Staying Positive: The Way to Success and Health

Love is all you need?

Love really does keep you healthy.

The hormone DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) is produced abundantly in the body from cholesterol and secreted by the adrenal glands. Once it is in your body, it impacts the body in multiple ways and can be converted into estrogen, testosterone, progesterone and even cortisone. It is also known as a cortisol antagonist; fighting the negative effects of stress and anxiety however it fluctuates according to your response to circumstances and decreases as you age.

High levels of cortisol have been associated with diseases such as Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and depression, as well as anxiety, increased stress, low energy and elevated blood pressure.
Studies indicate that DHEA protects from cortisol overconcentration, has an anti-depressant effect, enhances memory in young to middle-aged adults, and supports the immune-system therefore maintaining a steady level of this beneficial hormone is to be encouraged.


So how do you maintain the levels that you need?
Researchers have also found that meditation promotes positive emotional and physical states which, in turn, dramatically elevate levels of DHEA. Meditators allow feelings of peace and love to flow through their body and the multiple benefits support better overall health, outlook on life, and increased vitality.

The converse is also true; that people who harbor sad or even angry emotions and thoughts have less of the hormone in their system and higher amounts of cortisol which, over time, feeds illness and unhappiness.

Meditation does promote self-awareness, happiness, and feelings of love but you can continue to reinforce the benefits with your interactions with other people,your activities, and what you choose to surround yourself with.

Meditation and health
Meditation helps to rebuild your energy, enabling you to be inspired, at peace, and connected with the centers of your heart and mind. Without this, you risk leading a hectic lifestyle in which you feel emotionally and physically wrought and chronically exhausted.

It's more than just a relaxed feeling though and as you have seen from the brief information mentioned above it also creates positive changes to your physical and mental health.

A balance between rest and activity enhances productivity because you are able to focus, are more observant, and creativity can flourish. The difference between being tired or rested often translates into the difference between being overwhelmed with daily challenges or finding resourceful solutions to them.

Positive, successful peopleSpend time in the presence of positive, successful people either in person, in books, or online. Let them know what you are doing. Share your plans with those whom you now trust and can confide in at this point in your life’s journey. They won't be "nice" simply for the sake of it.  Successful people will be constructive and supportive, offering positive suggestions and encouraging you and you will wonder why you didn't do this sooner.

Eliminate naysayers from hearing about your aspirations.  After all, you know how they will respond.

What's your priority?
Meditate daily. Find the time. Make the time. Prioritize your time in order to meditate.
It is during your daily meditation practice that you will recognize and subsequently address self-limiting patterns of behavior and take the first steps that will release them.
Carry affirmations with you. Memorize them. They really do block out unwanted and pessimistic thoughts.

Affirmations
An integral part of any affirmation is to believe that it will happen.
If this does not come naturally to you, an easy way to learn this is to practice feeling as if it has already happened by imagining what it will feel like.
Follow up any affirmation with an expression of gratitude, whether it’s a simple “Thank You” or a more lengthy prayer or communication of thanks.

Today I choose to believe rather than hope.

Divine guidance is with me always.

There are opportunities for deeper insight in all of my interactions.

I am willing to grow. Love is my guide

Boosting Your Happiness

The moment that I have right now is everything. Margaret Stockley

Have you ever seen or held a crystal up to the light and watched the way that it catches the sunlight? Many colors shine through it, their colorful rays spreading out in a myriad of directions.

In what way does the crystal change?

The answer is it doesn’t.

No matter the amount of light passing through the crystal, the intensity or color of the light, the crystal remains unaffected by what has happened.

Likewise, the part of you that does the observing also remains unchanged by what happens around and to the body.

Developing awareness in all situations, including your own feelings and reactions, enables you to take control of what you think and therefore do.

It’s up to you to determine what kind of reaction,

and ultimately reality, you're going to create.

You are not your thoughts, but they do impact you and others. Thoughts occur in the present moment so choose your present thoughts wisely and you will not be upset with the way that your future turns out.

Boost your happiness and confident outlook by honing your attention on your innermost thoughts and replacing any negative patterns that keep repeating themselves with a positive word or phrase. By making a conscious effort to change those habitual and troublesome thoughts you gain control over your life.

Affirmation

My inner glow is not dulled or discolored by what is happening around me

I am a beacon of pure energy radiating on the world, helping others

by the brightness and power of my light

Why Do Happy People Do Better In Life?

Why do happy people do better in life?

A 2009 study from the University of Pittsburgh looked at the role of positive emotions and discovered that positivity was a powerful source of growth and change, predicting desirable life outcomes in many areas including resilience, coping resources, as well as life satisfaction. The researchers investigated why positive emotions were so significant and concluded that optimistic feelings actually helped people build lasting resources.

Encouragingly, the researchers found that negative emotions had weak or null effects and did not interfere with the benefits of positive emotions. So, if you were to experience positive emotions during one part of your day and negative emotions during another, their effects did not cancel each other out. The report highlighted this effect using the acute experience of bereavement as an example. Many people who were grieving reported some episodes of positive emotions amid their elevated levels of negative emotions, resulting in better psychological outcomes.

Change in resilience mediated the relationship between positive emotions and increased life satisfaction, suggesting that happy people became more satisfied not simply because they felt better but because they developed resources for living well.

