365QOD- Day1408

One with the Source

"I can't imagine the world without you."- t-shirt words

This tshirt slogan was unlike any I have read before. It made me pause and feel a warmth.

This person did not know me.   Why would they care if I existed or not?

And that is its power.

I believe that we are all spirits. All of us are spirits and we are one. We are here to evolve.  What?

So how do I explain evil spirits?   These are spirits that have not evolved.  Maybe they ate even here top help the test of us evolve.

Today's questing is:

"Can you imagine a world without me?"

365QOD- Day1403

Highs and Lows

"God is greater than the highs and lows."- great wisdom

Don't take things personally. It is not about you.  Of course as human beings we tend to do the opposite.

We tend to believe that our lows last too long and are a lot lower.   On the other hand our highs are to quick and not high enough.

I believe that the moment we learn to enjoy both we become released from this cycle. It no longer becomes about us but the experience. I am not saying that it is easy but I believe it is worthwhile to pursue.  It brings freedom.

Today's question is:

"Do you savor the highs and lows?"

365QOD- Day1281

Important to Man vs. Important to God

"What is serious to man is often very trivial in the sight of God. What in God might appear to us as 'play' is perhaps what He Himself takes most seriously. At any rate the Lord plays and diverts Himself in the garden of His creation, and if we could let go of our own  obsession with what we think is the meaning of it all, we might be able to hear His call  and follow Him in the mysterious cosmic dance. We do not have to go very far to catch  the echoes of that game, and of that dancing. When we are alone on a starlit night, when by chance we see the migrating birds in autumn descending on a grove of junipers to rest and eat, when we see children in a moment when they are really children, when we know love in our own hearts, or when, like the Japanese poet Basho we hear an old frog land in a quiet pond with a solitary splash - at such times the awakening, the turning inside out of all values, the 'newness,' the emptiness and the purity of the vision that make themselves evident, provide a glimpse of the cosmic dance. 

For the world and time are the dance of the Lord in emptiness. The more we persist in  misunderstanding the phenomena of life, the more we analyze them out into strange  finalities and complex purposes of our own, the more we involve ourselves in sadness,  absurdity, and despair. But it does not matter much, because no despair of ours can alter the reality of things, or stain the joy of the cosmic dance which is always there. Indeed,  we are in the midst of it, and it is in the midst of us, for it beats in our very blood,  whether we want it to or not.

Yet the fact remains that we are invited to forget ourselves on purpose, cast our awful  solemnity to the winds and join the general dance." - Thomas Merton 

I love this quote.  It would take a series of posts to deconstruct it.  I am just going to focus on the  notion that what is serious is man is trivial to God. And that which to us appears as play is very serious to God.

Human beings tend to be too serious.  We start off our lives happy and peak by the age of  5.  Statistically, we tend to laugh the most and ask the most questions at that age.    So we just go down in both over time.

As adults we become serious.  We want to be taken serious and because of this we hardly  laugh and  ask questions.  Wow!  This is most of us.

Notice that I said most of us.  We have to get back to the five year old mindset.  We have  to learn to play again.  We have to learn to question the seriousness.

To us they seem so childish but as the quote advises they are very serious to God.  I have a mantra that I repeat when doing breathing exercises, "I want to feel good, I want to feel  God." To take it to another level,  "I want to feel God, I want to laugh and play."

Today's question is:

"Do you laugh, question, and play?"

365QOD- Day1153

Living a Great Life

"Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust,  then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will   have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones."- Marcus Aurelius

One of the things we need to realize that this life is not all about us.  We need to evolve to think about others.  Usually most of us get there early in our lives when we learn to share and get along with others.

What I found interesting about this quote is that Marcus clearly lays out that the three cases: existence of just God, existence on an unjust God, or lack of God.  He uses gods but I have changed it into a singular God that we believe in today.  The message stays the same regardless of which case is true for you.

In many posts in the past I have talked about the notion that I believe at the end we would not be asked why we were not more like Jesus/Buddha/Moses/ etc. but that we would be asked why we were not more like [insert your name].  We need to become the best we can be.  

The quote which was written many centuries ago confirms it for me that in the end the only thing we can control is to live a good life.  Live a good life as you define it and make it worth remembering.

Today's question is:

"Are you living a good life?"

