12 Examples of Living From Your Heart:
 
1. Breaking the rules - yours and those set by other people.  I'm not talking about running through red lights, but more important things - those that pertain to the bigger picture.

2. Recognizing that an old way of being may no longer be serving you and taking action accordingly.

3. Being willing to take emotional risks and knowing that disappointment won't destroy you.

4. Nurturing yourself when things don't go as you had hoped.

5. Honoring yourself and others by setting limits with people, asserting your needs and knowing that you'll have more to give when your needs are met.

6. Making a point of bringing fresh air, fresh flowers, sunlight and nature into your daily life.

7. Giving yourself permission to______for no rational reason at all!

8. Getting clear about the real value of material possessions and what level of control they have over you.  Shifting priorities based on what you determine.

9. Knowing that your intuition and your heart are closely connected, trusting your instincts and being aware that the Universe gave you a heart chakra as way of guiding you rather than punishing you! 

10. Actively working with the Law of Attraction:  Describing in writing and in great detail a particular outcome that you desire - focusing on your inner feeling experience rather than how someone else will respond to you. In other words, look at internal variables rather than external ones. Truly imagine that outcome and spend time every day focusing on it.

11. Use your imagination.  If you can't figure out a solution, imagine something different.  (See above).  Sometimes when we can't figure something out intellectually, all we need to do is imagine feeling better - imagine that the problem has been solved and let the Universe take care of the details!

12. Actively engaging in healing work that will support you in identifying and creating what you truly desire.

-Mathew Engel

7 Ways to Gain Power at Work

Karen Burns, On Wednesday September 8, 2010, 12:30 pm EDT People love power. Not because people are evil, but because power means survival. Every human relationship involves power in some way, and we are all hardwired to gravitate to, and want, power. Even you.

[See 21 secrets to getting a job now.]

In most modern people's lives, nowhere is power more obvious and more important than in the workplace. You may not believe you have any power at work, but you do. You have more power than you think.

Key to identifying the source of your power is to recognize that there's more than one kind. Check out these seven different types of workplace power:

1. Power based on who you know. If you have good interpersonal skills and strong networks, you have power. You are a connector, knowing who to introduce to whom, and you are a resource, knowing where to go for advice and help. This is a power that can grow exponentially, because the more people you know, the more people will want to know you.

[See 39 ways to annoy your coworkers.]

2. Power based on what you know. A very solid way to earn respect and influence at work is to be expert in something. The most knowledgeable and competent person in the workplace--the one who knows how things work and how to fix them when they don't--is a very powerful person.

3. Power based on love. Do people want to be with you and do things for you just because they like you? This is one of the most powerful sources of power. It's called "referent" power. Referent power is a big responsibility because it's based on charisma and charisma is usually inborn--you didn't do anything to earn it and you may even start to think you deserve it. But if you combine it with, say, expertise power, it can take you far.

4. Power based on admiration. Both this power and "referent" power inspire loyalty but the difference here is that this one you can earn. If you have an amazing work ethic, if you are responsible, reliable, and consistent, if you treat colleagues with dignity and respect, people are going to start finding that they trust you. They will look up to you and listen to what you say and want to be like you. That's power, baby.

[See more of Karen Burns' advice at U.S.News Careers.]

5. Power based on fear. You have this kind of power when you're in a position to punish others if they don't do what you want. But beware! Fear-based power can oh-so-easily twist around and bite you in the behind. In fact, this power is usually best used by not using it ("speak softly and carry a big stick").

6. Power based on wealth. People who possess what others want can find themselves with more power than they're able to handle. Do you set the schedule, control access to supplies, make job assignments? You are rich! But remember--this power has nothing to do with you. It goes away the minute you are no longer in a position to bestow largess.

7. Power based on position. This is the most obvious kind of power--you have it because the word "manager" is in your job title. But while it tends to come with the territory, you still do need to work for it. The bad boss quickly loses influence, leverage, and respect. True and lasting power comes from being a leader worthy of esteem and admiration.

Needless to say, power tends to be addictive and is very easy to abuse. We all know people who fall into this trap. You don't want to be one of those because abusing power is a sign of weakness (it's the insecure people who wield their power unwisely). Not only that, the more power is abused, the more ineffective it becomes.

