If you knew you could have it all and do anything you wanted, what would you choose to have and what would you choose to do?
Synchrodestiny allows you to make these miracles happen, without limits, without end. And it does this by gently and progressively nudging you from the local to the nonlocal domain.
Using synchrodestiny to get in touch with the nonlocal domain allows you to enter into a realm of infinite creativity and infinite correlation. Here you have inner security; you are free of anxiety, and free to be the person you were meant to be. You have the spiritual equivalent of a billion dollars in the bank.
In the nonlocal domain you have an unlimited supply of knowledge, of inspiration, of creativity, of potential. You have access to an infinite supply of everything the universe has to offer. Whatever else happens in your life, you are calm, secure, and infinitely blessed.
The principles of synchrodestiny offer a direct route to developing your connection with the nonlcoal domain. Practice meditation and review the daily Sutra Statements, and in time you will find yourself connected with spirit in a way that makes miracles not only possible, but a natural part of your everyday life.
Like any other worthwhile journey, living synchrodestiny will require some sacrifice on your part. You need to sacrifice your mistaken ideas that the world operates like a well-oiled machine without consciousness. You need to sacrifice your notion that you are alone in the world. You need to sacrifice the myth that a magical life is not possible. Some people live magical lives all the time. They have learned how to get back in touch with the boundless energy that lies at the heart of the universe. They have learned to watch for clues to the intention of the nonlocal expressed through coincidences, and to derive meaning from those clues so they know what actions are needed to increase the probability that wondrous things will happen.
Adapted from The Book of Secrets, by Deepak Chopra (Harmony Books, 2004).
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
FEEDING YOUR DEMONS
Perhaps the most normal and least helpful response that we humans have to our emotional pain and fear is the habit of looking away or trying to suppress our feelings. Most of us are not trained or adept at dealing with the fear, rejection and pain that life and relationships often present. Emotional injuries from childhood that were never processed become silent filters that impact how we perceive and understand our entire lives.
Our feelings can seem so large and overwhelming that they threaten to consume us whole. They grow into demons as we ignore and refuse our emotional experiences that are the life blood of our identity. The demons that run our lives come in an infinite number of manifestations–they are as unique as we are in personality, yet universal in the needs we all share. The problem you mentioned of broken-heartedness can include every thing from conflicts with people we love, to anxiety about communicating, discomfort with our appearance, the terror of being abandoned, or the shame of feeling worthless. We demonize our emotional experiences by our inability to attend to them. Anything that calls for our attention and is continuously rebuffed will become an active demon inside of you.
The issue of demonizing our fears and pain is as old as recorded history. The ancient Buddhist practices of working to embrace our dark places was first recorded over a thousand years ago. The practice has been translated and modernized for our times in an extremely user friendly version, called Feeding Your Demons: Ancient Wisdom for Resolving Inner Conflict. Written by a former Buddhist nun, Tsultrim Allione, the book provides a helpful five step process to identify and attend to the experiences and emotions that prevent us from joining life.
Although the idea of feeding and nurturing our internal enemies flies in the face of the conventional approach of overcoming and eliminating our weaknesses, getting intimate with the parts of ourselves that we attempt to cut off from ourselves makes great sense. Instead of battling with the places that scare us, this practice shows us how to invite them in, take a good look at them and try to find a way to give them what they need. If ever a Buddhist path offered a way to true liberation, this is it. And you don’t even have to learn to sit, anyone with the willingness and a little bit of courage can learn to embody your feelings and listen.
Dismantling and integrating our internal demons has the added benefit of helping us to develop the skills of attending and turning towards our feelings before they become the monsters that can control us. The better you get at learning to look at what makes you afraid, sad, angry or anxious, the more you realize that there is no real form to these feelings. Their intensity grows from through our unwillingness to see them. With practice, dealing with the emotions that have kept you locked away from your own life is as simple as turning your awareness towards the experience as soon as it comes up. Emotions that are witnessed do not intensify, they resolve and literally vanish before your eyes. The shift from being controlled by our emotions to being governed by our awareness is subtle and profound. Emotions don’t stop happening, they just stop keeping you from a life of your choosing.
Written by WENDY STRGAR-
Our feelings can seem so large and overwhelming that they threaten to consume us whole. They grow into demons as we ignore and refuse our emotional experiences that are the life blood of our identity. The demons that run our lives come in an infinite number of manifestations–they are as unique as we are in personality, yet universal in the needs we all share. The problem you mentioned of broken-heartedness can include every thing from conflicts with people we love, to anxiety about communicating, discomfort with our appearance, the terror of being abandoned, or the shame of feeling worthless. We demonize our emotional experiences by our inability to attend to them. Anything that calls for our attention and is continuously rebuffed will become an active demon inside of you.
The issue of demonizing our fears and pain is as old as recorded history. The ancient Buddhist practices of working to embrace our dark places was first recorded over a thousand years ago. The practice has been translated and modernized for our times in an extremely user friendly version, called Feeding Your Demons: Ancient Wisdom for Resolving Inner Conflict. Written by a former Buddhist nun, Tsultrim Allione, the book provides a helpful five step process to identify and attend to the experiences and emotions that prevent us from joining life.
Although the idea of feeding and nurturing our internal enemies flies in the face of the conventional approach of overcoming and eliminating our weaknesses, getting intimate with the parts of ourselves that we attempt to cut off from ourselves makes great sense. Instead of battling with the places that scare us, this practice shows us how to invite them in, take a good look at them and try to find a way to give them what they need. If ever a Buddhist path offered a way to true liberation, this is it. And you don’t even have to learn to sit, anyone with the willingness and a little bit of courage can learn to embody your feelings and listen.
Dismantling and integrating our internal demons has the added benefit of helping us to develop the skills of attending and turning towards our feelings before they become the monsters that can control us. The better you get at learning to look at what makes you afraid, sad, angry or anxious, the more you realize that there is no real form to these feelings. Their intensity grows from through our unwillingness to see them. With practice, dealing with the emotions that have kept you locked away from your own life is as simple as turning your awareness towards the experience as soon as it comes up. Emotions that are witnessed do not intensify, they resolve and literally vanish before your eyes. The shift from being controlled by our emotions to being governed by our awareness is subtle and profound. Emotions don’t stop happening, they just stop keeping you from a life of your choosing.
Written by WENDY STRGAR-
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
NON LOCAL EVENTS
According to best-selling author and metaphysical pioneer Larry Dossey, M.D., nonlocal events have three important qualities that distinguish them from events confined to the physical world: They are correlated, and this correlation is unmediated, unmitigated, and immediate. Let’s briefly explore what he means by this.
The behavior of two or more subatomic events is acausally interrelated, meaning that “one event is not the cause of another event, yet the behavior of one is immediately correlated or coordinated with the other.” In other words, they seem to be dancing to the same tune, even though they are not communicating with each other in the conventional sense. This is the meaning of unmediated.
The correlation between these nonlocal events is also unmitigated, which means that the strength of the correlation remains undiminished with distance in space and time. If you were in the nonlocal domain, I would be heard clearly, regardless of whether I was standing right next to you, across the street, a mile away, or even on another continent.
Third, immediate means that no travel time is needed for nonlocal events. We are all familiar with the fact that light and sound travel at different speeds. With nonlocal events there is no such lag time, because nonlocal correlations do not follow the laws of classical physics. There is no signal, there is no light, and there is no sound. There is no “thing” that has to travel.
Correlations between events that occur at the nonlocal or virtual level occur instantly, without cause, and without any weakening over time or distance. Nonlocal intelligence is everywhere at once, and can cause multiple effects simultaneously in various locations.
It is from this virtual domain that everything in the world is organized and synchronized. This, then, is the source of the coincidences that are so important to synchrodestiny. When you learn to live from this level, you can spontaneously fulfill your every desire. You can create miracles.
Adapted from The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire, by Deepak Chopra (Three Rivers Press).
The behavior of two or more subatomic events is acausally interrelated, meaning that “one event is not the cause of another event, yet the behavior of one is immediately correlated or coordinated with the other.” In other words, they seem to be dancing to the same tune, even though they are not communicating with each other in the conventional sense. This is the meaning of unmediated.
The correlation between these nonlocal events is also unmitigated, which means that the strength of the correlation remains undiminished with distance in space and time. If you were in the nonlocal domain, I would be heard clearly, regardless of whether I was standing right next to you, across the street, a mile away, or even on another continent.
Third, immediate means that no travel time is needed for nonlocal events. We are all familiar with the fact that light and sound travel at different speeds. With nonlocal events there is no such lag time, because nonlocal correlations do not follow the laws of classical physics. There is no signal, there is no light, and there is no sound. There is no “thing” that has to travel.
Correlations between events that occur at the nonlocal or virtual level occur instantly, without cause, and without any weakening over time or distance. Nonlocal intelligence is everywhere at once, and can cause multiple effects simultaneously in various locations.
It is from this virtual domain that everything in the world is organized and synchronized. This, then, is the source of the coincidences that are so important to synchrodestiny. When you learn to live from this level, you can spontaneously fulfill your every desire. You can create miracles.
Adapted from The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire, by Deepak Chopra (Three Rivers Press).
Monday, March 29, 2010
BEING FAITHFUL
Faithful
-Devlyn Steele
When you hear the word faithful, the first thing you might think about is in terms of relationship. We think of the meaning of faithful as being faithful to someone else, usually sexually. Although that is not the context that we are discussing today, let's use relationship as a starting place.
We would consider if someone was to, let's say, have sex outside of their marriage that they are not being faithful to their husband or wife. Is that really who they are not being faithful to? Let's take two men, (using men as our example doesn't mean to imply that men are less faithful than women) and examine faithfulness. In this example both men are of the same age, education, family and religious background. Both the men make the same money, travel the same amount and have the same access to and opportunity to meet women other then their respective wives. Lastly they have the same sex drive and testosterone levels. With all factors the same one is not faithful (cheats) and the other is, why would that be?
What would keep someone faithful or not? The real question is what is important to you? What I am always hearing is what people want. I always tell people when they tell me what they want, that they really don't want what they say they want. Many feel that is an unfair and untrue statement. In many ways they are right, it is not true that people don't want to be in great shape, or have money, or the other things they say they want. Of course people want all that and more.
However, they do not want to do the work to make these things they say they want to happen. They would want them if they came to them, but in all actuality these things that people say they want are simply not that important to them. What is more important is eating the food they like, watching TV or other habits not in alignment with the wants. If being in great shape was important to a person, then they would eat and exercise accordingly. Our behavior is motivated by what is important to us.
Often we work not because we love the work, but our lifestyles are important to us and therefore motivating our behavior to do what we need to do to sustain that. Think back to when you were a child, it might have been the newest toy, skateboard, doll or other thing that you wanted. You wanted it so much that it became very important for you to have it. You then did whatever you needed to, you babysat, washed cars, bugged your parents. You did all that and more and it was effortless because it was important to you.
The more important question than "what do you want?" is, "what is important to you?" Back to the scenario of the two men where one cheats and one does not. The difference between the two is what is truly important to each one. With all factors being the same including sex drive and opportunity, the one who does not cheat always desires sex just as much, but the marriage and what that means simply is more important to that person than sex. Doesn't mean that the sex is not desired.
You see, we all want to eat what ever we want, not work as hard as we should, not deal with school and more, but we do what we do by what is important to us. When we do establish what is important to ourselves as an individual, when we do not live up to the behavior that corresponds to achieve and or maintain those objectives, we have ultimately cheated on ourselves. When it comes down to it, the most important person you have to be faithful to is yourself. You have to establish what is important to you and then be faithful to yourself, then you will be living the life that you have established is important to you because your behavior will correspond to achieving and maintaining that life.
Be faithful to yourself, the result of cheating is not having the life you say you want.
-Devlyn Steele
When you hear the word faithful, the first thing you might think about is in terms of relationship. We think of the meaning of faithful as being faithful to someone else, usually sexually. Although that is not the context that we are discussing today, let's use relationship as a starting place.
