Inspired by EE Cummings

Carry my tears with you (carry it in
your heart) never be without it (anywhere
you go i go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)

i fear
no tears (for you are my tears, my sweat) i want
no words (for beautiful no words can describe you, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always wept
and whatever a sun will always dry is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;
which feed on my tears & grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars in your eyes

i carry your tears (i carry it in my eyes,
so that your eyes may always be without them)

Collective Consciousness

"Collective Consciousness & Unconsciousness co-create Collective Reality, which in reality is only Collective Illusion, which we can also label as Collective Delusion... ..." ~ Alex Chua

Synchronicity

"There are no coincidence, only synchronicity. There are no strangers, only friends who have not met." ~ Alex Chua

Zaadz Ambassador

I just joined Zaadz as a "Zaadz Ambassadors" early this morning... about 2am :-) They asked 3 interesting questions... my answers are below...

What is your Philosophy in two sentences?
Go Beyond Possibilities to Live the Life We Were Born to Live in the most Fulfilling, Positive & Productive way. It is Our Duty, Do It NOW!

How are we going to change the world together?
By Sharing the Unique Gifts & Talents each of us was born with. The Web of Life is made of Webs of Relationships, weaved though Sharing & Service of our best Self, our SPARKS of Genius.

By anchoring with the Environment in interdependent relationships of Mutual Support, the Spider’s web has the Strength to Support the Spider’s weight.

These strings of webs come from within the Spider & is a part of the Spider’s core Essence. The Support is built by the hardwork of the Spider, Extending & Expressing its Essence with Love, & Engaging the Universe with a Passion for Life.

This Act of Love & Light is a Purposeful one. One that can only be achieved with Presence in each moment & a deep sense of Possibilities.

Be inspired to find your Personal Path Beyond Possibilities! I am only your Clarity Guide… I cannot walk your Path for you… only you can do that… do it NOW!

What do you love most about Zaadz?
The Zaadz community has the Aspiration to change the world & also the Inspiration to do it. It is comforting to know that we are not alone… & it is a Source of Strength to know that we are all connected in a Web of Mutual Support. We can do it & we are already doing it NOW ;-)

You can view my updated profile & testimonials @ http://clarityquest.zaadz.com/

I have also started a Pod for What the Bleep Do We Know!? & The Secret

I invite you to join me on this Journey of Learning! Lets Change the World Together!

Shifting Your Labels

"Crazy people who are productive are geniuses. Crazy people who are rich are eccentric. Crazy people who are neither productive nor rich are just plain crazy. Geniuses and crazy people are both out in the middle of a deep ocean; geniuses swim, crazy people drown. Most of us are sitting safely on the shore. Take a chance and get your feet wet."

~ Michael J. Gelb

The following list was published in Handbook of Cognitive Therapy Techniques, by Rian McMullin. Please use it to shift your labels to the RIGHT one if you must label anything at all ;-)

A person who...	Could be called...	Or could be called...
changes one's mind a lot	wishy-washy	flexible
expresses one's opinion	egotistical	honest, assertive
is emotionally sensitive	sick, fragile	alive, caring, open
is selective in choosing a mate	afraid to commit	patient, careful, discriminating
gets depressed sometimes	neurotic	normal human being
isn't good at a game	stupid, inferior	hasn't practiced
isn't orderly	sloppy, piggish	spontaneous, carefree
pleases others	social phobic	likable
believes what others say	gullible	trusting
loves another strongly	dependent	loving
gets anxious	weak, cowardly	learned to, was taught
is nontraditional	malcontent, heretical, immoral	independent, uninhibited, free
is helped by another	manipulated	cared for
is not working hard on a task	lazy	relaxed
is sure of something	conceited	self-confident
stands up for personal rights	argumentative	gutsy
thinks before making decisions	indecisive	careful
takes risks	harebrained	brave
sticks to projects	compulsive	determined
gets excited	hysterical	exuberant

~ Rian McMullin

Journaling E-book

Journaling has always been a very powerful experience for me & it is one of the few things that I insist my students do for themselves. The following is the best Journaling tool I have come across so far. Check it out & don't forget to share your success stories with me :-)

Journaling E-book - Offering 40 journal writing topics and tools.

