toddwarrenblog

ToddWarren.com Todd Warren is an author. He writes about spirituality, grace and the inherent quality of abundance in daily life. #mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; } /* Add your own MailChimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block. We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. */ subscribe via email Email Address First Name Last Name var fnames = new Array();var ftypes = new Array();fnames[0]='EMAIL';ftypes[0]='email';fnames[1]='FNAME';ftypes[1]='text';fnames[2]='LNAME';ftypes[2]='text'; try { var jqueryLoaded=jQuery; jqueryLoaded=true; } catch(err) { var jqueryLoaded=false; } var head= document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0]; if (!jqueryLoaded) { var script = document.createElement('script'); script.type = 'text/javascript'; script.src = '//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.4.4/jquery.min.js'; head.appendChild(script); if (script.readyState && script.onload!==null){ script.onreadystatechange= function () { if (this.readyState == 'complete') mce_preload_check(); } } } var err_style = ''; try{ err_style = mc_custom_error_style; } catch(e){ err_style = '#mc_embed_signup input.mce_inline_error{border-color:#6B0505;} #mc_embed_signup div.mce_inline_error{margin: 0 0 1em 0; padding: 5px 10px; background-color:#6B0505; font-weight: bold; z-index: 1; color:#fff;}'; } var head= document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0]; var style= document.createElement('style'); style.type= 'text/css'; if (style.styleSheet) { style.styleSheet.cssText = err_style; } else { style.appendChild(document.createTextNode(err_style)); } head.appendChild(style); setTimeout('mce_preload_check();', 250); var mce_preload_checks = 0; function mce_preload_check(){ if (mce_preload_checks>40) return; mce_preload_checks++; try { var jqueryLoaded=jQuery; } catch(err) { setTimeout('mce_preload_check();', 250); return; } var script = document.createElement('script'); script.type = 'text/javascript'; script.src = 'http://downloads.mailchimp.com/js/jquery.form-n-validate.js'; head.appendChild(script); try { var validatorLoaded=jQuery("#fake-form").validate({}); } catch(err) { setTimeout('mce_preload_check();', 250); return; } mce_init_form(); } function mce_init_form(){ jQuery(document).ready( function($) { var options = { errorClass: 'mce_inline_error', errorElement: 'div', onkeyup: function(){}, onfocusout:function(){}, onblur:function(){} }; var mce_validator = $("#mc-embedded-subscribe-form").validate(options); $("#mc-embedded-subscribe-form").unbind('submit');//remove the validator so we can get into beforeSubmit on the ajaxform, which then calls the validator options = { url: 'http://toddwarren.us3.list-manage.com/subscribe/post-json?u=d0fa3afb06fffe558edd01cab&id=ae1a56c7f5&c=?', type: 'GET', dataType: 'json', contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8", beforeSubmit: function(){ $('#mce_tmp_error_msg').remove(); $('.datefield','#mc_embed_signup').each( function(){ var txt = 'filled'; var fields = new Array(); var i = 0; $(':text', this).each( function(){ fields[i] = this; i++; }); $(':hidden', this).each( function(){ var bday = false; if (fields.length == 2){ bday = true; fields[2] = {'value':1970};//trick birthdays into having years } if ( fields[0].value=='MM' && fields[1].value=='DD' && (fields[2].value=='YYYY' || (bday && fields[2].value==1970) ) ){ this.value = ''; } else if ( fields[0].value=='' && fields[1].value=='' && (fields[2].value=='' || (bday && fields[2].value==1970) ) ){ this.value = ''; } else { if (/\[day\]/.test(fields[0].name)){ this.value = fields[1].value+'/'+fields[0].value+'/'+fields[2].value; } else { this.value = fields[0].value+'/'+fields[1].value+'/'+fields[2].value; } } }); }); $('.phonefield-us','#mc_embed_signup').each( function(){ var fields = new Array(); var i = 0; $(':text', this).each( function(){ fields[i] = this; i++; }); $(':hidden', this).each( function(){ if ( fields[0].value.length != 3 || fields[1].value.length!=3 || fields[2].value.length!=4 ){ this.value = ''; } else { this.value = 'filled'; } }); }); return mce_validator.form(); }, success: mce_success_cb }; $('#mc-embedded-subscribe-form').ajaxForm(options); }); } function mce_success_cb(resp){ $('#mce-success-response').hide(); $('#mce-error-response').hide(); if (resp.result=="success"){ $('#mce-'+resp.result+'-response').show(); $('#mce-'+resp.result+'-response').html(resp.msg); $('#mc-embedded-subscribe-form').each(function(){ this.reset(); }); } else { var index = -1; var msg; try { var parts = resp.msg.split(' - ',2); if (parts[1]==undefined){ msg = resp.msg; } else { i = parseInt(parts[0]); if (i.toString() == parts[0]){ index = parts[0]; msg = parts[1]; } else { index = -1; msg = resp.msg; } } } catch(e){ index = -1; msg = resp.msg; } try{ if (index== -1){ $('#mce-'+resp.result+'-response').show(); $('#mce-'+resp.result+'-response').html(msg); } else { err_id = 'mce_tmp_error_msg'; html = '

