Monday Spiritual Joke #20

A father was approached by his small son, who told him proudly, "I know what the Bible means!"
His father smiled and replied, "What do you mean, you 'know' what the Bible means?"

The son replied, "I do know!"

"Okay," said his father. "So, son, what does the Bible mean?"

"That's easy, Daddy. It stands for 'Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.'"

to be PREDICTABLE

I recently heard that if there is fear inside of you, it's a sign of some form of dishonesty. Just recently I've been discovering the relationship between the two.

I am lucky as I spend each morning at a meditation centre and so all those who are there - even the atmosphere itself- very quickly become a mirror for what needs changing inside. Related to fear and dishonesty a few years ago, on one of my first trips to a retreat centre in India, one of the meditation teachers shared that fear is connected to ego and the need to 'take' from an individual or situation, it's in fact a selfish motive. This was a very liberating idea for me at the time because when you are in the experience of 'fear' you feel a victim and that it is the other person who is making you feel vulnerable, but the fear in fact is self-created. I realised that the cleaner one becomes, the fuller one feels inside...as the more ego falls and humility grows and I can begin to live life free from the subtle fears that often stop us from being who we are. I realised that I needed to work deeply on myself - I need to create that level of honesty inside that makes me clean and clear...transparent. For this I need to start today and check...is there that much integrity and cleanliness inside that whatever I think...is the same as I what I say...is the same as what I do?

Oftentimes to be too predictable is considered to be ordinary but I'm starting to like this idea of being predictable...so that those who know me can guess what I would think/say/do.

Fear, dishonesty, selfishness - these are the things that make us unpredictable not only to others but to ourselves also.

TRUST - a new perspective

Trust - is the word that has been echoing in my mind for the last few days.

I am beginning to think Trust is a gorgeous word - look how beautiful it is.

I was reflecting on my relationship with this word and how it's beginning to
change. Sometimes it's easy to trust. If we are feeling good inside it's easy and
difficult if there is resistance. Here's a new perspective on TRUST:

The T makes you strong like a tree
The R takes you on an interesting journey
The U is a place to rest, inside
The S lets you flow like a river
The T makes you an embodiment of strength

Relationships at Work

Today I had a call from a colleague - Alex - who is currently experiencing pressure at work and now in addition I was imposing more. On listening to her I could hear Alex's frustrations bubbling away. From my perspective it wasn't a big change, from her perspective it was a big deal (and I was a possible scape goat). I could appreciate where she was coming from having been in similar situations. I empathised with her, "I can appreciate how you are feeling." I wasn't just saying it, I could. I have felt like that, it was from the heart. However, I needed to share the details and reasons for the situation that were not being considered by Alex. I could see as an observer that the change externally was just emphasising what needed to change inside her. Any stress we experience is a messenger to change something inside ourselves.

I reflected, everyday we have so much to learn from each other and from ourselves. My lesson was to be the listener, to be understanding, loving and open. It was also to be ultimately firm and to not let myself be affected by the frustrations that were being aired. My part was to be someone who could empathise, offer solutions and different perspectives. Ultimately it was not me though who could not make the change for her to feel better about the situation, only Alex has that right.

Monday Spiritual Joke #19

A Recently Spotted Bumper Sticker:

Witches' parking only. All others will be toad.

Temporary living

It has been almost 3 months now that my husband and I have been staying with his parents due to our "house situation". Before we moved in I said to myself: remember that this is just a temporary arrangement. It seems that carrying this awareness: that it is just TEMPORARY, has helped me tremendously. Knowing that this situation is not permanent and that it would soon change I felt able to say: I am going to make the best out of this situation and take this time to get to know them better. I cannot say that there have been no disagreements whatsoever but knowing this is 'temporary' I'm able to put the negative feelings aside, rekindle the relationship and learn to appreciate them.

When thinking on a deeper level... this may be applied to everything. If I look at every situation, every opportunity and every person as being temporary, then I would see that every situation is a chance to learn something take up every opportunity that I've been given and appreciate the other person I'm with. It is only when I feel that I'm stuck in a situation or with someone do I stop living in the present and start to live in the question box of 'why, what and how'.

However, I have to say the awareness is not always there but at least I have had a glimpse of it and know that I'm now a step closer to opening my perspective to life and learning to see the positivity in every situation.

Success Ruler

The past week has been an interesting one - one that I'm still making sense of or trying to get my head around.

