Well, this post is going to be kinda different in that I’m intending it to keep growing. I’m always finding snippets that I’d love to share but that are just too little to write a whole post about. So, this is going to be their home – a collection of random gems for you to bookmark and keep revisiting…
I recently came across the following quote from Living Buddha, Living Christ in which Thich Nhat Hanh describes a simple breathing technique that we can easily add to our meditation and pranayama practice to help us to eliminate any negative feelings we have towards others:
Buddha taught, “Breathing in, I recognize my feeling. Breathing out, I calm my feeling.” If you practice this, not only will your feeling be calmed down but the energy of mindfulness will also help you see into the nature and roots of your anger. Mindfulness helps you be concentrated and look deeply. This is true meditation. The insight will come after some time of practice. You will see the truth about yourself and the truth about the person who you thought to be the cause of your suffering. This insight will release you from your anger and transform the roots of anger in you. The transformation in you will also help transform the other person.
Thich Nhat Hanh goes on to tell us:
Mindful speaking can bring real happiness, and unmindful speech can kill. When someone tells us something that makes us happy, that is a wonderful gift. But sometimes someone says something to us that is so cruel and distressing that we feel like committing suicide. We lose our joie de vivre.
Thumper, the fictional rabbit character from Disney’s animated films Bambi and Bambi II, conveyed similar sentiments when he said, simply:
If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.
Laruga Glaser’s flowing sequence of arm balances in this video are awe-inspiring. She sure makes my goal to balance in Crow Pose seem a little feeble!
I absolutely love a good murder mystery! From Inspector Morse, Endeavour and Lewis where I can relate to Morse and Hathaway’s love of the finer things in life and all things intellectual, to Miss Marple and Father Brown where the simplicity of village life in years gone by appeals to me. In Silent Witness I always find Nikki to be an inspiration professionally and I have to admit that I share some of Poirot’s perfectionist tendencies! Midsomer Murders brings light-hearted comedy to the murder investigation and I always think Tom and Joyce are such a lovely example of married life and community involvement. One of my favourite TV series though is Castle. Ladies, isn’t Castle just everything a man should be?
I’ve been catching up with some episodes lately and this quote from Richard Castle struck me as a real gem:
One day you will look back and you will realize that every experience you ever had, every seeming mistake or blind alley was actually a straight line to who you were meant to be.
And Tom Barnaby reminded us that failure is simply a step on the (often stony) path to success when he quoted the words of Aristotle:
You have only failed if you have given up. Until then, it’s learning.
In some Russian and Ukranian schools, when temperatures drop below freezing, an old Siberian technique is used to boost health and stamina and combat against colds and the flu:
My mum and I have done a lot of guided meditations over the years, but we recently stumbled on a really good one – by one of my favourite online yoga teachers, Juliana from Boho Beautiful. We loved the meditation so much that we have been listening to it most days since!
Some of my inspiration this month has come from my new addiction to Tony Robbins’ videos on YouTube. For those of you who are not familiar with Tony Robbins, he is a world famous motivational speaker and author of self-help books such as Unlimited Power and Awaken the Giant Within.
Choosing a YouTube video to feature in this post was no mean feat as I’ve loved almost every one I’ve listened to, but this one struck a particular chord with where I am in my life at the moment:
One Square Inch of Silence was founded by Gordon Hempton. From the quietest place in the United States, in the Hoh Rain Forest of Olympic National Park, he is making it his mission to record and preserve the sounds of the environment that are not subject to noise pollution.
Gordon Hempton talks about his amazing project in the podcast episode The Last Quiet Places: Silence and the Presence of Everything.
I recently learned of a man named Emanuel Swedenborg (1688 – 1772) – a Swedish scientist, philosopher, theologian and mystic who is famous for his books on the afterlife.
Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation, his books can be downloaded for free at the following links: Heaven and Hell, Divine Love and Wisdom, Divine Providence, True Christianity and Secrets of Heaven.
Margaret Lynch – one of America’s most acclaimed personal transformation coaches – has created a free online video course that any healers, coaches or practitioners among you won’t want to miss.
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If you are struggling to make ends meet or are frustratingly stuck, not thriving enough to quit your day job, then this course is for you. Click here to claim your access to Margaret Lynch’s free video course.
