Tag Archive for psychology

Happy Trails to Happiness..and A Look Ahead to Some Great Guests!

If you didn’t get to hear Chi For Yourself guest Thomas Bien talking about happiness last week you can listen to the show by clicking on this player:

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Before we put the happiness topic away for awhile I want to tell you about some of the guests we plan to bring to you in upcoming episodes, and healing is definitely the operative word here..

  • October 24th at 1pm Pacific- Erica Tucci (Radiant Survivor) talking about healing from a serious illness.
  • November 13th at Noon Pacific time- Annemiek Douw shares her case histories of healing.
  • November 21st at 1pm Pacific- Dr. Bernie Siegel returns to CFY to talk about The Art of Healing.

All the interviews are scheduled to be streamed on the Chi For Yourself home page…should there be any changes, you’ll hear about them here in GenuLines.

Now, for that one last mention of healing..and it comes from a great source!

Article:

Looking for Happiness in “All the Wrong Places”

By Marci Shimoff

 

Smiley Face BallI was 41 years old, stretched out on a lounge chair by my pool and reflecting on my life. I had achieved all that I thought I needed to be happy.

You see when I was a child, I imagined there were five main things that ensured a happy life: a successful career that helped people, a loving husband, a comfortable home, a great body, and a wonderful circle of friends. After years of study, hard work, and a few “lucky breaks,” I finally had them all. (Okay, so my body didn’t quite look like Halle Berry’s–four out of five isn’t bad!) You think I’d have been on the top of the world.

But surprisingly I wasn’t. I felt an emptiness inside that the outer successes of life couldn’t fill. I was also afraid that if I lost any of those things, I might be miserable. Sadly, I knew I wasn’t alone in feeling this way.

While happiness is the one thing that we all truly want, so few of us really experience a deep and lasting fulfillment that feeds our soul. Our Founding Fathers even guaranteed us the right to pursue happiness, so why aren’t we finding it?

Because we’re looking for happiness, in the words of the old country western song, in “all the wrong places.”

That week I threw myself into the study of happiness. The culmination for me was when I discovered a state I call Happy for No Reason, a neurophysiological state of inner peace and well-being that isn’t dependent on circumstances. I believe this is our essential state.

When you’re Happy for No Reason, you don’t need to manipulate the world around you to try to make yourself happy. You bring happiness to your everyday experiences rather than trying to extract happiness from them.

Most of us spend our time struggling to string together as many happy experiences as we can, like beads in a necklace, to create a happy life. We do our best to find just the right beads that will fulfill us. Being Happy for No Reason, in this analogy, is like having a happy string. No matter what beads we put on our necklace–good and not so good–our inner reality, the string that runs through them all, is happy, and we experience an unshakeable positive state inside.

So, how do we get there?

I found the answer in the lives of the 100 deeply happy people I interviewed as research for my book Happy for No Reason. The only difference between happy and unhappy people is that they have different habits. In fact, I identified 21 core happiness habits that anyone can practice to be happier.

One of the most important habits that happy people share is that they let love lead. Although they have the same fears, pain, and disappointments as the rest of us, they’re able to keep their hearts open and flowing. This is the key to making your life–and every relationship in it–successful and fulfilling.

How do you let love lead? Here are three tips to get you started:

1. Reach Out and Touch Someone. Schedule time every day to call or visit someone you love or care about. It doesn’t have to be a long call or an elaborate outing. Remember to focus on expressing your love or care for them, rather than looking for them to fill you up.

Taking the time to connect with someone from the level of your heart has been shown to make the actual rhythms of your heartbeat coherent, which is correlated with increased calmness, strengthened immune system functioning, normalized blood pressure, and improved general well-being. For some people, a much-loved pet can be a great heart connection. What’s important is focusing on the bond you feel radiating from within you that links you to the special beings in your life.

2. Spread Lovingkindness. One way to power up your heart’s flow is by sending loving kindness to your friends and family, as well as strangers you pass on the street. Next time you’re waiting for the elevator at work, stuck in a line at the store, or caught up in traffic, send a silent wish to the people you see for their happiness, well-being, and health. Simply wishing others well switches on the “pump” in your own heart that generates love and creates a strong current of happiness.

