Enjoy The Moment

If we are ever to enjoy life, now is the time - not tomorrow, nor next year, nor in some future life after we have died. The best preparation for a better life next year is a full, complete, harmonious, joyous life this year. Our beliefs in a rich future life are of little importance unless we coin them into a rich present life. Today should always be our most wonderful day.
 
Thomas DreierAmerican Author, Editor and Philosopher

Finding Motivation and Purpose

 

zen habits: Tremors of Psychitude: One Little Trick to Find Purpose and Motivation

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Tremors of Psychitude: One Little Trick to Find Purpose and Motivation Posted: 25 Feb 2013 09:44 AM PST By Leo Babauta Today when I asked people what was bothering them, the two most common responses were related to: Finding meaning and purpose Finding motivation As it turns out, those two things can be solved with one little step. Here’s the step: help someone else. This sounds exceedingly simple, but it’s the shift in focus that really makes a difference. Let’s say I was having trouble finding the motivation to write … to solve that, I might tweet something asking people what problems they’re having. Then I move from “how do I solve my problem (of not being motivated)” to “how can I help these people”? I’m not bogged down by my own distractions or guilt or laziness anymore … I’m focused on doing something good for someone else. Now I’m excited! The words just pour out of me. This is a hypothetical scenario, of course. Finding Meaning and Purpose If you feel stuck in your life, or confused, because you don’t have a clear direction and have no way of finding that direction … shift your focus from yourself. Instead of thinking, “What should I be doing?” or “What could I do to give my life purpose?” … try asking: What could I do to help people in need? What pain are other people feeling that I could help with? Who do I care most about, and what problems do they have? Who are my current customers, and what can I do to help them more? What problems are out there that strangers might have, that my particular skillset could solve? When you start asking these kinds of questions, your focus shifts from your confusion and problems, to the confusion and problems of others. And when you start solving them, you have purpose. It’s gratifying to help others. It fills you with a sense of meaning and appreciation. It sounds too easy, but it works 100% of the time. I will give you your money back if it doesn’t. Getting Pumped with Psychitude We might move through the day as if in a fog of blueness, slogging through mud, in a slump, feeling no motivation to do anything useful. This is a problem I imagine people of yore didn’t deal with as much. I’m not sure what in our modern condition causes this lack of motivation, but when I figure it out, I will write a poem about it for you. But the cure is simple and pure and lovely: help others. Can’t get off your butt to do something useful to your career and life in general? OK. So forget about your life, your career, your little set of problems. That’s a self-focus that doesn’t do anything for you. Instead, move your focus to others. What pain are other people feeling? Can you help in some small way? Can you ease their suffering just a little? Can you put a smile on someone’s face? Can you change someone’s life? When you change someone’s life for the better, even just a little, you feel amazing. This shift in focus … it rocks your world. It sends tremors of psychitude throughout your body and mindbrain. It’s quite nice. A Few Other Steps OK, I know I said just one step is needed, but a few other little things to consider: Simplify your day. Do less. Pick just one thing to focus on. Clear distractions. Shut off the Internet. Turn off notifications. Move in one small step. Don’t tackle the whole damn project. Just get started. Get more sleep. Lack of sleep, too little water, too much stress, and too much caffeine are causing your headaches. Good. Do those few steps, and shift your focus to others, and your mind and entire being will be rocked with psychitude like never before.

De-Cluttering

I love decluttering. Why?

A life with less clutter makes it easier to find inner peace, to focus and to keep your attention on what is most important and meaningful in life.

Clutter creates distraction. It can create stress and confusion that you may not be aware of that it is creating. But after you have uncluttered there is usually a sensation of feeling calmer and lighter, a bit more upbeat and being able to think more clearly.

Decluttering a drawer, shelf or some kind of space in your life can be an unexpectedly positive experience not just practically but for you as a person both emotionally and mentally.

This is the most important reason why I declutter.

But it also frees up space and in many cases saves money.

If you have just 5 or 10 minutes to spare this Sunday and want to take a first step to simplify your outer and inner life then I recommend decluttering just one small space in your house.

Here's how I declutter in a few simple steps.

First, pick a drawer or a shelf.

Empty it out and clean it out.

Put everything that was in the space in one big pile.

Then make choices about those items, one at a time.

The choices are:

1. Choose to trash the item. Then put it in a trash bag.

2. Give it away. Give away old books, clothes etc. Give it to someone you know that you think could make good use of it. Or give it away to your local charity. Put such items in another bag or box.

3. Keep it and find a home for it. If you want to keep the item then find a home for it. It could be at one of the front corners of your drawer or to the right in the top shelf of your book case for example.

4. Put it in a 6-month box. If you are unsure about if you should keep the item or not ask yourself: have I used this in the past year? If not, then it is often pretty safe to say that you won't be using it in the future either.  If you are still unsure after having used the question, put the item(s) in a box. Put the box away somewhere where you can easily access it - a closet for example - if you need something from it. On the outside of the box write the date when you put the stuff in it.

6 months later get the box and see what is still in it. If you haven't used those things in the past 6 months then you have no need for them and you can safely give them away or throw them out.

And that's it. 

By taking small 5-10 minute steps when you have some time to spare you can declutter a whole lot over a few weeks or months.  Or that first small step may lead you to decluttering a whole room at once.

