Throughout history, this wrestling with strength and power has been characterized in all cultures which represent the best and worst of what it means to be human. Both of these energies live within each of us, and we are able to respond instantaneously to whatever challenge we are faced with. When we are living in pure awareness and from our center, a connective embodied power arises that unifies all life and such embodiment, such as facing the dragon, can be heroic in the deepest sense. Yet when we are cut off, even for a moment, we feel numb, we have lost center, we grow powerless and we are consumed with fear of the unknown outcome.
The greatest power known to man is that of unconditional love. Through the ages, mystics, sages, singers and poets have all expressed the ballad and call to love. As humans, we have searched endlessly for the experience of love through the outer senses. Great nations have come and gone under the guise of love for their people. Religions have flourished and perished while claiming the true path to love. We, the people of this planet, may have missed the simplicity of unconditional love.
Simply stated, unconditional love is an unlimited way of being. We are without any limit to our thoughts and feelings in life and can create any reality we choose to focus our attention upon. There are infinite imaginative possibilities when we allow the freedom to go beyond our perceived limits. If we can dream it, we can build it. Life, through unconditional love, is a wondrous adventure that excites the very core of our being and lights our path with delight.
It’s the beginning of the holiday season and with the holidays comes to stress. Each year we feel a mix of joy and anxiety when we approach the days before holidays. We experience a combination of stressors related to financial costs of the holidays, family coming to stay and the conflicts it may bring, and the stress of trying to have the perfect meal and holiday all together. Combined with gift selections to ponder, shopping to do, greeting cards to write and respond to, phone calls to return, parties to attend and host, menus to plan and of course bills to pay, it can feel completely overwhelming and not much fun at times.
Since all these important things need to be done, as they are the substance of your life (this is not a dress rehearsal), doesn’t it make sense to find ways to have more fun while doing each functional task? Good planning can be a lot of fun to plan but remember … Worrying is not planning! Worrying about the outcome of our plans takes us away from enjoying activities in the present. A good plan is like an anchor in the storm of worry. If you get caught in worry, come back to your plans and take action Now.
We are more likely to experience fun when we are fully present to the smells, tastes, sounds, sights, and feelings of the holiday season. It’s a matter of focus and to experience more joy in the moment, simply shift your focus and pay attention to all these pleasant experiences. Take this a step further and begin to expect, seek, and create more pleasant moments looking for opportunities to have fun along the way.
How do we put the fun back in your Holiday Season?
When is the last time you really had fun—the last time you just let yourself go and had a good time? When did you last forget about all your daily responsibilities and live in the moment? If it’s been too long, one of these assumptions about fun may be holding you back.
Stop worrying what other people will think. You are not a mind reader and other people don’t think about you nearly as much as you think they do. Be your authentic self because those who matter appreciate you.
It’s true: Some of the best things in life are free…. You don’t need to spend a lot of money to buy a lot of stuff, nor do you need to go on a pricey vacation to have fun. It’s more about just being in the moment with the people you care about.
There is always time to have fun. There is always time to have fun no matter how little time you think you have—you can make the time. Fun is found in the little moments; you don’t need to carve out your whole day, simply do something you enjoy, just for the fun of it.
Do you really need to plan everything? Perhaps the most fun can be found in spontaneous unplanned moments by simply allowing things to happen naturally. Let yourself experience spur-of-the-moment trips and last-minute get-together. Be in the present moment.
Conditions do not have to be perfect and they seldom are! .Many fun moments occur when things go unexpectedly awry. Allow yourself to be imperfect and enjoy the imperfections of life. Humans are imperfect creatures, after all, and you’re one of them. Telling yourself, “I’ll have fun when…” is counterproductive; have fun now: There’s no time like the present.
If you think it has to be big and spectacular, here’s a News flash: Every day is not a holiday or parades, and parties. If you think real fun only happens at big events, you’re depriving yourself of some good times. Fun is what you make it. It doesn’t need to be spectacular, by any means and more often it is found in smaller five or ten-minute increments that create wonderful lasting memories. Holidays are Great Opportunities for FUN.
