We are all different and unique. In the same way,  each one of us has a talent and a unique way to express themselves and make a difference! Sometimes we tend to dwell too much on the things we have to do and not on the things that we want to do and feel like doing. But doing what we like gives the energy to do all the other things, makes us see the good in life and to enjoy it to the fullest. Not all of us have a profession that is also their hobby. But all of us can make active steps towards investing in their hobby and talents and getting the best of it. the return from it might not necessarily be financial but much more valuable- improved way of living and feeling of connection with yourself. So how about giving it a try? 🙂

Today I came across an article in Esquire magazine on the importance of being gracious:

“When wandering the world, forget your business cards. Don’t look for more contacts. Instead, observe. Say hello to the people you see every day, but don’t make a fetish out of it. Stay interested in others. Be generous in your attentions but not showy. Don’t wink, snap your fingers, high-five, or shout, though laugh with those who do. It bears repeating: Look around. Remember names. Remember where people were born.”

Graciousness was brought up in a business context as an alternative to pushy and show-offish networking techniques.

It made me ask myself -Do we really live in a world where we need to remind ourselves to laugh with those who do it and remember names? Would we really not do this unless we read an article that highlights the benefits of adopting such a behavior?

I believe that it is in our nature to be light and gracious, to smile and laugh and to genuinely care about others. We do forget about it sometimes and we don`t do it for larger periods of time we “unlearn”. It is not difficult to forget especially in periods when we are surrounded by negativity. 

But it a matter of practice to remind ourselves and become gracious again. Because it is who we are.  

Today hasn`t been the best day for me – frustrations were coming one after another and slowly building up to reach a tipping point in the late afternoon.

But sometimes not everything goes in the wrong direction and there is light at the end of the tunnel. Luckily I saw the light during an insightful discussion with my meditation teacher who shared a great story with me:

” Two Prime ministers were sitting in a room discussing affairs of state.  Suddenly a man bursts in, apoplectic with fury, shouting and stamping and baning his fist on the desk.  The resident prime minister admonishes him: “Peter,” he says, “kindly remember Rule Number 6,” whereupon Peter is instantly restored to complete calm, apologizes, and withdraws.  The politicians return to their conversation, only to be interrupted yet again twenty minutes later by an hysterical woman gesticulating wildly, her hair flying.  Again the intruder is greeted with the words: “Marie, please remember Rule Number 6.”  Complete calm descends once more, and she too withdraws with a bow and an apology.  When the scene is repeated for a third time, the visiting prime minister addresses his colleague:  “My dear friend, I’ve seen many things in my life, but never anything as remarkable as this.  Would you be willing to share with me the secret of this Rule Number 6?”  “Very simple,” replies the resident prime minister.  “Rule Number 6 is ‘Don’t take yourself so damn seriously.’”  “Ah,” says his visitor, “that is a fine rule.”  After a moment of pondering, he inquires, “And what, may I ask, are the other rules?” … “There aren’t any.”

I did some research and found out that this story was written by Benjamin Zander, who is also the author of the “Art of possibility” book.

Focused on our To – Do lists and daily frustrations we often forget to take it easy and also not to take things (including ourselves!) too seriously.  Just breathing and relaxing, or even seeing ourselves in a comical light (as a funny cartoon character for instance), can make us less uptight and stressed out and more opened  and centered.

Let`s all try to practice Role Number 6 this week and be lighter and more playful!

Yesterday was the International Happiness Day and it is the perfect opportunity  to greet you with a card from the “Happiness is” series :). More about this cool concept here.

I want to introduce you to one of my favourite flowers which also happens to be one of the most resilient ones – the Snowdrop.
Despite its fragile appearance this little flower has the power to penetrate snow and ice and make an appearance in early March announcing the end of the winter.

It is really amazing how nature can be our best teacher. Wouldn’t it be great if we could be a bit more like the Snowdrop- gentle and gracious, yet determined and strong? 

 

Let`s use our imaginations today and remember how it feels to go on a trip and be a guest. The feeling of having a relaxing experience, time spent with people that we love, anticipation of something new. The influx of energy, the desire to explore, be active and enjoy. The gratitude and appreciation of someone’s hospitality. The feeling of respect to your host and their house. All these positive feelings!

And how about contemplating the idea of being a guest to our body? Of having it as our “guest house” in this lifetime? Wouldn’t that make you feel more respectful to it and to life as a whole?

And what if this “trip” ends tomorrow and today is the last day to enjoy it? How would you spend that day? What would we do? Whom would we see?

And how about living today in this way? Because in the end we never know. Let`s live with no regrets. Today.

Today I watched a fascinating documentary investigating dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a molecule found in all living beings on the planet. DMT is and considered to most potent psychedelic on Earth and the authors of the documentary refer to it as “The spirit molecule”.

The documentary describes Dr. Rick Strassman’s government-sanctioned, human DMT research. The effects of DMT’s effects are considered from two at first sight opposing lenses that in this case actually complement each other – science and spirituality.

