Daily Inspirational Message for October 19, 2013

Ever felt an angel’s breath in the gentle breeze? A teardrop in the falling rain? Hear a whisper amongst the rustle of leaves? Or been kissed by a lone snowflake? Nature is an angel’s favorite hiding place.
– Carrie Latet  

I sometimes counsel people who say that they are seeking love, who never put themselves out into the world where they might meet new people. Similarly, I often hear from people who are eager to receive signs and messages from Spirit, who don’t realize that they can help Spirit to fulfill their desire. One of the best ways to receive spiritual guidance and insights is to walk in nature, awake and alert for signs to come to us. Set off on a nature walk dedicated to aligning with new clarity, and do so with a sacred attitude. Ask the Universe to send you signs about whatever you most need guidance on right now, and just notice what you notice. If something grabs your attention, let it speak to you and answer the questions in your heart.

Persistent Positive Perspective

If you are resentful about the interruptions, you make those interruptions last even longer. When you get angry about being hurt, you prolong the pain.

Negativity wastes your time and your life. In return, it brings you nothing desirable.

Negativity causes you to see and experience troubles that otherwise would not be there. Negativity blinds you to the goodness that is all around you, and separates you from much of life’s richness.

When you feel resentment, anger, envy, despair, anxiety or any other negative feeling coming on, quickly let it go. Make the choice to not allow a negative perspective to drain value from your life.

It can be very easy to be negative in response to life’s various occurrences. Yet it becomes extremely difficult to live with the consequences of all that negativity.

It is actually just as easy to let the negativity go. Make that choice, and fill your life with the real treasures that come from a persistent positive perspective.

— Ralph Marston

Darwin & The Survival of the Kindest

Dacher Keltner, director of the Berkeley Social Interaction Laboratory, investigates what it means to live a good and meaningful life from the fascinating perspectives of neurobiology, emotion science, and evolutionary science. Contrary to the idea that Darwin saw human beings as competitive and self-interested, Keltner argues that Darwin saw the human species as profoundly social and caring. He explains that humans have developed remarkable tendencies toward kindness, play, generosity, reverence, and self-sacrifice that are vital to our survival as a species and are experienced through emotions such as compassion, gratitude, awe, embarrassment, and mirth. He discusses findings from the science of happiness that uncover familiar ways in which such goodness can be cultivated in oneself and in others.

http://www.dailygood.org/story/579/kindness-emotions-david-disalvo/

Daily Inspirational Message for October 18, 2013

Think of a dark night [of the soul] as part of organic living. To avoid it would be like choosing only artificial food that never spoils. As a natural person, you are going to feel a wide range of emotions and go through many different kinds of experiences. Over the course of your lifetime, parts of you will grow and blossom, some will rot. To be sad, grieving, struggling, lost, or hopeless is part of natural human life. By riding the wave of your dark night, you are more yourself, moving toward who you are meant to be.
– Thomas Moore  

We all go through rough spiritual patches when we feel lost, alone, unsure of ourselves, and even hopeless and disillusioned. Though it may seem at those times like it would be impossible to feel even worse, there is a way we can make those hard times even harder: by judging ourselves as failures for feeling the way we do. This is especially common among those of us in the helping professions like healers, counselors and therapists, for we tend to expect ourselves to be unfailingly happy, healthy, and available to help others. The more we beat ourselves up for feeling bad, the more we keep uncomfortable emotions at an arm’s length, which prevents us from consciously dealing with them and adds self-condemnation to an already heavy mix. It’s okay to feel down, discouraged and lost sometimes; indeed, it’s a sign that we’re fully awake, and are still questioning, changing, learning and growing.

Choose to Feel

When you don’t feel like smiling, that’s when a smile will absolutely do the most good. When you don’t feel like laughter, that’s when a laugh can completely change your whole outlook.

You do not have to live at the mercy of your feelings. You can choose to be the master of those feelings and the master of your actions.

It doesn’t matter whether it is easy or hard, reasonable or unreasonable to choose the way you act and feel. You can do it anyway.

Don’t use your feelings as an easy excuse to do the wrong thing. Use them as a well-informed guide for doing what is good and right.

Pay attention to your feelings, learn from them, experience, enjoy and appreciate them. But don’t let them enslave you.

Go ahead, feel life intensely. And make the choice to be in control and to live with intelligent, positively focused purpose.

— Ralph Marston

The Last Quiet Places

Gordon Hempton says that silence is an endangered species. He's an acoustic ecologist -- a collector of sound all over the world. He defines real quiet as presence -- not an absence of sound, but an absence of noise. The Earth as Gordon Hempton knows it is a "solar-powered jukebox." Quiet is a "think tank of the soul." In this interview we take in the world through his ears.

http://www.dailygood.org/story/545/the-last-quiet-place-krista-tippett/

Daily Inspirational Message for October 17, 2013

We can turn any situation around when we look at it through loving eyes.
- Laurine Pisarri

I used to believe that with the right amount of love, wisdom, effort and self-sacrifice, I could make any relationship work out eventually. Over time, I came to understand that there are some relationships that aren’t worth all of that effort, and refusing to let them go just ends up doing everyone more harm than good. Trying to force connections that aren’t a match to who we are, how we live, and how we want to feel is counter-productive. When we find ourselves endlessly stuck in a frustrating, disappointing relationship experience, the key to a breakthrough is still lots of love: loving ourselves enough to let go of what isn’t working so we can allow the Universe to guide us to something better.

