http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=684pL7KZzKk

I thought of a song this morning. Burt Bacharach's "Alfie"

What's it all about, Alfie

Is it just for the moment we live

What's it all about when you sort it out, Alfie

Are we meant to take more than we give

Or are we meant to be kind

And if only fools are kind, Alfie

Then I guess it's wise to be cruel

And if life belongs only to the strong, Alfie

What will you lend on an old golden rule

As sure as I believe there's a heaven above, Alfie

I know there's something much more

Something even non-believers can believe in

I believe in love, Alfie

Without true love we just exist, Alfie

Until you find the love you've missed you're nothing, Alfie

When you walk let your heart lead the way

And you'll find love any day, Alfie, Alfie

Download 3 free reports on how to change your life.Change Your Life

I had been wondering for a long time:

"How can I be acknowledged, have more support, or get what I want?" 

But this really just blocked my clear sensing of what I needed to do. 

Giving opens my ability to see others and perceive their realities,

and it lets me see myself in a higher and more loving way. 

When I forgive others, it is so much easier for me to forgive myself. 

Healing others is not just a gift to others, it is a gift to myself.

Give to others what you want to receive

- love, support, appreciation, healing, and acknowledgment

- and you will get it back.

This is not from the free reports

but they touch upon this and other vital information needed to change your life.

They can be gotten here.  Go ahead and change your life:

Change Your Life

Angela Wickenberg

P.S.  Your comments are appreciated.  I would love to hear what you think. What is it all about?

Change Your Life

Tags: Alfie, create own reality, manifesting, get what you want, giving and receiving, i believe in love, love, forgiveness, what's it all about, golden rule

I just added my blog to Odiogo, which transfers the written content into podcasts! Here's the link to the podcasts:

Enjoy!

Tags: podcasts, blog, blogging, personal_blog blogposts

I realize that I create my own reality

From my every thought, word, and action.

Rather than thinking analytically,

I intend to explore my creative genius.

I recognize the power of affirmations

and the need to protect myself

from negative thoughts in the psychic atmosphere.

I remember that *naming* objects and people

is a magical art.

It has been said

that all names are composed of letters, and each letter carries a spiritual vibration.

There is magic of using words

as mantrams of power,

or phrases of enchantment.

Keeping in mind

that once the genie is *out of the bottle*,

some danger of misusing power is always present.

That danger can be transformed

into a great adventure

of consciousness and mental expansion

and which allows the light

of innocence and imagination

to rekindle my passion

for learning and living.

Zazen is not even meditation, by our Western standards,

so deep is its lack of attachment.

In Zazen, there are no goals and you can sit anywhere.

But the place where I participated in this group meditation was ideal and had no distractions.

When my mind has been spinning at full speed for a while,

it seems hard not to look at anything in particular - just emptiness,

but there is no need to focus or concentrate on anything.

In zazen, the breathing should be relaxed, but not controlled or managed;

we just let it happen. In this relaxation, it becomes natural.

The body remains motionless. Like a motionless dance.

 

We sat on pillows and small benches.

Once settled, you remain immobile,

because if the body doesn't move

the mind will gradually fall silent.

When you practice Zazen,

you are not to try to stop thinking.

It will stop by itself.

When something comes to your mind, let it come in,

and let it go out. It will not stay long, unless you attach to it.

When you try to stop your thinking,

it means you're bothered by it.

In Zazen, we are not to be bothered by anything.

It may take quite a while before I find my calm, serene mind in this practice.

Many sensations come, many thoughts and images arise,

but they are said to be just waves of our own mind.

Usually we think of our mind as receiving impressions and experiences from outside,

but that is not a true understanding.

Actually, our mind includes everything.

Nothing outside yourself can cause any trouble.

You yourself make the waves in your mind.

If you leave your mind as it is, it will become calm.

After a few days of practice, they say I will enjoy it tremendously.

And will see layer upon layer start to drop.

A moment comes when I will simply be there with no mind…

Tags: zazen, za-zen, zazen meditation, group meditation, no-mind

Rich Schefren of Strategic Profits has written a fantastic report on how discovering your "constraints" will help you achieve success.  It is very detailed and I highly recommend you go to his site and download the report.

There is also a "ruthlessly benevolent" interview by Jay Abraham available.  If you are in any business I suggest you go directly to the site and download and read the report as well as listen to this important interview.

One of the things he asks us to do is to analyze what your greatest constraint is.

My greatest constraint - The Why Behind Every Failure I Have Ever Had

I have not had definite positive plans for the future that I have consistently worked towards.

In the language of Rich Schefren's report, this constraint is really several constraints, but mainly is a fear of failure and not being confident about my goals. Rich says that many times, we will identify symptoms of constraints, such as a lack of money is really just a  symptom and not a constraint in itself.

One symptom that I have identified is "bad judgment of people and social situations" which has led to = FALSE ASSUMPTIONS

In the language of Rich's report, this is called "flying blind" - not actually knowing what the market/your customers want and "not  understanding the importance of getting very early feedback on what you are doing". 

You get the idea. Go to his site and get the report. Doesn't matter if you're in business or not.  It will help you get clearer on your life goals and how you're using your time and caring for your loved ones.

Tags: contraints, why, failure, positive plans,

Fill my heart with Love, that my every teardrop may become a star.

