Its a Great Day To Be A Duck: Shifing Our Perceptions

A Great Day To Be A Duck

Its a Great Day To Be A Duck: 

Shifting Our Perceptions

Last week a big, beautiful snowstorm interrupted the rain and laid a blanket of quiet around our city. For many of us it was such a delightful and bright way to welcome the holiday season to the Lower Mainland. But while some chose to get excited and build snowmen, others chose to complain about the ice and the need to shovel.

Why do some see the beauty in it and others do not? 

There is no doubt that winter on the Pacific Wet Coast can be a challenge. The low cloud ceiling, the darkness at 4:00 in the afternoon and the months of endless rain can test even the heartiest of us.

But my friend Constance has it figured out. In her bright yellow raincoat and gumboots she happily hops from puddle to puddle exclaiming, “It’s a great day to be a duck!” And because she means it, and because she is sincerely - a duck, she casts a bright ray of sunshine on every gloomy person she comes into contact with. She has the ability to shift a person’s perception of the rain, if only for the brief moment of their encounter   

“I haven’t always liked the rain,” she told me one day - “I had to decide to like it.” “I like Vancouver, I like the ocean, moving to the desert would never work for me, so instead of hating the rain and spending four months of the year miserable, I decided to love the rain and never complain about it again. Life is much better this way.”
I had to agree with her, life is better when we are happy.

Is being happy as simple as that?  

Is it as simple a task as changing our perception and making a choice to feel good instead of miserable; to enjoy rather than disdain; to see the beauty instead of the mire? 

I believe it is. The shift is possible in all areas of our life from our disposition, relationships and our health to our finances and careers. It is possible to feel good about it all no matter where we are in it; whether it is an acceptable circumstance or one that requires us to make a change. The hard part and question is in the how. How do we shift our perception to a positive one?

What we focus on becomes our reality and when we focus our attention with positivity - then positivity in all its glory and ultimate possibility comes back to us. However, the same holds true for negativity... Focus with negativity at its core, will without a doubt come back to us negatively. Unfortunately it is not uncommon to be completely unaware/ unconscious of a negativity we are projecting.

Dane always wakes up singing... It is one of the many things I love about him. Even if he has been singing jingle bells since the middle of September, I still love to hear the happiness in his voice. When I ask him “How is it that you are always in a good mood”? He answers, “What is the alternative?”  It is a great answer that has helps me to look at my ever-changing moods and ask myself why I would choose to be blue when I could choose to be happy? 

In order to successfully shift your perception, you must first understand that when you find yourself on autopilot in a pattern of feeling gloomy, bitchy, unreasonable or stressed it is an indicator gauge telling you there is a problem and you must look inward. The true cause of your moodiness is rarely the weather and stems from a deeper-rooted cause that will need a deeper insight or healing before a positive outlook can occur for you.

The 1^st Step:

Pay attention when you feel unhappy; be aware of your feelings! Be conscious of any negativity you are expressing and allow yourself to feel the way you feel without judgment.

The 2^nd Step: 

Ask yourself these questions (for those who know the NTHP alternate handwriting technique, pose the questions with your dominant hand and let your alternate hand reply to obtain deeper clarity and insight).

-       How does being negative about this serve me? What do I get from it? 

     (love, attention?)

-       How am I keeping this negativity alive?
-    Is this negativity a sub-conscious belief I carry? Where did it stem from? 

-    What do I need to do to heal this part of me?  

-       What would thinking positively about this look like? How would it change my life?

-       Do I need to treat myself better?

-       How can I support myself better?

 

To successfully shift your disposition from negative to positive, it is sometimes enough to just be aware that a belief, habit or pattern exists, but sometimes it requires a stronger relationship to the self and a connection to the divine nature within you to heal on the level of the soul before you can access your power of choice. This is where NTHP and Soul Re-cognition can help. These processes have helped me step into my power of choice and they can guide you there too.  

So this season, give yourself the greatest gift you can give yourself. Give yourself the power of choice; the choice to live the life you want to be living.

