Tag Archive for: energy

 

Your heart is much more than a biological muscle. It signifies energy, vibrancy, life, love, hope, happiness, vitality, strength, and spirit. When we examine our lives and the priorities that we place on our routines—careers, finances, relationships, successes, and failures—none of them carry much importance if we do not have our health as a base to support everything else. We strive to continually improve the quality of our lives, our sense of well-being, our energy levels, and our mental capacities.

Life is a gift, and good health and a good heart should be our most prized possessions. Yet too often, we fail to treasure our health and our hearts until those blessings are gone. Many of my patients seem to live in a state of constant chaos. They perceive their lives to be problem-filled, busy and unsettled, and they lurch from one crisis to another.

Sandra is one such example. A busy single mom of three young boys, Sandra works full time. She drops her children off at school each morning, picks them up at the end of the day, rushes home to prepare a meal, and barely has time to help them with homework before it’s time to get ready for bed. Hers is a busy life that many of us can relate to. She is constantly stressed and worried, fearful of the next crisis around the corner. Sandra’s life is out of control. It is no wonder that she is on several blood pressure medications and is constantly in my office with chest pain and palpitation.

Living in a constant state of chaos serves a purpose for Sandra. By keeping her attention and energy focused on putting out fires, she avoids facing the root causes of her stress. If external events are to blame, she does not have to assume personal responsibility for her actions or behaviors. This is the common thinking pattern of many. We defer to the chaos and allow it to sap our energy, disrupt our relationships, feed our addictions, and subject us to long-term health concerns.

But we have much more control over our lives than we give ourselves credit for. We may not hold sway over the many external events that seem to pitch our lives into a constant state of crisis. Yet we have power over something just as critical: our own reactions to those events.

Health and a vibrant, vivacious heart are not wholly physical things. The life we desire, the health we desire, and the quality of our hearts and bodies are first created within our mind’s eye. I share many effective techniques with my patients to help us manage stress, bring order to our chaotic lives, and find deep and lasting peace with ourselves and with the world around us.

-   Build sources of renewable energy. Your body responds to stress with adrenaline, but adrenaline is a fast-burning fuel source that leaves you depleted in the long run. Renewable energy is a long-term well of power that you can draw on repeatedly. How do you build renewable energy? Spend time with family, friends and loved ones, doing things you enjoy. Nurture your soul with art, music, dance, and beautiful things. Love yourself first, and you will start to build boundless reserves of energy from within.

-   Lower your stress response. Meditation, nature walks, and quiet times will help you focus on the present and release stress. Play a musical instrument. Go dancing. Tour a museum and embrace an unusual piece of art. Breathe. Rather than letting stress be a source of agitation, train your physical body to relax. Let stress be a minor element of your day, rather than letting it define the whole day.

-   Connect with your inner self. Mindful meditation creates the right state of mind that will allow you to develop a relationship with your inner guide. Take an honest look at who you are inside and listen to your inner voice. Develop a relationship with your true self. Engage in a conversation with yourself. You may not always be aware of your inner voice – but it is always aware of you.

-   Learn to become present in the moment. This is perhaps most important of all. Focus on a single moment in time. Become aware of that moment. Savor it. Appreciate it. Fill your senses with it. Let the past go and don’t worry about tomorrow. All that matters is today, this moment. Embrace today, one single moment at a time. Don’t even try to capture it on camera – just be content to let it reside in your memory. Each moment is precious. Savor it.

By building peace within, you will create a powerful defense against the demands of a chaotic life. You will turn things around and regain control of your choices, instead of letting external events control you.

A strong sense of inner peace is something that no external factor can disrupt. More importantly, your inner peace will become a source of renewable energy that will keep nurturing you no matter what. You will have boundless energy and endless vitality that no amount of stress or chaos can take away. Make the right choices, and celebrate your vibrant heart!

Dr. Cynthia Thaik

Dr. Thaik's book, Your Vibrant Heart, includes many more insights about how to nurture and care for your heart on both a physical and emotional level. I invite you to order your copy today at http://www.yourvibrantheart.com/book.

