Desire

"One must not lose desires. They are mighty stimulating to creativeness, to love, and to long life." - Alexander A. Bogomoletz

Today I desire to live. I have discovered value in my life. I have experienced personal self-esteem. I am able to feel, talk, trust, and laugh again. I desire to live fully! I can remember when I felt lonely, isolated, angry, shut down, and hopeless. My desires were destructive when mingled with alcohol. Then the pain became too great and I experienced a vital "moment." I realized I needed to make a choice:Was I to live or die? I chose to live! This was the beginning of my spiritual journey into self from which I discovered God and this world. Creative and positive desires were reborn in my life, and I am able to live and love again.

God, may I continue to desire those things that do not hurt me.

NUGGETS OF WISDOM - 46

·         “Then, one day, when you least expect it, the great adventure finds you.” — Ewan McGregor

• ·         “All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost.” — J.R.R. Tolkien
  ·         "The human Jesus saw God as being holy, just, and great, as well as being true, beautiful, and good."
  ·         “All that arises passes away.” - Eckhart Tolle
  ·         "Your forebears feared God because he was mighty and mysterious. You shall adore him because he is magnificent in love, plenteous in mercy, and
  glorious in truth." – Jesus
  ·         The Urantia Book - "These papers do not-cannot-even begin to exhaust the story of the living creatures, creators, eventuators, and still-otherwise-existent beings who live and worship and serve in the swarming universes of time and in the
  central universe of eternity."
  ·         Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved. — Helen Keller
  ·         “Good character is more to be praised than outstanding talent. Most talents are to some extent a gift. Good character, by contrast, is not given to us. We have to build it piece by piece by thought, choice, courage and determination.” — John Luther
  ·         "Facing the world of personality, God is discovered to be a loving person; facing the spiritual world, he is a personal love; in religious experience he is both."
  ·         Strength of a character isn't always about how much you can handle before you break. It’s also about how much you can handle after you've been broken. — Robert Tew
  ·         “Character may be manifested in the great moments, but it is made in the small ones.”  — Phillip Brooks
  ·         Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear. – Mark Twain
  ·         Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves. – Sir James Barrie
  ·         Happiness cannot be learned and it can’t be forced.  The feet may learn the steps but only the soul can truly dance.
  ·         The supreme irony of life is that no-one gets out alive.
  ·         “Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking.” — H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
  ·         “Stillness is where creativity and solutions to problems are found.” - Eckhart Tolle

If We have No Peace, it is Because We have Forgotten that we Belong to Each Other.

Via Catherine Simmons

It’s all beginning to feel a bit much, isn’t it?

Democracy seems to be undermined at every turn. For the most part, we’re distracted, ignorant, arrogant, fearful, misinformed and apathetic.

I’ll admit, I’m more than a little frightened. If a wildcard like Donald Trump takes the presidential chair in the U.S., especially in the wake of Brexit, I feel it could spell the end of any semblance of international cohesion and economic stability. Where will the rest of the world stand on the things he stands for? And us? Will we strive to unite or divide? Which colours will we fly?

I feel, if he comes into power, everything will change. Our global political economy will go into a complete re-shuffle.

I used to laugh at this. Now it frightens me, more than anything:

It’s not funny anymore.

It would be bad enough if our environment, our home, weren’t in jeopardy. Thanks to an overwhelming amount of misinformation and anti-intellectualism, climate change denialism still carries weight. We’re not doing enough to stem the issue. With the impact of floods, droughts and social exodus, I’m afraid that what we’ve seen with Brexit, small scale civil strife, and the surge of refugees from all around the world, are only labour pains of things to come.

Weather patterns continue to become more and more unusual, impacting everyone across the globe. We can’t be fighting with each other now! There isn’t time!

Where are our heads? Isn’t it obvious? There are too many people on Earth to ignore those who aren’t like us. This is everybody’s problem. We need to work together.

“Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.” ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

With great wisdom, Albert Einstein said “we cannot solve our problems using the same thinking we used to create them.”

I’d love us to sink our teeth into the things that unite us, guide us, heal us, and encourage us to lead by example, without negating the real parts of ourselves and one another, which need addressing, nurturing and witnessing.

How do I suggest we go about this?

