In this article I offer tips and examples for going deep into your center to find your truth and live a life of complete integrity, aligned with your essence.

Get Beneath the Surface

Often when we start tackling our beliefs and trying to change our habitual behaviors the surface issue is not the crux of the matter. It is important to continually go deeper into what you think the obstacle is, telling yourself deeper and deeper truths about why this feeling, belief, or pattern is disrupting your ability to be at peace.

Usually the behavior you are trying to change arose to distract you from an uncomfortable feeling. To successfully change the behavior, then, you must discover what the feeling is that you avoided and find a way to allow yourself to experience it. Until you do, the behavior will stubbornly arise again and again, morphing into subtler or different ways of distracting you from the feeling you are uncomfortable with. Here is an example:

Susan feels like she is twenty-five pounds over weight. She wants to lose this extra weight, but every diet she tries fails after a couple of months, and she puts the weight back on. When first asked why she wants to lose weight she says she feels fat and uncomfortable. When supported to look deeper, she realizes that “feeling fat” actually means she feels unattractive, and that she has always felt unattractive. When she was younger she often got depressed about the fact that there was a lack of “good men” in her life, because no one she wanted to be with was mutually attracted to her. Over the years this belief made her feel there was something wrong with her, and she decided the problem was she was too fat. Thus this unconscious belief created a dynamic where she is always working either on losing weight, or rebelliously overindulging in eating.

The weight issue keeps her distracted from the underlying internal story that something is inherently wrong with her and no one wants to be with her. It is easy to see how it would feel hopeless and depressing to believe a story like this, and a natural response would be to try and distract yourself from those feelings by focusing on a perceived solution like losing weight. From a conscious perspective however, this dynamic is keeping her from ever feeling a sense of wholeness and peace, and constantly pulls her away from her connection to Spirit.

By doing things like being willing to tell herself the truth about this belief that “there is something wrong with me,” recapitulating it (see Raven’s Recapitulation Workbook for information on how to recapitulate), expressing the emotion around it, doing ceremony, doing energy work, praying, taking actions that disprove it, and finding acceptance for herself no matter what other people think of her, she can change the underlying belief that makes her feel “fat and uncomfortable” all the time. Then she will more likely lose the weight, but even if she doesn’t, the obstacle to her freedom will be removed and she can attain peace with her body and mind.

Tell Yourself the Truth

Sometimes we get comfortable with our “issues” because they are familiar. This familiarity can be a trap for the spiritual warrior. It is therefore critical that you tell yourself the truth. If you have been working on something for a long time and it has not changed, then something is probably wrong with your approach. While it is true that core issues take time and work to resolve, you should be able to see quantifiable change happening during the process. If your relationship to the issue is not changing then your approach is not working. Notice this without judgment and do something about it.

Dig deeper. Ask, “Is this really the issue?” If it is not, then stop the process and focus your attention on finding the real issue. Do you have the willingness to change? If not, stop what you are doing and turn your focus to accumulate the willingness and inspiration to tackle the issue. Perhaps you need to work at it harder. Whatever the situation, telling yourself the truth without punishing yourself is the key to unlock the path that will take you through this issue to the other side.

Celebrate Success

The third key component to achieving your freedom is celebrating your success. We often overlook celebration when we are trying to be a “serious” spiritual practitioner. Celebrating is not to inflate the ego, it is to give you inspiration and joy in the work. It is another part of telling yourself the truth. If you only tell yourself the truth about where you are failing, then your mind will sabotage your progress. Your “spiritual judge” may deceive you and try to trap you in a cycle of punishment. Beware: even if you feel the criticism is constructive, you will never satisfy that judging part of yourself.

If you can’t find anything to celebrate, something is wrong. Spiritual work should bring more joy, purpose, clarity, and wonder into your life. If that is not happening, then please, examine your approach and modify it to bring more inspiration and light into your work. Make it fun. This is your life, not a chore. Sometimes the work is hard, sometimes it is uncomfortable, but if most of your thoughts revolve around the difficulties then you are only doing half the work. Inspiration is critical. You must keep the lightness in your practice and stay clear about the purpose of it or it will surely reach a dead end.

Rest Into Spaciousness and Light

The fourth step is to rest into the spaciousness and energy where the issue was. You have created a space where now you can deepen your connection to your experience of light, love, divinity, and peace. The cessation of pain, the space that gets created when you do the work, may at first feel odd, perhaps even boring. The tendency is to fill the space where the issue was with another issue, more drama, or more distraction, rather than resting into the space and seeing what will arise spontaneously next. In that space is the opportunity for more awareness, peace, and bliss.

I encourage you to consciously recognize the space you are clearing, feel into it, allow it to permeate your being, and deliberately dwell on it as long as it naturally arises. Then let it go and take the next action necessary to create more of it. Syndication Source: ThoughtSearch.com Raven Smith is dedicated to sharing powerful shamanic tools to help you live your purpose. He is a mentor in the Eagle Knight lineage of don Miguel Ruiz, author of The Four Agreements. Raven co-authored Spiritual Integrity and runs Spiritual Integrity Coaching with his wife, Heather Ash Amara. He also wrote The Recapitulation Workbook. Get more parctical tools from Raven.

