This week on Chi For Yourself we get “creative”, with a look back on the 2011 interview with Michael Michalko, one of the most highly acclaimed creativity experts in the world. Michael talks about his book Creative Thinkering and ways we can synthesize dissimilar subjects, think paradoxically, and enlist the help of our subconscious minds. His intention? Liberate your thinking and literally expand your imagination!

The interview will air on BlogTalkRadio at 1pm Eastern, 10 am in the Pacific time zone.

Article:

The Long Arm of the Universe: You Can Run But You Can’t Hide From Natural Law

So there I am, enjoying a beautiful Saturday afternoon of shopping with my mate. She and I had picked up several items when I casually suggested how one of those items could be used and then returned to the store. Nothing unusual- it’s done all the time. Not against the law, I thought. In fact, people do it all the time and the store actually expects it.

As the week progressed I realized that I had slipped into a behavior that was common in my younger days. Get something for nothing, use it,  bring it back in perfect condition, and be ahead of the game- no harm no foul! But even if society doesn’t police these actions you can be sure the Universe does. I felt I had been slapped “upside the head” with a classic scarcity lesson. And what’s that queasy feeling I have in the pit of my stomach? Why I believe it’s guilt!

from Wikipedia:
Guilt is a cognitive or an emotional experience that occurs when a person realizes or believes—accurately or not—that he or she has compromised his or her own standards of conduct or has violated a moral standard, and bears significant responsibility for that violation.[1] It is closely related to the concept of remorse.

Hmmm. Remorse. Yeah, I’d say there was some of that, too. I wondered to myself why I felt that I had to resort to a mindset that I thought I had abandoned long ago. I’ve experienced such abundance in my life. Those store items were very affordable, but like a reversal of the well-known *Patanjali quote a “dormant force” had come back to make me feel otherwise. I had betrayed my Self. Not a shining example of genuine living.

“True guilt is guilt at the obligation one owes to oneself to be oneself. False guilt is guilt felt at not being what other people feel one ought to be.” (R. D. Laing)

I’ve since taken steps to balance the Universe’s “books.” And I’m doing that with great gratitude. I appreciate that I’m given the insight to see what I did and that I have the choice to answer that faint inner voice in the affirmative. In the words of author Marge Kennedy: “Hard though it may be to accept, remember that guilt is sometimes a friendly internal voice reminding you that you’re messing up.”

Messed up. My bad.

*“When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds: Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great, and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and your discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.”
-Patanjali

John K. 5/21/2014
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