Eye of the storm

Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass or waiting for the sunshine. We cannot create sunshine neither can we avoid storms.

So what do we do, when we are in the midst of a storm and see no ray of sunshine ….. ?

A storm could be anything : a health challenge, It could be tough financial situation , family issues, relationship breakups, business downtime, may be all of them at the same time or just a mental chaos of many small situations happening at the one time.

   

At times, our willpower is strong enough to keep our ship sailing. Harder the storm, stronger the will power,or faith. Our will power/ faith can help us sail through many tough times.  

At times we get help from outside sources. It could be a close friend who offers a listening ear, a compassionate family member or a friend, maybe a book or an inspiratioanl audio or video we come across on social media or  guidance from a mentor or spiritual leader who we look up to. Whatever the source may be , it can serve as an anchor that prevents our ship from sinking . Its a support at right time . We all need it from time to time.

We learn to take one day at a time when we go through challenges like loss in business during down time or a seeing loved one in pain, or you suffered huge financial loss, or you experience crack in  relationships. It may be hard to comprehend our future or reconcile our past right away, so we learn to live one day at a time holding on to our anchors, keeping our will power and our faith strong and figuring it out along the way.

Then there are some storms that I wish no one ever gets to experience. They can test your will power or faith beyond anything you can ever imagine. They will put your faith to test , I mean ultimate test. No amount of support or will power seems enough to save your ship from sinking . This is when nothing seems to work  and you see no way out whatsoever. What do we do during these storms …………… ?

Time like this unimaginable storms, taking one day at a time may seem very long, even few hours may seem very hard. You feel like you have been choked…. gasping for air…..anxiety is at its peak, balance is almost lost. No amount of support seems strong enough… …

What do we do …. ?

At times like this, its all about living one breath at a time, not one day or one hour . Yes, its just One Breath At A Time . You take one deep breath and then next …. Ok …. you survived this …. now next breath. You live just one breath at a time.

Each breath gives you little bit of peace and you did not choke . Just few breaths of peace is good enough to give you little strength, little hope . Its like few rays of sunshine peeking through thick dark clouds...scary clouds.

This is enough for you to stay afloat a little bit longer.  Just one breath at a time will take you in the “eye of the storm”, a resting place. Just few peaceful moments will probable remove clouds from our mind and give us little clarity to even begin to think straight . We can then find our flow in the storm.

“ In God I live , breath and have my being “

Storm will pass in its own time, Sun will shine in due time. Neither storms are permanent nor is sunshine.

Change is the only thing we can be sure of . Impermanence is the way of life.

That one breath which is neither touched by the past nor by the future , pure uncontaminated breath has the power to take us through ….and help us find our way.

Each storm makes us little bit stronger and more prepared for next voyage.

How to get your enthusiasm back .....

 "Enthusiasm, Optimism & Contentment springs from faith in the goodness of the self and Life."

It is very simple yet very deep. Just contemplating on it brings a greater awareness.

So next time we need a dose of enthusiasm and optimism , and we all do from time to time, we need to check our Faith-O- Meter and look for goodness in self and in life. We get so consumed with challenges in life and if we are not centered enough, our self talk can create lots of doubts and criticism not only toward life but also toward our self . That is when we lose confidence and lose faith that there still is goodness in our self and in life.

As long as our creator still loves us , there has to be some goodness in us .  If we cannot find anything , just that stamp " made by " on us is enough. That tag is precious .  And all things with the same tag , or we can say same "brand name " has same goodness associated with it. It's just a small shift in mindset . 

Just thinking about it creates good feelings inside .

So if you know someone who needs enthusiasm , you just have to show goodness to them and build there faith . It is not the faith in future or faith in your supporters, or faith in their capabilities, it's faith in the fact that there still is goodness in them and in life . And that is the faith in the creator, who still is in charge and is in process of creating His art . It's when we are in awe of all that is, we create that electrifying energy within that is termed as Optimism and Enthusiasm.

Add serenity to it and we get contentment.

What you resist, persist

What ever you try to run away from, will keep running towards you ...

We think we can outrun by running fast or shove it away by distracting ourselves with addictions.
But the fact is, more we try to run away, closer we get towards whatever we are running from. Running away only gets us more exhausted .

