Choosing to Transform Your Life

After entering my 48th year of this life experience, my world began to change. Not because outside forces presented circumstances that would change my life. The energy of this change began several years prior. It began when I started to get clear about my life. I focused on what I desired. I noticed what I did not like as well as what I liked. I paid attention to what was missing and what was showing up everyday.  I assessed it all. I reflected on it for a while. And then I made deliberate, decisive choices.

The first choice I made was to spend time each day in meditation. Not just the usual meditation I had done previously either. I had decided to try something different. I wanted something that would help me get the energy started. What I needed was to get out of my own way and let the Universe do the work. So when I came across a Kundalini meditation from JJ Semple, Golden Flower Meditation based on the Secret of the Golden Flower, it seemed like the right choice to make.  I sat for 20-30 minutes a day for more than a hundred days straight, breathing a rhythmic breath from my diaphragm. Just when I had almost forgotten about the effects of doing such a meditation, it happened. I activated the Kundalini energy within my Chakras.

That's when my life finally opened up and began to change for the better. This new energy within me cleared my thinking and offered the momentum I needed.  It has been a little over a year since this pure positive energy activated within me and now I have completely transformed my life. Not just one thing, but every area has been affected. For me, it is all good. And it is still underway.

I allowed for the release of old belief systems, thoughts, actions and choices that were toxic in my life, as well as opening up to new, unexpected opportunities that emerged from my new state of being. What I have also noticed is that my positive changes has seeped into the lives of others in my inner circle. Shedding the old and embracing the new...it is all part of the transformation process.

If you want to transform your life, you must first be willing to make deliberate changes. You must be willing to release the old and embrace the new. You must be willing to take time to be still, to get clear and to take action only when it is the next logical step on your journey.

The one thing I learned is that you must resonate with the changes you want in your life. For me, the best thing I have found to release resistance and to align with my heart's desire was to simply sit and breathe. Doing some form of meditation--breathing, Kundalini, mantras, affirmations, guided, brainwave therapy, nature walks--whatever your preference, is truly the secret to transforming your life.

Birthday Reflection

I turn 48 officially at 1pm today. My immediate reflection of my life is that I have done good. I could go to my maker today with a happy heart. Despite of and because of the challenges, I am the person I was meant to be... perfectly imperfect me. I love me that way. What lies ahead is unknown, but what is known gives me peace and a joyful flutter inside telling me, "It's all good, Margaret."

Happy Birthday to Me!

Mindfulness: 37 Everyday Places Where You Can Practice Enjoying the Moment

Mindfulness: 37 Everyday Places Where You Can Practice Enjoying the Moment  By BILL GERLACH

"Discovering the present moment changed my life.

It was one of those things that in retrospect you wonder how you ever lived without it. About three years ago, I was in the throes of starting my MBA, working full-time, and being a husband and dad to my wife and (at that time) two small children. Life was hectic. I still thought multi-tasking and spreading myself paper-thin was the surest way to succeed.

And then it hit me. I don’t remember how I actually stumbled upon it. But the whole idea of being in control of—and totally enjoying—the present moment instead of fretting over the past or future was eye-opening. I was a serial planner, an über-plot-it-out-and-execute-it kind of guy. I was so busy being busy that I was losing sight of what was right before me....more"

FACE YOUR TRUTH

These faces we wear are only masks of what we are in truth. Only love is real. But these faces tell a different story so we believe in the lie and live out the drama. Of course, you can always choose to walk off the stage and be who you really are.

Brief Meditative Exercise Helps Cognition

ScienceDaily (Apr. 19, 2010) — Some of us need regular amounts of coffee or other chemical enhancers to make us cognitively sharper. A newly published study suggests perhaps a brief bit of meditation would prepare us just as well.

While past research using neuro-imaging technology has shown that meditation techniques can promote significant changes in brain areas associated with concentration, it has always been assumed that extensive training was required to achieve this effect. Though many people would like to boost their cognitive abilities, the monk-like discipline required seems like a daunting time commitment and financial cost for this benefit.

