Rise & Shine

"The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but finding something to live for"

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Every morning the sun reminds us to rise and shine.

How will you make 2019 your own?

What you offer 2019?

What will you take from 2019?

This moment is yours

Use it wisely

Wonder, Wander, One

I wondered for a long time

Then I started wandering

Its’ been a wonderful journey

Here’s what I found ……….

Discipline

To be disciplined you need to become a disciple of something.

To be disciplined you need to become a disciple of something.

Something worth making changes for, that compels you to practice what you set out to do.

Something worth devoting your time, energy, attention and focus too. 

Finding something worthy of devoting yourself to is a tremendous gift. 

Realising your potential to believe in something bigger than you (your small self) can help free you from the petty worries that stop you from being at your best. Devoting yourself to fulfilling that potential can help you navigate life with more focus, clarity and joy.

You'll align yourself with a constant companion that gives your life direction and meaning. 

A companion to remind you to rise and shine, to face life's obstacles with a sense of joy, determination and patience - a companion that reminds you to be a be a better you.

Fight to Flow - The Path / Process

Once you have found something to devote yourself too, to become a disciple of, you can set a plan a goal, a path to walk to fulfil that potential, to realise (to make real) that which you have imagined.

With a path chosen the work of practicing discipline begins. 

The discipline of creating new habits, making wise choices doing what you set out to do. 

At first this can seem like a fight - a fight with your old self, old patterns of behaviour,. A fight with distraction, set backs and doubt. 

Fight with courage, focus, patience, perseverance and compassion- these qualities will grow stronger with practice.

When you win this fight consistently enough over time there's less resistance and eventually the fight becomes flow. 

Your discipline will have taken you to a new stage - a step closer to fulfilling your potential, a higher foundation. 

As the Island of our Reality grows the shore of our potential Expands 

From a new foundation the view of your potential broadens and new opportunities for growth present themselves.

Now’s not the time to be complacent - confident, yes - you have won many little battles and levelled up in life. You are now the commander of your ship.
Just don't let this new found power weaken you.
Continue to honour the practices and behaviours that have brought you to this point, enjoy wholeheartedly where you're at and who you've become, reflect honestly on where you've come from and expand diligently into your new potential. 

The destination of Life is the Journey 

Once you get comfortable with this cycle (if you do so mindfully) you'll realise that contentment and continued development co-exist and you'll have reached your destination - a flourishing, fulfilled, meaningful life.

Be sure to enjoy the ride

Breath to Energise, Focus and Recoever

Do you believe you have the power to control your state of being? 

To tune into your enthusiasm, capacity to heal, focus and flow?

These three simple breathing exercises - when harmonized with the right frame of mind - can change your state of being and help you harness your life force.

There's not a lot of difference between each of these breaths aside from intention and intensity so be sure to know your intentions and monitor your intensity 

1. Breath to Energize - think about how you breath when you just finished a sprint, a really hard set or some form of high intensity training . Your body is hungry for air and you naturally breath a little faster, pulling in a pushing out large amounts of air. This is the style breathing we can use to energise ourselves.

*Deep powerful breaths in, filling the entire rib cage, encouraging the chest to fill out in all directions.

*Long, full breaths out from the belly. Energetically pushing the "old" air out of your body to make room for the new.

The intention hear should be to fill your body with energy, to warm up the respiratory system and mobilise the rib cage.

The intensity should be quite high.

2. Breath to Focus -if you want your breath to help you focus, focus on your breath.

To do this it can be helpful to breath in a particular way. *Long breaths in through your nose right down into your belly and full breaths out is the foundation *the detail is trying to breath in and out through a slightly closed throat so that you can hear your breath. *The intention here could be relaxed but alert

*the intensity should be just enough to facilitate these two qualities. 

3. Breath to Recover and Restore - the simplest breathing technique to recover is deep, slow breaths in through the nose followed long, slow, and full breaths out through the nose.

Be sure to breath into your whole body - belly then chest.

If you can make the out breath slightly longer than the in breath that will help. 

A couple of intentions I like with this  breath are "breathing in awareness, breathing out tension" or "breathing in let, breathing out go". The intensity is low - allow the breath to be deep and long rather than forcing it.

Each of these exercises invite you to control or direct the breath in someway - but the foundation of all breath work should be awareness - simply tuning in to the normal rhythms and sensations of the breath.

Do this often and learn the wisdom and transformative power of awareness.

Restorative Yoga - the Art of Rest

 A practice of Restoration, Stillness and Peace.

