31 October 2011

Happy All Hallow's Eve!



Haunted Houses

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

All houses wherein men have lived and died
Are haunted houses. Through the open doors
The harmless phantoms on their errands glide,
With feet that make no sound upon the floors.

We meet them at the door-way, on the stair,
Along the passages they come and go,
Impalpable impressions on the air,
A sense of something moving to and fro.

There are more guests at table than the hosts
Invited; the illuminated hall
Is thronged with quiet, inoffensive ghosts,
As silent as the pictures on the wall.

The stranger at my fireside cannot see
The forms I see, nor hear the sounds I hear;
He but perceives what is; while unto me
All that has been is visible and clear.
[...]

So from the world of spirits there descends
A bridge of light, connecting it with this,
O'er whose unsteady floor, that sways and bends,
Wander our thoughts above the dark abyss.


28 October 2011

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

“In order to stay awake and be able to create a future that reflects our goals, we need to question the present. We need to question every choice we make and look at the positive or negative consequences of our actions if we are to align our daily actions with our deepest desires.” ~ Debbie Ford, The Right Questions

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? 

"Where in your life are you speaking out negative words? What are you going to do to change that?"

"It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question." ~ Decouvertes

27 October 2011

The Power of Your Word

Miguel Ruiz says:

Be Impeccable With Your Word...

Speak with integrity.

Say only what you mean.

Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others.

Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love. 

And, I might add -- speak only the language of positivity; avoid using negative words. 

26 October 2011

Ask In Faith

I received this from The Daily Word and it really resonated with me. Thought I would share it.


Faith
I ask in faith and know that it is given.

There is no spiritual test I need to pass to receive what I desire. I do not need to beg or plead to God. I need only look inside myself, connect with Spirit and know with faith and gratitude that my needs are being met.

Through prayer I connect to Spirit within. I have faith that the wisest answer, the right and perfect situation and abundant blessings are forthcoming. I prepare the way and do any work that my inner guidance leads me to do. I then let go and allow everything to unfold. My life is unfolding just as it should, and I am exactly where I need to be.

My faith is strengthened as I pray and give thanks. I connect in faith to Spirit within and know that all is well.


25 October 2011

Focus... Concentrate... Meditate


Meditation is simply directed concentration, and involves learning to focus your awareness and direct it onto an object: your breath, a phrase or word repeated silently, a memorized inspirational passage, or an image in the mind's eye. The benefits of meditation are numerous, and include:

  1. Helping lower blood pressure
  2. Decreasing heart and respiratory rates
  3. Increasing blood flow
  4. Enhancing immune function
  5. Reducing perception of pain and relieving chronic pain due to arthritis and other disorders
  6. Maintaining level mood
  7. Bringing awareness and mindfulness to everyday aspects of life

A simple form of meditation that can be practiced by anyone is to walk or sit quietly in a natural setting and allow your thoughts and sensations to occur; observing them without judgment.

24 October 2011

Wisdom from Earl Nightingale

Invest in Your Future: A Time to Study
By Earl Nightingale

If you feel your life could stand a change for the better. If things seem to have gotten into a rut with nothing much happening. There's a cure available that anybody can afford. Works like a charm. You begin a program of study.
Start with history, world history.  It's the most fascinating story ever written, and it'll spark ideas. Check out a good book on world history at the public library or buy one from your bookstore. Then study world religions, another fascinating study. The average person in our society knows almost nothing about the great religions of the world, how they began and what they teach. As a rule, he knows practically nothing about his own, the one in which he was raised.

After getting started on that, start on philosophy. Read the great philosophers. You can find books with digests of the teachings of dozens of the world's wisest people. After you find yourself sailing along pretty well in philosophy, tackle economics, another fascinating study. All the time, incidentally, you're acquiring a first-rate education, and you'll wonder why you didn't find the same subjects interesting back when you were in school.

I believe I can guarantee that once you start a program such as this, you'll find yourself in the most interesting world you've yet inhabited, and you'll never stop. You'll be constantly amazed and delighted about what you learn. And you'll wonder why everyone else doesn't know how much fun, how rewarding it is, to start getting a real education.