Offering 18 personal development and spiritual growth programs at Higher Awareness!

A Fishy Coaching Story About Happiness: The Mexican Fisherman

An American businessman was at a pier in a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow-fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The Mexican replied only a little while.

The American then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish?

The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs.

The American then asked the Mexican how he spent the rest of his time.

The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life, senor.”

The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and, with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution.

“You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise.”

The Mexican fisherman asked, “But senor, how long will this all take?”

To which the American replied, “15-20 years.”

“But what then, senor?” asked the Mexican.

The American laughed, and said, “That’s the best part! When the time is right, you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public. You’ll become very rich, you
would make millions!”

“Millions, senor?” replied the Mexican. “Then what?”

The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”

Balance

Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air.
You name them – work, family, health, friends and spirit and you're keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back.
But the other four balls – family, health, friends and spirit are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered.
They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life.

~ Brian Dyson

True Lasting Happiness - A Sufi Parable

Are you like a dog chewing a dry bone?

A Sufi Master once saw a dog chewing the dry bone of a buffalo. The bone has jagged edges and sharply cut the tongue, gums and mouth of the dog. Blood flowed and the dog licked and chewed even harder. The blood and flesh it was tasting were its own but the dog believed they were from the bone. The dog did not ever bother to question whether or not this was true.

The dog vigorously continued to chew this bone with its sharp canine holding it with its hefty forelegs, even though it hurts itself more the longer it does so. The bone was dry. The marrow had gone. There was no flesh around. The bone possessed nothing but a rotten smell. But its impact on the dog was tempting. It was not ready to leave the bone and was clinging on to it hard.

Pondered our world and its mendacity, its temporality, its tribulation, and its temptations. Is the world not like a bone to the dog?

Man bears and nurtures first. Then he snatches, tears, levels, and captures. He thinks of getting luxuries, comforts, and enjoyment. A dry bone to a dog!

And what do you think would happen if another dog entered the story and demanded the bone from the first dog? Would it give the bone knowing that it was bare and dry or would it fight for it?

The peace, joy and happiness we seek are already inside us all this while. We were born into this world with them. but we keep hunting for them outside...

The worldly things we pine for so desperately and accumulate so avariciously wound us in the same manner the bone cuts the dog, but we believe the pleasure we derive is from those material objects and cling to them more ferociously, fighting with whoever crosses our path.

Blood drip from our wounds and stain our path of life. Still we continue with apparent relish, striving for more money and the next toy to buy.

The happiness we seek is already here, within us. We only need to recognise, experience and appreciate it, instead of trying to substitute the feeling of true happiness with that which we derive from our incessant acquisition as fueled by the media and our current culture of excessive consumption!

True lasting happiness comes with letting go of our desires and wants, appreciating whatever is already here within us.

~ A Sufi Parable

The Secret of Happiness: A Reflective Exercise by Anthony DeMello

Recall the kind of feeling you have when someone praises you, when you are approved, accepted, applauded. And contrast that with the kind of feeling that arises within you when you look at the sunset or a sunrise, or Nature in general or when you read a book or watch a movie that you thoroughly enjoy. Get a taste of this feeling and contrast it with the first, namely, the one that was generated within you when you were praised.

Understand that the first type of feeling comes from self-glorification, self-promotion. It is a worldly feeling. The second comes from self-fulfillment. It is a soul feeling. Here is another contrast: Recall the kind of feeling you have when you succeed, when you have made it, when you get to the top, when you win a game or bet or argument. And contrast it with the kind of feeling you get when you really enjoy the job you are doing, you are absorbed in, the action you are currently engaged in. And once again notice the qualitative difference between the worldly feeling and the soul feeling.

Yet another contrast: Remember what you felt like when you had power, you were the boss, people looked up to you, took orders from you; or when you were popular. And contrast that worldly feeling with the feeling of intimacy, companionship - the times you thoroughly enjoyed yourself in the company of a friend or with a group in which there was fun and laughter. Having done this, attempt to understand the true nature of worldly feelings, namely, the feelings of self-promotion, self-glorification. They are not natural, they were invented by your society to make you productive and to make you controllable. These feelings do not produce the nourishment and happiness that is produced when one contemplates Nature or enjoys the company of one's friends or one's work. They were meant to produce thrills, excitement and emptiness.

