Over the years, I have read many wonderful books on the subjects of spirituality, philosophy, and personal growth. These books usually paint a beautiful and inspiring picture of reality. But often, after the inspiration of the book had faded, I found myself asking, "Wouldn't it be wonderful if reality were like that?"
When you open your life to the rest of our world, it can be daunting. It is easy to become hypersensitive to the violence and suffering around us. Maybe you cannot tolerate the extreme violence of many movies and TV shows, or even the news reports on the radio. Emotions may run high on all accounts.
- By Alan Cohen
by Alan Cohen. My eight-year-old neighbor Mark keeps me on my toes. Mark asks lots of questions, which I am sometimes tempted to dismiss as childish. But when I think about them, I usually discover a profound lesson. The other day Mark asked me for a ride to the local grocery store...
Most people have some physical symptom that signals them that they are starting to run down their batteries. A sore throat, headache, or hemorrhoid flare-up is the universe's way of alerting you that you are getting stressed.
- By AdminStaff
Our difficulty lies in the fact that in asserting our right to partake in the man's world we have come to identify with the very patriarchal attitudes that devalue our mothers and grandmothers. We are ashamed of our yearnings for connection, our tears, our mothers. We try to live like men: valuing separateness and achievement.
- By Alan Cohen
by Alan Cohen. You can find yourself in ideal conditions and be miserable, and you can be in the most adverse conditions and soar. Environment and physical factors may influence us, but attitude makes or breaks us. You may not be able to...
- By Alan Cohen
A Course in Miracles asks us to keep our priorities in order. Spirit first, matter second. People before stuff. Love before fear. Leo Buscaglia noted, We were born to love people and use things, but we learn to love things and use people.
- By Jack McAllen
Now is the time for women's equality in Congress and at all other government and corporate decision-making levels. With men, we get rhetoric, more problems and no answers -- but lots of excuses. I am convinced that we need women's realistic, common-sense approach to the needs of modern America.
- By Sarah Brady
In just one year, guns are used to kill more than thirty thousand Americans, and thousands more are injured. The fear of gun violence alone affects the quality of life of every American, even those who have never experienced it firsthand. What we forget is that living in fear does not have to be an inevitable part of life in America.
A testimonial of an encounter with a policeman who assisted in showing her the way back to the path of enlightenment and recovery: "One morning last spring I was driving down US1 at 5:30 in the morning. Well, I wasn't just driving, I was speeding. I was going at least 15 miles over the 45mph limit, and my mind was not on the road..."
In my community, there is one man whose life speaks louder than his words. He is known as Sam, and he lives on the streets. His life provides us with a sense of charity so that we can live guilt-free in our lavishly furnished homes. We don't want to learn how one could adapt to living on the street.
A thought or decision can certainly redefine our direction in life and in love. There's a lesson in every experience. However, one usually doesn't figure out the lesson until well after the experience...
- By Adam Thilem
Article (short-fiction) that takes a look at being homeless and a way in and out of that experience.
A lot of the afternoon talk shows are featuring "therapists" who say that it's not possible to completely repress memories of abuse. Well, I know from my dealings with thousands of abuse survivors that repression is an extremely common coping mechanism. However, many women do not remember the abuse they experienced until a dramatic life event occurs.
- By AdminStaff
Dealing with addictive responses such as anger, jealousy, irritation, aggravation.We learned these as children and we now respond automatically. We can learn to respond in a different manner, and thus raise our level of consciousness and our happiness leve
The goal of hypnosis is to access the subconscious mind which functions at a deeper level than our usual level of awareness. Our subconscious mind is not limited. It can remember everything and can transmit solutions to our problems.
by Madeline Ko-i Bastis. When we quiet the mind, our transgressions emerge from the shadows and we become sensitive to our interaction with others. A turning point presents itself. Though we feel regret at having caused harm, there may still be a niggling voice whispering that our actions were necessary. Tit for tat; he deserved that...
My strongest memories of my father are of him leaving for work. There was something important about the ritual of him preparing for work. He was off to do important things. He was off to do business, to work, to provide for us. If his leaving in the morning was an important ritual, waiting for Dad to come home had an air of expectation. Did he have a good day? Or a bad one?
The first among the six perfections is generosity. Generosity is of three types: giving material aid, giving dharma, and protecting from fear. 'Giving dharma' refers to the giving of teachings to other sentient beings out of the pure motivation to benefit them. Giving away one's own possessions without even the slightest touch of miserliness...
- By Ezra Bayda
We all have the deep-seated belief that if we practice long and hard enough, our problems will disappear. And beneath that hidden belief lies an even deeper one: that life should be free from pain. But, we will always have difficulties. We will always have eighty-three problems.
Our childhood programming often keeps us from making our life work. How can we create happiness in our life? Making your life work means freeing yourself from your ego and rational mind that have kept you trapped in playing out the security, sensation, and power demands that you programmed into your big-computer during the first few years of your life.
Nature is a great teacher. Its natural cycles demonstrate important truths about life and renewal. Every year, deciduous trees must drop their leaves so that new life can form. If the leaves did not fall, the tree could not renew itself. It is that simple. What can this cycle teach us?
For many years, I never watched TV. I remember my TV breaking down and as I placed it out with the garbage, deciding not to buy another one. So in those days, I was not watching the news, or anything else on TV. This went on for many years.