What was also interesting was that it was not enough to simply express gratitude or appreciate your life in a general way, it was the “in-the-moment” lived experiences of joy and interest, rather than the more general positive evaluations, that started the process of exploring, learning, connecting, and building new resources and ultimately formed the link between happiness and desirable life outcomes.

A mindful, happy moment!

Savoring The Moment

Increase your own life satisfaction by fostering behavior that triggers a cascade effect of positive emotions, increases resilience, while providing you with tools that give you a constructive and optimistic outlook on life.
Savor the moment. Awareness of wonders, such as a rainbow after a storm, the giggle of a child, the sweet flavor and juiciness of a summer fruit all contribute to memories that not only make you feel good but you can later draw on during challenging moments to sustain you. Pay closer attention to what is happening around you. Think about creating happy memories from good situations, however small and transitory they may seem, and notice how quickly they build up.

Something Else To Celebrate

Altruism, empathy and acts of kindness not only make you feel good, but they make a difference in the lives of others. Your actions don’t have to be major ones; they can be as simple as a smile, opening a door, to something larger such as organizing a food drive or driving someone to and from the hospital. It’s the cumulative effect that makes you feel good about yourself and life in general while enhancing your connectivity to the world. As an added bonus, you will see your kindness reciprocated.

Isn’t that something else to celebrate?

Affirmation
Create a positive feedback loop and boost your life satisfaction through consciously monitoring and choosing your thoughts and actions. When you are aware of the power of your intention and how it shapes yourself and the world around you, you recognize how uncontrolled emotions can keep you tied down in the very place you are struggling to get away from.

The past has no hold over me
I am in control of my thoughts and emotions
I make conscious decisions to follow one path or another
My life is brimming with bright choices and overflowing with joy and happiness.

Success and Happiness

 

Photo by Margaret Stockley

There are no limits to your possibilities.

There are five states of attention:

1. restlessness with fluctuating attention
2. laziness with no motivation
3. distraction by internal or external events
4. single focused concentration with flowing energy
5. continuous flawless concentration

Through meditation you gain the ability to increase your attention, self-analysis, acceptance, and love by recognizing and permanently removing unhealthy tendencies that cause inaction, boredom, irritability, and inappropriate emotional responses that lead to unhappiness or problems associated with an incorrect perspective of life.

What is preventing you from being as successful and as happy as you want to be?

Understanding where your needs and wants stem from enables you to decide whether keeping or removing a particular desire is beneficial to you.

A regular meditation practice will help you develop the ability to have a single-pointed focus whereby you can learn to examine your priorities and tap into the source of wisdom that exists within you.

As the mind ceases to flit from one thought to another and is no longer influenced by emotions or your interpretation of interactions and events, you will find that peace and creativity will replace the obstacles that you have carried with you either knowingly or unconsciously.

Mindful moments increase and it becomes easier to free your mind from rehashing the past, both recent or distant, and release any lingering emotions that warp your ability to see life clearly and without misinterpretation.

Flawless concentration carries forward into your interactions, thoughts, and all choices that you make, not just in your meditation session.

The result is unconditional acceptance of who you are.

You are a wonderful amazing individual with no limits except those that you place in front of you.  Have confidence in your abilities. Believe in yourself and what you are capable of.  Soar as high as you can imagine and let your bright light shine.

Peace, Love and Light are yours to have now and always.

Affirmation
“Everything good is coming to me with ease and grace.
When I focus on only the positive in my life, I summon all that is for my highest good, and receive what I truly need right now.”

Health and Happiness

As a teacher of yoga, with my own studio in Massachusetts, my students are acutely aware of the connection between the breath, the mind, and the body.
They know that a disturbed breath disturbs the mind and a mind that wanders hinders the creation of new and beneficial mental thought-patterns, or neural pathways, as well as the flow of positive energy.  They experience that when they are practicing asanas, pranayama, or entering into meditation.

There are two classic reasons for an unsettled mind to occur; desires and thoughts.
Desires are produced by an actual lack of control of emotions as well as the latent impressions of feelings.
Thoughts that impede positive growth are usually thoughts that occur without any awareness or are pessimistic in nature.

Negative thoughts are like weeds and prevent happy thoughts from flourishing.

Awareness in all of your activities, behavior, and choice of thoughts and emotions actually helps you to take control of your life and only create situations which are of benefit to you.

For example:
When you laugh or watch a comedy program, your body produces endorphins, which are a natural painkiller and also produces more of the cells required to both ward off and fight infection. 

It is estimated that children laugh up to 400 times per day

while adults only manage up to 15 daily laughs.

You are what you think
In the seventies, a Harvard University study discovered a special group of receptors on the immune cells distributed throughout the body. This was a major breakthrough and shone new light upon what we know about the immune system. The research demonstrated that the immune system is not an independent self-directed system; rather it has an actual connection with the conscious mind and the effect of thoughts upon the body.

Learning coping mechanisms and maintaining a positive frame of mind clinically promotes a healthy state of being. However, how we respond to our varying circumstances is based upon earlier data that is stored as a memory and used to create a response, regardless of the consequences.

Connection to the world
Our moods, health, state of mind all influence the decision-making process and subsequent outcome of a reaction to stimuli. It is only when we consider the detrimental effects upon our heart, emotions, or the effects of our actions upon other people or our environment that we begin to see the need to be aware first of how we respond and secondly to the connection between ourselves and the world around us.

So, smile and laugh often if you want to improve your chances of staying happy and healthy.

