Everyone needs to love themselves...

I was chatting with a woman today about her 12 year old daughter. The woman mentioned that her daughter was underweight and was part of a classroom where the words "fat" and "ugly" get thrown around. I'm sure there were more, but I'm just not remembering them all. I took this story to heart and really gained a strong motive to blog about how to teach people around you to love themselves, ESPECIALLY the young ones in our lives.
Everyone needs to love themselves!!

On your mirrors at home (or where ever), take a marker and write, "I AM AMAZING" Begin to fill your space with positive words and if you choose not to write on your mirrors, print out some affirmations and post them up around the house where you spend the most time. Over time change them around, so that you don't get used to them and easily dismiss them. Send a friend a special affirmative text, or a special note in your kids lunch bags or partners shoes/coat pocket. Take the time to affirm not only yourself, but the people around you. Fill your entire surroundings with love and kindness.

"I AM WORTHY"

"I AM AMAZING"

"I AM BEAUTIFUL"

"I ROCK"

Feel good words create feel good emotions and this creates happiness and great connections.

Love yourself and teach the people around you to as well. If people think you're weird, teach them anyways because when they are alone, they'll reflect on what you've said!!

Love yourself because you are incredibly amazing and worthy of all the amazing things life has to offer!!

Think I'm weird??? I'm not weird, I'm just different ;)

HUGS,
T

Monkey Mind Patterns

Do you ever notice yourself rethinking the same experience over and over again? This is what you call weakness of the mind. Now with that said, what contributes to strengthening the mind? Yoga, meditation, balanced diet, and an active lifestyle. Strengthening the mind begins with the emotions and recognizing your emotional levels. How do you express your emotions? Do you even express them at all? Your mental patterns (thinking) creates the emotions in your body, therefore if your mind is weak, you will be easily triggered. I notice myself becoming angry when I do the dishes and it's because somewhere in my body, past expereinces of anger is still stored here. Experiences or feelings of complaints that I do the dishes often. And I catch myself singing when I do the dishes because I'm fighting off that mental pattern that comes in. It's called habitual thinking patterns. I formed a habit of thinking negatively when I do the dishes and now these habitual patterns surface and with my awareness I'm able to recgonize what I'm thinking during this dish cleaning time. Strengthening the mind is not only done through yoga and meditation, but it is acheived through your entire lifestyle. Why is it that when we get tired, we feel grumpy/bothered? It is because when our body is running on low energy, we have little physical strength, but little mental strength as well. Yoga and meditation increases the energy in your body, but healthy activity and well balanced meals contributes to that as well.

If you meditate on a regular basis and do not have a balanced diet, you are not going to acheive mental strength that will last a long period of time because eventually your body will be exhausted from what you're putting into it and the mind will be working over time to keep the focus and determination of positive thinking.
I'm not just promoting meditation and yoga, but an overal lifestyle of well being! It is our job to build on our awareness. Awareness truly is the first step and then secondly is choice. Continue to contribute to your mental strength by fueling your body with nourishing foods, creating a strong mind and body.

Don't hesitate to meditate, but hesitate the junk food!!

T

2012 is AMAZING...

Put a smile on your face because you know 2012 is going to be an amazing year. Let me re-phrase that. Because what you think today, creates your tomorrow's...speak of your goals/intentions in the present tense. 2012 is an amazing year. If you speak in future tense, your goals/intentions are always out there. Notice how you speak.  

2012 is AMAZING!

All the best!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

T

Before 2011 comes to an end...

Before 2011 comes to an end, spend some time in meditation.

Sit with your legs crossed in easy seated pose, sukkhasana. One ankle infront of the other and allow your knees to fall to the side. Place a cushion underneath your buttocks to align your pelvis. The cushion will prop up your hips, tilting your pelvis forward so you can sit with a tall spine. Bring your index finger and thumb together in Jhana Mudra, a hand gesture for wisdom and knowledge, and place your hands on your knees with your palms facing upward. Let your elbows hang below the shoulders in a very relaxed position. Tuck your chin in slightly to elongate the back of your neck. Sit with a tall spine, slightly drawing your shoulder blades towards one another, embracing the back of your heart. Broaden the collarbone to open up the heart center. Close your eyes. Bring your attention inward. 

Begin to take deep belly breaths. On the inhalation expand your belly and on the exhalation deflate the tummy. Notice what you notice with your self. Is your mind wandering? If it is, bring it back to the breath, the pranayama, the life force energy. Let your breath be your focal point and with every exhalation releasing the thoughts, one by one...

Continue breathing. Sitting here in stillness, in silence, and enjoy! 

If you can sit for 5-10 minutes...it's a great start!

15-30 minutes...even better!

No pressure. Do what you can!

Happy FINAL Day of the year!

Tina :)

11 day count down...

