Resolution

Resolution- a firm decision to do or not to do something...

Instead of making a decision to do or not to do something next year, make a promise to yourself to live every moment as if it is your last.

Experience fully as if everything you do is the last thing you would do on earth.


Feel the rain on your skin and the cold in your lungs.


Feel the love and the pain and the fear and the shame with your whole being but don't let it stop you from walking forward.


Say everything you want to say and don't hold back the love you have for everyone you know and those you don't.


Laugh till you cry and cry till you laugh.


Let yourself be who you are, not who you think the world wants to see. But the person who you want to be with when you are alone- that is who you truly are.


and most importantly don't forget to tell yourself how much you love and value you.... then that love and compassion will spread to everyone else in your life..


Happy New Year

Surrender

Surrender- to soften, relinquish all resistance to what is and accept it for what it is.
Soften the shell of resistance.
Be here and now with what is.
Nothing more and nothing less is needed.

Embrace the fear

Every day do something that scares you.

The experience

It is not life's events that are causing problems or stress. It is your resistance to life's events that is causing this experience.

The Untethered Soul
Michael A. Singer

No reason no rhyme

Everything is just happening.
We make up the reasons in our minds

Beyond

Beyond is infinite in all directions

Michael Singer

Reality check

The universe that exist in your head has very few junction points with the Universe out there...

Sometimes you need to admit to yourself that you just don't know.

You don't know why things are happening, or why people do the things they do.

You don't have to make excuses or explanations or narratives for everything around you.

The hardest, yet the simplest thing is to accept the universe as it is, not asking for a reason why...

Change

What is change?
Does change really happen?
Do you sit around waiting and then in one sudden instant everything changes?

Sometimes we look back and can't remember when actually things changed.
It doesn't happen all of a sudden from one moment to the next.
Change is gradual and very rarely tangible.
All the change that we convince ourselves we see is an illusion.
Things don't change.
We change our perceptions and attitudes towards what is always there.
Every day gives us a million opportunities but we choose which ones to follow based on our history, our habits and where do we feel comfortable.
We limit ourselves by labeling our environment into good and bad based on our comfort level.
And as long as we sit securely tucked into our comfort zone no change will ever happen.

Change starts within.
You may be comfortable but are you happy? Are thrilled to live every second of your life? Or are you waiting for something or someone to change?
So take a look around you and notice what makes you so comfortable and throw it out!

Step out of your comfort zone and you will see the universe rushing towards you to greet you.
Embrace it, for the only constant in the universe is change.

Giving

When you find the joy of giving it is very hard to go back to wanting.
When you learn to give yourself fully to each and every moment You realize each moment is precious as it is and there is nothing more to ask for.

Love and light

In our essence we are all love and sweetness and light

Merry Christmas!

Love doesn't hurt

Love doesn't hurt. 

Rejection, betrayal, fear and abandonment are painful but if you look deeper you realize they are not part of love. 

The negative emotions come from unspoken words, unmet expectations, or disregard of someone's feelings. And sometimes just from plain misunderstanding or foolish citcumstances. 

So, if you brush your bruised ego, hurt feelings,unreasonable pride and silly expectations aside you realize they have nothing to with love. 

You love someone because you see some depth and something special there. Your feelings of care and compassion don't change because of something that person says or doesn't say, regardless of something that person does or does't do, regardless of whether that person is here with you or not. 

Yes, the pride and the ego and the expectations get in the way, but they are just like clouds in the sky. They may hide the sun for a while, but you still feel the warmth and see the light. 

The  pain only comes when you are trying to deceive yourself that you don't care. 

It's like trying to convince yourself the sun doesn't exist while you are staring at it. 

Negative emotions

All negative emotions have a source somewhere in your every day life, deeply rooted into your habits and desires.
Unconsciously you keep feeding that source and keep feeding the negative emotions.
Find the source or sorrow, grief, anger, fear and frustration
Once you have identified it remove yourself from it.

Conquering the fear

What scares us most is what we most need....

Perception

What you see in others is only a reflection of you...

No longer

"No longer lend your strength to that, which you wish to be free from
Fill life with love and bravery
And you shall lead the life uncommon"

Jewel

Let go of that which no longer serves you
Let go of the unnecessary
Let silence be your teacher
Let love be your guide
Let the breath guide you

Choose the path with a heart and follow it to the end.

No longer let your heart be filled with anger and frustration, for you live in a blissful moment
No longer cry yourself to sleep or wake up in sadness, for you are made of light and joy
No longer look for strength in others, for you are infinite strength
No longer beg or cry for bits of love, for you are eternal, endless love
No longer desire that which you do not have, for you already posses everything you need.
No longer let sorrow and grief drown you, for you are swimming in timelessness.

Are you waiting for the end of the world?

If you had only one day to live who would you call and what would you say.... And what are you waiting for?

Sweetness

"Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won't either because solitude will break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed ot left or hurt or death brushes near let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself you wasted as many as you can."
Louise Erdrich
From the Talking Drum

Bliss

Let silence be your teacher.
Let love be your guide.
Let the breath move you.
Feel the bliss in your heart

A path with heart

" There is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path"

The Matrix

"Seeing the possibility is indeed different from being the possibility"

Ram Dass

Note from Grace Church....

Open your heart asking for nothing.
Allow yourself to receive.

"I"

"What we call "I"is just a swinging door, which moves when we inhale and when we exhale"

Ram Dass

The matrix

For a human to ask"what is love?" would be like the fish asking " what is water"
You float in it. You exist in it.
In Love you are born, in Love you are, in Love you dissolve.
It is the substance that permeates each and every particle of you and the universe.
It is the matrix of life.
When you finally allow yourself to feel it, you realize you are constantly immersed in it.
But because it has no beginning and no end you cannot feel it on the outside, in the physical realm.
You have to come through within.

Emerge

Drop everything unnecessary
Let Yourself emerge
Allow yourself to be

The end of time

" These are parables not about the end of the world but about the end of the world of psychological time. They point of the transcendence of the egoic mind and the possibillity of living in an entirely new state of consciousness"

E. Tolle

What are your problems right now?

