Mental Health and Wellness Archives - Page 4 of 28

Ego Block Removal For The Life You’re Meant to Live

I share a lot about internal happiness because that’s the forefront journey I’ve been on.

And the number one reason I have found of why people aren’t living happy is an ego block that can steal one’s daily happiness.

An example of this is with people who strive for perfection…

But most people don’t come out and say they are perfectionists. It’s a vulnerable admittance to share. So if you are one or know someone who is, you can probably relate to this.

Where the opposite of perfection is imperfection.

And we’re all imperfect on this planet, so perfection is a pie-in-the sky illusion.

For one, we all forget at some point (maybe regularly) so that automatically shows our minds ability to be imperfect.

Our minds can even foil us to believe that we’re not imperfect if we forget once or twice. That complicates matters.

And that’s due to our ego or an ego block that’s present but invisible to the eye.

If we focus on what’s not perfect, we can obsess.

Or we focus on all the wrongs in this (and our) world instead of what’s right and going well.

…That’s the harmful ego’s way, and we get to flip the script and choose to outsmart our ego.

A common scenario can be where we have what we want in front of us, and then milliseconds in, we want something else… when the perfect thing (whatever it is that we wanted minutes ago), is staring at us in the face and our minds are now telling us differently.

Again, generated by deceiving ego that backfires in its plot line to protect us, as often we don’t need that coat of protection.

AND we don’t need those crooked evil forces that have a hold on us or show up in self-defeating (imposter) ways.

BUT we buy into unless we are aware.

Another way ego slithers into our daily lives is when we do or say things that gets others’ approval instead of the acts that we deeply know in our heart is best and our higher evolved selves would be proud of.

…But it’s not our fault.

It’s our ego construction that’s built that way by design.

This helps us in Life to keep evolving.

Because if things were perfect (or perceived as perfect by us), we would stay the same when we are meant to grow into better beings.

So this is what we should know:

We have an ego in our minds that can creates chaos.

It’s our job responsibility to manage our ego for our better lives.

The ego is one thing that makes us all human on earth.

But the scariest part of it all is that most people in this world walk around unaware of the fact of their 24-7 ego influences… and mostly because it’s not visible like a red traffic sign. 🛑

We can’t see the ego influence in minute by minute play because we think it is us and our thoughts. We buy into the lying ego thought narratives.

And the only way out (and our saving grace) is in our choice to be aware and observe our thoughts and actions… and deliberately choose better or opposite ways.

Positive vs. negative.

Love vs. fear.

Productive vs. unproductive.

Worry vs. faith.

Peace vs. chaos.

Contentment vs. wanting what isn’t meant to be.

Joy vs. self-pity.

Responsibility vs. blaming others…

And if we choose to live uninformed, we stay unaware when poked… like when we were immature children and didn’t know any better.

When immature, we lack knowledge and stay ignorant that our ego will use to pull us in the wrong direction and push our buttons that hurts us and often others.

In nanosecond blinks, we can have a sharp reaction coming from our subtle and deep insecurities.

It can happen so quickly… someone cuts us off or does something to trigger us, or we turn on the negative news that widely opens the door to ego entering.

Unhealthy ego can seem so ordinary to us because when we don’t know that there’s another way to live that’s optimally higher… we keep ourselves living small.

Changing our thoughts daily is healthy.

And I believe 💯% needed for our mental health and for a kinder world to live in.

Like me, you probably weren’t schooled on this. No one you respected growing up taught you this. And if anything you were taught to BOOST your ego because you got praises and awards.

Our biggest defense is constant awareness and to fight off the mood sources that our world around us creates and show up to ourselves as the better half.

Live in a positive mental bubble with both feet on the ground knowing this world is imperfect.

…And you can be part of the solution.

You can bring a smile and more love, help others, and help yourself so you can help others.

Resist your awakened ego that automatically has a mind of its own and can fire itself up any time you’re awake.

…And fuel you with its hidden agenda that can subtly derail your better path in the moment.

And it gets missed…

Because the ego feeds us warped garbage when we’re half-mindlessly scrolling on the phone or watching a show to escape.

…And that’s our common cultural ways.

