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There is an unchanging, stable presence of awareness within, which is your true self. When you learn to center yourself in that awareness, you find an unwavering source of trust that can never be lost, regardless of what others may say or do.

How to Truly Trust in Yourself Today’s meditation is about finding a deeper understanding of the word “trust.” Typically, trust is something we have in other people or situations. But such a trust is as fragile as the next unexpected event that could change everything. But there is an unchanging, stable presence of awareness within, which is your true self. When you learn to center yourself in that awareness, (MY AWARENESS IS ALIGNED WITH THE CREATIVE POWER OF THE UNIVERSE.) you find an unwavering source of trust that can never be lost, regardless of what others may say or do.

Our centering thought for today is: I trust in life because I trust myself. “Assurance of hope is more than life, it is health, strength… and beauty.” – John Charles Ryle The Universe (Latin: universus) is all of space and time[a] and their contents,[10] including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. While the spatial size of the entire Universe is unknown,[3] it is possible to measure the size of the observable universe, which is currently estimated to be 93 billion light-years in diameter. In various multiverse hypotheses, a universe is one of many causally disconnected[11] constituent parts of a larger multiverse, which itself comprises all of space and time and its contents;[12] as a consequence, ‘the Universe’ and ‘the multiverse’ are synonymous in such theories. The earliest cosmological models of the Universe were developed by ancient Greek and Indian philosophers and were geocentric, placing Earth at the center.[13][14] Over the centuries, more precise astronomical observations led Nicolaus Copernicus to develop the heliocentric model with the Sun at the center of the Solar System. In developing the law of universal gravitation, Isaac Newton built upon Copernicus' work as well as Johannes Kepler's laws of planetary motion and observations by Tycho Brahe. Further observational improvements led to the realization that the Sun is one of hundreds of billions of stars in the Milky Way, which is one of at least hundreds of billions of galaxies in the Universe. Many of the stars in our galaxy have planets. At the largest scale, galaxies are distributed uniformly and the same in all directions, meaning that the Universe has neither an edge nor a center. At smaller scales, galaxies are distributed in clusters and superclusters which form immense filaments and voids in space, creating a vast foam-like structure.[15] Discoveries in the early 20th century have suggested that the Universe had a beginning and that space has been expanding since then,[16] and is currently still expanding at an increasing rate.[17] My Reality is pure intelligence and wholeness.

Today I activate my hope: we only need to bring attention to the presence of our awareness:(MY AWARENESS IS ALIGNED WITH THE CREATIVE POWER OF THE UNIVERSE.)

– Activating the Hope Inside You (MY AWARENESS IS ALIGNED WITH THE CREATIVE POWER OF THE UNIVERSE.) In today’s meditation, we discover that to activate the hope within, we only need to bring attention to the presence of our  awareness: the quiet consciousness that is having an experience of reading right now. Activated hope will then begin to gradually exert its transformative effect on our daily thoughts, feelings, and actions. Life becomes easier, more fluid, and more enjoyable.

Our centering thought for today is: Today I activate my hope.  “Infuse your life with action. Don't wait for it to happen. Make your own future. Make your own hope. Make your own love.” – Bradley Whitford

Lean into love we didn’t know possible. Our elders deserve to be honoured and respected

Caregiving often calls us to lean into love we didn’t know possible.

TIA WALKER

Happy 56, the wandering entertaining dolphin

2003 by Ron Alexander Beaufort, N.C.

BRIGANTINE — Where is Dolphin 56? (2009)

Bob Schoelkopf has asked himself this question many times this year.

The bottlenose dolphin swam from Florida up to New Jersey every year for decades after being branded in 1979, making it one of the longest and most comprehensively tracked dolphins on the East Coast. Dolphin 56 went missing this year, sparking a national watch for the 45-year-old dolphin.

"This is the first year in many years we haven’t seen him," Schoelkopf, director of the Brigantine-based Marine Mammal Stranding Center, said. "We’re concerned he reached the end of his lifetime."

A Facebook page was set up in 2009 to track the dolphin. The last reported sighting was in July 2011, when the dolphin was photographed off the coast of Wales. Many followers have posted concerns about Dolphin 56’s well-being.

"It is not a good sign that no one on the East Coast has seen him yet," wrote Kathy Hunter, of Sea Isle City. "But I will not give up hope!"

Every time the Brigantine center gets a report of a dolphin washed up on shore, Schoelkopf’s thoughts turn to Dolphin 56. Because it had exceeded the average lifespan of a bottlenose dolphin — Dolphin 56 was somewhere between 40 and 45 years old — he said it’s likely the cetacean has died.

