From A Loving Place / Rachael Wolff: Here’s My Why

MY WHY

I believe that the healthier our thinking is the more good we can do in the world. When we become more conscious of what is going on inside of us, we are empowered to make better choices for ourselves and the world around us. 

I didn’t come up with this belief. It’s been written about for as long as people have been passing down stories. It’s been studied over and over again. Yet, for some reason, the majority of us resist it out of fear. With that, we keep trying to use fear and accept fear-based thinking to guide us. You see this in our social media, news, politics, and daily interactions with others. 

Even though this has been written about time and time again, the way some people try to get us there is through fear.

SINCE MANY INDIVIDUALS ARE STIMULATED TO MOVE AND CHANGE THROUGH FEAR, WHY WOULDN’T THIS METHOD WORK? 

When we do things from a place of fear, we are NOT focusing on the energy we want. We are focused on what we don’t want. Here’s an example, a God-fearing individual might do things because they don’t want to go to hell. That is a fear-driven way to live and when we fail, get lazy, resist, or make a poor choice, our fear kicks in to high swing and we belittle ourselves and start a shame cycle.  We are not worthy of God’s love. We are not worthy of getting into heaven. 

Not all religious practices are driven by fear, and some have changed it’s messages over time. Even with the changes, individuals still will take the route of shame and fear-based living because they are unconsciously living with beliefs that have been passed down from generations even if the belief has been proven unhealthy or false—The beliefs are embedded. This isn’t just tied to religion. This can be tied to ANY belief system we hold. 

WHY FROM A LOVING PLACE?

This is WHY I do what I do, write what I write, practice what I practice, read what I read, etc. This is WHY I named this blog, From A Loving Place and named my book, Letters from A Better Me. My Why represents the work of thinking from a loving place, believing from a loving place, and doing from a loving place. My goal is to help others open themselves up to live from a loving place too. The larger the community we have living from a loving place, the more our conversations will change on social media, in the news, in politics, with each other, and in the world. This is not a fluff or woo-woo conversation. We can choose to live in fear or love at any minute of the day.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH OUR THINKING THAT LIVING IN FEAR HAS BECOME AN ACCEPTABLE NORM AND LIVING IN LOVE IS WOO-WOO? 

I know I’m not alone in my why. I see it in the social media I focus on. I see it  in the stories and research I spend my time reading. I see it in  many of the people I choose to have in my life. When I feel better about me, understand where my shadows come from, and see the power my light creates—I soar. I then connect to the energy and people who feel this too. It’s amazing how many amazing people have come into my life since I started connecting to my why.

MY JOURNEY

I’m on a transformative journey. I’m open to learn and grow, so I can pass on what works for me. It doesn’t have to work for you. Our whys don’t have to be the same. I have plenty of friends and loved ones who don’t have the same why. What we do have is some of the same joys, laughter, experiences, triumphs, lessons, fears, sadness, humor, sarcasm, love, happiness and sorrows. Those are the things that connect me to others. When I choose to connect and live my why, I feel free within all those connections. I don’t take our differences personally. I know how I want to live, and I know that I’m making my choices consciously. The healthier I am, the healthier my relationships with others are.  I also am clear on healthy boundaries and trusting my gut when I don’t feel comfortable around particular people. It all works together. 

My happiness in my life comes in large part to figuring out my why. My why is what guides me in my daily choices of how I want to be living. It helps me to learn from my fears, and to change what doesn’t work in my life. This doesn’t mean I ALWAYS choose to live in my why.

WHEN I DISCONNECT FROM MY WHY

I learned important warning signs for when and how I would fall out of living my why in a 12-Step program called AL-ANON.

H.A.L.T.

• Hungry
• Angry
• Lonely
• Tired

H.A.L.T. is a reminder to check-in with ourselves when we are feeling emotionally triggered. It’s the reminder to stop, take a breath, and reflect. When I’m experiencing one or all of these things, it’s a struggle for me to live my why, because I’m irritable. I take other people’s actions personally. I also, play fear-based messages in my mind because my lack of focus is guiding me to unconscious living. I’m not perfect by any means. I’ve screamed at my kids, I’ve blamed others, I’ve held personal pity-parties more times than I can count, but I do all of this when I’m lost somewhere in the hungry, angry, lonely, and/or tired. I don’t want to take care of myself when I’m there, so I’m not present. I’m defensive and lost somewhere in my unhealed past or the unknown future. My head is definitely not where my feet are. 

When I realize that I don’t like the space where I am, I have HALT to help me find my way out: 

• If I’m hungry—I eat.
• If I’m angry—I write, exercise, dance, or talk to someone I trust not to commiserate with me but to help me be responsible and accountable.
• If I’m lonely—I write a gratitude list, call a friend, hug one of my kids, write a letter to myself, or go do something I love to do.
• If I’m tired—I sleep and if I can’t sleep, I meditate, get on my Simply Fit Exercise Board, or go outside and walk. 

These are just a few of the tools I use to get me back to living my life from a loving place and showing myself the love that I deserve. This is how I get my thinking to a healthy place, so that I can make the best choices for myself and with that—the world I live in. 

DEFINE YOUR WHY

Take the time to define your why. The how, what, where, when, and who hold more meaning when we allow our why to lead us on our journeys. We start understanding that we have to stumble to learn. We don’t have to let our stumbles define who we are, we can let the lessons we learned be our driving force to make better and wiser choices.

WHAT’S NEXT?

 If you feel connected to what I’m saying, make sure to follow the From A Loving Place blog. You can also follow me on Facebook.com/FromALovingPlace for daily inspiration to help you stay connected to your WHY.

I’m also very excited because I will be speaking in St. Petersburg, Florida at Dream Con on February 29, 2020. This will be my first event after my book, Letters from A Better Me launches in 45 days (Feb.18, 2020).  You will also be able to find me in Atlanta, GA at Phoenix & Dragon Bookstore from 4-6PM on March 15, 2020 for a book-signing event. If you can’t make it to see me in person, the 35-Day A Better Me Boot Camp’s next session will be available in March 2020. 

With Love and Gratitude, 

Rachael Wolff

Original post found here.