Happy September! . Natural human impulse around this time – is to speed things up, to rush, to hurry. The last quarter of the year reminds us to slow down, take things slowly, to do things slowly, to begin to look at the year 2011,  and remind ourselves to be grateful for all the good we ve experienced thus far, to not be hard on ourselves, for what did not happen that we had wanted to happen, to list all the things, small and big, that we have received thus far and be grateful, be proud of our accomplishments, small or big. Have a GRAT-itude month Everyone!

Recently I was asked the following question, and I decided to answer it in my blog and perhaps it will be beneficial to other visitors as well.

“What do you do if you want to say something to someone..for instance my mom in law but that it will be something that won’t be something nice. Should you say it or learn to ignore it?”

 Great question. The thing to consider in such a question or situation is how important is it to you to say that. Does it really matter if your mom in law knows what it is that you want to say to her? (something that, as you said, ‘wont be something nice”) You see, ultimately, its not about being ‘right’ or letting another person know we don’t agree with them, regarding whatever. At the end of it all, the question becomes, “Will saying it bring me more peace?” “What is my motivation in wanting to say it?” “Am I coming from a place of Love in my desire to say it to her?” or “Am I coming from a place of fear deep inside me in my desire to say it to her.”

When we take action from a place of Love – Divine Love that resides within us – that is US – then, the action will be for our benefit and for the good of the other person as well whether that person sees it as that or not. When we take action from a place of fear – of a place where at the deepest level of our existence we feel disconnected from others, from the indwelling presence of the Divine within us – then, the action will ultimately not be one that results in bringing us peace or to the other person, for that matter.

Learning to ignore what you feel compelled to say to her – another way of saying that which is more aligned with the divine presence that we all are – is learning to Let Go of what it is that we are feeling we must say to the other person. We want to say something that is not nice to someone, when we are feeling restricted, constrained, when we feel we are being denied our divine right to our freedom to BE. We feel that the other person is usurping that right from us. That is never the case. No one determines our freedom. No one is in charge of our freedom. They cannot give it to us, nor can they take it away from us. Freedom, is a state of being, a state of mind, which once felt, can then be lived in tangible ways that bring us peace.

The answer to your question is within you.  Asking, “Is my need to say this to her coming from my ego mind, that operates from fear, or is it coming from that place in my heart (where divine resides) that wants me to speak my truth. Remember, ego mind has an endless array of disguises by means of which it very effectively can conceal its motivations – and ego’s motivations have nothing to do with our spiritual evolution and only to do with “what’s in it for me?” thinking. Ego mind is always in “control mode” where as the heart based actions are always about “letting go.”

It may seem paradoxical, at first, but when we let go of a situation, we gain in having more power and more control over our life situations. There are times when we do need to stand up for ourselves, yes. There are times, when speaking our truth is paramount and supersedes other considerations. Generally speaking, in all other situations, we need to pause, and ask ourselves, “Who is in charge here?” The divine is in charge, of all of our affairs of this experience we call our life. When we can let go, even for a brief moment, the energy shifts at the invisible levels of our existence, in our energetic self, in our aura, the etheric energy that surrounds our human body. Try letting go of the need to say that thing to your mom in law – just for a moment. Then, observe how you feel. Feel the shift in your body – in your abdomen, in your heart area, or any where else in your body. Did the tension of this question leave that part of the body? Is it still there?

When faced with a conflicting situation what usually occurs within us goes something like the following: “I don’t like what A said to me. How could she have said such a stupid thing to me? Here we go again! She cant ever say something nice to me! Why should I tolerate it? Haven’t I suffered enough already?! She needs to know this is not right how she treats me or how she speaks to me or what she says to me, time and time again. I am going to tell her this and that, and make sure she understands how I feel about what she said, whether she likes it or not! I am so tired from all this crap! She is going to hear it from me!”

