A New Earth 1 - The Duck with a Human Mind

A New Earth - Awakening to your Life's Purpose by Eckhart Tolle; he is a spiritual teacher and an author whose teachings have helped countless people throughout the world find inner peace and greater fulfillment in their lives.

His book deals with a new shift in human consciousness, discovering our true selves and how to live in the present moment. Tolle discusses the ego, the pain body, the self and awakening from a society that encourages deep sleep.

The book puts forward some practical solutions to ways of thinking that have caused so much pain and dysfunction within society.

The writer sees our thoughts as the voice in the head that has a life of its own. Most people are possessed by thought, by the mind. Here he means the dysfunctional thinking that our body reacts to with negative emotion. This negative emotion is toxic to the body and interferes with its balance. Fear, anxiety, anger, bearing a grudge, sadness, hatred or intense dislike, jealousy, envy_ all disturb the energy flow of the body, affect the heart , the immune system and so on.

He tells the story about two ducks get into a fight, which never lasts long, they will separate and float off in opposite directions. Then each duck will flap its wings vigorously a few times, thus releasing the surplus energy that built up during the fight. After they flap their wings, they float on peacefully, as if nothing had ever happened.

If the duck had a human mind, it would keep the fight alive by thinking, by story-making. This would be probably the duck’s story: “I don’t believe what he just did. He came to within five inches of me. He thinks he owns this pond. He has no consideration for my private space. I will never trust him again. Next time he will try something else just to annoy me. I’m sure he’s plotting something already. But I’m not going to stand for this. I’ll teach him a lesson he won’t forget.”

And on and on the mind spins its tales, still thinking and talking about it days, months, or years later. As far as the body is concerned, the fight is still continuing, and the energy it generates in response to all those thoughts is emotion, which in turn generates more thinking. This becomes the emotional thinking of the ego. You can see how problematic the duck’s life would become if it had a human mind. But this is how most humans live all the time. No situation or event is ever really finished. The mind and the mind-made “me and my story” keep it going.

We are a species that has lost its way. Everything natural, every flower or tree, and every animal have important lessons to teach us if we would only stop, look, and listen. Our duck’s lesson is this: Flap your wings_ which translates as “let go of the story”_ and return to the only place of power: the present moment.

The writer explains the idea of carrying the past saying: the inability or rather unwillingness of the human mind to let go of the past is beautifully illustrated in the story of two Zen monks, Tanzan and Ekido, who were walking along a country road that had become extremely muddy after heavy rains. Near a village, they came upon a young woman who was trying to cross the road, but the mud was so deep it would have ruined the kimono she was wearing. Tanzan at once picked her up and carried her to the other side.
The monks walked on in silence. Five hours later, as they were approaching the lodging temple, Ekido couldn’t restrain himself any longer. “Why do you carry that girl across the road?” he asked. “We monks are not supposed to do things like that.”
“I put the girl down hours ago,” said Tanzan. “Are you still carrying her?”

Now imagine what life would be like for someone who lived like Ekido all the time, unable or unwilling to let go internally of situations, accumulating more and more "stuff" inside, and you get a sense of what life is like for the majority of people on our planet. What a heavy burden of past they carry around with them in their minds.

The past lives in you as memories, but memories in themselves are not a problem. In fact, it is through memory that we learn from the past and from past mistakes. It is only when memories, that is to say, thoughts about the past, take you over completely that they turn into a burden, turn problematic, and become part of your sense of self. Your personality, which is conditioned by the past, then becomes your prison. Your memories are invested with a sense of self, and your story becomes who you perceive yourself to be. This “little me” is an illusion that obscures your true identity as timeless and formless Presence.

Your story, however, consists not only of mental but also of emotional memory_ old emotion that is being revived continuously. As in the case of the monk who carried the burden of his resentment for five hours by feeding it with his thoughts, most people carry a large amount of unnecessary baggage, both mental and emotional, throughout their lives. They limit themselves through grievances, regret, hostility, guilt. Their emotional thinking has become their self, and so they hang on to the old emotion because it strengthens their identity.
Because of the human tendency to perpetuate old emotions, almost everyone carries in his or her energy field an accumulation of old emotional pain, which I call “the pain-body”.

