Tag Archives: Lifestyle

consciousness

Step 1 To Positive Change

Photo by Peter SperoWhen there is something you want to change about your life there is one vital first step. Whether it be a situation, a relationship, a feeling, or a lifestyle that needs to change, the necessary first step is always the same.

What is this important precursor to positive change? Simply put: acceptance.

Before change, before action, before decisions, accept what is. Your mind won’t want you to, because non-acceptance is its lifeblood.  But here is what the ever-present stream of thinking doesn’t know: when you are at peace with what is, whatever follows will be in alignment with that peace and create more of the like.

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consciousness

How To Make Stress Good For You

Gene's Grocery If you were absolutely sure, beyond any doubt, that your thoughts create your experience of reality, what you would you do?  Or rather, what would you think?

The following video offers amazing examples of the power of belief over our ability to maintain a state of health and well-being.  But it goes further than that.  It tells us that stress, which is commonly linked to negative physical side effects, is made negative by our thoughts about it.

Psychologist Kelly McGonigal cites a study done in the US that tracked 30,000 adults for eight years.  At the beginning of the study those adults were asked about their levels of stress in the last year and if they believed stress was harmful for their health. Then, as McGonigal states, “they used public death records to find out who died.” While people who experienced a high level of stress had a 43% increase in dying, they all had one other factor in common, they believed stress was bad for them.  The adults who were highly stressed but didn’t believe stress was harmful to their health had the lowest risk of dying of anyone in the study, including the participants with relatively low levels of stress.

McGonigal goes on to explain these results on a physical level, but the message of her TED talk has implications for more than just the experience of stress.  When we experience anything in our lives we have the choice to accept that it is happening, or resist it internally.  Nonresistance of what is not only opens us up to experiencing the highest manifestation that can be born of that situation, but it also allows the body to regulate itself and maintain its own health.

Today I invite you to ask yourself, “What thoughts about my life situation are causing me pain or dis-ease?”  Experiment with replacing that view-point with one that is accepting, empowering, and joyful.  You could be saving your own life!

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Inspiration

“Suffering is necessary until you realize it is unnecessary.” – Tolle

Good Morning Today I slept extremely late. Having a day free from work and obligations is a beautiful thing and I usually relish it.  But today, instead of enjoying the time off, I decided to make a big “to-do” list to keep unsettlingly at the forefront of my mind, while feeling completely unmotivated to accomplish any of my tasks.  I kept wishing I had the motivation to get things done while I actually had the spare time.  At the same time I felt nervous knowing that if I didn’t complete my “to-do” list today, I would be in a panic later on when I would be busier.

Does this sound at all familiar? Have you ever woken up in a funk?  Have you ever wished you could just feel better or feel more motivated?

This morning, in my day-off funk, I decided the least I could do was watch some videos on YouTube in the hopes that something inspirational would pop up.  If you’ve ever watched an Eckhart Tolle video, and if you read this blog regularly you most certainly have, you will know that each video starts with the sound of a bell, a high-pitched “ping,” which is coincidentally now the iPhone alert for a text message.

The second I heard the “ping” I realized what I had been doing all morning.  I was hoping that at some point the feeling of motivation would overtake me, and I’d get up and take action.  I was waiting for this feeling to happen.  But feelings don’t just fly through the ether and enter in through your ears.  They are created and experienced from within your very self.

All morning I was waiting for an emotion to happen to me, when the only way to feel that emotion was to create it myself.  Waiting to feel motivated is a trick.  It won’t happen.  You have to make the decision to invite that feeling forth within yourself.  The good news is that this is not as big of a task as it may seem.

Feeling the way you want to feel only takes one small step in this one moment you are experiencing.  That small step may be washing your face and brushing your hair, or going to a cafe to get some tea or coffee, or searching YouTube for an inspirational video.

With that being said, I now relinquish my big “to-do” list, and am finding my motivation right here with this one task of typing words on a keyboard.  The next step will take care of itself; the next task will happen in the moment that it happens.  Until then, I will work on creating the way I want to feel in each small act.

Understanding that emotions are created within, and choosing which emotions you want to feel, are the first steps to getting out of a funk.  I invite you to make that choice with me.  What inner feeling do you want to cultivate today?

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Inspiration

5 Minutes That Can Make Your Dreams Come True

photo by Peter SperoWhat runs through your mind five minutes before sleep?  I used to be in the “can’t stop my mind from racing so I can’t sleep” club and am very relieved to have stepped down as a member many years ago.  Even if you don’t have a problem falling asleep at night your thought pattern right before sleep is affecting your waking life more than you may have realized.  Sleep is the time where our subconscious mind reigns.  We go back to the spacious ether from whence we came for regeneration, and emerge with fresh life force energy each morning.

