Hello!

Today, I’m sharing my reflections on a passage from A Course in Miracles. I’ve been reading this book for a good part of the year. It’s so deep and beautiful that I only read a few pages at a time to let it all sink in.

The section I’m sharing today is perfect for this time of year. As New Years is right around the corner, this reading is about goal-setting. The Course says it's important to set clear goals for your life. When you have clear goals, you perceive everything that happens in your life as part of your journey. Seemingly good or bad, all events are leading your towards your goals.

In contrast, the ego, which we all have, prefers to react to situations as they are. In other words, your ego lets the situation determine the outcome. Your ego prefers to take a reactionary approach to life. Your higher self sets clear goals and takes intentional action. It sees everything as part of the bigger picture.

This idea reminds me of a beautiful Rumi quote:

Live life as if everything is rigged in your favor

And so, I’m going to close today’s blog with that. As you move into 2019, “live life as if everything is rigged in your favor…” and see how this mindset pulls you forward.

Love, Sheetal

Keep Reading:
Live with Intention
What if you could throw away your to-do list and still get everything you want?
How to Implement Positive Change

My birthday was earlier this week and I bought myself a beautiful wall hanging (you can check it out in the video!). It’s purple with heart-shaped leaves. It reads “Radiate boundless love towards the entire world.” I saw it in the store and my heart burst open with love! I had to get it!! I’ve kept this wall in my office empty for months now. And, I was looking for the perfect thing that would inspire and uplift me every time I look at it.
 
You see, it’s so important to surround yourself with things that inspire and uplift you. Your brain is receiving information from the environment all the time. Your brain has to process everything that you take in through your 5 senses. So, why not make it easy on yourself by exposing yourself to things are positive and uplifting?
 
The fact is its all too easy these days to find the negative. All you need to do is turn on the news or pick up a newspaper. It’s easy to find things that can bring you down or make you feel heavy, sad, upset or even angry! The thing is we have to process and digest all that! That stuff is always going to be there. You can go back to it anytime if you like. But, why not create space in your home, office, or even your car that's sacred? And, if the word “sacred” doesn’t resonate with you, no worries! All I mean by that is creating spaces that inspire, uplift, and bring positivity into your life. Give your senses, emotions, and mind a break. Give your brain something light, joyful, and positive to process!
 
For me, that means hanging up things like this new wall hanging. It means lighting candles and putting up pictures of my family. For you, it could be things like photos of your friends, family, or artwork. It could be writing affirmations on index cards and then posting those around your house. It can take on any form that resonates with you the most.
 
Let me know if you try this! Pick one place to start. Maybe your office desk, kitchen, or car? Any little bit goes a long way! Leave a comment to let me know how you changed your space and how that made you feel!
 
Love,
Sheetal
 
Keep Reading:
Spark Joy
Cultivating Self-Love
New Year, New You

Hello!

Today, I’m sharing something that has the power to transform your relationships. It’s something I recently read from A Course in Miracles. To be honest with you, I wasn’t sure if I should make this blog because it’s pretty deep. But, I decided it was important to share, because this one concept has the power to transform your relationships.

We all want happy relationships. Whether that’s with our intimate partner, parents, children, friends or colleagues. Well, A Course in Miracles says that any time there’s a relationship challenge, it can traced back to the ego. The ego has a way of finding things to get angry or upset about. When that happens, it places guilt on the other person. This then breaks down any sort of communication.

Imagine for a moment. When someone makes you feel guilty, what do you do? For me, I shut down. I don’t want to talk to the person for awhile. And so, you can imagine what making someone feel guilty does to the channels of communication. The Course suggests that you tune into yourself in those situations. Ask yourself, “Is this something that my ego is bringing up here?” 

The Course also talks about sacrifice as another way the ego places guilt on another. Have you ever said, “I did so much for so-and-so, and they didn’t even notice! They didn’t even say thank you or do anything in return!” This is sacrifice. It’s the idea that I am sacrificing myself to make others happy and they're not returning the favor. Again, if you put yourself in the other person’s shoes, can you see how this blocks off communication?

So I know this is a deep topic. It may even be a difficult topic because it requires self-examination. And that can be hard. But, I can say that the more you recognize the ego and work on tuning into your Highest self, that it does get easier. Stuff still comes up, but you’re able to nip it in the bud quicker. 

So, the next time it comes up, you can say to yourself, “Oh ego, I know you’re showing your head again. But, this time, I’ld like you to take the back seat. I’m going to let my Highest self drive this time.” Then, listen. What’s your heart telling you in this situation? This is the way to truly heal your relationships. Turn it over to your heart. Allow those lines of communication to be open. And, all you need to do is ask your ego to take the back seat. Let your heart guide you. 

Let me know your thoughts and experiences on this topic. Can you think of some situations when you let your ego rule? What are some situations when your heart led the way? What was the difference in those situations? How did each one feel? Leave a comment and let me know!

