Personal Growth Planet Blog

In last week’s blog post, I described what a double exposed moment or life is like and I laid out some of the potential hazards of this (usually) unconscious reaction.

Those double exposed moments are when the past and present fuse together in a weird and sometimes painful amalgam in the mind.

They literally alter a person’s experiences. The reactions that come from this confusing fusion can be anger or defensiveness that doesn’t seem to fit the situation or could involve an emotional withdrawal or shutting down.

The effects to a person’s relationships and ability to attain goals can be negative.

The 4th of July is an important date in the history of the United States. It marks the anniversary of our founders adopting the Declaration of Independence. This was the date when it was officially declared that this collection of states (former colonies) were now a free and independent country.

Setting aside the fact that on July 4, 1776 not every person living in what was becoming the United States of America was truly free…

I’m going to talk about what freedom doesn’t mean to me and also what it does mean to me…

Drums beat a steady, almost hypnotic rhythm. Bodies move, twist, turn and twirl and intermingle with and among the beats.

Dancing…

In some form or another I have danced throughout my life. As a young girl, I took tap and jazz dance lessons. I can still remember kick ball changing my way across the wooden floors of Miss Lois’ dance studio.

Many bright points for me in the midst of my angst-filled high school years were singing and dancing in the show choir. And, for the past few years, I have taken belly dancing classes at a local recreation center. I am filled with gratitude for the patient and good-humored belly dancing teachers I have who, yet again, try to help me learn to undulate and shimmy.

The weight of my responsibilities, interests, hopes, dreams, worries, fears and more can really pile up. I tend to feel it in my shoulders, my back, on my head.

Pushing me down. Holding me back from the light, free and joyous life I really want to live.

We all have “to do” lists. We all have places we “have” to be, tasks we “have” to accomplish and roles we “have” to fill.

We all also have a seemingly interminable stream of thoughts that crowd our minds, often filled with worrisome or hopeful projections for the future as well as worrisome and wistful memories of the past.

“Sacrifice” is a heavy-duty concept. It is laden with so many connotations that I even hesitate to highlight it in this way.

It is often associated with the Christian Easter story in which Jesus sacrificed himself for the good of humankind. Over the past several weeks, many people have made sacrifices in the form of giving up something that is dear to them to participate in Lent.

No matter what your religious or spiritual beliefs are, it’s probable that you’ve encountered a sense of sacrifice at some point.

I think of myself as a pretty positive kind of person.  I make it a point to focus on what, to me, is going “right” in a situation.

If the cake I bake falls, I remind myself that it still tastes good. If I have to spend an afternoon with someone who usually annoys me, I try to find something about the visit that I can genuinely appreciate.

(Okay, I’ll admit it. This is an intention and not always the way it plays out.)

What are your New Year’s resolutions this year?

If you’re like many people, you’ve been giving some thought to the improvements to your relationships, body, health, finances, career and life you’d like to make in the coming year.

Though everyone’s resolutions are unique and personal, I believe that they often come to down to one word…

Freedom.

After all, a desire to earn more money, buy a new car, get a promotion and travel to exotic places all involve a sense of financial freedom.

There are tons of books, CDs, courses, websites, DVDs, lectures and more all about the benefits and power of a positive attitude.

What being “positive” actually means varies depending on the specific author, philosophy or approach.

Some invite us to smile and laugh more often. Others advise us to look for the gifts and opportunities in every situation. Yet others encourage us to be grateful for what we have, who we are and what’s going on for us in any moment.

I do not disagree with any of this advice. However, I can only imagine that many of you out there might, from time to time, ask yourselves this question…

I never thought that I’d aspire to be a frog, but, that’s exactly what I’m aiming for right now in my life.

I listened to a wonderful online presentation recently about the importance of meditation, mindfulness and contemplation. During it, Daron Larson, the Buddhist teacher who presented this information, talked about the benefits of becoming amphibious.

Hearing this rich analogy inspired me to consider the many advantages to being able to adapt to the changeable and widely diverse situations that arise in life.

As you probably already know, put very simply, to be amphibious is to be able to survive in both the water and on land.

Peace means something different to us all.

It might mean a quiet morning with a cup of tea, a good book and nothing else but the sounds of birds singing and the rustling of wind in the trees.

Instead, peace might be the adrenaline rush that comes with biking on a mountain path, sweat dripping, heart and other muscles pumping and the wind in your face.

Peace may just be the absence of bickering, fighting or angst. It could be the realization that the kids, you and your partner or others in your home, community and world have ceased their usual wars for awhile.