Be Inspired and Let Your Light Shine
Our Deepest Fear
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness
That most frightens us.
We ask ourselves
Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small
Does not serve the world.
There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking
So that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine,
As children do.
We were born to make manifest
The glory of God that is within us.
It’s not just in some of us;
It’s in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
We unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we’re liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.”
I would like to thank my good friend for sharing this lovely, inspirational quote with me. And I invite you now to go right ahead; be beautiful, gorgeous, talented, fabulous and let your light shine so that others in your presence can also be inspired.
Boost Your Happiness Level With These 7 Tips
What if you woke up one morning and saw a sign above you that said “happiness bus – jump on here for the ride of your life”? Would you excitedly jump on or would you pass, get up and just face your day? Happiness is within the reach of any person who desires it. It truly is there for you to just reach out and grab hold of and here are seven tips to boost your happiness level, whatever that may be.
But why would you bother? Surely it is enough to just cruise along with life, taking it as it comes and if you are unhappy, that is just your fate in life. You may be surprised to know that there are happiness experts who study and teach happiness, sometimes known as positive psychology. These experts hold the view that happiness is a choice; you can choose positive emotions, you can choose to let go of fear, anxiety and sadness and you can choose to pursue happiness. According to the studies, most people believe that happiness is important and is worth having not just for the individual but for society as a whole.
Happy people earn higher incomes and are more productive, they have longer and more satisfying relationships and more friends, more energy, better health and even longer life. There is evidence that individual happiness is a key factor in organisational performance so any employers reading this might want to explore happiness further. The best possible news is that you can train your brain for greater happiness. Read on to find out how.
1. Create the habit of keeping a daily journal. This might take a while and some discipline and every day that you do it will make it easier to continue. When you get to 90 days it is very likely that it will have become a habit. Your daily journal should be primarily about the positive things that occur in your life and that you appreciate about yourself.
2. Develop gratitude by adding to your daily journal a minimum of three notes about things for which you are grateful that day. Write down the things that people did that you appreciated, anything that made you smile or that you felt thankful for. Talk to others about what happened and reinforce gratitude in your life.
3. Use your daily journal to identify the things that you can see are your strengths. You might find that your writings about what you appreciate in yourself show some of your strengths and you can also ask trusted friends and family what they see as your strengths. Use your strengths to make your life more enjoyable, for example, when you must do something that you do not like, approach it from the angle of your strengths. Build on your strengths at every opportunity.
4. Give generously of acts of kindness. Decide every morning how you will give at least five acts of kindness that day and be on the lookout for opportunities. Doing this just feels so good and other’s are very appreciative. It is like giving and receiving gifts all day long!
5. Have fun! I know that sounds a little crazy and looks obvious – happy people have fun right? You know what though? Sometimes we just stop being playful and exercising our sense of humor and again, it is just about practice. So be on the lookout for happy people with whom you can have fun and practice being funny.
6. Be still with yourself – meditation, yoga and such pursuits calm the mind and give you time to see life from a different perspective. Meditation can also help you to release fear, anxiety and sadness giving you room to allow happiness in. Meditation, by the way, can be a lot more simple than you may think. It can be as easy as watching the waves role in and letting all thoughts drift away in the process.
7. And finally, create yourself some habits like meditation, yoga or exercise. The creation of habits reinforces your belief in yourself to be, do or have anything that you want, including happiness.
So now you have the secret formula to happiness, you know why you would bother and you know that it is possible to be happy even if you are usually unhappy. The choice is yours – reach out and grab hold with both hands or let another day pass. Have fun with these seven tips and be happy.
Take Note! Have Fun With Notes of Thanks
I grew up in the era when notelets or note paper were given as gifts and have the words of my mother ringing in my ears; “always give a thank you note”. I personally hand wrote notes of thanks to all who gave gifts for my engagement and wedding and I still write up to five notes per week. For years I have coached management teams to give notes of appreciation to their staff and have invented interesting and different ways for employees to receive notes of thanks. Throughout that time, I was aware that people kept the notes that they were given and treasured them as memories of a special moment.
The giving of a beautiful note is a gift to both the giver and the receiver. The giver has a lovely moment to recall something unique and positive in the person to whom they are giving the note and the receiver gets to feel the moment; feel special, unique and worthy. Giving notes is almost free (some are), fun and yet so powerful. So get busy and set yourself a target – write five notes per week. Write them on the best paper that you can find and post them or hand deliver them. Sometimes I slip them into my guests bags for a little treat later on. Step up to the challenge to find something special in five people you know or come into contact with.
The spin off to writing notes is that over time, you become less critical and more appreciative. Now that has got to be a good thing. Oh, and just a reminder, an email or phone call, while being delightful, will just not do. A note is a note is a note and only a note will do. I will cover how to get started in the next blog.
What is your special note routine?
Meditation Made Easy
People frequently tell me that they can not meditate, they have tried, can not do it and have given up. So they miss out on all of the benefits that meditation can bring. Learning to meditate is like learning to do anything else; you begin knowing little or nothing and practice until you can do it without thinking. Start right now, find out why meditation is worth doing and follow these five steps that will make meditation easy.
