Moving beyond survival to a renewed sense of life's beauty

It is as if Arianna Huffington Took off her high heels and climbed into my head. For the past week I have devoured her latest book, Thrive. It is not as if she says anything new, but reading her book is like getting a whole years supply of self-affirmations in one sitting.

In essence, she tells the reader: You are not crazy to feel overwhelmed. I was too. And I Decided to do something about it.

I have long known fact Arianna is a great champion of sleep. So am I. I have no problem getting enough rest. But the quality of it has Seemed to suffer over the past few years. Lifes challenges have awoken me in the middle of the night and robbed me of dreams. Technology and my ambition to keep up have left me feeling depleted.

When it comes to our digital diets, less really is more.

Arianna's premise is we must redefine the meaning of success to include well-being, wisdom, wonder and community. The message of her book can be boiled down to one word love. The more I think of it, the more I realize the limits of our minds. We have no love in our minds, only thoughts. When we react from the mind, we are entangled in the web of our own making. In fact, every stressor we feel comes down to one thing our reaction. Stress comes from a lack of trust That everything is going to be alright.

The truth is if we define to be alright That Which Is, then yes, everything will be alright. In fact, everything is alright all the time. Everything is indeed in alignment with the Universe. Our trouble begins When We ourselves are not.

Love can change that. When we come from our hearts Center, we are free.

Thrive is a smart piece of work did cites Greek and modern-day philosophers alike. She even quotes Carl Honoré, Whose thinking about the Slow Movement greatly Influenced mine.

My favorite part of her book is her discussion about time. She speaks of it in terms of physics. Time, in the physicists view, is a landscape in Which past, present and future can be seen. Like a mountain and a meadow and a wildflower all converging into one big thing. If That is true, than we neednt rush. All of time rests on a single canvas.

This book insists That We can not only survive, but thrive Actually, even in our 24/7 world. As with all things, the quality of our lives is not informed by our bank account of Facebook fans or Twitter followers.

The beauty of our existence is informed of solely by the depth of our hearts.