Never-Ending Motion

Have you ever noticed how your spirit is never totally at rest? Even when you have no real preoccupations, there are always tiny little worries that keep you "on the go". As the sea water is continuously in movement, so are the human mind and heart. Your mind cannot survive without thinking and your heart is unable to experience complete peace. When the sea is calm, with no big waves, it is in a state of relaxation, but it still has a slow, never-ending motion. Your "self" is the same: it can experience a relative calm and serenity, but never total absence of worries. After all, such is the human nature. The still water is dead, in order to be vivifying it must flow. Similarly does our spirit need to revolve around thoughts and feelings in order to be "alive".

No Way Out

Think of a situation in your life that you don't like. You might have been told that "all" situations can be fixed and, in general, it is true.  The famous saying "Where there is a will there is a way" tells a great truth and encourages you to do your best to find the most suitable manner to face a challenge. But you cannot deny that - at times - you meet a circumstance that is totally out of your hands. You are compelled to stay put. You feel powerless. You might end up feeling angry and resentful. What to do? There is only one possible choice, here: "acceptance". You must accept what you cannot avoid and what is not up to you to fix. It is not easy, but it is the only sensible behavior in order to avoid serious consequences for your psychological wellbeing.

Why Here, Now?

Why has your life unfolded the way it has? Why things have gone in such a way that you are "here", "now"? You may be satisfied with your present situation or you may be not. In either case, if you reflect with attention and honesty, you will discover that - no matter where you are - the path you followed was the best one for your spiritual progress. But... just a moment! It helped you to advance only if you - all along - have been able to understand the reason for the challenges you have been facing and, eventually, learn the lessons they were intended to give you. Only in this case will you accept your "here" and "now" willingly and gratefully. Otherwise - in case you don't like where you are - you will regret, resent, resist and feel a victim of a malevolent fate. 

Feelings

Have you ever wondered why feelings can sometimes change radically? You start by experiencing a specific emotion towards someone, which later becomes something totally different. Jane says that, when she met her future husband, she did not like him at all, she actually couldn't stand him. On the other hand, Sara shares that, when she met her future husband, experienced the classic love at first sight and happily married him. Unfortunately, later her feelings changed drastically and got transformed into their opposite. Why? How can such transformations happen? Is it only due to worldly circumstances or is there a deeper, possibly karmic reason behind this kind of metamorphosis?

Being "Yourself"

Think about the people in your life. With how many can you be totally yourself? If your answer is "with everybody", you are probably mistaken. Why? Because - if you are equipped with a certain dose of intuition - you realize that you cannot behave in the same way with everybody, all the time. If you actually do so, you will end up making several others feel uneasy. You need in fact a degree of diplomacy (not hypocrisy) in order to take other people's feelings into consideration, beside yours. Therefore - if you care - at times you have to refrain from expressing a blunt opinion, a harsh comment, a sharp word. In case you refuse such compromise, and insist in always being your "whole" self, with your moods and self-righteousness, you will keep on making others often uncomfortable in your presence.

Sharing

Have you ever wondered about the importance of "sharing" in your life? With sharing I mean making another person part of one's life by telling them thoughts, feelings, experiences. You may have wanted to have a friend to whom to confide your most intimate secrets because you needed someone to stand by you, someone supportive, available and accepting. If you were lucky, you found a person like this and  can enjoy a beautiful, fulfilling friendship. If you haven't been so lucky, you perceive yourself as a loner, no matter how many people interact with you. Talking and being listened to, both ways (i.e. also being talked to and be able to really listen), is a blessing that is not so easily experienced in one's life.

Is Your Knife Blunt?

I have often wondered how come that many (most, I dare say) people are not interested in Positive Thinking. If they hear about it, they agree that it is "a good thing" and... that's it. They immediately forget about it, they don't care to understand what it actually is, they are not willing to explore its principles. On a theoretical basis, they "know" that there is a better way to live their lives, yet they don't feel like investigating such possibility. These people remind me of the little story about the butcher who could not find the time to sharpen his blunt knife because he was too busy cutting (with great difficulty) the meat he was selling. Should we be sorry for such unawareness? I don't really know. It seems that many prefer to choose the hard path of anger, resentment, blame etc. because they believe it makes them look stronger, tougher, "in charge" or "in control". It is their choice, to which they have the right, therefore they deserve to be acknowledged (and, just a bit, sympathized with).

Existential Questions

Here are some questions which you might be interested in asking yourself and, possibly, find an answer to.

- Is there a benevolent Being who orchestrates and directs the  Universe?

- Does total free will exist?

- Or are human beings free in their choices only between well-defined boundaries?

- Are human beings "free" at all?

- Could the world as we know it be a precisely planned itinerary towards a mysterious (or, maybe, even non-existent) goal?

- Could our reality be a dream which is dreamed in another reality?

