Living a Spiritually Awakened Life in Every Moment

So you feel as though your life is moving in a more spiritual direction every day but you don't like spiritual gatherings? You find them perhaps a bit stifling? Overbearing? Too many spiritual egos involved? Or maybe you like them a great deal, but have little time to attend, or due to your own commitments to family are unable to attend at the times they are offered. Or perhaps you have difficulties getting into meditation, but are very keen on making your life a more awakened one. Perhaps you've read more books than you care to say and seen more inspirational presentations, seminars, workshops, and so on than anyone you know, and yet … something is lacking in what you consider the spiritual part of your life.

Perhaps you still get depressed at times, or have a burst of anger with someone close to you, or get unreasonably impatient, or envious or jealous at times, when you consider that you should already be far past these matters, because, after all, you have recognized your own spirituality and you do want to live an awakened life.

Here's what I believe (and of course it's just my opinion, taken from my own variegated life of many chapters and reinventions, as well as from experiences in many of the above situations):

Living a spiritually enlightened life is not so much about exactly what you believe, or with whom you share your beliefs, as it is about how you go about the small things in your daily life. It's not about how often you go to mass or meditate or visit the ashram, it's about how you are, think, react, and behave when you are not in one of those holy places. It's about how you live your life on a daily basis, which is why I love this Zen quotation so much:

Before enlightenment

Chop wood, carry water.

After enlightenment

Chop wood carry water.

So what you do (and the thoughts you have, and how you ultimately react) in any of the following sample situations, tells you where you can situate yourself on a scale of spiritual enlightenment:

·         a colleague at work has taken credit for an idea that was originally yours

·         your mother has asked you to help her - for the zillionth time - in a matter that you know she is capable of doing on her own

·         yet another telemarketer is on your line - it's the third one today!

·         a friend called to say they would not be able to come for lunch - a lunch that had been programmed for days, and it's now only 90 minutes before the scheduled time, and the reason you are given for the friend not coming is weak

·         your wife returns from the doctor with very bad news: she has been diagnosed as having Stage 3 lung cancer

·         your son just crashed the family car and although nothing happened to him, your insurance policy will not to cover the damages

·         the cashier at the supermarket is chatting to another store clerk, while she rings up your purchases

·         the maître d' at the restaurant at which you booked a table for your 25th wedding anniversary weeks ago tells you there has been a mix-up and your table will not be ready for at least another hour

·         you wake up feeling despondent

·         you notice yourself criticizing and judging those around you - even if only in your thoughts

·         you find yourself worrying - again - about your finances

·         you run into that person at a business lunch that always makes you feel uneasy, uncomfortable, perhaps even suspicious, but for no good reason

·         you find yourself becoming increasingly impatient over the course of the morning due to little things that seem to gang up on you

·         you become sad as something reminds you of a long ago painful event in your life

Clearly you recognize many of the above examples as familiar events in most people's lives. And just as clearly, most of them are certainly not enjoyable. Yet, it is in the way you handle these events, and more specifically, in the way you handle what goes on inside of you, that tells you how far you are living a spiritually enlightened life at all times throughout the course of your day, and every day of every year. It is in these daily events - small and large - that your enlightenment or spirituality have a chance to shine brightly.

Furthermore, your recognition in hindsight - should you not have handled the events well - that you could have handled them in a more conscious and enlightened manner, shows you that at least you are well on the road to living such a life.

So what can you do to move yourself into a more enlightened way of living? A way of living that shows you - moment by moment and day by day - that you are indeed doing your utmost to grow in love, compassion, and kindness, but also in connecting more and more to your inner light - without which you will not be able to shine light into the many dark rooms and corners we find on a daily basis. I believe - as I point out in all my books - that more than anything it has to do with your inner state of awareness; of consciousness of yourself and all that occurs around you and causes you to react at any given moment in order that you may remind yourself to live in such a way. And then repeating this as often as you can, all day long, and every single day of your life. Much also has to do with your intention to wish to live this enlightened life. If you truly intend it, you will truly practice it to the best of your ability every day.

Here are some favorite quotes about enlightenment that I have gathered over the years:

• However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do if you do not act on them? Buddha
• Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is enlightenment. Lao Tzu
• You may have expected that enlightenment would come Zap! instantaneous and permanent. This is unlikely. After the first "ah-ha" experience, it can be thought of as the thinning of a layer of clouds. Ram Dass
• To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one's family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one's own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him. Buddha

Image: Sunrise over Paraoro, Mo'orea, French Polynesia

Also see my new website: www.gabriellakortsch.com where you may read quotations or download excerpts from any of my books. 

