How to Become More Loving, Less Stressed and Stronger by Doing One Simple Thing

Arianna's course and bookchanged my life. A life filled with continual change over the years. All of our lives are this way, I believe. We simply have to notice the subtle changes over time. The big ones are obvious.
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So, how has your day been thus far? People in your life perhaps are filled with drama radiating negativity in all directions which rains down upon you. Maybe your own life is filled with stress because of love not found, your job is filled with pressure or whatever. In self-preservation, you shut off the world while you seek peace here reading these words.

Or, perhaps you are beginning your day and you feel the pressure mounting due to thinking about what must be accomplished before you go to sleep tonight.

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Stop.

I've meditated off and on for many years. Mostly in the past while not realizing I was actually meditating. Surfing, spending the seventeen days at sea alone in the Atlantic and walking silently with the dog of me, Lucky.

Yet, when I participated in Arianna Huffington and Oprah Winfrey's Thrive OCourse, I began to realize the power of meditation. During the course, I would meditate for five minutes each day as instructed. I began to see changes of how I existed while flowing through my days. I am in deep Gratitude to both of them for steering me along this path.

After the course, I participated in Deepak Chopra and Oprah's 21-day Meditation "Manifesting Grace Through Gratitude." Twenty minutes each day of guided meditation. Life began to deepen even more powerfully. So much so, I bought the CDs in order to keep going and find more depth within the same meditations. Now, I meditate for twenty minutes every day. Fellow humans who interact with me have remarked about the glow I apparently radiate and smile while flowing through the days. My relationship with everything... every soul... human or not... has changed in a wonderful way.

Because of Thrive, which became a wake-up call, I have been able to focus strongly on many aspects of my life in a positive and loving way. My life purpose, my family three thousand miles away from where I live and a long time friend of mine who I am flowing in love with, are all threads of my life which are growing in beautiful ways.

Meditation is about connecting with your true essence... your soul... whatever you wish to call that which is you. This is where your Strength resides and can be found nowhere else.

  • By focusing on your independent self, you control all of your desires without giving away your power to another human.
  • The strength found can be applied to work, play, family, your partner and all aspects of life.
  • By realizing you are responsible for your own life, you eliminate the concept of entitlement. If you feel you are entitled to something and when you do not get it, you will become angry. Eliminate all expectations from others and you eliminate anger. And what replaces anger? Love.

With practice, you will eliminate stress by destroying your fears while laying down or sitting comfortably during quiet meditation.

  • Expressing gratitude to all of your experiences with others and situations of life...even the ones which could cause stress if you allow them to do so... will connect you back to self with a love for the lessons learned.
  • By knowing you are a beautiful segment of the light of the universe, God or whatever you wish to call the source which connects all of us, you will realize you are never alone and are supported always. Fear goes out the window.
  • Play is an expression of freedom which is found while the mind is quiet. With fear gone from you, you will take play into your day.

You can become more loving through a transformation because of meditation:

  • Once I realized that when I delete judgment from my true self, I can see everyone with kindness and am able to look others in their eyes with compassion. Even the ones who would in the past stress me out. They did not stress me. I alone, allowed myself to become stressed because of the way in which I chose to see them.
  • Love for another human is not simply an emotion felt within self. Love is a light which if allowed to do so, will flow from your true essence to the entire universe. The partner of you will feel your light as you both walk your independently strong paths together.

"Path of Love"

Perhaps Love is like a circle...
or a sphere in perfect three dimensions...

Souls fall into a warm bath of Love...
swimming in the pure essence for a time while they learn...
as time passes with Love flowing freely through the two...
cleansing the perfection of light given to them by God...
they rise to Love...

through their lives...
the two continue the circular movement...
continually bathing...
continually rising...
and flowing in Love.

-- written following a meditation while thinking about the one I love

Arianna's course and book Thrive changed my life. A life filled with continual change over the years. All of our lives are this way, I believe. We simply have to notice the subtle changes over time. The big ones are obvious. One of the biggest changes for me is that I am ready to love again.

Although Thrive isn't just about meditation, this is where the journey begins. Sometimes, OK most of the time, beginning a thing can be the toughest step along any path we take. Within the Thrive course, you'll work on cleaning out the nasty stuff in your life in order for you to live life with an even bigger smile than you already have.

If you would like more information about the Thrive OCourse, click here.

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The simple thing? Meditation. Do not let anyone tell you that there is a right way or a wrong way. You are an independent soul. Whichever way works for you is the only way. Your inner voice will give you a soft whisper as you listen.

May your life be filled with Grace as you travel your path.

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HuffPost's GPS for the Soul app is based on two truths about human beings. First: We all have a centered place of wisdom, harmony and balance within us. Second: We're all going to veer away from that place, again and again and again. What we need is a great course-correcting mechanism -- a GPS for the Soul -- to help us find our way back to that centered place, from which everything is possible.

Because no one knows better than you what helps you de-stress and tap into that place of peace inside yourself, it's important for you to create your very own GPS guide -- a personalized collection of whatever helps you course-correct. Email us at GPS@huffingtonpost.com and we'll set you up with your very own HuffPost blogger account to share your guide on the site. If you're already a blogger, we encourage you to upload your personal guide today. We can't wait to see what you have to share.

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