Gaia: Mind, Body, Spirit

Looking for a Holistic Psychologist/Counselor

http://sparrow48161.gaia.com — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:44:53 GMT

I recently began an MS program in Counseling. One of my first assignments is to find somebody who does what I want to do and interview them. I have a certification in Myomassology and a bachelor's in Psychology. I hope to combine the two and create a holistic therapy practice. Is there anyone out there that is already doing something similar? Are you a psychologist who encourages clients to treat the whole body? Do you go to a psychologist who uses alternative treatments?

This is a really important project and I would appreciate as much help as I can get. Pleasse email me directly with information. thank you for yourr support!

Peace,
Sparrow

sparrow48161@yahoo.com

Re: The Optimist Creed

http://giojahn.gaia.com — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 03:07:05 GMT

Thank you very much for sharing this.

Balance

http://ksuzannegilmore.gaia.com — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 14:43:12 GMT

Body balance is imp

The Optimist Creed

http://joybringer.gaia.com — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 06:38:23 GMT

The Optimist Creed

I’ve always considered myself an optimist. It was not till I found “The Optimist Creed” below that I realized how much more I have to change, improve and/or evolve to BE a true optimist. But not to worry nor despair :) - I believe I am moving in the right direction and I know that Zaadz and you are helping me BE more Optimistic than ever for which I thank YOU with a smile and faith in my heart.

THE OPTIMIST CREED

Promise Yourself …

• To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
• To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet.
• To make all your friends feel that there is something worthwhile in them.
• To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
• To think only of the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best.
• To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
• To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
• To wear a cheerful expression at all times and give a smile to every living creature you meet.
• To give so much time to improving yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
• To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.
• To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud word, but in great deeds.
• To live in the faith that the whole world is on your side, so long as you are true to the best that is in you.

The Optimist Creed was authored in 1912 by Christian D. Larson, an advocate of positive thought. It was adopted as Optimist International’s creed in 1922.
For more details check out www.optimist.org

Let’s share this optimism with a smile! :)

Darina

mental, spiritual, physical & emotional

http://waiting4karma.gaia.com — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 20:13:55 GMT

I really think they are all one and the same...it's our medical system that has separated human beings from the human...The Law of Cure if you have this we give you this!!!! If only it was that simple...The best example I've been given is that if your driving down a road in a car and one of the tires are flat....it's a pretty bumpy ride. If you don't balance out the 4 quadrants mental, spiritual, physical & emotional...it then too is a pretty bumpy ride.

The law of return...

Mon, 14 Aug 2006 00:27:35 GMT

You reap what you sow.

A simple statment and yet one of the most difficult ideas to comprehend much less implement in our lives.

Never fear though. Just by reading this you have sown something in your mind and your heart. You have affected change. You are change.

Take your newfound wisdom to others. Just by interacting with one other person you evolve yourself and them.

"Six degrees of separation is the hypothesis that anyone on Earth can be connected to any other person on the planet through a chain of acquaintances with no more than five intermediaries. The concept is based on the idea that the number of acquaintances grows exponentially with the number of links in the chain, and so only a small number of links is required for the set of acquaintances to become the whole human population." - Wikipedia

HOW AWESOME IS THE IDEA THAT WE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD?!!

An experiment...

Fri, 11 Aug 2006 03:49:25 GMT

I would like you to try an experiment with yourself. Begin the experiment today.

I want you to try as much as you can to grab your thoughts and look at them. Don’t judge them or condemn them. Just allow yourself to look at them.

Now when you have one thought in mind, ask yourself where that thought came from and why.

Here’s an example.

I have a thought that I want to smoke a cigarette. Ok, fine. I recognize that thought and understand it is a desire. I could forget about it, smoke the cigarette and fulfill the desire. However, after I’m done I feel quilty because I’ve been trying to quit smoking.

Now, I could have also done this. Instead of forgetting the thought, I look at. Where did it come from? I could say it came from my subconsious conditioning to fulfill a habit that is emotionally satisfying. That’s a good start. The questions remains WHY? do I have a habit that needs fufilled?

This process is a self-analyzation. It is the ability to go inside your mind without condemnation or judgement and just look at the thoughts as they go by. Grab one of them that you want to understand and drill down into your life to find out where the thought originated and why.

Keep asking yourself WHY? Don’t stop until you reach the fundamental levels of your psyche.

This is a VERY scary experiment. It is the process of stripping ourselves naked and finding all the dirt we have. But, the dirt is easily cleaned away with “water”. That water is your willingness to understand and not condemn yourself.

