You will be what you are.
(Friedrich Nietzsche)
Your mind-set decides pretty much what you will experience in your life. When you doubt people, when you lack trust, when you see scarcity wherever you turn, you will find plenty of evidence to prove to yourself that you are right.
On the other hand, when you believe in love, when you trust the people you interact with, when you know that you are fine regardless of what happens, be ready to experience a magic world opening up to you. A whole new dimension is waiting for you to experience - life is a lot of fun when you believe that it is.
How you feel inside also pretty much decides how you are going to experience life, work, and your interpersonal relationships. When you think that you are not popular, you won't. When you don't believe in yourself, no one else will. But then, when you discover that you are true love, you will be surrounded by it.
Stand ready to experience your life radiating with the warmth and intensity of a sun. Actually, you don't have to convince yourself of anything. All you have to do is to let go of all the interferences that held you back in the past. The nay-sayer within; the suspicious mind that sees a downside in anything that comes your way. Drop all expectations and open up to life so that you can receive the abundance it has to offer.
You are part of the Way once you let go of the little fenced up reality that you used to perceive. Don't be afraid of life just because you carry a few old scars around. Life is a lot of fun when you open up to it. Enjoy!
By Christian and Su Zhen
Showing posts with label fun. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fun. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Friday, November 1, 2013
Happiness Along the Way
Those only are happy who have their minds fixed on some object other than their own happiness; on the happiness of others, on the improvement of mankind, even on some art or pursuit, followed not as a means, but as itself an ideal end. Aiming thus at something else, they find happiness by the way.
(John Stuart Mill)
Christian and I had a discussion today, can we actually work on our happiness? What do you think? We can work on happiness, but as John Stuart Mill already observed a few hundred years ago, happiness is more an outgrowth of something we really enjoy doing; and as we do what we enjoy doing we suddenly look up and realize how happy we are! Well, that's what traveling the Way is all about. We experience how the Tao steers us in a direction; we welcome the many voices and puzzles that come our way, and in all that we find meaning. So that's what we can do, follow the Tao every day and find happiness that way.
Sure, life throws a few challenges at us. Everyone experiences the ups and downs of life, even a spiritual traveler will. However, happiness definitely becomes a frequent and reliable visitor independent of whether we are climbing to the top of the mountain or descend into a valley. Possessions come and go, friends visit or depart, challenges show up and disappear, but in all this we will always see the handwriting of the Tao. And along this path there are many smiles, and a lot of gratitude and love no matter what the situation may turn out to be.
Walking the Tao is very much like planting produce - you have to work on it all the time. You have to take care of the field before you plant the seeds. You have to add fertilizer and water, and you have to wait for the sun. Sometimes have to remove weeds as well. And then you have to wait. You experience the seeds sprouting up; you see the magnificent harvest growing seemingly out of nothing. The produce is the accumulated sum of your hard work, input and love. The produce gives you the meaning, and meaning gives you the happiness. Nothing else does.
Join us on our journey and participate in the harvest. Yes there will be a few cold and dry spells and a few cloudy days. But in your journey there is so much creativity, so much love and so much fun! Don't think about happiness, find happiness along the Way.
By Christian and Su Zhen
(John Stuart Mill)
Christian and I had a discussion today, can we actually work on our happiness? What do you think? We can work on happiness, but as John Stuart Mill already observed a few hundred years ago, happiness is more an outgrowth of something we really enjoy doing; and as we do what we enjoy doing we suddenly look up and realize how happy we are! Well, that's what traveling the Way is all about. We experience how the Tao steers us in a direction; we welcome the many voices and puzzles that come our way, and in all that we find meaning. So that's what we can do, follow the Tao every day and find happiness that way.
Sure, life throws a few challenges at us. Everyone experiences the ups and downs of life, even a spiritual traveler will. However, happiness definitely becomes a frequent and reliable visitor independent of whether we are climbing to the top of the mountain or descend into a valley. Possessions come and go, friends visit or depart, challenges show up and disappear, but in all this we will always see the handwriting of the Tao. And along this path there are many smiles, and a lot of gratitude and love no matter what the situation may turn out to be.
