Being Wealthier by Living with Less

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Dalai Lama, nature's balance, simplicity, simplifying life

There is a saying in Tibetan that “at the door of the miserable rich man sleeps the contented beggar.” The point of this saying is not that poverty is a virtue, but that happiness does not come from wealth, but from setting limits to one’s desires, and living within those limits with satisfaction. – His Holiness The Dalai Lama

I like the wisdom of this message as it can apply to varied desires, including how much we take from the Earth.  Early this week I watched “I AM” by Tom Shydyac, the millionaire producer who lives in mobile home in Oprah’s cable channel, OWN.  It was discussed how nature takes only what it needs to sustain itself so nature stays balanced; it’s mankind that has learned to take more than it needs and therefore creates an imbalance that affects the collective.

When my significant other and I feed the squirrels at the park, we notice how they take the peanuts we give them, enjoy them, and when full, bury the remaining peanuts for the winter. Humans generally would eat/take more than their share because we have been conditioned to think that more is better.

“Who could be so lucky? Who comes to a lake for water and sees the reflection of moon.” Rumi

Everyday, I am reminded that a simple life can be fulfilling and  the richer we seem to be. And this is the way my mate and I live our lives, without too many needs and the stress of paying and maintaining possesions. We thrive with the beauty of nature, enjoy the simple pleasures of life and experience many moments of happiness.

We don’t push prosperity away as we own a business, but we don’t feel conflicted about a lack of anything – that is unless we suddenly desire a mansion with a landing strip on the roof for our small plane. 🙂

The Lens of Perception

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inner work, love and fear, marianne williamson, perception, positive thinking, self-love

"Love and fear represent two different lenses through which to view the world. Which I choose to use will determine what I think I see." Marianne Williamson

After my experience with the sudden hearing loss early this month, I was in the bathroom after my shower, and had a sudden thought pop into my mind that said:

“change the lens of how you perceive life.”

And it was so crystal clear to me, that I did just that! I saw positive potentials instead of fearsome scenarios that being caught in a world of deafness could give me. I had a great day of feeling inner balance just because of this thought and shift of perception.

What’s odd is, I have never used the phrase “changing the lens” either in my writings or oral communication or came across this in my readings. I use other phrases such as “change my/your perception.”  On that week I kept coming across messages about changing the lens of life without my looking for them. The quote I shared at the beginning of this post is one of them.

Seeing the world from a place of fear or love does change everything. Living in fear is constricting; it constricts the heart, the mind, and the expression of our souls. It’s a lower energetic frequency that will not help in attracting wholesome experiences.  Living in love is expanding, opens our hearts, and allows for the fullness of our being to be expressed. It’s the highest state of being.

I for one, am working on choosing love as a state of being, but it takes inner work as I am human and have my vulnerabilities. From a practical level I am releasing my fears with the help of Dr. Ben Johnson who was in the movie “The Secret.”  He is an M.D. who healed himself of Lou Gehrig’s disease which is medically incurable by releasing fears from his body and choosing love. He had no choice as he was given just a few months to live.

From a spiritual level, I am in the awareness that only love is what matters in this planet and with our lives. I believe that everything that happens to us is for our highest good. Yes, even this disconcerting challenge of deafness which I struggle with at times, is a loving opportunity for me to transcend the illusions of how I perceive reality.

I am willing to continue with the task of changing the lens of how I perceive life. And permanently. I owe this love gift of freedom to myself.

The Magic of Belief

Tags

Don Miguel Ruiz, Inspiration, positive thinking, the power of belief

“You see, everything is about belief. Whatever we believe rules our existence, rules our life. The belief system we create is like a little box we put ourselves inside of; we cannot escape because we believe we cannot escape. That is our situation. Humans create their own boundaries, their own limitations. We say what is humanly possible, and what is not possible. Then just because we believe it, it becomes truth for us.” Don Miguel Ruiz in The Mastery of Love  

 

 

I am always fascinated by the potential that the power of belief can have in one’s life. I have read of  cases where patients with multiple personalities will develop an illness such as gout, allergies, asthma and other illnesses under one personality and when switching to another, the second personality may not have those illnesses whatsoever.  All because of the power of belief. I say the brain in this case has enormous power over our bodies based on the thoughts we feed it.

The power of belief further extends into other areas of our lives.  The direction of our focus generally tends to attract energetically what we think. When we see the world as an unfriendly place, we attract experiences that support this notion.

I do not think that the “power of belief” is like an Aladdin’s lamp bringing  all that we desire into our lives, as we don’t know what our destiny holds for us, but having a healthy belief system where we see life as an adventure with potential for growth and happiness no matter what age group or the conditions of our lives, allows for  us to get into a space where life becomes more of a source of wonder.

World Prayer

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earth day, Inspiration, Love, Peace, Spirituality, world prayer

Happy Earth Day! May we continue to honor the planet and all of life. I believe that when we join in intention be it through prayer, thoughts or meditation, we contribute energetically and spiritually to the world. Action of course also contributes. May love and peace prevail in our little planet!

