Tina's Blog

Self-love is a journey that only you can take.  So here is  the thing – to love yourself is the greatest gift you can give yourself.  Seems pretty simple right?  Truth is it is not.   Self-love is often difficult to find when you doubt yourself or you’ve had bad experiences in the past that have left you with low self-esteem.  If you think about it we all have these little triggers – a bad relationship, abuse (any kind), too fat, too skinny, not smart enough, too smart, etc.  We all have something that triggers us to not love ourselves even if it is only temporary.  The key is to overcome and let go of the past and move forward.  To not allow things from your past to haunt you.  To forgive others who hurt you in any manner.  To love yourself more than anything else.  All of these things are quite personal but especially forgiveness.  Forgiveness is often misunderstood.  Forgiving someone who hurt you can feel ...

Education is awesome!   Yes, I said it and quite honestly I mean it more than most people will ever fully understand.  I believe in understanding my own mind so that I can understand other people better - what they think, how they think, why they think.  It sounds a little crazy but I really do enjoy trying to understand why people do things or act a certain way.  I decided to undertake 2019 as an educational journey of enlightenment for myself.  I started some really hard courses and then disaster struck at my home and I was forced to live in a hotel for a few months.  I am a true believer that everything happens for a reason so I decided to refocus on the courses I had signed up for and see where it took me.  Not only did it open and expand my mind but it also awakened a part of my heart that I had forgotten about since I was a child.  I love to learn new things and I love to understand why things are the way they are.  I had forgotten...

Meditation and Prayer Meditation and prayer are often confused as being the same thing and although you can meditate through prayer, there are differences between the two.  Meditation is often described as a way to engage in a mental exercise for the purpose of reaching a heightened level of spiritual awareness.  Prayer is often described as a request for help or expression of thanks addressed to God or an object of worship.  Both prayer and meditation should be done with the correct intention and when they are they can produce the same benefit.  The psychological effect, provided the intention is pure, is the same in that you are free of the suffering and angst that you have felt and more focused on inner peace.    Prayer accomplishes many things.  It develops our character to its highest state.  It builds a mind that is always open to Spirit.  Through prayer, we attain an interpenetrating consciousness with God's perfect life...

Emotional pain and how to heal with meditation Everyone goes through emotional pain at some point in their lives.  Emotional pain can actually be the worst pain to deal with - even worse than a broken bone.  The human mind triggers emotional reactions when something occurs that is not how we believe they should be.  We torment ourselves about choices we've made, words we've spoken and the path not taken.  Sometimes we dwell on the what-ifs of the past or future.  What if I had done it this way?  Would my present be different now?  What if I do this now?  Can my future be brighter?   We have created a prison of suffering and can find ourselves lost in the madness.  Let's be honest, we have a lifetime of conditioned beliefs and expectations that we filter our perceptions through.  We believe that the things that are external are why our lives are the way they are and why we are angry, depressed, anxious, or afraid.  But ...

Daily self care and why it is so very important Daily self care is very important to ensure your balance.  Everyone has heard that recently but the real question is - what is self care?  To be honest it is pretty much anything that you do to be good to yourself.  In today's world we are always rushing around to appointments or meetings or to get to work or to get home - it is all about rush, rush, rush.   I admit it, I did it too.  Then my kids became self-sufficient as older teenagers and then as adults and I found myself alone at home.  When my kids were little I ran around to events, practices, dance recitals, soccer games, and the list goes on.  I never thought about myself but only my kids since they were my sole focus in life.   I wasn't the happiest internally but I was happy with being able to provide them with what they needed.  As the girls grew older I started to realize that I needed self care more than ever before be...

If you've ever gone through the experience of having your home suddenly uninhabitable and having to pack up and move to a hotel then you will understand the emotional roller coaster that I have been on lately.  Recently my condo had a plumbing issue in the wee hours of the morning.  As water gushed throughout my first floor I slept peacefully upstairs unaware until my alarms went off at 5 am.   I had not set my alarms so I was initially annoyed they went off but when I heard the water I rushed downstairs.  After finding the shutoff valve for my water I quickly assessed the situation and that is when despair and anger set in.   I had a half inch of water on my floor and had to deal with it as quickly as I could.   After a few hours I finally sat down to rest and cry while submitting an insurance claim.   I called a friend who dealt with this type of situation for his job and he came over to tell me that everything would be handled a...

It is never to young to start teaching meditation to children.  Children learn from imitation and practice.  To watch a child learn something as simple as meditation is amazingly heartwarming.  While watching my grandson this weekend I was meditating and noticed that he was watching me intently.  I decided to try to see if he would do it.  He smiled at me and I turned on the camera.  Not only did he pay attention but he repeated what I did (although I think he thought it was funny). At 13 months old he is definitely a smart kid but I know he is also very fortunate to be at a terrific day care where meditation is part of daily activities.  Meditation is known to increase focus so making it part of a daily practice in small children helps them to concentrate.  For babies meditation can actually bring them into a state of calm.  I usually have meditation music around when I am babysitting my grandson because it is calming and relaxing for m...