Sunday, November 18, 2012

Lords Prayer in Aramaic | the langauge Jesus spoke


Lords Prayer in Aramaic | the langauge Jesus spoke

Lord's Prayer is the most famous prayer that Christ, upon him be peace, taught to humanity. The prayer is a beautiful teaching of welcoming God's Light into our inner space with submission and surrender to Divine will. In the book, Prayers of the Cosmos: Meditations on the Aramaic Words of Jesus, Neil Douglas-Klotz (Saadi Shakur Chisti) rendered the prayer into meditative interpretation. The one mentioned in the book can be read here.

The following is my rendition of the Lord's prayer drawing inspiration from Sufi Neil Douglas-Klotz and Nazarene's translation from Aramaic. Including a thematic intro of each line, it is done with a focus on the mystical inner resonance (not the literal word by word translation, so to speak).

1. Birth in Grand Oneness | Abwoon d'bwashmaya
. O Birther! Father-Mother of the Cosmos.

King James version: Our Father which art in Heaven

2. Acknowledging the Source of Light | Nethqadash shmakh
. Purify us with Your Hallowed Light of Being.

King James: Hallowed be Thy Name

3. Welcoming the Supreme into the inner Heart | Teytey malkuthakh
. May Your Abode be our inner-heart.

King James: Thy Kingdom comes 

4. Merging in submission | Nehwey tzevyanach aykanna d'bwahmaya aph b'arha
. In Divine union, may our will merge into Your Will.

King James: Thy Will be done in earth, as it is in heaven

5. The Real Provider | Hawvlan lachma d'sunqanan yaomana
. O, The Real Provider, grant us our inner & outer nourishment.

King James: Give us this day our daily bread

6. Karma and Universal Compassion | Wahboqlan khaubayn (wakhtahayn) aykanna daph khnan shbwoqan l'khayyabayn
. In Your Mercy, detach the fetters of faults that bind us, as we (in universal compassion) may let go the guilt of others.

King James: And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors

7. Protection from duality and ego | Wela tahlan l'nesyuna, Ela patzan min bisha
. Let us not enter forgetfulness (of duality), But free us from ego.

King James: And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil

. amen | i confirm with my entire being

note: Popularly read another additional line, "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever." is not contained in Luke's version, nor is it present in the earliest manuscripts of Matthew. Most scholars do not consider it part of the original text of Matthew, and modern translations do not include it.

Action is required. Goals are not enough. You have to take action.


