Zen Fridays – Wisdom Gem 2

Photo by Zukiman Mohamad on Pexels.com

(This is a re-post. Will be continuing the “Wisdom Gem series” for every Friday. This was part of series of “wisdom” handouts that was created in the past for my retail customers and my students.)

“Flow with whatever may happen, and let your mind be free:
Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing.
This is the ultimate”.
~ Zhuangzi

Reflection by Esther
Go with the flow!
That will be the best advice that one needs to have in any given situation. Resistance is going to make things worse for an individual and the people surrounding him. Rather than going against, “flow” into any circumstance and be at ease. It is better to “flow” and accept the moments. Once we have learnt how to live our lives in that way, nothing can dampen our spirits and the life we live.

Zen Fridays – Wisdom Gem 1

Photo by Jack Hawley on Pexels.com

(This is a re-post. Will be continuing the “Wisdom Gem series” for every Friday. This was part of series of “wisdom” handouts that was created in the past for my retail customers and my students.)

“When you look at a field of dandelions,
You can either see
a hundred weeds
or a hundred wishes”.
~ Unknown ~

Reflection by Esther
How we view life or a particular situation is entirely up to us. No one can change the way we think of something unless we ourselves allow it to happen. Rather than looking at something, someone or a situation as negative and a hindrance, why don’t we step aside and look at ways on how we can learn or benefit from it. We all have to remember that anything negative that is taking place in our life is not permanent. Everything will pass at ease if we allow our thoughts to change accordingly. We must always see every situation in our life an opportunity to advance further. We must never let a bad situation drive us to darkness, depression and negativity.

Quote for Today

qqu

“One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.”
~ Dale Carnegie ~

Courage : Weekly Single Word Inspiration

Courage: Weekly Single Word Inspiration - Esther Neela Blog

Courage!  

Most of the times, we want to be safe and doing the usual, familiar things – that is being in our comfort zone. What about the time when we need to be in the “unknown” zone? What about the time when we need to try something that is different from what we have done in the past and what we are already familiar with? That is when fear, helplessness, and doubt creeps in. We tend to lose confidence in ourselves and in our ability. To overcome all of that, we need courage. 

As Osho once said, 

“The new is unfamiliar. It may be the friend, it may be the enemy, who knows? There is no way to know! The only way to know is to allow it; hence the apprehension, the fear.” 

Each of our life will definitely present to us situations when we have to bring out the attribute of courage out. When we open ourselves up to new adventures, the end result might be success or failure. We will never know that until we try. But our focus should not be on results only. The fact that we have already stepped out of our comfort zone to do a work, is something to be appreciated. 

If life presents to you an occasion when you had to step out of your comfort zone, always say “Yes!” Do not worry about the results yet. Just be in the present moment and live your life fully…

Who knows? The situation/occasion that calls you to be in might bring you new opportunities…

Have confidence in yourself that you are capable to handle anything that comes along your way. Have faith in yourself. 

“Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? 

We must have perseverance and, above all, confidence in ourselves. 

We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, 

at whatever cost, must be attained.” 

~ Marie Curie ~

Courage: Weekly Single Word Inspiration - Esther Neela Blog

Harmony : Weekly Single Word Inspiration

Weekly Single Word Inspiration: Harmony - Esther Neela Blog

When someone mentions to you “harmony”, what comes to your mind? Or what does that mean to you? To me, “harmony” is to be in unity – it can be among communities, groups, or from a Reiki or Spiritual viewpoint, it can be a unity among the senses or chakras or mind, body, heart connection and so on…

When something is in unity or unified as a single source, there exists happiness. Without harmony or unity, there will be no happiness. Even though we claim to be happy, there will be something that will be bothering us that will cause us to be unhappy or to fuss about.

Just like Mahatma Gandhi mentioned, “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” To achieve happiness in a situation or in life, it is necessary to have harmony in our thoughts and actions. For if what we do is one-sided or a sloppy job, harmony will be absent which in turn will start to damage our situation further or our relationship with others.

