Make changes for 2014

Albert Einstein’s definition of Insanity is

“doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”

Accept Yourself

You are wholly complete and your success in life will be in direct proportion to your ability to accept this truth about you.  

Dr Robert Anthony

Lighten Up

Don’t Be SAD

The days may be getting longer but we are still almost three months from the Spring Equinox with lots more grey days ahead. 

January can be a difficult month, with the Christmas holidays over and getting back to work and all good intentions for the New Year it can be hard to maintain a positive outlook, and the weather definitely doesn’t help.

I first realized I was SAD in 1989 when I was living in the north of Scotland and working in the Findhorn Foundation.  The days are very short in the winter there.  I became depressed without realising it, then one lovely sunny day I felt great, that’s when I started to research Light Therapy.

I got myself a light box, not an easy feat in those days, there was only one company making them and they were very expensive and huge!  But it worked. 

I keep a small one handy now for those dull days.  In short, as I understand it,  how they work is that in the evening when it gets dark Melatonin is switched on in the brain to help us sleep and when we receive light in the morning Serotonin is switched on  (serotonin is the happy hormone).  But when the weather is grey and overcast we don’t get enough light to switch the Melatonin off and the Serotonin on so we don’t fully wake up, that’s where the Light Box does it’s stuff (in the hypothalamus!) 

You can buy one here:

Some symptoms are:

·      Depression
·      Lethargy
·      Difficulty with memory & concentration
·      Anxiety
·      Sleep problems
·      Over eating – increased desire for carbohydrate
·      Irritability 
·      Loss of libido

You can read more here:

http://www.sad.org.uk

http://www.sada.org.uk

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Seasonal-affective-disorder/Pages/Introduction.aspx

Happy Christmas

“Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.”

- The Dalai Lama

De-Stress Christmas

De-Stress Christmas

Christmas is meant to be a holiday but I know that for lots of us it will be anything but.  We can get anxious about fulfilling our own hopes and stressed out trying to meet, what we imagine are, other peoples expectation

Here are a few tips to help you get through the Christmas and New Year holidays, have some fun, relax and enjoy yourself.

Plan Ahead

Take a nice long bath; add some lavender or your favourite essence.  Close your eyes and imagine the forthcoming days, see yourself in the kitchen singing along to your favourite Christmas tunes, putting all the ingredients on the kitchen tops and preparing them, all going smoothly.  While they are cooking see yourself dancing around the table setting it ready for your meal.  See everyone sitting around the table enjoying the meal and each others company. Then imagine yourself at the end of the day sitting relaxed, nourished and content.

When you do this you will find that important things to remember or things you want to add will come to mind and help you be prepared for the big day.  Then make a list – keep it short!

Know Your Limits

We can’t do everything, really we can’t.  Don’t imagine that you will be able to control everything that happens during the holiday.  Prioritise the things that are really important to you and put everything else on the ‘b’ list, these are the non-essentials. 

Let Yourself off the Hook

Don’t beat yourself up over the little things that don’t go to plan; they have a way of coming together as a great big “everything’s” gone wrong.  See each little issue in isolation and deal with them individually.  Forget the idea of getting it perfect, there’s no such thing.

It’s Not All or Nothing

If you don’t manage to do all you hoped for, let it go, you’ll be amazed at how little other think about what you’ve done or not done, they are usually too busy with their own thoughts. Enjoy yourself and appreciate yourself for what you have done and don’t fret about what you haven’t done.

Get Off To A Good Start

Take a few minutes out on Christmas morning to sit quietly and repeat the visualization you did in the bath, imagine the day going ahead smoothly and joyously

Keep Calm & Lighten Up

Light a frankincense candle, it not only smells great, gives that Christmas aroma around the house but it has calming properties too.

Have Fun

Christmas is a time of celebration, enjoy yourself and have fun.  Take a minute to look around at your family & friends and quietly acknowledge one thing that you appreciate about them, if you can’t do that then imagine them with the qualities you'd like to see in them, wish them well and move on.

Appreciate Yourself

When it’s all over give yourself a pat on the back and tell yourself  “well done”.  You’re amazing.

All best wishes for a great Christmas and may the New Year bring you all you wish for.

Love & blessings

Lynne

Can You Say No?

Can You Say No?

If you can’t say No then you can’t say Yes

Life is an endless round of “oh, alright then”

Saying No is not as simple as it may sound, it can be really hard to say No but when we say  ‘oh, alright then’  we feel resentful and resentment can lead to anger.

We get angry with others for thinking they are being selfish and we get angry with ourselves for not saying what we really want.  And if we think others are selfish for getting what they want then we think we will be seen as selfish if we ask for what we want.

Not asking for what we want, or saying No to something we don’t want, makes us feel that we have disregarded ourselves, we’ve told ourselves that we don’t matter, others matter more, or they are more important than me, or they won’t like me if I say No, they’ll think I’m being selfish.

Here are some other self-words that we embrace when we dare be ourselves:

·       Self regard ·       Self respect ·       Self worth ·       Self esteem ·       Self awareness ·       Self belief

·       Self confidence ·       Self reliant ·       Self sufficient ·       Self discipline ·       Self determination ·       Self regulation

Love & blessings

Lynne

Your Vision

Your vision will become clear only when you 

can look into your own heart. 

