THOUGHT FOR TODAY - That Someone Is Me

Children at Phagwa,  Photo Azlan Mohammed

This is so beautiful and touched me so much that I have to share this thought for the day from Bob Proctor's Insight of the Day.

That Someone Is Me

Someone is lighting a candle for you today and holding you in the light of that flame which burns brightly for you.

Someone is feeling your pain today, your grief and your sorrow and transforming it into joy, serenity and love. Someone is thinking kindly of you today in the deep recesses of their own heart and the depths of their soul. Find peace in that!

Someone is imagining you today surrounded by angels, spirits, healing energies, celestial beings, starlight and deep magic and wonder. Wrap yourself in all of that.

Someone is understanding today, the depths of what you have been going through, and is embracing you with deep compassion and trusting in your own profound inner knowing to see you through it.

Someone is holding your hand today and letting you know that you are never alone and never have been, even though there have been moments, when you lost your way and felt abandoned and afraid. You never were!

Someone truly knows today perhaps at a level that you do not yet, that all is well somehow, even though it may not appear to be so. And that there is great meaning and purpose in your life, just by the very fact that you are here in all your splendor. Without you here nothing would be the same for any of us. Know that and take strength in it.

Someone is praying for you today and their prayers are being heard and answered.

Someone is whispering gently to your soul today to keep going no matter what, one day at a time, one step at a time, one inch at a time. We are all celebrating that you haven't given up and you are making such an immense difference for all of us.

Someone is holding you in the light as things in your world seem to be falling apart and putting them back together for you, in new, miraculous and astonishing ways. Trust and believe in that!

Someone is remembering today, who you really are, and why you came here and reminding you when you begin to close your eyes and surrender, just for a moment, to the truth, to what is right NOW, in this moment, and what can be. Ask for that!

Feel the love, cherish the knowing, drink in the joy, and take comfort and strength in all of it. It is all here for you. Reach for it! Embrace it! It is Divinely Yours!
Veronica Hay


Veronica Hay is an inspirational writer. She provides inspirational support and resources to help you live a richer life. Visit her website at: http://www.insightsandinspirations.com or email her at: veronicamhay@gmail.com

»»  read more

A Tsunami of Pain and Rage Reconnects Me to My Self

A fabulous thing happened to me on the road to my new life. I got angry, very very angry at the most unjust act I have ever witnessed being inflicted upon a mentally ill woman that I have come to love and admire.

A tsunami of pain and rage reconnected me to my Self.

I wasn't there when other abusive actions were inflicted on Janice but my anger was simmering from the accounts I head and man, when I let loose it was like oxygen feeding a brush fire.

Awareness is the greatest agent for change. Eckhart Tolle

I raged, I sang, I screamed, I shouted, I talked loud, all day long to express the pain I felt. People must have thought I was going mad. I told her abusers who were supposed to be helping her exactly what I thought about them - blunt and raw - and what they should do to themselves about it.

My rage felt murderous and I swore if I had a gun... yeah, it was that bad!

The next day, the senior supervisor of the hostel where it all occurred tried to threaten and intimidate me because you see, he allowed it to happen and his girlfriend was one of those involved.

As the responsible officer he turned a blind eye to what was taking place and hoped (I'm guessing) that all would work out for the best - over three damn weeks - without his having to take any action.

The attendants at the shelter showed no empathy or compassion and they were actually 'fed up' because she was 'forcing' them to do something. That's horrible and sad at the same time isn't it.

I continued my protest the second day then went looking for my friend - after she was evicted from the hostel, a small, defenceless woman in a crime-ridden part of town, at night - but she wasn't to be found.

She was picked up and taken to the mental hospital on the third day after ransacking a man's house in the neighbourhood.


Because I couldn't find her, I reported the abuse of the four staff members to their boss at the St Vincent Society's office.

When I heard myself speaking to the officer I realised that something had changed. In hindsight, it's the sheer clarity with which I spoke and the silence all around was startling. I was as if "everyone" was listening - as if for that short period all was at a standstill.


For two successive mornings after my ranting and wailing, I woke with headaches which I never get, yet I was so lucid in thought and felt so refreshed. I felt great, weird but true.

True life is lived when little changes occur. ~Leo Tolstoy

On probing my feelings, words unbidden came to mind "I am back" and that made me pause in shock. It was like... WOW! I had found my Self again after almost one year of low-level depression from ending up in a homeless shelter with the roaches, no job, no money, living with homeless psychiatric outpatients and so on.
 
The third day I felt so fab I wondered then wished the feeling would last forever but right after I had that thought, another followed saying "this is normal". That too made me pause then on reflection, I understood, just go with the flow.

That pumping adrenaline that had swept over me for almost an entire day seemed to have swept away the debris that was blocking me, preventing me from seeing, feeling, making decisions and taking action. Basically, I had stopped living which I didn't grasp at the time.

Imagine a gusting, roaring wind that can lift you off your feet and blow you away but instead of doing that, it enters you and changes to a powerful, sweeping spring breeze, refreshing and full of vigor making you think of budding trees, bushes and flowers, dew on early morning grass reflecting jewelled colours under the still cool sunshine, birds tweeting and chattering, all reminding you of the world waking up to a marvelous early spring morning with blindingly bright blue skies and white puffy clouds.

That's how it felt, my waking up! Yeah, wowee!

Life's challenges got me so down that I had lost myself, completely disconnected from who I was and I didn't know it. Those around me are strangers so there was no one to grasp me and say "Catherine what's wrong with you" and if I hadn't felt that tsunami of pain in particular and rage about my friend's predicament the reconnection could not have been made.