Action is required. Goals are not enough. You have to take action.
1. Create a vision. *
       Create a vision of who you want to be and live into that picture as if
it's already true. You create it, you don't wait until you receive it. You can
make it up.
2. Tell a true lie.
       Make up a lie about how great you are to make yourself sound
unbelievably wonderful. Think of a picture of who you want to be. Without
that picture, you can't live up to that self.
3. Leave your comfort zone. *
       Our society encourages us to seek comfort. And yet only challenge will
test our skills and make us better. Only challenge and the self motivation to
engage that challenge will transform us. And every challenge we face
creates a more skillful self. Look for challenges to motivate yourself. It's up
to you to notice your stuck in a comfort zone. It's up to you to break free
from it and fly away.
4. Find your key.
       Book: "The Master Key to Riches" by Napoleon Hill. "The great master
key to riches is nothing more or less than the self discipline necessary to
take complete full control of your own mind. Remember the only thing you
have complete control is your own mental attitude." Maybe the hill book is
not your "key", but you'll find your own instruction book if you look for it.
It's out there, waiting for you.
5. Plan your work. *
       When your too depressed or when your too upset to start something
new. But then that's the perfect time to learn life's important rule. The rule
is the transmutation of those negative emotions through "definitely planned
work." Definitely planned work is the path to self motivation after you
create your vision of who you want to be. Definitely planned work contained
the power of PURPOSE. One hour of planning saves three hours of execution.
It is impossible to work passionately with a sense of purpose and feel
1/24depressed at the same time. Successfully planned work will motivate you to
do more and more than you ever thought possible.
6. Move your goal posts.
       Most people don't realize the reason their not getting what they want
in life is because their major goals are too small and too vague. And
therefore have no power. Your major goal will not be reached if it fails to
excite your imagination. What really moves you is to set a large and specific
POWER goal. A power goal is a DREAM that drives you. People that create
power goals are living on PURPOSE. They know what their up to in life. You
know you had a power goal by observing it's effect on you. It's not was a
goal is that's important, it's what it does.
7. Dribble with your other hand.
       It's not that you can't, it's that you haven't. You need to start
reprogramming your habits of thinking. You can think optimistically if you
build it up slowly one thought at a time. i.e. with small persistent
incremental victories.
8. Play your character.
       How you act is who you become. We can get energy and motivation by
doing the character who we want to be. We can become that character if
we practice being that character all the time.
9. Don't just do something, sit there.
       Sit quietly and do absolutely nothing. Be alone for a long time all by
yourself. Sitting in silence allows your true dream in life to take shape and
clarity. In life today, your either living your dream or someone elses. And
unless you give your dreams the time and space it needs to express itself,
you'll live the better part of your life living the dreams of other people.
10. Use the right chemicals.
       Use the chemicals that already exists in your system when you laugh,
sing, dance, hug someone. When your having fun, your body chemistry
changes. Once you make a job fun, you solved the problem of self
motivation.
11. Leave high school.
2/24       In high school we become fearing about what others think of us. Our
mission in life became not being embarrassed. We were afraid to look bad,
so we made a point not to take risks. Most people designed their entire
lives based on what other people think of them. But we can leave that habit
behind. Emerson: "Why should the way I feel depend on the thought in
someone else's head."
12. Lose face.
       You can create a self that doesn't care about what other people think.
You can motivate yourself by leaving the painful self consciousness of high
school behind. Show me a guy who is afraid to look bad and I can show you
a guy you can beat every time.
13. Sing without feeling.
       Become a performer. Act like you feel like you want to feel. "We do
not sing because we're happy. We're happy because we sing." If you want
to be happy, find the happiest song you know and sing it. It works.
14. Kill your television. *
       If your watching too much television, you might find it useful to ask
this question. Which side of the glass do you want to live on? When you
watching television, you're watching other people do what they love to do
for a living. Those people are on the best side of the glass because they're
having fun and you're passively watching them have fun. They're getting
money and you're the one paying. "I find television very educational. Every
time some turns it on, I go to the other room to read a book."
15. Read yourself a story. *
       Abraham Lincoln would read the newspaper everyday aloud. He
discovered that he remembered twice as much if he read aloud than if he
read it silently and he remembered twice as long of a time.
16. Get on your death bed. *
       Many of us keep pretending that our game has no end. We plan to do
great things someday when we feel like it. Confronting our own death
doesn't have to wait until we run out of life. In fact being able to vividly
imagine our last hours on our death bed creates a paradoxical sensation.
3/24The feeling of being born all over again and that's the first step of self
motivation.
17. Be lazy to begin with. ****
       "There isn't any job that can't be handled if you break it down into
small pieces" - Henry Ford. When you break a job down, remember to allow
yourself some laziness in the beginning. Because it isn't important how fast
you're doing it, what's important is that you ARE doing it. The irony is, the
slower you start something, the faster you'll finish. When you first think
about doing something hard and overwhelming, you're mostly aware of how
you don't want to do it at all. In other words, the mental picture you have
of doing the activity fast and furiously is not a happy picture so you think
of ways to avoid doing the job all together. Thinking about starting slowly is
easy. And doing it slowly allows you to actually start doing it. Therefore it
gets finished.
18. Leave your friends.
       Stay away from soul call friends who don't support your goals. When
you're in a conversion with a pessimists possibilities seems to have a way of
disappearing and a sense of cynicism. Remember, cynics do not create.
Everyone knows that enthusiasm is contagious. And being in a conversation
with an optimist opens us up to more and more of life's possibilities.
19. Plan you game.
       Design your own life game plan. Let the game respond to you rather
than the other way around. Act on the crucial difference between CREATING
verus RESPONDING.
20. Find your inner Einstein.
       The next time you see a picture of Albert Einstein, realize that's
actually you. Every human has the capacity of genius. To experience
Einstein's creative level of thinking all you have to do is comment to using
your imagination. This is sometimes a difficult recommendation for grown
ups to follow. Grown ups become using their imagination for only one thing,
worrying. Grown ups visualize worst case scenarios all day long. All their
energy for visualization is channeled into colorful pictures of what can go
wrong. Worrying is a MISUSE of the imagination. What people don't
comprehend is that the human imagination was designed for better things.
People who use their imagination to create often achieve things that
4/24worriers never dream of achieving. Even if the worriers have much higher
IQ(s). Dreaming is the design stage of creating the future. Imagine yourself
living a motivated life.
21. Feel good first. *
       Most people think they'll feel good once they reach some goal. They
think happiness is OUT THERE somewhere. The problem with feeling good
about yourself until you hit a goal is that it might never happen. By linking
happiness to something you don't have yet, you denying yourself the power
to create it in the moment. Your happiness is your birth right. It shouldn't
depend on you ACHIEVING something. Start by claiming it and using it to
make your journey fun all the way and not just at the end.
22. Run toward your fear. *
       The world's best kept secret is that on the other side of your fear
there's something safe and beneficial there waiting for you. If you work
through even a small fear, you'll increase your confidence in your ability to
create your life. "Fear kill more people than death. Death kills us but once
and we usually don't even know it. But fear kills us over and over again.
subtle at times and brutal at other times." The rush we get after running
through the waterfall of fear is the most energizing feeling in the world. If
you're ever in an under motivated mood, find something you fear and do it.
And watch what happens.
23. Just be unexpected.
       Most people don't see ourselves as creative, but we all are. The
reason is we associate being creative as being "original." But that's not the
case. Being creative has nothing to do with originality, but it has to do with
being "unexpected." If your willing accept that you are creative, you can
start coming up with all these different "unexpected" ways of answering all
the problems life throws at you.
24. Create your relationship.
       "We are each angels with only one wing, so we can only fly and
embarrass each other." We can't create our truest selves without creating
relationships in the process. Relationships are everywhere. In relationship,
most of think with our emotions, not our minds. Don't think with your
feelings though. Think with your mind and you'll be able to create the
relationships you want in your life. They just don't "happen" to you.
5/2425. Be where you are.
       Most of us don't ever focus. We're constantly feel this type of psychic
chaos because we're always thinking about too many things at once. Focus
on what you want and it will come to you life. Focus on being a happy and
motivated person and that's who you will be. FOCUS.
26. Act like a hero.
       We need heroes in our lives. They are not a sign of weakness, they
are a source of strength. "Without heroes, we are just plain people and we
don't know how far we can go." Heroes show us what is possible for a
human being is able to accomplish, therefore are very useful for anyone
interested in self motivation. You don't have to have just one hero, choose a
number for them. Put their pictures up. Become an expert in their lives.
Collect books about them. Let your heroes lives inspire you. They're only
people like we are. What distinguish them from us is their great level of self
motivation. To passively adore them is an insult to our potential. Instead of
looking up to our heroes, it's much more beneficial to look into them.
27. Accept your will power. *
       Lot of people say they don't have will power. But if you think you
don't have will power, your under minding your own success. Everyone has
will power. To be listening to this program you got to have will power. The
first step in developing your will power is to attempt it's existence. The 2nd
step is to know that your will power is like a muscle in your arm is yours to
develop. Your in charge of making it strong or let it become weak. Will
power is not strengthened by random external circumstances. Will power is
an inside game. Make a promise to yourself to be clear and truthful about
your own will power. It's always there.
28. Say "No" to yourself. ****
       A lot of people are afraid of the word "discipline" but the root of the
word "discipline" is the word "disciple." When your self disciplined, you
simply decided in the matter of the word to become your own "disciple."
Once you make that decision, your life's adventures becomes more
interesting. You see yourself as a different person. You start to gain your
own SELF RESPECT. "Self respect is the fruit of discipline. The sense of
dignity growths with the ability to say 'no' to oneself." - Abraham Hassel.
"When we say no to temptation, the power of that 'temptation' passes into
6/24our will power." - Emerson. We should do 2 things everyday that we don't
want to do. By doing this, we become more aware of our will power.
29. Make new word connections.
       If you associate the word "will power" as harsh punishment you'll
weaken your resolve to build it. To increase your resolve, you need to think
about "new word connections." i.e. weight lifters think failure as success. Be
more aware of the language you use and guide that language to more
personal power.
30. Deprogram yourself.
       If you watch/listen to news programs on a regular basis, you belong to
a very hypnotic cult. You need to be de programmed. Start be altering how
you listen to the media. Program out all the negative and cynical thoughts
that you allow to flow into your mind unchecked when you hear the news.
Once you become better at factoring out all the negative media, make your
own news. Be your own breaking story.
31. Open the present. ****
       Practice being awake in the present moment. Make the most
awareness of this moment. Don't live the past unless you like guilt. Don't live
in the future unless you like fear. Just stay focused on today. Watch what
happens to your motivation.
32. Serve and grow rich.
       You can motivate yourself by increasing the flow of money into your
life. Most people are even embarrassed to think this way. They don't want
to think and grow rich because they'll be though as being greedy. They
believe to make money, you have to take it away from someone else. Or
they don't want to come across as being obsessed with money. You know
who are the people that are really obsessed with money? People who think
they don't have enough. They obsess of money all day long. It's in their
family discussions, it's in their minds at night, it becomes a destructive part
of their relationships during the day. "Our first duty in life is not to be
poor" - George Bernard Shaw. The road to not being poor always travels
through your professional relationships. The more serve those relationships,
the more productive you'll become and the more money you'll make. Allow
yourself to link your financial well being with your increase compassion for
others. If I live in poverty, how much love and attention can I give my
7/24children or to my fellow humans. How much help can I give to others if I'm
always worrying about being in debt.
33. Imitate 'Columbo'
       In your professional life, always be CURIOUS. When you meet with
someone think of yourself as a detective. Ask questions. By asking questions
in your relationships, your already creating the relationship. Your already
self motivated. Your not waiting for the other person to make it happen.
34. Give away some power. ****
       Motivate yourself by giving someone else the ideas for self motivation.
You can have any experience you want in life, simply by giving away that
experience to someone else. It's called "Instant Karma." If you want to be
motivated, shift your inspiration to someone else. Point out their strengths.
Offer encouragement and support. Watch what it does for you.
35. Talk to yourself. * ****
       Don't be nervous talking to yourself. We associate it with 'insanity'.
But Plato said, "Thinking was the soul talking to itself." There is no one
better to talk to then yourself when you really want to get things worked
out. No other person has enough information about your problems. No one
knows your skills and capabilities better. We get our creative thinking going
each morning by asking ourselves 2 questions. 1. What's good in my life? 2.
What is there still to be done? Because thought always perceive action.
Talking to yourself is a proven way to get motivated.
36. Schedule your comebacks.
       Progress toward your goals is never going to be a straight line, It's
always going to be a wavy line. You'll go up and come down a little. Two
steps forward and one step back. Now most people will get discouraged
when they take the two steps back, they think they're failing. But they
really hasn't. They really in sync with the natural rhythm of progress. Now
once you understand this rhythm, you can look ahead on your calendar to
refresh, renew, and recover. Schedule your comeback while you're still on
top. Schedule a block of time to get away. Even to get away from what you
love. Because coming back is going to be that much more exciting when
you've been renewed.
37. Live you're true life. *
