7 Great Healers

Today I am going to talk about the 7 great healers. These healers are not people or something outside our selves. These healers are our attitudes, our habits. They are the way we live our lives. So, without taking anymore time let me introduce you to these 7 great healers.

FAITH…is deep belief that you can heal. The healer you have faith in might be god, universe, nature, your higher self or your body.
Do you have faith that your condition is heal-able?

TAKING RESPONSIBILITY…taking responsibility for your health and for your life is a big step. Blaming others, blaming situation or blaming god  makes you a victim as you give away your power to something external that you have no control over. Taking responsibility empowers you and motivates you to act towards healing. 
Are you ready to take COMPLETE responsibility?

FORGIVENESS…is allowing that part of your soul to heal which is stuck in a hurtful situation of past. It is freeing your soul. Whom do you need to forgive? Do you need to forgive yourself? Are you willing to forgive?

LOVE… is complete non-judgmental acceptance of what is. It is acceptance of ourselves as well as others 110% completely, without any ifs and buts. And knowing everything and everyone is perfect with all the seeming imperfections. Love is another name for peace. 
Are you at complete peace with who you are? Are you able to appreciate people around you as they are? Are you at peace with what is?

GRATITUDE...is realizing how blessed you are. Counting your blessing. Taking time to FEEL thankful. Be thankful for something as normal as being able to see, it is a great gift and you have countless such gifts, count as many as you can. 
What is that you are taking for granted without which you life will be less of a blessing? What is that you want more of but are not grateful for whatever little of it you have at present?

QUESTIONING YOUR BELIEFS… is your path towards enlightenment. Question everything you believe irrespective of where it came from – father, mother, teacher, your religious texts, anywhere at all. Beliefs shape our world and our experiences. It is in your best interest to keep the beliefs that are helpful and allow you grow and expand and heal. Throw all the unhelpful beliefs out!
Is my belief about this _ true?

MINDFULNESS…is the great assistant of the above six healers. It assists you
1. to know whether you truly have faith or not 
2. to know whether or not you are taking complete responsibility. 
3. to know whom do you need to forgive, or have you truly forgiven 
4. is this action based in love? 
5. to acquire vision to see even the minutest thing, in the darkest of corners that you should be grateful for. 
6. to bring to your notice the beliefs that are keeping you stuck 

Fun way of co-creating

Today I am going to share with you a fun way of co-creating your future. Have you ever imagined sitting on a time machine, travelling to your future and seeing yourself live your dream life? Yes? No? If you have done it, excellent! If you have not that is what we are exactly going to do in sometime.

Steps for fun co-creation:

1. Choose a date, in your future, you wish to visit. It might be 1 year from now or even 5 or 10 years.

2. Make a list of things you wish to achieve by then. While you do this check with yourself if each desire is coming from a place of love or just from a place of lack or greed. Let the list only have the things that makes your soul truly happy.

3. Just get an idea how your life will look like if the dreams in the list came true.

4. Now, time for time travel! Close your eyes, visualize yourself sitting in a time machine and visit your future self.

5. Now become you future-self. Enter into you future body. See with your future-eyes.

6. Use all your senses and watch your self living the life where all the dreams have come true. Listen. See. Feel. Taste. Smell. Feel the emotions. Observe what your typical day looks like. Remember to include the items in the wish list you made above.

7. Gratitude time. Become your future self and write a letter to your higher self or god or goddess or whatever you call it. Write about everything you are grateful for. Write about your achievements. Write about your relationships. Write about your wonderful health. Feel the gratitude while you write.

8. If you want you can decorate the letter or make it work of art if you wish to. Or you can dab some essential oil on it. You can tie a red thread around it. You can place in an envelope and also decorate the envelope. Do whatever feel good and makes the letter a expression of the feeling of gratitude.

9. Now, place it on your altar or on a wishing lantern and just let it go. LET IT GO!

Idea is to wish, then feel the gratitude as if you already have it and then finally surrender with faith.

Permission to not do

Last week I was feeling so overwhelmed and anxious. I had a biiiiiiiiiigggggggg to do list. Which included writing a blog and sending my first newsletter. My mind was in complete chaos. I was feeling stuck and angry. Then later that day me and my husband went for our usual long walk and he could feel my anxiety. He told me "I think you work better without deadlines". OMG! Why didn't I realize this on my own! He was so right.

