Sunday, October 26, 2008

Maria Duval - The Message

The Message
There is an awakening of consciousness occurring within humanity. You are part of a small but rapidly growing segment of the population that is awakening. You are amongst the first to develop that inner knowing and who recognize the shift in consciousness that is occurring in the world. Spirit is guiding you to read this. You have been called: to awaken from the dream and remember who you are and why you were born in order to fulfill the purpose of your existence. Those that are drawn to read this message are the ones ready to enlighten. Go within and become fully conscious of what this means. How does it feel? Does it resonate as being true for you? Go into that feeling, go to its source; follow it to the very core of your being. Read again the first paragraph slowly and if any of it does not feel right or you are not sure, go within and feel that out too. There is a purpose to your existence that is bigger than all the things your mind thinks you need or want. There is a bigger play that you are a part of that your own mind may not even be aware of. This is your moment of realization. This message also serves as an acknowledgement and confirmation of that which you are. That which was, is, and will be regardless of your form, name, time or place. One of the last tests those who have already awakened come to is the illusion of already being enlightened. A sense of "I" that identifies with having attained something, knows something, or be something. If there is anything to prove, that's a red flag. If there is superiority, exclusivity, or making other groups or ideas "wrong" that's a red flag too. Thinking you know, or don't know, is still thinking. Your spirit is already free. Come with me to a place where you are so filled with God's grace, Shakti, love, that it permeates every cell of your body. Merge with me into the pervasive spirit until all resistances wane and your heart may feel the living presence of God within you so strong that tears drip down your cheeks with joy. The Kingdom of Heaven lies within. It's a state of consciousness where you realize the living presence of God, by any name, within you and around you, everywhere, all the time, every day. The message is to stop ignoring and denying the Divine presence in your life, come back into the garden; you have only to open your heart to receive. Each breath you take is given to you through grace, just be aware of it. The more you look the more you will see. God never left. Most of humanity is still asleep, unaware of the bliss that awaits them. Are you experiencing that bliss? Would you like to? I would love to share this with you. When we all feel this we will create a loving and peaceful world. But first we need you. From the heart, Steven S. Sadleir

Steven S. Sadleir is the Director of the Self Awareness Institute and is recognized as a Shaktipat Master in two lineages. He has developed powerful distance learning programs for people of all cultures and faiths, trained thousands of people from all over the world, and welcomes all of you who are ready for full Self-Realization. Visit http://www.SelfAwareness.com for FREE guided meditation mp3s and ebook!

