HARVEST LIFE GRACEFULLY STEPS

Harvest Life is about healing from childhood abuse- Harvest Life is about healing gracefully- Harvest Life is about finding your purpose- Harvest Life is about self-love- Harvest Life is about self-worth- Harvest Life is about believing in oneself- Harvest Life is about respect and dignity- Harvest Life is about YOU-Five Steps to Harvest Life Gracefully

As a survivor of child abuse I learned how to harvest life gracefully with these five steps. By following these steps I now can enjoy life to its' fullest.

First Step: Examine your life in a factual way, with no judgment of right or wrong, bad or good.
Examine life happenings, events, activities, relationships, careers
Examine your physical body from head to toe
Examine your personality and attitude about life, yourself and others
Examine your spirituality
Take notice of anything you don't like about yourself and your life; then remember not liking something is only a opinion it is not placing a judgment.

EXPLANATION OF STEP ONE

My first step to Harvest Life Gracefully is to examine your life. To examine your life happenings, events, relationships, careers, body, attitude and personality and your spirituality.

With examining your life you are getting to know who you are and admitting what you like and what you don't like about yourself. With this information you can use what you like to perk yourself up when you are feeling down, such as lacking in confidence, and self-worth. This information will help you to decide what you dislike about yourself and then when you are willing and ready you can begin to make necessary changes.

When you examine yourself it is important for you to be completely honest and to remember to be factual and not to judge good or bad to what you see. A helpful tip that I used when I look at myself, is to look at myself as if I was someone else. Reason for this is because we often hold intense emotions about ourselves, this would be a way to detach from those emotions, that could get in our way of being honest, judgmental and factual.

Here are some other tips that I used when I examined my life. Hopefully these tips may be helpful and useful to you.

A journal is a wonderful way to enhance your life. It is a tool that can help you to admit and accept who you are and what your life is all about. When keeping a journal you can write about events, activities, your relationships, your goals, your careers, how you feel about god and or any life happenings that seem important to you, starting from childhood until the present day, once you reach the present day, it would be a good idea to continue to journal whenever something seems to be of great importance. A journal is a positive way to understand and know yourself, it can help clarify your thoughts and feelings as well as gain knowledge about yourself and your life. A journal can help a person process any traumatic experience and move on peacefully; it is a good way to relieve stress and can benefit your health and well-being.

Find a mentor, a mentor could be a trusted friend, a counselor, a life coach, or a minister. I discover when I communicated to a trusted person about my struggles, problems, likes or dislikes was a excellent way for me to learn to accept and love myself. When I see that people can love and accept me in spite of my character defects allowed me to see the truth about myself. A mentor can help you to move on from a traumatic experience, encourage you to make amends where needed, help with problem solving, offer encouragement when changes are needed and offer praise when things are going fine.

Look in the mirror with your eyes wide open, look at yourself from head to toe, taking note of every aspect of your body. Practice this on a consistence basis, daily if possible. Take notice to what you like about your body and what you don't. Look into your eyes and praise yourself, tell yourself how you love yourself and what a good person you are.

All of these tips may seem difficult, time consuming, or embarrassing to do. At first, I wanted to make those same excuses and once I realize that it was shame that prevented me from completing these tips, I began to focus on the shame realizing this is what I want to get rid of, therefore it was important for me to learn how to harvest life gracefully and find my purpose in life. This is why I look at myself as if I was looking at somebody else this way I could be more factual and less detached from the intense emotions. It also help to tell yourself when you see something you don't like to say to yourself, “I don't like this, but it is O.K.” You may need to repeat this mantra several times before you feel peace. This mantra is a excellent way to learn how to accept yourself.

When you are ready to make changes that you don't like about yourself. I found reading self-improvement books in the expert areas that I am struggling with is a helpful tool. Reading will help educate you on how to make the necessary changes. They will give you good ideas and can show you how to make the necessary changes.

