“Do not give your precious energy to the dying past.”

~ Predictions for 2010 from the Sedona Group,  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3zJm98UXzQ

Shattered dreams, broken relationships, disappointments, failures, financial setbacks…what litter is piled high in your backyard?

Today’s message from Oprah.com: “There is a fine balance between honoring the past and losing yourself in it. For example, you can acknowledge and learn from mistakes you made, and then move on and refocus on the now. It is called forgiving yourself. Or you can carry a burden of guilt (self-identification with mistakes) for many years.

Be vigilant, so that you don’t allow a burden of negative past to accumulate in your mind, in the form of guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, anger, and so on. Forgiveness happens naturally as soon as you realize that the past cannot prevail against the power of Presence.

Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love shares the following lighthearted yet sound advice:

“Screw up (often, and boldly), learn from your mistakes, repeat.”

If you are suffering from pain of the past, how can you shake yourself free?

Greg Mortenson, coauthor of Three Cups of Tea and author of Stones into Schools and founder of Pennies for Peace, establishing more than 131 schools in rural Pakistan and Afghanistan suggests:

“It’s sad to see people spending thousands trying to find themselves. You can find great joy by serving others, and you don’t have to devote your whole life to it. Practice doing one good deed a day. Help an old lady, a neighbor, a new kid in school—make it a habit. After a while, you’ll be doing amazing things.”

Eckhart Tolle reminds us, “Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have.”

Oprah.com advises: “Where to find that goodness when recession hits, when you lose your job, your home, when things seem to fall apart around you? In all the things that we tend to overlook: feeling the gentle breeze on your skin, the sunlight filtering through the clouds, the sound of the rain, the wagging tail of a dog, the shiny apple you are about to bite into. It is through gratitude for the present moment that the spiritual dimension of life opens up.”

The Sedona Group directs us to “Dwell on your dreams.”

Today’s message from www.tut.com says, “Wake up, Rosie! Remember what excites you. Think of these things, those friends, and the adventures that can be yours. Focus. Care. Fantasize. Imagine. It’s all so near. Speak as if you’re ready. Paste new pictures in your scrapbook, on your vision board, and around your home and office. Physically prepare for the changes that you wish to experience in your life. You’ve done this before. You know it works. You’re due for an encore. It’s time to amaze. That’s why you’re there.

And it’s why I’m here,
The Universe

Wake up, Rosie! Remember! Do what you know to do! It’s all so near.”

Lastly, Neale Donald Walsch says it this way: “On this day of your life, dear friend, I believe God wants you to know…

..that getting down on yourself is not the answer.

Why would you do to you what God would never do to you?

The few things you do not “get right” (whatever that is) cannot compare

to the things at which you excel. Do you know that?

You are kind, you are caring, you are generous, you are sensitive,

you are compassionate, you are forgiving, you are more accepting than you know,

and more loving than you will give yourself credit for.

Now…what else is there?

Try to understand this: You are doing just fine.

Better than ‘just fine.’

You are excelling.

You are magnificent, you are wonderful!

And God loves you to pieces!

Love, Your Friend….”

Heck, how about if only for today…

“Do not give your precious energy to the dying past.”

“Dwell on Your Dreams.”

Life’s a trip. Whether it is good or bad, positive or negative, it’s all how you look at it.

“Never forget that life can only be nobly inspired and rightly lived if you take it bravely and gallantly, as a splendid adventure in which you are setting out into an unknown country, to meet many a joy, to find many a comrade, to win and lose many a battle.” ~ Annie Besant

At 1:30 this morning I set out on the splendid adventure of accompanying someone to the hospital ER in a major city. Now, one would think that since the waiting room had only one other person in it, that it would be a quick in-and-out. Well, not so.

While the x-ray was taken almost immediately, we were left in the lounge to wait for four hours before seeing any medical personnel. One might say that it was a gallant effort to sit up all night long, struggling to stay awake. As other patients collected in the lounge, most of them went to sleep in their chairs. At times, our faces (including my own) reflected what my friend called a “Bitter Betty.”

What we could not see from our side of the desk was the entrance that embraced multiple trauma victims, one ambulance after the other, all night (morning) long.

