Mindfulness Archives - Page 2 of 5 - Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Indecisive Traits Keeping You Stuck?

Indecisive traits do keep us stuck. Instead of moving forward or going back, we stay in place.

Indecisiveness is one way to describe how Ayurvedic Vatas act often. This could be new news to you. It was new to me too up ’til 2008 when I learned about Ayurveda. The information in this article can help you learn a new way and so you can take more better risks.

Indecisive moments are found in common daily decisions like choosing to go right or left. — Indecisive – which path will you take?

…That’s when it clicked and made sense as to why I had indecisive and other Vata tendencies.

You can read my back story here about when I went to go get help for my immediate Pitta mind-body symptoms. And I also came out with knowledge and awareness on why certain Vata ways were natural to me. I’m naturally a Vata with some dominant Pitta mind, but like all of us… sometimes tired Kapha kicks up.

…And whether you tend toward uneasy, annoyed, or listlessness it all ties back to your balance.

If you’re wondering if you have Vata traits, this article shares more and how you can benefit from knowing.

Growing up, I always felt hesitant about small decisions. Do I want an orange or crackers? Do I want pink or blue to wear? This could easily be chalked up to the fact that most of us like more than one food or color. …or I’m a female, so being indecisive is typical.

But in reality it’s not about the color, food, or gender. Or even about how you were raised.

It’s about our natural makeup, that’s unisex. We have Ayurvedic orientations called Vata, Pitta, and Kapha inside us. Or wind, fire, and earth if that’s easier to remember. 💨🔥🌎

Earth, Wind, and Fire is already taken. 🥁🎹🎺

Vata is the wind element with some common tell-tale Vata signs.

But keep in mind, we’re often dominant in one or two of those elements in body. And same goes for the mind. Putting those two parts together, you get the mind-body connection that affects so much of our lives and behaviors.

Indecisiveness is one way that’s mostly a mind situation that you can easily pinpoint from an Ayurvedic lens.

When you can do that, you can restore the healthy balance back in awareness to your calm and confident decision-making.

Being decisive all around not only saves time, but leads to better decisions and outcomes.

How Being Vata Indecisive Can Hurt

At the heart, indecision is second guessing your first decision that comes from gut instinct and clear minded processing. So in a way, being Vata indecisive is being confronted with a brain fog moment.

Indecision can lead to worry that Vatas lean into already. And that state of mind can lead to staying stuck in a cycle of unproductive thoughts playing as an undercurrent in the back of your mind. 🌊That’s added stress that doesn’t need to be there.

Feeling anxiety also can cause indecision as body symptoms make it more difficult to clearly process thoughts.

Vice versa, indecision can lead to anxiety (that’s another common Vata trait).

Depending on the body symptom severity, anxious feelings lead to poor decisions and outcomes.

It numbs awareness of what is real.

And making matters worse, that pause can linger and keep you frozen from making a decision or in “fight or flight” that can cost.

For small things like daily preferences, that’s not such a big deal… but if it’s deciding on taking a right or left or making a quick life threatening decision, that can be concern- elevated.

Vata indecisive traits can compound into feeling uncertain about other areas in your day when those moments could be better spent enjoying yourself or even better… being in the moment in peace and mindfulness.

That’s when stress melts away for whatever is in your life eating at you. Those anxious feelings are traded in for feeling calm and joyful.

That’s the ticket for your healthy and happy life. 🎟️

And that can be your norm or new norm! I know because my life did a 180-turn from stress to peace when I got rid of the triggers. I became self-employed.

And I became more clear-headed… more like a human and less walking around like a busy Bot. There are too many of those already roaming our internet spaces.

How to Get Back To Your Vata Mind Balance

And in learning from my balanced seasons where I could disconnect and detox, I’m more decisive.

I’m my balanced Vata (the way that is naturally greater and my optimal best) 🧘🏻‍♀️

I don’t teeter back and forth. I can catch myself in the act of hemming and hawing and doing what I know to do to restore any Vata imbalance that tries to creep back in.

