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13 November 2007 |
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The
true joy of humankind is in doing that which
is most proper to our
nature; and the first property
of people is to be kindly affected
towards them that
are of one kind with ourselves.
Marcus
Aurelius
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Reputation is what men and women think of us;
character is what God and the angels know of us.
Thomas Paine
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I still find each day too short
for all the thoughts I want to think,
all the walks I
want to take, all the books I want to read,
and all the
friends I want to see. The longer I live the more my mind
dwells upon the beauty and wonder of the world. I hardly
know
which feeling leads, wonderment or admiration.
John Burroughs
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Eliminate
Expectations and Concentrate
on What Is at Task
Michael Goddart
For all
we know, we could wait at a red light and it might never
change. That's happened before. Or, it could
start flashing amber. Or, it could change to
blue. Or, stranger things could happen. When
we have set ideas about how things should manifest, of how
things will happen to us, we're limiting the possibilities
of luck, chance connections, grace, and miracles.
When we're set on something, and it has to happen that
way, we're closing the door to wonderful surprises.
When a hand keeps grasping after something, it's not open,
waiting to receive.
We have
expectations about everything in life. We expect
that something will come in the mail, that we're going to
have a fantastic vacation, that a stock will rise 40
percent by January, that the new people in our lives are
going to do wonderful things for us, that our children
will succeed in life. By projecting these
expectations, we're attempting to order reality. Not
only are we proclaiming how reality should be but we're
also deciding that we know what is best for us.
This is
the height of egotism. Ego or I-ness cuts us off
from our Source and separates us from our Higher
Power. The force of ego is about making its own
mountain for all the world to see, and standing tall at
its summit.
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The force of love is
about serving our Higher Power, glorifying that divine connection,
and letting our ego slip away while we flow freely in the stream
of life, striving to realize the heart-felt goals that express our
highest, best Self.
As our
spirituality develops and we live more in higher consciousness, we
exist more fully in the present. Existing in present time,
we're less aware of ourselves and time, flowing in that higher
consciousness, so that time begins to feel almost elastic and
almost nonexistent. That elasticity is the beginning of
eternity. Beginning to enter into eternity is not possible
unless the ego is surrendered. When we're attached to our
expectations--in effect, demanding that events unfold according to
our will--we are energizing our ego and telling our Higher
Power that we know best.
Relinquishing
expectations is not being passive. It's the opposite; it's
freeing ourselves to concentrate on the task at hand and to flow
with what is truly so. What is so is the reality occurring
now, which we need to recognize and respond to.
Eliminating
expectations does not at all mean that you stop your good
intentions. You can form the intention and let go of it,
letting your Higher Power work out the details in your best
interest. That is humility. A humble person can have
potent intention but relinquish nitty-gritty expectations about
the how and when. In humility, you surrender to your Higher
Power and want your attention free to be with that Higher
Love. The greater the immersion in that Higher Love, the
less strident the ego's demands.
Eliminating
expectations is but one small feature of inculcating
humility. Reams could be written about humility, the most
beautiful of virtues and the most difficult ultimately to
receive. For ultimately, humility is not grabbed, as if you
are a corporate raider intent on amassing the most virtuous
spiritual portfolio. It's a very slow, natural process.
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Michael
Goddart has created an easy-to-follow guide for us to
achieve lasting happiness regardless of the day's
events. He tells us that it is possible to be a
blissfully happy human in a world of constant ups and
downs. Just seeing the cover is enough of a reminder
that it is possible to achieve a state of heavenly bliss
while here on Earth. --E. Howard |
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Free
Wallpaper! Just click below
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The
Tiny Black Dot
Jeff Keller
During some of my presentations, I take an 8 1/2 x 11
piece of white paper and make a little black dot in the
middle. Then I show the sheet to people in the
audience and ask them what they see. The majority
will say that they see a black dot. Very few, if
any, will tell me that they see a white sheet of paper
with a tiny black dot.
We tend to look at our lives in very much the same
way. We have our health, enough food to eat, a job
that pays the bills and allows us some leisure
activities, but we don't focus on that. We don't
appreciate that.