We would consider if someone was to, let's say, have sex outside of their marriage that they are not being faithful to their husband or wife. Is that really who they are not being faithful to? Let's take two men, (using men as our example doesn't mean to imply that men are less faithful than women) and examine faithfulness. In this example both men are of the same age, education, family and religious background. Both the men make the same money, travel the same amount and have the same access to and opportunity to meet women other then their respective wives. Lastly they have the same sex drive and testosterone levels. With all factors the same one is not faithful (cheats) and the other is, why would that be?
What would keep someone faithful or not? The real question is what is important to you? What I am always hearing is what people want. I always tell people when they tell me what they want, that they really don't want what they say they want. Many feel that is an unfair and untrue statement. In many ways they are right, it is not true that people don't want to be in great shape, or have money, or the other things they say they want. Of course people want all that and more.
However, they do not want to do the work to make these things they say they want to happen. They would want them if they came to them, but in all actuality these things that people say they want are simply not that important to them. What is more important is eating the food they like, watching TV or other habits not in alignment with the wants. If being in great shape was important to a person, then they would eat and exercise accordingly. Our behavior is motivated by what is important to us.
Often we work not because we love the work, but our lifestyles are important to us and therefore motivating our behavior to do what we need to do to sustain that. Think back to when you were a child, it might have been the newest toy, skateboard, doll or other thing that you wanted. You wanted it so much that it became very important for you to have it. You then did whatever you needed to, you babysat, washed cars, bugged your parents. You did all that and more and it was effortless because it was important to you.
The more important question than "what do you want?" is, "what is important to you?" Back to the scenario of the two men where one cheats and one does not. The difference between the two is what is truly important to each one. With all factors being the same including sex drive and opportunity, the one who does not cheat always desires sex just as much, but the marriage and what that means simply is more important to that person than sex. Doesn't mean that the sex is not desired.
You see, we all want to eat what ever we want, not work as hard as we should, not deal with school and more, but we do what we do by what is important to us. When we do establish what is important to ourselves as an individual, when we do not live up to the behavior that corresponds to achieve and or maintain those objectives, we have ultimately cheated on ourselves. When it comes down to it, the most important person you have to be faithful to is yourself. You have to establish what is important to you and then be faithful to yourself, then you will be living the life that you have established is important to you because your behavior will correspond to achieving and maintaining that life.
Be faithful to yourself, the result of cheating is not having the life you say you want.
THE AFTERLIFE
Since belief isn’t a given in our society, why should we all expect the same afterlife? Choice and conditioning must pay a huge part in the outcome. Consider the following two people whose lives diverge in many ways:
Marion was born into a large Catholic family. She took Communion and was a believer until her mother died of ovarian cancer at forty. Watching her mother’s suffering killed something in Marion. She stopped believing in God’s mercy, although she hardly acknowledged this, even to herself.
When she married a man who had long ago dropped his faith, she turned to career and family, and together they achieved success. At fifty-two, she again feels the need for the faith she grew up in.
Aaron comes from a small family of nonpracticing Jews. As the only son his needs were nurtured as a child, perhaps to a fault. By age thirty, Aaron was established in a prominent Manhattan law firm, never looking back.
He married late to a woman who is also a lawyer. When he found out that his wife was cheating on him, Aaron got over his shock rapidly. He arranged a divorce settlement that benefited him as much as possible. At fifty, so far as he is aware, he hasn’t had a spiritual thought in years.
It’s obvious that these two people have led very different lives. One is a placid follower, the other a fierce competitor. One put her energy into raising a family, the other into making a career. Key words for Marion include stability, intimacy, caring, togetherness, cooperation, listening, and patience. The key words for Aaron include independence, self-reliance, competition, power, ambition, and success. When two lives are so different in so many core values, why should they anticipate the same afterlife?
Everyone’s basic choices, which have shaped their lives, begin at the level of consciousness. At this level choices aren’t simple. They depend on memory and conditioning, on culture and expectation. All these ingredients factor into what happens in the afterlife. Only some of the beliefs that make a difference center on religion. Looming much larger are the infinite other choices we make every day, for they create our personal reality.
Adapted from Life After Death: The Burden of Proof, by Deepak Chopra (Harmony Books, 2006).
Marion was born into a large Catholic family. She took Communion and was a believer until her mother died of ovarian cancer at forty. Watching her mother’s suffering killed something in Marion. She stopped believing in God’s mercy, although she hardly acknowledged this, even to herself.
When she married a man who had long ago dropped his faith, she turned to career and family, and together they achieved success. At fifty-two, she again feels the need for the faith she grew up in.
Aaron comes from a small family of nonpracticing Jews. As the only son his needs were nurtured as a child, perhaps to a fault. By age thirty, Aaron was established in a prominent Manhattan law firm, never looking back.
He married late to a woman who is also a lawyer. When he found out that his wife was cheating on him, Aaron got over his shock rapidly. He arranged a divorce settlement that benefited him as much as possible. At fifty, so far as he is aware, he hasn’t had a spiritual thought in years.
It’s obvious that these two people have led very different lives. One is a placid follower, the other a fierce competitor. One put her energy into raising a family, the other into making a career. Key words for Marion include stability, intimacy, caring, togetherness, cooperation, listening, and patience. The key words for Aaron include independence, self-reliance, competition, power, ambition, and success. When two lives are so different in so many core values, why should they anticipate the same afterlife?
Everyone’s basic choices, which have shaped their lives, begin at the level of consciousness. At this level choices aren’t simple. They depend on memory and conditioning, on culture and expectation. All these ingredients factor into what happens in the afterlife. Only some of the beliefs that make a difference center on religion. Looming much larger are the infinite other choices we make every day, for they create our personal reality.
Adapted from Life After Death: The Burden of Proof, by Deepak Chopra (Harmony Books, 2006).
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Your Oniine Reputation
by Michael Arrington on Mar 28, 2010
Trying to control, or even manage, your online reputation is becoming increasingly difficult. And much like the fight by big labels against the illegal sharing of music, it will soon become pointless to even try. It’s time we all just give up on the small fights and become more accepting of the indiscretions of our fellow humans. Because the skeletons are coming out of the closet and onto the front porch.
We’ll look back on the good old days when your reputation was really only on the line with eBay via confirmed, actual transactions and LinkedIn, where you can simply reject anyone who leaves bad feedback on your professional life.
Today we have quick fire and semi or completely anonymous attacks on people, brands, businesses and just about everything else. And it is becoming increasingly findable on the search engines. Twitter, Yelp, Facebook, etc. are the new printing presses, and absolutely everyone, even the random wingnuts, have access.
That picture of you making out with two guys in college up on Facebook. Or perhaps doing a bong hit after winning a few Olympic gold medals. The random slam against your restaurant anonymously left by the owner of the competitor around the corner. The Twitter flame about how bad a driver you are, complete with a link to a picture of your license plate.
And it’s about to get a lot worse. Next week a startup is launching that’s effectively Yelp for people (look for our coverage in a few days). If someone has something good or bad to say about you, they’ll be able to do it anonymously and with very little potential legal or social fallout.
We’ve seen services like this in the past. Rapleaf and iKarma come to mind. But they were flawed – Rapleaf now collects and sells data about people, and iKarma seems to be little more than a realtor focused service. Another service, Gorb, has vanished completely.
But something tells me this new service, or some other one, might succeed where the others have failed. We’re primed and ready now and have lots of experience publishing all those random opinions about people and things on Twitter, Yelp and Facebook already. It’s time for a centralized, well organized place for anonymous mass defamation on the Internet. Scary? Yes. But it’s coming nonetheless.
This has been on my mind for a long while now. Our minds haven’t evolved much over the last few thousands of years, but the spread of quick fire opinions is now moving at the speed of light and forever findable on the Internet. We’re still wired to think of gossip as something that spreads quietly behind the scenes, and relatively slowly. But we’re already in a world where it’s all completely public, there are few repercussions to the person spreading it, and it is easily searchable. No wonder people freak out. We’re fish out of water.
Sure, we’ve evolved a legal infrastructure to deal with libel, slander and defamation. Those laws worked well in an era of the printing press, and sort of stretched to cover radio and television. But they are as ineffective against the Internet as copyright laws are in battling music piracy.
Other services like Reputation Defender have launched to try to help people manage their online reputations. It can be somewhat effective unless your name gets into the press, which doesn’t back away easily from the stuff they publish. It’s relatively easy to bully someone into taking down that Twitter rant, or even that Facebook photo, with an official looking email or letter threatening legal action.
But it’s much harder to get that stuff off of services that exist to publish that information. Businesses freak out over a bad Yelp review but can do little to stop it. Imagine how you’ll feel when the top result for your name is a site that includes “reviews” of you by anonymous people who know you.
Sure, lots of feedback will be positive. But piss someone off at work and you’ll have “Sketchy and unethical in the workplace” pop up about you. And it will be there forever. Heck, your great-great-grandchildren will be reading it long after you’re gone.
So What Happens Next?
We’re going to be forced to adjust as a society. I firmly believe that we will simply become much more accepting of indiscretions over time. Employers just won’t care that ridiculous drunk college pictures pop up about you when they do a HR background search on you.
Anyone who rises quickly in a corporate environment will have people complaining about you all the way up, and it will be easily findable via search. Basically, if someone doesn’t like you, even just for a moment, they’ll have the chance to hit you with an ambiguous but damaging anonymous statement. And it will be vague enough to stop any lawyer dead in her tracks from trying to get it removed, or from even learning the identity of the person who left the comment.
So what will matter? Hard proof of being a bad person. Criminal records. Non-anonymous and clear statements of wrong doing that need to be addressed. Perhaps a picture of you actually committing a violent felony. That kind of thing.
But the nonsense we’re all worried about today? I just don’t think it will carry the same weight in a few years. Because if there are pictures of the person hiring you smoking pot in college online, and there are pictures of every other candidate smoking pot in college online, it just won’t be a big deal any more.
And the kind of accusations that can kill a career today will likely be seen as a badge of honor, and a sign of an ambitious individual who has pissed off a few people along the way.
At least that’s what I hope will happen. Because there are a few pictures of me in high school and college that I’m tired of trying to keep off the Internet. Let’s just get it all out there sooner rather than later, and move on.
Trying to control, or even manage, your online reputation is becoming increasingly difficult. And much like the fight by big labels against the illegal sharing of music, it will soon become pointless to even try. It’s time we all just give up on the small fights and become more accepting of the indiscretions of our fellow humans. Because the skeletons are coming out of the closet and onto the front porch.
We’ll look back on the good old days when your reputation was really only on the line with eBay via confirmed, actual transactions and LinkedIn, where you can simply reject anyone who leaves bad feedback on your professional life.
Today we have quick fire and semi or completely anonymous attacks on people, brands, businesses and just about everything else. And it is becoming increasingly findable on the search engines. Twitter, Yelp, Facebook, etc. are the new printing presses, and absolutely everyone, even the random wingnuts, have access.
That picture of you making out with two guys in college up on Facebook. Or perhaps doing a bong hit after winning a few Olympic gold medals. The random slam against your restaurant anonymously left by the owner of the competitor around the corner. The Twitter flame about how bad a driver you are, complete with a link to a picture of your license plate.
And it’s about to get a lot worse. Next week a startup is launching that’s effectively Yelp for people (look for our coverage in a few days). If someone has something good or bad to say about you, they’ll be able to do it anonymously and with very little potential legal or social fallout.
We’ve seen services like this in the past. Rapleaf and iKarma come to mind. But they were flawed – Rapleaf now collects and sells data about people, and iKarma seems to be little more than a realtor focused service. Another service, Gorb, has vanished completely.
But something tells me this new service, or some other one, might succeed where the others have failed. We’re primed and ready now and have lots of experience publishing all those random opinions about people and things on Twitter, Yelp and Facebook already. It’s time for a centralized, well organized place for anonymous mass defamation on the Internet. Scary? Yes. But it’s coming nonetheless.
