What if you knew that in exactly 346 days from now you were going to die, how would it affect you? What could you do differently about the way you life your life today and for the next 345 days to follow?
Share your thoughts here in my blog.
Niko
Someone forwarded this to me, thought I would pass it along…
What Is Perfect Health?
Health isn’t merely the absence of disease or symptoms; it is a higher state of consciousness that allows well-being, creativity, and joy to flow into our experience. We are healthy when we’re able to fully digest everything we take in, extracting what is nourishing and eliminating whatever doesn’t serve us. This includes our food, our relationships, our jobs, and all our life experiences. Illness, in contrast, develops when there is a disruption ― a blockage in the flow of energy and information. Symptoms and sickness are the body’s signal that we need to restore balance, eliminate whatever is causing the blockages, and reestablish the healthy flow of intelligence.
One of most powerful ways we can influence our health is through our choices and interpretations . . . the food we choose, the relationships we engage in, the sensory input we expose ourselves to, and the daily patterns and rhythms of our life.
Timeless Healing Principles
By listening to our body and honoring its needs, we nurture our innate healing ability and move closer to experiencing a state of perfect health…
1. Take time each day to quiet your mind and meditate.
2. Each day eat a healthy diet that includes a wide variety of colorful fruits and vegetables.
3. Engage in daily exercise that enhances flexibility, strength, and cardiovascular fitness.
4. Follow a restful sleep routine.
5. Let go of whatever isn’t serving you, including stored emotional pain.
6. Cultivate loving relationships.
7. Find your unique gifts and talents and use them to serve others.
As you nurture yourself and practice the tools of spiritual awakening, you will open your heart to ever expanding levels of fulfillment. Even when you are surrounded by chaos, face a health challenge, or find yourself on a financial “detour,” you will discover that you can transcend outworn assumptions and create a life filled with wellbeing, happiness, and love.
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Leave your thoughts here in my blog.
Share this with others you feel it can benefit.
Niko
Have you seen the Apple computer commercial, "The Crazy Ones"? Very moving. My favorite commercial of all time.
Are you one of the crazy ones?? Join us here…
www.thecrazyones.me
"Here’s to The Crazy Ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently.
They’re not fond of rules and they have no respect for the status quo. You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward.
While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do." ~ words of the commercial
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They imagine. They believe. They see. They invent. They create. They explore. They inspire. Yes, they are crazy – how else could they stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
They are so visionary that they are blind to impossibilities. They see so many solutions that they do not believe in limitations. They have “Yes” faces and “Can do” attitudes. History has shown us that the crazy ones believe so strongly in something not yet tangible that they are even willing to sacrifice their own life to see it come to pass.
What is that I ask? It’s rooted in the human spirit and it’s so deep that it’s beyond words. It’s like love. You cannot define it or contain it or quench it.
I identify with "the crazy ones", they are the ones that move me, the ones that leave an impression on me, they are my heroes. I aspire to be as them, crazy enough to believe that I can change the world.
Are you one of the crazy ones?? Join us here…
www.thecrazyones.me
Niko
P.S. Feel free to copy, forward or quote anything I have written.
People in the video, in order of appearance – Albert Einstein, Bob Dylan, Martin Luther King, Jr., Richard Branson, John Lennon (with Yoko Ono), R. Buckminster Fuller, Thomas Edison, Muhammad Ali, Ted Turner, Maria Callas, Mahatma Gandhi, Amelia Earhart, Alfred Hitchcock, Martha Graham, Jim Henson (with Kermit the Frog), Frank Lloyd Wright and Pablo Picasso.
Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of Cleveland, Ohio
"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I’ve ever written. My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:
Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.
When in doubt, just take the next small step.
Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
Pay off your credit cards every month.
You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.
It’s OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.
It’s OK to let your children see you cry.
Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.
Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don’t worry; God never blinks.
Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.
It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.
Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
Over prepare, then go with the flow.
Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.
The most important sex organ is the brain.
No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
Frame every so-called disaster with these words ‘In five years, will this matter?’
Always choose life.
Forgive everyone of everything.
What other people think of you is none of your business.
Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
Believe in miracles.
God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.
Don’t audit life.. Show up and make the most of it now.
Growing old beats the alternative — dying young.
Your children get only one childhood.
All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.
Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
The best is yet to come…
No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
Yield.
Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.”
