Transformation

 

 

 

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Living in Wisdom

They live in wisdom who see themselves in all and all in them, whose love for the Lord of Love has consumed every selfish desire and sense craving tormenting the heart. Not agitated by grief or hankering after pleasure, they live free from lust and fear and anger. Fettered no more by selfish attachments, they are not elated by good fortune nor depressed by bad. Such are the seers.

~ Bhagavad Gita ~ 

A Symbol of Oneself

One has an idea, a symbol of oneself, an image of oneself: what one should be, what one is, or what one should not be. Why does one create an image about oneself? Because one has never studied what one is, actually. We think we should be this or that: the ideal, the hero, the example. What awakens anger is that our ideal, the idea we have of ourselves, is attacked. And our idea about ourselves is our escape from the fact of what we are. But when you are observing the actual fact of what you are, no one can hurt you. Then, if one is a liar and is told that one is a liar, it does not mean that one is hurt: it is a fact. But when you are pretending you are not a liar and are told that you are, then you get angry, violent. So, we are always living in an ideational world, a world of myth, and never in the world of actuality. To observe what is, to see it, actually be familiar with it, there must be no judgment, no evaluation, no opinion, no fear.

 ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti ~ 

The Real Seeker

The real seeker of truth never seeks truth. On the contrary, he tries to clean himself of all that is untrue, inauthentic, insincere - and when his heart is ready, purified, the guest comes. You cannot find the guest, you cannot go after him. He comes to you; you just have to be prepared. You have to be in a right attitude.

~ Osho ~

The Work

The Work is merely four questions; it’s not even a thing. It has no motive, no strings. It’s nothing without your answers. These four questions will join any program you’ve got and enhance it. Any religion you have—they’ll enhance it. If you have no religion, they will bring you joy. And they’ll burn up anything that isn’t true for you. They’ll burn through to the reality that has always been waiting. 

1.    Is it true?

2.    Can I absolutely know that it’s true?

3.    How do I react when I think that thought?

4.    Who would I be without the thought? 

And then turn it around.

~ Byron Katie ~

Trap Of The Senses

 Everybody wants to be free. What is the one impediment between you and freedom? Craving. Desire or expectation for something which is perishable.

You are devoted to that craving. Thus, you are devoted to this manifestation and its construction; craving that which is impermanent leads to suffering, old age, and death.

Everyone is involved in this craving for sense pleasures, and it has not given peace to anyone. No one, from king to middle-class to workers, is happy. They are all chasing what appears and disappears.

Craving for what is not real takes you away from the eternal reality. Gods have everything, but still they are not happy.

You always have a light within you, but you don’t turn toward it. Instead, you see this light shining on outer objects. You chase these objects, looking for the light. But you are only seeing reflections of the light within. You run looking for satisfaction from the objects that have caught the reflection of your inner light.

You are hunting outside. This is called craving.

When you decide, “Enough! I must be free,” then the function of the mind stops going out and clinging to objects in search of happiness. It becomes no-mind. The mind is only mind in the fulfillment of its desires. When you desire something, when you crave something, when you expect something, then it takes this function, and its name is mind.

Stop it, and it is quiet. In this quietness, you can’t call it mind. So dam the flow of the river flowing outward. Energy is not being wasted then. When it is dammed, it stops. Then it is quiet. In this quietness, the river will be no river. You can’t call it a river now. Now call it a reservoir.

This reservoir, without ripples, is identical to your own light. This light is inside your mind.

Now the mind is no-mind. No mind, no craving, no expectations, no desires, no notions, and no ideas.

It is good to stop. Then you will see that you have found the precious stone you have been seeking. Having found this, you will be happy. You will be satisfied. You don’t expect anything more, because this is chitdarman, the fulfillment of all desires. Chitdarman means you just think and it happens. Chitdarman, the precious stone which shines by its own luster.

~ H.W.L. Poonja: Wake Up and Roar ~

Source: Sounds True http://www.soundstrue.com/store/

Only God I Saw!

<< When I use words like “Lord” or “God,” I mean the very ground of existence, the most profound thing we can conceive of. This supreme reality is not something outside us, something separate from us. It is within, at the core of our being – our real nature, nearer to us than our bodies, dearer to us than our lives. >>

~ Baba Kuhi of Shiraz, eleventh century sufi poet ~

Photo Source: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/03/13/the-beauty-of-india-50-amazing-photos/

Controlling the Mind

“You may control a mad elephant;

You may shut the mouth of the bear and the tiger;

Ride the lion and play with the cobra;

You may wander through the universe incognito;

Make vassals of the gods;

Be ever youthful;

But control of the mind is better and more difficult.”

~ Paramahansa Yogananda ~

Photo Source: http://webneel.com/incredible-india-beautiful-amazing-photography

Real Poverty

"We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked, and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty."

~ Mother Teresa ~

Having Difficulty Meditating?

