To conquer oneself

"To conquer oneself is a greater task than conquering others."

Buddha

To help others

Chakra Balancing with Color and Sound

by Laura Hamilton

Chakras—those wonderful energy centers within the body. They provide us with vital life force and keep us healthy physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. But like any other form of energy, these vibrations need to remain in balance. Stagnant or overactive energy in these areas can lead to discomfort and illness. While there are many ways to balance your chakras, using color and sound are fun and interesting ways to keep your energy flowing.

Chakras and Color Therapy

Each of the seven main chakras resonates in a certain color frequency. Familiarize yourself with theses energy vortexes and their respective colors.

The first chakra or root chakra, located at the base of the spine is red.

The second or sacral chakra, located below the navel is orange.

The third chakra is at the solar plexus and vibrates yellow.

The fourth or heart chakra vibrates green.

The fifth chakra is located at the base of the neck and is blue.

The sixth chakra is known as the third eye and resides between the eyebrows, vibrating at deep blue or indigo.

The seventh or crown chakra is at the top of the head and is violet in color.

Each of the seven main chakras resonates in a certain color frequency. Familiarize yourself with theses energy vortexes and their respective colors.

If any of your chakras are unbalanced, you will likely feel out of sorts in the related area of your body. Sore throat? Your fifth chakra is probably out of balance. Headache? Check your third eye. Luckily you can remedy these situations. In addition to traditional medical care, you should balance your chakras. Using color therapy is easy and fun. You can get creative with it too!

Say for instance that you’re treating your sixth chakra. You will focus on the color blue. Surround yourself with this color in any way you can think of! When meditating, visualize your throat area or your entire body in blue. Expose yourself to this color by sitting in a blue room or under a lamp with a special colored light or filter. You can even wear a blue scarf or pendant around your neck! The possibilities are endless! Some metaphysical suppliers even sell color therapy oils and special color therapy glasses for this purpose. Go online and check them out.

Chakras and Sound Therapy

Just as each chakra fits into a particular color of the spectrum, each chakra also vibrates at a certain sound frequency. In fact, each chakra corresponds to a specific musical note. The first chakra corresponds to the note C, the second is D, the third is E, the fourth is F, the fifth is G, the sixth is A, and the seventh is B.

So how do you work with sound therapy? Easy, just match the correct note or tones with the chakra you wish to balance. If you play a musical instrument, focus on that particular note or key. You can also work with tuning forks or Tibetan singing bowls. When you strike the tuning fork or bowl, the sound travels and will stimulate the chakra you are working with. The chakra will resonate with the sound and come back into balance.

If you are not musically inclined or don’t have access to tuning forks or singing bowls, there are other options. Chanting CD’s and MP3’s work well. You can either listen to tracks or chant along. Look for Tibetan chakra meditations or try Chakra Chants by Jonathan Goldman.

If you’re on a budget and money is tight, there are plenty of free YouTube videos available that focus on these topics. Some can teach you how to pronounce the chants for each chakra while others have elaborate video presentations of chakra colors and music. Take the time to explore these options. There is something for everyone!

So the next time you are feeling “chakra challenged” try one of these healing methods to bring yourself back into balance!

Getting to Know Your Chakras

by Laura Hamilton

We often hear the term “chakras” when we learn about yoga, energy work or metaphysics. The word chakra itself comes from a Sanskrit word meaning wheel or spinning. But what are they really? And what do they do? Basically they are energy centers located at various points throughout the body. Life force energy also known as chi or ki flows in and out of the aura through these centers. Like mini vortexes, these centers appear to vibrate or spin.

Whether we are aware of them of not, they have a great deal of influence on our mental, emotional, spiritual and even physical health. After all when you consider that we are essentially energy beings composed of spinning atoms and molecules, it makes sense that these centers would affect us. While there are many chakras throughout the body, we will briefly explore the seven major ones and their locations.

The First Chakra: The Root or Base Chakra

This chakra called Muladhara in Sanskrit is located near the base of the spine. It is associated with the color red and helps to anchor you to the earth. The concept of “feeling grounded” takes place in this chakra. Mental and emotional issues related to security and survival is encountered here. This chakra generally governs the legs, feet, bowels, and lower back.

