My partner smirks as he watches people's faces as we walk up the mall. “You've been judged,” he says. He thinks its funny that people stare at me, looking me over from top to bottom. I guess I just don't conform to their ideal of how people should dress. Maybe they don't think my brightly coloured clothes are 'normal'. And since I put pink streaks in my hair I get judged even more. I think it's funny too, so it's like water off a duck's back to me. It's not be that has a problem.
What is it that makes us judge others? The simple answer is social conditioning. The not so simple answer is something that we have to look deep into our own psyche and analyze by peeling away the layers....if we feel compelled to do so. Most of us don't want to go there. Most of us try to drown out the little voice within by turning on the tv as soon as we walk in the door, or having the radio on or some other distraction that helps us avoid being us, or just 'being'. How many of us are on the run, busy, busy, busy? Most of us. We can make excuses about the need to earn money to get security, or all sorts of well established, socially inflicted excuses, but the reality is that none of those excuses are valid. We all live and we all die. How big our retirement fund is now will leave no trace after we're gone. What matters then?
At our local Gratitude Group we were asked what would we do if we had just twenty minutes until the world ended. Most of us said we'd want to be with our loved ones and friends. *Beverly was spot on when she said life is about relationships. How we relate to people is what makes us who we are and what makes memories. How many memories do we have that don't involve other people? When we're on our death bed, will we be thinking about how much real estate we never got around to buying, or will we just be wanting peace and love?
So what the heck has that got to do with judging others? I'm getting to that... If what's important is peace, love and relationships, then why would we judge someone by how wealthy or poor they are, how fat or skinny they are, what colour they are, what their sexual preferences are, what their religious beliefs are.... NONE of that matters! We compare others to what we've been conditioned to accept as normal, and we judge whether others are better than, worse than, or equal to us. What matters is 'being' us. And let them be too. What is it to us if someone makes different choices to us? To find peace we need to be free to be ourselves and stop judging others... for any reason.
Here's a challenge: For 24 hours be totally aware of the judgments you make of others. When you get a judgmental thought, ponder why you had that thought. If you struggle with the answers, it's not your fault. The ego controls our thoughts, not us. We need to drop the ego and 'be'. Can you 'drop it'?
*Names are changed for privacy reasons.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Know Thyself
At our local Gratitude Group I ask members to write on a piece of paper a topic they'd like to discuss. Then we place all the topics in a Topic Box and randomly draw the topic of the day.
This week's topic was 'The Self'. When someone asks us who we are, you usually give them our job title or relationship, such as “I'm a builder,” or “ I'm Susan's husband”. This is not who we are. We are spiritual beings living in physical bodies. The Self is the I AM. It doesn't do anything, it just 'is'. We are meant to be human beings, but in this busy world we've attached ourselves to, we've become human doings instead of beings.
When we are purposefully grateful, we feel bliss because we have tapped into the only thing that truly exists – love.
If you can stop and 'be' , you'll find the true self and feel the love. Try this: Go somewhere quiet and beautiful. If you aren't able to go to such a place physically, close your eyes and go there with your imagination. Observe and appreciate the nature around you; the birds, the sun/moon, breeze, rain. Now close your eyes and feel the hug of universal love energy. That is 'The Self', the 'I AM'. Now, ask yourself again, 'Who am I?
Have an awesome week!
Barbie
“Carry a portable paradise within you everywhere you go”, Yogananda
This week's topic was 'The Self'. When someone asks us who we are, you usually give them our job title or relationship, such as “I'm a builder,” or “ I'm Susan's husband”. This is not who we are. We are spiritual beings living in physical bodies. The Self is the I AM. It doesn't do anything, it just 'is'. We are meant to be human beings, but in this busy world we've attached ourselves to, we've become human doings instead of beings.
When we are purposefully grateful, we feel bliss because we have tapped into the only thing that truly exists – love.
