Quote of the Week

“Never get bored or cynical. Yesterday is a thing of the past.” 

Walt Disney

A game to attract abundance

Each week, take out a dollar bill and write the following on the back of it: “May you be blessed with Love, Wealth, and Health."

Write sincerely, with your best energy. Then take this bill to a public place and secretly place it at a spot where somebody may find it "by chance."

You can leave it behind an item on a supermarket shelf, put in somebody's mail box when you are walking your dog...

The key is not to guess who will get it, and don't let people see you do it. It's a very effective game if you do it with sincerity and a playful attitude. Why?

1. You activate the energy of "I have enough" since you are giving away money.

2. You will create a beautiful moment in another human's life. This pure giving energy will come back to you in ten folds.

3. You are being totally allowing and non-resisting while doing it because you don't judge the person who will receive your blessing.

4. Don't forget to tell the universe that you would like to receive more prosperity in your life! Your positive intention will manifest.

It is this simple and works based on the Law of Attraction.

Anonymous

35 Fun Things To Do While Driving

1. Have a friend ride in the back seat. Gagged.

2. Roll down your windows and blast talk radio while head banging.

3. Wear snorkel gear and hang fish around from the ceiling.

4. Two words: Chicken suit.

5. Write the words "Help me" on your back window in red paint. The more it looks like blood, the better.

6. Pay the toll for the car behind you. Watch in rearview mirror as toll collector tries to explain to next driver.

7. Laugh. Laugh a lot. A whooooole lot.

8. Stop at the green lights.

9. Go at the red ones.

10. Occasionally wave a stuffed animal/troll doll/Barbie out your window or sunroof. Feel free to make it dance.

11. Eat food that requires silverware.

12. Put your arms down the legs of an extra pair of trousers, put sneakers on your hands, and lean the seat back as you drive.

13. At stop lights, eye the person in the next car suspiciously. With a look of fear, suddenly lock your doors.

14. Honk frequently without motivation.

15. Wave at people often. If they wave back, offer an offended and angry look as if they gave you an obscene gesture.

16. At stop lights, ask people if they have any Grey Poupon.

17. Let pedestrians know who's boss.

18. Look behind you frequently, with a very paranoid look.

19. Restart your car at every stop light.

20. Hang numerous car-fresheners in the rear-view mirror. Talk to them, stroking them lovingly.

21. Lob burning things in the windows of smokers who throw their butts out the window.

22. Keep at least five cats in the car.

23. Squeegee your windshield at every stop.

24. If an fire truck comes up behind you, pull over, get on the roof of your car, and do a cheer for them as they pass!

25. Compliment other drivers on their skill and finesse.

26. Have conversations, looking periodically at the passenger seat, when driving alone.

27. Stop and collect road kill.

28. Stop and pray for road kill.

29. Stop and cook road kill. (If in Tennessee.) 

30. Throw Spam. Tape signs on winding email abuse.

31. Get in the fast lane and gradually... slow...down... to... a stop. Then get out and watch the cars.

32. Vary your vehicle's speed inversely with the speed limit.

33. Drive off an exit ramp, ask for directions to the town you're in. When they tell you you're there, look confused, glance at your map, laugh, and exclaim, "Oh! Wrong state!"

34. Sing without having the radio on.

35. At stop lights, run out of your car, place pylons around you, then gather them back up as the light changes and drive off…

Health Calculator

http://www.hsis.org/campaigns/index.html

I have five things to say to the Beloved.

First, when I was apart from you this world did not exist.

Second, whatever I was wanting was always you.

Third, why did I learn to count to three?

Fourth, my cornfield is burning.

Five–five stands for wisdom and confusion.

Is weeping speech?

What shall I do with all this love?

So she speaks, and everyone around her cries with her,

laughing crazily, moaning at the spreading union

of lover and Beloved.

This is true religion!

All others are torn away bandages beside it.

