WHY IS IT SO HARD TO FIND HAPPINESS? ~ STAY JUICY!

•June 15, 2012 • 2 Comments

You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. ~ Mary Oliver

It’s really so easy to find your happiness when your priorities straighten out. What do you really want from life? Will it take acquiring the biggest, best even better whatever or you’ll be disappointed? If you really had to sit down and write a list of the critical needs you have, knowing you better choose wisely, what would you list look like?

Why not try this? I used to think there were many things I couldn’t do without. And then I read a book about how Nazi prisoners, freed through WWII efforts were relocated to barbed wire camps in England. After the deprivation and degradation they’d already experienced, they had to undergo even more.

Have you ever gone without a decent meal for a year or so? I know I haven’t. But what if it came down to those basics in life we take for granted? If you’re worrying about what to feed your starving children, you can’t possibly be envious of your friend’s new car. Let’s put things in perspective.

When it comes to what we really need in life for happiness, it can be very simple. Shelter, enough food, and love. What else is that important? I’m not saying not to dream big. The bigger you dream, the more enriched your life will be.

It’s about how much time you spend being unhappy about what you don’t have, rather than appreciating what you have.

The simple things in life are truly free, and they’re the best. Whenever you’re feeling unhappy, walk outside. Connect to the trees, feel the texture of the weather that day, remember you are a living thing, just like everything growing around you.

When you forget you are part of nature, spend too much time inside buildings, you forget how great it feels to enjoy just that present moment. If you rest in the present moment, you will notice that everything is fine right then. You don’t need a fancy car or new techno widget if you realize what’s really important.

The only things you need to stay alive are air, water and food. Those are all graciously provided by God. Everything you really need is already yours. Have gratitude for what you have. Remain as much as possible in a state of gratitude and happiness will naturally find you.

And when you get a chance to do something extra special or go someplace wonderful like the beach, your gratitude will increase as will your happiness. This is me at Crushcakes in Carpinteria Beach. Being there is paradise and getting one of the Gobbled Up Panini’s is icing on top of that. Be happy with the little things.  Your happiness will increase and you will find your own unique happiness. Like Mary Oliver says above, it’s about finding what brings you pleasure and doing it. Simple.

This is also the secret to staying vital, animated and young all your life. ~ Stay Juicy!

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CHOOSING PLAYFULNESS ~ STAY JUICY!

•June 10, 2012 • 1 Comment

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Saturday afternoon, my Sweetheart and I were sitting on a bench at front of the beach  in Carpinteria, enjoying the beauty and fabulous breeze. I watched a group of five 20 somethings approach the steps leading to the sand. The group was made up of three guys and two girls. They were dressed very nicely like they were going to a party or had come from an event.

One of the girls took off her shoes, ran gleefully up the stairs and onto the sandy beach. She ran, laughing at the feeling of sand on her bare feet. She exclaimed “It’s great, come on,” to the rest of the group. They looked skeptically at each other. Clearly, they weren’t going to make fools of themselves like she had.

One guy said something about “someone’s getting all their birthday wishes coming true” and I thought he meant the girl on the sand, so I wished her a Happy Birthday. She giggled and said it wasn’t her birthday, and pointed to one of the other guys. He was tall and attractive, the best dressed and seemingly most inhibited about running out into the sand. I said something like “She looks like she knows how to celebrate and have fun. Why aren’t you  out there having fun too? Besides, did you know that if you’re barefoot in sand, you  can dump all the anxiety and other freaky energy you no longer want? It turns neutral and energizes the sand in a positive way. Why not dump all the stuff that no longer serves you?”

That interested them, but they still seemed like they were afraid to just get out there and play. “Does it really do that?” asked the other young woman. “Oh yes,” I replied. “I advise it for all the people I work with therapeutically toward more ease and peace in their lives.”

“He’ll never take his shoes off,” declared the first guy. As if to say “Oh yeah?”, our Birthday Boy sat right down on the bench  next to mine and took off his socks and shiny polished boots. All of a sudden, everyone was taking off their shoes and running onto the sand. At they crossed the sand in front of me, heading out, each one of them thanked me or gave me a big smile before running off to play.

