Patanjali & 5 steps to master your thoughts

Patanjali offers 196 yoga sutras to increase your clarity and deepen you practice. Thought patterns are gradually mastered through learning non-attachment. Consider these five steps to begin to master your thoughts;

1) Notice whether your thoughts are colored with aversion or attraction. Do not judge. Learn to be an astute observer.

2) Nurture the lifestyle, actions, speech, and thoughts, and spiritual practices that lead in the positive direction. (rather than going in the opposite direction, away from the positive, and towards the negative).

3) Let go of the mental coloring of your thoughts that lead away from the spiritual (rather than going in the opposite direction, giving in to the attachments and aversions).

4) Raise conscious awareness to become more discerning of how you think and feel and the implications.

5) Practice consistency.  Learn to choose the wiser courses of action with deliberate intention.

8 Random facts about me

Why offer random facts about myself? I was kindly tagged by Tania on her website Whole Living Today.  The concept intrigued me.  Here are the first 8 things that jump to mind:

1.) As a teen, I spent a summer circus trapeze training in a high altitude
2.) While hitching abroad, I was once picked up by a camel rider
3.) Travel links me with 5 friends in 5 countries who share my birthday
4.) I am a budding neologist who used to collect epitaphs
5.) After an accident, I was without a nose for 7 hours
6.) Visited sacred places on 7 continents 
7.) One of my childhood dreams was to live in a lighthouse that flew
8.) An early nickname was 'Snapdragon'

In return, I tag these people and invite them to respond (as well as anyone else who has things to say). I invite visitors here to visit these websites:

1) Mark on The Naked Truth
http://tobeme.wordpress.com/
2) Charles at On the Path
http://charleshamel.com
3) Simon on Secret of Life
http://secretoflife.typepad.com/
4) Andrea  on Empowered Soul
http://www.empoweredsoul.com/
5) Titania on Finding Life's Enchantments
http://titaniastarlight.blogspot.com/

For luck!
8.) Jenny on Heal Pain Naturally
http://healpain.blogspot.com