Visualize what you love

Mini Meditation
See yourself in a tranquil location surrounded by people and animals that bring you joy.
Delight in the warm loving embrace of their presence.
You are free of disease and sadness in this environment.
Peace and bliss envelop you.

Carry this image within you and use it whenever you need to return to a happy state.

Happiness

Happiness
Research shows that not only are facial expressions contagious, but the corresponding happy feelings send signals to your brain, which in turn boost your immune system.
This awareness enables you to choose to create your best life. Through self-direction, you decide whether to see the positive rather than the negative in any situation.
Speak to yourself in positive language and you will increase your emotional and physical health.

Smiles are contagious!

And so, by default, are scowls, frowns, and a cantankerous attitude.

1. At home, practice smiling at yourself in the mirror and capture the relaxed and carefree emotions that you generate.
2. Keep a comfortable internal expression to maintain a positive mood and your feelings will show externally on your face and body language.
3. Carry the feeling of peace and contentment with you wherever you go and watch the responses you receive from people around you.

Negative feelings hinder and prevent you from achieving positive change.

Have you unconsciously given permission to downbeat thoughts and allowed them to influence your behavior?

Meditation is one of the simplest methods to help you look deep within and determine what will actually make you happy. Then the steps that you need to take and live by in order to attain it fall into place with ease.

Focusing on the positive things in your life means that you can alter your perspective on life. This has the effect of making you more constructive every day, while others are glad to see you because of your enthusiasm and affirmative action.

As the great man Louis Armstrong said “When you’re smiling, the whole world smiles with you.”

Affirmations
What you perceive as “real life” is often a vague silhouette of the life you could be leading. Noticing how and when you respond to situations gives you the ability to choose your thoughts and subsequent actions.

“I pay attention to why I think what I do”

“I pay attention to why I do what I do”

“I pay attention to how I affect the world around me”

"I am filled with love and happiness"

POSITIVE THOUGHTS, POSITIVE YOU

Consciousness is an endless stream of possibilities.

“Our character is what we do when we think no-one is looking.”

H. Jackson Brown, Jr

Every day, the news stations and newspapers present us with reports, facts, and opinions from all around the globe. People we meet also have news to share about their health, their family, and their jobs. We receive a daily dose of information and most of it’s not pleasant.

While most of us are well aware that “remaining calm” or “love is the answer” are appropriate choices to the issues that we learn about or personally face, 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.

While meditation helps you to uncover your life’s purpose (dharma) there are daily encounters where you have to make choices, either instantly or with some pondering and self-discussion. In both cases, and whether you realize it or not, each decision that you make will result in some form of action, which impacts you and the world around you (karma).

In yoga terminology, this is referred to as Samsara, which translates as cause and effect, whereby you reap the results of the seeds of your actions. This life-cycle has an ebb and flow to it and how you respond is your choice and yours alone.

The basics of life keep us busy and it’s often a challenge to remain calm and in control while balancing obligations to family and work. Challenges are everywhere, from the mundane to the major ones and living your life to its highest and greatest can seem especially difficult particularly when someone says or does something thoughtless to you or a loved one.

No-one likes a hot-head and having a life that’s overflowing with happiness, contentment, meaning, and purpose can only occur when you take a moment to identify your priorities and look closely at what you are doing and whether it serves you best. It does take effort, but so does the alternative.

Meditation is one of the simplest methods to help you look deep within and determine what will actually make you happy. Then the steps that you need to take and live by in order to attain it fall into place with ease.

What Makes You Happy?
Before you enter into your meditation practice, ask yourself one question such as; “What will make me happy?”
The answer will either come to you during your meditation, or soon after, as a feeling of certainty about what is right for you.
The lower mind is where all your rational, everyday thinking occurs while the Higher, or Wisdom Mind, is where you uncover your innermost desires and aspirations. Your Wisdom Mind gives you the strength of purpose and conviction to follow what resides deep within you.

All obstacles and thoughts dissipate in your mind’s eye and a sense of peaceful assurance fills you. This gives way to joy and bliss. Following your meditation, the joy continues to stay with you as you embark upon your path to happiness. There is a richness to your activities that benefits not only yourself, but everyone who comes in contact with the fruits of your actions. Only when you lose yourself and stray from your purpose does discontentment, anger, and your old mind-set return.

While happiness can be generated via meditation or affirmations that reshape the way that the brain formulates responses to external or internal stimuli, it is ultimately your thoughts that determine your happiness.

It’s all very well repeating affirmations such as “I am happy” or “I am successful in all that I do” if you don’t believe it, don’t feel it, don’t experience it to be true. You choose what your responses and emotions will be in both the joyful and sad events that occur in daily living, be it the birth of a child or the sad passing of a loved one.

So how do you maintain integrity and contentment?
Choose what you want to focus on, then practice focusing on it!

Technique
For example, try focusing on liking situations and people. This is a popular technique that I teach during workshops.
The next time that you are at the grocery store, try liking your surroundings and the people who are in the store too. Don’t focus on the way the other shoppers dress or style their hair.
Project feelings of happiness to them and to the world.
Notice what is good in your environment.
Appreciate what you have.
Smile.  (Don't grin.  Your smile is sufficient.)

Continue this method with family members and yourself. When folding laundry, take each person’s clothing and think about whom that item belongs to. Send that individual loving, happy thoughts. Think about some quality that you appreciate in this person. Do the same with your own items. What features and talents do you like about yourself?