« You say you have difficulty meditating. Why is that? It is because you have still not fully understood that each moment in life is not isolated but linked to all previous moments. So you must take care to prepare conditions, so that when the time for meditation comes you are able to do some real work with your thoughts.

Suppose you have had an argument with someone. The next day when you want to meditate you will be endlessly mulling over your grievances and settling scores with that person. Instead of feeling detached and managing to raise yourself to the soul and spirit realms, you will be stuck on the ground, totally preoccupied with your arguments of the previous day. The same old story will keep repeating itself for this or that reason, and you will never be able to meditate. So, let’s be clear about this. You can achieve a great deal with thought, but only if you realize that, as each moment of your life is linked to all the previous ones, the work of thought, like all other work, requires preparation. »

~ Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov ~

Having a Breakdown - Tending the Emotions

Most of us have had the experience of holding back our emotions for such a long period of time that when they finally come out, we have something resembling a breakdown. For a certain period of time, the overwhelming flood of feelings coursing through our bodies consumes us, and we stop functioning. Often, these outbursts take us by surprise, welling up within us as we drive to or from work, watch a movie, or engage in some otherwise mundane task. We may feel like we do not know what triggered us, or if we do know, it does not make sense of our overpowering emotional response. This is because we are releasing feelings that have accumulated over a long period of time, and whatever inspired the release was just a catalyst for a much larger, much needed catharsis. 

When we find ourselves in the midst of such an experience, it is important that we allow it to happen, rather than fight it or try to shut down. Wherever we are, we can try to find a private, safe place in which to let our feelings out. If we can not access such a place immediately, we can promise to set aside some time for ourselves at our earliest possible convenience, perhaps taking a day off work. The important thing is that we need to give our emotional system some much-needed attention. It is essential that we allow ourselves to release the pent-up emotions inside ourselves so that they do not create imbalances in our bodies and minds.

When you are feeling better, make a plan to find a way to process your emotions more regularly. You can do this by employing a therapist or making a regular date to talk to a trusted friend. Journaling can also be a great way to acknowledge and release your emotions, as can certain forms of meditation. Making room in your life for tending your emotions on a regular basis will keep you healthy, balanced, and ready for life.

~ Madisyn Taylor / DailyOm ~

Protecting With Pure Intent

Wanting to protect other people may be due to your desire to take care of everyone around you. While this can be healthy, perhaps today you might want to reflect upon your reasons for defending others when they are capable of taking care of themselves. Should you have a need to protect someone else, you may want to think about what it is you have to gain. If you know that you will receive praise, for example, you can ask yourself why that is so important to you and maybe even think about ways in which you can give that to yourself. Understanding your motives for helping others could allow you to give them what they truly need rather than fulfilling your own desires. 

Having the right motives for taking care of and protecting others means that when we do help, we are doing so out of a sincere desire to foster their best interests. There are probably many times when we feel that defending people will bring us something positive, such as praise or loyalty, when in fact these things never manifest themselves in the ways we desire. Truly supporting someone means that we do so from a place of pure intent and hope for nothing in return. By thinking about your intentions today, your protection of others will come from your true heart-centered desire to help.

~ DailyOm ~

Photo source: http://lightworkers.org/wisdom/julie-miller/188077/lovingkindness-blessing

Healing

Healing is not a quest to solve your mysteries, but to learn how to live within them. Life is full of mystery. In fact, life is only a mystery - a journey beset by fogs we didn't see coming and detours into magical gardens that we had no idea were being cultivated for us. Asking why the painful and wonderful events of our lives occur when and as they do is a useless waste of energy. We can never know all that was involved in creating these moments in our lives. In psychological - and Divine - parlance, these events are "overdetermined": So many factors, incidents, forces and energies are involved in them that you can never determine any single cause.

Illness remains one of the leading mysteries in life. Why does it happen? "Why me? Did I do something to deserve it? Will I live through it?" You may wonder if this disease is tied to your traumatic marriage or your childhood or toxins in the environment. Get past the questions. Focus on your healing in the present time.

~ Caroline Myss  / "Why People Don't Heal and How They Can" ~

Healing With Love

Careful Preparation

Care was used in preparing the garden soil in order to get it into the proper condition. Here again the analogy to spiritual process is true: We must remove from the creative medium of Mind all negatives. It must be at peace. Everything must be removed that would obstruct the right development of whatever good results we seek. When you are poised, calm, at peace, filled with happy expectancy and serenely trusting in the fulfillment of the highest good, you are ready to do your spiritual planting.

All summer long the warmth of the sun and the refreshment of the gentle rains bring your garden through the various stages of growth to rich maturity, which is the reason you planted it. Your spiritual garden, first planted in the soil of emotional serenity, must be kept nourished with love and watered with expectancy. Do not let any weeds of doubt or anxiety hinder its progress. Give it daily attention, entirely free from worry or fear as to the outcome. Remember, you can trust the soil to do its part if you do your part! 