Dr. Cyntha Thaik is a Harvard-trained HEART doctor that practices with her HEART, delivering security and peace of mind to her patients by orchestrating behavioral and mindset shifts to evoke lasting transformational changes in their health, well-being, vitality, energy, and creativity. You can learn more about her at www.drcynthia.com

Does your home attract positive people and prosperity? Are you living in and enjoying your environment? Whether the answer is no, or yes, the hints I am sharing will benefit you

   

Welcome Home

Walking into a familiar haven after a day’s work or outing can feel so unassuming. There is a slight adrenalin rush knowing you are about to step into your own sanctuary.  The shoes get kicked off; the kettle put on to boil and it is time to mellow out with a cup of tea, coffee and for some, a wine. The first sip is ecstasy. Within your own four walls, whether it is a caravan, tent, mansion or shanty, you are allowed to be ‘YOU’.

 

The tangible ‘bricks and mortar’ aspect of your home can absorb and reflect your personality. It attracts what and who you are. Is it attracting the abundance you deserve? Have you control over your environment?

 

Tips on How to Improve the Energies of your Home

I am not a feng shui expert and have given up on working out directions and all the technicalities. I am an intuitive and go with what feels right for me and advise that you do the same. Let’s start the tour at the threshold, which is described as the mouth that nourishes the home.)

 

  1. A welcome mat serves as more than a shoe wiper. The word ‘WELCOME’ tells the world that you are ready to receive visitors bearing gifts of friendship, love, happiness, wealth and health. It also relays the message that you are happy to give of your hospitality.
  2. An exemplar passage way allows an air flow throughout the home. This is lost when the front and back door are in line, or there is a mirror throwing the energy back.  A painting of a water-fall will have a similar effect to a mirror.  Chi leaves as quickly as it arrives when it is reflected.
  3. A bad omen is to have the toilet in direct sight of the entry way. If this is the case, always leave the lavatory door closed.  Regardless of toilet position, always leave the cover down. Apart from the germs, it is said that money flushes down the potty that has its lid up.
  4. Do not be in the habit of dumping shopping bags, shoes, umbrellas and so on at the front door. Keep the area clear of clutter.
  5. A small table near the entrance with a few crystals, a bell, flowers or plant is ideal. An angel photo or statue of Archangel Michael is a reminder that the angels protect your space.
  6. A candle glow or small light guides the energy towards your home. We have a candle burning in our entrance area with a fake $100 note underneath as a stimulant.
  7. If your home is facing mountains or you live in a dry area, a flowing fountain can be placed in the front yard or near the entrance. Mountains supporting the energy from the back and water at the front are optimal.  Too much drenching though can drown your fortune.
  8. Just as I explained the entrance as the mouth, the living areas can be the heart of the home. Fresh fruit, flowers, plants, crystals, shells and happy family snaps all contribute to the semblance.
  9. Ward off negative radiation from electronics with a combination of clear quartz crystals and heavy stones such as Black Tourmaline, Smoky Quartz or Jasper.
  10.   Set the mood with sound. Sing, put on an uplifting CD, have fun with a bell or drum and listen with your eyes … you will notice the difference.
  11. Laugh! If you are a grumpy-bum then visitors to your home will feel uncomfortable. Laughter lifts the vibrations.
  12. Pets are wonderful, but be aware that savage animals are negative to have in your home, whereas cuddly pets give a loving cosy feel. Kitty Litter should be well away from the living area.
  13.  Clean your home regularly. You don’t have to have it spotless, but at least pleasantly clean and neat. If you are a busy person with little time for cleaning then at the least always empty your kitchen garbage daily.
  14.  Dark homes are gloomy. Think about how much natural light filters through. Are your walls too dark? Are the drapes too heavy? Contrary to this is a home in tropical climates with too much light.
  15.  Name your place of residence.

 

No matter where you live, the bottom-line is how happy you are in your abode. If you would rather be elsewhere, but are restricted then consider following a few of the suggested hints and watch the difference.

