A coach of mine, Wendy Hupperich at www.wendyhupperich.com, posted these simple thoughts today. They are true and wise and ancient.

A Happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes.
-Buddha

Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you.
- Maori Proverb

"Where are you looking for Happiness? In the shadows or toward the sun? "

The key to our happiness is facing the light, rather than hanging out in the shadow. Light and dark is in us all. The evil, shadow, dark gremlins are not out there somewhere. They are in us, and they are not going to go away. But they do not have to be shouting at you, and luring you into their mind sucking trap. Welcome your gremlins, look them in the eye, shake hands, have a laugh together, don't take them seriously and get back to facing the light. It is a choice.

I just listened to a great NPR interview with Terry Gross and author Charles Duhigg about Habits, how and why we form them. As well as how we can change them. Our habits are driven by ques and rewards. His book, The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, has you look at the subconscious patterns of how and why we do certain things. Our automatic patterns and the routines run a good portion of our day. Terry Gross, shares about the common habit we all experience of driving on auto pilot. it certainly is common for me to reach a destination without any recollection of the drive.

If you want to develop habits that support you, and replace habits that hinder you, you must be conscious, and present.   “If you believe you can change — if you make it a habit — the change becomes real,” the author concludes. “This is the real power of habit: the insight that your habits are what you choose them to be.”

I recommend this book as a support in understanding the mechanisms behind our automatic choices. Equipped with a better understanding, you have the tools to make and empower choices that support your well being.

Well Being is the Foundation for Powerful Forward Movement in your Projects and the key to a Great Life.

When you are feeling off, discombobulated, low energy,  experiencing negative thinking, and not moving forward with you projects. Look to your foundation your Well BEING.  How is it going? What are you doing to take good care of you?

Recently I felt off my game. I was feeling, unmotivated, and my energy felt efforted and ungrounded.I knew I needed to shore up my foundation, check for cracks or loose stones, something was undermining the integrity of my foundation. I gave myself permission to read, carve stone, walk on the beach, meditate and connect to spirit.

Sometime we have to step back, assess what is missing, and take time for ourselves while putting structures in place to keep us on track. For me it was a simple as scheduling time for a massage, putting my vitamins out  on the counter, so that I am visually reminded, getting to bed early enough so I have time and energy to create a powerful start to my day.

What is missing for you? Will you take a moment now and look?

You  have to take care of yourself, no one is going to do it for you. You have this one life, and your health is your  most important asset, do not squander it. Take a break,add more pauses in your day, get more sleep, drink more water, take deep breaths, celebrate play and have fun.  Make your wellness your first priority. 

Love is an expression, an action, a way of being, a gift we give. Trust is a gift we can choose to give without expecting anything in return. Imagine your world when you give trust as a gift without expecting others to earn it or prove their worthiness.  Trust like that requires vulnerability. Now imagine your relationship with yourself, giving trust and love unconditionally. What impact would love and trust like that have on your life?   

I recommend this potent article by Andrew Cohen.
http://bigthink.com/ideas/42449

"I Trust You" – More Difficult (and more powerful) than "I Love You" .

"Valentine’s Day is here. Time to think about those we love. Even more importantly, time to consider what it means to truly love another. Have you ever deeply thought about what love is? Have you ever considered where it comes from and why we feel drawn to be with certain people over others?  Love is indeed a complex and multidimensional subject . . .

We can understand love either from the perspective of what it is or what it is not. Love is the uplifting experience of joy, ecstasy, fulfillment, contentment, delight, and abandon. Love is not the painful experience of fear, doubt, suspicion, jealousy, obsession, and attachment. More than anything else, I think the highest expression of true love is trust. Indeed, trust is love’s sweetest gift. That is because trust gives rise to an experience that ordinary love cannot: Freedom and space. In fact, trust is the powerful experience of spiritual freedom within the context of human relationship.

We can easily experience spiritual freedom when we close our eyes and let the world disappear, when we contemplate the infinite nature of consciousness. But how do we experience that same freedom within the complexity of our relationships with each other? That’s a much more difficult endeavor. Attaining the perennial mystical experience of freedom by oneself—walking in nature or sitting alone in quiet contemplation—is, I believe, less of a challenge than achieving that same kind of freedom in relationship with other human beings.

In the utopian paradise of a spiritually enlightened world, “I love you” means much more than the expression of deep affection and attraction. It means “I trust you.” Think about it. For most of us, those words are not necessarily synonymous. It’s easier to tell somebody you love them than to tell them that you trust them. More often than not, love tends to amount to a strong emotion of affinity, fondness, intimacy, longing, and attachment. To be honest, it is an experience that, under the light of close scrutiny, is neither as profound nor inherently meaningful as it appears to be. We easily allow ourselves to feel affection or attraction without becoming truly vulnerable, without dropping our defenses. But if we want to know the extraordinary freedom that the awakening of profound trust bestows upon us, we must open ourselves up far more that most of us feel naturally inclined to do.

When we permit ourselves to trust deeply, we are letting another human being into our heart and into our soul. We have accepted the good intentions of another so deeply that we allow them to step so close to us that we cannot protect ourselves any longer. Now we are wide open and when we meet another in the infinite expanse of true vulnerability and profound intimacy, the experience is identical to mystical intimacy with God or Spirit. No boundaries, one Self, infinite freedom, and joy beyond measure. This kind of trust is more profound and more significant than any love that is merely personal. In this truly transpersonal love, through our relationship with the other, a new inner world opens up. This love, based on trust, is a sacred world of boundless freedom and infinite space. No fear whatsoever of loss or betrayal. This love means I’m always with you, forever."
By Andrew Cohen