Tag Archives: authentic expression

What Is Your Big “YES?”

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We cannot overestimate the power of our “YES.” As life constantly presses out against us from within, ever wanting to express in some greater way, our most powerful response to that divine impulse is “YES.”

In their book, Thoughts Are Things, Ernest Holmes and Willis Kinnear write, “One of the greatest vitality tonics is a mental attitude that is interested and enthused about doing something that is productive and allows an opportunity for self-expression.”

Some years ago when I was in ministerial school, in a quiet moment of meditation, the words “on Sundays I speak” came forth in my mind. It was a clear exhortation regarding me engaging in public speaking. It was such a clear statement, although it startled me a bit because, at the time, I had done very few speaking engagements and had none scheduled on my calendar.

It was so clear, however, and it awaited my response. I said, “YES.” Soon after I said “YES,” I began to align my actions and way of being with this new reality that was wanting expression. I started conceiving a marketing and promotion plan. I kept my ear open for places that were wanting speakers and placed phone calls indicating my availability. Within a short period of time, I was speaking nearly every Sunday.

An important part of what occurred here is that rather than ignore what seemed to be a strange impulse moving in me at the time, I paid attention to the clear exhortation and said, “YES.” And that’s all the Universe needed to bring this forth into manifestation – me as a willing vehicle.

Holmes and Kinnear state further in their book, “There is always the greater possibility available to you. There is a Divine Strength and an infinite Wisdom at the center of your being, ever waiting to be released, that will enable you to put more into life and living and to take more out of it. A limitless Creativity exists and expresses through all that is. It is always seeking a fuller channel of expression through you. Recognize that It exists, and accept its action in your life.”

The invitation this week is to consider, what is your big “YES?” What is it that Life is wanting to express in some greater way through and as you? Are you ready to say “YES?” In saying “YES,” what are you called to release and let go? And what quality or qualities are you called to embody and express more fully to align yourself with this YES? What actions align you with the YES?

Your answers to these questions hold the key to ushering in this new reality that awaits you. During some quite time, I invite you to write your answers to the questions here in your journal or on a notepad. Then align your actions and way of being with your responses. The result is certain to be something new and exciting.

I’d love to hear about your YES and what unfolds for you on our Somseva Facebook group page.

Enjoy the journey.

Gregory Toole offers spiritual coaching to individuals and groups who want to create and live extraordinary lives. For more information, go to gregorytoole.com.

Beyond the Noise

winnie and fuzzy under table
In a perfect synchronicity, this was the view under my chair as I wrote this blog.

 

Beyond the noise of political campaigns and other news headlines, and all the thoughts that vie for our attention, there is some essence of us that is pure and innocent, that urges us to be present, to remember that our nature is love.

Within each of us is an idealist who still believes all things are possible, who wants everyone to get along, and who believes we can find a way to create peace and fulfillment for all.

Yes, on the surface, our skeptical minds take us into doubt and fear, but deeper within us is an encouraging voice that says “even now, all is well.”

In yoga classes, the teachers will often invite us to soften our gaze, to loosen our jaws, and to relax our faces. To me, this is the physical representation of coming back to center, of coming back to the innocence and purity that is our nature. It is taking off the armor that we have adorned to face a world where we sometimes feel we need protection.

Sometimes it’s hard to see the purity and innocence of those with a different point of view than ours. An important lesson in this regard was brought home to me so clearly many years ago when I came to know a different side to a woman with whom I had previously served on a non-profit board. We had been each other’s nemesis. In my mind, I thought “this is one of the toughest people I’ve ever met.” She would meet me head-on and we would butt heads on most any issue.

Several years after we had both left the board, I ran into her at the party of a mutual friend. We began to dialogue and ask what it was that made us each bristle so much in our encounters with each other. Very quickly we discovered that we had each assumed completely false ideas about the other. My assumption that she was one of the toughest people I had ever met was laid to rest quickly when she told me she went home and cried after every board meeting.

So much of what is going on in our world today is calling us to meet each other heart to heart, to see beyond the masks and armors we each wear.

First, we might need to remember to remove our own barriers, to soften our gaze, loosen our jaws, and to relax our faces. If the toughest-appearing people we meet are really feeling more like scared children, perhaps ours is to offer love and acceptance, to bring our hearts to all situations.

Ironically (and in a divinely perfect way), the woman I thought was my nemesis was one of two people who ultimately introduced me to the Science of Mind philosophy, which directly led me on the path to becoming ordained as a minister in this teaching and to the calling I am fulfilling today.

When we take off our armor and allow ourselves to be vulnerable, we can admit that we really just want love. And when we join with others who do the same, we can see that they too are like us.