This has been on my mind for a long while now. Our minds haven’t evolved much over the last few thousands of years, but the spread of quick fire opinions is now moving at the speed of light and forever findable on the Internet. We’re still wired to think of gossip as something that spreads quietly behind the scenes, and relatively slowly. But we’re already in a world where it’s all completely public, there are few repercussions to the person spreading it, and it is easily searchable. No wonder people freak out. We’re fish out of water.
Sure, we’ve evolved a legal infrastructure to deal with libel, slander and defamation. Those laws worked well in an era of the printing press, and sort of stretched to cover radio and television. But they are as ineffective against the Internet as copyright laws are in battling music piracy.
Other services like Reputation Defender have launched to try to help people manage their online reputations. It can be somewhat effective unless your name gets into the press, which doesn’t back away easily from the stuff they publish. It’s relatively easy to bully someone into taking down that Twitter rant, or even that Facebook photo, with an official looking email or letter threatening legal action.
But it’s much harder to get that stuff off of services that exist to publish that information. Businesses freak out over a bad Yelp review but can do little to stop it. Imagine how you’ll feel when the top result for your name is a site that includes “reviews” of you by anonymous people who know you.
Sure, lots of feedback will be positive. But piss someone off at work and you’ll have “Sketchy and unethical in the workplace” pop up about you. And it will be there forever. Heck, your great-great-grandchildren will be reading it long after you’re gone.
So What Happens Next?
We’re going to be forced to adjust as a society. I firmly believe that we will simply become much more accepting of indiscretions over time. Employers just won’t care that ridiculous drunk college pictures pop up about you when they do a HR background search on you.
Anyone who rises quickly in a corporate environment will have people complaining about you all the way up, and it will be easily findable via search. Basically, if someone doesn’t like you, even just for a moment, they’ll have the chance to hit you with an ambiguous but damaging anonymous statement. And it will be vague enough to stop any lawyer dead in her tracks from trying to get it removed, or from even learning the identity of the person who left the comment.
So what will matter? Hard proof of being a bad person. Criminal records. Non-anonymous and clear statements of wrong doing that need to be addressed. Perhaps a picture of you actually committing a violent felony. That kind of thing.
But the nonsense we’re all worried about today? I just don’t think it will carry the same weight in a few years. Because if there are pictures of the person hiring you smoking pot in college online, and there are pictures of every other candidate smoking pot in college online, it just won’t be a big deal any more.
And the kind of accusations that can kill a career today will likely be seen as a badge of honor, and a sign of an ambitious individual who has pissed off a few people along the way.
At least that’s what I hope will happen. Because there are a few pictures of me in high school and college that I’m tired of trying to keep off the Internet. Let’s just get it all out there sooner rather than later, and move on.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
A leap of Faith
“So the secret is just to say ‘Yes!’ and jump off from here. Then there is no problem. It means to be yourself in the present moment, always yourself, without sticking to an old self. You forget all about yourself and are refreshed. You are a new self, and before that self becomes an old self, you say ‘Yes!’ and you walk to the kitchen for breakfast. So the point of each moment is to forget the point and extend your practice.” -Shunryu Suzuki
Responding to the question, “How can I be free of anxiety, how can I find peace?” the historical Buddha answered: “When breathing a short breath know that you are breathing a short breath. When breathing a long breath, know that you are breathing a long breath.”
These were some of the Buddha’s early, profoundly simple instructions on mindfulness practice. Mindfulness is the quality of awareness of paying attention in a particular way:
- With purpose
- In the present moment
- Non-judgmentally
Mindfulness includes the capacity to notice and observe bodily sensations, thoughts and feelings, to decrease reactivity to challenging experiences. Mindfulness is a way of increasing awareness, and being less on autopilot. The focus is more on our experience than on the labels and judgments we apply to our experience.
Another way to define mindfulness is “a penetrating understanding of reality.” Practicing mindfulness means not just noticing what is happening on the surface, but also penetrating - seeing beneath-the surface of our conventional ideas and beliefs. When we do this we begin to realize that how we think of ourselves is not a fixed, solid, unchanging entity, but a series of ever-changing processes.
So, the secret is to say “Yes” to appreciating and celebrating your beautiful, undefinable, sacred, ordinary life.
Marc Lesser
Responding to the question, “How can I be free of anxiety, how can I find peace?” the historical Buddha answered: “When breathing a short breath know that you are breathing a short breath. When breathing a long breath, know that you are breathing a long breath.”
These were some of the Buddha’s early, profoundly simple instructions on mindfulness practice. Mindfulness is the quality of awareness of paying attention in a particular way:
- With purpose
- In the present moment
- Non-judgmentally
Mindfulness includes the capacity to notice and observe bodily sensations, thoughts and feelings, to decrease reactivity to challenging experiences. Mindfulness is a way of increasing awareness, and being less on autopilot. The focus is more on our experience than on the labels and judgments we apply to our experience.
Another way to define mindfulness is “a penetrating understanding of reality.” Practicing mindfulness means not just noticing what is happening on the surface, but also penetrating - seeing beneath-the surface of our conventional ideas and beliefs. When we do this we begin to realize that how we think of ourselves is not a fixed, solid, unchanging entity, but a series of ever-changing processes.
So, the secret is to say “Yes” to appreciating and celebrating your beautiful, undefinable, sacred, ordinary life.
Marc Lesser
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
LOVE AND NEED
Courtship allows trust to grow despite old wounds. Given how many years we’ve all spent building our defenses, this healing doesn’t happen quickly. In fact, the first phase of healing brings up old wounds to be felt afresh.
Only when you begin to feel safe does your psyche permit you to look at fears that were too intense to confront before. It is common for either partner to relive, in contemporary form, the traumas and survival threats of childhood.
It isn’t surprising, then, that a man and woman may not permit themselves to be in a healing relationship at first. They need the courage to see that the doubt and fear that surface at odd moments is coming up to be examined and released, not blindly acted on.
The most destructive effect of feeling threatened is to cut off the flow of love. If you were not taught about love from childhood, being able to be undefended with another person is much more difficult. Loving parents must teach their children that reality isn’t simply harsh.
All of us were imprinted one of two ways: either the world is dangerous with moments of safety, or the world is safe with moments of danger.
No matter how hostile the world appears, a loving family remains secure as a place of nurturing and protection. Children don’t need to trust everyone, only someone who will never let them down – thus the original balance between love and need is established. A strong positive imprint from infancy can last a lifetime.
Even though only two parents taught a child to love, it is as if the whole world loved that child, and the belief “I am loved” endures as part of his or her reality. When you have a rock-bottom belief that you are loved, your needs won’t be so desperate; there will be room to allow another person into your inner space.
Adapted from The Path to Love, by Deepak Chopra (Three Rivers Press, 1997).
Only when you begin to feel safe does your psyche permit you to look at fears that were too intense to confront before. It is common for either partner to relive, in contemporary form, the traumas and survival threats of childhood.
It isn’t surprising, then, that a man and woman may not permit themselves to be in a healing relationship at first. They need the courage to see that the doubt and fear that surface at odd moments is coming up to be examined and released, not blindly acted on.
The most destructive effect of feeling threatened is to cut off the flow of love. If you were not taught about love from childhood, being able to be undefended with another person is much more difficult. Loving parents must teach their children that reality isn’t simply harsh.
All of us were imprinted one of two ways: either the world is dangerous with moments of safety, or the world is safe with moments of danger.
No matter how hostile the world appears, a loving family remains secure as a place of nurturing and protection. Children don’t need to trust everyone, only someone who will never let them down – thus the original balance between love and need is established. A strong positive imprint from infancy can last a lifetime.
Even though only two parents taught a child to love, it is as if the whole world loved that child, and the belief “I am loved” endures as part of his or her reality. When you have a rock-bottom belief that you are loved, your needs won’t be so desperate; there will be room to allow another person into your inner space.
Adapted from The Path to Love, by Deepak Chopra (Three Rivers Press, 1997).
THE SOUL'S GUIDANCE
Scattered clues wouldn’t be enough to keep a seeker on the path. A path implies a sequence of events. In this case, God-consciousness is an inner state, so are the events along the way. One experiences firsthand that ego and personality don’t have to dominate one’s life. The things they stand for – and tenaciously refuse to let go of – give way to a higher vision.
The ego’s stake in its own interests is so powerful, backed up by years of conditioning and inner propaganda, that we may only hear its voice warning us that trying to become spiritual will be disastrous.
We will become vulnerable on every front, giving a free hand to fear, aggression, outside enemies, and irrationality. In a sense, this warning is correct, but only from the ego’s point of view. Higher consciousness seems to spell the end of lower consciousness; therefore, it’s logical for the status quo to fight hard against its own extinction.
The soul possesses another viewpoint. It knows that it is real, but also that it has no intention of annihilating the ego and the personality. Transformation isn’t a war, and the soul never uses psychological violence. After all, no violence is required for a three-year-old child to grow into a four-year-old, with all the inner changes that implies.
God-consciousness requires more inner change, yet it proceeds as spontaneously as a child learning to read. The chasm between literacy and illiteracy is huge; the two states have nothing in common, so we can’t force one to turn into the other. We trust in the process of development, and the same holds true for spiritual growth. The more spontaneous it is, the more genuine.
Adapted from The Third Jesus: The Christ We Cannot Ignore, by Deepak Chopra (Harmony Books, 2008).
The ego’s stake in its own interests is so powerful, backed up by years of conditioning and inner propaganda, that we may only hear its voice warning us that trying to become spiritual will be disastrous.
We will become vulnerable on every front, giving a free hand to fear, aggression, outside enemies, and irrationality. In a sense, this warning is correct, but only from the ego’s point of view. Higher consciousness seems to spell the end of lower consciousness; therefore, it’s logical for the status quo to fight hard against its own extinction.
The soul possesses another viewpoint. It knows that it is real, but also that it has no intention of annihilating the ego and the personality. Transformation isn’t a war, and the soul never uses psychological violence. After all, no violence is required for a three-year-old child to grow into a four-year-old, with all the inner changes that implies.
God-consciousness requires more inner change, yet it proceeds as spontaneously as a child learning to read. The chasm between literacy and illiteracy is huge; the two states have nothing in common, so we can’t force one to turn into the other. We trust in the process of development, and the same holds true for spiritual growth. The more spontaneous it is, the more genuine.
Adapted from The Third Jesus: The Christ We Cannot Ignore, by Deepak Chopra (Harmony Books, 2008).
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
SEARCHING FOR HAPPINESS
When people find that their desires are beginning to come true, in defiance of how reality is supposed to behave, the sudden influx of power brings with it vaulting emotions – people feel jubilant and triumphant; they feel fused with the very heart of nature. Fear becomes meaningless, replaced with immense relief at the true simplicity of life.
Simplicity is the key. The rishis lived by a code that depends upon magic rather than struggle. Maharishi expresses this code beautifully: Keep your desire turning back within and be patient. Allow the fulfillment to come to you, gently resisting the temptation to chase your dreams into the world. Pursue them in your heart until they disappear into the self, and leave them there. It may take a little self-discipline, but be simple, be kind. Attend to your inner health and happiness.
Allow your love to nourish yourself as well as others. Do not strain after the needs of life – it is sufficient to be quietly alert and aware of them. In this way life proceeds more naturally and effortlessly. Life is here to enjoy.
Just by being ourselves, we are borne toward a destiny far beyond anything we can imagine. It is enough to know that the being I nourish inside me is the same as the Being that suffuses every atom of the cosmos. When the two see each other as equals, they will be equal, because then the same force that controls the galaxies will be upholding my individual existence.
If a man claims to be enlightened, I only need to ask, ”Do your desires effortlessly come true?” If he says yes, I can accept that his thinking has turned magical.
