FOOD FOR THOUGHT About Truth and Opinions: Stop Cherishing Your Opinions!

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Food for thought today is about truth and opinions from Eckhart Tolle. In short he says to stop cherishing your opinions. 

In other words, do not hold onto yours for dear life as if it is something sacred, and allow others to be who they are and think what they like without getting into an argument over a difference of opinion.  

Before we get into Eckhart's teachings however, I want to remind you of an affirmation from Abraham-Hicks about allowing:

It matters not what others choose or what others think about what I choose, what's important is that I am pleased with me. And as I see myself, I certainly am. 

I can allow others to be, do, or have whatever they want. I do not have to take anything from their experience that I do not like.

Now, to Eckhart:


Your First Responsibility  
 

Your first responsibility is not to identify with a position.  Everybody has to practice that one way or another.  It’s a beautiful practice.  It’s expressed in Zen.  I don’t remember who said it, some Zen master said, "Don’t seek for the truth – just cease cherishing opinions".  And that’s enough.  

Stop Cherishing Opinions

Many spiritually inclined people look for the 'truth' – hopefully at some point within, but first it starts outside.  But don’t look for the truth, not even within, just stop cherishing opinions.  

Cherishing, not having.  It doesn’t say stop having opinions because that would be difficult – maybe a very advanced practice.  Even I have some opinions, about Fox News, and so on – but cherishing means to identify with the opinion, to be in the thought.  

And then it gives you your sense of "I"  Then anybody who has a different or conflicting position becomes a kind of enemy.  Then you’re trapped in form.  This is a very common human condition.  

Identifying with Your Thoughts

Most humans on the planet derive their identity from their thoughts.  So the thought is invested with self.  Maybe this is another way of speaking about the essential truth of the Buddha, who discovered that this sense of 'self' is an illusion.  

You derive your sense of self from form – because every thought is a thought-form.  It’s an energy field.

If this were your only spiritual practice, it would be enough.  If you can try, for example, talking to the questioner, your husband can then become your spiritual teacher because he can continuously remind you not to be identified with mental positions.  

Resisting another's mental position (opinion)

Then, you don’t resist the other person’s mental position, because you don’t need to – you allow it to be.  

You can even allow your own mental position to be.  If you resist someone else’s mental position, you only strengthen it.  Try arguing with him about Fox News or Sarah Palin, and you’ll see what I mean.

Now this is a practice worth doing, don't you think?! And I cannot suggest strongly enough that your read Eckhart's A New Earth: it widened the path I was on and Chapter four changed my life.

You will know if you are ready for this book if it grabs you immediately; if you think it's nonsense that means you are not ready. Give it to someone who might be interested.

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• Love, Change And The Reason For Your Existence (entrepreneurs-journey.com)

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FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Are You A Diamond In The Rough?

Cover of Acres of Diamonds

Food for thought is another gem from Bob Proctor's Insight of the Day series.

Decide that you are is good enough. Accept that what you want is worth the price you pay of unstinting, undaunted perseverance. 

To get there however, you must decide now, today, that YOU are enough! 

Are you a diamond in the rough willing to be shaped, cleansed, scoured, refined, and buffed by the fires of experience? If you are, there is a lesson here for you. Read on:

Acres of Diamonds

One of the most interesting Americans who lived in the 19th century was a man by the name of Russell Herman Conwell. He was born in 1843 and lived until 1925. He was a lawyer for about fifteen years until he became a clergyman.

One day, a young man went to him and told him he wanted a college education but couldn't swing it financially. Dr. Conwell decided, at that moment, what his aim in life was, besides being a man of the cloth - that is. 

He decided to build a university for unfortunate, but deserving, students. He did have a challenge however. He would need a few million dollars to build the university. For Dr. Conwell, and anyone with real purpose in life, nothing could stand in the way of his goal.

Several years before this incident, Dr. Conwell was tremendously intrigued by a true story - with its ageless moral. 

The story was about a farmer who lived in Africa and through a visitor became tremendously excited about looking for diamonds. 

Diamonds were already discovered in abundance on the African continent and this farmer got so excited about the idea of millions of dollars worth of diamonds that he sold his farm to head out to the diamond line. 