365QOD- Day1083

Of Service to Others

“Let me tell you a story”- my favorite words to hear

The other day I was driving home when I called a friend.  James is a very good friend.  He also happens to be very religious.  At the end of our conversation he told me a story.

James told me a story how at work things were difficult.  Nothing seems to gel.  Everything seemed to lead to conflict with the people in his work environment.

Then one day he went to a sandwich shop.  While in line he heard a voice instructing him to pay for the meal of the young  couple in front of him.  He ignored it.  The voice inside came back a second and a third time.   He could no longer ignore it, offered, and paid for their meal.  They were delighted and finally he was at peace.

According to James, the next day everything started changing.  Life seemed to become easy and his relationships at work seemed to improve.  It seemed as if someone had turned a switch on.

James’ story made me realize that often we are self-focused too much.  We are offered guidance from around us and above that we tend to ignore.  But if we get out of ourselves then we will be rewarded with peace of mind and our lives will shift towards a better state.

Today’s question is:

“Do you get out of yourself by being of service to others?”

365QOD- Day1050

Hurting Others

"If you truly loved yourself, you could never hurt another."-    Buddha

 I do not intentionally hurt others. But... it does happen.  I snap and without thought I say or do something that others perceive as hurtful.  This is where focused breathing helps to stop the blood from boiling.

The quote gives a very difficult task.   To truly love oneself is very hard.   We often talk the talk but fail to live up to that level.  It must be that we do not feel "enough" and just take it out on the people around us.

Maybe we should reverse it and work on the second part of the quote first?  Work on not purposely trying to hurt anyone and we might just get to the level of truly living ourselves. I think that most of us approach life and relationships in this fashion already. Judging by the amount of pain in the world, I do not believe it to be very effective.

So what is the answer?  We have to remember that the Buddha left his wife and  princely life in order to find himself.  This seems selfish to most of us but maybe by being selfish and truly developing yourself one can evolve to this level of love for others.

Today's question is:

"Do you truly love yourself?"

365QOD- Day936

Just a Fluke

"Coincidence is God's way of staying anonymous"- Emily Bear

When I read this line I laughed.  Immediately I saw the truth hidden inside it.  Just as fast I connected it to another belief.

The wisdom in the words is that the false belief that it is just a fluke is not correct.  It is just simply God using coincidence to drive us towards a desired direction.

The belief that I have is something I read in a book called sacred contacts.  In it the author Laura out the idea that before we are born a choose what we will experience in this life.  God agra to or plan but also asks of us to be in certain places at certain time and to influence certain people.  Outside of those moments we are free to choose the life that we lead.

But maybe it is not that simple?  Maybe a are guided all along by coincidences towards those moments.  Some might say pushed towards them.

Today's question is:
"Did you feel God's anonymity on your back?"

365QOD- Day934

The Four Parts of Us

"The mind are the horses, the body is the chariot, the ego is the small child inside the chariot,  and the spirit is the charioteer.  Unfortunately most of the time the spirit is asleep and the horses are directing the chariot wherever they want to take it"-Naren Jauhal

The other day I had a conversation with Naren about our beliefs.  We discussed the trinity idea of mind, body, and soul.  But his idea was that there are four was new to me.  Let's talk about it. The visualization is easy to see clearly. 

I can see the little ego misleading the spirit into pursuing a self centered goal.  The kid is all about the need. Me, me and more me.  It takes us away from or mission and drives us towards the selfish pursuit.

The chariot is the body.  If it is strong it will follow whatever direction the spirit, the ego, or the mind sets for it.  It is the follower.  You ask it to run a mile it does.  If you believe it can run ten miles then that is what it gives us. If you believe you can not then it blocks you.

The horses are tied to the body.  If the ego or spirit do not lead it then the mind takes over to lead it where it makes sense to it.  Your body could be in great shape, but if your mind can tell you that there is something wrong with it the body believes it. 

The last part is the spirit.  If it is guiding the body-chariot, ignoring the ego-child, and raining in the mind-horses, it will lead them to the promised land-true destination.

Today's question is:
"Which one of the four leads you most often?"

365QOD- Day926

There is a Reason

"The set up is just add important add the story. "- story telling advice

In post 925 I pasted the story called Lunch with God.  I want to tell you an interesting story.

