Blog
Five Ways to be Mindful
What does being mindful mean to you? For most of the people I have talked to, they think of meditation. That is only part of it. Below I want to share five of the ways I have found that works for me and my clients. I would to hear your feedback on whether any (or all) have worked for you. You do not need a lot of time for these:
![[CooL GuY] {{a2zRG}}](https://i0.wp.com/mistymthompson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Nature-3061090193-1514091669847.jpg?resize=1086%2C679&ssl=1)
- Create a Morning Routine: When you wake up, take the time for deep breathing. In through your nose for the count of 4, hold for the count of 4 while visualizing this clean air working through your body, then exhale for the count of 4. Notice the quietness and the sunlight creeping through the blinds. Stretch your body to your comfort level. Now you are ready to get out of bed to start your day. This may take 10-15 minutes.
- Be Present: Notice what is going on around you. Engage all of your senses, whether you are walking, driving, or riding a bicycle. Take in all the beauty around you. The trees, sky, people walking, and grass. It is life moving along. If you are not paying attention, you may miss out on a great opportunity.
- Eating with Purpose: Instead of just eating because the food is just there, take the time to savor your meal while chewing at least 30 times. That is a difficult one for me but I am working on that one. You will be satisfied if you bring in all of your senses while you are mindfully eating with a purpose.
- Be Kind: When you are kind, you are being mindful. This involves being present to the other persons needs or concerns while being kind about it. This means that you must release any expectations that you may have. Do not even expect a thank you..that is still a condition of your kindness. Most people will be gracious and so this is your opportunity to be kind again. Telling them “you’re welcome” allows them to give you some kindness back. Accept the thank you graciously with a warm smile. Saying anything to the affect of (no problem, no worries, it is ok), you are downplaying their kindness.
- Journaling (Writing): There is something so therapeutic about writing all of the random thoughts that are coming from my head, Sometimes they make sense and sometimes not, but being mindful in your writing meaning being mindful and aware of what your soul is trying to tell you through your writing is the key. No judging or analyzing.
All of these tips are not only ways to be mindful, but these tips will help your health by reducing stress, lowering blood pressure, releasing muscle tension, and overall feeling better just to name a few.
These are just some of the tips and tricks we will be talking about during my course, “The Mindful Experience: Balancing the Peace Within Your Mind, Body, and Spirit. This course will help you find simple ways to bring mindfulness into your day.
Click on the picture below to learn more. HURRY!!! Registration ends this Sunday!!
There is also a free meditation available and intention cards affiliated with this course to help you get started on daily intentions.
Click on the link below for your FREE meditation:
Click on the picture below for more information on the Intention Cards:
How to Create Amazing Opportunities in 3 Life Changing Steps
Being open to great opportunities is something that we all want to attract in our lives. The problem is that we (as humans) tend to control how those opportunities happen, what opportunities will come our way, and when they will show up, As we try and manipulate a particular outcome a couple of things end up happening:
- 1. We end up blocking anything and everything we desire; and
- 2. We end up giving up on the process and begin to step in a “victim” mode.
Neither of these options will help us achieve our goals of attracting opportunities for us. These opportunities can come as a job you are passionate about, financial abundance, or a relationship. Before any of these can happen, you must work on your own self.
I use these three steps to create amazing opportunities for myself:
- BEing Grateful: Gratitude is really important because if you do not appreciate all that you have now, mind is not going to believe that you are deserving. Our True Self knows better, but because of the conditioning society has placed on us and how we were raised, plays a role in us believing such nonsense. It does; however, interfere with us getting what we truly desire. Write in your journal the areas that you are grateful for and why. The more you do this, the more it will come naturally throughout your day.
- BEing Present: Being present ensures that we are aware of all that is happening right here and right now. When we worry about the future we are lacking the trust and faith that all is going to be okay. We cannot guarantee all that we want for the future, but again this is a form of control. Worrying about the future is saying that we do not have control of the outcome we desire. We can; however, control how we want to view the future. It is our choice. Trust, believe and have faith that the future will what it is and choose that no matter what happens, we will know it is for our higher good.
