Happiness Begins Here

Happiness Begins Here – Yoga – The Art of Living Life – A Life Filled With Peace

  When I ask someone what does your perfect life look like, or what do you want for your spouse or children. The short answer always is ” to just be happy”.  Happiness is what everyone wants. It’s the ultimate quest in life, and yet it’s always here for us. All we have to do is to decide to be happy. I know I’m making it seem way easier than we make it to be. We somehow have let the thoughts in our mind trump what we can realize our actual reality that is.

For instance, let’s say your a teen age girl, and a group of girls are over on the other side of the room. You begin to hear them saying things like how funny you dress, or how you’re so short or so tall. They make fun of your laugh, how you talk, and they just continue to go on and on, as they laugh and giggle. The problem is that we have somehow conditioned ourselves to allow our feelings to become hurt, and then we allow self doubt to enter our mind about who we are. We become sad, upset and depressed. Then we replay the conversation over and over again in our heads, and we start believing.  When our only true fault is listening to them with anything other than detached awareness, and with a knowing of who they are.  I know it can be hard when something is said that we believe resembles something that we feel bad about ourself, (which we shouldn’t either – let’s show a little compassion for ourselves – people!) Like feeling too short or too tall, but again it’s only in the mind, in our perception. Because the reality is that everything “just is”. There are many things and people that you’ll be able to find that are much shorter or taller than you, or people who dress like you and those who don’t. Who care’s – we are who we are – own it, be proud of you and celebrate yourself as a unique individual.  

Remember it’s only words that were spoken. Don’t allow the words to hurt you.  Don’t let them play over and over again in your head. They are not going to physically come up off the page, or out of someones mouth and come over and hit you on the head. Have the awareness that they are only words. Have the awareness that you can detach from the word, you don’t have to let the meaning affect you. Know the source, remember the source, remember who they are, be kind to them and carry on.  We get to realize that our reality is that they still have some work to do, and that we are just fine. We obviously have enough money to eat, and a place to sleep, if we have enough money to own some sort of electronic device to read this blog. In fact, the fact that we can read should be celebrated. So in essence, at the most basic level, we are more than fine. Start becoming more self aware. Monotor your own thoughts, shift them to the things you have to be grateful for, shift them to the life that you want to create. Hold your vision to that thought. Keep walking the path of your dream, and celebrate the uniqueness of you. This is where happiness begins. 

Just a thought…

Love Goldi

 

 

Living in Awareness – The Ideal Brew 

 

Living in awareness we allow the flow of time to carry us forward, as we live mindfully in the moment. Aware of where we are right now, and really expanding this awareness by remembering what has become automatic. Like, what country or city you are in? Become aware of the geographical location of the town you are in. Think of where you are in the world. Are you outside, or in a room or building. What does it look like around you, the walls or scenery. Are you sitting at the beach with your feet covered in sand, on the hard floor, or nestled in your favorite comfy chair. Are you hot, cold,or just right. Notice how you feel in this moment. Aware of the natural rythem of your breath. Aware of how you feel each moment to moment. Mindfully moving, mindfully breathing, mindfully reading. With full awareness of the sounds around you near and in the distant. Living in this heightened state of awareness all the time. Aware of it all, but detaching from this awareness as if living a life of meditation in motion. With full consciousness of what your doing. In yoga, we practice this on the mat, hoping that we can take the practice off the mat and into our daily life. When we live in the present we know that we show up in a way that makes us efficient and present with our family, coworkers, customers, and in any action that is taken by us. We get more done with less effort in a relaxed and peaceful way.  It may even save your life.

Today one of my students came to class and stated that he had open heart surgery just a few weeks ago. He had been out on a walk and was just about to enter his house when he heard a whoosh sound coming from his heart and felt the change as well. His awareness of his body, saved his life.  Doctor said your great, everything is perfect, no restrictions, until he took the cold metal stethoscope out and listened to his heart, and then said – I take it all back, and sent him directly to the hospital. A valve in heart was completely open.