He wandered all over the continent, as the years slipped by, constantly searching for diamonds, wealth, which he never found. Eventually he went completely broke and threw himself into a river and drowned.

Meanwhile, the new owner of his farm picked up an unusual looking rock about the size of a country egg and put it on his mantle as a sort of curiosity. A visitor stopped by and in viewing the rock practically went into terminal convulsions. 

He told the new owner of the farm that the funny looking rock on his mantle was about the biggest diamond that had ever been found. 

The new owner of the farm said, "Heck, the whole farm is covered with them" - and sure enough it was.

The farm turned out to be the Kimberly Diamond Mine...the richest the world has ever known. The original farmer was literally standing on "Acres of Diamonds" until he sold his farm.

Dr. Conwell learned from the story of the farmer and continued to teach it's moral. Each of us is right in the middle of our own "Acre of Diamonds", if only we would realize it and develop the ground we are standing on before charging off in search of greener pastures. 

Dr. Conwell told this story many times and attracted enormous audiences. He told the story long enough to have raised the money to start the college for underprivileged deserving students. 

In fact, he raised nearly six million dollars and the university he founded, Temple University in Philadelphia, has at least ten degree-granting colleges and six other schools.

When Doctor Russell H. Conwell talked about each of us being right on our own "Acre of Diamonds", he meant it. This story does not get old...it will be true forever.

Opportunity does not just come along - it is there all the time - we just have to see it.

Earl Nightingale
1921-1989, From Our Changing World Radio Transcript
Author of The Strangest Secret

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Cowards, Courage and Confirmity: Character Is What Counts Here!

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Some food for thought from the Professor's pen - that's what I call Bob Proctor - a more genuine, down to earth, wise and profound man I have yet to meet. 

Those who follow his teachings will know that he did not start out that way, none of us do and now we all get to enjoy the result. Character is what counts here!

Take a trip with him as he talks about cowards, courage and conformity. This is one of his Friday's Insight of the Day which changes every day. Therefore you need to subscribe in order to keep a record of his offerings. It is worth doing!

Courage Or Conformity

The late Earl Nightingale was, for many years, the most listened to man on radio. His radio show, "Our Changing World" was broadcast on over 1,000 radio stations around the world. He researched and wrote every show himself. The man virtually devoured books. 

He was consumed with the idea of why so few people succeed in life and so many others do not.

I had the good fortune of working for a number of years with Earl. It was a tremendous learning experience, one I treasure more with each passing year.

We all admire the courageous person and quite often consider the individual who lacks courage, a coward. However, that is not how Earl Nightingale saw it. 

He said the opposite of courage was not cowardness, it was conformity. I believe the more you think about that, the more you will be inclined to agree with him.

It takes courage to break away from the crowd, to go your own way, to do the thing which may be unpopular. 

It takes courage to stand up for the person who is being unjustly criticized, rather than agreeing and going along with the crowd.  

It takes courage for the teenager to say no, when all the rest of the kids begin going down the wrong path.

Earl Nightingale was correct - the opposite of courage is conforming. It is one reason so few people enjoy any lasting success. It is so easy to go along with the large group.

 

We don't have to stand out, to be different.

The next time you are encouraged to fall into line, to be a sport, and everything in you says no - be courageous and go your own way.  

There is no compensation in conformity.

Bob Proctor

This is a story that is worth passing around as it has a valuable lesson for everyone. Please accept Bob Proctor's gift ebook You Were Born Rich along with some incredible MP3's by going to www.bobproctor.com/freegifts This is also a link that you can share with friends and family. 

Character is what counts here! And let me tell you right now folks, if you have not yet read You Were Born Rich and you need a road map to success, this is it!

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How About Some Food For Thought About Mastering Your Thoughts

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Okay my food for thought today is about mastering your thoughts. 

Our thoughts, guilt, honesty, and communication make an interesting mix. These issues are coming my way lately and how we deal with them affect us in various ways, mostly badly. 