There is nothing inherently ‘wrong’ in feeling like in the above example. Lets face it, there are times when we feel like in the above paragraph. And we deserve to own and acknowledge our feelings as they are always sacred. They are a part of who we are – the good, the bad and the ugly! We are all of that. Can you, however sense the anger, the frustration in the above example? Can you sense the person is disempowered? What the example illustrates (and this happens to all of us, including myself) is the absence of our point of power. When we are feeling things from the point of our power, we transcend the anger and the hurt (we still feel it but we are able to release it and let it go) and what we would say would go something like the following: “I acknowledge to myself that what A said to me was hurtful to me, or angered me. She is free to be who she wants to be, or how she acts. That is her responsibility, not mine. I deserve to be treated with respect at all times. And, if someone is not aware of this truth, then, it is my responsibility to let them know, gently and firmly. My intention is to work on myself and not on others. My intention is to bring healing to myself and in that regard, I will let this go for now. I will wait for a better opportunity, when I am able to speak to A in a way where I address the issue from the point of my power and not from a place of helplessness and anger. If I m not yet at that place of power within myself, then I will wait for the time when I am there and then speak to A. If she still reacts in a way that indicate that she thinks I m being selfish or not nice, that is not my responsibility. That would be a choice she has made about me. That is not my choice, it is hers. I let it go. I need only work on healing myself with love and truth, that is already within me. The Divine, or God or the Universe knows what is for my highest good, I surrender this situation into its capable hands of wisdom.”

I hope the above helps you in your decision-making regarding your question. Please let me know if this answer above has raised more questions for you. Questions are the doorway into wisdom for only when we ask, can we access the wisdom that resides within us, that then guides us always, in making the right decisions that are for everyone’s highest good.

Many blessings – with light and love.

Huma Mehmood © May 25, 2011

Sometimes we try so hard to do something with the ‘old’ way, and experience repeated failure – no success in achieving what we wanted to occur as a result. Life is like that. Often we want to do something, something that brings us joy, yet what we don’t realize is that our ‘old way’ that used to work before is no longer valid. Its expiry date has arrived! The milk is sour and so throw it out and get new milk!

The following personal example will illustrate this concept. Since weeks I’ve been wanting to rip some more of my CDs on to the new HP computer that I recently bought. I am still navigating my way through all the technological ‘mysteries’ of this grand computer and there is much for me to familiarize myself with. I did manage to transfer some CDs couple of months ago through the music player that I m very familiar with from my old computer. I wanted to use the ‘old way’ to transfer the music from my CDs – like I had already successfully done  – with Windows Media Player.

It wasn’t working! No matter how much I asked the angels to help me in figuring out the ever elusive ‘Rip Music” button on the Windows Media Player screen it was not meant to be, I could not find it anymore! It was very frustrating as I not only wanted to save the music on my computer but wanted to burn that same music after it was ripped for a dear friend whose birthday is fast approaching – the CDs would be a birthday gift for him.

Finally, I gave up last night trying to do that through Windows Media Player.

This morning, I again inserted my Deuter (a wonderful New Age Music artist with instrumental tracks) CD into the computer for what seemed like the thousandth time. And, of course, again, I chose the ‘old way’ of doing things and tried to rip the music through WMP. The result as you have probably guessed by now, was no go! I just couldn’t seem to find the “Rip Music” button!!!

I sat here for a few moments, digesting the fact that I really want to do this [perseverance always pays off  ] – and let go of my frustration and asked for help from my divine helpers again. This time I changed my prayer for help, by asking, “Please help me find an EASY way to transfer this music on to my computer.” I let go of my desire to do that through Windows Media Player (thereby letting go of the old ‘tool’ in resolving a new problematic situation).

A few seconds after saying this little prayer, it occurred to me to go the HP music player, called the “HP Media Smart” music player that came installed on my computer. I knew of this player’s existence on the new computer but was not willing to use it for playing music, instead, always choosing to play it via Windows Media Player. (The ‘old ways’ often feel safer and more comfortable to us – no risk involved as we know what to expect).  The inner guidance or my inner voice was strong. It said, “Let’s see what the HP Media Smart is all about.” So I complied and when it opened on my computer screen, my first impression was, “Nice!” All the CDs that I had already transferred some months ago were displayed so beautifully, big icons, with CD cover images and it was very easy to navigate through all the various buttons to do different things, much more beautiful visually and much easier to navigate.

In other words when the Universe steps in to help us – when we follow our inner voice – when we are aligned with our divine self within – then, EVERYTHING must flow with ease and an astonishing effortlessness!

