Rise Above All Odds

When you see beyond the impossible, the way to achieve your destiny clearly surfaces

We hear things such as someone is on a path of self-destruction or acts as his own worst enemy. Rarely do we hear accolades of emotional rebirth or those rising from adversity or overcoming obstacles. We need to turn our attention and focus to different routes of growth and methods of self-evolution.

As social beings, we adapt to our environment. In doing so, we select the best part of ourselves to demonstrate our competency to the world as a productive member of society. Perhaps we adopt a likeable laugh or a pleasant appearance to fit in with our immediate social strata. Or, sometimes we may change the language we use to fit in with smaller groups of people who can easily relate to the colloquialism. Undoubtedly, aware of our socio-structions or not, we all mould ourselves into an acceptable façade for the approval of
our society at large. While some may consider this malleability as selling out or even as disingenuous on it's face, it remains something we rely on, for our survival in a world where adaptation ensures survivability.

Take a look within yourself. In what ways do you put your finest qualities together to create something even greater of yourself ? In what ways do you make the most of your lesser characteristics and work with your strengths to present to the world a surprising, revitalised you?

When we build ourselves and our lives using affirmative elements, we can bask in the shining accomplishment of a newly created self, standing tall in the world and strong in foundation. Move forward with only the best ingredients of thought and action you can gather and your constructive efforts will reward you.

Like it or not, we don’t go through life alone. We may think we do, but every day our interactions with others balance our sense of self with the rest of the world around us. Sometimes our partners help us to costruct something far larger than the relationship at hand.

Together, we can work towards common goals and build even greater contribution to the world. Two heads are better than one, but any size group, working in unison holding similar visions with focus and balance can produce exponential and extraordinary results.

Often, we are reminded to read between the lines when looking for a situational meaning not evident on its surface. The same holds true in inter-structing your life. You may perceive that your gifts and talents are unrelated and when first recognising your abilities you cannot imagine how they would interact with other characteristics you possess, but step back and see how interstruction can bring about a more fulfilling expression of your spirit.

At first glance, you may not envision a practical use for your sense of artistic taste, but when coupled with your love of cooking and a solid business sense, you may create a fantastic restaurant visited by many patrons who appreciate how you've assimilated your flair. Turn your attitudes away from negating your delicious eclectic nature and treat the world to your unique panache!

Each one of us faces the challenges of impasses. Certain situations, or even emotional or attitudinal roadblocks attempt to prevent us from our greater good. However, when you see beyond the impossible, the way to achieve your destiny clearly surfaces and you reach the other side of the river of your discontent with a new mobility of spirit. Visualise what lies ahead of you and focus on the other side of the issues and be willing to go beyond what you know and transcend into the champion you were born to be.

The Void That's Within

Begin the journey towards love, in order to fill your internal void

Emptiness makes you feel as if you are hollow on the inside. I recently asked a friend, “how are you feeling?” and he replied, “i feel like i am rattling around over the face of the earth.” This response overflows with a feeling of being lost and alone or the ‘empty’ feeling.

It speaks of experiencing yourself as having no sense of belonging or purpose. If you ask yourself the question: “how am i feeling right now?” and the answer is “empty” or “numb,” for no apparent reason, it is a sure sign of being disconnected from yourself or blocking off from your own feelings. This suggests that you are either repressing deep pain or fear or maybe you have experienced a pattern of being neglected, probably from an early age. I have often facilitated quiet meditations with people to help them to make contact with their deep inner core and often they will say “I feel nothing.” Neglect or trauma in our past can make us hide away our precious souls that we don’t even know how to begin to connect with our sacred inner selves. Being separate from yourself is the ultimate loneliness. We are neglected as children if our needs and wants are continually not heard and we are left to our own devices.

One of the most important self development processes is deficient in this type of upbringing: that of validation. The journey of understanding, trusting and responding to your feelings, begins when your early caretakers regard and direct your myriad of emotions in a loving way. This validation process empowers you to makes sense of your unique needs, wants and responses to the world and in this way you begin the journey of knowing who you really are on the inside. As an adult we self validate ourselves by continually confirming who we are through our words, actions and life decisions. We also self validate by finally accepting ourselves with all our shortcomings.

Don’t keep running away from yourself. Problems will arise if you simply focus on filling the void. We devour volumes of self-help books or study psychology. We even take the empty feeling literally, as being hunger and we binge on food, cigarettes, take drugs and generally put whatever we can into our mouths.

Keeping yourself busy is another way to dull the experience of yourself. Unfortunately, at the end of every busy patch there’s always a lull and then ‘empty’ returns with a sick familiarity. It must be said that it is invigorating and vital to do exciting things, you just need to locate your intentions. If you are doing all because of a need to run away from yourself it is an impossible task. The more lasting solution to filling the void is to begin to have a relationship with yourself that is meaningful and enjoyable enough to sustain you through the empty moments. It is important to consider how social conditioning has made an impact on your direction and choices in your life. For instance, we have been taught that being selfish is wrong and that taking care of others and sacrificing our own wants and needs is real giving.

On top of this our ego driven model of living then coaches us to believe that we can only be fulfilled if we are young, attractive, thin and have loads of all the right things. The end result is that we feed our self esteem from the outside first. In other words we focus on others needs and on what others think or say about us; we strive to have the most stylish career, the most chic clothes, the most envied relationship, the apartment with all the trimmings and so on.

This can be termed the weak ego. Believing that we will find the answer to self-fulfillment and happiness from acquiring more or doing more. Social conditioning has brought us up in a way that actually diminishes real selfknowledge and grounded self-esteem. Your search for happiness is really your yearning for your own self.

The biggest test of how you really value yourself is when you imagine being stripped of everything and then ask the question: can i still respect, accept, trust and nurture myself ? Can you feel connected to your beautiful life force within which feels solid and fluid at the same time. This takes enormous courage. Be still with yourself and allow yourself to contemplate who you really are, on the inside. Learn to meditate or pray; Begin a validation journal and start to record thoughts and feelings once a day.

Practice focusing on the here and now as often as you can. Remind yourself that you really only have this moment. Stop worrying about the future and rehashing the past. Make a commitment to yourself to protect and treasure your life force energy.

Open yourself to love by softening your heart. Recognise the beauty and wonder in the world and in others. The most healing way to fill your internal void is to begin the journey towards love.

Don't Feel Guilty

God wants to elevate you out of your guilt-induced self-blame and help you to become whole

The experience of guilt is an enormous burden. People actually feel guilty for feeling guilty. Often, those in the religious community are prone to complain about guilt. Unfortunately, people may doubt their salvation, feel like God has abandoned them and immerse themselves in obsessing over minor infractions. It is my opinion that we need to kick out any God that would make us feel small. A loving God cherishes His children, forgives them and elevates them in His eyes. We are His kings and queens, and we need to stand tall in His presence.