It’s easy when the world outside is noisy and there are busy distractions for the ego to have its power on us, instead of us being empowered.

…Like when you have an intent to have better eating habits, exercise regularly, or a prayer life and it doesn’t happen.

And not because there’s not enough time or energy in the day, because we all have the same time and we fit in what we want to do at the end of the day (and by the end of the day when our head hits the pillow).

We can have a number of daily excuses… but the bigger overarching reason is because our ego thoughts derailed us… and we allowed that.

When we’re unfocused, rather we choose to prioritize self-care, nature’s gentle sounds, relaxation, and reset centering time to gain our focus back and to hear the nudging whispers that’s our better lifeline.

…And that sends ego (loud thoughts) back packing into the little corner it belongs in…

Until the next time, when you’ve caught on maybe just a little quicker and do the same restore or similar remedy.

Turn your ego weakness (that we all have) into your strength.

Ego is not your friend, it’s a part of you that you can turn to good.

If your ego keeps you up all night (worry thoughts, anxiety, and stress) or keeps you from being daily productive, do something proactively different and healthy to acknowledge and commemorate that ego no longer has a hold on me.

Get those inside warm and fuzzy feelings back.

Today is a new day.

Tell yourself: “I can’t get back yesterday or get back my sleep” but I can live alive today in awareness. Oh, and btw little ego, you’re outta here!”

…Because I’m here now, and I’m choosing to take the fork in the road of the better life.

And the reason I’ve wised up to our ego’s way, besides that I’m a human 😊 is that…

In my own life experience, it was years of personal suffering and beating myself up in self-pity for the smallest things that nooboodddy was thinking about except for moi … and that helped me to see what I see today and in this ripe adult time in my life.

But for yearsss, I walked around with my head in a bubble, letting repeated tapes run in my mind about life situations.

I was anything but present in the moment, and that’s the worst feeling because it sucks the life energy out (when you could’ve spent that time productively exercising or reading a book).

But ego trickster spins the idea that’s how our (as in ego and my) brain works.

“Uh-no thank you,” says my evolved self.

But back then, I didn’t not know how there was a better way or how to shut those lesser ways off (and that’s how it is for most of us living with a blind ego).

Learning to exercise higher thought mind muscles is not as easy as lifting 20 lb weights.

I didn’t know better mind-body ways to help lift myself out of the fog.

So I had no fighting chance in the beginning unaware.

But in this life, there’s higher help that lifts the fog eventually and provides revelation.

And in my case, a spiritual intervention.

…Only after some years passed from that point did it click why some people I encountered in my past acted incongruent at times.

In some of those situations, I felt blindsided by their actions and the ripple effects caused.

…And being fully objective, maybe some people felt that way about me with some of my actions earlier on in life when I didn’t know better and they never told me.

I used to think the unproductive conversations were differences in opinions or personality.

But then there were times when with the same people, we could agree to disagree. So I wondered what made the difference…

And the common intersection I got epiphany on was that the ego was at peace or acting out.

And the fully formed ego theory I now know as truth, I believe is the cause of most people problems (…and yes affects everyone in the world).

…It’s like the close family and friends that talk about their past that they never got past, or who gloat about their former glories in a seemingly storytelling-engaging way… but is ego in disguise.

And you know it’s ego because in those ego moments the high ego has to get their point, story, or agenda across. And it’s not to help others.

All of us who have been around everyday people have come across these situations where we unknowingly helped egg their ego on.

…And then as more proof that ego was the problem, there were situations where someone declared that so-and-so had a high ego (that’s unhealthy) or the high ego person even admitted it themselves.

But our own ego dismissed that information tidbit at the time said because that’s not when the high ego person is acting up… They’re acting cool and humble.

…So our minds dismiss that admission and never files away that piece of information because to the brain receiving, it’s like: what do I do with that information that doesn’t have any attached action or outcome? The statement is misaligned with the action.

So we miss the high ego signs, and keep allowing ego offenders in our lives to keep offending.

Bottomline: what we can do here is work on our own mental health-iness daily, constantly stay aware, and create our own self-happiness life story.

We can keep our own high ego at-bay that’s wanting to burst out.

