Thought For Today - September
 

Eat Right, Good Night

Ever thought about the connection between food & a good night's sleep? What you eat, how much & when you eat, affects your sleep.

This week, experiment with your evening meals & snacks. Discover the foods that help you sleep better. You may want to avoid heavy, rich foods & big meals at night. You may want to try eating right, eating light, & eating earlier.

Curious, Not Furious

When things don't go your way or work out as expected, do you get furious? Get furious and we shut down. It's as if fury hijacks us from remaining open to learning from what’s happened.

The next time this happens, don’t shut down, get curious! How might this be a good thing in disguise? What possibilities exist here? What can I learn from this?

Curious works way better than furious; as fury dissipates you make what’s happened a learning opportunity.

On the Road to Peace

Peace is a popular meditation destination. On the journey to the destination of peace, you may encounter some distractions.

Think of the distractions as all the traffic on the road. When you're driving, you can't empty the roads just because you want to get to your destination. In the same way, rather than focusing on emptying the mind, let all your thoughts come and go, just like the traffic on the road.

If you get distracted, it's OK, simply steer your focus towards peace. And then before you know it, you will have reached your destination.

Time Well Spent

How do you know if you have used your time well each day?

Lots of ticks on your to do list? Enjoyed the day? Interactions were good? Made time for things that matter? Feel a sense of satisfaction?

How do you measure time well spent?

Comparison to Compassion

Compare yourself to others? Comparison can be a source of motivation. But it can also leave you feeling inferior or superior - and both these states devalue yourself and the other person.

How about changing comparison to compassion. With compassion, you can value yourself and the other person. Value the uniqueness, the talents, the experiences, the contributions. Then instead of striving to be as good as or better than the other person, you can strive to be the best person you can be.

The Art of Patience

What cannot be achieved with pressure can easily be achieved with patience. Patience gives you the time to chip away at your dream and turn it into a reality. It tells you not to push, not to rush; there is a reason and a season for everything. And when things go wrong, patience tempers the feeling of failure and buffers the heart. It teaches you to keep your cool. A cool head knows when to wait and when to act.

From the Heart

Take a moment and think about your day yesterday: did you live from the heart? What you couldn’t do yesterday, do today! Today, live from your heart.

Forgetful or Stressed?

Ever forget names, can't remember where you put your keys or whether you locked the door properly....? Forgetfulness is often a symptom of stress. Stress reduces our capacity to retain information.

If you’re experiencing forgetfulness a little too often, take it as a sign to check if you’re under too much stress. Lower your stress levels and you'll retain information more easily and increase your capacity to remember things.

Seize The Day. Carpe Diem.

When was the last time you did something that made you feel great, something that made a huge difference? Well, what are you waiting for - someone to give you permission?

Give yourself the permission, the encouragement or even a dare to just get up and go. Live, love, dance, sing, laugh. Utilize every skill you posses, all your hopes and dreams, and seize the day, today.

Heated Words

We've all had days when we’ve said things in the heat of the moment that we regret later. But once words escape our mouth, we can't rewind or take back what we've said.

Next time you're heating up and you find yourself speaking too much, too fast, try to take a deep breath and slow down. Consider the full impact of your words and phrase them carefully and kindly. You'll thank yourself for it.

Time to Contemplate

Have you thought deeply, recently? No time or space for contemplation? You can think deep thoughts as you're walking, waiting, in the shower.... Make time, just ten minutes.

Contemplate on something positive & inspiring that you've heard or read recently. Take one question, a problem, or a word and think about it. Think deep & you might get some insights, answers, realizations.... plus it's a good exercise for the mind & soul.

Know Your Weaknesses

Do you know your weaknesses? Behaviors and attitudes that hold you back? To find your weaknesses: a) Think about your behaviors and attitudes that may have contributed to your past failures. b) Think about your behaviors that cause distress to yourself and others.

Now list your main weaknesses. If you find it difficult to sum them up, find someone you trust to give you honest feedback.

Know your weaknesses, not to undermine your self-esteem, but to gain a better awareness of yourself. Then you can a) manage your weaknesses better, and b) decide if you want to make improvements or even turn weaknesses into strengths.

Summer’s End

Summer – it’s a time of abundance, to enjoy the summer sun, flowers and fruits … but, summer, like everything else, doesn’t last forever. If summer was forever, all the energy and potential would reach its limits and inertia would set in. And so slowly but surely, the cycle turns; everything moves on. Everything has its own time; its own season. Remember, the end of something good, means the start of something also good. All you have to do is be connected and in tune with the natural flow of natures energies.

Too Many Choices

We assume that more choice means better options. However, beware of choice overload; it can leave us confused because a world of possibilities can also be a world of missed opportunities! Any choice will be close other doors that we’d rather keep open. Instead of exhaustively scanning all options until finding the perfect one, narrow your options. And then decide on something you feel good about.

The Mind Body Connection

Have you noticed the connection between the mind and the body? Think anxious thoughts and your muscles tense up. Worrying thoughts affect your digestion. Angry thoughts increase your blood pressure. Stress triggers headaches.

Notice the mind-body connection and think positively for better health. You can't necessarily think your way to better health, but your thoughts can make a difference.