In the current economic and business environment, many people throughout the world are finding their lives making unexpected turns.  Some people have been confronted by the need to make so many major changes in their lives that they say they feel like a rudderless boat tossed by high seas.

Sometimes life does present us with challenges that cause us to re-think our basic priorities and values.  I don’t want for a moment to undermine the struggles many are experiencing in these days.  But there really are silver linings in many dark clouds. The challenge is to rein in the panic, stop to take a deep breath, and take a fresh look at the situation.  We often find new directions, revised values and renewed hope if we can center into ourselves long enough to take a fresh look at life.

Here is a way to re-think your situation:

• Stop, sit, breathe, and calm yourself
• Ask yourself what it is that you fear most? What is the worst that could happen?
• Think about how it would change your life it the worst did happen.
• Now spend some time (several days) thinking about how you could turn that bad situation into a source of hope or excitement.

Include some of the above suggestions in your daily plan and let me know how it works for you by sharing in the comment box.

Creative Hands

‘To be born every day’ means to be constantly amazed by the things life has to offer, to not tire of watching the sunset, the moon peeking from the fleeting clouds, the crowd of stars on a clear cool night, the sunlight on the breakfast table.

Even the unpleasant twists and turns, the bad news and disappointments can become stimuli for better things, the way art also portrays the dark areas of the human psyche. Indeed, creativity’s best tool is its transformative quality.

True, life is uncertain. We can’t expect everything to run smoothly according to our wishes and aspirations. No matter how well we plan our course, sometimes things don’t turn out the way we want them. Problems do arise, and we can’t stop them from coming. But creativity – the mother of resilience – helps us get by. It’s what allows us to turn lemons into, well, a lemon meringue pie.

We don’t need to search for creativity. It’s not something we can only learn after a trip to Tibet or an apprenticeship with an acclaimed author. Human beings are born with creative qualities which just need to be nurtured.

So how do you develop your creativity? Meditation, first of all, can help you discover your creative potential. You don’t need to sign up at any center that might give you a whole new vocabulary of philosophical and mystical ideas. The purpose of meditation is to keep things simple so you’ll see what’s important, to see through the blur and marvel at the fine picture hidden by your worries and excesses.

As the actor Alan Alda puts it, ‘The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover is yourself.’ Fromm calls it discovering a “sense of self.”

You can find several venues for your creativity. You can try writing, painting, drawing, sculpting, graphic design, and the like. It doesn’t have to be art-related. You can also use your creativity in improving your finances through entrepreneurial pursuits or technological creations. It may not even be that ambitious. Homemaking, gardening, cooking, parenting or engaging in a hobby all require creativity, too.

ll you need are some time to relax and to put things in order, some privacy to think things over, and the optimism and patience to carry on. You have to know, too, that you can’t reach your potential in a snap. But you have to pursue your creativity. Being creative means finding your true worth.

A Note From Doctor Cynthia

Hope you have been enjoying these one minute retreats.

If you feeling stressed out, overwhelmed and out of steam running through life at breakneck speed, unable to even take a breath? Consider my upcoming three day retreat to rediscover, rejuvenate, recharge Your Life

This retreat is the perfect opportunity to remove yourself from the stresses of life, to renew energy and gain clarity about the things you really want.
During the course of this one day retreat, you will learn how to:

Sign up here http://www.freestyleretreats.com/retreat-rejuvenate-getaway.html

‘Everything is extraordinarily clear. I see the whole landscape before me, I see my hands, my feet, my toes, and I smell the rich river mud. I feel a sense of tremendous strangeness and wonder at being alive.’ – Gautama Buddha

If ordinarily mortals like us saw life the way the Enlightened One did, there’d be no cause for suffering — for the negativity that consumes most of our passions. Perhaps heaven is not a place after all but a way of seeing things.

No matter how abundant their lives seem, some people tend to crave more or better things. Like a painting collector who’s always looking for the next Picasso or Rembrandt on auction, like a tycoon who can’t have enough business acquisitions.

It’s not unusual for humans to desire things, but becoming a slave to one’s desire is another thing. For some people satisfying a desire means replacing it with a higher one. They keep raising the ante and ultimately get frustrated.

