Your Sense of Self

AA wrote: This post is spot on for me today. I was just buzzing away in my small brain. Time to take a walk on the beach I think!

Thank you for the rays of sunshine from your mind to mine!

Your Sense of Self

Your sense of self is determined by where you are focussing your consciousness.

                                    Michael A. Singer: The Untethered Soul

On a happy day spent in nature, my sense of self somehow expands. It surpasses my own small being to encompass all the surrounding beauty - when I drop the constant thinking and simply am conscious of being alive right there and then. At other times, however, when I’m all stuck in my thinking, planning, wondering and worrying, I shrink into the smallness of my buzzing head.

We have a choice.  We focus our consciousness somewhere, and that determines us and becomes who we are. Do we want to limit ourselves to be that busy little head, or do we, as Walt Whitman puts it, want to be “large, and contain multitudes”? Limitless as the sky…!

The Energy of Being Real

The Energy of Being Real

The sun, without intent or will or plan or sense of principle, just shines, thoroughly and constantly. By being itself, the sun warms with its light, never withholding or warming only certain things of the Earth. Rather, the sun emanates in all directions all the time, and things grow. 

In the same way, when we are authentic, expressing our warmth and light in all directions, we cause things around us to grow. …  In this way, by being who we are, we not only experience life in all its vitality, but, quite innocently and without design, we help others be more thoroughly themselves. In being real, in staying devoted to this energy of realness, we help each other grow toward the one vital light.

Mark Nepo: The Book of Awakening

“When we are authentic, expressing our warmth and light in all directions, we cause things around us to grow” - thank you Life, for teaching me this basic truth, for helping me to express my essence to others, and perhaps thereby helping them to grow. 

And thank you, Mark Nepo, for this beautiful book, so full of poetry and wisdom, and for expressing your essence and helping me to grow! :-)

Choose Happiness

AA wrote: Manchhmal ist es mir fast unheimlich wie genau Du mein Innerstes mit Deinen Emails triffst! Ich danke Dir für diese heutige Nachricht, sie hilft mir nun, den Tag fröhlich zu erleben trotz Überforderung, erkältetem Kindchen und übler Hormonbalance.

BB wrote: Jag håller med dig!

CC wrote: Danke für deinen schönen Beitrag zum Glück! 

DD wrote: I love your reflections you send and your latest one on happiness came just prior to reading this article. I thought you might enjoy the synergy as well.

EE wrote: Love this Cok güzel 😍

Choose Happiness

We have to choose to be happy and keep choosing it.

Henri J.M. Nouwen

With or without reasons known to us we're sometimes overcome by a certain melancholy, a feeling of dullness that obscures our minds. That is the time to remember the words of Henri Nouwen and so many others: we can actively choose to be happy. 

When life seems heavy I can decide to brighten it up just by changing the settings of my own mind.

• ·           I close my eyes, see the sun shining behind the clouds and feel its rays lightening up every single cell of my body and mind. 
• ·           I let a big smile fill my heart and my face, spreading all the way through my being, and shining out through every pore of my skin.
• ·           I choose to stay in that happiness mode during my day, reminding me not to let outer circumstances disturb my inner joy.

Yes, we can keep on choosing to be happy!

Life is Surprising

Life is Surprising

Life is surprising, thank God, and God, the chance to know Oneness, lives in surprise. For God is seldom in our plans, but always in the unexpected.

 Mark Nepo: The Book of Awakening

Whatever higher power you believe in - or none at all – this is a fundamental truth: life is one big surprise. Being born must be the biggest surprise of them all, and then it just continues.

You may be prepared for some of the major events in your life, like starting school, getting a new job, or becoming a parent, but how they turn out is always surprising. Who knew you would meet your best friend the first day at school, become the manager of an IKEA store or have twins that are the copies of your grandfather?

Every single day is, in fact, full of surprises if we only open our eyes and minds to what is happening to and around us. For me, this is one of the reasons I adore living: you never know what awaits you around the corner! Often, it is not what you expect or wish for, but even more often it turns out to be just what you need. :-)