Books by Dr. Gabriella Kortsch:
 
Rewiring the Soul

Click here to download the first chapter.

To see the Table of Contents click here

Reviews From the Back Cover:

"The masterwork of a profoundly gifted healer of the soul. Dazzling, challenging, wondrously useful." Peggy Rubin, Director, Center for Sacred Theatre, Ashland, Oregon; author: To Be and How To Be, Transforming Your Life Through Sacred Theatre

"Rewiring the Soul is one the best introductions to the spiritual life I've ever read. Not esoteric but real-world & practical. The implications are profound." Peter Shepherd; Founder Trans4mind.com; author: Daring To Be Yourself 

"The human being's directory to the soul. A breakthrough for those seeking practical assistance, those of a more mystical bent & every soul awaiting discovery." Toni Petrinovich, Ph.D.; author: The Call: Awakening the Angelic Human

The Tao of Spiritual Partnership

To download the first chapter, click here
To see the Table of Contents click here

Praise for The Tao of Spiritual Partnership

“All humans seek the illusive touch of another's Soul, which opens us to the sense of belonging to something bigger than the self. Dr. Kortsch has given us the true "tao" of relationship in this brilliant exploration of emotional tapestry. We will be grateful for this illumination of spiritual partnership for generations to come."
Chris Griscom: Spiritual Leader, Author (among others) of: Ecstasy is a New Frequency

“Eloquent and comprehensive, showing how your primary love relationship may be a sacred vessel that transports you and your partner to a place of mutual healing and expansion.” 
Robert Schwartz: Author of Your Soul’s Gift: The Healing Power of the Life You Planned Before You Were Born 


The Power of Your Heart: Loving the Self 

My new book: The Power of Your Heart: Loving the Self, is just out. Click here to download an excerpt. 

From the Introduction: It is your right to live a life of love. It is your right to understand that loving yourself first is not a selfish way of behavior, but one that allows you to live that life of love. However, it's highly probable that you never got the instruction manual explaining exactly how to accomplish this. Possibly your family - and it may have been a loving family - considered loving the self an act of selfishness. Or perhaps the members of your family simply didn't practice loving the self, and of course, what you didn't see - what was not shown to you - while you were growing up, meant that you just didn't learn how to apply it to yourself. The closer you are able to move towards loving yourself, the closer you will be to living a life of love - quite independently of whether you are in a love relationship or not. A life of love can be lived with or without a partnership, because a life of love implies that you know that it all begins with you by loving the self. The more clearly you understand how to love yourself, the more clearly you will see that it is very hard - if not impossible - to love others in ways that are unrelated to fulfilling any of your needs. Loving yourself first is - for so many of us - one of the hardest things we will ever learn how to do. But know this: the benefits affect you in every particle of your being - body, mind, and soul - and are greater than you will ever be able to imagine.

Note: If you are wondering why this blog is now only appearing on alternate days (excluding Sat/Sun), it is because I also post on my other blog on the others days. That other blog is Rewiring the Soul so named for my first book. Click here to visit the blog and/or to sign up for the feed.

Small Jobs Can Lead to the Divine

How do you run a mile if you've never done it before? You start small, with one or two minute increments of running, followed by walking, in order to catch your breath, and then you run another minute or two. Eventually, by having completed a series of 'small jobs' every day, you will be able to run a full mile without slowing down to walk.

How do you complete a 3,500 piece puzzle? By doing a bit every day. You've broken it down into 'small jobs'. How do you write a book? Build a raft? Design and plant a garden? Lose weight? Learn a language? In each case it makes sense that you break the big job into small jobs. It seems less overwhelming. It was Henry Ford who said nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs. Management gurus refer to it as 'chunking down'. And so you see that you can actually complete the large job in a timely fashion.

In our quest to grow spiritually, to grow towards, rather than away from our soul, to allow the ego less and less prominence in our daily lives, and to focus on our inner knowing, our inner voice, or the higher self, it is no different. So yesterday you read a book, or heard a seminar, or went to a group meeting, perhaps a satsang, perhaps just a meeting where ideas were exchanged, and you felt that it hit a chord in you; you knew it was speaking to you in a way that created excitement and a vibration of something so totally new, yet so totally familiar, that you want to go there, and go all the way. But then you see how you fall absolutely short. You step back in dismay. You realize how far you still are from the goal. You may never reach it.