Last week I went to give a presentation to a group of individuals - it was set in a corporate environment, outside of london (both of which I was not used to). In the past, I never imagined that I would be doing 'public speaking' but life has it that it occasionally puts me in 'stretching' situations:)

To make a long story short - the presentation didn't go very well and it's only because I picked up one person's criticism in the room and I allowed it to influence me. On the train ride back, I didn't feel great about the presentation and was reflecting on why it wasn't successful...I was measuring the success of it!

A week later I was speaking to a colleague and she said something quite interesting...she had to do a similar presentation somewhere else and I asked her how it went and she said that it's sometimes good not to measure an experience as good or bad but wherever you go you are simply planting seeds.

Planting seeds is an incognito process - the results may only be visible in a month or even a few years - one needs to plant with the good intention that ultimately a garden will emerge from those seeds. If I plant with hesitation - the wind will just blow the seeds away. So often we go into a situation expecting a certain standard or result or some form of 'praise' - which ultimately is the one thing that prevents us from maintaining our own integrity and dignity. Where there is self doubt (i.e. as a speaker) of any kind your success ruler will always be dependent on what others say or what you think, which is so often based on ego.

Choosing not to measure one's success enables one to stay in control, stay free, enjoy the experience and move on!

Burn or take time out

If you throw a frog into boiling water – what will it do? Jump immediately out. If you throw a frog into cool water and then just continue to increase bit by bit the temperature… what will the frog do? The frog has an amazing capacity to adjust to the temperature of the water. Eventually the frog will die as the water reaches boiling but it is not the boiling water that kills the frog – it is its own temperature that does!

There are a lot of similarities with us. As we are part of a changing world… we continue to find ourselves adjusting and adjusting and adjusting. Adapting ourselves to our surroundings. Where does this so often leave us… burn out!

So, it is important to learn to catch the signs of being stressed (mood swings, irritability, unable to focus the mind, not answering the phone…if I trip over things☺- these are all signs) so that I don’t have burn out. Learning to take time for reflection and set my own pace – where I am not influenced by my external surroundings but where I now can have influence over my surroundings in a positive way.

Monday Spiritual Joke #18

Grandpa and his grandson were sitting reading when he asked,

"Did God make you, Grandpa?"

"Yes, God made me," the grandfather answered.

A few minutes later, the little boy asked him, "Did God make me too?"

"Yes, He did," the older man answered.

For a few minutes, the little boy seemed to be studying his grandpa, as well as his own reflection in the mirror, while his grandfather wondered what was running through his mind. At last he spoke up.

"You know, Grandpa," he said, "God's doing a lot better job lately."

Arteries of Communication - Successful Organisations

A friend was recently sharing with me the success of an organisation that she works in. She was saying how well it functions because everyone believes and respects the values of the organisation and chooses to live by them. The secret of its' success is that there are very clear and open lines of communication that run to its' hear (i.e. the people at the top). Another interesting aspect to this is, the people in the middle and at the bottom also have good communication, value and respect each other's roles and understand the importance of them in the bigger picture, and so recognise the importance of being transparent about everything with the top. They recognise that they are the ones who keep the arteries open to the heart of the organisation, so that there are no blocks and enable the organisation to function successfully – this leaves 'the heart' free to pump and flow its power around the organisation as there is mutual trust, love and respect. You can guess how successful it is?

Power of Thought

During the past week I've become more and more aware of the power of thought - and of how when you consciously create and choose to sustain that thought how you begin to create a new reality.

This might sound superficial as I am not someone who has ever been interested in I'm not really one to think about earning lots of money (this thought was/is in fact my hindrance) but I decided a few days ago to change my thinking towards money - it was as if I started to just change the feeling I had towards it...I felt my consciousness expanding and that I was ready for a new period of growth and to welcome a new sense of abundance. Today I received a call from my manager, he told me that he would be giving me a raise...I said that the organisation (which is a charity) didn't have enough money to afford to be giving me a pay rise, but he said that this is irrelevant and that I should be paid more for the work that I'm doing. I have to say I was quite stunned by this - it wasn't a big pay rise but it was something...and simply proved to me that when you begin to remove the 'fear' of having too much abundance...realising that it is actually not 'my' money but that money is energy and so must flow - like love.

Money should flow to us as we need it and then flow from us for the greater good. Don't worry I'm not going to fixate on money:-) but I've decided not to reject it but to welcome it as one would welcome love!

Monday Spiritual Joke #17

How many members of your astrological sign does it take to change a light bulb?

Libra: Er, two. Or maybe one. No - on second thought, make that two. Is that okay with you?

Scorpio: That information is strictly secret and shared only with the Enlightened Ones in the Star Chamber of the Ancient Hierarchical Order.

Sagittarius: The sun is shining, the day is young and we've got our whole lives ahead of us, and you're inside worrying about a stupid light bulb?

