Two Things I Learned About Making Mistakes

This is my first blog post since November 2014.  Even though I've been away for awhile, there's been allot of growth happening in my life and it's been all consuming.  There's a war that I've been waging...both internally with my Hyena and externally with forces from the dark side that I can't see but know exist and that try to tempt me, delay me or distract me from getting results every chance they get.  They are very good at it...they've been around for a long time to get the results that they do...and now as I write this, I can see that even these forces understand principles that sometimes I forget. 

Last November, I was invited to apply for a position writing a blog for Higher Laws.  This is something I had never done before but I felt the Spirit witness to me that this was something I needed to do.  A few short months earlier, I received a blessing and was told that I had a talent for expressing myself.  I received this blessing with great joy and appreciation as I had been praying that Heavenly Father would reveal my gifts and talents to me.  It was like a light bulb went off!  It's amazing how you can be so blind to truth but as soon as it is revealed unto you, it seems so obvious and you wonder how you missed it (this is another whole subject I could write a whole other blog about).  I thought, "Yeah, I guess I do have an ability to express myself but I never thought this was a gift or talent".  When I received the e-mail from Higher Laws inviting me to write a blog for them, I knew in my heart that Heavenly Father was opening a door for me.  I was so excited to try something that I had never done before and to take a shot at using this talent and working to make it even better.

With a passion and a desire to work I had not felt in myself in a really long time, I posted 9 blog posts on my own blog and 1 blog post on a guest blog.  I felt such a huge sense of accomplishment and certainty.  I was on top of the world and my lion was roaring!!!  I could not believe that I had done it because for so long, my Hyena had told me over and over again that I was not good enough...that I should not even try.

The VERY next day after I had submitted my posts, I had a HUGE state crash.  I went from feeling proud of my accomplishments to wanting to destroy EVERYTHING I had worked so hard to accomplish.  I SHREDDED myself for mistakes I had made during the writing process in order to meet the deadlines.  I failed to align to the priority of relationships to spend time with my husband and son.  I shut out my husband and rejected his desires to read and review my blog before I posted it. I posted personal details about our lives, including his, that I did not get his permission to share.  I felt vulnerable and uncomfortable putting my heart out there for everyone to see.  In short, I felt like I was a fraud and a failure writing about Higher Laws and that my Hyena had been in the driver's seat, even though my intentions and desires had been pure to want to share and serve others.

I have learned that we will receive equal opposition from the dark side for all the light that we receive.  This is all part of the process.  It is a true principle.  I have felt it and seen it and experienced it.  However, despite this knowledge, that dark side knocked me down and knocked me down HARD.  I made the mistake of falling and not getting back up fast by aligning to Higher Laws, managing my state, serving and growing.  I allowed my Hyena to dwell on my mistakes instead of allowing my Lion and the Creator to forgive myself and move forward.  I knew all this but yet I just couldn't seem to pull myself out of the depths of my self loathing.

  

Over the last few months, I have been listening to weekly coaching calls and continuing to put myself in environments of growth. It was coaching calls by Andy Benjamin on February 13th and Brandon Broadwater on April 29th that gave me the perspective I needed to help me get back up.

Andy was relating some personal struggles with applying Higher Laws in the beginning and asked himself, "What will STOP me? What will be the thing that knocks me off my path?"  Andy's answer to this question was...

NOTHING! NOTHING! NOTHING! He would not let any uncertainty knock him off his path and cause him to have a near miss with greatness.  He knew that he wanted to get away from being honorable vs. valiant and that he wanted to be a helper, a servant and a teacher.  If he failed to take his next step, it was FEEDBACK to help him know whether or not he was moving forward.  He didn't beat himself up if he didn't take the next step.

MISTAKES are FEEDBACK and nothing more.  Mistakes get correction through thoughtful application.  Doing things mindlessly will lead to bad habits but doing things...practicing mindfully with the intent to get better will lead to PERFECTION.  You have to practice and express your bad habits with the INTENT of getting better...with the awareness that you aren't perfect...that there are things for you to improve on.  There are no excuses not to act.  Take every opportunity to practice and correct mistakes.

Brandon reminded us some principles on How to Create a Life of Prosperity and again he re-iterated some of the same principles taught by Andy several weeks earlier: 

PERFECTION is making a mistake and getting up fast.