Recently I was working with a young woman who told me that she was extremely stressed and unhappy with her work. She said that she had no time to herself, no time to think and her mind raced constantly. In an average day she had information overload from the time that she woke until she went to sleep. She would rise in the morning to the television, took her iPod when she went for a walk, listened to the radio to and from work – you get the picture. Sound familiar?
To start, we found some time during the day when she had zero information flow. The TV was turned off in the morning and no radio in the car to and from work. Just quiet time to contemplate. We then moved to meditation. “Well”, she said, “I have tried that. I can’t meditate and I hate it.” Turned out she had launched into an hour long session, could only last a short while and decided it was not for her. An all too common a story.
What is meditation and why bother? Meditation is a process or technique that you use to clear and calm your mind. You can use meditation just for that purpose or you can focus your meditation on something that you desire such as prosperity or well being. Meditation has been scientifically shown to be a powerful healing tool and a self help tool for achieving stress reduction and better sleep. Many people enjoy the personal development, self awareness, inner peace and freedom that results from meditation. Successful entrepreneurs often claim that meditation creates clarity of mind which in turn effects their success.
So how do you meditate? The following five steps will help you to get started:-
1. Learn something about meditation, just as you would with any new pursuit. There is an unlimited supply of books, web sites, free classes and resources available. Start at the beginning and get to know a little.
2. Be very patient with yourself and release any expectations that put you under pressure to perform. In meditation you are quieting and clearing the mind but the mind may want to keep right on thinking. Be patient and just keep drawing your mind back to focus upon the meditation.
3. Start with a short time, try five minutes, and increase the length of time over a few weeks. Even a few minutes will make a difference so see step one and just be patient.
4. Before you begin to focus on meditation, I highly recommend the use of a relaxation audio program. You can download podcasts and other resources free, from meditation sites on the internet. Start with some of these and learn to relax and then lead into meditation. When you become adept with your meditations you will continue to commence every meditation with a short relaxation.
5. Try this simple meditation, starting with a short time. Get into a comfortable position; sit on a chair with your feet flat on the ground, try sitting cross legged on the floor or lie on your back well supported wherever you need it. Close your eyes and feel your body relax. Take several deep breaths and release your breath with a deep sigh. Relax more and feel the tension float away with every sigh. Now imagine that your body is a vessel full of water and feel the water draining from the top of your head down through your body to the soles of your feet. Just slowly, let it drain downwards and then feel it moving slowly from the soles of your feet to fill up your body, up to the top of your head. Feel this happening, imagine it happening and let it happen naturally. Should your mind wander off, just bring it back to the water and gently move back into the meditation. Do this for as long as it takes for your mind to give up and just be empty or for as long as you like. Each time, see if you can do it for longer until eventually you find your mind calms and stops thinking. At that time you will find that you can feel every part of your body at the one time. You should just feel that feeling for as long as it lasts or as long as you like.
Keep it simple! This is a great principle when learning relaxation and meditation. Be patient with your self and move to higher forms of meditation when you are comfortable to do so. You are your best teacher when it comes to meditation which is a great way to learn about yourself. Have fun, create yourself a little head space achieve success with meditation.
Backyard Bird Watching
According to the Law of Attraction, life is meant to be fun, filled with enjoyment; a pleasure and for me, and backyard bird watching is all of that. I have built a garden in Cairns that is attractive to birds and butterflies so I get to indulge in backyard bird watching all of the time.
Normally, in my own garden I am watching our sunbird pair, a variety of finches, orioles, doves and honey-eaters as well as an endless array of passing birds. Right now, though I am visiting family in western Queensland, the dry country and enjoying very different species to those at home. But there is one thing that has not changed. Each of our families has been adopted by a pair of birds who have taken over a part of our homes to nest and raise their chicks.
In Cairns, our sunbird pair own our back veranda and come to us for assistance just as they need it. They have nested twice there and raised countless chicks in our garden before seeing them off to start a life of their own. We watch with avid interest as each new pair of eggs is laid and the chicks hatch, fledge and become independent. Along the way the parent birds entertain us with their scolding, cajoling and finally their meanness as they send the new young birds off to other territory, they achieve success, before commencing the whole process again.
Here on the farm, it is a willy wagtail pair who have taken over a part of the downstairs laundry, building their nest on the water pipes there in a very protected area where they are raising their first family of three. Not only do they provide sustenance for the chicks they also contend with a malevolent magpie with a family of his own to feed. The magpie clearly has his eye on the chicks and even went so far as to go in under the house for a look see.
The willy wagtail parents had other ideas though and through persistence and their combined efforts have seen the magpie off each time that he has arrived. The two small birds swoop and dive the magpie, putting their lives on the line until the magpie is unsettled enough to go away. This business of raising their chicks is extremely hard work for the parents who are up early, to bed late and on the go all day.
Apart from being entertaining and relaxing, there are life lessons here for anyone who wants to find them. Without trying I have found the following:-
- Keep your eyes peeled for every opportunity – the world around you abounds with them
- Put a lot of effort into growing and nurturing your young and then give them independence to go their own way
- Be persistent in your efforts to get what you want
- Be prepared to work hard for the time that it takes
- Show no fear for the predator, even if they are bigger than you
- One plus one equals more than two – you need a team to make some things work
- Live like there’s no tomorrow, fly like you know how and enjoy everything that comes your way
