I wish there was a fool-proof formula we could all follow to move 'out' of ourselves, to float above this vehicle we call our body, and observe ourselves act and react to mundane, fleeting, mostly unimportant events in our life. To see how we take things far too seriously, including ourselves! I wish we could REALLY see, FIERCELY believe, that it is the programming of our minds that creates chaos and negativity or hinders peace and happiness in our lives. And that if we spend just a handful of weeks working consciously to change our reactions and attitudes, we can intentionally generate a new program.

I wish we listened, quietly, with inner stillness to what others are 'saying' before we allowed our ever-churning brain to start preparing our response to justify what 'we' think.

I wish I could help you understand without a shadow of doubt that you house in your heart Divine Light that is clouded over by falsely thinking that you are separate from the Universe, from all Humanity and from Truth. And that if you sat quietly for just 10 - 15 minutes each day, and let go of everything during those minutes, focusing on 'seeing' the Light flickering in your heart, and imagining it growing until if filled your being, after a while your perspective, your attitude and your knowing will be informed by that Light and life will begin to change.

What is going on with this body, in this life is a Gift intricately planned to present us with situations designed to help us learn specific lessons, (if we allow them to). These lessons invariably expand our understanding of Who we are, Where we are going and Why it's necessary to cultivate Acceptance and Awareness.

Without a positive attitude and strong faith in the power of our mind, we can't heal. Negativity changes your body chemistry, physically. It takes hours to neutralize the toxins that negativity releases in your body. That alone should deter you from giving in to such a response. Stop, breathe and consciously choose a reaction before you say or do something you'll regret.

It's not easy, but practice is the only way to make it a habit. No one is going to walk into your life and make everything better. You have to do that.

This moment is all you have. How do you want to spend it?

Unhappy? Fearful? Worried? Frustrated? Bitter? How about choosing to be Happy, Brave, Accepting, and Grateful?

Vow to live your life as if today is the all you have...this moment the only moment. Join the abundant Joy that resonates in every aspect of Creation, and don't let anyone shake your determination to feel good.

Excerpt taken from The HuMan Handbook

"Change is what happens when the pain of holding on becomes greater than your fear of letting go. You are using up enormous amounts of life force energy holding on to your pain and past.

Change your habits and you will quickly change your life. It only takes three weeks to “birth” a new habit. The Universe ...will express anything you make into a habit.

You are the architect of the reality that you are experiencing. Forming new habits is how you will manifest what you want. Creating habits is the key to your success or failure.

Consciously creating new habits for more than 21 days is a small price to pay for what you want to manifest."

"When things change only two things can happen with one being obvious and the other being extremely subtle. The obvious thing is that you will manifest what it is that you want to experience. The not so obvious thing is that you will surface what it is you need to heal, so that you can manifest what you want."

E-mail your first and last name to SabrinaRose@HolisticLearningCenter.com, subject line- The Human Handbook to receive a copy.

It doesn't matter where you are in your journey...this human handbook is a guide to mastering the inner you!

Exercise can be a 4 letter word for some people. Sometimes I just can't get moving.

A sure way to unplug that brain-cork of mine... is to TURN ON THE MUSIC! I love to dance, rock, belly dancing, swing, you name it. A tune with a good beat gets me out of a chair in seconds.

In the Middle East children are encouraged to get up and belly dance to entertain the family. Hand clapping accompanied my Uncle Yusef playing his Oud and singing, or the radio.

Belly dancing is fun, it touches every muscle group, and is a real workout. It is sensual, so it will elevate your mood too. (You can look up a few how-to's on YouTube to kick things off.)

If you get into it, you might even put together a belly dance outfit! I purchased a purple coin embellished scarf to tie around my waist.

In an earlier post I discussed the importance of getting outdoors and allowing Nature to help take care of your stress. Walking is another way to get your exercise. A moderately paced walk for 30 minutes a day will do the trick. You can go alone, or invite a neighbor or friend.

I'm not big on joining classes, I seem to drop out after a few sessions. I would rather have a walking buddy to chat with. But whatever motivates you to get that body shakin' is great.

Below are excerpts from an article on this topic.

Exercise: Improve Your Mood and Repair the Effects of Stress - By Karyn Hall, PhD

Emotionally sensitive people are often advised to exercise to calm their anxiety or to help overcome depression. Grandmothers, psychiatrists, friends and even strangers often suggest, “Exercise. You’ll feel better.”

In our recent survey, 71.4% of the emotionally sensitive have found exercise helpful in managing their mood. Turns out the research, as reported by John Ratey, MD in his book Spark, shows exercise has a strong effect on mood as well as other important functions of the brain.

Exercise is effective in treating anxiety and panic. Getting active provides a distraction, reduces muscle tension, builds brain resources (increases and balances serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine, all important neurotransmitters involved in mood), improves resilience by showing you that you can be effective in controlling anxiety, and breaks the feeling of being trapped and immobilized.

The effects can be equal or even better than medication. The problem is that when people are upset or depressed, they don’t want to exercise.

Establishing a regular exercise program, one that you could maintain when your mood was unpleasant, may be part of the answer. Continuing a routine when you are emotionally dysregulated is easier than starting a new activity. Regular exercise would also help prevent relapse.

Exercise improves the ability to learn. When you are working on learning new coping skills, new ways of responding, the ability to take in information is obviously important. Dr. Ratey describes an American high school whose students participated in a physical fitness program. They finished first in the world on science and sixth on an international test to compare science and math abilities. As a whole, US students ranked 18th in science and 19th in math.

Studies have shown that better fitness means improved attention and improved ability to adjust their cognitive performance following a mistake.

How does that happen? Exercise reportedly spurs the development of new nerve cells from stem cells in the hippocampus. Perhaps most importantly, exercise is believed to increase BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor), the master molecule of the learning process. Low levels of BDNF are associated with depression.

Exercise increases cognitive flexibility. Ratey defines cognitive flexibility as being able to shift your thinking and to be creative. Cognitive flexibility would be to apply new strategies to solve problems and use information in creative ways rather than rote memorization of facts. Memorizing coping skills may will not be as helpful as being able to able the information in different situations.

Exercise helps relieve and repair the effects of stress on the body. When stressed, the body releases cortisol. Ratey notes that high levels of cortisol make it difficult for the prefrontal cortex to direct the hippocampus to compare memories, like to determine that a stick is not a snake. Thus when cortisol is high it’s difficult to decide what is a threat and what isn’t a threat, so just about everything seems scary. You can’t think clearly.

In addition, high levels of cortisol kill neurons in the hippocampus (where memories are stored), causing a communication breakdown. This result could partially explain why people get locked into negative thoughts–the hippocampus keeps recycling a negative memory.

Exercise helps prevent the damaging effects of stress and can reverse damage that has been done. All with very few side effects.

Reference

Ratey, J.( 2008). Spark. New York: Little, Brown and Company.