My entire life, I hardly ever remember my mom sitting down except for a meal — and even that was rare. She never stopped; she never sat; she never rested until she physically collapsed from sheer exhaustion. She never stopped doing until she literally had no choice.

I Thought Love Equaled Sacrifice

I love and respect my mother. She was devoted to her family and as a child I observed her dedication, commitment, and sacrifice. I watched her give, give, give until there was nothing left to give.

I don’t have 9 children, but in many ways I modeled my mom. If she could work so hard, give so much to so many – how could I justify doing less?

I, like her, thought that putting everyone else’s needs before my own was the right thing to do. I measured my value by how much I could do for others. And if I wasn’t working at something I felt guilty and ashamed. An over achiever was born!

As a young bride and new mother I actually took up smoking and drinking coffee so I could have an excuse to sit down and take a break.

I was so obsessed with doing, that when my friends would come over for a cup of coffee, I would serve them and do my ironing as we talked. When I became a career woman, I took my beliefs and habits to work and retained the same standards for my responsibilities at home.

It took a few years before I even noticed how miserable I was. Completely out of balance, always tired, rushed, cranky, all I could see were obstacles and challenges in my life.

While I was successful by career measures, I felt alone and unappreciated. I resented everyone around me, including my family. It felt like everyone wanted a piece of me and I had nothing left to give and certainly nothing left for me.

Unconsciously I was following the model I had seen growing up, assuming it was how it was supposed to be. I got caught up in doing for others so that I could live up to the example set by my mother and since she was loved surely I would be too.

I attached my self worth to my accomplishments and wound up with an addiction to doing. As I checked items off my To Do List I had fleeting moments of self-acceptance.

I constantly thought: “If I can achieve one more thing, get something else done, then surely I’ll find contentment and satisfaction.” When and if contentment ever came, it was brief and then I was on to the next goal.

You Are Enough!

Believing that we must become or do something in order to deserve love and happiness is a source of great pain. The truth is, we are and always have been enough. We are worthy of love regardless of what we do or don’t do.

If you believe in God you probably believe that God loves you. Beyond that there is another whose love and acceptance is within your power.

That person is the only one who can determine how you feel. That’s right! You guessed it. It’s YOU!

A balanced life begins with self-love. The greatest gift you can give to anyone, especially the children who will model you, is a healthy self-love. Syndication Source: ThoughtSearch.com Debbie Battersby, speaker & success coach, has helped thousands of people transform their lives. She”s an elite Master Trainer with world renowned peak performance expert Tony Robbins” leadership programs. Her unique program, “Using Your 7th Sense” gives you the power to grab more potential and ascend to new heights in your own life.

Order her FREE e-book: “7 Steps to Go from Goal Setting to Goal Getting”

More often than not, we think and believe that someone or rather, most people are better than us.- when in reality, the fact is, most people are more scared than us.

You spot a totally eye-catching girl sitting by herself at a party, casually sipping on a glass of Asti Spumanti. You think to yourself, she looks so perfectly calm and confident.

But if you could read thru her transparent mind, you would see a bunch of clouds of thoughts and you might just be amazed that shes thinking are people talking about why I am seated here alone?

Do guys find me attractive? I do not like my ankles, they look too skinny I wish I was as intelligent as my best friend.

We look at a young business entrepreneur and say Wooh, what else could he ask for? He stares at himself at the mirror and murmur to himself, I hate my big eyes. I wonder why my friends will not talk to me. I hope mom and dad would still work things out.

Is it funny? We look at other people, envy them for looking so outrageously perfect and wish we could trade places with them, while they look at us and thinks of the same thing.

We are insecure of other people who themselves are insecure of us. We suffer from low self-esteem, lack of self-confidence and lose hope in self improvement because we are enveloped in quiet desperation.

Sometimes, you notice that you have an irritating habit like biting off your finger nails, having a foul mouth, and you of all people, is the last to know.

I have a friend who never gets tired of talking. And in most conversations, she is the only one who seems to be interested in the things she has to say.

So all of our other friends tend to avoid the circles whenever shes around, and she does not notices how badly she became socially handicapped, gradually affecting the people in her environment.

One key to self improvement is to LISTEN and TALK to a trusted friend. Find someone who you find comfort in opening up with even the most gentle topics you want to discuss. Ask questions like do you think I am ill-mannered?,

Do I always sound so argumentative?, Do I talk too loud?, Does my breath smell?, Do I ever bore you when were together? In this way, the other person will obviously know that you are interested in the process of self improvement.

Lend her your ears for comments and criticisms and do not give her answers like Do not exaggerate! That is just the way I am!

Open up your mind and heart as well. And in return, you may want to help your friend with constructive criticism that will also help her improve her self.

One of Whitney Houstons songs says Learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all. True enough. In order to love others, you must love yourself too. Remember, you cannot give what you do not have.

