The Gift that Keeps On Giving: Thanks for Giving

Thanksgiving for me is all about gratitude. Increasing my appreciation or thanks for giving is a powerful evolutionary force. This generous act has numerous happy returns: increased wellness, joy, and all around better well being. Now this healthy and wholesome attitude of gratitude improves me in so many invaluable ways.

This skill to better exercise my optimism increases my connections to all things. When I count my blessing I prosper. I feel better and I most fully live by this practice to reciprocate. Gratitude is a gift that keeps on giving back to me.

There are bountiful ways to I can show my appreciation. Creating a daily journal about specific good blessings that happened. Adopt a gratitude buddy to share your list of good things or write thank you note to someone who has assisted you. Celebrate your day by a daily pause to stop and focus on what’s right and how lucky you are. If you can’t sleep or in a bad frame of mind review what you appreciate about yourself and life. Use language that encourages instead is disparages to reinforce the positive. Surround yourself with inspiring and beautiful objects, music, pictures, and writings. The more you create a setting filled with reinforcing grateful reminders these loving kind acts multiply.

When I count my blessings I plant future seeds of increased wellness. Instead of dwelling on my problems and negative mind-states I shift to the bright side. Being upbeat allows me to become occupied with blessings instead of preoccupied with my curses. Paying attention to my shifting my temperament to “what I have” instead of “what I lack” transforms me. Appreciation creates an optimistic mindset. Replacing my derogatory attitude to focus on being grateful is like walking out of a cave.

When I become focused on thanks I can see the positive in very difficult and dark experiences. Gratitude is a beneficial way I can cultivate my thanks and so enjoy this gift that keeps on giving.

Thanks to Vitae

Recently a dear friend of mine Margot wrote a wonderful tribute about her departed husband Vitae. He did so much more than just designed my web pages your reading from. Vitae embodied the kind, and compassionate spirit I write about in this blog. He inspired me in so many blessed ways to cultivate light, love and joy.

I was fortunate to see him in some of his closing days. They were filled with a fantastic celebration of song, dance, laughter and profound love.

Vitae blessed us with his diverse talents. He was a friend, teacher, writer, lover, husband, father, philosopher, chef, sailor, web master, video-maker, to list a few. Vitae devoted himself in his authentic way to bringing joy and awakening. Now in the beyond, Vitae’s spirit will continue to transform from his legacy of love and light.

Below is what he wrote about himself and below that what Margot wrote.

http://ezinearticles.com/?expert_bio=


http://www.positiveimpactmagazine.com/tribute-to-vitae-bergman/

Strengthening Our Heart to Better Our World

In every moment we can take refuge in our body, which so connected and similar with our beloved earth. The simple beat of our heart can ground us to arrive here and now. Our world is filled with increased stress and constant pressure. This fast pace of life has heightened mental strain, since there is less natural balance. Simply put, we suffer from greater, illness, injury and tension unless we exercise great compassion. Just pausing for a moment can lessen anxiety. I find the eye, or “I“ of the hurricane in response to the little everyday problems, noise and increased demands.

Stress can be self inflicted and caused by our emotional reactions to events. The key is to reframe our relationship to the course of events with a new attitude based on gratitude. Things then can be transformed “its no big deal” or “no worries”. Remembering to cultivate inquiry in what is true in each second is of enormous benefit to me.

Quieting my mind and listening to my heart is how I have been reframing my stress. Awakening to my heartbeat I can learn how to manage it and reverse the damage stress and worry can cause. Can I picture a world filled with joy, love and peace? Yes. Beautiful, peaceful, compassionate, loving people are all around me. If I can step into the consciousness of the heart, I can run with the deep inner harmony.

Wise teachers from the beginning of time teach us about the power of this emotional regulation. Simply by focusing on positive feelings such as appreciation, care, or compassion, I can create dramatic changes in my heart rhythms. This process allows me to alter a series of neural, hormonal, and biochemical events. This lessens my stress and anger and leads to greater well-being. There is a chain of biological changes including lowering blood pressure and stress hormone levels. I can increase my immune system activity, and anti-aging hormones by simply focusing on my heart energy. If I can learn how to engage in my heart more, I bring my emotion, body, and mind into balance. Quieting my mind and listening to my heart brings focused clarity, optimal health, and high performance. Taking the word grace and making it happen, I find happiness not far behind.