This is slavery and mastery,

dancing together.

I know these dancers. Day and night

I sing their songs in this phenomenal cage.

My soul, don’t try to answer yet.

Find a friend and hide.

But what can be hidden? Love is always

lifting its head out from under the covers:

“Here I am!"

Rumi

CHARACTER OF THE HAPPY WARRIOR

Who is the happy Warrior? Who is he

What every man in arms should wish to be?

--It is the generous Spirit, who, when brought

Among the tasks of real life, hath wrought

Upon the plan that pleased his childish thought:

Whose high endeavours are an inward light

That makes the path before him always bright:

Who, with a natural instinct to discern

What knowledge can perform, is diligent to learn;

Abides by this resolve, and stops not there,

But makes his moral being his prime care;

The Blind Men and the Elephant

Several citizens ran into a hot argument about God and different religions, and each one could not agree to a common answer. So they came to the Lord Buddha to find out what exactly God looks like.

The Buddha asked his disciples to get a large magnificent elephant and four blind men. He then brought the four blind to the elephant and told them to find out what the elephant would "look" like.

The first blind men touched the elephant leg and reported that it "looked" like a pillar. The second blind man touched the elephant tummy and said that an elephant was a wall. The third blind man touched the elephant ear and said that it was a piece of cloth. The fourth blind man hold on to the tail and described the elephant as a piece of rope. And all of them ran into a hot argument about the "appearance" of an elephant.

The Buddha asked the citizens: "Each blind man had touched the elephant but each of them gives a different description of the animal. Which answer is right?"

When to Be Practical

As three travelers crossed the mountains of the Himalaya, they discussed the importance of putting into practice everything they had learned on a spiritual plane. They we so engrossed in their conversation that it was only late at night that they realized that all they had with them was a piece of bread. They decided not to discuss who deserved to eat it; since they were pious men, they left the decision in the hands of the gods. They prayed that, during the night, a superior spirit should indicate who should receive the food. The following morning, the three men rose together at sunrise. "This is my dream," said the first traveler. "I was taken to places I had never visited before, and enjoyed the sort of peace and harmony I have sought in vain during my entire life on earth. In the midst of this paradise, a wise man with a long beard said to me: "you are my chosen one, you never sought pleasure, always renounced all things. And, in order to prove my allegiance to you, I should like you to try a piece of bread." "Thats very strange," said the second traveler. "For in my dream, I saw my past of sanctity and my future as a master. As I gazed at that which is to come, I found a man of great wisdom, saying: "You are in greater need of food than your friends, for you shall have to lead many people, and will require strength and energy." Then the third traveler said: "In my dream I saw nothing, went nowhere, and found no wise men. However, at a certain hour during the night, I suddenly woke up. And I ate the bread." The other two were furious: "And why didn't you call us before making such a personal decision?" "How could I? You were both so far away, finding masters and having such holy visions! Yesterday we discussed the importance of putting into practice that which we learn on a spiritual plane. In my case, God acted quickly, and had me awake dying of hunger!" Mohammed Gwath Shattari

List of New Moons and Full Moons for 2012

Full Moon		Timing
Date	Day	Moon Rise	Moon Set	Full Moon
January 9, 2012	Monday	17: 55	06: 59	01 : 00
February 8, 2012	Wednesday	18: 44	06: 59	03: 24
March 8, 2012	Thursday	18: 33	06: 09	15: 10
April 7, 2012	Saturday	19: 33	06: 03	00: 49
May 6, 2012	Sunday	19: 27	05: 25	09: 05
June 4, 2012	Monday	19: 18	05: 00	16: 42
July 4, 2012	Wednesday	19: 50	05: 53	00: 22
August 2, 2012	Thursday	19: 09	05: 44	08: 58
August 31, 2012	Friday	18: 21	05: 32	19: 29
September 30, 2012	Sunday	18: 04	06: 13	08: 49
October 30, 2012	Tuesday	17: 55	06: 48	01: 20
November 28, 2012	Wednesday	17: 18	06: 28	20: 16
December 28, 2012	Friday	17: 41	06: 51	15: 52