We get stuck believing in order to be “adult”, we have to give up being playful and having fun in ways that don’t include having to out drink each other or play some other winner/loser competitive game. We may have had childhoods that never allowed us the luxury of play. Maybe circumstances forced us to grow up fast, or perhaps there was nothing to celebrate. Or maybe we’ve bought into a culture that says only fools and children play in the sand and have fun. I say, let me be a fool and a child always. Let me never forget that joy and play are two of the greatest gifts we have.

Those five friends celebrating a birthday on Saturday chose to allow themselves to play. When we left about half an hour later, the friends were still out there frolicking in their nice clothes among nude toddlers, families and bikini clad bathers. They didn’t care that they weren’t dressed appropriately for the beach. They didn’t care if people looked at them strangely or had judgments about their actions. They decided to choose their own happiness.

This is what happens in every moment for each of us. Will we be afraid of what others will think about us? Will we be concerned about friends teasing us or people thinking we aren’t good enough, cute enough, smart enough etc? Or will we decide what works for us and choose that? Choosing your own happiness should never come at the expense of anyone else. I’m not advocating that. I’m saying that life is lived moment by moment. Each choice one makes in each moment creates a happy future or not. Play is an essential part of living a happy, ease filled life.

The Birthday Boy could have decided he was too cool to take off his shoes and run in the sand. The girl who was having so much fun probably would have climbed back down, dusted off her feet and gone off to whatever plans they chose instead. She knew this was the best choice, but she would’ve been outnumbered and not want to spoil the day. Their story would have had a different ending. Maybe they would have done something else enjoyable, but it wouldn’t have fed their souls as much as playing with the joy and exuberance I saw coming from every one of them.

So your choice in every moment is to be safe and go along with the crowd so you fit in, or to be your own authentic self, like the girl and the Birthday Boy. They choice the freedom of personal joyful expression that comes through play. And once chosen, they will be able to return there again, having found their way back this time. In every situation, this is your choice as well.

If you choose to remember you are always an ageless, timeless soul inside and don’t buy into the “rules” that say you’re supposed to act a particular way, you’ll be free of the chains of fearful compliance. The consequences for allowing life to weigh you down and forgetting you always have access to the playful child is a fearful life of dis-ease. The birthday group decided they remembered how amazing play is and to give up the grindy issues that got in their way from that  moment forward. Will that single choice make a difference in their overall life? You bet it will! Making those kinds of choices is what keeps you timeless and ageless.

Making choices to enjoy your life and look for the play in every situation including work, guarantees that you stay vital, animated with life-force and ageless. ~ Stay Juicy!

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OPEN YOUR HEART TO LOVE ~ STAY JUICY!

•June 4, 2012 • Leave a Comment

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the   barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”

~ Rumi

Are you having fun yet? Not so much? It’s time to change that up. If you knew beyond a doubt that changing your thinking would change your life experiences, would you change your thinking? Of course, we all say. We just want to be happy. No matter how grumpy or nasty someone acts, underneath, they just want to be loved and be happy. The harder someone is to love, the more love they need. People like this, and most of the rest of us just don’t know how to make the choices that lead to happiness.

So how are we going to make the huge leap?

Have you determined what your life purpose is yet? This is critical to the experience of joy. We were all put on this Earth to be of service in some way. You needn’t be a doctor or teacher, whoever you are is necessary and needed. It’s about how you carry out your work. If you are dissatisfied, you won’t experience joy or even happiness.

Your life’s purpose is supported by joy whenever you are working on it or thinking about it. When you feel joy within relationships, it keeps those relationships alive, growing and exciting. When you lose the joy, misery and stagnation of the same relationships result. You’ve been there, right?

So the point is to do it differently so you get a different outcome.

Of all the emotions, joy has the highest energy vibration. Joy reminds us that we don’t need to suffer. We can fulfill our purpose, help ourselves and others and heal through the power of joy. To do this we have to stay positive and have faith that our desires will manifest into reality. This isn’t an overnight thing. It requires patience and focus, like all good things.

Everything you desire and pray for comes as a result of opening your heart, giving and receiving love. The more you allow yourself to love, the deeper and more meaningful your life will become. All that is Divine will support your actions in the interest of love and will ensure you are safe and protected.

Does this sound like I haven’t addressed the main issue of bringing in someone to love you and be loved by you? Oh, but this is the answer. The more you open your heart to love in general, the greater the likelihood that romantic love will find you as well.