Before telling other people some ways on how to improve themselves, let them see that you yourself is a representation and a product of self improvement.

Self improvement makes us better people, we then inspire other people, and then the rest of the world will follow.

Stop thinking of yourselves as second-rate beings. Forget the repetitive thought of If only I was richer if only I was thinner and so on.

Accepting your true self is the first step to self improvement. We need to stop comparing ourselves to others only to find out at the end that we have got 10 more reasons to envy them.

We all have our insecurities. Nobody is perfect. We always wish we had better things, better features, better body parts, etc.

But life need not to be perfect for people to be happy about themselves. Self improvement and loving yourself is not a matter of shouting to the whole world that you are perfect and you are the best.

It is the virtue of acceptance and contentment. When we begin to improve ourselves, we then begin to feel contented and happy. Syndication Source: ThoughtSearch.com For more information about the law of attraction and how you can learn more about the 11 forgotten laws, go watch this video on
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The heart chakra is located at the center of the chest. It is known to open forward. The main function of this chakra is to connect the three lower chakras with the higher chakras. This can also be seen as a connection between the physical, emotional and spiritual chakras.

There are several attributes that are related to the heart chakra. Devotion, feeling, openness, connection, and several other types of attributes come from this chakra. The heart chakra is also often referred to as the twelve petal lotus.

When a Reiki practitioner is focusing on the heart chakra, he or she will often place the hands lightly on the chest center. With females, they will rotate their hands right, and with males, the rotation will be left. This will help to clear the chakra and allow for universal energies to go in through this portal. If there are major blockages in the chakra, Reiki healers may choose to use other methods as well.

The attunement or chant that is used with the heart chakra is the mantra ‘yam’. This, said for a long period of time, will help in increasing universal energies. This chakra helps to clear and receive universal energies. Many say that this chakra also helps with the clearing of the thymus gland.

Gemstones are sometimes used with Reiki practitioners in opening up the heart center. The gemstones that carry the right type of universal energy for the heart chakra include the emerald, green jade, kunzite, rose quartz, and pink tourmaline. Any of these types of gemstones can be placed at the heart center when performing Reiki, or can be used over a longer period of time.

The essence of rose is another technique that many Reiki practitioners use with the opening and communication of the heart center. With any of these techniques, the heart chakra will open easiest when a person sleeps on their left side for five to six hours after treatment. Many times, those undergoing heart chakra treatments will picture nature or pink shades when opening the chakra.

The heart chakra is opened by Reiki practitioners in order to communicate with the other chakras. It is also used to help develop several different attributes. With the opening of this chakra, the universal energies can then be communicated on a different level with those studying Reiki. Syndication Source: ThoughtSearch.com Scott Meyers is a staff writer for Its Entirely Natural, a resource for helping you achieve a naturally healthy body, mind, and spirit. You may contact our writers through the web site. Follow this link for more information on Reiki.

1. THINK POSITIVE. In every aspect of our life, we deal with different things. Surely one has to think what’s going on between his life and what comes ahead. Thinking negatively can make our plans barred; it can make us unhappy because our minds think that way. Whereas, when we think positive we feel light and open to new horizons and it is easier for us to deal with life. No matter how bad things come along in you just accept it and think that everything has a purpose.

2. LIVING LIFE TO THE FULLEST. We only live once; therefore we should make each day a memorable one. Don’t let each day surpass with being unhappy. Happy people make the best everyday as the final moment of his life. Explore and create a world of happiness around you. Don’t let your life be restricted with something that is not worth your happiness. No matter what kind of a person are you live each day happily. Do what you really like and do everything that you feel it will make you feel contented and happy.

3. FEEL BEAUTIFUL INSIDE AND OUT. Self-confidence and self-esteem is also a key to being happy. When you feel beautiful, you feel happy and it is easier for you to deal with anybody. You feel you are part of this big world and that you don’t care what other people think about you. Show more the best part on you. It is said and proven that nobody is perfect. Don’t get intimated if you feel you are not good in a certain way. Each one of us has its own flaws, feel good and flaunt it.

4. LEARN TO APPRECIATE. Learn to appreciate even just the smallest of things. Appreciate each moment of and enjoy life. Be aware of your surroundings, the environment and people around you. Happy people are appreciative, you feel happy because the flower blooms, the sky is blue and the birds are singing. When you appreciate someone you also make them happy in return. Being appreciative means having a good heart. Get out, connect, appreciate and be happy.

5. HAVE A GOOD SENSE OF HUMOR. Wise and happy people has a good sense of humor. Making other people laugh is a good achievement to self. To obtain happiness let other people be happy as well. Its normal to laugh at your own mistake and cry for too much happiness. Laughter lightens up our hearts and mind. When you have a good sense of humor, you will gain more friends and a lot will like you for being that way. It is easier for you to get connected with people and talking with them because mostly person’s with great sense of humor are friendly, approachable, fun and easy to be with. Syndication Source: ThoughtSearch.com James Brown writes about MagMall.com coupon code, Booksamillion.com coupon code and forbes.com coupon code