001: Mindful Moments: Simple Practices for Cultivating Calm, Contentment and Care

“Once you're uplifted, you uplift others, and everyone feels better.” —Ann LeMaster

Welcome back to another season of the Common Sense Living podcast! We're excited to kick off Season 2 with an episode focused on cultivating happiness, forgiveness, and gratitude. 

Learning to maintain a positive outlook, even in less than ideal times, can be profoundly impactful. This timely reminder shows that each day offers opportunities to find meaning and appreciate life's blessings, regardless of outward circumstances. By making the choice to focus on positives and uplift others, we can strengthen our own resilience to face future challenges from a place of inner peace, hope, and optimism. 

In this episode, Ann discusses various topics related to happiness, forgiveness, gratitude, and resilience. She shares an inspiring true story about the kindness of humanity seen from the experience of a young girl with cancer who sold her lamb at an auction. Ann also talks about the importance of forgiveness, especially forgiving oneself, managing negative thoughts, the power of meditation, and phrases parents can share with their children to help them become more successful and confident. 

Connect with Ann on Social Media:  

Website: https://seednutrition.com/Annt/home 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008572834952 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annthemasterhealer/ 

Email: Tamingdiabetes@yahoo.com 

Episode Highlights: 

04:04 Forgiveness and Healing After a Difficult Relationship

08:33 The Power of Gratitude and Mindfulness 

13:57 Holistic Healing

18:32 Fulfilling Desires

24:39 Love, Self-Care, and Personal Growth

Resources: 

Ann’s Book

Heaven Scent: Listening to Your Inner Voice

Transcript

Ann LeMaster: Welcome back to Common Sense Living Podcast listeners. 

Today, we're launching our Season 2. We're so thrilled to have you join us again on this exciting journey. We've got a fresh lineup of engaging Common Sense Episodes, thought provoking conversations, and inspiring stories that we know you're going to love. We've taken your feedback from last year and use it to make this season better. Sit back, grab your pen and paper and get ready to dive into another season of discovery and enlightenment. I'm your host Ann LeMaster, brought to you by Taming Diabetes Differently. That's T-A-M-I-N-G-D-I-A-B-E-T-E-S @yahoo.com if you want to get a hold of me. Let's get started. 

Hello, everybody. This is Ann LeMaster with the Common Sense Living Podcast. This is a holiday season so I want everybody to be happy. Today is going to be various things about happiness, forgiveness. I'm going to start with a story, and I'm going to read most of it. That's too much for me to remember. The first one is going to be a story about Katie And HerLamb. It's a true story that will probably touch your heart and reconfirm for you like it does for m, inherent goodness of humanity. Jane Fisher watched anxiously as her 17 year old daughter Katie pulled her unruly lamb into the arena of the Madison County Junior Livestock sale. With luck, Katie wouldn't class as she had during a livestock show the day before. Katie was battling cancer. This was her first chance in months to be outdoors having fun away from hospitals and chemotherapy treatments, and she had come with high hopes of earning some spending money. She had wavered a little on her decision to part with a lamb, but with lamb averaging $2 a pound. Katie was looking forward to receiving some much needed money so she entered the center of the Lamb. previewing and the bidding began. That's when Roger Wilson, the auctioneer had a sudden inspiration that brought some unexpected results. We let folks know that Katie had a situation that wasn't too pleasant is how he tells it. He hoped that his introduction would push the bidding up at least a little bit. Well, the lamb sold for 11.50 a pound, but things didn't stop there. The buyer paid up, then decided to give the land back so it could be sold again. That started a chain reaction with families buying the animal and getting back over and over again. When local businesses started buying and returning, the earnings really began to pile up. The first sale is the only one Katie's Mom remembers. After that, she was crying too hard as a crowd kept shouting resell, resell. Katie's lamb was sold 36 times that day, and the last buyer gave it back for good. Katie ended up with more than $16,000 for a fund to pay her medical expenses, and she still got to keep her precious lamb. 