Real guilt can be defined as missing the mark. We fall short of our convictions and need to make amends. We do this by accepting the forgiveness that is already our inheritance, forgiving ourselves for being less than perfect and reconciling with those we have hurt and disappointed. An interesting example of real guilt is when we fail to live up to our capacity. We may have been sitting on a goal or dream and put it off because we are too lazy or afraid to act on it. Addressing our true guilt makes us feel complete. We restore our integrity and bring healing to our significant relationships.

Those who have experienced negative parenting may find the concept of forgiveness perplexing. If one’s parents were punitive, critical and unloving, it makes it more difficult for people to grasp the concept of a loving, forgiving God. Intellectually, they may understand forgiveness, but emotionally they may remain immobilised with self-blame. God does not want His children to victim-posture. We can’t be ambassadors of the good news if we are stuck in a sinkhole. Accepting forgiveness is our right and responsibility. Some may need help in processing this truth —God is patient.

It is important to differentiate real guilt from false guilt. Much of the guilt we experience is false. It has nothing to do with falling short of our convictions. I define false guilt as allowing other people to have power over us. Due to inadequate parenting, many of us learn to give our power away. As children, we become overly-compliant, passive-aggressive and we learn that it is in our best interest to thwart our anger. If we were raised in dysfunctional families, there was generally no dialogue or exploration of feelings at home. It is important to understand that what happened was never our fault.

When people tell me that they feel guilty, the problem usually involves false guilt over core childhood issues such as feelings of abandonment, acting overly-responsible, childhood abuse, and lack of confidence. False guilt is actually a form of disguised resentment. If others over-control our lives, we resent the intrusion, but find false guilt easier to accept than anger.

Accept Life as it Comes

If you take life as it is, you will understand your frustrations, grow from them and enjoy life’s abundance

Those living on the highest levels of life have learned to accept life on its own terms. There are some realities about life that we must accept. This is the key to living joyfully in communion with the heavenly while abiding here on earth. Life, no matter how we choose to look at it, is a challenge. It is the beginning of a struggle that continues until we breathe our last breath. Life is something that we did not request. None of us asked to be born. Neither did we ask to be poor, or black, tall or short. We did not ask to be a part of one family as opposed to another.

Life is full of risks. There is a certain element of risk taking that is inherent in every venture we undertake; whether it is in business, or in marriage, in a profession or in athletics. We never have complete security within ourselves. For we know that every moment we live, our lives are in constant danger. A stray bullet may hit us, a car emerging out of nowhere may crush us, and a slip of the foot may result in our death. So life is unpredictable.

Identify and move from the limiting and conflicting, “either/or,” “black or white,” “all or nothing”, illusory perception of life to an attitude that is open to all aspects of reality. We do this by accepting life on its own terms — accepting that pleasure and pain, happiness and unhappiness are all a natural part of the human experience.

Fighting against life’s realities and adopting a stance of negativism only creates unnecessary pain and difficulty in your life. Accepting life allows you to understand your frustrations, grow from them and experience life’s abundance.

You have heard people who make comments such as “I go with the flow.” What they are saying is this: I accept in life what i cannot change. I deal with it as it comes within the framework of my own knowledge and capabilities and spirit. When inner negatives are dissolved, our outer life will be more harmonious and fulfilled. Understanding life helps you make the unconscious conscious; to see your misguided beliefs and negativity clearly, to understand their roots and causes, and most importantly — to transform them.

A complete path, it offers a practical, rational, honest, and above all, gentle and self-accepting way to move from an attitude of you versus the world to one of you and the world; from you versus life to you and life.

Fundamental to accepting life is to give recognition to the supreme life-giver. Whenever we praise God or give God recognition and acknowledgement, it is for life.

Whenever we give God a spiritual applaud or standing ovation, it is for life. God has given us life, something so tremendous, potent, and marvelous that no scholar has ever been smart enough to detail its composition or understand from where it derives its sustaining energy. Life is a force so complex that it cannot be duplicated. And, most amazing and thrilling of all, He has given us minds! It is through our minds, the thoughts we think with it, and the impressions we store in it, that we are conscious of living.

In short, your life becomes just what your mind makes it for you and just what it tells you life is. Few people go deep enough within their soul to realise in its entire fullness, breadth and scope the amazing gift of life that enables them to pursue a lifetime of accomplishment. What a marvelous gift. What power!

God has endowed us with the power to think, to believe, to create, to imagine, to choose, to feel, to aspire. Having a wonderful sense of appreciation puts all our petty complaints and frustrations, irritants and negativity into perspective. You live on a realm beyond grudges, ingratitude, selfishness and take-forgrantedness. You enjoy and value each moment and are determined to get the best out of every second.

Growing In Love

In relationships, we learn as we go and aspire naturally towards a certain perfection

In order to feel the effects of our actions, we often associate feelings together that are better left separate. We tend to act, sometimes in enabling ways, out of the goodness of our hearts; nonetheless not really serving in the correct or optimal manner the needs of both parties in a relationship.

The emotion of love often will become mixed with other feelings such as guilt, obligation, respect and loyalty. What we say we are doing in love sometimes turns into a continuation of a lessthan-optimal exchange of energies. This effectively roots us in lower relationships, where expectations are not met.

When you are engaged in such an exchange, it is often extremely difficult to see the true dynamics of the relationship because of personal investment of emotions and personalities. Do you notice that you come to a point in these relationships beyond which you cannot pass?

Would you accept the possibility that you already have the answers to these seeming dilemmas within you, and that you are playing out the experience? Often, the answer comes from yourself, and your desire to outwardly manifest solutions to the dramas unfolding within you to bring to wholeness and completeness. It is your courage to love yourself enough to command the blessings that are your due. The individual that seeks true healing will always manifest the healer, in manifold ways. The finger of God is the ultimate decision that you make in order to refine and define the boundaries that are the posts of your comfort zone. Sometimes, the most loving word that you can say to another
is ‘no.’

For, in stating what is and is not allowable for you, sets the conditions of what you allow into your life. It is separating love from guilt and fear, and treating each in their own due regard. If you were in an enabling relationship where, for the intense love you feel for another you allow an unhealthy relationship to continue, it may indeed be most healthy by saying ‘no’ to the continuation of allowing the other person to transgress your boundaries.

If you can look at it as loving that other person in the highest possible way, you are actually helping them more by setting them free from specific interactions with you. And you know that the interactions in life do not change unless you change them, for you are consciously altering your position and acting on your increased perception of where the energies in a relationship are really going. Do you sabotage yourself in relationships, capitulating to an expectation that you have in your partner that may or may not come to pass? Do you expect them to someday change or to become what you desire in the best for them, meanwhile sacrificing and sabotaging your joy in the now? Do you have a dread of commitment to your partner, for fear you may be tied down or obligated? Have you attached to your fervent love of your partner the feelings of guilt and obligation, obscuring the beauty you saw in that person in the first place?

We learn through our experiences. In relationships, we engage in an exchange of emotions, feelings, and actions that pass through the nexus of our evolution’s snapshot in time. We learn as we go, and aspire naturally towards a certain perfection, made the more holy by a spiritual commitment to perceive the higher truths of our existence.

