Everyday a Friday

 

Whatever challenges you may face, whatever circumstances are weighing you down, you can choose your response. How you live your life is totally up to you. It’s not dependent on your circumstances. It’s dependent on your choices. Abraham Lincoln said, “Most people are as happy as they’ve decided to be.”Honest Abe would have enjoyed a recent study that found happiness increases 10 percent on Fridays. Why is that? People are excited about the coming weekend, so they decide to be happier.

 

They make up their minds on Fridays to enjoy their lives more. I challenge you to let every day be a Friday. Give yourself permission to be happy every day. Not just on the weekends. Not just when you have a special event. Not just when you’re on vacation. If you have the right mind-set, you can be just as happy on Monday as you are on Friday. The Scripture doesn’t say, “Friday is the day the God has made.” It says, “This is the day the God has made” This means Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and every other day of the week. You can be happy even when it’s raining, when you have to work late, or when you have to do the dishes.Why don’t you make up your mind to be happy every day?

 

You’ve heard the saying “TGIF. Thank God it’s Friday.” For you and me it also should be, “TGIM. Thank God it’s Monday.” “TGIW. Thank God it’s Wednesday.” “TGIS. Thank God it’s Sunday.” Another study said there are more heart attacks on Monday than on any other day. So many people just decide that Monday is a stressed-out day. They suffer the Monday morning blues. When you wake up on Monday morning, don’t accept those negative thoughts that come knocking on your door, saying, It will be a hard day and a long week. Traffic will be bad. I have so much work to do. I just need to make it through the Monday morning blues.

 

Don’t buy into those thoughts. Instead, say, “Thanks, but no thanks. I’ve already answered the door and almighty God, the Creator of the universe, has sent me a hand delivery of joy. I know this will be a great day!”Decide that for you, there are no Monday morning blues. Instead,choose the Monday morning dos by saying, “I do have a smile. I do have joy. I do have God’s favor. I do have victory.”

 

Yes, I know some days are more difficult than others. But if you program your mind in a positive way, you won’t have to drag through certain days just hoping to get to Friday so you can finally enjoy life. Faith is always in the present. Your attitude should be: I’m excited to be alive at this moment. I’m excited to be breathing today. I’m excited about my family, my health, and my opportunities. I have plenty of reasons to be happy right now.

 

Let's remember this Friday that it’s not what happens to you or what you have or don’t have that is important; it’s how your mind is arranged and the choices you make to live, to be happy and to say Thank God no matter what day it is.

 

Shabbat Shalom :-)

Idea of Happiness.

I love Van She's song "The idea of Happiness" but whenever I listen to it I am always finding myself pondering what I consider to be my "idea of happiness." These thoughts consume my mind until I have lost all meaning of what happiness means to me. This idea of happiness has become an overused term in our society although it can be found in a variety of different things, places, people and thoughts. What makes one person happy, is and will be different to the next. Throughout the years I have seemed to struggle and am always being contested with what is ultimately going to make me most happy in life.

When I used to think what would be my idea of happiness certain images came to mind. I thought of having a massive walk-in wardrobe in the best house, the latest bag, a high powered job in Sydney and ultimately that would make up my happiness. When I have finally achieved all these things, I would be happy. Right? Wrong. I don't have a job, I don't have a walk-in wardrobe, I don't have any of those things but I am still wondering should I still want that? Should I want all those things because that's what we're supposed to want out of life isn't it? Should that still be my idea of happiness? So many people base their life around these material possessions that I am left to think that our possessions are what shapes us and defines our emotions.

Having recently got back from travelling the world my mind is open to the simple things in life. Having no plan and no real place to go was a foreign and unknown place for me.  I hated not having a plan, not knowing what I was going to do next with my life but this has pushed me into transforming and really shaping my new concept of happiness. I saw some of the poorest people, in the poorest countries, struggling to work all year, with nothing to their name but their family and the place they live, yet they were some of the happiest people I have ever met. I realised that this life isn't about having all those material possessions, it's not all about what job you have and if you're the best at what you do. Life needs to be enjoyed and expressed in it's simplest form.

One of these simple pleasures is love. Love can make you feel on top of the world, it makes you feel whole and wanted and loved and needed. When you've found the right kind of love it won't become old and tiring like your once new handbag will. You don't have to upgrade it every six months or sell it on ebay so you can afford whatever has become better than that. A deep love is an eternal love. My whole vision and idea of happiness changed when I discovered how fulfilling it can be to have someone that you can relate too and enjoy. Doing nothing is a new pleasure. But I do understand that your life can't be fulfilled though just love alone, to some extent we all need to want to exceed and do better and be better in what we do, this makes us human after all.

