HOW TO GET ON THE RIGHT PATH WHEN EVERYTHING GOES WRONG

Life can throw unexpected curve balls that seem to break everything. We can make mistakes that land us in hotter water than we imagined was possible. Thankfully, life is about the journey, not the destination. We are made to suffer, so we can learn and grow from the experience. I know that seems like a thin blanket on a cold night, nut maybe the reminder that all things are impermanent is more helpful.

This pain, this unhappiness, this mistake, will not plague you and yours forever, though I know it seems like it could. Below are four suggestions to help you speed up the pace of this ‘lesson’. I don’t presume to know your situation to the ‘t’, but I have suffered before and know it’s no fun. I would recommend that if you follow these suggestions, you do them in the order presented but you know your situation best so you do what you feel is best.

Realize And Acknowledge the Truths In Your Situation

The first step is going to be one of the hardest. No matter what, life continues to march forward at a seemingly cold hearted pace. Acknowledging that here isn’t where you intended to be, is the first step to getting back on your path and to your pace. So breathe and acknowledge some facts. You aren’t where you want to be, but why?

Where would you rather be? What about your current situation is causing you suffering? Is your current situation leading towards a happy and productive resolution or more suffering?

Ask yourself questions about the fundamental aspects of your life. It may help to write them down. Honestly acknowledge that this is your current reality. Without fear name what is wrong with the current picture. Those negative elements are already doing you harm, calling them out by name brings positive focus to them.

Love, Forgive, And Reach Out

Love yourself for realizing you are in a pickle. Not everyone can always realize when they are in a bad place, and this lack of sight prevents them from moving forward. You are taking the bull by the horns, and you should be proud of this fact. If you are in this negative space with the help of others and their careless influence, forgive them. Send them waves of love and forgive them with the deepest love you can muster.

It’s ok if the first round of compassion and kindness isn’t that deep. With emotions bubbling all over the place you’ll do it again, and with each round of forgiving and love, the magnitude will grow and the sincerity more easily projected. This person or institution was ruled by fear or ego when they wronged you. More negativity won’t break the cycle.

Don’t forget to forgive yourself. I always have to actively not beat myself up for making similar mistakes every couple of months. As you compassionately acknowledge life and willingly forgive start to reach out to those you trust and who love you greatly. Even if it seems you’ve got your recovery neatly in your hand, there is no reason to do it alone.

Some would argue that braving a storm by yourself builds character, I doubt that person ever stood in a true monsoon. While you probably could do it alone, if you allow others to help you, everything associated will benefit and recover faster.

Come Back To The Present

In acknowledging and forgiving you probably started to slide into the past. You also, very well started to deviate to the expected and feared future. You don’t know what the future holds for you, no matter how clever or well informed you are. Your expectations will be direct answers to your current fears and plight.

Do you really want your future to be dealing only with negativity? YOU DESERVE MORE THAN THAT.  Don’t let the past continue to hurt you either. Acknowledge what happened, forgive, respect and love. Then release. Back in the present you have your work cut out for you. Gather your wits and support team.

Remove And Replace

In the present moment, start understanding what is causing you harm or preventing you from doing necessary tasks. Some elements of life aren’t actively negative but can hold up resources better suited for the task at hand. Remove what doesn’t need to be in your life or anything that is causing you pain. If your unsure at any point in time confer with your support group.

source

Cloudy with some bright periods

The past year has been cloudy, sometimes battling through thunderstorms but there have been many bright periods. When you have friends and family that believe in you, it’s an immense blessing and it is with gratitude that I thank those who have helped me weather the storms and celebrate the bright periods. There might be a few more cloudy days, but the sun will always shine.

Yes today, March 2 is exactly a year since my life changed, from having a job, being able to pay my way and enjoy life. Now there is no job, very little money and enduring stress created from a drastic change. A real life-altering situation, from all to nothing, but from all to the greatest blessing.

I do not think I would change this for the world, it might have been a lean year, but it was also a year of growing, learning, and endurance. Through the learning process, I have come to understand that life is not a competition but rather a process of realizing who I am. I am who I am, changed from a confused egotistical human being into the power of light. I have come to realize that it's not only me but every living being on earth that are all created in love and connected to the source of life. Thus, I found that love is the greatest force and through love, forgiveness is a blessing.