Love is more than feeling our hearts flip and flutter. If you have a loving attitude toward everything and everyone, you will find love in every aspect of your life.

1. Spend time in nature. Feel how alive and present every living thing is, how it vibrates with life and beauty. Nature doesn’t get upset or feel unloved. When you allow yourself to connect with the naturalness of the wind, trees and all of nature, you can’t possibly feel anything but alive.

      “Beauty awakens the soul to act.”~ Dante

2. Forgive those who seem to have hurt you. Everybody does the best they can, including you. We are all trying to reconcile the challenges life throws at us with our ability to handle them. So you’ve done things you aren’t proud of. You and everyone else feels the exact same way. Forgive yourself and everyone else. The burden of blame and guilt is heavy. It doesn’t allow for the spacious feelings of love and peace.

“Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.”~Paul Boese
 

3. Be loving with yourself. Whatever choices you’ve made in the past, whatever you regret, let it all go. Take every last morsel of guilt and remorse and let them fall away from your existence. Be gentle with yourself and everyone else. You and everyone else is a divine being, always loved and always protected. You can rest in that promise. Not saying you’ll always like what’s happening in your life. Try understanding that we weren’t born to have easy lives. We are here to understand our purpose and to find compassion for all. This is the right approach.

No one can see you as loveable until you love yourself. This isn’t ego based love because you have a great body or lots of money. True love stems from connection with your purpose and from remaining open-hearted. Do this for yourself and watch others recognize the beauty within you.

“Until you stop breathing, there’s more right with you than wrong with you.” ~ Jon Kabat-Zinn

4.  Do the inner work. If you don’t understand why someone is treating you a particular way, put yourself in their shoes. How do you look from their perspective? Every interaction requires at least two people’s participation. Are you clear about your own motivations? Becoming a conscious person who responds from the highest good takes work. Yet if not, you will walk through your life defensively and almost blindly unaware of the deeper meanings.

“We don’t see things as they are; we see things as we are.” ~ Anais Nin

“I say, follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be.” ~ Joseph Campbell

5.  Recognize power struggles.  If you feel misunderstood, used or upset, perhaps you haven’t looked at the situation from the other’s point of view. You don’t have to agree with that person. You only need to have compassion for them and to try to understand their motivation.  A tug of war insures there will be a winner and a loser. No one wants to lose. If your relationships are struggles, how can anyone’s hearts be open to love?  Why play power games? Decide to listen to each other and you can open the door to creative solutions.

“Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.” ~ Lao Tzu

6.  Let it all go. It’s time to stop pushing, struggling or forcing things to happen. Let go of your anger, unforgiveness and every other situation and emotion that is distancing you from peace and love. You need a loving environment in order to nurture love. Contrary to the illusion that you will be happy when you find love, you can only find real love when you are happy. Trust the Universe is on your side. When you allow Spirit to lead you, doors to creative solutions and outcomes beyond that which you can imagine will open.

“Peace is not won by those who fiercely guard their differences, but by those who with open minds and hearts seek out connections.”~ Katherine Paterson

And more than anything else, remember that every day is precious. Every day you wake up, you are being given a gift beyond measure. Have gratitude for what you have and remember that age is a function of your thinking and your beliefs. If you want to be active, alive and joyful during your stay here, you must make the choice to allow life to happen and to accept it with grace, gratitude and curiosity.

~ STAY JUICY!

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STOP FIGHTING WHAT YOU DON’T WANT~STAY JUICY!

•May 27, 2012 • Leave a Comment

Fighting against anything creates a bigger push back, which brings more of what you don’t want coming toward you. All the energy we put into fighting against what we don’t want, brings more of this to us. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it?

Remember the law of attraction? Whatever you focus on is what you create more of in your life. This is really how it works. The more you have thoughts of unhappiness and fear, the more you experience the exact things you don’t want, unhappiness and fear. You must change your thoughts to change your experiences.

Look at the war on drugs, things are worse in that arena than ever before. There are more people dying of methamphetamines and other designed drugs than in any time in history. Has our “war” on drugs stopped anything or has that war caused us to spend millions and millions of dollars on a losing battle because we’re using the wrong strategies?

