In yoga practice, mantra and kirtan (call-and-response devotional chanting) get short shrift in the West because they aren’t well understood, though they are an integral part of almost every Eastern spiritual practice. They are designed to provide access into the psyche while their underlying mythology helps us understand how our psychology affects daily life. Our guest on this show has written a book dealing with the myths behind the mantras and kirtans Alanna Kaivalya is the author of SACRED SOUND: Discovering the Myth & Meaning of Mantra & Kirtan, Her intention is to illuminate their meaning and to put their power and practicality within reach of every reader.
Alanna Kaivalya
Join us for today’s interview at 4pm Eastern..1pm Pacific at chiforyourself.com
Be with us for today’s Chi For Yourself and guest Daniel Parmeggiani. Daniel is the author of The Magnificent Truths of Our Existence: Unlocking the Deeper Reality of Permanent Happiness.
” Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared”
Buddha
Article: The Simplicity of Choosing Happiness
In our new age of spirituality, where east meets west in the modern labyrinth of mental and spiritual healing, two clear definitions to happiness remain; (1) that happiness is a value synonymous with well-being and thriving, and (2) as opposed to depression, it is something we as humans seek. In essence happiness itself remaining the primary goal – and more elusive.
Psychological research suggests that each individual has what is called a ‘Happiness Set-point’ (HSP) determining overall well-being; happier when things balance our inner HSP and quite unhappy (even miserable), when things go against us, or fall short of it. We alone draw that line and in so doing compound our intrinsic belief, that sentience has a right to happiness, no matter what. Even an animal (and our basic survival instincts) will seek comfort against pain, to find it.
Evidence from research shows that 40% of our happiness is within our control and a voluntary choice we make. Psychologist William James, adds that it is our attitude that hinders or helps us reach our HSP. It seems that it is a natural human reflex to alter our attitude to achieve it. We want to maintain our HSP at all costs. Ironically, the indifference of the depressed, is a matter of ongoing research on lower HSP levels as per socio-economic standards, environmental and chemical imbalance.
Biblical and Buddhist philosophy maintain that all happiness comes from seeking it, yet ironically, a principle point of Buddhism is that all striving is suffering. This would explain why realistic goals are paramount, as true happiness may only be achieved through the balance of effort and suffering, and not the eternal ‘good-time’ that modern pop-psychology would have us believe. Being happier takes effort, especially if it’s a choice we make and maintain with mindfulness. Without effort, one can argue that happiness is hollow and not happiness at all.
Transformation might well be as simple as ‘Seek and ye shall find’ and no matter your labour to your HSP (health, diet, supplements; yoga and exercise; meditation, gratitude, education, journals, self-help, new-age, and/or new-thought mindfulness); the bottom line is that you are still only partaking in the most natural human birth-right of our species. Best to keep it simple.
Growing up in a household traumatized by the violent death of his older brother, and caught between two radically different parental worldviews, young Daniel Parmeggiani often felt guilty, isolated and depressed. After years of trying to find freedom from this torment, Daniel had an epiphany. He realized that every human being shared the same desire – the desire to feel better. All the lofty, complex philosophies he had read boiled down to a simple, single Truth:
Our ONLY motivation in life is to be happy.
Seeing how this shift in understanding completely changed his own life from one of unhappiness to one filled with joy, Daniel Parmeggiani felt called to write his book, The Magnificent Truths of Our Existence: Unlocking the Deeper Reality of Permanent Happiness. Daniel’s book offers a new perspective for rational people looking for simple, clear and logical explanations for life’s most elusive mysteries.
Daniel will be the guest on Chi For Yourself this Thursday (May 29th) at 1pm Pacific time. Hear the interview at chiforyourself.com.
While I was posting this Friday’s Chi For Yourself/BlogTalkRadio episode with Michael Michalko (1pm Eastern) I got to thinking about, well, thinking. I was looking for some ideas for an upcoming project and I was feeling kinda scattered when up popped this article by Colin Bates. Synchronicity! I got it together and I’m feeling a lot better about the project. If your thought process is ‘all over the lot’ give this article a look. It’s a good warmup for Michael Michalko’s discussion of his book Creative Thinkering: Putting Your Imagination to Work.
Creative thinking can be learnt. And to do so it helps to understand the creative thinking process: the structure and steps that you need to take to generate (and sometime evaluate) creative ideas.
Here are 3 examples of the creative thinking process. They all start with a definition of the creative challenge, or creative goal. In my case, this is to ‘generate new ideas for a holiday’.
Information, Incubation, Ideation
This creative thinking process begins with gathering information. To generate ideas we need input, ideas won’t emerge from an empty vessel! In my case, looking for ideas for a holiday, I’d go online, talk to friends, look through the travel magazines… any relevant source of information!
Next, relax. Put the challenge to one side. Forget about it. Let the information incubate in your mind. This process is rooted in the belief that generating ideas should be natural, stress-free and almost effortless. Let the mind do it’s work in the subconscious.
