WHY IT'S SO IMPORTANT TO MEDITATE

Meditation is likely one of the best, if not the best therapy in the world. I find myself over thinking sometimes and angry as well. I find that when I sit and meditate I get to that place that we all long to be. My process may not be comparable to that of a buddhist monk's but it works. I have a couple of ways one of which works as follows:

• I sit 
• I take five deep breaths 
• I close my eyes
• I clear my head 
• I slow my breathing down to the point where I'm fully relaxed

I usually do that for about five minutes and I find that it works for me. To me it's important because I have a bit of a fuse and like anyone else, it goes off every now and again. While some call meditation a fad o BS, I call it the best therapy. Imagine a day where the following things happen: 

• A tire explodes 
• A pipe bursts 
• You burn the souffle
• The cat pissed on the laptop

 How would you rather deal with that day? There's the possibility to do it angrily or do so with calm. If you do it angrily it will look like this: 

Why beat the shit out of someone with a keyboard when you can deal with your bad day in a relaxed way. I recommend meditation, yoga, pretty much anything to keep that emotion in check. All jokes and fun aside make sure to chill because life's too short. 

THICK SKIN IS SOMETIMES VITAL

Sometimes in order to survive criticism it's important to have thick skin. I have a problem and that problem is that I don't always use the thick skin I do have. There's that occasion when I'll let my temper get the worst of me. I guess it's a matter of perspective, sometimes what we feel is a product of where the criticism is coming from. If someone we love says something it tends to feel a little different, if someone we don't give a shit about says something it can hit like a missile. I guess today is more of a let it out day for me. I hope this brief passage helps you out in some way.

FAMILY NEVER GOES AWAY, NO MATTER HOW FAR AWAY IT IS

Last night I had the pleasure of talking to my oldest brother on the phone. It was cool to talk about the old days when I was was a little guy and what I remember about our late father and aunts and uncles. My brother told me something that stuck with me and made me think quite a bit.

I recall my brother saying to me that family is family no matter what. I began to think about our dad, how time and situations separate people for periods of time. Family is something special, that bond is unbreakable. You can be different from members of your family but somehow that bond makes up for differences.

Our grandfather, whom I never met, was a man of principle. My grandparents had a marriage of love, respect, and mutual dedication. When all his children were grown professionals our grandfather had this lovely family picture taken. I recall reading a dedication he wrote, the dedication spoke of the love for his children and the importance of a strong bond. The dedication was a testament to what a great family man he was and what a great family he and our grandmother had created.

Family never goes away and it doesn't matter how far they are away from one another. Family is much greater than anything else in life, a close unit will always pull through in any situation, in part because of all the differences that make us complement one another.

IT'S NOT NEWS

Lately i've become more and more interested in discovering what wonders the human mind holds. What we hear about the mind now is not really anything new. Writers like Dr. Norman Vincent Peale and Napoleon Hill have been telling us about the power within us for years. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale actually talked about the power of positive thinking and wrote of it based on his studies of ancient texts that spoke of just that.

I think that we become fascinated with the idea of positive thinking simply because we don't engage in that practice as often as we should. If we really think about it even when we do well it seems to be almost part of the plan so we go with it. Do we control our destiny through our thoughts? I'd like to think that we can, the human mind is an incredibly powerful tool. What I'm saying is not new and it's not news, it is a rarely observed fact.

WHERE THE REAL POWER HIDES

The definition of power usually reads like "the ability to do something or act in a particular way, esp. as a faculty or quality." There's physical power, power in terms of persuasion but the question is really " Where does power come from?" I personally think that real power lies in our sub conscious. I'm not trying to be some sort of inspiration, but I do whole heartedly believe that we hold the key to our own success. 

I've heard it said before that in our lifetime we only use something like 5% of our full capacity. I think it's fair to say we hold the key to our real power. We can really achieve what we want, if we chose to do so. I don't think we should impose limitations on ourselves, it's too easy to fall prey to the idea that we can't move forward beyond a certain point. I think one good thing about today's world is the fact that so many people look beyond a normal day to day existence. 

I think we are living a new and exciting time in terms of recognizing our own potential as individuals. Hopefully what we are learning now won't be some passing trend that will recycle itself twenty years from now.