It is a poor idea to lie to yourself

Taken from dontpaniconline.com

We all lie to ourselves at one point or another. This is usually because the truth isn’t so attractive. We don’t want to face what is right in front of us so we lie to ourselves through subconscious rationalisations such as “If I’m five minutes late they won’t notice” or “If I have one cigarette, I won’t become addicted”. The list of internal lies is endless and can often be harmful.

It is important that we be true to ourselves, because one internal lie could lead to a whole series of unfortunate consequences that may grow into a vicious circle. For example a small rationalisation such as “they won’t know the difference if I just plagiarise this one paragraph” could lead to a disciplinary hearing or other legal action and leave you in a huge mess which you never intended on.

I always say that you should follow your gut. This is your sense of instinct and it tells you whether something is right or wrong. If you can learn to listen to this feeling, 99% guaranteed, you will never go wrong in life. So the next time you rationalise something and lie to yourself, listen to your gut. If it is giving you a bad feeling then you will know that you are making a poor choice by lying to yourself! This could save you a lot of unnecessary problems.

The sound of one hand clapping

Another ancient Buddhist teaching, the Zen koan “The sound of one hand clapping” has been eluding people for years. No one can give a set meaning for this riddle. People generally  take it too literally and blab that “it is impossible to clap with one hand”. You know what, these literalists are actually correct but in a deeper sense of the meaning.  Let me explain…

One hand cannot clap on its own, it can produce no sound without the other hand. The one hand completes the other. Even though one hand can exist on its own, it is better with the other hand. What I derived from this Zen koan is that one person cannot appease their soul so easily without their other person. To me, “the sound of one hand clapping” represents love and finding peace with a soulmate in the most true sense of the word.  We all long for love and most of our lives is focussed on finding that one special person to spend our lives with. When you find that person, your “soulmate”,  you feel complete and life is suddenly filled with joy and hope. This is the power of love.

I believe that if you find true love you should hold on to it no matter what because it is the most valuable and joyful experience in life.  Your life will take on a bigger purpose and you will help each other to learn and grow as individuals.

Taken from synonymouslove.wordpress.com

Not all who wander are lost!

I’m young and I have no responsibilities. I also live in a society that puts me under constant pressure to keep up and survive. Things are not as simple as yesteryear. I value life and the simple things, not what society dictates I should value. I have been put on this earth to find happiness and that is what I intend to do. I hate to rush, to have constant stress and to be amongst people who are negative. My life is my life and I choose how I live it. I choose to wander.

I have a problem with the way years of societal conditioning has made people lose touch with what is really important in life. What is important is to enjoy every second of this fleeting life we have here on earth, not to work and stress our whole lives to achieve materialistic objects such as a big houses and nice cars. Those nice things that you spend the majority of your life trying to achieve through hard work and stress will eventually become irrelevant.  

I see it every day; people who are now old, have all they have worked for but are sick of it and want less to stress about. So they sell these nice objects and opt for retirement somewhere quiet and beautiful with the bare minimum, if they can. Or on the other side of the coin, old age hits and they are thrown into an old age home, thereby losing all they have worked their whole lives for anyway. Sad and not nice to think about, is it? Society is warped. They have murdered true joy and we find ourselves in a generation that is so completely lost it is ridiculous.

We are all told working hard for a career was important so that you can earn loads of money and be happy.  Yes, sure, I know we all have to earn money to survive as nothing is free but no wad of cash will buy you true, lasting joy. I refuse to waste my life in a job I hate so that I can buy nice things. I will always make sure that whatever I do in life makes me happy. I refuse to have regrets.  As I said, I am young and have no responsibilities, so it is easy for me to say this but for as long as I don’t have children to look after, I will wander through life. When we wander, we slow down and are able to find joy in the little things in life that we often overlook when we constantly look to money to make us happy. Something as simple as a butterfly should put a smile on your face.

My parents always give me grief about my laid back attitude but I am happy with the way I live. I wish they could understand that not all who wander are lost and that I will always have a successful life as long as I have joy.

I love this, it gives me inspiration. Taken from http://www.scoop.it/t/social-learning-group-coaching

How do you step from the top of a 100-foot pole?

How do you step from the top of a 100-foot pole? This is an ancient Zen koan. A what?!? A Zen Koan is a story or parable that is used in the practice of Zen Buddhism. Koans form part of larger stories meant for contemplation and meditation. Koans are passed down through various Buddhist teachers. When meditating on a koan, it is said that it can help one arrive at a more enlightened mental state, helping one arrive closer to the ultimate Buddhist goal of Nirvana. They present puzzles or questions that cannot be solved through rational thought.
The story that entails the koan goes as follows:

Master Sekiso said, "You are at the top of the 100 foot high pole. How will you make a step further?" Another Zen Master of Ancient Times said, "One who sits on top of the 100 foot pole has not quite attained true enlightenment. Make another step forward from the top of the pole and throw one's own body into the 100,000 universes."

Taken from:
muneeraallie.blogspot.com

Mumon's Comments:
Should there be any who is able to step forward from the top of the 100 foot pole and hurl one's whole body into the entire universe, this person may call oneself a Buddha. Nevertheless, how can one step forward from the top of the 100 foot pole? Know thyself!

Should one be content and settle on top of the 100 foot pole,
One will harm the third eye,
And will even misread the marks on the scale.
Should one throw oneself and be able to renounce one's life,
Like one blind person leading all other blind persons,
One will be in absolute freedom (unattached from the eyes).

