Conscious living Practice 30 - Serve

We feel intrinsically good when we can add value to the life of others, have something worthwhile to share, and can help others. 

We all have strengths and skills that we can use to share with others. Doing so will add meaning to our lives. 

Starting today, begin the practice of asking yourself, "how can I serve others?" And do the best you can to use your current strengths and skills to add value to the lives of those you touch. Notice, how that makes you feel. 

#consciousliving # practice 30 # serve 

Conscious living Practice 29 - Slow down and pause

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I am going to reiterate the importance of remembering how fleeting and temporary life is. Usually when we get triggered we are quick to react. And being reactive instead of responsive only has a negative consequence. 

But if we can pause in that triggered moment, we will realize that we can choose to respond instead of react. 

In the book," Man's search for meaning", the author Victor Frankl says, " between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom."

The practice of pausing can be applied throughout the day, not just when we find ourselves being reactive but also for other things like, pausing before judging someone, pausing before indulging in conversations that don't add value, pausing before eating / drinking, pausing before buying things we don't need. The list can go on. 

Adding a pause to slow down and breathe can help us make appropriate choices that will result in our overall well being. 

#consciousliving #practice 29 #slowdownandpause 

Conscious living Practice 28 - Examine your intentions

It is important to be clear on why we do what we do. If we for example enroll for an exercise program, having clarity on what our intention is will help us stay consistent in our practice. 

However, not having a clear intention, will cause us to easily lose commitment. 

Learning to ask ourselves "why" often, will help us strengthen our intention. Some questions we can ask ourselves are :  

- why should I eat healthy food? 

- why should I practice conscious living? 

- why should I exercise? 

- why should I upload this picture on Facebook. What purpose does it serve? 

- why am I am reading this particular book? 

Let the answers come from within. The answers will help us make better choices. And we can live our life with greater clarity and purpose. 

#consciousliving #practice28 #examineintentions

Conscious Living Practice 27 - Take Responsibility for your life

Our life is a result of the choices that we have made. It is important to take full responsibility and ownership for the life that we have created and avoid blaming other people or circumstances for our present condition. 

As one of the buddhist quote says, never mind the past, you can always start afresh :-) 

By bringing our consciousness to the area of our life that we want to improve, we can take the necessary steps to make positive changes. 

Remembering to  "let go" control of how things should be, and being grateful for where we are can help us not be too attached to the result of our efforts. We can learn to do our best and leave the rest :-) 

Its important to once again remind ourselves of the temporary nature of life. All that we build, one day, we have to let go. This does not mean that we don't build anything or pursue our dreams or fulfill our desires. By all means, we can go after our dreams and goals, the results we get will be in proportion to the amount of consciousness and effort we put in. However, we have to be ( no choice there :-) ) ready to let go, when time comes. 

To me its the journey to success that counts more than the success itself. Its the learning along the way that is more valuable. 

#Consciousliving # practices # takeresponsibilityforyourlife

Conscious living Practice 26 - Let go

When difficult emotions arise, we can choose to pause, and remind ourselves that everything is temporary. Just that reminder will allow us to treat the difficult emotions with care, preventing us from just acting them out. 

Whether we realize it or not, we all have a choice at every moment, on how we choose to respond. We can look at every trying circumstance that arises difficult emotions in us ( getting stuck in a traffic jam, waiting for our turn in the queue, annoying colleagues, cranky kid, etc etc etc ) as opportunities to practice "letting go" and accepting the situation / person as is. 

Nothing is worth losing our peace of mind over. NOTHING. Just learning to "drop" anything that weighs us down and doesn't serve our higher purpose, can restore peace and balance in our lives.

"Dwelling" is the disease of the mind. When we dwell on something, we are not in the present moment. Dwelling on anything, good or bad is akin to being stuck in the past. We miss experiencing the moment in front of us and let them pass without experiencing them fully by simply remaining stuck with our thoughts. Instead of being stuck, we can choose to "let go" of this need to dwell and arrive into presence. Life is almost always good in the "now"😊

#consciousliving #practices #let go 

Conscious living Practice 25 - Disengage with what doesn't serve you

Today we live in a world where there are plenty of things vying for our attention. Each day we are bombarded with political / personal / other random debates, what's app forwards that result in elaborate discussions, Facebook posts, Instagram posts, just to name a few. If we don't learn to discern between what deserves our attention and what can be ignored, we will end up sacrificing our inner peace and misuse our limited time and energy. 

From today, I invite you to draw your awareness to your engagements. Just pause and reflect before you start engaging with any posts or even verbal discussions with people, whether it serves your higher purpose, uplifts your mood, contributes to your peace of mind, personal well being and growth or it's going to cause you to lose your peace and cause unnecessary irritation. If the latter, then choose to disengage yourself with the post / situation /discussion. Just let it go. Not all things/ posts / discussions deserve your time and involvement. 🙂

#consciouslivingpractices #practice25 #disengagewithwhatdoesn'tserveyou

Conscious Living Practice 24 - Cultivate an Empowering Belief System

What are your core values and beliefs ? Are these truly yours or are you unconsciously accepting beliefs passed on to you by others? How empowering are these beliefs and do they help you rise up in life or weigh you down?

Having a clear understanding of ones beliefs and values can help one make decisions that feel right and are in alignment with one's true nature. Shaky beliefs and value systems do just the opposite. Make you indecisive and unclear on how to respond to situations. 

I invite you to reflect on some of your core values and beliefs. Choose a few that you can revisit often. 

I like to have one main intention for my life. And a bunch of beliefs that I like to reflect on almost every day. It's like reciting daily slokas. When I am faced with a situation where I am confused how to respond, revisiting my beliefs helps me allign myself to my true nature and how I would personally like to live my life. 

Attached is a presentation of my "core intention" for this life and beliefs I like to live by. You can use this as an example to create your own intention and beliefs to guide you through your life. 

#consciouslivingpractices # practice 24 #cultivating an empowering beliefs system