gladdening nourishmen​t

 

''Children appreciate all that is silly as a matter of course.

Their grasp of humor is instinctual, and even the smallest absurdities provoke joyous gales of earnest laughter.

As we age, this innate ability to see the value of silliness can diminish.
Work takes precedence over play, and we have less incentive to exercise our imaginative minds by focusing on what is humorous. When we remember childhood, we may recall the pleasures of donning funny costumes, reciting nonsense poems, making up strange games, or playing pretend.
This unabashed silliness nourished our vitality and creativity. 
We can take in this nourishment once again by giving ourselves permission to lighten up and be silly.Too often we reject the wonderful silliness that is an inherent, inborn aspect of the self because we believe that it serves no purpose or is at odds with the grown-up culture of maturity.

We play yet we do not lose ourselves in play, and our imaginations are never truly given free reign because we regard the products of irrational creativity as being valueless.
Yet silliness itself does indeed constitute a vital part of human existence on a myriad of levels.

Our first taste of ethereal bliss is often a consequence of our willingness to dabble in what we deem outrageous, nonsensical, or absurd. We delight in ridiculousness not only because laughter is intrinsically pleasurable, but also because it serves as a reminder that existence itself is fun.

Skipping, doodling, and singing funny songs are no less entertaining than they were when we were children.
We need not lose all interest in these cheerful and amusing activities, but to make them a part of our lives we must be ready to sacrifice a little dignity and a lot of fear.

It is precisely because so much of life is inescapably serious that silliness should be regarded as a priority.

Through the magic of imagination, you can be or become anything—a photographer, a professional athlete, a dancer, a pilot.

Whether you take hundreds of silly pictures, revel in the adulation of your fans as you make the winning catch, boogie down rock-star style in front of your bedroom mirror, or turn your desk into a cockpit, the ensuing hilarity will help you see that lighthearted fun and adulthood are not at all incompatible. ''

by Madisyn Taylor

 

 

 

 

 

burdensome feelings

''As we begin to truly understand that the world outside of us is a reflection of the world inside of us, we may feel confused about who is to blame for the problems in our lives.

If we had a difficult childhood, we may wonder how we can take responsibility for that, and in our current relationships, the same question arises.

We all know that blaming others is the opposite of taking responsibility, but we may not understand how to take responsibility for things that we don’t truly feel responsible for.

We may blame our parents for our low self-esteem, and we may blame our current partner for exacerbating it with their unconscious behavior. Objectively, this seems to make sense. After all, it is not our fault if our parents were irresponsible or unkind, and we are not to blame for our partner’s bad behavior.

Perhaps the problem lies with the activity of blaming.
Whether we blame others or blame ourselves, there is something aggressive and unkind about it.

It sets up a situation in which it becomes difficult to move forward under the burdensome feelings of shame and guilt that arise.

It also puts the resolution of our pain in the hands of someone other than us.

Ultimately, we cannot insist that someone else take responsibility for their actions; only they can make that choice when they are ready.


In the meantime, if we want to move forward with our lives instead of waiting around for something that may or may not happen, we begin to see the wisdom of taking the situation into our own hands.
We do this by forgiving our parents, even if they have not asked for our forgiveness, so that we can be free.

We end the abusive relationship with our partner, who may never admit to any wrongdoing, because we are willing to take responsibility for how we are treated.

In short, we love ourselves as we want to be loved and create the life we know we deserve.

We leave the resolution of the wrongs committed against us in the hands of the universe, releasing ourselves to live a life free of blame. ''

by Madysin Taylor

one of a kind

 

''Many of us have had an experience in which we felt like the lone black sheep in a vast sea of white sheep.

For some of us, however, this sense of not belonging runs more deeply and spans a period of many years. It is possible to feel like the black sheep in families and peer groups that are supportive, as well as in those that are not. Even if we receive no overt criticism regarding our values, there will likely be times when it seems that relatives and friends are humoring us or waiting for us to grow out of a phase. Sometimes we may even think we have been adopted because we are so different from our family members.

These feelings are not a sign that we have failed in some way to connect with others. Rather, they should be perceived as the natural result of our willingness to articulate our individuality.
Many black sheep respond to the separateness they feel by pulling back from the very people to whom they might otherwise feel closest and embracing a different group with whom they enjoy a greater degree of commonality.

