1.31.2007

World's problem solved!


My younger son, 8 years old, has been having fun lately reading Shel Silverstein poems. He was reading this poem for me tonight and, I thought, wow, finally someone had a great solution to end the world's misery. Enjoy reading!

Small as a peanut
Big as a giant,
We're all the same size
When we turn off the light.
Red black or orange,
Yellow or white
We all look the same
When we turn off the light.
So maybe the way
To make everything right
Is for God to just reach out
And turn off the light!







I am so happy today and I don't even know why!

That's what my, 10 year old, son said today. It's interesting, kids need no reason to BE happy. But we, adults, are constantly looking for REASONs to BE happy.

1.29.2007

Let it go


Negative thoughts and feelings are like a spark that falls on your coat sleeve. Brush it off and it will do no damage, let it linger and it will burn a hole.

Let it go...

Practice forgiveness. You practice over and over, until it becomes second nature. Everything needs practice!

Let it go..

Have you noticed that people you love can often do no wrong in your eye? and even if they do, it's easy to forgive them. The people you hate can do no right, and no matter what they do, they're not forgiven.

Let it go..

It does not matter at the end...All hurt feelings are illusions, it's our made-up stories, it's unreal.

Let it go..

1.28.2007

Optimism

It gives me a great pleasure to discover that more and more "science world" is focusing on the positive nature of human beings. It great to read that Psychology is exploring humans's nature at their best. The following is a fascinating report from Harvard Magazine regarding the Science of Happiness:

For much of its history, psychology has seemed obsessed with human failings and pathology. The very idea of psychotherapy, first formalized by Freud, rests on a view of human beings as troubled creatures in need of repair. Freud himself was profoundly pessimistic about human nature, which he felt was governed by deep, dark drives that we could only tenuously control. The behaviorists who followed developed a model of human life that seemed to many mechanistic if not robotic: humans were passive beings mercilessly shaped by the stimuli and the contingent rewards and punishments that surrounded them.

A watershed moment arrived in 1998, when University of Pennsylvania psychologist Martin Seligman, in his presidential address to the American Psychological Association, urged psychology to “turn toward understanding and building the human strengths to complement our emphasis on healing damage.” That speech launched today’s positive psychology movement. “When I met Marty Seligman [in 1977], he was the world’s leading scholar on ‘learned helplessness’ and depression,” says Vaillant. “He became the world’s leading scholar on optimism."


read the rest here

1.27.2007

Zeal

Wisdom is the prefect blending of intelligence and love. Love without intelligence may do much undesigned harm- the spoiled child is a case in point - and intelligence without love may ultimate in clever cruelty. Zeal without discretion is proverbially mischievous.
Emmet Fox

Don't you think this "zeal without discretion" is the root of the problem the world is facing now?

1.25.2007

Ipod creator's advise

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't letthe noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

This is a part of the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005. It's an inspirational talk. You should read the whole thing...specially if you are in your 20's!
Update: I have found a video of this speech, click here. See, you don't even have to read the whole thing!


1.23.2007

sshhhhh!


Learn to be silent.
Let your
quite mind
Listen and absorb.

Pythagorus (580-B.C. - 500 B.C.)

All man's miseries drive from not being able to sit quietly in a room alone.
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)

Two mathematicians, whose lives were separated by 2 millennia, talked about the importance of silence. It has been estimated that the average person has 60000 separate thoughts each and every day. Do we really need all those thoughts? Lets quiet down for a moment....sshhhh!

1.22.2007

Happiness is a skill

To scientists, he is the world's happiest man. His level of mind control is astonishing and the upbeat impulses in his brain are off the scale. Now Matthieu Ricard, 60, a French academic-turned-Buddhist monk, is to share his secrets to make the world a happier place. The trick, he reckons, is to put some effort into it. In essence, happiness is a "skill" to be learned.


Studies have shown that the mind can rise above it all to increase almost everyone's happiness. Mr Ricard, who is the French interpreter for Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, took part in trials to show that brain training in the form of meditation can cause an overwhelming change in levels of happiness.

Mr. Recard also said, "Our life can be greatly transformed by even a minimal change in how we manage our thoughts and perceive and interpret the world. Happiness is a skill. It requires effort and time."

source: click here

Billionaire and Spirituality


Did you know that there is a research being done on examining greed and virtue in human behavior? I was surprised when I read this information in the Los Angeles Times last weekend. John Templeton, a British Billionaire who founded one of the world's most profitable investment funds, funds research on the science of spirituality, including the power of forgiveness, love and trust. Can you imagine that? I am glad at least one billionaire is taking the matter of spiritualluty seriously.