What I have derived from this is that stepping from a 100-foot pole is a metaphor for having trust in one's self and the only way to fully trust one's self is to know one's self. To know one’s self, one must have reached an enlightened state of mind because knowing one’s self fully does not rest solely on knowing trivial things such as what you like or dislike. It has to do with being at peace, letting go of all desires, all material objects, all negative energy that keeps us at the top of the pole. Once we know ourselves truly, our minds will be open to all levels of life and true joy will commence!

Taken from: mro.org

Story taken from: http://www.angelfire.com/electronic/awakening101/mumonkan.html

We are what we do?

We are what we do... Human beings are way to multifaceted for this to be true. I mean, just because you read the bible, it doesn’t mean that you’re a Christian or just because you wear tie-dye, doesn’t make you a hippy. That priest over there, looks like a man of God yet he could very well be a paedophile at the same time and that stripper could actually be a desperate, single mother trying to put food on the table for her three kids.

Human curiosity and circumstances lead us to do many things that we shouldn’t do. These mistakes and experiences teach us in life and are a completely normal part of our growth. The problem lies in other’s judgement! People are so judgemental (yet another fatal human flaw), that they will take any one action of yours and derive some sort of label based on that. “Oh, I saw Sally wearing a short skirt, she must be easy.” So be careful, for as much as we are told not to judge a book by its cover,  the more we seem to do this. Human nature has really vicious tendencies.

What I am trying to get at is that we should not label people so easily, because their actions do not dictate who they are. That person you are labelling could be doing what they are doing out of peer pressure, or as a result of some unfavourable circumstance. Or they could merely be testing the waters out of sheer human curiosity.


Taken from hergoodybag.com

 
On the other side of the coin however, those that repeat the same actions again and again are surely looking for a label, because that is who they believe themselves to be or who they want to be. So yes, if you continuously sleep around, you will be labelled a slut and if you continuously over-compliment others you will be labelled an ass-kisser. At the end of the day, it is all about reputation and what kind of reputation you want. It is your choice. If you don’t care what others think then good for you, but its true what famous Greek philosopher and critic Aristotle says, “We are what we REPEATEDLY do!”

We are afraid of the wrong things...

Buddha, the Dalai Lama, Shakespeare and Yoda all have two things in common. They are all famous for their wisdom about life and human behaviour and they all knew that we fear the wrong things... They all have quoted some wise words regarding the negative emotion of fear :



Image taken from activerain.com

“If you have fear of some pain or suffering, you should examine whether there is anything you can do about it. If you can, there is no need to worry about it; if you cannot do anything, then there is also no need to worry.”

-The Dalai Lama-

Taken from toonpool.com

“Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”

   -Yoda-

Taken from djbarney.wordpress.com

“The whole secret of existence is to have no fear. Never fear what will become of you, depend on no one. Only the moment you reject all help are you freed.”

    -Buddha-

Taken from dareland.com

“Of all base passions, fear is the most accursed.”

     -William Shakespeare-

Taken from msp.westwood.wikispaces.net

We can conclude from these wise words, that fear is a negative emotion. Nothing good can come of it as it has the potential to cause suffering.  We all fear the things that MIGHT affect us but if we have no fear then we cannot attract the negative outcomes of fear.  One of the greatest hindrances in life is fear. Therefore, in the wise words of Franklin Roosevelt, “ the only thing we have to fear, is fear itself!

Image taken from animalcapshunz.icanhascheezburger.com

Fish falling from the sky.

 

What is your perception? Taken from ryansullivan.co.za

Aside from it being a natural phenomenon that occurs in tornado country, the topic of “fish falling from the sky” has the power to define what type of person you are. How, you ask? Well, it has do with the way you look at it. You see, fish falling from the sky, taken literally, could either be viewed in a negative light or a positive one. The way you perceive it has to do with your mindset as well as your circumstances. All a bit confusing? Let me explain...

People with a negative, pessimistic outlook on life who have all they need would view fish falling from the sky as a bad thing. They would probably think of all the negative factors such as the horrid smell of the fish or what would be done with all these fish that were never asked for. On the other side of the coin, people with a positive outlook and those that are entrenched in poverty would view fish falling from the sky as a miracle. They would see it as food falling from the sky. They may even see it as on opportunity to make money!

We often forget to look for the good in life. Instead we choose to let stupid things get to us. We moan, complain and judge everything. Where does this get us? Absolutely nowhere good. Being pessimistic and negative is the worst thing you can do for your soul as we are beings on a mission to find true joy. That is what we are put on the earth for because when we experience true happiness and joy is when we are truly connected to our higher selves. When we are connected to our higher selves, only good things can come our way.

It all has to do with the way we flow our energy. Everything in the universe is made up of either negative or positive energy. We as humans are able to choose how we flow as we are able to flow both kinds of energy depending on how we feel. Like attracts like and so do we. You see, we are all like big magnets attracting what happens in our lives through the way we flow our energy. Negative feelings mean you are vibrating at a low frequency, which means that you will only draw in negative, low outcomes. The opposite is true for positive feelings. Haven’t you noticed how when something goes wrong in your life and you mope on it, everything else seems to fall apart in succession.?

We all have a choice to deliberately create the outcomes in our lives. You just have to change your mindset. How would you feel about fish falling from the sky?

Fish falling from the skytaken from freakingnews.com