Then observe yourself over the course of a day or a week and think how many actions of yours are performed, how many activities engaged in that are uncontaminated by the desires for these thrills, these excitements that only produce emptiness, the desire for attention, approval, fame, popularity, success or power. And take a look at the people around you. Is there a single one of them who has not become addicted to these worldly feelings? A single one who is not controlled by them, hungers for them, spends every minute of his/her waking life consciously or unconsciously seeking them? When you see this you will understand how people attempt to gain the world and, in the process, lose their soul.

And here is a parable of life for you to ponder on: A group of tourists sit in a bus that is passing through gorgeously beautiful country; lakes and mountains and green fields and rivers. But the shades of the bus are pulled down. They do not have the slightest idea of what lies beyond the windows of the bus. And all the time of their journey is spent in squabbling over who will have the seat of honor in the bus, who will be applauded, who will be well considered. And so they remain till the journey's end.

~ Anthony DeMello

The Secret of Success: The Shortest Summary

The Secret of Success is Simply to Share your SPARKS of Genius with Society.

Answering this Question can shed some light on how you might wish to do so:

"What is the purpose of money in my life?"

The Twelve Gateways to Personal Growth

1 - Discover Your Worth: "No matter how intelligent, attractive or talented you may be — to the degree that you doubt your worthiness you tend to sabotage your efforts and undermine your relationships." You open up to abundant life only to the extent you believe you deserve it. How good can you stand it today?

2 - Reclaim Your Will: "Until you reclaim your will — assert your power to act upon what you know — even the best plans remain unrealized." Self-respect comes from doing what needs to be done, whether or not you are in the mood. Can you turn knowledge into action?

3 - Energize Your Body: "If you lack vitality, nothing else really matters; if you have your health, anything is possible." The only thing you are sure to keep for a lifetime is your body. How might you take better care of your body?

4 - Manage Your Money: "By clarifying your goals and using your gifts, you can make good money, doing what you enjoy while serving the highest calling of your soul." Money is neither god nor devil, but a form of energy and a practical necessity. Have you achieved financial stability?

5 - Tame Your Mind: "The world is...a reflection of your mind. As your mind clears, you perceive reality simply as it is." You see the world through filters of belief, opinion and interpretation. How do your beliefs shape your experience?

6 - Trust Your Intuition: "Your subconscious holds keys to a treasure house of intuitive wisdom, clear sight and untapped power." There are hidden ways of knowing about and responding to the world. Have you accessed your inner guidance system?

7 - Accept Your Emotions: "Accept emotions completely, let your feelings be; just don't let them run your life." Feelings are natural; you need not fix them, but transcend them. Have you made peace with your emotions?

8 - Face Your Fears: "courage is not in the absence of fear, but the conquering of it." Everyday courage is not a feeling but an action. Have you made fear your servant and guide, or let it become your master?

9 - Illuminate Your Shadow: "Releasing energy once bound in defense of self-image, you find energy, understanding, humility and compassion." Self-knowledge generates authenticity, energy and compassion. Do you truly know yourself, or only your self-image?

10 - Embrace Your Sexuality: "Life is not a matter of indulging or denying the energies of life, but observing, accepting, and wisely channeling them." Making love can be a spiritual practice and a celebration of life. Have you realized your potential for intimacy and joy?

11 - Awaken Your Heart: "Love endures not from words or feelings alone, but from actions that carry you beyond the interests of separate self, beyond reason or motive, to embrace all people, things and circumstances." Love is an action that opens the gateways to everyday enlightenment. Can you act with love without reason?

12 - Serve Your World: "Service is both a means and an end, for in giving to others, you open yourself to love, abundance, and inner peace." The final gateway brings meaning to life. How might you make a positive difference for someone today?

— from Everyday Enlightenment

by Dan Millman

Some Quotes to BARE

"There is nothing about a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly."

~ Buckminster Fuller

"We discover in ourselves what others hide from us and we recognize in others what we hide from ourselves."