Wars on anything focus our energy on the war, not on the solution. People use drugs for many reasons, mostly having to do with feeling unloved and scared. Warring against the drugs doesn’t change anything because we aren’t addressing the cause for the drug use, merely the symptom.

There are ways to change things that have nothing to do with fighting against them. You have to find a way to look at the situation with hope. If you’re just angry at the government for everything, you aren’t helping. The more agitated you get about any situation, the more you feed it with the energy of your fear and unhappiness.

Depending on how you feel, you make yourself a part of the solution or continue to support the problem with your fear, anger or anguish.

So what can you do to change yourself, the world, anything at all? One way is to pray with hope and focus on the outcome you’d prefer instead. If you’re lonely and afraid no one will ever love you (a very common fear), you can imagine yourself spending time with someone you admire and want to be with. The more you think about all the wonderful things you could do with that person, the sooner you will bring that person into your life. There’s more than one person for everyone on the planet. If you’re open to having a rewarding relationship, you can attract someone through your positive belief, hope and faith and this will happen.

If you want to end the war on anything, say poverty for example, you must envision a world where all people are accepted and everyone collaborates toward the good of all. I’m not saying this will end the rule of corrupt politicians or murder, but it will converge with others wishing the same outcome and things will gradually change. On a global level, there has always been corruption and murder as well as everything else we fight against. Since these factors have been around forever, obviously warring and fighting against them doesn’t work.

Changing anything is a process. This time in the history of our planet is the most auspicious for positive change. Don’t waste any more time fighting anything. Be part of the solution you wish to see, whether in your personal life or in the world. And don’t expect to see any changes if you are perpetuating any of the reasons these conditions exist.

By that, I mean that if you are someone who excludes people from consideration for a good life because of their ethnicity, religion, personal choices etc., you are helping perpetuate hate and separateness. If you want to be happy, feel contended and loved, you must wish this for everyone and mean it!

So what exactly are you fighting against in your own life? Consider focusing on a solution instead of the problem and add to the global consciousness of others wishing for peace and harmony in their own lives as well as others.

Become part of the solution by having the hope and faith that everyone can live in dignity and love, including yourself. ~ Stay Juicy!

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CREATE YOURSELF A HAPPY LIFE ~ STAY JUICY!

•May 18, 2012 • 3 Comments

Are you challenged by how fast time is flying by? Are you afraid your opportunities are passing you by and you’ll never feel the success, love, or whatever you’re dreaming about? Whatever you wish for can only happen through an internal change. You have to believe what you wish for is possible. Then you have to change the way you look at these desires, since only you can make them come true.

You have everything you need inside of you already. Seek the best in yourself and you will always find it. Be gentle to yourself and everyone else. Remember not to take yourself so seriously. Life is an adventure you can enjoy or fear. If you can imagine that everyone has pain, desires, and challenges just as you do, you can find the compassion you need for yourself and everyone else.

Bring peace and harmony into your life by accepting everything. Whether an experience is fun or painful, your life has been constructed to help you learn the lessons of Earth school. Every experience is valuable and has a lesson you need to have, or you wouldn’t be there experiencing it. Life must be viewed by a larger perspective than we usually view it. What kind of things keep happening to you? Pay attention. Those are the lessons hidden in the experiences that you must each learn or repeatedly trip over.

You are responsible for your life. When you take control over your thoughts and actions, you control your life. This isn’t to say you will enjoy or even like everything that happens to you. Yet the choices and your responses to the events of your life in relation to the surprises of life will always be in your control. If you look at a particularly unpleasant or painful experience as a lesson, you will learn from it. You will better understand what choices, beliefs or focus brought about the experience in the first place. Change those beliefs and your life will change.

It’s actually so easy, yet when we make ourselves feel victimized and plagued by our lives rather than learn from them, that very same lesson must revisit us, usually in another form but with the same message. So much of the pain we undergo is a direct response to our own fear of it happening. There are only two ways to approach life; one is from fear and the other from love.

Fear offers limited options. When you’re afraid, you can run, hide or fight. Every other response comes from love. Who wants to live the limited life of fear-based existence? Probably none of us. It’s just the way things are. We were raised by parents who viewed life as scary and out of their control. This was also their parents and every prior generation’s belief. Life happens to you, right? Yes, life happens to you alright. The way you react, and handle life is completely up to you and within your power.

