JAMBO PONDERINGS
JAMBO belongs to no religion or any particular spiritual group. However, we realize the
inherent need and desire in the deep soul of every person to move towards a
more spiritually enriching life, one which moves them towards REAL peace and
joy, in their inner worlds and their outer worlds. It is with this realization that JAMBO puts
out its periodic PONDERINGS (taken from a variety of sources), in order to
assist in the process of leading a more internally fulfilling life. Please feel free to contact David at JAMBO concerning the sources or any
comments. This page will add new "words of wisdom" ever other
Tuesday.
The Japanese translation is not a direct translation from the English to
the Japanese; however, the purpose is to pass on the essence of the message.
12/02/08
There is a key to happiness and love that very few people
have embraced? Happiness is a decision, not an experience. You can decide to be
happy without having what you thought you needed to have in order to be happy,
and you will be.
That is one of the most important things you could ever come to understand.
Allow me, therefore, to repeat it. Happiness is a decision. Your experience is
the result of your decision, not the cause of it. In other words, if you
experience something as producing happiness, it is because you have made that
decision about it. It is not the experience that produced the decision, it is
the decision that roduced the experience.
The same is true,
incidentally, of love. Love is not a reaction, love is a decision. When you
remember this, you are approaching mastery. When you apply it to your life, you
have arrived at the door.
You may think that you need a particular other person to be complete, or a
specific job to be successful, or some other emotional or physical
gratification to be happy. That is when you may wish to notice that you are
here, right now, without it. Why, then, do you think you need it? Close
examination will reveal that you do not need it, not even to be happy.
The irony is that when you move into happiness with or without that person or
situation that you imagine you needed, you put yourself in a much better
position to attract that person or situation. That is because happiness
attracts. It is like a magnet. It is the highest energy, next to love. Indeed,
happiness is love, felt. The trick, then, is to be happy before you have what
you think you need in order to be happy. Do not wait until after you receive
it?or you may never receive it. This
will be one of the most life-empowering decisions you will ever make.
(From Conversations with God Newsletter 2006)
11/18/08
A
group of students were asked to list what they thought
were the present "
Though
there were some disagreements, the following
received the most votes:
1.
2. Taj
Mahal
3.
4.
5.
6. St.
Peter's Basilica
7.
While
gathering the votes, the teacher noted that one
student had not finished her paper yet. So she asked
the girl if she was having trouble with her list. The girl replied, "Yes, a little. I couldn't quite
make up my mind because there were so many."
The
teacher said, "Well, tell us what you have, and maybe
we can help." The girl hesitated,
then read, "I think
the '
1. to
see
2. to
hear
3. to
touch
4. to
taste
5. to
feel
6. to
laugh
7. and
to love."
The
room was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop.
The things we overlook as simple and ordinary and
that we take for granted are truly
wondrous!
A
gentle reminder - that the most precious things in life
cannot be built by hand or bought by man.
"Each
day comes bearing it's own gifts. Untie
the Ribbons".
11/04/08
For
dealing with boredom and the blues is:
embrace them. Don’t try positive
thinking. A fundamental rule of the
psyche is: whatever you resist will
persist. Those who run from boredom and
depression will spend a lifetime running.
Surrender. Go into it. Study your dis=ease and it will lead you to
health…
A major cause, perhaps the major cause, of
boredom is that we have become machine-minded.
Just as technology shaped our outside world, it has also given us the
images we use to understand ourselves.
In broad outline the history of the modern
world could be summarized in three statements.
The machine was invented. (Man took over.)
God died.
(Nature was desecrated.)
Humans were bored. (To death? Perhaps!)
Faced
with a desacralized nature (now nauseating and meaningless), modern man has
tried to become the missing god. If
value and meaning are absent in our world, then we will manufacture them…
The
two most effective antidotes for lingering fatigue are fascination and
purposefulness. A high degree of choice,
concentration, and enjoyment of a lifework is necessary to keep energy at a
high level. Constant stimulation, whether
by drugs, entertainment, or excitement without interest or fascination, in the
long run, increases rather than alleviates fatigue. We are seldom too tired to do what we really
want to do.
