A Bit of Encouragement

I went running today, which in itself isn’t that unusual.  It was a very long run, almost two hours, so I was a bit tired near the end of it.  But something happened that was kind of cool, and definitely worth thinking about.  As I ran past a woman who was walking on the same trail, she said, “You’re doing great!  Keep it up!”  She was a woman I didn’t know, and whom I probably never had seen before.  But she took the time to pass on some encouragement to a complete stranger, which was a very nice thing for her to do.

There are the cynics who will say that the encouragement couldn’t have been helpful, since I didn’t know her and she had no idea if I had been running for ten minutes or ten hours.  She also couldn’t have had any idea if I really was doing great, or if I was running much slower than usual.  But I’ll let the cynics say what they might–the fact is that this little bit of encouragement from a complete stranger definitely did help, and it definitely did make the last few minutes of my run much more pleasant and probably a bit easier, too.

No matter whether she was a complete stranger or not, she brightened my day with a few simple words.  She acknowledged my presence, and she acknowledged the fact that I was working hard at something.  She gave me credit for doing something for myself like running, and she recognized that it was probably somewhat challenging.  And she did all of this with just a few words in passing.

I try to be as encouraging as I can to people, but I never know whether or not my encouragement is well received or not.  After today, though, I think that giving encouragement will be all that much easier for me, even if I’m giving it to strangers.  For I now know what it’s like to get it from a complete stranger, out of the blue, and it felt pretty good.  Perhaps I can make others feel pretty good by giving my sincere encouragement whenever and wherever I can.

Our workaday lives are filled with opportunities to bless others.
The power of a single glance or an encouraging smile must never be underestimated.

G. Richard Rieger

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Gently

One of the best things that I've ever learned is how to be gentle with myself.  I used to be pretty hard on myself, especially when I made mistakes or did stupid things (and there were plenty of both!).  I would be rather merciless in my judgment and harsh in my treatment of myself, especially the way I thought about myself after such mistakes.  But now I'm much less judgmental, much less liable to make myself feel awful just because I've done something I felt was bad or wrong or even stupid.  Now I try to understand how things have come to be, how I came to make the mistake or do the stupid thing.  And then I treat myself with compassion--not as someone who's stupid or incompetent, but as someone who simply has made a mistake. . . as all human beings do from time to time.

The results of being gentler with myself are very positive.  I learn better now from those mistakes, because I'm not having to deal with my own anger and frustration.  I feel better now, mostly for the same reason.  I'm more relaxed because I don't dread making mistakes nearly as much now as I used to when I knew I would have to deal with my own anger and disappointment in myself.  And because of the fact that I'm feeling better, I don't make nearly as many mistakes, either.  It's a wonderful way to go through life.

I don't let myself fall into complacency.  I'm not a person who tends to do things to hurt other people, so I know that any mistakes I make aren't a result of malice or anything like that, so I should be understanding of myself.  It's not like I'm avoiding taking responsibility for my actions; rather, I'm simply being compassionate with a person who deserves my compassion:  me.

Being Myself

There are many people in this world who allow me to be myself.  Many of those people even encourage me to be myself, and I’m very grateful for them.  They keep me feeling good about myself, and their acceptance of who I am is very special to me.  There are others who want me to be someone other than myself–they’re the ones who expect me to act in certain ways, who expect me to react in certain ways, who want me to correspond to their ideas of who and what I should be.  While I’m not too fond of their expectations for me, I try not to let that diminish my positive feelings for them–they really don’t know what they do, for they’ve simply bought into a set of rules and expectations that have been perpetuated for years, the origins of which have been lost with time.

But I truly want to be myself.  I want to be honest to myself, with myself, and for myself.  I want to honor my wants and desires and needs, and I want to use my gifts, and to share those gifts with others.  And not only do I want to be myself, but I want to become the best version of myself that I can be–the most helpful, most honest, most encouraging self that I can create out of this wonderful self that I am.

And I don’t use the word “wonderful” lightly.  I am full of wonder–my brain works well, my body works well, my instincts work well, and all are wonders, marvels to behold and to experience.  What wonderful selves we are!  But how often do you honestly stop and admire the marvel that you are, the wonderful set of thoughts and creations and experiences that you bring to the table, wherever you are?  Do you give yourself credit for the richness that you bring with you, for the amazing being that you are?