Surprisingly, the benefits may be achievable even without all the work. Though it sounds almost like an advertisement for a "miracle" weight-loss product, new research now suggests that the mind may be easier to cognitively train than we previously believed. Psychologists studying the effects of a meditation technique known as "mindfulness " found that meditation-trained participants showed a significant improvement in their critical cognitive skills (and performed significantly higher in cognitive tests than a control group) after only four days of training for only 20 minutes each day... Read more from ScienceDaily.

A Visual and Sound Meditation Moment

Sit comfortably, relax your body, 

soften your eyes, breathe and enjoy!

Meditation on Jack Kornfield's, The Wise Heart

Why do we fear letting go of pain, our grievances, our stolen innocence? Being vulnerable is not a weakness; it takes courage and faith to open our hearts. As we release what has crushed our spirit, we breathe life into it once again. This meditation on Jack Kornfield's The Wise Heart gives hope to humanities healing heart. May we be the catalyst to the peace that is our only truth.

In loving light,

Mags

Meditation on Jack Kornfield's, The Wise Heart, Chapter 9

via Sanctuaries, Dreams and Shadows by noreply@blogger.com (Maureen) on 9/24/09

Albert Camus said, "We all carry within us our places of exile; our crimes, our ravages. Our task is not to unleash them on the world; it is to transform them in ourselves and others."

Open your mind and heart
Ask why you are stuck in this place
Be brave, name the fear
Name the resistance.
Understand what it is, then
Step back, allow it the space it needs.
Breathe.

Little by little, feel it soften and dissolve.
Be courageous, greet your emotions
Each by name. Again
Step back, allow each the space
It requires to do what it will;
To expand, to intensify, or dissolve
To rise and fall again, and again.
Breathe.

Tears flow, honor them.
Pain comes in  waves,
Fear and resistance reappear
Swirling one into another, be brave.
Listen to your stories of sorrow and shame.
Hold them gently.
Hold your fragile self gently.
Breathe.

Be open to the waves, the tears.
Acknowledge your confusion and the grief.
Be fearless, do not lose your way.
Let go, accept your life,
Understand it is what it is.
Respect the history that is you.
Make peace with your life.
Breathe.

Posted via email from magsjoy's posterous

When the show is over, only love remains

Life is like a Broadway show. What character do we play today? Villon or hero? Friend or foe? Victim or healer? Husband, wife, worker, parent, child, teacher, student? The casting call is endless.

We get up every morning and immediately the director in our head--our subconscious mind--yells,  "Action!" Without another thought, we obediently get into character.

Like in the movie, Ground Hog Day, our lives become a repeated drama.

Consumed as stars of our own show, we release all moment by moment decisions to the producer--the ego--and simply perform as the writers--society--has written in the script. Sure there are some standing ovations and elated encores, but often performances bomb and there are poor reviews. 

Nevertheless, the show must go on!

Actually, if you look real close, many are only stand-ins. Sure, it looks like them, it sounds like them, but if you look into their eyes you can see they are not there. Clueless to the perpetual retake, they blankly move through each scene of their life as if it were a new show.

People are either performing, crashing in between curtain calls or rehearsing the same scene over and over again. Co-actors may change, the scenery may change, but the lead actor remains the same.

"Bravo! Now can't you see it was only another performance?"

Yes, different performance, but essentially, it is the same production.

What I like about the message in the Ground Hog Day movie was that Bill Murry, the lead actor, recognized that he was reliving the same day over and over again. With that awareness, he made the best of each day by exploring new territories; new parts of himself. While everything else seemed to remain the same, he began to change, his choices within the seemingly repeated day. His asserted efforts changed his perspective. Creating new realities. In the end, the real next day came, but this time, he was a new man--realized in beyond the illusion. He was ready to embrace every day with a whole new outlook.

To be a successful actor, one must give it all from the heart. There must be passion...desire...joy...the love of every moment.

To be a successful human, one must give it all from the heart. There must be passion...desire...joy...the love of every moment. 

In the performance of our lives, when the show is over only love remains.

Considering life from a window of light,

Mags