Weekly Reading

“In This Moment”, the CoDA Meditation book page 21: “I choose not to listen to my disease” As I sat pondering a topic; it occurred to me to pick up the daily meditation. I usually start my day off with recovery meditations but had not today because I chose to read from our Co-Dependence Anonymous book this morning so my routine was different, not in a negative way; I just changed my routine up.

When I read today's entry it dawned on me; that much of my personal introspective is disease centered. Left to my own devices I will always drift into diseased thinking. I can either choose to give it an ear or turn it off. My knee jerk response is to dwell in diseased thinking, however, through recovery; I am given a new voice. The new voice I am given is that my past does not define me, my present, nor my future. I have heard in meetings that the diseased voice is “chatter”. It is all the negativity that my disease tells me that blurs my outlook; without recovery I will not get the new perspective of love that flows from our fellowship, literature, steps and principles. I can turn to all of these and a loving God that has shown me enough grace to turn to this fellowship instead of wallowing in self-pity. My self-loathing, depression, fear and complacency can all be attributed to my old way of doing things that is disease based. I do not want to live like that and I know my Higher Power does not want me living like that. I have been given recovery to apply in my life so I don’t have to spend it in a miserable reality. The pain I feel is still very much a motivating factor to strive for something better and that something better is applying the tools of recovery to my life and not to listen to my old diseased thinking. It is my choice and today for this very moment; I am listen to the tools of recovery.


Peyton S – 8/15/17

Popularity

Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. -Albert Einstein

Why do I seek to be popular? I want to be loved. I want you to like me, and this desire to be liked often makes me hypocritical. In the last few years, as I've danced more and more in Spirit, I find that I'm moving closer to honesty. I still want you to like me, but I need to tell the truth. My truth is who I am.When I betray my truth and seek to appease the majority, I'm uncomfortable. Spirit is making me more real. Spirit is feeding integrity into my life. Spirit makes my life enjoyable.

I want to be popular, but not at the expense of truth.

On this day of your life

I believe God wants you to know ...

... that what is important in your life is what you decide is important --

and this decision will indelibly create who you are.

  

When you awoke this morning, what was the first thing

on your mind? On your list of Things To Do, what is #1?

As you contemplate your current priorities, is there a person

at the top, or is it some kind of doingness ...?

Only you can know what is catching your attention,

what is calling to you for your energy.

Yet you can ask yourself a key question...

Where is love in all of this?

Respecting Wildlife (OM)

by Madisyn Taylor When in nature we often forget we are moving into another realm, one that asks us to drop our baggage and surrender. For better or worse, much of the world we experience is dominated and controlled by human beings. We spend our days in houses, cars, and buildings, and inside these structures, we are in control. We assert our wills and manipulate our environment. Within the context of the human world, this is natural. However, we often carry this attitude with us into the world of nature. We forget as we enter the forest, or sit on the edge of a pond, that we are moving into another realm, one that asks us to drop our baggage and surrender to a different sense of order and meaning. When we move from our everyday world into the world of nature, we may not even notice at first. We might continue talking loudly into our cell phone or to a friend that is with us. We might walk quickly as if we are on a busy city street, our eyes downcast, our thoughts hectic and hurried. In the best case, if we are sensitive to our environment, we will soon notice that it has changed. We may hear ducks calling, or wind moving through the leaves on a tree. If we notice the shift, we will naturally shift as well. If we don't, we may get all the way through a beautiful park without having lowered our voices. Next time you find yourself in the presence of wildlife--even if it's just a duck pond in the midst of urban hustle--try to move into a receptive state of openness and listening, no matter how much or how little time you have. Allow yourself to be captivated and calmed by the energy of the wildlife that covers this earth. Teaching our children to be respectful of nature and to stop and observe is a gift they can always cherish We preserve pockets of nature in our urban centers and large expanses of nature in our national parks because of the magic we feel in its presence. It reminds us of our smallness and calls us back to a deeper, quieter part of ourselves. When we honor nature by being respectful in its presence, we honor the mystery and wild beauty of our origin.