It’s not difficult or unnatural. It’s simply being intentional daily doing the specific balanced steps that turn the tide around for a better life. 👣

No one is doomed to the “I’m just indecisive” label. That’s putting a stamp of acceptance that’s not the way it has to be or stay.

And you can start by doing these two balanced healthy steps:

1) Get self-awareness in the moment so you can be next step-intentional.

2) Then, breathe the calm back into your mind-body as soon as you can so you can feel the calm pause in the next moments.

Finding ways to have a calmer life, I believe is underrated. And not what Western culture aims for although we’ve wised up post-2020.

As mentioned, calm allows for clearer, confident decisions.

Calm is also better for your healthy outcomes.

But if you don’t have that life now because of situational triggers you can’t avoid, then restoring daily when you can with what you do have as calming resources will be the next best way.

Use your surroundings: calming activities and scents, music, yoga, and a nature walk.

Do this daily and often.

They’re not time wasters. It’s like taking care of your teeth. It’s always minutes well spent investing in your daily smile. 😁

If you feel you’re daily Vata indecisive for what to do (such as jumping from task to task), get back to your breathing awareness.

We often forget, yet another Vata common trait. Not picking on Vatas as we’re a creative, enthusiastic bunch… but in your remembering moment (or in the slight gap pause), recall there is calm balance and no anxiety.

Let the weight of the world you live in go by letting all that out in deep inhale and exhale breaths. That’s an activity you can do anywhere, anytime… and wise to do all the time.

Set a reminder if that helps. ⌚️

And when you do your breathing exercise, you’re able to work your way out slowly in the gap or one moment at a time.

And this date recipe that you can make for your daily self 😊 can help restore your Vata especially if you add the orange and cinnamon tastes.

Print Recipe

Low-Sugar Date Cookies

You can make these ahead of time and in any oven including an apartment oven. And enjoy.

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

coconut flour and plain flour combined
a few pats of butter (or coconut oil)
chopped dates
water as needed
orange zest and cinnamon (optional)

Instructions

Prepare and chop dates filling. Tip: since dates are sticky, it's easier to use a serated chopping knife with edges. Add cinnamon and orange zest if you'd like more Vata sweetness.
Mix cookie ingredients: flour, butter or oil, and water as needed to make a cohesive cookie dough disc. You can make this in advance and freeze the dough if you like.
When dough is slightly cooler than room temperature is the ideal temperature to work with this dough. Roll out cookie dough to about 1/4 to 1/8 inch thick (doesn't have to be too thin).
Add date filling to center of dough.
Roll up and cut into small, even pieces.
Bake on 350°F for about 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Yoga Wheel Pose For Removing Mental Blocks

Some larger-than-us life wheels are metaphors for us to gain balance in the slow motion! 🎡

You can use Wheel Pose to learn how to gain confidence in your life. Too often we overthink and get inside our heads. Like in Bird of Paradise Pose that can also be challenging…

When our gut instinct and initial thought is often the one we should follow. This is different than a knee-jerk reaction which is based on removing immediate pain and often based in fear or insecurity.

You know the difference because knee-jerk usually causes some pain backlash.

Sometimes we react defensively because we’re hurt, we haven’t processed fully what is hurled our way, or we’re too busy to think through what aftermath our words and actions will cause.

Afterall, we’re busy and have many areas of life that we try to balance in our life wheel: work, relationships, family, health, fitness, spiritual, and finances.

All can be sources of joy when good. Or become a worrisome disturbance that can cause turmoil unbalance, tipping the scale toward what’s heaviest.

In those moments you can use Wheel Pose to be a metaphor for restoring your balance.

It won’t mend your problems, but getting in the yoga pose will give you some encouraging moments and feelings that bring back a smile and some confidence. And help you with mental blocks, being in the moment.

That’s how I feel when I’m making my whole healthy pizzas 🍕 with a whole lotta peace in the pieces.✌️There’s a hole in whole but not in this one!

Shrimp on the barbie with artichokes and homemade barbecue sauce for a new kind of pie

And whatever daily inspires you, here’s how to get in Wheel Pose…

We can find it difficult to get our body off the ground if we’re not used to the yoga pose. That can be a metaphor for anything we are hesitant to try because it’s challenging (and our wintery Kapha minds want us to do the easy and our Kapha bodies like the lazy pose 🧘🏻‍♀️).

