coincidence? or did he create his own reality?

I read a really interesting piece of news the other week.

The headline read: “Iranian man who didn’t wash for half a century dies at 94”

You’ve got to admit, it’s a strange headline. However, the content of the article was even stranger… or so you might think.

Amou Haji, the Iranian man in question, also a hermit, believed that if he washed with soap and water, it would make him ill.

And so, for more than half a century, he simply refused to wash.

Even though he was a hermit, keen to be left on his own to live between a hole in the ground and a brick shack built by concerned neighbours on the outskirts of their village, the neighbours were concerned about his health and well-being. And on a number of occasions they attempted to get him to wash as years without bathing had left his skin in terrible condition, covered in both dirt and pus.

He successfully evaded their encouragement and good intentions for years.

Eventually, however, he succumbed to their pressure and washed.

Within a short time after washing, he fell ill. And a mere few months after his first wash in over half a century, Amou Haji sadly died.

You might read this and think, “Poor man… what a terrible coincidence to take your first wash in over half a century only to die shortly after”. And if that’s your thinking, you certainly wouldn’t be alone. That will be the conclusion of many caring people who read this story.

However, there’s more to this than a case of bad luck or terrible coincidence. Amou Haji, for emotional reasons resulting from childhood, believed that washing with soap and water would make him ill.

He had such a strong belief in this concept that for over half a century he chose not to wash. Over 50 years of not washing. That’s a really strong and deep-rooted belief.

And then, succumbing to pressure from the neighbouring villagers who, most probably, had good intentions and meant well, he washed only to fall ill and die a few months later.

Amou Haji believed so strongly that washing with soap and water would make him ill that when he did finally wash with soap and water, he did indeed become ill and, sadly, died.

There are no such things as coincidences in life. There is no such thing as bad luck. We create our own reality.

Let me repeat that because it’s important to let it sink in: we create our own reality.

If you believe something so strongly, if a belief is deep-rooted within you, you will use your every means possible, consciously, subconsciously, unconsciously to prove that belief right, to make that belief your reality.

If something in your life isn’t running as smoothly as you wish it would, I guarantee you have a limiting belief around it that is stopping it running smoothly.

If an area of your life isn’t as abundant as you wish it would be, I guarantee you have a limiting belief that is preventing that abundance coming to you.

At some stage in your life, be it in childhood like Amou Haji or later in life, you created a belief around something because at that time that belief served and protected you, it kept you safe.

However, we don’t remain the same person all throughout life. We change, we grow, we develop. And, so, many of our beliefs become obstacles and become limiting because they simply no longer serve and protect the now grown, changed, updated version of you.

Here’s the thing. We all have limiting beliefs and thoughts that no longer serve us, that are keeping us small, that are making our life more challenging than it ought to be. We all have work to do on ourselves, on a continuous basis, to keep our beliefs and thoughts up to date so our life can be filled with abundance and not struggles.

Are you doing the work?

For most, as uncomfortable as the struggle is, it’s familiar. And so, they do not work on healing themselves, on updating their beliefs and thoughts. And so, for most, the uncomfortable yet familiar struggle continues. They say they want change but they resist the necessary action.

For others, they want a life that is abundant, they want to heal themselves and update their beliefs to be in line with the updated version of who they are now, but they simply do not know how.

For the final few, they know they have limiting beliefs and thoughts that are not up to date with the current version of themselves and they are actively working on understanding and removing those limiting beliefs and thoughts so their life can be more abundant, can be more full, and they can shine their life brighter.

Which person are you?

In this week’s angel message and card interpretation, I asked for guidance in response to the question: “How can I best begin to remove limiting beliefs and thoughts that are not serving me?”

If you wish to receive guidance on how to begin to remove limiting beliefs and thoughts that are out of date, that aren’t serving you, that are holding you back from your best possible life, then click the button below to watch the preview and download this beautiful reading.

When I turned over the card the angels and my team guided me towards for this week’s angel message and card interpretation, my immediate reaction was, “Really? This is the best card to answer this question?” (I know… why do I still question their choices?)

However, when I dived into the card, when I let my intuition flow, the guidance that came through showed me that as unexpected as this card seemed to me, it held within it the most amazing guidance.

Often, we are presented with things in life that initially seem a little odd, that initially seem like they don’t make sense. It’s only when we embrace them, when we trust they’ve come onto our path for a reason, when we remain open and accept them, that we can truly reveal the radiance that lies beneath the surface.

In other words, it’s only when we put our human ego aside and embrace whatever has been presented or offered that we can truly gain from the opportunity or experience.

And I guess that, in itself, is the very essence of gratitude, the art of gratitude.

Most people believe that expressing gratitude is simply another way of saying thank you. For most, a challenge, an obstacle placed on their path isn’t something to be grateful for. And yet that’s exactly what it is – something to be grateful for. When you are grateful for every bump in the road, every challenge on your path, every mountain standing in your way, then you can begin to delve deeper, to understand why you have attracted that bump, challenge or mountain to you and created it in your own reality.

But that takes time. That takes practice. That takes effort to make gratitude an everyday habitual attitude.

And that’s why I have created a year-long gratitude experience. An experience I run only once a year, an experience that, should you choose to embrace it, will change your life.

The next Start Monday with Gratitude experience begins on January 1st. The doors will open to those on my waitlist on that day and shall shut that evening. If you’re late you’ll have to wait until another year… and, honestly, why put off changing your life for another year?

It takes courage to choose to step forward with willingness to change your life because changing your life means walking away from the familiar, as uncomfortable as it may be. And yet things will never change, life will never flow with greater ease and grace, abundance can never enter the closed door until you are ready and open to receive.

Are you ready? Then join my waitlist today. Don’t put it off till tomorrow.

Viv xx