Sometimes, life presents you with moments that remind you, THIS is why you're alive. These seemingly "little" moments can come in the form of people, conversations, reactions, events, visuals, etc.
These moments remind you to stay strong and continue on your life journey, stand up for what you believe in and stay away from the sheep epidemic. Even though finding, following and advancing your passions can lead to sharp judgment and toxicity from others, you can't be shaken. We can't control others' reactions. We can't change others' mindsets. We can't wake people up. The change starts with YOU. The change starts with ME. The change starts with US. We need to stop doing "easy" and start creating our realities. Let's invite compassion back into our lives. Let's invite curiosity. Let's invite exploration. Let's invite respect. It's time to get out of the shallow end of the pool and move toward something deeper. Even if we're just barely treading water or hanging onto floats for dear life...we need to step out of our bubbles of ignorance, naivety, blind selfishness and conforming tendencies. Pop that bubble and let it go. Create something else. We DO matter. We ARE powerful. WE ARE LIGHT. Let's search within, grab that light and let it grow. Never stop learning. Never stop asking questions. Never compromise passion for a paycheck. Push your passions to the top of your priority list and make your life mean something. Let's stop going through the motions of life and let's become active participants in every moment.
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A very wise friend once told me that there are two types of people in this world. The Pullers and the Pushers.
On the surface, the Pullers might seem better than you. They may seem unearthly intelligent, fit, friendly…you think that you can’t measure up. Indirectly though, they inspire you. They motivate you to better yourself because you see that it is possible. You see that the commonly dubbed “unattainable” is indeed, attainable. Not simply attainable, but achievable. So, the Pullers pull you up, in a way. They may not literally grab you by the hands and drag you out of a trench, but they’ll provide you with a vision. They’ll light that fire within yourself that pulls you in their direction—not as exact copies, but as a better you. We can all be a better us, we just need to wake up. The Pushers are seemingly the exact opposite. They can either literally or figuratively push you down. Whether they mock your values, disrespect your opinions, assault you physically, they are initially seen as negative. The Pushers, however, are just as beneficial to your enlightenment as the Pullers. The Pushers challenge your beliefs; they challenge you and all that you stand for. You can do one of two things: fall down and join them or use them as a resource to strengthen your own beliefs. You can redirect the energy. Instead of looking at it as being pushed down, redirect their criticism and use it to push yourself forward. Transform the hate into something else. Ultimately, it is up to you to push yourself forward and pull yourself up. As mentioned earlier, the Pullers may not even directly offer you advice of pull you up. That direction has to come from within. We need to have open enough minds and a sense of self-awareness that we can acknowledge what it is that we want to achieve with our lives, and go after it. If we wait around for someone to do it for us, for someone to tell us what to do, we will live quite under-par lives. So first, direct your energy inward. Search your soul and question yourself deeply. Thoroughly. Get to know the deepest parts of your being and become comfortable with them. Become best friends with your demons, neighbors to your weaknesses, babysitters to your doubts. Awaken that inner spark and pull yourself up. Work with all your heart to become the essence of yourself that you want to be. The light that exists within each of us has become hidden; as a society, as humankind, we’ve violently shoved it down to where we are almost completely unaware that it does exist. But, my friends, it does exist. Wake up. Look inside. Pull yourself up and push yourself forward. Namasté. How many of your are waking up each morning with some sort of unpleasantry? By "unpleasantry" I mean anything from stiff, achey limbs to a pounding headache to slight nausea. How many of you are treating your pains with over-the-counter or prescribed medications? Maybe after you pop that pill, move around and gets yourselves ready for the day you start to feel a little better. The unpleasantries become tolerable and you go about your day. Halfway through the day do your unpleasantries come back? Do you pop another pill, or two, and carry on? Maybe feel better after another hour? I want us all to stop and take a look at our medicine cabinets, glove compartments, purses and pockets. Let's switch from the pill-popping to body-nourishing. Yes, all those little anti-inflammatory and fever reducing pills are convenient; but do you know what they do? Before we even touch the side effects, let's just make it clear that these pills are merely TREATING THE SYMPTOMS of your unpleasantries. They mask the real problem. Most