The purpose of LIFE

Do you feel bored with your LIFE?

Does it no longer hold any meaning?

Does it feel aimless?

Does it make you feel purposeless?

What if I told you that your purpose in life is to taste it’s many flavors – and that what you are calling boredom is but your Higher Self’s signal to you that you have learned all you need to learn and that its time to move on?

What if you considered the possibility that a very acceptable way of journeying is to stay on the surface of it, at least for a while, experimenting and playing with whatever seems interesting for only as long as it was interesting and that what is most important is to smile often, to be happy, and to like yourself?

So many of us suffer needlessly because we have been taught that our life is suppose to look a certain way. By a certain age we are suppose to know what we want to be when we grow up and that we are suppose to then spend the rest of our lives happily being it.

Well, I was a little different. I surrendered, wanting to know the answers and started allowing what was, in this moment, to be OK. I started allowing who I was to be OK NOW – even when the world told me I wasn’t!

And then interesting opportunities began to present themselves and I played with the ones that caught my interest – until I let them go.

Sometimes we spend so much time trying to figure out what to do that we forget to BE. We spend so much time thinking there is something about us that needs to be fixed that we forget how awesome we are right now.

Many of you have asked for my advice – here it is…

For the next 7 days put down the lists, the journals, the self examinations, any and all of it that looks like a search for answers. Just put it down.

Also for seven days eliminate or severely limit anything that we humans like to use to distract us from ourselves – TV, radio, the computer, newspapers, alcohol, high intensity exercise, talking about our problems, etc.

Also for 7 days stop reading books – just let it all go.

What to do?
Well.....walk, sit, watch the thoughts that travel across the surface of your mind.

Doodle, sketch, color if you like

Dance

If emotions come up, let them and watch them, without judgement. Watch them come and watch them go and watch them come again.

BE WITH YOURSELF.
If this is too hard to do for 7 days – then do it for 2 or 3 – or even just one 24 hour period. Give yourself a break from this belief that you are required to be something you are not in order to be happy and fullfilled. Allow yourself to empty.

And then – when this period of quiet is over – pick up your journal and write about the experience – and write about the insights that came to you during this time…

I would also love to hear from you  :)

U or the EGO?

Do you really need other people's approval, acceptance, or appreciation first before you can give it to yourself? Absolutely not! Who you are is the energy and consciousness of love itself, and once you consistently realize this and openly shower this love upon yourself and others, you'll be free from everyone's opinions forever. Your ego was "programmed" by society to need approval, acceptance, and appreciation from the outer world. It hasn't realized that there is an infinite source of love beneath it at YOUR core, and that you can have access to it at anytime. The ego is a very ironic creation. It's about as real as your own shadow, and yet we build our entire relationships around its illusionary reality. As soon as you commit to the lightness and openness of your own being, the ego is no where to be found. What's the worst thing that could happen if you decided to let go of other people's opinions about you and chose to love yourself JUST AS YOU ARE 24-7?

One of the greatest secrets to transcending this game is that other people's opinions of you are only a reflection of what they see (or don't want to see) about themselves. Everyone is a mirror for each other. Their beliefs about you are a deep unconscious projection of themselves onto you, just to avoid looking inside themselves. So help out your fellow humans and give them their projections and opinions back to them! For 2011 don't take on ANYBODY'S projections or opinions about you! Stop the relentless ego from scheming to get others to like you, and instead, just practice loving yourself as you are. Be unguarded from their opinions. Let their opinions form freely, and honor that their beliefs are truly limiting thoughts about themselves in the end.

Trusting the Universe

As we create the life of our dreams, we often reach a crossroad where the choices seem to involve the risk of facing the unknown versus the safety and comfort of all that we have come to trust. We may feel like a tightrope walker, carefully teetering along the narrow path to our goals, sometimes feeling that we are doing so without a net. Knowing we have some backup may help us work up the courage to take those first steps, until we are secure in knowing that we have the skills to work without one. But when we live our lives from a place of balance and trust in the universe, we may not see our source of support, but we can know that it is there.

If we refuse to act only if we can see the safety net, we may be allowing the net to become a trap as it creates a barrier between us and the freedom to pursue our goals. Change is inherent in life, so even what we have learned to trust can surprise us at any moment. Remove fear from the equation and then, without even wondering what is going on below, we can devote our full attention to the dream that awaits us.

We attract support into our lives when we are willing to take those first tentative steps, trusting that the universe will provide exactly what we need. In that process we can decide that whatever comes from our actions is only for our highest and best experience of growth. It may come in the form of a soft landing, an unexpected rescue or an eye-opening experience gleaned only from the process of falling. So rather than allowing our lives to be dictated by fear of the unknown, or trying to avoid falling, we can appreciate that sometimes we experience life fully when we are willing to trust and fall. And in doing so, we may just find that we have the wings to fly.

When we believe that there is a reason for everything, we are stepping out with the safety net of the universe, and we know we will make the best from whatever comes our way.

