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ould you like to spend as much time as possible feeling good? Happy? Contented? The ancient shamans have a secret practice that can help you maximize your pleasure in life—and minimize your pain. Interested? The shamans advise: “Welcome discomfort!” They’ve got to be kidding! No, they’re not kidding. The ancient ones are quite serious. Or shall I use another word other than serious? Because the effectiveness of “Welcoming discomfort!” depends on NOT taking the discomfort seriously! Life in the 3rd Dimension Here on Earth in the 3rd dimension, we’re engaged in a dance of duality, a ballet of opposites, a play of polarity. For every quality in our world, there exists an equal and opposite quality. Light and dark. Up and down. Forward and backward. To create form out of pure formless energy, we construct this 3-dimensional world by believing in duality. Otherwise, we’d only be able to experience a world of oneness, sameness—pure energy, essence, spirit. And in order to experience any one quality in form, the reverse quality has to also be created in form. For one quality to exist—to come into existence, to be in existence—the opposite of that quality has to also exist. So Where Does the Fun Come In? The key to moving through life in our everyday world as easily, gracefully and pleasurably as possible is to be able to fully experience both sides of all qualities easily, gracefully and pleasurably. In other words, the shaman secret is an approach that keeps us from getting stuck in feeling the “undesirable” aspects of life any longer than necessary. The shamans offer a practice that allows us to fully experience problems, loss, fear, anger, sadness or pain as efficiently as possible. If we approach the unpreferred qualities in life in a way that makes them easier to fully experience, we can move through them as fast as possible. And spend more of our time with the goodies in life. Shortcut to Happiness “The way to happiness is through the world, not around it,” one of my teachers is fond of saying. I know of no one who has been able to avoid the unpleasant events and feelings of life. So if we can’t have a universe without so-called “nasty” situations and emotions, we can at least learn how to deal with those conditions in the most effective and pleasurable way! The Shaman Secret The shaman way is to “welcome the discomfort” in life. Invite the uncomfortable, undesirable, unpreferred qualities of life. Tellingly, the dictionary definition of “undesirable” is “unattractive, disagreeable, unwelcome, uninvited.” So, the solution is to make these qualities as attractive and agreeable as possible—so that we can actually welcome, invite and, therefore, fully experience each quality. When a person chooses to fully experience a quality, event or feeling, the quality goes full circle, full cycle—and dissolves, disappears. When you give the energy of a situation or feeling the space—the acceptance—to fully express itself, the uncomfortable feeling is complete, done, fulfilled. You’re free of it. It’s over, gone, kaput. You can move on to focus on the more fun aspects of life! How Do I Welcome Pain? Good question! By choosing to not approach the situation or feeling as “pain.” Frame the condition with a “feel-able” label—that is, a label you’re more willing to experience. Choose a generic, neutral, uncharged label. For example, name your “fear” “sensation”, “energy” or “vibration.” You might even be able to experience the “energy formerly known as fear” as “rush” , “adrenaline” or “intensity.” Or call your “problem” or “crisis” a “challenge” or “situation” or even an “adventure!” Who wants to deal with a problem or crisis? Too heavy. Too serious. Too overwhelming. Too much! When I ran my natural foods business, I insisted my employees use the word “situation,” because it was much easier to deal with fifty people coming into my office each day announcing “We have a situation!” than proclaiming “We have a problem!” Or that person you avoid because he or she is so “difficult.” Would it be more fun if you invited the “adventure” of intuitively dealing with this “challenging” person? Fear is Excitement? Yes! The actual energy we feel in our bodies that we usually call “fear” is the exactly the same energy as we call “excitement!” What creates the difference in our experience of the feeling is our attitude toward the feeling, our approach to the emotion, the way we hold that quality in our consciousness. When we change the way we label or name “uncomfortable” states, the more approachable the condition is for us to feel, the easier it is for us to experience it—and therefore, the faster we move through the state to another condition that is more enjoyable. So, if we approach undesirable states like crisis, loss, grief or anger with labels that are more easily feel-able—like situation, sensation, energy, vibration—we will be more willing and able to fully experience those states and move through them more quickly and gracefully. Holding our situations, and the feelings about the situations, within a neutral, generic framework—like experience, quality or condition—we’ll be more willing to open to fully experiencing these situations and emotions. When we don’t define or name the situations or feelings with a "negative" label, we don’t resist experiencing them fully. Ride the Realization You can also use the realization that “Oh, this is the way I set up my life. I create problems, loss, poverty, sadness and pain so that I am able to experience solutions, gain, abundance, joy, and pleasure. I’m willing to approach these states as ‘experiences’ or ‘sensations’ in order to move through them as quickly as possible to get to the other side.” On the other side of fully experiencing any aspect of life is always greater intuition and clarity—which, in turn, leads immediately to more peace and happiness. What Are You Waiting For? Welcome disruption! Invite discomfort! And you will move faster through the challenging aspects of life and into adventure and ease. Or shall I say, “Welcome the energy formerly known as disruption!” “Invite the sensation you used to call discomfort.” Or better yet, “Welcome rearrangement! Invite transition!” And be ready to enjoy life more fully than ever before! Drawing from the wisdom of native and ancient spiritual traditions, Keith Varnum shares his 30 years of practical success as an author, personal coach, acupuncturist, filmmaker, radio host, restaurateur, vision quest guide and international seminar leader with “The Dream Workshops”. Keith helps people get the love, money, and health they want with his F-r-e-e Prosperity Ezine, F-r-e-e Abundance Tape and F-r-e-e Coaching at http://www.TheDream.com
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