YOUR LIFE A-Z:UNNECESSARY

BE KIND

UNNECESSARY

How much stuff is in your life that is completely UNNECESSARY?   How much chatter is in your head that is completely UNNECESSARY?   Ironically the first question to ask your self to any UNNECESSARY question is,  “Is it necessary?”  If you find yourself answering, “yes.”  Stop and think for a minute.   Really, is it necessary?  When was the last time you used it?  What do you need it for? What do you get out of it?  Learning to toss UNNECESSARY stuff (regardless if the UNNECESSARY is stuff or chatter) is a learned skill for most people.  Rather than make the decision to toss something when you are through using, most people save it for later.  For instance,  “Don’t throw that used jacket away, you don’t know when you might need it?”  But the truth is you hate the jacket and it has a hole in it that makes your feel ashamed to wear it.  Toss it.  It is UNNECESSARY to wear stuff that makes you feel ashamed.  If you can’t afford new stuff, don’t worry.  Thrift stores have awesome deals on great gently used stuff.  However, if you go to a thrift store, buy only what you need.  Just because it is a deal does not mean it is necessary.  Most of the stuff we buy is completely UNNECESSARY.  UNNECESSARY stuff, comments, and inner chatter need to be fully examined and managed in ways that help you feel positive about your environment, actions, and self. If it is UNNECESSARY, it needs to be discarded.

YOUR LIFE A-Z:RESILIENCE

IN THE CENTER YOU WILL RESILIENCE

RESILIENCE

RESILIENCE is the ability to bounce back from difficult situations. Practicing peace builds RESILIENCE.  RESILIENCE is what humans need to make it through life. Life will throw curves balls all the time.  You may take a swing or two but remember you get three swings before you are out.  RESILIENCE keeps you coming back and analyzing a situation, looking at it from many different vantage points.  Then you learn to ask yourself questions.  One question is, “what can I do differently here?”  It is easy to get into a rut of doing the same old thing to solve the same old problems.  RESILIENCE allows you to try different swings at the curve balls of life.  Think about coming at your situation by going around the problem instead of going straight at it.  Consider going under or over a problem rather than straight at the problem.  RESILIENCE, bouncing back requires a spring within your being that allows you to get up when you have been knocked down again. Maybe it is important to take lessons from a boxer to understand how to learn to be RESILIENT.  Boxers get knocked down for a living.  Boxers get up to win.  You have to get up every time you find yourself knocked down in order to build RESILIENCE.  Many people are RESILIENT to germs because he/she exposes herself to germs in order to build up RESILIENCE.  RESILIENCE can be built and developed.  You are the only one can decide if you can get up again.  RESILIENCE is up to you.

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: KALON

The Leaf and the Bloom are Just as Beautiful as the Flower

KALON

KALON is a word that means more beautiful than skin deep and exquisite beyond the naked eye.  Ancient Greeks referred to it as the highest beauty!  Robert Mondavi, renowned wine maker, started one of the world’s earliest vineyards, KALON VINEYARD in KALON Valley, which is rich in fertile soil and perfect grape growing climates.  Do you see beyond your skin into your heart and do you nourish the goodness that already lies within you?  KALON the beauty beyond your eye is what you are looking for.  Our bodies are all flawed in one-way or the other.  Even Barbra Streisand hates her nose and will only let photos be taken from a certain side of her face.  If Barbra Streisand were to get a “nose job” it would affect her perfect voice in negative ways, so she learns to live with it.  So can you.  What part of your life are you destroying by focusing on the imperfections or the ugly?  Have you considered if your soil is fertile like Robert Mondavi? It is your choice where you choose to focus and you must ask yourself the real question, “What am I getting out of focusing on the negative parts of me?  Is my soil the best it can be?” There are many positive parts.  Who did you connect with today? Did I their day a bit easier or sunnier?  What do you do for others that often go unnoticed but you feel good about reaching out?  What are the things you do like about your KALON?  See your KALON TODAY. 