It’s definitely worth the effort to be on guard of our ego and check in with our thoughts, feelings, actions, and reactions for our peace, so we don’t waste our productivity that includes our day’s joy.

And, have compassion for those who are still unaware.

We can love them and walk away from their toxicity.

Btw, this wasn’t the healthy post of what I was going to share this week, but I felt my spirit encouraging me even when the ego tried to block some words from me.

Have a happy week! 😊

Frog Pose Life Metaphors In Wet or Dry Transitions

Frog pose is an inspired pool yoga pose, and maybe one you’re inspired to do because it’s hot outside… or reminded about an aqua blue Olympic size pool… or pool blue and frog green strokes…

Blue and green painting strokes are meaning and metaphors for life. — Strokes on a painting

Where the frog stroke is one you can do in the cool pool water without exerting much energy (unlike the crawl or breast strokes). 🏊🏻‍♀️

But in frog pose strokes you are getting exercise like in water polo that look effortless on the water surface, but OH MY! is a workout.

…I remember when I was younger, I was invited to play water polo for fun and was wondering why the net wasn’t on the shallow end.

Then I quickly learned that half the sport is done under the water, keeping the body afloat while trying to score points… it’s not a leisure sport.🏐

You need your team athletic mojo and active frog legs.

And if you want to keep it easy on yourself and score yoga points today… you can do the active solo frog pose on dry land on your mat.

It’s one you could have discovered in a Hatha yoga class along with the classic frog yoga pose where your legs and arms are laying on the mat in traditional frog layout.

It’s also one pose that resembles the name and you won’t mistaken for another identity. 🐸

We all know what a frog looks like.

As amphibians, like us primates, frogs have a backbone.

Amphibians in human form would look more like Spider Man ♥️💙climbing up a building. 🕸️

But frogs have been around way longer than modern super heroes.

They were named creatures that plagued our nations back in Biblical times.

And as part of our sustainable environment, frogs help to clean up our food chain. Frogs eat pesky insects so we can stay anti-annoyed, helping us keep our Pitta cool and calm. 😌

And in gratitude, doing a yoga frog pose helps you get a good stretch up your mid-back.

Most of us can use a good daily reminder to take care of our backs that will long-term take care of us.

You’ll know if you need a dose more of healthy back stretching if you feel tension in the pose.

You can easily start off in a Downward Dog or a Dolphin pose.

Then lift arms or keep arms lifted off the floor, so that palms are flat on the floor. Check your fingers. Usually one or a few are not flat unbeknownst to you. 😉

…Sometimes we don’t know what our body parts (like our right or left hand) are doing, but when we use our eyes 👀 they’re off doing their own thing.

🌟 That’s a metaphor for aligning ourselves in our mind and body that are part of us.

Next bend your knees slightly and let the soles of your feet lift off the mat so only the toes and palms of hands are on the mat.

Your knees are bent and can be as high as somewhere between your palm and elbow height, to whatever feels good to you… because yoga is about feeling good in the stretch!

When you’re in that proper swimming frog pose form, move your bent knees in toward each other and then swim or move them out away from each other (without lifting your planted palms and toes off the mat). Do that a few times.

That’s active or swimming frog pose.

You can do this anywhere without getting wet… or breaking a sweat!

🌟Transitioning from wet to dry is a metaphor for changing seasons of life. And specifically, your leap changing seasons.

We go from summer to fall, even if the weather hasn’t changed, so we can feel off because of our internal Ayurvedic balance signals… where our bodies are feeling one way and our minds are in another place.

But often we roll with the punches and move along, adjusting as needed. Sometimes that’s what we need for our healthy growth and sometimes that can drain us and cause stress.

Most of us know what it’s like to go from relaxing seasons where nothing is happening… to EVERYTHING is happening all at once, like starting a new dynamic job or going full-throttle back to school. 🤹

…Once it starts, it’s a whirlwind until the end of the season.

The art of living in balance as I know it, is going in and out of these two opposing seasons with ease and peace.

…I remember the days in my over 2-decade long corporate work when I wished that I could take summer holiday vacation time off, and when event planning was counting down the days until the winter holiday event season ended. You may have a similar grind.