If you can stop and 'be' , you'll find the true self and feel the love. Try this: Go somewhere quiet and beautiful. If you aren't able to go to such a place physically, close your eyes and go there with your imagination. Observe and appreciate the nature around you; the birds, the sun/moon, breeze, rain. Now close your eyes and feel the hug of universal love energy. That is 'The Self', the 'I AM'. Now, ask yourself again, 'Who am I?
Have an awesome week!
Barbie
“Carry a portable paradise within you everywhere you go”, Yogananda
Friday, April 11, 2008
The Secret - Gratitude for Synchronicity
My mentor says there are three ways you can get a message from the universe:
1. Intuition. Slow down, screen out external noise and pay attention to your inner self, or else you'll need...
2. Synchronicity. Some call it coincidence, but there's a reason behind all 'coincidence'. If you don't get the message when synchronicity comes calling, then you might need the last resort...
3. The 2x4 plank. A wake up call that hits you over the head and forces you to pay attention. This might be a health scare that says stop or slow down, or it could be a failed relationship that forces you to do some work on your inner self, or it could be any number of things.
The Secret barely touches the surface of the information available about the Law of Attraction, but for many people, its a great start. I love The Secret. I played it at least daily for the first month I had it. Even though I'd started my study of The Law of Attraction through Bob Proctor's work years before The Secret was released, The Secret is simply positive, empowering messages to have around - far better than any radio or tv noise.
About a year ago I got an intuitive message from the universe that I should be holding a group meeting to draw like-minded people together. At that time, my partner wanted to take control of this idea and turn it into something else, something that was not ordered by the universe, so I dropped it. I recently got the intuition again, so I've organised a Gratitude Group. I placed an ad in the paper and received a good number of phone calls from interested people, all of whom turned up today for the first get-together.
Synchronicity
One of the ladies, Debbie, said she hadn't lived in the area very long, so didn't know it very well and wanted clear directions to get to the seaside park I'd chosen. She said "I live in Scarborough, close to Redcliffe," and I thought "Me too". Then she said, "I live in Princess Street," and I thought, "Me too". She continued, " I have the worst house in the street, but I love it," and I said, "No, I have the worst house in the street". She told me that her house was number 112, and mine being 183 I figured our houses were way apart.
The next day as I returned from a walk along the beach I looked across the road at a tiny old cottage which very recently had new people move in. I wondered if that might be Debbie's 'worst house in the street', and when I saw the number 112 on the mailbox I was surprised, because the street numbering was way out of whack. Debbie lived almost directly across the road from me! She was in her yard, so I went straight over and introduced myself and had a quick friendly chat. Debbie said she knew as soon as she saw me who I was, because I 'look like the kind of person who would hold a Gratitude Group'. Maybe it's the pink hair colour?
The first people to arrive today for our gathering joined me as I finished placing signs around the park. The next car to pull up was Debbie's, and I began to tell Mary and Ken about the coincidence of where Debbie and I lived in Princess Street. "We live in Princess Street, too," they both said together. It turned out that their place was on Debbie's side of the road, about ten houses in the other direction. So now there were five of us there, who all lived very close in the same street. When the next person arrived, I said, "Don't tell me... or go ahead and tell me that you live in Princess Street!"
Well, Ian didn't live in the same street but we had enough evidence that this group was a 'meant to be'. Everyone who read about it in the paper was meant to, and everyone who turned up was meant to. It's a great group, with people from diverse backgrounds with diverse information to offer -from those who've studied Quantum Physics and Metaphysics and Theology for years to someone who's just beginning their personal development journey and recently read 'The Secret'. We chatted happily for hours, until we went way 'overtime' and had to start making tracks.
I'd like to think that the group will grow and need to break up into smaller, more intimate groups. Furthermore, I'd like to think that people worldwide will begin holding Gratitude Groups and raise Cosmic Consciousness. If you'd like to start a group, I can help out with a little kit I've developed. Do you have a story about how purposeful gratitude has changed your life?