3. Hang with the Happy. We catch the emotions of those around us just like we catch their colds–it’s called emotional contagion. So it’s important to make wise choices about the company you keep. Create appropriate boundaries with emotional bullies and “happiness vampires” who suck the life out of you. Develop your happiness “dream team”–a mastermind or support group you meet with regularly to keep you steady on the path of raising your happiness.

“Happily ever after” isn’t just for fairytales or for only the lucky few. Imagine experiencing inner peace and well-being as the backdrop for everything else in your life. When you’re Happy for No Reason, it’s not that your life and your relationships always look perfect–it’s that however they look, you’ll still be happy!

Author’s Bio:

By Marci Shimoff. Based on the New York Times bestseller Happy for No Reason: 7 Steps to Being Happy from the Inside Out, which offers a revolutionary approach to experiencing deep and lasting happiness. The woman’s face of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series and a featured teacher in The Secret, Marci is an authority on success, happiness, and the law of attraction. To order Happy for No Reason, newly released in paperback, and receive free bonus gifts, go to http://www.happyfornoreason.com/mybook

 

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Overheard

 

“For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

 

 

JohnK 9/25/2013

chiforyourself.com home page

 

 

Happy Days- When Will They Be Here Again?

The subject of happiness, how to land it and how to keep it has been taking a front seat in many major magazines and news periodicals recently. Figures show that the US currently ranks 23rd on a list of happiest countries despite all its apparent wealth and freedom. What gives? Our guest on this week’s Chi For Yourself says there’s a difference between the usual Western concept of happiness and the experience of deep contentment and joy. Dr. Thomas Bien is a leader in the field of mindful psychology and conducts workshops on mindfulness and meditation. He is also the author of numerous scientific articles and book chapters on spirituality and addiction.

picture of thomas bien

Thomas Bien

 

Thomas Bien is the author of The Buddah’s Way of Happiness: Healing Sorrow, Transforming Negative Emotion, and Finding Well-Being in the Present. The interview is scheduled for Thursday September 19th, at 4pm Eastern, 1pm Pacific on chiforyourself.com.

 

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Article:

 

How to Live Consciously and Attract Happiness

By 

Expert Author Emily A Rider

Do you live each day consciously or unconsciously? We would all like to think that we are conscious during our waking hours; that we are consciously making decisions, consciously choosing how we act, react, speak, listen, and think. But do you know that in order to be conscious you must be aware of your Self? Do you know who you are? Are you living out who you truly are? Take a moment to think this over, and continue reading on…

Now that you’ve taken a moment to consider how your actions reflect your inner Self, did you come to the conclusion that how you live just may not be who you really are? You may become angry or frustrated from experiencing certain circumstances, but anger and frustration is not what is composed of your Self. All those molecules and compounds that make up your body, mind, and soul are certainly not angry or hostile ones. This you must realize. So why is it you express every emotion within the spectrum of human emotions? Do you choose to? Or is it a reaction?

If you stop before each thought and action to give yourself time to decide first, you begin to live consciously. If you do not let yourself decide, you defer to reaction: you go into autopilot mode and act or think in terms of your strongest emotion (anger, fear, sadness, etc.) since it is what has taken over. This is how you allow your ego (your mind) to take over and take control away from your real Self (your soul). This does you no good because this is what living unconsciously is. If you are not consciously making a decision, then you are unconsciously and mindlessly reacting. Your ego is not YOU. If you believe there is a difference between your physical body, your mental mind, and your spiritual soul, then you must take into consideration each of their downfalls and learn how to allow your soul to shine through with everything you do.

Do you notice how sometimes after a typical reaction, you may feel a little remorse? Perhaps it really wasn’t very necessary to tell off that waitress who got your order wrong for the second time, or speaking rudely back to that customer service representative who was just trying to do his job.

