1 week growth

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I shaved my head a week ago as a detachment from my ego, a reminder to what’s important in life and as an inspiration to others to focus on the true sources of happiness.  To my surprise, I actually really liked how my baldhead looked so in a sense my ego could be attaching itself to that new cool image.  The practice of detachment for me has been and will be watching my hair grow out and not wishing it to be different.  I noticed that I didn’t like it as much once the black stub started growing in, so I noted that dissatisfaction as an observation instead of a desire for it to be different.

In my last blog I said that the material and physical don’t bring us true happiness.  Today I would like to talk about what does and how to find that for you.  A good exercise to find out would be to reflect or write down all of the things that bring you joy. Once you know what they are you can spend your energy focusing on them to fill you with more joy and then the physical and material won’t seem so important.

What brings me joy is listening and living from my heart, nurturing myself, inspiring others, spending time with nature and animals, having heart-felt connections with others, living on a tropical island, sharing smiles with strangers, feeling vibrant health and energy, learning new things, exploring new places, puppies and babies, riding on a motorbike, walking along the beach, warm bathes, beautiful food that nourishes my body, knowing who I am, developing myself, overcoming challenges, giving to others, feeling the love from my family and friends…not how my hair looks.

Find and focus on your joy!

Grow

letting go of image

Shaving My Head

A Practice of Detachment, Reminder and Inspiration

Om Namah Shivaya

(I Bow To My True Identity)

ego detachment

My name is Elicia Woodford, I am 35 years old and currently living in Koh Samui, Thailand.  My business ePowerMe is about releasing thoughts, behaviors, beliefs, toxins, and stress that keep us from being who we really are and fully alive. I am launching another business called Samui Healing which is designed to provide cleansing information, services and resources to support ePowerMe’s mission. I’ve personally done many various body, mind and material cleanses this year. Cleansing is about getting rid of what we don’t need that is attached to the ego like stress, social pressure, and an image that is identified with the body and material things.  I decided to end my year of detox with a spiritual ego cleanse by shaving my head to detach from society’s pressure of looking a certain way and caring what others think.

Reasons, Reminders and Inspiration:

v    Spiritual Detox and Detachment

• Detaching from ego, image and identity

v    Source of Happiness

source of happiness

• How you feel is dependent of what you are thinking and the health of your body.  If you are overly concerned with physical appearance, and what others think, then you will cause unnecessary stress and unhappiness.
• Most people think that if they look good then they feel good.  If you dig deeper on what it is costing you in stress and worry to look good you will see that is not true. 
• Pay attention to your thoughts “My hair is too short, I wish my hair was straight/curly, my roots are showing, I want to look like Angelina Jolie, I can’t go out with this pimple, I need my teeth whitened, I wish I was skinny, my nail chipped…”
• All the physical things that seem to matter most are impermanent and will change.  Your hair will grow, your nails grow, you choose to adopt a clean natural diet and your skin and hair glow plus the extra 5 pounds comes off without trying.  With this awareness you can focus on what matters most in life: the health of your mind and body.
• I’m not saying to not care how you look and to let yourself go but instead let society’s pressure of how you should look go. Care more about what thoughts you let in your mind and what you are putting in your body.  Know what thoughts and food either feed you or deplete you.  Your happiness depends on them.
• Focus your energy up towards who you are, how you live, and your potential instead of down towards what you look like, what you have and comparing yourself to others.  Become aware by asking yourself, “Does it matter, does it make me happy and is it beneficial to my life?”
• Another thing to be aware of is how you treat others and your generosity.  When you give selflessly and are kind to others you feel good about yourself.  Practice compassion on yourself, while making changes, and you will feel good and be able to relate to others with a better understanding.

v    Cancer

prevent & heal disease

• Cancer is real and can heal.  Place importance on trying to prevent it by improving your lifestyle choices. 
• Cancer, and other illnesses, can only live in a toxic and deficient environment. The best defense towards disease is a healthy body.
• Focus on boosting your health with detox, cleansing and nutritional therapy.

v    Patience & Dedication

• Patience is needed for growth and development.
• Developing the mind with awareness and compassion for yourself and others requires practice and patience.
• Be excited to see what develops at each stage of the growth. It is about the journey and not the destination.

v    Embracing Natural Beauty

live & radiate from your heart and nature

• When you live from your heart and nature you radiate natural beauty.
• I am releasing what is not me (chemicals) to let my natural hair and self shine through.

v    Re-birth

• 2009 detachment & detox – from the things that I don’t need, that cause stress and unhappiness.
• 2010 birth & new development – caring and nurturing my mind and body like a newborn.

Let go of what you are not to find out who you are!

Credits:

Hairshaver – Dany Lopez,  samuihair@yahoo.com, +66 (0) 81 787 4893

Blue Sarong – Donated by Ta from Thai Organic Life

Photographer & Samui Healing Model - Carrie Bain

home is where my luggage is

It just turned midnight on July 25, 2009 and I’m settling in at Gate100 waiting for my flight from SFO to BKK. I’ve shed my old life to transition into something new. Leaving everything behind, I am left with myself, which is the best place to start.

I have never been to Asia in this lifetime and felt a pull to Thailand for many years. With no rational thought I decided to release everything I owned and move across the world. With no regrets and no return plans. This journey comes from my heart, listening to and trusting my higher self.

Canceling my AT&T wireless account was the last tie (and bill) to the US that is now shut off. Gmail and Facebook will keep me in touch with my friends and family when I want to plug in. I’m craving silence, solitude and a fresh start with a new life living from my heart. Exploring, learning, and teaching others lies ahead in my journey abroad. How it unfolds I leave to mystery and faith.

Feeling the best I ever have in 2008, I reflect on how I finished the year 2007.  I decided to clear out all in my life that wasn't working for me, and drained me of my energy.  This included what I put in my body, how I treated (and worked) my body, how I interacted with others and myself and what I did for a living.  Last December meant detox or clearing out the old to make space for the new.  I decided to start the New Year off right, already in motion of how I want to be.  Why wait till January 1st every year, why can’t we decide when we want to make changes and make that our New Year?  Let’s not give something up, let’s take something back. 

Think differently, embrace yourself and your desires and TAKE YOUR POWER BACK!
Taking your power back does not mean becoming powerful, it is to be empowered.  To live your life for you, to know what you need, to make decisions based on your needs and to prioritize how you spend your days, what you think about, spend your energy on and how you live your life based on what you value.  Your top priority is YOU and you should value yourself over anything and anyone.  Your power comes from thinking and acting with YOU IN MIND.

Where did it go?  Did you ever have it?  Are you living true to who you are?  Are you making the right decisions for you and what you need?

Self awareness and awakening brings inner happiness and peace.  Being self aware is being able to know what is yours and what isn’t.  Why do you do what you do, why do you wear what you wear and why do you think the way you think.  Did others tell you who you are and who you aren’t, what looks good and bad, and how you should feel?  Give yourself space before concluding if it’s true to you.  How you really feel in your heart is the truth.

Recognize the ways you give your power away and learn the practices to gain your power back, take responsibility for your life and become empowered.  “I gave that man the best years of my life!”  Now that is giving your power away, but it is also an untrue statement.  They can’t be your best years if you gave them away, they weren’t yours.  The best years of your life is when you start giving to you. The best gift in life comes from you and never stops giving.