Helping others

How can I help?

It’s a very simple question, as simple as helping.
Have you thought of how many times we help others without even thinking about it? It just comes naturally. We might see our neighbor carrying some groceries all by himself and we just go and offer a hand, or we talk to a friend who needs a ride and we stop what we are doing to go and help.
Sometimes helping happens so fast that we are not aware of it, but other times we can be so busy in our own world that we forget who we really are, and worse of all, we forget others. We are disconnected. We become self-centered, and instead of giving we are just expecting to receive. We are expecting to receive from our parents, siblings, friends, employer, spouse and God. In our selfish minds we are waiting to receive in order to give back. We are thinking backwards.
Regardless of your religion, faith or set of beliefs, there’s only one truth. You need to give to receive. Instead of asking the Universe, “What do you have for me?” ask, “What do you want from me, how can I help?” Instead of expecting others to come and give you a hand, go and offer yours. Step out of your comfort zone, open your heart and try to “SEE” how you can be of help.
When you do so, miracles will start to happen. The Universe will extend its hand to you and will give you things you never dreamed of, but most importantly, there’s something you will experience right away, and that is Joy. When you give yourself to others you will feel good because it’s at that moment that we experience our real nature, we experience a spiritual connection to everything and everyone around us.
And, we are not alone anymore.

The Tree of Problems (A tale...)

“I once hired a carpenter to help me fix an old fence. He was working on it and when he was about to finish, after a long hard day of work one of his main tools broke down, making him waste a lot of time. When he was finally done, he loaded everything in his old truck but another problem came up. Now, the truck wouldn’t start.
Feeling sorry for the old man, I offered him a ride home. He gladly accepted. He sat quietly in the passenger’s seat and remained quietly until we got to his house.
When we arrived, he invited me in to meet his family.
We started walking towards the front door when he suddenly stopped in front of a little tree and started touching the branches with both hands, just for a few seconds.
Then, he opened the door and an amazing transformation took place. He had a big beautiful smile on his tanned face. He hugged his children and gave his wife a kiss. He was happy, very happy. All the problems seemed to have disappeared.
After being introduced and saying hello to his family, he walked me to my car. But when we passed by the little tree I felt very curious about what he had done before so I asked him about it.
He replied, “Oh, this is the tree of problems. I know sometimes I can’t stop problems from coming to my life, but when they come I make sure those problems don’t enter my house. Those problems do not belong here, to my wife or children. So, I simply hang them on this tree every night when I get home. Then in the morning, I pick them up and deal with them. But you know, something funny happens, he said. When I wake up the next morning there are not so many problems hanging on the tree like I thought they were the night before!”

Think about it for a moment. How many times do we carry our problems home and we bring all our frustration and anger to the people we love the most. How can we be so selfish? How can we expect others who, by the way also have their own problems, to put up with us and our stuff. Sometimes we feel so bad, so miserable that we don’t want anybody to feel happy. This is mostly done unconsciously but it is done anyways. So, the only way to stop this behavior is to first recognize it and then by becoming aware of this, it will start to dissolve.
So, find a tree and start hanging your problems before you enter your home. Enter in peace, appreciating what you have, staying present and feeling calmed, knowing that your problems are hanging outside, in the tree. You will deal with them in the morning and you may find out there were not so many after all…

Empty your heavy luggage

We all come to this life carrying a small suitcase. As we start our journey, we begin accumulating things, good and bad. Slowly, our luggage begins to get heavier and heavier. It becomes a burden. We do not only feel bad, tired, depressed, overwhelmed, but also having this big heavy weight on our backs doesn’t allow us to discover new things, to let new experiences come into out lives, to enjoy the present moment, to be aware of our blessings and we just let opportunities and people pass us by.
That is why you need to empty your luggage on a regular basis. But you don’t get rid of everything. You only start pulling out certain things, such as: anger, disappointments, resentment, sadness, loneliness, fear, greed, envy, your ego and all those other negative emotions and past experiences. Make sure you keep only the best, the best of what life has given you, the best of what you have learned on your trip, the best of yourself. You are going to need them to continue your path. You will need your courage, your strength, your self confidence, your optimism, your faith, your dreams, your compassion, your patience, your hope.
And now, even though you haven’t emptied your luggage completely, now that you have left only the good inside, you will feel light, free, energized and ready to move on.
At this point, you have all you need to continue your journey. And don’t forget to repeat this process on a regular basis. Your luggage needs to be light because you have a long way to go…

A good friend...

The Buddha often emphasized the characteristics of a good friend. He spoke about a good friend as one who gives a kind of happiness based on knowing our interconnectedness, and that learning to be a friend to ourselves and being one to others is really the same thing.