So, I smiled at the screen of HP Smart Media and looked for a button that might be kind enough to tell me to rip music! I didn’t see that button, what I did see was a button that said ‘Import Music”. That was it!!! I had found the way to easily transfer the music from my CD sitting patiently in my computer’s CD drive slot. I clicked that button, and Deuter’s CD tracks came on the screen. I selected all of them and hit ‘Begin Import”. And Lo and Behold! All the tracks were ripped to my computer in a few short minutes! I heard my inner voice say, “Test drive the ripped music. Click it now in the saved CDs screen with the beautiful CD icons, and play it. Because you still have Deuter’s CD in the CD drive so maybe it will only be played through the CD and not from the tracks that you think have now been ripped on to the computer”! This sounded right so I proceeded to find the ripped music folder and clicked on all the songs from Deuter’s CD. Then I ejected the CD itself to make sure songs wouldn’t be played through it. And YES!! The songs indeed had been successfully and so easily transferred to my computer Music Folder because they began playing through HP Media Smart music player.

I wanted to share the above music transference ‘episode’ with you to illustrate the metaphysical point that once something has outlived its practical and spiritual value for our own evolution and personal growth, it will no longer work for us in that regard. It will simply either move out of our life experience, or not respond to our pleas or prayers or good will for it to return back into our life – whether it’s a relationship, a job, a book, ANYTHING – once we have been helped by it for the purpose it had shown up in your life – its time to let it go (Windows Media Player in this story) and its time to brush off the dust from our faith in the Universe, open ourselves to something completely new, something we don’t yet know anything about (HP Media Smart in this story) and watch the fireworks of miracles light up the sky of our life!

You might think I would already know this universal principle described above. I do! And, yet, yes, I forget it every now and then. That is the nature of being human – we forget, and the successful application of spiritual principles such as the one mentioned in this blog is contingent upon consciously wanting to ‘remember’ these divine truths and then letting our lives be lived according to these principles, instead of controlling each turn and each twist our life brings to us.  These universal divine principles are here to help us along in our life path. They are divinely and deliberately set in place so that we can gradually and knowingly begin to learn to live our life in joy, with purpose thus creating more peace and love in our human existence.

As we evolve personally and spiritually, we need to let go of the old ways of doing things and be open to embracing new ‘tools’ and new ways of being, for the old will no longer  take us forward. Why? Because if we have evolved from where we were, let’s say, a month ago, in the way we experience our life, then the vibration of the old methods will no longer be aligned with our new frequency of our energetic self. The two are not a match any longer. We can only experience in life, what we are a match with. The frequency or level of our own vibration will find things around us that carry the same vibration. A simple illustration would clarify this point:  if we are feeling sad and hopeless day after day, then, we will only magnetize and attract people and events that are also of the same vibration of sadness. On the opposite spectrum, if we feel good about ourselves and are in a positive mind frame, day after day, then we will attract people and circumstance that are also vibrating at the frequency of good feelings and a positive frame of mind. Same thing with methods and tools that we all use in our life for both practical worldly purposes and also for our spiritual more esoteric growth. If we have moved past the frequency of an old method or tool that up to now worked magnificently for us, the elevated vibration of our energetic self will no longer allow the old tool to penetrate our new more evolved frequency of existence. It wants us to open ourselves up to a new method or ‘tool’ which is aligned at the same vibration as our ‘new self”.

I am thrilled with the new ‘tool’ that I have discovered this morning – HP Media Smart music player!!  “Thank you and good bye Windows Media Player; Thank you and Welcome HP Media Smart”! It is important to remember to be grateful for what is leaving our life – why? – because in essence we are giving thanks for its help in our personal and spiritual development, its help in healing parts of us that, once healed can now free us to move forward with ease. I have used this very tangible example in this blog to illustrate a metaphyscial concept that works in exactly the same way, be it with a relationship, habits, career, anything.

We are all energy – you, me, everyone, everything that exists is energy. I invite you to contemplate the truth of this statement. More on that in a different blog very soon. For now, just remember, whenever you feel stuck in a situation – allow yourself the gift of your inner voice that will speak to you and lovingly suggest a new way, a new approach to solving something that has been bothering you, that you have been accustomed to solving in an old way, with an old ‘tool’. Try the new – no fear, just courage.  Its like driving the same old road to get to work every morning – a road that has been under construction for some weeks – but because we have always gone on that road to get to work, we are still taking it despite the traffic jam on it due to the construction – and wondering why are we always late to work! Saying we hate the job, or that its too far. We just need to stop and pause long enough to see that perhaps its not the job so much as it is the road we need to change to get to the job! Try using a differnt route to work, one where there is no construction going on and in all likelihood, we ll get to work on time! Begin using new ‘tools” and you will be blown away at witnessing the positive results.

Thank you for visiting and see you soon in my next blog post.