Life can be hard; it can get frustrating no doubt about it, but it doesn’t mean we need to project negativity right back at it. This does nothing for us.

How can we begin to live consciously? Here is the secret: right now, close your eyes and find the greatest feeling you have ever felt: such as the immense love you have for your child(ren), or that time when you were the most in love with a partner. Pinpoint that highest note of all your experiences. Feel that fulfilling joy and let it linger until your whole being is saturated with it. Hold onto this…

Love is the purest thought, emotion, and experience a soul can choose to live out. Yes, choose! We can choose to think, act, and live the rest of our lives with love being the core of it all; the seed that grows our human experiences; the cell that divides exponentially. We have this awesome Godly power because we are all God.

Now take this feeling that you have just re-experienced within your Self. Take it with you every morning when you get out of bed; take it with you to work or school; take it with you when you go out with your friends; take it home to your family; and take it to bed at night. This ultimate essence is what you will base all of your thoughts and actions on (notice I did not say reactions!). You will re-experience this each time you are confronted with a problem, a situation, a confrontation. Then, after some practice, you will call upon this beautiful part of you every time you think a thought, speak a word, and take an action. Love will be the root of everything you do. Your ultimate goal is to be who you really are, and who you really are, is love. Love is what creates us, the universe, and everything in between. We attract what we project out. So project out only love!

The funny part about this is that in order to know your Self (love), you must also know and have experienced love’s complete opposite: fear. If love attracts like things, fear deflects the same way. So we know fear because we act on it. We make decisions based on fear. We fear our boss, we fear not having money, we fear rejection, and we fear physical pain and death. We know this because we end up reacting out of fear everyday for many of us.

So turn it around. Turn our fear into love. When we stop fearing, we end anger and frustration. We stop feeling like we need to take those negative feeling hostage, only to release them out onto others. We can begin to fill those empty places with much needed love. Fill your life with more of YOU by bringing consciousness into all you do. Love is all there for us to use. So take it. Take it and run with it.

It will not be easy. You have to practice and practice until it becomes second nature to you. It will require intention on your part, which requires energy. If you invest in this, the universe will invest in you.

Love before and after you think or do and your life will evolve. I promise.

Emily A. Rider invites you to browse more great articles she has written about living a more spiritual life at http://www.higherspiritualliving.com. This site contains may topics from meditation to evidence-based research; from spiritual cleansing to the paradigm shift the U.S. is currently beginning. Come gain knowledge and new perspectives on living spiritually now at http://www.higherspiritualliving.com

JohnK 9/16/2013

chiforyourself.com home

 

 

 

Upcoming Shows, No-Shows, and a Zen State of Mind

Well, there we were- all dressed up and nowhere to go! Thursday’s planned interview stream with Cynthia Gill did not come off as scheduled, apparently due to some scheduling confusion. So, I’ve put in the request to Cynthia’s publisher to re-schedule, preferably in mid or late August. Cynthia is the co-author of Jump Starting Boys. The book gives parents a thorough look into possible reasons why their lads are struggling in school. She includes case histories, take-action checklists, and helpful tips.

On this week’s Chi For Yourself you’ll hear the interview with Brad Warner, Zen monk and author of There is No God and He is Always With You. During our discussion we touched on the God-or-no God question and a number of others. The show will air on BlogTalkRadio.com on Friday, August 9th at 1pm Eastern, 10am Pacific.

 

Ponderous, man! Consider this from speakingtree.in-

The breath, the body, the name, all the forms and shapes in the universe, “It’s all the same  like branches of a tree just as one goes deeper and deeper one becomes aware of the fact that the self is consciousness and diversity is a mere mirage. The one who realizes the consciousness is the true self he shall be free from experiencing the mirage as reality..Read the article.

and on a related note, from the New Indian Express:

This whole world reveals the true consciousness within, like the waves rising in the ocean. Knowing that you are this essence, without a doubt, be that form of consciousness without any quivering attachment to the world of movement, names and forms. Read the article…

 

Tony Burroughs reminded us that we can design our day, not to mention our lives. Manifesting is his thing, and it can be yours, too. This week a guest offering from Alan Charter and his own thoughts on getting what you want for your life..