Three weeks ago I hurt my right knee.  I went out for a short Sunday run and five minutes into the run my right knee just did not feel good.  So I stopped.  I thought it was my mind playing games so I tried again.  No luck.  Therefore I decided to give my knee a break and start using the elliptical machines in my building's fitness center.

For the last three Weeks, my new routine stated with getting up at 430 in the morning and working or on the machine for and hour or so.  Well, needless to say there is no one fighting you for these machines at 430.  So I stated going down each day and playing my music on my phone and reading books.

The other day I had a surprise.  I walked down to the center and there was a young guy about 12 looking at the machines.  He was dressed in shorts, t shirt, and slippers. Did not look like he was in running shape.
He choose the machine next to me.  We stated using the elliptically without saying a word.  He smiled.  I smiled.

A little later I turned my music playlist on. He just smiled. I also smiled. 

For 75 minutes we both used the machines without saying a word.

The whole experience reminded me of the Lunch with God story.  Mother Theresa used to say that she saw Jesus with his numerous disguises in all the faces she tended to during the day.

Who is to say that God just didn't want to work out that morning?

Today's question is:
"Have you ever worked out with God?"

365QOD- Day925

An Amazing Story

"This touched me."- my words

The other day I was going though and cleaning a bunch of old papers. I came across a story called Lunch with God.  It is shown below:

A little boy wanted to meet God. He knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his suitcase with a bag of potato chips and a six-pack of root beer and started his journey.

When he had gone about three blocks, he met an old woman. She was sitting in the park, just  staring at some pigeons. The boy sat down next to her and opened his suitcase. He was about to take a drink from his root beer when he noticed that the old lady looked hungry, so he offered  her some chips. She gratefully accepted it and smiled at him.

Her smile was so pretty that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered her a root beer. Again,  she smiled at him. The boy was delighted! They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, but they never said a word.

As twilight approached, the boy realized how tired he was and he got up to leave; but before he had gone more than a few steps, he turned around, ran back to the old woman, and gave her a  hug. She gave him her biggest smile ever.

When the boy opened the door to his own house a short time later, his mother was surprised by  the look of joy on his face. She asked him, "What did you do today that made you so happy?" He  replied, "I had lunch with God." But before his mother could respond, he added, "You know  what? She's got the most beautiful smile I've ever seen!"

Meanwhile, the old woman, also radiant with joy, returned to her home. Her son was stunned by the look of peace on her face and he asked, "Mother, what did you do today that made you so  happy?" She replied! "I ate potato chips in the park with God." However, before her son  responded, she added, "You know, he's much younger than I expected."

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime! Embrace all equally!

Today's question is:

"Have you had lunch with God today?"

365QOD- Day834

"Why the shape of a cross?"- a question asked by a priest during a sermon

Many years ago I attended a sermon that I would not forget as long as I live. The priest who gave the sermon asked this question.  He proceeded to answer it.

He said that if you really started looking at the term commandments you could summarize then into two:
1. How man should behave towards men ( he motioned side to side)
2. How man should behave towards God( He motioned from bottom up)

The motions made three shape of a cross.  I lived his summary because many years late I remember three message.

Today's question is:
" How are your relationships towards fellow men and God?"

365QOD- Day816

" But how?" - my former belief

Many years ago I sat at the end of the year on a beach in Florida writing out my goals for next year.  One of the goals was how much I was going to make next year.  This happened every year for three years I a row.

Looking back on those the years I made exactly what I wrote down.  Did I do anything special?
I am ashamed to say that I can not remember specifically what I did to earn the extra but I did earn it.

Today I was listening to an audio book in which Brian Tracy described the same technique.  He also said that he did not directly attribute it to anything the person does directly.

He recommended that each day we should write out our ten goals on a new page and ask ourselves what one action we could take towards the most important goal.

Today's question is:
" What ten goals would change your life completely if they came true this year?"

365QOD- Day 804

"Could have been me"  my thought

I watched the TV got the last couple of days and could not believe what was happening. It pulled me in.

When I moved to Texas I started running local races.  I ran in a couple of 10k and half marathons.  My goal was to run the Chicago and New York marathons in 2012.  Those were my training wheels before I attempted the most difficult Boston race.

If these events would have played out I would have been on Boston last Monday.  Wow!  What prevented me was the injuries along the way.  Maybe they were blessings in disguise.

Today's question is:
"Do you understand how fortunate you are?"