The Art of Silence: 3 ways to help the silence grow

July 3rd, 2008 Ben

As many of you may have notice I have not posted anything for a while. This is because I came down with an infection 2 weeks ago and it took so much out of me that I simply didn’t have the strength to sit down and post anything. However, the time I have had off sick has given me a unique experience, one that I wouldn’t necessarily have been given had I not become ill. One of the symptoms of my infection was that my mouth filled with ulcers which left me unable to talk as well as unable to eat, which has meant that I’ve spent the 5 days of last week at home alone unable to talk. Now usually I don’t talk to myself when I’m alone but I haven’t been able to make phone calls, or talk to my wife or daughter when they returned home each evening. I have simply had to listen all week and I’ve found this truly amazing.

I wouldn’t say I’m usually a big talker but I know I have a bit of a habit of butting in a bit too early during conversations, not to be rude you understand or to contradict the person who is talking but simply to convey my agreement or understanding. Over the past 7 days I have listened intently to everything that people have said because I haven’t been able to butt in.

This time in silence has gotten me to thinking and I thought I would share some reasons to allow a little more silence into your life.

  1. It allows you to truly listen. Being silent really allows you to listen to what someone is saying and it is a skill that all of us can foster. Too many people jump in and interrupt someone when they are talking and become distracted with something else, loosing all meaning of what someone is saying. Next time someone is talking to you, be silent until they have finished and begin to truly listen.
  2. You can find more peace and quite. It’s amazing how, when you are truly silent you find a wealth of peace around you. Many people find the silence uncomfortable. These are also the sort of people who often find it difficult to sit and do nothing whilst watching the world go by; I think there is a little of this mentality in all of us.
  3. More time to think. I have recently been driving my car without the stereo or radio on and I have found that the peace and quiet has allowed me to think more clearly about what I am doing; I’m less distracted and can focus better. You can do a similar thing a home too, just try sitting, no music, no TV, no internet, just sit and let your mind go.

We can all do with a little more silence in our lives. How can you add some silence to yours?

Peace

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50 Great Ways to Kickstart Your Day

June 19th, 2008 Ben

Hi Guys,

I was sent this earlier in the month but have only just got round to posting it on TheNewHorizonsProject.co.uk. There are some really good ways to start your day. Enjoy

___________________________________________

Morning Rituals: 50 Great Ways to Jumpstart Your Day

By Alisa Miller

What you do in the morning sets the tone for your entire day. Making positive choices for your morning routine promises to make whatever comes your way easier to manage. Follow the suggestions below to get a great start on your morning for both your body and your mind.

Food and Drink

Starting the day with something in your body is likely the most important way to jumpstart your day. Whether it’s a nutritious breakfast, vitamins, or a simple glass of water, you will find several ideas for how to get your morning going.

  1. Water. First thing as soon as you get out of bed, drink a glass of water. Not only will you jumpstart your hydration for the day, but the water will serve to help clear the cobwebs in your mind.
  2. Eat breakfast. As they say, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Starting the day with breakfast doesn’t have to be a major production and will get your day off to a great start. Find out exactly why eating breakfast is so important in this article.
  3. Make breakfast easy. Breakfast doesn’t have to be difficult. Grab a bagel or a yogurt and add a piece of fruit to have a quick and easy breakfast. This blog post offers some great ideas for an easy breakfast.
  4. Coffee. You can always try the old stand-by of a cup of coffee to get you going in the morning. Treat yourself to an automatic coffee maker so when your alarm goes off, you have a cuppa joe ready to go. If you enjoy the coffee from your favorite coffee shop, then motivate yourself to get out of the house sooner with the promise of someone else making that perfect cup.
  5. Tea. For those who don’t drink coffee, how about a cup of tea? It is super easy to make, and the selection is almost limitless. Tea is a great source of antioxidants and you can get it with caffeine or caffeine-free. Read here to find out more about the health benefits of tea.
  6. Fruit smoothie. Grab your blender, some milk or yogurt, and whatever fruit you have on hand (use fresh or frozen). Smoothies are delicious, easy to make, full of nutrition, and sure to get your day going. Try this peanut butter and banana smoothie for some extra protein in the morning.
  7. Protein powder. Add some whey protein powder (or soy protein powder if you don’t eat dairy) to your fruit smoothie, and you’ll really add a spring to your step in the morning. Learn about the benefits of whey protein powder here.
  8. Vitamin B complex. B vitamins give you energy and help memory and thinking. Take a good quality vitamin B complex supplement each morning to ensure you get the proper balance of your B vitamins. Another easy way to get your Bs is to drink them from a supplement like Emergen-C. The packets come in many different flavors and mix into water for a fast gulp of both B and C vitamins as well as other minerals and electrolytes.
  9. Have a green drink. Green drinks are all the rage in health circles. Imagine a smoothie with vegetables instead of fruit and no dairy. You can make your own like this one, or use a prepackaged version like this.
  10. Green tea bags. Instead of ingesting this drink, put some green tea bags on your eyes. Steep the tea, then cool the tea bags off in the freezer. Place the cool bags on your eyes for a reduction in puffiness. As an added bonus, you can drink the green tea while you wait for the tea bags to cool.

