Go With Your Thoughts
What do you do when meditating and you find your thoughts scattering to the wind? I left a comment at Debra’s blog and said to simply go with the thoughts. Don’t fight it, don’t struggle against the tide. Remember the adage:
Row your boat DOWN the stream.
In other words go with the flow. Let your thoughts take you where they do. Sometimes, meditation can work to your advantage even if you don’t think you’re getting anything out of it. Simply closing your eyes and reflecting on your day can have amazing restorative actions. If you find your thoughts scattering, put on some soothing instrumental music and drift away to the sounds. There really is no right or wrong way to find your quiet place. As I wrote in my comment to Debra:
Sometimes if you follow your scattered thoughts, they may just lead you to your own quiet place.
That was my story. I have three or four places I visit now when I meditate and I would not have discovered them were it not for following my thoughts when I started out. So my advice to beginners and pros alike is this:
If you find that you cannot settle your thoughts, don’t fret, don’t struggle. Follow those thoughts, you may just discover a new quiet place you’d forgotten existed in your past.
How do you find your quiet place?
Be Happy! Be Well! Be Positive!
Blessings to you.
–
Chris
Books as Inspiration
Bonita Kay Summers writes a blog called The Intuitive Perspective; and she recently posted a column Books for Practical Enlightenment. Seeing as I’m such a vociferous reader myself, I jumped all over the column and wanted to offer my view on using books not just to better ourselves but also as inspiration for my own blog.
I’ve blogged previously bout some of these books, but as with everything It can sometimes be helpful to revisit some of our old friends. As most of you who have been following me for sometime are aware, since I began writing this blog, my spirituality has become stronger and I look to more faith based books now then I have in the past.
I think one of my favorite authors in this field now is:
Timothy Keller
Having now read a few of his books I found him very refreshing. One of the things I look for when reading books in this genre is someone who doesn’t preach to you, someone who when you read you don’t feel like rolling your eyes and feeling uncomfortable, like they are invoking God in a way that some televangelists do. Don’t quite know if you understand what I’m getting at, but I DO know that you understand it when you see or hear it. Timothy Keller doesn’t do this. His books are spiritual without being religious. If you want to check him out, I recommend:
The Prodigal God
and
King’s Cross
Another author I discovered and the one book that left a huge impression on me last year was:
Rob Bell
His book:
Inspiration For My Blog:
I use several books as “Get Me Started” vehicles when I need quotes to move my blog forward. These resources have yet to let me down. Those who have been here awhile will recognize the titles but will not have seen them collected in a list:
1. Letting Everything Become Your Teacher
2. Change Your Life! A Little Book of Big Ideas
3. God Always Has A Plan B
4. A Book Of Bliss, Thoughts To Make You Smile
5. Inspiration For A Lifetime
Okay. So what do all of these books have in common? They all have short quotes, thoughts to inspire, thoughts to help you move forward. I come to these books when I want to find something to write about. I naturally have many resources I use for my blog but books still are at the top of my list. Seeing that my day job is at my local library this should come as no surprise.
Other Books That Inspire:
The Ultimate Gift
My Name is Memory
Siddhartha
The Alchemist
Way of the Peaceful Warrior
Tunnel Vision
As you see, books inspire me in many ways. They’ve always been an important part of my life and I read everything. I’ve said it here before and it bears repeating:
I’m so fortunate to have been able to bring my love of books and reading into my career and I can only thank the Divine/God for guiding me to the career I so wanted.
Be Happy! Be Well! Be Positive!
Blessings to you.
–
Chris
Sick and Blessed
First Blessing:
The snowstorm that arrived late Friday night into Saturday cancelled work for Saturday and I wasn’t scheduled to be back at work until Tuesday. I also had a meeting scheduled for Saturday after work. That was cancelled as well.
Second Blessing:
I’ve written here previously how important my friends are to me and this was proven once more to me. The person I was scheduled to meet with on Saturday after work discovered I was sick and she immediately stepped up and asked if there was anything she could do for me, offering to going to the store to pick up anything I needed. That was so touching and I told her so. I had a my monthly massage scheduled for Monday and I had to cancel that for the second month in a row as I had this same sickness in December.
This morning, January 23, Jackie, my massage therapist called to check in on me. How many people can say their massage therapists worry enough to check in? And of course I have one friend who is always checking in.
That’s why I feel so blessed with having such a core group of friends. I know I’ll never be alone not with the friends I have now.
