Sometimes we hang on to pain so dearly, it begins to define us. We don’t know what we’d do without it. We get used to it, like an old, moth-worn blanket that never really keeps us warm.

This week, we offer up quotes on letting go:

“True love doesn’t have a happy ending, because true love never ends. Letting go is one way of saying I love you.”

“Letting go doesn’t mean giving up, but rather accepting that there are things that cannot be.”

“There are things that we never want to let go of, people we never want to leave behind. But keep in mind that letting go isn’t the end of the world, it’s the beginning of a new life.”

“When you become good at the art of letting sufferings go, then you’ll come to realize what you were dragging around with you. And for that, no one else other than you was responsible.” Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

“It’s all right letting yourself go, as long as you can get yourself back.” Mick Jagger

“People are afraid of themselves, of their own reality; their feelings most of all. People talk about how great love is, but that’s bullshit. Love hurts. Feelings are disturbing. People are taught that pain is evil and dangerous. How can they deal with love if they’re afraid to feel? Pain is meant to wake us up. People try to hide their pain. But they’re wrong. Pain is something to carry, like a radio. You feel your strength in the experience of pain. It’s all in how you carry it. That’s what matters. Pain is a feeling. Your feelings are a part of you. Your own reality. If you feel ashamed of them, and hide them, you’re letting society destroy your reality. You should stand up for your right to feel your pain.” Jim Morrison

“Some people think it's holding on that makes one strong- sometimes it's letting go.”

Image Source: TheEnvisage

It’s easy to feel daunted by the idea of forgiveness. We all have people or situations we’ve needed to forgive and sometimes, it can feel next to impossible. It can seem to take years sometimes - even a lifetime.

Radical forgiveness is an idea developed by author Collin Toppin. It doesn’t take a lifetime. As a matter of fact, it can take minutes. One premise? That we simply entertain the idea that the problematic person or situation entered into our life for a reason. We don’t even have to believe it. This alone starts a ripple effect that breaks the hold of hurt and anger.
Here’s a little more about radical forgiveness:

Radical Forgiveness is easy and instantaneous because it is a shift in perception that allows you to understand that, in truth, looked at from the perspective of the spiritual ‘big picture,’ nothing wrong ever happened.

What brings about such a radical shift in perception - especially in situations where one feels very vicitimized and hurt? Surprisingly, it requires only a willingness to accept the possibility that life is not simply a series of random and haphazard events but is, in fact, the unfoldment of a Divine plan that is unfolding for us exactly how it needs to unfold for our spiritual growth.

In other words, every event, however pleasant or unpleasant, has been called forth by a Higher Aspect of ourselves that knows exactly what we need for our own healing. When we live more out of that idea than the victim story, life begins to work perfectly.

So how do we get there? Well, lack of forgiveness is nothing more than stuck energy, caused by past judgments, criticisms, blame and resentments. The way forward is use tools or processes that help us release that stuck energy, raise our vibration and become the loving beings we have the potential to be.

THE PROCESS OF RADICAL FORGIVENESS

In my workshops, I help people to shift the energy and move into Radical Forgiveness by basically following these five steps:

1. Tell the Story: You must begin from where you are. You are a spiritual being having a human experience that involves emotional experiences. We make it up that emotions are undesirable and wrong, so when we get upset about something we make up a ‘victim’s story’ and blame others for our unhappiness. Having that story heard and witnessed is the first step to letting it go. Likewise, the first step in releasing victimhood is to own it fully. So, in this step, you tell your story, and it is honored as your truth in the moment.

2. Feel the Feelings: Here you are encouraged to feel the feelings. It is the vital step that many so-called spiritual people want to leave out thinking that they shouldn’t have ‘negative’ feelings. That’s denial and misses the crucial point that the feelings is where the authentic power is and that our strength, in fact, lies in our vulnerability and our willingness to show up as fully human. You cannot heal what you don’t feel. When people access their pain, this is the beginning of their healing.

But this is not necessarily digging up the past. In fact, doing so is not necessary at all. Whatever is upsetting you now represents the past and following the feelings (the energy), as they are occurring while you tell your story, automatically heals the past pain. It is not even necessary to know what the original pain was. That’s why I say that Radical Forgiveness requires no therapy.

3. Collapse the Story: This takes the power out of the victim story you made up. The Navajo Indians had a ceremony for doing this. Anyone with a grievance could come to the circle three times to tell their story, and they would be heard. On the fourth occasion everyone would turn their backs. “Enough already! Your story is just a story. There’s no real truth to it - it is just an illusion. We have heard it three times and we no longer wish to give it power. Let it go and then let yourself move towards what is really true.”

