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Day 20 Message:  We think so often that we are helpless, but we’re not. We always have the power of our minds… Claim and consciously use your power.  - Louise L. Hay Today we explore how life feels when the old burdens have lifted. When our mind, body, and spirit become lighter, our life becomes a field of new possibilities.  A s we are freed from the restraints of old habits and self-criticisms, we may feel a lightness of mood, confidence, and joyousness. With an expansive spirit we feel unlimited, peaceful, and creative. O:  Often what looks like a burden or a dark patch is actually the universe conspiring to point us in a new direction.  When you can see obstacles for what they are and course-correct to a new path, you never lose faith that Light with a capital L, is really trying to help guide you to your highest purpose.  That, of course, is where we all want to go.  Another favorite bible verse of mine is ‘Lord lead me to the rock that is higher ...

Day 19 Message:  This world is in deep trouble, but it can be swiftly healed by the balm of love. - Rumi Today we learn about the transformative power of love.   Love is the essence of the true self. If you can act from a space of love, you bypass the judgments and burdens of the ego. So expressing compassion, forgiveness, kindness, and a sense of purpose comes easily.   Love expresses itself with tenderness, but it also provides great inner strength. O:  For some time I had a book on my nightstand called In Love With the Mystery by Ann Mortifee.  The book reminded me every day about the wonder of life.  In one of my favorite passages, Ann said, ‘Allow your heart to expand and overflow with adoration for this magnificent creation and for the love, wisdom and power that birthed it all’.  ‘Rapture is needed now.  Rapture, reverence and grace.  I find so much solace and inspiration in those words because when we remember that all creation comes ...

Day 18 Message:  How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something  but to be someone. - Coco Chanel Every day, our lives are shaped by forces we may not even realize are part of us.   Some of the most prevalent themes that get reinforced in society are: winner and loser, lovable and unlovable, victim and perpetrator, beautiful and ugly, powerful and powerless. When you put yourself in one of these mental boxes, you lose the power to shape your own story.  Today is about taking back the power to create your own life story, and to speak and act according to your own truth. O:  Talking to thousands and thousands and thousands of people over the years, I still learn time and time again that the greatest transformation comes from this one thing…when you own your power.  I’ve shared this quote from Gary Zukav hundreds of times but I just think it’s the essence of a fulfilled life.  He says this in Seat of the Soul.  When we align our though...

Day 17 Message:  Because one is content with oneself, one doesn’t need others’ approval. Because one accepts oneself, the whole world accepts him or her.  - Lao Tzu The mind game consists of the tricks your mind plays on you, making you see reality according to old memories, fears, wounds, prejudices, outworn beliefs, second-hand opinions, and early conditioning. When you are aware your mind is filtering your reality based on the past, you can change it with that awareness. In fact, awareness is the change. O:  Every morning I take the time, whether it’s 2 minutes, or 20 minutes, to get quiet, be still and connect with the energy that I know is greater than myself.  To connect to Source with a capital S.  I feel I owe that to myself and my calling here on earth, to connect to that from which I’ve come.  So I go to a place that is centered and calm within myself.  That exercise gives me strength and a sense of peace every single day. And I use that morn...

Day 16 Message:  The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses  to grow sharper. - W.B. Yeats Today  is about the power of our perceptions. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but so are love, self-esteem, truth, happiness, and optimism.  When your perceptions shift, your story shifts. You have this power to transform and have always had it. At any given moment, when you apply a negative tag to yourself, you are missing the opportunity to shift your perceptions. Instead, apply a positive tag and that will help change the value of your perception. O:  One of my favorite bible verses is ‘Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind’.  I memorized it as a little girl and felt the power of that long before I understood how profound it really was.  The only way to achieve real transformation, though, is through awakening to greater heights. When you hold things lightly without heaviness or burden, when you accept events in a new li...