Suzanne Thurman, executive director of the Marine Education, Research and Rehabilitation (MERR) Institute based in Nassau, Del., said Dolphin 56’s disappearance has sparked discussions between stranding centers all along northeastern coast.

While its age is troubling, Thurman said it’s still possible Dolphin 56 is out there but hasn’t been spotted yet. Another dolphin, Dolphin 437, went missing for more than a year before it turned up again at Cape Henlopen in Delaware.

"We hadn’t had any sightings all of last year, but it showed up again this year," she said. "I’m hoping the same happens for this one."

Dolphin 56 was freeze-branded in 1979 off the coast of Florida when it was about 10 years old. The process involves branding a large identifying number on the dolphin’s dorsal fin with liquid nitrogen.

"Freeze-branding is a one-time pain, and they last an unlimited amount of time," he said.

Schoelkopf said the process is still used today because satellite beacons tend to fade after eight to 10 years and can cause a lot of distress to the animal.

Dolphin 56 was memorable because of how eager it was to approach people. While there are often gaps in the histories of other dolphins, Schoelkopf this one had predictable travel plans.

"He likes to go to New Jersey all the time in the summers," he said. "He’d go back every year in early summer or late spring."

For many years, Schoelkopf said he got reports of the dolphin swimming alongside rowing crews from Holy Spirit High School as they practiced in the inland bays.

"He’d come behind the center a lot and we’d go out in a boat to follow him," he said. "He’d play with seaweed and toss live fish in the air."

For a time, fish and wildlife agents also followed the dolphin, waiting to slap unsuspecting boaters with a $20,000 fine for feeding Dolphin 56.

"This dolphin would come up to a boat and squeak at them to get some fish," Schoelkopf said.

Jennifer Dittmar, stranding coordinator for the National Aquarium in Baltimore, said it’s unusual for a dolphin in the wild to develop such a following. That, she said, is probably a function of its personality.

As Dolphin 56 migrated north to New Jersey, Dittmar said, it typically arrived in the Chesapeake Bay around Easter, where it approached boaters for food and attention.

The Facebook page was "a rare event, but it really worked well," she said. "If people would post their pics, researchers could see how far this behavior had progressed."

Stranding centers also used the Facebook page to tailor their outreach campaigns instructing boaters not to feed Dolphin 56 as it entered their waters, Dittmar said. It also helped the centers learn more about how dolphins interact with humans.

"He’s kind of a unique animal that might lend us some insight into the dolphins that are off the area," she said. "It sparks some good research questions."

Thurman said Dolphin 56’s ease with people is also troubling.

"He definitely had risky, albeit friendly and sociable, behavior," she said. "Not every person a dolphin comes up to is so kind."

Every time a dead dolphin washes up, Schoelkopf looks to the dorsal fin for Dolphin 56’s telltale identification stamp. The dolphin also had a unique face, caused by a fractured jaw it suffered during one of its voyages.

"It’s bent," he said. "Like a boxer who had a broken nose. It stays that way." P.S. I was told that they get that way by ramming sharks defending themselves. Ron Alexander

I find a reason to hope in every situation. When our attention is aligned with the universal intelligence of Nature, we find a way through our challenges and difficulties

The Secret to Finding Hope Everywhere In today’s meditation we expand our awareness, which shifts our entire orientation to the world. Our perspective transforms from one that only sees problems to one that only sees the solutions. When our attention is aligned with the universal intelligence of Nature, we find a way through our challenges and difficulties. Another way to understand this experience of unbound awareness is to realize that everywhere we look, we find hope. As we learned this week, one of the key components to finding hope everywhere is the ability to stay rooted in our calm. But when our lives are upended indefinitely and we’re navigating new and disconcerting territory, stress can get the better of us. In 7 Days to Relieve Stress and Anxiety, Deepak and Oprah provide meditations, activities, and tools to maintain an inner core of peace in even the most troubling circumstances. We want to congratulate you on completing our first week together and to thank you for being a part of our global community.

Our centering thought for today is: I find a reason to hope in every situation.   “Stay positive and happy. Work hard and don't give up hope. Be open to criticism and keep learning. Surround yourself with happy, warm, and genuine people.” – Tena Desae

Let nothing dim the light that shines from within. MAYA ANGELOU

Let nothing dim the light that shines from within.

MAYA ANGELOU Be

The Superhuman World of Wim Hof: The Iceman

I trust in my core self at every moment. This core self is where real trust lives. Core self equal to "true self".

