The Path To Freedom! By Kelly K. Brown

Me at the Seattle Space Needle on My Own Path to Freedom!


This week started with me living what could have been seen, felt and experienced by me as a ‘painful’ experience. And yet, because I CHOSE to stay ‘present in the very moment’ of the circumstance, I handled the experience in the most effective way possible---by only seeing everyone involved through the eyes of love---a way of living I’ve been practicing as a part of my ‘in the moment’ existence for over a year!

You can imagine how interesting it then was to me, when this exact same topic came up again and again throughout my week.

People, loved ones, friends… many were experiencing feelings, thoughts and the emotion of ‘pain’ about current life events… and in chatting sometimes they experienced it about past events. Past or present, all pain can be avoided by remembering and implementing the practice of one simple action.

Choosing to stay ‘present in the moment’. (Staying ‘present in the moment’ always brings FREEDOM when we choose it!)

Having sufferered the pain of what I call ‘going around the mountain’ again and again over a particular situation or what another person, does, says, did or didn’t do, should have done or I expected them to do---Always, always equals PAIN FOR ME (AND YOU!)

This topic can ‘appear’ complex, so let me explain more carefully.

When we are NOT choosing to live ‘in the moment’, and when things then don’t go OUR way, “You know, the way we think things should go”, or when people don’t behave the way WE think is right or they SHOULD… we experience PAIN!

It is in THAT moment when our thoughts begin to tell us made up stories with the attached history of old experiences, old programming and old emotions… we LOSE our freedom and begin creating personal PAIN. Yes, WE create our own pain---the other person has nothing to do with it whatsoever. (You may want to re-read that last line, as for some this concept could be difficult to understand at first.)

We tell ourselves (and truly want to believe) that all our angst and upset is about another, their actions, or a certain circumstance, but the TRUTH is that it is OUR CHOICE of thoughts in this moment, OUR disappointment about an unmet expectation and our anger that things SHOULDN’T be this way that brings us into immediate pain.

It is an interesting experience to feel how in ONE moment we can change our thoughts AND then instantly and literally FEEL better. We can experience unbelievable freedom when we wisely monitor and choose our thoughts and begin focusing on what we now WANT, instead of what we didn’t like about what just happened or occurred!

When living ‘present in the moment’ I'm able to tell myself NO STORY whatsoever about what is happening.

To put it in plain terms, I DEPERSONALIZE every happening to an understanding of the situation or circumstance as being just a thing ‘that is!’.

No one is wrong
No one is right
No one is at fault… No Story! A happening just occurred---That’s it!

This is TRUTH: Regardless of what the other is thinking, not thinking or how they feel, what their inner perspective is or was, what story they are telling in their mind… it is theirs! It is NOT about us; in fact, we can never really know what another person is thinking anyway (even though we often believe and state that we do).

By living in a state of allowing through conscious awareness, we can surrender to the situation at hand. (Read: I can choose to accept the situation just as it is.)

The gift of awareness is that in the moment we are aware, we can CHOOSE not to tell ourselves a story of inner thoughts from OLD, OUTDATED life experiences. In this moment, what is happening is what is happening NOW and has nothing to do with anything anyone ever said or ever did in the past. (That would be adding in a STORY).

And this is where a common struggle comes in… when we are not living in conscious awareness, when someone doesn’t behave as we think they SHOULD, our thoughts start telling us OLD stories as if they were the ‘present moment TRUTH. Thoughts like:

I can’t believe they did THAT to me! Why didn’t I see this coming?
I should have known better than to trust them, they always…
This is what I get for being such a nice gal/guy.
They did that on purpose just to hurt me---just like everyone else does...
I knew this would happen, this is what ALWAYS happens to me
They make me so angry, they should have... (or shouldn't have...)

