Love or Infatuation?

Infatuation is fleeting desire -- one set of glands calling to another. It is marked by a feeling of insecurity. You are excited and eager but not genuinely happy. There are nagging doubts, unanswered questions, little bits and pieces that you would just as soon not examine too closely. It might spoil the dream.

Love is friendship that has caught fire. It takes root and grows, one day at a time. It is quiet understanding and mature acceptance of imperfection. It gives you strength and grows beyond you to bolster your beloved. You are warmed by his presence, even when he is away. Miles do not separate you. But near or far, you know he is yours and you can wait.

Infatuation has an element of sexual excitement. Whenever you are together, you hope it will end in intimacy. Love is not based on sex. It is the maturation of friendship that makes sex so much sweeter. You must be friends before you can be lovers.

Infatuation lacks confidence. When he's away, you wonder if he's being unfaithful. Sometimes, you check.

Love means trust. You are calm, secure and unthreatened. Infatuation might lead you to do things you will regret, but love never steers you in the wrong direction.

Love is elevating. It lifts you up. It makes you look up. It makes you better than you were before.

Ann Landers

Intuition is a subconscious mind-body connection that is with us from infancy, a safety mechanism that exists to protect us from harm, or at least to make us think twice before we go about doing something. The Oxford quotes it as : ‘the ability to understand or know something immediately, without conscious reasoning.’ We may have a hunch, inkling, suspicion, premonition or gut feeling, it is all these and more.

There's a reason we are thinking a thought or feeling an emotion. Something in the memory, subconscious, or past experience is telling us to be careful. Something about the situation doesn't quite feel right- we may not be able to understand how or why but we must listen to ourself.

Our subconscious can pick up the tiniest clues from our environment before we consciously and rationally can understand what they mean or what to make of them. If we listen to these signals, we'll make better decisions about everything in our life.

Dreams, visualizing a clear and distinct picture, deep inner knowing, a quiet, subtle nudge, physical cues, like the stomach aching, all are signals about our intuition talking to us. We should become aware of this amazing power within us and start using it.

How to get in touch and trust our intuition:

• Practice -Take a few minutes each day to experience inner silence. Calm your mind and clear your thoughts so that the information from your soul can surface.

• Be Open to This Power - Get past the ego that thinks you have everything figured out and be open to new possibilities. Your true path may not be the one that you are currently working on.

• Get Creative - Creativity provides a forum for expression and a great venue for helping your intuition get past all the day to day stuff in life.

• Ask Yourself Some Questions - When you ask yourself, 'What's the next step?", you will instinctively know what you need to do. This is the time when you must begin to learn to trust yourself.

I'm Gonna Make A Change,
For Once In My Life
It's Gonna Feel Real Good,
Gonna Make A Difference
Gonna Make It Right . . .

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
And No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
Take A Look At Yourself, And
Then Make A Change

That's Why I'm Starting With Me
Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change
From our beloved Michael Jackson’s "Man In The Mirror"


www.youtube.com/watch
www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/mi...irror.html

Make The World A Better Place

I'm Gonna Make A Change,
For Once In My Life
It's Gonna Feel Real Good,
Gonna Make A Difference
Gonna Make It Right . . .

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
And No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
Take A Look At Yourself, And
Then Make A Change

That's Why I'm Starting With Me
Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change
From our beloved Michael Jackson’s "Man In The Mirror"


www.youtube.com/watch
www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/mi...irror.html



Struggling?

In life oftentimes we fall prey to our temptations. Temptation for an object is only our reaction to it. However strangely, desire is rarely satisfied by the enjoyment of the objects, persons or things we like. Rather our yearning for things we like, initially grow more and more as does the fire to which fuel is added. Life is a toxic brew of longings, desires and passions. Not every desire is to be acted upon.

Almost all people harbour a desire to be great or have a desire for things, moral or immoral. When the conscious is set aside, the incendiary mixture of desire, deceit and debilitating sense of gratification often give birth to actions that backfire. The sad thing is that in the blind yearning for desires, irrational actions are often justified as being rational because of the pleasures associated with them. However, ultimately does not life always prove the “irrationality” of the so-called rational?

As years pass by, one’s sinister dimensions that were previously suppressed by one’s sub-conscious mind become suddenly exposed. Suddenly there is a regret on why the wrong moves were made in the first place when it is well known that while we do control our choice of actions, we cannot control the consequences of our choice.

