See your grace, it is amazing

I was blind and now I see, the veil is lifted, an Oprah Ah-ah moment.

Every walk past the same street on the way home and never notice a restaurant or store. Or if you are in "your" town with a tourist friend and see if through their eyes - "wow this view is actually beautiful and I never stopped to notice."

There is "stuff" around you all the time, sometimes you see it sometimes you don't. It is just whether or not you are looking. It just comes down to paying attention....consciousness, awareness, an awakening.

Same with spirituality which I see just as consciousness/connectivity with everything  - there is an energy and a divine nature around, once you are awakened, you can see it. 

"It was easy to love Good in all that was beautiful.  The lesson of deeper knowledge, though, instructed me to embrace God in all things.
St Francis of Assisi, 13th century, one of the most respected figures in history


It is ALL within you and whats within you, is within ALL. Finding Connection.

I was lost but now I am found. We seem to have lost our way with the understanding how interconnected we are and we are with our environment.  Our current state of the environment, and the hate in the world, scream there is something wrong. Good news, we are making process and these things take time!

Einstein: you expand your circle of companion, by dissolving the optical delusion of separateness.

And in the act of doing this you start to re-connect to cause and effect; to the ripple effect of our actions. We lost this, we lost caring. By seeing yourself in others and in your surroundings, you find connection. Connection gives a feeling of contentment, of purpose, a sense of finding your way.



Great example of disconnection: A man was writing a college paper on alienation and anxiety, he got an A, however, he was feeling as alienated and anxious as ever. We fill our head with knowledge and education but not necessary the tools of how to deal with these things as an inner education.


How sweet the sound, but how tasty the experience.

When you read or hear about things, their is a disconnect. There is something powerful in experience, a shift in understanding/interpretation.

We can learn and learn about what is it like to swim, but until we swim, we don't know the feeling of weightlessness (something I said in my blog time and time again).



You need a guide like a swim instructor - be it a person, a book (ie: Power of Now, or the Bible) or a combo.

Will lead me.

You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him discover it in himself. 
Galileo Galilei 1500's.

A teacher lifts the burden - whatever it is. Helps one get over self doubt, acceptance of life, self rejection, to expand and expose new things to learn.
Their job is not to give you answer but to remind you who are and the answers are within; a tour guide on the journey of life.

Buddha's last words: be an island to yourself, your own mind is the source of wisdom.


Poof in the pudding mentality:
In America we need scientific evidence, who doesn't like a little reassurance in the form of studies by smart people at Harvard.

More and more studies are coming on the power of meditation:
Cortex frontal lobes get thicker and do not demish with time as they typically do. Some functions are preserved with meditation. Blood pressure decrease and the phsycilogical characteristics change - its true.  We buy that.

If you try to be creative every day, that area of the brain gets bigger, smarter. Comes easier. Same with Meditation and finding peace.

Mindful meditation creates a bigger brain; who doesn't want a bigger anything, come on America, we do love our supersize.



Mindful meditation ideas are starting to come to the schools which is amazing!  The new abc's - awareness, balance and clarity and compassion (team work notion). It helps empower kids, gives them coping mechanisms. A study in Harvard on ADHD is showing great results on the possibility and power of meditation.



Medication - replace the "c" with a "t". Meditation.
Meditation means cultivating the mind. The mind can be defined as a process that regulates information and energy flow.  Attention governs these 2 things. So you would think it would have been put together before.







You are divine. You are grace, believe in yourself and its can be amazing with attention, connection, experience, a guide and practice (whatever it means to you).....


Inspired from the documentary: Spiritual Evolution.  (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1276118/)

Change, a curse word?!

Change. What a concept. We are creatures of habit and find discomfort in the face of variance.

But within the space of change, outside of the box, trying times, decisions - we learn, we grow, we shift, and we can find purpose.

Is it comfortable?
No, of course not. Its hard, its lonely, and just sucks. But its a necessary evil.

But why me you ask?
You are not targeted, it doesn't only happen to you, this is our narcissistic nature of the ego. We ALL face this change, it comes at different times and different forms. Endure yours and be sensitive to others situation - stop just shopping for attention and forget that others want to be heard too. Listen.

Purpose you say, how?
Well its easy and complicated at the same time. Hindsight is 20/20, when one door closes another opens, all of those common words of wisdom will come to fruition.  And over time you will see how change gave you color and character, and within this process you can find purpose. 

Purpose msurpose
I used purpose in an everyday sense. I believe it is false to think we all will/need to find a grand thing that makes us have value. We already have value right now, within us, with each day bring opportunity to know this. However, I do think the striving for this false goal of "purpose", lends people doing extraordinary things or at least attempting too. This is not a bad thing either.

