MASTERING SELF: MY GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT
What if I told you that you have the power to create heaven on earth when you MASTER SELF? Would you believe it? If not, let me explain.
YOU ARE the most powerful person in the Universe! More importantly, you don’t have to search for your power. Your power lives WITHIN. Your power is your birthright and you have the ability to access it at ANY moment. Accessing your power and making choices that SERVE you is my definition of “self-mastery.” Mastering SELF includes mastering emotions, behaviors and actions.
At any given moment in any given day you are making choices. To clarify, I’m not referring to which restaurant you choose or which outfit makes you look slimmer. No, I’m talking about your day-to-day choices while interacting with the world.
As an example, let me share a personal story.
Shhhhh…don’t tell anyone…I love to drive and I love driving really fast! I could have been a race car driver however my parents wanted me to finish school and consequently I was side tracked. Anyway, back to the story. I pass cars all the time that aren’t moving as fast as I need them to travel. J I admit there have been several instances, while passing a slower motorist, I’ve received the famous “one finger salute.” I never understood why passing a stranger on the road invoked such a passionate response however I’ve accepted this phenomenon for what it is…a reaction from a stranger…which I refuse to take personally.
Recently, I was routinely driving to the bus station where I park my car and ride the remaining distance on public transportation into downtown Los Angeles. What happened next was not routine.
I was stopped at a traffic signal. There were three lanes of southbound traffic and I was positioned in the far right lane. As soon as the light turned green I shot out like the first horse out of the gate at a race track. I floored the pedal to the medal as I began to pass the motorist on my left. Well, the driver on my left side rejected my Mario Andretti maneuver and refused to let me pass. In fact, without warning he violently turned his steering wheel toward my automobile! It was a dangerous and blatant attempt to drive me off the road! Unlike my memory, my reflexes still remain quick and sharp. I immediately jammed on the brakes while turning right to avoid hitting him and the curb ahead.
I’m sure you can imagine several ways a person could CHOOSE to react at this moment however I did not CHOOSE the typical response. I chose a reaction that was out of the norm. A reaction that required a connection with the Universe. Can you guess which reaction I’m describing? I’ll give you a few moments to think…time’s up!
Admittedly, my adrenaline was pumping while swerving off the road to avoid a collision. After coming to a stop, I took a few deep breaths and gathered my thoughts. I recovered quickly and began my intended journey to the bus station.
Well, guess who I ran into (pun intended) on the way to my final destination? Yes, as fate would have it, Mr. Road Rage was stopped at the approaching signal.
I drove directly behind Mr. R. Rage and I snapped a picture of his license plate with my iPhone…just in case. The light turned green and I changed lanes to position myself directly on his left side. We traveled side by side for approximately a half mile before another traffic signal stopped us.
As Mr. Rage stopped for the light he drove his car forward, past the cross-walk, far enough to practically reach the intersection. I did the same. He knew I was next to him and he was avoiding any contact. I rolled down my passenger window while he continued to stare straight ahead. I then tapped on the horn to get his attention, toot-toot. He ignored me. I tapped again, toot toot. He finally looked my way and when our eyes met I clasped my hands together in a submissive praying position. My demeanor was calm. I motioned for him to roll his window down and after a few seconds he did so, reluctantly. I began with “Sir, I was almost in an accident because of the way you changed lanes.” I continued in my sweetest voice, “Please be careful!” My hands were still in the prayer position. At that moment we were looking directly into each others eyes. The attempted murderer J was momentarily confused and lost for words. He wasn’t expecting this CHOSEN response. I gave him a reassuring smile and he said….wait for it…wait for it…“I’m sorry, I didn’t see you.” I quickly offered, “Okay, no problem. Thank you and drive safely.” I flashed the UNIVERSAL peace sign and drove off. At this moment I needed to check MY rear-view mirror to make sure I was the one speaking because TWO YEARS AGO I would have used several expletives along with threats to have him arrested for attempted murder!
Now, his statement “I didn’t see you” was untrue and his actions were deliberate however I chose to ignore the evidence to create what is more important to me…a sense of internal peace. This is when the practice of self-mastery comes into play…acknowledging I am the sole individual responsible for my personal state.
Self-mastery is about creating and maintaining a tone, a personal environment, if you will, for SELF. You are the ONLY one that has control over YOU. You don’t have control over outside forces OR what happens to you BECAUSE of outside forces.
