Inner Strength

Day 56: Drought There have been many times in my life when I felt that I was in a drought in regards to love, that I would never again experience the fertile soil of having someone love and appreciate me for who I am. Through the work of love language 101

I have gained an incredible insight into the importance of self-love and self empowerment. So many times we look for what we need outside of ourselves rather than tapping into the abundant river of love that flows from within. It was indeed through this work that I learned to ask for what I need in my relationships and most importantly I've learned to give myself unconditional love.

Over the past several days, I have been in an intense time of self nurture and repair. It has been while in the middle of this experience that I have recognized similarities that I have felt in the grieving process. In the transition of a family member, we are often surrounded by and bombarded by people with this the deep desire to comfort. In the grieving process that sense of being surrounded by love is extremely comforting and extremely helpful in that transition. But inevitably there is a time when everyone goes back to their prospective homes and we are left to mourn with our own understanding. It is in that moment that I think some of the greatest growth happens in our lives. It is in those moments when we recognize the strength and the power and the wherewithal we can begin to create everything in our lives.

I liken it to recovery work. When an individual is in need of recovery from an addiction. When they are faced with making some life altering change so many times the family rallies around the person and does everything humanly possible to help this transformation happened. When in fact the only person who can make this transformation happen is the person who has the addiction. It was in one of these growth opportunities in my life that I recognize the importance of self-love and self empowerment that has allowed me to not only transform my life but glean these wonderful life lessons and teachings that I can now share with others.

It is at times like these that I have gone within to find out the truth for myself. I have chosen to not rely on someone else's opinion of who I am, or allow their perspective of what I'm doing to impact what I choose to do next. When I find myself in this place, I have found a great resource of understanding and the awareness of who I truly am. It is at this time that what I truly believe is the most transparent. I discuss with my clients about the importance of knowing what we believe. In that moment, we can transform anything in our lives. It was only when I realized and had the understanding that I believe myself to be unlovable that I could transform that into recognizing that I am lovable and I deserve love. It wasn't until I learned that I believed I was bad with money that I could transform that into knowing that I am brilliant in all of my financial affairs and that I handle money with absolute ease and great joy.

It is often these life changing experiences that enable us to understand at a greater level who we are and what we believe. It is often when we are being told by someone outside of ourselves who we are that awakens this deep and abiding truth within that says this is not my truth.

Over the last several days, this period of self nurture and self-care is where with kindness and compassion I am bringing myself back to a place in which I am now ready to emerge and to be open again. The real key to me in this life lesson is to recognize the need for balance. I often wish to spend all of my time being a superhero and none of my time nurturing myself. That is a prescription for burnout.

Today I recognize that in order to traverse the road of life that I can choose to embrace all of the lessons that come my way. In doing so, I must go within to find out what is the best method for me to deal with this situation. It is essential that I be kind gentle and compassionate in this process. It is often our ego self that at this moment wishes to say to us that we should be farther along, or we should know this already. When in truth we are at the next evolution of this learning process rather than repeating it again. I realize this past week that I was growing and evolving and that brought me intense and abiding comfort.

Each of us has within us an unlimited potential, as well as an unlimited supply of strength. It is in moments like this that we get to experience, who we are and what we are that brings about a new way of living.

Thank you,

I love you,

Rev Allen 

I Love Myself With Gentleness, Compassion, and Tenderness.

Day 55: Flood, when an opportunity for growth arises in our lives, it is often the catalyst for change. When change occurs in our lives, it can bring about a flood of emotions. Those surplus emotions need to find release, a place to flow. One of my favorite Buddhist teachings is the ability to be with your emotions, to stay present to the circumstance in our lives. By being fully present allows the emotion to flow in and through our lives with transformative power. It is usually our resistance to change or growth that causes these emotions in events to feel overwhelming.

This past week has brought about an opportunity for growth within our community. It was in the beginning moments of this growth opportunity that this great calm comes into my life.  It was one of the greatest calm's that I can remember.  I had this deep knowing that everything was in divine order and that all was well. I was fully able to be present and love to the greater community and allow the influx of love to flow into my life with ease and with grace.