But I would ask a second question, “On what scale do you have your desires?” If he says his desires are for himself, I will know that he has not broken free of local reality. On the other hand, if he says that his desires are for the world, I will know that the entire universe works on his behalf. He has mastered nonlocal reality – he is a citizen of the field.
Adapted from Unconditional Life: Discovering the Power to Fulfill Your Dreams, by Deepak Chopra (A Bantam Book, 1991).
Simplicity is the key. The rishis lived by a code that depends upon magic rather than struggle. Maharishi expresses this code beautifully: Keep your desire turning back within and be patient. Allow the fulfillment to come to you, gently resisting the temptation to chase your dreams into the world. Pursue them in your heart until they disappear into the self, and leave them there. It may take a little self-discipline, but be simple, be kind. Attend to your inner health and happiness.
Allow your love to nourish yourself as well as others. Do not strain after the needs of life – it is sufficient to be quietly alert and aware of them. In this way life proceeds more naturally and effortlessly. Life is here to enjoy.
Just by being ourselves, we are borne toward a destiny far beyond anything we can imagine. It is enough to know that the being I nourish inside me is the same as the Being that suffuses every atom of the cosmos. When the two see each other as equals, they will be equal, because then the same force that controls the galaxies will be upholding my individual existence.
If a man claims to be enlightened, I only need to ask, ”Do your desires effortlessly come true?” If he says yes, I can accept that his thinking has turned magical.
But I would ask a second question, “On what scale do you have your desires?” If he says his desires are for himself, I will know that he has not broken free of local reality. On the other hand, if he says that his desires are for the world, I will know that the entire universe works on his behalf. He has mastered nonlocal reality – he is a citizen of the field.
Adapted from Unconditional Life: Discovering the Power to Fulfill Your Dreams, by Deepak Chopra (A Bantam Book, 1991).
Monday, March 22, 2010
WHAT ARE YOU SEARCHING FOR???
What are you searching for?
-Devlyn Steele
We all at one point or another are searching. Whether it is for a partner in life, a better job, a way to get in better shape, or it could be as basic as more happiness in life. In fact, most of us spend a major portion of our life in "search" and as much as we use Google to find the answers, our searches come up short.
After Google, we still continue our search and we search and search. We look in books, and buy the latest expert's advice promising to guide us to the answers. Wewatch Oprah, certainly she must know, if she doesn't then one of her guests do, after all they have written a book. We go to the seminars, lectures, workshops, and buy the latest infomercial gadget, program or miracle that will only take 7 days to complete.
When all that doesn't work, we watch The Secret, because that must be it, it must be a secret and that is why you just have not got it yet. Still even after The Secret and all the advice, gizmos, gadgets and promises to the life you want, you still find yourself searching.
Searching and searching but never finding the answer you need. You know it is out there. You are sure it is and you know as long as you keep looking you will find it. After all, you deserve to have a great relationship, earn money at a career you like, lose weight and find your happiness, don't you?
What if you could find the answer, what would you do? I am sure that to find how to accomplish the results you want, you would do just about anything, wouldn't you?You would, wouldn't you?
Of course you would.
I am glad to know you agree that you would do what it takes for the answer you have invested so much of your time searching for. With that agreement, I am going to reveal the answer you have been searching for right here and right now. However, I am revealing it with the agreement that you are willing to do what it takes for this answer. If you are not, read no further, if you agree then proceed to discover the answer to everything you want.
Caution Caution Caution
Okay, since you are here we know two things: One, you are prepared to do what it takes as agreed. Two, you want to create changes in your life.
In order to be able to read the answer you will need a mirror. You didn't think the answer would be in plain sight did you. If it was that simple surely you would have found it already. Or maybe it has been in plain sight and you just missed it all these years.
Ok take a good look in the mirror. Keep looking. Just stare straight into it, did you see the answer? You did not see it yet, come on take a good look, you can't miss it.
Still not seeing it, you most have the mirror at the wrong angle, try shifting it or shift how you are looking at the mirror and really stare into the mirror. Now you see it, don't you? If you are still confused, what are you seeing?
When you stare in the mirror what you should be seeing is yourself and what else is there? If you are really staring in the mirror that is all you should be seeing, is yourself and there is the answer you have been searching for all your life. The answer to everything you want is ----- YOU!
You don't need any expert, any gizmo or secret to create the life you want. The power to create the life you want is in you and it has been there all this time you have been searching. All you need to do is exercise your power to take action.
You want a relationship, then work on making yourself the best you can. After all, don't you want someone who is attracted to you being active in your life. So if you like tennis, play tennis, go to the places and do the activities of that which you want a person to be with you. Then take your power and date. Take the great you out and find ways to date and over time the relationship will develop.
That person in the mirror has the power to exercise, to eat right and to get in great shape. Don't like your job, then get training, more education, update your resume and search for a new job.
Tired of not having money, examine how you spend it and make a decision to create more wealth in your life. What ever it is you want, there is action you can take to create it. The power to change your life is you. Since you agreed that if I would reveal this answer to you, that you would do what it takes, now you have to live up to your end of the bargain.
That is what every successful person you see and envy knows and does. They do not buy into short cuts and secrets, they know the responsibility to create the life they want is the decisions and action they take.
So now that you know the answer, it is up to you!
-Devlyn Steele
We all at one point or another are searching. Whether it is for a partner in life, a better job, a way to get in better shape, or it could be as basic as more happiness in life. In fact, most of us spend a major portion of our life in "search" and as much as we use Google to find the answers, our searches come up short.
After Google, we still continue our search and we search and search. We look in books, and buy the latest expert's advice promising to guide us to the answers. Wewatch Oprah, certainly she must know, if she doesn't then one of her guests do, after all they have written a book. We go to the seminars, lectures, workshops, and buy the latest infomercial gadget, program or miracle that will only take 7 days to complete.
When all that doesn't work, we watch The Secret, because that must be it, it must be a secret and that is why you just have not got it yet. Still even after The Secret and all the advice, gizmos, gadgets and promises to the life you want, you still find yourself searching.
Searching and searching but never finding the answer you need. You know it is out there. You are sure it is and you know as long as you keep looking you will find it. After all, you deserve to have a great relationship, earn money at a career you like, lose weight and find your happiness, don't you?
What if you could find the answer, what would you do? I am sure that to find how to accomplish the results you want, you would do just about anything, wouldn't you?You would, wouldn't you?
Of course you would.
I am glad to know you agree that you would do what it takes for the answer you have invested so much of your time searching for. With that agreement, I am going to reveal the answer you have been searching for right here and right now. However, I am revealing it with the agreement that you are willing to do what it takes for this answer. If you are not, read no further, if you agree then proceed to discover the answer to everything you want.
Caution Caution Caution
Okay, since you are here we know two things: One, you are prepared to do what it takes as agreed. Two, you want to create changes in your life.
In order to be able to read the answer you will need a mirror. You didn't think the answer would be in plain sight did you. If it was that simple surely you would have found it already. Or maybe it has been in plain sight and you just missed it all these years.
Ok take a good look in the mirror. Keep looking. Just stare straight into it, did you see the answer? You did not see it yet, come on take a good look, you can't miss it.
Still not seeing it, you most have the mirror at the wrong angle, try shifting it or shift how you are looking at the mirror and really stare into the mirror. Now you see it, don't you? If you are still confused, what are you seeing?
When you stare in the mirror what you should be seeing is yourself and what else is there? If you are really staring in the mirror that is all you should be seeing, is yourself and there is the answer you have been searching for all your life. The answer to everything you want is ----- YOU!
You don't need any expert, any gizmo or secret to create the life you want. The power to create the life you want is in you and it has been there all this time you have been searching. All you need to do is exercise your power to take action.
You want a relationship, then work on making yourself the best you can. After all, don't you want someone who is attracted to you being active in your life. So if you like tennis, play tennis, go to the places and do the activities of that which you want a person to be with you. Then take your power and date. Take the great you out and find ways to date and over time the relationship will develop.
That person in the mirror has the power to exercise, to eat right and to get in great shape. Don't like your job, then get training, more education, update your resume and search for a new job.
Tired of not having money, examine how you spend it and make a decision to create more wealth in your life. What ever it is you want, there is action you can take to create it. The power to change your life is you. Since you agreed that if I would reveal this answer to you, that you would do what it takes, now you have to live up to your end of the bargain.
That is what every successful person you see and envy knows and does. They do not buy into short cuts and secrets, they know the responsibility to create the life they want is the decisions and action they take.
So now that you know the answer, it is up to you!
Saturday, March 20, 2010
DEEP HOPELESSNESS BY DR. ART JANOV
In our research into serotonin we found that after a year of our therapy there are stable changes in serotonin output. Those who feel very deeply seem to normalize in predictable ways. What it shows is that early pains are involved in how much serotonin we produce. By experiencing preverbal feelings we can make serious hormonal alterations in our patients that endure. I do not think that these changes can occur solely by reliving later childhood events. We are obliged to return to the scene of the crime; the event that deregulated the hormones, in the first place. We do not normalize every dislocated hormone but we have enough success to indicate that the origins are far earlier than we thought. When we understand that very early feelings become compounded as we develop; this is an important notion because when we re-experience a later childhood pain we take some of the force off the feeling. But resolution only occurs when we feel the basic platform of the feeling, as for example, hopelessness. It is the primordial hopelessness that makes for suicidal thoughts. Then when we grow up and find ourselves in another hopeless situation the resonance factor kicks in, sets off the basic hopelessness at birth, for example, and the inevitable suicidal thoughts. It is not as though the thoughts have been hiding waiting to come out but that when the first-line is triggered and it sets off the feeling, (of hopelessness), which in turn sends signals to the cortex to produce terrible, despairing thoughts. Those thoughts are the result of feelings on the move; they cannot be changed by encouragement or exhortation, because the thoughts are not the problem, feelings are. And those feelings reflect specific experience. It is the experiences that we must address.
It is the first-line component of hopelessness that engenders self destructive behavior. This is because the trauma at birth, for example, when the newborn was heavily drugged was accompanied by the deep physiology of hopelessness. (of trying to get out; a matter of life-and death). So when all of the feelings of hopelessness throughout our lives are lined-up, we are in danger. One part may be feelable, but all together they are not. So we can feel hopeless at failing in school, but when that sits on top of hopelessness of ever being loved by a divorcing and departing parent, it becomes too much. Here we see the drive behind stalking, for example. Any more departing of a loved one cannot be tolerated. The current loss sets off the earlier one.
It is the first-line component of hopelessness that engenders self destructive behavior. This is because the trauma at birth, for example, when the newborn was heavily drugged was accompanied by the deep physiology of hopelessness. (of trying to get out; a matter of life-and death). So when all of the feelings of hopelessness throughout our lives are lined-up, we are in danger. One part may be feelable, but all together they are not. So we can feel hopeless at failing in school, but when that sits on top of hopelessness of ever being loved by a divorcing and departing parent, it becomes too much. Here we see the drive behind stalking, for example. Any more departing of a loved one cannot be tolerated. The current loss sets off the earlier one.
Friday, March 19, 2010
COURAGE TO CHANGE
A Prayer for COURAGE TO CHANGE.
A time has come when it is
A Time to
Stop in the name OF LOVE.
We have ...all been led into the
State of Criticism
This State carries the VIBRATION of Reaction.
LOVE in its purest and simple State.
IS PROACTIVE.
I PRAY FOR us to be PROACTIVE.
It is a Time to be Still.
It is a time to pray with Hope, Faith and LOVE
In our Hearts for OUR LEADERS to also
Become PROACTIVE.
And that they may have the Wisdom and LOVE in their Hearts
To find Courage to Reflect honestly on Past Decisions.
To be Willing to admit to the Self.
That the Lesson is Learned.
To forgive ourselves.
And in doing so Forgive Others.
In the HERE and NOW.
So that ALL OF US
INCLUDING our World Leaders
MOVE FORWARD
Into a PROACTIVE STATE
OF LOVE.
This I pray for all of US
FOR OUR BEAUTIFUL PLANET.
