What you give, you will receive, although it might sometimes come from the place you least expect.  -- Paulo Coelho

The Giving Season

--by Jennifer Merlich, syndicated from wewerewild.com, Oct 16, 2016

I was recently the recipient of an incredible act of anonymous kindness. It came from out of nowhere, at exactly the right time.  The magnitude of the gift moved me to tears, and I was so grateful and profoundly moved by the generosity of my unknown benefactor.  But I was also sure there had been a mistake. In the midst of this beautiful act, I am ashamed to admit that I was momentarily overcome by feelings of unworthiness.  I simply couldn’t believe I was deserving of such radical kindness.  Had I been face to face with my benefactor, I would have given them 100 reasons why they “shouldn’t have”, attempting to convince them that they were wrong about me—that their generosity was misdirected.  Fortunately, I quickly realized that to focus on my feelings of unworthiness would be to dishonor the gift and the beautiful spirit in which it was so lovingly given.

And I think that’s the beauty of an anonymous gift. It gave me the time and the space I needed to process the feelings it stirred up inside of me.  I was able to sit with the discomfort of unworthiness and ultimately see it for what it is— a lie—something I came to believe long ago, that no longer serves me.  Now, it is nothing more than a habit.  It is a “go-to” response that I can either choose to feed in the moment, or not.  This revelation was a gift within the gift.  As I was unable to speak to my anonymous benefactor and enumerate the ways in which I did not deserve the kindness they showed to me, the only way I could honor them was to suck it up in all its beautiful glory and put my faith in THEIR belief that I was, in fact, worthy.

But how do you thank someone for such a gift?  How do you show them even a fraction of the gratitude in your heart when you have no idea who they are?  How do you pay them back?    Sometimes the only way to pay it back is to pay it forward.

And once again, the timing of life was perfect.  While contemplating just how to capitalize on the wave of gratitude and hope I was riding in order to send it spinning out into the world, I was invited to participate in a 40 Days of Giving practice with others at my spiritual center.  It was a new take on a familiar tradition.  Lent had always been a period of sorrow, penance and self-denial, but this year I would approach it with an attitude of abundance, joy and generosity.  And in doing so, I would begin to fulfill a promise I made to an unknown friend, when I vowed that the kindness shown to me would find its way out into the world through my words, my hands, and my actions.

During the 40 days, the gifts I gave were diverse and mostly simple in nature.  Some were tangible, like the can of dog food and spare change I gave the young homeless man cradling a puppy so lovingly in his arms.  Others were immeasurable in the traditional sense, like the time I bit my tongue and offered compassion in response to an angry outburst from a fearful soul.  Or the gift I gave two unknown parents the day I slowed down and allowed their teenager—who was making terrible choices behind the wheel—to dart in front of me and exit the freeway.  By consciously choosing to alter my course so that he could safely change lanes, I diffused a dangerous situation, where tragedy might otherwise have been the outcome from his momentary lack of sound judgement.

And now, as I stand on the other side of the 40 days of giving, I can clearly see how transformational the whole practice—from both sides of the giving/receiving dance— has been.  I now understand that I had to first learn the lesson of worthiness in order to appreciate the gift that is innate in the act of receiving with an open heart.  When I receive joyfully and gratefully, Iallow you, the giver, to  experience connection, compassion and grace.  And you in turn do the same for me when our roles are reversed. The lines distinguishing the giver from the receiver are blurred, as the giving becomes the receiving which becomes the giving.  This infinite loop is where magic happens.  By engaging wholeheartedly in this dance, we create exponential possibilities from one tiny little ripple.

I learned so much during this season of giving.  In all cases, the commitment to the practice and the mindfulness it created made the difference in how I approached each giving opportunity.  Taking a cue from my benefactor, I learned that anonymity can be a form of kindness when it allows the recipient to maintain a sense of dignity, or to practice the gift of receiving in their own time and space.  But when applying anonymity to my own practice of giving I quickly learned that it can be self-serving, too.  For someone like me who craves intimacy but has also been fearful of it for many years, anonymous giving can easily become just another way to avoid connection. And that kind of defeats the purpose. So my litmus test—or my compass—was to simply ask myself, “In this situation, is the anonymity a gift for my recipient or a crutch for me?”