(From
the book “Inward Bound: Exploring the Geography of Your Emotions” by Sam
Keen, Pages 14, 27-9, 32, 52)
10/21/08
The
philosopher Diogenes was sitting on a curbstone, eating bread and lentils for
his supper. He was seen by the
philosopher Aristippus, who lived comfortable by flattering the king.
Said Aristippus,"If you would learn to
be subservient to the king, you would not have to live on lentils."
Said Diogenes, "Learn to live on
lentils, and you will not have to cultivate the king." (From the book “THE SPIRITUALITY OF IMPERFECTION” by ERNEST KURTZ and KATHERINE
KETCHAM, p. 36)
10/07/08
Earth is the place where the human and the divine have their primary
meeting. From now on, we can do little
for the human without saving the earth....
We fail to realize
spiritually that the outer world is necessary to activate the inner world. If we tear the mountains apart, then what is
going to evoke in us a sense of the divine?
When the planet is trivialized, when the butterflies disappear, when we
no longer hear the song of the birds, and the children in the cities cannot see
the stars, then the possibility of being truly religious disappears. A person can be taught Scripture, but the
true meaning of this cannot enter into the souls of the people, if it is not
within the experience of this larger context....
Entomologist E.O. Wilson came to a belief in "biophilia,"
an urge to affiliate with living things.
He sees it as beginning in early childhood, and inscribed in the human
brain itself. This does not mean that it
cannot become distorted. When the mind
is removed to purely artificial environments, and deprived of "beauty and
mystery," it will "drift to simpler and cruder configurations,"
threatening sanity itself....
Awe, wonder,
reverence for life form the primal basis for meaningful spirituality. (From the
book “Voices of Hope in the Struggle to Save the Planet” (by Marjorie Hope and
James Young) p. 285, 334)
9/16/08 (LATE)
Get rid of your idea that
happiness depends on anything outside of yourself, and you will get rid of
jealousy. Get rid of your thought that
love is about what you get in trade for what you give, and you will get rid of
jealousy. Get rid of your claim on any
other person’s time or energy or resources or love, and you will get rid of
jealousy.
Yes, but how do I do that?
Live your life for a new reason. Understand that its purpose has nothing to do
with what you get out of it, and everything to do with what you put into
it. This is also true of relationships….
Let the outer world be what it is. Create your inner world as you would have it
be. This is what is meant by being in
your world, but not of it.This is
mastery in living.
Accepting something does not
mean refusing to change it. In fact, the
opposite is true. You cannot change that
which you do not accept?in yourself especially, and outside of yourself as
well.
Accept everything, therefore, as
the divine manifestation of the divinity within you. Then you declare yourself to be its creator,
and only then can you “uncreate” it.
Only then can you recognize?that is, know again?the power within you to
create something new.
To accept something is not to agree with it. It is simply to embrace it, whether you agree
with it or not. (From “Friendship with God” by Neale Donald Walsch, p. 177 and
p. 321)
9/02/08
Regular practice of meditation can
put into the hands of man effective spiritual weapons with which to conquer
depression. When an individual feels
lost, his mind becomes identified with one all-engulfing feeling of
depression. A person who is trained in
meditation can objectify depression as a passing mental state, and thus
overcome it. As he tends to fall into
depression, he has the strength and power to detach himself from it. By searching analysis and self-examination,
he can rise above it. By gaining insight
into the causes of depression, he can dispel it. He can further divert the depressed libido
into new, constructive channels. A reorientation
of psychic energy would thus take place.
The energy which was withdrawn from conventional pursuits may be
reapplied to new goals of spiritual vision.
Meditation
helps a person to discover his rootedness in the eternal. This enables him to move with the flux of
change without self-estrangement. No
amount of change in customs and manners, in social fashions and cultural
trends, can unhinge him. No amount of
change in physical ability and social status can upset him either. He realizes that every phase of life has its
appropriate usefulness and meaning.
