Fun has a sacred dimension.
Adriana Diaz
WE WILL HELP YOU BECOME WHO YOU WANT TO BE.
This everlasting living soul
The first thing which I can record concerning myself is, that
I was born. These are wonderful words. This life, to which
neither time nor eternity can bring diminution -- this
everlasting living soul, began. My mind loses itself in these
depths.
Groucho Marx
I was born. These are wonderful words. This life, to which
neither time nor eternity can bring diminution -- this
everlasting living soul, began. My mind loses itself in these
depths.
Groucho Marx
Nature
The least movement is of importance to all nature. The entire ocean is affected by a pebble.
Blaise Pascal
Blaise Pascal
Thank you
If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice.
Meister Eckhart
Meister Eckhart
Responsibility
If it's never our fault, we can't take responsibility for it.
If we can't take responsibility for it, we'll always be its victim.
Richard Bach
If we can't take responsibility for it, we'll always be its victim.
Richard Bach
Generosity
You have not lived until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.
Anonymous
Anonymous
A happier you
A Happier You
By Eckhart Tolle
Don't seek happiness. If you seek it, you won't find it, because seeking is the antithesis of happiness. Happiness is ever elusive, but freedom from unhappiness is attainable now, by facing what is rather than making up stories about it.
1. The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it. Be aware of the thoughts you are thinking. Separate them from the situation, which is always neutral, which always is as it is. There is the situation or the fact, and here are my thoughts about it. Instead of making up stories, stay with the facts. For example, "I am ruined" is a story. It limits you and prevents you from taking effective action. "I have 50 cents left in my bank account" is a fact. Facing facts is always empowering.
2. See if you can catch the voice in your head, perhaps in the very moment it complains about something, and recognize it for what it is: the voice of the ego, no more than a thought. Whenever you notice that voice, you will also realize that you are not the voice, but the one who is aware of it. In fact, you are the awareness that is aware of the voice. In the background, there is the awareness. In the foreground, there is the voice, the thinker. In this way you are becoming free of the ego, free of the unobserved mind.
3. Wherever you look, there is plenty of circumstantial evidence for the reality of time—a rotting apple, your face in the bathroom mirror compared with your face in a photo taken 30 years ago—yet you never find any direct evidence, you never experience time itself. You only ever experience the present moment.
4. Why do anxiety, stress, or negativity arise? Because you turned away from the present moment. And why did you do that? You thought something else was more important. One small error, one misperception, creates a world of suffering.
5. People believe themselves to be dependent on what happens for their happiness. They don't realize that what happens is the most unstable thing in the universe. It changes constantly. They look upon the present moment as either marred by something that has happened and shouldn't have or as deficient because of something that has not happened but should have. And so they miss the deeper perfection that is inherent in life itself, a perfection that lies beyond what is happening or not happening. Accept the present moment and find the perfection that is untouched by time.
6. The more shared past there is in a relationship, the more present you need to be; otherwise, you will be forced to relive the past again and again.
7. Equating the physical body with "I," the body that is destined to grow old, wither, and die, always leads to suffering. To refrain from identifying with the body doesn't mean that you no longer care for it. If it is strong, beautiful, or vigorous, you can appreciate those attributes—while they last. You can also improve the body's condition through nutrition and exercise. If you don't equate the body with who you are, when beauty fades, vigor diminishes, or the body becomes incapacitated, this will not affect your sense of worth or identity in any way. In fact, as the body begins to weaken, the light of consciousness can shine more easily.
8. You do not become good by trying to be good, but by finding the goodness that is already within you and allowing that goodness to emerge.
9. If peace is really what you want, then you will choose peace.
Exerpted from Oneness with All Life by Eckhart Tolle. Published by arrangement with Dutton, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc. Copywright © 2008 by Eckhart Tolle
By Eckhart Tolle
Don't seek happiness. If you seek it, you won't find it, because seeking is the antithesis of happiness. Happiness is ever elusive, but freedom from unhappiness is attainable now, by facing what is rather than making up stories about it.