I am not planning to reveal the findings presented in the documentary as I would highly recommend you to watch it yourselves.

A very important insight for me was that it implies that we are actually capable of entering a “higher” level of awareness by going” inwards”. Of course this is something that has been widely communicated from the “school “of spirituality. However, backing it up from a scientific perspective and furthermore showing actual evidence through a scientific research makes it much more tangible, actually imaginable and extremely empowering.

Of course, similarly to other times when I`ve been sharing metaphysical and spiritual insights with you, my advice is to take it with an open mind and always- with a pinch of salt. In the end, we are the one who choose what to believe in. The key is to have awareness and documentaries like “The Spirit Molecule” greatly contributes to this.

There are only 28 days in February this year, but this day containts an important message in my BK calendar that I want to share with you. It is interesting how true it is and at the same time how often we forget it.. Let’s remind ourselves!

“It is often said that charity begins at home. So let me give respect to my family and friends.”

Today I stumbled upon a Happiness Formula in “The Happiness Hypothesis” book (more about the book here). I`ve been very interested in Positive Psychology and have come across multiple definitions and frameworks regarding happiness and can confidently say that this is the most comprehensive one that I`ve ever come across. And without a doubt, it is the absolute inspiration of today.

It is one of the most important ideas of Positive Psychology and can be presented in the following way:

H=S+C+V

• H is, of course, Happiness 😉
• S is our biological set point. It is scientifically proven that our genes play an important role in the levels of happiness that we can achieve. A person`s average or typical level of happiness is known as their “affective style”. This style is linked to the activity in our brain. People that have more activity in the right side of the brain would be more prone to “withdrawal- oriented” style implying relatively lower levels of happiness that people who have more activity in the left area of the brain and who have more of an “approach-oriented” style.
• C are our external conditions. It is true that in most of the cases we adapt to our circumstances independently whether there are good or bad – this is referred to as the “adaptation principle”. However, it is proven that there some conditions are important to achieve lasting levels of satisfaction so it is worthwhile to develop an understanding of them:
• Noise
• Commuting
• Lack of control
• Shame
• Relationships
• V are our voluntary activities (and that’s where it gets very interesting). This is a matter of arranging your day and environment to increase both pleasures and gratifications. Pleasures have physical and sensory components; they can be derived from food, beach, sex and massages. They make us feel good only temporarily and have no lasting benefits.
• Gratifications are experiences that engage you fully, allow you to lose your self-consciousness. These are the types of activities that put you in a state of a “flow”. It often occurs while doing physical movements such as skiing, running or swimming, but also in other situations where we are involved in a task that is both challenging, but also closely matched to our abilities such as painting, writing or photography. The key aspects of Flow are: There is a clear challenge that engages your attention, you have the skills to meet the challenge and you get immediate feedback on how you are doing at each step.
• And this is where the main challenge lies. We need to find the right balance of pleasures and gratifications as we naturally have a tendency to go for pleasures and we should “encourage” ourselves to move to gratification-type of activities. They often come from learning something, improving something or accomplishing something. The key to finding your gratifications is to know your strengths.

I`ll end with two interesting scientific insights:

• People who report the greatest interest in attaining money, fame or beauty are consistently found to be less happy and even less healthy that those who pursue less materialistic goals.
• Research shows that it would serve us better to work less, earn less, accumulate less and consume more family time, vacations and other enjoyable activities.

So there it is. As usually my approach and advice is to take this with a pinch of salt. And use such insights as road maps that you need to customize for your own ways rather that as fixed recipes. In the end the path to happiness belongs to you only and nobody can walk it for you.

One of my yogi buddies brought her four year old daughter to our yoga class today. It was really nice and surprising to see the little girl not getting bored during this one and a half hour – she was following her mom’s movements and trying to do the same, or coloring her book.

But the most interesting part was the 10 min relaxation that we did at the end when we all lied in Shavasana (corpse pose) with our eyes closed. I can imagine that this can be an extremely boring thing to do for a four year old. But the mother whispered something in her year and the little girl lied down and closed her eyes with a blissful smile.

After the class I asked the mom what was that she told her daughter. “I told her to close her eyes and dream about her life when she grows up. I also told her that if she visualizes it well enough, it is going to come true. She is always super excited to do it.”

This made me think of the last time when I dreamt of something. Well, it was quite a while ago during a holiday. For me dreaming works the best when I am on the beach. But somehow not so great when I’m in my working mode. There are so many “important” and “ useful” things to be done. Who has time to dream?

But this is not true and everyone needs to be reminded of this, including me. If you think about it, the majority of the things that happen to us are first born in our heads during times when we are relaxed- for example, under the shower 😉 For instance- the idea for the blog came to me one morning while I was peacefully waking up in bed.

So let’s make the time and space to relax, dream an renew ourselves. Who knows, the next great thing in your life might be just be waiting to be visualized. Dream on!