Changing Your Thoughts and Emotions

A New Pathway is Possible

Thoughts and Emotions
In a 1997 study, researchers at Duke University found that negative thoughts altered emotions and caused physical symptoms leading to ischemia of blood vessels. The study summarized that positive emotions reduced the risk of ischemic attacks.

Since then, additional studies in the field of PsychoNeuroImmunology (PNI) have examined the role of thoughts and the mind on the body, right down to the cellular level. Despite the wealth of information available, it is hard to simply start thinking positive thoughts all the time.

However, changing the way that you think is possible.

New Pathways
For this to happen, new pathways, i.e. thought patterns, have to be made in the brain and the most efficient method of creating lasting change is through breathing and meditation.

Constantly dragging the past or concerns about the future around with you keeps the body in a negative energy state. Applying the right thoughts, emotions, and behavior comes after creating space within the mind for new patterns to emerge. Aversions and preferences fade away until you remove the patterns of the past to create space for a new present to occur.

It takes energy to produce energy and this is true for all actions, including meditation.

Creating Change
During meditation, with the mind still and centered on the breath or your choice of focus, the brain works at keeping the breath slow, calm, and steady. As the breath slows, the mind becomes steady and less prone to random thoughts.

Meditation creates neurological changes that help you during your every day life. The changes are then reinforced each time you meditate, and each time you follow the new behavior.

Over time, thinking positively becomes your normal way of thinking. You are able to catch yourself as each negative thought occurs, and change it quickly to a positive one. Eventually you only think good thoughts.

Intuition
This does not mean that you cannot see danger or when a situation or person is harmful. Rather, your intuition is heightened.
It helps you to:
see when situations are bad for you, whether it is in the form of gossip or being in the company of someone
recognize when your behavior is reckless
hear when your thoughts are unkind either about yourself or directed at someone.

Making a Miracle
You “make a miracle” by creating good vibrational energy and sending it through your body. This restores much needed balance to both the body and the mind.

In the silence of a stilled mind, you move into a meditative state with grace and ease, creating the vital space within for new knowledge to emerge.

Peace transfers to the body and mind
You gain health and vitality
You create the life you really want.

Make meditation a part of your life and experience peace, happiness, and improved health every day.

The Winning Attitude

Photography by Margaret Stockley, copyright

"Let others lead small lives, but not you.

Let others argue over small things, but not you.

Let others cry over small hurts, but not you.

Let others leave their future in someone else's hands, but not you." Jim Rohn

Your emotions, attitude and reactions can alter your perspective of all situations that you encounter and create connections that are tenuous or forever bonded.  They carry you effortlessly through life or you end up struggling against the current, depending on your attitude.

Positive emotions
Meditation enables you to know yourself better, to probe deep within, and see what habits you harbor. This helps you improve your circumstances by learning from all situations, either experienced directly or observed in the actions of others. Change is unpredictable and this means that on occasions it can sometimes be scary.
Fear of the unknown is a very common emotion as there can be comfort in what is familiar to us, whether it is in the people that we know, our routine, or even our view from our house.
Feelings of anger, jealousy, fear, and acceptance of what is, are self-limiting and self-fulfilling while a positive frame of mind that embraces altruism forges an attitude of determination that leads to inner fortitude and achievement of purpose.

Meditation releases distractions and negative voices and emotions allowing the energies of peace, love, and joy to enter. The ever-growing light within eventually spills over, illuminating the love/hate relationship that we have between our mind and our body, as well as the inter-related connection between our whole selves and other people.

Benefits
There are numerous benefits to meditation that have been listed in previous postings. People will often begin a meditation practice because of its health and relaxation benefits.
What’s often surprising is the amazing effect on attitude.

Because meditation releases a negative perspective, you view the beauty in life more than the garbage; you recognize situations that are healthy for you, people that are beneficial to know, and circumstances that you can learn from rather than complaining and believing that transformation is not possible.
The confidence and self-assurance that you have carries you through life, ensuring that your drive, resolve, and compassion will generate enthusiasm and energy to tackle and deal with all situations.
You will believe that you can make a difference, you can bring about change, and you can be successful.

And you will.

Training the mind
It is worth remembering that the subconscious mind operates day and night, whether you are aware or not. It is here that information received via the senses is stored and retrieved.

While most of us are well aware that “remaining calm” or “love is the answer” are appropriate choices, putting them into practice is another matter entirely when you find it challenging to monitor your thoughts, keep them in check, or even reign in actions that you really don’t want to pursue.

