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Elaine St. , health columnist.
James tells us how to simplify our lives can reduce our burden. -
Body, Spirit and material.
Today, as part of our plan for August
Stress, we extract from her bestselling book, simplicity in the heart: 100 ways to restore peace and nourish the soul (Hyperion, 1995).
Here are 10 of them.
Having spent every day in nature, many cultures in history have regarded nature as an integral part of their inner life.
To a large extent, our society has lost its connection with the recovery, healing and inspiring power of outdoor sports.
Spending time with nature is an important part of your spiritual pursuit.
If you include a walk in your daily life, make sure that in addition to the benefits of outdoor sports and fresh air, you are also internally connected with the beauty of the Sun, the sky and the Earth.
Start every walk, breathe fresh air, and appreciate the weather, no matter what it is doing.
Enjoy the life of trees, birds, flowers and plants on your route.
Let the glory of nature inspire your body, Heal Your Heart, and lift your spirit.
If you are not outdoors, at least make sure you take a little time each day to appreciate nature and draw energy from it.
Plan to leave your house five minutes early tomorrow morning.
Before you get on the bus or jump on the train, use this time to pay attention to the patterns of clouds in the sky or dew on the grass.
Or, five minutes before you get home from work, simply acknowledge the end of another day.
When the weather permits, have lunch on a park bench, or on a grass in the shade, and use the time to communicate quietly with nature.
If the air is clean, take some deep breath to inject energy into your body and brain.
Before going to bed at night, develop the habit of simply opening the front door and walking outside for a few minutes.
Encourage your spouse and children to join you.
You can all enjoy a deep breath of fresh air and immerse yourself in the peaceful, meditative night sky.
If you live in a city surrounded by tall buildings and concrete, it is a special place to take advantage of nearby parks or nature walks.
Make sure your schedule includes a weekend trip to places where the beauty of nature is allowed to flourish, where you can use the power of the universe to connect with your true self.
In the next week, laugh every day. The first thing in the morning is to laugh for 5 to 10 minutes.
Do so in your sanctuary, at the kitchen table, or wherever you work for you.
It's not easy.
We are not encouraged to laugh a lot in this culture.
But if you do, you will be surprised by the insight it gives you.
You might start by pretending.
You may have to pretend it all the time. That's OK.
Pretend you're an actor and laugh part of it.
It's easier if you're standing or sitting on the edge of the chair.
After the first few times, your stomach muscles will be a little sore.
Nothing to worry about. Keep at it.
When you're done laughing, sit down quietly and let your body, mind and soul absorb the benefits of this.
Then start a new day.
It is very powerful to do this with other submissive people, but don't let the absence of one available person stop you from laughing.
You can do it yourself.
Don't start crying when you laugh.
Later cried.
When the week is over, or maybe earlier, you will find it possible for you to laugh at anything;
Laughter is a choice.
It's a very powerful tool when you're doing something harder.
This is a powerful tool for the period.
When you move forward in your task and when you encounter situations that seem difficult, don't forget to use this tool.
It will change your life.
Also, be sure to spend time with people who make you laugh.
Rent funny videos
Read interesting books.
Laughter is so good for the soul.
Crying often is more difficult than laughing often.
In our culture, crying is more frustrating than laughing.
But it is such a powerful tool to clear what is holding back our inner growth.
You may need to cry, but you don't realize it.
Or maybe you live on the edge of tears most of the time.
Either way, schedule your schedule so you can cry every day for the next week, or no matter how long it takes.
You can do this within 30 days of your laughter, or within the next 30 days.
Now that you have simplified your life, you have time.
Allow 30 minutes to cry;
Longer if possible.
You need at least that much time to open the gate.
If you are crying happily, don't stop because the time is up.
Cry to the end of crying.
Like a smile, you may need to pretend to laugh at the beginning.
The more drama you can put in, the better.
You may have only been away with fake tears for a few days.
It's okay.
In the end, the real tears will come.
Hold on until they do so.
My friend Cindy has had a difficult divorce recently.
She's a strong mother.
A woman on earth who has spent many years making others cry on her shoulder.
But when her own tears came out, it was hard for her to let them come out.
She finally started renting tear flowers. jerker videos.
She will sit in front of the video recorder with a box of paper towels and cry her eyes wide open, initially on some of the plot lines on celluloid and eventually in her own life.
It took her months to get through all the tears, but it made her sad and then released her so she could continue to live.
We have been told that it is not OK to cry for so long. But it is OK.
In fact, this is desirable.
More importantly, it is vital.
The energy we have been using to hold back our tears has prevented us from being who we really are.
Let this energy disappear and cry. It'll free you.
Find a time and place where you will not be disturbed for 30 to 40 minutes or more. Wear loose-
Clothes that fit comfortably.
Put some music you really like.
It can be classical, rock, jazz, drum, etc.
Open it as loudly as possible, but don't invade the peace and quiet of others loudly.
Standing in the middle of the room, close your eyes and start to feel the music.
Let it go through your whole body.
Breathe with it
Use it to move your head, arms and upper body.
Bend the waist with it.
