Are You Willing to Take Advice?
I don't think anybody needs a speech on what is right and what is wrong. Most people don't want to be told how to live their lives either. Through the years, I've continually fought against everyone's advice. If I could go back with the knowledge I have now and with what I have experienced, things would be so very different. Even basic "listen to your parents" kind of advice -- and I know that, yes, I should have listened to my parents more. Besides the typical teen screw-ups, which I think most of us are guilty of, it can get…
Taking Control of Your Story
None of us know when our last day in this realm here on earth will be, as each moment dies in order for the next moment to be born. Know that we are not our experiences. What happens to the physical does not need to alter the spirit, the essence of who we truly are. You are not your stories: if you don't like your history, tell yourself a new one, a more positive one. Create your story the way you want it to be. In full knowledge that I am lucky to be alive, each day is a blessing. Each…
Your Top Priority This Year
In my opinion, there is one thing that is much more important than anything else: learning to be happy and fulfilled in your life. Truly happy people tend to be richer, more giving, more productive, and even a lot healthier than everyone else. So how can you easily become much happier in this fast paced, crazy world we live in? Fortunately there are many simple, powerful methods that can make a dramatic difference in your level of happiness. In fact, some methods that take only a minute a day, have been proven to have more effect on your level of…
5 Daily Habits for a Bountiful Life
Here are five things to believe in for a bountiful life in the human community; five life habits that if considered daily, you can’t help enrich your existence. One: Truly listen. Look in the eyes of others and be in the moment. Wait to speak. Take in the words they offer and savor them before reacting. You might call this “the patience of thought.” You cannot honestly connect with another living thing if you are only considering your own response. Understand your fellow human and you will understand yourself. Two: Be kind. Consider your fellow human being’s experience, background, personal,…
Your Greatest Responsibility
Perhaps the most important thing I have learned in this extraordinary life is that we are responsible for our own happiness. It is not determined by anything outside of ourselves even though it often appears to be. The rich can be miserable ("Oh, I'm so unhappy. I wanted Johnson to drive me to Tiffany's in the Lamborghini but now I have to go in the stupid Rolls. How awful.") And the poor can be joyful ("Ah, there is enough food for the whole family this year. We are so blessed.") With that reality we have tremendous power; we can stop…
Simple Guidelines for Living the Life You Want
Going through rain, thunder and sunshine in life, I have learned this: Whatever color of the skin on people we all have the same feelings, the same joy, the same fears, the same biology, the same psychology. Yes, on the inside we are all the same. So never judge on the outside. Also be kind to everybody including yourself. Kindness feeds kindness and we need more of that on the globe. This definitely includes never, ever hit your children. Talk to them, show them what is right. Hit and abused children often grow up to be hitting and abusing grown-ups.…
How You can Find Healing that Lasts
How would your life change if you trusted that your challenges are a part of your journey home – back to yourself and back to Life – instead of feeling that your challenges are here because you have done something wrong or you are being punished or God fell asleep on the job? What would happen if your illness, your difficult relationship, your demanding boss, your compulsions, and maybe even your troublesome dog were showing up in your life to help you heal? The healing you long for comes when you discover how to play the warmer, warmer/colder, colder game. Remember that…
Allow Kindness to Heal Your Struggling Self
With the return of my son’s cancer, I have had lots of opportunities to be with fear and despair. Sharing this journey with my son has taken me to a deeper level of presence than I have ever known. My body has been a very dear friend throughout this fierce process, especially my belly and my breath. Whenever I am caught in the fear-based mind, sometimes all I can do is soften my belly and allow a deeper breath. The belly is one of the best biofeedback mechanisms we have. If it is tight, we are up in our…
An Open Heart Heals
The willingness to meet whatever is showing up in our lives takes courage. Did you know that the root for the word courage means “of the heart”? It takes an open heart and deep compassion to see all of the conditioned stories in our heads that keep us separate from life. It takes courage to see them, love them and, under that gaze of compassion, allow them to evaporate like the summer fog when it is touched by the morning sun. I have been experiencing a lot of pain in my back and leg for quite some time now. …
7 Ways to Slow Down and Live Full Today
Often times, our days get ahead of us and by the time night falls, we cannot even remember what we did or how the hours passed by so quickly. Here are some ways you can catch yourself from running blindly through your day like a tornado, missing everything, so that you can live fully and with intention. Set intentions. This may sound silly, but the way in which you wake will determine much of your day. When you open your eyes (before anyone - human or companion animal - notices you are awake), take a few moments to pay attention to…
Here’s Your Daily Reminder
I don't often get to spend hours of quiet time with my mother, seeing as I have a soon-to-be 5 year old and a newborn. But recently, I stumbled upon some free time so my mother and I sat down together to watch Heaven is for Real. (The little boy in the movie is simply delish, so cute.). My mother was especially touched by the film, citing a message she received from it. She said so often we go to church or hear a message, and for that short period of time we "get it." We are kind and patient and living…
What Ripple Effect Are You Creating ?
It always amazes me when people give me the following reasons why they cannot give... I am just one person I don't have enough money I am not educated enough Who is going to listen to me ? Etc... Etc... Etc... EVERY person on this planet, no matter how rich or how poor, can do SOMETHING.... Get creative. Think of ways you can give without spending a dime to ways you can contribute if you are a Millionaire. We all have something to give-contribute. Do you know one of the greatest gifts of giving is an EAR...? Listening to someone,…
Kindness- The Gift that Keeps on Giving
By Gail Lynne Goodwin. Each day, with every action or inaction, whether intentional or not, we change the world around us. With every smile or grouchy comment, we affect others and as they pass it on, we change the world around us. We’ve all heard the expression that we’re all one, and what we reap we sow, yet sometimes they sound like just expressions and we lose the meaning behind the words. But, when you go a level deeper, it’s so obvious that everything we do affects those around us. If we’re snippy to the woman at the coffee shop,…
Little Notes of Appreciation and Words of Thanks Make a Difference!
All of us like to feel valued and appreciated. However, it is easy for most of us to go through our day forgetting to complete simple acts of kindness. My husband is in sales, and much of the time he travels. I try to find little ways to tell him that I appreciate his work and that I will miss him while he is gone. I might stick little handwritten notes in different parts of his suitcase. One time I made him a set of note cards with numbers marked on the front to show him when he should open…
Kindness: The Core of 12 Religions
Kindness matters. In fact, it may be the only thing that really does. In today's world, kindness is one of the things we appreciate most, yet it oft time remains one of our least shared attributes. We buy books about sharing random acts of kindness, yet cut someone off in traffic. We are kind with our friends, yet quick tempered with strangers. We say nice things to one another, yet gossip behind someone else's back. We've learned to compartmentalize our kindness rather than make it a way of life. The vast majority of us believe in God and follow one…