1.21.2007

Half Lived Life

"For as this appalling ocean surrounds the verdant land, so in the soul of man there lies one insular Tahiti, full of peace and joy, but encompassed by all of the horrors of the half lived life"
Herman Melville (1819-1891)

Melville was an American novelist, short story writer and poet. His best known for Moby Dick where the above quote was taken. He wrote this in the 19th century but his word still ring true. The same life force that flowed through many sages' and prophets' lives, also flows through us today. Don't ignore your inner voice, silent spark of life that we all have but don't n let them out. Let's not be stingy with our love and joy. Just ask yourself, are you living your life as fully as you were meant to live?

1.19.2007

Power of Choice



Every man builds his world in his own image. He has the power to choose, but no power to escape the necessity of choice. If the abdicates his Power, he abdicates the status of man, and the grinding chaos of the irrational is what he achieves as his sphere of existence - by his own choice.

Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand is my favorite thinker; She was a provocative and visionary writer. I believe She was the smartest woman in America (1905- 1982). Even though she claimed to be an atheist, but she was more spiritual than many "religious" people I have seen. She believed in power of human beings and power of the mind. She is best known for developing Objectivism, and her support of laissez-faire capitalism. Her political views were strongly individualist which I love. If you want to know her, read Atlas Shrugged and you will be transformed. I have to thank my dear Rev. Tom to introduce me to her.

1.18.2007

My all time favorite Ziggy cartoon..

1.17.2007

Power of Charity

Did you know that there were some 68,000 charity foundations in the U.S. in 2005, controlling assets in the range of $500 billion and making some $34 billion in annual grants? I came across a book called The foundation where it talks about the ineffectiveness of these charity group. The author writes how big grants are being signed off without ever asking anyone- grantees or members of their own staff- precisely how a given program or grant is supposed to achieve its goal and without measuring, later , whether it has succeeded. wow! $34 billion is a lot of money. To put it in perspective,the regular budget of the UN is some $1.3 billion per year, and the administrative budget of the 15-country European Community amounts to some 4.5 billion.

1.16.2007

To "Be"

"We must 'be' before we can 'do,' and we can 'do' only to the extent which we 'are,' and what we 'are' depends upon what we 'think.'"

Charles Haanel (1866 -1949), regarded by many as the "Father of Personal Development". I will tell more about him later. For now, just mentally digest his words

Power of intention

When you take a bite out of an apple and look at an apple seed you don't see a tree, but you can bank on the fact that the intention of the seed is to become an apple tree. The seed is programmed with the intention to become a tree. The apple seed just needs a few conditions to make it a tree and the eco system around it will support this. The cycle then repeats itself.
All of our intentions are just like a seed plus we human beings have the added benefit of free will. We can intend for anything to be.

source: intention engine

Be Unique

My son asked me to post this poem from his favorite poet, Shel silverstein:


Weird-Bird
Birds are flyin' south for winter.
Here's the Weird-Bird headin' north,
Wings a-flappin', beak a-chatterin',
Cold head bobbin' back 'n' forth.
He says, "It's not that I like ice
Or freezin' winds and snowy ground.
It's just sometimes it's kind of nice
To be the only bird in town."

1.14.2007

Power of Mind

I hope you will have time to read this great piece. I found it when reading Unity Magazine a couple of years ago. Trust me you will be moved.

Mohini, a white tiger, spent years pacing back and forth in her 12X12 foot cage in the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Eventually, a natural habitat was created for her. Covering several acres, it had hills, trees, a pond, and a variety of vegetation. With excitement and anticipation, the staff released Mohini into her new and expansive environment. The tiger immediately sought refuge in a corner of the compound. There she lived for the remainder of her life, pacing back and forth in an area measuring 12X12 feet!

Some prisons are built with concrete, steel, and razor wire. Others are built in the dungeons of our minds. Though freedom is possible, we often pass our years trapped in the same old patterns. We cage ourselves in to our self-imposed prisons with self-judgment and anxiety. Then, with the passing of time, we like Mohini, grow incapable of accessing the freedom and peace that is our birthright.

Life, however, is continually calling us to become more, to journey into the wilderness and face the truth. In my case, the shell of my life had to be softened-broken down, even- by the experience of coming to prison, before the moment of truth could appear. I needed to be humbled, cooked in the tears of loss, for any deeper life to emerge.

A new life requires a death of some kind; otherwise, it is nothing new but a shuffling of the same old deck. What dies is an outworn way of being in the world. We are no longer who we thought we were.

On the deepest level, this journey of awakening opens us to the innermost center of love. Love creates its own freedom from imprisonment, has its own direction, moves according to its own rhythms, and makes its own music.


Charles Brown

Transformation

The secret of transformation:
The person we're becoming is none other than who we really are.

Happiness

As Long as you are seeking to find happiness "somewhere", you are overlooking where happiness IS.