8/24       "When you say you fear death, you're really saying you've not lived
you're true life." This fear cloaks the world in true suffering. How do you
know what you're true life is? How do you know how to live it? First, find
out what makes you happy and start doing that. i.e. if writing makes you
happy, start writing. Don't just wait until something is offered to you. Be
proactive about your happiness. There is no goal better than this one. To
know as you lay in you're death bed that you've lived you're true life. You
did what it was that made you happy.
38. Get up on the right side of the bed.
       Get up on the right side of you're brain. Dreams, and energy, and
creative insight comes from the right side of the brain. Linear, logical, short
term, and short sighted thinking comes from the left side of the brain. The
best explanation of how whole brain thinking surpasses just one sided
thinking is in a book called, "Frankenstein's castle." - Wilson. We have more
control in drawing vital energy and creative ideas from right brain then we
ever realized. And what stimulates the right brain the most is a high sense
of purpose. If you had to carry a bag of sand around town, you're left brain
would say it was boring. But if you had to carry your daughter that weighed
the same as the bag of sand, then you would carry her with more energy.
That energy comes from the right side of the brain. Purpose gives you that
energy. Self motivation increases when the left brain gets good at telling
the right brain what to do.
39. Use your magic machine. *
       Most people wait for an external crisis to finally kick in their whole
brain thinking. But the leads to a life of reaction other than creation. The 3
best ways to activate whole brain thinking are through 1. goal setting. 2.
Joyful work. 3. Revitalizing play. So rather wait for some external crisis to
appear, you can create an internal challenge of your own. Goals and games.
Goals and games motivate you more than anything else in the world.
40. Get your stars out.
       "Make sure you get your stars out." Let the universe that is in you
shine freely. Don't try too hard to force things, just get your stars out and
let them shine.
41. Be a finisher.
9/24       Do you want to know where fatigue really comes from? It doesn't
come from working too hard. All the research shows that fatigue comes
from not finishing your work. "Nothing is more fatiguing than the hanging on
of an uncompleted task." - William James. The best way to change your
belief system is to change the truth about you. To believe that you are a
good finisher, you have to build a personal record of finishing tasks. Each
day make a list of small tasks and finish them. We motivate ourselves by
finishing things.
42. Invent games.
       Whatever it is that you have to do, whether it's a major project at
work or a huge cleaning job a home, turning it into a game will always give
you higher energy and self motivation.
43. Interact. ****
       There's a huge difference between active relaxation and passive
relaxation. Active relaxation refreshes and restores the mind. It keeps it
flexible and toned for thinking. Great thinkers have known this secret for a
long time. Some people use to paint to relax, others play the violin. They
can relax one side of the brain while stimulating the other. When they
return to work, their mind is sharper than ever. Most of use simply deaden
the mind when we want to relax. We rent mindless videos, read magazines,
we drink, we smoke, we eat until we're foggy and blotted. The problem with
this form of relaxation is that we dulls our creativity and it makes it hard
to come back into consciousness. But when we find ways to link thinking into
our relaxation, we become players in the game of life and not just
spectators.
44. Live a whole life today.
       "Make each day you're masterpiece." While other people focus on
some special day in the future, you should always focus on today. Practice
sessions are every bit as important than any championship game. There is
no reason to make TODAY the proudest day of your life. Today is the
macrocosm of you're entire life. It's your whole life in miniature. You got
eternity in the palm of your hand. Life is now. Life is not later on. And the
more we hypnotize ourselves into thinking that we have all the time in the
world to do what we want to do, the more we sleep walk and the more we
miss life.
10/2445. Welcome your problems.
       Ever solution has a problem. You can't have one without the other. So
why do we say we hate problems. Why do we claim we want a hassle free
existence? Deep down, where our wisdom lives, we know that problems are
not to be feared. Problems are simply tough games for the athletes of the
mind. And true athletes always want to get a game going. If you learn to
love the opportunities your problems present, then your motivational
energizes will always rise. Remember, every solution has a problem.
46. Drive a library.
       One of the greatest opportunities you improve yourself lies in your
drive time using audio tapes. Use audio tapes to educate and motivate
yourself while you drive. If we leave what we think about to chance or to
an R-rate disk jockey then we lose a large measure of control of our own
mind. Audio cassette learning is one of the surest way to learning from your
subconscious mind. It's one of best ways to design an action orientated
belief system. The kind you need to inspire on going self motivation.
47. Rewind your thoughts.
       Perhaps you noted some idea in this program or book you've read that
you want to hold on to. Even a single phrase, if you place it prominently in
your home or your office, can have a huge impact in your life. So write
things down, put things up. Write down what motivates you and put it up
where you can see it.
48. Make yourself up.
       One of the ways to get starting in making goals and action plans is
just start making them up like you did when you were a kid. Think of
creating in simpler terms than that. The of creating is something that all
human beings do very easily. "Always think of what you have to do as EASY
and it will be."
49. Get small.
       Most people participating in the free enterprise system have been
convinced in setting large and specific long range goals for themselves.
Career goals, yearly goals, and monthly performance goals are always on
the mind with a person with ambition. But maybe people over look all
together the power of small goals. Goals set during the day that give
11/24energy to the day in a sense of achieving a lot of small wins along the way.
By increasing your conscious use of small objectives, you'll see the larger
objectives coming to reality much faster than you thought they would.
50. Get out of the box.
       All of us tend to look at our challenges from inside a box. We take
what we've done in the past and put it in front of our eyes and then
envision what we call "the future." But you see, that restricts our future.
With that kind of restricted view, the best the future can possibly be is a
new and better past. Great motivational energy occurs when we get out of
that box and realize that the possibilities for creative ideas are infinite. To
create the best possible future for yourself, don't look at through a box
containing your own past. Create the future from nothing.
51. Advertise to yourself.
       Loser visualize the penalties of failures and winners visualize the
rewards for success. Without advertising our goals to ourselves, we can lose
sight of them all together. Draw 4 circles on the blank piece of paper in the
beginning of the day. The 4 circles represent goals for my day, my month,
my year, and my life. Inside each circle, write down what I want. It can be a
dollar figure, it can be anything. And the goals can change from day to day.
By writing the goals down, I'm like an airline pilot with a radar. I'm orient my
mind to what I'm up to in life. I'm reminding myself of what I really want. If
I don't make a map, basically I'm saying "just take me anywhere."
52. Don't stop thinking.
       Motivation comes from thought. Everything we do begins with a
thought. And when we quit thinking, we lose the motivation to act. We
eventually slip into pessimism and the pessimism leads to even less thinking.
So a downward spiral of negativity and pessimitivity starts to feed on each
other. Pessimists thinking so negativity about doing the whole thing
perfectly that they end up doing nothing and become passive. The optimist
on the other hand always does something, they always take some type of
action, always feel like some type of progress is made. Pessimists
continually use their imagination to visualize worse case scenarios and then
concluding that those scenarios are so hopeless, they don't take any action.
Therefore, pessimism always leads to passivity. Imagination should be used
not to escape from reality, but to create it. Start a habit to yourself in
start saying no to negativity. When negative thoughts start forming in your
12/24mind, which it will happen, even for optimists, don't stop thinking. Real
creative thinking is going to lead to optimism. And optimism is always selfmotivating.
53. Debate your dark side.
       Negative thinking is something we all do. The difference is that the
optimists becomes a "good debater." You can learn to debate your
pessimistic thoughts. If you catch yourself being pessimistic, build a case of
the optimistic view. Pretend your an attorney and your job is to prove the
pessimists in you is wrong.
54. Make use of trouble.
       We hear stories of bad events, when looking back, were strokes of
great fortune. A person that breaks their leg skiing meets a doctor in the
hospital, falls in love and marry that person. What seems horrible becomes a
great event in their life. "Every problem carries a gift inside it." Now by
choosing to make use of what seems to be a "bad event," by asking
yourself "how can I use this?" "what might be good about this?" You can
get to the gift inside the problem a lot more quickly.
55. Learn to brainstorm by yourself.
       Put a goal on the top of a page and put numbers 1 through 20 on
that page and begin your brainstorming session. List 20 ideas. They don't
have to be well thought out or reasonable. Just make sure you flow. Your
only objective is to have 20 ideas out in a certain amount of time. If you do
this for one week, you will end up with 100 ideas. They will probably not all
be usable, but who cares. Your beginning the process and you'll have more
than you started out with.
56. Create your own voice.
       You can create your own voice by practicing. Use audio cassettes in
your car and sing out loud, even when you don't feel like singing. Practice.
Force your practice. The point is don't let your feelings ruin your life. Keep
thinking. Strategy. Plan. You can create anything you want. You can even
create your own voice.
57. Live on the frontier.
       The information age is our new frontier. Employers are not as
interested as job history. They are more interested in current capabilities.
13/24Times has changed. It's all about what you can do now, not what you have
done.
58. Replace your habits.
       Self-motivation is mentally harder to achieve when we're held back by
mentally bad habits. But here's the catch. Bad habits can't be gotten rid of
because they exist for good reasons. Their there to do something for us
even if that something ends up being self destructive. Down deep, even a
bad habit is trying to make us operate better. That's why bad habits has to
be transformed and built upon. They can't be killed. They can't be
eliminated. What we're trying to do is "habit replacement" and where bad
habits lives, replacement is the only thing that works. i.e. running replaces
smoking because of the breathing. Subconsciously you don't even think a
habit is bad because it's fulfilling a perceived need. The way to strengthen
yourself is to identity the need and build on it. Honor the need by replacing
the current habit with one that is healthier and more effective for you.
59. Paint your day.
       Self-motivation is much more difficult to achieve when we're held
back mentality by certain bad habits. When you wake up try picturing your
day as a blank painter's canvas. Ask yourself, "Whose the artist today? Me
or blind circumstance?" If you choose to be the artist, how do you want to
paint your day?
60. Swim laps under water.
       Prepare big challenges by swimming laps under water. Build your brain
by building your lungs. Sometimes all you need is the air that you breathe
just to motivate yourself. Going for a run or a walk or simply deep
breathing gives the brain the fuels it needs to alive.
61. Get some coaching. ****
       Get someone that can stand back and watch you objectively. Ask
someone you admire to watch you and coach you for a while. Let them tell
you want they see. It's a courageous thing for you to do and it will always
lead to growth.
62. Leave home. ****
       You do things that are holding you back because it feels like home.
When you do these things, you do them because that's what your
14/24comfortable doing so you make yourself right at home doing them. As they
say, there's no place like home. Home can an ugly place if it's not kept up
and consciously made beautiful. Home can be a dark, damp, prison. Smelling
for bad habits and laziness. But we think we're safe there. However when
we inspect the wore out house more closely, the safety we think we're
experiencing is pure self limitation. You might want to identify the habits
that keeps you trapped. Identify what you decided is your final personality.
Understand that it might be a hasty construction built only to keep you safe
from risk and growth. Once you done that, you can leave home. You can get
the blue prints out and create a home you really want.
63. Perform rituals.
       Ask you listen, you might notice that ACTION is always the key. Doing
something always leads to results. An object in motion stays in motion. One
great ritual for activating the brain is walking. When you have problems in
your life that seems too overwhelming but use the ritual of walking and take
the problem out for a long, long walk. Time and time again during the
course of the walk something comes out of nowhere. Some idea for an
action that would solve the problem. Try to make a ritual for yourself.
Anything that will act as an self starter. Rituals will start an action before
you feel like getting into the action. Rituals always override your build in
laziness. They always get you motivated in a predictable, controllable way.
64. Start your life over. ****
       If you catch yourself thinking your too old to start something you
want to do please recognize that your not listening to the pessimistic voice
inside of you. It's the voice of a liar. Remind the voice of all the people that
started their lives over again at any age they wanted to. Don't listen to the
voice inside, you can start your life over right now.
65. Keep all your promises. ****
       One way to motivate yourself is to keep some usual promise. To go to
someone I cared about either personally or professionally and make a real
big promise to them. Something that takes all the creativity and effort I had
to make it happen. Although some of these promises I made weren't kept,
it's not really an intelligent way to self-motivate. Instead make commitments
to other people, but know that these commitments are ones you know you
can keep. But to motivate yourself, replace promising to others to promising
and setting goals to yourself. The power goals is that they can be
15/24outrageous and huge. They can be really wild possibility thinking. Without
setting large goals internally, you will just end up living a life of what you
think you HAVE TO do.
66. Give some luck away.
       You cannot live a perfect day without doing something for someone
who will never be able to repay you. There is one way to make sure you
can't get repaid and that's to do something for someone who won't know
who did it. You can create LUCK in your life by giving it away.
67. Draw your universe.
       You can create your own goal directed universe by using the 4 circle
goal setting discussed earlier. Label the 1st circle "Life long dream." Circle
2 label "My year." 3rd circle "My month." Circle 4 "My day." Each circle if
done successfully guarantees the success of the next circle. If you hit your
daily goal everyday, your monthly goal will be hit. And similar for month to
year, year to life. The system itself is not the motivator. It is your
understanding of your responsibility to be a creative planet that's what the
motivator is.
68. Get up a game.
       Competition is great for motivation. Competition teaches a valuable
lesson that no matter how good you think you are, there's always someone
else better than you. That's the lesson in humility that everybody needs. And
