Creating an Attitude of Gratitude

Creating an attitude of gratitude is one of the easiest steps we can take to improve our lives. The happiness that we create for ourselves by showing our appreciation has far-reaching effects, both for ourselves and for those we come into contact with. The potential for gratitude to spread beyond those people also increases significantly – it can be highly contagious. There are so many different ways that we can express an attitude of gratitude. Here are just a few:

Say “thank you”. This is the most basic and well-known way to show appreciation to others. Saying “thank you” is a great way to express your gratitude and can be done in several different forms. You can say it in person, over the phone, in a note, or in an email. Using this when it’s least expected can have significant results in lifting someone’s spirits. For example, a quick note to your child’s teacher thanking her for her hard work and patience might give her the boost of energy that she needs right when she needs it most. You may never know what effect this has had on her, but it will have an effect.

Stop complaining about your life. Even as tough as life can be sometimes, remember that there is always someone that has things worse than you do. Constant complaining about what is wrong in your life will keep you focused on that. The opposite is true as well – focusing on what is right in your life will keep you focused on that. Focusing on the negative will bring you down while focusing on the positive will lift you up.

Focus on what you have, not what you don’t have. This is very closely related to not complaining about your life. Being grateful for what you do have keeps you in a positive place, whereas focusing on what you don’t have keeps you in a negative place. Focusing on what you do have, regardless of how little or how much that may be, is a great expression of gratitude.

Model your attitude. Modeling your attitude of gratitude is a great way to spread it to others. We’ve all heard the Golden Rule to “treat others the way you want to be treated”. Showing your appreciation to others shows them that you like to be treated this way too. An attitude of gratitude can be quite infectious!

Be satisfied with simple things and be mindful of little things. Being grateful for the little things in our lives is just as important (if not, more so) than being grateful for the big things. Our lives are filled with little things every day that we can be grateful for. What about that front row parking spot you found when you were running late? Or the beautiful weather outside? How about the store clerk that went out of her way to help you? This may take a little practice, but there are many little things throughout the day that we can be grateful for if we take the time to notice them.

Give to someone else. This is the best way to spread your gratitude of attitude. There are so many different ways to give to someone else. You could volunteer your time to help those less fortunate or give you time to children by mentoring them. The possibilities are endless but could make a huge difference in someone’s life without you evening knowing it. If they in turn give to someone else, the cycle could continue without end.

Keep a gratitude journal. Let’s just be honest here: there are some days when it is hard to find anything to be grateful for. Keeping a gratitude journal can help with that. There are preprinted journals so you can just fill in the blanks or you can make your own. The important thing is to find at least 5 things each day to be grateful for, no matter how big or small those things are. A gratitude journal can serve two purposes: it will help you stop and remember what you are grateful for or it can serve as inspiration on days when you find it difficult to find anything to be grateful for by reading over past days.

Practice random acts of kindness. This can be one of the most fun and rewarding ways to live a life of gratitude, especially when it’s done anonymously. Surprise someone with something unexpected. You may never know what it meant to them but it will likely make their day. Try putting a note in your child’s lunch or bringing treats to the office to share. Even a small gesture can mean so much to someone.

Living a life of gratitude is one of the easiest ways to live a happier life. It takes very little effort to show someone you appreciate them but will mean so much to them. There are so many ways to make gratitude a part of our life and to spread that attitude to others. Make today the day you start living a life of gratitude and spread your light to the rest of the world!

Recipe for Concentration

Relaxation

You don't have to shave your head, take a vow to celibacy, or change your religion to practice meditation. Entrance yourself with sound, something quiet and subtle that will pull at your attention and fill your senses with serenity (I like the sound of running water). Find a position that you can be in indefinitely without much discomfort or disruption of circulation to your limbs. Pay attention to your breathing and establish a comfortable rhythm. Empty your mind of the numerous thoughts flying about, and let your sensory experience engulf your mind. Tel your muscles to relax. Focus on your breathing; let it become the only thing you think of. This can paradoxically seem both impossible, and the easiest thing you could possibly do. Remain focused, lest you fall asleep. determination

Intention

It's easy to stray off the path. You can prepare yourself by having directions that will take you from wherever you back to where you need to be. For example, if you need to write a research paper, make a list of things you need to do (locate sources, read sources, extract excerpts, create outline, formulate thesis, etc.). Whenever you find yourself doing something that is not productive (read email, IRC, random WWW browsing, picking dirt off fingernails, etc.), go over your list of things to do and put yourself back on track. Done often enough, this process could become automatic.

