What is it that you aren’t looking at? What are you pushing down, away from your immediate view? What are you avoiding?
Tag: Metta
Friday Focus – 2/10/17
I was chatting with one of my good friends the other day and she had mentioned just how “crazy” life was these days. I nodded and understood.
We both knew in that moment what it takes. And what it takes is a high level of self discipline to say no so you can cultivate the peace and pace you need to live a centered life.
Lately, there are three ways in which I try to cultivate peace and pace:
- Let go of the small stuff: Running errands has got to be the #1 thing that adds to anxiety. On top of work, family, relationships, health, you name it… there’s always a laundry list of errands that need tending to. Yes, you need groceries to prepare food for the week but do you really need to send that extra email? Or pick up dry cleaning tonight??? I’ve found for myself that if I can let go of the small stuff, if I can just be OK with leaving non-critical items for later, it creates peace and a more healthy pace in my life.
- Meditation & prayer both morning and evening: I saw a show last week about a person who runs a food bank and shelter all run purely on donations. He was in a dire situation with the lease ending and no facility to be found. As he made it home he headed toward the annex and it was then the audience realized he was also a priest. As he sat in one of the pews of the small church inside the annex he prayed earnestly to God. To be honest while it was certainly prayer I saw it more as a dialogue. A communication system between himself and God. There was something about his earnest means of communication that touched upon aspects of what I previously touched upon such as letting go, compassion, and metta. What a beautiful way to share, let go, and trust you are taken care of. What’s more, what a beautiful way to start and end the day.
- Seek out the good despite the crazy: I’ve written about the power we have to choose our thoughts. And yes, while life can get a bit out of hand I have found it to be much more pleasant when we choose to focus our energy on the one thing we our grateful for vs. the one thing that could make our lives easier. What a shift in energy that is! This is also the time I whip out my inspiration journal and flip through some of the previous pages for inspiration and go into a page full of gratitude. Sometimes it’s a small win but nonetheless a win.
All that said, I am grateful for this beautiful Friday and am looking forward to a dinner party with some of my dearest friends. It’s my turn to bring dessert so I decided to make a (very tart) lemon pound cake. Gluten free of course 😉
Here’s to the weekend.
Namaste.
You Are Your Patterns
We are nothing but patterns
Kind of enlightening and empowering at the same time isn’t it?
When I first heard this yesterday it struck a chord within me. You see, I’ve been delving into the work and research behind the sub/conscious mind and everything is about patterns. If you remember this post, about 95%+ of our thoughts are mere repeats of what we were thinking the day before, and likely the days before that!
Simply acknowledging the fact that our brains are on constant repeat is power enough to know we can change the track.
So how do you change the track?
Friday Focus – 1/27/16
How do we want to remember our lives?
I was struck by a passage in one of the books I am reading, “The Mindful Path through Worry and Rumination: Letting Go of Anxious and Depressive Thoughts
This made me think, through what lens have I been remembering my past? Through what lens am I living my life NOW? And finally, through what lens do I want to live my life in the future? At the end of the day, how do I want to remember all this?
I come back, again and again, to reminding myself of the infinite power we have within ourselves to choose our thoughts.
If your current state of being is one of anxiety, worry, fear or chronic stress, ask yourself the question – what am I predominately thinking about? Very often what we think about induces your state.
Compassion As An Aspect Of Surrender
Many times I have spoken about surrendering all attachment in difficult times. Most recently I mentioned how surrendering allowed me to make healing in leaps and bounds toward complete recovery from adrenal fatigue.
Perhaps it’s the peace that comes with complete surrender that allows for the body and mind to heal. When we give up hope (in a sense) of any outcome or attachment to any ideal (or not) situation, we allow ourselves an opening, a space in which we can feel the immense presence of the moment.
When The World Seems To Crash On You
What do you do? When, at the end of the day, the world just seems to be crashing down on you? Your breathing becomes rigid, perhaps your fingers go numb, and you just want to scream or maybe cry?
Are You Aware Of Confirmation Bias?
Did you know that in every moment you actually have the power within yourself to choose what you want to think about? In previous posts I’ve written a lot about how important it is to, yes, CHOOSE your thoughts.
Did you also know that you and the person next to you, on average, have 50,000 – 70,000 thoughts per day? And furthermore, did you know that 95% (some even say 98%) of those thoughts are the same exact thoughts you had yesterday?!?!?
I don’t know about you but when I first heard this fact it was astounding to me. And when I heard it the second time around it made me stop everything I was doing and truly take it in.
Something changed within me when I decided to pause and truly think about this.
How To Hear Your Inner Voice
“I’ve developed more awareness of myself… I can hear the deeper part of me speaking what’s really true. I hear the truth if I listen closely.”
“That’s wonderful. Where do you feel it coming from?”
“Mostly here.” (Hands motioning pointed toward chest and stomach) “Yea… here.”
(pause)
Friday Focus – 1/6/17
The new year is here already and it’s crazy to me how fast the holidays just flew by this year. The holiday lights are coming down in the neighborhood and I can feel the city settling into it’s new groove.
Over and over again this week I keep coming back to the theme of owning your own happiness.
For example, as if it were a test, yesterday I was speaking to a customer service agent and I was taken aback (almost speechless) by the cut offs, short answers, and overall tone of this person. Despite all this I decided not to wallow in anger and reminded myself that we all own our own happiness.
Sure, something not so pleasant happened. It was an event. But does it mean you have to stay angry? Continue reading “Friday Focus – 1/6/17”
Trust
Trust that your feelings of joy, delight, and self love are always leading you toward your higher good.
~Sanaya Roman & Duane Packer