Let it go!

What makes you angry?

 Does something that might happen in the future make you angry?

Does something that is happening right this moment make you angry?

Or, does something that has happened in the past make you angry?

What triggers that emotional uprising within that surfaces as anger?

What if you could control the emotional well from bursting forth?

Take a moment to look at what emotional triggers generate anger within you?

Are they things you can control or are they things others control and impose on you? 

What choices can you make when there is a trigger that causes a flare up that causes distress within you?

Who is making the choice to be angry or upset?  

What would it be like to be anger free?  What would it be like to manage anger ?

It is possible with practice to release the emotions of anger gracefully and peacefully.

Take a deep breath …

fear less living

 ”Let a person rejoice when he is confronted with obstacles, for it means that he has reached the end of some particular line of indifference or folly, and is now called upon to summon up all his energy and intelligence in order to extricate himself, and to find a better way; that the powers within him are crying out for greater freedom, for enlarged exercise and scope.” -James Allen

Fear of the unknown stops many people right where they are.   The next step isn’t taken because of fear.  The footprints stop and then reverse direction when fear overtakes the senses.  

How do you live a fear less life?  How can you face your fears and melt them down (not necessarily away).

Marianne Williamson wrote, “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?”

What if you replaced the negative thoughts with positive affirmations?   “I am powerful” – say that – say it a few times.  “I am powerful.”

Start today, replace fear with your power.

 

 

Get on board! Get on Board!

Get on board!  Get on board!

 

Get on board!  Get on board the train that no one wants to ride on ,

Get on board the train to joy,

Get on board the train to happiness,

Get on board the train to peace,

Get on board the train to freedom,

Get on board the train to beauty,

Get on board the train to truth,

Get on board the train to love,

Get on board the train to life,

Get on board, Get on board, the ticket is free, get on board.

All you have to do is leave behind,

Fear,

Hate,

Greed,

Injustice,

Anger,

Malice,

Destruction,

Cowardice,

Death!

Get on board! Get on board!  The ticket has been paid for.  Get on board!

What are you waiting for?

beginning of Freedom

“We are like sculptors, constantly carving out of others the image we long for, need, love or desire, often against reality, against their benefit, and always, in the end, a disappointment, because it does not fit them.” Anais Nin

A photograph like a sculpture is a snapshot in time.  Some people are just like that fixed in time unwilling to change or to adapt to become who they really are. Others copy an image in an effort to be more like that image refusing their own image. The beginning of freedom is recognizing that the picture is dynamic and that it must change.

Change begins with a thought, the thought that change must begin.  The direction of change is in alignment with values, beliefs, strengths, abilities, desires, passions, and dreams which need to be cultivated and developed.

What change are you holding back on that will bring about freedom?

Is happiness the greater good?

“We excel at making a living but often fail at making a life.
We celebrate out prosperity but yearn for purpose.
We cherish our freedoms but long for connection.
In an age of plenty, we feel spiritual hunger.” David G. Myers

What is happiness? Really, what is happiness? Do you really know?

Hedonic happiness is

Eudaemonic happiness is

Is happiness gratification?

Is happiness an emotional state or is it the state of well-being?

In ancient times happiness was thought to be the pursuit of understanding your being. What if happiness was an ethical state rather than a psychological state, how would that change your meaning of happiness?

Is freedom happiness?

Is the pursuit of pleasure happiness?

From an essay written by John Perry Barlow titled “The pursuit of emptiness” he writes, “Of my legion friends and acquaintances who have become citizens of Prozac Nation, I have never heard any of them claim that these drugs bring them any closer to actual happiness.”

Perhaps chasing happiness is the wrong goal if it isn’t tied to a greater purpose, a purpose that is tied to the greater good. What do you think?

Take away

“Life is its own journey, presupposes its own change and movement, and one tries to arrest them, at one’s eternal peril.” Vaclav Havel from “Venture to the Interior”

We live in a space, a space that is filled with great hope and in some cases great despair. Despair is an anchor that prevents change. In some places in our lives we need an anchor; in turbulent waters we need an anchor until the rush of water subsides. In this case, the case where the anchor is despair we want to pick it up so that it doesn’t hold us back.

Let’s call the anchor a “take away”. The anchor takes away from our ability to be agile and to react to situations quickly and adroitly. We all have things that hold us back, little anchors, and little pockets of despair. Identify those things that are holding you back today. What are they?

As we pick up each anchor we can start to sense movement, positive movement along a corridor of our choosing. We can walk down a path towards greater hope, greater freedom and greater happiness.

What anchors are holding you back? Are you aware of those anchors? Are you willing to pick them up or let them go?

Freedom and light

Today we start with the words of the Sufi poet
Hafiz,

“We have not come here to take prisoners, but to surrender ever more deeply to freedom and joy… Run my dear from anything that may not strengthen Your precious budding wings… For we have not come here to take prisoners Or to confine our wondrous spirits But to experience ever and ever more deeply Our divine courage, freedom and Light!”

What are the desires of our heart? Is it to seek out and find freedom and joy?

I think that experiencing both trials and success brings to us a sense of joy and contentment. Contentment is momentary and calls us to the next challenge, the next struggle and the next climb we must make. Moments of happiness are interspersed into our journey and like precious gems hanging in the sky they beckon us onward, happiness blossoms along the way encouraging us to take the next step.

Joy is a reward that comes to us as a result of the struggles and the battles we are engaged with. Our deepest longing is to find joy in what we do and in life. At times we are stuck in the vastness of a giant maze wondering which path will lead us to joy. It is when we are stuck that having a guide to help us find our way is of so much value.