Facing our fears

I have noticed that people often say; “That’s just the way I am” or “I could never do that”. Often this is said in relation to something that people are scared of or something they think they can’t handle. It seems to be a habit to say and decide that “it just can’t be done by me”.

I started wondering why people do this. Maybe it’s a way to stay in our comfort zone.

Let´s take my mother for an example. She was always so afraid in an airplane when it was taking off. She would hold her head and rock back and forth, like if she was really going insane. One time when we were flying together she got a newspaper that she read while the other passengers got seated. In it she saw an obituary about a man that she knew. The plane was getting ready to take off and my mother also started getting ready for her “take off pose”. I decided to do a little experiment, to draw her attention from the plane taking off and to something else like the obituary. I started to ask her numerous questions about the man that had died how she knew him and I got her to tell me stories about the man. Before we knew we were in the air and she had not been scared at all. I pointed this out to her and she was incredibly surprised because there was not even a hint of fright in her when she was busy talking about the man. After this experience she has never been afraid at take off. This is just a little example of something she had convinced herself off, this is just the way I am, I’m always afraid when the plane takes off.

When we are plugged into fear of something we automatically get scared when faced with that situation. By saying that we cannot do this or that or we are afraid of something, we close the option of being able to do it or facing it without fear.

Let´s face our fears! Have courage to be able to react in a new way than before, don’t decide in advance that you can’t. Try this by facing something you are afraid of, it doesn’t have to be a big thing for example saying your opinion to someone or telling someone you love them.

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How can I organize my day?

Do you sometimes feel that you do not handle all the things you need to do? Do you often get the feeling that you are forgetting something? Or is your life maybe one big chaos? If so, your organizing isn’t that good or even none.

I love organizing. I like to have everything in my life in order. It’s just so nice to have your life in a beautiful rhythm.

Why should you organize yourself?

Organizing your life is something you have control over. You can at least make a plan for the day and follow it roughly. Of course you need to be a little flexible. I believe that being organized has good effect on your mental health and stability. When you are organized you become more productive and it also saves time.

How can I organize my day?

I think it’s best to think in categories. I like my organizing to be simple so it’s easier to follow. My categories are; Work, Home and Personal.

Work. Here I put all the things I need to do that are work related.

Home. Here I put all the tasks that I need to relate to my home, laundry, dishes etc.

Personal. This is a category I fill with the thing I like to do to move forward in my personal development. For example I put meditation, chanting, reading in this category.

When you have figured out your categories, write them on a piece of paper and fill out the tasks you need to do. Make the list in the evening before the following day. Try not to over clutter your list. Also, don’t be too hard on yourself, because it takes time get in to the rhythm and to fine-tune the tasks you can cover over a period of a day.

Our lives are so different so it’s hard nail down a number of tasks you should put on the list. You’ll soon find out what suits your live.

Good luck and have fun organizing!

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Thoughts about saving

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Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I want to write about savings. Why is it good to have savings? And why is it good to save money at all? I don’t want to publish a very long post so here comes some my thoughts.

Why save?

To start with, let’s check the reasons why you should save. The main benefits that I can see are that with a savings fund are that you can deal with surprises like when your car breaks down or washing machine crashes etc. Also when you have savings it gives you a sense of security.

How to save?

There are many ways to save. And many of those ways you can implement into your life without major disturbance of your normal way of living. Here are some basic things I’ve learned.

10% rule. A great rule that is very effective. Every month when you get your paycheck you put aside 10%. It may be a little tough at the beginning but on the other hand it’s great to see your fund grow and also your sense of security grow along with it. It’s really not a big difference to live of 90% or 100% of your income.

Make emergency fund. With the 10% rule it’s good to start building up your emergency fund. This is the fund that is going to cover all the minor economic surprises in your life. How big should this fund be? Good thumb rule is to have this fund about the same amount of three months of income of your household.

Set budgets. Take a look at your life. What is it that you enjoy? How do you spend your time? Traveling? Working on your home? Having fun? Create categories of funds and set a budget goal for them. For example a traveling fund or a home fund etc. Set a budget at the very beginning of each month.

Keep account of your household. This is the only way to really know where your money is going.

Cook at home. This is a good rule both for your wallet and your health. When you cook at home you know exactly what is going into your meal. And of course it’s cheaper.

Use the library. What a brilliant invention libraries are! All the books you could ever need to read. There you will find all the latest books and also rare books. No wonder libraries have lived for so long. Of course there are some books I like to own, mainly because I like to read them more then once. Here is an example of the books I own and recommend.

These are just some of my thoughts about saving, more will come soon. Hope this helps.

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Dealing with Life’s up’s and down’s

Life offers us many surprises. That’s the way life has been, is and will be. There’s nothing we can do about the things that come our way except our reaction to them. We have the control of our mind. I once heard a story that I want to share with you.

The Zen master Hakuin was praised by his neighbors as one living a pure life.

A beautiful Japanese girl whose parents owned a food store lived near him. Suddenly, without any warning, her parents discovered she was with child.

This made her parents very angry. She would not confess who the man was, but after much harassment at last named Hakuin.

In great anger the parents went to the master. “Is that so?” was all he would say.

After the child was born it was brought to Hakuin. By this time he had lost his reputation, which did not trouble him, but he took very good care of the child. He obtained milk from his neighbors and everything else the little one needed.

A year later the girl-mother could stand it no longer. She told her parents the truth – that the real father of the child was a young man who worked in the fishmarket.

The mother and father of the girl at once went to Hakuin to ask his forgiveness, to apologize at length, and to get the child back again.
Hakuin was willing. In yielding the child, all he said was: “Is that so?”

From: 101zenstories.com

I have heard and read this story so many times. It captures the core of dealing with life‘s surprises. You might be thinking to yourself; if I have this perspective of life it’s going to be flat, life has to have its up‘s and down‘s. Yes, it may be so. On the other hand it’s not good to let your emotions and thoughts control your life every time something happens in your life.
Next time something happens to you try to think this simple sentence; is that so? And then release every attached feelings or thought you may have about the situation.

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How can I become more valuable?

368bWhen we think of success we tend to think about the money we would like to have, all the things we like to buy, the kind of house we would like to live in etc. I think all those things are just one manifestation of success. Those are just the things that follow success and some of us find so attractive.

But the main question we should be asking our self is; how can increase my value? When you think about it, why is it that one person has $5 an hour and someone else has $50, $100 or even $500? Those who have $500 an hour are more valuable. The community has agreed that their time is more valuable than others.

Think of something you can do that might be of some value to others. Can you write? Paint? Fix cars or computers? The possibilities are basically endless. Do not fall into the trap to think how much money you can make or all those other things. Think of how you can increase your value at all times.

As soon as you make it your main goal to become more valuable and to create something that is of some value to others, success will find you quickly.

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