of us don't even back track to solve what the source of our unpleasantry really is. Please, ask yourself... "Why do I have a headache? Why are my joints aching? Why is my stomach churning right now?" Once we figure out the WHY of our unpleasantries, we can really get down to taking care of ourselves and preventing these things from happening in the future. I know what you're probably thinking... "Yes this sounds great. But really, I don't mind my unpleasantries too much. Ibuprofen seems to do the trick and it's what I have been doing for years. Think I'm okay, thanks." NOOOO please, no. What if your unpleasantry were something more serious? Some sort of infection or chronic flare-up or a type of cancer? Would you take me seriously then? I really believe that eating a nutrient-dense, whole food, mainly raw diet can help us not only cure and prevent our unpleasantries, but also introduce a whole new level of contentment and energy into our lives that we've never experienced before. How do you start? My friends, the answer is simple. (Although, I will say that this approach is easier said than done. BUT! Once you make the change and develop a habit and then lifestyle, you'll never want to go back.) If you want to get started right away and can't wait for my upcoming posts....check out these videos! The full versions are available on Netflix: "Food Matters" and "Forks over Knives" .....remember guys, EAT TO HEAL! I've never really been one for rigid routine schedules (eg. wake up at this time, always eat this at this time, grocery shopping on this day, social event from this time to this time, etc.) Yes, I have a little morning routine but it changes each day. I live intuitively--I listen to my body and try to decode its messages and hints. Having everything planned out to a tee actually stresses me out more than anything--I feel pressure from myself to stick to the schedule I created; and who wants to let themselves down? That being said, I do notice that I get alot more accomplished if I have not a schedule, per say, but moreso guidelines for the day ahead. I leave little post-it notes inside of cabinets, memos on my mirror and DIY dry erase boards dispersed throughout my apartment to serve as little reminders and motivators. Take this little board for example...I keep it by my coffee maker so that I'm sure to see it each and every morning. I might change this board once a week or every other week to change up my meditation routine or if there's something else I decided I want to incorporate into my mornings. I also have a board that I write out the night before because it's day-specific. I include options for breakfast, workout reminders, snack ideas and health regimens that I'd like to follow through with. Here's the one I wrote for myself last night: It's important to encourage ourselves--we can't expect anyone else to. These little reminders give me an agenda even on lazy Sundays (now, I really don't have any lazy days unless I'm utterly sick. Movement = bliss for me. These non-time-rigid guidelines help get me moving without the pressure of looking at the clock).
I take each day, one at a time, encouraging myself to be fully present in each moment. This mindful approach to each day, each hour even, help ward off anxiety and depression. I'll go more into that in a later post... Until then, remember to make each day your own. You are in control of your life. Create your reality. Have you ever pondered what you’re actually thinking about? What do a majority of your thoughts consist of? Have you ever thought that mental multitasking may be decreasing your experience and comprehension of what’s in front of you? Let’s look at it this way. While you’re off on your morning run, prioritizing grocery list items based on your budget and sorting through upcoming assignment dates, you probably missed that five-dollar bill just lying on the ground. You also missed the puppy with two different colored eyes who was just begging to be pet. Last but not least, you missed the advertisement for your dream job that was taped to the lamppost two blocks back. Now that you’ve been informed of what you’ve missed, are you really that upset? Probably not. It seems that most of us have become so complacent with our routine-based lives that when opportunities present themselves we are not only not upset if we miss them but also not actively seeking them either. Now let’s take the same scenario and go through some other things that were missed. Thoughts of oatmeal, dish soap, calculus equations and project proposals veil our eyes from the little girl who can’t find her mom crying down the sidewalk. We don’t notice the couple arguing behind their used Toyota, faces red and tears inevitably to follow. Finally, we trample overtop an innocent, curious caterpillar. Maybe you would never miss a five-dollar bill lying on the ground. Maybe you don’t own a pair of tennis shoes, despise the idea of running and wouldn’t even know what to do with your arms. Maybe you don’t like petting puppies. Point is, maybe we are missing out on a whole lot of living in life. We may have created a bubbled reality where only what directly affects us, concerns us. Naivety and ignorance to the max.