With Love and Light

Huma

© April 23, 2011

Today is the third year anniversary of my dad’s passing into the realms of Light. It is also the start of a brand new week and three days after the New Moon in Pisces. My father’s birthday is coming up on March 11^th. I d like to take a few minutes and reflect on the wonderful human being and soul my father was.

To begin with, I am a lot like him. Always a conformist, growing up, I wasn’t interested in the typical role models that teen age girls usually have. My only role model has always been my father. He never preached. He practiced what he said. I learned by observing him and not through listening to him go on and on about what is right and what is wrong, because he never did that. He was non judgmental and during all those years that I was blessed to have known my dad, never once did I hear him badmouth anyone. He was humble. I watched, observed and learned and finally made humility a part of my own authentic being. During his years as ambassador, representing Pakistan abroad, we always had a chauffeur. And the chauffeur would drive dad to all the official functions and diplomatic receptions and events, etc. He would open the door of the car for dad and close it after dad got in the back seat. After my father retired from the Diplomatic service, he decided to employ a driver for his personal use to drive him around the chaotic streets of Karachi,  where one pretty much always drives at his/her own peril, and driving law is perfunctory – much like a period at the end of a sentence – its good and correct to have it, but if you don’t add the period, the sentence will still make sense! Whenever my father went out to run errands, and for business in town for his publishing company, that he started after retirement, the driver would be there to take him and my father would always sit in the passenger seat in front with the driver.

“Why do you not sit in the back seat, like all car owners do?” My mother had asked him once. With his familiar warm smile, almost a grin, dad said, “I was obligated to sit in the back of the staff car when I was in the diplomatic service. I had to do it. Now, I have no such obligation. I am free to sit where I wish and I choose to sit next to the driver who is no different than I am, in the grand scheme of things.” I love that story as it’s characteristic of the essence of who Afzal Mahmood was all about. Learned, educated, humble, witty, fun, intelligent, a scholar, journalist, compassionate, non judgmental, kind hearted, charitable, generous, modest …. The list goes on. And these are just few of the qualities that I witnessed firsthand in my father.  I remember, when I was in the final year of high school in Muree, the resort town in the foothills of the Himalayas, and my parents and younger brother would come to visit me over weekends for the day. It was lovely, the pine trees, with their aroma diffused through the air around us, as we hiked and walked looking for a perfect spot for our picnic lunch – roast chicken, kebabs, fruit, breads, an assortment of delicious foods that mother used to prepare ahead of time to bring for me and for us all to eat together. My father, in one of those day trips, spotted a elderly poor man, coughing about fifty yards away from where we were sitting under a gazebo. My father walked over to this old man, and of course, I followed! as I wanted to hear what my dad wanted to say to him. As it turned out, the man was quite sick, with fever – my father being a homeopathic doctor – checked his pulse and it looked like the man had a major case of flu. After asking specific questions that only a homeopathic doctor knows how to ask – my father got the reassurance from the old man that he would meet us there, same place and same time, next Sunday. My father told him he would bring him medicines and they would help him get better. The man could hardly talk he was that sick but he thanked my father profusely and said that for sure he would come next Sunday. We returned the following Sunday, when my parents and younger brother picked me up from my boarding school and looked for the elderly poor man. We started our lunch, saving some for the man. I could see my dad looking around in the trees, on the path, while having his lunch – no sign of the man. On my dad’s request, we waited an extra hour beyond the two hours that we had already been there but he never showed up. “what happened to him, dad?” I asked my father. “Well, sweetheart, I m not sure, he sounded certain that he would come today for the medicines. Perhaps, he was too sick to come and we don’t know where he lives or I could go and give him the medicines in person.”

This story, too is etched in my heart forever. There is so much I have learned from my father. I am compassionate because I saw my father was compassionate. I am non judgmental because I saw my father was like that. He was a very open minded person – open to new ideas, new concepts and technology. He learned to use internet and email – primarily, I suspect, because he wanted to stay in touch with us, his children, while we were away all over the world. Dad would email me once every day and being a great communicator, his emails were always a joy to read. He embraced my spirituality just as he embraced everything new – with an open heart and mind and used to love getting Reiki treatments from me. I sometimes wish I had had much more time with my father to have really become a close friend and  not just a daughter who was close to him.

