When you're feeling good about yourself!

"When you`re feeling good about yourself, your outlook about life and everything around you is also good; and with a clean mind and cleansed spirit you begin to live life differently as you extinguish all impurities. People on the outside looking in, see the changes that you're not aware of and you become the energy that you project to the world." - A D. G

This message was taken from may 2007, SOUL INK Newsletter...Read the entire newsletter here... SOUL INK Newsletter May 2007

You Ever Think

About where you will be ten years from now , how much will your rent be, how much will it cost to get on a bus, how much a loaf of bread will cost. I found my my self thinking about these things all the time . Will I be able to send my child to college , will I be able to have a happy home ?. I often look through the classifieds at the monthly cost of condos & co-ops and ask my self ARE THESE PEOPLE OUT THEY RABBIT ASS MIND . I saw condo for 675k 2 bed rooms & 1 bath room , the rooms were to damn small and not big enough for a family . How can the average person afford to live in a good community and the cost of living is so high . Am I suppose to pack up and move to a poor neighborhood where the drug and crime rate is high or do I get 4 or 5 jobs to keep a roof over my head.

Prime Realstate

This is a message for women who are about to go on that sexual journey . Know and understand your body is a blessing, a gem, a gift. Most men want sex with no questions asked cause most are just not ready to take that extra step.

Let me put it more simple for, would you let a bum live in your house rent free and not contribute to the up keeping of a home? And please dont think that I am putting a dollar amount on your physical atribute, but know and undstand that you cant put a price on something that is priceless .

What you want is a man who is able to add on to your current worth. You dont want a decrease in property value .

Knowing Better Now

When we look back at the past, knowing what we know now, we often find it difficult to understand how we made the mistakes we made. This is because once we learn new information, it is nearly impossible to reenter the headspace we were in before we learned that information. And so we look back at parents who spanked their kids, for example, and wonder how they could have thought that was a good idea. Similarly, our personal pasts are full of mistakes we can't believe we made. We did things then that we would never do now, and this is precisely because we have information now that we didn't have, or weren't able to access, then.

One step at a time

"What saves a man is to take a step. Then another step." -- Antoine De Saint-Exupery

Does the prospect of changing and growing seem monumental to you? Just too much to tackle?

Then consider this approach. Take a simple step of affirming your openness to experience more or something new. Or a different first step might be to let go of judgment by embracing the neutral. Begin to see the people, activities and things around you as neither good nor bad.

A journey is made of many small steps. Don’t focus on a far-off destination if you’re not clear how to get there. Build a foundation that is solid for you. We get to new places one step at a time.

"You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"One may walk over the highest mountain one step at a time." -- John Wanamaker

Love life and yourself

"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength while loving someone deeply gives you courage." -- Lao Tzu

There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance.

We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create. Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life.

"It matters not Who you love, Where you love, Why you love, When you love, Or how you love, It matters only that you love." -- John Lennon

"Why not go out on a limb? Isn't that where the fruit is?" -- Frank Scully

The Impossible Dream - Right In Front Of You

When it comes to the things we want, there always seems to be an endless list. No matter how many times we get something off that list, we add new things to replace it. In life, this drama of wanting and getting and wanting is all part of the dance. The things we want motivate us to get up and get them.

And yet, at the same time, we can torment ourselves with our wanting, especially when we want something we can't have or can't find. It is in cases like these that it might be fruitful to entertain the idea that maybe what you really want is right in front of you. Maybe you are using this desire you can't fulfill to distract you from truly engaging the blessings you already have. It may seem like that doesn't make sense, yet we do it all the time. It may be easier to see in other people than to see it in ourselves. We have all heard our friends wishing they were more this or less that, and looking at them we see clearly that they are everything they are wishing they were. We know people who have wonderful partners and yet envy you yours. We wish we could give these people a look at their situations from our perspective so that they could see that what they want really is right in front of them.

It's not too far-fetched to consider that we might be victims of the same folly. It can be scary to have what we want. We get caught up in the chase and forget to enjoy the beauty right in front of us-like a child who never wants the toy she has in her hand but always the one just out of her reach. Take a moment today to consider the many things you are holding in the palm of your hand and how you might best play with them.

Follow your own path

"Life is complex. Each one of us must make his own path through life. There are no self-help manuals, no formulas, no easy answers. The right road for one is the wrong road for another ... The journey of life is not paved in blacktop; it is not brightly lit, and it has no road signs. It is a rocky path through the wilderness." - M. Scott Peck

We each have our own pathways to develop both personally and spiritually. They are based on our character and past experiences. No one else can identify our paths for us. Tune in to your inner guidance system and follow its direction.

"What every man needs, regardless of his job or the kind of work he is doing, is a vision of what his place is and may be. He needs an objective and a purpose. He needs a feeling and a belief that he has some worthwhile thing to do. What this is no one can tell him. It must be his own creation." -- Joseph M. Dodge

Open to possibilities

"Become a possibilitarian. No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see possibilities -- always see them, for they're always there." -- Dr. Norman Vincent Peale

"One of the saddest lines in the world is, 'Oh come now - be realistic.' The best parts of this world were not fashioned by those who were realistic. They were fashioned by those who dared to look hard at their wishes and gave them horses to ride." -- Richard Nelson Bolles

"The world would have you agree with its dismal dream of limitation. But the light would have you soar like the eagle of your sacred visions." -- Alan Cohen

Dream!