Make It Great

It is nearly impossible for one person to quickly achieve great things. Yet it is within any person’s reach to do small things, again and again, until they add up to great results.

If you attempt to jump across a wide chasm in a single bound, you’ll fall helplessly to the bottom. However, when you walk carefully down one side, then across the floor and back up again, you’ll make it successfully to the other side.

What is it you seek to do, or have, or become, or experience? Work on it steadily, in challenging yet achievable steps, beginning right now.

Those who greedily want it all immediately end up with nothing but frustration. Those who persist, and then persist some more with one step after another, can reach whatever level they choose to reach.

The only way to truly enjoy the reward is to also enjoy the journey that brings you to it. Every moment, every obstacle, every advance and setback, every twist and turn is part of that journey.

Have faith, patience, purpose and unstoppable persistence. You’ll get there, and will indeed make it great.

— Ralph Marston

Love's Micro Moments of Connection

Is there any scientific basis for believing that love can stretch beyond the boundaries of our intimate relationships? What do the latest developments in human biology and psychology have to say? Barbara Fredrickson is better qualified than most other people to answer these questions. A professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a leading figure in the burgeoning "positive psychology" movement, Dr. Frederickson has worked to demonstrate that love for others -- all others -- can be consciously cultivated and applied in every sphere of life. This article shares more.

http://www.dailygood.org/story/538/love-s-micro-moments-of-connection-michael-edwards/

Daily Inspirational Message for October 16, 2013

Our mental and emotional diets determine our overall energy levels, health, and well-being to a far greater extent than most people realize. Every thought and feeling, no matter how big or small, impacts our inner energy reserves.
– Doc Childre and Howard Martin  

In my travels around the internet, I frequently encounter the amazing work of Masaru Emoto, which is always a compelling reminder of how powerful our thoughts, feelings and words really are. If simply being exposed to negative sentiments can debase water crystals, just imagine what happens to the cells of our bodies when we think things like ‘I hate my thighs/belly/breasts/nose/life.’ Imagine what happens to the cells in our own and our loved ones’ bodies when we say things like, ‘You’re driving me crazy’ or ‘You make me sick.’ Of course, it’s also a reminder that we can send positive energy to ourselves and others as well. When you think of your body, remember to say ‘thank you’ for all the ways it is beautiful and capable and blesses you each day. When you focus on your loved ones, speak words of kindness and appreciation. Say ‘I love you’ and visualize them shining bright like dazzlingly beautiful crystals.

Stronger Than the Problems

Do not seek to be free of the problems. Work to be stronger than the problems.

A life with no problems would be a life with no opportunities for growth or achievement. That’s not what you want, and it is certainly not realistic.

In the real world there are difficult problems, and there will always be. Yet there are also countless possibilities for progress and true fulfillment.

Don’t waste your time fantasizing about a life free of problems. Instead, use your imagination and your efforts to transform those problems into positive value.

Embrace each situation as it is, along with all the problems. Accept that the problems exist, and you can then begin to successfully work through them.

Life will always be challenging in one way or another. So rise to the challenges and use your unique set of abilities to make life great.

— Ralph Marston

10 Keys for Happier Living

We all want to be happy. And, happiness is the one thing we wish most for those we love. So, why is it so difficult? And, why aren't we working harder to make happiness our priority? "If you want to feel good, do good" -- this is just one of the many brilliant points carried forward by the Action for Happiness, a group of like-minded individuals from all walks of life who are intent on creating the conditions for a much happier society. Through their dedication and hard work, they have developed "10 Keys for Happier Living" -- which are simple actions that, when taken, consistently lead people to happier and more fulfilling lives. Fitting that these 10 keys form the acronym "Great Dream." Read more to find out what you can do today to create a little more happiness in this world.

http://www.dailygood.org/story/556/ten-keys-for-happier-living-actionforhappiness-org/

Daily Inspirational Message for October 15, 2013

When I surrendered my desire for security and sought serenity instead, I looked at my life with open eyes. I saw that I had much for which to be grateful. I felt humbled by my riches and regretted that I took for granted the abundance that already existed in my life. How could I expect more from the Universe when I didn’t appreciate what I already had? All I ask you to do today is to open ‘the eyes of your eyes’ and give your life another glance….then pause for a moment and give thanks.
– Sarah Ban Breathnach  

We all want more of something: more time, more peace, more love, more prosperity, more fun, more excitement, more health and well-being. Indeed, the list of all we want is endless, for the more we think about what we want, the more stuff comes to mind. I have to admit that I am as guilty as anyone of wanting more and failing to be grateful for all I already have. Are you grateful for the time you’ve been given to fill as you desire today? Are you grateful for all that you are free and able to do? Most of us have it backwards: we constantly think about all the stuff we want that we don’t yet have, when the key to manifesting more lies in focusing on all we do have with feelings of joy and enoughness.