For a great deal of my life, I had an issue with the receiving help. It has been something that I've been actively working on over the last few years.  I am happy to say that it was this experience that really allows me to recognize how much growth and transformation that I have had in this area of my life.  I was truly able to embrace and welcome the help that was given. I am reminded that often in those moments of dramatic change there is intense emotion. And as I stood with the various community members in these stages of transformation, I recognize that each person was having an experienced unique to themselves.

In the process of loving others, it is imperative that we remain open and allow the flow of life to move through our lives with as much ease as possible.

I find myself rather raw this week.  It is easy to think that everything is bliss now that the growth has happened and the transformation has happened.  It is often the moments after a great change that we find ourselves the most exposed,and feeling raw.  I am best to be a reminder that often after the catalyst for change has brought about change in our lives it is in those moments that we can be the most vulnerable. It is imperative that I love myself with gentleness, compassion, and tenderness.

Thank you,
I love you,
Rev Allen

Nature's Greatest Quality is to Embrace the Now Moment!

Day 54: Tsunami. The tsunami in our personal lives can come from violence, death, divorce, and the list can go on. When a tsunami hits the shore, the sheer force can eliminate everything in its way. When we are faced with some abrupt change in our lives, we are presented with a powerful choice. Many times we choose inadequacy over power. And we choose to be consumed by the event, when just like with nature we can allow this event to transform our lives, and harness all of the power we have inside.

How easily we are consumed by life events. One of the greatest lessons I have received from nature is recognizing how it deals with the devastation. Nature unlike us doesn't become angry, violent, or destructive when some catastrophic event happens. It chooses instead to go within and rebuild, restore, and renew. Growing up in the south, I was able to see how the forest rebuild itself after a forest fire to this incredible thriving forest yet again. In looking at Chernobyl and how after a man-made disaster it has already restored itself to a place of habitation for plants and animal life.

Nature's greatest quality is the ability to embrace the now moment. It is something that I value highly and that I am in the learning process of bringing that quality into my life. Might I add it is truly a learning process. One of the greatest gifts I have gleaned for myself was when some cataclysmic event happens in my life the best thing I can do at that moment is to breathe. During stressful situations, I have noticed in myself that I have a tendency to hold my breath. There have actually been times when I have had to remind myself to breathe. Breathing is that wonderful reciprocity that we have been granted in life. It is the giving and receiving that is interconnected that is so important for us to acknowledge and realize it to be one of the most life-affirming lessons we can ascertain.

Life is emerging through each and every one of us. Just like the life span of a tree the more we grow and evolve the deeper our roots grow, and our branches extend. A tree's root system is developed and strengthened by the winds of change. If the tree doesn't experience strong winds in the growing process when a life changing event happens it simply falls over. I often forget in the midst of one of these life experiences that it is moments like these that I have gained great strength, and deepened my level of understand about who I am. Don't get me wrong during the event I am busy asking myself the same questions most of us are. Why? Then there is something deep within my soul that speaks to me out of love. You have endured the winds of change before and you will again. Breathe, and find the space within that knows that this is here for your good. Out of this experience you will find the answers that you have been seeking, and you will indeed grow.

Life happens, and we have choices to make. We can be consumed, fight, or surrender and grow. The choice is always ours.

I love you,

Rev Allen

How Do We Begin The Transformation Process?

Day 53: Tornado, it is not my intention to lessen the impact of these natural disasters in our lives, but to gain a greater understanding of how they are created. In doing this, we can integrate this knowledge into our daily lives and recognize where we are placing our energy. Transformation is a powerful thing. It is so easy to create the highs and lows and the twists and turns that are needed to create a tornado simply by reliving the story over and over again. By transforming even one element of the equation we can bring about an entirely different set of experiences.

The passage about comes from 'Seasons of Change" and it reminds me of how often we are willing to look at who we believe is responsible. Yet, we are much less likely to look at our part in the dance. One of the things I talk to my coaching clients about is that it takes all parties involved to create a thriving relationship. It is my understanding and experience that the relationship that I have with myself has a dramatic influence on the relationship that I have with others. Just like with a tornado, I can create a life with self-doubt, self loathing, and self-hatred. Then when someone comes along and recognizes that within me and comments on it that I take offense to what they have said, not recognizing it was planted in my life by myself.