As Eckhart Tolle says “Whatever you fight, you strengthen, and what you resist, persists.”

Faster you try to run away from a dog, faster dog runs towards you .

More we get scared of bullies , more we get bullied.

More we fear, bigger our fear becomes.

More we try to get rid of addictions, harder it becomes.

More we try to win, harder it becomes to win .

More we run away from difficult people , more we seems to attract difficult people in our lives.

More we want to run away from bad relationships, more our relationships turns bad

More we try not to get hurt or upset , more we get upset and hurt.

More we try to run away from depression , more we get depressed.

More you we try to run away from negativity , more negative situations will come towards us.

More we try to forget painful memories, more it will haunt us.

More we try not to think about something, more it will stay in our thoughts.

Only way out is to stop running, take a deep breath and face it, let it come in full throttle, be in it face to face, with an attitude of no turning back. Face our feelings, fears, hurt, pain, anxieties, stress....

Insight and being present face to face is the way out of it . Being present with what we are feeling will open the door to the freedom. We will realize facing what we want to run away from, is so much easier than running away from it . It is not that scary when we face it . Short term pain of facing it, is much better than continuous pain for ever.
Facing it will uncover the mystery hence solve the puzzle.

This is what will build self growth muscles, raising us to the next level.

So lets stop resisting and  face it and end it once for all. There is the freedom on the other side.

 “Whatever you fight, you strengthen, and what you resist, persists.”

Bringing awareness and insight will open doorways.

What is your journey ?

" What is a journey ?

A journey is not a trip.
Its not a vacation .
Its a process. A discovery.
Its a process of self discovery.
A journey brings us face to face with ourselves.
A journey shows us not only the world, but how we fit in it.
Does the person create the journey
or does the journey creates the person?
The journey is life itself.
Where will life take you ? " ... Louis Vuitton

I feel, A person creates a journey and then journey creates a person .
In the end it's who you become in the process and not where you go..
It's not how long it takes, it's how you take it ....
It's the process not the destination ....
It's not the result or the accolades because that will fade away .... and it does not last for ever ...

so what is your journey......... ?

I believe.....

I believe, 

   life is beautiful and life is to enjoy.

I believe ,

   life is not easy, it can be challenging at times but it is worth it.

I believe,

  all challenges are lessons for us to learn or opportunities for growth

I believe,

   in balance. Equanimity is a very big virtue or like a special power that can assist us on our journey        called life.

I believe,

  If we don't know what love is then we don't know who God is.
I believe,

  we should forgive others and our self for our own good.

I believe,

   loving oneself is like telling God, " What you created is wonderful, Thanks for this gift, I will take   good care of it. "

I believe,

   practicing peace does not mean keeping quite, it just means not reacting but responding from a          inner space.

I believe,

  we all have gifts and they are meant to be shared and used for the service of others. What is the point of having candle and not lighting it up in dark. 

I believe,

   praise and criticism both are strong winds that can blow us away unless we are grounded.

I believe,

  people need love more than anything else.

I believe,

   God is good God who always loves us in spite of what we do and don't do .

I believe,

  no one can hurt us without our permission, that does not mean people will not do anything hurtful .

I believe,

  blaming others for our life is like hammering a nail in the air. 

I believe,

  people can sense what you think about them even before you say a word.

I believe,

  thoughts travel faster than light and sound.

I believe,

  we are never alone

I believe,

  we can always count on two friends, God and our intuitions.

I believe,

   it is more important to " be " than to "do "...

I believe,

   greatest gift we can give to our self is to be fully present at any moment .

I believe 

   greatest gift we can give anyone is our presence.

I believe,

   we owe it to our kids to grow our self, we cannot give what we don't have.

I believe,

  it is absolute waste punishing our self or others for the past mistakes. 

I believe,

  more I know, more I know that I know so little.

I believe,

  every one has something special in them.

I believe,

   we need not apologize for who we are .

I believe,

   we need to be who we really are not  pretend to be who we think people want us to be.

I believe,

  when we are one with present moment, than anything we create will be a masterpiece, be it a painting, music, composition, a book, a photograph, an invention, a movie or simply a delicious meal.
I believe,
  deep listening and loving speech are priceless virtues.
I believe,
  we all have talents and capabilities way more than what we think we have.
I believe,
   highest form of freedom is freedom from judging others and judging ourselves .
I believe,
   at every given moment, we have a choice to choose our attitude .