THE CREATOR'S TESHUVAH (MB)

Topic: Kabbalistic Concepts | 2017

The battle that is spoken about in the portion Ki Tetze, the Zohar tells us, is the battle of the individual against what is called the Negative Inclination, or the Desire to Receive For the Self Alone. And, as we know, we are in the month of Elul, the month of cleansing, so I am hopeful that this teaching will reawaken and strengthen the process of our own individual teshuvah, the process of looking inside. 

Rav Naftali Ropshitz teaches that when a person goes through a process of teshuvah,of correction, beginning with introspection, and feels great regret for the negative actions he or she has done, one of the most important spiritual teachings to remember is that whatever we do in this world, positive and negative, occurs in the Upper Worlds, as well. This is also from the Midrash, and the Ba'al Shem and Rav Brandwein both speak about it, as well.  But here, Rav Naftali Ropshitz is talking about the positive; whatever positive we do causes the exact same thing to occur in the Upper Worlds. Every action that an individual does awakens the similar action in the Upper Worlds. 

There is a verse in Psalms, in Tehillim, which says that the Creator is our shadow, and is something that Rav Brandwein often repeats to the Rav Berg. The Creator is our shadow, it says, and therefore, every action that we do, the Creator also does. All that will occur in the Upper Worlds is dependent on the individual. That is a concept fundamental to the wisdom of Kabbalah, and as we said, mentioned very often in the teachings of Rav Brandwein.

Therefore, when each one of us goes through our own process of teshuvah, we look inside, we look at this year, we look at our lives, and we say, "I did this wrong. I did that wrong. I acted selfishly in this area, I acted negatively in this area. I did that, and really hurt another person,” we awaken real pain and regret, and in so doing, force the Creator to also do teshuvah. When we do teshuvah in this world, when we have regret and pain over negativity that we have done in this world, we cause the Creator also to have regret. We cause the Creator also to do teshuvah. What does that mean? 

We are beginning to understand that the month of Elul is not just a month when we do teshuvah, but that also, through our teshuvah - and maybe this is the most important aspect of the process of Teshuvah - we are actually causing the Creator to have regret. What does it mean for the Creator to have regret? What does that mean for the Creator to do Teshuvah? At times, it says in the Midrash that the Creator says, "I made a mistake. Why did I create the Evil Inclination? Why did I create the Desire to Receive for the Self Alone?" It says in the Prophet Micah that the Creator says, "I made a mistake." So now, we are beginning to understand that the real purpose for our Teshuvah, the real purpose for our pain, the real purpose for our regret, is to awaken regret for the Creator. For the Creator to say, "I regret. I made a mistake by creating the Evil Inclination, by creating the Desire to Receive for the Self Alone." 

To help us understand this, Rav Naftali of Ropshitz explains it with a parable:

A father has a son that he loves and gives a gift of a beautifully carved knife, one that opens and closes, for his son to enjoy. Of course, the father thinks his son has enough sense that he when he is done playing with the knife he will close it so that it cannot harm anybody, but the son was not so smart. The son plays with the knife. When he is done, he forgets to close it, and cuts his hand. And, of course, the son is in pain.

When the father sees his son in pain, he then has two levels of his own pain: one level, as a father, is such that he feels the pain for his son who is in pain. And on a deeper level, the father also has greater pain because he knows that, in some way, he is responsible for his son’s pain by giving him the knife; even though, of course, the only reason the father gave the son the knife was so that the son could enjoy it and benefit from it. So, the father feels a pain of regret and some responsibility for giving his son something that was meant to cause him benefit, yet instead caused him harm.

Why were we born with the Desire to Receive for the Self Alone? Why were we born with the Negative Inclination? Because we know the real purpose of it is that through the fight against the Desire to Receive for the Self Alone, we elevate, grow, benefit, and bring great Light and great blessings to ourselves and to the world; that is the purpose, of course, of the Negative Side, and the Desire to Receive for the Self Alone. The purpose is to fight against those negative desires, akin to the son closing the knife and not being cut by it. 

But since we often do not win that battle against the Desire to Receive for the Self Alone, and therefore, do not receive the great Light and blessings that are meant to come to us from that battle, we allow it to become stronger than we are and overtake us; then, not only do we not draw Light and blessings, but through our selfishness, we damage ourselves and also endure darkness and pain. And so, the Creator sees that and says, "I made a mistake. I should not have given that person that Desire to Receive for the Self Alone."  And the Creator feels regret for creating that aspect of the Desire to Receive for the Self Alone. 