The purpose of this technique is to show you that it is possible to reduce negative thinking one thought at a time and replace it with feelings and thoughts that are appreciative and happy. You will find that you release old emotions because they are literally dragging you down. This attitude overflows in all areas of your life and in turn, you find that it becomes easier to identify and stick with your goals and achieve a life that is fulfilled and enriched with great relationships and opportunities.

Meditation Generates Power
Meditation connects you with the wisdom mind which is the source of all insight and with continued practice it leads you to a state of bliss. It directs your mind away from a negative view of the world and shifts it towards one that embraces opportunities. This awesome power is yours and only you can choose what you are going to do with it.

Remember, no-one has control over your thoughts except yourself. Your hope, wishes, even your imagination are all within your own power to direct their energy in one path or another.
Studies show that the mind can not discern between what it has actually seen and what it is seeing via your imagination.
This means that your mind can be “tricked” into believing that a memory that you have created has actually been experienced!

Use the power of your thoughts to generate a reality that is positive, loving, and all that you desire. This is not a make-believe type of imagery, but a means of creating more positivity and constructive actions that in turn generate affirmative thoughts and actions. Gradually, you develop the habit of thinking positively, seeing opportunities rather than obstacles, and being the type of person that people want to be around because they feel good by being in your presence.

Downbeat and pessimistic thinking is an acquired habit with its own internal mantra, and you can release yourself from thinking in terms of boundaries, disappointments, and problems by first and foremost seeing all that is good in your life and being thankful for it. Thinking and doing the right thing all the time may seem like a lofty principle, but ultimately it’s your life and the karmic results belong to you too.

Meditation is a great teacher and you have the resources within you to have a truly amazing life. It is YOU who has the ability to empower yourself and take the first steps to move forward on your life’s purpose, rather than standing still.
You are a remarkable individual with untapped possibilities and you Can have amazing success with all of your endeavors.

The choice remains yours.

The quote at the top of the page asks you to consider how you would act when you think that no-one is looking. Meditation teaches each one of us that the Self is always observing.
SO WITH THIS AWARENESS, HOW DO YOU ACT?

AFFIRMATIONS
I choose my thoughts
Every thought takes me closer to my life purpose
I am filled with joy and enthusiasm
Divine guidance is always with me
I love myself and others
I choose to do things that foster love
I am successful in all that I do
I am connected to the source of infinite wisdom
I am at peace

Happiness

Basilica Notre-Dame

So this afternoon I took a walk after completing work for the day.

It was warmer today than yesterday and great for wandering around and "Going with the Flow."

I went past the Basilica with the throngs of tourist outside and the horses and carriages that were on hand for people wanting to see the sites of Vieux-Montreal this way as they do in cities throughout the world.

It was noisier today than usual with part of the road blocked by workmen investigating a large deep hole and traffic therefor being directed by a work-woman unlucky enough to have drawn the short straw on this particular task.  The area in front of the cathedral is currently dug up for renovations.

Traffic was bumper to bumper when all of a sudden one car decided to blow its horn and didn't stop blowing it.  The car was a VW Beetle driven by a woman with a Bischon Frisse dog on her lap.  (Poor little hound.)  She was clearly upset by not being able to progress as fast as normal on this street (rue Francis Xavier) nor did it bother her that her anger could probably be heard inside Notre-Dame, but everyone else could see the problem that lay ahead and was minding their time until they got past the road-works and could head to wherever they were going as per normal on a Friday afternoon.


Clearly this woman was someone who needed to practice meditation to help her to remain calm when the world around her was in crazy mode or not going according to expectations.

Meditation has other advantages though.

True, it reduces stress, lowers blood pressure, and helps fight infection.  But practitioners don't necessarily walk around in a Zen-like state, unless they want to.

The happiness that meditators feel can, and usually does, overflow when music plays, jokes are told, and there's enough space to get up and dance.
It's a happy and upbeat way to live, of seeing the best in life, the funny side of life, and making the most of every moment.

The happiness inside means that you live life to its fullest with energy and vitality.

There are appropriate moments to be quiet and introspective, but just as we have night and day, man and woman, we also have times when it's perfectly alright to laugh out loud for long moments, to get up and dance spontaneously, and share the wealth of your happiness with others.

I hope that all your days are noisy...
with laughter, not with horn-blowing.

Love and laugh often.

Positive Thoughts

Meditation helps stop the endless stream of thoughts.

One of the biggest problems that people who are new to meditation struggle with is intruding thoughts.
When the mind tries to release attachment to the outside world by focusing inward, thoughts, emotions, and conversations creep in and leap around, refusing to go away and leave you in peace.

What happens in the brain when thinking takes place? First, we have to go back to the mid 50’s, where the Nobel prize winners for Neuroscientific Research, David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel of Harvard Medical School explained how the brain cortex receives and interprets impulse messages via the eye.

Roger Sperry, who also received a Nobel Prize, showed that the left hemisphere of the brain is responsible for logical thinking and the right side of the body, while the right hemisphere is responsible for creativity and imagination and controlling the left side of the body, for example writing with a dominant left hand.

Neurobiologist Walter Freeman of University of California at Berkeley conducted research on the olfactory sense and using EEG, he was able to identify the specific area of the brain that identified with smell and taste. In addition, he discovered that the area of the brain that identified with a smell was different than the first time the brain perceived a smell.  The memory of a particular smell is located within a specific part of the brain, but we now have to ask ourselves about the role of emotions and feelings associated with a scent.