It pays to keep things simple. We tend to dislike life because of unrealized goals, but we forget to be grateful for the little things that bring us happiness. The little conversations we have with our kids, the way your dog looks at you and wiggles its tail, or how your cat purrs and rubs against your legs. These little things can be uplifting.

You may be surrounded by beauty, but just keep looking past it. So the next time, look at the moonlight on your window pane, the gauzy curtain blown in by the breeze from an open window, the sun shining on a neighborhood covered by last night’s snow, someone gracefully walking, taking her time in a busy throng.

Sit back and enjoy the little things around you. You can appreciate your loved ones better that way. The way your life partner touches your shoulder after he or she gives you a mug of coffee should be the source of a little pleasure. The way he or she smiles when you say your goodbye, heading for work. Little things like these should all add up at the end of the day, so you’ll have something to feel grateful about and so you’ll welcome the next day more enthusiastically.

At one point in your busy day, you should spend one minute to think about the pleasant, little things that have happened. Life often gives its gift of pleasure to us in little installments. All you have to do is count them, think how they’ll positively affect your life in the long run, and they will.

A Note From Doctor Cynthia

Hope you have been enjoying these one minute retreats.

If you feeling stressed out, overwhelmed and out of steam running through life at breakneck speed, unable to even take a breath? Consider my upcoming three day retreat to rediscover, rejuvenate, recharge Your Life

This retreat is the perfect opportunity to remove yourself from the stresses of life, to renew energy and gain clarity about the things you really want.

During the course of this one day retreat, you will learn how to:

Sign up here http://www.freestyleretreats.com/retreat-rejuvenate-getaway.html

Nature offers a perfect setting for recreation and more. Instead of just unwinding and detoxifying your mind from your numbing routine, you can also get to know yourself better. This is what meditation is all about.

You don’t have to subscribe to any particular belief system to be able to meditate. You don’t have to memorize prayers or repeatedly utter ‘the spoken essence of the universe’ (the Hindu and Buddhist ‘om’). It’s a simple means of self-rediscovery without the complicated philosophies, theologies and myths.

Just sit comfortably and think about what you did wrong and what you did right. Think about how to make things better, about what makes you deeply happy. The last part may seem tricky, as we tend to accumulate layers of wants that we often mistake for goals that lead to happiness.

Perhaps it’s best to think back well into your past. What things made you happy as a child? If you can remember them, you might find your prized acquisitions and honorifics dispensable.

Think of your beginnings. And what better way to ‘live the metaphor’ than to meditate among nature’s offerings during the season of beginnings – spring.

Meditating on a cool spring day perhaps sounds like something you haven’t done before. Do it this time.

Gaze at budding flowers and the leaves of grass turning green; at the drops of dew on the tree leaves; at the birds coming home to fill the air with their lively twittering; at the puddles of water after a short fine rain; and take in the fresh smell of everything coming back to life.

Steal away from the city. Ignore the malls. Find a safe place in the woods, a spot on a secluded beach, a scenic perch up a mountain, a good hideaway near a babbling brook or a singing waterfall, or anywhere that doesn’t remind you of work.

Each day in spring should be lived with what the season represents – hope. Hope for happiness. Hope that the best is yet to come. Hope for nature.

So skip the busy life as often as you can and be a naturalist. Don’t just read about Henry David Thoreau’s life at Walden Pond. Live bits and slices of it, too. Bring a camera or a sketch pad or just commit to memory the beauty you see.

Spring is only the beginning, really. You can enjoy nature well into summer, which may turn the jungle of concrete, steel and glass too hot for comfort. And would you want to miss the harvest and the colorful ‘adieu’ of tree leaves in autumn?

The thing is: you need to commune with nature every chance you get, because nature detoxifies. Nature brings us closer to our true selves.

A Note From Doctor Cynthia

Hope you have been enjoying these one minute retreats.

