Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Feeding our Soul

We are not human beings having spiritual experiences, we are spiritual beings having human experiences.
The choice is not whether we feed our soul or not the choice is rather what do we feed our soul and how much?

Each day we all go about our life, eating, working, sleeping and playing. Yet how many of you feel that this is not enough, that there must be more to it. When we have this feeling that something is lacking it is when we are not feeding our soul. We are mind body and spirit, all exist together and when we don’t feed any one of these aspects it is when we feel off centre, and know that something is missing. I believe to feed the soul we need to look at it on a holistic level; we need to feed the mind the body and the spirit.
It is no good to go about our life pretending to smile on the outside when our soul on the inside is crying out. We may surround ourselves with all the riches in the world and still not be happy or rich. There is a deeper level to all of us and we are not here to just survive day to day we are here to live and experience all that this human experience can offer us. We are allowed to feel abundance, joy, happiness; and love. We also have the ability to feel sorrow, heartache, envy and grief. It is a shame that some of choose to keep feeling the feelings that we are free to move on from and deny ourselves the joy that is around us. When we make the choice and we make it daily to feed our soul it is a choice between what helps us grow and what keeps us in place.
As I mentioned earlier we are mind body and spirit, we need to feed all of these equally to truly grow and become all that we can. So what to look at first, let’s look at the Body.
Is it enough to just eat the right foods, drink the right amount of water, and steer clear of that which is not good for our physical body? Sure we all need to take the time to eat correctly, to many process foods and sugary drinks will ultimately lead to our physical bodies down fall, obesity, low energy levels, clogged attires and a shortened life. But is it just about eating right that feeds the body No we need exercise, we need to take care of our skin, we need to take care of our hair, our whole physical body needs to be included in that mixture. So you let’s get our body moving, run , dance, swim, yoga, gardening, walking all forms of exercise that don’t need to cost you the earth. Pamper thy self; yes get a massage, a facial, your hair done, your nails done. Make sure your take care of the skin it’s our largest organ, and let’s face it you can see when someone is not feeling great and their skin seems to look dull and lifeless, so take care of it. These things don’t have to cost the earth either; no one is saying you need to spend hours at the day spa to achieve this you can take care of your body at home. Get a haircut that makes you feel great and easy for you to do. Most importantly make it simply, we all complain we don’t have time so keep it simply and you will be able to find the time.

Top tips for feeding the Body
  • *      Eat healthy, foods that are season is what are bodies crave, try growing your own.
  • *      Drink water
  • *      Exercise 3 times a week – walk, dance, run
  • *      Pamper yourself, buy body polish and moisturise you don’t need a day spa, soak your feet and read a book.

So how do we feed mind, what is that we allow coming into our mind each and every day? Are you someone who hears the positive or do you hear the negative, maybe you fall in-between. What about what you read, watch on TV, does the news stress you out, does not knowing stress you out. What about work is your work making you happy or depressed? What about the way you think about you, are you happy with who you are or are you the person who can always find faults and never compliment yourself.

Our mental state at the best of times can be fragile and ready to break, so why do we chose to remain in negative, self-sabotaging thought patterns? Perhaps we don’t know how to move out of this process, for some I can hear them scream for here NO! no more affirmations, no more standing in the mirror and tell yourself that you love you…..ok ok I get it.  So let’s try this instead, limited the amount of time in front of the TV, watch only things that make you feel good. If the events of the world make you feel bad turn the news off, no good adding to negative thoughts. Read a good book, one that helps you change your thought, inspires you, allows you to see things differently. Get with friends and laugh, cry on their shoulder when you need too. Learn to be thankful for all that you have. Instead of trying to “keep up with the Jones” be thankful for all that is in front of you. There is no use working in a job that does not make you happy if all you are doing is playing catch up or trying to have what everyone else has. What is that you want? Ok sure I am not saying head out and change jobs tomorrow, but if you are unhappy going to work, were you spend most of your time, then it’s time for you to start looking at how you can make some changes. You are here to be happy and joyful not miserable and sad. So it make take some time find what you are passionate about, to see how this can become what brings you’re your prosperity, however it’s worth the search. Now sorry for those who cringe at affirmations, I do say find a saying that works for you one that motivates you can keep it around you, feed the mind with positive and all the thoughts become positive.

Top tips for feeding the Mind
  • *      Turn off the TV
  • *      Immerse your mind in knowledge that expands it
  • *      Be with friends
  • *      Find your passion and live it
  • *      Feed in positive thoughts

So how do we feed Spirit? This is when you need to dig deeper, you need to look at what your spirit is calling you to do. Perhaps; spending time in nature, be by oneself, meditate, garden, be with family, help those in need, prayer, dance, sing; it can be many different things each of us has a truly unique spirit that is ours alone and we alone know what makes it happy.

To find out how to feed your spirit, sit and be still, listen to what you are yearning for. It will tug at your heart strings and stir emotion. When you feed your spirit it will give you feeling that you get when you are truly alive and living in the now. Your heart sings your mind is wide away and your body feels alive.
Your spirituality feeds to the spirit and just like feeding your body and your mind feeding your spirit needs to happen regularly. You would no more survive if you never ate then you would if you neglected to feed the spirit, sure you would be alive, but lost, drawn towards addictions, violence, depression, destruction and all that leads to life without respect.