Life may be a toxic brew of wishes. However rather than having the animal instinct of doing what one wishes, the noble way is to live honestly. We all spin our own fate, good or evil, which is never to be undone. Even the smallest stroke of virtue or vice leaves its little scar. Let us not forget that our good and bad actions silently follow us to the time we die. Let us not forget that mistakes of a few moments may have to be paid for by a lifetime of regret.

www.africafederation.org

ONE WITH THE DIVINE

The secret of all health, prosperity, and happiness is being in conscious union with the Divine.

The closer we are to Divinity, the nearer we are to the limitless source of things. When we feel strongest, when we feel conscious of the power which is back of the flesh, but not of it, when we feel that we are in touch with Divinity, our power is greater and our supply larger.

Every time a man does wrong he weakens himself by so much. Every time we do wrong, every time we depart from the truth, every time we commit a dishonest, unworthy act, do a mean, contemptible thing, we lessen the Omnipotent grip upon us, and then we become a party to all sorts of fears, apprehensions, dreads, and doubts.

The moment we feel conscious that our union with the Great Source of things is broken, we are filled with uncertainty and apprehension; we feel a sense of helplessness, which makes us weak, timid, apprehensive. Fear, anxiety, worry, are positive evidence that we have lost our divine connection and strayed from home, that we are out of tune with the Infinite, and in discord with principle.

The very idea of persistently holding the thought that one is divinely upheld, the thought that no harm can possibly come to you while you are thus ensconced in the Divine Presence destroys all fear and worry; restores confidence, and multiplies power.

~Pathway to Prosperity eCourse

Easwaran was a successful writer, lecturer and professor of English literature when he came to the US on the Fulbright exchange program in 1959. Two years later he founded the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation in Berkeley, California. At the University of California, Berkeley, he taught the first credit course on the theory and practice of mediation to be offered at a major university in the West.

Respected meditation guru and philosopher Shri Eknath Eswaran touched the hearts and souls of thousands of people of all races, nationalities and religions through his meditation retreats at Blue Mountain Center, books, tapes and lectures.

"He has left behind a legacy of highly nourishing spiritual literature that is like a garden so fragrant with flowers of many hues. I pay homage to this master of our times." ~Swami Chidananda

What we think about constantly, we become; that is the secret of meditation and prayer.
~The Constant Companion.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
~ I Corinthians 13:4-8a

"In the vicinity of transcending , hostile tendencies are eliminated"
~ the Yoga Sutras

What you want to do for the world, do first for yourself. If we want to make a peaceful world, we must first make ourselves infinitely peaceful. ~the Vedas

Angels of Peace :
www.youtube.com/watch

The child must know that he is a miracle, a miracle, that since the beginning of the world there hasn't been and until the end of the world there will not be another child like him. He is a unique thing, a unique thing, from the beginning until the end of the world. Now, that child acquires a responsibility: “Yes, it is true, I am a miracle. I am a miracle like a tree is a miracle, like a flower is a miracle. Now, if I am a miracle, can I do a bad thing? I can't because I am a miracle, a miracle.”
- Pablo Casals

INTEGRITY

"Integrity is one of several paths. It distinguishes itself from the others because it is the right path and the only one upon which you will never get lost" - M.H. McKee

"There can be no friendship without confidence, and no confidence without integrity"
- Samuel Johnson

"I believe that a life of integrity is the most fundamental source of personal worth. I do not agree with the popular success literature that says that self-esteem is primarily a matter of mind set, of attitude that you can psych yourself into peace of mind. Peace of mind comes when your life is in harmony with true principles and values and in no other way" -Stephen R. Covey


HONESTY

"Our lives improve only when we take chances -- and the first and most difficult risk we can take is to be honest with ourselves."
-Walter Anderson

"In order to be profoundly dishonest, a person must have one of two qualities: either is unscrupulously ambitious, or unswervingly egocentric." -Maya Angelou


KARMA

-P.A.Payuto
"All beings are the owners of their karma, heirs to their karma, born of their karma, related to their karma, supported by their karma. Karma it is which divides beings into coarse and refined states."

"Whatever seed one plants, one reaps the fruit thereof. Who does good receives good, who does evil receives evil."

"Actions which lead not to distress, but to a heart bright and cheerful, are good karma. Knowing what karma is useful, one should quickly act thereon."

"For whosoever there is right action, that is a favorable time, an auspicious time, an auspicious morning, an auspicious dawning, an auspicious moment, an auspicious occasion; and in that action there is veneration of the holy. The bodily karma ... verbal karma ... mental karma of such a one are auspicious, and his wishes are auspicious. Having created auspicious karma, that person experiences only auspicious results."

"If you fear suffering, do not make bad karma, either in public or in private. If you make bad karma, even if you fly into the air, you will be unable to escape suffering."


