I think I finally found a form of exercise that matches my longing to promote the value of happiness! It’s called Laughter Yoga. Curious? Check it out!
http://www.laughteryoga.org/happiness.php
I don’t know about you, but it is far too easy for me to spend way too much time in my head and not enough time honoring the very body that gets me through my day. I forget to eat in favor of finishing a task at my computer. Before you know it I can run out of time for my afternoon walk. I work way too hard trying to figure things out, find the solution, or force the answer to come, rather than wait to be inspired. Sound familiar?
Now, don’t get tempted to rough yourself up about these tendencies. Wow, that’s so easy to do. My thoughts immediately want to go to default until either I or one of my friends says something to snap me out of it! Those are good friends to have. Being your own worst critic only makes things worse, and is a sure detour from happiness. Just chose again not to let your mind have control, and return to be grateful that the world is a friendly place if only we would give it a chance to demonstrate it. It’s all in how we choose to see it.
Last night I enjoyed watching Wayne Dyer’s new PBS special, Inspiration. His work has long inspired me! Dr. Dyer has been a consistent pioneer and advocate for spiritual growth and personal consciousness. I admire him because he has walked his spiritual path before our eyes. With one book after another he raises our consciousness. Both Dr. Dyer and Marianne Williamson are the two speakers that I believe to be exceptionally brilliant in their ability to quote and cross refer from many sources with nary a note in front of them!
I was reminded by Wayne Dyer’s presentation last night that we make life so complex, so often closing our eyes to the simple miracles around us. We keep ourselves so busy that we go numb to cope and accelerate under the illusion that if we just run fast enough that we will somehow be able to do it all. We abuse ourselves with these unrealistic expectations we hold. It is hard to let inspiration in when we keep ourselves so constricted and over worked.
I have been tapped on the shoulder with the same message several times this week from several unrelated sources. How loud does The Universe have to speak before I listen? Over and over I have been reminded to get out of my head and drop into my heart. It’s amazing how hard and long that journey can be from you head to your heart when geographically it’s only a journey of about 18 inches! It helps to remember it is a journey, as we over-emphasize the value of the destination. Besides Dr. Dyer’s emphasis on the benefits of getting still enough to access my inspiration from the inside-out, I also had my dear master-mind group friends remind to try this mantra for awhile, “Don’t think, don’t think, don’t think! I feel so grateful to have those I trust enough to point out what I sometimes cannot see, the truth that otherwise would be hard to hear through my default system of old habits and patterns.
One final reminder to spend less time in my head and become more aware of the messages that my body offers came in the form of a book I read. I highly recommend The Trance of Scarcity by Victoria Castle. She suggests that to successfully upgrade from scarcity and struggle to Abundance and ease, we must interrupt and dislodge old patterns that have been living quite comfortably within us, acting like they own the place. She suggests that the poverty is in our state, how we hold things, rather than in the circumstances.
And so, this moment I am re-awakened to adjust my default setting that still gets the better of me from time to time. I thank my mind for all it’s hard work, but also appreciate my body for all the ways it has served me today. With deep gratitude I’ll draw a warm bath and end my day grateful to have returned home to my authentic Self knowing that happiness is just a though away if I choose…. and I head for the tub wondering what it would be like to do laughing Yoga!
Ahhhhhh, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
Comments