Top tips for feeding the Spirit
  • *      Listen to your inner core
  • *      Be still and in the moment
  • *      Allow yourself to feel emotion
  • *      Honour who you are and cherish it

When we feed body mind and spirit we feed the soul, we are happy, we have energy, we feel alive and healthy able to take on the challenges we may face with clear sight and positive thought. We are able to learn and explore all that life has to offer us.

When we however chose to feed our soul with rubbish, so feeding our body junk, not maintaining it, allowing our mind to become consumed with negativity and not acknowledging that our spirit needs to be feed as well we fall from our path being a spiritual being. Why does this happen mainly because of fear and ego. As I said earlier “The choice is not whether we feed our soul or not the choice is rather what do we feed our soul and how much?”

I leave you with this to ponder

Two Wolves – an old Cherokee legend
One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.
He said, "My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all.
One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.
The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"
The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

How to see through the Chaos

So the phone is ringing, the kids are screaming at each other, the clothes need putting away, pay the bills and what am I going to cook for dinner.... sound like anyone's day so far???

Amongst all of this chaos there is still beauty if you learn to see through it. Far to often we become immersed in the chaos that life can throw at us rather than the beauty that it has within it each and every day. We allow the little things to become big things, the big stress we already have then becomes mountains which we have no idea how to move pass or over. This becomes a cycle that seems to never end leaving us depleted of energy, frustrated and for some depressed.

So how do we see past all of this, we will still have to cook dinner, pay bills, clean house, care for our children and even hold down a full time job. We cannot just throw our hands in the air and say enough and walk away, we need to learn how to see the beauty again. We need to learn to de-stress in this chaotic world.

Listed below are my top tips to move past chaos and stress
  •  Get up and move. Walk, dance, or exercise; allow you heart rate to increase and get oxygen pumping around the body.
  • See the beauty in something small, a child's smile, a song, a flower, etc.
  •  Be around great friends, laugh with them, cry with them, lean on them.
  • Help someone else, take your mind of you and help another.
  • Meditate, learn the art of meditation and deep breathing, you cannot panic while deep breathing!
  • Eat healthy, eating the  foods that nourish your body, these foods don’t make you feel guilty afterwards.
  • Learn to say no, set boundaries, sometimes the best thing we do in life is to say no.
  • Take time for yourself, be positive in your thoughts, soak in a bath, or get a massage.
  •  Clean the house get organises, clutter creates stale energy, clear it out.
  •  Get an attitude of gratitude, be thankful for all that you have, be thankful for your life.
  • Smell the rose get out in fresh air, get out in the garden fresh air helps to clear the mind.

In the chaos of life remember to see beauty in just the smallest of things





Sunday, October 3, 2010

So what is stopping you ????

Are you the real you the one that you are meant to be? Or are you, the you that society has conditioned you to be? Who is the real you, have you even meet yourself or are you hidden so deep inside that you haven’t seen day light for since you cant remember when?

When was the last time you looked in the mirror and loved the you that was looking back? Did your eyes smile like that they are meant to do? Did your heart singing knowing that you are the best you that you can be. Are you true to yourself and can you look inside and say with I am in love with me!

The spiritual journey is one of self discovery; we embrace our true being and allow it to shine. When we are willing to take a look at who we are from every angle and willing to let go of the baggage we carry then love will emulate from us. People will be drawn to you because of who you are and the truth that you show. 

So what is stopping you? For most people what stops them is fear and its can be fear of the unknown or fear of being treated a certain way. Almost everyone has had some form of negative reaction when they have shown their true self; however have you ever stopped to question if that reaction is just because the other person is sitting in their own fear?

While stepping into our true self can be a daunting experience it really is a liberating and brings with it much joy and freedom. Nobody says that this process needs to happen in one quick change, it may take months or longer for you to remove the layers of fear and baggage that you have collected over the years. To remove the thought patterns and habits you have become accustom too. The first step is to acknowledge that there is change to be made.  

Take the time to see all of your layers, what has made and shaped you over the years, see which layers are apart of you and which layers have been given to you by other people. What parts of you serve you well, and what is holding you back? A great way to do this is by meditating, allow you mind to be quiet and ask what needs to be released, what change is required to find my the real you.

Next acknowledge that there may be resistance to your change, accept that sometimes when we grow it sparks fear in others and yourself, be ok with slipping back into old patterns every now and then, its just a reminder to you to work on letting go of that thought pattern or habit. When we grow some of the people we currently have in our lives may seem to drift away and that is ok as well, they have their own journey to follow as well. 

Allow yourself to laugh and cry along the way. Finding the real you, allowing your ture self to shine is a journey. Sometimes that journey may be tough and challenging, sometimes what we let go of is easy and we wonder why we didn't do it sooner. Most importantly reward yourself along the way, you deserve it for being the real you, the one you are meant to be.