When doing something you love, no matter what you'd be getting paid or think the outcome might be, not only will you enjoy yourself more, but you have a better chance of actually creating a sustainable life. Happiness is contagious.
— Tara Stiles
You are the only thing holding you back from happiness. You have the ability to change your life radically for better or worse.
A trap in dealing with difficult people is getting wrapped up in their personality. When we can stay objective and remove ourselves from other people's roller-coaster psychology, we have a much better chance of moving through the situation positively.
The universe is within us. We forget that and make up realities for ourselves that we are small and insignificant. Meditation brings us back to our natural state of consciousness.
Tension can be useful, exciting, flirtatious, strength-building, or destructive. Put yourself in charge of how you direct it.
We spend so much time closing ourselves to protect from scary things that we forget that when we do open to the world, inspiration can flow.
Inspiration comes and goes when it pleases. It's independent of our desires, doesn't respond well to force, and refuses to be controlled.
Our bodies and our minds have their own timing that pay little attention to our cerebral desires. We can't force or expect things to change as fast as we want, but when we put our efforts in the direction of our intention and drop everything else like snow falling, things unfold with ease.
The more we work to remove our fears and insecurities, the more aware we become of the interworkings of the universe and tap into the laws of nature, which, to most, will appear like we're doing some magic trickery.
Interactions - whether personal or business, teacher-student, friend to friend, or family member - all call for balance, respect, and compassion.
We are here on this planet to add to the happiness of the world.
The first rule of negotiation is to always be willing to walk away from the deal. The first rule of happiness is to not be attached to pleasing moments.
I grew up feeling from a very young age that what was right was right, no matter if God or my teacher said so.
Our lives are full of distractions, and that's life. The sounds of the street, the thoughts in our minds, family on-goings, tasks at work, and Facebook friends, oh my!
If we eat healthy and live healthy, then that's sustainable.
It's hard to escape bullies that come in many shapes and forms. The processed food industry, corrupt religious organizations, and celebrity worship culture are just a few that we deal with in modern times.
Meditation has taught me to be in the present moment and observe the present moment at the same time. Just breathe, follow your breath, and your intuition can take you from there.
Having goals can be useful, but don't lose sight of how great you are and how much you can help yourself and others right now.
A hot bath, time with a book, or five minutes of meditation helps tremendously with recharging and grounding us so we are more equipped to deal with everything life throws our way.
Friendships naturally shift over life. We have different friends for different times in our lives, and sometimes it's not the best idea to hang on to a friendship to try to make it work if it's an unhealthy connection.
There is no limit on life besides the one we put on ourselves.
Our state of mind affects completely how we treat our bodies.
We get so caught up in doing everything for ourselves, including inspiring ourselves, that it's exhausting and not at all useful. Take a look around you. Look at your friends. Open up to your friends and take in the caring and good intentions they hold toward you.
Over-working gets less done. We all have experienced this. We can push ourselves to exhaustion, but things get done with less attention, and our bodies eventually break down.
We all strive for balance, often moving to extremes to find ourselves somewhere in the middle where we can sustainably exist in optimal inspiration. Working toward balance takes a lot of ingredients. We need courage, reflection, attention, action, and a push-and-pull relationship between effort and relaxation.
When we feel like we discover something, we are usually uncovering or realizing what has always been there. The laws of nature are always present, waiting for us to tune in.
When we work on carving out balance in our lives, we are then shuttled to the superhighway of our best life fueled by our intention. The power and confidence comes from the knowledge that we can absolutely do something to achieve balance.
We are all connected. The pain and suffering of others is yours also, on some level, whether you choose to pay attention or not. The reason we can't achieve total bliss is because you're not here solo.
I started practicing yoga when I was a teenager, studying classical dance. My body and mind were very open but not very strong. I was trusting, excited, passionate, and receptive. All good qualities when balanced with the proper amount of strength and awareness.
Yoga and mediation exist whether we choose to acknowledge or practice. It's like a tree. You can walk by the tree and inhale the oxygen it provides consciously or unconsciously. You'll still be benefiting from the tree.
Distractions can take us in an exciting direction but most often borrow our attention briefly without much resistance and take their sweet time giving it back. Distractions lure us in with an easy escape and then trick us by stealing our attention.
My parents were/are straight-edge hippies. Mom roamed around gardening so we would have fresh food, and Dad was on wood-chopping duty to heat our passive solar home that they figured out how to design and build together. I was the kid with green peppers in my lunch, and I liked them!
We all have the power, intuition, and ability to think and act for ourselves until we give that power away. We give our power away because we're bullied into thinking we aren't good enough and someone else must know better than us; therefore, we should give over our instincts and act according to instruction.
Even if you're a seasoned professional multi-tasker, your body, mind, emotional life, and growth potential can get a blow from over-committing. Take a look at what's on your plate if you're swamped, and you can surely find some space for yourself even when you feel trapped.
If you are inflexible in the body, look at what you are holding onto unnecessarily in your life. Release tension, and life will open up.
Unfiltered venting to a friend about difficult situations can be helpful. But it can work against you if your life turns into complaining.
We have to be nice to ourselves and others in order for life to run smoothly. This is just how it goes: a fun little game of the universe we like to sometimes call karma.
Tension happens. It will continue to happen. If we didn't have tension, we wouldn't be alive. How we maintenance ourselves makes all the difference in how we live our lives.
Meditation is practical, simple, and very useful. Taking even 30 seconds to rest your attention on your breath instead of following the cycle of your thoughts can bring you back to you in a heart beat.
Inspiration is a force not to be wrestled with. You can try, but it will slip under the cracks every time.
Efficiency is a great secret that can drop us right into our ideal life path, but it is a hard one to practice and something that takes constant maintenance and work.
I've learned that the more I streamline what my actual tasks are and where I'd like to direct my energy, as opposed to where I let my energy go in an unaware state of mind, the more energy I have to place where my intentions are. Boundaries are good! Use them and know where they are.
We all have insecurities. It takes maintenance and constant practice to first identify what they are so we can have an understanding of how we tick and, second, to put forth the action to deal with them.
Balance takes work. Lots of it. There is no endpoint in balance, no goal, no finalization. Balance requires practice, patience, and - most importantly - movement. We often get stuck in our ways and form habits based on our fears and driven by our insecurities.
We experience happiness as a series of pleasing moments. They come and go like clouds, unpredictable, fleeting, and without responsibility to our desires. Through honest self-work, reflection, and meditation, we begin to string more of these moments together, creating a web-like design of happiness that drapes around our lives.
The mere acknowledgment that 'God is watching' can act as a trap, fueling bad behavior, corruption, and guilt, all remedied by God's forgiveness. No personal responsibility is needed - someone on the outside sees whatever we're doing and makes it all OK.
When we allow distractions to wobble us away from ourselves, that's when our intuition starts to fade and our focus dulls.
The truth of the matter is if we listened to our bodies and cleared our psychologies, we would inherently know what we need to do to stay healthy, and there wouldn't be a market for diet pills, extreme cleanses, or low-calorie, pre-packaged junk food.
A huge problem we face when we're in need is giving up our intuition and blindly following instruction. Letting go works when we are following our hearts, but not so well when we are following a leader.
I've never had a problem with Jesus. In fact, I'm pretty sure he's just the kind of guy you'd always want to have around. But I have had a big problem with his agents, publicists, and managers. They've abused his message for power and converted moldable, excited people into bullied believers and followers.