YOUR LIFE A-Z WISDOM

ALLOW YOURSELF TO BE BLESSED

WISDOM

WISDOM requires integrating a value system of reflection, experience, good judgement, and discernment.  It does not come without experience.  WISDOM is a characteristic of living a life with soft eyes and gentle footsteps.  WISDOM allows the wise one to take his/her time in making decisions, speaking his/her truth, and a following a clear path of compassion with fellow people encountered on the path.  To practice WISDOM is to be aware of your thoughts and how your thoughts affect your quality of daily life.  Each day counts.  Each day you make a difference in your life and the life of others by your thoughts, words, and actions.  Awareness of how you impact others and your own quality of life is essential to establishing quality and virtue in living.  If you want to live a better life, seek daily WISDOM.  Ask for compassion and WISDOM. Ask for guidance as to how to make the best choices for yourself and those you come in contact with.  Practice WISDOM with your spending.  You work hard for your money. Choose where to spend it and how to spend it, but don't become cheap.  Buy quality.  Enjoy living.  Enjoy the day to day grind.  WISDOM is enjoying the moment.  Place a slice of lemon in your water and notice your smile and quality of living increase.  WISDOM is in tandem with enjoyment and quality.  If you don't experience enjoyment and quality of life, you are not practicing WISDOM.  Make today a day of enjoyment and quality even if it is as simple as buying fresh flowers for your table.

YOUR LIFE A-Z:QUESTION

QUESTION

Yes, question everything. Rilke the poet wrote,  "Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the question themselves.  Do not now seek the answers which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them.  And the point is, to live everything.  Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer."  Thus to question is to be alive.

Do not fret about the answers but enjoy the journey of discovery.  Questions about life, love, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are meaningful questions. By asking the questions we become more alert, aware, and alive.  The answers are constantly changing.  Once upon a time we thought the earth was flat.  That in and of itself is so hard to imagine in today's rapid world of knowledge andtechnology but it is true. Even though the ancient Egyptians had diagrams of the earth being round, the undereducated folks still thought the Earth to be flat when Christopher Columbus set sail for India.  His believed measurements of the earth were so small, that if he had not discovered the Americas in between his journey,he and his crew would have starved.  Question, explore, discover and enjoy living into whatever answers may come your way.  If no answers come, the risk of taking the journey is well worth the effort because the experiences along the way make the possibilities meaningful.

Your Life A-Z AWARE

Check out Your Options with an Unobstructed View 

I have been asked by many, “what happened to the daily blog, where you published a word-a-day?”  I  reminded myself that I made a commitment to publish daily for one year a new word each day and readers could meditate, reflect, or journal about the word.  I kept my commitment for one year and now I will re-post those blogs in order that more of you can take part in this challenge to make the next 365 days count as you move into the present and become aware of your choices and actions. Enjoy.  

AWARE

The word of the day is Aware.  Look out for yourself from the best vantage point.  Rather than getting to the bottom of something, get to the top of it.  In the movie, The Dead Poet's Society, the students climbed to the top of their desks and looked outward as they said with gusto, "Seize The Day."  

Seize your day from the top of the rocks, look around and be aware.  Make a commitment to yourself to live in the present.  Ask yourself some inner investigative questions.  Start with centering yourself.  What emotion are you aware of right now?  How does that make your body feel?  What happens if you breath six deep breaths and stretch?  How does the feeling change?  Be aware of you!  Be aware of your emotions, thoughts, body and use your breath to deepen your awareness.  

In an interview between Pema Chodron and K.D. Lang. earlier this year these two Buddhist referred to the Gap experience.  The Gap is that space where we stop, look up, and notice that there is a sky and it is blue, or stormy, or dusk.  The Gap is taking time to stop and notice.  Where ever you are right now, look up.  What do you see?  Does you visual environment make you smile?  If not, what do you need to change so that you can smile?   

Becoming AWARE is a practice of being alive in the moment.  Don’t miss this moment.  

Photo:RBDilley