Friday, January 27, 2023
How To Discover Your Motivation With Meditation (Video)
What's Your Motivation?
In my previous post, What is Motivation? I gave a summarized opinion of my view on the topic. It boils down to the mind/heart connection and your desire. We are spiritual beings temporarily living in a human body and what are heart desires will motivate our mind to make the choices we take. When the mind/heart connection is weak, or if the desire itself is negative, we may become motivated to make unhealthy choices.
Addictions may form when there is a break in the mind/body/spirit connection. This can occur after a tragedy, trauma, or even a genetic disposition. To overcome addictions, one must first repair and rebuild the connection between mind/body/spirit while continually assessing your desires.
Some people are addicted to drugs due to a break that occurred in their mind/body/spirit connection. The break was never healed and trauma set in. There may have been underlying reasons why someone "became" an alcoholic and those reasons could be that they have a genetic disposition towards alcoholism (granddaddy was an alcoholic, daddy was an alcoholic, etc.) or it may be learned behavior. However, when the mind and body take on a chemical substance to numb or suppress traumas that impact the spirit, the results are simple: bondage.
No one can live a truly free and happy life when they are enslaved to toxic behaviors and live their lives in bondage. This is why I say it is imperative to thoroughly self-review and assess your motivations in life.
I think we should "check ourselves" every day to see why we do the things we do, say the things we say, feel the way we feel, and in a sense, be our own partners in life. Think of this as spiritual house cleaning for your spirit, mind, and body.
There is a great need for all humans to walk through this life with temperance and self-control, yet for many, this is very hard to achieve. Some people were never raised to temper their own behaviors and instead grew up in environments where the control was so tight, once it was released they didn't know how to control themselves.
That's okay. Many of us have gone through this stage, but it's important to realize that you are responsible for your own actions. You are responsible for your own behavior, and checking in with yourself to assess your mind/body/spirit connection is imperative! Human nature is tricky and sometimes we get it right, Yay, Humans! Other times we don't and that can be tricky as well. Sometimes we do the wrong things for the right reasons but let's face it, sometimes we do the wrong things for the wrong reasons too!
And this is why we need to check our motivation.
Here are some questions that I believe we should ask ourselves when checking our motivations.
Are our underlying desires aligned with Spirit (God)? Are they aligned with our Higher Selves? Are they aligned with love? Are they aligned with positivity? Are they aligned with mercy? Are they aligned with grace? Are they aligned with compassion? Are they aligned with empathy? Are they aligned with self-sacrifice? Are they aligned with bettering ourselves, our loved ones, those around us, and the planet?
Another important question to ask ourselves is who will benefit from our motivations? Don't forget, our motivations inspire our actions. If we regularly stop and ask ourselves: 'What's my motivation?' I believe we can identify many pitfalls that ultimately bring us into spiritual, emotional, and even physical bondage.
I also believe that if we self-examine our hearts and find that our motivation is coming from a selfish place, we can actively and consciously choose a better path.
If you feel a bit overwhelmed or lost about finding your motivation for something, I'll let you in on a little secret. Shhh, don't tell anyone!
Meditation!
Okay, you can tell. Everyone should know this one, anyway.
If you want to truly align with your higher self and Spirit and to thoroughly check your heart's desires, start meditating. It's free, healthy, feels good, and is one of the best ways to go within and really listen to what your heart, mind, and spirit are saying.
Now granted, when we meditate, we do want to let our thoughts drift past and not catch them, and that's fine. You will still do the spiritual preparation work that brings you in tune with your inner being so that you will truly know yourself, your desires, your strengths, and your weaknesses. In turn, Meditation will give you that calm, peaceful, energetic reset button that is the foundation for a happy life. And the beautiful thing about meditation's reset button is that you can freely push it any time you want!
Why not try and meditate right now?
Here is a meditation I created to help you discover your motivation.
Thursday, January 26, 2023
Chinese Dramas: My Obsession with Asian Entertainment
I have a new obsession: Chinese dramas. Actually, I'm surprised it took me this long to discover my love for Asian entertainment. Especially after Zhang Yimou's work blew me away in the film House of Flying Daggers. Now, I'm kicking myself for not doing thorough research to fully understand the entire genres that were ready at my disposal. Instead of diving into Wuxia, Xianxia, and other Chinese fantasy dramas, I simply looked up the cast and director and watched more Yimou Zhang films. I then watched Memoirs of a Geisha (an American movie) but didn't realize there were entire genres of Chinese gems for me to watch.
As an English speaker, I never minded reading subtitles but I slowly reverted back to English-speaking films and lost out on hundreds of beautiful works of art that could have graced my television screens. This all changed when Netflix recommended Alchemy of Souls. I was hooked and binge-watched every episode! The story was so beautiful and it was a very nice change from the blood and gore from many shows that I watch on premium cable (i.e. HBO and Showtime). I watched House of the Dragon in 2022 but found much of the content disturbing if not triggering.
After Alchemy of Souls, I tried some more South Korean films and television series and then followed another of Netflix's recommendations: everything changed! I binge-watched the series Love Between Fairy and Devil and now my whole life has been rocked.
I couldn't believe the beauty on screen and the story was romantic, yet wholesome and innocent. I guess Chinese censorship has its advantages, eh?
After Love Between Fairy and Devil, I searched for Chinese dramas on Netflix, Prime, and Hulu. After my careful research, I decided to ditch two of my premium cable channels for Rakuten Viki and iQIYI (I'm hooked).
There are over 200 dramas for me to watch and my biggest problem now is budgeting my screen time while resisting the urge to check out the YT and TikTok video edits from my favorite series!
If you've never watched a Chinese drama, I recommend you do so. There is a level of filmmaking in Asian entertainment (I seriously believe Chinese stands above the rest) that is unparalleled. The beauty, the attention to detail, and the plots are just wonderful.
As I continue with my obsession, expect to see more content here about what I'm watching, what Chinese drama is expected to air this year, and maybe a little celebrity news on some of the Chinese and other Asian stars I'm following.
One of the funniest things that have occurred since diving into the Asian entertainment world, is AI seems to think I'm also Asian!
My Netflix recommendations are now all Asian, I'm getting ads across YouTube that are speaking Chinese, Mandarin, and Korean, and Prime is recommending Asian series to me as well. Don't worry, I'm not going to pull a Gwen Stefani and announce I'm now Chinese!!! Good grief, that was just ridiculous!
Since binge-watching Alchemy of Souls, I haven't watched an American movie or series. At this point, I have little desire to either. I'm tired of the graphic violence and gratuitous sex scenes just to feed many Americans' need for lust and gore.
The storylines and journeys each character takes during these dramas far surpass what American entertainment is offering.
Here are a few trailers and videos for some of my favorite Asian dramas.
Alchemy of Souls
Love Between Fairy and Devil Trailer
Novoland: Pearl Eclipse (Trailer)
What do you think? Do you watch Chinese dramas and Asian entertainment?