With stories that unify. Soft skills. Communication. Active steps to reach outside of our frustration, and separation on a broad scale. Engaging in dialogue on archetypal narratives (such as The Hero’s Journey andWalking Through the Shadow Lands), and how to go about protecting and restoring the things which are most important to us: real human connection, empathy, nature and wilderness, health and well-being. Humour, perhaps—a sense of lightness. Wisdom, knowledge, intelligence, hope. Playfulness.

A sense of home among one another.

When articulated honestly, words can communicate the lightest touch, the deepest yearning, the furthest reaches of the imagination and human experience—woven into anecdote and archetype to guide us. Especially in tough times.

Let’s think about the soft things. The humble things. The little things.

I want to stand on a bright beach with you. Leaning in, with our fingers interlaced. Palms facing one another, face to face. I lean inward, bending your wrists back ever so lightly as I steal a kiss from your lips. There you stand, with all your walls down. Surrendering to my touch. My gaze. I’ll hold a space for you. This is how I want to witness your shining vulnerability. This is how I want to know you. I want to look into your eyes and let you know that I recognize each flashing feeling that goes by. I want to slip into your heart and bring you sanctuary. Like you do, for me.

I want to be a voice of support to those who are unfairly vilified.

This is a new type of courage we all need to don, within ourselves. Tout suite.

“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” ~ Mother Theresa

I am your keeper. You, mine.

We all rely on the same air to breathe. We live on the same turf, demarcated by flimsy bits of wood, hardened earth and invisible lines. We are nourished by a history of ideas, education and ethics. The lines between yours and mine are blurred by history. The food we need grows from one soil: Earth. The potable water we all need has been in a closed cycle since the beginning of time. What was once yours is now mine, and it keeps on going around. These endless rivers that run through our blood keep us both from drying up. I breathe you out, you breathe me in.

When you’re upset, it affects me. When you’re elated, it lifts me up. We are connected in an abstract matrix of emotion. We raise the field together; we bring it down. In this regard, we are all empaths. Very few are spared. Your fear and mine are, in many ways, intertwined.

We feel it, and because we do, it affects our world, our concepts of “progress,” our socio-political economy. And, thanks to our fear of lack and sense of ownership, it affects the climate on this small blue dot. This, in turn, affects everything. The glaring elephant in the room.

To remedy this, I think you and I need to reach out and find the places in our souls, where we are the same person. To put our fingers in the holes of one another’s pain and travails and say, “I feel you.” Revel not in ego, but in resonance.

My joy is your joy. Your suffering is my suffering. So peace is good for both of us…yeah?

Our world is a bit mad, right now. But I want to sit—breathe—in absolute presence, together. I want to see all the things that caused us to distrust one another melt away.

I want you to know you are not alone in your fears. But we can’t hide behind them. I know it takes time. It’s taking me time, too. But, to tell the truth, I sense that the time to turn this Titanic is running out.

I want you to know that everything you strive for, everything you ache for, everything you long for, I feel it too. Our human experience is rich and diverse and yet universal. How is it that we feel so separate? So different? So lost?

I want us to reach into one another. To pull hard on our reserves of hope, strength and resilience. I want to rest my hands on yours and witness your tiredness, your restlessness, your duress. I want to afford you the time to rest. You know? We’re always so—

—tired.

I want to sit by a glowing fire with you and share stories that will make us laugh. Make us cry. A balm which restores our souls and brings clarity and unity to our purpose.

In my ideal world, we would all wake up and get our priorities straight.

I am weary of each day I pass without bearing witness. I am tired of feeling your struggles, but holding my tongue. I am weary of watching souls marching bravely on in almost uniformly quiet desperation. Of feeling there’s nothing I can do. Especially when I feel the possibility of a kind new world, keenly, within me. Couldn’t it be so easy?

It doesn’t matter in whose name we preach. What languages we speak, the colour of our skin or our place of origin. We’ve got bigger things to face—can we please stop fighting among each other?

I want to see a deep love for our bodies, our minds, our environment, surge within us. I want to share stories that lead us deep into our humanity. Highlight both our strength and our fragility. I want to take part and bear witness to our generation standing up with integrity. For this earth, and all the generations to come.

Fear is naught but a weed, easy enough to pull from the earth at our feet.

Author: Catherine Simmons

When our Souls are Weary: How to Heal.

Via Crystal Jackson

In the past, when I was on a certain medication, I experienced mood swings that made me feel both reckless and fragile.

