My body, my voice, my brain—my life—are all gold.

That is my feeling and my mantra today.

I arrived at it suddenly this morning as my petty self mentally railed against a coworker who doesn’t seem to value the things that come out of my mouth. I’ve stopped my mental slaughter, because it doesn’t make my soul happy and I know that I am here to live for my soul and to spread love throughout the earth. Everything else is secondary. So, with time and effort, I can set anything aside for that.

In the face of her attitude, however, I discovered my own pride and my own genuine inner value as well. I wanted to tell this person, “I am gold.” What I have and what I am is so valuable—more than gold actually. This is not based on my performance; it is unconditional fact. I fear that she may not always know that about herself, because she is trying so hard to achieve her goals, which is admirable. Way deep down she knows and on the surface, she exudes confidence (purposefully), but somewhere in the middle . . . I wonder. While I shouldn’t judge, because that’s just doing the same thing, it’s helpful for me to remember this condition I sense in her, because I become less caught up in it by internalizing it.

Through this process this morning, I realized how much the people directly around me, such as my boss and my husband, still seem to value me, even when I make mistakes, don’t make sense, or don’t do as well. I don’t know why they feel that way, but I sincerely appreciate them. I also love them for who they are, regardless of how they feel about me.

Today, as I strive to perform better—to think through my thoughts more before I say them out loud, to focus better on my work, and to make more thorough and polished content—I will remember with all of my being that:

I AM GOLD!

Tonight I had a number of random awakenings, and I thought I should write them down before they pass into the oblivion of my short-term memory.

One happened during Belly Button Healing today. I realized that if I just relax my brain, the spiritual advances I have been craving will come and enter with the help of my peoples in the spirit realm.

While walking around with a bean bag on my head, I discovered that there is a certain point in my lower back, around my sacrum, that when energy circulates through there, I start blaming others. There is a bit of pain and a lot of stiffness there, and its constant presence generates constant complaints in my thoughts. I know getting rid of the stiffness would help my thoughts, but today I saw that if I stopped blaming (which I do knowing full well that I shouldn’t and often stop myself), then energy would circulate through there better.

I also realized that when energy circulates through there and then goes up my back, I can feel the scarcity in energy that is usually there. This scarcity leads to other insecurities like craving for attention, recognition, and the desire to be special instead of focusing on my soul and what it wants to create. Focusing on my soul would feel so much healthier and better, but I get inadvertently distracted by my blockages too much.

When energy circulates through there, the scarcity eases and I can be more myself instead of focusing on everyone else in my life.

This circulation up my back also eased some of the physical heart and chest symptoms I’ve been feeling—just tension and uncomfortable weirdness there.

I released a lot during BHP Energy Healing today. How am I in so much pain?

The conclusion, of course, is that I need some more quiet time feeling my body and resting my brain. I also need strong exercise to override my thoughts. And some deep breathing perhaps? Certainly!

I have to edit down what was supposed to be a newsletter. I knew it was long and that it didn’t get to the point quickly enough. But I still kind of like it. So I’ll stick it here where no one else will see it except myself 😉

The more you practice Body & Brain Yoga, the more you realize that everything is energy and that ideas and emotions can be communicated through energy. And it’s with energy that you heal your body, choose happiness for yourself, realize who you truly are, and create what you want in life.

Body & Brain Yoga and Change Your Energy founder Ilchi Lee has mastered the art of delivering and communicating energy. One of the ways he shares energy is through the ancient art of Asian brush calligraphy.

This form of traditional writing is thought of as the highest form of art in East Asia. Its masters make each stroke a meditation, moving in the flow of energy. The artist’s personality is said to be expressed in the subtle nuances of the letters. It’s perfect for delivering energy.

Ilchi Lee made his calligraphy works while focused on the purest, most essential energy, communicating the fundamental principles of the cosmos.

Bring this energy into your space and your life in order to:

• be inspired and reminded of ideals you strive for like peace, oneness, and a calm mind.
• change your negative energy to the positive energy the art piece delivers.
• clear your mind and heart.
• nurture your connection to your true self.
• be encouraged to stick to your practice.
• share the energy of the artwork with your family and guests.

In this unique calligraphy collection, you’ll discover both bold black stokes and delicate colorful dots. You’ll see sweet drawings and meaningful Chinese characters. Among this diversity, you can find the perfect piece just for you.

One artist said, “Art always tells a story.” Choose an artwork that best tells the story you intend to create. Hang it in your home or office where you can pass it and see it each day, and you’ll move a lot of energy toward making that story manifest.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE ILCHI CALLIGRAPHY ART EXHIBITION

Ilchi Lee wrote this poem this year. These words came to him while he was meditating. It’s stuck with me for months. I feel boundless hope and energy when I hear it or read it. Finally, I’m sharing it with you on this blog because I feel sad keeping it to myself. The non-English words are Korean, and their meanings are below.