And when those work seasons ended, I got all my time back. It was all or nothing with no balance in between.

Work life balance was what you made it… and 40 hours a week was the best there was in that world. But your head was still spinning full of the busy go-go-go work theme, even on the night and weekends with an emphasis on work busy.

While in those corporate work seasons, I couldn’t see that start-and-stop seasons were good and helpful.

I was looking for a type of work-life-balance that didn’t exist. 🤔

But over time and wisdom gained, I could see that Life was actually doing me a favor…

Work heavy one season and life focus in another season IS Life balance.

When looking back, there’s a blend of both that’s all the past…

Both slow and fast paced seasons are useful and where growth is.

In the slow season, you can get clear headspace, catch your breath, and catch up on needed sleep. 💤

You recharge and reflect back to find what breakthroughs you’ve made on your journey and experiences.

And slow seasons are where you discover what growth you’ve made, lessons learned, and want to keep growing and pivoting.

And the hard charging, fast seasons with busy schedules is where you’re productive, gaining skills, and experiences that’ll be useful for the next leg of your future journey or next transitions.

💡Transitions are simply next steps… and nothing more or less.

Looking back.. I still remember picking out a first-day-of-school outfit. Funny because no one remembers what you wore and even the outfit you wore on school photo day that’s captured on camera.

…None of that ends up mattering as you get further away in time, even though at that time it feels like the most important thing in the world (in mindfulness).

And for my breakthrough, it was these accumulated small nostalgic memories and feelings that served as metaphors for this day and moment as fleeting… here today, gone tomorrow.

So don’t worry about what happens so much… and try not to worry at all (as worry is a time suck, and it sucks as a past time, yes?)❗️

Replace worry with trusting the future using your past as proof that all things do pass. And replace worry for bold living.

You can wisely pause and ask yourself: what did I do boldly today? Remember that old adage: life is not a dress rehearsal.

Life is about today, so no need to be crushed if your plans don’t work out because they will be the past soon enough.

You’ll transition into the next step that turns into your better step.

I know this in my life because most (…and maybe 99%) of my half-baked plans never panned out the way I thought or hoped.

…And I’m thankful for that.

🧡…Because that taught me that the hidden gem is in the process of what you’re doing and who you’re growing into that’ll create your life of meaning and purpose.

Meaning and purpose is the dream that’s not easy to describe or manifest quickly, but are the highest worth pursuits… and you’ll know inside when you’re on the right track.

Because you’ll feel good inside for starters.

And that’s all that’s needed to keep you balanced and growing… and that’s how life is healthy productive, happy, and meaningful.

It’s usually not the life you thought you wanted in your 30s, because everything changes and wanes in excitement, and the biggest change is: you change.

So frog leap forward in your day and life (with frog pose as a metaphor)

Make your today transition steps about:

…making myself better than yesterday

…improving older habits

…keeping healthy patterns even with schedule changes

…loving myself

…finding joy

…making new healthy supportive friends

…And staying true to what I know I can do and be. And trusting what I’m doing, otherwise I wouldn’t be doing it (among the endless number of other options I could be doing).

Maybe that’s where you are.

And if so, while you’re there, keep going and growing with where you’re at.

In my daily wheelhouse where I’m at, an anti-inflammatory healthy food list is a helpful must and maybe for you too in your busy growing season. 😎

Worry Not and Be Bold

Worry is a state of mind that is not productive. You can lose sleep when worry is left unattended… meaning, that after you’ve thought of what the worry theme is about and what you can do about it, then putting the worry to bed (and away from your good sleep 💤) is productive.

…If only it were that easy! 😉

But it’s a smart choice we get to make to let go of worry that drains.

We can’t always choose what happens to us or the thoughts that enter, but we can choose what we do in reaction and what thoughts we allow to stay.

Because worry can linger around like heavy gray clouds until it passes.

And walking away is one proactive way to get away from worry. At least temporarily…

You can quickly distract yourself from worried thoughts by changing your scenery.

Your new sensory environment changes your thoughts even if it’s just clearing your head walking down the hallway.

And this is because we get a new perspective in sight, sounds, and smells.

For me, colors, music, and pleasing scents break the pattern in my world.

