by Melinda M. Sorensson
I don't look in the mirror very much, not for any reason other than I am always in hurry. I can comb my hair, put some lip gloss on and kind of tidy my eyebrows with my eyes closed.
I really do not pay that much attention to how I look, unless I have to go to a meeting. Lately, I have changed this. I decided to wear nice clothes even when I have nowhere to go other than the bank. This is new for me and I kind of like it. In truth, I have very few clothes.
Thanks to my son who tells me not to go out in the clothes I have on. I listen to him.
I manage a club called Manifesting Magical Moments both on Facebook and at eCademy.
The basic assumption that I have been making ever since I started this club is that everyone's self esteem is high enough that you all feel worthy of manifesting your desires. I have come to realize that even with the brightest and most successful people I have met, there is a tinge of "un-self worthiness". This is not so obvious.
We try to bury this as the "secret" side of us. Even I realized this in myself, looking back at my life. This inner feeling of "unworthiness" can be buried so deep, it manifests as guilt and shame. Guilt for many reasons, shame for many reasons. Some for things we did, some for things we did not do. We have to let go of all of this junk from our consciousness, in order to manifest our desires.
I know only a few people who have not exhibited these feelings. They are all happy with everything in their lives. One has been married forever and the other just found her true love, a prince through and through.
So how do we go about re-asserting our inner self worth? It is not easy to undo years of conditioning so we do the least invasive of all techniques. Of course, I will always recommend that you meditate but if your heart is not in it, then don't do it.
One of the absolute musts in my coaching sessions is the mirror technique. I have my clients look into their eyes in the mirror and tell themselves "I love you, [their name]. In the beginning a dozen times a day and as the days progress, for longer periods and for a greater number of times, until they actually FEEL that they accept everything about themselves. I mean everything. The good, the not so good, the serious and the funny. If they told me they did not do the exercise for the day we were supposed to have a session, I cancelled the session. It is as simple as that. It would have been a waste of their time and mine.
I know what it is to be judgmental. I was my own harshest critic
I admit to having been harsher on myself than on anyone else. My coaching instructor and my friends in the coaching classes pointed this out to me. I was not aware of it, until they actually repeated my words to me and I realized, oh, it is true! As long as we do not feel deserving of what it is that we want, it cannot materialize.
Here is a short story to illustrate my point.
Once a lady met a prince. She did not know he was a prince since he was dressed in rags when they met. They married. She found out he was a prince when he took her to his castle after they were married! The lady could not believe she is now a princess. While she believed in fairy tales, she did not think it could happen to her! Why her? She was so ordinary was what she thought.
Within a few years, the prince fell in love with another and the lady had to leave the prince's castle and had to deal with the harsh realities of life after leaving the castle. After many years the lady realized that it was all her thinking, and that deep within she did not believe she deserved to marry a prince, for after all, she was just an ordinary person.
She began to study herself and began to believe that she was special after all! She began to believe in herself and to feel worthy of everything that will make her happy. And then a miracle. The princess woke up! It was just a dream. The prince was by her side after all and she was still the princess she was meant to be.
I could have changed the story to reflect a man who finds oil in his backyard, or someone who invents something that can be used by anyone, or someone who just has a business that seems to soar. How long will you stay there?
Are you still in the dream or have you just been awakened? You are absolutely worth everything that you desire, and more. After all, YOU are the source of it all.
Go buy a pocket mirror and do the exercise of looking into your eyes and saying "I love you [say your name]. You deserve to be happy and fulfilled." How long and how often? Until you actually FEEL it. Minimum of 40 days for it to be ingrained within you.
A caveat: the feeling of unworthiness comes back when you are not aware of it, so carry the mirror with you at all times.
I end with a card given to me by a friend when I was twelve years old "May your life be filled with much happiness and only enough sorrow to let you know the difference."
© 2009 by Melinda M. Sorensson
Melinda M. Sorensson, Ph.D.
Author, My Journey to An Integrated Life
Self Growth Expert
Ezine Articles Expert Author
I highly recommend the following to everyone:
Advanced Cosmic Ordering
The Quantum Cookbook
The Meditation Program
www.integratedlifecoach.com
Melinda M. Sorensson is the author My Journey to an Integrated Life ISBN-10:0979650704 Available at Amazon.com
Article Source: Ezinearticles.com
Melinda is also an expert member of Selfgrowth.com
SelfGrowth.com- SelfGrowth.com is the most complete guide to information about Self Improvement, Personal Growth and Self Help on the Internet. It is designed to be an organized directory, with articles and references to thousands of other Web Sites on the World Wide
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Friday, June 19, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
The Ebb and Flow of Feelings
by Melinda M. Sorensson
To begin to touch heaven, we must first relate to the earth.
No Master has ever denied the existence of the phenomenal world. To do so would be foolish. The earth is where we human beings are. It is here where we interact with each other, each interaction caused by our karmic connections from past lives.
