What is your currency?

When we think of currency we most likely think about money and the exchange of money.  The legal tender that we all can identify with and know that it is necessary in our life.  Yet there are other forms of currency that is fundamental in our everyday existence.

We have an innate currency that starts the moment we are born and being swaddle by our mothers.  We are fed, changed when soiled and soothed all hours with great love and affection from our mothers (care givers).  Why? Because of the currency of love, helplessness and a commitment of the mother and child bond.  This process starts early, knowing what depletes and replenish our emotional currency.

From that time on as we grow into childhood we learn further lessons of how we can increase our currency or decrease it.  Simple words, gestures or actions from our being allows us to negotiate and navigate to get what we want from others.  Sometimes we fail and that is another lesson of learning on how to exchange our currency with others. 

 Our innate currency stays with us and we keep evolving into understanding how to exchange this currency to get what we want.  Time and again we are tested to learn what do we really want? What do you need to motivate self?   How do you respond to the currency of others? What is the worth of your currency in exchange from others? How valuable do you feel about self?

The value of your currency has to be recognized and with understanding on how to bank it or when to exchange it. With all currencies it has to be treated with respect and care.

Therefore, don’t expend your currency on relationships that make you feel inadequate. Understand what motivates you.  Keep the simplicity of life.  Comprehend the scenarios that you are aware of that can broke the stores of your the currency.  Don’t deplete it with self-effacing and the inadequate you may perceive you have.

Keeping your currency safe and not depleted there are several things you can do.  Beware, when you feel drained by someone (no matter how you think they are helpful) that they are depleted your currency.   Change your mindset by waking up in the morning and when you sleep at night stating three things that you are grateful for.  Know the value of self.  Find something that gives you exchange of recognition from you to others. 

Take time out to reflect on your emotions, physical needs and relationships. Be more aware of how sacred your currency is. With this consciousness you will be able to attain a healthy account of currency to offer you health, contentment and mindfulness.  

Changing the story patterns of our behavior

We are forever linked to the thoughts of our ancient ancestors to our very being of today.  Our feelings, fears, anxieties are passed down from generation to the next generation and is incorporated into our modern self.  For some the eye color may be different. Perhaps our skin color or hair textures from our previous ancestors are not the same as our modern self of today.  However, how they thought and lived their life has been passed down to us.  It is simple to see. The way our mothers hold us in their arms, or special foods that are at the table for dinner. Maybe it is the holiday rituals that many of us observe today but are unaware of the sacred meanings of why we are performing them.  Perhaps it is the stories that were spoken to us as children, or how our caregivers disciplined us.  All of this connects us to the past and it is integrated in our thoughts and what we perceive as reality of today.

Therefore, their experiences has become our experiences regardless whether we had every met them or even heard about them.  Moreover, our inner beings are listening and feeling their stories in our psyche. Many times it has settled in so well it is hard to place a filter on them and take away only the good thoughts.

An example that I like to use is how people feel about dogs.  When we look at dogs in history, many believed that they were dirty and dangerous and unfit to be loved.  On the other hand, the English Queen, Victoria looked upon her dogs as companions.  She even slept and ate with them because she loved them so dearly. Both of these thoughts processes are a perception of reality.  Within our own families if someone had a bad experience from a dog, most likely a dog will not be the loving pet within the family.  However, the reality that is true, dogs are helpful and are beneficial to our emotional well-being. 

Therefore, in order to change the story patterns of behavior that is inside, there has to begin with a transformation.  This change starts with the knowledge of being authentic with self and recognized the behavior that hinders you of feeling worthy.  Don’t play games with your mindset; be honest  (without self deprecating). Find the reality of the situation and how it can help you to move forward with healing and wellbeing. 

The ways to do this is to keep your thoughts simple. Start with one thought that is most concerning to you.