To harvest life gracefully is not a overnight accomplishment, it takes time but when you start with the first step you will begin to feel better and better at each passing day
The first step is a very important part in learning how to harvest life gracefully


Second Step: Give yourself up to the power that you believe in, who is Greater than yourself.
Make a promise that your decisions will not be made from your own selfish desires, needs and wants but base on the love of the power and his will for you
Pray and meditate to know what the power's will is and the courage to follow though
Put trust and faith in the power that your character defects will be removed when the time is right.
To let go of any situation that is not in our control and trust it into the power's hands


EXPAINATION OF STEP TWO

My second step to harvest life gracefully is to develop a close personal relationship with the higher power. My higher power is the traditional God. For other people who does not believe in the traditional God can decide to make nature, or anything else that you view as greater than yourself. To harvest life gracefully it is essential to believe that there is a power greater than yourself. Problem with believing? By working on it and making a conscience choice, to decide will help you to believe. Some other ways to help you believe is by receiving support from groups, such as books, faith groups or nature groups also people who seems to have a strong faith can help. You can look for groups in your community or even online. Once we start believing, you will begin to have faith, you will begin to trust in the unknown, you then will realize you feel more peace and feel secure knowing you are in good hands of your higher power who loves you unconditional, wants what is best for you, and wants you to be happy.

Now the second part of this step is to make a promise to your higher power that you want to do his will only. This part may be difficult because we are human with a free will and so often we want to do what our own desires and wants are. The higher power's will is the path to happiness, we may not understand the power's will but it is important to accept it. We may not always know what the power's will is for us, because our desires can be so strong and intense that it can be confusing or we don't have the courage to follow it. This is when we need to meditate, find a place to relax, use relaxation tapes or soft music if needed to quiet our minds and thoughts, listen to what our soul, heart or gut tells us. (This is where the power speaks to us). Ask for courage to follow though when you realize what the power's will is. One mantra that I like to tell myself is that “nothing is given to me that I don't have the capabilities to handle.” I trust that the power will not give me any problem or situation that I cannot handle because the power has my best interest in mind. This gives me confidence and encouragement to do the right thing.

If you completed the first step honestly, of Harvest Life Gracefully, which was to examine your life, you gain knowledge about what you did not like about yourself. This is known as your character defects. Some of these defects we probably was born with and some though our environment and society. If we become willing and want these defects removed from our lives we need to meditate and ask the power to remove them. I believe that when the power wants them to be removed they will. Here we need to be patience, because just asking to have them remove may not happen over night. I believe there is a purpose for our defects, even though it is difficult to understand why, but the power will remove them when the power feels it is the right time. Our job is to make a sincere effort to have them remove by meditating and asking and living each day the best that you can. Another mantra I use is “The effort is ours and the results are God's”

There are many situations and people that we cannot change, such as natural disasters, situations caused by other people. We cannot make people to be the way we want them to be, we have no power in that, people can only change by their own wiliness and readiness though the power. Therefore, when we encounter situations and people that we cannot do anything about, we have no choice but to turn it over to our higher power and put it into the power's hands, we then need to concentrate on letting go, then believe, and trust that the power will take care of it when the time is necessary. Another mantra that is good is to say “Let Go and Let God.”

As you practice this step your love, faith, trust and hope will grow stronger and stronger, and you will see that you to can harvest life gracefully.


Third Step: Offer and accept forgiveness from the power.
To and from yourself
To and from others

EXPLAINATION OF STEP THREE

Forgiveness is the heart of the process to harvest life gracefully. Forgiveness is love. Forgiveness is acceptance. The opposite of forgiveness is hate and hate produces envy, spite and rage. These feelings of envy, spite and rage are unpleasant feelings. To harvest life gracefully we want to promote good feelings within ourselves.

From our human tendency we had hurt others and ourselves, and others has hurt us. If we can look at our hurts and think of it as mistakes, I believe it is easier to forgive. Oftentimes we have expectations of ourselves and of others and when those expectations fails we feel hurt. At those times we need to check ourselves out and evaluate if our expectations were set too high. Often times I find that I expect too much from myself and from others.

The first thing I learned about forgiveness is to realize that I am a good person and most people are good also. I then, recognized if I totally and completely knew my behavior would hurt myself or another I would not be doing it. This opens the door to freedom to forgive. We all know conscientiously certain behaviors automatic can hurt ourselves or others but there are other elements involved when we conscientiously behave in a hurtful way. For instance, our sub-conscience can play a part, that causes us not to be totally aware of why we were force into behaving in the way we did. It could be past issues or flashbacks from a traumatic experience that caused intense, strong uncontrollable emotions, that has not been address or dealt with yet. When this happens then it is necessary to go back to step one and examine your life because now you know it is your time to cope with the issue that caused you to overreact. It is important for you to remember that you are always evolving, you was not born a perfect person, as well as everybody else. I believe Jesus Christ, walk on the face, of this earth, when he was nailed to the cross, he prayed to his father and said “Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing” a verse from the bible Luke 23:34. This verse shows me that when I over react, or if anybody else over reacts it is best to forgive.

