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From the wonderful book Lessons from the Source:

Nothing can happen to you that is not for your highest good. Make this into an affirmation that works well for you and use it repeatedly. This is a particularly difficult concept to embrace, especially when you are faced with loss or grief or disappointment. But remember that you have chosen this lifetime for its lessons, and you cannot be aware of all of those lessons while you are learning them. Remember also that loss and grief and disappointment are concepts generated by human consciousness out of its lack of understanding of the “big picture.”

I’m snowed in on Christmas by myself remembering that in recent weeks I had declared wanting “more alone time” in the house. Be careful what you wish for!

As a result, I’m reflecting deeply on my life and appreciating those I live with more!

Here is a passage from Barbara Marcinak’s Family of Light that stood out for me today:

Your specific future goals are for you to decide, and we do remind you that exquisite possibilities exist. Your genius is at hand, and to really integrate living with one another on Earth, purposeful living must be established. So we ask you, to what purpose do you awaken every morning and go about your lives? Reflect on this thought for a moment, and do not condemn, judge, or applaud yourself for your present involvements, because whatever they are, they will change. The season of change is upon you, and wherever this change may take you, it is most important that you lay a foundation in the home of your intent, as a personal vision connected to a community.

A quote I am ruminating upon today…

Mythology is inevitable, it is natural, it is an inherent necessity of language, if we recognize in language the outward form and manifestation of thought; it is in fact the dark shadow which language throws upon thought, and which can never disappear till language becomes entirely commensurate with thought, which it never will. Mythology, no doubt, breaks out more fiercely during the early periods of the history of human thought, but it never disappears altogether. Depend upon it, there is mythology now as there was in the time of Homer, only we do not perceive it, because we ourselves live in the very shadow of it, and because we all shrink from the full meridian light of truth… Mythology, in the highest sense, is the power exercised by language on thought in every possible sphere of mental activity.

Max Müller
“The Philosophy of Mythology”
appended to “Introduction to the Science of Religion” (1873)

I found this site today when doing some research on the “correct” way to hang a horseshoe above one’s door for good luck (I have a friend who had his upside down and wanted to break the news to him.)

The Internet Sacred Text Archive
http://www.sacred-texts.com
Welcome to the largest freely available archive of online books about religion, mythology, folklore and the esoteric on the Internet. The site is dedicated to religious tolerance and scholarship, and has the largest readership of any similar site on the web.

Much of the information here would have been very difficult to find in the past, and possessing some of it would have been downright heretical and thus risky. Today we can “Google” it.

What an amazing age we live in. I love the Internet!

from
The Magic of The Horseshoe, chapter 15

The stranger asked to see the shoe;
The farmer brought it into view;
But when the old man raised his head,
He laughed outright and quickly said:
“No wonder skies upon you frown,
You’ve nailed the horse-shoe upside down;
Just turn it round, and soon you’ll see
How you and Fortune will agree.

Here is a quote I randomly opened up to today in Eckhart Tolle’s book A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose this morning.

There’s a reason I admire him so much and that millions (literally) more are discovering his wisdom. I feel that the fact Oprah calls him “a prophet of the 21st Century” and features him so often is testimony to the fact that we are undergoing a major consciousness revolution here on Earth at this time.

I also feel this consciousness revolution will be considered the most historically significant even of this period in history. Keep this in mind the next time the mainstream news tempts you into thinking we’re doomed ;)

If in the midst of negativity you are able to realize “At this moment I am creating suffering for myself” it will be enough to raise you above the limitations of conditioned egoic states and reactions. It will open up infinite possibilities which come to you when there is awareness — other vastly more intelligent ways of dealing with any situation. You will be free to let go of your unhappiness the moment you recognize it as unintelligent. Negativity is not intelligent. It is always of the ego. The ego may be clever, but it is not intelligent. Cleverness pursues its own little aims. Intelligence sees the larger whole in which all thing are connected. Cleverness is motivated by self-interest, and it is extremely short-sighted. Most politicians and businesspeople are clever. Very few are intelligent. Whatever is attained through cleverness is short-lived and always turns out to be eventually self-defeating. Cleverness divides; intelligence includes.