We have to admit that this phenomenal world is fascinating. So many colors, so many textures, so much to explore,including the rise and flow of feelings for another person, which is the most vivid and most fascinating of it all:romantic love. So much so that history abounds with it and we love to read those stories of romantic love.
We get distracted and yet when we are able to relate to the earth as it is, we would have learned what Jesus Christ meant when he said "Be in the world but not of it." You are so much more than this phenomenal world and even the bible tells us "Don't you know that you are gods?"
There are no coincidences here; even meeting the person at the coffee shop where you get your coffee from in the morning is not a chance meeting. Each meeting is a sacred contract.
There are rules that all religions tell us. Do not cheat, lie, steal, covet. Do not harm another. These rules are not arbitrary. The very simple reason, the truth, is that every transgression against another is a karmic debt and each debt that we incur is repaid in full, if not in one lifetime then in the next. To some it may take many lifetimes. The energetic cost to our soul in terms of evolution is much too much. It is really inner wisdom that propels us to do what is true to ourselves. We are all pure, perfect, unblemished.
The purpose of each interaction is to resolve these karmic issues. When we do not recognize this, we remain bound by ignorance and the consequence of ignorance is suffering. As humans we all have to turn the karmic wheel.
There is a way out of the karmic wheel. This is what the masters in every religion learn when they begin the path of meditation/contemplation/self inquiry. After many years of discipline they can come back and begin to teach, but because they are free their actions are no longer karmically bound. When they go, it will be as if a bird has flown and only the wind carries the memory of the bird having been there. No traces left.
As human beings we feel love. We categorize this love according to our relationship with the other person but the feelings that we have are only a manifestation of the pure unconditional love that we have welling inside of us. Love is our gateway to freedom and as the Bible says, "For God so loved us all that He gave his only begotten son for our sins."
The sacrifice of the Son of God is only a symbol, no more. It is to say that God loves us all equally, including Jesus Christ, but Jesus Christ has already known that this is his role. And although the Bible tells us that He did show signs of human feelings as He was undergoing the persecution and crucifixion, He knew it beforehand and therefore played His role. Few people can understand Him as God so we have to relate to Him as Son of God. A man.
When we feel romantic love towards another we know that that kind of love is sustainable only at the conscious level. A romantic relationship is sustained because the two people that are involved choose to stay. Because it is at the conscious level, we are in fact honoring our contracts, that which is required for us to repay our karmic debts, whether we like it or not.
We know that this is so because no matter how much we love your husband/wife/partner, there are times that we do not feel very loving towards them. They did or did not do something and that action or inaction hurt the human side of us or they have habits that we would rather they do not have. We expected something, and in our minds, they disappointed us.
Real love is unconditional. As it means, without conditions attached to it. It is only our limited minds, a part of our ego, that want us to own/be with/be part of/control another person.
The love that Jesus Christ represents, what the Masters call Cosmic/Universal love, is like the sun shining on everyone. It does not distinguish between sinner or saint, pauper or prince, someone who is as innocent as a child, or a hardened criminal. The sun shines on both the sinner and saint. It has no expectation of return and therefore only benefits the giver. It is all encompassing and unassuming, like a well which when opened becomes an oasis. Eventually, this oasis becomes an ocean.
When we are able to relate to this and see that there is only ebb and flow of feelings brought by our minds, then we can relate to the statement "To be in the world but not of it." To be in the world, enjoy it, see it as it is, and know that it is all a fascinating play. It is here where we not only participate because we chose to,but also that which we require as a classroom to learn our lesssons.
Then we go back and see that the suffering associated with that limited romantic love was necessary for our growth. It was a part of our path, a gateway, which when entered into shows us how really narrow our former perspective was. There are no distinctions when we love. We love, that is all.
And we see the humor as we remember our seven year old son asking us which one we love more, him or the dog?
© 2009 by Melinda M. Sorensson
Melinda M. Sorensson, Ph.D.
Author, My Journey to An Integrated Life
Self Growth Expert
Ezine Articles Expert Author
I highly recommend the following to everyone:
Advanced Cosmic Ordering
The Quantum Cookbook
The Meditation Program
www.integratedlifecoach.com
Melinda M. Sorensson is the author My Journey to an Integrated Life ISBN-10:0979650704 Available at Amazon.com
Article Source: Ezinearticles.com
Melinda is also an expert member of Selfgrowth.com
SelfGrowth.com- SelfGrowth.com is the most complete guide to information about Self Improvement, Personal Growth and Self Help on the Internet. It is designed to be an organized directory, with articles and references to thousands of other Web Sites on the World Wide
To begin to touch heaven, we must first relate to the earth.
No Master has ever denied the existence of the phenomenal world. To do so would be foolish. The earth is where we human beings are. It is here where we interact with each other, each interaction caused by our karmic connections from past lives.
We have to admit that this phenomenal world is fascinating. So many colors, so many textures, so much to explore,including the rise and flow of feelings for another person, which is the most vivid and most fascinating of it all:romantic love. So much so that history abounds with it and we love to read those stories of romantic love.