Opening such a foray into truth, swaddled in the folds of the search for God in love, wisdom and the will, we will obtain levels of truth that are sometimes unsettling, often surprising, and definitely unpredictable. If you engage in such a path, you will learn discernment where it applies most; within yourself. Sometimes painfully and sometimes repeatedly, these lessons of life come as surely as the tide and are made ever more so intense according to your desire to aspire.

In relationships, those challenge points you come to are set up by you, for you. It is in the claiming and stating of your will, that the terms of your relationships are set. It is in the constancy of the maintenance of your will that the relationship gains continuity according to your desires. It is also in the open heart and the open mind that you allow your will to shift and grow with new information that inevitably comes about through the living of life.

How much sweeter it is to have a clear mind and a clear heart; not harnessed to the millstone of guilt, obligation, or fear. Can you say at this time that you are clear in your relationships? Are there some illusions within the body of your relationships that are ready for dispelling and clarity? The illusion you clear, you do for yourself, and the effect it has on your partner is a reflection of the harmlessness, love and clarity you put into it.

The Ethics of Nanotechnology

What kind of world do we wish to inhabit and leave for following generations? Our planet is in trouble if current trends continue into the future: environmental degradation, extinction of species, rampant diseases, chronic warfare, poverty, starvation and social injustice.

Are suffering and despair humanity's fate? Not necessarily. We have within our grasp the technology to help bring about great progress in elevating humanity. Or we can use our evolving knowledge for destructive ends. We are already immersed in fiery debates on genetic engineering, cloning, nuclear physics and the science of warfare. Nanotechnology, with its staggering implications, will create a whole new set of ethical quandaries. A strong set of operating principles is needed -- standards by which we can guide ourselves to a healthier destiny.

The following are some ethical guidelines gleaned from both foresight and my own philosophy in this field:

* Nanotechnology's highest and best use should be to create a world of abundance where no one is lacking for their basic needs. Those needs include adequate food, safe water, a clean environment, housing, medical care, education, public safety, fair labor, unrestricted travel, artistic expression and freedom from fear and oppression.

* High priority must be given to the efficient and economical global distribution of the products and services created by nanotechnology. I recognize the need for reasonable return on investment, but we must also recognize that our planet is small and we all depend upon each other for safety, stability, even survival.

* Military research and applications of nanotechnology must be limited to defense and security systems, and not for political purposes or aggression. And any government-funded research that generates useful non-military technological advances must be made available to the public.

* Scientists developing and experimenting with nanotechnology must have a solid grounding in ecology and public safety, or have someone on their team who does. Scientists and their organizations must also be held accountable for the willful, fraudulent or irresponsible misuse of the science.

* All published research and discussion of nanotechnology should be accurate as possible, adhere to the scientific method, and give due credit to sources. Labeling of products should be clear and accurate, and promotion of services, including consulting, should disclose any conflicts of interest.

* Published debates over nanotechnology, including chat room discussions, should focus on advancing the merits of the arguments rather than personal attacks, such as questioning the motives of opponents.

* Business models in the field should incorporate long-term, sustainable practices, such as the efficient use of resources, recycling of toxic materials, adequate compensation for workers and other fair labor practices.

* Industry leaders should be collaborative and self-regulating, but also support public education in the sciences and reasonable legislation to deal with legal and social issues associated with nanotechnology.

See Also
The Center for Responsible Nanotechnology (CRN)

Self-awareness Makes Us A Unique Species

Are we the centre of God’s creation? In all our thinking and discussions about life and the universe, we seem to assume so. We have convinced ourselves that the array of living beings in the universe makes up a neat hierarchy. At the pinnacle of that hierarchy is the human being.

At the lowest rungs of creation are minerals. Then come the mosses, fungi and plants. Plants have only a sense of touch. Singlecelled and multi-celled microbial organisms feature the next stage of development. At the next higher perch are the reptiles, mammals, birds and animals. Finally, at the apex is the most evolved form of living being, the human, the most advanced and the most developed among all living creatures, the supreme glory of all creation.

Greek philosopher Aristotle proposed the interesting idea of a vital principle that guides the development, functioning or evolution of an organism or a hierarchy of beings. It was this vital principle that resulted in life-finding expression first as unicellular and multicellular organisms, then as plants, thereafter as birds and animals, and ultimately as humans, as sapient and sentient beings.

According to Aristotelian theory, humans are the most evolved form of thinking and feeling beings so far. What is more, we alone have the potential to grow and evolve into the spiritual dimension.

But what precisely, if anything, sets us apart from other living creatures? Is it the faculty of reasoning, the fact that we are rational? But reasoning does not and cannot teach us anything new. Socrates was a man, a mortal being. Therefore Socrates is mortal. You can see here that there is no new truth that the third and concluding statement expresses that is not clearly implied in the first two sentences.

The conclusion of any piece of syllogistic reasoning does not enable us to learn anything new other than what is already contained in its premise. You have the same limitation with inductive logic where you arrive at general truths from particular examples.

The mind grasps reality by establishing relationships between entities that it perceives newly and the perceptions that it carries from the past. Psychologists and neurologists explain that the human brain is large because a major part of the cerebrum is concerned with associating different perceptions and memories.

Newton formulated his celebrated laws of motion and gravitation by intuitively hypothesising a link between the fall of the apple on his head and the motion of the earth around the sun. But by the same token, the human mind is basically anchored in the past. Therefore, it pulls you back from letting yourself go completely with the flow of living reality here and now.

The distinguishing feature of humans lies in our capacity for self-awareness. Other living creatures may have the ability to perform a greater variety of tasks, or may have developed superior sensibilities in certain areas. But we alone have the capacity to look at ourselves and be aware of ourselves.

We can attain knowledge. But what is unique about us is that we can also get to know how we could attain that knowledge. A human being is like a computer that can see how it has been programmed and thereby transcend the programming itself.

Prayer Is A Divine Act Of Absolute Surrender

Prayer connects us with the Supreme. Many situations and challenges in life help us realise that we are merely playing our role in the stage of life. Nonetheless, in our daily life, we consider ourselves to be the master of both our actions and the results thereof, but we forget that we have a right over our actions but not of the result. We wonder about the result even before any action is taken and thus lose focus.

Prayer is an act of surrender to the Supreme; we stoop in order to be elevated; we bow with utmost reverence, exemplifying utmost humility to the Almighty. The power of prayer is tremendous and helps us overcome the toughest of challenges, hurdles and misfortunes. The principle in life is to put in the best in our efforts and surrender our actions to the Lord for He would take care of the rest.

A prayer is a most pious act. The sheer act of praying is associated with purity; we purify ourselves by praying. The sincerity and honesty with which we pray disappear soon after we end the prayer. We perform our daily duties routinely, very differently from the act of praying. Consequently we tend to become insincere to dharmic principles.

We get back from life what we give to life. Our life involves others also and many a time the helping hand we extend to others is prompted by selfishness. The issue which bothers us is whether we have gained something and if so, how much, from any given situation.

However, dharma stresses on doing what is right and not what is convenient. We ought to do our dharma with utmost sincerity and honesty as well as to help others without any hidden agenda of self-interest.