New Moon		Timing
Moon Rise	Moon Set	New Moon	Moon Set	Full Moon
January 23, 2012	Monday	06: 54	18: 05	13: 09
February 21, 2012	Tuesday	06 :45	18: 47	04: 05
March 22, 2012	Thursday	05: 51	18: 28	20: 07
April 21, 2012	Saturday	05: 32	19: 01	12: 49
May 20, 2012	Sunday	05: 31	19: 34	05: 17
June 19, 2012	Tuesday	05: 02	19: 09	20: 33
July 19 2012	Thursday	05: 37	19: 17	09: 55
August17, 2012	Friday	05: 22	18: 32	21: 25
September 16, 2012	Sunday	06: 09	18: 21	07: 41
October15, 2012	Monday	05: 58	17: 36	17: 33
November 14, 2012	Wednesday	06: 57	17: 54	03: 38
December 13, 2012	Thursday	06: 46	17: 36	14: 12

Omens no 3.

NEW MOON on a Monday signifies good luck and good weather. The new moon seen for the first time over the right shoulder offers the chance for a wish to come true.

This is a really funny blog I visited.. http://textfromdog.tumblr.com/

He gets texts from his Dog and posts them on his blog!

Quote of the Week

Every once in a while people step up, they rise above themselves. Sometimes they surprise you, and sometimes they fall short. Life is funny sometimes, it can push pretty hard, but if you look close enough you find hope in the words of children, in the bars of a song and in the eyes of someone you love. And if you're lucky, and if you're the luckiest person on this entire planet, the person you love decides to love you back.

One tree hill

15 Laws of Life

What You Need to Keep in Mind

1. Love Is The Law Of Life: All love is expansion, all selfishness is contraction. Love is therefore the only law of life. He who loves lives, he who is selfish is dying. Therefore, love for love's sake, because it is law of life, just as you breathe to live.

2. It's Your Outlook That Matters: It is our own mental attitude, which makes the world what it is for us. Our thoughts make things beautiful, our thoughts make things ugly. The whole world is in our own minds. Learn to see things in the proper light.

3. Life is Beautiful: First, believe in this world - that there is meaning behind everything. Everything in the world is good, is holy and beautiful. If you see something evil, think that you do not understand it in the right light. Throw the burden on yourselves!

4. It's The Way You Feel: Feel like Christ and you will be a Christ; feel like Buddha and you will be a Buddha. It is feeling that is the life, the strength, the vitality, without which no amount of intellectual activity can reach God.

5. Set Yourself Free: The moment I have realised God sitting in the temple of every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him - that moment I am free from bondage, everything that binds vanishes, and I am free.

6. Don't Play The Blame Game: Condemn none: if you can stretch out a helping hand, do so. If you cannot, fold your hands, bless your brothers, and let them go their own way.

7. Help Others: If money helps a man to do good to others, it is of some value; but if not, it is simply a mass of evil, and the sooner it is got rid of, the better.

8. Uphold Your Ideals: Our duty is to encourage every one in his struggle to live up to his own highest idea, and strive at the same time to make the ideal as near as possible to the Truth.

9. Listen To Your Soul: You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.

10. Be Yourself: The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature. Have faith in yourselves! 

11. Nothing Is Impossible: Never think there is anything impossible for the soul. It is the greatest heresy to think so. If there is sin, this is the only sin - to say that you are weak, or others are weak.

12. You Have The Power: All the powers in the universe are already ours. It is we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that it is dark.

13. Learn Everyday: The goal of mankind is knowledge... now this knowledge is inherent in man. No knowledge comes from outside: it is all inside. What we say a man 'knows', should, in strict psychological language, be what he 'discovers' or 'unveils'; what man 'learns' is really what he discovers by taking the cover off his own soul, which is a mine of infinite knowledge.

