What if you were told that you already have all that you need to be happy right now? What if what you are seeking outside yourself is within your reach right now? During a recent period of health and emotional crisis, my healing time was about remembering this.

Most people are conditioned to go by “see it to believe it,” but I think that we have to feel it, to know it, to BE it. I often talk about, and have written in previous articles about, our emotions being our own personal GPS – Global Positioning System. Our emotions also act as a magnet to what we can attract in our life. It can help us navigate our lives towards a positive, productive, joy-full place or a negative, destructive, more painful place. When we align ourselves emotionally with our goals, we can get there with fewer detours. Ask yourself: What do I want in my life, right now? How do I feel about where I am now? IF those two things are emotionally in opposite directions, you are out of alignment “vibrationally” and may be causing you to feel that your goals are out of reach. Feeling frustrated, angry, sad….with the circumstances of life, or afraid of not getting what we want, create blocks in our ability to manifest. It’s like putting in the wrong address in your GPS and then being frustrated that you didn’t get to the right place. If you align yourself right now with good feelings about your life and yourself, you can shift your emotional GPS towards manifesting your goals. Ask yourself: what is right in my life right now? If you can’t think of anything, begin with this very moment. You are sitting somewhere reading the Jacksonville Review. Maybe you have a wonderful beverage, a comfortable place to sit…. See the beauty in this moment of your day. Accepting and feeling grateful for “what is” and who you are right now, is a great way to activate your magnet as you begin to align yourself emotionally and vibrationally with your goals.

Recently I was re-reading a poem called “A Rose is a Rose is a Rose” by Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, teacher, author and peace activist: “Does the rose have to do something? No, the purpose of a rose is to be a rose. Your purpose is to be yourself. You don’t have to run anywhere to become someone else. You are wonderful just the way you are…” How does it feel to hear that? “You are wonderful as you are” doesn’t mean that there is no room for improvement, but we are so conditioned to look at what we don’t have and what we “should” be to feel successful… We are so conditioned to believe that once we make ourselves or parts of our life better, we will finally reach our destination of being happy. The quickest way to manifest your goals for the future is to embrace yourself and your current situation now and take responsibility for getting yourself there. You can keep going back to asking: What is right about me and my life right now? Not what “was” or what “should” be. All the energy spent complaining, blaming, resenting the reality of “what is,” and looking outside for solutions, causes our mind to create prison bars. It feeds the illusion that our happiness relies on external situations and/or material things. That is the biggest source of suffering in our nation. It makes us powerless to make the changes and adjustments to align with the best part of ourselves.

You, right now, already have all the answers to your questions. “So why do I still have those questions???” you may ask. You have to give yourself the opportunity to BE still and listen, and then be willing to hear the answers. It is my job as a coach and spiritual teacher to assist you get past what may be blocking your ability to hear and connect to the deeper parts of yourself. The most loving thing you can for yourself is seek the support and help that you need to feel better. You are perfect as you are. You were born at this time, here now, to express the gift of who you are and share it with the world. What are you choosing to bring to the party of life? It is simple, but not always easy, to shut off our mind and judgments about ourselves and others.

What is your life showing you right now? If you are depressed or can’t sleep, what is life trying to tell you that is so important it can’t let your body rest? “Hey! over here!!! Pay attention to ME!!” We are constantly bombarded with things to distract us from the NOW. Being in the moment gets easier if you make time to practice, just like any other skills. As I guide my students into the present moment I give them the opportunity to remember and connect to that magical part of themselves where the answers are.

In the poem Thich Nhat Hanh continues to remind us that “we have everything we need to make the present moment the happiest in our life, even if we have a cold or a headache. We don’t have to wait until we get over our cold to be happy. Having a cold is part of life….” It is too simple. If you want to be happy, choose to feel happy now; if you want to be successful, feel successful, and if you want to be prosperous, you have to feel the abundance in your life now. As we strive to accept our present situation as an expression of our intentions, we can begin to align ourselves towards a more joy-full life. Remember to take time to breathe.

© Louise Lavergne 2001-2011 www.joyfull-yoga.com; 541-899-0707 Louise is a JoyFull living coach, Motivational speaker & owns JoyFull Yoga LLC in Jacksonville.