“Once an old woman came to Buddha and asked him how to meditate. He told her to remain aware of every movement of her hands as she drew the water from the well, knowing that if she did, she would soon find herself in that state of alert and spacious calm that is meditation.”

“Water, if you don’t stir it, will become clear; the mind left unaltered will find its own natural peace.”

Sometimes we get so caught up in the rattle of everyday life that an overwhelming blindness washes over us. We’re blind to the true nature of the world around us, our place in it, and what we really want for ourselves. We are so in tune with the ‘noise’ that the voice inside becomes inaudible, and we often end up somewhere we don’t feel we belong. Some of us lose our way from time to time, right?

Stillness is such a powerful tool for reconnecting to that little voice. When the mind tunes out the noise, and instead, listens to the calm repetition of breathing, the soul can often take the moment and speak up – often with such clarity. Mindfulness meditation is an easy way to reach this stillness. I personally use an activity (one in which I can focus, and be on autopilot) as a catalyst to stillness. I wash and wax my car to ‘tune out’ the noise.

The calm I get in slowly covering the car in soap and rinsing her clean is immense. I’ve done this a few hundred times, so it’s nothing I really need to concentrate on, but I couldn’t have a conversation while doing it either – and why would I want to?!? I let my mind slowly shut off by focusing on the movement of my hands across the paint, and the shine that I reveal. Before long, I can hear my heart telling me how satisfying this activity is, and what parts of my life it also feels satisfied. I get a chance to really reflect without the rattle of my mind coming into play. This stillness of my mind is priceless.

In the Karate Kid movies, Mr. Miyagi puts Daniel(son) to work by having him wax the car and paint the fence. This not only teaches him Kata Karate movements, but it introduces him to stillness and mindful meditation. It’s often in the stillness that we come to great realizations. It’s almost cliche now, but how many times have you fallen in love with someone in the stillness between the two of you? Think about it!

The homework this time is to practice stillness, my friends. If you know how to meditate, please do that and listen to what your mind and body say when you tune the ‘noise’ out. If you do not know how to meditate, try to simply sit quietly with your eyes closed and concentrate on your breathing only. Concentrate on breathing slowly in your nose, and out your mouth. Soon enough your mind will unravel from its grip on the rattle, and you’ll find peace. That’s where you’ll also hear that inner voice speak to you. It’s incredible what he/she has to say sometimes.

Peace, Love, and a million successes to you all,

Blake

Technorati Tags: appreciation, attitude, awareness, Buddha, gratitude, happiness, lesson, love, peace, stillness, teaching, wisdom

Free Coaching Session!

With 2010 coming to the half-way point in the next couple of weeks, are you happy with where your year has taken you?  Are there things you’d love to change, improve, increase, or achieve?  Maybe you would only like a little clarity about where you are and where you feel you’re headed on this crazy winding road.  Have you had a day where you left your office for some lunch and thought, “what am I doing?” or “is this really all there is?” or even “man, it would be so incredible if I could only (fill-in the blank)”?

Coaching is such a powerful place to turn to when you’re looking for some insight and fulfillment in your life.  Maybe you’ve looked into getting a coach, but you doubted your ability to afford it…

GREAT NEWS!

We’re giving away 30 minute coaching sessions!  No, really, we are!  F-R-E-E !

Not only are we giving away the first 30 minute session, we’ve discounted our fees to help get you closer to your dream without taking away your savings!  Head to the contact page and send us a message to set-up a free coaching call (or face-to-face meeting), and take us for a test drive!  If you feel like you could benefit from having your own incredible coach, we are offering 30 minute sessions for $25 each for the first 90 days!  Imagine as much as 12 complete weeks of personalized attention, focus, and support to help you discover your best self and show you how to create S-M-A-R-T action plans to get you moving forward.

FOR PEANUTS!

For those of you thinking, “C’mon, there’s no such thing as a free lunch,” truly, there’s no risk. No contracts, no gimmicks, no strings, nothing. The time is yours,and the decision after your session is yours. No hard sell. No fine print. NONE.

Head over to the assessment page and see what you, personally, come up with. They’re free too. If you find some area of your life you might like to improve, we would be more than happy to give you the free session to touch on it. Call 847-754-9615 or send a message our way to set-up your FREE session today! 

As a bonus for signing up for your free session, we’ll send you the Applied Happiness Inspired Action Workbook at no charge! This 30 page workbook will help you get a head start on what motivates you, and what might be holding you back from getting what you want.  This is $10 value, absolutely free.

Don’t wait! This offer only runs through August!

Call or write us today, and discover what a coach can add to your life!

Audentes Fortuna Iuvat – Fortune Favors the Bold.

- The Applied Happiness Team

Technorati Tags: appreciation, attitude, awareness, being bold, clearing, coaching, gratitude, happiness, lessons, love, personal power, positive thinking, success, teaching, wisdom

Contrary to popular belief, happiness is not a destination. Happiness is not someplace in which to arrive, rather, it’s the story of your journey to anything that makes you smile, inspires you, or motivates you to keep moving. In fact, you may not even be aware of the incredible trip you’ve been on for so long! Consider the places you’ve been, your struggles, your defeats, your triumphs – consider everything that brought you to where you are now.  It’s a pretty good story isn’t it?

So let’s take a look at some powerful questions.  Instead of looking at the goals you haven’t hit, or the achievements you haven’t managed to attain just yet, start looking back at what you did, what you learned along the way, and how it brought you to where you are now.  Instead of feeling a sense of disappointment or discouragement from unfulfilled desires, and asking yourself, “What’s wrong with me?” Instead, ask yourself “What’s right with me?  What are my greatest qualities?  Who has had the greatest impact on my life so far?  How have I impacted someone else’s life in a great way?”

One great way to get into the groove of appreciating you own power is to take stock of yourself.  You’ve heard me say this before, but it’s too important to only share just once!  Make an inventory list of all the strengths you feel you possess.  BETTER YET, head over to viastrengths.org and take the Values in Action – Inventory of Strengths assessment, and see a ranked inventory of your strengths right away!  It’s completely free, and pretty enlightening!

Now that you’ve taken stock of your strengths, you’ve become aware of your power.  Step Two is to make note of their impact in your life.  What triumphs have you experienced using your strengths? Recall an instance in which your greatest strength made an impact on your life or the lives of others.

See, the secret to happiness isn’t about working hard to cross the threshold into ‘the good life’ – rather, it’s becoming aware of the events, people, places, and feelings you’re grateful for in your life, and how they’ve made an impact.   Check out my post on The Gratitude Journal Review to learn more about getting into the attitude of gratitude, and getting more aware!

Peace, Love, and a million successes to you all!

Blake

Technorati Tags: appreciation, awareness, inspiration, journey, life, love, reflection

Well, I am proud to say that this year’s Movember (month formally known as November) has come to a close, and my donations have landed me a ticket to the Gala Party this weekend.

Movember is a fund raising event that spans the entire month of November in which participating men grow mustaches and raise money for Men’s health issues.  These issues focus primarily on raising awareness for Prostate Cancer, but other ailments are also included.  I’ll be very glad to get rid of this mustache, but I am proud of myself and my teammates for making it happen for the last 30 days!

If you’re going, I look forward to seeing you there!

Technorati Tags: awareness, cancer, Enclave, fund raising, gala, movember, mustache, party