posted April 01, 2011 11:51 PM            

Medicine Cards: Cherokee Truths
Seven Simple Truths from the Cherokee

1. We are our own best experts. No one knows us better than us. Nobody but us has seen with our eyes the things we've seen, and most importantly, no one but us has experienced our lives in quite the same way that we have. What others do know of us, they know only through what they see and what we tell them. It is our choice whether or not to invite others to see with our
eyes or walk in our shoes; it is their choice whether or not to do so.

2. We are our own worst enemies. No one does a better job of deceiving us or treating ourselves badly than we do. No one can do a better job of finding ways to ignore our innermost thoughts and fears than we can. Certainly, other people may try to make us feel badly, or want us to be different than we are; however, their success depends on our willingness to let them succeed in doing so. Our success in doing ourselves wrong depends solely on intention.

3. The worst thing about having so many choices is having to choose. No one can say for sure who is truly worse off: the one who is forced to do something and wishes she or he could do something entirely different, or the one who freely chooses to do something and later regrets it.

4. Imagination is the one true measure of freedom. It's not a matter of what you can or cannot do, but what you think you can or cannot do that matters. Inevitably, the rest will follow in time. Being open to experience or the possibilities of every situation
reflects the inner strength of one who has established harmony within oneself.

5. Wisdom is having more questions than answers. The one who has found all the answers to his or her questions has run out of questions. The one who has run out of questions has run out of learning. A person who ceases to learn has also ceased to experience. And a person who has run out of experience cannot be wise.

6. Search long and hard enough for something and you'll surely find it. Sometimes we look for something when there is nothing. However, if we keep looking for it to be there, almost miraculously it will be--this is especially true of limitations. Moreover, the harder we look for a certain quality of limitation, the more likely it is to appear before our very eyes. At the same time, if you look too hard for something
you might miss it altogether.

posted April 04, 2011 01:57 AM            

Hope you are well, Teasel.

posted September 18, 2011 11:46 PM            

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September 1st, 2011 by Erin Pavlina

I recently conducted a love and gratitude 30-day trial where I sent a note of love and/or gratitude to one person per day. I discussed the results of this trial in my post Tell Them Now and urged others who conducted the trial to share their experiences with me as well. Here is what I received from some of my readers.

“Erin, this 30 day trial was amazing. I decided to call people on the phone instead of sending emails. I didn’t end up making 30 calls but I did end up with 17. I can’t tell you what a wonderful experience this was for me and my family and friends. At first it was hard because I wasn’t sure exactly how to explain what I was doing but eventually I found my rhythm and it was easier. Without an exception, I ended up going so deep with each person, and it gave them a chance to tell me how much they love me too. Thanks for doing the trial. I’m going to keep it in mind throughout the year!” – Maria

“Great experience here for me, Erin. I had the best reaction from my father. I’ve never really told him how much I love him, and more importantly, WHY I love him. He was so touched by what I said that he had tears streaming down his face. Then I started tearing up myself. It was crazy, but so cathartic. I haven’t had that amazing a connection with my father in decades. Thanks for doing this. It was awesome!” – John

“What a great experiment this was! I forgot some days but picked it right back up again, especially when you reminded us on facebook. The people I sent notes too were stunned. Like you, a lot of people wrote back that they were speechless. They just didn’t know how to respond. It’s interesting because I think most people expect complaints, and when they get love instead, it just sort of blows them away. I loved the experience. I definitely got as much out of it as them!” – Angela

“Loved the experiment. As I went along my notes started getting longer and longer. I really got into a groove. I was on a high each time I wrote something, and got even higher when they wrote something nice back. Way cool! You rock, Erin. Keep the love flowing!” – Markus

I also got an email from one of my readers who was attending a birthday party. The person planning the party asked each of the guests to write something about the birthday girl about what they appreciate and love about her. Then she made it into a book and presented it to the birthday girl. Imagine what a lovely and precious gift that was to know how you’ve positively impacted all your friends and family. Think about doing this for someone’s big birthday (40, 50, etc.).

Spread the love. Once a week. Once a month. Every day. Or just when the spirit moves you. What you put out into the world will come back to you a hundred-fold. When you raise people’s vibrations, it sends ripples of love and positive energy throughout the world. Makes the world a nicer place for everyone.