And that can be for you too. You may not have yoga as a practice, so that could also be a pattern break.

In yoga poses, when you look up to the ceiling or sky, you get a different perspective than when you look down to the floor or to the side of the room that can change how you feel… calm, grounded, inspired…

Away from a mat, that’s the effect exciting travel has. When you explore a new city or place, your new senses are heightened.

If you spot a new painting or a new view from a picture window, this can be a joyful experience and mindful change of pace.

But as time passes, wherever you are and no matter how far you’ve traveled, the original worry thoughts creep back in.

The euphoric feeling from distractions wear off and the worry thoughts pop back in as easily as they popped out.

You can only distract yourself for so long and then your mind catches back up to reality.

…Your life reality (that can be worry-free thoughts).

But that’s why no one can run away from problems carried in the conscience for long in conscious living.

I tried one summer when I was 20, moving away to the beach. It didn’t work. 😀

But so often we choose to numb in semi-conscious daily living.

Like when we’re on a mission, we tend to forget nature buzzing around us carrying out life. They’re in their environment and we’re in ours, even if it’s within earshot.

As long as we’re not in harm’s way, we can miss what’s happening around us… and sometimes the calls to us that could lead to our greater life’s purpose.

If you think about it, a bird chirping is pretty loud in decibels. But often we don’t hear those over the voice and noises in our head…

And I’m no bird expert, but I’m told this bird in a tree is a red tailed hawk. It caught my eye because of its sounding vocal chords.

While I stopped to stare at the big bird for a few moments, I also noticed most people in the parking lot didn’t do the same.

…In fact, no one around me looked up. They just went on their busy day’s mission.

That’s how it is with us if we’re running on our mind’s mission. We don’t make time for interruptions… and sometimes opportunities calling us.

When we’re in a hurry, that’s even more true listening to our daily to-do list creating stress.

Worry and stress thoughts can be loud like that.

…So loud that we can miss that they’re robbing us of our full presence and better happy day.

And worry especially can play into our insecurities without us knowing (in semi-conscious living), affecting more than just our daily choices we make.

Worry is part of our DNA. It’s a Vata sign and trait in Ayurvedic terms.

Most of us have some or dominating Vata in us.

If you find yourself worrying for no good reason about everything going on in your life and others, then you likely have a Vata imbalance.

For most, that can be restored with simple lifestyle changes.

It’s not a sentence you’re stuck with in life.

If you want to know if you have a Vata imbalance and then how to restore, take the body balance quiz.

Your body helps us out by giving us preferences and through our senses.

But sometimes those are blocked from us for reasons like the noisy complex culture we’re in.

…So even if a meditation or yoga break sounds like a good idea, we could put it off even though we could definitely use the reset to help remedy our worry.

And transforming worry ways as a daily way is very possible… I know because I did just that. I got tired of holding onto worry. It’s too darn draining.

And as some friends would say, “Girl, I ain’t got time for that!”

One good habit that changed it all was to proactively pray off the worry. That was one of the 8 ways I shared to live out a don’t worry be happy life!

And another way is to picture yourself bold and fearless. Or put yourself in that frame of mind by reminding yourself how you feel and act when you’re confident…

If you’re a caring or reserved person, this is where you stop caring so much about what others think or what will happen.

You get out of your head and into your empowered self and abundant life.

It’s not about others or what happens next… it’s about you and your peace. What makes sense to you? Do it.

Let the outcomes happen. Your life is rigged in your favor with the Universe on your side.

You will be met on the other side with your bold confident moves.

The world wants the best YOU and you get to decide what that is!

So let go of worry and let go of the control of how things pan out. I know that was one lesson that took me the longest to embrace.

When I could trust “what happens next are meant to be’s,” that released me from unnecessary worry.

You’re equipped with the intuition. So when you have to make a choice, do your best and let the rest work out… even if it’s in another direction or environment.

Start Over Helps You (and My Blog Story)

Start over is a theme that many of us have experienced and maybe a lot since 2020. Whether we wanted to or not, it can be our ticket to our best lives… and that’s what this article is about so you can embrace your start over opportunities.

One thing we can all have a say in is… evolving in our personal growth and what matters to us.