Add to the study of history, religion, philosophy, and economics, the study of English. And if you ever master that very tricky subject to the point where you can say what you want to say with ease and fluency, tackle a foreign language. But don't ever be bored. If you find you don't know what to do in the evening or on a Sunday afternoon, a book on any of the subjects I've mentioned will fill the time interestingly and rewardingly. In fact, you will have invested a few minutes or an hour or two in yourself, in your mind and your future, and it's the kind of investment you can't lose.

Your mind controls your life, present and future. Now there is no way that a life can be better, or more enjoyable, or richer, than what is stored in the mind. People will say, “Well, I took those subjects in school," as though you can finish with a subject in a year or two, complete it as you would a fence. You could spend a lifetime studying any one of the subjects I've mentioned and still find it a rich source of unending enjoyment and discovery.

There is no such thing as an educated person. You don't finish an education and put a cork in it. Either you're becoming educated or you're not. The trouble often stems from an unfortunate memory of unrelieved boredom in school. Maybe you were too young to take a real interest then; maybe it wasn't presented in an interesting way. But the subjects themselves are interesting to anyone who takes the time to poke around in them. And for the person who has never tried, well, it opens up an entirely new world, a whole new world of interest and charm and excitement. 

Take a look at your private library. Are there books on history, philosophy, religion, English, and economics? If not, take my word for it, they'll represent the best investment you've ever made in time and/or money.
We all need time to think

Norman Cousins, in an editorial for the Saturday Review, observed, “We've been concerned for some years with the lot of underprivileged people throughout the world. But we have yet to do anything for one of the most underprivileged of all, ourselves.

“We have more food than we can eat. We have more money per person than anywhere else in the world, with 6% of the population, we hold 80% of the wealth. We have bigger homes, bigger TV sets, bigger cars, bigger theaters, bigger schools. We have everything we need, in fact, except the most important thing of all, time to think and the habit of thought. We lack time for the one indispensable for safety of an individual or a nation.

“Thought is the basic energy in human history. Civilization is put together not by machines but by thought. Similarly, man's uniqueness is represented not by his ability to make objects, but to sort them and relate them. Other animals practice communications; only man has capacity for comprehension. Displace or eliminate thought, and the species itself has as little claim on survival as the dinosaurs with the four-foot skulls and the pea-sized brains. The impotence of the brute alongside the power of the sage is represented by thought.

“We seem to have no time for thought. The paradox, of course, is that we are busy doing nothing. Never before has so much leisure time been available to so many.  Leisure hours now exceed working hours. But we have a genius for cluttering.  We have somehow managed to persuade ourselves that we are too busy to think, too busy to read, too busy to look back, too busy to look ahead, too busy to understand that all our wealth and all our power are not enough to safeguard our future unless there is also a real understanding of the danger that threatens us and how to meet it. Thus, being busy is more than merely a national passion; it is a national excuse.

“The real question however, concerns not the time or lack of it we provide for thought, but the value we place on thought. What standing does thoughtfulness enjoy in the community at large? What great works of contemporary literature assign importance to thought or make heroes of thoughtful men? Action, accumulation, diversion, these seem to be the great imperatives today. We are so busy increasing the size and ornamentation of our personal kingdoms that we are unaware that no age in history has had as many loose props under it as our own."
It's interesting, isn't it? How much time do you spend in thought? How much attention to thought is paid in school? In the home? In your home?

People acknowledge that they want more. It is impossible to think with the mouth open. And as long as we live, we will never learn anything of value when we are talking or yelling or demanding. What is needed, most assuredly, is more quiet, reflective, creative thinking. Lincoln once said, “The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves."
On a national and individual basis we need to define our priorities, organize them in the order of their importance, and attack them with creative thought, realizing that we need new solutions to new problems. We need to set aside a time each day for thought.
 

21 October 2011

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

In order to stay awake and be able to create a future that reflects our goals, we need to question the present. We need to question every choice we make and look at the positive or negative consequences of our actions if we are to align our daily actions with our deepest desires.” ~ Debbie Ford, The Right Questions

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? 