Day 15 Message:  You write your life story by the choices you make.  - Helen Mirren We are all living a personal story, and every story has ups and downs, low points and high points. But what’s important is the theme that structures and guides our story.  When your story has positive, life-supporting themes, you have found the key to transformation. Changing your theme is more effective than trying to fix yourself one issue at a time. The most positive themes include lightness, worthiness, self-acceptance, evolution, and love.  Your theme should be aimed at making you feel good every day. It should open new possibilities. It should give you optimism that you are being renewed. O:  What I know for sure is that we become the stories we tell ourselves.  It’s just a law of nature.  I believe that.  You create the story of your life as you are the author.   As you embrace that powerful truth, your life shifts.  When you let go of the stories ...

Day 14 Message:  Breakthrough is guaranteed, if there is enough light. - Sunday Adelaja You make a breakthrough every time you break out of a habitual response. Habit may veil our awareness, but awareness has the real power. At any given moment, if you notice how you really feel and what you really want, old habits begin to dissolve. People can break as many habits as they want by giving themselves freedom of choice.  Celebrate every breakthrough the minute it occurs, but know that in reality there is only one victory: the victory of awareness. O:  Every time you make a choice to confront old or negative habits and beliefs, you’re making a breakthrough.  As you elevate your awareness through meditation, you begin to welcome the freedom that comes with choices.  When you make choices based on a fully aware presence, you gain ultimate power and freedom.  So far, we have learned so much about rebalancing, attitudes, beliefs and habits that hold us back.  ...

Day 13 Message:  The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive,  you will see it.  - Thích Nhất Hạnh Mind and body only live in the present. And in today’s meditation, we discover that the present moment holds tremendous organizing power in life, like a magnetic force. The power of our ever-present awareness automatically instills a sense of calm and happiness.   We heal this moment in time by centering ourselves and finding the place of peace, joy, and pure being. You can apply self-awareness and quickly learn when you are present and when you aren’t. This allows you to restore yourself to “the now” any time you want. O:  Our highest most whole state of Being, our truest deepest most profound spiritual practice is to be present in this moment.  There is a magnetism that pulls us into the present if we allow it to guide us.  In the present we are our truest self and life is at it’s very best always.  The Buddha says it ...

Day 12 Message:  We let our own natural capacity of healing do the work. - Thích Nhất Hạnh Recovery is a healing process. As we enter into the process, we act as both the healer and the healed simultaneously. Your mind and body want to be restored to a state of dynamic balance. So if you begin any kind of healing, the inherent intelligence of the mind-body system   immediately responds. Thus you heal and become a stronger healer at the same time. Knowing that you are the healer gives a sense of power and fearlessness.   When fully embraced, healing is a joyful process. O:  How many different sides of yourself do you live with every day?  Are you your good self?  Your bad self?  Your kind self? Your harsh self?  Is there a side of you that’s critical?  A side that’s generous?  Well, we often experience ourselves as many, often disparate parts,  Sometimes those parts unfold in harmony but when we feel separate within ourselves we stru...

I can't take credit for this, but I LOVE acronyms!  From Nick Frye who is an actual Behavioral Therapist on staff at Take Shape For Life. People who adhere to their weight loss and maintenance regimens achieve and sustain weight loss; pretty simple, right? If you stick to the plan, it works! However, many people struggle to do this. Is it lack of knowledge or lack of motivation or a lack of willpower? The most common psychological barriers are summarized by the acronym FEAR:  F = Fusion with Unhelpful Thoughts.  Sometimes we’re so caught up in our thoughts that we aren’t even AWARE of them or that they dictate our behavior. We are allowing our thoughts to tell us what to do. When a person sets out to make a change, it’s normal for their mind to generate “unhelpful” thoughts like: I’m too busy, I can’t do it, I’ll fail, It’s too hard, and so on.. It’s a common misconception that our thoughts control our behaviors. They certainly influence our behaviors, but ultimately we h...

Day 11 Message: The light within us can always identify our mind’s darkness. ― Munia Khan In today’s meditation, we become more aware of what’s really happening inside, including our old issues from the past.   It can feel scary to acknowledge these feelings, but this can be done with knowledge and patience where these issues dissolve in the light of awareness. Today we explore our true self as luminous awareness. O:  At some level we all spend energy working hard to avoid our unresolved negative issues.  We think that if we can keep those negative issues at bay, they aren’t a part of who we really are – they don’t affect us. All of our experiences and emotions – negative and positive, are a part of us.  The feelings we wish we didn’t have actually do impact us until we face them and move beyond them. When we spend energy trying to separate from feelings we don’t want, we actually end up feeling worse, perhaps without even knowing why.  We can harness the peacef...