But I have now realised that I can't get sucked in to the conventional way of thinking what happiness is. That's what I used to do and it just made me unsettled with the amazing things that I had in life at the time. I looked past everything that was amazing now so I could live in what I could have instead of what I already have. So once in a while look outside, look around at the things, the people and the beauty around you. De-clutter your life, get rid of all the material possessions that clutter your thoughts and live with life's basics, be happy with you, now. And don't get me wrong, you can buy things that make you happy. I am so happy when I purchase a new bag or high heels but it is a short lived happiness, one that disappears after that first wear. It's not an eternal happiness that burns deep down inside you, making you feel alive. That feeling you can only get when you're truly satisfied at who you are and who you've become and realise that all those "things" don't define you, can't shape your happiness and really just don't matter.

Live simply. Live your life the way that makes you happy, because the best things in life are free.

Find happiness in creativity.

Find happiness in summer fruits.

Find happiness in daisies.

Change is inevitable....

We all know that change inevitable and that it happens with our consent or without but I am starting to see that not only do we fear change but we also crave it.  When it's hot outside we complain that it's too hot and we can't wait for the change to come (unless you live in Melbourne).  When it's cold outside we too complain that "It's too cold" and we wish it would be hot again.  When we are brunette we want a 'change'.  When we outgrow a style we want something new and then that new also becomes old and again we crave for a change.   I have to wonder whether us humans just don't know what we want or do we seek to find the in-between state where all is perfect and we will never complain again. Ummmmm that won't happen!

 

Recently the weather has gone from hot to cool and honestly I welcome the change because I love the seasons, I love that I can wear a summer dress today and a leather jacket tomorrow. I love that today is different from tomorrow but having grown up in Melbourne some consistency for a week at least would be lovely. 

 

I believe that the environments we are placed into, the countries we are born into are simply there for us to find our way.  To make a change that is based on what we feel is right for us.  I often read the Abraham teachings which tell us that we are constantly seeking out what we want from being born into an environment of great contrast so that we can see what we do not want and clearly define what we do!  To me that is so empowering, the teachings tell us that only from a place of seeing what we don't like in all areas of our life that we can define and refine and really come to know what we are, who we are and what we stand for.

 

For some change is uncomfortable and for others their lives are one adventures after another yet what I have noticed is that we all crave change, probably why we go on vacation and then come back to our familiar and comfortable life at home.  We need familiarity just as much as we crave for the weather or our lives to change and be different from what they currently are.  The question is how do we embrace both aspects and both needs that sometimes pull us apart.

 

Do we take a holiday every few months to a new and exotic destination or do we look at our full lives and see what we may have always wanted to try but never have. Learn to fly, a plane that is, like Angelina Jolie.... Take dancing classes at night to satisfy our inner diva or maybe even take a surfing class and learn to fall and learn that no matter what you can still get back on the board, paddle out and catch another wave.  There really is no "right" answer and we must all simply explore the depths of our hearts to discover what will light us up and provide us with the change we crave yet with the stability and adventure that we also need to feel alive.

 

So for today my adventure is keeping up with the wind and the cool breeze, giving me the chance to rug up, stay warm, wear my leather jacket and I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.....Oh life is such an adventure and I don't even need to leave the country.



Charity begins at home....in St Kilda

 

There are some people who are pioneers, they are willing to give life a go and to do something great with their time and resources.  I recently came across an article about a man who has shaped his Community and has grown from a tiny vegetarian restaurant to become a thriving business that gives, shares.  A business not built on the model that many of us are used to and it is this young man that was called a pot smoking hippy and a crazy man yet what most didn't see was his big heart and desire to make this world a better place. 

What he built was a restaurant that started out in Blessington Street St Kilda where I used to frequently visit called Lentil as Anything and at the time the many people around him thought that it should have been called "Mental" as Anything instead. Little did I know that this young man that I met 13 years ago and whose meals I used to eat weekly would become an inspiration to many.

Shanaka Fernando is a revolutionary. For many years he has been well known in Melbourne, Australia, as the pioneer of the pay-as-you-feel vegetarian restaurants.  This humble man leads a simple, modest life as he continues to inspire and challenge perhaps millions as he advocates an inclusive, ethical approach to business and life, and a belief in the innate goodness and generosity of his fellow man.

His socially responsible Lentil As Anything restaurants feed thousands every week, and set an example for other restaurants and businesses to follow – an example which illustrates what an inclusive, ethical approach to business, and life, can achieve. In his restaurants it is people that qualify life, not property. ‘You get fed and treated with dignity even if you don’t have any money, and the colour of your skin and your education and your beliefs only put you on a par with everyone else.’

Shanaka is a modern day folk hero, offering an alternative, a new way of living that is not based on consumerism, profit or greed.  He was named Australia’s Local Hero in the Australian of the Year Awards and was a guest judge on MasterChef alongside the Dalai Lama.

It just goes to show that you should always follow your heart and never let others tell you what is right or possible.  We all have a purpose and with our unique talents and our way of being a channel for what the creator has brought us here to do, we CAN change the world and be joyful that we are doing something great for others and ourselves.

And as the famous Gandhi saying goes "Be the change you want to see in the World"....