Almost five hours later, the nurse and the physician apologized for the long wait. The nurse commented that it was the worst shift she had worked in a very, very long time – multiple trauma victims. “The good news is they are all living.”

How about Appreciative Annie instead of Bitter Betty…

As we walked to our car five hours later, it was time to reflect on gratitude. Oh sure, we had now been up over 24 hours, and plans for the day were now totally swept away, BUT, we were both alive and well and walking out of the ER. Our thoughts went to those lying in the ICU beds behind us, struggling for their lives, suffering from the trauma.

Upon returning to the apartment and opening the morning emails, Abraham had this message waiting for us, “Every time you say, ‘I appreciate that. I really like that. I applaud that. I acknowledge the value in that.’ Every time you do that, you spend some of your Energy, and it is the spending of the Energy that creates a vacuum, so to speak, or an attraction, so to speak, that draws more and more and more and more.”

On this spring morning, we are grateful for many things: for hospitals for us to go to in the middle of the night, for competent medical personnel that literally save lives, for antibiotics and inhalers to help us survive, and for lungs to breathe, legs to walk, eyes to see, and hearts to be appreciative of all that comes our way on this adventure of life.

Front page in today’s local paper: Painful grimace on a 21 year old’s face as he sits in his wheelchair with a physical therapist on each side of him conducting arm resistance exercises. Paralyzed since a motocross accident in 2006, he affectionately calls one of his therapists his “torturer.”

And what was I feeling sorry for myself about just prior to picking up the paper? Did you wake up today feeling sorry for yourself? This young man will never be able to enjoy the simple pleasures of handwriting out the monthly bills, walking into the dentist’s office, or changing an unexpected flat tire when you are already late to work.

It is all a matter of perspective.

No matter how bad we think we have it, there is always someone experiencing more pain. Why is it we so quickly forget that fact as we wallow in the depths of our own personal despair?

The gurus of all times encourage us to embrace our hardships, for without the contrast we would not create or appreciate the more pleasurable aspects of life.

Og Mandino says it this way: “I will endure sadness for it opens my soul. I will welcome obstacles for they are my challenge.”

What if, just for today, when you catch yourself whining about something, you turn it around into gratitude and appreciation for the experience? What soul growth is happening as a result of the trauma? How will you feel and how will your day, your life, unfold if you come from a place of joy and appreciation for all that happens today?

Cancer survivor Lance Armstrong advises us, “Time is limited, so I better wake up every morning fresh and know that I have just one chance to live this particular day right, and to string my days together into
a life of action, and purpose.”

You and I have the power to appreciate everything about this beautiful day. It’s all a matter of perspective.

Is your day running peachy…or might a little “attitude adjustment” be in order?

Today’s message from Higher Awareness suggests making a course correction…

“Little adjustments to our attitude and approach each day can create a major difference in our appreciation of life. On the surface, nothing changes. At the same time, absolutely everything does.

Use your awareness or your imagination to bring happiness to this moment. Find something to appreciate. Do this as often as you remember to do so, and your world will transform.”

The past two days I have been writing about Og Mandino’s book, The Greatest Secret in the World. Here are a few of Og Mandino’s suggestions for attitude realignment…

“I will greet this day with love in my heart.

And how will I do this? Henceforth will I look on all things with love and I will be born again. I will love the sun for it warms my bones; yet I will love the rain for it cleanses my spirit. I will love the light for it shows me the way; yet I will love the darkness for it shows me the stars. I will welcome happiness for it enlarges my heart; yet I will endure sadness for it opens my soul. I will acknowledge rewards for they are my due; yet I will welcome obstacles for they are my challenge.

I will greet this day with love in my heart.”

Translation?

Greet this day with love in your heart even if…

The super glue tube explodes on your hands while fixing the broken vase.

Your grandson calls 47 times while you are typing your overdue report.

The receptionist is rude and crass when you call for your lab work.

No matter what, it is all good. Love in your heart melts away any anxiety, fear, or heartache. No matter what is going on, today is a gift, a very special time on planet earth.

Sarah Ban Breathnach says it this way:

” …we can no longer afford to throw away even one ‘unimportant’ day by not noticing the wonder of it all. We have to be willing to discover and then appreciate the authentic moments of happiness available to all of us every day.”

Hmmm, I will greet this “unimportant” day with love in my heart.