Embracing what healthy gains we’ve made brings rewards for our daily lives.

And embracing starting over as a new way or perspective is a blessing gain…

It’s a micro mindset pattern shift you can practice in your day (maybe even today), so you can see and feel how start overs are good, and not bad or sad interruptions.

That self-training helps our future and best outcomes.

Because changes in life are meant to help you and if you see it that way, you help yourself grow and further.

For most my younger adult life I played the victim without knowing I had that internal narrative.

I also thought that choices I made would be permanent. I was naive.

And when good situations didn’t last, I was disappointed.

I saw them as failures.

And I fell for that over and over again.

If you didn’t have role models and influences growing up that drilled into you the more positive ways and helped shape your self-esteem, then that’s the pattern you’re likely to fall into.

And the saving grace is we have the Universe on our side as fall back and providing answers to us.

We may call it luck, but it’s part of the plan. 😉

You’ve probably heard the saying that the Universe keeps serving up the same lessons. The lessons are there to help us and not make us feel less than..

…I didn’t know that in my younger years.

And as years went by, I grew up in wisdom and got revelation, leaning more into internal truth.

Truth and reality aren’t the exact same thing.

Reality is what physically is happening or not happening. Truth are the thoughts that are real and factual. And lies are the opposite in false beliefs. Ego perception makes you believe they are real, when they are not.

And in that case, then anyone can be a victim to their own ego.

Recognizing this, my life realities started to better align with truth, where I also realized nothing stays the same.

I told my ego the truth, that it wasn’t just what I experienced.

Because everyone has their versions of uncertainty.

In my belief lies I had bought into, I was the only common denominator for the situations I faced.

So that made me the victim. But I turned that narrative around one situation at a time.

Rewriting my beliefs with love over ego, starting with experience outcomes (reality) showed me the deficit in my faulty thinking that my mind led me to believe.

And took me from victim to abundant mentality.

It was micro-start overs from little lie beliefs that got me over the hump.

Being abundant minded, changes the identity to someone who takes responsibility for changing her thoughts to positive, loving ones for better outcomes and perspectives.

Perspectives transform your life when no influences can.

And if a perspective change is what you think you need, this helped me:

This one exercise helped to changing the tide…

Let’s take something most of us have privilege to do every day: we take a shower.

And imagine if one day you do your regular shower routine but you don’t get most the soap off your body or shampoo out of your hair. Maybe you were distracted and busy with shower thoughts.

After you’ve dried off and gotten dressed for the day, you realize that small miss.

What are your options?

Live with the fact and try to forget about the remaining residue.

Or…

Take a few extra effort minutes to go back in the shower again and rinse off knowing that you’d have to dry with a towel again and essentially re-trace all the steps you would do when you got in the shower the first time. It’s a small hassle in a busy day.

And while most would probably just live with it and get on with their day…

If you have the extra few minutes, you’re better off to get back in the shower.

Why?

…So you can get your best day.

If you don’t do a redo, then you keep the residue theme running in your day as part of your thoughts and maybe a physical reminder.

If you do rinse off again, you start clean and fresh.

So those extra 5-10 minutes back tracking was worth the time.

Initially our lazy bone tendencies can kick in and resist.

But fight the urge and jump to the though part of what you’ll gain in those critical decision moments.

Change the thoughts in your mind to productive ones, such as: you’ll be happier later on.

Picture yourself happier.

Try this taking extra minutes with another daily self-care or micro routine you do that didn’t work out the first time… maybe cleaning, shower, or grooming routine.

Take an extra 5 minutes.

For the narcissist, you don’t have to tell them twice, but for the rest of us — those are good minutes.

The micro change in our new habit and patterns creates new perspectives.

Eventually you don’t mind a redo or start over whether it’s a shower or a season. You teach yourself not to succumb to immediate feelings and wants for better outcomes.

Embrace the lesson here is: don’t skip what will bring more joy and a clear mind as the biggest gain rewards.

And on a grander scale in your life, start over with what you first started with that has never left you. That you still think about today.

Those can be part of your dreams come true realities.

Another wisdom lesson is: forget time. Time never heals. As you grow wiser, you realize changes and experiences heal.