That doesn’t happen overnight. It takes years to cultivate that type of relationship with anyone. If there was ever a case of your reputation preceding you, then this is definitely one of them. I touched on this briefly in my October 31 column called Ninety Percent of Success, where I discussed how my reputation as a safe photographer gets me into places where others may not be able to go. It’s all part of who I am and when people get to know me, they understand that you get no falseness with me. It’s like the computer acronym:
wysiwyg.
Third Blessing:
I’m fortunate that my parents live close by as I needed them last night (Tuesday January 24) as my primary care doctor called to check in on me. She heard the difficulty I was having breathing. I was very congested. She wanted me to go to the Guilford Connecticut Yale Clinic; as I had JUST taken a dose of my cough medicine with Codeine I was in no condition to drive myself there. I jumped on the phone and called my Mom first. There was no answer after three times. Even called her cell. No answer there either. Onto my Dad.
He answered immediately. He said he’d be here. He’s one town over in Guilford. After I hung up with him, my Mom called back and said she was on the other line. We arranged that she’d come to bring me. We connected back with my Dad and all was well. He met us there anyway. After being at the Guilford Clinic, my cell phone beeped that a text was arriving. My one friend who always checks in.
When discovered where I was they wanted to come down as well, but we were convincing that there was nothing to be gained by that.
Overall Blessings:
If you didn’t know yet, I’m always looking for the blessings in every challenge. It’s the only way to live a fulfilling life. I can’t begin to express my gratitude to everyone in my circle. All of my friends mean the world to me and knowing that they are looking out for me is amazing. It warms my heart to know that even new people entering my sphere are reaching out. That was totally unexpected. And knowing my parents are close by to help when I need it is also a wonderful gift to behold. So thank you to everyone who I count as a friend and thank you to my family as well for reaching out when I need you.
Blessings are everywhere.
You just have to know where to look.
Be Happy! Be Well! Be Positive!
Blessings to you.
–
Chris
Smile Today
The best defense is a smile.
Smile at a stranger today
It’s the little things we do and say
that mean so much as we go on our way.
Be happy. It’s one way of being wise.
A Book of Bliss
Thoughts to Make You Smile
Pages 89 and 97
A smile certainly can be the greatest defense. It can disarm a volatile situation. Think about it. Have you ever been in a position where words were getting more heated by the moment? What if you simply beamed your best smile instead of adding more negativity? What do you think would happen?
One of the two things come to mind for me:
1. It would entirely diffuse the standoff and everyone who was involved would laugh it off.
2. The offending party wouldn’t know how to react and they’d simply walk away shaking their heads.
In both cases violence would be averted.
A smile can go a long way to averting violence.
A smile can be a bridge to loneliness.
A smile can say I love you.
A smile can do so much.
Smile more.
Frown less.
Laugh more.
Cry less.
Be happy more.
Be sad less.
And your life will change.
I’m reminded of a quote here:
Smile and the world smiles with you.
Frown and you frown alone.
The next time you pass someone on the street who seems down, throw them your biggest smile and watch for the reaction.
Be Happy! Be Well! Be Positive!
Blessings to you.
–
Chris
Vitamin B, Dreams and Past Lives
I wanted to have all three blog columns written for this week by last Tuesday or Wednesday. As it turned out I didn’t get this column written until Sunday Morning. But I understand now that I was waiting for the inspiration to strike in the form of that television ad.
Do you want to recall your dreams on a consistent basis? The consensus I’ve found is to take up to 75 mg B6 a night and watch for the results. It may not happen the first night you take the vitamin as it might need time to build up in your system. If you’re consistent about it, however you may find dream recall improving.
As I was laying in bed this morning before I got up, I started considering the point where dreams and past lives intersect. Could some of our dreams be recollections of past lives? You know our subconscious is ALWAYS working. Maybe our past lives leak into the present via our dreams. Everyone dreams and it is said that dreams help us work out our challenges we’ve faced through the day before. How is that different from the meaning of past lives?
There is no difference! Both dreams and recalling past lives can have an immediate impact on bettering our lives if we make the improvements that are shown to us.
The next question is if Vitamin B can help with dream recall which is really in the subconscious can Vitamin B also help recall past lives? Has this been used in past life regression therapy? I wonder.
Be Happy! Be Well! Be Positive!
Blessings to you.
–
Chris