How To Let All The Prosperity You Want Come Into Your Life

 

by Alan Charter

watching the rainbowIn this article you will find solid self-help advice to assist you in working through your problems and attaining the level of success that you desire. The techniques presented here will train you to hone in on potential problems before they get out of hand and negatively impact your life. The tips are simple yet effective.

To achieve successful personal development you need to do more than just set goals. You should visualize them, too. How will it feel when you achieve them? What will the experience be like? This visualization process will motivate you by making your goals seem more tangible. It is also a process you can repeat as often as needed to restore your enthusiasm.

When suffering from a lack of confidence, you should try to engage in physical exercise or a type of sport on a regular basis. Not only will this improve your body shape and therefore your confidence in your looks, exercise releases endorphins which stimulate the mind and body to a natural high.

Always try to present yourself in a positive light. While you should not worry so much about what someone thinks of you, if you need to promote yourself, you do have to be understood. Just do well to be yourself so that you don’t paint a false persona for people just to get their business.

Remember that regardless of the few or the many things you are wishing to improve yourself and your life, you have natural talents that others do not. Capitalize on these talents and abilities as they can bring you to new level or even act as a stepping stone for a new career path or business venture.

Celebrate your successes as you work through your personal development plan to keep you engaged and excited about the process. Do not focus so much on the end result that you fail to recognize the steps you take to get there. Personal development and growth can sometimes be difficult, and acknowledging the small successes along the way keeps you motivated.

One key tip to self-help success is to start by choosing small goals. Whatever part of your life you are trying to improve, it will be much harder if you try and tackle the problem head on. Rather, start setting up small goals you can easily achieve, and this will motivate you to continue on.

Keep flashcards in your pocket! Yes, flashcards are an old fashioned approach to learning but they are also a proven approach. Make miniature flashcards in the desired subject matter and pull them out when you are waiting at the doctor’s office, riding the subway or in any other situation where you have time on your hands.

This article offered advice with respect to seeking Self-help . Many people, for many different reasons at different points in their lives seek help. Each situation and solution to each problem is different. By reading this article you will have the information to get the help that you need when you need it.

About the Author:

 

 

JohnK 8-5-2013


chiforyourself.com home page
 

 

What’s Going On Here? Manifesting, Law of Attraction, and Other Fun Stuff

Before we get into today’s heart of today’s matters I want to give you a link to last week’s re-airing of the E. Dee Conrad 2010 interview. E. Dee talked with us from her home in Dubai..say what?? Dubai? That’s right. She folded up her successful life in the U.S. and moved to the United Arab Emirates to go in a completely different direction. I love stories of folks who leave everything they’ve known and set out on a new (risky?) life adventure. Did the same myself a few years ago..Listen to the show here:

 

                                             Listen to internet radio with GioHost on BlogTalkRadio

Picture of Tony BurroughsSpeaking of the show, our scheduled Chi For Yourself guest on July 25th will be Tony Burroughs, author of Get What You Want: The Art of Making and Manifesting Your Intentions. He’ll talk about manifesting and he’ll share an interesting personal story of the kind I like to feature on CFY. I plan to put it on the CFY home page as a Google+ Hangout On air.

 

 

 

Picture of Brad WarnerAnd..this just in- as radio news folks sometimes say- I found out just minutes ago that  Brad Warner will be a guest on Chi For Yourself on July 11th.  Brad is a Zen priest, filmmaker, blogger and the author of There Is No God and He’s Always With You. No, it’s not a typo. That’s the name of the book and he explains the title in that cool head-scratching way that only the “Zens” can.

 

 

 

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Now, time to take yet another look at The Law of Attraction. For some reason today must be LOA day because I’m hearing or reading about it at every turn. I was listening to the radio today and I heard a guy make reference to LOA as part of that “New Age Stuff”…his answer to manifesting is good old fashioned hard work and sweat.