My father is with me, every day, since his passing. He is a source of my inspiration, helps me to stay centred and encourages me when I need encouragement and guidance. I am forever grateful to have penned these words today in memory of my dad and forever grateful that I was blessed to have you as my very loving and kind father. I love you dad! Thank you and bless you.

Huma Mehmood © March 7, 2011

So many of us, have asked this questions at least once, regarding the job we were in, or a relationship that wasn’t joyful anymore, or thinking that we need to move from the entire city we were in, to make a fresh start elsewhere. And many are asking that question right now, regarding at least one area of their life.

This is what I would call a “soul prompt”, a question that is triggered by our “Divine Intelligence Agency” within. The mere fact that you may be asking this question, can indicate one of several things: You are now ready to make a change; You are dissatisfied with the way things are in that area of your life; You have started to realize, even if not completely embrace, that there is much more to your life than you previously believed possible; You have discovered a part of you that was hitherto, unknown to you, that indeed, you have the courage to change the circumstances of your life. These are some of the variables that can propel us into asking the question, “Should I stay or should I go”; title of a song from the 1980’s when I was studying at Iowa State University.

So, how does one actually resolve this dilemma? How does one ensure they have answered it in a way their soul intends for them to answer?

Remember, no matter, how big the “mountains” may appear, that you need to ascend, if you find yourself asking the above question, this is your time now to make your vision for your life laser sharp. You are ready, and you can sense it that you are ready to transform your life into the one you have been yearning to live, the one, your soul has been guiding you towards in all these years; to go on a mission of discover to learn what you love, to do work brings you joy and also financial prosperity; to live among only those who appreciate and love you; to be in a loving romantic intimate relationship of a life time, one where you are treasured, cherished, appreciated, loved and so much more. The life where you are full of vitality and great health, each and every day BECAUSE of doing what you love, being with the one you love, who loves you, living you Life Purpose, your Soul Purpose in other words.

Once, you focus your vision on getting clear about what brings you joy when you do it, when you re around it, when you visit it, the rest are all details, that the Universe will take care of for you – once you re clear on what it is that you want to experience in life – the essence of what you want to experience – love, appreciation, comfort, truth, joy, bliss, sexual fulfillment in its ultimate highest vibration of the divine awareness, prosperity, laughter, fun, happiness, etc….. once you define clearly what it is you d like to experience in the area of work, of relationships in general with others, in your sacred intimate relationship with the man or woman of your dreams – then, will the Universe step in to assemble all the details together for you – doors will miraculously open, resources will show up, people will offer you information, that will “just click” for you as exactly what you were wanting to find, etc.

You have nothing to lose by now intending, setting your intentions so work can get started for you at the energetic levels by your higher self, your soul.
“One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time” Andre Gide. 

So, part of the setting of our intentions involves asking ourselves, “What is it that I need to let go of? What is it that I need to release from my life? What is it that has already served its purpose in my life, and I no longer need it for moving forward? See what comes up as answers. Those answers, are from your divine self. You are being guided. Follow your intuition, follow your heart. Fear has no place in your life any more. Let fear go. You are divinely protected and guided. You are love and you have love surrounding you, whether you sense it or feel it or not. Nothing bad will or could ever happen to you, unless you believe it will. Begin taking baby steps in the direction of living the joyful life that you so deserve. You can not fall. There is an invisible divine net underneath you that will always help you land safely so you can start again, but this time, from where you slipped and not from the very beginning.

Here s another quote from a wonderful book that I have and am re-reading these days:

“Until we accept that loss can touch our life, but that in all probability we will survive it, we run the risk of living a half-life that is driven by fear and anxiety. Attempting to control the uncontrollable and to shut out what must be acknowledged will drain our energy and sap our potential for contentment and happiness. To experience the new, we must let go of the old, and to experience the future, we must let go of the past, believing fully that no real loss is involved. In return, we are creating a free space into which new wonderful people and new things can flow.” Gillian Stokes “Contentment: Wisdom from around the world.”

Trust your inner guidance. It will always steer you in the right direction, that is for your highest good.

Love and Light

© Huma Mehmood

Years ago, I observed that I loved languages and that I was fascinated with words. Then, years later, when I consciously got on my life path with intention to evolve spiritually, I realized that the word s we use in our speech on a daily basis, what we say to others, carries energy concealed behind the words we use. The energy can be either positive or negative. So, if someone asks, “How re you doing? And the answer is “I m doing great, life is good, thanks.” has positive vibrations in its energy as compared to the answer, “Oh, I m tired, my car wouldn’t start this morning, had to take public transportation and I hate this job.” This as you can see, carries the vibration of negative energy.

