and/or meditation. or any/all mindfulness practices: because of all the horrific news we hear every time we turn on the tv. most notably at the moment, of course, the innumerable shooting incidences right here in our own country. the yogi in me sees that these knee jerk reactions (i.e., the cop who assumes a man is reaching for his own gun and thus shoots him) are fear-based. the visceral reaction is, “this person is going to harm me”. and that is fear talking. what needs to happen is a massive shift in consciousness from fear to love, in which instead of assuming the worst, we expect the best (or at least better). i understand how that shift might seem impossible, precisely because of all the terrible stuff that happens in the world on a daily basis. but it is has to start somewhere. personally, i’m trying to be the proverbial “change i wish to see in the world” by not always being on the defensive (a stance learned from one too many years as a new yorker!); by not immediately and irrationally reacting to every little thing that i perceive as a slight. that could be anything from a friend making a slightly passive-aggressive comment, to feeling a bit uneasy walking past a shadowy-looking character on the street. rather than assuming that my friend meant to offend me or the guy on the street will attack me (extreme case, i know. i hear to many stories of this sort of thing happening in nyc), i’ll give both the benefit of the doubt. i won’t always be perfect at this, but i’ll try. by putting that expectation out into the universe that everything will be ok, hopefully the law of attraction will bring that to me in kind. and to you, too.

i went off on a tangent here, so back to the matter at hand: i know there’s a whole lot of love in the world but WE NEED MORE. any sort of mindfulness practice not only connects us to our own emotions, insecurities, and vulnerabilities and helps us to deal with them, but makes us aware of those same things in others. which allows us to connect with them on a human level. so often our interactions just scratch the surface and we fail to recognize another’s humanness. either because we’re scared, or self-involved, or just oblivious. i feel overwhelmed by the events of the past couple of days, so my thoughts and therefore my words are sort of all over the place. but the long story short is: choose love over fear. <3

it seems as though any and everyone who believes in the law of attraction has read the secret; i myself was a little late to the game but am finally reading it now. i’m about halfway through and can tell that it’s working wonders already. in the span of a few weeks, some pretty awesome things have happened. taken alone, each is minor; but as a whole, they are evidence that this stuff is real. for example, a concept that keeps showing up in my life is to “write it down”. meaning, it’s great to have a vague sense of what you want your life to look like, but the best way to actually make all of that happen is to get super clear and specific on what you want and put pen to paper so that the universe knows it unequivocally. the secret uses the analogy of placing an order via a catalogue: when you place an order, you know with certainty (barring a freak delivery mess-up or crazy snowstorm. but you get the point) that your package will eventually arrive. so too with your dreams and desires. once you’re clear about them, write them down, and let the universe know you’re serious about them, you can consider your “order” as having been placed. and you can know with certainty that you can expect them…eventually. hey, better late than never! for you skeptics out there (and i know there are many- i used to be one of them): i get it. it sounds real hippie-dippie and esoteric and maybe just plain ridiculous. but consider taking a chance, doing something different and giving it a try. worst case, your life stays the same. best case, it transforms into everything you’ve ever dreamed of.