Blah, Blah, Blah…

Law of Attraction is extraordinarily fair! It attracts more of what you focus on, so in this example by focusing and thinking ALL those negative thoughts… you get MORE negative thoughts… and you wake up 5 hours later to realize you’ve been obsessing about this for FIVE STRAIGHT HOURS! Wasting your very life with FIVE hours of unproductive, pain-inducing, negative thinking… and worse, these type of thoughts never serve you or the greater good (nothing productive can come from these type of thoughts), they just bring pain in the form of hurt feelings, anger, frustration, irritation and more. (And when not careful… these thoughts can become rather addictive… think like a jilted lover for a sec---one can truly become obsessed in the mire of negative thinking.)

This is where a true understanding of life can create some fun however. If you can stay present in the moment, and CHOOSE NOT to tell any stories in your thoughts, you will find you have chosen to become the OBSERVER of your thoughts.

In that moment, you have just realized the very truth of life that most people never, ever get! YOU are the ‘thinker of your thoughts’, you are NOT your thoughts! That means YOU get to control what you think---you do have a choice! So, you might choose to entertain better feeling thoughts like:

What is IS what is.
This is not exactly what I was expecting.
I have no idea why they behaved this way or why this happened.
I will tell myself no ‘old, habitual, programmed thoughts’ on this topic.
I choose to believe this is about where they are in their life, and not about me.
Maybe they were scared, or worried, or under stress: who knows?
This isn’t about me—people act the way they do for their very OWN reasons.
It could be anything really. I can’t know what they were thinking.
I’ll probably never know so I won’t waste my present moment time:

1) worrying about what the reason was or wasn’t
2) being upset or anguishing through all the negative possibilities, or
3) finding ways to make me right and them wrong so I can feel better in this situation
4) figuring out ways and endless points of view to place blame on them.

Instead, I can choose to:

Live this experience exactly as it is with NO expectation of a different, better or worse outcome, or a ‘how it should have been’ because that time is NOW gone and in the past and it cannot be re-lived, so why would I try to re-live it over and over and over again in the thoughts of my mind? Now is all we’ve got, and we can CHOOSE our thoughts and focus in this NOW moment… and the next, and the next, etc.

We can then start thinking thoughts like:

1) I will choose to love myself and this other person exactly as we are with no judgment toward either of us in this situation. I can choose be the ‘observer’ of my thoughts, and just see what can be learned from this current situation.

2) I will accept that ‘what is IS what is', and then immediately make the choice to now focus ONLY on what I want to have, be, create or experience in my life.

3) I will focus and envision all my future interactions with this other person going exactly the way I’d like with love and joy for all involved.

What you focus on expands and you WILL begin to attract and then experience brand new and much better outcomes as soon as you fill your mind with brand new thoughts, dreams, ideas and feelings of what you now want.

That’s how you do it… Every single time, in every single circumstance, in every life experience!

1) Get and/or stay present in the moment.
2) See what is, and accept that what is IS what is.
3) Note the contrast WITHOUT adding any STORY---no story, no emotion, no personalizing, no old programming thoughts.
4) Begin immediately to ask for and focus on what you NOW want to see in this situation or situations like it.
5) Continue! Focus on those good ideas until you think of something else you want, and then focus on that!

Sounds difficult… and I assure you practice will make it easier and easier and easier--- the more you stay present in the moment and are aware of your thoughts, the easier it gets! And best of all, the REWARD for all your practice is the Path of Freedom: PEACE, JOY, HAPPINESS and EXTRAORDINARY LOVE FOR YOURSELF AND OTHERS.

Choose YOUR Path of Freedom today. Start simply by just becoming aware of your thoughts. Listen to what your thoughts are! As time goes on, become the Observer! Start to notice your positive and negative thoughts and begin to choose only the positive thoughts you now want to think and focus on. From there, it’s nothing more than practice… and we are always practicing something aren’t we?

To YOUR Path of Freedom!

Kelly

A NEW and Timely Perspective About Money! by Kelly K. Brown

Yes, I do believe Money CAN and DOES Grow On Trees!

