Minnie Mightie Topics
  • Home
  • Free Minnie Books
  • Quotes
  • Meditations
  • Store
  • Blog
  • Author
  • Contact

Making a Habit of a Habit

4/27/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Wikipedia defines a habit as a routine of behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur unconsciously. It is said that 40% our daily behaviour is a habit. Habits give our brains a break and make us feel in control. When we change habits we change our lives. In Gretchen Rubin's new book Better Than Before she talks about how to change or create habits.

She stresses how important it is to know yourself and part of that knowledge is to recognize yourself in 1 of the 4 Tendancies:

Upholders - respond well to inner and outer expectations. They tend to follow rules no matter what.

Questionners - question all expectations and only tend to meet them if justified.

Obligers -
respond more readily to outer expectations but struggle with inner expectations. Do well if they are accountable to somethng or someone.

Rebels - resist all expectations - prefer to do their thing on their own terms.

Gretchen goes on to suggest further questions to consider when getting know yourself:

Are you a morning person or a night person? No use attempting a daily 6:00 am jogging habit if you are a night person.

Do you get things done quickly at the last minute, take your time or simply ignore as long as possible?

Do you tend to buy, buy, buy or do you make do?

Do you prefer simplicity or over abundance?

Do you tend to finish projects or simply come up with ideas?

Do you love familiarity or do you thrive on change?

Do you look at how you could gain from something (promotion-focused) or do you view it from a the angle of preventing loss or problems (prevention-focused)?

How do you spend your time?

What do you value?

Once you know how you operate, mindfully choose what habits you would like to change or create in a manner that best compliments your characteristic traits. It is said that it take 66 days to develop a habit.

Ms. Rubin discusses some strategies that can help encourage the formation of a healthy habit.

Monitor - measure your progress. ex. keep a food journal, wear a pedometer, make a quantitative goal for the day, track your TV watching time

Foundation - choose habits that will have a positive affects in other areas of you life. ex. good sleep habits encourage better control over eating and exercising habits

Scheduling - habits grow stronger and faster when they are scheduled into our daily lives. It takes less brain work or self-control when your habit is predictable and set in stone.

Accountability - you are more apt to stick with it when their are consequences to be faced. ex. deadlines, wasted gym fees, late fees, poor grades, coach expectations

Abstinence/Abstain - sometimes you have to give up something completely as apposed to moderation ex. very few of us can eat only a few potato chips. Perhaps the alternative is to find a similar but healthier crunchy snack.

Convenience/Inconvenience - make the habit a little easier to follow
ex. buy or make pre-prepared meals, make a rule to smoke outside only, keep all electronic devices and TV's out of the bedroom, bring gym clothes to work

Pairing - try to incorporate the habit with other activities. ex. standing up when you are talking on the phone, taking the stairs instead of the elevator at work or in your apartment building, getting up to talk to a co-worker instead of just sending an email all the time

Safeguard - come up with a plan before hand if temptation is anticipated
ex. eat some protein before a dinner party, wait 15 minutes if a craving strikes, don't buy coffee at 3 pm at your favourite donut shop, don't book appointments when your scheduled to go to the gym

Beware of Loopholes - excuses to get rid of the good habit
ex. I can eat more because I exercised
I can hold off cleaning my room because I am going to do a major cleaning on the weekend
It is a party so I can let go and drink and eat as much as I want
I've been good so I can take the a day off

Treats - reward yourself with treats (non-caloric) to help with self-control ex. watch that movie, go to that game, buy that piece of clothing, get your nails or hair done, get that massage

Extrinsic motivators (rewards from the outside) are not as effective as intrinisic motivators (self-directed drive) when it comes to transforming a behaviour into a well ingrained habit.

Upholders - are motivated by the need for a source of control

Questionners- are inwardly driven by their natural curiosity about things

Obligers - are encouraged by cooperation, competition and recognition

Rebels - are self-driven by a challenge

Gretchen's book goes into more detail and more antidotes on the subject of changing habits. I on the other hand will sum things up by saying:

Mindfully decide on what habit you want to create, get to know yourself and your characteristic traits and take things one small step at a time. Know from the start that good habits take time and effort but in the long run the benefits far out weigh the cost - so make a habit of it.










