Free Hug – Pass it On!

Free Hug – Pass it On!

Close your eyes and take in the hug I am sending you right now.  

Feel it full of love, unconditional love. 

We all need hugs.

Physical touch is grounding and calming.

No words needed.

A gentle hug says more than words.

With hugs, both the giver and receiver get full benefit.

If you don’t have anyone nearby to hug,

wrap your arms around your self

and give yourself a hug.

Afterall, your own self love is the greatest love of all.

May you get a hug every day, 💕Bindu

Let Yourself be Silently Drawn . . .

Let Yourself be Silently Drawn . . .

The tricky part with this is knowing what you really love.

Sometimes our surface desires run the show.

and our deepest heart and soul desires get pushed aside.

Slow down, take some deep breaths

Put your hand on your heart and feel your body

Ask for inner guidance.

It will be given.

May you be guided from your heart and soul, 💕Bindu

It’s Not Your Fault!

It’s Not Your Fault!

It’s not your fault . . .

That you have fibromyalgia

It’s not your fault . . .

That you were abused as a child or adult, beaten up, hit, or yelled at.

It’s not your fault . . .

That you were abandoned as a child or adult

It’s not your fault . . .

That you were neglected at a child or adult

 It’s not your fault . . .

That you were minimized, restricted, or controlled as a child or adult

You Deserve . . .

Kindness

Attention

Respect

Compassion

Caring

Love

Being heard

Being Seen

And FORGIVENESS

From yourself

And from Others

 

Stand Tall In your own

Truth

Love

Respect

Forgiveness

Kindness

Compassion

Self love

Self Care

May you know that your are already blessed,  💕Bindu

Personal Benefits of Kindness

Personal Benefits of Kindness

Personal Benefits of Kindness

The benefits from kindness are more than just feeling good. Kindness affects both our emotional and physical body in different ways.  Here are some of the benefits of being and showing kindness to others.

  • Kindness slows down the aging process. People who volunteer tend to experience less aches and pains than others. Kindness and helping others will protect your health in the same way aspirin helps against heart disease.
  • It improves our relationships and connections with others. Kindness helps us relate to other people and have more positive relationships with everyone we encounter.
  • Kindness increases happiness. In a study by The Journal of Social Psychology, who practiced an act of kindness or tried something new each day enjoyed a higher level of happiness than those who didn’t make any changes.
  • The release of feel-good hormones happens from acts of kindness. Doing nice things for others can increase your serotonin levels. These are the neurotransmitters responsible for our feelings of satisfaction and well-being. Kindness also releases the endorphins known as the “helper’s high”.
  • Kindness improves our own self-respect and self-love. It makes us happier and in a better mood more often by doing kind acts often. Buy someone coffee or lunch, help someone in need or volunteer your time to get the pick-me-up you need.
  • Kindness helps prevent illnesses caused from inflammation. These health problems include diabetes, cancer, chronic pain, obesity and migraines. Volunteering seems to lower the levels of inflammation. Oxytocin is released, even from small acts of kindness, which in turn reduces inflammation. Share a smile, make a donation, help others in some small to feel the effects of kindness.
  • Kindness eases your anxiety, whether it’s mild nervousness or you’re having severe panic. Being nice to others is one of the easiest and most inexpensive ways to fight of anxiety. Look for ways to help others when you are feeling anxious. Smile at someone, call a friend or lend your time to an organization.
  • It is good for your heart. Kindness not only makes your heart feel good; it also affects the actual chemical balance of your heart. It releases the hormone oxytocin which reduces blood pressure thereby protecting the heart.
  • Kindness helps reduce stress. Helping others lets you move away from your own worries and problems.

For those of us with fibromyalgia, taking on extra responsibilities may be daunting or impossible.  If that is the case, begin at home.  Begin where you are.  How can you offer simple acts of kindness in your everyday life?  A smile, a kind word, a compliment.  Holding back on an unkind word.  

Remember yourself among those you are kind to.  Compliment yourself.  Remind yourself of the things that you are strong in.  Counter an inner criticism with a compliment.  Stop a moment to take a breath or gaze at a flower.   