To this end, I opened my trusty Hamlet Secret Workbook to do some work this morning and this paragraph caught me:

You are not your good thoughts or your bad thoughts but because you think others will think something about you because you're thinking what you're thinking you will keep inside of you what you're thinking.

If you don't admit what is going on in your head, clear it out, say it out, admit what you WANT to do without doing it you will only keep adding fuel to the fire. You'll never be able to let that thought out of the little gerbil wheel of a brain you're creating. 

Get off the guilt trip, it's a long ride with no final destination.

One last thing, no matter what you've done, every sinner has a future and every saint has a past. Deal with both with courage and create today the yesterday you'll look back on with pride tomorrow.

Don't you think that's great? I think it's such a perfect analysis - all that bloody thinking, those ridiculous thoughts which take us in an endless, useless cycle to nowhere when all we have to do is say STOP. 

Spit it out for heaven's sake and get it over with. Don't you realise that unverbalized thoughts are also communicated. Everything is energy you know, so don't be surprised when people react to them (meaning you) without understanding why or wondering "where did that come from". 

If you feel you can't or you don't want to, then change your thoughts, that's EASY and the more you practise doing so, the easier it becomes.

Whatever you do and however you do it, get a grip and master your thoughts today!

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Suffering Is Timeless and So Is Happiness

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Sufferation, not suffering, as the peeps down in the Southerly Caribbean islands of Trinidad and Tobago like to name it, is timeless and so is happiness.

We human beings love to suffer and that is why we complain so much; it's an attention getter.

We hate suffering too and so, we deny it and refuse to accept it, as if there's a choice in the matter. 

Most people are quite happy to suffer in silence, if they are sure everybody knows they are doing it. Unknown

Searching for Happiness

People are actively searching for happiness, doing what they think will make others happy and falsely believing that they in turn will be happy. They believe that happiness can be achieved by doing but they are wrong. Happiness can only be attained by being. Any thought and accompanying action which contradict this statement leads to suffering.

Glory in Suffering

In Switzerland where I lived for 18 years, the population - both the natives and immigrants - are taught that "we are put here to suffer" and as a people they revel in it which is scary.

For such a wealthy country, they are the most unhappy people I have ever encountered which is probably why they are so unwelcoming and are unable to smile or show friendliness.

My Suffering Game

We glory in suffering like a pig in mud. But why is that though? I know for myself that when I don't get my own way after considerable effort, like a spoilt child I sulk and rage, mostly inward, and I definitely don't want anyone to make me feel good or humour me out of my mood! 

I want to continue my sufferation and stamp around with an angry, poisonous expression on my face to show and "punish" whomever is responsible for making me "lose it" or foiling my attempts to get what I want.

My thunderous expression is a dual invitation to all and sundry to "stay away" and "ask me what's wrong". How childish can you get huh. Happily, those times are infrequent because I can't stand myself either!

If you suffer, thank God! It is a sure sign that you are alive. Elbert Hubbard

Some learned folks talk and teach more about suffering:

• Ed and Deb Shapiro say in their HuffPost article The Good, the bad and the ugly: Making friends with your life  "The denial of suffering means that our feelings get repressed, held in, squashed down, which results in us getting cut off from all our other feelings as well, not just the uncomfortable ones. 
  
  Life becomes more superficial and empty because any depth of real feeling has been put out of reach. Resistance to suffering means no vital life force flowing through us, who we really are is hidden away."

I can relate to this because I have lived it. The article concludes by saying that no special skills are needed to deal with suffering. It is what it is. What is necessary is that we accept that it is part of life; take it as it comes.

• The wonderful Dr Judith Rich asks Are you playing the scarcity game? This is a subject which creates tremendous suffering. Many of us have experienced this and far too many of us also deal with scarcity in the same way... with False Evidence Appearing Real. We have to decide to stop this or become our own prophets of doom!
  
  Judith says most succinctly "If you live in an inner conversation of scarcity and lack of awareness about and acceptance of who you are, you are not much better off than a homeless person. You might not be sleeping on a cold sidewalk or worrying about your next meal, true. But oddly enough, the inner experience is the same.
  
