Quote of the Day

The discovery of a new dish does more for the happiness of the human race than the discovery of a star. - Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin in "The Physiology of Taste: Or, Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy"

 

Image:  Risotto al Limoncello by Dominique Allmon©2025

 

Medicine Buddha

Ancient teachings tell us that merely seeing the Medicine Buddha, or even seeing an image of the Medicine Buddha, or hearing the name of the Medicine Buddha, can confer inconceivable benefits. - Spiritual Bliss

Bhaisajyaguru, commonly known as the Medicine Buddha, is the Buddha of healing and medicine in Mahayana Buddhism. He is a fully enlightened being capable of healing both, the outer and the inner, suffering or dukkha by applying his teachings as medicine. He has unbiased compassion for all sentient beings. He offers protection from physical harm and mental afflictions, as well as other dangers and obstacles. He helps the faithful to eradicate the three unwholesome roots (poisons) or kleshas of attachment, hatred and ignorance that are considered to be the source of all suffering.

In a Sanskrit manuscript called Medicine Buddha Sutra (Bhaisajya-guru-vaiḍūrya-prabhā-rāja Sūtra) he was described as a bodhisattva who upon enlightenment made twelve great vows:

1. To illuminate countless realms with his radiance and enable anyone to become a Buddha.
2. To awaken the minds of sentient beings through the light of lapis lazuli.
3. To provide all sentient beings with all necessary material needs.
4. To correct heretical views and inspire all sentient beings toward the enlightened path of the Bodhisattva.
5. To help all sentient beings follow the Moral Precepts of Buddhism even if they have failed before.
6. To heal sentient beings born with deformities, illness or other physical sufferings.
7. To help relieve the destitute and the sick from their suffering.
8. To help women who wish to be reborn as men achieve their desired form of rebirth.
9. To heal sentient beings from their mental afflictions and delusions.
10. To help the oppressed be free from their suffering.
11. To relieve those who suffer from terrible hunger and thirst.
12. To help clothe those who are destitute and suffering from cold weather or mosquitoes.

The idea of Buddha as a metaphorical healer is as old as Buddhism itself and goes back to the historical Buddha who found the cure for suffering and presented his formula as the Four Noble Truths.

Medicine Buddha is one of the emanations of the Gautama Buddha as understood in Mahayana Buddhism. He is venerated in China, Japan and Tibet. He is often depicted as a seated Buddha with a stem of the Aruna fruit (Terminalia chebula) wearing the three robes of a Buddhist monk, sometimes blue-faced or having a blue body and holding a lapis lazuli medicine bottle.

Bhaisajyaguru (Medicine Buddha) Mantra

namo bhagavate bhaiṣajyaguru
vaidūryaprabharājāya tathāgatāya arhate
samyaksambuddhāya tadyathā:
oṃ bhaiṣajye bhaiṣajye
bhaiṣajya-samudgate svāhā

The practice of Medicine Buddha is considered to be a very powerful tool for liberation from suffering. The faithful recite either the dharani or the mantra that helps them overcome the inner "sickness" of attachment, hatred and ignorance. It also helps ease the outer, physical suffering and purify the negative karma.

By Dominique Allmon

Dominique Allmon©2025

Images: Medicine Buddha by Dominique Allmon

 

Quote of the Day

Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring. It was peace. - Milan Kundera

Image: The Good Girl by Dominique Allmon©2024

 

Let Lemons Be Lemons!

As you go about your daily life, you will encounter many lemons. Sour expressions, sour attitudes, sour auras! The good thing is that if you don’t want to be a lemon, you don’t have to be! Just don’t let those lemons rub themselves all over you! And you don’t even have to save them! Let lemons be lemons! One of the most important things that I have ever learned, is that I don’t have to save people. - C. JoyBell C.

Take the advice!

Let lemons be lemons 

and shine on this first day of summer! 

