I Have No Clue What I'm Doing!

 

(French translation below)

Last night a Youtube video popped up on my screen that got my attention. In this video, Tony Robbins and his wife Sage were interviewing Michael Singer, the author of the incredible book "The Untethered Soul." 

I was intrigued, because this is a book I have been giving to almost everyone I have worked with over the years - from people who have come to me for health and wellness coaching and counseling, to spiritual guidance, reiki and mindfulness certification training. I have given this book to friends and family members because it is so powerful and transformative, yet so simple to understand. Apparently, Oprah also gives this book to everyone she knows. 

I was curious to see the interaction between Tony Robbins and Michael Singer, which turned out to be really sweet, inspiring and empowering. At the very end of the interview, Michael expressed that the greatest thing he learned was to "let go and honor a force stronger than me, which is Life." He explained that his small self and his mind were much too limited to understand the full picture and that Life, on the other hand, could be fully trusted. "There's only one way to live your life, and that is Life, not mind." He asked himself "Am I ready, willing and able to let go of the parts of me that are resisting what is unfolding?" The result is that Michael Singer now feels constant joy and freedom. How beautiful is that?

Most of us believe that our lives will fall apart if we surrender to Life and just go with the flow. We are convinced that we are doing it all, that our minds are in full control and that "me" the person, is an undisputable reality. Is that really so? Sure, we can use our focus and intention to create or attract certain things in our life, because what we hold in mind tends to manifest, but is it possible that the perception of how much power we actually have over the life that is unfolding through us is a little misleading? Who is beating our heart right now? Who is regulating our blood sugar? Who or what is creating these incredible synchronicities in our lives that our minds could never have planned or predicted? Perhaps our minds could use a dash of humility at times.

I loved this interview because it was a great reminder that "I" (the small person) really have no clue what I'm doing. However, the Life force, or consciousness, is pouring through me like a river - especially when I keep my energy meridians open and clear, and when I allow my feelings and emotions to flow instead of letting them stagnate in my body. Consciousness is expressing itself through me, and IT knows what it's doing! It is a divine, benevolent, creative and infinitely intelligent power that is guiding my every thought, feeling and behavior. What happens when I resist what is, or when I argue with what's happening? I suffer. I feel uncomfortable feelings and emotions, physical pain or discomfort, and my negative thinking drains me of my energy. What happens when I align myself with this Life force and let it rush in? I feel joy, enthusiasm, inspiration, love, and my body begins to heal.

Our minds don't like this one bit. They are proud and argumentative. They want to remain in control. But the question is: do we want to feel happy, peaceful and free, or do we want to cling to this illusion of control? The choice is ours. Instead of constantly pushing away our feelings of discomfort, what would happen if we relaxed into them, allowed them to move through us and asked "What can I learn from this?" and "What is Life trying to teach me?"

Wishing you a wonderful week,

Lise Villeneuve

www.lisevilleneuve.com

Je n'ai aucune idée de ce que je fais!

Hier soir, une vidéo Youtube est apparue sur mon écran et a attiré mon attention. Dans cette vidéo, Tony Robbins et sa femme Sage interviewaient Michael Singer, l'auteur de l'incroyable livre «The Untethered Soul».

J'étais intriguée, car c'est un livre que j'ai donné à presque toutes les personnes avec lesquelles j'ai travaillé au fil des ans - des personnes qui sont venues me voir pour du coaching et des conseils en matière de santé et de bien-être, en passant par du coaching spirituel, le reiki et la pleine conscience. J'ai donné ce livre à des amis et aux membres de ma famille parce qu'il est si puissant et transformateur, mais aussi très simple à comprendre. Apparemment, Oprah donne également ce livre à tous ceux qu'elle connaît.

J'étais curieuse de voir l'interaction entre Tony Robbins et Michael Singer, qui s'est avérée vraiment adorable, inspirante et stimulante. À la toute fin de l'entrevue, Michael a déclaré que la plus grande chose qu'il avait apprise était de «lâcher prise et d'honorer une force plus forte que moi, qui est la vie». Il a expliqué que son petit moi et son mental étaient beaucoup trop limités pour avoir une perspective globale, et que la vie, d'un autre côté, pouvait être entièrement fiable. "Il n'y a qu'une seule façon de vivre votre vie, et c'est en faisant confiance à la Vie, pas au mental." Il s'est demandé "Suis-je prêt, disposé et capable de lâcher prise des parties de moi qui résistent à ce qui se déroule?" Le résultat est que Michael Singer ressent désormais une joie et une liberté constantes. 

La plupart d'entre nous croient que nos vies s'effondreront si nous nous abandonnons à la Vie et suivons le courant. Nous sommes convaincus que nous manipulons tout, que notre mental est en plein contrôle et que «moi» la personne, est une réalité incontestable. Est-ce vraiment le cas? Bien sûr, nous pouvons utiliser notre concentration et notre intention pour créer ou attirer certaines choses dans notre vie, car ce que nous avons à l'esprit a tendance à se manifester, mais est-il possible que la perception du pouvoir que nous avons réellement sur la Vie qui se déroule à travers nous est un peu trompeuse? Qui bat notre cœur en ce moment? Qui régule notre glycémie? Qui ou quoi crée ces incroyables synchronicités dans nos vies que notre cerveau n'aurait jamais pu prévoir ou prédire? Peut-être que notre mental pourrait parfois bénéficier d'un soupçon d'humilité?