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228 posts

[toddwarren]

YOU’RE AWESOME! THANKS FOR READING.

I work with a residential treatment center in spirituality and doable action. Every week I have the privilege of talking with courageous people who are doing the hard work of getting free from addictions, disordered lifestyles and destructive patterns.

I wrote a book of daily encouragements for them. And the bulk of this toddwarrenblog has been my year-long project of rewriting that book for a more universal audience (everyone else who is not in a 12-Step program).  I plan to get it all together in both digital and print formats for release later this year. I will let you know when all of that is coming.

I hope you’ve enjoyed it, and I hope you’ve been encouraged.  Thank you for being an awesome part of this journey I’m on!

I will still be blogging here, so stick with me, there’s plenty of life-giving content coming!

Much grace to you today.

~ Todd

[toddwarren]

WHO WILL YOU BECOME?

Surrendering to grace means opening ourselves to beauty and goodness already present and active in our lives.  We cooperate with its warm affection; we expand into its fullness.  We move to embrace it and discover that we are already engulfed by its immensity, its elegant sympathy, its vision for our lives and for the future.

Following are some questions to help you consider the vastness of grace and love in your life.

• If you could remain open to the fact that Love is, at all times, surrounding you and within you, what might happen?

• If you could allow Grace to raise your countenance above the breadth of your pain, that you might see the blessing and purpose always available, what would happen?

• If you live engulfed in the reality that you are valued and wanted, who will you become?

[toddwarren]

HOW TO LOOK BEYOND LIFE’S IMPERFECTIONS

“Being happy doesn’t mean that everything is perfect.  It means you’ve decided to look beyond the imperfections.” ~ Anonymous

God gives grace… 24 / 7 / 365.  And like any other gift, the gift of grace can only be experienced and enjoyed if we’ll receive what is being offered.  So if we continue to resist or hold onto our skepticism about deity or love and goodness, then we intentionally bypass the gift and we’ll stay as we’ve always been—no growth, no newness, no increase.

But Love is irrefutably with us, and already moving in our lives.  It is infusing us with power, and everything we need to live abundantly.  So if we can motivate ourselves toward something good today, let it be to receive grace—taking what has already been given—and ascend to that higher realm to which it compels us.

The decision to look beyond life’s imperfections is the resolve to be fully genuine and to persistently agree with the extravagance that grace produces in our lives.  And once we give action to what is alive in our hearts, the happiness of a faith-filled life ensues, enabling us to give encouragement to others.

[toddwarren]

YOU DESERVE EVERY GOOD GRACE!

For some of us, it's hard to accept the love and understanding of our Divine Source when we feel we don't deserve it.  But that “unmerited” or “unconditional” element… that’s the whole thing about grace!  Nothing we’ve ever done or will do can alter this unrelentingly benevolent reality.  We need not shame ourselves any longer for past behavior or unfulfilled dreams, because this promise that divine favor is always available for us stands as a banner of peace for our lives.