We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are. ~Anais Nin

Let this be a lesson to you folks. That nonsense about politically correct will kill you if you don't find a way to not just express your feelings but also act out as necessary and release those tensions.

Stress kills, you know that.

I rediscovered my self respect and love of self which I only afterward knew had been sorely missed. I had even stopped my daily meditation and energy work. I am so grateful for that cleaning up.

Mahatma Gandhi said be the change you want to see in the world and I intend to continue being just that. It's great to be me!

»»  read more

Thought for Today: How Do You Develop Empathy, Compassion, Loving Kindness? And Why Would You Want To?

This is not the post I intended to write - I focussed on empathy but it all changed right before my eyes as I was typing. So there must be a message here that needs sharing.


Remember there's no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.  Scott Adams


However, this is not an exposé on the subject because an expert, I certainly am not. I do not know anything so I am in the same boat with you - just sharing my view for what it's worth on empathy, compassion and loving kindness.

So how do we develop these qualities which are naturally part of who we are as human beings? Do you normally express them and why would you want to?

Whether one believes in a religion or not, and whether one believes in rebirth or not, there isn't anyone who doesn't appreciate kindness and compassion. The Dalai Lama

Compassion and loving kindness

About Dharma says Compassion is a mind that is motivated by cherishing other living beings and wishes to release them from their suffering.

I don't know about you but this statement alone tells me that I have a long way to go.

About Dharma also states "Although we already have some degree of compassion, at present it is very biased and limited. When our family and friends are suffering we easily develop compassion for them, but we find it far more difficult to feel sympathy for people we find unpleasant or for strangers."

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.  The Dalai Lama

It is precisely because of this separation - the us and them - that I am practising the value of compassion throughout 2010. It is quite challenging because I automatically switch off when I "read" certain people but I intend to persist.

Staying the compassionate course

Developing compassion takes work. We have to override our instincts, habits, cultural upbringing and social mores and kick them out the door when we realise they do more harm than good. Lotsa work right there!

My trick to stay on my compassionate course is to recognise that people's suffering (mostly self-inflicted) put them in a bad mood and I work diligently on "seeing" the being of light they truly are on the inside.

It does not mean accepting their crap but I can ignore it sometimes, walk away at other times or put up a shield to protect myself or just plain get pissed off.

Nevertheless, it is all about becoming aware of our connectedness with every living thing around us. Compassion is universal love.

Empathy

According to the UK Online encyclopaedia, empathy is the ability to understand the experience or emotional state of another person or animal.

It was an incestuous, feel-good time in the eighties and nineties - that blatant, overwhelming need to swim in each others emotions used to make me shudder in horror. Touchy-feely gives me the scratch!

This is where a lot of us encounter problems. People mistakenly believe or have been led to believe that they do not have it or are accused of being "cold" when they don't wear their hearts on the sleeves.

Why would you want to do that for every Tom, Dick, Jane, Harry and Nancy?

Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned.  Peter Marshall

Developing empathy

I found this article which states that empathy is a learned skill. That is such rubbish. Human beings are naturally empathetic. 

It is a tiny percentage of the human race which has become warped through childhood circumstance and experiences and as a consequence, are emotionally crippled.

Remembering that we all share the same planet is one way to develop a greater sense of empathy.

When you can look at others and see fellow humans, their individual quirks, actions, and feelings become more accessible and understandable to you.

You become able to see the necessity for cooperative understanding as it relates to peacefully sharing and coexisting in a single living space. When you see people as a part of the planet’s community, sharing their concerns and recognizing their needs will begin to come naturally.

You may also be more driven to understand your peers as a matter of course. Keeping in mind the vast number of individuals who are your planetary neighbors today can help you relate to others more effectively. DailyOM

It is counter-productive to swim in another's negative emotions just to connect with them. That is extremely unhealthy, limiting, debilitating, very disempowering and self-defeating.

What you do want and what is natural, is to connect on an intuitive level with someone by putting yourself in their shoes, in order to understand their point of view and experience.

At the same time, you want to stay clear-eyed and focussed in order to hear what they are saying.

Develop intuition and active listening

Active listening

This is where active listening comes in.  Active listening means being present particularly when listening to another's pain. The noise inside you dies down and the person in front of you becomes your only focus.

It enables you to hear everything that is being said without judgement - that is real empathy. When you are an active listener, you are 100 percent present!

When you become an active listener, you can help in meaningful ways that go to the heart of the problems being encountered.

People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.  Bonnie Jean Wasmund

Develop your intuition

Develop your intuition and learn to express compassion for all beings great and small on a daily basis.

Men are more intuitive than they realise but they call it gut instinct. Women are instinctively intuitive but some of them tend to allow themselves to be derailed by their emotions instead of managing them.

That takes practice and is worth the effort as it makes no sense falling into men's (societies) stereotyping of the "emotional" female when we are quite capable of using our intuition and our emotions (which are our strengths) to our considerable advantage instead. After all, women are much smarter than men.

Find out Why be intuitive? from Jim Self. Here are two of his examples:

• You will begin to walk through life with Presence and Certainty. This doesn’t mean in arrogance. This is a gentle, pervasive knowing that you are in management of your life.
• You will find doubt and fear begin to disappear and your ability to take charge of your business life and personal life increases very quickly

Bottom Line

And here ends the opus my friends, completely unintended.

Practise compassion - be kind to those around you; it is as simple as a pleasant greeting or a smile to a stranger. You won't know the effect until you try and most times, you will be pleasantly surprised.

It's not about doing; it's all about being.

It costs nothing and will always comes back to you. Use empathy judiciously, I tend to keep it for children and animals - they are the helpless ones. It's really all about living love and tough love is part of that. What do you think about it?

»»  read more