Restorative Yoga is series of super comfortable poses, held for 10 - 20 minutes, which help to facilitate relaxation and a gentle opening of the body.

The perfect practice for when your body, mind & soul need a rest.

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

This beautiful phrase can offer us a lot of wisdom if we let its lessons sink in.

Perception and subjectivity are the bridge between what our senses collect and what we receive - we have more control over this than most of us realise.

The practice of mindfulness can help us recognise how what we perceive can dictate what we receive.

Once we realise this we have a space in which we can expand, open, enjoy and/or simply behold our point of view.

This “truer” view of the world offers us the opportunity to make wiser, more informed and skilled decisions about how we might see things.

Sacred Space

With in each of us there is a space.

A space of peace, wisdom and compassion. 

It’s a space we all have access to but not many of us visit. 

A space from which we can live with freedom and ease. 

A space where you can be completely alone and deeply connected. 

A space that’s always been there, always will be - just waiting for us to arrive. 

When we arrive we’ll know what to do.

The senses are gateways to experience. 

They constantly commune with us - create our reality, shape our desires and guide our choices.

By taking time to acknowledge, explore and honour our senses we can tune into the messages they send us - some strong, some subtle, some wise, some not.

They provide us with valuable information that can help us make more informed choices, they are our bridge to the outside world. 

Try this : 

Watch one Sunrise this week - notice the colours, the light ........ 

Listen to a beautiful piece of music - close your eyes, lay or sit comfortably and tune into the sounds.

Smell your food - take time to tune in with your sense of smell - notice the impact this can have on your experience of eating.

Taste your food - slowly, deliberately, curiously taste what you eat. Explore the varying flavours and note how they make you feel. 

Feel the sensations of showering. This is something most of us are lucky enough to be able to do everyday and the joy of it is often lost in thinking about other stuff. Each time you have a shower take time to feel the temperature of the water, the feeling of wetness, explore your sensations of touch and notice how it feels to have water on your skin. 

Last but not least a cause for pause!! Choose any moment in the day - right now will do  - and notice what you're looking at, smelling, hearing, feeling and tasting - notice how tuning into these things shapes your experience. 

Becoming Wise

Life offers us plenty of wisdom that can help guide us to a happier, healthier self. All we have to do is pay attention and honour the advice that comes our way. 

Think of one thing in your life you know you could add, change or remove that you know would be good for you. 

Think of a ritual, practice or exercise that would help you make that change. 

Plan the practice into your schedule. 

Implement the plan. 

Wisdom without application is just more noise.

The more you listen to the wisdom life offers you and are disciplined in applying its teachings the closer to your higher self you become 

Save time with Presence

The past is a memory, the future is imaginary, the only time we have to live is right now (and how many of us waste that time worrying about how little time we have.)

Perhaps the most important behaviour we can practice to save our time is mindful presence.

Mindful presence is paying attention to what's going on right now - noticing not only what is happening circumstantially but also how we are a reacting to it (thoughts, emotions, bodily sensations etc.). By opening our awareness to all this we give our selves the best chance of making more skilled decisions and using our time well. 

try these 3 simple tips to become more present

1. Make what you're doing the most important thing in the world - if we practice doing this when the most important thing comes a long we'll be ready) - this doesn't mean stressing out or putting extra pressure on ourselves - quite the opposite. It's about offering ourselves fully to the moment- focusing exclusively at the task at hand and making sure we do it well - this can be from washing the dishes to writing an essay to finishing a project at work - the more often we practice focusing our attention on the task at hand the more likely we are to complete that task to the best or our ability - and the more often we're out our best the more fulfilling our life becomes. 
2. Transition mindfully - as you shift gear from work, to home to gym, take a deep breath - tune in with your body, take a moment to "close" your time on that particular part of the day and set your intention for the next. 
3. Use the breath to come back to the body - the body always lives in the present - the mind can often dwell on the future, the past, another place or another time but the body is always right here. If you find your mind has wandered of and you want to bring your focus back into the moment take a deep breath and feel it as it enters your body, take notice of your posture and any other sensations you feel in your body and bring your mind back to the task at hand.     

Why go without when you can go within?

We can very often get caught up thinking about what we want. 

What do we need to complete, improve us or satisfy us in some way. 

There’s nothing inherently wrong with ambition or desire but if we don’t take time to enjoy what we’ve got, count our blessings and just be then no matter what we get we’ll never be fulfilled. 

What if we were to spend some of our time - 10 - 20 minutes a day - going within?

In to the space of pure contentment, where the desire to have or be anything else leaves us and we are free to simply be.

