411 I Listen When The Universe Speaks To Me | February 2018 Thursday Week 3

Thoughtful Thursdays-#411 January 15th The Strong Within Daily Affirmation Podcast I Listen When The Universe Speaks To Me   “The gigantic tension before the shooting of an arrow, and the total relaxation seconds later, is my way of connecting to the universe.” ~Paulo Coelho   I recently did a podcast on freeing ourselves from resentment, and the funny thing I was tested immediately on that affirmation. When you become more intentional about how you want to map your life, you’ll see that the Universe will be working with you. It’s not that the Universe wasn’t helping us before, but it’s that our eyes weren’t open, and it’s that we weren’t open or as receptive to hearing another way besides our own.   And so after my podcast, the Universe began immediately asking how serious I was about being free from resentment—by challenging me. The specific people who rub me the wrong way, those exact people I was thinking about when I did the podcast, found their way into my life in a manner that was more excessive than normal. And something different. I’m not saying they were changed, but I was changed; and my energy brought different responses on their part…and it brought a different response within myself.   I still felt my normal habit of wanting to gravitate towards being annoyed by them, yet I felt a calmness in me to stay the course of being free from resentment.   We are challenged every day, we are put to the test by the Universe asking how serious we are to our commitment. And there was a determination within me to be free from the weight I was carrying from my resentment.  So the Universe wanted to help me by seeing how committed I was to that change.   That’s the beautiful thing about affirmations, I’ve found the more I practice them, the more I say them with purpose and intention, then the more I’m challenged by the Universe. And when that happens I could be upset, but when I am centered, when I am balanced…I see it for what it is…the Universe heard me…and the Universe is helping me. Most times it’s not exactly how I thought it would happen. And what I mean by that, is we see ourselves being helped in the most comfortable of ways. We see our prayers being answered immediately. We see ourselves winning the lottery of everything we ever wanted. We see things coming easier to us.   But it’s my hope we both decide to see it differently than our wishes coming easy to us. It’s my hope that we wish to be better and that the harder things don’t affect us like they used to. As we opt out of whining when we’re challenged, and instead we welcome and love the challenge before us. And like any beautiful gem, it doesn’t come out of the ground looking pristine, it gets formed through extreme pressures, and it becomes more beautiful thru extensive polishing.   I’ve seen it time and time again in other people’s lives, and I’ve felt it in my life many times as well; where I was serious about a goal, but I wasn’t serious about hearing the Universe’s answers to my request. I wanted my goal, when I wanted it, and exactly how I wanted it. I was willing to work hard, but I wasn’t willing to be tested in how the Universe was planning on challenging me. And so I floundered, and I put in hard work, but I never progressed fully.   It’s hard for us to hear the truth about a goal, that maybe we really didn’t want it bad enough, or we weren’t willing to put in the hard work for it. But it’s not that we didn’t want it bad enough, we wanted it…but we only wanted to achieve it our way. We didn’t want to hear the Universe and the plans it had in helping us. And I think that reason is because we want to be in control.   So we go about our lives asking everyone under the sun, who has what we want, how they got to where they did. We want to hear that silver bullet answer on how easy it was for them so we could have it be easy for us too. We want a nice tidy answer on how to get to our goal, but the only tidy answer I can give you—is to find more ways to listen to what the Universe is telling you. I get it, it’s hard to hear something you’re unsure is even talking to you. And I know for me, I’ve spent more time wishing for my goals to be more one dimensional rather than multicomplex in listening to the signs and miracles around me. I would’ve rather put my head down, tied my eyes up in a blindfold, and put my nose to the grindstone working only in the physically realm…because it was easier for me to only work in what I felt I could touch, in what was tangible. But over the years of seeking better ways, there have been too many coincidences for me to keep my eyes closed in how the Universe has been continually communicating with me. And when you open yourself to hearing the Universe, you will be challenged differently.   A friend of mine sent me a text and asked me if “I believed in signs, and if the Universe puts stuff out there that says ‘here dummy, I’m trying to tell you something?’”   And I replied back “yes, I do believe in signs and that the Universe is always communicating with us.” And I then asked why she asked me that question out of the blue.   And she responded back by saying, “Well, a couple of times today that I've been out driving I've gone the way I usually do… because of habit and familiarity. Well, two of the roads were closed, and of course there were detour signs. So first I got mad, and I was like, this is the way I always go, and now I have to take a detour. And then it just sort of hit me. Maybe this is trying to tell me something. Maybe I need to stop traveling the same way in life just because it's habit and I'm familiar with it. Maybe I need to take a detour and try a different way.”   The detours in our lives aren’t always stop signs. The detours in our lives are the Universe communicating with us. And like my affirmation I spoke yesterday in saying how committed I was to being free from resentment…the Universe was saying…”ok, how committed are? Are you really ready to do this? Because if so, I’m going to start working on you right now. I’m not testing you, but I’m helping you. I’m polishing you into the finished product that you wish to be…but you’re going to have to trust me, and those detours that I’m putting up aren’t to deter you…but to change you.”   The more aligned you get with the Universe then the faster the Universe will respond to you. And I’m not saying that I have it all together and figured out, but in my resolve to be free from resentment…I was tested that same day, and then the next day…and I’m sure I will be tested again. I believe there are no coincidences….there’s only the Universe answering what we are putting out into it. So let us affirm what we want for our lives…and then let us have the resolve to stick to our commitment by listening to the Universe and being open to whatever it brings our way.   Today’s Personal Commitment:What detours are happening in your life right now? And what if you were to analyze them for a moment. Are they stop signs, are they yield signs telling you to wait a little longer before jumping in, are they u-turns letting you know you’re way off course, or are they turn signals telling you to take another path at the moment?   We spend so much time forcing our way through things that we miss the signals and the conversation the Universe is trying to have with us. Yes, sometimes we need to run full steam ahead breaking down any wall that gets in our way, and sometimes there are those subtle hints and signs telling us to do something different. The Universe is always communicating with you, the only question now is…are you willing to stop and work to be a better listener to what the Universe is working to tell you?   The Universe is always helping us to affirm more concretely by LIVING what we think and say we want. And so let us be reminded that what the Universe is bringing our way is not a curse, it’s not a problem, it’s an answer.   I Listen When The Universe Speaks To Me   Thanks for listening.  I'm sending great energy your way as we become Strong Within together, Personal Development Life Coach- Chris O'Hearn Contact info- email: [email protected]  phone:865-219-3247     Music by: - Zest by basematic (c) copyright 2011 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. - I Have Often Told You Stories (guitar instrumental) by Ivan Chew (c) copyright 2013 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Location: Knoxville, Tennessee USA but available worldwide