Self-Growth
Articles on topics around life balance, self-growth, self-discipline and ways to a better life
Is Success a State of Your Being?- Success has a wonderful feeling associated with it: a confident, on top of the world, joyful kind of sensation that ripples through your body connecting you with your divine purpose in life. It's unfortunate that the definition of success is limited to the achievement of something intended...
- Spiral up with Growth
- We are continually growing, expanding and evolving in life. Nothing stands still; just as there is stillness in movement, there is movement in stillness. At times we may feel as though nothing is changing, yet deep within there are subtle, powerful shifts taking place. At other times we feel the turbulent winds of change in our own lives and on the planet. These growth spurts can be intimidating, fearful and depressing, or they can be exciting, empowering and uplifting, depending on our perspective.
- Be in Charge of Your Experiences
- We all have experiences. The only meanings they have are the ones we give them. We often categorize our experiences into one side or the other of a dichotomy: good/bad, positive/negative, pleasant/unpleasant, exciting/boring, rich/bland and so on. Occasionally we might find a balance in between and claim the experience was okay or so-so. What if we didn't judge, analyze or slot our experiences into any grouping, but instead let them just be?
- Find Yourself in Stillness
- Viewing a tranquil lake on a windless day or a snow peaked mountain at sunset can still your mind and body. The beauty of nature connects us to our soul and we pause, if even for a moment, to rest in stillness.
- Open Your Heart to Experience Unconditional Love
- How open is your heart? When our heart is fully open love flows freely to us and through us to others. Much like how our physical heart pumps blood to nourish our brain and body, our heart chakra swirls with affinity to nurture all aspects of our lives.
- Why Do We Long For Affinity?
- Awareness of our affinity, whether it be for a friend, a partner, a family member, an animal, nature, a hobby, or career, brings us in touch with our essential essence. That feeling of fondness and love for another person or path in life ignites a spark within us; a spark of light that lifts us up beyond our daily roles and tasks, past temporary turmoil, and into a remembrance of who we are at the core of our being.
- What Are Your Gifts You Bring To The World?
- What are your gifts you bring to the world? We each have gifts to offer; ways of being, skills, talents, personality traits and so on that arise naturally from our authentic selves. At times it's easier to focus on what we're missing, on our defaults, or on what we don't have in comparison to others. This perspective goes against our highest truth so depletes us and makes us feel small. When we become aware of what we do have to give we feel full and whole.
- Figuring Out Self-Acceptance
- Self-acceptance means accepting our whole self; the talents and strengths along with the foibles and pain. When we deny, repress or hide any aspect of our self it is akin to rejecting ourselves. The very things we want most in life include being accepted, loved and acknowledged, yet we often don't give these gifts to ourselves.
- How to Trust Your Trust
- A quiet confidence. An inner certainty. A knowing deep within that all is well even though it may not appear so on the outside. Trust demands that we let go of fears, worry, doubt and despair which drag us down. Trust lifts us up to higher elevations where we see the bigger picture in life and know that things are happening for a reason in their own time and for our own benefit, if only we will believe this and not interfere.
- Who Guides Us On Our Journey Through Life?
- Within each of us is a profound wisdom guiding us on our journey through life. Surrounding this wisdom are layers of other instincts, understandings and knowledge accumulated in the mind and body. The mind has years of academic and worldly knowledge combined with logical and analytical abilities. The body has generations of instinctual wisdom and the knack of sensing things. The heart holds our burning passions and acts as a bridge to our soul. Our soul extends beyond this body and lifetime, carrying the wisdom of our higher purpose.
- Living in the Moment
- One breath at a time, one moment at a time, keeps us in the present where our power exists. From our present point of power we see more clearly, access our higher knowing and take appropriate actions. We turn off the automatic pilot and step away from reactivity. When we are here now everything slows down and comes into perspective. There is time to notice, feel, and most important, be.
- How to Embrace the Power of Surrender
- Flowing into peaceful surrender, allowing its softness to gently envelope us, is much like sinking into the warm water of a bath; body aches and pains are soothed and mental tensions are melted away as we slowly drift into sweet serenity.
