Physician Healer

Issue 102: Abundance and Freedom -- When Do We Really Know We are Already Free and Abundant? (Part 2)

Before we deep dive into Part 2 on the concept of abundance and freedom, I want to reach out and warmly welcome all of our new subscribers to the Healing Physician Meridian Meditation Podcast, where you can access powerful tools to help your transformational journey to allow you to unfold and release your old stories to make space for authentically showing up. Together, we can elevate the platform and make it available to many others who may benefit from these tools.

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Abundance and Freedom (Part 2)

This concept is easy to read about and learn, and rather easy to accept as a concept in any personal development program in which we participate, at least on a superficial level of comprehension. It’s rather like something we hear in class from the instructor, then we read about and study it, and eventually attempt to make sense out of it and apply the principles. But, speaking from personal experience, to truly grasp this as a believable truth can be challenging for many, especially if our perception of the current reality does not support or reflect anything of the kind.

The struggle is real — only in my mind, of course.

I struggle with this concept on a daily basis. Clients frequently ask or assume that my life runs smoother than theirs or that it is more magical than theirs, since I have learned and shared so much. And, the reality is my life is far from that. Each day brings new perceived challenges — no, life lessons — and necessary adjustments so, I tell them that my only advantage is that I have the tools and awareness necessary to navigate the course correction needed to bring about balance of mind, body and spirit.

My days are definitely filled with many opportunities for course correction.

Annoyingly, when my 5 senses seem to keep me trapped in believing that my current circumstances are real and permanent, I have to push through and really get present, to remember that they are anything but real. Eventually, this process becomes increasingly more effortless, as I remember more readily that everything is temporary and that I have the power to change them. I know that visualization and imagination tools, as well as embodying the desired end result as if it were already here with strong and confident feelings, can overcome the lies with which my primitive senses and attempting to gaslight me.

Are these methods easy for me to do? Absolutely not. But, I know to remain persistent and determined, because I’ve studied the subject and personally know others have been successful, so it makes sense that I, too, have the potential to define my version of success. And like the story about the Chinese bamboo, our ability to succeed, however we define it, depends on persistence, patience and faith even when we see no visible indication at first. Watch the Chinese bamboo fable on YouTube. (See below)

We are also driven by our obsession with regrets of the past and our excessive fears of the future, yet there’s a part of us that understands that the past is gone and does not have to repeat itself in the future; and while the future is intangible, it is totally malleable depending on our thoughts, feelings and the decisions we make now. Then, why is it so difficult to remember or believe that if we don’t like something, we just need to stop thinking and talking about it, otherwise, we will get more of it?

“All I can see are the things in front of me and all around me, the reality that this is not what I want, not who I wish to be and not how I wish to feel. I cannot think, feel or see in a way other than what is staring at me right now.”

I hear that a lot. And, I’ve caught myself saying that, too.

It’s because we don’t see the immediate effect after the cause. The delayed time interval between our thoughts and actions and the end results don’t allow our mind to comprehend that the 2 events are connected; therefore, because we are unable to relate the 2, we fail to grasp the significance as a lesson. The following quotes have had a profound impact on my day-to-day approach to life.

“Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” (Napoleon Hill)

“You become what you think about all day long.” (Earl Nightingale)

“All successful people have come to realize that your thoughts form your world, and you truly cannot afford the luxury of even one negative thought. Your thoughts can create magic and everything you have ever wanted. Today’s thoughts build tomorrow’s dreams.” (Robin Sharma)

How do we get around what our “primitive” 5 senses are telling us? (Note that higher mental faculties refer to the powers of imagination, perception, will, intuition, memory and reason, which differentiate us from the animal kingdom.) And, are we supposed to “get around” anything or are we supposed to accept and embrace everything? Isn’t everything supposed to be a lesson? Isn’t this earthly life supposed to be this ginormous experience? How do we maneuver? What do we do or is doing anything considered too much “doing” and not enough “being?”

An increasing number of thought leaders today have begun to redirect the path of “personal growth” and even maintained that certain personal growth courses and programs may actually be harmful, especially if individuals are made to believe that something is inherently “wrong” with them and that they need to be different, or that feeling sad or having negative thoughts was a “bad” thing and must be removed immediately and replaced with positive affirmations.

