Mid-August 2021 Newsletter

Hello, and a magical abundant Mid-August to you!
Welcome, or welcome back, to my newsletter. Today's issue is about trying and intending. Enjoy!

With a goal in mind, whether it's little or big, we typically plot a course of action. Then we can hit one roadblock after another to reaching that goal, from bad weather or illness or injury to someone else needing our time and attention. We start to wonder if the gods are against us, as if what we want just isn't meant to be. Or might there be another approach to get us to our goal we're not seeing?

If you've ever dealt with a stubborn animal or person or situation where it seemed no movement was possible, you quickly learned that yanking and shoving and trying to force your will on the situation didn't help. It's like that Chinese finger puzzle, where the more you struggle to free yourself, the tighter the trap gets. When you give up the fight, so to speak, and let yourself relax, you can easily free your fingers. Often with a real challenge which is puzzling us, stepping back from the fray allows us to think more clearly. Then our mind is free to consider a different approach.

Trying too hard seems to be part of my personality. There's a photo of me as an infant learning to crawl with a look of fierce determination on my face. This pattern has shown up in school (where I copied over my entire elementary school homework if I'd made one mistake, rather than simply crossing out the error), at work, and in relationships. The biggest in-my-face example seems to have been in athletics, where I needed to get injured before I let myself rest, or at least work out less vigorously until I healed.

In the working out example, I was trying too hard, just as Yoda advises against, and my body stopped me because my mind wasn't wise enough to. My intention to be fit and healthy was a good one, but my implementation was flawed. If something isn't working, I've learned to ask myself what my intention is, then see if there's a different way to accomplish that goal, rather than to keep pounding on a door that won't open. Is there a way this could actually be easy, even fun?

Today I may be more fit than I was 20 years ago, when I was a "gym rat" and running outdoors every day no matter what the weather. I am certainly happier and more relaxed, more emotionally fit. I do my weight workouts at home now, and get outdoors a few times a day for a brisk walk and my Nature connection, though I don't run any longer because it feels too much like rushing. I still see myself as an athlete, walking with my head held high, grateful for my healthy body. It's been a big life lesson for me that I don't usually have to strive and struggle to get what I want. I just have to intend, and hold to that direction, allowing it to guide me.

A major area of challenge for me has been my eyesight, since I wore thick eyeglasses from the time I was 5, and they got thicker every year. I thought I had to try hard to see clearly, and the harder I tried the more nearsighted I became. It was years before I learned that I needed to stop trying to see, and just allow the clear images to come to me, which went totally against my striving nature. I thought not to try hard was to be lazy! I'm still learning this lesson, as I intend to see, and to receive all the blessings that want to come my way, visual and otherwise.

For an article on allowing yourself to see rather than trying hard to see, click here.

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Please send me your questions and comments
Let me know what you've wondered about concerning energy medicine or vision or dreams. I'll be glad to write a short article addressing that topic. Thank you to those who have sent me questions, or see a question you asked me in a private session written about here. You're helping many other people! Enjoy the second half of this absolutely-the-best month of August. I'll write again in a few weeks. Take care!