"Today is another day of a bunch of another days.

Tomorrow will be another day in a stack of days yet to come.

A day is a day.

They come and go like the wind.

They start when you wake up and end when you sleep.

There is nothing special about any day other than

the significance we give it.

What is special is right now.

This one moment is where you are.

It is what you are doing.

It is what you are feeling.

It is what you are dreaming.

It is what you are living.

It is like a lump of clay waiting to be moulded.

Any one can do it,

 you don't need skill to mould it,

but practice makes perfect.

Nobody can mould it for you

and there isn't a person on Earth

that can take it from you.

Cherish it with your heart mind and soul

because it is yours and yours alone.

Mould it to embody what you want and

everything else will follow."

Chris Johnson

"On Giving"

by Kahlil Gibran

There are those who give little of the much which they have

and they give it for recognition and their hidden desire

makes their gifts unwholesome.

And there are those who have little and give it all.

These are the believers in life and the bounty of life,

and their coffer is never empty.

There are those who give with joy,

and that joy is their reward.

And there are those who give with pain,

and that pain is their baptism.

And there are those who give and know not pain in giving,

nor do they seek joy, nor give with mindfulness of virtue;

They give as in yonder valley the myrtle breathes its fragrance into space.

Through the hands of such as these God speaks,

and from behind their eyes He smiles upon the earth.

"Occasionally in life there are those moments
of unutterable fulfillment

 which cannot be completely explained
by those symbols called words.

Their meanings can only be articulated
by the inaudible language of the heart."

Martin Luther King Jr.

"Your imagination is your preview of life's coming attractions."

 Albert Einstein

the great image above is from an awesome site called:

 a beautiful revolution.

go take a look it is delicous!

The Love Jar

This is such a lovely idea and an incredible Valentines gift that has some real meaning.

Couples individually write out an agreed upon number of "requests" or "ideas" that would make them feel loved or special. Put them in a jar (you can dress it up or not) and once a week each spouse draws from the other spouses ideas and does it sometime that week.

Some couples write 52 ideas, one a week with enough for a year, others write 4 or 5 at a time.

The gist is that you write out  ideas of things that would make you feel special; fold up your papers (2 separate colors) and then each week you draw your partners color and they draw yours.

You can obviously set some parameters like the length of request or how much can be spent. Try to keep it simple yet fun and nurturing.

I love this idea because it gives you a way to do something special for your partner in a language they understand. It is also great because it's reciprocal and both partners are being nurtured and recognised.

Another awesome idea is a jar filled with lots of reasons about why you love your partner.

The inside of the jar is filled with a bunch of little paper hearts or momentos that complete the sentence "I love you because....", with reasons about why you love that person.

Some suggestions were:

• Skittles: You are the gold at the end of my rainbow.

• Band-aid: Because I trust you to help me heal all my wounds.

• Cotton balls: For how cozy and soft your skin feels against mine.

• Toothpick: I wouldn't pick anyone else.

• Rubber band: For how flexible and understanding you are.

• Lucky penny: How lucky I was to find you.

• Mirror: Because you help me see the real me.

• Seeds: Because I look forward to growing old with you.

• Chapstick: For all the making-out we haven't done yet.

• Popcorn kernels: For how often you pop into my mind.

• Polaroid of you laughing or with a huge smile: In case you need a reminder of how happy you make me.

Relationship wellness is crucial to so many parts of the balance in our lives.

Why not spend time creating a positive, healthy relationship.

What you focus on is what you get, so get cracking on that jar!

"To be whole we must be willing to be both strong and vulnerable

and it is sometimes in our deepest vulnerability

 that our greatest empowerment is born."

Jude Currivan

 'The 13th Step'

“Knowledge is not about remembering words or thoughts.

It’s about applying principles to your life and living them.

You may forget what you have been taught,

but you will never forget what you have learned."

 

Eric Allen

The point is to wake up, not to earn a PhD in waking up.

Simply put, waking up is job one,

and then if you still want to liberate all beings

or promote world peace

or save the whales,

great ….

lucky beings, lucky world, lucky whales.

But the bottom line remains the same.

You’re either awake or you’re not.

Jed Mckenna

"A good motivation is what is needed:

compassion without dogmatism,

without complicated philosophy;

just understanding that others

are human brothers and sisters

and respecting their human rights

and dignities.

That we humans can help each other

is one of our unique human capacities."

- Dalai Lama

The Global Oneness Project is exploring how the radically simple notion of interconnectedness can be lived in our increasingly complex world.

Since 2006, they've been traveling the globe gathering stories from people who base their lives and work on the understanding that we bear great responsibility for each other and our shared world.

You can watch some amazing films from their  film library which is available for free from their website.

" We hope that by showing diverse expressions of oneness—in fields including sustainability, spirituality, indigenous culture, conflict resolution, and social justice—others will be inspired to create solutions to personal and community challenges from their own lived understanding of oneness."


It's well worth a look.

http://www.globalonenessproject.org/

Life is happening - So Let it!