I spent quite a bit of time pondering about money the other day. A dear friend from a mastermind group gave me a cd about money and in listening to it, many thoughts about money started going though my mind.

One of the FIRST things I thought about was a memory of how much I absolutely, and without reservation LOVED money as a child. I remember holding it (coins back then) and liking how it sounded when I’d take them out of my jar and ‘clink, clink, clink’ drop them back in! I loved to count it, I loved to have it, and I loved to see it… I clearly remember having a wonderful relationship with money---it felt good to me---I felt good having it!

And then I remembered something else… I remembered how my family started making fun of me for loving money! They would make side (snide?) comments about me liking my money so much, and then came all those ill-informed ideas that money is the root of all evil conversations (yes they misquoted that phrase)… money isn’t everything, money doesn’t grow on trees---and I clearly remember FEELING bad because I loved my money! I remember thinking I had to PRETEND I didn’t love money, that to be accepted in my family, I had to HIDE that I loved my money! In essence they made fun of me for loving money!

Hmmmmmm… Can you relate to this on any level? How did you as a child instinctively FEEL about money? How do you REALLY FEEL now about money today? What did your family say about money? Do you ever take the time to LOOK at your money or do you just spend it without even thinking about it at all?

Extremely well versed in the Law of Attraction, I clearly know how very important our FEELINGS are, as well as our words and thoughts about what we are creating and thereby attracting into our world---into our reality.

So, in light of these memories I forgot LONG AGO, I took the time and made the effort to go back to other 'money is bad' memories and start ‘cleaning up’ that ‘old programming’ from my past that no longer serves me and decided to create some NEW memories and thoughts about money that WILL serve me in attracting the vast abundance I intend to have!

I want to share with you that in doing this Money Exercise, I had the absolute BEST TIME EVER! What started as a clearing of old feelings, thoughts and patterns of belief about money became an opportunity for me to again think about and express my unending LOVE to the universe where I’m so very fortunate to live.

As I started looking at the money (starting with a few suggestions from the cd), I started thinking A LOT about money---but NOT in the way you might imagine!

I started thinking about how money blesses every hand that touches it!

It’s true! As I looked at my $1 bill, I started to imagine all the people’s lives this money had touched… what they may have spent it on, what they received in exchange for sending it back out into circulation, and the joy they may have felt in the spending of it---which ended with how joyous I was to now be in possession of this ONE WONDROUS DOLLAR that may have touched and blessed millions of people and possibly gone all over the world and back to rest with me!

I started to remember that money ALWAYS gives a gift to me (and YOU) when we spend it because we always get something wonderful when we exchange it for something else. And it doesn’t matter what we spend it on… we always get something wonderful in return!

In my life of rental properties, handymen, rents received, mortgages paid, groceries purchased and trash taken to the street, purchasing everything from gas to gum and paying taxes, I completely FORGOT about the incredible wonder of money when viewed in that context!

I can already hear some of the naysayers who are thinking about when they pay for a car repair, property taxes, a fine or a fee that they are not receiving a wonderful blessing in exchange for their money, but I beg to differ.

Do you realize (remember) even when you pay taxes, fees or fines what it is you ARE ‘getting’? You are getting firemen, policemen, a military, a government that provides many benefits and safety for not only us, but many benefits for our entire world?

Do you remember that every time you spend money you are blessing this business owner and that business owner who in turn feeds their family and spends their money on the goods and services of another business or person that is now blessed by the never ending FLOW OF MONEY? And it NEVER ends! The blessings never, ever end until we forget that this is the ultimate purpose of money…to bless ourselves AND others!

In China I saw many examples of people blessing their money through various forms of worship!

Can you see how it is also just as wonderful to SAVE your money; to put some away for a special occasion, a new car, a vacation, or for a rainy day? It’s YOUR money and there is no right or wrong in it! You can love your money any way you want and it is perfectly okay----unless you subscribe to other people’s outdated and completely misinformed ideas, rules and regulations about money!