Prayer is an activity which gives immense satisfaction. While we pray, we feel content and satisfied, but the satisfaction dissipates fast enough. Generally, we pray for our well-being in terms of health, wealth, happiness, peace.

Many a time, we look beyond ourselves too. Since we are genuinely concerned about our near and dear ones, we pray for their well-being also. However, we never apply this concept to the wider circle of people in our lives with whom we interact daily or even those we infrequently interact with.

Most often, we camouflage our jealousy with superficial expression of happiness, a smile or a few words of appreciation when we learn of the happiness of others. Just as in a prayer, the principle in life is to feel and be truly happy in others’ happiness. Only then can we have a sense of genuine well-being and sustain the satisfaction. Traditionally, praying has been a daily ritual in most households. It enriches the person, brings happiness and helps us to remain calm and contented in adverse conditions. A life well lived does not necessarily imply living a materialistic, consumptive life; it could also mean living a satisfied, happy, peaceful and enriched life. Thus, understanding the meaning and essence of life and setting right goals and priorities accordingly are essential.

Life throws up both challenges and opportunities. The art of living is to seize the opportunity to transform one’s life into a prayer and using the power of prayer to cut through the challenges.

Too much, too little sleep harmful for health

People sleeping for six to eight hours may suffer from cardiovascular diseases

Getting too much or too little sleep could be harmful for health, suggests a new study conducted in Britain. Jane Ferrie of the University College London Medical School here examined 10,308 participants between 35-55 years of age and found that a decrease in sleep duration among participants sleeping only for six, seven or eight hours was associated with a 110 per cent excess risk of cardiovascular mortality.

However, an increase in sleep duration among those sleeping for seven or eight hours was associated with a 110 percent excess risk of non-cardiovascular mortality.

On an average, most adults need seven to eight hours of sleep each night to feel alert and well rested.

“In terms of prevention, our findings also indicate that consistently sleeping seven or eight hours per night is optimal for health,” Ferrie was quoted as saying by the science portal EurekAlert.

The research is the first to show that both a decrease and an increase in sleep duration are associated with an elevated risk of mortality by cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular means, respectively.

Go Natural

Eating organic food is good for your health

Switching to organic food is tough for many families who don’t want to pay higher prices or give up their favorite foods. But, by choosing organic versions of just a few foods that you eat often, you can increase the percentage of organic food in your diet without big changes to your shopping. . Opting for organic produce, doesn’t necessarily have a big impact, depending on what you eat. According to the US Environmental Working Group, commercially-farmed fruits and vegetables vary in their levels of pesticide residue. Some vegetables, like broccoli, asparagus and onions, as well as foods with peels, such as avocados, bananas and oranges, have relatively low levels compared to other fruits and vegetables.

So, how do you make your organic choices count? Pediatrician Dr Alan Greene, whose new book Raising Baby Green explains how to raise a child in an environmentally-friendly way, has identified a few “strategic” organic foods that he says can make the biggest impact on the family diet.

Milk:-
“When you choose a glass of conventional milk, you are buying into a whole chemical system of agriculture,” says Greene. People who switch to organic milk typically do so because they are rather concerned about the antibiotics, artificial hormones and pesticides used in the commercial dairy industry. One recent survey has found certain pesticides in about 30 per cent of conventional milk samples and low levels in only one organic sample. The level is relatively quite low compared to some other foods, but many kids consume milk in large quantities.

Potatoes:-
One survey found that potatoes account for 30 per cent of our overall vegetable consumption. A simple switch to organic potatoes has the potential to have a big impact because commercially farmed potatoes are some of the most pesticide-contaminated vegetables. A survey found 81 per cent of potatoes tested still contained pesticides after being washed and peeled, and the potato has one of the the highest pesticide contents of 43 fruits and vegetables tested, according to the Environmental Working Group.

Peanut butter:-
More acres are devoted to growing peanuts than any other fruit, vegetable or nut. More than 99 per cent of peanut farms use conventional farming practices. Given that some kids eat peanut butter almost every day, this seems like a simple and practical switch. Commercial food firms now offer organic brands in many grocery stores.

Apples:-
Apples are the second most commonly eaten fresh fruit, after bananas, and they are also used in the second most popular juice, after oranges. But, apples are also one of the most pesticide contaminated of fruits. The good news is that organic apples are easy to find in regular grocery stores.

Ketchup:-
For some families, ketchup accounts for a large part of the household vegetable intake. About 75 per cent of tomato consumption is in the form of processed tomatoes, including juice, tomato paste and ketchup. Notably, recent research has shown organic ketchup has about double the antioxidants of conventional ketchup.

Not in a good mood, Girl?

Hormone fluctuation may trigger mood disorders in women

Hormonal fluctuations during the menstrual period and pregnancy may trigger mood disorders in women, a report said. A report released recently by the Society for Women’s Health Research said mood disorders and depression can occur at any age during a woman’s life. However, women seem more vulnerable during the menstrual period, pregnancy and before and after menopause.

During times of hormonal fluctuations, many women are able to emerge relatively unscathed. But for others, a normal hormonal transition can trigger mild to severe mood disorders including depression and bipolar disorder — a mental disorder that causes unusual shifts in a person's mood, energy, and ability to function, reported Newswise wire.

“Science has revealed clues as to why these changes may occur in some women,” said Peter Schmidt, an investigator in the National Institute of Mental Health’s Reproductive Endocrine Studies Unit.

“But further research is needed to definitively show what causes depression and mood disorders in women during hormonal transitions,” he added.

“Women need to be critically aware of changes in their moods during key life cycle events,” another investigator Sherry Marts said.

Vitamin D might extend your life

The ‘Sunshine Vitamin’ is good for your bones and cuts the risk of cancer and diabetes, doctors have said for years. But, a new study has revealed that taking the compound everyday might extend your life too.

A team of international researchers has carried out a study and found that taking a daily dose of Vitamin D lowers the risk of mortality — the findings have been reported in the ‘Archives of Internal Medicine’ journal’.

“It’s very new to see (the effects of) Vitamin D on organs different than the bones. These are very ordinary doses. You don’t need four or five pills a day. You should probably get rid of all the other vitamins. At this point, that’s where we are. This is quite real,” according to lead researcher Dr Philippe Autier of the International Agency for Research on Cancer in France.

In fact, the researchers came to the conclusion after analysing 18 trials involving Vitamin D supplements on nearly 57,000 patients. They evaluated doses ranging from 300 to 2,000 international units. The team members found that over an average of nearly six years, those who took Vitamin D had a seven per cent lower risk of death from all causes than those who
did not. However, according to the researchers, getting enough Vitamin D in diets isn’t enough — one should also spend ten minutes in the sun during peak hours daily to produce the currently recommended level of 1,000 IU of the compound.

Fish, liver and egg yolk are the only foods which naturally contain Vitamin D, though some other foods are fortified with it.