What is bad it not being happy on the journey, to feel less without this "purpose", to not have contentment right now.

Stop the ego, and negative drive...even its for a minute, give yourself the gift of peace. Accept that you can be good RIGHT now AND also strive to do good things.


Moral of today - a long day from when I last posted but:
Embrace change.

Don't worry, be happy: find out how

Happy - what a documentary - its on Netflix. Watch it.

"HAPPY takes us on a journey from the swamps of Louisiana to the slums of India. The documentary invites the globe to get happy."


Find your flow, and do it often = more happiness:
Great ideas from a book called "FLOW, the psychology of optimal experience"

FLOW: explained (not simply) as synergistic aspects of consciousness.  It is like when you are fulfilled with this sense of accomplishment, you are doing something you enjoy to do, you do it well and nothing else seems to matter when you are doing it. Other aspects: you know what is next, you are in control, forget problems, you get into a rhythm, forget yourself (the ego disappears). Life feels more valuable and worth living.
.

Flow can happen anywhere - your personal time (dancing), at work, cooking, cleaning, rock climbing, yoga.

Experience flow on a regular basis, feel happy more often.

Baseline function and our brains:
We typically function on a "baseline" - not too happy, not too sad. We are getting by. L I V I N G.

Our brains work on a compare and contrast basis: there is no pleasure without pain.  So when we have both good and bad experiences happen, we know that those respective feelings only last for a short time.  ie: I get disappointed from not getting a job, I feel sucky for a few days and bounce back with another application (which I shall be putting in today :)).  I go on a great date and feel happy (happy might only lasts a while if he doesn't call back).

So its important to remember this when you are within a situation, specifically a crappy one. This too shall pass.

The research into emotions show that the bad experience really enable people to understand things from a deep perspective. There is something about when you fall and get back up; you are much stronger than before.  And within these experiences you can find an ah-ha moment and you can recover from adversity faster, back to baseline quicker. 

I had a really crappy thing happen my senior year in High School, my house burned down. I was weighed down by post-traumatic stress and anger. It took years for me to look back and really understand the importance of that event. But I now feel that I lessened my reliance on material things, started to really value people more (and my animals and both were saved) and after going through that event I was a little rough on the edges. I felt that I "endured", I gained this sense I had a story, survived a hard experience (not comparing to others and there are heaps of worse things obviously). But its just this sense of getting knocked around and feeling better from it. No pain, no gain right?! 



Madonna said it: "you know that we are living in a material world" - we are taught to acquire not how to manage our reactions:
What we are told in our society is the way to be happy - we are driven to focus on making more money, work your way up the career ladder, get fancy cars and clothes. Stuff. 
But we do not get tools to work on the inside - the emotions.

Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.  And we have to learn this at random.

Interestingly, when you a see a graph of yearly income crossed with happiness, the general happiness graph line is pretty constant. When basic needs are met, more money doesn't seem to buy more happiness.

"Anyone that says money doesn't buy happiness, then talk to someone under a bridge. Someone who say money buys you happiness then talk to Bill Gates."

It's due to the "hedonic treadmill": as humans we have a great ability to adapt. And as we acquire things and start to live materially "richer" lives we adapt. It become normal and we always will want more. It is the enemy of happiness.



Understand your goals - internal and externally:
What are your goals? Are they goals for you or for what you want others to think of you? Is the MBA going to make your father proud finally? Is the need for the BMW to show your status?
Some of this is ok - it is just about being aware of what you would really get from achieving your goals. Cause I guarantee it will be anti climatic when you realise people do not really care that much about your stuff.
This exercise will prove that the effort you put in certain areas will shift and the effects will only yield positive results in your life.  

Love the research in the documentary about extrinsic goals vs intrinsically goals:
-external: wealth/money, image (look good), status/popularity 
-internal (needs we all have): personal growth (be who I really am), relationship (closeness), community feeling (help the world be a better place).

Different sides of the values system.  They find that external goals will bring less happiness and fulfillment.

The film discussed the impact of the intense work ethic in Japan.  In order to rebuild after WWI, the shift of focus went towards work and away from family.   Achieving status and things, this nation is literally working themselves to death. 
Pursuit of economic growth was at the detriment of culture, environment, social systems. GDP is not enough. In Bhutan, the government look at a Gross National Happiness (vs Product) - "whats going to make our people happy"? The answer is within the self, because fleeting pleasures does not help with contentment.

In Denmark, schooling is free and health care. Also there are co community living which seems great. LOVE the different ways of living in other countries. Importance of relationships, connection, support, help is a unique dynamic for both the parents and kids.