I hope to learn to be truly myself.  There are still some obstacles in my way, mostly in the form of fears that I’ve been dealing with for years.  But each day I get closer, each day I learn more, each day I see more of the marvel that I am.  And if I were with you right now, I’d be able to see the amazing wonder that you are.  But the question is, do you recognize that same fact?  Do you see and appreciate in yourself that same things that I see and appreciate in you?

I’m working at being myself, and I truly hope–for the sake of many, many people–that you’re working at being yourself, too!  I thank you for your effort, for that effort is making the world a richer place!

Once you discover your own true self
you can find your place in everything.

Stephen C. Paul

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Eternity

I love to think of the fact that I'm in the middle of eternity now.  I love to keep in mind that eternity doesn't start tomorrow, and it doesn't start on the day I day--eternity is going on right here, right now, and we're all right in the middle of it.

I am an eternal creature.  I'm not completely sure of the form I'll take when I leave this human form, or where I'll go or what I'll do, but I do know in my heart and with my spirit that I don't end when this body gives out.  And I was around before this body was created for me to grow and live in.  It's a pretty cool thought, and an amazing realization.

When we see life as just the trappings of our humanity, then we see life in a very small way.  We see its limitations, its lackings, its barriers.  When we see life for what it is, though--an amazing opportunity to experience this wonderful planet and the wonderful people all around during our limited time here--then we see the possibility and potential that should define who we are, all the time.

You are an eternal being.  It doesn't really serve you much to see yourself as anything but a marvelous, amazing, eternal creature who's spending time here in your body and your current persona, before moving on to something different, but surely just as amazing.  Do yourself a favor, and treat yourself as the marvelous eternal being that you truly are.  Don't make life small; live the grand and awesome life that you've been given.

Eternity is not something that begins after you're dead.
It is going on all the time.  We are in it now.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

 

 

 

A Little Conversation

One of the things that I like about life is its dynamic quality--it keeps changing and shifting and giving us new things, as long as we let it do so.  One year ago, for example, I was teaching in a place that offered me very little in the way of growth and change, and it kept my wife and me living apart for almost eight months.  Because of our situation, we decided to move to a beautiful area of the world and see what life would give us as far as opportunity is concerned.

I found work at a school that I really love teaching at, and I've also been able to offer and organize a week-long trip to Spain for the students.  We'll be leaving in five weeks, and it's a very unique opportunity for the students who live in a very low-income area of Washington.

While the work is often difficult and taxing, it's very rewarding, and I'm able to offer things that I wasn't able to offer at the other school.  I get to work with students from kindergarte to high school, and I get to contribute in a very real way to the community.  For example, the other day I was talking to a friend at the school, and we got on the topic of the 100-mile run that happens every August in the community.  A couple of hours later, I was registered for the run.

By no means had I been planning on doing a 100-mile trail run in August, so all of a sudden, my life has changed.  I now have to start training for the run, and that training had been nowhere in my future before last week.  I also have to do at least one 50-mile trail race to get ready for the longer one, and I need to be ready for that in nine weeks.

In other words, my life has changed for the next six months.  But that's okay, because I believe that it's important to go with the flow of things, and to allow myself to be caught up in some things that are worthwhile endeavors.  If I weren't able to do a 100-mile run, I obviously never would have signed up, and I certainly wouldn't go with the flow if it had me doing something that was immoral, illegal, or just plain stupid (though I'm sure there are people who would claim that the run is a bit stupid).

If we want to get the most out of life, we need to keep our eyes and ears and hearts open for opportunities to contribute.  I'll be the first person with a tie to the town and school ever to run the race, so I'll definitely be contributing to the community.  And we also need to be willing to make some sacrifices if we're going to contribute--a lot of things that I had been planning on doing will have to be put on hold, since I'll have to spend a significant amount of time training now.  Life is always giving us chances to live it fully, but often we view those chances with fear and trepidation, for they somehow represent a threat to us.  But they're only threats to the status quo--and is the status quo always what we want to maintain?  Bodies of water that don't change their water regularly grow stagnant, and become hosts to all sorts of ugly and dangerous things.  It's the flow that keeps the water--and our lives--fresh.

One little conversation changed much in my life--and being open to make changes that the conversation implied helped a lot, too!

The Beauty of Silence

I was just reading a book that reminded me of the beauty of silence.  Silence isn’t something that I experience completely in life, for I live in a world that seems to depend on noise for communication.  While I may be able to experience some quiet moments here and there, it’s quite rare to experience true silence.

