How Healthy is Your Environment? Are Your Thoughts Killing You?
Posted by Louise on Mar 5, 2010
Have you ever wondered why some people get cancer? Is your environment so unsuited to you that it will be your death warrant? What are the real consequences to you of negative thinking or how do your thoughts affect your cells? Bruce Lipton* has some seriously inspirational phrases that may change your life forever.
Here are the exact inspirational phrases that shook me up enough to share them with you:
“Irv Konigsberg [a cell biologist and Lipton's professor and mentor]… told me that when the cultured cells you are studying are ailing, you look first to the cell’s environment, not to the cell itself, for the cause.
….. this advice was a key insight into understanding the nature of life. Over and over I learned the wisdom of Irv’s advice. When I provided a healthy environment for my cells [stem cells he had cloned], they thrived; when the environment was less than optimal, the cells faltered. When I adjusted the environment, these “sick” cells revitalized.” (page 19*)
This is one scientist who can really talk. I remember hearing him talking on radio last year, and after 10 minutes I just knew I had to read his book*.
There you have it. Cutting edge epigenetics, a new branch of cell biology, shatters the previously treasured view that DNA and genes control our biology. We now know that genes are not our destiny and we are not victims of our faulty genetic blueprint. Instead DNA is controlled by factors outside our cells, one such factor being thought-energies generated by the positive and negative thoughts we have.
This made me think about toxic environments. Last spring my daughter put her tadpoles in tap water while she cleaned out the aquarium. When she returned two minutes later they were all writhing as if in dreadful pain. Chlorine. It killed them all in under five minutes. See, Mr Lipton is right, our environment counts.
What is your work environment like? Do you spend time with people who promote your well-being? And at home? How beneficial is your environment? Is clutter and an ugly outlook the first and last view of the world you present to yourself each day? What effect is your environment having on the quality of your thoughts? Are they bright, inspirational, upbeat? Or are they dark, negative, hopeless reflections which are toxic time bombs? Is it time to retrain your thinking?
*Bruce H. Lipton, Ph.D, a medical school professor and research scientist, is the author of these inspirational phrases which are quoted from his mould-breaking, concept-shattering book, ‘The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter and Miracles”, Hay House, Inc. (2008).
Fear and Regret rob us of a Brilliant Future
Posted by Louise on Feb 24, 2010
Inspirational Phrases and quotations often manage to express a concept succinctly and powerfully. Today’s Inspirational Phrase deals with the concepts of fear and regret. There are two sides to the fear coin: fear can compel us to make unimaginable leaps in order to avoid some feared outcome. Fear can also hold us back, prevent us from taking rational, logical steps out of fear of consequences. Fear is truly a double-edged sword. Regret keeps us focused on the past, and allowing us to get stuck there, at the expense of building a better future.
I identify strongly with this inspirational phrase by Fulton Oursler (1893 – 1952), American journalist, author and playwright:
“Many of us crucify ourselves between two thieves – regret for the past and fear of the future”
His Christ-on-the-cross metaphor stems from his Christian perspective. Nonetheless, it is easy to visualise the pain of being in a horrendous situation and finding both choices for action equally unappealing. On the left (our past) hangs regret and on the right (our future) hangs an equally daunting spectre: fear.
I am not much of a regret personality. I have few regrets.
Fear, however, has a greater hold on my imagination. I fear what my life will be like when my mother’s Alzheimer’s progresses and she is 100% dependent upon me. I fear the consequences of not selling our heritage home in Ireland. These fears grip me and I get sucked in by their power. Just like a bar of creamy, luxurious chocolate, I never stop at just one square, I have to go the whole hog. So it is with fear, even a tiny taste of this treacherous emotion and we dive right in. Worst case scenarios are played out and feel terrifyingly real.
Who wants to live with fear and regret? Fortunately we humans are in a position to reflect. Both fear and regret are intangibles. They are merely the product of our imagination. Terrifying and debilitating emotions if we give in to them. I can condition my mind to be disciplined enough to recognise this evil duo for what they are: figments of my imagination.
Mr Oursler’s inspirational phrase is quite accurate: cultivating fear and regret will rob us of the motivation, courage and vision to move forwards in joy and trust towards a brilliant future.
Inspirational Phrases: The Bigger Picture behind Gratitude
Posted by Louise on Feb 18, 2010
Here’s an Inspirational Phrase about Gratitude by Findhorn’s spiritual icon, Eileen Caddy*.
“Gratitude helps you to grow and expand: gratitude brings joy and laughter into your life and into the lives of all those around you.” Eileen Caddy, MBE (1917 – 2006)
Right now my life seems to be getting faster and faster. Success experts warn of this. The more we achieve, the more opportunities that open up. The more one does, the bigger the stakes are. I am inundated with things to do. So much so that I am at risk of losing track of the purpose behind my targeted activity: to make consistent progress on my journey towards achieving my best-possible life. I am the author of my Ideal Life. As author, surely I get to determine where I go with my plot?
