Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Keep it simple.


Stumbled upon an article yesterday.  Definitely worth a read.

(Source: www.purposefairy.com)
Here is a list of 15 things which, if you give up on them, will make your life a lot easier and much, much happier. We hold on to so many things that cause us a great deal of pain, stress and suffering – and instead of letting them all go, instead of allowing ourselves to be stress free and happy – we cling on to them. Not anymore. Starting today we will give up on all those things that no longer serve us, and we will embrace change. Ready? Here we go:
1. Give up your need to always be right. There are so many of us who can’t stand the idea of being wrong – wanting to always be right – even at the risk of ending great relationships or causing a great deal of stress and pain, for us and for others. It’s just not worth it. Whenever you feel the ‘urgent’ need to jump into a fight over who is right and who is wrong, ask yourself this question: “Would I rather be right, or would I rather be kind?” Wayne Dyer. What difference will that make? Is your ego really that big?

2. Give up your need for control. 
Be willing to give up your need to always control everything that happens to you and around you – situations, events, people, etc. Whether they are loved ones, coworkers, or just strangers you meet on the street – just allow them to be. Allow everything and everyone to be just as they are and you will see how much better will that make you feel.
“By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is beyond winning.” Lao Tzu
3. Give up on blame. Give up on your need to blame others for what you have or don’t have, for what you feel or don’t feel. Stop giving your powers away and start taking responsibility for your life.
4. Give up your self-defeating self-talk. Oh my. How many people are hurting themselves because of their negative, polluted and repetitive self-defeating mindset? Don’t believe everything that your mind is telling you – especially if it’s negative and self-defeating. You are better than that.
“The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, however, it becomes very destructive.” Eckhart Tolle
5. Give up your limiting beliefs about what you can or cannot do, about what is possible or impossible. From now on, you are no longer going to allow your limiting beliefs to keep you stuck in the wrong place. Spread your wings and fly!
“A belief is not an idea held by the mind, it is an idea that holds the mind” Elly Roselle
6. Give up complaining. Give up your constant need to complain about those many, many, maaany things – people, situations, events that make you unhappy, sad and depressed. Nobody can make you unhappy, no situation can make you sad or miserable unless you allow it to. It’s not the situation that triggers those feelings in you, but how you choose to look at it. Never underestimate the power of positive thinking.
7. Give up the luxury of criticism. Give up your need to criticize things, events or people that are different than you. We are all different, yet we are all the same. We all want to be happy, we all want to love and be loved and we all want to be understood. We all want something, and something is wished by us all.
8. Give up your need to impress others. Stop trying so hard to be something that you’re not just to make others like you. It doesn’t work this way. The moment you stop trying so hard to be something that you’re not, the moment you take of all your masks, the moment you accept and embrace the real you, you will find people will be drawn to you, effortlessly.
9. Give up your resistance to change. Change is good. Change will help you move from A to B. Change will help you make improvements in your life and also the lives of those around you. Follow your bliss, embrace change – don’t resist it.
“Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls” 
Joseph Campbell
10. Give up labels. Stop labeling those things, people or events that you don’t understand as being weird or different and try opening your mind, little by little. Minds only work when open. “The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don’t know anything about.” Wayne Dyer
11. Give up on your fears. Fear is just an illusion, it doesn’t exist – you created it. It’s all in your mind. Correct the inside and the outside will fall into place.
“The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself.”
 Franklin D. Roosevelt
12. Give up your excuses. Send them packing and tell them they’re fired. You no longer need them. A lot of times we limit ourselves because of the many excuses we use. Instead of growing and working on improving ourselves and our lives, we get stuck, lying to ourselves, using all kind of excuses – excuses that 99.9% of the time are not even real.
13. Give up the past. I know, I know. It’s hard. Especially when the past looks so much better than the present and the future looks so frightening, but you have to take into consideration the fact that the present moment is all you have and all you will ever have. The past you are now longing for – the past that you are now dreaming about – was ignored by you when it was present. Stop deluding yourself. Be present in everything you do and enjoy life. After all life is a journey not a destination. Have a clear vision for the future, prepare yourself, but always be present in the now.
14. Give up attachment. This is a concept that, for most of us is so hard to grasp and I have to tell you that it was for me too, (it still is) but it’s not something impossible. You get better and better at with time and practice. The moment you detach yourself from all things, (and that doesn’t mean you give up your love for them – because love and attachment have nothing to do with one another,  attachment comes from a place of fear, while love… well, real love is pure, kind, and self less, where there is love there can’t be fear, and because of that, attachment and love cannot coexist) you become so peaceful, so tolerant, so kind, and so serene. You will get to a place where you will be able to understand all things without even trying. A state beyond words.
15. Give up living your life to other people’s expectations. Way too many people are living a life that is not theirs to live. They live their lives according to what others think is best for them, they live their lives according to what their parents think is best for them, to what their friends, their enemies and their teachers, their government and the media think is best for them. They ignore their inner voice, that inner calling. They are so busy with pleasing everybody, with living up to other people’s expectations, that they lose control over their lives. They forget what makes them happy, what they want, what they need….and eventually they forget about themselves.  You have one life – this one right now – you must live it, own it, and especially don’t let other people’s opinions distract you from your path.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