The key thing is to make sure you’re ready to capture the ideas as they emerge. Because the final ideation stage is quite fluid you need to be ready to write down the ideas before they’re lost. Keep a notebook handly, especially on the bedside table, so that you can write down the ideas as soon as they emerge.
You’ll soon find you have plenty of great ideas!
Observe, combine, create
This process begins in a similar way: observation is a way of gathering information.
The key to this process is combine. It’s a technique of idea generation which involves taking existing ideas, and combining them to create something new.
This process is great for creating new products. As a very simple example, putting a camera into a mobile phone combined two existing products to create something new.
For my holiday, I might see a ‘foodies’ holiday in Italy, but chose to combine it with my original destination, Thailand. This inspiration could result in a tour around the gastronomic hotspots to sample Thai cuisine.
Dreamer, Realist, Critic
This final creative thinking process involves not just generating ideas, but also evaluating and improving them. It’s know as ‘The Disney Way’ as it was originally used by Walt Disney to generate ideas and evaluate ideas for his movies.
The Dreamer is free of all constraints, has infinite resources and anything they think of is guaranteed to succeed. This mindset is designed to overcome limitations, and generate the ‘free thinking’ required to come up with great and outrageous ideas.
The Realist is more practical: evaluating and refining ideas.
And finally, The Critic asks if the ideas are really good enough. If not, it’s back to The Dreamer!
As I search for a holiday, I might dream of going to the moon. Not possible, but as I become a realist it will trigger more thoughts. Perhaps I could visit NASA? Or try skydiving? Or visit Area 51?
In summary: Three Creative Thinking Processes
Next time you have a challenge that requires a creative solution, try using these techniques. You’ll soon be developing your creative thinking skills, and generating more and better ideas too!
This week on Chi For Yourself we get “creative”, with a look back on the 2011 interview with Michael Michalko, one of the most highly acclaimed creativity experts in the world. Michael talks about his book Creative Thinkering and ways we can synthesize dissimilar subjects, think paradoxically, and enlist the help of our subconscious minds. His intention? Liberate your thinking and literally expand your imagination!
The interview will air on BlogTalkRadio at 1pm Eastern, 10 am in the Pacific time zone.
Article:
The Long Arm of the Universe: You Can Run But You Can’t Hide From Natural Law
So there I am, enjoying a beautiful Saturday afternoon of shopping with my mate. She and I had picked up several items when I casually suggested how one of those items could be used and then returned to the store. Nothing unusual- it’s done all the time. Not against the law, I thought. In fact, people do it all the time and the store actually expects it.
As the week progressed I realized that I had slipped into a behavior that was common in my younger days. Get something for nothing, use it, bring it back in perfect condition, and be ahead of the game- no harm no foul! But even if society doesn’t police these actions you can be sure the Universe does. I felt I had been slapped “upside the head” with a classic scarcity lesson. And what’s that queasy feeling I have in the pit of my stomach? Why I believe it’s guilt!
from Wikipedia: Guilt is a cognitive or an emotional experience that occurs when a person realizes or believes—accurately or not—that he or she has compromised his or her own standards of conduct or has violated a moral standard, and bears significant responsibility for that violation.[1] It is closely related to the concept of remorse.
Hmmm. Remorse. Yeah, I’d say there was some of that, too. I wondered to myself why I felt that I had to resort to a mindset that I thought I had abandoned long ago. I’ve experienced such abundance in my life. Those store items were very affordable, but like a reversal of the well-known *Patanjali quote a “dormant force” had come back to make me feel otherwise. I had betrayed my Self. Not a shining example of genuine living.
“True guilt is guilt at the obligation one owes to oneself to be oneself. False guilt is guilt felt at not being what other people feel one ought to be.” (R. D. Laing)
I’ve since taken steps to balance the Universe’s “books.” And I’m doing that with great gratitude. I appreciate that I’m given the insight to see what I did and that I have the choice to answer that faint inner voice in the affirmative. In the words of author Marge Kennedy: “Hard though it may be to accept, remember that guilt is sometimes a friendly internal voice reminding you that you’re messing up.”
Messed up. My bad.
*“When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds: Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great, and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and your discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.”
-Patanjali
Plan to be with us on Thursday May 8th as Chi For Yourself welcomes Melonie Dodaro. Melonie was named Canada’s #1 LinkedIn expert and social media strategist! She’ll be talking about social media marketing and about the launch of her new book The LinkedIn Code: Unlock The Largest Online Business Social Network to Get Leads, Prospects & Clients for B2B, Professional Services and Sales & Marketing Pros. The interview gets underway at 1pm Pacific, 4pm Eastern time.
You’ll be able to hear it on chiforyourself.com. I’m sure you’ll what you hear!
Melonie Dodaro
Article: Bringing Mindfulness to the Workplace: My Kind of Business Model
In the brave new world of business, mindfulness is not often the normal state of consciousness when we go to work every day. We compete with our co-workers, and tune out customers in a bid to get ahead.