I love the understanding from today's reading that states that a tornado is created during a severe thunderstorm in which there is instability in the atmosphere combined with tumultuous air movement. How many times have I filled my life with self-hatred and self-criticism creating a severe thunderstorm and instability in my life and yet held the person who agrees with me responsible?

In changing our lives, it is important that we recognize our part in the dance of life. It is essential that we began to go through the closet and the cupboards and discover what we've stored there. Do we need it, or does it serve anymore? Far too long I allowed my hidden beliefs and what other people had said to me when I was a child to govern my life and how I was living it. It was through self-discovery, self realization, and self-loving that I began the transformation process to live the life that I am living today.

Does that mean that we won't be impacted by what other people say about us? Of course not. Yet, what I understand from my deepest core level today is what I do with that it's my responsibility. I have been deeply wounded by the termination of relationships, death, and grieving. Yet, at some point in that process I had to be willing to look at my responsibility in creating the life that I wanted to live. I can only speak from my understanding my experience when I say it was most often my internalizing all of the hurt, anguish, and grief deep within that created the manifestation in my physical world of cancer.

How do we begin the transformation process? By having the willingness to unpack.

When I am willing to unpack one bag, one box, one thought I am in that moment beginning the transformation process. To link it to our reading today, I am changing the environment of my life. So often I forget that I have power to transform any situation solely based on how I react to it. I can not control what anyone else says or does. I can however control how I react, and what I take to be my truth.

I Love you,

Rev Allen

Creating A World In Which I Thrive!

Day 52: Hurricanes, it does not surprise that heat is part of the necessary ingredients for a hurricane. Anger is something that often acts as a vehicle for change. As we look at how nature disperses built up heat we maybe begin to recognize the need for transformation. Nature handles disasters by focusing in energy on restoration. The point I wish to drive home in this particular reading is how we as human nature participate in this process on a daily basis. How often do I allow anger to sit in on the surface of my life waiting for someone to stir it up? How often do I tell the same story over and over again adding more heat and moisture to the situation? Add in a circle of gossip and we have the perfect storm brewing in our lives.

The more I do this work in seasons of change the more I recognize how nature and we as human nature are interconnected. The paragraph above really drives that point home. How many times in my life do I sit around waiting for someone to agitate me, or irritate me? How much of my life do I spend looking for something to be outraged about? How often do I tell the same story of something that has agitated me? In hope that it will in some way relieve the tension only to find that it is carrying me back to the place in which I found myself agitated?

When I speak to my client about taking responsibility what I'm really wanting us all to glean is that we participate in everything that happens in our lives. If something comes into my life that agitates or triggers me it is only because I've allowed it in. I had a wonderful example of this happened in my life yesterday. I was triggered. I chose to pull the energy away from the storm rather than adding fuel to it. I realized that I had been triggered and that I needed a safe space to release some of the frustration without giving it more power. When a hurricane is swirling around in our lives the best thing we can do is take some of the energy away from it rather than adding to it.

After taking a moment to cool down and decompress. I had one of the most loving and deeply respectful conversations around what mine and my friends needs are. It was beautiful! Instead of fueling the hurricane, I chose to pull the power away from it and focus in on what I wanted next. As a result, my friend and I were able to restore and deepen our friendship with love and respect for each other. I have talked about the importance of stopping this story that causes us pain. In its place, we are given the opportunity to build the world anyway we wish to build it. Last evening I had the honor and a pleasure to speak with people about building the world that they wish to build, putting their focus on what they want versus in reaction to what someone or something has done to them.

I find that when I can start to utilize these tools and pull the energy from the storm and put it back into the creative process. I begin building the life that I want versus reacting to what someone has done to me. It is in that moment that I begin creating a world in which I thrive.

Take some of the energy from the storm brewing in your life and place it into creating the world that you want today.

I love you,

Rev Allen

How Exactly Do We Find These Trigger Points And Transform Them Into Something New?

Day 51: Earthquakes, many times in life we look at the surface of the situation and do our best to resolve, medicate, or just cover the underlying source of the issue. Scientist referred to a focus or point of origin within the earthquake as something deep within the earth's core that sends out an energetic wave that causes the Earth's crust to crack open. This is the excerpt from today's reading in "Seasons of Change."