We use different language to express our feelings of preference, likes and dislikes, even happiness associated with what the smell represents.  Our thoughts are influenced by so many things that we are often unaware of their impact upon us until we attempt to quieten the mind during meditation.

Brain mapping has helped us understand what happens to the brain when we participate in or experience a particular event. It broadens our comprehension of physical and mental disorders as we recognize that there are a variety of factors that influence our consciousness at any given moment and on many different levels.

Meditation is clinically proven to balance both hemispheres of the brain, bringing stability to your emotions, thoughts, and actions. This means that creativity is enhanced, thoughts are clearer, and logical reasoning is focused and attentive.

Your personal life and your interactions with other people improve as you become more contented and at ease with the calmness that exists within you.

The thoughts that intrude and demand your attention are successful. Replacing them with positive thoughts that you want to focus on, such as an affirmation, is a step forward in bringing relaxation and peace to your life.

Meditation helps you to monitor your thoughts and how they make you feel. You learn to replace unwanted emotions with ones that you DO want and with practice you find that you can eliminate unnecessary thoughts as they arise and before they are able to take up permanent residence in your mind.

Think about how wonderful you will feel when all your thoughts are happy ones. No more self-doubt, no more self-criticizing; only confidence and contentment.

Om Shanti Peace

Embracing Change

A single iris surrounded by other plants.

Seeds of Hope

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.

Seeing change from a different perspective not only changes your point of view, sometimes literally, but a different thought can enable your to see that even a small change has the potential to lead to something spectacular.

Meditation affects our perception, our awareness of time, and by promoting a positive mental state enables us to be free from negativity that both creates and arises from disorder and chaos.

Give full attention to what you are experiencing physically, and what you are feeling, thinking and doing.  Nature is always changing and there are daily miracles of life everywhere.

You may like to use some of the following affirmations to remind you of the source of all creation and your unique connection to it as a means of embracing change and seeking the seeds of hope.

• I am divinely guided in all I do
• I expect life to give me what is best for me
• I am open to receive the abundant good that God has for me
• God is the source of all that is good
• When I focus on only the positive in my life, I summon all that is for my highest good, and receive what I truly need right now.

Weekly Meditation Newsletter
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Awareness Meditation

A bird house is hidden in the asters.

Look deep within yourself and see what lies beneath the clutter of the mind.

Meditation has been used for thousands of years for self-reflection, self-awareness, healing, and enlightenment. Today’s technology enables us to see the physiological and chemical changes that occur throughout the whole body.

Varied health professions now teach meditation as a means of stress management and improving a patient’s overall quality of life in a wide-variety of diseases such as cancer, hypertension, and back pain.

Meditation is also a means of reducing the symptoms and discomfort of depression, anxiety, and anger, as well as increasing energy and vitality. People who meditate regularly are clinically shown to have fewer overall symptoms of stress, fewer cardiopulmonary and gastrointestinal symptoms, less emotional irritability, and cognitive disorganization.

Awareness meditation draws your attention away from a particular object or illness to an overall knowledge and feeling of inner calmness and peace. During this specific method of meditation, the mind concentrates less on individual problems or issues and settles instead on promoting an inward focus, enabling the mind and the body to experience a profound state of restfulness. In turn, the brain becomes balanced, while the mind and body move beyond thinking, to simply being.

Awareness Meditation: An Introduction

• Prepare your meditation room as outlined in previous postings
• Ensure there are no distractions that will disturb you for the next 10 to 20 minutes
• Allow all energy that arises through your meditation practice to flow.
• Be open to all that you may experience
• Simply observe

Sitting or lying down, depending on your physical abilities, close your eyes and focus on creating a rhythmic flow of breath.

• Relax and focus on an object of meditation that you prefer, such as the breath or a candle flame.
• Observe without any judgment.
• If the mind moves away from this object, return to it when you become conscious of it.
• Notice any feelings of relaxation that occur such as the breath slowing down, muscles relaxing,
• Notice the growing space between thoughts and your meditation object
• Stay with your growing awareness of inner peace
• If any other feelings occur, allow their energy to flow through you.
• Notice what rises up through your meditation
• Release what you no longer need.
• Allow the focused attention to dissolve into awareness
• Enter into the space between the thoughts.
• Draw the inner stillness to you and fill yourself with tranquility and silence.

When you conclude your awareness meditation, know that you can return to the feelings of peace simply by returning to the flow of your breath. Awareness and self-knowledge grow with each meditation enabling you to think with precision and act from a source of love.

MEDITATION, MANTRA, CLARITY

CLARITY
There are times when we experience a mental "blockage" and struggle with finding a solution to a problem or a creative idea. This can occur because we are unconsciously holding on to outdated ideas or past beliefs and meditation enables each one of us to obtain clarity of mind by gently stripping away obstacles and confusion layer by layer, revealing our connection to the source of all creation.

MENTAL BLOCKAGES

Fr. Thomas Keating of The Contemplative Outreach Center in New Jersey Resist wrote the following words in 1998:

"Resist no thought, retain no thought, react emotionally to no thought, and when you notice you are thinking about some thought,
return ever so gently to the sacred word.
One does not think about whether to return to the sacred word or not.
One simply returns to it when thoughts are attracting one's awareness
to a particular object."

