New moon.
The moon was new at 7:05 PDT this morning, meaning it’s starting the lunar cycle brand new. At least, that’s how I remember what a new moon is. I’ve never spent much time in astrology but I decided to do some reading up on today’s new moon. Most of what I found out about today’s new moon is that it’s supportive of a reset of the balance in our lives. It’s a time of creativity in making changes that bring about that balance. It’s a time of “healthy assertion and negative aggression” (another balance thing) – and the line between those two things is sometimes easy for me to tip over from one side to the other. What comes up for me right now is this: How do I tell someone I can no longer hear or read their negative stories, without being negatively aggressive in doing so? How do I tell someone, with a healthy assertion, that I believe positive stories are more important to tell because we get what we put out, and if we put out negative stories, we’re going to get more of those negative stories to tell?
New moon, indeed…
There are two people who have made a big impact on how I want to live my life these days: don Miguel Ruiz and Eckhart Tolle. Both of these men have written books that I’ve found to be inspirational; don Miguel Ruiz wrote The Four Agreements, and Eckhart Tolle wrote The Power of Now and The New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose. Both of these men address negativity as a general idea and how it affects us as human beings. Maybe you’ll find these ideas to be useful to you, too.
From don Miguel Ruiz
1. Be Impeccable with your Word. Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the Word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your Word in the direction of truth and love.
2. Don’t Take Anything Personally. Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.
3. Don’t Make Assumptions. Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.
4. Always Do Your Best . Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.
From Eckhart Tolle:
“The basis for true change is freedom from negativity. And that’s what acceptance implies: no negativity about what is. And then you see what this moment requires: what is it that is required now so that life can express itself more fully?”
“See if you can catch yourself complaining, in either speech or thought, about a situation you find yourself in, what other people do or say, your surroundings, your life situation, even the weather. To complain is always nonacceptance of what is. It invariably carries an unconscious negative charge. When you complain, you make yourself into a victim. When you speak out, you are in your power. So change the situation by taking action or by speaking out if necessary or possible; leave the situation or accept it. All else is madness.”
I think I could make Eckhart Tolle’s “no negativity” my fifth agreement: 5. Don’t allow negativity to be a part of your existence. I have a choice in how I see what happens to me and my choice today is to see the now-ness, the positive-ness, of whatever is going on. Is this always easy? No way! My recent injury, and the subsequent recovery, has shown me that I have a ways to go in making the present moment, and its positive impact, always the one I choose to be in. Also being around toddlers at my cousin’s house every day has been a good reminder of being present: little kids are very “now” oriented, aren’t they? But it’s the constant, immediate, and sometimes very loud response to whatever is going on in their lives that is sometimes difficult for me and it’s hard for me to find the positive-ness in the tantrums. I’ve guess I’ve gotten used to peace and quiet, and a lot less activity than a three-year-old has. <insert big smile here>
And then there’s this, today’s Note from the Universe (talk about serendipity):
Dearest Lois, I wish for you flowers and sunshine, gentle breezes and clear skies, calm seas and rainbows. But, perhaps most of all, I wish for you the glorious breadth of experiences you are now poised to receive, so that these tidbits are mere icing on the cake of a life that’s rich in adventure.
No, Lois, I haven’t forgotten about your strong circle of positive energy…
Huge hug,
The Universe
I love how the Universe conspires to give me the best of everything, even when I don’t think it is and can’t see how it could be anything positive.
Today, I choose to see every moment in a positive light, and if that stray negative thought enters my head (and they still do!), I’ll figuratively watch it cruise right on out the other side. Because it really is my choice. I hope you’ll make positive thoughts be your choice today, too. We do get more of what we think about, and in the world we live in, we could all use more positivity and less negativity. Am I right?
Now to figure out how to be less negatively aggressive and do more of that healthy assertion…
Lois!
One of the many things that I love about you is how you can take bad or unideal (is that a word?!?) situations and turn them into something good. I have admired that about you for many years now.
Today your words of wisdom came at an excellent time given some of the people I have been in close contact with for the past 9 days!
Thank you for the reminder to stay positive and let the negative thoughts flow out!
I think that could be a word, Tricia! If it isn’t, it should be!
I’m glad the words that fell out of my brain today worked well for you. Sometimes all we need is a little reminder that we are in charge of what we do with the thoughts that cruise through our heads!
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. I appreciate you and I’m glad you’re my friend! Love to you!
Lois,
Thanks for the reminder!
Sharing your thoughts can be helpful and useful. ..even practical. I was recently challenged by a mutual friend to notice the difference in my blog writing and my one on one conversation. I had not really noticed the difference before. I have been pleasantly surrprised as working with letting go has begun to blossom in positive ways .
I too love Don Miguel Ruiz and Elkhart Tolle as well as the works of Pima Chodrin and Byron Katie.
Somewhere along the way I learned that suffering is when we are holding on to a belief that does not match a truth.
Okay just what is falling out of my head this morning in relation to your comments.
Hugs my sistah,
Simply,
Lesa
Hi Lesa!
Thanks for stopping by and leaving the kind words! I like Pema Chodrin and Byron Katie as well; good writing from both of them.
Challenges from our close friends, or even not so close friends, can help us see things we might not otherwise notice, don’t you think? Our culture is so much the opposite of “letting go” – we want to hang on to everything and we want more of it!
Big hugs to you!
Lois, hopefully that person will get a clue from this posting !
I have always loved and taken note that your messages always create positive energy.
I try not to drain others with gossip and negative statements.
Keep on keeping on !
Love you,
~Nancy
Nancy, my words weren’t meant for just one person; it seems lately I’ve been surrounded by people who are negative and who insist on being negative, who say that being positive isn’t interesting (my word, not theirs). Some of these people aren’t my FB friends and don’t read my blog so that’s why I wrote about what *I* needed to do, not them. The line between aggression and assertion is such a fine one for me, and always has been. I just want to tell people to shut the you-know-what up!
Our news channels are negative; our interaction with others can be negative; the newspapers and other sources of information can also be negative. It’s sometimes difficult to get away from it! When I hear people say how sad something is, how horrible that was, now awful a thing is, that’s my cue to tune out and if at all possible, get away all together. Not the best solution maybe but it’s working for me right now. That’s all I got 😀
Thanks for reading and leaving a comment, Nancy! Hugs to you!
PS. …and prayers for your mom’s recovery.
Dearest Lois,
I love this journal entry today. How I wish everyone in my family would read it…hmm maybe I can copy and paste to my facebook page…course that doesn’t guarantee it would get read,
I’m so glad the universe re introduced us! you mean the world to me!
Debbie, you are always welcome to post the link on your FB page! Or just share the one from my page. Either way, if it’s a message that might get out there and help someone see how negative they’re being, go for it!
It’s funny how we got reconnected after all those years, isn’t it? And we were never really connected way back then either! So we’re a new connection with an old thing in common… how’s that sound? Ha!
Thanks for reading, Debbie!
PS. I fixed the spelling of “page” in this comment and deleted your other one. Hope that was ok! Cheers!
Hi Lois,
I LOVE this post.
I only recently subscribed to your blog and had no idea we were so like minded. The one thing I wasn’t familiar with was the Notes From the Universe, Thank you for the link.
Light all around you and your path always!
Hi Kathi!
Thanks for subscribing to my blog! I love finding other like-minded people out there! Woohoo!
The Notes from the Universe is awesome – I’ve been getting them for several years now. Every day, a cool little message!
Big hugs to you!