Gift of a New Day

I wake up every morning grateful for the gift of a new day.  My ability to work towards making a difference in the world.  As I reflect on this past year, I realize that I have gone through some of the toughest challenges that I had ever gone through.  With all the strength and might that I had, they brought me to my knees at times.  I questioned my decisions, my beliefs, and my goals.  More than anything it crippled me because I kept reliving the past over and over again, the decisions and choices that I made.  

"Should have, would have, could have," are word combinations that should be eliminated from the English language.  We are programmed at a young age to look forward to the future and learn from the past.  As we get older our lives get busier, and more than ever, we dwell on the past, look forward to the future.  We never realize that we are not living in the moment, today, in the here and now.  We blame missed opportunities on luck and misfortune, when in fact we were probably focused on the future and ensuring not to repeat the past.  

One of my favorite mantras is, "look into the future (set intentions and goals), let go of the past, and dwell in the present moment." 

Letting go of the past...easier said than done.  Our past is a series of choices and decisions we make in the present moment, it is what shapes who we are, and learning to manage it and learn from it is critical to succeed.  Past memories fall into 3 categories:
1. Neutral memories that we forget the minute they happen until we are reminded by reliving the situation or revisiting the scene
2. Good/positive memories that leave you warm and fuzzy.  The danger of positive memories is that if we keep reliving them in our head, we forget to make new ones.
3. Bad/negative memories the ones that teach us a lesson and we move on, or we end up reliving over and over again because we allow them to manifest in our intentions and psyche

Test this theory...when you wake up tomorrow challenge your mind to focus on the present moment, the events that go through out the day.  Remember we should be learning from past experiences not reliving them. I wish you a very happy new year, one filled with new and happy memories, and plenty of new days.

Check out www.themeetingyogi.com for more information or email bana@themeetingyogi.com.

Namaste!

The Art of Letting Go

This post is based on a presentation that I did at the 2012 ASAE Annual Conference in Dallas.  It is also adopted from the book Let Go: A Buddhist Guide to Breaking Free of Habits by Martine Batchelor.  Click here to view the presentation.

My inherent nature is based on passion to live this life to the fullest.  Yesterday is the past, today is the present, and tomorrow is the future.  Part of our mental habits as humans is to dwell on the past and look forward to the future, often unaware of the present moment. Typically, we refer to habits as physical habits, unaware that we have mental habits that effect our day to day.  In this post, I will be focusing on the mental habits that we develop.

There is a constant tug of war between the positive and the negative mind.  The key to winning that tug of war is to accept the fact that negative thoughts occur due to our daily interactions, our reactions to other people, our emotional state, and the list goes on.  It takes practice, awareness, and mental training to recognize the negative thoughts and turn them into positive thoughts. Grasping to negative thoughts will result in negative outcomes, both physically and mentally, resulting in an aura that is unapproachable.

How can we win the tug of war and allow ourselves to think positive? By simply letting go.  Managing emotions will allow us to let go. For example if you feel a negative emotion, dissipate its energy by focusing on the breath and relaxing the body. Scanning the body and being aware of the body will allow us to let go.  Using creative ways that work for us to practice letting go, to manage negative mental and physical habits, so that we are able to gracefully handle even the most stressful interaction in our day.

• letting go will allow us to love and be loved (family, romantic, ourselves, etc.).  Love is a wonderful feeling and when we love we feel uplifted and joyous.
• letting go will allow us to be grateful and receive gratitude - Being grateful everyday.  Waking up in the morning and saying the words, "thank you...(insert what you are thankful for that day)"
• letting go will allow us to be compassionate to ourselves and others.
• letting go will allow us to break free of negative mental habits.

Can you create something out of nothing?  Your world is an open canvas.  We have an opportunity everyday to paint that canvas. If we can find stability and clarity in our minds then a grow in our creative journey and can develop new ways of looking and seeing our daily lives.

Check out www.themeetingyogi.com for more information or email bana@themeetingyogi.com.

Namaste!

When Life Takes An Unexpected Turn

There are times in this life when you are tested for strength and not the physical kind, but the mental.  A dear friend of mine three years ago was standing against those tests in time and chose to take his own life.  Felt too much pressure from family, career, and the community that he belonged to, from a life he created.  I witnessed the pain that he left behind, it was cowardly and selfish.  That type of pressure can only be described when going through some major life changes, when life takes that unexpected turn.

It is not the direction of the turn that shocks our system or world, but the turn itself.  It is important to look beyond the turn and look at the new direction ahead, picture it as a new journey.  As a direction that will lead you to your goals in life, to accomplishing those intentions that you may have set in the past.