 

Name Your Home

The name of our home is ‘Tir-Na-Nog’.   ‘Tir-Na-Nog’ is an Irish fairy-tale describing a place of utopia where happiness lasts forever and ever.  As legend tells, it is an island located beyond the edge of the map.  The journey is dangerous and hard to endure, but the destination is rewarding. One might be lucky to receive an invitation from the fairy habitants, in which case the passage of transit is made easy. Suffering, sickness and death do not exist in the ‘Land of the Young’ as it is a place of eternal youth and beauty.

 

Affirmation for the Home
This affirmation can be written on the back of a drawing or a picture of your dream home.
“I am now living in, and enjoying the energy of my dream home. My home attracts only positive people and prosperity.”

 

Dawn Alice is a Brisbane Psychic and Author, who has superior knowledge of the Tarot and Numerology with expertise in the area of metaphysics. Dawn Alice is also a Reiki Master with a deep understanding of Crystal and Colour Therapy.  Visit Dawn's Profile at http://bit.ly/2mPLu1P

 

Are rituals part of your life? Maybe you'd like to better understand what I'm asking before you commit to an answer. In my way of thinking, a ritual is a prescribed or established rite, ceremony, proceeding, or service. Lots of things that happen in religious establishments qualify as rituals too, but that's not specifically what I'm talking about here.

During a recent coaching call we were exploring the ways I could restart some habits. It was suggested that the use of ritual might help. The conversation took some interesting twists and turns, and I got intrigued with this concept of ritual helping make and break habits. It would be useful for me if I could figure out how to make it work.

Personally, I think rituals are fun. Energizing, even! They add depth and breadth to any number of activities, from trivial to important. For example, Wayne Dyer had a ritual of giving thanks three times as he arose each morning. Boulder, Colorado, used to have a ritual of the world's shortest St. Patrick's Day parade in front of the only Irish bar in town at the time; the green semi-truck that was part of the parade was longer than the parade route.

You may participate in some rituals yourself, like tailgate parties before (during and after too?) football games, class reunions, Mardi Gras, the Tooth Fairy, brushing your teeth before bed, Cinco de Mayo, the girls' or boys' night out, and reading or saying prayers before bed - you get the idea, and can most likely expand on this list.

You may be wondering about now, how can ritual help with creating or breaking habits? In some ways, a ritual is a habit. From that perspective, it comes about because it has importance to you.

To start with, let me point out my client was de-energized by some of the missing habits that formerly were enjoyed. And disgusted by habits that had snuck in.

When I used to wear contacts my morning ritual was to get dressed, comb my hair, put my contacts in, and brush my teeth. When I quit wearing contacts my toothbrushing habit suffered. The ritual was broken, and days of fuzzy teeth ensued. Ick! It became vital to me to find a way to get that done so I could stand being with myself. Leaving the toothbrush and tooth powder out at night triggered me to use them in the morning. Ta da! Then, when I wanted to start stretching every morning, I chained that desired new habit to the trigger of brushing my teeth. My morning ritual is entrenched now, and I love it!

Adopt a similar thought pattern to start the new habits: start with a ritual that was already in place - going to morning prayer. That would be the trigger for a new habit - walking for thirty minutes afterward. Chaining to that triggered-event was the habit of going to the organic green grocer on the way home to buy fresh produce for lunch and/or dinner. After those three activities were finished, going to the office to tackle the first task of the day, the one that took the most concentration, focus, and fresh brain was next. Hence, a new ritual was born - comprised of four activities.

You can do the same thing with habits you want to form. Use anchors, triggers, and chains of activities.

Then how can ritual be used to break habits? First, what is the habit you want to break and why do you want to break it? Those are important questions to answer before figuring out how to use the concept of ritual to help you drop that habit. What I'm asking is, do you really want to break the habit - or do you just think you should, or someone told you that you should.

