How do you feel about your life? Do you feel that there is something missing right now? What exactly is it? How important is it for you and do you think achieving it will make you happier?
In case you feel something is missing in your life, please don’t feel frustrated. Why don't you consider it an opportunity to manifest your desires instead. We create all the time, though a lot of it happens subconsciously. So why don't you make it a conscious choice to master the art of creating instead. It is a marvelous feeling when you create something from scratch!
We are not here just to experience peace. We are here to do something creative with our life. To create a great story, to write a beautiful symphony, to start a business project or whatever it is that you want to launch, the trick is to channel frustrations and pain into greatness and creativity. Every great artist know it is the tension that propels the orgasmic break-through; every great script writer knows a good story needs highs and lows. So is our life. It is full of colors, only we have to merge them on the canvass. Make it happen and actively engage in the creative process!
Most successful people find the opening door while the ordinary folks complain about the closing ones. If you set your heart and soul on getting something there is simply nothing that can stop you. Perhaps you have noticed before that we are magnets; we attract what is meaningful to us. So if there is an area in your life that is underdeveloped, try to cut out all conflicts that have prevented you from achieving it in the past. More than that, use these conflicts and tensions to de-clutter and re-focus your life. If every fiber of your being is pointed in the same direction, your imagination and creation will make it happen!
By Christian and Su Zhen
Showing posts with label conflicts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label conflicts. Show all posts
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Saturday, August 2, 2014
The Lesson of the Bamboo Tree
There was once a massive bamboo tree that gave its owner a lot of joy. The tree was very happy and always felt appreciated. But then one day the owner came and said that a storm had devastated a neighbor's roof. So he needed to cut a number of branches to help out. Naturally, the tree was very sad but then it figured that there will still be plenty of branches left over, so the tree agreed.
The tree and the owner lived happily for many more years together but then one day the owner approached the tree again and said that he needed to cut it down as the town was in need of wood to build a bridge to a new school. The tree was devastated and no matter how much it contemplated the situation it just couldn't agree to such a violent act. The owner thanked the tree for its decades of service but reminded it that bamboo trees do not live that long. So if instead it would serve scores of children for decades to come in form of a bridge, it's existence would be so much more meaningful. That made sense to the tree and it graciously gave permission to the owner to be cut.
At home I have a "bible" based on Kerry Spackman's "The Winner's Bible". You write down the stuff that is important to you, you make plans for the future and you record major accomplishments that were really important for you. The bible describes your path and can be altered every day and every step along the Way. Yet, if you are really honest with yourself, you will probably find - like I had to - that there can be conflicts between what you really want and what your spiritual notion of your Self tells you. That's ok, just keep on rearranging and re-defining your goals until one day the vision of yourself merges with your Self. Often it is by getting exactly what you want, but sometimes it is by understanding that a different outcome is more meaningful, just like the bamboo tree had to find out.
That's what a spiritual path does for you, but you have to bring your conflicts out in the open otherwise life cannot interact with you. The worst thing is that you repress what is truly meaningful to you in the name of spirituality. Life will always force everything to the surface, so make it a conscious soul finding process instead. The Winner's Bible can help you!
The tree and the owner lived happily for many more years together but then one day the owner approached the tree again and said that he needed to cut it down as the town was in need of wood to build a bridge to a new school. The tree was devastated and no matter how much it contemplated the situation it just couldn't agree to such a violent act. The owner thanked the tree for its decades of service but reminded it that bamboo trees do not live that long. So if instead it would serve scores of children for decades to come in form of a bridge, it's existence would be so much more meaningful. That made sense to the tree and it graciously gave permission to the owner to be cut.
At home I have a "bible" based on Kerry Spackman's "The Winner's Bible". You write down the stuff that is important to you, you make plans for the future and you record major accomplishments that were really important for you. The bible describes your path and can be altered every day and every step along the Way. Yet, if you are really honest with yourself, you will probably find - like I had to - that there can be conflicts between what you really want and what your spiritual notion of your Self tells you. That's ok, just keep on rearranging and re-defining your goals until one day the vision of yourself merges with your Self. Often it is by getting exactly what you want, but sometimes it is by understanding that a different outcome is more meaningful, just like the bamboo tree had to find out.
That's what a spiritual path does for you, but you have to bring your conflicts out in the open otherwise life cannot interact with you. The worst thing is that you repress what is truly meaningful to you in the name of spirituality. Life will always force everything to the surface, so make it a conscious soul finding process instead. The Winner's Bible can help you!
Thursday, January 17, 2013
The Tao of Resistance
Walking the Tao feels like you are connected to a
stream of energy which guides you along the Way. Most of the time it is a
wonderful feeling of connectedness, yet, there are doubtless times when you feel
resistance. You want to go in a direction that makes a lot of sense to you, yet,
there is a wall. What do you do then?