it teaches you by trying to beat somebody else, you reach more inside of
you. Trying to beat somebody else puts the game by into life. If it is done
optimistically it benefits both competitors. It teaches them sportsmanship
and it gives you a beach mark for measuring you own growth. So in your life,
let the games begin. Have fun winning and losing. When someone has
insulted you or under rated you, don't just get even, get better. Use your
victory, not to hurt them, but to create you.
69. Try your mother down.
       We first learn how to explain to world to ourselves from our parents,
more especially our mothers. This can be a disaster if the child has a
pessimistic mother. The disaster can only be temporary. Optimism can be
learned at any age. It's not self motivating to blame mom if your a
pessimists. Blaming others is never self motivating because it strengthens
16/24the belief that your life is being influenced by forces outside of yourself.
Love your mom. But change yourself.
70. Face the sun.
       "When you face the sun, the shadows always fall behind you" - Helen
Keller. This is her way of recommending optimistic thinking. When you look
at what you face grows in your life, what you ignore falls behind you. If you
turn and only look at the shadows, they become your life.
71. Look inside.
       Most of us wait to discover who we are from the impressions we get
from other people. "Oh do you think I'm like that..." If we get positive
feedback, that's great. It helps build us up. But ideally, your journey should
be internal. Travel deeper and deeper inside to find out your own potential.
Your potential is your true identity. It only waits for self motivation to come
alive.
72. Go to war. *
       Research shows during times for war suicide rates go down. We don't
to wait for something tragic. We don't have wait until we go to war to
attack us from without. We can get the same vitality by challenging
ourselves from within. "All battles are first won or lost in the mind." Joan of
Ark. Ask yourself what would you do if you had only one year to live. How
would I live differently? What exactly would I do? This exercise can reveal
skills inside of you that your not using today.
73. Make small change.
       When practicing self motivation, it can be common that you get a lot
of different type of mood swings. Sometimes you'll be on a real high on the
idea of who you can be and set up to change yourself overnight. Then your
old habits will pull you back to who you use to be and then you become
demoralized. You have eventually accept the idea that great things are
created slowly. Great painting, great building. So why can't you see that
great people are also created slowly. So if you willing to see yourself as a
masterpiece in progress, then you'll love small changes. You'll be excited by
a tiny thing you did differently today. You should celebrate because your
moving in the direction of self creation.
74. Do something badly. ****
17/24       Sometimes we don't do things because we not sure we cannot do
them well. We feel that we are not "in the mood" or our energy levels is not
are the right state to do that task that we have. So we put it off or wait
for inspiration to arrive. We're so afraid to do things until we're sure we
can do them well, we end up not doing anything. This is the source of all
writers block btw. "If a thing is worth doing, it's worth doing badly." If your
not motivated to do something you know you need to do, just decide to do
it badly. Add a little self deprecated humor. Be comedic about what your
doing. And then enjoy what happens to you once your in the process.
75. Be a visioneer.
       The principle of "visioneering." You cannot do anything you cannot
picture yourself doing. Visioneering is just another word for picturing
yourself. Once you make the picturing process conscious and deliberate, you
begin to create the self you want to be.
76. Shine your light. ****
       Taking things lightly was the most spiritually advanced thing you can
do to improve your effectiveness in life. After all, it's God's angels that take
themselves so lightly that they are able to fly. And if his angels takes
themselves so lightly, imagine how lightly he takes himself. Your own
motivational level will always be lifted with humor. Anytime your stuck, ask
yourself to take things lightly. Ask yourself to look for some funny solutions.
Laughter will destroy all limits to your thinking. When your laughing, your
open to anything.
77. Be a list writer. ****
       Never hesitate to site down and make lists. The more you write down
what it is that you want, the more you can dictate your future. A goal gains
power when you write it down and it gains MORE POWER every time you
write it down. Now we're always looking for motivation in what others have
written. But if you become a creative list maker, you'll learn how to
motivate yourself by what you've written.
78. Be the change. ****
       Don't try to change other people. It doesn't work. You'll waste your
life trying. We talk to our children for hours in what we think they should do
with their life. But children don't change from what we say, they learn from
what we do. By being what you want them to be, you can lead by inspiration.
18/24What you tell people to do often goes right by them. Who you are, doesn't.
The change in you is contagious. When you yourself change, watch how the
people around you change.
79. See the gold. ****
       In every circumstance, we can look for the gold or we can look for
the filth. And what we look for, we'll find. Opportunities are only available
to a careful observer. Your opportunities will multiple when and only when
you choose to see them.
80. Simplify.
       Why run a simple set of basic plays? It's hard to be aggressive when
your confused. When you simplify your life, it gathers energy.
81. Pin life down.
       Countering moves is still countering. Enter a wrestling match with a
plan. A serious of moves thought out ahead of time. A goal without an
action plan is a day dream. Before any adventure, take time to plan. Let life
respond to you. If your making all the first moves you'll be surprised on how
often you can "pin life down."
82. Strengthen your purpose. *
       Energy comes from purpose. If the left side of the brain tells the right
side there's a sufficient crisis, the right side sends energy and sometimes
super human energy. That's why there's a difference from people who set
and achieve goals all day and people who just do whatever they feel like
doing. The first person, there's always added purpose. To the other person,
there is boredom and confusion. The two greatest robbers of energy.
Because we are totally responsible for our own sense of purpose, that also
means we're totally responsible for the energy of our lives.
83. Go on a news fast.
       "New fast." Stop watching the news for a few weeks. If you go for a
period of time without listening to or reading the news, you'll notice an
optimism and upswing upon your life and energy. Your mind is yours to fill
with whatever you want. The more you accept the responsibility of filling it,
the easier it will be to build an optimistic and effective mind set.
84. Choose an action.
19/24       When you find yourself worrying about something, always ask yourself
an "action question." "What can I do about this right now?" And then do it.
Any small thing. Anything that worries you should be acted on. Not just
thought about. Even small actions that starts to chase away your fears and
put you back in control to what you want.
85. Be a thinker.
       There are 2 kinds of workers, the whiners and the thinkers. The
whiners are very smart, dedicated employees that worked long hours, but
when they come into the presidents office it was always to complain. They
are great at finding fault with other managers and pointing out what's
wrong with the system. But they drain the president because they are so
negative and it's hard to make them feel better. Then after that, the
president is depressed. The thinkers however had a different way of coming
to the office with problems. The thinkers come to the president with ideas.
They see the same problems as the whiners but they already thought about
possible solution. When your committed to self motivation, you'll follow into
the realm of the thinker naturally. You'll be more valuable to your company
and yourself.
86. Choose enjoyment. ****
       There's a huge difference between "pleasure" and "enjoyment." And
when we're absolutely clear about the difference, we can grow faster in
becoming who we want to be. What we do for pleasure, for example, routine
sex, eating, drinking, all kind of short term stuff, that's different than what
we do for enjoyment. Enjoyment always involve a use of a skill and it
always involves facing a challenge. Things like sailing, gardening, golfing,
any kind of activity like that involving skills meeting a challenge results in
enjoyment. People who get clear on the difference begins to know how to
consciously put more enjoyment into their lives.
87. Read mystery novels.
       The person with the highest IQ measured recommends reading mystery
novels. They are brain builders. The brain can be built as surely and quickly
as the muscles in the body. So the next time curling up to a good mystery,
don't feel guilty. It might be the most productive thing you done all day.
88. Express your thoughts.
20/24       Go ahead and feel your feelings. But when it's time to talk, be
thoughtful and express your thoughts.
89. Use your weaknesses.
       Make a list of your strengths and weaknesses on separate pieces of
paper. Place the list of strength somewhere where you'll see it again
because just looking at it will pick you up. Now look at your list of so called
weaknesses and study them for a while. Stay with it until you feel no shape
or guilt about them. Allow them to become interesting characteristics
instead of something negative. Ask yourself how each characteristic can be
useful to you. i.e. Arnold's accent became a strength. Now there isn't
anything on your list of weakness that can't be a strength if you think
about it long enough.
90. Try becoming your problem. *
       Whatever type of problem your facing, the most self motivational
process that I know of is to immediately say to yourself, "I'm the problem."
Because once you see yourself as the problem, you can see yourself as the
solution. By seeing ourselves as victims of our problems, we lose the power
to solve them. To activate the power inside ourselves we need to take only
2 essential steps. 1. Own the problem. 2. Create the solution.
91. Inflate your goal. ****
       This self motivator can be used as an intellectual tool. Take a certain
goal of yourself and double it or triple it or multiple it by ten. And then ask
yourself quite seriously what would you have to do to achieve that new goal.
Remember, this is just a self contained game and not a promise to anyone
else. But it is a game that's fun to play. Why? Because it works.
92. Come to your own rescue. ****
       1. You can't leave a place you never been. 2. No one is coming. I use
to believe I can run from all my freighting thoughts and beliefs about myself.
But all that ever did was create deeper internal fears and conflicts. What I
needed to do was to get all my fears into the sunshine and demystify them.
Once I systematically was able to do that, I was able to dismantle the fears
like bomb squid does to a bomb. Acceptance and full conscious of those
fears was the place I've never been. Once I was in that place, I could leave.
The notion that no one is coming is more terrifying. You can much happier if
you value independence and self-reliancy then depending on someone else.
21/24So when you accept the idea that no one is coming, it's actually that very
powerful moment. It means you accepted that you are enough. You can
actually handle problems yourself. You can grow. You can get strong. You
can generate your own happiness. And paradoxically, from that position of
independence truly great relationships can be built because they are not
based on dependency. They are not based on fear. They are based on
mutual independence and love. See how much better you are at self
motivation once you begin to celebrate the news that you are enough.
93. Push your own buttons.
       Motivation never has to be accidental. Any form of motivation. A lot
of people like to motivate themselves musically for example. But you don't
have to wait for hours until a certain song comes on the radio that picks up
your spirits. You can control what songs you hear. If there are certain songs
that lifts you up, create a greatest hits motivation tape for yourself. You
got much more control over your environment than you ever realized. Learn
how to push your own buttons.
94. Strengthen your rehearsal.
       The harder you are on yourself, the easier life is on you. There isn't
anything that life can challenge you with that you can't challenge yourself
with ahead of time. You can set yourself up to succeed. If you have to
make a presentation in front of someone that scares you, you can always
rehearse it in front of someone that scares you even more. If you got
something hard to do and your hesitant to do it, find something even harder
and do that first. Watch what it does to your self-motivation going into the
real challenge.
95. Improve your vision. *
       "It's not what a vision is, it's what a vision does." So what does your
vision do to you? Does it give you energy? Does it make your smile? When
your tired, does it give you energy to go that extra mile? A vision should be
judged by these criteria. The criteria of power and effectiveness. In other
words, what does it do? What do you want to bring into being. If your vision
isn't giving you energy then picture another one. Keep at it until you develop
a vision that is so colorful and so clear it puts you in action just to think
about it.
96. Build your power base. *
22/24       The more awake you are, the more conscious you are, and the more
you pay attention to how your own efforts at self-motivation are
succeeding, the more powerful you'll become. Your knowledge of selfmotivation is power in it of itself. Respect your knowledge and build on it.
97. Link truth to beauty. ****
       The best case for honesty is how beautiful it is. How clean it clear it
makes the journey from current reality to the dream. Truth leads you to a
more confident level in your relationships with others and with yourself. It
diminishes fear and it increases your sense of personal mastery. Lies, halftruths, will always weigh you down. Where as truth will clear up your
thinking and give you the energy and clarity needed for self motivation.
98. Take NO for a question. ****
       Ask the universe for what you want. Don't take NO for an answer.
Take NO for a question. When you ask for something that is denied to you,
imagine that the NO you heard is really the question, "Can't you be more
creative than that?" Never accept NO at face value. Let rejection motivate
you to get more creative.
99. Walk with LOVE and DEATH. ****
       Whenever I need to get through something, create something or face
some kind of courageous plan, I always take long walks. When I walk long
and far enough a solution always appears. I eventually get oriented to the
most creative action. Andrew Wiles in "Spontaneous Healing" says when you
walk, the movements of your limbs are cross patterned. The right leg and
left arm move forward at the same time and the left leg and right arm. The
spontaneous type of movement generates electrical activity in the brain
that has a harmonizing influence on the central nervous system. A special
benefit of walking that you don't necessary get from other type of exercise.
I call it "A Walk with Love." Because love and fear are opposites. Most
people think love and hate are opposites but their not. The ultimate
creativity occurs from the spirit of love. Love is always creative and fear is
always destructive. And I called it a "A Walk with Death" because it is only
the acceptance and awareness of my own death that give my life the
clarity it needs to make my life exciting. Take your own challenges out for a
walk. Feel your own self-motivation growing inside of you. Feel the
electricity in your brain. Feel it harmonize with your central nervous system.
You'll soon know for a fact that you do have what it takes. You can walk
courage into existence.
100. Buy yourself flowers.
       Buy yourself flowers and every time you look at them, let them remind
you of how colorful your future is going to be. How fresh your thoughts are.
How easy it is to honor yourself. How much power you have to make your
environment beautiful. And how sweet the smell of the universe can be.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Laws: We are beings of energy. Energy is governed by universal laws and principles.

