Zen Wisdom From Lil’ Red Riding Hood….

notsalmon

via Zen Wisdom From Lil’ Red Riding Hood…..

September 8, 2012 1

Being Both Strong and Hurt

“Pain is not a sign of weakness, but bearing it alone is a choice to grow weak.” ~from my book, Tiny Buddha via Tiny Wisdom: Being Both Strong and Hurt | Tiny Buddha.

September 6, 2012 0

People Are Quick To Judge

Live Life Quotes, Love Life Quotes, Live Life Happy

via People Are Quick To Judge.

September 4, 2012 1

In The End

Live Life Quotes, Love Life Quotes, Live Life Happy

via In The End.

September 1, 2012 1

The Things We Think About

Live Life Quotes, Love Life Quotes, Live Life Happy

via The Things We Think About.

September 1, 2012 2

Celebrate

Melody Beattie writes:

Take time to celebrate.

Celebrate your successes, your growth, your accomplishments. Celebrate you and who you are.

For too long you have been too hard on yourself. Others have spilled their negative energy — their attitudes, beliefs, pain — on you. It had nothing to do with you! All along, you have been a gift to yourself and to the Universe.

You are a child of God. Beautiful, a delight, a joy. You do not have to try harder, be better, be perfect, or be anything you are not. Your beauty is in you, just as you are each moment.

Celebrate that.

When you have a success, when you accomplish something, enjoy it. Pause, reflect, rejoice. Too long you have listened to admonitions not to feel good about what you have done, lest you travel the downward road to arrogance.

Celebration is a high form of praise, of gratitude to the Creator for the beauty of God’s creation. To enjoy and celebrate the good does not mean that it will be taken from you. To celebrate is to delight in the gift, to show gratitude.

Celebrate your relationships! Celebrate the lessons from the past and the love and warmth that is there today. Enjoy the beauty of others and their connection to you.

Celebrate all that is in your life. Celebrate all that is good. Celebrate you!

Today, I will indulge in the joy of celebrating.” via August 26: Celebrate | Language of Letting Go.

August 26, 2012 2

Lasting Change Starts from Within: Transform Your Life

“All meaningful and lasting change starts on the inside and works its way out.” ~Anon

Get the rest here: Lasting Change Starts from Within: Transform Your Life | Tiny Buddha.

July 27, 2012 0

Wow! What’s Your Mantra?

Jennifer Pastiloff writes:

According to Wikipedia, a mantra is a sound, syllable, word or group of words that is considered capable of “creating transformation.” I use mantras when I teach my yoga classes. When the yogis bring their hands to prayer I ask them to pause and recite the silent mantra of the day. Whatever it is.

Sometimes I give it to them. For example, if the theme of the class is “inspiration,” I will maybe suggest to them: “I am inspired.” Or if the theme is “joy,” it will be: “I am joy.”

We literally pause for a few seconds with the hands there, right over the heart and rewire our thoughts. It’s like sending small rocket ships into our consciousness.

I joke with them saying that if they don’t like the “I am inspired” mantra, they can change it to “I am dead inside” or something else that suits them.

We always have the choice.” via Wow! What’s Your Mantra?.

July 20, 2012 0

Put Your Excuses in a Pile of Sh*t

Jennifer Pastiloff writes:

One of the things I do in my Manifestation Workshops and Retreats is have people write down all their excuses on a piece of paper and then rip it up and put it in a pile at the front of the room. The little pieces of paper mix in with other little pieces of paper and look like a pile of trash. Which is, essentially, what they are.

So what do the papers say? What excuses am I talking about?

Any and all excuses.

Any excuses that we have collected over the years that stop us from going after what we want or saying Yes.

Mine have ranged from:

I don’t have enough money,

It will be hard,

I don’t have enough experience,

People won’t like me,

I am too old,

I am too fat

I am too tired

I am not good enough,

… and on and on depending on the year, the day, the mood.

