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Australian Aura Guy

~ Metaphysics and finding your voice

Australian Aura Guy

Category Archives: positive thinking

Gratitude, challenges and 100 days of awesome!

08 Monday Sep 2014

Posted by australianauraguy in myself, positive thinking

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positive

I’ve noticed a few things on my Facebook feed about the 100 day challenge – the idea being that you’re supposed to set and commit goals to achieve over 100 days. A lot of them seem to be fitness related “I’m going to lose X lbs/kgs!” or “I’m going to go to the gym three times a week before summer starts!”

I don’t mind admitting that I’ve taken that idea and expanded it. I’ve created a list of goals/challenges/targets for myself over the next 90-something days (I started about a week or so ago), and – while I’d like to keep some of them private – I have no problem sharing two of them.

1) I’m committing to reading ten books in 100 days. While I’m a generally voracious reader, lately I’ve been simply coming home from work and just trying to de-clog my brain by watching my housemate play Nintendo 64 and then going to bed. He’s redoing Zelda: The Something of Something for the first time in a decade and it’s been nice to just chill and watch him play, but it’s not helping me learn or grow. I’m also not talking about little 60 page booklets, I’m looking at 10 300+ page books.

2) Each day (before meditating) I’m taking two minutes to write something positive on a Post-It note – it can be a motivational quote, something positive that my guides have told me, anything to keep myself in a great mood and set the intention for a fantastic day. I’ve got different colours, and I like the way it’s becoming a habit to not only automatically write first thing, but to also re-read them and get avalanched by cheerful little notes

What are some ways you keep yourself motivated and focused on moving forward? Little challenges like these, or long-term goals, or do you just flow where the Universe takes you?

It’s been hard to talk while I’ve been busy trying to eat an elephant*

10 Sunday Aug 2014

Posted by australianauraguy in Angels, Guides, myself, positive thinking

≈ 1 Comment

Hi everyone,

I’m so sorry for the recent silence from my end, but rest assured – I’m still meditating, doing aura readings and eating an elephant. To explain the elephant first, I only hope the phrase translates well – it’s an adaption of the old saying “How do you eat an elephant? One slice at a time” I’ve been involved in a VERY exciting project for the last month and a half, and it’s almost at the finishing touches stage. I’ll gladly share more upon completion, but right now I don’t want to reveal too much. Needless to say, this project has kept me rather busy, but also stretched me in a positive way – I’ve been able to silence the voice in my head that, when I first started working on this, was full of panicked swear words and was utterly convinced that this was a bad idea and staying where I was would end up being MUCH better for me. THAT GUY, oh boy! What a jerk that negative voice is! It’s a good thing I can now laugh at what he thought initially, but I won’t lie – this project has given me moments where it’s all been very overwhelming. I’ve learned a few good lessons while doing it, metaphysical and otherwise:

1) The voice in your head that’s telling you that you can’t is simply afraid that you will. This project has had me using skills that I one briefly acquired about 15 years ago – I’ve had to re-learn a bunch of things, work with them and build on my minuscule amount of knowledge to find out what’s working and what isn’t.

2) Trust your guides. The fairies actually came through strong on this one. I went to sleep one night, not long after I started. I didn’t know what the project would look like, how I would get it to work, anything. I asked for guidance, and woke up in the morning knowing it EXACTLY. To the best of my knowledge, I’ve followed that guidance as closely as I can.

3) Building on that, ask for help where it’s needed. It’s so easy to close up, to try and take sole ownership, to get so involved in a task that you develop tunnel vision and don’t see when maybe you need a hand, and woe betide anyone who dares to offer any form of hint, no matter how much they think they’re helping. In honesty, for the first week or so, I got like that. This was something that was dear to me, and I wanted to develop it all 100% – if anyone else did it, then I was taking the easy way out. Then I got stuck. Something happened, and the project took a backwards step. I had a choice:
I could get frustrated and overwhelmed by this, then quit – which I’ve done in the past – or ask for help. Luckily, I chose the second option, and some dear friends of mine have been able to come through with guidance and assistance where needed.

4) Routines can be good and bad, and you can change one to the other. In the last month or so, I’ve gotten into a good morning routine before work. I get up and meditate for 10-15 minutes before getting ready for the day. It helps calm me and quiet my mind, which is a wonderful feeling. Another good routine I’m getting into is running again. I’m once again feeling more healthy and I enjoy being outside in the fresh air. A routine I need to work on is my eating habits – lately I’ve been taking the easy way out when it comes to cooking, and it’s undoing the positive strides I’m making with running and exercising. My goal isn’t to lose 10 kilos or to get a six pack, it’s simply to be the best me I can be, because the better I feel and the more connected with my guides and angels I am, the more I can help people.