Laws: We are beings of energy. Energy is governed by universal laws and principles. These laws come from and are imbued with Spirit. They are Divine Laws. There are many laws that govern us at our different levels of being: Spiritual Laws, Mental/Emotional Laws, and Physical laws. Our egos, with functions on the mental/emotional level, try to control these laws. These laws dictate the results of our thoughts and actions.
When we perform an action our put out thought, we try to control the results. But we cannot as there are too many laws working at too many levels for the ego to manage. The best we can do is to perform our actions consciously, with good intentions, and leave the results or consequences up to Spirit or Divine Law. For example, only a fool would stand in front of a moving train and demand Spirit to save him or her. Physical laws dictate that the impact of a moving train on the human body will kill it. Further, to make such a demand on Spirit is the ego's feeble attempt to control Spirit through giving Spirit temptations or tests . Modern science is continually discovering laws at the physical and mental/emotional levels. We intuitively know many of these laws such as the Law of Love. We are also discovering many of these laws through our life lessons. A few of laws are addressed below.
Love: How often have we heard the words: "God is Love". St. Francis of Assisi best describes the Law of Love: "It is in giving love, that we receive love". We fall in love with someone, not because we expect to receive love back from them, but simply because we love their being, their soul. We love them because they are a droplet of the Divine. We recognize the God or Goddess within them and consequently want to love and serve them. Some special words to remember follow.
  • Recognize and accept Love as our true nature.
  • Be loving, gentle and respectful towards others in you thoughts, speech and actions.
  • Surrender your ego to others.
  • Hold your relationships with others more important than any issue.
  • Be centered and connected to your inner source.
  • Love others unconditionally and serve and support in their personal and spiritual growth.
  • Keep communications open and love conscious, active and present as we heal and grow together.
Karma: Karma means nothing more that "action". The Law of Karma is the Law of Cause and Effect. Every action or thought has an effect or consequence. The nature of that effect depends upon the nature of the cause. If the cause is "good", the effect will be "good". If the cause comes from negative thoughts or evil, the results will be equally negative or evil. We reap what we sow. If a person sows evil, they will eventually reap what they have sown. Freedom from the Law of Karma requires us to be unattached to the results of our actions, provided we perform them with good intentions, following Divine Law.
The Law of Reincarnation : This the Law of Death and Rebirth . It involves our soul's cyclical return to the earth or other planes until we free ourselves from our negative karma (Samskaras) and can be purified and unified permanently into the One source. We are all energy fixed in time and space based on the Law of Causality (Karmic Law). The difference between the cause and effect is merely the name and form we take on. Beings that do not obtain liberation, manifest again, and again, with their desires, attachments, and latent tendencies (Samskaras).
The Law of Forgiveness: We cannot purify ourselves as long as we harbor negative feelings of hate, anger, intolerance, criticism, etc. towards others. It is in forgiving others that we forgive ourselves. Simply put, we cannot be forgiven until we first forgive others.
The Law of Abundance: As a person thinks in their heart, so are they. We create our realities with our thoughts. If we think good and beauty, so shall we find good and beauty. What we hold in our consciousness expresses itself in life. If we hold poverty, illness, war, and other negative thoughts, they will manifest. Thus what we think or visualize comes into manifestation. Learn to create in life that which we want.
Law of Unification: All souls are unified in the one soul of the Great Spirit once they have obtained liberation, freedom from karma.
Law of Empowerment: We are empowered. We have a choices. We can choose our thoughts and visualizations. We are co-creatures with Spirit. Behind all creation is pure energy, one essence or Spirit. We have a powerful tool. That tools is our thoughts and visualizations. With our thoughts and visualizations we can create our own realities. Our every mood can create good or otherwise. What we call forth in others is actually within us. If you look at another and see good or bad, so it is. Actually, it is neither good or bad, but is merely what we see and call it. You can create what you want in life by by taking your attention away from the things you do not want and refocusing on the positive things you do want. Remember, where you attention goes, your energy flows.
Law of Right Human Relations: The Law of Right Human Relations and the Principle of Goodwill are concerned with the welfare of others and world peace. The principle of Goodwill is the basic intention to do good will. We can will good to promote right human relations. We can use a complete thought form, built by the balanced fusion of thought, feelings, imagination/visualization, and will. There are tools we can use to create a complete thought form: Concentration, repetitive affirmations, contemplation, creative visualization, and meditation.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