After I learned that mistakes are feedback and perfection is getting back up fast, I gained the needed perspective to help me move forward. Every time the Creator showed me something I needed to change about myself or a mistake that I had made, I started offering gratitude for it.  I realized just how much my Heavenly Father loved me and that he wanted me to be even better.  If I couldn't see my mistakes or where I needed to change, how could I change and become even better?  I also realized that next time I get knocked down, I need to do everything in my power to get back up fast by aligning to the Higher Laws I have already learned.

If you have been down too long because you have made mistakes, know that you are not alone.  You can learn more about principles that produce results in the 3-day event Master Your Power Within.  If you would like to know more about how this training has affected my life, please feel free to contact me by e-mail.

Things That Are Spiritual are Not Logical

In May 2014, my husband and I attended The Answer to Everything in Edmonton. Near the end of the third day, Brandon Broadwater offered an incredible opportunity to attend University 101, 202 and 303 over a three year period. After the offer, I was distracted for the next hour or more as I agonized over the decision to sign up. Our circumstances were that three months earlier, my husband had become unemployed. Although we were blessed that he had received a 6 month severance package, it did not seem logical that we would spend money on this investment when our financial future was so uncertain! My mind was overwhelmed with thoughts and I felt anxious and confused. I could barely focus on what Brandon was teaching as my mind raced. I looked over to the flip charts on the wall, searching for the one with the notes on the Heavenly Guide. It said that the guidance from the Heavenly Guide came in few words and with feelings of peace and that the Hyena used many words and logic and produced feelings of tension. I said a mental prayer to my Heavenly Guide to help me know what decision to make and then I was inspired to JUST LISTEN. After some time, I started to feel peace and the anxiety went away. While I was intently listening to Brandon, a thought popped into my head, “Just Do It”! At the next break, I told one of the Higher Laws team that I had decided that I was going to sign up. My husband decided he did not want to be left behind and so he joined up too! I considered it an investment in our marriage and family.

It is a month before University 101. It’s been over six months and my husband does not have a job. Once again, I agonized over the decision to go to University 101. The circumstances were crazy!  Now that we had only my part time salary to rely on, how could we possibly still go to University 101? Yet my heart knew that if we aligned to principle vs. circumstance, we would get results and that Brandon had taught that things that are spiritual are not logical. So I emailed my Personal Results Specialist and told him of our situation and he shared with me a little known fact that he almost didn’t make it to University 101. He told me that someone strongly encouraged him to go and that because he did, he experienced the greatest shifts in his life! Well, if that wasn’t encouragement enough, we decided that we would somehow find a way to go too…and now we are working on taking the next steps.

Wish us luck!

Be an Example of the Believers

In the New Testament of the Bible, 1 Timothy 4:12 says:

“…be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”

For years I felt guilt and shame as I struggled to align my faith in that scripture with my actions in choice of language. It was easy to watch my language in front of others of my own faith, but as soon as I was out of their company and confronted with circumstances that triggered strong emotion, there would be an outpouring of bad language.

I prayed often to the Creator in help with conquering this weakness. For awhile, some co-workers and I decided to start a swear jar but the small financial penalty was not enough incentive or deterrent to make a permanent change. I felt discouraged and thought that I was never going to be able to be the kind of example that I wanted to be.

In May 2014, I attended The Answer to Everything in Edmonton, AB. One of the major things I learned about was the two parts of ourselves – the Hyena (or ego) and the Lion (or higher self). I knew that these two parts of myself existed but I had forgotten all about them. As I sat in the event listening to Brandon Broadwater talk about these two opposites and their characteristics, I gained perspective and started to see how the Hyena had been playing a dominant part in my life with respect to my decisions. Brandon talked about Pride and the Pride Cycle which were not new concepts to me from scripture study but I had never really likened them to myself. I had never considered myself a prideful person. I learned how one of the three Pillars of State is Language / Meaning.  As the 3 days of the Answer to Everything unfolded, my perspective was raised and I started to see where I had been prideful, where I was shrinking and where I was holding back. I saw how I had made most of my decisions based on circumstance vs. principle. I saw where I was feeding my Hyena instead of my Lion.

As the weeks and months after the event followed and I strove to align to Higher Laws, I noticed an interesting thing happen. I did not have a desire to use bad language anymore!!! It was a natural consequence of striving to be a Lion!  My prayers had been answered and I had finally learned the secret to stop swearing. Now that my perspective was raised, I could clearly see that Lions use good language and Hyena’s use bad language. The kind of language you use is a clear sign of which part of yourself you are feeding.

Thanks to Brandon and the Higher Laws team for helping me to see how I can be an even better example of the believers!