Additionally, here’s something else. I often talk about how the universe wants to help, and your guides will help when asked. I’d like to give a massive shout out to the angels that watch over my for keeping me safe this weekend. I was on a road trip with a mate to the coast, and the weather’s been pretty awful the last few days. The angels helped me out by giving the car treatable mechanical issues in the morning (yes, it took me an hour and a half to fix, but it meant that I was on narrow, winding roads in the afternoon when there was less traffic around) and when we came back we almost ran out of petrol. I’m not kidding, we were on vapour for the last mile or two. Thankfully, there was a downhill slope so we could coast into the petrol station, but for the ten minute drive from my friend’s house to the petrol station, I was behind the wheel just asking the angels for help repeatedly (I was driving my Mum’s car – with her knowledge – but I didn’t want to run out of petrol, that’s Driving 101!) After this weekend (and especially this afternoon), I’m convinced that the angels were actively looking out for me. In fact, I’m of the opinion that they may have been behind the car, pushing it along to help me get to the petrol station. Regardless, thank you to my angels and guides for keeping myself and my friend protected and safe as we drove.

So where to from here? Well, the project is almost at the final stages, and I’ve learned that you should treat petrol stations like toilets – go when you get the chance, because you may not always get another before it’s too late. So onward and upward, and let’s keep doing wonderful things!

* No elephants were actually harmed.

A leopard can’t change its spots. That’s OK, you’re not a leopard, you’re human!

24 Saturday May 2014

Posted by australianauraguy in myself, positive thinking, Uncategorized, why I'm here

≈ 3 Comments

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about me, change, positive

We often hear, when faced with someone who says “I’m going to change”, that “A leopard can’t change its spots”. It’s a well-meaning advisory with the implication that saying you’ll change is one thing, actually changing is another. Change is difficult to effect, and habits are hard to break, whether they’re chewing your nails or being unfairly critical of yourself. Here’s the thing, though: that analogy is kind of silly. You take the spots of leopard – that’s a result of skin pigmentation. Let’s implement this saying in a more literal manner to illustrate something: “John swears he’ll give up alcohol, but he can’t change. He can’t rearrange the moles on his shoulder, you know!” Blank stares. What does John’s ability to kick his boozy ways have to do with moles?

We use sayings all the time, and this one is used to demonstrate that people are incapable of change – that they’re preset, hardwired and it’s a foregone conclusion: John will talk about change, but he’ll still sell his Granny for three beers. Mary will swear she’ll get her act together, but she’ll still cheat. Here’s the thing, though – some behaviours are innate (instinctual behaviours you can’t change) and learned behaviours (this is the stuff you pick up from family, friends, society as a whole).

Learned behaviour does have he ability to be changed. Why am I getting caught up in all this? Because the person I am today is a heck of a lot different to who I was 18 months ago, and it’s due to not only a willingness to change, but predicated on a desire for things to not stay the same. I didn’t wake up one day, start skipping out of bed and in love with my fellow human. My process of change has been an evolution that has required a severe rewiring of my thoughts and actions, and it hasn’t finished yet.

So what’s changed? How has it changed? Why has it changed?

I realised it wasn’t you, it was me
You can hear it from friends, family, colleagues as often as they care to say it, but only you can grow the seeds of change until they flower. For me, I realised that I didn’t want to keep living my life the way it was. Work, home, the lot of it. I was unhappy, and to continue down this path would simply take time from myself and those that I cared about. The Universe could shift things around as much as possible, but if I wasn’t listening, then nothing would change. The onus was on me – with the love and support of my guides, angels, family and friends – to make a positive change.

I’m more grateful – I don’t take things for granted.
Oh my goodness I’m blessed. I’m certain that I still only have the smallest understanding of how blessed I am for the fact that I live in a first world country, my limbs work and I have a roof over my head. I’m grateful for family members and friends who have helped me when I arrived back in Australia with literally just a few dollars to my name. Before, I would have just assumed that everything would magically be taken care of – but I’ve seen how fast life can change, and I’m eternally grateful for any and all help I’ve received on my journey.

