How Wisdom Awakens Us From Our Dreams | Creative by Nature : "“People suffer because they are caught in their views. As soon as we release those views, we are free and we don’t suffer anymore. Mindfulness helps you go home to the present.  Life is available only in the present.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh" 'via Blog this' :Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

Imagine a world where dinosaurs hadn't become extinct, Germany had won World War II and you were born in an entirely different country. These worlds could exist today in parallel universes, which constantly interact with each other, according to a group of US and Australian researchers. It may sound like science fiction, but the new theory could resolve some of the irregularities in quantum mechanics that have baffled scientists for centuries.

A spiritual person is connected with his spirit. To do this fully he must have access to his deepest psyche, and thus have resolved his most ancient psychic traumas. To get there he will have passed through hell, and thus will know how to help others get out of there too. If he has not resolved his traumas, however, they will block his conscious connection with his spirit, and will stunt his burgeoning spirituality. Only the fully emotionally evolved are pure and honestly spiritual; the rest are partially false, which we all are until we become fully enlightened. The world is full of pseudo-spiritual leaders, both religious and medical. They are false because they live unconsciously. They only know themselves partially. They are not deeply connected with their most profound truths. They are in denial of the rage seething in their depths, and the sorrow beneath that. But what makes them the most dangerous – primarily to those over whom they wield power – is that they can’t even admit it...

(5) Assignment Higher Power The following sayings, "Speak with your heart", "I promise - Hand on my heart", "I love you with all my heart", usually imply that you are behaving with or acting upon your genuine personality.

Emotional eating is when people use food as a way to deal with feelings instead of to satisfy hunger. We've all been there, finishing a whole bag of chips out of boredom or downing cookie after cookie while cramming for a big test. But when done a lot — especially without realizing it — emotional eating can affect weight, health, and overall well-being. Not many of us make the connection between eating and our feelings. But understanding what drives emotional eating can help people take steps to change it. One of the biggest myths about emotional eating is that it's prompted by negative feelings. Yes, people often turn to food when they're stressed out, lonely, sad, anxious, or bored. But emotional eating can be linked to positive feelings too, like the romance of sharing dessert on Valentine's Day or the celebration of a holiday feast. Sometimes emotional eating is tied to major life events, like a death or a divorce. More often, though, it's the countless ...

ARE YOU ADDICTED TO BUSYNESS ARE YOU A SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICT You may be lost in the addiction to busyness if… Your usual response to “how are you?” is “so busy”, “crazy busy” or “busy but good” You spend time worrying about how busy you are going to be tomorrow You get angry when your spouse or friends aren’t as busy as you Your busy life keeps you up at night thinking about everything you didn’t get done You make a point of letting people know that you stay at the office after hours You check email several times a day You zone out during conversations thinking about everything you have to do You volunteer for things you don’t care about You spend time complaining about how busy you are You make list after list to make sure you don’t forget anything during your busy day You allocate time each day to clean your desk or organize your stuff You regularly eat in your car You use a phone in the car because “it...

The joy of life is living it and doing things of worth, In making bright and fruitful the entire desert spots of earth. In facing odds and mastering them and rising from defeat, And making true what once was false, and what was bitter, make sweet. For only you know perfect joy whose little bit of soil Is richer ground than what it was when you began to toil.

Do you think I am going to help anybody? No! Oh, no, no, no, no, no! Don't expect me to be of help to anyone. Nor do I expect to damage anyone. If you are damaged, you did it; and if you are helped, you did it. You really did! You think people help you? They don't. You think people support you? They don't.  There was a woman in a therapy group I was conducting once. She was a religious sister. She said to me, "I don't feel supported by my superior." So I said, "What do you mean by that?" And she said, "Well, my superior, the provincial superior, never shows up at the novitiate where I am in charge, never. She never says a word of appreciation." I said to her, "All right let's do a little role playing. Pretend I know your provincial superior. In fact, pretend I know exactly what she thinks about you. So I say to you (acting the part of the provincial superior), 'You know, Mary, the reason I don't come to that place you'r...