Today I researched this inspirational phrase to get me back in touch with my inner core, my true and important values. Why be hugely successful if it isn’t fun? Why be enormously productive on external fronts and ignore my inner voices? Right now my inner voices are asking me to calm down and take stock. I want to step off the accelerator a bit and take time to be grateful for all the wonderful things that are happening.
Back to gratitude. Living a life filled with gratitude is an expansive space to occupy. Gratitude has a strong spiritual element to it. Gratitude opens my emotional self to high vibrations such as experiencing joy, elation, hope, expectation, trust.
Psychological research into gratitude indicates that individuals who foster the state of gratitude and who exhibit gratitude as a personality trait are genuinely happier, less prone to stress and depression, better sleepers, better able to cope. High gratitude individuals have a higher quality of life which is directly correlated with their gratitude-attitude.
Duality: Gratitude and resentment occupy opposing sides of the coin. The higher we are on the gratitude side of the equation, the more we focus on being at one with ourselves and the universe. When we occupy the ingratitude side of the coin, our attention is on what is missing from our lives. We experience resentment, lack and frustration as primary emotions.
This is the imbalanced state (e.g. ingratitude) I currently seek to distance myself from. With all my emphasis on what I must do, what needs to be done, what I can’t do because I don’t have the time, knowledge or means… well I quickly start to generate feelings of resentment (definitely not a gratitude state!) until these dominate my emotions.
Now I need to consciously go within and reconnect with what is real and important to me, locate the goodness, the generosity, the harvest I am currently reaping. Finding 100 reasons to be thankful, and logging them in my journal, is but a small price to pay for the rich emotions that a ‘gratitude attitude’ generates. It is time to step off the treadmill of satisfying external demands (which are of fleeting and questionable importance right now) and reconnect with my Inner Self.
I am thankful that this inspirational phrase about gratitude has opened my mind to the psychological benefits of experiencing gratitude, and opened my eyes to the opposite ends of the gratitude-resentment scale. The more gratitude I feel, the further away I move from lack, resentment, and frustration.
* Eileen Caddy under the spotlight:
Eileen Caddy was a co-founder of the Findhorn Foundation which has been dubbed “the Vatican of the New Age”. Eileen Caddy, a spiritual leader and New Age author, was awarded an MBE by Queen Elisabeth II in 2004 for her services to spiritual enquiry. She mastered the art of ‘going within’ and ‘listening to her inner voice’ for guidance. In 2001 Channel 4 deemed her to be one of Britain’s most spiritually influential individuals.
Learn the Secret of generating Inspiration at will!
Posted by Louise on Feb 16, 2010
Are you fired up right now? What does ‘inspiration’ mean? How on earth can we be inspired if we don’t know exactly what we should be experiencing when in an inspirational state? A quick look at my trusty thesaurus* sheds light on that immediately. Next I’ll present three inspirational phrases that are sure to fire you up!
Inspiration* means all of the following: brainwave, brainstorm, bright idea, brilliant idea, idea, insight, revelation, thought.
Aha! So at best, when I am in an inspired state, I should experience brainwaves, brilliant ideas and revelations. At the very least, I should be generating ideas, making thoughts and having insights. Should inspiration be lacking, this list of synonyms even provides a method for getting into an inspired state. Did you spot that? Yes, it’s brainstorming. So if you are low on inspiration, take a 10 minute brainstorming break. Generate brilliant ideas to create your Ideal Life. Or generate thoughts, reflect, raise your awareness.
The second interpretation of inspiration* is equally enlightening. Inspiration also means creativity, encouragement, imagination, motivation, muse, stimulus. Aha, again! Motivational words these. They show us how to generate inspiration. Perhaps we need encouragement and motivation – you are visiting the perfect site for finding this. What puts you into a creative or imaginative state? How do you contact your creative muse? What is the best stimulus to get you in a lather about achieving your best-ever outcomes?
Here are three inspirational phrases by William Arthur Ward (1921 – 1994), who has penned numerous motivational quotes designed to inspire and uplift us.
“If you can imagine it, you can create it. If you can dream it, you can become it.”
“Opportunities are like sunrises. If you wait too long, you miss them.”
“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.”
The final of these three inspirational phrases is a timely reminder not to fall into a state of blame, nor to get lost in the world of fiction, but to take whatever action steps are required in order to come closer to our best-ever outcome(s).
* I took these definitions from Pocket Thesaurus Wordfinder, 1999, by Dorling Kindersley ISBN 1-85605-502-7.