Instead, they are focusing more on discovery, allowing us to subtly emerge over time and show up in this world as we were supposed to if we had grown up without the influence of bad habits, behaviors, beliefs and attitudes of the adults and environment around us. They are now favoring our confrontation and acceptance of what we perceive as negative without judgment, in order to spend time exploring and validating our feelings instead of fearing them and desperately pushing them away, to learn the necessary lesson they represent, and release resistance, whereby the “negativity” ceases to persist in an organic manner.

This is personal transformation, letting us know that there is nothing we really needed to change with ourselves but more of letting go of all the old stories of what we are not and allowing the genuine core of who we are to reveal itself and shine. This is when our purpose, passion, and our identity become aligned, and we stop experiencing conflict.

Some of the programs are structured around heavily emphasizing the implementation of specific techniques without allowing the individual to confront, acknowledge, and release the old paradigms, while others navigate the balance of both. I can totally understand this approach, given the argument that we are already “enough” as we are, and that we are already “perfectly whole” when we were born. Transformation is a result of removing the layers, whereas change represents adding new and different layers.

The process resonates with me now more than ever. Uncovering and discovering who we really are underneath all the layers of stories other people have told us (about who we are, who we’re supposed to become, what we’re supposed to do, what we’re supposed to believe, how we’re supposed to act, what is right and wrong, the fears, prejudices, judgments, and blame), mixed in with all the ones we tell ourselves 24/7, are really about taking time to sit in meditation and reflection. While many may be tempted to roll their eyes when they read what I’m about to say, I am now convinced that we only recognize our innate enoughness and perfection when we shed all of the false layers of rubble and noise and connect with our true selves. We don’t need to improve; we need to let go to create space for what is authentic to come through.

However, there is one caveat. The shedding of the layers cannot be actively or aggressively done. There are many kinds of mindset tools and methods that are accessible (I have written about them in previous blogs), which can be effective to kick start the process and to be used as a safety net when our journey gets rough. But, it is indeed allowing ourselves to quietly sit and just “be” with whatever’s available that presents itself at the time, within and without. The quietness and the stillness, the absence of stimulation and distraction, the complete relaxation of the body, are all necessary to starve the egoic mind, to shut down the old paradigms, the negative self-talk, and limiting self-image, keeping us from showing up in the world confidently authentic.

In a societal culture that is driven by continuous bombardment of distractions, comparisons, and societal standards of excellence, we are not giving ourselves a chance to just stop and breathe, to look at ourselves in the mirror with love, admiration, and gratitude, and to just simply be aware of how awesomely powerful we are, just as we are, without the never-ending daily struggles to prove this to ourselves or others.

We have become addicted to a disharmonious way of existing and have accepted it as the norm. We have stopped questioning the slow, deceiving seep of toxicity that there is something misaligned with the way we are behaving and acting with frustration, fear, depression, worry, and desperation. We are convinced that we need to be better than the next person, to surpass all the others, because we are right and they are wrong, thus perpetuating the sense of separation. Our only obligation is to be more authentic than we were yesterday.

Developing higher levels of awareness opens up our understanding that each of us is a unique fractal of the whole. Mastering the meaning and purpose of our existence is about recognizing the simultaneous uniqueness and sameness of belonging. Our natural state is oneness with everyone and everything. There is no wrong or right way of interpreting anything.

There are no mistakes. Every action is meant to be an experience. Our life is made up of a series of events, one after the other and each moment is an event that permits us to make decisions that take us into the next step. Each event and encounter with others are nothing more than lessons from which to learn and grow, to help us shape our next decision.

Sometimes, we want to kick ourselves for either making or not making a decision. This is unnecessary and unproductive. Whatever the outcome that occurs from a specific circumstance stemming from a specific decision is meant to play out that way. If we find that it does not serve us, then we have the choice of making a different decision. Like the story of the 3 bears, we won’t know whether or not the porridge is too hot or too cold if we don’t make the decision to try it.

Then, why all the confusion, frustration, anger, worry, fear, and unhappiness we experience day to day? Because, we don’t trust our gut feelings, our natural intuitive abilities. Although an increasing number of people have begun to realize that there is more to this existence than what meets the eye, these moments of awareness are brief at best, leaving us wondering if any of this is real. We sheepishly and whimsically chalk it up to imagination or momentary oddness and weirdness, and yet, isn’t it true that what we imagine and visualize most consistently and frequently end up happening in “real life?”