We get distracted and yet when we are able to relate to the earth as it is, we would have learned what Jesus Christ meant when he said "Be in the world but not of it." You are so much more than this phenomenal world and even the bible tells us "Don't you know that you are gods?"
There are no coincidences here; even meeting the person at the coffee shop where you get your coffee from in the morning is not a chance meeting. Each meeting is a sacred contract.
There are rules that all religions tell us. Do not cheat, lie, steal, covet. Do not harm another. These rules are not arbitrary. The very simple reason, the truth, is that every transgression against another is a karmic debt and each debt that we incur is repaid in full, if not in one lifetime then in the next. To some it may take many lifetimes. The energetic cost to our soul in terms of evolution is much too much. It is really inner wisdom that propels us to do what is true to ourselves. We are all pure, perfect, unblemished.
The purpose of each interaction is to resolve these karmic issues. When we do not recognize this, we remain bound by ignorance and the consequence of ignorance is suffering. As humans we all have to turn the karmic wheel.
There is a way out of the karmic wheel. This is what the masters in every religion learn when they begin the path of meditation/contemplation/self inquiry. After many years of discipline they can come back and begin to teach, but because they are free their actions are no longer karmically bound. When they go, it will be as if a bird has flown and only the wind carries the memory of the bird having been there. No traces left.
As human beings we feel love. We categorize this love according to our relationship with the other person but the feelings that we have are only a manifestation of the pure unconditional love that we have welling inside of us. Love is our gateway to freedom and as the Bible says, "For God so loved us all that He gave his only begotten son for our sins."
The sacrifice of the Son of God is only a symbol, no more. It is to say that God loves us all equally, including Jesus Christ, but Jesus Christ has already known that this is his role. And although the Bible tells us that He did show signs of human feelings as He was undergoing the persecution and crucifixion, He knew it beforehand and therefore played His role. Few people can understand Him as God so we have to relate to Him as Son of God. A man.
When we feel romantic love towards another we know that that kind of love is sustainable only at the conscious level. A romantic relationship is sustained because the two people that are involved choose to stay. Because it is at the conscious level, we are in fact honoring our contracts, that which is required for us to repay our karmic debts, whether we like it or not.
We know that this is so because no matter how much we love your husband/wife/partner, there are times that we do not feel very loving towards them. They did or did not do something and that action or inaction hurt the human side of us or they have habits that we would rather they do not have. We expected something, and in our minds, they disappointed us.
Real love is unconditional. As it means, without conditions attached to it. It is only our limited minds, a part of our ego, that want us to own/be with/be part of/control another person.
The love that Jesus Christ represents, what the Masters call Cosmic/Universal love, is like the sun shining on everyone. It does not distinguish between sinner or saint, pauper or prince, someone who is as innocent as a child, or a hardened criminal. The sun shines on both the sinner and saint. It has no expectation of return and therefore only benefits the giver. It is all encompassing and unassuming, like a well which when opened becomes an oasis. Eventually, this oasis becomes an ocean.
When we are able to relate to this and see that there is only ebb and flow of feelings brought by our minds, then we can relate to the statement "To be in the world but not of it." To be in the world, enjoy it, see it as it is, and know that it is all a fascinating play. It is here where we not only participate because we chose to,but also that which we require as a classroom to learn our lesssons.
Then we go back and see that the suffering associated with that limited romantic love was necessary for our growth. It was a part of our path, a gateway, which when entered into shows us how really narrow our former perspective was. There are no distinctions when we love. We love, that is all.
And we see the humor as we remember our seven year old son asking us which one we love more, him or the dog?
© 2009 by Melinda M. Sorensson
Melinda M. Sorensson, Ph.D.
Author, My Journey to An Integrated Life
Self Growth Expert
Ezine Articles Expert Author
I highly recommend the following to everyone:
Advanced Cosmic Ordering
The Quantum Cookbook
The Meditation Program
www.integratedlifecoach.com
Melinda M. Sorensson is the author My Journey to an Integrated Life ISBN-10:0979650704 Available at Amazon.com
Article Source: Ezinearticles.com
Melinda is also an expert member of Selfgrowth.com
SelfGrowth.com- SelfGrowth.com is the most complete guide to information about Self Improvement, Personal Growth and Self Help on the Internet. It is designed to be an organized directory, with articles and references to thousands of other Web Sites on the World Wide
Notes of the Heart
by Melinda M. Sorensson
When I was really young I remember a movie called Love Letters. It was a film about two people who broke up and each wanted to get back the letters each wrote to each other. The question who owns the letters?
I don't know how to write letters anymore. Sometimes I have a hard time reading my own handwriting! The email is so much easier and faster, and besides, the email does not show how long it took us to write it.
All letters come from the heart. One has to appreciate the feel of the pen and the linen paper. There is a ritual that comes with it. You have to take out your pens, decide which one to use, take out the box of linen, decide which one to use, in contrast to just sitting in front of the computer and typing away.
I used to exchange letters with someone a long time ago. They were not love letters per se, just a correspondence between long term friends.