~ Dominique

 

Image: Let Lemons Be Lemons by Dominique Allmon©2018

Ikigai - Japanese Secret To A Long And Happy Life

People can feel real ikigai only when, on the basis of personal maturity, the satisfaction of various desires, love and happiness, encounters with others, and a sense of the value of life, they proceed toward self-realization. - Kobayashi Tsukasa

We seldom meet people who do not wish for a happy life. For many, the struggle is hard, but it shouldn't be. One has to simply love what one does. That's all. 

Nothing easier said than done. Unfortunately, most people end up in jobs they hate and vegetate unhappily till their retirement. Life is postponed for that later moment in time, when there is more money, more freedom, more time, more leisure, to do what we please and love. Unfortunately, that moment seldom comes, but if it does, it does not last long and does not bring the effect that we had hoped for. Happiness seems to be a habit that must be cultivated all life long. One does not simply retire from a tedious job and become happy the next day, but one can certainly change the direction of one's life early enough not to end up frustrated at an older age.

Have you heard of Ikigai? 

Ikigai is a Japanese concept of our reason for existence, very similar to the French raison d'être, or the ultimate purpose of one's life. The Japanese believe that everybody has ikigai. Ikigai is the force, the motivation, the passion that makes our life worth living. In other words, ikigai is what makes us tick. Those who find their ikigai can enjoy a long and happy life.

The Germans say that you are a happy man if you know how to combine the "nützlich" or the useful, with the "angenehm" or pleasant and enjoyable. Many of us have heard stories of successful Wall Street bankers leaving everything behind only to grow organic food or raise chickens on a farm. Such dramatic decisions are not necessarily motivated by money alone and there is always more to their story.

If your job doesn't make you really happy, but it pays for your lifestyle and allows you to keep up with the Joneses, you might not find your ikigai; but if you have moved to an English countryside to restore and sell antique furniture because antiques are your passion since your early discovery and exploration of your grandma's attic, you are meant to find your ikigai, even if the money you earn isn't buying you an English manor right away. 

 

 

Ikigai is to live to your own expectations, not to the expectations of others. If you are a lawyer because everybody in your family is, and this is your passion, you are the lucky one. However, if you were "coerced" in this direction by your relatives, but would rather be a concert violinist, you may end up unhappy sooner or later. Emphasis on "might" because a lifelong practice of law may help you discover aspects of your profession that are deeply satisfying.

Ikigai is to lose yourself in your passion or, in other words, find passion in everything you are doing, and carry it all life long. Ikigai is what makes the difference between a lethargic, tired retiree who isn't needed anymore, and a happy, energetic, active octogenarian who is traveling the world, painting landscapes on a seaside, learning Chinese calligraphy, or preparing for a marathon run.

Discovery of one's own ikigai requires deep introspection, courage, maturity, and a very honest assessment of one's current place in the world. The compromise one is willing to make in early twenties, may not hold up to the litmus test later.

 
Finding your ikigai early enough can make an incredible difference in your life. The choice between deep frustration and genuine happiness looks like a no-brainer, but this choice can only be made if one is brave enough to leave the assumed comfort zone.

If you can balance your chosen profession with your mission in life, your vocation, and that which you are truly passionate about, you are meant to experience ikigai.

How to find ikigai?

To find your ikigai you will have to honestly answer four questions:

• What do you love doing? - Ask yourself what it is that gives you the greatest joy and makes your heart beat faster.
• What are you truly good at? - Name your natural talents and skills that you have mastered.
• What is your vocation? - Do you have a cause you want to fight for? Is there anything you would do to make the world a better place?
• What do you get paid for? - What skills and services can you offer in exchange for money without compromising your values? 

Take a moment to look into your heart before you answer these questions. Take a piece of paper and write down your answers. You may want to use an ikigai diagram of overlapping circles to better illustrate common aspects of your existence. Reflect on your current situation and visualize where you would rather want to be. At the end of this exercise, ask yourself a question about what needs to be changed or done to bring you closer to your ikigai and follow this direction.

