Can you receive?

When we take the time to really enjoy the fruits of our labor, we use that energy to recharge ourselves and prepare ourselves for the next time.

Can you receive?  

by John English — 

Congratulations. You have achieved your goal. You successfully held something in mind and surrounded it with gratitude as you worked to manifest it in your life. Suddenly, though, you notice this achievement is not as sweet as you had envisioned it to be.

After all the action you took to reach your goal, there often is a lull in the energy once you have created what you desired in your life. Gone is the joy and elation you experienced as you completed the necessary steps along the way. Maybe the elation was there at the moment of your accomplishment and shortly thereafter, but it dissipated more rapidly than you would have liked. Why? Perhaps you have trouble receiving.

Our culture is one dominated by action. Since we were children, most of us have been taught well how to use the masculine energies of intention and action. “The early bird catches the worm.” “Don’t rest on your laurels.” Do these sound familiar? This programming has led to a 50- to 60-hour workweek. It has served us well for getting things done — but what about reaping what we sow?

Very few of us have been taught how to receive. Receiving is a feminine energy. All this action without receiving has brought us to a point of imbalance — personally and globally. This imbalance threatens the very ecosystems we rely on for our existence.

On a personal level, this imbalance wears us out physically, emotionally and spiritually, and it threatens our future success. The reason for this is the universal law of attraction. Many of us have become aware of this law due, in part, to a popular movie, The Secret. The law of attraction states that we attract everything into our lives by what we focus on. It tells us that our thoughts and actions create the experiences in our lives. The universe always gives us what we want, and actions speak louder than words.

Have you ever set out to accomplish something, but never achieved it for one reason or another? Have you ever been so busy that you blew right by what you were creating, and when it showed up in your life you missed the opportunity? Most of us have. When we accomplish something, we must take time to thoroughly embody and enjoy the experience. When we do this, we are using the universal law of attraction and telling the universe we want more of the same. If we don’t celebrate our successes, then the universe responds by ceasing to give us anything further to celebrate.

When we take the time to really enjoy the fruits of our labor, we use that energy to recharge ourselves and prepare ourselves for the next time. Celebration springs forth out of the feminine of its own accord. Enjoy this energy, for it is a part of the great circle of life. This does not mean you will get all puffed up with ego. Rather, it means you are grateful — grateful to the universe, grateful to life, grateful to yourself.

Take the time to be in balance and reciprocity with life. Take the time to receive.

John English is a shamanic healer and the award-winning author of The Shift: An Awakening. He conducts private sessions and workshops about destiny and the dreamtime, shamanic healing, journeying and the medicine wheel. www.dreamtimeonline.com or 480-473-8957.

Reprinted from AzNetNews, Volume 26, Number 1, February/March 2007.