The Second Chakra: The Sacral Chakra

The Sanskrit term for this chakra is Swadhisthana and is located in the lower abdomen approximately two to three fingers width below your navel. Orange is its associated color. This area is houses creativity as the sexual organs (to create life) are located here. Mental and emotional issues related to sex, guilt, pleasure and manifestation are found here. Other bodily areas influenced are the kidneys, intestines, adrenals and mid back region.

Whether we are aware of them of not, they have a great deal of influence on our mental, emotional, spiritual and even physical health.

The Third Chakra: The Solar Plexus Chakra

The third chakra called Manipura is found in the solar plexus region and associated with the color yellow. Our willpower and “guts” are ruled by this chakra. Mental and emotional issues related to self esteem and power is encountered here. The stomach, liver, gallbladder and upper abdominal regions are the related physical areas.

The Fourth Chakra: The Heart Chakra

The Anahata or heart chakra as the name implies, is located in the heart region. Green is the color association and this is where love or the wisdom of the heart resides. Mental and emotional issues around love, apathy and connections with others are experienced here. The heart, lungs, breasts and upper back are governed by this chakra.

The Fifth Chakra: The Throat Chakra

Vishuddha the Sanskrit name for the fifth chakra is found in the throat area with blue as the related color. The concept of “speaking one’s truth” is expressed here. Mental and emotional issues around communication and expression occur though this chakra. It affects the neck, throat, thyroid, and oral regions of the body.

The Sixth Chakra: The Third Eye or Brow Chakra

The sixth chakra known as Ajna in Sanskrit is located between the eyes or brows near the center of the forehead. Associated with the color indigo, clairvoyance or “clear seeing” happens here. Mental and emotional issues related to understanding, wisdom and judgments are related to the third eye chakra. Parts of the body influenced are the pineal and pituitary glands along with the eyes, ears, nose, and brain.

The Seventh Chakra: The Crown Chakra

The final major chakra is the Sahasrara or crown chakra located at the top of the head. Represented by the color violet, the connection with the Divine is sought through this chakra. Mental and emotional issues regarding life purpose, spirituality and connection with the higher self are experienced here. The top portion of the head is governed by this chakra.

Exploration and Awareness

Now that we have a basic understanding of the seven major chakras, let’s take some time to explore them. A good way to do this is by using the energy of your hands. Your hands contain minor chakras and this can help you sense the vibrations in your bodily chakra regions. Begin by rubbing your palms together to get some energy moving. Start by placing your palms on your lower back or root chakra. Just relax and notice any feelings or impressions that come up. You may not notice anything and that’s ok too. Just be aware that you are an energetic being with a great deal of power contained in this chakra. After a few minutes, move your palms to the sacral area and continue the exercise, maintaining your awareness. Continue moving up the body along all the chakra areas, saying hello to each one and finishing with the crown chakra.

Final Thoughts

Consider working with your chakras on a regular basis using the exercise above. You may also want to start a journal to record your feelings and sensations while doing this. Getting to know your chakras is a lifelong process of learning and growing. It’s definitely a relationship worth pursuing!

Common courtesy

by Madisyn Taylor 

We often feel that we don’t have the time or energy to extend ourselves to others with the small gestures that compose what we call common courtesy. It sometimes seems that this kind of social awareness belongs to the past, to smaller towns and slower times. Yet, when someone extends this kind of courtesy to us, we always feel touched. Someone who lends a helping hand when we are struggling with our groceries makes an impression because many people just walk right by. Even someone who simply makes the effort to look us in the eye, smile, and greet us properly when entering a room stands out of the crowd. It seems these people carry with them the elegance and grace of another time, and we are always thankful for our contact with them. Common courtesy is a small gesture that makes a big difference. 

An essential component of common courtesy is awareness and common sense—looking outside yourself to see when someone needs help or acknowledgment. As a courteous person, you are aware that you are walking into a room full of people or that your waiter has arrived to take your order. Then, awareness leads to action. It is usually quite clear what needs to be done—open the door for the woman holding the baby, move your car up two feet so another person can park behind you, acknowledge your sister’s shy boyfriend with a smile and some conversation, apologize if you bump into someone. A third component is to give courtesy freely, without expecting anything in return. People may not even take notice, much less return the kindness, but you can take heart in the fact that you are creating the kind of world you want to live in with your actions. 

