Appreciate the Silence

When you are still you can hear the words the silence has to offer

From Jonathan Hilton Mind Connections

Is there anything quite as unique a silence? Look at your life and honestly count and evaluate the moments that you are experiencing absolute silence. To me, this is any time that you are completely devoid of any human created sound at all. No words, no machines, no music, no nothing but the natural sounds of the world. How many times during any given day does this happen? I can tell you that for me there are few moments of complete and utter silence for me. There is a value in the silence, that if you get used to it will allow you to put your mind at rest and allow you to talk with your deeper self who is hidden behind those words.

Silence Can Be Better than the alternative

Seek out your silent moments because they will provide more value to you than 95% of the noise that falls on your ears throughout the day. If you are watching television to get your news or entertainment then I think we would all have a difficult time rating the value of the product you are watching to silence. In silence, there are no lies. Nobody is pushing an agenda to vie for control of your buying power or the fear you experience.

Some people talk an awful lot and say absolutely nothing worthwhile. Isn’t a silence better than listening to words that are disingenuous, hateful, gossiping, or just plain old negative? Why break a silence to participate in making the world a less positive place? There is a place and a time for everything, and silence needs to have its.

Silence The Mind

How do you silence the mind? This is where the practice of meditation comes in. I was always intimidated by the practice of meditation but in giving it a try, I have found it is easy. The best advice I got was that there is no way to really do it wrong. If you give it an honest effort you will reap some benefits. The goal of meditation is to quiet the incessant and continual discourse of thought that is occurring in your head all of the time.

Our brains are great at producing thought, but most of its work is not productive, supportive, kind,

There is no wrong way to find yourself in the silence.

constructive or clear. Most of our thoughts trip on each other and repeat loudly points of view we are well aware of or  thoughts of pure foolishness. When you slow your mind, you can monitor your thoughts and pick and choose the ones that you want to pay attention to and those that you would simply like to discard.

There are many different formats for meditation and I am no expert. Here is a simple method that will allow you to easily walk down the path of meditation. Simply inhale and count to four. Hold the breath and count to four. Exhale while counting to four. Repeat continually throughout the meditation time. Notice the thoughts you have, where they come from and most importantly is it a thought that honors you or not? If it does, pay attention to it. If it doesn’t then pay no more attention to it. Silence allows this to happen.

Sometimes It is The Best Gift

It is human nature to offer advice, state our opinions and make sure that we are clear about where we stand on all issues we are exposed to. Sometimes, though, the best thing we can do is keep our mouths closed and simply silently listen.  Our presence has a power and often times just being there listening, giving a person your support is the best thing that you can contribute to another person.

A hand to hold or a shoulder to cry on or an ear to listen with is a great gift that you can give someone. If they are sincerely working through something, they do not have to hear a judgment from you or listen to your opinion about what the next action or reaction should be. Silence allows you to accept them as they are and be there as a friend.  Silence accepts all and allows a feeling of acceptance.

Look for moments of complete silence in your day, where no voice, music or machine can be heard in your life. Focus on the moment you are in and listen to what the silence sounds like. You will find some things in the silence you didn’t know you were missing.

No one dares disturb the sounds of silence……..

The Water Runs Deep

Deep Waters

More on Jonathan Hilton.com

Water can be a frightening thing, you only see the surface and there is really no way to know the depth that is underneath. There is also no way to know for sure what is lurking under the surface either, so for those who choose to be afraid, water can be extremely difficult to deal with.  It is in the deep water, though, that greater movement to be yourself exists, a better chance to find out what you are made of. The opportunity to overcome fear and swim on your own and in your most natural way. Life will continually offer you the chance to explore the deep waters all around you. All you have to do is be brave and jump in to see what you are made of.

Let the Critics Go

Time to Stop Caring What Others Think   

Perfection is Overrated

Perfection is not only impossible, because perfection is nothing but an illusion. What defines perfection? Society? Your friends? Your family? There is no group that can label you and your abilities but you. To be perfect would mean you never made a mistake. Nobody ever accomplished anything without first making a mistake or two to find the way through to the real discoveries. Perfection never invented anything but advertising campaigns.  Our schools put all students into the same square box of activities and have them strive for the perfection of an A. How many talented, intelligent and creative people leave our educational system each year feeling worse about themselves then when they entered? Perfection is an illusion. Forget being perfect, embrace your imperfection and realize that it is actually your strength and will in the end bring you more than perfection could ever fathom.

