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Daily Manifestation Challenge

Daily Manifestation Challenge: Are You Addicted to “Like”?

May 31, 2012

The real question is this: Where can you be honest with yourself? Where can you be the most honest you that you have ever been?

Yesterday I rode my bike, along with my dear friend Laura, to Redondo Beach.

From Santa Monica.

Thank God The Redondo Beach Pier had those awesome fish tacos and pints of beer or I wouldn’t have made it back. ( Not joking.) 34 miles is a long haul, folks. A long haul.

I had a lot of time to think. To just be.

Here is my honesty for the day, my second Confession in the Confession Series. (click to read Confession about sucking my thumb.)

I realized I am addicted to likes. To clicks. 

I am addicted to Like.

Like the song Addicted To Love. Just change it to Like.

I post a blog. And then I check every few minutes to see how it’s doing. Did they like it? Do they like me? ( Who, in the name of God, are “they”?)

Am I good enough?

I am being honest here, so I am breaking down what it really means.

I have become a slave to my phone and computer, so dialed in and over-connected all the time.  Yesterday as I rode all those miles and looked out at the ocean I thought about how great it felt to be off the grid. To not care one way or the other what was going on in the world beyond that moment, there on my bike.

I am being raw and looking deep within the caves of Jennifer that are not to be found on Facebook or Twitter.

It’s not a conscious thing I am talking about. It’s something I realized there on my beach cruiser with the orange basket in front and fishing rod in back; this need for connection and approval to make me feel good about myself.

We all want to be liked. That’s natural. 

The reality? Not everyone will like us.

That’s ok. It’s usually not about us anyway, and, even if it is, it doesn’t matter. It’s their opinion to have, whoever they are.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77gKSp8WoRg]

I was with my private client last week and Bruce Springsteen was in the background singing one of my favorites, “My Hometown.” I looked over at him and asked: Are you a Bruce fan?

Him: Nah.

Me: Really?

So I realized that if you plug in your favorite artist or singer or anyone that you think is the best there is, you will always find someone that says: They suck.

How can you not be a Bruce fan? I thought and was truly baffled.

So there will always be someone that doesn’t like Bruce or Snow Patrol or your favorite band or artist. Helps you get over the fact that not all people will like you, right?

So back to the honesty question. Where can you be really honest with yourself?

A confession, if you will.

Mine is: I am an addict.

My last post on one of the many sites I write for got a hundred plus comments but only a thousand “likes.”

Do you know that I actually spent time thinking about this?

Comparing myself to other people? Wondering why more people hadn’t clicked “like” on something that was so personal, so important to me? Something that I had spent so much time on and which I thought was really good? What if the website didn’t publish me anymore? What if it means something, this only a “thousand likes” business?

And you know what? The what if’s, when you spell them out and look them square in the jaw, end up being small little things that get filed under “Irrelevant” in your Life File, along with getting into a “perfect” yoga pose or being the “perfect” weight.

I caught myself in my own trap.

I have become tethered to something that is, in no way, shape, or form: real.

I have allowed it.

I have become a junkie to people validating me.

It’s easy to happen.

Everything has a like button so how can we start to not feel as if it a personal sign we are wearing?

Like me? Please, please click “like”? Vote for me? “Like” me and I will believe I am good enough and if you don’t like me then I will feel worthless.

It sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it?

So, now what?

I am honest with it, now what? I am looking at it. I am “being with it” as they say. Now what?

So, here’s what: I shut the computer. I go sit with my husband and have a nice meal and a glass of wine. I let go of any notion that my self worth is connected to how many Facebook fans I have, how many likes I have on a post, how many tweets or pinterests or shmiterests. I let myself sit and be like I am on a bike with not a care in the world except how far away the dang Pier is, with it’s fish tacos and beer.

Where can you be honest with yourself? That’s Today’s Daily Manifestation Challenge or DMC. Come on and take it! Answer below. I know it is scary, but it feels so so good.

Daily Manifestation Challenge

I Take Responsibility For _______. The DMC is Back! Daily Manifestation Challenge by Jen Pastiloff.

