WORTHY THOUGHTS

[MajestyJo]

Labels limit us

"When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be."
-- Lao Tzu

How do you define yourself, to yourself and others? Are you first and foremost a husband/wife? A mother/father? A bus driver, dentist, musician ... ? A Christian, Muslim, Jew ...? A nag, joker, dreamer ...?

Be aware that any label puts limits on you. Today, experience how it feels to let go of the labels to rest in ‘I am.’ Feel the freedom, the spaciousness, the infinite potential of simply being.

"With every breath, the possibility of a new aspect of self arises."
-- Wayne Muller

"As long as I am this or that, I am not all things."
-- Meister Eckhart


*** Do you feel an urge or calling in you to be or do more? Then honour it and open to more meaning and fulfillment by exploring your life purpose. Maybe it is time to do life instead of life doing you!

[MajestyJo]

Open to the new

"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn."
-- Alvin Toffler

How willing are you to learn something new? How open are you to new perspectives?

When we are open, we are willing to move to places we've never been before. We are willing to continually review our belief systems so we can test out new ideas.

Be open to seeing things:
- from another's point of view,
- from a higher and more inclusive perspective
- with a beginner's attitude of wonder.
"I am always in quest of being open to what the universe will bring me."
-- Jill Bolte Taylor

[MajestyJo]

Give yourself free time

"What is it that makes all of us end each day with the sense that we have not lived our time, but have been lived, used by what we do?"
-- Jacob Needleman

How can you free up more time for yourself?

All of the great masters counsel that we need time daily for solitude. And if our journey in life is to become more aware of who we are, then surely we need some free time each day to explore our inner landscapes and uncover our passions.

What activities can you cut out of your life to give you more growing room?

"Life is made up of moments, small pieces of glittering mica in a long, stretch of gray cement. It would be wonderful if they came to us unsummoned, but particularly in lives as busy as the ones most of us lead now, that won’t happen. We have to teach ourselves how to make room for them, to love them, and to live, really live."
-- Anna Quindlen

[MajestyJo]

Give yourself free time

"What is it that makes all of us end each day with the sense that we have not lived our time, but have been lived, used by what we do?"
-- Jacob Needleman

How can you free up more time for yourself?

All of the great masters counsel that we need time daily for solitude. And if our journey in life is to become more aware of who we are, then surely we need some free time each day to explore our inner landscapes and uncover our passions.

What activities can you cut out of your life to give you more growing room?

"Life is made up of moments, small pieces of glittering mica in a long, stretch of gray cement. It would be wonderful if they came to us unsummoned, but particularly in lives as busy as the ones most of us lead now, that won’t happen. We have to teach ourselves how to make room for them, to love them, and to live, really live."
-- Anna Quindlen

[MajestyJo]

Soul lives in connection

"We all seek Soul. While Soul is always present, it doesn’t appear in our lives automatically. Soul requires our attention and reflection. Offering our respectful regard to the Soul is a way of loving it, caring for it, nurturing it."
-- Benjamin Shield and Richard Carlson

How do we experience soul in our lives?

It’s so simple! STOP AND PAY ATTENTION! Soul lives in connection. Whenever we are present and conscious, soul emerges.

To easily experience soul, find something you love to do and immerse yourself in it. Consciously savour a favourite piece of music. Consciously enjoy a walk in nature. Really experience your breathing and the pounding of your heart as you exercise. Really be present to your partner, your kids, your pet or another, and you will know the contentment of soul.

"I think that whenever soul is present, it’s because what you’re doing, whom you’re with, where you are, evokes love without your thinking about it. You are totally absorbed in the place or person or event, without ego and without judgment."
-- Jean Shinoda Bolen

[MajestyJo]

Play with the growth journey!

"Humor is the instinct for taking pain playfully."
-- Max Eastman

Banish bad baggage, backward beliefs, boring boundaries, big blocks and belittling blame by building your beingness bridge by becoming a beautiful, bold, balanced, broadminded, boundless being.

"If life doesn't offer a game worth playing, then invent a new one."
-- Anthony J. D'Angelo

[MajestyJo]

Be aware of duty

"To serve is beautiful, but only if it is done with joy and a whole heart."
-- Pearl S. Buck

Many of us have been taught to do our duty. What reaction does this bring up for you?

For me, ‘doing my duty’ often means doing something I really don’t want to do. My heart’s not in it. When this is the case, tasks may get done but there’s no gift to the world. We do not truly serve if we give to others with resentment.

Perhaps we need to give ourselves permission to say no and look after our own needs. When our own needs are met, we are much more likely to want to give from a full heart.

It’s not selfish to look after ourselves -- it’s essential!

"Nothing truly valuable arises from ambition or from a mere sense of duty; it stems rather from love and devotion towards men and towards objective things."
-- Albert Einstein

[MajestyJo]

You are complete

"Everything you need you already have. You are complete right now, you are a whole, total person, not an apprentice person on the way to someplace else."
-- Wayne Dyer

Close your eyes and imagine that everything you are is enough. You don’t need to be better or different -- you’re great just as you are. Can you experience the peace and contentment that owning that perspective brings?

Moving into such total acceptance does not mean that we stop growing. When we can accept who we are now, we open the doors to our own inspiration to do and be even more!

"Wherever you are is always the right place. There is never a need to fix anything, to hitch up the bootstraps of the soul and start at some higher place. Start right where you are."
-- Julia Cameron

[MajestyJo]

Look for the gifts

"In school you get the lesson and then take the test... In life you take the test and then get the lesson."
-- Unknown Source

How is a problem in your life really an opportunity?

