This week I share wise words from my teacher Jack Kornfield
In these confusing and heated political times, there has been an increase in hate speech and action. In response, we need to rededicate ourselves and our society to the underlying principles of compassion, ethics and kindness. Buddhism teaches us there is only one way to foster individual and society-wide well-being: through universal respect, compassion and tolerance. Buddhism rejects all forms of prejudice whether anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic, anti-gay, anti-immigrant, anti-black, anti-white, anti-other. Whether in word or deed, Buddhist teaching shows that any action based on intolerance or hate only brings suffering. In the Buddha's words: “Hatred never ceases by hatred, but by love alone is healed.” Turn away from the polarized political confusion. Quiet your mind, listen to your heart, follow the Dharma. Embody compassion for all. Stand up for your highest values. Speak out for tolerance. Turn toward that which is important. Now is the time to reflect, to care, to act wisely and to protect one another and all that matters. May you do so and bring your blessings to this earth. *Joanie Lane is a Meditation Teacher, Reiki Master/Teacher, Spiritual & Life Coach, and Healing Movement Qigong Leader. She lives in Kelseyville, Ca. at her meditation center "A Positive Light". For more information visit her website at apositivelight.com **These are original writings by Joanie. Any quotes by others that have been included have been identified.
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We are in this together. We all share this planet. We share it with humans, animals, vegetation, the air, water,...... and we are given the choice in each moment of whether we wish to be happy and content, or suffer in endless desire. Just as we practice loving-kindness meditation to teach our brain to connect with the positives in our lives, we need to practice the same in our relationships; our spouses, partners, co-workers and friends.
There are all types of vehicles; cars, trucks, buses etc., to get us from one place to another. Our approach to life is a vehicle as well. Our thoughts are the vehicle that navigate us through our relationships. If we don't keep our car tuned up and the gunk cleaned out of the engine we won't get very far. And if it does miraculously keep running it's a gamble on whether we get to our destination safely and without a hassle. In this sense it is important to keep the vehicle of our thoughts 'tuned up' to navigate us safely through our relationships. We can strengthen or destroy our relationships with our thoughts. We Are Our Thoughts, and the health of our relationships is a direct result of those thoughts. If we truly want to live happily we need to tune up our thoughts and clear out the gunk that can build up in our relationships. ~ Joanie Lane Below is an excerpt from Dr. Wayne W. Dyer's book " Ten Secrets For Success and Inner Peace": Think of the people you know who give love in response to negative energy that’s directed their way. There aren’t very many people who respond lovingly in that situation. The ones who do are able to because they have love to give away. They know that it’s impossible to give away what they don’t have, and they’ve gone that extra mile to acquire what it is that they want to both attract and giveaway. If love and joy are what you want to give and receive, then remember that you can’t give away what you don’t have, but you can change your life by changing what’s inside if you’re willing to go that extra mile. Changing What’s Inside: Consider the following concept of your inner reality. Your thoughts create your reality because your thoughts determine how you respond to situations in your daily life. Those responses are the energy you have inside of you to give away. If you feel anger, it’s because you have anger energy in your body. Like everything in our universe, your thoughts are a form of energy. Everything that you feel and experience is the result of what I call attractor energies. This means that you get back what you put out into the world. Thus, what you’ve attracted to you is what you have to give away to others. Low energy attracts low energy. Some of the low energy thoughts are anger, hate, shame, guilt, and fear. Not only do they weaken you, but they attract more of the same! By changing your inner thoughts to the higher frequencies of love, harmony, kindness, peace, and joy, you’ll attract more of the same, and you’ll have those higher energies to give away. These higher and faster frequencies that empower you will automatically nullify and dissipate the lower energies in the same way that the presence of light makes darkness disappear. Loving and Respecting Yourself: By becoming more loving toward yourself, you will attract more of the higher, faster energies and begin to change what’s inside you. In your thoughts, cultivate an inner voice and attitude that’s 100 percent of the time for you. Imagine an aspect of yourself that only supports and loves you. You might schedule a certain time of the day when that’s the only thought that you allow yourself to pay attention to! Gradually this attitude will extend to other people even if you can only do it for a minute or two. You’ll begin to receive this energy back and ultimately be able to send thoughts of love and joy to everyone and everything in your world. Notice when your thoughts drift into the lower energy of ridicule or hate or guilt, and change the thought at that very moment if at all possible. If you’re unable to change the thought, then at least love yourself for what you did do—that is, for noticing. Make a pact to remind yourself often of this secret of not being able to give away anything you don’t have. Then work on your personal program of self-love, self-respect, and self-empowerment, and create a huge inventory of what you wish to give away. If what you give is self-respect and self-love, the universe, via the attractor energy, will return the love and respect you’ve been radiating. It’s really so simple. You can’t give away what you don’t have. ~ Dr. Wayne W. Dyer *Joanie Lane is a Meditation Teacher, Reiki Master/Teacher, Spiritual & Life Coach, and Healing Movement Qigong Leader. She lives in Kelseyville, Ca. at her meditation center "A Positive Light". For more information visit her website at apositivelight.com **These are original writings by Joanie. Any quotes by others that have been included have been identified. "Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion."