Yet that is precisely where this idea of small jobs leading to the divine comes into the picture. Use all those little upsets, annoyances and challenges that enter your life every day in order to grow and learn. Recognize that in stepping up to them and using a more aware consciousness to choose to react responsibly and from a self-loving position, you are literally breaking the process of moving towards the inner divine into small, and much more manageable bits. Each day brings you a bit closer, and each day you grow. Some days may be dark and filled with pain, but on those you can take care of your thoughts and feelings in ways you would not have been able (or knowledgeable enough) to do so before. Spiritual growth is not about trumpeting your new insghts and beliefs to the world, but about living in a spiritual way in all the little things you must do and that happen to you as much as possible every day.

Finally, pay close attention to this brilliant Zen adage that has inspired my life since the 70's:

Before enlightenment

Chop wood, carry water

After enlightenment

Chop wood, carry water

Photo credit: Mizzy Pacheco

Also see my new website: www.gabriellakortsch.com where you may read quotations or download excerpts from any of my books.   

Books by Dr. Gabriella Kortsch:
 
Rewiring the Soul

Click here to download the first chapter.

To see the Table of Contents click here

Reviews From the Back Cover:

"The masterwork of a profoundly gifted healer of the soul. Dazzling, challenging, wondrously useful." Peggy Rubin, Director, Center for Sacred Theatre, Ashland, Oregon; author: To Be and How To Be, Transforming Your Life Through Sacred Theatre

"Rewiring the Soul is one the best introductions to the spiritual life I've ever read. Not esoteric but real-world & practical. The implications are profound." Peter Shepherd; Founder Trans4mind.com; author: Daring To Be Yourself 

"The human being's directory to the soul. A breakthrough for those seeking practical assistance, those of a more mystical bent & every soul awaiting discovery." Toni Petrinovich, Ph.D.; author: The Call: Awakening the Angelic Human

The Tao of Spiritual Partnership

To download the first chapter, click here
To see the Table of Contents click here

Praise for The Tao of Spiritual Partnership

“All humans seek the illusive touch of another's Soul, which opens us to the sense of belonging to something bigger than the self. Dr. Kortsch has given us the true "tao" of relationship in this brilliant exploration of emotional tapestry. We will be grateful for this illumination of spiritual partnership for generations to come."
Chris Griscom: Spiritual Leader, Author (among others) of: Ecstasy is a New Frequency

“Eloquent and comprehensive, showing how your primary love relationship may be a sacred vessel that transports you and your partner to a place of mutual healing and expansion.” 
Robert Schwartz: Author of Your Soul’s Gift: The Healing Power of the Life You Planned Before You Were Born 


The Power of Your Heart: Loving the Self 

My new book: The Power of Your Heart: Loving the Self, is just out. Click here to download an excerpt. 

From the Introduction: It is your right to live a life of love. It is your right to understand that loving yourself first is not a selfish way of behavior, but one that allows you to live that life of love. However, it's highly probable that you never got the instruction manual explaining exactly how to accomplish this. Possibly your family - and it may have been a loving family - considered loving the self an act of selfishness. Or perhaps the members of your family simply didn't practice loving the self, and of course, what you didn't see - what was not shown to you - while you were growing up, meant that you just didn't learn how to apply it to yourself. The closer you are able to move towards loving yourself, the closer you will be to living a life of love - quite independently of whether you are in a love relationship or not. A life of love can be lived with or without a partnership, because a life of love implies that you know that it all begins with you by loving the self. The more clearly you understand how to love yourself, the more clearly you will see that it is very hard - if not impossible - to love others in ways that are unrelated to fulfilling any of your needs. Loving yourself first is - for so many of us - one of the hardest things we will ever learn how to do. But know this: the benefits affect you in every particle of your being - body, mind, and soul - and are greater than you will ever be able to imagine.

Note: If you are wondering why this blog is now only appearing on alternate days (excluding Sat/Sun), it is because I also post on my other blog on the others days. That other blog is Rewiring the Soul so named for my first book. Click here to visit the blog and/or to sign up for the feed.

Loving Yourself First

This almost seems old hat. Overdone. Been there, done that.

The topic, I mean. Loving yourself first.

But it isn't.

You know why? Because so many people are still not doing it. Most of us have still not learned that old adage that if we don't love ourselves first, we can't really love anyone else.

Know why?

Because you'll be loving them for all the wrong reasons. Oh, you might believe that you love them, and in some fashion you do, but for all the wrong reasons.

Here are some of them:

• I'm so happy when I'm with him/her
• He/she makes me feel so good
• I need him/her so much! (in this instance, the person actually believes that needing someone is proof that they love them) Whew!
• I feel so secure when I'm with him/her
• I've never felt like this before ... only he/she can give me this feeling
• When we're not together, I feel so lost
• When we're not together, I feel like a part of me is missing
• When we're not together, I just don't really enjoy doing things

Are you beginning to get my drift? All of the above indicate someone who is in love due to something he/she is getting from the beloved. That is the reason they are in love. Obviously this is not a conscious - almost mercenary - process. It happens. We realize we feel better around the beloved. We begin to define why we feel better around that person. Hence statements such as the above. And then - presto - we believe we are in love.