But if you feel that your very nature has set you apart from your peers and relatives, consider that you chose long ago to be raised by a specific family and to come together with specific people so that you could have certain experiences that would contribute to your ongoing evolution.

You may be much more sensitive than the people around you or more artistic, aware, spiritual, or imaginative.

The disparate temperament of your values and those of your family or peers need not be a catalyst for interpersonal conflict. If you can move beyond comparisons and accept these differences, you will come to appreciate the significant role your upbringing and socialization have played in your life's unique journey.

In time, most black sheep learn to embrace their differences and be thankful for those aspects of their individuality that set them apart from others.

We cannot expect that our peers and relatives will suddenly choose to embrace our values and offer us the precise form of support we need.

But we can acknowledge the importance of these individuals by devoting a portion of our energy to keeping these relationships healthy while continuing to define our own identities apart from them. ''

(Madisyn Taylor, DailyOm)

 

Insight, o que é ?

 

 

 

''De vez em quando alguém me pergunta o que seria exatamente um "insight", já que esta é uma palavra bem utilizada por muitos quando estão falando sobre autoconhecimento. Por isso vou explicar em detalhes.

Ter um insight significa descobrir ou perceber algo que antes você não percebia, sobre si mesmo, ou sobre o funcionamento da vida, do mundo, do universo...

 

Por exemplo: Em determinado momento você percebe que está se deixando manipular por alguém, e descobre que está permitindo que isso aconteça porque se sente culpado por algo que fez; sendo assim, está tentando compensar algo que antes nem se dava conta. Quando você percebe a situação, é como um despertar interior. Antes havia uma cegueira, e agora as coisas ficaram claras.

Posso dar vários outros exemplos: quando você percebe que um determinada coisa que irrita no seu marido/esposa é porque isso lembra algo que seu pai/mãe fazia; quando você percebe que um determinado ciclo se encerrou (um trabalho, um negócio, um relacionamento) e você precisar mudar para algo novo e sente isso com clareza no seu interior; de repente, você se dá conta que está sabotando seu progresso profissional (arranjando desculpas que o fazem perder oportunidades ou adiar ações, por exemplo) e sentiu que por trás disso há um sentimento de não merecimento, enquanto que antes, você pensava que a falta de progresso era devido ao azar, ao acaso; quando você percebe que não adianta ficar lutando e se esforçando pra que uma determinada coisa aconteça ou que alguém mude, e aí você entra em um estado de paz e aceitação e resolve abrir mão do falso controle que antes pensava ter; quando você percebe que está agindo igualzinho a um padrão emocional da sua mãe, repetindo a mesma história de sofrimento; quando surge uma decisão sobre o que fazer a respeito de algum assunto que antes o fazia se sentir perdido; quando você percebe que está com raiva de alguém porque, na verdade, tem medo de ser abandonado por essa pessoa etc..

Enfim, são muitas as formas que os insights podem aperecer, nas mais diversas áreas da nossa vida.

 

O que existe em comum em todos os insights, é que surge uma clareza maior do que antes. Às vezes ficamos até surpresos por não termos percebido algo tão óbvio.
Insights podem vir à tona a qualquer momento: durante ou após um momento de sofrimento intenso; numa caminhada; quando resolvemos relaxar; em uma conversa com alguém; num momento de reflexão; durante a leitura de um livro ou texto; num estado de quietude e silêncio...

(...)

As emoções negativas que guardamos, sejam elas conscientes ou inconscientes, provocam uma distorção na forma como vemos as coisas e interpretamos o mundo.

 

É fácil constatar isso quando alguém, ao sentir uma raiva intensa, fala coisas que depois se arrepende de ter falado. É possível que, depois de mais calma, a pessoa perceba o quanto foi exagerada e injusta. Uma decepção ou sentimento de tristeza pode também trazer vários pensamentos negativos sobre a vida, que depois desaparecem quando a emoção é curada.

 

Mas não são apenas as emoções intensas que provocam distorção na nossa percepção.

 

Qualquer emoção negativa, mesmo as mais sutis, influenciam a nossa forma de interpretar o mundo. Funcionam como se fossem um filtro.

