Many people wonder why bad things happen to them, especially if they are trying to be a good person and are helpful and loving to others. It can seem unjust and unfair, and some people start to wonder if there is something wrong with them if they keep having negative experiences.
I think there are two key aspects to this. One is that we attract into our life experiences that match our own level of self-worth and how much we think we deserve respect and love. I talk more about that in this post. The other is how we chose to perceive negative experiences. How we chose to perceive life determines how we experience life. Our thoughts and beliefs create our reality. You can chose to activate beliefs that empower you, or you can chose to activate beliefs that shape you as a victim. It is this aspect that I want to talk about in this post.
“This too shall pass”
A couple of days ago I had the first significant chemical intolerance reaction that I have had in about a year and my left elbow become painfully inflamed. I felt into this with an attitude of curiosity and my mantra has been: “how can I expand through this experience of contrast?” Abraham Hicks defines any experience we have that is undesired, uncomfortable, negative or painful as contrast. In the past my mantra has been “how can I expand through this contrast”, but I added the word ‘experience’ to highlight the fact that this is only a temporary, physical experience.
Appreciate All the Fullness of Experience
Interestingly, the day before the pain in my arm flared up I had been talking to a friend about the concept that the intention of our physical existence is to have the FULL physical experience – the exquisitely pleasurable through to the deeply painful – and that joy is choosing to appreciate ALL of it (I think what I said was that joy is consistently choosing to appreciate all the fullness of life). Yesterday I also had this random thought of “what would happen if the internet was no longer functioning?” and today we had an internet outage in our area. I have noticed that this happens to me from time to time, that I have these thoughts, and they are not fear activated thoughts, just curious wonderings, and then they manifest physically in my life. I’m sure there is an energetic explanation for this which will be the subject of a future post, but for now both experiences gave me the opportunity to flow through contrast (and to “put my money where my mouth is”).
What came up for me at the same time as the pain in my elbow was a clarity of understanding about the connection between mind, body and soul which led me to read an article by Dr Bruce Lipton about how our cells communicate with greater consciousness. I see this as a prompt to step into and even greater level of physical wellbeing and that COMPLETE healing is possible for me. It is like I have allowed myself to heal to a large extent, but there is still a layer of resistant belief that it is time for me to release. I have also been getting an increase in interest in my book Free to Eat over the last few weeks and I feel a desire to also empower others to step into the healing that is possible for them.
This reminded me of the teaching of Abraham Hicks that whenever a problem is created, the solution to that problem is created at the same time. Choosing to approach the problem with a mindset of curiosity drops your resistance and enables you to receive the solution much more quickly.
This is not just about looking for the bright side in every situation and not acknowledging the discomfort of it, it is a greater understanding of the role that contrast plays in the process of creation and expansion. From a psychology point of view it is having a growth mindset instead of a fixed mindset, but from an existential point of view it is much more. It is the difference between focusing on the problem, judging it as bad, resenting it, fighting it, feeling hopeless about it and essentially embodying it, versus perceiving this as an experience of contrast which is part of the process of expansion and looking for what you can receive from it, what opportunities are created by it, how can you expand through it, how does it give you greater clarity about what you do want and therefore a stronger energy vibration around that, and what can you become more aware of in yourself that needs to be loved or released in order for you to step into greater alignment with wellbeing and your higher self/soul.
“Knowing what you don’t want is necessary to focus in to what you do want. It’s ALL part of it”
Abraham Hicks
Abraham Hick’s Five Step Process of Alignment
Perceiving contrast in this way is essentially step five in Abraham’s five step process of alignment with the Universe. Here are all of Abraham’s five steps:
Step 1. You experience contrast and this prompts you to ask for something different
Step 2: Source answers your request and creates your desire in a vibrational reality
Abraham teaches that whenever we ask and express a desire through our thoughts, feelings or words (vibration) that Source energy immediately responds and what you have asked for is created as an energetic reality in what they call the Vortex.
Step 3: Align with the vibration of your desire
This is the key to manifestation. High positive energy attracts high positive energy, and low negative energy attracts low negative energy. When you are vibrating in a state of high positive energy by feeling joy, love, peace, allowing, fun and gratitude then this opens the channel for your desires to be delivered to you.
This can also be seen as the key to allowing solutions to come to you. From a biological perspective, when we are feeling relaxed or are enjoying what we are doing then our brain settles into an alpha or theta brainwave pattern which is the most conducive to creative problem solving. Thus both energetically and biologically the best way to solve your problems is to find a way to feel good.
The great thing is that you don’t have to try and feel good about the problem or contrast itself. You can just focus on anything that makes you feel good. The important thing is the energy vibration, and not the point of focus of that vibration. This is why when you fall in love everything seems to flow in your life. It’s because you are feeling so good most of the time and that attracts more positive energy to you.
We usually find it very difficult to honestly feel good about a problem. I did not feel good about the excruciating pain in my elbow and I didn’t try and convince myself to feel gratitude for the pain. I chose to feel open and curious about the experience of contrast in a general way, because I understand that contrast is a springboard or pathway to expansion. I was appreciative of the experience of contrast as a process, and I had a positive expectation that something good would come from it.
Step 4: Maintain your alignment consistently by focusing on feeling good as your usual state
Step 5: Appreciate the contrast for the role it plays in creation and expansion
Living in step five means that you trust that the Universe is benevolent, and that everything is always working out for you somehow, and that the experience of contrast is part of that. It involves an understanding that living in alignment does not mean a life free of challenge, and that experiencing challenges does not mean that you are off your path, or that there is something wrong.
Central to this, is an understanding of who you really are and your relationship to Source. This includes knowing that you are inherently completely worthy, and loved unconditionally by Source.
The Universe is Not Teaching or Testing You
Personally, I choose not to see contrast in terms of the Universe teaching me something because to me this has the connotation that there is something the Universe needs me to learn or become, and I believe we are already completely worthy, and that there is nothing we are required to be or do in this physical experience other than experience it. Also, for many people the concept of teaching links to being made to learn things at school which can stimulate a feeling of resistance. I prefer to frame contrast as the Universe providing an opportunity for you to expand in response to your asking. I believe that morality, judgement in terms of right or wrong, and the need to earn our worthiness by learning life lessons or serving others are all human ego concepts. I am not passing judgement on them, I am just saying that I think they are physically focused concepts and that I don’t believe Source operates by these concepts. I understand Source as being like Eywa in the movie Avatar.
“Our great mother does not take sides, Jake; she protects the balance of life.”
ZOE SALDANA – Neytiri
Abraham teaches that there is only a stream of wellbeing, only a stream of pure positive energy, and you are either in alignment with it or not; either flowing with it or holding yourself separate from it. When you are in alignment you feel lightness, joy, abundance and peace, and when you are not you feel heaviness, fear and limitation. What you feel is not actually determined by the condition or circumstance you are experiencing, it is determined by how you perceive it and what meaning and interpretation you give to it.
How to Flow Through the Challenges of Life
Next time you experience a challenge in life, an unwanted or difficult circumstance, try asking yourself:
- how can I expand through this experience of contrast?
- what opportunities are created by it?
- how does it give me greater clarity about what I do want?
- what can I become more aware of in myself that needs to be loved or released in order for me to step into greater alignment with wellbeing and my higher self/soul?
Have fun playing with this.
By the way, coming back to the internet issue I had this morning, in the process of getting the problem resolved I was offered the opportunity to upgrade to a more efficient service that is cheaper than my current plan and I got $200 free credit. That contrast was the channel for a wonderful flow of abundance to me.
Thank you, more please.
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