I choose to be positive
I start my days with positive thoughts, and I look for the best in situations. I’ve driven some friends to distraction with my seemingly endless positive quotes and inspirations on Facebook, but I wouldn’t have it any other way, because I also know that other friends love what I post and look forward to it. I’m not a mindless robot who only thinks happy thoughts – I’m human, and I get pissed at the people walking slowly in front of me, or the person who clearly has 12 things in the “10 Items Or Less” lane. What’s changed in the last year is that I realised that emotion for what it is, acknowledge it, accept it and let it go. I don’t hold it in then unleash it on someone else.

I surround myself with like minded people, and I had to “dump” some friends
Looking back, this has been a difficult but critical step. I held on to friendships because they were convenient, out of a sense of duty or because I didn’t want to break contact with someone. The change here has been due to a realisation that I’ve started on a different life path, and the values I now hold are different to those I was interacting with. This has been difficult, and some of my former friends didn’t understand – in fact, some of the friends I’ve held on to still don’t understand: “Why don’t you do X anymore?” “Why do you feel like you have to change?” Well, I was honest with myself, and I realised that I only have one life, and I may as we’ll spend it doing things I want to do – and I got tired of making “Yo’ Momma” jokes and being negative all the time.

Have I finished changing?
I don’t think so. In the last year, some things have changed, some have stayed the same. It’s an evolving cycle. There will be aspects of the change that I keep and some that don’t serve my best purpose, so when I reach that road, I’ll leave those parts behind me. Right now it’s about ensuring that I maintain the positive habits I’ve been cultivating – self-acceptance, kindness, listening to my intuition, doing my best to help others – and letting those seeds bloom.

Change is hard. It’s frightening. It’s constant, exhausting effort. It’s easy to slip back into old ways, comforting routines and give up. DON’T Everyone goes through challenging times. We lose love. We find trouble. We take chances that don’t pan out, we get frustrated with how things are working out. It’s ok. Don’t fear change, just work out where you are, where you want to be and what resources you need to get you there – self, family, friends, guides, professional counselling – whatever it takes. Keep you chin up, and understand you’ll get knocked down. It’s not how many times that you get knocked down, but how many times you get back up that helps you succeed.

As always, please feel free to email me: australianauraguy at g mail dot com, find me on Facebook, connect on Twitter, leave a comment – we’ll talk, we’ll laugh, whatever.

Keep doing awesome things!

Metaphysical electrical tape fixes pretty much everything

18 Sunday May 2014

Posted by australianauraguy in Angels, Guides, myself, positive thinking

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

healing, meditation, positive

As you’ve undoubtedly noticed, I’ve been rather quiet lately. I’ve been flat out like a lizard drinking at my day job, and metaphysically wise, I’ve been put on the back foot by the full moon – which leads me to my post for today: keeping your metaphysical self going during rough times. Just like how it’s easy to start running in the morning, then the weather gets colder and all of a sudden it’s half an hour later and you’re still in bed… No? Just me? It can be tempting to let your metaphysical interests slide while you’re focusing on what’s in front of you. Rooms go unsmudged, meditation stops, tarot decks gather dust and you notice suddenly that you’re feeling off balance and out of sorts. Below are some things I’ve come across that help me, and hopefully they either help you too, or inspire you to find your own metaphysical electrical tape. I am not a medical or mental health practitioner, however this is my way of sharing some strategies that help keep me up:

1) Know the warning signs, and realise when your energy is vulnerable. As the the saying goes “You are responsible for the energy you bring into this space”. Your energy will effect you, how you treat others and it will absolutely disrupt other sensitive people if it’s coming from a low place. For myself, my warning sign is the full moon – I have friends who talk about the blessings of lunar energy, but for me it means headaches and overall moodiness. It feels like something is sloshing around me, my head feels like it’s stuffed with wet concrete. That said, my day job has me talking to people all the time, so I can’t afford to have my energy affecting others – I need to control it. When my energy is vulnerable, I’ll always consciously monitor myself, and ensure I’m acting in the way that will produce the highest good, regardless of the personal outcome. It’s where I consciously apply the Zen proverb “You should sit in meditation for twenty minutes every day — unless you’re too busy. Then you should sit for an hour.” Admittedly, I don’t do it for those time frames, but my meditation lately is to watch the sun come up while clearing my mind. Having some time that’s just mine and letting go of any drama I’m carrying, so I start the new day fresh.