NO MORE EXCUSES � Becoming a Fearless Woman
If you�re on this page there is only one reason why you are here: burning curiosity about what it takes to become a Fearless Woman. Do you catch yourself telling the same old stories about why you can�t do something? There�s not enough money, not enough relationship, my health isn�t good, I�m too old, too fat, too tired. I used to dream about a future that was better, but that was then, and this is reality. I can�t have it. I�m not capable, I�m not worthy, I�m not good enough, I�m not qualified, I�m not creative, I�m not, I�m not, I�m not. Is that the yadda yadda of your life? If so, you�re not alone. 99.9% of us have that conversation almost daily. You want to know how to eliminate the pain of bad choices that has been plaguing your life, or you want to know how to make better choices. Oh, before I forget, � There�s no such thing as being Fearless. There are only the decisions we all make to show up to it. You see life is all about choices. I�ll give you an example from my own life. I�ve been married for 27 years and counting but it hasn�t always been easy. Several years ago I was ready to divorce my husband. I blamed him for all kinds of things, and I blamed him for creating the life we were living. It was all his fault. Until then, I�d always been good at blaming other people, blaming circumstances and blaming the past for the present predicament. I was ready to walk out on the marriage because I blamed him for creating the limitations in our life. We were constantly fighting about money, about where to live, and how to live. I wanted one thing, he wanted another. And then one day, in the midst of a huge fight, he said something quite profound that I had not heard before. He said �You made the choice to be with me!� For some reason, that phrase slammed home. For the first time in my life (and I was about 38 at the time) I truly understood that we all make choices about where we want to be in life. I had made my choice to be with him and whatever unhappiness I was experiencing, it was my choice. Choices are what dominate whether we have a good life, a bad life or an okay life. We make decisions that seem right for the moment, and frequently, there is an element of regret around the choices. We wish we had thought about it more, had taken more time to consider all the aspects, and had known what we know now. Did you ever hear the song No Regrets by Edith Piaf. She was known as �Sparrow; because she was 4 feet something, a national icon in France she captured the hearts of millions of people all over the world with her voice. Her life was a tragedy of bad marriages, bad decisions and eventually alcoholism and morphine addiction that killed her. She made the wrong choices. Did she have regrets? You bet she did. So did Judy Garland and Billie Holiday. The world stage is strewn with people who made bad choices that affected their lives. And there�s a simple reason for that. You see we build stories in our minds to lend credibility to our position. When you believe you�re no good, then you�ll literally create the life around that. All of these women above inherently believed they were flawed. A teacher in school tells you you�re useless so many times you believe it, and years later, when you�ve forgotten the teacher, there�s a little part of your unconscious that says you will never amount to much. So you go out of your way to create situations that allow you to continue living that story. We are all full of stories. Stories from our past, stories we tell ourselves, stories that other people tell us, and the stories are the things that pull us down because we believe them. I�ll be you can give me an example of negative stories you heard about yourself in the past that you believe to be true. So how do you change the stories? Well, it�s easy. You start changing the stories by telling yourself that they are stories. We all believe in a happy ending, don�t we? Right! Stories are language pictures. When we change the language we change the picture. Can you �see� how that would be? Change the language and you change the picture. The way we think about ourselves is critical to becoming a Fearless Woman. We make choices based on how we perceive ourselves. It took me a long time to figure this out, but when I did, it was so simple. If I tell myself I�m a Magnificent Woman, I become one. But I have to tell myself a few hundred times before the brain starts to get that the message has changed. I don�t need other people to confirm it. I say it enough times and I begin to believe my own story. We place too much emphasis on what other people think. We are concerned about how others perceive us, but here�s the stupid part of this. We can�t see ourselves clearly at all. We�ve created too many stories around who we are and what we�re capable of, and what we give to the world, to be able to see it clearly. Start observing how you think about yourself. When you catch yourself thinking something in the negative, write it down. For the next week, I want you every day to write down each time you catch yourself with a negative thought. You�ll be amazed at how often in a day that happens. We need to start becoming more conscious so we can choose the life we want wisely. We will still be run by the unconscious, but here�s the kicker, the more conscious you can become, the better life gets. We really can re-program our brains to filter out the negative, the rubbish, and put in the good stuff. It�s a lot like having a cupboard full of old food stuffs. The expiration date was months or years ago, and it�s taking up a lot of space. Our old stories are like that. They expired a long time ago. We need to throw them out and make room for new stuff to enter. When we choose our stories we choose our life. So, I�m here to challenge you. You�ve gone through at least 50 years of living and you�ve built up a solid library of stories that run your life. You can make all the excuses in the world for why you�re not doing, what you could be doing, what you don�t do, what you can�t do, and what you�d like to do if only�.. But I�m here to tell you� There are No More Excuses� We all make choices. If the choice you made is the wrong one, then change it again. None of us have to be locked into the place of Now And Forever. If that were true, then life would certainly not be worth living. I for one do not want to be the lassie fae Leith whose mother was urged to put me into the factory beside her so that I could learn to put labels on whisky bottles. If I�d done that I wouldn�t be here today, would I. We have all made choices that were the wrong ones. We�ve hurt ourselves, we�ve hurt others, and we�ve limited the expression of our true selves for many, many reasons. But we�re reached an age where we should know that the choices we have are much more than we�ve allowed ourselves to experience. I want you to know that you have a choice to recreate, to redo, to explore, have an adventure, move beyond the suffocating and limiting places that you feel locked into. We all have choices. Many of them are unconscious, but many of them are based on the reality of the moment. And if you don�t like the reality, then change it. When people say to me �But it�s ALWAYS been that way� I tell them there is no such thing as ALWAYS. There is only Until Today. Until today I have done it this way, but from this moment, I can choose to do it differently. You can choose to do things differently. It�s your life. We give so much of our lives away to others, and the result is we usually feel used up. Women in particular suffer from this syndrome. I�m not saying that we can�t be of service to others. That�s a whole other issue. What I�m saying is we can�t afford not to take care of ourselves. It is counter-productive to living a good life. We all want to live a good life, don�t we? I haven�t heard a single person tell me they didn�t want a good life. We all want better relationships with our significant others, a better job, more money, more free time, more vacations, a better body etc. It�s hard wired into us. So what stops us from getting there. Our stories. The things we tell ourselves and allow other people to tell us. Try this exercise. It will scare the living daylights out of you to begin with , but do it anyway. Say out loud in front of dozens of strangers that you�re a Magnificent Woman. Okay, so you can�t do that, then I want you to paste that phrase where you can see it every day. Use it as a screensaver. Remind yourself of that simple phrase and start to believe it is true. It�s true because you told yourself it was. You�re creating a new story. You�re changing the language of how you speak to yourself and you�re making choices that are good for you. Don�t let other people decide who you are. Decide for yourself. You�re a Fearless woman in midlife. What�s in the past is gone, what�s here today is the beginning of the rest of your life. It�s a clich�, I know, but it�s a very true saying. You have the rest of your life to create the life you want. We can expect to live another thirty to forty plus years beyond this point. Do we really want to continue making excuses for why we are not living the life we want? You can create the life you want. The power is in your decisions. And if you can�t decide for yourself, get some help. We all try to white knuckle our way through life when all we have to do is look around you and reach out to the people who want to help. Getting support is one of the greatest things you can do for yourself. I wouldn�t be here today if I didn�t have a long list of people who had mentored me, supported me, nurtured me and encouraged me to be bold and live life on my own terms. I�m not saying it�s easy. But what I will tell you is this. There is nothing, and I mean nothing, better than feeling like you get out of bed in the morning and you�re excited about what the day holds, knowing you are doing exactly what you want for yourself. There are NO MORE EXCUSES��.