1.13.2007

Grace

To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a Heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And Eternity in an hour.


_ William Blake, "Auguries of Innocence"

1.12.2007

Inspirational Movies


If you are hungry for inspirational movies and soul nourishing films/documentaries, I have found a perfect source. Check out "Spiritual Cinema Circle" website and find out how you can have access to films that hardly get into the main stream market. Many people don't have time to read and this is the best way to get enlightening entertainment into our live. So try it and let me know which movie touched you the most?

1.10.2007

Who do you think you are?


It's been said by some Buddhists for the last 2600 years, that there are 3 great mysteries in life. To a fish, it's the water. To a bird, it's the air. To a Human being, it's himself. So, have you thought about who you really are? or, you've been so busy like me with "outside noises"...We tend to be busy with "other" things that are outside of us. We fill our minds with so much "noise" such as the world news, local news, gossips, personal wars, political tensions, and others, that we don't have space, in our minds, left to think about inner stuff. We simply don't have time to stop and think about who we really are. Or we are afraid to see the truth if we do look deep. Have you thought about who is in charge of our lives? How much of our being, we let others to dictate? hmmm....

Well, I found this lovely poem from RUMI who had found who he was:
What can be done, O believers, as I don't recognize myself?
I'm neither a Christian nor Jew, Magian nor Moslem.

I'm not of the East or West; neither land nor sea;
I'm not of Nature's mine; nor the stars in Heaven.

I'm not of earth, water, air or fire;
I'm not of Heaven, nor the dust on this carpet.

I'm not of this world, nor the next, Paradise nor Hell;
I'm not of Adam, nor Eve, Eden nor Rizwan.

My place is in the Placeless, my trace in the Traceless;
I'm neither body nor soul, as I belong to the soul of the Beloved.

I have dispensed with duality, and seen the two worlds as One.
One I seek; One I know, One I see, One I call

He is the first, last, the outward and the inward,
I know none other than He, and He Who Is.

1.08.2007

Parenting advise


When your children behave,
give them respect and kindness.
When your children misbehave,
give them respect and kindness.

When the are hateful,
love them.
When they betray your trust,
trust them.

the River of Life nurtures
everything it touches,
without asking for anything.
You will be happy and content
if you do the same.


TAO TZU

Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching is the most widely published book in the world next to the Bible, revered for its philosophical depth and practical wisdom. I love this one as a parent, but I wished I could follow it consistently. I promised myself that the 2007 is the year that I will follow TZU's advise, so I can be the parent that they deserve.

1.06.2007

Formula for living


Those who look for beauty will find it;
Those who listen for the voice of truth will hear;
Those who love will be loved;
Those who protect life will be protected by it -
As long as the stars continue in their courses, the winds rise,
and the rivers flow.


This piece of writing was given to a dear friend of mine, Jan, from her mom. Her mom passed away 2 weeks ago at the age of 97.

1.05.2007

Cheer up!


Just when the
caterpillar
thought the
world was over,
it became
a butterfly.


I don't know whose quote is this but, I have read it somewhere and it came to my mind when I was talking to a dear friend today who is experiencing some hard time and today's blog is for her. Dear friend, keep your chin up. As Winston Churchill used to say, "Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm". Your turn WILL come.



What the caterpillar calls the end, the rest of the world calls a butterfly.
Lao Tzu

1.04.2007

Where is the Truth?


Truth is within ourselves; it takes no rise
From outward things, whate'er you may believe.
There is an inmost center in us all,
Where truth abides in fullness; and around,
Wall upon wall, the gross flesh hems it in,
This is perfect, clear perception-which is truth.

Robert Browning (1812-1882)

So we should not travel too far. Many of our wise sages have said the same, Socrates referred to education as withdawing wisdom from within. We read John(7:38) and it says, "from within...shall flow rivers of living water".

1.01.2007

End of Shopping Season!


I wonder if Jesus comes back on the Christmas Season, would he recognize the Christmas himself ? I think not. He will wonder why is it that people are running around buying presents? Christianity is not about worshiping Jesus or celebrating his birthday, it is about following his teachings. Afterall, Jesus hated the rituals. Indeed, the whole current of his teaching is anti-ritualistic. His teaching was about soul and mind. He had little patience at any time with the Jewish priesthood and its theory of salvation through the Temple observances.
Don't' get me wrong, I like decorating the Christmas tree and giving presents, but be mindful, it has nothing to do with what Jesus has taught. We tend to be more worried about what to buy and which party to attend during this Christmas season, rather than, are we really as peaceful inside as Jesus wanted us to be? I think Christmas is about going deep inside and figure out how to become a peaceful soul. I totally believe that the people of the world will never live in peace until the people of the world have inner peace. I wish you all a "inner peaceful" Christmas spirit.