He studied calligraphy and I had kept his letters for a long time but decided there were too many personal things in his letters that I would rather not share with anyone, so I destroyed all of them when I moved.
We had lost touch and he simply did not want to communicate with me by email so if I want to hear whether he is in Brazil at the Carnival or in Siguatepec or somewhere in the Carribean, I have to write him by hand.
He demands it and expects it. In fact, he told me so in the last email "What happened to us? We used to write each other." He meant by hand. Oh, but I have nothing exciting to write about my life! So how can I write? What would I write about?
The last time I wrote a personal letter it took me almost four hours and several discarded linen sheets and now I remember why as I open my journal and think about it.
A letter, written by hand is so immediate, so demanding of you to confront your thoughts and feelings and in a way so scary. Every letter carries with it a part of you. An email can be erased by simply hitting the delete button. A handwritten note, a letter is semi permanent. It can not be undone. It is a record of someone's thoughts and feelings at the time it was written.
And this is exactly why my friend who travels a lot, demands it. He is after all who he is. And he has a right to do so, because no matter how busy he is and no matter where he goes, he always writes back, by hand.
© 2009 by Melinda M. Sorensson
www.integratedlifecoach.com
Melinda M. Sorensson is the author My Journey to an Integrated Life ISBN-10:0979650704 Available at Amazon.com
Article Source: Ezinearticles.com
Melinda is also an expert member of Selfgrowth.com
SelfGrowth.com- SelfGrowth.com is the most complete guide to information about Self Improvement, Personal Growth and Self Help on the Internet. It is designed to be an organized directory, with articles and references to thousands of other Web Sites on the World Wide
When I was really young I remember a movie called Love Letters. It was a film about two people who broke up and each wanted to get back the letters each wrote to each other. The question who owns the letters?
I don't know how to write letters anymore. Sometimes I have a hard time reading my own handwriting! The email is so much easier and faster, and besides, the email does not show how long it took us to write it.
All letters come from the heart. One has to appreciate the feel of the pen and the linen paper. There is a ritual that comes with it. You have to take out your pens, decide which one to use, take out the box of linen, decide which one to use, in contrast to just sitting in front of the computer and typing away.
I used to exchange letters with someone a long time ago. They were not love letters per se, just a correspondence between long term friends.
He studied calligraphy and I had kept his letters for a long time but decided there were too many personal things in his letters that I would rather not share with anyone, so I destroyed all of them when I moved.
We had lost touch and he simply did not want to communicate with me by email so if I want to hear whether he is in Brazil at the Carnival or in Siguatepec or somewhere in the Carribean, I have to write him by hand.
He demands it and expects it. In fact, he told me so in the last email "What happened to us? We used to write each other." He meant by hand. Oh, but I have nothing exciting to write about my life! So how can I write? What would I write about?
The last time I wrote a personal letter it took me almost four hours and several discarded linen sheets and now I remember why as I open my journal and think about it.
A letter, written by hand is so immediate, so demanding of you to confront your thoughts and feelings and in a way so scary. Every letter carries with it a part of you. An email can be erased by simply hitting the delete button. A handwritten note, a letter is semi permanent. It can not be undone. It is a record of someone's thoughts and feelings at the time it was written.
And this is exactly why my friend who travels a lot, demands it. He is after all who he is. And he has a right to do so, because no matter how busy he is and no matter where he goes, he always writes back, by hand.
© 2009 by Melinda M. Sorensson
www.integratedlifecoach.com
Melinda M. Sorensson is the author My Journey to an Integrated Life ISBN-10:0979650704 Available at Amazon.com
Article Source: Ezinearticles.com
Melinda is also an expert member of Selfgrowth.com
SelfGrowth.com- SelfGrowth.com is the most complete guide to information about Self Improvement, Personal Growth and Self Help on the Internet. It is designed to be an organized directory, with articles and references to thousands of other Web Sites on the World Wide
Monday, June 8, 2009
To Live in the Now, Really
by Melinda M. Sorensson
The first book I ever read about spiritual journey was a book by Ram Dass (formerly Richard Alpert of Harvard University). It was called Journey of Awakening. I found the book funny but most important it read like a manual in spiritual journey. It outlined everything that would be experienced, like a map when you go on the road for a journey. It was perfect at that time. Had I read any other book it would have taken me many more years before continuing. It was perfect for my path.
Many years later, listening to his tapes and reading some more about him I found his self deprecating humor as touching and also true. What he related was his experiences and he has such an endearing laugh. I remember him talking about burning everything that identified him as Richard Alpert, boy prodigy from Stanford, hot shot professor at Harvard who worked with Timothy Leary. He did all of it as an exercise in detachment. There is no longer a Richard Alpert, there is now Ram Dass and that Ram Das renews himself every moment. I know, it is kind of confusing.
We are all tied to the past. I am tied to the past. Past achievements, past lives, past relationships. I think I am this more than any other. Tied to the past. I keep trying to run away, to search for an imaginary freedom but I can not because my present consciousness is so wrapped up in the past.
