It’s Almost Christmas

I’m not sure about you, but I’m excited that Christmas is just around the corner!

Photo by Ian Keefe on Unsplash

I love the above photo because it makes me dream of being inside that toasty cabin—a beautiful and peaceful oasis in a winter wonderland.

If it were possible, perhaps you and I could be sitting there, together, talking about your life and how you would like to change it, improve it and become the person you’ve always dreamed of being.

It starts with a dream, a vision first and then comes the reality.

I’m convinced that it can happen to you, because I feel it happening to me.

Scrooge

I’m already thinking about Scrooge (click here to see the 1970 version). I like to watch this movie once a year as a reminder about lasting values such as love, fidelity and generosity.

Holiday tunes are playing in my mind, too. (Click here to listen to some relaxing Christmas music).

Yesterday, I noticed that gift products were available at the Shopper’s Drug Mart I frequent and that people were already displaying that ‘nervous holiday energy.’

Black Friday Super Deal

Getting into the mood, please note my upcoming Black Friday Promotion:

*The first 15-minute, introductory session is always free, conditions apply. Offer valid on Friday, November 25, 2022 only if you book your first paid session by midnight and include promo code XP32.

I was rummaging through old, family photographs today.

I enjoyed seeing one of my paternal grandmother, my namesake, and father, Julius, as a young boy.

We all have a background and a history but it’s the radical transformations—like Scrooge’s—that happen along the way that arrest our attention.

Watching Scrooge makes me wonder how much we participate in the transformative, next-level process and how much of it comes from the Spirit.

Whatever the case, we are certainly co-participants in the up-leveling process.

Out of the blue

That which calls us to re-examine our lives often appears to come unannounced.

Like for Scrooge, it might be a little scary, but the end result is wonderful!

Nothing like it

Becoming a better version of ourselves is the opportunity that is given to us in this life.

I think that we ought to take advantage of this, perhaps the greatest of opportunities.

Merry Christmas in advance, and Happy Holidays, to all celebrants!

Let’s Take it to the Next Level Together,

Luba

The Heart of the Matter

Photo by Daan Stevens on Unsplash

Our hearts know much.

They inform us about what makes us happy, and what doesn’t.

They speak to us regarding what we are versus what we could be.

The ancient Maya believed that the heart could ‘think’ and, contrary to the brain, was the sacred center of our being. You can read an article I wrote about this in Arianna Huffington’s Thrive Global called ‘The Power of a Grateful Heart.’

In a materialistic society, the temptation to fill the empty ‘hole’ in our hearts with ‘stuff,’ material goods, is strong.

The hole represents the dissatisfaction I refer to in the introduction to Take it to the Next Level. It’s the hole or emptiness—even in the midst of great material wealth—that, if it could speak, would say, ‘I feel really empty right now. I seem to have it all, yet I just don’t understand why I feel so depleted.’

The main image I chose for this article is a tunnel lined with hearts. The tunnel represents movement toward the center of your being; the hearts represent loving thoughts, feelings and attitudes; and the lights at the top are pointers to what is good and true. At the end of the tunnel is the center of your being.

The title of this blog post, the heart of the matter, implies that at the center of the matter is the heart. This can also be phrased as, at the heart of all material ‘stuff’ is the heart because without the heart, matter is mere emptiness.

Black Friday, Boxing Day

We are bombarded with advertisements that promise fulfillment. We are falsely led to believe that shopping is the panacea to loneliness and isolation. ‘The more things you own,’ the voice seems to say, ‘the happier you’ll be.’ But the truth of the matter is that buying stuff isn’t going to fill the hole. You’ll only start to feel better when you decide to talk about your feelings in order to know yourself better—the person you’re with 24 hours/day—and drop the pretenses.

Pretenses are the sum of those things, attitudes and facades that, together, make up the fake self that you present to the world.

The reason that we present a false self to others is because we deeply doubt that people will like us for who we really are. This is pathological thinking—or faulty schemas—that needs correction. That’s because the core of our being is, according to the Maya, filled with compassion, love and beauty. (Source: ‘The Power of a Grateful Heart’)

The truth is that the Creator equipped you with everything you need to be content and complete. That which you seek is within you, within the core of your being, the core of your being itself.

When you’re able to tap into the compassion, love and beauty that are the core of your being, you’ll be able to feel the same in the world around you. When you’re able to do this is when you’ll fill the emptiness on the inside. Doing so fundamentally has to do with finding real meaning in your life. Is your life meaningful? Have you discovered the true purpose of your life?

If you ever hope to rise in life, to move up in levels, you will need to drop the mask. You’ll need to cut out everything that is phony in your life.

Real Talk

I can only help you if you are willing to allow yourself to be helped. If you are able to admit that the life you’re living—although quite high by worldly standards—is an empty shell.

In a world where we like to hear sweet and lovely, ‘honey’ words of comfort, what I say in this piece surely sounds harsh and bitter to your ears.

Wealth is a perspective; growth is a direction; and non-manufactured contentment and satisfaction are the aim of taking it to the next level.

Let’s Take it to the Next Level, book your appointment today,

Luba