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Stairs and flowers - the adornment of every day items is rife in Bali. And wonderful.
A little delayed, but finally here’s 21-40.
Perhaps a lot of this stuff is very obvious to you. But I’ve reason to believe that for others, that’s not the case. For me, anything I can offer that might benefit another person is a worthy task.
Even if you’re only reminded of your own learnings, then this list is useful.
But just maybe, there’s something new here for you. Or something that inspires your own inner reflections.
Blessings to everyone!
21. Sensitivity is not a negative trait – instead, it’s helpful information to ensure you’re doing the best thing for yourself. Sure it has its pros and cons but overall, being sensitive to life will mean you’re being true to yourself.
22. Learn to dance. Even if you think you have two left feet. Dancing brings love, life and joy into your body. It also creates awareness between your physical self and your mind. Which is endlessly important.
23. We all need to learn surrender. To ourselves. Against our struggles. Because surrender is the pre-cursor to Grace.
24. Learn to sing. Even if you think you can’t. Sing from the heart with beautiful words. Personally, I love kirtan but whatever works for you. Signing opens your heart chakra and is healing for body, mind and soul. Also, the more your sing, the more you will be able to sing. True story.
25. Keep practicing. Recently I’ve been teaching my 4.5 year old niece how to do somersaults. Every time she does one she shows improvement. So she tells me that she’ll keep on practicing. This is how we learn to be skilled at anything, which is something we forget with age.
26. Examine and shake up your patterns. Often, our anxieties and fears are linked to the way we live our lives as opposed to who we are. Sometimes we forget there’s a difference.
27. Be generous with your time, money and possessions. Western culture is very “me/mine”. This sort of thinking intimates that if we give to others, we won’t have enough for ourselves. But Abundance actually comes from generosity. Because being generous keeps the flow of energy moving. At first this seems anti-intuitive but it’s one of the truest things I know.
28. Fear is not meant to stop you from taking action, even though stopping is generally the first response we have. But fear is just information, meant to help us figure out our next steps.
29. Take a completely solo travel trip at least once in your lifetime. If you dare. Initially it’s a very scary thing to do but it’ll change your world.
30. Explore your opposites. If you’re always a bit of a push-over, try being more hard-nosed. If you’re always angry, try greeting everyone with love and a smile. Without a doubt you’ll learn something about yourself.
31. If you sensibilities don’t match the culture you were born into, don’t worry. There are plenty of us who are in the same boat, because there isn’t just one style of living or way of life for everyone. Choosing differently from your family, friends or society does not make you less successful or valuable than anyone else. Translation: you don’t have to get married, have a mortgage, kids and two dogs in order to be “okay”.
32. You won’t always get what you need from other people. Even those who are “meant” to be there for us. It’s far better to develop your own capacity for self-nurturing and self-love. That way, you’ll never be without the things you need.
33. Friends will disappoint you. But usually, the disappointment comes from having expectations of their behaviour or actions in the first place. In other words – our own thoughts on what we think other people should do. How crazy is that when you break it down? Loving your friends/family without expectations means they can never disappoint you.
34. Bad things, terrible things happen to all kinds of people. Maybe even to you. They truly suck beyond belief. But honestly, none of it means anything about your personality, your self-worth, who you are OR who you can be.
35. There really are no coincidences in the world. Just a flow of the energy of life. If you’re working with that flow, lots of things start to look like coincidences.
36. If the life you’re living isn’t making you happy, work out what will. Then make plans to work towards that life. It’ll be worth it.
37. Both the mind and body need to be kept flexible. Do yoga asana for the body and meditation for the mind. Without both of these things, our world grows smaller and more uncomfortable with age. Without flexibility, change becomes difficult and negativity becomes predominant. Our happiness depends on the flexibility of both.
38. Self-sacrifice for others is not always anyone’s best interests, no matter how duty-bound you feel. Before we can help others, we really do need to help and support ourselves. This has to be a regular activity and not just a one-off.
39. Even if you don’t think you’re a writer, write your stories. Don’t worry about how it sounds. Just write it anyway. You don’t have to show anyone if you don’t want to (this is called journaling). But write it out. It’s the cheapest form of self-expression/therapy around.
40. Finally, what he said. Because he says it so well, and I completely agree:
As before, feel free to share any of your own wisdom below!
~ Svasti x
