A Personal Response to Covid-19

I am a senior citizen, soon to become seventy four in a few days. Apart from that I am a diabetic since the last forty years suffering from peripheral neuropathy as well. In short, I am what is termed as a high-risk patient. Apart from that I am happy to say I neither smoke nor drink Alcohol.

Let me start from this point. I was a social drinker and a rather heavy smoker. Fortunately, it was on being diagnosed with Diabetes, that I began a process of introspection. I realized that I was damaging my internal organs. With much difficulty I stopped drinking and smoking completely. (Thank you Diabetes, you saved my life.)

Confronted with Covid-19 since the last one year and forced into isolation, I felt I was once again being gifted by life the opportunity to introspect.

The basis of a healthy Spiritual life is Conversion. 

There is only so much one can look outside for health and healing or for that matter “Happiness”, that elusive state of mind, for which we are always searching, but it always seem to remain just out of our reach.

Today, after a year of introspection, I have to confess, happiness is not outside of me, but very much a part of me, within me, an expression of me. It only needs to be uncovered. Circumstances of birth and life, always create for us a belief in conditional love. It has been no different for me. Most of us unfortunately never really get of that treadmill of our search for happiness, our search for love, “unconditional Love”. Instead, like being trapped in sinking sands, we get disappointed, hurt, frustrated angry and get more deeply sucked into bitterness and depression. This soon creates a “depression” of our all-powerful, God given Immune System. Result: we are open to every sickness and disease. And worse to Auto-immune sicknesses that attack the very immune system that is meant to protect our bodies.

In this last year of Covid isolation, I got a chance of being, so to say in a prolonged retreat of silence, prayer, reading, music and confronting myself, my beliefs, my attitudes, my relationships, and most of all my preparedness for the ultimate reality – Death.

I spent time in sincere forgiveness. Asking God for forgiveness and people for forgiveness is totally secondary. In fact it is not even necessary. Primarily I realized, I have to forgive myself. 

It’s only now that I have learned to address the God in my heart. It is only now that I understand those famous words of Jesus from the Cross, “Father forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing”. Jesus exonerates his accusers; he declares them innocent. There is NOTHING to forgive.

Happiness is Unconditional Love. No one owes you and you owe no one. Drop all your expectations, all your attachments, all your fears, hurts and whatever; allow pure love to rise to the surface, to your consciousness. Become Love, become Divine and no sickness will touch you.

“….they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them. They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” Mark 16:18

A final word. I have not become a saint. Far from it. But I do experience a deep abiding Peace.

Healing Prayer

 

You are Born to Be A Leader - Part 3

 

In Part 2, I referred to Poet Rumi, who says “you were born with potential…. You were born with wings.” This is true of every single human born on planet earth. Yet, too many, just too many of us don’t believe it. It seems the circumstances of our birth, all, but destroyed the Divine spark in us. (Refer to my Blog Post “Debbie Ford”)

In the words of Eleni Makedonas,“I can say with confidence that the moment a person truly starts down the path of self-discovery, they will never turn back”. (Refer to my Blog Post “The Journey of Self-Discovery! My Decision to Find Myself!”, Eleni Makedonas)

 The American English Dictionary defines self-discovery as follows:

“a becoming aware of one’s true potential, character, motives, etc.”

It is up to each one of us to recognize our true potential, redeem ourselves, to relight this spark, so that our light truly shines before the world; so that we become leaders, rather than “crawlers”.

The best way to overcome fear they say is to face what you fear head on. So let us take a look at some qualities of a leader. I’m sure we’ll all qualify:

1.     Honesty and Integrity: Dwight.D.Eisenhower once said, “The supreme quality of leadership is unquestionably integrity”. 

2.     Self-Confidence: To be an effective leader one must have the confidence to make decisions and ensure that others will carry out his commands.

3.     Inspire Others: You must be a Beacon of Light, an Inspiration.

4.     Commitment and Passion: When your teammates see you getting your hands dirty, they will also give their best shot.

5.     Good Communicator: A good Leader must be able to clearly communicate his vision and Goal to his followers.

6.     Decision-Making Capabilities: A good leader must have the ability to take the right decision at the right time.

7.     Accountability: “A good leader takes little more than his share of the blame and little less than his share of the credit.” In the words of Arnold H Glasow.

