Objective: Increase the amount of compassion in the world.

Expected Results: A personal sense of peace.

Instructions: This exercise can be done anywhere that people congregate (airports, mals, parks, beaches, etc.). It should be done on strangers, unobtrusively, from some distance. Try to do all five steps on the same person.

1. With attention on the person, repeat to yourself:
   

   “Just like me, this person is seeking some happiness for his/her life.”

2. With attention on the person, repeat to yourself:
   

   “Just like me, this person is trying to avoid suffering in his/her life.”

3. With attention on the person, repeat to yourself:
   
   

   “Just like me, this person has known sadness, loneliness and despair.”

4. With attention on the person, repeat to yourself:
   

   “Just like me, this person is seeking to fulfill his/her needs.”

5. With attention on the person, repeat to yourself:
   

   “Just like me, this person is learning about life.”

Variations:

1. To be done by couples and family members to increase understanding of each other.
2. To be done on old enemies and antagonists still present in your memories.
3. To be done on other life forms.

—————-
This is one of thirty exercises that can be found in Resurfacing: Techniques for Exploring Consciousness by Harry Palmer.

1. Eat fruit and vegetables every day. They bring you into contact with the energies of sun and earth, as well as providing vital nutrients and boosting the immune system.

2. Buy local farm-fresh food. Most supermarket produce is stored in warehouses and then shipped over from destinations all around the world before it reaches our shelves. During this time, the nutrient content of the food has often deteriorated. Buying farm-fresh produce ensures that your food is as nutritious as possible, as well as supporting local farmers.

3. Buy organic foods. Although expensive, organic foods are generally free of the pesticide and fertilizer residues that damage health. They also tend to be richer in immune-boosting phytonutrients because they have not been grown in the depleted soils used for standard varieties.

______________
Source:
1001 Ways to Relax by Mike George

If you are at all familiar with Louise Hay, then you know the wonderful work she’s done relating our illnesses to the underlying fears and negative emotions. Once she’s identified the fear to the illness, she then devised ‘new thought patterns’ around the underlying problem to help us reversing the impact of the illness. From time to time, I’ll share some of her wisdom.

Instead of doing random illnesses, I plan to use the Spinal Misalignments as a guide, as the whole body and the array of possible issues is covered here.

What: Vertebrae 1L
Location: Lower Back Region, Lumbar Spine

Areas Covered:
Large intestines, inguinal rings.

Physical Effects:
Constipation, colitis, dysentery, diarrhea, some ruptures or hernias.

Probably Cause:
A crying for love and a need to be lonely. Insecurity.

New Thought Pattern:
I am safe in the Universe and all Life loves me and supports me.

____________________________
Source: Louise L. Hay, Heal your body, Hay House, Inc. (c) 1982.

From The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Simple Living by Georgene Lockwood, 2000.

Chapter 8: Location, Location! The Simple Truth about Where You Live

“The country has its charms — cheapness for one.” Robert Smith Surtees

The Least You Need to Know

1. Before making a move, you can make a lot of progress toward your simple living lifestyle right where you are.
2. After researching your own community, you may realize you’re better off staying put.
3. City, suburb, or country — each has its own set of advantages, opportunities and challenges.
4. You’ll make an easier transitionh to a new community if you send plenty of time there in advance, get involved right away, and learn to adapt to the way things are done.

Things to Consider when Contemplating whether to Move or Stay Put

For each catetgory, identify the advantages and disadvantages of where you are now and where you are thinking of moving to (or multiple other places, if that’s appropriate.)

1. Cost of Living.
2. Safety, crime and law enforcement.
3. Weather.
4. Health.
5. Environment.
6. Character.
7. Education.
8. Natural resources.
9. Transportation.
10. Culture and Entertainment.

“The greatest loss of time is delay and expectation, which depend upon the future. We let go the present, which we have in our power, and look forward to that which depends upon chance, and so relinquish a certainty for an uncertainty.” — Seneca

“Never think that God’s delays are God’s denials. Hold on; hold fast; hold out. Patience is genius.” — Comte de Buffon

“Don’t be discouraged by a failure. It can be a positive experience. Failure is, in a sense, the highway to success, inasmuch as every discovery of what is false leads us to seek earnestly after what is true, and every fresh experience points out some form of error which we shall afterwards carefully avoid..” –John Keats

“I define attachment as an inordinate need to have something occur in a specific way, at a specific time, in a specific sequence, etc. and/or an inability to let go of that which no longer serves. We may become attached to unhealthy habits, rigid mindsets, negative thinking, defense strategies, projected schedules, our own plans vs. the plan of Spirit, the first idea vs. the best idea, etc.” — Neva Howell, The Moon Lodge Visions Handbook

By my colleague Greg Walsh of www.gpwalshcoaching.com. Thanks for this great article on peace, Greg!.