Common Man’s Gita: Gift of Jnaneswar

Crowds of pilgrims were waiting patiently on a cold winter morning on the banks of the Indrayani river at Alandi, near Pune, before the samadhi-shrine of Jnaneswar. The young sage-mystic’s interpretation of the Bhagavad Gita, titled Bhavartha-Deepika — The Light of Meaning — is popularly known as the Jnaneswari. Referred to also as the common man’s Gita, Jnaneswari is part of the traditions of many households in Maharashtra for centuries.

The mystical dimension of the Jnaneswari gives a new hue to the Krishna-Arjuna samvad (dialogue) of the Gita. In Chapter IV of his bhashya, Jnaneswar comments on the strenuous efforts people make to achieve wealth, fame and comforts through various means including yajnas and pujas, and then exhorts all to do the real yajna of selfcontrol, in which the fire of yoga will burn all desires and ambitions.

The pleasure of attaining to knowledge of the Self far exceeds any sense pleasure, and that alone can bring the equipoise so necessary for consciousness elevation. Jnaneswar alludes to the awakening of the kundalini through yogic practices in detail, pointing out the transformation of the psycho-physical body through such practices, and mystical divine experiences which accompany such a rejuvenation of the prana.

Jnaneswar reiterates the Upanishadic call of alertness on this path to go beyond maya or illusion: “Those who try to cross it on the strength of their intellect get lost, those who try to cross using knowledge are swallowed by pride, those who take the help of the books are consumed by ego and arrogance, those who perform ritualistic actions get caught in issues of right or wrong, those who use youthful strength get consumed by lust, those who perform external yajnas are caught in the web of desire and ambition...”.

Jnaneswar says a wise master can help the seeker beyond dualities of the mind. He sees spiritual devotion as the highest form of jnana to “avoid the pitfalls of desire”. Bhakti and jnana coalesce in his description of Arjuna’s vision of Krishna’s vishwarupa wherein he sees Krishna in cosmic form, revealing the depth of Jnaneswar’s devotion and knowledge.

It is this call of spiritual devotion which Jnaneswar extends into a paradigm of cosmic love in his other major work, the Amritanubhava or “the nectar of wisdom”, an insight into the experience of the ultimate merger. Jnaneswar extends the bhakti principle to include a love for all beings, for that alone can provide an ambience of sharing, love and care in the realm of maya and duality. Jnaneswar puts this concept in the context of the union of Shiva-Shakti as “parents engendering this universe”. It is this divine parental love which is replicated on the existential plane and manifests either as bhakti towards the Self or as mutual love towards fellow human beings.

Miracle stories abound about Jnaneswar’s yogic feats, like making the bull recite the Vedas or riding on a wall to meet the yogi Changdev to crush his ego, but perhaps, the real miracle is the short lifespan of Jnaneswar in which he encapsulated many lifetimes, ending with what is called sanjivan-samadhi or the voluntary entombment of his physical body in the meditation pose. The samadhi-shrine of Jnaneswar at Alandi still draws the devout, particularly the common man with whom Jnaneswar forged a special bond.

Experience Yourself

You have the power of life and death, and the free will to feel anything that you can imagine or create

I was sitting outside on the balcony this morning with my morning cup of coffee watching the sun come up and feeling a cool breeze from the water below me. I was trying to imagine being in a realm where you could not experience the five senses.

What would it be like to know everything that is — to know all the secrets of the universe? What would it be like to know a fresh cup of coffee in the morning but not be able to see, taste, or smell it? What would it be like to know a sunrise, but not be able to experience it? Imagine yourself all alone in a space where you could only experience nothing. Now from time to time, i long to be in that space. At this moment with my cup in hand and the warmth of the sun on my face, i can’t imagine being anywhere else. I can imagine being God, being all there is, all knowing,and all-powerful experiencing just that. To know everything, and not being able to experience that knowing — no sensations, no feelings, no emotion — what would it be like?

After millennia of existing this way, how would you begin to know yourself, to experience your own magnificence? The creator had the perfect solution—He created life! He divided himself into small pieces of himself within his own body—creating time and space so that he could look back at himself from all aspects of self and see how magnificent he is. That is the sole purpose of life to experience self in every conceivable aspect or possibility imaginable. It is the perfect solution to a dilemma that the creator must have contemplated since his own creation.

You can know yourself, but until you have experienced that awareness, it’s just a thought with no purpose. I can imagine myself studying for years to be a doctor or a lawyer and then not being able to be either of it. There would be no purpose in the absolute world. The purpose of life is simply to experience being alive. It is humanity that acknowledges his existence and creates a purpose for his physical life. That purpose is experienced by the creator through you. You are in fact, the creator experiencing all things that it knows, in three dimensional physical life.

Within you, you have all the attributes and characteristics of the creator. You have the power of life and death, and the free will to experience anything that you can imagine or create. All your present belief systems and experiences are real only for the time that you are experiencing them. They are all illusions, they are your personal experiences while you are in the holodeck of physical life. They are imagined only.

They are meant to be sensationalised and experienced. They are addictive and sought after by all souls now present and those that will choose to come later. The return of the soul in different bodies facilitates the physical experience from different vantage points, and terms of awareness. All aspects of the one mind, the one soul, work together in a beautifully choreographed experience that is shared. There are no victims, only souls that are working together from free will to experience itself.

Find Your Purpose

Spirituality brings purpose and meaning to life. And as we develop it, we grow in wisdom and love

Spirituality lies beyond the material world of proof, beyond what can be measured or counted. It is made up of the inner life, the realm of belief, mystery, and faith. And yet for all the mystery that surrounds it, spirituality is vital to our well-being.

It is the foundation of our most closely held values, the seat of our trust and hope. Spirituality brings purpose and meaning to life, and as we develop it we grow in wisdom and love. We begin to experience a sense of awe, a sense of connection to all of life, and a deep reverence for the Divine. We find ourselves moved to prayers of gratitude and moments of spontaneous worship. Spirituality calls a human being to a life of trust and service.

When our spirituality is nurtured and vibrant, we are connected. This connection is both a sense of relationship to the Creator, Great Spirit, or God (divine force), as well as a relationship to all people and to Mother Earth (our life-giving environment). Spirituality takes us beyond our ego-centered lives by expanding our hearts with compassion towards all.

Spirituality does not dwell in a realm apart. It is not an extracurricular activity. Spirituality involves a reverent attitude toward all things because it awakens us to a divine presence in all things. In this way of seeing and being, all things and persons are interconnected and interdependent. In the Sioux native language, the word for the Great Spirit is Wakan, which means ‘the great mystery.’ Yet this spirit, full of mystery, is every bit as real as the visible, tangible world.

It is important to differentiate spirituality from religion. Some people have rejected religion in order to escape what they consider to be oppressive rules and regulations. In the process, however, many lose the great gifts of joy and compassion that spirituality brings.

Religion and spirituality are related and intertwined, but they are not the same. A person may experience spirituality without being a member of any specific religious affiliation, and even the most religious person may feel spiritually bereft. The true purpose of religion is to enhance spirituality through ritual and practice. This is accomplished when a person approaches his or her religion as a way to enter the great mystery, to become aware of the sacredness of all life.