Still stand in a place, move your feet with it, close your eyes, swing and rotate with it, and absorb the music completely into your being.
Slowly open your eyes and move around the room as the music starts.
Create your own dance.
Spin, rock and stom feet.
Do whatever you need to do and be a part of music.
Completely unconstrained, spontaneous, ecstatic.
You may need a time or two before you actually let go.
Insist that this happens.
When the music is over, fall on the floor and lie on your back.
Open your eyes, slowly, slowly, with complete awareness, and bring your consciousness back to your body.
Keep quiet until your breathing is back to normal.
Then slowly stood up and thanked the music and the universe for a slight bow.
Do this every day for the next few weeks and you will start to feel incredibly excited, relaxed and happy.
If you do this in a team, everyone should dance on their own and be aware of others, but don't dance with others.
The shorter version of this dance is an incredibly active way to start your inner support group meeting.
Or, from time to time, use the entire meeting time to dance.
If you are trying to build a level of simplicity within, then very few things you can do will give you a better boost than a formal retreat.
But if you're not fully ready to do so, or you can't take the time right now, arranging your own vacation at home could be the next best thing to do.
Obviously, it will be easier to spend the weekend at home if you are single, or if your spouse and/or child are away on weekends, or accept the idea of taking your own time.
Put aside your normal weekend life.
Plan to start your quiet time at dinner on Friday night and continue on Sunday night.
Unplug the phone and tell your family and friends that you won't be available until Monday morning.
Plan not to open.
Turn off the TV and radio;
Put away the newspapers and magazines.
Take off your watch so you don't have to worry about time. Wear loose-
Wear comfortable clothes.
Avoid food and drinks or other substances that will lower your energy.
Do whatever you need to do with your space, make it as enjoyable as possible and as good as possible for a quiet reflection.
The air in the room;
Bring flowers;
Candles, incense or essential oils are provided.
Have everything you want at hand so you don't have to rush out of the world.
Spend your time in silent reflection. Meditate.
Do yoga or gentle stretching.
Practice deep breathing.
Write in a diary
Create affirmation and visualization within you and start practicing them.
Watch the sunrise and sunset. Take a mini-
Enjoy sunbathing and stay in a state of mind.
Spend time in nature
Walk early in the morning or evening, away from the crowd and traffic.
Sit quietly, don't think, just be with the present.
Seek guidance and be open to any information from the universe.
Go to bed early, get up with the sun, even earlier.
If you rarely experience the joy of the birth of a new day, this is a good time to start.
Prepare your meals with love and awareness. Eat in silence.
Before you start a new day, during the next week, get rid of your anger every morning, go to your bedroom, close the door and pile all the pillows in the middle of the bed.
Kneel on the bed with pillows in front of you.
Gently bow to your inner self and to the universe.
Then start knocking out the sun on the pillow.
As a spiritual exercise.
Use your fist, or another pillow, or a plastic baseball bat.
Do 5 to 10 minutes, or do it longer if it feels right.
When the time is up, pour in a pile on the bed and take a deep breath until you catch your breath.
When you return to your center, stand up, kneel on the bed as before, and bow again to yourself and to the universe.
Let's start your day.
You will not believe that you will have an incredible feeling of ease after doing so.
There is so much information waiting for us, but they can't easily pass the negative emotions of anger and the bad emotions we often carry with us.
Keep in touch with how you handle your anger. Do you clam up?
Do you have burning thoughts?
Do you vent your anger on someone else?
Whenever you find yourself reacting to these or any other counter-productive ways of denying anger, go to the pillow and beat out the dawn of your life for at least five minutes, or as long as you need it.
Teach your child to do the same.
If you are always angry, or you even doubt that you may be angry, it will be one of the most powerful and liberating things you can do.
You may need to change your pillow a lot.
But this may be better than replacing the stomach liner or heart valve.
Learn to enjoy silencin in order to hear what's going on inside, we have to minimize the external rackets as much as possible.
Start to realize that you are constantly getting high noise every day.
It usually starts with nerves.
The harsh sound of the alarm clock, the buzz of the electric toothbrush or the explosion of the hair dryer.
Next is the latest news about the chatter of a drone or a morning talk show.
Then the speed of the car's engine and the whistle of the horn during peak hours.
Our days are often full of 9-to-
The sound of the phone and office equipment, not to mention the countless interruptions of cooperation
Workers, customers and bosses.
Even if you work from home, there may be constant hustle and bustle and there are few opportunities to breathe.
I often have ears on weekends.
The roar of a lawn mower or a leaf blower.
How can we hear what we think? Often we can't.
All the noise we have today has put us under pressure-to-day lives--
Not even aware of this.
At the same time, we are used to it and it is hard to imagine what it would be like without it.
As you begin to enter within, you will want to eliminate as much external commotion as possible so that you can hear your inner voice.
You may not be able to control some noise--
Celebrations such as traffic or neighbors.
But you can start by creating as much quiet as possible in your own space.
Learn to wake up without an alarm clock.
When you are about to fall asleep, just imagine waking up at any time you choose.
Try not to use TV or stereo for a while.
Also, leave your Walkman at home while you're walking or exercising, turn off the radio and tape recorder, especially when you're driving.
