I'm sending this Gift Early Because of the Recent Tragedy

I decided to send this gift out early based on the recent tragedy in Connecticut.
It's just heartbreaking and I know that people all over the world are experiencing an array of emotions. It's so crucial for us to share with one another and communicate our feelings with all of this going on. Come together and honor one another by sharing your feelings.                                 

I felt that this "gift" was appropriateat this time.

light and love AND NAMASTE ;-)
Lauren

#1 Take Good Care of Your Feelings

 

Just the other day, I found myself literally running in a circle. I was driving,

forgot where I was headed, turned around to go home, remembered where I was going

and then turned around to come home anyway. You ask, "well, if you remembered where

you were going, why did you turn around?" Yes, good question. In the split second

of remembering where I was going, I was immediately in touch with a feeling of anxiety.

I could feel tightness in my chest and my jaw was clenched. I got home walked inside,

sat down on my couch and closed my eyes. I took a deep breath and felt like my body

was still in motion.

 

"What is this feeling?" I thought to myself. In seconds, tears were streaming down

my face. I felt an immediate feeling of letting go and release come over my shoulders,

chest and then my whole body. The tears kept coming, and coming. With each wave

of tears, I continued to breathe and release them. After sitting with this for a

while along with the inquiry of "what is this feeling?", I began to get in touch

with something. I had been spending all of my time going and doing so much lately

and had not spent any time just to be with myself. I had not taken any time to

just be. With this clarity, I immediately thought about my family and my close

friends and what really mattered to me. It wasn't about the next thing I had to

do to market my business or how I was going to go to the store to buy something,

or what I was worried about. It all came back to being connected to the people

I love and care about.

 

We are moving so fast so much of the time that it's easy to completely neglect feelings

that may be affecting everyday occurrences. For instance, the same day I was running

in circles, I got a phone call from my mom and when she asked me "How are you?

I didn't hear from you last week." I immediately reacted with anger because of

the place I was in. Instead of just hearing that my mother misses me and wants to

know how I am.

 

Have you found yourself running in a circle lately? Have you been impatient with

yourself and or others?

 

Try this 4 Step Exercise to

Take Care of Your Feelings Today:

 

1.      Sit down for 5 minutes and just get still.

 

Take a long deep inhale and slow exhale. Again. A few more after that. Just be

with the stillness. Be with whatever comes.

 

2.      Now, ask yourself "What's the feeling?"

 

Just be with the inquiry. Allow whatever needs to come forward to come on it's

own. It will come. Allow it to come. It may show up as an emotion at first, it

may not even be clear to you. That's okay. Just be with whatever occurs. Notice

what you experience. Does your throat get tight? Are you wanting to laugh? Cry?

Are you breathing? Do not judge, just be. What's there? Allow it to be.

 

3.      See the feelings and hear what comes to you

 

As I allowed the tears to come, they also came and went. I was left with a feeling

of relaxation and also a deep yearning for wanting to relax and just be. No more

doing, just to be. It felt really good and I was clear I had been neglecting myself

in this way. What are you seeing? What do you hear?

It's all good, whatever it is.

 

4.      Create an affirmation and Acknowlege Yourself

 

It was as if with my eyes closed, I saw me standing there in front of me and I just

wanted to tell myself, "You have nothing to prove, you do enough and now you can

relax". My affirmation for this situation was, "You are enough, just by being".

My persistence to be a pillar of inspiration to others is so important. Yet, I

forgot that without filling back up again, this is not possible. Now that you

see and hear your feelings, what is it that you need to hear? Do you need to acknowledge

yourself for something (or lots of things). Do you need to really connect with

loving who you are? Right now, Create an affirmation around taking care of the

feelings that you are experiencing.

 

Hold your feelings in your arms and give them attention. You will see that they will respond when you

see them, feel them and then acknowledge them.

This is my gift to you.

 

I love you and honor the divine in you

 

Feel free to share your experience with me if you try this exercise.

Share with Lauren Here

 

Forward this to someone you care about.....

xoxoxox, Lauren

 

10 Days of Namaste Giving For You From Me

This is a preview of "10 Days of Namaste Giving". 

 

These gifts from me to you are about honoring the divine in you that is the divine in me.  Namaste can be defined in different ways, and for the sake of this project, I am giving you gifts to honor yourself in many different ways over the course of 10 days at the end of this amazing year of 2012.  We always end our class and say to you "Namaste", so I decided that it would be so much fun to end the year by adoring you, bowing to you and sharing with you in a way that is a constant reminder that our essence is all the same.  We are all one.