Awareness rarely emerges when forced. It comes into being when you cease the struggle and clear a path for it to flow. Concentration and heightened awareness develop with practice and carry with them additional advantages such as:

• being more receptive to listening rather than asking
• being rather than doing
• increasing your faith
  

The past can leak into the present when we least expect it, but by taking charge of the dominant brain and leading it on a spiritual path you encounter fewer obstacles and instead invite calmness, the right people, and unexpected opportunities into your life that will guide you forward instead of holding you in a place that you have outgrown.

FINDING YOUR SACRED WORD
Affirmations are useful when you are beginning meditation or need to train the mind to think more positively.
A Mantra or Sacred Word or Phrase however, has special significance and energy in part because it originates from sacred text, sacred music, or sacred tradition.
It is extremely powerful and while a whole posting can be written to describe its importance, you can begin using a word or phrase that has special meaning to you by reading a scripture and finding a passage that resonates with you. As you consider the text, read slowly and a word or phrase will stay with you, drawing your attention to it again and again.

Once you have settled into your meditation, allow the word to flow unimpeded through your mind's awareness. Focus on the word, its energy, how it feels, what it says to you. Feel its vibrations.
After your meditation session is complete notice how you feel, what your perspective is like, how relaxed your mind is, and how clear your thoughts have become.
Release attachment to the past and remain focused on the present. Cultivate sacred words and carry them with you and notice a deepening spiritual awareness and connectivity to the source of all creation.

CULTIVATING PEACE

Peace and stillness flows through the mind like a river.

"There is nothing in all creation so like God as stillness."

Meister Eckhart (1260-1328)

Elusive Peace
Noise is everywhere; in the streets, in shops, even inside your head when you keep replaying past conversations. Sometimes the internal noise drowns out the external so that someone has to repeat what they have said to you in order for you to hear them. Sounds impact each one of us whether we are aware of them or not. Laughter, crying, shouting, and music can each affect our mood even when they are in the background and we are not aware of paying it very much attention.

The constant bombardment of noise on the senses can reach the point where life gets so hectic and fast paced that you say to yourself, “I just want a break. I need some peace.”

So where do you go to find it?
A spa? A sacred place of worship? A stroll in the park or by the ocean? A library?

A Moment for Meditation
Where does true lasting peace exist? Certainly not in an external place, no matter how tranquil or spiritual the place is. However, a beautiful scenic filled with the sights and sounds of nature, or a romantic atmosphere, can promote short acting peace and provide both a positive memory to return to within the mind's awareness and a stepping-off point to begin developing lasting peace.

It takes no special skills, simply practice and the belief that peace DOES reside within you.

Awareness of lasting peace is cultivated over a period of time, provided it is given the right environment so that you can first recognize it, and then enable it to deepen its roots and strengthen over time.

It is through meditation that you experience serenity and tranquility. You create a memory for it within your mind and body.

Your Meditation
As you prepare for this meditation, know that you are going to focus on the peace within you.
Even if you don't feel particularly peaceful, know that you will release stress and unhappy feelings and replace this revealed inner space with feelings of peace.

You allow tranquility to flow effortlessly in the way that a river flows unimpeded when boulders are rolled away to permit an even and steady passage of water.
Your own energy will flow in such a way that while it may be a trickle at first, it will steadily increase until anxiety and stress no longer have a chance of taking a hold again as the current of peace sweeps it away.

Your body and mind will desire staying in a peaceful state and through regular meditation you learn how to experience serene feelings and deep happiness. In doing so you calm the mind and the body, creating a situation that promotes calmness and freedom from worry.

You will return to a peaceful way of living with increased frequency until peace becomes your natural way of being.

Peaceful Meditation

Meditation promotes peace in mind, body, and actions

Mind-Body Connection
The connection between the mind and the body has been a subject of study for many decades. One hundred years ago, it was noted that when animals became distressed, they did not eat. Research then gravitated towards humans, noting the causal relationship between events that affect the psyche and consequently impact the health of the body and mind.

The connection between the mind and the body is not new knowledge though. We can go back thousands of years and see how ancient cultures treated the mind and body as one, and not as separate entities. Chinese medicine is well-known for its belief that certain organs and centers of the body represent mental or emotional conditions. This form of medicine, and practices such as acupuncture, yoga and similar Eastern techniques also believe that the body contains meridians or nadis that carry energy effortlessly through the body when there are no physical or psychological obstacles.

Stress is known to be a major factor in creating chronic health conditions. It creeps into a person’s life and festers, creating serious problems that impact the heart and blood-pressure, and also produces anxiety, fear, intolerance, anger, and other physiological changes that create a recipe for unhappiness and illness.
While short periods of stress can help an individual to accomplish a task, it is the long-term, insidious form of stress that takes hold and upsets the overall health and well-being of a person.

Happiness Factor
Researchers are now finding clinical evidence for techniques such as meditation and rhythmic breathing to alleviate the chronic symptoms of long-term stress. Meditation boosts the immune system, establishing not only a calm and peaceful mind and body, but manifests actual changes within the brain and neurological systems of the body.

When you are happy, corresponding signals travel to your brain, which in turn boosts your immune system. Your feelings impact you on a deep level whether you are aware of this or not.
Thinking unhealthy, sad, hopeless thoughts really does affect the cells of the body detrimentally; while thoughts filled with hope, kindness, and love promote health and well-being.

It actually takes less energy to be positive than it does to think and act in a negative manner.