The changes in mood were abrupt and unsettling, and it seemed to strip me of the ability to cope. During that time, I wrote a handful of confessions, too dark to utter aloud but that needed to come out.

Now that I’m no longer on the medication and no longer experiencing the mood swings, I wonder what dark sediment lies below this surface. If I could just reach deep inside, would my fingers brush and disturb the silt lying quietly in the dark?

What would rise out of the darkness, if I only took the time to look?

When we choose the path of growth and change, we’re accepting a certain amount of struggle and risk. However, we’re also opening ourselves up to blessings and possibilities. It’s a balancing act to continue transforming ourselves while also taking care of ourselves through the pain of that transformation.

There may be points along the journey where we need to allow ourselves a break from the work. We may need to take time just to recharge and to regain our balance.

There may also be times where we have to push ourselves to keep digging deeper, particularly when we feel stuck.

Lately, I’ve been in a recharging period. I know that I’m about to be required to dive deep. However, before I’m able to do so, I need to allow myself to heal. It is important that I prepare myself for the work ahead by finding my center, whatever it takes. I have a feeling there will be a hefty combination of meditation, yoga, extra sleep and a few nourishing rituals to get myself to where I need to be to complete the work I so clearly need to do.

When we face this kind of inner-work, we can often allow ourselves to be paralyzed by our fear of it. It can be frightening to explore beneath the surface because it’s uncomfortable, oftentimes painful.

However, when we become aware that there is work to be done—whether our issues surface in dreams or become clear during times of great change—we know we are ready to address them, simply because of our ability to acknowledge that they exist. The very fact that we know that there is work to do means that our souls are ready for the work of making that change. Even when we feel that we’re not up to the task. Even when our souls are weary at the idea of the challenges ahead.

And the reality is that we can run as far and as fast from these changes as we’d like, but they’ll still be there. We can’t just delete them. We can deny, and we can avoid, but they won’t go away. Our struggle becomes more difficult the more we try to avoid meeting them head on.

So, when we become aware of the work ahead, we can choose to face it. We can choose to care for ourselves in a way that will allow us to work through it and to find the opportunities and blessings hidden inside of that struggle.

My experience has been that when our struggles are great, so also are the blessings that result from them. Often, we’ll get in our own way by refusing to go down the difficult path of change. We’ll deny our own behaviors, absolve ourselves of any wrongdoing. We’ll refuse to accept accountability for our choices and their consequences. And when we do these things, the struggle becomes more challenging. The pain from avoiding the struggle multiplies. It’s only when we get to the point of acceptance of the role we play in creating the lives we’re leading that we can move forward and lead the lives we actually want to lead.

Our dreams are just ahead of us, but we’re often too short-sighted to see it—we are too busy obsessing over avoiding any pain or discomfort.

What if we changed our perspective?

What if we realized that everything we’ve longed for is just around the bend, if only we work through what’s in front of us? Would that help us to move forward with enthusiasm rather than fear?

In this recharging period, I’m using this as my mantra.

We can remind ourselves that all of our dreams are just there, out of our reach at the moment, but soon to be held gently in our hands—because our hands will do the work of digging deep, excavating whatever dark sediment lies above our treasure. We’ll refuse to be afraid of the work, or we’ll choose to do the work even if it scares us. We’re the ones who keep reaching for those dreams, even when no one else believes. And we’re the ones who keep working on ourselves, even when it’s painful, even when it would be easier to be one of the ones who never do the work and never chase those dreams.

Because we know that in the end, our struggle is worth it. Our dreams are worth it. And we cannot have one without the other.

So we will hold on. We will be open to the signs that it is time to change ourselves. We will allow ourselves time to heal. We will do the work. And the treasure of our hearts, those precious dreams we’ve spun out into the universe, will be ours.

“Remember, no effort that we make to attain something beautiful is ever lost.” ~ Helen Keller 

Author: Crystal Jackson

New Moon in August Brings Us 12 Fantastic Opportunities.

Via Larry Schwimmer

*Editor’s note: Astrology isn’t a religion. We’re not sure it’s a science, either. It’s magic, maybe. But, as with feng shui, say, things affect things. So as long as we don’t go blaming our problems on the stars, as long as we assume responsibility for our own actions…well, hell, a little auspicious coincidence and applicable wisdom can’t hurt. And so, with that grain of salt…enjoy!