"Feeling Statements”


"Feeling Statements” are one of the most powerful communication tools. Used correctly, they can remove much of the accusatory tone in your statement and allow you to express your point without automatically getting a defensive reaction.
There are 3 important components to an feeling statement:
  1. Stating Your Feeling
    This refers to stating your real feeling only, and it starts with the word "I": I feel ______________. The tendency when discussing feelings is to assign blame first while downplaying the feeling. For instance, people often say, “You Make Me So Mad”, which typically causes a defensive reaction from the other person at the first word. A feeling statement keeps the focus on the feeling of the speaker which is less likely to illicit a defensive reaction and more likely to promote effective communication.
  2. Connecting the Feeling to an Issue
    Once the feeling is stated, it should be connected to an issue or event: I feel angry, when I am alone and you are out with your friends. Although there is some mention of the other person’s behavior, the focus continues to be on the uncomfortable feeling experienced by the speaker. Ideally this allows the other person to focus on helping to alleviate the discomfort, rather than defending himself.
  3. Stating What You Want to Have Happen
    Finally, a solution should be given: I feel angry, when I am alone and you are out with your friends – I would like to be invited to be with you, even if you are with your friends. This solution may not be a real option, but does allow for discussion. The focus stays on the feeling, and the goal continues to be alleviating the uncomfortable feeling.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