Every status in life has its appropriate values. So instead of trying desperately to cling to
the phase of life which is passing, he can quickly readjust himself to the next
phase of life characterized by its own set of values. For example, in the evening of life, instead
of trying to hang on to the youth that is slipping, he can humbly share with
humanity the fruits of his life-long experience and wisdom in a way appropriate
to old-age. By learning to exist in the
presence of the eternal, he can make his own presence a silent source of
strength, solace, and inspiration to the younger generation. The disappearance of youthful vigor may
witness the appearance of a new power born of mature wisdom and love. (From Mastering
the Problems of Living, p. 51-2, (by Haridas Chaudhuri, Theosophical Publishing
House, 1975))
8/19/08
MEMO FROM GOD
To:
YOU
Date:
TODAY
From: THE BOSS
Subject: YOURSELF
Reference:
LIFE
I am God. Today I will be handling all of your problems. Please remember
that I
do not need your help.
If
life happens to deliver a situation to you that you cannot handle, do not
attempt to resolve it. Kindly put it in the SFGTD (something for God to do)
box. All situations will be resolved, but in My time, not yours. Once the
matter is placed into the box, do not hold onto it by worrying about it.
Instead, focus on all the wonderful things that are present in your life now.
If you
find yourself stuck in traffic; Don't despair. There are people in this world
for whom driving is an unheard of privilege.
Should you have a bad day at work; Think of the man who has been out of
work for
years.
Should
you despair over a relationship gone bad; Think of the person who has never
known what it's like to love and be loved in return.
Should
you grieve the passing of another weekend; Think of the woman in dire straits,
working twelve hours a day, seven days a week to feed her children.
Should
your car break down, leaving you miles away from assistance; Think of the
paraplegic who would love the opportunity to take that walk.
Should
you notice a new gray hair in the mirror; Think of the cancer patient in chemo
who wishes she had hair to examine.
Should
you find yourself at a loss and pondering what is life all about, asking
what is my purpose? Be thankful. There are those who didn't live long enough to
get the opportunity.
Should you find yourself the victim of other people's
bitterness, ignorance, smallness or insecurities; Remember, things could be
worse. You could be one of them!
8/05/08 (LATE)
Nothing is more practical than spirituality. That’s what learning is
all about where spirituality is concerned: unlearning, unlearning almost
everything you’ve been taught.
Awareness means to watch, to observe what is going on within you and around you. ‘Going on’ is pretty accurate: Trees, grass, flowers, animals, rock, all of reality is moving.
Get in touch with things, look at them. Hopefully you will then break out of these rigid patterns we have all developed, out of what our thoughts and our words have imposed on us.
Hopefully we will see. What will we see? This thing that we choose to call reality, whatever is beyond words and concepts. This is a spiritual exercise ? connected with spirituality ? connected with breaking out of your cage, out of the imprisonment of the concepts and words.
How sad if we pass through life and never see it with the eyes of a child. This doesn’t mean you should drop your concepts totally; they’re very precious. Though we begin without them, concepts have a very positive function. Thanks to them we develop our intelligence. We’re invited, not to become children, but to become like children. We do have to fall from a stage of innocence and be thrown out of paradise; we do have to develop an ‘I’ and a ‘me’ through these concepts. But then we need to return to paradise. We need to be redeemed again. We need to put off the old man, the old nature, the conditioned self, and return to the state of the child but without being a child. When we start off in life, we look at reality with wonder, but it isn’t the intelligent wonder of the mystics; it’s the formless wonder of the child. Then wonder dies and is replaced by boredom, as we develop language and words and concepts. Then hopefully, if we’re lucky, we’ll return to wonder again. (From the book Awareness (by Antohony DeMello), p. 125)
7/１５/08 （Ｌａｔｅ）
Perspectives
One day a father of a very wealthy
family took his son on a trip to the country with the firm purpose of showing
his son how poor people live. They spent a couple of days and nights on the
farm of what would be considered a very poor family.
On their return from their trip,
the father asked his son,
"How was the trip?"
"It was great, Dad."
"Did you see how poor people
live?" the father asked.
"Oh yeah," said the son.
"So, tell me, what did you
learn from the trip?" asked the father.
The son answered:
"I saw that we have one dog
and they had four.
We have a pool that reaches to the
middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported
lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to
the front yard and they have the whole horizon.
We have a small piece of land to
live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who
serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have
walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect
them."
The boy's father was speechless.
Then his son added, "Thanks,
Dad, for showing me how poor we are."