So how can you create a happy life? Simply by remembering to put all experiences in perspective. Everything is a blessing. You’re alive in the most exciting time of our history. The current state of world political climate and Covid events might have you doubt this.

We are creatures of habit. We don’t want anything to change because we feel safe in our habitual lives. Yet our politics and self-serving ways have bitten us in the butt, and we haven’t developed a global consciousness of love and harmony yet. That’s why our infrastructures are being shaken up and falling apart. It’s a good thing. It looks like Armageddon, but things are being shaken up because there was dense, negative energy being generated by our collective greed, hatred, envy and competitiveness.

We have a unique opportunity to look both beyond ourselves and within ourselves. What do we do personally to perpetuate unhappiness in the world? What do we do to perpetuate unhappiness within ourselves? I’ll bet fear is behind every answer. God is Love. Let’s live fearlessly! It starts by choosing to respond to everything from love rather than fear. It happens when we are charitable and think kindly of everyone we meet, including ourselves. Look for the best in everyone and you will find it.

Have a harmonious nature within and your world will match this. We create what we believe. Imagine creating what you really desire. I’m not talking about a red convertible. I mean something you desire to do or create and are passionate about. Maybe something wild and different. Anything you truly desire comes to from your passion. Imagine the ease and peace that comes from doing something you love accepting yourself and everyone else as divine children of God, regardless of what form they appear in. You are blessed beyond your knowledge. And more powerful than you can possibly imagine. Relax into faith. The greatest things can be accomplished by faith, hope and love. A great attitude makes you appreciate and have gratitude for everything. You can create a happy life for yourself. The only thing standing in your way is your fear. Live from your heart day by day and that fear will fade.

Remember, enjoy your life and ~ Stay Juicy!

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DO YOU WANT TO BE HAPPY? ~Stay Juicy

•May 3, 2012 • 4 Comments

Are you feeling as crazy as most folks seem to be these days? It’s interesting having all the challenges we’re having to face with the world in this shape at the moment. People are being pushed on to change, to step up and in many other ways. From my observations, the ones having the most trouble with this transitional time in our history are the ones who have no spiritual base.

Clients tell me they feel like nothing is ever going to recover, neither the economy nor their own broken lives. When I hear this, I ask them about their spiritual life. Many of them say they don’t believe in God or any other form of divinity and then I understand the problem. Without a strong spiritual connection, how can anyone help but think of themselves as out there with no hope? Imagine believing there’s nothing but your own efforts to save you. No wonder we’re such a scared, unhappy society.

I work with mentally ill, substance abusing parolees who have less hope than the rest of us who have “normal” lives. I never believed in normal anyway, since each of us is a unique expression of God, how can there be a norm? But I mean those of us who may be suffering from various issues but generally can count their blessings. Many of these parolees have been in and out of jail and prison most of their lives. They’ve already burnt their family/friend connections long ago and nobody has their backs. Yet when we talk about developing a faith in a higher power, treat them with respect and emotional support, an amazing thing happens.

After the staff and myself do everything someone who believes in them would do, including accepting them back into the program multiple times with no judgment, many found they could turn their lives around. So far, twelve of them are attending community college, others are getting their GED, jobs, even seeking ministry training. They never believed themselves capable of these things. You never know until you challenge yourself.

So, my point is that if these guys can do it, you certainly can. How strong is your faith? Do you talk yourself into failure because of low self-esteem? How strong is your desire to live a productive, meaningful life? Here are some suggestions to get on that track:

1.  Stop making excuses and do something proactive to help yourself. There’s always something you can do. Are you lonely? Join a club that interests you or volunteer somewhere. “I’m shy” is an excuse. Would you rather remain shy or be happy. Get out and challenge yourself. Get outside of yourself and give time to help others. You wouldn’t believe how rewarding this can be.

2.  Stop downtalking yourself. We are always our worrst enemies. If you counted the number of negative statements you make about yourself in your own head every day, you’d be shocked. Listen to your thoughts. Become conscious of this. Say “next” to each negative thought, going on to the next until you hit a positive statement and then expand on that one. Decide to “next” every single negative thought you have and pretty soon, they’ll practically disappear.

