Beginning

This is the moment of embarking.
All auspicious signs are in place.

In the beginning, all things are hopeful. We prepare ourselves to start anew. Though we may be intent on the magnificent journey ahead, all things are contained in the first moment: our optimism, our faith, our resolution, our innocence.

In order to start, we must make a decision. The decision is a commitment to daily self- cultivation. We must make a strong connection to our inner selves. Outside matters are superfluous. Alone and naked, we negotiate all of life's travails. Therefore, we alone must make something of ourselves, transforming ourselves into the instruments for experiencing the deepest spiritual essence of life.

Once we make our decision, all things will come to us. Auspicious signs are not a superstition, but a confirmation. They are a response. It is said that if one chooses to pray to a rock with enough devotion, even that rock will come alive. In the same way, once we choose to commit ourselves to spiritual practice, even the mountains and valleys will reverberate to the sound of our purpose.

Deng Ming-Dao

True Friend and True Love

A friend that you want to be with, every moment possible each and every day.
To share the joys and sorrows of life, and help them in any possible way.

A friend that can influence your day, with a little word that fills you with smiles.
A friend that can do all of this, even when separated by many miles.

Have you ever had a friend that outshines all the others?
A person so special to you, they rank up with sisters or brothers.

But a friend who is even more than that, in their own unique and special ways.
Because this person can make you feel good, even when your having "one of those days."

A friend who can touch your heart, with everything they do.
A friend that knows how you feel, even when you don't want them to.

Have you ever had a friend, who makes you start to feel.
That you may be more than friends, a feeling that is strong and real.

Have you ever had a friend, who has a special place within your heart.
One that you know you really love, in fact you've known it from the start.

A friend who you want to hug, a friend you want to hold.
A friend to keep warm with, when the both of you are cold.

A friend whose eyes enchant you, have you ever had a friend
That has magic in their smile.
A friend you want to kiss, and hold them for a while.

A friend whose touch excites, a friend who you want to spend all day with
And then look forward to the nights.

Have you ever fallen in love, with someone that is a friend?
A love so real and wonderful, a love that is a friend...

Be Whole

The Missing Piece (by Shel Silverstein) tells the story of a circle that was missing a piece. A large triangular wedge had been cut out of it. The circle wanted to be whole with nothing missing, so it went around looking for its missing piece. But because it was incomplete and therefore could roll only very slowly, it admired the flowers along the way. It chatted with worms. It enjoyed the sunshine. It found lots of different pieces, but none of them fit. So it left them all by the side of the road and kept on searching. Then one day the circle found a piece that fit perfectly. It was so happy. Now it could be whole, with nothing missing. It incorporated the missing piece into itself and began to roll. Now that it was a perfect circle, it could roll very fast, too fast to notice the flowers or talk to the worms.

When it realized how different the world seemed when it rolled so quickly, it stopped, left its found piece by the side of the road and rolled slowly away. The lesson of the story was that in some strange sense we are more whole when we are missing something. The man who has everything is in some ways a poor man. He will never know what it feels like to yearn, to hope, to nourish his soul with the dream of something better. He will never know the experience of having someone who loves him give him something he has always wanted and never had. There is a wholeness about the person who has come to terms with his limitations, who has been brave enough to let go of his unrealistic dreams and not feel like a failure for doing so. There is a wholeness about the man or woman who has learned that he or she is strong enough to go through a tragedy and survive, who can lose someone and still feel like a complete person.

When we accept that imperfection is part of being human, and when we can continue rolling through life and appreciating it, we will have achieved a wholeness that others can only aspire to. That, I believe, is what God asks of us - not "Be perfect," not "Don't ever make a mistake," but "Be whole." And at the end, if we are brave enough to love, strong enough to forgive, generous enough to rejoice in another's happiness, and wise enough to know there is enough love to go around for us all, then we can achieve a fulfillment that no other living creature will ever know.

Harold Kushner

The Jewel

Once upon a time there dwelt an old King in a palace. In the center of a golden table in the main hall, there shone a large and magnificent jewel. Each day of the King's life, the stone sparkled more resplendently.

