Open heart/ Open mind

thanks to our good old pal the unconscious mind. In short, our unconscious mind is comforted by habit. That's why habits are so hard to break, even if they're "bad." None of us will deny that humans love looking for patterns, making patterns, following patterns and so on. Our ego minds want so badly to be right, such that when we experience the world, we often wear blinders to experiences that might prove us wrong. And this is not a bad thing, really. Our egos are just trying to keep us safe. But this way of believing certainly can put a damper on our lives — in love, work and otherwise.

Our brains are wired to see patterns that prove ourselves correct. It's evolutionary, something hard-wired in each of us. If a person approaches anything/anyone through a negative lens, believing everyone is out to get them, he/she will find evidence to support that, while his/her brain passes over evidence of the opposite.

By entering life from a jaded or negative space, one's experience is more likely to meet that expectation (or lack thereof).  If we approach life expecting a person to be boring or superficial or angry, then we will see the other person through a filter, looking for evidence to of these qualities. We create our own reality this way. 

So how can we change this paradigm?

The answer's simple, but not necessarily easy. Enter the experience with an open mind and heart. Try to clear your mind of expectations and beliefs about what something is or is not before you try it. No, I'm not encouraging a Pollyanic, naive approach. But you can begin the process of looking towards life with a fundamental belief in place that will anchor you: you already have everything you need inside of yourself. This will allow you to remain as neutral as possible. At the same time, it will also allow other people to show up freely as himself or herself, without the filtering effect of your judgments and assumptions.

That said, if you find your judgements bubbling up, simply to notice what your mind wants to label "bad." The beauty of being aware in this way is that you can take your power back, and no longer have to navigate dating from a negative space.

Look at this way: the world is so much larger and more spacious than the worlds each of us inhabits each day. Appreciate that space, and realize how freeing it is. There are beautiful, open, conscious individuals everywhere.

Mind.body.green

equanimity

equanimity
mental calmness, composure, and evenness of temper, especially in a difficult situation.

// this is my word for age 31//

…and the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom // Anais Nin

Net Worth and Self Worth

“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? ...Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” 

Marianne Williamson

Our net worth is going to be linked up with our feelings of self worth, not with our inherant worth. When we try and make a change in our behavior from a perspective of beating ourselves up and hating ourself, the change doesnt stick. But when we change our behavior out of love and compassion then it will stick. If you value yourself you ramp up the value that you can offer to the world. If you connect your financial awareness with self care and if you take care of your finances as an honor and privelage and look at it as a place of gratitude you will choose whether or not to buy something out of self love. Choosing to have a lack of financial awareness is only a way to keep yourself small out of fear. So if you want to heal your relationship with money, learn your own value.

Kate Northrup

My Silver Lining

Regret, remorse, hold on, oh no I've got to go

There's no starting over, no new beginnings, time races on

And you've just gotta keep on keeping on

Gotta keep on going, looking straight out on the road

Can't worry 'bout what's behind you or what's coming for you further up the road

I try not to hold on to what is gone, I try to do right what is wrong

I won't take the easy road

Having no idea who or what or where I am

Something good comes with the bad

There's hope, there's a silver lining

Show me my silver lining

//First Aid Kit

Janus

The ancient Roman God, associated with doorways, choices, and transitions// He looks to the future and the past.

As a God of motion he looks for passages, causes actions to start and presides over all beginnings.

He is shown having two faces looking in opposite directions, regarding what is behind while simultaneously looking towards what lies ahead. Representative of contemplation on the happenings of an old year while looking forward to the new. The month of January was named after Janus because the month represents new beginnings, it is the doorway month into the new year where anything is possible should we choose to create or take opportunities.

get well, be well, stay well

If you want to get well, be well, and stay well, you must look to the very source of your health -- your consciousness. Your consciousness is the wellspring of beliefs, behaviors, and emotions that set the stage for your state of health

"Thoughts have the peculiar quality of becoming their physical equivalents," said Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich.

the Law of Attraction -- what you think about the most, with the highest degree of emotional intensity, is what you attract into your life. The Law of Attraction works like this: Your thoughts and beliefs lead to emotions, and these emotions drive your behavior. Ultimately, these thoughts and emotions cause their physical equivalents to manifest in your life and your body. This happens because your consciousness programs your autonomic nervous system to carry out your beliefs on a physical level.

If you think about leading an active, healthy life, then this is what's most likely to become a reality for you. Drawing on this knowledge is one of the most profound and effective ways to change your life for the better.

Christine Northrup, MD

epictetus

The Greek philosopher Epictetus said it beautifully more than 2,000 years ago: "People are disturbed, not by things (that happen to them), but by the principles and opinions which they form concerning (those) things. When we are hindered, or disturbed, or grieved, let us never attribute it to others, but to ourselves; that is, to our own principles and opinions."

American psychologist Albert Ellis, famous for developing rational emotive behavior therapy, explained that "how" people react to events is determined largely by their "view" of the events, not the events themselves.

MindBodyGreen

letting go

cease clinging to anything.
release with full acceptance into the stream of present moments as they are unfolding.
give up coercing, resisting, or struggling, in exchange for something more powerful and wholesome which comes out of allowing things to be as they are without getting caught up in your attraction to or rejection of them, in the intrinsic stickiness of wanting, of liking and disliking.
it is not a holding on with our hands. we hold on with our minds.
we get stuck ourselves, be holding, often desperately, to narrow views, to self-serving hopes and wishes.
choose to become transparent to the strong pull of our own likes and dislikes, and of the unawareness that draws us to cling to them.

//wherever you go , there you are

For a New Beginning

In out-of-the-way places of the heart,

Where your thoughts never think to wander,

This beginning has been quietly forming,

Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

For a long time it has watched your desire,

Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,

Noticing how you willed yourself on,

Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

It watched you play with the seduction of safety

And the gray promises that sameness whispered,

Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,

Wondered would you always live like this.

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,

And out you stepped onto new ground,

Your eyes young again with energy and dream,

A path of plenitude opening before you.

Though your destination is not yet clear

You can trust the promise of this opening;

Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning

That is at one with your life’s desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure;

Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;

Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,

For your soul senses the world that awaits you.

John O’Donohue