However, that regret, and this is the beautiful understanding, does not come all the time. If a person acts in a way of selfishness, and through that action, draws pain and darkness to themselves, but he or she does not have regret or pain for the darkness that they have awakened in the world, then the Light does not feel that towards them either. So the system is set up in a way that the only time there is regret for our individual selfishness, the only time the Light of the Creator feels regret for that creation, is when we, ourselves, feel regret and pain for our negative actions. 

On the other hand, when a person does not go through the process of teshuvah, or does not awaken enough of that pain, or to the degree that the individual awakens that pain, is then the degree to which the Creator feels that level of regret. Now, why is this so important? First of all, let us understand this. What we are learning is that when we feel pain and regret for our actions of Desire to Receive for the Self Alone, then and only then, does the Light of the Creator say, "I am sorry; I am sorry that I gave you that Desire to Receive for the Self Alone. I see the pain it has caused you." A person who acts with selfishness but does not feel pain or regret for that action, the Creator, therefore, does not feel any regret either. 

However, when an individual begins the process of teshuvah and looks inside and says, "I feel so badly that I caused pain to that person. I regret so much the action that caused pain. I regret so much the action of selfishness that brought so much darkness into my life and into this world,” then the Creator says, "I feel bad too. I feel bad that I gave you that challenge, I feel bad that I gave you that Desire to Receive for the Self Alone, I regret that you have that Negative Inclination." 

Why is this important? Who cares if the Creator is feeling regret or not feeling regret? What difference does it make? What benefit do we, or the world, get? When the Creator sees that the individual feels tremendous pain for the hurt he has caused others, and for the hurt and darkness he has brought into his own life and into the world, the Creator then starts feeling regret and pain, asking, "Why did I give him this challenge, why did I give him this awakening to do a negative action?" When the Creator sees that the individual feels tremendous pain from the actions that he or she has done, for the selfishness that he or she manifested, the Creator also begins feeling the pain and regret.

 And when the Creator has regret, the Creator says, "I am not happy I created that individual’s Desire to Receive for the Self Alone," and then that Desire to Receive loses its strength. It can no longer exist, because it gets its energy from the Light. So we ask the question again: Why is it important that the Creator regret and have pain for our Desire to Receive for the Self Alone? Because once the Creator has pain and regret for our selfishness, then selfishness goes away.  The Negative Side goes away, because it does not have anything to support it anymore, it does not have the Light of the Creator to sustain it anymore. That is why it is so important that the Creator does teshuvah. 

What is the Creator's teshuvah? The Creator's teshuvah is, "This selfishness, this Negative Inclination that I have given this person has caused him or her so much pain, and they have so much regret and so much pain of how they manifested and fell to it. I regret creating it." And because the Light of the Creator regrets creating it, it disappears, and it cannot exist anymore. 

That is why feeling pain and regret for negative things that we have done is so important, because as Rav Ashlag tells us, no matter how much teshuvah we do, no matter how much introspection we do, no matter how much regret we have, we cannot do teshuvah on our own. We cannot get rid, on our own, of those forces that awaken us to act in ways of selfishness. We need the Creator's assistance. But now we understand what that means. What do we need the Creator to do? We need the Creator to do teshuvah. We need the Creator to say, "I am so sorry that I created your selfishness. I am so sorry that I created your desire to act in a negative way." And when the Creator feels that, when that consciousness is awakened within the Light of the Creator, then that force of negativity disappears. It cannot exist anymore. That is the beauty, and that is the power. 

It says about the month of Elul that we come to the Creator, and the Creator assists us. We need the Creator's assistance. What does that mean? Now we understand it means that we need the Creator to do Teshuvah. We need the Creator to regret and have pain for the creation of the Desire to Receive For the Self Alone. And the greater our pain and regret for the actions that we have done, the greater the regret the Creator has for the creation of Desire to Receive for the Self Alone and Negative Inclination, and the more that force is removed from this world. 

This is a beautiful, powerful, and hopefully, practical teaching. We now understand there is no limit of pain and regret that we should have for our negative actions, because every ounce of regret and pain for our negative action benefits us by allowing the Creator to have greater and greater regret and remove more and more darkness, negativity, and selfishness from both our lives, and the world.