We can, however, stop adding to the pain-body that we already have. We can learn to break the habit of accumulating and perpetuating old emotion by flapping our wings, metaphorically speaking, and refrain from mentally dwelling on the past, regardless of whether something happened yesterday or thirty years ago.
We can learn not to keep situations or events alive in our minds, but to return our attention continuously to the pristine, timeless present moment rather than be caught up in mental movie-making. Our very Presence then becomes our identity, rather than our thoughts and emotions.

Nothing ever happened in the past that can prevent you from being present now; and if the past cannot prevent you from being present now, what power does it have?

The whole passage and quotes are from the book: A New Earth – Awakening to your Life’s Purpose by Eckhart Tolle

No Title

If you think that your life is hard, read this article and you will have a second thought.

Tourette syndrome is a disease that can affect children, its symptoms are a repetitive involuntary movements and vocalizations called tics.

Although the causes of Tourette syndrome are unknown at this time, it is considered as a neurological disorder that occurs in the brain; a chemical disorder.

The person who suffers from this syndrome cannot control its symptoms; her body never stops moving- it is an involuntary movement- and she can even punch her own body. Furthermore, there is verbal symptoms; uncontrollable sounds like screaming or parking.

It is really hard to cope with this disorder. We are going to follow the daily routine of two girls between 12 and 15 years old, Lisa and Carla, who suffers from this syndrome. We are going to find how both they and their parents are copying.

Our first impression about Lisa is that she is an extraordinary beautiful little girl. She is nice and healthy. Then one of her symptoms starts to appear; she starts to move consistently with no control.

It is a struggle for her to make a sandwich. When she tries to open a jar of jam, it was like a trigger for endless back and forth movements. She says, “When the jar touches me I must touch it back, it is a compulsion to touch back.”

Her mother is watching all her daughters’ symptoms. She can open the jar preventing her daughter from touching it. But she forces Lisa to open it so that she can depend on herself. Her objective is the hope that her daughter can be able to live independently and function in this world.

She says, “As a parent it is hard to watch your kid suffering in this way, this is not what I have expected when I have kids.” Despite having these moments of depression, her mother still has a positive attitude and encourages her daughter to go to school.

Lisa is waiting for a decision from the schools’ board whether she will study in school or at home. The more she waits the more she gets stressed and this starts her uncontrollable movements and tics. Finally, she discovered that she will be home schooled as her symptoms are severe and she cannot concentrate.


Carla –the other girl- is always judged by others. People are concentrating on her symptoms rather than her spirit that lies beneath.

Despite she cannot control her tics, when she screams, she apologies to her colleagues. If she tries to suppress this urge to scream, she feels sick in her stomach and has a headache. It is like everybody’s urging to rub his body when suffering from allergies.

Carla’s father encourages her to go to school but most of her colleagues see her as a freak. She says, “I am a normal girl who is trying to cope with what is happening in my life and I will always have hope.”

Sometimes she is filled with rage like other girls. But hers is tense and she feels remorseful afterwards. When she is having a bad day [she did not think that all her life is bad or unfair] , she goes to sit beside a river. The sound of water makes her peaceful and less frustrated.

Her father tells her “you can be what you want to be, Tourette cannot stop you. You have a disease but it does not define you.”

All her physical symptoms make her more emotional than others. She says, “If I concentrate I will do good job in creating myself and my character.” She adds ,“ Things are not always as they appear.”

[When their lives touch your heart, it is your call to appreciate your life more]

ABC- primetime- family secrets

Pampering Teenagers

Rich parents who were pampering their teenagers start thinking about changing their ways. They decided to show them tough love, so as to teach them to be responsible.