HEART@SICE©

We have the opportunity to exercise our heart in a very sacred way. Let's celebrate our greater love for this beloved earth with bountiful forms of exercise and play. As we explore new ways to have fun we also can expand our possibility of joy and mirth. When we more deeply listen to our our heart we can cultivate a greater ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE. Some examples of the possibility of this soulful exercise are:

• Paying attention to our heartbeat getting us our of our head allowing us to celebrate what we Love!

• Placing your hand over your heart and say WHAT IS RIGHT

• Awakening: SOUND FROM A YAWN TO A SOOTHING AND RELAXED AHHHHH !

• Specific PHYSICAL EXERCISES BY PAYING ATTENTION TO OUR BODY SENSATIONS CHANGING OUR BRAIN CHEMISTRY.

• Rewiring our brain activity. Since our mind is attracts negative emotions like velcrow we transform this to teflon. Taking this velcrow and applying it to our positive experiences awareness.


CULTIVATING GREATER SELF LOVE WITH LOVING KINDNESS HEART@SICE RITUALS

We can exercise with simple rituals that cultivate greater self compassion. For example we can reward our self for what we do that's positive. Also we can forgive our self when we make mistakes. This is not always easy. Only when we remember to Heart@sice we can pay attention to exercise loving kindness. When we set an attention to cultivate peace, contentment, and basic well-being we also invoke deeper states of concentration and insight. As we encourage what's right we create greater positive events to become positive experiences. Any way we show our gratitude or count our blessings then expand further possible positive experience. Thus increase our chances of seeing good things in all things, increasing acts of kindness and respect for facets of our life.


HEART@CIZE happens when exercise our GRATITUDE, LOVE, ACCEPTANCE AND DEVOTION (GLAD) –

GRATITUDE- reflecting on the good things in your life today or in the past.

LOVE- of self world and all thins, Feeling loved, cared about, liked, included, attended to, empathized with – BE included, belonging. CREATE goodwill toward SELF AND others. Quieting our mind and listening deeply deep to our heart.

ACCEPT- our worth and value. When the Buddha touched the ground when challenged by the forces of darkness to say "I am here, now one with this sacred earth" - We can become free to exercise our life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness since when we accept all things then we become liberated.

DEVOTE- dedicate oneself to exercising the heart for the benefit of all beings and things we skillfully find our higher self.

Heart@sice- just imagine a huge celebration or party in your heart replacing old feelings of shame or inadequacy with feelings of being glad. The more we exercise our minds and bodies the greater potential for joy happens. What's right? Let's celebrate what we have and use it fully or face the negative consequences. Heart@cise or exercise your love by being glad, grateful, loving, accepting and devote our self to greater well being.

Beloved George's Example

Today my brother departed. I profoundly grieve the loss of George. This kind spirit was always there to help and support me. Now, I cry out to his spirit to give me strength to mend my broken heart.

George's departure is a wake-up call how I will better live. Often I run and hide in having the courage to face the beyond. Accepting George's example requires me to confront many profound questions. This ultimate challenge creates a tremendous urgency to observe what is important and matters. One simple answer comes, “to be or not to be,” as Shakespeare once referred as this is the question of expanding my heart.

May my beloved brother's passing provides me courage to serve with greater compassion. May I embrace my loneliness, and despair so I may find the light within this darkness. From this experience today I vow to remember to see both sides of positive and negative as being one and the same. George thank you for your example. George you have closed one door and opened another where I can pass on your love to others.


Four Things
Prudence K. Gearey

These things are beautiful beyond belief;
The pleasant weakness that comes after pain,
The radiant greenness that comes after rain,
The deepened faith that follows after grief,
And the awakening to love again.

Relax Now!

There is no greater form of self love then for me to explore my full relaxation potential. Relaxing in the now allows me to cultivate new ways to celebrate arriving in the present. There are countless relaxation rituals and techniques to help me fully find this moment to moment grace including deep breathing, mindful movement, visualization, muscle relaxation, and meditation. Such experimentation and practice of such techniques reduces my stress, improve my health, and increase feelings of joy and serenity. In addition to developing essential calming skills, relaxing now enhance my energy, sharpens my focus and expands my overall wellness.

One highly effective stress-relief practice for me to focus on releasing tension wherever it arises in my body. Another is when work to soften any angst in my feet and gradually work my way up the body to release muscle tension everywhere. Other relaxation techniques include cultivation of mindfulness with a deep focus in the present moment, simple visualization exercises, and use of the breath to lessen both mental and physical tensions and to maximize my fullest relaxation potential.

