Beautiful Life Ezine

IN THIS ISSUE:

July 1, 2009

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A Note From Sarah Maria

Dear Friend,

Well, I am off to Northern California this week to visit my family over the 4th of July. It will be lots of fun - getting a chance to connect with family members and friends whom I haven't seen in a long time. I love the long daylight hours that come with the summer time in California - the extra daylight helps my body to rejuvenate and reinvigorate. A few years ago I took a trip to Alaska during the summer and loved living in constant daylight. Of course, there is always a trade-off, if you get long daylight hours in summer, you get long night-time hours in winter...when I was living in Seattle it would get dark around 4pm in December and January. I noticed that I felt tired quite often!

Part of the spiritual path is learning to love the darkness as well as the light, within ourselves and within the world. In my experience, at first it is much easier to love the light, both inside of me and outside of me. It is easier to love the light within me and the light within others, just as it is easier to love pleasure instead of pain.

Yet often times, it is our pain that transforms us. Sometimes it is our darkness that awakens us. In every painful experience, there is the seed of pleasure, and in every pleasurable experience, there is the seed of pain. The more comfortable we become with the light and the dark, the pleasure and the pain, we will begin to see that it is all part of the perfection, all part of the wisdom, all part of our soul's journey. Ultimate reality is beyond both pleasure and pain, beyond light and dark, beyond good and bad. It is the screen on which all of this is projected - timeless, boundless, and eternal.

Enjoy your pleasure - it is delightful. Discover your pain - it is always insightful. Know that the true you is utterly beyond and dissolves all polarities.

As you discover this part of yourself, you will see that we are all one, all equal, all unbounded. As barriers dissolve, you will discover yourself to be more magnificent than you ever dreamed.

This week's article is dedicated to discovering your own greatness and through that dissolving all insecurities.

Check out the special offer below for a new DVD that was just released by Debbie Ford. Debbie has been working with the notion of the shadow, helping people to befriend both their light and dark sides, for years. She just released a new DVD that you will absolutely want to check out.

One last thing - the new audio product is taking a little longer to finalize, but it will be ready soon - thank you for your patience! :)

Wishing you a most beautiful 4th of July and every day,

Sarah Maria

Feature Article

Experience Your Greatness

The most important element in creating what you want in life is to know that you are capable of it, that you are worthy of it, that you deserve it. The world is as we are, meaning that the world is a projection of our consciousness. If we believe ourselves to be great, we will create greatness. If we believe ourselves to be inadequate - we will create inadequacy.

This is not about being egotistic or being full of yourself. This only occurs when you think you are better than someone else. We tend to think of ourselves relative to other people, thereby judging ourselves and judging other people. When we compare ourselves to other people, we lose. It is often said "comparison is a loser's game", and nothing could be more true. Many of us our afraid of experiencing our own greatness because we are concerned about the voices that will accompany our success:

"I am smarter than he is"
"I am more successful than she is"
"I am sexier than she is"
"I have more money and a better education"
Etc., etc., etc.

Feeling insecure is simply the flip side of this coin:

"He is more successful than I am"
"She has a better body"
"She is more successful - why would she be interested in what I have to say?"
"He has more money, more fame, and more prestige - why would he want to talk to me?"
Etc, etc., etc.

As long as we live in this world, we suffer. Period. If we happen to be on the "successful" side of the equation and comparing ourselves to others who are perceived to be "less", it cuts us off from potential love, connection, and insight. We create filters that skew our vision, preventing us from seeing the beauty or the greatness that might be standing right in front of us.

If we are on the "less successful" side of the equation, we suffer as well. Nothing will create pain faster than comparing yourself to someone else and deciding you come up short. Nothing. Yet it is something that many of us do all the time. When we feel inadequate or less accomplished, we are less willing to take chances, ask for what we need, set big goals, and claim the life of our dreams. We give other people power over us, simply because we perceive them as being smarter, prettier, or more successful than we are. Not fun. At all.

The solution? Step out of the paradigm all together. Step out of the comparison game and step into the greatness that knows no boundaries. Step into the greatness that is limitless and discover that you can be great, and everyone else can be great as well.