So, I have them put the excuses into this pile at the front of the room, and then I ask them what the pile is. We all agree it is a pile of trash, of garbage, of sh*t. I then take a picture of it and tell anyone that if they ever forget that they have put their excuse into this pile, they can email me or call me and I will send them the photo as a sweet reminder.

Some people struggle when I ask them to rip up the excuses. You can see a slight subtle pull of resistance. Like they are afraid of who they might be, of what they might do, without their beloved excuse that they have clung to for so long.

At my last retreat in Italy, just a week ago, a girl from Philadelphia shared something really profound with me.

She had attended my workshop in Philadelphia at Dhyana Yoga in March. After the workshop, she emailed me to inquire about my Tuscany retreat. We exchanged a few emails, and then she decided she couldn’t make it happen.

A few days later she emailed me back and said she had changed her mind and was going to join me.

In Tuscany, she told me that she had been standing in her kitchen making tea after our initial emails where she told me she couldn’t make the retreat happen when it hit her like a pot of boiling water!

She had realized that all the excuses she had given me as to why she could not attend the retreat in Italy where no longer usable because she had ripped them up and put them into a pile of sh*t on the floor of Dhyana Yoga back in March. The excuses ran the gamut from she didn’t have enough money, she didn’t have anyone to go with, she wasn’t “good” at yoga, etc. She told me all of this with tears in her eyes in Italy, where she made lifelong friends and had a life-changing experience.

Yes, it was just words on a paper and a metaphor of throwing excuses into a pile of garbage. But, did it matter? She remembered that metaphor, and that action of ripping up her excuses, and chose to no longer use them.

We always have the choice.

Read the rest of the article here: Put Your Excuses in a Pile of Sh*t

Your argument is invalid #1 (druidontherun.wordpress.com)

July 18, 2012 3

Do You Have an Ego Problem?

Alan Shelton writes:

In a world filled with the worship of the ego, those who pursue transformation stand in an opposite camp. What is it that they know that the rest of the world seems to ignore?

Our media is full of seminars and programs dedicated to what we might call self-mastery. But seekers seem to have seen through this masquerade. It is as though the world were the King in the story of the Emperor’s new clothes. So what is it that they see?

All transformation nests in a sense of being “in the flow”. Every serious seeker, whether it be in a class of yoga or a meditation retreat has had that earth shattering experience of disappearing into the whole.

It is that first experience that most will never forget nor can they ignore. When this occurs, it is almost immediately understood that the normal ego state has abated and something bigger has taken its place. Has the ego been lost? No. It simply has been re-situated into its rightful place as a placeholder in the whole movement in consciousness. Now, that movement is accessible to the new seeker.

In this revelation it is obvious that mastering the ego as a specific piece apart from the whole will not move one in the direction of permanent transformation. And so the transformative crowd moves with unquestioned inspiration into the unknown drawn by that first simple taste.

The beauty of this journey in today’s global and corporate world is that the new generations are demanding that life be about something bigger than “just me”. In their inner experience they have understood that the pursuit of goals for “myself only” is a continuing confirmation of the dominance of the ego. They have felt something bigger than that occur in their own world, and rightfully, they now seek to serve that bigger sense and lose their ego’s sense of authority in the process.

Years ago, while sitting in an ashram in India, I heard a master declare “ego is simply a functional resistance to what is”. In that moment, it was obvious to me that resistance is something that can be felt within and if that is the case, that a doorway to transformation was in the felt experience of the moment.

That first taste of disappearing into the “whole” that I had experienced as a young seeker was simply the resistance ebbing and wholeness which had always been present appearing in its proper place. So, it occurred to me that by tracking my internal felt experience that I could know when my ego was at play.

Over the years I have tracked that internal resistance and noted when it was most obvious that I was playing the egomaniac. These are my favorite obvious behaviors that indicate the ego is at large.” via Do You Have an Ego Problem? | FinerMinds.

July 18, 2012 4

When You Fear Making the “Wrong” Decision

“Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth.” ~Pema Chodron. Get more here: When You Fear Making the “Wrong” Decision | Tiny Buddha.