And that can keep us away from moving forward or succeeding in our victories. But we don’t have to live that way!

We can cooperate with our Kapha mind-body tendencies. I get it… life is hard enough, our wheels grow, and everything needs a sliver piece on the balanced Wheel of Life.

So to give ourselves an instant helping hand, we can take a known alternate route where the easier path gets us halfway there without effort…

You will still reap great health benefits from Wheel Pose.

The first step is: start by sitting on your bum instead of laying on your back.

Lazy or not, then you’re almost halfway there.

In yoga, we’re often laying on our backs or fronts like on a massage table or when we try to catch a tan on the beach. We forget that seated is another starting position. It’s the one we’re in when we’re driving forward. 🛞

But this easier way starts in a relaxed seat position. Your legs bent with knees up help. You’ll still catch the rays of the Wheel Pose!

Hands on the mat beside you, then you position your fingers and wrists toward your feet (or the opposite direction they normally would face if you were lounging on a beach towel on the beach).

Then use your arm strength to lift yourself off the mat.

When you get comfortable and know how it feels to be in baby Wheel Pose, then you use that confidence of having been-there-done-that to challenge yourself to the full proper Wheel Pose where you peel your entire back and body off the mat when you’re ready.

Now we’re talking!… Then you’re in your merry-go-round feeling Wheel.

You’ll be stronger afterward and have forgotten about your real life at least for a few moments.

Remember to breathe in to take in the moments that feel slow motion in the process (like on a carousel).

Removing Mind Blocks

And in the slower moments, you find balance and can remind yourself that everything is possible, and you’re capable if you get out of your own way.

Often, we can’t get past our mind blocks until we can see glimpses of the other side to believe our way through.

So, round and round we go. Our ego blocks us from seeing what could be ours.

But, we can get off the repeating mind carousel and help ourselves by letting go of what was.

Then when you show and tell yourself you can do a new way from a healthy perspective, you overcome the block. You get a new breakthrough on the carousel that helps your life wheel balance.

And if that isn’t enough to push you over the almost-there hump (you’re so close!), look at others who have gone before you in those areas and defied the odds.

They’ve given Wheel Pose its name. And you can invent your Wheel of Life version.

Life is cheering you on. Give it a spin! 🤸🏻

Mountain Pose Yoga Journey For Kapha Stimulation

Mountain pose yoga is a great way to get you into your daily groove in more ways than one.

Mountain steps are often uneven like these where you can practice your mountain pose yoga at the mountain top. — This is a 340 natural mountain step challenge 🎉

Mountain Pose for starters can be a morning pose to wake up your body. You can do wherever you have a floor or ground to stand on.

Standing tall with hands in the air helps additional blood circulation and Ayurvedic Kapha stimulation especially when you’re in a tired season (that can rob any imbalanced Kapha mind-body of excited feelings).

This article is about how to use Mountain Pose yoga this season, both in yoga and climbing your mountain top or hill.

Yoga Mountain Pose

To get the most out of your yoga Mountain Pose, swoop swan dive arms gracefully down like your arms are eagle spanning wings. And then forward fold your hands to your yoga mat or your ankles grounded on the floor. 🦅

And then weightlessly reverse swan dive your arms back up into the air. That’s a good way to be purposeful in your daily moves.

Mountain Pose yoga can be part of your Vinyasa flow.

It’s a way to finesse your ways as you grow, and is a good metaphor for personal growth moves with intentional motion today.

Repeat your Mountain Pose, but next time, coordinate your deep breaths, with inhales up and exhales down in going up and down your pose. This keeps you purposefully engaged from head to toe.

Remember this Mountain Pose and your breath practice when you’re outdoors on a walk, hike, or journey up a mountain.

This outdoor practice is a great way to get energy flowing when you’re lacking energy, need new calm headspace, or just a ‘lil motivational push. It’s great exercise for your entire body.

And when you challenge yourself to get up a mountain if you’re nearby to one, you’ll get all the mind-body benefits.

