I changed a tyre today. It wasn’t my tyre. It belonged to an Egyptian vet, well he said he was egyptian and the back of his car was full of needles and drugs for camels so I assumed that was his occupation. He waved me down on the road, 1 hour from the border with Iraq . When I stopped and asked what the problem was the message that got transferred to me in a mix of Arabic and English was that he had a flat tyre and had no jack or tools to change it. No problems. I could help. So I reversed up and proceeded to take my jack and wheel wrench from my car and together we set about to change his tyre. Then I discovered that his wheel nuts where smaller than the wrench I had… problem. I thought to myself: “This is a new car. Why is there no jack and wrench?” So I went around the back and sure enough, in a side panel was the requred tools my friend thought was missing, with of course the correct size wheel lug. In a matter of minutes the tyre was changed and all was good. Driving away I looked at the outside temperature – 42 degrees C – and it occurred to me how valuable a little knowledge was: something that I took for granted could save another man’s life. Assuming that there was no one else on the road, he would have died simple because he didn’t know where to look. And I did. What is that worth? How much does someone know that is given away, without the acknowledgement of that value. It was a valuable lesson.
Category: Consciousness
-
Burqa Woman
I’m sitting at Arrivals with my regulation Starbucks semi- daily black brew. No sugar. Grande. I’m waiting. All nationalities are arriving. It’s busy. I’m observing. Looking. Staring.
A couple emerge. Business or married I can’t tell. Either way it’s not nice. Man and woman. Perhaps Swiss or German from their looks. Something like that. He’s 6’1″, dark blue suit, flat shoes, black soft leather brief case. Right hand. He’s walking fast, but comfortable. He’s fit. Head is up. Looking where he’s going. He’s been here before.
Behind him, she’s 5’7″, 4″ heels. Fit too, but not set up. Blond pony tail, the almost-stiletto heels, tight grey skirt and matching business jacket, small hand bag. Scurrying. She’s clutching a wad of files in her left arm. Brochures or something. Hand bag under the right. She’s done this before, maybe not here before but somewhere before. Many times. She’s 2 meters behind him, head down, trying to keep up. She speeds up to get closer. He subconsciously does the same to maintain the regulation distance. “Don’t come close”. It’s cold. She’s too good for him. He knows it. She doesn’t.Out comes a Kuwaiti couple. He’s in jeans, t-shirt and sneakers. Sunglasses. Trim. Average height and build. He has control of the porter with their luggage who’s walking off to the his right side. Slightly behind. He’s looking around in front, scouting, keeping an eye on the surroundings, their luggage. Their envelope is safe. Behind but definitely together with him walks a very upright, much taller figure. His wife. She’s in full burqa. Fully covered. A slit through the niqab. I can see her eyes looking straight ahead. Not flinching. Not wavering. Confident. The burqa flows gracefully to the floor. She’s very proud. You can tell how she holds herself, how she moves. She glides along as if on air. I can’t see her feet because the burqa reaches and envelops the floor around her.
They move as a unit, husband and wife. Even the porter and their luggage is involved. The man is on guard for her woman. The woman knows it.
It’s beautiful.
We in the “West” can learn a lot from these examples.
I am enjoying my lessons.
-
If it were easy
If it were easy, everyone would be doing it.
Just pretend you don’t know how hard it is.
Hold your ideas up to the light.
Make a date to do something you’re scared of doing.
Admire wildflowers.
Sit under the stars or on the edge of the ocean.
Spend time with someone who believes in you.
Or with someone you believe in.
Make a list of everything you would do if you were guaranteed success.
Walk under old trees.
Take “can’t”’ out of your vocabulary.
Risks are worth taking.
Mistakes are worth making.
Take a deep breath.
Plant a seed.
It will grow.
-
The Abraham-Hicks Processes and the Emotional Set Point Ranges to apply them Over
The Processes (in brackets is the Emotional Set Point range to apply the process to)
1. Rampage of Appreciation (1-5)
2. Magical Creation Box (1-5)
3. The Creation Workshop (1-5)
4. Virtual Reality (1-8)
5. The Prosperity Game (1-16)
6. Process of Meditation (1-22)
7. Evaluating Dreams (1-22)
8. The Book of Positive Aspects (1-10)
9. Scripting (2-6)
10. The Placement Process (2-11)
11. Segment Intending (4-11)
12. Wouldn’t it be nice if… (4-16)
13. Which Thought Feels Better (4-17)
14. Clearing Clutter for Clarity (4-17)
15. The Wallet Process (6-16)
16. Pivoting (8-17)
17. The Focus Wheel Process (8-17)
18. Finding the Feeling Place (9-17)
19. Releasing Resistance to Become Free of Debt (10-22)
20. Turning it Over to the Manager (10-17)
21. Reclaiming Ones Natural State of Health (10-22)
22. Moving up the Emotional Scale (17-22)Emotional Set Point Ranges
1. Joy/Knowledge/Empowerment/Freedom/Love/Appreciation
2. Passion
3. Enthusiasm/Eagerness/Happiness
4. Positive Expectation/Belief
5. Optimism
6. Hopefulness
7. Contentment
8. Boredom
9. Pessimism
10. Frustration/Impatience/Irritation
11. “Overwhelming”
12. Disappointment
13. Doubt
14. Worry
15. Blame
16. Discouragement
17. Anger
18. Revenge
19. Hatred/Rage
20. Jealousy
21. Insecurity/Guilt/Unworthiness
22. Fear/Grief/Depression/Despair/PowerlessnessLearn how to identify the emotions and run these processes. They work. Get help. Find friends who are doing it. Learn about it on the web.