Creative contribution today  What If?  Losing and Finding my Connection  Don’t Be Perfect

Actions and Intentions

Take some time today to make sure that you are better than you were yesterday. Don’t worry about being the best in the world at what you do. That is subjective anyway, who is to say what is greatest? Compared to yourself there is not debating that you are better or worse than you were yesterday. Physically, spiritually and mentally improve just a fraction of a percent and you are on your way to being the best you that you can be.

Here are some positive links for you:

Prove Them Wrong          What is Your Purpose   

Intention and Quantum Entanglement

Just Trying to Be Better

I think we are all just trying to do better each and every day with what we have to work with. Today I am looking for ways to improve myself and life experience. It is my belief that we are either getting better or we are getting worse in all aspects of our lives. physically, mentally and spiritually.

“One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.” ― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Here are my attempts at self improvement today.

Room For Improvement The lies We Live  Positive Choices

There is a Hero In YOU!

What is the purpose of your life? There is a hero in all of us striving to get out and express itself to the world. You are no different. Decide what you want to do and then give it all that you have.  As you accept life’s limits, the job you feel obligated to perform. Relationships that are not fulfilling. All of this will create a prison that a person can be trapped in.  But it doesn’t have to be this way. Don’t limit your options. What we fear doing most, is what we need most to do.

My contribution today so far……..   It’s All Up To You  The Hero In You

Happy February Friends

It’s a new month and a new chance for you to build a dream, create a goal or spend valuable time in pursuit of both of these things.  Fear of failure may be a hurdle, but you can jump over it. Mistakes provide directions to find success. Learn the lessons and leave them behind.

What are you afraid of?   Learning from Mistakes    Overcoming fear of failure

Be Super Today

Be Super today!!

Today’s contribution to the positive side of the blog world. Take a moment and visit these three things and think about contributing your talents to a positive project today. Be SUPER today!

No Pain, No Gain

The Results You Want

Courage to Be Fearless

Positive Character

Developing  Your Character………..

All people have the ability to develop positive character traits that will help you along your way toward becoming your best self. There are seven character traits that are vital to your success and development as a person.  Curiosity, creativity, optimism, gratitude, social intelligence, self control, enthusiasm, and perseverance.  Each of these skills can be learned, practiced and enhanced throughout your life to the improvement of your life and circumstances.

There are two types of attitude that dictates your success in developing these skills. Either you have a fixed mindset which people believe they are what they are and there is no hope for growth. Or a person has a growth mindset where they believe they are learning and developing as a person. You can see how your mindset is going to lead to your success or failure in learning something new.

Read more here ……………….

Lessons Learned In 2015

From the pages of Mind Connections Today…………

There have been many valuable lessons learned this year, but some that stood out and I was reflecting on today. This is the list for explanations and thought read the full article here.

~Life is too short to be unhappy.

~ Taking action will change your life.

~Gratitude should be a part of everyday life.

~You can change limiting beliefs, in a short time.

~People are doing the best they can.

~Everyone sees life differently.

~Questions are our most powerful tools.

~The five best books I read in 2015

1. The Alchemist- Paulo Coello
2. The Four Agreements- Don Miguel Ruiz
3. The Biology of Belief- Bruce Lipton
4. The Greatest Miracle in the World- Og Mandino
5. Being You! Changing the World- Dain Heer

Read it all here. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

`

Christmas Eve Thoughts

From Mind Connections this Christmas Eve…………….
A few years ago, I noticed how my Christmas experience was a lot like that of Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol.  Like the Scrooge of old, I think that we are continually visited by the ghosts of our past. These ghosts represent everything that we have done in our lives and allow you to process events and relationships of your life. The holidays provide a good time for reflection and evaluation of how these things affect your life today. There is a continual connection between you and your past, but visiting with the ghosts of your past will allow you to put them behind you and move forward.

