Alex Shalman’s Happiness: Group Writing Project

Posted on March 30, 2008 by Pat

I found out about this Happiness: Group Writing Project by way of Suzie Cheel’s post on Abundance Highway. The reason for Alex creating this project is for everyone participating to be left inspired, empowered and happier than they were before. Who wouldn’t want that?

I have to tell you, after reading Suzie’s response to these questions, it’s not a simple exercise. It requires some thought and soul searching to truly give to others in this process and receive the value. So, I decided to participate and the first thing is to answer these 5 questions.

1. How do you define happiness?
To me, it’s a state of bliss in knowing who you truly are in a given present moment. It’s not something that you achieve or acquire. It is a state of being that is a gift from our Creator when we were born and it’s what we enjoy and live with every day if we so choose.

2. On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your happiness now, versus when you were a child?
Now, my happiness scale would be 9.5 versus my happiness scale when I was a child of 3.

3. What do you do on a daily basis that brings you happiness? (and how consistent is the feeling of happiness throughout your day)
On a daily basis my feeling of happiness consists of about 2/3 of my day. I meditate, read positive, encouraging spiritual books, blogs or poetry that remind me how grateful I am for the journey I’ve taken and the life I have.

When I wake up each morning all I have to do is look out at the beautiful Rocky Mountains and take in a breath of fresh air and listen to the sounds of nature to instill that feeling of happiness and gratitude. From this, I’m reminded to be still for a moment and look within in and feel the life energy within me that carries me through the day.

4. What things take away from your happiness? What can be done to lessen their impact or remove them from your life?
What depletes my happiness is when I choose to listen to the voices in my head and identify with old beliefs and tapes saying things like: “You’re not as smart as others.” “How are you going to pay the bills this month?” “Things just don’t work for you.”

What I’ve learned and am working on are twofold: the first is from Eckhart Tolle’s book, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose (Oprah’s Book Club, Selection 61)(Paperback), in that I’m recognizing and becoming aware of these thoughts and what they are and how to slowly dissolve them by being present so they no longer exist to be triggered.

Secondly, is taking full responsibility for everything in my life, good and especially bad. Something I was reminded of in taking responsibility was to continue practicing the Ho’oponopono prayer from Dr. Ihaleakela Hew Len.

I’m sorry – Please forgive me – Thank you – I love you

I first heard about this prayer early in February from a site called Cyres Café – The Café of Dreams with a video post called 15-Minute Miracle by Dr. Joe Vitale of “The Secret” (if you take the time to view this video you’ll not be disappointed). (Note: Sorry, the Cyres Café link is no longer available and video can no longer be viewed from there.)

In this video, Dr. Vitale talks about how he heard of Dr Ihaleakela Hew Len who started using this prayer as a staff psychologist in the forensic unit for the criminally mentally ill at Hawaii State Hospital for several years. When I listened to that video it couldn’t have come at a better time and through this very same practice I felt a shift but had forgotten about it until I read Stephen’s post today.

When we’re free of negativity and thoughts that tear us down and make us feel powerless then we shine and our happiness shines through us to others.

5. What do you plan on doing in the future that will bring you even more happiness?
Continue practicing what I had mentioned in the question before until my awareness of the present moment is constant and determine 5 things I want to do, see and experience, as John P Strelecky, inspirational speaker and author of The Why Café talks about in his video interview. This is how the universe will know what I want in my life and conspire to let it happen.

Participating in answering these questions on happiness has been inspiring and uplifting to me. It has given me a chance to reflect on my life as to what is important and why and to see where I’m at with it. Just taking part in this project I feel I’ve connected with the others that have participated ahead of me in an energy that has been put out to the world – the energy of happiness.

Maybe you would also like to participate. If so, click on Happiness: Group Writing Project to see what you need to do to get started.

Enjoy the gifts God has given you – enjoy the happiness.

Thank you Alex!

From the kitchen table – Pat

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Hope you’ll come back for another visit!

Haven’t You Ever Wondered….WHY?

Posted on March 28, 2008 by Pat

I’ve wanted to write this post since January when I first saw Seth Godin’s video on Curiosity, but I just wasn’t quite sure how to put it together. Seth expresses it well in exploring human nature.

As far back as I can remember, I’ve always had a curious nature and I guess that’s why I started Wisdom For The Ages (a talking-stick discussion in the corporate world and later un-corporate). I wanted to know how people think and why they think the way they do or if they even think. We humans are a curious lot. Here are some questions for you:

~~ Why do some people want to run you off the road for the slightest thing while others drive like their heads are in the clouds?

~~ This is one I’ve always wondered about: If sea stars and lizards can grow their limbs and tails back, why can’t we grow arms and legs back when you lose them? Just thought I’d let you know that there was a piece televised last weekend on CBS News

Sunday Morning on that very thing. It’s called regenerative medicine and the research is becoming popular for soldiers who have lost arms and legs.

