as if

holy crap, it's already may. that's just nonsense.
may? really?
no friggin' way.

but, alas. way. totally way.

tomorrow i leave for trinidad. and i'll be taking this book with me. i've been wanting to read if for quite some time and then, yesterday, there it was - sitting on SNP's brother's bookcase. sweet.

there's been something i've been wanting to share here - one of my learnings on my never ending path of self-improvement/consciousness-raising/self-actualization/whatever. but then i never get around to it because i can't figure out how to best start it off. and today is no different. but i'm going to write about it anyway. interesting intro be damned.

it's about acting as if. there are all sorts people who have written about this in some form or another, so i'm not quite sure who to give credit to: abraham-hicks? louise hay? lynn grabhorn? someone else? not sure. i'll just say that credit belongs to someone other than me. is that good enough?

acting as if means
1. identify what you are not wanting in life
2. then turn that into what you are wanting in life (for example: "i hate being in this stupid job" becomes "i want a job that i love")
3. then figure out how you believe you would feel if you had that something in your life (because the only reason we want anything in life is because we think we will feel better by having it)
4. practice feeling those feelings today. right now. immediately.
5. now you can attract that something into your life.

this little exercise has been so beyond helpful to me in the past 7 months or so that i've been intentionally practicing it. the new age-y/spiritual crowd explains it as "lining up your vibration" so that the universe can bring you what you desire. that's fine. i also think there could be something more scientific at play - like intentionally altering your feeling state triggers some brain cocktail of chemicals that then alters what you focus on and the decisions you make which then leads you to accomplishing what you desire.

whatever the "real" explanation is, all i can say is that this exercise is quite powerful.

it can be used for anything - weight loss, relationships, career, whatever, whatever, whatever. that thing/experience/state of being that you want - how will it make you feel? safe? loved? free? respected? healthy? giddy? sexy? creative? purposeful? in control of you life? relaxed? whatever the feelings are - practice feeling that way right now. the instant benefit is that you will simply feel better, immediately. the long term benefit is that you have less neediness or emotional attachment to that thing you want - and we all know that we never get what we want when feel like we NEED to have it.

when we are feeling "negative" emotions: anger, resentment, self-pity, unworthiness, etc. etc. (negative meaning anything you wish you didn't feel) it just means that we are focused on what we don't want. which is fine. we can't know what we do want until we know what we don't want, right? but when we are ready to move on from the negative feelings, all we need to do is change the don't want to a do want ("i don't want to be stagnant in life" becomes "i want something exciting and positive to happen in my life") - and then ask ourselves, how would i feel if something exciting and positive was happening in my life right now? and then practice feeling that way immediately.

at the very least, the present moment will stop sucking. but even better, things start to happen.