Mindfulness is the answer. The Google definition of mindfulness is “a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment.” It’s more than a type of meditation, mindfulness is a lifestyle choice. If we actively participate in our surroundings, we will introduce exponential gratitude and all sorts of new experiences into our daily lives. According to the concept of neuroplasticity, life experiences cause our brains to change and adapt—for the better! In other words, our minds are malleable but only if we take action and introduce mindfulness into our lives. We can rewire the way our bodies react to stress, develop new brain cells, reverse the aging process, and so much more. The simplest way to bring mindful habits into your life is to focus on your breath. Without this action, none of us would be here. Focus on each inhale as you feel your diaphragm drop and your rib cage expand. Allow your shoulders to fall toward your hips, creating length in your neck as you fully exhale. Repeat. Make each breath deeper and perhaps pause breathless in between, becoming aware of the void and the actual difference between how your body responds to breath and the lack of breath. This can be done for thirty seconds, thirty minutes, thirty days… Let’s revisit the running scenario. Practice mindfulness by concentrating on the way your feet hit the sidewalk; feel the force of the impact and then the contrast as one foot is in briefly in free air. Try to actually feel the sun on your skin, or the humidity, the raindrops, gusts of wind. Observe your surroundings and take them in. You’ll start to notice those crawling caterpillars on the pavement and your dream job may be right around the corner. Allow mindfulness to take over your thoughts and be fully present in every moment. We need to break our bubbled realities, retrain our brains and stop merely going through the motions in life. Literally stop and smell the roses. Please pardon the enormous eyeroll.
"Namasté," is becoming part of everyday language, the highlight of puns and tossed around like baseballs at a little league pitching practice. People combine the word with an iconic peace-sign hand gesture to say hello, goodbye or even attach expletives on the end to make people laugh. Society has either never realized or become desensitized to the actual depth and significance of the word. Its overuse used to really bother me. I would hear people who had only done yoga once and never even heard of pranayama belt it out trying to fill a certain “image” they must have had in their heads. Sure, namasté can be used as an opener or a closer to a conversation or practice, but it means so much more than that. It’s difficult to say what namasté is not because it has such a unifying message that can be stretched and touches all things. Namasté is not something you say to just fit into a yoga class. It’s not interchangeable with “what’s up.” Namaste is recognition. Namaste is understanding. The official mantra meaning that goes along with the word is, “My soul honors your soul. I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides. I honor the light, love, truth, beauty and peace within you because it is also within me. In sharing these things we are united, we are the same, we are one.” Namaste is acknowledging that we are all on this journey called life, and while collaboration and cooperation are treasured, ultimately we all have our own realities. We have different levels of understanding and different values, morals, mindsets that make us unique. In addition to that, we all have the resources to total unity. So when I say namaste, I mean that I see you—the individual you. I’m looking past the appearance of you and I see your energy, your light, your pain, frustration, but also your passion and bliss. I’m saying that I am with you, rooting for you. I am on the same wavelength because ultimately, we are all connected anyway. One way to start understanding the meaning of namasté is to turn inward and love all the things that make you YOU. A Rupi Kaur quote explains this perfectly: “How you love yourself is how you teach others to love you.” So first, direct the namasté recognition to yourself. Honor your own soul, the place where all things reside. See your own light, your own love, your own truth, beauty and peace. Feel the connection. In a round about way of thinking, self-love is total love. How can we love others if we don’t know how to love ourselves first? If the light within you is also the light within me, shouldn’t we offer ourselves the same respect that we would give to others? And shouldn’t we respect others as we respect ourselves? There are times I may not even close