OUR HOME.
Margaret@ Daily Heart Feelings 2010.
INDIGO HEALING. ©
Healing Long Distance sent this morning.
Everyone of us has within THE COURAGE AND WILL TO CHANGE.
Please pray this today and Everyday.
I DO.
By:Margaret Ring
A time has come when it is
A Time to
Stop in the name OF LOVE.
We have ...all been led into the
State of Criticism
This State carries the VIBRATION of Reaction.
LOVE in its purest and simple State.
IS PROACTIVE.
I PRAY FOR us to be PROACTIVE.
It is a Time to be Still.
It is a time to pray with Hope, Faith and LOVE
In our Hearts for OUR LEADERS to also
Become PROACTIVE.
And that they may have the Wisdom and LOVE in their Hearts
To find Courage to Reflect honestly on Past Decisions.
To be Willing to admit to the Self.
That the Lesson is Learned.
To forgive ourselves.
And in doing so Forgive Others.
In the HERE and NOW.
So that ALL OF US
INCLUDING our World Leaders
MOVE FORWARD
Into a PROACTIVE STATE
OF LOVE.
This I pray for all of US
FOR OUR BEAUTIFUL PLANET.
OUR HOME.
Margaret@ Daily Heart Feelings 2010.
INDIGO HEALING. ©
Healing Long Distance sent this morning.
Everyone of us has within THE COURAGE AND WILL TO CHANGE.
Please pray this today and Everyday.
I DO.
By:Margaret Ring
Addiction
Adapted from Power, Freedom, and Grace, by Deepak Chopra (Amber-Allen Publishing 2006).
Addiction is the No. 1 disease of civilization, and it’s directly and indirectly related to all other diseases. Besides physical addictions, such as the addiction to food, tobacco, alcohol, and drugs, there are psychological addictions, such as the addiction to work, to sex, to television, to shopping, to appearing young, to control, to suffering, to anxiety, to melodrama, to perfection.
Why are we addicted to all these things? We are addicted because we are not living from source; we have our connection to our soul. The use of food, alcohol, or drugs is essentially a material response to a need that is not really physical at its foundation. What we are looking for is pure joy rather than mere sensation. Self-destructive behavior is unrecognized spiritual craving. All addictions are really a search for the exultation of spirit, and this search has to do with the expansion of consciousness, the intoxication of love, which is pure consciousness.
Over and over, people have tried to overcome their addictions through psychological and behavioral methods or through medication. None of these offers a permanent cure. The only cure for addiction is spiritual. We hunger for the ecstatic experience, which is a need as basic as the need for food, water, or shelter. Ecstasy literally means stepping out. True ecstasy is stepping out of the bondage of the time-bound, space-bound world of materialism. We long to step out of the limitations of the body. We long to be free of fear and limitation. We hunger for the oblivion of our ego so that we can experience our infinite being.
Start today to transcend your addictive behaviors by observing them without judgement. Wake every day with a prayer: “Thank you God, for making me just as I am,” and then observe yourself. Be a witness to your thoughts, your moods, your reactions, your behaviors. They represent your memories of the past, and by witnessing them in the present, you liberate yourself of the past.
By observing your addictive behaviors, you observe your conditioning. And when you observe your conditioning, you are free of it, because you are not your conditioning; you are the observer of your conditioning.
Addiction is the No. 1 disease of civilization, and it’s directly and indirectly related to all other diseases. Besides physical addictions, such as the addiction to food, tobacco, alcohol, and drugs, there are psychological addictions, such as the addiction to work, to sex, to television, to shopping, to appearing young, to control, to suffering, to anxiety, to melodrama, to perfection.
Why are we addicted to all these things? We are addicted because we are not living from source; we have our connection to our soul. The use of food, alcohol, or drugs is essentially a material response to a need that is not really physical at its foundation. What we are looking for is pure joy rather than mere sensation. Self-destructive behavior is unrecognized spiritual craving. All addictions are really a search for the exultation of spirit, and this search has to do with the expansion of consciousness, the intoxication of love, which is pure consciousness.
Over and over, people have tried to overcome their addictions through psychological and behavioral methods or through medication. None of these offers a permanent cure. The only cure for addiction is spiritual. We hunger for the ecstatic experience, which is a need as basic as the need for food, water, or shelter. Ecstasy literally means stepping out. True ecstasy is stepping out of the bondage of the time-bound, space-bound world of materialism. We long to step out of the limitations of the body. We long to be free of fear and limitation. We hunger for the oblivion of our ego so that we can experience our infinite being.
Start today to transcend your addictive behaviors by observing them without judgement. Wake every day with a prayer: “Thank you God, for making me just as I am,” and then observe yourself. Be a witness to your thoughts, your moods, your reactions, your behaviors. They represent your memories of the past, and by witnessing them in the present, you liberate yourself of the past.
By observing your addictive behaviors, you observe your conditioning. And when you observe your conditioning, you are free of it, because you are not your conditioning; you are the observer of your conditioning.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
BIRTHING A NEW WORLD.....
Thought and belief, emotions, intentions, relationships, turning points and breakthroughs, environment, and vision must be alive and active in order for any world to be born, not just the new one we want to create for peace.
Whenever consciousness is ready for a shift, you will see ferment and turmoil in all these area. The established order will be challenged, and working from the silent and invisible level of consciousness, a new order will begin to emerge. It feels like a mystical process, because no one controls the switch and yet everyone does. A common desire wakes up without people knowing that they are invisibly linked.
The birthing process of the future doesn’t have to be mystical. The needed skills to break with the past have always existed in us. But the new world that is now emerging, one based on peace, will be unique. Other worlds were born because of shared religions (the Christian Middle Ages, for example) or shared technology (Western industrialism, for example), but none was completely global.
The key words that will define the new hierarchy are: Conscious evolution, self-determination, nonmilitary, nonsectarian, global sharing, sustainable economies, and healed environments.
These separate trends are going to link and fuse together as they coalesce. The same thing has already happened to you biologically, only you don’t remember it. An embryo starts life in the mother’s womb as a loose blob of cells, and with time one witnesses increased complexity. Eventually, the embryo is so complex that it has no choice but to be born – a goal that nature always had in mind but that was impossible until there was sufficient order and power inside the embryo for it to become independent. Social orders follow the same pattern before birth.
Adapted from: Peace Is the Way, by Deepak Chopra (Harmony Books, 2005).
Whenever consciousness is ready for a shift, you will see ferment and turmoil in all these area. The established order will be challenged, and working from the silent and invisible level of consciousness, a new order will begin to emerge. It feels like a mystical process, because no one controls the switch and yet everyone does. A common desire wakes up without people knowing that they are invisibly linked.
The birthing process of the future doesn’t have to be mystical. The needed skills to break with the past have always existed in us. But the new world that is now emerging, one based on peace, will be unique. Other worlds were born because of shared religions (the Christian Middle Ages, for example) or shared technology (Western industrialism, for example), but none was completely global.
The key words that will define the new hierarchy are: Conscious evolution, self-determination, nonmilitary, nonsectarian, global sharing, sustainable economies, and healed environments.
These separate trends are going to link and fuse together as they coalesce. The same thing has already happened to you biologically, only you don’t remember it. An embryo starts life in the mother’s womb as a loose blob of cells, and with time one witnesses increased complexity. Eventually, the embryo is so complex that it has no choice but to be born – a goal that nature always had in mind but that was impossible until there was sufficient order and power inside the embryo for it to become independent. Social orders follow the same pattern before birth.
Adapted from: Peace Is the Way, by Deepak Chopra (Harmony Books, 2005).
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
INTENTION
For every intention, we might well ask, “How would this serve me and how would it serve everybody I come into contact with?” And if the answer is that it will create true joy and fulfillment in me and all those affected by my actions, then my intention, together with surrender to the nonlocal mind, orchestrates its own fulfillment.
There are techniques for discovering the pure and proper intention that is your life’s destiny. The core technique is to start from a place of quiet and settled awareness, to create a proper intention in your heart, and then to let your local “I” merge back into the nonlocal “I,” allowing the will of God to be completed through you. I have taught this technique to many thousands of people and they tell me that it works for them, as it works for me.
Part of the difficulty is forming an intention that doesn’t interfere with the intention of the universal. In developing countries with a food shortage, scientists recently attempted to introduce “golden rice,” a genetically engineered variant that contains natural insecticides so that the rice grows abundantly. But there were problems. The genetically engineered rice doesn’t have natural odors that attract various insects important for maintaining and propagating the food chain. Ecologists fear that this rice might upset the local ecosystem, eventually disrupting the weather, which could have dire consequences for the entire planet.
Constricted or local awareness, looking only at a particular situation, tries to solve it locally. Expanded awareness, the nonlocal “I,” looks at the relationships, the birds, the bees, the squirrels, the groundhogs, and the weather.
A good intention can backfire if the intent of the nonlocal “I” is ignored. The intricate bonds of interconnection require not only selflessness but coordination with all other individual “I”s that stem from the universal “I.”
Adapted from The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire, by Deepak Chopra (Three Rivers Press).
There are techniques for discovering the pure and proper intention that is your life’s destiny. The core technique is to start from a place of quiet and settled awareness, to create a proper intention in your heart, and then to let your local “I” merge back into the nonlocal “I,” allowing the will of God to be completed through you. I have taught this technique to many thousands of people and they tell me that it works for them, as it works for me.
Part of the difficulty is forming an intention that doesn’t interfere with the intention of the universal. In developing countries with a food shortage, scientists recently attempted to introduce “golden rice,” a genetically engineered variant that contains natural insecticides so that the rice grows abundantly. But there were problems. The genetically engineered rice doesn’t have natural odors that attract various insects important for maintaining and propagating the food chain. Ecologists fear that this rice might upset the local ecosystem, eventually disrupting the weather, which could have dire consequences for the entire planet.
Constricted or local awareness, looking only at a particular situation, tries to solve it locally. Expanded awareness, the nonlocal “I,” looks at the relationships, the birds, the bees, the squirrels, the groundhogs, and the weather.
A good intention can backfire if the intent of the nonlocal “I” is ignored. The intricate bonds of interconnection require not only selflessness but coordination with all other individual “I”s that stem from the universal “I.”
Adapted from The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire, by Deepak Chopra (Three Rivers Press).
Monday, March 15, 2010
BE YOURSELF
When you are little your parents won’t let you be yourself. They have different ideas about eating the whole chocolate cake or drawing on the walls with crayons. Later on teachers keep you from being yourself. Then teenage peer pressure takes over, and finally, once society has imposed its demands, freedom is more restricted still. Alone on a desert island you might be able to be yourself, only guilt and shame would pursue you even there. The inheritance of repression is inescapable.
The whole problem is one of boundaries and resistance. Someone imposes a limit on you, and you resist it in order to break free. Thus “being myself” becomes a relative thing. Unless someone tells me what I can’t do, I have nothing to push against. By implication, my life would be shapeless. I would follow one whim after another, which itself is a kind of prison. To have a hundred wives and a feast on the table isn’t being yourself, it is being your desires.
When boundaries and resistance both melt the problem comes to an end. To be in unity, you cannot have limitations. You are wholeness; that is what fills your perception. Choice A and choice B are equal in your eyes. When this is true, desire can flow where it will. You are not your desires. Being yourself no longer has the slightest outside reference.
Doesn’t this deprive you of choice? Both yes and no. A person will want to dress and talk a certain way; there may even be decided likes and dislikes. Yet these are karmic holdovers from the past. All and Nothing doesn’t erase the necessities of this world, and in fact the great mystics do preserve the trappings of ordinary life.
To be really free, there is no option except to be yourself. By being yourself you open the door to what is, the never-ending play of cosmic intelligence curving back to know itself again and again.
Adapted from How To Know God, by Deepak Chopra (Harmony Books, 2000).