Fearless Fifties coach and speaker Jacqueline Wales shows you how to become the woman you were always meant to be; how to take risks to strengthen your beliefs about who you are and grow more confident, secure and strong as you develop the life you want. For your f.ree copy of the Fearless Fifties newsletter and a bonus report Putting PASSION Back Into Your Life go to http://www.fearlessfifties.com Please contact jacqueline@fearlessfifties.com or call (718) 502 9332

Mindfulness Meditation and the Law of Attraction
Do you feel overhwelmed and at odds with your life? Does it seem like your mind rambles incessantly, as if you can never experience a moment of peace? Many people in our modern world describe their lives as frenzied and imbalanced. The good news is that it doesn't have to be this way. Many Asian cultures have understood something for the past several thousand years that modern people are gradually beginning to discover: That we have to learn how to work with our minds in a conscious and healthy way if we are to attract peace, abundance, and joy into our lives. Without a consistent method of cultivating awareness, we will be forever resigned to circumstances that feel out of our control. That is why so many modern people are struggling. We have lost the ancient practice of connecting our inner world of thoughts, feelings, and energy with our outer world of the circumstances we attract into our lives. Because of this, everything that appears seems to be random. We lose trust in the unfolding of the universe. As a result, our minds are filled with anxiety and worry, which only attracts more seeming chaos and confusion into our lives. Does this sound familiar?
The law of attraction states that what you focus on expands. If your thoughts and feelings resonate with anxiety and confusion, then you will attract more of those qualites to you through your relationships, work, finances, etc. The key is not to trick our minds into creating positive thoughts through affirmations or other methods, but to develop space around the workings of our minds altogether. Herein lies the magic of mindfulness meditation. Mindfulness is a method of becoming acutely aware of everything that happens within the scope of our perception. We shed light on what we think, feel, and sense. We make conscious all of the subconscious material that typically sabotages our good intentions. We don't try to change it. Instead, we just become extremely aware of it. We do this by sitting still and doing nothing but watching how our mind works without attachment or judgment. We just sit and witness what takes place within us and we start to draw parallels between what we believe to be true and what we are constantly attracting into our lives. Many people, particulalry Westerners, try meditation for a period of time and then give up after getting frustrated with the process. This is because we are always looking for results. We are deeply attached to our expectations of what should happen. Most of us try to use meditation to shut our minds down, to dwell in a space of 'no thought.' If you try to use meditation to stop thinking, you are in for a rude surprise. You simply cannot do it. In fact, the harder you try to stop thinking, the louder and more obnoxious your thoughts become. This is not the way. The main intention of mindfulness is to be fundamentally OK with whatever arises as you practice. Whether you have a good thought or a bad thought, you give it the same attention. You remain neutral. By doing this, you stop feeding the energy of your thoughts. This is the first step in cutting through the vicious cycle of thought-feeling-reaction that keeps so many of us habitually attracting the wrong kinds of energy, people, and circumstances into our lives. If we believe what we think, the energy of the thought will evolve into a feeling. The momentum of the feeling will cause us to react to it, which will create a cause in the world that will always lead to an effect. The effect will always be a reflection of that initial thought impulse. So, if your thoughts are habitually centered around negativity, greed, fear, or narcissism, then the effects you will see in your life will mirror this back to you.
Mindfulness is a process of becoming truly proactive for the first time in your life. Most of the time, we are just reacting to what we think and feel, which brings us endless cycles of conflict and disappointment. When we remain neutral to our thoughts and feelings, then we will gradually make contact with an aspect of ourselves that is spontaneous and awake. We will act (not react) from this place. We will attract what we truly desire into our lives based on a conscious process of heightening our senses. And, yes, at some point the mind does slow down. We experience wonderful and refreshing moments of peace and openness. The universe is naturally seen as a benevolent place. Instead of our typical attempts to outsmart the universe, mindfulness is a humbling process of surrender and gratitude.
Cultivate space, endless space, around your thoughts and feelings. Allow your spirit to inhabit your body fully. Don't buy into self-defeating storylines and beliefs. Don't try to force yourself to see the positive in life or repeat useless affirmations that you have no innate connection with. Instead, taste the perfection of this moment as it is. If you can feel in your bones that you are fundamentally OK and that life is precious, you will attract much more meaningful relationships with people, better health, more fulfilling work and more prosperity on all levels of being. That is the power of mindfulness.