8.     Delegation and Empowerment: A good leader empowers his followers and delegates tasks to them.

9.     Creativity and Innovation: In the words of Steve Jobs, “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”

10.  Empathy: Understanding the problems of your followers and feeling their pain is the first step to become an effective leader. Even that is not enough until you work hard and provide your followers with the suitable solution to their problems.

Conclusion:

To become a good leader, you must have all these qualities but if you lack some of these qualities, then you might struggle to make the mark in the world of leadership. You will have to set a good example for others to follow. That is where your commitment, passion, empathy, honesty and integrity come into play. Good communication skills and decision-making capabilities also play a vital role in success and failure of a leader. Lastly, innovation and creative thinking, as well as the futuristic vision, are a couple of key traits which make a leader stand out.

So believe in youself. You were given the gift of life for a purpose. That purpose is to find yourself, to find the Divine in you. God Bless you.

You Are Born To Be A Leader! - Part 2

Rumi

You Are Born With Wings, Learn to Fly!   

  Let me begin with a quote from Rumi:                                  

  You were born with potential. 

  You were born with goodness and trust. 

  You were born with ideals and dreams. 

  You were born with greatness. 

  You were born with wings. 

                                          You are not mean for crawling, so  don't. 

                                          You have wings. 

                                          Learn to use them and fly.

In my last blog post, the first of this series, I spoke a lot about the circumstances of our birth, that mostly straddle us for many years. And I would guess many of us go to our grave without ever having sung our song, or danced our dance. That is without ever having enjoyed this experience called life, let alone teaching others how to enjoy life.

The above words of Rumi, have always inspired me and challenged me. I was certainly one of those Eagles raised as a barnyard chicken who never never knew I could soar higher than the highest mountain, until a certain scripture passage from the Book of Genesis (OT) pierced my heart: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him" Gen 1/27. That was a shocker for me. A bolt that slowly woke me up from my lethargy and self pity.

To many the above scripture quote might mean nothing, might not create any stirrings of the heart. But it stopped me in my tracks. It made me take a second look at my self, my beliefs and meaning of life. If it was really true I was made in the image and likeness of God, then why was I behaving like a nerd thinking life (and God) had dealt me a bad hand.

A spark of fire began to burn in me. I began to re-evaluate my beliefs and soon realised that I was living not my life but the life of others - my parents, my teachers and may others. 

Late have I loved you, beauty so old and so new: late have I loved you. And see, you were within and I was in the external world and sought you there, and in my unlovely state I plunged into those lovely created things which you made. You were with me, and I was not with you. The lovely things kept me far from you, though if they did not have their existence in you, they had no existence at all. You called and cried out loud and shattered my deafness. You were radiant and resplendent, you put to flight my blindness. You were fragrant, and I drew in my breath and now pant after you. I tasted you, and I feel but hunger and thirst for you. You touched me, and I am set on fire to attain the peace which is yours.”

This is the famous passage from St. Augustine’s Confessions in which Saint Augustine states “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”

Wait for the next post

You Are Born To Be A Leader!

Introduction:

Has it ever occured to you that by virtue of your birth, you are born to be a leader and guide. No matter who you are, what your background or situation, cast or creed, rich or poor, male or female. By virtue of belonging to the human family, you are meant to be a Leader from the very first moment of your existence. Meaning to say, you are born to be a teacher, a guide, a giver of life, a leader, To quote Jesus: "The thief come only in order to steal, kill and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, life in its fullest measure." Jn 10:10. I believe, like Jesus we are all born to give life.

Unfortunately this does not really happen, does it? I mean most of us if not all, rarely feel we are Leaders or Life Givers right from birth. On the contrary most of us feel we are victims. Life seems to be painful, or at best meaningless and a struggle.

Being born of Parents who were themselves victims and sufferers, we soon learn from them to become carbon copies and think that this is the truth about life. Life is a struggle. We soon identify with the negatives of life, and often get drowned in them. We learn to distrust ourselves and others. We learn that we are not complete in ourselves and need others, material things and power to make us happy. We learn fear, anger, hatred and more. Soon unhappiness becomes a way of life.