After I went to my favorite Tea Room to drink my favorite tea the awareness of time became clear and confusing at the same time. I was handed a tea timer which I had noticed before but I guess not with the full awareness that I had of it today. The timer had 3 hourglass timers representing 3, 5, and 7 minutes.  When turned over the sand moves through the timers at different rates for different teas.  I’ve always thought of hourglass timers as a reminder to live in the present – with the center of the hourglass, representing the moment of time passing through the middle – the now. The sand accumulation at the bottom as what has passed, and the sand at top representing the future of what is coming.  What struck me that never stuck me before is that all three of the hourglasses represented time, and yet they were all moving at different rates. The restriction at the center of the 7 minute timer is tighter than the restriction of the five minute and three minute timers, and wondered – do we do this in our own lives – can we do this. Can we make our Ideal Brew within our own self as to the perfect time. Can we open up and allow tough times to pass by quickly, and restrict and really focus, embrace, and cherish precious moments, savoring them, allowing time to seem as if standing still. I wonder… and at the same time believe it to be true. What do you think?

Just a thought…

As always – With Love, Goldi

Power Of The Present Moment

  

Power of  the Present Moment

Our power lies within living in the present moment. It’s the source of all happiness. I’ve been living this path for years now, I was however, reminded yesterday of the pain that I use to cause myself, reflected in the bodies of two other women. The women sitting near me in a group setting, were truly suffering, an almost debilitating suffering where they described depression, not wanting to move, etc. But watching and hearing them with my emotions detached makes its easy to see. That they are in reality – perfectly fine. The source of their pain, as was mine, was all in the mind.  The poor me, the thoughts of injustice that had occurred, the why is my life so hard, and the what if’s and should of’s, that I kept repeating over and over again kept me drowning in that state. Where again in reality, I was perfectly fine. I could of been sitting on a beach, with friends, with my beautiful children, eating a fabulous meal, but the drama occurring kept me down for many years. It wasn’t until I was just sick and tired of myself and couldn’t live in that state anymore, that I became aware and actively tried to get myself out of it.  And, even though I had also suffered in the same way these women were, I found myself wanting to shout at them – It’s so easy!!! Just get out of your head!!! You’re causing your own suffering! Your fine! Forget the past! Don’t worry about the future! Truly live and embrace this moment right now! Look for the beauty around you! Notice with amazement your body and your breath! Bite into some really delicious food and taste it – I mean taste it with gratitude! Live now in the present – it’s what we have! Or the next moment and the next moment are going to be moments that you continue to look back with regret of what you didn’t’ do again! But I didn’t shout it, they were not ready, they were too deep in they reality that they’ve created for themselves. And I know because people said things like this to me from time to time. In fact, my son once said to me about ten years before I woke up from my internal drama that “everyone else is happy but you”.  I thought he will understand when he’s older, he doesn’t know where I’ve been.  It made me a little mad these comments, and actually made me dig my heals in a little deeper into why I was where I was. It wasn’t even something that I was really aware of. I had a crisis, and then I stayed there until it got much much worse.  But that’s it really – living with awareness, living in the present.  If we can live in this space we can see that at every moment we are truly fine. 

So we begin “living” in the present moment. Noticing with awareness, so in tune to what our current reality is we have no time for the other. Looking for and noticing the good in life. I’m washing my hands and the soap is soft and the fragrance breathtaking. I’m hugging my child an there is warmth and so much love.  Whatever it is you have around you, be grateful and embrace it.  We get to create our present experience moment to moment – Aren’t we lucky! And, The more you live in the moment the more you will begin to flourish. You will begin to live in this flow and it will move through you and in you and you will begin to feel your infinite connection to the whole. The world will begin to open up to you, and you will open up to the world.

Begin here – live in the present, this is where our power lies and it’s begins to be – effortless.

Just a thought…

With Love,

Goldi