This is the point where my journey took an incredible turn again toward LOVE!

As I was having all these wonderful old memories about my money, and was ‘in the moment’ creating wonderful, joyous new feelings about all the blessings I receive when I put my money into the flow of the universe, I had a brand new incredible thought!

Out-of-the blue, and directly from my inner guidance, I had a new thought about how I could now (in my newly acquired state of love for money) CHOOSE to bless every single dollar as it leaves me to be a ‘double blessing’ for the next person who receives it.

My heart was thumping and my pulse was racing as I visualized what an incredible gift it will be to mail out all my bills, my mortgages, my service bills and literally send a blessing that the very person who next receives those monies is blessed (by my money now in THEIR hands) going TWICE as far as it did for me!

Maybe they will by chance find a special ½ price sale the day they go to spend this blessed money, or maybe they will receive a discount or a coupon that makes their money go twice as far as it would normally go. Maybe the money will just be multiplied in their care!

You see, everything in life is LITERALLY about perspective and it is the same with money!

WHAT IS YOUR PERSPECTIVE about having money, giving money, receiving money, spending money, etc.? Your perspective about everything is controlled completely BY YOU and you can change your perspective at any time you CHOOSE to create and believe new thoughts. What anyone (or everyone) else says, said, believes or thinks makes absolutely no difference---YOU get to decide what YOU think about money for YOU!

And what you think about money makes ALL THE DIFFERENCE when you are wanting to attract more of it into YOUR life experience!

Today I challenge you to take a little time and really THINK about money… look at it, touch it, hold it! What are your thoughts about it? What would you LIKE to think about it? Do you love it? Would you like to love it? Do you think it is good or evil? Do you think you will never have enough of it or that you are abundantly blessed? Examine your thoughts, beliefs and perspectives and then purposely CHOOSE new and BETTER ideas that resonate with YOU for your best well-being.

Then, when you really ‘feel’ the wondrous joy that YOUR money truly is (regardless of how much you do or don’t have), join me in blessing all the money you have and all the money you spend to be a double blessing to those who will receive it from you—no matter who they are or where they live. Take a moment or two and actually IMAGINE the love and joy you’ve spread as each person (even in this economic time) enjoys a new abundance from your newly beloved, and now blessed money!

With extraordinary love for YOU and your MONEY!

Kelly

Dancing In The Rain, By Kelly K. Brown

A rainy day at the 3 Rivers Gorge Dam in China



"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass... it's about learning to dance in the rain!" ---Nancy Salmon

This is such an incredible quote and a true understanding of its message could make all the difference in the world---LITERALLY to the entire world!

I know that sounds strange, so go with me here for a moment...

The one thing we know for certain about life is that it happens! The good and the bad (which I prefer to think of only as ‘contrast’)—and regardless… it happens.

Death, birth, illness, well-being, shortage of money, extravagant surplus of money, starvation and obesity, economic fluctuations in any direction, those who live to serve, and those who live seemingly to take advantage---all exist in this world we call our ‘home’.

So why are we surprised when anything happens, good or bad?

We know (yes, we know!) from pretty much the moment we have an awareness of life at all, that each and every one of us will one day physically die. I mean, have you ever met anyone who didn’t… at some point… die? Or get ill or recover, or celebrate through an up time or suffer in a down time? Bemoan it if you wish, but this is the truth of LIFE! Stuff happens!

So again I ask you, why the surprise when some unfortunate incident occurs? Or why the surprise when some incredible good fortune comes your way?

For me, my initiation into awareness of this major life lesson came at a very early age… when I was a mere 5 years old. Through an incredible circumstance, both of my legs were cut off by a lawnmower even though I was physically nowhere near it.

My Dad was mowing the lawn at our home in Illinois with a push mower when the one bolt mechanism that held the blade in place broke off and the entire blade flew out from under the mower, through our rather large yard and hit me across the shin area of both legs and flew beyond me into a field.