2) Create/nurture a positive mindset It’s sad, but bad things happen to good people. When I’m dealing with an adverse situation, rather than retreating into myself as my past self would often do, I’ll read positive quotes, inspirational stories and reach out to friends. I’ll start thinking of things I’m grateful for – my health, my family and friends, things like that. There’s some great Facebook Pages like (Steve Maraboli – inspirational posts) ; (Doreen Virtue’s Angelic guidance and information posts) ; (Temple of Balance’s amazing meditations and guidance) as well as pages like (Think positive to make things positive) to kick start your day. I’m not particularly strong in the Christian faith, but I enjoy Joel Osteen’s page – it’s positive and relatable. There’s truth in the saying by Henry Ford “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t-you’re right”.

3) Get some perspective You’re on your own journey. It’s not always going to be bouquets of roses, but it won’t always be buckets of bricks, either. I have siblings and friends that are all doing things different to me. It’s taken me a long time to realise that our journey isn’t all identical, and we’re going to get different results. We’re not doing “better” or “worse” that each other, it’s simply different. Rather than focusing on not having the house/kids/partner/job you think you should have, start small and basic. OK, you’re stuck in bed with a cold as you read this on your phone or computer. Yes, illness sucks, but if you’ve got your brain functioning and can see and read, you’re already ahead of a lot of people. Be grateful for what you have, not envious of what you don’t have.

4) Ask for help from your guides or the angels As we’ve covered before, your guides and the angels WANT to help. They don’t do this because it amuses them or passes time, it’s because they have a desire to help people who ask. In my interactions with my guides and the angels, they’ll provided straight-up advice and guidance to help me move forward, or they have moved events around me and increased my awareness of what was happening so I would understand the lesson – but I’ve asked for help. It’s like the neighbour next door – ready with a cup of sugar if you ask, but if you don’t ask then they don’t know that you want anything.

5) Be kind to yourself Oh goodness, this can be tough. It’s something I’ve certainly been struggling with – I’m a perfectionist who is detail oriented, so if things aren’t just so then it can mess me up. I’m learning to drive at the moment, and it can be both extremely rewarding and incredibly frustrating – any time I make a mistake, I can be harsh with myself, despite the fact that I haven’t killed anyone and that the reason they call it learning is that you’re not supposed to know everything all at once. When I get in this scenario, I do my best to approach myself with the love and kindness that I’d like a friend to show me – I focus on my breathing so I can do my best to clear out the distractions in my head, and I don’t let the negative voices get too loud. OK, I goofed, but it hasn’t caused any harm and it’ll be ok in the scheme of things. A more metaphysical example is meditation – “C’mon, inner peace, I don’t have all day!” I start to clear my head, and then it’s going well and I’m achieving clarity almost but what am I having for dinner OH DAMN WHAT THE EFF. It’s cool. I’m not going to get it all at once, but little by little I’ll get there.

I hope these thoughts have been valuable, and I’d love to hear any of your thoughts and experiences – when you realise your metaphysical pipe has burst, how do you fix it?

Positive thinking is positively hard work (but worth it)

09 Wednesday Apr 2014

Posted by australianauraguy in positive thinking

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change, positive

Henry Ford once said “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t–you’re right.” 

I was described a few months ago as “Relentlessly positive”. My Facebook friends will immediately understand why, as I’m sure it seems that every day I’m posting sayings of encouragement or positivity, and in fact it was a friend of sorts that I’d known since high school who said it. We’d never been best friends, we simply had an association through mutual friends and ended up in the same social circles at our school because it was small and by process of not fitting in with everyone else. This person and I hadn’t spoken face-to-face for probably 5 years, and I couldn’t tell you his favourite ice cream flavour or what he wanted to be when he grew up – nor could he say the same thing about me – yet here he was, acknowledging my positivity. I’m grateful for the description, and I’m grateful for the recognition, because oh boy positive thinking is hard work. I became worthy of that description once I’d gotten to my lowest, most miserable point in life, looked around and decided that it wasn’t where I wanted to be. To be positive is a choice I make, each and every day. It doesn’t come automatically and it doesn’t always come easily, but the choice is made every morning.