- Miracles: A Burst Of Light Into A Dark Situation
- A burst of light into a dark situation, a wish fulfilled, an awe inspiring solution, a gift of grace appearing out of nowhere; this is how we describe miracles. We look for them in times of despair and just as we let go of our desperate attempts to resolve a difficult situation they appear. Yet we don't have to wait for the ground to fall from under our feet before we let one in. We can have them all the time, big and small.
- The Power of Awareness
- Being your authentic self, feeling the power of life flowing through you and viewing the outer world with nonattachment puts you into the place of awareness itself. Awareness is empowering as it allows you to see yourself and the world as they really are, without filters, expectations, and judgments.
- What Do You Appreciate In Your Life?
- Fresh air, sparkling stars, rays of sunshine peaking through wispy clouds, smiling eyes, a friend's voice, birds chirping at sunrise, a hot mug held in cold hands, a warm hug on a tough day, infectious laughter, a loving animal's soft fur, a spectacular mountain view, a breathtaking sunset, a helping hand, kind words, on and on the list grows for what many of us appreciate. How do you feel reflecting on the things you appreciate in your life?
- How to Maintain a State of Clarity?
- Like crystal clear water, you can see into the depths of your heart and soul when in a space of clarity. We've all had those 'moments of clarity' when we see the bigger picture and know our highest truth, but how do we maintain this state of clarity?
- Your Authentic Self
- The authentic self is the soul made visible
- Ego, Soul and Human Mortality
- You don't get to choose how you're going to die. Or when. You can only decide how you're going to live. Now.
- Ego's Secret
- People say 'I want peace'. If you remove I {ego}, and your want {desire}, you are left with peace.
- What you Believe is What your Receive
- What you believe about yourself and your world will determine what you create in your life. Beliefs are not good or bad, right or wrong. They can be supportive or limiting. They are either reflections of your deeper truth supporting you to blossom, or they are lies limiting you from being and experiencing all that you are.
- Designing And Creating The Masterpiece Called Your Life
- You are a creator, designing and creating the masterpiece called your life. Each one of us is a potent being orchestrating our life down to the finest details. All we have to do is recognize this and utilize our power to create what we want in our lives.
- Find Your Truth to Capture True Power
- True power, which I speak about in this article, has nothing to do with physical prowess, but rather it is a state of being once you find your soul's authenticity.
- The Language of Your Soul
- Are you aware that, you and you alone, possess the magical formula to release the tether that binds you from moving forward and possibly stagnating your growth and potential?
- Purpose in Life
- Our purpose in life is whatever we make it. We may have an overall life purpose which we stay true to for a lifetime or it may change over time as we evolve and transform. Our purpose may involve a long term vision or it may be how we live day to day. However we define our purpose, knowing what it is helps us to stay on our path and in our integrity.
- Soul in Business
- It is increasingly common to talk of soul relation to personal partnerships: terms like 'soul mates' or 'soul connections' describe the presence of a deeper part of our being in such relationships. At the level of soul there seems to be an intrinsic knowing, and all-at-once understanding. It is almost a holographic experience, wherein a few words reveal...
- A Wonder of the Miraculous Universe
- Have you ever sat in wonder of the miraculous Universe we live in? Gazed up at the sky on a starry night wondering how it all unfolds so effortlessly? Watched the plants in your garden break ground, sprout and blossom bringing beauty to your world? Noticed serendipitous events unfold in your life that make you say 'yes!'?
- Why Are We Here?
- Throughout time writers and philosophers have grappled with the question of the meaning of life. Most of us have reflected upon the mystery that is life. We look around at all that has happened throughout history, and what is unfolding in the world now, and try to grasp some idea of what it is all about.
- Generosity Feels Good
- Giving your time, love, patience, attention and affection are all aspects of generosity. Sharing a smile with someone on the street, offering a hug to a friend, or taking time for a loved one are simple acts to perform, yet they reap huge benefits. When you give...