One of those parents held a party for his daughter Emma that costs fifty thousand dollars. In addition, he bought her a brand new car as a gift, despite having another one.

He noticed that by such behavior, his daughter became selfish, dependent and irresponsible. He decided to send her on a trip to a very poor country for two weeks.

Emma was forced to go, at first, she was facing a cultural shock and was feeling exiled. As a result, she was angry and refused to accustom to such life, then gradually she surrendered and started to embrace this different and tough life.

She stayed with a poor family that a girl like her age had to walk for four hours, so as to get water for her family. By acknowledging this situation she started to appreciate what she had at home.

When Emma went home, she became a different person; she got a job and decided to send some money – which she earned- to help that poor family.

She was thankful for their hospitality as well as for this whole experience.

Her rich parent is now proud of his daughter’s transformation and says it is never too late to adjust a certain behavior.

From Tyra Banks show

Live within Your Means

Do not have something that you cannot afford, forget about what you want to have or what you deserve, if you cannot pay for it, just do not buy it.

During recession [economic decline] as what is occurring in America right now, people are losing their homes and becoming homeless, some of them are living in their cars, others are in a desperate search for work and they are learning how to live all over again.

All this financial mess occurred because people were living beyond their means, they were loaning money from banks; by getting a mortgage on their house, they borrow money to buy other things; cars, clothes and all they want. But as they cannot afford this monthly mortgage payments, the bank took their houses and they were in debts. Either people are losing their jobs or they could not find any. What also leads to this economic collapse is the massive use of credit cards in America especially.

The aching part of this crisis is that those people were borrowing money to buy unimportant stuff; instead of one car they want another one, they are just buying what they want rather than what they need and they are not even buying them with their own money.

As a result of this way of living, most of the people for example in California, are living in tents, they are calling the place: tent cities. Those people were from the middle class, right now they are having troubles in finding jobs and they are suffering from the crisis that they unknowingly created with the misleading participation from banks.

In these circumstances that they are facing; living in tents, no oven, if they want water they have to walk three miles to get it; they appreciate all the things they used to have. They always say this will never happen to us or anybody whom we know. Some of them have kids but they did not tell them about their situation so as not to add a burden.

When families are forced to leave their homes they cannot afford, they left all their close memories; their albums and photos. All this put a real face of this recession, people who used to donate are now in need of this donation.

People who are surviving this recession say: if they go back to their better days, they would do different; they were going to save rather than spending. They would live within their means; spending money on what they need and buying what they want only when they could afford it. Furthermore, they would extend their kindness and grace to somebody else.

From Oprah Winfery Show

My Stroke of Insight

“Be responsible for the kind of energy you brought to me”

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, the writer of the book “My Stroke of Insight” is a scientist specialized in how the brain works. She suffered a stroke when a blood vessel burst in the left side of her brain. She explains that our brain has two sides; the left side concentrate on the details, the right and the wrong. It is responsible for language and logic. While the right side is concerned with the feelings, it helps you to be kind and to see the big picture. It is more visual and it represents your use of intuition.

In her stroke the left side was injured and only the right side was working; she did not remember whom she was and the details that happened in her past life. At the moment of her stroke, she says, “I was an infant in a woman’s body” she has no identification with the external world. Moreover, she did not recognize her mother or whether that person is her doctor or a nurse, she could not communicate with others but instead she was aware of their energy. Dr.Taylor says “I did not know what a mother was much less my mother was,” but when her mother sat beside her and held her like a baby “All I knew was this very loving, kind, generous spirit of a woman who came in, wrapped herself around me and just took ownership of loving me- and that was the new beginning.”

She says that her stroke is a blessing; it gives her an insight how to live the rest of her life in a different way. When she was recovering, as only her right side of the brain is working, she could receive all the energies that different people brought to her at the hospital. When the nurses came in and were talking to her, she did not know what they were saying- as the left side is injured- but she felt that they were lying from their energy. She says, “I was over here happy and you are over there trying to talk to me, and you had to be a really wonderful energy coming towards me in order to be willing to try to understand.”