April 4, 2012

In my Manifestation Workshops I ask the people in the room to do a lot of things.

I ask them to sing.

To dance.

To twist.

To downdog.

To be silly.

To write.

One of the things I have them write is a sentence that begins with I take responsibility for ________. They then finish the sentence and keep writing for a few minutes.

The great thing about this journaling is that because I have gotten them hot and sweaty and taken them to the edge in their yoga practice, their writing is more raw, less  thought out as it were, less inhibited. More truth-filled.

They get more by thinking less.

Oh, the irony. The sweet irony.

I ask them how many times they keep a journal by their mat in yoga class. Most said never. It’s like taking a journal with you into your dreams.

So they finish this sentence I take responsibility for ________. On Sunday, in NYC at Pure Yoga, I looked around at my packed workshop as they were writing this portion and I noticed all the faces got dark as if a cloud of worry and guilt landed between their eyebrows and started to rain heavy thoughts.

I suggested to the room Don’t forget to take responsibility for your awesomeness too.

The room lit up. The weather changed.

It was as, all at once, they all thought Oh yea, I am awesome! I forget sometimes.

We all do. We are human. Hopefully.

Sometimes these questions lead us to the corners of our souls, and that is fine. We need to look there every once in a while and clean it out. But I would like to invite you all to go to the light places. The places where you are having a dance party (we do that in my workshop as well.) The places were you are your best self.

Your highest self.

Today’s DMC, or Daily Manifestation Challenge is this: What can you take responsibility for in your own life? In the comment section below, start yours with: I take responsibility for ______________.

Also, take a look at where you are taking responsibility for what is not yours. For example, I no longer take responsibility for my dad dying. Not mine. I give it back.

Are you giving someone else responsibilities that aren’t theirs? How about this one: He makes me feel so bad about myself. My last relationship before I met my husband was this kind. The kind where I gave him all the power, blame and responsibility. I was unhappy all the time. I mean, I must’ve been if I refer to that time as The Dark Years.

Last night in class it was our mantra. Whenever the hands come to prayer my students silently said ” I take responsibility for __________.” They filled in the blank with their own private universe.

The hands came to prayer at least 50 times so my hope is that a sort of rewiring occurs. My hope is that the cable has been re-installed, the lights came back on, the rent got paid. My hope is that they walk out of the room and into their homes with that new thought in their mind which, in turn, will shift their lives, in small or not so subtle ways.

I gave out my Manifestation bracelets yesterday in class. I told my students to look at that blue band and remember what they can take responsibility for.

One of my favorite students, a handsome older man who is a grandfather (he’s the one who told me I give mini semi-Jewish church-like sermons) sent me this email last night:

Dear Jen, The bracelet is already working. I realized that I manifest to myself regret and sorrow.

So the bracelet reminds me to move away from that.

Also, the taking responsibility idea — very useful. Hard to do but necessary and

uplifting.

Where do you keep coming up with all this good stuff?


What can you take responsibility for today?

I take responsibility for how far I have come in 3 years.

I take responsibility for my own happiness.

I take responsibility for my choices.

I take responsibility for my creativity.

I take responsibility for my chaos.

I take responsibility for my kindness.

I take responsibility for the people I chosen to have in my life.

I take responsibility for the powerful connector that I am and the connections I make with people.

I take responsibility for my procrastination.

I take responsibility for my health.

Now it’s your turn.

The Daily Manifestation Challenge is back. Manifesting our best selves one laugh a time.  One thought a time. One breath at a time.

I take responsibility for getting invited by Oprah's people to be at Oprah on Monday in NYC. I made it happen. Bam!

Love yourself, Accept, Forgive and.... Take Responsibility!
My dear friend Karen Salmansohn made this poster. She is incredible. Am reading her book "Bounce Back" right now and it is life changing! Check her out at www.notsalmon.com

Daily Manifestation Challenge, Delight

Your Favorite Memory. The DMC.

February 19, 2012

Dear Manifesters, today’s DMC is a sweet one that came to me after I updated my Facebook last night and asked people “What is your favorite memory?”

