He was weak with worry, and the shot was weak, too."

Nasreddin paused.  Finally a courageous soul spoke up.  "And what about the third one?  Who fired that arrow?"

"Oh," said Nasreddin.  "That was me!"

traditional Sufi story

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