The season of gratitude is upon us.

Thanksgiving Day is our official national holiday for giving thanks.  We traditionally celebrate it with family get-togethers and feasts of turkey, delicious side dishes and pumpkin pie.

We express our gratitude for the abundance of our lives by overindulging in the goodness of food and enjoying the company of family.

It’s a busy holiday for many people, filled with travel, cooking and socializing with family not often seen.  It’s easy to get caught up in the stress of the holiday and lose sight of the deeper meaning of the Thanksgiving tradition.

Thanksgiving has its roots in the festivals that marked the completion of the harvest season in farming communities.  Most of us no longer live in farming communities and we enjoy a far richer life than many of the farmers of old.

Our lives are more materially comfortable than at any time in history.

Even though times are tougher for many people these days, most people in the America still have plenty to eat and a warm place to sleep.  Many people have homes that are filled with expensive possessions.  Thanksgiving is definitely a day to feel grateful for our material comforts and the possessions that bring us happiness.

In addition to our possessions, there are priceless intangible things that we all possess as U.S. residents and sometimes take for granted.

These 5 things to be grateful for on Thanksgiving as Americans should be at the top of our list.

Read more..

Quiet Your Mind. Ignite Your Soul.

Ok ok…I’m sure by now you have read about meditation in a number of places.

But is meditation really for you and WHY should you even sit down and shut up?

Let me explain…

Meditation has been used for centuries as a method for relaxation, improving health, and finding mental clarity.  With so many benefits, it’s no wonder that it is used in cultures all over the world.

It’s hard to believe that something that looks so much like sitting around doing nothing is really doing quite a lot for your mind, body, and spirit.  However, it has been found that as little as ten minutes of meditation a day can bring about significant positive changes.

Here are 45 reasons why you need to start meditating …

1. Allows for healthier flow of oxygen to the brain, which means clearer thinking and better reasoning skills.
2. Better blood flow to the muscles also helps with physical stamina so you are able to exercise more easily and for longer periods.
3. The controlled breathing of meditation translates into slower respiration and a decrease in asthma attacks and other breathing issues.
4. Deepens religious/spiritual devotion and understanding.
5. Meditation actually relaxes the nervous system, leading to a decrease in multiple stress-induced reactions.
6. It also lowers your heart rate to a healthier level.
7. The act of meditating, as well as the meditative exercises themselves, creates a more self-actualized individual.
8. Doesn’t have negative physical side effects, as do anti-anxiety medications.
9. Develops emotional maturity as one learns to be calm in the face of drama.
10. Increases the release of serotonin in the brain, a chemical that improves mood and makes one feel good naturally.
11. Helps prevent panic attacks in those who suffer from anxiety disorders.
12. Meditation can be used to improve memory and the ability to learn new things.
13. Those who meditate are able to see the big picture in order to solve complex problems.
14. The relaxing effects of meditation lead to less aggressive behavior in individuals.
15. Helps with the process required to break bad habits and addictions such as smoking, drinking, and using drugs.
16. Slows down the racing thoughts that often keep people distracted and awake at night.  In general, those who meditate find that they fall asleep easily.
17. Helps to normalize blood pressure.
18. Meditative exercises lead to a higher level of attention and empathy throughout the day.
19. Offers an opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of oneself.
20. Improves physical and mental reaction time during stressful situations.
21. Can be a solitary act that requires no outside influence, including money.
22. Allows an individual to feel a sense of connection to everything and everyone, increasing the personal capacity for love and acceptance.
23. Through meditation, one is able to develop aspects of his or her character, such as will power and inner strength.
24. Increases patience in those who practice, as they are less agitated and are even able to engage in meditation at times (like waiting in lines) when others would become annoyed.
25. Keeps mental faculties sharp and slows down the effects of age on the brain.
26. Meditators shift brain activity to less stress-prone areas of the brain, decreasing the negative effects of mild stress, depression, and anxiety.
27. Ability to release negative emotions, rather than allowing them to become one’s focus.
28. An improvement in physical posture results from holding one’s body appropriately, practicing breathing, and even from an increased sense of self confidence.
29. The physical benefits of meditation include a decrease in physical pain, especially for chronic pain sufferers.
30. Brings an opportunity to simplify one’s life, whether it means quieting some inner turmoil or recognizing the need for less material goods.
31. It is common for those who meditate to discover a significant increase in their energy levels.
32. Lessens the severity of physical and emotional symptoms of pre-menstrual syndrome and other stress factors.
33. Helps increase the overall amount lost during one’s weight-loss program due to a lowering of cortisol, as well as other factors.
34. Those who meditate regularly benefit from lower levels of heart disease.
35. Restores the body to a calm state once the flight or fight reflex has been triggered by an environmental stressor.
36. Boosts an individual’s immune system to help ward off physical ailments and diseases.
37. Increases creative output as the left and right hemispheres of the brain communicate more effectively and the mind is filled with less clutter and better able to focus in new directions.
38. Can be used in conjunction with other forms of medicine or therapy to enhance physical and mental outcomes.
39. Breathing is slowed for more efficient use of oxygen and a decreased waste of energy.
40. Improves one’s ability to “live in the present” rather than always fretting over future desires or past regrets.
41. Improves the ability to recognize one’s own thoughts and thought patterns, thereby allowing for self-reflection, acknowledgement, and even change.
42. Removes obstacles preventing individuals from succeeding, specifically by making them clear to the individual so he or she can make appropriate changes on the path to success.
43. Strengthens the digestive system for improved overall health and wellness of the body.
44. Decreases tension within the muscles of the body, resulting not only in better relaxation, but also a lower likelihood of sustaining an injury.
45. Hand-eye coordination increases within individuals who practice meditation.

