“Tell everyone you know: “My happiness depends on me, so you’re off the hook.” And then demonstrate it. Be happy, no matter what they’re doing. Practice feeling good, no matter what. And before you know it, you will not give anyone else responsibility for the way you feel—and then, you’ll love them all. Because the only reason you don’t love them, is because you’re using them as your excuse to not feel good.”

— something to consider…from Abraham Hicks 

How Buddha Lists the Benefit's of Kindness

as quoted by Sharon Salzberg

1. You will sleep easily

2. You will wake easily

3. You will have pleasant dreams

4. People will love you

5. Devas (celestial beings) and animals will love you

6. Devas will protect you

7. External dangers (poison, weapons, and fire) will not harm you

8. Your face will be radiant

9. Your mind will be serene

10. You will die unconfused

11. You will be reborn in happy realms

                               (from Buddha to last Vegas, billboard just off the strip)

10 4 11

First off, I really like the sound of 2011. I think it has nice ring to it. 11 is such a nice number. It's the same backwards as forwards. 11 seems lucky, and although I don't really believe in luck, I do believe in creating it. 11 is good on the craps table too. That has to mean something.

I hear people say, "I don't believe in New Years Resolutions." I don't know if they are something that I believe or don't believe in. I do believe in miracles, the power of a sunny day, the healing quality of music, and the need to sometimes, every once in a while just stay in bed. I also believe that sometimes you need to just decide how it's going to be from here on out. I think we all get stuck now and again on how it is and sometimes it's nice to just shake things up, make a change, reevaluate. You can do something out there like, say, jump out of a plane, quit your job, or just make a resolution or two. The first day of a new year is as good as time as any.

My 2011 Resolutions/Decisions...

1. Meditate more-

“Meditation means you don’t have to grin every moment of your life. You learn to smile with your bones; you learn to smile with every aspect of who you are. You do not have to necessarily show your teeth. Try, without using your lips, to just smile. Really, without showing your teeth, simply smile. Now see if you can smile with your eyes; just use your eyes and smile. Then see if you can smile with your hand. If even the bones in your body begin to smile, that is meditation”- Sadhguru Spot

2. Start running again- Running took a back seat this year, what with starting a business, moving, and changing my whole life. It was a mistake. I miss running. I'm bringing it back.

3. Make more home made dinners for my kids. That means some advance planning, actually thinking about it before we walk in the door at night.

4. Read more books. I have been jumping from book to book. I can't seem to concentrate long enough to finish out one. I'm going to make it a practice to finish them out.

5. Make sure my kids are reading too. And not just the texts coming through there cell phones either. Books. 

6. Paint. I have already started this in the latest part of '10 but I am not going to let it drop. 

7. Take time to be idle at times, I tend to go a hundred miles and hour all the time. I am going to remember to just chill sometimes. I love this little story...

According to an ancient Chinese legend, one day in the year 2640 B.C. Princess Si Ling-chi was sitting under a mulberry tree when a silkworm cocoon fell into her teacup. When she tried to remove it, she noticed that the cocoon had begun to unravel in the hot liquid. She handed the loose end to her maidservant and told her to walk. The servant went out of the princesses chamber, and into the palace courtyard, through the palace gate, and out of the Forbidden City, and into the countryside a half mile away before the cocoon ran out. (In the West, this legend would slowly mutate over three millennia, until it became the story of a physicist and an apple. Either way, the meanings are the same: great discoveries, whether of silk or of gravity are always windfalls. They happen to people loafing under trees.)” Jeffrey Eugenides

8. Practice more... I teach a lot of yoga so I don't get to practice like I used to. I'm going to fit that in there too. 

“Both yoga and art aim at the same thing, that is, to re-establish our personal connection with the world around us according to our own inner creativity. To render body and mind a conduit through which the creative energy can flow freely, unimpeded by outer restrictions, in the trust that this energy, being a part of the universal energy, is ultimately pure and joyful.” -Dona Holleman  

9. Write more. This is another thing that got shoved to the wayside this past year. I realized that saying, "I don't have time," is another way of saying, "I just don't feel like it." If you want to do something enough you can make time. 

10. Get up really early in the morning. I'm going to need to to do the rest of these things. 

“Every one of us, consciously or unconsciously, affects the objects and people around us—including ourselves—on a continual basis. Think about the expression “laughter is contagious.” It is! How do you feel when you are around happy, laughing people? Usually, you can’t help but feel good yourself. All emotions are energy and energy passes from one body to another; from one object to another; matter to matter. Emotions are contagious! You clear your house of negative energies and replace them with positive ones.   ~Norma Lehmeier Hartie

                                                         

"One Good Thing About Music,"...

when it hits, you feel no pain. ~ Bob Marley

Music has such a visceral effect. It is  (besides my people) the biggest constant in my life. It never goes away. It never disappoints. It is there for every occasion. It is a friend to sing with, a shoulder to cry on, and a lover to wait for.

Music has an energy to it. There are songs you put on to run to, there are songs you put on to drive to, there are songs that play over and over in your head right when you need them to be there.

Music calms, it can send those neurons straight up, starting to equalize the right and left hemisphere of your brain, bringing you into an alpha or even a theta brainwave state (getting into that meditative place that makes you find who you really are).

I love lyrics. I will listen to a song over and over again because of what it says. This song below one of my new favorites. I love it for two main reasons. The first, my best yoga and music buddy shared it with me. The second, the meaning to me; it is a parent tucking a child in at night, telling them, "There's no reason to worry, no reason for nightmares. Everything is just fine. And not only is it fine, but you're safe. Safe." The exact thoughts that not only a child, but anyone, would be so blessed to go to sleep with.

Fairytale Lullaby- Bombay Bicycle Club
If you want ride a rainbow come with me
I will take you in a magic purple
Maybe we will find a thousand sugar fish
And when you eat them they will grant your every wish
And if you want your friends to come them bring them along
If you want to catch a star then walk my way
I will take you where the night is always day
You can follow me if you really try
Maybe we will find a rainbow, teach it to fly
And if you want your friends to come them bring them all along
Bow your head and let your eyelids close on down
Where we're going you wont' need to bring your frown
You will find that ll the things that I have said
Will come true when you are lying in your bed
And if you want your friends to come them bring them along


 Fairytale Lullabye's   on Itunes

20 Thoughts To Make Your Day A Little Sweeter

1. Wake up 5 minutes earlier than usual and just stretch
2. Look in the mirror and tell yourself something you would like to hear
3. Smile at every person you see
4. Work hard enough to sweat at least for 20 minutes
5. Drink a whole lotta water
6. Take 10 long deep breaths, matching the length of your exhale to your inhale
7. Sing, sing, and then sing some more
8. Share a meal with someone
9. If you have a child, kiss them, every moment they will let you
10. Pet an animal
11. Show up somewhere. Just put your shoes on and go.
12. Read a book. Even for 10 minutes
13. Spend some time in the fresh air
14. Remind a child of the importance of being kind. Listen to yourself talk
15. Do something really nice for someone without expecting anything in return
16. Meditate
17. See the beauty in everything
18. Laugh
19. Make time for people
20. Look at the moon before you go to bed and be thankful