Tom the body piecer & 3 tips to be true to yourself

Traveling on a big city train, I recently struck up conversation with a man who offered some profound insight. I learned this man was a fashion designer turned professional body piecer. He spoke with me during an hour commute into a Toronto suburb.  Based on his life experience, here are three tips he believes would help you be more true to yourself;

1) View yourself as knowledgable in your field. People who perceive themselves as 'experts' are often the kind of people who evolve to become close-minded. To remain open to learning is to admit you never know it all.  Yet, to believe you know little or nothing is a lie to yourself. You have power to boost your esteem without being arrogant.

2) Share what you know. Every experience you have can help other people learn.  In group settings, people learn skills faster and adapt more effectively.  When people have the attitude 'knowledge is power,' and they choose to keep secrets, this does not help others.  In fact, it leads to fear, deception and less productive situations.  Many people undervalue their role as a teacher and the good they can do wherever they already are.

3) Rise above judgement.  People often decide whether they will talk to others based on appearances, assumptions about a job, socio-economic status, life choices or fear.   As you evolve to permit yourself to shatter your own illusions, you move beyond stereotypes and discover what being human is all about.  You have opportunities to learn from everyone about yourself.  Every situation or encounter is a gift.  You invite what you need.

"Wherever you go, go with all your heart." -Confucius

What would cause you to trust yourself more?

Your insticts are supposed to be dependable. Your eyes open each morning.  You get up.  Your taste buds and other senses generate constant information. Nonetheless, you often hestitate to listen.  You disregard signs. What would cause you to trust yourself more?

Think back to that relationship you entered into that did not work out as you had hoped. What was that uneasy vibe you felt way back at the beginning? For some reason, you chose to overlook that. It was not important, right?

Reflect again on that instinct you had to run around the corner when your instinct told you the bus was early.  How did it feel to discover that you were right?

Remember the time when you were choosing peers as members for your sports team in gym class.  Part of you felt compelled to choose friends or popular kids. Another part of you urged you to choose for ability.  Your team revealed how you felt about appearances.

Recall the time you were on the phone and your instinct caused you to run to the kitchen.  Your mind was sending you vibes about the pot of boiling water you had left on and forgotten. This was not a memory lapse. It was a gradual building of trust inside you.

What about the time you were scanning the community bulletin board and came across that part-time job that led you to hold the responsibilities you now hold? Was it coincidence you were compelled to phone the number? At the time, you thought you had no idea what you were geting into. Seems part of you did.

None of your instincts are ever misplaced. Yet, you disregard far more than you acknowledge. Each instance you choose to trust your feelings, you gain new insight into yourself.  You are building confidence and raising awareness in ways that serve you.

Rise above what holds you back

Analysis of dream submitted by Anonymous in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Dream- I stood beside a woman. I noticed three earthbound spirits which I sensed were her children. Each had a different personality. They acted to capture my attention to share messages. Each child floated above the floor. The woman did not see them. A man also appeared. The woman acted as if she did not see him. The child spirits kept their distance. The man fidgeted. I read his energy vibration as I scraped dried paint off a wall. Then, I climbed a ladder to fill in ceiling corners with a white paint roller.

Predominant Emotions- curiosity, guilt, patience, surprise, anticipation, and acceptance

Interpretation- You support what you believe in and slowly come to accept abilities you did not always acknowledge. This translates into confidence. You have an eye for detail where other people miss subtle nuances. As your senses expand, you are more than an astute physical observer. You detect energy in new forms with implications. What you choose to share and with whom is an issue of tact.

At any given moment, what you acknowledge about your perception and your life is what you are ready to accept. Your beliefs and values are constantly challenged. You shift your awareness in stages and expand how and what you see. You are also learning unsolicited advice is inappropriate.

Male and female behavioural traits clarify aspects of your human identity. You will sense personal history and unresolved feelings mirrored in relationships around you. You may also find you have insight into the lives of complete strangers. You are always in the right place at the right time.

The painter is the creator within you. You can remove what no longer suits you and paint over it with your sense of who you are now.  You climb your own ladder of success.

10 Tips to further clarify your dreams

1) Choose not to disregard your fantasies

2) Stop listening only to what other people tell you

3) Expend effort to explore your interests and talents

4) Listen to your heart

5) Focus on your strengths

6) Imagine what you would be doing if you had no limits

7) Brainstorm what drives you

8) Take time to write down your thoughts

9) Learn to dissolve your fears

10) Raise awareness of how you lie to yourself (this is the first step to shatter your own illusions)

How do you learn to experience joy?

If you wish to know joy, then you must decide joy exists and accept you deserve it. Some people have no memory of joy, do not believe they deserve joy or, believe life is not meant to be joyful. You may have your own mental blocks to dissolve or overcome.

As you evolve to believe you attract joy, then you will also discover you create it. You learn to be actively and passively joyful. You choose to be aware or not. You may notice when you create these feelings or not. If you do not choose to notice, then it does not mean joy is not within. Your mindset may not be ready to consciously accept that.

To find joy everywhere, you must be prepared to believe that joy takes many more forms than you consciously discern. You must be willing to adapt your perception and accept that joy is more or different than you thought. It is not only what you feel as a reflex or reward after certain experiences. Your current associations and conditioning prevent you from experiencing joy continually.Perpetual joy is available to every being. Part of you believes you are only meant to evoke positive feelings under limited circumstances. And yet, joy is a form of serenity of the soul that is ever-present and ever-beckoning. Joy is not something deserved or not. You are your own judge. Joy and judge exist within. It is your choice to find it, experience it or, not. Why conceal your own intrinsic self-worth, confidence, faith and trust? When people do not grasp how spiritual forces work, they convince themselves they are unable to build unconditional happiness. Who told you it’s not possible, appropriate, suitable or achievable? Ask yourself what kind of life that person leads. People often project their own fear and ignorance. If someone tells you love does not exist because they do not live it, remind yourself opinion is not truth. Regardless of your experience, you can evolve to realize every event, every choice you make, is a step toward a different understanding of joy and happiness. You choose every perception and focus of every relationship and circumstance. People with health problems or other crises can choose rediscover meaning and motivation in life or, reinforce their negative beliefs and feelings of despair. At a given moment, you decide who to listen to and what subjects will make sense. Part of you always knows and experiences joy. Part of you also deprives yourself of positive feelings for your own ends. You are invited to adopt what serves you and to disregard what does not. It is a process. Another way of viewing things is to sense every spark of joy you experience consciously is a way to dissolve what joy is not. For example, if you reflect on a situation in your life that evoked sad or negative feelings, that same situation can be viewed as a path to experiencing greater happiness. Your points of reference change. Your feelings deepen and intensify. The nature of joy expands. It touches everything and everyone. You experience joy and nothing else whenever you choose.