Smart Living Archives — Page 3 of 3

Priming the Pump and Other Reasons To “Act As If”

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Aware, Meaningful

Anyone who has studied positive thinking, New Thought or the Law of Attraction understands the concept of acting “as if.” You know—acting with confidence and grace even when you’re shaking in your boots, or putting a smile on your face and acting happy even when you woke up feeling terrible. Many people believe that those actions can actually lead to their desired results. But while “faking it until you make it” might sound like nothing more than an unsubstantiated urban legend, plenty of evidence now proves the process is beneficial in dozens of ways. [Read more…]

Retreating to Mindfulness and Timeless Awareness With Lama Surya Das

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Meaningful, Rightsized

This weekend Thom and I attended our first Dzogchen Buddhist Retreat. As seminar junkies, we’ve taken tons of spiritual classes and workshops of an hour or two here or there that focused on Buddhism or meditation. But this was our first official “retreat.” And while an evening and one day may not appear to be much of a retreat, it certainly served to get us out and away from our usual lives. More importantly, it pulled the focus of our attention away from our usual thoughts and concerns, and placed it instead on the experience of “mindfulness” or inner awareness and spiritual compassion. That switch of focus is a SMART thing to do every now and then, regardless of who you are or what you call it. [Read more…]