The whole problem is one of boundaries and resistance. Someone imposes a limit on you, and you resist it in order to break free. Thus “being myself” becomes a relative thing. Unless someone tells me what I can’t do, I have nothing to push against. By implication, my life would be shapeless. I would follow one whim after another, which itself is a kind of prison. To have a hundred wives and a feast on the table isn’t being yourself, it is being your desires.
When boundaries and resistance both melt the problem comes to an end. To be in unity, you cannot have limitations. You are wholeness; that is what fills your perception. Choice A and choice B are equal in your eyes. When this is true, desire can flow where it will. You are not your desires. Being yourself no longer has the slightest outside reference.
Doesn’t this deprive you of choice? Both yes and no. A person will want to dress and talk a certain way; there may even be decided likes and dislikes. Yet these are karmic holdovers from the past. All and Nothing doesn’t erase the necessities of this world, and in fact the great mystics do preserve the trappings of ordinary life.
To be really free, there is no option except to be yourself. By being yourself you open the door to what is, the never-ending play of cosmic intelligence curving back to know itself again and again.
Adapted from How To Know God, by Deepak Chopra (Harmony Books, 2000).
Friday, March 12, 2010
Pain
Our reactions to external events localize in our bodies. We create emotions, which create physical pain. When we understand that simple fact, we can learn to change the way we respond to outside events.
We can choose the way we react to incidents in the world. If we react with anger, hostility, depression, anxiety, or another intense emotion, our bodies follow along and create the necessary hormones and muscle contractions and other physical manifestations that eventually cause us actual pain.
Therefore, we must always remember that these effects are our responsibility in the sense that we can change our reactions in ways that are less personally harmful. We can become free of emotional drama and turbulence.
Meditate for a moment on the concept of personal responsibility for emotional reactions. Once the pain has been located and acknowledged, and after you’ve taken responsibility for it, you can release the pain.
Place your attention on the part of the body where you are holding the pain. With every exhalation of breath, have the intention of releasing that tension that you are holding. For half a minute, focus on releasing tension and pain with every breath. Let it go. Breathe it out.
The next step is to share the pain. Imagine that you could speak to the person who was involved in the incident. What would you say to that person? As you consider this, remember that the person was not the true cause of your pain. You had the emotional reaction that manifested in physical pain. You have taken responsibility. Knowing this, what would you say to that person?
Whatever you say to share the pain you experienced will help to cleanse the experience from your consciousness forever. Share what you felt, share how you feel now, and share how you intend to deal with such feelings in the future. Take a moment to celebrate that you have used this painful experience to transcend to a higher level of consciousness.
Adapted from The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire, by Deepak Chopra (Three Rivers Press).
We can choose the way we react to incidents in the world. If we react with anger, hostility, depression, anxiety, or another intense emotion, our bodies follow along and create the necessary hormones and muscle contractions and other physical manifestations that eventually cause us actual pain.
Therefore, we must always remember that these effects are our responsibility in the sense that we can change our reactions in ways that are less personally harmful. We can become free of emotional drama and turbulence.
Meditate for a moment on the concept of personal responsibility for emotional reactions. Once the pain has been located and acknowledged, and after you’ve taken responsibility for it, you can release the pain.
Place your attention on the part of the body where you are holding the pain. With every exhalation of breath, have the intention of releasing that tension that you are holding. For half a minute, focus on releasing tension and pain with every breath. Let it go. Breathe it out.
The next step is to share the pain. Imagine that you could speak to the person who was involved in the incident. What would you say to that person? As you consider this, remember that the person was not the true cause of your pain. You had the emotional reaction that manifested in physical pain. You have taken responsibility. Knowing this, what would you say to that person?
Whatever you say to share the pain you experienced will help to cleanse the experience from your consciousness forever. Share what you felt, share how you feel now, and share how you intend to deal with such feelings in the future. Take a moment to celebrate that you have used this painful experience to transcend to a higher level of consciousness.
Adapted from The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire, by Deepak Chopra (Three Rivers Press).
A MORAL VIEW OF VIOLENCE
The moral view of violence, labeling it as bad and wrong, has done little to end it. The alternative view is to release our judgments and see violence for what it is: a form of suffering. This is a difficult shift for many people. Not only are they in the habit of making knee-jerk judgments, but violent people cause harm, and therefore their suffering seems to deserve less sympathy.
You hurt me, so why should I have compassion for you? It should be the other way around. Does it take a saint to make the shift from moral outrage to compassion?
Turning points arrive when we can make a choice not to suffer in silence. We then strike a soul bargain that is fearful but necessary. The bargain is that redemption is possible through love. The absence of love is absolutely the problem, and love is absolutely the solution. We don’t have to reach into another realm to locate the redeeming power of love that is available to us here and now.
The problem is that love comes through a fallible human being. The rule is constant work on the spiritual path to clear away the obstacles that prevent love from coming through us. The work is much more like working on clogged plumbing than it is like imitating a saint.
Hope is the emotion that sustains this dogged work even when results seem to be slow or impossible. Can I love the terrorist who harms my country? Can I love the criminal who wants to harm me? At the level of the soul I already do, and the spiritual path is a means to arrive at that level.
No one is required to leap into sudden compassion for terrorists, or even to announce publicly that our enemies deserve love. But in our souls each of us harbors the knowledge that only love is going to bring violence to an end. No matter how you and I live our outward lives, our spiritual lives must remain devoted to that vision.
Adapted from: Peace Is the Way, by Deepak Chopra (Harmony Books, 2005).
You hurt me, so why should I have compassion for you? It should be the other way around. Does it take a saint to make the shift from moral outrage to compassion?
Turning points arrive when we can make a choice not to suffer in silence. We then strike a soul bargain that is fearful but necessary. The bargain is that redemption is possible through love. The absence of love is absolutely the problem, and love is absolutely the solution. We don’t have to reach into another realm to locate the redeeming power of love that is available to us here and now.
The problem is that love comes through a fallible human being. The rule is constant work on the spiritual path to clear away the obstacles that prevent love from coming through us. The work is much more like working on clogged plumbing than it is like imitating a saint.
Hope is the emotion that sustains this dogged work even when results seem to be slow or impossible. Can I love the terrorist who harms my country? Can I love the criminal who wants to harm me? At the level of the soul I already do, and the spiritual path is a means to arrive at that level.
No one is required to leap into sudden compassion for terrorists, or even to announce publicly that our enemies deserve love. But in our souls each of us harbors the knowledge that only love is going to bring violence to an end. No matter how you and I live our outward lives, our spiritual lives must remain devoted to that vision.
Adapted from: Peace Is the Way, by Deepak Chopra (Harmony Books, 2005).
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Doubt
It’s hard to let go when you don’t know if you have made the right choice in the first place. Doubt lingers and ties us to the past. Many relationships end in divorce because of a lack of commitment, but that lack didn’t grow over time; it was present from the very outset and was never resolved.
It’s important not to make critical decisions when you are in doubt. The universe supports actions once they are begun, which is the same as saying that once you take a direction, you are setting a mechanism in motion that is very hard to reverse.
Can a married woman feel unmarried simply because she wants to? Can you feel that you aren’t your parents’ child simply because you think it would be better to have different parents? In both cases the ties to a situation, once it is in place, are strong. When you are in doubt, however, you put the universe on hold for a while. It favors no particular direction.
There is a good aspect to this pause and a bad one. The good aspect is that you are giving yourself room to become aware of more things, and with more awareness, the future can bring you new reasons to act one way or the other. The bad aspect is that inertia isn’t productive – without choices you cannot grow and evolve.
If doubts persist, you have to break out of stasis. Most people do this by plugging into the next choice, catching life on the rebound: “This didn’t work out, so I better do something else, no matter what.”
Doubt is destructive to the one quality that awareness is trying to bring to you: knowingness. At a deep level, you are the knower of reality. Doubt is a symptom indicating that you aren’t in contact with the knower inside.
There is no formula for removing doubts because finding the knower inside is personal. You have to be committed to expanding your awareness. Don’t be in doubt about that one thing. If you turn inward and follow the path that leads to your inner intelligence, the knower will be there waiting for you.
Adapted from The Book of Secrets, by Deepak Chopra (Harmony Books, 2004).
It’s important not to make critical decisions when you are in doubt. The universe supports actions once they are begun, which is the same as saying that once you take a direction, you are setting a mechanism in motion that is very hard to reverse.
Can a married woman feel unmarried simply because she wants to? Can you feel that you aren’t your parents’ child simply because you think it would be better to have different parents? In both cases the ties to a situation, once it is in place, are strong. When you are in doubt, however, you put the universe on hold for a while. It favors no particular direction.
There is a good aspect to this pause and a bad one. The good aspect is that you are giving yourself room to become aware of more things, and with more awareness, the future can bring you new reasons to act one way or the other. The bad aspect is that inertia isn’t productive – without choices you cannot grow and evolve.
If doubts persist, you have to break out of stasis. Most people do this by plugging into the next choice, catching life on the rebound: “This didn’t work out, so I better do something else, no matter what.”
Doubt is destructive to the one quality that awareness is trying to bring to you: knowingness. At a deep level, you are the knower of reality. Doubt is a symptom indicating that you aren’t in contact with the knower inside.
There is no formula for removing doubts because finding the knower inside is personal. You have to be committed to expanding your awareness. Don’t be in doubt about that one thing. If you turn inward and follow the path that leads to your inner intelligence, the knower will be there waiting for you.
Adapted from The Book of Secrets, by Deepak Chopra (Harmony Books, 2004).
Monday, March 8, 2010
Dreams
-Devlyn Steele
As I start this inspiration, I am not sure if this is about going after your dreams, or lost dreams. Here we are already in March, time flies. All those ideas we had about a New Year and a new decade seem like a long time ago. We are back in our routines and instead of being enthusiastic about today, we are looking forward to better weather. We are no longer focused on losing weight, or quieting smoking or the other 100 promises we made to ourselves.
What happened to all great ideas we had about change?
What happened to our dreams?
As we were getting ready to enter this New Year it didn't matter if we declared resolutions or not, we still dreamed. We have had dreams our entire life about a better life. We have seen ourselves healthier, wealthier and happier. We traveled, loved and were loved while we had adventures in life. In our dreams, our bodies were in amazing shape and full of energy. We created success at work and had wealth. Dreams...
Go to a mirror and take a good look at yourself. What have you done differently in these last two months? The New Year began, January and February are history, and what is different in your life today? Did you follow through on any of your resolutions? Are you closer to your dreams?
I hear people consistently talk about the things they want to accomplish in their lives. We all want to lose weight, get in shape, make and save more money, get ahead, quit smoking and more....or do we?
Here is the dirty little secret about these broken promises: we don't really want to keep them. The real reason we don't accomplish our goals is because we don't do the work. We want things to simply "happen" for us just like in our dreams. Except that life doesn't work that way. There are no magic solutions, but dreams do come true.
Yes, dreams do come true. The reason why we don't do the work to make our dreams come true is because we don't dream the right way. We only dream a part of the story and that part is always the end.
Imagine you have a book in your hand. By the end of the book the character will have gotten through the obstacles and be in the place we want to see the character wind up in; however, we start at the beginning. We start at the beginning because we want to go through the struggle with the character. It is how the character deals with the journey that is interesting to us.
It is the struggle and the work that is always inspiring to us. We have shows on TV where people lose weight week by week. We don't want to skip all the weeks of work to just see them at a lesser weight with pictures of what they were before. We want to see them go through the challenge and adversities, it is their work that captures our attention.
There are shows where a love interest is picked. There again, we are not interested in watching a show of who they picked without the rest. We want to see the weeks go by and the good and bad connections, the disappointments, the pain and the joy. We want to see every part of the story.
A person's wealth or success is not very interesting by itself. The story becomes interesting when you hear that the person came from a tough situation and overcame it. Bill Gates and Steven Jobs not graduating college and how they made it and their struggles captures our imaginations. The founders of Google working out of a garage and stories of this nature are what we want to hear.