"The most pathetic person in the world is the person who has sight, but no vision." -- Helen Keller

What’s the big picture for your life? Always have a larger, purposeful, even spiritually ideal picture of where you are going. Your mind needs to have a clear and challenging vision to draw you ever upwards.

"Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and follow where they lead." -- Louisa May Alcott
"The only limits are, as always, those of vision." -- James Broughton

Dare to risk

"To try is to risk failure. But risk must be taken because the greatest hazard of life is to risk nothing. The person who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing, is nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn, feel, change, grow, live, and love." -- Leo Buscaglia

Daring to risk is an essential step to self empowerment. This is the key to breaking out of stuck thinking and behaviour. It is about breaking through the comfort zones and barriers. It is about experiencing new levels of mind and feelings. It is about experiencing more life.

"A life spent in making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing." -- George Bernard Shaw

"Only those who risk going too far can know how far they can go." -- Unknown source

Question your intentions

"Men are more accountable for their motives, than for anything else ...." -- Archibald Alexander

Why are you doing what you are doing?

Throughout the day, continually ask yourself about your underlying motivation. Are you doing what you are doing for selfish, manipulative or fearful reasons, or in honest service? Maybe you will see that much of your activity lacks purpose. This is a great way to become more conscious.
Your intention and motives are fundamental to the results you receive. Set high intentions and your life will blossom.

"A good intention clothes itself with power." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Really be there for another

"Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. You can see that when you think how the friends that really listen to us are the ones we move toward, and we want to sit in their radius as though it did us good, like ultraviolet rays." -- Brenda Ueland

How well do we communicate with others? Often, when we are interacting with others, our attention in both speaking and listening is focused on meeting our own needs.

Our communication skills improve when we can open to be aware of the needs of the other person. When we listen, we can release the filters that serve our own needs for security and receive the message with our compassionate heart. And when we speak, we can choose words that the listener is able to receive. True communication happens when we harmonize with the other individual.

"So when you are listening to somebody, completely, attentively, then you are listening not only to the words, but also to the feeling of what is being conveyed, to the whole of it, not part of it."
-- Jiddu Krishnamurti

"The first duty of love is to listen." -- Paul Tillich

What is love?

"When mystics use the word love, they use it very carefully -- in the deeply spiritual sense, where to love is to know; to love is to act. If you really love, from the depths of your Consciousness, that love gives you a native wisdom. You perceive the needs of others intuitively and clearly, with detachment from any personal desires; and you know how to act creatively to meet those needs, dexterously surmounting any obstacle that comes in the way. Such is the immense, driving power of love." -- Eknath Easwaran

"Therefore, when I say that ‘I love,’ it is not I who love, but in reality Love who acts through me. Love is not so much something I do as something that I am. Love is not a doing but a state of being - a relatedness, a connectedness to another mortal, an identification with her or him that simply flows within me and through me, independent of my intentions or my efforts." -- Robert A. Johnson

"When you are aware that you are the force that is Life, anything is possible. Miracles happen all the time, because those miracles are performed by the heart. The heart is in direct communion with the human soul, and when the heart speaks, even with the resistance of the head, something inside you changes; your heart opens another heart, and true love is possible." -- Don Miguel Ruiz

How do you think of money?

"Money is a highly charged subject. And most of the emotions people feel around it are negative: fear, shame, embarrassment, anger." -- Jerrold Mundis

How do you think of money? How do you feel about money?

Many of us are afraid of money. With this fear, we avoid dealing honestly and completely with our financial situation. We only have a vague idea of how much money we earn and spend, and even how much we owe. By refusing to accept financial responsibility, we sacrifice our chances for a better life.

"Choosing wealth as a goal requires facing everything about your money bravely, honestly, with courage -- which is a very, very hard thing for most of us to do. But it can be done." -- Suze Orman

Daily forgiveness

"As long as you don't forgive, who and whatever it is will occupy rent-free space in your mind."
-- Isabelle Holland

We cannot avoid daily resentment and thoughts of guilt. They are a part of human nature. What we can do is release their grip on us. We can forgive others and ourselves daily.

Forgiveness requires nothing in return. There are no conditions. It gets rid of old baggage and clears up unfinished business. It leads us to a life of authenticity, lightness and directness. Forgiveness is the highest form of letting go of resentment and ego.

True forgiveness is more than an apology, understanding and acceptance. There is an element of recreating and re-imagining. There is a need to envision ourselves as more loving, interdependent, courageous and compassionate. Forgiveness requires honouring the sacred journey of learning about life - our life and others'.

"Whatever we have done, we can always make amends for it without ever looking back in guilt or sorrow." -- Eknath Easwaran