Day 10 Message: Each one has to find his peace from within.  ― Mahatma Gandhi    We all know the peaceful, settled contentment that comes from being fulfilled. Peace comes first. It isn’t the result of fulfillment, it’s the source of fulfillment.  Peace is our true self. In that state of peace, there are no cravings and no lack. Needs are life-affirming and arise not out of lack, but out of abundance.  In reality, our true self is simple contentment. O:  When Martin Luther King set his vision for equality in America, he said, ‘One day we must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal we seek but that it is a means by which we arrive at that goal’.  ‘We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful  means.’  Dr. King’s words spoke about America but his insights can guide each of our lives no matter where we live, in the deepest spiritual way.  When we come from peace, we can achieve peace. Beginning from the peace that resides with...

Day 9 Message:  What happens when people open their hearts? They get better.”  Haruki Murakami When you activate a positive belief, your cells get the message. By intending to heal, you do heal.  We proceed with small steps by taking a few moments every day to be kind to yourself, forgive yourself, repeat your belief in healing, and enjoy your recovery. O:  What is so miraculous about being human is that from the very first moment you say it, your intention shapes your reality.  Once you intend to heal, healing has already begun and when you add the power of belief, attitude, practice, your healing process accelerates exponentially.  Align your beliefs and your actions with your intention and you will shed the heaviness that’s holding you back, spiritually, emotionally and physically, with ease and grace.   When you activate a positive belief, your whole being responds.  Your very cells open up and nourish positive transformation, even the smalles...

Day 8 Message:  Renewal requires opening yourself up to new ways of thinking and feeling.  Deborah Day The burdens we carry around with us have become part of our attitudes, habits, beliefs, and behaviors, but they are not permanent. Habits are the outcome of old decisions and they can be changed only through new decisions and choices. O:  Shedding heaviness and weight physically, emotionally or spiritually requires a fusion of our intention, our beliefs, and ultimately the choices that we make for ourselves.  And as we embrace our true self and trust the authentic inner wisdom that each of us has, we get to set ourselves on the path to lasting lightness.  Oh what a space and what a feeling!  We begin embracing our true selves by doing exactly what we’re doing together now – meditating, going deeper, being the space of mindfulness and you will see that as you become more mindful, every moment of warmth and kindness, every piece of beauty, creativity and who...

Day 7 Message:  Making each moment count positively is all that life demands from you. Edmond Mbiaka Every experience influences our life. We metabolize everything we encounter – physically and emotionally – so each experience becomes a part of our minds and bodies.  Negative experiences are metabolized differently than positive experiences. If you overload the system with negative input, it goes out of balance.  If you substitute positive inputs instead, these also get metabolized into your overall wellbeing, energy level, and health. The best inputs are any experiences that make you feel lighter physically and emotionally, from the freshest organic foods to laughter to the beauty of Nature.  Positive input strengthens you on every level, making it much easier to rid your system of toxins. O:  In many ways we all recognizes that being in balance is the best place to be.  We talk about it all the time. I’ve talked about it for years but getting there – well...

Day 6 Message:  Making each moment count positively is all that life demands from you. Edmond Mbiaka Every experience influences our life. We metabolize everything we encounter – physically and emotionally – so each experience becomes a part of our minds and bodies.  Negative experiences are metabolized differently than positive experiences. If you overload the system with negative input, it goes out of balance.  If you substitute positive inputs instead, these also get metabolized into your overall wellbeing, energy level, and health. The best inputs are any experiences that make you feel lighter physically and emotionally, from the freshest organic foods to laughter to the beauty of Nature.  Positive input strengthens you on every level, making it much easier to rid your system of toxins. O: Our bodies are a reflection and a metaphor for our state of mind.  When we alter our mindset, we begin to shift and lift the heaviness and weight from our bodies and our l...

