[tao of dana ]

Expand your vision of what's possible

Are you expecting amazing things to happen?

Just think about today... and what do you expect to happen? Do you expect to have to deal with bad thoughts, worries... Or maybe, the same stuff you're used to and nothing new?

Science supports the fact that we get what we expect.

And the more you can expand your expectations to encompass new stuff, the more you'll have.

Well, if you're used to not thinking bigger, or if you've become accustomed to what you think you can have even if it contradicts what you say... it can be tricky to expect more from every day because you don't really believe it!

For so many years I ran around saying earnestly, with vision boards and affirmations and everything that I saw myself with a bigger life doing the things that I loved to do all day.

It wasn't that I didn't want it bad, and it wasn't that I didn't focus on it...

But I clung to... old people who were limited and negative in a way that reinforced my own stuckness, old ideas and tramas that kept me feeling restricted and, also, I never really had a timeline. In fact, every year, I'd just extend the timeline and say, " This is my year."

I didn't, in my heart, expect it to happen.

Until, of course, I was forced / jumped off a cliff that was totally unforeseen.

A relationship that was suddenly over, then a job that became intolerable enough to suddenly leave, a wardrobe that suddenly felt like a strangers wardrobe...

It was like the universe pushed me into a state where I had to create better for myself after lying to myself for so many years, saying I desperately wanted the new but secretly clinging to the familiar.

You don't have to radically strip yourself of all of life to start believing that you can have more and better and higher and lighter and happier and more fulfilling days. But... you do need to dive into action.

• Deeply clean and clear your house.

• Look for ways to positively vision a new life and display it in your space- be it a collage, a piece of art that messages your vision of where you want to move next, a shelf full of books that are mind-expanding- and actually put it there. Message expanded vision in the spaces you spend the most time.

• Then... start doing the new actions. It is practice, practice and more practice that makes changes stick. It's not overnight. In fact, as I move through a 100-day Buddhist chanting season - 3 1/2 hours a day for 100 days- to deeply inspire and transform what's coming next in my own life in a spiritual way- I can tell you that practice is more powerful than any sort of repeated thoughts. Practice makes things a part of your life. So... practise what fuels you!

Nina Boski in her article 'Positively Positive' nails down a very awesome principle of actually expanding what's possible:

"In expanding your life, courage and risk are key. You have to be willing to risk losing the old part of you that isn't working or limiting your life. This is where it can get tricky. Because even though you say you want to change, you also may feel very attached and comfortable with this part of your life. Expanding means saying goodbye to the old.

Michael Bernard Beckwith of Agape Spiritual Center and the movie, 'The Secret', he has a favorite phrase:

"Vision without Action is Fantasy and Action without VISION is Chaos."

So ground who you are in practicality, but be willing to expand into the vision of who you are. You may need to do an inventory of the ways you put limits on yourself. Then put into motion a plan to change it either by outside support or by gaining more knowledge.

Expanding your vision of what's possible should not feel like hell on Earth. In fact, if you're walking into brick walls, change what you're doing until it feels like the most exciting thing that you can't wait to do... and then... keep at it.

Expect more greatness every day.

Expand your sense of what it possible.

See it every day in your home.

Live it every day in your life.