Beyond the noise, there is that beautiful essence of each one of us that just wants to make a difference with our friends, our families, and in our world.

The invitation today is to remember that others are just like us at their core, and to see if we can extend our hearts with love to embrace everyone we meet.

Enjoy the journey.

Single Focus: Fulfilling Your Divine Destiny

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by Gregory Toole

In his book, The Infinite Way, Joel Goldsmith wrote, “All of the good necessary to our welfare will be supplied to us in greater abundance than we can accept when we give up the effort and desire to get, achieve, or accomplish, and come more into the consciousness of desiring only to fulfill our destiny on earth.”

If we really are surrendered to our soul’s calling, that which we are here to be and do, is there anything else to be concerned with? This singular focus not only simplifies things, it also gives us assurance because our divine destiny is sure to be fulfilled when we surrender to it. And everything else is sure to fall short in some way when it comes to the deepest levels of fulfillment.

One might ask what divine destiny means for free will, of which we have a lot. Our soul’s agreement for being on the planet at this time has elements that we recognize as we resonate with specific activities and directions for our lives. We have choice as to how much we align with our soul’s calling, but ultimately it will keep nudging at us because it is our calling at the most deep level of who we are. And this is how we recognize it, because we see that it is something we must do for deeper fulfillment, and not something we conjured to gain recognition or material expansion.

Aligning with our divine destiny, or purpose, frees up a great deal of energy. It alleviates a lot of worry and anxiety as we begin to see that we are fully supported by life in fulfilling our divine destiny.

It brings us into full surrender, into the consciousness of “not my will, but thine, be done.” We are no longer concerned with personal achievement or accomplishment, but only with living our divine calling. “Thine,” here refers to the will of our higher nature, not a God separate from us.

A particular project or assignment may seem not to work out the way we expected, but then we remember that I am not here for that project to work out a certain way. I am here to fulfill my divine destiny, which I am absolutely doing. We are only here to serve, and if our role is to play the fool in a particular situation, then we play it well and with all of our heart. And if in another situation our role is to be the hero, we also play that role passionately, and with complete acceptance.

Often those things that we struggle with are not in alignment with our divine destiny, so we are going against the grain, like paddling upstream instead of going with the flow of the river. We can certainly choose to do that, but often in doing so we are ignoring what aligns us with our authentic expression in this lifetime.

When we align with our divine destiny, we let go of struggle. We allow ourselves to be used by life to bring about good in our world. We have less of a personal agenda and more of a soul or divine agenda. We are not trying to serve the purposes of the ego, but rather the higher purpose of our divine calling. We are serving the purpose that we are designed for, so it’s natural and harmonious. We are not struggling against life, but flowing with it.

Ironically, as Goldsmith notes in the quote I opened with, even though we are not acting out of a desire for personal gain, because we are aligned with life and our highest nature, we are ultimately prospered greatly when we are singularly focused on fulfilling our divine destiny.

May you align with your divine destiny this day and find great fulfillment.

Enjoy the journey.

Living with Nothing to Prove

A landscape of yellow field and blue sky

by Gregory Toole

Louise Hay said in her book, You Can Heal Your Life, “The innermost belief for everyone I have worked with is always ‘I’m not good enough.’” Given the large number of people she has worked with, it could benefit us all to pay attention to how that core hidden belief might be operating in us.

If most of us have accepted on some deeper unconscious level that we’re not good enough, then on some level everyone’s trying to prove that they ARE good enough. If we look out into our world we can see that going on everywhere. Oh, and of course, if we look honestly at ourselves we can see it too. In so many spheres, it shows up as a fervent desire to prove oneself right and others wrong, leading to wars and dysfunctional political systems, as well as less than satisfying personal relationships.

Until we become conscious of this hidden belief that is part of the collective human unconsciousness, then we are caught in the trap of constantly trying to prove ourselves. What would life be like if you had nothing to prove, if you fully accepted who you are, how much you do, and what you have?

Before you say, “No, I don’t have a belief that I’m not good enough,” ask yourself whether you find yourself not having enough time, money, or love, or just can’t seem to do enough? These outward experiences of ‘not enough’ are manifestations of the inner belief of not being enough.

For me personally, whenever I am off kilter, I can almost always trace it back to slipping into a feeling of not being enough. The good news is, by reminding myself that I am enough, I am powerfully transported back to centeredness and peace.

When we are driven by the need to prove that we are enough it colors how we show up in the world. In this state, we are unable to be authentically who we are because ‘who we are’ is not enough. So we must layer on top of who we are all the things that we feel will make us enough.

