INSPIRED LIFESTYLE NEWS October, 2015 Issue #233

INSPIRED LIFESTYLE NEWS October, 2015 Issue #233

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  • Promotion of the Month
  • Inspiring Quote for This Issue
  • Peace Is Every Step
  • Illuminating the Light within the Darkness
  • You Can Control Your Own Thoughts
  • 4 Things You Must Give Up to Move Forward
  • A Touch of Humor

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INSPIRING QUOTE FOR THIS ISSUE:

“Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” — Leonard Cohen


PEACE IS EVERY STEP
Thich Nhat Hanh

Every morning, when we wake up, we have twenty-four brand-new hours to live. What a precious gift! We have the capacity to live in a way that these
twenty-four hours will bring peace, joy, and happiness to ourselves and
others.

Peace is present right here and now, in ourselves and in everything we do
and see. The question is whether or not we are in touch with it. We don’t
have to travel far away to enjoy the blue sky. We don’t have to leave our
city or even our neighborhood to enjoy the eyes of a beautiful child. Even
the air we breathe can be a source of joy.

We can smile, breathe, walk, and eat our meals in a way that allows us to be
in touch with the abundance of happiness that is available. We are very good
at preparing to live, but not very good at living. We know how to sacrifice
ten years for a diploma, and we are willing to work very hard to get a job,
a car, a house, and so on. But we have difficulty remembering that we are
alive in the present moment, the only moment there is for us to be alive.
Every breath we take, every step we make, can be filled with peace, joy, and
serenity. We need only to be awake, alive in the present moment.


ILLUMINATING THE LIGHT WITHIN THE DARKNESS
By Carol James

It’s hard to see the light when you’re steeped in the darkness of your disappointments, regrets, losses, failures, fears and painful experiences. The darkness can creep up in unexpected ways, a hurt here, a slight there, and before you know it you’re trapped in that darkness. You can tell a dark memory because it feels bad, sad, hurtful, disappointing, regretful, dense and heavy.

The longer you stay in the darkness of these negative thoughts and memories, the darker it will get.

It’s not that these thoughts and memories are bad, in and of themselves; the problem is that the version of the event you stored in your memory is likely a misinterpretation of what really happened, and that taints all your beliefs, thoughts and actions.

Have you ever had a situation where you got angry at someone for doing something you thought they did, only to find out later that they didn’t do that? Initially you stored the memory in the dark side, but when you discovered the truth (the light), you rewrote your memory about that event and it stopped being part of the darkness. That is, of course, assuming you didn’t store a new dark memory beating yourself up for getting angry to begin with.

When you revisit dark memories your body can’t distinguish the original event from your remembrance of that event, and your body triggers the same hormonal response you had when the event first happened: Stress, for instance.

That happens because every event you experience, good and bad, is stored in your body muscles, tissues and organs, anchored by the beliefs you formed around each event about who did what to whom, why they did that, how it happened and what it all means about everyone involved directly and indirectly, especially you.

Prolonged exposure to the darkness leads to depression, over-indulging in food, exercise or drugs (legal and otherwise), smoking too much, feeling sad, unhappy, unloved, unwanted, rejected, and, at it’s worse, hating yourself, all of which perpetuates more darkness.

Additionally, when you focus primarily on the bad in your life, the stress-inducing thoughts – and the unhealthy eating habits that stress often leads to – wreak havoc on your health, especially your immune system. You become more susceptible to infectious diseases and your bodily functions weaken, opening the door for other health problems.

The longer you stay in the darkness, the darker it gets, and many choose suicide rather than continuing to live in the darkness.

Can you blame them? Who wants to live with such pain and hopelessness?

Finding answers or solutions or purpose while in the darkness is futile. You can’t see a way out of the darkness while engulfed in darkness.

But there’s a cure for the darkness: Light. Light is truth. Light is clarity, openness, willingness to see a different perspective and even willingness to change your perspective. Light illuminates all sides of any event and reveals misinterpretations, misguided intentions and actions and erroneous conclusions.

