good morning {03.16.12} | hello spring allergies by Lori Paquette

When all your desires are distilled
You will cast just two votes
To love more
And be happy.

Hafiz

There's this idea that enlightenment exists outside of "real life". That we can have so-called spiritual experiences, but inevitably we must return to the real world of work, family, relationships and all the struggles we face each day.

However, awakening to the truth of Who You Are doesn't mean you leave your life behind. It doesn't mean you move to a mountain top and exist in a perpetual state of selflessness. It simply means you walk the journey of your life with the realization of who you really are — your essential Self. Carrying that knowledge and that wisdom with you, even as you move through your daily chores and experiences.

Your essential Self is not found somewhere "out there". It's not something to strive for or work toward.

It's simply the You that exists closer than that which you can observe and label. Whatever you can observe or label, is not You. It is merely phenomena that You are witnessing. Closer than all that, is a space of pure Being, that which cannot be observed or labelled.

When you let go of all questions about yourself, all expectations, all labels that you or others have applied to you, you are left only with this subtle space of Being. A space of living presence.

What is this space, exactly?

I Am.

I Am is a constant flow of presence, an ever-blossoming newness. It's like a river, flowing continually into the Now.

No history or future, just Being.

It is an emptiness that is somehow overflowing with aliveness. Observing, flowing, arising. Being. Without expectation or remembrance, without worry or fear.

I Am just... is.

And what arises in the space of I Am? Joy. A sense of wholeness and completeness.

Lightness. Love.

Not the kind of love that attaches to someone or something, but an experience of Love radiating. It can't be described with words, really. It's kind of an experience of Oneness, a joyful feeling of Being and presence.

And yet it's not really a feeling at all.

It just is.

...Now What?

We can take the truth and beauty of I Am with us, even as we return to our mind, and all the experiences of living life.

Even as we go through our day and all its drama, we can remember the truth of I Am: We are not the drama. We are not our sadness, our anxiety, our worry, our fear. We are not the perceived flaws in our personality and our body. We are not the struggle. These are all ripples on the surface of the water — we are the Ocean Floor, observing all of this.

As you set aside the time to turn down the volume of your mind, your expectations, and your labels of Self, you become more attuned to the I Am that is always present and essential beyond them. More and more you can "return" to this space for clarity and perspective — yet you aren't really returning. You're simply experiencing the essential Self, that which always is. You, without labels and observations.

Let this be your practice. To know your true Self, to awaken to it. To know the transparency of all the dramas that unfold throughout your day, how fleeting and non-essential they are, and to walk in the freedom of I Am. Let this be your journey.

And realize that the I Am that exists in You, also exists in all others. It is our most fundamental connection. I Am is the Source that we all arise from and return to. In this, we are brothers and sisters. We are One.

May a sense of love, compassion and an intimate understanding of each other arise in You from this realization.

May you walk in freedom and joy.

And may your priorities be simply this: To love more, and be happy.

Glorious Day :: Sunshine and Floral Bits by Lori Paquette

The greatest day in your life and mine is when we take total responsibility for our attitudes. That's the day we truly grow up.

John Maxwell

In a sense, we each live in our own private Universe — a world uniquely experienced by us.

This unique perception of the world around us is a direct projection of our current state of consciousness.

If you find that life is constantly happening "to you" (and often in spite of you), this is a signal that you aren't taking responsibility for your experience of life. It can be more subtle than this, however. Do you complain a lot? Do you find yourself criticizing people and systems on a regular basis? These are also signals.

All of these signals essentially point to the same thing: victim mentality.

Natural mandala from the top of a juicy fruit by Debbie Friedrich

We come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.

Sam Keen

We all come across folks who are difficult, irrational or unkind. Our first instinct may be to mirror the person, countering their negative attitude with one of our own. It's normal to feel angry, hurt, and frustrated. What's worse, is the time we spend afterward thinking about how we were treated, perhaps staying emotionally charged for hours after the encounter.

The purpose of this article isn't to show you how to turn a difficult person into someone easier to deal with, although that can certainly happen. The point here is to offer a deeper look at what is happening within you when you experience a difficult encounter, and to present a few ways of handling it in a more favorable way.

Dreamcatchers by Media123

If you took a blue spruce tree and planted it in the desert, it would obviously perish. How do we forget that we too are living systems, and each of us have unique environments, needs, and conditions within which we flourish or wither?

Dawna Markova

Creating a habit of gentleness toward yourself is not only a healthy, consciousness-raising practice for You — it also cultivates an authentic sense of gentleness toward others. Here are some of my favorite ways to recharge, refresh, renew and realign myself with gentleness:

Driftwood by Luke McGuff

The inner speech, your thoughts, can cause you to be rich or poor, loved or unloved, happy or unhappy, attractive or unattractive, powerful or weak.

Ralph Charell

Every day, all day long, there is a story unfolding in your mind. It's the story you're telling yourself about who you are, and what your world is all about.

What kind of person are you in this story of yours? If you were reading about this character in a book, what would you think about them? Would you like and respect them?

Cliffs of Panther by Sathish J

The moon does not fight. It attacks no one. It does not worry. It does not try to crush others. It keeps to its course, but by its very nature, it gently influences. What other body could pull an entire ocean from shore to shore? The moon is faithful to its nature and its power is never diminished.