4. Do a Radical Forgiveness Reframe: Here we replace the ‘illusionary’ story with another story - the Radical Forgiveness ‘story.’ This one says that what appeared to have happened, far from being a tragedy, was in fact exactly what we wanted to experience and was in that sense, absolutely perfect.

This is often very difficult to accept, but the good thing is it does not require you see WHY it is perfect, or that you must GET the lesson involved. It is nearly always beyond our ability to comprehend anyway, so it’s a waste of time trying to figure it out.

Willingness is all that is required You just have to be willing to open to the idea that there is a gift in it somewhere, and then choose peace. It really is that simple. When we get used to thinking this way, it’s amazing how simple and easy life becomes. It’s so freeing to stop resisting (judging) life and surrender to what wants to naturally occur. Life with Radical Forgiveness can be very sweet.

5. Integration: After you have allowed yourself to be willing to see the perfection in the situation, it is necessary to integrate that change at the cellular level. That means integrating it into the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual bodies so it becomes a part of who you are. It’s like saving what you have done on the computer to the hard drive. Only then will it become permanent. I find that breathwork is the best way to integrate this work and I seldom ever do a Radical Forgiveness workshop without what I call a ‘Satori’ breath session. Other ways to integrate is through speaking affirmations, walking, doing forgiveness worksheets, ritual and ceremony.

The Olympics have been going on a long, LONG time. Our collection of quotes includes the new and the very old!

“So you wish to conquer in the Olympic games, my friend? And I too, by the Gods, and a fine thing it would be! But first mark the conditions and the consequences, and then set to work. You will have to put yourself under discipline; to eat by rule, to avoid cakes and sweetmeats; to take exercise at the appointed hour whether you like it or no, in cold and heat; to abstain from cold drinks and from wine at your will; in a word, to give yourself over to the trainer as to a physician. Then in the conflict itself you are likely enough to dislocate your wrist or twist your ankle, to swallow a great deal of dust, or to be severely -thrashed, and, after all these things, to be defeated.”

~ Epictetus (Greek philosopher associated with the Stoics, AD 55-c.135)
The greatest memory for me of the 1984 Olympics was not the individual honors, but standing on the podium with my teammates to receive our team gold medal.

~ Mitch Gaylord (American gymnast, 1984 Summer Olympics)

The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.

~Pierre de Coubertin (founder of modern Olympic Games)

The Olympics have been with the world since 776 B.C., and have only been interrupted by war, especially in the modern era.

~ Bill Toomey (American decathlete, 1968 Summer Olympics)

Perhaps I don’t give the impression that I’m hurting on the track. But that is because I am animated by an interior force which covers my suffering.

~ Noureddine Morceli (Algerian athlete, 1996 Summer Olympics)

Maria Nafpliotou, in the role of an ancient Greek high priestess, lights a torch from the Olympic Flame during the handing over ceremony for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics at the Panathenian marble stadium in Athens on October 29, 2009. (ARIS MESSINIS/AFP/Getty Images) #

This last year, we’ve talked about the power of solar cookers in numerous countries in need. And nowhere has that become more evident as of late than in Haiti.

Food is cooked with solar energy in solar cookers (or solar ovens). They are an ideal addition wherever there are predictable hours of sun many days of the year. Solar cooking and baking are easy and safe around children. Solar cookers are clean, convenient, non-polluting and easy on the environment. And, for millions of people living in arid, fuel-scarce regions of the world, solar cookers can literally save lives

Solar Cookers International is just one organization that is making sure the Haitians get some quick and immediate relief. Here’s some basic information, if you want to help or learn more:

In response to the devastating earthquake in Haiti, Solar Cookers International (SCI) has received numerous calls from donors and friends wishing to make contributions or otherwise support relief efforts in Haiti, particularly with the hopes of sending solar cookers and water pasteurization indicators (WAPIs) to the quake’s victims. We are inspired and encouraged that so many of you have recognized the vital role solar cooking and solar water pasteurization can play in these relief efforts.

SCI is now working with Sun Ovens International, Friends of Haiti Organization, and local NGO partners to bring much-needed solar cookers and WAPIs to the people of Haiti as the country begins its long road to recovery. Please contribute to this effort and help us bring simple, life-saving skills and technologies to a country suffering not only from a massive earthquake, but from never-ending poverty and lack of cooking fuel due to extreme levels of deforestation.

A $40 gift pays for a solar cooker, cooking pot, and WAPI for a Haitian family.

I found these sage words of advice on a page for people recovering from alcoholism. Whether you are dealing with an addiction or just need to let go of some dead weight that’s been holding you back for a long time, these words apply. Resentment can be a needless burden we carry around for years, decades…even a lifetime.