Problems are manmade and need time to survive. They cannot survive in the actuality of the now.
E. Tolle.

Welcome the unexpected

Each day is full of thousandths unexpected situations.
Take them all as an opportunity to grow.

Audible Change

If you feel stagnant or think things don't change look back a year...
Remember where you were, what you were doing, what you were wearing what your plans, dreams, hopes and goals were.
Examine how you were back then, what was your mood, what were your thoughts, who were you?

And now fast forward to the present moment.
Who are you now?
How do you feel, what are your plans, hopes and dreams?
Where are yow now? And how is that different from where you thought you were gonna be a year ago?

If you feel no difference no difference in who you were then it's time to change...

But most likely there is  a difference in you.... not in the way you dress may be, or the place you live, or the job you do.
But inside of you.. somewhere deep where only you can reach... a place that is not on display for others.

Be brave and show that change to the world today...

and Remember: Personality is a process..

The silent watcher

Watch the thought, feel the emotion, observe the reaction.
The silent watcher

Ekhart Tolle
"The Power of Now"

Destruction

Before you can create a new world you need to learn to destroy.
Watch your world crumble down and be ok with it.
Don't cling to anything. Let it all go.
Destruction is a part of creation.
A space is needed to be filled with beauty and miracles.
Allow yourself to make that space- even though it seems like an abyss.

Let the reality you have held on to for so long collapse and see the beauty of the world of possibilities that lays beyond....
It is not fear that you have in your heart it's awe

Allow it to fill you up and lift you up, and let yourself soar.

To love

"Our soulmate is the one who makes life come to life."

To accomodate is not to love 

To truly love  means you care enough to hurt someone if you believe in your heart that is the way for them to grow, no matter how much it hurts you to watch them suffer.

To silently watch their anguish, quietly bearing your own pain and swalloing your own tears. 

Calmly bracing for their righteous anger and violent reaction. 

Not looking for excuses or apologies 

Letting them be when all you want is to embrace them 

Selflessly praying that they will make it to the other side , and may be just may be they will have the courage and offer a quiet Thank you. 

Pure love

For one day, do not carry the armor that you normally put on.
Let yourself be in front of others and in front of yourself naked and vulnerable.
And see the consequences the lack of your defences bring.
Leave fear, insecurity, pride and judgement in the closet today and come out with smile on your face,with an open heart full of compassion for others.
For one day do not be preoccipied with how you feel but be attentive to those around you.
And See how that feels.
See the differnece in others when they are able to sense your true nature
Carry with you only the joy and openness and awareness that are our innate quality.
Instead of judging, give love.
Instead of shutting down, open yourself.
Instead of pity give joy.
Let yourself be the infinite amount of love that we all carry inside.
Do not seek love and understanding as an experience that comes from outside.
Experience love as it is mirrored coming from you.
Experience love as pure as it comes from your own heart.
Because we all are, in our essence, pure love.

Limitless possibilities

One needs to transcend desire and need in order to open up space for the limitless possibilities awaiting.

Something to loose

"Because almost everything- all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure- these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to loose. 

You are already naked.

There is no reason not to follow your heart"

Steve Jobs

2005

The impossible

Dare to reach for the impossible and dare make it a reality for the most authentic moments come to life this way.
And don't settle for anything less.

Acceptance

Acceptance doesn't take suffering or struggling or knowing.
It simply needs practice.

Respect

How can you respect others before having the utmost respect for yourself?

Where does the respect come from- love, fear, reverence, admiration?

May  be it should simply come out of compassion and humility....

From a deep place that shares space with love and appreciation.

From knowing that we are all and the same.

Respect is not admiration, not putting someone on pedestal and looking up to them.

It simply means consideration of others' space and opinion.

Regard to their being, knowledge,  and their own inner battle.

Conquer the unknown

Ignore conventtional wisdom

Trust your mischievous intuition

Free Will Astrology

On exploring ourselves

Isn't it time we stopped looking for beauty and love outside ourselves?
Isn't it time we stopped looking for comfort and safety in someone else?
Where would love reside if not in our own hearts?
Where would beauty come from if we cannot see in our own face?
Is it possible to find comfort if we cannot feel it on our own?
And who can make you feel safe if you keep running from your own self?
It's time to stop; let all our fears, doubts, secrets, insecurities and anxieties crash into us; so we can see that there is nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to run from.
Simply accept.
Accept yourself and love yourself.
And find comfort in standing on your own two feet.
Feel the world supporting you and you supporting it back.
Then and only then you can experience love as an outward experience, not as one that comes from others.

The comfort zone

Are you living in a sterile world?
Where all your experiences are strictly controlled by you.
Are you conciously closing yourself in a bubble?
Are you limited by your own judgements, opinions, tastes and habits?

Do you ever think that there is a whole another world beyond your limits? And that those limits are self- imposed for no particular reason?

Break free for a moment
Explore the unthinkable, get out of your comfort zone

Go to a place you have no appreciation for.
Taste something you think you don't like.
Bring your tastebuds to try something without asking what it is.
Be compassionate to the people that annoy you
Break a habit- it only takes 21 days.

Get out of the comfort zone you have created.
Take a look at the marvelous world that is beyond
And accept it as it is.
Love it as it is.
Enjoy it as it is.

Being present

Misery comes from the duality of the moment.
When you are physically present at one place but you desire to be in another.
When you mind is occupied with one thing but you are splitting your attention because you are thinking of another.
Being present requires you to be in the moment 150 percent so that nothing else exist.
Transcending the desire to be anything else, to do anything else.
Abandoning the desire that this moment should be any different.
Complete and total acceptance of the moment as it is.
Complete surrender to what is.
This is complete and utter bliss.