I learned that any act of kindness, regardless of how big or small, has the potential to change not only the giver and the receiver, but all of those in close proximity to the people on either side of the equation.  Because once engaged in the giving/receiving dance, the way in which we interact with our environment and those we share space with changes.  We operate from a higher plane of gratitude, enthusiasm and hope, and the ripples we send out gently build in momentum with every soul they touch.  This is truly how we will change the world.

And I learned that now, when someone gives me a gift and I find myself struggling with feelings of unworthiness, I can no longer allow those untruths to poison the atmosphere surrounding the exchange. I will not project. Instead, I will allow myself a moment of grace, and I will remember the anonymous soul who challenged me to acknowledge and accept my own beauty as seen through their eyes.  And rather than shrink from the light, I will simply say, “Thank you.  You and your gift are precious to me.”

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Jennifer Merlich is a writer and an artist with a love of nature, drums, animals and big, bold, beautiful souls.  Her blog, WeWereWild.com, where this article originally appeared, is about the re-wilding of spirit, as we consciously choose our path and navigate back to our true north, charting the course with wisdom, courage, grace and joy.

Be The Change: Start your own experiments in giving this week! For inspiration, this site offers an abundance of stories and ideas.

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Sourced From www.dailygood.org

A Soulful Poem ...

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.

For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.

For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.

For beautiful hair, let a child run his fingers through it once a day.

For poise, walk with the knowledge you’ll never walk alone.

People, even more than things have to be 

restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed. 

Never throw out anybody.

Remember: if you ever need a helping hand, you’ll find one at the end of your arm. 

As you grow older you will discover that you have two hands. 

One for helping yourself, and one for helping others.

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Words are but the vague shadows of the volumes we mean.  Little audible links, they are, chaining together great inaudible feelings and purposes. -- Theodore Dreiser

Two Words That Can Change a Life

--by Cheryl Rice, Oct 21, 2016

Is it possible that two words can change someone’s day, someone’s life? What if those same two words could change the world? Well, I’m on a quest to find out – and, with your help, this quest will be a success.

This quest inadvertently began last November in a grocery store.

I was standing in the checkout line behind a woman who looked to be in her 60s. When it was her turn to pay, the cashier greeted her by name and asked her how she was doing.

The woman looked down, shook her head and said, “Not so good. My husband just lost his job and my son is up to his old tricks again. The truth is, I don’t know how I’m going to get through the holidays.”

Then she gave the cashier food stamps.

My heart ached. I wanted to help but didn’t know how. Should I offer to pay for her groceries, ask for her husband’s resume? I did nothing – yet. And the woman left the store.

As I walked into the parking lot, I spotted the woman returning her shopping cart, and I remembered something in my purse that could help her in a different but hopefully profound way. It wasn’t a handful of cash or a lead on a job for her husband, but maybe – just maybe – it would make her life better.

My heart pounded as I approached the woman. 

“Excuse me,” I said, my voice trembling a bit. “I couldn’t help overhearing what you said to the cashier. It sounds like you’re going through a really hard time right now. I’m so sorry. I’d like to give you something.”

And I handed her a business-sized card.

When the woman read the card’s only two words, she began to cry. And through her tears, she said, “You have no idea how much this means to me.”

I was a little startled by her reply. Having never done anything like this before, I hadn’t anticipated the reaction I might receive. All I could think to respond was, “Oh my. Would it be OK to give you a hug?”

After we embraced, I walked back to my car -- and began to cry too.

The words on the card?

“You Matter.”

A few weeks earlier, a colleague gave me a similar card as encouragement for a project I was working on. When I read the card, I felt a warm glow spread inside of me. Deeply touched, I came home and ordered my own box of You Matter cards and started sharing them.

First, I gave them to family and close friends. Even if they weren’t in as dire straits as the woman at the grocery store, their faces lit up and often their eyes moistened when they read those two words.  

As I became bolder, I started giving the You Matter cards to people in my community who make my life richer – such as my dry cleaner and the man who sells me fruit at the farmer’s market. While the gesture didn’t always end in an actual hug, the words were a hug in themselves. The recipients were visibly moved. And I was too.

Then I became a bit mischievous. I began leaving cards in places where I couldn’t witness who received them. I tucked one inside the pages of a library book I was returning. I placed another one in the credit card slot at a gas pump.