I found this as a random passage in the copy of the book The Four Levels of Healing by the lovely wisewoman Shakti Gawain which is currently on the counter of the “Wrap and Roll” restaurant in Sechelt, B.C. while I recently enjoyed lunch…

Sometimes people fear that exploring the emotional wounds from childhood means blaming their parents or others, which they do not wish to do. It is true that in the process of deep emotional healing it is often important to acknowledge to ourselves any old, buried feelings of hurt, resentment, and sometimes blame of ourselves or others. The magical thing is that once those feelings are consciously acknowledged and experienced in a safe, supportive environment, they generally dissolve, or shift into feelings of acceptance, compassion, and forgiveness.

Often, people try to jump directly into forgiveness, not wishing to experience the more uncomfortable emotions. While this is sometimes effective, in many cases it is a kind of forced forgiveness, laid over the still unresolved emotions which often resurface later. Once the other feelings are acknowledged and worked through, forgiveness takes place naturally and automatically.

I picked up the book How to Negotiate Like a Child: Unleash the Little Monster Within to Get EVERYTHING You Want from the library just to check it out. I was very turned off by the concept and think it’s obnoxious to be darkly manipulative in business (and it always comes back to bite YOU in the end) however I wanted to give it a chance.

It’s funny and has some good advice, especially around how to deal with others that use childish tactics. I found the advice in the “Just Cry” chapter helpful also, because sometimes I do cry and can’t help it (though it’s not something I could turn on on purpose just to manipulate!)

Here’s a quote featuring the Donald, who may be wildly successful in dollar amount terms however he’s also widely hated and someone I personally would not ever emulate. I somehow doubt he’s among the happiest beings on Earth…

Try a Wild and Scary Threat
A variation on the tantrum theme is to employ a wild but scary threat. Both use extremes — tantrums involve an extreme of sound and emotion; wild threats involve a large range of consequences. You know how kids threaten to hold their breath till they drop dead. Sometimes people will give in rather than wait to see how far the kid can go. That’s the tactic Donald Trump used when he wanted to build the Trump Tower higher than permitted under New York City’s zoning laws. He said if he didn’t get the height exception he wanted, he’d build the ugliest building that he could possibly design, and site it in a way that would overshadow the historic, low-rise Tiffany’s building below. He showed the city planners a hideous design. While they may not have been sure he’d really do it, they decided not to risk it and gave in.

Today this quote keeps coming to mind…

Behind what appears to be a tragedy is a divine comedy. There is great humor in a world filled with divine beings who have all power, who are all-knowing, who have been gifted with unlimited abundance and joyfulness and — just for good measure — eternal life, and who make believe — with great ingenuity — that they are powerless, fear-ridden, competitive and adversarial, greedy, vengeful, and mortal. In the absence of our willingness to surrender to our divine creativity, we can at least laugh at how delightfully ludicrous we are.
– Arnold M. Patent (from You Can Have it All)

Here’s a new book review video on the amazing Meditation in a New York Minute: Super Calm for the Super Busy.

I will be doing videos a lot more often from now on as I really enjoy the process. I have a lot of room to improve in terms of presence in front of the camera and technical skills however I’m going to let myself be a beginner and keep having fun with it.

This video also features some flute playing, though a the low end microphone in the wind does not quite capture the sound…

Here’s a book I need to read a few more times…

I’ve decided to start doing more video with the little camera I have rather than waiting for better AV equipment to manifest.

Here’s a short book review video for one of my favourite titles on love & relationships:

One of the strangest and most compelling books I’ve encountered is The Keys of Enoch. Much of it is more or less incomprehensible (to me as a person at this time) however it is also peppered with yummy insights.

Here’s a passage I like…

In breaking through the mechanistic functions of the visual world, the material form is seen as “the housing” for superior consciousness states. In seeing the difference between “I have a body,” and “I am a body,” you can use your Light for the benefit of all beings.

The work of Dave Ramsey was recommended to me in a comment on this site recently. He’s an expert on money management and helping people get out of debt.

I’m impressed and look forward to exploring his ideas further.