14. Be Truthful: Everything can be sacrificed for truth, but truth cannot be sacrificed for anything.

15. Think Different: All differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind, because oneness is the secret of everything.

Swami Vivekananda

Have you heard the famous anecdote about Jalaluddin Rumi, a Sufi mystic? A woman came with a child, and the woman said, “Maulana, Master, I have tried every way and this child won’t listen. He eats too much sugar. And I know now only one way is possible: if you say something to him, he will listen, because he respects you. He does not understand what you are and who you are, but he respects you. And when I told him, ‘Come with me to Maulana,’ he said, ‘Okay, if he says, I will stop.’”

Maulana looked at the child, at his trust. He said, “Wait, come after three weeks.” The woman was puzzled. Such a simple thing. And Maulana is known all over the world. People come from faraway countries to ask him great problems, and he solves them immediately — and such a silly thing. He could have said, “Yes, don’t eat,” and the thing would have been closed. Three weeks? After three weeks the mother came with the child, and Maulana said, “Wait three weeks more.”

The mother said, “What is the matter?” He said, “Wait, come after three weeks.”

When they came back, he said to the child, “Okay, listen. Stop eating sugar.” The child said, “Okay, I will stop.”

The mother said, “Now one question arises in my heart — and I will not be at rest. Why did you take six weeks for this?”

Maulana said, “I like sugar myself. So how can I advise this child? That would have been untrue. So for three weeks I tried — and I failed! Then for three weeks I tried again, and now I have succeeded. Now I can say, ‘Please, you can also stop. Look, I am an old man — even I can stop. You are a child, a young child; you can do anything.’”

“Now I can say….” This is the way of the mystics; this has always been their way. They believe in experience. Whatsoever Kabir says is based, rooted, in his experience.

Osho on mystics.

Diet

From fruit juices to canned vegetable soup, breakfast muffins to seven-grain bread, it's easier to think your food choices are healthier than they really are, experts tell WebMD.

"If a label says 'Seven-Grain Bread,' it sounds pretty healthy, right? But unless that label also says 'whole grains' it's not necessarily going to be the healthiest bread choice you could make," Heller says.

Likewise, she says many folks think that eating a can of vegetable soup is as nutritious as downing a plateful of veggies -- not realizing how few vegetables are inside, and how much of the nutrients are lost in processing.

Another common mistake: Substituting fruit juices for whole fruits.

"Are fruit juices healthier than soda? Yes. But they are also concentrated sources of sugar that don't give you anywhere near the same level of nutrients you get from whole fruits," says Bonnie Taub-Dix, MA, RD. What's more, says Taub-Dix, if you're trying to lose weight, you won't get the same sense of fullness from a glass of juice that you will from a piece of fruit.

"Instead, you'll just take in a whole lot of calories -- and still feel hungry," Taub-Dix says.

The solution: Whenever possible, eat whole, fresh, and unprocessed foods. Even when you eat them in smaller amounts, you're likely to get a well-rounded group of nutrients. When buying packaged foods, put in at least as much time into reading labels and selecting products as you do when choosing a shower gel or shampoo.

"Don't just assume a product is healthy -- even if it's in the health food section of the supermarket," says Heller. "You've got to read the labels."

Source: http://www.medicinenet.com/nutrition/article.htm

REVENGE is a kind of wild jusitce; which the more man's nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out. For as for the first wrong, it doth but offend the law; but the revenge of that wrong pulleth the law out of office. Certainly, in taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior; for it is a prince's part to pardon. And Salomon, I am sure, saith, It is the glory of a man to pass by an offence.

That which is past is gone, and irrevocable; and wise men have enough to do with things present and to come: therefore they do but trifle with themselves, that labour in past matters.

