Ready for the day

Early this morning, I found myself opening my laptop, my mind already racing with all the things I needed to do today. It was still dark outside and I didn't have breakfast yet. I felt a pressure on my shoulders, and suddenly saw my face reflected in the window. Serious, a wrinkle between my eyes.

I needed to slow down.

Our dog, lying in front of the blazing hearth, lifted his head for a moment, looking at me wearingly, then sighed deeply and let his head fall back on the floor, resuming his dog dreams.
Silence. Only the sound of the crackling logs in the fire, the almost boiling water for my tea and my breath going in and out.

Healing the split inside

In our Western culture we are supposed to be fit, vibrant and up, fixing our downbeat emotions as quickly as possible. Should we? Or do we miss out on the treasures found in unsettling feelings, leading us to a deeper understanding of ourselves?

Being on the (b)right side

Even though we may realize that a lot of emphasis these days is on being vibrant and positive and the bombardment of boosting one-liners on the internet may become a bit much, still the attraction of being on the bright side of life is a powerful one.

We love to feel positive and up, perhaps because it makes us feel we are more in control of things.

We feel on top of it, whatever "it" means. 

We feel we are in the right lane, being safe for a moment, joining the happy, carefree bunch.

Reconnect with Yourself

Do you ever feel that you are living your life but somehow lost contact with who you really are? Do you ever wonder if you are doing what you truly love to do or that you are just hanging in there because...well, it seems ok enough? 

Stop and listen

It can be challenging to stop the train of daily occupation, and get out for a moment to connect again to your true self. To stop and listen to your own voice and what it has to say. Are you still doing what you want? Are you living the life you want, with people that support and inspire you? Is there something that keeps bothering you under the surface that you need to look into in order to clear the way to your happiness and freedom?

Living the life you want is not about changing yourself into a successful person. It is about connecting to who you are already and living your life according to your own truth. 

Birth and death - The Play of life

Spring
What a beautiful time of year! Fresh greens and flowers bursting from their secret hiding places, birds singing and chirping, frogs croaking in the pond and even today, a rainy, grey Tuesday, the air is filled with a sweet perfume. Everything seems to vibrate with new life. read more...


From Ekhart Yoga's blog

Lone Wolf

Sometimes you need to walk alone

Turn away from safety, from good advice 

and warm lights

What about...

What about allowing ourselves to not know? To not know how to solve that problem, to not know what will happen next?

Bless what feels broken

“You know, people come to therapy really for blessing. Not so much to fix what’s broken, but to get what’s broken blessed.” 

- James Hillman

Becoming 'whole' is not about fixing parts in us that feel broken, damaged or hurt.

As if we are somehow imperfect the way we are.

As if we are supposed to be happy, healed and positive. And that, if we are not, we should do something about it. In other words, take our hurt and get it fixed.

About meditation

What is it you do when you meditate?
You are meeting yourself

The moment you start to listen without knowing what it is you are listening to,
opening your ears to that flowing, vibrant aliveness
you will meet yourself

Breathe into the pain

By Jeff Foster (www.lifewithoutacentre.com)

Friend, you've tried absolutely everything except the obvious:
Doing absolutely nothing at all.
Stay with the thing you call "suffering". Stay with the grief, the sorrow, the fear, the longing, the boredom. Take away the second-hand words and directly feel the raw, first-hand energy in the body, in the belly, the chest, the throat, as it vibrates, tingles, moves, expresses fully.

Opening a Horcrux

Sometimes I understand so well why we build walls inside, why we ignore our sensitivity and just act as if nothing bothers us.
I know.
Building walls will probably close our heart.
Suppressing our sensitivity will most likely dim the light in our eyes.
Pretending all is fine when it's not might lead to an outburst of rage some day, exploding or imploding, whatever route seems easiest.

But at least we will not have to face our fears and the difficulty of changing our deepest programming.

The Background

Beautiful blog by Colleen Loehr on shifting our attention from content (thoughts, feelings, objects etc) to 'the background'; that in which everything, including you and me, appears...

Lately there has been a noticing of the Background.
My husband Greg and I were talking about it yesterday, and spent some time in silence relaxing into the Background. Attention moves to a region behind the head, and the mind tends to quiet down effortlessly. Read more...

From her blog: A window is where the wall is absent

Enjoying Growth

Lets explore the idea of Growth and ask some interesting questions.... Why do we love the idea of growth/progression? What about just dropping the label and enjoy what we experience?

read more



(This article was published originally on www.ekhartyoga.com)

Drop it like it's hot

If you want to travel light, then just drop any story that comes up.

Especially the ones that seem important.

The ones that insist that you should think of a solution. Or take a stand.

Before you know it, you are carrying two suitcases filled with mental garbage.

Actually I am writing this for myself 

(don't I always)

because an IMPORTANT ISSUE is creeping up again lately.

To be honest it has been creeping up since forever,

presenting itself as a familiar knot in my stomach.

Old reaction: I must think of a proper strategy.

If not, I will be lost.

Result: My thoughts swirl around like bees, filling the suitcases with useless armor.