- BE MindFULL: Being mindful takes those two areas and brings it all together. Being mindful is being aware of what you have and being present is being aware of what you could have if you would slow that chatter in your head focus on what is happening right here, right now. Take the time right now to feel your body, listen to the sounds around you, and the messages that you are receiving. Being mindful helps so you do not miss the opportunities. Those that you are desiring. Paying attention to the present moments is when direction comes, whether it is another person, an idea, or a conversation, Being mindful is the key. Being mindful can involve meditation, walking,or even eating. All of these requires you to be mindful.
Starting off with those three areas, will help you attract opportunities based on your desires. Journal those thoughts and feelings that come to you. Do not judge it, embrace it. Know that you can attract amazing opportunities, you deserve it.
To benefit from being mindful and how you can balance your mind, body, & spirit so you can listen to your own inner guidance, attract opportunities, learn healthy habits, appreciate the joy in everyday moments, creating peace in your life and become more observant when it comes to gratitude in your life, sign up for my online course:
Personal Obligations
While meditating this morning, I was guided by my Spirit Team to write about our obligations. I will be discussing not only what is truly our obligations but how to recognize areas that we may feel are our obligations, but really are just situations that we are wanting to manipulate or control.
Our Obligations:
We are obligated to handle certain responsibilities in order to hold ourselves accountable. As children we are responsible for age appropriate responsibilities that will gradually increase in difficulty as we grow older. As adults, we need to take all of the information that we have learned and apply so we can become responsible adults who handle our commitments to the best of our abilities.
It isn’t too early to learn. When I am watching my two-year old grandson, I have him help me with some of my responsibilities, like my laundry. He loves helping me move the clothes from the washer to the dryer. Obligations that mean cleaning our house so we live in a clean environment is pretty self-explanatory, so is keeping ourselves clean. As adults, being the example for our children and grandchildren is also our responsibilities. How are they supposed to learn if we aren’t stepping up to the plate?
Being responsible for ourselves practices for when we are older and have children of our own. We must be able to support ourselves and our children by holding down a job. Again, our actions are great examples to those around us.
Besides those requirements, we must remember that we have free will on whether we are interested in following those basics. We have a choice and to those who may not want live in a responsible way, we must learn to let them make their own choice. Our only concern is whether someone is in danger as a result, such as a child or someone who is unable to defend themselves in a rough situation. At that point, it is our duty to help those who cannot help themselves.
Not our obligation:
Like stated above, we all have free will and we must remember that we all think and believe differently. When someone wants to stay home and chooses not to work, we must honor that as it is not our obligation to decide what someone else should or should not do. As parents to young adults, it is so difficult not to dictate what should or should not be done; however, it is time for them to live their own life and learn from their choices. If we did a good job of setting an example and applying age appropriate responsibilities to our children, we have fulfilled our duty as parents (it really isn’t easy to watch our children make those mistakes, though).
Tolerance for others, especially when the world is really out of control like it is, is imperative. Being responsible for our own self and not judging others for their choices will lead to tolerance. Tolerance will then lead towards respect. Respect will lead towards love. Love will equal peace and that is certainly what we need more of…..LOVE and PEACE. 
Control
When someone does not think or act the way we believe they should, we tend to judge their actions and if we are able, we end up controlling their actions. This is called manipulation and is terribly wrong. Here are a few tips to help you overcome the need to control others:
Be Present: Being present will help you to be aware of what you are saying and acting. Have you driven down the road and really didn’t remember even driving that far? I know I have. If you were present, you would have remembered.
Ask the Angels: Ask the Angels to take care of the person you are thinking of. Imagine a huge blue bubble surrounding the person with the love and knowledge they need to be able to make good choices for themselves.