What Meditation Will Achieve
Through self-direction, you decide whether to see the positive rather than the negative in any situation. This awareness enables you to choose to create your best life. Smiles are contagious! And so, by default, are scowls, frowns, and a cantankerous attitude.

Speak to yourself in positive language and you will increase your emotional and physical health.
Meditation affects your perception, your awareness of time, and by promoting a positive mental state enables you to be free from the negativity that creates disorder and ill-health.
It helps to forge new pathways in the brain thereby enabling you to develop new habits.

Affirmations
You can self-generate power by using positive thoughts and vibrations.
Speak a word such as “Love,” or a phrase such as “I am Healed,” or the universal sound of AUM pronounced OM.
I am responsible for my life and have the power I need to have joy.
The happier I am with people around me, the happier I am as a person.
I see my life anew.

After Your Meditation Practice

• At home, practice smiling and capture the relaxed and carefree emotions that you generate.
• Keep a comfortable internal expression to maintain a positive mood and your feelings will show externally on your face and body language.
• Become active rather than reactive to situations, e.g. thinking before you speak or act
• Carry the feeling of peace and contentment with you wherever you go and watch the responses you receive from people around you.
• Give full attention to what you are experiencing physically, and what you are feeling, thinking and doing.

MEDITATION AND HEALTH

The mind is expansive and not limited to the physical body.

Meditation and Health
A 2007 national Government survey found that more than 20 million adults had used meditation in the past 12 months which is 5 million more than a previous study 5 years earlier. In addition, 725,000 children had practiced meditation.

People use meditation for various physical and emotional problems, such as:

• Anxiety
• Pain
• Depression
• Stress
• Insomnia
• Symptoms associated with chronic illnesses and their treatment, such as heart disease, HIV/AIDS, and cancer.

Meditation also helps promote overall wellness:

• Quality of life
• Spirituality
• Relaxation
• Inner Peace
• Heightened connectivity
• Improved relationships

Mind-Body medicine has proven that psychological factors in the way that an individual thinks affects their clinical symptoms with either positive or negative effects depending on a persons mood and train of thoughts.

Meditation can significantly slow down the progression of degenerative diseases and improve blood pressure, reduce stress, and enhance the effects of rehabilitation techniques in conditions such as cardiac care and cancers.

Pain Reduction
Evidence from a variety of studies has shown that meditation lowers or even completely alleviates pain. One study with a master meditator showed that he was able to withstand pain that was inflicted upon him during his meditation session. fMRI of his brain mapped out the areas within the brain that were affected and showed meditation calming the brain down to ignore the pain. Meditation switched off the receptors that the brain used to transmit the awareness of experiencing pain.

In addition to improving an individual’s quality of life, meditation helps with the ability to sleep through the night, cope with daily issues, and improve the outlook on life including raising overall hope and expectations.
This means reductions in pain and nausea, reductions in use of medications, fewer trips to visit the doctor, and a feeling of well-being and improved health. Life becomes livable as the mind focuses on the present, not on the difficulties of the past or what may happen in the future.

The Meditative Brain
Meditation creates positive changes within the mind and the body that are both physiological and emotional. The National Center for Complimentary Medicine states the following:
Some types of meditation might work by affecting the autonomic (involuntary) nervous system. This system regulates many organs and muscles, controlling functions such as the heartbeat, sweating, breathing, and digestion. It has two major parts:

• The sympathetic nervous system helps mobilize the body for action. When a person is under stress, it produces the "fight-or-flight response": the heart rate and breathing rate go up and blood vessels narrow (restricting the flow of blood).

• The parasympathetic nervous system causes the heart rate and breathing rate to slow down, the blood vessels to dilate (improving blood flow), and digestive juices to increase.

Each system of the body is not an independent self-directed system; rather they each have an actual connection with the conscious mind and the effect of thoughts upon the body.
The brain produces chemicals called neuropeptides which affect the immune cell receptors in specific ways according to your emotional state.
Meditation produces actual changes in brain function which in turn creates new neural pathways that assist in new habits, the ability to monitor thoughts and feelings, and your ability to choose appropriate actions.

Meditation improves your health. Can you afford not to meditate?

BENEFITS OF MEDITATION

Be mindful of what you reflect from your thoughts, words, and actions.

BENEFITS OF MEDITATION

You learn how to:

Bring complete attention to the present

Monitor your reactions

Project thoughts free from judgment, criticism, and hostility

Calm the mind and breath

Live with intention

Generate a positive life

Create your future through visualization

Develop higher knowledge and intuition

Obtain answers that you seek

Promote a sense of well-being

Open the heart center

Happiness
A multitude of benefits await you in addition to the ones mentioned above. Meditation enables you to experience life joyfully and fully by heightening your awareness, promoting a positive mindset, and providing you with the tools that you need to cope with the unexpected events that life reveals when you least expect it. Happiness should not be an effort but be an outward reflection of the real happiness that you feel on the inside.

When someone that you meet is troubled or anxious, are they helped if you are miserable too? Of course not. They are helped if they see hope, peace, and light radiating from you. Your empathy for someone’s situation should in no way diminish the light that shines within you. Meditation keeps you connected to the source of happiness and keeps “topping you up” so to speak. In this way, you gain all of the benefits mentioned above, and are able to share them.

Life is a gift and gifts are to be enjoyed.