 

(...)

É comum também surgirem lembranças de fatos do passado que estavam aparentemente esquecidos, ou que a pessoa pensava já não ter mais qualquer sentimento guardado.

 

De repente, percebemos que aquelas lembranças ainda trazem emoções que estão nos atrapalhando em determinada situação atual.

Tudo isso faz parte do processo de ter insights.

(...)

 

 

 

O insight também pode se confundir com a intuição.

Nos processos intuitivos, surge um saber interior sobre o que devemos fazer, mas não sabemos explicar exatamente o porquê.

 

Fica difícil colocar em palavras e explicar racionalmente. Mas aquilo faz sentido pra nós. Existe uma lógica e uma explicação mais profunda, porém, às vezes não conseguimos deixar que venha à tona plenamente.

Apenas sabemos que devemos fazer algo de determinada forma. ''
(...)

André Lima

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He

 

 

''He who knows others is wise.
He who knows himself is illuminated.
He who defeats others is strong.
He who defeats himself is powerful.
He who knows happiness is rich.
He who keeps his path is wilful.

 

Be humble and you will become whole.
Bend and you will become straight.
Empty yourself and you will become full.

Wear yourself out and you will become new.

 

The wise man does not show off, and so he shines.
He does not make himself known, and so he is noticed.
He does not praise himself, and so he has merit.
And because he does not compete,
none in the world can compete with him.''

 

Lao Tsu

Fully committed to now

''Sometimes, we may find ourselves wishing we knew what our lives are going to look like or what gifts and challenges are going to be presented to us in the coming months or years.

We may want to know if the relationship we’re in now will go the distance or if our goals will be realized. Perhaps we feel like we need help making a decision and we want to know which choice will work out best. We may consult psychics, tarot cards, our dreams, and many other sources in the hopes of finding out what the future holds.

Usually, at most, we may catch glimpses. And even though we think we would like to know the whole story in all its details, the truth is that we would probably be overwhelmed and exhausted if we knew everything that is going to happen to us.

Just think of your life as you’ve lived it up to this point.

 If you are like most of us, you have probably done more and faced more than you could have ever imagined.

If someone had told you as a child of all the jobs and relationships you would experience, along with each one’s inherent ups and downs, you would have become overwhelmed.

With your head full of information about the future, you would have had a very hard time experiencing your life in the present moment, which is where everything actually happens.
In many ways, not knowing what the future has in store brings out in us the qualities we need to grow.

For example, it would have been difficult to commit yourself to certain people or projects if you knew they wouldn’t ultimately work out.
Yet, it was through your commitment to see them through that you experienced the lessons you needed to grow.

Looking back on your life, you would likely be hard pressed to say that anything in your past should not have happened. In fact, your most challenging experiences with their inevitable lessons may have ultimately brought you the greatest rewards.

Not knowing the future keeps us just where we need to be—fully committed and in the present moment.''

(Madysin Taylor, DailyOm)

How the city was pacified

''An old legend tells of how a certain city in the Pyrenees mountains used to be a stronghold for drug-traffickers, smugglers and exiles. The worst of them all, an Arab called Ahab, was converted by a local monk, Savin, and decided that things could not continue like that.

As he was feared by all, but did not want to use his fame as a thug to make his point, at no moment did he try to convince anyone. Knowing the nature of men as well as he did, they would only take honesty for weakness and soon his power would be put in doubt.
So what he did was call some carpenters from a neighboring town, hand them a drawing and tell them to build something on the spot where now stands the cross that dominates the town. Day and night for ten days, the inhabitants of the town heard the noise of hammers and watched men sawing bits of wood, making joints and hammering in nails.
At the end of ten days the gigantic puzzle was erected in the middle of the square, covered with a cloth. Ahab called all the inhabitants together to attend the inauguration of the monument.
Solemnly, and without making any speech, he removed the cloth.
It was a gallows. With a rope, trapdoor and all the rest. Brand-new, covered with bee’s wax to endure all sorts of weather for a long time.
Taking advantage of the multitude joined together in the square, Ahab read a series of laws to protect the farmers, stimulate cattle-raising and awarding whoever brought new business into the region, and added that from that day on they would have to find themselves an honest job or else move to another town. He never once mentioned the “monument” that he had just inaugurated; Ahab was a man who did not believe in threats.
At the end of the meeting, several groups formed, and most of them felt that Ahab had been deceived by the saint, since he lacked the courage he used to have. So he would have to be killed. For the next few days many plans were made to this end. But they were all forced to contemplate the gallows in the middle of the square, and wondered: What is that thing doing there? Was it built to kill those who did not accept the new laws? Who is on Ahab’s side, and who isn’t? Are there spies among us?