  
  
  The soul of scarcity is rooted in the depths of not trusting or believing in one's self. It is a fundamental belief that who you are is not enough. Nothing from the outside can make up for the deficiency of belief in one's self as a worthy human being. Where those beliefs come from can most often be found in one's childhood. The most innocent remark insensitively delivered can sometimes mark a person for life."
   

• Check out also Jeffery Hull's Are we hard-wired to suffer?: "In other words, when you find yourself defaulting to the story, "I'm hard-wired to be ______", (e.g. anxious, stressed, worried, fill-in-the blank with your favorite), it usually means that some aspect of your life is ready to shift, ready to release, ready to be, in fact, renewed.
  
  
  BUT, because change is uncomfortable even for the most adaptable of us, our egos will hook into whatever cultural narrative is in vogue to hold us "in check" -- in an effort to protect us. 
  
  
  But from what? It seems we would rather languish in depression or wallow in worry instead of simply acknowledging our fear of the unknown, breathing deeply and stepping into the flow of life... and changing."

My "Get Out of here" Card

Bang on target, he is! Yes, I recognise myself there too and in my last situation, I had to be backed into a corner and be forced to cry "uncle" because I was no longer in sync with my old story but I didn't know what to do with the "vacancy" which had arisen. 

My FEAR and desperation grew and I felt like I was screaming in the wind from the bottom of a gorge. When a lifeline was thrown my way, I still continued howling like a fool in the wilderness instead of grabbing the rope and climbing out because... I didn't recognise the rope for what it was – the get out of here card.

Suffering is timeless and so is happiness for one simple reason – I have learned that each and every instant is an eternity – so it's up to you and me to live gloriously, right now!

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Acceptance IS Self-Love: Try It and See What You See

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Thought for today – acceptance is love – it is important to remember that love comes in myriad forms and we often forget to have compassion for ourselves; I certainly never did. 

I was taught self-hate, self-denigration and deliberate deprivation from early o'clock so that I would conform to the accepted generational family dysfunction.

It took me many years – from my thirties culminating in my mid-forties – to learn, understand, internalise, and accept that I had to right to love myself.
What a discovery that was.

I know for sure that embracing what is says "This is how much I love myself" – and accepting whatever is happening in your life is the most amazing gift you can offer to yourself. 

Acceptance is self-love. It is foolishness in the extreme to deny what you are living because that denial will keep the fear flowing for sure and will bring you more of what you are resisting! 

Understand this as well – resistance is futile because what you resist, persists. While there is no denying that life sucks sometimes, I strongly suggest that you make some lemonade and suck that up!

Acceptance brings the changes you desire and those very changes will heal you from the inside out and when you connect with others, you transmit that same healing energy; be it to a sick child or someone else in need. There nothing more inspirational to someone than that.

Gandhi said

– Be the change you want to see in the world – so go do your stuff and see you there!

How do you feel when you stop resisting the challenges on your path and decide to "roll over" them; and in fact what encourages you to let down your "guard"?

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Thoughts are Things That Get You Lost

Okay, let us talk about Thought and Purpose, Chapter 4 from James Allen's As A Man Thinketh – very à propos as I just realised after 14 whole days of my bloody ridiculous, unfocussed thoughts, that I have been allowing other people's dysfunctional actions, in the house where I'm staying, to influence me. 

And so I achieved nothing (exaggeration - I wrote an excellent 1600 word article on how to liberate yourself from emotional burdens and family strife and some very good blog posts) to create a new income stream  which is why I have been feeling so frustrated. I just woke up to the "why" of it all to know again that thoughts are things that get you lost.

What was also interesting is that I had no Internet service for more than a week during that period either so more time to think. Ha!

Thoughts are things. Napoleon Hill

Again, there is no accident. Everything is connected and when we – me and you – decide to make a change and act, the tools required show up.  For instance, James M. Lynch posted the chapter Bloody Thoughts from his The Hamlet Secret: A Self-Directed (Shakespearean) Workbook which I find interesting since that is exactly how I describe my thoughts when Ms Ego is taking me down the "dark side".

