THE NIKE WAY

We should be careful not to divide our mental house against itself. Having announced the law of liberty, we must not deny it. When we shall all know the Truth, then ways and means and methods will be found for the freedom of all. The mold of acceptance is the measure of our experience. The Infinite fills all molds and forever flows into new and greater ones. Within us is the unborn possibility of limitless experience. Ours is the privilege of giving birth to it!   ~Science of Mind

Ease, like all of experience, is a choice we birth. It is a frequency in our cosmic collaboration, a state we allow to experience by aligning with it. We decide whether to have discord or harmony, chaos or order, disarray or synchronicity, or difficulty or ease.

“Here you go blaming any unease in my life on me again,” I can hear you say. Well, it's not about blame, it's about responsibility and power - your responsibility to be open to and allowing yourself to change your thinking with the power of choice

With COVID and other crappy things happening around us, it can be hard and you may need to wallow in it some. Go ahead – wallow in it some...I'll wait...a little bit. I get that it seems impossible to get through or past all this, but so was:

• the sub-4-minute mile till Roger Bannister, 1954
• the horse-less buggy or air flight until Karl Benz, 1886 and the Wright Brothers, 1903
• the World Wars, the Depression

Yet, each of these beliefs was proved wrong by someone at one with their purpose and with faith in their ability, willingness to step out of their comfort zone, and deciding that nothing could sway them.

And we can -will- do that too!

What makes life comfortable, relaxed, unembarrassed, reassured ... at ease? Does it take willpower - push, push, push? Or can you choose to be calmly decisive, continually improving / transforming/transcending, being filled with grace and gratitude, and applying yourself with the discipline to focus on the good - on what you want and have control of - you?

When we start thinking things are going to be hard, expecting difficulty, stop signs, and barriers; when we withdraw from activating our power, we get everything we want...difficulty. Instead, use this information to empower you to correct wrong-thinking.

What empowers a life at ease?

When you start thinking things are going to be hard, first - forgive yourself. Allow yourself to start shifting your thoughts in new ways that align with a life of ease and withdraw from thought patterns that don't fit that vision of ease. New patterns of thinking require willingness and allowing, forgiveness, and persistence in your spiritual practice. We must trade the striving with the joy of learning and applying yourself to a new adventure that serves you

Here's a little story to illustrate the point, called "The Navigation Troll" by Adam Oakley

Amanda, Greg, and Richard are looking for the Feasting Tree...

“I’ve read about this something here that can take us wherever we want to go to, to the Feasting Tree, but we have to pay him a price,”  Amanda said. 

“Pay him in what?” Greg said.

“In memories. We have to give him one bad memory from our past, and he turns it into time.”

“He turns it into time?”

“Yes, and he uses the time to take you to where you want to go. The book that Bernard wrote, said that the time he turns it into is equivalent to the amount of time you would have spent dwelling on it if you had kept it inside of yourself.”

“I don’t have any bad memories,” Greg said.

“I bet you do,” said Amanda.

“Well, how do we get in contact with whoever this is?

“He’s the Navigation Troll. We have to walk into an area where we can all be in contact with each other, and each touch a separate tree at the same time. Then we have to give over our bad memories.”

Richard barely heard all this. He was listening to all the birds from above and hopping along the ground telling him that they should not go, that they should keep well away from where the Earthman went. The bird calls were gradually becoming harsher and more screechy.

“Calm the birds down now, will you Rich?” Greg said. But Richard could not hear him.

As they approached and an area with three thin, young trees, all very close to each other, Amanda said, “Hold my hand, Greg.” 

Greg reached out and touched Amanda's had and his heart leaped. Her hand made him feel ignited and alive, and he did not want to let go.

“Richard, join us” she said. Richard walked up, in a slight daze, and held her hand. 

“Now you two hold hands,” she said. Greg gradually raised his arm to grab hold of Richard’s open hand. 

“Now everyone touch a tree with their knee.” The three adjusted their legs to follow Amanda’s orders.