Isn’t it time to get your life back?

1. Approach resentment as the addictive state of mind it is.

2. Realize that you are using resentment to replicate your family drama and maintain a connection with those dramas, a necessary acknowledgment before you can let them go.

3. Examine how your resentment may come from mentally confusing people in your present life with people in your past.

4. Acknowledge that you cannot control those who have rejected you.

5. Recognize that your resentment give you only illusions of strength. Instead, highlight and validate your real strength and power.

6. Learn to identify the signals that provoke resentment.

7. Practice cognitive behavioral techniques to stop indulging in resentment. Put a thought between your feelings of resentment and indulging in ruminating about them.

8. Acknowledge your part in allowing the abuse to occur, forgive yourself for that, and make a decision to not let it occur again.

9. Declare an amnesty - with your family and with yourself.

10. Forgive when you can, and practice willful and deliberate forgetfulness when you cannot, keeping in mind that these acts are gifts to yourself rather than capitulation to those whom you resent.

Source: The Sober Recovery Network

Today I decided to pick positive quotes about a particular subject: healing. We’re in need of global healing, especially after the Haitian disaster. And personally, many of us harbor painful feelings for years, leading to partial state of being and a lack of wholeness.

May these quotes start the healing:

A lot of people say they want to get out of pain, and I’m sure that’s true, but they aren’t willing to make healing a high priority. They aren’t willing to look inside to see the source of their pain in order to deal with it.
Lindsay Wagner

A lot of victims, for example, have become addicted to alcohol and drugs. It seems to me that the church’s healing ministry is going to be enhanced through this in much broader strokes. That’s good, it’s all positive.
Roger Mahony

America’s present need is not heroics but healing; not nostrums but normalcy; not revolution but restoration.
Warren G. Harding

Any education that matters is liberal. All the saving truths, all the healing graces that distinguish a good education from a bad one or a full education from a half empty one are contained in that word.
Alan K. Simpson

Beauty saves. Beauty heals. Beauty motivates. Beauty unites. Beauty returns us to our origins, and here lies the ultimate act of saving, of healing, of overcoming dualism.
Matthew Fox

But I’m going to focus on salvation as well as physical healing.
Benny Hinn

Coming to terms with the fear of death is conducive to healing, positive personality transformation, and consciousness evolution.
Stanislav Grof

Even the people who come our way look upon us in amazement, that we run only for the healing of Mother Earth.
Dennis Banks

Evil is the shadow of angel. Just as there are angels of light, support, guidance, healing and defense, so we have experiences of shadow angels. And we have names for them: racism, sexism, homophobia are all demons - but they’re not out there.
Matthew Fox

For me, singing sad songs often has a way of healing a situation. It gets the hurt out in the open into the light, out of the darkness.
Reba McEntire

For your born writer, nothing is so healing as the realization that he has come upon the right word.
Catherine Drinker Bowen

Healing in a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a matter of opportunity.
Hippocrates

Healing is a moral thing to do.
Jay Inslee

Healing rain is a real touch from God. It could be physical healing or emotional or whatever.
Michael W. Smith

Healing yourself is connected with healing others.
Yoko Ono

“Healing,” Papa would tell me, “is not a science, but the intuitive art of wooing nature.”
W. H. Auden

Healthy people are those who live in healthy homes on a healthy diet; in an environment equally fit for birth, growth work, healing, and dying… Healthy people need no bureaucratic interference to mate, give birth, share the human condition and die.
Ivan Illich

Henceforth the leaves of the tree of knowledge were for women, and for the healing of the nations.
Lucy Stone

I actually think sadness and darkness can be very beautiful and healing.
Duncan Sheik

I love sharing my story. It’s endlessly healing.
Ben Vereen

Source: BrainyQuote.com

It seems that we all feel some pangs of the winter blues. But SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) is an even more profound psychological condition that can really wreak havoc for some in the winter months. While this condition is not fully understood by doctors, it’s thought to be related to the amounts of melatonin and serotonin in your body.

If you feel like you’re feeling SAD or just seem to be in a bit of a cold weather funk, here are few practical steps you can take:

Phototherapy:

Research shows that more than 80 percent of those treated with bright light exposure experience relief from their SAD-related symptoms. People who were exposed to bright (10,000 lux) fluorescent light for at least 30 minutes per day showed improvement in two days to four weeks.

Recent studies suggest that SAD sufferers can receive the same benefits by walking outdoors for an hour a day. Even on overcast days, natural sunlight provides enough light to help alleviate symptoms.