This past Sunday I gave a talk on leaning into the cause.  In which we as individuals had an opportunity to look at what was underneath the symptom or conditions in our lives. As in today's reading from seasons of change it is easy for us to respond to our symptoms with medication or denial. When in fact the heart of the matter lies underneath the symptom or condition. I commonly referred to this as the cause or to use our earthquake metaphor the point of origin, or focus point.

How exactly do we find these trigger points and transform them into something new? In the case of earthquakes, that is something that is plagued the scientific world for many years. However, in our lives we can look underneath the symptoms and conditions of our lives and discover the cause or as I like to refer to the root of the issue and transform that. In looking at the cause for my financial livelihood, I discovered a focus point.

That's the key focus point was that I believed I was unworthy of abundance.

This was another aha moment for me. Up until this point I had chosen to blame everyone and everything else outside of me because I was not ready to look at the cause or the point of origin that was creating and manifesting in my day-to-day life. As you can glean from today's reading my earthquake experience was cancer and it was definitely an opening in my life for transformation. Might I also mentioned at this moment that it allowed me to transform my thinking instantly and bring about one of the key points that I have been wanting in my life for sometime which was financial freedom.

Having survived that experience I find it comforting to stand with other people when they are living through devastating shifts or changes in their lives and remind them that this too shall pass. Here I am years after my initial cancer diagnosis and I am living a life that I had only dreamed about before. It did require however that I look at the causes in my life which were  self-hatred, unworthy, and unlovable. As I took the time to dismantle my beliefs around each of these and create new ones which I am still doing today. I found with each season  it brought about more and more transformation and amazing manifestation in my life.

Today I am more aware than ever before that what I think about myself, and others are most often directly related to the cause that is creating the destruction of my life. When I adjusted the belief system behind the cause I find that everything in my life is transformed.

I love you,
Rev Allen

What Is All The Fuss About?

Have you had your eyes dilated? I have on numerous occasions. Try at that moment to read a book, or focus on something close to you and you understand that focus can really impact your life. I am surprised at how much of life can be out of focus and we act as if everything is going perfectly. Focus is one of those things that allow me to fine tune my life, and participate in the process. Often we operate on auto pilot and then have the nerve to complain about what is happening in our lives.

Day 50: Forest Fires, it's as if nature understands that it cannot look in the review mirror hoping to find answers for what lies ahead. It amazes me again and again how quickly life can restore itself simply by using this amazing process. Focus. Place your energy where it is needed at any given moment so that the transformation may begin. What an amazing life lesson to understand and integrate into our daily lives.

What is all the fuss with focus? I gave a talk a couple weeks ago on focus in which I took off my glasses and I ask everyone in the community to do the same. For me I've become so reliant upon my glasses that when I take them off my world is out of focus. What I recognized to be true today is when I take my attention off of where I'm going and place it somewhere else. Past or future. I am at that moment putting my life out of focus. All I really have is this moment. Am, I enjoy it to the fullest?

I find it is our human condition to seek to put the focus on the condition that created our current circumstance rather than focusing on creating the change we wish to see in our lives. When I was initially diagnosed with cancer I remember wanting so desperately to put my focus on how this happened, what created this? It was this divine wisdom from within which said if you stay in this consciousness you will die. It was at that moment I was willing to shift my focus from how and why to where do I want to go next? Is this the way I wish to live my life?

One of the greatest questions that I like to ask myself and my clients are if I could live in any way I wanted without restriction with absolute freedom and abandon what would that look like? I am amazed at the number of times that I have not known the answer. If I did I still choose to place my focus on some past situation or circumstance.

How exactly do we choose to move on?

Moving on after a devastating shift in life can be frustrating. It can also be liberating and freeing. Once I knew I wished to live rather than die from this dis-ease that was consuming my life. I had this overwhelming sense of freedom. I began to live each moment as if it were the final moment of my life. There was this freedom that happened when I put all of my focus on the now rather than everywhere else I had been putting it all of my life. Instantly my life began to transform. Regardless of what procedure was happening to my physical being I have found this place of freedom in my life because I was putting my focus on living life to its fullest.