Awareness

Concentration requires being in a certain state of consciousness continuously for the desired amount of time. Music has a powerful effect on consciousness. Listen to any type of music that helps you be in whatever state you need to be in. If fast thinking is required, fast music is appropiate. If repetitive processes are required, repetitive music is optimal. If possible, make a CD or tape of the required music and put it on an endless loop...

Determination

Tell yourself you will never give up, and you will take yourself more seriously. I once struggled trying to learn a piano piece for 3 hours straight. It was frustrating at first, but it got easier once my brain realized I meant serious business and was not going to leave the piano for a few hours. The temptation of scrapping it all and doing something else is severe, especially if the task at hand is challenging. Having infinite patience is difficult, yet simple if one keeps one's priorities straight. One of my favorite original quotes: "The more patience you have, the less patience you'll need."

You Get What You Focus On

Do you find yourself thinking mainly about the bad things in your life? Do you look at the future and assume that things will turn out badly for you? Watch out! It is likely that you will get what you focus on. Even the Biblical character Job, who suffered the loss of everything, made the statement, "That which I have greatly feared has come to pass." Is it possible that his disasters happened partly because his focus was on the negative instead of on the positive?

You don't have anything to lose by thinking positively and focusing on the beneficial things you desire. If your focus is on defeat and despair, you will be miserable even if it never happens. On the other hand, a positive, upbeat focus will have you in a good state of mind even if a mishap occurs. Ask any positive thinker, though, and they will tell you that you get good things if you expect good things.

Your focus can be increased in a variety of ways. Positive affirmations are a traditional approach. Whatever you hope to achieve or gain in life, turn it into a single simple statement. For instance, if you want to lose weight, you can tell yourself something like, "I am enjoying lighter meals and am satisfied with smaller portions." Try telling yourself your affirmations every morning several times when you first rise, and again in the evening before going to sleep.

Many people like to post their positive focus statements on the bathroom mirror where they will see them while they brush their teeth in the morning. You might like to write them inside your daily planner as well. Another idea is to write encouraging notes to yourself on each page of your planner or calendar. Keep those positive ideas before your eyes if you wish to improve the strength of your focus.

Some people have enjoyed creating a collage or dream box to increase their positive focus. A collage can be made of magazine pictures, words, and statements that point your heart to your desired outcomes. A dream box is simply a place to keep success stories, motivating pictures and other inspiring odds and ends you collect as you go through life.

Do you write New Year's resolutions? The beginning of the year is a natural time to evaluate your life and set goals. Don't follow the popular idea that resolutions are all broken withing a few weeks. If a goal is worth pursuing, don't give up on it. Believe you can achieve it. Believe you will achieve it. Write your resolutions down and look at them from time to time as the year progresses. They might be challenging, but by keeping them in your focus, you might reach some of them. Congratulate yourself for every small victory on your road to success.

Yes, you get what you focus on. Make sure you are setting your sights on success and achievement and not on failure. Whatever you set your mind to, you can accomplish.

What is Karma?

Karma is the concept of "action" or "deed" in Indian religions understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect originating in ancient India and treated in Hindu, Jain, Sikh and Buddhist philosophies.

The philosophical explanation of karma can differ slightly between traditions, but the general concept is basically the same. Through the law of karma, the effects of all deeds actively create past, present, and future experiences, thus making one responsible for one's own life, and the pain and joy it brings to him/her and others.

My take on Karma

When most people think of karma they probably think of a universal law of cause and effect. They probably think that good actions will bring back good things to them and bad actions will bring bad things to them.

While this is partially true, it is not the whole picture. In fact I think that this level of conceptual understanding of karma is very elementary and unnecessarily metaphysical.

My explanation is much more common sense, practical, and easy to understand.
Basically karma is your own doing. You could equate your karma with the habitual thoughts that you think over and over again. You could also equate karma with your belief systems. These are both your own doing and also the creative force behind the circumstances of your life.

If you are completely unaware of your thoughts and beliefs, then you will in a sense be a slave to your own karma. This is why spiritual traditions speak of being in bondage and suffering. This is why I think awareness is the first step towards freedom.

To easily illustrate karma in action let us look at this example.

