15 Ways to Be more Zen

Amidst all worldwide events unfolding, here are some ways to get in touch with what matters and be more Zen:

1. Review priorities. (What is necessary & what can you let go?)
2. Breathe & act slowly and deliberately
3. Be okay with doing less
4. Immerse regularly in Nature 
5. Designate time for Self-love/ selfcare & service
6. Integrate mindfulness into everyday
7. Face everything with inner calm and peace
8. See everyone as a Buddha/ master/ mentor 
9. Be receptive to shifts in awareness & perception
10. Set a daily intention
11. Create space for negative emotions 
12. Cultivate wise thoughts & spiritual practices
13. Face a something you fear everyday
14. Choose love, note fear (fear= resistance, love =openness) 
15. View everything as a blessing

Somebody asked me

Somebody asked me why it sometimes seems like everything is working against them. The feeling that they are often under the wire to get places or pay bills on-time, that they feel disempowered by people or conditions. In a nutshell, this individual seems to move through degrees of stress to discomfort, and forgets one may also thrive on conditions of uncertainty.  Who can relate here?

What if, whenever things seem to evoke negativity or fear, we could stop and breathe deeply?

What if, we could shift from thinking something or someone is working against us, to sensing everything is always working in our favor in some way, nudging us in the best possible direction?

What if, the next time we wish we were somewhere else, doing something else, with someone else, we ask ourselves how being right where we are, is itself a blessing?

What if, we could remind ourselves, other way always exist to see, feel or respond differently to our physical, mental or emotional or other conditions? Which other avenues are opening to us?

What if, we could let go of wishing we could control everything, and simply trust more?

3 Tips to rewrite your hi-story

Its common to feel unhappy about the way certain events have unfolded or seem to be unfolding in our lives.  We adopt labels. We readily define ourselves as survivors or experiencers of pain and suffering. What if we could see beyond the pain body as a witness, rewrite our hi-story and transform our present and future on every level? Would we do it? Consider these three tips:

1.  Change your attitude

For things to feel stuck or uncomfortable requires two things; an event to unfold and us to feel disturbed.  As we change our attitude, stop feeling powerless and take reposnsibility for how we feel, how and what we perceive changes. Our thoughts and responses to life are alterable. Imagine what happens as we view everything as a blessing and welcome whatever comes.

2.  Recall reality is bigger than you

This moment that appears to be unfolding in our midst is one of a zillion moments that do not fall within the scope of our awareness. The only thing different or special about the events in our experience is those are ones we see or refer to as focus of our attention.  Why allow a tiny speck of energy to determine who we are?

3. Face the fear

Patterns recur as we fear what we would be without them. Drug addicts who come off drugs generally experience withdrawal.  This is a kind  of discomfort.  The first course of action is to let go. If discomfort remains, we can deal with it on a deeper level. This is why it is said we must die to be reborn. Meditation, breathwork, regression or FLP, assist us to remove filters that prevent being, seeing, feeling and sharing pure love. Pain may seem inevitable yet, suffering is optional.

***Also invite readers to check out: Interview with Anne Jirsch and Interview with Karen Joy

Notice inner beauty

Notice inner beauty and it is easy to identify some blessing in whatever is happening, in every person you encounter. You can feel a kind of flow toward harmony in everything and everyone, even if a given person is unable to see it within himself. Everything you encounter is a mirror reflecting the love that is.  It is what you are.  Discover for yourself as all you are not falls away.

3 Steps to greater happiness

Many people reach out for greater happiness or a deeper sense of fulfilment.  Infinite ways exist to get anywhere and be anything.  Its up to you. Conside these three steps to access:

1) Be aware of your thoughts.  You may underestimate the power of your thoughts.  Being aware is noticing what you think about and beginning to recognize you are not your thoughts.  In fact, they are simply passing ideas you choose to believe or not.  When you focus on something, you come to believe it.  Let thoughts arise and fall away and  they do not control how you feel. 

2) Let go of what you outgrow. You may notice aspects of your life no longer feel right or resonate. As you go through stages of evolution, you lose interest in certain people, places, activities, foods, jobs, behaviours. You may feel the unexplainable urge to cry, change or do something you have never done before. You may be going through a kind of shift in identity, a shift in how and where you live.  Being willing to let go of what you outgrow implies being open and receptive to your feelings and spontaneous impulses.  Listen more closely to the heart.

3) Be happy where you are. When you get right down to it, if you are unable to appreciate something in your life as it is, then you are not going to find happiness elsewhere. The common thread is you. How you feel where you are relates to what is conscious and unconscious.  Your understanding of 'happiness' can make you feel separate from what you want.  Watch what happens as you come to see beliefs as they are.  Allow yourself to feel what you are feeling. As you observe everything as a blessing, joy flows more freely.  Whatever obscures it falls away.