A sad outcome of all this is that we begin to look outside of ourselves to fulfill the emptiness within, to find peace and pleasure; not realising that we are stepping into sinking sand and only getting sucked deeply into misery, fear, hate and suffering. Short term pleasure and quick fixes like alchohol, drugs, sex as well as emotional addictions and conflicts become our staple.

What do you  have to say? Please write your comments and questions.

Take time to reflect on the above and look forward to my next Post.

HO'OPONOPONO- POWERFUL Healing Prayer (In the Frequency of LIGHT) *432HZ...

Ho'oponopono Prayer For Cleaning A Gift From Morrnah Simeona

OLD FRIENDS ARE BEST

God's Gift Of Creation

A Message from Albert Einstein - Love

Finding God In All things

Suffering

My Agony:

The Emotional Pain, Sadness, Suffering, Anger, Fear, Hurt, Guilt, Helplessness Confusion, Hatred, Revenge, etc., etc. that is in me and the world around me. 

My Emotional & Moral Sickness:

Depression, Loneliness, Rejection, Divorce, Alcoholism, Drugs, Substance Abuse, Suicide, Loss of Faith, Moral Degradation, broken families, child abuse, extra-Marital relationships, etc., etc.

My Physical Sickness:

Dementia, Alzheimer’s, Cancer, AIDS, Tumours, Heart Problems, Diabetes, Sicknesses of every Organ in the Body, Bone Structure and whatever else you can think of including the Skin and every Sickness and Disease caused by germs, etc.

My Desire:

That I be happy as well as make a small contribution to world peace by accepting, persons, situations and events with compassion and love, just as they are, and not as I would like them to be. Furthermore, that I would have the courage not to manipulate or change a situation or another person to suit my perceptions.

The Tragedy: 

The scene looks hopeless. Often, we just endure, break down, become sick. What is worse, we end up becoming oppressors. In all this, children not only suffer the most, but they, who were once victims, now in turn when they become adults, become the oppressors and replay the whole process all over again.

Our Justification:

Justified anger is the biggest block, the biggest weapon of the EGO.

The second block is my duty. It is my duty to correct them. If I don’t correct them then who will correct them. Often we do not understand that we are playing out our own childhood script. Our own childhood hurts and angers.

The third. The EGO once again. They must know who is Boss. Who is in charge.

I’m sure each one of us has our own reasons for being angry, hurt, hurtful, rejecting, rejected, selfish, hating, hateful, drinking, abusive, womanizing, criticizing, gossiping, beating our children, fighting in the family and all the rest.

Except where does our justification take us? Do we wish to be happy and healthy or miserable, sick and broken!

Conversion: Light will dawn only when I get tired of my own behavior, ask myself, “Was I born in this world, to live this miserable life? Is there no better way of living?” Why me? What have I done to deserve all this? Then why? Why God, why?

Unfortunately not many survive this tragic downward spiral of self-justification. It often leads to substance abuse (alcoholism, drugs), depression, hatred and even suicide.

Yet there are also those of us who see the Light! They begin to understand they are on a road to nowhere. There must be another way they reason out. They begin to introspect. They begin to  let the Light in. The Divine Light begins to dispel the Darkness within their soul. That is the moment when they stop BLAMING!!! Blaming God, their spouse, their children, their neighbor, their boss, their country or whoever.

It’s time for me to take responsibility now. To CARE-front my life. It is time for me to sit quietly and take a second look at my life. To talk to a friend. To get help. With humility I will have to ask myself: WHO AM I?

Transformation:

Transformation or Conversion is a process of moving from hatred to love. It is a call to forgiving Love. Forgiving Love first and foremost to myself. I must have the humility to accept that I have lived a loveless life, terrorizing myself as well as others.

The thoughts of Jesus may be inspiring: “Love thy neighbor as thyself” (Mat. 22:39) and yet again: “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”. (Mat. 5:44)

So at this moment think of someone, anyone because of whom you are suffering: Husband, Wife, Child, In-laws, relative, anyone. Consider this a moment of Grace. Am I willing to love this person or persons? Am I willing to change my anger, hatred, rejection into forgiving love, patience, understanding, acceptance or whatever.