As I wrote above, certain maturity and a high dose of honesty is required to make big changes in one's life. If you are not truly happy, if you feel that something is missing in your life, you might have to take a close look at yourself. What you could find, might surprise you.

By Dominique Allmon
 

Dominique Allmon©2017

IKIGAI Long Sleeve Shirt design by my late husband James W. Allmon  Not an affiliate link

Navigating Changes and Challenges

By Gina Lake

Change feels like tossing a coin up in the air - you don't know which way it will land, good or bad for the ego? The ego is deeply concerned it will turn out badly. The ego considers the worst case scenarios and fears the worst. It attaches a story to what's going on: "My life is going downhill." 

But good and bad are concepts, not realities. In reality, everything that happens is a mixture of what we (the ego) would consider good and bad. Everything has its advantages and disadvantages, its hidden blessings and hidden costs. Even in every day, both what we like and don't like show up. Every moment has this same mixture of what we would consider good and bad. If we stay in the moment in the midst of something that is changing that we don't like (e.g., a divorce, a move, unemployment, a health problem), we see that the actual experience of life in each moment is constantly shifting. Even in the worst of times, our bad feelings come and go and we are capable of laughter, happiness, and certainly love.

The story we bring into this moment about our "problem" makes the moment seem more difficult and stressful than it actually is. How challenging life is, is largely a matter of how much we are just in life without the story of our problem and how much we are not in real life but in our story. We carry our problems around with us mentally and bring them into the moment, spoiling it. Our problems have no objective existence, but exist only as an idea of a problem. We define something as a problem, and that creates the experience of having a problem.

No situation or circumstance is unmanageable, but we make it so by thinking about our problem, complaining about it, trying to figure out what can't be figured out, feeling bad, being angry or afraid, worrying, rehashing the past, and wishing things were different. These thoughts make whatever we're experiencing more challenging, much more than any particular situation actually is. When a challenging time or situation is stripped of these thoughts, all that's left is what to do or not do in this moment about it or anything else. Often what's required of us in a particular moment has nothing to do with our "problem." And yet, we may carry the idea of this problem into such ordinary and potentially pleasant moments.

I challenge you to stay depressed or unhappy constantly. It's impossible! Like a fist that is clenched too long, the contracted state must let go at a certain point. Eventually, we experience relief from it. That relief usually comes as a result of putting our mind and attention on something other than our problem - getting lost in some experience we are having. Getting lost in what is real rather than what is unreal - our problem.

The trouble is our ego actually loves the idea of a problem and all the worries and plans that go with that problem. The ego is also what hates the problem, while at the same time it enjoys hating it! You can sense this when you notice the complete experience of your suffering. Within that suffering is enjoyment of suffering! That's the ego. Suffering keeps the ego alive and gives it an identity: "I am someone who is suffering. And I have a problem that needs a solution." A problem gives us not only an identity, but also something to do.

The ego defines something as a problem, generates unpleasant feelings around it, and seeks solutions. This problem-creation and solution-seeking is how the ego is maintained. Without a "problem" and the suffering caused by that, there wouldn't be anything to think about. Without thought, you would drop into Essence and be happy, and the ego would be out of a job. The ego has a racket going that keeps it in power, and the ego doesn't want you to catch on to that.

The beauty is that change isn't like a coin that is tossed in the air; it just feels like that to the ego. Change isn't like a coin because a coin has only two sides - one considered good and one considered bad. From the standpoint of Essence, any change that is happening is just as it is meant to be. In other words, the flip of the coin always ends up in your favor. That is actually the truth about life. It isn't like a coin for two reasons: It doesn't have two sides: It is neither good nor bad, but just what it is. And it is always a mixture of what the ego would consider good and bad. Life is often like a coin tossed, however, in its unpredictability. We just don't have to be afraid of how it will land.