What implication does this have for human beings, for us? We are what we think, what we feel and what we say. That means, that sooner or later, whatever we are saying in words, will show up in our life! The person whose answer above is “……. and I hate this job,” is focused on hating his/her job, on not wanting to be at the job, on sending negative energy through those words to his/her job. When that happens, the Law of Attraction, which is only one of several Universal Laws of Life, steps in, to bring more of what we are focused on, i.e. “hating the job.” And thus, the person will continue to find reasons in that job to dislike it wholeheartedly.

Become aware of the choice of words in your speech. That is part of living in a higher state of consciousness as well. (See the article from Feb 1, 2011) When you choose words that are positive, the signal being sent out into the Universe, is that of a positive frequency and since our focus was on positive vibrations, in our speech, about whatever we were talking, the Universe says, “Oh, you re focused on _____ (something positive) I will bring you more of that.” And thus the person will continue to find reasons for feeling good.

See if you can monitor your words today! Observe. Become an observer of your Self today. Even when you re not feeling that great, and someone asks you how you re doing, reply with, “I am doing great or I m doing well, thanks.” If the person asking the question is a close friend, it is okay to tell him/her more details of what s been going on with you, and how you are really feeling. That is different than speaking without awareness to the words we use, in our every day casual communication with our colleagues, acquaintances, storekeepers, etc.

Change your speech from negative to positive, regardless of what s going on around you or inside you. Its that simple! Be patient with yourself, try it out for yourself. As you get used to communicating in more positive ways through the words you use, you will begin noticing that your life actually starts to change and transform in positive ways.  Affirm, that “Today, I intend having a day that is filled with peace, joy, calm and love.” It will be so. Its not magic, but it is magical in how we can re-learn to live our life by tweaking our speech sprinkling it with words that carry positive energy, instead of words that are dark and carry negative energy. Wishing you a day filled with light and peace.

© Huma Mehmood 2011

We, as sentient beings, are already living in awareness! That is, we are aware of our gender, for example and we are aware of when we are hungry its time to eat. We are also aware when we know we need to get ready in the morning to go to work. These are all examples of a level of awareness that human beings live with, in their ordinary level of consciousness. But, if I asked you are you aware right now, as you read these lines, that you are breathing? Your answer probably will be in the negative. You just breathe in every moment! You are not aware in each moment that you are breathing.

When we live in higher awareness, breathing, to use the above example, becomes an act that we are conscious of, in most of our moments of existence. How does one define higher awareness? The way I talk about higher awareness is when you awaken to life and see it from new eyes. Life, as you know it. To the point that you are not just mechanically going through the motions of your daily existence, but that you are living in the present moment. Living in higher awareness is akin to living in the present moment, in other words. Ask yourself, “Am I living in higher awareness?” Why should we live in a state of higher awareness? What are its benefits?

When we start living our lives in a state of higher awareness, things change – our life changes and transforms itself as if, miraculously to something better than what we have known. Life is a stream of consciousness, and unless we are aware that we are part of this stream, we will not realize that we have a choice – we can either choose to flow consciously and deliberately in this flow of life or we can choose to resist the flow and instead, start moving upstream like the salmon does! Which is easier? Flowing downstream or upstream? The answer is easy!

Living in a higher state of awareness of our life means, we are present. We are present, here and now. We are not in our past, reminiscing about the ways things were, and we are not in our future, wishing we could have what we are wanting and that which is not yet here in our experience. We are present and we are noticing and observing all that transpires in our present moment reality. For instance, as we live in a higher state of awareness, we start to give thanks for what is. We are thankful for what we already have in our life – all the good, whether small or big. As I m writing this article, I am aware that despite the freezing minus 11 celsius temperature outside on the street, I am very grateful, that I am warm and cozy in the comfortable home Universe has blessed me with. So, I am “multi tasking in a way. I am writing and I m also being grateful in the same moment. That is one of the attributes of living in higher awareness: being grateful.

Another benefit of being in a higher state of awareness, or living in higher consciousness, is that you start observing. You become an observer of your life. Because you are constantly in a state of awareness that goes beyond the ordinary, mundane state of human awareness, you begin to realize that much of what is going on around you, has really nothing to do with YOU. When you realize that, a weight suddenly is lifted off from your shoulders. You feel lighter. And when we feel lighter, we feel more capable of “handling” what actually does have something to do with us.

