I CAN - Yoga Lesson

Do you find yourself saying I CAN or I can't?

Are you a cup half FULL or half empty kind of person?

Do you hold yourself back because you might get hurt physically or emotionally, or do you put yourself out there with a POSITIVE attitude?

Take time to notice the attitudes of those around you and see which end of the spectrum they reside in.

I bet the people who say I CAN, see the world as FULL, and have a POSITIVE attitude are limitless in what they accomplish.

Be that limitless person!  

Be the person who goes out into the world and shouts I CAN!

I CAN - Personal Practice

I feel limitless!

I feel this way because of simply replacing a couple of negatives with positives.

Instead of saying to myself, I can't...I reminded myself that I CAN.

The words "I can't" were something that just flew off my tung.  I don't know how these became part of my vocabulary.  But, the fact that these words were part of my vocabulary was unacceptable!

While giving my best go at a new sport, I found myself saying to a friend "I can't".  The response from my friend was "YOU CAN DO THIS!  It's all in your head."

I could not argue with this logic, because I physically could do the activity, I just found myself paralyzed by fear.

So I decided to say to myself "I CAN!", talked myself through some scary parts and then succeeded!

It was that simple!  I just had to say "I CAN!" 

I've been practicing this and I'm happy to report it works on a multitude of things!  

Moving forward with a repertoire of positive words, along with a passion to stay positive and refrain from letting fear get in my way is how I plan to keep momentum on my "I CAN" attitude.

I hope you choose an "I CAN" attitude too!

Empathy - Personal Practice

I found myself relating to others this week on a variety of feelings, and I was amazed at how much I learned about myself.

The best part about this was that it was open communication and the dialog was easy.

I would share a thought or feeling and then whom ever I was conversing with would do the same.

My week was full of multiple mini brainstorming sessions.

Topic's varied from building new relationships to letting go of old ones, and to something as deep as co-dependency and addiction to unhealthy habits.

What is fun in retrospect is that I had no idea my interactions would take me to such a heightened sense of self awareness.

I offered suggestions to my friends and acquaintances and found myself wondering why I don't take my own advice more often.  

Sometimes I realized during conversation the other knows what is best to do and just wants a friendly ear to listen, as I do at times also.

I think we all know how to live our best life, unfortunately it's a series of trial and error we each need to go through on our own to get to our own personal best.

It's the help along the way in each of our journeys that makes all the difference, I think.

When I stop and think about how relating and empathizing with others and how those interactions make me a better person, I'm so grateful for my relationships.

And so I say, take every opportunity to empathize with others and refrain from being afraid to share!

You have nothing to loose and everything to gain.

Empathy - Yoga Lesson

Ever notice how you can't wait to share a good idea you have with someone?

The good idea may come from listening to that person talk about their experiences and you find yourself relating.

As you relate you may find yourself thinking you know just how to correct or improve their experience based on your experiences and life perspective.

Why not offer up your experience along with your helpful suggestion?

Your experiences may help another to learn more about their own experiences.

As you share they may open up and share more with you, allowing you to build a bond in which you relate to one another.

Before you know it you are empathizing with one another!

What a wonderful way to build a relationship!

Lucky - Personal Practice

I often think "How Lucky Am I!" when sitting on top of a mountain taking in the view.

I think it's the sheer beauty of my surroundings in those instances that remind me how wonderful it is to be alive.

Which has me thinking, why am I not saying this to myself more often?

I guess it's because I find myself dwelling on some of the negative things in life at times.

My journey hasn't always been easy and there are times I've felt pretty unlucky actually.  

But when I reflect back on all that I had to go through to get to this place where I am able to remind myself how lucky I truly am, I feel pretty lucky my journey has been as it has.

I appreciate my experiences and take in all that is around me with my heart full as often as I can.

I remind myself to smile often.

I take time to practice life's lessons. 

But most importantly I have wonderful people in my life, I'm healthy, and happy!

What more could I ask for?

I'm So Lucky!

Lucky - Yoga Lesson

When you get up in the morning, do you feel lucky?

If not, why not?

Is it because things aren't going exactly to plan?

Is it because someone else has it seemingly better than you?

Actually, each of us are lucky!

We just need to get out of our own way to see what is truly important and appreciate it.

It's about taking time to look around yourself and appreciate your loved ones, your health, and the happy moments of your life.

So why not remind yourself today how truly lucky you are?

You are Lucky!