25 Profound Questions To Start Asking Yourself Everyday


25 Profound Questions To Start Asking Yourself Everyday

Most us live in somewhat of a robotic state from day-to-day without facing some of the big questions that can lead us to more fulfilling lives and a sense of abundance. Here are 25 questions to start asking yourself everyday to stimulate a greater sense of awareness of who you are and why you are here.



1. Why do we do so many things we don’t like and like so many things we don’t do?

2. What is the one thing you’d most like to change about the world?

3. If happiness was the national currency, what kind of work would make you rich?

4. Are you doing what you believe in, or are you settling for what you are doing?

5. If the average human life span was 40 years, how would you live your life differently?

6. Are you more worried about doing things right, or doing the right things?

7. What's one thing have you not done that you really want to do and what's stopping you?

8. Are you holding onto something you need to let go of?
9. Have you been the kind of friend you want as a friend?

10. Is is possible to know the truth without challenging it first?
11. Has your greatest fear ever come true?
12. Do you remember that time years ago when you were extremely upset? Does it really matter now?
13. Is it possible to know, without a doubt, what is good and what is evil?
14. When was the last time you marched into the dark with only the soft glow of an idea you strongly believed in?
15. If you knew that everyone you know was going to die tomorrow, who would you visit today?
16. When is it time to stop calculating risk and rewards, and just go ahead and do what you know is right?
17. If we learn from our mistakes, why are we always so afraid to make a mistake?

18. What would you do differently if you knew nobody would judge you?

19. Do you allow people to be themselves or do you feel the constant need to fix or change them?

20. When you forgive somebody, do you feel empowered or dis-empowered?

21. Do you believe there is more to life, space and time than what you have been told?

22. When was the last time you noticed the sound of your own breathing?
  1. What do you love? Have any of your recent actions openly expressed this love? 
    24. What are you most grateful for?
25. Decisions are being made right now. The question is: Are you making them for yourself, or are you letting others make them for you?

Here are 15 significant attitudes that help you become happier in life.


Here are 15 significant attitudes that help you become happier in life.

1. Gratitude
Appreciate what you have and value it. Try counting your positives and be grateful for all the good things and people in your life. Stop complaining and be thankful for what you already have and you'll soon start feeling happy.

2. Stop Labeling
Stop labeling those things, people or events that you don’t understand as being weird or different and try opening your mind, little by little. Minds only work when open.

3. Optimism
Treat failure as an opportunity to learn a new and better lesson from life, and that's the trick to manufacture optimism in life. Never give up trying because that's an indication that something better is in store. Once you start harbouring an optimistic attitude towards life, success will automatically follow.

4. Release The Past
The past you are now longing for -- the past that you are now dreaming about -- was ignored by you when it was present. Stop deluding yourself. Have a clear vision for the future, prepare yourself, but always be present in the now. Work on this by practicing with simple tasks every day. For example, when you cut the grass, just think about the grass and nothing else. When you're washing the dishing, immerse your full presence in dish washing. Eventually, your life will revolve around your day today, not yesterday.

5. Avoid comparison
Nothing is as awful as comparing yourself to someone else. If you think you're better that the other person, you're letting yourself regale in an unhealthy sense of superiority. If you demean yourself in front of others, it means all your hard work and progress has been in vain. While social comparisons are unhealthy, self-improvement is effective.