One very effective method of connecting to your state of higher awareness is through going inward into yourself – aka meditation.

I will be adding more to this article on living in higher awareness in the future. Right now, I d like to leave you with this question: Are you content with the way things are in your life? If not, give higher awareness a chance. See it for yourself. Experiment with it. Don’t take my word for its benefits. Try it out yourself and see how it works for you. With many blessings for living a fulfilled life.

© Huma Mehmood – February 1, 2011

Welcome to my first post of 2011. We are still in January 2011. And many of us are wondering and asking questions such as “Why am I feeling so drained and unenergized lately?” Or “I m so tired from my job” “I m tired of being single – why cant I just meet the right person for once who loves me and accepts me for what I am and we live happily ever after?” Or, saying, “I am tired of living from pay check to pay check.” Or “I never have any time for myself, I m always doing things for family and friends.” Let’s first acknowledge that questions such as these are all valid. These are all a starting point – a starting point for us to learn to embrace the truth of our reality – if we are so willing – i.e., that we are not happy with it! In order for us to know what we really and truly want in our life – what will bring us joy and love – we must first clear out the debris of what we don’t want in our life, what does not bring us joy or love. So, these questions act as a catalyst that assists us in our journey towards discovering some more questions such as “What can I do to transform my life in positive ways? Or “What happened to the dreams I used to have for myself?”

We can consider that life is a series of questions and our experiences are the answers! As we live our human and mortal life, we experience things, people, circumstances – many of them, to our distress, not to our liking – so, life being a series of questions refers to taking ownership of the ship of your life and asking questions such as the above. In other words, hidden within each of our experiences in life, lies the answer to questions such as the above. Seeing each experience as a question with an opportunity to learn something of value, something that our soul is pointing out for us, something that our soul wants us to learn so it can assist us in regaining our power and in our positive movement forward in life. To change our life we look to the mystic within. When we ask questions, answers inevitably will be revealed. When answers are revealed, the truth of those answers alone can propel us forward, can enable us to transform our situation, whatever that may be.

When we acknowledge the presence of the mystic within us, we also realize that we will not find answers to our questions outside of us, as in asking another person if they know the answer. They may well know the answer to your question, but it won’t do you much good to hear it from them. When you hear it from yourself, in other words, from your inner guidance, your inner self, that is when you go, “Ahh… yes, that sounds right. This feels like the answer to the question I have been asking.” That answer is YOUR truth, based on your unique personality self.

Many of us start a new year with many resolutions, or at the very least, a silent wish that some area of our life would hopefully improve in the New Year! The underlying flaw that is not easily seen in this statement is the fact that we are hoping for something to happen “outside” of us to make our wish come true. Yet nothing is ever happening outside of us, without first shifting or happening within us – within our belief system, and our thought processes.

In this post, I d like you to consider there are many different tools – metaphysical tools or equipment that your soul has brought with it when it took birth in your human body – and these tools are what we need to help us along in our life, to learn the lessons within our tough life experiences, be it in your job, your career, relationships, with family or your husband or wife, finances, health, your outlook in life.

1. As humans, we always have one of two choices. Everything that comes to us in our life, that “happens to us” in our life, always comes packaged with two choices within it: A) the choice to look at it with gratitude and ask, “What s the lesson in this for me” “I want to learn the lesson so I can then move forward in life.” Or, B) “Why is this happening to me again!” Or “I can’t take this anymore.” I am sick and tired of my life never working out. Just when I think I m this close to getting what I want, something goes wrong.” In the first instance, there is the attitude of positive outlook, there is patience and there is a sense of surrender, without giving your power away. In the second respond, there is a negative outlook toward life, along with great resistance to what we are currently going through. It is often challenging for most of humanity to choose A when experiencing tough and painful situations in their lives. The first tool is to recognize the difference between choice A and choice B, and then boldly and courageously opt for A. But there is more to it than that.