How to Grow in Trust and Belief Today in meditation we learn that hope is not effective if we do not believe in our self or have inner trust. A life of hope is built on a foundation of self-awareness. This core self is where real trust lives.

Our centering thought for today is: I trust in my core self at every moment. “Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.” – Maya Angelou

In every life, we need some place for the singing of angels...Sinner or Saint? 7 Steps to Harness Your Inner Angel

There must be always remaining in every life, some place for the singing of angels, some place for that which in itself is breathlessly beautiful.

HOWARD THURMAN Grief is change we do not want. We need to have acceptance for that, and for that part of us thAT CANNOT ACCEPT. wE NEED TO BALANCE THE TWO. Grief.com iT IS OK TO FEEL OUR FEELING AND KNOW THAT IT IS NORMAL Emotions = Energy in Motion "This too shall pass." Impermanence is a truth of nature. Things are always changing. Sinner or Saint? 7 Steps to Harness Your Inner Angel Sinner one moment, Angel the next? Here's how to gain control. Posted Oct 31, 2013 SHARE TWEET EMAIL Scientific evidence shows that compassion and kindness predict health and well-being. Compassion and volunteering makes us happier and can even lengthen our lives. It even has an impact on our cells: it is associated with decreased cellular aging and lowering cellular inflammation levels! (For more details, see here). So why is it that people are angels one minute but jerks the next? Why do some help in the face of need while others just stand by, step aside or walk away? Scientists and philosophers have delved into these questions for centuries. Kindness is as beautiful as it is complex but here are 7 to harness your inner angel (and the benefits that come with it): The Good News: We’re Already Wired to be Good The good news is that you’re wired for kindness. Living a life of purpose and care is so deeply beneficial that researchers believe we are evolved for it.  At our core, both animals and human beings have what Dacher Keltner at the University of California, Berkeley, coins a “compassionate instinct:” Compassion is a natural and automatic response that has ensured our survival. Most of us (except in extreme cases such as psychopathy) are wired for empathy. So what exactly is empathy? The shared experience of someone else’s pain or pleasure. Think of a time when a friend cried and you felt tears well up in your eyes. Or to the contrary, when she laughed and you fell into stitches too. We may think of ourselves as independent entities (especially if we’re from Western cultures), but we’re physiologically wired to connect: in fact, empathy is so innate that it happens automatically: Why do we flinch when we see someone trip and fall? Because we sense the pain the person must be feeling. Brain imaging research shows that parts our neural pain matrix is also activated when we view someone else’s pain. This extremely rapid emotional contagion process is called "resonance." Whenever we look at or interact with others, parts of our brain, “mirror neurons,” internally echo what others do and feel. Someone’s smile, for example, activates the smile muscles in our faces, while a frown activates our frown muscles. In this way, we “read” other people’s states of mind. Think about when you see a relative walk in the room with a troubled expression—before you’ve even exchanged words, you know if something is going terribly wrong or wonderfully right. Our brain is wired to read cues so subtle that although our brain may not consciously register them ("he doesn't seem angry”), our body will. Research by Stanford University’s James Gross shows that even when someone is hiding their anger and we don’t consciously know they are upset, our blood pressure will increase. Our wiring for empathy is so deep that, just by observing someone else in pain, the "pain matrix" in our brain is activated. If someone else hurts, we hurt. And we want to help. Instinctively, our first impulse both as children and adults (and even in animals) is to help, to be fair, to share. Research by Michael Tomasello at the Max Planck institutes shows that primates and infants too young to have learned the rules of politeness will spontaneously engage in helpful behavior and will even overcome obstacles to do so. David Rand at Harvard University shows that, when playing games for rewards such as money, adults’ and children’s first impulse is to act with fairness and to share. What Turns us Into Jerks & How to Harness Our Inner Angel So why do we not always see empathy in action? What are the obstacles to empathy and what can we do about them? Stress We’re living in a time that encourages fear in our everyday lives: “Tax season!” Rise in cortisol. “Traffic jam!” Rise in heart rate. “My boss is calling.” Palms start to sweat. “My partner is upset with me!” Insomnia. “Too much to do, too little time.” I can’t focus. Stress, anxiety and depression are all too common. The consequence of these mental states is self-focus. Evolutionarily, self-focus was adaptive when we were in high-stress situations (think: running from a lion). However, nowadays when we are under chronic stress, we are also under chronic self-focus which lowers our ability to connect with others in meaningful ways. In some cases, we are too self-focused to actually make eye contact with another person which is the key to resonance and empathy. Think of a day when you have a lot to do and are experiencing high levels of stress. You develop “tunnel vision” as you focus on your goals and are so immersed in your own world that your best friend could walk by and you may not notice. In a classic