I need to stop THINKING to start LIVING!!!

I dowloaded an "audiobook" on iTunes which is actually a recording of a series of talks given by a Buddhist monk named Pema Chodron at a retreat she did. The download is called "Getting Unstuck".

WOW!!

Immediately I though "this woman has an incredible voice." If I was a cat, I would purr just listening to her voice. So soothing and pleasant.

Throughout the recording it becomes clear that the retreat is for people who have addictions of one sort or another, but the message she brings could be shared with any group of people and it would still be just as relevant and helpful.

Throughout my search I find that I keep hearing one message loud and clear. Our thoughts are not ourselves!! And this recording is focused on that very topic. The more often I remember it, the better my life is becoming!

Worries about the future, bad memories of the past, dwelling on loneliness or feelings of any kind in the present ALL stem from thinking. And thoughts are NOT REAL! They are illusions. If I am simply in the moment, EVERY moment, there is nothing to worry about. There are flowers to smell, delicious foods to eat, art and music to create, silence to enjoy.

Of course things come up, like work, or bills to pay, and when negative thoughts and feelings arise about those things I can acknowledge them, but know that those thoughts are illusions. They are not real. And by acknowledging them, they begin to disappear.

A New Earth - finally!

I'm FINALLY over the hump with A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. I refer to the first 25 pages of the book as the "hump" because I have started reading the book at least 5 times but have never been able to get through those first 25 pages.

The book, like The Power of Now, is about how our thoughts and our minds have taken over and are pretending to be us. Ironically, every time I tried reading it, my mind was all over the map. Something about the way it's written made it almost impossible for me to comprehend on first read. I found myself reading the same paragraph 3 and 4 times over again and still not having any idea what I had just read. My theory is that there is SO MUCH information - every word has such meaning - that it can't be read like other books. Usually, I can read a book and even if I have been distracted for a while I can still get the jist of what it's about. Not this book!! So I decided to take it one sentence at a time - one word at a time at some points - to make sure I comprehended each word, in hopes that that would add up to comprehension of the whole.

It worked!

And now that I got past the "hump", the book has opened up into this amazing world of its own. It's hard to describe. Let's just say that I thought "The Power of Now" was the most mind-opening and eye-opening book I had ever read, but this book is already surpassing it. No wonder Oprah loves this book! And if it's good enough for O, it's good enough for me!!

I'm really enjoying this time in my life. I feel so inspired and hopeful! I know that my "search" is really not just about the destination, but more about the journey. The search itself is helping me to realize that I ALREADY have the glorious life. I just need to learn how to open my eyes and see it!

Busy Bee!

My life is getting glorious-er and glorious-er by the day!

I am reading...you guessed it...The Power of Now again!! For the Nth time!! And loving it just as much, if not more than ever. I decided I am just going to read it over and over again as many times as it takes for me to begin living it on a daily basis. I am also reading Deepak Chopra's The Book of Secrets. Coincidentally The Book of Secrets, like The Power of Now, talks a lot about how our thoughts are not us and if we are able to quiet our thoughts we can glimpse our true nature.

Up until this point I have not been meditating each day. I guess I have been sort of meditating every once in a while by trying to focus on the Now but I have not set aside time every day in a quiet space to officially meditate. I am stating here and now that I intend to set aside time every single day to meditate starting today. Maybe if I say it here it will be extra motivation for me to actually follow through and do it!!

I am seeing how all things really are connected and how simple a concept it really is. The CONCEPT is simple; internalizing the concept is not as simple. But the beauty is that we have our whole lives to work on it!!

I have been working on flowing with the current of my life instead of trying to swim upstream all the time and I am learning so much about myself!! I never imagined it, but I LOVE screenwriting!! I had a really neat idea for a movie and decided I would write a screenplay based on the idea. I am having a BLAST!!! It is work, but it is joyful work and it is my favorite thing to do right now. I don't know what I will do when it is completed, but maybe I will try and find a way to make a movie with zero budget. Who knows? I know I can do it if I want to - we'll see how it looks when it's done.

Oh, one more thing before I go...I am following P Diddy on Twitter and I have to say I LOVE his philosophy and his outlook on life. He tweeted yesterday about how he went for a walk with his son and told his son about how a person has creative control over their own life. He is so positive! It's The Secret! And P Diddy is preaching it!!

Cool, right?

Planet Earth

I bought the Planet Earth DVD series for my husband for Christmas last year and we never got around to watching until now. If you are not familiar with the series it is a Discovery Channel produced series that took several years to create with incredible footage of wild animals, oceans, deserts, caves, forests, mountains, glaciers etc. from all over the planet.

I have been watching with tears in my eyes for two nights now. The images are so incredibly beautiful that they are almost unreal. Much of it looks digitally animated, but the amazing part is that it is all real! I keep asking myself, how is it that all these natural wonders have existed for millions of years, yet most of us have never heard of or seen most of them before?