Instead, we concentrate on the tiny black dot - the 10%
in our lives that we don't like. . . or the things we
wish we could change. By concentrating on the 10%
that represents our problems or things we don't like, we
develop a negative attitude and feel lousy. Plus,
there's a universal principle that comes into play: we
attract what we think about most.
By focusing on what is lacking in our lives, we create
more experiences of scarcity.
Think about your life. Are you paying too much
attention to the 10% that isn't what you want it to be,
as opposed to the 90% that's going well? I'm not
saying we should ignore our challenges or things we'd
like to change. But if we paid a lot more
attention to the 90% that IS working, we'd have a better
attitude and we'd get better results.
When it comes to your job, do you concentrate on all the
positive aspects of your position, or do you gripe about
your salary and your co-workers, or the fact that
someone else got the promotion you wanted?
What about the basic necessities of life? Do you
feel gratitude every day for the food you eat, the
clothing you have, the roof above your head, or do you
take all of these things for granted? Worse yet,
do you complain that you don't have more?
And let's not forget your body and your health.
How much time do you spend thinking about what IS
working? Your body is a miracle, make no mistake
about that. There's nothing "ho-hum"
about your body and its day to day operation.
Albert Einstein once said that there are two ways to
live your life: one way is as though nothing is a
miracle; the other is as though everything is a miracle.
Most of us walk around with a ho-hum attitude about the
miracle of our bodies. We treat this amazing creation as
if it's no big deal.
Consider this: your heart is only the size of a
fist and yet it pumps blood through your body.
Every day, the heart pumps about 2,000 gallons of blood
and beats about 100,000 times. That's just in one
day.
In one year, that amounts to 36,500,000 beats. And
in most cases, the heart just keeps on beating
36,500,000 times a year for many decades. Stop for
a moment and recognize the enormity of this miracle.
And, of course, you don't have to change any body parts
or beat your chest manually to keep your heart
going. It automatically beats and sends the blood
through your body with no effort on your part.
Now, let's consider your brain. The brain and
spinal cord are made up of many cells, which include
neurons. There are about 100 billion neurons in
the brain. 100 billion! Neurons are nerve
cells that transmit nerve signals to and from the brain
at up to 200 miles per hour. Isn't this amazing?
Of course, your ears. . . your eyes. . . well, I could
go on all day about the miracle of your body and how we
take it for granted. Just one final example to
drive the point home.
When you get a cold and have difficulty breathing for a
few days, I bet you'll often tell everyone that you are
congested and don't feel well. When the cold
clears up in a week and your breathing returns to
normal, you probably don't say: "My breathing
is perfect today! I'm able to get all the oxygen I
need!" Why does it make sense to complain
about your breathing for the one week it is impaired. .
. while failing to acknowledge the other 51 weeks when
your breathing is full and healthy?
Stop taking this incredible body for granted.
Appreciate all the things that ARE working! You're
a walking miracle, and part of an extraordinary
universe.
Some of you may feel that ignoring the black dot is not
the answer--and that you need to focus on the
black dot to improve certain conditions in your
life. Well, if you choose this route, here are
three strategies you could use:
1. Worry about the black dot.
2. Complain about the black dot.
3. Take some proactive steps to eliminate or
reduce the black dot.
The only strategy that makes sense is #3. Yet many
people select strategies #1 and #2, which only makes
them more miserable.
Be brutally honest with yourself. Are there any
areas of your life where you're ignoring the large white
sheet and seeing only the tiny black dot? Do you
see the faults of those at work or at home, and seldom
affirm people for their positive contributions to your
life? If you're like most of us, you have an
abundance of blessings, yet you're often blind to them.
If you've been staring at some tiny black dots recently,
take responsibility for that. And recognize that
nobody is forcing you to keep your eyes on the black
dot. You've developed the habit of focusing on the
negative and your life (and the lives of those around
you) will be greatly enriched if you start to shift your
vision toward the white sheet.
You have a choice. You can keep staring at the
black dot and telling others about all the things that
are wrong in your life, or you can begin to appreciate
your many blessings. Sounds like a pretty easy
choice to make, doesn't it?