2. In order to start living a life of your full potential; to enjoy what you do as work, etc. and to want love and respect from others – in order to experience all this – and yes, it is possible and CAN be your new reality – the second metaphysical tool that will help and assist you in remarkable ways is Learning to Love Yourself. Over the last 20 years or so, I have done a little research on my own, by asking hundreds of people – friends, colleagues, acquaintances, family, clients, even, for example, stewards and stewardesses on planes! I m easy going and people are very receptive to opening up and having conversations with me for which I m very grateful – so, the question, I asked is,  if they love themselves. I also asked them what it means for them to love oneself. The answers were varied, but the one common element that bound all the answers together was the absence of a crucial factor and that is unconditional love. It was relatively easy for many, but not all the respondents to say things such as, “yes, I love myself”; “It means I like who I am”; “Loving myself means I am honest with myself”; “Loving myself means I know who I am”; “Yes, I love myself because I know in order for me to be successful in life, I must be loving to myself first.” No one said anything about loving themselves without conditions which means accepting ourselves just the way we are – with all our qualities and with all our “faults”.

3. Most of humanity is uncomfortable to look in the shadows of their Self, where there is “stuff” that they would rather not be reminded of, or there are feelings that they are ashamed of, or there are thoughts that they d rather not be made aware of. But, all that is also part of who we are. All of that also deserves our attention and our total unconditional love. Hard concept to grasp and then acknowledge. The path of personal transformation is a path for the courageous. And if you are reading this, please know that you already have that courage inherent in you, whether you have already discovered it or not. We learn to love ourselves unconditionally through a process of self-discovery, or re-discovery of the self, if you will – a process of going within. One of the simplest ways, in my view, of achieving that successfully is through meditation. That then, is the third metaphysical tool in our life journey that can be of tremendous help in transforming our life from “Why is all this happening to me?” to “All of my dreams are now coming true for me.”

4. As you travel through each day of this glorious new year of 2011, you may be interested in learning about the fourth metaphysical tool that you may consider adding to your “existential tool belt” to help you move forward in positive ways in your life. Being consciously and deliberately grateful for ALL that is already in your life. To be thankful for all that is working in your life – for example, you may be healthy, you can see, you can hear, you can speak, you can walk, you have food today, you have a car (maybe you d like a new car but right now, you have one, that takes you where you want to go) you have gas in your car today, you have clothes to keep you comfortable (maybe you d like new beautiful clothes, but right now, the truth is you have clothes that are fulfilling their primary purpose: to dress you up from head to toe!) – you get the idea – when we are grateful for what we have, we, like a magnet are sending out that gratitude energy to another magnet – the Universe, as I like to call it, or the Source, God, etc. This magnet attracts your grateful thoughts and in a sense, imagine it is saying, “You like that? I will bring you more of that.” So, for example, if you had been giving thanks for the clothes you put on this morning, “Thank you for this warm sweater, thank you for the jeans, thank you for my jacket, etc.” the Universal Magnet “heard” your words, at the energetic level, and since you were focusing on your clothes and giving thanks for them, Universe says, “You are so grateful for your clothes, I will bring you more clothes for you to be grateful for.” That is it in a nutshell. This goes much deeper but for the purposes of this post I will keep it brief.

Human conditioning by our societies is like a lethal injection, which once given, creates a programming that consists of forgetfulness (not remembering who we truly are: an eternal being of light and love having a human experience), beliefs that tell us that there is not enough for everyone on the planet, that we are minuscule limited beings who can only do and achieve so much and nothing beyond that and great deeds and miracles are only for a few people on the planet; societal programming over hundreds of years has created fear based living; instead of living from our truth which is love based. This programming begins as soon as we humans begin the process of interacting with society at a young age; first at home with parents and relatives, then in school, with friends we make, and later in the jobs we choose and people we meet. The best news, however, is, that because it s only a programming, it CAN be changed, you CAN re-program your thinking and therefore, your mind into having new beliefs, that are then aligned with your true essence – of living a joyful life full of love.

In my posts, at least once every week, sometimes more than once – I’ll be sharing with you, in greater detail, each of the above mentioned metaphysical/spiritual tools, and also add some new ones that I have not listed above, with the intention that by doing so, more light will start to flow into your awareness. I will also share with you, the multi-faceted dimensions of life that replicate a reality of what is going on in the “reality” within us – in our thoughts, what we believe, etc. If you have ever asked the question, “Is there more to my life, or is this it? then you may wish to return to read and see what resonates with you and your soul, in these pages.

Wishing you all a Very Happy and Illuminating New Year. May 2011 be the year of expansion and new understandings for you. Stay positive – remember, that in any given moment, there are always two options to choose from: the positive or the negative. Choose the positive one! J

Thank you for being a co-creator of your joyful life and allowing me to be on this journey with you.

With light and love

Namaste

Huma

January 2011 ©