If you’re feeling tired, stop and take a sip of water to refuel. Look around at your surroundings in awareness and mindfulness. Maybe do your stretching Tree Pose.

“They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” – Isaiah 40:31

Mountain climbing is a great way to accompany a mini-sabbatical journey. What’s interesting about each hike, is that there are different trails to choose from.

And every day, each trail is slightly different because the nature elements change… everything from the trees, sky, and ground you walk and rely on with each step.

Changing foliage reminds us that this moment is just a blink.

When you come back around, leaves and twigs have fallen and flowers and fruit change up the scenery.

Selecting a path or trail that suits you is fun. Take the hike that inspires you or sounds inspiring. The first time will always be a surprise. 🎉

Usually people who’ve never been on a trail, listen to what others have told them who have walked the trail. Sometimes it’s better to listen to your heart and nature as guides instead of other’s opinions.

Because we all interpret differently…

One time, I kept hearing the message about how much more difficult a specific trail would be. That reminds me of younger years when we didn’t have info. at our fingertips.

And so I avoided that one as a first-timer, so I could build up.

And then when I actually did the hike, I found it was the easier one than the long winded one. The “strenuous” reputation trail had hundreds of steps at the end, and that’s what was meant by “harder.”

But, steps to me actually shortcut the climb process because it provides interest and variety that keeps present awareness. So fully engaged, that feels like the process is sped up.

Mindful about your uneven steps, you’re already at the top before you know it.

The alternative is to take a longer trail path without a steep incline and as many steps. And that’s where natural Kapha tendencies differ from Vatas.

Know Your Individual Strengths

There’s a general fork in the road in body types.

Kaphas naturally prefer the endurance exercise which means longer courses and duration over steps that is perceived as work.

Vatas prefer the shorter, variety trail with different interest points that doesn’t seem like work.

And Pittas just want the challenge, so either trail is fine as long as there’s a little sprinting up and down the hill that wouldn’t hurt either. 😉

Each of us have our body strengths.

Climbing trails is an individual journey.

And in each season, we’re holding onto an imbalance even if just a smidge that we can course correct on our individual journey.

The first steps are the ones that can be mentally the hardest to get going on. And a part of you might be wondering: is it too late to turn around?

But when you focus on the baby steps of each step, it’s easier. You remove the blocks. And actually that’s what little kids on the trails do on their steps. They enjoy the climbing challenge and play with the immovable Lego blocks.

We need more of that in our everyday, where we look forward to trying a healthy challenge as part of our play.

It’s great natural exercise in the process.

With every step and turn, you can find your balance and appreciate how your body assets work for you.

Having a nudge motivation like seeing the mountain top view helps us get to the goal. The cherry on the top of the mountain doesn’t disappoint. And that’s a general consensus for all…

The ending is predictable. But the getting-there journey is not. The middle changes as you get different perspectives. And the next time, you’ve grown some. So you see life from a different lens and that can help you maneuver this season.

Balancing Kapha On Your Trail

If you’re needing a little push out of a tired mind that can make a tired body, on your trail, look for pops of color like fiery red leaves in autumn. Or berries on trees.

Wear a pop of color on your arm or shoes… (if you’re drawn to the bright or neon colors, that could be why as your body is intuitive). Just a pop of color though because bees are attracted to bright clothing and mountain air. 🐝 We can share the calm space.

Find a pine cone or forest fresh scent. Some natural bug spray scents have lemongrass and rosemary that help to wake up the senses. They’ll keep the certain bugs away and keep you awake.

Take energy food and water. Great snacks are nuts and energy bites. So, ready to get your Mountain pose on? ⛰️

Print Recipe

Gluten-Free Carrot Bread Squares

Course Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine American

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

1/2 cup gluten-free almond flour or coconut flour
1/2 cup oats
2 eggs
1 tbsp coconut oil
2 tsp honey
1/2 cup raisins and chopped walnuts (optional)
1 cup finely grated carrots
1/2 tsp of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg each (optional)
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

Mix ingredients and bake on 350°F for about 40 minutes.

Homemade energy squares with: carrots, raisins, coconut, and apple cider vinegar.