~~ What would it look like to have a traffic jam in the sky not with airplanes but with other vehicles of transportation we all will use?

~~ If we can land on the moon why can’t we realize world peace?

~~ This goes along the lines of regenerative medicine: Why do we only grow one set of teeth after our baby teeth? You would think if you could grow teeth the first time you would be able to all through your life whenever you lost a tooth.

~~ One of my favorites: Where do you go when you die? I’ve always been intrigued with this especially having a grandmother that was psychic introducing me to spirituality. I remember one time when one of our aging dogs was put to sleep. She had cancer and was ready to go but I remember distinctly when she left. Her body got quiet and then I heard a sound from her mouth like a whoosh and felt a breath of air as it brushed passed my face. I remember asking, “Sammy, where did you go?”

~~ Will we see, in our lifetime, the ability where we will be able to transport our bodies – deconstruct and reconstruct them again, to a different location – “Beam me up. Scotty” (Captain Kirk in Star Trek)?

Aren’t you curious? What are the possibilities? Nature is phenomenal from the micro to the macro and then there’s the psyche and the whole dimension of the mind and spirit and quantum physics. Whew!! If your curiosity juices haven’t been stirred up by now, I don’t know what to tell you.

There is such a vast amount of happenings, events, mysterious creations to take in and observe and wonder about. That’s why I always love hearing people’s take on attitudes, leadership, harmony, falling in love, falling out of love…..a different story for every person and to me it’s so interesting. Why??

Pat from the ol’ kitchen table

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This Too Will Pass

Posted on March 26, 2008 by Pat

(Picture from Microsoft Clipart) ~~~ As we go through the ebb and flow of life we need not get too comfortable with what we’re doing or what we have. This little phrase reminds us that nothing is permanent. That can be encouraging if you currently are experiencing valleys in your life but it also applies when you’re flying high. I think that’s why our fulfillment only lasts for a short time – nothing in form is permanent. It was never meant to be.

We have identified and attached to what we see, what we have and do – all forms. We don’t even know there is anything else as we have forgotten there is another part of us. We have separated ourselves so much from our true essence that we believe that the world as we see it is all there is. These are so-called truths we have accepted and believed but it doesn’t mean they are true. When we get hold of the deeper meaning of the truths that have been written and spoken down through the ages we will awaken to the amazing beings we were created to be. Eckhart Tolle in last night’s telecast with Oprah said, “We are the Universe expressing itself as a human for a little while.” This is the other part we forgot about – who we really are – the Universe expressing itself.

The human part is form and, therefore, impermanent along with all the other things that are form. Whatever you own, the places you go, what you do, will all over time disappear as it belongs to form. There is nothing wrong with this. We just have to realize for which these things are for – to enjoy and share with others. It’s when we are looking to these forms for fulfillment, believing this is who we are or here is where I will find who I am, that we are disappointed when they don’t meet our expectations.

Your essence part, Beingness, is who you really are and is your life connection to the I AM. It never diminishes, deteriorates or lacks in anything. It is LIFE coursing through your body and when the body can no longer function and dies your essence leaves and goes back to its Source.

As we live this life in our forms, I believe we’ll learn how to balance the human part with the essence part. Part of the balancing is to become less attached to those forms in our lives and just appreciate them for what they are. If we lose them or they change we won’t be so devastated – this too will pass; or, if we land an important job and acquire fame and money we won’t be proud or puffed up – this too will pass – because we will know this is all part of form and that is what form does but it isn’t who I am.

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.”

– The Holy Bible – KJV (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)

From the kitchen table – Pat~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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BEING Who You Intend To Be – Doing What You’re Doing

Posted on March 25, 2008 by Pat

(Picture from Microsoft Clipart) ~~~ A lot of what I’ve been reading lately impresses on me the importance of bringing our Being into whatever we do throughout the day. From that we can become more awakened.

Akemi in her blog, Yes To Me had a recent post, The X-Factor of Entrepreneurship, that really brought it home for me when she said, “BE who you intend to be whatever you are DOING”.

She talks about asking for guidance in clarifying her niche when guidance came quite unexpectedly. Akemi goes on to tell that there was a book signing going on at a book store she stopped in after she left her CPA’s office and she stayed on to listen to the author speak. In the Q&A segment, she listened closely as Neale Donald Walsch relayed a personal story of how he was frustrated in wanting to be a wise man to others but couldn’t seem to accomplish that. He was asked what did he need to DO right now and he answered in frustration that he needed to go to the store but that wasn’t what he wanted to do. He was then told to be the wise man he wanted to be while he was going to the store.

As it turned out, he met a woman who was frustrated and upset with she saw her child picking grapes while she was tending to something else. She yelled and hit the little boy’s hand. Neale noticed this and went up to her saying she didn’t need to do that to her child. That made her more upset as she told her stories and shouted her frustrations but he repeated what he said 2 more times. She finally realized something had happened and sobbed asking him if he was a minister of some kind.