Too many times, we forget what we
have and concentrate on what we don't have. What is one's person's worthless
object is another's prize possession. It is all based on one's perspective.
Makes you wonder what
would happen if we all gave thanks for all the bounty we have instead of
worrying about wanting more. Take joy and appreciate every single thing you
have!
7/01/08
Some people actually utilize external changes to distract them from the harder business of letting go of their subjective realities and identities. They make changes so they won’t have to make transitions. They walk out on their marriages, but take along the attitudes toward partners that destroyed their marriages. Or they continue to search for `someone to take care of me` after they quit their jobs because their bosses are not interested in playing that role. Or they move because their town doesn’t have any `interesting people` in it ? only to find that their new town doesn’t either. Such people may claim that they are `always in transition` but in fact they are probably never in transition. They are addicted to change, and like any addiction, it is an escape from the real issues raised by their lives. It is the inner realties that are hardest to let go of.
“The important thing is this: to be able at any moment
to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.” Charles DuBos (from the book “The Way of
transition” by William Bridges, p. 35)
6/17/08
Resentment
is the poison of the spiritual life. The
word means, literally, "feeling again," in the sense of feeling
backward": the emphasis is on a clinging to the past, a harping on it that
becomes mired in it. Resentment goes
over and over an old injury: revisiting the hurt, the powerlessness, the rage,
the fear, the feeling of being wronged.
Scraping the scab off the wound, resentment relishes anew its pain; it
is the particular kind of memory that reinforces the vision of self-as-victim.
This vision is the antithesis of spirituality, for spirituality begins with the
recognition of our own imperfection.
Focusing on the past faults and failings of others blinds us to the
reality of our own present defects and shortcomings.
We need to reclaim anger for its proper
purpose. It is always a waste of good
anger to get annoyed with other human beings...What the ascetic needs to do is
to focus his attention . . . on the fact that he is annoyed. Instead of seeing some other human being
angrily, he tries to see his own anger.
He can then begin to fight against it.
For the opposite of
"resentment" is forgiveness, recognized by centuries of spiritual
thinkers as "the endpoint of human life." Forgiveness is "given."
Forgiveness is not ours to give, but ours to
receive. We cannot create it; we can be
certain only that it is beyond us, in the sense of beyond our control, beyond
our ability to will it into existence.
"Serene" persons-those who had
suffered victimization but who now harbored no resentments-described not a
specific act of forgiving, but rather a discovery of themselves as having
forgiven. These individuals reported the
failure of their direct efforts to forgive-they couldn't force the
experience. "The harder I tried to
forgive, the more I seemed to resent," was a frequent description. Realizing this, they stopped "trying to
forgive" and instead "just sort of let go"; and then, after
varying intervals of time, came the astonishing discovery that the resentment
had disappeared, that they somehow already had forgiven.
Forgiveness, in fact, becomes possible only when will is replaced by willingness;
it results less from effort than from openness.
(THE SPIRITUALITY OF
IMPERFECTION by ERNEST KURTZ and KATHERINE KETCHAM (p. 213-14))
6/03/08
Mullah was out in the street on his hands and knees, looking for
something and a friend came up and said, "Mullah, what are you looking
for?"
And Mullah said, "I
lost my key."
"Oh, Mullah, that's
terrible, I'll help you find it."
So he got on his hands and knees, then said, "Mullah, about where
did you lose it?"
Mullah said, "I lost
it in my house."
"Then what are you
looking out here for?"
He said, "Because
there's more light here."
You know, that's hilarious, but that's what
we do with our lives! We believe that
everything there is to find is out there in the light where it's easy to find,
when the only answers for you are in you!
(LIVING,
LOVING & LEARNING by Leo F. Buscaglia p 70)
5/20/08
One
day, when I was a freshman in high school, I saw a kid from my class was walking home from
school. His name was Kyle. It looked
like he was carrying all of his books. I
thought to myself, "Why would anyone bring home all his books on a
Friday? He must really be a nerd." I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a
football game with my friend tomorrow afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders
and went on.