Day 5 Message: When you are in a fix, often the fix is in you.” ― Ashok Kallarakkal When any hunger or need doesn’t get satisfied, our bodies keep asking for more. This explains the dilemma: The hungrier you are, the hungrier you stay, no matter how much food you eat.  Mentally, we are hungry for nourishing experiences. If you are emotionally nourished, the physical cravings stop. However, you can’t change what you aren’t aware of. This means that you must connect your hunger to a real need that can actually be satisfied. That is how we end the hunger dilemma.  When you apply self-care to your real needs, life becomes much lighter. O:  The most loving discovery is that our bodies, most of the time, want to be well-nourished, balanced, strong, energized.  It’s really habits we form –  thinking and habits of behavior that unbalance our state of being nourished in both body and spirit.  There are simple ways within us to restore our natural harmony of min...

Day 4 Message - We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment. ― Hilaire Belloc Everyone can feel the difference between emptiness and fullness, and it is this experience that allows us to feel our way to better lifestyle choices. Today we learn that there are many kinds of hunger, but only one state of fulfillment. When you give yourself what you really want and need, unhealthy habits, such as overeating, cease to be a problem.  Instead of fighting against a habit that always fights back, ask yourself, “What am I hungry for right now?” then seek to satisfy that hunger directly.” O:  Often we feel we are lacking something and we seek to fill that longing without thought or consideration so, we eat, we spend, we drink, we indulge, we overwork.  The truth is that’s being human – everybody goes through it.  If we seek to understand what we lack instead of reacting to those feelings of lack, we can begin to fill ourselves with real comfort and strength.  ...

Day 3 Message: Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm,  and harmony.    ― Thomas Merton When we act from a feeling of lack, we remain out of balance and stuck in our old unfulfilling habits. But emotions are meant to flow freely, to rise and fall without being held. In meditation, we reach the calm, centered place inside that doesn’t hold on or get stuck to toxic habits and old memories, so shedding emotional baggage happens naturally. O:  Often we become attached to the habit of negative feelings.  I used to live that way – where the same negative tapes played over and over.  Well, those feelings can take hold of us if we allow them to.  We bury them, they get rooted deep within us and then they begin to control us and it’s really easy to get stuck.  I’ve been there, I know.  It’s easy to lose your emotional balance by playing the same negative tapes but you have the power to turn the message around.  In re...

Day 2 Message: “When you allow your ways to be light you go high.” ― Raphael Zernoff In today’s meditation, we explore how to transform the heaviness in our lives to our natural state of lightness. The heaviness of our burdens comes from our attachment to past pain and trauma, as well as anxiety and fear of the future. As we learn to live consciously in the present moment, we find we don’t have to do anything to let go of burdens of pain and fear – they let go of us. Our natural state of balance in life is lightness and ease. O:  Everything in nature happens with lightness and ease in the moment, no effort.  Grapes ripen on the vine, roses bloom, the sun shines even through the darkest clouds – effortlessly.  When we commit to the lightness and ease of the present moment, we experience endless renewal and boundless abundance.  This is our essential nature.  This energy is our light.  Welcome to Day 2, Transforming Heavy to Light.  When you wholehearted...

Day 1 Message: “Lightness and weightiness… are both choices in life.” ― Erik Pevernagie Together we will understand that “shedding the weight” is not only an issue for our bodies, but that we are also weighed down with emotional, mental, and spiritual burdens. Today we discover that we don’t have to struggle to shed our burdens – all we need to do is expand our awareness. In that awareness we find the inner fulfillment that is our true self. This state of expanded awareness is the lightness in your life, and allows you to effortlessly let go of heaviness that doesn’t serve you. O: When you hear the words, shedding the weight, you likely think about weight loss and cutting back on the food you eat. What I know for sure is that weight takes on all kinds of meanings in our lives and in this meditation experience, shedding the weight – mind, body and spirit. Through meditation we begin to open up and recognize what we’re really hungry for, and in that mindfulness we unleash the energy ...