I got goosebumps and tears because it's just such an awesome story. If people would only be so kind, more awesome. So see? If I can read with tears in my eyes, my goodness. This one is about forgiveness. I love the relationship, that meant a lot to me. I put my heart and soul into it. I wanted it to work. I wanted to learn and grow in that relationship. It came to a point where I wasn't being seen and it hurt deeply. I couldn't fully express myself anymore for fear of the reaction and the reactions of this person. We're becoming tenants with more and more anger. Never violent, but scary nonetheless. My soul felt suffocated. It was time to leave, and it broke my heart. This began a journey that ultimately led me to explore forgiveness in different ways than I had in the past. Leaving the relationship was hard, even though I knew that was the right thing to do. I wasn't growing. I wasn't seen for who I am. I wasn't being heard, and my soul was not lit up. There were lots of ups and downs along the way in the healing process, of course. Then I really hit a wall where the sadness and the grief just felt different. It felt more challenging to explain them away. This felt just plain heavy. And what I realized was that I needed to forgive myself. I need to forgive myself for leaving the relationship. I needed to forgive myself for leaving the cat. I struggle with this today. I needed to forgive myself for wanting a new life. I needed to forgive myself for wanting my voice and for having been with someone who wasn't encouraging my voice. Once I took steps into my new life, it became clear to me that what I really wanted was to step into my power as a healer, an entrepreneur, a coach, and a teacher. What I longed for the most was my sovereignty. There wasn't fear about stepping into owning my power, but I knew that I wanted the desire for it to come from a deep place within and realizing that I needed to forgive myself. It opened up a new door of healing. And now, a few years later, I'm not fully forgiven and in a process with it. 

One of the keys to my recognition of this is that I can't do it alone. When I say I can't do it alone, I mean that I need assistance for my spirituality. And to do this, my feelings are to be human and move forward. I need help from the very essence, of course from which I came, I need to ask spirit to be a bridge. A bridge to God, a bridge to the wholeness from which I was designed so that I can forgive myself and move forward. I want to be able to feel how it feels to forgive myself and allow space in my mind for me to have a good life, and space in my mind for him to have a good life without resentment, jealousy or fear. It isn't spiritual bypassing to ask for help. It's spiritual bypassing to shove the feelings down or pretend that they don't exist, or to love and light them away. And forgiveness is to give something else completely. I'm going to give myself the opportunity to connect with spirit to help me heal and to help me forgive. That's a piece of my journey so far. I want to help you connect to your bridge on your higher power so that you can learn to live, forgive and create a more meaningful life. A life that has more joy, more calm and more peace. I like to have more self love and trust. A life that flows more easily and becomes well being. A life that you enjoy living even when it's hard or sad. Being human is complex and messy. Accepting this truth can make it less challenging and a little less painful. Forgiveness as a way toward acceptance, creates the compassion that the world so desperately needs. In this year 2023 is the beginning with yourself. Forgiveness is for you. Forgiveness is an act of compassion. Forgiveness creates peace. So I asked you to go to Facebook and join Healing Hearts in (12) Steps with Tonni Lea Larson. She's a personal friend of mine, and she teaches people through her own journey. She's learned how Healing Hearts in 12 steps can help us to heal. So it's in Facebook, and joined the group Healing Hearts in 12 Steps with Tonni Lea Larson. That's T-O-N-N-I-L-E-A, and Larson, L-A-R-S-O-N. 

So the way you see a person is the way they will be for you. It is as if you are holding them hostage to your beliefs about their shortcomings, what you look for and focus on. Believe me, they can feel the anger, the frustration, the disconnect and your desire to change them. You are resisting and pushing against them. And being human, we push back. They feel the criticism. We'll give you more of what you don't want. There's a negative energy present that says you are not good enough yet until you drop your beliefs and put down your gun loaded with reasons they need to change. You will always be at war with them. Just extend love and see what happens. See them as whole and complete just as they are for their perfect learning experiences. And no God has greater things that you can imagine for them. Have you ever had that kind of feeling with somebody? I have. They want you to be the way they want you to be and you push back without knowing that you want them to be the way you want them to be. And that was that. So I like the learning journey, and I love it. So here is one, watch your thoughts. Your subconscious mind is listening. How often have you heard the words that come from your mind saying, I can't afford that. Had better not, or not now. Guess what? Your subconscious mind heard you and will ensure that you can't afford that trip. That house or whatever it is you desire, it heard you say that you'd better not do something or put off something you want. You see, your subconscious mind has no sense of humor that will believe whatever the conscious mind tells it. Its job is to carry out everything it is told. Wow, that means we need to pay attention to our words and to our thoughts. Change your thoughts and you change your destiny. When we say words like I can't afford that, we end up living a contracted life sometimes filled with regret, loneliness and self judgment. If only I had changed my thinking years ago, I would be happier and have more success and prosperity. So that I say that it's never too late to change your subconscious mind is amenable to suggestion. It simply reacts to the impressions given to it by your conscious mind. It doesn't make comparisons, or contrasts, or reason, or think things through. 