Training the mind through meditation to achieve single-pointed focus allows the self as the witness of the mind to create a better future by eliminating issues from the past which impact the present.
It permits objective observation, i.e. without judgment, of either the world or yourself.

Meditation restores peace to both body and mind and puts you back in control of what you think, say, and do. You are still aware of external stimuli from the senses but no longer affected by them.

Guided Visualization

Choose a word or phrase e.g. I am wanted and valued. I am loved and give love.
Imagine yourself walking on a straight path through woods.
The clouds and thick and heavy, obscuring the light.
See the path, the trees, the dampness of the ground, the dark sky above.
See a tunnel ahead of you.
It is very dark inside but you are drawn to a spark of light at its center.
The light fills you with hope.
As you walk in the darkness towards the circle of light, become aware of any negative memories.
See a shaft of light on the ground.
Step onto it and walk in the beam of light.
Let your negative thoughts rise to the surface and leave them behind.
Leave the shaft and feel the path easier to walk on.
You feel happier than you have felt in a long time.
At the end of the tunnel, you embrace the light.
Explore what you see there.
Use all your senses.
All is light and love.
You know the source of this love, are filled with this love and know that you are loved.

Meditation of Love

Swans are a Symbol of Love

Over the centuries there have been tales of the fountain of youth; a fountain whose waters impart healing or prolong life. Today’s scientists are looking for cures into many diseases and have uncovered cells and receptors within the body that promote feelings of well-being while increasing the protective factors that prevent diseases from occurring in the first place.  Much is also known about optimism and its subsequent benefits to the body.

For thousands of years, meditation has been known by practitioners to promote happiness, peace, and love.
This brings with it numerous advantages to not only spiritual health and happiness, but improves overall health and well-being too.


More benefits of meditation are being discovered every year and cover numerous areas from psychology, stress-reduction, and reduction of medication, to name a few.  One aspect is the ability of meditation to increase the thickness of the frontal lobe of the brain (it thins as we age) that is responsible for attention, sensory input, and emotional processing and well-being. This means that with repeated practice, the adult brain can alter its structure. The brain is more able to concentrate on what is truly important and not be drawn astray by thoughts that keep leaping about from one topic to another, it feels happier more often, and with practice it experiences deep and true Love.

When people experience profound happiness, like the kind they experience through love, they not only feel happy and exhilarated but exhibit increased levels of the hormone DHEA, which is known to prevent aging.

When you meditate, you gain similar benefits.

When you are in love, or feel love, your body produces hormones and receptors that increase your ability to fight infection and reduce the spread of diseases, while at the same time lowering the damaging process caused by stress, anxiety, and unhappiness.

Meditation helps you to improve your health, manifest a conscious shift in your relationships, and even how you feel about yourself.

How?

By increasing the depth of your Love.

Love is often described as an ocean, with unfathomable depths and breadths. We may think that we are able to love fully, but as our frequency of meditation increases, the depth of our experience intensifies as Love flows freely through an expanded heart and mind.

Everyone wants to love and receive love, and this is made possible through meditation as it unites you to the source of all that is Light and Love.  Open the subtle energy that surrounds and exists within your heart and let it flow freely.  During your meditation, you will know when your heart is open because the surge of Love through your body is like a dam being opened.
We are all capable of Loving and we may say that we are in love, but it is not until you experience the overwhelming flow of Love through you that you can experience your relationships in a different light.

How is it done?
Through preparation and regular meditation practice.

Preparation means awareness of thoughts.  Removing critical and disapproving thoughts on a regular basis until you see only the goodness in life, rather than focusing on what is broken or diseased.
This does not mean that you should view the world through rose-colored glasses. It means that you endeavor to see the beauty and potential of life.

In your relationships with others, focus on the love that united you, think of them often through the day with love, rather than on petty differences.
Monitor your thoughts and if you find that a less than loving thought has arisen, stop it in its tracks from going any further and replace it with thoughts of kindness and affection.
Practice thinking of others with love; extend kind thoughts to strangers rather than critical thoughts.

When you say that you love someone, love them without restrictions. Learn to swim in the ocean of love. As soon as you risk taking the plunge into the ocean of bliss you envelop yourself in it and recognize your true Self.

