Month: April 2017
Change For The Better
Change For The Better
By Ralph Martson
Even when it is not possible to change anything else for the better, you can always change yourself for the better. Even in the most desperate situations, when no other option is available, you always can decide upon your own attitude. Just as it is entirely possible to be miserable in even the most pleasant surroundings, so too is it possible to be positive and effective in the most difficult circumstances. Always bear in mind that your attitude is whatever you decide it is going to be.
So why would you ever want to go through so much as a single moment with a negative, defeated attitude? There is simply nothing of value that it can accomplish. On the other hand, when you choose a positive focus, even the setbacks and disappointments can end up working in your favor. For you will be open to the positive possibilities that do surely exist in those seemingly hopeless situations.
The hope is there, the way forward is there, when you make up your mind to see it and live it. When life is stubbornly negative, keep your attitude positive. When nothing else will change for the better, change your own thoughts for the better. And you’ll soon see everything else following positively along.
Believe In Yourself
Believe In Yourself
By A.J. Mahari
Doubt is the result of fear. Second guessing ourselves often could be an indication that we need to learn to trust ourselves more than we currently do.
How many things or decisions do you approach in your life more from fear than confidence? The less we believe in ourselves the more we will struggle with choices, decisions, and every day situations that challenges us in a myriad of ways to cope to the best of our abilities.
What many people may not realize or consciously be aware of in the living of life is that taking it one moment at a time is truly a gift that you can give yourself. If you try to think too far ahead, or if you focus on the past you increase many fold the stress that you will feel.
This stress can impede your believing in yourself. When you believe in yourself you can and will cope. Sometimes we don’t know how we are going to cope with certain stresses and challenges in our lives. Believing that we can cope, however, is the key to actually coping effectively.
Believing in yourself requires loving kindness. You deserve and need your own love and trust. If you think negatively or live out of a fear-based place you rob yourself of each and every unfolding moment that comes to give you a newer and richer sense of all that can be positive in the moment.
Live moment to moment with the belief that you can cope and you do know what you need and you can learn to meet your needs if you aren’t already meeting them. Be mindful of your boundaries also.
Believing in yourself is a positive life-giving gift that you can give yourself in this moment and each unfolding moment to come. Treasure that. Know that you deserve that.
Ask not what can go wrong. Do not give your energy to the negative. Focus on the positive. Be excited about your life. Believe in yourself and the way the you view the world will be much more positive. The way that you relate to others will also be much more positive.
Believing in yourself means getting honest with yourself about who you are, your strengths and weaknesses and then accepting yourself, strengths and weaknesses and all, unconditionally.
Be Aware Of Your Thoughts
Be Aware Of Your Thoughts
By A.J. Mahari (aka Soul)
Few people enjoy the company of individuals whose attitudes are persistently negative. Yet many of us tolerate the critical chatter that can originate within our own minds. Since we are so used to the stream of self-limiting, critical consciousness that winds its way through our thoughts, we are often unaware of the impact these musings have on our lives. It is only when we become aware of the power of such thoughts that we can divest ourselves of them and fill the emptiness they leave with loving, peaceful affirmations. Many people, upon paying careful attention to their thinking patterns, are surprised at the negativity they find there. But when we take notice of involuntary thoughts in a nonjudgmental way, we initiate a healing process that will eventually allow us to replace intimidating and upsetting self-talk with positive, empowering thoughts.
While the occasional downbeat or judgmental thought may have little impact on your contentment, the ongoing negativity that passes unnoticed can have a dampening effect on your mood and your outlook. When you are aware of the tone of your thoughts, however, you can challenge them. Try to be conscious of your feelings, opinions, and judgments for a single day. From sunup to sundown, scrutinize the messages you are feeding into your subconscious mind. Consider your thoughts from the perspective of a detached observer and try not to judge yourself based on the notions that come unbidden into your mind. Simply watch the flow of your consciousness and make a note of the number of times you find yourself focusing on gloomy notions or indulging in self-directed criticism.
As you become increasingly aware of your patterns of thought, whether positive and negative, you will gradually learn to control the character of your stream of consciousness. Endeavor always to remember that the images and ideas that pass through your mind are transient and not a true representation of who you are. In training yourself to be cognizant of your thoughts, you gain the ability to actively modulate your mood. The awareness you cultivate within yourself will eventually enable you to create a foundation of positivity from which you can build a more authentic existence.
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Avoid the Company Of Chronic Criticizers
Avoid the Company Of Chronic Criticizers
By Terry Cole-Whittaker, in “Life Your Bliss”
Avoid the company of chronic criticizers, naysayers, prophets of doom, materialists, fearmongers, gossipers, and the fearful, envious, and angry. If you must be around these lower-frequency energies, consider it a test of your ability to hold your own and keep your mind, emotions, and words in the spiritual zone. When you can do this, you become victorious, not a victim. We must control our thoughts and words, or we are nothing more than stimulus-response machines reacting from habit and fear- and lack-based programming. Seek the highest truth and act on it, regardless of your old habits and programming. Remember that you are making new habits and these are what will now start manifesting.