A few minutes later, again on the radio, I heard an interview host say that ‘if you don’t  change your thoughts and keep on doing what you’re doing you’ll keep getting what your getting.’ Sounds like Law of Attraction to me!

Here are a couple of more views…see what you think. This is from The Self Help Hipster:

 
The Law of Attraction: An Analysis.
 
My preaching of the Law of Attraction and manifesting has always been accompagnied by disclaimers and a message of common sense/reality. At least, I hope so. I know I run a total positivity-for-president website, but still. I hope you noticed.
In case you hadn’t, let’s take a trip down memory lane..Continue reading..

 
….and, this from examiner.com:
 
Getting what you want through the law of attraction
 
We’ve all heard about the Law of Attraction and how it can help us get the love we desire, job we want and that new car. But, how many people have you ever talked to that put it into use? Not many people seem to actually put it to use. Continue reading..
 
Hmmm. I may do a poll about the effectiveness of the Law of Attraction. More on that later.

Be well..

JohnK 7-1-2013
chiforyourself.com home page

Notes to Start The Week June 24th, 2013

I’m planning to bring back an encore episode of Chi For Yourself this week, possibly the interview of several years ago with E Dee Conrad. The older shows tend to be shorter than the more recent programs. If you’ve followed CFY since the early days you know that interview lengths were sometimes as short as 7 minutes!

 

A new, Southern California-based start-up magazine on health and healing has approached Chi For Yourself about possibly doing print versions of the interviews heard on our show. I like the idea a lot and I’m going to do all I can to make this happen..

 

…been reading a new book on manifesting by Tony Burroughs. I’m going to see about getting Tony on the show. His approach to bringing abundance into our lives is worth hearing, as is his personal story.

Chi For Yourself is a big proponent of meditation…no secret to be sure. We’ve had  the great pleasure hearing from some of today’s best voices on the practice on our show. My questioning to our guests often includes how much meditation time is enough time. This article from the White Hindu gives you one approach to a ‘compact contemplation’:

Meditation in Minutes: Does One Minute of Meditation Make a Difference?
Patheos (blog)
Last week I did my own meditation challenge. For me, I know I want to be meditating, but there’s always something else to be doing. Taking twenty to thirty minutes once or twice a day seems like such a small commitment, yet in practice it feels …

 

We’ll wrap up this post with a word about Yoga…actually about 450 words. Guest blogger Larry Cewtly has    some thoughts on Yoga’s body/mind benefits. And don’t forget to check out the Chi For Yourself Yoga page. You’ll find a video you can use for your own workout and some notes from the Yoga community..

 

Yoga Can Help Heal Your Body And Mind

 

by Larry Cewtly

Picture of yoga on beachIf you would like your body to be calm, you must consider yoga. This type of workout does not only exercise your body, but also relaxes your mind and soul. If you’d like to try this exercise, begin by looking for a local facility. Opt for a teacher with considerable experience so that you can execute the workout correctly and keep away from injuries.

You could find several types of yoga. It could take some time for you to identify which type is most suitable for you. Beginners are advised to participate in a few classes for different types of yoga. It can help you identify the type of yoga that’s ideal for you.

There are several other things that you need to look into when choosing a yoga teacher. They should not just have plenty of experience, but should also be trained properly so that they can do the same thing to you. A properly trained instructor keeps you far from injuries and prioritizes your safety before everything else. Yoga is something that will enhance your strength, flexibility and enable you to grow spiritually. Then again, it won’t happen when you’ve got injuries.

Locating the best yoga facility near you is easy, and you simply have to look at the years that it has been operating along with reviews that it has received. There’s a likelihood that you will have to take a look at a number of studios before you finally come to a decision. So make sure you spend time in checking out the studios in your area. You’ll be happy you spent the time to find the best yoga studio.

What is important about yoga is ensuring you do each and every stretch and exercise appropriately to avoid injury. You could harm your body if you do not hold poses and stretch properly. This is one of the main factors we suggest that you start with a trained yoga instructor, to allow them to explain to you the easiest method to do each and every stretch.

