Diversity Rules Magazine

3 Diversity Rules Magazine March 2014 Terry's brother Rob died of AIDS in 2004 and le her his writings of which Keep Up Now is the result. To find out how to manifest happiness and abundance, check out Terry's website at: www.terryludwig.net. Terry can be reached at: keepupnow@gmail.com. When we lose our faith, our hopes dwindle and our dreams begin to fade. When we lose our dreams, our world starts crumbling around us. Like dementors in the Harry Potter movie series; hopelessness swoops in and begins encircling you, diving deeper and deeper with each passing assail, un- til it sucks the life and love right out of you. Despair, an ego driven fear monger, seems to appear out of nowhere. I have been visited by these dementors. Sometimes I thought, if I jumped out of bed before they started circling, I might outrun them. However, I would succumb to their attack. Telling myself to choose love, I tried in vain to think lov- ing thoughts and repeat mantras, but the worrisome banter had already begun its sickening melodic chanting of doom and gloom; reminding me of all of the things that were bound to go wrong. Mounting financial burdens, personal matters and work related issues would spiral out of control in my mind until I became para- lyzed. Where were those chocolate frogs when you needed them? Fighting to lift the heavy sheath of gloom that entombed me, I would pull myself out of bed and start my familiar routine which began with my morning run. During my bouts with hopelessness, I longed for a glimpse of happi- ness, reminding myself to ignore dread and choose love instead. roughout my day I would try to think positive thoughts, play my music louder, read inspirational mes- sages; anything to drown out the negative clamor in my head. Nothing seemed to work; the ego was playing tricks on me. I'm not a quitter, so I fought through it. It seemed to lighten by the end of the day, only to commence again the following morning. Day after day of struggling through, I eventually reached the point of exhaustion; my only option was to submit. I gave up. I was defeated. In my surrender, I went inside and pleaded for help; realizing it was just too much for me to handle all by myself. Suddenly, a little glimmer of light began to warm my heart; seemingly coming from some- where inside of me. What is this peace- ful feeling of tenderness, exuding light and love; a remembrance of my true Self; Love? And there is was; miracu- lously, surrendering was the key. In surrendering, I asked for help. Like a light bulb going off I suddenly realized I fell off track. I had for- gotten several important items; first, I'm never alone, next, asking for help from my higher Source and last, I am not my ego. I detached from my thoughts and became the ob- server. I was able to perceive my ego thoughts as coming from somewhere "else". I could see, from this vantage point, the ego had once again climbed aboard my instrument and infected my hard drive with its Trojan virus; fear. e ego is clever; trying to trick you into fighting fear. e ego creates a world of illusion in which your belief can be very strong. It tempts you to fight it and in doing so, you become it. Sometimes we are so consumed by fear; we lose sight of our true Self. When fear has saturated us to our core and we have become blind to our true iden- tity; our only way out is to surrender. Letting go and allowing us to reconnect to our Source infuses us with great love; our most powerful gift. e light of your love is so great, in its presence, the ego disappears into the nothingness from which it came. Fear and Love can not coexist. Fear disintegrates; the moment you remember you are Love. Be the light and share your love with the world; whatever you share, you strengthen. By sharing your love; faith and dreams are renewed. You will, once again, fulfill your only function; happiness! Be only Love, for that is what you are. Keep up Now ~ with the stream of higher consciousness and stay connected to the Source. Keep Up Now By Terry Ludwig (c) Can Stock Photo Inc. / grsphoto "I am light and I fought free, loving and enfolding me and there I'm safe in peaceful calm. I reach beyond my arms, the stars, the planes to where my thoughts suspend until I find myself again." – Rob Ludwig

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