Incorporate the smallest acts of kindness every day. You’ll notice changes in how it affects your life and begin to see the ripple effects on other people as well.

 

May you experience kindness in your heart.

Until next week, 💗Bindu

Cultivating Joy and Kindness

Cultivating Joy and Kindness

Fibromyalgia is a devastating illness.  Not only are we in pain all or most of the time, but it impacts every area of our life.

It challenges our relationships.  It can limit our career and ability to express ourselves in the world.  It brings anxiety and depression daily.  It limits our ability to socialize and enjoy it.  It steals our sense of self worth and well-being.

It can completely take over our life and sense of self.

 

Emphasize the Positive

Yet, we can bring some balance and sense of self by emphasizing the positive.   One of my favorite teachers taught me that we had to balance our experience by emphasizing the positive.

Especially with fibromyalgia, there is so much negative experience on a daily basis it can be very easy to be consumed by it.  To the extent that it can become our identity.  We forget who we really are.

During my worst years of my fibromyalgia, I was nearly consumed by it.  My saving grace was my practice of yoga and meditation along with teaching yoga.  Those practices gave me a sense of who I was beyond the fibromyalgia.  They brought love, joy and peace into my life.  And helped me greatly.

Since then, I have learned more ways to emphasize the positive on a regular basis.

 

Challenges of Emphasizing the Positive

I understand the challenges of emphasizing the positive.  There are days that you simply can’t do it.  On those days, practice compassion and kindness for yourself, accepting where you are.  That in and of itself is emphasizing the positive.

 

Joy

The idea of cultivating joy had always been something that I didn’t think I could do.  Joy seemed to be out of my reach.  Then one of my teachers explained that Joy wasn’t jumping around in a state of bliss.

Joy could be finding peace in reading an inspirational book or listening to some calming music.  Or doing something that you love, gardening, drawing, watching a funny movie, having a talk with a dear friend.

Anything that you do that helps you to feel uplifted is cultivation joy.  The options are endless.  What do you do, or can you do that gives you a sense of peace, relaxation, or upliftment?  That is you cultivating joy.

 

Kindness

Kindness to yourself and others is a wonderful balm for the heart, mind and emotions.  Even if you are having a horrible day, if you are compassionate with yourself, that is an act of kindness.  A smile or compliment to someone, whether a family member or stranger is an act of kindness.

I used to notice things I appreciated about people, like I liked a piece of jewelry or clothing that they were wearing, or a hair style.  Then I thought, why share that with them person.  It is remarkably amazing.  Lifts my spirit and theirs.

When you have a bad fibro day, kindness to yourself is your best ally.   That could look like sleeping and resting for the day, taking a nap, having a warm cup of tea.

How do you show kindness to yourself when you are having a rough day?

 

Peace and Love are offshoots of Kindness and Joy

When you are cultivating kindness and joy, peace and love are natural and flowing.  It brings you in touch with your heart, your needs, and your self-love.

 

Contemplation for this week

This week, take some time to contemplate where you are regarding cultivating joy and kindness or love, and peace or compassion into your life.  Easy?  Hard?  Got it mastered?  Could use some work?

Then make a list of things that you do or can do to cultivate joy and kindness in your life.  Get creative around this.  Here are some questions to consider.

  • What calms and relaxes you.
  • What brings you joy and delight.
  • How do you practice self-love and compassion?
  • What do you like to do?
  • How do you take care of yourself on a bad day?

By making a list, on those days when you are having a fibro flare and life seems miserable and never ending, you will have a list of things that you can do to navigate the day.

 

May you cultivate Joy and Kindness into your life, 💕Bindu

Love – Joy – Peace

Love – Joy – Peace

Fibromyalgia is a devastating illness

It robs us of our peace, joy and happiness

It challenges our relationships

It robs us of our sense of wellbeing

It can destroy our career and ability to express ourself in the world

It creates an environment of constant pain

It steals our sense of self worth

It brings depression and anxiety

Yet, we can nurture a sense of

Love, Joy and Peace

To remind us that we are more than our illness

We are Light

We are Love

We are Joy

We are Peace

Remember who you are!