As I was walking, I saw a bunch of
kids running toward him. They ran at
him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he landed in
the dirt. His glasses went flying, and I
saw them land in the grass about ten feet from him. He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness
in his eyes. My heart went out to
him. So, I jogged over to him and as he
crawled around looking for his glasses, and I saw a tear in his eye. As I
handed him his glasses, I said,
"Those guys are jerks. They
really should get lives." He looked
at me and said, "Hey thanks!"
There was a big smile on his face.
It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude. I helped him pick up his books, and asked him
where he lived. As it turned out, he
lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before. He said he had
gone to private school before now. I would have never hung out with a private
school kid before. We talked all the way
home, and I carried his books. He turned
out to be a pretty cool kid. I asked him if he wanted to play football on
Saturday with me and my friends. He said
yes. We hung all weekend and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him.
And my friends thought the same of
him. Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books
again. I stopped him and said,
"Damn boy, you are gonna really build some serious muscles with this pile
of books everyday!" He just laughed
and handed me half the books.
Over
the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends. When we were seniors, Kyle was valedictorian
of our class. I teased him all the time
about being a nerd. He had to prepare a
speech for graduation. I was so glad it wasn't me having to get up there and
speak.
Graduation day, I saw Kyle. He looked great. He was one of those guys
that really found himself during high school.
He filled out and actually looked good in glasses. He had more dates than me and all the girls
loved him! Boy, sometimes I was jealous.
Today was one of those days. I could see
that he was nervous about his speech.
So, I smacked him on the back and said,
"Hey, big guy, you'll be great!" He looked at me with one of those looks (the
really grateful one) and smiled.
"Thanks," he said. As
he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and began.
"Graduation is a time to
thank those who helped you make it through those tough years. Your parents, your teachers, your siblings,
maybe a coach... but mostly your friends.
I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best
gift you can give them. I am going to
tell you a story." I just looked at
my friend with disbelief as he told the story of the first day we met. He had planned to kill himself over the
weekend. He talked of how he had cleaned
out his locker so his Mom wouldn't have to do it later and was carrying his
stuff home.He looked hard at me and
gave me a little smile. "Thankfully, I was saved. My friend saved me from
doing the unspeakable."
I heard the gasp go through the
crowd as this handsome, popular boy told us all about his weakest moment. I saw his Mom and dad looking at me and
smiling that same grateful smile. Not
until that moment did I realize it's depth.
Never underestimate the power of your actions.
With one small gesture you
can change a person's life. For better
or for worse. God puts us all in each
other's lives to impact one another in some way. Look for God in others.
5/6/08 (Late)
If you ever feel depressed, the best thing to do is to do something for
someone
else. Why? Because it gets you focused outward, not
inward. It’s hard to be depressed while
serving someone else. Ironically, a
by-product of helping others is feeling wonderful yourself.
There are two types of people in this world?the proactive and the reactive?those who take responsibility for their lives and those who blame; those who make it happen and those who get happened to….
Proactive people make choices
based on values. They thing before they
act. They recognize they can’t control
everything that happens to them, but they can control what they do about it. Unlike reactive people who are full of
carbonation, proactive people are like water.
Shake them up all you want, take off the lid, and nothing. No fizzing, no bubbling, no pressure. They are calm, cool, and in control.
Being proactive really
means two things. First, you take
responsibility for your life.Second,
you have a “can-do” attitude. (From the Book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens” by
Sean Covey)
4/15/08
Shape-shifting is an opportunity presented
to us every day. Recently, I was sitting
on the bench with another woman, who was reading a newspaper. A fourteen-year-old boy, with his baseball
cap on backwards, was buzzing us on his skateboard. He buzzed us once, and then buzzed us
again. The third time, he came
inadvertently too close, and knocked the newspaper out of the woman's hand.
Startled, she said, "Oh, why don't you grow up?" The boy skated off, down to the corner to
talk to his buddy, and the two of them looked back at us. The woman then picked up her newspaper and
walked to the middle of the block.
She called to him, "Could I talk to you for a moment?" Reluctantly, the boy came back, very slowly,
on his skateboard. He stopped and took
hold of his hat and turned it around in front, with the bill up and said,
"Yeah?" She said, "What I
meant to say... what I meant to say was that I was afraid that you might hurt
me, and I apologize for saying what I did."
He
looked at her, his face lit up, and he said, "How cool!" That moment is indelibly etched in my mind.