True, every once in a while I am able to go to to the gaps between thoughts, after periods of long and intense meditations where my body constantly reminds me that I am sitting too long and that my that my back hurts. The back pain I attribute to falling from the second floor of our home when I was little. I wanted to touch the rain from the eves. I can even remember a moment of consciousness in that fall as "Oh my God,I am flying really flying." I was in a whole body cast for the three months of summer vacation and I tell myself that my back hurst because now I am old. It is one of the stories I tell myself.
Ah but that is my mind resisting the idea of sitting too long and not moving. Where there is resistance in the body, there is resistance in the mind. Whether we accept it or not, it is truth. I could perform other kinds of meditations, however I am naturally active and move a lot and so discipline requires that I sit.
I am still trapped in the past. I am still trapped in past memories of yesterday even, but more so of previous lives. It is a test of will and of discipline. I am still credential oriented. The freedom I so long to have is right in front of me, to live in the here and now and yet I am unable to see.
One of my dear friends told me she will sell everything she has and live in van for as long as she can, to live in the moment. To live in the NOW. A part of me envies her.
Sometimes I dream of walking into the sunset and not being heard from again, but probably not so soon. I want to see the future children of my son and spend time with them and see how much they take after me. Oh such vanity. For now I will deal with the hand that is handed me. Oh but I do not know how to play cards,on the other hand I can play a mean game of chess.
Perhaps my friend will come and visit us someday when she gets tired of the road. And we can talk about her travel and I can relive her adventures through her eyes and at that moment I would be enjoying a past jouney with her, in the present moment.
© 2009 by Melinda M. Sorensson
www.integratedlifecoach.com
Melinda M. Sorensson is the author My Journey to an Integrated Life ISBN-10:0979650704 Available at Amazon.com
Article Source: Ezinearticles.com
Melinda is also an expert member of Selfgrowth.com
SelfGrowth.com- SelfGrowth.com is the most complete guide to information about Self Improvement, Personal Growth and Self Help on the Internet. It is designed to be an organized directory, with articles and references to thousands of other Web Sites on the World Wide
The first book I ever read about spiritual journey was a book by Ram Dass (formerly Richard Alpert of Harvard University). It was called Journey of Awakening. I found the book funny but most important it read like a manual in spiritual journey. It outlined everything that would be experienced, like a map when you go on the road for a journey. It was perfect at that time. Had I read any other book it would have taken me many more years before continuing. It was perfect for my path.
Many years later, listening to his tapes and reading some more about him I found his self deprecating humor as touching and also true. What he related was his experiences and he has such an endearing laugh. I remember him talking about burning everything that identified him as Richard Alpert, boy prodigy from Stanford, hot shot professor at Harvard who worked with Timothy Leary. He did all of it as an exercise in detachment. There is no longer a Richard Alpert, there is now Ram Dass and that Ram Das renews himself every moment. I know, it is kind of confusing.
We are all tied to the past. I am tied to the past. Past achievements, past lives, past relationships. I think I am this more than any other. Tied to the past. I keep trying to run away, to search for an imaginary freedom but I can not because my present consciousness is so wrapped up in the past.
True, every once in a while I am able to go to to the gaps between thoughts, after periods of long and intense meditations where my body constantly reminds me that I am sitting too long and that my that my back hurts. The back pain I attribute to falling from the second floor of our home when I was little. I wanted to touch the rain from the eves. I can even remember a moment of consciousness in that fall as "Oh my God,I am flying really flying." I was in a whole body cast for the three months of summer vacation and I tell myself that my back hurst because now I am old. It is one of the stories I tell myself.
Ah but that is my mind resisting the idea of sitting too long and not moving. Where there is resistance in the body, there is resistance in the mind. Whether we accept it or not, it is truth. I could perform other kinds of meditations, however I am naturally active and move a lot and so discipline requires that I sit.
I am still trapped in the past. I am still trapped in past memories of yesterday even, but more so of previous lives. It is a test of will and of discipline. I am still credential oriented. The freedom I so long to have is right in front of me, to live in the here and now and yet I am unable to see.
One of my dear friends told me she will sell everything she has and live in van for as long as she can, to live in the moment. To live in the NOW. A part of me envies her.
Sometimes I dream of walking into the sunset and not being heard from again, but probably not so soon. I want to see the future children of my son and spend time with them and see how much they take after me. Oh such vanity. For now I will deal with the hand that is handed me. Oh but I do not know how to play cards,on the other hand I can play a mean game of chess.
Perhaps my friend will come and visit us someday when she gets tired of the road. And we can talk about her travel and I can relive her adventures through her eyes and at that moment I would be enjoying a past jouney with her, in the present moment.
