Monthly Archives: September 2007

How many times have you been in the throes of depression or despair or worry—or illness or abandonment or rejection or inadequacy (you get the picture) . . . and some well-intentioned friend or relative pats you on the back or puts an arm around you and says, “It’ll be alright”?

Did you want to gag or maybe, slug them? I’ve heard it and said it—usually when I can’t think of anything else to say. The words have felt pretty hollow, whether I was hearing or saying them and so I’ve just assumed that it was a pretty meaningless phrase best retired to the cliché closet along with expressions such as “It’ll all work out” . . . or “Things will get better . . . “

And so of course The Shower Team had to completely turn my assumptions about that little phrase and its cousins upside down and inside out . . .

Obviously the reason you feel empty or even irritated when you hear words such as “It will be alright” is because you are not believing them or you are sensing that the person saying them to you is not believing them. And yet, in reality, there are no truer or more powerful words that could be spoken when they are spoken from a vantage point of real conviction.

Those words tell the truth about the well being that always abounds—whether you are letting yourself feel it or not. They tell the true story of you always, ultimately, coming back into wareness
of who You really are and of the knowledge that is always available to you that everything IS alright and will be alright because it is the only way things can be. Those words offer you a way back to Source’s view of You—no matter how far from that view you may have let yourself wander.

You can choose to plunge yourself into any pit that presents itself. You can pinch off and hold yourself back from the blessed, bright light of your true Self . . . You can opt to see your experience and everything and everyone in it as dark or dire or dreary or devoid of hope . . .. And in the midst of any of that bondage that you have chosen, those words can be the light at the end of the tunnel you have dug for yourself.

“It will be alright” can call you home every single time you run away . . . .as soon as you are able to hear those words and to believe the truth in them. Because no matter what you have chosen to believe, those words are never a lie, never a deception, never a delusion . . . You can dedicate yourself to proving how dark or empty or lonely or frustrating your life can be . . . You can give it your all—and some of you do—but there will still be moments you can’t avoid where the well being that abounds will sneak in on you . . . and in spite of your hard work to prove the contrary . . . you will still have moments where the sun peeks through the clouds . . . where a smile forces itself on you . . . where you cannot help but feel at least a little bit of relief from your hard-earned gloom.

Some of you even find a certain glamour in your decisions to suffer and in order to justify that choice, you need to condemn or devalue words such as “It will be alright” as the lame mantra of those who don’t know any better than to believe or to be hopeful or happy.

Again, it is always your choice to see what you want to see and to create your experience accordingly. But even the gloomiest, most ‘tragic’ and tortured ones among you, will never be able to shut out well being entirely . . . in spite of all that effort to do so . . . they will just end up transitioning back to nonphysical—where nothing but resistance-free well being awaits them. And where the joke truly will be on them.

So we would encourage you to dust off your perceived platitudes and take another look at those old chestnuts . . . Like so many antiques, they often have real value once they’ve been appraised by someone who knows what to look for. In your case, look for and listen for the sweet, shining truth behind those words.

When you feel miles or even light years away from the bliss you keep hearing that you’re supposed to follow . . . remember those simple words and let yourself really feel their simple warmth and power. When you can’t find your way to believing much of anything else you or anyone else might be saying . . . . wrap your arms around yourself—literally—and rock yourself back into the simple but eternally true notion that no matter what misery you have found yourself in, it IS temporary and “It will be alright.” Because, we promise you, it will.

I remember a time not all that long ago when I really slid into a bit of a downward spiral. I had been fixated on a few things in my life that weren’t going well from my perspective and couldn’t seem to get them out of my head. Then I started having some health issues that, although not serious, were extremely unpleasant (not helped by my being such a big baby when I get sick). It was the proverbial snowball effect . . . and I was appalled to discover how quickly I could get myself back into a fetal position.

After a two or three-day pity party, I started to realize that I was sliding into the crapper faster than I could say pass the Charmin. So, in a moment of what could only have been true inspiration, I started to say to myself . . . “I just want to feel a little better . . . I just want to feel a little better.” I said it over and over and over. I said it in the bathtub and in the shower. I said it before and after meals. I said it when I went to sleep and after I woke up. I said it to myself repeatedly . . . and much to my surprise . . . after a day or so of that incessant chanting . . . I started to feel a little better.

I started to believe that things would be alright.

I can’t say that I don’t ever hear or say those words and get that same lame feeling from them . . . but now I recognize the lame feeling for what it is . . . my choice to forget the truth behind them. And now when I let myself remember that truth . . . those words can really sing to me. They leave me feeling comforted, soothed . . . a little more able to believe . . . and for the moment, a little closer to complete.

