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Can you bring to your mind the last time you were having a bad day? I’ll bet it wasn’t too hard to conjure that one up — right? It’s pretty amazing how those days have a way of staying with us.

There is some sort of human foible that happens when we have days where the bad things seem to outweigh the good things — we really get into the mind-set that life just isn’t fair. A good example is getting stuck in traffic — so you’re now late for an important meeting — and then your car gets towed. Definitely one of those times when, “Awww, poor me!” comes into play. When you’re having days like this it’s really difficult to be optimistic and gracious. It’s a lot easier to just spend some time feeling sorry of yourself — which is what most of us do — yes — me included. It’s definitely a “Woe is me!” time.

At times like these there aren’t many good thoughts running through our minds. In fact, the thoughts that do creep in only seem to make us feel worse. And, the one thing these thoughts don’t do is help us to change our circumstances and make us feel better.

When you have a terrible day, there should definitely be a time and place to have your feelings so you can process them. It’s important not to pretend that you are fine with things when you aren’t. At the same time, it’s also vital that we recognize that we’re feeling sorry for ourselves. Once we get to that place where we are aware of our self-pity, it’s okay to let that stay for awhile. Put a time-limit on it and don’t feel guilty, ashamed, or judge yourself. When your time is up, let go of the negativity and move on.

Try not to dwell on unpleasant experiences and do everything you can to avoid holding on to negative emotions. When you indulge in self-pity, you only make a bad day worse. See the “Whoa” sign and step on the brakes. Release the notion that you’re a victim, and notice the good that exists in your life.

Shanti ….
~~~ DBL-R

P.S. Here’s a website I thought you would be interested in. Learn more about your inner wisdom by using the 90-Day Manifesting Program. You can get your copy of this program — and any of the other guided manifesting meditations at my Enlightened Beings E-Store. Here’s what one person had to say about this …

“I contacted Jafree 12 months ago to help me change my financial situation. I have followed his plan faithfully and I went from $90,000 in debt with no direction, to where I am now — out of debt and financially free!” ~~~ G. K., Colorado

Just click on the link below to learn more:

Check out the Enlightened Beings E-Store Today!

[tags]inner self, dreams, spiritual energy, inner balance, enlightenment, destiny, manifestation, patience, tolerance, acceptance, body balance[/tags]

How often have we heard those instructions when we’re on an airplane flying off to some destination? You know the ones … “Be sure to put your oxygen mask on first before you help anyone else with theirs.” There are a variety of things going on right now in my universe that started me thinking about self-help or self-care — about putting yourself first.

Then recently, I also read an article that talked about this exact same thing. Those airline instructions say it so well — if you want to be of help to others, you need to take care of yourself first. This is one of those things that’s so easy to put off or ignore — this thing about taking care of ourselves. It’s so easy to not do it — until you suddenly find yourself in a situation where someone truly needs your help — but you’re too sick — or too tired — or too overwhelmed — to find the energy to do what’s needed. That person (or persons) who is counting on us ends up being the loser — and — so do we — in more ways than one.

I hope that you never find yourself in that position — but if it ever should happen where you can’t muster up the energy to care for or help someone who needs you, that’s when you’ll begin to realize that taking good care of yourself is not selfish — it’s not indulgent. No, neither one of those. Rather, it just makes darn good sense.

There is a bit of a conundrum to putting yourself first. In order to do that it often means that you’ll have to say no to someone else in order to say yes to yourself. One way to encourage yourself is to say, “I’m caring for myself so that I am better able to care for others.” The other thing to keep in mind is that taking care of yourself doesn’t have to be an all-consuming task. In fact, the best prescription for taking care of yourself is probably small, daily rituals; for example, taking a half-hour for yourself at the beginning and end of the day to meditate, to journal, or to just be you. You could also transform your daily shower or your bath into a half-hour self-pampering session.

Just remember that taking the time every day to put yourself first will pay you huge dividends when you need the energy to take care of someone you love. Put that “oxygen mask” on yourself first — and breathe deeply. Everyone will benefit if you do.

Shanti ….
~~~ DBL-R

P.S. Here’s a website I thought you would be interested in. Learn more about your inner wisdom by using the 90-Day Manifesting Program. You can get your copy of this program — and any of the other guided manifesting meditations at my Enlightened Beings E-Store. Here’s what one person had to say about this …

“I contacted Jafree 12 months ago to help me change my financial situation. I have followed his plan faithfully and I went from $90,000 in debt with no direction, to where I am now — out of debt and financially free!” ~~~ G. K., Colorado

Just click on the link below to learn more:

Check out the Enlightened Beings E-Store Today!

[tags]inner self, dreams, spiritual energy, inner balance, enlightenment, destiny, manifestation, patience, tolerance, acceptance, body balance[/tags]

One scenario that is often repeated in the reading I do as a part of my study of buddhism is that of a spiritual master embracing the presence of an annoying student in their community. There is even one story that documents a teacher paying an irritating person to live among his students.

There’s no question that for the vast majority of us this goes against what we call our human nature — it’s very hard to understand why anyone would seek out irritating people to associate with. Most of the time we do whatever we can to avoid people and things that we find annoying so they don’t bother us.

There is another way of looking at this. From a deeper spiritual perspective, irritation can be an important teacher as well as a valid indicator of how much progress we’re making on our path to a better understanding of our inner selves. If we can learn to remain centered and aware even when we’re not comfortable, that is much more impressive than doing so in an environment where everything is to our liking.

Even for those of us who are proficient at controlling our circumstances, there are always going to be situations and people that make us uncomfortable. The goal of our spiritual development isn’t about learning to control our environment — that’s more of an ego-driven desire. It’s not a bad thing to have some measure of control over our external reality — in fact that’s important. But, when we are confronted with a person or situation that irritates us and we can choose not to react negatively, then we have a major clue that we are making progress spiritually. When we have mastered the reality of our inner selves, we will have gained the mastery of our lives.

I’ve always been one to avoid negativity and stayed away from situations and people who exuded this characteristic. But I’m coming to realize that I will grow much stronger if I can learn to handle these circumstance gracefully rather than merely avoiding them. It’s one of the only ways that we can learn the spiritual qualities of patience, tolerance, and acceptance. Fortunately for most of us, our lives offer an abundance of opportunities to practice and cultivate these traits.

To follow something that was in one of the quotes I used in a recent article… “Live in Your Heart!”

Shanti ….
~~~ DBL-R

P.S. Here’s a website I thought you would be interested in. Learn more about your inner wisdom by using the 90-Day Manifesting Program. You can get your copy of this program — and any of the other guided manifesting meditations at my Enlightened Beings E-Store. Here’s what one person had to say about this …

“I purchased the 90 Day Manifesting Program and am digesting every single page of it. It is certainly one of the most important investments I made in my life! It is incredibly inspiring. Thank you for manifesting it! If I could put it into one single phrase I could say that I had been looking for this exact type of reading all my life. Thanks for reminding of how great I am and inspiring me. I have already hugged and kissed the books many times as a way of expressing my gratitude for having it in my hands and for the amazing pleasure and love for life and for myself it makes me feel!” ~~~ Love, Carla Proença, Portugal

Just click on the link below to learn more:

Check out the Enlightened Beings E-Store Today!

[tags]inner self, dreams, spiritual energy, inner balance, enlightenment, destiny, manifestation, patience, tolerance, acceptance, body balance[/tags]