As we flourish in this journey of life, we have the privilege of acquiring a greater portion of peace with each new realm of understanding.  As we hold on to the truth that we are loved, accepted, and worthy of everything good, we enlarge our capacity to receive grace and apply its beauty to our living. We become more and more proficient at discerning and conceding minor points—the things that don’t matter that much—and simply calming down in life.  Knowing what to focus on and what things are actually important is a significant piece of the ongoing gift of grace-filled living.

[toddwarren]

WHAT GRACE DOES

Grace is unmerited favor given to us by God for our transformation and discovery.  Grace enhances our lives and dignifies us, adorning us with a significance we’ve never known before.  Grace distinguishes our lives from every other, because it illuminates our unique beauty and gives us the capacity to walk in the sacredness of that beauty more formidably.

Author Anne Lamott said, “I do not at all understand the mystery of grace—only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us.” Your openness to that touch of grace today is your agreement with the power of Love to bring breakthrough and renewal in the seemingly mundane places of your living. There is nothing ordinary about you—you are magnificent!  And grace is always moving you towards a clearer understanding of your bright and distinct purpose.  

[toddwarren]

PEACE IS POSSIBLE!

When we humble ourselves to the simple belief that we are not at the center of the universe and that a compassionate Power greater than ourselves is eager to love us unconditionally, an understanding heart forms within us.  Though we might not feel that we understand life more clearly or fully, our faith creates space within our hearts for the power of Love to bring fresh, exciting revelation.  

Yet when we take up intellectual offense to the idea of a Higher Power—or to our unanswered questions about life, suffering, tragedy, truth, God, whatever—we block our ability to wonder or trust in the unseen, and so revelation fails to bloom within us.  

Striving towards faith through mind-understanding will always create frustration and resentment.  This is because the capacity to understand comes from first having faith, deciding to not take offense at life’s struggles, and receiving the resulting gifts of peace and illumination.

[toddwarren]

INFLUENCING THE INEVITABLE

“Change favors minds that are diligently looking and preparing for discovery.”   ~ Louis Pasteur

Change is going to happen whether we like it or not.  Life is change.  The way we influence the change to work on our behalf is by nurturing a receptive disposition to uplifting revelation and embracing a life of hopeful anticipation.  If we’re preparing for discovery, we will find it (or it will find us).  But if we never look for it then it will, most likely, never appear.  Hope opens our eyes, keeps us listening and helps us look and prepare for vibrant innovation.

The thing about fresh revelation is that it is rarely comfortable, which makes it harder to surrender to.  We naturally tend toward scenarios that are familiar.  But we must decide to have a strong inner urge to reach for the new.  It is those faith-filled steps of surrender and receptivity that give us the capacity to live into the highest, dazzling version of ourselves!

[toddwarren]

RESISTANCE BRINGS SUFFERING, SURRENDER BRINGS HOPE

When we surrender to the brightness of Love in our lives (rather than resist it) we’re not mindlessly following a bouncing ball or dumbing ourselves down.  Instead, we are willingly decreasing our self-dependence so that we can increase our dependence on the wisdom and foresight of our Higher Power.

So today, what are you ready to stop resisting?  Because we already know the staleness that a life of resistance brings—unable to hope because we’re afraid of getting hurt.  But the compassionate designs of Love have our healing at hand and our greatest accomplishments in mind!

• What false perceptions are you willing to give up in order to embrace your truer self?

• What situations ignite the circuits of your creativity and vision?

• What higher realm are you entering by elevating your mind from its current position?

• How can you apply faith to your courageous actions today?

[toddwarren]

YOUR POWER IS IN YOUR SURRENDER

A lot of us have been fighting the consequences of a skewed lifestyle, or disordered thinking, or someone or something else our entire lives.  And because the fight has been unrelenting, it’s possible that we’ve become depleted, weak and vulnerable.  

