Articles / Believing / Emotions

Why Your AHA Moments Don’t Stick – Chris Cade

by Chris Cade You've most certainly seen this in your life, and possible the lives of those you know about. It's happened to me. The story starts out the same. You have one of those "amazingly super-duper spiritually enlightening aha moment experiences." You may have walked around for a few hours or even days without an ego... It was mind-blowing to feel empty and spacious yet full... For a night, it was inspiring to have the courage of a lion... And for a moment, your consciousness expanded exponentially when you saw the entire Universe in a grain of sand. But then something else happened. It wore off. The realization didn't stick, and you realize something more immediate: you're "just" you. Whoever you were before that incredible experience has returned to the present moment.   You hoped that the experience would transform your life forever. You hoped that if you had enough of those experiences, if you sought and found them, if you cherished them, they'd add up to enough realizations that you'd get to keep them all forever. The thing is, transformation doesn't work that way. Realization is one thing. It's the starting point. Realizations like those open us up…

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May 8, 2012
Articles / Believing / Choices / Emotions

Let Me Tell You About “God” – by Chris Cade

by Chris Cade Just saying the word "God" sends some people into a rage and others into profound peace. It causes wars and creates divine unions. People blame God for the bad in their lives while praising God for the gifts. I find it amazing how one word can have such different meanings to so many people. There are as many meanings for the word "God" as there are people on the planet. To some, God is personified - an all-knowing sentient being who consciously and intentionally creates situations (whether it's pleasure or suffering, peace or war, cancer or miracle healings). To others, God is an omnipresent field of organizing energy which has no conscious awareness, yet all consciousness arises from. And others don't even acknowledge the concept of "God" in any form. Regardless of what you may believe about God... Regardless of what you may have discovered to be personally true about God... I think it's important to really acknowledge that God means different things to different people. The thing is, what I'm writing isn't really about God. It's about you and every experience you've ever had, are having, and will have. Because each and every one of them,…

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April 19, 2012
Articles / Believing / Choices / Dreams / Emotions

The Gift You Give Yourself by Teaching Others – Chris Cade

by Chris Cade "We teach that which we most need to learn." ~ David Bach Some version of that quote has been used by leaders for as long as I can remember, and for good reason. While it's wonderful when we learn something new, the best way to integrate new knowledge and make it stick in our lives is to teach it. This is because teaching challenges us to really understand what we're learning. It challenges us to understand it with such clarity that we can effectively communicate it to others. Teaching also exposes us to feedback from others, and that feedback is helpful (and sometimes even necessary) for us to understand something deeply enough to integrate it into our lives. Those are just a few of the benefits you get by teaching something. Studies have shown that when you are first learning something, that if you teach it to somebody shortly thereafter, you'll remember what you learn more effectively and understand it more thoroughly. In fact, some teaching methods ~ ironically ~ require students to immediately turn around and teach others what they learn. The beauty of this approach is that it doesn't only deepen learning; it also creates…

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April 17, 2012
Believing / Daily Positive Thought

Believe in Yourself

If you believe you can, you probably can. If you believe you won't you most assuredly won't. Belief is the ignition switch that gets you off the launching pad.~ Denis Waitley A few years ago, my kids participated in a tae kwon do tournament, and one of the events was entitled creative forms.  In this event, you dressed up in costume, and performed a martial arts form to music.  One particular woman used music from The Polar Express and at the end, held up a wooden sign that read "BELIEVE."  Now my kids, to this day, still laugh about how odd it looked, but guess what?  She took first place.  Because she believed.  She didn't care about how she looked or how others perceived what she was doing.  She went out there and gave it her all and believed in herself. Believing in yourself is what is going to get it done.  Conversely, if you believe you can't, you most definitely will not be able to do whatever it is you are undertaking.  It's a self-fulfilling prophecy in a way.  And to my way of thinking, if you are going to tip the scales one way or the other, why…

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April 16, 2012
Articles / Believing / Choices / Emotions / Negativity / Positive Thoughts

One Step Backward. Two Steps Forward – Chris Cade

by Chris Cade "There actually are great spiritual secrets. They exist. The thing about spiritual secrets is that you can tell them openly. Because the ability to understand something and then the power to integrate into your life are two very different things." - Guy Finley As people on the path of conscious living, we almost always have a gap between what we know and how we live. That's not a bad thing. It's just that living 100% of what we believe to be true is difficult because there's so many subconscious barriers to doing it. We might live 75% of what we know on one day. Then life challenges shift us closer to 50%. Then we do some inner work, and it bounces up to 80%. And this process continues. This kind of "two steps forward one step back" is fundamental on the path of conscious living. On one hand, we can punish ourselves emotionally for not doing what we "know" is right. That's the Inner Critic taking its hold on us. Telling us we "know better" and "should do better." On the other hand, we can accept our humanity and recognize that each step "back" is an opportunity to…