J'ai adoré cette interview parce que c'était un excellent rappel que «je» (la petite personne) n'ai vraiment aucune idée de ce que je fais. Cependant, la force de vie, ou conscience, se déverse à travers moi comme une rivière - surtout quand je garde mes méridiens d'énergie ouverts et clairs, et quand je laisse mes sentiments et mes émotions couler au lieu de les laisser stagner dans mon corps. La conscience s'exprime à travers moi, et ELLE sait ce qu'elle fait! C'est une puissance divine, bienveillante, créatrice et infiniment intelligente qui guide chacune de mes pensées, sentiments et comportements. Que se passe-t-il lorsque je refuse ce qui EST ou que je résiste ce qui se passe? Je souffre. Je ressens des sentiments et des émotions inconfortables, de la douleur physique ou de l'inconfort, et mes pensées négatives drainent mon énergie. Que se passe-t-il lorsque je m'aligne sur cette force de vie et que je la laisse entrer? Je ressens de la joie, de l'enthousiasme, de l'inspiration, de l'amour et mon corps commence à guérir.

Notre mental n'aime pas cela du tout. Il est fier et argumentateur. Il veut garder le contrôle. Mais la question est: voulons-nous nous sentir heureux, paisibles et libres, ou voulons-nous nous accrocher à cette illusion de contrôle? Le choix nous appartient. Au lieu de constamment repousser nos sentiments d'inconfort, que se passerait-il si nous nous détendions en leur permettant de passer à travers nous et leur demandions "Qu'est-ce que la Vie essaie de m'apprendre?"

Je vous souhaite une très belle semaine,

Lise Villeneuve

www.lisevilleneuve.com

Shit Happens. Are We Going To Let it Control Us?

I was in Cuba a couple weeks ago, splashing around in the warm, turquoise waters of the Caribbean. Our little group was discussing what makes a good vacation. Was it the hotel amenities? The food? The company? The beach? We concluded that a combination of all these things made somewhat of a difference on our overall level of enjoyment, but the most determinant variable was our state of mind. Were we committed to having a good time from the start, or were we ready to complain at the first inconvenience?

Before booking this trip, we all read the Trip Advisor reviews to have a better idea of the environment we were about to immerse ourselves in, but the truth is, we never have full control over our circumstances, no matter how much we prepare ourselves. Shit happens. This rule doesn't just apply to our vacations, obviously, it applies to our daily life. The good news is that even though we have limited control over our external circumstances, we have full control over what happens in our inner-landscape. By inner-landscape, I mean our thoughts, our emotions, our perceptions and our reactions.

Let me illustrate this with an example. First, we think a thought (such as "this hotel room sucks, I got ripped off"). Thoughts automatically translate into emotions in our body, so we may suddenly start to feel frustrated, even angry. Now all our perceptions become tainted with this anger, so we're more likely to notice more things that justify and increase our frustration. "I can't believe they gave me this crappy room, I don't want to be stuck in this dump, it will ruin my vacation." Next thing we know, we are yelling at the reception, having a full-blown tantrum that doesn't get us anywhere because no other rooms are available!

Thankfully, the story didn't end up like this for me, but I did have a below-average room in Cuba. The air-conditioner, safe and fridge were out of order, the room was full of mosquitoes and was on the first level, which was very loud with no view at all. I didn't feel good in this room, so I decided to use this negative situation to my advantage. I learned fairly recently that any time we are feeling bad and don't like what's going on around us, it's a golden opportunity to clearly affirm what we would like to experience instead. It takes a little effort to remember this at times, but our thoughts really do create our reality, so staying stuck in negativity and complaining about what we don't like only brings us more of what we are focusing on -bad things!

I began to imagine myself in a nicer, quieter room, higher up, with a beautiful view of the ocean. That felt good, and I truly believed it was possible to make this happen. I calmly went to the reception, explained my case, but was told there were no other rooms available. They told me to try my luck again tomorrow. I did, and was very pleased to be upgraded to the top floor, corner room with no neighbours, ocean view, with a complimentary bottle of Rhum! The maid even made beautiful swans, boats and animals with the towels every day! I was very grateful for this turn of events, it made my vacation even better than I decided it was going to be!

So I got upgraded, no big deal right? The point I'm trying to make here is that I could have arrived at this same result more aggressively, by complaining, by resisting, by raising my voice, by thinking and feeling thoughts/emotions that are unpleasant and create unnecessary stress for myself and others. That was a choice I had. Acting up and being demanding doesn't mean we'll get what we want faster, on the contrary. We're not naturally conditioned to act this way, but if we're able to be crystal clear about what we want instead of resisting the hand that's been given to us, we actually have more power to alter our circumstances.

So when the food is repetitive and cold, the mosquitoes are eating us alive and the pool smells like sewage, we still have control over how we are going to interpret our reality! Can we actively do something to change our situation? If the answer is yes, we can focus on taking action without falling into the trap of negativity, complaining and resistance. If the answer is no, we might as well focus on something that will make us feel better, unless we want to attract more negative circumstances our way! It's a matter of perception.

What determines if we are going to be happy or unhappy is not actually the events and circumstances that are occurring in our lives, it's always our personal interpretation of these events! We can have complete control over our inner-landscape if we learn to observe and tame our monkey-mind. Once we master this, nobody / nothing has the power to make us react any more. I'll let you know when I get there! It may take a couple more lifetimes! ;)

Warmly,

Lise
Health Coach and Reiki Master
www.lisevilleneuve.com