~ Vauvenargues

"It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end."

~ Ursula K. Le Guin

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."

~ Albert Einstein

"There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."

~ Albert Einstein

"What is life, without a dream?"

~ Edmund Rostand

"You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it true."

~ Richard Bach

"You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore."

~ Francis Drake

"It's never too late to become what you might have been."

~ George Eliot

"If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves."

~ Thomas Edison

"You don't have to be great to get started, but you have to get started to be great."

~ Les Brown

"Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

~ Mark Twain

"Both optimists and pessimists contribute to the society. The optimist invents the aeroplane, the pessimist the parachute."

~ George Bernard Shaw

"People are where they are because that's exactly where they really want to be...whether they'll admit that or not."

~ William James

"Without passion man is a mere latent force and possibility, like the flint which awaits the shock of the iron before it can give forth its spark."

~ Henri Frederic Amiel

"Joy is peace dancing, peace is joy resting."

"Turn your face to the sun and the shadows will fall behind you."

"Have less, do less, be more!"

"The instructions for thinking outside the box are printed on the outside."

"Usually, the brain that contains the problem is the brain that contains the solution."

5 Rules for Living

1. Show Up
2. Pay Attention
3. Live Your Truth
4. Do Your Best Every Moment
5. Don't Be Attached to the Outcome

20 Ways to Encourage your Child’s Creativity by Tina Nocera

The following piece is written by Tina Nocera (http://www.parentalwisdom.com/) & publish on http://www.goalfree.com/ the resourceful website of Stephen M. Shapiro, author of Goal-Free Living.

1. Give young children a tape recorder so they can capture their ideas.

2. Change your normal mode of transportation. If you usually drive, occasionally take a bus or train.

3. Grow a garden with your child. Even a windowsill garden can be fun.

4. Give older children an ‘idea journal’ which can be as inexpensive as a 59¢ composition notebook.

5. Take nature walks and see what your child sees; you’ll be amazed at his powers of observation.

6. Discuss new discoveries over dinner and ask your children how they would use them.

7. Toss out a problem and ask them how they would solve it; don’t limit the problems to those you think they could solve. They may surprise you.

8. Start a story and let the children finish it.

9. Limit noise, video games, and computer time.

10. Play games with your children and read to them.

11. Ask your children to explain what they have created; don’t assume you know what it is.
12. Let them do it for themselves; we know you can color.

13. Give your children supplies and materials you find around the house. Resist the urge to buy craft kits.

14. Let your children find their own ‘right way’ in art. Don’t insist that it is done your way.

15. Appreciate your child’s individuality. Resist temptations to compare children. It’s a subtle message to conform.

16. Encourage curiosity.

17. Answer their questions. If you don’t know the answer, tell them you need time before answering.

18. Give your child time to daydream, think, and play. This gives them the opportunity to come up with ideas of their own.

19. Have creativity be its own reward. When our children do something, we have to encourage them to simply enjoy doing it rather than the competition or the reward. We are too quick to give stickers, ribbons, and trophies for anything. All this does is promote the external value rather than instilling a pleasure for learning.

20. Encourage your children to try new things. This is the best way to learn. Resolve yourself to understanding that your child won’t always be successful, but we still have to try and even encourage mistakes and failures.

Goal-Free Parenting by Stephen M. Shapiro

63% of adults say, “I encourage those that I care about to pursue goals that I think are best for them.” Whose life are your children living? One person I interviewed became wildly successful – and just recently emerged from rehab. His career was “chosen” by his parents, and destroyed his life. We are in an era plagued by the demise of imagination in children, squelching it to the detriment of emotional growth.

Kids today have quickly become the most over micromanaged population of our society. A tongue-in-cheek look into this potentially debilitating trend is the best-seller “The Nanny Diaries” where parents are enrolling not only unborn babies, but not yet conceived babies into “the best” pre-schools in Manhattan, French classes and art history courses. Thus ensuring their future place at Harvard and placement at Morgan Stanley.