Focussing

Staying focused in each moment allows us move with the rhythmic flow of the universe and harmonize our being. As modern life makes a wealth of information and opportunities available to us, we may find ourselves torn between a wide variety of interests and projects. Our excitement may entice us to try all of them at once, but doing so only diffuses our energy, leaving us unable to fully experience any of them. Like an electrical socket with too many things plugged into it, we may be in danger of overheating and burning out. But if we can choose one thing at a time to focus all of our attention upon, we can make the most of our life-force energy, engaging ourselves fully in the moment so that it can nurture us in return.

Our attention can be pulled in many directions, not only in our own lives, but by advertising, media, and the hustle and bustle of our surroundings. But when we take the time to listen to our inner guidance and focus our thoughts on the goals that resonate the most strongly within us, the rest of the world will fade away. This may mean focusing the spotlight of our attention upon developing one aspect of our work, one course of study, or one hobby to pursue in our free time, but it doesn't mean that we have to stay focused on only one thing forever. We may never know which of our interests is best suited to our abilities and heart's desires unless we give it a proper chance. By being fully present with all that we are and all that we have, we can experience each choice fully and make the most fulfilling choices for our energetic investments. Because we are multi-faceted beings, we are perpetually involved in many aspects of life in every moment. Our work in the world is necessary to attend to our physical needs, and our relationships are important for our emotional needs, but when we engage our spirit as well, we can choose the area that will nurture body, mind and soul. Staying focused in each moment allows us to stay balanced on all aspects of our being.

The First Chakra (Muladhara) Balancing

In dealing with all the chakras I would try to give a brief as it is in the texts and then I would be giving you a simplified version so that the post can address a wider audience.

The first Chakra or Muladhara is positioned close to anus, at the perineum, and it has four petals which match the vrittis of greatest joy, natural pleasure, delight in controlling passion, and blissfulness in concentration.

In Samkhya philosophy, the concept of Muladhara is that of moola prakriti, the metaphysical basis of material existence. Muladhara is the chakra that draws down spritual energy and causes it to assume a physical existence. It is like the negative pole in an electrical circuit, which provides the potential for the evolution of form.

Within this chakra resides sleeps the kundalini shakti, the great spiritual potential, waiting to be aroused and brought back up to the source from which it originated, Brahman.

Muladhara is the base from which the 3 main psychic channels, nadis, ida, pingala and sushumna, emerge.It is related to the physical processes of reproduction and excretion, and also to the various fear and guilt complexes associated with them. All a person's Samskaras ( potential karma ), are expressed here, in a physical form.

This chakra is associated with the deities Indra, Brahma and Dakini, the element Earth and the color red.

The energy that was unleashed in creation, called the Kundalini, lies coiled and sleeping, and it is the purpose of a tantric yogi( please do not entertain misconceptions that Tantra means sex because it does not, it literally means 'To Connect') to arouse this energy, and cause it to rise back up through the increasingly subtler chakras, until union with god is achieved in the Sahasrara chakra at the crown of the head. Sahasrara is positioned above the head or at the top of it and it has 1000 petals which are arranged in 20 layers each of them with 50 petals. Often referred as thousand-petaled lotus, it is said to be the most subtle chakra in the system, relating to pure consciousness, and it is from this chakra that all the other chakras emanate. When a yogi is able to raise his or her kundalini, energy of consciousness, up to this point, the state of samadhi, or union with god, is experienced. The earliest known mention of chakras is found in the later Upanishads, including specifically the Brahma Upanishad and the Yogatattva Upanishad. These vedic models were adapted in Tibetan Buddhism as Vajrayana theory, and in the Tantric Shakta theory of chakras. It is the shakta theory of 7 main chakras that most people in the West adhere to, either knowingly or unknowingly, largely thanks to a translation of two indian texts, the Sat-Cakra-Nirupana, and the Padaka-Pancaka, by Sir John Woodroffe, alias Arthur Avalon, in a book entitled The Serpent Power.

Now, the easiest way that I have found to balance and charge chakras is to think about it as if you were cleaning off a greasy marble.

Let's start with the first Chakra you should always start with, the "Root Chakra"

The corresponding color is Ruby Red. The chakra is located at the base of your spine where your "tail bone" is. The Root Chakra is in control of things like "the fight or flight" reaction, our inner feeling of safety and serenity. When it is out of balance, you will find that you are generally restless, anxious, worried, afraid, or feel generally unsafe. It can also manifest into physical things like extra weight around your thighs or stomach.

Now, close your eyes and picture your Root Chakra. It's not complex, just picture a Red Chakra at the base of your spine near your rear.

It should be fairly small and clear rudy red, it should also be spinning clockwise. If it seems dark, muddy, cloudy, darker red, black or anything other than Rudy Red and clear, then it needs to be cleaning.

Whether it seems fully clear rudy red or not, take the time to wipe it clean. Just imagine that it's a marble that you can pull out and rub clean, like your wiping some dust or old grease off of a marble. Or you can picture drenching it in water to cleanse it. The important part is not in how your visualize that it is done, so long as you 'feel' that it is cleaner. Remember not to worry so much if you can't quiet 'see' it in your inner eye, this will come with practice if you can't naturally see it. Just knowing you are doing it is enough in most cases and it is common to not be able to see it when it is out of balance.