- Could the "Matrix" really exist?

- Could the virtual worlds created by our computers reflect the actual essence of our own world?

Why Live If We Must Die?

Why live if we must eventually die? This question holds the most excruciating doubt that has bothered mankind since time began. Why endeavor so hard, worry and struggle to create a wealthy life if we are eventually bound to leave everything behind? Why make plans for an uncertain "future" that may never become "present"? And even if we succeed in carrying out our plans, in realizing our wishes, what for? We shall have to abandon it all, sooner or later. Our nature makes us wonder about these very difficult questions and the quality of our spiritual life depends on the kind of answers we give ourselves. You should not say: I am a pessimist, that is why I see all black, or: I am an optimist, that is why I see all white. Actually, it is exactly the contrary. Your positive or negative attitude directly derives from the nature of your thoughts, your wondering, the answers you give - or don't give - yourself.

Fame

The word fame is defined as the condition of being known and talked about by many people, especially on account of notable achievements. I often wonder about a possible difference between people who earned such fame in the past and the (rich and) famous of today. Some ancient "heroes"  are still kept alive in story-telling, traditional festivals, folk songs - after thousands of years. How many of the people we hear and read about on a daily basis, who are acclaimed and idolized, can boast about their notable achievements, worthy of eternal remembrance? Actually, will they be remembered, shall we say...a couple of decades from now? Some may end up in history books but do most of the so-called artists, politicians etc. who have acquired a "name" really deserve to be remembered? Have they given any positive contribution to the progress of our planet? 

The Decision Is Yours

Saying that it is necessary for you to become aware of the absurdity of your fears, implies that you are the creator of your own misfortune.Through your thoughts, beliefs, your negatively oriented programming, you attract the circumstances that will give life to what you expect. If your mind always pictures failure, if your attitude is the one of a victim or a loser, how can you expect to be the winner of a battle that you see as already lost before even facing it? On the contrary, the moment you decide to take the reins of your life in your hands, when you decide to open your eyes and see, all nature's powers, both spiritual and physical, start working in order to carry out the "instructions" given by your positive, optimistic re-programming.

Hopeless Illusion

In an episode of a 1985 science fiction TV series, a man becomes insane because he feels overwhelmed by technology: telephone, fax, VCR, walkman etc... He is longing for silence and for some kind of privacy. Therefore he invents a device able to short-circuit all these machines. His firm belief is that “the majority’s rule” compels people (in 1985) to become “dependent” on these machines, so something must be done about it. I mercifully avoid mentioning the tragic ending, sigh! Anyway, he goes on believing that he has sown a seed, and ends up living happily in his “nice little cell” (his own words) and in his “hopeless illusion”(my words)!! If he only knew....

You Know You Don't Know You Know...

Do you consider yourself a generous, caring person - not so much from a material, but rather from a psychological or spiritual point of view? Do you care enough about other people’s feelings? Do you endeavor to hurt neither through words nor deeds those you are dealing with? When you believe you are in love, are you sure you don’t consider “love” what is more a desire to control, a feeling of jealousy, a wish to possess?  Someone defined intuition as “the stuff you know you don’t know you know” (Wow!!) Are you brave and honest enough to examine yourself and discover what YOUR intuition may suggest?

Necklace For Sale

Mary gave a lovely ethnic necklace as a gift to her friend's mother who was visiting from out of town. After some time the friend had a garage sale. Mary saw the necklace among the objects in display. She felt sad seeing how her gift had not been appreciated and realizing that both mother and friend preferred to dispose of it. At this point Mary had these choices:

1. Tell the friend how she felt about seeing the necklace for sale (manifesting upset directly).

2. Buy the necklace and THEN remind the friend about the gift to her mother (moral "slap").

3. Not say anything (feeling "offended but heroic").

What would YOU have done? Is it better to always express one's feelings (in a way or another) or is it more "saintly" to refrain and... suffer in silence? 
P.S. Mary chose to remain silent because she is type of person who could not say or do anything that she believes might hurt another's feelings (too sensitive!). But the memory still bugs her and she has never considered the 'friend' as such any more.

The Puppeteer Or Us?

More often than not, when I get ready to put my earphones on, I find that the cord is all tangled up. Sometimes it’s really bad (a total mess it takes me several minutes to loosen up), other times it’s not as bad. This never fails to make me think. As I “know” for sure that I am always careful with the cord when I put the earphones away, where does this entanglement come from? A comparison with life is inevitable. We are “careful” to set our cards right, but we lose the game. We are sure we have behaved well, said the right things, done the right deeds, but the result is the opposite of what we expected. So, what’s going on here? Is there a puppeteer behind the scenes who has fun messing everything up? Or is it us who ONLY believe we are doing everything right, while WE are the ones who, unknowingly, do the “messing up”?