Something very wise is behind every experience that feels like a coin toss. We may not be aware of it, but we can trust that it will bring us the experience we need. And if we don't bring worries, fears, judgments, resistance, victimization, anger, confusion, or other negativity to that experience, we will discover that it serves our growth and evolution toward becoming a more loving and wiser human being. Life is wise, and it is bringing us Home. Change and challenges are a natural and necessary part of life. When we trust and listen to the wisdom that we are instead of to the false self that we are not, we find that any change or challenge can be navigated gracefully and without too much suffering.

About the author

Gina Lake has a masters degree in counseling psychology and over twenty years experience as an astrologer and a channel, with a focus on helping people understand themselves and whatever programming interferes with awakening to their true nature and living the life they were meant to live. Visit her website at www.radicalhappiness.com.

Article source here 

Image: Sacred Geometry Unfolding in Romana Lettuce by Dominique Allmon©2016

Happy Thanksgiving!

True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing. The greatest blessings of mankind are within us and within our reach. A wise man is content with his lot, whatever it may be, without wishing for what he has not. - Seneca

Wishing everyone a happy and meaningful Thanksgiving! - Dominique

Image by Dominique Allmon©2015

Seeing Magic

By Tracy Cochran

Who doesn’t like a good story?  Some facts remain constant in this changeable and unpredictable world.  Among them is the wish to be loved, to be safe, to be free from physical and mental suffering, to be free and at ease in this world, to know life and be known as we really are.  What makes great novels great is the way they embody and convey this constant wish among humans and other beings.   We root for Jane Eyre and for Harry Potter as they rise to the challenge of overcoming the ever increasing obstacles that stand in the way of the fulfillment of this wish.  One reason people love those characters in particular is this wish to love and be loved - to really unfold - comes blazing out of a truly oppressed little kid who proves capable of discovering unknown powers and strengths.  Both characters are stimulated into extraordinary growth. Their respective authors convey the sense we all have (at least unconsciously):  that we have magic in us.

What exactly is this magic supposed to consist of? It is our capacity to drop whatever mental rock we happen to be holding, to open the grasping hand of the self and receive life just as it is. “Bronte’s sense of human personality is that it is pliant, fluid, living, in immediate (and often defiant) response to its surroundings,” writes Joyce Carol Oates. “Not that it is stable and determined.”  We thrill as Jane and Harry are stimulated by circumstances to discover remarkable strengths and capacities. Our innate story sense tells us there is a way to be heroic in life that does not involve bashing our way through obstacles like a human fist - that involves being open to change.

The chief obstacle seems to be ourselves - literally, our attachment to a fixed notion of self.  Looking at everything that meets us from this fixed vantage point creates a sense of separation and opposition. We label and judge everything instantaneously, scrolling through the files of memory to place things, separating our “selves” from what we see. This is a primal tendency and there is nothing wrong with it: what would happen if our cells lost the ability to distinguish between self and other?  What if atoms lost their inherent sense of structure? Everything would be all shapeless and formless and void.  The grand story of life as we know it would cease.

Still, we have to find a way not to be enslaved by the tendency - not to live our lives in a cupboard under the stairs, forever at a remove at a direct experience of life by what we believe we know, by what we believe ourselves to be. Our relish for books like Jane Eyre and Harry Potter reveal that we believe that we know deep down that there is something wondrous about life waiting for us - and that we ourselves may have extraordinary capacities.  I just don’t feel it because I am lost in thoughts, images, desires, disappointments, physical impressions - lost in old knowledge. A famous Buddhist teacher once described the great predicament of human race in three words:  “Lost in thought.”