It was painful for her that she did not have a warm touch from some nurses. As they see many sick people all the time they forget to care for every patient. When she was lying helpless in her bed in the hospital, a smile from a nurse made her felt relaxed. She says, “As opposed to someone who just comes in, deals with the machinery, ignores that there’s even a warm body in the bed,” she adds, “I did not feel safe in that person’s care.”

A nurse has read her a book and says that she now knows how patients feel on their side. She has a different approach towards them and she is now giving that extra human touch. She says, “I think about this story every time I walk into the hospital to start my shift.”

Mostly doctors and nurses who act cold, it’s a defense mechanism so as to protect themselves from any connection with the patient because if he did not survive they will get hurt, may be others do not care as their lack of sympathy.

It’s no excuse “It’s not a matter of having a defense or not,” or Dr.OZ, a well known doctor in America, says, “The right defense is to engage life.”

Taylor’s recovery took eight years; she was able to make full recovery as not all the cells in her brain were damaged, so they were able to rebuild the rest. The main part in her recovery was that she received the treatment as quickly as possible after the stroke.

When you suspects that someone is having a stroke, ask him to do three things at first to examine his/her injury:

• Smile
• Put his/her hands up {while smiling or after}
• Repeat a sentence {to know if he/she can put together words- if he/she understands it}

From this test it can be figured out which side of the brain is injured and how much is it damaged and this test must take place immediately after the injury.

Dr. Taylor says that she experienced the world in a different way through her right brain in which she reached a state of Nirvana [a state of perfect happiness and freedom in which the individual becomes absorbed into the supreme spirit, it is used often in Hinduism]. She says, “I lost my ego. I lost the cells that said, ‘I am’, because that is part of language and so it did not exist anymore.” She adds “what I gained was this incredible knowingness of deep inner peace- an excitement of realizing everything was inner connected- and I lost the boundary of my body. So, I felt that I was enormous, as big as the universe, because I no longer defined that this is where I began and this is where I ended.”

Dr. Taylor says “We let her go. We mourned the death of who I had been. We had to do that so that here I am. If I never get my cognitive mind back, if I was never capable of thinking logically again, I could still have a life. I could still be me, but I couldn’t be held to the criteria of re-achieving that,” she says, “And then we moved forward. And it was like: who am I now? Who is going to emerge from me now?”

In her recovery, she began to remember some of her past memories, of course some were negative ones. She chose to forget those painful memories and focused on her present, peaceful life and inner peace. She says, “Pay attention to what you are thinking, and then decide if those are thoughts that are creating the kind of life you want to create.” She adds, “And if it’s not, then change your thoughts. It’s really that easy.”

She was living with her right hemisphere’s limited consciousness, “I was experiencing bliss and euphoria. I was happy.” She says, “I also lost all my emotional baggage. How’s that feel? That was nice. That was freeing. I imagine what it would be like to just be in the present moment. All I had was the wonder and the splendor and the magnificence of the present moment- and it’s beautiful.”

Her stroke gives her insight; at her recovery her goal was to feel peaceful and to look at this present moment as perfect. She did not know the before or the after, the only thing she was willing for and she had was this moment. Now she makes a choice that the past and the future will not interfere in this moment. She comes in this moment as being perfect in itself and she will enjoy it.

From her experience, she affirms that the patient is in there and it is up to us to come and find him/her. Her stroke is a blessing that teaches her to choose to live life moment by moment.

See all the ways you can stay connected to friends and family.

From Oprah Winfrey Show

Are you rude? Maybe you should think again

When you are reaching other people, you have the choice to treat them with rudeness or with civility. The quality of our lives depends on the quality of our relations, by improving our relations by being more considerate and more polite, we are improving our lives.

We are improving our lives by improving our relation skills and by treating each other well. We are the trustee of each other happiness; we are responsible for others' happiness. All ethical principles call for respecting each other. Human beings must treat each other with respect as a goal in itself, rather than treating them with respect as a desire or means for something else.