OK, do you have the answer to those questions yet? Now, what activity, thought, or behavior happens just before or after the habit you're thinking about breaking? Let's say, for this exercise, that you have three chained events. Presuming those are desirable events, think about what habit can you substitute for the undesirable habit. When the first event happens, replace the second event with the new and desirable event, and then connect the third event to the new one.

Or, if you don't have a habit you want to substitute, here's a suggestion of how to remove it. Consciously break the chain of events so you can remove the middle event (the bad habit), and then connect the first and third events into a new chain. That lets the first event in the chain quit acting as a trigger for the second event, and instead trigger the original third event. The original third event is now the second event. Follow that?

It's like fixing the backyard swing by removing the bad link. The swingset I had as a kid had chains, not ropes, to connect the swing seat to the swingset frame, making that analogy easy for me.

You have now created a new ritual that supports the habits you want in your life. Cool, huh.

Taking control of your life by introducing new, desirable-to-you habits, or old, undesirable-to-you habits energizes you. There are lots of wins in this concept. I hope you'll play with it to make it work for you too.

Kit Cassingham is the Chief Energizing Officer at LIFE (Live In Focused Energy). She's been coaching professionals in energizing their lives for vitality, productivity, alertness, and satisfaction since 1989. Kit lives an energized life, and continuously looks for ways to help improve that lifestyle for herself and others.

Take control of your life through your attitude, health habits, and energizing habits. Kit's LIFE coaching is the answer to help you create the productive and energetic life you aspire to, and to help you age gracefully. https://www.LiveInFocusedEnergy.com is the doorway to that life.

5 Ways to Protect Your Most essential commodity

Not too long ago I was at a leadership conference where one of the keynotes talked about protecting the entrepreneurs’ greatest commodity – our energy. Suzanne’s key comment was “how you spend your energy is how you measure your success.”

Boy did that strike a cord!

Why? Because every entrepreneur I know at some point on their ascent to success has to take a look at how they have used (or abused) their most vital lifeline – their energy.

Think about it. As an entrepreneur we are everything to our company. We are the creative spark, the leader, the manager, the product fulfiller, the customer service rep, the sales and marketing team (you get the point, right?) The one thing that keeps us going is our energy. What do we do if our energy is gone?

Let’s take a look at Sue. Sue has been going non-stop for months. She sleeps about 4 hours a night, has 15 – 20 crises a day, and truly believes that every single idea she has is a million-dollars waiting to happen. So every idea must be completed yesterday. Sue’s husband and friends haven’t seen her in weeks. She can’t possibly slow down for food, let alone a social event.

One day Sue finds herself feeling a bit sluggish. Pushing through it (I mean she is a super-hero after all, what’s a little tiredness) she finds herself two weeks later with a little cold. The cold turns into a chronic illness that takes over her life and takes down her momentum. Confused, frustrated and overwhelmed, Sue finds that she can barely get up to eat, let alone accomplish any work.

Now this may sound a bit extreme – but is it really? I don’t think so. I can’t tell you how many people I know who have literally been drop-kicked out of the game because their energy gave out. They got sick, tired, and depleted. (Yes, I admit, me too.)

So how do we protect this most vital commodity that is so precious? Here are a few ideas.

  1. Always take care of yourself first. No matter what. No excuses. Workout at the gym, eat healthy, meditate, have down time, or get a massage once a month. You must take care of yourself. It’s a lot less expensive to invest in your energy when you are healthy than if you are sick.
  2. Don’t Try to Do Everything Alone. It’s exhausting. It’s overwhelming. And any successful person will tell you it’s impossible. Figure out a way to start delegating and getting support. Learn to apply the golden delegation rule of “opportunity cost.” If you can’t do it well and it costs someone else less to do it, outsource it!
  3. Learn to Say No. Oh this one is SO hard for most of us. You have to say no sometimes in order to support the “greater yes.” That means, in order to achieve our goals we have to say no to other people’s requests sometimes. It’s OK; you will still be loved and needed if you can’t do it all.
  4. Know what’s Important. And even more critically, what’s not. If it doesn’t fit with your passion, values and goals, don’t do it. No matter what. Someone else will do it and everything will be just fine.
  5. Release Tolerations. Tolerations are the things you put up with. Incomplete decisions, negative people, broken items, unresolved issues, etc. Tolerations can be HUGE energy drains, especially when it goes on and on. Make a plan to handle the tolerations in your life.

