Follow your bliss."

Follow your bliss."
-- Joseph Campbell

It’s hard for some of us to believe that the world is served when we seek our own happiness. We’ve been taught that this is selfish.
If we stop to reflect on how we are in the world when we are happy, we can see how this serves. We have more vitality. We’re more loving and generous to others when our own needs are met.
What activities bring you greatest joy? Your unique gift to the world will be found in those pastimes you love the most.
How can you live your joy each day?

"Spiritual growth is not made in reaction against, for all striving against imposed restrictions is imaginary. Spiritual growth is accomplished by inclination toward. We grow like the sunflower, following the light."
-- Joy Houghton

Criticism

Buddha was well known for his ability to respond to evil with good. There was a man who knew about his reputation and he traveled miles and miles and miles to test Buddha. When he arrived and stood before Buddha, he verbally abused him constantly, he insulted him, he challenged him, he did everything he could to offend Buddha.

Buddha was unmoved, he simply turned to the man and said, “May I ask you a question?”
The man responded with “Well, what?”

Buddha said, “If someone offers you a gift and you decline to accept it to whom then does it belong?”


The man said, “Then it belongs to the person who offered it”
Buddha smiled, “That is correct. So if I decline to accept your abuse does it not then still belong to you?”

The man was speechless and walked away.

If A Dog Were Your Teacher

These are some of the lessons you might learn...

When loved ones come home, always run to greet them
Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride
Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy

When it's in your best interest... Practice obedience
Let others know when they've invaded your territory
Take naps and stretch before rising
Run, romp and play daily

Thrive on attention and let people touch you
Avoid biting, when a simple growl will do
On warm days stop to lie on your back on the grass
On hot days drink lots of water and lay under a shady tree
When you're happy dance around and wag your entire body

No matter how often you're scolded... Don't buy into the guilt thing and pout,
run right back and make friends

Delight in the simple joy of a long walk
Eat with gusto and enthusiasm
Stop when you have had enough
Be loyal
Never pretend to be something you're not

If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it
When someone is having a bad day, be silent...
Sit close by and nuzzle them gently.

~~unknown

Support Through Silence

Support Through Silence
by Jane Powell

“Silence is sometimes the best answer.”
From an early age, we’ve all been taught the importance of problem solving. Yet, sometimes, we can help people more by not trying to find solutions. In fact, on occasion, silent listening and empathy can be a priceless gift.

People who are grieving the loss of a loved one or a relationship, need time to mourn, not quick solutions. They need you to listen while they pour out their hearts; they want a silent hug, not instant answers.

A friend who is ranting and raving about her partner may just need to let off steam. An understanding smile and a hand on the shoulder may be the best support you can give.

Why not try a little silence today? You may find it says more than a thousand words!

Heal the hurt

When you blame others for your troubles, you give them control of your life. Free yourself from your own anger, from your own resentment, and you’ll find vastly more room for serenity and abundance.

It’s bad enough if someone has wronged you in the past. Is it of any value for you to continue suffering from it?

Your best strategy is not to prolong the pain, or expand upon it. Your best strategy is to get past it as quickly as possible.

Whether or not anyone deserves your forgiveness is not the point. The point is, you deserve to forgive, to take back control of your life, so that you can live abundantly.

Your forgiveness may not even make a difference to those you forgive, if they’re even aware of it. For you, it makes all the difference in the world.

When it is you who is feeling the hurt, it is also you who can heal the hurt. Heal the hurt, and move past the pain, with forgiveness.

Ralph Marston

Pay attention to your emotions

"Emotions are the next frontier to be understood and conquered. To manage our emotions is not to drug them or suppress them, but to understand them so that we can intelligently direct our emotional energies and intentions.... It's time for human beings to grow up emotionally, to mature into emotionally managed and responsible citizens. No magic pill will do it."
-- Doc Childre

Many of us believe that we need to keep a tight lid on our emotions. We fear that if we ever allow these emotions to be expressed, they will do serious damage.
But if we summon up the courage to truly feel our emotions, we discover that they don't last. The monster in the closet turns out to be a pussycat. In fact, if we are willing to experience our emotions completely, without resistance of any kind, they burn themselves out in only a few minutes.
The only thing that keeps emotions alive within you over long periods is your unwillingness to acknowledge them.

Be, do and have

"Often people attempt to live their lives backwards: they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want so they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then do what you love to do, in order to have what you want."
-- Margaret Young

The formula for success is Be, Do, Have. If we seek abundance, we must be abundant in spirit. We can begin to cultivate spiritual wealth by opening our hearts in gratitude.
Start a gratitude journal today. Each evening, write down at least 5 things for which you are grateful. This simple tool will help you open your eyes to the abundance of your world right now.

"Who does not thank for little will not thank for much."
-- Estonian proverb

Listening

When I ask you to listen to me and you start giving advice, you
have not done what I ask,
When I ask you to listen to me and you begin to tell me why I
shouldn't 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 to talk or do -just
hear me.
Advice is cheap: 50 cents will get you both Dear Abby and Bill
Graham in the newspaper.
And I can do that for myself. I am 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
get about the business of understanding what's behind this
irrational feeling. And when that's clear, the answers are obvious
and I don't need advice.