(inaudible) said it wisely over 100 years ago when he said, stand guard at the portal of your mind. Do you want a life of prosperity, happiness and joy? Then change your thoughts because your subconscious mind listens to your thoughts and words need help with that change. That's what we do through a structured program and accountability. We help people improve their lives. To book a free discovery, call go to www.transformationalwellnessservices.com and click on contact us at the top of the homepage. Find a time on one of our calendars and reserve your spot, talk about how this life works for you. Another contact is Linda Smith. That's linda@t-w-services.com. 

My next article is to cultivate gratitude for happiness and health. This morning, I prepared a special earth breakfast, bacon, fried eggs and toast with butter and honey. As we indulge their senses in the delight of past memories of practice such as this one with family, we express gratitude and thanks for the meal, the ability to prepare and enjoy it, and the memories that warmed our souls. It's easy to feel grateful when things are going well in our lives. But what about those challenging times when nothing seems to be going right? Do you appreciate your abundance? I set my feet on the floor every morning as I get out of my warm bed and give gratitude to God for another glorious day I get to experience. I set my intention for the day. I'm aware and thankful for my loved ones, human and animal. Enough healthy food to nourish us and our cats, our comfortable living space and our outdoor garden area. And most of all, to God for all of the above and more. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, it's important to recognize that feeling grateful no matter what is happening in your life offers countless health benefits. When you actively cultivate gratitude and take time for self care practices, such as meditation, you open yourself up to true healing. In fact, practicing gratitude meditation and mind body exercises such as yoga and tai chi are some of the most powerful tools for unleashing your body's infinite healing capacity and achieving optimal health. And this was true regardless of where you are on the wellness spectrum. Healing can happen on every level. Physical, mental, emotional, and psycho spiritual, feeling grateful and its impact on health. The feeling of gratitude along with mind-body practices such as meditation reduce stress and allow us to expand our heart, increasing our innate love, and compassion for ourselves and others. This love and compassion expressed by our heart is actually our greatest healer, something I've experienced consistently in my personal meditation practice, and in decades of clinical work treating hundreds of patients with complex conditions. Modern day research on the complex relationship between mind and body backs up what spiritual experts have known for millennia. 

For example, studies show that thoughts and feelings of gratitude bring about significant health benefits including lowered stress hormones. Regular meditation reduces inflammation, improves immunity and strengthens areas of the brain related to empathy and emotional processing among other benefits. Negativity affects more than your mood. Studies show that feelings of pessimism and negativity fuel inflammation, harm DNA, speed up the aging process and increase the risks of chronic diseases. Innately, we know these findings to be true. How do you feel physically when you experience negative emotions compared to feelings of gratitude, love and compassion? The differences are obvious. Nevertheless, many of us remain prone to cycles of anxiety and negative thought patterns dwelling on the past or worrying about the future. Being a positive mindset and you're around somebody negative, perhaps a family member. Do you feel a downer in their presence because that negativity is bringing your energy down? It happened in my life more than once, and it takes effort to not let it affect me. So blind rider on a wild horse. 

One meditation metaphor describes the mind as a blind rider on a wild horse. We have no control over what thought will take over which drives us into uncharted territory. The journey into daily gratitude and mind body healing begins by taking a step back and observing our thought patterns so that we're no longer blind riders. These ancient practices offer tools that contain the wild horse, finding gratitude during stressful times. When life feels overwhelming, often made all worse by the added pressures and stress of the holiday season, it can be easy to fall into negative thought patterns and ignore the positivity around you. But feeling grateful is more than being positive. It's about being honest and authentic, and finding joy in the little things despite the chaos in life. Calm your mental chatter. Meditation is a truly unique activity because it allows us to shift from doing to being, it cultivates a state of deep relaxation. If you can relax into a space where you do not identify with your thoughts and emotions, then you can let them go on their way like passing clouds. With practice, the space between thoughts becomes wider, calmer and clearer. Within this spaciousness, a deeper more authentic state of consciousness can arise and expand, expressed as genuine love, compassion and a greater clarity of awareness. It also promotes a sense of connection with others. Meditation also has a naturally calming effect on mental chatter, like a pond after rocks thrown in, and the ripples fade over time leading to a reflective surface, harnessing gratitude this holiday season. 

If you are battling extra stress this holiday season, it's essential to find time to yourself and hone in on your feelings, emotions and find peace in meditation, or walk to recenter and balance yourself, or just sit out in nature and absorb the energy that God has surrounding. Making space to feel grateful it's important for your whole family. When we overflow our cups with unconditional love, gratitude and compassion for all beings, we effortlessly offer this healing energy to ourselves and everyone around us. Writing down three things you are grateful for each day can be a daily spiritual practice that helps you review your life from a grateful heart while helping your mind, body and spirit heal on every level. This holiday season, regardless of how you celebrate, you can practice cultivating gratitude and appreciation both to yourself and others. When you open your heart and extend love, compassion and gratitude, research shows that you can experience a wealth of health benefits on all levels, physical, mental and emotional. Wishing you and your loved ones a happy, healthy and vibrant Thanksgiving and winter holidays. So this is titled, Inspiration for the Week. That means to fulfill your desires. 

