Have you ever wondered what it’s like to live the life of another species…a dolphin… a butterfly…a tree? Today, my imagination goes underground into the daily life of the gopher. 

I am just amazed at the persistence of gophers.   No matter how many times her tunnels are destroyed, the little gopher just keeps on digging.  I imagine that she does so cheerfully.   Well, maybe not cheerfully, but I’m pretty sure she doesn’t start digging a new tunnel full of resentment about the destruction of the former one.  I’m fairly certain that when she sees a collapsed tunnel, she doesn’t become angry, frustrated and waste time complaining to herself and others.  She’s simply present, digging, one claw-full at a time.

Read more of Today My Guru is a Gopher

On February 18, we’ll have another Mindful Life Community Conversation and I want to know what you want to talk about! 

Where do you want to bring Mindfulness into your life?  What is happening in the world that needs our thoughtful, careful, compassionate attention?  What do you need to spark more passion and creativity in your daily life?  How can the Mindful Life Community serve you and serve the world?

Check back closer to the date of the call for information about how to dial in!

Today’s Mindful Life Conversation really got me thinking!  I hope it inspired you, too.  Here are some thoughts I had after the call….

……I am remembering another aspect of intuition.  To be really open to intuition, I have to be open to “hearing” or rather “intuiting” something that I don’t already know!  So if I’m attached to a belief or caught in a judgment about a situation, then I’m not always very open to new information that seems counter to something I am “sure of”.  

For example, I know times when I’ve had the intuition to do something completely out of character, something that goes against my usual way. I don’t always listen to that “hit” because it doesn’t seem that rational to me.  To follow that intuition requires that I take a bold step.  I sure don’t want to do that unless I’m really present!  And when present, I can more readily tell when one of the beliefs I’m holding on to is serving me or not.

This reminds me of ethical dilemmas – and how it’s really a choice to live from the heart (our intuition organ).  When we are in difficult decision making situations, sometimes the “right” answer is simply to follow what we feel is right…. Read more of Open Thread – Mindfulness, Acceptance and Intuition

Today is Martin Luther King Day and the Obama team encourages us to celebrate with COMMUNITY SERVICE.  Just visit www.usaservice.org and find out what’s happening in your area.  I was amazed at all the events in my own community, something for everyone!

I keep thinking about building forts as a kid.  I loved pulling out all the blankets and turning the living room into a fortress or a cave or a tea-house!  So today, I ignored my grown-up mind, took the blankets off the bed and off the back of the couch, built myself a fort and dragged in my laptop. 

Playfulness breeds creativity for me.  It puts me in that state of mind educational psychologists call “relaxed alertness.”  Just the right balance of focus and peacefulness. 

Next time, I might go outside and build a fairy house, or head for Ben Franklin to pick up some finger paints.  Or maybe I’ll invite you over for a piñata bashing party!

The Mindful Life Community in Action

“I wake up every morning, torn between a desire to save the whales, attain enlightenment, visit the Dalai Lama or go back to bed. Makes it kinda hard to plan the day.” ~Diane English

Have you set your New Year’s Intentions being mindful of your values? I have, and one of my values has to do with Nature – loving it, caring for it, and cultivating a sustainable personal footprint on our planet. Today I want to share with you one remarkable, mindful way to reduce fossil fuel consumption. It’s so simple, maybe you’ll be inspired to try it, too!

You may remember that over the holidays, I touched on the idea of eating mindfully as a way to keep the pounds off. By adding just one more piece of mindfulness – “consider the source” – we can also help the environment. Read more of Mindful Eating – Consider the Source

During the Wring In 2009! tele-workshop, participants were invited to get in touch with their deepest values and then create specific visions of a life lived according to those values. 

Again, there was limited time for sharing, so I invite you all to share here….

Were there any values that surprised you?  In what ways will that change your actions in the coming year? 

I’d love to see your visions and intentions too…particularly your new commitments to Service and Contribution.  What makes your heart sing?

If you didn’t participate, I invite you to share anyway.  And it isn’t too late to listen to the recorded calls online – you can register to do so HERE.

Thinking of making New Year’s Resolutions? Think again.

The most popular thing to do at New Years (besides drinking champagne) is probably to Make Resolutions. You tell yourself, your friends and your family (and if you’ve overdone it on champagne, perfect strangers!) that next year you’ll do it DIFFERENTLY. Next year, you really are going to lose those extra 20 pounds, even if you have to starve yourself to do it. For a time you stick to your plan. You diet, you join the gym and you lose some weight. Somewhere between Valentine’s Day and June, you lose your momentum. Summer rolls around and you beat up on yourself for not sticking to the diet and you dread putting on a swimsuit. Somewhere between Thanksgiving and Christmas you realize you really did eat that whole plate of cookies and you swear to fast until New Years so you don’t end the year without losing a single pound! Now it’s New Years Eve and you hate the sense of failure to meet your “resolution”, so you try to muster up some confidence to try again next year. (Maybe this contributes to the amount of champagne consumed on New Year’s Eve!)

Instead of making resolutions, what if you Set Intentions for 2009? Read more of Don’t Make Any Resolutions Till You Read This!