The happy place.

[Horsa]

As it's international Day of happiness today I decided to share this. I hope you enjoy.



I love this version as it features my favourite musical instruments.

Warning! For those who can't stand the sound of bagpipes they're played in here.

 

[Horsa]

Please remember, that all your experiences both good & bad have made you who you are in both good ways & bad so no matter how hard you've had things you've actually got something out of your bad experiences as well as your good ones. Bad experiences can give you bad personality traits for a while but they also make you more understanding towards other people who are going through something similar to yourself so once you get over them a bit & aren't as sensitive you can actually help other people if you want to.

I used to always take my refuge in a book & the 1st time I ever read Jane Eyre & got to chapter 8 I thought someone else actually felt the way I felt & I'm not alone when I read "Why was I always brow-beaten, forever condemned?" & some other sentences from that scene. I didn't realise until much later that Charlotte Bronte suffered from depression.

 

[Horsa]

I just wrote this which I thought some people might find useful. I've been experimenting a bit with different styles. I hope you like it. I don't because it lacks rhyme.

Stop! Stop! Stop!
Trying to fit in.
People shouldn't be labelled
or put neatly into boxes.

Everyone's different
& no one should be
judged as no one
knows what anyone

Else has been through.
We can't walk in
Someone else's shoes
& go along their path.

So please be kind.

 

[Horsa]

The following is a good but hard meditation. I found it on online meditations but forgot where from so I'll have to take you through it.

Get in a nice, comfortable position where you won't be disturbed for 1/2 an hour or so. Close your eyes & start by concentrating on your breathing. After you've been concentrating on your breathing for so long ask yourself this question, "Who are you beneath all the stories you tell yourself about your identity & how the world around you works?". Then ask yourself, "Who are you beneath all the labels society puts on you & all the social constructions & all the conditioning you've been through?". Then when you're ready go back to concentrating on your breathing for a bit before opening your eyes. As soon as you're ready get a pen & piece of paper & write down the answers you got to the questions. (They were very hard questions but normally get positive answers.)

 

[Horsa]

I want to share a couple of emotion meditations which I found very helpful. I found them online but forgot whereabouts so I'll take you through them.

Get in a nice, comfortable position where you won't be disturbed for 1/2 an hour or so. Close your eyes & start by concentrating on your breathing. After you've been concentrating on your breathing for so long just concentrate on your emotions at that time. Don't do anything about your emotions. Just be aware of them. If it gets too uncomfortable concentrating on your emotions go back to concentrating on your breathing before opening your eyes if not concentrate on your emotions until you're ready to go back to concentrating on your breathing before opening your eyes.

 

[Horsa]

Do the same as for the previous 1 but instead of just concentrating on your emotions & not doing anything about them allow yourself to feel them fully if they're not too uncomfortable before coming back to your breathing & opening your eyes. If they're too uncomfortable to feel fully come out of them & concentrate on your breathing for a bit before opening your eyes.

 

[Horsa]

This is a nice 1. For this 1 you need a music player & cassette/record or C.D.

Put some music on. Get in a comfortable position. Close your eyes. Concentrate on the music. If your mind wanders bring it back to the music as often as you need to. When you're ready open your eyes.

I found this 1 hard though it was relaxing. The reason for that is because I always had to sing so now when I hear music I feel the urge to sing. I was forever bringing my mind back to the music & trying to discipline myself with the words "I must not sing". I was automatically thinking "this is … (name of song), I come in here, I sing in … key, the words are …" Then I was bringing my attention back to the music telling myself "I must not sing. The idea is I should be concentrating on the music."

 

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I'm not religious but as this song is about happiness which is what this thread is about & I know some people are religious I thought I had to include it to please others so I included the version from a film I like. I hope you enjoy.

 

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If I'm actually thinking about others (like I normally do) I was out of order the other day to mention Buddhist clap-trap because it disrespects Buddhist views which is wrong. Everyone has a right to have & air an opinion no matter how ridiculous it may seem to me in the same way as I have the right to have & air my opinion no matter how ridiculous it seems to others. I don't believe in what Buddhists believe in (nor Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Taoists, Jainists, Zoroastrians, etc) but I respect their right to have an opinion as I should have shown the other day. I didn't mean anything wrong but I just shouldn't have said what I said.

 

[Horsa]

I'm not really religious but thought that taking 1 day would help people as it does me. I shared Ann Williamson's version because she's my favourite singer.

 

[Horsa]

Don't complain about what you've been through.​

Your experiences have made you, you.​

Even if you think you can't cope.​

Just try your best & don't mope.​

We all have problems to deal with.​

We can't just take support though sometimes we've got to give. ​

 

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Does anyone know if the book "Full catastrophe living" is any good, please? I'm asking because I was following a book on mindfulness after a friend recommended I explore mindfulness. I bought the best book I found at the time as it had lots of meditations in then it recommended online websites which I tried. I found the meditations on 1 of these websites very good but finished them so moved on to the next. On the next website I found it hard as I had to think of someone I hadn't forgiven yet & wasn't to use myself & I couldn't think of anyone off-hand. I finally did & listened to so many videos on there until I got to 1 about her book. I bought her book but I'm on chapter 4 & I'm not getting much from it. I've got the fact that she was worse than me, she's helped lots of people & a lot of people find her work helpful. She said she doesn't want anyone to just believe her but to test things out for themselves which is a good job as I don't believe all the Buddhist stuff she comes out with. I found the part about the history of Buddhism interesting. Her 4 questions are supposed to be a meditation but rather than relaxing me which meditation is supposed to do I'm actually finding answering her questions stimulating. I did 1 of her meditations on her website before. It was a walking 1 & I was supposed to walk somewhere nice on a morning & mentally label everything I saw with 1st generation names like dog & tree, etc. I felt like a 2 year-old. I'm not anti-Buddhism & have read books that mention Buddhism like dealing with destructive emotions by Daniel Goleman (which gets quite technical in places) but this book is switching me off & I don't feel like I'm getting much from it. I don't like giving up on a book especially when it's not distressing me but I don't know whether to carry on until the end & give it a chance or not. The book I asked about at the beginning is recommended in another book so I'm a bit apprehensive after buying the book I'm reading at the moment.

 

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