It seems every time I turn around lately I am hearing the question—if only in my head—about whether I am ready” to have the things I have been asking for. Am I ready for the new and satisfying relationship? Am I ready to take the next steps on a new career path? Am I ready for real abundance to flow like the river I keep hearing that it is?

It seems on the surface, like a dumb question. How could I want something so much and not be ready to have it? So I asked The Shower Team, when a desire is that longstanding and that strong, isn’t readiness implied?

In a sense, the answer is embedded in the question itself, in that if you are asking if you are ready to receive something that you’ve been wanting, then chances are pretty good that you are not quite there yet. The mere fact of asking that question indicates the presence of some doubt or skepticism or hesitation on your part, which at the most basic level, equals resistance to what you are asking for.

However, it is a good question to look at because it underscores or highlights so well the way the process of asking and receiving plays out for you. When you speak of “readiness” what you are really asking about is the extent to which the energy summoned by your desire is flowing—and the extent to which you are either flowing with it, or standing in opposition to it.

When the energy is flowing in response to your desire, to your asking . . . and you are flowing with that current (i.e., not resisting), then not only are you ready, you are receiving—or will be very shortly. The Universe does not and in fact cannot withhold anything from you under those conditions.

But when that energy is flowing and you are standing there in opposition to it—that is, when you are questioning it in some way, or doubting it in some way, or thinking conflicting feelings about it . . . then you are not “ready” in the purest sense of the word because you have not fully aligned with what you’ve asked for. Some part of you is still not quite believing it or not quite trusting it or not quite seeing yourself as worthy of it.

So another way of asking, “Am I ready?” for the having of what I want is to ask yourself how you feel about having what you want—and then be very very honest with yourself as you respond. If you feel some doubt or hesitation or apprehension or anxiety, then acknowledge that’s where you are and understand that all you need to do from there is to begin to—and continue to—reach for the thoughts and feelings about what you want that offer relief from that doubt or hesitation or anxiety.

In other words . . . . your work is to feel as good as you possibly can about anything that you’re asking and waiting for. If you discover that you are still resisting the having of your desire in some way, don’t further delay or impede your progress by stomping your feel or smacking yourself in the head or throwing in the towel . . . Rather, just look around for thoughts that feel even a little better than the ones you’re currently thinking about that topic.

For example, if a lovely and satisfying new relationship is your dream, and it’s been a long time still not coming—and you notice as you wonder about that, that there are some little nagging feelings of doubt that you’ll really find someone or questions about whether someone you would want to be with would ever really be attracted to you . . . Say to yourself, “What reasons can I find to believe that this is truly available to me?” Or “What are some realistic, plausible things I could say about having this thing that I desire, that would feel better for me to give my attention to?”

Readiness is not something that is bestowed upon you at random or that falls out of the sky on some lucky few . . . It is a process of letting go of whatever thoughts you are clinging to that contradict the having of what you want. Identify those thoughts as you’re able and then practice reaching for softer or gentler or more soothing or reassuring thoughts that are accessible to you—that is, that you can believe as you say them.

When you ask yourself, “Am I ready to have this wonderful new relationship . . . or this unprecedented prosperity” . . . . or whatever the desire may be . . . really listen for the answer. Really notice how you feel about that desire being fulfilled . . . Really notice if you are standing there absolutely believing in it and expecting it and eagerly and enthusiastically anticipating it . . . or not.

If not, then getting truly ready simply means being where you are, feeling whatever you are feeling—and bit by bit, thought by thought, moving yourself into a readier place. As you continue to reach for and find the best feeling thoughts available to you and to gradually let go of those thoughts that oppose or contradict what you want . . . the questions about readiness will become irrelevant as you begin to flow more and more sweetly and swiftly in the direction of those dreams that you are clearly ready for.

I must have been ready to hear that. I remember as a kid all the races that would start with “Ready, set, go!” Sometimes a prankster would get some cheap thrills by yelling instead, “Ready, set . . . DON’T go!” and several of us would end up face down in the dirt or otherwise providing entertainment for the onlookers.

I like the idea of there being no need to worry about being ready. Sort of like the runners or other athletes who have trained themselves to the point of certain readiness . . . or the musicians who have practiced to the point of utter confidence before a performance. Our thoughts about what we want really are the race we’re running or the music we’re playing, etc.

Maybe the point is, I’ll know readiness when I feel it—and when I stop wondering about it. For now I can at least say I’m getting ready. And that leaves me with one or two fewer questions—and for the moment, more ready to be complete.