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 'influence' other people?"

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

Dream BIG... On Purpose!

Our lives are always intertwined with other lives. First, our biological family, then our extended family. As we continue to grow and mature, we connect with school mates, teachers, other authority figures, workmates, our chosen life partners, the family we create and media figures. We become influenced by some or all of these people, as we ourselves influence some or all of them as well. In any case, it is said that the average person will influence about 10’000 in a lifetime. It is important that you learn to influence consciously.

Think about this: Your telephone rings and your young child answers it. He tells you who it is. You, not wanting to talk with this person, tell the child to tell the caller you are asleep or in the shower or some other lie. The child repeats your lie to the caller and hangs up. You have just influenced your child in the fine art of lying! Is this the kind of inspiration you want to be for your child? Or for anyone else in your life? Being dishonest, untrustworthy, and manipulative does not bid well as attributes of inspiration.

As you consciously and mindfully create your new life story, you must also think about the other supporting characters in your story. How are you relating to them? How are they relating to you? Are you an inspiration to them and are they an inspiration to you? In our current stories, we mindlessly allow people to move into our lives and influence us; and the influence generally negative in nature. We tolerate it as we complain and sulk about it to others who are doing more or less the same. Then as our lives are spiraling out of control, we point the finger and blame those negative influencers, when it was our choice to tolerate it in the first place.

Once you consciously create a new story, you can eliminate the naysayers and the toxic influencers. See yourself surrounded only by nutritious people who will nurture, support and inspire you – as you will for them. It is your choice who you allow in your inner sphere. Granted, we cannot control everyone who crosses our path, but we can control the quality of the relationships. You do not have to accept every invitation to anger, gossip or slander. You have choice. It would do you well to exercise that choice when it comes to who is influencing you. The late motivational speaker Jim Rohn once said you are the average of your five closest friends. If your five closest friends only get together to gossip and complain, then guess who and what you are?

Make the choice to consciously choose who you spend your quality time with and the nature of that time. It should be to encourage each other, support one another and exchange great thoughts and ideas. Become a conscious inspiration to everyone you meet and your life story will be one of brilliance and light!

Dream big!

International Day of Peace

September 21st is the International Day of Peace.

Thirty years ago the International Day of Peace was first celebrated by the United Nations. One of the intentions was to have a one day cease fire from violence around the world. It was originally celebrated on the second Tuesday of September before being moved to September 21st.

TAKE ACTION: To commemorate this special day, I invite you to create a cease fire from violence in your day. The words we speak can be more violent than bullets fired or bombs dropped.

Just for today, watch the words you speak to another and to yourself.

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 handle life's adversities and tragedies?"

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

In This Great Loss

Instead of the usual Purposeful Question that I post at the week's end, I thought I would share a poem I wrote during my grieving the sudden death this summer of a loving soul. The words just come pouring in the midst of grief and loss - I do not bother to censor.

In This Great Loss

It is within great loss that much is found.

Through tender moments of fragile light

– memories float in and out

   bearing down on my vulnerable heart

   daring me to feel more than I thought possible.

In this great loss I discover who I am

Not merely a flutter of titles and responsibilities –

   but a soul with a shattered heart

   broken into pieces of fresh though fading memories;

   sprinkled with occasional “what ifs” and “if onlys”.

In this great loss I discover that I am one of

   a million beams of light that has grown dim.

Dimmed by the pain of this great loss.

Dimmed by the pain of stinging tears.

But… You are here.

You who have watched my silent pain.

You who have borne witness to my shattered soul

   as it wept for so much more than this loss.

You are here.

You, who sat beside me as I wept.

You, who never said, “There, there now,”

   but just wept with me.

You are here.

You, whose light burns brighter and higher.

You, who are Light. You are here.

You are Love.

In this great loss, I know who I am –

   I am Love too.

Simplify! The Time is NOW!

"The simplification of life is one of the steps to inner peace. A persistent simplification will create an inner and outer well-being that places harmony in one's life." ~ Peace Pilgrim

As divine beings having a human experience, we seem to have forgotten our divinity. We are messengers on a journey, yet we have forgotten the message. When we incarnated, we were given our divine assignment. All we needed to do was follow our desires and they would lead us. Instead, we have lost our focus, muddied our mission, and turned a simple assignment into a colossal pile of confusion.

Let's STOP, TAKE A BREATH, and ASK:

"What am I needing right now in this moment?"

Then, take another breath and get back to basics. Right now in this moment is where all your power lies. Yet, we are so busy staring at a past that we cannot change, or worrying about a future that we are not promised. All we have is NOW. It's that simple. When we stop complicating life, we can begin to see what is right before us. This is also where our inner peace lies.

So, just for today, stop making things so complicated. Simplify! And live your inner peace.