NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS THAT REALLY WORK!

How can we make 2018 a year we can be proud of?

The year in itself is just a few hundred days, but how we show up for them, is what will give them their color and tone.  How we live them will make this 2018 either the year when the world became a bit sweeter more enlightened place or a bitter and darker place.

New Year Resolutions, of the usual kind, a list of statements that answer to what am I going to do? what am I going to get?…  are just a bunch of wishful statements and proclamations that almost never come alive.  And why is that?  Because most of them are formulated from our tiny ego mind and they respond to the needs of the ego, they are all about me, me, me and my needs to finally be happy.  They tend to satisfy our psychological mask and not who we truly indeed are at the core of our being. 

We just celebrated Christmas, although most of us have no idea of what we truly celebrated.  We did not celebrate the birth of a baby about 2000 years ago.  We celebrated the birth of Christ in us.  We celebrated that we allowed ourselves to open up to our immense capacity, our divine essence, our connection to the Source of all there is.   

Christmas is actually a recognition of who we truly are, an actualization of all we are.  Jesus said:  “you and I are the same.”  The difference between Jesus and us is that we don’t accept that we are inherently divine and that we have the same immense power that he had.  Jesus knew who he truly was, “I and my father are one.”  He had actualized his true self in the power of love, he lived from that place and he healed the sick and resurrected the dead.  We can too… if we only accept we are much more than what our narrow and petty ego mind tells us we are.  

The celebration of New Year, so soon after Christmas, gives us an opportunity to deepen the realization of our newly born Christ consciousness.  And we express it in our Resolutions. 

As I allow myself to become aware of my innate capacity, I do not think of New Year Resolutions in terms of what I need, I want, I deserve, I will get, I will become, I will be.  I do not talk about discovering my potential and the best version of myself sometime in the future. When I accept who I truly am, I know that I have immense inherent capabilities, and I start using them right now, one day at the time.  I do not wait till I am perfect at them, but know that my capacity is here in me now and that it will shine more and more as I practice it starting now. 

Discovering and connecting with our true Self, turn our days joyful, peaceful and complete.  We know that our mission is to be happy, to enjoy life no matter what, not only for ourselves but to pass it along to all who come in contact with us and beyond.  We become responsible for how we live and we do it guided by a deeply felt desire to be of help, of service to others.  We are motivated by a yearning to help make this world a sweeter place to be.  We do not blame anybody or anything for what is not working in our lives.  We instead welcome the awareness of what is our own individual contribution to the betterment of it all.

Our New Year Resolution then becomes an honorable request:

May I actualize the truth about who I really am.

May I become who I really am.

May I know how to show up for 2018

May I be of service to my family, my community, my country, the environment.

May I contribute to making this a more joyful, peaceful, sweeter world.

MY VERY BEST WISHES FOR A HAPPY NEW YEAR!  May you all see the light you are in 2018!

Happiness No Matter What!  The essential seven principles program for a happy you.

I would love to hear your comments!  Let's talk and start a dialogue of likeminded light bearers!  Leave your comments here or email me to:  info@monicabelizan.com

A TRUE THANKSGIVING PRAYER - A GIFT FOR THE HEART- Courtesy of Mercedes Sosa.

Thanksgiving is here again!  One more opportunity we have to think about what really matters and be grateful for it all.  It is a truly enlightened festivity in that it highlights the immense power we receive when we celebrate life.

Yes, I believe that Thanksgiving is the most sacred day of the year and I am fortunate and---very thankful—that I live in a country that takes one day of the year to say and think:  Thank you! 

Usually, I suggest that we make lists of all the benefits we receive and enjoy.  

But this year I am strongly motivated to share with you a special form of gratitude that has the sweet connotations of a deep prayer.  It shares the true meaning of gratitude and involves us in contemplative prayer.

I am referring to a magnificent piece of music written by Violeta Parra and sung by a true master of life  --Mercedes Sosa.

GRACIAS A LA VIDA is the original version.  The following video is in Spanish with English subtitles.   If you do not understand Spanish, listen to it feeling the emotion of her heartfelt THANK YOU TO LIFE.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsadhxkzHl0

I would love to hear your comments!   And if you want to keep them private send me an email to:   info@monicabelizan.com 

YOU HAVE CROSSED THE BRIDGE. YOU ARE IN NEW TERRITORY. SO WHAT DO YOU DO NOW????

YOU HAVE LEARNED TO MEDITATE.  

YOU MEDITATE DAILY.

YOU ARE ON THE OTHER SIDE.  

YOU ARE IN NEW TERRITORY.

SO…..WHAT DO YOU DO NOW????

You are on the other side of the river.  You have started to acquire a new awareness, a new way of looking at “reality”.  You understand the futile circularity of your thinking process.  You are beginning to discern what is important from what is not important.  You get a glimpse of how much the voice in your head is getting you no-where. 

In a word, your mind is leaner and you are wiser.  You feel a bit happier but you also realize you are becoming a different person.  What was important yesterday is not relevant today, what was drama and hysteria is now an experience to go through, what was judgment and anger are becoming something slightly more subtle.  You realize that you have shed stuff you were familiar with.  Stuff that made you who you thought you were for decades.  You are on the other side of the bridge looking back at that familiar face that is paling little by little. 

And… you panic!  The grass may be greener here but you are not that sure of who you are in this new territory.  You realize that most of what gave you confidence and a sense of belonging is becoming quite irrelevant in this new world. 

You understand that the little you have explored through your meditation practice has given you beautiful moments of deep peace, fragrant whiffs of new ways to love, tentative sharp insights that surprise you, glimpses of kindness that turn you happy.  You know it is the real you in a beautiful land and yet….  so much newness makes you uneasy. The uncertainty of the newness, of the novelty, of the change, is unsettling you.

Paradoxically, you also start noticing a bit of fear creeping into your mind..., the fear that all this growth and newly acquired joy might disappear.  You realize you don’t know how to work with it or what else to do to make it permanent.  

You wish there is something you can do to not only keep your meditation practice strong but also to strengthen your connection to the new You and to your new Life. 

And I believe you are right! You need other tools, techniques that will complement your meditation and will integrate your quiet practice with your active life with a renewed sense of reverence and sacredness. Something else that will deepen the intention you bring to your meditation so that it will permeate all aspects of your life.

There are many many tools:  rituals, devotional chanting, ceremonial participation, retreats, yoga, breathing exercises, etc., all beautiful enhancers of any spiritual path, but I believe that there is one in particular that is absolutely essential to give deep meaning to your spiritual unveiling and growth: PRAYER.   

Prayer is the ultimate “technique” you need in order to navigate the new territory you have started to acquire.  When you learn what it is, what is an authentic prayer, a powerful prayer, and you learn to use it, you will begin to feel its grace pouring over you.  You will know that you have arrived.

In my next posts, we will dive deeply into the realm of prayer.  Stay tuned!

In the meantime, I would love to receive your comments, your questions, suggestions, scrawl down to the comments box, or you can send them to:  info@monicabelizan.com

Love and Light!

Monica

To go into more depth on what to expect when you start to meditate and how to become the happiness you are meant to be, check out my new book:  HAPPINESS NO Matter What!