Kevin Doherty, L.Ac., MS is alicensed acupuncturist in private practice in Superior, Co. where he teaches many of his patients how to meditate for better health and overall quality of life. For more information about Kevn and his approach to meditation, go to http://www.mindfulnesscd.net

A Source of Inspiration
A light was on in one office, even though most of the other offices had been dark for hours. The manager continued to work in the silence of the empty building, reviewing reports, studying numbers, responding to messages and emails that others would not read until the next morning. There was so much to do, so many responsibilities and so many decisions that would wait for the manager's guiding hand. The silence was broken as the manager was startled to see one of the employees standing at the door. The employee knocked hesitantly, one foot in the office and the other still in the hallway. "May I come in for a moment?" asked the employee. "Of course," smiled the manager, leaning back in the chair. "What are you doing here so late?" "I had a lot of work to do and I wanted to catch-up," said the employee. "If I get behind then it could impact our customers, and I don't want that to happen. It's my responsibility, and I want to take care of it. I know that's what you would do." "You're probably right," the manager said with a laugh. "So what made you stop in here?" The employee approached the desk, sat down in one of the chairs beside it and said, "I wanted to ask you a question." "Go ahead." The employee began, "You always work so hard, and you always take care of us. You come in early. You stay late. No matter how much you have to do, you always take time to talk to any one of us when we need you. You are so busy taking time for us during the day that you have to stay late at night to catch up on your own work. Yet, you never complain. You make us want to work harder and do better, and you give us every opportunity to be successful. You are an inspiration to the rest of us, so what inspires you?" The manager's eyes widened, "Wow, well that was quite a surprise. I appreciate the kind words and admit that you completely caught me off guard." "Well?" persisted the employee, "What is your source of inspiration?" The manager was silent for a moment, carefully contemplating the response. Then the manager stood up and said, "follow me." As the manager and the employee walked down a row of cubicles, the manager started to point into them one by one. The cubicles belonged to the colleagues of the employee. "This person is a single parent and comes to work each day to support two children. Those children need someone to look up to, someone to put food on the table and a roof over their heads. This person doesn't work for me, this person works for them." The manager paused at the next cubicle and said, "This person is a grandmother who is working days so she can pay for her college education at night. She doesn't need a degree and it won't make any difference for her career. She is already past retirement age and she could quit at any time. She wants that degree to make her children proud and to give her grandchildren someone to look up to. She doesn't work for me, she works for them." The manager moved to the next cubicle and said, "This person is overqualified for the job. It would be easy to leave for another company, probably get a promotion out of it and earn better pay. Why doesn't this person leave? After eleven years working with the same group of people, it is like a family. This person doesn't work for me, this person works here for all of you." The manager paused at the next cubicle and said, "This person has a family to support. Two kids in school, a mortgage, two car payments, and a whole host of obligations that comes with taking care of a family. Needless to say, you know that this person doesn't work for me." The manager pointed down the line of cubicles, "That young man is engaged to be married, and he is saving up to buy their first home. That next person has a daughter in college. The next one wants to build a career out of this experience. The one after that wants to be a musician and only does this job to earn enough money to pay the bills." Walking into the corridor, the manager paused and smiled as the custodian came around the corner. "This person barely speaks our language, but comes to work every day when everyone else has gone home. More than half of the money earned will go to family members who do not even live in our country, while this person keeps only enough to pay for food, shelter and transportation here every day. This person comes into my office and takes away my trash, not for me, but because it is what needs to be done to earn the money that goes to a family that lives hundreds of miles away." "And then there is you," said the manager with a big smile. "You have your own reasons for coming in here every day. When I need a source of inspiration, all I have to do is look around me. I am surrounded by it. Inspiration comes from recognizing what is important to the people around you and making it your own. If I can feel the dedication that these people feel for their children, for their families, for their hopes and dreams, then I have all the inspiration that I need. They are inspired by their own sense of purpose, and I am inspired by them. Just as you believe that you are inspired by me, I am inspired by you." ______________________________________________________ Words of Wisdom "Inspiration may be a form of superconsciousness, or perhaps of subconsciousness - I wouldn't know. But I am sure it is the antithesis of self- consciousness." - Aaron Copland "Leadership is based on inspiration, not domination; on cooperation, not intimidation." - William Arthur Wood "Keep your fears to yourself, but share your inspiration with others." - Robert Louis Stevenson ______________________________________________________ About the Author: John Mehrmann is a freelance writer and President of Executive Blueprints Inc., an organization devoted to improving business practices and developing human capital. www.ExecutiveBlueprints.com provides resource materials for trainers, sample Case Studies, educational articles and references to local affiliates for consulting and executive coaching. http://www.InstituteforAdvancedLeadership.com provides self-paced tutorials for personal development and tools for trainers. Presentation materials, reference guides and exercises are available for continuous development.