Power contributes to your sense of well-being and to your continued state as an employed person, not to mention your dignity and self-respect. No matter what your role, you are entitled to your fair portion of power. So consider how each of these powers might apply to you and--most of all--how you could use them for "good."

The Zen question of 'If not Now, When?' I interpret also as Can you be happy in the process?

It can be miserable, 'hard', if you havent surrendered to it.... if you are still caught in the what Eckhart Tolle calls the 'pain body'. It is that aspect of the analytical mind/ego that is still trying to control so it won't die. The attachment to the past as a definition of self and the attachment to the future as an addiction to fear or wishing keeps it alive and in control becuase it is trying to protect you and help you survive...though killing you slowly in the process.
Be in the Now and just be happy with where you are knowing that you don't have to stay there. You can create yourself in the present constantly.
 
-Trella

All truly wise thoughts have been thought already thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, till they take root in our personal experience. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Wisdom is achieved slowly. This is because intellectual knowledge, easily acquired, must be transformed into 'emotional', or subconscious knowledge. Once transformed, the imprint is permanent. Behavioral practice is the necessary catalyst of this reaction. Without action, the concept will wither and fade. Theoretical knowledge without practical application is not enough. 'Many Lives, Many Masters'

I openly say that it is the practice that I struggle with. Daily I get closer though and some days I take two steps backward. I must add to the truth of the wisdom above one other thing that I have noticed: you have to just surrend to and trust the practice/the process. To try to control the outcome is to throw a wrench in it really. You can have intentions or desires or goals for where the practice can take you but to hold tight to how or sometimes even what is just another form of fear based on lack of trust. Its the damned letting go stuff that everyone talks about, but if you are not sure what it will be replaced with or that you can even allow receiving in the first place then the whole "letting go" thing is a fight with yourself. A house divided cannot stand.

-Trella

A Truth of This Universe:

If you have the body (i.e. you're embodied) You are THE Owner. Sounds simple but there is a lot of darker energies and other folks who can play off your beliefs of doubt or worthlessness or lack of self love and end up taking up your energy/space/manipulating your beliefs to feed off of. You have the right to throw everyone/thing out. Any resistance to owning your space/reality is key for you to understand for your next step for growth.

-Trella

A lie is just another form of energy to play with so it is not necessarily bad or good - the intent behind it can be "bad" or "good". The trick with a lie is that you can forget that it is a lie and then get caught in believing it yourself... then you're stuck. So choose carefully and with ownership to all possible outcomes of a lie.

Also consider more importantly what is the need to lie coming from? If it is taking inappropriate responsibility for another, not taking appropriate responsibility for self, oh the list is endless really. What is behind the need to lie is far more powerful than the lie itself. Unfortunately we as a species are one of the few species on the planet that can take indirect information and experience (another's truth whether flawed or accurate for that other person) as our own truth or as THE TRUTH. We don't need to directly expereince something to form pretty powerful beliefs/perceptions/opinions about it. This is a blessing and a bane to the human existance and also part of the foundation of free will.

Yes I just said Free Will. It is that fact that we can choose to believe or not  without or with direct experience that allows us to reprogram ourselves. Freedom to decide in the present away from the habitual response based on past experiences is true choice. And choice of action based on the present information is an expression of spirit instead of staying to instinctual programming that may be coming from genes or nuturance from 0-6 years of age or any source for that matter.

Here my observation on being/becoming "awake" and "aware": it means that you are now strong enough to take self-responsibility and make choices. It does not mean you are without your issues, lessons or "baggage". You're just able now to choose other than the automatic pilot of before.

I have come across folks who think that it is a grander thing to be awake and aware or that their way of processing or methods of self-awareness are somehow special, so to speak. Argh! I don't agree with that personally. I think that some folks don't need a spiritual practice to have self-awareness and some do. And whatever method to ending your madness works then that is the right method... for you. Awareness is a possibility for freedom from the traps of programming, stories, past-lives, etc. that may be limiting you in your choices for the present moment. So be aware and be awake, just consider that it is your right of passage and not a spiritual superiority club card or an instant pass to "I'm done with myself, so what about you?".