I have discovered that in order to make this monumental shift in life we often need some natural disaster to propel us forward. Often a natural disaster is a break up of a relationship, the death of a loved one, or the loss of a job. All of these are natural disasters in our sensible world. Yet today I know and understand having journeyed this path it was the birthplace of unlimited freedom. It was the awakening of my soul to live now. It was this valuable lessons that placing my focus and my attention solely in this moment, living life to the fullest, is when I am truly most alive.

I love you,

Rev Allen

How Do I React When Something Devastating Happens In My Life?

How do I react when something devastating happens in my life? The best answer I can give today is, the best I can at the moment. None of us really knows how of going to react to anything until it happens. That is why I urge people who are looking for life coaches to look for someone who has lived through it brilliantly and ask them to champion you as you walk through it. So many times in life we will ask people who have never lived the experience or anything like it what they would do? I shared with a friend the other day that a gymnast, a swimmer, or a baseball team without a coach is far more likely to find frustration and a slower path to fulfillment than someone who has a coach calling them into greatness. I find that the greatest coaches I have had in life are the ones who actually understand the journey.

Day 49: Natural Disaster, for a great deal of my life I would look at trying times as some form of punishment or karmic retribution. Today I find myself focusing my energy and my creative power in a way that serves me best. All of these things I have learned by observing, how nature focuses it energy into restoration after a natural disaster, how new plant life emerges from falling and decaying trees.

With all of the things that are happening in the world today it is so easy to get focused on the violence, hatred, and bigotry. Yet I am reminded by nature every day that it is not possible to transform a situation with the same energy that has created it. Many times I am asked where do I stand in all of this? My answer is simple I stand in love. It is hard to explain why a forest fire happened, or why a tornado lands in my back yard. When I decide to stay focused on the why what I know to be true today is that I am holding my consciousness in the past and I am stilling living in the storm.

When I can find the courage from within to move on, to release, and let go of the why and move instead into my creative power. Out of that creative power, I can create a new world just like nature. Just like in today's reading from Seasons of Change I can choose to not take it personally and began again. How many times has starting over been exactly the thing I needed in order to restore my life and create a new beginning? Yet the entire time to find myself resisting, angry, and resentful for having to start over again. I'm not saying by any means that anger and frustration was not justified yet when we lookat nature and how it naturally heals itself it puts all of the energy into the creating the new. Nature understands that to continue putting its energy into anger and frustration only creates more of the same.

So many times in my life when a relationship has ended, a job has ended or, our health changes we want to move instantly into why? What I realized today is that energy keeps me stuck in the condition that has created the pain. Instead of using that energy to create more frustration I know that when I'm ready I can transform any situation and create a new world. These experiences are some of the most transformation lessons I have ever learned in my life and yet I still find myself today in resistance when something shows up. There was a great quote that I heard today that simply says love what shows up. I think this is the perfect mantra for today I am willing to love what shows up.

Life is an adventure whether I want to realize that or not. How many times in life do we pay great money to go to amusement parks, horror movies, and watch reality tv to experience adventure and yet when it happens in our lives we are resistant. We as a society have our focus on trauma, pain, and hatred thinking that is going to create a society filled with love. It is impossible to create love from fear and hate. Today spend some time looking at how you have handled the disasters in the past and how you choose to channel that energy going forward.

I love you

Ravi Allen

Am I Ready For A New Growth Experience?

Feeling stuck in the spiderwebs of life? When I am willing to embrace the lesson and stop resisting. I find that it is much easier to transform any situation into one of growth and learning. When I can let go of attachment long enough to look within for the answer I find that everything benefits. As you will read in today's blog my inability to receive has an effect on not only myself but everyone who is wanting to love me. This growth opportunity was one of the most amazing gifts I received and has allowed me to open myself up to receive in a deep and abiding way.  

Day 48: Spiderwebs, take a moment and think about the places in your life that you are resisting change. Take a few minutes and ask yourself if you are ready to embrace new growth experience? If so move on, if not stay where you are. The choice is yours.

I really enjoyed the reading from seasons of change today. It points out that every day I get to wake up chop wood and tote water. Simply put I "get to" do my work each day. I learned many years ago that the difference between I "get to", and I "have to." Case in point I "get to" do my work reflects an attitude of desire. Versus, I "have to" do my work which implies no choice or fulfillment.