There is no man doth a wrong for the wrong's sake; but thereby to purchase himself profit, or pleasure, or honour, or the like. There why should I be angry with a man for loving himself better than me? And if any man should do wrong merely out of ill nature, why, yet it is but like the thorn or briar, which prick and scratch, because they can do no other.

The most tolerable sort of revenge is for those wrongs which there is no law or remedy; but then let a man take heed the revenge be such as there is no law to punish; else a man's enemy is still beforehand, and it is two for one.

Some, when they take revenge, are desirous the party should know whence it cometh: this is the more generous. For the delight seemeth to be not so much in doing the hurt as in making the party repent: but base and crafty cowards are like the arrow that flieth in the dark.

Cosmus, Duke of Florence, had a desperate saying against perfidious or neglecting friends, as if those wrongs were unpardonable: You shall read (saith he) that we are commanded to forgive our friends. But yet the spirit of Job was in a better tune: Shall we (saith he) take good at God's hands, and not be content to take evil also? And so of friends in a proportion.

This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge keeps his own wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well.

Public revenges are for the most part fortunate; as that for the death of Caesar; for the death of Pertinax(1); for the death of Henry the Third of France (2); and many more. But in private revenges it is not so. Nay rather, vindictive persons live the life of witches; who as they are mischievous, so end they unfortunate.

Francis Bacon
1625

You Never Said Goodbye

You never said I'm leavingYou never said goodbye
You were gone before I knew it,
And only God knew why
A million times I needed you,
A million times I cried
If love alone could have saved you,
You never would have died
In life I loved you dearly
In death I love you still
In my heart you hold a place,
That no one could ever fill
It broke my heart to lose you,
But you didn't go alone
For part of me went with you,
The day God took you home.

An Extract from the Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

A Letter From Hassan--The Kite Runner

In the name of Allah the most beneficent, the most merciful, Amir agha, with my deepest respects,

Farzana jan, Sohrab, and I pray that this latest letter finds you in good health and in the light of Allah’s good graces. Please offer my warmest thanks to Rahim Khan sahib for carrying it to you. I am hopeful that one day I will hold one of your letters in my hands and read of your life in America. Perhaps a photograph of you will even grace our eyes. I have told much about you to Farzana jan and Sohrab, about us growing up together and playing games and running in the streets. They laugh at the stories of all the mischief you and I used to cause!

Lessons from 9/11, the annoying little things:

• As you might know, the head of a major company survived the tragedy of “9/11” in New York because his son started kindergarten.
   
• Another fellow was alive because it was his turn to bring donuts.
   
• One woman was late because her alarm clock didn’t go off in time.
   
• One was late because of being stuck on the NJ Turnpike because of an auto accident.
   
• One of them missed his bus.
   
• One spilled food on her clothes and had to take time to change.
   
• One’s car wouldn’t start.
   
• One went back to answer the telephone.
   
• One had a child that dawdled and didn’t get ready as soon as he should have.
   
• One couldn’t get a taxi.
   
• The one that struck me was the man who put on a new pair of shoes that morning, took the various means to get to work but before he got there, he developed a blister on his foot. He stopped at a drugstore to buy a Band-Aid. That is why he is alive today.
   

Now when I am stuck in traffic…
      – miss an elevator…
      – turn back to answer a ringing telephone…
      – all the little things that annoy me…
      – I think to myself…
         this is exactly where God wants me to be at this very moment.

The next time your morning seems to be going wrong,
      – the children are slow getting dressed,
      – you can’t seem to find the car keys,
      – you hit every traffic light…
      – don’t get mad or frustrated;
         God is at work watching over you.

May God continue to bless you with all those annoying little things – and may you remember and appreciate their possible purpose.

Story submitted by Kranti Gaurav
Author Unknown

Unfold Your Own Myth

Who gets up early to discover the moment light begins?
Who finds us here circling, bewildered, like atoms?
Who comes to a spring thirsty
and sees the moon reflected in it?
Who, like Jacob blind with grief and age,
smells the shirt of his lost son
and can see again?
Who lets a bucket down and brings up
a flowing prophet? Or like Moses goes for fire
and finds what burns inside the sunrise?