At the time I met the woman in the grocery store, I was completing a certificate program in Applied Positive Psychology sponsored by the Flourishing Center. I learned the science behind happiness and well-being.

One of the forefathers in the field of positive psychology, Chris Peterson, said that the entire practice boils down to three words: “Other people matter.” 

Well, my experience in the grocery store confirmed that telling other people they matter also matters. 

People crave connection but feel more isolated than ever. Every one of us is here for a reason. We are all essential. We need, and are needed by, each other.

Always.

Especially now.

That simple encounter in the parking lot has become the You Matter Marathon. 

No running required!

The goal is to create and enrich positive connections between individuals and within communities by collectively sharing 10,000 You Matter cards during November, when the holiday season starts and too many people find too many reasons to feel they don’t matter.

Together, let’s make some magic.

If inspired, you can join the You Matter Marathon here and sign up to receive 30 You Matter cards at no charge! Each week in November, participants will receive an email with card sharing missions, inspiring quotes, and an opportunity to share experiences and connect with each other online.

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Cheryl Rice is a professional speaker and coach and the author of Where Have I Been All My Life?. Her company, Your Voice Your Vision partners with women striving to be leaders in their own lives.   

Be The Change: Today, take time to share a few kind words with someone. You never know just how much they might need it.

Sourced From www.dailygood.org

The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.  -- Carl Jung

How to Talk to Strangers

--by Kio Stark, syndicated from ideas.ted.com, Oct 15, 2016

Kio Stark has always talked to strangers — she believes these fleeting moments give us new ways to fall in love with the world. She shares five ways to spark a meaningful interaction with someone you’ve never met before.

What does it take to say a simple hello to a stranger you pass on the street? How might that interaction continue? What are the places in which you are more likely to interact with people you don’t know? How do you get out of a conversation? These sound like easy questions. They are not.

Each of the following expeditions provides a structure and a contrivance to help you explore the world of people you don’t know. Each gives you a method or a reason for talking to a stranger, a mechanical problem to solve.

You can do them alone or with a partner. In pairs, you each go on separate expeditions and report back. Take notes with your mind as you go along, and write them down when you get back. Share your notes, on your blog, your social networks, anywhere you write about your experiences. You can enlighten your friends and readers with your observations. Documenting experiences is a special way of processing them for yourself. You can do them all in one day or spaced out over months. You might enjoy one of them and do it over and over. You might try this and find it’s not for you. Anything is possible.

The guiding principle of these expeditions is respect for others, and every explorer should pay careful attention to their own conduct. If you are male or have a male appearance, be especially respectful when speaking to women and people who have a female appearance, since by default you could be seen as threatening or intrusive. Be polite, keep a bit of extra physical distance, and if people aren’t giving you signals that they’re open to interaction, don’t push it.

Remember the tremendous cultural differences in expectations of eye contact and street behavior. Remember that context matters. These expeditions may not all make sense in the place where you are. So for these same reasons, I recommend against doing them in cultures you’re not steeped in or native to (apart from the last one; see below).

The expeditions are presented in order of increasing challenge — increased complexity, increased emotional risk, increased potential for depth of interaction. The first expedition is a warm-up to help you slow down your pace and sharpen your awareness, hone your skills at observing public behavior, and get you in the right frame of mind. I highly recommend you do this once no matter which other expeditions you might choose.

1. Watch and learn

You’ll need a notebook for this. Spend one hour in a public place where you are not likely to encounter people you know. Try a park, a café, or a public plaza, a tourist destination, a bus or train. Anywhere you can linger and watch people who are not moving rapidly is perfect. Choose a good place to sit so you’ll be able to see a variety of people at a relatively close distance. Sit still. Turn off your devices; get off the grid. I really mean OFF. It’s only an hour — you can do it! Part of the challenge here is full presence.

Start looking around you. First, describe the setting. Where are you? What are the most interesting features of the place? What is it for? What do people do there that it isn’t designed for? What kinds of people are there? Take notes on what they look like, how they are dressed, what they do and don’t do, how they interact with one another. If there is a big crowd, you can focus on just a few people if you want. If you are inspired to invent backstories for any of them, make sure to specify the details about them that inform your narrative. So, for example, if you conclude that someone is confident or rich, homeless or shy, a tourist or lives in the neighborhood, what told you that? Their posture, their skin, their clothing? Slow down your mind and understand where your assumptions come from.