–Hazrat Inayat Khan

I dare to be the rapturous beauty that lives in my heart.

I imagine that I am being filled with the elixir of divine love.

I let the radiant light of Love pour into my heart

and light a candle,

symbolizing the purity of love I wish to share with the world.

I celebrate life.

Tags: heart, love, teardrop, divine love, purity of love, celebrate life

The same stream of life

that runs through the world

runs through my veins

night and day

in rhythmic measure.

It is the same life

that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth

into numberless waves of flowers.

            –Tagore

 

We all want to be the Saint

and condemn the Devil

The problem is we are all both of them.

We condemn one thing

And appreciate the other.

At any moment

You can be loving

And have crushed your hatred down.

And in the next moment

you have put your Angel of Light above

and crushed your dark devil down.

But rather than night opposing day,

rather than the dark suppressing the light,

purity fighting against impurity,

Immoral versus moral,

Love against hatred,

Evil at war with all that is good…

May they work together as a unified whole.

Things are as they are.

When it is dark,

I can see no fault

As the darkness covers all blemishes

In darkness,

we see only

The true essence of our being

there is therefore a deep relaxation in darkness

And if I am afraid of the dark

I am divided and not at peace

And I cannot relax.

Darkness is all around us

Before we came

and when we leave

In Infinite darkness

Where I feel no fear

I am undivided

And do not condemn

For in reality

there is no purity and impurity.

From sound to inner silence.

Therefore, I close my eyes

and see only darkness;

I am ignorant and silent

For if the division is not there

Then it will disappear from consciousness

Then both can exist together.

Nothing is certain but this.

Tags: Judgement, Error, Limitation, non-judgement,

Tags: Tweet-a-thon, C.H.D., raise money, heart surgery, Dr.Mani, Twitter, donations

You darkness, that I come from,

I love you more than all the fires that fence in the world

for the fire makes a circle of light for everyone,

and then no one outside learns of you.

But the darkness pulls in everything:

shapes, and fires, animals, and myself,

how easily it gathers them!

powers and people.

And it is possible a great energy is moving near me.

I have faith in nights.

        Rainer Maria Rilke

In accepting our weaknesses,

we find our greater strengths.

When we discover the root of our suffering,

we can weed out the debris of our past

and bring our fears to the light.

I know

that it is possible to move away from isolation or darkness,

where spiritual seeds are sown,

toward light and unity,

where the flowers of wisdom can blossom.

I embrace the fears, doubts, and un-integrated aspects of my psyche with open arms.

I let my light shine into the darker regions of my mind.

I accept myself as a blending of higher and lower selves,

a union of spiritual and material bodies.

I call up my anger, jealousies, and antipathies,

and transfigure them into joy, compassion, and understanding.

Where there is separation,

I sow harmony and togetherness.

Where there is pain from mental anguish,

I offer heartfelt sensitivity

and simple acts of kindness to friends and relatives.

I reverse the pattern of lying to myself and others.

I learn to speak and live out

the truth of my existence

to the best of my ability.

I am the embodiment of pure female energy

for I am the deepest void or womb,

where all is born, must die, and be born again.

Breaking the ties,

cutting the cords,

All my demons are eternally free

I find the inner courage and strength to overcome

addictive patterns and emotional dependencies

which have undermined my self-confidence and self-esteem.

I stand victorious

amidst the rooted entanglements of despair.

Out of my deepest, darkest fears,

a new cycle of evolution beckons

My emotions have surfaced

and are now being released.

The sea has claimed my tears

and the Sun is drying my eyes.

All of my really exciting trips were several years ago, and one of them was a six week tour of New Zealand when my eldest son was only 4 years old. We had moved to Maui, Hawaii, and so we flew from Honolulu to Auckland, renting a house that was about 10 minutes from the city. We also traveled up through the Coromandel Peninsula and down to the middle of the country. It was strange how it got colder the further south we drove.

I have lots of great memories of the Maoris and the special nature of New Zealand and felt a special closeness and affinity to that country.

Funny how these memories are just not with us on a daily basis and something triggers the memory.

That "move" to Hawaii was for the second time; we actually moved 15 times in 10 years, three times, "moving" back to California or Hawaii.  Every time, I had to sell nearly everything that I owned to move back. It wasn't hard; I wanted to move back home. But we never ended up staying - just for a few months.  I started to see a pattern emerge.  When I finally started a life of my own with my little son after that trip to New Zealand, I decided to stay put in one place and create the stability that we never had.

Today, I was reminded of this trip to New Zealand, and the several moves we made back and forth to the States, when making plans to sell some rugs to get rid of a tax debt.

Sometimes, life begins to mirror back to us our deepest held beliefs and patterns of relating to the world; the resource of our own worth.  Because of the connection of having things to stability and wealth that I made so many years ago, I have procrastinated this trip and even dreaded going.

Some old beliefs are harder to change than others, even though we know that the power of prosperity consciousness is our "ace in the hole"; that I can change my world through the power of positive thinking and the ability to visualize myself steeped in abundance. Turning over a new leaf now and going with the flow, I know that this is leading me one step closer to freedom.

Tags: NewZealand, Hawaii, beliefs, patterns, stability, wealth, prosperity consciousness, positive thinking, vizualization, abundance