Inspirations

Inspirations

One day a young man was standing in the middle of the town proclaiming that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley. A large crowd gathered and they all admired his heart for it was perfect. There was not a mark or a flaw in it. Yes, they all agreed it truly was the most beautiful heart they had ever seen. The young man was very proud and boasted more loudly about his beautiful heart.

Suddenly, an old man appeared at the front of the crowd and said, "Why your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine." The crowd and the young man looked at the old man's heart. It was beating strongly, but full of scars, it had places where pieces had been removed and other pieces put in, but they didn't fit quite right and there were several jagged edges. In fact, in some places there were deep gouges where whole pieces were missing. The people stared -- how can he say his heart is more beautiful, they thought?

The young man looked at the old man's heart and saw its state and laughed. "You must be joking," he said. "Compare your heart with mine, mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars and tears." "Yes," said the old man, "yours is perfect looking but I would never trade with you. You see, every scar represents a person to whom I have given my love - I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them, and often they give me a piece of their heart which fits into the empty place in my heart, but because the pieces aren't exact, I have some rough edges, which I cherish,
because they remind me of the love we shared.

Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away,and the other person hasn't returned a piece of his heart to me. These are the empty gouges -- giving love is taking a chance. Although these gouges are painful,they stay open, reminding me of the love I have for these people too, and I hope someday they may return and fill the space I have waiting. So now do you see what true beauty is?"

The young man stood silently with tears running down his cheeks. He walked up to the old man, reached into his perfect young and beautiful heart, and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the old man with trembling hands. The old man took his offering, placed it in his heart and then took a piece from his old scarred heart and placed it in the wound in the young man's heart. It fit, but not perfectly, as there were some jagged edges. The young man looked at his heart, not perfect anymore but more beautiful than ever,
since love from the old man's heart flowed into his.
They embraced and walked away side by side.

~Unknown~

The ART of Listening

When I ask you to listen to me and you start giving advice,
You have not done what I asked.
When I ask you to listen to me and you begin to tell me why I shouldnt feel that way,
you are trampling on my feelings.
When I ask you to listen to me and you feel you have to do something to solve my problem, you have failed me, strange as that may seem.
Listen! All I asked was that you listen,
Not talk or do-----just hear me.
Advice is cheap; 10 cents will get you both Dear Abby and Billy Graham in the same paper.
And I can DO for myself. Im not helpless.
Maybe discouraged and faltering, but not helpless.
When you do something for me that I can and need to do for myself, you contribute to my fear and inadequacy.
But when you accept as a simple fact that I do feel what I feel, no matter how irrational,
then I can quit trying to convince you and can get about the business of understanding whats behind this irrational feeling.
And when thats clear, the answers are obvious and I dont need advice.
Irrational feelings make sense when we understand whats behind them.
Perhaps thats why prayer works, and HE/SHE doesnt give advice or try to fix things. They just listen and let you work it out for yourself.
So please listen and just HEAR me.
And, if you want to talk , wait a minute for your turn, and i'll listen to you.

Ralph Roughton,M.D.

True Freedom To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk being called sentimental.
To reach out to another is to risk involvement.
To expose feelings is to risk showing your true self.
To place your ideas and your dreams before a crowd
is to risk being called naive.

To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To hope is to risk dispair, and to try is to risk failure.
But risks must be taken, because the greatest risk in life
is to risk nothing.

The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing,
is nothing, and becomes nothing.
He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot
learn and feel and change and grow and love and live.
Chained by things that are certain, he is a slave.
He has forefeited his freedom.

Only the person who risks is truly free.

....Author Unknown

From "The Simple Abundance Journal of Gratitude"

by Sarah Ban Breathnach

Gratitude holds us together even as we're falling apart. Ironically, gratitude's most powerful mysteries are often revelaied when we are struggling in the midst of personal turmoil. When we stumble in the darkness, rage in anger, hurl faith across the room, abandon all hope. While we cry ourselves to sleep, gratitude waits patiently to console and reassure us; there is a landscape larger than the one we can see.

It's easy to be grateful when life hums-when the money's in the bank, the romance is divine and you're healthy. But when he don't love you back or she won't return your calls or you're reeling from a devestating diagnosis, "thank you" usually isn't the phrase that
immediately comes to mind.

At least it wasn't for me (or isn't always- the currents of consciousness ebb and flow around here). But after having been the Simple Abundance path for the last five years and having been "loved into full being" (as the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning so
beautifully puts it ) by gratitude, I know what I need to do if I am to remain centered, especially when fortune's tumultuous cycles of change throw me for a loop. I must stop focusing on what's lacking in my life and bring my complete attention to all that I have- the "simple abundance" that surrounds us all. Small acts of kindness heal even the deepest wonds; savoring fleeting moments of comfort restores serenity.

But we don't feel grateful when our hearts are broken and our dreams ar dashed . However, it has been my experience that it doesn't really matter how we feel, what matters is that we just do it. ......

for the inserts of the book

IF YOU BUT SUFFER, THEN MY BROTHER CHOOSE AGAIN.
I can choose now what I feel and think and do, as well as what I want to be and become. Even more important I can choose how I react to what others think, or do to me. I can choose to be angry, happy, sad, or just simply to be still.

I can choose whether to label what I see or feel as good or bad, knowing my choice determines how I react and treat myself, others, and even whether I see my world as threatening or peaceful, fearful or loving.

If I choose to attack others, I must feel deserving of attack myself. If I allow sickness or pain to make me fearful, I don't understand how temporary the body really is. If I get very upset, I must fear for the image I hold of myself.

