The Expanding Minds + Hearts newsletter is a monthly email with timely spiritual lessons, musings, food for thought, and upcoming classes by Amanda Sue. Sign up below to receive one email a month!
Who needs resolutions anyways?
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By now, 99% of people have given up on their New Year Resolution. Me? I didn't set one. Here's what I do instead. January is my favorite month though (and only partly because it's my birthday month). The new year (based on the calendar or the moon) brings a feeling of fresh opportunity. Renewal. Transformation. And yet this month I have been noticing two themes in my life and the lives of my community:
This has me thinking about expectations. Byron Katie says it is not situations in life that cause us distress. Rather, it is our thoughts about the situation. We are disappointed when things don't go our way or turn out how we'd hoped. We sometimes feel things are not good enough and that the grass is greener somewhere else. The themes I have noticed this month remind me to take time to tune in and check in — with my body, my soul, and with God. Our thoughts create our reality, and so when I am feeling unsettled with a situation in my life I like to ask myself: what is Great Mystery teaching me? I invite you to check in with your Highest Self about the areas in your life where you feel unease. Ask, "if I knew this were for my highest good, how would I feel about it?" Sometimes the "meh" things in our lives are opportunities to surrender and trust in God. Other times they are callings to a higher vision and higher purpose. Your Highest Self knows — so check in and find out! This is my first newsletter, by the way...So thanks for being here! I just started my second term of ministerial school last week and am excited to see what this term brings. I am honored to already have a little online ministry growing (thanks to you!) and am open to discovering how I can serve. A few ideas I've been pondering... maybe you can reply back and let me know what you think?
I look forward to hearing from you ❤️ P.S. I just posted a new article. It's all about simple tools to bring more mindfulness into your daily life. You can read it here.
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113 Cherry St #92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2205 |
Expanding Minds + Hearts
The Expanding Minds + Hearts newsletter is a monthly email with timely spiritual lessons, musings, food for thought, and upcoming classes by Amanda Sue. Sign up below to receive one email a month!
Once a month email from expandingmindsandhearts.com Life can become busy, and we often forget to take care of ourselves as we focus on meeting our daily demands. I recall listening to a speaker who shared the idea that we "rise to the occasion." This notion suggests that when we face a challenge, we draw on internal resources to overcome it. It's a beautiful thought, and to some extent, we do have untapped inner resources we can access when needed. However, the speaker went on to say that’s...
Our inner experience is simultaneously the most unique thing about ourselves, and yet also a complete mystery to us. Mindfulness practices are built on paying attention to this inner experience. Through quieting the mind in meditation, we learn to watch our thoughts without letting them run away with us. With grounding practices, we become aware of our direct experience of warmth, sound, taste — and do our very best to experience it without describing it or narrating it inside our heads. But...
expanding minds + hearts by amanda sue briggs Growing up, I didn't know much about the meaning behind the season of Lent. I knew my Catholic friends got ash put on their foreheads, and for some reason that happened the day after Mardi Gras. The one year I remember participating was when I was 12 or 13, and I gave up gum for Lent. Now, that was a pretty big deal for me at the time! I don't recall feeling closer to Spirit after the experience. If anything, it left me with the impression that...