Including today, there are 11 days left of 2011. The first feeling/thought that comes to me is a sigh of releif...ugh...thank goodness!!
Think of 11 lessons that 2011 brought you and order them from small lessons to large lessons. As these next 11 days unfold, beginning with the small lessons, Thank yourself for partaking in this lesson and then let it go.
If I log off, I may get too "busy" to do this exercise for myself, so I will share my lessons with you. As I begin to reflect back, it seems that they are all big lessons and I'm finding it difficult to put them in order. If this occurs to you, just go with the flow and write down what comes up first. Center yourself first, take a few deeeeep breaths and begin...

I am thankful for...

11. learning how to cook for myself when I was in Vancouver

10. putting myself out there and meeting new people because it wasn't so scary afterall

9. affirming myself everyday because it really gave me strength and courage to move forward

8. standing my ground above all other's opinions about my choices

7. trusting in my heart to lead me on the path of joyful living

6. my awareness that psychics are addictive and to just live in the moment and be patient for tomorrow

5. the committment I have to myself of loving me first

4. the trust I have in love

3. knowing and accepting that not everyone is going to love me

2. the acceptance that with change comes loss and it's healthy for things to not stay the same

1. meditation which is my ground, the way food is my fuel

The words in bold sum up my year of 2011. I've spent so much time and energy on letting go of the past that it was difficult to dig out these lessons. It's taken me about 30 minutes to complete this. I feel relieved! I hope for you to feel relieved as well!!

Set your ego aside and recognize that you are worth all the goodness life has to offer you and that by trusting in the process of this moment that carries into the next moment, everything is always working out for you. Go see a psychic for fun, but let your heart guide you to where you want to be next. If you listen to your heart, it will never fail you!! Take some precious time for YOU!

11 day count down...make it memorable!

T

Trust in love...

Love. Love. Love.
Love is such a beautiful thing to experience, yet why does getting lost in it feel so unstable? I am ascedning in love, but I'm lost in it at the same time. Where's my ground? AHHHHH!! In the movie, EAT PRAY LOVE...Liz attempts to hold herself back from the lost in love feeling and she tries to bury her feelings, but it doesn't bring her joy. TRUST...that is the first word that just popped in my head. Giving your heart to someone you love, in full hopes that they'll know exactly what to do with it. I make it sound so easy, don't I? Love is worth surrendering to and when that moment enters your life, just be grateful and go with it!!

Trust in love...it's a beautiful thing!   

I'm drawing a blank here...

I love blogging and I want to blog all the time, but sometimes (right now), I sit infront of the computer screen and I'm searching for words. I know that the only way to overcome this is to just write (type) and keep the words flowing and then next thing you know, i'll click publish post and it's all done. One more blog! YAY!!

This time though I'm thinking of blogging about happiness and I'm guessing that I'm choosing this because it's what I'm feeling right now! It's this deep happiness, joy that I feel and although I cannot feel every cell in my body vibrating...I know it is! It is through my throughts that replay in my head that tell me where I'm at in this moment! I'm going to be honest...I had moments last night of feeling unworthy of love and joy. I sat and observed my emotions and I knew that my thought pattern created this feeling. This emotion surfaced from a past memory of hurt and sadness and I dwelled in that moment long enough to convince myself that I wasn't worthy of love and joy! It amazes me how I believed my self critic for those moments because I've done so much work on myself and continue to do work on myself, but this really showed me that there is no destination when you work on yourself...it's a continuous maintenance program that you put yourself on so you can live your best life. It is very comparable to a fitness program...you don't just workout, eat right, lose weight, and then you're done. It is a lifestyle shift that starts with what goes into your mouth...only this program I'm talking about is specifically the program we are on that notices what we put in our mind. Just as we can binge eat and not realize...we can put shit (pardon me) in our head and not realize it. And next thing you know, you feel down. I hate hearing about anti deperessants and how people turn to them for a fix. Anti depressants numb the pain, which in turn never really gives the person the opportunity to work through the issues. I emphasize strongly on working through issues as they arrive because supressing them and/or getting to them later is not doing anyone a favour...especially you!

PAUSE...how did I go from happiness to anti depressants? The answer is that I am passionate about sharing my life experiences with people to help them with their decisions and their journey. I have my own strong views on life and I know from my experience that living an inspired life RIGHT NOW is where it's at.
There's enought stuff in the outside world that stimulates us, whether positive or negative, but living a life where you are excited to go to bed at night so you can wake up tomorrow is the quality life I always want to live and always will. I committ to myself every single day to do the work...whether it be meditate, eat healthy, read an inspirational quote, people watch...whatever it is that makes you happy!! Every single day, do whatever it takes to make yourself happy and everything else will work itself out!!

Peace Shanti Peace Shanti!!