Last night I watched the episode on caves and they showed us the most incredible cave - in New Mexico no less - called Lechuguilla. It was not discovered until 1986! The walls of this cave are absolutely covered in fine crystals, so it is as if you are standing in a massive geode! The most spectacular part of the cave is called the Chandelier Ballroom, where gypsum crystals 5 or 6 feet long hang down from the cieling. It is truly breathtaking.

The episode on deserts includes incredible footage of wild camels in the Gobi desert that took 2 months to film, because the camels are so rare and when found, they are so spooked by humans that they run as fast as they can. Even the footage of the deserts themselves is so beautiful, the sand is so smooth it looks like satin sheets.

I could go on all day about this wonderful series, but what I really wanted to say is how beautifully it puts my life into perspective. The silly little annoyances in my life which I call "problems" mean absolutely nothing outside of my own mind! If I choose to simply stop worrying about them, I begin to realize they don't even exist! I have food to eat and water to drink, shelter overhead and love in my heart! We live in a miraculous world and it is too rare that we are reminded of that.

If you haven't seen the Planet Earth series, please do if you can. You will be no less than stunned.

Book Club!!!

I have decided to form a book club! I so enjoy reading these amazing books I have been posting about and I would LOVE to read them with others so we can share ideas and insights. Maybe it will be called Glorious Life Book Club?

It seems like a great way to meet like-minded people and help eachother to grow and progress along our paths!

I just checked on Craigslist and it doesn't appear that there are any similar clubs posted in the OC. I don't know if I should post or just try a word of mouth thing. I'll have to think about that a bit. But if anyone in the OC is reading this and would be interested in such a club please let me know! Maybe we could meet twice a month?

Choosing to love my job.

Every day I am tempted to just do the bare minimum at work. Honestly, I fell into recruiting. It wasn't something I sought out - "Oh, I just have to be a recruiter!" I wanted to be a rock star, for God's sake!

But I just realized something...

What if I have a choice as to whether I am happy at my job or not? What if I can actually choose to love my job and take pride in my work? Who would that be hurting? What are the pros and cons of choosing to love my job? Let's figure this out in real time...

Pros: Happy to get up and start work each day; sense of accomplishment after a productive day; increased self-respect; better relationships with co-workers; happier life in general; a sense of really living my life rather than waiting for my "real" life to start.

Cons: um...can't think of any...

So what will it mean to choose to love my job - in other words - what will I do differently now that I love my job? I think one of the big things for me is to ask myself questions like "How can I make this project even better? What can I do to take this above and beyond the expected?"

Today I was asked to research and put together a list of colleges in Jacksonville, FL where we might be able to recruit students to work part time positions for us. I've made a list of the colleges and the contact info for their career centers. How can I take it above and beyond? I could call each school and find out who the appropriate contact person is there, then contact them and ask them about the process for posting job opportunities there. I could then put all the info on a spreadsheet to present to my boss.

Okay, so my work is cut out for me...

I love my job!!

Yes Woman

After recently watching the movie "Yes Man" I realized that over the years I have started saying "no" a lot more. (As in "No, I can't go to lunch with you." or "No, I don't have the capacity to take on more work.") My first instinct is always to say "NO!"

I know that it's because of fear; fear of rejection, failure, the unknown. If I don't do anything or finish anything then I don't risk anything and can't fail at anything. The only problem with that is that if I don't do anything or finish anything then I can't succeed at anything either! Right?

"No, I can't go to lunch with you."

My thought process: No, I don't know what we would talk about for an hour. I certainly don't have anything to say that would be of interest to you. You'll just find out how uninteresting and worthless I am. Besides, what will I wear? I have gotten too fat for all my clothes. And what if you asked me to actually commit to going to a party or helping you with a project? No way. I can't risk that.

Reality: True, I risk nothing BUT I pass on an opportunity for friendship and all the joy that brings. So what if you ask me to commit to going to a party or helping you with a project? What else do I have to do? I am smart and fun to be with and certainly worthy of friendship and happiness.

(I am reminded of another movie, Good Will Hunting, when Will is telling his therapist that he doesn't want to ask his girl out on another date because right now in his eyes she is perfect and he doesn't want to find out that she isn't perfect. His therapist says "I think that's a super philosophy, Will; that way you can go through your entire life without ever having to really know anybody.")

"No, I don't have the capacity to take on more work."

My thought process: This job is not my dream job. It's just a way to pay the bills until my real life starts. Why should I extend myself further than I am already extended. What if I spread myself too thin and end up screwing up on something. No, I am just going to stick with the status quo and conserve my time and energy for something that really matters.

Reality: I have plenty of time and bandwidth to take on more work. I am in no danger of spreading myself too thin. Going the extra mile at work creates more job security and better relationships with my boss and co-workers, thereby making my life easier. If I don't aim higher, I will never climb higher. I am smart enough that if I apply myself and persist, I will be successful at whatever I choose to do.

So I am going to be more of a "Yes Woman" from now on. Certainly not to the extent that Jim Carrey's character did in the movie, but before I say no I am going to think about my reasoning. Is it fear based? Am I passing on a potential opportunity to better my life? Opportunities like that are few and far between and I can't afford to pass them up out of fear!!