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posted September 18, 2011 11:49 PM            

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August 1st, 2011 by Erin Pavlina

The two highest vibrations you can feel are love and gratitude. Expressing love and gratitude towards others will raise their vibration, which will have a ripple effect on everyone else around them. In my article, Kindness is Contagious, I once single-handedly changed the entire energy of an irate group of customers in a Trader Joe’s. It was amazing to see the ripples occur.

So I was thinking about this the other day because people send me emails all the time expressing love and gratitude to me for the work I do, the articles I write, or the readings I’ve given them. And it occurred to me that the power of love and gratitude is so awesome that we really should get in the habit of expressing love and gratitude to the people in our lives as much as possible. I want to make this a habit. So I’ve decided to do a 30-Day Love and Gratitude Trial, and I’d love for you to join me.

For the next 30 days we’re going to express love and/or gratitude to one person each day. The medium doesn’t matter. You could do it by phone, in person, email, text, body language, morse code, or even smoke signals. The trick is you must do it consciously and sincerely.

If you’d like, you can make a list of 30 people you’re going to do this with, or you can just decide each morning. Think about how this person contributes to your life and how much you love them. Then communicate that love, appreciation, gratitude, and affection to them directly. If you can’t think of 30 people, it’s okay to duplicate people along the way, but I think you can find 30 people in the world who deserve your love and gratitude. Besides the usual suspects (family, friends, co-workers) you could include bloggers, authors, your masseuse, your postal worker, the lady at the grocery store that you see week after week, your spirit guides, angels, higher self, God. You could even send a note to yourself!

It doesn’t have to take long. You could write a short one-line email, or a simple text. Or you could craft an entire letter to them. Whatever moves you. Just really give some thought to how this person affects your life positively and thank them for it. You will be utterly amazed at what happens to you for sending it and what happens to them when they receive it.

On August 31, I’ll check in with you to see how you did and what you learned. And I’ll post some of the stories, so please feel free to submit them to me using my contact form.

Are you ready to have a ripple effect? Are you ready to put positive energy into the lives of others? Are you in?

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posted September 19, 2011 12:01 PM            

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“After all, what would the world be like without Captain Hook?” – Captain Hook (Dustin Hoffman)

I have a nemesis. I have chosen her carefully. Allow me to explain:

Today ended up being a very quiet day. We started with a late breakfast and ended up – as I hope other people occasionally do – watching ridiculous Sunday television. The Three Musketeers was on: the one with Charlie Sheen sporting a mullet and Keifer Sutherland before he was Jack Bauer. Best of all was Tim Curry’s performance as Cardinal Richelieu. Mark and I often judge a movie’s appeal on the quotableness of its lines – and Tim Curry, with his, “All for one and more for me,” provides ridiculous entertainment.

It did get us talking about the best movie villains. Alan Rickman in the atrocious Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Glenn Close as Cruella in 101 Dalmations, or even Thomas F. Wilson as Biff Tannen in the Back to the Future movies. Fabulous villains in the proper sense of the word, not just bad or evil or scary but properly fun, very quotable and always dastardly and compelling. In Ocean’s Eleven, Basher says, “It will be nice working with proper villains again.” And we secretly agree.

Does every story need a good villain? Does every hero or heroine need a nemesis? Is Sarah Ban Breathnach right when she says that it is “simply not an adventure worth telling if there aren’t any dragons?” Are the hard and scary parts of our lives as vital to our story as the sunny ones?

I myself have a nemesis. It may seem crazy to think of her in this way, but when I do our interactions cease to stress me out. Instead of letting her get to me as she used to, I now look at her with amusement and a certain level of comic detachment. In my head I am looking at her with narrowed eyes, tossing my hair back and getting ready to do battle. I imagine her with her red cape flapping behind her as we circle each other with purpose. She is as silly to me as the best of the fabulous villains. By letting the energy out of our interactions I get to live that moment when Sarah says, “You have no power over me,” to an inappropriately crotch-stuffed David Bowie in Labyrinth. Doing this sounds silly, but it means that I get to decide who the heroes and the villains are in my life.

So just for a moment, try seeing the world around you as characters in your own movie. Try seeing the people who drive you crazy as ridiculous partners to your hero or heroine self. Who is the Vader to your Luke or the Hook to your Pan? Then delight in knowing that they have no power over you.

And know that the heroine of this particular story is going to win.

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