Good Things You Deserve

Living richly isn’t just for someone else. You deserve a life that’s filled with richness and joy, and you deserve to be the person who makes it happen.

Good fortune isn’t just for someone else. You deserve to have good fortune, and you deserve the experience of creating that good fortune with your attitude and your efforts.

You deserve to have a lucky break. So get busy and do what it takes to give yourself one.

Let today be the day you stop waiting for something good to come along. Get up, get going, and make something good, valuable and meaningful out of what you already have.

Go ahead and give yourself all the good things you deserve. Feel how great it feels to be positive, focused, helpful, compassionate, caring, productive and joyful.

You deserve the best in life precisely because you’re fully capable of making it happen. Your opportunity to live richly is here and now, so put it to outstanding use without another moment’s delay.

— Ralph Marston

How to Design Neighborhoods for Happiness

Over the past 40 years we've seen a shrinking sense of community in America and this writer points at the design of our neighborhoods as a key factor in how to bring us back together. He writes about the New Urbanism, an "architectural movement to build new communities (and revitalize existing ones) by maximizing opportunities for social exchange: public plazas, front porches, corner stores, coffee shops, neighborhood schools, narrow streets, and sidewalks."

http://www.dailygood.org/story/534/how-to-design-our-neighborhoods-for-happiness-jay-walljasper/

Daily Inspirational Message for October 14, 2013

Once you understand the way life really works – the flow of energy, information, and intelligence that directs every moment – then you begin to see the amazing potential in that moment. Mundane things just don’t bother you anymore. You become lighthearted and full of joy.
– Deepak Chopra

It’s amazing how shifting into a higher spiritual perspective instantly erases my worries and quiets my mind, how it centers me in the now and paints the world in beautiful colors. It’s the same world that had me upset or anxious moments before, of course; the difference is that I’m now remembering that what really matters is indestructible, and that peace is available to me in every moment. We are all so much more than the mundane stuff we worry about. The more we look for the bigger picture and the higher plan behind whatever may be happening in the moment, the easier it becomes to relax and trust that all is well. This is one of the greatest benefits of meditation; it blesses us with the distance and objectivity to see the big spiritual picture and how all the little things that tend to worry us are integral pieces of a beautiful whole.

Your Best Day Yet

You are here, on this day, with dreams, desires, challenges, opportunities, and the ability to successfully deal with it all. So give this day a solid, meaningful, positive purpose and claim the great value it offers.

Make the choice to make some progress in a direction of your choosing. Instead of merely letting the time pass, put life and love, substance and experience into that time.

Think of what a great opportunity you have with each day that comes your way. You have the opportunity to make a difference, to truly change the world, and to live your precious life in new and joyful ways.

Look back and recall the best day you’ve ever experienced, and make the choice to make this one even better. The quality of each day depends on what you put into it, so start right now to put your best into this day that you have.

Instead of merely wishing for what could be or complaining about what has been, you can do something much more powerful. You can act, right here and now, to significantly raise the quality of your life experience.

Today is happening, so take an active and positively supportive role. Feel your authentic purpose, live this day with that purpose, and make it the best day yet.

— Ralph Marston

Turning the Tables on Success

"Two of the defining qualities of great leaders are the ability to make others better and the willingness to put the group's interests first. The employees with the greatest potential to excel and rise will be those whose success reverberates to benefit those around them." So, what does it take to be a great leader? In this piece, Wharton Business School professor Adam Grant describes givers, matchers, and takers -- and makes a compelling, evidence-based case for why generosity and compassion make for better leaders and happier, more productive organizations.

http://www.strategy-business.com/article/00175?gko=20eb9

Daily Inspirational Message for October 13, 2013

Be kind. Even when you feel there is no kindness in the world. Even when you feel like there is none left inside of you. There is. There always is.
– Jennifer Pastiloff  

I have a friend I love deeply who often pushes me to the edge of my patience and good will. She can be extraordinarily fun, caring and supportive, but she can also drive me totally crazy. Several times a year, I think I’ve had it with her and the time to end our friendship has finally come. After I calm down, of course, I find that I can hang in there a little longer, and then I summon the tolerance and love to accept her as she is – warts and all. This has been going on for decades now, and it has taught me that even when we feel like we just can’t give anymore, when we really love someone, we always can, and squeezing our hearts for those last drops of love and kindness always proves positive in the end.

5 Ways to Ease Envy

Ah, the green glow of envy that clings desperately to our heels, and manifests often in the most unexpected of ways. Envy knows no rest, as we find ourselves surrounded each day by those we feel to be better equipped, better looking...or just simply better! So, how do we find relief from its crushing grasp? Author Juliana Breines offers her approach to disarming the little green-eyed monster before he even has the opportunity to strike.

http://www.dailygood.org/story/574/five-ways-to-ease-your-envy-juliana-breines/