Henry Ford and his success is what we read about, not the generations after who followed, because how he created the success is more interesting to us than how someone continues it on. We don't walk in at the end of a movie, we want to see it all. Imagine watching Rocky standing up at the end of the fight and not all he went through to get there, would that be interesting to you?
However, when we dream for ourselves we dream ourselves in great shape, in love, with money....instantly. When it requires struggle, challenges, going through obstacles and hard work, we get disillusioned. We get disillusioned because we just dreamed the end story for ourselves and get frustrated when it doesn't happen like that.
Your character has a complete story to live, don't rob your character of the journey. Start living your dreams today and embrace the complete story. Just like we are not interested in end stories alone, we also would not want to watch the beginning of a story over and over. That is how we live our lives stuck at the beginning repeating it over and over.
Start dreaming in complete stories and start living your dreams today. As you go through your journey, all the parts are part of your dream, not just the end of the story. When you dream in complete stories you are living your dream every day and you are working towards creating the life changes you want. It is the struggles, how you get through the obstacles and the work that makes your life interesting. It is the journey and your willingness to move forward towards creating change that determines the quality of your life and your character. Start living your dreams today.
However, I have great news for you. If you decide to make positive changes in your life, you can! I have even better news, change can be very simple.
The first is this: make a commitment to put the effort into getting what you want. New Years' is not the only time you can make a resolution. Resolving to make a change is something you can do at any moment, so long as it is done with a commitment with real intention and determination.
Do not let another two months slip by! Two actions and two months from now you will be on your way to a new place in life.
Inspire someone you love...
As I start this inspiration, I am not sure if this is about going after your dreams, or lost dreams. Here we are already in March, time flies. All those ideas we had about a New Year and a new decade seem like a long time ago. We are back in our routines and instead of being enthusiastic about today, we are looking forward to better weather. We are no longer focused on losing weight, or quieting smoking or the other 100 promises we made to ourselves.
What happened to all great ideas we had about change?
What happened to our dreams?
As we were getting ready to enter this New Year it didn't matter if we declared resolutions or not, we still dreamed. We have had dreams our entire life about a better life. We have seen ourselves healthier, wealthier and happier. We traveled, loved and were loved while we had adventures in life. In our dreams, our bodies were in amazing shape and full of energy. We created success at work and had wealth. Dreams...
Go to a mirror and take a good look at yourself. What have you done differently in these last two months? The New Year began, January and February are history, and what is different in your life today? Did you follow through on any of your resolutions? Are you closer to your dreams?
I hear people consistently talk about the things they want to accomplish in their lives. We all want to lose weight, get in shape, make and save more money, get ahead, quit smoking and more....or do we?
Here is the dirty little secret about these broken promises: we don't really want to keep them. The real reason we don't accomplish our goals is because we don't do the work. We want things to simply "happen" for us just like in our dreams. Except that life doesn't work that way. There are no magic solutions, but dreams do come true.
Yes, dreams do come true. The reason why we don't do the work to make our dreams come true is because we don't dream the right way. We only dream a part of the story and that part is always the end.
Imagine you have a book in your hand. By the end of the book the character will have gotten through the obstacles and be in the place we want to see the character wind up in; however, we start at the beginning. We start at the beginning because we want to go through the struggle with the character. It is how the character deals with the journey that is interesting to us.
It is the struggle and the work that is always inspiring to us. We have shows on TV where people lose weight week by week. We don't want to skip all the weeks of work to just see them at a lesser weight with pictures of what they were before. We want to see them go through the challenge and adversities, it is their work that captures our attention.
There are shows where a love interest is picked. There again, we are not interested in watching a show of who they picked without the rest. We want to see the weeks go by and the good and bad connections, the disappointments, the pain and the joy. We want to see every part of the story.
A person's wealth or success is not very interesting by itself. The story becomes interesting when you hear that the person came from a tough situation and overcame it. Bill Gates and Steven Jobs not graduating college and how they made it and their struggles captures our imaginations. The founders of Google working out of a garage and stories of this nature are what we want to hear.
Henry Ford and his success is what we read about, not the generations after who followed, because how he created the success is more interesting to us than how someone continues it on. We don't walk in at the end of a movie, we want to see it all. Imagine watching Rocky standing up at the end of the fight and not all he went through to get there, would that be interesting to you?
However, when we dream for ourselves we dream ourselves in great shape, in love, with money....instantly. When it requires struggle, challenges, going through obstacles and hard work, we get disillusioned. We get disillusioned because we just dreamed the end story for ourselves and get frustrated when it doesn't happen like that.
Your character has a complete story to live, don't rob your character of the journey. Start living your dreams today and embrace the complete story. Just like we are not interested in end stories alone, we also would not want to watch the beginning of a story over and over. That is how we live our lives stuck at the beginning repeating it over and over.
Start dreaming in complete stories and start living your dreams today. As you go through your journey, all the parts are part of your dream, not just the end of the story. When you dream in complete stories you are living your dream every day and you are working towards creating the life changes you want. It is the struggles, how you get through the obstacles and the work that makes your life interesting. It is the journey and your willingness to move forward towards creating change that determines the quality of your life and your character. Start living your dreams today.
However, I have great news for you. If you decide to make positive changes in your life, you can! I have even better news, change can be very simple.
The first is this: make a commitment to put the effort into getting what you want. New Years' is not the only time you can make a resolution. Resolving to make a change is something you can do at any moment, so long as it is done with a commitment with real intention and determination.
Do not let another two months slip by! Two actions and two months from now you will be on your way to a new place in life.
Inspire someone you love...
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Cruelty is a choice
(NaturalNews) The more forcefully we ignore something, the more power it has over us and the more strongly it influences us. Taking a clear look at the foods produced by modern methods and what we have been conditioned to accept, we find misery, cruelty and exploitation. Therefore, we avoid looking deeply at our food, if of animal origin, and continue floating in that big river in Egypt (the Nile). This practice of avoidance and denial, applied to eating, carries over automatically into our entire private and public life. We know, deep down, that we cannot look deeply anywhere. If we do, we will have to look deeply into the enormous suffering our food choices directly cause.
So, we learn to stay shallow and to be willingly blind to the connections we see. Otherwise, our remorse and guilt would be too painful to bear. We, therefore choose to ignore and remain ignorant and inattentive to the pain and suffering our eating causes.
Being unwilling and unable to see, confront, and take responsibility for the hidden ocean of horror we condone to those who are as sentient and vulnerable as we are, we remain hardened and blind by choice. We choose to be blind when we shop for, prepare, and eat the flesh of other creatures. Becoming insensitive to the pain that we cause daily to defenseless animals, we also become insensitive to the beauty of the creation that we oppress and disconnect ourselves from this at every meal.
The desensitizing of millions of children and adults on the massive scale, that consuming millions of tortured animals daily requires, sows countless seeds of human violence, war, poverty and despair. These outcomes are unavoidable, for we can never reap peace, joy and freedom for ourselves while sowing seeds of harming and enslaving others.
We may speak of love, kindness, freedom and a gentler world, yet it is our actions, especially those that are habitually practiced, that determine what future outcomes we and others will experience.The cycles of violence that have terrorized people, both historically and today, are rooted in the violence of our daily meals. Though animals cannot retaliate like people can, our violence toward them retaliates against us in the form of heart disease, cancer, arthritis, constipation and more.
By confining and killing animals for food, we have brought violence into our bodies and minds. Our meals require us to eat like predators and thus see ourselves as such. We cultivate and justify predatory behaviors and institutions that are the antithesis of the inclusiveness and kindness that accompany true spiritual growth.
Because cruelty is inescapable in confining, mutilating, and slaughtering animals for food, we have been forced from childhood to be distracted and inattentive perpetrators of cruelty. As infants, we have no idea what "veal", "turkey", "egg", "fish" or "beef" actually are, or where they come from. We don't know what horror is visited upon helpless creatures in order to create the easily available concoctions being spooned into our little teething mouths and developing our consciousnesses.
In time, we accept this indoctrination of denial and cruelty as normal and our meals become rituals of distraction and repressed sensitivity and guilt. The price we pay for this is the dulling of our innate intelligence and compassion.
So, we learn to stay shallow and to be willingly blind to the connections we see. Otherwise, our remorse and guilt would be too painful to bear. We, therefore choose to ignore and remain ignorant and inattentive to the pain and suffering our eating causes.
Being unwilling and unable to see, confront, and take responsibility for the hidden ocean of horror we condone to those who are as sentient and vulnerable as we are, we remain hardened and blind by choice. We choose to be blind when we shop for, prepare, and eat the flesh of other creatures. Becoming insensitive to the pain that we cause daily to defenseless animals, we also become insensitive to the beauty of the creation that we oppress and disconnect ourselves from this at every meal.
The desensitizing of millions of children and adults on the massive scale, that consuming millions of tortured animals daily requires, sows countless seeds of human violence, war, poverty and despair. These outcomes are unavoidable, for we can never reap peace, joy and freedom for ourselves while sowing seeds of harming and enslaving others.
We may speak of love, kindness, freedom and a gentler world, yet it is our actions, especially those that are habitually practiced, that determine what future outcomes we and others will experience.The cycles of violence that have terrorized people, both historically and today, are rooted in the violence of our daily meals. Though animals cannot retaliate like people can, our violence toward them retaliates against us in the form of heart disease, cancer, arthritis, constipation and more.
By confining and killing animals for food, we have brought violence into our bodies and minds. Our meals require us to eat like predators and thus see ourselves as such. We cultivate and justify predatory behaviors and institutions that are the antithesis of the inclusiveness and kindness that accompany true spiritual growth.
Because cruelty is inescapable in confining, mutilating, and slaughtering animals for food, we have been forced from childhood to be distracted and inattentive perpetrators of cruelty. As infants, we have no idea what "veal", "turkey", "egg", "fish" or "beef" actually are, or where they come from. We don't know what horror is visited upon helpless creatures in order to create the easily available concoctions being spooned into our little teething mouths and developing our consciousnesses.
In time, we accept this indoctrination of denial and cruelty as normal and our meals become rituals of distraction and repressed sensitivity and guilt. The price we pay for this is the dulling of our innate intelligence and compassion.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Please, Daddy, Don't Do That Again!
By Tim Wright
When my son was only about three years old, he and his sisters were playing a game that involved chasing each other though the house with loud giggles of laugher erupting every few minutes whenever one of them came close to tagging one of their siblings.
The giggles were interrupted suddenly by a loud crash followed by a blood-curdling cry of pain. I jumped to my feet and ran to the living room where the apparent mishap had occurred. My son had come around the corner too fast and had fallen head first into the corner of a table. I quickly picked him up from the floor where he was lying and held him in my arms both to comfort him and to examine the wound. Streams of blood gushed from his forehead.
By the time we reached the emergency room, his tears had subsided a bit, but I was nervously anticipating the slight trauma still ahead of us. After examining my son's forehead, the doctor confirmed that he would need to stitch the wound in order for it to heal properly. The good news was that the cut would require only one stitch. The bad news was that the doctor planned to do it without any anesthesia. "We can stick him once or we can stick him twice," the doctor informed me.
I was then told that giving him a shot to anesthetize the area would be just as painful and traumatic as giving him the single stitch. The shot would then have to be followed by a second "stick" to actually stitch up the wound. I reluctantly agreed with the doctor and opted for the single "stick".
I encouraged my son that he was being a "brave little boy" as the doctors and I gently strapped a restraining device around his tiny body to keep him from thrashing around on the table during the procedure.
Inside, I was fighting back tears as he looked at me with frightened, but trusting eyes. "Keep looking at Daddy," I encouraged him. "You're being a very brave little boy." His huge eyes remained locked on mine as the doctor gently washed out the cut and prepared to stitch the wound shut.
