Change Your Mind, Change Your Life
Excerpt from Sally Kempton article, Wisdom- Yoga Journal, March, 2019
Like clouds carry moisture, thought carries energy. I find that to be a very powerful phrase. Take a moment to ponder that, then understand that it is true. Your thought’s energy can be harnessed, shaped, and played with. You can change a negative thought to a positive one/ and that will affect your mood and even your physical state. You can use your imagination to visualize a positive outcome for a project and influence that outcome.
Thoughts are creative powers. Consciously or not they are the tools with which we shape our experience. Learning to witness the ebb and flow of thoughts is the first step because we can’t consciously manage the mind’s creative potential until we know how to stand aside from it.
Many of us realize this already but old habits keep coming back. Our state of habitual, repetitive, often negative thinking patters that most of us are in is the “default mode network” of the brain.
Meditation can turn of the default mode network, freeing us to experience the nearly unlimited power that exists in the subtle field of intelligence that we call the mind, once we are no longer subject to the uncontrolled movements of our own mental chatter. It is a practice that is well worth the time and commitment. The more you enact the daily discipline of shaping your own thoughts in meditation, the more you discover its possibilities for changing your life.
Sit in stillness for even a few minutes in the morning, setting an intention. Soon that becomes an affirmation affecting the way you move, act and think the rest of the day. You can use the power of visualization to imagine your perfect future, ask questions and receive inspiration, or offer blessings to others. Take a few minutes to sit for meditation while asking yourself, What do I want to create that will serve the highest good for myself, my family, and the world?
Hooray for Hemp
by Lindsay Tucker
Times are changing and the floodgates have opened to the healing powers of CBD-THCs non-psychoactive cousin. This natural healer has gone from taboo to total wellness staple. I looked at a few and have been hearing lots of positive feedback from many who have tried many options and found CBD to provide relief from a variety of ailments. Below are a few recently reviewed.
Wildflower CBD Soap and CBD Coolstick
CBD has been known to treat skin conditions ranging from psoriasis to sunburns. The coolstick is a targeted pain reliever with arnica, peppermint and hemp-seed oils and 300 mg of CBD. buywildflower.com
Sunday Scaries
Vegan AF Gummies for anxiety. Just a few candies will satisfy your sweet tooth and calm frazzled nerves. Formulated with vitamins D and B12 to keep both your mood and immune system thriving. forsundayscaries.com
Cannuka CBD Calming Eye Balm
Banish dark circles and puffiness while smoothing away fine lines with this Manuka honey-infused salve. It’s packed with anti-inflammatory hemp seed oil and vitamin E. cannuka.com
Extract Labs CBD Body Cream
Here is a moisturizer that helps dry skin and tension. Ongoing research suggests that CBD staves of skin cancer cells. extractlabs.com
If you know about some CBD remedies first hand, let me know and we can share the health!
Six Mindful Ways to Connect with Nature
By Micah Mortali of Kripalu Schools
On average, Americans spend 90 percent of their life indoors and 11 hours a day on screens-wow! We are suffering from what has been called “nature deficit disorder.” Mindful time outdoors can reconnect us with the natural world in which we live. Here are six practices that help counteract the nature deprivation that has become endemic to our culture.
- Meditate in nature taking slow, full breaths as you bring your attention to what’s happening on the earth an in the sky.
- Take a walk while taking time to run your fingers through the natural elements surrounding you. The rocks, trees, plants or moss. Incorporating the sense of touch to your experience.
- Choose a place in your yard or a nearby natural space that you can return to every season, observing the changes over time.
- Walk barefoot outside with awareness and notice the surface under you. It can be a profound experience.
- Meditate on the sound of water. Even if it is a recording. Close your eyes and connect with your breath, and let your attention rest on the sound.
- Offer gratitude and care for nature and the world around us. We can reframe our relationship with the natural world as we consciously incorporate positive steps to heal our planet.
Good News for our Planet
I have been growing more concerned about the dire consequences of climate change. It is encouraging reading about individuals and companies making strides to take on this challenge of our lifetime. So, as I come across positive examples toward solutions, I will share those with you. We need to realize that this is a solvable problem but there is no time to waste. Read on for an example of what a good idea can create.
Michael Bream from San Marcos, California was recently featured on 60 Minutes. He is an entrepreneur who has resurrected old vehicles and outfitted them with old batteries from electric vehicles. One of his favorite batteries are from wrecked Teslas. The electric batteries offer a giant power kick to old classics like the VW van.
Another recent story on 60 Minutes featured an 81- year old eccentric, Marshall Medoff from Massachusetts, who was so alarmed about global warming, he closed himself off for 15 years as he developed an answer. As an amateur scientist without formal training, he studied all he could find on extracting the natural sugar from leaves and other plant matter. The cellulous which lies inside the cellular walls is the most plentiful thing on our planet. With the help of scientists and investments from venture capitalist, his company is extracting sugar from corn cobbs as well. One of the byproducts to this discovery is sugar that won’t rot your teeth or cause diabetes.
They have a proton accelerator to smash the plant life at light speed to extract the sugar that can be used in vehicles, airplanes without making any changes. This ethanol that is created like that from a still, is cleaner than other ethanol by 77%. It can be dispensed from the same gas pumps that we use today without any modifications.
Another one of his inventions is taking plastic items and replacing them with items made from this sugar substance that can decompose in time based on the creator’s mixture. He demonstrated with a plastic fork and another made of the sugar substance. It is strong but can return to the earth without harming the planet. He believes we should begin to phase out plastic as quickly as possible. I think he is right!
Success Beliefs
- There is no such thing as failure only feedback.
- If it is difficult, it is not the way to grow the business.
- I have all the resources I need to succeed.
- As I think I create.
- I have always made the best choice I could at the time.
- The solution is more important than the cause.
- Everything fits. Nothing is wasted.
- Any challenge can be broken into small chunks.
- Persistence is my greatest asset.
The great courageous act that we must all do, is to have the courage to step out of our history and past so that we can live our dreams.
Oprah Winfrey