True it’s not easy. What stops me? I hardly know. I am hardly aware as to what is going on within me. For all my consciousness is pointing to the other as my source of suffering! For healing to happen, I need to change my focus from the other to myself. I need to get in touch with myself. What is my attachment, what is my belief about what is happening.

I need to get back to my Source. The God who gave me life. I need to re-educate myself. To learn to love myself. To know that I am complete in myself and do not need anyone, anything, nor any power. I need to let go of my attachment. I need to surrender to the Divine.

I am free now to live a life of fulfillment and happiness.

How Happy Are You!

Happiness is not a Destination

Happiness is within me from the moment I am conceived! But I have NO awareness of it. Life is all about discovering that HAPPINESS.

I wonder how many of us would accept that! Happiness is not a destination. Then what is it? Is it not what all of us want? I have time and again asked people in personal talks, in counselling, in Seminars and even in railway train conversations, "what is it you want most in life?" And the the answer invariably would be the same, "HAPPINESS"

Material Wealth

So we are all busy in the business of finding happiness. We work hard to make enough money and hope to be happy. We buy gold and silver, jewelry and cosmetics, land and houses, cars and what not. But where is happiness?
In fact the "Pain" quotient just goes higher. We now have to protect our wealth, and create fear. Fear of being robbed, fear of being cheated, relationships that once were cordial now turn "sour" as we begin to distrust. We become competitive in work and business, dishonest create enemies. I'm sure you get the idea. But where is "HAPPINESS".

Power and Position 

If it is not Material wealth, then ofcourse it is Power and Position. As I grow wealthier (or poorer), I convince myself happiness is just round the corner, once I get that promotion. Once I am in charge, once I am the BOSS. But all it brings is headaches, and headaches and more headaches. Not to mention, ulcers, and backaches, and sleepless nights. But "HAPPINESS" where is "HAPPINESS"

As though that is not enough, I take to social drinking, then to smoking, friends convince me gambling and drugs will enhance my image and soon I find myself spiraling down a bottomless well. But NO Happiness.

Relationships (legitimate or otherwise)

Then ofcourse in our search for Happiness, we have always turned to relationships, companionships, friendships, Oh! Yes, marriage, family. Call it what you like, for we have always believed that someday, somehow, somewhere, I will find someone who will truly love me just the way I want to be loved, who will accept me just the way I am  and who will never find fault with me. Unfortunately that just never happens and so happiness remains an illusion.

What is worse, that in whom I hoped to find happiness, has now become a drag! A source of pain and suffering for me. He or she (as the case might be) now expects me to fulfill his or her needs. Or blatantly makes use of me and all I possess and Am.

Then there is the relationship where I have become in a sense addicted. I have become attached, dependent and consequently feel robbed of my freedom. I cannot live without the other. Result I am jealous, I am hurt, I am angered etc. So where is Happiness and where is Love! All a myth, all an illusion.

Happiness! Where is it! What is it!

Yes, as I mentioned at the beginning, it is within us, perhaps it is the Divine in each of us. But we are unaware of its existence. 

From the moment of our conception, but more so when we are born,  we are being distracted. We are literally being trained to think, to believe that my life, my happiness depends on others, on things, persons and experiences external to me. In short, Parents, relatives, friends and the world around us transcribe their broken "Scripts" upon the new born child and recreate a broken version of themselves - selfish, self centred, fearful, angry, UNHAPPY.

To be Happy, all one needs is  AWARENESS and DETACHMENT. 

To be aware one needs SILENCE. To achieve silence one needs to MEDITATE. In Meditation one will realise how imprisoned one is. Imprisoned or Attached to Material wealth; Imprisoned or Attached to the will (or EGO); Imprisoned or Attached to Persons.

To be Happy, to be Free, all I need to do is to DROP my ATTACHMENT. Put another way, I need to practice "Letting Go". I need to Practice Detachment. I must understand there is no peace, no happiness, no love in Attachment. There is only selfishness, pain and sickness. 