When I realized that my enemies are my best teachers, I grew and found the peace that passes all understanding. I found life, love, joy, happiness and above all, I found myself.

I know I still have a lot to learn and each moment will present an opportunity to grow and that my journey on earth is now an everlasting journey of peace.

I will always continue to pray for my fellow beings, even though some are still living in the "human being" state, they too will come to realize that they are a "loving being". Thus when we come to realize who we really are, universal peace will finally be grasped.

It is my prayer for all beings to accept who they are and live in the light.  We do know that many prefer the darkness, and are nothing more than prisoners of their own making.

Seek with all your heart, it is right inside of you and stay in the light.

15 Quotes To Remember When You’re Feeling Lost In Life

Everyone feels a little lost at some point during their lives and it is at these times that we truly begin to question ourselves and the essence of existence. Many who have gone before us have had to wrestle with these same feelings and, luckily for us, they have passed on their wisdom.

Feeling lost is a perfectly normal thing; it is a sign that you are evolving as an individual in spirit and mind. If you are going through such a period in your life right now, these quotes are bound to help.

Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.– Henry David Thoreau

This is the first and most important lesson from all of the quotes featured here. It confirms that if we are to truly find ourselves and understand our place in this universe, we must first lose ourselves. So don’t give up if you’re feeling lost – it means you can now begin to discover yourself.

We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.– Joseph Campbell

All too often, we feel downbeat about our lives because they do not match our dreams and desires. In reality, you can plan, wish and hope all you like, but the only life you can lead is the one that’s right in front of you. So push your preconceptions to one side and open your eyes to the life that awaits you.

The soul which has no fixed purpose in life is lost; to be everywhere, is to be nowhere.– Michel de Montaigne

This quote reveals a harsh truth about life; that to stop feeling lost, we must find our calling. When you can visualize and realize your purpose in life, everything else falls into place.

You got to go down a lot of wrong roads to find the right one.– Bob Parsons

Following on nicely from the previous quote, here we are reminded that to discover our calling, we first have to work out what it is not. We must be prepared to get things wrong in order to finally find the one path that feels right.

If you don’t go after what you want, you’ll never have it. If you don’t ask, the answer is always no. If you don’t step forward, you’re always in the same place.– Nora Roberts

If you ever needed a quote to push you into action, this is it. The message is clear and it is true: inaction will only ever keep you rooted in the place you are in now. To move forward, you must be brave and take that step.

The risk of a wrong decision is preferable to the terror of indecision.– Maimonides

If you’re worried about taking the wrong step, then let this quote be a lesson for you. As scary as it may seem to make the wrong decision, it is far worse to make no decision at all.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.– Unknown

Building upon the last two lessons, this quote takes us into the future and tells us just how much we might regret the things we didn’t do. It is the perfect motivation for those times when we err on the side of caution and forego taking any risks.

There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.– Anaïs Nin

As if you needed more convincing that risks must sometimes be taken, this quote beautifully illustrates how resisting your transformation can actually cause you great spiritual pain.

You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover is yourself.– Alan Alda

When you’re ready to take those steps into the unknown, remember to let your intuition guide you. It always has your best interests at heart and will steer you towards the places you need to go.

It is only when we silent the blaring sounds of our daily existence that we can finally hear the whispers of truth that life reveals to us, as it stands knocking on the doorsteps of our hearts.– K.T. Jong

Don’t forget that to hear your intuition and to follow the call of life, you must make quiet the world around you. We live in an age of ceaseless stimulation and it drowns out the voices and the messages that we really ought to be listening to.

If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.– Maya Angelou

If there are aspects of your life that you don’t like, you have to be prepared to either change them altogether, or change the way you view them so that you can learn to accept them as they are.

The happiest people don’t necessarily have the best of everything but they make the most of everything.– Sam Cawthorn

Tying in rather nicely with the previous quote, we are reminded that to truly enjoy life, you don’t have to be rich, famous, young, or healthy. If you seek the joy out of every situation, you can be more fulfilled and more content that most other people.

Man is almost mad—mad because he is seeking something which he has already got; mad because he’s not aware of who he is; mad because he hopes, desires and then ultimately, feels frustrated. Frustration is bound to be there because you cannot find yourself by seeking; you are already there. The seeking has to stop, the search has to drop.– Osho

It is because everything we ever need is already there within us that the lifestyle you lead, the wealth you have, and the things you experience play no role in how happy you are. When you realize this, you are no longer lost.