My last retreat to Mexico is popping into my mind as the greatest one for me. It is tied with Good Morning America filming my birthday karaoke class and my nephew Blaise being in my arms as my friend Annabel gave a speech at my wedding. Also tied with New Year’s Day at my friends’ house in London as we sang and donned hats for a hat party and didn’t move from the kitchen all day.

My wedding at Yogaco ( cancelled class, Red cross sponsored and we gave all money to Haiti earthquake relief.)

Can you tell how happy I was? Holding onto my friend Cameron Mathison (GMA correspondent) as GMA filmed my karaoke class on my birthday!

Today’s DMC is really just meant to be a collage. A collage of your favorite memories. Below, write down what your favorite memories are. The top 3 even. I cannot wait to see them all. Together. Floating on the same page.

Having lost my dad at such a young age, I have been fairly obsessed with the idea of memory for a long time. In fact, here are a few lines from a poem I wrote 8 years ago:

We never know where we will find our history,

where we will discover what has formed us,

What we will find while farming tomatoes.

Exhuming beauty from the soil, excavating remains.

The unearthing of things long forgotten.

The source of the blue-green jade used by the Olmec remains a mystery,

As most things of beauty often will. 

You carve from clay-

The pounding of it, the pulverizing,

This creation and inevitable destruction of matter.

 

You are a sculptor.

This process as inevitable as any ritual-

Like watching women pound acorns with oblong rocks.

Holes the size of nickels created by the repetition,

The repeated impact of stone against stone.

I think of you sculpting red clay into things of mythic beauty-

Then letting it dry and crushing it into the earth, to be reshaped.

The repetition of this, the rebuilding.

This natural desire towards achievement.

What turns into memory? 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I find it interesting which memories stick in our minds. Which memories morph so they no longer represent what actually happened but what we need to remember it as so. Which things do not even make it to memory status. Why should some memory be so lucky and others fall into a dark corner of the mind, into an abyss of thought and sound and things that happened to us when we were babies?

The way some memories stay strong is by sharing them. By retelling them. The fact is, you can never ever go back into the past, but you can tap into that magic again by sharing and letting yourself feel what it felt like the first time. Maybe the memory makes you feel even better, in fact?

I can’t wait to read your favorite memories below.

I am fascinated by how one moment we are living in it and the next it is living in our minds. Forever.

I think one of the great ways of keeping memories alive is by sharing them. Also, by pictures (hence my obsession also with photographs.)

(Click here to watch me on Good Morning America. Truly one of the my favorite moments of all time. My face hurt from laughing after this day. A lot.)

https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/year-fitness-trends-15233963

Lastly, I will leave you with an excerpt from Brandi Mayo, an amazing girl who attended my beloved Mexico retreat. She wrote a letter to the attendees in an effort to not have our magic fade. To keep the memory alive, as they say.

You will see why, in fact, it is my favorite memory:

1) I am incredibly blessed. Specifically, I am incredibly blessed that I get to take Jen’s classes and am reminded that the magic of what conspired in Xinalani was real. Over the past two weeks I have found myself on this incredible emotional roller coaster of highs and lows replaying the week over and over again wondering if the “magic” was real – wondering how I integrate that “magic” into “real life” where most people walk around with a solid metal jacket of fear and judgment. Every time I take Jen’s class, I am taken back to that safe place, where I allowed myself to be silly – to not take myself so seriously – something for which I am very adept. Having that safe place in my own backyard, every time I take Jen’s class I leave with that same feeling of lightness I felt in Xinalani, and a huge smile on my face. As I walk back to my apartment or grab a starbuck I find myself smiling at everyone, and I have come to notice that smile is so incredibly powerful. I see it transform stranger’s faces as I look them in the eye and give them a huge smile for no apparent reason. I see that solid metal jacket of fear and judgment start to melt away. That is how the magic is integrated.

