[Jill’s Note: If you prefer to listen rather than read, please scroll to the bottom of this post for the audio version.]
The most natural desire we human beings have, is to feel needed and loved. So we do whatever we can to win that love from others. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. To keep the cycle going, we do our best to try to reciprocate that love.
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[Jill’s Note: If you prefer to listen rather than read, please scroll to the bottom of this post for the audio version.]
Shakespeare once said, “All the world’s a stage.” While he was talking about the various stages of life we go through, the short tale you are about to read is in reference to the kind of stage in which plays play out…
Once upon a time in a faraway land, there existed only a stage.
It wasn’t your everyday stage. It was a grande, regal, magical one. What made it so special was that the entire universe consisted solely of this omnipresent stage.
The stage had no name, nor did it need one because there was nothing else but it. However, in the universe in which this story is told, labels are useful, so we’ll call it “Mo.” The stage also had no specific gender, but again, for purposes of this story, we’ll use “he” and “him” when referring to Mo. But in reality, he was more of an “it” than a “he.”
Mo’s magicalness meant that he continuously created an infinite supply of scenery, props, costumes and actors to perform within the stage that was him. This provided an endless variety of shows playing out for his enjoyment, amusement and entertainment. Read the rest of this entry »
[Jill’s Note: If you prefer to listen rather than read, please scroll to the bottom of this post for the audio version. There’s also a corresponding video you can watch.]
We humans are a crazy bunch! I mean that literally. Major league, out of our minds, mentally mad and utterly unstable.
Which feels crappy.
So we spend every minute of the day trying to be a little less crazy.
We do this in a variety of ever-changing ways…
We eat. We drink. We run. We meditate. We dance. We gossip. We Facebook. We shop. We love. We sing. We write. We put ourselves above others. We play. We cry.
And we feel a little better.
For about 5 minutes. Then we’re back to feeling crazy again. Eventually, we start to recognize that outside stimuli can only relieve our feelings of craziness temporarily.
So we begin to look within.
We believe that when we get to know our spiritual nature, it’ll cure our craziness.
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[Jill’s Note: If you prefer to listen rather than read, please scroll to the bottom of this post for the audio version.]
Did you know that you have two minds?
If you’re like I was most of my life, you may not be in tune with what’s going on in your head at any given moment. So you may not be aware of your mind’s seemingly split personality. However, if you pay attention, it doesn’t take long to see our two minds in action.
There’s our “ego mind” and our “wisdom mind.”
Our ego mind is filled with fear and is mostly wrong about everything, yet it loudly and proudly proclaims its rightness.
Meanwhile, our wisdom mind is filled with love and sits quietly in the background knowing the real truth, and having the right answers.
In some ways, our split mind is like the proverbial angel and devil on our shoulders.
Here’s the problem…
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[Jill’s Note: If you prefer to listen rather than read, please scroll to the bottom of this post for the audio version.]
I had a bit of an insight about our “true selves” last week which I’ll try to put into words here. I hope it makes some semblance of sense.
Here’s what I’ve seen…
As human beings, we are so wedded to our personality. Our individuality. Our identity. That part of us that seems to make us who we are. Our uniqueness. Our specialness.
Yet these aspects of us are also often our downfall. Read the rest of this entry »
[Jill’s Note: If you prefer to listen rather than read, please scroll to the bottom of this post for the audio version.]
We are all different.
Very different. So different that no two of us has the same mixture of magic ingredients that make us who we are. While this is totally awesome as we’d be bored to tears if we were all alike, it’s also what creates ALL the conflict in the world. Unfortunately, most of us don’t realize how different we are and therefore can’t understand why or even that others’ don’t see the world the same way we do.
The average person has no concept of separate realities.
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Posted by Jill Whalen | Posted in Spiritual Teachings, Thought | Posted on 05-02-2016
[Jill’s Note: If you prefer to listen rather than read, please scroll to the bottom of this post for the audio version.]
It’s becoming clearer to me that much of–if not all–our suffering is caused by our desire to control ourselves, our surroundings and others. Yet in reality, it’s impossible. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Jill Whalen | Posted in Business, Spiritual Teachings | Posted on 01-02-2016
If you prefer to listen rather than read, please scroll to the bottom of this post for the audio version.
[Jill’s Note: I wrote a version of this post in a Facebook Group for budding coaches last summer and was reminded of it yesterday as I was listening to the classic Og Mandino’s “The World’s Greatest Salesman – Scroll #4.” Apparently my last blog post on approaching people with love instead of judgment reminded my sister of Scroll #2 in that book which is why I was listening to it in the first place. Great minds think alike as I could relate to much of what Mandino says as it relates to business. He’s a little more “Go get ’em tiger” than I ever was, but his overall message was very similar to how I ran my business for over 18 years. Mandino’s Scroll #4 starts out:
“I am nature’s greatest miracle. Since the beginning of time, never has there been another with my mind, my heart, my eyes, my hands, my hair, my mouth. None that came before, none that live today, and none that come tomorrow can walk and talk and move and think exactly like me.”
To me, this notion has always been the key to business success as you’ll see from my post below written long before I ever heard of Og Mandino! – Jill ] Read the rest of this entry »
[Jill’s Note: If you prefer to listen rather than read, please scroll to the bottom of this post for the audio version.]
Some of you may have wondered where I come up with all the [crazy] [profound] [interesting] [spiritual] [odd] blog posts that I write. (Choose whichever word best describes how you feel about them!) They come from my own experiences as well as conversations I have with others. However, I also spend a lot of time watching, listening and reading various philosophies which impact what I write. Read the rest of this entry »
[Jill’s Note: If you prefer to listen rather than read, please scroll to the bottom of this post for the audio version.]