~ Dr. Ernest Holmes, “How to Change Your Life” ~

~~~~~

How to make it through

A broken heart is simply a heart that has a chance to become stronger. It’s a heart that is more self-sufficient, more open to the truth, and more capable of lasting love. 

~ Martha Beck ~

Becoming Rich

“Becoming rich in personal relationships, learning to return love for hatred, being always aware of the unity of life, these things are the most difficult achievements on the face of the earth. Only when we see a person who has accomplished such feats do we begin to glimpse the heights a human being can attain.”

~ Eknath Easwaran ~

Source: http://www.easwaran.org/blog/2015/03/06/ya-blog-post-a-passage-for-march-2/

Entering into Joy

Imagine if all the tumult of the body were to quiet down, along with all our busy thoughts about earth, sea, and air;

if the very world should stop, and the mind cease thinking about itself, go beyond itself, and be quite still;

if all the fantasies that appear in dreams and imagination should cease, and there be no speech, no sign:

Imagine if all things that are perishable grew still – for if we listen they are saying, We did not make ourselves; he made us who abides forever – imagine, then, that they should say this and fall silent, listening to the very voice of him who made them and not to that of his creation;

so that we should hear not his word through the tongues of men, nor the voice of angels, nor the clouds' thunder, nor any symbol, but the very Self which in these things we love, and go beyond ourselves to attain a flash of that eternal wisdom which abides above all things:

And imagine if that moment were to go on and on, leaving behind all other sights and sounds but this one vision which ravishes and absorbs and fixes the beholder in joy; so that the rest of eternal life were like that moment of illumination which leaves us breathless:

Would this not be what is bidden in scripture, Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord?

~ Saint Augustine ~

LOVE IS ...

• The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them. ~ Thomas Merton ~

• Love is without conditions—it is respectful, mindful, sees all life as sacred, and acts in accordance. Love reminds you that this very planet is a living being. Love is the very essence of the Divine in you, and it sees the Divine in others. ~ Colette Baron-Reid ~

• Love is friendship that has caught fire. It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weaknesses. ~ Ann Landers ~

• Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr. ~

• I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death. ~ Robert Fulghum ~

Dedicated to the Ones we love, no matter what!

Love!

A Prayer to Savor the Moment

Security Is Within You

"We start anew. We start with the proposition that Life is for us when we work with It; that we shall experience love when we become loving; that faith transcends fear, and peace will rout confusion, just as good will overcome bad. And in this process of the greater overcoming the lesser, there is no conflict, no struggle or battle. There is only the fact that as we work at the level of causation, that level which transcends appearances and conditions, the effects are not violently changed but harmoniously transmuted into something else, that something else being a fuller expression of God's good. And in considering this remember that if God's nature was not good the universe would be divided against itself and would destroy itself.

"We now find ourselves in a position where we no longer need to let ourselves be buffeted about by conditions around us. Neither do we need to put on our battle uniforms and make valiant attempts to engage our enemy. Rather we take a non-resistant attitude toward our conditions. The battle we need to wage is an inward one. With our own thinking. We need to destroy not the appearance or condition but the old well-worn pathway of negative thinking which was the causative factor. We need not fight those things in our experience which bring us insecurity; we need to recognize that the only security that we can ever experience must of necessity arise from the security that we feel within us. And that security within us rests entirely on our conviction and belief that there is a Power greater than we are and that we can use It. We need a sound faith and conviction in the nature of Life Itself, in Its essential good and harmonious action.

"Basically, all that we have to do is to learn to get rid of our fears and doubts, to remove all confusion and bewilderment, until at last we arrive, either through intuition or through the due process of logical thinking, at a place where we can start out with the simple proposition that 'I am one with God, the infinite creative Intelligence, and am no longer conditioned or controlled by any external situation whatsoever.' This is where we start. This is the point of departure from being influenced by conditions to influencing conditions. Instead of being in the back seat of a runaway driverless car with endless hazards ahead, we now find ourselves in the driver's seat, calm, cool, deliberate; and with a knowledge of where we want to go and how we are going to get there, we proceed carefully to guide and direct our way along the highway of life."

~ Source: An excerpt from "A New Design for Living" by Ernest Holmes ~

Make me an Instrument of Your Peace

9 Steps for Transforming Fear with Spiritual Surrender by Lissa Rankin, MD.

"Essentially, the process of spiritual surrender is about taking that thing you’re afraid of or that problem you think you have to solve or that unmet longing in your heart for that thing you want but don’t yet have—and making it an offering to the Divine. It’s about taking all of it—your fears, your desires, your need for control—and turning it over to the arms of Love, trusting that you will be protected and guided to take any inspired action necessary, either by internal intuition, your body’s compass, or external Signs from the Universe. Then, having offered this with deep trust, you wait. The part that requires courage is the part that asks you to follow the guidance, even if you don’t like it.

When you master the art of surrender, you come into right relationship with uncertainty, develop a healthy relationship with your desires, watch your fear dissipate, and become naturally brave. You no longer depend on fear to keep you safe, because you trust that something bigger than you is on it already. Then you can let go of the safety bar and make yourself a vessel in service to the highest good.

It’s hard to break this all down into some “how to” process, but in case you need help learning to surrender, I’ve distilled several steps from the teachings of my teachers in order to help you call in your courage. Most of these lessons in surrender draw upon Tosha Silver’s teachings from Outrageous Openness, as well as Martha Beck’s “Four Technologies of Magic” from Finding Your Way in a Wild New World.

1. Name Your Desire

