One of my favorite mind-body skills is drawings. I have had so much fun learning and practicing this skill. I wrote about my first experience with drawings last summer when I attended The Gulf Coast Community Day sponsored by the Mind-Center of Louisiana. I have treasured the drawing I did that day and keep it in the plastic cover of my binder from the first training I attended in October. The drawing (shown in the photo) inspires me every time I look at it. Read the rest of this entry ?
Posts Tagged ‘Living-consciously’
Access Your Intuition with Drawings
February 18, 2012
Practicing Mindful Eating
January 28, 2012
I am in Washington DC attending the Center for Mind Body Medicine’s Advanced Training. I realized yesterday at lunch that I desire to practice mindful eating more often. The realization came to me as we were beginning lunch when the facilitator invited us to offer gratitude for the meal we were about to eat, and I had already gobbled down half my plate. I wondered in that moment why in the world I eat so fast. It has been a way of life for me as long as I remember, and I don’t enjoy almost always being the first one finished with a meal. Read the rest of this entry ?
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Pay Attention to Your Words
January 21, 2012
I attended an interesting workshop at the Baton Rouge Unity Church a few weeks ago about Effective Communication facilitated by Charles Frost. I was surprised to learn about his belief that “Why” may be the most damaging word in the English language. Charles explained that the word “Why” often puts people on the defensive because of negative experiences they had as children. For example, they may have been asked “why did you do that?” Or they may have received responses to “why” questions like “because I said so.” He suggested replacing “Why” with “How is it possible”. Read the rest of this entry ?
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Celebrate Life Every Day
January 17, 2012
I was reminded last week how critical it is to celebrate life every day and to show appreciation for all the wonderful people, places, and things we are blessed to experience in our lives. The reminder came when I attended the funeral of my cousin, Amy, who died of unknown causes suddenly last week. Amy was 39 years old, 7 years younger than me and way too young to die. I wasn’t close to Amy as an adult; however, we spent many holidays together at our grandparents’ house while we were growing up. Read the rest of this entry ?
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Broken Toes, Unsteady Stance
June 20, 2011
In February, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was walking in a parking lot and knocked my foot against a concrete barrier, which broke my left pinky toe and bruised another. Last month, I foolishly decided to test the sturdiness of a tree stump with that same left foot, lost my balance and fell awkwardly to the side, breaking two toes on my right foot. After explaining the adhesive bandage tape on my toes to people who asked about it, I realized I had hobbled my feet. Both times I was wearing flip-flops so there was less protection around my toes. But I also began to think that maybe this was a message about how I’m not standing on my own two feet. Maybe I’m not standing in my truth in a steady way. Maybe I don’t want to make a move. Or maybe I’m being “stumped” in some way. I was definitely limping for awhle. Read the rest of this entry ?
Melancholy and Coping
May 10, 2011
He doesn't feel guilty about sleeping all day!
Recently, I had a really sad day and I let myself feel sad. I wallowed in it all day. I didn’t answer the phone and I didn’t turn on the computer. I was too fatigued and unwilling to muster up positive thoughts. I gave myself permission to feel sad and just rest.
I should have seen it coming. Mothers Day had something to do with it. The recent loss of a very dear relative in combination with some long work hours and staying up all night caught up with me. I was tired and the more sleep I got that day, the more I wanted to just lay around. So I did. I watched a few movies about love. I wrote about my feelings. As the day went on I did think to myself, is this depression? But I decided that one day is not a determining factor. Several days of it might be. Read the rest of this entry ?
The Equinox and Balance in Life
March 21, 2011
Today is the equinox, which means day and night are equal. It’s a time signifying balance but lately I haven’t felt in balance.
This out-of-balance feeling got me thinking about an exercise in The Artist’s Way that I’ve done each time I’ve worked through the book. The exercise has several aspects of life divided into pie wedges and you pinpoint where you feel you are from the small piece of the pie to the largest part in those categories. Read the rest of this entry ?
Be Kind to Yourself
February 21, 2011
I’m so mad at myself. Have you ever said that? Or maybe you’ve said, “I’m so disappointed in myself.” This afternoon I had those thoughts and voiced them out loud. I tried to talk myself into changing the thoughts but all I could do is go over the list of disappointments about my day.
The day started fine but the outcome of procrastination created a domino effect. I had misplaced an envelope and something told me to find it and that’s when I noticed the deadline for a report was today! Why had I not even opened it when I first got it? That was the first self-inflicted criticism. Then I wondered if it was worth doing because I would have to get it to the post office by a certain time. And I really needed to go by the post office today anyway. Why hadn’t I just stopped there on my way back from a meeting this morning? I was indulging in more internal recrimination. Read the rest of this entry ?
Prioritizing Rest and Relaxation
December 7, 2010This weekend Rebecca and I escaped for a couple of days to the beach in Biloxi. Living near the beach is one of the things that I love about living in south LA, from where I can be on the beach in just a couple of hours. Having a change of scenery away from the regular routine of my life was a great break for me. 
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One New Thought Exercise
November 23, 2010
In A Year of Living Consciously: 365 Daily Inspirations for Creating a Life of Passion and Purpose, Gay Hendricks suggests an interesting thought exercise for the Conscious Living Practice on November 17. Choose an area of your life you are feeling not so good about, and incorporate just one new positive thought about that area; then observe over the coming days how the outer circumstances of that area change. Read the rest of this entry ?