The gallows looked down on the men, and the men looked up at the gallows. Little by little the rebels’ initial courage was replaced by fear; they all knew Ahab’s reputation, they all knew he was implacable in his decisions. Some people abandoned the city, others decided to try the new jobs offered them, simply because they had nowhere to go or else because of the shadow of that instrument of death in the middle of the square.

Some time later the place was at peace, it had grown into a great business center on the frontier and began to export the best wool and produce top-quality wheat.


The gallows stayed there for ten years. The wood resisted well, but now and again the rope was changed for another. It was never put to use. Ahab never said a single word about it. Its image was enough to change courage to fear, trust to suspicion, stories of bravado to whispers of acceptance. After ten years, when law finally reigned in Viscos, Ahab had it destroyed and replaced by a cross.''

by Paulo Coelho

 

 

 

Progressing with patience

 

 

''It isn’t always easy to meet the expectations we hold ourselves to.

We may find ourselves in a situation such as just finishing a relaxing yoga class or meditation retreat, a serene session of deep breathing, or listening to some calming, soul-stirring music, yet we have difficulty retaining our sense of peace.

A long line at the store, slow-moving traffic, or another stressful situation can unnerve you and leave you wondering why the tranquility and spiritual equilibrium you cultivate is so quick to dissipate in the face of certain stressors.

You may feel guilty and angry at yourself or even feel like a hypocrite for not being able to maintain control after practicing being centered.

However, being patient with yourself will help you more in your soul’s journey than frustration at your perceived lack of progress.

Doing the best you can in your quest for spiritual growth is vastly more important than striving for perfection.Just because you are devoted to following a spiritual path, attaining inner peace, or living a specific ideology doesn’t mean you should expect to achieve perfection.

When you approach your personal evolution mindfully, you can experience intense emotions such as anger without feeling that you have somehow failed.

Simply by being aware of what you are experiencing and recognizing that your feelings are temporary, you have beguin taking the necessary steps to regaining your internal balance.

Accepting that difficult situations will arise from time to time and treating your reaction to them as if they are passing events rather than a part of who you are can help you move past them.

Practicing this form of acceptance and paying attention to your reactions in order to learn from them will make it easier for you to return to your center more quickly in the future.Since your experiences won’t be similar to others’ and your behavior will be shaped by those experiences, you may never stop reacting strongly to the challenging situations you encounter.

Even if you are able to do nothing more than acknowledge what you are feeling and that there is little you can do to affect your current circumstances, in time you’ll alter your reaction to such circumstances.

You can learn gradually to let negative thoughts come into your mind, recognize them, and then let them go.

You may never reach a place of perfect peace, but you’ll find serenity in having done your best. ''

(Madisyn Taylor, DailyOm)

 

 

The dance of intimicy

 

''Anyone in a long-term relationship knows that the dance of intimacy involves coming together and moving apart.

Early in a relationship, intense periods of closeness are important in order to establish the ground of a new union.

Just as a sapling needs a lot more attention than a full-grown tree, budding relationships demand time and attention if they are to fully take root.

Once they become more established, the individuals in the union begin to turn their attention outward again, to the other parts of their lives that matter, such as work, family, and friendships. This is natural and healthy.

Yet, if a long-term relationship is to last, turning towards one another recurrently, with the same curiosity, attention, and nurturance of earlier times, is essential.

In a busy and demanding world full of obligations and opportunities, we sometimes lose track of our primary relationships, thinking they will tend to themselves.

We may have the best intentions when we think about how nice it would be to surprise our partner with a gift or establish a weekly date night. Yet somehow, life gets in the way. We may think that our love is strong enough to survive without attention. Yet even mature trees need water and care if they are to thrive.
One of the best ways to nourish a relationship is through communication.