Cultivating new ways to lessen stress has the potential to improve every facet of my life allowing me to expand my quality of experience. Also relaxation allows me shift out of me being so identified with my thoughts and anxieties. This is not simple overcoming tremendous forms of fear and resistance. This relaxation happens when I can find a space where I can lessen my stress. Next I set an intention or any ritual that invites me to focus in relaxing now in the present.

Shifting my intention to find greater calm and stillness I arrive in tranquil area of consciousness. There are many techniques to achieve this attention that may shift from observing things from near to far away. This form of letting go or releasing comes from both active or passive skills. Also such creating a more relaxed mind-set also comes from either prayer or meditation allowing us to take refuge outside our ego-centered self.

There are additional ways to best relax my mind. Fostering appreciation and loving kindness as I follows my breath or listens to the nature of sounds. Just as when water is allowed to be still it becomes clear just as our heart/mind connection.

Relaxation and visualizing methods are key championship skills not just in sports but in all life endeavors. There are two outcomes of this relaxed concentration. An awareness of what is happening as it is happening. And, what is my relationship to this happening?

As I explore stress reduction direct experience where we can shift and expand my attention to moment to moment awareness. Whether to body sensations, noise, or other anchors to bring me to the here and now as we improve the nature of our specific attention to whatever object of meditation appears.

There are bountiful possibilities to relax now- whether walking, standing, speaking, and lying down. Even recreational endeavors and a diversity of practices offer me a rich and blessed experience when I deeply focus in the moment because I pause to become relaxed. Awakening my relaxation skills result in greater clarity, insights and a sense of tranquility. Relaxing now helps me to remember that I can lessen my suffering with explore better ways to reduce stress and fully enjoy my life.

Remembering Grace

First say to yourself what you would be: then do what you have to do. ~Epictetus

The truth is everything is here and now. The challenge is remembering how to overcome my fears and access grace or divine love in this moment. It comes down to self discipline to exercise a transformation heart/mind choice. This profound spiritual act comes down to applying not hiding from my greater self. So much of my life has been distracted by doubt, depression, despair and other self destructive mindsets. Much of my shadow side I can overcome by challenging me to cultivate an attitude based on exposing what is true. Either I can opt for more heavenly opportunities or reside in the hell of doing the same thing expecting different results. Being a creature of many unwholesome habits it is easy for me to become lost in the current societal drama. Getting out of my head and focusing on my heart/spirit connection is my salvation or what I call grace.

All my conscious life I have struggled to find my way in this world. Lost or asleep to life to being fully in contact with the pulsation of daily life; it’s very trials and tribulations I flee from. I believe I am not alone. Western civilization is at a crossroads where today’s outer conflicts can be traced to inner demons.

One of most amazing insights is how can I love all of life so intensely while not fully embracing parts of my own self? Cultivating self love that is reverent for the interconnection of all things is a life-long challenge. Paying attention to a deeper spirit requires tenderly listening to my own heart beat. Nature constantly reminds me to find grace. It show itself when I care for all things in this world. The delicate balance for me is how and what I identify myself with. My greatest challenge has to see how I can expand my love and forgive myself at times when I fall short. When I observe how I love all creation then I realize I just another drop in this pool of universal compassion.

My suffering is lessened when I realize that the “I” is rather a “we.” In these difficult times I believe all of us wish to find harmony amidst the turmoil. Inside each of us we have the gift of unearthing greater awareness liberating our collective unconsciousness from our deluded wants and providing light of our sacred needs. There is not greater treasure we can provide in our life time then for us to reduce our anxious wealth to relaxing with the cultivation of well being.

Is not life’s quest for each person on this planet to find peace within themselves thus leading the way? If we wish to lessen terror, improve our environment and help others ultimately we must whatever plagues our human condition we must go within. Real change can only happen when each of us change ourselves. Leading by example is the tenor of the times.

A rich life comes down to skillful interpersonal skills. How we treat all things, most importantly our very self is an extended act of divine love. The more evolved and successful one becomes is based on how we interface with people, things and places. Since these are extensions of our large self or the world when we show respect and sensitivity for them we ultimately show self love since truly it is all interconnected. The challenge is develop a positive feedback loop to celebrate our passion to be kind, gentle and sensitive. Greater awareness that all things are not separate I become gentler with myself. In this mysterious path of gracefully going forth the key is to remember not to fear or forget what matters most.