Problems invite us to go inside to recognize a bigger picture of ourselves and of life. This bigger picture brings meaning to what is unfolding.

When you feel trapped in a problem, see if you can shift your perspective. Ask yourself, "What am I being invited to learn from this situation?" The answer will always revolve around a quality or value, like gratitude, freedom, compassion, love, will, humour or acceptance. The answer will also always promote union rather than separation.

As soon as we find the meaning in our challenge, our resistance to it melts away. Often, awareness of the lesson is all that is needed to resolve the problem. If not, the awareness brings us courage and ways to work through it.

"The period of greatest gain in knowledge and experience is the most difficult period in one’s life."
-- Dalai Lama

[MajestyJo]

Slow down

"The soul requires duration of time -- rich, thick, deep, velvety time -- and it thrives on rhythm. Soul can’t be hurried or harried .... We may go through many events in the day and experience nothing because the soul has not had the opportunity to feel them from many different points of view."
-- Robert Sardello

Soul cannot exist when our connections in life remain superficial. An experience of soul requires that we take time to be fully present to the details of our lives.

Explore what happens when you take the time to STOP and PAY ATTENTION. When we choose to slow down and really experience the qualities of our lives, we get a whole new perspective on what living is all about.

"We must not allow the clock and the calendar to blind us to the fact that each moment of life is a miracle and mystery."
-- H. G. Wells

"The well of Providence is deep. It’s the buckets we bring to it that are small."
-- Mary Webb


*** Awareness is the key to all change. Begin to trust yourself more deeply as you uncover new dimensions of who you are.

[MajestyJo]

Willingness to change

"At any moment, you have a choice, that either leads you closer to your spirit or further away from it."
-- Thich Nhat Hahn

How are you feeling in this moment? If you are not feeling great, are you willing to make the effort right now to shift your focus so you feel better? Finding something to appreciate will do it.

If you are not willing, that’s okay. Don’t judge yourself. Just be aware that you are choosing to stay where you are.

"Choice of attention... is to the inner life what choice of action is to the outer. In both cases, a man is responsible for his choice and must accept the consequences, whatever they may be."
-- W.H. Auden

Our process is clear. First 'know yourself' - your personality and direction in life. Then 'create a plan'. Next 'heal yourself and what holds you back. Then you can expand and 'grow yourself'. Are you ready to commit to changing your life for the better?

[MajestyJo]

MAKE TIME TO PLAY

"If we fail to nourish our souls, they wither, and without soul, life ceases to have meaning.... The creative process shrivels in the absence of continual dialogue with the soul. And creativity is what makes life worth living."
-- Marion Woodman

Stress, fear, negativity, too much to do and doing things for others at the expense of our own needs -- these all stifle our innate creativity. Relaxation, fun, meditation, and going after our dreams all get the creative juices flowing. Soul is always creative, always fresh and new.

How can you create more space in your life to allow the soul's energy out to play?

"I learned... that inspiration does not come like a bolt, nor is it kinetic, energetic, striving, but it comes to us slowly and quietly and all the time, though we must regularly and every day give it a little chance to start flowing, prime it with a little solitude and idleness."
-- Brenda Ueland

"I lived in solitude in the country and noticed how the monotony of quiet life stimulates the creative mind."
-- Albert Einstein

[MajestyJo]

SEEK UNION OVER SEPARATION

"Beliefs separate. Loving thoughts unite."
-- Paul Ferrini

Our ego focuses on how we are different from the rest of the world. Our soul lives when we experience how we are the same.

Any time you separate yourself from other people or from situations, you know your personality is in control. At such times, shift your perspective to build connection and you will move into soul.

As our picture of life becomes larger, more things make sense and we have a greater playing field for life to unfold - naturally.

"As a holistic being you shatter the illusion of your separateness and reveal your connection to everything. This empowers you in a way that the ego-driven self could never contemplate."
-- Wayne Dyer

Watch yourself shift from the self-centered, controlling behaviours of the ego to the power, love and wisdom of the soul.

[MajestyJo]

LOVE YOURSELF

"If you had a friend who talked to you like you sometimes talk to yourself, would you continue to hang around with that person?"
-- Rob Bremer

Thanks to the power of our inner critics, most of us have a very poor opinion of ourselves. Yet self- contempt merely keeps us miserable and stuck in our mediocrity.

If we were to make only one change to transform the quality of our lives, we might try sending a little love our own way.

"A critic is a legless man who teaches running."
-- Channing Pollock

"Unkind criticism is never part of a meaningful critique of you. Its purpose is not to teach or to help, its purpose is to punish."
-- Barbara Sher

"You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection."
-- Buddha

[MajestyJo]

LIVE YOUR OWN LIFE

"We don't always know what makes us happy. We know, instead, what we think SHOULD. We are baffled and confused when our attempts at happiness fail...We are mute when it comes to naming accurately our own preferences, delights, gifts, talents. The voice of our original self is often muffled, overwhelmed, even strangled, by the voices of other people's expectations. The tongue of the original self is the language of the heart."
-- Julia Cameron

We are each unique beings with a unique path in life. If we wish to be fulfilled, we need to go to our own hearts for direction. We might regularly ask ourselves:

"What do I really want to do?"
"What brings me greatest happiness?"
"How can I bring more of these into my life?"
Life wants us to go for what brings us most joy and meaning.

"It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. ...I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing."
-- Oriah Mountain Dreamer

"Let me listen to me and not to them."
-- Gertrude Stein

"What you must dare is to be yourself."
-- Dag Hammarskjold

*** Do you feel an urge or calling in you to be or do more? Then honour it and open to more meaning and fulfillment by exploring your life purpose.