Also, ask the Angels to help you as well. Help with turning off the judgments and to also surround yourself with a big blue bubble and that you are embraced with the Angel’s love.
Focus on What You are Lacking: The need to control others indicates that you are lacking in someway. Take a hard look at what is going on in your life to work that out. Whether it is meditation, journaling, or going to church, whatever it is that will bring you back to the basics, do. If you aren’t sure, try different things. In addition to the above items, staying distracted on organizational projects around your house may help, exercise like walking or yoga, learning a new course, or reading may help you get back centered into your own concerns.
Writing this blog has reminded me to get back to some of my beliefs and I hope it has given you some ideas to help remind you of your obligations and those that are not your concern.
Below are some links that may be helpful to you.
-
One is a book of meditations called, “111 Morning Meditations: Create Your Day with Intention”. 111 Morning Meditations. The other is the Audio Version of the same book, Audio Version of 111 Morning Meditations.
-
Make a selection of yoga DVD’s, yoga clothing, or yoga accessories at Yoga Outlet. Yoga Outlet.
-
Books that I have read from Amazon that has helped me, and continues to do so. Amazon Books.
-
Of course, if you are interested, I would be happy to see you. To set up an appointment click the link: Book Appointment.
.
Receiving Opportunities
My intention for 2018 was and continues to be to put myself out there. By this, I mean 
that for my business, I am going to start pursuing those opportunities that present themselves to me. I believe that our words and even our thoughts play a part on whether those opportunities begin to manifest.
It is no joke, that once I put that intention out there, so many opportunities began to show itself. I wasn’t specific on what kind of opportunities I was searching for, so note to self, remember to be as specific as possible. Thankfully, it really worked out for me. I believe that it was because of my thoughts. I visualized myself writing for several newspapers and magazines and speaking at different events. The more I said yes to these opportunities, the more they started coming in.
These opportunities came in the form of training. I knew that these training opportunities would definitely lead to something more. I knew that maybe the training I was working towards may not happen; however, I knew that it would lead to something else.
I feel that if you begin to trust, I mean really trust, the higher source will ensure that you will receive the opportunities that you need and are capable of handling, To try this theory for yourself, work on this simple exercise and see for yourself. The key; however, is that you let go and do not try to manipulate or control the outcome. Just see what happens:
- Ask God and his Angels to provide you with an opportunity. Be specific.
- Daily, meditate on this request, ask that you receive a clear sign, one that you will understand.
- Read something inspirational for about 10 minutes.
- After completing the first three steps, next journal. You do not have to think, just write. If you are having trouble getting started, begin writing what you are grateful for. Write what opportunities you are seeking out.
- Be open to receive. Sometimes you may receive guidance or an opportunity that you weren’t expecting. Remember, that may lead to something else in the future.
- Most importantly….Believe!! Believe that it is real, believe that you are worthy, believe that you are capable, believe that you have something to offer the world, and believe that the fear you are experiencing is just your ego trying to protect you.
All of these steps have helped me and I know they will help you too, if you give the process a chance. Once I realized that the fear I was acknowledging was really False Expectations Appearing Real, I decided that I needed to release it.
Releasing these fears will allow the positive opportunities to fill that area that was once infesting your mind, soul, and your body.
Mapping Your Future
While working with several of my clients, the subject of mapping their future has been revealed. it is a reminder that they have the power and the ability to create their own destiny.
This has been quite an inspiration to me. As I converse with them on what this entails, it is a clear reminder to me, that I too need to remember this incredible gift that we as humans can create, if we choose. We must remember that because of our free will, we are able to make our own choices. I regularly see, that instead of making the progress my clients want to make, they are completely shocked when I tell them that they are the ones holding themselves back. It really isn’t any other person sabotaging them at all, like they think. Here are a few tips that I have shared with my clients, that maybe will help you should you be aching to map your own future.
- Take responsibility: Each of us are responsible for our own lives that includes our reactions and our emotions. It is not possible for someone to “make you mad”. You choose that emotion. Realizing that you have a choice to take responsibility for every aspect of your life, is a beginning step to creating your map for the future.