One example of how I protect my energy: After I give a presentation or attend a long conference, I always book a day or two off from the office. I’ll usually get a massage. I’ll use the time to put into action the nuggets from the event. If I skip it, I find I’m completely loopy and exhausted and worthless to my clients.

In Suzanne’s keynote presentation, she wrapped up by saying “get a sense of humor.” I couldn’t agree more. The world is only as frustrating as we see it. When we go through life with a sense of humor, we can find the thread of joy in any situation. I found in my own life that infusing every situation with laughter could always take the stress away.

Life is too short to waste our most precious commodity. Protect your energy and you will see how your success multiplies. Deplete it and you will see your success shrink. The choice is yours. I hope you chose to be good to yourself.

Melanie Benson Strick, The Entrepreneur's Success Coach, teaches entrepreneurs how to stop feeling overwhelmed so they can create more money, more freedom and more prestige.Co-author of Visionary Women Inspiring the World: 12 Paths to Personal Power and contributing author to Entrepreneurial Spirits , Melanie is co-creator of The Unstoppable Goals Method: How To Turn Your Ideas into Income in 90 Days. If you are ready to experience a breakthrough in your business, sign up for a 25-minute personalized “Business Breakthrough” by emailing us at assist@successconnections.com. Success Connections
Melanie Benson Strick
14320 Ventura Blvd., #222
Sherman Oaks, CA 91423
Telephone: (
877) 830-3139
info@successconnections.com 

We live in an age still governed in many ways, by our obsession with machines. They seem efficient, hard-working, productive and we try so hard to be as efficient, hard-working and productive in the same mould. We forget, sometimes, in the mad rush of to-do lists and ever increasing production, that we are human, that we are more than machines, that we are also creative beings. I certainly need reminding fairly frequently to stop, slow down, to find time for free time and rest.

rest_idleness

Not too long ago I was at a leadership conference where one of the keynotes, Suzanne de Passe of Motown Productions, talked about protecting the entrepreneurs’ greatest commodity – our energy. Suzanne’s key comment was “how you spend your energy is how you measure your success.”
Boy did that strike a cord!

Why? Because every entrepreneur I know at some point on their ascent to success has to take a look at how they have used (or abused) their most vital lifeline – their energy.

Think about it. As an entrepreneur we are everything to our company. We are the creative spark, the leader, the manager, the product fulfiller, the customer service rep, the sales and marketing team (you get the point, right?) The one thing that keeps us going is our energy. What do we do if our energy is gone?

Let’s take a look at Sue. Sue has been going non-stop for months. She sleeps about 4 hours a night, has 15 – 20 crises a day, and truly believes that every single idea she has is a million-dollars waiting to happen. So every idea must be completed yesterday. Sue’s husband and friends haven’t seen her in weeks. She can’t possibly slow down for food, let alone a social event.

One day Sue finds herself feeling a bit sluggish. Pushing through it (I mean she is a super-hero after all, what’s a little tiredness) she finds herself two weeks later with a little cold. The cold turns into a chronic illness that takes over her life and takes down her momentum. Confused, frustrated and overwhelmed, Sue finds that she can barely get up to eat, let alone accomplish any work.

Now this may sound a bit extreme – but is it really? I don’t think so. I can’t tell you how many people I know who have literally been drop-kicked out of the game because their energy gave out. They got sick, tired, and depleted. (Yes, I admit, me too.)

So how do we protect this most vital commodity that is so precious? Here are a few ideas.
Always take care of yourself first. No matter what. No excuses. Workout at the gym, eat healthy, meditate, have down time, or get a massage once a month. You must take care of yourself. It’s a lot less expensive to invest in your energy when you are healthy than if you are sick.