All is not lost, however. In other words, if you are still with me, this doesn't mean you now should give up your relationship in order to find yourself and discover how to love yourself first.

But it does mean, that now you should begin to realize that these reasons that make you believe you are in love are in fact pointing to the bits of you that you have not yet filled for yourself. So you go looking to fulfill them through another.

By beginning to fill them yourself, you begin the process of self love and self respect and self esteem and self acknowledgement. This is not selfishness or egotistical behavior.

Doing this, waking up about yourself, will lead you to a place where - when you then love - you will love as you were never able to as long as you needed the other for the fulfillment of your own needs.

Also see my new website: www.gabriellakortsch.com where you may read quotations or download excerpts from any of my books.   

Books by Dr. Gabriella Kortsch:
 
Rewiring the Soul

Click here to download the first chapter.

To see the Table of Contents click here

Reviews From the Back Cover:

"The masterwork of a profoundly gifted healer of the soul. Dazzling, challenging, wondrously useful." Peggy Rubin, Director, Center for Sacred Theatre, Ashland, Oregon; author: To Be and How To Be, Transforming Your Life Through Sacred Theatre

"Rewiring the Soul is one the best introductions to the spiritual life I've ever read. Not esoteric but real-world & practical. The implications are profound." Peter Shepherd; Founder Trans4mind.com; author: Daring To Be Yourself 

"The human being's directory to the soul. A breakthrough for those seeking practical assistance, those of a more mystical bent & every soul awaiting discovery." Toni Petrinovich, Ph.D.; author: The Call: Awakening the Angelic Human

The Tao of Spiritual Partnership

To download the first chapter, click here
To see the Table of Contents click here

Praise for The Tao of Spiritual Partnership

“All humans seek the illusive touch of another's Soul, which opens us to the sense of belonging to something bigger than the self. Dr. Kortsch has given us the true "tao" of relationship in this brilliant exploration of emotional tapestry. We will be grateful for this illumination of spiritual partnership for generations to come."
Chris Griscom: Spiritual Leader, Author (among others) of: Ecstasy is a New Frequency

“Eloquent and comprehensive, showing how your primary love relationship may be a sacred vessel that transports you and your partner to a place of mutual healing and expansion.” 
Robert Schwartz: Author of Your Soul’s Gift: The Healing Power of the Life You Planned Before You Were Born 


The Power of Your Heart: Loving the Self 

My new book: The Power of Your Heart: Loving the Self, is just out. Click here to download an excerpt. 

From the Introduction: It is your right to live a life of love. It is your right to understand that loving yourself first is not a selfish way of behavior, but one that allows you to live that life of love. However, it's highly probable that you never got the instruction manual explaining exactly how to accomplish this. Possibly your family - and it may have been a loving family - considered loving the self an act of selfishness. Or perhaps the members of your family simply didn't practice loving the self, and of course, what you didn't see - what was not shown to you - while you were growing up, meant that you just didn't learn how to apply it to yourself. The closer you are able to move towards loving yourself, the closer you will be to living a life of love - quite independently of whether you are in a love relationship or not. A life of love can be lived with or without a partnership, because a life of love implies that you know that it all begins with you by loving the self. The more clearly you understand how to love yourself, the more clearly you will see that it is very hard - if not impossible - to love others in ways that are unrelated to fulfilling any of your needs. Loving yourself first is - for so many of us - one of the hardest things we will ever learn how to do. But know this: the benefits affect you in every particle of your being - body, mind, and soul - and are greater than you will ever be able to imagine.

Note: If you are wondering why this blog is now only appearing on alternate days (excluding Sat/Sun), it is because I also post on my other blog on the others days. That other blog is Rewiring the Soul so named for my first book. Click here to visit the blog and/or to sign up for the feed.