When you are out in the world, remember to be aware of others, lend your hand when one is needed, and give this help without an ulterior motive. Through these small actions, you make this world a better place in which to live.

Benefits of meditation

How to Create a More Loving Relationship

by Gina Lake

One of the most powerful things you can do to improve any relationship and to increase the amount of happiness you feel is to not get involved with your judgments. Be aware of judgmental thoughts (notice them when they arise in your mind), accept that they are there (don't think they shouldn't be there), and then choose to not dwell on them or give voice to them. Judgments are probably the one thing that interferes most with love and sustaining relationships. Judgments and the criticism that flows from them kill love. Even small doses of criticism when engaged in day in and day out can poison a relationship. They kill the love that is there and leave anger, resentment, and hurt in its place. So the very first principle for a more loving relationship is to ignore your judgments and don't express the criticism that is the natural result of judgment.

There are a several reasons why judgments are difficult to ignore. First of all, because they arise in our mind, we assume our judgments are true and meaningful representations of "our truth," while judgments actually come from a small, petty, and unwise part of ourselves: our conditioned self, or ego. Judgments never reflect our true nature, our essential self, or what I like to call Essence. We assume our judgments serve a purpose, but they don't achieve what we hope they will achieve, which is changing someone or something. People rarely change because they are judged, and if they do, that change comes at the expense of love and trust. Judgments are a way of bullying our partner to change in ways we want him or her to change, and that is not a loving act.

If love and relationship are important to you, which they must be, since you are reading this, love and relationship have to become more important than having your way, more important than your conditioning and how you like things done. The way you put love first is to refuse to get involved in the judgments that pop into your mind and, above all, don't speak them. The reason to not get involved with your judgments mentally is that doing so leads to believing them and speaking them. The more you dwell on a judgment, the more real and true it seems. Judgments cause us to feel bad about someone (and bad about ourselves), so we naturally want to do something to change that person so that we no longer have to feel bad.

There is a better and more effective way to feeling good, and that is to realize that you don't have to change anything or anyone except your relationship to your own thoughts. All that has to change is your relationship to the judgments that arise in your mind. You can believe them and try to change the world to fit them, or you can see the truth about them, which is that they have no intrinsic value or truth. If a judgment arises, notice it, recognize it as a judgment and as therefore not worth your attention, and then leave it alone. Put your attention on something else, like something you appreciate about your partner, or about anything else.

Another reason judgments are hard to ignore is that they give us a sense of being right and being better than or superior to another. This superiority and self-righteousness feels good to the ego. That is the payoff for judging and one reason we judge and continue to do so even when we see that judging and criticizing is not getting us what we want from the other person, including that person's love. When we choose to judge someone, we settle for this feeling of superiority and self-righteousness instead of love and the good feelings that come from being loving, kind, accepting, and understanding.

We tend to make this choice instead of being loving because it is our default position as human beings; it is the path of least resistance. We are programmed to not make the most loving choice, oddly enough. So to get what we all really want, which is to be loving and to be loved, we have to learn to overcome some of the negative programming we have that keeps us making choices that are destructive to our relationships.

A big reason we don't ignore judgments is that most of us are not that aware of what is going on in our mind. We tend to accept the thoughts that go through our mind and act on them or speak them without questioning them first. We don't tend to ask ourselves if what we're thinking is true or useful. We often don't question what the result will be if we believe our thoughts and act on or give voice to them. The trouble with this is that our thoughts are often unkind and untrue, and responding to them without evaluating them first results in a lot of trouble and pain to ourselves and others. Becoming more loving is largely a matter of becoming more conscious of what we are thinking, and then choosing a more loving response than the automatic one, which is likely to be the ego's response.

The ego is a primitive aspect of ourselves that is shortsighted and out for itself. It doesn't see the whole picture or value love's very important role in life. It is, in fact, the enemy of love. The ego's point of view as well as our conditioning are reflected in our thoughts about ourselves, others, and life. The ego's voice is the mental commentary we all are so familiar with, which seems at times like our own voice and at other times like someone else speaking to us. This aspect of the mind that chatters on and on is often called the egoic mind, and it reflects the false self, not Essence.