Restraint

Restraint creates space, allows things to flow freely rather than cram in and overwhelm.
Restraint not only itensifies the exierience but it also prolongs it. Shifts the experience to levels we could never conceive of.
Restraint brings the awareness to the things your soul really craves, to make you painfully aware that you already have what you want, you are simply restraining yourself, for the sake of experience more intensely, more profusely, saturating your being with every last drop of it.
Restraint is the opposite of want and need.
It is simply, intuitively knowing what you already have. And the absence of fear that it may be lost, or given away or forgotten.
It is the ultimate trust, experiencing eternity, being one with everything

Misguided love

There is no such thing as pain or fear. Only misunderstood or misguided love. 

Make space

We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us. "
Joseph Campbell

Make space.
Before anything can change, in your life, in you, in the way you see the world, you have to let go of the old, the unnecessary, the unwanted.
And sometimes we cling to the unwanted only because of fear that we will loose something.
We cling to the old because we comfortable there and it is too inconvenient to look up and see what else may be.
We cling to the unnecessary because we are not even aware of it.

They say eclipses and full moons are catalyst for change

But before you change you need to allow for some space.
Look around, kick up the old dusty boxes, look through yellow pages of the books, reminisce over the past nostalgically and allow it to dissipate.
The things we truly have are not the things that can be given or taken away or lost.
The things, the people, the experiences that truly belong to our lifetime will always be there because they have become an integral part of us.
Everything else is unnecessary and should be shed away.
So, instead of rushing into new things, want more, build expectations, look in.
Go deeper and examine where you can make some space- in your life, in your heart, in your mind.
And see how peaceful and beautiful it is to have some space, have fresh air. How liberating.

And before you reach for the next thing, before start filling up the empty space with new things, pause.

Allow that space to remain there.
There is no need to fill it up.

Rather than limiting yourself with the things you think you want or you think you need, wait.

See what life has to offer you.
See what the universe will hand you.
And explore it, graciously saying Thank You.

Commit to yourself

How can you commit to anything before first committing to yourself?
Commit to loving yourself and respecting yourself and doing what is right by you.
Commit to a path, and make sure it is one with a heart.
Commit to your own truth and don't cheat yourself to please others.
Commit to making mistakes and learn from them rather than see them as a failure
Commit to the things you enjoy and enjoy them full- heartedly.
Commit to surround yourself with like- minded people and commit to being patient, with yourself and with others.
Commit to being honest with yourself and not pushing yourself too hard.
Commit to accepting yourself as you are and not bullying yourself for all the things you are not.
Commit to letting your emotions express themselves without suppressing them or judging yourself.
Pledge to yourself that you will do all that is beneficial to you and avoid harm. And stick to that promise.
Commit to waiting for yourself to be ready before jump into anything.
Commit to being you, without compromise.
Commit not substitute one thing for another, not to settle for less than what you think you deserve. And know that you only deserve the best.

Experience...

We very rarely allow ourselves to feel pure emotion.
It is always clouded by some sort of judgement or thought process. Always labeling, classifying, qualifying, narrating in our minds
And that prevents us from experiencing the emition fully.
And we miss the moment, we miss the experience.
There is no lesson to be learned.
Just an emotion to be felt. Allow it to rip you to the bone, tear up your whole being apart so you can put yourself back anew.

Don't judge it- I shouldn't be feeling this way or I wish I could feel this way forever.

The emotion is this extremely powerful feeling of being alive and completely present.
But we miss it.
Because we are afraid of it and want to avoid te pain, or anger or neediness inside.
Because we want to keep a fleeting moment in out hands forever and we can't.

Stop fighting with your emitions.
Release them and let them fill you to the brim.
Feel the intensity in your veins.
Feel the grandeur and humbleness of being alive.

When you feel, when you experience, when you look inside rather than shying away because of fear or shame or insecurity, that is when you are completely here and now.

That is when you experience being alive.
You cannot rationalize it, think it, explain it.
So just feel it. Without judging.

The only person judging you is you

Strength

Power is not found in fighting back or attacking.
Real strength comes from accepting your own weakness while standing with your face in the wind
It takes a lot of courage to admit to yourself and to others that you are vulnerable.

Why?

Everyone has their own reasons, not everything has an explanation.

Opportunities

Every day you are given opportunities. 

They can be important events or tiny moments that could slip by unnoticed. 

Life is about what you do with these opportunities. 

Do you notice them or let them pass by ?

Do you take the time to examine what you can learn from each one 

 Do you deal with them based on your personal history and experience or do you search for new ways to think and explore

Each moment is a chance to learn something 

Each minute a chance to change and grow 

If you always follow the path that you know where would you arrive?

Exactly where you started. 

There is no destination 

The goal is to keep growing and going deeper with no end in sight. 

Take each moment and look at it closely

Whether its a happy moment or a sad occurrence it is a chance. 

A chance to get out of the pattern and learn something. 

And every moment is a gateway to a whole new reality. One we didn't know existed. 

Take a different approach to the mundane situations today. 

Take a different path....just make sure it's a path that has a heart. 

The fear of the Fall

It is the fear of the fall. The fear of the pain that keeps us from walking. Most of us don't even think of running because of the fear of crashing into the wall. 

How can we live without falling?

Falling from bed, falling from grace, falling on the street falling in love, falling from the tree, falling on your knees. All our lives we are falling. Yet we are so afraid of it we close ourselves in little rooms, closets afraid to go outside ,to do anything afraid that we may fall. 

How empty is our life. 

How empty the words

How vain the actions. Even though they were thought to be made with the noblest of intention. 

It is funny. 

How pointless it all is. 

Because when you fall and there is no one around to feel sorry for you you just get up, dust off your pants and keep going. 

Even if there is a pain in your back  and a bruise on your hip. There is no one around to complain to, to demand attention. So we cannot be dramatic because there is no one to care. 

So the fall is not so scary after all. But the idea of it is very frightening. 

On self-love and acceptance

Do you sometimes disappoint yourself to make others happy?

Do you desperately seek approval and affection with your behavior?

Is there a double standard there when you are willing to accept others as they are but beat yourself up that you are not as you imagine yourself to be?