Now I don't know whether or not it is the same case with you. But, even if it isn't, ask yourself what makes you the most productive.

That night I just went to my bed and did my regular ritual of  affirmations and recalling all good things that happened during that day, and just slept off. Next day, I decided that I will do nothing until and unless I genuinely feel like it. I decided that if I don't feel like it I'll postpone my newsletter till eternity and same with the blog post. OK I am kidding, not eternity! But I gave my self permission to do whatever feels good, even if it means staring at nothing throughout the day or might be spending the whole day on Pinterest.

Just giving myself permission to take a break & permission to not drag myself into performing continuously, was magical!

I spent first few hours of the day just doing regular things but without any hurry. It is powerful to JUST BE.
I was feeling much better now, and I felt an urge to write my blog. So I wrote my blog and then published my newsletter as well. The work felt so peaceful, as if giving myself permission to not do filled me with energy to do.

My heart was till craving for more break and more of just being. So I listened and agreed to do so. Now it has been a week and I have only worked for few hours here and there and only when I felt good. And now I am back, feeling more energized to do my work in the world.

This whole thing was a reaffirmation that -
I am important. 
How I feel is important. 

It felt like self-love. It felt like freedom.

And this what I learned
- deadlines don' work for me
- always listen to what your heart is craving for
- take a break & give yourself permission to just be

Now it is your turn. What makes you more productive and makes your energy tank full? What is your heart craving for now (it might be work but it might also be taking a break)? Are you willing to give yourself permission to do whatever your heart is craving for?

Prayer Tuesday - A beautiful Sanskrit prayer

I have spent my whole life in India and it is only last year that we moved out to Australia. During my school days in India, the whole school used to assemble and recite prayers, before the regular classes. Depending of the day of the week the prayer could be either Hindu or Islamic or Christian. The beauty was that each one of us sang all the prayers irrespective of our personal religious-beliefs. And I found all the prayers equally beautiful. The words might be Urdu or Sanskrit or English but the purpose of every prayer was the same - To connect with the higher power. Ask for his guidance. Be grateful for your life.Today I am going to share one of simple and beautiful prayers, that we used to recite in our school. It is taken from an ancient Hindu text, and is written in Sanskrit language.


Om Asato Maa Sad-Gamaya |
Tamaso Maa Jyotir-Gamaya |
Mrtyor-Maa Amrtam Gamaya |
Om Shaanti Shaanti Shaanti ||


Meaning:
Om, Lead us from Unreality (of Transitory Existence) to the Reality (of Divine Self),
Lead us from the Darkness (of Ignorance) to the Light (of Spiritual Knowledge),
Lead us from the Fear of Death to the Knowledge of Immortality (Spirit never dies)
Om Peace, Peace, Peace.

("Om" is considered to be the sound of creation. It is a very healing sound. Many people love to meditate on it.)

Go ahead and pray. Shanti! Shanti! Shanti!

Approval Addiction - Part 2 ... How does it steal away your health?

We all know how addiction to alcohol, smoking, food or even shopping affects our health, our mood and our life. Alcohol can damage your kidneys, smoking can damage your lungs and overeating can make you obese and cause serious health issues. I know. I know. I know that you know this. But, did you know that "approval addiction" can cause serious health issues? Take a moment here and think!

 (You might want to read the my earlier post "Approval Addiction - Part 1", if you have not already read, before reading the rest of the article)

(Warning: the next paragraph is a little technical!)

Let me start by explaining quickly how illness manifests in your body. Your thoughts give rise to emotions which gives rise to health or lack of it. If you know about Law of attraction, you know how when you focus your attention on something for good amount of time, it manifests! On similar lines, when you have a painful belief which leads to painful emotions for a prolonged period of time, it manifests in illness. Where and how in body does it manifest can be explained by the chakra system. Chakra system is an Indian system that identifies 7 major energy centers in our body. Just like you have digestive system, nervous system and circulatory system; similarly you have energy system in your body which consists of seven energy centers. Each of our beliefs can be linked to one of the energy centers and these energy centers in turn are linked to one of the organ systems of our body. Healthy beliefs and attitudes means healthy chakras means healthy organs means healthy you.

OK let's come back to Approval Addiction.

