Do You Allow Your Kids’ Bliss Flow or Rein It In?

The Law of Attraction teaches you to “follow your bliss” and to allow your kids follow theirs. At some point, a parent who applies the Law of Attraction (LOA) in their life have experienced a conflict with this teaching. You want to allow your children to be on their path, to be happy, and to follow what pleases them, but at the same time, you may have some desire for your children conform to adult rules and expectations.

You’ve probably had an experience where you’ve gone to dinner at a restaurant, only to have your pleasant evening interrupted by a youngster happily tearing all over the place.

He or she is clearly living in the moment and experiencing great joy. You however, aren’t enjoying their exuberance.

So what’s the right course of action?

You know that you’re responsible for your own feelings. It’s impossible for other people to make you be angry or upset. So why’s this child’s behavior in question? Isn’t it your responsibility to raise YOUR vibration?

This of course, is merely an example the conflict experienced between bliss and rules that you’ll experience while raising children. The exact situation will vary and you’ll have plenty of opportunities to practice resolving this conflict.

First, it’ll be important for you to be able to tap into your Internal Guidance System (IGS). Sometimes it can be difficult to be objective as a parent or a bystander in these situations. Your IGS will help you remove yourself a bit from the situation and help you see how others might view it.

Another important factor will be specifics related to your individual children. Knowing who your children are is essential in knowing how to best respond to any given situation. After all, every child is different.

Encouraging your children to follow their bliss doesn’t mean that you should allow them to disrupt the joy of others. This is where your IGS can be so helpful. Your IGS helps you to be empathetic to others, to feel what they’re going through, and that might include irritation over the antics of your children.

There are times where you need to parent your children in order to rein in their exuberance. You can learn ways to channel their energy and you can choose opportunities that allow them to be wild and crazy and yet steer clear of situations where their hyperactivity might be uncomfortable for everyone present.

As a parent, it’s important to remember that your joy is as important as your kids’ joy. You have to learn to put yourself first in this regard. When you allow your children’s happiness to be more important than your own, you actually do them a disservice.

When you’re happy, your children will feel that. When you’re not, they’ll feel that as well. If they’re doing something fun that makes you uncomfortable, they’ll likely pick up on that as well. This’ll cause them to distrust their own IGS and result in children who are disconnected, either lacking in empathy for others or unable to identify what their bliss truly is.

Listen to your Internal Guidance System. It’ll help you to know what the best response in any precise moment is; how to allow your children to follow their joy while you maintain your sanity and respect bystanders as well.

For more, please visit www.SharonBallantine.com.

The Family that Laughs Together Stays Healthier Together

Laughter is universal. All around the world, people of all ages, nationalities, races, and religions laugh. Unlike words or hand gestures that often have different meanings, laughing is recognized as happiness across the globe.

It’s actually healthy for people to laugh. The human brain reacts to the sound in much the same way as it does when you meditate, so if you’re experiencing difficulty meditating, take up laughter instead.

You can incorporate laughter into your daily life with your entire family.

Children are especially good at this -- as long as adults haven’t gotten in the way. Let your children remind you how good it feels to laugh.

Encourage laughter and play. It’s good for your spirit too, and as it turns out, it’s also medically beneficial for your heart.

Scientists haven’t figured out exactly how, but researchers at the University of Maryland’s Medical Center have found that people with heart disease were “40 percent less likely to laugh in a variety of situations compared to people of the same age without heart disease.”

It seems then that laughter is indeed the best medicine.

People who are seriously ill are often encouraged to laugh. In some cases, the positive energy of laughter seems to have completely healed the patient. Is there a guarantee that this will work? No, but even laughing doesn’t literally save their lives. Instead, the lives they have are better because of it. In addition to being fun and uplifting for their spirit, one of the documented health benefits of laughter is pain relief.

Yet laughter is not just for those who are ill. It can help you prevent illness and lift your spirit no matter what health situation is. Laughing reduces stress and it helps your entire body -- even your brain, improving short-term memory.

When you have a full “belly laugh,” you release feel-good hormones while you increase the amount of oxygen flowing in your blood stream. Laughter helps your muscles to relax and stimulates circulation, both of which are good for body and soul.

