IT"S CHRISTMAS!!
Merry Christmas to all our friends from Doug and June!
Sure hope Santa was good to you and if he wasn't that it was all worth it. Now its time to get ready for New Year's eve. Are you ready??? 2012 certainly had some challenges and the new year gives us the opportunity to reflect, contemplate, reevaluate and try again when we or life have fallen short. I love the saying... always shoot for the moon, cause even if you miss, you still fall into the stars. Its so important for us all to visualize all the good things we want and deserve. The Universe is a place of unending abundance. and each one of us deserve having our dreams come true. And your job is to believe...believe that all your needs are already being met. And the things most desired by your heart, will happen.. for the good of all concerned, diminishing no one.
Let’s Start The New Year Right Lyrics
One minute to midnight
One minute to go
One minute to say good-bye
Before we say hello
Let's start the new year right
Twelve o'clock tonight
When they dim the light
Let's begin
Kissing the old year out
Kissing the new year in
Let's watch the old year die
With a fond good-bye
And our hopes as high
As a kite
How can our love go wrong if
We start the new year right?
Are you excited? You should be. The new year is a time of wonderous opportunity and unimaginable miracles. All we have to do is believe in love, cast fear aside and open ourselves up to receive our gifts.
New Year's resolutions... should be 1) attainable, 2) sincere, 3) love based. You might be asking yourself why it's important to set a new years resolution. We know "you fail to plan then you plan to fail". If you want to achieve more than you have in previous years then setting a plan is the first step. And visualizing all ready having what we want is the second. I offer you my top three resolutions that seem to always work to make life amazing. (We will count down since we love countdowns)
4. Be More Positive... It's almost the beginning of a new year and many of us had hard knocks last year. At times you may have given up and felt it really wasn't worth going on or you've questioned the reasons for what you've been doing and if it will ever get better. Despair and apathy are our worst enemies. Don't let them rob you of life. Sometimes, life knocks us down or we stumble along the path. It isn't easy to get up, but improving ones self-talk can help a lot. It's not important that you stumble or fall, but that you get up again! The first step to achieving anything is believing you can.
Start off 2013 the right way, with the right attitude and positive self-talk. You willbe amazed at the miracles that manifest in your life, the differences you see in yourself and that others see in you too.
3. Improve Health...Improving your health can occur in a number of ways. You may decide to quit bad habits such as smoking or drinking. You can also get healthier by doing more exercise. You might need to lose the phone number for all those take-away places you frequent, and learn to make home made versions, which are always healthier. Not only will this help in your goal to get healthier, but it could help with your wallet and your waistline. Be realistic about your health goals. Remember good health and beauty are not a number on a scale. It's about feeling wonderful, being happy and being able to do the things you want. Life would be sad indeed if we couldn't indulge in fine chocolate, drink good wine, eat amazing and succulent foods. The trick is moderation and balance in all things.
2. Love more...
I knows this sounds simple, but its not. It's easy to love those, we know well and trust. It's hard to incorporate love in every aspect of our lives. First off, for those we already love... love unconditionally. That means, "I love you right here, right now, and you never have to anything to earn my love". In most cases it means there are times we need to separate the person from their behavior. It doesn't mean we live with abusive situations (afterall, we need to love ourselves first).. it does mean, we don't jump to conclusions, we don't lose faith, we remember that we are all human and make mistakes sometimes. And for everyone else, we come from a place of love not fear. You may feel helpless when you witness so much pain and suffering in the world. It is impossible to help everyone. However, you can start in small ways. Ask yourself, "Whom may I help today?" Let the planting of that seed flourish as you go about your daily life practicing random acts of kindness. It doesn't matter how small you consider that act of kindness to be. If you are doing it with intention, coming from a place of love within yourself, that is all that matters. Someone once told me, one way to achieve happiness is to do two things a day to improve someone's life annonymously. Be the angel in someone else's life. Be the miracle. The important part is to be annonymous. Remove our ego from the situation.
1. Meditate more...
Meditation is not just for gurus and monks. It is for you and me.
Meditation helps to deepen our compassion, and loving kindness to others, and ourselves. This guided meditation deepens the aspirations of peace, love and compassion and unfolds in expanding consciousness. When we experience inner peace, we can extend ourselves to others more readily. Carl Jung, the famous psychologist, was once asked how to avert the global catastrophes of war and greed. His answer was simple, "Cultivate inner peace."
What we would like to do here is take meditation back to basics and offer this simple form. Your being is composed of both external and internal aspects. Yet you spend all of your time with the external. Meditation is a means for you to direct your attention to the opposite side, the internal. We are so wrapped up in the outside world, we neglect what is within us. We are out of balance, "lopsided," and that puts us into an extreme situation. These instructions are for a simple, seated meditation that can help you to start developing a balance.
Before you begin this meditation, make the decision to sit down and devote the energy of your mind, body, and heart to resting within stillness. Find a place where you will not be disturbed, i.e. a room where no one will come in, where the phone does not ring, where little or no noise can get in, etc.
It is very important that you are physically comfortable when practicing meditation. This will help prevent you from becoming distracted by bodily sensations that arise from physical discomfort. Take a minute to relax and establish a condition of ease in your body. Close your eyes and mouth, breathing normally through your nose. If it helps you to relax, take a few deep breaths.
This focus will be your breathing. Become aware of your breathing with each inhale and exhale. Once you are aware of your breathing, slowly begin to breathe into your abdomen. In other words, breathe using your diaphragm, not your lungs. The lungs expand downward instead of out during the inhale. If you do not know how to breathe with your diaphragm or it is uncomfortable, then breathe like you normally do. Just relax as best you can.
Continuously recall your mindfulness, your awareness to the inhale and exhale of your breath. If you find yourself distracted with thoughts, gently bring your attention back to the feeling of your breathing. With each breath, allow yourself to be in the present; it is only the present that exists. In the present is where you can discover deeper levels of your mind and being.
Now that you rest with your breathing, slowly turn your attention inwards and find the stillness in your mind. As you find the silence, be with it. Become the stillness. If you find yourself distracted with thoughts, place your attention on your breathing again and withdraw from your thoughts.
If it becomes difficult to find the silence or rest with it, try repeating the word "om" (as in dome) in a natural repetition. Say the word silently within your mind. Feel the vibration of the word as you repeat it and immerse yourself in it.
Don't worry if you find yourself thinking a lot. This is normal. Over time, you will gain the ability to quiet yourself more and more. Like anything else, it just takes practice. If you experience some physical discomfort during the meditation, make the necessary adjustments to bring yourself back to the comfort zone. The adjustments might be very subtle muscular, skeletal, or attitudinal shifts.
Try practicing this meditation once a day in the evening for about 15 to 20 minutes. Make it a special part of your daily routine. As you become accustomed to your practice, add a morning meditation for the same amount of time.
Meditation can be very profound and meaningful, for the effects of resting within silence will be felt in your daily life. It can be an excellent stress reducer. It gives you the opportunity to enjoy new meaning and appreciation. Meditation is one of life's paradoxes, for within silence is everything.
(ok I know there are more than 3.. don't be critical.. it's a June thing)
Oh and don't forget the most IMPORTANT Resolution!!!!
EAT MORE CHOCOLATE AND BACON!!!
yeah I know I will get back to recipes and smart ass comments next post....
Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year, filled with love and laughter, peace and prosperity, health and happiness...
MAY YOUR NEW YEAR BE DELICIOUS!!!
from Doug and June
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