In the one minute excerpt below from the film Cave in the Snow, Tenzin Palmo, a Tibetan Buddhist nun, discusses how she chose which road to take: the easy road or the hard road.
The advice she received can be used by all who are wrestling to smooth the bumps in their own journey to the brighter-side – which is not always an easy path.
Watch the one minute clip here: Gaiam Life
Have you had experience taking the hard road? Share your experiences below.
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Posted in the bright-side of the web
Tagged Cave in the Snow, how to be positive, inspiration, internal reflection, pollyanna, positive, positive thinking, positivity, power of words, Tenzin Palmo
A friend of mine, one who also wrestles with her inner Pollyanna, is one of the best mothers that I know. Not only is she an inspiration to her children for her strength, courage, caring, compassion and hearing (not just listening, but hearing), she is an inspiration to me.
Recently she shared something with me that I would like to share with you (with her permission of course).
She believes in the power of words and is determined to make the ones that she says to her children (who are now young adults) meaningful and positive.
The words she hopes will be the tapes that play in their heads.
On many mornings, upon entering their bathroom to begin their day, her children are greeted with a positive message written on the mirror with a dry-erase marker:
“You are the sunshine that brightens my day.”
“I love your laugh.”
“You make the world a better place.”
Not only would these message make you feel good but written by the hand of a parent or loved one, the messages would uplift and resonate deep within your heart and soul because they also say:
“You are worthy.”
“You are valued.”
And there is no better message than that.
Share the ways you uplift your children.
At the age of sixteen, my interest in meditation began. I must have read about it somewhere or seen something on television. So, like a curious teen, I tried it. I did not have formal instruction. I felt self-conscious and was always thinking that I would ‘get caught’ and be embarrassed about doing it so I tried to do in secret. As you might guess, I was not successful and soon gave up but I never lost my curiosity about it.
Over the years, my interest has drawn me back time and again so in my quest to wrestle with negativity and pull Pollyanna to the surface, I decided to give it a dedicated go.
For 30 days, I attempted to meditate 20 minutes per day, twice a day.
I set aside time in the morning then again before bed. I also kept a journal noting how much I had slept the night before, any significant activity in my life, and my key thoughts during the meditation process (written from memory once the time was up).
This is what I learned:
8. It’s hard to keep a routine but not impossible. There were days when I did not make time to meditate twice a day (and I say ‘make time’ because isn’t that how all change comes about?), and days when I didn’t fit it in even once.
7. Twenty minutes is a loooong time. I decided that I would not set a timer as I had read in a few online “how to meditate” guides. I felt that I would be too focussed on the time ticking and chose instead to follow my natural rhythm. I rarely made it past eleven minutes and felt especially proud of myself the few times I hit the fifteen minute mark.
6. I slept better when I made time for meditation right before retiring for the night. The chance to let my thoughts flow and the slowed breathing helped relax me and allowed for a deeper sleep.
5. Where my mind was at. My “how to” readings suggested that you should focus on your breaths as a means of blocking out thoughts thereby allowing yourself to enter into an altered state of consciousness. If thoughts filter in, acknowledge them then focus again on your inhalations and exhalations. I must admit that the more I practiced, the easier this became but I don’t think that I ever entered the altered state; I could see the off-ramp but was unable to cross the bridge – there wasn’t a long enough break in the traffic. Perhaps if I had regularly reached the twenty minute mark, I would have been successful. What I did see on the journey though was where my thoughts were focussed. There seemed a recurring theme and I was thankful to have the time to address the issues, uninterrupted.
4. It forced alone time. Making time for meditation means that you are carving out alone time – time for just you – remember those days? You are taking the time to relax and giving yourself the time and permission to think about things that you otherwise “don’t have time to deal with”. Not only will you be able to deal with them, you may actually come up with solutions for issues in other areas of your life. By clearing your mind, you are opening up space for other solutions to filter in.
3. Studies have shown that meditation can lower your blood pressure. I felt this. Not just during the time I sat meditating, but throughout the day. And if I felt stress building up, I could quickly return to a calmer state by ‘going within’ and breathing deep.
2. Meditation opened myself up for possibilities. You’ve acknowledged recurring thoughts. You’ve devised solutions for problems. You’ve lowered your blood pressure. You’ve had a better night’s sleep. Now you are available for the possibilities that await you and are in a calmer and more open state to receive them when they do.
The biggest benefit that I gained from this rudimentary attempt at enlightenment is:
1. I gave myself permission to take the time to listen to me. It allowed my voice to be the voice in my head.
Perhaps one day, I will reach the twenty minute mark. But that is not my goal. I am more interested in actually crossing the bridge and seeing what’s on the other side – however long it takes. Then Pollyanna will have won the championship fight.
In the meantime, she is still a contender.
Have you had experience with meditation? How did it work for you?
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Posted in reflections, observations & musings
Tagged how to be positive, inspiration, internal reflection, pollyanna, positive, positive thinking, positivity
Here is something to ponder as we begin the week:
What are your life’s biggest regrets?
Narrow it down to three.
…to one.
What did you do or where did you go instead?
How was that?
What did you learn?
What did you gain?
What would you have missed out on had you done it?
What will be your next big regret?
Are you going to let that happen?
Share your life lessons below.
“When the student is ready, the teacher appears.” Iyanla Vanzant
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Posted in positive ponderings
Tagged how to be positive, inspiration, internal reflection, pollyanna, positive, positive thinking, positivity
Are you happy?
On a scale from one to ten, one being ‘I want to crawl into bed and sleep for a week’ and ten being ‘I want to rise with the sun and explore this beautiful wonderful world around me’, where do you rank?
I think about this question sometimes and I find it depends on what part of my life I’m thinking about. In some parts, I’m a solid 8, even creeping toward a 9, and in other parts, dependent on the day or time of the month (I love you, Mother Nature), I’m a sure-fire zero — don’t worry dad, it doesn’t last.
So what is ‘happy’ and should we even be searching for happy all of the time?
If we didn’t have difficult times, would we appreciate the happy moments? I would like to think that we would – looking on the bright-side.
When I think about my friends and acquaintances, I wonder how many of them are happy. They seem happy. They laugh and joke and I enjoy their company. Do they think the same of me?
Are we happy on the outside and sad on the in? How can that be? If that’s true then we all deserve Academy Awards.
A quick search on Amazon.com under ‘depression’ finds 45,675 results but then realizing that includes ’The Great Depression’ (not referring to Jen and Brad’s break-up) a search of ‘mental health’ reveals 145,051 results.
I am often struck by people who visit third-world countries and come back and say ‘they have so little but they are so happy’.
Is that our problem? Do we have too much?
Our houses are larger than ever before, our televisions are larger, our desires are larger but it still doesn’t seem like enough. People keep wanting more and bigger and better in the hope that they will be happy.
But is it working?
Maybe it is true that less is more.
Smaller houses would mean that you would actually have to see the other people living in the same home.
Smaller televisions, or at least less of them in one home, would mean that families would have to converse more and watch quality (hopefully) family programming.
Perhaps then our desire for more would be diminished because with all of this new-found family time, we would be filled with actual, true, emotional connections to the ones we love…
…and in that case, more is always better.
What do you think? Share your thoughts below.
What do you think of this quote? Is it relevent to your life?
I love to write but I am not a voracious reader. Never have been. I want to be learned and quote passages from famous novels but have never put aside the time to read on a daily basis. Having said that though, when I come across a book that interests me, I cannot put it down.
In my quest to walk on the brighter-side of life, I recently picked up a children’s classic which I have always intended to read: Anne of Green Gables.
I have seen the movie (if you haven’t, rent it, now!) and the stage play, have visited the house on Canada’s Prince Edward Island and have, I admit, read an abridged version but I have never read the official full-length work.
Fifty million people in twenty different languages had preceded me in my venture so there must be something to it. And of course, they were right.
Lucy Maud Montgomery’s 1908 novel is as delightful today as it must have been when she first penned it.
Her vivid descriptions of the pristine landscapes of Canada’s east coast, how she captures Anne’s irrepressible childhood imagination, Anne’s trials and tribulations as she tries so hard to conform to what is expected of her, and the friendships and bonds that are formed as she warms even the coldest hearts of all those around her, captivate and endear the reader.
Anne and Pollyanna are no doubt kindred spirits.
Had I read this book as a child, I am certain I would have been a devout reader. As an adult, I appreciate it even more and resolve to make time for more classic literature, including the Anne of Green Gables sequels.
Thank you, Ms Montgomery, for bringing Anne Shirley into my life. She is a friend I am glad to have met.
“Marilla, isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day
with no mistakes in it yet?”
– Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
Have you read a children’s book that changed or shaped you somehow? Share it below.
Here’s a little something to think about as you start off your week:
ARE YOU STRIVING FOR PERFECTION?
What does perfection mean for you?
What does it look like, feel like, taste like?
Will you ever achieve perfection
or will it be something you strive for your whole life?
Why is PERFECTION so important to you? Is it an excuse to not try?
“It’s not ready yet. I can’t present it.”
or is it an excuse because you are SCARED?
What would happen if you stopped chasing perfection and presented your art, your project, yourself, AS IS?
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Posted in positive ponderings
Tagged how to be positive, inspiration, internal reflection, perfection, pollyanna, positive thinking, positivity
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Posted in quotes that make you go hmmm...
Tagged how to be positive, inspiration, inspirational quotes, quotes
For years I’ve been wrestling Pollyanna – struggling to stay positive in a world of negativity, trying to shield my children and myself from a bombardment of negative news and media images only to feel like it was a loosing battle – one against the masses – but that’s life. What can you do? Well, this…
I, for one, am going to turn negatives into positives, stop wrestling with my inner Pollyanna and let her shine and begin to refocus on the good in life.
As a child, like most I suppose, I was overwhelmingly positive – the quintessential 
Pollyanna, always looking on the bright side of life. If I fell and scraped my knee (which I did with remarkable frequency), I thought, “Well, it could have been worse, I could have scraped my nose too.”
But as I matured and the many things I hoped would happen, didn’t; the many things I imagined would happen, didn’t; the many things I expected to happen, didn’t; my Pollyanna braids unfurled and disappointment transformed them into a tight pony-tail of conformity or neatly constructed bun a-top my head while a that’s-life-what-did-you-expect attitude took shape.
As much as I have tried to suppress it, a Pollyanna-ness still flickers inside me, the warm embers of which help me to maintain an overall positive attitude, believing that things happen for a reason and there is a lesson to be learned from it all but from the vantage point of age (or what some might argue as ‘wisdom’), I wonder why I’ve accepted that adage.
Sure things happen but the reason might be because of my attitude toward it so just because it happened, do I need to accept it?
By changing my outlook, perhaps disappointment could turn into gratitude.
So I haven’t travelled to Italy, nor do I have the money to do so in the near future. It doesn’t mean that I won’t get there at some point. Instead I should be grateful that I can afford to put a roof over my head and can make spaghetti whenever I want. Italy is something I have to look forward to, and what is life without dreams?
Am I the only one out there yearning for the bright-side in life?
According to one recent listing of the top ten tourist attractions in the world, Disney theme parks took two of the top spots with a third at number eleven. Are we so discontented with reality that a combined 32,952,000 of us annually spend our hard-earned tax dollars to live a week in a fantasy world rather than in the world we created?
Perhaps it’s time to change our perspective.
Join in my observations as I share my findings — things I see around me to celebrate, the good in humanity, the quirky, things that make me smile or things that I’m pondering in my quest for what’s good out there — and send me some of your own ‘brighter-side of life’ observances for as that originator of all things zen said:
“The mind is everything. What you think you become.” Buddha
Let’s focus on the good in the world. Fasten your pig-tails Buddha, this is going to be fun!
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Any links associated with blog posts are for your reference only. I am simply sharing my brighter-side-of-life findings and receive no compensation for such recommendations.
I’m spreading the positive, people. What you put out, you get back. Please keep all comments to a positive tone. Negative comments will not be posted.
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Comments Off on Welcome to the Bright-Side! A blog celebrating the good in humanity, inspiring quotes and life observances.
Posted in positive thinking
Tagged how to be healthy, how to be positive, inspiration, inspirational quotes, inspiring quotes, life quotes, motivational quotes, philosophy, pollyanna, positive quotes, positive thinking, quote, quotes and sayings
#B4Peace
Embracing Pollyanna 