Exercise

Getting out of bed and getting your body moving is a great way to ensure you don’t go back to sleep and that you get the morning started with gusto. Fitting exercise in first thing in the morning also means you don’t have to worry about doing it later in the day after so many other tasks pile up and your energy begins to wane. It also gets your metabolism going early in the day.

  1. Yoga. Yoga is a calming, yet energizing way to get your body and your mind going in the morning. You don’t even have to go to a studio to do some basic yoga positions. Watch this video to learn how to do a sun salutation series, or read about how to do sun salutations at this site (the animated stick figure is actually quite helpful to learning how to do the moves).
  2. Run. Roll out of bed and into your running clothes. Get in a short run before starting your day and you will have not only awakened yourself, but have done your exercise for the day as well.
  3. Walk. If running isn’t your thing or you just need to give your body a rest, walking is both an excellent form of exercise and will get your day off to a great start.
  4. Stretch. It can be as simple as bending down to touch your toes or as elaborate as a workout routine, but stretching will get your blood flowing and keep you from crawling back to bed. Try these easy stretches to get your morning going.
  5. Jump rope. Jumping rope isn’t just for kids. This exercise is easy to do at home, doesn’t cost a lot, and gets your heart pumping right away. Why You Should Jump Rope not only answers why, but offers four different techniques and a video demonstrating some techniques.
  6. Swim. Whether you have access to a swimming pool or a natural body of water, taking an early morning dip will get your blood flowing and stimulate your appetite for that healthy breakfast. Swimming is an excellent workout for your body and offers some quiet time for your mind.
  7. Tai Chi. In many Asian countries, it is not unusual to see people outside early in the morning practicing their Tai Chi. Learn more about the benefits from this graceful, low-impact exercise in this article.
  8. Bicycle. Jump on your bike, whether it’s stationary or the traditional kind that can take you places. Cycling is good for your heart and will get you going in the morning. If you are lucky enough to ride outside, the fresh morning air will help get you going too.
  9. Push-ups. While these may bring visions of boot camp or memories of that crazed PE teacher you had in school, push-ups are a great way to get your morning started and require no extra cost or equipment. Here is one way to do those push-ups to get your blood flowing in the morning.
  10. Dance. Fulfill your childhood dream of being a ballerina or just get down with your funky self and make up your own dance steps to your favorite music. Dance is a fun form of exercise that you can do in the privacy of your own home. If you don’t know how to dance, get some tips online. You can also rent or buy a DVD to help you learn.

Evening Routine

Getting things done in the evening or before bed will save you much time in the morning. Not only will your head be clearer, but it will save you from having to do lots of small tasks when you have little time.

  1. Lay out clothes. Get your clothes ready for tomorrow by selecting and laying them out. This will save you time in the morning when you might not be as alert for making decisions or when you realize that shirt needed to be ironed.
  2. Pack lunches. Prepare lunches for yourself and, if you have kids, for your children. An easy way to streamline lunch-packing is to use a system like the Japanese bento box or Laptop Lunches.
  3. Pick up clutter. Clean up the shoes, dirty clothes, and various other stuff that gets left around the house so that you wake up to a clean house and don’t have to go searching for that second shoe. Follow these tips to declutter you house in just 15 minutes every day.
  4. Wash dishes. After a satisfying dinner, the last thing you probably want to do is clean up the kitchen. However, taking care of this task in the evening will have your kitchen clean and ready for you to start breakfast the next morning.
  5. Prepare dinner. Not the dinner you just ate, but get everything ready for tomorrow’s dinner. If you like crock pot cooking, get everything assembled in the evening, add it all to the crock pot in the morning, then you have dinner ready for you when you arrive home. Even without a crock pot, you can get veggies chopped and ingredients assembled so that dinner is ready for the making the next day.
  6. To-do list. Write down reminders of what you need to do the next day. In the morning, you won’t need to search your sleep-addled brain for the tasks ahead of you.
  7. Shower. If you don’t rely on your shower as a method of waking up, why not take it at night? Not having to shower in the morning will give you a good extra half hour for your morning routine.
  8. Check email. Don’t leave this task for the morning when you have so many other things to do to get ready for your day. Take care of your email business, then walk away from your computer so you won’t be tempted to take time away from the rest of your evening routine.
  9. Be ready to go. Put what you’ll need the next morning by the door so that you don’t have to go looking for your stuff. Keep bags, keys, backpacks, and whatever else you need to take with you ready to go.

