Melanie SidotiThis post contains affiliate links. When you click these links, we may receive compensation at no additional cost to you.
Waking Up
I believe that life is good at nudging us to change things when we aren’t living according to our higher selves. Yes, a subtle wake-up call if you will. At least that’s how it begins. Then if ignored, the call gets louder.
If you’re still not hearing it, it has been my experience that life…God…the universe…whatever you want to call it, will begin to change things for you until you find yourself with no choice other than to sit down and listen and make the necessary life changes.
I may have been extremely stubborn and hard-headed, but I’ve had to experience this several times in my life with things, habits, thoughts, friendships and relationships I refused to let go of.
I would hang on to things and habits that were no good or no longer working for me. Negative thoughts would play over and over in my head until I gave them life. I would hang on to relationships and friendships that were broken and people whose purpose in my life had been fulfilled.
I was young, caught up in my own pain, my own thoughts…stuck in my head and not making good life decisions.
“Change happens when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change.” – Tony Robbins
I found myself in a dark place. I’d found a new low and felt more alone than ever. I had found rock bottom.
Now not everyone needs to hit “rock-bottom” or be experiencing a “dark night of the soul” to have a life-changing “AHA” moment, but at that moment that’s exactly where I was.
I needed a change. I needed TO change. But how?
After talking to a dear friend and counselor, she presented me with “Your Sacred Self” and continued to be a sounding board for me.
From the very first sentence, this book REALLY began to resonate within me. It truly was as if I had been walking around in a dark room my whole life and someone suddenly flipped the light on.
My friend encouraged me to explore the concepts further in group settings, to teach others and help them understand how to apply these ideas to bring change into their own lives.
My dear friend has since transitioned to the other side, but I am eternally grateful for our meeting in this life. I know it was no coincidence.
Here are 8 things I learned from this book that you can begin to apply in your everyday life;
1. The difference between ego self and divine self
For the sake of simplicity I want you to envision an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other.
The angel represents the divine self of course, and the devil represents the ego self.
Or, the head and heart. The head being ego and the heart being divine.
However you choose to visualize it, know that if you’re in the midst of conflict, confusion or uncertainty the ego is at play. Worry, fear, and defensiveness are of the ego. The ego struggles against that which it cannot control. Its biggest fear is of being extinguished and constantly battles the divine self for control of your thoughts and life.
Love, peace, compassion and selflessness are of the divine self.
The ego self and the divine self cannot come out and play at the same time. At any given moment and in any situation, if you find yourself afraid or worried or conflicted you are not accessing your higher, divine self.
Conversely, if you are bringing forth your higher self in any given moment, those ego-based thoughts cannot exist.
You cannot have faith and feel fear at the same time
2. Surrender and Acceptance
Surrender, in short, simply means to cease resistance.
Imagine trying to swim upstream in a river. If you were determined, you would have to fight to resist the natural current in order to keep from being swept down river.
Well, let’s say you changed your mind and wanted to go in the other direction. At this point all you would need to do is cease resistance…or let go and allow the natural flow of the river to take you where you wanted to go.
And so it is with our lives when we try to control things that are beyond our control.
It’s the equivalent of trying to swim upstream when all we really have to do is let go and surrender to the natural flow of things. Then we become stressed and frustrated and exhausted.
If you want to experience peace, surrender. Stop fighting the current and let go of the things in life that are beyond your control. Trust and accept that everything is in divine order.
3. The answers to all problems lie within
Everything you need to navigate this life is already inside of you.
All we need to do to access the answer to any problem is tap into the divine intelligence within…and listen.
It helps if you can q
Your answer may show up as a “gut-feeling”, a sign, a feeling, your conscience, that “voice” in your head, or in some other way –
4. How may I serve?
Something beautiful happens when the mind shifts from “gimme, gimme” or “what’s in it for me” to “how may I serve”.
In any situation or interaction you have, try asking the universe “how may I serve” and pay attention to what happens.
You’ll start to notice the universe giving you more opportunities and new ways to serve others.
The really amazing thing is that, because you reap what you sow, the universe will respond in kind, asking YOU, “how may I serve?”.
5. Judge less and forgive more
The difference between a weed and a flower is a judgement. – Wayne Dyer
This is a truly eye-opening concept. You can call it a weed, or you can call it a flower.
No matter what you judge it to be or decide to call it, its physical form does not change. It is unaffected by your
The same applies to
Hopefully, these thoughts will open your eyes to the ways you’ve been judgmental and inspire you to accept and love people (including yourself) exactly as they are knowing that each of us is designed for a specific purpose and are walking our own path.
Practice letting
6. See God in everything
When I am in nature I can feel the life in the trees. It’s as if they are breathing and dancing, happy I am there. This is God.
When I am in water it cleanses and refreshes my soul. This is God.
When I look at my two-year-old granddaughters my heart swells and threatens to burst with love. They are so pure and amazing and such
Practice seeking and recognizing God in all things…including yourself.
We are all from the same source and are all connected. Everything is in divine order and the same universal energy/consciousness flows throughout.
God is everything and everything is God.
You are everything and everything is you.
Whether good or bad, positive or negative, the things we do as individuals affect one another…the whole…the collective consciousness.
7. Letting go of limiting beliefs
Can we first agree that children are usually raised according to the beliefs of their parents or the people who raised them?
These beliefs are typically passed on to them from their parents just as their parents’ beliefs have likely been passed down through several generations before them.
So we live our lives according to what other people have told us to believe. And they’re not really all nonchalant about it either…I mean they are attached to and invested in these beliefs.
Religion and politics for example. People typically do not decide their religion or political affiliation. For most, this was decided for them generations prior.
Is it any wonder that we’ve never thought to question the things we have come to believe?
I challenge you to examine your belief systems, hang on to what you truly believe and release the things that you no longer find to be true, release the beliefs that no longer resonate with you and choose new ones based on the things that do.
Letting go of the thoughts and beliefs that no longer serve you – or that were never really yours in the first place – is one of the most liberating things you will ever do.
8. I am free to choose
This was the most life-changing concept of them all.
Are you ready for this?
With wisdom comes great responsibility. Meaning once you know better you have to DO better.
Once I realized that in each moment I am free to choose, it changed me.
This meant that I alone was responsible for every single thing in my life.
Realizing I was free to choose my thoughts, my actions, my reactions, my words, my tone, the people I allow into my life, what I put into my mouth, my body, my religion, my political affiliation, where I go to work, etc, etc. was empowering.
Yet, this meant that I could no longer blame others for the way I viewed myself or what was going on in my life.
It was mine…all mine. All the power and all the responsibility. I could no longer believe that the state of my life was something that was beyond my control.
And it all made sense!
When we blame others for the condition of anything in our lives it doesn’t magically make them responsible for it. It does, however, mean that we have relinquished any power we have to change those things.
This concept put me back in control of my life.
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Buy “Your Sacred Self” on Amazon
Read “Your Sacred Self” on Scribd (Included with FREE Trial)
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I started learning and applying these ideas in my life about fifteen years ago.
I don’t always get it right and I don’t always act from my highest self. I’m a constant work in progress.
Start practicing some of these concepts and I promise you will find yourself becoming more aware, more loving, and more at peace.
You don’t have to be perfect for it to make a difference.
~Namaste~