“Hongik” by Ilchi Lee

Hongik is a beautiful poem, and humbleness.
Hongik is love, faith and gratitude.
Hongik is a sense of responsibility, patience and forgiveness.
Hongik is a life of health, happiness and peace.
Hongik is planning, design, prayer, and creation,
and it is endlessly rising to the challenge for boundless freedom.
HaewonSangsaeng HongikIngan
JiguGyeongyoung InryuPyeonghwa**

**Haewon: reconciliation
Sangsaeng: coexistence
Hongik: benefiting all
Ingan: human
JiguGyeongyoung: earth management
InryuPyeonghwa: peace of humanity

(Reconciliation and coexistence for the sake of benefitting all humanity.
Practicing Earth Management and peace for humanity.)

How does this poem make you feel?

One of my jobs is to put up blog posts on our various blog sites, such as Ilchi Lee’s Living Tao Blog on Patheos.com. I’ve done this for the last 10 years, so it’s very familiar to me. Sometimes it involves finding and adding a stock image for the post thumbnail. The one I’ve placed in this blog post was one I chose for Ilchi Lee’s Patheos Blog Post: “Start Meditating Today, If You Care about Your Brain”.

The post is about making meditation a regular part of your daily routine. I found this photo for it: a woman doing laundry who is taking time to meditate in the middle of the chaos. I love how it combines neutral colors with bits of blue scattered throughout. It is real but a little surreal as well. The woman’s face looks like it is an animation rather than a real person’s face, and the washing machine window is a blue that would be hard to find on common washing machines. It gives the picture a little punch. The whole look has that Nordic, simple, yet American feeling to it, down to the V-neck heather gray T-shirt and striped pajama pants. I also think the composition and the textures are very balanced and harmonious. The natural light from the window is shining a light on the woman’s mind and on her ordinary life. Yet, her posture is so perfect; she’s obviously not a novice. The washing machine window feels like water, the sunlight is fire, the walls are wood, and there is gray metal. At least four of the five elements in Asian energy theory are present in this photo. Most of all, I feel good when I see it and identify with the person in it.

I really like this picture; I thought it was a great find. But I seem to have been the only person around me that liked it. In fact, I ended up having to change the picture and the name of the post. So, I thought I should explain why I like it.

For something to be good, you shouldn’t need to explain why it’s good, I think. However, taste makers and style makers and label makers seem to explain things in a way that make people get it. It’s like dressing up your house when you need to sell it so that buyers can actually see the possibilities that are there regardless.

So that’s my picture hype 🙂

Maybe it’s the caffeine, maybe it’s the emotional junk I ran into inadvertently this morning, but my mind keeps running on about interpersonal things instead of thinking about the Wooden Pillow Exercises book I’m supposed to be editing right now. I should just do Brain Education training and let it all go, but I decided to wait until the next top of the hour and just write for the moment instead.

I don’t really have a point. I know what I’m thinking about is pointless. I just need to move on, but when I try to move on, I encounter my own hurt and anger inside. Maybe I should just deal with that instead. What is it that I’m holding? This would be more productive than focusing on other people; it may even help me focus on my work.

I know what I want to do with the book. I had a member when I worked at the Body & Brain Center in Newton, Massachusetts, which has since closed. He was a young guy, muscular—a former high school wrestler. He LOVED the wooden pillow. He would lie on the ground in the training room and stick it under all different parts of his body, grunting and groaning. He thought it was the best thing ever and wanted to invent hundreds of exercises with it and write a book. I privately dedicate this book to him.

It also makes me sad to think about him, because he was killed a few years later. I think he was 24 when he died. I know he wouldn’t want me to be sad, and that he’s moved on, but I think I like my sadness about it, because it seems romantic and proper. But once I experience it, the emotion passes through me quickly.

Maybe that’s what I should do today. Instead of being afraid of all of these negative emotions, I can just be with them and let them pass through me until I get to the zero point again. As the new thought leaders say, what you resist, persists.

This goes along with the chapter on attachment I’m going through now in I’ve Decided to Live 120 Years Personal Workbook—Chapter 7. The chapter is about inner peace, but emphasizes that in order to have peace, you have to let go of your attachments.

So good-bye emotions . . . until next time. It’s all good 🙂

Yesterday, when I saw pictures of people having fun far away from me, I realized that the criticism and judgment I feel, which I’ve now localized to a part of my colon near my left hip, and perhaps my tailbone as well, stems from seeing people that I like, but not feeling as cool as them and not knowing how to speak and interact with them as well as they do among themselves.

As I recognized this, I felt I could let that judgment go more easily. Awareness is so critical to growth.

Here’s to not getting stuck in the “evil meanies.”

Love and light for everyone!