my yoga classes with “Namasté.” If I honestly don’t cultivate the connection, or am caught in a shallow wave of distraction and pulled away from mindfulness (hey, it happens), I will not just throw the word out there to satisfy expectations. Namasté carries a message that can penetrate the barriers of depression and accelerate the collection of peace. I have to admit that yes, some of the namasté puns are funny. They’re clever. However, I can’t help but feeling guilty every time I laugh. Let’s not disgrace the denotation of the word, and let’s please not forget to pause and turn inward. Every time namasté is used, it should be a call to mindfulness, a reminder that none of us are on this journey alone. With that being said, Namasté In the shallowest and simplest of scenarios, this can be seen as we call out one another’s indecisiveness. The everyday struggle can be seen when we allow a five-minute pause after the burrito master asks, “Guac’s extra. Is that okay?” Or when we are scratching our heads ferociously, blocking aisle traffic as we read and reread the labels differentiating organic honey roasted, non-GMO crunchy and natural no-stir peanut butter. Better yet, when we are playing Rummy around the coffee table with absolutely no play-worthy cards in hand, yet we feel an overpowering urge to stare blankly at our options until the infuriating impatience explodes from the person to our left and we close our eyes and discard. Take a minute and ask yourself, “What do I really want out of life?” It’s no secret that many people spend their entire lives trying to answer that question which can be a great thing. It breaks us out of going through the motions of life, drives us to new experiences—we make career changes, maybe seek new friend groups and establish varying daily habits all in an attempt to create meaning within our lives. This epic quest comes with its fair share of adversities. Side effects include but are not limited to extreme frustration, periods of confusion and the ever-destructive instance of settling. It’s so easy to say, “Man, I don’t know. You choose,” and place the burden on someone else. We become okay with following along—we prefer our friends to choose the restaurant or the movie or even our outfits so that we don’t have to face the consequences of the decision. We become puppets. We become sheep. Take a look at the two individuals who are running to lead our country. The political parties’ lines. The divide in our nation. We have difficult questions arising and no clear answers. We have people who are pro life and respect a woman’s right to choose. We have people who own guns and push for gun control. We have people who crave change and can’t explain what kind of change. The problem lies in the lack of dedication to self-inquiry. We don’t know ourselves. We haven’t searched the depths of our minds, our values or really tried to understand our actual thought processes. We are pushing away the difficult questions and settling with shallow, indirect answers across the board. We need to start grabbing the difficult questions by the roots and plant them within ourselves. Once we start searching inside, we can push ourselves further. We can advance our thought processes and challenge what we believe in either supporting or opening our eyes to something new. We can create clearer goals for ourselves—as individuals, communities, teams, nations…you name it. We can shape our own realities, but we first have to search inside and know what we want. These “wants” are by no means concrete. Our mindsets, moods and priorities change everyday but that’s why self-inquiry is so important. We have to listen to ourselves and stay in tune with the constantly evolving vibrations of consciousness. Want to avoid become a fluffy, sheep puppet? You can start while sipping your coffee tomorrow morning. Take five minutes and sit with yourself. Invite yourself to listen. Ignoring all outside distractions, literally keep your mind open. For two to five minutes, allow all thoughts to come to the surface but don’t focus on any one in particular. In other words, don’t try to think. Eventually, you will begin to recognize your unprompted thoughts—raw expressions from within. The answers to the difficult questions. For the next couple minutes, retrace your thoughts. Do any still stand out to you? Can you connect an emotion to those thoughts? Emotions? What thoughts are sparked by that thought? Again, sit with yourself. Sit with the idea. Explore your mind. Inquire within. |
AuthorNature-loving, adventure-seeking, holistic and wellness advocate: Yoginiliv. Archives
May 2017
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