If you feel that a distance has grown between you and your partner, you may be able to bridge the gap by sharing how you feel.

Do your best to avoid blame and regret.

Focus instead on the positive, which is the fact that you want to grow closer together.

Sometimes, just acknowledging that there is distance between you has the effect of bringing the relationship into balance. In other cases, more intense effort and attention may be required.

You may want to set aside time to talk and come up with solutions together.

Remember to have compassion for each other.

You’re in the same boat together and trying to maintain the right balance of space and togetherness to keep your relationship healthy and thriving.

Express faith and confidence in each other, and enjoy the slow dance of intimacy that can resume between the two of you. ''

(Daily Om, by Madysin Taylor)

 

''The warrior knows that the most important words in all languages are the small words.
Yes. Love. God.
They are words that are easy enough to say and which fill vast empty spaces.
There is, however, one word – another small word – that many people have great difficulty in saying: no.
Someone who never says no, thinks of himself as generous, understanding, polite, because ‘no’ is thought of as being nasty, selfish, unspiritual.
The warrior does not fall into this trap.
There are times when, in saying ‘yes’ to others, he is actually saying ‘no’ to himself.

That is why he never says ‘yes’ with his lips if, in his heart, he is saying ‘no’.''

Paulo Coelho

Overcoming criativity anxiaty

''Anxiety is a feature of the human condition.

It is a much larger feature than most people realize. A great deal of what we do in life we do in order to reduce our experience of anxiety or in order to avoid anxiety altogether.

Our very human defensiveness is one of the primary ways that we try to avoid experiencing anxiety.

If something is about to make us anxious we deny that it is happening, make ourselves sick so that we can concentrate on our sickness, get angry at our mate so as to have something else to focus on, and so on. We are very tricky creatures in this regard.
We are also very wonderful creatures who have it in us to create.

 "Creativity" is the word we use for our desire to make use of our inner resources, employ our imagination, knit together our thoughts and our feelings into beautiful things like songs, quilts, or novels, and feel like the hero of our own story.

It is the way that we make manifest our potential, make use of our intelligence, and embrace what we love.

When we create, we feel whole, useful, and devoted.

Unfortunately, we often also feel anxious as we create or contemplate creating. There are many reasons for this(...)

We get anxious because we fear we may fail, because we fear we may disappoint ourselves, because the work can be extremely hard, because the marketplace may criticize us and reject us, and so on.

We want to create, because that is a wonderful thing, but we also don't want to create, so as to spare ourselves all this anxiety. That is the simple, profound dilemma that millions of people find themselves in.

The solution is very simple to say although much harder to put into practice. In order to create and to deal with all the anxiety that comes with creating, you must acknowledge and accept that anxiety is part of the process.
(...)

 It is too big a shame not to create if creating is what you long to do and there is no reason for you not to create if "all" that is standing in the way is your quite human, very ordinary experience of anxiety.
(...)

HEADLINE

Since both creating and not creating produce anxiety in a person who wants to create, you might as well embrace the fact that anxiety will accompany you on your journey as a creative person—whether or not you are getting on with your work.

Just embracing that reality will release a lot of the ambient anxiety that you feel.

Since anxiety accompanies both states—both creating and not creating—why not choose creating?
TO DO

Pick your next creative project or return to your current creative project with a new willingness to accept the reality of anxiety.

To help reduce your experience of anxiety, remember to breathe deeply, speak positively to yourself, and affirm that your creative life matters to you. If some anxiety remains, create anyway!

(by Eric Maisel, Daily Om)

Change and renewal

 

 

''When winter arrives, the trees must sigh in sadness as they see their leaves falling.
They say: ‘We will never be like we were before.’
Of course.
Or still, what is the meaning of renewing oneself? The next leaves will have their own nature, they pertain to a new summer that approaches and which will never be like the one that passed.
Living means changing – and the seasons repeat these lessons to us every year.

Changing means going through a period of depression: we still don’t know the new and we have to forget everything we used to know.
But if we are a little patient, spring ends up arriving and we forget the winter of our hopelessness.