(I hope this elicits reflection and questions)

Self-Discovery

The Journey of Self-Discovery! 

My Decision to Find Myself!

                                                                                   By Eleni Makedonas

Eleni's sharing has inspired me and so I share it with you. (malcolm rodrigues s.j.)

I can say with confidence that the moment a person truly starts down the path of self-discovery, they will never turn back. Many may ask the question, “What is self-discovery?” or “What do you mean you don’t know who you are?”

The American English Dictionary defines self-discovery as follows:

“a becoming aware of one’s true potential, character, motives, etc.”

Ignorance towards my true self is something I lived with for a long time. Self-discovery means many things. It means finding your purpose in life (we all have a purpose), it means digging deep into your childhood and revealing the experiences that shaped you... good and bad. It means realizing what your beliefs are and living by them. The effects of self-discovery include happiness, fulfillment, clarity and maybe even enlightenment! The journey however is not always an easy road. The journey includes fear, confusion, misunderstanding, doubt and literally re-visiting all your choices in life. I like to refer to it as spring-cleaning of the mind, your emotions and your surroundings (including the people in your life). It requires making some tough decisions and sticking to them. My journey so far has seen me cut people out of my life. I call them the “takers.” They were takers because I allowed them to be and it wasn’t until I realized that many of these relationships were one-sided — self-discovery — that I decided to cut them out. It has also seen me completely change the course of my life and start to follow my true passion and purpose (this blog). I have also started to set intentions and no longer have expectations from others — okay... this one is really hard for me and it’s a work in progress — but instead I have started to look within for answers. I’ve had several set backs along the way and I have no doubt I will have many more but, I’m not giving up.

What I know for sure is that the journey is worth taking. I am slowly becoming calmer, more aware and more tolerant. I am learning how to pay attention to my feelings and understand myself better.

What I know for sure is that I have been very hard on myself for most of my life. I have not been truthful with myself and have had unrealistic expectations therefore, setting myself up for disappointment. Why do we do this? Why do we lie to ourselves? And more importantly, why do we allow ourselves to get away with it? When someone else lies to me and I find out about it I freak out. “How dare he lie to me? Does she think I’m stupid?” but, we lie to ourselves profusely and even cover up our own lies by accepting them as truth in order to reassure ourselves that it’s okay??!?!?!

For example: I have body image issues. I have always had body image issues yet covered it up by lying to myself. When I was 14 I even tried to starve myself thin. I would convince myself that I was happy with the way I looked when deep down I knew I wasn’t. I worked so hard to cover up how I really felt by masking my true feelings. “I’m happy with my hips” I would tell myself and “I like my perky butt,” even though deep down I hated the way I looked. I’m not implying that what I was feeling was a good thing but, it was what I was feeling and ignoring it, or pretending it didn’t exist was doing no good to me — or my body image issues. Eventually, it became exhausting. Recently, I started working on accepting the fact that I have body image issues and acknowledging my feelings towards them. I am not suppressing the feelings I have anymore instead, I am admitting to them therefore diminishing the threat they once held upon me and reducing the hold they had on my life. There comes a freedom with accepting your feelings and emotions. It’s like a release of some sort. Like you’ve identified the elephant in the room and waved at him so you no longer have to pretend he’s not there. Once you acknowledge the elephant in the room he doesn’t bother you anymore. You learn to co-exist and be okay with his presence and not allow him to control how you act and feel anymore.

What I know for sure is that being true to my feelings and acknowledging them as well as validating them has released so much fear in me. It has released my fear of not being good enough as well as my fear of not living up to the expectations I set for myself. What I know for sure is that we are usually our own worst enemy. We hold ourselves back in so many ways and I am ready to move away from that pattern. I’m not suggesting that these fears no longer exist within me because they certainly do and, I don’t think they will ever go away but now that I am aware of my true feelings and now that I am becoming conscious of my real beliefs, they no longer have a strangle hold on my life. Instead, I have a hold on how they can or cannot affect me.

My message is this... Stop being your own worst enemy! Stop lying to yourself about your emotions and feelings and start accepting them and allowing yourself to feel whatever is it you feel. The freedom you will feel within yourself is reward enough however, the universe will give you back the love that you have finally and justifiably started to give yourself. This I promise you!

