To Forgive, Divine

A little soul approached God and said “I know who I am.”

God said “That’s wonderful? Who are you?”

And the Little Soul shouted, "I'm the Light!"

God smiled a big smile. "That's right. Very good! You are indeed the Light”.

Little Soul pondered for a while and then said “I know I am the Light. But I really want to experience who I am, God”

God remarked “But you are you. There is nothing to experience.”

Little Soul said “But I really want to experience myself. To know myself.”

“What do you want to know yourself as?” God asked.

Little Soul was quiet for a moment, and then exclaimed “I really want to know myself as Forgiveness. Hey yeah! That is what I want to know myself as. Forgiveness is special. I really want to be forgiving.”

“But there is no one to forgive.”, God pointed out. “Everything is so perfect here.”

Little Soul is sad. But just then a Friendly Soul approaches the Little Soul. “Hey, I’ll help you”

Little Soul said “You will? How?”

Friendly Soul said “Let’s go down to the earth. We’ll be born. And I would do something so horrible to you, so awful and you will forgive me. And then you can know yourself as Forgiveness.”

“That’s wonderful. It’s incredible. You do that for me? Wait a second. You are a being of such utter perfection! You, who vibrate with such a speed that it creates a Light so bright that I can hardly gaze upon you! You are so light that you dance upon the stars and move through the Kingdom with the speed of your thought. What could cause you to want to slow down your vibration to a level where you can come out and do these horrible and terrible things?”

"I would do it because I love you." said the Friendly Soul. “The only thing is you need to promise me one thing.”

Little Soul said “Anything you want”.

"In the moment that I strike and smite you, in the moment that I do the worst to you that you could possibly imagine ~ in that very moment, just remember Who I Really Am."

"Oh, I will!" cried the Little Soul, "I promise! I will always remember you as I see you right here, right now!"

"Good," said the Friendly Soul, "because, you see, I will have been pretending so hard, I will have forgotten myself. And if you do not remember me as I really am, I may not be able to remember for a very long time. And if I forget Who I Am, you may even forget Who You Are, and we will both be lost. Then we will need another soul to come along and remind us both of Who We Are. And we will be doomed to repeat it, over and over again, until we get the lesson."

This is such an amazing and awesome story which touches on the possibilities at some level we may have chosen even the worst circumstances in life for a grander purpose.

And I honestly and heartily thank all the Friendly Soul out there! I know who you are inside. I know your origin and intention. Thank you for lowering your vibration and stooping yourself so low so that you can give me this opportunity and experience to forgive divinely.

Food for thought:
1. Do you believe the possibilities at some level we may have chosen even the worst circumstances in life for a grander purpose?
2. Have you embrace the belief of "You are the cause for all the effects in your life"?
3. Have you have known happiness if you never been sad, to find you are in the light without ever being lost in darkness, to forgive if there is no one who hurt you and also if you have never receive forgiveness from someone you have hurt before ?
4. Is there anyone in your life that you find it hard to forgive? Maybe more than one? Do you believe they might be the Friendly Soul who had sacrificed themselves to try to help you experience who you want to be?

The story is adapted from The Little Soul and the Sun, by Neale Donald Walsch
 http://www.sapphyr.net/largegems/littlesoul-thesun.htm

The Most Amazing Human Being is Me (and You too!)

I am super ecstatic and enthusiastic today. Why?

I just completed my 3-days fruit diet for my detox program. Yes, I survived only on fruits and fruit juices for the past 3 days. No coffee also, just green tea. The only thing that slipped was 4 meagre pieces of biscuits which I took on first and second days. That’s all. I am so proud . I am strutting with joy.

And today, I am free. I dived into my breakfast and lunch with strong waves of appreciation and gratitude.

I feel like an ingenious Goddess, fearless Warrior and vibrant Vixen. And I feel the strong urge to tell the world about this.

Seriously?

Yes.
Who need to be self-effacing, when my power, charm, capabilities and abilities are so divine and sublime?

