Why worry about all those worries?

This morning I read today's beautiful reading from Sri Swami Satchidananda's book "The Golden Present".
And I'd like to share it with you here: ~

Hundreds of Worries

How many wants do you have? How many things do you worry about?
"I don't have this."  "I didn't get that."  "I don't have a nice enough office." "I didn't get the car I wanted." "I don't have an air conditioner."  "I didn't get what I wanted to eat." . . . . 

There are all kinds of unnecessary worries. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of worries.

How can you even lift a small blade of grass with that kind of attitude?

The mind is the main source of health and happiness. 

The same mind can completely rob you of all your health and happiness, if you don't train it properly.

Heat, humidity, cold, hunger ~ all these conditions are nothing if your mind is calm and balanced.

So many things we take for granted, so many things we worry about needlessly, taking up energy and making us unwell. Emotional stress can effect our daily lives. So try putting your worries into context. Try seeing them from a different perspective. Train the mind to see positives rather than negatives. Once you realize it's all in the mind, it's easier to re-frame it towards something that supports you, instead of weighing you down.
I teach my yoga students and therapy clients how to train their minds in a positive way, so daily stresses and concerns can be let go of far more easily and the mind can become more peaceful, easeful and useful.
You can find out more here www.mindbodywellbeing.co.uk

Remember that golden song . . .  "Don't worry . . . be Happy!"
Wishing you a peaceful week ahead.
Harshani
Cognitive Hypnotherapist, Reiki Master Teacher and Integral Yoga Teacher
Mind Body Wellbeing
Islip, Kettering, Northants.,

New Year Qualities ~ What would you choose?

I'll start this Blog, by wishing all of my readers a very Happy New Year in 2013 and invite you to reflect upon this year ahead. . .
There's so much interest in New Year's Resolutions (often not kept for long!) that I like to change the focus towards something that you can nuture and create throughout the year, in a mindful way.
Every New Year, I invite my Yoga students at their first class back to reflect upon a quality or qualities that they would like to invite into their lives that year ahead. It maybe something that their Yoga practice may bring them or something that they want to work on developing more of.

Some of the beautiful examples given along the way are :~

• To Feel more Contented
• Inner Peace
• Strength and Motivation
• Fun and Laughter
• Flexibility and Balance
• Patience
• Gratitude for all that I have
• Positivity

How wonderful are those!

So what qualities would you choose for yourself in 2013?
What would you like to nuture, develop and have more of?
What would change in your life this year by allowing those qualities to become part of your life?

So once they've chosen the quality they'd like to invite into their lives, I then ask them to close their eyes and imagine that if their quality had a colour, what would it be?
So as they imagine that colour, they then imagine they can breathe it in, with every in-breath and let every out-breath release what they no longer need from the previous year.

So try that for yourself too now . . .  by closing your eyes, tuning into your breath and allowing yourself to be open to receive this quality that you'd like. And, if that quality had a colour for you, what would it be? Then connecting to your colour and being open to it's flow, imagine you can breath it into your being with every inhalation and with every exhalation imagine you are letting go of the things you no longer need from 2012. Do that for a couple of minutes every day and then be mindful of this quality and practice using it more and more.

You just might find it becoming more and more part of your life.
Remember what you think, so you become. What you focus on you attract.

So enjoy and be open to receive it's flow.

If you'd like to share some of your qualities and colours here, then please do . . .

For guidance on how to change your life visit www.mindbodywellbeing.co.uk

The Beauty of Friendship

How very special to know you have friends ~ whether you can count them all on one hand or many, it really doesn't matter ~ but what if we could think wider . . . or even wider than that?

What if everyone could become an image of friendship . . . and creating that all started within ourselves?

Today, I'd like to share the beautiful inspirational teachings of Sri Swami Satchidananda from his book of daily readings called "The Golden Present": ~

Become a Friend

           You don't make a friend. You become a friend. Then you automatically will have friends.

If you relate to people in a very friendly, affectionate way, by loving and caring, sharing and helping, then naturally they will see you as a good friend. When they see you as a good friend, then they become your friends. It begins with you. You should always try to do something nice for people. 

Never hurt anyone's feelings. The secret is to always look for opportunities to help others; look for ways to be nice to them. Sometimes they might even be nasty to you; if so, ignore it, forget it. Maybe that is the way they are; but we should be nice to them. Even if someone says, "Oh, you're a fool," you should say "Thank you." Don't retaliate with the same kind of words. Soon they will get tired of all that. Afterwards, they will even feel ashamed.

         The great sage, Thiruvalluvar said that if people do something wrong to you or hurt you, do something really good for them in return. That is the best punishment. Why? Because they will be so embarrassed to have done that to you. It is in our hands. We can always make friends with anyone and everyone if we have the right attitude. If we have the patience and understanding.

So as your day today comes towards a close, try to see how many friendships you can create around you and the next day and the next and the next. . .

Peace of mind, starts within.
Healing starts within.
Wellbeing starts within.

It's all in your hands to create change and others are there to help, guide and support you along the way too.

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti

www.mindbodywellbeing.co.uk

Mindful Meditation

https://www.facebook.com/This morning on radio 4 there was an interesting discussion on mindful meditation.

So what does mindfulness mean to me?
It is about being present; being in the moment; aware of self and immediate environment; doing things slowly and carefully (mindfully) . . . .  so when you link that with meditation, to me it is a more active meditation than classic forms of traditional meditation, almost as if you try to live your life in a mindful meditative way of being present in all that you do.

Thich Nhat Hanh, author of "The Miracle of Mindfulness" is a world known revered master of Meditation & Mindfulness. He has a retreat community centre called "Plum Village" in SouthWest France where monks, nuns, laymen & laywomen practise mindful living. 

Traditional meditation is a pure focus on one point, a withdrawal of the senses, a connection of oneness.
In my yoga classes I encourage a mindfulness of practise in the Asana's (postures), which is very meditative in itself, yet being fully present and aware of the physical, mental and emotional body.

To me, all paths to meditation and 'being mindful' help us to become more peaceful, more at one with ourselves and the world around us.

Peace always begins within!