The message from Archangel Gabriel channeled by Shanyata Gabriel, you will not have the desire without the means to fulfill it. It has been said that inherent in every problem is a solution. It is the same with your desires. Some part of you believes that it is possible or you would not even have the desire. Your soul knows that certain desires are necessary for you to fulfill in order to accomplish your learning in this lifetime on Earth. These are not the desires that are stimulated by mass marketing. These desires are the ones that are often very deep in the heart, and so precious that you have to give yourself permission to even think about them. Sometimes, it's necessary to expand and stretch into the idea that all things are possible. It's important that we not allow ourselves to think anything out when first a creative thought pops into our awareness. That may be only the beginning of a dream or desire that we truly need to entertain for life to have meaning and purpose. The dreams that keep coming into my awareness are the ones that I now know I need to pay attention to because my soul keeps prompting me, and that desire won't go away. We live in a world of pure potential where we create things and new life abounds through the pockets of our attention. As spirituality and quantum physics come together, the power of this truth has been proven through years of scientific experiments. 

In this new and powerful time of awakening, it feels important that we bring the dreams of our hearts into reality by focusing our intentions on, what will most empower us? What gives us passion, brings delight and meaning into our lives? Is it a risk? Always. But to me, it's more of a risk not to follow the intelligence of my heart and the desires of my soul, divine presence. Thank you for the inspiration for my soul coming in the form of the potent desires of my heart. May I have the discernment to know when a desire is important to focus on and in alignment with my soul's highest reality. May I have the faith to follow through when I am being inspired by my highest self, and focus my attention on desire that seems to not go away. May I have the fortitude necessary to persevere in respecting the deepest dreams of my heart. May I remember to give thanks in advance for the creative solutions arising that allow me to accomplish my dreams and beautiful ways. And may I learn to receive in a whole new way that allows me to be a clear channel for the benevolent outcomes available to me from the Divine Source. Thank you, God. And so it is. 

So this is Gabriel messages book number 52, where you would not have the will, there isn't desire without the means to fulfill it. Dear one, all things in life are part of universal consciousness. This includes the desires of your heart. You have within you, all it takes to fulfill these desires and create the life you want to have. Know that each time you feel a deep longing, the state of fulfillment is inherent within it. There is a deep reawakening within you showing you a potential for all that you desire. This reawakening results from your connection to God and the remembrance of the angels who are guiding you always. As you commune more and more with his energy, your life will begin to take on the magical qualities you desire that begins with letting go when you know in your heart that all your needs will be abundantly met, you can release the part of you that wants acquisition, you will now be free to discover the true desires in your heart. True desires have qualities that are fulfilled when the desires have been manifested. If you desire money, there's a quality that your heart seeks to have fulfilled. A sense of safety and abundant life, or perhaps simply freedom from worry. Becoming aware of these qualities allows you to take action to gain these first which will then allow the material form to manifest in a form which is in your highest good. The first step after discovering the qualities you seek is always to ask for what you want, making sure you clearly state the qualities you are seeking to have. The angelic dimension stands ready to assist you in the process of gaining all you desire in your life. Clarity is key practice. It is truly God's plan to have all beings live in a state of abundant joy and freedom from fears. People living with peace, harmony and love in the world as well as within their families. These qualities are not too much to ask for in your prayers because they are the natural state of balance in God's world. 

Your prayers that you offer in order to attain them opens your mind and heart to fulfillment in your personal life. It is also vital to be in the company of minded souls who believe that miracles are not only possible, they're also willing to have them manifest in their own lives. It is clear that in some situations in the world, only a miracle of divine proportions can create a solution. With enough people believing in miracles is possible. There is no doubt that creative solutions which are beyond the mind's ability to understand will occur. Begin now to allow miracles to manifest in your world. Be the first one to ask for divine intervention and to share your belief with others so that all may live in a new level of conscious awareness and abundant joy. Those desires in your heart are there to remind you that miracles happen. And God provides you the ways to have all the goods you desire in your life. Know that you were blessed and profoundly loved. Call on the divine presence and the angels that allow the desires of your heart to be fulfilled. Remember, you will not have the desire without the means to fulfill it. And now, our lives would be pretty empty without love. Do you agree? I invite you to bring real love into your life this year. This new year, we hear some people say that they love their cars, or they love their clothes, or they love some kind of materialistic object. What is the real meaning of love? I believe in love for you, your fellow man and life itself. I love you because you are a human being who has feelings, thoughts and emotions the same as me. You have the same potential for happiness as I do. We can love each other. Through love, we can do powerful things like heal sadness and help one another. Ultimately, love is what makes life worth living through friendship, romance and self love. The reality is there's always more than enough to go around. 