Religion can become a barrier to spirituality when it insists on narrow, judgmental dogma, and estranges its followers from a sense of connection with the Divine. Religion serves us best as a vehicle to nourish and develop our spirituality.

It is possible, however, to get too caught up in the vehicle, the religious practice, while losing sight of the destination, spirituality, which is communion with the Divine and compassion for all. For modern, academically oriented professionals, like physicians and health care workers, spirituality is often a difficult subject.

Their training is framed by science. They depend on logical, analytical, and rational approaches, and for good reason. These approaches have successfully ushered in a host of lifechanging improvements in health care and technology. While honouring science and the mind, our cultural tendency urges us to devalue belief and mystery, but the result is costly: They are left spiritually starved and out of balance.

Some of life’s most difficult questions are the spiritual ones. What is the purpose of life? Where does real meaning come from? What is of real value in our lives? If there truly is a God who loves us, how could there be so much suffering and unfairness in the world? Part of our addiction to the busyness of life is an attempt to prevent ourselves from thinking about our mortality, the inevitable fact of our own death. But when we keep ourselves too busy to consider the purpose of our existence, our lives cease to have meaning. Strangely, it is only when we fully accept the reality of our mortality that we truly begin to live. This is the point at which we begin to enter into and learn about the spiritual dimension of our humanity.

As French philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin remarked, “We are not physical beings having a spiritual experience, but spiritual beings having a physical experience.” Our spirituality is our true essence. It is that part of our life which relates to our soul, which from a spiritual perspective is connected to the Divine and is infinite. This lifetime is but the physical experience of our deeper reality, our spirit, which is our fundamental nature.

At this point, you might ask yourself several questions to help assess your own spirituality. Do i have a sense of connection with the Divine? Do i feel compassion for others? Do i feel awe and reverence? Do i live a life of trust? Am i called to service? Is prayer or meditation an important part of my life?

Look, God is Within You

We cannot know God when we do not know ourselves as God. We cannot be with God if we are not God

It is ironic that in a world of God worshippers, none of them would recognise God if they see Him, eyeball to eyeball. In fact in our present state of evolution if we did recognise Him, we would probably stick him up on a cross or make ceramic dolls in his image. As a race we don’t like to see our gods in person. We are much more comfortable following in our ancestor’s footprints with symbols of gods.

How would you know God? Many would demand that He performs magic tricks to prove Himself. Then if he did, they would declare Him a devil and turn Him away. Others would demand that he heal someone to demonstrate his worth and authenticity. And then once again crucify him as they did his son, so that they could see him rise up. It is not possible to see God while you are looking for him. It is not possible to feel his presence while you are trying to know him. It is not possible to know God while you are looking away from him.

I just read an excerpt from a chapter of a new book that is coming out by a spiritual author. I was delighted to read about how God is everything and that God is all we can know through our five senses. Literally he was saying what I have been saying all along and what other more advanced authors are saying. We are God and God does not exist outside of ourselves. He is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent.

We cannot see God when we look away from ourselves, we cannot know God when we do not know ourselves as God. We cannot be with God if we are not God. If you are God and you say that you are — why would you pray to God? The very second you call to God; you are creating another God outside of yourself. It is your words which command the universe to create what is your minds desire. When you talk about a car you are creating an image of a car outside yourself and that is what you will experience.

When you talk about God you are creating this thing which is not you — you are separate from it. You cannot know God or be with God as long as you talk about him, pray to him, or acknowledge that he is not you. It is not possible to know God while you are creating him/her. Because in the process of creating, he would not be complete.

It is language that separates us from ourselves. Because we are creators, when we speak we create. When we know something there is no need to speak, it does not have to be redefined or recreated. Knowing is absolute but it dissolves with every word that is spoken. It is not enough to know oneself as God unless one is prepared to speak as God. Saying that God is within us, or we are aspects of God or everything is God, will not take us to God. In the end, we must all know ourselves as God and speak as God if we are to experience the power of God.

As physical beings we are really God experiencing being physical using the body we believe is ours. To know God, you really just need to know yourself as that which you already are — God. And to be able to live with that knowledge it may be comforting to know that you, as God, have chosen to live here and experience limited physical life in your body. It is not necessary to recreate what you already are. Worshipping, praying, and creating physical symbols of who you are limits your power and keeps you physical — it is the paradox.

It is really not necessary to call yourself God, but to know yourself as God — unless of course you want to experience being the honoured guest in a specially built institution for those who call themselves God. The advantage of knowing yourself as God is that you will know that you are creating all the circumstances of your physical life and that you have the power to change it when you desire. Your life will not be a struggle, but an adventure and you will know the true purpose for being here.

Life will move easily for you, and you will live it time and time again, until you no longer wish to. The six billion bodies and the physical plane that it exists are your creation for your purpose. Know that it is perfect in its imperfection.

If worship, prayers, faith and images and statues help you, then it is appropriate that you have chosen them. But you will not know me until you no longer need them, and know that you are already where you say you want to be.

You are God manifested in the physical human body with the name your parents chose for you. You are not your body but that which gives live to it — you are God! I personally do not like the terminology, so the word God may be substituted for whatever works for you. I feel comforted in knowing that all things are life. I feel it all around me in everything that my senses can acknowledge. Therefore, for me the words are interchangeable and appropriate. I am life itself — i am all that is.

Let’s Strike At The Very Root Of Desire

Wants and desires have their roots in the urge for selfgratification. They are the distorted versions of the original sublime urge for a merger with the Divine. Having forgotten the true import and the primal goal of this urge, we engage ourselves in the futile task of somehow satisfying endless demands generated by the ego and senses. We need to only jog our memory.

When we embark upon the eternal chain of life, we are governed by two unique decrees under the Divine plan. Firstly, despite our divine origin, we fall under the spell of duality which creates an illusion of separation from the Absolute. Secondly, through a series of lives, unique to each one of us, we work our way back to the original non-dual state of merger with the Supreme.

We meander through many lives. Throughout this inevitable evolutionary process, on one side is the pull of separation from the One and, on the other, the longing for reunion. We experience constantly the outward pull of duality against the inward push of non-duality.

Duality has been created and so we marvel at and enjoy the world’s bewitching material extravaganza and the merger is offered so that we enjoy the ineffable bliss of Oneness. Both states are equally beautiful and one must endeavour towards experiencing both. Without this constant endeavour, life becomes meaningless. The illusion of separation through duality causes loss of wisdom, and reduces clarity of thought. This is spiritual ignorance or avidya. We flounder in avidya to get self-gratification. Wants and desires are thus rooted in avidya.

At some point in our evolutionary cycle, the true goal of life again becomes clear to us. We then get captivated by the idea of reaching it. As our aspiration increases, worldly desires slowly drop off. The endeavour itself becomes a self-fulfilling goal. It gathers momentum and propels us towards Divinity. Desires turn into an intense aspiration for the Supreme.