In January, 2013, my life sucked (on paper). My relationship ended and, just a week later, my company let me go as they’d lost an account. I’d been transferred across the world (from Australia to America), I loved what I did and I’d realised that the relationship that I’d been in for just over 6 years wasn’t where I saw my future. It hit me like a tonne of bricks. It would have been very easy for me to just give up, go home and live at my Mum’s house while I licked my wounds and pretended that I was just super. I didn’t, though. I’ve been able to grow and get through the sleepless nights, the  stress and the shock of losing my job of 5 years  by coming to a seemingly simple realisation: short of death, the almost simultaneous loss of my job and my relationship ending could either single-handedly be the worst things that could happen to me or I could make something of it.

That decision alone was the start of something within me. I realised, for the first time, that if I had another 60 or so years on this planet then I didn’t want to be miserable all the time. I’d been pushed to a “make me or break me” situation, so I committed to letting it make me. I realised I was unhappy with the cycles I’d gotten myself into – I was self medicating by working more, by disengaging from the relationship, by focusing on instant gratification or drinking or whatever helped me ignore Inner Steve and his cries for help.

My first step was to admit to myself that I didn’t want this life. That’s not to say I wanted to end it, but that I was tired of feeling like this, that I was worthy of something more. I had a conversation with myself (and some amazingly supportive friends, who I love dearly) and I started to own my actions and choices. If I was the sum of my choices, then the answer was wrong. If I was unhappy with where I was, I needed to change this. My family couldn’t do it. My friends couldn’t do it. Nobody else but me. I wasn’t alone, but it was a decision that only I could make. So I looked, and I realised that I had to change the way I had been doing things, because it was making me unhappy. Easier said than done. Changing habits is amazingly difficult, because they become automatic, unthinking actions. We learn, we repeat, it becomes ingrained. My human guide wrote something for me that I keep in my wallet to this day: “Your desire to change must be greater than your desire to stay the same” When I stopped and realised that I was on these hamster wheels of suck, and that I genuinely wanted to change, it became the pebbles that started a swift landslide. My desire to change had begun to outweigh my desire to let things progress as they had been.

After having that realisation, I did a self audit: What did I like about myself? What didn’t I? What about my job? Friends? Relationships? I started by establishing boundaries. What would I accept from myself and others? What was no longer acceptable? To boil it down: What made me feel positively about myself, and what made me feel negatively about myself? I had to acknowledge the negative characteristics and actions I’d been carrying round, and commit to actual change. I started by realising that all those things I’d been saying that I wanted – a promotion and more money – were a result of what I’d been taught to think by society. I understand that people have bills to pay, but it was like an old cartoon – I was trying to climb to the top of a ladder that never ended. I was always grasping for the next rung… why? Once again, I’d been running around for years after more money and titles, and yet here I was, unhappy at a basic level. I’d spent my adult life with my hand out, waiting for the next thing to be given to me. The things I felt needed to be altered were rapidly piling up!

After the audit, I stripped it back. My life up to this point had been my relationship and my job. OK, that was gone. But wait a minute. This meant I WAS FREE! Suddenly I could do what I wanted, and I wanted to keep this landslide rolling. I must admit, I enjoyed the feeling of giving up the stress and drama that I either created or encouraged. It was like bricks being lifted from my shoulders. I realised that I liked feeling positive. It felt nice. It wasn’t easy, though. Part of the changes involved me walking away from relationships that no longer were in my best interests – being able to respectfully disassociate from people whose thinking no longer aligned with mine, who encouraged poor decisions or who were so much relentless drama that it was exhausting. I changed my influences. I was always on Facebook, so I subscribed to some of the great positive communities and started bombarding myself with the messages. I spoke more with positive people, and made sure to listen to what they had to say. I started to consciously lift my chin and head up when I walked, so I wasn’t looking at my feet – I made it a point to make eye contact with people and smile. I also started hacking my brain – I’d tell myself silly jokes to make me laugh when I was walking to the train station. I still do it, and it ensures that I get a laugh and start my day off with a smile (For the record, the joke is almost always the same one: What’s brown and sticky? A brown stick!)

If there’s a takeaway from all this, it’s that positive thinking doesn’t happen overnight. I didn’t wake up one day singing and with rainbows all around and everything was magic – in fact, it’s been almost 18 months, and I still have days that can be rough – I get stressed, feel sad and so on.  The good news is that it can be done. By making a decision and owning it, you really can create your own landslide of awesomeness. That’s the key though – you have to create it. It’s difficult, but VERY rewarding.

Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, thank you for taking the time to read this. I wish you the very best for today, and please feel free to comment or email me at australianauraguy@gmail.com

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