What touched me most was that within the space of five minutes, a human
being decided to shape-shift the experience and create what in
(From "The Soul of Nature" edited
by Michael Tobias)
4/1/08
So many people walk around with a
meaningless life. They seem half-asleep,
even when they're busy doing things they think are important. This is because they're chasing the wrong
things. The way you get meaning into
your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your
community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you
purpose and meaning.
The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and
to let it come it. Let it come in. We think we don't deserve love, we think if
we let it in we'll become too soft. But
a wise man named Levine said it right.
He said, "Love is the only rational act."
(From the book "Tuesdays with Morrie
(by Mitch Albom)
3/18/08
YOUR
TRIALS AND SORROWS DEVELOP YOU
Whatever
good or bad fortune comes your way,give
it meaning and transform it into something of value.
Trouble
is the common denominator of living.
It's
the great equalizer of life.
Personal
growth is the process of responding positively to change.
All
growth means change and change always involves risks,stepping
from the known to the unknown.
All of
your growth depends on your activity.
It
only comes through continuous effort and struggle.
You'll
have no development without effort.
Life
chips and pounds you to bring out your possibilities.
She
will strip you of wealth, humble your pride,humiliate
your ambition, let you down from the ladder of fame,and
discipline you in a thousand different ways, if she
can develop a little character.
Everything
gives way to that.
Wealth
is nothing, position is nothing, fame is nothing.
Who
you become inside is everything.
What happens to you is not as important as how you react to what happens.
3/4/08
"Most people are mirrors, reflecting the moods and emotions of the
times. Some people are windows, bringing light to bear on the dark corners
where troubles fester. The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into
windows." - Sydney J. Harris,
author
2/19/08
It sounds absurd
to say that anyone would want to be attached to his or her gloom, yet that is
precisely the case. A long conditioning process
of feeling that life is unfair, that someone else is responsible for my
sorrows, that no one truly understands, leads inevitably to habitual thoughts
of despair. Hanging on to these ideas
keeps a person fixed in self-pity, which eventually turns to
self-loathing. The reason for staying
attached is that the individual who lives in gloom is afraid to change lifelong
patterns. It is a safe haven in that it
allows you to suffer in comfort.
It is extremely common for people to build
their lives on the mistaken notion that without certain things or certain
people, they can not be happy or free.
It’s almost as if they are programmed to be unhappy. So, their attitude is, without friendship I
am destined to be gloomy. Thus they become conditioned to believe that scarcity
is an excuse for despair.
In order to transcend this cycle of attachment we must remind ourselves
of the difference between our ego and our higher self.
It is genuinely possible to live in bliss
without those attachments. Practice not
saying or thinking that you must have a certain someone or something in order
to be free of despair. Replace those
phrases with the attitude you take to a sunset, a bird in flight, a glorious
garden of flowers. You love them for
what they are, you release them from any demands you might make on them and you
enjoy them without clinging to them. Do
this, and despair that depends on feelings of not having what you need will be
undermined and disappear. To rid
yourself of attachments you simply have to drop them.
2/05/08
Successful people
begin the process of taking full responsibility for creating their world the
way they really want it to be. They have
expressed their desire, asked for guidance, and now all of their energy is
speeded up because they will not entertain any doubts about their ability to
solve any problem.
Four ingredients in the mind-set of
spiritual problem solvers and hence highly functioning successful people. Desire, Asking, Intention, Passion.
When you find yourself thinking a thought
that focuses on what you don’t want, no matter how insignificant it might be,
remind yourself that you will ultimately act upon that thought and it will
materialize into your life. Stop yourself right there, and silently ask
yourself, “What do I want?” That is, instead of thinking that your arthritis is
going to get worse, which is precisely what you don’t want, change the thought
to an intention. “This arthritis is
going to disappear from my life completely.”
Eventually, slowly, but surely, you will begin to act upon this new
intention, which is a
Keep this statement in mind if you are in
this category of scarcity consciousness: You cannot manifest prosperity from
thoughts of I hate being poor. You will
act upon this thought and you will create more and more of hating being poor in
your life.