The real challenge, of course, is finding the light while immersed in darkness. But it can be done. I remember a call I got from a very depressed woman who could only talk about what was wrong with her life. As I became desperate to help her find something good in her life, I finally said, “What about hearing the sound of a child’s laughter?”

In an instant her energy changed, and she started to talk about her grandchildren.

When I pointed out how her energy had changed when she focused on thoughts that brought her joy and love – the lightness – she got it, at least in that moment. The seed was planted.

Another quick way to change a dark thought into a light thought is to directly ask the person involved why they did what they did and what their intention was. Chances are your version is skewed a bit, enough to place doubt about whether or not you really were being slighted. Clearing the air instantly changes the energy from dark to light.

We all have good and bad memories – light and dark memories – and whether we live in stress or joy is determined by which memories we spend the most time revisiting.

The solution to convert dark thoughts to light thoughts is to think about and focus on the people and things that enlighten you – people you love and who openly love you, things you’ve accomplished, kind things you’ve done and have been done for you, birds singing, children laughing, snuggling with your pet or other loved ones.

You know what I’m talking about, the stuff that kisses your heart with joy and love.

As with dark thoughts, when you revisit light, happy, loving memories, your body cannot distinguish the original event from your remembrance of that event and will trigger the same hormonal response you had when the event first happened: Bliss, joy, happiness, acceptance, comfort, love.

An additional benefit of focusing on the good in your life is that when you are feeling good, your body is functioning at its best.

When we live in lightness, we are more loving, compassionate, creative, collaborative, generous, kind and abundant in all ways.

Light your own path and pass it on.


YOU CAN CONTROL YOUR OWN THOUGHTS
By Mentor Max

Life at any time can become difficult.
Life at any time can become easy.
It all depends upon how you adjust yourself to life.

The reality in your life may result from many outside factors,
none of which you can control.
Your attitude, however,
reflects the ways in which you deal with what is happening to you.

Things turn out best for those people
who can make the best out of the way things turn out.
It’s not the situation, it’s your reaction to the situation.

You cannot always control your circumstances.
But, you can control your own thoughts.
There is nothing neither good or bad,
only your thinking makes it so.

Always think positive.


4 THINGS YOU MUST GIVE UP TO MOVE FORWARD
© 2006-2015 Marc and Angel Hack Life

1. First and foremost, give up the excuses you keep reciting to yourself.

Because all the excuses and explanations in the world won’t do you any good. They won’t add any value to your life or improve the quality of it by even the slightest margin. To fulfill your calling and get where you wish to go in life requires more than just thinking and talking. These feats require focused and sustained action. And the good news is, you’re perfectly capable of taking whatever action is necessary. You just have to choose to actually do it.

No one else can succeed for you on your behalf. The life you live is the life you build for yourself. There are so many possibilities to choose from, and so many opportunities for you to bridge the gap between where you are and where you want to be. Now is the moment to actually step forward.

Sooner or later, one way or the other, you will come to realize that it’s not what you lose along the way that counts; it’s what you do with what you still have. When you let go of the past, forgive what needs forgiving, and move forward, you in no way change the past, you change the future.

2. Once you’re over the excuses, give up the idea that you don’t have what it takes.

You do have exactly what it takes. Will it be easy? Absolutely not! Nobody is going to blindside you and hit you as hard as life will. Sometimes life will beat you to the ground, and keep you there if you let it. But it’s not about how hard life can hit you; it’s about how hard you can be hit and continue to move forward. That’s what true strength is. And that’s what winning the game of life is all about. So keep going.

In the end, all the small things make a big difference. Every step is crucial. Life isn’t about a single moment of great triumph and attainment. It’s about the trials and errors that slowly get you there – the blood, the sweat, the tears, and the small, inconsequential things you do on a day-to-day basis. It all matters in the end – every step, every regret, every decision, and every affliction.

The seemingly useless happenings add up to something. The minimum wage job you had in high school. The evenings you spent socializing with coworkers you never see anymore. The hours you spent writing thoughts on a personal blog that no one reads. Contemplations about elaborate future plans that never came to be. All those lonely nights spent reading novels and news columns and comics strips and fashion magazines and questioning your own principles on life and sex and religion and whether or not you’re good enough just the way you are.