1. The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it. Be aware of the thoughts you are thinking. Separate them from the situation, which is always neutral, which always is as it is. There is the situation or the fact, and here are my thoughts about it. Instead of making up stories, stay with the facts. For example, "I am ruined" is a story. It limits you and prevents you from taking effective action. "I have 50 cents left in my bank account" is a fact. Facing facts is always empowering.
2. See if you can catch the voice in your head, perhaps in the very moment it complains about something, and recognize it for what it is: the voice of the ego, no more than a thought. Whenever you notice that voice, you will also realize that you are not the voice, but the one who is aware of it. In fact, you are the awareness that is aware of the voice. In the background, there is the awareness. In the foreground, there is the voice, the thinker. In this way you are becoming free of the ego, free of the unobserved mind.
3. Wherever you look, there is plenty of circumstantial evidence for the reality of time—a rotting apple, your face in the bathroom mirror compared with your face in a photo taken 30 years ago—yet you never find any direct evidence, you never experience time itself. You only ever experience the present moment.
4. Why do anxiety, stress, or negativity arise? Because you turned away from the present moment. And why did you do that? You thought something else was more important. One small error, one misperception, creates a world of suffering.
5. People believe themselves to be dependent on what happens for their happiness. They don't realize that what happens is the most unstable thing in the universe. It changes constantly. They look upon the present moment as either marred by something that has happened and shouldn't have or as deficient because of something that has not happened but should have. And so they miss the deeper perfection that is inherent in life itself, a perfection that lies beyond what is happening or not happening. Accept the present moment and find the perfection that is untouched by time.
6. The more shared past there is in a relationship, the more present you need to be; otherwise, you will be forced to relive the past again and again.
7. Equating the physical body with "I," the body that is destined to grow old, wither, and die, always leads to suffering. To refrain from identifying with the body doesn't mean that you no longer care for it. If it is strong, beautiful, or vigorous, you can appreciate those attributes—while they last. You can also improve the body's condition through nutrition and exercise. If you don't equate the body with who you are, when beauty fades, vigor diminishes, or the body becomes incapacitated, this will not affect your sense of worth or identity in any way. In fact, as the body begins to weaken, the light of consciousness can shine more easily.
8. You do not become good by trying to be good, but by finding the goodness that is already within you and allowing that goodness to emerge.
9. If peace is really what you want, then you will choose peace.
Exerpted from Oneness with All Life by Eckhart Tolle. Published by arrangement with Dutton, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc. Copywright © 2008 by Eckhart Tolle
Say yes to what is
The shift in consciousness happens the moment you say 'yes' to what is, because the entire structure of the egoic mind-made self lives on resistance and opposition and on making the now into an enemy. The beautiful thing is that we can step out of thousands of years of collective conditioning, without needing more time to step out of it.
Eckhart Tolle
Eckhart Tolle
Measure of darkness
Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness,
and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.
Carl Jung
and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.
Carl Jung
Ignorance
The recipe for perpetual ignorance is: be satisfied with your opinions and content with your knowledge.
Elbert Hubbard
Elbert Hubbard
Keep a calm spirit
Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset.
Saint Francis de Sales
Saint Francis de Sales
The Center
In the course of our lifetime, our personalities are to be transformed and reorganized in such a way that the Ego with its ambitions and goals is no longer the main reference point. Indeed, the guiding element in our personality is to be the will of God, which in psychological language, we call the Self or Center.
John Sanford
John Sanford
What do you carry?
A man sees in the world what he carries in his heart.
Johann Wolfgang Goethe, from "Faust"
Johann Wolfgang Goethe, from "Faust"
Anger
If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.
Chinese Proverb
Chinese Proverb
Lessons of life
It is not our task to solve another's problems, or take away another's pain. All lessons of life are necessary and produce growth - and therefore joy.
Letters from the Cosmos
Letters from the Cosmos
Our presence liberates others
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so
that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We are born to make manifest the glory of God [the Spirit] that is within us.
It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other
people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.
Marianne Williamson
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so
that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We are born to make manifest the glory of God [the Spirit] that is within us.
It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other
people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.