The Law of Attraction teaches us that you can attract what you are, want more love, love more thoughts on love. Love is, of course, more formidable than any other. It is invisible. It cannot be seen or measured. Yet, it is powerful enough to transform you in a moment and offer you more joy than any material possession could. That's by Barbara De Angelis. There's always madness and love, but there's always some reason in madness. That's Friedric Nietzsche. Friendship with oneself is all important because without it, one cannot be friends with anyone else in the world. Eleanor Roosevelt said that. And this next one is deep. Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without. And no, we cannot live within. James Baldwin. John Lennon says that there are two basic motivating forces, fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open up to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement and acceptance. Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage. Lau, I don't know how to say the last name, T-Z-U. Love yourself first, and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world. Comedian Lucille Ball. Les Brown says love yourself unconditionally just as you love those closest to you despite their faults. Victor Hugo says that the greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved, loved for ourselves or rather loved in spite of ourselves. Love is a whole thing, we are only pieces, by Rumi. Oscar Wilde says, to love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance. But Mahatma Gandhi says, where there is love, there is life. And Katharine Hepburn, love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get, only with what you were expecting to give, which is everything. These powerful words speak to the higher love that actually exists within all of us. Take a moment and acknowledge the love that already exists in your life. 

Remember, there is always more than enough love to go around for everyone. Namaste. And we are going to end it now with 40 phrases to your sons and daughters so they can be more resilient, successful and confident in life. Some of these I was raised with. So where there's a will, there's a way. Good manners don't cost anything. Always, it asked. They can always say no. You're not marrying one, you're marrying the whole family. Find the good in everyone. Don't cry before you try. There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers. Pretty is as pretty does. Treat others as you would like to be treated. You can't control what others do, only your own reactions. Don't buy what you can't afford, remember that things don't make you happy. People do, animals too. You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. Two wrongs don't make a right. Watch what you step in. How turds are cattleman dollar signs, it all depends on how you look at it. Teamwork makes the dream work. Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. What we think determines what happens to us. So if we want to change our lives, we need to stretch our minds. Fair? The fair is two weeks in the fall. One man's trash is another man's treasure. The greatest day in your life is when you take total responsibility for your attitudes. That's the day you truly grow up. True freedom is understanding that we have a choice who and what we allow to have power over us. You're only as old as you feel. A rolling stone gathers no moss. Early to bed and early to rise makes you healthy, wealthy and wise. Happiness is not by chance, but by choice. If you don't like the road you're walking, start paving another one. A rising tide lifts all boats. 

Don't judge a book by its cover. You're braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think. The early bird catches the worm. Each day comes bearing its gifts, untie the ribbon. Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are a good person, it's a little like expecting the ball not to attack you because you are a vegetarian. Confession is good for the soul. You can't make an omelet without breaking a few ways. The grass is greener where you water it. The greatest glory in living life not in every failing. But in writing, every time we fail, there is no single recipe for success. But there is one essential ingredient, passion. Never lose hope, and never underestimate the power of prayer. And with that, I give gratitude to God. 

And this is how I do to my third, I give gratitude to God for all my blessings. I ask that you please keep them coming. I give gratitude and thanks to all the educators for teaching us truth, and bringing us into your full glory. I give gratitude, and thanks to my heart for receiving your healing, loving light, creating every cell as vibrant, perfect, healthy and whole. And with that where I give that to you as well so you can perhaps use it at Thanksgiving. Although this probably will air after Thanksgiving, use it in your life. Do it every day at 11:11 in the morning or at night, and the world is bombarded 24/7 with healing loving light, which will make the world better. I truly believe that in my heart. So my prayer for you is that you have a fabulous day. Take these words and messages that I have given you today to heart and it will uplift you. And once you're uplifted, you uplift others, and everyone feels better. So have a blessed holiday season, and may you have a happy 2024 and be prosperous. Namaste. Thank you for tuning in to my Common Sense Living Podcast. If you want to reach me for further discussion or anything, you can email me at tamingdiabetes@yahoo.com That's T-A-M-I-N-G-D-I-A-B-E-T-E-S @yahoo.com. taming diabetes@yahoo.com Thank you, and have a fabulous day.