peace

LifeOhm Book Club – The Book of Joy

2017-05-14 By Monica 4 Comments

I’m starting a new monthly series here on LifeOhm where I can share some of my favorite books with you. This one, The Book of Joy, I actually read in January, but I loved it so much that I knew it had to be the first book I featured. I got this book as a Christmas gift (thanks Mom!) and am planning to gift this book to others.

The Book of Joy is the story about Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s trip to visit the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India to celebrate His Holiness’s eightieth birthday and to create what they hoped would be a gift for others, and it truly is a gift.

Writer Douglas Abrams helped facilitate the dialogue and brought in some of his own research to support the concepts presented. The reader gets the benefit of the wisdom of these spiritual leaders, groundbreaking research on joy, and to witness the playful interaction between these sweet souls. [Read more…] about LifeOhm Book Club – The Book of Joy

It’s the Little Things – February 2014

2014-03-01 By Monica 5 Comments

February is coming to an end and Spring is almost here! Like many of you, I’m ready for the sun. My daughter and her family were in town this month, and we had lots of fun rollerskating. I felt like a 10-year old kid again. This month, Portland was also hit by an out-of-character snow storm. The storm shut our city down for several days, with snow and freezing rain. The weather caused unsafe driving conditions, but also created beautiful ice sculptures on the trees and road signs. Marley enjoyed the snow, although he wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. A few weeks later, signs of Spring are at last visible everywhere. Flowers are blooming, and trees are budding. The end of one season is near and the start of a new one awaits.

At LifeOhm, some exciting things are on the way as well. I’ve written a series of yoga articles that will appear on PlumDeluxe in March and April, so please watch for those. Chris Guillebeau’s Pioneer Nation is coming to Portland in March, along with the World Domination Summit in July, and I’m lucky to be attending both. I’m also working on a very special meetup for WDS attendees and hope to see you there! [Read more…] about It’s the Little Things – February 2014

It’s the Little Things – January 2014

2014-01-22 By Monica 2 Comments

The new year came in filled with beautiful sunsets and some amazing weather on the Oregon coast. It was the perfect time to reflect on last year, practice gratitude, and look forward to a wonderful new year and all the opportunities it brings. Signs of spring are already starting to appear, the days are getting longer, and it’s nearly Valentine’s Day, my favorite holiday. There are so many things to be thankful for and precious moments in time to enjoy and savor, like our beautiful walk to a waterfall. As I become more present, I really come to appreciate those moments. It’s the little things that make life so grand. Take time to notice the little things in your life. What are your “little things?” [Read more…] about It’s the Little Things – January 2014

5 Ways to Be Happier and More Productive at Work

2013-05-20 By Monica 2 Comments

“Life is not about making others happy. Life is about sharing your happiness with others.” ~Everyday Life Lessons

Do you want to be happier and more productive at work? Martin Seligman, a positive psychologist and author of Authentic Happiness, concluded that happier people get better performance evaluations and higher pay. Other studies have shown that happy people are more positive, creative, tolerant, constructive, generous and non-defensive. They also have lower medical costs and less absenteeism. Here are five things you can do to increase your happiness and productivity at work:

1. Focus on people and relationships: That’s really what it’s all about – good relationships with your family, your clients, and your co-workers. Take the time to connect with others and you’ll find more meaning in your career as well as improve your happiness.

2. Celebrate Often: Many people delay happiness until they reach a certain goal, close that big sale, or list that dream property. Studies show however that the happiness from these seemingly “big events” is short lived and that true happiness is more about frequency than intensity.

While it’s simply not possible to be happy all the time, research shows that people who are happy 80% of the time are the healthiest, most successful, and live the longest. To get to that 80%, you need to take time to celebrate the little things.

3. Feel and Express Gratitude: This is the single most effective thing you can do each day to increase your happiness. Simply taking the time to appreciate what you already have, the people in your life, and the opportunities that present themselves to you will significantly increase your happiness, even if you do nothing else.

4. FOCUS and Stop Multi-Tasking: While checking email while your on the phone or texting during a sales meeting might feel like you are getting more accomplished, multi-tasking actually slows performance, increases mistakes, and over time causes you to lose your ability to focus when you need to.

You will find that your happiest times at work may be when you are in the “flow.” Flow is the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterized by complete absorption in what one does. Interruptions and mult-tasking disrupt the flow process.

5. Be “Actively Optimistic” : Happiness is a choice and the whole concept of “Fake it till you make it” has been shown to work for increasing happiness. Take a few minutes to write down your best possible future, visualize it and feel it. Describe it in breathtaking detail, creating the full experience. Some of the most successful atheletes in the world use this technique because it works.

What are your techniques for increasing your happiness and productivity at work? Share your thoughts below.