So let’s make a wiser decision. Let’s relinquish our illusion of control, cease from futile inner resistance, and embrace the freedom to enjoy the full fragrance of life.  When we surrender to our Higher Power’s design for our lives it becomes possible to find solace in transformation, and in the progression of spiritual discovery. Surrendering to the moments as they come helps us live peacefully in each moment.  

This daily surrender is our investment, and what we invest into our personal renewal now will reward us with rich confidence in the years to come.  We have the privilege of becoming a friend to ourselves again—to agree with that encouraging, inner Voice and be excited about who we are, and who we are becoming.

[toddwarren]

LIVE TOWARDS LIFE!

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” ~ Dr. Seuss

Anyone can live towards death, with no ambition, but the Strength of Love gives us the capacity to live towards our bright destiny.  We want living that is actually full of life!  And as we live into our distinctive purpose, our lives become whole and distinguished.

A distinguished life begins each day surrendered to Love, listening to Love.  From this place of humility and receptivity, we cease striving to find ourselves and trust that we will make the discoveries we need to be whole, and will receive the revelation we need to live with compassion.  The striving is simply not necessary.

Whether or not you can see it now, you are the one who knows what your luminous, distinguished life looks like. Only you can accomplish the daring feat of becoming that beautiful, significant Original!

[toddwarren]

THIS IS THE WAY OF THE WISE

Humility is not humiliation or shame.  Humility is voluntary and constructive.  Shame is forced and destructive. Humility is not a broad-sweeping surrender to everything and everyone, where we say, “Okay, just walk over me and do whatever you want.”  That’s foolishness!  The humility required for genuine, vibrant living is being vitally aware of our own limitations, submitting to Wisdom beyond ourselves, and actively cooperating with that Power that is much bigger than our particular experiences.  

We know who we are, so we do not speak (nor allow someone else to speak) in a derogatory manner.  But we’re also aware of who we’re becoming, so we humble ourselves to receive encouragement and revelation from others. We know what we possess, so we are grateful and helpful.  But we’re also aware of what we need, so we humble ourselves to receive strength and compassion.  We know what we’ve achieved, so we’re excited and proud of ourselves.  But we’re also aware of the splendor still to come, so we humble ourselves to the guidance of our Higher Power and diligently live in that transformation.

[toddwarren]

INITIAL ACTIONS FOR ONGOING VICTORY

“Be humble, for the worst thing in the world is of the same stuff as you; be confident, for the stars are of the same stuff as you.”   ~ Nicholai Velimirovic

Our true essence is a stunning creation—capable of blessing and light beyond our furthest dreams!  Yet, at some point or another, we have all taken this essence and turned it inward, spoiling its purpose and diminishing its power. And even on “good” days when we feel competent or successful, we can still cling to an unbending arrogance that keeps us bound to resistance.

To live with humility among our family, friends and peers draws us into deeper grace.  But our ultimate aim is to humble ourselves to a benevolent, grace-filled Power beyond our reality.  A Divine Source that actually has love, forgiveness, peace, wisdom and strength to give us.  And generations of heroes and courageous souls have identified this humility and surrender to a Higher Power as the core of their ongoing victory and freedom.

When we humble ourselves, we become able to remember the breadth of our potential power and influence. When we surrender, we allow that Divine Light to magnify our unique beauty within the context of a superior, overarching design.

[toddwarren]

WHAT NEW HORIZONS ARE YOU EXPLORING?

Living toward transformation requires no specific pace or hurriedness. And our living could be much more enjoyable if we would release ourselves from the timer of unrealistic expectations and our surrounding culture. A sustained focus will create the resolution needed to refuse when the craziness of the world comes to smother our fire. But what is our fire? It is our passion for peacefulness.

If we will release the need for old habits in our lives, we will discover peace. If we will allow ourselves the space and time for healthy growth and realization, we will discover peace. If we will keep a single-heart, we will discover peace.