Above all, enjoy what ever you do!
A good friend was giving a seminar about being happy one day and someone yelled out, “but I like being miserable!”. My friend replied, “well be happy being miserable!!”
-
Fill Life with the Good Bits First: The Mayonnaise Jar
When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, When 24 hours in a day is not enough; remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee.
A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him.
When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and start to fill it with golf balls.
He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.
The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured it into the jar. He shook the jar lightly.
The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.
He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.
The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else He asked once more if the jar was full… The students responded With an unanimous ‘yes.’
The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.
‘Now,’ said the professor, as the laughter subsided, ‘I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.
The golf balls are the important things – God, family, children, health, friends, and favorite passions Things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.
The pebbles are the things that matter like your job, house, and car.
The sand is everything else — The small stuff.
‘If you put the sand into the jar first,’ he continued, ‘there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.
The same goes for life.If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, You will never have room for the things that are important to you.
So…
Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.
Play with your children.
Take time to get medical checkups.
Take your partner out to dinner.There will always be time
to clean the house and fix the dripping tap.‘Take care of the golf balls first —
The things that really matter.
Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.’One of the students raised her hand
and inquired what the coffee represented.The professor smiled.
‘I’m glad you asked’.
It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.’
-
Wisdom from Will Smith
– Greatness Exists in All of Us –
I know what I am, I know what I believe in, and that’s all I need to know.
– It can’t be that easy – Yes It Is!
– There is no Shortcut to Success –
Talent we have naturally. Skill is only developed by spending hours and hours and hours of beating on your craft. Your talent will fail you if you are not skilled.
– Lay One Brick at a Time –
You don’t try and build a wall. You place one brick as perfectly as you can, and then do that again and again.
– Focus on Making a Difference –
If you are going to be here then there is a necessity to make a difference.
– Represent an Idea –
Represent the idea that you can really get what you want
– You Have to Believe –
There is no reason to have plan B because it distracts you from plan A.
– Nothing is Unrealistic –
Being realistic is the most commonly travelled road to mediocrity. What’s the point of being realistic?
– Our Thoughts are Physical –
If we dream something it will happen. Just decide.
– You Really Got to Focus –
Being distracted will get in the way of completing.
– Attack Your Fears –
Be motivated by fear of fear.
– Be Willing to Die for the Truth –
The truth is the only thing that will ever be constant.
– Protect Your Dream –
Don’t ever let somebody tell you that you can’t do something. When you have a dream, you have got to protect it. People who can’t do something themselves want to tell you that you can’t do it. When you want something, go for it. Period.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLN2k0b3g70]
-
Jobs, Kevin Rudd, Taxes
I met Kevin Rudd once a couple of years ago before he was the Prime Minister of Australia. It was at a local restaurant in his electorate in Brisbane. He’s a sharp chap. Clean dress. Quick mind. Academic type. I like him. We spoke about general things and he asked me how many jobs my company would give. I said about 30, but I was thinking to myself, “I’m planning to have the manufacturing done in either Malaysia or Singapore. It’s much better there: lower costs, higher quality. The headquarters I’ll be moving to the US just as soon as I can. That’s where the market is”. But this didn’t need saying. It was a pleasant exchange. He knows what he is doing and the woes of Australian manufacturing industry is for another time, Insha Allah.
I’ve been thinking about what he was most concerned and interested about in our conversation: jobs. “How many jobs will I give?” Why? Why the focus on jobs, on money, on being busy? Well there are two reasons that I have worked out. One is cynical and other one is naïve.
The naïve view:
That people need to be busy to have a “satisfactory” life. Really? Working 40 hours a week doing something you don’t really have a say in, or doing the same repetitive task over and over? Computers and robots can replace most jobs in the world now, and they will eventually – in manufacturing they already have. So who wants a job where they’re just a robot? No one.