Since you have read many pages learning a wealth-building system from me, you might think that I believe stuff is the answer to happiness, emotional well-being, and spiritual maturity. You would be wrong because I know that is not the case. ON the contrary, I see a real spiritual danger to having great wealth. The danger is old-fashioned materialism. In his great book Money, Possessions, and Eternity, author Randy Alcorn takes a probing look at materialism. Randy discusses a disease running amuck in America: “Affluenza.” Affluenza is a malady that affects some of the affluent and their children. Because some of the affluent and their children seek happiness, solace, and fulfillment in the consuming of stuff, they face a problem. By trying to get stuff to do something it wasn’t designed to do, they come up empty and end up depressed and even suicidal. They discover bumper-sticker wisdom: “He who dies with the most toys is still dead.” Stuff is wonderful, get some stuff, but don’t let the pursuit of wealth become your god.

I didn’t win the novel contest.

Time to move on to the next phase….

Wake Up, Relax, Adapt, Repeat
http://www.margonaut.com/novelchallenge.pdf
“Well, let’s start with music. You put so much energy into paying attention to the music other people are making, why not put some of that energy into learning how to make your own? You’re certainly smart enough, and there are people in your life who have been encouraging you to get off your ass and do it!”
Em thought about the night during her first trip to B.C. with Red, Amos, and Crowe in the studio. “You’re right.”
“You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. You’ve got to help yourself here sister!”
“Hmm, here’s a good opportunity to put aside that old remorse about slacking in the past and get started now, eh?”
“I’d say so. Good on you.”

The book The E-Code: 33 Internet Superstars Reveal 43 Ways to Make Money Online Almost Instantly—Using Only Email is a collection of essays written by different people who have made money online giving tips on how to go about it.

For me personally, the most valuable piece of information was this bit by Joe Vitale, who is a proponent of the idea that we attract our own realities to us via our thoughts as much as our actions. This quote sparked something in me:

If you are broke right now, ask yourself what the lesson in being broke is for you. Don’t settle on flip answers like, “I should have saved more in advance.” And don’t blame others. It’s no one’s fault. What is the positive reason for you to have this situation in your life? You know the answer. Be honest and write it down.

He’s sneaky embedding stuff like that into the text, eh?

I’m glad I gave the book another chance, it turns out it will help my career after all!

I am currently reading Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose.

This quote stood out as compelling:

The stronger the ego in you, the more likely it is that in your perception other people are the main source of problems in your life.

As did this one:

The ego doesn’t know that the mind and mental positions have nothing to do with who you are because the ego is the unobserved mind itself.

Last night I watched the 2005 movie version of the classic book (from 1813!) Pride and Prejudice.

Of course no movie can ever equal what a book can be. I love the florid descriptions in gorgeous early 19th century English…

Elizabeth, feeling all the more than common awkwardness and anxiety of his situation, now forced herself to speak; and immediately, though not very fluently, gave him to understand that her sentiments had undergone so material a change, since the period to which he alluded, as to make her receive with gratitude and pleasure his present assurances. The happiness which this reply produced, was such as he had probably never felt before; and he expressed himself on the occasion as sensibly and as warmly as a man violently in love can be supposed to do. Had Elizabeth been able to encounter his eye, she might have seen how well the expression of heartfelt delight, diffused over his face, became him; but, though she could not look, she could listen, and he told her of feelings, which, in proving of what importance she was to him, made his affection every moment more valuable.

Here’s a compelling passage from The Power of Now around relationships which I agree with: relationships are meant to be a path to consciousness rather than something to “make you happy.” Happiness comes and goes like weather whether we’re single or in a partnership, though going through the ups and downs with someone can be very life enriching and educational with the right attitude.

Making someone else responsible for your happiness is definitely a doomed strategy in the end and sometimes the times of dischord bring the deepest learning experienes…

Humanity is under great pressure to evolve because it is our only chance of survival as a race. This will affect every aspect of your life and close relationships in particular. Never before have relationships been as problematic and conflict ridden as they are now. As you may have noticed, they are not here to make you happy or fulfilled. If you continue to pursue the goal of salvation through a relationship, you will be disillusioned again and again. But if you accept that the relationship is here to make you conscious instead of happy, then the relationship will offer you salvation, and you will be aligning yourself with the higher consciousness that wants to be born into this world. For those who hold on to the old patterns, there will be increasing pain, violence, confusion, and madness.