When all else is lost, the future still remains.– Christian Nestell Bovee

Always remember that whatever has come before and whatever you feel now, the future has yet to be. It doesn’t matter what catastrophes you’ve suffered or how lost you feel in the present moment, there is infinite potential in what comes next.

To be lost is as legitimate a part of your process as being found.– Alex Ebert

And so we end with a quote that is very similar to the one we started on, but the lesson is so important, it’s worth repeating. If you feel lost right now, don’t give up; this is an essential part of the process that every content person goes through before they find their place of peace.

Source

Struggling to stay healthy in 2017? Bad marketing could be to blame

Are you trying to lose the weight that you put on over the holiday period? You may have already been bombarded with articles on willpower, exercise regimes and dieting to help shift those extra pounds.

A big problem you’re likely facing, however, is simply the struggle to estimate the amount of food you are actually eating. Here, you’re not alone. Calorie under-reporting is commonplace, as most people have tremendous difficulty keeping track of exactly what they eat and what constitutes a healthy amount in relation to how much they exercise.

There are a number of forces working against us. Even after the holidays, food is everywhere and there are deals to be had on the chocolates, cakes and other festive goodies not sold in December. The presence of so much tempting food at every turn has been dubbed the obesogenic environment by scientists. It refers to the constant temptation we face to buy and eat more – a fertile environment for rising obesity. And it is also made worse by surroundings that don’t encourage activity, such as the presence of lifts and escalators.

People typically make their decisions about what to buy in supermarkets very quickly, which may mean that they do not fully comprehend what they are buying, its calorific content and nutritional value. When people do their supermarket shopping they are regularly evaluating thousands of products on a range of criteria in a very short time. Rushed in-store decisions often lead to people buying more than they want or need – it’s so commonplace that researchers have a term for it: passive consumption.

Mixed messaging

If decision-making in this obesogenic environment is such a problem, perhaps manufacturers and retailers could help in the way that they market and package their food? We should be so lucky – my colleague Veronica Gee and I recently studied the way food is presented to us in supermarkets and online, and found the opposite.

We looked at products (cereals, cereal bars and yogurts) from three leading UK retailers and examined how information about nutrition, calories and portion sizes were communicated online and in-store. We also examined the product images and words used on packaging.

What we found was a huge range in terms of the amount of information supplied, the type of information and inconsistencies between the suggested portion sizes and how the products were presented. At best this is confusing, at worst it is misleading for consumers.

For example, breakfast cereals commonly have a 30g recommended portion size but this does not correspond to the imagery on most packs. Typically, breakfast cereals are displayed showing full bowls. We tested the recommended portion size against a range of currently available cereal bowls and found that to fill the bowls in the manner displayed, the portion size would have to double alongside the addition of milk, thereby doubling the number of calories involved.

Double the daily allowance? shutterstock.com

With cereal bars, the problem is that they are often packaged in twos or threes. Ostensibly this is for sharing – although, again, research shows that what often happens is that these bars are regularly consumed by the same person within the same day.

Packs of all these food items include extensive promotional messaging, which can often be misleading. A key element is images of healthy ingredients (such as fruit or oats) and no reference to the more unhealthy elements (such as sugar). We frequently found this to be the case on products with poor nutrition ratings such as figs on breakfast biscuits and strawberries on children’s yogurts.

Messaging can be confusing too. One product in our sample with a poor nutritional profile included the health message: “Helps build strong bones” on the front of the packet and a yogurt had the message: “Healthier lunchbox” on the front, despite having fat, saturated fat and fairly high sugar levels. So the messaging can make people think they can consume more, even if it’s not that healthy for them.

So those trying their best to stick to a January health kick have a tough job on their hands, even when they’re focused on buying what look like healthy options. Is government regulation the answer? For some this feels like a step too far into the “nanny state”.

But, in light of the evidence of companies playing on people’s inability to see through their misleading marketing techniques, it’s potentially time to stop over-stressing individual responsibility. It is certainly worth governments considering regulation against confusing messages from marketers – in the same way that advertisers can no longer airbrush ads that could be misleading or potentially harmful. These are complex issues that most humans need help with and regulation has a role to stop businesses taking advantage in the pursuit of profit.

Isabelle Szmigin, Professor of Marketing, University of Birmingham

This article was originally published on The Conversation.