We may not be able to changes some of the difiicult things that emerge in life, but we can always choose how we want to feel and how we want to respond. As we do, things have a way of shifting in the outer world as well. BUT perhaps even more important, we strengthen and make our energy more coherent and increase the stability of our inner resources….which not only helps us to rise to challenges, but also helps to bring about more positive circumstances, people, places and things…the kind of circular thinking that is helpful instead of soul deadening.

Find, notice a moment where you can create or experience happiness. Make it a game to find as many times throughout the day as you can to focus on a happy feeling. Focus on it, flow with it, expand into it without grasping. See how many happy moments you can collect (seems more useful that some of the other stuff we collect!  )

Happy holiday weeknd to all!

“Fear constitutes a much larger and more comprehensive presence than has yet been realized. Beginning in the nineteenth century, therapeutic psychology sought to identify the symptoms related to this phenomenon. The types of fear recognized included hysteria, behind which some trauma, real or imaged, was always to be found; shell shock or combat neurosis, now commonly called post-traumatic stress syndrome, which was first investigated after World War I; abuse and domestic violence; fear of natural catastrophes such as earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, or fire; individual phobias such as panic attacks, anxieties, and obsessive-compulsive disorders. 

The reality of fear is far more wide-ranging, however. Working with victims of trauma does little to impede the larger presence of fear in the world. The goal is to become more conscious of what we are dealing with and to recognize that different fears require different capacity of soul to overcome them. The need is not to remove fear from the world, but instead to develop in ourselves the psychic capacity to confront its destructive power. In this realm, consciousness, coupled with love, is everything. Enlarging consciousness to include an awareness of soul allows a healthy struggle with fear, and love makes possible its transformation, not just within ourselves but also within the world.” Robert Sardello, Freeing the Soul From Fear

Training ourselves to release fear and choosing to feel love more often—instead–helps to attune our energy to more of what we DO want to experience. 

Don’t forget our show tomorrow with Jane Allison Austin. Even if you are not in a cargiving role with elderly parents now, the information she will be discussing is all great information that we need to know about for the future!

Caregiver Corner, Monday, August 30 @ 10 A.M. EDT

http://www.thebalancingact.com/story/?id=2075

1. Stimulate alertness and concentration
2. Optimize brain activity and metabolism
3. Improve intellectual function
4. Enhance memory–recall
5. Improve consciousness and introspection
6. Decrease stress
7. Relax entire body
8. Enhance muscle control
9. Improve athletic performance
10. Helps with sense of time
11. Increases empathy
12. Enhances pleasure and sensuality

Who knew!? Take a yawn break…try it before public speaking, when you have a challenge to rise to, when you are angry, before a test, as you prepare for sleep….trigger real yawns by taking 6-7 purposeful yawns. Of course you will have to dismantle all your social inhibitions, conditioning  and beliefs but the positive effect will be worth it! Would love to hear how it works out for you after you give it a fair trial!   

For studies related to yawning go to: www.pubmed.gov

A fascinating interview with Dr. Beatrice Bruteau

Here’s what Elizabeth Debold has to say about Dr. Bruteau–

“This interview reveals a next step for humanity that no developmental psychologist would dream of. Perhaps it has to do with Bruteau’s intellectual grasp of a range of disciplines—she holds advanced degrees in mathematics, philosophy, and religion. Drawing on the deepest mystical teachings and the best of science, her vision places human development within the context of cosmic development. And that vantage point gives us a glimpse far beyond the present into an unimaginable future.”

WIE: The great evolutionary thinkers have all also made the point that the human ability to choose, to intelligently exercise free will or volition, is what sets us apart from other creatures. Can you say a little more about the significance of choice?

BB: You see, evolution up to this point has gone by happenstance and natural selection. The individual animal doesn’t get to choose how it’s going to evolve. But the individual human being can, and we, by our concerted intention, can make something that hasn’t existed before. If we are to make this change in favor of forming a New Being, we will have to redirect our energy currents. And it will take energy even to make that option. You see, our energy currents are egocentric—the currents flow out from the ego, grasp what’s good for the ego, and flow back to the ego. This energy pattern cannot form a creative union because it tries to assimilate all other beings to the being of the ego. And because of that, it’s important that we make a big effort to realize the True Self—otherwise we’re running entirely on the motives to exploit and dominate—the motives that are endangering the world.

To read the entire interview click here:

http://www.enlightennext.org/magazine/j34/bruteau.asp

Would love to hear your thoughts on the information!

Bedes Griffith was a Catholic monk who adopted the trappings of Hindu monastic life and entered into dialogue with Hinduism. Griffiths wrote twelve books on Hindu-Christian dialogue. Griffiths’s form of Vedanta-inspired Christianity is called Wisdom Christianity.^{[citation needed]}

Griffiths was a proponent of integral thought, which attempts to harmonize scientific and spiritual world views. In a 1983 interview he stated,

“We’re now being challenged to create a theology which would use the findings of modern science and eastern mysticism which, as you know, coincide so much, and to evolve from that a new theology which would be much more adequate.”^[1]

Griffiths died at Shantivanam in 1993, aged 86. The archives of the Bede Griffiths Trust are located at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. ( From Wikipedia)