Benefits of Being Creative and Playful
It’s never too late to develop your playful, humorous side. If you find yourself limiting your playfulness, it’s possible that you’re self-conscious and concerned about how you’ll look and sound to others when attempting to be lighthearted. Play helps:
Relieve stress. Play is fun and can trigger the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals. Endorphins promote an overall sense of well-being and can even temporarily relieve pain.
Improve brain function. Playing chess, completing puzzles, or pursuing other fun activities that challenge the brain can help prevent memory problems and improve brain function. The social interaction of playing with family and friends can also help ward off stress and depression.
Stimulate the mind and boost creativity. Young children often learn best when they are playing—a principle that applies to adults, as well. You’ll learn a new task better when it’s fun and you’re in a relaxed and playful mood. Play can also stimulate your imagination, helping you adapt and solve problems.
Improve relationships and your connection to others. Sharing laughter and fun can foster empathy, compassion, trust, and intimacy with others. Play doesn’t have to include a specific activity; it can also be a state of mind. Developing a playful nature can help you loosen up in stressful situations, break the ice with strangers, make new friends, and form new business relationships.
Keep you feeling young and energetic. In the words of George Bernard Shaw, “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” Play can boost your energy and vitality and even improve your resistance to disease, helping you function at your best.
Remember what the holidays are really about
It’s about – spending quality time with family, friends and loved ones. It’s about giving love and joy to others. Watch your expectation; make sure they are realistic. We try for perfection during the holidays and we tend to forget what the holidays are really about. Remind yourself that the holidays are about being close to your loved ones while everything else comes second.
This Holiday give yourself permission to be creative and spontaneous. Set aside your inhibitions and try something fun, something you haven’t done since you were a kid, perhaps. This holiday Season as you are gathered with family and friends and in the spirit of Holiday Fun, go once round the table asking others if they have a fun story feel free to share it!
… Love and blessings, Christina
More Content on EFT and Personal Peace
A new science has emerged over the last 20 years called Epigenetics. It is the study of changes in gene activity that is not accounted for by alterations in the genetic code, but is still passed on to the next generation. It is through epigenetic “marks” that environmental factors such as diet, stress, emotions, exposure to toxins, prenatal nutrition, and parental influences can modify and regulate genes that are passed on to future generations.
Epigenetic research has established that DNA blueprints passed down through genes are not set in concrete at birth and can be modified. Our genes are continually being modified in response to our life experiences and how we perceive them. Our cells respond to our thoughts and perceptions, and our perceptions shape our biology. Each of the 75 trillion cells in the human body has a digestive, respiratory, excretory, endocrine, nervous, reproductive, and immune system. Individual cells have intelligence and memory.
In order to make crucial decisions about what to do with our time, energy, creativity, material resources and our lives, we need to answer some very basic questions. Otherwise we are simply programmed robots, living and reacting (rather than acting) according to our familial and social programming.
As Socrates said, “A life without enquiry is not worth living.” A true scientist or searcher of the truth seeks continuously to uncover ever deeper answers in an endless attempt to explain the phenomena of this dimension of time, space, matter and energy. A seeker of what’s true seeks to free himself from illusions of the surface events and discover, not only the cause, but even more importantly, the purpose behind them. We are all scientists and seekers of truth. Some of us have simply fallen asleep at the job.
The human brain has about 86 billion neurons. It is a figure that was estimated in scientific research of 2009 in which the scientists used a new methodology. All electrochemical messages cause thousands of neurons to activate at the same time and transmit the message to neighboring neurons. This connection is called a synapse. Each neuron communicates in this way with hundreds of neurons receiving up to 500 times per second.
(more…)
All of us have struggled with busyness, and some of us have realized that being busy and being successful are not the same. We seem to living in a society that suffers from our unhealthy obsession with creating busyness in our lives and it’s becoming and epidemic!
A new study from the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School suggests the secret to living longer may lie in the level and type of our brain activity.
Let’s face it, we lead very busy lives and learning to do less or nothing at all is easier said than done. In today’s world, we are habitually programmed to function in a multitasking environment to accomplish more. Added to that is our consumption of a large array of electronic devices, and without planned downtime or breaks we are overstimulating the brain.
The study was conclusive that an overworked brain may hasten the aging-related decline in memory and thinking skills. By contrast, the study linked long life to our ability to cultivate a quieter brain.