The cynical view:
The present western system of social infrastructure (i.e. Government and the services provided) relies on taxes to exist – contributions from the people in the society served by the Government. Tax on income (income tax) and tax on things you buy (sales tax) give all the funds needed to pay for the roads; the health care; the education and the entertainment. Sell a few bonds to cover the difference when it’s needed. Tax comes from peoples’ pay. Pay comes from their jobs. They pay their income tax before they get paid. They pay their sales tax when they spend their pay. So people need a job to keep the government going. Simple really. Why is this cynical? Because a “job” is no longer a “nice” thing, and a “government” is no longer efficient at providing what it’s supposed to give. It’s a very expensive service. Health care in the UK anyone? Legal support in the US my friend? Roads and communication systems in outback Australia?
So where does Kevin Rudd get his view-point from? Being cynical again, “Jobs” is easy to sell to get votes. “Job” is only a three-letter word. It’s easy to explain. It’s security for you and your family: if you don’t work you don’t eat; if you don’t eat you don’t shit, if you don’t shit you die!! So: get a job or die!!! Everything is set up for this: our education system, our financial system, our employment system. Everything.
A Job “works” in our current society. It’s the basic fundamental unit that makes everything function. Get more jobs, and everything will be all right.
However that only applies if you have an infinite amount of everything to consume, to make, to be busy in a “job” with! We don’t. We’re reminded every day about how small this little planet of ours actually is. Global warming, water pollution, land pollution, overcrowding, slums, dying soils, E.coli deaths from hamburgers, anti-biotic resistant bacteria – super bugs, mad cow diseases from feeding cows dead chickens… and so on and so on… This is what has been created: the consuming, un-conscious monster, stemming mainly in the US in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s, mainly to provide more jobs, mainly to provide more taxes, for more Government! More, more, more. More profit, more food, more cars. More everything. But is this still working?
The average American – the average westerner – consumes about 90 kg of meat each year. Such a high meat consumption is way above what a human body needs and leads to all sorts of long-term social health issues (besides being overweight, there’s slow bowel movements leading to bowel cancers, transferring diseases from animals to humans and I don’t want to go on).
If the average western person simply halved their meat intake, all the current overproduction, animal mistreatment, pesticide pollution, over subsidization and everything else associated with this industry would stop. Over night….. So why doesn’t it? The need for more, more, more, and the program we have in us that drives this. Besides, what about all those “jobs” What will people do??? :o)
To pay for government you need taxes, for taxes you need jobs, for jobs you need business, for business you need consumers… So the western economic system, lead by America, has become the best consumer-job-tax-government model in the world. Around and around and around we go! What a ride! Stop I’m getting dizzy and want to get off!
It’s a dangerous little trap we have caught ourselves up in.
The irony of it all: mediation, the key to a fulfilling, happy life, takes almost zero resources to carry out. That’s the Universe laughing at us!
“JOB” ends up being a pretty dangerous little word.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t worry about this stuff. I just ponder it, working out how it all works. How we work. We, people, will always do what we have always done: our own thing. So, don’t stress. Just become aware, conscious – really conscious – of what you are doing and you can decide if you want to keep doing it or not.
Oh, yeah, and the solution to all of this is two 2 things. The first is to pay for government budgets entirely with tax on company revenues (not profit, revenue) and hence cancel all personal and sales tax. This will put the soul back into the company, and give people the freedom to grow and expand as they wish, as we have always done. The second thing is to create democratic, participation workplaces. This makes your job a nice thing to do. Train people in what this means, at school, in companies. Everywhere. (BMW and GE already do it)
Easy.
My turn.
-
Social Profit, Money and Butterflies
Here’s an enlightening 1/2 hour audio visual that is well worth watching.
It’s a discussion between Lynne Twist and Deepak Chopra on “Social Profit”, money and butterflies.
Lynne Twist is a San Francisco based social activist who besides raising many hundred of million of dollars for social issues, in particular the Hunger Project, eloquently describes the present state of humanity, and together with Deepak discuss the caterpillar and its transition to a butterfly, and the similarities with today’s’ societies.
The caterpillar voraciously consumes all food in it’s path, in an unconscious automated state, oblivious to the amount that is available – it just eats. That is until the imagines cells inside the caterpillar form in large enough numbers and conglomerate, and a switch occurs. All other cells then become the nutritive soup that feed the imagines cells, and the transformation occurs: from caterpillar to butterfly. Is that where we are now: ravenous caterpillars’ approaching a new phase of development. Lynn and Deepak describe this quite well. (As does this link here: Butterfly Effect)
It’s a pretty good analogy.
And Deepak’s closing remarks: the genetic code responsible for the wings of the butterfly is the same gene code for the beating of the human heart.
Amazing.
Here’s the video:
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2799400187971883211]
Keep in mind these important facts:
God is a verb not a noun, and there are two states for creation: asking and allowing. -
Is There Any Difference Between Islam and Christianity?
