There seems to me to be a growing consciousness that our current leaders, local and government institutions and corporate organisations are failing to address the human needs of this time. We are unhappy that we have a continuing recession and we are unable to bring those who we largely see as the perpetrators of this situation to account.
Our indignation is fuelled almost daily as news items are revealed as to the depth of the financial crisis we are unwittingly part of.
Perhaps this is not the whole story. Elected members of our governments and investment bankers are all people after all and they are essentially the same as us with their fears and aspirations. So what is going on?
I think we may all be guilty to some degree as we largely bought into the boom periods in the Western World and liked the idea of getting rich without too much effort or responsibility. We borrowed beyond our short term means to pay back our personal and mortgage loans we took out to make our lives more comfortable. We thought that the rising value of our property would go on so we would be able to borrow more money against the property so we could afford our luxury items. We were greedy just as the bankers were who we now vilify. Yes governments could be firmer with financial controls but they are weekend by threats the financiers make about taking their money elsewhere. We too tell the government that we do not want to pay for services we see as a luxury so the government cuts spending as there is less income coming in as the economy slows.
We have got ourselves into a right mess and we don't know how to get out of it. We want more money and to pay less for goods. I don't think we can have it both ways. We want bankers to pay for their recklessness but it would be with our own money in a complicated sort of way. Governments do not seem able to stand up to bankers and seem incapable of telling us the truth of their ineffectiveness. We seem to be unable to hold either of them to account and to look at what we can do.
We need a different paradigm. Perhaps growth is not our God as we are led to believe. We can have good lives in the developed parts of the world if we have less. It's just the way we currently do things which makes us think we need to have lots of goods to survive. Perhaps it is time to step back and see what is really important in life. After all I am not suggesting we eradicate all technological advances. It may be that something simple like having one family car instead of two is a start. Perhaps selling your investment property in negative equity would save you some stress and give you some time back. Perhaps having more time for your children rather than fretting about moving to where the so called best school is. It has all got more and more frenetic to the point of seeming to be verging on pointless. Why are we here? It cannot be for all what we are constantly told surely?
We can re-educate ourselves and find personal solutions, not just by following the crowd and society's dash to external status and wealth. Fear of poverty and worthlessness may be your reason to continually strive in all of this but isn't there a place for internal happiness and love that doesn't require this constant battle to acquire? Of course you need an income and yes everybody knows you care that your family does well. There are however other ways you may be able to measure your growth rather than the financial rate race most of us seem to be in.
So how do you go about this process? The first thing is to just stop. Give yourself some time to see the bigger picture. Stop thinking you have no choice. Start thinking you may have other reasons for being alive. The more you make space for personal thinking in your life the more you may find there is another level of meaning waiting to inspire you with new options.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Thursday, December 8, 2011
I believe Spiritual guidance comes from within you.
Before you can love someone it will be necessary that you love yourself first.
Before you can respect someone it will be necessary that you respect yourself first.
Do you wait to be led or are you willing to lead knowing what you are going to do is absolutely right for you and that you are congruent and passionate about it? If so it does not matter what others may say about your actions.
Be self-reliant as a sign of your own affection for yourself. Other people have their own lives to live. They do not want to be coerced into affirming their love and need for you.
You are part of the universe. We really are all made of stars!
Before you can love someone it will be necessary that you love yourself first.
Before you can respect someone it will be necessary that you respect yourself first.
Do you wait to be led or are you willing to lead knowing what you are going to do is absolutely right for you and that you are congruent and passionate about it? If so it does not matter what others may say about your actions.
Be self-reliant as a sign of your own affection for yourself. Other people have their own lives to live. They do not want to be coerced into affirming their love and need for you.
You are part of the universe. We really are all made of stars!
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Life and Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs has died at the ridiculously young age, by today's standards, of 56. He had told people he had pancreatic cancer in 2004. I expect all of us know he was the joint founder of an American company called Apple. Apple's market value is estimated at £227bn. Steve Jobs personal wealth was estimated at £5.4bn in 2010.
These are enormous numbers yet he is dead. No amount of financial wealth made it possible for him to survive the cancer. I am not certain I know what death means and I do not know what it meant for him, or for any of us, but it is obvious that, whatever it is and however it happens, it is unavoidable.