3.  Stop living in the past. Living in any time frame except the moment keeps you from enjoying the beauty of the day, the grace you have right now. The past does not exist. No one can step back into the past and change anything, so what’s the point of regrets? Learn from the past and make better choices now. Any harm you’ve been done by another person in the past is over. Only you keep hurting yourself over and over by reliving the events.

“Many of us crucify ourselves between two thieves – regret for the past and fear of the future.”
– Fulton Oursler

4.  Stop being so ungrateful. Do you have mostly working parts? Can you read and write (obviously, or we wouldn’t be interacting)? Do you thank God every day for your arms, legs, functional systems and everything else you take for granted? If you did, you wouldn’t be unhappy. The fastest way to become happy is to have mad appreciation for everything you do have. If you can do this and remain in a state of gratitude, so much more will come your way. Try this, don’t believe me. This doesn’t mean try it for one day or one week. It requires a permanent attitude shift.

5.  Stop being so afraid. Yes, changing is risky. If you’re used to doing things a particular way and having iron tight beliefs, you’re stuck in too many boxes. Naturally you’re afraid to chance trying something new. It probably feels like taking one chance could topple your whole carefully constructed “safe” world. You aren’t happy in your safe world. What’s so great about it that a change might not make better? Everyone is afraid. Yet the people who fear but take the challenge to change their lives anyway, are the ones who free themselves from being boxed into an unhappy existence.

“The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge while an ordinary man takes everything either as a blessing or a curse.”
– Carlos Castaneda

6.  Stop trying to fit in or be anything but who you are. How much time and energy have you spent trying to fit in places and with others you just didn’t vibe with, simply because they were the “cool kids” or “in crowd”? You can only be who you are, and that is amazing in itself. You are a unique human being with talents and gifts you have been put on Earth to share. Get over yourself and start figuring out how you can share yourself with others.

7.  Stop thinking of yourself as less than special. You have been given the amazing gift of life. This time in history may look problematic but in order for us to evolve as people, we are having to undergo major changes to our perspectives and values. We weren’t put here to amass fortunes and material goods. We all have special talents and abilities we have been granted in order that our world can operate with all the skills needed. No one is more important than anyone else. We’ve been led to believe our net worth defines our value but that just isn’t so. When you leave this Earth, God isn’t going to be impressed that you made a million dollars or had five expensive mansions and a jet. What did you do with your life will be the question. How many people have you helped guide to healthy minds and bodies?

8.  Stop procrastinating and hiding. How many times have you heard someone say “I don’t have enough time” or “I can’t do that” to something requested of them. Mother Teresa couldn’t be bothered attending award ceremonies on her behalf. She wasn’t interested in the bennies and accolades. She was more concerned about who would die because she didn’t help get food or water to them in time. Think outside of yourself. Help others instead of hiding and you will find a whole new world opening up for you.

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature.” – Helen Keller

So, listen to Helen Keller. If anyone had disadvantages, blindness and deafness , it was her. And if you do these things, you will find yourself getting more juicy, full of life, and contented. ~Stay Juicy!

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Watch TOUCH- Stay Juicy~

•April 16, 2012 • Leave a Comment

Have you seen the amazing television show entitled TOUCH? We have Keifer Sutherland in another hit! This is an amazing new show written by incredibly creative writers that deals with synchronicity and global connectedness. The 11-year-old son of Sutherland is thought to be autistic, a condition we are seeing now more than ever reflected in our own population. This kid never speaks and can’t stand to be touched, but he is trying to communicate the necessity of certain people’s lives to cross to his father.

The premise of this show is one I personally aspire to, the idea that we are all connected and have effects on others we have no idea about. We must be at a certain place at a specific time in order to make contact with someone else for reasons we frequently don’t understand.

If this sounds nebulous and strange to you, watch the show on Thursday nights and see for yourself. Usually the story can span anything from the US to several foreign countries. The deciding event can affect all of these places simultaneously as the synchronicity takes place because Sutherland figures out what the series of numbers mean or at least pursues what his son indicates is important through a number sequence or even an image.

This explanation doesn’t come close to describing how amazingly the writers and director manage to convey the mystery and humanity of these stories. Just watch it once. That’s all I ask. If you don’t agree, tell me why not. If you aren’t willing to suspend disbelief and begin seeing the mystery and wonder in all of life, you are losing out. As Albert Einstein said,

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as

though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though

everything is a miracle.”