0 Comments

Life is on Your Side

4/20/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
This title may be hard to believe when "bad" things happen to you. But what if you change your perception of life and begin to believe that "life happens for you and not to you". What if those so called "bad" things were gifts that strength you, shake you up to be more real with yourself and others, teach you what really matters or help you to get to the true meaning of joy, compassion, love and a fulfilling life. How often have you heard people say, "my heart attack or my diagnosis of cancer was the best thing that happened to me because it taught me to appreciate and be grateful for life, to live in the now and not worry about the what if's".

We don't have to wait for a major challenge to come along to adopt this life philosophy. View each issue as an opportunity for growth - nothing occurs for nothing. When something appears in your life that triggers pain, frustration or anger, don't ask "Why me?". Instead ask "What can I learn from this experience - What is this trying to teach me?"

Constantly losing things - maybe you need to focus more on the moment and not be continually multitasking or thinking about other things

Body aches and pains may have an emotional component as well as a physical reason for manifesting.
    Lower back pain- do you fear lack of financial support
    Loss of balance - do you have scattered thinking, not centered
    Bladder problems-  is there anxiety, holding on to old ideas, fear of 
                                letting go, are you holding onto anger
    Breast problems-  a refusal to nourish self, putting everyone else first
    Breathing problems- fear or refusal to take in life fully
    Leg problems- fear of the future, not wanting to move forward

For a more extensive list check out Louise L. Hay's book You Can Heal Your Life.  

I like Mike Dooley's expression concerning life's challenges, he says "set  backs are only set ups for something better".

So the next time, and believe me life is all about next times, you are triggered emotionally by an event - stop, breathe and ask "what is life trying to teach me?". Is the lesson about trust, patience, gratitude, true happiness, self-love etc..

Life gently taps us on the shoulder to get our attention but if we continue to ignore its loving gestures, those gestures get louder and louder until they can no longer be ignored. But no matter how in your face Life gets remember it is always on your side.

0 Comments

That of What We Don't Speak Of!

4/14/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
It is something we all face eventually yet we choose to ignore it. That something is Death. Our Western Christian culture which is rooted in a afterlife theology is very much death-phobic. There have been many books written about near death experiences but one of the more well known psychiatrist and author of the subject is Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. Her first book on Death and Dying was inspired by her work with terminally ill patients. She describes the 5 stages of grieving experienced by the those dying or those left behind  - denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. She went on to inspire the hospice movement and to focus more on near-death studies.

Her research was scientific and rigorous but blended with a spiritual aspect as well. She was criticized by the medical community who believed that medicine was all about living and not about dying.

From her studies, she concluded that dying is just as natural as being born. She compared the death process to that of a butterfly emerging from a cocoon. As soon as the cocoon or our body is in irreparable condition, it releases the butterfly or our soul. The cocoon/body is no longer functioning - no breath, pulse or brain waves. You no longer have any physical energy, however your soul is supplied with psychic energy and you are able to perceive everything that is happening at the place of dying, be it the accident site, on the surgical table, the hospital room etc. You are able to take in what everyone is saying, doing or thinking. You are whole again. For example, if you were blind or unable to walk in your physical life, you are now able to see and move freely during this stage.
Dr. Ross had blind people in the study that had no light perception for the last 10 years and had out-of-body experiences. They came back and were able to describe in detail what colours and patterns made up clothing or the type of jewellery worn by individuals surrounding them at the time of their near death experience.

Not everything can be explained by science. She goes on to state other factors that are universal at the time of death:

-Nobody dies alone - loved ones that have died before you and mean the most to you appear in order to make the transition easier. They will appear as you remember them. Your child that died before you will still appear to you as a child.

-At the moment of death, space and time as we know it on earth no longer exists. One minute on the other side could equal one hundred years of earth time. Whatever or whoever you want to go to, you do in a split second by merely thinking about it.

-Dying patients have short out of body trips where they become aware of the celestial support available to assist them as they prepare for the transition.

-Everyone has a guardian angel that is always with you for guidance and support.

-There is a symbolic transition such as passing through a tunnel, going through a gate or over a bridge or mountain pass where you are met by a Heaven based on your belief system. At the end of the this passage is a bright light and a feeling of indescribable unconditional love, a source of pure spiritual energy or cosmic consciousness. If a person is having  NDE (near death experience) s/he is only allowed to see the light for a short time and then returns. When you really die, the connection between the body (cocoon) and the soul, which is compared to an umbilical cord is severed and you are not able nor do you want to return to your earthly body.

