Share Your Cookies!

Last week, I did a Blog Talk Radio show on the poem, The Cookie Thief by Valerie Cox. It is a powerful poem that speaks to making assumptions and jumping to false conclusions. Don Miguel Ruiz' third agreement is don't make assumptions. Actor Henry Winkler said assumptions are the termites of relationships. So very true. Making assumptions eat away at you and those closest to you.

The show, Mind Your Own Story, has a poem, a story, a quote each show with a message about changing your story to create the life you want to live. This video is about sharing your cookies...instead of assuming someone else is eating yours. Enjoy!

Just Love!

Love all that has been created by God,

both the whole and every grain of sand.

Love every leaf and every ray of light.

Love the beasts and the birds, love the plants, 

love every separate fragment.

If you love each separate fragment, 

you will understand the mystery of the whole resting in God.

~ Fyodor Dostoevsky

Reflections on Another Year Older

As I reflect on yet another year older,

Where I grow wiser and yes, even bolder;

I think as I listen to my Wise Self

I will not become stale to be put on a shelf.

I want to continue my days in love, peace and spring,

And when I feel like crap, I can just sing!

So, remember that if you are not perfect to some,

It’s not who you are now, but who you will become!

 Happy Birthday to me! 

Friday’s Purposeful Question

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions.” ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

The quality of your life is determined by the quality of your questions. So, what questions are you asking? 

"What would your life look like without fear, doubt or worry?"

“You can tell whether a woman is clever by her answers. You can tell whether she is wise by her questions.” ~ attributed to Naguib Mahfouz

It All Begins With You

“Imagine living without fear, without judgment, without blame, without guilt, without shame. Imagine living your life without trying to please other people’s points of view, and not even your own point of view according to your own book of law. Imagine how different your life would be in you lived with gratitude, love, loyalty, and justice, beginning with yourself.” ~ don Miguel and don Jose Ruiz

Can you imagine?

What would your life look like without fear, without judgment, without blame, shame or guilt?

You have the power within you to create this kind of life. A life lived with gratitude, love, loyalty and justice.

Wouldn’t you love to live that kind of life?

So, what’s stopping you?

It all begins with you.

Inner Peace Leads to Outer Peace

"We can never obtain peace in the world if we neglect the inner world and don't make peace with ourselves. World peace must develop out of inner peace." ~ The Dalai Lama

This is very wise and very profound! Like the hymn states, let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me! No matter how many rallies you attend, or how many protests you go to, there will never be peace unless it begins with each individual person.

If you are at peace, then at least there is some peace in the world. Unfortunately, so many of us are at war with ourselves and those around us. Incidentally, it takes much less effort to make peace than it does to create war. Peace is the body’s natural state; we were created to live in a state of homeostasis. When we are out of alignment with our body’s natural rhythm, then we are in distress.

So, just for today, stop, take a breath and be at peace!

Faith or Fear?

"Feed your faith and your fears will starve to death." ~ Author Unknown

Love this! Fear and faith cannot exist at the same time. If you are feeding one, then you are naturally starving the other. If you have faith, then you have no reason to fear. Simple, yes. Easy, eh!

So, which are you feeding?

Achievements Do Not Equal Desires

"To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but at what he aspires to." ~ Kahlil Gibran

All of us have dreams and desires. Most of us have not made those dreams or desires a reality. And, most of us never will. This is a sad truth. But, we still have the desire and this desire comes from our heart. We may achieve many things, but it may not be what we desire to aspire.

To understand the heart, look at the desires because this is where those desires are housed. And this is the truth of a person.

Friday’s Purposeful Question

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions.” ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

Author and teacher Byron Katie says that when you question your stressful thoughts, the freedom that comes out of that graces the world for all of us.

The quality of your life is determined by the quality of your questions.

There is a Chinese Proverb that says, “He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever."

“What questions are you asking?”

“You can tell whether a woman is clever by her answers. You can tell whether she is wise by her questions.” ~ attributed to Naguib Mahfouz

The Mask of Fear

“Love is always kind. Fear is always unkind. With fear we are full of obligations, full of expectations, with no respect, avoiding responsibility, and feeling sorry. How can we feel good when we are suffering from so much fear? We feel victimized by everything; we feel angry or sad or jealous or betrayed.

“Anger is nothing but fear with a mask. Sadness is fear with a mask. Jealousy is fear with a mask. With all those emotions that come from fear and create suffering, we can only pretend to be kind. We are not kind because we don’t feel good, we are not happy.”

~ From The Mastery of Love by don Miguel Ruiz

My favorite book tells us that love is patient and kind. Because fear is the opposite of love, then fear has to be unkind and impatient. When we are not operating in love, we must be operating in fear. This is the hypnotic trance we are in most of the time. This is what leads to all the suffering.

Just for today, take off your mask of fear and reveal your true self.

Your Life, Your Choice

"The golden opportunity you are seeking is in yourself. It is not in your environment, it is not in luck or chance, or the help of others; it is in yourself alone." ~ Orison Swett Marden

Your life, all of it, is your responsibility. Even those parts that are not so pleasant – they are still your responsibility because they happened in your life. Not that you caused them or wanted them to happen; but somehow you attracted them into your life. And because it is your life, it is your responsibility.