He spoke about a good friend, or a true friend, as being someone who is a helper, who will protect us when we are taken unaware, when we are surprised by life in some way. This person will be a refuge to us when we are afraid. He spoke about a good friend as someone who is constant in our time of happiness and in our times of adversity or sorrow. Someone who will not forsake us when we are in trouble. And as someone who will tell us their secrets and will not betray our secrets to others, and at the same time will be completely honest with us and warn us if they think we are heading off towards danger.

When we have such a friend, we have a gift beyond measure.

So, think aboout this for a moment: Are you being a true friend to yourself? Are you encouraging yourself, thinking healthy thoughts, putting good information in your head and feeding your soul? Do you remember to congratulate yourself for your efforts and your sacrifices? Do you try to stay positive during the hard times instead of putting yourself down? Are you saying kind words to yourself? Are you being truthful to yourself? Are you projecting love and good vibes to yourself? Are you loving yourself? Are you forgiving yourself? Are you giving yourself another chance? Are you loving yourself, unconditionally? Are you being a true friend to yourself?

Mental Clarity

Life has surprises. Today we can have it all, and tomorrow we can lose it all. What it needs to come will come, sometimes there’s nothing we can do, and there are situations, circumstances that we just can’t control. Certain things are not in our hands. And how do we feel when that happens? We feel disappointed, upset, sad, depressed, and confused, not knowing which way to go, and feeling that life is not fair.
We all have karma, from our past lives and from our present life and there are experiences that we will have to go through for our own spiritual growth.
So, there’s nothing we can do to stop certain things from happening but we can deal with them better when we have MENTAL CLARITY.
How do we achieve mental clarity? We achieve mental clarity when we practice daily meditation. When we meditate we are PRESENT and when we are present we see things from a different perspective.
When we’re in a meditative state, we get in touch with OUR TRUE SELF and develop intuition. One of the main reasons for our anxieties and fears is the fact that we tend to analyze things too much. Being logical and rational is good, but there are times when you need to stop your head for a moment and look inward. Too many times we look for the answers outside ourselves and we feel lost, confused. But if we learn to stop, breathe, and just be present, we can HEAR our soul talking to us. It’s in that place of stillness where we find our answers.
Meditation clears your soul, your mind and even heals your body. Daily meditation should be as essential as taking a shower. You wouldn’t go too long without taking one, would you? Your physical body needs to be cleaned everyday and so does your mind.

What's your mantra?

What’s your mantra?

A mantra is a sound, syllable, word, or group of words that are considered capable of “creating transformation”.
If your daily mantra is: “I’m so stressed”, “I can’t take it anymore”, “I’m overwhelmed”, then don’t be surprised to be living the life you’re living. Because what you think is exactly what you attract.
We can’t deny the fact that life can get pretty hectic at times, pressure of all kinds, responsibilities, commitments, our family, our jobs, and even ourselves can get very hard to handle sometimes. You might think that all these situations are making you feel “stressed”, but in reality, it’s your mind that creates it. It’s not the situation that stresses you out, it’s what you think about the situation that creates that state of worry, anxiety, fear, or in one word, stress. You and only YOU have the choice to make your own reality.
For instance, do you know how coal turns into diamond? It requires high heat and pressure. And the same rule applies to us, when we are facing difficulties we can see them as challenges to make us better, stronger, wiser or we can choose to stress ourselves out, making our lives and the lives of the people around us miserable.
Every day, you have power to create your own mantra and design the kind of life you want to live.
“I feel good”, “Everything is happening for my higher good”, “I’m always safe and protected” are some simple but positive mantras that can make a big difference.

Are u the ball?

Let me ask you a question:

"In the field of life are you the coach, the player, an owner or the ball?"

Unfortunately, 99 % of people are the ball. What does this mean? It means that a lot us don't have control over our lives, we lack Authority. Not authority to manipulate or control others but instead, authority to control OUR actions, emotions and thoughts.

We can be great at what we do, have a successful career, a great job, we can have lots of friends, a good family, a good relationship, we mght think we have everything under control but there's one thing you need to ask yourself : " Do I have control over myself, do I have Authority? When you have Authority, you are in a constant state of awareness, you know that you're not your possessions, your job, your house. You recongnize yourself as being a soul in a body and not the other way around. You know that every action has a reaction, you know that you are not your emotions.When you feel anger, sadness, frustration or any other negative feeling you recognize them just as emotions that you're feeling, but you KNOW that you're NOT that anger, sadness, frustration or whatever you are feeling. When you are aware of this it becomes a lot easier to control your thoughts and how you react to them.

When you put this into practice you're exercising your Authority.

Still, in the field of life, a lot of people are the ball. That's why the world looks like it looks, sounds like it sounds...war, terrorism, corruptions, greed... But you were not born to be part of that, you were born to change that world. And that change starts with you....

Say this affirmation: " I'm here to change this world. The change starts with me. I have Authority."