Here are some amazing tips for a better life in 2008. One of my close friends Chris sent this post to me on Facebook. I inquired as to who the author was, but he didn’t know, it was a chain email that was sent to him. Whoever it was, the Tips are amazing… The photo was taken by Chris (it’s his girlfriend Nadia)
- Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile. It is the
ultimate anti-depressant.
- Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day. Buy a lock if you have
to.
- Buy a DVR and tape your late night shows and get more sleep.
- When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement, ‘My
purpose is to __________ today.’
- Live with the 3 E’s — Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.
- Play more games and read more books than you did in 2007.
- Make time to practice meditation, yoga, tai chi, and prayer. They
provide us with daily fuel for our busy lives.
- Spend time with people over the age of 70 and under the age of 6.
- Dream more while you are awake.
- Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is
manufactured in plants.
- Drink green tea and plenty of water.. Eat blueberries, wild Alaskan
salmon, broccoli, almonds & walnuts.
- Try to make at least three people smile each day.
- Clear clutter from your house, your car, your desk and let new and
flowing energy into your life.
- Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip, issues of
the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest
your energy in the positive present moment.
- Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are
simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class
but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
- Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a
college kid with a maxed out charge card.
- Smile and laugh more. It will keep the energy flowing.
- Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.
- Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
- Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
- You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
- Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.
- Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey
is all about.
- No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
- Frame every so-called disaster with these words: ‘In five years, will
this matter?’
- Forgive everyone for everything.
- What other people think of you is none of your business.
- GOD heals almost everything.
- However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
- Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will.
Stay in touch.
- Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
- Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
- The best is yet to come.
- No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
- Do the right thing!
- Call your friends often. (Or email them to death!!!) Hey I’m thinking
of ya!
- Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements: I am
thankful for __________. Today I accomplished _________.
- Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.
- Enjoy the ride. Remember this is not Disney World and you certainly
don’t want a fast pass. You only have one ride through life so make the
most of it and enjoy the ride. Anonymous
I recently wrote a follow up post to this one regarding the notorious # 28 “God heals almost everything”. It’s about the most important questions in life. I hope you will take the time to read this new post and add comments on what you think are the most essential questions one must answer in their lifetime. Here is the Link: A debate on the most Important questions in Life.
Your feedback on this debate is greatly appreciated. Cheers
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Tags: better, Life, living, tips
“Shambhala vision teaches that, in the face of the world’s greatest problems we can be heroic and kind at the same time.” Chogyam Trungpa This is part 5 in a continuing series on Shambhala. Click here for Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 6, Part 7, or Part 8.
Daring to let go, the warrior is great in friendliness.
- We are attracted to our cocoons, our selfishness, and afraid of stepping beyond ourselves. To overcome hesitation and to commit oneself to others’ welfare, the student warrior has to jump. A leap is necessary. This occurs in the practice of meditation when you step beyond the ups and downs of your thinking process and let yourself go with your breath. Let it dissolve. By letting go, you develop trust in the strength of your being. Then, you also find that you have tremendous willingness to give selflessly to others.
The humble warrior is Supreme.
- You need to cultivate gentleness, so that you remain humble, soft, and open. Allow tenderness to come into your heart. Renounce putting on a new suit of armor or growing thick skin. The warrior who has accomplished true renunciation is completely naked and raw, without even skin or tissue. You are able to be, quite fearlessly, what you are.
You cannot possess basic goodness.
- The goal of warriorship is to express basic goodness in its most complete, fresh, and brilliant form. This is possible when you realize that you do not possess basic goodness, but you are the basic goodness itself.
The warrior’s discipline is like the sun.
Join the arrow of intellect with the bow of skillful means.
- With the sharpness of your intelligence, the arrow of intellect, you can clearly see the setting sun, or any degraded tendencies in yourself or the world. Then, you need to harness your insight with skillful action, which is the bow. When the arrow of intellect is joined with the bow of skillful means, you are never tempted by the seductions of the setting-sun world. Temptation here refers to anything that promotes ego and goes against the vision of egolessness and basic goodness. Together, the principle of the bow and arrow allows you to say “no” to ungenuineness, to carelessness, crudeness, or lack of wakefulness.
This is part 5 in a continuing series on Shambhala. Click here for Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, or Part 4.
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Tags: heroic, humble, kind, Vision, warrior
Do everything with a mind that lets go.
Do not expect any praise or reward.
If you let go a little, you will have a little peace.