These are my gifts for you from me because I honor the divine in you.  Everyday for 10 days at the end of this year, I will send you a gift more valuable than anything you may unwrap this year.  These gifts are 10 Secrets that can allow you to unveil the natural state of bliss that exists in all of us. These secrets are actions that I've incorporated into my own life throughout the years. The ways of thinking that I share and exercises I will incorporate have allowed massive shifts to take place in my life. The best part is that it's really all the small action steps that allows the changes to take place and make room for big things to happen.  They are simple and easy and can be incorporated into your life so that you can end this year with a huge bang and create that life you want in 2013!

 

I'm allowing you to open this one early if you click here!! 
www.wellnessbylauren.com and sign up for my EZine

You will receive your Preview Gift tomorrow!
 

You will receive your Namaste Gifts December 21-31st, 2012.

What's Your Inner Critic Up to Today?

I got a glimpse of my Inner Critic the other day and hadn't actually heard her show up in a while. Just in case you aren't clear what I mean when I say " inner critic", it is that voice that speaks up without being  called on and can share some pretty ugly, negative, short sighted thoughts that contain no faith, hope or strength.  Got it Now?

Well, she wasn't holdin' back!!  On top of that, I was in a place where I was actually listening.  I'm clear when this voice is speaking, and can mostly thank her for sharing and move on knowing it's clearly no help to my life.  I was tired on this day and was a bit raw from a weekend that was filled with some more emotions than normal.  So, I listened and I began believing what she told me.  " your not going to meet that special person! Aren't you tired of going out on dates and not being attracted to the guy and just counting the minutes to go home? Isn't is kind of a lost cause? You are also getting kind of old and you aren't the ripest for the picking".

Ouch!

As I went on with my day, I could see myself being on edge, responding to people in a short way, screening calls instead of talking and feeling tired when I had plenty of sleep under my belt.  I know I needed a regrouping.  I got home, shut the door behind me, took a deep breath and said aloud "Okay, what's going on here? " I was clear within minutes that my inner critic had not just piped in but had taken over the show.

Almost immediately, I felt compelled to sit down and write and this is what I wrote:

Dear Lauren,

I see your soul and I see what's most important to you.  You are concerned for people, you are concerned for their happiness. I see how much you want people to get that they are intended to live a life they love and they get to say the way their life goes.  I see how much love you have to give and see you share it daily.  Your desire to be connected to others, share with them and empower them is such a gift and one that will never be wasted.  Your sensitive caring and empathic nature is so special and allows others the space to heal.  You have everything you need to transform whatever needs transforming in order to create and live your best life. I see you step into it each and every day.  Don't be surprised when you stand inside your best life, the whole package, nothing missing.  I see you having love around you because you are a beam of light and love for everyone else.  You are plenty, you are enough and you are on a divine path.

That will show my inner critic whose in charge!

This letter just put me right back on my path.  I will put myself out there.  It's only likely that we get to have the life we want if we already stand in the energy of living that life already.  It's not a feeling of longing for, but a feeling that you already have it.  Now that my inner critic was no longer running the show, I could get on with it. 

Is your Inner Critic running the show today? Try sitting down and writing yourself a letter.  A letter you would love to receive and read about you.  Answer these questions: what do you know for sure about yourself?  What is really important to you as a human being?  What are you capable of?  What difference do you know that you make in the world?  Write it, read it, believe it.  You are plenty, you are enough and you are on a divine path.

Your Actions Have To Come Despite the Feelings

Did you ever stop and think how many times you have said you wanted to do something, yet you don't.  You find at times so inspired by what life would look like and feel like, if you were just able to do "THAT".  Yet, once again, you find that months and maybe even years go by and you haven't! 

Well, things don't ever happen to us unless we are taking some actions that lead us to what we want.  Our lives expand BECAUSE we are taking the actions and these actions makes room for awesome things to occur! 

I was attending a very intensive yoga teacher training a few years ago.  At the end of the 9 weeks,  there was a graduation ceremony and they were choosing 25 people for the graduation ceremony demonstration that was going to have an audience of over 500 people.  Actually, that wasn't the part I was afraid of.  I kept having people tell me to try out and I kept saying "Noway"!  One of my peers came to me and said "Lauren, why aren't you trying out for the demonstration"?  I responded, "I'm afraid I won't be chosen".  I was partly unconscious of this until I spoke it out loud and when I did, I realized how crazy it was.  I was afraid of being rejected, which was out of my control, so I decided to take myself out of the game all together and then I didn't have to experience the rejection.  I decided to make the act of trying out the actual challenge and what I would receive the most inspiration from.  I would leave the result up to the powers that be.  I ended up being chosen for the demonstration, which was very exciting, but it wasn't the most important thing about the experience.  