“What’s encouraging about meditation is that even if we shut down, we can no longer shut down in ignorance. We see very clearly that we’re closing off. That in itself begins to illuminate the darkness of ignorance.”
- Pema Chodron-

In 2003, Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn of the University of Massachusetts Medical School conducted a research study regarding the effects of meditation on highly-stressed employees at a high-tech company.  The resulting brain scans showed that those employees who had been taught to meditate experienced a transfer in their brain activity into the joy and happiness center in the left frontal lobe of the brain.

Studies like this one are getting more and more companies, as well as individuals, thinking about the benefits of meditation and what the practice could mean for them.  From increased productivity and job satisfaction to better relationships among employees, there are some real reasons to consider meditation in the workplace.

Of course, all of these benefits can be extended to everyday life, too, so considering meditation just for job purposes is too narrow of a focus.  Instead, think of how you could gain physically, emotionally, and spiritually by incorporating a few minutes of this deep relaxation into your daily schedule.

Thousands of years’ worth of evidence shows pretty conclusively that those who practice meditation are both happier and healthier overall.  Not bad for something that requires no money, no equipment, and only a few minutes a day.

What are you waiting for?

Learn How To Meditate: 5 Meditation Techniques That Work Like a Charm

Meditation Book Picks: Read books on meditation at TheHappySelf.com Amazon Store.

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Awaken.

Life moves, hovers, floats, bubbles, percolates inside and outside of us everyday.

At some point in our lives though, we have moments of super clarity. Call it Zen. Call it mindfulness. Call it revelation. Call it enlightenment. Call it what you will.

At this point of awakening, you realize several things in life about yourself, about life, and about the vast universe that envelopes us all. It’s like the point after a massive downpour of rain and wind, darkness and chaos, where everything becomes clear and you gaze out into a new world with baby fresh eyes.

All of a sudden, you FEEL like you have never felt.

Everything makes total sense, even if it is only for a flash.

Your body is hypersensitive to the sounds and textures around you, and all the things you have strived so hard for in life such as landing that big job, winning the lottery (even though you never play), falling in mad love with a soulmate, or even finally beating your best golf score to impress your buddies on the course all seem meaningless and pointless.

Materialism and ego cease. Soul rises. Awareness bursts out of every pore within and you simply feel…happy.

You realize that life is no perfect love story from a movie.

You realize that 90% of things don’t ever go the way you planned. So you learn to surrender. You still set goals, you just don’t rely on future expectations.

You realize the things you desired the most (with the most passion and feeling) have actually occurred because you simply gave them power in your mind and eventually, the universe created them for you.

You realize that the real perfection in life is…imperfection. Perfection is purely different perspectives of other people.

You stop being angry at others because you realize that you are just angry at yourself. And if you are the only one angry at yourself, what is the point of that? So you let it go.

You divide the difference of what you need versus what you actually want in life and discover that they are very rarely the same. Walking down the flowered path of desire and passions becomes the correct path, the path of true living. In the end, it always gives you not only what you need, but way more than you have ever wanted. It’s a surprise paradox.

You learn that FEAR really is just a four letter word. Just like the word LOVE. Both are simply feelings. Both are something we will experience in waves throughout our life. When we can simply surrender to both, life moves like a beautiful, cool, crisp mountain river.

You discover that there is your life, then there is your mental story of your life that is shaped by your past, by other people, by media, by peer pressure, and by society norms. During this moment of clarity and awakening, you decide that life as it is, without the story, is much sweeter.

You realize that work doesn’t have to suck. There is a convergence of doing something you love to do and making money at it. Thinking about it is not enough. Taking action injected with fearless passion is.

You realize you are nothing more than energy. You are the same as a rock. You are the same as a tree. In fact, those things are just blobs of energy we LABEL a “tree” and a “rock”. But underneath it all, we are all the same. Atoms. Energy. God’s fingerprints. When we can accept that and see others as ourselves, our ego dies. Our happiness rises.

You realize that there is no such thing as a mistake. You realize that there is no wrong decisions in life. If there were, you would have done something else at the time. So how can it be wrong? What is wrong is what you think would have been right…at the time. Do you think the universe and earth would have lasted billions of years if there was not some sort of cosmic and natural flow to life with all the “mistakes” that have occurred? Things are the way they are for a reason. Let it be that way.

You realize that no one is better. No one is worse. We all stand naked before the mirror at times and look the same.

You see glimpses of mortality in older people. And you even see it in child’s eyes. But at some point, you realize that there is real beauty in age, at every age. And there is beauty in death. That the soul can then transform like a butterfly and take flight in the beautiful unknown. We all will take that flight. But before we do, why not live the way we want?

There are moments that your soul will awaken if you get quiet enough. If you go silent enough. In fact, you may have had these moments during times of chaos or simply during times when the beauty of nature tapped you gently on the shoulder. Or it may have happened in a flash that occured so quickly, you missed it because you blinked. Start looking more. Stop blinking less. It is there.

The universe is knocking.

Open the door.

But first you have to quiet down the noise within to hear it.

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