KNOW THY SELF!

             KNOW THY SELF

We are triune beings. We each have a physical, emotional and spiritual aspect to our identity. To be happy, it is important to be healthy in each if these areas. We need to maintain balance in these three areas. To create and maintain balance I suggest we ensure that our needs in each of the three areas are being met. To meet our spiritual needs we can cultivate a relationship with our creator. We can read and study the holy scriptures on a daily basis. We can regularly worship and pray. 

For our physical needs (that's needs not desires) we can keep ourselves in the best possible physical condition for our age and physical dexterity. 

To meet our emotional needs, we ought to get to know ourselves, we should ensure that we are only in healthy relationships. If not healthy, we need to change the relationship or end it. We can maintain a calm, focused and balanced emotional life. When we are feeling down, negative, stressed, anxious, out of sorts, or out of balance, I recommend taking two simple and specific actions. 1) Change your environment! Go outside, go for a walk, go for a drive, go to a different room, etc. when we change our physical environment we change our mental state which results in a change in our feelings both physical and emotional. 

2) Change your thinking process. Keep this simple. Instead of thinking about what you want or need, take a few moments and think of at least 10 things for which you are grateful. Change your point of view or perspective in a situation. Ask yourself,"what can I learn from this?"We can also change our thinking process by asking,"what would _________ do in this situation?" Think of a mentor, or a hero, someone you respect and admire. What would they do?  These two simple actions help restore emotional balance and help us to get to know ourselves better. 

1) Change your environment. 

2) Change your thinking process. 

It is by small and simple things, great things are brought to pass. 

MY HAPPY PLACE

      MY HAPPY PLACE

Albert Einstein said,"imagination encircles the world." You have the ability to literally create and live whatever life you desire within your imagination. You and I actually use our imagination every day.

Unfortunately we tend to use our imagination against ourselves. We tend to vividly imagine all the things that can go wrong in our day and in our life. We vividly imagine what we don't want to have happen. We create in our minds scenarios of how other people are going to behave and act towards us. We create negative scenarios and expectations for ourselves ensuring that we will experience disappointment. Just as we can create a negative experience for ourselves, with this same ability, we can create neat, upbeat and good things for ourselves. I recently had to undergo an MRI. If you've never experienced an MRI, it can be very stressful if you're the slightest bit chlosteraphobic, which I am.  You are secured to a mobile table and then they slide you into a long and very narrow tube (the MRI Machine). It's so small, you can't turn around or move. You lay in this tight, small tube for around an hour. In this tiny enclosed space for that length of time, I could have experienced major anxiety and trauma, but I didn't, I used my imagination. I spent time walking along the beach in Destin Florida with my wife. We had so much fun. We then played at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Florida. We were having a blast and about to go on Splash Mountain when I was informed the MRI was complete. 

We can transform our lives by using the amazing gift of imagination to our benefit. Let's talk more about this ...tomorrow.