All of this has strengthened you. All of this has led you to every success you’ve ever had. All of this has made you who you are today. And all of this proves that you have the strength to deal with the challenges in front of you. (Read The Road Less Traveled.)

3. Give up focusing on what’s wrong, and start noticing what’s right.

What you see often depends entirely on what you are looking for. Do your best and surrender the rest. When you stay stuck in regret of the life you think you should have had, you end up missing the beauty of what you actual do have. You will have a hard time ever being happy if you aren’t thankful for the good things in your life right now.

And you do not need ideal circumstances to move forward. The happiest and most successful people do not live with a certain set of circumstances, but rather with a certain set of attitudes. Choosing to be positive and grateful for what you have now is going to determine how you’re going to live the rest of your life. So look for something positive about today. Even if you have to look a little harder than usual, it still exists.

So don’t wait until everything is just right; it will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what! Get started now! With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger. Say it out loud: “I am determined to live a happy life no matter what my challenges are! I will turn all my tales of fury into tales of glory! I will turn all of my tales of woe into tales of WOW!” And no matter what happens, just do your best and appreciate what you’re learning. You won’t enjoy your life if you don’t enjoy your challenges.

4. Give up the tendency to get too caught up in other people’s judgments and opinions.

Honestly, the biggest prison you will likely ever live in is your fear of what other people think. You cannot let other people tell you who you are or what you want. You have to decide that for yourself. When you’re making big decisions, remember, what you think of yourself and your life is more important than what people think of you. Don’t let others make you feel guilty for living YOUR life. As long as you’re not hurting anyone else, live it YOUR way.

The key here is to remember that it’s OK to listen to others sometimes, but not at the full expense of your own intuition. Because throughout your lifetime there will be many times when the world gets real quiet and the only thing left is the beat of your own heart. So you’d better learn the sound of it, otherwise you’ll never understand what it’s telling you.

The bottom line is that when you spend too much time concentrating on everyone else’s perception of you, or who everyone else wants you to be, you eventually forget who you truly are. So don’t fear the judgments of others; you know in your heart who you are and what’s true to you. You don’t have to be someone else to impress people. Let these people be impressed by who you really are.

Honestly, what does life matter if you lose yourself along the way? Even your mentors should teach you HOW to think, not WHAT to think. So if someone – anyone – is belittling your truth, it might be time to turn the other way. (Marc and I discuss this in detail in the “Relationships” chapter of 1,000 Little Things Happy, Successful People Do Differently.)
Your turn…

If you feel like you’re stuck, or struggling to make progress, know that you are not alone. We are all in this together. However, there is also a good chance you’re holding on to something that’s holding you back. Which means you might be able to make things easier on yourself if you give this “something” up.

In fact, whenever Marc and I find ourselves running in place, we make it a point to evaluate our present situation, and then we ask ourselves questions like, “What’s holding us back?” and “Is there something we need to let go of, or give up, before we can move forward again?”


A TOUCH OF HUMOR

The Obedient Father

There was a father who called his 5 small children together.  As they sat together in a circle on the floor the dad placed a toy in the middle.  He explained to them that he won this toy as a door prize and he wanted to give it to one of them.  He asked them “who is the most obedient?”

Five sets of eyes looked up at him.  Sensing that they didn’t understand the word he then asked, “Ok, who always obeys mommy, and does everything she says?”

One of the children pick up the toy and handed it to the father.  “You win!” exclaimed the child.

——————-

Absent-Minded

I did the most incredibly absent-minded thing this afternoon. While I was coming back to the office from lunch I decided to stop at the gas station and top off my tank.

I went in, asked the clerk to put ten dollars on pump number 12 and bought an instant lottery ticket and a pack of gum. Then I went back to my truck, tucked the gum in the little bag containing the sandwich I bought earlier, scratched my ticket (nothing) and drove back to work.

I think you can see the step I missed.

I had driven almost back to the office by the time I realized what I had done. So I drove back to the gas station where, surprisingly, no one had used the pump where my ten bucks still waited to be used. I put in the gas and drove back to the office again.

When all was said and done I probably ended up with the same amount of gas as I started with.



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