Here is how it works:

When you notice yourself comparing yourself to other people, simply notice it. Become aware. No need to judge yourself or create a whole story about how you shouldn't be doing it - this just adds another layer to the angst. Instead, simply notice it. Become the witness to your experience. This helps to create detachment, so you no longer need to be bound by the stories in your head. As you cultivate this practice of witnessing awareness, the ceaseless chatter begins to drop away of its own accord, and it loses its power to control your life.

Next, shift your focus to who you truly are. At your essence, you are eternal and unbounded, omnipotent and omniscience. You are the wisdom and intelligence of the universe manifesting as a human being. You are beyond the body-mind, in fact your are the creator of the body mind. You are the very power that creates worlds. You are this power, and everyone else is this power as well. When you live in this realm, you realize that there are no divisions, only unity that binds each and every one of us.

As you discover this truth, you can begin to tell a different story. You can tell a story of your greatness, your wisdom, and your triumph. You can begin to tell a story of your beauty and your grace, your power and your strength. It can be a story that extols your perfection, as well as the perfection of every one else as well, because you will know that at our essence we are all expressions of each other.

Once you begin to tell a different story, you can begin to create a different life. Our lives are an expression of the stories we tell ourselves. When you connect with your source of power, you will discover that you can create whatever story you want, and you can create whatever life you want. Connect with your source of power and you will find the beauty that awaits you once you step outside of the comparison game.

Just to re-iterate, here are the steps:

1.) Simply observe the mental chatter
2.) Focus on the truth of who you are
3.) Tell a different story
4.) Create a new life based on that story

Recognize your greatness; embrace and overcome insecurity, and discover that you have the power to create a life that you love.

Specials For You

The Shadow Effect

Are you ready to understand the power of your darkness and your light, and discover the wisdom that is beyond both? Then please check out this incredible offer below.

The Shadow Effect, a visually stunning and cutting-edge documentary, will inspire you to step out of the self that you've known and break free from the bonds of the past.

Deepak Chopra, Marianne Williamson, Dr. David Simon, and other world-renowned thinkers join Debbie Ford to reveal the transformative power of your shadow--the parts of yourself that you dislike and disown, the past that you regret and repress, and the future that is waiting to be birthed.

The Shadow Effect will leave you breathing deeper as you take back your power and step into the possibility of the next greatest evolution of yourself. And for the first time ever, in the comfort of your own home, you will be guided to unveil the mechanism that drives what you do, what you think, and what you fear. In eight life-changing exercises, you will embrace the parts of yourself that will give you the courage to speak your truth, let go of the old, and open up to your own greatness.

In this transformational interactive movie experience, you will reclaim your right to be who you always wanted to be in the world.

Here's the link:

www.TheShadowEffect.com

About Sarah Maria
Sarah Maria

Sarah Maria is a body-image expert and teacher who can help you discover the beauty that you already are so that you can create a body and a life that you truly love. Her first book, Love Your Body, Love Your Life, is being published by Adams Media and will be available for purchase in November '09. She combines ancient spiritual wisdom with modern science and shows you, step-by-step, how to pacify your mind, heal your heart, befriend your body, and transform your life.

She has studied with the leading experts in health, spirituality, personal development, and success, including Deepak Chopra, physician Dr. David Simon (co-founder of the Chopra Center for Well-being in Carlsbad, CA), Dr. Wayne Dyer, Jack Canfield, renowned Ayurvedic physician Vasant Lad, and many others. She is a lover of eastern philosophy and spiritual wisdom and passionately shares these teachings that have so transformed her own life.

Before founding Break Free Beauty, Sarah Maria received her law degree from Stanford University and her Master's in International Affairs from Columbia University in NYC. She has lived and traveled throughout Latin America, and has also visited many countries around the world. Her greatest passion is helping people discover the beauty and the greatness that resides inside so they can live from this place of grandeur, transforming themselves and the world.

© 2009 Break Free Beauty by Sarah Maria. All rights Reserved.