Wednesday, April 29, 2015

TIME OUT-DON'T WORRY-BE HAPPY-SLEEP WELL-ENJOY A PEACEFUL LIFE!

WORRY – I actually looked this up in a real dictionary as my Google was not working at the time. 1. "to feel uneasy or anxious; to fret; torment oneself with or suffer from disturbing thoughts. 3. To make uneasy or anxious; trouble; torment with annoyances, cares, anxieties,etc.” These are some of the dictionary definitions of worry.

This brought up interesting questions for my mind,

1. What does worry mean to me?

2. Why would I want to feel anxious?

3. Why am I willing to torment myself with disturbing thoughts?

While exploring these questions in my mind I remembered a quote from one of my favorite Spiritual teachers, Iyanla Vanzant. In her book Until Today: “What you make in your own mind is what you put your faith into just to prove to yourself that what you believe is correct."

Here is a good place to ask - 

4. How important is it to me to be RIGHT?

I have known some people who would go to great lengths to be RIGHT!  As a matter of fact, I perhaps, have been in the past, one of those people.

There have been several conversations in my life recently revolving around worry. These conversations ignited my thinking mind, and I began to wonder at what age did we learn to worry? And then I wondered what exactly is worry?

It seems that at a very early age we learned that worry was connected to love. I'm sure that many of us remember the admonition from our parent “Be sure you’re home on time; when you're late I worry!” And so it seems that many of us began to believe that if we loved someone it was proven by how much we worried about them. So consequently we have trained ourselves to worry!

Being older and wiser now it seems to me that when we contaminate our time worrying about the past or the future, rather than being aware of the infinite possibility in the present moment, we are apt to be filled with stress and agitation. We find our relationships become strained and our creativity seemingly blocked. Worry about the future or the past means that we can't really focus on the peace and happiness available today. For instance, when we are worrying about our self or a loved one, because of an illness, or  upcoming tests, our doubts and fears will be transmitted to all those around us, thus destroying the peace of mind of all concerned and losing any joy in the time that we are together, the now moment.

I personally made a decision a while back, after hearing the quote "Worry is misplaced faith." I decided that I would prefer to have faith in the good and the wonderful, that I would like to prove my love in other more productive and peaceful ways. Being a student of Ernest Holmes teaching , “Change your thinking change your life,” indicated I had some work to do. I resolved to change my thinking. I soon discovered this is easier said than done!

I have found that to change my thinking I must first become aware of what I am thinking, again not always so easy. I have been able to do this by being very faithful with my yoga and meditation time. One of the things I have learned is that our mind is very powerful and often divided. There is what I call the ego mind, that part of our mind which is very attached to the world, which is by the way, the mind that convinces us to do the worrying. Then there is  our Spiritual mind which knows of things beyond this world and has the ability to bring good things into our life if we will get the negative worry thoughts out of the way.  I will share with you that the ego mind is usually much louder than the Spiritual mind. Thus the scriptural teaching "BE STILL and KNOW."


For many of us the “being still” often comes when we crawl into bed and just want to sleep. This is the time our ego mind gets very busy with all of the worry things. The  awareness of our ability to change our thinking will help us to still the worry thoughts. Then we can begin to work with our incredible Spiritual Mind and think the things that help us feel Good. I personally feel that Good is synonymous with God; therefore we are always offered an opportunity to let go and let God.

If we are to let go, we must stop ruminating. Ruminating is meditating on negative thought. We find our mind running in circles chasing the negative thoughts around and around gathering evidence for problems and disaster in our life.

Here are some techniques that have worked for me. I share them with you with a sincere desire and knowledge that you too can become worry free!

1. When you go to bed each night take some time to do some deep breathing and give yourself permission to relax and to feel good.


2. Express gratitude for another day of living. Dr. Michael Bernard Beckwith, another great spiritual teacher said "Nothing new can enter your life without gratitude."

3. Find at least 5 things that you can be grateful for, make sure that one of those things is your wonderful, awesome Self.  Some people find it helpful to keep a gratitude journal by the bed and writing a gratitude list. These can be very simple things like good food to eat and good water to drink, a kind word from a friend, a smile from a stranger.

Talk to your mind as though it were a little child that you were in the process of training. When your mind says negative things, say “Thank you for those thoughts, but I don't believe they are true.” Then take a deep breath and replace that negative thought with a positive thought. Be very patient, for just as with a stubborn child, you may have to repeat yourself several times before the message is finally received. Perhaps hundreds of times, even more – don’t quit - it is worth the effort.

And most of all remember, We all, no matter where we have been or what we have done have the ability to experience anything and everything good that we desire. This requires faith, a believing that our good is always there waiting for our acceptance.

Start each day with this affirmation,  “Today I am devoted to bringing my mind and life into alignment with all the good that I can imagine.” Now begin to image in good things and allow yourself to enjoy life.

It works for me and it will work for you! So go ahead be brave, step out of your comfort zone and give it a try.

Remember you are loved
YOGA YaYa




 

WOULD YOU BE OFFENDED!


                  

If I told you, “you are not all here? “

What if? I told you, “You are MISSING something IMPORTANT?”

 

Well that’s exactly what I’m telling you! You have become a slave to your past.

You are missing YOU!

You are not connected to you - I’m talking about the real YOU - THE AUTHENTIC YOU – the YOU - you came to be.

                HOW DID THIS HAPPEN??

 This disconnect began when you made your entry to planet Earth.

                 ACTUALLY

Even before you made your entry they were already making plans for who you were to be.

They began immediately telling you who you should be and who you should not BE - how you should act    not ACT.

   (Seen and not heard - nice and not naughty)

 

They even told you how you should and should not think! (Who do you think you are?)

 

This is how we all got buried in a big pile OF should - they should all over us and being quick learners we then began to should all over ourselves.

 

We have enslaved ourselves to someone else’s dreams, ideas, & wishes.

 

Dr. Martin Luther King said, “as long as the mind is enslaved the body can never be free.

Psychological freedom and a firm sense of self-esteem is the most powerful weapon against the long night of physical slavery.”

 

Self-esteem cannot be found when we are not being true to who we are.

                   ENOUGH is ENOUGH

I truly hope that I have offended you enough that you will push pause and take a serious look at your

Self – ask yourself is this really who I am??

 

 I believe it is time for you to be you - for you to be all you were created to be

 

I am suggesting that we get off the “should train,” that we change every should do, to a could do IF I wanted to!

 

You have my solemn problems that when you begin to be true to you, when you become the authentic you. There will be a wonderful change your life.

 

When you take this step to freedom people all around you will begin to change - this freedom will bring the peace you have been seeking and peace like a river will flow.

 

I would like to close with a quote from Thomas Jefferson “on matters of style, swim with the current. On matters of principle stand like a rock.”

 

Join me as an advocate TO PEACE by making it a principle to be you. We will not find peace in the world until we have made peace with our self.

 

There is no other like you in the entire universe.

 YOU ARE AN AWESOME CREATION