I love you but goodbye.

Dedicated to my late grandmother. I miss you already.

30.09.1926 - 10.03.2012



Lyrics: Langhorne Slim: I Love you but goodbye..


Why did you come?
If you can’t stay forever
How could you leave me all
alone on this Earth

Who was I before you?
I can’t remember
Why couldn’t I have been the one to
Leave here first?

I love you but goodbye
I love you but goodbye

No words of wisdom
Can make me feel better
Lately I’m having hard days and I
I curse the night

Maybe I’ll fly far away
And try to forget her
Maybe I’ll stay right where I am and
get on with my life

She said I love you but goodbye
I love you but goodbye
A bird with clipped wings can still sing
But can no longer fly

What are we here for?
Who makes the decision?
For every beginning
There must come an end

I want to thank you darling
For all that you’ve given
I want to thank you, thank you for
being my friend

And I love you but goodbye
I love you but goodbye
I love you but goodbye

I love you but goodbye 

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Flab to Fab


I blogged a couple of weeks about the desperate need I have to lose weight. So instead of cluttering this blog, I decided to start another blog dedicated to my progress, aims etc Its one way I can keep track of my efforts, my fitness and health levels as well my weight loss. Let the journey begin! (although technically I started after the visit to the doctor).

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

50 Questions that will free your mind.


Because sometimes asking the right questions is the answer.

  1. How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?
  2. Which is worse, failing or never trying?
  3. If life is so short, why do we do so many things we don’t like and like so many things we don’t do?
  4. When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done?
  5. What is the one thing you’d most like to change about the world?
  6. If happiness was the national currency, what kind of work would make you rich?
  7. Are you doing what you believe in, or are you settling for what you are doing?
  8. If the average human life span was 40 years, how would you live your life differently?
  9. To what degree have you actually controlled the course your life has taken?
  10. Are you more worried about doing things right, or doing the right things?
  11. You’re having lunch with three people you respect and admire. They all start criticizing a close friend of yours, not knowing she is your friend. The criticism is distasteful and unjustified. What do you do?
  12. If you could offer a newborn child only one piece of advice, what would it be?
  13. Would you break the law to save a loved one?
  14. Have you ever seen insanity where you later saw creativity?
  15. What’s something you know you do differently than most people?
  16. How come the things that make you happy don’t make everyone happy?
  17. What one thing have you not done that you really want to do? What’s holding you back?
  18. Are you holding onto something you need to let go of?
  19. If you had to move to a state or country besides the one you currently live in, where would you move and why?
  20. Do you push the elevator button more than once? Do you really believe it makes the elevator faster?
  21. Would you rather be a worried genius or a joyful simpleton?
  22. Why are you, you?
  23. Have you been the kind of friend you want as a friend?
  24. Which is worse, when a good friend moves away, or losing touch with a good friend who lives right near you?
  25. What are you most grateful for?
  26. Would you rather lose all of your old memories, or never be able to make new ones?
  27. Is is possible to know the truth without challenging it first?
  28. Has your greatest fear ever come true?
  29. Do you remember that time 5 years ago when you were extremely upset? Does it really matter now?
  30. What is your happiest childhood memory? What makes it so special?
  31. At what time in your recent past have you felt most passionate and alive?
  32. If not now, then when?
  33. If you haven’t achieved it yet, what do you have to lose?
  34. Have you ever been with someone, said nothing, and walked away feeling like you just had the best conversation ever?
  35. Why do religions that support love cause so many wars?
  36. Is it possible to know, without a doubt, what is good and what is evil?
  37. If you just won a million dollars, would you quit your job?
  38. Would you rather have less work to do, or more work you actually enjoy doing?
  39. Do you feel like you’ve lived this day a hundred times before?
  40. When was the last time you marched into the dark with only the soft glow of an idea you strongly believed in?
  41. If you knew that everyone you know was going to die tomorrow, who would you visit today?
  42. Would you be willing to reduce your life expectancy by 10 years to become extremely attractive or famous?
  43. What is the difference between being alive and truly living?
  44. When is it time to stop calculating risk and rewards, and just go ahead and do what you know is right?
  45. If we learn from our mistakes, why are we always so afraid to make a mistake?
  46. What would you do differently if you knew nobody would judge you?
  47. When was the last time you noticed the sound of your own breathing?
  48. What do you love? Have any of your recent actions openly expressed this love?
  49. In 5 years from now, will you remember what you did yesterday? What about the day before that? Or the day before that?
  50. Decisions are being made right now. The question is: Are you making them for yourself, or are you letting others make them for you?