© 2009 by Melinda M. Sorensson
www.integratedlifecoach.com
Melinda M. Sorensson is the author My Journey to an Integrated Life ISBN-10:0979650704 Available at Amazon.com
Article Source: Ezinearticles.com
Melinda is also an expert member of Selfgrowth.com
SelfGrowth.com- SelfGrowth.com is the most complete guide to information about Self Improvement, Personal Growth and Self Help on the Internet. It is designed to be an organized directory, with articles and references to thousands of other Web Sites on the World Wide
When Every Event Becomes a Gateway
by Melinda M. Sorensson
As I write this I am laughing at myself. Several years ago I would have considered what I did today absolutely insane. Perhaps it still is. Who knows? It is hilarious at any angle.
Yesterday I told one of my contacts on Facebook that I did not like his picture and would he please change it? How rude! The fact is that he is a very handsome man and I loved the picture of him and his wife together but I did not like the picture where he was alone. It reminded me of someone. What happened was a series of emails where he refused to change his picture and I ended up telling him and his wife my life story. Aha!
In remembering an old friend and trying to erase his memory by asking someone to change their picture on my contacts list, I found two friends, him and his wife. What was remarkable was that this man understood me! And he reminded me what of what I have been trying to teach everyone. Forget the past, live in the NOW. The present is much more exciting, full of promises, full of hope.
He told me that he too did past life regressions and only uses them in the context of the present moment.
We never know when and where we will get our next lesson.
© 2009 by Melinda M. Sorensson
www.integratedlifecoach.com
Melinda M. Sorensson is the author My Journey to an Integrated Life ISBN-10:0979650704 Available at Amazon.com
Article Source: Ezinearticles.com
Melinda is also an expert member of Selfgrowth.com
SelfGrowth.com- SelfGrowth.com is the most complete guide to information about Self Improvement, Personal Growth and Self Help on the Internet. It is designed to be an organized directory, with articles and references to thousands of other Web Sites on the World Wide
As I write this I am laughing at myself. Several years ago I would have considered what I did today absolutely insane. Perhaps it still is. Who knows? It is hilarious at any angle.
Yesterday I told one of my contacts on Facebook that I did not like his picture and would he please change it? How rude! The fact is that he is a very handsome man and I loved the picture of him and his wife together but I did not like the picture where he was alone. It reminded me of someone. What happened was a series of emails where he refused to change his picture and I ended up telling him and his wife my life story. Aha!
In remembering an old friend and trying to erase his memory by asking someone to change their picture on my contacts list, I found two friends, him and his wife. What was remarkable was that this man understood me! And he reminded me what of what I have been trying to teach everyone. Forget the past, live in the NOW. The present is much more exciting, full of promises, full of hope.
He told me that he too did past life regressions and only uses them in the context of the present moment.
We never know when and where we will get our next lesson.
© 2009 by Melinda M. Sorensson
www.integratedlifecoach.com
Melinda M. Sorensson is the author My Journey to an Integrated Life ISBN-10:0979650704 Available at Amazon.com
Article Source: Ezinearticles.com
Melinda is also an expert member of Selfgrowth.com
SelfGrowth.com- SelfGrowth.com is the most complete guide to information about Self Improvement, Personal Growth and Self Help on the Internet. It is designed to be an organized directory, with articles and references to thousands of other Web Sites on the World Wide
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Remembering Who We Are
by Melinda M. Sorensson
There is a Zen story I remember reading a long time ago so I cannot remember who to ascribe it to. I cannot remember if it was a tortoise or a frog, but in our story we will make it a tortoise.
Once a scorpion asked a tortoise to transport him across a body of water. The tortoise said: "But you are a scorpion, and you will bite me." The scorpion said "Why will I do that? If I bite you we will both die!"
So the tortoise carried the scorpion across and while in the middle of the body of water, the scorpion did bite the tortoise and as they both began to sink, the tortoise asked the scorpion "Why did you do it? Now we will both die!"
The scorpion said. "It is my nature."
A female eagle chooses one mate in one lifetime but after laying the two eggs, only one of which will survive, it spends it's time alone. It is a solitary bird. The mythical bird phoenix rises, does what it has to do burns itself to ashes and then rises again. When the lion roars, the whole jungle trembles. It is their nature.
I observe my dogs all the time. They are my constant companion while my teenage son goes and spends time with his friends. When they stretch, the whole body stretches. When I do the dog pose in yoga, it requires absolute precision and conscious thought, yet it is very natural for the dogs.
The Tao and Zen disciplines emphasize naturalness, and yet this naturalness does not come easy for us human beings. There is a world of difference between the way a Zen master serves tea properly and someone who has simply studied the art serving tea. The movements are the same. The difference is in their state of minds.
The only way to come to the real sense of naturalness as a human being is by the narrow path of discipline. There is no other way. To skip discipline will be to miss the whole point. It is true that some of us do not need to go through as much training as the others because they have already done the work in previous lifetimes and in this lifetime there is only a quickening. Most of us have to come from a space of ignorance that is only questioned in this lifetime and therefore much work has to be done.
When we have gone through the narrow path of discipline then we can remember who we really are. And then every movement, every thought, every action is that of a human being. A spirit clothed in a body that is shed, lifetime after lifetime, fulfilling karmic necessities, sacred contracts.