I just got back from an ironically stressful trip to Vancouver to see the Dalai Lama.

To explore the Dalai Lama’s message, check out The Art of Happiness, it’s pure gold.

The book Zig Zag Zen is about the connection between psychedelic drugs and Buddhism.

My own personal views on this aren’t completely clear, but I found the passage below food for thought. I’m interested in hearing your comments!

So how do we express and characterize the relationship between psychedelics and Dharma practice? The conventional answer, offered by many once-tripping Buddhists, is that drugs can “open the door.” Without much work or knowledge on the part of the user, psychedelics can crack open consensus reality, expand identity beyond the confines of conventional self, induce ego-death, and unveil the connection between mind and the totality of the real. However “unauthentic” these experiences may be judged to be, many people respond to them by turning to Eastern practice in order to extend, comprehend, and deepen their insights. Once their practice has stabilized and opened up, many of these people abandon drugs as needless or even harmful distractions. In this view, spiritual practice becomes something like the liftoff of Apollo 11. Drugs point you toward the moon of enlightenment, and somewhat violently thrust you away from the gravity of consensus reality. Having done so, they can then be abandoned like the early stages of a rocket. Or as Alan Watts quipped, “Once you get the message, hang up the phone.”

I haven’t read this book (yet) but really liked the passage from the book review below…

The Places That Scare You
http://www.thinkingpeace.com/Lib/lib092.html
All beings have the capacity to feel tenderness—to experience heartbreak, pain, and uncertainty. Therefore the enlightened heart of bodhichitta is available to us all. The insight meditation teacher Jack Kornfield tells of witnessing this in Cambodia during the time of the Khmer Rouge. Fifty thousand people had become communists at gunpoint, threatened with death if they continued their Buddhist practices. In spite of the danger, a temple was established in the refugee camp, and twenty thousand people attended the opening ceremony. There were no lectures or prayers but simply continuous chanting of one of the central teachings of the Buddha:

Hatred never ceases by hatred
But by love alone is healed.
This is an ancient and eternal law.

I’ve decided to stop putting those “buy it now” images in posts when I quote books as it looks tacky & isn’t really effective anyway. For anyone who is curious, I made less than $3 in referral fees last quarter. I quote books I think people will enjoy, it’s not about money.

With that said, I present this classic quotation:

For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much–the wheel, New York, wars and so on–while all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man–for precisely the same reasons.

— Douglas Adams, The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy

Yesterday was a weird one emotionally. While my general philosophy & outlook on life is quite optimistic, certain ongoing dramas and physical pain symptoms were making it challenging to stay upbeat. It felt as if there were something actively putting energy into keeping me down.

For a bit of a philosophical cheer-up I pulled Rob Brezny’s book Pronoia off of the shelf and randomly picked a passage. I turned to the passage below:

Describe your signature pain. What is the nature of the torment that chronically upsets you most?

Muse on the seductiveness of your hurt, and on all the unacknowledged reasons that maybe you are attracted to it and hesitate to give it up.

While it has been obvious to me that an attitude shift is in order, the way to go about it has been hazy. This passage was food for thought.

The classical music world is highly competitive, and snobbishness, bitchyness, and cruel comments are common. I let old comments from music teachers about how I’m not cut out for major symphony orchestras and thus “not good enough” kill my creativity with the flute after SO MANY years of playing. It’s sad but true.

The book Effortless Mastery was recommended to me as a resource for learning to improvise and develop a more intuitive approach to music. It’s written from a Jazz musician’s perspective, but it really speaks to the wounded inner musician in me. It has great advice for any type of musician around self-encouragement, practice habits, and rediscovering the pure joy of music. Finding it has been a true blessing.

Why does one do nothing when one cares so passionately about playing music? It is not laziness; it is a sense of being overwhelmed. You need to know this. It’s like the alcoholic acknowledging, “I’m not a bad person, I’m a sick person.” It allows one to feel a bit more self-compassion.
…
Being afflicted by the inability to act, you feel locked out of a glass-enclosed world of functioning musicians. You bang on the glass with scattered practice habits, but nobody hears you. All your attempts to enter are futile. Fear of not becoming great has kept you from becoming great. To find a way out of this dilemma, a thorough re-programming of your mind is necessary.