Loving Affirmations

The breath has power not only on a physical level, but on a subtle level too. As you meditate every day, develop loving awareness in rhythm with your deep and steady breath. This will become your normal state of being. Cultivate a state of Love in all your thoughts by drawing this understanding to all your activities.

I choose to be grateful
I choose to be kind
I choose to feel joy
I choose to see the good within
I choose to be happy
I choose to give love
I choose to be loved
I am Loved
I am Love

Awareness Meditation: Part 2

Awareness of the mind enables it to become clear, calm, and still

Awareness Meditation: Part 2

Once you have practiced the basic introduction method to awareness meditation posted below and feel comfortable about dissolving into your meditation with ease, you may wish to try a deeper meditative practice.
A deeper awareness meditation may uncover deep-seated issues or desires and the key is to let them arise without judgment.

You are an observer of your thoughts and emotions and the purpose of meditation is to remain unattached to them. As you focus on whatever arises during your practices, identify it but don’t spend time analyzing or struggling to identify it if it is not immediately recognizable.
Whether it is a person, an object, or a desire for something that you wish to occur in your life, it is useful to know what it is in order to recognize the feelings and emotions that are consciously or unconsciously associated with it. With each subsequent awareness meditation, more thoughts become recognizable and therefore identifiable.
Remember to remain objective and without judgment of either the object or yourself.

If meditation is fairly new to you, you may find that interruptions in your flow of thoughts will occur. You suddenly find that your mind has gone off at a tangent. Once again remain the observer, without opinions, and return to the rhythmic flow of your breath to draw your awareness inward.
Stay with your breath as other thoughts arise and observe them without following them.
Pay attention to the emotions that appear as these will help you hone your self-awareness and introspection.

Allow all energy that arises through your meditation practice to flow.
Be open to all that you may experience
Remain the observer

As your mind settles on the space within, you discover a reservoir of energy that enables you to quietly identify aspects of yourself that you want to release, and aspects that you wish to nurture and grow.
Enter into the space between the thoughts and feel the expansion of knowledge, creativity, and compassion that emerges.

With continued practice, once each meditation is complete, you will continue to foster awareness in all aspects of your life including communications with other people and your interactions with the world around you. Heightened awareness enables you to become more alert, with renewed or enhanced desires and a sense of purpose.

MEDITATION PRACTICE

"Be soft in your practice. Think of the method as a fine silvery stream, not a raging waterfall. Follow the stream, have faith in its course.
It will go its own way, meandering here, trickling there.
It will find the grooves, the cracks, the crevices.
Just follow it.
Never let it out of your sight.
It will take you."

Sheng-yen (807-869 CE)

Are You at Peace?

In the busy, high-pressure, fast expectation environment that we so often find ourselves, it is often challenging to set aside fifteen or twenty minutes a day to be in meditation.
We cling to past thoughts and behaviors hoping that that will be enough to help us deal with unexpected challenges.

Meditation is a means to achieving peace not only during the meditation experience, but during your daily life and interactions with others.
Are you at peace?
What thoughts circulate through your mind about how you perceive yourself or other people?
The thoughts that you think and the words that you speak say a lot about you as a person and influence the way that people treat you. If you are not aware of negativity in your choice of language, your tone of voice, or even the flow of your thoughts, you should not be surprised when your life does not go the way that you hoped.

The awareness that emerges through regular meditation practice is applied in daily thoughts and reactions, ensuring that you only think and say good things.
Firmly held beliefs can be chipped away at and permanently removed by meditation. You no longer need believe that you are undeserving of success, love, or happiness in whatever endeavors you pursue.

Release Attachment

We've all seen someone whose happiness circulates around the material stuff and possessions that they acquire. They are on a seemingly endless quest for more toys, gadgets, and objects with no end in sight. Are they happy? For a short time yes, then they're off looking at something new.
Yoga philosophers such as Patanjali wrote over 2000 years ago of the importance of non-attachment in helping a practitioner achieve peace. While a degree of attachment is necessary to enable us to achieve goals, help those in need, and to nurture those whom we love, the freedom, happiness, and joy that we all seek arises from connecting to the peace that lies within.
The same holds true with your meditation practice. Follow it, never force it, and go where it leads and guides you.

Meditation Holds the Answers

Previous postings give specific details on how to begin to meditate.

During your meditation practice, awareness on the breath slows the thought process down so that you become aware of what you are thinking and can then respond accordingly rather than reactively. For example, by using the breath and a chosen word such as relax, you can direct this energy of the word to tell your body to breathe deeply and slowly.