-Once the cord is cut, you are filled with the knowledge of all your thoughts, words, deeds and the consequences they created on earth. You will now understand why things happened the way they did and how your free-will played a part. This review takes place in a total realm of love with no negativity or judgement. You just become aware of your true potential and what you could of lived like.

-Life after death is an existence without pain or anguish and it provides the ability to thrive and learn in an environment of only love.

We have only 2 natural fears in life - one of falling and the other of loud noises. All other fears have be projected onto us from generation to generation. Death being one of them. Maybe the sense that we cannot control or predict our death creates anxiety around the subject. If only we can come to realize that death is simply another from of living that is well orchestrated by a loving Source and facilitated by spiritual guides and predeceased loved ones.

A person knows s/he is dying through the natural knowledge of the soul.
With today's medicine, there is no one need to suffer during the dying process. It is a chance for the dying person and the family to reconcile outstanding issues, voice regrets, reminisce, express wishes or any other earthly housekeeping items before departing. This is beneficial for both the departing soul and for those left behind to grieve.

The more you acknowledge death and the knowledge that unconditional love is the ultimate beginning and end, the more you can live and love more freely now.


Those who learned to know death, rather than to fear and fight it, become our teachers about life.

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross


For those who seek to understand it, death is a highly creative force. The highest spiritual values of life can originate from the thought and study of death.

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross





0 Comments

The Ultimate Video Game - Life

4/10/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
There is a beginning or a source energy from which all was created. We can call that source God, Life, Source, Prana or any other name that feels appropriate to you, it doesn’t matter. This Source/God is everything - total love and harmony. The many examples of earthly beauty, creativity and natural flow are evidence of this loving energy. It is out of a desire or drive to create and experience all aspects of itself that the universe was born. We are an important part of this creation process. Since energy cannot be created or destroyed, we are not new energy sources created by Source/God but extensions of its thought energy transformed into material form.

Life is like the ultimate video game. Source/God has created the setting, the materials and the parameters that we work with.  We enter the game forgetting our divine nature – forgetting that we are spiritual beings in a human body. We are given a mind and an ego that gives us a separate identity to help us navigate the earthly plane but it comes with a warning. Too much importance on ego can convinces us that we are disconnected from one another, in competition for resources and that Source/God is separate from us and demands our obedience. The challenges of this game are not only our amnesia to our spiritual nature or the balancing of ego but the beliefs we develop as a result of our earthly interactions.

The beliefs about judgement, condemnation, insufficiency, failure, need, conditionality and disunity. These are the illusions of life that need to be turned around in order to advance to the higher levels in this game or else we risk being stuck at a level where the idea that violence, killing and wars are believed to be essential to move forward.

Free-will and our controller allows us to choose how we want this game to play out and to discover what works and what doesn’t work for us. It permits us to decide how we want to define ourselves. The speed at which we conquer the levels of true self-awareness is up to us. Do we want to head in the direction that uncovers our true essence of love, joy, peace, compassion or do we want to follow ego and its “you against the world” philosophy.

There have been some real masters of this game  – Jesus, Buddha, Hilarion, Isis, Ganesh, Shiva, Krishna, Quan Yin to name a few. These Ascended Masters were beings of light who like us became physical beings on earth. Through their lives on earth they focused on raising their vibration, awareness and consciousness. They obtained mastery over themselves and the elements of time and space.

Rising up the different levels of this game of Life does not mean you have to be dull. It is about realizing that love is all there is. It is about living from a place of love and not fear. This video game may have a variety of dark and light scenarios at times but ultimately, the Creator of the hardware and the software is total Love and therefore nothing or nobody is lost, discarded or deemed senseless despite the direction taken by its participants. All paths or situations eventually lead back to that place of love.

So my advice to fellow gamers is to dive in, strategize with thoughts, words, actions from a place of love, and have fun. Life’s challenges are merely tools to further awaken you and not even death is something to fear – but that is another game of its own to be discussed in a later blog.


0 Comments

    Archives

    February 2024
    July 2023
    October 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    October 2019
    June 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    November 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly