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Hope Grows Our Spirituality

Hope is what keeps us motivated in any situation that well… seems hopeless. And in hopeful or hope-filled moods, we grow our spirituality… that opposes the outward feelings we have.

This article is about changing your moods back to hope and happy ones where you started and how you find your H.O.P.E…

First of all, our lives are rigged in our favor: we are meant to be blessed.

Often what is unfavorably happening to us in our situations is actually meant to help us in some way.

Finding what that is helps you.

Resetting and looking at your blessed life, as not what it once was peppered with past problems bypasses today’s sour moods.

Your life has grown better.

…And it’s meant to grow even better!

Better requires more experience and to be prepared for what’s ahead so we don’t fall flat on our faces. Challenges are healthy to keep us on the course!

Staying on course helps bring us back to our hope.

No matter the situation (favorable or not), as birthright we are called to hope in our situations if we want to prosper… (even when the stars aren’t exactly aligned 🌠).

You can always find a silver lining in the clouds if you want to. Because you were lucky enough to be born that will transcend this life if you believe.

And that’s where the rubber meets the road… 🛞

That’s the difference between your former younger self and who you are today, more mature in beliefs.

Today, you get to do so much more.

The former problems you had before are no longer in your life.

You have other replaced or new situations that ultimately have created a better life for you.

…Life that maybe is not the way you planned in your mind, but is good when you look back and see the golden nuggets.

Those misalignments helped you out in some way.

And your future will be even better because of these re-routes when you keep your moods from souring your day… or you pause from knee-jerk reactions you once would’ve made and regretted.

Today’s Situations

And today you have situations you are waiting on to pan out.

That’s this life in a nutshell… otherwise, you’d stop trying for your best life if things were so easy and you wanted nothing.

Well, when you put it that way. 💭

I realized from taking a sabbatical year-off years ago that not having a work schedule or consistent daily purpose is a double-edge sword.

Sleep and physical health nursed and healed me back to life  but then gradually a new stress grew from the mental stress (of not having a purpose).

And that eventually became stress on the body in the mind-body connection. As a result, waking up at 3 am every night was enough of a wake-up call for me.

…I also found I didn’t have the same exciting stuff to talk about with friends… I was basically just tagging along to their happenings. And I wasn’t quick on my toes in responses like I had been.

So I plugged back into my optimal life. 🔌

That break was enough for me to believe anti-retirement is the best way… ALWAYS.

We are happiest when we’re sharing about what’s happening in our lives and not living in the shadows of others.

Plus, life is too short to watch life go by.

And even if you’re waiting for a few situations to manifest,  you can be an active participant making impact on other areas of your (and others’ lives) that’s not like throwing spaghetti at the wall. 🍝

…You’re actually building something for the future that takes time to build with your gifts and talents.

That’s a good plan if the timing isn’t there yet for what you know or have an inkling will be, and that you’re hoping for most. Take heart. ❤️

And when your doubtful mind takes over your knowing mind, get outside.

Signs of hope can be found daily around us… like the hope reminders below to remind us to Have Open Peace Everyday.

And these flowers don’t need hope. They just bloom for our enjoyment and appreciation.

Hope can be found in flowers like these peonies that bloom every May.

Earth laughs in flowers.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

We can rely on hope symbols like flowers on earth to find our inner peace (and distract our unproductive mind).

Dialing down our moods and loud thoughts is a healthy habit that we do as smart adults that used to get tossed to and from by our thoughts.

If we lean into hope and conviction in our beliefs, then we won’t fall when we’re in battle with our minds and moods.

Or else we’re back to Square One, tossed around like the daily wind that causes waves 🌊

So if we solidly know at our core what we believe, then we can withstand the tests.

…And if you’re a natural Vata body like I am, you and I need no more wind!

The stronger we make our beliefs for our best life, the stronger we are… and can lasso the moon that has the dreams we want. 🌙

Our belief grows with faith that our dreams  will come to pass even when we see no evidence at all.

…Like flowers that haven’t bloomed but we know one day will in ripe season. 🌻

Having firm beliefs and hope inside us keeps us going.

When we listen to our gut whispers, heart feelings, or what is promised to us that we’re aware of, then we are aligned with hope planted in our heart. 🪴

Our heart dreams will come to pass.

These are gentle impressions that only we ultimately know that arrive as passing thoughts and desires.

And yet our hope is that it will happen in our future. And if it doesn’t now or within a foreseeable timeframe, then we can re-route our way of thinking today to a new plan.

There’s only good in looking at hope for our productive life.

And if our flesh feelings or thoughts make us feel hopeless (that’s part of our human moody make up), our job or better way is to find our way back to hope (and NOT give up).

We can focus on the good things and progress that have happened as a result of or despite our situation, or what has happened.

That keeps us hopeful and chin up.

And then in better spirits, we can keep on moving, so that good things continue to happen and grow.

…Focusing on areas that are productive and peaceful in our lives.

H.O.P.E. today so that you keep building what is meant for you (and will actually last when it’s ready)…

Here’s what each letter stands for:

HHave resilience. When we get certain about what we want in life, we don’t give up easily. And we don’t let others define what our success looks like.

We walk away from our lesser situations that somehow we ended up in (or with) 😱, and we honor ourselves as the only ones we can control.

If we fall weak to a moment of feeling hopeless, we shake it off.

…we can use our stronger motivation to NOT GIVE UP.

For me, that’s looking for answers or doing research, both internal and external. They are proactive and that keeps the wheels going. 🛞

That always provides a new avenue.

It may not be the exact right one, but just by doing something positive, my mood shifts to better and I discover something new… ingredients in food at the grocery store or a new activity that stretches me.

So we commit to do whatever it takes to have our mind and bodies get with our better life program. That’s healthy stress we can challenge ourselves with! 💪

If our goal is to be 100% successful in our unique life however we define those areas, then finding out how we dodge our moods is going to be the game changer. That’s where Ayurveda for restoring moods can help.

…So often it’s not about the number of hours in the day. We all find enough hours to do what we’re excited, motivated or dedicated to.

It’s that we feel defeated in some way.

And if our moods are down, then we spend those hours on the couch binge-watching shows or procrastinating longer and longer.

It was never about the number of hours available.

How we communicate with ourselves (self-talk) and with others will set the tone for our lives.

And if we unknowingly encourage others to keep doing the same unwanted behaviors, then we’re setting ourselves up for more of the same frustration. Where are we unintentionally rewarding others for bad behavior we don’t want repeated? 

OOurselves is where we can find hope.

Self-sabotage in some way is often where we get stuck.

…When we get out of our own way, then our moods lift.

Getting ourselves aligned to do and think the right and better things, set us up for success.

If your situations don’t look like what you thought you wanted, figure out what you need to do to get back on the path you got off of. What were you last doing when things changed?

…Maybe you’re a little burnt out. Striking a better balance between real life vs virtual digital world could be called for.

Also, be committed to consistency (showing up), and find daily inspiration to stay the course as part of the balance.

Dig deep for answers that are already inside you waiting to emerge if they can get past your moods. 🪷

Then, hope flowers bloom again.

And tapping into hope grows spirituality.

If you take whatever your initial mind-body serves up, you’ll fall for all the irritated triggers du jour.

But when you decide on your better ways despite the bendy course you fall in, then you stay faithful to what you know will be without losing your joy that helps your hope.

P – Prioritize quiet time to your life as life unfolds. What is your mind doing when it’s not going a gazillion miles a minute or sleeping?

There is something stressful in play or as an undercurrent running in your mind if you pay attention… it’s the theme of the week or season.

If you were to sit on a bench or yoga mat quietly and scan your thoughts as they come in, you can intercept the moods and find better answers to your life now.

Prioritizing a shift to your peace mode and letting things go lets the Universe work things out on your behalf.

Your problems mysteriously work themselves out.

But if you let your ego intercept, that boxes in your possibilities because you’ve taken aggressive action.

Your ego doesn’t want your success or peace.

The ego wants you safe from anything new or questionable.

It will trick your perceptions and even attach unfactual information so it can keep running your show.

There’s no hope in ego drama.

EEgo-free living is the way back to hope.

Your ego will make its way back in without prompting and avoiding ego every time will produce your hopeful results that have a lasting chance.

In metro culture we’re not taught “to be”like a monk.

So finding a daily way to honor your ego without turning it on is a way to grow more aware.

When you do get quiet, you can hear nature outside or building equipment running inside. That’s when you can hear the silence of the ego.

You can observe thoughts.

And for romantics who watch the Hallmark channel, your ego calms because the movie ending is predictable. The girl ends up with the guy. But the plot circumstances are different and the drama in between is what’s going on as life is in play.

What usually makes the difference is that each character pauses or is confronted to take a look at their life and what’s important. And it always points to love.

Love is hope and the opposite of ego-living. And ego-free living helps grow our spirituality. 🧡

To your ego-free week! 😊

Silver Linings Joy + Sourdough Brioche

Silver linings is where you can find your joy. This blog article is all about that.  You may remember the Silver Linings Playbook movie that came out after Julie and Julia that not only happened around my first blog and inspired this blog and this cranberry sourdough recipe. Sourdough and tart cranberries are a divine pairing.

Dreamy tart sourdough brioche inspired dessert is the new pound cake. The sour tart fermented cranberry taste is good for Vatas! 🧘🏻‍♀️

And nothing better than cake bread (aka brioche) that gives you the best of both worlds. This one is inspired by a Baking with Julia cookbook. Sourdough can be added to breads, pancakes, and any bakes. It can be sweet and not just sour.

 

Print Recipe

sourdough cranberry brioche.
Print

Sourdough Cranberry Brioche (Bread or Cake)

Course Side Dish
Cuisine American
Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

  • Sourdough starter
  • Frozen or fresh cranberries
  • Baking powder and baking soda for cake

Instructions

  • For bread, you can use the proofed starter as the leavening agent. For cake add baking powder and baking soda (or an acid like lemon juice or apple cider vinegar). These are for easy weekend bread cake that you can enjoy.
  • Add sourdough starter to flour of choice (all purpose flour works best but for healthy you can use gluten-free flour, almond flour, and/or a mix of flours).
  • Add fresh or drained frozen cranberries.
  • Add additional flavors such as nuts, bananas, chocolate chip swirl if you desire. Think of the flavors you like to add to pancakes. Blueberries would be healthy divine too!
  • Bake as you would for golden brown cakey-bread.

And if your current situation or circumstances aren’t ideal, or you’re not at a point in your life to feel happy (or may apply to someone you know), you can still confidently get daily joy that is better than happiness…

Because joy is constant and reliable. Happiness is not. It’s black and white.

Joy is guaranteed when you know what lens to look out from. It’s about YOU and your self-development.

And relying on joy can help you wean away from happiness that we learned at a young age to strive for. Back then, even all the board games like Chutes and Ladders, Candy Land, and the Game of Life were setups for winning as happiness. When someone wins, another loses.

Those myths hurt the development of our lives. I know before I had work-life balance I could not find the joy.

 The problem with continuing to believe happiness is dependent on outcomes and situations is that when there is a let-down disappointment, our ego is crushed. And that can create sadness and a roller coaster of emotions.

That’s where joy and happiness can be at extreme odds…

They’re not interchangeable emotions. They have completely different meanings. And for children, joy is not yet a concept that can be grasped.

Having experienced both sides of the coin, I know Happiness is fickle. It’s a feeling that’s as reliable as the wind. The ego in any of us can trick and spin the truth to make us believe what we think we want that’s not the best for us.

The problem isn’t the once-in-a-while ego meter going up, it’s the person who’s drowning in egoism who never looked in the mirror to see who they became. And that hurts them the most.

They’re lonely and sad under the hood, and bitter about certain topics because they didn’t take the effort to self-develop and be self-aware. They don’t see what the world sees about them that hurts relationships. It’s an individual choice to live an abundant life or a limiting one.

And when the ego is running healthy, it keeps us fully living, productive and protects us a little from getting hurt in the world.

Getting your what-is-true barometer on is healthy.

And as part of being true, that’s how I learned happiness feelings never last. It’s always temporary…

Yesterday’s memories fade. Tomorrow always has some uncertainty for all of us. So then what’s left is today.

What we do today is all that matters. If we focus on the past, that builds up our unhealthy ego where the pain is.  A book I always recommend on this is The Power of Now (by Eckart Tolle).

Staying past or future-focused can egg on our unhealthy ego especially if it lands in our selfish behaviors that end up hurting other people.

So when you look at the flip side and the good easter egg side of things of today, then you’re on the better JOY track. The feelings of Easter celebration can be lived out daily, year-round! 🐣

Sometimes it takes external happenings and stimuli… to light up any one of our 5 senses… to get the internal sommersault mind-body feelings… to then turn the salty tide in our day or weekend… but that’s all healthy compared to the alternative.

Then when you’re back to your healthy self, you have the opportunity to catch on in observation and awareness to how joy works for you…

Another way is to mindfully focus on the silver linings of your situation. A positive outlook can get you through quicker. And through is the fastest way.

Letting go of how things will shake out is letting go of the ego that wants to be in control of everything good and bad. I know from experience because that was one of the lessons that took me the longest to learn. And I’m glad I went through.

I did so with time. Gradually, I could see why what I wanted initially for some things got re-routed and turned out better in the end and on the other side of the process.

You don’t usually see it right away, but give it enough time, years, and decades, and it’ll become apparent. 🌈

That’s where wisdom is that outwits ego and what looks good on the outside.

In wisdom, if you’ve ever been shielded from a situation only to learn that had you been part of it, your life would have been impacted and lessened, then those gratitude moments in the silver linings can help you to see that life is on your side… and has been all along.

Believe that doors shut are silver linings for a better future you can’t see today. It’s easier if you believe that what happens is meant to be. And find out how you can use your current situations (and not the someday dreams) to be healthy, improve yourself, and do good in the world.

Not dwelling on self-pity avoids letting the ego have a field day with negative thoughts. It works the same with gossip…

Gossip is the optimized ego doing the negative talking. So if you want to practice quieting the ego, step out of those partisan conversations to quiet the mind.

And if you practice more daily joy and gratitude instead, then you can better discover the healthy ways. Sounds pretty easy, but most people (…maybe besides you and me 😊), don’t try to help themselves and their day because it requires change.

…But for anyone who’s trying and wanting to know how to (and maybe desperately) get more joy, they could start with asking: what brings simple joy to me, like a simple but effective cup of tea or a nature walk? That’s easy stuff.

And then in joy overflow (or tea in hand 🍵) gradually move towards reflecting on what their (or your) life is becoming as a subtle reflection of who they (or you) are becoming.

It takes seeing how the fruit in their life is growing today (and not living off the memories of the past).

The daily fruits are ones we can measure and witness. And we can help grow these from the internal fruits of the spirit or fruits of growing character that we’ve gathered.

“Character is power.” -Booker T. Washington

And anytime someone feels stuck, they can always open up to the miraculous Universe that’s always ready to listen, unlike our human being species. And reaching higher out can help build internal fruit to produce more external fruit. 🪐

Know What Brings You Joy and Calm

So when you know how to activate the skill of daily joy feelings without fail, that’s something you can pull out of your back pocket anytime you need to for instant day improvement.

When I have joy I know because I sing along with songs playing 🎶or else I listen to certain songs to create the joy. Or I’m in Dancer yoga pose.

Which btw, if you’re feeling joy, you’re also feeling calm.

Calm lets you be present enough to find joy.

The opposite is worry or anxiety, anger, or even excited nervousness.

Calming down first and not being preoccupied with emotional turbulence allows you to tap into your joy which takes mindfulness and active present state participation.

Hearing the sweet sounds of your surroundings, such as birds chirping, palm trees swaying, and soft ocean breezes could be indicators of your present state (and part of the silver linings in earthly living).

For someone who doesn’t have calm and inner peace, the external sounds of constant dogs barking, babies crying, or motorcycles roaring, can be disturbing and perceived as extra loud. For someone who’s in a state of peace, those sounds represent life and are less affected. Just something to consider. And when you have your calm that can help produce more joy.

…And that’s what I had to share this week. But I didn’t want to leave you on a sour note♩…  I baked sweet pancakes with tart cranberries 😊.

Btw, if you want to see more of my healthy food photos and created daily inspirational images, you can always follow me on my Pinterest channel.