2. Say hello

Take a walk in a populous place like a park with paths or along a city sidewalk. Define a territory for yourself: Are you going to walk around the block? From the oak tree to the far bench? Give yourself a reasonable territory to traverse, something that will take at least five to ten minutes. Choose a place that has a reasonable density of pedestrians but not a packed pathway. Walk slowly. Your mission is to say hello to every person you pass by. All of them. Try to look them in the eye, but don’t worry if they don’t hear you or ignore you. You’re just getting warmed up. Now try it again and mix in phatic observations — the kind that mean little overtly but speak of social acknowledgment — in place of greetings, things like “Cute dog,” “I like your hat,” or “Cold out today!” These acts of noticing pierce the veil of anonymity and create momentary social space.

Keep a keen awareness of the dynamics of each of these micro-interactions. You’re behaving a little strangely in public, so pay attention to how people respond. You might make a few people uncomfortable, but since you’re doing it with everyone and you’re not stopping, the discomfort should be minimal. So what’s happening when you greet people? Do they smile? Do they laugh? Are they startled? Do they seem uneasy? Do they talk to their companions about what’s happening? If you’re nervous about your comfort, you can take a friend along. The friend doesn’t have to say anything to anyone; they’re just there to make you feel safe.

3.  Get lost

This expedition is a sequence of requests that get successively more involved as you progress — if you are able to — through each stage. Have some paper and a pen handy and keep your smartphone tucked away. The first step is to ask someone for directions. If they stop and give you directions, you ask them to draw you a map. If they draw you the map, you ask for their phone number so you can call if you get lost. If they give you their phone number, you call it. A surprising number of people give out their phone number. Over the years that I used this exercise in my classes, only one student ever actually made the call. “I was surprised by how terrifying that last step was,” she told me. “How much space we give one another in this crowded city.” I encourage you to be brave here.

Take care in choosing a starting place and destination — you may have to try this a few times to find a pair that works well. It can’t be too simple to get to, or the map won’t seem necessary. But it shouldn’t be so complicated that it’s too hard to explain. I created this exercise almost a decade ago, and it’s been made a little harder to pull off with the ubiquity of smartphones. You need to appear plausibly unable to navigate without a handdrawn map or list of directions. Taking the time to draw or write directions is a slight incursion, and this exercise is about incrementally escalating incursions.

This expedition also requires you to lie. Pay attention to how that feels.

4. Ask a question

People talk if you give them the chance to. They talk when you listen. This expedition calls for asking a stranger a disarmingly intimate question and then simply listening to what they say. By “disarmingly intimate” I mean a question that’s unexpectedly real and personal. It’s a question that goes to the center of a person’s self. It should also be a question that doesn’t require an act of remembering. You want something that people can tap into in an immediate, visceral way. My favorite is “What are you afraid of?” A few people say things like spiders and mice and avoid the emotional invitation, but the majority of people go straight to their hearts and tell you about their fears of death, failure, loneliness and loss — and the things they say are amazing to hear, amazing to have them shared with you. You can come up with your own questions too, and try out more than one.

The structure works like this. It relies on using video or audio recording equipment (you can use your smartphone) to help legitimate the intrusion and give it some logic. The camera is both a contrivance to permit the question and a little bit of mediation that allows people to open up. You approach someone who is not in a hurry and ask them if you can ask them a question on camera. Some people may be willing to answer you but not on camera — that’s fine! The point is the conversation, not the recording. Start recording before you pose your question. Then be quiet. If they ask you to clarify, go ahead, but don’t give them any examples of answers. Your job is to listen. If the person seems comfortable talking, you can ask follow-up questions, but don’t be too hasty. Give people a chance to fill their own silences. That’s often when the magic really happens.

5. Don’t belong

This final expedition takes you into deeper, more complex territory. It’s the most emotionally risky. Choose a place you don’t fit in, where you are in the minority in some way. If you are someone who spends the majority of your time in the minority, this experience may be as common as rain to you, and you may want to skip it. You should be noticeably out of place — perhaps by race, gender, ethnicity, age, ability, membership, appearance or other categories of difference. The goal here is simply to observe: What are people doing? How are they responding to your presence? You can try engaging and see how that goes. Be aware, be observant, see if you can understand the micro-local assumptions about public behavior and cleave to them.

