The Art Of Allowing.

Hello!
I lieu of my food filled posts, I wanted to post this article I read on Oprah.com . It's about the 'Art of Allowing', which I've recently immersed myself in (viaMichael J Losier, Joe Vitale, Debbie  Ford, Katie Byron etc). It's about opening yourself up to receive all the things you want and accept things as they are. This article was written for Oprah.com by Mike Robbins:

THE ART OF ALLOWING IN 3 STEPS

Allowing, however, is an essential aspect of life and growth, as well as of your success and fulfillment. The first aspect of allowing has to do with accepting things as they are. As author and teacher Byron Katie says, "When you argue with reality, you lose—but only 100 percent of the time."



When you're able to allow people, things and situations to be as they are—without judging them, trying to fix them or wanting to change them—you begin to tap into the immense power of allowing. Ironically and somewhat paradoxically, when you truly allow things and people to be exactly as they are, you open up a space for real change and transformation to occur (if that is what you want).


The deeper aspect of allowing has to do with trusting, being patient and having faith that what you want to manifest, create and experience can and will show up in your life as it is meant to. In other words, it's an ability to allow things to happen and materialize, without you having to manipulate, dominate or control other people or situations to make them happen. If you have a tendency to be a control-freak at times, this can be incredibly challenging.


The paradox that exists with allowing runs deep within you. Perhaps you were taught and believe "if it is to be, it's up to me." And while there is truth and wisdom in this philosophy, feeling as though you have to work hard, run fast, keep up and make everything happen in your life is exhausting and insatiable. No matter how hard you work, what you try to fix or all of the changes you intend to make, if you don't learn, practice and ultimately master the art of allowing, true success and fulfillment will always elude you. Action is important, but you also have to learn to balance it out with your ability to allow.
 
Allowing takes faith, patience and trust—three things that are essential for your own peace of mind and well-being, but often are not things we focus on, learn about or are encouraged to practice in our intense, fast-paced, results-oriented culture. Allowing is truly an art and is something that often goes against the grain and runs contrary to societal norms and pressures. It has to do with remembering, as the well-known saying goes, "We're human beings, not human doings."



Here are a few things to think about and practice as you enhance your capacity and ability to allow with more ease in your life.


1. Ask yourself how you relate to the concept of allowing. Take some inventory of your own relationship with this idea. How do you feel about it? How comfortable are you allowing things and people to be as they are, as well as allowing things to manifest with ease in your life? This is something you may understand, but may not practice. Tell yourself the truth about how you relate to allowing, and notice how this impacts your life one way or another.




2. Pay attention to what you focus on in regard to your biggest goals and aspirations. In terms of the biggest goals, dreams and aspirations in your life right now, how much of your attention and energy are focused on doing, and how much are focused on allowing? While both doing and allowing are important, most people put a disproportionate amount of attention on action. Increasing your focus on allowing and ultimately receiving can be a magical, relaxing and incredibly effective way for you to relate to your goals and dreams. This is often one of the big missing pieces in your desire not only for success, but—more important—for fulfillment.


3. Create an allowing practice. This is a simple practice you can do daily (like prayer, meditation, quiet reflection or affirmation) when you put your attention and awareness on allowing: accepting things as they are; trusting things are working out as they are meant to; believing the feelings, experiences, accomplishments and outcomes you desire are on their way; and allowing yourself to receive these gifts and blessings with ease and gratitude. You may need to reach out to others for support, guidance and feedback about creating or deepening an allowing practice that will work for you, but doing this is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself (as well as those around you).


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I found this article timely, as I am really working on 'allowing'- it's been one of my daily affirmational words that I have been using for over a month now. It's funny that an article using that exact word was sent to my email just when I started 'slipping' in my positive thinking/attracting things into my life habit! What do you guys think?
Questions:
What do you want to work on in your life?
What do you want to 'allow' into your life?
How comfortable are you to receiving/allowing things to come into your life?
Do you ever put up resistance to letting 'good stuff in' (self sabotage)?

Here is 1 picture of todays' protein cake (this was times 4 and I ended up going through a whole carton of egg whites, Walden Farms Calorie Free Strawberry Spread, psyllium etc which remained unpictured)

Here is a good link:

http://www.mindbridge-loa.com/art_of_allowing.html