Yet there is another way of being attentive, and we have all experienced it - at least for fleeting moments. There are moments when we are so astonished by life that we can just stand there are receive it without naming, without judging. Sometimes, this seems to come spontaneously in the wake of earth-shaking news - sometimes in the midst of a meditation retreat when we allow ourselves to be very still, yet very sensitive and alive inside. This is that rare state when we make no distinctions, when one thing is not more than another - everything is equally astonishing, equally evidence of the wild, strange miracle of life.  In such a moment, there is no separation between the life inside us and outside. We are seamlessly connected and we have a role to play. We are to stand there and be astonished (as that wonderful poet and Parabola contributor Mary Oliver has written). We are to see, to receive, what is taking place. In such a moment, we realize that the brave and creative and magical act that so many of us aspire to is just this act: seeing what is taking place.

Most of us know this experience, and then we forget, and this is perfectly natural. We have to get on with the business of living. Yet a feeling lingers, a longing to know ourselves and know life in a more complete way. What to do? I think we may need to acknowledge that longing in an honest and straightforward way, like Jane Eyre yearning for the moon and the stars and adventure, and then hearing the clock strike and going in to do her job, letting” little things recall us to earth.”

Article source here

Image source here

Stop Writing That Book!

A self-fulfilling prophecy is an assumption or prediction that, purely as a result of having been made, cause the expected or predicted event to occur and thus confirms its own "accuracy" • Paul Watzlawick 

Years ago a very troubled colleague of mine told me that she found a cure to her unbelievable unhappiness. She bought a then freshly published book written by the Austrian-American psychologist Paul Watzlawick. "The Situation is Hopeless But Not Serious" or "Sorge Dich Nicht, Lebe" in German, helped her cope with her own misery and made her laugh at herself, something she has not ever done before.

And we both laughed when she told me the story of a hammer.

A man wants to hang a picture on the wall. He has a nail, but does not have a hammer. He considers borrowing it from his neighbor, but before he even leaves his home a thought crosses his mind. He remembers seeing his neighbor just the other day. "The guy did not even greet me yesterday. Who knows what he thinks of me. Maybe he has something against me... He probably will not even lend me his hammer. Who knows what is going on in his mind. I am not like that. If anyone have asked me for a tool I would gladly lend it to him. How can a human being be so heartless! Such people make our lives miserable. On purpose! He probably even thinks that my life depends on him only because I need to borrow his hammer. Nasty man! But that's enough! I will tell him what I think of him!" Agitated, the man knocks on his neighbor's door. The door opens and before the neighbor can even say a word our protagonist shouts out "You know what, you can keep your bloody hammer, you...!" and walks away leaving his neighbor completely perplexed.

The poor man in this story has written a whole book before he even knocked on his neighbor's door. How many stories do we write before we act? How often we do not act at all because the story we have written did not have a happy ending?

Over the years I met many people with complete stories of their entire lives. One bad experience in the past destroyed all hopes for better future. Life was what it was and there was no reason to expect anything else. It even seemed to me that such lives ended long time ago and the unfortunate people were only there to turn the pages of their own creation.

Of course, things are not always as dramatic and not all of us get stuck in some kind of morbid scenario. Most of us write short stories, especially when we have to make difficult decisions or face particular situations or people.

Our creative activity begins early. Maybe as kids we did something wrong and were terrified to talk to our parents. Maybe we were terrified not because our parents were very strict, but because we imagined that they would punish us severely for what we did. The story we wrote not only prevented us from acting, but also protected us from pain that we might have experienced if we did talk to our parents.

Over the years we may have become masters of the genre. We always know better, and we know for sure that there are forces much stronger than we can even imagine that always act against us. 

A scary scenario unfolds when we interact we people who represent some kind of authority: parents, teachers, credit facilitators, spouses. We don't even need to try. We already know the outcome. So we leave things undone and words unspoken and indulge in our misery.

But would anything change if we stopped writing the book?

Change does not happen overnight. It takes time and determination to change behavior patterns that were perfected over the years, but they can be changed. With a little practice we could learn to shift our attention and concentrate on the action that has to be taken and not on the outcome we expect. Once we have mastered this new behavior we could learn to shift our attention and start creating positive outcomes, but this is a different story...