Attitude Is Everything
Attitude Is Everything
By A.J. Mahari
We can be grumpy or we can accept where we are today and celebrate that by going with the flow. Again, central to finding peace within a more positive attitude is letting go of the things that we can’t control outside of ourselves.
It is also pointless and a source of pain to try to control ourselves too much too.
Be who you are. Help those you care about when you can. Don’t guilt yourself for not doing more. You cannot be perfect.
Acceptance will enable you to find a peaceful and adequately humble attitude that will serve you and those around you well. Never be afraid to be real. Never be afraid to show your emotions. Emotions are not a display of weakness. They are a display of courage and strength.
Attitude is everything. You can choose your attitude. Free yourself from the “shoulds” and know that what you are doing is enough. Steady as you go and a step at a time — that’s what sees the accomplishment of goals in the long run.
Choose to be giving. Choose to think the best of others while taking care of yourself. The lighter your attitude, the lighter your load.
Anger Is Necessary
Anger Is Necessary
By A.J. Mahari (aka Soul)
Anger, in our society today, is a much maligned emotion. Anger is, at the very least, too often thought of as or defined as not okay and/or destructive among a host of other negative descriptors. Anger is seen as a negative unwanted emotion.
It is viewed as a destroyer of love and/or as the antithesis of love. This results in anger being the most repressed emotion.
It is not being angry or feeling angry or having anger that is unhealthy. It is choosing to repress or inappropriately express or display your anger that is at the root of our culture’s issues with anger.
Anger is a healthy human emotion to feel. It is what we do with it once we feel it that matters most.
Anger is necessary if we are feeling beings. If we are able to feel anything, from time to time, anger will invariably be a part of what we feel. Anger has tremendous value. It alerts us to potential danger. It moves us into action to take care of ourselves and/or protect ourselves.
It is necessary to feel anger in order to be healthy and well-balanced.
It is not feeling angry that is negative it is the repression of anger until it implodes or explodes without rational guidance that can be destructive. It is denying the appropriate and healthy expression of our anger that can also be destructive.
When you are angry you are likely in touch with what you need in any given situation. When you are angry you likely know that something isn’t okay.
Embrace how angry you may feel at any given time.
Anger indicates that we care enough to feel and to give voice to our feelings, especially feelings of displeasure. It also clears the air so that free exchange can take place. Anger is necessary.
The right to feel and to express our anger in healthy ways is necessary if we are going to be able to feel and express compassion for ourselves and each other.
Feeling your anger and learning to appropriately express it without guilt or shame is of paramount importance to being able to be true to yourself and true with others.
Stop All The Competition
Stop All The Competition
By A.J. Mahari
Competition… is everywhere these days. It is one of the root causes of conflict – everyday conflict, all the way up to warfare between countries. In our lives we often may find that we have competing interests, wants, needs and/or desires. Friends compete with each other. Who will look the best? Who is the thinnest? Who can be seen as the most successful and so on. There is even competition for our values, morals and beliefs.
We are saturated by media. They are all competing to take our money — not to help us out in any way. Why is there so much competition? What has happened to the co-operative spirit? Each of us has to assess for him/herself, in his/her life, what amount of competition is acceptable and what they are willing to sacrifice in the name of competition. Not all competition is bad but too often it gets out of hand. Real learning can only come about when the competitive spirit has ceased. It is then, and only then that we truly seek to learn.
Stamp Out Stress
Stamp Out Stress
By Richard Carlson, PHD, in Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff
What you want to start doing is noticing your stress early, before it gets out of hand. When you feel your mind moving too quickly, its time to back off and regain your bearings. When your schedule is getting out of hand, it’s a signal that it’s time to slow down and reevaluate what’s important rather than power through everything on the list.
When you’re feeling out of control and resentful of all you have to do, rather than roll up your sleeves and get to it, a better strategy is to relax, take a few deep breaths, and go for a short walk. You’ll find that when you catch yourself getting too stressed out early, before it gets out of control our stress will be like the proverbial snowball rolling down the hill. When its small, it’s manageable and easy to control. Once it gathers momentum, however, it’s difficult, if not impossible, to stop.
Self-worth
Self-worth
By Dan Millman in “Everyday Enlightenment”
Self-worth is not a thing; it is a perception. Just as a gymnast begins a routine with ten points and receives deductions for each mistake, so you began life with a natural, complete sense of worth. (Have you ever met an infant with self-worth issues?) But as you grow, you serve as your own judge, deducting points when you misunderstand the nature of living and learning – when you forget you are a human-in-training and that making mistakes and having slips of integrity and mediocre moments are a part of life, not unforgivable.