We talked the other day about the mental struggle that the spiritual community often has when they want to charge money for their services. Yet the constraints of making a living force you do deal with this issue. You may ask, "Lord, why do I have to deal with this?", but sooner or later it dawns on you that your money taboo is just a subconscious way of proving to yourself that you are somehow holier than all the others. Spiritual activities are not holier, daily life is not more sinful. The Tao will always let you know what is the best way to do it, just listen carefully and let go off your preconceived notions.
Another example, you may be at work building a large spreadsheet and suddenly the system crashes and all your work is lost. You take it well, rebuild everything from scratch only to find that it crashes again. Accept the resistance. Everything happens for a reason. Perhaps it is a good opportunity to step back and try a new approach. The Tao always only wants your best. Accept the change and try to figure out what the lesson from your struggle is.
You will also notice that as soon as you reposition yourself, peace and harmony penetrates you again. The peace and harmony is the “ok” signal the True Self is giving to you, while anxiety and struggles are the signals that you have deviated from the Tao already. Adjust accordingly until you reach the state when you will always walk the Tao.
The Tao is here to show you who you really are. Struggles show your false belief systems, inadequate norms that the society holds, or simply that the ego has hijacked your agenda again. A Tao is a highway to freedom. Just as there sometimes are curves along the way, you will find it beneficial to steer a little to the left and the right along your journey. Let the peace and harmony you feel inside be your internal guide and synchronicity your external milestone. Don't worry, your overall mission in life is well protected with all these changes - the Tao just wants you do reach your goal in the best way possible.
By Christian and Su Zhen
We talked the other day about the mental struggle that the spiritual community often has when they want to charge money for their services. Yet the constraints of making a living force you do deal with this issue. You may ask, "Lord, why do I have to deal with this?", but sooner or later it dawns on you that your money taboo is just a subconscious way of proving to yourself that you are somehow holier than all the others. Spiritual activities are not holier, daily life is not more sinful. The Tao will always let you know what is the best way to do it, just listen carefully and let go off your preconceived notions.
Another example, you may be at work building a large spreadsheet and suddenly the system crashes and all your work is lost. You take it well, rebuild everything from scratch only to find that it crashes again. Accept the resistance. Everything happens for a reason. Perhaps it is a good opportunity to step back and try a new approach. The Tao always only wants your best. Accept the change and try to figure out what the lesson from your struggle is.
You will also notice that as soon as you reposition yourself, peace and harmony penetrates you again. The peace and harmony is the “ok” signal the True Self is giving to you, while anxiety and struggles are the signals that you have deviated from the Tao already. Adjust accordingly until you reach the state when you will always walk the Tao.
The Tao is here to show you who you really are. Struggles show your false belief systems, inadequate norms that the society holds, or simply that the ego has hijacked your agenda again. A Tao is a highway to freedom. Just as there sometimes are curves along the way, you will find it beneficial to steer a little to the left and the right along your journey. Let the peace and harmony you feel inside be your internal guide and synchronicity your external milestone. Don't worry, your overall mission in life is well protected with all these changes - the Tao just wants you do reach your goal in the best way possible.
By Christian and Su Zhen
Monday, February 27, 2012
Spiritual Pearls
Do you really know what a conflict of interest is? Most problems that you are facing have solutions. They may seem hard to you when you try to solve them but after the struggle is over, looking back, you often find that the solution was pretty straight-forward after all. But what if there is a mental wall that you just cannot tear down? I once read somewhere that many figures in history who accomplished something of significance had irresolvable internal struggles. In fact, this internal tension generated the energy they needed to accomplish their mission. To overcome the conflict they had to redirected their frustration into their life mission instead.They may not have been the happiest people in the process, but at one stage in their lives they probably understood why they had signed up for their mission.
I think there are problems that you cannot solve. You may face this dilemma too. All you can do is to transcend them and redirect your frustration into other creative avenues. When you truly accept the insolubility of your internal struggle, this very acceptance will bring peace with it. Think of the oyster which cannot rid itself of the sand grain, but produces a pearl instead. That's perhaps your mission statement: accept your conflict and create the spiritual pearl you were chosen to produce. Remember, you set yourself up for this, so you might as well start now.
I think there are problems that you cannot solve. You may face this dilemma too. All you can do is to transcend them and redirect your frustration into other creative avenues. When you truly accept the insolubility of your internal struggle, this very acceptance will bring peace with it. Think of the oyster which cannot rid itself of the sand grain, but produces a pearl instead. That's perhaps your mission statement: accept your conflict and create the spiritual pearl you were chosen to produce. Remember, you set yourself up for this, so you might as well start now.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)