To become free of any addiction you must no
longer give energy to what you are addicted to including labeling yourself as
an addict, and instead cultivate the higher/faster energy of yourself as a pure
healthy being. Whenever the temptation
to place your energy on what you don’t want (the craving) arises, you shift to
what you intend to create. Slowly, deliberately,
and surely, you will bring a spiritual presence to the thoughts of what you don’t
want and assuredly the addictions will dissipate.
1/22/08
Our task is to transform our identities that are now based on scarcity, fear, and greed, which cause excess accumulation, into identities as limitless channels of energy, inventiveness, and abundance. We must change our
self-definition from personality consumer to Soul creator.
The
transformation of identity from the personal self to the Soul is based on
aligning ourselves with this inner, spiritual source, which is always present
as a potential within the human being.
It is available whenever the personality can break through the frantic
busyness of modern life and become quiet enough to listen to the still, small
voice of the Soul. The Soul will make us
aware of what brings true inner happiness and provide access to the energy to
develop and express creative abilities from within. Our need to consume is thus transformed into
the ability to love, to create, to give to the world. We shift the energy flow from being a
consuming black hole to being a radiant sun.
1/08/08
Back
some time ago I saw a moving TV documentary. It told the story of a young man
by the name of Bill, with severe physical handicaps. He was born without legs,
feet, arms, or hands, and he had appendages on his shoulders that looked
somewhat like small fins. Of course I immediately noticed how unusual Bill
looked, but truly the most striking thing about him was the wonderful radiating
presence he exuded. His eyes had a beautiful sparkle, and he displayed a sense
of humor as well as strength. At the time of the show he was in his late
twenties, had a successful professional career, and was just newly married.
Outside of work, Bill's mission
was to help emotionally troubled and disabled youths to have a more positive
outlook on life. He spent a good deal of his free time going around to various
centers, helping children to deal with their challenges. Bill said that one of
the most important messages he wanted to communicate was that there was no need
for severely challenged youths to feel sorry for themselves.
Upon being questioned by the interviewer he said, "Life offers each person a unique set of challenges they must successfully face if they are to live a fulfilling life. We can spend our lives feeling sorry for ourselves because of our hardships, or we can vow to live a happy life regardless of our seeming disabilities. Each and every person faces this choice, and the decision you make in this regard determines the quality of your life."
I must say that I was amazed by
Bill's upbeat way of talking, and his positive outlook on life. Even though I
was only watching a TV program I felt honored to be in his presence. I also
must admit to feeling embarrassed, as I realized how I still tend to make
excuses and find "reasons" for some of the difficulties I have
trouble freeing myself from.
Watching the program I felt like a rich man complaining about not having enough money. The most touching part of the program showed
Bill working in a center for disabled youths who had developed a violent,
negative way of dealing with their hardships. Most of the children had already
been thrown out of school, and all of them displayed a great deal of anger.
The program showed Bill working
with one boy in particular. The boy told a dark, angry story about just how
unlucky and disabled he was. Bill listened patiently, acknowledging what the
boy said. Several times he tried to say something positive and the boy
immediately interrupted him saying, "What you say is just bullshit!"
Finally, Bill looked at the angry
boy and calmly yet fiercely said the following:
"Do
you know what's different about you and me? Anyone that looked at the both of
us would say that I am much more disabled than you are."
For
the first time, the boy did not respond.
"And do you know one more important difference between the both of
us? I don't feel sorry for myself and
you do. The most severe disability any person can face is believing they are
less than whole and perfect, just as they are.
No one escapes life without hardships and tragedy. We can either
appreciate the gifts and talents we do have, or spend our life complaining
about what we don't have. I've chosen happiness. What path will you choose from
here on out?"
The young boy began to cry.
Bill sat quietly for about thirty seconds, saying nothing. Then he
stooped over some towards the boy and said, "If I had arms I would pick
you up and hold you right now. Please know that I do love you and care about
you."
12/18/07
Hope is a state of mind, not of the world...
It is an orientation of the spirit, an orientation of the heart;
It transcends the world that is immediately experienced,
And is anchored somewhere beyond its horizons...
Hope, in this deep and powerful sense,
Is not the same as joy that things are going well,
Or willingness to invest in enterprises that are
Obviously heading for... success,