It’s beautiful place to visit - the sort of place that after a while you decide - “I reckon I could live here”

Once you make that decision you’ll be blessed with clarity, freedom and an ease of being that’ll make life a joy. 

SIT STILL AND GO WITHIN!! 

FAITH

The Journey is one of self discovery. 

Once we realise this we are free to take one wholehearted step at a time.

To walk with acceptance, belief and faith in ourselves and the path. 

To not get caught up on how far we have to go.

To not let the distance between where we are & where we want to be daunt us.

To realise the path is the destination 

& to focus wholeheartedly and open-mindedly on the process of walking the path.

This is an act of faith - this is the practice of prayer. 

Reflect, Recover, Recharge

It starts with a stop ..........  a pause

A moment to halt the momentum of the morning, the day, the week, the month.

To stop the rumination and rushing, to become present.

From presence we direct our mind to our blessings, gifts, learnings and space for growth.

We honour our past by choosing to return to a state of wholeness, strength and vibrancy so that we can step wholeheartedly into the future.

Tune Into Your Inner Wisdom

Wisdom is something that lives with in us and around us.
Our bodies and senses (when not being distracted or bombarded) have an innate wisdom that is in tune with the natural world. If we can connect to that wisdom it will guide us to our highest state of being.
That wisdom is what helped us evolve into the human beings - it what guides many of us to health, happiness flourishing and fulfilment.

Connecting to the wisdom with in and around us in the modern world takes a special effort as we are offered so much information, distractions and advice by "experts", entertainers and advertisers that we can be paralysed by an over flow of noise, distractions and impulses.

Below is some simple steps we can take toward tuning in with our inner wisdom and letting intuition guide us:

Honour your Body with what You Know it Needs

*Sleep - 7 -9 hours each night in complete darkness or moonlight
*Eat - natural unprocessed (organic if possible) foods. Vegetables, meats, eggs, a little bit of fruit.
*Drink plenty of water
*Exercise everyday - walk, run, lift weights, swim, climb, dance, crawl, stretch. Our bodies are meant to move in a variety of ways everyday.
*Spend time in nature - parks, beaches, mountains, forests, rivers.

Many of us are not doing the simple things we know would serve us.
Most of know that the doing the things the above list would improve our quality of life - but knowing and doing are two very different things - commit to the above list for 6 week and answer the following questions
Is your life better or worse?
When consistently doing these things do you feel more tuned in with your inner wisdom or less?

Honour Your Mind by Choosing your Influences Wisely

We live in a information age, an entertainment age. A time where devices, corporations and advertises are vying for our attention, time and energy.
If used wisely we have the opportunity to use this information to our advantage, if not we run the risk of being polluted and distracted by nonsense and negativity

*Choose what you consume. Consider that whatever we read, watch, listen to has some influence on us (even when we don't notice).
*Know why you consume what you do - Is it helping you, making you better? Is it a choice based on impulse or intuition, on comfort and convenience or something a little more. Are you using time or killing time?
There's nothing wrong with entertainment and comfort as long as its something we're a choosing and not just being sucked into.
*Know how what you consume makes you feel, think and behave - tuning in and discovering how we respond to certain stimulus gives us good clues as to how to edit our consumption to serve our higher self. 

If we work with the above steps we may find we have more time and energy on our hands to tune into and live from our inner wisdom

Honour Your Soul

*Take time to be Quiet and Still
the art of stillness and being comfortable in quietude are the keys to tuning into the wisdom of the world
*Tune in with your Breath
it's a bridge to your soul.
*Practice Meditation
To sit in meditation is to become the observer, the seer -
from this seat we eventually see all there is to see.

Flourishing in 2018

This is an invitation to my brothers and sisters who want to make the world a better place in 2018. 

As the new year approaches - an obvious question is:

What do I want from 2018?

But I think we can ask some better questions.

Questions that if you ask courageously and answer wholeheartedly - with thoughts, words, actions and behaviours - will be very fulfilling (for you and the world). 

Before we get to that let’s honour 2017.

4 simple questions can help change our state of being and put us in a strong state to plan our path for the new year:

1. What are you grateful for from the last year?
2. What did you do well last year?
3. What did you learn last year?
4. What could’ve you done to make last year even better?

Now take a moment to get still and quiet.

Tune in with your breath, try to breathe deep down into your hips and notice your whole body gently expand as you breath in an contract as you breath out.
Take 12 deep breaths like this, in through your nose paying attention to any sensations you feel in your body as you breathe. 