FREEDOM

"The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt"
- John Philpot Curran

“True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence”
- F.D. Roosevelt

“None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free”
- Goethe

“There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One is roots; the other, wings” - Hodding Carter

“The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously”
- Hubert Humphrey

“Freedom is not something that anybody can be given. Freedom is something people take, and people are as free as they want to be” - James Baldwin

“As far as your self-control goes, as far goes your freedom”
– Marie Von Ebner - Eschenbach


WISDOM

“Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you'd have preferred to talk”
- Doug Larson

“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing”
- Sócrates

“We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future”
- George Bernard Shaw

“To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom”
- Bertrand Russell

“It requires wisdom to understand wisdom: the music is nothing if the audience is deaf”
- Walter Lippmann

“Wisdom is knowing what to do next; virtue is doing it”
- David Star Jordan

“We can be knowledgeable with other men's knowledge, but we cannot be wise with other men's wisdom”
- Michel de Montaigne

“Wisdom consists of the anticipation of consequences” - Norman Cousins

“Wisdom is the quality that keeps you from getting into situations where you need it” - Doug Larson



"With malice toward none,
With charity for all,
Wth firmness in the right,
As God gives us
To see the right,
Let us strive on
To finish the work we are in,
To...achieve and cherish
A just and lasting PEACE..."
- A. Lincoln

~Karma is like this. If we set causes in motion the effects come back to us.~

~ Karma moves in two directions. If we act virtuously, the seed we plant will result in happiness. If we act nonvirtuously, suffering results. ~

~There is a wonderful mythical law of nature that the three things we crave most in life -- happiness, freedom, and peace of mind -- are always attained by giving them to someone else." ~ Peyton Conway March

'Be the change you wish to see in the world.' - Gandhi

"The loss of conscience is probably not mourned by anyone who functions without it, but those who have lost the faculty to tell that it is wrong to harm others, or that deception is one form of harm, have been deprived of a humanizing feature and have suffered an impoverishment of their moral life." Evelin Sullivan

Asked what a man could gain by telling falsehoods, [Aristotle] reportedly replied, ‘Not to be credited when he speaks the truth.'"

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" And you shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free.'"John 8:31-32

"You reap what you sow".-Gal 6.7

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The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

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"It is our earth, not yours or mine or his. We are meant to live on it, helping each other, not destroying each other". - J. Krishnamurti

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"Anyone who wants to know the human psyche will learn next to nothing from experimental psychology. He would be better advised to abandon exact science, put away his scholar's gown, bid farewell to his study, and wander with human heart throught the world. There in the horrors of prisons, lunatic asylums and hospitals, in drab suburban pubs, in brothels and gambling-hells, in the salons of the elegant, the Stock Exchanges, socialist meetings, churches, revivalist gatherings and ecstatic sects, through love and hate, through the experience of passion in every form in his own body, he would reap richer stories of knowledge than text-books a foot thick could give him, and he will know how to doctor the sick with a real knowledge of the human soul". -- Carl Jung

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" Nothing escapes the Law of Karma"

"Sow The Wind; Reap The Whirlwind"

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*" Love limits itself by desire."

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*" A little knowledge is a dangerous thing"

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The Golden Rule

*"What you do not wish upon yourself, extend not to others." — Confucius (ca. 551 - 479 B.C.)

*"Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful." -Udana-Varga, 5:18

*"This is the sum of duty: Do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done to you." -Mahabharata 5:1517
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“The best and most beautiful things in this world cannot be seen or even heard, but must be felt with the heart.”- Helen Keller

"It's not enough to speak, but to speak true".-Shakespeare

What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth.
This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man does not weave this web of life. He is merely a strand of it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.-Chief Seattle

“Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it”. - André Gide

"That which is not good for the bee-hive cannot be good for the bees."--Marcus Aurelius

"To predict the behavior of ordinary people in advance, you only have to assume that they will always try to escape a disagreeable situation with the smallest possible expenditure of intelligence." -Nietzsche

Albert Einstein

"Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts."

"If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor".

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."

"Information is not knowledge".

"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education ".

"No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it".

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science."

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

"Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters".

"Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods".

Strong things are quiet.
Waves may leap,
But the heart of the ocean
Is calm and deep.
Though change of seasons
Bring change of scene,
The hills and the mountains
Stand serene.
The heart that trusts
In The Power of Prayer
Is the heart that finds
GOD everywhere.
Though the waters rise
And the winds increase,
The heart that trusts
Is a heart at ease.

There is power in Silence and yes "SILENCE" is the perfect gift you can give to yourself and to all those whom you care. Read this poem twice but read the first four lines five times and you will figure out the perfect gift ...." John Harricharan and Vish Writer