29 June 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? 

"What are you having a hard time letting go of?"

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


25 June 2012

Release and Let Go

"If I had a formula for bypassing trouble I would not pass it around. Trouble creates a capacity to handle it. I don't embrace trouble; that's as bad as treating it as an enemy – but I do say meet it as a friend for you will see a lot of it, and had better be on speaking terms with it." ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

The Universal Law of Polarity states that when there is an obstacle in our life, there is also the way to overcome that obstacle. The obstacle has built within the capacity to overcome it. How great is that?

So, stop struggling and resisting because that only keeps you stuck in the trouble.

Release and let go…

22 June 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?

"What are you radically grateful for this week?" 

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


18 June 2012

Live Radically Grateful

We are truly abundant when we can live in a state of radical gratitude. Though simple gratitude is wonderful enough; radical gratitude takes us to places that are beyond our deepest imaginings. Being grateful means recognizing and appreciating all of the material abundance in our lives. We acknowledge our means and give thanks for them. Living in a state of radical gratitude means not only acknowledging those material and tangible things, but also acknowledging the intangibles as well. Those are the things we most take for granted because we cannot readily see and touch them in our lives. It is not until tragedy strikes that we begin to really see those things that are unseen to the naked eye.

There are the simple things to give thanks for: shelter, food, clothing, and some means to have all of our basic needs provided for. Yet, there are those things that we do overlook: a loved one’s smile, a mass transit system that gets us where we need to go, a reliable though slow computer, running water. It is usually when our loved one frowns upon us that we take notice and complain, rather than appreciating and thanking them for the smile. We do notice when the water stops running so freely as opposed to giving thanks for the countless times the water does flow effortlessly.

It has been said that until we acknowledge the small things, the big things will continue to elude us. I have found this to be the case. It is when I can truly acknowledge and appreciate all the small things, the intangible things in my life, that I see an increase in the larger things. Radical gratitude is seeing all of those small, insignificant things. It is also seeing those people, things and circumstances that seem not so kind: the rude boss, the loss of a dear one, an illness. It is difficult to find anything to be grateful for in those situations. Yet, this is the time for radical gratitude. Those are the moments in our lives that try and test our resolve; showing our true strength and stamina.

I have had many losses in my life, some worse than others. I am constantly asked how I stay so positive in those moments of crisis. My answer is radical gratitude. I always say to myself it could be much worse; others have it much worse than I, and this is a lesson to grow me and a blessing to show me that grace abounds. When those moments of crisis occur, that is the time to think less of myself and more of others. This can be a hard thing to do, especially when you are in some emotional pain. The pain will change and soften, if not totally disappear. But until that time, you are not meant to sit and suffer. Remember, pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional. Instead of choosing to suffer, make the choice to reach out and help another person who is also in pain. It will ease the pain for both of you.

There is a Native American proverb which states, “When you share your grief, it is halved; but when you share your joy, it is doubled.” There is also a line in the famous Peace Prayer attributed to Francis of Assisi that states, “It is in giving that we receive.” I take these two quotes very much to heart. It is through the losses that I can live in these two sayings. Loss brings with it grief, and grief brings the healing and the growth to step into a new light. Radical gratitude helps you step into that new light. With radical gratitude comes an awareness of our own finiteness, therefore bringing us to a place of deep reverence for all that we have been privileged to receive. When I can live from that place of radical gratitude, then I can witness to the abundance in my life.

May you be radically grateful,

15 June 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? 

"What would you do right now if you knew you would not fail or no one was watching?"

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


11 June 2012

Working With the Law

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves, that we are underlings.” ~ From Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

One of my favorite books to study is Raymond Holliwell’s Working With The Law: 11 Truth Principles for Successful Living. In the book, Dr. Holliwell explains eleven spiritual laws that are principles to learn, understand and apply, and that the natural consequence of applying them is a happy, harmonious and prosperous life. His main point is that working with the spiritual laws, not ignoring them or forgetting them, is what leads to success in life. His opening statement is deeply profound and worth reflecting on. 

The question uppermost in the world of thought today is whether you have the capacity, equipment, and power to control your life; whether you can be what you want to be; or whether your are a drop in the great ocean of life. Millions are affected by unemployment, poverty, and want. Can they help it? Where we have thousands of homes broken on the rocks of matrimony, can such a breach be repaired? Millions complain of sickness and disorder in countless forms. All this gives rise to the belief that we are victims of circumstance over which we have no control. Such belief makes of us fatalists and karmic addicts instead of masters and controllers of our destinies. A fatalistic belief is contagious, and when you submit to its influence, believing that the circumstances around you are stronger than the power within you, then you are defeated before the race is run.”

Dr. Holliwell says what so many other great thought leaders have said time and time again: that you are the creator of your life, you are the maker of your reality. You may not be able to change your circumstances, but you definitely have control over your reactions and interpretations of those circumstances. When you allow your circumstances to control your life, you become a pawn to the dictates of your external world. Being a victim of circumstances, you have relinquished your power to those circumstances. 

08 June 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 making the choice to be happy or to be right?"

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


04 June 2012

It's Your Choice to be Happy

"I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it." ~ Groucho Marx

Circumstances will happen in life. Some we may have had a hand in, others not. The past is the past and we cannot change or control it. We must simply accept it as the past, take the lesson and move on. It does no good to dwell on the past or on events we have no control over.

When we can see every event or situation as a learning experience, then we will not live our lives in victim-mode. That too is a choice – there are no victims, only volunteers. So, which are you choosing to be?

"Being miserable is a habit. Being happy is a habit. The choice is yours."  ~ Tom Hopkins

Choose wisely,


01 June 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 aware of who you are being right now?" 

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