Sunrise Faith

Worry , how to get out of it ...

Worry :
Why has worry become our all time companion and robbing away all the joy, peace, happiness, creativity away? At some point it just takes life away from life.

If we look at life objectively, we only worry about our future and there are two kinds of things in future that we worry about .
1. Things that are not on our control .
   hmmmm Why worry about things that are not in our control ? Think about it.
Since it is not in our control, why worry ...We cannot do anything about it anyways. So just let it be. See what can we do now to be better prepared. If there is nothing we can do now, then just remove this file from your mind and put it in "File Closed" box. Next time when the thought tries to pop up in your head and tries to steal away your mental energy, just shove it away. You really cannot do anything about it. Its all about being very alert and mindfully about what is going on in our mind and keep a strong control.
Let your mind know, "Who's the boss !! "

2, Things that are in our control .
    Why are we worried about things that are in our control ??? Really , why are we worried?
 There is nothing much to say, just think about it for a moment .....it is on our control, so lets just relax, take a deep breath and thank God. We can handle it, because it is in our control. Worrying about it will just rob us away of our creative energy and physical energy. So its time to tighten your seat belts and take a strong grip on your mind and just get the job done.

How about past .....
Past is gone , we cannot touch it or see it anymore. There is no "undo" button or "go back "button. So, lets just not relive past again and again by bringing it in our thoughts. We can only control what we can do now. It is such a waste of our mental space and physical energy in re-living past, specially when we are not happy about it. Thinking about past over and over again and getting upset about it now is like saying," i didn't like the taste of that food" and i am choosing to eat it again and again ".

Most precious resource we have in our hand is present moment. We cannot save it , we cannot put it in a bank , we cannot reuse it. We cannot even borrow it later.

We just have to fully live it and not let it slip from our hand.

Let past remain in past, let future remain in future, lets just live now. God whispers in the present moment, His fragrance is only in the present moment.

Get out of the feeling of being stuck.

When you feel,"I cannot do anything else, I have tried my best, I did everything I can , but nothing seems to work", this is what I know works all the time.

Here is a simple law, it's a universal law and it works all the time . "Give, what you want to get and give with pure heart and you will get it multiple times".  It is not a rule because rules can be broken.

When I was very young, I heard about this family, when ever they were tight with money, they would open up free kitchen," langar ". They would open there house to feed people . I heard him saying, "Give, give and give, more you give, more will come back to you, feed people with open heart and God will take care of your food."

Whatever you need, go share that with others and you will get it multiple folds automatically in due time.

If you are in need of money, find ways to give some money to whoever you feel is more needy than you, even if it is a dollar or two.Your financial situation will be taken care of.

If you need time, look around and see who can you help with your time. Give them some of your time. You will get time you need and much more

If you feel lonely and feel depressed, look around , you will find someone who is lonely , help them feel better, give them company. Help them overcome loneliness, you will not only get over your loneliness but will even forget that you ever felt lonely once.

If you feel you lack love in your life, look around , find someone who needs love, you will find someone in your family for sure and give them a hug or a listening ears. When you sit for your meditation, spend 5 minutes to send some energy of love to someone you feel needs it . Instantly you will feel loved.

If you feel your kids are troubling , go help another kid get on a right path.

If your relationships have issues, go help someone else mend their relationships.

If you are struggling in your career, look around , you will find someone who needs guidance in their career. Help that person , give them your guidance.

If you feel lost, help someone else find way .

If you feel you need help in your life, find someone else who you can help .

If you feel your business is on stand still, look around and see who can you help in their business. May be help someone with your contacts or your expertise . You will see unexpected help , growth in your business .

Whatever we give with intention of serving , will come back to us multiple folds.

You reap, whatever you sow.
You reap much more than you sow.
Sowing is in our control, reaping time is not.
You may sow seeds in one place and reap harvest in another place.

Just give it a try, you will be amazed with results ... so have fun and enjoy a life of abundance.
Don't worry of small turbulence, they will come and go. Day ends with night and night always ends with day. Nothing is permanent . Now is the only time that matters so enjoy this moment...

9/13
Came across this video today, it explains it so beautifully .....