Yesterday I was riding on the Storm Peak Express Ski Lift at Steamboat Springs, Colorado, USA, sharing that ride with a very felicitous beared fellow. He reminded me very much of the character “Chicken Joe” from that wonderfully light movie Surf’s Up (by Sony Pictures Animation, 2006). My ski lift riding companion was a boarder like his name sake (albeit on snow), and I suspect he may even have been from Wisconsin. ;o)
The conversation began with him asking me “do I know how to relax?” I replied that yes I did, and coming to Steamboat from Kuwait was part of that. We talked some more, about my experience in the Middle East, and then he asked me about my understanding at an intrinsic level of Islam and how it was different to Christianity.
After a few moments thought, I answered that intrinsically the religions are same [and reflecting now, they are similar to each other perhaps like no other religions]. I said that at the core each religion promotes ways in which to behave; towards others, towards ones self. They both promote how to act, how to eat, how to live, how to be. They were both life systems designed to manage the ones ego. They were both life systems spelt out many hundreds (thousands) of years ago by people who practiced what they spoke.
It was a very enlightening conversation for me.
Upon further reflection of the conversation it made me realise just how similar the two religions are. It helped put into perspective for me that the reasons the two religions appear so different is not because of their roots, but because of the layers of interpretation the various tribes and groups have placed upon them over the many years the practices have been in use. This has been influenced by many things: by the need for power, for control over others, by intermingling of local traditions and beliefs, and ultimately by the ego. Ironic because the systems are practices whose ultimate intention is to manage the ego. [I deliberately don’t use the phrase “control” the ego, for the ego cannot be controlled, much like a wave, representing the ego, cannot be controlled, it can only be surfed, or a slope, can only be skied, not changed].
So, in essence, Islam and Christianity are identical life practices. Both promote simple practical means to achieve peace and harmony in ones life, with others and espcially with ones’ self.
This quote summarises the practice very well.
Spread love everywhere you go, but first and foremost in your home. Love your children, your spouse, your neighbour… Let no one who comes to you, leave without being better and happier. Be the living expression of goodness, be it the goodness of your face, goodness of your eyes, goodness of your smile or the goodness of your warm welcome.
Mother Teresa
Helping me to remember: Become conscious. Meditate. Be with God.
-
The Electronic Communication and Consciousness Conundrum
When an email is sent or a blog is created, it is the written word that is transmitted – nothing more, nothing less. Many studies have shown that the written word – words – only transmit 10%, at most, of the intended meaning of the communication. My fellow Australian Allan Pease – specifically “body language” – pioneered these studies in the 1970’s. I am sure however that implicit and explicit knowledge has been around as long as we have been around.
So what happens to the rest of the communication? How does the recipient get to 100% of the message, or at least the message they think they get?
We make it up.
Without the balance of the information (the 90%) the recipient will draw on their own database of information to complete the message – to get to 100%.
That means that what is in the recipients database – their mind, their memories, their experiences – will have far more impact on the final message than the original 10% of the orginal message.
Sound like a good chance for miscommunication? Absolutely!
So, what are the chances that the 90% ADDED to the message by the recipient ALIGNS with the Sender?
That depends on one thing: the level of consciousness of the recipient. The message will be lost if the receipt is unconscious. Skewed by bias and innuendo, the recipient will create a message that fits only with their own world view, and will have very little relevance to the senders intended message.
With increasing levels of consciousness, the correctness of the message will approach 100%.
What does this mean – “increasing levels of consciousness”?
Well remember that each human on this planet – that means you and me – is a balance of two things: our conscious beliefs and our unconscious beliefs. An unconscious person draws heavily from their beliefs, their superstitions, their history, their parents, their peers, and the community around them. Are they an active participant in their lives? Not really. Look at them as a leaf in a stream. They will go wherever the stream takes them. Their Self determination is low. Awareness of the world around them – and their involvement in it – is low.
Consider a conscious person, even one in the early stages of awakening. They have assimilated their experiences and even developed their sub-conscious to be a reflection of their conscious self determination. They are either awake, awakening or somewhere in between. They understand their role in creation, their influence and their impact.
So what happens?
An “unconscious”, unaware person builds up the 90% missing information in an unconscious way. So much so, they even believe they are getting 100% of the message from the sender just by reading their words. This is how wars begin: email wars, and real wars…
The conscious person on the other hand, understands the limitations of the communication medium and will either, depending on their level of consciousness, ask questions until they are clear on the communication (an unconscious person will typically be fearful of asking questions for fear of “offending” the sender, or most commonly, being seen to be “ignorant” or a “lesser person”), or the conscious person will be in direct connection with the sender empathetically. But that my friends is another discussion.
Helping me to remember: Become conscious. Meditate. Be with God.