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Henrik

P.S: If you want a 31 day plan with step-by-step instructions for how to simplify
your life greatly in just one month then join us in the 31 Days to a Simpler Life Course:

http://premium.positivityblog.com/31-days-simpler-life/

There's o Place Like Home

"Every dreamer knows that it is entirely possible to be homesick for a place you've never been to, perhaps more homesick than for familiar ground." Judith Thurman

What Do You Really Love?

Daily Inspiration 20 February 2013

To embrace the purpose of your life you have to "let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love," said Rumi. What does that mean to you today?

Just Show Up

Often, Phyll, simply showing up is enough.

Because the friends, abundance, and health you now dream of possessing have long been in place.

Because the coincidences, surprises, and serendipities that will transform your life already lie in wait for your passing.

And because little else could speak louder of your belief in success than physically putting yourself in a position to receive.

It's fun to stay at the YMCA,
The Universe

To Love and Be Loved is the Greatest of All

The greatest thing
we'll ever learn
is just to love
and be loved
in return.
 
Eden AhbezFrom his song 'Nature Boy'

Happy Valentine's Day To ME!

February 14, 2013Taking a Time Out
You Are Not Crazy

by Madisyn Taylor

Sometimes as adults, we just need a time out to refocus and gather ourselves before starting out again.

Most of us feel a little crazy from time to time. Periods of high stress can make us feel like we’re losing it, as can being surrounded by people whose values are very different from our own. Losing a significant relationship and moving into a new life situation are other events that can cause us to feel off kilter. Circumstances like these recur in our lives, and they naturally affect our mental stability. The symptoms of our state of mind can range from having no recollection of putting our car keys where we eventually find them, to wondering if we’re seeing things clearly when everyone around us seems to be in denial of what’s going on right in front of their eyes. For most of us, the key to survival at times like these is to step back, take a deep breath, and regain our composure. Then we can decide what course of action to take.

Sometimes a time-out does the trick. We take a day off from whatever is making us feel crazy and, like magic, we feel in our right mind again. Talking to an objective friend can also help. We begin to see what it is about the situation that destabilizes us, and we can make changes from there. At other times, if the situation is particularly sticky, we may need to seek professional help. Meeting with someone who understands the way the human mind reacts to stress, loss, and difficulty can make us feel less alone and more supported. A therapist or a spiritual counselor can give us techniques that help bring us back to a sane state of mind so that we can affect useful changes. They can also mirror our basic goodness, helping us to see that we are actually okay.

The main purpose of the wake-up call that feeling crazy provides is to let us know that something in our lives is out of balance. Confirm for yourself that you are capable of creating a sane and peaceful reality for yourself. Try to remember that most people have felt, at one time or another, that they are losing it. You deserve a life that helps you thrive. Try and take some steps today to help you achieve more balance and a little less crazy.

Embrace Life

For every unexpected bump, turn, or squiggle on the path of life, Phyll, you pretty much have two choices:

Accept it as if you yourself had meticulously planned it and as if you're being watched by 10,000 cheering angels who love you so much, you're pretty much all they ever sing about.

Or, accept it, kicking and screaming, as if it were some freak accident or random mistake that had befallen you by chance.

I know which I would choose,
    The Universe

Joy Is Contagious

People who follow their joy discover a depth of creativity and talent that inspires the world.

Challenges Are Friends in Disguise

The lions and tigers and bears of time and space, Phyll, are really the angels and fairies and unicorns that followed you here, in disguise, from world's beyond, agreeing to poke, unnerve, and awaken you should you ever begin to forget that you're making it all up - your life, that is.

Now that's love -
    The Universe

Be Yourself

No matter how great the desire is to please another, Phyll, let it be no greater than the desire to be yourself.

Otherwise ain't no one happy.

So pleased with you,
    The Universe

Sonnet (A Poem)

Sonnet
by W. S. Merwin

Where it begins will remain a question
for the time being at least which is to
say for this lifetime and there is no
other life that can be this one again
and where it goes after that only one
at a time is ever about to know
though we have it by heart as one and though
we remind each other on occasion

How often may the clarinet rehearse
alone the one solo before the one
time that is heard after all the others
telling the one thing that they all tell of
it is the sole performance of a life
come back I say to it over the waters

"Sonnet" by W.S. Merwin, from Migration. © Copper Canyon Press, 2007. Reprinted
with permission

Snow Fall by May Sarton

Snow Fall

by May Sarton

With no wind blowing
It sifts gently down,
Enclosing my world in
A cool white down,
A tenderness of snowing.

It falls and falls like sleep
Till wakeful eyes can close
On all the waste and loss
As peace comes in and flows,
Snow-dreaming what I keep.

Silence assumes the air
And the five senses all
Are wafted on the fall
To somewhere magical
Beyond hope and despair.

There is nothing to do
But drift now, more or less
On some great lovingness,
On something that does bless,
The silent, tender snow.

"Snow Fall" by May Sarton, from Collected Poems: 1930-1993. © W.W. Norton & Company, 1992. Reprinted with permission.

Practice Makes Perfect (or Purrrfect--according to my Kits)

The poem, Flight of the Garuda reminds us,  'Butter is made of the essence of milk, but if the milk isn’t churned, the butter won’t form. Sentient beings are made of the essence of perfection but if they don’t practice, they won’t be enlightened'."  Our wholeness, and our enlightened state, are revealed through practice. How do we practice to reveal it?"

God is Ever Present

Be open to letting God work through you more, even if you don’t know what that means. Ask God for help, and be willing to receive.