Acceptance and love are tricky things with lots of grey areas...

Love we mistake for commodity, for comfort,  for a shelter. And we search for it everywhere....outside ourselves.
But we forget to look at the one obvious place- within.

We think attachment is the same as love.

But love is not a bandage to cover wounds.

Love is a tremendous  experience and sometimes it requires the distinction of accepting things as they are or settling down for something that is simply not being true to ourselves.

Sometimes love requires the pain of letting go.

But letting go of the object of love is not the same as the letting go of the love.

Love is  energy and it cannot be lost. It changes shapes and forms but it doesn't disappear.

Sometimes in order to love yourself you have to let go of the self image you have created of yourself. and just accept yourself with all the pain, all the insecurities and fears, all the doubts and all the beautiful little things we do.

Meaning

Stop looking for meaning. Stop trying to explaing why things are happening, or how they came to be.

Stop trying to make excuses for others or blame them for the things they didn't do.

Accept that you don't know.

Stop trying to explain your own behavior.
You don't owe an explanantion to anyone.

Life is a chain of events not always full of meaning as we want them to be.

Things are the way there are. Not because you wished them this way. Or because someone else did.
Not everything is a punishment for past mistakes or a reward for how great you have been.
And most likely the explanation you find for what is or isn't happening is not even close to adequate.
It is just your perception of how things are.
It is your mind giving meaning to situations based on you limited personal history.
So why worry about it?

Cause and effect are relative. Meaning is irrelevant.
What has meaning for you makes no sense for someone else.

And the truth of the matter is that you are never aware of all the factors that come into play. You are never familiar with all the circumstances or the whole story

You only see what you can. Which is in the best case scenario a partial and relative truth.

You won't be able to solve a mathematical equation with only 2 numbers if it requires 3.
So stop torturing yourself trying to derive meaning out of things that don't have one.

Stop trying to find meaning in things that are so big that you can't grasp the meaning even if you wanted to.

Allow things to unfold without placing a value in them and judging them.

Allow things to just be.
Allow yourself to just be.

Stop thinking what you should expect or what others expect you to expect.
Become grateful for what you have and what you are.

Let the mind rest and start feeling

Not doing

When you stop doing you realize how much your percetption can shift just by looking deeper into yourself.
When you stop thinking you discover that everything is awareness.
By not doing you come back to yourself, here and now.

Simplicity

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.”
–Albert Einstein


If you look really hard at yourself and your life it is the simple things that matter the most.

The moment shared with a loved one, a walk in the park, the time taken to find the breath.


A quiet afternoon with a good book, a mellow evening inside with the family, a plain home-cooked meal.


So simple, so beautiful


Yet we all race towards impossible dreams and instilled expectations. We chase ghosts and hide in the closet scared of our own reflections.


Full of fears and insecurities and fear we keep running, desperately trying to catch up with our unreal expectations.


But if we stopped, took a deep breath and opened our eyes to the present moment we would realize that everything we ever needed is here right now....


Wherever you are at the moment you read this, PAUSE.... Take a deep breath that fills up your whole body with life and ask yourself what is that you truly, really need at this moment? And if something is honestly lacking, then go get it.

The chances are you and your fears are the only reason why you are missing something. There is no one to blame.


Take another breath, feel the earth supporting you and stand on your own two feet.


You are all you need.


Simple.

Accept the pain

"The wound is the place where life enters you"

Rumi

More often than not we shy away from the pain, desperately trying to bide ourselves and not feel it

But the pain is where we learn the most, especially about ourselves.
It requires going through the wounds to finally reach the peace where no pain exists.
Don't dismiss the pain as something unwanted and hurtful
Accept it, embrace it, flow with it and see where it takes you

Take a deep breath and let it wash through you, erasing all the negativity we carry in our heart.

When you open yourself to pain, you will open yourself to love.

Truth

There is no such thing as honesty.
Only truth exist.
The question is are your eyes open to see it.
Is your mind open to perceive it
Is your soul open to live it.

Possesions

The only things we truly have are the ones we let go of

Anger

You cannot make me angry unless i accept your humiliation, your insult.
Buddha

Don't brace for the storm, embrace the storm

Don't brace for the storm, embrace the storm. Become the storm. Powerful, uncontrolled, pure.
Get hurt without becoming bitter.
Get angry without becoming vengeful
Get jealous without being offended.
Love without expectation or condition
Find joy even if there is no one around
Be weak in front of a crowd.
Don't revel in how much you know or what you know
Become humble
Recognize the existence of another
Respect another's space and decision
Loose your self- importance
Loose your mind in the now
It is the only way to find home
To become one
To be light

Magic

Without belief there is no trust. Without trust there is no faith. Without faith there in no magic, no connection, no existence.
Blind faith is the web that feeds existence.
Trust in what we cannot see, what we cannot touch.
Believing despite all the signals that scream I should't believe.
Conviction that what you do is right even when it seems it isn't.
The only thing you need to mke something happen is believe in it

Love is not something you can do

Those others who go on saying they love you, they can't love because love is not something you can do- it is a quality of your being.

Osho
The mustard seed

Control

What is control?
Getting what you want?
Controlling the outcome of any situation ?
Having control over the circumstances?
Being in agreement with everything around, being in agreeement with everyone around you?
Isn't the illusion of control simply holding back, staying in the place where you think you have control?
What happens when you loose control? And how can you loose it when in reality you never had it.
The only thing you have some control over is yourself. But if you are grippng so tight in fear that you may loose it, then it is the control that has power over you.
There are two options in life.
Let go of control willingly and taste te beauty of freedom.
Let go of control unwillingly and destroy your freedom in the process

Take a deep breath

When you feel like you have nowhere to go invite people in your heart.
When you feel like the world has nothing to give you, give it all you got
When you feel like everything is ending, go back to the things you never finshed
When you feel like everythig is crashing down, start building anew
When you feel there is no one there to hold you, revel in your own company
When everything seems too complicated, take a step back, a deep breath and see how simple it is.