Obviously, don’t put yourself in any danger, don’t choose a place where you’d expect to be met with aggression. You may have a wonderful, eye-opening experience. But also prepare yourself: It’s possible you’ll feel really awful after this expedition. If that happens, you’ll have experienced something essential to empathy: what it feels like to be treated as invisible or unwelcome. I do not wish these things for you, but if you feel them, I hope they will change the way you see the world.

This text was excerpted from When Strangers Meet by Kio Stark, published by TED Books/Simon & Schuster.

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Kio Stark writes, teaches and speaks about stranger interactions, independent learning and how people relate to technology. She is the author of the TED Book, "When Strangers Meet." You can watch her TED talk Why You Should Talk to Strangers here.

Be The Change: Today, start a conversation with someone whom you might have ignored or brushed past before. For more on this subject, watch Kio Stark's TED talk.

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Sourced From www.dailygood.org

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Destiny Is Within Us

Destiny is Within Us - Hawah Kasat

I remember walking to the bus stop one day. Sweat was dripping down my chin, while I gazed upon the faded metal bus-stop sign a block away. I saw an unorganized huddle of bodies. A few sat on the wooden bench, staring through the hazy Plexiglas of the awning. I checked my watch and noticed that I was running ahead of schedule. The bus wouldn’t be coming for at least five more minutes.

In that instant, I heard big tires rolling up behind me, the punched-in sound of a clutch cranking into the floor, the shaking of windows as the tires dipped into a small pothole. I quickly turned my head and saw the bus. There was no traffic to slow it down. I was about a block away and stuck between two fateful options.

The first option was to stand there and surrender my fate to the universe. I could repeat to myself, “Oh, well. I guess the universe didn’t want me to catch the bus today,” and regurgitate that famous cliché, “I guess it just wasn’t meant to happen.”

The second option before me was to take my bag, hold on to it a bit tighter, and start running up the block. This option didn’t guarantee that I would catch the bus, but it engaged my free will so that it did not have to breathe in the exhaust of resignation.

Contemplation on choice is sometimes the toughest part of any day. The universe definitely provided some context that made it a bit harder for me to catch the bus, yet still, I could act to change the situation. Sure, that bus came ahead of schedule, but my reaction was what was in my control and what my yoga practice has taught me. My reaction could have been to blame it on the universe, to fall into the trap of “I guess it wasn’t meant to happen.” Or to pick up my heels and start running.

Each moment of life, we set into motion a series of succeeding moments that will ultimately shape our future. It is my choice to either leave my destiny up to the universe or choose to shift my awareness and embrace the knowledge that I am the universe. When this happens, what we previously blame on an outside entity, or “destiny,” is actually something we understand as within us.

The choice is mine. The choice is yours. The choice is ours.

About the Author: Excerpted from "Your Path to Destiny" by Hawah Kasat.

How Will The King Be Cured?

PLEASE READ THE STORY AND ALSO THE MORAL AT THE END

Not so long time ago, lived one good king. He was very generous and always helpful for his citizens. Whatever time people asked he was ready to offer.

Citizens also liked very much their king, but they have become very worried about him. The king who was once vital men who had won many battles now has changed. He was all day only eating and sleeping. In this way days, weeks, months and years passed. The king never went out of his bed. He was spending his life only in bed doing nothing else except eating or sleeping.

Slowly effects of such a life started appearing. The king couldn’t  even move his body. He has become so fat. He has become subject of joke for everyone.

The king realised something is to be done, or he will soon be dead.

He offered great reward for one who would cure him and make him fit again. The expert doctors from all over the world came with intention to cure the king and take their reward but nobody was successful. The king tried to follow their advises and spent big amount of gold but nobody’s advice worked.

One day a Sage came to Kings palace. He has heard about health situation of the king, so as dutiful citizen he has decided to help.

The sage was a respectable person and was considered very wise. So when he approached the king’s minister with the words that he can cure the king, he was received by minister with great hope.

The minister immediately ran to the king and requested him to meet respectable sage.

The king who has lost his hope to be cured, decided to try his last chance before he dies.