Another thing that makes judgments difficult to ignore is that we assume that judgments and criticism are a perfectly acceptable and valid form of communication, since they are so common. It is part of our culture to judge, to express opinions about anything and everything. It almost seems like it's our duty to judge, as if we are not being discriminating if we don't point out the flaws of something or someone. However, the truth is that pointing out flaws, criticizing, and having an opinion are the easiest things in the world to do. What's difficult is being loving, accepting, and moving beyond our judgments, beliefs, and other conditioned ways of being. That is our challenge as human beings—to become more loving, not to complain, judge, and try to change others to suit our preferences. Loving is a matter of moving beyond our personal preferences and judgments enough to let love flow to another, enough to allow ourselves to see another's beauty, not the flaws.

The truth is that judgments don't just hurt others, they hurt us to have them. When we are feeling judgmental and critical, we feel small, petty, unhappy, angry, and unkind, even though we may enjoy the feeling of being superior or right. Judging and criticizing others leaves us feeling bad about ourselves, and this may drive us to tear others down even more, creating a vicious cycle of negativity. This is not how we want to feel, and it isn't how we want to make others feel; and yet, that is what happens. Our judgments cause us and those we're judging to feel unhappy and unloving. That is the opposite of what we all want!

Notice how you feel the next time you catch yourself judging and criticizing someone, including those you aren't even close to, such as people in the media. Judgment and criticism don't feel good, and you don't have to feel that way. We have the power to choose not to judge and criticize (internally or externally), and when we make that choice, it is possible to get in touch with who we really are—with Essence. Essence is an experience of contentment, peace, joy, happiness, awe, love, gratitude, and wonderment. That is who we really are, and the only thing that can obscure our true nature is believing the ego's negative evaluations and stories about everyone and everything. Change in the world can still happen without our judgments because the wisdom that is our true nature moves us to act wisely and lovingly in the world. Our judgments only interfere with that.

Because judging and criticizing is the path of least resistance, it can take some practice to choose to be loving and accepting over the usual criticisms. But the more you choose love, the easier it becomes to choose it again, and the weaker the habit of criticism becomes. If you fully absorb this first principle, it will change your life. You don't need your judgments. You have never needed your judgments. They have never served you, but only obscured and undermined the love, wisdom, and happiness that are possible. Love and happiness are possible because it is your true nature to love and to experience happiness, peace, and joy.

Practices: To be done throughout the week:

1. Whenever you feel an urge to judge your partner, examine the conditioning (e.g., desires, beliefs, opinions, preferences, fears, expectations, demands) behind that judgment. Every judgment is a disguised "should" or "should not." What "should" or "should not" are you imposing on your partner? Our judgments are an attempt to get our partner to change his or her behavior so that we don't have to feel the discomfort that our own conditioning is causing. When others do things we don't like, that is, when they don't conform to our conditioning, we feel afraid, angry, ashamed, or embarrassed. In an attempt to get rid of these feelings, we try to change our partner by judging or criticizing him or her: "If only he or she would change, I wouldn't feel this way!" Notice how your judgments are an attempt to ease the discomfort that is caused by your own conditioning—not by your partner, but by your desires and demands that your partner be a certain way.

2. If a judgment arises, just let it be there without doing anything about it. What is that like to just let that judgment be there? Your ego won't want you to stay with this exercise. It may try to talk you out of just being with the judgment, or it might offer a more concealed judgment or one that sounds a little nicer. Are there feelings that accompany this judgment? Just let them be here as well without doing anything else with them. The more you practice noticing your judgments and feelings and just letting them be there without doing anything else, the weaker these judgments and feelings will become. What empowers our thoughts and feelings is acting them out. If you don't want to be at the mercy of your negative thoughts (judgments) and feelings, then just let them come and go in your mind without identifying with them or giving voice to them. Don't fight with them or push them away, but allow them the space to come and go, as all thoughts naturally do. Your thoughts c! ome out of nowhere and disappear into nowhere. You have the ability to empower them by giving them your attention or dis-empower them by not giving them your attention, which is accomplished by giving your attention to something else.

Explorations: Do just one of these explorations a day. When you've finished all three explorations, go back to each one and see if you can uncover any further insights.

1. There are certain judgments and criticisms you have about your partner that come up again and again and are probably causing conflict, stress, and a shutting down of love between you. What are they? Take some time to contemplate this. Make a list of them. What if you didn't have these judgments and the feelings that go with them? What would that be like? And what if you never expressed your judgments or criticisms? What would that be like? How would you feel? How would that change your relationship?

