5 Ways to live joyfully

As long as suffering exists inside us, we cannot live life fully. It is up to each of us to identify the sources of  suffering in our lives. Only then can we accept, release and replace that life view with genuine joy and celebration. Consider 5 ways to decode setbacks and live more joyfully.

1.  Identify our inhibitions

When we are self-conscious, we are unable to act in a relaxed or natural way. Getting to the root of our hesitation or doubt is key to moving beyond it and existing in a higher-vibrational state.

2.  See the underlying reasons for suffering

Everything arises and disappears in the mind. Anxiety arises as we focus attention on the future, worry about an imagined outcome. Depression arises when we focus on ideas of the past.

3.  Be fearless 

This involves looking at each moment as fresh and new. It is about undertaking all endeavours with enthusiasm and an optimism, knowing everything is possible when we set the mind to it.

4.  Be passionate

No best thing exists to do or be.  We simply make judgements and choices. Being passionate, putting our heart into all we choose to focus on, uplifts and energizes us and all we touch.

5. Love everything

When conditioned, we see the world in terms of limitation. A genius is drawn to do what is needed joyfully. It is no more about you. Self-cosnciousness shifts to selflessness. This is a limitless way of looking at life.

The genius of adaptive strategies

When you feel that something is not working on your terms or timeline, you may feel frustrated.  Its moments such as these where it pays to reframe events and recognize the genius of your brain's adaptive strategies. Yes! You are a true genius!

In order to gow aware of and accept your own sheer brilliance, it is  valuable to shift focus from negative energy and discomfort to grow aware of what is really going on.   Ever wonder what the signs and signals of your body-mind are saying? Ready to decode them?

Consider the examples of; anger, depression, anxiety, stress, trauma, drug addiction, rashes, and self destructive behaviours and dysfunctional relationships.  Every human being is wired for survival.  The ego exists to self-protect.  This is what the body and mind are up to as you repress, suppress and dissociate from what troubles you. Its part of the strategy.

When ready, you can retrain your brain, your mind as well as your palette for life just as you can shift which foods and flavours appeal to you. It takes time to be attracted to and enjoy foods, behaviours and experiences of what is natural and good without self-judgement. Get ready to embrace a whole new way of existing.  Invite a new level of satisfaction.

From the moment you understand why you do the things you do, you are empowered  to make positive and lasting change.  This applies to not only how you view yourself, but also how you interact in the world.  As you let go and stop wanting things so badly, it seems miraculous yet suddenly, what you need comes to you without effort. Insight to ponder: what does surrender look and feel like in your life? What could it look like as you embrace it more fully?

5 Tips to strengthen yourself

Regardless of what is arising or facing in your life at this stage, the moment is ripe to review and on these five tips to strengthen yourself:

1. Eat more alkaline foods

Benefits of eating more alkaline diet can include better heart health, stronger bones, decreased pain and the reversal of nutrient deficiencies. Foods highlighted as part of an alkaline diet include; whole fruits, legumes, vegetables, raw foods, green juices, beans, and nuts.

2. Take cold showers

Cold showers actually increase alertness, lucidity (clarity), refine hair and skin and also jumpstart the immune system and circulation. The cold water in a shower is even known to reduce stress and speed up recovery of sore muscles.  If your mood is a bit down or depression crosses your radar, the cold temp can help raise your spirits too. 

3. Hydrate more often

You need to be drinking half your body weight in pure water or healthy fluids every day and few people actually drink before they feel thirsty.  The latter indicates the onset of mild dehydration.  Anytime you feel stress arising, drink a glass of water to assist your body to recalibrate.

4.  Immerse in Nature

Getting back to Nature or spending time in natural environments is like getting in touch with yourself. Taking in the sounds and smells during a walk, hike or other nature adventure, allows you to relax, reflect, recalibrate, in ways you may not yet even realize.

5.  Listen to the heart (intuition/ Soul)

Listening to the heart is about knowing you always act (or not) for more than one reason. There is that which is conscious and that which is unconscious.  The ultimate purpose involves making the unconscious conscious and facing your shadows to accpt and integrate all of your fractured parts.  Listening to the heart is about feeling your way through life, taking action spotaneously and learning to trust yourself more.  The more your love yourself, the more you trust yourself for conditional love and trust are one in the same. 

12 Tips to deepen self-discovery

No matter who you work with as a guide, mentor or coach, no matter which courses you take or books you read that impact self-awareness, ultimately you are on a journey of self-discovery and progress at your own pace. Ponder these ten tips to deepen self-discovery with little or no money:

1) Look beyond traditional education.  Whatever it is you think you wish to learn or do, be aware many ways exist to obtain some insight for free.  Explore newsgroups, meet-ups, instructional Youtube videos.  Interview people, attend public lectures by those who have done it. The avenues are endless.

2) Nurture a creative art.  This is a way to unleash what cannot be said in words.  This is not about expressing it to an audience or gaining approval.  Its about translating inner knowing, revealing things and growing to trust yourself. Pottery, weaving, painting, design, dancing, knitting, or any combo of creative activities.  Whatever gets the juices flowing. Do it. 

3) Go on a group excursion in nature.  This could be anything from a bus trip and picnic lunch in a local park to a hike, extended canoe trip, mountain climbing or more rigorous trekking. Join a regular birdwatching group or walking group. Stillness speaks.  Interaction with new people can be suprising.

4) Research the mystical. This could include things like reading, watching films, going to an ashram, exploring meaning in night dreams, or taking up a spiritual internship with a mystic or shaman. Whatever it entails, ponder what enlightenment is and what it is to live life more fully.