Peace is your natural state. Actually so is happiness, contentment, creativity, compassion, pretty much every desirable characteristic. I am sure everyone has heard that from some spiritual or personal growth teacher. I am pretty sure everyone reading this believes it. But the questions invariably arises. “If peace is my natural state, why don’t I feel it?”

Great question and the answer is surprisingly simple. You don’t feel peace because peace is not a feeling.

Feelings, thoughts, sensations, experiences all come and go. Peace does not. If you look for it in feelings which come and go you will not find it. It’s not there. It is actually the background of all that which is coming and going, changing and transforming. You notice it between the thoughts, between the feelings, in the lull between experiences. It’s not that peace comes when the experience wains. It is actually there all along. You just notice it in the quiet.

So let’s not be so quick to get into the next activity, the next experience, the next thought. Take some time to enjoy a moment with your natural state. With a little bit of practice you will find that you can be in very active experiences and be aware of the presence of peace at the same time. So it is not necessary to get rid of all the varied activities of life to be peaceful. No need to move to Tibet or the forests of Thailand. You only need to see where all the experiences arise and where they subside. Against this background of your natural state. The peace which you are.

1. Admit you were wrong when you know, deep down, that you were. This instantly frees you from the tension created by sustaining the illusion that you were right.

2. Pay bills on time to keep your creditors happy and avoide late payment charges. Keep a large envelope in a convenient place and pop bills into it as they arrive. Deal with the contents at a set time each week so that it becomes second nature to you.

3. Celebrate wrinkles, gray hairs and other small signs of aging. They reflect maturity. Wear them proudly — they are the badges of your wisdom and experience.

______________
Source:
1001 Ways to Relax by Mike George

If you are at all familiar with Louise Hay, then you know the wonderful work she’s done relating our illnesses to the underlying fears and negative emotions. Once she’s identified the fear to the illness, she then devised ‘new thought patterns’ around the underlying problem to help us reversing the impact of the illness. From time to time, I’ll share some of her wisdom.

Instead of doing random illnesses, I plan to use the Spinal Misalignments as a guide, as the whole body and the array of possible issues is covered here.

What: Vertebrae 12T
Location: Mid-Back Region, Thoracic Spine

Areas Covered:
Small intestines, lymph, circulation.

Physical Effects:
Rheumatism, gas pains, certain types of sterility.

Probably Cause:
Disowning the right to live. Insecure and fearful of love. Inability to digest.

New Thought Pattern:
I choose to circulate the joys of life. I am willing to nourish myself.

____________________________
Source: Louise L. Hay, Heal your body, Hay House, Inc. (c) 1982.

From The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Simple Living by Georgene Lockwood, 2000.

Chapter 7: Earning a Life, Not Just a Living

“This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.” George Bernard Shaw

The Least You Need to Know

1. Old definitions of work re fragmenting and limiting.
2. We can reinvent the way we spend our life energy in any number of ways, keyed to our purpose, our calling, and our financial independence.
3. Working for yourself means more than having your own business. We can be working for ourselves in whatever we do.
4. If we choose to remain in a conventional full-time job for the time being, we can improve our situation and prepare for a better, more simple living-compatible job in the future.

New Work Choices

1. Downsizing your job and working less.
2. Asking about job sharing.
3. Working in cycles or with the seasons.
4. Combining jobs.
5. Sprinting to the finish line. (Work for a set period of time at something lucrative to be able to stop working sooner.)
6. Temporary solutions.
7. Those who can, teach.
8. Volunteering your way into a new career.
9. Take a sabbatical

“Confidence on the outside begins by living with integrity on the inside.” — Brian Tracy

“Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings.” — Samuel Johnson

Having once decided to achieve a certain task, achieve it at all costs of tedium and distaste. The gain in self-confidence of having accomplished a tiresome labor is immense. — Arnold Bennett

“If I have lost confidence in myself, I have the universe against me.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

“When you have confidence, you can have a lot of fun. And when you have fun, you can do amazing things.” — Joe Namath