The first thing you need to do is get in touch with negative feelings that you're not even aware of. Lots of people have negative feelings they're not aware of. Lots of people are depressed and they're not aware they are depressed. It's only when they make contact with joy that they understand how depressed they were. You can't deal with a cancer that you haven't detected. You can't get rid of boll weevils on your farm if you're not aware of their existence. The first thing you need is awareness of your negative feelings. What negative feelings? Gloominess, for instance. You're feeling gloomy and moody. You feel self-hatred or guilt. You feel that life is pointless, that it makes no sense; you've got hurt feelings, you're feeling nervous and tense. Get in touch with those feelings first.  The second step (this is a four-step program) is to understand that the feeling is in you, not in reality. That's such a self-evident thing, but do you ...

To a disciple who was obsessed with the thought of life after death, the Master said, "Why waste a single moment thinking of the hereafter?" "But is it possible not to?" "Yes." "How?" "By living in heaven here and now." "And where is this heaven?" "In the here and now."

  Celebration and praise, loving attention to the presence of God, become more important than "asking for" things and "getting for" things and "getting" things.   Contemplation in a World of Action: 159

When it comes to our development, when it comes to real change, the long, slow, boring and often painful route is quite reliably,  the most direct.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."      - Margaret Meade , was an American cultural anthropologist.

Rule of Life is an intentional pattern of spiritual disciplines that provides structure and  direction for growth in holiness.  A Rule establishes a rhythm for life in which is helpful for  being formed by the Spirit, a rhythm that reflects a love for God and respect for how he has made  us.  The disciplines which we build into our rhythm of life help us to shed the “old self” and  allow our “new self” in Christ to be formed.  Spiritual disciplines are means of grace by which  God can nourish us.  Ultimately a Rule should help you to love God more, so if it becomes a  legalistic way of earning points with God or impressing others, it should be scrapped.  If the  traditional, ancient term “rule” concerns you because it sounds legalistic, think of “rule” as a  “rhythm of life” or as a “Curriculum in Christlikeness” (Dallas Willard), or as a “Game P...

Practicing a Rule of Life with others moves us against the grain of our individualistic culture. However, I believe that a Rule should grow from the positive aspects of our life, not what we perceive to be our failings.  We should discern it in conversation with God and others in our community, and we must make God the focus of our Rule (don't focus on  negative images of ourselves) and then we move in the directions in which we feel God's calling. A Rule of Life should be a response to being loved by God in the first place, and feeling moved to become what God calls us to be in this world. Ever since St. Benedict's time, Christians have used a Rule of Life to provide an ancient yet powerfully consistent way to live into our present and future faith.

an apocalypse on Earth on December 21, 2012

To live in communion, in genuine dialogue with others is absolutely necessary if man is to remain human.

 Come, dervishes: here is the water of life. Dance in it.  

Benedict (like Bill W) realized we must understand our dependence on God before being  restored to sanity.  “We are like a child on its mother’s lap,” Benedict writes, “cut off from  nourishment, helpless, left without the resources we need to grow in the spirit of God.” 

Stress can be physical,And then there’s the kind that’s in our heads — that OMG I’m so overwhelmed right now feeling. While psychological stress has some definite downsides (chronic freak-outs may increase our risk for cancer and other diseases), take a moment to exhale. In moderate amounts, stress can boost our focus, energy, and even our powers of intuition. Still, in some cases, stress does more than light a productivity-boosting fire under our butts. Both emotional and physical stress activate our central nervous system, causing a “natural high,” says Concordia University neuroscientist and addiction specialist Jim Pfaus. “By activating our arousal and attention systems,” Pfaus says, “stressors can also wake up the neural circuitry underlying wanting and craving — just like drugs do.” This may be why, experts believe, some of us come to like stress a little t...