We can’t gain time. And the feeling of lost time can keep you stuck if you let it.

Like take me for example, I started a blog in 2009 that took off.

And a few months in I had to quit.

The blog was about my local area businesses I was living near and I ended up moving that year.

So the blog no longer made sense to me as I couldn’t be in that area, and it was hard to juggle writing with the busy work life I had in the hustle and bustle of DC.

Then in 2019, I started over where I picked up writing again.

And then started this blog in 2020.

Starting over in blogging again was so different the second time around.

I had some blogging skill experience under my belt but the landscape had changed.

In 2009, very few out there knew what a blog was.

And when I came back a decade later, the internet scape was full of blogs.

But that didn’t stop me as blogging is something I have felt passionate about since I got my first taste.

Despite the challenges, I still feel as passionate if not more, so I know it’s meant to be.

In your start over or start overs, if you come back, that’s a good sign too! Because most things in life we don’t go back to unless it’s meant for us.

…Maybe the first time we weren’t ready, the timing wasn’t right, or we needed to make a little tweak (or perspective adjustment in ourselves).

It was all of the above for my blog.

My blog topic this second go round is so much more personal and about helping my reader’s personal growth, happy life, and healthy living.

In my first blog experience where I got the chance to interview business owners, I wouldn’t have been ready yet to write on personal topics.

But with another decade, personal growth, and more life experiences, then I was able to launch and sustainably contribute writing in this blog.

So my encouragement to you, my blog article reader, is to use your start overs as your opportunity to take steps in the areas you couldn’t do the first time around when you weren’t quite ready.

The first time wasn’t a failure.

That was your introduction.

Going back is a high call.

We can miss our higher calling if we choose to look at time and deadlines as rules.

If we allow for our entire life to be the time span we accomplish our goals, then we open up opportunities.

How you finish is what matters most, not how you started.

So it’s never too late no matter if you’re in your 30s, 40s, or 60s and beyond.

And in the shower metaphor… by the end of your day, you won’t have remembered the time getting back in the shower, but you will remember feeling like a million bucks coming out and what you achieved that day because of your feelings… and that maybe you wouldn’t have if you let soapy thoughts last.

Just something to consider about your start over that every day and morning opportunity is. 🌅

I like to reset every day with new food creations. I was inspired to start over with this sweet potato squid turmeric salad bowl of anti-inflammatory food goodness. 🍠

Love Over Ego For Extraordinary Life

Love over ego has never been so needed in our world of multi-dimensional complexities and chaos.

If we were able to act in love in every one of our situations and everyone did the same, then our planet would be a place of peace.

And in our smaller world we live in, it’s easier to find daily love amid our joy that we get with peaceful and feel good micro moments. Like when we have chocolate dipped strawberries. 🍓

Enjoyable moments help us get through our challenging situations.

…That can happen daily and in everyday moments.

One big reason is because the ego strikes for no rhyme or reason, and shuts out love. But we’re equipped to override this from happening.

In my journey, I discovered this phenomenon from my office working life situations where I was tested and I sometimes saw two sides in people… almost like a head and a tail side of a coin.

…One minute, a person could be acting pleasant and then the next minute, not.

You probably know what I mean…

Someone is triggered or irritated by something someone else says or does.

At the time of witnessing this, I thought these types of recurring scenarios with different people and situations were because of personality differences… or if it happened often with the same person, a personality clash.

💡But then later got revelation: that was only part of the problem.

The root problem is that all of us have a built in brain ego-feature that doesn’t act when we want. And can act up in our minds.

And we have the choice to choose self-awareness and to find love over ego.

Those are the two sides of the coin.

Love is love and ego represents fear.

Love is more obvious to us, and ego and fear are not. So that makes ego super dangerous.

Fear can be triggered in anyone at any time. Fear can show up as subtly as insecurities that cause irrational decisions to be made.

But if we replace fear with joy inside us or in our spirit, then we can revert to love that’s in us.

Either way, it’s no one’s fault as we’re all damaged goods in an imperfect world.

No one living is perfect, but our damaging ego in us wants us to believe we are in some way.