Stop for a second and imagine that! Imagine being my Dad who was mowing the lawn! Imagine being my sisters who were standing less than 2 feet away! Imagine being ME! That blade could have gone in any direction, hit anyone, anything or nothing all. But the truth of what happened is this: the blade HIT ME---and in less than an instant, my legs were gone.

I can remember for years after the accident, people asking me how I felt about it and did I ever wonder why it happened to me… and the truth is I never really gave it a thought. In fact, after they’d ask the question, I would more often wonder, “Why NOT me? Why NOT you? Should it have been someone else?”

The point I’m making is that through the ‘circumstance’ of an accident I was given a special insight most people do not learn until they are much older (if indeed they ever learn it at all).

Every time I went to a hospital, a clinic or to physical therapy, I’d see other people like myself or others in much worse condition---and ‘WHY ME?’ became a concept without valid meaning. I would often wonder “WHY ANY of these wonderful children, adults or people?”

My positive mindset and compassion for others (instead of a ‘poor me’ mentality) allowed me to easily overcome my physical condition ‘mentally’ by achieving a very good (and very valid) perspective about life!

At an incredibly young age, I understood something very important about life, I understood that:

Life wasn’t ‘for’ or ‘against’ me based on some random accident (or other life circumstance). My Life is WHAT I CREATE it to be through my own interpretation and perspectives about EVERYTHING! My inner joy came about through my understanding of what that MEANT about life in general.

That is what the quote above is all about. Storms will come and go, but it’s the learning how to dance in the rain that makes ALL THE DIFFERENCE! HOW you focus YOUR thoughts and feelings through the storm WHILE YOU ARE IN IT, determines WHAT and HOW the next circumstance of your life will be. (Keeping in mind how the Law of Attraction works, but of course!)

Think for a moment about Nelson Mandela! I can vividly remember what I was thinking the first time I heard about his positive mindset after all those years of imprisonment. Internally, I was screaming, “There is no way I’d come out of prison speaking love, forgiveness and healing… NO WAY!” And yet, that is exactly what he CHOSE to do and his very thoughts changed the course of HIS LIFE and an entire country’s history in the making!

These are extreme examples and most people will not have to be imprisoned or have their legs amputated to prove the point I’m making. Most people (when reminded) know that they have the power to ‘create their life’ in any situation—it is completely up to them based on the thoughts they choose to think!

Every single day we CHOOSE our thoughts and our focus. From the moment we wake up, we have the FREE WILL to CHOOSE any perspective about the circumstances of life we are living. Choosing the best perspective possible, makes us feel better and allows us to move forward in life with complete and utter joy… It is completely up to us! Remember:

There is no circumstance in life that a better perspective cannot turn the tide and begin attracting something far better than you ever imagined!

So, did having a good perspective bring my legs back? Did focusing on forgiveness and love get back all the years Mandela lost in prison? Not at all! BUT understanding... accepting and allowing that ‘what is’ IS ‘what is’, and then choosing the best thoughts and perspectives about all you DO have and all you CAN DO, creates all the difference in the world not only for you in the moment you do it, but for every single life you are fortunate enough to touch.

Thoughts do become things indeed, and finding ways to choose a ‘better’ perspective about any situation you are currently in will only create better future circumstances in your life.

Today, I challenge you to listen to your thoughts! What are your thoughts telling you about your future? Are they saying, “Poor me, why does this always happen to me?” which only brings more of the same. Or are they saying, “Wow, this was unexpected; how can I now think about this experience in a way that will help me feel better?” Or, How can I use this experience to help someone else, uplift another or encourage someone in need?”

In the meantime, should a storm of life catch you by surprise, you can choose to face it by opening with a brand new thought...

“Let the Dance Begin!”

