Power of positive and common sense...

There are probably thousands of books about positive thinking. I've read quite few of them. Some of them I found useful, some of them not at all... Yet, there is the power in 'positive' that we may experience in our everyday life. The power in our ordinary days and nights.
Our brains have amazing feature that we can put our attention on what we want. If I want to make doughnuts (as I did last afternoon) so I focus first on the process of preparing pastry, then I focus on washing my hands. I can switch my attention to flowers that we have on our kitchen table for a few seconds...
This extraordinary feature of our brain we may successfully use in our life to find for ourselves the power of positive. The thing is that we don't need to imagine the positives in our life (winning the lottery jackpot, or having half of the year holiday on Canary Islands). No. We can find so many positive things in our life that are already there. If we just pay attention to them. According to Rick Hanson it is enough to put our attention on positives (perfect taste of doughnut) for 17-20 seconds to start process of rewiring our brains into positive. We just have to stay with that experience of the perfect taste of a doughnut for 20 seconds! There are plenty of examples! Someone smiles to you, there was a very pleasant person at the counter in  a shop, your duvet is warm and very comfy, or in the evening you  take your dog for a walk.
Try it. For two three weeks, but the best effect we may achieve ( as neuro-scientists say) after eight weeks. Why is it important? There are of course few reasons. Being in a positive state of mind has significant impact on our well-being (as well as productivity, energy and motivation).
There is really a great news! Instead of waiting for something positive happen in our life we can really make it happen!

So what I will do for the next week? I will:
1. Set myself a small goals like 2 minutes of exercise a day and when I achieve this I'm going to buy myself a bottle of wine next Saturday so  I will drink with my wife to celebrate it! (achievements of goals produce in our body enzyme Dopamine which contribute to our happiness).
2. Go out for coffee so my body will produce Serotonin which also contribute to my happiness. The same will happen when I remind myself of my past achievements).
3. I will buy a dark chocolate (fair trade!) to treat myself with a square once a day because it produce endorphin enzyme which helps us to feel happy about our lives.
4. Last but not least... I will focus on positives in my life for the whole next week, especially in the evening I'm going to think about good things that are present in my days... and we will see...
 Now, there is plenty of bad things in the world... It's true...
But worry about them is not going to help anybody, neither people that suffer nor me... so Happy Next Week... We'll start tomorrow morning 4:30... Sharp...

Spirituality at work

There is no the best or worst place for spirituality, however sometimes we may think that a monastery on a beautiful hill that would be what is needed. Spirituality always blossom in the place we are now. So even in the workplace. I have to admit though that I often forget about it. Do things, make things happen, talk to people make it difficult to remember and be aware that I am a spiritual being. To remember we may try bit by bit simply by remind ourselves from time to time about our presence, 20 seconds per time it will do, e.g. I am present here and now.. A few conscious breaths. Maybe a word that is really important to me like, kindness or love or compassion.. Just a few times in the working day may change our perception for ever...

Compassion mantra - may we be free from suffering

Start where we are...

There is in us feeling, sometimes stronger sometimes weaker feeling that there is a better world somewhere else... or it was in the past... or it will be in the future... The greatest of our teachers point in the quite opposite direction. There is here and now. Jesus said that Kingdom of God is already among us, Buddha said that true love lives in the here and now. Rumi said that this moment is all there is...

There are more contemporary teachers that encourage us strongly to live in the moment: Pema Chodron, Richard Rohr, Willigis Jager and others... 

But for us, ordinary people the most important question is: why should we live here and now? Why shouldn't we worry about our future or future of our children? Why can't we celebrate our past successes or our happy childhood if we had one?

To answer to this important question let me give you an example. Let's say that you sit with your family, is Christmas or Diwali or Eid Al-Fitror or Hanukkah or Vesak or just Sunday afternoon and all members of your family look at the pictures from ten years ago when you were younger and slimmer and you were on your holiday. Instead of focus on the pictures here and now, instead of enjoying happy memories here and now your brain starts wondering... Hmm I was so slim, and much healthier... not any more though... happy days but... Do you understand? Your mind pulls you out of the present moment and starts gathering all the information from past and future, especially the upsetting ones...

The present moment brings you enough joy or enough sadness, just right... to move forward with gratefulness for your life...

Everything added to the present moment brings us overjoy which make us insensitive to suffering of others or over-sadness which makes us depressed and unable to see light in our world...