Do you need to change your personality? This might feel like a harsh question, almost an accusation of something being wrong with who you are. But don't dismiss it too quickly. Join me on this thought journey to see if it resonates with you: "The freedom the Buddha envisioned does not come from jettisoning imprisoning … Continue reading Do you need to change your personality?
Take a moment to create in your mind the image of a majestic mountain towering over the landscape around it. See it standing resolute against the ever-changing elements. This mountain, battered yet unyielding, represents an essential truth about ourselves: we ourselves possess an eternal constant within, capable of holding all of life's experiences without becoming … Continue reading I am the eternal constant that can hold it all, without being victim to any of it.
Imagine a chest overflowing with the priceless gems of knowledge, and wisdom. It sits within you, ready to be opened, yet it remains locked and inaccessible. The key to this treasure lies not in any external force providing you the solution. The key to this chest is practice… the gentle, consistent practice of self-discovery. This … Continue reading Practice is the key that unlocks the chest.
I really love Lao Tzu's analogies involving water as a very descriptive illustration of how in the battle between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins - not through strength but by perseverance. How do we tap into this source of strength? "The softest things in the world overcome the hardest things in … Continue reading How do we embody this gentleness that is so saturated with relentless power?
The ways in which you can create and express yourself are limitless, and whether or not you manifest your limitless nature, largely comes down to the view you have of yourself. The exercise in today's meditation compares how you see yourself to how you look at a flower. Are you able to look at yourself … Continue reading Do you have a growth mindset, or a fixed mindset?
Today's journey starts with a quote from the Bhagavad Gita: "Through meditation, the higher self is experienced." That higher-self, is the part of us that is deeply connected to spirit, soul, source... or whatever other label you might put on it. For many of us, our "higher-self" is an aspect that we have very little … Continue reading Trust the wholeness that is already there.
Surrender... it can be the work of a lifetime to really understand, because it's not just about surrendering to what we need to let go of, but also surrendering to what needs to get done. When to BE and when to DO... how do we learn the difference? Surrender is what leads us to this … Continue reading Surrender… not only what you need to let go of, also surrender to what needs to get done.
We are at the start of a new week, and for this week we’ll take inspiration for our meditations from Oprah. The theme of her message for us today is - Dare to dream! Have the courage to create a vision for the beautiful life that you deserve. Believe in your greatness because after all, … Continue reading Create the grand vision but most of all… just do your best!
What's been known forever is that we need adversity in order to grow. When you go to gym and expose your muscles to doing what they haven't done before, then they're forced into making adaptations and become stronger. All of our growth is like this. "Through difficult experiences, life sometimes becomes more meaningful." - Dalai … Continue reading We DO need adversity in order to grow.
Today's journey is SUPER practical, and also really simple. How good is your brain at concentrating? At keeping focus? And is this an ability that you can develop? "The real meditation practice is how we live our lives from moment to moment to moment." - Jon Kabat-Zinn This doesn't mean that we shouldn't make ourselves … Continue reading It’s the process of paying attention, that changes the brain significantly.
On being present... Some of Jon Kabat-Zinn's most well known work is on the theme of being present, as illustrated by the very fitting title of one of his books, "Wherever you go, there you are." Today's meditation journey approaches being present from two perspectives: What do we gain from being present with our outer … Continue reading Become available to what this moment makes available to you.
Right here, right where you are right now, is where you hold the power... Right now is the only place where you can spend your energy productively, not in some future moment. If your happiness is always around some distant corner in the future, guess what... you're never going to catch up to it! If … Continue reading The Eternal Now: Your Ultimate Destination
There is wisdom within you. We are never disconnected from the eternal presence of our soul, but it sure can feel that way. It is the loud volume of our fears that drowns out the whisper of wisdom in our soul. When we heal what has been hurt within us our fears become less loud, … Continue reading The wisdom of your soul, is the essence of who you truly are.
Today's thought from Iyanla Vanzant is my very favourite piece of her wisdom. Her message is about being in that space where I know that the old doesn’t serve me any longer, but I don’t quite have the clarity of what the next steps look like… "You must be ready in mind, in body, and … Continue reading The in-between spaces.
Don't run, stay. Don't turn away, BE here. Our need to run is an old inner message that's trying to find safety, but it's going to run forever until the wiser part of you makes the firm decision that, "we will run no more". "You can't do anything as long as you are afraid of … Continue reading Don’t run, stay.