By Dominique Allmon

Dominique Allmon©2013

Image source here

 

Choose Goodness

By Ralph Marston

The time you spend living in fear is time you cannot spend living in love. The time you spend hiding and retreating from life is time you cannot spend growing and advancing and achieving. 

The hours and days you spend being annoyed or frustrated are times when you deny yourself access to life’s best possibilities. When you live in anger and resentment, you cut yourself off from life’s goodness. 

Sure, there are many bad things that can happen. Yet you can be aware of them, and realistic about them, without being obsessed and consumed by them. 

You may very well have good reasons for resentment, frustration and anger. But that doesn’t mean those negative responses are good for you, or that you must choose them. 

You can choose instead to live in the enriching, empowering light of your own highest visions. You can always choose to grow, to achieve, and to fulfill by immersing your awareness in life’s ever-present goodness. 

Every aspect of your life is greatly influenced, day in and day out, by the way you imagine life to be. Imagine the best, choose the goodness, and be a source of love and light for all to see. 

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Happy Every Day

Tips for Happiness in Daily Life by Remez Sasson

Daily life can be made happier. It is a matter of choice. It is our attitude that makes us feel happy or unhappy. It is true, we meet all kinds of situations during the day, and some of them may not be conductive to happiness. We can choose to keep thinking about the unhappy events, and we can choose to refuse to think about them, and instead, relish the happy moments. All of us constantly go through various situations and circumstances, but we do not have to let them influence our reactions and feelings. 

If we let outer events influence our moods, we become their slaves. We lose our freedom. We let our happiness be determined by outer forces. On the other hand, we can free ourselves from outer influences. We can choose to be happy, and we can do a lot to add happiness to our lives. 

What is happiness? It is a feeling of inner peace and satisfaction. It is usually experienced when there are no worries, fears or obsessing thoughts, and this usually happens, when we do something we love to do or when we get, win, gain or achieve something that we value. It seems to be the outcome of positive events, but it actually comes from the inside, triggered by outer events. 

For most people, happiness seems fleeting and temporary, because they allow external circumstances to affect it. One of the best ways to keep it, is by gaining inner peace through daily meditation. As the mind becomes more peaceful, it becomes easier to choose the happiness habit. 

Here are a few tips for increasing happiness in daily life:

• Endeavor to change the way you look at things. Always look at the bright side. The mind may drag you to think about negativity and difficulties. Don't let it. Look at the good and positive side of every situation. 
• Think of solutions, not problems.
• Listen to relaxing, uplifting music.
• Watch funny comedies that make you laugh.
• Each day, devote some time to reading a few pages of an inspiring book or article.  
• Watch your thoughts. Whenever you catch yourself thinking negative thoughts, start thinking of pleasant things.
• Always look at what you have done and not at what you haven't. Sometimes you may begin the day with the desire to accomplish several objectives. At the end of the day you might feel frustrated and unhappy, because you haven't been able to do all of those things. Look at what you have done, not at what you have not been able to do. Often, even if you have accomplished a lot during the day, you let yourself feel frustrated, because of small minor tasks you didn't accomplish. Sometimes, you spend all day successfully carrying out many plans, but instead of feeling happy and satisfied, you look at what was not accomplished and feel unhappy. It is unfair toward yourself.
• Each day do something good for yourself. It can be something small, such buying a book, eating something you love, watching your favorite program on TV, going to a movie, or just having a stroll on the beach.
• Each day do at least one act to make others happy.This can be a kind word, helping your colleagues, stopping your car at the crossroad to let people cross, giving your seat in a bus to someone else, or giving a small present to someone you love. The possibilities are infinite. When you make someone happy, you become happy, and then people try to make you happy.
• Always expect happiness.
• Do not envy people who are happy. On the contrary, be happy for their happiness.  
• Associate with happy people, and try to learn from them to be happy. Remember, happiness is contagious.
• Do your best to stay detached, when things do not proceed as intended and desired. Detachment will help you stay calm and control your moods and reactions. Detachment is not indifference. It is the acceptance of the good and the bad and staying balanced. Detachment has much to do with inner peace, and inner peace is conductive to happiness.
• Smile more often.