- Restoring Your Soul
- Judging from the clients I see in my practice, it seems that anxiety is reaching epidemic proportions. What is startling to me is that I am seeing it in children as young as five or six, in teens, young adults, the middle-aged, and seniors
- Allow The Flow Of Love Into Your Life
- What images and notions come up for you when think about love? Warm and fuzzy feelings, babies cooing, romance, heartache, loyalty and devotion are some associations to the word. Do you have any rules and expectations around love such as how people should treat their loved ones, or who you can and can't love, or how people are supposed to express their love? ...
- Energize and Heal Yourself
- Have you ever walked into a room and felt the energy in it? Sensed and felt the silence and somberness of a library, the buzz and effervescence of a concert, or the love and joy at a wedding ceremony? In the 60's and 70's they called it the 'vibe' and now it's referred to as energy, but it's all the same thing; waves of energy particles that vibrate at certain frequencies. And it's not just ...
- Bigness
- We always have a choice to be big or small, to operate from our higher selves or our egos. We can let our fears, inadequacies, judgments and smallness dominate or we can let our inner knowing, truth, trust and bigness lead the way.
- Exploring Inner Space
- The dream is the small hidden door in the deepest and most intimate sanctum of the soul, which opens to that primeval cosmic night that was soul long before there was conscious ego and will be soul far beyond what a conscious ego could ever reach...
- Enthusiasm: How To Take Control Of How You Feel!
- En theos, the root word for enthusiasm, means 'in spirit'. When we are filled with the spark of enthusiasm, we are literally filled with our true essence and this is why it feels so alive and energetic. When we drop down to feelings of hopelessness and despair we have lost our connection to our eternal selves and our source. There are, of course, many states in between. Which states do you often find yourself in? Do you choose them or do they choose you?
- Why Forgiving?
- Imagine holding a ten pound weight for every resentment you hold, grudge you cling to and strong judgment you cast. How much weight would you be carrying? What stops you from putting this down?
- What is the opportunity facing you right now?
- What is the opportunity facing you right now? When life is flowing smoothly and we are feeling confident and serene, we are open to new possibilities and we see the opportunities blossoming in front of us. Yet when things are sluggish or we keep hitting up against a wall, a shadow seems to creep across our view and we don't see what's available to us. The opportunities are still there, it's just our perspective that's gone askew.
- When the Student is Ready the Teacher Will Come
- When the student is ready the teacher will come. How true this declaration is, but it does not always transpire in the context that you may understand, agree with or accept.
- How to Find Abundance In Your Life
- Like a crystal full of light and reflecting all the colors of the rainbow, we are each filled with a brilliance that manifests into our lives whatever colors we choose. When we disconnect from this inner source of abundance we experience a lack of ...
- How to Break Repeated Patterns
- Although your purpose in life is to continuously grow, expand and learn, so that you allow your soul to develop to higher levels of consciousness, many of you may feel that you are spinning your wheels resulting in going nowhere...
- How to Look for Signs of Transition or Inner Transformation
- Have you ever wondered how you know when you are either entering a transition period or experiencing inner transformation? One thing to remember is that life, no matter whose, is always in a continual flux of ebb and flow...
- Who You Really Are
- I am certain that this is a very confusing or frustrating issue that at some point in your life has confronted you...
- Life Commitment
- What are you committed to in your life? Are you committed to following through with your word, giving your best to your work, meeting your families and friends needs, dedicating yourself to worthy causes? What about with yourself, do you have any commitments just for you? So often, many of us put everything and everyone else first and then have very little time or energy left over to give to ourselves. As we know, this leads to frustration, resentment and burnout. Our commitments are then born out of duty and obligation rather than stemming from our hearts and desires.
- The Maintenance Wizard
- If you own a modern computer, you will know there is a maintenance wizard in your windows software. With a click of the mouse, you can sit back whilst the wizard automatically checks out your computer for any faults. If it finds anything amiss, it will correct it within a few seconds. The wizard will also remove any files that are not necessary in its memory banks.