study, students of the Yale Divinity School were told to rush somewhere to give a talk on the Good Samaritan of all things. If they were told they were late, they wouldn’t stop to help someone strategically sprawled on the floor in their way in obvious need of help. When the participants were told to take their time, they were more likely to help. 1. Solution: Turn Your Self-Focus into Other Focus. Think of a time when you were having a “bad day” and someone called you who was having a far worse day. All of a sudden, you were comforting them and thinking about ways in which you could help. What happened to your mood? To your mental state? As you focused on them and helping them, you felt energized, your mood improved and your perspective on your own situation probably broadened significantly. After helping them, you felt refreshed and better. That is what happens when we switch from self-focus (think stress, narrow perspective, misery) to other focus (compassionate outlook, empowerment, wisdom).  I’m not saying focus on other at the expense of your own well-being and at all times as self-compassion is also important, but balancing other-focus with self-focus can be of incredible psychological benefit while also uplifting others. 2. Solution: Do Things That Make You Happy Some people might think focusing on your own happiness is selfish but this is not the case. If you are happier you are more likely to help. While negative emotions can increase self-focus, positive emotions, on the other hand, broaden our perspective, as has been shown by Barbara Fredrickson of the University of North-Carolina at Chapel Hill. On a day when you are feeling great, you are more likely to notice if someone needs help and to reach out a helping hand. Ironically, a great way to increase our happiness is to be empathic, to reach out and to help others. And the choice to live our lives in that way is ours. Bystander Effect So what else can get in the way of our empathy? Let’s consider the apathy to suffering that we often see in busy urban areas. It may in part be due to heightened stress levels but also to the bystander effect. The “Bystander Effect” is a psychological phenomena akin to “they don’t care/think it’s a big deal, so it’s not” i.e. the more people there are around doing nothing about the situation, the less likely people are to take responsibility and help. The prime example was the Kitty Genovese case in which a woman was stabbed by night and in which witnesses in nearby buildings did nothing to help. 3. Solution: Develop Awareness. Now that you know about the Bystander Effect, you don’t have to be slave to it. making the decision not to fall prone to being a “bystander” can help you overcome that tendency or the social pressure to conform. Awareness-building exercises like meditation will help you become more mindful and alert (see here and here for more on meditation). Overwhelm Of course, if a situation feels too large to handle, compassion can also decrease. Daryl Cameron from the University of North Carolina has shown that, if we see a photo of one person suffering, we are more likely to wish to help but if we see a photo of ten needy people, we are less likely to feel compassion. Other people’s pain can sometimes also trigger “personal distress,” a feeling of empathic pain that feels too overwhelming and may trigger a desire to just flee the situation. 4. Solution: One Step at a Time In these cases, it is important to remember that, even if we can’t help everyone, we can always make a difference. As Mother Theresa said, “Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you.” Being Stuck In Our Head Too much time to think can also be an obstacle. David Rand, who found that adults’ first impulse was to help also found that this was not always the case when people were given too much time to make a decision. Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business professor Dale Miller found that adults often stop themselves from helping because they worry that others will think they are acting out of self-interest can stop them from this impulse to help. Frank Flynn, also at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business showed that people want to help if asked but assume that someone does not need help if they don’t ask. 5. Solution: Go With Your Heart Here again, go with your heart and go with your gut. When you know you can make a difference, just go for it. In most cases, you will find it rewarding. 6. Solution: Get Creative In other situations, you may feel unsafe or that you don’t have the resources, and in that case consider another option like calling for help or asking others to join in to help. In some cases, when you are not well, it is also important to take care of yourself. Connection Given the benefits of empathy and kindness, how can we overcome those internal and external barriers to it? It’s not difficult. A major determinant of empathy is our feeling of connection with the person in need. The more similar a person (or animal) feels to you, the more you identify with them and the more you will tend to want to help them. 7. Solution: Remember Shared Humanity People like Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King and Gandhi felt such a broad sense of connection to others that they compassion was broad. To quote Albert Einstein: "Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty." ------ To stay updated on the science of happiness, health and social connection, see emmaseppala.com. Emma is the founder of Fulfillment Daily, science-based news for a happier life. Watch Emma's TEDx talk. Follow Emma on Twitter  Subscribe to Emma on Facebook  Circle Emma on Google+ © 2014 Emma Seppala, Ph.D.