Do no take anything personal

Taking things personal is the maximal expression of selfishness. You assume that what others do is because of you.

“Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

 Even when a situation seems so personal, even if others insult you directly, it has nothing to do with you.  What they say, what they do, and the opinions they give are according to the agreements they have in their own minds.

Whatever you think, whatever you feel, I know is your problem and not my problem.  It is the way you see the world.  It is nothing personal, because you are dealing with yourself, not with me.  Others are going to have their own opinion according to their belief system, so nothing they think about me is really about me, but it is about them.” ( The Four Agreements- Don Miguel Ruiz)

When you take things personal.-You are allowing another person to dump their emotional garbage on you .  When you stay balanced and peaceful you are allowing your true self to manifest, and you are setting an example for others to follow. Be the unshakable peace that noone can move.

Are you Beggar?

A beggar had been sitting by the side of a road for over thirty years. One day a stranger walked by. “Spare some change?” mumbled the beggar, mechanically holding out his old baseball cap. “I have nothing to give you,” said the stranger. Then he asked: “What’s that you are sitting on?” “Nothing,” replied the beggar. “Just an old box. I have been sitting on it for as long as I can remember.” “Ever looked inside?” asked the stranger. “No,” said the beggar. “What’s the point? There’s nothing in there.” “Have a look inside,” insisted the stranger. The beggar managed to pry open the lid. With astonishment, disbelief, and elation, he saw that the box was filled with gold.

I am that stranger who has nothing to give you and who is telling you to look inside. Not inside any box, as in the parable, but somewhere even closer: inside yourself.

“But I am not a beggar,” I can hear you say.

Those who have not found their true wealth, which is the radiant joy of Being and the deep, unshakable peace that comes with it, are beggars, even if they have great material wealth. They are looking outside for scraps of pleasure or fulfillment, for validation, security, or love, while they have a treasure within that not only includes all those things but is infinitely greater than anything the world can offer.

(Excerpt from the Power of Now book by Eckhart Tolle)

Where do you find your peace? Television, video games, alcohol, clubbing, in women/men, in buying things, food, smoking, sex, drugs, sports, hanging out with friends, music, cars….

We all have addictions. Who are you to judge an alcoholic, if you may be an addict yourself? maybe not to alcohol but to something else….

What defines an addiction? doing something you feel you do not have the choice to stop, it has taken over you. …You feel that without it, you are empty, alone, sad, a “nobody”, less than others, unloved…that without it life is dull, boring and meaningless. Doing the particular habit brings you happiness, excitement, meaning, value, makes you better, joy, rushes energy through your veins, gives you the incredible feeling of being on top of the world…indulging in addiction only covers up the pain that lies deep inside.

Don’t think for a moment that the addiction will erase, take away, the inner problem that you may have. It will only be tylenol for your pain. It is an illusion to think that the pain is being decreased when you practice your addictive habits, the pain is still there hidden.  It is an error to think that time heals, that alcohol makes you forget, those are just distractions, keeping you unconscious of the situation beneath. The only way your problems, fears, issues will go away is if you face them, not turn your back on them. Face the problem, look at it, accept it, embrace it and then let it go…Face your fears and they will vanish, they will run because they can not survive in the light of your presence.

Let your habits, hobbies, and activities add to the happiness that already exist within you. Discover the light, the love, the joy, the happiness, the beauty that exist within, this is infinite, eternal…endless. Its there.. deep within, you may have to get rid of old habits, negative thought patters, judgements, and lies that obstruct your path. Look and you will find it.

Want peace? Sit silently. Stop and do nothing for just a moment. Listen to yourself. Be with yourself…and there in the midst of the silence you will know the truth, you will find all the love, joy, peace, and happiness that you have always searched for outside. When you first do this your mind might not allow you to, it will chatter away, you may feel uncomfortable or feel pain, get tired and sleepy, want something to eat, remember all of your duties that are not accomplished, think of the past or the future…but just gently bring your mind back to now and just be.  Be. Some people break out crying when they do this because all their inner issues arise, they see and feel all wounds not yet healed. Others find it hard because it is the first time they are with themselves. This is called meditation. A powerful practice that can transform your life incredibly. As time passes you no longer have to sit and do this- it becomes part of your daily life, your life becomes a meditation. The peace will reign in your life. You will be unshakable, unmovable to exterior dilemmas, problems, issues in your life. Try it, it works;-)

Synchronicity

Synchronicity: Carl Jung believed, a glimpse into the underlying order of the universe? He coined the term synchronicity to describe what he called the “acausal connecting principle” that links mind and matter. He said this underlying connectedness manifests itself through meaningful coincidences that cannot be explained by cause and effect. Such synchronicities occur, he theorized, when a strong need arises in the psyche of an individual. He described three types that he had observed: the coinciding of a thought or feeling with an outside event; a dream, vision or premonition of something that then happens in the future; and a dream or vision that coincides with an event occurring at a distance.

Example:

I had a dream that my right ear was bleeding. I noted it down in my dream journal I could not make any sense of it or decode it at the moment. Recently after meditating I have been experiencing a ringing in my right ear or many times at night before I went to bed. Yesterday my right ear felt VERY weird. I felt it was numb, I could not feel it..Then I started to ponder on this. what can this mean…, could I have an infection, am I not listening enough, what is the message..then as I think of this I was eating lunch in the cafteria. The T.V was on but I was not paying attention. All of the sudden my attention went to the T.V and I hear “Hockey player’s right ear gets lacerated by own teammate, the player starts bleeding from his right ear”. I was in complete amazement!!! I was not paying attention to the television but yet I heard this particular line at the time they were saying which pertained to the subject I was thinking and having an issue with….

This is Synchronicity.Often synchronicities are simply a wink from the cosmos, a reminder that there is more to life than just what we see with our two eyes….Or sometime they are messages and guidance. There is something “out” there, you can call it God, management, the universe, our higher self-whatever you want….this something works in the background orchestrating, planning, engineering our lives for our growth and the growth of others. Yes we have a choice, but there is a plan. There is a plan and you were involved in creating it, you just can not remember. You chose your family, your friends, your gifts, your job, your looks, EVERYTHING…you also chose the way you were going to exit this world.

The universe is constantly trying to communicate with us. Are you listening carefully, watching closely, and feeling every moment? Uncessant thinking blocks the bridge to the truth, to the unknown, to receiving communication from the universe. Pay attention to your next breath, heartbeat, blink, because in noticing these things we truly live and we dust away the joy, the peace, the love that has always been there hidden away waiting to be discovered.