Change and renewal are the laws of life.

It is best to get used to them and not suffer about things that only exist to bring us joy.''

by Paulo Coelho

 

 

Embracing new information

''Living in an information age, it is easy to become overwhelmed by the constant influx of scientific studies, breaking news, and even spiritual revelations that fill our bookshelves, radio waves, and in-boxes. No sooner have we decided what to eat or how to think about the universe than a new study or book comes out confounding our well-researched opinion. After a while, we may be tempted to dismiss or ignore new information in the interest of stabilizing our point of view, and this is understandable.

Rather than closing down, we might try instead to remain open by allowing our intuition to guide us.
For example, contradictory studies concerning foods that are good for you and foods that are bad for you are plentiful.
At a certain point, though, we can feel for ourselves whether coffee or tomatoes are good for us or not.

The answer is different for each individual, and this is something that a scientific study can’t quite account for.

All we can do is take in the information and process it through our own systems of understanding.

In the end, only we can decide what information, ideas, and concepts we will integrate.

Remaining open allows us to continually change and shift by checking in with ourselves as we learn new information.

It keeps us flexible and alert, and while it can feel a bit like being thrown off balance all the time, this openness is essential to the process of growth and expansion.
Perhaps the key is realizing that we are not going to finally get to some stable place of having it all figured out.

Throughout our lives we will go through the processes of opening to new information, integrating it, and stabilizing our worldview.

No sooner will we have reached some kind of stability than it will be time to open again to new information, which is inherently destabilizing.

If we see ourselves as surfers riding the incoming waves of information and inspiration, always open and willing to attune ourselves to the next shift, we will see how blessed we are to have this opportunity to play on the waves and, most of all, to enjoy the ride. ''

(Madisyn Taylor, in DailyOm)

solitude, matters

Generate your own patterns

 

 

''Heredity plays a role in almost all human development, whether physical, mental, or emotional.
 
We tend to look like our parents and are subject to the same sensitivities they have. We may even be predisposed to certain behaviors or preferences.
 
As we grow older, we become increasingly aware of the traits that exist within us and the clear history of the traits of our mothers and fathers.
 
Our response to this epiphany depends upon whether the inclinations, tendencies, and penchants we inherited from our forebears are acceptable in our eyes.
 
We may honor some of these shared traits while rejecting others.
 
However, there is no law of nature, no ethereal connection between parents and children, that states that the latter must follow in the footsteps of the former.
 
We are each of us free to become whoever we wish to be.

When we accept that our parents are human beings in possession of both human graces and human failings, we begin to regard them as distinct individuals.
 
And by granting mothers and fathers personhood in our minds, we come to realize that we, too, are autonomous people and in no way destined to become our relations.
 
While we may have involuntarily integrated some of our parents’ mannerisms or habits into our own lives, conscious self-examination will provide us with a means to identify these and work past them if we so desire. We can then unreservedly honor and emulate those aspects of our mothers and fathers that we admire without becoming carbon copies of them.

Though many of the tempers and temperaments that define you are inherited, you control how they manifest in your life.
 
The patterns you have witnessed unfolding in the lives of your parents need not be a part of your unique destiny.

You can learn from the decisions they made and choose not to indulge in the same vices.

Their habits need not become yours.

But even as you forge your own path, consider that your parents’ influence will continue to shape your life—whether or not you follow in their footsteps.

Throughout your entire existence, they have endeavored to provide you with the benefit of their experiences.

How you make use of this profound gift is up to you.''
 
(DailyOm, by Madysin Taylor)

 

 

consulting heart and mind

''Each of the myriad decisions we make every day has the potential to have a deep impact on our lives.

Some choices touch us to our very cores, awakening poignant feelings within us.

Others seem at first to be simple but prove to be confusingly complex.

We make the best decisions when we approach the decision-making process from a balanced emotional and intellectual foundation.

When we have achieved equilibrium in our hearts and in our minds, we can clearly see both sides of an issue or alternative.

Likewise, we can accept compromise as a natural fact of life. Instead of relying solely on our feelings or our rationality, we utilize both in equal measure, empowering ourselves to come to a life-affirming and balanced conclusion.

Balance within and balance without go hand in hand.

