#UnBlockYourself

Mind and Motive Shifting

“When things do not go as we expect or we are surprised by events that alter the order of our lives, what we can learn from the situation? Learning shifts us from victims to creators, allowing us to adapt and cultivate a resilient attitude toward change, loss, and transition.” - Valentina Marin: 4 ways to practice Wabi Sabi, the Japanese secret of happiness 
 
Check motives. The reason behind why you do things. Things happening to us and through us happen for a reason, and that reason usually come from some sort of motive on all parties part.
 
A person coming to you a certain way is usually the result of a mindset and motive shift in thinking. Also, the way you respond to them will take a mindset and motive shift in thinking to intentionally make it positive.

Forcing God's Hand

Forcing God’s Hand
 
“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.””
Hebrews 13:5 NIV
 
What you have is your story. 
Think of this life you’ve already journeyed through, on all the ups and downs, and focus your attention to the moments of joy, learning, and transformation (both external and internal) that you have experienced over time. 
How did you make it? Did you have to force God to give you what you wanted? Did your success come from just you making it happen? 
It’s a partnership, we have to be inspired to want what God has for us and then show up ready to play the main character of our story. 
 
Our story is weaving our wants and desires and Gods perfect will for us. Since there are perfect and imperfections working together, (Wabi Sabi) you will experience ups and downs. Our highlights are great. But it is equally important to love the scars that also make up our lives, we can’t  forget that each one adds value to our personal story.

Finding New Soil

It’s easy to get stuck in our ways. Our routines will have us dig a little hole and plant ourselves snuggly in our little rut. New concepts and ideas come into our space, and if we’re not careful, they will pass us by. Remember you are only one thought away from your next life changing breakthrough!
 
Decisions to act may be a little uncomfortable, because you maybe going in a direction that you have never gone before. It’s like deciding to find new soil to settle into. But can a plant do it on its own? It needs help. 
 
Step towards the future but still in the now. 
Remember to not be pulled into the futre through worrying, but acting on ideas and working your plans are taking Steps towards it, not thrusting yourself into a false reality. It’s more like you are creating a true reality as you go along in the moments. 
 
God gives and inspires ideas outside the box. He seems to place them right on the Outer edge of the comfort zone. So the decision has to be made, do I stay here, or will I move forward? 
 
Let’s move forward to new soil!
 
#ikigai #moai #wabisabi #ichigoichie #wabikigai #zaizen #UnBlockYourself #mindset #kinstugi #ikebana #newsoil #Newlife

Scaffolding Your Thoughts

Scaffolding is breaking up the learning into chunks and providing a tool, or structure, with each chunk. When scaffolding reading, for example, you might preview the text and discuss key vocabulary, or chunk the text and then read and discuss as you go. -Edutopia.com
 
In my words, scaffolding is when you teach a simple idea or concept, and then you add on to it gets deeper and more complex. The core idea is there, but it gets buried by advanced concepts and meanings. 
 
Think of math, we learned 2+2=4. Later on we expand our knowledge on the concept and see that 2x2=4. On further down the road we learn that 2 to the 2nd power is 4. 
 
Today’s thought is a switcheroo tactic. When faced with a lie or negative thought concerning you. Switch it with a truth. Not only switch it, but also start bury it with a ton of truths, that will weave a complex web of truth. 
 
It’s almost the same principle behind a web of lies, you tell an “untruth” to get out of something, but you have to tell another one to cover that lie and then another one to cover this lie, until the person has been so swallowed up they don’t even know what happened. 
 
Say if someone says an untruth about you: “I would like myself if I had this feature.”
*switch it with a truth: “This is me and I like me“
Start to bury it in truths: I am fearfully and wonderfully made. 
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.
 
Fortify yourself with positive thoughts and true inner strength. 

Quality of Life

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”
Philippians 4:8-9 NIV
 
Here lies a progression that I’ve talked about before, but today in my devotion time it was laid out simple from this scripture.  
 
thought (“think about such things”) to
action (“put it into practice”) to
experience (“the God of peace will be with you”).
 
This applies to just about everything when dealing with our thought life and the reality we live in. 
 
Just by our thoughts we can be sucked into a hole of negativity and no one will know why. This happens often when we look at someone else’s standards, and we try to adopt to their ways instead of being inspired to adapt and adjust. Wabi Sabi is about our uniqueness, and how we are fearfully and wonderfully made. 
 
Reverse engineering this talk:
Our experiences with God and others are the results of the actions we take on our thoughts. 
The actions we take are the results of the options available to us because of our thinking. 
The thoughts we have are the results of the kind of brain food you feed yourself, what you are putting into your head. 
 
Raise the quality of your thoughts, you will have better quality experiences in your life. 

Behind the Tea

There are a few things working behind the scenes as we have our tea together:
 
The making of the tea transports you into place of peace where you are able to release the troubles of the world. If you watch the tea release into the water and see it go from clear water to whichever tea chose, you see the water become different. You become different.
 
Water has no nutritional value, adding tea adds value. Tea transforms the water into something entirely different.
 
Having tea together creates a bond between people. That bond formed through an inner peace when experiencing the tea, and experiencing it together. It is like a communion or shared experience to sit inside of a moment. A chance to slow down and just be.
 
Experiencing tea and time having it allows you to focus on meeting your guest, and /or God through all five senses, where the mind and body can have a place to have a peaceful conversation.
 
These conversations between the mind and body, friends, and inner peace, builds strength… In your in the connections with God, yourself, and in bond with the people you spend time with. Especially if you take it as an Ichigo Ichie.

Thinking Small to Gain Big

Ask Small Questions - be specific and reverse engineer the thought process to answer the question. 
 
Think Small Thoughts - be so detailed in the thought that you engage all 5 senses. 
 
Take Small Actions - break down into small tasks, do each step one at a time. 
 
Identify Small Moments - being able to see opportunities or notice victories along the way. 
 
It may seem counterproductive, but thinking small can have a snowball effect. Dave Ramsey starts you off in financial peace with “Baby steps”, and then “snowballing” your debt. Taking your debt head on may be overwhelming, but being strategic and little by little the job can be done. 

Value the Process & the Accomplishment

The Zaizen approach addresses continuous improvements and Ichigo Ichie is focused on the moment. The here and now. Both combined makes every moment a continual change for the better! It also attaches an emotion to what is happening, and placing value on each step along the way in the process, instead of waiting until later at the end of your accomplishments to feel validated. 
 
Most of us focus on the goal, and say something like, “when I lose 20lbs, I will feel great.” But when you are in the moment, you say to yourself, “today I lost half a pound! Now I only have 17 more to go! Let’s celebrate with a walk in the park!” 
 
The mindset is different. The first doesn’t think to enjoy life until the goal is complete. Stuck in the future. 
 
Is there something that has you stuck in the future when you should be celebrating now? 
 
A step forward is one step closer to your goal, be proud of it!