Balanced Mind Questions For Better Outcomes

personalized mind body recipe to help get answers to balanced mind questions — Get better mind body answers with a recipe from an online personalized assessment.

Your mind life is the second part of this mind-body series that I started last week… and below are some balanced mind questions to ask yourself if you want to:

✅ Live your best abundant, joyful, and empowered life

✅ Get out of your rut patterns in life

✅ Restore and feel your peace and calm

And in calm and joy, the mind is where good moods start. And then in contast, where discouraging moods like unrest or boredom kick in. Rarely, are we in neutral-mind mode. Like, dogs who have this natural built-in feature. 🐶

As a higher-thinking creature, you want to start your day not believing everything that enters your mind so you can better influence your moods and feelings. This was a strange concept for me early on as we’re not taught this in school or growing up. …and maybe for you too?

And if so… don’t worry, you’re in good company. Most of us start out that way and you have a chance to keep growing especially if you keep the below beliefs and open attitudes in mind.

Balanced Mind – Question Your Feelings

Challenging your thoughts is a healthy habit.

An easy way to gauge your thoughts is observing how you feel from your thoughts. Is it a negative feeling-thought that you’re holding onto? Do you feel icky from the thought of the thought, and does the thought unpleasantly linger longer than needed when you’ve already moved on?

…Or, is it a positive feeling and thought where you want to hold onto the nice memory, new thought, or dream about the future?

Does the thought bring you warm fuzzy feelings and make you happy?

…Or is it a neutral thought like when you’re in work mode, busy, or just focused on the task at hand?

Determining whether it’s a neutral, good, or bad feeling is an easy first step. And these are some feeling thought types from balanced mind questions you can ask yourself.

Do you have?:

Calm vs. worry thoughts

Peace vs. angry or irritated thoughts

Encouraging or exciting vs. withdrawn, listless, or repetitive thoughts

If thoughts are repetitive or disruptive to your day or longer, then you want to do a little detective mind work to discover where it may have come from and then end the mind drama with distraction.

Is there something you can gain or learn from this thought episode that may have shown up as a slightly different situation the last time?

…Because the sooner you figure that out in present awareness, the sooner you get to live our your optimal thought life. You’re free from mind imprisonment and you know what to do again.

Next time you connect the dots of your thoughts and life, that’s victory because then you can do something better with the thoughts… like tell it to take a hike or rewrite the thought to an aspired one that could become your dream life one day in self-fulfilling prophecy.

The opposite would be letting the ego have its way. Sadly, most of us live that way for some parts of life when we’re not fully aware.

And had I not lived that way before I was aware, I would’ve not clearly been able to see the other side. 🌈

The ego affects your feelings (and vice versa). The problem is that when the ego is stroked, it can run your thought life (or ruin parts of life leaving a regretful backlash).

The ego in your mind is like a clock in that it’s running all the time. Even if you want to shut if off, you can’t.

It’s job is to try to protect you, but in the modern world we don’t need most of its protective ways. It pulls information gathered from your past and in the present, tries to protect you from getting hurt. Doesn’t sound bad, right?

…Well, except its methods are deceivingly destructive. The ego ticks in a very twisted way, and can lead you into prideful ways or unconsciously hurting people in its wake.

You want to feel better, but not at the cost of others or yourself.

And if you want to live an abundant life through your better thoughts, then in most daily situations you want to disconnect the invisible-to-the-eye ego cord.

And if it involves people, pause and override your first reaction. Then move onto your higher intellect and power within you to trust people when they’ve earned a bit of trust.

No one is perfect, but if someone shows up consistently 90% of the time and doesn’t deliberately or intentionally take action to hurt you in some way, then your ego is wronging you by putting up a defense for this person or all people.

The ego loudly tries to influence you by reminding you to stay away from all people that do ___ or have ___ traits in certain situations.

This creates divide and me vs. you. The opposite of love.

And btw, this power struggle is what happens to unaware couples in long-term relationships where the ego in them takes over one or both of them in a few short months or sometimes years.

The effect is: you don’t recognize the person you’re staring at based on what comes out of their mouth (and what’s going on behind the face with their ego mind running their show).