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I always felt a connection with Patrick Swayze, perhaps part of it was that he was from Houston (very close to where I grew up). He died thsi week and I feel very sad. I won’t even begin to try to express all the thoughts and feelings I’m having. But I will say… May we enjoy each day for as special as it really is. May we live with no regrets. May we love, feel and give with all of our hearts. And may we be true to who we are and why we are here. Patrick, we will miss you, thank you for all that you gave to us, we will never forget you. Rest in peace.
I invite you to share your thoughts in honor of Patrick.
Niko
We’ve all asked ourselves, “What do I really love?” or “What makes me happy?” But I was recently asked “What do you hate NOT doing?” I like that! It’s a great way to find out what you LOVE doing!
What makes you feel dissatisfied, unhappy, irritated, annoyed or off-track if you are not doing it?
What do I hate NOT doing? These were some of my personal answers…
I hate not working out / exercising.
To say I don’t have time to exercise is just stupid because the honest truth is that I don’t NOT have time to exercise. I say that because exercising is TOO important. If I lose my health then what good are so many other things? What good is a great job, a profitable company, a beautiful family – what good are these things to me if I am unhealthy and sick and if I die young simply because I did not take good care of myself. Exercise has so many benefits – energy, longevity, physical appearance, etc.
I hate not working on music.
When I get too busy with working and with “things” and do not work on music, it saddens my soul, it grieves my being. Conclusion? Don’t work on music and slowly become a miserable human being. Or, work on music and be a happy human being. Simple as that. Why is it so black and white for me? Because music is not just something I do, it’s who I am. That’s why. It is not a thing, it’s alive. For me, ignoring music is the equivalent of a man ignoring his wife that he loves with his blood. Why would a man ever do that? It can only be because he has believed a lie, he has somehow become terribly jaded. So, I have to protect myself from all the distractions/lies that take me away from my music that I love with my blood.
I hate not travelling.
When I don’t travel I feel like I’m missing out on one of the most important things in my life. Why? I feel the world in my being and have a need to be in the world. I’m not talking about taking a vacation. I’m talking about being in a place and really BEING THERE. Feeling the people, taking in the landscape, eating the food, listening to the music and language, watching the way people drive and interact and think and speak and act. Soaking up the culture as a whole. I’m the kind of person who will visit one place and stay there for weeks and absorb everything I can. It’s a deep and intense experience for me. It always changes me. It’s broadens my perspective. It reveals mysteries to me. It inspires me – to write, to compose, to travel more, to open up my mind… to live, to love.
I hate not living closer to the people I love – family and friends.
The solution? I suppose it was mentioned in the previous paragraph, I need to travel more! : ) I need to go and see them all more often, meet up more often, create more memories with them, show them how much I love them, let them love me back.
I hate not living closer to water / being closer to water more often.
I live in mountainous area. And it’s beautiful but there is nothing to me like being near the ocean. It does something for me that I should not even try to explain. The solution? Well, I could move, sure, but I don’t feel that that is what I am suppose to do at this particular time in my life, so that means I need to…. you guessed it TRAVEL! : ) Boy, it seems that NOT travelling can have a serious negative domino effect on my life. I better keep a very close on this or else I will one day find myself filled with regret. Nope, I’m not gonna let that happen, I bet you that!
I hate not writing.
For this answer, I’m going to quote the man who asked me this question to start with, Derek Sivers, “There are so many things I’ve learned that I think would help other people. Things I wish someone had told me sooner. Things that have made my life better, brighter, or wiser. I want to tell everyone these things before I die, in a well-explained way so they’re not misunderstood, and easy to pass on to others. And more new ones are added every week. So I have to keep writing to get them all out. Any day I’m not writing, I’m falling further behind in this goal, which I makes me feel worse.”
The good news…
I’m working on changing all these things in my life. What good would it do me to think about them in such detail and write about them and then not have a plan in motion to change them? I have a plan and am carrying it out RIGHT NOW, not tomorrow, TODAY. Today is what I have, THIS moment.
Asking the double-negative seems to be a better indicator of what I really love doing, than asking it in the positive.
Now, I’m curious, tell me some of the things you hate not doing. Share your thoughts here in my blog, I always enjoy reading them!
Niko
P.S. Feel free to copy, forward or quote anything I have written. : )
Someone wrote me yesterday and said…
"Hey Niko, let’s do something about domestic violence/abuse. Anything, please.