The most effective ways to get a yoga teacher near you is to go online and browse in Google. You’ll also see the various yoga studios in your area as well as studios that grant special discounts to new members. You don’t have to get stuck with a single studio. You can try several studios until you locate the one which is best for you.

As you check out different studios, be sure to identify which amongst these facilities make you feel comfy and provides the type of yoga that you like. As there are various types of yoga you will need to find the one is perfect for you.

About the Author:

 

 


 

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Overheard

 

“Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured.”

                                                                                                      ~B.K.S. Iyengar
 

 

JohnK 6/24/2013

chiforyourself.com home

Brushes, Beads, and Blessings: Making Mindfulness by Hand

Wanted to remind you that we’ll be hearing from Maggie Oman Shannon on the next Chi For Yourself. She  joins us on Thursday June 13th at 1pm Pacific time. We plan to stream the interview on chiforyourself.com at that time. Maggie’s message goes beyond merely making things. She reminds us that we all have the ability to create, and in doing so we can bring serenity to our lives at a time when serenity is a scarce commodity.

Here’s a look at our guest:

Picture of Maggie Oman ShannonRev. Maggie Oman Shannon is at the forefront of a peaceful revolution: choosing to live a handmade life, and slow down and disconnect. In her book, Crafting Calm, Maggie offers clarity, calm, and insight to a path of peace of mind by “making mindfulness.”

It’s no secret that stopping to smell the roses is good for us; today, millions of people are finding physical and mental health benefits in handwork, framing it as a spiritual practice. Maggie Oman Shannon tells us that we can literally “craft the crazy away” through beading and crocheting, candle-making, and collaging. In Crafting Calm, Shannon explores crafts and creativity as a spiritual practice that provides enormous benefits. By knitting love and hope into every stitch, handicrafts help form new friendships and communities. From making a desktop shrine or mini-Zen garden, to stringing intention beads and painting personal prayer flags, her intention is to help us to make mindfulness.

See you here..

JohnK  6/12/2013

chiforyourself.com home

 

A Life Transformed by Death: Luis Angel Diaz on Chi For Yourself

Well, another BlogTalkRadio snafu!! No reason you should be denied, though. I’m making the show available in this space. Click on the player at the bottom of this post to listen!

(Originally aired in October, 2010)

Picture of Luis Angel DiazOur Chi For Yourself guest Luis Angel Diaz endured a major shift in his practice and approach after the unexpected death of his 38 year old wife, with whom he was raising their 3 children. The shock and pain he experienced became a catalyst for a profound inner process in human discovery. He discovered that layers of negative emotional charge accumulate and are stored inside our bodies, causing many body-mind chemical imbalances and health/life challenges, and preventing us from experiencing peace and well-being. After several months of personal discovery, Luis began to apply this new approach with his clients. He observed his clients experience healing in a permanent way when they were able to transform these layers of emotional charge found in what he began to call “the cellular memory”. Luis named this new set of techniques “Cellular Memory Release” (CMR) and formulated it into a simple, easy to learn synthesis for training others. Operating from his Body-Mind Center in Nevada City, California, Luis has trained and educated hundreds of people in CMR since 1997. Luis Angel Diaz is the author of Memory in the Cells.

 

 

 

JohnK 6/7/2013

chiforyourself.com home

Out With the Clutter and In With the Good Chi- Post Script

A quick note about the problems with our recent Chi For Yourself postings on Blog Talk Radio. We received this note from BTR and it further explains an earlier mention on this site about the “glitches”:..

 

Dear Valued BlogTalkRadio Host, 

In recent days, your BlogTalkRadio show may have been adversely affected by technical difficulties with the BlogTalkRadio website. It appears that during prime time hours (our busiest on the network), BTR suffered a series of “Distributed Denial of Service” attacks. Unfortunately, DDOS attacks on prominent websites, banks, and government institutions have become quite common. In recent weeks and months, sites such as Amazon, Facebook, and the Washington Post, among others, were hit by DDOS attacks, resulting in temporary outages.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience these attacks may have caused you and your listeners. Rest assured that our technical, security and operations teams are working around the clock to ensure that our network, and your shows, remain safe from unwanted hackers and intruders.