Time for a Media Diet!
Excessive brain activity is common in the digital era. People of all ages are rushing from one task to another, constantly looking for stimulation, maybe it’s a TV show or the notifications on their smartphones.
The study found that there is a distinction between normal excessive brain activity especially more so as we age and that is linked to shorter life spans. The good news is that decline associated with your brain being overactive is also preventable.
Take a moment to realize how much of the negativity in the media is affecting your life. Think about it, even if the issues are important to you, is it worth your energy and sanity to place yourself in a negativity bubble?
The Essence of Doing Nothing
Living Lightly means spending as much of your time as you possibly can feeling healthy, meaningful, and happy. The rest is just noise. Every choice you make adds or subtracts hours from this true life of yours. While we cannot control every outcome, there’s always something you can control. Find ways to convert noise into time well spent.
With our heavy schedules and workloads, meetings, appointments, and other tasks it’s challenging to do nothing. But we can learn to appreciate and even create more moments of stillness in our life.
Take time to go out in nature, get plenty of sunshine, read a book, draw or journal, and even better sit quietly and watch your thoughts while doing some deep breathing.
Try committing to doing one thing in your daily routine that helps you relax and as you do so become present in your body and not your mind. Safeguard your mental stillness by taking action steps will enhance your chance of living a long and healthy life.
The Unhealthy Obsession with Staying Busy
Begin by designing a new reality for you and one that will serve you well and help you to age gracefully. Make choices that maximizes your share of happy hours on this planet and take action knowing there are things that you can control.
Using your brain for things like learning a new language or to play a new musical instrument or doing anything new for that matter is a positive thing for your memory. You really want the neurons to remain active while you are doing something, not just randomly firing off in so many directions.
By slowing down your overworked brain, and becoming conscious of your moments of hyperactivity you can shift your habitual patterns in ways that are calming.
- Set a time when we shut down your smartphones.
- Power down our laptops and step back from all forms of technology at least one day over the weekend.
- Try not to binge watch your favorite TV show till the wee hours in the morning.
- Go on a media diet and disconnect; create a plan to prioritize more time for yourself.
Keep Calm and Live Longer Healthier Lives
In the Harvard study, the researchers found that limiting neural activity is a good thing in healthy aging. It may sound counter intuitive to slow down mental stimulation, but it’s the best way to keep a healthy brain.
So, the message is, strive for balance: Keep it active, but take time to relax and quiet your mind more often.
…. love and light, Christina
More Content on Living a Healthy Lie
In writing this article I’m speaking to what happens to the chemistry in our body from the stress and anxiety we all have from time to time. All of this stems from FEAR and is influenced by many genes. There is no such thing as a simple “fear” gene that is inherited from one generation to the next. The genes controlling our neurotransmitters and their receptors are all present in several different forms in the general population.
Some combinations of these different forms you receive from your parents and will predispose you to respond with greater or lesser degrees of fear to events in your environment. But the degree to which your lives are affected by inherited genes will depend to a very large extent on your individual history of events that set off such reactions in the first place.
The powerful feelings shared by two people who are deeply attracted to one another is the stuff romantic poems and songs are made of.
As science evolves, it often belatedly proves what we already know – what is logical and a fact that no one would doubt. Well it is doing it again. Its is realizing through medical studies that love is good for our health and well-being.
Perhaps only a few of us need proof of such, but our left brain just might get a boost from knowing that it is official – feeling love and feeling loved creates beneficial chemical and hormonal states that lead to healing and good health. And scientists have discovered that love as we humans know it is spurred on by chemicals in our bodies.
“Years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did so. So, throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” …. Mark Twain
Mediocrity, pronounced “me-dee-AH-crih-tee,” has Latin parts that together literally mean “halfway up the mountain.” When climbing the mountain — or ladder — of living a successful life, mediocrity is in the middle, we are neither leading the pack nor sprawling on ground, giving up.
To avoid mediocrity, you must be willing to think outside the box and even take on a mindset that there is no box! Of course, when we do set big goals, they way to achieve them is by taking small actions towards them every day. Most mediocre people are scared to think big and take action. They do what society or their surroundings expect them to and rarely ever pursue things on their own. They also pay too much attention to their inner critic!