I recently finished reading Dr. Wayne Dyer’s Wishes Fulfilled, which I cannot recommend enough, where he talks about the ways in which we train our subconscious mind with the thoughts we have right before sleep.  The subconscious mind is the deep end of the mind, which contains all that we have learned and programmed ourselves to know automatically, like driving a car, riding a bike, or answering “Well, and you?” when someone asks how we are.  The subconscious mind acts through us without us having to vocalize the instructions with thoughts.  The actions prompted by the subconscious mind creates the majority of our experience. Dr. Dyer calls it our “automatic pilot.”

So what is important about the five small minutes before falling asleep?  According to Dr. Dyer, “In this brief portion of your day, you are going to tell your subconscious mind how you feel and what wishes God (the universal one subconscious mind) is to fulfill upon awakening from your deep slumber.  This five-minute segment of time in your bed, about to enter into your subconscious and marinate for the next eight hours or so, is the most crucial segment of your entire 24-hour day,” (Dyer 136).

I am not taking Dr. Dyer’s word for it.  I’m going to embark on a 30 day before-bed challenge, in which I use the last five minutes of my waking day to imagine my wildest dreams and assume the feelings of those dreams as if they were already my reality.  Will this change what my subconscious mind manifests throughout my days?  Will those positive emotions merely cause pleasant dreams, or will they permeate my waking experience?  

I encourage you to join with me on this 30 day before-bed challenge, and see how five minutes can change your whole reality.  It may be helpful to make a list of the thoughts and emotions you will fill your mind with before bed, and recite them to yourself each night right before sleep.  If nothing else, this nightly ritual will surely help those of you still in the “can’t stop my mind from racing so I can’t sleep” club to resign your membership and embark on your new journey in the “wishes fulfilled” cohort!

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Inspiration

How To Make Your New Year’s Dreams Come True

PHOTO BY PETER SPEROWith a new year upon us thoughts surrounding the future are at an all time high.  Resolutions, hopes, worries, dreams, and plans for the coming year are at the forefront of our collective mind.  What new year’s resolutions are you setting for yourself?

Each year I create a list of resolutions that go something like this:
1. Meditate every day.
2.  Practice Yoga every day.
3.  Learn how to cook.
4.  See a movie every week.

I’ve heard of people following their resolutions for a few days, a couple of weeks, even months.  But at the end of each year we often realize we have in some way abandoned our resolutions and then go about making new ones.

My experience differs slightly in that I don’t even begin to practice my resolutions.  I make the list, and enjoy myself in the process, but never actually set about the task of enacting the new lifestyle I have envisioned.

There is hope yet for those of us who have no commitment to new year’s resolutions!  I find that I accomplish the truest desires of my heart, live the lifestyle I dream about, and find new strength to pursue goals the more I forget about future altogether and pay attention to the moment I am living in.

When I enjoy the sunlight streaming through my shades in the morning, appreciate each sip of coffee, and feel the snow crunch beneath every step on my walk to the bus, I end up living the life I’ve imagined.  To a mind that lives on past and future this present moment awareness is meaningless.  Yet all positive and fruitful action arises from being completely present to your immediate experience, and creates your future from the miraculous consequences of that positive energy.

Switching your attention from the thinking mind to present moment experience creates an almost alchemical reaction. Anxiety and stagnation are transmuted into peace and prosperity.

This year I resolve to allow myself to be right where I am, and I wish the same for you.

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spirituality

What is better than happiness?

PHOTO BY PETER SPERO

What is happiness?  Why does it seem so elusive?  I think the fleetingness of the goal called “happiness” is due to happiness being attached to outer circumstance.  Things and experiences cause the high-energy feeling of happiness.  Since life often doesn’t go according to plan, and happiness is dependent on a favorable experience, happiness disappears when a less than desirable situation arises.

There is good news for the feeling of happiness though.  Happiness is an outer reflection of a powerful state of being.  States of being cannot be dissolved, they are unalterably present, but can be obscured and covered up by layers of identification with thoughts and feelings.  The state of being which happiness pales in comparison to is joy.  As Tolle and many other teachers maintain, states of peace and joy, which are our natural states of being, are always available within, regardless of situation.