The gap

Pay attention to the gap- the gap between two thoughts, the brief, silent space between words in a conversation, between the notes of a piano or a flute the gap between the in breath and out-breath.

Eckhart Tolle

What sustains you?

"Tell me, can you love life and let love find you when you are lost? What sustains you, what helps you sit without hope and wait, opening your heart to love when you have no faith that Love exists?"

The Invitation
Oriah

What gives you the hope, what keeps you going, what gets you up in the morning after a teary night and gets you through the day?
It is not something outside of you.
It is not something anyone can give you.
It is not the comfort of someone's hand or touch or embrace.
Those are all momentary things that pass.

What keeps you is your own heart, your own love, your own strength and beauty and light.
It's all the love that is inside you that you want to share with the world, it is all compassion that you have for those you care about and for those you don't know.

Everything you are looking for, you already have.
You just have to look inside.

Meditation

Meditation is not finding peace into the silence.
Meditation is finding silence and peace and clarity whithin the noise, despite the destractions. Clearing the mind from inside out. Letting go of all the unnecessary thoughts.
Clarity. Of what needs to be done. Or what is worth doing and what is frivoulous

The meditation, the divine and the mundane every -day world are not separate. They are all one. Interconnected and intertwined.
Find the meditation in the little things.
When you sweep and fold the laundry. When you cook or make love.
Be present. Be there 100 %.
Nothing else matters at that moment.

Be there when you wake up and feel your achy bones without mAking a laundry list of whAt needs to be achieved during the day.

Be there one hundred percent when you lay in bed at night and listen to your breath. Do not distract the mind with endless conversations.

Simply melt into your being. Do not judge, do not praise.
Just be grateful for everything you have been given.
The gift of light and air inside you. Experience it, share it, gift it.

Rejoyce in your peace, rejoyce in your sorrow, rejoyce in being you.

Simplify

Why do we insist on complicating everything?
Why do we add layer after layer after layer of conditions? Of complications
Of stupid games that we play. With ourselves and with others.
Why can't we be simple?
Strip everything of its pretences and perfumed costumes and let the naked truth just be.
Simple is so beautiful.
Natural is so exquisite.
Yet we try to add more beauty by smearing make up.
We try to be more sophistocated by adding layers of complications.
Complicated and complex are not the same.
Simplicity is the greatest sophistication.

But we cannot let simple things just exist.

We cannot let love just be that.
We have to tarnish it with jealousy, possesiveness, pride, hurt, anger.

It becomes so entangled in all these frivovolous emotions you can't even see the love any more.

It is sad.
Society makes up such senseless dogmas and morals that complicate even our feelings.
We deprive ourselves from the things we most want for no reasons.
We miss the best moments of our lives because we are too busy judging ourselves.
That should be the only punishable crime.

We let our morals get in the way of doing what is right.
It is so silly.

Drawing the line in the sand so we can tiptoe around it. And even after the magic of the wave crashes ashore vanquishing the line we still pretend it is there.

We are so busy imagining the line and maintaining it we miss the beauty of the ocean, the overwhelming joy of if. Because it is scary to swim in something so vast and limitless. Much easier to draw a box in the sand and sit in it. Forever wishing we could go swimming.
Yet the the only thing stopping you are those lines you decided to draw around you.
You choose to make complications and untruths in your life because you are petrified of the truth.
The truth is always simple.
But we cannot handle that.

So we complicate it.
How silly and vain our lives have become.

Simplify

Release everything not necessary.
Let go of the fears and anger and doubt.
They are just complications, chimeras that keep you from seeing the beauty of simple love.

Surrender

After the anger comes the humbleness.
After you have raged in a battle for days at a time you realize the futility in it.
The waste you have layed.

But can you arrive at that state of humbleness before the anger. Without experiencing the anger.

Would it be the same?

We know a lot of things. But that doesn't make us wise.
We learn a lot but that doesn't make us better.
I myself preach things i do not practice.

I teach to revel in the breath but get lost in the breathlessness of fear.
I ask for patience and understanding but when i feel misunderstood i loose my patience.
I seek humbleness in others but my "righteous " anger has no bounderies.

I ask for uncoditional love but the love i give is wrapped in many conditions.

Where is the middle ground?
How do you stop being wrong without being right?

Surrender to a higher power.
Accept that you are flawed. Without guilt or shame. Without trying to change it.
Surrender to the universe.
Accept that you are powerless and have no control.
All you can do is BE.
Everything else is untruth.
Anger, pride, power, sadness it is all irrelevant.
You cannot be anything. Just be

Evolution

They say it is me who is afraid of opening, of loving deeply, of trusting completely.
And yes i have been there- when i couldn't look the other in the eye and say what my heart wanted to say.
But is it me who is afraid and running.
I do not run. I simply realize that what i am looking for is not here and keep going. Keep searching for what my heart believes to be true.
Some sort of feeling that makes you humble, forgiving, compassionate. The feeling that destroys your ego.
You don't need to fight your ego. You don't need to kill it.
When you finally taste the love I have felt the illusion of the ego simply dissolves into thin air.
That is why love is tied into everything. Love is the one so often missing component of our journey of self exploration
We believe to be so brave in our search for truth, stepping over people and causing pain.
But we don't stop to love. We never stop and say " wait, this person's feelings are more important than mine". That is the ultimate death of the ego.
From that the Ego cannot rise again.