The Grown-up’s Guide to Finding Yourself.

Via Gabriella Sweezey

I have no answers for you.

There is no easy answer—no one-size-fits-all secret to happiness and self-love. All we can do is keep trying, keep listening to each other, and keep taking life one day at a time. There is no “secret” to happiness and self-love. All we can do is keep trying, keep listening to each other, and keep taking life one day at a time.

Another school year is about to begin and part of me is asking if I’m really going back, again. The rest of me is terrified of leaving, which answers the first question.

Habit, comfort, love, and a large dose of hope are powerful forces. Settling in and getting comfortable generally have negative connotations, but sometimes, we have to settle in, we need to get comfortable, and let others get comfortable with us before the real work can begin.

It’s easy to look at adventurous souls who go on magnificent journeys and wish that we could be as brave or cool as them—or to think that our own lives are boring in comparison. But going on an adventure is not always the answer; and it’s not always feasible, especially for “grown-ups.”

Once we grow up and find ourselves with a home and a family, dropping everything to travel around the world on a soul-searching trip can be impossible—and might do more harm than good. And sometimes, leaving raises more questions than it provides answers.

Even if we figure out how to leave, sometimes we “find ourselves” right back where we started. That’s okay. It’s all okay, because no matter where you are, “you” are right there—waiting not to be found, but to be known.

I think that’s what we’re really trying to accomplish—not the finding, but the knowing.

Sometimes I feel like a failure for still being here. It sometimes seems like I should have done something bigger or better, like I failed to meet my potential, or like I’m a disappointment.

But just because my location hasn’t changed, doesn’t mean that I haven’t.

When I see pictures of myself from high school or even college, I can feel that version of myself and remember who I used to be. She seems so far away. I wonder if I’ve changed for the better—if she would like this older version of me.

I wonder if she knew some things that I’ve forgotten. Growing as a person is essential, but sometimes, we need to remember where we came from and who we were, learn from the past, and use it as a jumping point toward the future.

If we did go on one of those epic Eat, Pray, Love style trips and successfully found ourselves, what then? What about the rest of our lives? We are all a compilation of every memory and experience we’ve ever had, and every second we make more.

Even if we were to figure out the answers to the questions in our hearts, there will always be more questions to ask and to answer. Without them, we would stop growing. Without change and constant questioning, we become stagnant and life becomes monotonous.

If we find ourselves and then stay there, we are missing out on the beauty of evolution and growth. Instead, maybe we should try to embrace the fact that we are magnificently multifaceted creatures, and that we can and should change, for the better.

I wish I had an easier answer for you, or for myself actually. I don’t know where I want to be in five or 10 years, or even next year. There are things that I want to do, and I know there will be things that I have to do along the way. It’s a constant struggle to not give up and feel defeated, but I like to think that each step on our path to wherever we’re going will present itself when we’re ready to take it.

Maybe instead of trying to find ourselves, we should try to find contentment: Find a new hobby, find a friend, find a job that suits where we are in our lives. Find a way to feel like ourselves.

We don’t have to go looking for that, we will know when we feel it—not when we “find” it.

This isn’t a conclusion; it’s a continuation.

There isn’t and shouldn’t be an end to our journeys toward the best version of who we are and the best lives we can live.

Keep moving, keep being, keep growing—and, maybe, we’ll find we’ve known where to find ourselves all along.

~

Author: Gabriella Sweezey
Image: YouTube screenshot; @ecofolks on Instagram

What my Fatigue was Trying to Tell Me—A Reluctant Conversation with my Body.

Via Leontien Reedijk

Yesterday, I woke up tired and groggy.

A fog sitting around my head made all sounds dim and distant.

The morning glow, soft as it was, bothered my eyes. My limbs felt heavy—as if they needed some convincing before they would move.

This was all quite unusual for me, since I am one of those annoying morning people who will spring out of bed like a jack-in-the-box at 5 a.m.—not needing a shower or coffee to wake up.

Nobody likes to be tired, and all I could think of was how to find my energized, active self again—the woman I know so well. I was resisting my fatigue. I wasn’t going to put up with it (I thought).

Isn’t it funny how we always want to maintain situations that we know well, and immediately feel uncomfortable when something is different? Why do we resist change so much? Change brings new experiences and involves learning new things.