When I received this week’s “Weekly Words of Wisdom,” I felt like Swami Satchidananda was offering permission to be happy.  Allowing yourself to enjoy a situation helps to uncover the state of joy within.  When Swami Satchidananda talks about joy and happiness it is clear that regardless of terms, and even though he talks about Yoga practice in particular, that the truth towards which he points is the key to a higher state of consciousness available in all of life’s situations.  Experiencing life from the state of joy is a profound spiritual lesson:

“You forgot to be like children. You may think that spirituality means to be serious, morose; that you can’t smile or laugh. That’s not spirituality. Your spirit should [be] filled with happiness, joy, dancing, singing, and dancing. Don’t be gloomy. That’s not the kind of spirituality we want in the name of Yoga. You should always be exuding happiness and joy—a positive spirit. Work itself should be a play. The Yoga practices should be playful and uplifting. There’s nothing overly serious about it all. God created the world as a playground. Allow the joy to come out. What is serious in this? We all come, gather together, live for awhile, and when the time comes, say goodbye and go. Within that period, can’t we be happy? God bless you. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.” Swami Satchidananda

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consciousness

No internet no TV make Katie something something…

SimpsonsOne of my favorite episodes of The Simpsons involves Homer being caught in a situation in which he is utterly without beer or television, and subsequently goes mad.  The past couple of days I have humorously found myself in such a position.

I have no internet access and no television.  As soon as the repair people can make it over to my place they will find out what is wrong and fix the problem, but for now I have neither.  Moreover, I realized a couple of days ago that I am out of cellphone data, leaving me without internet more completely than I otherwise would have been.  So how am I even writing this post?  I’m staying late at my place of work where the internet is gloriously plentiful!

Going without internet and TV is not a problem, but as I have discovered, my ego feels differently.  Last night when I realized that there wasn’t any quick fix to the issue I immediately became stressed.  I started to think about all of the work I had to do that I couldn’t get done, and all of the essential tasks that I had planned on completing which require the use of the internet.  (I am also a big TV fan but I find that a lot easier to let go of).

My boyfriend taught me a great lesson in not perpetuating stress when he left me to myself for a moment and decided not to become stressed out by the situation along with me.  It is so easy to take on the emotions of others you are close to, but it also creates more of that which is causing the pain.  Along with this great reminder of how to stay present even when those around you are taken over by thoughts or emotions, I also found out how attached I was to these luxuries.   I had become identified with my outer circumstance.

I showered and listened to Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth, which I find always snaps me out of identification with form, the ego.  The more present I became, the more I smiled at my ego.  In the calming hot water it became easier to see that the voice in my head was attached to the situation and to the idea that my needs were not being met.

A great teacher recently talked to me about seeing the world as God, or the universe, sees the world.  This means looking at the world just as it is, with complete acceptance.  I didn’t know how I was going to get directions to all of the places I had to visit today.  I didn’t know how I was going to email myself a lesson plan, or write on my blog.  But when I took a moment to look at my situation without demanding it be a certain way there was no longer any stress, there was no longer anything to worry about.  As the invaluable quote, which I often use to comfort myself in times of stress or worry, from the movie Gravity states, “no harm, no foul.”

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Inspiration

“So before we go and transform the world, let us transform ourselves” – Swami Satchidananda

What would life be like if the people you encountered were always happy to see you?  What would our relationships be like if everyone was already enjoying themselves, having a great time?

While asking these questions can lead to a seemingly impossible utopian vision where all people are happy and healthy, creating this world is a lot easier than we ever thought.  Creating an environment of health and joy can be accomplished in your life without controlling or changing those around you.  While at first this task of creation can seem overwhelming, Swami Satchidananda brings our role right down to its essence in this week’s Weekly Words of Wisdom:

ashram“When you fill your system with vitality, with health and happiness, you become contagious. People will sit with you and feel happy and laugh. Fill yourself up to the brim with your good health and energy and let it overflow. Just by your mere presence, you will bring health to others. You don’t have to talk about Yoga and health to others. If you constantly emit that vibration, that will be the beginning of world health. So, where should it begin? With you. It’s not only that charity begins at home, even health begins at home. Individuals make the world. So before we go and transform the world, let us transform ourselves. Let us reform ourselves. Make yourself healthier and happier and pass it on to others. God bless you. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.” Swami Satchidananda

Any TimeWhat do you desire from others?  Do you want appreciation, recognition, love, kindness, help, opportunity, or understanding?  Swami Satchidananda’s message of beginning health at home is also true for anything that we desire more of from our world.

