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Dear Yogis,

A lot of people are trying to improve their lives by dealing with the external fruit of their actions.  They are attempting to change their bad habits, bad attitudes, bad tempers or negative and sour personalities.  They are like gardeners trying to change the tree by fixing the fruit.  It is noble – they have noticed something is wrong and they are trying to fix it… but the truth of the matter is, unless they treat the root they will never be able to change the fruit.

As long as that bitter root is growing on the inside, the problem will persist and in different guises will pop up again and again.

You may be able to control your attitude for a little time but have you wondered why you can’t get free? Why you can’t defeat a destructive lingering habit?

You have to take the time to look deeply.  If you get to the root of the problem you will be able to deal with it, overcome the problem, and only then is there a possibility of change.  Of course you have to want to change. Remember the old joke.  “How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb? One. But it has to want to change.”

 Some people who are stuck don’t even know it is them.  They think the world is against them.

You don’t have to go backwards and relieve every negative experience, but you would do well to examine your heart to make sure you have no buried anger or unforgiveness on the inside.  After a while, not only do we not clean it out, we accept it.  I am sure you have heard people say “I am always this bitter.  It is just who I am”.  It’s like a small toxic waste dump.  It looks ok for some time then as the ground shifts and the rain comes,  the waste starts to leak out destroying everything it touches.

Only forgiveness gets rid of the poison. When we hang onto unforgiveness it doesn’t hurt the other person it hurts us.   If you want to move on with your life you have to let the hurt go.  You don’t do it for the other person, you do it for you –  SO YOU CAN BE FREE.. Don’t forget that we must forgive ourselves too.  It is not just about other people.

FORGIVENESS IS A CHOICE, BUT IT IS NOT AN OPTION.

Many times you can be hard-headed and stubborn.  There are lots of reasons you can give yourself why you won’t change.  If you want to be happy, if you want to be free get that junk out of your life.

LOVE AND BLESSINGS…..NAMASTE – JAHNE

Dear Yogis,

I recently got some commissions for family silhouettes, and doing them I asked myself  “why don’t I do more of these? I love them”.  So I am, and I invite you to take advantage of this time.

Imagine your husband, your wife, your children painted in profile and displayed on a wall dedicated to family portraits as you can see in especially in the feature wall of family silhouettes to the left….. This is from “Hello” magazine, and as you can imagine is quite trendy.

Really only the size of the frame changes much, some are round, some are square,  some are modern some are definitely antique, especially the dominant one in the middle, yet somehow they all fit together.

The individual paintings (and they are paintings not photocopies) are all about  the same size, approximately 4 inches square which is the required size for miniatures.  Above that and they are no longer in that class. The ones to the right are more modern. I like round mounts or frames, but that is a personal choice.

My paintings are in black on high quality watercolour paper.  If you would like one of yourself, your husband, and/or your family I will need  A  clear photocopy, scan or photograph OF A PROFILE (If I can see two eyes it is not a profile) to work from.  No computerisation is involved.   The cost is $35 for one profile, $125 for  a family group of four  individual paintings and $85 for a wedding or married couple in one frame (plus postage).   The works will arrive ready to frame (or print).  You can Direct Debit, or PayPal and I will be putting Afterpay on my new Shop on my web site.  Email me if you would like to begin a wall of family members, so much nicer and more personal than photographs or facebook message scraps…yogafirst2@bigpond.com

They don’t have to send beautiful photographs.  The wrinkles and flaws won’t show… No plastic surgery or photoshopping required.  Just clear PROFILES.

JOY.  Doing these paintings (any painting for others or even yoga) gives me JOY.  When it doesn’t I will stop, or change.  When I lose my joy, the first thing I ask myself “What am I focussed on? Where is the emphasis? What am I thinking about?”  When I am not progressing, it is usually because I am focussed on my problems,I am thinking about some concern or frustration in my life.  I am thinking only about what I have to do tomorrow.  When I get caught up and totally focussed on me, it is a formula for mentally spinning my wheels.

I have realised it is very selfish to go around dwelling on my life, my problems, to the exclusion of others.  One of the best things to do if you are having a problem is to help someone else with theirs.  If you want your dreams to materialise, then first help someone achieve theirs.  When we meet other peoples’ needs God makes sure that we receive ours.

We were created to give, not simply to please ourselves.  If you miss that truth, you will miss the abundant, overflowing, joy-filled life that God has in store for you.  It is not enough to think kind things about others, we need to express them.  As the old saying goes “Love is not love until you give it away”.  Don’t go through life as a taker, be a giver.