What I realized in reading Akemi’s account of this story is that every moment we can bring our Beingness into whatever it is we’re doing – driving, phoning a friend, scheduling appointments, working at your desk. In fact, if we bring this Beingness into every moment of our lives we join with the Source’s life energy and free up the flow for things to move in our lives for what we really want to do, as it did for Neale Donald Walsch.

There is something very powerful when we learn to bring our Beingness in our everyday lives, no matter what we’re doing. As Eckhart Tolle said in his web telecast tonight with Oprah on his book, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose (Oprah’s Book Club, Selection 61)(Paperback), “BE a conscious space of presence if you want to help people.” When you allow whatever you’re doing and what others around you are doing to unfold as they will, you are holding that space for it all.

I think the more we learn to be conscious of who we are and feel it and live it everyday, there will be a transformation in our lives and in our world.

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“Go Feed the Birds” (from The Tracker by Tom Brown, Jr.)

Posted on March 21, 2008 by Pat

This morning as my husband and I were walking out to the car to go to work I was surprised to see 4 deer pull their heads up and look directly at me only 20 feet from where we stood. I talked to them for a moment and they just stared not really bothered by this interruption to their morning. They were standing next to our parked car so we had to walk towards them to get in and my husband got as close as 8 feet. Then, as we were about to drive out, we saw the rest of the herd walking down into our yard with their buck. In total, there were about a dozen deer. What a way to start out your morning, huh?

Living in the Rocky Mountains, I always marvel at the wildlife as we see it more frequently living among them in their habitat. We’ve had bear get into our metal shed and tear it up, hear the coyote howl regularly all through the year, see the bunnies and fox. If we had a fresh snowfall the night before, in the morning the yard is transformed into a wonderland of tracks. It is such a blissful sight to take in.

When I was a little girl and saw Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, I always fantasized playing and walking and just being with the animals like Snow White. When I’d go to the zoo and see the wild tigers and elephants, I’d wonder what it would feel like to curl up with one of those big creatures and experience their energy and power. Dr. Wayne Dyer in his book, There’s a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem [BARGAIN PRICE] (Paperback) quotes from Pantanjali (author of Yoga Sutras who lived C. First to Third Century B.C):

“When a person is steadfast in his abstention from harming others, then all living creatures will cease to feel enmity in his presence.”

Dyer talks about St. Francis of Assisi and how he would tame wild wolves that were destroying livestock by merely being in their presence.
Wild animals would feel the love that radiated from him; doves would fly to his hands. They all ceased to feel enmity. What a wonderful image. St. Francis didn’t have any special powers – no more than you or I. He just made himself available to and aligned himself with the Creator. ~~~ (Picture by Microsoft Office Clipart.)

There is a series of books I read sometime ago that I fell in love with. They’re about a tracker’s life and experiences in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. The tracker and author’s name is Tom Brown Jr. and when he was a child all he wanted to do was spend time in his beloved Pine Barrens. When he was around 7 he met another boy, Rick, about his age that liked the same things. Rick had an elder that taught them about the seasons and wildlife and how to walk in harmony with nature – his name was Stalking Wolf (Grandfather). In the beginning of his book, The Tracker, Tom describes what he felt about Stalking Wolf when he says:

“Stalking Wolf taught us how to be silent and watch what was going on. He had a special look that said he was giving us a hint to something that would seem obvious to us in a moment. When he saw that I didn’t understand why he had to be silent to see better, he said, “Go feed the birds.””

All the experiences and mysteries of the woods, birds and wild creatures unfold in these books as he learns to listen, track and move in harmony with nature.

Like St. Francis of Assisi and Tom Brown Jr., we can also learn to experience the wonder of nature if we approach it with reverence and are steadfast in abstaining from harming others, as Pantanjali said. Animals can discern your intention from the energies we give off. They can read our hearts and sense more about us than we know about ourselves. As we become more awakened, the animals will respond to our new beingness and we’ll walk among them in harmony and peace. Can you imagine that?!

Tom has a tracking school in New Jersey – Tom Brown Jr.’s Tracking School. He has written 16 books and I’ve listed a few you might be interested in:

The Tracker
Awakening Spirits
The Way of the Scout
The Quest: One Man’s Search for Peace, Insight, and Healing in an Endangered World (Paperback)
The Vision: The Dramatic True Story of One Man’s Search for Enlightenment (Religion and Spirituality) (Paperback)
The Search: The Continuing Story of the Tracker

SPECIAL NOTE: I apologize to my fellow bloggers for not being as active in reading your posts and stumbling and commenting. I just started a full-time job this week. I haven’t had as much time to keep up with the feeds and e-mails and I’m a little overwhelmed. I hope to get a handle on it as I get used to being back into the corporate world. Thank you for your continued support and patience.

Pat from the ol’ kitchen table