If so many are experiencing a sense of not being good enough, and living to some extent from that place, then we are rarely meeting and experiencing each other authentically. We are experiencing ourselves and each other as the projections of ourselves with all the things layered on top that we feel make us worthy and acceptable.

It’s not true that we’re not good enough. We are the divine in expression. How could we be anything but perfect as we are?

When we live from the sense of being good enough as we are, authentic, real, and vulnerable, then we have the true possibility of experiencing a sense of ‘enough’ in our outer experiences – enough time, money, and friends. More importantly, we experience the time, money, and friends we have with greater fulfillment, joy, and peace, rather than anxiously feeling there’s something more we need to have or should be doing.

In looking more deeply into ourselves to see where we might be trying to prove ourselves, the opportunity is to free ourselves from this unconscious limitation, and to affirm to ourselves, “I am enough. I do enough. I have enough.” Remembering that truth can also remind us to put our attention on the place within us, at our center, where we experience the peace that passes human understanding, the joy and love of just being.

We deserve this – to know we are good, worthy, deserving of happiness, and that we have nothing to prove.

Enjoy the journey.

Is It Time to Make a Change?

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by Gregory Toole

Making a major change in life is not something to be taken lightly. It is wisely done with great care, vision and forethought. At some point, the moment arrives when we are called to make a leap, a stretch into the unknown, or the lesser known.

It is this time that requires us to summon our courage, to move out of any inertia that might keep us stuck in what is comfortable. It is easy for us to rationalize staying where we are, sticking it out, or finding a way for minor modifications to make our existing circumstances more palatable or enjoyable. These rational choices may be perfect for us, unless we are ignoring or avoiding a greater calling into newness, perhaps from fear because the change represents a significant departure from where we’ve been.

Sometimes there is something that just won’t let us go. We may have tried to let it go, forget about it, or ignore it, and yet somehow it keeps coming back into our minds and hearts. It is a pull from somewhere deeper within us that wants us to go for more, that urges us to be larger, to not settle. It is the thing that we simply must do if we are to be at peace with ourselves, if we are to feel fulfilled in our authentic purpose.

Years ago when I was completing a master’s degree, the former presidential candidate, Ross Perot, came to speak at our school. This was prior to him running for president. Back then he was mainly known as a successful businessperson. It surprised me, being that he was a billionaire, that he told us to do the thing that we absolutely must do, the thing we can’t not do. That really moved me and I never forgot it.

While there are no easy answers to what is the right timing to make a major change, here are five questions to ask yourself that might help you decide:

  1. Is there a goal or vision that keeps coming up no matter how hard you’ve tried to ignore it?
  2. Have you postponed something for so long that continuing to postpone it is having an adverse effect on your energy and your sense of well-being?
  3. Are you at a point where your energy is not being directed into what feels authentic to you?
  4. Do you feel that you’ve played it safe for an extended period of time?
  5. Do you get excited, feel expanded or energized when you think about making the change?

Your yeses to these questions may indicate that it’s time to make that change. Only you know. Follow your divine wisdom, the wisdom of your heart. When the clear “yes” comes, go for it!

Enjoy the journey!

For more of my content, please visit gregorytoole.com and enter your name and email on the homepage. All the best!

The World is Ready for All of You

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by Gregory Toole

I gave a talk this past Sunday in Oakland, California that was about the power and freedom of fully being who we are. Often we are so busy trying to conform, fit in, or not stand out too much that we forget the gift of our uniqueness.

We know intuitively that we are each a completely unique manifestation of Spirit, and yet sometimes we still find ourselves comparing what we do or who we are to what we see in others.

When I traveled to Ukraine in 2009 to be a keynote speaker at a spiritual conference, despite the fact that I had literally given several hundred similar talks in the past, I found myself wondering if I needed to somehow be different, or more, in Ukraine. I began to ask myself whether my style of delivering a talk would go over well in another culture. I finally remembered that all I have is me, who I am. So I decided to just go for it and be myself.

I had fretted so much over whether I would be acceptable that I forgot there would be an interpreter, since most people at the conference only spoke Russian. I got two sentences into my talk and I was stopped by the interpreter so that she could speak my words into Russian. It was a funny moment and I let go of all my angst. Then I told a joke and there was complete silence…until 30 seconds later when everyone broke into laughter. Ah yes, even the joke had to be interpreted into Russian first.

Even though my words needed to be translated into Russian, who I am needed no translation. Much to my delight, the crowd loved me. It was a reminder to me that who we are is the gift. When we don’t give all of who we are, we are literally cheating the universe, our fellow beings, and most importantly, ourselves.

Here are three affirmations I shared in my talk on Sunday:
The world is ready for all of me.
The world needs all of me.
The world’s going to get all of me.

And so it is.

Namaste,
Gregory

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