Okay, now I went overboard with my self-praise. ** LOL **

Food (Yummy!) for thought:

1. Have you given yourself enough credit that you deserve?
2. Do you know how awesome and fabulous you are?
3. Need a reminder every day?
   Subscribe to this http://www.tut.com/ and you will start receiving encouraging message from the Universe every day.
   Believe me, I look forward to the email every single day. They are the elixir for my soul!

This is my first powerful message from The Universe which prompt me to subscribe to the mailing list. A blessed and blissful serendipity, indeed!

For all things and non-things that you may ever want, Susan, understand that sometimes the fastest way to get them is to forget them, and to focus instead on just being the most amazing human being you can be. At which point all of your heart’s desires, spoken or unspoken, will be drawn to you more powerfully than a magnet is drawn to steel.

Who would you be without your story?

“I am confused and saddened by my family because they judge me.”

“So, parents should not judge their children. Is that true?” Katie, a 60-plus-years-old soft-and sweet spoken woman, asked Justin who had started “The Work”.

“Oh, Gosh.” Justin murmured as he realized he could not answer yes, despite the strong urge to prove himself right.

“Can you absolutely know that’s true?” Katie asked the second question.

Justin paused in incoherence and finally admitted in a low voice “No”.

“And the job of a parent, the job of everyone in this world is to judge. That’s our job. Everything is a judgement. Give me a thought that is not a judgement. It is a sky. That is a judgement. It is what we do. Parents should not judge their children. What is the reality? Do they?”

 “Yes.”

“That’s their job. How do you react when you think that thought? My parent is not supposed to judge me.” Katie continued her third question.

“It weakens me. I felt terrified.”

“How do you treat your parent when you think that thought? I want you to stop judging me and they do it.” Katie probed further on her third question when Justin was at loss of words.
“I rebel and become distance.”

“Honey, this is insanity. People should stop judging people. What planet do you think you are on?!” Katie dramatized on purpose. The audience laughed. “You come to planet earth, you judge. That’s it!”

“Who would you be without this thought - I want my parents to stop judging me?” The fourth and final question from Katie.

“I will have inner peace.”

“So, honey, turn it around.” The final step in "The Work".

“I am confused and saddened because I judge me.” 

“There is another one.” Katie urged Justin.

“I am confused and saddened by me because I judge my family.”

A final revelation and Justin confessed softly but firmly “Yes”.

Katie continued with her explanation “I strike a deal with you. When you stop judging them, then go talk to them about judgement.”

"That’s true."

“When you stop doing what you want them to stop doing, let’s talk. Maybe a while. I stop judging that my parents should stop judging. Now, read the other one.” Katie instructed. 

Justin started on the second item in his list he had written down “I want my family to be who they are and not limit their love and attention….”

“They are who they are,” Katie interjected, “They limit their love and attention and they judge.”. Everyone in the audience seemed to be laughing by then. Justin laughed and affirmed “Okay.” He knew he was "defeated" in his judgement and his needs to be right, but he felt relieved and lighthearted. He began to grasp “The Work”.

Byron Katie is not a therapist, counselor or religious leader. Through her work, which she simply called “The Work” teach people to end emotional suffering. She instructs people to write down their troublesome thoughts and then start the 4 questions and turnaround process, like what she did with Justin.

And then you will gain the insight from Katie:

Reality is not going to wait for your permission. No, you lose.
Arguing with “what is” is like teaching a cat to bark. Hopeless.

I discovered that when I believed my thoughts, I suffered, but that when I didn't believe them, I didn't suffer, and that this is true for every human being. Freedom is as simple as that. I found that suffering is optional. I found a joy within me that has never disappeared, not for a single moment. That joy is in everyone, always” 

And these are from her website:

Who would you be without your story?

The Work of Byron Katie is a way of identifying and questioning the thoughts that cause all the anger, fear, depression, addiction, and violence in the world. Experience the happiness of undoing those thoughts through The Work, and allow your mind to return to its true, awakened, peaceful, creative nature.