Even babies laugh, with laughing out loud typically beginning before they’re 6 months old. The average adult laughs about 20 times per day. Young people often laugh 300 times a day, so this is definitely an area where parents can learn from their children.

Everyone’s experienced how contagious laughter can be. So gather the kids or family friends and have a laugh-in. Be willing to put aside your sense of propriety and laugh at silly things. Rent an old Laurel and Hardy or Marx Brothers film or a more modern comedy that tickles your funny bone.

Joke books can be another source of chuckles. Encourage each member of the family to learn a favorite joke to tell, although it might be an activity best reserved for after mealtime. Not during.

Have your own “America’s Funniest Videos” night, with or without the video camera. Especially if there are family members who are more sensitive or tend to feel picked on, it’s a good idea to have everyone tell stories about themselves. Even if it’s silly things they did or tried to do in the past, you could still find some humor in it.

This is a great time to learn to not take oneself too seriously. Adults sometimes need to be reminded of this and it’s a good lesson for kids to learn and take into adulthood. Let your ego go, and smile, smile, smile.

For more, please visit www.SharonBallantine.com.

Is My Child’s Internal Guidance System Broken?

Everyone’s born with the wonderful gift that is their Internal Guidance System (IGS). Your IGS helps you know what’s in your best interest, how to live your best life, and is there to assist you at any moment.

Unfortunately, most people today generally aren’t aware of their Internal Guidance System and have to be taught how to use it. 

This is because people are taught early in life to pay more attention to what’s going on outside of them rather than their own feelings. 

When you’re told over and over to disregard your feelings, then you naturally begin to distrust them.

If you feel an urge to go left, but are told that you’re wrong and are pulled over to the right every time you so much as try to go left, you’ll possibly begin to discount your urges. 

This will cause you to change your course at least for a while.

Some people are very aware of their IGS from a very early age. They’re the people who still followed their inner compass even when their friends, families, and teachers told them to go in a specific direction. They never discounted their urges because they knew exactly what they wanted from the beginning, but everyone is different.

Parents can learn about their IGS and then pass on that knowledge to their children. You can encourage your child to pay attention to their Internal Guidance System and learn how to use and trust in it. Thus you can support both a child who is already aware of their IGS and a child who hasn’t developed this connection already.

Whether a child is born with a strong sense of their IGS or not, there can come times where they seem to have lost this connection. The child who was always independent begins to follow the crowd or makes choices that you foresee having negative consequences. As a parent that’s aware of the power of the Internal Guidance System, you may actually wonder if it’s possible for your child’s IGS to break down. 

I can assure you that the IGS itself is not broken. 

There are one of two possibilities: 

1. Your child has stopped checking in with (or listening to) their IGS.
2. Your child is checking in with their IGS and it’s taking them on a path that’s different than you would prefer.

The thing for any parent to do in this situation is to first check in with their own Internal Guidance System. This will help you to approach your child in a way that’s most likely to achieve a positive outcome. That doesn’t necessarily mean that your son or daughter will start making decisions you would prefer, but it’ll allow you to understand what’s going on in your child’s life.

They might need a gentle reminder about their IGS or a refresher on how to tap into and trust it. Sometimes a person needs reminders about the tools they have at their disposal. 

Or you may discover they’ve consciously been bypassing the use of this powerful tool.  At some points in life, it’s possible for a person to choose not to use their tools for a variety of reasons even when they know they have them. For example, they might be afraid of being “different,” or it may seem like it’s just easier to follow the group.

Whatever your child’s reasons are for not following their IGS, you can still be a role model by tapping into your own. In this way, you’ll feel when it’s right to encourage your child and when it’s better to step back for a while. Don’t try to force to use of a tool they aren’t open to in the moment. 

Keep in mind that even if they aren’t consciously following their IGS, it isn’t broken. They’ll learn from this experience and when they come back to this tool, they’ll have been on their path and have more information to help them formulate their next moves.

For more, please visit www.SharonBallantine.com.

LOA Basics: Appreciating is Not Settling

One of the basic teachings of the Law of Attraction (LOA) is that it’s important to have an appreciation for what you have. Sometimes people misinterpret this to mean that they’re settling for less. Therefore, it’s important to understand that appreciating what you have in your life now doesn’t restrict what you’ll have in the future.