- Learn from the past: Learning from past experiences is imperative. When you ignore red flags and bypass the lessons, your messages can get louder. This can and normally will set you back on your path that can cause frustrations. Eliminate unnecessary difficulties.
- Put yourself out there: Putting yourself out there is like taking an expressway as you get closer to your future opportunities. This is because you have faith and believe in yourself and your future. When you do not have faith, you have fear. Fear is “False Expectations Appearing Real”. When you have fear, you have doubt. You cannot have faith and fear at the same time. It is up to you to take responsibility (see the first bullet point) for the choice that you make. If you are showing fear, do not get upset when your future isn’t being mapped out like you want it to.
- Do the work: The Universe will work with you and for you; however, you do have to do your part as well. Your part is doing the work. Whether that is putting yourself out there, stepping into your power, learning from your past, taking a new job, moving to a new city, learning something new, or changing a bad habit. We must do the work in order for us to move forward on the map of our future.
We create our own future, based on the choices and decisions we make now, in the present moment, so choose wisely.
Five Signs You Are Expanding Your Consciousness
As we step into that next level of expansion, you may begin to experience some of the signs that validates that your consciousness is growing. Growing spiritually and being your best is something that needs to be worked on daily. I personally have my set backs, more than I care to admit; however, I know that I am a work in progress and refuse to beat myself up for those mistakes that I have made. I choose to learn from them and do better in the future.
I visualize my experience like I am at the top of a hill on my beach cruiser bicycle. Pedaling up that hill was rough. My legs are tight and burning from working so hard, I am out of breath, and beads of sweat continue to roll off my brow. Some fall perfectly in my eyes and burn, while others continue to roll down my cheek and either roll off my face or land in my mouth. It is so salty that even after taking a drink of my cold water, I still can taste it.
I have made it to the top of the hill and decide to take a little break. I am not only basking in the warm spring sun, but I am basking in the fact that I have accomplished this great feat. Something I hoped that I would accomplish and I actually have. I am finding that I want to expand and enhance my journey. At this time, though, I would like to take a little break and coast on my path for a little while.
As I am coasting, I am working on applying some of the lessons I learned from the last hill. It is sometimes difficult to remember all I have learned, but I am a work in progress. As I am traveling along, there are definitely speed bumps along the path. Some are warnings that I need to slow down and be more present along my journey, and some are life’s inconveniences that are thrown in for one reason on another. Nonetheless, I handle them without letting them consume me by attaching to my emotions. I must remember that I am not that problem, nor will I allow it to turn me into a victim.
I am now ready to tackle this next hill. I begin climbing the hill but realize that I have to get off and walk my cruiser up the hill. 
I am stronger now and I know a little on what is to be expected. As I continue up I begin to feel out of sorts. Instead of walking along, I feel as though I have stopped unexpectedly and not by choice. I feel that there is a bit of a wind storm and the wind is working to move me backward a few steps. This wind storm ends up really being people and situations that I know no longer serve me, yet I continue to hang on. I also feel that I need and want to be alone, my emotions are up and down but I continue walking up the hill retracing the steps I took before being pushed back by this wind.
I know that I am on the cusp of my next shift of consciousness so I need to keep on. This is the time when I apply what I have recently learned. You know, those A-HA moments. Climbing this hill is my consciousness.
I am sure that you have also experienced a similar time in your life. We all, at some point, have experienced this; however, depending on where you are on your spiritual path will determine where you begin to recognize it. Those who aren’t interested or ready to be more open to that growth may not experience these moments. Wherever you are on your spiritual path is perfect. There isn’t a right or a wrong place. It is all dependent on each individual and what is right or wrong for you.
Those of you who can identify with me, recognize that when you are walking up your next hill and know that when you finally reach the top, you will be able to get back on your bicycle and coast down the hill in a manner that brings you a sense of accomplishment, exhileration, and freedom. Just hang in there while you are climbing up that hill.