Monday, January 30, 2012

Trim it.


I am overweight. I know it. I thought about my 'lifestyle today' and I do have my pros and cons. I have been trying to live as healthy as possible, I actually eat a lot of vegetables, I have my 5 a day, I don't eat much, I have reduced my drinking to almost zero (in fact since I got back in October I have had 7 drinks.) 7 drinks in 4 months is not bad. I have reduced my smoking.
I know I have to be healthier; I need to change my diet (My bad habit of not eating the whole day and only eat in the evenings!), I need to be a lot more active on a daily basis not just when we have groups in and I need to cut out the nicotine completely. According to the doctor I need to significantly reduce my carbs due to my 'condition'.
Yes, the doctor. It takes a visit to the doctor to push me to lose the excess baggage I have been carrying (losing and putting it back on) since 2009. For health and baby making purposes I need to lose 18kg.

Is he shitting me 18kg? Oh yeah by the way the 'condition' I am in makes it difficult for me to lose weight in fact if anything my weight has increased significantly because of it. Not ready to blog about the 'condition' yet, am going to do a bit of research on it first.

Till then. Broccoli and carrots are my new best friends. Saying that its awesome that I have the support of my loved ones. My husband is my new diet buddy and my cousin offered to spend some afternoons walking with me. Family and friends: what would you do without them?


Friday, December 30, 2011

Change.


Here we are again; at the end of another year. This time round I am feeling rather numb. I am looking forward to the new year and I cant wait to put the current year to an end. Similarly I can't ignore my feelings of anxiety and nervousness as I look upon the calendar for 2012. I would say that 2011 has not been easy for me but that would not be fair as I still live a life easier than some. I appreciate having a roof over my head, food on the table & great family & friends. Its definitely been a year of equal happiness and sadness; some may say its a good balance but I am actually keen (who wouldnt be!?) to have a 'happiness heavy' year in 2012. I am prepared to struggle for the first half but a 'prolonged' happiness for a few months would be nice. Am rather sick of listening to others tell me 'Your happiness is in your own hands and you can change how you feel, you should not be affected by those around you' --shut up! Mum being diagnosed with cancer (again) is not mine to change, my 1 year old nephew with his constant fits & seizures is not in my hands to change, the misfortune of the people I love around me is not something I can change & unless I am a robot: I can't detach myself from certain emotions, plus my own personal worries & problems which I need to deal with as well.

So 2012; please be kind, I am not asking to win the lottery. I promise I will work hard, be kind to others and kick some bad habits. I would like to be a better me and if you fancy shoving a couple of pennies my way, I would appreciate it too.


Your truly,
Mia in 2011

P.S Hoping everyone out there has better year ahead.