Drag your thoughts away from your troubles... by the ears, by the heels, or any other way you can manage it.  Mark Twain

I found this very explicit paragraph in As A Man Thinketh when I opened the book and this chapter caught my eye – no such thing as coincidence:

A man should conceive of a legitimate purpose in his heart, and set out to accomplish it. He should make this purpose the centralizing point of his thoughts. It may take the form of a spiritual ideal or it may be a worldly object, according to his nature at the time being.

But whichever it is, he should steadily focus his thought forces upon the object which he has set before him. He should make this purpose his supreme duty, and devote himself to its attainment, not allowing his thoughts to wander away into ephemeral fancies, longings, and imaginings.

This is the royal road to self-control and true concentration of thought. Even if he fails again and again to accomplish his purpose (as he necessarily must until weakness is overcome), the strength of character gained will be the measure of his true success, and this will form a new starting point for future power and triumph.

A man is but the product of his thoughts,

what he thinks, he becomes. Gandhi

And you know something else, it's okay because I learn something every time I feel stymied like this. 

My periods of lucidity are more frequent which means I go months at a time of being aware instead of being on the "dark side of the ego" for months at a time.  As Mary J. Blige says We are all just a work in progress.

Much love to y'all today and every day!

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Suffering Requires Acceptance: You Cannot Help Anyone When You Pity Them!

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Thought for today: Suffering requires acceptance – you cannot help anyone when you pity them. Far too many people whether at home and worse yet when the go abroad automatically pity "those poor people". 

India and Africa are the two obvious continents of choice. Many express crap like "maybe I have too much or I shouldn't have so much".

When you believe that you have too much and begin to deprive yourself in order to help those "poor people", you diminish yourself and you denigrate those you wish to help. 

Pity belittles a person worse than any denigrating word ever will and you transmit that very same energy to the person or persons you are trying to assist; thereby reducing them to the level of beasts if not lower. They will forever be in your debt and curse you at the same time because of your poisoned "gifts"!

 
The world's suffering requires acceptance because none of us, individually, can change it. When we accept what is without diminishing others with pity it is a decision and an action which immediately creates a dynamic within which YOU and I, as individuals, can make the change we want to see in our world. The magic starts then.

James M. Lynch uses the following Shakespearean quote in one of the exercises The Hamlet Secret: A Self-Directed (Shakespearean) Workbook and it is now indelibly imprinted in my mind and I don't even know when that happened:

There is nothing good or bad 

but thinking makes it so.

So, when I start to overly ruminate and masticate on various poisonous events, the phrase automatically pops right up to say "Hey, watch it" and damn, does it work! Print it out in huge letters and keep it visible at all times and see what it does for you.

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Plant Happy Seeds and Weed Everything Else Out!

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Plant happy seeds and weed everything else out is what I have learnt to do with Ed and Deb Shapiro – look at the photo on their blog, aren't they beautiful!

They say in their article on Huffpost "Your mind is like a garden so plant happy seeds", and let me tell you folks, from the time I my eyes fell upon this Pulling Weeds Meditation, it took hold of  my imagination.

It is the most simple and effective meditation technique I have ever used and it requires no effort.

Pulling Weeds Meditation

Find a comfortable and upright place to sit. Take a few deep breaths, then watch the flow of your breath as it enters and leaves.

Now bring your focus to your heart, and as you breathe in feel as if your heart is opening and softening; as you breathe out, release any tension or resistance.

Now visualize yourself walking in a beautiful but overgrown garden. All sorts of colorful flowers surround you, but among them are numerous weeds.

You find a place to sit amidst the plants and with awareness you mindfully begin to remove the weeds. Each one represents a negative aspect of yourself or your life. Name it as you remove it, and watch it leave your mind as you discard.

The more weeds you remove the lighter you feel, as if a weight is being removed from you. As you do this, the flowers are growing stronger and brighter.

Stay here as long as you like. You may not have time to pull up all the weeds, so before you leave promise that you will be back again to remove some more.

When you are ready, silently repeat three times, "May I be happy, may my mind be like a beautiful garden." Take a deep breath and let it go. Then fill the rest of your day with kindness and smiles.