2. Look carefully at any resistances you may have to ignoring and not speaking the judgments and criticisms you have. What are you afraid will happen if you give up judging and criticizing? Are you afraid you will be a doormat, you will be unhappy, you will be taken advantage of, you will not be in control, you will lose power in the relationship? Is it your way of being strong? Is it your way of being smart? Is it your way of proving that you are an individual? How do you believe your judgments are serving you? What are you getting out of judging and criticizing? Spend at least ten minutes contemplating this question because it is a very important one. There are reasons, although mistaken ones, for clinging to our judgments and criticisms. Once we really see how ineffective and destructive our judgments are, they lose their power to capture our attention and make us do their bidding.

3. What are the negative ramifications of judging and criticizing? Does your partner fire back with criticisms? Does your partner withdraw, disengage? How does judging and criticizing make you feel about yourself? What is your self-image like when you are criticizing someone? Are you The Bitch, The Complainer, The Whiner, The Martyr, The Wronged One, The Raging Maniac, The Self-Righteous One, The Mother Hen, The Drama Queen, The Emasulator, The Boss, The Avenger, The Victim, or some other image? Our ego takes on these personas, but we are not our ego, and we can choose to not identify with and act out these personas. Our judgments cause negative feelings within ourselves and others—anger, resentment, hatred, desire for revenge, and even guilt and shame—and negative feelings are not only exhausting, but also can lead to physical illness. They shut down our own heart and the hearts of those around us. What price are you paying for your judgments and criticism? What is the cost! to your relationships? Is it worth it?

Daily OM

12 Steps to Happiness

By Stacey Kennelly 

http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/sonja_lyubomirskys_happiness_habits

A slideshow illustrating a dozen research-tested happiness activities you can start practicing today.

Sonja Lyubomirsky’s book The How of Happiness offers readers more than a dozen everyday activities they can practice to become happier in the short and long term. Lyubomirsky compiled the list of activities after conducting and reviewing years of research about what distinguishes happy from unhappy people.

The slideshow below features some of the main activities Lyubomirsky and her colleagues have identified that make people happier. You can read the full list below the slideshow; click on the links next to some of the activities for instructions (created by Lyubomirsky’s lab) on how to practice them.

To help you decide which of these activities might be right for you, read about how Lyubomirsky and graduate student Kristin Layous have been exploring the best ways to practice some of these activities and why some of these activities may work for some people but not others.

For more on these activities, also see Jason Marsh’s article on “The Hows of Happiness” and download our “Six Habits of Happiness” poster.

Do more activities that truly engage you

At home and at work, seek out more challenging and absorbing experiences in which you “lose yourself,” experiencing what researchers call “flow.”

Savor life’s joys

Pay close attention to life’s momentary pleasures and wonders through thinking, writing, or drawing, or by sharing them with others.

Learn to forgive

Keep a journal or write a letter in which you work on letting go of anger and resentment toward someone who has hurt or wronged you.

Practice acts of kindness

Do good things for others—whether friends or strangers, directly or anonymously, spontaneously or planned.

Nurture relationships

Pick a relationship in need of strengthening, and invest time and energy in healing, cultivating, affirming, and enjoying it.

Cultivate optimism

Keep a journal in which you imagine and write about the best possible future for yourself, or practice looking at the bright side of every situation.

Avoid over-thinking and social comparison

Use strategies (such as distraction) to cut down on how often you dwell on your problems, and guard against comparing yourself to others.

Develop strategies for coping

Practice ways to endure or surmount a recent stress, hardship, or trauma.

Count your blessings

Express gratitude for what you have—either privately, through contemplation or journaling, or to someone else—or convey your appreciation to people whom you’ve never properly thanked.

Strengthen your spiritual connections

Religious and spiritual people are happier, perhaps because of the social connections they get through their community.

Commit to your goals

Pick one, two, or three significant goals that are meaningful to you and devote time and effort to pursuing them.

Take care of your body

This could mean exercise, of course, but also meditating, smiling, or laughing.

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Do more activities that truly engage you. At home and at work, seek out more challenging and absorbing experiences in which you “lose yourself,” experiencing what researchers call “flow.”