Only you have the power to choose which direction you want to go with whatever happens in your life. You can choose to take the high road or you can choose to take the low road. The choice is yours. It is your responsibility. Blaming your circumstances will get you nowhere fast – except stuck in victim mode.

Just for today, look at every circumstance as a possible opportunity for growth and deeper awareness.

Which Thoughts Are You Entertaining?

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." ~ Aristotle

This is truly profound! You may not have any control over the thoughts that fall into your head, but you don’t have to allow them to take up residency. On average, you have about 60’000 thoughts a day and at least 90% of them are negative.

So, why do you entertain so many negative thoughts?

Conditioning. You have been conditioned to ruminate on the same negative thoughts. You rehash them in your head again and again. Then, when you see your best buddies, you regurgitate those same thoughts vocally.

Think about it.

You do, don’t you? Do you tell of something completely new and fresh? A new idea? A new empowerment tool? A new spiritual practice?

Just for today, entertain a better thought – a more empowering thought.

Seek Silence

“If you love truth, be a lover of silence. Silence, like the sunlight will illuminate you in God.” ~ St. Isaac, 7th Century Hermit Monk

What a beautiful thought! We live in a society full of noise and useless chatter. Everywhere you go there is the noise of the media, the noise of gossip, and even the noise of one’s own mind chatter. It is a shame that one has to “get away” in order to enjoy peace and quiet. Why get away? Because right here is noisy!

Create your own sanctuary for silence and peace. It is not necessary to go away because wherever you go, there you are! You must be the peace you seek. When you make the conscious choice and effort to turn off the useless chatter, then you will begin to experience more tranquility in your life.

Just for today, be the calm, the peace and the silence you want to see in your life.

Friday’s Purposeful Question

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions.” ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

Author and teacher Byron Katie says that when you question your stressful thoughts, the freedom that comes out of that graces the world for all of us.

The quality of your life is determined by the quality of your questions. So, what questions are you asking?

“What stressful thoughts do you have that you need to question?”

Remember, ask questions instead of making assumptions and jumping to conclusions.

Ask Questions Instead of Making Assumptions

The third of Miguel Ruiz’ Four Agreements is don’t make assumptions.

You know, once upon a time the only exercise I ever got was jumping to conclusions!

Instead of jumping to conclusions and making assumptions about certain situations, try asking a few questions. In the long run, it can save you lots of embarrassment and heartache. And, you can get your exercise the right way!

Just for today, ask questions and don’t make assumptions.

Ponder This For Inner Peace

One of my favorite poems from Hafiz. Something to ponder for inner peace.  

If You Don't Stop That

I used to live in

A cramped house with confusion

And pain.

But then I met the Friend

And started getting connected

And singing all

Night.

Confusion and pain

Started acting nasty,

Making threats,

With talk like this,

"If you don't stop 'that' –

All that fun –

We're Leaving!"

Determine Your Work

“It is not your job to make something happen – Universal Forces are in place for all of that. Your work is to simply determine what you want.” ~ Abraham-Hicks

Most people do not get what they want because they do not know what they want.

This is your work – to determine what you want to be, to do and to have in life.

So, how do you determine what it is you want to be, to do and to have?

Let your feelings be your guide.

Make a Responsive Not Reactive Choice

Something to think about…

Before reacting toward someone’s comments or actions, stop, take a breath and make a choice that will reflect your inner divine wisdom of understanding and peace. Instead, respond in love and make a better choice. Reacting does not involve thinking, while responding takes time and thought.

How many times have you made a hasty decision and later regretted it? Once the words and deeds are out there, you cannot take them back.

Just for today, choose to respond and not react.

Friday’s Purposeful Question

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions.” ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

It is said that the quality of your life is determined by the quality of your questions. So, what questions are you asking?

"If you care enough for a result, you will most certainly attain it." ~ William James

“What do you care enough about that you want to be, to do and to have?”

“You can tell whether a woman is clever by her answers. You can tell whether she is wise by her questions.” ~ attributed to Naguib Mahfouz

Are You Doing Your Best?

One of the things I heard Oprah say over and over in her final show was that she did her best. And she did. She never missed a show and she did her best.

Are you doing your best?

Or, are you giving the minimal? Barely squeaking by? A little dab’ll do ya?

Miguel Ruiz’ fourth agreement says to always do your best. 

At the end of the day, no matter what has happened, at least you can say, like Oprah, “I did my best!”

Do You Or Don't You?

“Everyone desires health, happiness, security, peace of mind, true expression, but many fail to achieve clearly defined results.” ~ Joseph Murphy

Do you know unquestionably what you want to be, to do and to have?

Or, do you know what you don’t want to be, to do and to have?

I dare say, if you are like most people, the latter is closer to the truth. Most people have no idea what they want, which is why they don’t get it. They do know beyond a shadow of a doubt what they don’t want, which is why they get it.

Confused?

Well, your subconscious mind isn’t. It does exactly what you tell it. You tell it you don’t want debt, scarcity and lack; it brings you debt, scarcity and lack.

You see, the subconscious mind does not know you “don’t” want something – it only knows what you constantly speak and feel about. If you continuously fuss and fret about your bills and lack of money, then that is what you will get more of.

Try fussing and carrying on about the riches and abundance in your life and see what begins to happen.