So getting that deeper love message into our core is our ticket out of fear-based living… that’s all the things we’re scared and worried about in this world.

But first we want to heal what’s broken inside us.

If we never get through our pain and suffering that still needs healing from the past, then we have wounds that show up as resentment and unforgiveness that’s not love.

In my life, I didn’t even know early on that I needed past healing until I did self-help reflection and shadow work inviting in love.

I could’ve let clouds hang over because that’s how the ego thrives.

I didn’t know there was another way.

And anyone who you come across who hasn’t declared healing from their past is living in some form of their ego cloud when clear blue skies ahead are available. 🩵

My early goals in life was to come out unscathed. Or I should say that was my naive ego goals.

…But I didn’t even get past my early 20’s before I knew every bucket area of my life was off… nothing was as I thought it should be as an adult. I measured myself against those around me, my culture’s shoulds, and what my ego led me to think.

The biggest problem is the ego voice and personality is usually the loudest in the room in us and around us. Ego blocks out quieter spirit whispers and ideas of what would be best and most loving.

…So back to my past office work situations, I did not understand what was happening to the person sitting in front of me.

It felt surreal what I was experiencing as unpleasantries and the tone coming from their mouths.

And I found this could occur in personal situations with immediate family. So it wasn’t just work bosses.

Ego infected moments were all over this world… and destructive.

And even the most unaware affected are aware they are not happy and causing destruction in relationships. It’s a sad way to be.

A way to stay clear from being run by your ego and causing damage is asking: what did I do to contribute to this? How can I change the future from repeating?

How can I bring back love into this situation?

Another way is to get informed such as from an article like this.

This shines light and responsibility to making a positive change and seeking personal growth in an imperfect world.

Otherwise the past never gets healed and no healing growth happens.

Then the ego continues to deeper infect and spin perception of reality for a lifetime if allowed.

🌟Good news is, anyone can end this destructive ego pattern in them if they also choose to be better internal listeners, and let in love over ego no matter what siutuational triggers they receive.

Committing to be a better person is one good motivator.

You can’t change others, but you can positively affect your life one situation and moment at a time.

The Seeking Love Over Ego Opportunity (Or Challenge) For You…

🌱Commit to evolve quicker and embrace change.

🌱Identify with your loving self because you are loved.

With those loving mindsets, you move your sails toward a greater future destiny, even when you don’t know what that is.

🌱Let down your guard sometimes.

What If you let yourself be vulnerable?

Let in new better ways… remember, you can always go back to the old ways that weren’t working well. 😉

Show up as the lovely person that people refer to as kind or doing good. They’re the ones that attract others and have a happy life because they live aligned.

With lovely attitudes, there’s no room for ego plays.

🌱Find your love over ego in situations.

This bypasses unproductive anxiety, fear, and worry that rob joy.

Reset by going to bed early could be the remedy for a bad day. A good night’s rest is known cure for getting more loving thoughts.

🌱We can openly talk about more adding love (and less ego) in everyday life instead of making it an “elephant in the room” because it’s not exciting to talk about and ego conceals itself.

If we brush aside our ego fears but let those eat at us, then we pay the price and the people around us suffer too.

“Love” spelled backward is “evol” and when we add more love with “ve”, we get evolve. And we shut out fears.

And, these are loving life goals we can consider:

Seek meaningful work for a satisfied life.

That can be easier to find and do if we disconnect weekly from our noisy surroundings, so we can listen to what our inner self is trying to tell us is best for us.

When we re-strategize and are willing to pivot with a little risk, we get to live out our best life and the world around us gets the best of us.

Choose to live love on purpose.

We can focus on love that is healthy.

For ladies, think of yourself as a ladybug. There are 5,000 species despite similar appearance.

Our destiny was there even if we couldn’t see it fully. We had a few red ladybug stripes.

Before we became our ladybug selves, we went through a caterpillar metamorphosis.

Through younger struggle and experiences, we became our full potential selves. We saved plants on our journey as our loving work on our planet. 🪴

We also showed up lovely and cutely clothed with ladybug matching black polka dots. We’re admired and even called good luck. 🐞We added more love tho this world.

That’s what our life legacy and relationships can be like. 🧡