Two people, Person A and Person B, experience the same event, at the same time, at the same place, yet how they respond will be based on their karma.

Let’s say Person A is on the highway and a reckless driver speeds past and then proceeds to pull over into their lane and cut them off. Person A has to slam on the breaks to avoid a collision while the reckless driver speeds away totally oblivious as to what has just happened.

Now lets say Person A is like most people and has not done any work on their mental emotional karma. So Person A responds like most would, in total anger and negativity. For the rest of the day Person A is experiencing that anger and also telling everyone he sees about what transpired that morning. By doing this Person A is perpetuating the negativity, and thus in a sense making the karmic repercussions even worse.

Person B had the exact same experience, but instead Person B has done some work changing and dissolving old mental emotional karma. So instead of responding in anger and allowing that one moment to define the rest of his day, Person B simply recognizes that it could have been a lot worse and at least everyone is safe. Person B even wonders why that driver was so reckless and what would possibly be so important to cause them to drive in such a manner.

This is just one simple example to illustrate the power of karma in action. So then rather than karma being a lofty, airy fairy, metaphysical concept, I have shown a real, common sense illustration of how karma is one’s own doing and how it can rule over their lives.

The fact is, everyone has karma, all day every, in all areas of their life. The karma is the habitual thoughts that occur over and over, every day. If we never take the time to become aware of these things and to change them, then we will certainly be slaves to our karma.

We will in a sense be slaves to our past because we will be driven by it until we decide to change it.


Think about it like this, does the wake of a ship drive the ship?

No of course not, the wake is the side effect of that which is driving the ship.

The wake eventually fades off into the distance and completely disappears, so how could it have any power whatsoever?

It is like this the past can’t control the present. That is unless a person insists that it does, then it does.

The choice is really up to each person in every moment.

Freedom from Karma?

So then how do we become free from karma?

It is simple, change your thinking.

Get rid of the habit of thought where by you define yourself as the result of what has come before.

Instead you define yourself by what you are doing now.

That is liberation.

Get in The Flow

Have you ever just been in a flow before?

Like a time when everything was just happening so smoothly, with out effort. a time where everything in your life was just clicking and going right for you, like the universe was simply responding to all of your thoughts and desires, with no effort on your part. Maybe that time is a time like today, maybe a time like right now.

Have you ever been in a space where you knew something amazing was about to happen? Like massive excitement and abundance was right on the horizon. Maybe you felt like all of your desires were manifest. Maybe you felt like you were full of love and one with all of existence.

Have you ever felt this way?

Have you ever just known, with out knowing how or why, that today was the day. That today was the best day of your life, perhaps like the day when all your synchronicities lined up, and your life was filled with magic, wonderment, amazement, love, and abundance. Have you ever felt this excitement?

Maybe on a day like today you did.

Maybe a moment similar to this, you just knew sometime amazing was happening, that all of your dreams, thoughts, and wishes, were waiting for you.

Maybe you felt like a child again, full of joy, wonder, excitement, and love.

Have you ever felt like this before?

Maybe on a day like today?

Maybe in a moment like right now?

We have all had experiences where we were just on it. Everything was happening just as we wanted it to, seemingly with out any effort at all. This phenomenon is called “being in the flow.”

We can look at the great athletes and the great musicians of history to illustrate what I am talking about.

Use Michael Jordan for example. When he was in his prime, he would routinely achieve impossible feats. To observers, it seemed as though he did effortlessly. He was able to achieve such things because he was in the flow.

What is “the flow?”

Flow is the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. Proposed by positive psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, the concept has been widely referenced across a variety of fields (Wikipedia).

Other terms for this or similar mental states include: to be on the ball, in the zone, or in the groove.

The following usually accompany an experience of flow:

• Concentrating and focusing: a high degree of concentration on a limited field of attention (a person engaged in the activity will have the opportunity to focus and to delve deeply into it).

• A loss of the feeling of self-consciousness: the merging of action and awareness.

• Distorted sense of time: one's subjective experience of time is altered.

• Direct and immediate feedback: successes and failures in the course of the
activity are apparent, so that behavior can be adjusted as needed.

• Balance between ability level and challenge: the activity is neither too easy nor too difficult.

• A sense of personal control over the situation or activity.

• The activity is intrinsically rewarding, so there is an effortlessness of action.

• Action awareness merging: People become absorbed in their activity, and focus of awareness is narrowed down to the activity itself.