~

There is a New Moon occurring on August 2, 2016 (4:44 p.m. ET).

Depending on which House in your birth chart the New Moon falls, it will brings us 12 areas of opportunity, where we can invite joy and success into our lives.

When the moon is new, the two lights in the sky, the sun and moon, are aligned in the same Zodiac sign. For this reason, it is a time charged with great energy that can lead to new and exciting possibilities in our lives.

We can prepare for the New Moon by making sure we are clear about our intentions, because it is a special time when new beginnings can occur. We are ready to plant new seeds and start something that has the potential to grow and fulfill us.

Keep in mind, each New Moon falls in a different sign of the Zodiac. This New Moon is in the sign of Leo, which means that emotionally we feel loving and creative, yet strive for a sense of security and stability. Yet, we want to be the center of attention, which is fine as long as we do not allow our ego to forget the needs of others. We are ready to pursue whatever we want with passion, generosity and heart—even love.

As the New Moon in Leo begins on August 2^nd, it will fall into one of the 12 Houses in our respective birth charts. (Note: In Astrology, a House refers to an area of our lives). If you want to find out which House the New Moon in Leo falls into in your birth chart, use the Free Transit Calculator.

Once you know which House the moon falls into, just look at the description (below) showing all 12 Houses. You will see what that House signifies and some of the opportunities you can explore.

The 12 Houses of the Zodiac.

1^st House of Personality and Appearance: If the moon falls here, you have the opportunity to make a new beginning and improve yourself in this area of your life which is your personality and appearance.

For example: If we are feeling shy and introverted, we can participate in a personal development workshop to help us become more confident. If we are not happy with the way we feel or look, we might decide to get into a rigorous exercise class like pilates or yoga.

2^nd House of Money and Values: If the moon falls here we may reconsider our attitudes toward making money to make sure it is not negatively affecting us.

For example: If we are in a job that brings us no joy, this may be the time we dedicate ourselves to looking for work that uses our talents and fits with our values.

3^rd House of Communication and Intellect: If the moon falls here we may find new and improved ways to communicate. Or, if we are bored, we may look for an opportunity to stimulate our minds.

For example: This may be the perfect time to begin reading the book on mindfulness we’ve had sitting on our bookshelf or begin writing a blog.

4^th House of Family and Home: If the moon falls here we may decide to make plans with our family or begin a new home improvement project.

For example: Plan a fun family camping trip or go to the salvage yard and get the materials to build storage cabinets in our garage.

5^th House of Romance and Creativity: If the moon falls here we may be ready to begin an art project to develop our creative side. Or, we may be ready to socialize with others or invite romance into our lives.

For example: We can paint a picture or pull our dusty guitar out of the closet. We may be ready to join an internet dating sight.

6^th House of Health and Work: If the moon falls here we may be emotionally ready to change our exercise or diet. We can ask ourselves if we have a balance between our work and personal life. Are we neglecting one in favor of the other?

For example: If we’ve had digestive problems, we can see a dietician and see if we should change our diet. We are ready to commit to setting boundaries at work—so we have time to enjoy our family and friends.

7^th House of Relationships (Marriage and Partnerships): If the moon falls here we are emotionally ready to find new ways to bring greater joy to the people we have intimate relationships with—especially a mate, spouse or significant other.

For example: Plan a romantic evening with your partner. Suggest a get away weekend to establish greater intimacy.

8^th House of Sex and Transformation: If the moon falls here, we have a strong emotional need to share an intimate sexual connection. We are now ready to commit to our own personal development as a way of improving our behavior.

For example: We can create an intimate environment (dinner at home with candles and quiet music) where we and a loved one can relax and reconnect in a sensuous, loving way that invites a deep sexual connection for love making.

9^th House of Travel and Education: If the moon falls here we feel nurtured, exploring our mind and our world. This may be the catalyst to plan an event that helps us grow intellectually or expand our worldview by learning about other cultures.

For example: We are excited about planning a cruise to another part of the world to experience a foreign culture. Now we feel excited about going back to school and finishing our degree.

10^th House of Career and Status: If the moon falls here, our career and status in the world is highlighted. We seek comfort and security in our profession. We take pride in our accomplishments and expertise.

For example: We can commit ourselves to taking on more responsibility so we may be considered for a big promotion. We are ready to make serious plans to start the new business we have dreamed about for years.