“No one is in charge of your happiness except you” was one of the 39 points from last week’s posting of “Handbook 2010.” See http://rosiebrownrn.com/handbook-2010/

This weekend I read a series of articles on happiness, and most all of the articles echoed the same sentiment. This weekend I also received the following bit of advice via email:

“I read an interesting article the other day. It was an article about 10 things we can do to make ourselves happier in 2010. It was saying that we can control how happy we are because 40% of our happiness is controlled by us.”

“The big one that I am now looking into is interesting. I’ll try and summarize it. It was saying that we need to stop hanging on to things just because of the ‘investment’ we’ve made or how ‘comfortable’ it makes us feel. It was saying to ignore all past things and say to yourself, ‘If I had just gotten into this situation, dealing with these things, would I stick with it?’ It’s really interesting because I know so many people who that fits…not a single one is truly happy. NOT A SINGLE ONE.”

How many of us hang on to something or someone because it feels “comfortable?”  How much personal growth takes place in “comfortable?”

If you find yourself in a comfortable spot, and your inner self nudges you to attempt something new or different, how easy is it for you to move forward? How secure do you feel? Do you find yourself asking the opinion of every person in the food chain? If so, listen to today’s daily message from Abraham:

“Your joy factor will remain constant as you are continually refining your ideas of what you want, and that’s why it is so important for you to get everybody else out of the equation. They’ve got their own game going on; they don’t understand your game. Give them a break; stop asking them what they think. Start paying attention to how you feel. Joy will be yours immediately, and everything else that you have ever thought would make you happy, will start flowing, seemingly effortlessly, into your experience.”

The degree of happiness you experience seems to be directly proportional to the degree you pay attention to how you feel. Feelings don’t lie. It either feels good or it doesn’t.

So cliché, but to thine own self be true…no one is in charge of your happiness except you.

Read the following message from www.tut.com and see if it doesn’t supercharge you with excitement on this the last day of 2009:

“I’ve got a feeling, Rosie, that 2010 is going to be your kind of year. That you’ll be happier than you’ve ever been, laughing harder, smiling wider, standing taller, walking lighter, dancing crazier, hugging longer, living grander, loving louder, and if you want, selling the pictures to a tabloid to raise money for your new charity.

Can you feel it, too?
    The Universe”

What do you think? Excited about the upcoming year? Maybe need boost to get things going?

A sure-fire way to get the new year off to a great start is to begin the new year by being grateful for all the things that happened in your life this past year.

A habit I developed many years ago was to create a “Gratitude List” on the last day of the year. It is an opportunity to get quiet and reflect back on all the wonderful things that happened over the course of the past year. Perhaps it is a time to remember some of those positive experiences that you have forgotten or taken for granted.

It might also serve you well to jot down the things that maybe didn’t go so well. Perhaps those circumstances provided growth and self development that will help to flower your garden in 2010.

The only regret I have is that I did not keep my lists until the most recent years. I recommend that you create a file titled “Gratitude List” and start saving your lists. One day in the future, your file will provide you (and your grandchildren) with a documentary on the events of your life. Your grandchildren and their children will love to get to know you through the words you record.

One final suggestion…include your family in the list-building exercise. Encourage your spouse, significant other, children, and grandchildren to help create the list.

What a positive energetic experience to usher in the exciting new year. Blessings to you and yours in 2010!

I have scanned through many articles this week on Vitamin D. The following all-inclusive article is among the very best I found: http://blogs.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2002/02/23/vitamin-d-deficiency-part-one.aspx.

For your own health, please read the entire 7 page article. Here are some snipits to give you a flavor of the significance of the article:

1)      Before considering supplementation with vitamin D, it would be wise to have your vitamin D level tested.

2)      Don’t Be Fooled — Order the Correct Test. There are two vitamin D tests — 1,25(OH)D and 25(OH)D. 25(OH)D is the better marker of overall D status. It is this marker that is most strongly associated with overall health. The correct test is 25(OH)D, also called 25-hydroxyvitamin D.