It’s certainly understandable to feel like you’re settling if you believe that by expressing appreciation for your current life, you’re attracting more of the exact same circumstances in the future.

Fortunately, that’s not how the Law of Attraction works.

The confusion arises partly because the LOA works on energy and vibrations.

These are things that you can’t see and because of that, they can be a bit more challenging to explain and grasp.

Imagine a cowboy wants to rope a cow. He sets his eyes on his target, picks up his rope, and lassos the animal. Of course, the cowboy has had lots of time to practice roping, and he’s had his share of misses. Yet with practice, his skill grows and it’s easier for him to consistently throw out his rope and get what he wants.

In a way, the Law of Attraction is like the rope. With practice, your skills at applying the LOA improve and you get what you want more consistently and easily. Unlike the rope, the Universe will deliver your quarry to you. You don’t have to pull the rope in to get it. Your job is merely to throw the rope where you want it.

The cowboy appreciates where he is before he ever picks up his rope. He may or may not be conscious of it in that precise moment, but on a regular basis, he expresses gratitude for his current situation.

He’s grateful for his horse and expresses that in both words and by caring for the steed. He’s grateful for good boots and a saddle that make getting his job done easier. The cowboy is even grateful for the weather, both rain and sunshine, knowing that both are needed for the grass to grow. The grass that feeds those cows he’ll one day lasso.

Your life in this very moment is a result of your thoughts, feelings, and actions you’ve taken in the past. You might even say it’s a result of the hours you practice with your “rope,” and the times you neglected your practice.

When you’re resentful of where you are today, you’re therefore trying to change the past. This is something that you can’t do. You can only change what you do right now. It’s precisely your current thoughts, feelings, and actions that will give you results in the future, whether your bid is successful or you come up empty.

When you express your appreciation for anything in your life, you’re raising your vibration or your rope. Just like the cowboy, you can’t get what you want without taking that first step. Appreciating his rope, horse, and saddle don’t preclude the cowboy from getting the cow; they enable it. It doesn’t mean he can’t get a faster horse or better saddle either -- his appreciation allows for more opportunities for things and experiences he will appreciate.

Think about what you have in your life right now to be thankful for. Speak words of appreciation for them. Show your gratitude with your deeds. Be grateful for what you have, aim for what you want, and be open to more opportunities in the future. The only settling you will find is the dust.

For more, please visit www.SharonBallantine.com.

Skills Over Fancy Tools Key for Both LOA and Photography

Everyone knows people who have taken up a new hobby and before they have even taken one lesson, they have gone out and purchased the best equipment money can buy. Truth is, almost everyone has done this at least once in their lives. 

That is why so many people have closets, basements, and garages filled with stuff they don’t use and why there are a plethora of garage sales, listings on sites such as Craigslist and eBay, and resale stores.

While it may be necessary to invest some money in new tools, it’s often true that you can get excellent results with either what you already have or with a simple, lower cost investment.

This is certainly the case for both learning to apply the Law of Attraction (LOA) and taking up the art of photography.

There are ample opportunities in either of these endeavors to spend lots of money.  You may choose to do so over time, depending on your own goals and desires. For most people, spending large amounts isn’t necessary and certainly not a prerequisite to beginning your studies.

To take a good photograph, you don’t need to have the fanciest camera. While it’s true that professional photographers often have several cameras, each costing thousands of dollars, it isn’t necessarily the equipment that earned them their standing. Even if your goal is to become a pro, starting off with fancy gear may actually inhibit rather than inspire you.

While the camera on your smartphone may not be top-notch, it’s convenient and something you probably already carry, so it’s a good place to start. With this simple camera, you can move beyond the “Ooh, isn’t that cool” snapshot and learn what it takes through practice to more consistently capture the image.

The first place to start is to learn the equipment you already have. Your phone/camera has a user’s manual. Read it. Learn the basics of photography and then begin shooting.

You’ll discover that getting the shot does require taking lots of pictures, but also requires patience, lighting, etc. No matter what, some of the best photographs are “happy accidents,” captured only because the photographer was in the right place at the right time with their gear.