11^th House of Friendship, Hopes and Dreams: If the moon falls here, we feel nurtured by the relationships we have with friends. Being a part of social groups and organizations where we can volunteer our time fulfills the dream of giving to improve our community and society as a whole.

For example: We plan a gathering with our college buddies, to connect and talk about the good old days. We are now ready to join a social group to make new contacts and find new friendships. Volunteering, to help those in need, is a goal we are ready to pursue.

12^th House of Psychology and Secrets: If the moon falls here, we feel an emotional need to explore our behavior and what makes us tick. We are able to get in touch with the habitual patterns we’ve always taken for granted. Long forgotten secrets surface to our conscious mind, for us to finally confront.

For example: We are ready to talk to our parents or our siblings about things that upset us about our childhood. Now feels like the right time to talk to a therapist about secrets that have bothered us all our lives. We are committed to healing ourselves.

The New Moon is not a “magical” time. After all, we are the ones who are responsible for sowing and reaping the rewards we deserve for our efforts. But just as we know that farmers plant seeds on the New Moon in the spring because it is a fertile time, this New Moon in August is a fertile time for us to plant our own new beginnings so they can grow into the fulfillment of our dreams.

If you want to find out more about how the planets may be bringing changes to your life, go to the Free Transit Calculator and enter your birth date. And, if you’re curious to learn what your Horoscope says will be happening this year in such areas as your love relationships, and marriage prospects, as well as career, investments and health in 2016: Order your customized Report: Your Horoscope & Future in 2016-17.

If you want to learn about your unique personality, strengths, weaknesses and talents, order your: Personal Horoscope Report. It includes a copy of your birth chart.

If you’re in love and want to find out if you’re really compatible for marriage with another person, go to the Free Love Compatibility Calculator and enter your birth date and theirs. And, if you want a customized report on your compatibility together, order Your Love Compatibility Report.

The Buddhist Ayurvedic Tradition Hidden in Nepal.

Via Todd Caldecott

Hidden away in the foothills of the Himalayas are the last vestiges of Indian Buddhism, and a little-known, ancient tradition of hereditary Buddhist priests and physicians of Ayurveda (“the knowledge of life”).

I first learned of this tradition about 16 years ago from my colleague, Dr. Alan Tillotson, who was a student of Vaidya Mana Vajra Vajracharya of Kathmandu, Nepal.

The term “vaidya” in Sanskrit means “doctor,” and in the case of Vaidya Mana, it represents a medical training that began at the age of 17, after he became fluent in classical Sanskrit.

Alan met Vaidya Mana in the early 1970s as a young man, after seeking treatment for chronic diarrhea, hypoglycemia and severe weight loss. Within a few days of treatment, Alan made a dramatic recovery, and thus began a decades-long teacher-student relationship.

Vaidya Mana, the grandson of the royal physician of Nepal, was steeped in an ancient spiritual and medical tradition that draws its origins from the famous Nalanda University, the ruins of which are located in the modern-day state of Bihar.

Nalanda was among the greatest centers of learning in the ancient world, attracting scholars from as far away as Persia and China. Nalanda is traditionally considered to have been the home of the Mahayana philosopher, Acharya Nagarjuna, from whom evolved the Buddhist concept of bodhisattva.

Although originally used as a term by the historical Buddha in reference to his previous lives, the concept of bodhisattva gradually came to refer to any being that is “bound for enlightenment.”

Unlike the earlier forms of Buddhism, which stressed the ideal of someone who works to attain enlightenment in the here-and-now, the bodhisattva ideal stresses the importance of perfecting oneself over several lifetimes to attain a state of buddhahood (buddhatva).

By the seventh century, more than a thousand years had passed since the arising of the historical Buddha, and the various forms of Hinduism were beginning to mark their resurgence in India. Institutions such as Nalanda relied on royal patronage, and this support was often split between different spiritual traditions such as Buddhism and the worship of deities—Shiva and the goddess Bhagavati.

This eclecticism fostered a high degree of religious freedom and tolerance within Indian society, and it was in this environment—and at Nalanda specifically—that a new form of Buddhism arose, called Vajrayana: the “path of the thunderbolt”.

Vajrayana can be seen as a synthesis of traditional Buddhist philosophy and practices with the tantric ritualism associated with the Hindu god Shiva. This includes a respect for the polarity of male and female, and the incorporation of sexuality as a part of spiritual practice.