I am intrigued by Katie’s work after listening to her audio program. It is very therapeutic and enlightening. She also claimed “The Work” can help us to forgive 100%. 100% is a big achievement and a huge breakaway. So, I tried that. I am still not sure if it works that well. I probably need to do more work.

But I do find the turnaround powerful. For those who are angry with others  “I am angry because she is so selfish” turnaround into “I am angry because I am so selfish”. Aren't we all selfish? We are, in varying degrees. For those who experience unrequited love - “He/She should love me” become “I should love me”.  Welcome to the world! Nobody owes you anything, so nobody should do anything for you unless they really want it. It’s not your job to like me – it’s mine, as Katie put it.

And for answering the powerful question such as “Who would I be without my stories?” I need to define that as those limiting beliefs, those things about other people that I cannot change, and those critical and belittling voices.

My answer: I will be more carefree, confident, passionate, peaceful, positive, loving and enlightened.

Sounds good to me to discard my stories. Start with a clean state. Forgive 100%. Move forward, lighter and merrier.

So, who would you be without your story?

Image credited to http://www.everypathis.org/

Ingenious Marketing

Creative. 

Ingenious. 

A picture paints a thousand words.

Suspenseful Marketing.

Another big wave from Apple. 

I just love creativity! I am inspired!

Control and Confusion

Am I trying to be in control too much?

Am I trapped in confusion of trying to understanding life too much?

I have my answers from 3 blog posts and also from a friend. He alluded several times to how I spent much of my energy trying to understand and find answers to why things happened instead of focusing on my actions and decisions for the future.

Accept

Blog post: http://paulocoelhoblog.com/2012/08/20/the-myth-of-psyche/

I won’t be able to put it into words better than Paulo Coelho, so I recommend you to read the post avidly.

Points to take home from Paulo Coelho:

Love is an act of faith in another person. Let the face of your love covered in mystery.

Each moment shall be lived and enjoyed, but whenever we try to understand it, the magic disappears.

Those who don’t accept it and always seek an explanation for the magic and mysterious, human relations will lose the best of what life has to offer.

**********************************************

Why did my business fail?

Why did my relationship fail?

Why did I lose my job?

We tend to ask the question “Why?” or “Why Me?” a lot.
The question why is both powerful and destructive. It is powerful to derive some life lessons. It is destructive when we continue to play those in our heads like a broken record and do not realize we might never be able to find the truth of the whole matter.

So, stop trying to understanding too much. Accept the situation as it is. Acceptance is power!

Surrender 

Blog post: http://thinksimplenow.com/clarity/illusion-of-control/

Kate Swoboda pointed out we tend to think we are in control. But that is a dangerous illusion. She gave a terrific example of those who are in denial, saying things like this:
“I’m not trying to control anything–isn’t it right to expect that if someone says they’re going to do something, they should do it?”

Being right? Expectations? Should? 

These words point straight to the heart of control.

I cannot remember how many times I get frustrated and disappointed when I use that kind of control. I thought I was right to keep people to their words. After all, they should keep their promises. I did not care whether they mentioned it casually or swore to it.

I was so wrong and wrecked.

The amazingly simple solution is to surrender the control. Give up the illusion of being in control.
Paulo Coelho also alluded in his story “Those who sought to find safety, found insecurity.”

When it is times to let go, just let go. Trust ourselves. Have faith.

Be Clear, Confident and Courageous

Blog post: http://escaping-mediocrity.com/the-familiar-comfort-of-confusion/

Sarah Robinson in her post “The familiar comfort of confusion”, pointed out how confusion can be comforting to us and thus why people would want to stay in the confused state?

Because it is familiar. Because it keeps us from committing. Because it absolves us of responsibility.

Leaving questions unanswered simply allows us to claim “confusion” as our reason for staying exactly where we are.

We move in the world as if we are clear, as if we are confident, as if we are courageous. Then and only then do these qualities come to us.

