Daily Inspirational Message for November 2, 2013

As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kinds of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.
– Henry David Thoreau

While it’s possible to manifest a healing breakthrough by engaging in a one-time healing ritual, it is much more powerful to regularly focus on what we want to create in our lives, and to practice embodying how we want to feel. Transforming our lives and hearts is a lot like getting into shape physically: the more we train ourselves to think and feel as we desire to be, the easier it gets, and the more empowered we grow to fulfill our goals. The tools in Kajama’s Spiritual Toolbox are designed to take advantage of these seemingly magical powers of the subconscious mind. By investing a few minutes in this powerful work every day, you can begin to manifest miracles in your life.

Goodness In Return

If you have been disappointed, take heart. For you are also in a great place from which to start.

When you’ve made the effort and failed to get the desired result, see it as the blessing it is. You have just discovered what doesn’t work and that will help you figure out what does work.

When people are critical of you, sincerely thank them. They have just given you a valuable perspective which can help you to become even more effective.

In the moments when frustration comes, feel the intense energy that comes with it. Transform that energy into determination, and make it a powerful, positive force.

Even when there are good reasons to feel sorry for yourself, don’t. Those very same reasons can be reasons to move forward with more commitment than ever before.

Whatever life may give you, choose to give goodness in return. And nothing will be able to hold you back from the sweet fulfillment you deserve.

— Ralph Marston

Read more at http://www.greatday.com/#lCUBYOLoWHKaSpiq.99

Woody Harrelson: Thoughts from Within

"I sometimes feel like an alien creature, for which there is no earthly explanation," begins Woody Harrelson's introspective poem. "I feel like a run-on sentence in a punctuation-crazy world." This spoken-word piece is brought to life in video with arresting images of the contemporary dilemma, where norms and meaning are dictated by unnatural forces seemingly beyond the control of our individual lives. We have come too far in a direction that has removed us from ourselves. Mr. Harrelson calls for a return to an ethos of caring and belonging that was "pre-us."

http://www.karmatube.org/videos.php?id=4327

Daily Inspirational Message for November 1, 2013

Whatever relationships you have attracted in your life at this moment are precisely the ones you need in your life at this moment. There is a hidden meaning behind all events, and this hidden meaning is serving your own evolution.
- Deepak Chopra

If someone is driving us crazy, it helps to remember that there is something about us – something we need to realize, learn or perhaps simply decide – that is keeping that person in our experience or enabling them to get under our skin. The other day, I counseled a kindhearted, intelligent woman who has been in a profoundly miserable marriage for many years. Her husband regularly tells her he doesn’t love her and wants a divorce, and his extended family is emotionally abusive toward her on a daily basis. She told me that she is a ‘weak person’ – too weak to survive without him – and thus she keeps praying for him to love her and for her marriage to survive. The lesson she is learning? She is stronger than she believes herself to be! Indeed, the Universe is trying to answer her prayers for greater happiness through the very divorce she keeps resisting. We all end up stuck in unhealthy relationships due to limited beliefs sometimes. If you have a relationship that keeps troubling you, ask yourself what you’re supposed to be learning from it, and remember that whatever you’re walking through is designed to ultimately benefit you in some way.

Get Life Going Your Way

Don’t wait for life to go your way. Get your own thoughts and actions going your way and the other things in life will reliably follow along.

Step forward and take a positive, active role in creating your own future. Instead of worrying about what might or might not happen, work to make what does happen the best you can imagine.

With every moment and every choice, you have an influence on the way your life unfolds. Instead of being a victim of circumstance, find ways to utilize each circumstance for meaningful, positive purposes.

Though you cannot control every influence in your life, you absolutely can control what you make of those various influences. Make the choice, again and again, to make the best of them.

Take what comes, whatever it may be, with gratitude and positive expectations. Do what you must to make something good out of it.

There is always a way forward, so take it. There is always something useful, valuable and positive you can do, so do it, and get life going your way.