Walking the Tao is very much like planting produce - you have to work on it all the time. You have to take care of the field before you plant the seeds. You have to add fertilizer and water, and you have to wait for the sun. Sometimes have to remove weeds as well. And then you have to wait. You experience the seeds sprouting up; you see the magnificent harvest growing seemingly out of nothing. The produce is the accumulated sum of your hard work, input and love. The produce gives you the meaning, and meaning gives you the happiness. Nothing else does.
Join us on our journey and participate in the harvest. Yes there will be a few cold and dry spells and a few cloudy days. But in your journey there is so much creativity, so much love and so much fun! Don't think about happiness, find happiness along the Way.
By Christian and Su Zhen
Friday, September 27, 2013
Having Fun along the Way
Do you feel that life is wonderful and that you can't wait for the next morning to do all sorts of things you love? Do you often have that sensation of joy, excitement and feeling of fulfillment? Do you want to scream out loud and tell that world that you are ready to embrace life and live it to the fullest? You say, "Bring it on! I am ready to play with you!”
Have you ever observed that once you get too serious about life, about everything you have to do and face, you feel as if you are trapped in a web and just can't get yourself out anymore. Whenever you get too serious and get bogged down by your expectations, fears and worries, life becomes a big weight that you have to carry on your shoulders. It doesn't have to be that way. Experience your life playfully and see how everything will fall into place.
We are not telling you not to be irresponsible, neither are we saying that you should avoid the hard tasks. Yet, if children get up every morning with a big smile ready to face whatever comes their way, why can't you? Along the Tao everything falls in place, so if you put your best foot forward in everything you do, see how even your so-called chores can become a source of fun and energy instead. Be yourself, know what you want, and let the Tao get you there. Say yes to your life, say yes to yourself, and have fun along the Way.
By Christian and Su Zhen
Have you ever observed that once you get too serious about life, about everything you have to do and face, you feel as if you are trapped in a web and just can't get yourself out anymore. Whenever you get too serious and get bogged down by your expectations, fears and worries, life becomes a big weight that you have to carry on your shoulders. It doesn't have to be that way. Experience your life playfully and see how everything will fall into place.
We are not telling you not to be irresponsible, neither are we saying that you should avoid the hard tasks. Yet, if children get up every morning with a big smile ready to face whatever comes their way, why can't you? Along the Tao everything falls in place, so if you put your best foot forward in everything you do, see how even your so-called chores can become a source of fun and energy instead. Be yourself, know what you want, and let the Tao get you there. Say yes to your life, say yes to yourself, and have fun along the Way.
By Christian and Su Zhen
Friday, November 30, 2012
People as Mirrors
Have you ever noticed that the people around you are just
like mirrors? They tell you so much about yourself. It maybe difficult to
admit, especially if there are traits that you dislike in others, but if you
really look closely, you may discover similar traits in you that you hadn't
appreciated before.
Su Zhen used to have problems with some of her family members. She disliked their poker faces, the way they treated others and even themselves. Sometimes she saw facial expressions that looked like the world was owing them a million dollars. So it was no surprise that other people kept their distance whenever her family members were in that mood. But then one day she discovered exactly the same facial expression in herself. It was then that she discovered that she had to acknowledge the same issues in herself. So if you ever spot a strong dislike, observe yourself carefully. Most likely, you are sending an important message to yourself.
The other way to experience the world as a mirror is to observe how you treat people. The way you are treating people often tells you about your relationship with yourself. If you don't trust other people, you probably don't trust yourself. If people you work with have little confidence, you may lack confidence yourself. If you are harsh with others, you most likely are harsh to yourself. If you cannot connect with others, you may have difficulties connecting with all of your personality aspects yourself. If you can't forgive other people, most likely you haven't forgiven some of your past mistakes.
Make this approach your working hypothesis for a while. Try to internalize everything that you have treated as external events beforehand. Take all the obstacles that come your way as an opportunity to heal yourself. If you can recognize this link, it will be easy to make the right adjustments in your life and peace will penetrate you with every step along your healing path. If instead of expecting changes in others, you change yourself, you will observe how the world is changing with you. Try it, you can run little experiments with that concept and see for yourself whether it works. The world you perceive is a function of your own internal world - as you adjust internally, your perception of the world will change with it.