Business ethics that lean toward the quest for the almighty dollar at any cost displace humanity, but we can change that. Kindness to our colleagues in the form of cooperation can end workplace disagreements. Listening to what the customer says, instead of tuning them out and giving the standard, ‘I can’t help you’ answers can bring the human element of caring back to business.
The corporate culture is so often driven by an ego-based mindset that works on the old “dog-eat-dog” mentality dominated by fear, greed, power, and control- all fertile ground for scarcity, separateness, limitation, and the need to be combative in order to succeed. Both individuals and the workplace itself (and the work getting done) benefit from cultivating a healthy workplace environment.
Automation may be a preferable business approach but it allows us to forget human values. Next time your coworker is stressed and trying to make a deadline, ask her if you can assist. Next time a customer needs a hand, listen and really try to help him toward a solution. Even in an impersonal environment of automation, we still need humanity to survive.
Hear Jim Donovan on Chi For Yourself today at 1pm Pacific, 4pm Eastern. Jim is the author of Happy @ Work:60 Simple Ways to Stay Engaged and Be Successful. Here’s his intention for writing this book:
“ I wrote Happy @ Work to provide…simple, easy-to-implement ideas that [your audience] can use to move toward creating an amazing career — and life. You have the right to enjoy everything in your life, especially your work; however, doing so requires you to take ownership of your circumstances, and define what you want.”
Sound like you? Then be with us today at 1pm Pacific for Jim Donovan on Chi For Yourself.
Join us on Chi For Yourself as we talk about procrastination with guest Sam Bennett. She’s the author of Get it Done: From Procrastination to Creative Genius in 15 Minutes a Day.
Sam Bennett
Can you really be successful in just 15 minutes a day? Sam says “Absolutely! I’ve had clients finish their graduate thesis, complete oil paintings, make jewelry, cut albums, create voice over demos, lose weight, reconnect with their sexuality and even write a novel. It’s absolutely astonishing how much a person can accomplish in just 15 minutes, and especially when you put in 15 minutes every day for a week, a month, six months, or even several years. Small, consistent effort can bring jaw-dropping results.”
The interview begins on Thursday April 9th at 1pm Pacific, 4pm Eastern time. You’ll find it at chiforyourself.com’s Start page.
We’re starting off the April Chi For Yourself schedule with a visit by Peter Sklivas, author of THE SECRET OF ENDURING LOVE: Yoga Romance of Damayanti and Nala….it’s a 21st century re-telling of an ancient Vedic tale from India. Peter will talk about Princess Damayanti’s archetypal journey of embracing a life of loving the self, God and the beloved and the true nature of yoga.
Reviewers call it “an original and well-written tale about achieving true love.”
You’ll hear the Peter Sklivas interview on Chi For Yourself on Thursday April 3rd at Noon Pacific, 3pm Eastern on the Start Here page.
The Chi For Yourself guest this week is Jennifer Louden, author of The Life Organizer. Jennifer is a personal growth pioneer who helped launch the self-care movement. She’s written fivebooks on well-being and whole living, a national magazine column, and she can say that she sat on Oprah’s couch.
You can hear the interview with Jennifer Louden this Thursday March 6th at 4pm Eastern time, 1pm Pacific at chiforyourself.com.
Article…
Making a (Genuine) Living: Putting Who You Are Into What You Do
I just returned from Central America. I’m considering moving to a home outside my native United States. I am grateful to be able to make surch a trip, and for the reasons I made it. Doing print and audio/video related work allows a person to live just about anywhere in the world while doing the things he or she feels inspired to do. One of the areas of my life where the small “inner voice” becomes my navigator is the type of work I do. I’ve felt this way since I was a small boy, but I’ve learned that what I do and who I am are two distinctly different things. I would advise anyone to make that important separation. And I’ve also felt the satisfaction of knowing that what I’m doing is what I must do- kind of taking a page from Maslow’s idea of Self Actualization.
So many of us feel that to present who we are to the world means to point to our occupation. But society puts different professions on different levels and it’s easy for a person to feel “less than”. Less than for holding what others see as a menial job. Less for being in a not very glamorous position. But history is full of the names of people who have been able to give us their skills and talents while holding down jobs seen as ordinary. Whether you’re in real estate or retail, a business person or a bus driver, your worth is folded into who you are an not what you do for a living.
Doing something that you enjoy and lets you meet your needs while allowing you to live in line with your values will always be more fulfilling that being in a high-status job you dislike. But it’s possible to find happiness in most any line of work. That’s because what you are doing is often not as important as how you you’re doing it. There’s much to be said for a good attitude. Couple that with good intentions and you can turn a so-so working situation into one that fulfills you because of your attitude.
If your efforts are benefiting others you’re adding value to the world. And if you’ve found happiness in your work and you feel that you’re living genuinely while also getting your emotional and physical needs met then you are are adding value to your life. If you’re sweeping streets then be the best street sweeper you can be. Know that you can bring your ability and skill to us no matter what work you do. Choose to be of service and your choice will be a wise one.
Buddha
Creative thinking can be learnt. And to do so it helps to understand the creative thinking process: the structure and steps that you need to take to generate (and sometime evaluate) creative ideas.
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