Does Your Cup Runneth Over?
There’s a lot of focus just now on making sure that we find time for ourselves, to prevent overwhelm and burnout. The old saying “You can’t pour from an empty cup” promotes self-care first.
But actually, caring for others can have tremendous positive benefits for us. By doing something for someone else we can reduce our stress and anxiety, increase our self-esteem and self-worth and increase our feelings of happiness and our sense of being connected to other people.
It’s not just about doing things for people that we love and care about. The same feelings of happiness and connectedness can arise when we do things for strangers or people we don’t know very well.
And research carried out at the University of California found that being kind to others could reduce blood pressure.
So maybe rather than draining our cup, caring for others can sometimes help it to flow over?
Sleep
Getting better sleep shouldn't be a chore or an inconvenience. It should be something we want to do. If you aren't sleeping well, the first step is to look at your life and lifestyle to see if there are things that may be causing this. These may include your diet, exercise patterns, environment, habits, or the stress and worries of everyday living.
Getting a good night's rest is not about living longer. It's about living better.
Reflection
According to Eckhart Tolle “Awareness is the greatest agent for change.”
You can be aware of many things at once: it’s raining outside, your son is shouting to you that he can’t find his school bag, and the dog has just run off with tonight’s dinner.
But self-awareness means being aware of your thoughts, beliefs and behaviours. And if you’re very self-aware it’s easier to understand other people and what their reactions mean.
Awareness starts like a small seed, which grows and blooms into something wonderful.
When we understand ourselves, we have the greatest capacity for change. We’re aware of how we affect other people and can change our behaviours. We’re aware of what we believe to be right and wrong and can take a stand. We’re aware of the kind of place we want to live in and can take action to change the world.
It all starts with that seed of awareness.'
Accept Every Part of Yourself
I start with the premise that we are all living, breathing miracles - and I think you should, too.
Be
“Be kind to your body, gentle with your mind and patient with your heart. Stay true to your spirit, cherish your soul and never doubt yourself. You are still becoming, my love, and there is no one more deserving of the nurturing grace of your love.” – Becca Lee
“Am I enough?”
No matter who you are and what you do, there is only one answer to the question ‘am I enough’ and that is YES I AM! As everyone is always enough - no matter what.
Real love feels good and uplifting - not jealous or anxious, and does not compromise who you are as a person.
25 Uncomfortable things
Life is hard enough without having to live in a constant state of regret over lost opportunities, lost loves, and lost chances to speak your mind.
If you want to make the most of your life, doing these 25 uncomfortable things will ensure you don’t regret any part of your life.
1. Speak your mind when something is bothering you. You’ll only get one chance to make a lasting impact.
2. Gather the courage to stick to the things that are important to you. We are all so easily swayed by what others think.
3. Ask yourself if you are who you wanted to be when you grew up. If you aren’t there yet, keep working on it.
4. Let go of the things that don’t matter in your life. When you are 20-something, everything seems to be important.
5. Make sure you are living life outside of social media instead of just painting a picture of your imaginary life on social media.
6. Check the drama-queen act at the door. Let your overreacting self take a break once in awhile.
7. Talk about the world, politics, hobbies, food – anything except other people and your judgements of them.
8. Stop telling yourself you are fat. When you die, no one is going to care how “fat” you were. They’ll care about you as a person.
9. Be interested in other people and mean it. Learning about others is fascinating and a great way to learn about ourselves too.
10. Stop trying to be anything other than a kind and emphatic person. Being kind will bring you lots of joy and satisfaction in your life. No one cares about your opinion if you aren’t being nice to people.
11. Give yourself some room to breathe and mess up. Pay attention to things in the moment and allow yourself to enjoy them.
12. Read. A lot. Don’t limit yourself to what’s on the internet – they still print actual books you know
13. Be nice. The easiest way to do this is to always put other’s feelings before your own.
14. You aren’t going to trip and fall into your soul mate; you need to go out and find them.
15. Don’t spend money you don’t have; give money away whenever you can; set yourself up for financial success early on and you’ll be glad you did.
16. Trophies and medals don’t make you a better person, habits do. Work on being better everyday and you will become the person you see yourself being.
17. Draft a mission statement for yourself as a person. Use it to help you make decisions and guide your life.
18. Don’t cross people and burn bridges. You think walking out of that job today isn’t going to impact your life 5 years from now? Think again. Keep it classy and you’ll never have to worry about your life choices coming back to haunt you.
19. Ask people to be honest with you. Regardless of whether you agree or not, hearing people out is important.
20. Pay attention to when you feel uncomfortable about something: there’s opportunity to learn and grow there but many people gloss over it.
21. Don’t blame others for your shortcomings. Identify and accept responsibility for yourself at all turns.
22. Find your purpose and you will find pleasure.
23. Create a home for yourself no matter where you are in life. Whether it’s your parent’s basement or a high rise in the city, plant your roots and be happy with what you have.
24. Forget what you see online: real life is happening right in front of your eyes. Go out and live it.
25. Make sure you get the most of our your life by never holding back love, thoughts, ideas, and desires.
Denmark
Denmark is known as the country with the best life balance in all of Europe; they are also coincidentally the population most likely to use reflexology to support their health. Studies have been conducted regarding on-site reflexology in varied workforce such as municipal councils and the Danish post office. These studies have shown that not only did they see:
...but they also saw:
What do you think of that, then?!
Create the life you love:
Every day, sit for a moment in silent meditation (just be) and concentrate on exactly what you would love to create in your life. See your life exactly the way you would love it to be.
I used to sit at Dogs Bay in Connemara designing how I would like my life to be ' my focus, at the time was on a Mini Cooper! and a white cottage, with roses round the door - the love of your life doesn't always arrive at the time you expect ' but that's another workshop!
You are not alone and unloved
The human ego is annoying - that's its very nature. It irritates you because it creates friction as it attempts to dissuade you from love. The ripple in the energy field is unpleasant. You'll always be troubled if you pay attention to other people's egos, because you'll only notice the darkness and shadows.
Smile ' your body believes you
You can’t feed your soul from collecting the approval of others. It’s like an addiction to crack, or sugar, or like being stuck in an endless game of Monopoly that you can never win.
"Without love there is no life, and the life is of such a quality as is the love."
People have different definitions of love. When you acknowledge life's perfection by embracing both of its sides, you experience unconditional love.
???????????
If a crystal ball could tell you the truth about yourself, your life, the future or anything else, what would you want to know?
Mentally Strong
The world and it's habitats are not always easy to digest, life will knock you to your knees but you must get up and keep pushing on, but what do mentally strong people do?
Can you be mentally strong?
