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Opening to the new is a way of feeling more youthful, of expanding your childlike sense of wonder and awe. As they grow older, many people constrict their boundaries; they often seek what is comfortable, familiar, and safe. Life becomes a matter of focusing on the petty rather than on the great.

You have seen those people who are so focused on what is bad and wrong with the world they become fearful of the new and no longer experience joy. They have stopped embracing all the potential that lies within them.

There Is A New You Every Day

Every morning when you wake up you are literally being born anew and afresh. Every day there are new things on your mind, people to meet, things to do. As you wake up and start your day, you need not think of the past and remember mistakes; instead, focus upon the future and what you will create.

Try out new routines each day. Doing new things is invigorating to the physical body. Try bringing this same alertness to whatever you normally do to experience familiar activities in new ways.

Developing Selective Awareness

You do many things without having to consciously think about them. Your breathing and many of your bodily functions are automatically controlled. As a child your nervous system develops in such a way that it learns to select information, for if too much information is coming in, there is a lack of focus.

In the development of your being, there is a learned balance between focusing upon those things that need to be paid attention to and not being sidetracked by meaningless, trivial, and constant irrelevant data. As a child you developed selective awareness, tuning out many things in your Universe so that you could tune in to others.

The ability to do many things routinely and habitually without much thought gives you more time and energy to focus on new things that do require thought and attention. However, some of the things you do routinely without questioning may be creating discomfort and a lack of well-being.

Reexamining Routine Things You Take For Granted

Attempting new things can prompt you to reexamine all of the habitual and routine things you take for granted. Some people choose jobs that involve danger or tension so they can experience the awareness and attention required to stay alive. These jobs require them to live in the present moment, focused and fully alert, such as race car drivers and mountain climbers.

A feeling of aliveness comes when you are not operating on automatic but are fully conscious and aware of every action. You do not have to engage in dangerous jobs to feel alive. As you embrace the new, you begin to bring into consciousness those things that may have been routine. You can then experience present-time awareness and live in the moment.

Power comes from
living in the present moment,
where you can take
action and create the future.

As you embrace the new, remember things are always going to get better. The Universe does not take anything away unless something better is coming. Every down cycle is followed by a great leap forward.

It is easy to embrace the new. Play like a child. You have seen how children embrace everything as a new experience. It can be easy to open up and embrace the new if you picture it as easy. Keep a picture in your mind that the future is positive and that it will be better than anything you have ever known. As you grow and evolve, what you create will be even more joyous than what you have now.

Embracing the New: Playsheet

1. Think of at least three new things, skills, or experiences you brought into your life last year. As you list them, think of how you felt as you learned them or brought them into your life.

2. From today’s perspective, how did doing these new things, learning these new skills, or having these new experiences contribute to your life? What new opportunities came about from your embracing the new in these areas?

3. Now, think about at least three new experiences or skills that you would like to bring into your life next year. Set your intention to do these things; join with your innermost being, your soul and higher self; open to its light and energy; and affirm that you will bring these new experiences, opportunities, and skills into your life.

Daily Joy Practice

Open to the joy of what lies ahead today, tomorrow, or even during the next hour. Affirm that you are ready to embrace the new, to become aware of new ways to feel more alive, revitalized, and present in every moment. Release any predetermined pictures of what your day might be like and experience the day fresh, allowing things to be different from what you might have expected or planned. Decide to be more spontaneous and open to all possibilities as they unfold.

Connect with your innermost self and ask for its assistance in embracing new ways of feeling, being, speaking, and acting today. Be alert to new, creative thoughts, activities, and experiences. Explore how you can do something you normally do in a fresh, innovative way. If you realize you are doing something out of habit, stop, connect with your innermost self, and ask to be shown a new way to act. Allow into your mind right now a few pictures and thoughts about how you can experience and embrace the new you today.

Feel the joy in embracing the new today. Note how each day is a fresh start, a new chapter in your life. Each day you are a new you, stronger and more loving, with greater wisdom and more understanding. Sense the increased aliveness that comes just by thinking about bringing fresh energy into your life and living in new ways. You are expanding into a higher future of infinite possibilities.

This article was excerpted with permission from the book:

Living with Joy: Keys to Personal Power and Spiritual Transformation
by Sanaya Roman.

Reprinted with permission of the publisher, New World Library, Novato, CA. ©2011. www.newworldlibrary.com.

Click here for more info and/or to order this book on Amazon.

About the Author

Sanaya Roman has been channeling Orin, a wise and gentle spirit teacher, for over 25 years. Although she no longer gives private appointments, most of the advice Orin gives to people is contained in six books: Living with Joy, Personal Power through Awareness, Spiritual Growth, Opening to Channel, Creating Money, and Soul Love. All of Orin's work assists people in unfolding their potential, finding their inner wisdom, and in growing spiritually. She has also produced an extensive line of audio guided meditations by Orin to assist you in transforming your life, contacting your soul and Spirit, learning to channel, and creating the reality you want. To learn more visit www.orindaben.com. She is also teaching seminars and producing new audio meditations and a line of meditation music.

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