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Jeff
Keller, President of Attitude
is Everything, Inc, is a speaker,
seminar leader and writer in
the area of motivation and human
potential. For more than 10 years,
he has delivered his uplifting
presentations to businesses and organizations
throughout the United
States and abroad. Jeff is also
an attorney and practiced law
for more than 10 years before
pursuing a full time career
as a speaker and writer. |
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We've
been looking for a way to recommend many of the books
and movies that inspire us to live our lives more fully, and
Amazon
finally has provided it. Check out our new bookstore,
which is full
of inspirational and motivational material. We'd also
appreciate any
suggestions you might have of what to stock it with--please
visit
our feedback page
to make recommendations! |
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Mission
statements represent your belief system—the priorities,
values and principles that measure your decisions. It
provides overall direction and clarifies your purpose and
meaning. When you clearly know what you want to be and to
do in your life, you feel strong in your sense of mission.
You’re no longer driven by everything that happens to
you. Rather, you feel a deep and complete commitment to
following your innermost values.
Dawn
Angier |
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Living
Life Fully, the e-zine
exists to try to provide for visitors of the world wide web a
place
of growth, peace, inspiration, and encouragement. Our
articles
are presented as thoughts of the authors--by no means do
we
mean to present them as ways that anyone has to live
life. Take
from them what you will, and disagree with
whatever you disagree
with--just know that they'll be here for you
each week. |
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Eyes Wide Open
tom walsh
Things
I Can Do Today
(to make the world a slightly better place)
The
world does fine without me--so far, it hasn't asked me
to help it to turn, and it hasn't asked me to help with
the change of the seasons or any of that stuff.
But sometimes I look at all the things that are going on
in the world and I wonder why we tend to abuse and
neglect this planet of ours. Sometimes I even
would like to be alive during a different time in
history, when I wouldn't be polluting the planet by
using my car, and when everything I bought wouldn't be
wrapped in tons of packaging with which I'm helping to
fill our landfills far more quickly than is necessary.
And
there are times when I'd like to have taken on a
different career, so that I might be helping more
people, or even different people, with the work that I
do. Perhaps I could have gone into a field in
which I would earn tons of money so that I could build
schools and shelters and help even more people.
Fortunately,
these times don't come too often, nor do they last very
long. When I start thinking this way, I remind
myself that I'm working with the gifts I have, and that
I'm contributing to the world in my own unique way, and
that I am where I am for a reason. Everything that
happens in our world happens for a reason, and I have an
opportunity every single day to make positive
contributions to the world in order to make it a better
place in my own very small, very unique ways.
For
example, today I can encourage someone sincerely, or
compliment someone sincerely on something that they've
done that they're proud of. If I do this, then I'm
making someone feel better about life and possibly
providing a spark that can be passed on to other people.
Today
I can pollute the planet less. I can choose to
walk somewhere and benefit my body at the same time, or
I can choose to drive a car that spews fewer pollutants
into the air. It's very well documented that the
emissions from our cars damage plants and animals and
even ourselves, so the less we pollute, always the
better.
Today
I can contribute to a charity that I feel is worthy,
helping the people who run it to help other people or
animals or ecological sites that need more help than
others.
Today
I can do my job really well, focusing strongly on my
tasks and their outcomes, adding value to the people who
are the direct recipients of the work that I do.
Today
I can avoid arguments, choosing to say nice things,
instead. I can avoid gossip, choosing not to
contribute to negative things. I can tell the
truth, and I can be forthcoming, and I can say only kind
things about the other human beings who live on this
planet with me.
On
this day, I can pick up a few pieces of litter, I can
recycle something that ought to be recycled, or I can
clean something that really needs to be cleaned.
I
can help someone to learn something they need to learn,
or I can teach someone something they had no idea they
could learn.
Today
I can spend some money in a place where I know that the
money is supporting a local family. I can
recommend such places to friends, as long as I know that
the places are run well, the service is good, and the
quality is fine.
Today
I can be in touch with my spirit and contribute to the
world on a spiritual level. When I do this, I know
that my contributions are well motivated and will be
valuable to others.