“Now, think of a memory, a bad memory, one that you don’t like to think about, but still lives inside of you. Then say out loud. ‘I give this memory to the Navigation Troll.’”

There was a pause, a silence. Then.... “I give this memory to the Navigation Troll,” Amanda said, with her eyes closed.

“I give this memory to the Navigation Troll,” Richard said, his eyes also still closed.

Greg said nothing, and then the earth began to rumble.

It was like an earthquake, the ground shaking and roaring from the inside like there was something bubbling up from the very depths of the Earth. Then, in the small space in the middle of the three, a long black-haired, fleshy, grumpy-looking face of a troll began to emerge; followed by a short, stocky body covered in a pair of dry, dirty shorts. The figure was shaking with the earth, eyes closed and not moving its limbs at all. Then its eyes opened. 

“You called?” the troll said, pulling out a little notepad and a pen from a pocket in his shorts.

The three of them broke their grip with each other as Amanda said to the troll, “Yes, we want you to take us to wherever the Feasting Tree lives.”

The troll looked up at Amanda with its very large eyes, permanent sneer, and scowling mouth and said, “Hmmm, what you ask is extremely dangerous, and very far indeed. That will cost you, dearly.”

“How much?”

The troll scribbled something on his pad and then said, “Well, by my calculations you just need a bit more.

“A bit more what, asked Amanda?

“Your memory was a good one. And the memory from this lad, here, was ok,” the troll pointed at Richard with his pen. “But I am yet to take either as I only take payment when all terms are agreed. This lad, has offered nothing. I still need a good, dark memory, from him. If he provides one, then I can take you to where you need to be.”

“I have no bad memories,” Greg said.

“Oh, but you do, lad, you do. What about when you were beaten up that time at school?”

Greg’s body stiffened up. “How did you know about that?”

“I can see it. It’s under your skin. It’s always there, isn’t it? It’s always with you.”

“Yeh, but I need it,” Greg said.

“How so?”

“It stops me from getting beat up again.”

“Does it now?”

“Yeh, because of that I started getting my brother to teach me how to fight.”

“Ah” said the troll, writing something down on his notepad. “So what you mean is that the event made you learn to fight and it brought you closer to your brother. Very good, but the memory of it, the darkness of it, the pain that still lives inside you, do you still need that? Do you still need to think about it in the same way? Do you still need to hold on to it? Do you really feel as if you are at peace with it, or does it give you nightmares, terrified of a fight happening again?”

“I’m not terrified,” Greg blurted out. He paused a moment. “But I don’t like it. I don’t like the feeling when it creeps up on me sometimes.”

“Then give it to me.”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want to give it away. I want to keep it.”

“But why? Do you secretly enjoy it?”

Greg thought about it. Perhaps he did. Despite him not liking it, something inside him secretly enjoyed feeling victimized, hard-done-by, hurt, harmed by circumstances beyond his control. It was a strange, sick kind of enjoyment, a self-inflicted suffering that he was strangely addicted, seemed normal for him. “Maybe. Maybe I do like it,” he said defiantly.

“I see. Maybe it gives you a sense of self? Holding on to that memory, makes you feel like you really exist.”

“Yeh.”

“Aha, so do you still want it?”

Greg shyly said, “I feel vulnerable without it.”

“Yes, but do you still want it?”

Feeling agitated, Greg sputtered for a moment before screaming, “No, no I don’t. You have it. I don't want it anymore. I can't stand it anymore. Take it as payment.”

“Fantastic,” said the Troll! “So, that’s three traumatic memories that are yet to be healed, in return for a one-way transport to the home of the Feasting Tree. Correct?”

“Correct,” Amanda said.

“Right,” he said, making more notes. “Now, I can only take you so far, then you must walk the rest. You will be dropped off around six trees’ lengths away from your desired area. Then, I will point you in the right direction. All agreed?”

“Agreed,” they all said.