Changing Your Energy Level

If you are feeling bad in any way it's time to change your energy level. Your inner energetic frequency is not the amount of energy you have to run a marathon, but how your psychological, emotional, and spiritual energy is at any given moment throughout the course of your day. How you feel is something you can choose to change. Not because you pretend that whatever you are feeling bad about does not exist, but because:

• you choose to admit that whatever it is that is causing the low feeling is something you are not able to resolve just now, but what you can do, is to take the focus away from that problem, in order to not give it even more energy by keeping your attention there, and instead, to focus elsewhere (for example, on the sky, a tree, a drop of rain, a bird), in order to shift your inner energy, even if it's just a little bit
• you choose to look at it differently
• you choose to focus elsewhere
• you choose to think about it in another way
• you choose to remain aware and conscious at all times (aware of yourself in all ways: what you feel, think, say, and do, and how you react to everything)
• you choose to move beyond your current comfort zone
• you choose not to remain at the energetic level at which you currently find yourself
• you choose to move your energy higher
• you choose to recognize that frequently how you feel derives from not having made the choice to forgive someone
• you choose to take responsibility for how you feel at all times
• you choose to be grateful at any given moment
• you choose to move into the now

Feeling bad is a choice ... and you can choose to feel differently.

Also see my new website: www.gabriellakortsch.com where you may read quotations or download excerpts from any of my books.   

Books by Dr. Gabriella Kortsch:
 
Rewiring the Soul

Click here to download the first chapter.

To see the Table of Contents click here

Reviews From the Back Cover:

"The masterwork of a profoundly gifted healer of the soul. Dazzling, challenging, wondrously useful." Peggy Rubin, Director, Center for Sacred Theatre, Ashland, Oregon; author: To Be and How To Be, Transforming Your Life Through Sacred Theatre

"Rewiring the Soul is one the best introductions to the spiritual life I've ever read. Not esoteric but real-world & practical. The implications are profound." Peter Shepherd; Founder Trans4mind.com; author: Daring To Be Yourself 

"The human being's directory to the soul. A breakthrough for those seeking practical assistance, those of a more mystical bent & every soul awaiting discovery." Toni Petrinovich, Ph.D.; author: The Call: Awakening the Angelic Human

The Tao of Spiritual Partnership

To download the first chapter, click here
To see the Table of Contents click here

Praise for The Tao of Spiritual Partnership

“All humans seek the illusive touch of another's Soul, which opens us to the sense of belonging to something bigger than the self. Dr. Kortsch has given us the true "tao" of relationship in this brilliant exploration of emotional tapestry. We will be grateful for this illumination of spiritual partnership for generations to come."
Chris Griscom: Spiritual Leader, Author (among others) of: Ecstasy is a New Frequency

“Eloquent and comprehensive, showing how your primary love relationship may be a sacred vessel that transports you and your partner to a place of mutual healing and expansion.” 
Robert Schwartz: Author of Your Soul’s Gift: The Healing Power of the Life You Planned Before You Were Born 


The Power of Your Heart: Loving the Self 

My new book: The Power of Your Heart: Loving the Self, is just out. Click here to download an excerpt. 
Here is a paragraph from the Introduction:

It is your right to live a life of love. It is your right to understand that loving yourself first is not a selfish way of behavior, but one that allows you to live that life of love. However, it's highly probable that you never got the instruction manual explaining exactly how to accomplish this. Possibly your family - and it may have been a loving family - considered loving the self an act of selfishness. Or perhaps the members of your family simply didn't practice loving the self, and of course, what you didn't see - what was not shown to you - while you were growing up, meant that you just didn't learn how to apply it to yourself. The closer you are able to move towards loving yourself, the closer you will be to living a life of love - quite independently of whether you are in a love relationship or not. A life of love can be lived with or without a partnership, because a life of love implies that you know that it all begins with you by loving the self. The more clearly you understand how to love yourself, the more clearly you will see that it is very hard - if not impossible - to love others in ways that are unrelated to fulfilling any of your needs. Loving yourself first is - for so many of us - one of the hardest things we will ever learn how to do. But know this: the benefits affect you in every particle of your being - body, mind, and soul - and are greater than you will ever be able to imagine.

Note: If you are wondering why this blog is now only appearing on alternate days (excluding Sat/Sun), it is because I also post on my other blog on the others days. That other blog is Rewiring the Soul so named for my first book. Click here to visit the blog and/or to sign up for the feed.

Being Responsible For the Joy in Your Life

We know we are meant to be responsible about all those things that a decent sense of morality and a firm Puritan work ethic would demand of us. We work, we pay our bills on time, we are considerate, compassionate, and loving with the people in our lives, and - ideally - even those we just cross paths with.

But what about being responsible for the joy in our lives?

How so, you ask. How can I be responsible for the joy in my life if my partner or spouse / parent / child / colleague / boss / friend, etc. does what they do and makes my life difficult / miserable / impossible / painful / exasperating, etc.?

Simple.