It's What You Make Of It - Personal Practice

I can't help but notice in reflection how many opportunities I have missed because I've thought something better would come along.

I've neglected my instincts because I didn't want to deal with the discomfort of doing what I felt was best for me.

Instead of being in the moment and embracing where and what I've had, I spent time thinking about how the future will look.

I've spent countless hours dreading the start of a day or doing a chore that I found unpleasant.

Why am I pondering all these things?

Because I had a friend ask for my advice this week.

The request for advice came after this friend had received advice from someone else and felt conflicted.

It was a simple enough request in which the person simply sought an opinion based on my experience.  But it left me thinking about how easy it is to speak with authority on something I truly know nothing about, which is; what it's like to be the person in the experience. 

My experience with something will be unlike anyone else's.  Sure there will be similarities, but it's what each of us as individuals make of something, our attitudes toward that something, that defines the experience.

To further back up my observation...

I had another friend this week post a comment on a Monday morning stating how it was going to be great week because the alarm went off to start the day, played a song that was full of energy, and reminded them how great it is to be alive!

I loved that comment the moment I read it because I thought my friend started the day with a great outlook on life and the enthusiasm in the post sparked my enthusiasm!

So I have to say a big thank you to my friends for reminding me....

I can begin a day with a negative attitude, while my friend begins the day with a positive one.  We can interact with all the same people.  We can have the same job to do.

But in the end it's our attitudes that define our experiences, how we feel about others, and how we feel about ourselves 

So why not go out into the world each day with the best attitude possible!

After all, it's what you make of it!

It's What You Make Of It - Yoga Lesson

Many of us miss out on opportunities.

This may happen as a result of any one, or combination, of the following:

Second guessing an instinct.

Listening to the opinions of others.

Predicting an outcome.

Getting up in the morning and dreading the day.

And the list could go on and on...

Ultimately, what ever the opportunity may be, isn't it about being open to the moment?

Isn't it about what you make of it?

Why not challenge yourself to trust your instincts, take the opinions of others with a grain of salt, let the moment define its self, and start each day with a positive attitude?

What have you got to loose?

Go out and make the best of it!  Whatever your it may be.

A Nice Person - Personal Practice

This week I had a friend of mine I hadn't seen in a while say to me "You are the nicest person I know".

My response was "really"?

I reacted this way because I didn't feel I had been particularly nice over the past week.

Here is what I did:

I hurt the feelings of a dear friend of mine with a thoughtless comment.  Even though I didn't mean it the way it came out and my apology was accepted, I should have chosen my words more carefully.  

I made a comment about the appearance of someone I had just met.  The new acquaintance took the comment in good humor, but it was still unkind and uncalled for on my behalf.

Instead of complementing a friend on all the qualities I admire in them, I made a single statement that degraded what I really meant to say.  I wish I had been more eloquent in my delivery vs. brash.

Instead of being open and communicative about my desire to reduce communication with someone who's views in life differ from mine, I chose to be silent.  I would prefer it if someone felt this way about me to tell me.

I was able to see clearly these mistakes I made because of a lesson I received from a wonderful teacher this past week who said "When we feel anxious it's because there is a part of us that is doing something that is not authentic.

In each of these instances I felt anxious.  I wasn't my authentic self!  

I was simply trying too hard.  I wanted to make others laugh, but it was at the expense of others.  I wanted to manipulate situations to my advantage, but hurt feelings in the process.

The thoughtlessness just wasn't worth it!

Ultimately though...

We can't dwell on our mistakes, we can only work to not make them again.  

A Big Thank You to the friend who gave me the complement, because when I said "Really?", my friend responded with "Yes.  Why don't you think you are?"  Which of course drove me to dig deeper and do the hard work on why I responded as I did.

Life's lessons come in interesting ways and sometimes we need to be open to our own discomfort in order receive the lesson.

In my case, I needed to be reminded how important it is to treat others with kindness.

So, I'll continue my practice of being A Nice Person.

A Nice Person - Yoga Lesson

Ever find yourself in a situation or moment where you feel unkind to others and think to yourself "I'm not this person"?

Why is it at times we can be unkind to others?

Maybe someone pushes your buttons and you react?

Or even possibly you pick on someone in good fun, but hurt their feelings?

What's the point of being unkind?  

Does it ever leave you feeling like a better person?

I bet not.

Why not wake up in the morning and commit to being the nicest person you can be each day?

Be A Nice Person!