YOUR LIFE A-Z: ASK

AN INVITATION TO ASK AWAITS YOU

ASK

To ASK for what you want and for what you need is often very uncomfortable.  Somewhere along our life’s journey many of us heard critical statements like “You always want to much? “  “Don’t ask for anything that is not offered to you?” “How selfish!”  Janet Conner in her book, The Lotus and the Lily, offers a freeing perspective on this three-letter word, ASK.  Conner does not say it exactly like this but she implies that to not ASK for what you want and need is a position of arrogance and isolation.  The mentality that you can do it all by yourself and alone is a mentality of arrogance and self-absorption.  To ASK implies interdependence and a state of vulnerability.  Being vulnerable is scary and requires a certain amount of inner strength to allow someone else to see that you have a need.  To ASK is to risk being told “no.”  The question must be running around in your head, “ASK whom?”  Start with the people in your life?  Who do you need something from?  ASK for it?  How about work?  What do you need to be different there for you to be at your best? ASK for it?  ASKING is not a passive energy.  To ASK for something is present energy.  To ASK means you have defined what you need and how your life will be better, bigger, and more effective if you receive what you are ASKING for.  Regardless of your spiritual proclivity, ASK the universe, God, nature, or the divine Other and watch it come into being over the next while.  Be brave - ASK.   

YOUR LIFE A-Z READ

READ
What is it that you always wanted to know or to do?  READ about it.  Find out as much as you can about those subjects that interest you.  Make yourself a research project and become an expert on anything you want to know about.  READ as a way to educate, stimulate, and develop passion.  There are so many things out there to do and to discover and talented authors can take you there by the way they make the words on a page dance life right into your being.
Here are some interesting reads if you want to know something more about spirituality and Buddhism, read Pema Chodron’s, The Places that Scare You. To enjoy an entirely different take on Buddhism read, Buddha Walks Into the Bar by Lodro Rinzler.  If you want to understand the history and spiritual connection with the Virgin Mary, read Clarissa Pinkola Estes book, Untie the Strong Woman: Blessed Mother’s Immaculate Love for the Wild Soul or if you have an avid researcher inside give the History of God a whirl by Karen Armstrong.  For a psychological vacation, read Brene Brown’s The Gifts of Imperfection or if you are feeling lost try The Passion Test by Atwood and Atwood.  Want to explore the caves of your own soul spend some time working on Janet Conner’s Writing Down the Soul or the Lotus and the Lily.  Of course there are many wonderful novels to read, so whatever suits your fancy, go explore the world of READING today.  Don’t forget that I have IN A MOMENT’S NOTICE: A PSYCHOLOGIST’S JOURNEY WITH BREAST CANCER and it is just a click away at Amazon or Barnes and Nobles.