Jesus slips into a house to escape enemies
and opens a door to the other world.
Solomon cuts open a fish, and there's a gold ring.
Omar storms in to kill the prophet
and leaves with blessings.
Chase a deer and end up everywhere?
An oyster opens his mouth to swallow one drop.
Now there's a pearl.
A vagrant wanders empty ruins
Suddenly he's wealthy.

But don't be satisfied with stories, how things
have gone with others. Unfold
your own myth, without complicated explanations,
so everyone will understand the passage,
We have opened you.

Start walking towards Shams. Your legs will get heavy
and tired.  Then comes a moment
of feeling the wings you've grown,
lifting.

Rumi
From: The Essential Rumi; Translations by Coleman Barks,
and John Moyne; Harper San Francisco '95.

Quote of the Week

There are very few things in the mind which eat up as much energy as worry. It is one of the most difficult things not to worry about anything. Worry is experienced when things go wrong, but in relation to past happenings it is idle merely to wish that they might have been otherwise. The frozen past is what it is, and no amount of worrying is going to make it other than what it has been. But the limited ego-mind identifies itself with its past, gets entangled with it and keeps alive the pangs of frustrated desires. Thus worry continues to grow into the mental life of man until the ego-mind is burdened by the past. Worry is also experienced in relation to the future when this future is expected to be disagreeable in some way. In this case it seeks to justify itself as a necessary part of the attempt to prepare for coping with the anticipated situations. But, things can never be helped merely by worrying. Besides, many of the things which are anticipated never turn up, or if they do occur, they turn out to be much more acceptable than they were expected to be. Worry is the product of feverish imagination working under the stimulus of desires. It is a living through of sufferings which are mostly our own creation. Worry has never done anyone any good, and it is very much worse than mere dissipation of psychic energy, for it substantially curtails the joy and fullness of life.

   Meher Baba  

The Keepsake completed a week on Saturday!
Thank you All for visiting! 306 hits and counting!

Fake it, till you Make it!

Feng Shui Tip no.2

Displays of fresh flowers and plants promote positive energy, although ones with thorns should be avoided. A bowl of fruit rather than flowers should be situated in the bedroom to encourage sexual health, and displays of oranges and lemons throughout the home are thought to bring good luck.

Bound Feet

Legend has it that lotus or lily foot slippers first appeared in China in the 11th century when Empress Taki was born with deformed feet. To save her future embarrassment, her father announced that only women with very small feet could be truly feminine and desirable. As a result women began to bind their feet. The tiny, virtually unusable feet were a mark of status, beauty, gentility and sexual attractiveness.

The binding process began at age 5 to 7 years old. Bandages were wrapped around the foot to bend the four smaller toes inward under the foot towards the heel until it resembled a half moon.The majority of young girls had their feet bound by their mothers. Binding a daughters feet would ensure she would be married and hopefully to a wealthy man. The intial process of binding the feet took just one night but the feet took years of pain to conform into the beautiful crescent shape. During a painful 2-3 year period, the size of the shoe was gradually reduced. The most highly desired goal being a size only three inches in length.

These silk shoes only measure 140mm (5½ inches) in length and 24mm (1 inch) in width...

Footbinding was horribly painful. In asking why women would do this we need to understand the history behind the practice. Then we can begin to answer our questions as to why a painful tradition would continue to exist for so long.

Omens no. 2

Finding Your Initials On A Spider's Web

Is said to be an indication you will have good luck forever. All your plans will develop to fruition and whatever obstacles may be blocking your projects will be dissolved. Like the spider, you will attract food and money without even trying! This actually happens more commonly than you realize.

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 
Love never fails."

Corinthians 13:4

This is my first hand-written post on my blog.
Comments are more than welcome!