2) The magic was and is real! When I have told my friends and family, I have started the story by explaining that a group of 13 “nearly-complete strangers” came together and left fear and judgment at the door. I’m coming to believe this is the “magic” ingredient of what conspired at Xinalani. We all met each other at the Corner of Fearlessness and Love, and just as Jen explained in a recent blog post, the only way we could have “fallen in love” with each other, could only have happened by falling in love with ourselves first. I truly believe that happened because we each faced our own personal fears in the face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please feel free to go into detail and be poetic and grand and silly and personal. It’s what makes us human. This sharing of our stories. This showing the world the things that makes us come alive.

The things and people that make us smile.

GO! Share your favorite memory/memories below. 

Daily Manifestation Challenge, Owning It!

Keep on Keepin’ on. The DMC.

January 6, 2012

Dear Manifesters, how I have missed you and your comments to the Challenges!

It’s been a while since a Daily Manifestation Challenge (DMC) as I was busy in London and filming Good Morning America and the holidays (oh, life is rough, life is rough).

I hope you have enjoyed the Manifestation Q&A Series so far. It’s only getting more and more exciting. Next month Wayne Dyer is posting on my site. My dream come true! He is the reason I call my company “Manifestation Yoga.” I have manifested one of my biggest dreams in 2011 (GMA) and now this in 2012!

Today’s DMC is based on a status update I posted on my Facebook 2 days ago since it got a lot of attention. Here it is:

“I commend anyone who is “putting themselves out there”. Whatever way you are doing it: Bravo! It is not always easy and often scary and sometimes met with criticism, but trust me…. keep on! keep on! I bow to you.”

Today’s Challenge is this: Can you keep keepin’ on?

In the comment section below tell us in what way you plan to keep on trekking. To keep on going. To never, never , never give up.

As Tom Petty says, “I Won’t Back Down” ( I play this song a lot in my classes.)

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUTXb-ga1fo]

Take nothing personally.

I am going to give you an example.

Here I am putting myself out there daily.

Being very open and honest with people and laughing at myself on a daily basis. Talking about things like loss, my recovery from an eating disorder, my hearing loss etc. And excuse my language, but busting my ass 7 days a week teaching yoga and hustling, as it were. Yes, hustling. Teaching yoga to kids for free who have special needs like Down’s Syndrome, Autism, PWS, Cerebral Palsy etc. Anyway, what I do, how I roll. You get it.

So here I am fully exposed, putting myself out there, taking risks left and right. 

Sometimes falling but always, always getting back up again.

And would you believe there is someone with such a poisonous attitude toward me that they find every single thing I write, no matter what website or magazine, and post horrible hateful things about me? Who sends me mean emails? Who threatens me?

Do I stop writing? Nope. I write more. I write louder.

I know who this person even. Yikes! You might think it makes it a tad more difficult in a sense to “not take it personal”. To keep on. Especially with the knowledge I have.

And yet, that is what I do.

You might ask yourself: Self, how do you not take something personally when someone whom you used to be close with is attacking you for no apparent reason?

And you may have to whip out some self-help books to remember this one fact:

It’s not about you.

Its. Not. About. You.

So today, can you keep keepin’ on? Even if someone is slandering you on the internet? Even if you feel fat or broke? Even if you are tired or heartbroken or your mom just died? Even if you don’t “feel” like keepin’ on?

I know it ain’t easy.

But just do it. I bow to you.

We all bow to you.

This is why I have created this community website, this Daily Challenge. To keep coming back to this site and be reminded that although there may be bumps in the road, and although at times it may seem difficult, you must know this one thing: The Universe has got your back.

The amazing Karen Salmansohn, my greatest muse did this amazing poster. notsalmon.com

You keep me going, Tribe.

You with me?

@ManifestYogaJen

Daily Manifestation Challenge

Mean People Suck. The DMC. Daily Manifestation Challenge.

December 19, 2011

Today’s DMC, or Daily Manifestation Challenge is about Kindness.

I have had so much kindness displayed to me in my life.

For this I am eternally grateful.

While I was still waitressing at the Newsroom, 5 years ago, my regulars, The Simons, came in for lunch as usual. I was upset and they noticed. My nephew Blaise had just been born in Atlanta and there were major complications. He was in Intensive Care (NICU) and was having his brain scanned. I was crying as I was taking their order for Arnold Palmers. I had no money to fly there, I was scared. I got their iced tea-lemonades and came back.