I have felt a sense that if you do something more right, use your life more meaningfully, it will not happen to you. You can avoid death somehow, or at least it is still a long way off and does not have to be dealt with right now. By ignoring the fact of our own death we can continue scurrying around keeping busy with only minimal reflection on what it all means.
Steve Job's death has focused me in on the random nature of our own survival in this life. I cannot say what happens next, following what I expect to be the cessation of my own consciousness but I can be in awe and appreciation for the engagement I have with life even though what I have now is beyond my full understanding.
I feel a sadness at his death and technologically speaking he has made a difference but it has also given me a freshness to see that we can lose life long before our expected time. I am therefore grateful that I am alive and happy to be here. It is not the difficulties I am focused on at the present time but the celebration that I can function healthily and can still have the energy to think of new ways of being of service to the world I find myself in.
I believe he was a Buddhist. I hope his faith and what it meant was good for him.
He once said "Great things in business are not done by one person, they are done by a team of people." Perhaps I would like to expand that to 'Great things are not done by one person but by all of us working together'.
These are enormous numbers yet he is dead. No amount of financial wealth made it possible for him to survive the cancer. I am not certain I know what death means and I do not know what it meant for him, or for any of us, but it is obvious that, whatever it is and however it happens, it is unavoidable.
I have felt a sense that if you do something more right, use your life more meaningfully, it will not happen to you. You can avoid death somehow, or at least it is still a long way off and does not have to be dealt with right now. By ignoring the fact of our own death we can continue scurrying around keeping busy with only minimal reflection on what it all means.
Steve Job's death has focused me in on the random nature of our own survival in this life. I cannot say what happens next, following what I expect to be the cessation of my own consciousness but I can be in awe and appreciation for the engagement I have with life even though what I have now is beyond my full understanding.
I feel a sadness at his death and technologically speaking he has made a difference but it has also given me a freshness to see that we can lose life long before our expected time. I am therefore grateful that I am alive and happy to be here. It is not the difficulties I am focused on at the present time but the celebration that I can function healthily and can still have the energy to think of new ways of being of service to the world I find myself in.
I believe he was a Buddhist. I hope his faith and what it meant was good for him.
He once said "Great things in business are not done by one person, they are done by a team of people." Perhaps I would like to expand that to 'Great things are not done by one person but by all of us working together'.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Thoughts for everyday
This morning I was reading a small book with poignant sayings in it that I find inspiring. I wondered if I could add some of my own. To my amazement I had written 29 of my own within an hour. I will share them with you now. Actually it ended up as 35. I hope you find them useful. Perhaps you can think some of your own.
I present them to you now in the same order I thought of them:
- Start today.
- Start defining the you you want to be.
- Behave as if you already have what you want.
- Guilt puts nothing right.
- Allow progress to proceed.
- Stubbornness comes from you, release it.
- The right behaviour works for you AND others.
- Always be kind to yourself.
- Quietly know that you are valid and deserve good things in life.
- When the sun shines look to it and feel its wonderful warmth on your skin and spirit.
- You can be many things and still be whole.
- Thoughts, emotions and spirit can guide you wisely. Your physical body will carry you forward.
- It sometimes helps me to be of fewer words as sometimes others listen to less.
- Less is more meaningful when it comes to internal chatter, social competitiveness, resentment and negativity.
- What's so beautiful to you that makes you cry with pleasure? For me it is music.
- When you feel something know where it comes from before you give it a voice.
- If there is something you do or feel that you think is wrong still know you are as good as the best role model you have? It's just you do not know, or need to know, what it is they do not like about themselves.
- What you resist persists; let it go like water in a stream.
- You can be 'on message' with yourself. If you lack motivation you are possibly trying to carry out an 'ought' or a 'should'.
- Ask yourself what do you really want to do? Not why you can't really do something.
- Learn from compromise as it is a kindness.
- You can do different things on different days. You don't have to be consistent.
- Practice what you want to be good at and grateful for what you already are.
- You have the same amount of resources that the people you look up to have.
- Use what you have to be you and rejoice in your uniqueness.
- Be loveable and you will be loved.
- Only what you believe in is possible.
- Forgiveness releases resentment and empowers you to start again.
- If you want progress for yourself release your resentments and know that anything human is possible for you.
- You have a choice in every moment. You can use it wisely or think you have no choice.
- Allow yourself as many options as you can. They can all be good.
