Are You Inspired?

How do you live an inspired life? All of us go in and out of feeling motivated and inspired about our path in life and what we are doing with our lives. The times when we feel like we are 'in the flow' of life and moving with the natural current. Remember times when you felt like lady luck had touched you and you experienced a flow of great events or situations that you were happy about? Those are times when you have connected with positive energy and continued to flow in that state, attracting positive energy and situations back to yourself.

What happens when we fall out of that 'flow' and how does it happen? Falling out of the flow is like stubbing your big toe first thing in the morning and staying connected with the energy of one unfortunate incident for the rest of the day. Many times we will realize that we just aren't feeling 'up' or happy about ourselves or the day. Many times we won't even realize that's where we are at until someone else or something brings it to our attention. Either a person comments about our 'mood' or we start experiencing unwanted consequences or events throughout the day. Either way, these are red flags to do a 'check up from the neck up.'

We all have the choice to 'direct our thoughts' to those things that bring us happiness and light. To shift quickly out of a funk into an inspired state, think of two or three things in your life that you absolutely love or that make you happy. Focus on them until you find your state shifting from out of the flow to into the flow, or at least neutral. The trick is to move your energy state up from the lower energies of sadness or anger, to higher vibrational energies that are connected with happiness and joy. If you can make the time, write out a list of these things that truly inspire you. Read this list throughout the day and re-write it when you feel inspired to do so. The longer the list you can create and the more frequently you review it, the better. This is your gratitude list.

Even better, make a vision board of images and words that depict the ideal, visionary life that you wish to create and experience for yourself. Each of these things keep us focused on what we 'want' not on what we don't want. Remember that what we focus on we get more of - so if you are focusing on what you don't want, guess what, you will get more of that.

So once you've reconnected with your positive energy, how can you keep that fire alive all the time instead of intermittently? Stay focused on your gratitude list and look at your vision board. These are visual messages that your brain takes in consciously and subconsciously. Assess the people you are allowing in your circle. Minimize the time you spend, or limit your interaction with people who don't lift your spirits or tend to bring you down. You are in charge of your destiny and your energetic state. If you don't like the way you feel, do something about it. Think differently and you will feel differently.

You CAN do it!

Namaste

Three Easy Steps to a Balanced Life

In life there is the ying and yang to everything. But in our world of consumption and promotion through the media that more is better, our balance can easily get thrown off. Too much of even a good thing can be too much. So how do you know if you're off balance? If you don't already know, ask yourself some key questions about how you are living and experiencing your life.

1. How would you rank your level of satisfaction with each life area below? Ask yourself to honestly rate the categories below from 1-10, 10 = very satisfied to 1 = out of whack. Identify where you are deeply satisfied in your life.

• Physical Environment
• Career
• Money
• Health
• Friends and Family
• Romance
• Personal Growth
• Fun and Recreation

2. In the areas that are not a 10 ask yourself why?

3. For most of us, we are out of balance in one or more parts of our lives. Choose one or more slices of life to focus on and make a commitment to yourself to get more balance in those areas. It will make for a more enjoyable and happy life.

So what happens when we are out of whack with our priorities in one way or another? It can lead to health issues, relationship breakups,  depression, misuse of alcohol or recreational drugs, and a host of other problems. Many times we get out of balance by pursuing what we think will bring happiness or security - money, power or title in our work. The important thing to realize is that chasing the carrot is an illusion. Having meaning and balance in your life is much more important. If you are aspiring for a higher position, more money or a prestigious title - do it in a balanced way. If this is your aspiration, your performance is going to speak for itself.

So regardless of what your carrot is, whatever that thing is that you are chasing in life, do it in moderation. We all need goals to strive for in life to keep us focused and hopeful of something more, different or better than where or what we are or have currently. It's how we go about pursuing those goals that is important and will either fuel us or burn us out.

I encourage you to assess your life every couple of months and see how balanced you are and identify any areas you have become more ying than yang or vice versa. Imbalance creeps up insidiously sometimes and we don't realize a problem is brewing until we have kept our eyes shut too long behind the wheel and we are about to crash into a wall.

Love yourself, be kind to yourself and stay in tune with your heart and your body - they will always be honest with you if you listen.

Namaste

Are You On Your Life Path?

We all have a life path that we came in this life to fulfill. If you are feeling passionate about your life, how you spend your time, who you spend it with and what you are doing - you are on your path. Listen to your intuition. It will tell you whether you are on your path or have lost sight of the road. But what if you aren't feeling excited or passionate about your life and what you are doing with it? What if the road you are traveling feels strangely like a life you don't even recognize or like, compared to what you thought you would be doing at this stage of life?

What do you do if you don't even know where your road is or how you lost your way? It's time to do some soul searching. What things were you passionate about as a kid? What did you just 'know' you were going to do or be when you grew up? Reconnect with that little kid in you that was so excited about all the possibilities of life. We all get influenced by people, events and situations in our lives. Some are supportive of our hopes and dreams fulfilling - others are not. It's up to each of us to create the journey that we set out upon before we took physical form in this realm.

Take time to honor yourself and your soul's intention for being here. Get in a quiet space, close your eyes, and reconnect with some of the feelings and ideas you had as a child. Remember back to experiences or activities that you used to love to do as a kid. Ask yourself how much 'play time' do you allow yourself - or how much time do you allow yourself to 'dream' about your ideal life? Keeping the 'dream' alive - or our passion for what we are here to do - is crucial to staying positive and happy in life.

Once you have reconnected with some of your dreams and aspirations as a child, write them down on a sheet of paper or note pad. Ask yourself what you can do in your current life to follow through on some of those things you were excited about when you were young? It could be anything from expanding your life to include them as hobbies as a 'grown up' all the way to reassessing what you do to financially make a living. If how you make a living does not support some of your aspirations as a child, you will most likely feel out of sync with your life in some way. If at this point in life you don't feel you can jump from what you are currently doing into what you would truly feel passionate about doing with your life, take time to assess what steps you can and are willing to take to move yourself closer in the direction of your dreams.

You owe it to yourself and your soul to fulfill your life purpose. Let nothing stand in your way of being creative and mapping out a future that is more closely aligned with what you want in life and what you came here to do. Share any new ideas or decisions carefully and thoughtfully with those close to you. They may feel threatened by your new thinking or decisions for your life. Remember, this is your life and hopefully you can gently bring them along with you for the journey that is your life.

Remember - above all - always stay true to your heart.

Namaste