John Mehrmann is a freelance author, industry expert and President of Executive Blueprints Inc, an organization dedicated to developing human capital and personal growth.

Thomas Alva Edison - Inspiration And Perspiration
Almost everyone knows who Thomas Alva Edison is. Does anyone know that Thomas Alva Edison created more than eight hundred light globes before he made one that finally worked? By a small carbonized filament and an improved vacuum inside the globe, he was finally able to produce a reliable, long-lasting source of light on lower current electricity. When Edison was seven years old, he has already developed a fascination for anything involve mechanically and chemical experiments. At the local schoolhouse, after enduring his persistent questioning and self-centered behavior, his short-tempered teacher eventually declared that his brains were either addled or scrambled. His furious mother quickly took him home and began to tutor him herself. She was convinced that her son unusual demeanor and hyperactive behavior were just signs of his remarkable intelligence. Although Edison had only three months of formal schooling, it did not deter him from finding ways via independent self-instruction to appease his ever huge appetite for knowledge in contemporary mathematics, physics and engineering. Before he began his career as an inventor, he sold newspaper and candy on trains running from station to station. He became a skillful telegrapher after being trained for only three months. Telegraphy related inventions were some of his earliest master pieces. Armed with an immeasurable patience and a kaleidoscopic mind teamed with photographic memory, his highly individualistic style of acquiring knowledge led him to scores of experiments and eventually his own related theories. By the turn of the 20th century, Thomas Alva Edison is considered one of the most prolific inventors in history. He had developed hundreds of devices and gadgets that improved lives around the world. In addition, he was often credited with the creation of the first industrial research laboratory which was build in Menlo Park, New Jersey. Among Edison's most famous inventions is the first practical and long-lasting light bulb. He also refined and developed other gadgets such as the phonograph, typewriter and the motion picture projector/ camera. All these happened despite being partially deaf. In fact, his handicap did not hinder him from pursuing his dreams to invent. Instead, his deafness allegedly aided him because it blocked out noises that disturbed him and his work. How often are we faced with difficulties and problems in our daily life? And how often did they slow us down in our progress? Did we treat them as challenges and play them to our advantage like the way Edison has done? Or did we stop what we are doing and give up trying?

Eric Chay of http://www.ericchay.com providing some motivational writings on positive thinking and personal development at http://www.lawofattractionfree.com

No comments: