lara simmons

"The key to happiness...is in figuring out  exactly your place in reality,  and occupying that.  Attempting to full bigger shoes than yours,  or cram yourself into tinier ones,  is just setting yourself up for misery.  Look at who you really are,  and be realistic about how much space  you actually need.  From the outside it may look rather small  (or oversized),  but I guarantee that once you're inside it,  it'll fit perfectly."   -- Rob Brezsny

"Having obscene amounts of money, power and status is just one kind of success. (And often a rather boring one at that.) Far more intriguing are the triumphs that come from outwitting one's own shadowy behavior and unconscious habits and from dreaming up ingenious responses to life's ever-fresh stream of problems. To accomplish these sorts of victories, there's no greater asset than a robust imagination." -- Rob Brezsny Following on from yesterday's post a question:  How can you use your imagination to support your abstinence practice?  Yesterday we  imagined that it was easy , how else could you use your imagination to help you sustain your abstinence practice? How can you outwit your shadowy behavior? For me this means not allowing my  questioning and rationalizing  voices (the ones that say,  "Do I really need to give this up?"  or  "I'll just have a little" ) to take up any space in my head. It means shutting them down ...

"In 1588, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the ruler of  Japan, confiscated the swords, daggers, and spears belonging to every citizen. He announced they would be melted down and used to make a giant Buddha statue. I'd love to see you undertake a comparable  transformation in 2014, Capricorn. You shouldn't completely shed all your  anger and pugnacity, of course; a certain amount is valuable, especially  when you need to rouse yourself to change situations that need to be  changed. But it's also true that you could benefit from a reduction in your  levels of combativeness. What if you could "melt down" some of your  primal rage and use the energy that's made available to build your  personal equivalent of a Buddha icon?" --Rob Brezsny, Free Will Astrology ( www.freewillastrology.com) I have shared Rob Brezsny's wisdom on my blog before and felt this one was a gem. If you have never read him, check him out! Even if you are not "into" as...