An approval addict hides behind her mask not only her awesome self but also the pain of not being able to show the whole of her true-self. The pain of feeling unworthy of showing the real you is, trust me, HUUUGE!
Approval addiction is born from fear and leads to more fear, pain, unworthiness, self-hatred and sadness of being alive without actually living! Can you imagine where this mountain of pain gets stored? Where else!? Yes, you are right, it gets stored in our body. And it effects all your energy centers! It effects each and every aspect of your life - relationships, social life, self-esteem, career, money making ability and of course health! See how deadly is this slow poison of Approval Addition?

We have to mindful about how we live our life and how we take decisions, big or small. Whenever you take a decision it has got to be either an attempt to get approval or an opportunity to shine.
First one is easy but, but a slow poison.
Second one is tougher but is routed in love. And will not only free you from all kinds of shackles but will also lead to good of everyone involved. Yes, even if right now you don't understand how. Second one is healing. Second one is a passport to your true life and of course healthy and fit body.

Whenever in doubt ask
"What would be my decision if the only approval I need is of myself?"

Now list down the things that you would do differently if you had all the approval you need. (Remember you only need your's)
eg:
1. I would get a short hair cut after years of thinking about it. Easy to manage! (My friends had always advised me against a short hair cut and had succeeded in  making me follow their advice because I needed their approval.)
2. I would share my blog on Facebook page. (When I did this first time, trust me it was scary!)
3. I would dress up myself in a way that feels good to me
4.
5.

OK. now go and do it! For your best life and best health!

(Everything I had on my old list has been ticked off :) ) Just sharing, next thing on my new list is public speaking!

Prayer Tuesday - prayer by Saint Francis

Starting from today I'll be posting prayers every Tuesday. Prayer is asking god for his guidance. Prayer is surrendering. Prayer is knowing that there is something more than what you can know with your five senses. Prayer is acknowledging the divine within you. Prayer is one of my favorite tools along with meditation and journaling. It opens my heart and prepares me for meditation. Meditation is listening to the guidance I requested for in my prayers. So, each Tuesday I'll be posting one of the prayers I love. Prayers from different religions and faiths. Prayers by saints and shamans. Hoping that it will open your heart to love and faith.

Today's prayer is a very well known prayer by Saint Francis. I love this prayer for its wisdom.

Now go, read the prayer slowly, feel it, allow it to guide you. In short, soak yourself up in the prayer.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seekto be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Approval addiction - Part-1... What is it? Why is it such an evil? How to get approval anyway?

What is approval addiction? Well! You can say you addicted to approval when your happiness and self worth is determined by what others think of you. When your dominant thoughts are - What are they thinking about me? Do I appear well dressed to them? Are they thinking I am too fat or too ugly? How do I impress them? How do I make them love me? - then you know you are addicted to approval.

I was explaining all this to my husband. I was explaining how it takes you away from your right life because you are no longer focusing on yourself, your talents and your abilities and are busy pleasing others. How approval seeking makes you wear a mask, or might be masks, and hides your real self from the world. How it fills you with resentment because you feel completely out of touch with who you really are or, even worse!, you might be completely confused in first place about who you truly are. How it sucks the life force out of you. And this makes you sub-consciously hate the very people you seek approval from. Terrifying, isn't it!

And then, my husband asked me a million dollar question. He asked me "what if a person wants approval from just this one person he is really close to? And this person can be anyone - your mother, your father, your best-friend, your husband, your wife, or might be someone else whom you really admire. And what if getting that approval makes him truly happy? What if the person feels that it is one of the purposes of his life to keep this one person happy and pleased?" Hmmmmmm..... Nice question! I asked "have you ever seen a person who is desperate for somebody's approval ever truly happy about it?".

 And now I am asking you, my reader, the same question "have you ever seen a person who is desperate for somebody's approval ever truly happy about it?".

Personally, my answer to the question is a big "noooooooooooooooo". 

Why?

• Approval is always about hiding your true-self. It is about doing something that you wouldn't have otherwise wanted to do or being someone that you are not. It is all about pretending.

• It creates an illusion of love. Yes, illusion! When someone loves you when you are wearing that mask there is no love, in first place. They love that mask not the person behind it. When there is no love, what do you fear loosing by not pretending? Why so much attachment with the illusion?