Affirmative Prayer:

For the World

Where there is hatred, let there be love.

Where there is hunger, let there be nourishment.

Where there is suffering, let there be relief.

Where wars are being fought, let there be peace.

Where there is prejudice, let there be unity.

Where sickness is, let there be healing.

Where there is ignorance, let there be understanding.

Where there is religious or spiritual intolerance,

let there be acceptance.

May love, peace, and wholeness prevail on Earth!

And so it is! Amen.

“Beyond Inspiration” excerpt.

@ Copyright 2012 “Beyond Inspiration

Speaking Through Images of Children

Tags

Inspiration, onenness, quotes, spiritual quotes, Thich Nhat Hanh, wisdom

I have a collection of quotes with photos of children that I wanted to share.

I love images combined with words, as they often have an impact on one’s mind and heart. If the information is not reaching the mind, it may reach the heart via images or the images can speak to the mind.

The following collection are one of my favorites as the images of children are pure, full of innocence, and does not conflict with the message (well, at least to my eyes).

Enjoy!    

 

"Intellect alone is not enough to guide us," "To shape the future of the twenty-first century we need something else. Without peace and happiness we cannot take care of ourselves; we cannot take care of other species and we cannot take care of the world." Thich Nhat Hanh

“There are women’s fashion magazines that tell us that in
order to succeed, you have to look a certain way, and use a certain
product. Many young people in our society want to have cosmetic
surgery in order to meet that standard of beauty. They suffer very
much, because they cannot accept their bodies. When you do not
accept your body as it is, you are not your true home. Every child
is born in the garden of humanity as a flower. Your body is a kind
of flower, and flowers differ from one another. Breathing in, I see
myself as a flower. Breathing out, I feel fresh.”
~Thich Nhat Hanh

"I am a patient of Love, you are like medicine for me." Rumi

“They don’t live with hate why should anyone else have to ….”

 

Have you smiled today? 

This one is adorable…. I once wanted to save the world. Join the Peace Corps, today I am content doing my best with  the resources I have…

And finally…..

“The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives.”  Albert Einstein

The Twilight Zone World of Silence

Tags

deafness, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, Inspiration, posit science, spiritual healing, tinnitus, world of silence

“Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself, and know that everything in life has purpose. There are no mistakes, no coincidences, all events are blessings given to us to learn from.” Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

As a few of my WordPress followers know I have a Facebook fan page “Love Is The Answer” where I post daily quotes that are uplifting or that makes one stop and reconsider how we perceive life.  I breathe and live what I write about spirituality. Some one shared the above quote on Facebook, and it was in perfect timing for a tremendous challenge I experienced four days ago.

I was with my life partner Phil in the van on our way to drop off orders from our customers at the post office, and before I knew it, my ears were ringing, and most of my hearing suddenly left me. I was plunged into a world where I saw movement, people talking, children laughing, cars driving past us but all without a sound. It was to me a distressing reality.

Your inspirational writer Marie had two days where there were moments of inconsolable crying and fear.  And I tell you, I am strong, but not this time.  I had been working with a great science program to improve my hearing from Posit Science which I discovered when Nancy  http://nrhatch.wordpress.com/ shared information about a book “The Brain That Changes Itself” that writes of mind boggling healing taking place in patients by rewiring the brain through mental exercises. In the book, they mentioned a software program to improve hearing, so I purchased it early this year.   I saw incredible improvements to then suddenly experience this reversal. It caught me by surprise, as my physical health is a good one.

However, after two days of sadness and fear, and not talking much about it,  Phil and I had a profound spiritual conversation (I lip read), and I regained my inner stillness and decided to move on. I went out by myself the next day and did routine tasks to have normalcy back in my life. On the day I went out,  I noticed that many people were drawn to me and smiling at me. Children would wave at me as well as the elderly. When I got home, I realized that this pleasant connection with strangers made my venture out easier. In the seven years, I have lived in Oregon; I had not experienced this Southern-like charm.

By being centered, I can then do what I need to do. Seeing a doctor is not worthwhile as I experienced the same drop 24 years ago, but since I had better hearing then, I did not experience total deafness. There is nothing the medical establishment can do. By being centered, I give my mind and body the possibility of healing.

And it has started to pay off…. I used healing energy techniques, purchased Homeopathic remedies for tinnitus (ringing in the ear) and Bach Rescue Remedy for trauma. Yesterday after taking a nap, I woke up with some hearing back! The damage this time is not permanent.  Now I can hear my voice, Phil’s and a few sounds we take for granted. I am not out of the woods yet as I still hear less than last week, but at least I am not in the Twilight Zone where the world suddenly has lost sound.

The lesson I am learning from this is I need to make further spring cleaning type of changes.  Life is a constant letting go, not only of physical things, relationships and so on, but a letting go of internal dynamics that no longer work for our well-being and spiritual evolution. I am also reminded to never lose hope that out of this challenge something good will result.

I am blessed that I do experience a peaceful and loving life, and have made many, many changes in the past few years but the work is not done yet, and I am up to the task.