To not forgive, you are giving your power away, meaning that you are allowing the situation or person to have some sort of control over your life. This causes anger, resentments, fear, and anxiety within yourself, which is unpleasant, joy, peace and contentment will be lacking from your life. To harvest life gracefully, the idea is to find joy, love, peace and contentment.

Below are some famous forgiveness quotes for you to meditate on, I am certain that you will see, how forgiveness fits very well in the process of learning how to harvest life gracefully.

We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies –Voltaire
A mature Christian has capacity to absorb the offenses and weaknesses of others, not just demand they perform up to the code of ideals. --Stephen Crosby
To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover the prisoner was you.—Unknown
Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you were. --Cherie Carter-ScottHe who cannot forgive breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass.--George Herbert
Resentment is like a glass of poison that a man drinks; then he sits down and waits for his enemy to die.—Unknown
He who cannot forgive breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass.--George Herbert
Resentment is like a glass of poison that a man drinks; then he sits down and waits for his enemy to die.—Unknown
Resentment is like a glass of poison that a man drinks; then he sits down and waits for his enemy to die.—Unknown
Many people are afraid to forgive because they feel they must remember the wrong or they will not learn from it. The opposite is true. Through forgiveness, the wrong is released from its emotional stranglehold on us so that we can learn from it. Through the power and intelligence of the heart, the release of forgiveness brings expanded intelligence to work with the situation more effectively. -- David McArthur & Bruce McArthur
A Christian will find it cheaper to pardon than to resent. Forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, and the waste of spirit. --Hannah More
Forgiveness means that you've decided not to let it keep festering inside even if it only comes up once in awhile. --Doc Childre and Howard Martin
Sincere forgiveness isn't colored with expectations that the other person apologize or change. Don't worry whether or not they finally understand you. Love them and release them. Life feeds back truth to people in its own way and time—just like it does for you and me. --Sara Paddison
Wrongs are often forgiven, but contempt never is. Our pride remembers it forever.
--Lord Chesterfield
Forgiveness is a funny thing. It warms the heart and cools the sting. --William A. Ward
You will know that forgiveness has begun when you recall those who hurt you and feel the power to wish them well. --Lewis B. Smedes
Forgiveness is choosing to love. It is the first skill of self-giving love. --Mahatma Gandhi
Forgiveness is the final form of love. --Reinhold Niebuhr
One forgives to the degree that one loves. --Francois de La Rochefoucauld
'Tis the most tender part of love, each other to forgive. --John Sheffield
We are all on a life long journey and the core of its meaning, the terrible demand of its centrality is forgiving and being forgiven. --Martha Kilpatrick
Forgiveness is the giving, and so the receiving, of life. --George MacDonald
"Not to forgive is to be imprisoned by the past, by old grievances that do not permit life to proceed with new business. Not to forgive is to yield oneself to another's control... to be locked into a sequence of act and response, of outrage and revenge, tit for tat, escalating always. The present is endlessly overwhelmed and devoured by the past. Forgiveness frees the forgiver. It extracts the forgiver from someone else's nightmare." - Lance Morrow
Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory. Instead, forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new way to remember. We change the memory of our past into a hope for our future. Louis B. Smedes
When we forgive evil we do not excuse it, we do not tolerate it, we do not smother it. We look the evil full in the face, call it what it is, let its horror shock and stun and enrage us, and only then do we forgive it. -Louis B. Smedes
Forgiving is love's toughest work, and love's biggest risk. If you twist it into something it was never meant to be, it can make you a doormat or an insufferable manipulator. Forgiving seems almost unnatural. Our sense of fairness tells us people should pay for the wrong they do. But forgiving is love's power to break nature's rule. -Lewis B.Smedes


Fourth Step: Soul search, listen to your heart, where the truth lies, accept the truth, respond to the truth, follow your passion that lies in your heart, then go out and enjoy your life.

EXPLAINATION OF STEP FOUR

The act of soul searching is to face your innermost self, honesty and courageously accounting for thoughts, emotions and motives about your life. Soul searching is an important step to “Harvest Life Gracefully”. Not to soul search will only lead to a self-deception of yourself, it will corrupt your soul and then your soul will feel troubled, dissatisfied and discontented, because every good human being has a conscience.