So, how do you become more ego aware?

You unmask the ego and make it naked in awareness. You remove the feelings attached and you observe your thoughts. And you ask balanced mind questions.

Do a thought inventory check. Start objectively with openly asking yourself: how much of your life is ruled by ego?

Take a guess… is it 20% of your day or 80% or more of your day?

To get a better answer to balanced mind questions, do any of these describe your daily thoughts?

__ your initial entering thoughts make up most your daily small and/or larger decisions

__you have obsessive or repetitive thoughts that take up a good chunk of your day

__your thoughts go down rabbit holes and sometimes may even have unfactual endings attached that are NOT based in what’s happening in reality

Any of those descriptions could easily put you in the 80% or more category. And that’s common, so you’re not alone.

AND you can change this in you.

The solution is simple: if you want better results, then remember to frequently change your thoughts.

Staying closed minded and far away from present-moment mindfulness are some of ego’s biggest defense tricks. So keep questioning if you have balanced mind thoughts or need some tweaking love in some areas.

It’s not always easy to do if you’ve never practiced or stretched your thought mind muscles. Once you’re aware, it’s a LOT easier. And to give a nudge encouragement, just know it’s not about being a deep thinker.

It IS about getting happy, free, and the best abundant life you can have.

Just something to consider as you rewrite your habits and daily thoughts. I’m cheering you on. 🤗

Peach Profiteroles Recipe (Crushing Life’s Bruised Pride)

Peach profiteroles are a way to crush life’s bruising blows. And sometimes that can be our own pride that’s crushed.

my healthy profiterole sweet joy to crush pride daily — Tasty party plate of healthy profiteroles with Greek yogurt, chocolate, and strawberries for daily joy 😋

Along with happy peach profiteroles, below I share some encouragement so you can use daily joy like peaches to crush pride feelings and life’s negative situations.

Life doesn’t have to be peachy. But can be filled with divine peaches.

First off, we all remember how tough things got when we were starting out.

We didn’t know what joy meant. A joy ride had a different meaning than today’s joy in life’s ride. And we didn’t know the power magnitude in pride’s grip (…and maybe that’s something we need to learn about).

Especially if it feels heavy today.

…Like the world is against us and we’re pushed up against a wall sometimes. But, that’s part of the process in our growing, and gaining wisdom in our individual life journeys…

Wisdom that’s deeper in us and that starts in our minds, and then permeates into our bodies in the mind-body connection.

Wisdom is a choice and its growth is fed one choice at a time.

In wisdom, we know we’re empowered and have much more of a say in what happens to us than our circumstances. And we can speed up our growth by removing the inner rocks and blocks that stand in our way.

With time and more experiences, we often forget former trials that we’ve passed. But we want to bring them back to remembrance for today’s joy and to acknowledge how far we’ve come.

Today, smoother sailing and small pebbles in those same areas can become our new normal if we allow in the better perspectives, attitudes, and higher thinking ways, and make them our new habits.

It’s a daily journey because in any moment our subconscious minds can send us a trigger that sends a message wave of we’re not happy where we’re at, and if we let that permeate, then that’s our reality.

Often it’s ourselves we’re upset with, but our ego pride protects us from believing that we could be holding ourselves back.

That’s when we can refer back to allowing in higher thinking ways.

We can outsmart our ancestral wiring that was built during non-modern B.C. times (before Christ). 😊

And robots today don’t have this ego feature, but they do have other malfunctions. And in both ego and robot interactions we have, we want to apply our higher thinking wisdom for better outcomes.

Peach Profiteroles 🍑

Print Recipe

Peach Profiteroles

Course Dessert

Cuisine American, French

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

1 cup flour (combine bread and all purpose flour recommended)
1 tbsp butter (a small amount will do you for the lighter effect)
1/4 cup milk or nut milk
1-2 eggs (thick, smooth, and pipeable batter)
1 ripe peach
thick plain yogurt or Greek yogurt

Instructions

Cook flour, butter, and milk.
Let cool and add egg. If the batter isn't thick enough then add an additional egg.
Bake on 350°F for about 30-35 minutes.
Optional: brush a whisked egg (egg wash) for additional shine before baking.
Fill with yogurt and decorate with peach bits.