Savor life’s joys. Pay close attention to life’s momentary pleasures and wonders through thinking, writing, or drawing, or by sharing them with others.  Download instructions for the “three good things” exercise—a way to help you savor the good in your life.

Learn to forgive. Keep a journal or write a letter in which you work on letting go of anger and resentment toward someone who has hurt or wronged you.

Practice acts of kindness. Do good things for others—whether friends or strangers, directly or anonymously, spontaneously or planned.  Download instructions.

Nurture relationships. Pick a relationship in need of strengthening, and invest time and energy in healing, cultivating, affirming, and enjoying it.

Cultivate optimism. Keep a journal in which you imagine and write about the best possible future for yourself, or practice looking at the bright side of every situation.  Download instructions.

Avoid over-thinking and social comparison. Use strategies (such as distraction) to cut down on how often you dwell on your problems, and guard against comparing yourself to others.

Develop strategies for coping. Practice ways to endure or surmount a recent stress, hardship, or trauma.

Count your blessings. Express gratitude for what you have—either privately, through contemplation or journaling, or to someone else—or convey your appreciation to people whom you’ve never properly thanked.  Download instructions for keeping a gratitude journal and forwriting a gratitude letter.

Strengthen your spiritual connections. Religious and spiritual people are happier, perhaps because of the social connections they get through their community.

Commit to your goals. Pick one, two, or three significant goals that are meaningful to you, and devote time and effort to pursuing them.  Download instructions for using your strengths to help you achieve your goals.

Take care of your body. This could mean exercise, of course, but also meditating, smiling, orlaughing.

Be a wise person

by Donald Latumahina

Do you want to be a wise person? I certainly do, and I believe you do too. Being wise is different from just being smart though. Here is a definition of wise from Dictionary.com:
having the power of discerning and judging properly as to what is true or right; possessing discernment, judgment, or discretion.

And, to complement that, here is Wikipedia’s definition of wisdom:
Wisdom is a deep understanding and realization of people, things, events or situations, resulting in the ability to apply perceptions, judgments and actions in keeping with this understanding.

As a comparison, here is a definition of smart from Dictionary.com:
having or showing quick intelligence or ready mental capability.


So, as you can see, being wise is more than just being smart. Being wise is about the ability to make the right assessment of a situation and, from there, to know what to do. It’s about making the right decision given the situation you are in.

From this understanding, it’s obvious that being wise is essential to live a full life. The wiser you are, the more likely you are to live a full life. Why? Because it helps you make the right decisions in life.

So the question is: how can we be wise?

Well, there could be other ways, but there is one that I believe is essential:

If you want to be wise, you must learn to see the big picture.

Yes, the big picture. It’s essential. Let me explain why.

Making the right decision depends on making the right assessment of a situation. But to make the right assessment, you need to understand the big picture. You need to understand the context of the situation and how everything fits in. Only then will you be able to assess the situation correctly and, from that, to make the right decision.

This, unfortunately, is not how many people live. Instead, they are so busy with the details of their lives that they can no longer see the big picture. As a result, they tend to just follow the crowd and do what everyone else is doing. Or they just follow their natural inclinations. Obviously, this is not a good way to live.
I’m not going to go into details in this post, but here are a few things you can do to see the big picture:

1. Learn how the world works
   To see the big picture, you need to understand how the world works. This way you can see how your situation fits in the present world. Among others, it means learning about globalization, technologies, new trends, and the global economy.
   
2. Learn history
   While the point above deals only with the present world, you also need to see how the present world fits within the larger context of history. This will give you a deeper insight of your situation. Moreover, there are many events in history that you can learn something from.
   
3. Read biographies
   As I wrote in How to Learn About Life, a good way to learn about life is to learn from the lives of exceptional people. Through their biographies, you can see the big picture of their lives, along with their good and bad decisions. This will enrich your life and help you see your life in a new way.
   
4. Check your life map and patterns
   Talking about the big picture, you should also see the big picture of your own life. One way to do this is to create a life map. It helps you see how your life has been throughout the years. This, in turn, will help you make strategic decision for your life. You should also find patterns in your life such as your passions and things you care about. It will help you figure out the right direction to go to.
   
5. Have a regular “think time”
   While all the points above can help you see the big picture, it’s easy to lose sight of it because of one thing: busyness. Once you get busy with the details of your life, it’s easy to forget the big picture. So it’s important that you take time away from your busyness to connect again with the big picture. It can be in the form of reflection time, prayer, or whatever it is that works for you.