I receive many questions each week and you may resonate with one of more of them in this compilation:

-How can I live a life feeling free and abundant when I am stuck in my job and looking at my bills and bank account makes me miserable?

-I’ve taken many classes and paid for many personal growth programs but after they are done, how do I not go back to my old ways?

-I feel that I’ve changed but how do I deal with the people around me who haven’t changed and don’t believe in what I do?

-I want to have better health but imagining that I do has not helped me feel better. What else can I do?

-I’m having a hard time finding and getting into a relationship and I’ve been doing visualization. Why isn’t it working?

-How can I feel grateful for something I don’t have yet?

-I want to change my life, but how do I say that my life is good when it clearly isn’t?

-I don’t understand how thinking about something in my head can become something real in front of me. How does that work? How long does this process take?

As I have told all my clients, I can only share what has worked for me and share my experiences and they can try whatever resonates with them. I have reminded them that through meditation, new ideas will come to their mind in time once it clears out some space to receive.

As some of you already know, and as I’ve mentioned earlier in this blog, in the last year, I have been blessed with the unique opportunity to combine my personal transformational and mindset techniques, with a new business as a financial professional, helping “stuck” individuals add or transition into new careers in the financial or other fields of interest by teaching them how to get out of their own way. It has been rewarding to be able to continue to help new clients and business partners with meditation and relaxation practices as I have observed that everyone has the intelligence and ability to do a multitude of different things, including taking on new careers as long as they can see themselves as intelligent and capable (self-image) of taking on a new role, in addition to passion, persistence, and desire.

In all of the cases that I have worked, the self-image or lack thereof has been the game changer or dream destroyer, respectively, predicting what people will or will not do in life for themselves. Even when there is passion, desire, and determination to succeed, without having sufficient belief in self and the proper self-image to achieve that new state of health, happiness, wealth, and profession or career, unfortunately, change whether permanent or temporary inevitably never happens.

We tend to regress to the cyclical, love-hate familiarity of the comfort zone and cease to entertain the dream that once lit up our soul, the very dream that would have allowed us to discover what is possible, and then we either go on living feeling like a failure for the rest of our life, persisting in perpetual wishful thinking, and/or sinking into helplessness and depression.

As for me, part of being a financial health coach is participating in the campaign to facilitate financial literacy awareness for individuals and families, teaching financial concepts along with mindful tools for personal transformation. Clients have asked me how to overcome the fear of adding something new in life, because many had expressed a desire to explore other avenues of interest and even changes of careers altogether but lacked the courage to move forward.

Literature about mindsets and paradigms illustrates the fact that our eventual profession as adults is influenced by our parents and others who were around us while we were growing up. So, until recently, I didn’t see myself as a financial educator and mentor. My identity did not include that as it was never a part of my self-image. As the universe would have it, an encouraging and supportive friend became one of my mentors and reminded me about possibilities and my experience in personal transformation taught me to take all ideas and neither accept, reject or ignore them, but to reflect upon them and surrender to intuition. In any case, I recognized and acknowledged the importance of changing my self-image to align with my new project if I were to enter a new field of study.

I understood that the fight was only as real as it was established within my mind. My egoic mind repeatedly rejected the idea of change and definitely feared any leaps of faith into the unknown. And, regardless of whether or not I was choosing to tap into my higher mental faculties of intuition and perception (Raymond Holliwell) I reminded myself to practice awareness. Whenever I perceived a thought to be negative, I’d remember that our natural state is that of peace, love and joy. The negativity was the ego expressing itself. Repeatedly, I brought myself to the present moment as often as I was cognizant of it.

Feeling that we are living a life that is free and abundant is all about what we do in the present moment. The first step is to bring awareness to what is happening right now. By accepting whatever the circumstances are — for now — we eliminate the need to fight it off, get rid of it. We allow it to have space with us so that a lesson can be learned and by doing so, nothing persists for it is released and space is created for a new idea or insight.

(This ends Part 2 of Issue 102. Part 3 will conclude this issue on Abundance and Freedom to be released as the next installment in the next 1-2 weeks)

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Until next time, may you take moments throughout each day to bring yourself to a state of gratitude and really take time to feel that. Therein lies the secret to truly experiencing a life of success not only in physical wealth, but also in matters of the heart, health and spirituality.

With love and gratitude,

Dr. Celeste Amaya♥️🙌