Your power lies in your CHOICES. You have the power to change your attitude and change your reaction to anything that has happened, is happening, or will happen to you!
Please take note that I said change your attitude and change your reaction to what happens in your life…not the circumstances! This truth is a very important concept to accept. Giving up trying to control anything OUTSIDE of YOU is a key component to self-mastery.
Elements to Self-Mastery
- You and you alone are responsible for your internal state of being.
- Recover QUICKLY. The past exists as long as you focus on it.
- Make a daily commitment to practice mastering SELF.
- Have FUN learning the skills to self-mastery. Invent new ways to respond to old issues.
- When you master SELF mastering the world becomes EASY.
If I offered you heaven on earth would you be willing to make the commitment to self-mastery? Interestingly enough, some people are committed to self-mastery and some aren’t. Some people are governed by circumstances and some are governed by other people. I choose neither one of those options because I’ve already lived that way and I still remember how it felt. It was similar to riding a rollercoaster…up down, up down, up down and the ride never ended until I CHOSE to MASTER SELF!
In closing, mastering any new skill takes time, patience and more importantly a commitment. Self-mastery involves consciously committing to daily practice. The reward is discovering heaven on earth.
HAPPINESS IS MORE THAN A FEELING
Imagine you live alone. It’s 2:00 a.m. on a Monday night. You’re asleep, completely unaware of the danger you’re about to face in the following moments.
A stranger enters your home through a backyard window. You’re a sound sleeper so you don’t hear the footsteps moving quickly and methodically throughout your home, searching for valuables. The intruder carries a large garbage bag in his left hand and a flashlight in his right. Eventually, he arrives at your bedroom door.
Your valuables are kept in a jewelry box located on a nightstand, next to your bed. It doesn’t take long for the stranger to pocket all of its contents while you sleep.
For an unknown reason, your sixth sense awakens you. Your eyes begin to slowly focus still unsure of why you’ve been awakened. Immediately, the strangers’ attention is now on you. As you realize you’re not alone, you’re flooded with terror. Instinctively you attempt to scream however your voice fails to utter even a soft whimper. The intruder grabs the pillow from underneath your head and begins using it as a deadly weapon. He covers your face before you are able to stop him.
Instinctively, you grab his arms in an attempt to throw him off. You’re strong but he’s stronger, much stronger. Frantically, you punch him with your fists. Unfortunately, his grip on the pillow does not budge. Panic is occupying every cell in your body. The more you fight the weaker you become. You’re literally fighting to breath but more importantly you’re fighting to live. At this moment your only focus is on survival. Yes or yes?
Okay, take a deep breath now. The story is over! You’re safe!
My point? What a GREAT question! I’m so glad you asked.
I’m asking YOU, to COMMIT to being happy with the SAME amount of energy and focus that you NEED to BREATHE!
A few years ago, I shared this analogy with a close relative. When I finished, he looked at me and said, “I guess I don’t want to be happy that bad!”
My dear readers, when I made the commitment to being happy, "like my life depended on it" my life began to change INSTANTLY!!! No delayed gratification here. With YOUR commitment comes change and growth that is evident in your daily life. More importantly, your personal vibration shifts and YOU begin to attract MORE HAPPINESS!
However, if happiness is NOT a priority for you, that’s okay too. There are no judgments here. As my father, Ralph Norrington would say…“different stokes for different folks...and so on and so on and shu be do be do be!”
MY FORMULA for Happiness
COMMITMENT + PATIENCE + TRUST = HAPPINESS
Two RULES:
1. You are NOT permitted to BLAME anyone or any circumstance for your unhappiness. YOUR HAPPINESS is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY!
2. You must be committed to incorporate NEW thoughts & NEW ideas into your life.
When you CHOOSE Happiness as your #1 PRIORITY, I GUARANTEE the following:
1. You begin to RELAX. (Take a deep breath here!)
2. You begin to TRUST that EVERYTHING that happens is in divine order, and further
EVERYTHING that happens to YOU is for your BETTERMENT! (whether you realize this in the moment or not)
3. You set your personal vibration more happiness.
4. TOXIC emotions (emotions that subtract from your happiness) such as anger, irritation, fear, sadness, resentment, jealously, rage, loneliness, hatred, shame, blame, hostility, anxiety, despair, hopelessness, impatience, negativity…(the list is endless)…will begin to LOOSE power and eventually cease to exist.