Always dancing in mind, body and spirit…

Kelly

To alleviate any confusion, please note: through a series of surgeries my legs were re-attached at the time of the original accident, however, gangrene very quickly set into my right leg and it was later re-amputated. I am wonderfully blessed to be incredibly athletic (strangers are always completely surprised when they discover that one of my legs is artificial). I roller skate, water ski, snow ski, have worked out since I was 19 years old and in fact, taught high impact aerobics for 8 years. I took up weight training 5 years ago and currently DANCE anywhere from 2 to 4 nights a week.

Who You Really Are! By Kelly K. Brown

Standing in the light of the Pantheon, Rome, Italy

I wrote the email (highlighted below) for a dear friend who is going through what most would deem a serious life struggle. Upset people, forceful opinions… everyone strongly set in their ways, their point of view the ONLY right point of view according to them. Condemnation, judgment, and anger are being given free reign in this particular life situation.

At times like this, it is easy to be tempted to be judgmental. (As my friend was telling me the story, it was amazing how quickly I felt it rising in me!) It is easy to forget ‘who we really are’, and want to lash out at others in our ‘expectation’ of how they should behave. It is interesting how when we do that, we find ourselves behaving (even if only mentally) exactly as those we condemn who are themselves throwing judgment all around.

And you feel just miserable when you do that… don’t you?

On my own personal journey, I discovered something wonderful about who I really am and how acting from that knowledge not only makes me feel wonderful, it literally ‘moves mountains’, creates miracles and makes my life ‘EASY!’. When I purposely take control of my thoughts and focus on the true essence of my being, when I find myself coming only from that which we all truly are on the inside… I find I have nothing to give beyond Pure Unconditional Love!

Love for myself and extraordinary love for others. Compassion, understanding and a knowing we are all one fills my heart and mind and any judgment I was holding onto disappears and I again find the way to shine my light so others who are watching might catch a glimpse of what they also forgot--- WHO THEY REALLY ARE!

My daughter, DeeDee and I enjoying the architectural structure and what the light represents to us!

The thing that will boggle your mind most, is when we access our unconditional love and allow it to be our guide, LOVE does all the work! Walls come down, opinions change, and enemies quickly become allies… and it all begins with being Who You Truly Are… A Source of Unconditional Love!

From this perspective, you will find you are no longer waging ‘wars’ against anything---not people, countries, the economy, illnesses—you will find you are living in a state of being ‘FOR’ what you desire most. Things like peace, well being, love, harmony, joy, and prosperity. And best of all… you will have all those things in an abundance you never dreamed possible!

A joyful reminder of Who You Really Are:

YOU ARE:

The Calm in any storm
The Light in a darkened world
The Voice of Reason in calamity
The Joy of Love expressed
The Hope others need to see
The Peace in strife-filled situations
The Harmony of life
You Are Unconditional Love...

All of these… You Are!!!

These items are not only in you... and they aren’t something outside of you to strive for…

Peace, love, light, joy, harmony, well-being... These ARE YOU!

At Your Core, Your Very ‘Being’, You Are All These Things! WE are all these things!

Allow me to share two strategies to keep you on path regardless of any circumstance you may currently be living:

1) Remember Who You Really Are (all those listed above and more!)

2) Listen to the voice of your inner guidance (those inner gems of wisdom we all have) that in moments of stress are often harder to hear. You do that by first and foremost seeking relief for you! Look FIRST for ways that YOU can feel good no matter what the current external situation is that you are facing! This will bring you back into alignment through the wonderful feelings of relief.

That is the most important thing you can do to resolve ANY life issue--- find new perspectives and thoughts that bring relief and then make you (YES YOU!) feel good!!!

Feeling even a little better is a HUGE step in the right direction!

When you feel that relief, and remember Who You Really Are---unconditional love, peace, joy, harmony, and well-being--- all that is YOU will then flow to others perfectly; with great ease, right on cue!

You will influence everyone around you for good with little or no effort (no pushing, no force or anxiety required) ---and you will create incredible miracles in every situation of life in which you are involved.

Who You Really Are? Pure Unconditional Love!