By deciding that you will be in charge of the joy in your life. By deciding at each moment - no matter what it contains - that you will seek joy, or at least, that you will seek the road that allows you to remain in a state of equanimity, which will - eventually - return you to joy. If you furthermore receive joyful moments thanks to some of those others who populate your life, wonderful! But if you don't, and if you decide to be in charge of the joy in your life, you will have joy whether you receive it from others or not.

Also see my new website: www.gabriellakortsch.com where you may read quotations or download excerpts from any of my books.   

Books by Dr. Gabriella Kortsch:
 
Rewiring the Soul

Click here to download the first chapter.

To see the Table of Contents click here

Reviews From the Back Cover:

"The masterwork of a profoundly gifted healer of the soul. Dazzling, challenging, wondrously useful." Peggy Rubin, Director, Center for Sacred Theatre, Ashland, Oregon; author: To Be and How To Be, Transforming Your Life Through Sacred Theatre

"Rewiring the Soul is one the best introductions to the spiritual life I've ever read. Not esoteric but real-world & practical. The implications are profound." Peter Shepherd; Founder Trans4mind.com; author: Daring To Be Yourself 

"The human being's directory to the soul. A breakthrough for those seeking practical assistance, those of a more mystical bent & every soul awaiting discovery." Toni Petrinovich, Ph.D.; author: The Call: Awakening the Angelic Human

The Tao of Spiritual Partnership

To download the first chapter, click here
To see the Table of Contents click here

Praise for The Tao of Spiritual Partnership

“All humans seek the illusive touch of another's Soul, which opens us to the sense of belonging to something bigger than the self. Dr. Kortsch has given us the true "tao" of relationship in this brilliant exploration of emotional tapestry. We will be grateful for this illumination of spiritual partnership for generations to come."
Chris Griscom: Spiritual Leader, Author (among others) of: Ecstasy is a New Frequency

“Eloquent and comprehensive, showing how your primary love relationship may be a sacred vessel that transports you and your partner to a place of mutual healing and expansion.” 
Robert Schwartz: Author of Your Soul’s Gift: The Healing Power of the Life You Planned Before You Were Born 


The Power of Your Heart: Loving the Self 

My new book: The Power of Your Heart: Loving the Self, is just out. Click here to download an excerpt. 
Here is a paragraph from the Introduction:

It is your right to live a life of love. It is your right to understand that loving yourself first is not a selfish way of behavior, but one that allows you to live that life of love. However, it's highly probable that you never got the instruction manual explaining exactly how to accomplish this. Possibly your family - and it may have been a loving family - considered loving the self an act of selfishness. Or perhaps the members of your family simply didn't practice loving the self, and of course, what you didn't see - what was not shown to you - while you were growing up, meant that you just didn't learn how to apply it to yourself. The closer you are able to move towards loving yourself, the closer you will be to living a life of love - quite independently of whether you are in a love relationship or not. A life of love can be lived with or without a partnership, because a life of love implies that you know that it all begins with you by loving the self. The more clearly you understand how to love yourself, the more clearly you will see that it is very hard - if not impossible - to love others in ways that are unrelated to fulfilling any of your needs. Loving yourself first is - for so many of us - one of the hardest things we will ever learn how to do. But know this: the benefits affect you in every particle of your being - body, mind, and soul - and are greater than you will ever be able to imagine.

Note: If you are wondering why this blog is now only appearing on alternate days (excluding Sat/Sun), it is because I also post on my other blog on the others days. That other blog is Rewiring the Soul so named for my first book. Click here to visit the blog and/or to sign up for the feed.

The Key to Your Universe

How do you know whether your day I going well? Silly question, you say with derision. It's obvious, isn't it? A day goes well when it has few hitches. It goes well when there are no arguments, when I don't get upset, when no one sticks their face in my face, and when I don't have to worry about making difficult decisions. My day goes well when the sun shines in all senses of the word. 

Ok. I agree. Those days are good indeed. No issues with that at all.

But ... what happens when your day is not like that in the least? The sun failed to shine, people are confronting you with situations too difficult to contemplate, challenges and obstacles have arisen, and you simply can't remember a worse day.

This is where you are the one who gets to choose how well your day goes. It's not a question of miraculously making problems issues disappear, but of choosing to react in new ways despite those circumstances. It was Frederick Frieseke who said: The key to your universe is that you can choose. Countless other wise women and men have said similar things. Perhaps we should take note.