The sage entered the huge hall in which king was residing. The king who has so great weight could not move his body. So he requested his minister to invite the sage to come closer to his bed.

The minister approached the sage and whispered in his ear to come closer to the bed of the king.

Reaction of the Sage was surprising . He refused to follow order of the king. He said that in order to be cured the king had to get out of bed and come to him.

The king became very angry....and said..." who are you to give orders to your king", so he jumped from his bed and tried to hit the sage. The sage ran away and from distance said,..." if you want to be cured and get your health back you should come on your foot to my cave at mountain for treatment tomorrow!".

The king was angrily shouting but minister was  very happy. At least his king  stood up on his legs. King was very angry by being disrespected this way, but he knew his urgent situation. He must go to a sage tomorrow.

The next day being helped by the ministers and other citizens who held the king  reached the sage’s cave at nearby mountain.

Unfortunately for the king, the sage was not there. The king became even more frustrated and angry. "Is he joking with me? He invited me but he is not there!" ....said the King.

Disciples of the sage informed the king that their teacher has gone on urgent business so they requested the king to come tomorrow morning. For sure the sage will return up to this time. And he will be available to offer proper treatment to a king.

This procedure repeated for next 30 days. The king was every day coming but was sent back by excuse that sage will come tomorrow. In this way the king didn't received any treatment.

But soon  changes started appearing. The king lost great amount of weight, he started walking on his own, he felt a much lighter and healthy. He was sleeping and eating less . In this way he was having more and more time with his citizens and doing his duty.

He realised he had been cured by the wise sage. The cure was daily walking up the mountain to the cave of the sage.

Moral of the story:

The King in this story represents us (souls/jeevs). When we start running away from our duties, our responsibilities (our soul purpose and duties ... dharam), we become lazy , careless and attached to excessive eating and sleeping...which results in complete DEGRADATION of ourselves.

No worldly doctors can save us from such a critical situation.

Only a GURU, a Sage, a Pure Devotee can save us from such a terrible situation.  When such a Person comes in our life, initially we also get angry ... that why is this Person disrespecting us and ordering us to do which is not in our comfort zone. But only such a Person knows how to cure our terrible disease.  We can get cured from all material diseases but on the condition that we sincerely follow the instructions of such a GURU or Sage or Devotee.

Little Tea Cup

I'm a Little Tea Cup. Love this story or not, you will not be able to have tea in a tea cup again without thinking of this.

There was a couple who took a trip to England to shop in a beautiful antique store to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. They both liked antiques and pottery, and especially teacups.

Spotting an exceptional cup, they asked "May we see that? We've never seen a cup quite so beautiful”. As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the teacup spoke, "You don't understand. I have not always been a teacup. There was a time when I was just a lump of red clay. My master took me and rolled me, pounded and patted me over and over and I yelled out, "Don't do that. I don't like it! Let me alone," but he only smiled, and gently said, "Not yet."

Then WHAM! I was placed on a spinning wheel and suddenly I was made to suit himself and then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I yelled and knocked and pounded at the door. "Help! Get me out of here!" I could see him through the opening and I could read his lips as he shook his head from side to side, "Not yet."

When I thought I couldn't bear it another minute, the door opened. He carefully took me out and put me on the shelf, and I began to cool. Oh, that felt so good! "Ah, this is much better," I thought. But, after I cooled he picked me up and he brushed and painted me all over. The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag. "Oh, please, stop it, stop, I cried." He only shook his head and said, "Not yet."

Then suddenly he puts me back in to the oven. Only it was not like the first one. This was twice as hot and I just knew I would suffocate. I begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried. I was convinced I would never make it. I was ready to give up. Just then the door opened and he took me out and again placed me on the shelf, where I cooled and waited and waited, wondering, "What's he going to do to me next?"

An hour later he handed me a mirror and said, "Look at yourself." And I did. I said, "That's not me. That couldn't be me. It's beautiful. I'm beautiful!"

Quietly he spoke: "I want you to remember. I know it hurt to be rolled and pounded and patted, but had I just left you alone, you'd have dried up. I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled. I know it hurt and it was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but if I hadn't put you there, you would have cracked. I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over, but if I hadn't done that, you never would have hardened. You would not have had any colour in your life. If I hadn't put you back in that second oven, you wouldn't have survived for long because the hardness would not have held. Now you are a finished product. Now you are what I had in mind when I first began with you."

