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:-).

Overcoming procrastination

There's something I have been putting off for a few weeks. I hadn't even got around to working out why this was, and then a friend asked me how it was going. I just gave a very honest answer about where it was at. I said: I was inactive and also shared my concerns about what was stopping me from moving forward - good old "self doubt." It was great that she asked me about it, if she hadn't it would probably still be clogging up the pathways of my mind and eating away at my self-esteem! After sharing 'my issue', looking at new possibilities and experiencing the good wishes and encouragement of my friend I was amazed at how quickly I was able to shift and get things moving again. I now just need to work on having good wishes and encouragement for myself - and to replace the pathways of self doubt. When you think about it there's no such thing as failure if you are always open to learning.

Things you are grateful about

What are the things in life you are grateful about?

Thanks for sharing...

Monday Spiritual Joke #13

A zealous Christian who was trying to convert a Hindu found himself getting nowhere. "The thing is," argued the frustrated Christian, "you have to be born again!"

"But I have been born again!" insisted the Hindu. "And again and again and again ..."

Inspiration

What inspires you?

Let us know:

1. A book you read which was inspiring.
2. A song you listen to which always bring back feelings of inspiration.
3. A movie you watched which was inspiring.
4. A person who is the source of your inspiration.
5. An event which has altered the course of your life.

We want to hear from you.

Just click on "Comment" to respond to this...

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and inspiring us!

Wrong Number!!!

For some reason my home phone number is listed as a book publisher's phone number. So, on a daily basis, countless phone calls come through. My answering machine now says "this is a private home" - and still they keep ringing. I usually let it go straight to the answering machine, but last Tuesday I was working from home and waiting for a phone call from a colleague so, when the phone rang... A lady called looking for the publishers. I explained that this is a private home number etc. Hung up politely etc. She called again. Again the same story. She apologised.
Again, five minutes later, she called. This time to see if I had their phone number. No, madam, I have no idea. Then, about 10 minutes later the phone rings and sure enough it's the same the lady again. I didn't know what to say anymore. She wanted to check if the publisher's phone was merely being incorrectly directed to my home. So we double-checked the number she had and it was indeed my home number. No, sorry, wrong number. She asked me how long I have had that number. "About six months" -- I replied. She said she had just written a book and was trying to arrange a meeting with the publishers. Then I became curious. "What was the book about?" It was a work of fiction about a girl who finds out she is not human. "Hummmm" I said, not really interested anymore. Until she said "She realises she is made of goodness." I asked "Well, aren't humans good?". Diane said (by then I had asked her her name) "We used to be. Now we have become greedy and selfish and lost our original goodness -- we need to find our super-human selves again. This girl in the book finds it straight away. It is the innocence that children have" she said which allows them to tap into what is best in them immediately." So we chatted a bit longer I wished her good luck and hung up.

That story stuck to my mind... it was interesting to see my own beliefs about the human race, and I was happy to find that 'my ending' was a happy one. That we indeed have the potential to become like children again; to rediscover our goodness, to reaccess our innocence and to live in harmony. Yes, despite the wars, the chaos and the negativity. Indeed, there is no other way. So, when the phone rang again I was hoping it was Diane so I could tell her my reflections as a follow-up to our chat, but it wasn't... It was my colleague from work with a very technical question. I was a different person though, with a different state of mind, no longer 'small'. I had hope for us, for all of us.

Together we shall reach the goal

Have you heard of the event called ‘Just a minute’ that is going to take place at Wembley Arena? One of their slogans is “It takes just a minute to transform your world.” Sounds unbelievable, doesn’t it? It would be great to transform this world into a place where everyone is happy, peaceful and content… no sorrow, no crime, no stress, no fear… and all in just a minute?! Excellent idea! And I guess the best way to achieve such a big goal is to gather many people together, all with the same aim… and whilst writing this, another slogan comes to mind:

“Nobody can do everything, but everybody can do something and together we shall reach the goal!”

I’ll let you know how the event goes… Can’t wait!

Little things mean a lot!

last week i took notice of a few things - small they may be, but these small things actually make a big difference:

• my neighbour offered to cook me a meal when i had migraine
• as i was leaving for work in a hurry a friend packed me a sandwich for breakfast
• someone offered me their seat on a crowded underground train (added bonus: it was rush hour!)
• i paused to eat a meal outside my workplace in silence
• i offered my seat in the bus to an elderly man
• i saved some of my dinner to share with my flatmate
• from across the atlantic, i received a beautiful letter from an old friend (a real letter, sent by real post!!! yes, they still exist!)
• i smiled broadly at the bus driver and said 'thank you' at the end of the journey
• the taxi driver wanted to talk about his life - and i really REALLY listened - and he thanked me from his heart.

for all these little blessings, i am very grateful.

Buying a property or buying a lesson?

Recently someone said to me - "If you are going to attain something, attain something permanent."

This has been playing on my mind for a few days now. I have heard this many times from people and read it in spiritual books but somehow I was unable to put it into context for myself until now.

My husband and I are currently in the process of purchasing a property in North London. Any of you who have bought or are in the process of buying a property know how tedious and precarious the whole process is. I found myself caught up in a whirlwind of questions - 'why', 'when' and 'how' along with the buying process.

After the statement above had been playing in my head for a few days I realised that I had lost sight of our initial reason for buying a property and become too caught up in wanting that so-called-perfect-house. Initially we had agreed to climb onto the property ladder to find a place that we could call home and that would mean not having to keep finding ourselves moving every year, when 'our landlord' decided to raise the rent or sell their property.