5. Toxic emotions will be replaced with emotions that nurture and feed your soul to attract even MORE HAPPINESS. Emotions like gratitude, joy, contentment, inner peace, enthusiasm, happiness, laughter, and the MOST important emotion of all, LOVE will begin to dominate your daily experiences. Contentment begins to rock & rule your world!
Finally, you begin to smile...a lot! No, you’re not crazy you’re just HAPPY! You’re happy for NO reason and you’re happy for EVERY reason! The light in your eyes can be seen from the farthest star in the Universe. You radiate LOVE and Universal energy! You are a beacon. People are drawn to you. Miracles begin to dominate your life!
In closing, be patient with you! New thoughts, habits and behaviors take time to develop. You'll notice the journey is similar to the way a Queen moves in a chess game. The Queen has the ability to literally move forwards, backwards, sideways, and diagonally. The great news is ALL movement is labeled PROGRESS! As long as you are committed to your ultimate goal of living “happily ever after” you will succeed!
WHAT IS A MYSTIC?
A Mystic is not a mysterious person but is one who has a deep, inner sense of Life and of their UNITY with the Whole. Mysticism and psychism are entirely different. One is real while the other may, or may not, be an illusion. There is nothing mysterious in the Truth…but all things seem mysterious until we understand them.
A mystic is one who intuitively perceives Truth and, without mental process, arrives at Spiritual Realization. It is from the teachings of the great mystics that the best in the philosophy of the world has come. Who was there who could have taught such men as these? By what process of mentality did they arrive at their profound conclusions? We are compelled to recognize that Spirit alone was their Teacher; they were indeed taught of God.
Our great religions have been given by a few who climbed the heights of spiritual vision and caught a fleeting glimpse of Ultimate Reality. No living soul could have taught them what they knew.
The great poets have been true mystics who, through their poems, have revealed the Presence of God. Through their poetry, which is immortal, they have given us a spiritual sense of life. Robert Browning, Tennyson, Wordsworth, Homer, Walt Whitman, Edward Rowland Sill, to name a few, and others of like natures are a few examples of mystics.
Great spiritual philosophers are mystics. The old prophets were mystics–David, Solomon, Jesus, Plotinus, and a score of others, all had the same experience–the sense of a Living Presence. The greatest music ever composed was written by the hand of a mystic, and the highest and best in art has come from men of spiritual perception.
Man has compelled nature to do his bidding. He has harnessed electricity, caught the wind, trapped steam, and made them do his will. He has invented machines to do the work of thousands. He has belted the globe with his traffic and built up a wonderful civilization; but in a few cases has he conquered his own soul. The mystic has revealed things that do not pass as ships in the night. The mystic reveals Eternal Verities and has plainly taught us that there is a Living Presence indwelling in ALL. The balance of our knowledge of God must come as a direct impartation from Him. We must learn it for ourselves!
Mystic v. Psychic
One is not favored over another…they are simply different. –rln
Mysticism and psychism are entirely different. One is real while the other may or may not, be an illusion. The mystic does not read human thought, but rather senses the atmosphere of God. The mystics of every age have seen, sensed and taught THE SAME TRUTH! On the other hand, psychic experiences can bear the exact opposite testimony, and more or less contradict each other, for each psychic sees a different kind of mental picture. But the mystic experiences in history have revealed ONE AND THE SAME TRUTH!
A psychic sees largely through his own or another’s subjective mentality. Consequently, their impressions are more or less colored by the vibration of his own or another’s thought. That is why, generally speaking, no two psychics see the same thing. Mystics have all sensed one IDENTICAL Reality, and their testimony is in no way confusing, because the Spirit within them has borne witness to the same Truth.
MYSTICS ARE NORMAL!
The mystics have been perfectly normal people. (Thank God! –rln) They did not think of themselves as mystics, that was merely their language…and calling. It was natural to
them–perfectly normal. They have been people like Jacob Boehme, a cobbler, pegging away at his shoes, who, looking up, saw in the geranium plant the reflection of the Cosmos–the very soul of God. Or like Jesus, looking into the heart of nature and Moses, reading God’s Law from a burning bush.