The question of today was to work out places within myself that I am resisting change? Over the last month I have recognized that receiving is still a bit of a challenge for me. I find myself with a deep and abiding willingness to give. Yet I really resist and push back when someone wishes to give to me. This became extremely clear around my birthday. My beloved planned the most amazing birthday which involved the beach a room with a view and endless pampering. I heard myself saying several times in the first few days this is so expensive! To have my beloved ask" what is your conversation with money today?" I sat with that question for a moment.

What I realized was I was having worthy challenges. This was not the first time and I'm not convinced it will be the last. Yet something really amazing happened. I was able to transform that experience and recognize my worth and move on in a matter of hours. Now that is growth! I spent the remainder of my birth month saying yes. When I was offered lunch I said yes. When I was offered goodies of any kind I said yes. It was about recognizing that receiving and giving is interconnected. I've known this for decades and yet it was this experience that helped me to understand where I was placing my resistance.

It was not the case that the universe wasn't giving to me abundantly. It was my ability to receive that which was being graciously given that was my roadblock. When my beloved ask me about my conversation with money. I took that question internally and I found the most amazing mantra." I am open, I am receptive, and I receive now!" Today anytime I feel resistance to receiving I instantly transform that with my mantra. I have taken on saying this mantra to myself countless times a day. The transformation has been amazing. And one simple shift in my consciousness has opened up endless opportunities for me to receive an abundance of good.

What are you willing to transform it in your life today? What are you willing to let go of?

I love you,

Rev. Allen

Shine My Friend Shine!

The reading in todays Seasons of change was perfect. We all have a light within that requires our acceptance of it and allow it to shine for the world to see. Now, that being said will everyone notice? No! The fact of the matter is the light within is really for you anyway. When others see our lights it frees them to shine their light. Have you ever noticed that when you see one star you instantly see others? I will take this moment to remind you that what ever you see in nature you have within you now. When you notice a star, it is because you have within you the same light to illumine the unknown not only in your life but the lives of others.  

Day 47: Star, there are many times that I do not recognize my own brilliance or the magnitude of the impact that I have on others. There are times when I feel that my light is dim, when in fact it is a monumental source of light and love, not only in my life but in the lives of others. I am also told that no matter how monumental my light might be some will only see it as a flicker in the evening sky. The miracle of today is that other people's perception of my life only has an impact on my world when I allow it period

Over the last few days, I've been taking an inward journey. In life, the answers that we're seeking can only be found inside. I have spent a great deal of my life looking for answers outside of myself. I am an external processor which simply means that I process by communicating with others. The growth in my life today is because I can ask someone to listen without the need for response. The deeper I know myself and how I work the more equipped I am to shine my light not only for myself but for those around me.

Over the last month, I questioned my impact on the world. Yes, we do all have those days! The difference between my past and my present is simple. I knew the answers I was seeking would be discovered within. It is interesting when we take things inside our soul, our essence the answer comes from everywhere. As I went into deep contemplation, it has become extremely clear to me how beautifully brilliant my light is. The interesting thing is no matter how many times others tell me my light is brilliant and beautiful. It is up to me to know this truth for myself.

One of the things I am asked most often is how did I dare to do the work that I'm doing today? The short answer is it has been a process. I took a great many roads to avoid the path that was mine for the longest time. If become clear to me some years ago that it was time for me to journey down my path regardless of the outcome. It was that moment that my life truly began to bloom. I was sometimes fearful. Yet took the next step anyway. In the beginning, it was just myself my beloved and a few friends. Then the more that I stood in my truth and loved as only I can the universe opens and brought like-minded individuals to me. So often, in life I think it is my responsibility to make things happen. When in fact it is my responsibility to shine the light of love everywhere I go, knowing that everything I need is seeking me.

What are you doing today to avoid your destiny? What clouds are you hiding behind afraid to show your brilliance? What limited version of yourself are you displaying so that those around you will not be threatened by your magnificence? It is time for you to shine like a brilliant star you are and illumine your life from within. You are magnificent, and the world needs more of that. Shine

my friend, shine!

I love you,

Rev Allen