It is said that when one dies and has done activities that are worthy of God, he goes even above the seven heavens to the place where God himself resides.
When One enters His abode (this actually happens no kidding), God suddenly leaves everything he is doing and runs with all his might towards you and you'll both hug one another. And He cries profusely because although we might not remember he remembers everything.
He remembers all the pain and suffering we went through in all our million of lives we stayed away from Him. (yes past life does exist. Read the book Many Lives Many Masters by Dr Brian Weiss [he is a psychiatrist])
That is the Love of God.
That place is the place with Golden streets, where the blind can see.
Albeit, it is hard to go that abode but not difficult.
Think of him before you sleep, after you get up, before you eat or play or work.
Always think of him.
And most importantly when you're at your death bed only think of him.
Because what you think of in your last moments defines your journey after this life.

Even a windmill can make a difference

Courtesy: Mehul Jhaveri (coolest big brother in the whole world)

3.6 Gossip Girl

Blair: Love me? 

Chuck: Always.

To laugh often and much;

To win the respect of intelligent people
and the affection of children;

To earn the appreciation of honest critics
and endure the betrayal of false friends;

To appreciate beauty;
To find the best in others;

To leave the world a bit better, whether by
a healthy child, a garden patch
or a redeemed social condition;

To know even one life has breathed
easier because you have lived;

This is to have succeeded.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Butterfly

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly

One day a small opening appeared

He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours

It struggled to force its body through that little hole

Then it seemed to stop making any progress

It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could

And it could go no farther.

So the man decided to help the butterfly

He took a pair of scissors and snipped off

The remaining bit of the cocoon.

The butterfly then emerged easily, BUT,

It had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings

He continued to watch the butterfly

He expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge

And the body would contract

Neither happened!

In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling

Around with a swollen body and shriveled wings.

It was never able to fly.

The man acted with well-intentioned kindness

But he didn't understand the consequences.

The restricting cocoon and the struggle required to get

Through the tiny opening, were nature's way of forcing fluid

From the body of the butterfly once it achieved it's freedom

From the cocoon.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life.

If nature allowed us to go through life without any

Obstacles, it would cripple us.

We would not be as strong as we could have been

And we could never fly

Have a great day, great life, and struggle a little.

Then fly!

Nikos Kazantzakis

Fun Things to do in an elevator

Ok although most of us have already read this one, it always gets me in splits so I'm posting it.

1. Walk on with a cooler that is labeled "HUMAN HEAD" on the side.
2. Grimace painfully while smacking your forehead and muttering "Shut up, all of you, just shut up!"
3. Crack open your briefcase of purse, and while peering inside, ask, "Got enough air in there?
4. Stand silently and motionless in the corner, facing the wall, without getting off.
5. When arriving at your floor, grunt and strain to yank the doors open, then act embarrassed when they open by themselves. 
6. Greet everyone getting on the elevator with a warm handshake and ask them to call you Admiral.
7. Meow occasionally.
8. Bet the other passengers you can fit a quarter in your nose.
9. Stare at another passenger for awhile, then announce in horror, "You're one of THEM" and back away slowly.
10. Wear a puppet on your hand and use it to talk to the other passengers. 

Quote of the Week

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, “Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?” Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Marianne Williamson

A fun game to help you align your thoughts with wealth, prosperity and abundance.

Hundred Dollars (or the currency you use) 

This game is suggested by Abraham in Money and the Law of Attraction: Put $100 in your pocket and keep it with you at all times. As you move through your day, think of how many things you could buy with the money: "I could do that. I could purchase that." If you mentally spend that $100 one thousand times in a day, you have vibrationally spent $100,000.

"That sort of positive focus will dramatically change your vibrational balance about money. This vibrational spending process will cause you to feel differently about money; and when that happens, your point of attraction will shift - and more money must flow into your experience. It is Law. (Quote p.68 Money and the Law of Attraction)

Make marbled paper

It's super-easy to make elegant marbled paper, which you can use for a variety of projects including gift wrap. What you may not know is you can scent your paper while you marble it.