About the author: 

Remez Sasson is an author and blogger. He is the founder of SuccessConsciousness.com, a website and blog about self improvement and spiritual growth. Remez Sasson is the author of several life transforming books, with a wealth of information, advice and guidance.

The Extraordinary Nature of Everyday Life

 The ingredients

Dissatisfied with their everyday lives, many people look for something extraordinary somewhere else. Some would travel to "magical" places in hope of finding that special ingredient that is missing in their daily lives. Others resolve to mind altering substances in order to experience something different. All in vain because as soon as their trip (the physical or the psychedelic one) is over, the whole magic disappears and they are back to the lives they tried so hard to escape from.

The story repeats itself over and over. People try to escape the dullness and monotony they created themselves. They look for something "exotic" but sooner or later, if they are completely honest with themselves, they must admit that the "exotic" is not necessarily more satisfying. Enlightenment comes when they realize that the very thing they were looking for was right where they started. 

The product

It is not a widely recognized fact that the small things in everyday life are what makes our lives special. Why not look for the extraordinary in the most ordinary? Cooking, eating, walking, gardening, writing, reading... One only has to slow down a bit and ponder. 

Very often we are told to keep an eye on the greater picture and not lose ourselves in small details. Although the big picture is important, it is the small details that eventually make it.

The big picture is necessary of course and one should not try to get lost in small details, but how sad one's life must have been when, at the end, a person realizes that  his or her life was empty and meaningless if not actually wasted. All that fortune and fame for nothing!

So, how do we add meaning to everyday life? 

The Japanese Zen masters invented an elaborate tea ceremony, for instance. In the tea ceremony each ordinary gesture is highly ritualized. The participants experience tea drinking as something extraordinary. But once again, the ritual becomes an escape. A "trip" to a place in space and time where the rules of everyday life are suspended. At least for a while.

In our fast paced lives we do not normally have the time and the comfort to create elaborate rituals, but we can try to change our focus. Enhanced concentration and full presence are required if one wants to see the marvels of everyday life. The steps are simple:

• stay in the present
• slow down
• have the courage to face your reality
• re-evaluate your choices - more often than not less is more
• break the routine and introduce new things
• take responsibility for everything that is happening in your life
• and last, but not least, stop sending text messages while eating, walking or driving

Stress, multitasking, and superficiality, among others, are the culprits, but if we slow down just a bit and concentrate on the present we can develop intimate relationships with our surroundings and for the first time see the things that we left unnoticed. 

First steps

Start slowly and take small steps to change your habits. Switch off your cell phone and take a walk through a park. Make a wholesome breakfast on Monday instead of taking coffee to go on your way to work. Celebrate your relationships as something special. Plant a garden and watch the vegetables grow. Start a journal or a blog. Go to a concert, create art, cook with friends, go dancing, take a bath, visit a museum, or take a trip. 

Yes! Take a trip not to look for what is missing in your life, but to experience the magic of traveling and, most importantly, the magic of returning home. 

No matter what you do, remember that you do not have to go to far away places to find out how extraordinary your life can be. You have the power to give meaning to even the most banal of things.

So, slow down and smell the roses! Or the freshly baked bread!

By Dominique Allmon

 

Dominique Allmon©2012

Images source here

Quote of the Day

Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. - Nathaniel Hawthorne

Key to Happiness

Remember. There are 

no keys to happiness. 

The door is always open... 

 Author unknown but greatly appreciated

Happiness Is An Inside Job

More often than not, people expect to be made happy. They understand happiness as something that comes from without; something that is conditioned and depends on other people, things, or circumstances.