The spiritual path undertaken to reunite with the Supreme need not prevent us from having normal relationships, material goals, and enjoyment of wealth and comforts; nor should we be riddled with guilt for this. What drops off are greed and unquenchable, unreasonable, endless wants. Knowledge and guidance arise from within and inherent dynamism comes to the fore, although the goal and the path now stand altered.

In the striving for Oneness with the Divine, there are no desires. There is such a state of perfection and beauty that nothing is felt lacking. Nothing more is needed. There is a feeling of total fullness and completion. The urge to take the right action comes as intuition with a certainty that is born of inner knowledge. Then whatever action is undertaken springs from purity, from knowledge and from spontaneity, rather than from desire and selfish motives.

We are free now. Free of all the extraneous, detrimental, misery-begetting desires. Free from bondage. This is true freedom, known in spiritual parlance as nirvana or mukti. We, each one of us, can move towards this state by choosing to embark on a path that leads to the Divine, shorn of duality and externality. The feeling of oneness permeates entire creation, and unfettered, we move towards infinity.

Overcoming Life's Hurdles

Getting stuck is not only a necessary part of spirituality, it is a prerequisite to spiritual growth

If i were to diagram my spiritual life, it would look something like this: A continual series of ups and downs, through all of my life, moving in a slow upward direction, although some of the lows would seem lower than before and some of the highs would seem higher than before.

When i picture this graph, it is not encouraging at first, because the longer i live, the further away the end of the graph appears. It is very much like the elusive end of the rainbow — the closer i get, the further away it seems.

And yet there is something you cannot see on a one-dimensional diagram, something you cannot express with lines and words. There is a hidden excitement that begins to surface, a tingling of the soul that quickens my consciousness as i gaze at this trail of God in my life. I suddenly realise a great truth-the upand-down syndrome of my life is the fingerprint of God on my soul! It is the remains of my struggle of faith, the ups and downs of my ongoing dialogue with the God. It is the way growth looks.

I am beginning to realise that the spiritual life is not so much progress as it is process. It is not a continuous climb upwards as much as it is a continuous climb. It is not the victories that matter so much as the going on after the defeats. The longer the erratic dance of faith goes on, the less you care about what God is doing, and the more you want to know about God. Spirituality is, after all, about intimacy with God.

Look at the graph for a minute. Notice the low spots-flat, long at times, surrounded by highs. Whatever the low spots are, they appear to be negative. If the high spots represent the good or positive in my spiritual life and the low spots represent
the bad or negative in my relationship with God, then obviously the high spots are to be sought after and the lows are to be avoided.

But what if we do something radical? What if we remove those kind of value judgments from this graph? What if, in place of concepts like good and bad, positive and negative, high and low, we replace our value judgments with words like stalled and moving, or listening and acting, or stopping and starting, or waiting and not waiting?

What does that do to our understanding of the spiritual life? Maybe waiting is good and not waiting is bad. Maybe stopping is better than starting, listening better than acting, and stalling better than moving. Maybe one cannot happen without the other. Maybe stopping is necessary to starting, maybe acting cannot happen without listening first.

Of course, i do not believe there is many ‘maybe’ about it. I believe that our understanding of spirituality has been distorted and ruined by our artificial judgments and our one-dimensional understanding of our relationship with God.

Let me point out a couple of interesting characteristics of this graph. Every high is followed by a low and every high is preceded by a low. Maybe what the graph means is that you cannot achieve a high without first achieving a low. Maybe lows are not low at all, but just part of the highs. I would like to abandon the high or low model and rename these parts as ‘stuck’ and ‘unstuck.’ Maybe, getting stuck is necessary before we can get unstuck, which means that getting stuck is actually a wonderful place to be.

When you look at it like this, then getting stuck is not only a necessary part of spirituality, it is a prerequisite to spiritual growth.

Most people consider being stuck a negative, a sin of failure or burnout, an indication that a person isn’t working hard enough on their spiritual life. It’s a report card on personal prayer. If you feel stuck in your spiritual life, then you aren’t doing something right because no one should be stuck with God. Nothing could be more untrue. The truth is that everyone should stuck with God many times because it is the prerequisite to being unstuck.

Being stuck is a great moment. It may be characterised by frustration, loneliness, or detachment, but those things are only the vocabulary of our souls telling us we are in danger. It is the cry of our souls craving for more. It is our longings and yearnings trying to get our attention. It is a summons, a call from within. It is the glorious music of disaffection and dissatisfaction with where we are now. It is the anguish of our interior life pleading with us not to give up, but to give in.

It is the Holy Spirit stopping us dead in our tracks so we can read the words that God has written on our hearts-surrender. Surrender. Put your arms around your soul, embrace your anguish, respond to your summons from God. Get ready for the adventure of growing on to the next part of your life.

Getting stuck is worth whatever anguish you must go through just so you can hear God say to you, “hang on, you are about to get unstuck.”

You are the World

When you change the way you live your life you begin to influence the way others live their lives

What we have created individually and collectively is a world where we believe we are each a separate entity from one another and separate from the very planet that sustains us.

Because we believe we are separate, we go by the philosophy of “I have to look out for myself,” therefore, i will do whatever it takes to ensure i have enough of whatever i desire. If my desires impinge on your needs, my desires take precedence, because i am better than you. That is how our world is run today.

We believe in a system that says i can go outside myself into the physical world and do the things it takes to provide me with the possessions that i lack to make my life better and make me happy.

For too many of us this system does not work. Material possessions and being better does not seem to bring us inner peace and happiness. These concepts are elusive when you try to achieve them by going outside yourself into the physical world.

Think about this: Inner peace. Just the very sound of it tells us where to go. You can’t find it outside of yourself; you have to go inside. You have to go to your inner source. The source that gives all of us unbelievable resources, strength and guidance is present in all of us to use on our life journey. We need merely go inside ourselves to find it.

The key is to go inside yourself and reconnect with your spirit. You see, we are all made up as a three part being; mind, body and spirit. We are born into this world in perfect balance.

As we begin learning the ways of our journey we try to live in this balance. But when we encounter the external world, we find that our parents, teachers, and friends, with the
best of intentions, impart on us their interpretations of this physical world, along with all their rules and expectations.

The spiritual side of us does not conform to these external parameters, but eventually we priorities our lives around the external rules and expectations placed upon us by others and begin to lose the balance of our spirit in our day-to-day living. We become more and more controlled by the mind and the body.

So the mind, controlled largely by the ego, and the body, which we identify as our entity, are subject to the physical world with the total ability to create and adapt to it as we like; that is, with “free will.” And adapt we do. We buy into the separation mentality that says, “My body and existence is different and separate from yours, and so I must do what is best for me.”

Only by bringing the spirit back into the equation to create a balanced mind-body-spirit being do we come to understand that we are not separate at all, but that we are all one. Because we are one, what we do to another, we do to ourselves.

It is the wonderful golden rule that we all know, but which we rarely live by: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Wow! Can you imagine what our world would be like if we actually lived by the Golden Rule?

You can't live by the golden rule if you think that you are separate from everyone else. Only within the paradigm of oneness can the concept of the golden rule be achieved. This is what nuts and bolts Spirituality is all about.