Once you’ve learned more about photography and have more confidence in your abilities to capture the desired image, you may decide to upgrade your camera. You may buy different lenses and a bag to carry them in.

By tapping into your Internal Guidance System (IGS) you’ll know which type of photography you really enjoy as your skills grow. This will help steer you to the proper equipment to buy for your goals. If you love taking portraits, you’ll likely want different gear than if your thrill is taking shots of wildlife while out hiking in nature. Some photographers will be excited about tiny details, while others prefer broad scenic shots. This will also impact your purchasing decisions.

Learning to apply the LOA is a similar process. You don’t need a lot of fancy courses or tools, but you do need some basics. Rather than a smartphone, your basic tools will be yourself and learning to trust your IGS.

Learn about the LOA, what it means, and how it works. Try a variety of simple tools to see what suits you best. Regularly tap into your IGS and it will steer you in the proper direction. You may decide that you like guided meditation and so you buy CDs or DVDs to assist with that process. Or you may discover that you like to meditate by listening to the sounds of nature outside your own door for free.

As you practice your basic LOA skills, you’ll probably discover that you’re pulled in one direction or another. You’ll find the gear that helps you to feel peaceful and abundant. Then you can focus on learning more about this area of interest and practice those specific skills rather than attempting to be an expert on all of them. You may also decide that you need a professional life coach.

Other people will decide they want to become professional LOA coaches, just as some people choose to become professional photographers. If you’re guided to take this path, then you’ll spend more money on tools, lessons, and coaching in order to reach your goal.

Whether you’re a photographer or a student of the LOA (or both), you should be open to learning more with what you have at hand right now. Allow your skills to develop. Tap into your IGS to determine which path to take as you grow. If you do this, you’ll find you’ve become an expert without having acquired a bunch of things you never really used or needed in the first place.

For more, please visit www.SharonBallantine.com.

Law of Attraction in Sickness and Health

Many people don’t believe that they can apply the Law of Attraction to their health. While it is easier to believe that you’re either healthy or not, you should know there are lots of things that you can do to improve your health. 

Of course, eating nutritious foods and getting exercise are healthy choices you can make that have a great impact on keeping your body strong.

However, you should also remember that your ability to affect your health goes far beyond what you do physically.

The first thing that you must recognize is that your current physical condition is merely a result of everything you’ve done in the past.

You can’t simply blink your eyes or snap your fingers and have an illness or extra pounds vanish.

If your current condition is a result of your past, then it stands to reason that today’s actions will affect what your body looks and feels like in the future.

When you study the Law of Attraction, you learn that it’s not only your actions that impact the world around you. It’s your thoughts and feelings that have the most profound impact. So if you want to change your physical appearance, whether it is to be stronger, healthier, to eliminate illness, or to lose excess fat, you have to change the energy that you send out into the universe through your thoughts and feelings.

Let’s be clear that this is not always easy. Most people have had many years of practice criticizing their bodies. You repeat the mantras of your various illnesses and woes. You tell everyone that you suffer from allergies, that you’re accident prone, or that you constantly get sick all winter long.

You complain that you aren’t strong enough or that your back hurts. If you have a serious disease, you might even explain your illness and symptoms to your family and friends.  You join with others who share your illness and form support groups and raise money to fight against this physical foe.

What the Law of Attraction teaches you is that in order to get what you want, you must focus your energy on what you want. If you want to be healthier, you must focus your energy on feeling healthier now. You must feel health inside yourself. You must visualize doing the same things as the healthy people who have the level of health you desire.

Once you can feel this inside and you’re focusing on this positive energy, then you’ll feel inspired to take the appropriate action to help yourself reach your health goals. The action may be as simple as getting off the couch and walking around the block instead of watching television.

You may be inspired to buy a pair of good walking shoes. Perhaps you’ll be guided to start simply by getting some fresh air and taking more breaks from your desk job. Maybe you’ll even be inspired to go to the local farmer’s market and buy some fresh produce for dinner.

What you will be inspired to do will be as unique as you are. Follow this inspiration. Don’t expect to see your results manifesting overnight, but do expect to continue to feel improved health. Spend as much time being hopeful and positive about your body and your health as you can. With this new attitude and by taking inspired action, you will manifest better health.

For more, please visit www.SharonBallantine.com.