"Okay, here we go," the doctor said quietly. "It should be quick." "Keep looking at me," I said, trying to smile and draw his trusting eyes into mine. "Daddy's right here." With precision and swiftness, the doctor quickly stabbed the curved needle into the swollen flesh near the cut on my son's forehead. My son's eye's widened as he gasped in pain. Then in a whimpering voice that carried the sweetness and innocence that only a three year-old can summon, he looked up at me and said, "Please don't do that again, Daddy."
My heart broke. How do you explain to your three year-old son that the pain he is experiencing-the pain that, in his mind at least, was caused by me-was inflicted with love, with a desire and design to bring healing? Oddly enough, that is one of my most precious memories of my son's early childhood. The procedure was over almost as quickly as it had begun and, after a few hours, my son had returned to giggling with his sisters. (Running in the house, however, was forever banned from that point onward.)
His trust and sweet response to the ordeal continues to pierce my heart with love for him. This episode is also a reminder for me of our heavenly Father's love and care for us and for those around us who may be experiencing a painful season in life.
In my mind's eye, I can envision God holding us as our Father whenever we're hurting and telling us to keep our eyes on Him and to trust Him, even if we don't understand why things are happening to us. When we're tempted to blame Him for our pain or to cry out, "Please don't do that again, Daddy," we can take comfort in knowing that He is very near to us, that He loves us and to trust that, even though we may not always understand, there is a higher purpose at work in everything that happens to us.
So keep your eyes on Him. Trust Him. He's holding you and healing you. He will never let you go. Know, too, that giggling-or however you experience joy-will soon be a part of your life again.
When my son was only about three years old, he and his sisters were playing a game that involved chasing each other though the house with loud giggles of laugher erupting every few minutes whenever one of them came close to tagging one of their siblings.
The giggles were interrupted suddenly by a loud crash followed by a blood-curdling cry of pain. I jumped to my feet and ran to the living room where the apparent mishap had occurred. My son had come around the corner too fast and had fallen head first into the corner of a table. I quickly picked him up from the floor where he was lying and held him in my arms both to comfort him and to examine the wound. Streams of blood gushed from his forehead.
By the time we reached the emergency room, his tears had subsided a bit, but I was nervously anticipating the slight trauma still ahead of us. After examining my son's forehead, the doctor confirmed that he would need to stitch the wound in order for it to heal properly. The good news was that the cut would require only one stitch. The bad news was that the doctor planned to do it without any anesthesia. "We can stick him once or we can stick him twice," the doctor informed me.
I was then told that giving him a shot to anesthetize the area would be just as painful and traumatic as giving him the single stitch. The shot would then have to be followed by a second "stick" to actually stitch up the wound. I reluctantly agreed with the doctor and opted for the single "stick".
I encouraged my son that he was being a "brave little boy" as the doctors and I gently strapped a restraining device around his tiny body to keep him from thrashing around on the table during the procedure.
Inside, I was fighting back tears as he looked at me with frightened, but trusting eyes. "Keep looking at Daddy," I encouraged him. "You're being a very brave little boy." His huge eyes remained locked on mine as the doctor gently washed out the cut and prepared to stitch the wound shut.
"Okay, here we go," the doctor said quietly. "It should be quick." "Keep looking at me," I said, trying to smile and draw his trusting eyes into mine. "Daddy's right here." With precision and swiftness, the doctor quickly stabbed the curved needle into the swollen flesh near the cut on my son's forehead. My son's eye's widened as he gasped in pain. Then in a whimpering voice that carried the sweetness and innocence that only a three year-old can summon, he looked up at me and said, "Please don't do that again, Daddy."
My heart broke. How do you explain to your three year-old son that the pain he is experiencing-the pain that, in his mind at least, was caused by me-was inflicted with love, with a desire and design to bring healing? Oddly enough, that is one of my most precious memories of my son's early childhood. The procedure was over almost as quickly as it had begun and, after a few hours, my son had returned to giggling with his sisters. (Running in the house, however, was forever banned from that point onward.)
His trust and sweet response to the ordeal continues to pierce my heart with love for him. This episode is also a reminder for me of our heavenly Father's love and care for us and for those around us who may be experiencing a painful season in life.
In my mind's eye, I can envision God holding us as our Father whenever we're hurting and telling us to keep our eyes on Him and to trust Him, even if we don't understand why things are happening to us. When we're tempted to blame Him for our pain or to cry out, "Please don't do that again, Daddy," we can take comfort in knowing that He is very near to us, that He loves us and to trust that, even though we may not always understand, there is a higher purpose at work in everything that happens to us.
So keep your eyes on Him. Trust Him. He's holding you and healing you. He will never let you go. Know, too, that giggling-or however you experience joy-will soon be a part of your life again.
EGO
Our ego likes to be in control. It likes to know how things are and what’s going to happen. Underlying this desire for stability and predictability is a deep fear that the world is a dangerous place. The ego fears it will not survive without continually being on guard. The truth is: we cannot control what happens in life. And under the natural law of attraction, we tend to attract to us what we focus on. Substitute TRUST for fear and the world becomes a gentler, happier place.
"One thing we can do is make the choice to view the world in a healthy way. We can choose to see the world as safe with only moments of danger rather than seeing the world as dangerous with only moments of safety." -- Deepak Chopra
Here is my spiritual practice. What is yours?????
Share - T Curtis...
My spiritual practice is becoming the way I live my life. It is staying connected to that power that is greater than I am. That deep inner knowing of what is right or wrong, the intuitive sense of what to do in any given situation and to cause no harm. My intention is to make the world a better place through my deeds, words and actions. This is my spiritual practice. Whether I am taking a walk in the woods, spending time with family or friends, working or sitting in meditation is to be in spiritual practice. It is not a time that I set aside to do, but something I aspire to live in each moment.
"One thing we can do is make the choice to view the world in a healthy way. We can choose to see the world as safe with only moments of danger rather than seeing the world as dangerous with only moments of safety." -- Deepak Chopra
Here is my spiritual practice. What is yours?????
Share - T Curtis...
My spiritual practice is becoming the way I live my life. It is staying connected to that power that is greater than I am. That deep inner knowing of what is right or wrong, the intuitive sense of what to do in any given situation and to cause no harm. My intention is to make the world a better place through my deeds, words and actions. This is my spiritual practice. Whether I am taking a walk in the woods, spending time with family or friends, working or sitting in meditation is to be in spiritual practice. It is not a time that I set aside to do, but something I aspire to live in each moment.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
KARMA
Swami Chidananda in which he describes the true meaning behind the ancient concept of karma (from his biography, This Monk from India):
If properly understood, the Law of Karma is a law which give infinite hope. It says that a man’s destiny is in his own hands. It says that he shall depend upon himself. He is the one to decide on the pattern of the experience to come.
He is the master of his destiny. He is the architect of his fate. He has nothing to fear in this universe, nothing except his own wrong actions and thoughts. He has to say: ‘Who has the power to give me any experience that I do not choose to select for myself? No one on earth has the power to injure me, to bring sorrow upon me, to inflict destruction or evil upon me!’
Thus man takes infinite courage. He is determined to guide his own life into a future containing bliss and radiance. The Law gives him an inducement to sow the right type of seeds and to fashion all his activity along ideal lines.
It is this Law which upholds the moral standard of this universe. Had it not been for this Law, there would have been no inducement either to avoid evil or to embrace good. Both these lines of action spring out of this glorious Law. Man knows that if he does not avoid evil, he will sow weeds and thorns. He knows that he should do good because he will be the blessed enjoyer of the fruits of those good deeds.
According to this view, the Law of Karma is not a doctrine of fatalism. On the contrary, it is a doctrine of high orderliness, serving as the basis of the moral order in the whole universe, and the attitude instilled into man by this Law is fearlessness.
It fills man with fearlessness and infinite courage and a great urge to be ideal, good and lofty in all his thoughts and activities.
If properly understood, the Law of Karma is a law which give infinite hope. It says that a man’s destiny is in his own hands. It says that he shall depend upon himself. He is the one to decide on the pattern of the experience to come.
He is the master of his destiny. He is the architect of his fate. He has nothing to fear in this universe, nothing except his own wrong actions and thoughts. He has to say: ‘Who has the power to give me any experience that I do not choose to select for myself? No one on earth has the power to injure me, to bring sorrow upon me, to inflict destruction or evil upon me!’
Thus man takes infinite courage. He is determined to guide his own life into a future containing bliss and radiance. The Law gives him an inducement to sow the right type of seeds and to fashion all his activity along ideal lines.
It is this Law which upholds the moral standard of this universe. Had it not been for this Law, there would have been no inducement either to avoid evil or to embrace good. Both these lines of action spring out of this glorious Law. Man knows that if he does not avoid evil, he will sow weeds and thorns. He knows that he should do good because he will be the blessed enjoyer of the fruits of those good deeds.
According to this view, the Law of Karma is not a doctrine of fatalism. On the contrary, it is a doctrine of high orderliness, serving as the basis of the moral order in the whole universe, and the attitude instilled into man by this Law is fearlessness.
It fills man with fearlessness and infinite courage and a great urge to be ideal, good and lofty in all his thoughts and activities.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
An inside road to Salvation
The source of reality is inside you. It is your essence.
Here Jesus points the way to hidden dimensions, not simply the conventional notion of Heaven. When you go inside, you are aware of activity such as thoughts and feelings. Your instinct is to pursue the activity that brings pleasure and avoid that which brings pain.
But Jesus spoke of a completely different inner reality. The consciousness hidden behind your thoughts is the consciousness that upholds all intelligence in the universe. It is personal and collective at the same time. The personal is made up of your relationships, the collective is made up of the myths and archetypes common to all cultures. Both dimensions are you, and you can begin to connect the two as a bridge to the sacred.
Sit quietly when you have time to be alone and undisturbed. Choose a prayer that you feel comfortable with, or a phrase from that prayer. Silently repeat the words to yourself, letting them settle naturally into your awareness, becoming softer and deeper. Continue for at least five minutes and up to twenty minutes. This kind of sacred repetition is common to every religious tradition.
When you open your eyes, let your gaze settle on a sacred image. Ask this figure to embody itself through you. Gently feel a connection. Don’t force this, just put out the intention that the archetype merges with your being. Some people use angels for this purpose, which is the same as asking for the essence of God to reach you.
Now contemplate the specific qualities you want, such as love, compassion, or forgiveness. These are archetypical energies that you are asking to express through your thoughts, emotions, and actions. By calling on your higher archetype, you will find yourself thinking and doing things you never expected as the person you know.
Adapted from The Third Jesus: The Christ We Cannot Ignore, by Deepak Chopra (Harmony Books, 2008).
Here Jesus points the way to hidden dimensions, not simply the conventional notion of Heaven. When you go inside, you are aware of activity such as thoughts and feelings. Your instinct is to pursue the activity that brings pleasure and avoid that which brings pain.
But Jesus spoke of a completely different inner reality. The consciousness hidden behind your thoughts is the consciousness that upholds all intelligence in the universe. It is personal and collective at the same time. The personal is made up of your relationships, the collective is made up of the myths and archetypes common to all cultures. Both dimensions are you, and you can begin to connect the two as a bridge to the sacred.
Sit quietly when you have time to be alone and undisturbed. Choose a prayer that you feel comfortable with, or a phrase from that prayer. Silently repeat the words to yourself, letting them settle naturally into your awareness, becoming softer and deeper. Continue for at least five minutes and up to twenty minutes. This kind of sacred repetition is common to every religious tradition.
When you open your eyes, let your gaze settle on a sacred image. Ask this figure to embody itself through you. Gently feel a connection. Don’t force this, just put out the intention that the archetype merges with your being. Some people use angels for this purpose, which is the same as asking for the essence of God to reach you.
Now contemplate the specific qualities you want, such as love, compassion, or forgiveness. These are archetypical energies that you are asking to express through your thoughts, emotions, and actions. By calling on your higher archetype, you will find yourself thinking and doing things you never expected as the person you know.
Adapted from The Third Jesus: The Christ We Cannot Ignore, by Deepak Chopra (Harmony Books, 2008).
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