As a result of the sociocultural changes happening at the time, a “householder” tradition developed within the Vajrayana tradition, with Buddhist priests and their married consorts serving alongside the celibate monks and nuns at institutions such as Nalanda.

One notable proponent of Vajrayana at Nalanda was a second Nagarjuna (philosopher) referred to as Siddha Nagarjuna, who lived during the 10th century. Nagarjuna was an abbot at Nalanda, and apart from his role as a spiritual teacher, was a highly accomplished physician, chemist and surgeon.

The advanced skills of ancient physicians such as Nagarjuna and Sushruta are rarely appreciated in the West, which routinely documents the discovery of chemistry and surgery as its own, when in fact their true origins lie further East.

Part of the reason India’s contribution is so little appreciated is that by the 13th century, foreign invaders from Western Asia had systematically destroyed much of Indian society.

At Nalanda, attackers killed anyone with a shaved head, effectively wiping out a thousand-year-old monastic tradition, including the destruction of a library containing hundreds of thousands of texts on a great diversity of subjects, including Buddhism, grammar, logic, literature, astronomy, and medicine.

With the fall of Nalanda in the 13th century, many of the surviving Buddhists fled to Kathmandu, in modern-day Nepal, leaving it isolated as the last remaining center of Indian Buddhism.

During this time, Vaidya Mana’s family took up the consecration of Vajracharya, and the transmission of Ayurveda as an expression of their Buddhist vow to alleviate suffering. Ever since, the Vajracharya lineage has maintained their original vows and served their community as skilled physicians, never once charging for a medical consultation.

While I have at my disposal hundreds of different herbal medicines and supplements, I often rely on the traditional, hand-made remedies produced by the Vajracharya lineage.

Working with Vaidya Madhu (Vaidya Mana’s son), particularly in difficult-to-treat or long-standing cases, I find that these remedies exist in a class apart from anything else I have tried in 20 years of practice. I have even compared these remedies to others that are supposedly the same or similar, but have learned there is no comparison to the 800 years of knowledge and experience that goes into making these medications.

The world over, there are a huge variety of traditional forms of knowledge and medicine that represent the fullness of our shared human heritage. Due to the unbridled exportation of Western values, along with our polluting technologies that result in environmental degradation, many of these traditions are at risk of disappearing—including the Vajracharya lineage.

Considering just how long this unique spiritual and medical tradition has survived over the centuries, including the cataclysm of invasion, it is sadly ironic that in the end it may be the insidious elements of Westernization that slowly destroy its future.

Before he died, Vaidya Mana had a dream to establish an Ayurveda research center in the Kathmandu Valley that would act to protect Nepal’s cultural and biological diversity, to share knowledge of local medicinal plants and re-establish the practice of Ayurveda among the people of Nepal.

To promote this goal, in February of 2017 I will be taking a small group of students to study this Vajracharya tradition, and would be happy to share more details if anyone if interested in joining us.

My colleague Alan Tillotson and I continue to work on translating and editing Vaidya Mana’s work.

After months of preparatory work with Alan, I spent five weeks in Nepal doing research, and later published the Vaidya Mana’s first book in 2009, Ayurveda In Nepal. In concert with his son, Vaidya Madhu, Alan and I are currently working on Vaidya Mana’s detailed text on the treatment of cancer, and hope to have this available for publication next year.

Simply Learn To Live Fully In This Present Eternal Moment (EC)

Always remember all is contained in the present eternal moment. There is no need to spend time digging into the past or trying to look into the future. Simply learn to live fully in this present eternal moment, which contains the allness of all. When you do this you will never be dissatisfied or disgruntled, for you realise you hold right there in the palm of your hand your all in this eternal moment.

Humility

Humility doesn't allow people to walk all over me. -James Baldwin

The word "humility" has often been misunderstood. James Baldwin understood this. Christian piety often gave the impression that it was spiritual to let others take advantage of us and we suffered in silence. But real humility involves respect. It is necessary to respect other people, treating them with dignity and genuine interest. But we must also respect ourselves. Say Yes to Your Spirit affirms this balance. I'm not respecting you if I allow you to disrespect me. - Leo Booth

I affirm a humility that respects self.

