Lights, Camera, Action

"Perception is reality." Gabrielle Bernstein

Recently I have been listening to the audio book, "The Universe has your back" by Gabrielle Bernstein. She is a self help author and a spirit junkie that focuses on surrendering to the universe. In Jen Sincero's books (which I have read twice now) she discusses the vital importance of surrendering to the universe. When I had first read about the idea of surrendering it made me extremely uneasy. I like being in control of my life and making decisions, even if those decisions ended up with me drunk and trying to escape from a moving vehicle.

There has been so much uncertainty in the past few months. Who am I? What do I want to do my with my life? Why can't I raise my frequency? Why has nothing made sense since college? During a transition period, it's expected to have uncertainty. However, the lens you choose to see yourself through determines how you perceive your current lifestyle and situation. If you have a negative lens that you choose to see yourself through, then your current situation isn't going to be fixing itself anytime soon.

The Universe loves you. Let's repeat that mantra until it really sinks in.

"What do you mean the universe loves me? I don't love me. I haven't loved me since my exboyfriend cheated on me and I weighed 125lbs."

The idea of love is hard to grasp our minds around because it's more abstract and often goes against a lifetime of knowledge from the world. Choosing to see the world through love rather than pain allows you to free yourself from the self judgement, the hatred towards others, and allows you to shift your negative thoughts to positive thoughts. Bernstein's teachings are super correct that it's scary.

Personal story: When I had to wait for my edTPA score to come back a few months late, I assumed that my academic advisor hated me. She didn't reach out, and I knew that on some level I had let her down. Each day I let this idea eat my self confidence, happiness, and overall joy towards living. Fast forward a few months to realize that my academic advisor is currently on medical leave because she is having health issues. We create our perception which creates our reality.

This is not a new concept. Thoughts become things. If you have negative thoughts it will create negative things. If you have positive thoughts it will create positive things. Mike Dooley.

We actively choose how to see ourselves, and how we see ourselves is how we start to make the shifts we want to see in our life. For a majority of my life, I was concerned about how others viewed me. I wanted to be perfect, successful, insert word of praise here, etc. This mindset comes from lack. Lack of self love. Lack of self awareness. Lack of self confidence. You are you. No one else is you, no one else has your gifts, and no one is going to use them the way you will (J. Sincero). Focusing on how others think of you isn't going to help you or your serenity. Other people have their own lenses of reality, and they don't like you because they are projecting something about themselves they don't like onto you. And vice versa. Jen Sincero explains how we dislike others because they remind of us of something about ourselves we don't like. So stop worrying and change your mindset. Change it from pain to love. From self hatred to self acceptance and respect. From overwhelm to peace. When you surrender to the universe things get easier and life gets lighter.

Also a quick side note: surrendering doesn't mean that you are giving up your passion, drive and ambitions. It means that you are ready to collaborate with the universe to manifest the life you dream about, the happiness you seek, and the overall positivity you are searching for.