Looking for More? You Can Also Read:

21 Days to Improving Your Happiness and Productivity

5 Ways to Include More Celebration in Your Life

Important Lessons on Compassion and World Peace from the Dalai Lama’s Visit to Portland, Oregon

2013-05-13 By Monica 6 Comments

“Change in the world comes from individuals, from the inner peace in individual hearts. Just as ripples spread out when a single pebble is dropped into water, the actions of individuals can have far-reaching effects.” ~Dalai Lama

Who doesn’t love the Dalai Lama and his message of peace and love? The Dalai Lama was just in Portland, Oregon over the weekend and drew huge crowds. Most of the events were sold out well in advance but there are recordings of his talks online at: Dalai Lama In Portland. Most of his talks were about the caring for our environment but he also shared some wonderful wisdom about world peace and compassion.

According to the Dalai Lama:

Most of our problems are related to the mind, so we have to work to reduce our destructive emotions and
We can reduce negative emotions through training our mind.
We need to strengthen such inner values as contentment, patience and tolerance, as well as compassion for others.
Anger is a sign of weakness while compassion is a sign of strength and confidence.
We can counter negative emotion with opposite emotion, which for anger would be loving kindness.
Focusing only on the physical reality of this world leads to despair.
We must hold the belief that all people are the same, we must live and work together.
The only way to solve problems is through dialogue, not violence.

He mentioned that while the twentieth century was a period of unprecedented bloodshed, we should learn from it and make the twenty-first century an era of peace. It is not that there will no longer be any problems to resolve, but instead of force we should resort to dialogue in every instance. Peace can only be achieved through non-violence and dialogue. This is something we have to train and educate our children to put into effect.

For more information about the Dalai Lama’s visit to Portland, you can visit his website DalaiLama.com.

Photo Credit: Fizzr on Flickr through a Creative Commons license.

Escaping the Trap of Victim Consciousness

2012-11-24 By Monica 1 Comment

“To complain is always nonacceptance of what is. It invariably carries an unconscious negative charge. When you complain, you make yourself a victim. Leave the situation or accept it. All else is madness.” ~Eckhart Tolle

From time to time, we may all feel a bit out of balance with life, stressed or just plain weak, that is part of the human condition. When you’re feeling overwhelmed or out of balance, it’s easy to fall into complaining, blaming others, or just ending up in a state of despair. All of these states are examples of victim consciousness.

It is victim consciousness that can often be blamed for many of our social ills including war, dysfunction, and by many accounts, even disease.

In Life Visioning: A Four-Stage Evolutionary Journey to Live as Divine Love, Michael Bernard Beckwith describes a victim:

“The victim has a tendency to think that life is doing something to them. It’s an external diety, a God, it’s a circumstance, a situation, one’s parents, in more superstitious cultures it might be described as The Devil. The victim stage is characterized by “What is Life Doing to Me?”, “What are Those People Doing to Me?”. Every victim has a powerful “they did it to me” story. They have a powerful BLAME story.

If you ask a victim, why aren’t they happy?, why aren’t they evolving?, why aren’t they successful? why aren’t things going right for them? – they will immediately have a story. About 90% will have a story about how somebody else did it to them.”

The limiting beliefs of the victim conscious state prevent individuals from moving forward, growing and developing and establishing that sense of inner peace. Beckwith goes on to say:

“Pain pushes you, until your Vision pulls you.”

But the victim has not yet been pulled by vision of a higher vibration of energy, a higher frequency, or that which is seeking to evolve through them, so they are being pushed by pain, and feel that life is drudgery, boring or something to be protected from. For those in victim consciousness, energy gets used up coping with life and defending themselves against bad things that might occur.

“Almost every ego contains at least an element of what we might call “victim identity”. Some people have such a strong victim of themselves that it becomes the central core of their ego. Resentment and grievances form an essential part of their sense of self. Even if your grievances are completely “justified,” you have constructed an identify for yourself that is much like a prison whose bars are made of thought forms.” – Eckhart Tolle, The Pain-Body And The Egoic Self

Once there is an understanding of victim consciousness, it becomes easier to change current thinking patterns and finding self empowerment. True peace can only be achieved through personal responsibility and accepting things are they as, not as we wish they were. In order to move out of the victim consciousness and into a higher order of being, one must begin to take responsibility for one’s life. The victim must begin to release blame from their daily practice. You must begin to let go of blaming – any one, any circumstance, any situation – for your dilemma.

Along with releasing the blame is practicing forgiveness. Beckwith says,

“Forgiveness is not ‘I’m forgiving this person, and now I get to hang out with them, and we get to be friends again’. That may be true in some cases but in some cases, you may never like that other person, that person may not ever be a part of who you would want to associate with or call friend. That’s not what we are talking about here.

Forgiveness is eliminating toxicity from your being. You are coming out of being a victim and stepping into a greater sense of empowerment, having dominion over your attention, taking responsibility for your life. You don’t want to give your power away to any one or any circumstance, saying incorrectly that they determine your success, your health, your happiness, your wholeness.

Do you find yourself falling into victim consciousness? What are your strategies for regaining your center? Share your thoughts below.

peace

Before Footer

Let’s Connect