On this day of your life

 Neytiri & Jake, 

I believe God wants you to know... 

...that everything you have been thinking lately is to be

thrown out.

You're spending too much time "in your head" these

days. How about getting out of your thoughts and into

your feelings? You've analyzed it to death. Now it's

about moving from your head to your heart.

What are you feeling about all this? That is what really

matters. You are using your thoughts to try to parse

your feelings. You may want to stop that.

You will not have to think but a second to know

exactly why you received this message today.

The Road to A New Beginning (KB)

Dear Friends, 

A new beginning… How do you feel when you read those three words? What does it bring to mind? A clean slate, perhaps. A chance to make things different. A new and improved version of ourselves, our lives, and maybe even our world. That is precisely the possibility that this week affords us. This 7-day period is a journey of sorts, one in which the universe will give us ample opportunity to consider and reconsider how we would like our lives to be different, and maybe most importantly how we ourselves would like to be different. 

This week’s portion, Masei, is about the journeys of the Israelites in the wilderness – from here to there, to there – for almost the whole reading. These are cities that don’t even exist anymore, so the story on a superficial level, doesn’t seem to make much sense. It begs the question: How does this pertain to our lives? 

But if you count how many times they went from city to city, you will find that there are 42 stops mentioned in Masei. As students of Kabbalah, many of us understand that the number 42 represents the Ana Beko’ach. This is such a powerful connection because the kabbalists tell us the world was created with these 42 mystical instruments, and that these letters manage the entirety of Creation. What this means for you and I is that this week there is an energy permeating in the cosmos that gives us the ability to go back to the beginning – the seed level of our own creation – to be refreshed and to start anew. 

This is a fortuitous time, obviously, and one that we want to make use of. Just as a musician would not perform on stage in front of a million people without having rehearsed, we do not want to enter this week unprepared. We too need to rehearse for a new beginning.  
It is not a coincidence that this week is the beginning, the seed level of the month of Leo, known to be one of the most intense months of the year as are the people born under the influence of this sign (if you know any Leos you know what I mean, the Rav was a Leo); nor is it coincidence that this reading takes place during the three weeks known as Ben Hametzarim, which is a period of time in which a single positive action can be so much more powerful than at any other time of the year. 

This week, I ask all  of our students and the many members of our global spiritual community to find one action you do each day that would improve things for the better. Maybe it’s dedicating a phone call a day to your loved ones. Or perhaps, it’s bringing breakfast each day to a homeless person. Or donating the smallest amount (a little done by many is a lot) to help someone in need using your social media channels. It could be as simple as helping the old woman next door to take in her paper each morning, or taking some time out of each day to meditate, or go to a gym to start a plan towards better health, or scan the Zohar. Find just one thing. Make it something you know you can do, and start as soon as possible. 
With each person taking a single positive action to enrich their own lives and the lives of others daily, we can arrive at this new beginning strengthened, and with so much more positive energy in the world to show for it.

This week, make positive action your true North. 

Wishing you a blessed week,
Karen

Pure Thoughts

Undistracted Energy

by Madisyn Taylor

The longer we are able to hold a positive thought, the stronger that energy around us becomes.

If we make no effort at all, our thoughts usually scatter in a vast array of directions. They start and stop and move in surprising ways from one second to the next. If we try to follow our thoughts without controlling them, we will be amazed at how truly inconsistent they are. Yet, if we apply our minds to a specific task, especially one that interests us, they gather together and allow us to focus our attention, creating great power and energy. This is what is known as pure thought, because it is undistracted.

The law of attraction—like attracts like—influences all energy, including our thoughts, and this is what makes pure thought so potent. Our undistracted thoughts create a powerful magnet that draws similar energy into our vibrational field. As a result, the longer we are able to hold positive thoughts in our minds, the more powerful the positive energy around us becomes. We don’t need to focus on action and controlling so much when we are surrounded by energy that draws what we want toward us. We can simply respond to the opportunities that naturally come our way. When this is the essence of our experience, we can go with the flow, knowing that we will be okay.

If pure thought is a body, it is our emotions that supply the heart that can really bring it to life. Our thoughts and feelings exist in relation to one another, and they form a feedback loop through which they communicate and empower each other. When we hold a thought in our mind without being distracted, we have achieved pure thought. When we have a positive emotional response to that thought, we enable it to dance and move and breathe itself into existence.

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