"How are you allowing other people's opinions get to you?"

"It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question." ~ Decouvertes


20 October 2011

Whose Party Are You Attending?

“Truth or fiction, you don’t have to believe anyone’s story. You don’t have to form an opinion about what someone says. You don’t have to agree or disagree. Just listen. The more impeccable a person is with the word, the clearer the message will be, but the words that come from another artist have nothing to do with you. You know it’s nothing personal. You listen and you understand all the words, but the words no longer affect you. You no longer judge what other people say because you understand what they are doing. They are only letting you know what is going on in their virtual world.” ~ From The Fifth Agreement 

Remember, you don't have to attend every party you are invited to ~ especially if it is about them.


19 October 2011

How Are You Being Treated?


Generally speaking, we share responsibility for the way we are treated. If we want to know what impact we are having on others, we need only to examine their responses to us.” ~ C. Terry Warner

You teach others how to treat you.

You teach others how to treat you.

Yes, that bears repeating.

If you are constantly on the other end of someone else’s negativity, then why are you staying on that end?

You don’t have to attend every pity party you are invited to.

You don’t have to attend every anger fest you are invited to.

You have a choice. Get up and walk away; go to the ladies room, go watch a movie on YouTube, go make a cup of cocoa and meditate.

I have done all of the above, thank you very much. I have made the conscious decision to not be party to anyone else’s negative vibes. I still love you, but I will see you later!

Save the drama for yo’ mama! Cause I don’t want to hear it!

‘Nuff said.

18 October 2011

Treat Trouble As A Friend


“Trouble creates a capacity to handle it....meet it as a friend, for you'll see a lot of it and had better be on speaking terms with it.” ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

I love this quote! It reminds me so much of The Guest House by the Sufi poet Rumi. Trouble, adversity, pain and grief are companions on the journey of life; and we had better know how to deal with it when it arrives. Don’t fight against it, it will only persist and get worse. Just let it come, deliver its message and be on its way.

The Guest House ~ Rumi

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice.
meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.

Be grateful for whatever comes.
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

How do you treat your guests – the pleasant and the not so pleasant?


16 October 2011

Blog Action Day Is World Food Day


Blog Action Day is an annual event that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day. The aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion around an important issue that impacts us all.

For 2011, our Blog Action Day coincides with World Food Day, so the topic of discussion for this year is food.  

One of the issues very dear to me is food waste and hunger in America. The amount of food wasted in the United States is staggering. The U.S. generates more than 34 million tons of food waste each year. Paper is the only material category where we generate more waste, but we also recycle more.

Since we now throw away more food than anything else, that means we are throwing away a lot of our money. Often, simple changes in food purchasing, storage and preparation practices can yield significant reductions in food waste generation. Not only will this reduce waste, but it will make your food dollars go further. Food waste cost savings have even greater potential at commercial establishments. Saving food means saving money.

Then, there is the issue of hunger. In many ways, America is the land of plenty. But for 1 in 6 Americans, hunger is a reality.

Many people believe that the problems associated with hunger are confined to small pockets of society, certain areas of the country, or certain neighborhoods, but the reality is much different.

Right now, over 50 million Americans -- including 17 million children -- are struggling with hunger. We all know and are in contact with people affected by hunger, even though we might not be aware of it.

Poverty is forcing millions of Americans into a hunger crisis. Their hunger emergency is defined by food insecurity, which is the lack of access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs for an active and healthy life. Families find themselves buying cheaper and less nutritious food, or cutting entire meals out of their diet, just to make ends meet. Increasing over time, this pattern leads to chronic malnutrition, affecting children and families in profoundly destructive ways.

"[Hunger] weakens families, and prevents our nation from reaching its full potential." Hungry children are not able to play and learn like other children, and are therefore less likely to become productive adults. Compromised health can lead to both short- and long-term problems; children and the elderly are particularly vulnerable. Hungry employees are less productive and more likely to make errors, putting their job at risk, which further perpetuates the poverty cycle.

Everyday, I visit the HungerSite and click on the tab to allow staple food to be distributed to those in need. I have been clicking everyday since about 1997.