If I am afraid to let others get close to me or see me as vulnerable, it is because I am afraid I will be seen as weak and therefore open to attack, ridicule, or embarrassment. When I feel pain it is usually because I want something so badly, I am willing to suffer or sacrifice to get it, often to discover that what I felt I needed, was not as necessary as I thought.

If I am angry then I can no longer see any other point of view, and essentially have lost my ability to choose. If I choose to be still, I will remain at peace, unwilling and unable to judge myself or others, because in the present moment there is literally nothing to judge against, and nothing to choose, except the choice to be in that place in my mind.

The power of that decision is the choice between, suffering and peace, and represents the power that is inside me, to protect me, if I wish to use it. If my decision is wrong, and the result causes pain, I must remember I have another choice, for I will have learned, there must be a better way to see this.

Now I recognize that I am not a victim of the world I see, and that I have the power to see things differently , and to be what I want to be, regardless of circumstances. In fact whatever happens to me is another chance to see love, in myself and others, and recognize I am not limited to my perception of myself as a body only, because there is a place inside me where my Truth and my real identity lies.

The Truth about myself cannot be my thoughts, because thoughts change so quickly. Anything that is Truth must be changeless and constant. Unfortunately my mind still prefers to interpret Truth, as what I want it to be. Taking this seriously means I will never see myself as I am, because I have chosen not to.

I can however simply accept, that what I see and think is only important, because I have decided it to be so. I can just as easily accept forgiveness as my goal, and let what I think I need be released. What I really seek is what I already have,

awaiting only my recognition ..........

Healing is showing your brother his mistakes can have no cause by demonstrating through you they have had no effect.

~UNKNOWN~

Higher perspective
If the little things are getting you down, then spend some time and thought looking up. The more you connect yourself to the big picture, the less you'll be dragged down by all the little frustrations.
If you have no idea of where you're headed, then the smallest setbacks can get blown completely out of proportion. That's because they're the only things you have to focus on.
When you can frame events in a bigger perspective, the little annoyances and frustrations become just that -- little. See clearly where the road is leading, and you won't be bothered by the rocks and pebbles over which you must travel. In fact, you'll even begin to value and appreciate them. For they will serve to confirm that you're truly making progress.
The higher you aim your focus and your efforts, the more resilient you will be. The more positive and meaningful you make the big picture, the more successfully you'll be at dealing with the challenges.
See life from the highest perspective your thoughts can attain. And you'll steadily, gracefully work your way there.
-- Ralph Marston

http://greatday.com/motivate/index.html

The Invitation,
Oriah Mountain Dreamer - May 1994

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon.....
I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened to life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain.
I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it, or fade it, or fix it.
I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own; if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic or to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling is true.
I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul.
I want to know if you can be faithful and therefore be trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see beauty even when it is not pretty every day and if you source your life from its presence.
I want to know if you can like with failure, yours and mine and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver full moon "Yes!"

It doesn't interest me where you live or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone and do what needs to be done for the children.

It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me to know what or with whom you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.
I want to know if you can be alone with your self and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments

Crossroads
by Dreamweaver, 17th November 2001.

Often we meet a crossroad, and sit and ponder.. where do we go from here?
Choose carefully my friends for things may not always be as they appear.

I am standing here at this crossroad
Not sure which way to go.
One seems treacherous, long and hard
The going would be slow.

The other seems smooth and straight;
With nary a hill to see.
The grass beside the path is green
And it beckons me.

The easy way is calling me to come
to start an easy journey.
But the road less traveled I have to take
For me to learn to be free.

There are no lessons to learn, chances to grow
When you take the easy life.
For the foundation of a meaningful life is built
In our learning to overcome strife.

I know I have lessons to learn, and things I must do.
As I longingly look at the traveled way
Built on traditions, others beliefs, others dreams
Its the only way, they all seem to say.

The road less traveled, seems dark and cold.
Yet its the way I know I must choose.
For above all else, these words I must live by
To thine own self be true.

So I wearily turn from the easier path
Setting my sights anew
And as I step onto the lesser traveled
A flicker of light shines through

And with each step I take, a hand reaches out
To encourage me to look within
A friend, a stranger, they come to me
Teachers taking me to places I have never been

And yet it seems I have always been there,
Somehow I have always known
And finally my fighting is over, for now I know
The road less traveled, leads me home.

THE SCULPTORS ATTITUDE

I woke up early today, excited over all I get to do before the clock strikes midnight.
I have responsibilities to fulfill today.
I am important.
My job is to choose what kind of day I am going to have.

Today I can complain because the weather is rainy or ...
I can be thankful that the grass is getting watered for free.

Today I can feel sad that I don't have more money or ...
I can be glad that my finances encourage me to plan my purchases wisely and guide me away from waste.

Today I can grumble about my health or ...
I can rejoice that I am alive.
Today I can lament over all that my parents didn't give me when I was growing up or ...
I can feel grateful that they allowed me to be born.

Today I can cry because roses have thorns or ...
I can celebrate that thorns have roses.

Today I can mourn my lack of friends or ...
I can excitedly embark upon a quest to discover new relationships.

Today I can whine because I have to go to work or ...
I can shout for joy because I have a job to do.

Today I can complain because I have to go to school or ... eagerly open my mind and fill it with rich new tidbits of knowledge.

Today I can murmur dejectedly because I have to do housework or I can feel honored because my higher power has provided shelter for my mind, body and soul.

Today stretches ahead of me, waiting to be shaped. And here I am. The sculptor who gets to do the shaping.

What today will be like is up to me. I get to choose what kind of day I will have!

Have a GREAT DAY ... unless you have other plans.

- Author Unknown -

The Essence of relationships
The relationship that will bring you the most happiness and the one you pursue are two different things. If the wasnt the case, the very first time you go into a relationship you like, it would have worked right? If it didnt then there must be a reason.