- Insights & Inspiration: Joy
- Have you ever woken up with a sense of inner excitement for no apparent reason? Gone through your day beaming from the inside out? Felt a sense of ease and peacefulness no matter what the circumstance? This is what true joy feels like to me.
- Life in Balance
- Life in balance is truly a place of beauty... where everything flows with amazing ease... when moments of clarity stretch out further than our imagination... and we can ride the waves of chaos effortlessly.
- Carrying the Weight of the World
- Have you ever felt that you have too much on your plate and that the constant demands from others are making your life very difficult? ...
- Wisdom in the Wilderness
- The clearest way into the universe is through a forest wilderness -- John Muir
- Creating Balance
- What is balance to you? Do you measure it in time spent between various activities; work, family, exercise, recreation, being with others, being alone, inner reflection, outer doing and so on? Is it a state you try to achieve or a balance between states: excitement and calm, moving fast and slow, feeling high and low?
- Enhance Your Self-Esteem
- When we feel good about ourselves this extends into our work, our relationships and all aspects of our life. When we hold ourselves in high regard we look at life through joyful eyes. We feel confident and competent, even if we are learning something new. We give ourselves a break instead of beating ourselves up, and we extend this kindness to others around us.
- Patterns
- Have you ever felt as though you are living the same experience over and over again, getting the same results time and time again? This is fine if the experience and results are positive and wonderful, but when they are not so pleasant, such as re-experiencing the same over-stretched workload, financial debt, relationship breakdowns and other lifestyle catastrophes that many of us seemed doomed to repeat, it can feel frustrating and hopeless.
- Relationship with Self
- We're nearing the holiday season, that time of year when our connection to loved ones becomes more significant. We see the importance of relationships and how getting together with family and friends to share moments of kindness, laughter and appreciation nurtures and fulfills us.
- Find Personal Freedom in the Principles of Invisible Justice
- We can never hope to be free as long as any part of us struggles with, or suffers over what others are doing, have done, or won't do with their lives. If we could remain aware of the often-compromised state of our own character, that is, how we still do those things to others that we don't want to do, this awakened conscience would stir in us a new need...
- Empower Yourself
- Do you remember a time when you felt fully empowered - that feeling of being on top of the world, honoring yourself and your values, expressing yourself, your talents and your gifts as you choose, living the life you want. You might feel like this right now, or not. Even if you don't remember a time like this in your life, can you imagine what it would feel like, how freeing it would be?
- How to Live Life on Your Own Terms
- You have always believed that the better people feel about you, the better you can feel about yourself. However, you may have never really considered that the opposite of this belief must hold equally and unhappily true, and that is...
- Stay Away From These Four Types of Toxic People: Choose the
Company You Keep
- Those with whom we assemble, we soon resemble!
- Breaking Down, Breaking Open
- Within sorrow, there is grace. When we come close to those things that break us down, we touch those things that also break us open. And in that breaking open, we uncover our true nature...
- Emotional Peace
- Go slowly, breathe, and smile
- Mastering the Basics
- I have always felt there is a glaring omission in the way we have been educated, and the way children are educated, inasmuch as there is no consistent teaching about how to communicate. Yes, we learn to read and write, but not how to talk with one another, particularly when there is conflict.
- Navigating Through Difficult Times
- I'm not afraid of storms, for I'm learning how to sail my ship.
- The Art and Science of Life
- Despite exciting interdisciplinary encounters, in the western world a schism yet exists between science and spirituality. There is still some discordance between hard evidence about how human life operates, and soft evidence about the meaning, or deeper purpose of life...
- Seven Ways to Invite the Extraordinary Life
- I can think of no greater encouragement in this life than the self-evident Truth that there dwells in each of us the opportunity to explore and know the Extraordinary. By
- Using Your Relationships to Realize Real Life
- The greatest, most abundant resource on planet Earth is also its least understood and utilized. Its unlimited supply is found virtually everywhere, anytime, and under all circumstances, even though few recognize its real value. What is this most precious collective resource? It is our relationships.
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