Whether you’re applying this process to your desire to be less afraid, your desire to get healthy, or your desire to find love, the process of surrender begins the same way. In spite of what you might have been taught in Sunday school, desire is never wrong. It’s a signpost pointing toward what lights you up, feeds your soul, sparks your enthusiasm, and makes you feel alive. Sometimes we’re misguided in what we think we desire. You might think you want your best friend’s husband, but what you really want is the kind of soulful connection you feel when you’re with him—which you’re likely to find in someone else in a way that doesn’t threaten your integrity and lead you into betraying your best friend. Desire is simply information. It’s feedback about what sparks your Inner Pilot Light.

2. Surrender Your Desire

The minute you identify your desire, turn it over. Want to become brave? Surrender. Afraid your husband is cheating on you? Surrender. Worried you’ll pick the wrong gift for your bestie’s birthday? Surrender. Frustrated from trying to fix the computer glitch that just ate your blog post? Surrender. Usually, in our culture, we skip this step—or come to it on our knees, as a last resort, when everything else we know how to do has failed—but really it’s the first thing we should do.

How do you surrender a desire? The Small Self will always try to take control of the process of surrender. But that’s not what surrender is about. It’s not about teaching your Small Self how to surrender so you can get what you want. It’s about making an offering to the Divine and being genuinely willing to accept whatever is in the highest good, even if it flies in the face of what you desire. Surrender is about unburdening yourself from the weight of your longing. Tosha Silver teaches us to see the desire like a 100-pound box pushing heavily on the heart. Visualize this, then visualize giving the weighty box to whatever Higher Power feels right to you. The longing is no longer yours to force into being. The problem is no longer yours to solve. Tosha also teaches what she calls “Change Me” prayers, because they bypass the attachment of the Small Self. For example, “Change me into someone who can surrender instead of someone who has to always be in control.”

As Martha Beck says, “Attention. Intention. No tension.” The key is releasing attachment to the specific outcome you desire. Let your prayer be “This—or better.” Be open to miracles.

3. Get Wordless

This is an energetic step, which requires dropping into a certain state of consciousness. Getting Wordless, which activates both sides of your brain, is what Martha Beck calls the “First Technology of Magic.” Jung called this Wordless state the “collective unconscious,” and Martha likens it to tapping into some sort of “energy internet” that allows you to hook into something larger than little ol’ you. Getting Wordless can be facilitated by techniques such as feeling into the insides of your hands, pulling your senses into “open focus,” following your own bloodstream, “sense-drenching” (letting yourself experience the world through all five senses at once), connecting deeply with nature, sacred dance, unfocusing your eyes and thinking about sleep, or opening the mind through the use of paradox. For specific instructions on how to practice these techniques, read Martha’s book.

4. Tap into Oneness

Tapping into Oneness (Martha’s “Second Technology Of Magic”) is about getting out of the Small Self and becoming One with all that is—allowing the separation between you, other life forms, and what you desire to dissolve. When this happens, it’s as if you’re sending an e-mail on the energy internet, bringing the essence of what you desire closer to you. Don’t forget that what gets closer may not be the thing you thought you desired. It may be a feeling state you think you’ll get when you have a certain thing. Perhaps you think you want a million dollars, but what you really desire is the feeling of ease that accompanies your idea of having a million dollars. It may be that ease shows up in other ways, minus the money.

Some of Martha’s techniques for tapping into Oneness include easefully bending flatware by energetically becoming One with it and feeling it “melt” under your hands, letting the produce in the grocery store communicate with you about which plants are good for you and which ones aren’t, entraining other humans into a calm state of consciousness, or telepathically communicating with your pet—or even a wild animal—and seeing if it responds to you.

5. Imagine Your Intention into Being

Imagining yourself being brave represents Martha’s “Third Technology Of Magic.” Although it may seem similar to fantasizing, this process is vastly different. Fantasy has a quality of grasping about it. It almost hurts to fantasize because you’re afraid you’ll be disappointed if you don’t get what you’re dreaming of. Fantasy often has an unachievable feel about it; Imagining feels as though, in some dimension, what you desire has already come to be. Imagining is about sensing what yearns to be created, rather than merely getting what you want.

6. Be On the Alert for Guidance

Now that you’ve gotten clear on your desire, turned it over to the Universe, practiced Wordlessness and Oneness, and Imagined what you desire coming into being, it’s time to let yourself be guided. Practice radical listening. Watch for signs from the Universe. Pay attention to your intuitive knowing. The signs are everywhere, and they’re trying to get your attention, but you’ll miss them if you’re not on the lookout. Anticipate guidance and then tune in. Be aware of the tendency to misinterpret guidance, especially when it is guiding you away from what you desire. This is where nonattachment is especially crucial. Remember, it’s not about getting what you want; it’s about surrendering and aligning with what wants to become.

7. Take Inspired Action

When you’re paying attention to guidance, at some point you will be called to DO SOMETHING. Martha’s “Fourth Technology of Magic” defines this stage as “Forming.” Tosha Silver suggests paying attention to spanda at this point in the process. Spanda is a Sanskrit term that means “to move a little.” In other words, surrendering doesn’t equal passivity. Sometimes you’ll be called to inspired action. Can’t tell whether or not to act? Then use your body as a compass. If you’re considering taking some action in the direction of your desire, do you feel a full-body YES that makes you leap up with enthusiasm? Or does it feel like a “should” that leaves your body exhausted at the mere thought of it? Inspired action feels energizing and easeful, while ego-driven striving can leave you feeling drained, stressed, or overwhelmed with dread. Inspired action may require you to put your butt in the chair and do something challenging, but it will still have the feeling of play about it.

8. Be Patient

This is the hard part. You may wish you could become brave overnight. You may wish you suddenly had what it takes to ditch false fear and let courage take the lead in all your decision making. But sometimes what you desire doesn’t show up exactly when you want it in exactly the form you want it in. This is when people have a tendency to get frustrated, blame themselves for not “manifesting” correctly, or get angry at God for not delivering the desire on a silver platter. Once you’ve practiced the other steps, be willing to wait. And wait. And wait. Trust divine timing. And be willing to change course if guidance leads you to do so.