Why is this state of being important?

Simply put, it is important because being in this state makes life easier and more enjoyable.

I mean, just imagine a life with out struggle, effort, or strife?
Imagine always being in the right place at the right time.

I think that young children are often naturally in this state, which is part of the reason why most people have fond memories of their younger years. As time progresses, something changes and we lose that sense of being. I think this is caused by two very interrelated things.

The first one being when we are very young, we do not have a defined sense of ego. We have not yet formed the clear distinctions of self and other, of inner and outer, and of mine and yours.

The second cause relates to the balance of our brain hemispheres. I think that children spend more time in their right brains being creative, playing, day-dreaming, and using their imagination.

In school they begin to use their left brain much more for things of a more linear and less imaginative nature. Children are taught to memorize, regurgitate, and conform, more so than they are encouraged to use their creativity and imagination.

These two things lay the foundation for a life which is more left brain dominated, much more egocentric, and much more linear. These things combined with the usual stresses and rigors of modern living generally decrease the sense of flow that we are talking about.

Another reason being in the flow is important is because this is, essentially, what all spiritual practices aim for. These practices are tools are used to help the individual get their consciousness back to way it was when they were a child.

This is why Taoism is full of so many sayings that talk about becoming like a child again.

This is why so many spiritual practices focus on dissolving the dualistic definitions and distinctions that we have learned.

For millennia, practitioners of Eastern religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism have honed the discipline of overcoming the duality of self and object as a central feature of spiritual development.

Eastern spiritual practitioners have developed a very thorough and holistic set of theories around overcoming duality of self and object, tested and refined through spiritual practice instead of the systematic rigor and controls of modern science.

The phrase "being at one with things" is a metaphor for the flow concept. Practitioners of the varied schools of Zen Buddhism apply concepts similar to the flow to aid their mastery of art forms.

The objective here is diminishing the ego and getting back into the right brain, in other words, getting back into the flow.

Diet or dogma?

Many people look to a change in diet or lifestyle as a means to achieve a better, healthier life. Yet some use their diet and lifestyle for unhealthy ends and use it to put down others just to feel better about themselves.

In this article I will explore this issue because I think it something that needs to be addressed. I think it is important because many are more interested in a label, in something to worship, in something to identify with, than they are in actually achieving health, or whatever their goals may be.

Worshiping the raft

In Buddhism the analogy of a raft is used referring to the fact that a raft is something you use to get across a river, and then once you are across the river, you discard the raft because it would be senseless to keep carrying it with you on the land.

So then the only purpose of the raft is to get you across the river, right?

We can see that it would then be silly of us to worship the raft itself and stay on it forever, rather than using it for its true purpose, which is to deliver us onto the other side of the river.

This is where many people get stuck. They forget that the whole point was to get across the river and instead spend their whole time on the raft, talking about how amazing it is, and then look down on those not on the raft.

This is the downfall of every organized religion, ideology, and philosophy. I think that all of these belief systems likely began with a purpose and usage in mind.

Yet somewhere along the way it was forgotten because too many of the people using it began to worship it instead of using it for its true purpose.

One should examine their actions and intentions in regards to their diet and/or lifestyle to determine whether or not they just sitting in the raft going no where or are actually making progress toward the other side.

Many people are at this point. They have reached the other side of the river, they have achieved the desired means, yet they are too afraid to get out of the raft. Instead they stay in the raft, they worship it, and very often they look down on everyone else who is not in that raft.

So it basically boils down to this. If you are on a diet or a lifestyle program you must determine whether you are doing it for health or just so you can call yourself a vegan, vegetarian, or raw foodist.

Are you coming from a place of strength and confidence, or are you simply looking for a label to give yourself? Are you looking for something to fill your identify with? Are you simply looking for a place to belong?

I would say that many people fall into one of the categories that I just listed.

I should say that I am not condemning or putting down anyone for any reason by what I have just said. Rather, I simply want people to be aware of their true intentions and motivations.

I think that all of them are okay and acceptable. You are free to do whatever you choose and I am not going to tell you any different. However, I think that everyone should be aware of his or her own motivations.

Doing so makes one more conscious and gives one a greater sense of personal freedom and empowerment. It is my belief that the first step towards empowerment is awareness.

I would like to talk a little bit about the idea of health and, more specifically, how some use their diet or lifestyle as a way to give them a sense of superiority.