Who looks outside, dreams; 

who looks inside, awakes.

Carl Jung

What Is Consciousness?

Blessings

“When we lose one blessing, another is often most unexpectedly given in its place.”

― C.S. Lewis

Path to Enlightenment

12 Life Lessons along the Path to Enlightenment

by David R. Hawkins, M.D. Ph.D.

The approach to spiritual progress isn’t one of “getting somewhere,” as there is no “where” to get. Instead, you’re guided to transcend your ego and shed all illusions so that Truth stands revealed.

The sun is always shining; you need only remove the clouds.

On your spiritual journey to a higher truth, here are 12 life lessons to contemplate. It is in reading, rereading, and contemplating the meaning behind the words that one’s understanding ripens.

1.            It is not really necessary to subdue the ego, but merely to stop identifying with it.

2.            It is a relief to let the mind become silent and just “be” with surroundings.

3.            Reality becomes self-evident when the obstructions of perception and mental activity are removed, including all belief systems.

4.            The inner truth reveals itself when all other options are refused by surrender to God.

5.            When one realizes that one is the universe—complete and at one with All That Is, forever without end—no further suffering is possible.

6.            The love of God is absolute and unconditional. The sky does not “be” for some people and “not be” for others, nor does the sun shine on only a select few who have been arbitrarily chosen. God is complete and total.

7.            The Self is like one’s inner grandmother who watches over a child so he does not forget to take his raincoat or mail the rent check.

8.            It is not possible to arrive at Truth and ignore consciousness, because Truth is the very product of consciousness.

9.            To even hear of enlightenment is already the rarest of gifts. Anyone who has ever heard of enlightenment will never be satisfied with anything else.

10.        Enlightenment is the ultimate aesthetic awareness, for it allows the beauty of creation to shine forth with stunning clarity.

11.        The goal of society in general is to succeed in the world, whereas the goal of enlightenment is to transcend beyond it.

12.        In the end, it will be found that the sacrifice of letting go of the mind is actually the greatest gift one can receive.

DAVID R. HAWKINS, M.D. PH.D.

Sir David R. Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D., is an internationally renowned psychiatrist, consciousness researcher, spiritual lecturer, and mystic. Author of more than eight books, including the bestseller Power vs. Force, Dr. Hawkins’s work has been translated into more than 17 languages. Website: www.veritaspub.com

Work-Life Balance

“There are thousands and thousands of people out there living lives of quiet, screaming desperation who work long, hard hours, at jobs they hate, to enable them to buy things they don’t need to impress people they don’t like’        

         Nigel Marsh

Nigel Marsh: How to make work-life balance work    
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdpIKXLLYYM

Findhorn Foundation

Findhorn Foundation

Floor of the Nature Sanctuary

The Findhorn Foundation is a spiritual community, ecovillage and an international centre for holistic education, helping to unfold a new human consciousness and create a positive and sustainable future.

Our community is an experiment in conscious living, a learning centre and an ecovillage. Based mainly at The Park, Findhorn and at Cluny Hill in Forres, the community extends to many individuals and organisations within the local area and to the islands of Iona and Erraid on the west coast of Scotland.

http://www.findhorn.org

Sabu Loves

Sabu Loves:  Leonardo DiCaprio

Leonardo DiCaprio donates $3m to save tigers in Nepal   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-25052543

Message from Nelson Mandela

Return to Love

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.  Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.  It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?'  Actually, who are you not to be?  You are a child of God.

Your playing small doesn't serve the world.  There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine, as children do.  We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.  It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.  As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."



Marianne Williamson

from 'A Return To Love'

(Used by Nelson Mandela in his 1994 Inaugural Speech)

You are a spiritual being having a human experience

Unconditional Love

Unconditional love, a very rare and wonderful thing.  When we come into this world we hope to be greeted with unconditional love and if we are lucky and have a good birth and our parents are fully present we are greeted with unconditional love.  It can be pretty much all down hill from there.

We find ourselves in a world of conditions and expectations, when we should eat, when we should sleep, when we should be teething, when we should be walking; all these ‘shoulds’ and we carry these ‘shoulds’ on into our adult life.

We grow up in our parents environment, the family home they create based upon their past experiences.  As children we just want to be loved, appreciated and fit in.  Our parents write the play and we are players, if you can step off the stage and look at your family play from outside what do you see?

You may have siblings with differing qualities and attributes; if you are intellectual but another sibling has taken that ‘role’ then you have to find another role, maybe the peacemaker, or the jester.  If you are sensitive and creative but that role is taken or your parents don’t appreciate those qualities then you have to find another way to be, if you are athletic but your parents want you to be academic then you try to fit that mould.

This is a kind of conditioning that to us growing up seems completely normal but maybe not natural.  Being what we think we should be creates the secondary personality.  We have our primary personality, who we really are, and our secondary personality, what the world has made of us, the good son/daughter, the good student, the good employee, the good spouse, it’s a kind of mask.  This mask becomes our armour and though it is created for very good reasons, it limits us.

We carry our secondary personality into our adulthood and can create a whole life around it, doing a job we think we should, marrying a person we think we should, creating the family we think we should.

Sadly, if we are so identified with our secondary personality to the determent of our primary personality we can become unfulfilled, sad and confused about the life we find we have created for ourselves.

Love & blessings

Lynne