3)      Recommended ranges:

4)      Make Sure Your Lab Uses the Correct Assay. There are a number of different companies that have FDA approval to perform vitamin D testing, but the gold standard is DiaSorin. It’s imperative that you find out if your lab has performed the appropriate recalibrations against DiaSorin’s assays. Otherwise your vitamin D levels may be vastly overstated, in some cases by as much as 40 percent, meaning you may get the green light that your levels are fine, when in fact you are deficient, or perhaps even dangerously low.

5)      Vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin and can be quite toxic. Once you have vitamin D toxicity you can’t easily turn it around. While vitamin D has enormous potential for improving your health, it has significant potential to worsen it, if you use it improperly.

6)      Overdosing on vitamin D from sun exposure however, is highly unlikely as your body has a built-in “failsafe” feedback loop, which will tend to shut down production when your levels are healthy.

7)      Sunlight Is Your Ideal Source of Vitamin D. Vitamin D from sunlight acts as a pro-hormone, rapidly converting into 25-hydroxyvitamin D, or vitamin D3.

8)      Window glass allows only 5 percent of the UV-B light range that produces vitamin D to get through your home or car. Sunblock can block UV-B penetration drastically or entirely.

9)      An equilibrium occurs in white skin within 20 min of ultraviolet exposure, at which point further increases in vitamin D is not possible, because the ultraviolet light will actually start to degrade the vitamin D.

10)   It can take 3-6 times longer for darker pigmented skin to reach the equilibrium concentration of skin pre vitamin D.

11)   Major Caution: Avoid Sunburn. It is important to stress that you should never get burned and should only implement sun exposure very gradually. While we all benefit from regular exposure to the sun, it is important to recognize that you should always limit your exposure so that you avoid getting burnt. Sunburn has been clearly related to an increased risk of skin cancer.

12)   Interestingly, if you avoid getting sunburned yet have regular sun exposure, you will have a decreased risk of the dangerous form of skin cancer, melanoma. Optimizing your sun exposure in this way also reduces your risk of 16 other common cancers!

13)   It is important to know that if you have sub-tropical or summer sun exposure on your skin it will be wise to avoid any oral vitamin D supplementation unless you regularly monitor your vitamin D blood level.

14)   What to Do in the Winter:  An alternative would be to frequent tanning salons that use safe equipment.

15)   If relocating in the winter or using tanning beds does not appeal to you, then you will want to consider an oral form of vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol). You should stay away from the synthetic D2 as it has been shown to be toxic at the higher dose ranges. 

16)   There are additional reasons why vitamin D2 has a greater potential for harm. First, vitamin D binding protein has a weaker affinity for the vitamin D2 metabolites than vitamin D3. Second, unique, biologically active metabolites are produced in your body from vitamin D2, but there are no analogous metabolites derived from vitamin D3.

Last night a wise friend shared some observations with me. I was venting about how overwhelmed I felt at having an almost impossible number of things undone on my to-do list. His suggestion was to go for a drive and watch the sunset.

What? How does “wasting time” like that compute?

His advice was simply this, “You are so busy doing, that you don’t allow things to get done. Just allow it.  If you will get quieter, you will see that more will get done.” Interesting.

Still reflecting on the advice from the previous evening, this morning I was intrigued by the confirming daily message of Abraham:

“All is well, and you will never get it done. Life is supposed to be fun. No one is taking score of any kind, and if you will stop taking score so much, you will feel a whole lot better — and as you feel a whole lot better, more of the things that you want right now will flow to you.

You will never be in a place where all of the things that you are wanting will be satisfied right now, or then you could be complete — and you never can be. This incomplete place that you stand is the best place that you could be. You are right on track, right on schedule. Everything is unfolding perfectly. All is really well. Have fun. Have fun. Have fun!”

Against my better judgment, I elected for the drive to watch the sunset. Since I was already “wasting time,” I elected to explore the country back roads, lined with majestic trees bursting in splendid multi-colored brilliance against the backdrop of a bright blue sky.

There in the middle of nowhere appeared a natural springs waterfall, the water cascading from the top of the hillside, babbling over huge rocks as it made its way to its descent down the hill. The sound of the water flowing over the rocks was simply arresting. What a spectacular display of peace and tranquility.

Driving back to start on my to-do list, it occurred to me that I nearly missed the opportunity to become re-energized by Mother Nature’s gifts, free to the person who is willing to “waste time.”