• When you are seeking approval chances are you are living in another big lie. Lie that you love the person you seek approval from. My dear, again it is not love. Love always feels clean. Love is about thinking of the highest good of the person you love. Love is not about you pleasing someone. Approval seeking relationship will soon fill with resentment for two reasons - 1) even after all your efforts you might never get enough of it 2) even if your exterior looks OK trying to please, your subconscious knows that you long to be loved as you are.                                                               Having said that, I would like point out that I am not asking you to be indifferent to requirement and emotions of people around you. What I am talking here is about accepting and loving your real-self completely and then presenting it in the world lovingly and as it is. This extreme self-acceptance will soon extend to accepting others as they are and inspire them to do the same. Yes, opposite of approval-seeking is not indifference, the opposite is loving self-acceptance.

• Now, here is the deal, I believe that purpose of anybody's life can never ever be to get approval or to please someone. Why? Because it is sooooooooooo disrespectful to who you really are. It is disrespectful to the one who created you. It denies the truth that each one of us is perfect. It creates an illusion that you need to be someone you are not in order to be lovable. That you are not worthy unless you wear a mask. Nothing can be farther from the truth. Your purpose can be or rather always is to serve someone but never to please anyone.

How to have all the approval you will ever need?

Confused!?? Are you thinking if seeking approval is so bad and if I am so against it then what is the need for this section in this post? Read on to find the answer!

Those who know about law of attraction, know how important it is to feel good. Whatever you want to attract in your life you must already feel abundant about it. This is true for approval as well. 

• Start by approving of yourself and everything about you. tell yourself that it is OK and safe to show your true self. If all approval you ever have is only your's, it is enough!
• Get into the feeling of being surrounded by people who love you as you are. As if you already have their approval. How would you feel? How do you think your true-self looks like? What would you do? How would you dress up? How would you communicate? How will you body language be? What career will you choose? What spiritual path will you follow?
• Think of real people who will love the true you. Look for them among your friend or someone whom you truly admire or someone from history or someone famous. Collect their pictures and make a collage out of it. Keep it at a place where you can see it every now and then and can feel loved and inspired to be your real self.
• Gather the courage! The people who don't approve of you might not disappear from your life but you will attract many amazing people who will love the true you. You will attract your tribe! So, now go and gather the courage to take the steps and let your true-self shine!

Do share your comments, feedback and related stories!

Your body knows even what your mind doesn't

Our body is a really miraculous being! Just before my recent India trip my old knee pain came back and this time it was a really bad one. I had hard time climbing up the stairs and even getting down. I was feeling miserable. But, along with my knee pain being back something surprising happened. I completely lost my interest in ice-creams. Yes, you heard it right! Ice-creams! Someone who knows me well also knows how much I love ice-creams. I was really surprised by sudden and complete disinterest in ice-creams. I even tried to force myself into it, but I found myself responding to ice-creams like would have responded to horrible tasting and sickening stale food. I had no idea what was going on!!!

I finally gave up and thought I should just listen to my body. I had a tough time refusing to ice-creams offered by my loved ones on my India trip. (In India, food is “The way” you show affection towards someone. That’s the way you pamper someone, especially if you are meeting the person after a long time. )

In the meantime my knee pain had got worse. I decided and visited a doctor nearby. The doctor advised me not to have cold things. COLD THINGS!!!???? So no ice-creams, no cold drinks …. He also advised me to keep myself warm and not to expose myself to cold weather + plus some rest to my knees till they heal.

I was already avoiding cold things and cold weather. Thank you, body! J J I was stunned and full gratitude at the same time! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!©©©

But, I was not giving rest to my knees at all while it needed it badly L L

Now after approximately one month of resting and listening to my body, my knee is still healing and the process is on. (I am also feeding myself with natural sources of calcium – like unhusked sesame seeds and ensuring that I spend at least 15 mins in sun to get natural vitamin D)

Moral of the story – “Your body knows even what your mind doesn't. So, first follow the instructions of your body and then, if you wish to, you can search for the logic behind it.”

Crying is not weakness

Few weeks back me and one of my friends, as it won't be fair to disclose her name, lets call her Mary,  were  chatting on phone. She was having hard time with her boss at work. She felt offended by the way her boss was treating her and decided to resign. Before leaving the job she wanted to communicate with her boss about what made her feel bad and the reason she had to take this step in-spite of having no other job as back up. While we were talking it came up that, even though she was so desperate about speaking with her boss there was something that was very strongly holding her back. After listening and talking for a while we found out the culprit - the belief that "Crying is a sign of weakness and helplessness" - and she was afraid that she would begin to cry in front of her boss and look like a helpless victim.

