Mastering the art of thinking and acting in spirit,

We must learn how to live our lives in spirit. Living in spirit lets us handle each events in our daily lives moment by moment. This is not about religious doctrine, although it helps to explain how and why it works. It is about learning to communicate between the various parts of our two selves: our outer visible self and our inner invisible self.

Mastering the art of thinking and acting in spirit, will not stop us from doing the things we do, but it will show us new ways of doing them. It will not stop us from singing, but our songs will be different. It will not stop us from dancing, but the music will be different. It will not stop us from eating and drinking, but the food and drink will be different. It will not stop us from making new friends and building new relationships, but our friends and relationships will be different. It will not stop us from sharing our opinions with others, but our opinions will be different. It will not stop us from making more money, but our priorities in what we spend our money on will be different. It will not stop people hurting and abusing us for no just cause, but our abilities to respond positively, forgiving them and getting on with our spiritual lives will increase.

If you think this is an impossible dream, then ask yourself, What makes it I'mpossible? Spend some moments to meditate on this question. Know that whoever made it possible for you to be born can make it possible for you to live your live in spirit on a daily basis, moment by moment and event by event. It starts from your inner awareness of the power of your spirit to overcome any personal problems and maintain your happiness in this troubled world.

Hope: The Power

What is hope but one of humanity's essential resources for sustaining life. It is hope that helps us through the ups and downs of life. We need hope to maintain our efforts on a daily basis. We need hope to help us keep looking for solutions to our challenges in life.

Hope holds the key to humanity's ability to cope with life's personal and societal troubles. One of the great secrets of the sages of old is said to be their ability to maintain hope even in their darkest hours. What then can we learn from them? Without hope life is dead. In order words, hope is what is left when everything else is gone.

Hope is the only thing we can hang on to for survival when we are left with nothing. As the saying goes, “hope is life and life is hope.” Without life, there is no hope and without hope, there is no life. It is hope that lets us see a light at the end of the tunnel.

To maintain our hope in our most troubled times, we must learn to find whatever it is that helps us understand the real purpose and meaning of our life and we must learn to lean on it on a daily basis.

Nothing wastes the body like worry

Sometimes, we worry so much about our current problems and forget to think of finding the solutions. This gets us stuck in a rut. Worry drains our energy, both physically and emotionally.

If only we could learn to divert the amount of energy we use in worrying about a problem into doing things that help us find a solution to it, the quality of our lives would be greatly improved.

In dealing wi
th personal problems on a daily basis, Shantideva, an 18th Century Indian Buddhist teacher suggests that, "We should analyse the situation and if the problem is such that there is a solution, there is then no need to worry about it. In that case, we should focus on finding that solution. If, on the other hand, there is no possible solution, there is no point in worrying because you cannot do anything about it anyway."

Worrying about a personal problem which is beyond your control is tantamount to telling yourself that you are alone in the universe.

Finally, permit me to share the following quote by Mahatma Gandhi about worry:

" There is nothing that wastes the body like worry, and one who has any faith in God should be ashamed to worry about anything whatsoever."

Forgiveness can break cycle of revenge attacks

Every cause has an effect. In Buddhism, they call it the law of Karma. Other cultures call it the law of retribution. Some people would describe this principle in form of, “what goes around comes around.” This principle was recognised in Isaac Newton’s third law of physics. It states that, “Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.”

When we are provoked by others and we choose to take direct action, it is like we are taking the law into our own hands. The provocation was the cause. Taking the law into our hands becomes the effect. This effect can become another cause. And this cause becomes another effect. The whole thing becomes an endless cycle of bad causes and evil effects. No one can predict the end.

The human lesson from all of this, in my opinion, is simple: We must learn to think twice before we act. In reality, I do not pretend that this is easy, but I believe it is doable. WE only need to become more aware of the potentially fatal consequences of some acts of revenge and instead opt for the noble path of forgiveness.