Replace your old thought patterns with a new phrase.
Start with one thought.
Choose a specific word or phrase that you can repeat during your meditation.
Take a moment right now to listen to your mind and body.

• What is it that you need more of, or less of e.g. more peace, less stress.
• What is preventing you from achieving this goal?
• Decide what you need and be specific rather than too vague and all-encompassing.
• Ensure that what you ask in your affirmation is positive in nature and in the present tense; eg “I am loved” rather than “I will be loved.”
  

Following your meditation, carry one of the affirmations with you throughout the day and soon you will see the changes that you desire manifest in your life as you develop your ability to be more aware and in tune with your thoughts.
You will find that you become less attached to the external world as you uncover the source of real peace.

Putting new thoughts into new actions is not just about producing a new way of thinking though.
It’s about generating a new way of living, discerning and applying the information gleaned from meditation to let go of old ways of reacting to a lifestyle that no longer serves you.

Delight in the peace that is yours to have in abundance.

Follow your stream and see where it takes you.

MEDITATION AND HEALING

Meditation and Healing
Meditation has proven health benefits in both healthy individuals and people who have been diagnosed with a specific illness. The benefits are not subjective, i.e. “I feel good” but using blood tests and brain scanning imagery researchers are able to provide data on the clinical improvements.

In a Swedish study, published in December 2007, researchers studied 55 healthy adults and the effect of a breathing technique that involved cycles of slow, normal, and rapid breathing exercises.
At the end of the study, feelings of anxiety, stress, and depression were significantly decreased and optimism was significantly increased in the breathing study group.
There was also a reduction in the sympathetic nervous system activity and a feeling of well-being with an increase in antioxidants and lower levels of cortisol.

Other studies have looked at the influence of thoughts upon the cells of the body and how mood affects your health one way or another. During a health crisis, remaining positive helps with a positive outcome as well as having supportive colleagues. It does not mean doing away with modern therapies, but is seen as a means of supporting the treatment.

Tapping into the light within you during meditation has benefits
to your overall health and well-being.

Researchers at the University of Miami found that controlled breathing, guided imagery, and meditation promote not only a positive mental attitude in women being treated for stage I or II breast cancer, but provide significant health benefits in supporting the immune system and the overall health of the body, including reduced serum cortisol levels in only 10 weeks.

Affirmations
Prior to your meditation session, fill your mind with the words, images, and energy of your affirmations.
Thoughts have their own unique energy. Use the power of your words to create only that which is positive for you. Here is one example but please choose the words that are appropriate for your own needs.

“I am filling each cell with light and creating a new body.”

See yourself feeling strengthened and invigorated as you awaken in the morning. Smile and embrace the start of this new day. Hear yourself welcoming the potential that this glorious day will bring. See yourself succeeding in whatever tasks you need to fulfill.

Enter into meditation.
Spend fifteen minutes allowing your body to enter into a peaceful and tranquil state using any of the methods outlines in previous postings on this site. (See Guided Meditations)

After Your Meditation
See yourself as strong and healthy. See healing energy passing into you and surrounding you. See yourself doing all the things that you are now able to do.

Move lightly, filled with vitality and the knowledge that all is well.

Use your affirmation during the day whenever you feel troubled.

Tap into the peace of your meditation to stay relaxed and permit the healing energy to flow within you.

CONTEMPLATIVE MEDITATION

Word
Prayer
Spirit

Background
Centering Prayer is now more commonly known as Contemplative Meditation. It is drawn from prayer practices that began in the first century C.E. and was made popular in the 1970’s by monks from the Trappist Abbey, St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts.

They describe Contemplative Meditation as “A prayer of silence, an experience of God’s presence as the ground in which our being is rooted, the Source from whom our life emerges at every moment.”

This form of meditation is a means of centering the mind to receive God’s presence and increase awareness of God's presence in your life. It creates a peace even when awake by releasing the flow of knowledge and guidance at the level of the soul.

There is a peaceful and sacred place that abides within you. It is your refuge and your home. It is here in this hallowed sanctuary that you are safe to withdraw to discover the areas where you need to grow.

Find a quiet place to reflect on a word in Contemplative Meditation

Essence
Contemplative Meditation is a means of training the mind to concentrate, or center, on a word, a thought, a spiritual passage, or a mantra.
This type of meditation can be practiced anywhere that you have time to yourself such as walking, physical activity, or simply sitting.

