
Former president George H.W. Bush celebrates his
90th birthday by jumping out of a
helicopter; June 12, 2014
Open Mind
The mind is like a parachute - it works best
when it is open. How quickly we make
assumptions, jump to conclusions and close our
mind. How easily we form and hold fast to our
opinions and then close our mind. How fast do we
make a judgement, slap on a label and then close
our mind. A closed mind never knows the delight
of playing with possibilities, being enlightened
by others point of view or enjoying the
diversity of human life. An open and
understanding mind never assumes, doesn't jump
to conclusions and won't hold fast to any
opinion. Perhaps it is no wonder a closed mind
is not a very relaxed mind.
Full Potential
Self-respect is often mistaken for arrogance
when in reality it is the
opposite. When we can recognize all our good
qualities as well as or
faults with neutrality, we can start to
appreciate ourselves as we
would a dear friend and experience the
comfortable inner glow of
respect. To embrace the journey towards our full
potential we need to
become our own loving teacher and coach.
Spurring ourselves on to
become better human beings we develop true
regard for ourselves and our
life will become sacred.
Enjoying My Stay Inside The Physical Body
An interesting comparison to understand clearly
the relationship between the soul and the body
is that the soul is the resident of a house or
an apartment which is the physical body. It's
the awareness of who is the resident living,
which is separate from where he is living. I
need to realize, that like a resident of a
house cannot be the house; he does not and
cannot identify with the place in which he
resides; in much the same way, I am not my body,
the place in which I reside, but I am a
resident. A resident of a physical house may
or may not stay in the house for 24 hours,
depending on his/her role. But I, as a spiritual
resident of this physical body spend all my time
inside it, in fact a complete lifetime, then I
move in to another house or apartment. Since I
spend so much time inside it, I need to maintain
the body, take care of its upkeep and the kind
of physical and spiritual atmosphere that exists
inside it. When I keep it clean, fresh and
vibrant, only then can I live in it
comfortably.
Do not forget, there's plenty of rubbish and
dirt waiting to enter the apartment. My
apartment's windows are my eyes and ears,
through which rubbish can come in. This rubbish
can be in the form of negative information,
scenes, images and words. Rubbish dirties the
resident, in this case my consciousness, taking
me away from my true, positive, spiritual state.
My nose, facing outwards, is like the front door
of my apartment: it's the first part of me that
faces the world. If harsh winds of difficult
circumstances blow, and I don't know how to
protect myself, I will catch a cold or fall sick
i.e. my front door will be harmed and I'll
become vulnerable. The living room of the
apartment is my tongue which makes the first
impression on anyone, whether it be positive or
negative. There will be constant attacks on
our windows, doors, living room, etc. But if I
am aware and alert, I will keep my house in
order. If any rubbish does get in, I need to
soon clean it out again, so that the atmosphere
inside the house remains positive and I, the
resident can enjoy my stay in it.
Soul Sustenance
The Art Of Stepping In And Stepping Out In
Relationships (Part 2)
In the same way as the gardener (explained
yesterday), we have the duty, or rather the
honor, of planting positive seeds of good
intentions, love, respect and tolerance, at the
same time allowing others and the forces of the
universe to be given the space to work and
respond according to their time and inclination. Very
often we plant those seeds but want an immediate
result: * I have shown so much patience, but she
doesn't change. or * How much longer do I have
to tolerate? I feel suppressed. We become
attached to what we do, so there is no space for
things to happen at their own appropriate time.
Sometimes we have the wrong type of mercy, or we
want to take control, thinking we know better,
so we step into people's lives too much. This
interference and lack of free space provokes
hatred, resentment and conflict with others.
At other times, we get fed up with others; our
tolerance and empathy is completely reduced and
we say, * I've had enough or * I have got to do
my own thing and so we step out, but in a
selfish way, that is, we isolate ourselves from
others, or situations. We justify, or disguise,
this isolation and rejection and dislike towards
others with such phrases as * I need my own
space or * Let them stand on their own feet. In
actual fact, we aren’t bothered anymore; we have
stepped too far out of the picture because we
have not cultivated the patience which allows
the good and positive to germinate and grow in
its own time. It is an art to know when to
step back and when to step forward, but a very
necessary one if well-being is to be achieved.
Message for the day
The power to merge brings success in
relationships.
Expression:
The speciality of the ocean
is to merge. The most beautiful pearl is made of
the dirt that is thrown into the ocean. So also
the power to merge actually allows one to look
at the positivity in spite of the obvious
negativity that is expressed by the other
person. So the relationship with the other
person is only with their positivity.
Experience:
When I am able to merge the
negativity of others, and look at the positive
aspect in them instead, I can automatically
experience being light and positive within. Also
I find others relating to me with their
positivity. I am able to be successful in my
relationship with others, however difficult the
personality traits of the other person may be.