Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Conflicts with the kids? Relax!


“Family life! The United Nations is child's play compared to the tugs and splits and need to understand and forgive in any family.”

-- May Sarton

Faced with a child (or a person of any age, for that matter) who is angry or rebellious? Consider the guidance from Vimala McClure:

“To discover what my child needed, a deep, yielding receptivity was vital. The temptation is to become more and more rigid, but the more you do, the less you understand. When faced with a child who is testing your resolve, relax and yield ….

“As a parent, the frustration of not knowing how to fill a need that cannot be articulated can be overwhelming. Often we direct the rage that stems from that frustration toward the child, which serves to distance us even further, making it impossible for the child to open up to us. To get to this type of receptivity, a practice of conscious relaxation is a must.”

“Those who have children can become masters of patience, endurance, and steadfastness, because children will test you at every turn. …The way to make our children patient and loving is to be that way ourselves.”

-- Eknath Easwaran

Access your own inner wisdom by tapping into your subconscious and intuition. Release stress, blocks and negative emotions, and spark imagination and greater vision...

Posted via email from Les Belles-lettre

Monday, August 30, 2010

Responsibility brings power

"To be tested is good. The challenged life may be the best therapist."

-- Gail Sheehy

What holds you back from being all that you are?

In your journal, list at least 5 things that hold you back.

Now review your answers. Have you blamed people or factors outside of yourself?

It's important to understand that ALL obstructions are rooted in our internal blocks. Even the problems that appear to be outside of us are only reflecting back to us problems we have inside. Once we address our inner issues, the outer problems disappear.

Be personally accountable for everything in your life and watch your perspectives shift. We claim our power when we accept responsibility for our lives.

"Conscious evolution begins as we take responsibility for clearing our own obstructions."

-- Dan Millman

We don’t change overnight. Personal growth requires persistence. 

Posted via email from Les Belles-lettre

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Struggling with money?

“Managing your money does not depend upon becoming wealthy or declaring vows of poverty. Rather, it is about creating stability and sufficiency – a balanced flow of monetary energy through your life.”

-- Dan Millman

What would it take to achieve financial stability and sufficiency in your life?

Look honestly at your life. How could you achieve financial stability and sufficiency? Would you need more income? Would you need to trim back your lifestyle? Would you achieve this by refusing to purchase on credit? What can you do now that would move you one step closer to having control over the money in your life?

“We can respond creatively to what we experience as life-depriving and become richer in spirit for having met the challenge.”

-- Tad Crawford

Tackle your financial challenges holistically! Learn the basic steps to managing money, explore your beliefs around wealth, and open to the spiritual laws of abundance... 

Posted via email from Les Belles-lettre

Friday, August 20, 2010

Learn to be aware


“You can live a lifetime and, at the end of it, know more about other people than you know about yourself.”

-- Beryl Markham

Who am I? To answer this, we must first learn to become more aware of ourselves. To be aware, we must STOP and PAY ATTENTION! We need to STOP and objectively watch ourselves in action.

We live most of our lives by habit. These habits keep us stuck in patterns that limit our experience of life. Once we detect a pattern we were previously unconscious of, we can choose differently, if we want. With awareness comes choice and with choice, we gain freedom.

“To be authentic is literally to be your own author …, to discover your own native energies and desires, and then to find your own way of acting on them.”

-- Warren G. Bennis

“Self-knowledge is the great power by which we comprehend and control our lives.”

-- Vernon Howard

Awareness is the key to all change. Begin to trust yourself more deeply as you uncover new dimensions of who you are. Go on a journey of self-discovery...

Posted via email from Les Belles-lettre

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Who are you?


“Please… tell me who you are and what you want. And if you think those are simple questions, keep in mind that most people live their entire lives without arriving at an answer.”

-- Gary Zukav

How deeply can you answer this question? Please realize that you are the only one who can answer it. No one else can tell you who you are. You must discover this for yourself. And the challenge of knowing ourselves is no easy task.

We hope this question excites rather than intimidates you. There’s so much more to you than you know at present! Isn’t this intriguing? Perhaps it’s time to go exploring….

“Mysterious and intimidating to contemplate, the human brain is the most complex thing there is and the most difficult task it can undertake is to understand itself.”

-- David Noonan

“I don’t think God cares where we were graduated or what we did for a living. God wants to know who we are. Discovering this is the work of the soul – it is our true life’s work.”

-- Bernie Siegel

Know Yourself – An adventure in self discovery! Become aware of your subconscious limitations, your character strengths, weaknesses and potentials, your life challenges, gifts, talents, and your deepest desires and aspirations...

Posted via email from Les Belles-lettre

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Learn to let go

“To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, remove things every day.”

-- Lao Tzu

How do we take something away? As we cultivate higher awareness, we begin to see just how much we have added things that really aren’t there to our picture of reality. Our beliefs, concepts and emotions all add layers of meaning to physical reality, but that meaning exists for us only – it has no objective existence. For example, the word ‘mother’ has a complicated network of meaning for each of us.

Become aware of how your beliefs and emotions colour your perception of different events in your life. See if you can begin to step out of your fabrications to experience the truth and spaciousness of what is.

“When guilt rears its ugly head confront it, discuss it and let it go. The past is over. … Forgive yourself and move on.”

-- Bernie S. Siegel

Journey through the traps of ego into a life of meaning, purpose, joy and service. Embark on your own soul journey...

Posted via email from Les Belles-lettre

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Experience stillness


"My greatest wealth is the deep stillness in which I strive and grow and win what the world cannot take from me with fire or sword."

-- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

If our minds are always busy, they don’t get time to do basic maintenance – to sort, tidy up and take out the trash. If we don’t periodically clear out space in our minds, there’s no room for new ideas to take root.

Where do you find stillness each day and each week? Plan for quiet time, relaxation and stillness daily, even if it’s only for 5 or 10 minutes.

“For peace of mind, we need to resign as general manager of the universe.”

-- Larry Eisenberg

Step by step, progressively learn basic meditation methods to relax, concentrate, focus, reflect, contemplate and illuminate your inner self. 

Posted via email from Les Belles-lettre