Love-Fu:

Love-Fu:
The Martial Art
Of Dealing With
A Very Challenging Person

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by KUTE BLACKSON

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Those that challenge you the most are also your greatest teachers.
Thank them, for they are the ones that call you to live your highest potential.

They are the opportunity for you to face yourself, your fears and those parts
of you that you don’t like, for they will expose it.

They are the opportunity to see how you stop loving and to love bigger.

They invite you to live the books, your prayers and your spirituality.

Often when we are faced with a challenging individual, we get angry. We might
defend our point, want to fight, be righteous, judge or collapse in fear.

Most of all those that challenge us, give us the opportunity to love.

But we must first shift our perception, how we view the situation and
that person.



Here are some steps:

1 -Shift: See that person/situation as a gift. They are the opportunity
for you to grow and love more.

2 – Let go: Give up being right and commit to being FREE. Nothing/No one
is worth your happiness or peace. Life is way too short.

3 – Realize: They are reflecting something for you to see, a part of yourself
that you need to own, an old wound that you get to heal and let go.

4 – Responsibility: Take the focus off of them, take responsibility and
learn your lesson. Embrace it. Graduate from the experience and move on.

5 - Release: Accept the person exactly as they are. Perhaps that might mean
you will need to let them go from your life or shift the dynamics of your
relationship. Stop fighting what they are.

6 – Communicate: Either communicate with them directly if appropriate or
simply bless them and let them go within your own heart. Since everything
is energy and we are all interconnected, the good vibes that you send that
person will affect them.

7 – Appreciate: Acknowledge your growth and learning. Focus on what you
received, and the person you became as a result, rather than what was taken.

Remember: When someone attacks you, they are in a lot of pain. And even
though it is directed at you, it most often isn’t about you. It isn’t personal,
even though it seems that way and they might even feel that way.

You can choose to fight fire with fire, but this only creates more devastation.
When someone attacks you, they want to engage you in a fight. If you attack back,
you are now caught up in a vicious cycle.

Even if you win the fight… no one really wins. Let go. Focus on freedom
and resolution.

It takes two people to fight. When you don’t engage the attack energy,
soon your adversary will be left fighting with her/himself.
Then the energy will dissipate.

If you drop to the level of your “attacker”, you perpetuate the cycle of
endless negativity. Your “attacker” will try to use your energy to keep
a war going. But if you don’t engage, then there is no resistance.
They will have no fuel to keep fighting you with.

If someone gives you a gift, but you decline to accept it, to whom
does the gift belong? It still belongs to the other person!

Rise above it. Disengage. Step to the side. Redirect. Live your freedom.

So, practice Love Fu. Then “Peace” is no longer just a sweet T-shirt slogan.
And Love is not just some nice mantra. But Love becomes a daily reality and
the opportunity in action for you to live moment to moment.

Love,

Kute

Check out more of my work at http://www.kuteblackson.com/

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The Trigger Point

There comes

a time in life

when everything

changes,

and changes

in a big way.
                                                                                    Photo credit: Gail Ackerman

You are going along, thinking nothing will ever change. You are either happy
with how things are, or feeling stuck. But nothing can remain static forever,
because we live in a dynamic Universe.

Lack of change is as impossible as God's not loving you.

Change is actually a constant. It just doesn't always show to you. The wheel
is always turning. It's kind of like how it is with earthquakes.
Life - and the land - seems smooth and stable, but behind the scenes, under the
ground, pressure is building up, and that pressure ultimately must be released.

In life, if you are clinging to old and outmoded ways of doing, and thinking,
and being, if you are clinging to memories of the past in lieu of living in the
present and making the most of it, the same sort of pressure is building up,
but this one is a pressure for change.

The more rigid you are, and the more strongly you hang on to the old ways,
the rougher and more traumatic/dramatic it will be when the breakthrough/breakaway
occurs.

We are not saying that old is bad, nor that everything old should be devalued
or discarded. Far from it. It is a winnowing process, a separating of the
wheat from the chaff. The valuable nuggets are saved and preserved, while the
dried up husks that have no life energy left in them are blown away.

We call these "trigger points." The bullet is in the gun, quiet and dormant,
then without warning, it is ejected and flying freely in the air.

A total change.

A sudden change.

In between one state and the other, lies the trigger point.

Life is full of these trigger points. The more open and flexible you are,
the more ready to change and adapt to new opportunities and situations,
the easier and more comfortable these changes will be for you.

Some of these changes, these trigger points, you have some control over.
Others come completely unexpectedly. The difference between a planned
and unplanned baby. You can't be ready for everything, not the things you
cannot foresee.

So what can you do about it?

When you stay relaxed and in Love, centered in God and Joy and Appreciation,
trust will come more naturally, and fear will have less of a hold on you.
Trusting and remaining relaxed will insulate you somewhat from the buffeting
winds of change and circumstance. You'll stress less and cope better.

If you push back against the forces of impending change, you might as well try
to stop the progress of a glacier by leaning on it. Someone's gong to lose,
and it won't be the glacier. Give in gracefully, and turn your attention away
from resistance, to scoping out the new terrain ahead of you for new and
promising possibilities. For there are always new options, broadened horizons,
and tantalizing adventures, even if you never leave your home.



Don't fear these trigger points, for they are natural and bear wondrous gifts,
if you let them. But you have to accept the gift basket, and open it to begin
the enjoy what's inside. Open yourself to the next possibilities, and look forward
with joy and anticipation to your next trigger point and the gifts it brings.