It is very possible that these people experience happiness. And it is possible that such happiness lasts for quite some time. Unfortunately, as soon as their circumstances change, their happiness is gone as well...

Happiness is an inside job. No one can make you happy. You are the one who is in control. Genuine happiness is unconditional. No circumstances can change that. It is true that a misfortune may change how you feel and think about things.

Misfortunes are there to test your resolve as it is always your attitude to things that sets the tone. Never forget. Never forget that happiness is always an inside job.

By Dominique Allmon

 
Dominique Allmon©2012

Image source unknown but greatly appreciated

Quote of the Day

Let us be grateful to the people 

who make us happy. 

They are the charming gardeners 

who make our souls blossom. 

Marcel Proust

Image source unknown but greatly appreciated

Good Fortune

You are a fortunate person, indeed, if you can begin each day accepting the fact that during that day there will be ups and downs, good breaks and bad ones, disappointments, surprises, and unexpected turns of events. - Roy Benjamin

Happy Without Guilt

The belief that unhappiness is selfless and happiness is selfish is misguided. It is more selfless to act happy. It takes energy, generosity, and discipline to be unfailingly lighthearted, and yet, everyone takes the happy person for granted. No one is careful of his feelings or tries to keep his spirits high. He seems self-sufficient; he becomes a cushion for others. And because happiness seems unforced, that person usually gets no credit. - Gretchen Rubin

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Fill Your Day with Joy

By Ian McKenzie

We spend a lot of time in the pursuit of happiness. Happiness is a great thing, but can be subjective, based on circumstances. Joy brings a deeper sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. Joy is foundational; a sense that all will work out, even when the immediate circumstances aren’t going the way we would like.

Richard Wagner said, “Joy is not in things; it is in us.” We chase happiness, but we build joy. There are many ways to develop a joy-full attitude; here a three simple daily activities anyone can try:

Start each day with a pleasant word - When the alarm sounds in the morning, the first words I say to my wife are, “I love you”. Start the day with a positive thought or word, even if - or especially if -  you’re not a “morning person”. If the first thought in your head as you wake up, involves grumbling, you can bet the rest of the day is going to feel lousy.

Smile more - You don’t have to spend the day grinning like an idiot, but there is nothing quite as infectious as sharing a smile. It’s impossible to remain miserable or angry while smiling. People who develop a sense of joy can smile even through the deepest loss.

Encourage someone everyday - One of the quickest ways to build joy is to shift the focus from yourself to others; and an easy way to shift that focus is to encourage someone. This is active behavior. It’s not good enough to think positive thoughts about some else. Take the time to communicate the encouragement.

Joy is infectious. Not only can we share it with those around us, but as we share joy, it continues to grow within us. Get out there and share some joy.

River of Self-Knowledge

We seek happiness through things, through relationship, through thoughts, ideas. So things, relationship, and ideas become all-important and not happiness. When we seek happiness through something, then the thing becomes of greater value than happiness itself. When stated in this manner, the problem sounds simple and it is simple. 

We seek happiness in property, in family, in name; then property, family, idea become all-important, for then happiness is sought through a means, and then the means destroys the end. Can happiness be found through any means, through anything made by the hand or by the mind? Things, relationship, and ideas are so transparently impermanent, we are ever made unhappy by them. Things are impermanent, they wear out and are lost; relationship is constant friction and death awaits; ideas and beliefs have no stability, no permanency. 

We seek happiness in them and yet do not realize their impermanence. So sorrow becomes our constant companion and overcoming it our problem.

To find out the true meaning of happiness, we must explore the river of self-knowledge. Self-knowledge is not an end in itself. Is there a source to a stream? Every drop of water from the beginning to the end makes the river. To imagine that we will find happiness at the source is to be mistaken. It is to be found where you are on the river of self-knowledge.”

Jiddu Krishnamurti