They told me they were sending me to Atlanta.

They did.

I will never forget that act of kindness.

Now that is a big example, but there are lots of small ones. Every time I go in my bank, the tellers all know my name and say hello. It’s like Cheers. Small acts of kindness like this are not small to me at all.

They keep me going.

So back to mean people. Yea, they pretty much suck. And kind people pretty much rule.

And, yes I know that their lack of kindness is coming from a deep well of unhappiness or insecurity or tiredness or because someone else was just lousy to them. So here is my advice to them: take a deep breath in, bite the inside of your cheek if you have to, but, under no circumstances, should you do or say something to tear someone down or to try and make them feel less than.

So what I decided is that to make up for every person who is less than kind I will be extra kind. Take today’s DMC with me! It feels good. Be kind for no reason. Be kind to a homeless person. Be kind to the person in the car next to you. Be kind with your thoughts. Be kind to yourself.

That, Dear Manifesters, is the essence of yoga to me. 

II.33 Vitarkabadhane Pratipaksabhavanam

“In the face of negativity, one should cultivate the opposite view.”


So yea, mean people may suck a little tiny bit.
There may be a moment when you feel like they have sucked the life out of you but you will get back up, with a smile and you will go do something nice for someone or yourself. You will forget about anything else. Your kindness, whether it was given or received, will overpower anything perceived as meanness.
The bottom line really is this anyway isn’t it? If we are to take nothing personally then even “meanness” should go unnoticed.
Yea, I am working on it too.
So today let’s kill ’em with kindness.
Oh, and PS, If you are of the “meanies”, here’s a little secret: It is way easier to be kind than mean. And it makes you look cuter!
Keep Kindly Manifesting your life,
one laugh and one SMILE at a time
MUST WATCH THIS KINDnESS ViDEO & SHARE
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc8ZbVcdHpg&feature=youtu.be]
Daily Manifestation Challenge, Trust

Let It Be. The DMC.

December 5, 2011

By now, if you have been to my yoga classes, you know of my love of the 3-word-sentence.

Examples: I love you.

No Big Deal.

Let It Be.

Lean On Me.

It’s just yoga.

Give Me Money.

Ok, the last one is a joke but I am indeed a fan of the brevity and the power of such sentences. (Feel free to add your own to my list.)

In fact my upcoming tattoo is going to say, in black lettering, NBD. No Big Deal.

I am just going to hold up my wrist when I need a reminder myself or when a student is getting upset in class when they can’t get into a crow pose.

My four friends from England have a great song called “Let It Be.” One of my favorites.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajCYQL8ouqw]

I remember when I heard my teacher Wayne Dyer speak a couple years ago. He brought up this notion. This notion of simply letting it be. I remember getting goosebumps (this happens when something resonates with me.)

Up until that point, I had generally had a hard time letting things be. At that moment, as Wayne was up there speaking, I realized why.

I lacked Trust.

Trust is the bridge between all things, My Dear Sweet Manifesters.

I understand why I lacked trust. I do. And yet, at that point, as Wayne stood on stage humming the tune to “Let It Be” I realized that although I understood the why as far as my lack of trust was concerned, I would no longer use that why as my reason for the way the life was unfolding for me.

In order to simply let it be, you must have a great deal of trust. Or Heck, at least a little.

Trust in the way the Universe is unfolding, trust in your relationships, in yourself, in whatever it may be. If you are missing that trust, then how in the name of The Beatles can you simply let things BE.

Without trust, you will feel the need to fight and push and pull. 

I know. I lived this way for a long time.

Yes, my dad died at a young age and I assumed that things would be taken away from me so I did not trust anything or anyone for a long time.

That, my friends, gets old. 

It gets old very fast.

So today’s DMC, as well as the theme for my yoga classes is this: Where can you let it be in your own life? Where can you stop fighting or worrying or trying so hard? Or, in other words: where can you trust more? Where can you own your knowing and abandon your doubt? Write it down in the comment section below.

Man, those 4 dudes from Liverpool where on to something.

So is Wayne Dyer. 

So am I.