When you change the way you live your life you begin to influence others in the way they live their lives. It is in this conscious change that we collectively influence how the human race evolves.

We are at a crossroads on this planet. We have created the ability to make this planet unlivable to the human life form. If we continue down the path that we are on now we could see this happen in the not too distant future.

Our present belief system has taken us to this point in our existence. Only a change in our belief system will determine whether we will continue on a path of destruction or allow us to follow another path toward a more enlightened existence.

You are totally at choice as to which belief system serves you. You can believe that you are separate from all things or you can believe that you are one with all things. You are always at choice in what you believe and how you create your life. Nothing has changed.

The key is to be aware of and understand what serves you, and what does not serve you. It is then up to you to create your life by making conscious choices as to what serves you best.

The choice is yours. It always has been and always will be.

The War Within

The battle that rages within us starts when we enter the world and continues until the day we die

The conflict that rages within is an integral part of all of us. It is the war between good and bad, right and wrong, hate or love, mercy or vengeance, want and need, lust and relationship and much more. It starts the very moment we open our eyes and enter this world and it continues until the day we finally close those eyes and leave this world. Those who remain are left to deal with our influences.

When we are born, conflict enters on a personal note through our body needs and wants. We cry, yell, annoy, interrupt — those of us who have raised babies understand. We care not about others, we only care about us. We recognise just what is required through our inner self. As we get older we shape those needs and wants via our senses, opinions, desires, environment, influences, education and outside impacts.

It is now that the true war begins not only with ourselves but also with every single being we come to interact with. Some of those interactions are good and some are bad. The bottom line we are consistently at war within and it is a consistent and constant battle. Now this war relates to the choices one makes. It could be said it is the path you chose. The inner being is the real you in effect your intellect, your spiritual being. That is who you are.

Our outer being most likely demonstrates that which we have installed as part of our shield, that book cover we show to all and which demonstrates that which we accept as right and perceive as acceptable by those whom we want to accept us. That which we have been taught, instructed and accepted as being right.

However, who is to say what is right or wrong? We all dream, fantasies, want, need, seek, and covet. It is however, the disciplines and controls, the safety mechanisms that we have set, accepted and installed that keep us on the path and which we perceive as good, verses that of bad. Well that is where society as a whole emerges. Society is the collective thoughts of many which are translated into laws, norms and traditions.

They are the outer forces or controls that we as a majority put into place to stop, warn, and allow for what is perceived as good for all of us. That is why conflict when you have the breaking or abuse of those norms, which have been established for the good of the whole. It matters not what your inner being thinks, desires or wants, it is what society, the group, the majority has established as norms and acceptable. Break them and there is a price to pay, no one greater then the whole. This is what creates tranquility, peace, security, safety, and society and reduce separation and conflict. Once we cross the line and break the law for one, a group and ideology and want to impose that and our will and philosophy on all without the acceptance of all we can expect anger, conflict or worse.

Our inner self should be open to the truth, the facts, the very roots of the entire issue and not selectively impose our thoughts while eliminating all others as bad, wrong, non important. So like the scowl or warning we put on our face that says very explicitly don’t get near me stay away and makes a precise statement, or when you role your eyes, make a facial or body gesture you are making a statement.

You see our inner being controls that which we show on our outer being, it is called non verbal communication or body language, we tend to not see this war raging in each on the outside of that person and it is a major stumbling block for unity. Many in their interactions key these responses, rightly or wrongly they draw a conclusion. We want to be right so we impose out views on everyone else. What is acceptable for one society may not be for others. Therefore tolerance must always be part of the war within and understanding and listening the tool for peace, acceptance, friendship. Yet, when we challenge that society by breaking its law, challenging its established and accepted norms or imposing what is appropriate then just who are the real problem makers?

It matters not in whose name you come, under what authority, quoting whatever religious text you want, you are imposing your will upon others. When we all come to understand that we are at all at war within and that this same battle rages in us all. That it is a war that is continual and it is a war of the body verses the soul, good verses bad, then we can begin to understand others.

When we no longer want to use or abuse another, but are satisfied with our existence, then all the exterior materialistic, negative influences of the ‘me’ becomes meaningless, non important or no real value.

Know who you are

Hiding behind a sea of emotions will keep you from growing into the person you were meant to be

Our whole purpose on this earth is to love others with complete and true love. But before we can do that, we must love ourselves. So, how is your relationship with yourself ?

Do you have a relationship with you? It’s a good idea to ponder into the deep side of you and meditate upon the mysteries of who you are, or better yet, of whom you can become. Before we can have significant and lasting relationships with others, we need to understand the person we are now and the person we can become.

Break free from your inhibitions and ask yourself, “Who am i?” “What is my purpose in life?” Answer with complete truth and honesty. Then live your life off that foundation. Base your life upon who you are.

Break free from your doubts and fears and be happy loving who you are. Once you love who you are, you will be totally free to love others. If our purpose on this earth is to love others, we certainly cannot truly achieve that if we are hiding inside our insecurities and not really loving ourselves.

Hiding behind a sea of emotions or a certain weakness will keep us from growing into the person we were meant to be. Being afraid to love others because of being hurt in the past also keeps us from trusting others enough to love.

The first step in growing out from self is to understand what your purpose, goals, ideas, and dreams in life are. Believe it or not, some folks aren’t sure what their purpose and goals in life are and live in a depressed state of aimless wondering and disillusionment. But it doesn’t have to be like that!

The focus here is to grow out from self by knowing first, who we are, and then working towards the substance of who we are. Who are you? What are you? Where are you going? Why are you going? Find it, seek it, acknowledge it, know it, and go after it with gusto! It’s like a caterpillar that eventually metamorphosises into a beautiful butterfly. All of God’s creations have the ability to turn into beautiful butterflies.

But not all of God’s creations will become beautiful butterflies. Why is that? A caterpillar doesn’t allow itself to be free from self. Whether it is through weakness or fear, a caterpillar must break free from what is holding it back by realizing it can become a butterfly.

A butterfly is free from the restraints of self. A butterfly has grown out from self and now seeks to love others with all the love it has while a caterpillar is still seeking to be loved by others. Unfortunately, many caterpillars do not know they have the ability to become butterflies and so remain in their cocoon until they die.

Come out of your cocoon and become the butterfly you were always meant to become. Learn to know who you are by having a truly honest relationship with yourself. Grow out of any negativities that may be wedged within your mental and spiritual capacities.

Low self-worth, fear, mistrust, insecurities, sin, and unbelief will keep you from discovering the natural and true person you really are. But when you have enough belief in God then you know He will keep you safe from those feelings that plague you or that would keep you from growing into the butterfly you were meant to be.

Fearful and insecure persons hide behind negative emotions and are enveloped within a particular weakness in their life. Unbelief is a weakness. Unbelief in the Creator is the biggest and most damaging weakness a person can carry upon their shoulders.

Get to know who you are, because that is what God wants for you. Come out of hiding, all you caterpillars, and become free butterflies!