1. Intuition. Slow down, screen out external noise and pay attention to your inner self, or else you'll need...
2. Synchronicity. Some call it coincidence, but there's a reason behind all 'coincidence'. If you don't get the message when synchronicity comes calling, then you might need the last resort...
3. The 2x4 plank. A wake up call that hits you over the head and forces you to pay attention. This might be a health scare that says stop or slow down, or it could be a failed relationship that forces you to do some work on your inner self, or it could be any number of things.
The Secret barely touches the surface of the information available about the Law of Attraction, but for many people, its a great start. I love The Secret. I played it at least daily for the first month I had it. Even though I'd started my study of The Law of Attraction through Bob Proctor's work years before The Secret was released, The Secret is simply positive, empowering messages to have around - far better than any radio or tv noise.
About a year ago I got an intuitive message from the universe that I should be holding a group meeting to draw like-minded people together. At that time, my partner wanted to take control of this idea and turn it into something else, something that was not ordered by the universe, so I dropped it. I recently got the intuition again, so I've organised a Gratitude Group. I placed an ad in the paper and received a good number of phone calls from interested people, all of whom turned up today for the first get-together.
Synchronicity
One of the ladies, Debbie, said she hadn't lived in the area very long, so didn't know it very well and wanted clear directions to get to the seaside park I'd chosen. She said "I live in Scarborough, close to Redcliffe," and I thought "Me too". Then she said, "I live in Princess Street," and I thought, "Me too". She continued, " I have the worst house in the street, but I love it," and I said, "No, I have the worst house in the street". She told me that her house was number 112, and mine being 183 I figured our houses were way apart.
The next day as I returned from a walk along the beach I looked across the road at a tiny old cottage which very recently had new people move in. I wondered if that might be Debbie's 'worst house in the street', and when I saw the number 112 on the mailbox I was surprised, because the street numbering was way out of whack. Debbie lived almost directly across the road from me! She was in her yard, so I went straight over and introduced myself and had a quick friendly chat. Debbie said she knew as soon as she saw me who I was, because I 'look like the kind of person who would hold a Gratitude Group'. Maybe it's the pink hair colour?
The first people to arrive today for our gathering joined me as I finished placing signs around the park. The next car to pull up was Debbie's, and I began to tell Mary and Ken about the coincidence of where Debbie and I lived in Princess Street. "We live in Princess Street, too," they both said together. It turned out that their place was on Debbie's side of the road, about ten houses in the other direction. So now there were five of us there, who all lived very close in the same street. When the next person arrived, I said, "Don't tell me... or go ahead and tell me that you live in Princess Street!"
Well, Ian didn't live in the same street but we had enough evidence that this group was a 'meant to be'. Everyone who read about it in the paper was meant to, and everyone who turned up was meant to. It's a great group, with people from diverse backgrounds with diverse information to offer -from those who've studied Quantum Physics and Metaphysics and Theology for years to someone who's just beginning their personal development journey and recently read 'The Secret'. We chatted happily for hours, until we went way 'overtime' and had to start making tracks.
I'd like to think that the group will grow and need to break up into smaller, more intimate groups. Furthermore, I'd like to think that people worldwide will begin holding Gratitude Groups and raise Cosmic Consciousness. If you'd like to start a group, I can help out with a little kit I've developed. Do you have a story about how purposeful gratitude has changed your life?
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Natural Therapies Treatment for Depression
If you've been following my blog and see what a motivated, happy person I am, you'll be like other people who meet me lately who are blown away when I tell them that I was on prescription anti-depressants for 10 years and endured dark periods of suicidal thoughts.
I am not the person I was back then, in fact I don't think that person back then was even me. Why was I depressed? Actually I think the anti-depressants MADE me depressed. When I first went to the doctor I felt ok, but was having trouble sleeping and would lay awake for hours at night. I'd separated from my husband after years of abuse and was then having to hide in fear of my life, so the doctor probably thought I should/would be depressed and made his diagnosis based on my circumstances.