The truest silence I’ve ever felt was in a lava tube, which is basically a very long cave.  It was located in the middle of a pine forest, so it was pretty quiet outside of the tube already.  But once I hiked in a couple of hundred yards or so, I turned off my light and sat down—and there was nothing to hear except my own breathing.  It was an amazing experience, hearing nothing at all.  It was very soothing and peaceful, and I felt my mind slowing down,  the thoughts in my head coming not as quickly and not in such great quantities.

Silence can be that way.  It can help us to find momentary peace, and that peace can help us to deal with the noisy times with much more calmness, much more balance.  Silence can help us to get in touch with deeper parts of ourselves, if we simply allow the silence to be rather than turning on music or a television set simply to fill the moment with sound.  Silence is a balm, an ointment for our spirits, yet we seek it out so rarely that we don’t give ourselves the chance to experience silence’s touch.

Silence is a lot like food—we need it for nourishment, but food isn’t going to just jump into our mouths.  We have to seek it out, to choose it, and eat it, making the effort to prepare it and chew it and swallow it.  Seeking out food is pretty simple, because we grow weak without it.  Unfortunately, we don’t see or feel as clearly the effects of not having silence in our lives.  It isn’t until we seek it out and experience it that we see the positive effects that it can have for us.

 Silence stands outside the world of profit and utility.

It cannot be exploited for profit; you cannot get

anything out of it.  It is unproductive, therefore

it is regarded as useless.  Yet there is more help and

healing in silence than in all useful things.

Max Picard

That's the Spirit

I find it remarkable to see just how often I forget that the core of my being is spirit.  While it's very easy to get caught up in life and living and forget this fact, once we realize that we are fundamentally spiritual beings having an earthly experience, it doesn't seem to make sense that we should forget this fact so quickly and so often.  The fact that we do forget it so much means that we live our lives less richly and less simply, for it's very simple to keep our focus on our earthly wants and needs rather than on the bigger picture that would allow us to develop our spiritual nature instead.

Our spirits aren't nearly as needy or petty as our earthly selves have been conditioned to be.  In fact, it's just that conditioning that causes us to forget our spiritual natures.  We've been taught over and over again that success is material and earth-bound, and we've allowed our egos to take charge of our beings so that we make most of our decisions based on what our egos need to strengthen themselves.  Instead of forgiving someone, for example, we may hold on to a grudge because then we're paying attention to our egos rather than our higher selves, which is what we've been taught is the "right" or "best" thing to do.

It's not, though.  When it comes to decision-making, the most important decisions that we can make come from and for our higher selves.  Forgiving another person--completely and unconditionally--frees us from limiting beliefs and actions, and allows us to move on to our next lessons.  If we allow ourselves to be hurt by another person's actions or words, then that decision is playing to our martyr complexes, or the desire to have other people feel sorry for us.  If instead we let another person's actions or words pass right by us, we can then focus on the things that are much more important than having others feel sorry for us--things like loving our neighbors, being good citizens, helping others to deal with their difficulties, or simply taking good care of ourselves so that we can help others even more effectively.

You and I are spiritual beings, but how simple it is to forget this fact, and how quickly we tend to do so!  I think that it's time that I try to figure out how to remind myself, perhaps with a bracelet of some sort, or a ring--something simple that speaks to me only, to remind myself of just what I am--a spirit who is having an earthly experience.  The more I remember that, the more I can remind others that they, too, are beautiful spirits who deserve the best that this world has to offer in the way of treatment.

Whether you know it or not, one of the most important relationships

in your life is with your Soul.  Will you be kind and loving to

your Soul, or will you be harsh and difficult?  Many of us

unknowingly damage our Souls with our negative attitudes and

actions or by simple neglect.  By making the relationship with

your Soul an important part of your life, however, by honoring

it in your daily routine, you give your life greater meaning

and substance.  Use your experiences--all

of them--as opportunities to nourish your Soul!

Elisabeth Kuebler-Ross

What Isn't Love?

The age-old question is on all of our minds at one time or another, isn't it?  Just what is love?  What does it mean to us?  I'm afraid that I don't have any definitive answers, though I have learned some very important things about love in my years of doing research on what it means to live a happy life.

Probably the most important thing that I've learned about love is just how warped our ideas about it are.  Love isn't something that we "find," for example--love is inside each of us, all the time.  We just have to decide to let it be an important part of our lives if we want to let it shine into the world.