- There is no right or wrong solution. All answers to problems can be positive.
- Think about the abundance you have as being grateful helps it to grow.
- Everything you imagine in you mind is possible except perhaps really being able to fly horizontal over long distances unaided.
- Happiness is only truly experienced when it is shared.
I present them to you now in the same order I thought of them:
- Start today.
- Start defining the you you want to be.
- Behave as if you already have what you want.
- Guilt puts nothing right.
- Allow progress to proceed.
- Stubbornness comes from you, release it.
- The right behaviour works for you AND others.
- Always be kind to yourself.
- Quietly know that you are valid and deserve good things in life.
- When the sun shines look to it and feel its wonderful warmth on your skin and spirit.
- You can be many things and still be whole.
- Thoughts, emotions and spirit can guide you wisely. Your physical body will carry you forward.
- It sometimes helps me to be of fewer words as sometimes others listen to less.
- Less is more meaningful when it comes to internal chatter, social competitiveness, resentment and negativity.
- What's so beautiful to you that makes you cry with pleasure? For me it is music.
- When you feel something know where it comes from before you give it a voice.
- If there is something you do or feel that you think is wrong still know you are as good as the best role model you have? It's just you do not know, or need to know, what it is they do not like about themselves.
- What you resist persists; let it go like water in a stream.
- You can be 'on message' with yourself. If you lack motivation you are possibly trying to carry out an 'ought' or a 'should'.
- Ask yourself what do you really want to do? Not why you can't really do something.
- Learn from compromise as it is a kindness.
- You can do different things on different days. You don't have to be consistent.
- Practice what you want to be good at and grateful for what you already are.
- You have the same amount of resources that the people you look up to have.
- Use what you have to be you and rejoice in your uniqueness.
- Be loveable and you will be loved.
- Only what you believe in is possible.
- Forgiveness releases resentment and empowers you to start again.
- If you want progress for yourself release your resentments and know that anything human is possible for you.
- You have a choice in every moment. You can use it wisely or think you have no choice.
- Allow yourself as many options as you can. They can all be good.
- There is no right or wrong solution. All answers to problems can be positive.
- Think about the abundance you have as being grateful helps it to grow.
- Everything you imagine in you mind is possible except perhaps really being able to fly horizontal over long distances unaided.
- Happiness is only truly experienced when it is shared.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Words that can help you today
Real healing is about surrender and forgiveness. Letting go and release.
When you read inspirational things don’t use it to judge others. Use it to bring awareness to yourself.
Focus not on outcomes but on intention, purpose and what you want to give.
Commit your mistakes to forgiveness and humour and learn from them.
Worry is a form of self attack.
You are never too old to love, to laugh, think positively, be truly present and commit to a new beginning. Put the past where it belongs and become refreshed.
When you read inspirational things don’t use it to judge others. Use it to bring awareness to yourself.
Focus not on outcomes but on intention, purpose and what you want to give.
Commit your mistakes to forgiveness and humour and learn from them.
Worry is a form of self attack.
You are never too old to love, to laugh, think positively, be truly present and commit to a new beginning. Put the past where it belongs and become refreshed.
The best things in life are free:
This may surprise you, it surprised me and I like surprises.
The best things in life are free. We have all heard the phrase and when I started to list things that are free I was amazed by how many good things in life are actually free.
Here is my list, can you add your own to in? I will be pleased to hear from you.
How much does it cost to be the following?
Honest
Happy
Healthy
Emotionally Intelligent
Friendly
Loving
Intimate
Sexual
Smiling
Content
Relaxed
Mindful
Caring
Aware
Spiritual
Laughing
Pleasant
Polite
Passionate
Ethical
Achieving
In the present
Free
Confident
Full of self-esteem
Supportive
Independent
Strong
Reasonable
Self disciplined
Adventurist
Creative
Gentle
Trusting
… I rest my case.
Having things can be ‘quick fixes’ that change nothing about you in the longer term. Do long term things that encourage real change.
The best things in life are free. We have all heard the phrase and when I started to list things that are free I was amazed by how many good things in life are actually free.
Here is my list, can you add your own to in? I will be pleased to hear from you.
How much does it cost to be the following?