July 17, 2012 1

6 Tips to Tame Negative Thoughts for a Less Limited Life

“You are your choices.” ~Seneca. Get more here: 6 TIps to Tame Negative Thoughts for a Less Limited Life | Tiny Buddha.

How to overcome negativity from others – made easy :-) ……… [Emily McMorran] (ecademy.com)
9 Ways To Defend Yourself Against Complainers (businessinsider.com)

July 17, 2012 0

A poem and reminder for life’s stormy times…

notsalmon via A poem and reminder for life’s stormy times….

July 15, 2012 0

The Power of Acceptance: Stop Resisting and Find the Lesson

“Of course there is no formula for success except, perhaps, an unconditional acceptance of life and what it brings.” ~Arthur Rubinstein. Get more here: The Power of Acceptance: Stop Resisting and Find the Lesson | Tiny Buddha.

July 11, 2012 0

Detachment breaks the bond

“Joy fixes us to eternity and pain fixes us to time. But desire and fear hold us in bondage to time, and detachment breaks the bond.” Simone Weil.

We live both in the material realm and the spiritual. In our material dimension we seek material pleasures, inherent in which is pain. Our human emotions are tied to our material attachments, and joy, at its fullest, is never found here. Real joy lies outside of the material dimension while living fully within us too, in the secret, small place inside where we always know that all is well.

We are on a trip in this life. And our journey is bringing us closer to full understanding of joy with every sorrowful circumstance. When you or I are one with God, have aligned our will with the will of God, we know joy. We know this, fully, that all is well. No harm can befall us.

Each circumstance in the material realm is an opportunity for us to rely on the spiritual realm for direction, security, and understanding. As we turn within, to our spiritual nature, we will know joy.

Every day in every situation I have an opportunity to discover real joy. It’s so close and so ready for my invitation.” via Just For Today Meditations » Daily Recovery Readings – June 28, 2012.

July 6, 2012 0

8 thoughts while watching trainwrecks

Jon Swanson writes:

(First published July 19, 2011. And here’s the video version).

It happens to all of us. A friend, a family member, a coworker looks like they have picked the wrong track and are heading toward a trainwreck. Not physically, probably, but emotionally, spiritually, or relationally. I probably hear about more of these than many people because I’m one of the people that people talk to: “Jon, you’re a (social media) chaplain/pastor. You’ll know what to do. How do I stop them from wrecking everything?”

1. Maybe you are missing something. Probably not, but consider the possibility.

2. TV Movie endings are only in TV movies. If you want an intervention to always end with “How could I have been so foolish, I’m sorry, you were right,” you are going to be disappointed. Every time.

3. Humans almost always choose the short-term over the long-term. Even when the short-term looks painful, it’s because it is easier than the real hard work that would bring about long-term change.

4. Remorse and repentance aren’t the same thing. One is about getting caught. The other is about getting right. The first will only lead to avoidance. The second may lead to change.

5. Yelling almost never works. It just makes fingers go into ears.

6. Sin is fun like antifreeze is sweet. Both are delightful for the short term. And then kill you.

7. Self-destruction often isn’t evident to the self being destroyed. What looks obvious from the outside looks very different from the inside. Of course, the outside view can often see further down the track.

8. Consequence pain is often a good alarm clock. Sometimes people sleep through gentle warnings.

I know it hurts to watch. And you want to help. But sometimes the best help is to be around after the wreck. And to ask God for wisdom and clarity and the right words.

That’s what I do anyway.” via 8 thoughts while watching trainwrecks (from the archives).

July 5, 2012 1

Do What You Cannot Do!

“There is no one in the universe more dear to us than ourselves. The mind may travel in a thousand directions, but it will find no one else more beloved. The moment you see how important it is to love yourself, you will stop making others suffer.”

Thich Nhat Hanh. via Today’s Quotes: Do What You Cannot Do!.

July 3, 2012 0

The Gospel in Two Minutes

Earlier this Spring we had the chance to hear from Trip Lee on his new album and its connection to the gospel and on-the-ground sanctification. In this video he explains the gospel in two minutes.