Yours Truly,

Alan Levy
CEO, BlogTalkRadio

   

Article: Out With the Clutter and In With the Good Chi- Post Script

 

Just wanted to add a little encouragement for you on this final day of declutter posting. Once you have gained the upper hand on your ‘stuff’ you have to be aware of clutter creeping back into your life. Like so many things it’s easier to do if done on a regular basis.

 

Have a regular system. Look at how you do things and how the junk stacks up. In fact, think about individual systems for most everything,  email, laundry and more. Write down the system in steps and follow as best you can. Don’t fall into the do-it-tomorrow mindset. You’ll keep the hassle to a manageable level if you deal with things right away. Remember: ditch it, donate it, or designate an area for it.

   

John K 4/19/2013
  

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Overheard

Simplicity is making the journey of this life with just baggage enough.”
                                                       – Charles Warner

 

 

Slacks, Ties, and Video Tapes: Out with Your Clutter and In With the Good Chi!

Problems with our BlogTalkRadio post caused the Tammy Strobel interview to be pushed back to Saturday April 13th. We saw a similar snafu with the previous week’s Polly Campbell interview. It’s rare when we have these types of snags, but we’re caught up now. If you didn’t get to hear the shows you can catch them here:

 

Polly Campbell is the author of Imperfect Spirituality: Extraordinary Enlightenment for Ordinary People

Picture of Polly Campbell

Polly Campbell

 

Tammy Strobel is the author of You Can Buy Happiness (and it’s Cheap): How One Woman Radically Simplified Her Life and How You Can Too.

Picture of Tammy Strobel

Tammy Strobel

 


Article:

I’m really getting into this de-clutter “thing”. This week I’ve managed to unload what seems like a lifetime worth of stuff, though there’s still a long way to go.

Excessive clutter can creep into every area of your life, like waiting to do your taxes until the final day (which just happens to be today!) It spills over into your total enjoyment of life. Clutter can steal your attention, be a physical and mental burden, and ratchet up the chaos in your life. Moving out your stuff can seem to be  mission impossible if you don’t have some sort of plan for getting it done. This week I’m “chunking it”- concentrating on small steps each day.

Today I’m starting with the office. There are papers everywhere (research, you know!) Then the computer area. I gotta get to work. I’ll have a report on the office cleanup, and in fact I’ll update ya with posts this week. If I get any brainstorms on how to make this project go a little easier I’ll send them along.

Later

JohnK 4/15/2013

 

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Overheard: “Eliminate physical clutter. More importantly, eliminate spiritual clutter.

                                                        ~Terri Guillemets

 

 

Notes to Start the Week March 10, 2013

Well, lots of folks turned the clocks ahead one hour over the weekend. Time becomes a news story in the Western media when this part of the year rolls around.

Most of us have said, “If only I had more time,” as a way of explaining why we aren’t leading our most fulfilling lives. In her 2012 Chi For Yourself interview Marney Makridakis turned the concept of time management upside down when she brought us some new tools for viewing and experiencing time.

Listen to the show here:

 


Marney Makridakis is the author of “Creating Time: Using Creativity to Reinvent the Clock and Reclaim Your Life.”

 

Meditation is on the menu this week. Our scheduled guest on Chi For Yourself is Ajayan Borys, author of Effortless Mind: Meditate With Ease. The interview is scheduled for 1pm Pacific on Wednesday instead of the usual Thursday. The Google+  streams seem to be working well, so I’m planning to stream our talk on chiforyourself.com.

Speaking of meditation, there’s a global meditation planned for later this month. Get the details here at TheMasterShift.com.

 

…and, in Lexington, Virginia they’re observing Spiritual Wellness Month at the VA hospital there. Good quote from the VA- “At Lexington VA, we recognize that the Veterans we care for are spiritual beings having a human experience rather than human beings having occasional spiritual feelings,” Read the whole story…

 

Be well

JohnK 3-11-2013

 

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