We are each one of us eternal beings experiencing life on earth. Whole perfect, complete, luminous, nothing lacking. Separate yet parts of a whole. It is in this realzation where all the paths to freedom converge. And then we can be natural. And perhaps we can even enjoy the cup of tea served by the Zen master in the same frame of mind.
© 2009 by Melinda M. Sorensson
www.integratedlifecoach.com
Melinda M. Sorensson is the author My Journey to an Integrated Life ISBN-10:0979650704 Available at Amazon.com
Article Source: Ezinearticles.com
Melinda is also an expert member of Selfgrowth.com
SelfGrowth.com- SelfGrowth.com is the most complete guide to information about Self Improvement, Personal Growth and Self Help on the Internet. It is designed to be an organized directory, with articles and references to thousands of other Web Sites on the World Wide
There is a Zen story I remember reading a long time ago so I cannot remember who to ascribe it to. I cannot remember if it was a tortoise or a frog, but in our story we will make it a tortoise.
Once a scorpion asked a tortoise to transport him across a body of water. The tortoise said: "But you are a scorpion, and you will bite me." The scorpion said "Why will I do that? If I bite you we will both die!"
So the tortoise carried the scorpion across and while in the middle of the body of water, the scorpion did bite the tortoise and as they both began to sink, the tortoise asked the scorpion "Why did you do it? Now we will both die!"
The scorpion said. "It is my nature."
A female eagle chooses one mate in one lifetime but after laying the two eggs, only one of which will survive, it spends it's time alone. It is a solitary bird. The mythical bird phoenix rises, does what it has to do burns itself to ashes and then rises again. When the lion roars, the whole jungle trembles. It is their nature.
I observe my dogs all the time. They are my constant companion while my teenage son goes and spends time with his friends. When they stretch, the whole body stretches. When I do the dog pose in yoga, it requires absolute precision and conscious thought, yet it is very natural for the dogs.
The Tao and Zen disciplines emphasize naturalness, and yet this naturalness does not come easy for us human beings. There is a world of difference between the way a Zen master serves tea properly and someone who has simply studied the art serving tea. The movements are the same. The difference is in their state of minds.
The only way to come to the real sense of naturalness as a human being is by the narrow path of discipline. There is no other way. To skip discipline will be to miss the whole point. It is true that some of us do not need to go through as much training as the others because they have already done the work in previous lifetimes and in this lifetime there is only a quickening. Most of us have to come from a space of ignorance that is only questioned in this lifetime and therefore much work has to be done.
When we have gone through the narrow path of discipline then we can remember who we really are. And then every movement, every thought, every action is that of a human being. A spirit clothed in a body that is shed, lifetime after lifetime, fulfilling karmic necessities, sacred contracts.
We are each one of us eternal beings experiencing life on earth. Whole perfect, complete, luminous, nothing lacking. Separate yet parts of a whole. It is in this realzation where all the paths to freedom converge. And then we can be natural. And perhaps we can even enjoy the cup of tea served by the Zen master in the same frame of mind.
© 2009 by Melinda M. Sorensson
www.integratedlifecoach.com
Melinda M. Sorensson is the author My Journey to an Integrated Life ISBN-10:0979650704 Available at Amazon.com
Article Source: Ezinearticles.com
Melinda is also an expert member of Selfgrowth.com
SelfGrowth.com- SelfGrowth.com is the most complete guide to information about Self Improvement, Personal Growth and Self Help on the Internet. It is designed to be an organized directory, with articles and references to thousands of other Web Sites on the World Wide
Friday, May 22, 2009
The Pain of Cutting Out Frivolities
by Melinda M. Sorensson
I remember having to spank my only child one day when he was really little. I was crying on the inside while I was doing it but it needed to be done. It was for his own good.
I had to write a quite painful letter the other day. It was to cut off communications with someone I was, and still am, quite fond of. A beloved friend. I did not want to do it but it was necessary.
I had to examine why it was painful. It was because I had to confront my own emotions, the ones that I consider improper and not worthy of me. Not only am I vain, I am also spiritually materialistic. The paradox is that as one becomes spiritually materialistic, it is the same time that one becomes spiritually bankrupt.
There are feelings that we categorize as "not belonging" to a spiritually mature individual: jealousy, rage, envy, thoughts of veangeance, possessivenes. These are considered "bad" feelings.
To develop fearlessness is to confront that which we fear face to face.
This is what is painful. When one decides that it is time to sever one's relationship to rejecting these feelings as bad, a radical severance is required. It is painful to cut through frivolity because we want to hang on to it. It is our nature to want to do so.
Frivolity comes in many forms, not necessarily as simple as vanity paying so much attention to how one looks physically. It could take the form of greed in the sense of spiritual progress. This is even more dangerous than simple vanity.
Just like an umbilical cord that needs to be cut, one has to have ruthless compassion towards oneself when using the Sword of Manjusri. Above all else, it requires absolute honesty with oneself, to accept rather than shove under the rug, to be able to say yes they are there, these feelings and that they do not necessarily diminish oneself.
