The Buddha's Belly...6 Questions to Start 2016 with Clarity, Focus and Optimism!

Happy New Year to all our Friends!

Hoping you have experienced joy and love during this holiday season!

No matter what specific beliefs or traditions we adhere to, there is one holiday we all share....the START OF A NEW YEAR! And as we begin this new adventure, I would like to remind all of us (myself included!) that we have the ability to influence the direction of our lives and be active participators in the creation of our desires.  There is a personal ritual that I have done for several years and want to share with you now so we can each move into 2016 with clarity, focus and optimism! 

As the new year begins, I spend some time considering and journaling (without judgement) about the following six questions. I create some quiet time (about 30-60 minutes), breathe, relax, get centered and begin...it is very helpful to actually write the answers to the questions to enhance the experiences of letting go and gaining clarity.

1. What was challenging for me during the past year?

2. What did I (or can I) learn from those challenges?

3. What successes did I experience throughout the past year, both personally and professionally? 

Remember, we ALWAYS have successes! It may be difficult to acknowledge them, and just showing up for life sometimes is a HUGE success! The more we notice our wins, the more wins we attract!

(At this point, I pause to honor all that I have experienced during the past year as well as my process with all of it. I find gratitude and appreciation and acknowledge how these experiences have brought me to this point in my life. Then I begin slowly breathing in and out, releasing and letting go of 2015 with each exhale, thanking and blessing everyone and everything that I have encountered..........and now, I am ready to continue writing.)

4. What do I want to create in my personal and professional life during the new year?

5. How do I want to feel in the coming year personally and professionally?

6. What is something new or something different that I am willing to do in 2016 to expand my personal and professional growth?

(Now that I have gotten clear and have committed to my desires for the new year, I slowly breathe in and out for a few moments, envisioning how it feels to be living out my manifested desires and I hold focus to the belief that "It's All Possible!" ~ as Stacey Hall and Jan Brogniez say: "Expect your every need to be met, expect the answer to every problem, expect abundance on every level, expect to grow spiritually. Expect miracles and see them take place! )

As we honor and let go of the past, gain clarity and hope for our year ahead, we are actively creating and guiding the direction of our lives. I am deeply grateful for all of you that support Mary F. Holt International in our desire to help the world experience more joy, peace and freedom and would love to hear your experience with this New Year practice in the comments below!

So our wish in 2016...May we all find happiness and peace, health and strength, safety and security...and...

MAY WE ALL LIVE JOYOUSLY WITH THE EASE OF WELL-BEING AND FREEDOM!   

If you or someone you know could use help with or would like to learn more about how to live life with more joy, peace and freedom, contact Mary for a FREE 30-minute Discovery Coaching Session!

The Buddha's Belly Blog . . . The Grace of Gratitude

 

Greetings Friends, 

During this season of Thanksgiving, we may often be reminded to take note of the good things in our lives and to give thanks for these as well.  I have found myself writing notes and sending emails and messages of gratitude to people that have supported me this year in my growth, my work and my life. This practice has a profound impact on my frame of mind, my mood and my overall sense of well-being, as it shifts the focus off of my "perceived life problems" and onto the goodness in others and the world itself. It reminds me too that I am not alone on this journey, that there is great support here for me if I am willing to open myself up to it and receive the help. (A topic for a future blog for sure!)

Having said all that, we certainly cannot deny the tragedies and challenges in the world either, and maybe even in our own lives. So how do we find gratitude in the midst of experiencing sadness, confusion, loneliness, loss, anger, resentment, betrayal, fear, insecurities, depression or the like?

Through the personal work that I continue to do in my own life and through witnessing that of others doing similar work, I know that gratitude can be found because we do have control over our feelings. (Yippee!) This control often has to do with our point of focus and the choices we are willing to make.