Paper Marbling Materials

• paper
• shaving cream
• food coloring or paints
• silverware
• shallow pan, large enough for your paper
• paper towels

Make Marbled Paper

1. Spread a thin layer of shaving cream in the bottom of the pan. I used a spoon, but you can use a knife or spatula or your fingers. All you need is a shallow coating.
2. Dot the surface of the shaving cream with food coloring or paint or pigment or whatever colorant you are using.
3. Use your imagination to pattern the colors. I simply ran the tines of a fork through the colors in a wavy fashion. Don't get too enthusiastic swirling your colors or else they will run together.
4. Lay your paper on top of the colored layer in the pan. I smoothed the paper out over the shaving cream.
5. Remove the paper and either squeegee off the shaving cream (wiping between passes) or wipe the shaving cream off with a dry paper towel. If you do this carefully, none of your colors will run or be distorted.
6. Allow your paper to dry. If it curls, you can iron it flat using low heat. I didn't have any problem with printer paper distorting.

The marbled paper will be smooth and slightly glossy. Neither the food colorings nor tempera paints transferred off of the paper once it was dry. Some people like to spray marbled paper with a fixative. I probably would not treat the paper if your goal is to make a scented and colored paper, since fixing the paper might mask the fragrance.

Disclaimer: I found this on a site online.

Why do we say Namaste when we meet someone?

As most religions believe that God resides in each of us.
We say namaste and bow down when we meet someone not because we are bowing to the person or greeting the person. But to say 'I bow to and greet the Lord within you.'

Footprints


One night a man had a dream. He dreamt he was walking along the beach with the Lord. Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene he noticed two sets of footprints on the sand -- one belonging to him and the other to the Lord. When the last scene had flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints and he noticed only one set. He also noticed that this happened during the lowest and saddest times of his life. This bothered him and he questioned the Lord. "Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you, you would walk all the way with me, but I noticed that during the most troublesome times of my life there was only one set of footprints. I don't understand why, when I needed you most, you deserted me."

The Lord replied, "My precious child, I love you and would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, those were the times when I carried you in my arms."

Author Unknown

Omens no. 1

CROW 

 
One's bad,
Two's luck,
Three's health,
Four's wealth,
Five's sickness,
Six is death.

A sufi Story from the middle east

The Sack

Mula came upon a frowning man walking along the road to town. "What's wrong?" he asked.

The man held up a tattered bag and moaned, "All that I own in this wide world barely fills this miserable, wretched sack."

"Too bad," said Mula, and with that, he snatched the bag from the man's hands and ran down the road with it.

Having lost everything, the man burst into tears and, more miserable than before, continued walking. Meanwhile, Mula quickly ran around the bend and placed the man's sack in the middle of the road where he would have to come upon it.

When the man saw his bag sitting in the road before him, he laughed with joy, and shouted, "My sack! I thought I'd lost you!"

Watching through the bushes, Mula chuckled. "Well, that's one way to make someone happy!"

A Potted Plant

I pull a sun from my coin purse each day.

And at night I let my pet the moon

Run freely into the sky meadow.

If I whistled,

She would turn her head and look at me.

If I then waved my arms,

She would come back wagging a marvelous tail 

Of stars.

There are always a few men like me

In this world

Who are house-sitting for God.

We share His royal duties:

I water each day a favorite potted plant

Of His--

This earth.

Ask the Friend for love.

Ask Him again.

For I have learned that every heart will get

What it prays for

Most.

From: 'The Subject Tonight Is Love' 

Translated by Daniel Ladinsky
Hafiz

Even after all this time, the sun never says to the earth 'You owe me.'
Look what happens with a love like that.
It lights the Whole sky
Hafiz