Quotes I really like:
"I don't understand and I don't need to understand"
"Social connection is intrinsically programed into us, it is fulfilling"
"Through intention we can change our brain (literally it gets thicker)."
"Happiness is a skill, like learning the violin."
"Happiness, the more you have, the more everyone has."



There truly is so many differently ways to live.  But the "net" is we want to be happy, shift your goals, and FLOW as much as possible. Don't worry, be happy.

do you

Covering up who we are: similarities and differences
We spend so much time trying to figure out we think we should be - it covers up who we are. Well then "who are we" you might ask?

You would expect a very individual response, and in part, there would be very personal aspects that define us on this earth here and now. But you can look at this more simply; the big picture. Focus on our similarities as human beings vs our differences. Foundationally, we all have the same emotional desires of happiness, peace, love. Individually, we will always have different talents, ways to express ourselves, degrees of passion, levels of emotions.

But by focusing on our similarities there will be more harmony; across people and within.  We might not understand and agree with specific religions - Muslim, Jewish, Atheist, Christian. But if we focus on the fact that these are different paths and just an institution that is made up people.  These people wake up everyday like us and want the same things that we do; happiness, peace, food.
The more you can learn about what you do not understand, the more you look for connection and similarity and the more we will find peace - across people and within.

However, the differences are beautiful; you should feel authentic, unique and we should embrace these vs feel shame.


Find yourself: accept and inspire within your pain
Find your wound and you will find yourself. Live within that space and inspire others -  vs see it has your fatal flaw. It has beautiful if you change your perspective.  If you are a drug addict go within that community and have empathy, related to people and find passion to inspire, if you have been sexual abused be there for others to lean on who have endure these types of experiences.

W are always looking for our purpose and this is one way where you will find your purpose. Your purpose doesn't have to change the world but know by inspiring one people you will be doing enough to impact the world.

World peace starts within each of us. By doing you, you will help others, it can be that simple.





Your soul is Altruistic while your ego is selfish

I feel I have found my purpose, through life studies and yoga
Still searching what this means, but it feels right and I am sharing. I am "doing me" by doing this.

My motto:
Lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu: may all beings everywhere, everyone, be happy and free. May the thoughts, words and actions (my karma's) contribute in someway to that happiness and freedom. To all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILeToVl4QWs

nothing like an elevator ride to slap you into the now

You know that moment you get on an elevator, you mind racing to the action you are taking once you get off, ie: like I was doing today and thinking about the cold walk to the recycle bin. You push the floor you are going but in a second you realise there is no movement happening. Then your heart lurches. Um, maybe it ends now, here. Dramatic..yes. But you have to admit this has happened at least once. "Is this thing going to plunge to my early demise"? What feels like minutes goes by and it jerks and starts moving slowly down towards your floor.

 

This is getting called "getting slapped into the now" Any moment could be your last. Even though my current situation sucks, atleast I am not at the bottom of that shaft. It feels wrong to use that wood by the way.

 

Urgh, I hate elevators and elevator dreams but I loved this elevator picture...though I am still trying to decide what it evens means....

Its not all rainbows but Im trying to love the rain first

why so serious

I have had a few people ask me why Yoga has to be so serious, and that fact makes them less compelled to do yoga.  Interesting.

I have mixed feelings - it is a serious but also good to laugh at the absurdity of this "self" we falsely create and live through in life. It is not "serious" like life and death but seriously shutting off the mind, for a respite from life.

Its like saying "yo mind, I am not listening to you, you are not in control. Watch this, I am doing yoga and contradict any negativity you send my way, I am not worrying about yesterday or planning tomorrow. I am here, now."

I like when teacher cracks a jokes or light hearted comments, more so if it applies to the teaching, the class.  ie: don't squeeze your butt checks like your holding a quarter, muscles are contracted but not tense like that (funnier in the moment that reading flat forsure).

When we are mid class, the sweat is dripping, the mind is pissing us off, it is great when a joke breaks this stiffness; a smile, or the room has a chuckle, it lightens the mood and gives a bit of motivation. But I do think too many would be distracting.

I had a friend tell me once, she has a teacher who gets a flow going and allows the class to do it a few times within their own breath.  Then the teacher puts on hard core rap to pump up the energy. It is a hint of humor to tackle the flow.
Nothing like a little Tupac or Too Short to get To-flow :).

This article explores this topic and is a good read.
http://blogs.yogajournal.com/mensblog/2013/02/21/that-clown-in-the-back-row/#.USZk8O3ip7E.facebook