Medical Intuitive Caroline Myss has spent the last 35 years learning about how people can heal and why they don’t.  In many of her talks, I have heard her say that food and exercise don’t matter as much as the power of the choices we make on a daily basis.  She often says that you can eat cat food and still be healthy provided you are able to live in present time; that you don’t spend your energy rehashing the past and worrying about the future.  Her work centers on where we are losing energy.  Just like a financial debt, if you continue to drain your resources pretty soon you will have nothing left.

This sounds very much in line with the teachings of yoga and mindfulness.  We need to learn to live in the present moment. What does that mean?  Live with integrity.  Pass on your wisdom, not your woe, learn from your mistakes.  Make a choice to take risks.  How many risks have you already taken in your life to get where you are today?  Make a list of them to help you remember. Don’t wait for proof that your actions will turn out successfully, not all of them will.  But, as famous guru Shri Wayne Gretzky-ananda said, “I didn’t make 100% of the shots I didn’t take.”

Don’t look backwards for guidance.  The reason you are where you are is because that part of your life is over.  Look forward to new adventures.  Trust that your resourcefulness that brought you this far will continue to serve you.

Caroline Myss says that we need to pay attention to our words; our words are universes unto themselves.  Each word we use has the power to shape our world.  She teaches that there are toxic words and that these words should be banished from our vocabulary.  Ms. Myss suggests that there are three toxic words that we should banish from our vocabulary: blame, deserve and entitlement.

Blame.  You have probably all heard the expression that no one has the power to ruin our day unless we let them.  We are responsible for our own happiness.  Other people may do things that intersect with our lives, but they are acting upon their own ideas and principles.  If we blame them for our unhappiness we are giving away our own power.

Deserve.  There are a lot of things that happen to us that we don’t deserve, stuff just happens. My mother didn’t deserve to get Alzheimer’s, it just happened. People don’t deserve to win the lottery, it’s just chance.

Entitled.  We really aren’t entitled to anything.  We often just think we should be.

The practice of banishing these words from your vocabulary is very similar to the complaining fast I invited students to go on a while ago.  Think of this as an elimination diet where you eliminate a food from your diet to see if your symptoms go away.  Try giving up one of these words for a day or a week and see if it has an impact on your life.  Just like a food, it may take longer than a day or a week to get it completely out of your system, however, so be patient and give it time.

At the end of her TED talk, Caroline Myss asks us to make this choice to be healthy.  She says, “Make the choice everyday to get up every day and bless your day.  Don’t be grateful for the things you have because these things can change.  Wake up every day and bless the fact that you are alive and things will never be exactly this way again; these people, this situation will never be exactly this way again.  Appreciate the gift of being alive.  If you can wake up this way every day, this shapes your life with grace and beauty."

What choices can you make to live a happier and more fulfilled life?