“When I discover who I am, I’ll be free.”
— Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

Teaching Your Children Well - Quoted from the Book,"Communion with God" - By Neale Donald Walsh

Teach these truths to your children, and you will have taught them grandly!

;  Teach your children that they need nothing exterior to themselves to be happy - no person, place or thing - and that true happiness is found within. Teach them that they are sufficient unto themselves.

;  Teach your children that failure is a fiction, that every trying is a success, and that every effort is what achieves the victory, with the first no less honorable than the last.

;  Teach your children that they are deeply connected to all Life, that they are One with all people, and that they are never separate from God.

;  Teach your children that they live in a world of magnificent abundance, that there is enough for everyone, and that it is in sharing the most, not in gathering the most, that the most is received.

;  Teach your children that there is nothing that they are required to be or do to be eligible for a life of dignity and fulfillment; that they need not compete with anyone for anything, and that God's blessings are meant for everyone.

;  Teach your children that they will never be judged, that they need not worry about always getting it right, and that they do not have to change anything, or "get better", to be seen as perfect and beautiful in the eyes of God.

;  Teach your children that consequences and punishment are not the same thing, that death does not exist, and that God would not condemn anyone.

;  Teach your children that there are no conditions to love, that they need not worry about ever loosing your love, or God's, and that their own love, unconditionally shared, is the greatest gift they can give to the world.

;  Teach your children that being special does not mean being better, that claiming superiority over someone is not seeing them for Who They Really Are, and that there is a great healing in acknowledging "mine is not a better way, mine is merely another way".

;  Teach your children that there is nothing that they cannot do, that the illusion of ignorance can be eradicated from the earth, and that all anyone really needs is to be given back to themselves by being reminded of Who They Really Are.

;  Teach these things not with your words but with your actions; not with discussion but with demonstration. For it is what you do that that children will emulate, and how you are that they will become.

Tips to Healthy and Happy Living

REST: Take enough time to rest. A tired body and a tired mind finds it very difficult to cope with the challenges of daily life and living. Go to sleep around 10.00 or 10.30 and wake up at around 5.00 or 5.30. Working late hours is a myth and only brings suffering and sickness in later years.

Work: Learn to share, distribute or delegate your work, among your colleagues. You will be surprised at the amount of joy you will create in your own and others lives. Be aware that the limitations of physical time do not allow any single individual, (however clever and efficient) to do everything under the sun.

     

Be aware of the fears that prevent you from sharing your work and responsibilities with colleagues and confreres.

Nourishment: Make sure you take enough and healthy nourishment. Be aware about your beliefs, fears and hang-ups concerning the food you eat. Eating is a trained habit, formed from beliefs generally made in childhood. Habits can be changed. Food as such NEVER causes sickness.

                     Exercise: Take time to exercise your body. A brisk walk, with head held high and hands swinging, early in the morning, definitely is a very useful beginning of the day. Combine this with positive affirmations and deep breathing, and you are guaranteed a healthy and happy life.

                     Holistic: Have a holistic approach to life. Body, Mind and Spirit. When the three are in alignment, you are assured of health and happiness. The Body gives physical signals (aches, pains, etc) and the Spirit gives emotional Signals (anger, depression, etc) that all is not well in the Mind.

                      Privacy: Keep enough time and space for your personal self. Love thy neighbour as thyself…Lev.19/18 Mat.19/19. Take time to be STILL, IN BODY MIND AND SPIRIT. Do the things you really like doing. Reading, writing, listening to music, being with people you love, gardening or relaxing in a garden.

                      Healing: Take time to heal yourself. Practice positive affirmations daily. Let go of memories. Forgive yourself and every one in your life. Start training yourself, to stop criticizing and punishing, yourself and others.

I LOVE MYSELF JUST THE WAY I AM! 

I LOVE THE WORLD JUST THE WAY IT IS!

The above is not exhaustive. I am sure there is a lot more you can add to it. But remember “… an oak tree takes a hundred years to grow! If you want an oak tree, plant it today, not tomorrow!”