For me there are several signs that tell me I am on the cusp of expanding my consciousness. In the past I didn’t understand what was going on, now that I understand it, I embrace these changes. It means that I am continuing on my path. The downside I have realized is that when we know better, we must do better. It is our responsibility to do what is right. Not only for our growth but to shine our light brighter. We must bring light to a dark world and be the example to our children, grandchildren, and those we come into contact with.
I have selected five of the signs that I regularly experience when my consciousness is expanding and I believe these signs will help you assess when you are growing. These include:
- Wanting to be alone. It isn’t uncommon to want to be alone while you are experiencing these changes. Being able to process what is happening is crucial as it is important that you are the one coming to the understanding of what is happening, not necessarily what others are telling you. Overstimulation may be too much for you. I personally have been interested in just driving around by myself in the fresh air away from the television, my phone, and my computer. I love listening to music as that is a way for me to reach a higher vibration at that moment.
- Quieting the mind. I have been pretty consistent with meditating in the mornings. I have noticed that when I haven’t meditated, I have felt a bit “wonky”. It is really a great way to ground and shield yourself in addition to allowing your inner soul to speak. Just being alone in the quiet can do wonders to recharge.
- Feeling more sensitive. You may begin to sense what others are thinking and begin to react to what they are thinking instead of what they are saying. In addition, you may begin to feel the negativity of people and situations. Being a bit more irritable isn’t uncommon as you are working on deciphering all of this that is happening to you and the emotions of those around you. This can mess with you as you may want to cry at the drop of a hat. It is important that you shield and ground yourself to help with the absorption of these emotions that do not belong to you.
- The need to remove toxic people from your life. You may have experienced signs guiding you to release those people in your life that are no longer there to help you on your path. Most of the time they are those individuals who are not supportive of you and what you are wanting in your life. You may begin to feel annoyed or uncomfortable with some of their habits or behaviors that didn’t bother you in the past. It may feel as though you are constantly hitting a brick wall. These are signs that it is time to remove them from your life. The Universe is telling you that you are no longer able to learn from each other and it is time to move on. They are not bad, they just aren’t in line with you on your spiritual path.
- Wanting to change significant areas in your life. You may begin to feel restless in regards to anything and/or everything in your life. You may feel that you need a new job, that you need to move to a new house or city/town. This is because, like toxic people, it is no longer serving you in a positive way. Before making any decisions, really look at what will make you happy.
Here are some resources if you are interested in reading more about our consciousness and the spiritual connection.
Awareness
There has only been 35 days in this new year so far, and I have had so many “A-ha” moments. I know there is going to be more of those “A-ha’s” throughout the year, and it is going to be one of increased learning. During those moments of awareness, there is one thing that continued to show up for me and that was to trust my intuition. You should, too.
We all have parts of our personalities that can rub others the wrong way, but I have learned that an individual’s personality is just a human trait. What is important is the inner truth of an individual. We are all trying to balance our human side and spiritual side and that is what needs to be acknowledged. It is important that I align myself with those individuals who see who I really am. A spirit trapped inside a human body, trying hard to balance the spiritual self with the foreign human side that has an ego and personality, without judgements.
Those I have aligned myself with is so much better than it was three years ago; however, it seems the people I would least expect to have judgments about me are the ones that have the most judgments.
This tells me the following:
- I need to release expectations I put on myself and others.
- I must be compassionate to others. They have their own bumps in the road that they are working through. I will pray that God will help them through their struggles.
- I have judgments around myself and that is why I am being aligned with others who, I feel, are judging me.
- I must remember to always be my true self and trust my intuition. I can learn from others and they will learn from me as well.
Resolutions – Don’t Forget Mindfulness
The new year is here and it is that time when we have those tendencies to start fresh by incorporating new habits to better improve our lives.
