We are all connected

When you look up to the sky, you feel a vastness that makes you feel connected to something bigger than yourself.

A friend shared this lovely passage with me. We don’t know where it came from, but it speaks to how we are all connected. Please enjoy.

Growing Good Corn
There was a farmer who grew award-winning corn. Each year he entered his corn in the state fair where it won a blue ribbon…

One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors.
“How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?” the reporter asked.

“Why sir,” said the farmer, “didn’t you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn.”

He is very much aware of the connectedness of life. His corn cannot improve unless his neighbor’s corn also improves.

So it is in other dimensions.

Those who choose to be at peace must help their neighbors to be at peace.
Those who choose to live well must help others to live well, for the value of a life is measured by the lives it touches.
And those who choose to be happy must help others to find happiness
for the welfare of each is bound up with the welfare of all.

The lesson for each of us is this:

If we are to grow good corn, we must help our neighbors grow good corn.

• For me, the key phrase is:  “for the value of a life is measured by the lives it touches”.  I believe that we are all connected, and all of our intentions and actions affect others, probably more than we realize. If we help others, the goodness will be returned to us. If you ever wonder what the value of your life is, think about how you have affected other lives.

~Wendy

Attention to your breath – is it boring?

You may know that many meditation and relaxation techniques ask you to pay attention to your breath.  When I started doing this, I sure found it b-o-r-i-n-g!  Not to mention I found it difficult to sustain it for more than 30 seconds. I even dropped doing it for awhile, but since I went back to that practice, I have found the peace that experts and sages have been talking about.

Simply focusing on your breath, paying attention to each inhalation and exhalation, and riding the waves of your breath is not only very relaxing, but it helps to take your attention away from whatever may be bothering you.  If nothing is bothering you, it gives you a sense of feeling how alive you are. It’s being in the moment. It is available to you at any time, anywhere.

I like to follow the author named Dr. Rick Hanson. He has a newsletter that is simple, makes sense, and is very helpful. It’s called ‘JOT’ (Just One Thing), and offers very simple techniques and perspectives that help cultivate joy in your life.

Don’t underestimate the power of the breath. It gives you life, and it brings you back to who you are.

Bring yourself to the present moment by regularly focusing on your breath.

~Wendy

I enjoyed this diagram of what happens to the brain during meditation!

Real Rest is the Best

Source: Mindful Muscle

It is intriguing to see how the key parts of the brain function during meditation. Maybe our brain is wired or designed for meditation, so that the physical aspect of our being is able to activate or facilitate the mental and mystical/spiritual/metaphysical aspect of our being. For example, the diagram shows that meditation slows down activity in the parietal lobe which processes sensory information about the surrounding world. This may enable us to transcend space and time, and access insight and wisdom that is beyond the natural realm of the five senses. I think it allows us to touch that deep, eternal space/place of peace and bliss, and our brain is therefore designed to make this possible.

 

Related articles

• Compassion meditation may boost neural basis of empathy, study finds (sciencedaily.com)
• Learn More about The Benefits Of Meditation (zoewillsdon-positivethinking.com)
• Just say “Om!” Is meditation right for you?

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Allow those sad emotions, even if only in private

photo courtesy of Google images

We all go through it. We all have tough times in our lives.  Whether it is a short-term or chronic situation, a lifeless marriage, loneliness, grief, or a health condition that plagues us – we all need to face interacting with our daily lives and other humans around us.

We put on a facade, a brave face. We feel we need to be strong. We feel we ‘should’ think positively.

What I have learned through my divorce and recent cancer journey is an important lesson:

That we are human and we wouldn’t be human without emotions. We must allow ourselves the ups and downs, and release the energy that builds up inside of us. It’s not only OK to do this, it’s healthy to do this.

The hard reality is we all have a persona we want to project to the world. Likely that persona does not include showing when we’re sad or upset.  I understand that keeping the facade is valid at times, like at work, but when you’re alone or with trusted friends or family, let it go!

So many times I have been blessed with the trust of people confiding in me about some sort of problem they have.  For example, think of someone with cancer trying to put on a brave face to the world.  I often tell them this if they are one to ‘be strong’:

It’s OK to be sad, it’s OK to not be strong all the time. Allow yourself to be sad, release that energy and emotion, and simply know it is temporary. Allow the ups and downs.

I’m told this has helped so many.  It still helps me. I guess if I had my own mantras, this would be one:  allow the ups and downs.

I hope this is helpful to you, and thank you for reading.

~Wendy

Related article:

• Prepare ahead for the sad times

Yoga can heal – watch this unforgettable story

Did you know yoga can heal physically and spiritually?  Thanks to a wonderful blogger, ‘Downward facing Doc’ (a unique and special physician with spirit whom I follow online), I learned of this captivating 5 minute video.

After just spending 2 weeks in Sedona, Arizona, I had so many incredible experiences, some of which I will share with you over the coming weeks and months. Discovering the true nature of yoga was one of the most enlightening experiences I had.  Here in western society, we are mostly exposed to the ‘physical’ aspects of yoga, and haven’t much tapped into the ‘spiritual’ aspects of yoga. Yoga is powerful in ways most of us do not yet know.

Please see this amazing video of Gulf War vet, Arthur, who returned home injured, and could not walk unassisted. The doctors told him he would never walk again unassisted.  He lost his zest for life, and look how yoga has given him back his will to live and the joy for life. He has videoed his journey to share with the world.

Discover the power of yoga to heal the body, mind and spirit.

~Wendy