Labeling

Have you ever notice that we label everything? 

Nothing gets to just “be” in our sociality because of labeling!   We label people, things, events, good, bad, right, wrong, young, old and we even label our days!

Monday-what does that label about today say to you?  How does your perception about how this day is going to be different because of the “Monday” label?  How many of you got up this morning and said, “I hate Mondays” or rolled out of bed with an attitude already formed around today?

What if we took all the labels off of the people, events and days in our life and just lived in the present moment of what is NOW?

In the NOW there is no need for a title, a judgement, a painbody or a feeling about a label.  There is no label!  Only in the present moment can something just “be.” 

Something to think about as you go through your day today.  When an usual feeling comes up around an usual label you have the opportunity to see it differently and to stay present to each moment of the day despite its label. 

Make it the best unlabeled “Monday” that you have ever had!

Are You Creating Problems?

When you create a problem, you create pain.  All it takes is a simple choice, a simple decision: no matter what happens, I will create no more pain for myself.  I will create no more problems.  Although it is a simple choice, it is also very hard.  You won’t make that choice unless you are truly fed up with suffering, unless you have truly had enough.  And you won’t be able to go through with it unless you choose to live in the present moment of NOW.  If you create no more pain for yourself, then you create no more pain for others.  You also no longer contaminate the beautiful Earth, your inner space, and the collective human psyche with the negativity of problem making.  ( This is adapted from Eckhart Tolle, The Power of  NOW)

I have to stop at times to remind myself of this.  At any given moment there is no suffering in that present space.  All suffering is created from a past or a future thought.  So the next time you find yourself wrapped up in a problem, STOP!  It is not present.  Come back to the moment  now and be open to the gifts that are right here, right now. That is what is real, that is what is present and in that space everything is perfect. 

Happy Monday to all of you! I’m wishing you a day of living fully in the moment and enjoying each one.  Yesterday is over and tomorrow will take care of itself.

Stillness

Sitting in stillness.  Being present to nothing but the moment of now.  Following your breathe in and out.  Nothing to do no-thing to be but still.  Feeling the breathe expand your lungs, your feet on the floor.  Your presence just reading this.  Being still in the moment and letting this moment be what it is, accepting the gifts that stillness brings.  A re-centering, a calmness, a sense of peace and from this place set your intention for the day.  ” My intention for this day is to reach out to everyone I see with kind eyes and a smile honoring them as another human being on this beautiful journey.”  Namaste

Thinking from a different outlook.

Thinking!  Sometimes I think we think too much!  Always trying to figure everything out before it even happens.  What’s is going to be like?  What are we going to do?   What if?  What if not? 

None of this pre-thought in trying to understand what might be coming will ever take the place of the actually present moment.  We just create alot of suffering by having to continually try to stay ahead of life.  Because most of the thoughts are not real but the story of how we think or want it to look, feel or sound.  And  then so often when the real moment shows up we are disappointed because it did not happen as we had planned.  I love the quote from Mark Twain: ” I have led a long and terrible life, most of which never happened.”

Try not  to pre-live your life but to be openly aware of the gifts that the present moment has to give.  Show up in awe to each day, to each gift.  Look for what happens from this place of living.

#1 Forgetting 2 Remember Seminar

As we quickly approach this weekend and the first launching seminar of Forgetting 2 Remember I have notice a change in myself, a falling into place so to speak. 

Years and thousands of hours have gone into its thought and creation of this venture.  And I suppose just like the bride before her wedding day there comes a time to stop, rest, enjoy, and let it all come into fruition. 

That time is now.  The time where there is nothing more to do but becoming present to the gifts that this journey has already brought forth. 

I’m going to relax now.  Spread the love and send intention to the weekends highest cause.  I’m looking forward to seeing all of you that are taking this first journey with me.  Thank you!

To the rest of you I hope to see you at the July 24-26  seminar. Happiness and peace to each of you!

Staying in the Now!

It is so easy to become distracted with the many different things that we have going on in our lives.   One of the most important things you can do each day to re-center is just to become present in the gift of the moment.  Not in the past, not in the future. 

The present, make it your gift to yourself today.  

Giving up the struggle

Life presents problems because we fight it, we don’t accept what-is in the present moment.  We want to become something other than what we are.  We want something other than what we now have. – Ramesh Balsekar

And we are always looking outside of ourselves, never inside.  With this moment, right now, what needs to be different?

Just something to ponder today!

Relax!

Anna( my daughter), Rachael(Anna’s friend), Mike and I are on spring break this week.  Mike had a speaking engagement in Washington DC. yesterday.  So Anna, Rachael and I took off for the White House!  It is cherry blossom festival time in DC right now!  What an amazing sight!  I have never seen anything like it before.

I’m always intrigued how people” show-up” differently to the same event.  The crowds were huge, the walking bridge was even at a stand still.  Some people just enjoying it all and others irritated by even the slightest bump.

I wanted to get up on my soap box and tell everyone to RELAX and that I hoped that being there in all that splendor, confusion, warmth, freedom and peace would be the worst think that happened to them that day.  What a blessing!

Being there reminded me to relax, be present and enjoy! 

  When life get frustrating, as it will, may we all remember to be thankful for being alive, free and able to experience all of life’s gifts, even a lot of people all in the same place at the same time!

Being Present

Interesting thing happened this past weekend.  I woke up Saturday morning feeling like I had been hit by a car! 

No wonder!  Friday morning , driving Anna to school, we were in the turn lane stopped and a young lady coming up from behind us didn’t stop.  Fortunately none of us were  hurt more than some strain necks, sore muscle and a couple of bruises.

A wonderful opportunity came from that experience Friday morning.  A reminder to be “present” to each moment.  Our lives can change in a second! 

We spent so much time in the past or the future that we are missing the moment of  NOW.   The Young lady in the other car was not present and even after the accident, her focus became about her car being totaled.  Something already in the past!  It became a great opportunity to share with her the gift of  HER presences, of  HER being alive,  something so much more valuable then any material thing that she will ever have.  We all received that bump to remind us,  nothing  matters more. 

My mom gave me a bracelet once that says, “Nothing matters more than this day”.   I want to take that one step further to, “Nothing matter more then this moment”.  We aren’t always given days, just present  moments!

Remember the “present”,   It is a gift!

Enjoy your “present” this day!  Happy Monday!