So are YOU.

Letting It Be,

Jen (@manifestyogajen on twitter)

If you come to class tonight or tomorrow this will be the mantra. Let it Be.

Anytime the hands come together in prayer you will silently mouth those words. And hopefully, if my plan works, you will begin to create new thought patterns and belief systems and habits. Like lettin’ it be.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Let it Be by John Lennon and Paul Mccartney
When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be

And when the broken hearted people living in the world agree
There will be an answer, let it be
For though they may be parted, there is still a chance that they will see
There will be an answer, let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
There will be an answer, let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be

And when the night is cloudy there is still a light that shines on me
Shine until tomorrow, let it be
I wake up to the sound of music, Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, yeah, let it be
There will be an answer, let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, yeah, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.

~~~~

Apparently my sister has a love of three word sentences as well since her site is called 3 Words For 365. It’s on! https://3wordsfor365.wordpress.com/

Daily Manifestation Challenge, How To

You Could Be Happy. The Weekend DMC.

November 26, 2011

The Weekend DMC.

[wpvideo 9g5wrTh2]

You Could Be Happy. 

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoAPw-eJuYo]

I play this song all the time in my yoga classes. It’s by by friends in the band Snow Patrol, who incidentally make me very happy. (Remember last year they donated a guitar signed by all the band members for my GAMEYoga.org fundraiser? For no other reason than just to be nice!)

I think this song is just a beautiful reminder of those 4 magic words: You Could Be Happy.

(Yes, you!)

I dare you.

This weekend’s DMC is about being happy.

In every moment there is a choice.

To be happy or not. And here’s the deal. For those of  you that feel that you don’t deserve to be happy, for whatever reason, I am here to tell you: That is BS. You do! You deserve be happy. 

And you shall.

And so it is.

How?

By doing things that make you happy. By doing things and being with people that make you feel good.

Are you ready for the ride?

In the comment section below please list all the things that make you happy.

“Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice.” Wayne Dyer of course.

And again by him: You cannot get sad enough to make another person happy.

So go on. Get happy and tell us how you got there.

Happiness is the way, Manifesters.

The only way.

Manifest Your Life,

One Laugh at a Time,

Jen (@manifestyogajen on twitter)

PS, My list is long but would start like this….

My happy list: skyping with nephews, watching movies with my husband, having a nice glass of red, a big belly laugh, Modern Family, Snow Patrol, Annie Carpenter’s yoga Class, dancing, when my yoga classes sing and dance, sleeping in, teaching the kinds with special needs yoga, writing, this blog, The Good Wife, getting letters in the mail, giving gifts, photographs, hats, bright sneakers, massages, candles and fireplaces, and on and on.

Your turn.

Daily Manifestation Challenge

Coulda Woulda Shoulda. The DMC.

November 25, 2011

Coulda Woulda Shoulda.

[wpvideo g4RN6aME]

Blah Blah.

Happy Black Friday.

Bah, humbug! I like blue or red. Or magenta.

Magenta Friday! And a Happy One To Ya! I hope you are still feeling grateful and thankful and full of food.

Another brilliant poster from my friend and source of inspiration Karen Salmansohn of notsalmon.com

I wasn’t going to do a DMC today (Daily Manifestation Challenge in case you hadn’t caught on yet) but I fell upon Karen’s poster and I thought: this is too good to pass up.

I used to spend much of my life saying: I should have….. I wish I would have……. I wish I hadn’t….. I could have………

Oh? You want me to fill in the sentences?

Ok. I am down with being very honest these days.

Here is what I used to say. A lot. Old tapes, if you will.

I should have stayed in NYC and not moved to LA. I probably would be a famous writer and wear turtle necks and live in a cute apartment in the West Village and my life would be perfect.

I wish I would have realized how beautiful I was when I was younger instead of hating myself so much.

I wish I hadn’t said “I hate you” to my father right before he died. Those were the last words we spoke. Maybe he wouldn’t have died?

I could have probably been a successful actress if I had just wanted it more, or been prettier or tried harder or been skinnier or……..