Method
Choose a phrase from a spiritual book, or select a spiritual word or name.
Study the word. Notice what “speaks” to you.
Study the word again. What feelings does it evoke within you.
Return to the word a final time.
Keep focusing on the word, absorbing it, understanding it, and knowing its truth.
Merge into meditation if the situation permits.


Benefits
It expands your ability to concentrate and become aware of the thoughts, emotions, and feelings from the body as they arise.
Any time that you find yourself in a situation that is challenging, you can induce relaxation by bringing awareness to the flow of the breath and focus on a word or phrase that you have encountered during your Contemplative Meditation.
It heightens your spiritual journey and deepens your relationship with God.
Your intuition increases as it maintains an openness to hearing and following the wisdom that arises from within.

You may like to carry your word with you to deepen your spiritual connection and awareness.

MEDITATION AND BREATHING

With a controlled breath there are no limits.

WHAT IS THE CONNECTION BETWEEN BREATHING AND MEDITATION?

Contemplation and self-inquiry are made possible through Meditation. Meditation heightens conscious awareness of what is happening at the present moment.
Meditation reveals your present state of mind and consequently your present way of living.

When the mind is not aware, it brings about an imbalance in mood and health. Random thoughts can occur, emotions rise, and unforeseen or unwanted events occur.

When an incident actually happens or is even ONLY PERCEIVED in the mind
1. the body tenses up
2. the breath speeds up
3. becomes shallow
4. resulting in an increase in heart rate and perspiration

EXAMPLE: We’ve all used a thermometer.
Just as a thermometer can tell if your internal body temperature is too high, awareness of the breath and the meditative mind brings an awareness of the mental temperature.

What is YOUR emotional temperature?

If the mind is agitated and heated up, you can act appropriately to cool it down before it becomes too hot.

NO ONE LIKES A HOT HEAD.

If you sit in meditation and are unable to connect with the inner peace, determine what is blocking this natural state.
If you had a high temperature, you would seek the cause. In the same way, you should seek the source of inner health.

MEDITATE ON THE POSITIVE
1. Cultivate constructive driving forces by directing the mind to opposite ideas, ones that are positive to the individual and toward others
2. Negative thoughts require energy to plan and implement. They are detrimental in manner, sound, and effect
3. By maintaining a single-pointed focus of awareness via meditation, you choose to be positive and identify ways to maintain a strong mind and body, to stay resilient, and to help others.

CONTROLLING THE BREATH
In a Swedish study, published in December 2007, the researchers studied 55 healthy adults and the effect of a breathing technique that involved cycles of slow, normal, and rapid breathing exercises.

The exercises were practiced for an hour daily, 6 days a week, for 6 weeks.

48 control patients were advised to relax in an armchair for 15 minutes daily.

At the end of the study, feelings of anxiety, stress, and depression were significantly decreased and optimism was significantly increased in the breathing study group.
There was also a reduction in the sympathetic nervous system activity and a feeling of well-being with an increase in antioxidants and lower levels of cortisol.

SO, HOW DOES THE BREATH WORK IN CONJUNCTION WITH MEDITATION?
Through:
1. Concentration
2. Awareness of the states of the body, e.g. tense, anxious
3. Knowledge of how to relax

Meditation improves your ability to focus and concentrate, alerting you to distracting thoughts and emotions that arise in your mind when you stop being busy.

When your mind recognizes that a situation is stressful and notices changes in the breath, you draw your awareness to the breath and slow the breath down to maintain a relaxed physical and mental state.

Eventually you maintain a relaxed and calm state wherever you go.

Meditation is the key to controlling the mind, the breath, and therefore the body.

Meditation and Spirituality

Meditation and Spirituality

How does meditation help you deepen your spirituality?
This is a vast subject with enough material for a book but I will mention some key points so that you will know that when you are meditating you are doing more than relaxing; you are getting to know, deepening, and expanding your spiritual self.

With regular practice, meditation enables you to gain control over the mind by stopping it from leaping around from one thought to another. This ability to concentrate also brings with it self-discipline. From here, the mind becomes pure as it focuses only on that which is beneficial and good.

The purpose of meditation is to connect with the Creator. Many people get distracted on the way by the feelings of peace and relaxation that they acquire and end up going no further than trying to achieve more and more relaxed, when all the while a greater experience lies ahead.

