Awareness

To become different from what we are, we must have some awareness of what we are.

…..Eric Hoffer

Getting Started

We can’t know that we want to make a change until we first know we have a problem. Even when we’ve identified a problem, we need to know where we’re starting from to understand the job ahead of us.

To make a change in our lives, we need to know where we are right now.

Daily Book of Positive Quotations
Linda Picone

Saying Yes to Life’s Challenges

• Everything Changes and Ends
  Our illusion that things will be fair, or that pain won’t happen to us, or that people will be trustworthy, is called into question by the situations we face in the course of our life.
• Things Do Not Always Go According to Plan
  Being wise means living with life’s conditions in an allowing way.
• Life is Not Always Fair
  A wise person knows that losses will happen sometimes, that unfair dealings will sometimes occur, and that he can survive them.
• Pain is Part of Life
  Since life is a journey, we can grow not only by conquest of fear but also by occasional surrender to it.
• People Are Not Loving and Loyal All the Time
  Love arises from our imperfection, from our being different and always in need of forgiveness, encouragement, and the missing half of ourselves that we are searching for.

The Five Things We Cannot Change: And the Happiness We Find by Embracing Them

David Richo

Rewarding Way of Living

An intentional life is a commitment to training and concentrating attention in ways that enrich your life and the lives of others.

Living with attention is a rewarding way of living. It’s only by living with attention that you can experience yourself as authentic and your life as purposeful.

As you live more intentionally, something else occurs – the external world starts providing opportunities that you never imagined. This is because at every stage of development you can only imagine possibilities with your current knowledge base and world view.

Building Blocks of Intentional Living

• Awareness
  Intentionally bringing consciousness to events. With increased awareness, you are an alert observer of your thoughts and feelings as they are happening.
• Reflecting
  Requires practice in more directly noticing your experience, which allows it to more meaningfully impact you. Helps you think more creatively, make better choices, and implement effective action.
• Choosing
  Making choices to bring greater conscious awareness to your decisions so you experience greater possibility to envision concrete steps toward big dreams.
• Acting
  To wisely develop skills in knowing how and when to act in order to build the kind of world you want to see. And, knowing when to persist and when to move on.
• Allowing
  The more you allow, by letting go of unnecessary clutter that interrupts your experience, the more possibilities exist. Allowing can initially feel passive, but it is actually very active.

An Intentional Life: Five Foundations of Authenticity and Purpose
Lisa Kentgen, PhD

 

Characteristics of Mindful Love

• Attention
  Attention to the present moment – observing, listening, and noticing feelings experienced in our relationships.
• Acceptance
  Acceptance of ourselves and others just as we are.
• Appreciation
  Appreciation of our gifts, limits, and longings.
• Affection
  Affection shown through holding and touching in respectful ways.
• Allowing
  Allowing life and love to be as they are, with all their ecstasy and ache, without trying to take control.

How to Be an Adult in Relationships: The Five Keys to Mindful Loving
David Richo