Everything else is just a temporary exile
The ego simply comes back, may be in a different shape and form. But stronger than before. Because you are convinced that you are the most important. That all there is is you.
The only illusion in this world is YOU. You cannot exist. You only Exist through others. So give them all you have. All your passion and love and trust and fears. Do not hold anything back.
You will see how beautiful it is.
The biggest gift you were given is the ability to love selflessly.
But we have chosen to ignore that ability.
We always want something in return.
Whether it's to be loved back or appreciated. Something is demanded. And that kills the feeling.
Pure Love. It has no goal,no objective.
But we are afraid to let ourselves feel it because we afraid we won't be loved back. And we will look like fools.
Such a silly fear.
How can you look foolish for giving all you have. It is the person that is shying away from that feeling that is being foolish.
Are you willing to look like a fool for love?
That is the ultimate question. Because that is where the ego doesn't stand a chance.
There is nothing to be ashamed of. Be foolish, go to the extreme, beg, go down on your knees and beg. Because if you are not able to do that you are too proud and your ego is gripping you tight.
It is a shame that so many of us go through life never experiencing the sweet surrender of love.
We only find the illusion of love. Some pitiful substitute that we parade around proudly.
It is a medal. A medal that days " I am not me. I am my ego. And i am proud of it" and we don't even realize it.
So foolish.
So no, I am not the one that is afraid and incapable of loving.
Because each time i love to the brim. And each time I leave, somewhat disappointed that the other wasn't ready to see the extent to which I love.
I leave just so I can go do it all over again.
And I never stop loving anyone. All my love is scattered to the edges of the universe.
But the gift I give is often returned. Sometimes rummaged through and wrinkled, sometimes worn, sometimes unopened.
And that fills me with sadness
But doesn't kill the hope in me.
It doesn't kill the love in me.
Even if i have given just a glimpse of love it is sometimes enough.
Or it simply wasn't the right time.

So i go on searching.
And if I never am able to give it all away. I know I have given all I have. I haven't given up. I haven't shrunk away in fear.
And I have learned.
I am always learning how to love.
It is my own evolution.

"The invitation"

When it is hard, i will remind you what you already know: that you can do this; that the courage to go deeper is found by letting your desire grow larger than your fear; that strength is found in your longing to live fully, your willingness to settle for nothing less.

From " The Invitation"

Serenity

Let silence be your teacher,let love be your guide

Action

Sometimes your best course of action is to sit back and wait.
Not doing can be very powerful.
Allow the changes to happen on their own abandoning the desire to control the change and the outcome.
Not doing you allow things to change naturally taking their natural course.
Just because you seem still on the outside doesn't mean nothing is happening.
Transforming internally, making minor changes of awareness have tremendous impact on the way you perceive the world.
All change starts within.

Desire

Wanting is doubt.
When you want something you believe that you don't have it.
Wanting is a deception to yourself.
You are everything you think you need. You already have everythig you may possibly want.
You are simply not trusting.
You doubt what you have. You doubt what you are.
ThAt creates conflict.
That creates mysery.
Trust
Simply trust.

Charged

In moments of fear and we want to act but that is only a reaction. In moments of fear we want to get angry but that is only an emotion. In moments of hurt we want to cry and feel sorry for ourselves bit that is giving up.

Those are the moments when we need to lean back, open up the window and let whatever the wind blows come in.
Instead of doubt trust into the unknown.
Instead of controlling the outcome let go of expectaions and desires.
Right there in that moment, charged with so much experience and radiance you have the answer to everything. You.

Modus Operandi

Isn't it amazing that each morning we have a number of realities we can wake up to, yet we always choose the same one.....
Each day we have an infinite number of choices on how to spend the time yet we choose to stick with the habits.
Every time we judge we have the option to see another's perspective , yet we always choose our own.

Think about all the choices you make at any given moment. And what would happen if you chose to abandon you MO today?

To love is not to have

It is not the commitment to a person that i am trying so desperately to escape.
It is the commitment to a relationship.
The commitment to the role i am expected to play.
Relationships of any sort, as defined by society are so limiting in their function. Relationships are supposed to bring people closer. Instead they create a gap. Because they institutionlize the expression of our emotions. Categorize them in an arbitrary system.
And if we cannot find our way through the maze of dos and don'ts we feel like we have failed.
Does a ring on my finger really mean i love and i am loved?
Yes I may love you to death but is picking up your dirty socks really a proof of my devotion.
If We love don't we want to share this love with as many people as we can? Why should we set expectations to how much time we spend with each other?
One should be free to create smells and tastes for the sole purpose of watching another burst in sensation and joy not because it's an obligation.
When did sex and lips touching become equivalent to loving? They are an expression of it just like missing another, longing, talking, observing, feeling someone's breath or simply trusting and opening up.
Or may be greatest expression of love is restraint, letting go, giving up expectations and desires and just indulging in what we have.
Why have we limited our expression of emotions to unrelevant acts. And become such great performers in things that doesn't matter.
Love is a freedom we need to strive to attain not a role we want to fit in.

Our Essence

It is funny to watch your whole life unravel before your eyes.
All of a sudden things start to make sense.
You realize where all your patterns, reasons and fears  come from and that they have no foundation in you.
The seeds were planted there by other's actions.
No not by others. Nobody came up to you and said " I want you to be fearful" or "I want you to protect yourself from others"
No, their actions were caused by another's actions.
So they planted the seeds, and you let them grow.
Not because you wanted to. But because  you didn't know any better.
Because there was no one to show you another way.

Don't blame yourselves for your mistakes and regrets.
Accept them as a part of you.
Don't hate yourself for things that could have been.
Things are what they are suposed to be for a reason

So we can learn

Don't identify yourself with the fear or the pain.
There are no such things.
Only misunderstood or misguided love

Don't be your emotions! They are just reactions.
And watch them slip away to reveal a beautiful you.

Our Essence is that of Sweetness and Love

Why chocolate?

Enlightenment doesn't smell like chocolate
It can smell like coffee beans, fresh baked bread, soiled diapers, melted butter, rotten eggs or rain.
Enlightenment is the moment when you are so aware of that particular moment that nothing else exists.
There is no past and future. There are no worries or expectations.
There is just now.
Your senses are experiencing the smell or touch or taste or vision so profoundly that you get lost in it.
The moment becomes everything. It becomes eternity.

Like the drop of rain sliding down your neck on a summer afternoon.
Experience it.

In that moment there are no questions or answers. There is just the rain drop and your sensation of it.

Namaste.