May Your Days Be Merry and Bright
Love Anne

The Issue is NEVER the Issue!

Huh? The Issue is NEVER the Issue?

contributed by Anne Babchuk

Is something keeping you awake at night?
Is something bothering you?
I will say to you the same thing I say to my clients.

The Issue is never the REAL Issue.

The things that worry you; the things that give you pain; make you angry, sad or react are not truly your problem.

Spend a moment and really take this concept in.

Do you sense the truth in it?

What I mean when I say ‘take it in’ is, for just a moment, try and get out of your head, stop thinking, making excuses or try to fix anything - just feel it. If you have had sleepless nights or spent weeks with a perpetual pit in the stomach, you probably have already suspected that the Real Issue is something running much deeper than just your immediate problem. You have probably noticed that the issue you are experiencing is in fact something you have experienced before – and there is a pattern.

Ongoing problems at work or with your spouse for instance are just signposts pointing to something working beneath the surface. Chronic conditions and addictions are also signs only they are flashing at you in neon, beckoning you to pay attention to what is going on at a deeper level.

Your life is a mirror of what is going on inside you. It is a reflection of your core beliefs about who you are, what you deserve and what your place is in this world. It is a reflection of how you treat yourself deep down inside, below your memory, below your conscious thinking.

 If you are constantly broke, the questions you need to ask yourself is not “How do I make more money this month?” but “What am I believing about myself that causes this pattern to happen?”

But here, once again, The Issue is Never the Issue! You may think you know the answer… but it is likely you are missing the key element in the equation. No matter what you do to try and change things, your efforts fall flat. The true answer lies below your thinking, at the core of your being. Marvelously, the sub-conscious mind not only knows what the core belief is, but how that belief came to be a running force inside you and what is needed to heal that impairment. Nine times out of ten that truth will knock you off your chair and has you think “Of course! That makes so much sense. Why did I not see it before?” And the most wonderful thing is, the sub-conscious also remembers who you are without that wound, it remembers your power; your magnificence.

That hidden realm inside you is a mysterious land, and you need not be fearful of it. It is yours alone and is the gateway to your built in guidance system. It is where your essential creative self resides and knows what is best for you. The Soul Re-cognition process provides gentle access to that place within you that holds all the answers to your questions, and your healing. SRC is a journey of rediscovery; of remembering who you are beyond your problems, beyond your pain.  

You need only take the first step.  

Contact Me Here 

for your introductory session

Welcome to Spirit Journey!

Thank you so much for joining me, it means the world to me that you are here. 

Each spring since I was 11 years old, I have read the beautiful novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett 'The Secret Garden'. It is crazy how every year the book written in 1911 brings me such joy and inspiration. When I was a child I was fascinated by poor sallow, little Mary's adventure and transformation in a manor with 100 rooms on the moor and the abandoned garden. I was infatuated with the Robin that showed her the way... I loved hearing about the moorland mother and her 8 children and I am sure I was a little bit in love with Dickon.

I read it through my late teens for comfort. Pure and simple it was an escape from adolescence.

As I got older, in my twenties and thirties it became a book that signified spring and the end to a long winter. It connected me to nature and the magic of growing things. I would read it to my young sons and we would be inspired to get outside and play in the yard; talk to birds and plant the garden.

Here I am in my late forties and the book takes on a whole new meaning for me. I read it now and the child dreamer within me is ignited and I remember that at the very core of my being, this inner child is still there full of wonder, suspense and magic ready to engage with the world. 

In this last year I have been on somewhat of a Spirit Journey - experiencing a kind of magic induced by awareness and meditation and a connection to universal law. And as I read 'The Secret Garden' this year I am astounded to find I have never truly understood the final chapters of this book until now.  

"Then I will chant," he said and began, looking like a boy spirit. "The sun is shining - the sun is shining. That is the Magic. The flowers are growing -  the roots are stirring. That is the Magic. Being alive is the Magic - being strong is the Magic. The Magic is in me. It's in every one of us. It's in Ben Weatherstaff's back. Magic! Magic! Come and help!"