5) Travel.  Put yourself in situations where you need to act on your feet. You could volunteer for an organisation, find a job abroad, be a live-in nanny, hitchhike or take your motorbike through new territory.  Whatever you choose, experiencing a different culture, learning a language, or fending for yourself in a foreign place allows you to see life from new vantage points.

6) Change your job or career.  Step outside the familliar.  Check out want-ads.  Try out for community theatre. Identify transferrable skills, new priorities or an inner longing to do whatever you have been postponing.  Now is the moment.

7) Face a fear. Whether its public speaking, sky diving, being more assertive or expressing yourself with more honesty to people in your life, take steps to show yourself that fear is an illusion that begins and ends in the mind.

8) Be entrepreneurial. You could start your own business, offer to be an apprentice or intern to test the waters or simply be more pro-active in different ways in your life.  Consider Jon Bon Jovi who started a restaurant where you give back in time or effort to the place rather than pay for the meal.  Imagine the possibilities.  A limit only exists when you believe in it.

9) Take a break. Take a year off from what you regularly do or had planned to do. This could be a gap year from school, a sabbatical from paid work, time to yourself away from relationships, a multi-month hiking trip, or maybe you join a crew on a ship sailing to a foreign desination. See what unfolds as you trust the universe.  Realize everything comes together.

10) Write.  Be it a diary, journal, blog, newspaper editorials, an email newsletter, contribute posts to a Facebook or other community group.  Discover what the power of words reveals.

11) Meditate.  Explore different meditation practices and listen to the wisdom of silence more often.  This is the way to rediscover what true listening is.  Its a practice humans tend to be conditioned away from.

12) Be an 'initiate'. This hard-to-define term implies a person who, through intense inner work, achieves enlightenment, illumination, and selflessness to work wholly out of the spiritual world for the sake of the world and humanity.

9 Signs Human evolution is underway

It is increasingly clear that changes beyond human control are sweeping the planet.  Humans cannot control but can choose how to respond.  You can love (allow) or fear (resist).  That is, you can get comfortable or be uncomfortable (disagree) with it.

What is also increasingly clear is that how we are conditioned to believe things are done is no longer working.   Many practices are not only unsustainable, but they also guide us to the truth of the bigger picture.  On a deeper level, there is a collision of judgements, a breaking down and dissolving of our own self-created illusions.  Consider nine signs who we are as a species is revealing itself in the nature of human evolution (feel free to add your own observations and intuitions):  

1) Food sources are shifting- where and from whom we buy food is changing.  More people are reading labels, growing food, sourcing it from places that are compatible with what feels right in the heart.  This creates a shift of power from paying larger corporations to empowering smaller entities and oneself.

2) Eating habits are changing- what humans are eating is changing. More people are realizing they are conditioned to adopt beliefs that have created a system of industries and food raising practices that are not built on love and compassion.  The phrase 'you are what you eat' arises to help people be more conscious of what they are condoning and perpetuating. The result is more vegetarians, vegans and raw foodies. More people eliminating sugar, caffeine, wheat, dairy, and animal proteins from their diets because of developing allergies and/or being more aware of high vibrational food and favoring that.

3) Work ethic/ choices are changing- more people are feeling entrepreneurial, working part-time at home or viewing work in a new light.  More people are choosing to love what they do even if they are paid less or not at all.  What you do matters less than how you feel about it and while doing it. The result is a move to more cooperation and less ego-driven competition.

4) Weather patterns are disappearing - the illusion of predictable seasons and climates is falling away.  People are invited to recognize innate ability to adapt effectively to all that Mother Nature dishes out. The result: a move from complacency or reactive living to far more creative, pro-active existing.

5) Spiritual practices are taking off- growing global interest in spiritual practices such as yoga, pilates, meditation, ashram retreats, radio programs and other community activities is part of the planetary intelligence itself guiding the return to our higher consciousness, to remembering of our true divine nature.  The result is Self-understanding and peaceful interaction grow.

6) D.I.Y. attitude exploding- 'Do-it-yourself' is catching on like wildfire.  Increasing numbers of people are gaining confidence in their own abilities to not only do their own home renovations, but to also self-heal, to make home remedies, health products, to self-encourage and to act as their own reliable authority in varied circles. The result is people are referring less to external guidance, buying less and making more,  and depending less on traditional 'authorities' and trusting the heart/ intuition more.

7) Impulse building to do what is 'natural'- More people are coming to see through their own beliefs and to recognize what is natural.  This translates not into helping others not because they have to, but because they can.  The movement toward selflessness is growing. Its not just people taking time off work to go donate time and expertise to help clean up after natural disasters.  The result is a growing awakening to what feels natural, or what feels right and more people doing it.

8) Energy sources are shifting - As people grow more conscious of dirty and clean energy and natural alternatives to those which harm the environment, the increasing trend is toward more environmental choices of wind, solar, electric, other sources of power that benefit the greater good.  Free energy is something more people are aware of.  Humans are also realizing they are themselves energy sources or batteries that can be used.  The result is increasing interest in electric cars, flying vehicles and even more creative engineering that shatters myths and defies the imagination.  No limits!

9) Nature is calling  - more people are getting back to nature: camping, planting gardens, hugging trees simply feeling the urge to go to the ocean, to spend time in the mountains, valleys, forests to recharge. People hike, get their hands in the dirt.  As the unspeakable connection, people create homes in more natural settings. The result is a deeper recognition of the web of life, being one with water, the sun, wind and all creatures.