9. Practice Gratitude

Maybe you got what you desired and fear is a thing of the past for you. But maybe, if you’re like most mere mortals, you’re still afraid from time to time. Either way, find the perfection in it. Be grateful for the learning. If your desire came into being, let yourself be awash in the grace of it all. If it didn’t, be grateful that something even better—whatever wants to become—is on its way. Even if you only feel a little more brave at the end of this journey, express thanks.

As Mama Gena says, “Unexpressed blessings turn to shit.” Thank your courage—or whatever else you may have called into being. Trust the process. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Source: Email Sharing by Lissa Rankin. / http://thefearcurebook.com/

Love Yourself

To love yourself right now, just as you are, is to give yourself heaven. 

Don't wait until you die. If you wait, you die now. If you love, you live now.

~ Alan Cohen ~

Change

It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, 

to embrace the new. 

But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. 

There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, 

for in movement there is life, 

and in change there is power.

~ Alan Cohen ~

Gandhi's 10 Rules for Changing the World by Henrik Edberg

“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”

“The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problem.”

“If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide.”

Mahatma Gandhi needs no long introduction. Everyone knows about the man who lead the Indian people to independence from British rule in 1947.

So let’s just move on to some of my favourite tips from Mahatma Gandhi.

1. Change yourself.

“You must be the change you want to see in the world.”

“As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world – that is the myth of the atomic age – as in being able to remake ourselves.”

If you change yourself you will change your world. If you change how you think then you will change how you feel and what actions you take. And so the world around you will change. Not only because you are now viewing your environment through new lenses of thoughts and emotions but also because the change within can allow you to take action in ways you wouldn’t have – or maybe even have thought about – while stuck in your old thought patterns.

And the problem with changing your outer world without changing yourself is thatyou will still be you when you reach that change you have strived for. You will still have your flaws, anger, negativity, self-sabotaging tendencies etc. intact.

And so in this new situation you will still not find what you hoped for since your mind is still seeping with that negative stuff. And if you get more without having some insight into and distance from your ego it may grow more powerful. Since your ego loves to divide things, to find enemies and to create separation it may start to try to create even more problems and conflicts in your life and world.

2. You are in control.

“Nobody can hurt me without my permission.”

What you feel and how you react to something is always up to you. There may be a “normal” or a common way to react to different things. But that’s mostly just all it is.

You can choose your own thoughts, reactions and emotions to pretty much everything. You don’t have to freak out, overreact of even react in a negative way. Perhaps not every time or instantly. Sometimes a knee-jerk reaction just goes off. Or an old thought habit kicks in.

And as you realize that no-one outside of yourself can actually control how you feel you can start to incorporate this thinking into your daily life and develop it as a thought habit. A habit that you can grow stronger and stronger over time. Doing this makes life a whole lot easier and more pleasurable.

3. Forgive and let it go.

“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”

“An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”

Fighting evil with evil won’t help anyone. And as said in the previous tip, you always choose how to react to something. When you can incorporate such a thought habit more and more into your life then you can react in a way that is more useful to you and others.

You realize that forgiving and letting go of the past will do you and the people in your world a great service. And spending your time in some negative memory won’t help you after you have learned the lessons you can learn from that experience. You’ll probably just cause yourself more suffering and paralyze yourself from taking action in this present moment.

If you don’t forgive then you let the past and another person to control how you feel. By forgiving you release yourself from those bonds. And then you can focus totally on, for instance, the next point.

4. Without action you aren’t going anywhere.

“An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.”

Without taking action very little will be done. However, taking action can be hard and difficult. There can be much inner resistance.

And so you may resort to preaching, as Gandhi says. Or reading and studying endlessly. And feeling like you are moving forward. But getting little or no practical results in real life.

So, to really get where you want to go and to really understand yourself and your world you need to practice. Books can mostly just bring you knowledge. You have to take action and translate that knowledge into results and understanding.

You can check out a few effective tips to overcome this problem in How to Take More Action: 9 Powerful Tips. Or you can move on to the next point for more on the best tip for taking more action that I have found so far.

5. Take care of this moment.

“I do not want to foresee the future. I am concerned with taking care of the present. God has given me no control over the moment following.”

The best way that I have found to overcome the inner resistance that often stops us from taking action is to stay in the present as much as possible and to be accepting.

Why? Well, when you are in the present moment you don’t worry about the next moment that you can’t control anyway. And the resistance to action that comes from you imagining negative future consequences – or reflecting on past failures – of your actions loses its power. And so it becomes easier to both take action and to keep your focus on this moment and perform better.

Have a look at 8 Ways to Return to the Present Moment for tips on how quickly step into the now. And remember that reconnecting with and staying in the now is a mental habit – a sort of muscle – that you grow. Over time it becomes more powerful and makes it easier to slip into the present moment.

6. Everyone is human.

“I claim to be a simple individual liable to err like any other fellow mortal. I own, however, that I have humility enough to confess my errors and to retrace my steps.”

“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”

When you start to make myths out of people – even though they may have produced extraordinary results – you run the risk of becoming disconnected from them. You can start to feel like you could never achieve similar things that they did because they are so very different. So it’s important to keep in mind that everyone is just a human being no matter who they are.