I decided to share my response in my blog…
I already am. My method is perhaps not the most obvious or the most conventional and it’s certainly not the most easy for it involves being true to yourself and to do that one has to deal with truth. For most people, dealing with truth is the last thing they want to do for it is just too painful. My method is to help people find courage within themselves and hope and faith and love (for themselves and for others). My method is to help people see themselves with an image of value instead of an image of no value. Go to my blog and read “Pursue Your Dream”, it is an excellent example of my fight against domestic violence and many other lies that we as people are living. Listen to “It’s A New Day”, “The Exodus”, “Love”, “Aliesha Shine”, “The Special One”, “My Son” all of these songs are my fight against domestic violence.
But people have to want it, I mean really want it, I mean REALLY want it! What is “it”? TRUTH. At all costs. And most people are not willing to do this. For that person, I can do nothing. Everyone has a free will and everyone has the right and capacity to walk in truth. For the person who wants it, I am here to provoke them and encourage them and inspire them with songs, with words, and best of all with example and action! Just yesterday a woman from Greece wrote to tell me she has started being true to herself and has now started a new life (away from a man that was hurting her).
I am not the one who discovered the principle and power of being true to yourself, I am just someone on this planet on October 17th, 2007 11:45AM CST who is loudly speaking of it, shouting it from the top of the tallest mountain! A mountain called the Internet where you can communicate with a global audience from your bedroom. I am a Warrior of the New Millennium. I embrace my calling and I embrace technology – I have put the two together and the outcome has been thousands of messages pouring in from countries around the world with people saying that their lives have been touched and even changed. I have no horn to toot, except to say that a tree is known by its fruit.
The ultimate answer is not in starting an organization with a catchy acronym like S.T.A.N.D. or S.T.O.P., the ultimate answer is a change in the heart and that is where I put my time and energy, into helping men and women dig deep deep deep down within themselves to find an answer that is there and has been there all along.
I could give 28 steps to overcoming violence or alcoholism or (you fill in the blank) or I can just summarize 100 pages of rules and regulations into one sentence, “Extinguish every lie from your life and search for the truth and in that you will be set free.” I know, such a thing can take months and even years, and to that I say, “What are you waiting for? RIGHT NOW is the perfect moment to begin!” Those who want it bad enough, WILL find it. Those who only complain and give excuses about their situation, will not find freedom (no matter how many steps you give them).
I leave you with this final thought, “Lies are not eternal, only the truth is eternal.”
Niko
I cannot explain how to understand all things through love, it is simply something one must believe in order to begin to see and experience its truth and beauty in their life. She is justified by her children, so go now and mingle with them in the field, eat the fruit of her tree and you shall see. Through love I tell you that I have come to better understand a fetus, babies, children, men, women, culture, language, communication, perspective, good, evil, light, darkness, truth, lies, hate, deception, time, space, divinity, creation, purpose, art, music, food, science, history, the future, pain, death, life, friendship, medicine, health, sickness, poverty, prosperity, marriage, divorce, technology, freedom, the human senses, water, fire, animals, flowers, colors, and so much more.
I believe that within the depths of love live the truths of all creation and the entire universe – cures for every sickness and disease, answers to every question imaginable, views into other dimensions, timelessness and spacelessness. Love is the most powerful force of all and cannot be measured for she is infinite and eternal. Love is the substance that light and truth are made of and from her blessed womb all virtues are born.
I believe that love is all. …all that we truly hope for and hope to become, all that we are seeking after in this life. Many are pursuing power and money and sex and beauty and acceptance and recognition and fame and knowledge… but in truth what each and every human being to ever live has been and will be searching for all along is love, simply love. There is nothing greater than love. Love is the very essence of life and love is the very reason for life. If we have everything yet do not have love, we have nothing. Likewise, if we have nothing yet have love, we have everything. Without love, we die.
I am not perfect nor allknowing nor allseeing, but love is, and her blood is now flowing through my veins – cleansing my heart and mind, teaching me truth, changing my eyes, guiding my hands, directing my path, protecting my future and destiny. Now, all that I believe is love. I have found her and I will never ever let her go.
Love is a universal gift within us all and it is the greatest gift of all! Now, it is up to each of us to let our actions flow forth from this gift, it’s something we decide hundreds of times each day. All actions of thought, word, and deed fall into one of two categories: love or selfishness. Think it through for a year or two or ten and you will conclude as I, there is no inbetween. In every single second of our lives we have a choice to act in selfishness or to act in love.