From this place of stillness bring to your mind to one or a few of the things you are grateful for. 
Tune in with what it feels like to hold gratitude in your head and heart.
From this place of gratitude, let’s get to some better questions for 2018:

 What can you offer 2018? 

Understand that you are part of the world - the choices you make and the person you are has an effect.

Understand that you have huge potential to make the world a better place (even if its in the smallest of ways).

Understand that simply by being the best version of you the world will be better. 

What will you do in 2018? 

What actions, habits, behaviours will you take to make the world a better place?

What actions, habits, behaviours will you take to be the best version of yourself?

What actions, habits, behaviours will you take with you from 2017 or beyond that have served you up until now?

 How will you do it?

Wholeheartedly, Mindfully, Enthusiastically, Courageously, with an Open Mind, Joyfully?

Who will you be???

• Who are you now? 
• Are you the sum of everything you think, say and do?
• If so, do you cultivate your thoughts, words and actions or are they reactions and subconscious patterns?
• If your are not the sum of your thoughts, words and actions then who are you?
• Are you a product of your environment?
• If so, do you choose the environment that produces you?
• If not a product of your environment then who are you?
• Do people know the real you?
• Do you know the real you? 
• Is there a real you? 

Pondering these questions can be a wonder-filled, philosophical  practice on it's own. 

Dare to go Deep

Demystifying Affirmations

Thoughts and beliefs can be the seeds of our reality and wellbeing - if we can monitor and recognise our thoughts we can get deeper insight into how we relate and perceive the world - this is not a hard concept to understand -especially if you've done any sort of meditation or mindfulness practice. 

It makes sense then that the cultivation of positive thoughts and beliefs can help us improve our perception, wellbeing and shape our reality. 

Affirmations are a tool that we can use to cultivate the sort of thoughts and beliefs that we want to be generating and living from. 

What is an affirmation? 

An affirmation is a present tense ("I am" as opposed to "I will") positive, empowering statement that we can write down or repeat to ourselves. 

Why use them? 

There are claims that by repeating or repeatedly writing affirmations everyday the universe will respond and our affirmations will become reality. 

This requires a level of belief and faith in something that's very hard to prove and at times requires an outcome that is outside our control (pretty cool - and if you believe it then I hope you're already using affirmations to make the world a better place.)  

Another reason to use them is to improve our self talk,  focus, intent and well being by choosing to cultivate positive thoughts and beliefs that can be the catalyst for positive actions and behaviours.

This requires faith and belief in ourselves and the power of our mind and with a little self awareness these things are, at least subjectively, a little easier to monitor and measure.  

How to use them?

1.) Choose a quality, character trait, state of being or outcome that you would like to manifest.

2.) Come up with a present tense affirmative statement that sums up what it is you'd like to manifest.

3.) Write the statement down in your journal 3 - 15 times and consider what it means - try to visualise or imagine yourself manifesting that which you are affirming. 

How to choose them?

Obviously we could choose any number of affirmations - so much so that it can be hard to choose and  

Below are 5 suggestions of how we may choose our affirmations - I suggest choosing one or more every day for a week. 

1.) If we have a strong sense of purpose or a goal to strive for we can use affirmations to help facilitate that.

E.g. My purpose is to inspire and lead people to be mentally, physically and emotionally stronger, fitter and healthier. 

My affirmation could be - "I inspire and lead people to be mentally, physically and spiritually stronger, fitter and healthier."

2.) If we have a sense of the sort of person we want to be we can use affirmations to generate the sort of thoughts and beliefs that person lives from.

E.g. I want to be more compassionate and kind.

My affirmation may be "I am compassionate and kind to my self and others."

3.) If we know things we like about ourselves we can use affirmations to confirm and strengthen these traits

E.g. "Today I trained hard at the gym"

Affirmation may be - "I have lots of energy." or "I'm disciplined, passionate and energetic" 

4.) If we know thoughts or beliefs we don't like generating we can use affirmations to reframe these "negative" thought patterns into something positive. **

One way to do this is to affirm the opposite of your negative thought pattern or belief. 

E.g. "I'm not good enough" Possible Reframe "I'm great the way I am and I'm only getting better". or "I am the best version of myself right now and though I want to get better I won't let it hold me back". 

5.) If we don't know any of the above then mindfulness, insight meditation and journalling may be better tools to use initially - if we don't know who we are or where we want to go affirmations will not be based on wise choice.

At the end of the week choose an affirmation (it could be one that's repeated often during the week) that resonates with you the most and run with that for the next 4 weeks. 