Honest
Happy
Healthy
Emotionally Intelligent
Friendly
Loving
Intimate
Sexual
Smiling
Content
Relaxed
Mindful
Caring
Aware
Spiritual
Laughing
Pleasant
Polite
Passionate
Ethical
Achieving
In the present
Free
Confident
Full of self-esteem
Supportive
Independent
Strong
Reasonable
Self disciplined
Adventurist
Creative
Gentle
Trusting
… I rest my case.
Having things can be ‘quick fixes’ that change nothing about you in the longer term. Do long term things that encourage real change.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Wholebeing
I want to introduce you to a useful personal reality born from a concept I have been thinking about for sometime. I am calling it "Wholebeing".
I have often wondered why we look at individual aspects of ourselves rather than the whole. When I think of the whole I think of our physical, emotional and spiritual components. I do not experience them as being separate so why would I want to treat them separately. When I experience fear there is a tightening of my stomach and urgency in my brain. Both my emotion and my body are acting to work out a resolution. My body and my mind are deciding what to do.
All three feed each other. If you are physically fit you are more likely to be taking the action that helps your emotional health. If you listen with awareness to your true self at the spiritual level you will be more likely to feel content with your life. This will enable you to be emotionally happier and your physical wellbeing healthier.
There is something called Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs; you may be familiar with it.
Notice that it talks about Physiological security at the bottom and works up to what Maslow calls Self-actualization at the top. I see the physical, emotional and spiritual aspects of being human all represented in the above diagram so you can usefully see it as a diagram of "Wholebeing"
In a nutshell then "Wholebeing" is a unifying theory to have a healthy, happy and meaningful life.
I will be relating my ideas about "Wholebeing" as time goes by.
I have often wondered why we look at individual aspects of ourselves rather than the whole. When I think of the whole I think of our physical, emotional and spiritual components. I do not experience them as being separate so why would I want to treat them separately. When I experience fear there is a tightening of my stomach and urgency in my brain. Both my emotion and my body are acting to work out a resolution. My body and my mind are deciding what to do.
All three feed each other. If you are physically fit you are more likely to be taking the action that helps your emotional health. If you listen with awareness to your true self at the spiritual level you will be more likely to feel content with your life. This will enable you to be emotionally happier and your physical wellbeing healthier.
There is something called Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs; you may be familiar with it.
Notice that it talks about Physiological security at the bottom and works up to what Maslow calls Self-actualization at the top. I see the physical, emotional and spiritual aspects of being human all represented in the above diagram so you can usefully see it as a diagram of "Wholebeing"
In a nutshell then "Wholebeing" is a unifying theory to have a healthy, happy and meaningful life.
I will be relating my ideas about "Wholebeing" as time goes by.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Not broken
We are extraordinary beings. The world of celebrity, reaching us through the various portals of the media, put us in our place making us feel inadequate, unattractive, stuck where we are and thinking that we can never reach their dizzy heights.
Who really are these super humans? How is it we are told that they have everything and we can only just look on weakly? Well, as if you didn't already know, they are just the same as you and me. They have good and bad days, emotional highs and lows and are here experiencing the same things as we do. There is no real separation between us and them. Everyone of us is unique.
So why look on with such longing. Why read about their glamorous life’s when yours is just as fascinating.
Some well known people have done extraordinary things and I know plenty of 'ordinary' people (I don't think anyone is ordinary) who are doing extraordinary things. In fact I suggest that if you did not have help getting to the top with money or connections then your achievements are greater than those we watch from afar who did start from a better place than yourself.
We are not broken but we might think we are if we keep comparing ourselves to the stars of the media circus. Rejoice in yourself not cower in someone else's shadow.
Who really are these super humans? How is it we are told that they have everything and we can only just look on weakly? Well, as if you didn't already know, they are just the same as you and me. They have good and bad days, emotional highs and lows and are here experiencing the same things as we do. There is no real separation between us and them. Everyone of us is unique.
So why look on with such longing. Why read about their glamorous life’s when yours is just as fascinating.
Some well known people have done extraordinary things and I know plenty of 'ordinary' people (I don't think anyone is ordinary) who are doing extraordinary things. In fact I suggest that if you did not have help getting to the top with money or connections then your achievements are greater than those we watch from afar who did start from a better place than yourself.
We are not broken but we might think we are if we keep comparing ourselves to the stars of the media circus. Rejoice in yourself not cower in someone else's shadow.
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