I choose to believe in miracles everywhere and in all life and living. It’s a lot more fun! How else are you going to Stay Juicy if you are cynical and jaded. Life is amazing and wonderful. Open your heart and find this to be true for you too.

Stay Juicy~

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Seaside, CA

•April 5, 2012 • Leave a Comment

Seaside, CA

At the duck pond at the Forensic Mental Health Conference

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DO YOU LOVE OR FEAR?~ STAY JUICY

•March 29, 2012 • Leave a Comment

There are only two ways to approach life. One approach is from a fear base and the other is from love. A fear based approach offers very few options. You have the choice of only three actions: Run, Hide or Fight. Doesn’t that sound appealing? What if you want to live and enjoy life instead. Most of us don’t realize all the doubts we have and the negative self-talk that goes on in our heads comes from having a fear based orientation to life. Actually, most of us come from fear. We have been socialized to fear everything along with believing we are powerless. You are extremely powerful. You just need to work on remembering this.

Now consider the other approach. Having a love orientation means you approach life with open curiosity, enjoy your experiences, nurture yourself and others and generally enjoy life. If you are interested in switching your orientation, it takes a daily effort because change is a process. There isn’t a magic fix or a one time exercise that turns your thinking around. But there are many ways you can learn to be happy, to enjoy your life and to reach daily fulfilment. Here are some of those way:

1.  Listen to the voice within– Your intuitive voice is always going to tell you the truth. If you listen to what you are genuinely feeling, rather than what your intellect tells you, the choices you make will lead you toward what is best for you.

2.  Believe in yourself– If you don’t believe you are capable of attracting exactly what you need into your life, how would you expect this to happen? You have so much talent and goodness to add to the world. Every single person is a unique divinely wrought soul, put on Earth to be fully who they are. Find out who you truly are by exploring within.

3.  Stay present– This is one of the most important paths to happiness. When we spend our time regretting the past or feeling the pain of past disappointments, we are robbing ourselves of the chance to be happy. Right in this moment, there is nothing wrong. Look around you. Find something to be amazed by, entertained by or simply grateful for. If you spend most of your time in the past, you aren’t seeing the blessings you have right now.

4.  Be grateful– Do you realize 90% of the world doesn’t have hot running water or even enough clean water to drink? You were born in a country that is flawed, but still offers the greatest opportunities for ease of life. There will always be someone else with more “stuff”. Don’t waste your envy on them. Research shows that wealth does not equate to happiness. Sure, it would be great to have more money to pay your bills. But the important things in life really can’t be bought. be grateful for who you are and treasure your intrinsic inner riches.

5.  Wake up and adjust your attitude– If you stay in bed an extra minute or two making your decision to have a good day, you will. Your attitude has everything to do with your experience. If you recognize everything that happens to you is for your highest good, you will embrace your experiences, rather than fear them.

6.  Start off your day with a smile– There’s that attitude thing again. If you walk out the door with a smile anticipating your day, you are more likely to have a good one. If you start your day in dread, there’s no way you will be objective about what happens from then on. You have the power to set your day in motion with your attitude. Don’t believe that? Try it.

7.  Be kind to others– Everyone else on the planet is trying to find their way just like you. Cut people slack. Go out of your way to be helpful and kind. The more you change your orientation toward one of service to others, the faster your life will turn around. The secret is that when you are thinking of others, you get out of your own problems. The more you are of service, the happier you will become. Every act you do that is estimable, adds to your self-esteem.

8.  Appreciate others– Do you show appreciation for the people in your life, the folks you work with and your friends? The more you express your gratitude and appreciation of others, the more positively they will see you and respond to you. Tell people what you like about them every opportunity you get. Let others know how much you care for them and appreciate them being in your life all the time. Don’t wait until their birthday to get them a card or to drop a note of appreciation. The more you practice this, the happier you will be.

9. Try a gratitude-attitude adjustment– The more grateful you are about everything the happier and more positive your life will become. Just like the fear/love choice, gratitude for what you have brings in more to be grateful for. This is a guaranteed path toward greater happiness and peace of mind.