When you are called upon to choose between two or more options, whether they are attractive or distasteful, you should understand all you can about the choice ahead of you before moving forward.

If you do not come to the decision from a place of balance, you risk making choices that are irrational and overly emotional or are wholly logical and don’t take your feelings into account.

 In bringing your thoughts and emotions together during the decision-making process, you ensure that you are taking everything possible into account before moving forward.

Nothing is left up to chance, and you have ample opportunity to determine which options are in accordance with your values.

Though some major decisions may oblige you to act and react quickly, most will allow you an abundance of time in which to mull over your choices.

If you doubt your ability to approach your options in a balanced fashion, take an extended time-out before responding to the decision. This will give you the interlude you need to make certain that your thoughts and feelings are in equilibrium.

As you practice achieving balance, you will ultimately reach a state of mind in which you can easily make decisions that honor every aspect of the self.''

(by madisyn Taylor, in Daily Om)

Seeing ourselves

 

 

''Many of us do not take the time to notice and acknowledge how beautiful we are as humans.

We may be great lovers of beauty, seeing it in the people, places, and things around us, while completely missing it in ourselves.

Some of us feel that it is vain to consider our appearance too much, or we may find that when we look at ourselves, all we see are imperfections.

Often we come to the mirror with expectations and preconceived notions about beauty that blind us from seeing ourselves clearly.

As a result, we miss the beauty that is closest to us, the beauty we are.

Sometimes we see our beauty in a shallow way, noticing how well we are conforming to social norms, but failing to see the deeper beauty that shines out from within and that will continue to shine regardless of how we measure up to society ideal.
If we can cut through all these obstacles and simply appreciate how beautiful we are, we free up so much energy.

We also become less dependent upon the opinions and feedback of others since we become our own greatest admirers.

(...)
It is the heady combination of the divine spirit and the human body that conveys beauty more accurately than anything else.

(...)

The best way to keep ourselves in touch with our own beauty is to keep looking deeply into our own souls and opening our eyes to the human being we see in the mirror every day.''

(Daily Om, by Madisyn Taylor)

the strength of joy

''Khalil Gibran says that for 20 centuries men have adored the weakness of Jesus, and do not fully understand his power. Jesus did not live as a coward, and he died without complaining and suffering. He lived as a revolutionary, and was crucified as a rebel.

He was not a bird with open wings, but a violent storm that parted wings. He was not a victim of his persecutors, and he didn’t suffer at their hands, but he was free before all of them.
Jesus did not come to earth to destroy our homes, and, in turn, build monasteries with his stones; he came to breathe a new soul into us,
to build a temple in every heart,
a soul in every altar and
a priest in every human being.

Looking carefully at his life, we see that, although he knew that his passion was inevitable, he tried to give us a sense of joy in every one of his gestures. As I said in a previous column, he must have thought long and hard before deciding upon which miracle was to be his first; he must have considered the healing of a paralysed man, the resurrection of the dead, the expulsion of a demon, something that his contemporaries considered “a noble gesture”. After all, it would be the first time he would show the world that he was the son of God.

And it is written that his first miracle was turning water into wine to liven up a wedding party.
The wisdom of this gesture should inspire us and always be present in our souls; the spiritual quest is compassion, enthusiasm and joy.

Tibetan monk Chogyam Trunpga says, “We do not need to have a mystical experience to discover that the world is good.

We should just realise that there are simple things around us, see the raindrops trickling down the window, waking in the morning and finding that the sun still shines, hear someone laughing.”

By doing so, the world is no longer a threat.

We start realising that we are able to honour existence; we accept that we have sensitivity to see the love that exists.

If we can see what is beautiful, it is because we are beautiful, as the world is a mirror and returns to every man the reflection of his own face.

The only danger is staying too safe.

As a Warrior of Light, having more joy in your heart than most, you should never relax completely.

 “The danger arises when a man feels secure in his position.


 The ruin threatens all who attempt to preserve a state of affairs.

Confusion arises when we put everything in order.
Therefore, the superior man does not forget the danger when he is safe.

The wise man does not forget the ghost of ruin when in full strength.

The intelligent do not forget the confusion when their affairs are in order.”

by Paulo Coelho

 

Martine Franck