So of course that means that when the going gets rough - if you are aware, and if you recognize there is always a choice, and if you have decided to taken full responsibility for all you think, feel, say and do including how you react in the face of any kind of circumstances at all - you will choose to think, feel, and react about this circumstance in a way that is 'inner peace-producing'; that creates inner calm; that allow you to remain (or relatively quickly return to) a place of inner harmony and tranquility. Such a choice is not only self-responsible, but consequently a self-loving choice; i.e., a choice where you give yourself the subliminal message that you love yourself enough to do this for yourself - and by 'do this' I mean return to an inner state of calm, peace, tranquility, and harmony. Furthermore, such an inner environment promotes a far more positive potential for encountering solutions, than when you angrily or dejectedly tell yourself that once again you are living through awful day.

To reiterate, in order for this to work, you need to be aware, and in order for you to get there, you'll need to develop some awareness muscles (see Remembering to Remember), you'll need to agree that choice is always possible and you'll have decided to take on responsibility for yourself in all ways (see Making Choices: Taking Responsibility for Our Lives), and finally, you'll learn how to manage your self-talk, your inner dialogue, when necessary (see Who Pushes Your Buttons?), in order to implement all of the above.

This is not a very hard thing to do. It requires a bit of discipline in order to make it a practice, it also requires a desire or intention to make it so, and it requires choice. Choosing to do this will change your life. Literally.

Image: Expansive view from the hills above Tarifa, Spain, across the Spanish coastline, including the tip of the town of Tarifa, over the Straits of Gibraltar to the African continent and the Rif Mountains, only 14 km away. Photographer: Gabriella Kortsch

Also see my new website: www.gabriellakortsch.com where you may read quotations or download excerpts from any of my books.   

Books by Dr. Gabriella Kortsch:
 
Rewiring the Soul

Click here to download the first chapter.

To see the Table of Contents click here

Reviews From the Back Cover:

"The masterwork of a profoundly gifted healer of the soul. Dazzling, challenging, wondrously useful." Peggy Rubin, Director, Center for Sacred Theatre, Ashland, Oregon; author: To Be and How To Be, Transforming Your Life Through Sacred Theatre

"Rewiring the Soul is one the best introductions to the spiritual life I've ever read. Not esoteric but real-world & practical. The implications are profound." Peter Shepherd; Founder Trans4mind.com; author: Daring To Be Yourself 

"The human being's directory to the soul. A breakthrough for those seeking practical assistance, those of a more mystical bent & every soul awaiting discovery." Toni Petrinovich, Ph.D.; author: The Call: Awakening the Angelic Human

The Tao of Spiritual Partnership

To download the first chapter, click here
To see the Table of Contents click here

Praise for The Tao of Spiritual Partnership

“All humans seek the illusive touch of another's Soul, which opens us to the sense of belonging to something bigger than the self. Dr. Kortsch has given us the true "tao" of relationship in this brilliant exploration of emotional tapestry. We will be grateful for this illumination of spiritual partnership for generations to come."
Chris Griscom: Spiritual Leader, Author (among others) of: Ecstasy is a New Frequency

“Eloquent and comprehensive, showing how your primary love relationship may be a sacred vessel that transports you and your partner to a place of mutual healing and expansion.” 
Robert Schwartz: Author of Your Soul’s Gift: The Healing Power of the Life You Planned Before You Were Born 


The Power of Your Heart: Loving the Self 

My new book: The Power of Your Heart: Loving the Self, is just out. Click here to download an excerpt. 
Here is a paragraph from the Introduction:

It is your right to live a life of love. It is your right to understand that loving yourself first is not a selfish way of behavior, but one that allows you to live that life of love. However, it's highly probable that you never got the instruction manual explaining exactly how to accomplish this. Possibly your family - and it may have been a loving family - considered loving the self an act of selfishness. Or perhaps the members of your family simply didn't practice loving the self, and of course, what you didn't see - what was not shown to you - while you were growing up, meant that you just didn't learn how to apply it to yourself. The closer you are able to move towards loving yourself, the closer you will be to living a life of love - quite independently of whether you are in a love relationship or not. A life of love can be lived with or without a partnership, because a life of love implies that you know that it all begins with you by loving the self. The more clearly you understand how to love yourself, the more clearly you will see that it is very hard - if not impossible - to love others in ways that are unrelated to fulfilling any of your needs. Loving yourself first is - for so many of us - one of the hardest things we will ever learn how to do. But know this: the benefits affect you in every particle of your being - body, mind, and soul - and are greater than you will ever be able to imagine.

Note: If you are wondering why this blog is now only appearing on alternate days (excluding Sat/Sun), it is because I also post on my other blog on the others days. That other blog is Rewiring the Soul so named for my first book. Click here to visit the blog and/or to sign up for the feed.