Quite literally everything we know just happens. We can of course pretend for a while to be the doer of all of the happenings in our personal life, but if you look closely to each moment anew, with an open mind, a fresh perception, then you will see how everything that happens, literally does just that: It happens.

Even when we believe ourselves to be the doer of something, even when we are in the very act of doing something using our thought/intention and body, if we become aware of it in that moment, we will see how even that which we call 'doing' is simply happening as an effortlessly appearing phenomenal process. There is no effort in any appearance of Life. Life does not know effort. Life simply happens naturally and effortlessly. Effort is that which we mentally 'feel' when we believe ourselves to be the doer of our lives.


The Relationship between Doership and the Personal Identity

Whenever we identify with a thought about who we are, we automatically become the doer of the process at hand. Or so we believe/sense. The personal Identity and the sense of being the doer, are essentially one and the same illusion; a mere thought-projection. Both the sense of being a somebody and the sense of being the doer, will naturally resolve in Awareness.

'Resolve in Awareness' simply means that both senses will be seen to be simply non-existent; we will see how it's merely a sense derived from our belief/though-process. So in actuality, there isn't even something real that needs to resolve, it's pure fiction in the first place and that is simply how we see it from awareness/being. All that arises, is immediately free and resolved as being pure awareness already!


Awareness Has no Obstacles

There has never been any obstacle to free awareness/You. The personal identity as well as the sense of doership are no obstacles either, because both can be known to arise in free awareness right now... And all that we can be aware of, including our thoughts about obstacles or our sensations of being or doing, can not be an obstacle for awareness, for what is aware of them? And is that awareness which is aware of them in any way imprisoned by these mere ideas/sensations that appear within awareness's perception?

You see... Awareness is forever beyond anything that ever appears within it's perception. It's always present as the incorruptible knower of all perceptions; and perceptions themselves, are nothing other than awareness. So there is only the One Knower, expressing itself within its own Unity as seeming forms. All is free from the get-go! No need to alter, change, suppress or get rid of anything that you feel you are, nor is there any need to acquire, achieve, create or hope for in order to realize that you are That One. Simply know all these sensations of 'being someone, doing something, going somewhere' to arise as already free ideas within changeless, motionless awareness!


Let Life Happen Effortlessly by Itself

We can just relax. Really friends, all we could ever really do is relax! We were just taught, raised and self-educated to believe ourselves to be the doer, manager and arranger of everything. While I am certainly not suggesting that responsibility is a myth to be dismissed or that we should never 'do' anything, we can just relax while life, including doing, our mind and our body, plays it's game. Simply know, throughout all doership, the free, open, spacious nature of all that arises to be effortlessly present.

Even when we are performing with our minds and bodies a certain task, that's all perfectly happening as one with life itself, without effort. It's only our thoughts about that which we are doing that may tell us effort exists or that tell us that 'we' are actually 'doing' it. But these thoughts too, arise and dissolve effortlessly as sky-like appearances within sky-like awareness. Allow all 'doing' to be happening by itself, even while actively engaged and focused. While in a state of doing actively, simply notice how that state of mind which is focused and performing something or creating something, too is an effortless happening within awareness. It just all happens by itself without intervention or obstruction! Even seeming obstruction appears, evolves and disappears effortlessly!


The Effortless Result

Repeatedly, throughout your day, Know your sense of self, with all its thoughts and emotions as they arise continuously, to arise effortlessly without your help and attachment. Again and again take a moment to let life happen all by itself. Simply become aware of whatever situation is ongoing in your perception at that particular time, and know this situation to happen without any doing or effort in it. It just happens.

Life takes care of itself just fine, it doesn't need your belief in the sense of you being a doer. It has taken care of itself perfectly fine for timeless eternity and will continue to do so for timeless eternity. You can just rest with and as whatever unfold by itself. Don't feel responsible for everything that happens by reflecting everything back upon a fictitious sense of 'me', That's all just a guilt-play of thoughts and senses of 'me.' See that even this sense of being someone who is responsible for whatever he does/thinks/happens etc. arises/happens effortlessly as well! There is no rigidity or doing anywhere, there is no solid individual nature to be found in anyone or anything. All is the One Life taking care of itself.

From knowingly Being beyond, yet intrinsically one, as whatever effortlessly appears as Life itself, arises an unconditional Freedom, Wisdom and Compassion to go with the flow and it provides you with the best tools to be the best doer you can be! Sounds like a paradox, right? Well the more you become rested as you are, the more you will encounter seeming paradoxes when explained in words, that you will know to be of One Wisdom beyond explanations. Realize you are not the doer; let life happen by itself while not abandoning any doing as an act, and your actions will free themselves and become direct expressions of your realized freedom.

All is simply happening, see for yourself that nothing is ever 'done' as such. Knowing this, let it happen again and again until all moments are naturally seen to be effortlessly happening.

With Love,
Bentinho.

http://www.free-awareness.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=617