These feelings are thoughts, fueled with emotions, but when we relate to them fully we find that just like everything else, they pass. To reject them is to empower them and to empower them is to not recognize the fact that like everything else, they are an avenue to freedom.
On the one hand, while it is painful to acknowledge these emotions, facing them with the Sword of Manjusri allows one to do the right thing for oneself- to realize that to progress on the path to freedom, one has to cut through frivolities, not of ones relationship with others but with oneself, and to transmute the fiery nature of emotions.
To become fearless is to reclaim authentic power and to know that everything, every event, every person that we meet, we created in order to usher us to absolute freedom. We invited them there at the deepest level because in the more encompassing view, our objective is to realize that only our thoughts separate us from others.
So we acknowledge that the other person or event was not the cause of anger, it is rather oneself rejecting feelings as they come and questioning why they arise when one is supposed to be above them. We accept that we have them, we do not hang on to them, we do not act on them, rather we observe them. This is discriminating awareness.
And we give thanks for all that there was and hope that in some way we have enriched someone else's life if only for a short time, and that to let them grow, we have to respect their free wills and honor their paths.
*Manjusri is the god of discriminating awareness. In the Buddhist literature, his flaming sword is the symbol of wisdom and ruthless compassion, the one that cuts through all duality, arrogance and frivolity.
© 2009 by Melinda M. Sorensson
www.integratedlifecoach.com
Melinda M. Sorensson is the author My Journey to an Integrated Life ISBN-10:0979650704 Available at Amazon.com
Article Source: Ezinearticles.com
Melinda is also an expert member of Selfgrowth.com
SelfGrowth.com- SelfGrowth.com is the most complete guide to information about Self Improvement, Personal Growth and Self Help on the Internet. It is designed to be an organized directory, with articles and references to thousands of other Web Sites on the World Wide
I remember having to spank my only child one day when he was really little. I was crying on the inside while I was doing it but it needed to be done. It was for his own good.
I had to write a quite painful letter the other day. It was to cut off communications with someone I was, and still am, quite fond of. A beloved friend. I did not want to do it but it was necessary.
I had to examine why it was painful. It was because I had to confront my own emotions, the ones that I consider improper and not worthy of me. Not only am I vain, I am also spiritually materialistic. The paradox is that as one becomes spiritually materialistic, it is the same time that one becomes spiritually bankrupt.
There are feelings that we categorize as "not belonging" to a spiritually mature individual: jealousy, rage, envy, thoughts of veangeance, possessivenes. These are considered "bad" feelings.
To develop fearlessness is to confront that which we fear face to face.
This is what is painful. When one decides that it is time to sever one's relationship to rejecting these feelings as bad, a radical severance is required. It is painful to cut through frivolity because we want to hang on to it. It is our nature to want to do so.
Frivolity comes in many forms, not necessarily as simple as vanity paying so much attention to how one looks physically. It could take the form of greed in the sense of spiritual progress. This is even more dangerous than simple vanity.
Just like an umbilical cord that needs to be cut, one has to have ruthless compassion towards oneself when using the Sword of Manjusri. Above all else, it requires absolute honesty with oneself, to accept rather than shove under the rug, to be able to say yes they are there, these feelings and that they do not necessarily diminish oneself.
These feelings are thoughts, fueled with emotions, but when we relate to them fully we find that just like everything else, they pass. To reject them is to empower them and to empower them is to not recognize the fact that like everything else, they are an avenue to freedom.
On the one hand, while it is painful to acknowledge these emotions, facing them with the Sword of Manjusri allows one to do the right thing for oneself- to realize that to progress on the path to freedom, one has to cut through frivolities, not of ones relationship with others but with oneself, and to transmute the fiery nature of emotions.
To become fearless is to reclaim authentic power and to know that everything, every event, every person that we meet, we created in order to usher us to absolute freedom. We invited them there at the deepest level because in the more encompassing view, our objective is to realize that only our thoughts separate us from others.
So we acknowledge that the other person or event was not the cause of anger, it is rather oneself rejecting feelings as they come and questioning why they arise when one is supposed to be above them. We accept that we have them, we do not hang on to them, we do not act on them, rather we observe them. This is discriminating awareness.
And we give thanks for all that there was and hope that in some way we have enriched someone else's life if only for a short time, and that to let them grow, we have to respect their free wills and honor their paths.
*Manjusri is the god of discriminating awareness. In the Buddhist literature, his flaming sword is the symbol of wisdom and ruthless compassion, the one that cuts through all duality, arrogance and frivolity.
© 2009 by Melinda M. Sorensson
www.integratedlifecoach.com
Melinda M. Sorensson is the author My Journey to an Integrated Life ISBN-10:0979650704 Available at Amazon.com
Article Source: Ezinearticles.com
Melinda is also an expert member of Selfgrowth.com
SelfGrowth.com- SelfGrowth.com is the most complete guide to information about Self Improvement, Personal Growth and Self Help on the Internet. It is designed to be an organized directory, with articles and references to thousands of other Web Sites on the World Wide
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