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Good News Day about Women Who Have Not Forgotten Their Power

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Good news day is here again, so shall us talk about us women today and our achievements across the spectrum. I think we shall. 

In spite the fact that women and girls are still being battered and bruised, mutilated and broken by societies and cultures around the world in order to keep them weak and in their rightful place – under the boot of the male – there are, thankfully, fabulous examples of women who have not forgotten their power! TEDWomen Conference happens December 2010 in Washington D.C. so check that out too!

Eva Zeisel on the playful search for beauty 

(listen to this beauty talk about her 75-year career in ceramics)

Eve Ensler: happiness in body and soul 

(This woman just rocks my world with her soulfulness)

Rokia Traore sings "M'Bifo"

Miru Kim's underground art

Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing creativity 

(Forget about "being" a genius: All of us "have" a genius)

Majora Carter's tale of urban renewal 

(She fights for environmental justice in the South Bronx, New York)

Jane Poynter: Life in Biosphere 2 

(Living 2 years and 20 minutes in Biosphere 2 - talk about living in a bubble - and her exploration on how we might live in harsh environments)

Rick Smolan tells the story of a girl 

(The story of a girl, a photograph, and an adoption with a twist)

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My Good News Day Is About Science

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Okay, my good news day is about science. I am fascinated by it and the way these fabulously talented and sometimes seemingly kooky people, explain stuff I don't understand and even better, bring those things to my attention which I have never thought of. And my favourite source is TEDtalks. 

TEDtalks bring us all the goodies under one fabulous umbrella. As I, like most people, am very concerned about our deteriorating environment in light of the bloodsuckers BP (British Petroleum) wanton and conscienceless destruction of environmental life in the Gulf of Mexico, science and the environment is therefore the topic of choice.

Janine Benyus shares nature's designs 

(and why she, nature that is, works the way she does)

Robert Full on engineering and evolution – admittedly the guy studies cockroach legs and geckos feet but give him a chance (tiny ugh)

Penelope Boston says there might be life on Mars – she's a bona fide cave scientist so it's not woo woo stuff

Bill Stone explores the world's deepest caves - his intention is to mine lunar ice (by studying caves) for space fuel and also to build an autonomous robot to explore Jupiter. Like someone I know says "gosh, darn isn't that fascinating!"

Dee Boersma: Pay attention to penguins

(our oceans sentinels)

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How About Accepting Yourself Just As You Are?

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Ed and Deb Shapiro are truly two wonderful teachers. I get so much from their articles and the simple and effective meditation techniques they offer, like the following Sacred Space Meditation which coaches you on how to accept yourself just the way you are.

Ed and Deb say: You may get a different number of days, months and years to live, you may have different issues you have to deal with that shape your life, but never give up. 

It's all about making the effort to get up and keep going. If you get up more often than you fall, then you can never fail. 

Optimism is a high-voltage power tool to have in your life skills toolbox, for optimists know how to bounce back and how to see difficulties as only temporary setbacks. Know you can't miss!

Or, try this meditation to accept yourself more deeply, just as you are:

Sacred Space Meditation

Find a comfortable place to sit with your back straight, settle your body, take a few deep breaths and close your eyes.

Now begin to develop a deep appreciation for yourself. You are not trying to change anything, just being with yourself as you are. Breathe in appreciation; breathe out joy.

As you breathe in and out, silently repeat: "My body is a sacred space; my breath gives me life; my mind is at ease; my heart is filled with love."

Do comment and let me know what you experience with this meditation.
 

More meditative material

• Ed and Deb Shapiro: Why Being in Your Heart Is Better Than Being in Your Head (huffingtonpost.com)
• Chicken Soup for the Soul: Running Meditation (beliefnet.com)
• Ed and Deb Shapiro: Into Me I See -- Into Me You See! (huffingtonpost.com)
• Ed and Deb Shapiro: How to Make Your Home or Workplace Into a Healing Place (huffingtonpost.com)
• Ed and Deb Shapiro: Is Meditation Your Friend or Foe? (huffingtonpost.com)
• Breathing Light: a Yoga of the Senses (psychologytoday.com)
• 10 Best Ways to Meditate (brighthub.com)

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