Before looking for approval and acceptance from others, it is best we start with ourselves. When we are in harmony with our own thoughts, senses and feelings, it is not necessary to look for approval from external people. We also have to remember that other people too have their own matters in life and challenges. Instead of putting unnecessary strain on someone to achieve harmony for our own sake, the easier way is to be in harmony with our self first.

I have personally gone through many stages of my life without harmony at times. During those times, I take regular time out and pen my thoughts down. It is easier for me to pen my thoughts and emotions on a paper. Then I think through exactly what is bothering me. I ask myself lots of questions such as whether my thoughts are in the same direction as my actions. If no, I start asking myself even more honest questions and look at where my life is headed to. At times, it is easier for me to get all answers. At times, it is a struggle as things are not as easy as what it seems. During the times of struggle, I tend to be harsher on myself which I know is wrong. I instantly take a step back and tell myself to be gentle with my good self. I give myself time to think through, and get my internal thoughts and external actions in tune.

It does take time to get in tune to our own self in harmony, but the most important thing is not to give up or get angry or displeased with our self. I feel that if one is unable to be in harmony himself, he will never derive harmony (or happiness) from anywhere. Depending on external factors such as people, situations and environments to provide us with harmony is wrong too. After all, no one owes us anything.

During the process of self-discovery and / or self-analysis, we have to be gentle with ourselves. If we are always in conflict with our own thoughts and emotions, we have to sincerely start questioning ourselves gently and kindly what exactly we hope to achieve and want in life. Not everything we need or want in life will be provided easily. We have to learn to accept things if it is not according to what we wanted or wished for. Once we have accepted things as they are, it is easier to be in harmony with anything around us.

Make a point to be in harmony with your self on a daily basis. And please be gentle and kind to yourself.

To conclude, a quote from Marcus Aurelius, 
“He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe”.

Harmony : Weekly Single Word Inspiration - Esther Neela Blog

Reminder Bands from "The Mindful Company"

As a teacher, I do need a daily boost and reminders, isn’t it? 🙂

I found “The Mindful Company” which sells reminder bands. And of course, I was hooked onto some of its items and purchased them. They arrived 2 days ago and I just had time to take a closer look and take pictures…..Below are the pictures I have taken. Excuse the poor lighting as it was taken very early morning and I was struggling with the phone and lighting etc…
I purchased, “Gratitude”, “Trust” and “Breathe” – these 3 words plays a very important role in my life, each with a different purpose. Nevertheless, all of us need to be grateful on a daily basis, and to have trust on ourselves and in the Universe and remember that our breaths alters our emotions and feelings. We have all that we need and at times we forget in the midst of daily life happenings and events.
For more information and professional looking pictures of the items here are the links. Delivery within Singapore is free and they deliver to other countries too. All details can be found in their website. Packaging is great too. You can gift it to someone too….
For the pictures of my purchased items and how it looks on my wrist, here it is! It is easy to alter as my wrist is relatively small in size (though in the picture it can look big! 🙂 ). I am still “learning” how to toggle for the “Breathe” band braid. I am sure that I will get it eventually…. 🙂
The Mindful Company - Purchased Reminder Bands & Braids - Esther Neela Blog
The Mindful Company – Purchased Bands and Braids

 

The Mindful Company - Purchased Reminder Bands and Braids - Esther Neela
The Mindful Company – Closer look of the packaging

 

The Mindful Company - Purchased Reminder Bands and Braids - Esther Neela
The Mindful Company – Purchased Bands and Braids

 

The Mindful Company - Purchased Reminder Bands and Braids - Esther Neela
The Mindful Company – Purchased Bands & Braid

 

The Mindful Company – Band “Gratitude”

 

The Mindful Company – Braid “Breathe”

 

The Mindful Company – Band “Trust”

 

The Mindful Company - Packaging - Esther Neela
The Mindful Company – Packaging
The Mindful Company - Bands and Braid on my wrist - Esther Neela
On my wrist, Bands “Trust”, “Gratitude” and Braid “Breathe”

 

The Mindful Company - Bands on my wrist - Esther Neela
On my wrist, “Trust” and “Gratitude”