This is one of the first strategies I adopted before I started meditating and understood what mindfulness was. I wanted to find a way of controlling my fear-based thoughts and behaviours to minimize my emotional reactions. I established the following mantras, which I used whenever I felt the slightest hint of irritation or upset...
- By Lisa Garr
We’ve all read countless stories that stress is bad for our health and leads to weight gain, heart disease, and a host of other emotional and physical issues. We’re told to reduce our stress, which sounds like a solid idea, but how does one accomplish that in this crazy-busy world?
In the 2000 movie, Where the Heart Is, seventeen year old Novalee Nation (played by Natalie Portman), while crossing the country in search of a new life, is abandoned by her loser boyfriend at a small town Walmart store. Last week, Joyce and I witnessed an eerily similar story...
I tried not to write this. Really, I did. But some things just won't leave you alone and I think it's a crucial step in the Love Revolution... So here it is. I'm just gonna tell it like I see it. There's some serious sh*t going down on planet Earth right now. You feel it. I feel it. We all feel it...
The time has come to make a decision. Humanity as a collective is nearing the end of its ability to go on the way it has been. That isn’t meant to be a doomsday warning, just a word to the wise. We have to change course here, and the fastest way we can do it is to change our ideas about God.
When I first started using intentions, I did so because they felt good. They were positive, uplifting, and shifted my perspective to one that was more open. It wasn’t until I started exploring neurolinguistic programing as part of my life-coaching education that I realized what I was doing was conditioning these beliefs to who I was.
Any pain, any belief, any assumption can be released into peace by letting go of it. We can allow it to dissolve and flow away in the great flood of love that courses through us when we switch on...
- By Alan Cohen
Grand theft identity began soon after you arrived on earth. Parents, teachers, siblings, clergy, and authority figures told you that you are inept, insignificant, ugly, unworthy, and sinful, and that the world is a menacing place with threats and danger at every turn. Over time you began to believe these terrible lies...
It is now one hundred years since drugs were first banned – and all through this long century of waging war on drugs, we have been told a story about addiction, by our teachers, and by our governments. This story is so deeply ingrained in our minds that we take it for granted. It seems obvious. It seems manifestly true.
- By Ray Dodd
Every word in every language is nothing more than an agreement. If I say, “I adore my cat,” you understand what I have said only because we agree on the meaning of the sounds. What we may not agree on is the emotional charge of certain words.
It's not hard to bring a little more equality into each others' lives. Kerry Morrison interviews homeless veteran John Watkins in the Hollywood Hills. Hollywood was one of the first communities to join the 100,000 Homes Campaign. Watkins has been provided with housing.
What many people don’t realize is that in the journey of life we can head in only two directions: toward well-being and away from it. Your emotions indicate where you are going. If you are feeling bad, it means you’re thinking thoughts that are taking you away from well-being and moving you toward distress.
We ask for health, happiness, a loving relationship, but deep down we have all these other thoughts... we don't eat a "perfect" diet, so we can't have health... we are not "perfect" so how can we deserve happiness... we have so many flaws, so how can we attract the "perfect" relationship...
Many indigenous peoples, and those comfortable with the idea of other dimensions, already have a sense of their interconnectedness with the cosmos. However, those who have a more limited belief system—in which superiority, ownership, cultural control, and unchecked growth and consumption dominate—tend to struggle with this perception.
- By Alan Cohen
The world is filled with all manner of subject matter and intention. You have the power to understand what is of value to you and screen out everything that doesn’t match your intention. A significant part of personal growth is finding the confidence to...
Quite possibly, it is through our differences that we learn the true value of that which makes us one. We all have different worldviews. We all have slightly different perspectives on what we see, what we hear, and what we experience. Still, we also share something very sacred...
- By John Robbins
So much is at stake in our times. Whether we like it or not, and whether we accept it or not, the choices we make, individually and collectively, in the coming years will make an incredible amount of difference, perhaps...
We're often told to live in the present, yet then we're told to set goals and plan for the future. Which is it? "...imagine you’re driving a car. As you look through the windshield you’re looking into the future. As you’re sitting in the driver’s seat you’re in the present. If you look..."
Each of us longs to express who we are, what we think and how we feel. But how often do we? From my perch I see more being repressed than expressed. Considering that repression can lead to depression, illness and even violence, what is stopping us from being true to ourselves and...
- By Eldon Taylor
by Eldon Taylor. Uncovering our biases is an important step in discovering ourselves. Evaluating the words we choose, what they mean, what they imply, and how we use them is an exercise in self-awareness. Whether we repeat a “blonde” joke, a sexist expectation, a racist definition...
- By Deborah King
by Deborah King. Often, our most important beliefs are unconscious. Over 90 percent of those that we currently hold we took on as kids from our parents or caregivers, school, and culture. These views run the greater part of our lives and determine if we’re going to be...
Over the years, I have read many wonderful books on the subjects of spirituality, philosophy, and personal growth. These books usually paint a beautiful and inspiring picture of reality. But often, after the inspiration of the book had faded, I found myself asking, "Wouldn't it be wonderful if reality were like that?"
- By Alan Cohen
A Course in Miracles asks us to keep our priorities in order. Spirit first, matter second. People before stuff. Love before fear. Leo Buscaglia noted, We were born to love people and use things, but we learn to love things and use people.