Don’t allow yourself to become imprisoned by the choices, decisions and promises that you made yesterday, Dear One.

Your understanding of the world around you is constantly changing and growing. In every moment, the potential exists for you to know something new that you did not know the moment before. This new information is constantly changing your perspective – and this constantly changing perspective is a gift.  Don’t throw it away simply because you “adamantly” made a decision about something yesterday.

Today, your new perspective, your current vantage point, might allow you to see something that will make yesterday’s perspective obsolete. Embrace those moments when they happen, Dear One. and allow them to change you, change your mind and change your behavior. It would be a real shame to stand in one place all of your life simply because you told someone that you would.

Don’t let your desire to be right, or loyal, or trustworthy, supersede your desire to live your life to the fullest.  Don’t let the promises that you made yesterday stop you from living your life today.  The truth is that the people that you made them to have changed as well.  Their needs, desires and perspectives are not going to the be same forever either.

Honor yourself and your commitments as they make sense in the moment.  Don’t allow yourself to be ruled by a past that is already gone or a future that does not yet exist.

Learning to play the accordion, paint, teach, or split an atom requires practice, Dear One.

So does learning how to be more open, bold, tolerant, loving, trusting, and accepting of yourself and others.

Whenever you are practicing something new, regardless of what it is, we want you to know that it is essential that you also remember to practice patience too if you ever hope to achieve any level of success.

Not because we want you to expect or anticipate that whatever it is you learning is going to take a long time to achieve, because it may not.

We want you to practice patience, Dear One, because of your tendency to want to punish, judge harshly, or put yourself down when you encounter something new, when you come across something that you have not yet mastered, when you discover that you do not yet already know it all. (i.e. I can’t believe I missed that, how come this is so hard for me, how stupid of me to have not known that, and so on. You get the idea.)

Why does it matter?

Because you can’t judge yourself, be frustrated with yourself, or put yourself down, and grow in any positive way at the same time.

Hate is a powerful emotion, Dear One, one that is often felt very deeply.  And if you are feeling it, we are sure that you have your reasons.

Hate can be a difficult thing to let go of, even if you want to, especially when you feel that you have justifiably earned the right to feel it.

We will not ask you to stop hating, Dear One. We would never ask you to do something so difficult.  We would never ask you to do something that you do not want to do.

But what we will ask of you is that you stop giving hate so much of your attention.

What we are asking of you is that you not spend even one more minute of your  time, your thoughts, your energy,  your life, focused on that which you hate, and instead choose to focus on that which you enjoy, on that which you love, on loving each other instead.

You see, Dear One, hate only serves to bring more hate into the world, nothing more.  It doesn’t fix anything, heal anything, even any score, or make things right, and it never will.

But love on the other hand, has the power to transform/to heal anything.

Even hate.

You can berate yourself for stepping (or falling) off course, Dear One, or congratulate yourself for being conscious enough to recognize it.

But you can’t punish yourself and step back into the flow at the same time.

You’re going to have to choose one or the other.

So, what’s it going to be?

Laugh, Dear One.  Laugh out loud, every chance that you can.  Don’t hold back.

Why?

Because laughter is an elixir and it  can cure what ails you.  Because you are never more open, more receptive, or more free then when you are loving and laughing.  It is like standing outside in the rain and trying not to get wet.  That is what laughter is like for healing.  You can not stand uncovered in the rain without getting wet, and you can’t laugh without allowing well-being to flow to you, through you and from you.

• Thoughts of joy, love, trust, abundance, excitement, optimism, confidence or possibility?
• Thoughts of failure, fear, lack, hurt, sadness, anger, dread, self loathing or limitation?

Just a reminder that the choice, as always, is yours to make.

Giving up is nothing to feel bad about, Dear One.  Did you know that it’s OK to want to give up from time to time?  That it can actually be good for you?  Giving up is the ultimate form of surrender.

When you have nothing left to lose – when you stop trying – when you stop resisting what is –  when you reach your point of surrender – anything can happen, if you let it.

Surrender does not need to be hopeless, devastating or an indicator of weakness.  It can be intentional, exciting and an indicator of strength. Don’t give up and expect the worst.  Give up and expect the best.  Give up control, fear, remorse, guilt, agitation.  Give up negativity.  Give yourself a break.  Try embracing surrender today and allow something unexpected to happen.