Relax and Lighten up. The 30 Days Enlightenment Challenge

Let’s all Relax and Lighten up … as in Enlightened … Together!

The 30 Days to Total Enlightenment, the final chapter in It’s All Well and Good, is a powerful and fun daily practice revealing the deeper truths about wellness. You can check in each day for the page of the day on the blog, where the entries for each day correspond with the page for that day in the book. To buy the book, see the Buy the Book tab above at main menu.

You can certainly practice the 30 Day Enlightenment Challenge solo … but why not invite others to literally be on the same page with you: a group of friends, your family, workplace team or a person in need, perhaps. Doing it with others gives you accountability partners and a built-in incentive to really follow the 30 days to a T.

To get started, open the July Archives and continue to the archives in August.

The more that we all relax in our lives, the better our world becomes. 

 

Day Twenty Nine

     “Acknowledge your (true) purpose. Get on with expressing it.                                                             All day.”

 

Some of us have this emotional “gene” of stacking our lives against others’ lives. Others of us may have been spared this genetic makeup, but I think we all can relate in moments large and small.

My theory, if you do have the “gene”: When you compare your life to someone else’s life, you are essentially consuming yourself with that obsession as a tactic to distract yourself from yourself. And from your Self. Then you don’t have to deal. Neat trick, eh? You don’t have to deal with digging deep for the answer to “What do I honestly want in my life and how am I going to go about creating it?”

If you are having trouble figuring out what you do want, here is the ironic twist:

Seeing what others have or what others do is actually a hint for what you really want … otherwise why would you care about what that other person is, has or does as a measure of your self worth? It gets tricky though, because remember, we are not here to acquire material goods, impress others with our prowess or bask in the ego glory of our accomplishments. So the question then becomes, ” What do I want, as in: ” Who do I want to be as a person? How do I want to view my life? How do I want to feel inside?  How do I want to express my creativity?” And so on.

Once I was hiking with my adult son, Nick, on a craggy cliff on a San Diego beach and the foot work was dicey. You really had to focus. He was ahead of me and I found myself watching him to guide my way, but quickly discovered that was not a good plan. It made me unsteady on my feet and I wasn’t looking straight at what was on my own path. It was a true aha moment when I saw the metaphor. If you focus on another’s walk on the path, you will miss your own. (And maybe even fall off the cliff.)

So the distraction from self is also the distraction from your purpose in life, a concept which has evolved over the years. It wasn’t such a moniker of happiness 40 or 50 years ago when the majority of people were content to work for the noble cause of supporting their families. There was less focus on the idea of having to have a higher purpose in  life or work life.  It is, of course, a good thing that we teach this concept to our children and encourage them to go for what they want and to do what they love. But the strange and subtle backlash is this:

If the prize is achieving purpose in life, then what are we to do if we bemoan that our current engagement in the world ain’t’ doin’ it for us in the Purpose department?

First: Get about the business of figuring out what your purpose is. What is it to you … In real terms. Then go about making it happen. A little bit every day. Really. Be strategic and reel it in.

Second: Experiment with this practical and more gentle perspective: Your purpose is to be your best self every day and to be open. Why is this a practical view? Because then every moment is meaningful. Living and loving life itself is the purpose. The rest of it, as to what you manifest for your career, finding your mate, grabbing that opportunity, well. That’s all just frosting on the cake.

 

Day Twenty Eight

             “Purify thoughts. Tell the truth. Give without ego. All day.”

         

Well now. Today’s message might seem like a lofty one. In your busy day, do you really have the time for all this? Yep you do. Thought. Word. And Deed. Gosh that sounds familiar.

Thought: We have certainly talked a lot about thoughts. Today all you have to do is observe them for their kindness factor. I am not saying that you have to be a saint, but that’s not a bad idea. Stepping into sainthood is an interesting space.

Word: As far as saying what you are really thinking or feeling … you might have to censor a couple of things, right? This is about telling the truth (up to a certain point.) But! Since you will be screening your thoughts for kindheartedness, your diplomacy is assured.

Deed: This one’s the kicker. Giving without ego. Serving without the need for acknowledgement. Performing a good deed when no one is looking. They say the measure of a man’s character is what he does when no one is looking.

There is a certain pleasure in giving of yourself for the pure joy of it. It feels wonderful to tell the truth, since often we do not. And I am sure your thoughts could definitely use some scrubbing.

Day Twenty Seven

                      “Tell yourself you are ageless. All day.”

               How old would you be if you didn’t know how you old you were?”                                                                      -Satchel Paige

I love Satchel Paige for this remark. He reminds us that when we are living from a clear space and engaged and involved in life at every stage, the question of age becomes a moot point. This is easier said than done especially in America where youth is prized and our elders … not so much. In many cultures, the elders are honored and revered and taken care of. So maybe the metaphor here is that we have to learn to take care of ourselves as we grow older and wiser and honor our own aging process.

The truth is that a child born today will most likely live to become a centenarian and many of us will do the same with our healthier lifestyles and the advances in medical science. So this skill of living longer and happier becomes an ever more handy talent.

And the best time to imprint good habits is ideally when you are young. Then it becomes part of you, but, truly, it is never too late to start

There is an old affirmation out there and it goes like this: “My life is getting better and better every day.” Now, if you really stoke this idea and message it to your body, then you will notice, I guarantee, that this becomes true.

Then getting older is safe, no matter what stage of life you are in, because your life gets better and better and age is irrelevant. You are happy.

Our job really is to grow, and to expand our reach, our creativity and our ability to love and find wisdom. My life in the last third of my life is definitively deeper and more joyful than when I was 25. And if I don’t identify with my physical body, but instead with the deeper aspects of my being, it is all good. This is a big assignment but not unattainable if you can hone in on developing a joie de vivre (joy in living) at an early age and let it sink in and rule the day, every day. Then when you notice the gray hairs creeping, in, no worries. Because life is always getting better and better, remember?

Simplistic? Hell ya.

Satchel had it right. And I think he would agree that the answer to his question is:           Tell Yourself You are Ageless.