(I am the only one noticing the weight)

Conclusion: It doesn't work. Never has, never will. But there you go.

Insight: Thoughts can never free you of thought. 

(And every problem is a result of thought. Ever experienced a problem when you were without thought?)

Right. So there is only one thing left to do.

Drop it like it's hot.

Just like that.

Time for a dog hug

There are people who think that because of what I do (teaching others about meditation) and say or write (about how to become happy) I am always relaxed, lighthearted and going with the flow.

Just to set this straight.... 

Today my upper back feels like I am carrying a dead horse around. 

Actually this started three days ago. 

It's quite a weight.

Caused by tiny thoughts and beliefs.

(It must be them; I just checked, there is no horse.)

These thoughts, in turn, create a dense, muddy pool of feelings settling around my heart, causing my muscles to cramp. 

Depriving me from sleep at night.

I am an inner worrier type. I am good at being brave when the enemy is in clear sight.

I am not so good at dealing with paralysis.

With that muddy pool that whispers I am a failure and seems unimpressed with my bold warnings.

It takes clarity to recognize what is happening. 

The mud is clouding my eyes, filling my ears. 

All I can do is love myself right in the middle of it.

Love myself right in the heart of feeling unable to free myself.

Yes, that's it.

Time for a cup of tea and a dog hug.

xx

Keeping up the facade

"Keeping up the facade of being ‘someone with a story’ takes so much effort and is so exhausting. You have to keep telling yourself the story again and again, in case you forget.

What would happen if you would just forget? If you would just forget who you are, or what your storyline is? Does Life just stop? Does Life give a damn? The wind still blows and the rain still falls. The flowers still bloom and the birds still tweet. Life doesn’t need your story. Life doesn’t care about your story, or who you think you are. Do you?"

Unmani (Liza Hyde)

http://www.die-to-love.com/keeping-the-facade/

http://www.die-to-love.com

A fresh look on meditation

Maybe you are one of those people who would like to meditate but find it
difficult to do. Maybe you've tried it sometimes, but felt that that quiet, serene state you are supposed to experience was way out of reach; all you noticed were your legs hurting and your mind racing, leaving you with a feeling of failure and frustration.

But then again there is this longing to be more at ease, more at peace with yourself and a wish to escape the never ending pressure of the mind. What to do? It could be time to take a fresh look at meditation. Read more...
(This article was published originally on www.ekhartyoga.com)

Falling into how it is and loving it

Life get’s to be so simple when I realize there is nothing outside of this moment.

There’s nothing but this, here, now!

What about all the stories?

All my thoughts about who I should be, how to relate to other people, how to finally become successful, the Problem With My Mother bubble, the I’m Not Living My Potential story.

My body believes these stories, tensing up, even when I write about it I feel something vaguely tightening around my neck. 

All that stuff that I drag along.

Having so little to do with reality.

They just seem so easy to get lost in...did you ever notice the moment a story begins?

Actually, the stories in our heads are so innocent. Intense, painful, dramatic...but innocent. They can dissolve just like that, in a moment's time, leaving no trace or proof of existance.

Do you know what you were thinking yesterday?

An hour ago?

A minute ago?

All these nights you spent in deep worry, going over and over the story again. Where is it now?

Right at this moment, at the kitchen table typing these words, the sun touches my face through the window (spring is in the air) and all is well. The whole circus simply doesn’t exist! Never has! Never will!

And all that is left is filling my chest like a warm breeze of happiness.

xxEsther

An Invitation To Rest Deeply

By Jeff Foster

Here’s some very good news.

Right here, right now, in this moment, you don’t have to ‘figure out’ the rest of your life, no matter what anyone says.

You don’t need all the answers. They will come, in time, or not, or perhaps the unncecessary questions will fall away.

There is no rush. Life is not in a hurry. Be like the seasons. Winter is not trying to become summer. Spring does not rush towards autumn. The grass grows at its own pace. Read more...

On thoughts

How much longer are we going to listen to the mind as if it knows something?
As if it is creative, or intelligent?

Thoughts merely seem to repeat the same thing over and over again.

Here are some thoughts that pop up in my head regularly.

"You should have been more productive this day"

"It takes far too much time for you to write something"

"If you would be really good at what you do, you would be more succesfull"

Does it make me more productive?

No.

Does it make me finish my writings any sooner?

No.

Does it make me more successful (whatever that means)

Ha ha

No.

So why listen to something that doesn't work? Why shrink, why feel bad, feel ashamed?

The mind just repeats what seemed true once. 

Or what seemed to be the best solution at the time: blaming yourself.

It's like when you renovated your kitchen and you are still looking for the knives in the wrong drawer for a year or so; habits have a way of lingering on.

Thoughts are just habits.

Doesn't mean they are right.

I decided today to not take them so seriously.

xxEsther

3 Reasons to Stop Trying So Hard to Be Positive and Peaceful

By Lisa Esile

“Freedom is instantaneous the moment we accept things as they are.” ~Karen Maezen Miller

The world is filled with people who work hard at being positive, peaceful, and more spiritual and who then feel bad when they don’t measure up. I know because I used to be one of them. And I still am from time to time. Read more..