If you feeling stressed out, overwhelmed and out of steam running through life at breakneck speed, unable to even take a breath? Consider my upcoming three day retreat to rediscover, rejuvenate, recharge Your Life

This retreat is the perfect opportunity to remove yourself from the stresses of life, to renew energy and gain clarity about the things you really want.
During the course of this one day retreat, you will learn how to:

Sign up here http://www.freestyleretreats.com/retreat-rejuvenate-getaway.html

Long time ago, the water is considered a perfect source of life-giving energy. Travelers kneel down before the creek or any stream they would come across and help themselves with the cool and healing wonders of the water. And many young people bathe on the flowing water because of the thought that it has a great connection to the Divine.

Such belief observed by many cultures from different parts of the world continues to live on. That is why, most of the ‘health-and-beauty’ establishments like salons, and spas are promoting the same theme to all types of weary people. Add to that, the majority of us are deeply engaged with these bathing rituals to give ourselves the best time to exude the beauties we are hiding within.

That’s actually what we know: that bathing rituals are only good for bringing out the beauty of each person, but there is more than that. And that is to feel back the weary spirit and energy once lost in the course of acting on each of our responsibilities.

So what are these bathing rituals that are believes to restore lost energies and vigor?

Unlike your customary way of bathing under the shower or soaking yourself in bubble bath, you can make it healthier and more relaxing if you infuse the soothing wonders of the aromatic oils, and the detoxifying effects of salt.

These oils, which are usually extracted from different plants, are proven best cures for ailments. Once inhaled, these stimulate the olfactory nerves that reset the emotions such as anger and anxiety. And apart from that, these are also great pain relievers when absorbed by the body.

The use of the flower petals too has the great effects when added to your bath. Cleopatra, the famous Egyptian queen, had her bathing made more rejuvenating with the help of the rose petals. This is due to the aphrodisiac qualities of the fragrance brought about by this universally known flower. But aside from arousing your sexual energy, the rose scent is also known for uplifting your spirit, and also giving you firmer, younger-looking skin.

Aside from rose, there are even more therapeutic aromas that you could incorporate in your baths. These are lavender, hibiscus, cadres, citrus, tangerine, orange, mint and pines. Each of these has a distinct effect in cleansing, purifying, warming, and invigorating your body.

Peppermint and spearmint, on the other hand, have cooling and revitalizing benefits that make it the popular choice among some Olympic athletes before they engage in their different events.

The aromas given out by these different herbs and flowers play an essential part in making your bath a restorative ritual. This is because our sense of smell is powerful enough in treating the ill thoughts that our mind harbors.

But you can also associate the colors, such as the ‘Japanese five elements,’ which deal on the choice of colors of the auspicious flowers. These colors are white for air, blue or violet for water, red for fire, yellow for earth, and deep reds for the energy of the woods.

Whatever your bathing ritual includes, what matters is that you should feel it’s the best way to indulge your senses and that you believe it works wonders.

A Note From Doctor Cynthia

Hope you have been enjoying these one minute retreats. Please consider taking a 15-30 minute self-guided Gratitude Retreat. The Retreat to Go Moments of Gratitude is filled with everything you’ll need to successfully complete your self-guided retreats. It includes:

- Gratitude Journal. Consisting of lined, dated pages where you list five things you are grateful for each day plus a collection of
- Inspirational quotes to inspire you throughout the year along with “Powerful Intentional” gratitude practices
- Step-by-step user-friendly instructions. The kit includes everything you need to start planning an hour, half-day, or full day retreat, on your own Candle Pen http://www.freestyleretreats.com/retreat-to-go.html

Gardens are designed, cultivated and maintained to serve a higher purpose that just being eye candies. The Japanese garden, for instance, helps in Zen meditation; it relaxes the senses and takes the mind off concerns that cloud one’s consciousness. The Good Book shows Jesus unloading the burden in his heart in the garden of Gethsemane.

If you think your garden is just a place for you to grow ornamental plants and veggies, think bigger. It shouldn’t just give you the satisfaction of watching your plants in bloom or your lettuce and tomatoes looking ready for the salad bowl.

A garden is a perfect place for reflection and meditation, for relaxation and introspection, a place to nourish one’s peace of mind. Your garden, whether huge or not, is where you explore your self and see the world clearly from beyond your ego.