One day a thief stole the jewel and ran from the palace, hiding in a forest. As he stared with deep joy at the stone, to his amazement the image of the King appeared in it.

"I have come to thank you," said the King. "You have released me from my attachment to Earth. I thought I was freed when I acquired the jewel, but then I learned that I would be released only when I passed it on, with a pure heart, to another.

"Each day of my life I polished that stone, until finally this day arrived, when the jewel became so beautiful that you stole it, and I have passed it on, and am released.

"The jewel you hold is Understanding. You cannot add to its beauty by hiding it and hinting that you have it, nor yet by wearing it with vanity. Its beauty comes of the consciousness that others have of it. Honor that which gives it beauty."

Thaddeus Golas
The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment

You Can't Lose 'Em All!

We're all pretty familiar with Murphy's Law:
Nothing is as easy as it looks.
Everything takes longer than you expect.
And if anything can go wrong - it will.
At the worst possible moment!

But what Murphy didn't tell us is that things won't always go wrong. If you keep trying, sooner or later, you will do the right thing at the right time and succeed surprising yourself to no end.

This is the value of determination and persistence. It works because each time you fail, you gain a little more insight into how many different ways things can go wrong allowing you to avoid the same mistake next time. Slowly but surely, the wrong options are eliminated and we find the road to success. There is nothing new to this process of success, it's just that many people don't want to accept it. The idea of failure scares the hell out of them. Their sensitive egos can't bear the thought of others finding out that like all human beings, they aren't likely to get it right on the first try. And that's the heart of the problem, that notion that somehow we have to get it right the first time, or we have failed and are somehow worth less because of it.

Fortunately, egos are very gullible. They don't want to hear the truth and will accept any pleasant sounding lie we care to feed them. This is called rationalization (or more commonly, making excuses). Since we can't change the nature of reality very significantly and hence Murphy's Law, perhaps a change in perspective can alleviate the depression and frustration that comes from apparent failure.

"Nothing is as easy as it looks." can be dealt with by not looking at things as being easy. Under the right conditions, any human being on earth could screw up almost anything. Who is always at their best and when are conditions ever ideal? The same goes for "Everything takes longer than you expect." for who can keep track of all the possible delays that can arise and compensate for them. Truth is we don't know how long anything will take, just how long we would like it to take. "And if anything can go wrong - it will." is just a reminder that we seldom see all the ways that things can work out and success elude us.

Life is like a stacked deck of cards, sometimes for us and sometimes against us. So do your best and if you succeed enjoy the results but take no credit. If you don't succeed, take no blame and keep on trying. You can't lose 'em all!

Roland F. Arms

Don't Change the World

Once upon a time, there was a king who ruled a prosperous country. One day, he went for a trip to some distant areas of his country. When he was back to his palace, he complained that his feet were very painful, because it was the first time that he went for such a long trip, and the road that he went through was very rough and stony. He then ordered his people to cover every road of the entire country with leather. Definitely, this would need thousands of cows' skin, and would cost a huge amount of money.

Then one of his wise servants dared himself to tell the king, "Why do you have to spend that unnecessary amount of money? Why don't you just cut a little piece of leather to cover your feet?”

The king was surprised, but he later agreed to his suggestion, to make a "shoe" for himself.

There is actually a valuable lesson of life in this story: to make this world a happy place to live, you better change yourself - your heart; and not the world.

Our Deepest Fear

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure about you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Marianne Williamson
A Return to Love

24 Things to Always Remember

Your presence is a present to the world.

You are unique and one of a kind.

Your life can be what you want it to be.

Take the days just one at a time.

Count your blessings, not your troubles.

You will make it through whatever comes along.

Within you are so many answers.

Understand, have courage, be strong.

Do not put limits on yourself.

So many dreams are waiting to be realized.

Decisions are too important to leave to chance.

Reach for your peak, your goal and you prize.

Nothing wastes more energy than worrying.