There
are many, many more things that I can do today to make
my little corner of the world a more positive
place. All I need to do is keep my eyes and heart
open so that I can see the opportunities when they come
along, and I'll have many chances to contribute well to
this planet of ours. And that, I believe, is one
of the most important callings of all.
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© 2007 Living Life Fully™,
all rights reserved.
Livinglifefully.com is trademarked SM, all rights
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Please feel
free to re-use material from this site other than
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I
will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling
or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my
living to open me, to make me less afraid, more accessible;
to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise.
I choose to risk my significance, to live so that which came
to me as seed goes to the next as blossom, and that which
came to me as blossom goes on as fruit.
Dawna
Markova
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I
arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the
world
and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to
plan the day.
Elwyn
Brooks White |
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Don Juan
assured me that in order to accomplish the feat of making myself miserable
I had to work in the most intense fashion, and that it was absurd. I
had now realized
I could work just the same in making myself complete and
strong. "The trick is
in what one emphasizes," he said.
"We either make ourselves miserable,
or we make ourselves strong.
The amount of work is the same."
Carlos
Castaneda
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Tom Walsh has
done it again
with his beau-
tiful heart-
warming book,
Walker.
I loved it.
--L. Abeling
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When
Walker first steps onto the road, he has no thoughts, no
history, no memories, and no clothes. As he travels and
meets people and learns from them, he comes to know more
about life, living, and becoming the person he's meant to
be. Walker is a parable for all of us who wonder
what might be the purpose of life, why bad things happen
with almost as much regularity as good things, and how we
can learn from the bad examples and experiences in our
lives as much as we can learn from the good things. Tom
Walsh's parable is a story of the ages, a timeless
exploration of ideas and thoughts that all of us wonder
about, a sincere and heartfelt portrait of a man who has
no past and no future, but who learns to make the most of
each precious present moment as it comes. |
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An excerpt:
Walker
awoke in the middle of the night, somehow expecting
someone to be there with him.
There was nothing, though—nobody.
The night was as dark as he had ever seen a night,
and there was a strong chill in the air.
Walker somehow had the feeling that something was
going to change very quickly, and that there was nothing
he could do about it.
He tried to go back to sleep, but he couldn’t; he
ended up lying awake for several hours until the sun came
up. As it
began to light the world, he couldn’t imagine a more
peaceful, more beautiful scene to wake up to than that of
the valley that lay before him.
But something wasn’t right.
He started to walk, looking for the wonder he had
always felt, but he began to feel that he was pushing
something, that he wasn’t admitting to himself something
that he should admit, and his steps were slow and heavy.
His confusion grew as he walked—what was holding
him back?
Two hours later, he stopped in his tracks in
amazement. There
before him was a spot he recognized, a spot that he had
seen before—the very spot where he had stepped out onto
the road. He
approached it slowly, carefully, unsurely.
A very faint trail led into the bushes, and those
bushes were so thick that he couldn’t see what lay
beyond them.
Was this what I’ve been looking for? he asked
himself. If he
followed this trail, he was sure, he might be able to
unlock some secrets of his past, find out who he was,
where he came from, how he had come to be on the road.
Were there people somewhere who loved him, who
missed him, who would stand by him when he needed them?
Did he even have a past?
Turner had told him that there would come a time
when he was ready to turn around, to seek out something
from his past.
But what if the trail led nowhere?
What if it led into the bushes, and past the
bushes, he would find nothing but more bushes?
He
sat down on the trail and closed his eyes, trying to calm
the thoughts that were confusing him. He listened closely
to his own breathing, trying to clear his mind of the many
images and ideas that were running around in there.
Soon he felt his body relaxing and his mind
quieting, and peace started to emanate from the center of
who he was. He
felt a sense of love for that peace, and for his self.
And
in the quiet and stillness, he suddenly knew what was
right. He knew
that while he might find out something interesting down
the trail from which he might have come so long ago,
anything he found there belonged to who he had been, not
who he was now. And
there was no use in spending his future days trying to
recreate what might have been in his past.
He stood, and for the first time he turned his face
towards where he had just come from.
He stood there for several long moments, and then
with one single step began the journey back towards where
he thought he should be going.
Turner had been right—there was a time to seek
something from the past.
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