And I think it’s important to remember that we are all human and prone to make mistakes. Holding people to unreasonable standards will only create more unnecessary conflicts in your world and negativity within you.

It’s also important to remember this to avoid falling into the pretty useless habit of beating yourself up over mistakes that you have made. And instead be able to see with clarity where you went wrong and what you can learn from your mistake. And then try again.

7. Persist.

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

Be persistent. In time the opposition around you will fade and fall away. And your inner resistance and self-sabotaging tendencies that want to hold you back and keep you like you have always been will grow weaker.

Find what you really like to do. Then you’ll find the inner motivation to keep going, going and going. You can also find a lot of useful tips on how keep your motivation up in How to Get Out of a Motivational Slump and 25 Simple Ways to Motivate Yourself.

One reason Gandhi was so successful with his method of non-violence was because he and his followers were so persistent. They just didn’t give up.

Success or victory will seldom come as quickly as you would have liked it to. I think one of the reasons people don’t get what they want is simply because they give up too soon. The time they think an achievement will require isn’t the same amount of time it usually takes to achieve that goal. This faulty belief partly comes from the world we live in. A world full of magic pill solutions where advertising continually promises us that we can lose a lot of weight or earn a ton of money in just 30 days. You can read more about this in One Big Mistake a Whole Lot of People Make.

Finally, one useful tip to keep your persistence going is to listen to Gandhi’s third quote in this article and keep a sense of humor. It can lighten things up at the toughest of times.

8. See the good in people and help them.

“I look only to the good qualities of men. Not being faultless myself, I won’t presume to probe into the faults of others.”

“Man becomes great exactly in the degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellow-men.”

“I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.”

There is pretty much always something good in people. And things that may not be so good. But you can choose what things to focus on. And if you want improvement then focusing on the good in people is a useful choice. It also makes life easier for you as your world and relationships become more pleasant and positive.

And when you see the good in people it becomes easier to motivate yourself to be of service to them. By being of service to other people, by giving them value you not only make their lives better. Over time you tend to get what you give. And the people you help may feel more inclined to help other people. And so you, together, create an upward spiral of positive change that grows and becomes stronger.

By strengthening your social skills you can become a more influential person and make this upward spiral even stronger. A few articles that may provide you with useful advice in that department are Do You Make These 10 Mistakes in a Conversation? and Dale Carnegie’s Top 10 Tips for Improving Your Social Skills. Or you can just move on to the next tip.

9. Be congruent, be authentic, be your true self.

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”

“Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.”

I think that one of the best tips for improving your social skills is to behave in a congruent manner and communicate in an authentic way. People seem to really like authentic communication. And there is much inner enjoyment to be found when your thoughts, words and actions are aligned. You feel powerful and good about yourself.

When words and thoughts are aligned then that shows through in your communication. Because now you have your voice tonality and body language – some say they are over 90 percent of communication – in alignment with your words.

With these channels in alignment people tend to really listen to what you’re saying. You are communicating without incongruency, mixed messages or perhaps a sort of phoniness.

Also, if your actions aren’t in alignment with what you’re communicating then you start to hurt your own belief in what you can do. And other people’s belief in you too.

10. Continue to grow and evolve.

”Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into a false position.”

You can pretty much always improve your skills, habits or re-evaluate your evaluations. You can gain deeper understanding of yourself and the world.

Sure, you may look inconsistent or like you don’t know what you are doing from time to time. You may have trouble to act congruently or to communicate authentically. But if you don’t then you will, as Gandhi says, drive yourself into a false position. A place where you try to uphold or cling to your old views to appear consistent while you realise within that something is wrong. It’s not a fun place to be. To choose to grow and evolve is a happier and more useful path to take.

This article is reprinted here with permission. Henrik Edberg is a writer who lives on the east coast of Sweden. He is passionate about happiness and personal development and writes about it every week on The Positivity Blog and in his free newsletter.   

Source: Gandhi's 10 Rules for Changing the World

--by Henrik Edberg, syndicated from positivityblog.com, Jun 28, 2013

http://www.dailygood.org/story/466/gandhi-s-10-rules-for-changing-the-world-henrik-edberg/ 

Hold The High Watch

All creation is ideal, lovely, enchanting and satisfying. There are really no “others,” for in your universe you stand as one with all. In such realization of Yourself as The One there is no mistake to be corrected, no sickness to be healed, no person to be redeemed.

The seeming problem disappears: simply to withdraw from all belief of duality, multiplicity and sense of otherness, and to hold the High Watch, brings instead the vision of the completeness and infinity of all Good, all Health, all Abundance, all Joy now here and anywhere.

In proportion as one can rise to perform this act of the Truth can he fulfill the commission “Heal the sick and raise the dead.” And who are the sick? Who are the dead? Verily, who can they be and where can they exist if the Self be ALL? The commission is fulfilled in Revelation.

Source: ~ Allen White ~ / http://absolutelyyours.org/2015/02/22/dont-shortchange-yourself/

There Are no Responsibilities by Ernest Holmes

The Spirit has no responsibilities.

Its work is already accomplished and Its purposes are already fulfilled.

The Spirit knows no want nor fear.

It is complete within Itself and lives by virtue of Its own Being.

I am Spirit and cannot take on the fears of the world.

My work is accomplished and my ways are made straight before me.

The pathway of Life is an endless road of Eternal Satisfaction and Perfect Joy.

My Life within me is Complete and Perfect, and has no cares nor burdens.

It is Free Spirit and cannot be bound.

I rejoice in that Freedom.

I rejoice in Freedom.