~ Thich Nhat Hahn When we live in a state of INTENTION we not only live each moment fully, we are creating our relationship to the moments as well. What we do, how we see the world, how we interpret, how we observe are all about our intention toward our life and whether we want to live it happily or not. When we live in a state of intentional loving-kindness we choose to see the good, we choose to experience the positives. But we don't reject the negatives because without the negative there are no positives. There is always contrast. So, waking up each day- waking up each moment, allows all moments to be a possibility to see the world in a state that is open to receive the positives. We can intentionally see the smiles, the light, compassion, love in each soul we encounter throughout the day. In this way we create our own happiness. When we create our own happiness we are not rejecting the negative behavior of someone else or the situation of the moment. We observe and choose to respond to it in any number of positive ways. Even when those moments are difficult or challenging. Such as sending a silent blessing to someone and moving on to the next moment. Or experiencing something differently such as a flat tire as the universe giving you the opportunity to learn something; perhaps it's patience, or stopping to appreciate a rainbow or wildlife, maybe even to experience the self reliance of changing a tire! By me saying that we create our own reality I am not saying that everything will go the way you want it to. I am saying that we have the ability to respond to life in the most positive way we can in order to make the current circumstance be a happy one instead of something ugly. We can always see the beauty in every situation. It often hides from us, but it's there. Sometimes we have to look very deeply or have faith that it will reveal itself to us in its own time. And there is always the next moment to begin again if we fall into old behavior. We forgive ourselves and begin again, and again, and again,.... *Joanie Lane is a Meditation Teacher, Reiki Master/Teacher, Spiritual & Life Coach, and Healing Movement Qigong Leader. She lives in Kelseyville, Ca. at her meditation center "A Positive Light". For more information visit her website at apositivelight.com **These are original writings by Joanie. Any quotes by others that have been included have been identified. I will be brutally honest and say that I am really tired of all the swearing and name calling. When did this childish and negative behavior become socially acceptable? I've noticed this has become more the norm for television, politics and everyday conversation. Why are we allowing it? More importantly, why are we participating in it?
We have heard the sayings "words have power", "what we think we become". And I would like to add that words have energy. Energy that adds to how we feel emotionally and energy that affects how others feel. Name calling and swearing in general conversation is disrespectful to ourselves and also to those who hear it. When I was growing up my mom was a real stickler for using the English language properly. She was focused on correcting our improper use of language such as saying the word "ain't" or " I got" and phrases such as "me and Dave went to the store". We would hear "ain't isn't a word", "I have - not I got", and " It's Dave and I". And we NEVER swore. I think I heard my mother swear one time and I was an adult when she did. It was also pretty tame as she was too respectful of herself to use any language that wasn't 'lady-like'. And my father rarely swore other than the very occasional "damn it!" Which was NEVER preceded with God. I was told that people who swore regularly lacked self respect and that using foul language reflected badly on them causing people to think less of them. I have found over the years that there is quite a bit of truth to this. I was raised in a low income family with high school educated parents who worked hard and had a tremendous amount of self respect. There was right and wrong, and though we were taught tolerance for how others spoke, we were taught to respond to people who swore by not participating in swearing ourselves. I also found that when I heard people swear who normally didn't, they were justifiably angry and frustrated to the point of swearing thus getting their point across. Conversely those who swore all the time didn't really get heard because people often couldn't tell if they were upset or just talking. I am not perfect by any measure and I get angry just like anyone else. But I've notice that when I give in to anger and use foul language I am not solving anything. In fact I feel the adrenaline surge with each unfiltered word and my anger rises as I feed it with the negative energy of anger and frustration. BUT - when I pause, and take a breath and step back for a moment and CHOOSE to respond in a positive way (which is often no response at all) I feel more calm, positive and loving. The argument here is that "it just feels good to swear sometimes." And I agree that when I hit my thumb with a hammer a bit of swearing actually feels great! But if I direct name calling and anger toward someone or situation it seems to only add to the frustration and negative feelings and the anger grows. The situation gets worse not better. I suggest that this week we practice speaking kindly, even in the face of name calling and swearing. Let's choose to be mindful of our speech and not swear this week! We might turn the television off, walk away from a situation or intentionally respond with loving-kindness. If you do find yourself falling into the negative talk, simply acknowledge it, forgive yourself and start again. *Joanie Lane is a Meditation Teacher, Reiki Master/Teacher, Spiritual & Life Coach, and Healing Movement Qigong Leader. She lives in Kelseyville, Ca. at her meditation center "A Positive Light". For more information visit her website at apositivelight.com or her blog site at Joanielane.com **These are original writings by Joanie. Any quotes by others that have been included have been identified. |