Restructuring

Apparently the stars are so aligned that the whole universe is in a flux.
We are all restructuring, changing, demolishing old structures to make space for new ones.
It could be quite a painful process.
But are appreciating enough this gift that the skies are giving us?
Tune into it, embrace the change, don't expect an outcome, just dance with it enjoying every minute of it.
Change is not a road to some destination, it is the destination itself.

Perfect moments

It seems that the perfect moments are the ones you least expect.

Like this morning... steaming cup of tea, gray skies, silence and my work.

We search completeness, but we can never find it,  it is so elusive because  we look for it in the wrong moments.

In each little moment each one of us is perfectly complete. Yet when we are not present, we fail to realize it.
Become aware of the here and now and you will see there is nothing else to seek.

The moment your mind takes over and you wonder what would make this moment better, you have already lost it.

Censored

Apparently Google thinks my thoughts are spam....

Control

In controlling you repress
In transformation you express.

Comfort

It is so easy to sink into comfort.
But can comfort ever make you happy?
Can it make you experience joy?
Can comfort make you experience anything?
Comfort is lack of experience, lack of growth, lack of change.
Yet we all seek it so badly.

Security is a shelter for the insecure.

Get comfortable with discomfort!

Stop seeking a place to sink into complacent oblivion.
Keep seeking the change, the feeling of butterflies in your stomach that keeps you alive.
Cherish the fear and insecurity.
Keep evolving

Suspend all judgment

Suspend all your judgements!
Because  they are but your own biased opinion. Based on your personal history and way of thinking.
And the person next to you does not think like you, does not share your history and your view of the world. No matter how alike you are you cannot see the same things the same way.
No matter how much you analyze and think you are objective you are merely rearranging your prejudices.
The things you think are true are just your thoughts.
So you are only getting angry at yourself....

How many things in your life have you lost or let go of only because you were too proud to admit you didn't know and decided to make up your own story.
Become comfortable with not knowing. Become friends with acceptance and humbleness.

Everyone has their own reasons, but not everything has an explanation.

Being

Disappointment and anxiety come from the idea that we need to be somewhere else. That we are not what we need to be.
We are always exactly where we need to be. But we are so distracted by where we think we should be that we miss the point of being.

Anger

Why is it that when we want to get a reaction out of someone we always go for anger. We don't try to provoke love, joy or compassion.
We seek for anger, pity or guilt.
Isn't that horrific
Anger is the easiest emotion to provoke and one of the hardest to get rid of.
So next time instead of tears try to bring joy to someone's life, instead of guilt try to provoke gratitude, instead of shame provide confidence.
See what how it makes you feel.

Being right

Why do we insist so much on being right all the time?
Not only do we want to convince others that we are right, we want them to believe what we believe.
Isn't that oppressive?
Wouldn't it be terribly boring of we all thought the same way?
Each one of us is right for themselves.... Sometimes....
Abandon the need to prove yourself right.
Find the need, or the someone to be proven wrong!
Because wrong is not negative in any way. It is simply a perspective different from yours. It is a tremendous potential to grow and embrace ideas other than the ones you are attached to.

Being right has no value. Being proven not right opens so many new possibilities

.

Change hurts

Change is the most uncomfortable feeling
It is like trying to fit and look good into clothes that are very outdated.
You are twisting and squeezing and pulling and fighting trying so hard to be what you used to be.
But why?
Why is metamorphosis so painful?
Because we cling to our own perception of ourselves.
Because we are so attached to the idea of what we are.
"the most important thing is to be able at any given moment what we are for what we can become"
Maharishi Majesh Yogi
The caterpillar doesn't resist becoming a butterfly.
The snake gladly removes its old skin to make space for a new one.
Even we throw out old clothes to make room to grow

Why are we so unwilling to do it with the things that really need changing?
Our outdated habits, old ideas of what we are and the people around us are?

We need to make space, to throw out the old and have fun with the new.
It is scary at first, but soon you forget the fear and become attached to that new you, only to resist the next change, lurking around the corner.

Become humble

When you want to shut down
Open up
When you want to run
Stay
When you want to cry
laugh
When you want to die
Breathe deeper
When you want to shrink
Expand
When you want to doubt
Trust
When you want to hate
Love more
When you want to punish
Embrace
When you want to feel sadness
Find joy
When you want to be angry
Be grateful
When you feel that you have lost someone
Find your own self
When you want to be still
dance
When you seek silence
Sing
When you want to fight
Become humble

The only pain that follows us is the love we hold back

The only pain comes from not letting yourself experience the emotion. Let it run wild trough you, whether it is joy, pain,love, sorrow or grief. The only way to overcome it is if you satiate in it.

Friends

Some people have the ability to transform us, transport us to different reality and see things never seen before.
They are like a doorway into another dimension.
We don't even realize how much we need that influence until all of a sudden it is lost, and we are desperately searching for a way out, as if we are fighting fo air.

What is Faith

The guy's shirt in front of me states that Faith is refusal to panic.

Doubt is pain
Too lonely to know
That faith is his twin brother.
Khalil Gibran

So what is faith?
It could simply be put as the lack of
Doubt.
Then what is doubt?
Doubt is insecurity, fear, hesitation
Doubt is everything that knocks you of your balance.
Doubt is everything that is unnecessary.
So let go of it
Simply trust
But first you need to trust in yourself.

Turning the universe upside down

Seeing the world from a different perspective is always helpful.

And any perspective when turned on its head sometimes makes a lot more sense than when you look at it the way you normally view the universe.

Kids love being upside down… when did we forget how much fun it is.

And no matter how much we want to we can't always create havoc and turn the world upside down.

But we can always stand on our own head!

So go ahead turn upside down, even if it is for one long breath!

It can be very refreshing...

Other than being pure fun inversions have other benefits as well:

·      Encourage delivery of fresh blood to your heart, which provides more efficient circulation

·      Standing upright most of the time causes the lower lung tissue to saturate with blood. Inverting ventilates the upper part of the lungs, increasing the ensuring oxygen-to-blood exchange promoting healthier lung tissue.