Sending you so much love on this incredible journey!

Love, Sheetal

Keep Reading:
Overcoming Fears
Metta: Transforming Loss into Love
I Choose Peace

Hello!!

Today I’m sharing a reading from A Course in Miracles. I’ve been reading this book for the past few months, and it is full of so many gems! Watch the video, or keep reading…

Nothing outside yourself can save you. Nothing outside yourself can give you peace. This also means that nothing outside yourself can hurt you or disturb your peace or upset you in any way
-A Course in Miracles

How often do we move through life looking for things outside of ourselves to make us happy? Or, to give us peace.  Looking for things to make us feel fulfilled, content and even joyful! 

But, when we realize that nothing and no one outside of ourselves can give us that sense of happiness and peace. Well, that also means that no one can make us upset or disturb our peace of mind.  This means that we are in charge of our own emotional state!  So, here’s the thing, if peace and happiness are not found outside, well then, where is it? This is the question I want to answer!

So, here it goes…

It's within each of us. 

There, I said it! And, man, is that empowering! I know, you must be asking, “So, you’re telling me peace and happiness is already inside me? But, why haven’t I been able to find it?” 

It’s not your fault, dear. Years of conditioned patterns have made it hard to see the light that’s inside. And so, we need to start to see these layers and patterns, and then let them go. This is where our practices help tremendously!

See, yoga talks about the mind like a mirror, or sometimes a lake. I’m gonna start with the mirror example. So, yoga talks about our mind being like a mirror and it gets clouded over. And so, when we look at a cloudy mirror, we see a super cloudy image, right? That doesn’t mean that we are super cloudy, it just means we need to clean the mirror! And so, yoga shows us exactly how to clean the mirror. Physical practice, breathwork, meditation, studying spiritual texts. These are the Windex to our minds! 

The other common example that yoga uses is about the mind being like a lake. And so, when the lake is all stirred up, it looks muddy. When we look at our reflection in the muddy water, it looks weird. But, if we let the water settle. If we stop throwing rocks in the water, and let it be. Well, then all the mud settles on the bottom, right? And, the water we are looking at is so clear we can drink it! Well, now how does our reflection look? Pretty hot, if I do say so myself! 

You get it? 

So, its normal that even though love, peace, and happiness are within us, its hard to see. We gotta do the work. Its not glorious. Sometimes its not even all that pretty. But, man, when you start to see that light inside you, it’s the most beautiful, magical thing in the world. 

So, what do you say?

Are you ready to do the work and find your happy place?  

Then, click here to schedule your free coaching call! 

Sending you so much love!

Keep Reading:
The Secret to Finding Joy is in Your Smile
Wake Up With Energy
Embody Your Soul’s Purpose

Hello friends!

I really hope you enjoyed last week's blog all about my 50-foot pole climb while I was at Tony Robbins’ Life Mastery Seminar in Fiji a few weeks ago! Today, I am sharing my experience during the health cleanse portion of the seminar. So, a large part of the seminar was focused on learning ways to optimize our healthy and energy. While we were learning through listening to amazing speakers, we were also being guided through a juice cleanse. Every 2 hours, we were offered either juice, wheatgrass, or Udo’s oil. Additionally, a small group of us were offered salad three times a day. The premise was to cleanse and detoxify the body. I got a little tired of eating salad the last couple of days, but other than that I actually felt pretty great throughout most of the cleanse. After the seminar, I knew that I wanted to find a way to integrate some of the experiences that I gained through the cleanse with the Ayurveda principles that I have already been living with for the past few years. 

Right off the bat, I knew that I was going to return to eating cooked vegetables. According to Ayurveda, vegetables are more easily digested if they are cooked. This was a change that I made to my diet many years ago when I stopped eating salads throughout most of the year and switched to eating primarily cooked vegetables. Since making this change, I have personally noticed a significant improvement in my digestion and how I feel every day. So, I knew that I would return to cooked vegetables back home. But, I still also wanted to find a way to integrate some of the other benefits that I experienced while I was in Fiji along with the Ayurveda dietary principles that have played such a large role in my life. 

Ayurveda recommends experimenting with how different foods and practices feel in your body, and I am a big believer in trying things out. Since we all have different body types and varying proportions of the energies that make up our constitution, we are all completely unique in our body-mind constitution and digestion. This is why I love Ayurveda! It is not “one size fits all.” Ayurveda recognizes that we are each unique in our beautiful ways. Ayurveda states that we must take our constitution, season, and lifestyle factors into consideration when creating our food plans, and that there is a bit of experimentation in determining exactly what is best for our bodies in any given moment. There are overarching principles, and then there are the actual practices. This is the art and science of Ayurveda. 