We’re usually not too keen on that learning process, but it’s those moments of discomfort that we need to pay attention to, because they may have some valuable lessons for us.

Here’s what I learned yesterday from my fatigue: I tried hard, for a good part of the day, to beat it. I wasn’t sick. I had no fever or pains, and no hangover either. I couldn’t rationally explain why I was feeling like this—and I felt that I shouldn’t. I wasn’t having it.

So, I tried everything that I knew. Everything.

Here are five ways to overcome “ordinary” fatigue—all of which I tried:

>> Take an invigorating hot-and-cold shower. Scrubbing ourselves with a loofa with some peppermint oil can get our blood pumping. It helps us feel less tired, especially when the fatigue includes sore muscles. A hot bath might be more appealing for our tired and sore bodies, but it will only make us sleepier. Save that one for bedtime.

>> Put some fresh high-energy foods in our bodies. Eat foods like fresh fruits and veggies or some of those superfoods. Stay away from sugars and ditch the “lifesaver” caffeine fixes (coffee or black tea), because they will only make us more exhausted after the buzz wears off. (If we feel fatigued more often, we can try a juice cleanse to get the toxins that are slowing us down out of our system. When I do a lemon juice master cleanse, I’m usually hopping with energy within a couple of days.)

>> Stay away from alcohol. No explanations needed.

>> Get active. As contrary as this sounds, when we are feeling fatigued, some mildly vigorous exercise can reenergize us. A lot of our fatigue is mentally induced. There’s always stuff going on in our lives that we don’t like, that is bringing us down and wearing us out. When we get over the mental resistance, going for a brisk walk, a swim, or just some work in the garden will get us out of our heads, while the exercise itself will pump more oxygen into our system, energizing the whole body.

>> Breathe. If we don’t have the time to go outside and get moving (or if the weather sucks), we can sit down and do some pranayama (breathing) exercises. Certain ways of breathing can help us to relax, but there are others that can clear our minds and raise our energy levels. Making our inhalations stronger and deeper than our exhalations has an invigorating effect on our energy levels.

I tried them all, but the fog in my head didn’t really want to lift. All day long I tried to beat the exhaustion, overrule it, deny it.

Only when my massage client fell asleep under my hands while I had been yawning my head off for the full 90 minutes, did I finally understand that this fatigue was here to stay for the day. Instead of running away from it, I had to stay with it. It needed to be felt, heard, and understood—instead of denied and battled.

I lay down with it, facing it. I allowed my body to sink into the tiredness, then asked it what it wanted to tell me, what I needed to understand or do. We had an honest conversation—my body and I.

She told me how she had been feeling ignored for weeks now—not getting what she needs. I blushed, and admitted that I’d been slacking with my yoga practice.

Body said it was more than that. She needed better food again: more veggies and some healthy proteins, and less black tea, please. I knew she had a point. My online apprenticeship had taken me out of the house too often, sitting in my favourite restaurant for hours to use the Wi-Fi, drinking loads of fragrant Earl Grey tea, and not eating the healthiest options off the menu—plus too many Italian desserts.

“That’s another thing,” body said pouting. “You’re sitting way too much: my seat feels like wood, my spine is sagging into a scoliosis, and my right shoulder is stuck in its socket from too much scrolling. You’re barely moving me for hours at a time.”

This is not a false accusation; it’s a fact. My overbearing need for perfection often makes me overdo things. I can’t help but do my best, and to do that, I might neglect other things that seem less important like—in this case—my physical well-being.

By giving the apprenticeship my 200 percent, I had been abusing my body, and it was fed up with it. Fair enough.

“And then one more thing, that you seemed to have forgotten: when you take the time and mindfulness to take good care of me, you’ll be functioning better in everything you need to do—your teaching, your treatments, your practice, your writing.”

Darn, my body was so wise and so honest. I wonder where she got that from.

Then she whispered, the darling, “And you know what? You don’t have to be perfect all the time. Because nobody is watching you all the time anyway, apart from yourself. So give yourself some slack every now and then; just let go.“

My dear sweet body—she brought tears to my eyes.

I fully understood that I had to make some changes.