Some years ago one of my clients in rehab who had been a pot smoker for 30 years kept asking me “When am I going to be well?” and “When will I know I am well?”.  Every day, numbers of times a day he asked the same two questions.  I told him that when he left the facility it would be a good idea to go work for the salvos, or any other volunteer work to get his mind off himself which would aid in his recovery.  He left and a few months later I got a call… he said “I am working for the Salvos and I hate it. When will I know I am well?”  Nothing had changed.. and I can be pretty sure he would still be looking for comfort from drugs and material things. You can’t give on the basis of getting something in return – it doesn’t work that way, and you will never be content.  You will never be “well”.

You have to start where you are. Develop an attitude of giving.  You can pray for someone in need, buy a coffee for someone else, small things.  Somebody needs what you have to give, not your way, their way. You may have been trained to guard your assets (even if just small change) by parents who went through tough times.  You are not them. You can’t protect anything as we have learned during this covid experience.  Things happen over which we have no control….  bush fires, floods, theft, illness (even death) many things can catch up with us.

If you give things away, you are just changing the notion of time – eventually everything will go away.  If you give things away before they are taken from you,  you get the joy of giving.  Your things are NOT YOURS. You are just able to use them for whatever time they stay with you, you are only the caretaker. .

Like my family of paintings your “things” are yours for a short time. Love them and then let them go.

LOVE AND BLESSINGS….

NAMASTE – JAHNE

 

Dear Yogis,

In spite of what is happening to the the world, your community, to the family or to you at the moment, actually nothing much has changed.  HAPPINESS IS STILL A CHOICE.  You may be thinking the your best life is still a long way off… but truly nothing could be further from the truth.  Your best life starts today!

You can choose to be happy today, or you can choose to be unhappy and go around all day snapping and snarling like a barracuda, it is entirely up to you. If you make the mistake of allowing your circumstances to dictate your level of happiness then please understand that you are missing out on the abundance that is your destiny.

To live life the easy way, abandon your focus on the future and live one day at a time.  TODAY.  We often are frustrated because we don’t know how things will work out tomorrow.  This uncertainty increases our stress level and creates that gut gnawing sense of insecurity.  If you continue down this path,  frustration and discouragement are guaranteed.

You can decide not to “sweat the small stuff”.  You can decide not to let the little things pile up. However, flip the coin and you really can make a decision that you are not going to make things escalate and you are not going to allow yourself to get upset.  It is not a matter of stuffing the upset down, repressing it.  It is about just not getting upset. Refusing to be perturbed. Choosing to stay happy.

When negative things happen, no matter how angry you get, no matter how much you rant and rave it is not going to change anything.  Life is flying by, don’t waste a moment of it being angry, upset or worried.  The Psalmist said “This is the day The Lord has made”.  He didn’t say “Tomorrow, after I get through this I will get happy”.  This is the day the Lord wants you to be happy.  Begin by making someone else happy.

One of my students told me they were “waiting for God to turn the situation around”.  That is cute, and I am sure they believed what they said.   It sounds faith based, but look closely…  it is not your place to wait on God to do what YOU want.   God is waiting on you.  He has given you the way, now you have to take it.   You must learn to be happy within yourself.  Be grateful for the blessings you have.  Your life may not be perfect, (whose is?) it may not have turned out as planned, and certainly covid is putting a spanner in the works however, the challenge is to be happy in spite of what is happening around you.  Learn to bless where you are planted.

Why not be happy right now? Appreciate today.  Enjoy life’s journey.  THESE ARE THE GOOD OLD DAYS.  Twenty years from now hopefully you will look back and say “That was a great time in my life”.

In this time of covid it is good to remember that our immune systems are enhanced  by happiness.  The Bible says “A cheerful mind works healing”.   One of the healthiest things you can do is smile more often. Make up your mind that no matter what happens you will smile (not just on the inside – on the outside too).Whatever the situation you are in, you are there for a reason.  I do not believe life is random, chaotic.  No matter what happens I believe there is a plan. I can’t see the big picture, and frankly I don’t want to.  I am busy enough doing what is in front of me today. I have abandoned the continuous questioning and I just get on with the day, trusting that God is in control and directing my steps (because I am not driving the bus).

Break out of your self-imposed prison, the door is unlocked.  Start looking at how you can bring happiness to others and you will automatically bring happiness to yourself.  Start with small things.  You have to start where you are, be faithful with what you have… If you give smiles, you will get smiles from others. If you are generous, and support others in their lives, in their business, God will make happen for you.

Somebody needs what you have to give. As John Bunyan said in Pilgrims Progress,  “You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who cannot pay you back”.  Learn to give yourself away, and your life will make a difference. Or as the Government says, to rescue the economy – start spending!

For me – I am happy because I am where I am supposed to be (comfortable, or uncomfortable).  When something changes, I will let you all know.  

NAMASTE.  JAHNE