The moral of this story is this: God knows what He's doing for each of us. He is the potter, and we are His clay. He will mould us and make us and expose us to just enough pressures of just the right kinds that we may be made into a flawless piece of work to fulfill His good, pleasing and perfect.

So when life seems hard, and you are being pounded and patted and pushed almost beyond endurance; when your world seems to be spinning out of control; when you feel like you are in a fiery furnace of trials; when life seems to "stink", try this.

Brew a cup of your favourite tea in your prettiest tea cup, sit down and think on this story and then, have a little talk with the Potter....God Bless You!

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Re-engineering Our Patterns

Re-engineering Our Patterns - Eknath Easwaran

When I recommend to someone that they slow down, they often raise a legitimate question: “There is so much that I have to do; how can I go through it slowly and get it all done?” I usually answer by referring to my own experience as a teacher in India. As chairman of the Department of English at a large university I had heavy responsibilities. But I wanted very much to train myself to do things slowly and without tension because I knew it would be a help on the spiritual path.

I began by making a list of all the activities I engaged in on the campus, the things I was expected to do and the things I liked doing. It turned out to be a long list. I said at the time what people tell me today: I simply cannot go slowly and take care of all these vital matters.

Then I remembered my spiritual teacher, my Grand-mother, who had great responsibilities in our extended family of over a hundred people and in our village. She always fulfilled those responsibilities splendidly, and I recalled that she had an unerring sense of what was central and what was peripheral. So using her example, I started striking from my list activities not absolutely essential.

I was amazed at the number that could go. I began to avoid those functions that I could not justify to myself. Putting aside my likes and dislikes, keeping an eye on what was necessary, using as much detachment as I could, I struck more and more from the list. Soon half of it was gone, and I found I had more time to give to what seemed likely to be of permanent value.

Re-engineering our patterns in the way I have mentioned will not be easy or painless. It will require persistent efforts for a long time. But the benefits are magnificent and we begin to receive them from the very first day we try to make a change.

About the Author: An excerpt from ‘Meditation’, a book by Eknath Easwaran.

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Becoming Free Of Our Substitute Life

Becoming Free of Our Substitute Life - Ezra Bayda

A Zen student walked in to see the master. Sitting down, he blurted out, "There's something terribly wrong with me!" The master looked at him and asked, "What's so wrong?" The student, after a moment's hesitation, responded, "I think I'm a dog." To that the master responded, "And how long have you thought that?" The student replied, "Ever since I was a puppy."

What does this story have to do with spiritual practice? Everything. It puts the basic human problem in a nutshell. Next time you find yourself immersed in the drama of a strong emotional reaction, awash with deeply believed thoughts, ask yourself how long you've taken these thoughts to be the truth. Especially notice the ones you believe the most: "Life is too hard," "No one will ever be there for me," "I'm worthless," "I'm hopeless." How long have you believed these thoughts? Ever since you were a puppy!

These deeply held beliefs may not be visible on the surface of our minds; we're often not even aware of them. Yet we cling to such deep-seated beliefs, these basic identities, because they've become rooted in our very cells—in our cellular memory. And their imprint on our lives is unmistakable. But in order to avoid experiencing the painful quality of these beliefs and identities, we continually engage in various strategies of behavior—habitual coping patterns that buffer us from the anxious quiver of insecurity. These strategies are our attempt to establish some sense of safety, security, and familiarity. They might include seeking achievements, becoming a helper, trying to control our world or withdrawing toward safety. But do they ever give us a sense of genuine satisfaction? No. All too often they keep us stuck in dissatisfaction, not knowing where to turn. I call this place "the substitute life."

If we're fortunate enough to aspire to become free of our substitute or artificial life, we may start questioning our most basic assumptions, including our very mode of living. Although such questioning can be painful, it's something we all need to do periodically in order to move toward a genuine life. The one question that goes directly to the heart of the matter is: "What is my life really about?" The degree to which we can be honest in answering this question will determine our clarity in understanding the basic human dilemma—that we are cut off from awareness of our true nature.

