MISSION: SET YOURSELF FREE
When it comes to finally becoming happy and satisfied with yourself and your life, just like driving, there is a fast track, a slow track, and the potential to become stalled by the side of the road.
What many people don't understand, however, is that which one you are currently experiencing has nothing to do with the road itself, or even the car. It has everything to do with the driver: YOU!!
Thankfully, it's all about you. Just as the ability to victimize yourself and view life as a series of dream-busting excuses or a clear path to your greatest visions is up to you, so is the quest for freedom. We don't have to like or agree with other people's unskilled actions in order to keep our happiness and health as our first priorities.
If you're taking this challenge, than I can make an educated guess that there's probably something you would like to change. Maybe you want to lose those stubborn pounds, or gain higher self-esteem. Perhaps you're looking to be inspired out of the rut in which you find yourself, or, like me, you've gotten a taste of the glory of mastering your own experience and you want more of the good stuff you've been able to manifest.
Regardless, all along the way of any self-transformation process, there are roadblocks that will pop up. That's the nature of any progression. Remembering that they are self-created is important, because even if a blockage is something you seemingly can't control--say, your spouse leaves you and you feel completely knocked off center--the way you choose to deal with it (moving forward faster, slower, or staying stuck) is totally under your power to decide. Notice how we never say "He took my heart." We always say "I gave my heart away." That gives you a clear hint about whose responsibility it is to take it back.
Every experience is a teaching, and every person who steps into your path and affects you in some way is your teacher--yes, even if you want to kick them in the shins, or worse. Even if they act horribly. Even if they hurt you badly. Even if, conversely, they're a positive influence in your life and you love them and never want them to leave.
The key to unhappiness is to link together your experience of anyone or anything else outside of you, and even your own inner perspective on a situation with being happy. For example, if you lose 10 pounds, you'll be happy, but if you gain 10, you'll be unhappy. The Buddha said that suffering is caused by wanting things to be farther away or closer than they actually are. So if the weight goes away, poof! Happy. If the man comes closer, happy. If not: unhappy. So many people spend a lifetime wildly veering between the two, never realizing that one has nothing to do with the other.
You can claim your inherent state of deep peace, satisfaction, love and joy right this second. You don't have to do anything to get it, either. Instead, it's a simple but profound shift--from resisting your natural state to allowing yourself to be what you already are and always were: FREE!!
Love yourself first and people who come (and sometimes go) into your life second and you will be well on your way to freedom.
TODAY'S HEALTH TIP: BALANCE
BEING HEALTHY IS ABOUT BALANCE, NOT PERFECTION
Today, give your idea of eating the 'perfect' diet room to breathe.
Instead of focusing on whether or not you had a perfect day of eating, then giving up if you haven't in an all-or-nothing mentality, bring your attention to adventuring into the wide variety of healthy foods out there to try, and the fact that you are committing to do the best you can, and give yourself a break if you don't.
I use the 80/20 rule of being smart with my food. 80% of the time eat only nourishing, fresh and supportive foods and the other 20% of the time, enjoy a few indulgences. The key is not getting carried away...but in being just hedonistic enough that you enjoy some of your favorite things, like wine and chocolate, without busting all your progress.
TODAY'S BONUS RECIPE:
There's a Zen saying: "After enlightenment...the laundry." We say: "After chocolate...the soba." This recipe will bring you back into balance after a foray into that 20%.
Kale and Sesame Soba Noodles
1 large bunch green or black kale
1 227g / 8oz package soba noodles *
2 tbsp. tamari or soy sauce
2 tbsp. toasted sesame oil
2 tbsp. sesame seeds - lightly toasted
1 large clove garlic, grated or pressed
black pepper to taste
Bring a large pot of water to boil. While the water is heating, prepare the kale by removing the leaves from the thick stems, tearing them into bite-sized pieces and washing them thoroughly. Discard the thick stem ends.
Add noodles to the boiling water and cook for 4 minutes. Add kale to the same pot and stir it in. Continue cooking until noodles are al dente.
Meanwhile, combine soy sauce, oil, seeds, pepper and garlic in a small bowl and set aside.
Drain and transfer noodles and kale to a large bowl. Pour dressing on top of noodles and kale, toss gently and serve immediately.
* Soba noodles are Japanese buckwheat noodles and are found in many large grocery stores and health food stores. You can use these or any Chinese noodles for the above recipe.
TODAY'S YOGA TIP: JUST BREATHE
Krishnamacharya, the man who originated many of the yoga poses you see in classes today, taught his students one primary fact of health. He said that each of us is already healthy, happy and free.
He continued that we don't need to go out and get something someone else has in order to be more, but rather to seek out the obstacles on any level that we have thrown in front of our freedom--and remove them. Then what's left is an unimpeded flow, and the faster you can get back to being as your true nature intended, the faster you'll self-generate the satisfaction you may be seeking from elsewhere.
This makes it much easier to gain a happy, healthy body, mind and heart. In your yoga practice, you can find muscle tension or weakness, release the first and strengthen the second. You can root out the limiting beliefs, habits and stories that rise up and cause us to toxify ourselves with anxiety, or act from insecurity.
Most of all, you can begin to move from freedom instead of fear. When you do, you will see everything in your inner and outer world begin to revolutionize.
Today during your practice, I want you to learn to be in two places at once. Be in the pose, noticing all the sensations that arise, and the stories you tell yourself when the challenges come. But at the same time, circle back inside, to make the breath, and keeping your awareness on it, your primary focus. Let it remind you of the ocean of calm, that inner equilibrium and calm place you always have access to. Even though, like life, your outer body will often try to constrict you and build areas of stress, counteract it by maintaining slow, even, deep breaths through your nose only. If you really need to catch your breath, feel free to open your mouth, but return to the nose breathing as soon as you can.
This action creates a resistance and pull so you will tone your cardiovascular system, help you hold the poses longer, center your mind, strengthen your breathing muscles (abs and back), gain more lean muscle mass and burn more fat as as your muscles and whole body gets the oxygen they need to spark the strength and fat-blasting process.
Now that's true freedom!
TODAY'S HOMEWORK:
1. What are some 'roadblocks' to your happiness or growth?
2. Being the master of your life, how can you successfully remove these obstacles and continue on your path?
TODAY'S POSITIVE AFFIRMATION:
"I will not allow obstacles in life to throw me off track. I am free to move forward at every moment and so I shall."
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