What does it mean to live a spiritual life?
Spirituality is a personal experience and is a journey of education and fulfillment. This means that people are at different places on their journey of discernment, but only when you enter the spiritual path and invite Spiritual guidance into your being do you begin leading the life you were born to live. You have an unwavering guide within you who will help you identify the choices that you need to make in your life.

You are the person responsible for making choices and changes. You have the freedom to decide when and if you are going to move away from the negativities of the past and move forward. The Spirit is never pushy and it will never make decisions for you but is always there. When you find yourself in situations that are troubling, ask for guidance.

Meditate Daily
Your meditation practice speeds up the process of identifying problem areas. The veil that covered the mind is removed and you see into the mind clearly. Here you can acknowledge the aspects hidden deep within the shadows of your mind and to set about removing them.

Clear away the debris that blocks the mind from leading a successful and productive life and transform your life anew. Practice fresh feelings of honesty and forgiveness, non-judgment and peacefulness.

Release demanding traits that are defining a lifestyle that you do not want. Enter a state of harmony and bliss by stilling the mind, surrendering to change, and reaching the highest level of awareness that enriches and nourishes you.

Meditation Strengthens Serenity
Meditation focuses your energy on the spirit. It redirects it to a place of Bliss that cannot be described, merely experienced.
Meditation brings clarity and peace and also directs all the energy involved in thinking to a single-pointed focus where it connects with the Creator.

Intuition
Trust what you sense deep within you. Listen to the still small voice inside you and hear what it is saying. Trusting in your intuition endows you with the skills to embark upon new challenges and adventures in life.

Meditation helps you see the way forward.

Visualize and Speak your Prayers
Change the way you act by acting as though what you ask for in meditation and prayer has occurred. The pressure is off you as peace arises and guidance from within moves through your life.

Meditation and Spirituality
Meditation equips you with confidence and gladness as you witness yourself succeeding in overcoming old behavior patterns. You understand that you have the tools to help you complete each step on your path. Unwavering Bliss permeates your life both during meditation and following it.

Your whole life becomes a meditation. Your whole life becomes Bliss.

When you offer your inherent gifts of kindness and generosity freely, you feel enriched and renewed by knowing that you are compassionate and doing work that helps humanity.
You owe it to yourself and to the world to live the fullest life possible, assured in the love that is awaiting you.

What you give out, you receive back.
If your thoughts and actions are positive and loving, you will receive this from others and your needs filled in abundance. You learn to live your life free from negativity.

Meditation and Peace
Inner peace comes from helping others. Living a contented life that embodies the positive benefits of connecting with the energy of the Spirit is within your reach. You gather strength in getting to know people and their unique perspectives and skills.
Keep your heart and mind open.
Become a person whose life is spiritually strong and open to the possibilities in everyone.

POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS

POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS CHANGE THE MIND LIKE THE CHANGING SEASONS

We all use affirmations hundreds of time every day. However these affirmations are not the ones that we want to continue using. Every thought that you have affirms a choice or a decision that may or may not be in your best interest. They're filled with doubts and negativity, but are powerful nevertheless.

Changing your thoughts and life is possible through the use of POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS.
They allow you to nurture yourself through kindness and are an internal cheerleader, helping you achieve your goals.

How Affirmations Work
Your mind cannot hold two thoughts at the same time.
You have a choice therefore to replace negative thoughts with powerful positive ones.

Holding a positive affirmation in your mind, carrying it with you, repeating it, believing it, makes the mind less resistant to change and eventually it slips into a positive way of thinking on a deep subconscious level.



All Affirmations must be positive in nature and use the present tense as though you already have what you need in your life and have created the changes that you seek.

When you are open to change, you will see opportunities present themselves before you for you to take hold of and use to your advantage. What you need will come to you, often when least expected. Even if you don't feel ready or prepared enough, accept that it has arrived for a reason and will help you.

You will not be given more than you can cope with. You will grow as an individual and in turn be able to help others by perhaps being the answer to or the completion of an affirmation that they have asked for.

Affirmations for Happiness:
I choose to be grateful and kind
I am successful in all that I do
I am happy
In this moment I am at peace
I have peace in all areas of my life.