Marianne Williamson
Roles
If we can give up attachment to our roles as helpers, then maybe our clients can give up attachment to their roles as patients and we can meet as fellow souls on this incredible journey. We can fulfill the duties of our roles without being trapped by over-identification with them.
Ram Dass
Ram Dass
The Guest House
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably,
She may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
Rumi
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably,
She may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
Rumi
Soul work
The aim of soul work is not adjustment to accepted norms or a statistical framework. The goal is a richly elaborated life connected to society and nature. The idea is not to be superficially adjusted, but to be profoundly connected in the heart.
Thomas Moore
Thomas Moore
The Kingdom of Heaven
'Blessed are the poor in spirit,' Jesus said, 'for theirs will be the kindom of heaven.' What does 'poor in spirit' mean? No inner baggage, no identifications. Not with things, nor with and mental concepts that have a sense of self in them. And what is the 'kingdom of heaven'? The simple but profound joy of Being that is there when you let go of identifcations and so become 'poor in spirit.'
Eckhart Tolle
It is hard to understand what 'The Kingdom of Heaven is within you' really means. This is beause it is not understandable to the ego, which interprets it as if something outside is inside, and this does not mean anything. The word 'within' is unnecessary. The Kingdom of Heaven is you. What else but you did the Creator create, and what else but you is His Kingdom? This is the whole message of the Atonement; a message which in its totality transcends the sum of its parts. You, too, have a Kingdom that your spirit created. It has not ceased to create because of the ego's illusions. Your creations are no more fatherless than you are. Your ego and you spirit will never be co-creators, but your spirit and your Creator will always be. Be confident that your spirit and your Creator will always be. Be confident that your creations are as safe as you are.
A Course in Miracles
Eckhart Tolle
It is hard to understand what 'The Kingdom of Heaven is within you' really means. This is beause it is not understandable to the ego, which interprets it as if something outside is inside, and this does not mean anything. The word 'within' is unnecessary. The Kingdom of Heaven is you. What else but you did the Creator create, and what else but you is His Kingdom? This is the whole message of the Atonement; a message which in its totality transcends the sum of its parts. You, too, have a Kingdom that your spirit created. It has not ceased to create because of the ego's illusions. Your creations are no more fatherless than you are. Your ego and you spirit will never be co-creators, but your spirit and your Creator will always be. Be confident that your spirit and your Creator will always be. Be confident that your creations are as safe as you are.
The Kingdom is perfectly united and perfectly
protected, and the ego will not prevail against it. Amen.
protected, and the ego will not prevail against it. Amen.
A Course in Miracles
Don't wait
As we turn inward, we realize: 'I directly affect the universe. I take direct responsibility.' Don't wait for the Guru; Don't wait for the Messiah; Don't wait for the 2nd coming. The real 'I' is here now--within. Wake up and smell the coffee!
Bob Toben & Fred Alan Wolf
Bob Toben & Fred Alan Wolf
Presence of now
Very few human beings are actually where they are, rooted in the presence of now. They are continuously reaching out for more. They're being pulled out of now, which is all there ever is - life itself. Nothing else ever exists except now.
Eckhart Tolle
Eckhart Tolle
Terry
In honor of my brother, Terry, who would be 58-years old today November 4, 1951 - March 8, 2009
THE DRAGONFLY
But, the dragonfly's new body would not go down into the water. He could not get back to tell his friends the good news. Then he understood that their time would come, when they, too, would know what he now knew. So, he raised his wings and flew off into his joyous new life!
Doris Stickney
THE DRAGONFLY
But, the dragonfly's new body would not go down into the water. He could not get back to tell his friends the good news. Then he understood that their time would come, when they, too, would know what he now knew. So, he raised his wings and flew off into his joyous new life!
Doris Stickney
Prayer of St. Francis
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
St. Francis
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
St. Francis
Planning
If you are planning for a year, sow rice.
If you are planning for a decade, plant trees.
If you are planning for a lifetime, educate people.
Chinese proverb
If you are planning for a decade, plant trees.
If you are planning for a lifetime, educate people.
Chinese proverb
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