I want to bring this up because I believe this is a very unhealthy behavior and for people who are supposedly interested in health, it seems only logical that this issue should be addressed.

The point I want to make here is that you can eat the healthiest foods and you can have the healthiest lifestyle, but if you are behaving in a way that is judgmental, dogmatic, elitist, condescending, preachy, or think you have to convert the world to your point of view, then you are still MASSIVELY UNHEALTHY.

I say this because there are many other levels to health than just the physical. Mental, emotional, spiritual, and interpersonal are other examples. Many people think, however, that since they are a vegetarian or a raw foodist that they are automatically the healthiest person ever.

I should say again that if you are a raw foodist and at the same time judgmental and elitist, then you are obviously still not very healthy.

If you are using your diet or lifestyle to put you above other people so that you can feel bigger, then you are again, most certainly, not healthy.

Again I want to point out that I am not saying this to put anyone down. I am simply bringing this up because it is an important issue that should be addressed.

Another point that I want to make is that diet and lifestyle are not the end, be all. They are not the golden calf that many make them out to be. No ONE single thing is.

Many people make this mistake and think that because they grow and expand in one area of their life that it is all that they need to do.

Very often, they think that their work is done and that the only thing left to do is to go around preaching and trying to convert everyone to their point of view.

Well, I can tell you that this is a very dangerous and imbalanced point of view to have. I can tell you that this is a life script that is destined for failure, stress, strife, and struggle. This is a set of game rules in which no one wins and everyone loses.

In conclusion

In closing, my advice is to really think about some of the questions which I have raised in this article.

I am saying look in the mirror at your own self to figure these things out.

Also one thing we all could do is to simply LIGHTEN UP.

Does it really matter so much what someone is or isn’t?

Do these labels really matter that much? Do we really need to pigeonhole everyone we meet into a little symbolic box so that we can feel more secure?

Because in the end what matters more, a diet and lifestyle or actually being a kind, generous, happy, and positive person?

Which do you prefer and why?

In later articles I will highlight my own diet and lifestyle choices and also delve into my motivations.

I think this will be an important tangent to this article because I think it will show that one can eat and live a certain way, with out being so caught up in it that it becomes all consuming.

I will show that you can live a certain way, which may be potentially very beneficial, with out insisting that everyone else does the same.

What are the Three Treasures of Tonic Herbalism?

What are the Three Treasures?

In Chinese medicine they say our bodies are made up of three main energies, which they call the three treasures. The three treasures are jing, chi, and shen. By understanding the three treasures, we can understand the workings of our own bodies more accurately and thus open the door to greater health and abundance.

By regulating and nourishing our Three Treasures, we will have a macro-control over our health without micro-managing the complex bodily functions. There is no way we could possibly micro-manage them, so we should not. We can nurture our body, tonify our regulatory mechanisms, and develop true adaptability that will allow the body to manage itself.

In our bodies jing is our reserve of life force and it determines how long we live and the power of our life. Jing represents essence or essential energy. It is stored in the kidneys. This is our primal energy, our “Prenatal karmic energy.” We tend to dip into our Jing when we become overworked, stressed, as well as from excessive behavior.

Chi translates as energy and blood, life essence. We get this from the food we eat and the air we breathe, that is why it is so important to eat healthy and breathe deeply. This is the energy we want to live on, on a daily basis rather than dipping into our jing. Chi is manifested as our day-to-day vitality and our innate ability to defend ourselves and ward off pathogens.

Shen translates asour spirit, our state of psychological well being, our wisdom, and our spiritual experience and radiance. It refers to our spiritual, emotional and mental well being. It is essential for our Jing and Chi to be strong so the Shen can flourish.

One way to illustrate this is to use the metaphor of the candle. The jing would be the dense physical matter of the candle, the wax and the wick. The chi would be the flame of the candle. The shen would be the light and the heat that is given off by the candle.

So then if you have a think and sturdy wax and wick, then you will have a large flame. If you have a large flame, then a large amount of light and heat will be given off by the candle. Thus we could say that the candle would be superior and radiant.

Another way to look at this would be:

First Treasure (jing) – savings account (we want as much as we can)

Second Treasure (chi) – checking account (this is what we want to live off
of so we don’t have to dip into our savings).

Third Treasure (shen) – how we spend it (and that said, if our 3 treasures
are not balanced we could go broke!)