Don’t Try to Do Everything Alone. It’s exhausting. It’s overwhelming. And any successful person will tell you it’s impossible. Figure out a way to start delegating and getting support. Learn to apply the golden delegation rule of “opportunity cost.” If you can’t do it well and it costs someone else less to do it, outsource it!

Learn to Say No. Oh this one is SO hard for most of us. You have to say no sometimes in order to support the “greater yes.” That means, in order to achieve our goals we have to say no to other people’s requests sometimes. It’s OK; you will still be loved and needed if you can’t do it all.

Know what’s Important. And even more critically, what’s not. If it doesn’t fit with your passion, values and goals, don’t do it. No matter what. Someone else will do it and everything will be just fine.
Release Tolerations. Tolerations are the things you put up with. Incomplete decisions, negative people, broken items, unresolved issues, etc. Tolerations can be HUGE energy drains, especially when it goes on and on. Make a plan to handle the tolerations in your life.

One example of how I protect my energy: After I give a presentation or attend a long conference, I always book a day or two off from the office. I’ll usually get a massage. I’ll use the time to put into action the nuggets from the event. If I skip it, I find I’m completely loopy and exhausted and worthless to my clients.

In Suzanne’s keynote presentation, she wrapped up by saying “get a sense of humor.” I couldn’t agree more. The world is only as frustrating as we see it. When we go through life with a sense of humor, we can find the thread of joy in any situation. I found in my own life that infusing every situation with laughter could always take the stress away.

Life is too short to waste our most precious commodity. Protect your energy and you will see how your success multiplies. Deplete it and you will see your success shrink. The choice is yours. I hope you chose to be good to yourself.

..............................................
Melanie Benson Strick, The Entrepreneur's Success Coach, teaches entrepreneurs how to stop feeling overwhelmed so they can create more money, more freedom and more prestige.Co-author of Visionary Women Inspiring the World: 12 Paths to Personal Power and contributing author to Entrepreneurial Spirits , Melanie is co-creator of The Unstoppable Goals Method: How To Turn Your Ideas into Income in 90 Days. If you are ready to experience a breakthrough in your business, sign up for a 25-minute personalized “Business Breakthrough” by emailing us at assist@successconnections.com.
Success Connections
Melanie Benson Strick
14320 Ventura Blvd., #222
Sherman Oaks, CA 91423
Telephone: (877) 830-3139
info@successconnections.com

I love the beach! How about you? For me it is wonderful to be in nature, to hear the ocean waves crashing and feel the hot sand under my feet and between my toes. I thrill to the icy water on my skin and the sparkling ocean air. It is rejuvenating on so many levels, both conscious and unconscious, and helps restore balance to my life.

Have you ever noticed how nature parallels the rhythms that move through our lives? The tide comes in, and it goes out, comes in and goes out. This is just like our breath cycle, we breathe in, we breathe out. We hardly give this a thought. However, life is cycling through us at multiple frequencies, from those that are very short, as in breathing, to those that are longer, as in the path from birth to death.

If we go a little deeper into the cycles of our lives we see that both expansion AND contraction are necessary and normal phases of being powerful, of being human.

Let me give you an example. In the past, under the false belief that I should operate like a machine and produce results 24/7, 365 days a year, I struggled desperately to maximize my output and productivity. In frustration one day, I tried to figure out what, exactly, increased my energy and what decreased it. So I created a spreadsheet. I listed out about 15 or 20 different factors that I suspected had an impact on my energy level, things like amount of sleep, types and amount of food, water intake, caffeine intake, exercise, work demands, amount of outdoor exposure including sunlight, the experience of stressful or inspiring events in my life, etc., etc. I had it all on there. Then I set up a 6-month timeline and captured what I did each day and what I experienced in these areas. I then rated my energy level for the day on a scale of 1 to 5. 1 represented super low, basically dragging my ass through the day, and 5 was outstanding and amazing energy, where I effortlessly and magically moved through my day. (Don't you love those days?)