I promised my dear body that I would get up to drink some water and move more often, take breaks from my screen, watch my posture and stretch regularly, plan my work better so that I didn’t have to stay up late. I vowed to choose the healthiest options on the menu when I had to take my meals in a café. I made a mental note to tuck some herbal teas in my bag.

And most importantly, I promised myself—my stubborn perfectionist ego—that we were going to practice easing off a little bit, every now and then. We might even learn to trust that the world will not totally collapse when we just let go for a bit.

Lessons learned, sweet tired body.

Now, let’s rest.

~

Author: Leontien Reedijk
Image: Joseph Choi/Flickr

The Quote

Courage

"Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace." Amelia Earhart

How true this saying is. Whatever peace has been achieved in this world has been created by men and women who have shown great courage. Not only did they risk their lives, but many gave their lives for the cause they championed. Along the way they also suffered ostracism and persecution. But they could do no other.This is the physical reality of Say Yes to Your Spirit. It is the lived-out drama of what it means to dance in God. And the world has changed. Racism, sexism, homophobia, witch burning, slavery, and many more exploitations have shriveled in the world, although they have not been completely obliterated, because great men and women showed courage. Celebrate the power of the heavenly Spirit.

I affirm courage in my life.

NUGGETS OF WISDOM - 139

·        “Fear less, hope more; Eat less, chew more; Whine less, breathe more; Talk less, say more; Love more, and all good things will be yours! ”—Swedish Proverb

• ·        "Rationalism is wrong when it assumes that religion is at first a primitive belief in something which is then followed by the pursuit of values. Religion is primarily a pursuit of values, and then there formulates a system of interpretative beliefs."
  ·        “All you need is love.”—Paul McCartney & John Lennon
  ·        "Man can never take the love of the Father and imprison it within his heart. The Father's love can become real to mortal man only by passing through that man's personality as he in turn bestows this love upon his fellows.
  ·        “Your circumstance doesn’t make life extraordinary. Love does.”—Trina Harmon
  ·        "Humankind is what it believes." - Anton Chekhov
  ·        Stop chasing the money and start casing the passion. – Tony Hsieh
  ·        All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them. – Walt Disney
  ·        Veni, Vedi, Velcro – I cane; I saw; I stuck around
  ·        For a long life breathe through your nose. For a long and happy life, shut your mouth while you’re doing it.
  ·        "Man is naturally a dreamer, but science is sobering him so that religion can presently activate him with far less danger of precipitating fanatical reactions."
  ·        “Love is the the most radically subversive activism of all, the only thing that ever changed anyone.”—Ann Voskamp
  ·        "Man is naturally a dreamer, but science is sobering him so that religion can presently activate him with far less danger of precipitating fanatical reactions."
  ·        “When we feel love and kindness toward others, it not only makes others feel loved and cared for, but it helps us also to develop inner happiness and peace.”—The 14th Dalai Lama

On this day of your life

Jay, I believe God wants you to know ...

... that all families have troubles in them. Problem-free families do not exist. 

Indeed, the challenges in families are family's greatest gifts.

  

How else could we be healed of all the false notions we have

about what it means to be human? How else could we learn of

real love, and of true compassion, and of total acceptance?

There is, of course, nothing to learn. There is only

for us to remember what we have always known.

And families give us the greatest opportunity to do that.

Therefore, don't condemn "Uncle Charlie" or "Aunt Matilda".

Rather, embrace them even more fully,

and show them what it means to be fully human...

so that they can find their way

back home.

Puja (OM)

BY MADISYN TAYLOR
Performing a Hindu puja ritual is a wonderful way to experience direct communication with the divine.

Forging a spiritual connection with the divine is the ultimate goal of many forms of worship. In our devotions, we transcend the limitations of our humanity using prayers, rituals, and invocations, or we seek the celestial in sacred items such as statuary, imagery, or natural objects. In the Hindu tradition, worshipers bond with the divine through the puja ritual. The purpose of the ritual is to create an atmosphere in which humans and spiritual beings can enjoy communion with one another. Though participants show reverence for their chosen deities, puja serves to bring the former and the latter together on an energetic level. Performing a puja ritual is thus a wonderful way to experience direct communication with the divine. 