— Ralph Marston

Read more at http://www.greatday.com/#VAiILRcCawvBTqvw.99

The College Course That's Changing Lives

Although it might sound like a bunch of self-help hooey-wooey, students at Harvard University have been flocking to take part in a bespectacled professor's course that tries to impart the wisdom of ancient Chinese philosophers. With the bold claim that "this course will change your life," instructor Michael Puett teaches how the smallest of actions -- as simple as a smile or a wave -- can have the most profound ramifications.

http://www.dailygood.org/more.php?n=5760

Daily Inspirational Message for October 31, 2013

Everyone is so afraid of death, but the real sufis just laugh: nothing tyrannizes their hearts. What strikes the oyster shell does not damage the pearl.
– Rumi

It is striking how people who undergo near-death experiences lose their fear of death. Some studies have found that between 80 and 90 percent of people who experienced an NDE became convinced that there is life after death, and of those, many found the feeling of complete love and well-being they felt while clinically dead to be so blissful that they didn’t want to return to life. As a result of their ‘traumatic’ experiences, most NDErs look forward to leaving this world one day. Further, though they may feel a sense of personal loss when loved ones leave this world because they will miss them, they don’t get mired in grief as some do, for they know that their loved ones are fine and that they will see them again one day. Of course, inducing a near-death experience in order to overcome our fear of death would be reckless and crazy, but we can do the next best thing: we can read about others’ experiences, and also pray to be guided to a deeper understanding of the eternal nature of our existence.

Richness Flowing Out

If you cannot fully value and appreciate what you have, you might as well not have it. Life’s richness is valuable precisely to the extent that you make it valuable.

The way to make it valuable is to be thankful. The way to be truly thankful for what you have is to make good and meaningful use of it.

This moment is an opportunity to do just that. This situation, whatever else it may be, is your chance to create new value and richness.

Look at what you have right now, but not as a static scorecard. Look at what you have and see the possibilities for moving forward.

Your highest fulfillment will come not from accumulating possessions. It will come from creating and expressing new value in your own unique way.

Be truly and immensely thankful for this moment and for what’s in it. Then live it in such a way that new richness comes flowing out.

— Ralph Marston

Read more at http://www.greatday.com/#r2gvf8l1KokEF1oA.99

Reclaiming the Streets

Expressing a need for ordinary citizens to come together and own their cities, young Nigerian-born artist and poet Inua Ellams has been leading impromptu 'runs' around London by night, searching the streets for alternative stories and new configurations. All over the world, through defiant protests, performances, citizen action, even unsolicited horticulture, the battle for civic space continues to reinvent itself. This article shares more.

http://www.dailygood.org/more.php?n=5657

Daily Inspirational Message for October 30, 2013

Movement is the movement of change. In my experience, if you put your psyche in motion it will heal itself. Movement is the medicine. Each of us has the power and responsibility to heal ourselves, to be our own medicine man or woman. Awakening our innate powers of being, loving, knowing, seeing and healing involves ongoing work at all levels and in all dimensions of our self. – Gabrielle Roth

I often receive emails from people who are struggling with kundalini surges and other uncomfortable symptoms of spiritual awakening. In their suffering, we can see a dramatic example of how resistance – resisting new experiences, pulling back from intense or uncomfortable feelings, fearing the unknown, and generally saying ‘no’ to what life is sending our way – is the root of all suffering. Sadly, some of these people have been stuck for many years in a battle with change, but of course, we all do this in various ways: we resist letting go of old relationships, we stay stuck in jobs that no longer fit, we persist with bad habits that are ruining our health and even destroying our lives. We think the problem is the pain we are feeling, and fail to see that we are keeping ourselves stuck in that pain by resisting it. It’s safe to let go and go with the flow. If you’re in emotional pain, your inner being is calling you to let go of who you used to be and what you used to think and do so that you can be transformed. You can’t heal and resist change at the same time, for change is at the very heart of the healing process.

Focus on the Good Things

Your mind is astonishingly powerful. Focus that power on the good things.

Your thoughts create the landscape in which you experience life. Make that landscape empowering in a positive and fulfilling way.

Even if something is very small, you can make it enormous in your life by choosing to intensely focus your thoughts upon it. So focus on what you wish to make bigger, and not on what you want to avoid.

Let your thoughts center around all that you love, respect, admire and treasure. Give positive power to each of your moments by giving positive focus to your thoughts.

Sure, there are plenty of negative things that can quickly capture your attention. That’s why it is important to be able to just as quickly put yourself back into a positive perspective.