Being honest is so scary but feels so good. So refreshing!

I no longer say these things. Not in my head. Not out loud. Never. (Well, mostly never. Sticking with the honesty thing here.)

I decided at some point to shift my thoughts and my beliefs and live in the present. It’s nice here. I think i will stay awhile.

For a lot of my life I lived in 1983 even when it was 2003. Sound familiar? I allowed myself to be immobilized by the past. Now that is way scarier than being honest, folks. I

Dear Manifesters, I changed my whole life by changing my thoughts and taking action in the NOW. Yes, once in a while I longingly look toward my past and wish I had done it different. Then I wake the heck up. I mean, I wouldn’t be my Manifesting Self if I hadn’t gone through exactly what I had gone through. If I hadn’t done it exactly like that. There is no “it should have been this instead of that.” There is only that. It is impossible to think there could have been a this. This or That. 

Choose one and move one.

No more Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda. Blah Blah. Seriously Manifesters, can you add your comment below? Write down where you have either made a shift and are no longer living in the ” shoulda woulda coulda” mindset or where you are going to start today?

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0fVQ3i90zg]

“The Choice Is Yours! You can get with this or you can get with that. I think you’ll get with this, for this is where it’s at!”

( you hear this song a lot if you come  to my yoga classes!)

Manifesting Your Life,

One Laugh at a Time,

jen (@manifestyogajen on twitter)

Daily Manifestation Challenge

RUN-DMC. Today’s DMC.

November 17, 2011

DMC= Daily Manifestation Challenge

I had to do it.

Get it? The DMC as in Daily Manifestation Challenge?

Do you ever feel like running? As in: running away from it all? As in: not being present? As in: escaping your life? As in: feeling like if you moved away life would be somehow better? 

Today’s Daily Challenge is about the idea of running away rather than looking within or at what is.

For a long time, it was not just a a metaphor for me. I literally ran and ran and ran. I was an exercise-aholic. Instead of facing anything in my life, I simply ran.

When I was 18 and I got a call that my step-father Carl had died in his sleep, I simply hung up the phone, laced up my sneaks and ran for two hours around Cooper River in New Jersey. It was an old habit of mine, this not wanting to feel anything.

I am sure it was the same impetus that drove me to get skinnier and skinnier. The less I weighed the less I felt. Bla bla. You have heard all of these things before if you have ever known someone with an eating disorder.

I eventually got tired of running.

Literally.

Run-DMC (They love my DMCs!)

I discovered yoga. I discovered that if I sat quietly with myself I could begin to heal old wounds and, more importantly perhaps, I could begin to be present in my life.

I spent many years being very much not present.

In fact, I can barely remember my 20’s.

I know sometimes life sucks. There, I said it.

I have a friend that you all know by now, Emily Rapp, whose baby is dying from Tay Sachs. I am sure in her fantasies she wishes she could just run away from her life.

Ain’t gonna happen.

She writes a daily blog about what she is going through called Little Seal, she exercises (a lot), she teaches her writing classes at the University, she is publishing a book, she calls her friends for support (me) and she sits with her sweet baby and husband and tries to be present as best she can be.

She does what she needs to do even when the impulse is to RUN!

Today’s DMC: Where can you stop running in your life? Where can you look at what “is” and accept it. (Remember the mantra from an earlier DMC: “And so it is“?)  Have there been instances in your life where you have run away? Please share any and all comments about this idea of Running. I am really looking forward to hearing your thoughts, Brave Ones.

Keep Manifesting Your Life,

One Laugh at a Time,

ManifestYogaJen

PS, if you want to support Emily and baby Ronan who has Tay Sachs buy a Manifestation T-shirt. All money goes to charity. Click here. And if you are not getting a shirt but still want to pay it forward, please share link. It also goes toward Prader Willi Research, which my nephew Blaise has.

And Dear Manifesters, please stop running. Walk instead. In fact, walk this way…..

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B_UYYPb-Gk]

 

 

And speaking of Run-DMC, follow RevRunWisdom on Twitter. How do you like that? Used to be in Run-DMC and now is a motivational leader. So inspiring!

 