Love also isn't something that we should call our tendencies to develop co-dependent relationships.  The idea of "you and I against the world" is simply silly--the world isn't against us at all, but we seem to believe that by developing a strong team-like bond with another person we can fight against the powers that somehow conspire against us.  The only problem is that there are no such powers.  There are no conspiracies, and developing such a relationship simply isn't healthy, as we then tend to look at the other person as a savior of some sort.

Love isn't something that we share only with people with whom we have family ties or people with whom we have romantic ties.  In fact, love isn't romantic at all.  Love is steady, love is unconditional, love is pure and undemanding, or it isn't love at all.  Love isn't infatuation, and love isn't based on physical attraction--physical attraction is real and important, but it certainly isn't love.  Love isn't controlling someone else because you "know what's best for them."

Love is simply love.  Purely and simply.

The face of love is variable.  I am able to love without demanding that
my relationships assume the structures and forms I might choose for them.
My love is fluid, flexible, committed, creative.  My love allows people and

events to unfold as they need.  My love is not controlling.  It does not dictate

or demand.  My love allows those I love the freedom to assume the forms

most true to them.  I release all those I love from my preconceptions of
their path.  I allow them the dignity of self-definition while I offer them

a constant love that is ever variable in shape.

 

Julia Cameron

 

 

 

Opportunity

I think that probably the biggest frustration involved in teaching high school is the number of students who seem not to care at all about the opportunities that they have.  They’re in a school paid for with public funds to give them the chance to learn important information and skills, and to develop unique talents, yet many of them simply just don’t care.  They’re put into classrooms with teachers who have dedicated themselves to imparting knowledge and wisdom, yet many of them don’t care at all.  They’ve many opportunities to improve themselves and improve their lives, but they don’t take advantage of those opportunities.

I try to look at myself sometimes through the filter I’ve developed while teaching high school.  How do I react to the opportunities in life?  Am I taking advantage of the chances that I’ve been given?  Am I keeping my eyes and ears and heart and mind open enough to recognize opportunities when they’re in my life?

If the answer is no to any of these questions, then I think it’s time for me to re-evaluate many things in my life.  I should be taking advantage of the opportunities that come my way; otherwise, I’m losing the chances to improve my life, make myself happier, and give more of myself to others.

Many of my students are quite satisfied with leaving things as they are.  They don’t care if they don’t learn anything, for they seem happy with the current situation.  They don’t care if they fail my class, because not failing would be too much work.  Perhaps the status quo is simply easier for them; perhaps they suffer from a fear of failure or a fear of success.  Whatever the reasons, though, it pains me to see so many students not getting from their classes what they could get with only a little bit of effort.  They’re going to end this year of having been in class with a bare minimum of new knowledge in their minds.

There are, of course, those students who work hard and who learn a great deal, and they’re truly inspirational.  But they are outnumbered by the others, and I only wish I were able to motivate all my students to learn as much as they could.  But since I can’t, the only thing that I can do is to use their lesson in my own life and keep trying to take advantage of every opportunity that I get.  Opportunities are gifts, and who wants to squander such special gifts?

People do with opportunities as children do at the seashore;
they fill their little hands with sand,
and then let the grains fall through,
one by one, till all are gone.

T. Jones

Sometimes it’s easy for me to start thinking about negative things–-things that other people have done, things that have happened to me, stuff that’s going on in my life that’s hard to deal with.  And when I do start thinking of those negative things, I realize that my mood goes sour very quickly.  It’s like some sort of faucet has been turned on that’s filling my mind with all sorts of poison, making me feel worse and causing me to see the dark sides of virtually everything around me.  I see other people’s motivation as very negative, and I see myself as a victim, and I sometimes even see that other people are planning and plotting against me, even though no such plots or plans exist.

It’s all due to my choice to continue focusing on the negative.  I don’t have to do so, and in fact I’ve spent tons of time creating a website full of positive thoughts and ideas that I can use to focus on when my mind does start going negative.  When I make the choice to shift my thoughts to the positive and uplifting, then it always happens that I start feeling better, that I start seeing the brighter sides of things, that I start to be able to be more encouraging and helpful to other people.