Let's use golf or car racing as an example.  A golfer is looking at the ball at all times, even when they are swinging the club to drive the ball down the green, but what if they didn't calculate the wind speed, if they hit the ball with too much power, or if they were just having a bad day, they still focus their gaze on where they want and hope the ball should land.  They constantly rebuild strength knowing that there are more holes or tournaments ahead.  As for car racers, they are looking beyond the turn to rev it up on the next straight away to chose which of the many gears they need to use in order to make the turn and power through it.

As humans, when life takes a turn, we too must look at the path beyond the turn, so that we are not consumed with the turn itself.  Allowing ourselves to build the strength we need to power through it and continue on this journey called life.  Reminding ourselves that the turns in life are all teachable moments, and you never know when a sharp turn can lead you back to your goals and to a journey of self discovery.

Trust yourself and the course you are taking in this life, and know that there are always turns.  How will you handle the next turn in this life? Are we grateful to those that cheer us on during the turn that may jolt us back into reality?

Namaste.

The Meaning of Self Worth

As I was meditating and focusing on the light in my heart center in a yoga and meditation class I attended today, my mind was focusing on the word self worth.  A very special person in my life and one of my greatest teachers used to always ask me “what is your self worth?”

Those two words bore into my psyche and I can honestly say that it took me a while to define the meaning of self worth.  According to Collins English Dictionary, self worth is “respect for or a favorable opinion of one self.”  It is a mix of self esteem and self respect.

To me, self worth, is the ability to balance acts of service (service defined as work, family, career, or community).  It is a balance of knowing when to give in kind and when to add a value to what you are providing.  It takes both self esteem and self respect to identify the appropriate times to add value.  As people, we run on energy, whether it is the energy from within or the energy that we share with others.  That energy is what drives us to give, to work, to achieve our goals.  Our energy provides the fuel to develop a strong self esteem and self respect, which essentially gives us the ability to define our self worth.

For example, I know from experience that people will continue to take as long as you continue to offer, whether it is the great energy you exute, your expertise, your ability to love, or your resources (time and money).  Eventually that energy may subside or you may forget who you were as a person when you started this trend of giving.  At which point you realize that you have lost strength in believing in yourself and as a result you lost opportunities to define your self worth.  Life is a balance of give and take, whether in love, at work, at home, or in any interpersonal communication interaction.  So, let’s remember that our self worth is our ability to balance our acts of service and know our value to the world, while maintaining the strength of our self esteem and self confidence.

By no means am I saying in this blog to stop giving or to hinder your beautiful ability of influencing those around you with your great energy.  I am merely asking, “what is your self worth?” and how will you develop your ability to balance your acts of service in this lifetime?

Let's meet on the mat at your next meeting or event. Check out www.themeetingyogi.com for more information or email bana@themeetingyogi.com.

Namaste.

Winds of Change

When the winds of change in life blow some are strong enough to break our spirits or test our strength, while others remind us that we must simply go with the flow and dance with the wind. Advice that I must live by the next couple of months as I ride the rainbow following the storm to my own pot of gold.

There are times in the last month where I felt suffocated by the experiences and the breaks that have happened in my life.  And though it is not easy, I remind myself that once the mind goes into the negative thinking mode, it takes twice as long and twice as hard to think positive and simply regain the personal strength that I need to achieve my goals. I remind myself that happiness comes from within and that no thing or person can make me happy unless I was satisfied and happy with myself and my life. I remind myself that I was always one to love life and people and the dust of this storm will eventually settle.

I have had a life list for a very long time. It is handwritten in my journal and saved on my phone, so that I am constantly reminded of what I want and what I am working towards.  I have viewed every experience, good or bad, as a learning experience and those that were involved as my teachers.

The winds of change have blown my way at great strength and have somewhat knocked me down.  I feel and believe in my heart, that once the storm settles I will be in my own heaven, a place in life that I had envisioned for years now. I use meditation and creative visualization to go to the place where I want to be, so that I can really feel it, touch it, believe in it. A step closer to accomplishing my goals and taking action.

I have given myself permission to feel sad, mad, and happy and let the emotions that I was going through in the present moment take their course.  I knew and believed that my strength, perseverance and ability to love my life will return and be stronger. I am grateful to everyone (friends and family) that weathered the storm with me.

Now I am ready to refocus and conquer my dreams and have grown a foundation that will give me the ability to dance with the winds of change and overcome any other storm.

Namaste!

Check out www.themeetingyogi.com for more information or email bana@themeetingyogi.com.