Affirmations
Affirmations reinforce not only the benefits received but also your goals and you can create your own affirmations by simply asking yourself what you need. If you are unsure of what to ask, clarity often arises following your meditation practice.
Choose an affirmation that feels appropriate for your particular needs today.

Examples include:

I am provided for
I always receive everything that is for my highest good
I am divinely guided in all I do
I am open to receive the abundance that God has for me
I have all that I need

What do you want to reflect?

Reflection
Your happiness resides within you and like a mirror your joy reflects on others too. Gloomy thoughts and feelings have no effect on your mood even if they are projected to you by other people. Insensitive comments bounce off you and while your heart opens and your empathy grows, you become a beacon of light shining on everyone and everything in your world.
Your growing awareness helps you to consciously reflect the peace and happiness that you feel inside and in time you will see this peace in the faces of others.

Let the benefits of meditation grow and multiply each time you complete your meditation practice and as they uplift you, you will be a tower of strength to everyone you come into contact with.

GUIDED MEDITATION: HEALING

Guided Meditation: Healing

The unique Life Force that exists within you flows effortlessly when all obstacles have been removed. This force is often “seen” within your mind’s eye as an internal light that promotes well-being. It is the energy that is contained within the healing process and your light can be directed to a specific area or drawn through the body as a means of maintaining and optimizing health and vitality.

This light brings an awareness of happiness and contentment that permeates all aspects of your life, including your thoughts and your actions.
If you have any illness, see a qualified medical practitioner as this is not a substitute for medical care.

Method

• Sit in your chosen seated position for meditation
• Draw awareness to the breath until the breath is slow steady and rhythmical
• Focus on seeing your healing light at the base of your spine
• Don’t strain to see the light. Simply focus on the base of the spine with a steady breath until the light appears.
• Keep your body and inner focus relaxed
• With each inhalation draw the light through the body to the crown of the head and on the exhale, see the light flowing from the crown of your head to surround you like a protective aura.
• If the mind wanders, do not judge yourself. Accept that this may happen in the beginning when you are first practicing this method. Simply draw your awareness back to the rhythmic flow of the breath and “see” your light flow from the base of the spine to the crown of the head.
• Let the flow of light continue until you feel that your body is filled and surrounded by the healing light, about three to five breaths.
• Enter into your meditation feeling the light surrounding you, concentrating on the steady flow of the breath

Benefits

There are many benefits of this guided light meditation. They include:

• Stress-reduction
• Awareness of your inner Self where calmness resides
• Ability to relax
• Increased peace
• Calmness during all situations including challenging ones
• Increased flow of energy through the body
• Clarity and balance of body and mind

This inner light meditation is powerful at blocking negative thoughts and emotions and helping you cope with daily life. When the mind is happy and content your energy flows effortlessly and your inner light shines brighter, not only within yourself, but outwardly onto other people as well.

Peace and well-being are closer than you think by feeling your light within you and surrounding you.

MINDFUL MEDITATION

Many activities require great concentration

Mindful Meditation
Recognizing what you need comes not from what you perceive outwardly, but from what comes to you inwardly through prayer, meditation, and listening to your innermost feelings.

A couple of summers ago I injured my right ankle and attended physiotherapy department for a series of treatments. I waited for my therapist, leisurely flicking through a glossy magazine, and two elderly women joined me in the waiting area; one in a wheelchair.
I couldn’t help but hear their conversation as the two friends discussed the hot humid New England weather that we were experiencing that day. Both agreed that they disliked the heat. “When my husband was alive,” began the woman in the wheelchair, “he was always turning up the thermostat, while I was opening windows. He liked the heat, you see.”
There was a slight pause, and her voice became wistful and wavered as she spoke. “I would put up with any amount of heat if I could just have him back.”

Nothing on Earth remains the same, but being able to live in the present moment enables us to heighten our experiences and interactions with people.
Every moment counts. No moment is more important than the one you are experiencing right now. Events and milestones are significant and add to your mental library of happy memories or lessons to learn from. But even these come down to the thoughts that take place inside you.

Meditation and the Moment
Meditation helps you to appreciate the value of time and your experiences and interactions with the people that you see every day.
Meditation keeps you in the present moment, not only during your meditation session, but afterwards too.
Meditation trains the mind so that you are able to catch thoughts before they turn into actions and thereby choose appropriate ones.

Mindful Meditation
In your comfortable seated pose, use the methods shown in previous blogs to release the mind from thoughts and conversations, feelings and emotions, and to simply follow the breath.
Feel the breath become slow and steady.
When the mind is calm and peaceful and the breath slow and steady, focus on the intake of the breath from the tip of the nose into the base of the lungs.
As you exhale, follow the breath slowly all the way out of the body and out through the tip of the nose.
Continue with this rhythmical breath.
Ignore any thoughts that enter the mind’s awareness.
Stay focused on the flow of the breath.
As your meditation deepens, you may lose awareness of the body.
Stay with the flow of the breath and then allow the mind to release into the space between the breath.
Continue in this manner until you feel that your meditation session is over.

Mindfulness helps you notice small gifts in life such as this rainbow forming

Mindful Present
During your everyday activities, stay mindful by keeping the breath steady and even. Focus on each task, whether you are at work, in conversation with someone, or preparing food for dinner.
Notice your thoughts and behaviors.
Notice how you react to other people.
Strive to remain positive and non-judgmental
Return to the steady flow of the breath when you need to draw yourself back to the peaceful place within.
Treasure each moment and you will have a lifetime of happy memories,

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.