~~~

Relationship Review — Stay & Play or Go Away by Jennifer Hoffman

I hear from thousands of people every week and many are wondering why so many relationships are ending right now, which includes those between friends, partners, spouses, and families. Someone wrote ‘Families are fracturing now'; another wrote ‘All of my friends are getting a divorce’ and asked  “Are we heading into a time when we won’t have any more relationships?” Not at all. In fact, we are clearing the way so we can have soul-based instead of karma-based relationships. And although not all relationships are ending, many are coming up for review and they will either move forward in a very strong way, or they will end with closure and no more karma.

There was a time when honoring family ties was unquestionable and marriage lasted until death, no matter what happened behind closed doors. Times have changed and that’s good because some families and marriages are truly horrific. But these ties run deep, much deeper than we realize because they are based on karma and soul contracts, healing purposes, promises, and obligations that we have honored for many lifetimes. With the end of karma, which is one of the purposes and potentials of this lifetime, any relationship that is karma-based is now up for review and it can be released or start with a new energetic connection.

As much as we would all love to have the perfect family or marriage, very few people do but that depends on how you define ‘perfect’. I think we all want relationships with people who are loving, and who treat us with kindness and respect. Despite what we believe, the real purpose of family is to bring a soul group together in a way that encourages and facilitates healing, by creating such a powerful connection that healing must occur. With family we have many expectations of behavior and while everyone can choose to be kind, honest, and loving, some people don’t choose to do that. Then, because we have such strong expectations of what ‘family’ should be and do, that when they don’t do those things we believe there’s something wrong with us or that it’s our job to fix or heal them.

The same thing holds true for marriages or long term relationships of any kind, including relationships with our children (they have karma with us too). Many of our expectations are based on what we believe, based on the type of connection, rather than understanding the healing nature of karmic cycles. For example, because they’re my family they are supposed to be nice to me and love me. Or, because it’s my spouse I expect them to be loving, considerate, and faithful. Or friends are supposed to be considerate and supportive. Or I am supposed to have a loving, supportive, respectful, and connected relationship with my children (this is one of the tough ones and breakups are occurring between parents and children too).