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February 6, 2012
Being Grateful / Believing / Choices / Dreams / Goals / Motivation / Positive Thoughts

A New Year a New Outlook

This is NOT going to be one of those look back over the past year type of posts.  I could do that, but I figure just about everybody in the bloggerverse is doing that, and I'm a rebel. 2011 was a rough year for a lot of people, myself included, and I see no point in in reliving it.  It's time to move forward, and move forward with purpose, drive, determination and joy.  Joy?  Yes, joy.  Because great things are going to happen in 2012. Great, wonderful and amazing things. Set your goals in your mind, and see yourself achieving them.  Do this every day.  Develop a plan, and take baby steps toward that goal.   Just keep reminding yourself that every day in every way you are a unique and incredible individual filled with love and light! Have a wonderful and prosperous 2012 and stay positive!

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December 31, 2011
Articles / Believing / Choices / Opportunities / Possibilities

Between a Rock and a Hard Place pt 2 – Chris Cade

by Chris Cade

“I understand sometimes situations require a fast response and a decision. If you practice the above on a regular basis, what you’ll notice is that the time you need to ‘be in the unknown’ and arive at a solution will become less and less.

You’ll also be able to more quickly recognize when you’re making sub-optimal decisions, and therefore, correct course more effectively before it’s too late.”
Many times when we are experiencing conflict, our values and integrity are also being challenged. What makes it “a rock and a hard place” is often that two or more things of importance to us are not playing nicely together.

Maybe our parents want one thing, and our spouse wants another.

Or perhaps we are sick and feel torn between conventional medicine and natural medicine. (more…)

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November 15, 2011
Articles / Choices / Emotions / Opportunities / Possibilities

Shining the Light on a Broken Heart

by Chris Cade Yesterday I shared how pain is like a hardened shell around our hearts, and when that shell breaks, it doesn't literally break. It opens up that exterior to reveal the gifts and joy within. I also promised to share with you my thoughts about that from a "light" perspective.You might think of it this way... Frequently when in pain, we close our eyes. We cover them. We cower. We hide. We do whatever it takes to avoid feeling the pain. We're naturally pleasure-seeking-pain-avoiding creatures, so we instinctually do whatever it takes to make the pain go away. It's a survival mechanism, and when we were younger it was an important one. As a child, we didn't have the capacity to deal with pain. The way to get our needs met was by pleasing our caregivers, and it's a rare family where emotional pain was supported, embraced, and honored. Instead, most of us learned that pain had to be hidden if we were to get what we want. So we hid our pain. And we still do until we learn how to work with it differently. The perspective of light gives us that opportunity. The painful hardened shell…

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November 9, 2011
Articles / Believing / Choices / Happiness

Zombie Kids Like Turtles

by Chris Cade The other day I was curious about what the top YouTube videos are of all time. Mostly at the top is some combination of Justin Beiber and other popular singers... and a bunch of random videos. One video title caught my attention: "Zombie Kid Likes Turtles" So I watched it. It was a news clip. And was quickly reminded why I don't watch the news. Most news falls into two categories: Dumb and discouraging. Dumb is stuff like Zombie Kid Likes Turtles. It's when the filler in the news lacks any useful or emotional substance. It's arguably even an ineffective attempt at bringing some heart into the news. Calling it dumb isn't a judgment. Dumb news isn't necessarily good or bad. It's dumb because it lacks intelligence, substance, and even humor. Then there's the "discouraging." That's all the stuff we "think we have to keep up with" so we can "be prepared." Bad news. Murders. War. Bad economy. Corruption. Drugs. Natural disasters. Scandals. Affairs. Negative politics. The list goes on... And every moment you expose yourself to bad news, you are subconsciously reinforcing pain, negativity, and fear. Your mind subconsciously learns and believes: "This is how the…

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November 8, 2011
Believing / Choices / Live Journal / Positive Thoughts / Possibilities

It’s all a Lie

At least that's what I've been feeling like lately.  Every week, I set up the mailing list to send out the Daily Positive Thoughts.  I queue them up on Twitter, and I write the blog posts, and set them up so they also go to our Live Journal Community.  I look for the quotes to use, and I try to keep the website running well as well as make it interesting and easy to navigate.  This was all in an effort to maintain a positive attitude, and hopefully help other people to feel more positive as well.  Right now, I'm starting to think that it's all pointless and the whole be positive, Law of Attraction stuff is just a lie, a big pile of nothingness that was put together in order to make other people money. That's exactly how I was feeling.  I didn't feel like my Daily Positive Thoughts were helping anybody, and they certainly weren't helping me.  To me, they'd become nothing more than a chore.  And as far as the whole Law of Attraction thing went, well it just wasn't happening for me.  I'd done what the books said.  I put my wants and desires out there…

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June 18, 2011