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Respect is a behaviour that is a core value.No matter what your identity. Male, female or other. Cutural background and ethnicity. Every person has the right to be respected but first you need to respect yourself.

I have written many times about how important looking after yourself first is. How can you care for another in a positive way if you don’t first care for yourself? How can you respect others if you don’t first have self respect? You will find it a great challenge to respect others without loving and respecting yourself. To honour yourself you need to rehearse every day. Improving self esteem needs coaxing every single day for the rest of your life. Think about it.

Sunset South Australia. It was a stunner.

Unconditioal love is an affection that knows no boundaries and has no conditions attached. It is often seen in the love of a parent for a child. Unconditional love is often referred to as true love.

True love is not possible without self love. Self love is the anchor that true love needs in order to flourish. If we don’t love ourselves it would be a challenge to love another without conditions. 

Cultivate respect and love for yourself and you will find you can experience true love. Think about it.

Guilt is a common emotion. One that is driven by thoughts of our past. Thoughts that chip away at our confidence and our self esteem. When we hang on to guilt day after day it becomes soul destroying. 

Carrying the weight of guilt can be a very heavy burden which at times overwhelms us and pushes us down to a dark place full of despair.

In order to lighten the load we need to change the way we deal with our guilt. We need to observe it, acknowledge it then let it go into the past where it belongs.

Don’t let guilt from your past destroy your day. Live for today and look forward to the future.

 

I often hear others speaking about their rights, as if they have the right to say and do whatever they want, to whomever they want and whenever they want. 

My point is that with rights comes responsibilities. Responsibilities to respect ourselves and others. Responsibilities to protect ourselves and others. Responsibilities to care for ourselves and others.

Every person is responsible for his or her actions. Blame does not always rest at the feet of others. Blame does not always stick to a scapegoat. We are responsible for our actions. Most of the time we have a choice.

It’s difficult to come up with reasons why we look for scapegoats. However, I think most of the time it’s about our unwillingness to take responsibility for something that we are doing. 

We all carry mental baggage some of which is really heavy but instead of laying blame we can learn how to best manage horrendous life experiences and then take responsibilty for managing our response, no matter what life experiences we have.

Think about it.

Have you ever thought how you’d live your life if you knew when you would die? Take some time to think about your answer.

If I knew when I’d die I would change a few things I am currently doing. I would slow down, taking time to relax and meditate. I would tell the people I love that I respected them and I love them unconditionally. I would make time daily to do something that makes me happy. I would spend more time with friends and aquaintences. I would observe more closely the amazing beauty of creation and I would be grateful for every sunrise and sunset I see.

Life is an amazing experience.  Take time to live your life. You never know when it stops.

What would you do?

 

Until recently I was not enjoying life. It was just too hard to get up out of bed each day. I battled with my inner thoughts and beat myself up constantly. I worried incessantly until mole hills became mountains. I beat myself up daily repeating the same mantra of despair. I dragged a heavy load of mental baggage around with me and daily told myself I was hopeless and overwhelmed. 

This baggage was my undoing. It became so heavy. No matter what I tried I thought I would never again be able to face the next day. How wrong I was!

The problem was with the baggage and what I was doing with it. I’m learning how to let go of the baggage and lighten the load. It feels so much easier to move. 

Today for the first time in many weeks I was up before sunrise. How wonderful it was to be able to pull the curtains back in my room and watch the magic of warm colours painting the clouds on the horizon. 

How wonderful it is to feel JOY and PEACE at last. Over many weeks I have struggled to get back to this feeling of contentment. I have battled with dark and dismal thoughts. I have trudged through days without joy. I have cried out for peace. I have screamed in anger and frustration as I plummeted into the black pit of hell on earth.

What have I learnt? Depression lies! It makes me feel useless, worthless, overwhelmed, frustrated and angry. Asking of myself why, why, why am I in this pit again.

I look at the sunrise again and say thank you God for another day of JOY! I am on the path to recovery. 

This morning I read an excellent article about doing the things you enjoy. Why? Simply because you enjoy doing them, they are your happy places, your mind stillers, your feeling soothers and your smiling moments.

Never underestimate the power of doing the things you enjoy. They are powerful reminders that life needs to have a balance between work and play. 

Try not to put off doing the things you enjoy because you are too busy. Are you really too busy to smile? Are you really too busy to relax? Are you really too busy to feel happy and content?

What are the things you enjoy doing? I enjoy gardening. I find watering the garden in the cool of the evening very calming. I love sewing so I create time on a regular basis to get on the sewing machine. I enjoy cooking so I try to plan what we’re having for dinner ahead of time. I enjoy walking so I try to walk regularly. I enjoy reading, I like to sit out on the verandah with my feet up reading. 

What do you enJOY?

Not only do we need the natural world to survive physically we also need the world of nature to create a balanced mental outlook. Just imagine what it would be like if we were wrapped in a physical cocoon separated from the natural world. Am I correctly guessing that this would be too horrible to contemplate?

The natural world is very, very important if we wish to maintain a positive mental attitude. Taking a break from our everyday routine of commuting and working is so very important. We need to factor into our everyday life a regular jaunt out into the natural world around us. We need to see it, smell it, hear it, feel it.

Imagine a week without seeing trees, the lungs of our planet. How would you feel without the smell of the ocean, the smell of rain or the smell of plants? Can you imagine a week without hearing birds or a week without feeling the wind blow past?

Difficult to imagine? Sure is… so get outside today and consciously soak up the natural world around you. Use every sense you have in the process. This is my medicine. I need a daily dose. How about you?

Joy is feeling I have written about previously. Along with love and compassion, it completes the triumvirate, the golden triangle of feelings.

Joy is something I need to practice flinging around with abandon. Joy is something that gives back. Joy is infinite, it has no bounds. It returns to me in equal measure. Joy comes from a love for oneself and others. When I make a conscious effort to cultivate joy I am always repaid.

Practice each day growing your joy and sharing it willy-nilly around your universe. Joy, along with love and compassion is the creator of the greater good so spread it around, pay it forward and you will be rewarded with joy in return.