It was many years later, while stuck in another going-nowhere relationship fraught with problems he'd brought to the relationship (drug addiction, alcohol abuse...I'm good at picking 'em aren't I??) that I became suicidal, laying around all day and crying a lot. I decided to change. That decision was a big step for a depressed person, when just deciding to eat something required a lot of effort.
I knew I'd need help to beat the anti-depressants. I'd tried to wean myself off them before and each time ended having dizzy spells, putting myself in danger of falling down stairs or feinting in crowded areas.
This time was different. I decided to take a holistic approach and combined therapies. I exercised daily, took a lot of vitamin supplements and ate heaps of varieties of fresh whole foods, and bought a Holosync Technology 'brainwave altering' audio cd">audio cd set that I think was the main reason for my success. When I first listened to the cd sitting in a beanbag with headphones on, I was out like a light. There are special sounds in the cd that play with your mind and tune it up, just like a mechanic tunes up a car. The Holosync Technology">Holosync Technology balanced my right and left brain activity and did amazing things for me. With the combined therapies I got off the medication and became a picture of vibrant health.
Then in recent years I became a fan of The Secret. I've watched The Secret about 30 times and I didn't even realise until recently that Bill Harris">Bill Harris, who features in The Secret alongside , is the man behind the Holosync Technology. I thought I recognised his voice, so I looked him up and there ya go!. It's the kind of dvd you can have playing in the background at any time while you go about your other duties, and subliminally take in the helpful information. If you haven't heard of The Secret, you're among a minority as its featured on Oprah and The Ellen DeGeneres Show. I recommend that you get hold of a copy. Then you'll want copies for your friends too, so if they have a sale on bulk quantities, snap them up for gifts. Even my young daughter has fallen in love with it to the point that for her 18th birthday she asked for her own copy.
I hope I can help others become well and beat prescription anti-depressants. If you know someone who needs help, please send my article to them with love. Please forward a link to this blogspot, or if you're printing this out, this is the correctlink: "http://www.centerpointe.com/?aid=370120"
I am not the person I was back then, in fact I don't think that person back then was even me. Why was I depressed? Actually I think the anti-depressants MADE me depressed. When I first went to the doctor I felt ok, but was having trouble sleeping and would lay awake for hours at night. I'd separated from my husband after years of abuse and was then having to hide in fear of my life, so the doctor probably thought I should/would be depressed and made his diagnosis based on my circumstances.
It was many years later, while stuck in another going-nowhere relationship fraught with problems he'd brought to the relationship (drug addiction, alcohol abuse...I'm good at picking 'em aren't I??) that I became suicidal, laying around all day and crying a lot. I decided to change. That decision was a big step for a depressed person, when just deciding to eat something required a lot of effort.
I knew I'd need help to beat the anti-depressants. I'd tried to wean myself off them before and each time ended having dizzy spells, putting myself in danger of falling down stairs or feinting in crowded areas.
This time was different. I decided to take a holistic approach and combined therapies. I exercised daily, took a lot of vitamin supplements and ate heaps of varieties of fresh whole foods, and bought a Holosync Technology 'brainwave altering' audio cd">audio cd set that I think was the main reason for my success. When I first listened to the cd sitting in a beanbag with headphones on, I was out like a light. There are special sounds in the cd that play with your mind and tune it up, just like a mechanic tunes up a car. The Holosync Technology">Holosync Technology balanced my right and left brain activity and did amazing things for me. With the combined therapies I got off the medication and became a picture of vibrant health.
Then in recent years I became a fan of The Secret. I've watched The Secret about 30 times and I didn't even realise until recently that Bill Harris">Bill Harris, who features in The Secret alongside , is the man behind the Holosync Technology. I thought I recognised his voice, so I looked him up and there ya go!. It's the kind of dvd you can have playing in the background at any time while you go about your other duties, and subliminally take in the helpful information. If you haven't heard of The Secret, you're among a minority as its featured on Oprah and The Ellen DeGeneres Show. I recommend that you get hold of a copy. Then you'll want copies for your friends too, so if they have a sale on bulk quantities, snap them up for gifts. Even my young daughter has fallen in love with it to the point that for her 18th birthday she asked for her own copy.