You know what I discovered? No matter what I did, no matter how much demand there was on me, my energy CYCLED. There was a very pronounced weekly cycle, where on a pretty routine seven-day cycle I had two days of very high four or five-level energy, two days of very low, one or two-level energy, and about three days of average or three-level energy. I was blown away to see this cycle running through my life, REGARDLESS of how much caffeine I had, how good my diet was, how much sleep I was getting, or whether I exercised or not! No matter what was going on in my life and what I was doing, my energy levels were cycling in this sinusoidal-like fashion, from high through the middle ground, down to low, then back through middle ground, and up to high again.

Ever since then I've watched this- it is a feature of life itself! It's reflected in the seasons: winter is low-energy season; summer is high-energy; and fall and spring are the transitional, or average-energy months. Energy comes up in the spring months, and falls in the autumn.

You can see these cycles in the dynamic of a day, as well. Energy is at its lowest ebb at night, whereas dawn sees energy rising. At midday energy is the highest, and then at sunset energy is decreasing, on its way back to the low point of the nighttime.

And you can also witness the phenomenon in your breath cycle. Most people think of the breath as only a two-phase process, in and out, but it's actually a four-phase process when you include the two moments of transition between the in and out phases. So, when you've fully exhaled, that is the lowest energy point (equivalent to winter). Then there is the transitional moment when you stop exhaling and begin to inhale, where the energy turns and begins to go up (equivalent to spring). When you've inhaled and your lungs are full that's the moment of peak energy (or summer), and then when you stop inhaling and begin to exhale the energy turns and heads back down (or fall).

My point is: Energy cycles, in the Universe AND in you. It expands and it contracts. And this is NORMAL. To the extent you are aware of this, you can be fully present in both the expansion AND contraction stages, to partner with it.

The problem is we tend to resist the contraction phases. It feels like death to us, and we are afraid of death - we don't like to think of or experience things dying, so we try to be busy ALL THE TIME. However, by doing this we totally miss and disrespect the opportunity that the contraction cycle is: it is from the contraction that expansion can even take place. You cannot have one without the other, just as you cannot breathe in if you don't breathe out.

The key is to be wise and aware of this expansion and contraction; we must recognize it as a normal and natural part of the path and of life itself. Because of this, you can embrace the contraction, knowing expansion is sure to follow. In the darker times of your life you can take comfort in the knowledge that change will follow. The tide goes out, and the tide comes in, the breath goes out and the breath goes in. If you pay attention you'll see this pattern of expansion and contraction, of cycles, in YOUR life too. By consciously witnessing the process you can be more powerful through all phases, resisting nothing and allowing it all.

Try this: Reflect upon the nature of contraction in your life, or those times when the metaphorical tide is going out. Do you recognize and embrace these times in your life? Do you fear them? Do you cling to expansion, resisting the contraction and "trying to make things happen," trying to make the tide come in when it is naturally going out?

Can you improve your ability to "be with" the times of contraction in your life? It is indeed possible. Just like you can be with your exhale, knowing and trusting that the inhale is right behind it. It's a matter of awareness, trust, and allowing. You don't have to make the tides come back in, they will come back in on their own. Once you realize this you can relax! With conscious, trusting and allowing practice, they will come back in your life, as well.

Developing your ability to be strong during the contraction phases of your life is a major key to your mojo!

................................................

Roger Kenneth Marsh is a Spiritual Life Coach & creator of the Major Good Mojo System. He has an engineering degree, MBA, is a Certified Life Coach, HeartMath® Provider, and Passion Test® Facilitator. Get his book "NexGen Human" on Amazon.com, and FREE CD "3 Keys to Major Good Mojo" at http://www.majorgoodmojo.com/free-cd

In this short talk, Arianna Huffington shares a small idea that can awaken much bigger ones: the power of a good night's sleep. Instead of bragging about our sleep deficits, she urges us to shut our eyes and see the big picture: We can sleep our way to increased productivity and happiness -- and smarter decision-making.