**Reframing negative thought patterns is something we can do constantly when we get good at recognising them. They can be used "on the fly" as needed or as a daily practice. However if a negative thought pattern continues to present itself and is impacting you in a negative way it could be a good idea to investigate it further with a friend or counsellor. 

How to make them real?

Thoughts and beliefs can be the seeds of our reality and wellbeing but if we want them to improve the world then we must nurture them with action. 

Once you've chosen your affirmation for the day look for ways to live them out in your day to day. 

At the end of each day reflect on how you put your affirmation into action and write that down in your journal.

E.g Affirmation "I am compassionate and kind to myself and others"  - reflection today when a work colleague said something that I found annoying I noticed my anger, took a deep breath and chose to act with non judgemental curiosity. I felt less annoyed and satisfied that I was able to use compassion rather than reacting.

You may also consider what opportunities you missed and write down what you could've done to live the affirmation more thoroughly in that moment. 

E.g. Affirmation - "I am compassionate and kind to myself and others". Reflection today - a work colleague said something annoying. I reacted sternly. I then felt bad for going against my affirmation. I could have taken a breath and considered enquiring with a more open mind into her point of view. After I reacted the way I did I could've recognised it as a minor setback and an opportunity to learn rather than feeling guilt or shame over neglecting my affirmation. 

This process can take some practice - but the more we practice the better and more fluid we become at cultivating positive thoughts and turning them into actions and behaviours - the closer we get to flourishing and making the world a better place. 

Balance

To balance:

Strength with Flexibility 

Work with Rest

Passion with Patience

Uniqueness with Unity 

Purpose with Peace

Unconditional Love with Self Respect

Self Expression with an Open Mind 

Wisdom with Focus

To let of the ego on one hand and wholeheartedly embrace and evolve it on the other

...This is the Way of the Tiger and the Monk!

Honour Gratitude with Intention

Gratitude Empowers our Past

By looking back and choosing to reflect on the things, events, learnings and beings we are grateful for we empower our past with the memory of that which was good, helped us to grow or served us in some way . 

Intention empowers our Future 

By looking ahead and setting intentions we lay a foundation for living a purposeful life

The practice of each empowers our present

Honour all you have to be grateful for by doing what you intend to do and being who you intend to be. 

A profound way to enhance gratitude and intention is to combine the two by following each blessing you are grateful for with an intention or action to honour that blessing.

 

Try this : 

Every night write down three things you are grateful for that happened that day, write down three things you intend to do tomorrow and write down three attitudes, values or character traits you intend bring into you life.

When you wake up in the morning re-read your list and turn your intentions into actions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJnKqxbuyl0&list=PL4TQfxnxITPDEuIAF7klYfjT8QDGwPcKA

Shine Sun

Universal guidance, inner wisdom, a higher calling.

Our inner genius speaking to us.

Our higher self inviting us to fulfil our potential, to step into our destiny.

Do you ever have thoughts that makes you believe in all the above?

Maybe you even dare to believe the above is true!!

And then self talk steps in and talks you out of it. Convinces you you are not good enough. Keeps you in you place. Convinces you it was just a silly notion, nothing worth paying attention to. Just another day dream, thought or feeling that comes up every now and then. Even if its true there’s just too much standing in your way to consider it further.

Whether we do have a higher self guiding us to fulfil our ultimate potential and become a higher version of ourselves or just a bunch of random thoughts and feelings - some very inspiring and others full of fear doubt and complacency - we still have a choice.

We can act upon those thoughts that inspire us and make us want to shine.
We can accept the thoughts that say we are not good enough as a challenge to get better and continue to improve - not a road block to stop us from shining right now.
We can accept that fear and doubt are over protective but often misplaced safety mechanism designed to protect us from the sort of threats that no longer concern us - lions, tigers, bears, starvation, dehydration.

We can start to listen to that “higher self” as if it really existed, understanding that the more we listen and act the more forthcoming the guidance will be.

1000s of thoughts travel through our minds all day. The ones we listen to and let go of shape our experience. The stories we tell ourselves about these choices shapes our lives.

Listen deeply, choose wisely and act courageously.

The Sea of Consciousness

Take a deep breath in and a long breath out.

Soften your gaze, relax the muscles in you face and take another deep long breath in, following the breath as it enters your nose and travels down to your belly.

Hold the breath in for a moment and be with the space, full of breath. As the desire to breath out presents itself let the breath out gently and patiently with a long, slow exhale. At the end of the exhale before you start to breath in again be with that space of no breath.

Continue to ride these waves of breath, letting go of any distractions, until the waves themselves cease to be and only the sea remains.