I hope I can help others become well and beat prescription anti-depressants. If you know someone who needs help, please send my article to them with love. Please forward a link to this blogspot, or if you're printing this out, this is the correctlink: "http://www.centerpointe.com/?aid=370120"
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Messages Carry in the Wind
I ‘do’ coffee every morning at a café with sea views. I think I live in paradise, surrounded by ocean and nature. I love birds, so this morning when I heard the screeches of white cockatoos playing I took time to stop and ‘smell the roses’. As I looked towards the bird sounds I anticipated white birds flying, but my attention was at first taken by a white piece of paper which was dancing in the wind about 50m from where I stood.
Owners of apartments in the new high-rise nearby had just moved in and I noticed a woman standing on her balcony, also watching the paper perform its special dance. When I first saw the paper it was level with the 10th floor, and as I watched it fluttered higher and higher, left to right and back again. A couple of white cockatoos had perched on a balcony around the other side of the building playing noisily. We all took a few moments to watch the unusual paper dance. The woman on the balcony, I on the ground and the two white birds each enjoyed the performance.
One question was on my mind – where did the paper come from? Had it been dropped off the building and was on its journey down, or had it been scooped up from the ground by the wind? Most likely the wind had swept it off somebody’s table on one of the balconies. I watched for about five minutes as it danced and soared higher before drifting slowly downwards, looking for its new home. Finally it landed on a fifth floor balcony.
It reminded me of a time when I was sitting at a window table ‘doing’ coffee at a friend’s beachfront Italian restaurant when a gust of wind gushed in and swept away the notes we were working on. I ran outside and looked ‘everywhere’ high and low as far as a few shops down the street for the sheet of white A4 paper, but came back to the restaurant empty handed. There was a group of us there at the time and we all laughed about the universe wanting me to enjoy the view, not work. So we had a drink and a few laughs until the sky darkened over with a storm imminent. I love storms, so I left and went home to watch the electric light show from my balcony.
The next day when I returned to the restaurant, my friend placed my lost note-paper on the table in front of me with a laugh. “You know that big storm that blew in off the bay yesterday? A huge gust of wind blew this in the window and it landed right back on the table where you’d been sitting,” she said. That’s synchronicity.
Owners of apartments in the new high-rise nearby had just moved in and I noticed a woman standing on her balcony, also watching the paper perform its special dance. When I first saw the paper it was level with the 10th floor, and as I watched it fluttered higher and higher, left to right and back again. A couple of white cockatoos had perched on a balcony around the other side of the building playing noisily. We all took a few moments to watch the unusual paper dance. The woman on the balcony, I on the ground and the two white birds each enjoyed the performance.
One question was on my mind – where did the paper come from? Had it been dropped off the building and was on its journey down, or had it been scooped up from the ground by the wind? Most likely the wind had swept it off somebody’s table on one of the balconies. I watched for about five minutes as it danced and soared higher before drifting slowly downwards, looking for its new home. Finally it landed on a fifth floor balcony.
It reminded me of a time when I was sitting at a window table ‘doing’ coffee at a friend’s beachfront Italian restaurant when a gust of wind gushed in and swept away the notes we were working on. I ran outside and looked ‘everywhere’ high and low as far as a few shops down the street for the sheet of white A4 paper, but came back to the restaurant empty handed. There was a group of us there at the time and we all laughed about the universe wanting me to enjoy the view, not work. So we had a drink and a few laughs until the sky darkened over with a storm imminent. I love storms, so I left and went home to watch the electric light show from my balcony.