This experiment just happens to be meditation as well. By letting yourself go, floating freely in your mind, listening to your thoughts, not being biased or opinionated, you submit to the universe. It’s a letting go of you to no-thingness. At first it feels like you’re falling down a rabbit hole with no end. That feeling subsides once you understand there is nothing to fear.

Don’t allow fear to be the barrier between you and you. Meditation is not a focused intent on an object. It is the willigness to be a no-body. Meditation can’t be forced.

We see Buddha statues showing him with a hand on the earth and the other open to the world. The hand on the earth is his recognition of his connection to the universe. His open hand is reception. He allows himself to be receptive and open to EVERYTHING.

You are having difficulty because you are struggling and trying to control your thoughts. Think of them as friends and welcome them. Imagine yourself as a branch floating down a stream. You can either turn against the current and fight to reach the shore, or you can relax and float with the current.

You have the power to determine whether life is easy or hard.

Spirituality...

Fri, 04 Aug 2006 01:47:02 GMT

Spirit is the breath of life. It is the consciousness of existence.

The Zen Spiritual Institute embraces a universal energy field that cannot be seen but supports all physical life as we know it. That energy is spiritual. It is the no-thing-ness that supports the mystery of life. Modern quantum-physics has been finding evidence to support what the great mystics have always known throughout time - there is something of greater significance underlying the physical world and it literally breathes life.

Spirit is an individual's inner self. Far removed from the mind and its ego character, the spirit of every human being is a silent voice. It is the state of being when all conditioning from society as well as our minds have been dropped or set aside. Artists and athletes experience this state often. It is when a person is so involved with the moment that they completely remove themselves from time and enter into eternity. Many forms of meditation have been created to achieve this state of no-mind-ness or spirituality.

The Institute recognizes every human as a physical manifestation of a universal consciousness or spirit. This same spirit resides in all forms of life including inanimate as well as animate creatures. Thus, any action done to any other physical manifestation is done to the self. "Do unto others as you would have done unto you" becomes an experience of truth for the seeker.

The intrinsic trait of spirit is creativity. Spirit is creativity. Thought is the physical form of spiritual creativity. A thought has the power of the universe behind it and can literally move mountains. Once the creative potential of an individual is realized by their inner selves, nothing can stop them from achieving whatever they want. Spiritually all humans are gods.

Spirit is perfect. However, the physical manifestations of spirit are not. It is for this reason that physical beings are able to grow. Through trial and error the universal spirit is achieving consciousness more and more every moment. This achieving is easily seen through humans who have begun spiritual transformation. Taking the inner self from a lower level of consciousness to a higher one is spiritual transformation. Some of the highest peaks of consciousness ever reached where represented through Christ, Buddha, Krishna, Lao Tzu, Mohammed and thousands more.

The Zen Spiritual Institute is dedicated to bringing the spirit of each human to a higher level. The curriculum of courses is designed to give everyone a door to meditation that fits their individuality. The further a seeker enters into themselves through meditation the less they need to rely on the method to achieve it. Spiritual transformation achieves a momentum of its own and is supported by existence. In transformation you never control, you simply become more aware. A seeker reaches a point where the curriculum is no longer necessary. That is the ultimate goal of the Institute.

Re: Nurturing our Bodies

http://joybringer.gaia.com — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 05:02:15 GMT

Thanks Seawave,

and just after I wrote my previous post, I found this great quote that I wanted to share...

"Behind your thoughts and feelings, my brother, there stands a mighty ruler. an unknown sage - whose name is self. In yourt body he dwells; he is your body. There is more reason in your body than in your best wisdom."

Friedrich Nietzsche, "Thus Spoke Zarathustra"

How about we try to recover our body's voice? To start listening more carefully, even prayerfully to what it can teach us. And enjoy the dialogue! :)

Darina

Re: Nurturing our Bodies

Wed, 02 Aug 2006 03:07:45 GMT

Darina,

Thank you for such a beautiful post which is so timely. Pain has much to teach to us, whether emotional, physical, or spiritual. Though none of us would choose pain if we could so make that choice, when it is a part of our experience, we honor ourselves by listening to the lessons and the wisdom it has to offer to us.

