Are You Engaged?

Are You Engaged?

Sometimes we get a little complacent. We get comfortable, and start thinking that we don’t like it when things shake up. We start trying to insulate ourselves from situations and people who might make things happen in our lives. .

If we aren’t evolving, we’re devolving.

If I am not doing things to push myself a bit, to grow up, taking steps to my best self, I don’t stay where I am, I lose ground. We don’t stay still.

So I engage with my life, with the opportunities that come to me, with people I encounter. I make choices that help me engage with my life, with new things, with you.

When I engage, things happen. A lot of cool stuff, but sometimes interesting things happen.

When things happen, I have choices. I can say, “Grr! I am angry that this thing happened.” I can say, “Yikes! I am scared that this thing happened.” I can say, “Wow. How interesting that this thing happened. I wonder what I will discover.”

I’m not talking about our instant reaction, because sometimes stuff happens fast. Feel that feeling and then move on to curiosity.

Why am I curious? What makes me interested? Why do I choose to engage?

When I shift into curiosity, I can feel excited about what is going on. I can make choices about how I think about my new situation. I can notice if dark thoughts come up, and then I can use my tools to transform those thoughts into supportive thoughts.

When I shift into curiosity, I look for things in the situation that bless me. I look for opportunities to try out new ideas and skills. I look for ways to relax into the situation, since I know that resistance only hurts me. I practice my skills, I apply my tools, I use my Creative Questions, to engage with my life in this perfect moment.

When I practice this stuff on a regular basis, I form new thought-habits that support my well being. Perhaps things happen on a small scale that require me to ask for kinds of help I don’t normally need. Then when I need big help, I can receive it with joy. When I go to curiosity by my choice, I am in the habit of looking for how this situation will benefit me, and then when a big one happens, I look for the benefits almost automatically.

I notice my language. I notice when I am saying negative stuff like, “It’s going to take me a long time to work through this.” Or “I can’t handle this.” Or “Bad stuff always happens to me.” When I talk like this to myself, I am creating more situations that do not support me. When I use words like problem, sickness, loss, fear, poor, can’t, won’t, never or always, I am setting myself up to move into an emotional hole, and those can be challenging to recognize and to climb out from.

How do I know I can? How do I experience abundance? Why do I go with the flow?

Engaging with life, flowing with life, choosing to live fully under our current circumstances changes everything. We find blessings and gifts in unlikely places. People whom we would never expect, come through for us. We find resources of strength, of creativity, of competence and capability we might never have found otherwise.

How have I changed from hiding out to engaging with my life as it is?

(c) Pam Guthrie 2014 all rights reserved 06272014