If you desire to be who you really are and fulfill your purpose for existing then I tell you my friend, look to love, pursue love with everything that is within you, abandon all for love and you will find what you know you have been looking for all along. Shut out the many distractions of this world, turn off all the noise, close your eyes and open your heart, look within the very depths of your being and you will find her there… talk to her, look into her eyes, she’s been waiting for this moment all your life and so have you, don’t be afraid to touch her face, take her hand and I promise you that she will carry you into the promised land. ~ Niko
Aloha!
I’m writing to you this morning from the magical Hawaiian island of Maui! It was while living here that I discovered and unlocked so many amazing things – about myself, spirituality, people, friendships, music, nature…and sushi! I ate my first sushi here and have been hooked ever since! *smiling*
I came to Maui this week to rejuvenate my being and to overcome some challenges within myself. I found answers to some very important questions. I’d like to share some thoughts with you that may speak to you and encourage you…
Never lose your joy!
In all that you do – with family, friends, work, hobbies, etc., never lose your joy! If you lose your joy, then you’ll lose so much purpose and meaning in life. You’ll start to become unhappy, depressed and unpleasant to be around. Children laugh an average of 300 times a day, adults laugh an average of only 17. When and why do we become so inhibited along the journey of life?! In one of my songs, “My Son”, the verse goes, “Agility of a child, when didst thou flee? Hold me, fold me, unfold me! Jump in my soul and out of my bones! Innocence lost at such a foolish cost, may I once again feel you in my heart!” Seek to become childlike again! Have joy and laughter in your life, they are like medicine! I’ll post a separate blog entry after this one of an interesting article I recently read about the importance and benefits of laughter.
Don’t sweat the small stuff!
Life is filled with important things that truly need your attention, so don’t sweat the small stuff. You only have so much time and energy in each day, be wise and productive in how you spend it. Don’t waste your time with insignificant and meaningless things. For me, it’s something as simple as checking my email too many times each day. It’s being too much of a perfectionist about things that are not really that important. It’s worrying about things I have no control over. It’s trying to please everyone when in fact sometimes you’ve just got to do what you know you’ve got to do! It’s fearing being misunderstood and misjudged. It’s caring about what others think in situations where what others think doesn’t matter at all! It’s being upset about a mistake when in fact I should just smile at my mistake and learn from it. It’s have a check bounce. It’s having someone hack into my myspace account and send out advertisements for porn with my name signed at the bottom. It’s accidentally getting a scratch on a new guitar or a dent in my car, it doesn’t really matter because every material thing on this planet is eventually going to turn to dust anyway! It’s having a delayed flight or being stuck in traffic and being late for a meeting. It is what it is and it’s out of my control so I might as well relax and just BE! I should just enjoy the moment, turn on some music and chill or strategize a business plan or…I should do anything while sitting in that traffic except be upset and frustrated about it. There are plenty of other things in life for us to sweat about, so, don’t sweat the small stuff.
Let go.
Realize and accept that some things are out of your control. Just let go. Do your best, your absolute best, be prudent and then let go. Carrie Underwood released a song titled, “Jesus Take The Wheel”, it was a hit because people identified with the idea that sometimes you just have to let go and trust a higher power. Some people say trust God, some say Allah, other’s say The Universe, whatever your faith may be, we should all practice letting go. Let go of micro-managing things that do not need to be micro-managed. Let go of worrying about things which worry will do nothing to resolve. While growing up, my pastor told me many times that 99.9 percent of the things we worry about never happen, all these years later I can say that he is right! Let go of trying to figure everything out, there are parts of life that as a flower they just have to unfold on their own and in their own time. Let go of all the “dead weight” in your life. A hot air balloon cannot rise into the sky until the dead weight is removed, if you’re gonna rise then let go of all the bad relationships, all the bad habits, fear, anger, anxiety, etc., this is all dead weight in your life. Let go of an image of no value, know that you are beautiful and special and unique. Let go of all the lies you have been told – about yourself, about others (especially others with a different skin color or different culture), about the career path you are “supposed” to be on, about God. For example, I once saw God in quite a small box, I had to let go of some old mindsets to realize and experience a God so limitless and beautiful that words cannot begin to tell.
I would like to say that I have not mastered these things, quite to the contrary. Writing them out and sharing them with you will help me achieve them. I will read what I have written many time over the next few weeks and I will let these words provoke me – to grow, to mature, to be childlike, to be patient, to walk in love and freedom and peace. ~ Niko
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