The teaching of the mystics has been that there should be conscious courting of the Divine Presence. There should be a conscious receptivity to It, but a balanced one. As one of the Apostles said, in substance, that he would rather speak ten words with his understanding than ten thousand with confusion. “God is not the author of confusion but of peace.” The mystics have been intensely and pre-eminently sane people, sound people. (Thank God…again! –rln)
It is through the teaching of the illumined that the Spiritual Universe reveals Itself, imparting to us what we know about God. What we directly experience ourselves, and what we believe other have experienced, is all we can know about God.
Jesus taught a Power transcendent, triumphant, absolute, positive message, against which lesser laws meant nothing. By Its very Presence It heals.
The mystics did not, and do not, contend or argue with people. There was nothing to argue about. THEY SAW and KNEW. Mystics are the great revealers to man, the nature of the Universe, and the relationship of man to God!
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FINDING A PURPOSE
When I made a wishes either by blowing out candles on my BD cake or throwing coins into a fountain, I always wished for the same two things. No, I didn't wish for Mr. Right or mansions on both coasts or the most expensive cars. I always wished for the same 2 things. To be happy and to live to my potential. It's impossible to count how many times I asked/wished to "be happy" and to "live to my potential" but you can imagine the number is high!
Well, 15 years ago, I received a road map to the ANSWERS I'd been searching for. However, the ANSWERS were nothing like what I IMAGINED!
For instance, I thought that marriage to someone I was "deeply in love with" was an ingredient for happiness. I thought that owning a home in an upscale neighborhood was another ingredient for happiness. I thought that skiing in Switzerland and the French Alps was another ingredient for happiness. Traveling to Paris and Rome would make me happy, for sure! I KNEW that having lots of money would make me happy.
Are YOU with me?
But the joke was on me! The Universe watched as I actively chased everything I thought would bring a lasting feeling of happiness. But the feeling came and went, very quickly. I could not sustain my happiness and that is what I wanted more than anything. I was tired of getting into arguments, I was tired of being irritated when the wind shifted, I was tired of traveling on an emotional roller coaster! It was a pattern of one day I was in a good mood the next day I was in a "bad mood." I knew something was missing, but what?
That's it! I told myself. I'm without a purpose. I began feverishly searching for a purpose, MY purpose. I spent over a decade searching. Why am I here? What am I supposed to be doing with my life? I knew there had to be something more. I instinctively knew there was SOMETHING more but whatever it was, it eluded me.
Looking back, I was searching for a FEELING. A feeling of lasting contentment, a feeling of peace, a feeling that touched my soul and reassured me I was ok just the way I was. A feeling that stayed with me. A feeling that I'm loved unconditionally, no matter what! No matter what I did or didn't do, no matter what I accomplished or didn't accomplish. A feeling that could not be taken or held hostage by anyone other than me. But that feeling could not be found, and more importantly, sustained by anything man-made. No, the feeling I was searching for could only be created and sustained by the same power that created this Universe.
Almost 2 decades ago I began my journey. The journey that would lead me to the reason for my existence. The journey that would lead me to what I now CRAVE. (I'm so dramatic!) I have to warn you, this journey is not a cake walk but the reward is HEAVEN on earth. To complicate the matter, this journey can only be made alone and what's WORSE is the journey required a lot of face time in the mirror.
I believe there are Universal LAWS that produce a CAUSE and EFFECT in every aspect of our lives. For example, we become what we THINK about. We also GET what we think about. Like attracts like. Feeling grateful is one of the secrets to happiness. Think about it...you can't be angry and grateful and the same time. You have the option to choose which emotion you want to feed! Isn't that exciting? We have the choice, and we've always had the choice because the Universe ALWAYS gives us a choice.
The fact is everything is made of energy. We are ENERGY! All energy vibrates at a certain frequency. We are constantly vibrating which means whatever we set our vibration to, we will receive. This is GREAT news because it exposes how much power we truly have!
My purpose is "To create memories that HEAL and INSPIRE others to have FUN, be themselves, seek the TRUTH, and LOVE HARDER!" rln
My intention is to share what I've discovered on the subject of happiness. HEAVEN on earth IS possible...and I can prove it. I have thousand of examples to share with anyone and everyone that is interested in an alternative way to LIVE!
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I'm a Happiness Specialist, Spiritual Consultant and Mystic, educated in Psychology at Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles, California. I have decades of extensive training and continued education that focuses on topics from spirituality to human potential.
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