I realised a home is a feeling which is created and not something to do with bricks and mortar. You could have the most beautiful house in the world but if it is filled with sadness, unhappiness or grief no one would call that a home and most of all no one would look forward going back to that house.

It is my presence, my pure feelings, my positive energy which make a home loving, caring and full of hospitality. The house is just the scenery where this plays out. If we just stopped chasing after our tails for a second, we might just find what we need deep within ourselves...

(That's what I'm doing now. I will let you know how I get on).

Life Opportunities

Yesterday I left my meditation session feeling really good – we had talked a lot about kindness and I walked to the underground on my way to work thinking about what it really means. I generally walk very fast and on getting to the underground there was an old lady pushing a little cart. I passed by her and proceeded to run down the stairs. When I was at the very bottom I heard a man who had entered the underground with me ask her (he was just then at the top of the staircase): ‘Madam, can I help you going down?’. I then realized that whilst I was thinking about kindness I had just lost the very opportunity to put it into practice! Very much in the same way that many times we proclaim our values with such moral righteousness and yet fail to express them practically when we are “tested on them”. Well, I said to myself: “I hope I learned that lesson, but I lost that opportunity”. Later in the day I was again in the underground and, as I was going up the stairs, there was another old lady trying really hard to carry her luggage down. I rushed up and offered to help her. She accepted with a broad smile on her face. I had a broad smile on mine and felt really good! Not only because I had given something of myself and exchanged a moment of tenderness, but also because of the beauty I could then see in life: when we really want an opportunity to express something positive, life will provide!

Monday Spiritual Joke #12

An engineer died and ended up in Hell. He was not pleased with the level of comfort in Hell, and began to redesign and build improvements. After awhile, they had toilets that flush, air conditioning, and escalators. Everyone grew very fond of him.

One day God called to Satan to mock him, "So, how's it going down there in Hell?" Satan replied, "Hey, things are great. We've got air conditioning and flush toilets and escalators, and there's no telling what this engineer is going to come up with next."

God was surprised, "What? You've got an engineer? That's a mistake. He should never have gotten down there in the first place. Send him back up here."

"No way," replied Satan. "I like having an engineer, and I'm keeping him." God threatened, "Send him back up here now or I'll sue!"

Satan laughed and answered, "Yeah, right. And just where are YOU going to get a lawyer?"

Can we turn around time?

I finally made it to the Sports Centre the other day. After all that hard work in the gym and the swimming pool I decided to treat myself with a sauna.
I was thoroughly enjoying sitting in the sauna when someone asked me: “Could you please turn the time around?”
There was a sand timer on the wall next to where I was sitting and the lady was obviously asking me if I could turn the timer over, which I did.
However, sitting in silence made me think whether it was possible to turn the time itself around? To make time work for us rather than against us, to make time make the effort to catch up with us rather than us making the effort to catch up with time?
I guess this means doing things with love and enjoying them, so that they are done before the time rather than postponing and then rushing to meet a deadline.

Does anyone out there have more thoughts on this?

Monday Spiritual Joke #11

Sid and Al were sitting in a Chinese restaurant.

"Sid," asked Al, "Are there any Jews in China?"

"I don't know," Sid replied. "Why don't we ask the waiter?" When the waiter came by, Al said, "Are there any Chinese Jews?"

"I don't know sir, let me ask," the waiter replied and he went into the kitchen.

He quickly returned and said, "No, sir. No Chinese Jews."

"Are you sure?" Al asked.

"I will check again, sir." The waiter replied and went back to the kitchen.

While he was still gone, Sid said, "I cannot believe there are no Jews in China. Our people are scattered everywhere."

When the waiter returned he said, "Sir, no Chinese Jews."

"Are you really sure?" Al asked again. "I cannot believe there are no Chinese Jews."

"Sir, I ask everyone," the waiter replied exasperated. "We have orange jews, prune jews, tomato jews and grape jews, but no one ever hear of Chinese jews!"

The LOVE Story

Once upon a time there was an island on which all The Feelings lived. There was Happiness, Sadness, Knowledge and all the others, including Love.

One day it was announced to all of The Feelings that the island was about to sink to the bottom of the ocean. So all of The Feelings prepared their boats to leave, apart from Love who decided to stay. She wanted to preserve their island paradise until the very last possible moment. Eventually, when the island was almost totally under water, Love decided it was time for her to also leave. She began looking for someone to ask for help.

Just then Richness was passing by in a grand boat. Love asked, "Richness, can I come with you on your boat?" Richness answered, "I am sorry, but there is a lot of silver and gold on my boat and there would be no room for you anywhere."

Then Vanity passed by in a beautiful vessel and Love cried out, "Vanity, help me please!", "I can't help you", Vanity said, "You are all wet and will damage my beautiful boat."

Next Love saw Sadness passing by. Love said, "Sadness please let me go with you." Sadness answered, "Love, I'm sorry, but, I just need to be alone now."

Then, Love saw Happiness and cried out, "Happiness, please take me with you." However Happiness was so overjoyed that he didn't hear Love calling him.

Love began to cry, then she heard a voice say, "Come Love I will take you with me."

It was an elder. Love felt so blessed and overjoyed that she forgot to ask the elder his name. When they arrived on land the elder went on his way.

Love realized how much she owed the elder and when she met Knowledge she asked who it was that had helped her.

"It was Time", Knowledge answered. "But why did Time help me when no one else would?", Love asked. Knowledge smiled and with deep wisdom and sincerity, answered, "Because only Time is capable of understanding how great Love is."

*This story was sent to me by a friend. Thought I share it with you.