Soul searching is meditating. A good way to meditate is to take quiet time for yourself, preferable on a daily basis. One may say, how can I take this time when my life is so busy and chaotic, but it is essential for your well-being to make time for meditating. You may need to value exactly what your priorities are in order to find the time to meditate. I like to live by this standard, from the,“Just For Today, I Have A Choice”, I learned from one of my self-help groups, I had went to, the eighth “Just For Today” says, “Just for today I will stop saying “If I had time.” I never will “find time” for anything. If I want time I must take it.” I believe that it is true, t when we view something as important, we do find and make the time for it. My belief tells me, after my love for my higher power, the first and most important element in my life is me, because I believe, if I don't take care of my well-being, then I can not be of good service to anybody else.

There are several ways one can meditate. Some examples are, yoga, praying, listening to meditation tapes, going out for a walk, spending time with nature, listening to music, sitting by a camp fire, light candles or going into a church. Just find what works for you. At first you may find it difficult to quiet your mind while meditating, don't be discourage with this, as you practice, it does becomes easier.

While meditating, you must listen to your heart, what your heart says is where the truth lies. You can find all of your answers to problems, situations and your purpose in life, by meditating and listening to your heart. Sometimes the truth you find in your heart can hurt, and cause you pain, because we don't always like what the truth has to say or it may tell you to do something that you don't want to do. It takes humility and courage to follow your heart, but to find true peace, happiness and enjoyment in your life, you must follow the truth that lies in your heart. Always remember, you are not alone, your higher power is there with open arms, to give you the courage, to face, endure, to respond, as you follow though with what is needed. A support system of good people, is also very helpful for encouragement, to do what your heart expects or wants you to do.

Fifth Step: Express gratitude,then spread the Good News about how to harvest life gracefully and find purpose in life to others, so that they too, may be able to harvest life gracefully.

EXPLANATION OF STEP FIVE i>

Us, humans spend so much time whining and complaining about what we do not have, instead of looking at what we do have and feel grateful and appreciate these things. I am a true believer, if I pray or meditate to my higher power and ask for something, that we will receive. In the bible it states “Ask and you shall receive.” Mathew 21:22 . This may sound deceiving to some because of all of the praying we do and still not get what we want. First of all I want to say, there is more to it than just praying. How strong is your faith? Do you really believe and trust in your higher power? Do you still continue to worry and complain about what you want? Praying and meditation is good, but after praying you need to leave it in God's hands. Why will God give what you want if you continue to cry about what you don't have? Why will you be bless if you don't appreciate what you do have? I believe that God or the higher power will not bless us unless we have a strong faith, meaning, let go of what we are concern about into his hands, be patience and wait for his response, plus we need to appreciate and be grateful for what we do have. Sometimes what we want is not good for us, the higher power sees this and will respond to its' like. The higher power is looking out for us and does know what is better for us than what we think is best. At times like that we need to trust that the higher power does know what he is doing and that it is for our own good!

One may say that my life is in such a shamble, I can't find anything to be grateful for. This is not true, you can start with feeling grateful for being alive, then you can go from that to being grateful for who you are and what you represent no matter what your situation may be, we all have great attributes about ourselves that deserves appreciation. Family, friends, food, shelter, health, or just waking up in the morning, are all things we can concentrate on being grateful for. Start with the small things, make a list of these things. I can almost guarantee as you are making this list you will find more and more things to appreciate, that you had been taking for granted. I found that even the smallest things in life should not be taken for granted, they all deserve our appreciation. Base on my own personal experience, recently I had surgery for a bladder lift. For an month after surgery I suffer from a urinary retention and was not able to urinate on my own; therefore I had to wear a catheter. This was very uncomfortable and irritated my bladder and urinary tract. Finally, when I was able to urinate, I remember thinking to myself, I would not ever, take urinating for granted again. I know this may sound silly, to appreciate our own bodily functions, but once you lose a body function, you will realize how that function is so important and you will gain appreciation for it. Basically what I am saying, there is a lot that we can find to show appreciation for, and these things deserve to be praised and offer thanksgiving to our higher power, for allowing us to have these things.

The second part of this step is to spread the good news, there is a special feeling we get when we share good news to others, especially when the good news is accepted by the one it is told to. Sharing what we know also make us stronger in our convictions and beliefs. It help us to continue on the journey to achieve our goals and dreams. I believe, we have a responsibility of being a service to others', this includes sharing our knowledge, and offer encouragement as needed.
To sum everything up, this step means to give praise and thanks to our higher power for all we have, and to be a service to others, so they can see though us that it is possible to harvest life gracefully. In doing so, this will keep us stronger in our own continuation of our journey to achieve our goals and dreams.