Sleep and Waking

How you go to bed at night and get up in the morning will certainly affect how you begin your day. Follow these tips for getting a good night’s rest and waking up ready to greet the day.

  1. Go to bed. Of course you are going to go to bed, but make sure you do it before you feel exhausted. Pushing yourself to stay up for the news or the end of a TV show means you are probably cheating yourself out of your much-needed sleep.
  2. Get a good night’s rest. After a good sleep, you will feel much more energized and ready to start your day. Avoid caffeine and alcohol before bed, leave your worries behind you, and sip some chamomile tea. Here are more tips for how to ensure a great sleep.
  3. Wake up earlier. Give yourself just 30 extra minutes in the morning and you will be amazed at how much more you can accomplish before starting your day. Many people snooze for at least this long, so just try getting out of bed instead.
  4. Don’t snooze. You certainly wouldn’t want to purposely give yourself a poor night’s sleep, so why do you hit the snooze button in the morning? Snoozing guarantees that you will not be getting quality sleep during those last few minutes or hours of the morning. Make a change for a better start to your morning and skip the snooze.
  5. Get a pleasant alarm. A jarring alarm might wake you up, but so does an air horn blast to the ear or a douse of icy water. Instead of waking up startled, try an alarm that wakes you up gently such as the Zen alarm clock. You may be surprised at how well it works to get you up in the morning–and it’s definitely a more calm way to do so.
  6. Get an alarm that won’t let you sleep. Another great idea when it comes to alarms is using one that won’t let you sleep such as this light-producing alarm or these fun alarms from Japan. If you don’t want to shell out the money for a special alarm, try setting your radio alarm to talk radio.
  7. Move the alarm. Don’t put your alarm next to your bed. In fact, put it as far away from your bed as you can. When your alarm goes off, you will have to get out of bed to turn it off, thereby making it easier for you to stay out of bed.
  8. Sleep routine. Stick to a routine with consistent bed time and wake-up times. Consistently sleeping at the same time every night provides you with a better chance for a good night’s sleep. You may even discover that you begin waking up at the same time every morning without an alarm clock.
  9. Just sleep enough. The range of sleep a person needs is highly individualized. Some people get by just fine with six hours a night while others need closer to nine. Find out how much sleep you really need. Give yourself a week to try this experiment, then once you know, set your sleep routine around the correct number of hours you need.
  10. Get a dog. Any dog owner can tell you that there’s not much sleeping late in the mornings when you have a dog. As a puppy, they need to be taken outside immediately for potty time. As they get older, the routine of doggie breakfast and potty will become so ingrained that they will wake you up mercilessly with kisses or whines if you try to stay in bed for that extra sleep.

Wake Up Your Mind

Getting your body out of bed is half the battle. Waking up your mind so that you are focused and ready for your day is one of the best ways to jumpstart your day. Take these suggestions for ways to get your brain awake in the morning.

  1. Shower. Take a refreshing shower first thing in the morning. Keeping the temperature moderate will get your blood flowing and wake up your mind. Learn how finishing your shower off with cold water benefits your health and well-being.
  2. Write your goals. Take a few minutes to think about what you want to accomplish that day and write a list of your tasks or goals. These can be as simple as errands you need to run or a part of a larger life goal toward which you are working.
  3. Read the newspaper. Take a few minutes to catch up on current events and wake up your mind. Some people enjoy opening the newspaper and scanning the news while they sip on a cup of coffee. Finish it off with the crossword puzzle and you’ll really have your brain working.
  4. Get the news online. Another great way to keep updated is find your favorite online news source. If you are short on time in the morning, receiving a daily email with the news headlines gives you a brief, ready-made update. Many online sources offer an email option and will let you tailor which type of news headlines you receive.
  5. Slow down. Start the morning slowly. Frantically rushing around to get everything done in time to leave the house not only starts your day off on an anxious note, it doesn’t give your mind time to wake up.
  6. Read a book. In busy lives, it can be difficult to find time for quiet recreation. Give yourself 10 or 15 minutes to read a book or magazine each morning. You’ll start the day having already rewarded yourself.
  7. Meditate. Take advantage of the peaceful quiet the morning can bring. Set aside a few minutes for quiet meditation. This can be as simple as sitting peacefully and becoming aware of your breathing and how your body feels. Read this blog post for how to dismiss distractions while you are learning to meditate.
  8. Turn on the lights. Not just in the bedroom, but all over the house. Get out of bed and start turning on lights in every room. The extra light will trigger your natural circadian rhythm and help get your mind going.
  9. Listen to a podcast. With so many free podcasts available, you can certainly find one that piques your interest. Whether you subscribe to a daily or weekly podcast, take advantage of the time while you are eating breakfast or getting dressed to listen to something on your favorite topic.
  10. Journal. Whether you write your thoughts, dabble with poetry or haiku, or draw a picture, take a few minutes to document your thoughts. If you are more tech savvy or like to keep connected with remote friends and family, consider starting a blog. You can spend a few minutes in the morning typing your thoughts or updates on your life and sharing with those you know and love (and even a few people you don’t know).
  11. Thank the universe. No matter how you thank the universe, be it through prayer or simply acknowledging the beauty of the sunrise, take a moment to be appreciative for the day ahead of you. Realizing that each day is a gift is a powerful way to jumpstart your day.