But what brought us together was a shared karmic path and healing purpose, not a promise of ‘happily ever after’ with them. This  doesn’t mean that all family ties and marriages need to end now. Rather, we have an opportunity to step away from the karma and set new standards of connection for ourselves. If we want to have relationships that are joyful, loving, respectful, kind, and fulfilling, we need to be connected with people who can embody those energies and not expect that because we have expectations of those behaviors from certain people based on a label that is attached to a connection.

It only takes one person’s willingness to move out of karma to end it and to create a new path for that relationship. If the other people involve agree, then a new paradigm is created and we can have ‘happily ever after’ with them. If not, then we get closure and release, and can set our sights on attracting people who can connect with us at the level we want.  Wherever you identify a gap in your life (from last week’s message which you can read here), there is an opportunity for review, to set a new energy standard for that connection so it can be released or renewed at a new level.

We are approaching the final Uranus/Pluto square in March 2015 and, more importantly, the closure of a very long cycle for all of humanity, marked by March’s new and full moons, at 0 and 29.57 Pisces. This is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. We are the empowerment of the new age, of heaven on earth, of the new earth paradigms. It’s what we focus on now and the review and closure we do that will usher us into new paradigms of being and into relationships with higher frequency energy based soul families instead of karma based human families, and with partners who can join us in our wholeness instead of our healing, and who can love, honor, and respect us because they share our desire for those energies and are connected to us in that way.

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Copyright (c) 2014 by Jennifer Hoffman. All rights reserved. You may quote, copy, translate and link to this article, in its entirety, on free, non-donation based websites only, as long as you include the author name and a working link back to this website. All other uses are strictly prohibited.

Source: http://enlighteninglife.com/relationship-review-stay-play-go-away/

Thoughts to ponder on ....

*  The dream is the small hidden door in the deepest and most intimate sanctum of the soul, which opens to that primeval cosmic night that was soul long before there was conscious ego and will be soul far beyond what a conscious ego could ever reach.

*  We are so captivated by and entangled in our subjective consciousness that we have forgotten the age-old fact that God speaks chiefly through dreams and visions.

~ Carl Jung ~

Loving Others Is Easy ....

... When I Love and Accept Myself.

Beautiful Thoughts

 

While googling for Dr Joseph Murphy's books, I came across these wonderful thoughts shared by a very kind reader from his book "Think Yourself to Health, Wealth, & Happiness: The Best of Dr. Joseph Murphy's Cosmic Wisdom".  I thought I would pay it forward.  Enjoy!

Thoughts repeatedly sent to your subconscious are accepted as true and brought into reality.

 

To affirm is to state that it is so, and as you maintain this attitude of mind as true, regardless of all evidence to the contrary, you will receive an answer to your prayer.

 

Your thoughts can create. It doesn't matter how often you may have used your mind in a negative and destructive manner. The minute you begin to use it in the right way, right result follow.

 

Faith is accepting as true that which your reason and senses deny. Whatever you mentally accept and feel to be true come to pass. It is not what you profess to believe with your lips that matters. What matters is the belief deep down in your heart that is made manifest. It is done unto you as you believe.

 

You know when you have forgiven another, because you can meet the person in your mind and there is memory of the pain but no longer any sting.

 

Nothing is accomplished without desire.

 

The desire and the imagination must agree. When your desire and your imagination are in conflict, your imagination always wins.

 

Project a mental movie in your mind night and morning, knowing that your conscious mind is the camera, and it will be developed in the darkroom of your subconscious mind.

 

All the powers of God are within you, waiting to be drawn forth by your conscious mind when it is still. The quiet mind gets things done. To attain peace, learn to let go.

 

Prior to sleep, charge your subconscious with the task of evolving an answer to any problem, and prove its miracle working power to yourself. It will answer you

 

Worry is God's alarm, reminding you that you are thinking wrongly, and you should redirect your thinking process immediately

 

Negativity is a mental poison. Immediately substitute a positive, constructive thought for a negative one.

 

Never finish a negative statement. Never engage is such negative thinking as lack or limitation. For as he thinketh in his heart so is he.

 

The negative thoughts of others have no power to reach you, if you refuse to accept them, and they will return to their point of origin with double force.

 

Carefully monitor your self-talk. The law of mind responds to what you believe and decree yourself to be. Ideas are conveyed to the subconscious by repetition, belief, and expectancy, and are made manifest in your life. You cannot grow if your self-talk is negative.

 

There is only one process of healing and that is faith. People may say it's impossible, but with God all things are possible. God, who created you, can heal you.

 

All healing takes place according to the belief of the individual. The subconscious mind is creative medium; it is the builder of your body and the healer of the body. Whatever the conscious mind impress on the subconscious, the latter faithfully reproduces.

 

The law, simply stated, however, is that the Universal can only act on the plane of the particular or individual by becoming the individual. The only way God can work for us is through you; through our thoughts, feelings and mental imagery

  Source: http://www.amazon.in/Think-Yourself-Health-Wealth-Happiness/dp/0735203636