Exercise:

Several studies at Duke University suggest that exercise plays a key role in recovery from depression as well as prevention of relapse. Since SAD responds to the same treatments that have been successful in relieving other types of depression, the results of these studies are relevant.

In one study, researchers found that patients who engaged in brisk exercise for 30 minutes three times weekly were just as likely to experience a decrease in their depressive symptoms as patients who were treated with medication only. Researchers then followed participants for another six months, and found that those who exercised were unlikely to experience a relapse. Only 8 percent of the exercisers became depressed again. Patients who exercised and took medication relapsed at the rate of 31 percent, and those who took medication had a 38 percent relapse rate.

If you don’t already exercise regularly, try incorporating a brisk 30-minute walk into your day three times each week. In addition to mitigating depressive symptoms, this level of activity contributes to overall physical well-being, especially cardiovascular health.

Sources of Steps: author Dawn Williams

Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink and swore his last oath.  Today, we are a pious and exemplary community.  Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our reformation to the winds and gone to cutting our ancient shortcomings considerably shorter than ever.  ~ Mark Twain

Yes, we’ve heard: New Year’s resolutions seem almost destined to fail. But does that mean we shouldn’t bother at all?

Figure it this way: whatever resolutions you come up with bear some relevance to your life. Consider them indicators: areas that you’d like to work on. You don’t have to nail them. This isn’t a win or lose situation. It’s a time to evaluate and make some smart and possibly subtle changes.

If losing weight is your goal for the New Year, try to make the changes manageable. Instead of losing 50 pounds and fitting into that bathing suit by summer, why not simply include walking into your workout regimen? Instead of every day, maybe 2 - 3 days a week? You see the difference? One sets you up for failure where the other gives you some breathing room!

And if you “fail” at your goal, no self-recrimination. It’s a tough concept to master, but its that very self-recrimination that fosters and feeds the bad habit you’re trying to change! Go easy on yourself. Remember: we are all flawed human beings trying to do the best we can.

In short, walk don’t run this New Year!

It’s like two worlds exist during the holidays: the one portrayed by the media and the “other” one. The one portrayed by the media is picture perfect: every family is happy, healthy and singing carols and sipping eggnog by their perfectly decorated Christmas tree.

The “other” holiday is one more common to many of us. It’s the unspoken holiday - the one you’re not supposed to have, according to the barrage of commercials and adverts. If you’re family is far from perfect or you’re worried about your finances or you’ve endured some hardship this year or you’ve experienced loss or you simply don’t like the holidays - then you understand.

It’s hard to enjoy the holidays when the pressure is on. No one wants to be forced to enjoy themselves. No one likes to compare themselves to holiday perfection! But is there a way to eke out a holiday that is yours - one that includes the good, the bad and the ugly?

Here are a few pointers:

1. Ask yourself what you’d really like to do for the holidays - minus the influence of others. And include that in your day. If you have a day plan that is packed with your family, maybe you’d like to go for a quiet walk in the morning before the madness ensues. Maybe you’d like to write in your journal and review your year. Whatever it is, take whatever time you can grab and make some time about you!

2. If you’re alone, celebrate it. This is a tough one but guess what? There are many people out there who don’t have family over the holidays. It almost seems like some social crime but it doesn’t have to be. Being alone allows you to celebrate the holiday the way you see fit. The important part? Celebrate it in one way or the other. Make yourself a special meal, buy yourself a gift, wrap it and open it, watch a special movie. It’s not a crime to be alone on the holidays. (Considering what some people go through with their families, consider it an honor!)

3. Remember the old adages about the holidays. It’s NOT all about mass gift-giving and commercial-generated fantasy. It’s about reflecting, giving and getting in touch with your spiritual side during the heart of winter. It’s about being grateful for WHAT YOU HAVE, not bemoaning what you don’t.

4. Quiet holidays are fine. If you’re holiday seems simple and quiet, that’s alright. Perhaps you are afforded the opportunity to connect with the holidays that many others can’t seem to find. Maximize that time. Make the most of the quietude.

Convicted forger A. Schiller was serving his time in Sing Sing prison in the late 1800s when guards found him dead in his cell.

On his body they found seven regular straight pins whose heads measured the typical 47/1000ths of an inch or 1.17 millimeters in diameter.

Under 500 magnification, it was found that the tiny etchings seen on the heads of the pins were the words to The Lord’s Prayer, which is 65 words and 254 letters long. Of the seven pins, six were silver and one was gold - the gold pin’s prayer was flawless and a true masterpiece.

Schiller had spent the last 25 years of his life creating the pins, using a tool too small to be seen by the naked eye. It is estimated that it took 1,863 separate carving strokes to make it. Schiller went blind because of his artwork.

Source: The Nevada Lights