Awareness is the key to change. You cannot change what you are not aware of.

Information provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the HungerSite.

14 October 2011

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

In order to stay awake and be able to create a future that reflects our goals, we need to question the present. We need to question every choice we make and look at the positive or negative consequences of our actions if we are to align our daily actions with our deepest desires.” ~ Debbie Ford, The Right Questions

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?

 "How do you use your pain and hurt to help another?"

"It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question." ~ Decouvertes


12 October 2011

Live In the Moment


"Mindfulness means moment-to-moment, non-judgmental awareness. It is cultivated by refining our capacity to pay attention, intentionally, in the present moment, and then sustaining that attention over time as best we can. In the process, we become more in touch with our life as it is unfolding." ~ Myla and Jon Kabat-Zinn

In the present moment, there are no fears, no worries, and no doubts. There is only peace and non-judgmental awareness.

You have powerful choice – to live in the past with regrets; to live in the future with worries; or to live in the NOW!

Which do you choose?


11 October 2011

Healing With Hurt


Using Your Pain to Help Others
You can channel your pain into helping others and spreading a tide of curative energy throughout the world.

Pain is a fact of being and one that permeates all of our lives to some degree. Since the hurt we feel may be a part of the experiences that have touched us most deeply, we are often loathe to let it go. It is frequently easier to keep our pain at our sides, where it acts as a shield that shelters us from others and gives us an identity—that of victim—from which we can draw bitter strength. However, pain’s universality can also empower us to use our hurt to help others heal. Since no pain is any greater or more profound than any other, what you feel can give you the ability to help bring about the recovery of individuals whose hurts are both similar to and vastly different from your own. You can channel your pain into transformative and healing love that aids you in helping individuals on a one-to-one basis and spreading a tide of curative energy throughout the world.

The capacity to heal others evolves naturally within those who are ready to disassociate themselves from their identity as victims. In fact, the simple decision to put aside the pain we have carried is what grants us the strength to redeem that pain through service. There are many ways to use the hurt you feel to help others. Your pain gives you a unique insight into the minds of people who have experienced trauma and heartache. You can draw from the wellspring of strength that allowed you to emerge on the other side of a painful experience and pass that strength to individuals still suffering from their wounds. You may be able to council individuals in need by showing them the coping methods that have helped you survive or simply by offering sympathy. A kinship can develop that allows you to relate more closely with those you are trying to aid and comfort.

Helping others can be a restorative experience that makes your own heart grow stronger. In channeling your pain into compassionate service and watching others successfully recover, you may feel a sense of euphoria that leads to increased feelings of self-worth and optimism. Your courageous decision to reach out to others can be the best way to declare to yourself and the world that your pain didn’t defeat you, and in fact it helped you heal.

~ From The Daily OM

It is from my own daily issues with chronic pain and all of my losses in life that has paved the way for the work I do with women in transition and those dealing with grief and loss and pain. And it has definitely helped me in my healing process - and continues to do so every day.


10 October 2011

Expect Abundance


Whatever the mind is taught to expect, that it will build, produce, and bring forth for you.” ~ Catherine Ponder

Everything is created twice – first in the mind, then in your reality. Everything in your environment was first a thought in someone’s mind – the furniture, the appliances, the myriad of stuff.

However, there are some intangibles that are in your immediate environment as well that you may not wish to speak of; like the lack of money, an illness, a botched relationship. These were created in your mind as well, then made manifest in your reality.

You may be saying, “I don’t want this illness!” Or, “I don’t want this debt!”

Notice, illness and debt is what you speak, so illness and debt is what you get!

Instead, speak out what you do want – unlimited wealth and wellness. Allow these concepts to linger in your mind, then watch them manifest in your reality.

07 October 2011

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

“In order to stay awake and be able to create a future that reflects our goals, we need to question the present. We need to question every choice we make and look at the positive or negative consequences of our actions if we are to align our daily actions with our deepest desires.” ~ Debbie Ford, The Right Questions

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? 

Don't know what to ask? Begin with the Be/Do/Have Questions:

Who am I?

What do I want to do?