The next day when I returned to the restaurant, my friend placed my lost note-paper on the table in front of me with a laugh. “You know that big storm that blew in off the bay yesterday? A huge gust of wind blew this in the window and it landed right back on the table where you’d been sitting,” she said. That’s synchronicity.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Choose Positive
If thoughts become things, then we create our own physical world simply by thinking about it. This is true. I once talked myself into having cancer. I thought about cancer a lot, then I was diagnosed with it. The specialist that treated me testified in a court case against my insurance company (another story for another time) that I would have died if I had not had treatment. We create our own reality. I'll say that again. We create our own reality. If we're stuck in a rut it's because of us, our thoughts and our actions. We can't blame anybody else, no matter how persecuted we feel or how unjust we feel the system is. It's all because of our own thoughts.
Change your mind, change your life. If you're new to personal development, that statement just flew right over your head. But it's quite a profound statement that could change your life if you really want change. Say what you want in your life and let the images of your desires burn into your heart. Write down what you want in life on a small piece of cardboard and carry it in your pocket. Every time you touch the card, get emotional about how it would feel to have that object, situation or relationship. Imagine you really have it. Take ownership of that dream, and when you really believe that you have it, when you REALLY believe, then it's just around the corner. This works for negative situations (the cancer I gave myself) just the same as positive situations, so if you aren't focusing on improving your life, then you'll just get what you've always got because that's all you think about.
Make the choice to improve your life, focus on the new life, and allow the angels to bring it into your life. It's yours already...you just have to ask for it and believe it's coming.
Change your mind, change your life. If you're new to personal development, that statement just flew right over your head. But it's quite a profound statement that could change your life if you really want change. Say what you want in your life and let the images of your desires burn into your heart. Write down what you want in life on a small piece of cardboard and carry it in your pocket. Every time you touch the card, get emotional about how it would feel to have that object, situation or relationship. Imagine you really have it. Take ownership of that dream, and when you really believe that you have it, when you REALLY believe, then it's just around the corner. This works for negative situations (the cancer I gave myself) just the same as positive situations, so if you aren't focusing on improving your life, then you'll just get what you've always got because that's all you think about.
Make the choice to improve your life, focus on the new life, and allow the angels to bring it into your life. It's yours already...you just have to ask for it and believe it's coming.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Good Enough is NOT Good Enough
Aussies are pretty famous for their 'she'll be right, mate' attitude, but will she be right, mate? If everyone did the best they could possibly do, if they did everything as good as they could, do you think maybe the world might be a nicer place to be?
Imagine if everybody took their rubbish to a rubbish can instead of littering? Wouldn't that be nice?
Imagine if everybody changed into going out clothes to leave the house, instead of wearing their daggy, comfy and sometimes smelly clothes to the shopping mall. Wouldn't that be nice?
Imagine if everybody showed respect for you, for their parents and teachers, for everybody. Wouldn't that be nice?
Just imagine....
We can Find Your Passion - Live Your Dreams!">apply this principle to every moment in our lives, yet will we? I dare you to be your best for the next 24 hours and see what a difference it makes to what comes into your day. You might like to dare someone else to do the 24 hour challenge too, and ask them to pass on the dare. Feel free to let me know what nice surprises you got during your 24 hours. Bookmark me. I know you'll be back.
Walking with love,
Barbie
Imagine if everybody took their rubbish to a rubbish can instead of littering? Wouldn't that be nice?
Imagine if everybody changed into going out clothes to leave the house, instead of wearing their daggy, comfy and sometimes smelly clothes to the shopping mall. Wouldn't that be nice?
Imagine if everybody showed respect for you, for their parents and teachers, for everybody. Wouldn't that be nice?
Just imagine....
We can Find Your Passion - Live Your Dreams!">apply this principle to every moment in our lives, yet will we? I dare you to be your best for the next 24 hours and see what a difference it makes to what comes into your day. You might like to dare someone else to do the 24 hour challenge too, and ask them to pass on the dare. Feel free to let me know what nice surprises you got during your 24 hours. Bookmark me. I know you'll be back.
Walking with love,
Barbie
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