No-one can do for you what you can do for you. No-one can hold a space for your hurt, like you can do for you. No-one can sit with your fear, like you can do for you. No-one can make you whole, like your own acceptance does for you. Yet these tend to be the … Continue reading You are SO much stronger than you’ve ever known!
Welcome to a brand new week in which to create at your very highest potential! Every day is a blank canvas, a new opportunity to paint your life with the colours of your dreams. As we embark on this new week, let's take to heart the inspiring words of our teacher for the week, Iyanla … Continue reading Every day is your day if you claim it.
"You don't just have the potential to create, you are always creating." - Jack Canfield We are always creating! We were created to create and therefore we create by default, but we're not always creating at our highest potential. What is it that prevents us from creating at our highest potential? What prevents us from … Continue reading What is holding you back?
What is freedom? Can you find the answer in this quote? "The true task of spiritual life is not found in faraway places or unusual states of consciousness. It is here in the present. It asks of us a welcoming spirit to greet all that life presents to us with a wise, respectful, and kindly … Continue reading What is freedom?
How closely do you live to what your soul wants to express? So many of the actions we take are motivated by fear. When we live our lives with a focus on avoiding all the potential problems we see, then we remain operating on the same level as those problems, always fighting for survival. While … Continue reading What would the world look like, if we were all motivated by the expression of our souls?
It's easy to experience the world as a hostile place. It's easy to feel a consistent disappointment in humanity when we look at all the harm caused in the world, and it reminds me of words that hit me right in the heart when I read them in Shantaram years ago: "It doesn't always help … Continue reading It doesn’t always help us to love the world. But it does prevent us from hating the world.
The world around us is in a constant state of change, and if our "being happy" is dependent upon things always being the way we like it, then it is likely that we will never actually be happy. If happiness is something that is waiting for you around some distant corner somewhere in the future … Continue reading Let your inner-being be your grounding and your guidance.
Body and soul - two sides of the same coin while we’re having our human experience. The first is impatient, often loud, always demanding attention because it is concerned with the very important work of staying alive. The second is slower, found in silence, always present because there’s nowhere else to run to in the … Continue reading You can live for the survival of this body, or you can live for the full expression of this soul.
Today’s message starts in a completely different place than any of the previous ones… Minecraft! If you’ve raised young kids during the last decade or so you’ll know all about it, but here’s a rundown if you’re unfamiliar - Think of Minecraft as a digital Lego set on steroids. But instead of building houses and … Continue reading Are you living in survival mode or creative mode?
Being a living, breathing organism on Earth means that we will be in constant contact with an ever changing environment around us. And what sets us clearly apart from all other organisms is how we have access to a lot more choice in our ability to respond to our environment, but only if we actually … Continue reading First find the calm-clarity within you before choosing how you will respond.
A part of our psyche is naturally deeply invested in the survival of this human body. It could be called 'Small-self', 'Ego', or perhaps our ‘scared parts'. Since before you were born, your sub-conscious has been recording all of the details of everything you have ever experienced. And more importantly, it’s been keeping track of … Continue reading Since before you were born, your sub-conscious has been recording everything you have ever experienced.
The human condition so often finds itself gripping on tightly to what it perceives as a sense of safety, while violently resisting the things that scare it. Stretched thin - between clinging to what is fleeting, and resisting what is inevitable - leaves us with no energy to take action where we are actually effective. … Continue reading In this space of surrender the water is calm and therefore clear.
Our teacher for this week is Hermann Hesse, a Swiss/German author who won the Nobel prize for literature in 1947. I really love his work and looking into whatever the week ahead might bring, here are some thoughts that help me set up my week. Life is a tapestry into which threads will be woven … Continue reading I CHOOSE what to take seriously, and I will laugh at the rest!
Elizabeth Gilbert is our teacher for this week, and today’s message really is a two for one! Her wisdom is a refreshing antidote to our culture’s obsession with perfection. She reminds us that creativity, far from being the exclusive domain of artistic geniuses, is an inherent human capacity, and we can infuse everything we do … Continue reading Life is like a dropped pie sometimes.
The power of NOW... "Being present" has such a spiritual connotation that its pure practical application is often missed. It's a shame because "being present" is simply the most effective way to apply your effort. Dealing with what this moment makes available to you right NOW, is the only place where you have any power … Continue reading When we see reality as it is, action becomes simple.