Don’t start with the answers that you already have inside you.  Remember, these are old thoughts that have already have stories attached to them.  Start with a “new page” of thought.  Picture yourself with encumbered heavy baggage around you. In a quiet place, slowly start to open one thought (baggage) at time.  Pause to reflect on what it is that you want to keep and what you want to discard.  Be authentic to self of how you were feeling about this thought. Take note of how you feel when you start to open the baggage of thought.  Maybe you are breathing of little slower, because you let go of the anxious feeling that you had.  Perhaps you may have found joy that you know that you are truly loved.  Or, you have feelings of just feeling good.

 There is no right or wrong way of doing this exercise.  This is your experience of moving forward where you can find, joy, contentment and wellbeing because of who you are.

Intuition

Pick any of these words, awareness, gut reaction, intuition, sixth sense or premonition. There are many words to describe a biological action that all people have experienced throughout their lifetime.  It is an action that is part of our DNA that has evolved into a toolbox of strategies for the survival for human kind.  It is our instinct to thrive and to make choices that will benefit our survival to live without harm.

What are the common traits of this biological action for survival? The sinking feeling you have in the pit of your stomach, the inner voice speaking to you telling you that something is not right or perhaps the thought process sending you down a different path to avoid the unknown. Those are sequences of actions that are built in our biology to avoid harm.  But there are other feelings that we sense that do not cause us harm physically, but emotionally it can over whelm us with grief, sadness and illness. It maybe the foreshadowing about a loved one and the need to send a text or a telephone call to say the final words of love and gratitude. Perhaps, your body maybe communicating to you feelings of low energy, being tired, drained from your lifestyle, job or relationships that you may not be aware consciously that it is harming you.

Because of our social conditioning it maybe difficult to consciously negotiate our inner voice/intuition and the reality of our circumstances to make the best choice for ourselves. Therefore, there are certain steps that one can do to enhance our intuition to enable us to be aware of the risks and benefits of our choices, goals and expectations from friends, family, lifestyle and ourselves.

They are:

·      Listen to your inner voice.  Spend quiet time with self.  Think about what you are grateful for; be aware of what makes you unhappy and happy.  Ask yourself if you are loved.  Be objective of the answers that you are receiving.  Do not feel shamed, guilt or self-deprecating. This is an exercise of awareness. The thought that you have is your inner voice speaking to you. This is a slow process of learning about the reality of your conscious thought and your inner voice.

·      I want to help.  Empathy is part of our DNA component.  Regardless of who we are or whom we help it does make us feel good. Furthermore, it is more beneficial for our well being for us to do acts of kindness than the person or the beneficiaries who are receiving. That is a scientific fact. Moreover, by being in contact with others, you become more sensitive of feelings and thoughts of those who are grateful for your act of kindness, which inadvertently helps you with awareness.

·      Creativity without criticism.  Creativity is inside all of us.  Each one of us has a natural instinct to create something. Be it drawing a picture or making silly tunes that do not make sense to anyone except to you, there is always creativity in our being.  More importantly, when you create allow it to flow freely with joy, humor and knowing that this is your creation.

·      Get rest.  Getting quality sleep enables your body to feel renew and refreshed. Also when you sleep you have dream sequences. Keep a journal nearby and write down the dreams you have. 

·      Let go.  Many times we form a cocoon around us with uncomfortable emotions, such as anger, shame, regrets, feelings of rejection. This is part of our DNA for survival.  However, what had helped us in the past dealing with the Saber tooth tigers does not help us now.  In fact it hinders us from moving forward for wellness and healing. More importantly, we have to acknowledged these uncomfortable emotions, and see how they are affecting our very being. By letting go of the negativity with the thought process of making our inner voice louder and to be able to hear the wisdom of it.

·      Write it down. Keep a journal and write about your day’s events.  Who you spoke with that was interesting to, or if an incidence happened and it was upsetting you or just write one or two words of thought. This sets in motion a thought process that enables you to focus on your intuition and offers a filter of what is important to you.

All to often we look for answers from others, and we may feel that they are not the right answers for our wellbeing.  Time and again we tend to get upset, angry and have thoughts that we are just going around in an endless circle. Finding the right skills to allow our intuition to speak to us more clearly is a work in progress.  However, our intuition solely belongs to us. More importantly it is there to help guide us to have goodness, happiness and contentment with self.