Daily Manifestation Challenge, How To

Help! I’m Stuck! The DMC

November 12, 2011

What do you do when you feel stuck?

Seriously, what do you do when you are stuck like that guy in the picture?

You know, you feel like you are plastered to a wall and some chick in a red beret is just staring at you?

I will tell you what I do.

What? You don’t think I get stuck ever?

(Hold on while I LOL.)

Sometimes I get so stuck that I feel as if I have taught the same yoga class 678 times. At least.

Sometimes I feel so stuck that it seems my car could drive itself, it doesn’t even need me because it’s been to the same places so many times.

Sometimes I feel as if I have made the same mistakes over and over that I must be insane because only crazies keep doing the same things over and over and expecting different results, right?

Sometimes my thoughts feel very very stuck. Like Elmers. Like gum on a shoe. Like they are on a merry-go-round that ceased me merry a long time ago. They simply just go round and round.

And round.

There’s many days (fewer and father between lately) where I feel stuck. Where I feel down. Where I feel blue. Uninspired. Bored. Lazy.

You know. The gamut.

I did a scientific experiment that involved a lot of stuff, and here is what I found works best to get me unstuck and back to my Manifesting Self.

1. Laugh. I watch shows that makes me laugh (hint hint: Modern Family.) I hang out with funny people. I play with babies. I read funny books. I make dumb jokes. I sing out loud. When I laugh I feel the most “me” and it is from that space that I can move forward and get unstuck. From that place I can create. From that place I can take myself less seriously.

2. Hang out with people who inspire me. See earlier Daily Manifestation Challenge called “Who You Hanging With?” Who inspires you? Are you surrounding yourself with these people. Make a list in the comment section below. And, if you aren’t hanging with them yet, I suggest you make a date. It’s kind of a no-brainer but when you hang with people that excite and inspire you, it rubs off on you! It’s like a rope that they throw down the hole to pull you out of that ditch you are stuck in.

3. Make vision boards. They don’t even have to be proper Vision boards (like there is even a such thing as a “proper” vision board) but something where you are visualizing your desires and dreams and the things you want to manifest into your life. Visualization is key! Can you visualize yourself being unstuck? This is a profound question. If the answer is no my advice is to keep trying. Keep practicing. Repeat this mantra: I can manifest anything I put my attention on.

(Ahem. What are you putting your attention on anyway?)

4. Take a class. This weekend I am taking a class purely by chance My friend Juliet offered me a ticket to a wine and cheese class. Yes, I know. It had my name all over it. But you know what? It made me realize how much I love learning and miss being in school or taking class. Keep learning and studying always. Forever.

5. Do yoga. Or something. Anything! I am a yoga teacher, so yea, I do the yoga. But do whatever. Hike! Walk on the beach! Get connected to nature. Go watch the sun set or rise. Something that gives you a connection to something outside of yourself. Get your blood pumping and your adrenaline going. I notice I get majorly depressed when I am stagnant too long and yet the longer I am stagnant the harder it is to get motivated. Catch 22? Why, yes! But most of life is. Get used to it.

5. Do things that make you feel good.To quote my own poem, “How To Make A Life”

Let your joy be contagious and spread through

Your home, your job, your children.

Let it spread through the world

Like a virus so that when you forget it,

Every so often, you’ll catch it from someone else.

Whatever brings you joy, do it. Be it taking a bubble bath, curling in bed with a good book, cracking open a nice bottle of Cab, buying a nice smelling candle, painting, calling your friends in New Jersey, playing with your toddler, yoga. Whatever it is, just do it.

I want to coin that phrase “Just Do It” but I swear I have heard it somewhere before?

Today’s DMC is about being stuck and getting un-stuck. In the comment section below, list your experiences with being stuck. List what you do to get out or what you would like to do next time. List ideas you may have. Hey, I need them as much as you do, Dear Manifesters!

Being a creative and free spirit, it is easy to feel restless and bored. And blue. And yes, sometimes uninspired.  I am always looking for ways to keep blossoming and to keep my ideas fresh. I really don’t like feeling this a whole lot:

Keep on manifesting your life,

One laugh a time,

ManifestYogaJen