You can find more articles like this at EcoTrekker

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Beliefs and Ideas

June 11th, 2008 Ben

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it. - Buddha

Peace

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Little Nuggets of Green Wisdom – Yoda Quotes

June 9th, 2008 Ben

I’ve written about Star Wars previously on thenewhorizonsproject.co.uk but my last Star Wars post was so popular I thought I would try another one. I’ve been watching the films recently and have been struck by some of the wisdom found in all 6 films that you can apply to your everyday life.

I’ve picked out 6 quotes and from them I will show how you can take them out of the fantasy world and use the meaning behind them to see the world differently.

“ Try not… Do or do not… there is no try.”

This is a very simple idea really when you think about it. Often when we say we will try something there is usually doubt and fear in us which ultimately leads us to fail because deep down we don’t think we can do it. By making a definite decision on something we find that we can be more positive about the outcome. If you’re going to do something, great, go and do it. If you don’t want to do something that’s great too; but don’t say you’ll try because that will just tell your subconscious not to bother. If you do something, do it with all of your heart and soul.

“Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”

How often have you given in to your fears? How often have you missed out on something because of your fears? How many times have you needed to do something but you were afraid so you didn’t do it? We often find that once we let our fears take hold anger soon follows. You become angry at the thing or person you fear maybe because they intimidate you or you see yourself in them. Maybe you become angry because of your fear and because you feel that you have missed out on something. Hate follows soon after as you begin to resent the things that have caused your fears. Maybe that’s you. Maybe that’s someone or something else. Once you begin to hate you begin to suffer. Your hate begins to tear you apart and your former self is lost, if only temporally. Don’t live your life in fear. Overcome your obstacles and move on.

“[Luke:] I can’t believe it. [Yoda:] That is why you fail.”

Self belief plays a massive part in your success and your outlook on life. If you believe that you are capable of achieving your goals you are more likely to succeed. However, if you do not believe in yourself you will fail every time. Sometimes obstacles we tackle in life seem insurmountable but with a little self belief we often overcome them easily. Sadly in today’s society many young people lack self belief which makes me worry about our future. If we can encourage others to have self belief then we can all grow and mature.

“Ohhh. Great warrior? Wars not make one great.”

Great people are born; they are not made by war. War is simply a sign that communication has broken done; it is never the solution to a problem. So called “Great Warriors” are never blood thirsty and often only fight as a last resort and as a defence. War sadly only results in the deaths of good men and women, who never really deserved to be there in the first place; wars achieve little in the grand scheme of things.

“Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force. Mourn them do not. Miss them do not. Attachment leads to jealously. The shadow of greed, that is.”

Death and lose are a natural part of life. Everyone and everything in the world will die at some point. Eventually even the world as we know it will cease to exist but even with this thought in mind there is much to be happy about and much to be grateful for. Attachments in life are natural but strong attachments to things should be avoided because they will lead to suffering. If you really want something how does it make you feel when you can not have it? When you loose something that you really want how bad do you feel that it is gone? How does it feel when someone has something you want? Attachments lead to suffering. Be grateful that those who have passed on have had the chance of life and that they lived their life to the full. Except that at some point in time they will be gone as will you.

“This one a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away… to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing. Hmph. Adventure. Heh. Excitement. Heh.”

This is one of my favourite Star Wars quotes to be honest. How many of us honestly live in the present? I know for a fact that I don’t. I strive to be in the moment but often find myself thinking about the past or ahead to the future. If you’re not careful you can be so consumed by the future and what is ahead, hoping for something better, that you forget what is around you. Opportunities can be missed; friends and family can be lost all because you weren’t in the here and now. Goals are great but you need to remember to keep your mind and your focus in the present. Don’t think of next week’s meeting while you’re working on a different project. Don’t make decisions on tonight’s meal while you’re washing up the breakfast dishes. Remain in the here and now; that is where you’re focus should be.

A friend once gave me some quotes when I was going through a tough time in my life and ever since his helping hand I have tried to learn from quotes that I have come across in my life. Wisdom, profound and enlightening, can be found all around; you just have to be willing to open your senses to them.

I hope that these little gems of wisdom will help you to see the world differently today and that they will help you to understand your life better.

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