10. Spend time with positive people– Who do you spend your time with? Are your friends positive or do they spend their time complaining. Your environment is critical to your emotional well-being. Choose happy, positive friends and their well-being will rub off on you.

11. Listen to music– When you find yourself in fear, listen to music that lifts you up. Music is one of the best remedies for a bad attitude or unhappiness. Music transforms and lifts us from our negativity when it’s the kind of music that is beautiful or just something you personally resonate with. We all have music that we love. Find out what works for you.

12. Be kind to yourself– Beating yourself up never solves anything. We all make mistakes but we do this so we can learn. Accept your past experiences as lessons on planet Earth and learn from them. If you keep making the same mistakes repeatedly, examine your belief system. You must challenge your beliefs to change your experiences. You are worthy of happiness. You are a divine soul.

13. Learn patience– We run around impatient for everything to happen, not trusting what we want will happen in the perfect time for us. If you push something to happen, you risk altering the natural flow of how it’s supposed to unfold. Learn to trust that everything is exactly as it should be. Things will change for you when you develop trust and patience. Then you will see the pattern in all things and realize the best action is patience.

14. Take care of yourself– know you are worthy of great health, loving relationships and a fulfilling life. Do whatever you need to do in order for these things to happen for you. Take your vitamins, drink lots of water, go for walks, spend time alone with yourself, and eat right. If you take care of your inner needs, you will be in a better position to handle the outside events of your life.

15. Pray– Your greatest gift is prayer. From a deep place within you, ask for guidance as to how you can change your life in a way that best serves you and others. Place your value on things that aren’t physical. A gorgeous house will never replace a loving relationship. Check your prayers and make certain you are asking for things that will enrich your life spiritually, rather than materially. “Money can’t buy me love” says the Beatles. They may have lots of it but they know the difference.

16. Value yourself– If you don’t think much of yourself, no one else will. Be proud of who you are and what you bring. If you haven’t discovered what that is yet, spend some time listing your assets. If you aren’t proud of how you operate in the world, change. You aren’t stuck with your history and it doesn’t have to define you. Every day is a new opportunity to be a better you.

And remember~ stay juicy!

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BE YOUR AUTHENTIC SELF- STAY JUICY

•March 20, 2012 • Leave a Comment

When you were born, you came in knowing you were an angelic soul coming straight from God. What your family believed life was about, created the life you lived. The experiences you had reinforced the person you were becoming while your unique inner self kept interpreting all this information. By the time you were five-years-old, you had an overall view of life that included the attitudes you have developed about yourself. Most of those attitudes are negative.

Literally 90% of what you think is true about yourself is false. Life taught you lies. You began to forget your angelic roots. Because you learned to ignore the inner truth of your divinity, you began to see yourself in a negative light.

Each time someone told or showed you by their actions that you were “powerless” or “wrong”, or “not good enough”, you changed. You started believing what others were telling you. Every time a toddler hears “I told you not to touch that!” and gets their hand slapped, that’s another negative hit. It doesn’t matter that the parent is usually doing that to help the child learn. The tone and slap convey “you are bad”. You begin to believe that.

Didn’t you always want your parents to describe you as a “Good” boy or girl? So you tried really hard to be perfect but you knew you couldn’t be. No one can be perfect by society’s view. We have too many opinions about what “perfect” means.

No one told you the truth, because they didn’t know it either. There was no explanation that who you are as a person is intrinsically always good. You are faultless as an innocent baby. Your behavior is what is in question. Yet I bet you still judge every action you take and everybody else’s actions too. It’s pounded in our brains. Judgment is what we are doing constantly against ourselves and everyone else.

This is because you go from innocent, pure goodness to someone who is socialized in a way that makes them feel inadequate and unhappy. All the negative feedback we’ve gotten has created our negative self-images and fears of being unloveable. We’ve been born into a world that fails to realize we are all exactly the same, unique expressions of the God force. We are all loveable. And in fact, if every one of us felt loved, we would all be closer to that understanding and unity.

So, love yourself first. recognize your own divine nature and realize you are always loved, always supported by the endless connection to spirit and all that is. Allow yourself to feel the infinite supply of divine love available to you. There will come a day when suddenly you’ll feel that love welling up and bubbling out of you. And then you will know you have so much love, you can let it overflow for everyone else. And we will all heal each other.

Stay Juicy~

 

 

 

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