Immerse yourself in silence and use this time to simply be with the present, instead of letting those forms of entertainment distract you from your inner life.
Turn off the phone.
Let your answering machine answer the information silently, you can listen when it is convenient.
Arrange a formal retreat or a separate weekend at home so you can start to immerse yourself in the joy of silence.
If you are not used to it, silence may seem strange at first, but you will slowly cherish it.
In the end, you will find that it is essential for your inner search.
Learning to enjoy loneliness rarely has something as powerful as loneliness to help you connect with your inner self-
Especially when this loneliness is accompanied by silence, as well as the elimination of external stimuli such as television, radio, newspapers, magazines and other popular forms of escape.
If you haven't started yet, start enjoying loneliness.
It would be comfortable to be alone.
This is the time you can spend thinking, reading ascending things, communicating with nature, connecting with intuition, smiling, laughing, crying, forgiving, thinking about the problems of the universe.
That doesn't mean you need to move to the caves in the wilderness. Far from it.
People and relationships are an important part of our internal and external growth.
But we all need time to recharge from time to time, not only to nourish our spirit, but also to give us new energy to others.
If loneliness is a threat to you, start with small things, maybe have lunch with yourself in a quiet environment, such as on a bench in an open but vacant Chapel.
Extend it to Saturday afternoon, probably in a secluded garden or somewhere else that won't bother you.
Then plan a private weekend getaway at home, or maybe in an organized vacation environment, everything else will serve you in addition to the inner search.
Be creative when coming up with ways you can be alone on a regular basis.
I have a friend who spent his lunch time in an abandoned cemetery.
This is the most convenient and quiet place near his office.
He claims that it not only makes him comfortable with being alone, but also makes him comfortable with the idea of death, which is a useful concept that when you look at the big issues in your life, it will
Loneliness gives you the opportunity to face your inner self in a way that few other efforts can do.
When you are alone, there will be peace of mind and an unparalleled opportunity to connect with the soul.
Take a moment to think about a common reaction I 've heard from people who have read simplify your life is "what do I need to do to simplify is so obvious.
If I just thought about it, I could have figured out how to do it myself.
"They are right.
The changes we need to make to our lives are obvious.
But we are often too busy to stop and think about what we need to do to achieve these goals.
We have been so troubled by stress, stress and the demands of our time that we have got rid of the habit of thinking about life.
When you start and continue your simple path within, be sure to set aside time to think regularly and even every day.
Develop habits, before you start your day's work, spend a few minutes in the morning thinking about how you want to be at work and interact with the people you touch.
Then, at the end of the day, take a few minutes to think about how you did it and what you wanted to do.
Think about things that make it impossible for you to enjoy the day, or make it impossible for you to live your way.
Then think about what you will do tomorrow.
In addition to the day-to-day assessment, we need to set aside more time to think about the big picture.
Take advantage of some of the time you regularly schedule to be alone and really think about your inner and outer life, where you want to go, what kind of things you can do to get there.
Set aside time for a weekend or longer retreat and use the time to question your long retreat
Assumption or belief accepted
Few things are as liberating as you solve your own problems.
All the information we need to know about our lives and how we live can be provided to us.
Thinking is one of the tools we use this information.
Peace of mind rarely occurs automatically.
We must work hard in this regard.
Thinking is a powerful tool for this work.
Learning to do nothing is another valuable tool that will help you connect with your inner self.
I first learned to do nothing and try to correct my habit of moving too fast while trying to do too much. And it worked.
By arranging time and doing nothing every week, I gradually began to understand where my professional life wanted to go.
As I continue to incorporate this approach into my schedule, I am also able to reach a new level of understanding in my inner life.
Many of us have been moving at breakneck speeds in recent years for many reasons.
Usually, they have nothing to do with trying to do a lot of things in a short time.
Some of us have been moving, or proving to ourselves that we are still alive, or in unconscious fear, if we stop, we have to take a closer look at who we are.
This may be terrible.
But it is very constructive to learn to stop completely.
Doing anything is different from meditation and solitude, which is much more difficult in some ways.
In any case, this is usually a learning habit that must be cultivated in our culture.
Or sometimes nature intervenes kindly to provide us with a convenient disease that forces us to stop and do nothing.
Accept the fact that nothing is done.
If you have already started to slow down, simplify your life and get inside, it will be much easier to do nothing.
You can start by forming the habit of not doing anything for two or three minutes at different times of the day.
Simply stop anything you are doing, sit quietly with your eyes open, your mind is aware but inactive, and just stay active.
It helps to take a deep breath.
Time gradually increased.
When you start to spend more time doing nothing, be prepared to stop your body or mind.
You will be hungry or sleepy.
You'll think of a dozen things you should do, or things you think you 'd rather do.
Resist the temptation to succumb to these feelings.
Think of it as a necessary and precious time.
When you do this consistently, when you put it in, and when you start to like it, you will find that doing nothing is one of the most productive activities you do.
* Elaine St. Reprinted from "simplicity in the heart: 100 ways to restore peace and nourish the soul"James.
Elaine St. copyright 1995James.
Released by Hyperion.