The Ghosts of the Past

We all have Ghosts from our past visit us daily

These are the most prevalent visitors from the realm of shadows.  We are haunted by the thoughts of events, things, people and relationships that occurred years ago, yet are as dead today as Jacob Marley was to Ebeneezer Scrooge.  These apparitions come in the thoughts about what we used to be, how we used to act and where we used to go.

I have been visited by these ghosts more often than I would like to admit.  The reminders of youth, love lost and mistakes made.  They can be painful and they can provide you with a wonderful, escape from today to a time in the past when things were less confusing or less trying.

If you keep the ghosts from the past in proper context they aren’t bad for you.  There is no problem with remembering times of happiness and learning the valuable lessons that the past teaches you.  The trouble comes when you idealize the past and feel that those ghosts are somehow real.  They are not, they are gone.

They are dead. They are never coming back as you remember them.  This is sometimes a painful realization but also liberating as well because it allows you to move along in life and get on to your next adventure that will create your life today.

Ignoring the fear is the best way to defeat the ghosts.

Loves lost are the worst and most powerful of these memories.  As time goes by you tend to idealize those people that you loved in the past.  When those that are currently in your life, do something that doesn’t live up to expectations, you remember someone else from the past that would never treat you that way in your mind.  The reasons the relationship didn’t work out are pushed aside and replaced with an idealistic memory that no person could ever live up to.

The thing to remember is that all of those ghosts are just thoughts in your mind and have no more power over you than any other ghost. They can’t grab you, or make you feel badly about the way things are now, unless you allow them to.

Leave the ghosts in the past where they belong.  You will never be that young again, you will never have a relationship like that again, you will never be in that situation again.  Accept this as a good thing, learn from the ghosts of your past, but do not give them any power over your feelings and thoughts today, because they are not real.

Related articles

• Ghosts of the Past
• A Christmas Carol
• Ghosts and New Beginnings
• Psychologists: Scrooge’s Transformation Parallels Real Life-Changing Experiences

Mind Connections Here……………………….

Christmas Grinch

From Mind Connections Today………

I think the Grinch may have had it right, the world might be a better

True giving and receiving is the magic of Christmas.

place without Christmas. For all the positive messages the season should send, there seem to be far too many negatives that come on and around December 25.

There seems to be a lot of anger, sadness, greed and selfishness. In a vacuum, if you looked at how people spend their time, money and intent at Christmas, the world might be a better place without it.

Yet, there is a hope, that somewhere behind the massive commercialism and the economic cry of excess there is a true feeling of human love and acceptance that could be found. That the magic that Christmas once had could be found again.

The magic comes from true giving and receiving, and to keep that in your heart. Instead of worrying about what you didn’t give or get, be grateful for what you do get. That is the magic of Christmas.

Read More at Mind Connections

 

Not Behind

From Mind Connections today…………. Behind

Great things are just behind that cloud!!

You are not behind. You are right where you need to be. Each day you will have a chance to look just behind a cloud, and find something that will pick up your spirit and improve your life. The word behind has a lot of meanings in your life.

Your past belongs behind you and that will allow you to move forward. There is no space for anything new in your life until you clear out some of the garbage taking up space. Move forward, learn from your past, but move on from it. That is the only way to ensure your best future.

Read more Behind Here…………………..

Lost

From Mind Connections This Morning………….

Are you lost? Don’t know which way to go? That is OK, you are probably in a place where you can find out something valuable about yourself. When you look around and see that there is no landmarks that are familiar, the surroundings are totally unfamiliar, it can be instinct to panic and seek frantically for some mark of normalcy, something we know and are comfortable with. Fight that instinct.

Being lost provides a wonderful opportunity to reevaluate your life. If you look for what you already know, there is no learning taking place. New skills, new thoughts and new abilities come from being lost. When you are searching for the next thing to push you along your path then you are have a great chance of finding it along with yourself. Life provides what we need, exactly when we need it, sometimes it takes a period of not knowing to bring us to a destination we never would have imagined before.

Read more here………….