It is a sanctuary where you can achieve deeper self-understanding and fulfillment, an asylum where you are invulnerable, albeit for a fleeting moment, from the hassles of life. This is where you can find the meaning of your existence.

So how do you create a garden sanctuary?

Make a special entrance that will create a sense of a peaceful environment. What’s inside is essential, but a façade can also be beneficial.

Then think of the colors of the items included, as these will exude different emotions and appeal.

You may integrate water to give you its unique psychological, physical and spiritual effects. Consider putting a pond, a birdbath, a simple fountain, running water or combinations of these.

And you can also add up other elemental representations, such as rocks, wind chimes, as well as lights, to bring out the closest-to-nature garden setting of yours.

Think of your garden as your escape from the rigors of rat race. It should encapsulate nature’s beauty in an orderly landscape, as in a Japanese garden, which uses carefully-raked pebbles to represent the sea, dotted with rocks, a picture of fortitude and calm; highlights the water element with its koi pond and water chimes; and uses bamboo and flowering shrubs, representing the beauty that comes from the earth.

Let your garden be your breathing room where you draw strength and keep your thoughts in good balance. It’s your slice of bliss in a harried world. It’s where you shed your masks and simply be.

A Note From Doctor Cynthia

Hope you have been enjoying these one minute retreats. Please consider taking a 15-30 minute self-guided Gratitude Retreat. The Retreat to Go Moments of Gratitude is filled with everything you’ll need to successfully complete your self-guided retreats. It includes:

- Gratitude Journal. Consisting of lined, dated pages where you list five things you are grateful for each day plus a collection of
- Inspirational quotes to inspire you throughout the year along with “Powerful Intentional” gratitude practices
- Step-by-step user-friendly instructions. The kit includes everything you need to start planning an hour, half-day, or full day retreat, on your own Candle Pen http://www.freestyleretreats.com/retreat-to-go.html

Take a Stroll

It seems ironic but you can learn a simple ‘cure’ to it by observing a child, who looks at ordinary things in amazement, laughs at funny gestures and enjoys ordinary treats. Perhaps it’s time to rediscover the child in you.

We often disregard the little things that can paint smiles on our faces and leave remarkable impressions in our lives: the flowers in bloom along your way, the hot, good-smelling cup of coffee on your table, the affectionate smiles of loved ones. These are life’s simple treats, but they add up to a bigger, happier picture.

The earth is blessed with riches. You don’t need to locate the remotest goldmines or buy a mansion on a hill amid a breathtaking landscape to know how to appreciate your stay. Simply take a stroll and be mindful of the beautiful things you see around you. And when you do, in a minute or two, you’ll feel you’ve come back to life.

There are plenty of wonderful things beyond your walls. Take a stroll through those long lanes flanked by colorful flowerbeds. At the park you can observe children playing, families enjoying their time together, young and old couples taking time with each other.

Observe the grass, the sky, sunlight on the pavement, sunlight on someone’s lovely face, the breeze blowing strands of hair away from a girl’s forehead, someone whistling a tune, the flight of pigeons, leaves of trees filtering the sun’s rays, the smell of bread from a bakery, glass windows and waterways glistening in the noonday sun.

Let your feet take you to scenic locations in your area or just in ordinary places. But this time, observe everything in childlike wonder. With your senses you’ll fill the emptiness in you. You’ll feel a lot better, readier for life.

A Note From Doctor Cynthia

Hope you have been enjoying these one minute retreats. Please consider taking a 15-30 minute self-guided Gratitude Retreat. The Retreat to Go Moments of Gratitude is filled with everything you’ll need to successfully complete your self-guided retreats. It includes:

- Gratitude Journal. Consisting of lined, dated pages where you list five things you are grateful for each day plus a collection of
- Inspirational quotes to inspire you throughout the year along with “Powerful Intentional” gratitude practices
- Step-by-step user-friendly instructions. The kit includes everything you need to start planning an hour, half-day, or full day retreat, on your own Candle Pen http://www.freestyleretreats.com/retreat-to-go.html