Tomorrow afternoon I’m going to busk for the first time in front of the Art Gallery before Critical Mass in Vancouver. It’s been empowering to realize that I already am skilled enough to do that. Stop by and spare some change :)

I am reading the book Love Without End, which is by a woman who claims to have channeled Jesus while painting his portrait.

If you’re not into Jesus themed allegory, just ignore that part of it and read the passage below. Whether or not it’s Jesus, it’s genius.

You have a right to experience infinity from your own viewpoint and to appreciate within its vast potential the values and meaning which support your reason for being. As part of this, you have a right to look above and beyond all structures, to disagree with common assumptions, and to say “no” to prospects and proposals which do not exist in harmony with your life and values. You have the right to exceed any structure that would try to contain you. You have the right to reach into the unknown, and dare to dream. You have a right to imagination, and to the fruits of its creation. In that pursuit, it is your right to experience infinity and establish a viewpoint about your hopes and dreams.

I just read the delightful allegorical novel Going Deeper: How to Make Sense of Your Life When Your Life Makes no Sense. It’s about a man & what he learns during an unusual journey with an unusual dog.

It has been a long time since I have gathered so much new useful insight from a book. If you resonate with the paragraph below I highly highly recommend it. Thanks to the kind spirit who gifted me this book from my wishlist.

The thought waves interact with the three Great Temptations you talked about — the urges to compare, judge, and understand. This causes another set of interference patterns that gives rise to emotions. The emotional patterns interact with the molecular vibrations of our physical form, causing yet another set of interference patterns. These ultimately embed themselves as palpable ridges of cellular memory and can ultimately show up as pain and disease. The whole cascading spiral would consume us if it weren’t for the Higher Self.

The book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People may sound cheesy (that’s what I thought before I read it anyway) but it’s a very wise book.

Sometimes there’s a good reason a title stays in print for years & years….

The imagination can be used to achieve the fleeting success that comes when a person is focused on material gain or “what’s in it for me.” But I believe the higher use of imagination is in harmony with the conscience to transcend self and create a life of contribution based on unique purpose and on the principles that govern interdependent reality.

I’m currently reading John Ott’s 1973 book Health and Light as part of a research project on the subject of how light affects human health. Light is as important to life as food & water!

Here’s a passage from the chapter “Routine Opposition to New Ideas as Standard Procedure” (a clever title indeed):

Some recalled that scientists like Pasteur, Fleming, and Goddard would never have qualified for research funds during the early development of their great discoveries: something must be wrong with our present scientific approach to anything that is new or different from existing conjectures dealing with unsolved problems — problems like cancer. A reexamination of present policies might be in order, in connection with the much publicized appeals for vast sums of money for cancer research in order that “not a single possibility be neglected.”

Being a woman in business is not the same as being a man. Despite many gains in womens rights over the past few decades (thanks to the elders who worked for it!) there are still differences in how we’re treated, judged, paid, and promoted.

The book She Wins, You Win focuses on the idea that women need to cooperate with one another at work instead of competing and the importance of older women mentoring younger ones. I found it to mostly to be about the corporate environment (which is not my focus of interest) but I really like what she says below.

It doesn’t matter where you are– corporate business, education, or law. It doesn’t matter whether you work for the largest company on the Fortune 500, you’re a freelance journalist, or you own your own business. We women are stuck.

Join the women’s team. Whether you like it or not, as far as the men are concerned, if you were born with XX chromosomes, you’re already on it. It doesn’t matter whether you work for a large corporation or you’re a one-woman shop. You might as well become an active player. You may be surprised by all the rewards you will reap.

Thanks to George R. Walther, who sent me a copy of his book What You Say is What You Get after I posted something here expressing an interest in learning more about how what we say and how we say it affects our reality.

Here’s a selection:

Whenever you seek others’ input and sugggestions, stimulate a free flow of ideas, no matter how crazy some might seem.

“That’s an unusual approach, let’s go with it and see where we end up.”