The serious side of this parenting micromanagement is that children are being led through life, living someone else’s goals. Why is it that a 3 year old needs his/her own erasable easel with a weekly schedule that includes Yoga for tots and toddler therapy? At what point will they rebel? Are we not only stealing their innocence but also their creativity and potentially stifling their natural born gifts by forcibly directing them to activities that we as parents want them to engage in?

The remedy is a more malleable approach to parenting. It is documented that structure provides a great foundation for the development of children, but there must be unstructured time as well. Allowing kids to be kids. Encouraging them to use their own imagination, make their own choices and decisions (even if they are at times wrong) and handling the repercussions of those decisions.

By adopting a more goal-free approach to parenting, the child is provided with a more self sufficient arsenal of tools to help in future, real-life, practical experiences. This is nicely articulated by a response to my article in O, The Oprah Magazine by a high school student. He says:

“In today’s society, kids do grow up too fast. In the article, ‘Are Your Goals Holding You Back?’ the source of this problem is clearly stated. Many kids are influenced and sometimes even forced to have the same goals for themselves as their parents do. This greatly interferes with their childhood and outlook on life. Being forced into setting goals for yourself, unrealistic or not, you are telling yourself to only focus on one thing and forget about everything that is happening around you. With this, being a kid and wanting to do what all of the other kids are doing is extremely difficult because you are so fixed on your goal that leisure doesn’t fit into your agenda. Kids are running around panicking about a test they forgot to study for or they’re in tears because they didn’t make the basketball team and the thought of telling their parents make them sick to their stomach. If you were to ask most of those kids why they get so worked up over little mistakes they will respond with, ‘Because my parents will kill me!”

Pretty insightful response from someone who is not even 18 years old. How can you be more goal-free in your parenting style? Here are seven tips for helping you raise a more creative and passionate child.

1. Give your child guidance, not a leash. Instead of specific goals to achieve (e.g., being first chair in the school orchestra), have them choose a “game” to play (e.g., passionate music). Remind them of their game on a regular basis. Have them choose something fun and inspiring. This reduces stress, makes life fun, and may ultimately lead to great success.

2. Give choices; not dictum. Instead of telling your child “no,” teach them the power of choice. Give them options. If you want them to stop a bad behavior, let them know the consequences if they continue that behavior. Then have them choose – good behavior, or bad behavior and consequences.

3. Encourage your child to find their own “voice.” There is a great Visa commercial where the father of a roughly 7 year old boy is shown in various sporting goods stores buying virtually every piece of equipment under the son, and every shot of the boy participating in the sport is disastrous! The kid can’t kick, throw, or catch. In the closing scene, the child wins a chess tournament and the father throws his arms up victoriously. Failure leads to success. If your child doesn’t have a natural penchant for sports, even though you lettered in three sports all four years of high school, keep trying. With every failed attempt, you and your child find yourselves closer to success. Get your children to define success as what they like to do and are good at.

4. Use the “Yes, and…” improv comedy technique with your children. When your kid says something, you want to encourage them to play with their thoughts. Rather than suggesting their ideas are silly, use “yes, and.” No matter what they say, build on their idea and turn it into an even bigger idea. They’ll have fun. You’ll have fun. And they will take the conversation in ways that truly excite them.

5. Focus on the learning, not just the grades & degrees. Yes, getting good grades is important in society. But often it is at the experience of true learning. Teach your children to truly learn rather than focus on the grades. In the long run, they will learn to think for themselves. The truly successful people have more than academic skills. They have social, leadership, and creativity skills. Three things rarely taught in schools.

6. Want what you have - There are times when a parent has a certain expectation of how a child should perform, be it academically, physically, musically, or artistically, all based on the parent’s own understanding of their performance. Appreciate, regardless of the circumstances - at some point it becomes mandatory, if you want to have a healthy relationship with your child, that you simply appreciate them for who they are, limitations or not.

7. Allow children to be children. Parents are typically so worried that their children will miss out on something important, that they miss the thing they only get one chance at – childhood. Make sure there is time for creative activities. Time for play. Time to be a kid.

One study done by NASA years ago showed that 98% of 5 year old kids are highly creative, while only 2% of adults are. Society has stifled the creative growth of children. And in today’s world of rampant outsourcing, creativity may be your child’s main source of competitive differentiator.