Redefine Yourself!

Picture from Highwood Trail, part of Kananaskis Country

The following motivations come from https://www.dailymotivation.site/?utm_source=dailynewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily

• You are not defined by your past. 

• Things have changed and so have you.

• Life is dynamic. Don't limit yourself to what once was. 

• Stop over-thinking what has happened. Focus on living well in the present. 

• The present moment is giving you opportunities to create better experiences and transform your perspective.

I see so many people, friends and family included, who are stuck in a past situation.  For me, this is a sign of PTSD.  A trauma occurred and now the person is stuck.  If one is truly in balance as Nature intended, the past is a rolling event that is like a past movie.  Details are difficult to recall.  However, when someone keeps repeating the same story of an event that happened and how they are the victim in the story, the person gets time-locked in that emotion and in the reactions.  Talk about stuck in a rut!

So the solution to being stuck is to let it go!  It is not the situation that is the problem but how one reacts to it.

What changes will you make this week?

Many Blessings,

Judy

On Being Happy

A picture of infinite possibilities taken from pull out on Highwood Trail

For the last several weeks, the quote below, on happiness, keeps popping up either in my email or on sites that I look at.

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. - the Dalai Lama 

I decided that I really needed to look at my happiness and look at whether I was truly happy.  We know that happiness comes from inside you and not from external sources.  And yet, as I examined my life and my home and yard and all our friends and neighbours, I concluded that I am happy.  I love my life!  I love that we have beautiful flowers and a bountiful garden and herb garden. I love that we can sit and have coffee on the deck in the morning.  I love that I have time to meditate and to walk in Nature, and to sit on the Earth and feel the life that flows from it.

I then looked at my compassion.  The meaning of compassion as defined by the University of Berkeley in California is:

Compassion literally means “to suffer together

.” Among emotion researchers, it is defined as the feeling that arises when you are confronted with another's suffering and feel motivated to relieve that suffering. Compassion is not the same as empathy or altruism, though the concepts are related. - https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/topic/compassion/definition#:~:text=Compassion%20literally%20means%20%E2%80%9Cto%20suffer,though%20the%20concepts%20are%20related.

Based on this definition, compassion is at the far end of my bar of happiness. I do not feel compelled to search out people that are suffering.  I realize that compassion is something that I need to work on.

May you all have much happiness in your days.

Many blessings,

Judy

 

Never Give Up!

                                         

Picture comes from an email and where it originated is unknown

Healing words from the Dali Lama:

Never Give up 
No matter what is going on 
Never Give up 
Develop the heart 
Too much energy is spent developing the mind 
instead of the heart 
Be compassionate 
Work for peace 
and I say again 
Never Give up 
No matter what is happening 
No matter what is going on around you 
Never Give up

One of the commonalities between many of the very old traditions, that is, before Christianity, is the spirit of perseverance.  What I am seeing as I meet people over the last six months is that sense of despair and of having given up.  

As I expand my sight to see what is really going on, I see that the despair is borne from the disparaging words from others – others who tell them that everything is awful, or that they’ll never get it right, or….

The picture that I see is that others around them cause the person’s sense of desperation and defeat.  Living to the words of others rather than what is in yourself is truly the way to losing your way.  

I love the words from the Dali Lama – Never Give Up, No matter what is going on around you.

Many blessings,

Judy