You. Stop. Breathe. Read.

Most of us spend the majority of day to day life in our HEADS. Our awareness is clogged with to-do lists, shoulds, wants, fears, judgments, distractions, regrets ... basically lots of crap that keeps us either in the past, in the future, or numb, at the expense of enjoying the present.

So if you weren't in your head, where else could you be? Here's a hint: in your body. To some, that sounds blissfully awesome. To others, the idea of being in your body can be foreign, frightening, impossible, unsafe, cheesy, or plain boring. But here's the thing: our bodies are better truth-tellers than our minds. Your mind is a practiced fiction writer. Your body is a compassionate autobiographer.

So why not learn to read your body's wisdom?

Yeah, you guessed it: there's a workshop for that. "Body Wisdom: 8 weeks to befriend your body, calm your mind & re-inspire your life" starts March 1st in the Boston area. But even if you can't attend the workshop, STOP, breathe and ask yourself 3 things:

What's happening for my body right now?
What's my relationship with my body? Are we friends, enemies, strangers, absentee landlords, or something else?
If I was to listen to my body, what is one action it would want me to take in the next 24 hours?

May you thrive -- in body, heart and mind.

~Alex

Let me remind you: Happiness is a practice.

Our mainstream culture would have you buy into the myth that happiness is an end state. A place you will reach when you finally get that house/job/relationship/shoe/validation. There's this misconception dressed up as truth that you're either happy, or you're not. And if you're not happy, you must be failing at life.

But happiness is a practice. It's a process. It waxes and wanes. It can be self-contradicting. Our amazing hearts can hold great happiness and deep unhappiness side by side. Happiness might spark unhappiness (love lost) and unhappiness can lead to happiness (transformation). Your willingness to feel unhappy is as important as your willingness to feel happy. It means that you are making yourself beautifully vulnerable to the realities of life, love, loss and learning. It's all part of the practice.

Engage that practice with appreciation for the joy of the high's as well as the instruction of the low's. May you thrive, be nurtured and share warmth this season.

~Alex

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