By all means deal with the bad things as necessary, while keeping your primary focus on the good things. Make the best use of the mental power that is yours by keeping it pointed in a positive direction.

— Ralph Marston

Read more at http://www.greatday.com/#hAhwkjjLPD2JFMB0.99

The Neuroscience Of Why Gratitude Makes Us Healthier

"Consider this: Negative attitudes are bad for you. And gratitude, it turns out, makes you happier and healthier. If you invest in a way of seeing the world that is mean and frustrated, you're going to get a world that is, well, more mean and frustrating. But if you can find any authentic reason to give thanks, anything that is going right with the world or your life, and put your attention there, then statistics say you're going to be better off." This article draws from contemporary neuroscience to make a compelling case for an attitude of gratitude. It also offers up three simple practices we can adopt to help build this important muscle.

http://www.dailygood.org/story/578/the-neuroscience-of-why-gratitude-makes-us-healthier-ocean-robbins/

Unlocking the Mysteries of Sedna: A New Planet Discovered, an Ancient Myth Revived

“Astrologers tend to calibrate the discovery of new bodies – such as Uranus in 1781 and Pluto in 1930 – to changes on Earth. The planet of revolution and innovation, the discovery of Uranus is looked back upon as a herald of the popular revolutions – the French Revolution in particular. Pluto – often associated with the underworld and hidden passions – is seen by some to have coincided with the rise of fascism in Europe. How might the myth of Sedna coincide with events in our time?”

http://kajama.com/unlocking-mysteries-sedna-new-planet-discovered-ancient-myth-revived/

My Occult Boyhood

“In the 1970s, the supernatural was in the air…Books on ESP, Bigfoot, and true hauntings appeared in the Arrow Book Club catalogues at my elementary school. Friends huddled in basements for séances and Ouija sessions. The Exorcist was the movie that no one on the block was allowed to see. On TV, Merv Griffin and Mike Douglas chatted with clairvoyants, astrologers, and robed gurus. Everything seemed to hint at a strange otherworld not so far away from our own.”

http://kajama.com/occult-boyhood/

Who’s Afraid of Mercury Retrograde? Why Astrology’s Most-Feared Cycle May be Just What You Need

“Mercury Retrograde has currency among many people who don’t follow astrology. Although you won’t find Mercury’s cycles tacked up on the bulletin boards of air-traffic control centers or search-engine offices, lots of people in those fields and others talk or (often uneasily) joke about it. Anecdotally, Mercury Retrograde is considered prime time for internet crashes and travel mishaps, or even disasters, but we cannot just sit things out during Mercury Retrograde.”

http://kajama.com/whos-afraid-mercury-retrograde-astrologys-feared-cycle-may-just-need/

Daily Inspirational Message for October 29, 2013

The Impeccable Warrior lives in a conscious state and truly feels and accepts that they are sacred beings on a sacred journey, assisted by a living, breathing compassionate Wisdom that whole-heartedly respects and honors them.
– Peace Mother Geeta Sacred Song

In order to receive signs, messages and guidance from Spirit, we must not only believe it is possible, we must also know deep down inside that we are worthy of that help and support, whether we’re trying to find a way to pay for a life-saving medical treatment, searching for true love, or simply wanting to manifest more fun and joy in our lives. This does not mean viewing ourselves as somehow more special than anyone else; it means believing that all life journeys are sacred and all beings are blessed with the ability to pray for and receive help and guidance. If others can ask for signs, amazing breakthroughs, magick and miracles – and receive them – then you can too. The more you live in awareness that at any moment and in any situation, you can request divine intervention and receive it, the more that will become your experience.

Your Great Potential

To build something beautiful and wonderful takes time and effort. Make good use of every moment you have.

You can go a long, long way. To do so, you must be going on that way every chance you get.

What you can accomplish is truly amazing. So work on it with persistence and commitment, and bring all that great value to life.

The minutes and hours of this day will quickly pass no matter what you do with them. Choose to do the highest and best with each of them, and to fulfill your great potential.

Rather than dwelling on the excuses, focus intently on the possibilities. Find great joy in the fact that you can make a difference, and make that difference again and again.

You can do great things. Feel that potential, then get busy and fulfill it.