The longer one carries a problem the heavier it gets.

Do not take things too seriously.

Live a life of serenity, not a life of regrets.

Remember that a little love goes a long way.

Remember that a lot … goes forever.

Remember that friendship is a wise investment.

Life’s treasures are people together.

Realize that it is never too late.

Do ordinary things in an extraordinary way.

Have hearth and hope and happiness.

Take the time to wish upon a star.

AND DO NOT EVER FORGET… FOR EVEN A DAY HOW VERY SPECIAL YOU ARE!

Nothing is Random

Nothing is random, nor will anything ever be, whether a long string of perfectly blue days that begin and end in golden dimness, the most seemingly chaotic political acts, the rise of a great city, the crystalline structure of a gem that has never seen the light, the distributions of fortune, what time the milkman gets up, the position of the electron, or the occurrence of one astonishingly frigid winter after another.

Even electrons, supposedly the paragons of unpredictability, are tame and obsequious little creatures that rush around at the speed of light, going precisely where they are supposed to go. They make faint whistling sounds that when apprehended in varying combinations are as pleasant as the wind flying through a forest, and they do exactly as they are told. Of this, one can be certain.

And yet there is a wonderful anarchy, in that the milkman chooses when to arise, the rat picks the tunnel into which he will dive when the subway comes rushing down the track from Borough Hall, and the snowflake will fall as it will. How can this be? If nothing is random, and everything is predetermined, how can there be free will? The answer to that is simple.

Nothing is predetermined; it is determined, or was determined, or will be determined. No matter, it all happened at once, in less than an instant, and time was invented because we cannot comprehend in one glance the enormous and detailed canvas that we have been given - so we track it, in linear fashion, piece by piece. Time, however, can be easily overcome; not by chasing light, but by standing back far enough to see it all at once.

The universe is still and complete. Everything that ever was, is; everything that ever will be, is - and so on, in all possible combinations. Though in perceiving it we imagine that it is in motion, and unfinished, it is quite finished and quite astonishingly beautiful.

In the end, or rather, as things really are, any event, no matter how small, is intimately and sensibly tied to all others. All rivers run full to the sea; those who are apart are brought together; the lost ones are redeemed; the dead come back to life; the perfectly blue days that have begun and ended in golden dimness continue, immobile and accessible; and, when all is perceived in such a way as to obviate time, justice becomes apparent not as something that will be, but as something that is.

Hug That Monster

One couple spent a holiday driving in the mountains. "Every time you race around one of those narrow curves," exclaimed the wife, "I just get terrified."

"Then do what I do," suggested her husband. "Close your eyes!" We are all afraid at times, but closing our eyes is not always a helpful way through fear. Better to open your eyes and face those fears head-on.

In 1972 David Miln Smith had such an opportunity. Smith, an adventurer, author and professional speaker, decided to spend a night alone in St. Michael's Cave on the island of Gibraltar as a test of courage. In his book HUG THE MONSTER (Kansas City: Andrews and McMeel, 1996), he tells of hearing strange sounds all around him as he lay there in the pitch-black, damp, deserted cave. Most frightening was the fact that he came to believe he was not alone!

Fear became panic and he was afraid he was losing his mind. Then suddenly, as he was approaching his psychological breaking point, Smith thought to himself, "Whatever the monster looks like, I will hug it." That simple, almost silly thought brought great relief to his restless mind. He soon fell into a deep and peaceful sleep until morning. He learned that embracing his fear, literally or figuratively, allowed him to subdue it.

We each have our nights of fear. We each encounter monsters of some sort. We may fear spiders or insects, heights or crowds, abandonment or loneliness, the future or death. And most of us are occasionally visited by shadows of these monsters in the dark of night.

The next time you're afraid, try "hugging the monster." Face that fear head-on, whatever it is, and embrace it. You may be surprised at how quickly it slips away and at how confident you begin to feel. Like that beautiful spirit Eleanor Roosevelt said, "You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you stop to look fear in the face."

Do you have a monster to hug?