I realize now that much of the depression and many of the negative times that I went through were caused by my own decision to continue to focus on the negative.  Rather than take the time and make the effort to pull myself out of down times, it was easier for me to accept them and pity myself because of them.  But I don’t do that any more–-nowadays I catch myself as soon as I can, and I choose to shift my thinking to positive things in my life.  With practice I’ve come to realize that there are tons of positive things in my life.  Yes, there are some negatives, but when I choose not to give them power, I choose to improve my life and the way that I’m living.

Just as it is with most things in life, my tendency to focus on negative things was a result of decisions on my part, decisions that certainly never helped me to become happier as a human being.  Now I make the choice to see the positive sides of life, and that decision, made over and over again, helps me much to become happier and to live my life more fully.

There are an infinite number of things you could spend your time thinking about,
but many of us concentrate great attention on those things that we find most upsetting.
Don’t ignore what bothers you, but don’t focus on it to the exclusion of the things you enjoy.

David Niven

Sunsets

I’ve been reading a book with a lot of interviews of older people who show a lot of wisdom.  One of the men interviewed in the book said that he’s brought to tears every time he sees a sunset or a rainbow because he never knows when he might see his last one.  It’s a beautiful perspective, for it reminds us that there are many, many beautiful things on this planet all the time.  The only question we have to ask ourselves is whether we notice them and appreciate them for all they’re worth.

There are some wonderful trees and bushes right outside our apartment.  I do my best to notice their beauty whenever I pass them, but I have to admit that I sometimes walk right by without noticing them.  We live very near a beautiful lake, and sometimes I drive by it without seeing what kinds of unique light might be hitting it today.  We have beautiful pictures on our walls that I hardly notice any more–I can sit in front of them for a long time without even seeing them any more.  Sometimes I don’t even notice just how clear and brilliant my wife’s eyes are because I see her so often that they don’t make the same impression on me that they used to.

Even as I write these words, I can look about myself (and I’m doing so) to see many beautiful things–the pictures, the plants, the cacti, the flowers, the tablecloth, the tissue box, the clouds and the blue sky.  But I have to make a conscious effort at times like these to see them, to notice them, to be truly aware of their beauty.  I can’t see the breeze, but it feels beautiful as it comes through the window.

Awareness is a choice, and sometimes it takes effort.  But it’s never disappointing if we truly put some effort into it.  The rewards for our effort already surround us all the time, but they’re awards that we miss constantly until we make the decision to open our eyes and our hearts to the beauty that’s always everywhere.

A person is alive only to the degree that he or she is aware.
To make the most of life we must constantly strive to be aware
of the importance of being aware.  Be aware of your senses
and use them:  So often we are distracted and unconscious of
the riches our senses can pour into our lives.  We eat food
without tasting it, listen to music without hearing it, smell
without experiencing the pungency of odors and the delicacy
of perfumes, touch without feeling the grain or texture, and see
without appreciating the beauty around us.

Wilferd A. Peterson

Free and Easy

There are many things in life that contribute to the greater good that don’t cost us a single cent to buy, and that take almost no effort at all to share with others.  These things are free and easy, yet somehow we neglect them, and we utilize them much, much less than our potential would suggest we could or should.  What are these things that are free and easy?

Encouragement.  It’s so easy to share an encouraging word with someone, and the encouragement could go a long way towards giving someone else the added energy, incentive, and motivation to continue with something that’s important in his or her life.  Why don’t we encourage more?  I’m not sure, but it’s a shame that we don’t.

Compliments.  These don’t cost us anything at all, either, but some people dish them out so conservatively that you’d think they cost a zillion dollars each.  I don’t have any idea why we don’t hear compliments all day, every day, but I’m sure it has something to do with the fact that we simply don’t think of how important they are for other people to hear.

Love.  Love is great–the more you give out, the more you have.  You never can lose it, and it won’t diminish by being shared.  Unconditional love is the best, of course, for when we share unconditional love it’s never diminished by our disappointment in the way it’s returned to us–or not returned at all.

Peace.  How do we share peace?  By being peaceful.  By not losing our cool when someone does something we don’t like, or when we lose something important to us.  By not spreading gossip or rumors when the chance arises.  By simply being.  Others pick up on our peace just as a radio picks up radio signals and converts them into sound, and our peaceful presence can contribute immeasurable calmness into stressful situations in which we find ourselves.

Hope.  Hope for the present, hope for the future.  Hope for the fulfillment of potential, hope for positive outcomes.  Hope for me, and hope for you.  Hope for better things and situations.  We share hope by being hopeful, and in sharing it we give a very important part of ourselves, all for free, and all very easily.