— Ralph Marston

Read more at http://www.greatday.com/#W4vjO4cXgUEldjDZ.99

Why Your Best Ideas Happen In The Most Unusual Places

Last month, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg shared some questionable advice on how to become successful at work: Don't go to the bathroom and keep working. But according to Harvard psychologist Shelley H. Carson, author of "Your Creative Brain," little distractions like going to the bathroom can actually be a good thing when it comes to creativity. She explains that interruptions and diversions can lead to a creative "incubation period." Find out how some of the greatest ideas from the likes of J.K. Rowling, Woody Allen and Gertrude Stein came about in the most unexpected places in this piece.

http://www.dailygood.org/story/558/why-your-best-ideas-happen-in-the-most-unusual-places-carolyn-gregoire/

Daily Inspirational Message for October 28, 2013

Being satisfied with what we already have is a magical golden key to being alive in a full, unrestricted, and inspired way.
– Pema Chodron

What if the life you already have was enough for you? What if you stopped seeking more money, more love, more peace, more fun, more free time, more-of-anything and you simply decided that life as it is today is really, really good? Take a moment now to just imagine it: nothing has changed in your outer experience, but you have decided that you are thin enough, loved enough, comfortable enough, respected and appreciated enough. You have decided that your loved ones are fine just the way they are; that YOU are fine just the way you are; even the world with all of its flaws is perfectly imperfect. I’m starting to realize that there will never come a time when everything and everyone will be just how I might prefer it to be, so I can either keep chasing some elusive better future life, or I can decide to be happy with things just the way they are.

New Level of Courage

It is comfortable to stay where you are. But soon, that comfort will turn into boredom, frustration and regret.

It is uncomfortable to take on a challenge and to venture along a new path. Yet that is precisely what makes you stronger, more interesting, more capable and more fully alive.

Go ahead and do what makes you feel slightly apprehensive. That is also what makes you grow.

Feel the fear and apprehension. Learn from it all and let it prepare you.

Then, step boldly forward. Experience the new level of courage you have just attained.

Make good, purposeful use of that courage so that it grows ever stronger. And let it lead you forward into the true greatness that is your destiny.

— Ralph Marston

Read more at http://www.greatday.com/#4DQEfSogtKJT0Bdh.99

The Double Life of Audette Excel

Meet audacious Audette Excel, former corporate lawyer and banker who uses her business and legal acumen to make money for the poor and to save the lives of thousands of mothers and children. Audette acts as a bridge between the nonprofit and corporate worlds and says that if you want to know who she truly is, you have to see her in the context of her work with the children of Nepal: "The truth of me is here, it's not dressed up in high heels and a business suit in Sydney." Read on to learn about this lovingly eccentric woman who insists that she is the "luckiest woman on the planet," and whose "dominant emotion is gratitude," even at the lowest points of her life.

http://www.dailygood.org/story/543/high-flyer-david-leser/

Daily Inspirational Message for October 27, 2013

I have no theory about dreams. I do not know how dreams arise. On the other hand, I know that if we meditate on a dream sufficiently long and thoroughly – if we turn it over and over – something almost always comes out of it.
- Carl Jung

Sometimes, dreams seem to make no sense to us because they’re not about something that is currently happening in our lives – they’re about something that will happen in the future, or they are about something that happened long ago – perhaps even in a past life. Sometimes, we have to sift through a dream a number of times over a period of time for it to reveal its secrets to us. I do know that the more attention I pay to my dreams and the more I study them and honor the insights and messages I receive from them, the more amazing, revealing, helpful, prophetic, and beneficial dreams I tend to have. Your dreams are constantly trying to bless you in all sorts of ways; the more attention you give to them, the more they will give back to you.

The Cancer Camp that Kids Want to Go To 10/10

What if, instead of worrying whether your mom had sewed name tags into your underwear for summer camp, you had to wonder whether she would still be alive when you got home? Or what if you were 6 years old and got packed off to "Cancer Camp" by your grieving father not long after your mother died of the disease? That's what happened to Kieran Ward, of Menlo Park, now 13, who had to get on a waiting list seven years ago before he could get into Camp Kesem at Stanford, the first of what has become a nationwide network of sleep away camps for kids ages 6 to 16 with a parent who has, or had, cancer.

http://www.dailygood.org/more.php?n=5701