If you’re into personal development and/or spiritual stuff, you may have noticed how you can read, listen or watch the same thing multiple times and hear something different.
It depends upon your mindset at the time. Read the rest of this entry »
[Jill’s Note: If you prefer to listen rather than read, please scroll to the bottom of this post for the audio version.]
Most of us live our lives without ever noticing our thoughts. When we don’t know what’s going on in our heads, most of the time we act unconsciously. We allow our reactive habits and behaviors to take over, and become like robots going through our programmed ways of dealing with life.
Which is a recipe for disaster. Read the rest of this entry »
[Jill’s Note: If you prefer to listen rather than read, please scroll to the bottom of this post for the audio version.]
I’ve been using the phrase “Uncovering Our Innate Mental Health and Wellbeing” a lot lately. However, it occurred to me that some may not quite understand what that means means. I’m pretty sure those words wouldn’t have meant much to me a couple of years ago. The premise is that everyone–you, me, your neighbor, your spouse, your kids, murderers, cops, starving children in Africa–everyone, was born with a healthy mind. It’s our natural state. (That’s what the innate part means.)
Nobody is born angry, depressed or anxious. In other words, we are all born happy.
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[Jill’s Note: If you prefer to listen rather than read, please scroll to the bottom of this post for the audio version.]
It’s been over 2 years since I embarked on my personal transformational journey. What started out as a simple decision to lose weight, has taken me on a magical mystery tour of mega proportions. I’m still amazed at how that one decision could lead to transformation in so many areas of my life. Read the rest of this entry »
[Jill’s Note: If you prefer to listen rather than read, please scroll to the bottom of this post for the audio version.]
If you knew life was just a game you could play any way you wanted, how would it change the way you live?
Many year’s ago, my husband and I were having a deep philosophical discussion about life. He remarked that perhaps life was sort of like a video game where you get to choose what level you want to play before you are born.
Want a go at an easy life? Choose the easiest level (let’s say level #1). Want something pretty easy but not so much as to be boring? Choose level #2. Think you got this life thing all figured out and want a super challenge? Choose level #10.
Whatever level you choose will be how things will play out in your life, just like in video games. Higher levels will throw more challenge and adversity your way, and it’s up to you to figure out how to navigate and manage it all. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Jill Whalen | Posted in Spiritual Teachings, Thought | Posted on 02-10-2014
[Jill’s Note: If you prefer to listen rather than read, please scroll to the bottom of this post for the audio version.]
Yesterday while pondering the many forms addiction can take, I suddenly had a “life flashing before my eyes” moment. (Apparently you can have them even when you’re not about to die!) All at once I saw clearly how so many things I’ve done in the past were attempts to seek happiness outside of myself. I realized that my “outside in” way of thinking caused a whole lot of addictive behavior on my part.
Let me back up for a moment, and explain. Read the rest of this entry »
[Jill’s Note: If you prefer to listen rather than read, please scroll to the bottom of this post for the audio version.]
To run or not to run…that is the question!
One morning not too long ago, I woke up and wasn’t sure if I was going to run the mile to my yoga class because I had hiked the day before. Rather than making a rational decision in the moment through my intellect, I decided to just let happen whatever happened. A few hours later when my calendar reminder popped up telling me that my class was coming up, I simply got up and got ready just as I usually do, and did the run. In fact, it turned out that rather than feeling tired from the hike, I felt stronger and faster than usual.
The thing is, I didn’t waste my time thinking about it. I just let happen whatever was going to happen without being attached to the outcome. Read the rest of this entry »
[Jill’s Note: If you prefer to listen rather than read, please scroll to the bottom of this post for the audio version.]
Plugged Into Intuition!
We’ve all had “gut feelings” about people or things at some point in our lives. I’m sure you can think of times where you had positive experiences when you listened to your gut, and negative ones when you didn’t.
How many times have you thought something like “I knew shouldn’t have had that extra cookie!” or “If only I had taken my umbrella like I had been thinking of doing!” or “There was just something that wasn’t quite right about him,” etc.?
Yet most days we go through life without paying much attention to that little voice inside us even though it’s always accessible. Read the rest of this entry »
[Jill’s Note: If you prefer to listen rather than read, please scroll to the bottom of this post for the audio version.]
On a recent Sunday morning I woke up early, but eventually drifted back to sleep. I’ve found that with morning sleep I often have dreams that I’m able to remember.
[Jill’s Note: If you prefer to listen rather than read, please scroll to the bottom of this post for the audio version.]
Look For The Signs!
A few weeks ago I had the urge to buy new running shoes. There was nothing wrong with my current ones, but I had them for a little over a year, and figured they’d wear out eventually. I wasn’t sure how long sneakers are supposed to last when running in them fairly often, and I wanted to be sure I could still get the same make and model when I needed them. (Nike Flex 2013
if you’re interested…I love them!) Read the rest of this entry »
[Jill’s Note: If you prefer to listen rather than read, please scroll to the bottom of this post for the audio version.]
Beyond The Golden Rule
We’ve all heard the saying “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Which of course means that we should treat people the way we would want to be treated.
Otherwise known as “The Golden Rule.”
I’ve tried to live by this rule as much as possible throughout my life. For instance, I don’t like to be yelled at, or hit, or talked to incessantly about things that I’m not interested in, so I don’t do those things to others. And yet I’ve also found myself in situations where I’ve somehow managed to unwittingly upset people or hurt their feelings. Read the rest of this entry »
