Global Shift and Follow Your Bliss

Friday, December 21, 2012



We survived the apocalypse.

That means another Follow Your Bliss Friday.

That also means I have to step up my game, speak more from the heart.

I want to talk about the global shift in consciousness that has been happening for years and that some say is hitting a pinnacle no-turning-back marker today.

I want to talk about how I took fifteen months of work on a now-defunct magazine and followed my intuition to re-purposing it into an eBook that I'm excited to publish. And how this was the direct result of a year of working to get closer to my intuition, sense of joy and ease, and to work through love instead of fear.

We can't separate making smarter, more powerful choices from our subsequent efforts to develop into more conscious versions of ourselves. The self-work WILL reflect in the outer work. If you aren't seeing the results yet, give it time.

I see this happening in my family and friends too, even those who are resistant to concepts that seem New Agey (but really aren't). They're getting on board and acting with increased awareness, self-care, and openness to the concept that we are here for a purpose: the basic motivating message behind "follow your bliss."

But growing pains are ... well ... pains. The last couple months I've had a heck of a time getting to sleep before 5 a.m. I've also felt a lot of symptoms below. Have you?

• Have your emotions been more intense lately? 

• Does it seem like there are more thoughts racing through your mind? 

• Have you noticed your body tensing up for no apparent reason? 

• Have you been feeling a vague - or not so vague - sense of anxiety? 

• Are you finding it difficult to get a good night’s sleep? 

• Do you seem to be compelled to keep busy? 

• Are you feeling a mysterious sense of urgency? 

• Do you have less patience? 

• Do you find yourself obsessing more over things? 

• Have your moods been shifting quickly from optimistic to discouraged - from delighted to downhearted? Does it seem harder than it use to be to enjoy life?

If you are experiencing some - or all - of these things, take heart. Believe it or not, it is a sign that something very positive is happening to you, and to the planet. These symptoms are (in most cases) a “by-product” of an extraordinary spiritual awakening - or “consciousness shift” - that Planet Earth and humanity are currently undergoing. (read more on How the 2012 Shift in Consciousness Might Be Affecting You)

Following your bliss will put you in touch with the mystery that's the ground of your own being. It's not just about enjoying your work, it's about trusting that the universe WANTS you to enjoy your work. That you are here to ENJOY your work so that it may build a better energetic universe as well as material one.

I invite you to join me on January 3, 2013 at 2 pm on the online radio show The Life's Dash with Michele Mattia as I talk with Michele about The Best of Follow Your Bliss, full of articles and personal narratives of ordinary people propelled to extraordinary versions of themselves through the transformative process of following one's bliss.

Why Not Do Things Out of Love Instead of Fear?

Fear is not necessary. There is the idea that fear is good for us, that it is beneficial and has all kinds of hidden, mysterious values. People will look back and rationalize how fear got them to do this and do that, and all I can say is, "Too bad." 

Too bad they did not do it out of love for themselves or for their fellow human beings. Too bad that they did not do it out of love for life itself, love for their own aliveness, and love for their body. Why not do things for our body out of love for it instead of out of fear of the consequences? Why not keep it healthy and happy because we love and value it, not because we are afraid of a heart attack or something else?  -David R. Hawkins 

Today Our Hearts Are Broken, But Tomorrow They Will Heal

I wrote yesterday about the negativity that can plague even us light-chasers who work diligently to self-heal, heal others, and create a better world.

Today, in the wake of the shooting in Connecticut, I am sitting in my little office, listening to President Obama address the country, saying "Our hearts are broken" and I feel it when I look at my Facebook feed. Every single post is an outpouring of anger or sadness.

When I mourn the loss of those children and teachers, I feel catapulted out of my own world of issues, my little dragons, and into an outer space of our connectedness and with it, our shared pain.

And I don't think this pain only surfaces during a tragedy. I think a lot of us are carrying the collective pains of many. The unspoken, unprocessed, unconscious ones.

Many of us adults live rather steady, love-filled lives. We have everything we need. But then we can be overcome by negativity with no specific trigger. We think it might be something from our past, and sometimes it is. Sometimes it is our own stuff.

But sometimes I think that much of the negativity we process day to day isn't just our own. And maybe as we learn to "shake out" our own traumas, we help shake out the traumas of our collective psyche.

Guy Raz, in a special coverage from NPR News, was just speaking with an expert whose name I didn't catch, who said that there are teams on the way to help the students work through the PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) but that there is still a lot scientists don't know about how trauma works.

However, he says, we do know this: allow the children to express their feelings, to revisit the event and try and find meaning. Try and make sense of the the tragedy, put it into a framework. Part of what terror is is that it's incomprehensible. Putting it into a narrative gives us some control over the events.

As for the rest of us, he advises us to, "Step back and ask what really affects us most of the time. School shootings aren't one of those things." He also said that the thing about trauma is a lot of people come out the other end whole. There is lots of resilience in the human character.

My thoughts go to the parents and families of the people who died today. May their hearts, and our hearts, not be broken forever.

Nina's Top-10 Inspirational Books for Holiday Gift-Giving

Note: this list was originally published in Follow Your Bliss magazine. For articles on how to do what you love and love what you do, look for The Best of Follow Your Bliss eBook, to be published in January 2013. What to be notified when the book comes out?

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What Do You Give a Friend Who is Looking for More From Life?

This holiday, why not offer a friend or family member a book that could change their lives? The books I recommend below I've read countless times, each acting as a irreplaceable mentor in my self-development. I've even added some guidance for gift recommendations.