Affirmations for Love:
My family life is loving and kind
I choose to give love
All aspects of my being are filled with love

Affirmations for Health:
I am filling each cell with light and creating a new body.
I have abundant energy to complete all my tasks
I am filled with vitality in body, mind, and spirit

Affirmations for Wealth:
All my needs are being met
I have abundance in my life
I receive whatever I need


Affirmations: Positive, Powerful, and Your Key to Happiness

Create Your Own Affirmations

1. All your affirmations must be positive in nature and in the present tense.
2. State your affirmation as though it is already happening.
3. Determine what is important to you, whether it is already a part of your life or not.
4. Decide what you want to have in your life.
5. Write it all down. That way you can see if you are using the correct positive language.
6. Create your list
7. Ignore any negative internal voices that tell you:

• you don't deserve to have...
  
• it won't work
• you're being silly
  

You are starting a new way of thinking and it will take a little while for you to replace your past thoughts and behavior pattern. Have faith in yourself and in your affirmations.
Your affirmations cost nothing but they achieve everything that you need. Throw out the doubting, negative-accepting thoughts and start believing in yourself.

Thoughts can be changed and by doing so you change your life.

Life Happiness

Happiness is a State of Mind
There is a Sanskrit saying that reads "A man is according to his mind."
If you think that you are happy, you are happy.
If you think that you are miserable, you are miserable.

We make life more complicated than that because of self-imposed restrictions set by the mind. However, you are not bound by the limitations that the mind sets for you, unless you choose to be.

Meditation helps you to rise above the mind and see that the Self is different and separate from the creations of the mind.
The Self is eternally free and Meditation helps you to distinguish your Self from the mind and transcend the mind's perception of reality.

Non-Stick Meditation
When the mind is free from all obstacles, it can view the world clearly. Life will continue to occur around it but the Self is not affected by it. Nothing sticks to the mind. The meditative mind rises above the world and while it sees what is happening around it, it is unaffected by it as though the concerns of the world simply slide right off.

This does not mean though that you become distant or aloof from the world. You live in it, you are a part of it, and you use your new-found compassion to help others reach the calm and tranquil place that you have discovered.

Daily Practice
Practice catching your thoughts, moods, feelings, and alter your thought pattern to reflect a happy state of mind. Notice how you react to what other people are doing and saying and strive to remain centered and at peace.

While reading about and understanding the principles behind meditation are important, even more knowledge and understanding is received during a regular meditation practice.
Without action, nothing is achieved.
Know that there will be days when your practice is smooth and others when you struggle to maintain a connection to a single focus. In time you will overcome all struggles and enter into a meditative state with ease.

New meditation information is added to the site every week with links to my additional articles on how to meditate, reduce stress, and gain inner peace.

Meditation Benefits

If you've ever wanted to pursue a hobby, diet, or exercise plan and struggled to complete the course, meditation is the solution to your success.


Recent clinical studies have compared what is happening in the brain during the thought process and during meditation. Using fMRI's, they have been able to see the parts of the brain that are involved when you think and when you meditate.

Basically, habits of any kind follow a specific neural pathway within the brain which becomes easier to traverse with each repeated action. This is a good thing otherwise we would all have to re-learn how to dress every morning!

The downside is when a thought or action becomes outdated or is based on fabricated truths where your present experiences continually add to a past experience by telling yourself, "see I knew ... would happen, or so-and-so would be like that."

You are reinforcing past beliefs which have changed over time and are not in fact true any more.

What this means is that your existing habits are well-ingrained and tough to change without assistance. Meditation is the easiest method to use if you are serious about wanting to make a difference in your life.

Brain cells (neurons) switch on and off depending on their specific use, so that your body can successfully function with each body part knowing its role. New thought patterns can be formed, but just like a little-used country path that is covered in undergrowth, it is challenging to walk through at first.


With repeated use it becomes easier to traverse until you can walk through it without any obstacles in your way.

Meditation actually facilitates a new way of thinking.

Rather than rehashing the same experiences, you begin to acquire a different understanding of who you are and what you want based on new and more accurate knowledge of your thoughts and habits.

Meditation promotes relaxation and peace, which the brain likes and wants to return to. When you associate meditation with a new behavior, you actually make it easier to stay on track and not fall back into old habits.

Meditation alleviates struggles and is your very own tool to making life more enjoyable and easier.

Making meditation part of you everyday not only brings peace, but helps you lead the life that you want.

If you have any suggestions for meditation articles please write to me from the website (there's a place at the end of each posting to do this) and I'll be happy to write on this subject.
New meditation information is added to the site every week with links to my additional articles on how to meditate, reduce stress, and gain inner peace.