Free and easy–there are many more things that fall into these categories.  And do you know what they are?  Once you think of them, can you turn them into a part of your life by sharing them with others, at absolutely no cost to yourself?

A Kind Word, but. . . .

It always amazes me to hear people pay compliments to other people, and then follow them up with a criticism.  It seems that many people are unable simply to compliment someone or to share a kind word--they also feel that they have to demonstrate how observant they are or how able they are to be constructively critical.  "That's a beautiful dress, but how much did it cost?"  "That's a great picture, David, but oak trees don't get colorful leaves like that."  "You did a good job mowing the lawn, but you wouldn't have to do it again as soon if you cut it a bit shorter."

I think that often when we do this, we're trying to take advantage of what seems to be a teaching moment.  We're trying to help someone else to learn something that we know.  But what we end up teaching them is that very often, praise doesn't come unless it's accompanied by criticism.  We're teaching that no matter how hard someone tries, there still will be problems with the work that he or she has done.  In the workplace, of course, there very often are times when jobs aren't up to professional standards, and we most definitely need to provide the criticism before any job can be considered done or up to standard.  In that case, adding the praise to the criticism seems to be an act of kindness, something that adds a positive spin to a necessarily negative comment.

For the most part, though, criticism isn't absolutely necessary, and to pair it up with a kind or encouraging statement is pretty sad.  What's wrong with stopping at "You did a good job," or "That's a great picture"?  If we stop there and say no more, are we really doing something wrong, or are we simply providing another human being with positive input in his or her life today?  After all, who really cares if the oak tree has the wrong color leaves in a picture that few other people will see?  If David doesn't care, then why should we?  And maybe the person who mowed the lawn doesn't mind at all doing it once a week instead of once every other week, and that person likes how it looks when it's a bit longer.  It's up to us to decide what we're going to share with others, and it's very important that we share as much positive feedback as we can.  After all, what goes around comes around, and people who learn that we're bound to criticize will end up doing the same to us.

It's like donating a bag of food to a food bank, and then turning around and taking a bag of food that someone else had donated earlier.  What good does it do?  Absolutely none.  So when we do share a kind word or a bit of encouragement, let's leave it at the positive.  After all, there are plenty of other people in the world who are willing to criticize--let's leave the negative stuff to them and do our best to contribute to the positive.

So many gods, so many creeds,
So many paths that wind and wind,
While just the art of being kind
Is all the sad world needs.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox 

It's Already Here

One of the most difficult lessons for me to learn is that everything that I'll ever want or need already is here inside of me, a part of who I am, and that all I need to do is look inside myself to learn all that I'll ever need to know.  All the time while I was growing up I was taught--mostly from poor examples and implied lessons--that what I need and want is outside of me.  But as I've grown older and the slightest bit wiser, I recognize that my satisfaction, my peace, my fulfillment, my learning, my love--and everything else I need and want--already are here.

It's difficult to allow this lesson to sink in, but the lesson itself already is inside of us, too.  And when we slow down and listen and allow ourselves to feel and experience our inner selves, rather than focusing constantly on all the stimuli that come from outside of ourselves, we learn that there's a great deal of beauty and grace inside of us, and that life is a question of setting it free so that it can be an active part of our conscious selves rather than being buried in the muck of so much of what we've learned that's not very useful at all.

Think about it--when are we taught to value all of the thoughts and ideas that are at our core?  When are we taught how to look inside to discover answers to important questions and problems?  And if we never learn how to value our inner realities, how can they ever help us to live our lives fully and completely?
I'm amazed sometimes at some of the answers and ideas that come from inside when I give up on trying to find answers and ideas.  I'm mostly amazed, though, at the fact that I so rarely allow myself to give up on trying to find them.  After all, when I do so I almost always feel what I need just coming to me, so why don't I do so more often?

Somehow, we've come to value our rationality and logic so much that we don't trust parts of ourselves that don't depend on rationality and logic.  So we try to control outcomes, and we try to "find" answers and solutions.  But what happens if we just relax, let our minds run more freely, and allow answers to come to us, and from us?  Then we get the feeling of what it's like to be in tune with life, and we learn some of the most important lessons about just what we and life are like.

Deep within us all there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul,
a holy place, a Divine Center, a speaking Voice. . . .
Life from the Center is a life of unhurried peace and power.
It is simple.  It is serene.  It is amazing.  It is radiant.

T.R. Kelly