By surrendering to this path of transformation we open ourselves to exploration of new horizons, committing ourselves (again) to being our magnificent selves!

[toddwarren]

HOPE & GRATITUDE ARE FRIENDS

“Gratefulness sanctifies everything it touches.” ~ Bill Johnson

Hope is cooperating with our Higher Power to believe in goodness and carry the image of our future, bold self through the hardship of doubt and circumstance.

The reason “gratefulness sanctifies everything it touches” is because we are intentionally choosing to be mindful of the only reality we actually have—this present moment. The appreciation of every single thing we’re experiencing, even if it’s something we don’t prefer, is what turns each moment into a miracle-opportunity. Because it is less likely that we will be resilient and bold in the future if we do not choose to be resilient and bold right now.

Determine that you will no longer give mental recognition to any negative prospect. List your strengths. Concentrate on accessible light and goodness. Meditate on the brilliance of your distinctiveness. Create doable steps to cooperate with the grace and wisdom of your Higher Power. Put your faith to work. Be grateful in all things.

[toddwarren]

FIRST STEPS FOR MOVING INTO THE NEW

For some of us to consider forgiving or controlling our thoughts could be too big of a leap at this moment in our lives. Though this inability will be short-lived, while it holds sway, we should remind ourselves that not doing one thing is a beginning step toward doing another. And as we lean toward a greater cooperation with our Higher Power we become more inclined to give action to our faith.

At every level of our being—spirit, soul, body—we must completely align ourselves with the truth of what Love thinks about us. To be restructured in this way, we will need to let go of old patterns and thoughts. If we can be patient with ourselves and receive encouragement, we will find that not hating is a glorious step toward loving, or that not condemning is a huge step toward forgiveness, or that not blaming is a significant step toward responsibility. We must take first steps first and be proud that we’re moving toward the dazzling good life!

Following are some questions to help you consider how you might move into the new by stepping out of the old:

• What lie can you silence so that you may hear the truth?

• What does indifference look like in your living? How can you turn that over and begin to own your life?

• What fresh determination would come from ending one careless habit?

• What’s one small fear you can face today that would make you more confident in yourself?

[toddwarren]

WELCOMING NEW LIFE

“One doesn’t discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time."  ~ André Gide

Doubt makes us old. Fear makes us old. Despair makes us old. Out with the old order!

We become old by giving up on our inherent desire to grow. Out with the old order!

We abandon old habits by intentionally releasing our need for those things in our lives. Out with the old order!

Faith renews our youth. Enthusiasm renews our youth. Hope renews our youth. In with new life!

Our renewed passion to flourish in life opens new opportunities. In with new life!

We are designed for beauty. We are capable of immense goodness and delightful living. In with new life!

[toddwarren]

MOVING IN POSITIVE MOTION

A lot of us might feel as though we have a corner on the market of trauma and suffering, and this has led us to feel jaded towards any hint of “positive acting.” But to live towards transformation, we must choose to speak and act positively, especially on days when our thoughts and emotions are not optimistic. At first, it is easier to change our behavior than our thinking!

If we’re feeling depressed, because that is our habitual pattern, we choose a bright activity instead. We choose a lighter disposition. We take a walk in the sun. We listen to happy music (even if it’s annoying). We call our most encouraging friend. We intentionally choose uplifting activity. It may seem like “acting,” but the reality is that our personal responsibility is producing sincere consideration about our own worth and purpose, which generates self-affirming thoughts, kinder speech, and more hopeful outcomes. In this way, we shift the movement of our bodies from negative to positive motion.

One truth about life is that we always have more than we think: more patience, more resilience, more strength, more love, more commitment, more capacity, more forgiveness, etc. In the moment that you feel you have no more, if you will stop and allow divine wisdom to enlighten your spirit, you will immediately realize the source is endless.

Many of us have years of negative momentum built up, working against us. But be brave and take courage! We have the capacity to resist the gloomy mindset, embrace all that is thoughtful, affirming and compassionate, and give intentional action to the magnificence of who we are.