28 May 2012

The Awareness of Being


I remember as a child whenever a grown up would tell me one of their truisms, I would counter with my own question, “Why?” I also remember this frustrating anyone fortunate enough to get caught in my unending spiral of asking why. Needless to say I was not honored for my incessant questioning. In fact, I was severely reprimanded for it. I was called smart-mouthed or I was being fresh and not minding my elders. This was truly very confusing for me as a child. If I was expected to learn, should I not question what I did not know?

Fast-forward to today, I realize why I wore out my elders with my questions. As children, we wonder, we imagine, and we question. As adults, we stop doing all of those in exchange for living a day-to-day existence based on unconscious thinking and default behaviors. It is no wonder we consider inquisitive children as nuisances to be silenced. Although we have been divinely gifted with the sweetness of wonder, the beauty of imagination and the power to question, society frowns upon these gifts if we use them instead of conforming and living on autopilot.

Fortunately for me, I may have aged in number, but I never grew up! Oh, there were a few years there when I slipped into the role of being a grown-up. I was in step with the rat race – walking, talking, working, eating and sleeping as everyone else did. Then, it dawned on me; I was part of the rat race, but that only made me another rat! The uniqueness and divinely given gifts I possess were being, well, wasted; wasting away to a life of conformity and mediocrity. At that awakening, I became aware that I was still gifted with wonder, imagination and full of powerful questions. This was the beginning of a divine transformation.

“There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why...
I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?”
~ Robert Kennedy

As I had as a child, I now live in wonder, using my marvelous imagination, asking powerful and life-altering questions. The German poet Rainer Maria Rilke once said we must live the questions; in everything, just live the questions. We must not worry about the answers; that’s the grown-ups job – to have all the answers. The answers will come, exactly when we are ready for them – after we have wondered and imagined all of the endless possibilities.

As a Spiritual Animator, it is my job to bring life to what has no life and the most wonderful way to do this is to ask, “Who am I?” “Who are you?” Just as the smoking caterpillar asked Alice, “who are you?” and Alice had no sufficient answer. I would wager that most of us have no sufficient answer as well. Yet, the most asked question in polite society is “What do you do?” Remember, we are human beings, not human doings – or are we?

Mythologist Joseph Campbell once said you must give up the life you planned in order to have the life that is waiting for you. When conscious awareness has reached you and you remember who you are, then ask yourself, “Who am I becoming?”

Never cease wondering, never cease imagining, and never cease questioning. Why? Because when you do, you have also ceased living your life to the full. Life is all about the wonders of one moment to the next moment. It is about imagining infinite possibilities and asking extraordinary questions about those possibilities. This is how great art and architecture are created; how beautiful fashion and home décor are created; how beautiful music is composed; and how we move from one moment to the next – through wonder, imagination and powerful questions. 


25 May 2012

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?

"Is the thought I am thinking right now limiting me or expanding me?" 

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


21 May 2012

Reach For A Better Thought


“There can be no progress without change, no growth without renewal. There must be a constant stream of new thought – better thought and truer thought – to insure progression in life.” ~ Raymond Holliwell

Everything begins with a thought and our thoughts create the things in our lives. For progression to take place and growth to occur, there has to be consistent thought. Yes, we think thoughts every day, every moment; but the thoughts that most of us think are not new thoughts. They are rehashed worries, fears and doubts. They are the thoughts we had yesterday and the day before that.

Dr. Holliwell tells us that we must have better and truer thoughts to insure progression in life. This means we must consciously think about what we think about every moment. We must stop allowing every thought that falls into our heads to take ownership of us; because 98% of those thoughts are not serving us.

Just for today, think about what you think about. Reach for a better thought, a truer thought.

18 May 2012

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?

"Are you asking bigger questions that will lead you to a bigger quality of living?"

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


14 May 2012

Transcending Fear in Relationships

“You can never become a great man or woman until you have overcome anxiety, worry, and fear. It is impossible for an anxious person, a worried one, or a fearful one to perceive truth; all things are distorted and thrown out of their proper relations by such mental states, and those who are in them cannot read the thoughts of God.” ~ Wallace D. Wattles

We live in a world of wonderful connections and relationships. Yet, there is something that looms within those connections and relationships that keep us stuck, keep us struggling, keep us broke, and keep us falling into habit patterns that simply do not serve. That something is fear. As Wattles says in The Science of Getting Rich, when we are fearful we cannot perceive truth or properly connect with God or one another.

I have read that most relationships end because of lack of communication. I believe the underlying agent is fear. Why can't we communicate properly? We are afraid of what the other might think.... We are afraid of being rejected.... We are afraid of being hurt.... We are afraid of looking stupid.... And on and on and on it goes. Why are we so afraid? Beliefs, habits and paradigms that do not serve us.

Then we get into another relationship that looks exactly like the one we just got out of or even more toxic. The cycle continues. It is time to get off of the merry-go-round of fear and anxiety. Life is meant to be about ease and flow, not effort and fear. Unfortunately, I see more of the latter than the former. I can see it very clearly because I used to be smack dab in the center of it. I was afraid of everything. Growing up in violence, fear was the name of the game. So, I learned to disappear and it served me well - too well, I may add.

I finally made the decision to get off the fear merry-go-round. But it was not easy. It still is not easy; but because I made the decision, I did it. I had to get in alignment with what the universe had in store for me. Today, I have the tools in my toolkit to release the fears that hold me back and keep me stuck, and transcend the fears that are working for my highest good.


11 May 2012

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?

"God gave you a gift of 84,400 seconds today.
Have you used one to say, 'thank you'?"
                         
~ William Arthur Ward

“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

07 May 2012

Speak... If It Improves the Silence

"Drawing on my fine command of the language... I said nothing." ~ Robert Benchley

Sometimes in order to keep and maintain peace, silence is the best plan. STOP, TAKE A BREATH, and ASK:

* Does it have to be said?

* Does it have to be said NOW?

* Does it have to be said BY ME?

"We must have reason for speeches but we need none for silence." ~ Wisdom Proverb

Speak only if it's an improvement to silence!

04 May 2012

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 will you make a difference today?"

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