When you are in front of the mirror you have a choice to look for wrinkles and you can look for your beautiful smile. This choice is entirely up to you. In the same way, perhaps you can experiment with our theme and experience the concept of oneness for yourself in that you look for the good side in people. Sure it is a process, but it is so much more fun than looking for 'mistakes' in others. If you lift others up in this experiment, you are in fact lifting yourself up. Christian started running these experiments at his work were he endowed colleagues who weren't very confident with more responsibilities and always looked for the next opportunity to make them excel at. He found over and over again that by lifting other people up, he in fact raised himself up. You can gain confidence by encouraging others to gain theirs. Fact of the matter is, if you give others the wings to fly, you realize that you are flying yourself. We have coined this approach the Christian power of positive thinking. Try it for yourself. The concept is about looking for the smile in your mirror instead of the frown. Try it and see what you will find.
The Course in Miracles claims that there is a good way of measuring your spiritual progress. See how much the people in your vicinity smile and laugh. Sometimes you yourself don't understand where their merriness comes from. It is the healed part in you that communicates with your environment at that moment. Have fun, be merry and if you catch yourself occasionally with arms crossed and a frown on your face, use the opportunity to reposition yourself. The Tao always extends Her hand to you moment by moment. Just use this priceless opportunity to dance with Her instead. Life is so much fun and so exciting if you can don't take yourself so seriously. There is only one thing that is important, make sure that the soul siblings standing next to you participates in the joy and laughter. Enjoy!
By Christian and Su Zhen
Su Zhen used to have problems with some of her family members. She disliked their poker faces, the way they treated others and even themselves. Sometimes she saw facial expressions that looked like the world was owing them a million dollars. So it was no surprise that other people kept their distance whenever her family members were in that mood. But then one day she discovered exactly the same facial expression in herself. It was then that she discovered that she had to acknowledge the same issues in herself. So if you ever spot a strong dislike, observe yourself carefully. Most likely, you are sending an important message to yourself.
The other way to experience the world as a mirror is to observe how you treat people. The way you are treating people often tells you about your relationship with yourself. If you don't trust other people, you probably don't trust yourself. If people you work with have little confidence, you may lack confidence yourself. If you are harsh with others, you most likely are harsh to yourself. If you cannot connect with others, you may have difficulties connecting with all of your personality aspects yourself. If you can't forgive other people, most likely you haven't forgiven some of your past mistakes.
Make this approach your working hypothesis for a while. Try to internalize everything that you have treated as external events beforehand. Take all the obstacles that come your way as an opportunity to heal yourself. If you can recognize this link, it will be easy to make the right adjustments in your life and peace will penetrate you with every step along your healing path. If instead of expecting changes in others, you change yourself, you will observe how the world is changing with you. Try it, you can run little experiments with that concept and see for yourself whether it works. The world you perceive is a function of your own internal world - as you adjust internally, your perception of the world will change with it.
When you are in front of the mirror you have a choice to look for wrinkles and you can look for your beautiful smile. This choice is entirely up to you. In the same way, perhaps you can experiment with our theme and experience the concept of oneness for yourself in that you look for the good side in people. Sure it is a process, but it is so much more fun than looking for 'mistakes' in others. If you lift others up in this experiment, you are in fact lifting yourself up. Christian started running these experiments at his work were he endowed colleagues who weren't very confident with more responsibilities and always looked for the next opportunity to make them excel at. He found over and over again that by lifting other people up, he in fact raised himself up. You can gain confidence by encouraging others to gain theirs. Fact of the matter is, if you give others the wings to fly, you realize that you are flying yourself. We have coined this approach the Christian power of positive thinking. Try it for yourself. The concept is about looking for the smile in your mirror instead of the frown. Try it and see what you will find.
The Course in Miracles claims that there is a good way of measuring your spiritual progress. See how much the people in your vicinity smile and laugh. Sometimes you yourself don't understand where their merriness comes from. It is the healed part in you that communicates with your environment at that moment. Have fun, be merry and if you catch yourself occasionally with arms crossed and a frown on your face, use the opportunity to reposition yourself. The Tao always extends Her hand to you moment by moment. Just use this priceless opportunity to dance with Her instead. Life is so much fun and so exciting if you can don't take yourself so seriously. There is only one thing that is important, make sure that the soul siblings standing next to you participates in the joy and laughter. Enjoy!
By Christian and Su Zhen
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