6. Kindness
There's a scientific reason behind every act of kindness that you do. Helping someone selflessly releases serotonin in your brain (Serotonin is the hormone that controls your mood) and hence makes you feel good about yourself almost instantly. Try doing one act of kindness everyday to flush out the toxins of depression from your system.
7. Stop Using Excuses
Send them packing and tell them they’re fired. You no longer need them. A lot of times we limit ourselves because of the many excuses we use. Instead of growing and working on improving ourselves and our lives, we get stuck, lying to ourselves, using all kind of excuses -- excuses that most of the time are not even real. We sabotage ourselves beyond belief. If you find yourself making excuses, ask yourself why you are creating the excuse in the first place?

8. Nurture Relationships
Relationships keep us alive and kicking. In fact, according to research studies loneliness doubles people's mortality rates. A circle of good friends, loving family members and cheerful colleagues are a reminder that you have people who care about you. There's nothing like having someone who you can share your experiences with. So nurture these relationships and say goodbye to a lonesome existence.

9. Forgiveness
Hatred is a negative feeling and harbouring it will have nothing but negative effects on your well-being. Stop thinking about the hateful emotion/person and let it go. Forgive if needed, take things lightly and let it not affect your system.

10. Avoid Impressing Others
Success may have nothing to do with how much money you have or how many cars you have, but how you choose to live a life of abundance which comes in many forms, many of which have nothing to do with material things. The moment you stop trying so hard to be something that you’re not, the moment you take off all your masks, the moment you accept and embrace the real you, you will find people will be drawn to you, effortlessly.
11. Commit To Your Goals
If you have a goal, work towards it. Anything is achievable if you put your heart into it. Wholehearted dedication and diligence can bring extraordinary results and consequentially add to your happiness. It is very easy to lose vision for what we truly want in life, but it is your dedication towars your goals above and beyond all obstacles that will make the difference.

12. Care For Your body
Love yourself and love your body! Your physical condition has a direct connection with your well-being. A fit body and healthy mind is reflective of happiness. Start working towards the health of your physical, mental and emotional energy by caring for your body. 


13. Believe 
Connect to a higher power. You're probably already doing this with or without knowing. Just a quick meditation or prayer is easy. If you have the time, join a local prayer group, visit a meditation center, or simply spend some time alone in nature. People who believe in a deity are generally happier than those who don't. Sometimes all you need to be happier is a little faith!

14. Dream 
Imagination fires motivation. Create a dream board and dream up something new you wish to experience. It could be finding a new lover, climbing a mountain, learning calligraphy, or going back to college. Dreams motivate, inspire and expand our sense of self. They also make us happy because they give our lives a sense of purpose. Happy people usually love what what they do, and if they don't, they love who they are. Dreams remind us who we are.

15. Give

Cultivate a habit of sharing with others -- your money, knowledge, service, wisdom, care, love. Find a person who shares a lot with others, and you will find a happy person. In giving, you always receive more. Not only do you get pleasure from giving, you give someone else pleasure. Giving has many unexpected benefits from attracting more happiness into your life, to inspiring others, and changing the lives of those you touch. In the end the whole world is made into a better place. Ask, “how can I serve?” Pay it forward. Give freely.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

True love is transcendental


True love is transcendental.  Without recognition of the formless within yourself, there can be no true transcendental love.  If you cannot recognize the formless in yourself, you cannot recognize yourself in the other.  The recognition of the other as yourself in essence – not the form – is true love.  As long as the conditioned mind operates and you are completely identified with it, there’s no true love.  There may be substitutes, things that are called “love” but are not true love.  For example, “falling in love”…perhaps most of us have experienced it.  Maybe one or two at this moment are “in love”, and those who have experienced it have also experienced “falling out of love”.
We need to remember to understand [the difference between] true love and other forms of so-called love.  We are in the relative as form, and in the absolute as formless consciousness.  The two dimensions that the human being embodies are the ‘human’ and the ‘being’.  The human is the form, the being is the formless, the timeless consciousness itself.  It sometimes happens that the form has an affinity with other forms.  It could happen for a number of reasons.  One being that this form has come out of another form – called your mother – and so there is an affinity of this form with that other form.  You have a love toward your mother that might be called ‘personal’.
Another aspect of affinity with another form is male/female.  You can be drawn to another body in a sexual way, and it’s sometimes called “love”.  Especially if the sexual act is denied long enough, it’s more likely to develop into obsessive love…so much so, that in cultures where you could not have sex until you were married, falling in love could be a huge thing and could lead to suicide.  Naturally, there is an affinity of the male/female, the incompleteness of this form.  The primary incompleteness of this form is that you are either a man or a woman.  The oneness has become the duality of male/female.
The pull towards the other is an attempt to find wholeness, completeness, fulfillment through the opposite polarity, in an attempt to find the Oneness.  That lies at the basis of the attraction.  It’s to do with form, because on the level of form you are not whole – you are one half of the whole. One half of humanity is male, one half is female, roughly.
You have the attraction for the other, then there may be finding certain qualities in another human being that resonate with certain qualities in yourself.  Or, if they don’t resonate, it may be the opposite that you feel drawn to.  If you are a very peaceful person, maybe you feel drawn toward a dramatic person, or vice-versa.  And again, you are hoping for some completion there.  You can have an affinity with another form, which can be called ‘personal love’.  If personal love is all that there is, then what is missing is the transcendental dimension of the formless – which is where true love arises.  Is that part of the personal love, or is the personal level all that there is?  That determines whether that so-called “love” is going to turn into something painful eventually, and frustrating, or if there is a deepening.
There may be an attraction that is initially sexual between two humans.  If they start living together, this cannot endure for that long and be the fulfillment of the relationship. At some point, sexual/emotional [attraction] needs to deepen and the transcendental dimension needs to come in, to some extent, for it to deepen.  Then true love shines through the personal.  The important thing is that true love emanates from the timeless, non-formal dimension of who you are.  Is that shining through the personal love that is to do with affinity of forms?  If it is not, there is complete identification with form, and complete identification with form is ego.
Many times you may think “that’s it!” and after living together for a little while you realize “that was a mistake”, or “I was completely deluded”.  Even in parent-children relationships, which is a very close bond on the level of form, if the transcendental dimension does not shine through, eventually the love between children and parents turns into something else.  This is why so many people have very problematic relationships with their parents.
Some relationships may start as purely form-based, and then the other dimension comes in after a while.   Perhaps only after a lot of problems, and perhaps you get close to a breakup, when suddenly there is a deepening and then you are able to bring in space.
The key is to ask, “Is there space in this relationship?”  Or are there only thoughts and emotions?  It’s dreadful prison to inhabit if you live with a person and all you have are thoughts and emotions.  Occasionally you are okay, but there is disagreement, friction.
We need to acknowledge that there are personal affinities.  But in themselves, they are never ultimately fulfilling.  More often than not, they are a source of suffering.  Love becomes a source of suffering when the transcendental is missing.  How does the transcendent come in?  By being spacious with the other.  Which essentially means that you access the Stillness in yourself while you look at the other.
Not mental noise, not emotional waves.  That does not mean that there cannot be emotions or thoughts, but there is something else present in the relationship.  That applies not only to close personal relationships, but also to more superficial relationships at work.
With any human relationship, the question is, “Is there space?”  It’s a pointer.  Space is when thought becomes unimportant – even an emotion becomes unimportant.
When people live together, sometimes the other is no longer acknowledged in daily life because there is so much to do.  If you wake up in the morning, is there a moment when you acknowledge the presence of the other?
It’s the most wonderful thing if you can be there for the other as space, rather than as a person.  At this very moment, you can either be here as a person, or you can be here as the space.