Living in Your Head or Your Heart?

     I highly recommend Dying to Be Me, a book by Anita Moorjani. She describes her near-death experience after dying (so it appeared to her family and doctors) from cancer and then returning to life, completely healed. She talks at length about what she learned from this happening. Here is a quote from page 147 of the book:

     When we live completely from the mind over a period of time, we lose touch with the infinite self, and then we begin to feel lost. This happens when we're in doing mode all the time, rather than being. The latter means living from the soul and is a state of allowing. It means letting ourselves be who and what we are without judgment. Being doesn't mean that we don't do anything. It's just that our actions stem from following our emotions and feelings while staying present in the moment. Doing, on the other hand, is future focused, with the mind creating a series of tasks that take us from here to there in order to achieve a particular outcome, regardless of our current emotional state.
     I have discovered that to determine whether my actions stem from "doing" or "being," I only need to look at the emotion behind my everyday decisions. Is it fear, or is it passion? If everything I do each day is driven by passion and a zest for living, then I'm "being," but if my actions are a result of fear, then I'm in "doing" mode.
     When we feel off track, we think there's something wrong with us--something we have to do or get in order to right ourselves--so we go searching outside for answers. We look to others in the hope that they'll fix us. We may feel better a a little while, but it's usually short-lived, and we eventually end up feeling worse. However, when we really start to tune in to who life intended us to be--and we're attuned to the emotions that motivate us--we connect with the soul of our magnificence. We feel clarity when we allow this connection and take our power back, and our lives start to work. 

           Being joyful,
               Leta

Thought for a New Day, New Week

     This comes from David Goldberg: "... consider that no amount of guilt can solve the past and no amount of anxiety can change the future."
     Relax, enjoy, be present.
            Leta

Paying Attention to our Bodies

     I was reading a Yoga for Healthy Aging column, and Jill Satterfield (yoga teacher) used this phrase: "the physical feeling of this is enough from the often-confused mental/emotional sense of this is enough." This really impacted me. Just last night I told a friend that I have this voice in my head that keeps saying, "You should do more." It drives me nuts.
     Our culture is SO about "not enough." We don't have enough, we don't do enough, we simply aren't enough. It drives me nuts. Because of this mentality surrounding us, as well as internal, family or other influences, we often override our body's sense of time-to-rest with the "often-confused" mentality to push ourselves more. This is not a good long-term plan--it leads to stress and all sorts of life complications. 
     Only we can decide when enough is enough, and then actually stop. This is a very valuable skill to cultivate. Ms. Satterfield closed with this: "listening to ourselves—body, heart and mind—is probably one of the most valuable supports we have in taking great care of ourselves."
     Self-care is not selfish!
              Leta