Enjoy your life one day at a time

Enjoy your life one day at a time. Do not allow the passing moments of scarcity take away your distinctive nature of happiness from you. You are the constant. Moments of scarcity and moments of abundance are the variables. Both will come and go. You remain. Become a keen observer of events as they pass through your life. Watch how the ending of one event becomes the beginning of another. Therefore, to let the passing moments of scarcity prevents you from remembering your distinctive nature of happiness is to derail the coming of the next monuments of abundance.

We Are The Choices We Make

They say, “Power corrupts, but lack of it corrupts absolutely.” I see nothing wrong in power. It is good for maintaining law and order for the good of the many not the few. The challenge for mankind is in the misuse of power.

Let’s take the enormous health benefits doctors say we get from eating “an apple a day” as an example. According to health experts, eating too much apple can lead to weight gain or a rise in blood sugar. When we eat too much apple simply because we love the taste, we could be inviting dis-ease into own bodies.

In my opinion, corruption, manifesting through bad behaviours or bad practices, comes not from apple or from power, but from within each person. It comes from the choices we make. Therefore, power or lack of it, does not corrupt anyone. What leads to corruption, in my view, is the human potential to misuse power or anything we have, to achieve selfish goals.

Unhealthy Competition Is A Never Ending Cycle.

A friend shared the following with me and I am sharing it with you hoping it might be useful for reflection as it is for me.

"I was jogging one day and i noticed a person in front of me, about 1/4 of mile. I could tell he was running a little slower than me and I thought, good, i shall try to catch him. I had about a mile to go my path before i needed to turn off.

So i started running faster and faster. Every block, i was gaining on him just a little bit. After just a few minutes i was only about 100 yards behind him, so i really picked up the pace and push myself. You would have thought i was running in the last leg of London Olympic competition. I was determined to catch him.


Finally, i did it! I caught and passed him by. On the inside i felt so good. "I beat him" of course, he didn't even know we were racing. After i passed him, i realized i had been so focused on competing against him that i had missed my turn. I had gone nearly six blocks past it. I had to turn around and go all back. Isn't that what happens in life when we focus on competing with co-workers, neighbors, friends, family, trying to outdo them or trying to prove that we are more successful or more important? We spend our time and energy running after them and we miss out on our own paths to our God given destinies. The problem with unhealthy competition is that its a never ending cycle.

There will always be somebody ahead of you, someone with better job, nicer car, more money in the bank, more education, a prettier wife, a more handsome husband, better behaved children, etc. But realize that "You can be the best that you can be, you are not competing with no one." Some people are insecure because they pay too much attention 2 what others are doing, where others are going, wearing & driving. Take what God has given you, the height, weight & personality. Dress well & wear it proudly! You 'll be blessed by it. Stay focused and live a healthy life."

Doing Something New

Do not be afraid of trying new things. It is in venturing out of our comfort zones and doing something new that we gain new experiences. Whether we succeed or we fail in our first attempt matters not as much as what we learn from the experience. It does not matter how many times you have tried and failed, as long as the passion remains, just keep trying.

Present Moment Thinking

What is it that makes us keep thinking in the past knowing how much this habit can potentially hold us back and perpetually keep us in the past? The answer I keep getting is, 'fear.' Fear that the past will repeat itself.

The irony is this, as long as we keep fearing that the past will repeat itself, we will continue to be afraid of moving in
to our future. The mystery of it all is, no amount of fear can take us back to our past and no amount of fear can stop us from moving into our future. The future will come, whether we like it or not.

The sage encourages us to stop thinking in the past and become present moment thinkers. They say, this is the only way we can notice what is happening in the here and now. Only present moment thinking lets us step into our inevitable future, with hope and optimism.

According to the sage, the first step to stop the habit of thinking in the past is to become increasingly aware of the stagnation it brings into our lives.

No age barrier in Learning

It is never too late to start learning. When you are aware of the power of good education and the dis-empowerment that comes from lack of it, nothing can stop you from acquiring a new skill. It is called Lifelong Learning. Age is therefore not a barrier.