Big Learning – yourhappyplaceblog

365 days of learning something NEW

Published on January 4, 2016January 4, 2016 by goforthegood1Leave a comment

Challenge your path to growth. Try something NEW. It’s a great way to learn new things, to shift energy and empower yourself!

“Something is going to come out of this. Something New. This can end you up in a whole new place–a better place, a much more open place.” -Pema Chodron

With the New Year I thought it would be fulfilling to begin by learning or trying something, anything NEW each day. Each week I am going to post my findings, so then you can learn new things along with me. Feel free to post NEW things you have enjoyed learning too! It should be fun!!

Here we go! I am going to be adding more and more, so I am not going to date them because there will be lots to learn. Look for my posts marked 365 for additional things to learn.

bEEbFCH FUN FACT: In chatting with my sister-in-law I learned there is a jellyfish called, “The Immortal Jellyfish” that when it gets scared, its defense mechanism literally reverts and transforms it back into its infant state. It can become “immortal” if the cycle happens over and over again.

960018_417139271726610_324800680_n Live each day! I read a small excerpt in an Oprah magazine about a woman who had survived 9-11. She had a small, square tattooed on her wrist to remind her that “I am alive.” What could you do to remember this precious gift of life? We are each given daily gifts of life. Live them.

STRETCH! “Our culture places a premium on strength and power and as a result anything that has to do with mobility or stability feels like a waste of time. But the opposite is true. Having a full range of motion actually helps you achieve better results when you perform your regular workouts. Loosening tight and overworked muscles can improve your posture, give you more toned thighs and even make it easier to flatten your abs.” -David Reavy Founder of React Physical Therapy

Everything in your body is constantly reacting to everything else—it is called a Kinetic Chain Theory

5 Must-Do Stretches: Here is a link that has 5 stretches http://www.oprah.com/health_wellness/Reasons-To-Stretch

Cut down on TV Watching more than 2 hours of TV per day can increase your risk of diabetes.

PLAY Stuart Brown MD, describes PLAY as time spent without purpose. Brown believes that Play is at the core of creativity and innovation. Play is anything that makes us lose track of time and self-consciousness, creating the clearing where ideas are born. Create a PLAY list. Write down three activities you could do for hours on end.

“Your real job on earth is to become more of who YOU really are. To live to the highest degree what is pure, what is honest, what is natural, what feels like the real you. Anything less is a faked life. To be authentic is the highest form of praise. You’re fulfilling your mission and purpose on earth when you honor the real you.” -Oprah

That is it for today. HAPPY NEW LEARNING!! Look for more 365 posts.

Have a BeYOUtiful day!! -H

BIG LEARNING: Loving yourself

Published on June 8, 2015 by goforthegood1Leave a comment

I wanted to share a few great ideas and big learning on loving yourself and becoming your best. I found the following in a great book by Jo Ann Larsen

“If an individual is able to love productively, he loves himself, too; if he can love only others, he cannot love at all” -Erich Fromm

“If one is out of touch with oneself, then one cannot touch others.” -Anne Morrow Lindbergh

“Fully loving ourselves also entails recognizing that we, as ever-differentiating human beings, have a right, and a responsibility, to nurture ourselves and to perpetuate our growth.” -Jo Ann Larsen

“We are all in the endless quest of becoming—of creating, with our own chisel, our own masterpiece—that of ourselves.” “We’re all given an assignment in life to discover the ways in which we’re exceptional, and then to live a joyful life.” “God gave us all certain gifts, but it is up to us to decide how to use them in such a way that even the Being who gave them to us will look down one day in admiration and say, ‘Hmmm, I never thought of that way before.” -Bernie Siegel.

“If you have anything valuable to contribute to the world, it will come through the expression of your own personality–that single spark of divinity that sets you off and makes you different from any other living creature.” -Bruce Barton

When we view ourselves as “masters” chipping away each day at our own masterpieces, others—as well as ourselves—are beneficiaries, for we can give back amply to the world and to add to its goodness.

Perhaps life’s greatest challenge is to continually refine ourselves so finally at last we do know how to fully live. Speaking of the concerted effort involved in such refining, Harry Emerson Fosdick says, “No horse gets anywhere until he is harnessed. No stream or gas ever drives anything until it is confined. No Niagara is ever turned into light and power until it is channeled. No life ever grows great until it is focused, dedicated, disciplined.”

As human beings, we are unique and unrepeatable events in the universe. Refining thus becomes a challenge of accepting ourselves as the treasures we are. We may not—in the world’s eyes or our own—come into life supposedly as adorned as others. Nor must we. To be ourselves, to fully develop our own attributes, and to give all that we might, is to stand unadorned—in and of ourselves–as perfect products of nature ever in the process of becoming.

Have a beautiful day. Peace to You. -H

BIG LEARNING: It’s a mental thing.

Published on April 8, 2015 by goforthegood1Leave a comment

I am very intrigued by the power of the mind, so I thought we could take some good lessons from a few different places. BIG LEARNING should come from a variety of places—movies, legends, amazing interviews. I think I may try to incorporate a new idea of BIG LEARNING & hit topics like the mind/body connection, energy, thoughts, feelings, etc. So, if you see BIG LEARNING—take a look, there is bound to be something you can take away. I will make it a good mix.

There is a great scene in The Princess Bride. Do you remember this movie?? There is a great scene in the Fire Swamp where you have Princess Buttercup feeling quite negative and hopeless, but then you have Westley trying to put a good spin on the situation. It is a great example of…

POSITIVE VS NEGATIVE THINKING, ATTITUDE, PERSPECTIVE…

[Buttercup and Westley have just entered the Fire Swamp]

Westley: It’s not that bad. [Buttercup stares at him in disbelief] Well, I’m not saying I’d like to build a summer home here, but the trees are actually quite lovely.

[after Westley rescues Buttercup from the lightning quicksand]

Buttercup: We’ll never succeed. We may as well die here.

Westley: No, no. We have already succeeded. I mean, what are the three terrors of the Fire Swamp? One, the flame spurt–no problem. There’s a popping sound preceding each; we can avoid that. Two, the lightning sand, which you were clever enough to discover what that looks like, so in the future we can avoid that too.

Buttercup: Westley, what about the R.O.U.S.’s?

Westley: Rodents of unusual size? I don’t think they exist. [immediately, an R.O.U.S attacks him]

With that great example in mind, here are some great things to put into action and think about. I was listening to a great interview with Pam Grout and I loved her positive outlook, so I wanted to share some of her thoughts…

You can be out looking for problems and train yourself to look for problems or we can get grateful, which then brings more things to be grateful for. It brings more love, joy and peace into your life.

Pam grout wakes up every morning and her motto is…Something Amazingly Awesome is going to happen today!! This attitude and energy help you create new and exciting things for your life. This type of energy wants to create an exciting life. That is why we are here!! To create the good, the holy and the beautiful. We are all creators!

Pam Grout also has a 2.2 Step Process: Number One, wake up and say SOMETHING AMAZINGLY AWESOME IS GOING TO HAPPEN TODAY. Number Two, look for blessings and miracles and then text them to someone.

Whenever I think of positive vs negative, it always reminds me of this great Native American Legend, Two Wolves

An old cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil–he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued, “The other is good–he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside of you—and inside every other person, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

I love that metaphor & it is a good visual to remember when you are having a mental struggle. Just ask yourself, Which Wolf are you feeding?

I hope these thoughts give you something good to think about.

Well, little bits of BIG LEARNING is always a good thing, so take it, make it yours in your life and enjoy.

-Peace to you. Heather