When we are confused, we also make people around us confused as well. Even though, we can forcefully say something, our action can be incoherent with our words. And that is confusion. We should take responsibilities to leave the comfort of confusion behind.

Let our beliefs, thoughts, words, feelings and actions be clear, consistent and in alignment.

Millions Frog Legs

Yet another frog story....

A farmer came into town and asked the owner of a restaurant if he could use a million frog legs. The restaurant owner was shocked and asked the man where he could get so many frog legs! The farmer replied, "There is a pond near my house that is full of frogs--millions of them. They croak all during the night and are about to drive me crazy!"

So the restaurant owner and the farmer made an agreement that the farmer would deliver frogs to the restaurant five hundred at a time for the next several weeks.

The first week, the farmer returned to the restaurant looking rather sheepish, with two scrawny little frogs. The restaurant owner said, "Well...where are all the frogs?" The farmer said, "I was mistaken.  There were only these two frogs in the pond. But they sure were making a lot of noise!"

John Maxwell wrote this story in his book "Winning with People". He found that at a board meeting, he received a lot of complaints from his board members. It turned out , it came from the same person. The solution he proposed? If you are a leader and someone tells you there are "lots of complaints", then find out the source. It may turn out to be one person doing lots of complaining.

Another advice from I can find:
Next time you hear somebody criticizing or making fun of you, remember it's probably just a couple of noisy frogs. Also--remember that problems always seem bigger in the dark.

I have my share of problems with complaining frogs. I actually think the best way is to avoid them. They are who they are and goods always triumph over evil in the end. And, I won't be able to please all the people in this world, then why try to?

I realize there were quite a numbers of stories on frogs I shared in my blog:

1. Parable of Boiled Frog

http://susan-passionateaboutlife.blogspot.com/2007/07/parable-of-boiled-frog.html

2. Frog and the Scorpion

http://susan-passionateaboutlife.blogspot.com/2007/05/some-evil-people-just-will-not-change.html

3. Tiny Frog

http://susan-passionateaboutlife.blogspot.com/2012/06/i-am-tiny-frog-but-i-can-achieve.html

I am a tiny frog but I can achieve wonders

A story of a tiny frog....

Once upon a time, a bunch of tiny frogs decided to embark on a competition to determine the first person to reach the top of a very high tower. On the appointed day, a large crowd of spectators gathered around the tower not only to watch the race but also to cheer on the contestants. However, no one in the crowd believed that any of the tiny frogs could possibly make it to the top of the tower. As the race commenced, the spectators began to make statements like;

“Why would these tiny guys make a fool of themselves? This is practically impossible”

“The tower is too high. There is no way they could ever get to the top.”

“Attempting to climb the tower is, on its own, a herculean task, let alone getting to the top of it”

“They will all soon drop out. But at least we get to have some entertainment.”

One by one, the tiny frogs started collapsing and dropping off the race with the exception of a few who were determined to follow through their pursuit. As they trudged on, the crowd yelled even louder;

“Why harm yourselves? You might even get killed!”

“You can’t go on doing this. Isn’t your life more valuable than whatever price you want to win?”

“He who fights and runs away lives to fight another day!”

As the voices got louder, the remaining frogs began giving up one by one until all of them dropped out, with exception of ONLY ONE who steadily continued climbing as if oblivious of the happenings around him. Although left alone in the race, he refused to give up. And in one long final leap, he made it to the top of the tower. After the applause had subsided and he had claimed his price, the spectators and the other contestants were curious to know how he did it. As the questions were flying, they noticed that he only nodded and gave no reply. 

Then the reality suddenly hit everyone. 

He was DEAF!

Lesson of the story:

Ignore the pessimism of others. It can take your dreams from you. Stay positive.

Be DEAF when people tell YOU that YOU can not fulfill YOUR dreams!

I always think there is a balance to everything. Let's not be affected with the pessimism and negativity from others but listen to facts and advice especially if they are in fact true. 

BE WISE