How to Make the Most of Your Life

By Good Life Zen

Life is precious.

But how to make the most of your life?

Here are fifty wise tips by readers on how to make the most of your time on earth.

1. It starts with being present and in the moment. Really appreciating the ‘small’ things in life – the smell of the morning, the feel of flannelette sheets, the warmth of a hug, the gift of a smile. And gratitude.

2. Follow your passion and you can create a life you can be proud of. The formula is really simple: find what makes you useful and happy.

3. Speak for those who have no voice. Make a difference in someone else’s life.

4. Help others, love fully, judge less, and take care of your body and your mind

5. Help your family and make sure they are okay.

6. Heal, if you need to be healed, forgive if you need to forgive, learn to love if that is your lesson.

7. Strive for a healthier, more purposeful life to get to the bones of existence.

8. Listen, breathe, and seek for the answers to who you are and what you are meant to do, as they are unique to all of us.

9. Face and accept pain and hurt, and to act in spite of fear.

10. Discover who we truly are – and live that life.

11. Use your own sense of self to look at others without judgement, see them with clear eyes and exercise compassion.

12. Remember to be present in each moment, see what beautiful thing is here now, no matter how small.

13. Take the time to really look carefully and contemplate.

14. Stay in the present and know we are where we are supposed to be.

15. Get to know the true nature of mind, seeing thoughts and emotions for what they really are – just clouds passing by in the sky.

16. Be in the present moment and extending love, kindness, and compassion to myself and others.

17. Take all your activities, beliefs, work, thoughts, feelings and contributions and make a gloriously messy patchwork of what’s true for you and your place in our earth community. Stitch the patchwork together with peaceful reflection and laughter. Decorate with love and courage. Realise that sometimes a patch will wear out or tear and you’ll have to decide whether you can mend it or must replace it.

18. Whatever your passions and dreams are – live them now!

19. Never stop learning. . . learn to love unconditionally and love to learn empirically.

20. Live every moment like it’s your last.

21. Take risk and chances because later in life you’ll look back and know that you lived your life like you wanted to, and that it was all worth it.

22. Take care of your body. Health and fitness has an effect on every aspect of your life.

23. Have a plan and actively work it to how you can make the most of your time.

24. One way to make the most of life is to be open to and selective about ideas. The more we extend our language, the more ideas we’ll meet and entertain and go ahead with as if beautiful to experience.

25. Realistically assess your talents and abilities and look for opportunities to apply them in ways that will grow human culture into the future.

26. Stretch yourself now and then. You may have more resources than you know.

27. When in doubt, go with that other great human strength–the most compassionate choice.

28. Care for the sick, injured, and infirm.

29. Love, love, love, and when you’re afraid you have nothing left, love some more!

30. Put your unique talents, skills and insights to use by helping others.

31. Give friendly advice or share some knowledge to help someone along their path.It can make a world of difference.

32. Be as present as possible as often as we can.

33. Quit judging yourself so harshly.

34. Know that you are a vital part of humanity and therefore essential to this world we live in.

35. Be gentler, kinder and more respectful of our planet.We owe it to the planet and animals, our forests and our oceans to restore the health they once held.

36. Be a collector of things and people that make you happy.

37. Find richness in knowing and observing all different kinds of people.

38. Do what you love to do, love the people you love, and grow in spirit.

39. Enjoy life.

40. Just do it. Don’t end up with a life unloved.

41. Always try to do more for others than what you do for yourself. Something as simple as opening a door for someone else, letting someone go ahead of you in a queue, saying good morning to someone who is on their own can create good karma.

42. Do volunteer work.

43. Love your family. They are the people who really matter.

44.  Don’t worry about what others have to say about how you live your life.

45. Lower your expectations, it makes life less complicated, allowing you to enjoy it to the fullest.

46. Work towards love always – to give and receive love. If, on your death-bed, you can say you’ve made others feel loved… that’s a fulfilled life.

47. Don’t forget to have fun. Do what you can – then go to the movies.

48. When you feel confused, look up at the sky and feel the spaciousness of all things.

49. Set goals and plan – but be flexible and resilient if your plans don’t work out.

50. Remember that starting over is a great a opportunity.