Let me tell you, a belief is neither right not wrong it is only either helpful or unhelpful / limiting. If it is helpful keep it. If it is unhelpful dispose it and replace it with a helpful belief.

It is funny how we humans tend to judge everything and classify it as right or wrong, good or bad and then on the basis of that judge ourselves. It is painful when doing something feels liberating but our beliefs don't allow us to do that. And then we choose to suffocate rather than find the belief and then question it. If there is anything truly powerful next to being aware, it the power of questioning. Questioning your beliefs. Questioning the reason behind doing the things that does not make you feel good and yet you continue doing. Trust me! Questioning is really very powerful and life transforming!

Coming back to Mary, at the end of our conversation + a little bit of coaching she realised that - crying is not weakness, it is just a form of expression. We cry when words are not enough for expressing the depth of what we are feeling at the moment. And when you express completely without bothering about being judged, you are doing an act of great strength and self love.

If you are interested in knowing more about benefits of crying click here. No! I am not trying say here that crying is a virtue. I am just saying that it is just a form of expression - neither good nor bad.

I feel grateful about this conversation with my friend because it always reminds me about completely and without any hesitation expressing yourself. Thank you Mary!

Would love to know your thoughts and stories about your struggles and victories with self-expression. 

Honor your need for a space just for you!

I have always treasured my private space, physical private space, where I could spend time with myself, my books and my daydreams. A space which reflects who I am, where no one would come and interfere with my sacred time. And I have always been lucky enough to have it. I had my own bedroom as a child and then even in my college I managed to either have a single room for myself or find a corner in the room or somewhere in the campus where I was left alone for a long as I please. Library was my favorite place during my post graduation. And now I have a study room cum home-office of my own and I simply love it!

But, I still encountered a few people in my life who could not really understand the significance of it, in fact even people who are really close to me just understood that this something important to me but I doubt if they really understood "why?". I would wonder at times if I am weird or is there something wrong with me.
I learned to make peace with the question unanswered and learned to accept and appreciate this need lovingly. Finally one day after doing some research I found out the reason for this craving for spending sometime alone - I am an introvert.. Introverts are not people who are shy or under-confident  like the extroverts assume them to be. Introverts are the people who enjoy silence and peace and turn within to find joy and happiness. No one is 100% introvert or extrovert - extroverts have higher percentage of extroversion as compared to the introversion they posses and vice versa.

Introverts feel drained in groups and need some time alone, absolutely alone, to recharge their batteries. They feel more alive and energized when they are alone. This why they love the professions which allow them to have space of their own. Most of the artists, writers, computer geeks, musicians are introverts. For the first time I understood why I always craved for a room just for me and that there is actually nothing weird in this (sigh of relief!).

Do you have similar craving, craving to have a room of your own? Honor your need and see how you can have a space which doesn't allow anyone to interrupt you alone / me time. Right now if you can't think of having a whole room for yourself, see if you can at least have a small corner or just a couch which is only yours.

Take out some free time and dream and DREAM BIG about your ideal private space. Visualize, feel, smell and hear how your dream room looks and feels like. See the details color of the walls, color of the floor, color of your furniture, what type of furniture do you have in there, what is your room filled with (books or DVDs or might be something else), decorate your dream room in a way that reflects who you truly are. Dream as vividly as possible. Dream as if there is no one to judge you.

After the above exercise just make a note of what you just saw. Write all the details of your dream room. Now go and look for pictures which have elements of the room. You don't have to collect them in one go. Casually look for them when ever your free.  Once you are happy with the collection i.e once you feel that the pictures you have collected represents more or less the space you had dreamt of, you can make collage out of them or just keep the collection in on of the folders in your computer dedicated to this project or if you have collected pictures from magazines you can pin then on a cork board or in a scrap book or you can even make a collage out of it and might be frame it.

The whole exercise gives you clarity about what you really want and once you are clear you can take an action when the time is reap and trust me knowing what you want clearly has some miraculous power of its own. Things start rearranging itself to fulfill your dreams.

Do share your idea of your own dream room.