The surest way to experience gratitude from someone else, is to first become grateful yourself.  If you feel a lack of love and compassion in your life, become more loving and compassionate towards others.  The result of giving that which you desire to receive is momentum.  Your action creates an equal and opposite reaction.

As an experiment, think of something you could receive from others that would make your heart sing.  Focus on whatever that may be, and spend a day giving that to all those you encounter.  For example, if you want more appreciation, recognize and thank the people around you.  You may find that what you once desired is coming back at you in larger ways than you could have thought up.

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Inspiration

The Cure For Monday Malaise

Garfield by Jim DavisHow can we change our reactions to Mondays?  I’m sure there are many who spring out of bed Monday morning, just like any other day, and enjoy themselves.  Yet, the going notion seems to equate Monday with misery.

Do you have any strategies to charge your positive energy at the beginning of the workweek?

For me, one of the main strategies to not dreading the coming of the workweek is to stay very present on Sunday night.  It is so easy to create bad feelings through anticipation, so I bring my attention right down to my current perception of the moment.

It is also easy to create a bad Monday by making up your mind that it is going to be bad.  This is the same momentum in my own life that sometimes prevents me from trying new things.  When I’ve decided in my mind that I’m not going to have a good time, it becomes much more likely that I will create a bad time through my negative perception of the situation.  Letting go of thoughts of the future is another helpful step to curing the Monday blues.

Coffee Love Using Monday to let go of reaction can also change what was once an undesirable situation.  I experience this phenomenon with cold weather all the time.  There is nothing wrong with the temperature starting to drop and feeling that cold wind upon my face.  It is as it is.  What is so unpleasant about the cold is my negative reaction to it. I know many people here in Chicago that love the winter season, and are just fine waiting at the bus stop in 30-degree weather.  

By letting go of my reaction, I can allow the circumstance to be as it is, and even if it isn’t good it is no longer bad by any means.  Letting go of negative reactions to the start of the workweek can transform what was once an unpleasant situation, to a neutral or even enjoyable experience.

For those of us who need a little extra revving up for the start of the week, let’s make a game out of Mondays.  While that day of the week so often gets a bad wrap, lets change “misery Monday” to “miracle Monday!”  Choose something to focus on that would really make your heart sing.  I’m going to look for signs of prosperity.  I don’t know what that will look like, but from the time I wake up to the time I fall asleep on Monday night, I’m going to focus my attention on prosperity and look for it however it may manifest.  You could also have a Monday where you search for things to be grateful for, look for abundance, seek out signs that the universe is supporting you, search for signs of health, focus on finding your passion or calling, or keep your eyes peeled for love and new relationships.  Whatever you choose to manifest for “miracle Monday,” the end result will be an exciting and fruitful first day of the workweek.

Tonight I send out all of my positive energy to you for this coming week.  May you see prosperity, joy, love, and growth!  After all, when it comes to the days of the week, it is you and I who decide the perspective we experience them from.

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Inspiration

What does your Halloween costume say about you?

HalloweenDid you dress up this Halloween?  Were you an animal, a popular character, a pun, or a “sexy” something?  I saw a huge range of costumes yesterday; both children and adults went all out for Halloween.  I then found myself asking the question, why don’t we do this all year?

The answer is: we do.  While my sweaters and stretchy pants are not as exciting as a panda bear or Hermione Granger costume, I still wear clothes that are attached to an identity.

On Halloween we all ask each other, “What are you?”  On all of the other days of the year we wear costumes that are associated with clear roles and identities, so no one bothers to ask what we are dressing as.

The person in a suit and tie is in the businessperson costume, just as the person wearing a mail carrier outfit is in the mail carrier costume.  The difference is, we take our everyday costumes very seriously.  Our daily costumes are attached to an identity that we hold firmly in our minds, and which portray to the world what we think we are.

Harry Potter Picture In the end, whether dressed as a lion or an executive, we wear costumes that are attached to an identity in our minds.  When we change out of our Halloween costumes into different clothes the next day, we don’t think twice about it.  But if a job, status, or title changes we can feel lost, distraught, and diminished.

Even though the roles and identities we wear day to day have been taken very seriously, as our absolute truths, throughout human history, we don’t have to buy into them anymore.  After all, when at the end of life we discorporate and lose our human costumes, all of the suffering created by our attachment to identities will dissolve, and life will be seen as one big Halloween party.

What roles do you play in everyday life?  What daily costumes give you a sense of identity?  Create an experiment out of loosening your grip on these thought-created selves.  What you end up discovering beneath them will be more truly yourself and more miraculous than every costume Party City has ever sold.

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