Did you know that we have anywhere from 60,000 to 90,000 thoughts per day? And are you aware that our emotions are directly connected to the thoughts that we are thinking??? If you are not conscious of this, I would invite you to begin noticing when you are feeling negative emotions and check into the thoughts occurring in your mind - positive or negative?

My own freedom from stress and unhappiness of any kind comes when I realize and accept that it is not a particular situation, or person or thing that is causing me unhappiness, but rather what I am thinking about that particular situation, person or thing that is causing me stress and unhappiness. This can be a hard pill to swallow, but let me tell you...it is incredibly freeing if we are willing to accept this reality. When I begin to question the truth of my thoughts and make the choice to become willing to let go of my painful emotions, I can experience relief and shift my focus to see that situation, person, thing and myself in a new light. 

Some people say that I have certainly lived through a fair share of "tragedies" in this lifetime. Through the practice of mindfulness, I have learned to observe thoughts and emotions that arise from moment to moment, feel them and meet them with non-judgement. With this conscious awareness, I can then use processes such as The Work by Byron Katie and LOA processes to free myself of stressful thinking and move into compassion, understanding and hopefulness. Willingness, often motivated by enough discomfort, enables me to acknowledge and feel my emotions, question my thoughts, make the choice to let go of the negative and shift my focus to seek out the goodness in me and the world. This certainly does not happen over night, although it does happen with guidance and with the simple desire and readiness to move toward freedom.

When I can be humble enough to suspend my own opinions of right and wrong/good and bad, the challenges in my life can become unending gifts that teach me more and more about the heart's capacity for understanding, compassion, non-judgement, acceptance, forgiveness and love.

And then . . . the beautiful and humbling Grace of Gratitude emerges as I see that I and the world have been transformed through what I first perceived as a negative experience in my life.

So today my friends, I hold the intention that we each may find the ability to give thanks for the good in our lives and also for the challenges that arise day to day, trusting that it can all lead us toward greater freedom and love . . . if we so choose.

At Mary F. Holt International, we hold to the motto that "It's All Possible!" We do this not only because it is our belief, but because it is our experience...we have lived and continue to live the transformations first-hand, and we invite you or anyone you know to join us as we co-create our lives with freedom and joy!  And we would love to hear about your experiences of gratitude for the good and for the challenges in your lives - feel free to comment below.

Many blessings to you and yours as this season of Giving Thanks continues, and until our next blog . . . keep breathing.

"Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness.  If, in our heart, we still cling to anything - anger, anxiety or possessions, we cannot be FREE."  

~ Thich Nhat Hahn

 

Beginning of The Buddha's Belly Blog . . .

Hello Friends,

Welcome to The Buddha's Belly. This will be a space and time that I will share (via words and video) my own life experiences, my thoughts, lessons, wisdom, mistakes and successes that arise from moment to moment along this fabulous journey we call LIFE.

We will talk about STRESS, MINDFULNESS, MEDITATION, LIFE, WORK, RELATIONSHIPS, FAMILY, HEALTH, SPIRITUALITY, JOY, DELIBERATE CREATION, THE MIND, THE WORK, MONEY, ABUNDANCE, LAW OF ATTRACTION.....and SO SO much more!!!

I have had "The Buddha's Belly" name for a number of years, and it has been attached to various establishment and business ideas during it's evolution. Titling this blog seems quite appropriate now, as the Happy/Laughing Buddha's full belly and raised arms are symbols of PROSPERITY, ABUNDANCE, HAPPINESS and GRATITUDE. It is believed that if you rub the belly of the Happy Buddha, your life will be blessed with these lovely gifts. 

And so.....it is my desire and intention to help all of us learn how to ALLOW these gifts into our lives, to KNOW that we are DESERVING of them and to SHARE them with all those we encounter along the way. My hope in creating this blog is that you feel you have "rubbed the Happy Buddha's Belly" each time you visit here and that your soul's belly gets filled with greater AWARENESS, INSPIRATION and CLARITY!

Until next time . . .  just B R E A T H E . . .

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