If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace.
If you let go completely, you will know complete peace and freedom.
Your struggles with the world
will have come to an end.
Insight Meditation - Achaan Chah
When I despair,
I remember that all through history
the ways of truth and love have always won.
There have been tyrants, and murderers,
and for a time they can seem invincible,
but in the end they always fall. Think of it - always.
Mahatma Gandhi - early 20th century
May I be filled with loving kindness.
May I be well.
May I be peaceful and at ease.
May I be happy. Ancient - Tibetan buddhist – Meditation
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
St. Francis of Assisi - 13th century
Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die.
Mary Elizabeth Frye - 1932
What is praised is one, so the praise is one too,
many jugs being poured
into a huge basin. All religions, all this singing,
one song.
The differences are just illusion and vanity. Sunlight
looks slightly different
on this wall than it does on that wall and a lot different
on this other one, but
it is still one light. We have borrowed these clothes, these
time-and-space personalities,
from a light, and when we praise, we pour them back in. Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi - 13th century
May we love ever more.
May we motivate ourselves to committed love in Action.
May we motivate ourselves to live the life we wish to see in the world.
May we be the transformation we wish to see in the world.
From the inside out . . .
From the roots branching upwards . . .
From the heart
to thought
to word
to action.
Through life’s trials and hardships
we can arise beautiful and free - Julia Butterfly Hill
If there is to be peace in the world,
There must be peace in the nations. If there is to be peace in the nations,
There must be peace in the cities. If there is to be peace in the cities,
There must be peace between neighbors. If there is to be peace between neighbors,
There must be peace in the home. If there is to be peace in the home,
There must be peace in the heart. Chinese Philospher - Lao-Tse - 6th Century BCE
Related Post: Poetic Teachings on Life and Death
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Tags: love, meditation, peace, prayer
I hope you enjoy these wonderful illustrated Paulo Coelho quotes from some of his books such as Brida, The Fifth Mountain, Eleven Minutes and more. Check out his blog or the official website for more amazing information on this great author. 
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Tags: author, Brida, eleven minutes, quotes
It is said that Buddhism played an important role in the development of the Shambhala society. The legends tell us that Shakyamuni Buddha gave advanced tantric teachings to the first king of Shambhala, Dawa Sangpo. These Teachings, which are preserved as the Kalacakra Tantra, are considered to be among the most profound wisdom of Tibetan Buddhism. Chogyam Trungpa
This is part 4 in a continuing series on Shambhala. Click here for Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 5, part 6, Part 7, or Part 8 The warrior delights in heedfulness
- Heedfulness here refers to paying attention to what is taking place in your world. For the warrior, interest happens spontaneously. You feel that the world is naturally full of interest: the visual world, the emotional world, whatever world you might have. So interest or heedfulness manifests as raw delight, delight together with rawness or tenderness.
Let the Great Eastern Sun illuminate the way of discipline
- The Great Eastern Sun, sun of human wakefulness, creates an atmosphere in which you can constantly move forward, recharging energy all the time. It provides the means to take advantage of your life in the fullest sense. This discipline is an organic process that expands naturally from your own experiences…You don’t need an architect or a tailor to redesign your world.
When doubt arises, contemplate warriorship
- Absence of doubt comes from trusting in the heart, trusting yourself. Being without doubt means that you connect yourself, that you experience mind and body being synchronized together. When mind and body are synchronized, then you have no doubt.
Propagate health as a basic discipline of warriorship
- The Great Eastern Sun is wakefulness and genuineness reflected in every aspect of your being. Physically, psychologically, domestically, spiritually, you feel a gut-level sense of health and wholesomeness in your life, as if you were holding a solid brick of gold. When you feel healthy and wholesome, then you cannot help projecting healthiness to others.
Celebrate the feast of faith and joy
- Faith is based on genuineness, trusting in yourself and your vision. You are not faking anything, and you are not trying to impress anybody. Faith inspires discipline. Here, discipline is not based on punishment or arbitrary rules and authority, but rather on becoming thoroughly gentle and genuine. When the warrior has unwavering discipline, he or she takes joy in the journey and joy in working with others. The joy is like music, which celebrates its own rhythm and melody. The celebration is continuous, in spite of ups and downs of life.
Chogyam Trungpa Click here for Part 1, Part 2, or Part 3.
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Tags: buddhist, Dawa Sangpo, Shambhala, teaching