·      Stimulate the lymphatic system and strengthens the immune system.

·      A natural way of counteracting the pull of gravity

·      The pressure on the top of the skull promotes the cranial bones’ elasticity and increases the amount of cerebrospinal fluid

·      Strengthen the upper body and core

·      Increases blood flow to the brain, bringing more oxygen to the cells optimizing brain function, develops more awareness, concentration, better memory and stimulates thought

·      Develop balance awareness, which occurs when the upper regions of the inner ear are stimulated.

·      Inversions upset gravity activating the pituitary and pineal glands to balance hormone levels in the body and promote a state of well-being

Inspirations from the Mat

Yoga is the practice of getting to know yourself through your body.
Learning about your limitations and exploring them.
Playing with them, challenging them, eliminating them.

It is a daily practice to align your energy and realize that nothing is impossible.

One cannot expect to be perfect in each pose, because there is no absolute right way to do each asana.
It is all relative to your energy. And when you feel the prana flowing through body then you realize you are exactly where you need to be.

It is a game, forgetting the thoughts and meditating in the movement.
Finding stillness in the chaos.

Open your heart to see your true essence

Open to me so that I may open
Provide me your inspiration
So that I might see mine

Rumi

The most profound secrets are no secrets at all.
It is the simplest truths that we so often miss in search of something deep and meaningful.
Yet the most precious moments are the most innocent and mundane ones.
The ones we did not plan, we did not anticipate, we had no time to worry about.
The most beautiful things cannot be bought with money. They always come free.
And when you least expect them.

It is imposible to know ourselves without the others.
Others are our mirrors, in which we see not only our reflections, but our deepest and darkest fears.
Only to realize that there is nothing to fear.
In its core our essence is sweetness, kindness and love.

Stop judging and demanding!
Stop analyzing and believing that others hurt you!
Start loving and giving!
Start doing simply for the joy of sharing experiences, without attachment to the end result.

Lesson from a friend

Zen_Moments: Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it. ~ Rumi

Love

How do you measure Love?

By the number of kisses you get?

By how many times a day the object of your affection tells you that he/she loves you?

By how much time you spend together?

By the amount of time you are apart and thinking of the other?

By the restraint we show, or by caring for the other's well being?

By the Sacrifices we make?

Love cannot be measured.
Love cannot be given or taken away.
Love cannot be demanded or given at will.

Love just is.
It is Everywhere, surrounding us, bathing us in its glory and light.

When we finally realize that we ARE Love, we find peace.
We exist, breathe and love- that is all we can do.
There is no separation between you, me and the others.
Everything is One and therefore, we can never separate love and give it sparingly only to the people we choose to.

Inspirations from Zen Mind, Beginner Mind

Just doing, vs experiencing or perceiving. 

Even experiencing the experience is a mistake. 

You do and you become one with what you are doing. 

There is no separation, there is no experience of it. 

You don't do something and do it completely. 

You become the doing. 

There is no thought or experience, you just are. 

This cannot be perceived on mental level....

Change

Change is not something drastic, that happens from one day to the next, most of the time it's not even something that we are aware is happening.
All of a sudden we open our eyes and realize something has changed.
Change is the sum of a lot of small things, things we are rarely aware of are happening, that culminate in the metamorphosis of our behavior or the awareness of that behavior.
Change is very subtle, very gentle.
You may say it slip under your door when you least expect it to.
Change always happens on emotional level.
You cannot will it to happen, you cannot make it happen.
You need to allow it to happen.
You need to welcome as it comes in, embrace it as it petrifies you to the bone, and the you emerge on the other side stronger and more beautiful than ever before.
And you need to accept that it will happen again and again and again.
No river will be the last to cross, no peak will be the last to climb, there is always a road ahead.
If you choose to stop and rest and and take in the scenery that is ok.
But don't ever stop walking, don't ever stop changing- you will stop growing. And that is a death within itself.
Change is uncomfortable, it is sometimes painful, but if you allow yourself to be aware of the process you will realize how beautiful it is.
Just remember: there is nowhere to get to, there is no rush, and you are always, always exactly where you need to be.

Freedom of perception

 Freedom of perception - freedom to perceive what quantum physics now recognizes as the essential nature of the universe: a universe of energy is organized by a force of intelligence called intent.

 A state of presence brings the energy and focus needed to recapitulate, or review one’s life, and learn from one’s experience, allowing for a new connection with others, oneself, the earth, and the life of the earth (seen and unseen), as well as the planets and stars; and new choices in the way one uses one’s attention and energy in daily life.

From "What is Tencegrity"

Sorcerers understand discipline as the capacity to face with serenity odds that are not included in our expectations. For them, discipline is an art: the art of facing infinity without flinching, not because they are strong and tough, but because they are filled with awe.

Don Juan Matus, The Active Side of Infinity

Being Present in the moment allows us to fully dive into the experience and perceive energy, without letting the limits of the mind shrink that experience by placing it into a irrelevant category.
All experiences are just that, experiences. Good, bad, wrong, right,joyous or sad are only classifications of the mind.
Letting go of those classification can only enrich the experience.

What can you let go of today?

Sometimes the comfort zone is just an idea we have created.
For the sole purpose of keeping ourselves comfortable.
And we are so afraid of letting go of that idea that we hold on to it for dear life while the beauty of the world gently passes us by, brushing against us, nudging us to try something new, to feel the wind beneath our fingers.
What does it take to open up your eyes, to open up your heart, feel the morning chill on your skin and let it breathe life in you, let it shake your whole existence.
A drop of rain on your neck has so much beauty and enrichment to offer- feel it gentling sliding down, experience it fully, learn from it and enjoy it. Don't just brush it off annoyingly with the only thought that you are are not comfortable getting wet.
What can you notice today?
What can you change?
Something small, something insignificant that may change the way you see the world.
Something simple, yet very powerful.
What can you let go of that makes you feel more alive?