Finding Your Path

Excuses Begone! by Wayne Dyer
The “father of motivation,” delivers his trademark warmth and common sense approach to self-development. He illustrates how we can move beyond “mind viruses” – the unquestioned, socially transmitted beliefs that limit us. Who to give it to: A person struggling with weight loss, self-sabotage, poor self-image. Open-minded and spiritual but not too out there. (audiobook)

Steering by Starlight: Find Your Right Life, No Matter What! by Martha Beck
Once called “America’s best-known life coach,” Beck offers a funny, sincere and self-deprecating journey to finding your North Star. Includes specifically devised worksheet questions to fill out. "Trying to force the mind to do the soul's job is like trying to whittle your ear into a nose." Who to give it to: Beck regularly writes for O Magazine because she is widely accessible. Give it to someone who is looking for their authentic purpose but needs it delivered by a Harvard professor-turned-life-coach.

Follow Your North Star by Martha Beck
Published prior to Steering By Starlight, this book takes a more intimate approach, guiding readers through meditation exercises and visualizations. Beck gives instruction for attuning to the intuitive guidance our bodies send us through constriction and pain or ease and relief. Who to give it to: Someone already inclined to relaxation and meditation techniques who is looking for insight into their true calling.

Getting Unstuck by Pema Chodron
This audiobook is a dharma talk in which Pema shows how when we try to find zones of safety from life we actually suffer more. With wit and wisdom, she teaches that learning to accept the present moment as if you had invited it how to get unstuck.Who to give it to: Fine for non-Buddhists who are open to Buddhist teachings. Delivered in an accessible language for mainstream readers but the more subtle concepts might require a more advanced awareness.

Life Visioning by Michael Beckwith
An intricate, mesmerizing journey through the steps to visualizing the right future for you while developing a spiritual connection with the “all." The course offers guided meditations, creative visualization and affirmative prayer as tools to reach his outlined stages of consciousness. “There is greatness within you that awaits its release," teaches Michael Bernard Beckwith, "unlimited ideas awaiting expression through and as you." Who to give it to: People open to positive affirmations and concepts of spirit and source, interested in the spiritual journey, and looking to manifest not just things, but a better experience of life.

Healing Your Life

You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay
Often called the “Grandmother of Self-Help and the Queen of Affirmation,” Louise Hay also founded Hay House, the publishing house responsible for a number of books on this list. You Can Heal Your Life is an affirmation classic full of Louise’s warm, compassionate, and patient teachings on how to love ourselves. For an immediate pick-me-up, you can stream her movie online: You Can Heal Your Life –a powerful documentary on the process of letting go of negative beliefs. Who to give it to: People prone to negative thinking who will respond well to warm, easy, nurturing guidance. (audiobook)


Positivity by B.L. Frederickson
Frederickson is a social psychologist who conducts research in positive psychology, a relatively new branch of psychology that studies and measures positive emotions. She explains how pleasant moments alter our mind and body in ways in ways that increase our ability to live successful lives. Who to give it to: Left-brained types searching for reasons to cultivate positive thinking but need science and research to quantify and validate its value.

Radical Self-Acceptance by Tara Brach
A psychologist and internationally renowned expert on Buddhist meditation, Tara Brach offers kind guidance to completely accepting yourself as you are. Who to give it to: People open to gentle Buddhist teachings who need a good dose of self-acceptance and help letting go of perfectionist tendencies. (audiobook)

The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
Eckhart Tolle’s now-landmark book that catapulted him from obscurity to one of the best-loved living writers on mindfulness. Tells the story of his dramatic awakening but mostly focuses on showing how constant thoughts of past and future rob us the healing power of the present moment. Especially powerful over audiobook because of Tolle’s resonant and calming voice. Who to give it to: People who have suffered with a lot of mind clutter, stress, and emotional upheaval and are ready for a radical change. (audiobook)

A Return to Love by Marianne Williamson
A powerful guide applying wisdom from A Course in Miracles in an easy-to-understand and satisfying read. The core message is how to ask God for miracles and allow this process of letting go to change perceptions from fear to love. A popular line from the book was even used in the movie Coach Carter. “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.” Who to give it to: Readers don't have to be Christian, but should be open to a God concept. Especially powerful for women with histories of bad relationships and self-sabotage who are looking for radical change. (audiobook)

How to (Have Your Boyfriend) Build a Bookshelf

Meet Daniel Herd who is many things: Writers & Books bookkeeper, Fringe Festival liaison, Big Pencil Award Winner's interviewer, good out-loud reader, and bookshelf assembler.

Buffy the Novella Slayer (Because She Kills It)

Meet The Buff.

Part of being a writer is having friends who write. The Buff is one of mine. I call her my "Writing Buffy" instead of "Writing Buddy," which I think is hilarious and wonderful. She's a good sport about it. She's a good sport about most things. And recently she got some great, well-deserved news.

After a year of submitting her first novella "The Dark King's Lover" to a number of contests and presses with no success (DKL is a book I edited last winter, a cheeky, sexy, enjoyably dark love story between a witch and a vicious fairy king), Buff finally got GREAT news:

She finalled in the 2nd Annual Novellas Need Love, Too contest sponsored by the Celtic Hearts Chapter of the Romance Writers of America in the Paranormal category. The finalist submissions will not be sent to an editor for the final round and we'll find out in December (around Christmas) where she placed.

So, is Buffy just having a good year?

I don't think so. As someone who teaches writers marketing and platform development, and thinks a lot about what really works and what really doesn't, I'm fascinated when a friend seems to come out of the woodwork and really make something happen.

And I have worked with enough aspiring writers to start seeing real patterns in what works.

So, join me in the next installment NEXT WEDNESDAY, when I talk about the strange thing I see actually working for aspiring novelists that has nothing to do with virtuosity, years of focused dedication, or industry connections.

And say hi to Buffy on twitter. She'll say hi back and what's more, she'll be genuinely interested unless you are an arrogant d-bag. Even then, she'll find you hilarious.