I was reflecting on what my energy felt like this week, which lead to the concept of "The Law of Attraction" which sent me down the rabbit hole...  I first bumped into Albert Einstein, who states that EVERYTHING is energy.  A good place to start!  If we are energy, then our thoughts are also energy.  
Digging into the philosophy of the "Law of Attraction".  Very simply put, "like attracts like".   I can embrace this belief that positive thoughts and actions will bring you a positive response and energy and negative thoughts and actions will have a negative result.  Anecdotally, I've experienced this "ripple effect".  
Continuing down the rabbit hole, I find support in "The Secret", Cognitive Behavioral Therapy principles, teachings by Dr. Joe Dispensa, the concept of Karma, and the Yoga Sutras.  I also found articles, arguing against the concept of manifestation and the danger of people believing they can heal themselves or will themselves to abundance. 
For me, positive energy and thoughts attracting positive energy and thoughts resonates! 
Food for Thought:
How might you recognize and measure the power of your positive thoughts to attract positive energy?
How might you recognize the power of any negative energy or thoughts that you are experiencing?  
How might you shift your thoughts or behaviors to bring more positivity to your life?

 “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” —Sir Winston Churchill

In Kute Blackson's book the Magic of Surrender. He proposes that we, as humans, spend a great deal of time trying to define our purpose. What if our purpose is as simple as to grow and evolve at a soul level? If that is the case, then every experience the "good, the bad, the ugly" is an opportunity to learn, to grow and evolve...and we have found our purpose.
  
This does not mean that some experiences are not painful, nor that it is easy to embrace the lesson in a challenging moment. It offers a lens with which to view your life experiences with curiosity and an open mind.

Now imagine that you apply that curiosity to your yoga practice. Each experience, each posture, each breath, an opportunity to gather information, to be more informed about what is going on for you physically, mentally, and emotionally, without judgement. How much kinder to yourself could you be now?

​Food for thought:   How do you conscientiously explore opportunities to grow and evolve in challenging situations? 

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” —Reinhold Niebuhr

The only constant is change.  We are immersed in it.  It can be empowering to recognize that we live in a constant state of flux and more importantly...that this is a normal process in life. Rather than trying to control what we cannot, when we allow life to flow, we can choose to respond rather than to react to that which arises.  

In chapter 1 of the Yoga Sutras (the basis for Classic Yoga today).  
Patanjali says essentially that if we learn to quiet the mind then we will find pure awareness.  This takes practice and nonreaction to patterns: our right perceptions, misperceptions, ideas, memory and deep sleep.  Once we have achieved no attachment nor judgement based on our patterns, we can see clearly without reaction, and be in the moment with pure awareness.  Once there or even close to there, we can choose how to respond or NOT.    

86,400 seconds in a day.  There are for more options than we think.

Patanjali is very clear, this takes practice and time.  Accepting that we are all human and therefore not perfect, certainly helps when you find yourself reacting vs responding.  

Food for thought:  What steps could you take to accept the things that you cannot control, and the courage to change those that you can?  

I love the start of a New Year!  It's a prompt to reflect on the prior year (what worked, what didn't, what was missing and what to dump), and to set an intention for what you want your life to look like moving forward.  I realize that you can do this on any given day, yet there is some symbolism or ritual to doing this in January, to saying this year "I WILL..."
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This relatively simple exercise may help identify some "I WILL..." options:

• List the people in your life (personal and professional), your habits, and elements of your environment. 
• Put a + or - next to everything you listed.  (**There are only two options + or -)
• How can you decrease the -'s? 
• How can you nurture the +'s?  
• What other +'s can you add?   
• Your answers should be SMART:  Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time Bound.

Think BIG think LIMITLESS!  What will your 2024 look like? 

You alone of all the animals have the ability to envision the future shape of things to come.  What a faculty - don't waste it!  Dan Zadra