Do you try to maintain a sense of order and control, to avoid feeling the fear of chaos, of things falling apart? Do you try to gain acceptance and approval, to avoid the fear of rejection, of not fitting in? Do you try to excel and attain success, to avoid the fear of feeling unworthy? Or do you seek busyness in adventure or pleasure, to avoid the deep holes of longing and loneliness? All of these strategies have one thing in common: they keep us encased in our artificial or substitute life.

None of us are beyond this. We all follow some strategy to escape feeling the fears that silently run our life. Yet even when we know all about these fears, most of the time we don't want to have anything to do with them. Perhaps this sounds pessimistic and discouraging, but it doesn't have to be. In fact, it's only by realizing the extent to which we are asleep—the extent to which we are driven by the vanity of our endeavors, the smallness of our attachments, or the urgency of avoiding our fears—that we can wake up, out of our state of sleep, out of our substitute way of living.

About the Author: Excerpted from How to Live a Genuine Life by Ezra Bayda. 

At A Certain Point ...

At a certain point - Adyashanti

At a certain point we need to grow up; we need to look inside ourselves for our inner guidance. There are things most human beings know; they just don’t want to know them. They know deep down that certain things in their lives are working or aren’t working, that certain parts of their lives are functional and others are dysfunctional. But sometimes, as human beings, we don’t want to know what’s not convenient. So we pretend not to know.

What is most important is to come out of pretending. There is a time and a place for everything. There’s a time to make effort and to be disciplined. There is a time to let go and realize you cannot do it alone, that it is up to grace, that effort and struggling and striving play no part.

But understand one thing: the trajectory of our spiritual lives—no matter what our path, whether it’s a progressive path or a direct path, whether it is a devotional path or otherwise—the trajectory of our spiritual lives and of all spiritual awakening is toward surrender. Ultimately, that’s the name of the spiritual game. Everything we do spiritually is leading us to a spontaneous state of surrender—to letting go. That is where it all leads, no matter what the path is, no matter what the practice is. Once you know that, you notice that each step along the way is the next opportunity to surrender. It may take effort to get there; it may take effort to get you to the point where you are willing to let go into grace, but ultimately the whole of spirituality boils down to letting go of the illusion of the separate self, letting go of the way we think the world is and the way we think it should be

We need the willingness to lose our world. That willingness is the surrender; that willingness is the letting go. And each of us has to find what that letting go means for us, what we need to let go of. Whether it’s easy or difficult doesn’t matter in the slightest. It is the letting go that is ultimately important.

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Have Patience And Faith ...

Take heart today. Be Blessed.

A certain gentleman walked into a hotel and after perusing through the menu ordered for some food.

After about 20 mins another group of gentlemen walked in and ordered for theirs.

To his dismay, he noticed them get served first.

He watched as they began to eat and laugh heartily. He even overheard one of them brag about how he knew everyone at that hotel and how things moved fast for him here.

He felt he was being mocked. He contemplated leaving. But he had waited so long. Unable to take it anymore, he called the waiter and spoke sadly of how unfair things were.

The waiter calmly told him, "Yours is a special order Sir, being prepared by the chief chef himself. Their orders were prepared hurriedly by interns because the top chefs are busy with yours. That's why they came first. Please have some juice as you wait".

Unknown to him the owner of the hotel { who happened to be an old long lost friend of his } had seen him coming and wanted to surprise him and had made changes to his simple meal to make it an exotic meal.

He calmed down and waited.

Shortly after his meal was served by 6 waiters and he was waited on hand and foot and being made very comfortable.

The gentlemen at the other table were shocked. They couldn't stop staring. Suddenly they were the ones murmuring, asking why they didn't get that kind of service and meal.

So it is with life!

Some people are ahead of you and eating now, laughing at you about how they know people and how they're blessed with money and how they're enjoying life because of it.

You have been waiting long wondering why it is taking so long to get your breakthrough, enduring mockery and humiliation. Maybe you have contemplated the unthinkable, gone through depression or suffered severe mental anxiety.

Do not worry!

The owner of the world has seen you. And doesn't want to give you simple meals like those laughing at you.

You've been waiting for long because yours is a special meal and  takes time. And only chief chef makes those!

Take heart today. Wait for your meal and relax. When it comes, the laughing party will be silenced for good.

Calm down. Have patience. Have faith. Stay blessed