And your words are so wise when you ask the question of why it seems our bodies must be in pain before we honor them the way we should. Thank you for the reminder to nurture the vessel, love from within, and be joyful for the loving gift that we are.

peace and well being,

seawave

Believing...is Seeing

Re: Nurturing our Bodies

http://joybringer.gaia.com — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 01:51:09 GMT

Seawave,

What a timely and wonderful reminder. Something we need to remind ourselves ever so often through the day - to listen to our bodies and honor their needs. In our constant urge to keep doing, improving and searching, we often forget to listen, to notice, to just be...

And how often do we get to the point where we fail to listen so much and so consistently that our safety net called pain has to remind us by calling, ringing bells or producing whole tornadoes :)

Wouldn't it be great to avoid those stages of pain and start learning with joy instead? That's a lesson learned the hard way for me after going through a lot and various kinds of pain during which I almost thought that this is the only way to really learn, until I realized my faulty thinking and started changing from within.

My first poem ever was even called "Not Learning from Pain" which became a self-fulfilling prophecy for a while, but now several years later. I am still grateful for all the pain lessons . but looking more forward to be proactive, to listen and honor my body and learn more from and with joy!

Darina, Joy Bringer :)

pods.zaadz.com/joy

Re: Today... Healing, Joy & Love flow & grow

Tue, 01 Aug 2006 05:50:46 GMT

Darina:

Thank you for your beautiful and inspiring words. Yes, it is amazing discovery to come together in love, unity, compassion and harmony here in this wonderful space online. I am so blessed to have already met so many beautiful and loving people, including you. Thank you for your sharing. I look forward to the journey together.

-seawave

Believing...is Seeing

Re: Today... Healing, Joy & Love flow & grow

http://joybringer.gaia.com — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 05:15:56 GMT

Seawave, It is really such a joy and synchronicity to meet you and join your wonderful pod today. And that is one of the things that is soo amazing ever since I joined zaadz - I almost feel growing in love every day, meeting the most wonderful, inspired and inspiring people ever and coming from so many different walks of life, parts of the world, genders, ages, beliefs and yet sharing so much in common that is striking… Quite the dance and healing we are all a part of, aren't we? Always seeking and finding in every moment, humbled and excited, human and divine, one and yet many…not one yet, but more than many. :) I am really happy and excited to share all the joys related to our bodies, minds and souls and I am anticipating wonderful things and healing ahead! Let's share more of the joy/s around us! Meanwhile Let's Take Joy, Love & Courage in our amazing journey, Darina Joy Bringer pods.zaadz.com/joy

Photo credits go to Elan SunStar & Jean Luc Bozzoli for the amazing joy-filled images

Nurturing our Bodies

Sat, 29 Jul 2006 22:09:07 GMT

I'm noticing a recent spike in some painful symptoms lately, tied I'm sure to diet and stress, and it constantly amazes me how much our bodies can scream out to us when we aren't taking care of them the way we should be. Even if you don't have any chronic problems that let you know you haven't been doing what you could to nurture your body, unseen changes are taking their toll over time. Stress, fat-laden diets, lack of exercise, etc., are all wreaking havoc on our organ systems, in addition to our mind and spirit. I am reminded today to take better care of myself. I am reminded, however, that it shouldn't get to the point of pain before I notice.

Today...

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 15:54:18 GMT

How did you nourish your spirit today? How did you remember your essence, your love, your light?

I logged into zaadz and discovered new friends, I did some reading in the morning, some meditating on what I see for the day today, and I just sat quietly to listen to that inner wisdom and honor it. I am imagining my body as healthy and strong...every cell awake and alive and working in harmony with all of the others. I am fully present in love, light, peace, and the joy of living.

I'm currently reading the Companion Book for the Four Agreements. I find the simplicity behind the agreements was so deceiving at first. As I have meditated on them in my own life, I find throughout my day that I am constantly encountering situations that arise where an agreement has poignant applicability for me.

You are all a blessing to me.

sharing the light,

sea

Believing...is Seeing

Welcome!!!

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 00:32:13 GMT

Wow, the first post to the Mind, Body, Spirit pod. I actually just found zaadz today by accident, and have spent the better part of the afternoon just soaking up all that is light and love and compassion and health and community here.

I have a passion for health and healing, for the study of psychology and spirituality, and for the integration of mind, body and spirit as we consider the totality of our experience in the creation of our own health. Those of us who have found our journey accompanied by health challenges have a unique perspective on life and know the power of love and compassion to be healing forces in our lives.

This website, zaadz, is about changing the world. I can't think of a better place to start than within our own bodies and minds.

sharing the light...

peace and well being,

seawave

My current blog is at http://www.seawavesoliloquy.blogspot.com