Many people will include a variety of resolutions that affect the physical part of our being, eating better and exercising more. As you are working on ways that you would like to create better habits for yourself, whether now in January or 7 months from now how about incorporating mindfulness.
Being mindful can involve several aspects of our being, the mind, the body, and the spirit. When we practice being mindful, we are not multi-tasking like so many of us do several times a day. Even though some of us believe that we are master multitaskers, our brains really aren’t set-up to multitask. Our brains function effectively by monotasking.
What does it mean to be mindful? To different people it may mean a few different things. I interpret mindfulness as being consciously in the present moment, complete awareness of your surroundings, what you are hearing, smelling, and feeling.
I have experienced talking to people on the phone and realized that they were so busy that they had no idea what I had said at all. At the same time, I have been on the other end of that as well, where I was trying to multitask and talk to someone. Since retiring, I am better at that 
but do have to remind myself on occasion. Being mindful is giving your full attention to the task at hand. We think we are saving time by multitasking but in the long run, we really aren’t as we end up making more mistakes.
When you are mindful, you will lose weight, why, because you are fully aware of what you are eating, when you are eating, and you will know when it is time to stop eating by how your body feels. In addition, being mindful allows you to alleviate anxiety which can slow your metabolsim down.
Being mindful will promote healthy benefits. I recently read that that American Psychological Association believes that mindfulness can help to alleviate depression, and pain. People have sworn that being mindful has been extremely benefical against their migraines and panic attacks.
If you believe that you wear that badge of honor because you multitask, then I would like to ask you if having physical stress related symptoms like tight shoulders, migraines, hair loss, ulcers, and/or any other physical ailments a badge of honor?
Next month, I will cover on ways to practice mindfulness.
Goodness Abounds – Spread Kindness by Giving and Receiving
I am fortunate to be a contributing author for the book, “Goodness Abounds – 365 True Stories of Loving Kindness” that was released on November 14th. This book is Volume 4 of the #1 Bestselling 365 Book Series. This book was also a best seller on Amazon.
These stories have been written from over 275 authors and it warms my heart to read all of these s
tories of kindness. Just last week our exterminator was telling my husband, daughter, and me about the kindness he encountered recently on an out of town trip. He had broke down on the interstate and was really surprised when someone actually stopped to help him out. What caught me was that he was “surprised” to receive the help he needed. When I was younger, it was an automatic reaction to help someone who was broke down on the side of the road or to not hesitate to receive any help. There wasn’t any reason to hesitate.
I travel by myself regularly to Tucson and Phoenix and I would be very cautious to not only help someone but to receive help from someone should I break down. Not because of I do not want to offer or receive assistance, but it is a time when you have to be extremely cautious and be safe. It doesn’t mean that you cannot offer kindness and assistance in other ways. When we spread and receive kindness, even small acts, it will spread slowly but it will. That is where it all starts, with us.
Several people that I encounter, whether it is family, friends, clients, or acquaintances, really have no concern with spreading kindness, it is their nature and I love that. What is important for these individuals and the others who give, is to remember to receive kindness. It doesn’t matter how big or small the kindness gesture is but you MUST receive graciously. Be appreciative and thank them for their kindness. Those who do not accept the gesture or down talk the compliment is denying the person the opportunity to give.
When you give kindness, you feel good in your heart that you are able to help someone. When you deny that kindness from someone wanting to help you, you are in fact stealing that joy from the other person. Kindness will not grow and infect others in a joyful and positive way, if you do not accept it. Again, it doesn’t matter how big or small the kindness act is, but imagine the ripple affect you prevented because you did not receive their kindness.
Changing your perspective on the bigger picture will help kindness grow. When you give and receive kindness, you are showing your children (no matter how old they are), grandchildren, and those you encounter, the example to follow. This is what will inevitably ensure that kindness will grow and make the world a better place.
To purchase the book, “Goodness Abounds – 365 True Stories of Loving Kindness”, click on the link below, or go to Amazon.com to purchase from there.