It was exciting to watch Peyton Manning at the Colts’ game yesterday, but Peyton gave the lingering crowd an added bonus as he walked off the field at the game’s end.

Peyton was the last player to leave the field. A crowd had gathered on the bleachers near the exit off the field. As Peyton looked up to the crowd, he waved his hand, his face radiating sincere appreciation and warmth for his lingering fans.

Suddenly a young boy somehow broke out of the stands and ran onto the field to encircle his small arms around Peyton’s leg. Peyton reached down, tossled his hair, and hugged him back. Just then, out of the corner of his eye, Peyton must have caught a glimpse of someone (probably his stunned mother or father) trying to snap a quick picture.  

Peyton paused to pose. Picture taken, Peyton’s eye caught something else, and the next thing we saw was Peyton motioning as if to say, “Come on, quickly. It’s OK.” Now another little boy ran to Peyton to hug his other leg, and Peyton patiently posed with the two boys while another camera flash ensued. Then, with a turn, he exited the field.

As we ascended the stairs to exit Lucas Oil Stadium, I’m pretty certain we weren’t the only ones commenting about Peyton’s kindness to those two little boys, or the genuine glowing warmth that radiated from his eyes as he acknowledged the crowd. Every single person seemed to be engaged in a similar discussion. We had just received an important lesson about gratitude and kindness.

Grandma used to say, “What goes around, comes around.” The sincerity and kindness expressed to the crowd and those two little boys makes it easy to understand why his fans love him and support him. Gratitude and kindness extended to others is surely to find its way back to the sender.

Research has demonstrated that when someone merely witnesses a kindness extended to another person, the observer equally benefits physiologically. In that one minute of Peyton’s kindness, the benefits rippled out to every single person in the crowd.

Kindness has a way of melting away stress, slowing the breathing, relaxing the body…and the adrenals get a breath of fresh air.

When you find yourself stressed, two wonderful techniques for adrenal health include:

1)      Stop what you are doing. Make yourself pause and express gratitude for the situation you find yourself in, or for other parts of your life for which you are most grateful.

2)      Stop what you are doing. Take a quick break to do something nice for someone else. Make a phone call, send an email, or just walk around to someone’s cubicle and say something nice.

Gratitude and kindness are two tools for adrenal health that have a reciprocal benefit to the sender as well as the receiver. Thanks, Peyton, for reminding us of that lesson.

“Learn to live, love…” Just now I heard someone quote this phrase, which he said came from the book The Shack. Does anyone know for sure? Is that book truly the source?

The phrase was so intriguing, I did a Google search to see if I could identify the source. I found many sites using this quote, each person taking a different, yet similar spin. I became lost in those four words momentarily…

I drifted away to all the events that occurred the past four days. Sometimes “Learn to live, love” is a big bill to fill. Other times, it is easy and effortless.

I reflected back over my recent days and nights in Chicago. On one hand, there is the ever present trepidation and fear one can so easily succumb to, witnessing the cold, angry encounters of people too rushed, too busy to care.

On the other hand, the meetings with a couple groups of attractive, professional, caring young women made it so easy to live life fully and love everything about them.

Then there was the call that came at 11:30 pm, telling of the passing of a close relative. The ensuing grief and pain momentarily frosted over the notion of living and loving.

Two people poured their hearts out over seemingly intolerable work situations, one with unethical business practices, another with a tyrant supervisor. One might ask, “What’s there to love about that?”

On the way home, I finished up the 5 CD series Eat for Health and listened to 2 CDs from Eat to Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, M.D. What care and discipline it takes to love oneself enough to do whatever is necessary to unlearn old habits in order to free up endless days to live and love.

As I return to the present moment, I ask myself, what was that quote I just read by Dale Carnegie?

     “The person who gets the farthest is generally the one
      who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing
                 boat never gets far from shore.”

Nothing in life is the sure thing, and yet everything is. Life is sure to deliver the glorious, happy moments, just as readily as providing the contrast – the opportunities to stretch and grow.

To do and to dare exposes human vulnerability, yet without it, where is the zest for living? The loss of life teaches an appreciation for life. The inhumane boss pushes the recipient out of the nest – perhaps into the best experience of a lifetime – hidden from view, just around the corner.

Hmmm…could it be that all life experiences are to be embraced, lived and loved?