That being said, when I returned home, I began experimenting with the principles learned at the seminar and Ayurveda. The first week was really hard, because I realized that I was not actually giving my body everything that it needed. You know, as part of the seminar, all of our food was prepared for us and offered to us on a pre-determined schedule. So, coming back home to a situation where I had to create the schedule and food myself was a bit different. When I returned home, I had a huge “action list” of things to integrate, implement, and research. I got overwhelmed, and as a result jumped into a dietary routine that left me feeling depleted. 

Well, just as I was experiencing all of this, I was also preparing to deliver an Ayurveda Immersion program all about digestion! Preparing to teach this immersion offered me a great reminder of the most important principles in Ayurveda digestion that I wanted to keep in my life. Teaching this program also offered me a lesson in my own teachings, and this came on the very last day of the immersion. 

On the last day of the immersion, I wanted to give my students a really simple, practical method for integrating Ayurveda into their daily lives (so that they would not get overwhelmed as I did!). I asked them to create a huge list of every possible action that they could take to integrate Ayurveda into their dietary practices. Then, I asked them to pick just the top 3 action items that they felt they could really commit to over the next 3 weeks. I asked them to be really specific in the action items they were committing to, and to forget about the rest! My advice was to really focus just on those 3 action items for the next 3 weeks until they became a habit. I wanted them to then notice how those consistently taken actions felt in their body. Keep what felt great, let go of what did not, and then look at their list and choose another 2-3 items to integrate over the next few weeks. Great plan, right? I loved guiding the class through this process, and my students also left the session feeling empowered with really practical ways to start using the principles that they learned about that weekend. 

Well, when I came home from teaching, I shared with my husband this exercise that I had led the class through. I was also chatting with him that evening about how I was feeling overwhelmed about integrating our seminar with Ayurveda into my own life that past week. And so, my husband, the caring genius that he is (and just one of the many reasons why I love him so!), lovingly reflected back to me the exact exercise that I went through with my class! It was exactly what I needed! Sometimes teacher needs to become student and re-learn her own lessons, which is actually part of why teach. I teach things that I have experienced in my own life and the tools that I have used to help me move forward to feeling better in my own body and emotions. And so, that evening, I committed to 3 action items and decided to not worry about the rest!

The three things that I committed to for the next 3 weeks are: 

1. Wheatgrass juice in the morning. We took wheatgrass shots twice a day in Fiji. I enjoyed the taste and how it felt in my body. Wheatgrass juice is chockfull of vitamins and minerals. So, I decided that I would have wheatgrass juice every morning after my morning cup of lemon water. I eliminated coffee while I was in Fiji, and so am replacing it with wheatgrass!
   
2. Ensuring Omega-3 and Omega-6 in my diet. While in Fiji, we were also given shots of Udo’s Oil daily. Udo’s Oil is specifically designed from a combination of organic oils in the ideal proportion of Omega-3 and Omega-6 that our body needs. Honestly, I wasn’t super excited about taking shots of Udo’s oil in Fiji! Since coming home, I have been drizzling Udo’s oil on my cooked vegetables and enjoying this much better! I also did some research and was excited to find out that ghee, clarified butter, is also a good source of Omega-3. Ghee is used often in Ayurveda and I use it in my cooking. So, I am committed to ensuring that I get a good source of Omega-3 and Omega-6 in my diet through either Udo’s oil or ghee.
   
3. Rebounding while reciting Affirmations. I am committing to jumping on my trampoline every morning for at least 5 minutes while reciting my affirmations (or, incantations). Getting on a trampoline is a great way to get the day started with some movement! Now, I already start out my day every morning with a brief practice of qi gong and yoga. And, now I am following that up with the trampoline because it is fun, really active, and a great way to engage the body while reciting affirmations, statements of all that I am and all that I am becoming! This is a powerful and fun practice get the day going with even more movement and intention.

So, these are three actions I have committed to taking over the next 3 weeks, and I no longer feel overwhelmed. In fact, I am able to enjoy these 3 actions all the more since I have made it very tangible and practical to integrate these principles. 

We can all do this! So often when we decide that we are going to work towards something in our life, such as building greater energy or health, or achieving another goal in life, we can get overwhelmed thinking of all the steps that may be involved. Recalling from last week’s blog, maybe we only need to look at “What is the next step?” What if we just pick 2 or 3 really tangible things to focus on until it becomes a habit, and then, only then, consider the next step. Don’t worry about the rest. You know, we make it so easy to feel bad about ourselves these days, why not make it easy to feel good instead? Pick two or three things that we can stick with, celebrate our success, celebrate our progress, and enjoy this beautiful life that we're living!

Let me know what resonated with you the most from today’s blog! How can you apply this into your daily life? Leave a comment..I can’t wait to hear from you!

Sending you so much love!!

Keep Reading:
Why I Climbed a 50-Foot Pole in Fiji…?
Fall in Love with Ayurveda
What is Ayurveda?