Two Streams of Existence

Living here in Spain, there are many foreign magazines that are out of reach, they are not available on newstands, and they may not be available online, and even when you subscribe, they frequently do not arrive due to lackadaisical postal service. Hence, when someone lends me something - as recently happened with an older issue of Oprah's magazine - I thoroughly enjoy the foray into them.

In that issue Oprah interviewed Eckhart Tolle, and a few phrases he said caught my attention:

"Sometimes people ask me if things are getting better or worse, and my answer is, at the moment, both: things are getting better and worse. There are two streams in existence now: One stream is the old, unenlightened, egoic consciousness, which is still continuing. You see it when you watch the news. The other stream is us sitting here now, talking. I'm not saying we're special, but the fact that we're addressing this and that many, many people are reading it and it's meaningful to them means there is another stream here, which is the stram of humanity awakening. Both are present at this time."

I believe this is important because many people insist that the world is not conscious; they insist this is so due to global political turmoil, graft, rampant crime, and so on. They are right insofar as those events continuing to happen, but Tolle is also right insofar that there are many people interested in the type of topic he addresses.

What will happen when the awakened mass overtakes the other one in numbers?

Later in the interview Oprah asks him this: "Do you think it will ever be possible to live peacefully in the now, or is that too much of a lofty goal?"

Tolle answers (isn't this beautiful?): "Rather than asking if you can ever be free, because "ever" is a huge amount of future time, ask if you can be free at this moment. The only place where you can or need to be free is this moment. Not the rest of your life. Just now."

Image: Two rivers: Rhone and Arve in Geneva, Switzerland

Also see my new website: www.gabriellakortsch.com where you may read quotations or download excerpts from any of my books.   

Books by Dr. Gabriella Kortsch:
 
Rewiring the Soul

Click here to download the first chapter.

To see the Table of Contents click here

Reviews From the Back Cover:

"The masterwork of a profoundly gifted healer of the soul. Dazzling, challenging, wondrously useful." Peggy Rubin, Director, Center for Sacred Theatre, Ashland, Oregon; author: To Be and How To Be, Transforming Your Life Through Sacred Theatre

"Rewiring the Soul is one the best introductions to the spiritual life I've ever read. Not esoteric but real-world & practical. The implications are profound." Peter Shepherd; Founder Trans4mind.com; author: Daring To Be Yourself 

"The human being's directory to the soul. A breakthrough for those seeking practical assistance, those of a more mystical bent & every soul awaiting discovery." Toni Petrinovich, Ph.D.; author: The Call: Awakening the Angelic Human

The Tao of Spiritual Partnership

To download the first chapter, click here
To see the Table of Contents click here

Praise for The Tao of Spiritual Partnership

“All humans seek the illusive touch of another's Soul, which opens us to the sense of belonging to something bigger than the self. Dr. Kortsch has given us the true "tao" of relationship in this brilliant exploration of emotional tapestry. We will be grateful for this illumination of spiritual partnership for generations to come."
Chris Griscom: Spiritual Leader, Author (among others) of: Ecstasy is a New Frequency

“Eloquent and comprehensive, showing how your primary love relationship may be a sacred vessel that transports you and your partner to a place of mutual healing and expansion.” 
Robert Schwartz: Author of Your Soul’s Gift: The Healing Power of the Life You Planned Before You Were Born 


The Power of Your Heart: Loving the Self 

My new book: The Power of Your Heart: Loving the Self, is just out. Click here to download an excerpt. 
Here is a paragraph from the Introduction:

It is your right to live a life of love. It is your right to understand that loving yourself first is not a selfish way of behavior, but one that allows you to live that life of love. However, it's highly probable that you never got the instruction manual explaining exactly how to accomplish this. Possibly your family - and it may have been a loving family - considered loving the self an act of selfishness. Or perhaps the members of your family simply didn't practice loving the self, and of course, what you didn't see - what was not shown to you - while you were growing up, meant that you just didn't learn how to apply it to yourself. The closer you are able to move towards loving yourself, the closer you will be to living a life of love - quite independently of whether you are in a love relationship or not. A life of love can be lived with or without a partnership, because a life of love implies that you know that it all begins with you by loving the self. The more clearly you understand how to love yourself, the more clearly you will see that it is very hard - if not impossible - to love others in ways that are unrelated to fulfilling any of your needs. Loving yourself first is - for so many of us - one of the hardest things we will ever learn how to do. But know this: the benefits affect you in every particle of your being - body, mind, and soul - and are greater than you will ever be able to imagine.

Note: If you are wondering why this blog is now only appearing on alternate days (excluding Sat/Sun), it is because I also post on my other blog on the others days. That other blog is Rewiring the Soul so named for my first book. Click here to visit the blog and/or to sign up for the feed.