Milestones and Markers January 1, 2015
Posted by nrhatch in Happiness, Meditation, Mindfulness, Spirit & Ego.trackback
As we learn to silence the mind, our present moment awareness increases.
Instead of being actors on the stage of life, tossed around by daily dramas and stormy seas, we become observers in the audience watching as each moment and scene unfolds.
As detached observers, we interact with others in a more deliberate manner ~ with fewer automatic and habitual knee-jerk reactions to idle chit-chat around the water cooler.
Life seems calmer and slower, more peaceful and less precarious.
Along the path, numerous milestones and markers encourage us to keep moving forward on our journey:
* External turmoil diminishes in significant measure. Instead of vast tidal waves threatening to capsize us, most daily dramas we encounter barely ripple the peace and tranquility we feel within.
* Instead of blindly bumping into boulders, obstacles become pebbles, easily tossed to the side of our path.
* Connected with the flow of life, our spirits soar and life feels more joyous and playful.
* We see obstacles and challenges as opportunities for growth, rather than as permanent impediments to our happiness.
* Instead of struggling to solve problems (at the level of ego), we see struggle as the problem. As we learn to be patient and accept the what is, we allow life to unfold in its own time and in its own way.
* Rather than beating our heads against brick walls and screaming at locked doors, we follow the path of least resistance as we flow over and around the walls and doors on our path.
* Seeing angry words as nothing more than pulses of energy, we become less inclined to lash out in kind to defend our point of view. Instead of wasting time and energy defending our limited perspective on life, we maneuver around hostile opinions in our path.
Don’t put the key to your happiness in someone else’s pocket.
* As we become more adept at using an internal compass to guide our daily choices, we develop clarity ~ allowing us to observe not only our actions (and the actions of others) more clearly, but often the underlying motivation behind those actions as well.
When we remain awake and aware, we reclaim our freedom to make conscious choices and become more fully who we were always meant to be.
Aah . . . that’s better!
Related posts: Our Field Of Dreams * A Beacon in the Dark
Spirit Lights The Way 
Good first day of 2015 thoughts Nancy. I just wrote a wordy comment on yesterday’s post so I will just say GOOD morning!!!!!
Good morning! And thanks for your lovely comment ~ nice to wake up to. Here’s to being awake, aware, and conscious of the choices we make.
Yes; it’s about getting out of the way, so to speak, letting life live through us rather than imagining we can and must direct its course constantly.
Yes! We can get so caught up in resolutions and goals and plans and intentions that we miss the Blinking Neon Light of intuition that is urging us to Turn Right.
So we end up taking the “long way home” instead of enjoying a quick detour.
Great clarification Nancy. Thank you for sharing 🙂
Awakening to the “I” is so freeing.
Here’s to heeding our Intuition/ Internal Compass as it leads the way from where we are to where we want to be.
May your year be full of conscious choices, my dear. I love how your post affirms that simply observing the waves of life brings us into the precious moment of NOW.
Thanks! Here’s to residing in the stillness of the eternal now.
I’m feeling aware, awake and hopeful on this 1st day of 2015. Happy New Year, NH!
Awesome way to start the year, NT!
What a great post to read at the start of the new year, Nancy!
“Don’t put the key to your happiness in someone else’s pocket.” Love this! Once we realize this, life is so much easier. HAPPY 2015!
Agreed. And thanks for highlighting that line ~> here’s to keeping the key firmly in our own pocket.
Love this post!! Such good reminders – especially the one about not putting the key to our happiness in someone else’s pocket! Happy New Year Nancy!!
Happy New Year, Kate ~ I hope you find 2015 filled with many magical moments.
Great advice, Nancy! Not so easy to follow though. Thanks for the timely reminder.
Back-sliding is all part of the process. We learn, we practice, we forget, we remember, we try again.
Very poignant, Nancy and so true. It reminds me of quantum physics – don’t be the particle, be the wave 😉
Cowabunga, dude!
Oh, wait, that’s “catch a wave” not “be the wave.” Never mind. 😉
Such wise words. I really dislike drama and stormy seas someome else wants to make mine. And someone elses pocket always had a hole in it; happiness slipped right through. 2015 is going to be splendid; I just know it!
Yay! Splendid years are the BEST!
Here’s to manifesting a year filled with happy, enthusiastic, upbeat, positive thoughts that fill us with joy, vitality, gratitude and peace!
I’m all in!! Let’s enjoy the journey!
Excellent! Game on!
Don’t put the key to happiness in someone else’s pocket – I like that! Great points to ponder for the new year.
When the key to happiness is in our pocket, “they” lose the ability to press our buttons. We stop giving our power away. We are FREE!
Good thoughts and reminders to start off the New Year, Nancy. Am I the only one who needs constant reinforcement to be mindful and more serene? Without them, I think I would deteriorate into a screaming meemy some days. Only some days, mind you! I love the “Key to happiness” quote. So true, isn’t it?
Yes. You are the only one in need of reinforcement. The rest of us, without fail, remain mindful and serene as we move through our days and nights. 😛
If ever you feel like a screaming meemy, give me a holler!
I knew it!! COL!! OK, putting you on my speed dial right now!
Yippee! When you call, we can COL together!
Nancy, I am reading while enjoying breakfast at a local restaurant. You ecpressed exactly the state of being I want to express for the rest of my life. Thank you for writing this. I willl be sharing with family and friends.
Glad it resonated, Marie.
As with most skills, we learn, we practice, we forget, we remember, we try again. Here’s to reclaiming our sense of peace and well-being as soon as we notice it’s MIA.
I find what you said about angry words from others helpful. That’s something I’d like to do- to not lash out; to not be in a hurry to defend myself, and to be at peace with that.
The first time I put that practice “to the test” I was amazed at how quickly it diffused the “ticking time bomb.”
I stepped into the role of detached observer and just LISTENED to my critic. And saw that from her perspective, and her vantage point, she had a point. So I just nodded and said, “I can see why you would think that based on where you’re standing.”
It worked like a charm to calm her down.
I can imagine. People like to feel like they’ve been heard. I will be practicing this. Thanks Nancy.
Good luck. It’s a valuable skill to stop worrying about what “they” think . . . since they are looking at us through the clouded lens of their own experiences.
You’ve included much that is really great here, Nancy, and a lot to think about. But of it all, the idea that “struggle is the problem” really seems like a viewpoint to carefully consider. I’ve recently been reading an old, old book (recently repackaged) called “The Magic Path of Intuition.” The author, Florence Shinn, died in the 40’s, so you can see it has older roots. She was all about letting go of struggle, and her mantra before bed was, “In the morning I’ll know just what to do.” I think you and Florence have a lot in common. 🙂
Over the holidays, “Let It Go” and “Let It Be” became daily mantras . . . with wonderful results. I let go of the need to control the actions and decisions of others. I allowed life to flow without struggling against the current.
And. Nothing. Bad. Happened. 😛
Sometimes by not accepting the “what is” . . . we struggle against things that we do not have control over, wearing ourselves out in the process as we beat our heads against immovable walls.
My word for 2015 ~> Acceptance.