Taurus: You have to understand how the light bulb work first and what we need...

Capricorn: I don't waste my time with these childish jokes.

Aquarius: Well, you have to remember that everything is energy, so...

Leo: Everyone watch me change the light bulb.

Pisces: Light bulb? What light bulb?

Gemini: Changing light bulb is no fun. Can we do something else?

Aries: While you are wasting time asking such question the light bulb has been changed.

Challenge My Beliefs

A few friends recently caught me taking on board other peoples negative beliefs into my life. Ooops! It made me stop and take stock - and I found it quite revealing. It's very easy to slip into, it can come from just saying, "yes that's true", (notice how often we do this?). On this occasion someone had come up with a probable theory, but it was still "a theory". Somewhere along the way I had bought into this idea(unconsciously)I must have thought: well they know what they are talking about. They are a trusted source and I have a lot of respect for this person so "it must be true". As I reacted to the thoughts about an event that will be happening in the future the impact of this belief left me feeling bad. (A strong sign of a negative belief at work!). Seeing myself go through this, reminded me of walking on the cracks in the pavement when I was a child. Remember this one? If I do this ......this will happen.......(depending on what I thought sometimes it felt good, sometimes bad.) This uncomfortable feeling really made me look within myself and ask, "Will I be there for me to face whatever challenges come up in my life in the future? Will I see them as learning opportunities to move on and grow through or will I be scared?" From the heart I said: Yes, I will be there for myself! It's the only thing I can do! As I gave this more thought, I could see and feel the fear drop away from me. This love and commitment towards myself was like a balm, if I hadn't examined that belief it would still be at work today and causing me mischief. I recognised whatever beliefs I have, at some point in time I will face its' truth or falsehood. If the belief is true I will feel good, if there is any sense of fear and I feel bad it's false!

Letting life unfold

I've been making trips to and fro to hospitals for the past week. It is not a new found hobby of mine but it was how life presented itself. A very good friend's Mum was hospitalised with undiagnosed lung problems; another close friend's Mum was admitted into hospital with a minor heart attack, and another friend is in hospital recovering from back surgery.

So, I sat back the other day to reflect on these scenes and watching these things unfolding in front of me. Sometimes I like to do this, it helps me to understand the significance of my life's journey. At the moment the hospital trips might be there to prepare me for something in the future? They might be preparing me mentally for having to face something similar? - I don't know. However, I do not want to live life waiting for it to pass me by when I can do something about it right now.

It might not be hospitals next time, it might be something else, but it doesn't matter. The main thing is to capture what life is presenting and then learn from it, apply it and move on.

We can be stuck in the same situation again and again... but until I have learnt the lesson I need to learn the situation will never go away. Someone told me, if the situation is no longer there, then it is an indication I have learnt my lesson!

Monday Spiritual Joke #16

Bible's Financial Wizard

Q. Who was the Bible's first financial wizard?

A. Noah. He floated his stock when the rest of the world was in liquidation.

Grace

Two words that have been coming to my mind recently…are ‘hesitation’ and…on a more positive note ‘grace’:)

I received a reply to an email I had written a few days ago…that made me aware of my ‘hesitation’…in fact I was only trying to make sure that I was doing the right thing…I suppose being careful but careful of what? Maybe so not to make a mistake – the reply stated ‘use your discretion!’

Yesterday evening, I went to a talk on ‘Calm Revolution’ and you may have heard of the speaker ‘Sister Jayanti’ – a meditator of 38yrs and I heard someone commenting on her ‘grace’ – why did I like this word so much…the idea of being graceful – I realised that it’s because it is the exact opposite of hesitation – grace is by nature the absence of pain, difficulty or hesitation.

Interestingly enough – the more I think about ‘grace’ the image that comes to my mind is that of a swan. Swan’s are known for their ability to discriminate between a stone and a seed pearl. So it’s using my discrimination power – the ability to discern between right and wrong…firstly I need to be in touch with my own truth…where there is truth – my intention will be clean and I will be confident in the choices I make…in fact when I don’t hesitate, I will less likely make mistakes and others will trust my decision…

Monday Spiritual Joke #15

A man suffered a serious heart attack and had bypass surgery. He awakened to find himself in the care of nuns at a Catholic hospital.

As he was recovering, a nun asked how he was going to pay the bill. He replied, in a raspy voice, "No health insurance."

The nun asked if he had money in the bank.He replied, "No money in the bank."

The nun asked, "Do you have a relative who could help you?"

He said, "Just a spinster sister, who is a nun."

The nun, slightly perturbed, said, "Nuns are not spinsters! Nuns are married to God."