The typical source of being rude is stress. In a rude encounter, like in traffic, the more stressed you are, the more rude you are, all this weakens your body and your system. The ruder you are, the sicker you become. All this negativity is like a collective karma, it will come back to you , not as a certain behavior but as a negative energy. For example, if you have a boss that is unfair to you, you will always be stressed and will lead to your sickness.

Being rude is a behavior that you choose and you are responsible for the consequences of this behavior that is hurting others and making them feel unhappy.

Watch yourself how you behave in a restaurant. Being rude to waiters is a typical thing for some people who think: A waiter is a servant job, a waiter bring me food to the table. Take care that this bad energy that you have brought will come back to you in other different forms. A waiter says that we are human beings and have feelings and he is adding some tips for the customer so as to make it easy for both of them:

• Put your cell phone away for seconds so you can give me your order.

• Do not blame us for bad food, we have nothing to do with it, just tell us to return it back.

• Your kids are your responsibility and it is harder to do our job if we have to pay attention to them.

• Waiters depend on your tips; if you do not pay for the service it affects their salary.

• Without reservation do not ask for the best table in a busy night.

• You have to ask for your check, as it is impolite for the waiter to put it on table, unless it was a very busy night.
  
  
• Make sure that the money appears in the check so that the waiter can see it rather than wondering whether you have put the money or not.

There are patient waiters that can handle difficult customers. Some rude waiters can have revenge from rude customers by spiting in their food.

Sometimes, when you are a rude customer and always asks for the manager, it is not always the real one that you meet, the real manager is tired from your complaints.

There is a difference between being rude and being mean. Being rude is an unfocused rudeness but being mean is a focused one. Being rude is like someone who hits you in a street and do not apologize or not leaving your seat for an old lady in a bus. Being mean is having bad or evil intention towards someone. He targets you in a mean way and asks a question to embrace you in front of others. Because of his envy and insecurity, the mean person shifts his burden to others in a form of hostility and rudeness.

As individuals, we can not live alone in this world, we need each other. The more we become more considerate to others, the more we will be calmer. This leads to being healthier and thus, happier.

As human beings in this world, we depend on our social skills so as to keep our social ponds. To survive these ponds with each other, we have to improve our skills by improving good manners and civility.

Take this test on Oprah's website to see how Civil you are.

http://www.oprah.com/survey/oprahshow/20080909_tows_rude?cnn=yes

For more info. about this episode from Oprah's Show, visit to this link:

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/personal/11/11/o.are.you.rude.test/index.html

From Oprah Winfrey Show

A Passage to India

Written by E.M. Forster in 1924

A Passage to India is a novel that reflects Forster's belief in humanism. Humanism is a philosophy that seeks to dignify man. It calls for compassion, equality, universal brotherhood and individualism, which helps civilize man to make him realize his potential power and gift. He says "I believe in teaching people to be individuals, and to understand other individuals."

Forster's novel tackles the idea of the barriers that separate man from man, class from class and race from race. A Passage to India pictures as no other the clash of two cutlers; the conflict between the Indians and the British. At that time, Britain was occupying India. Although he was a British, he did not side with them. He was attaching the British imperialism. He asserts human rights and ridicules racial prejudice.

This novel explores the difficulties men face in trying to understand each other and the universe. Forster says, "The world is a globe of men who are trying to reach one another and can best do so, by the hope of goodwill plus culture and intelligence."

Forster shows in the novel how man's attempts to create unity are continually, dominated and diminished by forces man cannot control.

According to Forster, the solution to human misunderstanding lies in man's capacity to transcend human difference by developing the heart and imagination. He says "God has put us on the earth in order to be pleasant to each other. God is love. God has put us on earth to love our neighbours and to show it."
He adds "It's very easy to sympathies at a distance, I value more the kind word that is spoken close to my ear."