I know most of us have heard the saying "Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway" and of course Nike's best tag line "Just Do It". They are both so very pertinent to our lives and going after our most desired goals. Dr. Laura Schlessinger says "....Courage is not the lack of fear, it is fear plus action." 

But, how exactly do I take the action when I feel so fearful, insecure or just plain 'ole stuck?

What are the secrets to unleashing your own courage in the face of feelings, in order to create the life that you really want?

Here are 4 things you can do to choose action

in the face of the "YUK" feelings

1.  Expect to have fear or discomfort when you go after something that you really want, and when they show up....keep going anyway!   If you have a job interview coming up, or you are in a new relationship, or you are repairing a relationship with a friend through a conversation, or even trying a new hobby, or exercise routine.  Expect discomfort as part of the deal and when it shows up, you don't have to be surprised or have it derail you in your goal.  In fact, moving past that can often be more challenging then what you are actually going after.  

2.  Breathe......well, of course, my readers know that I am going to fit breathing into the equation somewhere. But, seriously, you can see an instant transformation in a child when they are in the middle of having a hysterical tantrum if you tell them to breathe.  For me, in the midst of what seems like a crisis, it's like the gates of hell open back up me release me and I can see once again.  It's an action rather than a reaction to feelings and often thinking immediately gets much more clear.

3.  Imagine what life looks life if you continue NOT taking this action. 
Ouch!  You may not like what that looks like.  But, that's good, because human beings are not motivated by pleasure, we are motivated by pain.  So take a look inside the life that you create when you don't take the actions towards your goals.  I'm just sayin'.  I never said it was fun and pretty.  Don't expect motivation to fall from the sky.  Now, take an action.

4.  Ask yourself "what is the payoff for not taking this action"
My payoff if I had not tried out for the graduation demonstration was that I could avoid being vulnerable and taking a risk.  I wouldn't have to experience rejection.  But it would also have cost me an opportunity to build my self confidence and esteem, no matter the results. 

What was interesting was that when they announced the opportunity to begin with, I was sitting next to a great friend and she immediately said she was going to try out to be chosen. I remember turning to her and she sat tall with a smile on her face, so excited for the opportunity. She ended up not getting chosen and I went over to her after the try outs and acknowledged her. I remember going up to her and saying "Great Job, you are so amazing"! and she said "For what, I wasn't chosen?" I said "You didn't even skip a beat when they asked people to try out, you just went for it. The end result isn't what matters, you were so self confident and sure about what you wanted and went for it. WOW! With that quality, you can do anything".

So, go out there and take action...Don't Wait for the Perfect Time, You Create it as NOW!

Do you Ever Get the Feeling that You are just not good enough?

Have you had those moments where you can see yourself over and over not taking action because you are thinking that you are just not good enough.  Right away, there is a flow of memories and situations in your life that completely support this thought.  Before you can say the word "Go"....you are onto the next thing. 

How many times does this happen to you a day and what is it costing you?  It's costing you your dreams and it's all based in thought patterns- NOT REALITY!  What?  What do you mean?  I failed in my last relationship, so why should I go out and date again?  I started a diet 2 months ago and broke it on day 2, so why should I try to lose weight again?

See, neuroscience actually tells us that toxic thinking is a learned behavior, which implies you can unlearn it.....woah!!!  It's an automatic response, only because you have been doing it for so long. 
So, wake up and be conscious of when it's happening and you can change it into something positive now.  Once I realized that the conversations that I had going on in my mind ALL THE TIME aren't based in reality, but just a brain pattern, then I could just listen to them and watch them go just the same, like a leaf on top of a stream.  See them, but not react to them and base my actions on them.

What opens up now?  We can create new thoughts, like an artist.  A clean canvas lays in front of you and you are able to design what you want from nothing.  Try being mindful today and just practice hearing the conversations in the background and for today, practice non- reaction.  By the end of the day, take a journal and write down what you noticed.  What were some of the conversations that you could hear taking form?  Now laugh at each and every one of them- because your brain made them up and they aren't true. 

More tomorrow......it's going to be exciting ;-)

Love and light, and YOU deserve to be the total package,

Lauren