The patient replied, "Then send the bill to my brother-in-law."

Cooperation is love in action

Some of you may of heard of the event "Just A Minute" – it has been blogged about here. Well, sometime ago a beautiful idea came to my mind, about getting a group of friends together and friends of friends and having brunch before going to the "Just a Minute" launch event by the Brahma Kumaris. The aim being to share: good company + good food = love in the heart A perfect start to a very special day. It’s a simple equation. When I added up the numbers there was going to be around 40 people (have you ever cooked for 40 people?) The reason why I am telling you this is because I was so struck by what happened when a group of individuals came together all with the same aim in mind. I was amazed every single detail was thought about (not by me!)It was like perfect synchronicity – I came back to the house late the night before the event to find that all of the furniture had been put into the right places - even flowers in a vase. On the day the food that people decided to make for the day and the combinations worked perfectly, gifts for the guests had even been thought of! The right amount of people at the right time were there to help and get it all ready in the morning, 40 falafel wraps were created on the day! Extra chairs came from people we didn’t know had extra chairs. Then too, people turned up in the evening to finish the food we couldn’t finish earlier on! Help was there to clean everything up – this too really!!! made an impact, as I was tired, seamless??? Even more, the next day the food that was left over was taken for the morning meditation class with a friend and this amazingly provided lunch for everyone that needed lunch that day! All were very happy. What touched me deeply was power of the gesture to cooperate. This little event was something bigger than all of us, with the time we had available to give to it. So the potential of this power was what really boomed for me that day – and so what did the guests experience? The beauty, the thoughtfulness, the love and the care - I was so stunned by it and I think they were too. Just imagine... if every scene of our lives had this quality to it. I was inspired that day, I thought I want to be cooperative all the time (I know how much I appreciated the cooperation that was shared on that day).

Monday Spiritual Joke #14

A man and his wife were having an argument about who should brew the coffee each morning.

The wife said, "You should do it, because you get up first, and then we don't have to wait as long to get our coffee."

The husband said, "You are in charge of the cooking around here so you should do it, because that is your job, and I can just wait for my coffee."Wife replies, "No, you should do it, and besides it says in the Bible that the man should do the coffee."

Husband replies, "I can't believe that! Show me."

So she fetched the Bible, and opened the New Testament and showed him at the top of several pages, that it indeed says, "HEBREWS."

Having faith paid back

A colleague of mine, Kim, has just come back from Israel. She went there with her family for a short holiday.
They spent a few days in a hotel and then a friend of Kim’s, Sarah, insisted that they should all go and stay with her in the countryside rather than in this big city hotel. Sarah also insisted that she would come by car to pick them all up, because public transport wasn’t very good to where she lived. I don’t remember the exact what Kim said but it was something like: they would have had to have taken a bus to the railway station, then travelled by train to the next town and then waited for a couple of hours to catch another bus to their destination. So all together the journey by public transport would last 6-7 hours as opposed to 1.5 hours by car.
It was all going as planned until Sarah realised that her 4x4 car would not be available for this trip and that she would somehow have to manage with her smaller car. However, squeezing 4 people and their luggage -along with the driver - into this car was not feasible. Kim didn’t think it was fair to ask Sarah to do the journey twice so she decided to let the others go with Sarah and that she would go by public transport however complicated it seemed.

Kim thought that this would also give her some quiet moments by herself and an opportunity to do a few things in town before going to Sarah’s. She was totally relaxed about having to travel separately from the others, even though it meant travelling for a much longer time and going through more hassle. Even though she had never been to this village before or even knew where it was, she had a complete faith that everything would be just right for her. I guess that’s why she was so relaxed about the whole thing.

The soonest train was not for another few hours, so off Kim went shopping, checking e-mails, sightseeing around town. When the time came to catch the bus to the railway station, she asked pass-byers which bus to take and where the bus stop was. Then whilst looking for the stop, right in front of her she saw a coach that had, believe it or not, the name of the village of her destination displayed in front. No one had ever mentioned this possibility to Kim. She stood there for a second in total disbelief that this was for real. However, she had to act fast so she boarded the coach immediately. Once on the coach Kim found out from the driver that this coach went only once a day and that it is not advertised as no tourists go to this village, so not many people knew about it. Two hours later Kim was sitting at the lunch table with the others. She got to Sarah’s 5 hours earlier than planned… with no hassle whatsoever and about 10 times cheaper.

Having faith that everything will be just right paid back for Kim, it paid back much more than she had hoped for! Having faith always pays back for me too, but I keep forgetting… so I wrote this to make myself remember… and share with you, of course:-).