Awareness

“Awareness is the greatest agent for change.” ~ Eckhart Tolle

Sometimes in our very busy lives we move through each day unaware of our true feelings and how we affect the people around us. We humans get so busy with tasks to accomplish and simply find ourselves in a kind of survival mode. We become lost and don’t even realize it.

When we are so unaware and lost we hurt ourselves and those we love, and sometimes don’t know we’re doing it. Becoming aware of who we are and how we are influencing everyone around us is mindfulness, and a practice we must do every day.

“Self-awareness involves deep personal honesty. It comes from asking and answering hard questions.” ~ Stephen R. Covey

Being honest with ourselves is crucial to the why we do what we do. The hard questions of how we truly feel inside about ourselves. If we are beaten down, feel inadequate, deeply hurt, resentful, how can we function for ourselves or those we love? And it’s more than just functioning, it’s how can we live our best life?

The awareness of ourselves and the acceptance of our reality is the beginning of our changing any bad behavior that’s keeping us from living our life fully and placing those we love in the warmth of our embrace.

Becoming aware of who we are and what we are doing puts us in a dance with our life that is not only beautiful, but full of balance and flow.

Ask Yourself Why

“If there was one life skill everyone on the planet needed, it was the ability to think with critical objectivity.”

~ Henry David Thoreau

I believe that the inability of critical thinking is the root cause of prejudice.  If we would simply ask ourselves “Why” we feel the way we do toward others, we would be surprised to find that it is based on fear, preconceived ideas, our parents opinions, and the entire tribe that surrounds us.

Being too comfortable in our views and resisting stretching our minds to go beyond what we were taught will keep us closed-minded to the truths that stand before us.

If humans are to survive then we must change, and the first step is to ask “Why.”

“Too often we… enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.” ~ John F. Kennedy

Flowing Clouds

“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.”

~ Rabindranath Tagore

Clouds are constantly changing, and so is our life. The secret is knowing how to flow with change. The way to flow is to live in the moments of life, and live in them fully. No second guessing and no looking back at mistakes or what could have been.  Our past is full of lessons learned, and some very painful. We also can’t predict the future, because like the clouds, it is always changing shape.

Learn to give to yourself as much as you give to others. Never let yourself become depleted. People will come and go but you will remain until the end. Believe and invest in yourself as you flow as free as the clouds.

“It is better to have your head in the clouds, and know where you are… than to breathe the clearer atmosphere below them, and think that you are in paradise.”

~ Henry David Thoreau

 

 

 

It’s Time

Yes, it’s time for Peace.

“When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know Peace.” ~ Jimi Hendrix

But peace won’t come until real Change starts to happen, and we can actually feel and see it taking shape.

“You have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”
~ Harriet Tubman

Something will still be missing for peace to come and that is Healing.

“There is force in the universe, which if we permit it, will flow through us and produce miraculous results.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

This force is the Healing we and our planet so need before peace will come.

Change, Healing, Peace. This will be hard for some because it’s a different way of thinking and living.

Start by emptying all the misinformation stuck in the brain that has been passed on from generation to generation. Look at life with a new perspective. Practice forgiveness, acceptance and humility. Open the door and let love in to banish hate for good. And get rid of fear. Many times when we don’t understand something or someone we fear it and pass on negative judgments.

Just like the picture of the flowering strawberries above, we too are ready for renewal that will lead us to Peace. So let’s begin.

Past, Present, Future

You can’t change your past, but you sure can change your present for the better. Life is short and the future is not promised to anyone. Every positive present moment we possess makes whatever future we have that much better.

“Never let the pain from your past punish your present and paralyze your future.” ~ Author Unknown

Sail on my friends.

 

 

Shed Your Skin

 

There’s a new you waiting, so go ahead and shed your old skin and fly as high as you dare.

Improving ourselves is part of why we’re here, and there’s nothing wrong with changing old ways that don’t suit us anymore. We need to broaden our horizons and not be afraid to discard old stubborn ways of thinking for new, balanced, and maybe even kinder ways of thinking and being.

Even in your job you can make changes for the better. I remember when I worked with people who wouldn’t change the way they did things because that was the way it had always been done, and this was even if it wasn’t working that well anymore. Shedding old ways can improve how we perform our jobs, react to others, and feel about our life in general. Change is all about growing.

Don’t let your mind, family, or even society keep you from growing into the person you were meant to be. Life becomes stagnant if change never happens. It’s exciting to shake things up and live your life a little bit differently. It feels like renewal because it is regeneration. But remember, only you have the power, so go use it!

 

We Can

We can be the change that needs to be.

We can be the beauty we long to see.

We can be the love that’s waiting to be freed.

But nothing will ever change unless we wake up, raise our voices, and demand the time is now!

Don’t go home and close the door behind you thinking you’re closing the world away because you’re not. Nothing gets better on its own. We are all connected, and when one part is sick we are all sick.

We can all do our part to make the world we live in a better place. Change can happen by how we vote, treat each other, and how we choose to live our lives. The important thing is to be connected and never give up the fight for change that needs to be.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world:  Indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.” ~ Margaret Mead

 

Deep Inside

 

“Be compassionate with yourself.” ~ Eckhart Tolle

You are the who that you are, but that doesn’t mean you can’t change the bad that you are. But… in doing that, don’t condemn the whole that is all of what you are.

Have compassion for what is deep inside.

It’s a new year and you know what that means? You are now looking at a blank canvas, a fresh start, and all the old negative feelings you had in 2017 you should throw out with this week’s trash! You don’t need them anymore.

Don’t be so hard on yourself. You are human and are learning. So learn to forgive, love, care about everyone—and that includes you. If you can’t do this for yourself then it will be harder to do it with others.

Life is short; don’t wait. Go ahead and reach deep inside—you might be surprised at the beauty you find there.

You Did Your Best

It’s over now and it’s time to go. You put your best foot forward. You stood up tall for your beliefs and fought the battle strong and fierce. You did your best my friend, but now it’s time to go.

Life is your new gig now—I mean, getting back in and actually living one and not just cruising around. Times are a changing and it’s getting pretty rough out there, but maybe you can make a difference here and there just by caring.

That word, “Caring” isn’t used and shown much anymore. It just doesn’t show up always in the humans of this planet. But hey, don’t you think we can change all that if we get back to living life again? I sure want to think so.

You did your best, so let today go, and concentrate on the new day fast approaching. You know, maybe just maybe, we can all make the new day finally glow.

Then and Now

Are you doing it again? You know, that thing where you kick yourself for all the horrible mistakes you made in the past. The operative word here is PAST. You realize that you can’t do a thing about all that stuff that happened in the good old past, right? I hope so. But I had a conversation with a friend that has decided to take a trip back there and try to relive decisions she made and figure out all the whys of her decisions. Friends, that just doesn’t work. It doesn’t work because the who you were in the past is not the who you are now.

“Your past mistakes are meant to guide you, not define you.”
~ Unknown

Sometimes in life doing your best becomes your absolute worst. Why? Because you can only give what you have and sometimes you’re just out of stock. During these times your best is your worst. But don’t be so hard on yourself because you did do your best. As a person grows and matures the decisions they made in the past probably are not the decisions they would make today.

So, you out there, stop doing this to yourself. Look back at your past and the bad decisions and realize it was you then and not now. View the past as a learning experience — and that goes for the past mistake you just made a few minutes ago. It got your attention and you have learned your lesson. Come on, move on down that highway and forgive yourself.

Hey, this is you now, and you are giving it your very best.

I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes for getting through this life:

“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them – that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.”
~ Lao Tzu