                                                                                                   by malcolm sj

Prayer to Heal Your Life

THANK YOU LORD,

For the gift of my life. 
I am beautiful, I am wonderful
I am your image and likeness. 
I am the temple of your spirit. 
I love and appreciate myself, 
I accept myself 
with deep joy and happiness 
Thank you Lord 
for the gift of my life.

Thank you lord,

For the many persons in my life;
My parents, my brothers and sisters,

(my husband/wife/children)

My relatives and friends.
I believe that they all love me

and I love and accept them all.

Thank you Lord,

For all those who have loved me

And continue loving me still.
Thank you Lord, For all those

Who find it difficult to love me.

I thank you too, for all those whom

I find it difficult to love.

I am willing to love and accept them.

I do not always love myself,

I do not always love other persons.
I am willing to forgive myself,

I am willing to forgive others.
Yes I love myself,

Thank you Lord

For the gift of my life.

Finally I thank you lord

for loving me unconditionally

Amen.

                                                                                   By Br. Malcolm SJ

Malcolm sj - Migraine healed -Episode4 Eng #ChallengesinFamilyLife

What are you doing to improve the Quality of your Life - Part 3

A stage of Meaningful quality in your life.

1.    Do you have a purpose in life! Why were you born!

a.    Consider this: Your purpose in life is to know who you are:-

                                          i.    Are you your Body? Your mind?Your Education? Your degrees?

                                        ii.    Are you your heritage? Your family? Your background? Your caste? Your creed? Your religion?

                                       iii.    Are you your wealth, your possessions? Money? Land?

                                       iv.    What about the position you hold? Your achievements? Your Degrees? 
                          Your awards?

                                        v.    Father, Mother, Son, Daughter, Husband, Wife, you name it?

b.    All this will pass away! So WHO indeed are you?

c.    Another Consideration: The only thing that does not change:- you came with it, and will go with it when everything else has disintegrated: Call it Spirit – Soul – Atman.

d.    You never were born – you always existed – when this so called sojourn on Earth began, you were given a body, but you always existed, and this body will one day disintegrate, but you will live – as spirit as you were before.

e.    But maybe not exactly as before – you will have now a deeper consciousness of who you. And I would dare to suggest, you will have a Divine Consciousness.

f.     I would believe, we are all part of the Divine, and our purpose in life, is not only to become aware of this Divine Consciousness, but to share it with all of creation around me, thus creating a world of Love, Peace and Joy.

g.    I come from God! I live in God! I will go Back to God.

What are you doing to improve the Quality of your Life - Part 2

So what do I do in such a situation?

Here is a line of reflection you could follow:

1.    My past, my background, my up bringing defines my present, my future.

a.  Do I understand this? What is the baggage from the past that I am carrying? Am I carrying resentments, prejudices, pains, angers, hurts or whatever from my past?

b.  Did I grow up in abject poverty? Did I grow up in a dysfunctional family? Was I abused as a child?

c.  Did one or both parents die when I was a child? Did I experience divorce between my parents? Did either of my parents abandon me as a child?

d.  I cannot really enumerate all the events that may contribute to my present day situation. But I hope you get the situation. The answers to your present day situation will most certainly be found in your early or recent past.

e.  A word of caution: Your Ego or Pride will do its utmost to convince you that your problem does not lie in your past but in those around you:- Your Spouse, your Boss, your Mother-in-law, the markets, spiraling prices, the devil and even God. If you believe this, then you are helpless and become a victim!

f.   Instead take responsibility. This does not mean you are to blame. This only mean that you are willing to look into your life, that you are willing to use your ability to RESPOND rather than REACT to a situation.

g.  We react because we are frightened. We DO NOT SEEM TO HAVE CHOICES. To respond, to heal, we must have resources. We ALL possess these resources. Unfortunately, our upbringing has convinced us that we don’t have resources, and must depend on others. (Parents, relatives, teachers, etc.) The more I understand that I am enough! That I have every thing I possibly need to live a humane and effective life, the more free, joyful and successful will I be.

2. As you pass this stage of resolving issues from your past, you could gently move on to the second stage.

Continued in next post.