March 9, 2013
2013
March 9, 2013
CHILL
“At the center of your being you have the answer: you know who you are and what you want.” -Lao-tzu You must relax to reach your center. Close your eyes, clear your mind and breathe deeply…and then ask yourself: What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail? Next, write it down – Read More –
March 8, 2013
SAGE ADVICE: ANXIOUS HUSBAND
DEAR SAGE: How do you get your wife to slowdown? My wife has been working 7-day weeks most weeks for a few months. I realize the need to stay on “top of her game,” especially during peak season can create unusual demands; however, I would like her to get more R & R beyond date night dinner, movies, etc. Any suggestions that don’t include exotic vacations?
DEAR ANXIOUS HUSBAND: Thank you for your note! It is lovely to have a husband reach out on behalf of his wife! The simple answer to your question, “How do you get your wife to slowdown,” is you can’t. Now, since I know is probably not the golden advice you were expecting, please allow me to elaborate:
Despite the all of the hours she is currently working, there is an underlying force driving her. She may be doing this to “stay on top of her game” as you say; she could be concerned about her job security; or she could be enjoying herself. Sometimes when a person is in the zone and is able to watch their efforts result in progress, there is a unique thrill that is attached. She may not have a clear understanding of what is causing her to work so hard, so probing is not the solution. Your support and positive feedback is what she really needs. You may share different expectations about what is best for her, so you have to relax your expectations. She must feel free to live her life in a way that feels good to her. If she shares what’s really driving her, you must be prepared to listen compassionately and just provide support. I know it can be difficult for a man to hear his wife speak without offering advice, but often women just want to be heard not advised. Let her know that you are confident she will make the right choice and allow her to work it out on her own. (If she asks for your advice, you then have a green light to proceed.)
March 8, 2013
IT HAPPENS ALL THE TIME IN HEAVEN
It happens all the time in heaven, and someday it will begin to happen again on earth — that men and women who are married, and men and men who love, and women and women who give each other light, often will get down on their knees, and while so tenderly holding their lover’s hand, – Read More –
March 8, 2013
SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL
March 7, 2013
ONE DAY IN HEAVEN
March 7, 2013
BLISS
bliss /blis/ (noun): perfected happiness
I most appreciate Osho’s discussion of bliss as it relates to consciousness. Osho divides humanity into those who are sleeping, those who are awake and those who are in between. Happiness depends on where you are in your consciousness.
The Sleeping Ones
If you are sleeping, then pleasure is happiness. Pleasure is trying to force the body to achieve something it is not capable of. People are trying, in every possible way, to achieve happiness through the body, but it cannot be done. The body can give you only momentary pleasures, and each pleasure is balanced by pain in the same amount, in the same degree. The body exists in a world of duality, just as the day is followed by night, your pleasure will be followed by your pain…and your pain will be followed by pleasure.
But you will never be at ease. When you are in a state of pleasure, you will be afraid that you are going to lose it…and that fear will poison it. And when you are lost in pain, of course, you will be in suffering…and you will try every possible effort to get out of it — just to fall again back into it. Buddha calls this the wheel of birth and death. To the sleeping, pleasurable sensations are happiness. He lives from one pleasure to another pleasure. He is just rushing from one sensation to another sensation. He lives for small thrills. His life is very superficial; it has no depth, it has no quality. He lives in the world of quantity.
Those in-between being sleep and being awake
When one starts meditating, one will begin to move from being sleep to being awakened. In this transitory state, happiness has a different meaning: it becomes more of a quality, and less of a quantity; it is more psychological, less physiological. She enjoys music more, she enjoys poetry more, she enjoys creating something. She enjoys nature, its beauty. She enjoys silence…she enjoys what she had never enjoyed before, and this is far more lasting. Even if the music stops, something goes on lingering in you.
The difference between pleasure and THIS happiness is: it is not a relief, it is an enrichment. You become more full, you become a little overflowing. Listening to good music, something is triggered in your being, a harmony arises in you — you become musical. Or dancing, suddenly you forget your body; your body becomes weightless. The grip of gravitation over you is lost. Suddenly you are in a different space: the ego is not so solid, the dancer melts and merges into the dance. This has a depth. But this is also not the ultimate.
March 7, 2013
ZEN PAINTING
Zen painting is a form of meditation. The paintings are created on rice paper so that corrections cannot be made. In this way, the mind has nothing to do while painting. The artist simply paints without thought of correction, creating brush strokes with the feeling of the moment. Zen painting also honors nature and incorporates – Read More –