“Very good. Please place your hands on my hair.” The children were very reluctant to touch the troll's hair; it looked as if it had never been washed. But slowly, they reached out, knowing this was the right path to the Feasting Tree. Strangely, the troll’s hair felt soft and alive.

“Take a deep breath in,” the troll said. All three breathed in. “And let it go.” The three exhaled and began to feel their piece of darkness, which had been cunningly living within them for the longest time, travel out of their bodies and move into the hair of this troll. As the darkness transferred, the troll’s hair began to turn white, and their surroundings became blurred and the air made a high-pitched, whining noise. A moment later, everything around them started to shimmer as if the world was turning into liquids. Soon, the liquids began to evaporate into gases until the color drained out of the world and they were left in semi-darkness.  They became aware of a portal that the Navigation Troll was dragging them through, which seemed to bypass the normal rules of time. He was running, jumping, and panting, and even though it seemed as if they were traveling far, they all knew that the time passing was being condensed into just a few seconds. 

Suddenly, they stopped. It was still very dark at first, but soon light began to shine like the sunrise on a new day. “Here we are,” the troll said, “your destination. It is here you start on a new path. A path of adventure, clear of the memories that held you back. Go forward to the Feasting Tree, save your friend as you have yourself.” And so they did.

This stuff is not about lying on the couch waiting for the doorbell to chime or the phone to ring; fun and possible as it might be to open the door or answer the call and find your soulmate with a bag of money and the keys to your new car and house, It's about being ready for the next thing, which is the original thing - it's about leaning into Creation and trusting your connection and communion with It. The Universe has your back and can guide you. Trust your intuition. Your emotions are indications of how aligned you are and not something to be fixed or afraid of. They are something you can re-tune and to be at-one with the Divine. This is subtle and deep stuff being in at-one-ment with the Divine within. Like Yoga and Pilates, small moves with great form ignite deep and huge improvements, transformation, and transcendence.

You are the tailor of the cloth your wear. You are the chooser and the receiver of the vibration you connect with and amplify. Choose to give attention to what it is you want. Choose loving, constructive ideas and choose to follow your inner positive nudges without second-guessing or telling yourself right away why you can't do what just occurred to you. 

An inner-oriented life is like sitting in the eye of the storm, placing yourself in the low barometric calm for decision making and action taking while moving past trauma, manifesting peace and calm, and waiting out the tempest around you. The more you're in sync with all that you are, the more you allow yourself to connect with things that manifest ease in your life.

What is the Nike way? 

Just do it:

Don't wait till you've got all the steps down or you have the most clever words to say or until it's not noisy or you are centered.

Just do it:

Affirm your good, state your intention, connect with the Power within, bring passion, clarity, heart and soul, and as much game as you got right now. Tell the Universe what you require in your life today.

Just do it:

Be grateful in your prayers, contemplations, meditations, thoughts, feelings, and actions. The Divine Power, Intelligence, Love, Light, Beauty, and Wisdom is within you right here and right now to dance, play, support, and manifest your greatest good!

God does not love us because we are good; God loves us because God is good. Nothing we can do will either decrease or increase God’s eternal and infinite eagerness to love!    ~Richard Rohr

You just need to show up and live the Nike Way.

Just do it....right now!

Affirmative Incantation

Today, I befriend myself: 

I support my purpose and my desires, I look after and protect my inner child, and uphold the integrity, honesty, courage, loyalty, fortitude, kindness, and dignity of a person of great character.

I take the risks I must to clear the cobwebs, let go of the limitations and fears, and step up to my Best Self. Anything that requires cleansing, illumination, or repair, I boldly and bravely do so with ease and grace. I do not criticize, I optimize.

I unabashedly and whole-heartedly declare my dreams manifested with the havingness of having them and surrender to the power in me to bring them to fruition. I sing out “Olly, Olly oxen free” declaring the Divine within to emerge with all its love, Light, beauty, and wisdom; guiding me to be the best friend my life has ever had.

I am grateful for my ease in this task, my peace of mind in this charge, and my assuredness in this mission. Success is ours, my friend!