My principles of being

These principles of being are my reminder to myself of who and what I am, how I think, feel and act, and how I’m committed to show up for myself and the people in my life.

Inner peace, love and joy are my state of being. I know my nature to be the still, open, loving awareness that’s always already there.

I create my full experience of life from the inside-out, by the thoughts I’m believing. I welcome all of them, with patience, understanding and wonder. If they stress me, I inquire into them. I notice that for every thought that says 0, I can find another that says 1. I listen to my heart to know the truth. 

I open my heart to all of my feelings, especially those that hurt and scare me. I feel my fears, I feel my shame, I feel my sadness, and helplessness, and I let them move through me.

Everything in the world is working for me. There are no problems in reality, only in my thinking. 

Safety is a state of being. It’s a state of open-heartedness and open-mindedness that connects me with the presence that’s always here. I’m always safe but for what I’m thinking and believing. When my heart is open and my mind is clear, there’s nothing I can’t be with. Nothing to defend, judge, avoid or deflect. Life flows, and I allow it. If I contract, I remember I’m locked into a thought and I inquire into it. 

I’m grateful to my inner critic. I’m grateful for all the turmoil and anxiety it has caused me. It protected me in the best way it could. I owe my life to it. And I know now how to keep it safe, love it and assure it that I’m in charge. 

I allow myself to be who I am. I don’t fix myself. I accept myself. 

I come from vulnerability, authenticity and honesty. I speak my truth, even when it scares me. I honour my right to be different, to follow my way and to stay true to myself. 

I live with an open heart, from a place of wonder, compassion and gratitude. 

I am here to learn unconditional love, starting with myself. I know that’s not an act the mind is capable of–it’s the heart’s domain. 

I am here to discover and live my truth. I stay in the question. I let it ponder me. All knowledge and identification imprison me. I cultivate a wonder-mind and I open to the expanse and beauty of what’s prior to cognition.

I’m connected to my inner knowing and the infinite intelligence of life. Be still and trust that. 

I create what I see. I create how I react to it. I create how I be, think and feel about it. No one and nothing outside of me influences the way I feel.  

I have no complaints. 

I see the opportunity in anything that hurts or scares me. 

I’m happy with or without people. 

Defence is the first act of war. I welcome criticism with curiosity and compassion, including from my ego. Anything I feel compelled to protect is a prison I keep myself in. 

Anything I don’t love in you is a child that’s crying within myself. No one is worthy of my judgement. Everyone is worthy of my love. 

I stay in my own mind.  I don’t presume to know how others feel or think. If I want to know, I ask. 

I come from love, not from looking for it. I give myself the safety and acceptance I’m looking for. I don’t put demands on others to approve of me or validate me. I respect their right to approve, accept and love what they do.

I honour my reality, I honour yours, and I honour that they don’t always overlap.

I listen from presence, with an open heart and an open mind. When you speak to me, I stay in your world. 

No one owes me anything. 

I’m grateful for all the kindness and generosity I have received. I am grateful for all of life, for the power of creation, for the opportunity to take part. I behold it with awe and let it move me. 

I am here to serve. I do what needs to be done and I create from joy and love. 

I’m a student of life and I practice all the time. 

Chop wood, carry water.

I can’t wait to feel anxious, unmoored or afraid. I can’t wait to feel rejected, abandoned or dismissed. I can’t wait to feel hurt or scared, or unseen and unheard. I can’t wait to feel alone, less than, unimportant, misunderstood, attacked, irrelevant or insignificant. 

I can’t wait to feel like a failure and a complete waste of space. 

I can’t wait to feel overwhelmed by love, joy and gratitude. I can’t wait to feel swept by an utter loss of control. By the falling into the abyss. I can’t wait to feel the dissolution and annihilation of all I think myself to be. I can’t wait to feel all the nothing that I am and all the love on the other side of that.