Happy New Year!!!

If you've watched even 10 minutes of TV over the last week you know by now that your life is a mess, right?  Every commercial is telling you so, therefore, it must be true.  With so many products guaranteed to improve our lives it's hard to know where to begin.   I even saw a commercial that  guaranteed to remove the stress of blow drying my hair.  Who knew that blow drying our hair could be so stressful??  I didn't even know I was stressed about that.  Thank you info-mmerical for pointing that out.....

Even if you are feeling pretty good about yourself I would guess that after a few commercials you probably started wondering about the condition of your life.  Was having to hold the blow dryer for 5 minutes really causing you stress?  Maybe I do need that DVD that will give me the body of my dreams in just 10 minutes a day.  What about the commercial that guarantees you lose 30 pounds in 30 days without changing your eating or exercising... Hell, sign me up for that one!!  Oh.....maybe I really do need that purse that is going to organize my life so that I'm not stressing out about finding my hairbrush while driving down the road.

NONSENSE!!!  It's all nonsense! 

Here's my take on all this New Year's resolutions nonsense.  The more I focus on all things in my life that aren't working, the more things I find that aren't working.  My first real yoga teacher, Robert, used to say

"That which you put your attention on grows stronger in your life."  With that in mind, do you want to continue thinking about all things in your life that bring you stress?  Hell NO!!  That would only generate more stress.....

May I suggest something that really will improve your life?  It's simple and totally free.....Shift your perspective.  It's that simply.  Instead of looking at the things in your life that aren't working, shift the thoughts to those things in your life that are working. 

Make your New Year's resolution to reflect back over the past year and acknowledge all the good things you've done in your life.   Reflect on the things that have brought you joy and resolve to do more of that.

What improvements, even teeny tiny small improvement, have you made in your life already? Let your attention be on the those things that you have accomplished and notice the feeling of gratitude.  How does that feel?  Give your attention to joy and gratitude...... Now, those are things  I'd like to attract more of  into my life.  What about you?

You know how when you're meditating and thought comes into your mind, you start struggling against the thought?  You start trying to push the thought away.  You analyze the thought.  You get angry at the thought......Soon instead of meditating you are "chewing mental chewing gum" (as Ed would say).

But we are taught that when a thought enters the mind during meditation we simply allow the thought to come and allow it go bringing our attention back to the mantra.

In the same way, stress is going to come into our lives. We can't help it.  Don't be fooled by those crazy commercials. There is no way to eliminate stress completely.  So we treat it the same as we do the thoughts during meditation.  We acknowledge the stress and then let it  go.  Bringing our focus back to the mantra... i.e... those things that bring us a feeling of joy and gratitude. 

Simply by changing our perspective, the joy and gratitude grow and our stress level decreases.....I guarantee it..... "The first 10 people to sign up for this AMAZING offer will reach enlightenment in 30 days or your money back!!"   Oh...... sorry I couldn't resist.  It might take a bit longer than 30 days but still worth the effort.