There are no limits as to whom may serve as the focal point of your puja. You need only choose a spirit guide to commune with and an object to represent them. Preparing for the puja ritual, however, can take some time, depending on the number of devotional acts you will perform. A classic puja includes 16 acts, including meditation, chanting, the reading of sacred texts, offerings of food and drink, and cleansing. You may also wish to present gifts of incense, flowers, and jewelry during the ritual. An altar or table covered by an altar cloth provides space for the representation of the divine and the seat of the puja. To begin, prepare your offerings and place them to the right of the altar. Then center yourself and release any stress you may feel葉he puja is meant to be a joyful experience. Typically, the ritual begins with the ringing of a bell and an invitation, and progresses from chanting to the cleansing and dressing of the deity to the offerings to meditation. You can modify your puja in any way you wish. 

Though the elaborate puja rituals performed in Hindu temples take place at sunrise, noon, sunset, and midnight, puja performed in the home primarily takes place in the mornings and evenings. When your intention is to invite your spiritual guides into your home and heart, however, the time of day matters little. With practice, you will create a direct path to spiritual oneness that allows you to experience an amazing sense of closeness that reinforces your connection with the divine. 

How to Know When to Hold on & When to Let Go.

Via Elyane Youssef

A few years back, I read Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom.

Morrie says something to Mitch that has stayed with me throughout the years. He tells him, “Don’t let go too soon, but don’t hang on too long.”

Reading this has opened up a new portal for me on the notion of letting go, and it has dramatically changed the course of my actions. Before swiftly letting go of anything, I now practice holding on first.

The fact is that we either let go and refuse to hold on, or we hold on and become incapable of letting go. And frequently, making the right decision at times of challenge confuses us—should we hold on to our job or look for a new one? Should we hang on to our relationship or let go of our partner? Should we move on from something/someone or give it another chance?

I’ve come to notice that the bulk of our life decisions revolve around these two questions: Do we hold on? Or, do we let go?

Although our life appears to be a set of “either/or” situations, I’ve come to understand that letting go and holding on are two interconnected actions that we must practice simultaneously.

As Morrie said: We shouldn’t let go too soon, but we also shouldn’t hang on too long.

Letting go too soon often forces us to question our decisions, and in no time, we might find ourselves sinking in the “what ifs.” Needless to say, it also eradicates the probability of things turning out well.

Hanging on too long is destructive and much more hazardous than letting go too soon. It keeps us stuck in a bad situation, and it drains us emotionally and mentally. In other words, hanging on too long often makes things worse.

So, how to know when we should hang on (but not for too long) and when we should let go (but not too soon)?

The answer is the combination of looking both inward and outward.

I’ve learned that the most imperative thing we can do when we make a decision is to scrutinize our own emotions—we must tune in to our gut.

>> How does the situation make us feel?

>> Is it making us unhappy or peaceful?

>> Do we feel we should hang on, or do we feel it’s time to let go?

This is tricky—because oftentimes, the mind tricks us into believing that we should hang on more, so we won’t let go too soon. The truth is, we might be hanging on because we’re unconsciously scared of letting go. This is why we must examine ourselves objectively and consciously, so we don’t fall into the trap of our mind.

If throughout the examination we feel that we can internally hang on a little more—then, by all means, we shouldn’t let go yet. So long as the situation keeps us at peace, it means the situation deserves more time.

Nonetheless, if we lose ourselves, become depleted of energy, or live in constant anxiety, it means the reality of the situation is reflecting itself upon us. In other words, it implies that the situation has become destructive, and we must let go.

Listening to our intuition can save us a whole lot of trouble, but we frequently dismiss it. Our intuition isn’t related to reasoning or emotions; it’s an instinctive feeling that is present within each one of us but is often blocked by our excessive thoughts.

Once we look inward, we must investigate the outward situation. What’s the status of the situation—has it become toxic? Has it reached the point of stagnation? How many chances have we given the situation or the person involved?

Oftentimes, it’s palpable when a situation or relationship dies, but we try to revive it to no avail. That said, it’s valuable to hang on when there’s space left for hanging on. However, if the situation has reached its limits, and we feel like we’re repeating the same destructive patterns, then it’s time to let go.

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Relephant:

How I Learned to Stop Holding on when it was Time to Let Go.

Three Questions we Need to ask when we’re Not Sure it’s Time to Let Go.

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Author: Elyane Youssef
Image: Unsplash/Matheus Ferrero