The culprit is our pride (that healthy peach profiteroles can remind you to be self-aware). And pride can be from high Pitta that peach profiteroles will help to you cool off).

Pride is the boulder we need to grow out of to remove. And most of the time all we need to do is the opposite and be humble, overriding what our helmet-protected heads tell us to do.

We can use kindness and healthy as a north star guide to help pull us up and out.

In metro city area culture, often these are countercultural moves and secondary priorities. I grew up in the most powerful city in the nation that’s always on the news. And being prideful is heightened, and appears as an invisible status symbol in the air…

I grew up believing that being perfect was an advantage in every way, and then over time re-learned that perfection got in the way of progress. Because perfection puffs up pride to get everything perfect when nothing is perfect.

I saw the damage toll in others who didn’t have the awareness to make changes.

And in my own wisdom and awareness, I saw striving for perfection as destruction in prioritizing results over relationships, health and personal growth. It robbed me of joy, peace, and progress.

And maybe for you it’s the same, or it’s some other pride-driven belief you were fed.

In modern society, we hail getting ahead which is good when it’s healthy, but when it’s sabotaging yourself or hurting others, that’s when it’s no longer working.

At the least, ego pride protects us from being vulnerable and crushed by the elements around us.

We defend by sticking up to rights and our feeling right. The problem is this divides us from others. And we rob ourselves of an opportunity for happiness and compassion for others.

Instead, we want to use humility and joy to crush pride.

The better news is we can witness our patterns and beliefs, and change them. For the previous few weeks, I shared my night, morning, and pool meditation ways that helped me in my journey, and they were all awake meditation moments allowing thoughts in (feeling the thoughts out).

…And I’m sure it was in those silent meditation moments that allowed for my breakthroughs leaving behind old, retired patterns that no longer served me. They were replaced by the loving thoughts.

And we all can do this throughout our day, one thought and action at a time.

Over time, we learn to react and say less like we did in our immature years. Just because we can doesn’t mean we should.

We walk away so we don’t energize negative thoughts. We change our thoughts, so that our feelings stay loving and calm. We gain joy to crush pride. And we can stay aware of our joyful thoughts that make us feel good in the moment and/or we look forward to in the future.

This helps us stay at peace, calm, and without unnecessary stress that we know causes health deterioration. We can use joy to crush pride, stress, and anxiety in one fell-swoop.

In peace, we see other people’s perspectives other than our own. We stay open, and remove any stubbornness that puts a rock between our happiness.

And when we do this at the start of the day as our daily attitude and habit, our life improves and we’re no longer stuck in those areas we want to grow that may seem non-related.

But everything is related…

When we remove the boulders we don’t need to carry inside, our life and situations gets better!

Crush Pride Morning Prescription

We expect days when we wake up on the wrong side of the bed or everything goes off. We have a few go-to places ready to change our sails into better seas and into a good mood.

And the best ways are in our minds, so we get to a place of joy to crush pride.

Part of pride is our ego fooling us into believing that we need to make our lives complicated and bigger because we’re not feeling happy or we’re not enough, when we have everything that is enough.

So to combat, we don’t accumulate more than we need (that can be coming from a Kapha imbalance).

We decide to shut off those unhappy beliefs, and wake up to simple encouraging messages, inspirations, and passions where we feel gratitude and appreciation for having life today.

We wipe off our clinging unhealthy ego pride that wants to get the better of us by staying aware.

We don’t let our moods and what others say or do change our joyful tune.

Joy is a medicine. And it’s naturally infectious. 🎉

Have a great week and hope you find a few minutes to enjoy peach profiteroles you make.

…Oh, and in the upcoming weeks, I share an update with you about one healthy habit I’ve adopted this year that maybe you’re interested in or thinking of starting.

And I have a super cool Ayurvedic series that will help us all starting off with some relief for the Vata autumn season. You can signup at the top of the site to receive notifications to my weekly blog articles when they come fresh off the press. 😊