Deng Ming-Dao
{ Everyday Tao: Living with Balance and Harmony }

I think one of our biggest challenges in day-to-day life can be communicating with people whose perspectives are very different from our own. It's natural for feelings of agitation and even hurt feelings to arise when our wants/needs aren't met in the space of an interaction, or when we get an unexpected response that doesn't match our view of a situation.

Sunrise at the Mittens by Laura Gooch

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice.

Meister Eckhart

I've recently begun a practice of being thankful for little things throughout the day, and ending each day with gratitude for at least 5 people or events that happened that day. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that it is changing my life.

Something very special happens when you focus your awareness on gratitude. Your mind illuminates. The tension in your body eases up a little bit. The Now becomes free-flowing and a sense of joy unfolds.

This is because gratitude is an acknowledgment of Oneness. It's a way of connecting to Oneness in a very intimate way. Think about something right now that you are thankful for, and notice how present you become. The feeling of lightness radiating from your center. The feeling of love and connection.

Grenadier Pond by Wanda Gould

The world I see all around me

Is the world that is inside me

And as I am slowly becoming

So the world is slowly becoming around me.


I cannot look outside for a way, a teaching,

Because I only see reflections of myself.

Only when I am silent and still

Do I glimpse the truth of Being.


As I Am

So this world is

And so I understand —


There is no outside in this Universe.

Everything is inside.

Waters Still by SusanG2

Within you there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself.

Hermann Hesse

When the storms of life come, it’s easy to feel beaten down and defeated. Failed expectations, broken hearts, financial troubles. Perhaps you're dealing with something now, as you read this, that you're having a hard time with.

I know how disheartening the storms of life can be. The feelings of insecurity and worry, the fear. I was once like a boat on the ocean – happy and content with sunny skies and still waters. But whenever the storms came, my peace and joy would go overboard. My sense of self was completely tied to the stories my circumstances, and I didn’t know how to weather serious storms.

So when they did come, I'd just retreat into despair, depression and loneliness.

Now, when the storms are at my door, I go to that place called center. Like the eye of the storm, center is that place of stillness around which everything revolves. Perfect stillness is central to all that is.

So how do you get there?

Sunrise in Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, India by Mehul Antani

We are what we choose to be.

Daniel Collinsworth

This past Thanksgiving weekend, I got to spend some time with my family – my parents, my brother, and my sister-in-law, all of whom I love very much.

In the midst of the laughing and good times we had, I felt a heaviness bubbling up from deep within me. As it surfaced – slowly, cumbersomely – I felt an unshakeable sadness covering me. An old sadness, one that had been hibernating for years.

Old heartache and regret.

Mountain in highlands of Scotland by Michael King

Become totally empty
Quiet the restlessness of the mind
Only then will you witness everything unfolding from emptiness.

Lao Tzu

A big part of our experience of the world is to know things as "things". We look around and see trees, buildings, people. Sometimes we notice their beauty, sometimes we don't.

Something special and amazing happens when we look beyond ideas of beauty/ugliness, interest/disinterest, and all the other concepts that we form around the phenomena in our world.

Parana River by Luis Argerich

The first duty of love is to listen.

Paul Tillich

Have you ever been talking to someone, and you could feel that they were really listening? Not just with their ears, but with every fiber of their being? It doesn't happen very often, does it?

True listening is what I call listening with your love and your presence. Being fully present with not only the words someone is speaking, but with the intentions and feelings behind and between them. Being present with your heart, your awareness, your intuition and your empathy. Using as many of your senses as possible to completely engage with what they are saying to you.

Burnham Beeches by Alice Rosen

The little things... there's nothing bigger, is there?

Vanilla Sky

I was walking to my car one day, when my eyes caught a view of the sun shining from behind a tree across the street... softly, quietly radiating through the branches and leaves. I became aware of a feeling: joy.

Dark Blue by The Infamous Gdub

Live your beliefs and you can turn the world around.

Henry David Thoreau

Imagine, for a moment, how different the world would be if we all put action to our beliefs.

Beliefs like... All beings deserve unconditional love and compassion... I also am worthy of unconditional love and compassion... My health and well-being are important... Waking up an hour earlier would benefit me greatly... Patience is a virtue... and others.

Now, imagine again, how different YOUR world would be if you put action to YOUR beliefs.

Shimmer by JuditK

At any moment, you have a choice, that either leads you closer to your spirit or further away from it.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Being mindful of your contribution to any given moment is a powerful way to consciously create your life. It starts with being present.

When you bring your full presence into a moment – whether you are alone, interacting with someone, working, meditating, etc. – you tune into a richness of experience/being. There is a tranquil center here where you can consciously choose the attitude, the belief or the action that you will bring into it.

Reeds by gradders52

The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly alive.

Thich Nhat Hanh

This moment. Take a deep breath and put your focus on right now.

Feel the calmness at the center of this moment, even if your surroundings aren't very calm. Feel the beauty, the joy, the unconditional love... all present, right here and now.

silhouette by krooooop

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.

Victor Frankl

Creating space is simply taking a moment to pause, and filling that pause with conscious awareness.

We can benefit from creating space in an endless number of situations. In fact, making a habit of creating space will literally transform your life in a positive and healing way! You may find that it also eliminates many bad habits in the process – it really is that powerful.