What do I truly desire?


06 October 2011

Your New Self


Even though you are different, people assume you are the same; they hardly notice the change unless you express yourself. But at a certain point, you no longer play their game. You don’t take on their addictions, and you don’t join in their gossiping. You no longer care so much about their drama, about their anger, their jealousy, because you know they are dreaming. And you know they don’t mean it when they tell you something unkind.” ~ don Miguel Ruiz

George Bernard Shaw once quipped that “the only man who behaves sensibly is my tailor; he takes my measurements anew every time he sees me, while all the rest go on with their old measurements and expect me to fit them.”

This is profound wisdom! When you grow and change, most of the people around you won’t notice the change and will go on treating you as they always had. If at all possible, when you begin your transformation, you may need to also change your associations. As Jim Rohn said, you are the average of your five closest friends. If you have left behind negativity, gossip, anger, and slander, but your friends still live in that space, then guess what? You will revert back to that way of being.

I believe this is why the recidivism rate is so high. When a person is released from prison, instead of going to new surroundings to begin a new life, they go back to the life that encouraged the behaviors that incarcerated them in the first place.

When you make a transformational change, you must do it all the way. The Master Teacher once said that no prophet is honored in his native town. This is because everyone knew them before and will not accept the transformation.

Check out the movie, Now Voyager, starring Bette Davis and Claude Rains. One of my all time favorites. Charlotte (Davis) goes through a radical transformation – physically and emotionally. The most brilliant move on Dr. Jackwith’s (Rains) part is not to allow her to return home right away; but go on a cruise to feel into her new self.

So, just for today, if you are shifting into a new way of being, go on a cruise and feel into your new self!

05 October 2011

Choose Peace


Most of us are waiting for the day when we’ll do better, when we’ll have everything we want, and when we will become the people we most want to be. But as you know, that day doesn’t just magically arrive. That day is a choice.” ~ Debbie Ford, The Right Questions

Are you still waiting for that day to magically appear? The day when you will have everything you have ever dreamed of? Well, as Debbie stated, that day is a choice; actually a series of choices over the course of time. Choices you make to remain peaceful and loving or become angry and bitter. Yes, that is a choice; that is your choice.

A Course in Miracles states that you can choose peace or you can choose this – meaning whatever chaos and turmoil is around you. Just because there is chaos around you does not mean you have to join in. You have a choice. You can choose peace. You can choose serenity. You can choose to be who you were created to be; not who you are coerced into becoming.

Everything is choice. You have that power and that right. Exercise your right to choose. And, choose wisely.

04 October 2011

The Lie of Blame


Blame is the lie by which we convince ourselves that we are victims. It is the lie that robs us of our serenity, our generosity, our confidence, and our delight in life.” ~ From Bonds That Make Us Free by C. Terry Warner

One of the vicious cousins of fear is blame. When you blame something or someone outside of yourself, you stay in victim mode. If it is someone else’s fault, then you can’t possibly do anything about it. This keeps you stuck. This also robs you of your power, your freedom and your life.

You cannot control another person’s actions but you can control how you respond to those actions. This is where you have full and complete control and responsibility. You can choose to react out of fear or you can choose to respond out of love.

Remember, when you point the finger of blame, there are three fingers pointing right back at you!

The choice is yours. Choose wisely.

03 October 2011

Your Secret Thoughts

“The soul attracts that which it secretly harbors, that which it loves, and also that which it fears. It reaches the height of its cherished aspirations. It falls to the level of its unchastened desires - and circumstances are the means by which the soul receives its own.” ~ James Allen

We each have a tendency towards the negative in life. If you receive fifteen compliments and one criticism – which would you focus all your attention on? Yes, the criticism; totally ignoring the fifteen compliments.

Why is this?

We have been conditioned to focus on the negative and those negative thoughts, unfortunately, become our reality.

In the Book of Job we hear Job saying, “What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me.”

Proverb wisdom tells us that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.

We must choose to consciously focus our attention towards what we do want to be, to do and to have. This must become habit if we are to have the life we desire.

So, just for today, choose to focus on the compliments and not the criticisms.