Now, try to notice if you can tell what direction it is spinning, or how quickly. A balanced and charged chakra should be spinning clockwise without wobbling and should spin pretty fast.

for simplicities sake, lets say your not sure how fast it's spinning or in what direction. Mentally make the chakra stop spinning. This won't hurt during this time, so don't fear doing it. Just stop it from spinning all together and then turn it clockwise. Don't worry to much about whether your going the right way or not, your mind naturally knows which way it clockwise and you will notice if it's not going the right way by the way it feels.

Once you have it going clockwise, imagine that you take a finger and spin it around as you would a marble on a table. Or for another image, think about what a pinwheel does when you blow on it. Or one of those little hand held electric fans. It spins and keeps going and going without much effort on your part. This is called "charging" your chakras. Once you have cleaned, balanced and charged your chakras, it is most common to "see" the color of that chakra flash before your closed eyes, or you might feel a connected happy emotion that corresponds to that chakra. Don't worry if it doesn't happen right away, it will with practice.

Then you are done with that chakra!

Home Remedies for Acidity and Heartburn

Synonym and Related keywords for acidity and heartburn: Indigestion, bloating, borborygmus and dyspepsia are all used to define this condition, which in many cases, occurs after eating.

Home Remedies for Acidity

1. After the meals, take one piece of CLOVE(Laung) and suck on it slowly.  This not only gives instantaneous relief but also helps in reducing the onslaught of diseases arising out of acidity.
2. Try chewing on a clove.  Eat a piece of Jaggery or Gur after lunch/dinner.
3. Bananas have protective action against the acidity and heart burn. Daily eat a Bannana will help.
4. Drink daily a 1 tsp juice of chebulic myroblan mixed with 1 tsp of amla (Indian gooseberry) juice.
5. Another good remedy is the usage of Jaggery (Gudh) after the meals.  About 5 to 10 grams of a Jaggery piece taken after the meals helps in eliminating acidity, improves digestion and also helps in the expulsion of worms in small children.
6. Aniseed or Saunf : Relieves abdominal pain, colon disorders, gas, gastrointestinal tract spasms. Effective for acidic stomach conditions (heartburn).
7. Ginger: Ginger is useful for digestion disorders. Helps relieve indigestion from rich foods.
8. Take equal amounts of ginger powder, black pepper, dried mint leaves, asafetida (hing), anise seeds, coriander seeds, cumin, fennel and common salt. Grind together to make a fine powder. Dosage: Take about 1 teaspoon of this powder with water, twice a day after meals.
9. Drinking water gives immediate relief to symptoms like wind, distended stomach and acidity.
10. Have a cup of vanilla ice cream or cold milk.
11. Chew bubble-gum and acidity will disappear. This is an easy and best way to get rid of Acidity.

Quick Home Heartburn Remedies (This is actually different from acidity)

Finding a home remedy for heartburn is not difficult; you just have to know where to look! When you feel that pain in your chest starting to hit, there are natural heartburn remedies around the house that will provide you with instant relief. Whether you don't have medication or choose not to take any, this article will provide you with some easy to find home heartburn remedies.

Heartburn is becoming more and more prevalent as our lifestyles and diet habits are becoming poorer and poorer. Even though there are home heartburn remedies that will provide instant relief, you should consult a doctor and find out how to stop heartburn or acid reflux before it gets worse.

With that said, let's get to those home heartburn remedies.

1. Saliva will help ease your heartburn. Try swallowing some, and if you need help producing more saliva think of a food that you absolutely love, or chew some gum.

2. Oftentimes, heartburn occurs due to gas pressing on the stomach. Try to make yourself burp by drinking a carbonated beverage. This should relieve some of the gas pressure and help you feel better.

3. Drink plenty of water and other beverages. When heartburn occurs, water will help reduce the acidity in the stomach.

4. The best way to instantly cure heartburn or acid reflux is by using antacids or baking soda. These neutralize acid in the stomach, causing you to immediately feel better. Baking soda is readily available in any store, is inexpensive, and you probably already have it around the house.

5. Do you have tea lying around? Herbal tea will make you feel better, especially ginger tea.

6. Aloe Vera has also proven to be a great heartburn home remedy. It has an alkalizing effect on the body, meaning it will help neutralize acid, and thus will relieve your heartburn. Aloe Vera juice is readily available in capsule or liquid form in many supermarkets and stores.

7. THE MOST important home heartburn remedy; you must lose weight and stop smoking. Both of these have been linked to heartburn and acid reflux, and are essential to your overall health.

This list should help you relieve your heartburn using easy home remedies, but they are no substitute for serious medical care. If you are experiencing severe, often heartburn pain you should immediately consult a doctor. If your heartburn is a rare occurrence, then by all means give these options a shot.

On popular demand- home remedies to common problems

I would be running posts on common problems and their home remedies. My first post is addressing the problem of Acidity. Please feel free to write anything else which you feel needs special attention. You can write in the Comments and I will run a post accordingly.