YOUR LIFE A-Z: MARVEL

ALL OF LIFE IS A MARVEL

MARVEL

MARVEL is a word that when activated causes the soul to soar upwards in astonishment and delight.  A MARVEL can also be a pleasant surprise when you accomplish something you thought was impossible.   To set a new 10K record can be a MARVEL, an accomplishment in your eyes. Visit the Grand Canyon and allow the MARVEL of it expand your chest and break out a big smile and take glee in the photo opportunities that will MARVEL even the novice photographer.  The Grand Canyon as I suppose it is with Niagara Falls and other natural wonders is never the same twice.  Each day, each ray of light, each cloud, and the multi-dimensional backgrounds of color are always changing.   The only thing that prevents you from enjoying the MARVELOUS environments around you is your attitude and possible negative thoughts.  I use to think the Grand Canyon was one big hole in the ground until I spent several days in a row there where I could then experience the Canyon.  Once you experience something the MARVEL of if seeps in from the toes of your feet to the top of your head. There are many things to MARVEL and that are MARVELOUS.   Do not miss the opportunity to celebrate the MARVEL of the day, which provides you another opportunity to live and breath in meaningful and MARVELOUS ways.  To MARVEL is to be open to the experience of the present moment seeing it as if you have never seen it before.  

YOUR LIFE A-Z:DELIGHT

DELIGHT IN ALL THAT SURROUNDS YOU

DELIGHT

What is it that brings you DELIGHT?   I would imagine that you do not have enough DELIGHT, charm, enchantment and pure pleasure in your day-to-day life.  The missing DELIGHT factor in your daily life must be fixed.  It is important to experience genuine DELIGHT just for the sake of DELIGHT.   A daily dose of DELIGHT will boost your immune system; bring a smile to your face and to the face of others.   Life is full of complications, chaos, and often-negative surprises thus it is important to learn to be a pursuer of DELIGHT.  It is true that DELIGHT is most often a spontaneous experience and cannot be created in the laboratory of control.  However, there are probably many opportunities of DELIGHT that you ignore because you allow yourself to be too busy to notice.  In order to become a pursuer of DELIGHT allow yourself to take time to experience the flower department at your grocery store.  Walk through it and notice the colors, pick up bouquets and smell them, and allow yourself to soak in the care they need to stay DELIGHTFUL for you.  I believe DELIGHT is a tenderness emotion that comes from our deepest experience of being truly in the present.  DELIGHT is an outcome of joy.  DELIGHT massages our soul and to experience physical DELIGHT engage in a body massage from an expert who’s hands know how to DELIGHT your muscles and your feet while totally relaxing your facial muscles.  DELIGHT is all around you waiting to tickle your senses.  

YOUR LIFE A-Z:UPLIFT

UPLIFT YOU AND YOUR BUDDY TODAY

UPLIFT

“May I be uplifted and experience the root of uplifting.”  That is how simple Buddhist prayer becomes and notice that it begins with the most important person in the world-YOU. If you don’t have ‘you’ then you have nothing.  If you are walking around down in the dumps, dissatisfied, and unhappy then within a very short period of time you are not going to be in a position to UPLIFT anyone else.  You must UPLIFT yourself.  Today do actions that are going to help you UPLIFT your spirit, your energy, and your mood.  To UPLIFT means to come along beside and lift to a different space.  As a child perhaps the adult UPLIFTED you from the ground to his/her shoulders in order for you to see the parade, the fireworks or the clowns.  That UPLIFT provided you with a boost of excitement.  The world became immediately interesting and you were able to see things that you could not see or understand from the point of view of three feet off the ground.  UPLIFT yourself today.  Seize the day.  Stand on the desktop and view the world out of your window from an UPLIFTED perspective.  By changing your view you are able to change your perspective and those put positive energy into the world.  UPLIFT yourself first then you will have the energy to come along side a friend or colleague and UPLIFT him/her when they are feeling down or are in a complaining pit.  UPLIFT him/her out of the pit once you are firmly UPLIFTED from your own emotional malaise. 

YOUR LIFE A-Z:SEEK

ALWAYS SEEK AND EXPLORE

SEEK

Don’t settle for the ordinary.  SEEK after the answer to your heart’s burning questions.  SEEK meaning, purpose, quality, and compassion in your day-to- day routine.  SEEK to love those around you; don’t just SEEK to be loved. SEEK within to bring light to your own dark shadows that keep you trapped in negative behavior and feelings.  Jesus reportedly says in two separate accounts, SEEK the Kingdom of God within you and SEEK the truth, and it will set you free.  As the hero/shero of your own destiny you will have arduous tasks and obstacles to overcome and bring the best out of yourself.  The question remains, how do you sabotage yourself in ways that keep you repeating old exhausting patterns of remaining the victim of your own passivity?  Get in the game of life and SEEK to experience the joy of your existence, the joy of breathing (yoga and meditation will help with that), the joy of being able to be alive one more day.  Make the most of it.  It is hard to confront our darkness.  It is hard to see the shattered mirror of our pretend self and SEEK the truth of our indiscretions, personal pain, and our own shortcomings.  We all have them.  We all pretend that we don’t.  In AA it is important to do a personal inventory of how we have hurt others.  List your own inventory and SEEK forgiveness and light to heal your darkness.  SEEK until your Quest is finished and then there will be a new quest.  We are born to SEEK. 

YOUR LIFE A-Z: GASTRONOMICAL

HEALTHY EATING COMES IN MANY DELIGHTS

GASTRONOMICAL

GASTRONOMICAL is the art and science of good eating by choosing, preparing and serving food to bring all of your senses together in a pleasant and fulfilling dining experience.  The last two days has been a very inward journey of self –exploration.  Today I invite you to look outward and inward at the same time.  If this exercise will not work for today that is okay, but do take some time to plan it today.  First think healthy food.  Next, what healthy foods (fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains, lean meat) do you enjoy?  If you don’t want to prepare this dish for yourself, then which restaurant can you indulge your senses by planning a GASTRONOMICAL experience while dining out?  Write down the dinner you want to plan with every side dish you will enjoy, plus a very nice desert.  GASTRONOMICAL experiences must include a delightful and beautifully prepared desert.  This dinner is not a reward; it is intended to be an experience that will allow your senses to come to life.  As you imagine your perfect GASTRONOMICAL dinner what colors are on your plate?  How is your plate of GASTRONOMICAL delight served to make it appealing to the eye?  What aromas bubble up in your kitchen as you are preparing it or whiff upward from your plate as it is served?  What is happening to your taste buds right now as you think about the perfect GASTRONOMICAL experience?  Life is to be lived and it is always lived better through GASTRONOMICAL delight.