We love and bless you, and we'll see you at the crossroads.

Namaste.

Posted by Orea

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On Believing in Your Ideas

Tiny Wisdom:
On Believing in Your Ideas

by: Lori Deschene

“Ideas can be life-changing.
Sometimes all you need
to open the door
is just one more good idea.”

-Jim Rohn

The other day, my boyfriend and I started brainstorming for a screenplay we’re going to write.
As we kept finding new details about the characters and events, I found myself fully visualizing
it in my head.

I saw what the actors would look like. I imagined the trailer. I could hear the soundtrack.
I was laughing at jokes that we didn’t yet write. The movie felt like a living, breathing organism,
and in that moment, even at the very beginning of this new journey, I fully believed in our possibility.

I told him it felt so real, even though it was just a seed of an idea, and in that moment, I believed
we could write it and get it made. That initial enthusiasm, the unadulterated belief–it’s magic.
It’s when you’ve yet to consider all the reasons it might not work. It’s before you’ve contemplated
all the odds against you, or weighed other people’s opinions as if they’re facts.

That’s the feeling that makes things happen: the belief in what you visualize. It’s not always easy
to retain it, especially when you start doubting what you know and what you can do.

I know very little about writing a screenplay, but I know I am passionate enough about my ideas
to commit to the process of learning.

You won’t always know what you need to know. You won’t always get other people to see
what you see. And sometimes even you might stop believing. Obstacles have a way of seeming insurmountable, but rarely is that true.

Today if you start thinking your idea isn’t good enough, take a deep breath and remember:

What’s important is not what you know in this moment;
it’s what you believe you can learn and do.

Photo by mockerfab4

Photo by mockerfab4

Tiny Wisdom: On Being Seen

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by Lori Deschene

“Enthusiasm
is the greatest
asset in the world.
It beats money,
power, and influence.”

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-Henry Chester
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Influence has become a huge buzz word, particularly now that social media
has taken the world by storm. There are sites to measure it. Blog posts that dissect it.
Books that analyze the psychology of it. Collectively, we’re obsessed with the ability
 to persuade other people.

It’s not just about driving consumer behavior, although clearly that’s a big part of it
–everyone needs to earn a living. It’s also not all about the ego–having the most followers,
the most retweets, or the most influential friends. I suspect it’s also about the desire to be seen.

With so many people sharing their thoughts, feelings, and gifts, it’s easy to feel like you’re
not being heard. Like you’re not making a difference. But sometimes in our desires to be seen
by others, we stop looking into ourselves.

There’s no denying that a spotlight can magnify the impact that someone can make. But if you
think back to the last time someone affected you in a profound way, odds are it had nothing
to do with authority or influence.

What really makes a difference is heartfelt, inspired action, backed by authentic, positive intention.

It’s not power of persuasion that moves us; it’s the power of passion.

That’s something we can all access, and it does make a difference–even if it doesn’t reach masses
of people. More importantly, passion makes a difference for us. No amount of approval or
validation can provide the same joy that comes from looking into and following your heart.

Today if you feel like you’re not being seen, ask yourself: What am I passionate about, and how
can I use that passion today to be the person I want to be?



Photo by florianpusch
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PROMPTNESS

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by: helpmegrow
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The eyes of all

look to you,

and you give them

their food

at the proper time.

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Psalm 145:15



FROM THE FATHER'S HEART

My child, I created time. Do I not have the right to decide what is the "proper" time for all things?
I have never been late. What you perceive as tardiness or indifference, I call a purposeful delay
only because I have ordained perfect timing which you know nothing about. Whenever you call,
I always answer. My line is never busy. When you seek Me, you will always find Me.
Promptness is something I delight in showing to My children.

A GRATEFUL RESPONSE

In my impatience, Lord, I often cry, "Hurry up!" You are never in a hurry, yet
You are always on time. Though I'm sometimes tardy, You've never missed an appointment.
For Your patience with my grumbling, and for Your promptness in my stumbling,
I give You thanks, Lord.

SIMPLE TRUTH

God has never failed to keep an appointment.
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On Loving Life

Tiny Wisdom: On Loving Life

 Lori Deschene

"If we


look at


the world


with a


love of life,


the world


will reveal its beauty to us.”

-Daisaku Ikeda

Whenever I visit my family in Massachusetts, I notice changes all around me. Sometimes it’s something major,
like a Rite Aid where a Mom and Pop shop used to be. Sometimes it’s something less noticeable, like a new door
on my parents’ neighbor’s house.

Other times, these changes take place in my family. My mother’s changed her hair color, or my sister looks
completely different after weeks on a new diet, or my father’s decided to embrace bright-colored clothes–despite
formerly insisting to my mother that they’re “beige and earth tones people.”

Minor or major, outside or inside, every change catches my eye when I’m visiting because I’m there so infrequently.

Each shift reminds me that a lot of life has happened in my absence, and it’s imperative that I notice and appreciate
every beautiful detail while I have the chance to do it.

Anything can change in a heartbeat, and so much often does before we have the chance to stop, admire, and enjoy
the beauty in how things are.

If we want to, we can make a million-and-one excuses to get caught up in our heads, wondering when things
are going to get good. I know I’ve done it before, and I’ve missed a lot in the process.

The alternative is to make a point every day to notice all the beautiful details, as they are, while they’re there.

This moment will never come again.

What’s there to love today?