Chance to REMEMBER

"Doubt creeps in the moment we lose our focus on our original intention.
Think of it in terms of relationships.
You could be so happy, you're with your soul mate, life is wonderful. Hugs and kisses, xoxo, and all that. Then she does something you don't like and you forget. You forget how she helps you through the darkness. You forget how she loves you even when you don't love yourself. You forget.
And then doubt creeps in.
One moment you have all the reasons to be in the relationship, the next you find all the reasons not to be.

It's all about doubt. Why? Because you forget why you were in the relationship in the first place.

Today is your chance to remember. Remind yourself of what you receive from your significant relationships. Connect to the seed of goodness and cast out the doubt".

http://www.kabbalah.com/tuneups/012808.html?cid=20080128a

NEXT

"One of my mother, and teacher, Karen Berg's favorite mantras is "Next. Next. Next."

As you expand your vessel (desire), there's going to be challenges and discomforts.

You're going to get rejected and bruised. Your job is to grab your lessons and go. Next.

Too many of us get unnecessarily weighed down by troubled pasts, broken relationships, and childhood traumas.

When a butterfly emerges from its cocoon, does it bring the cocoon with it?

Next.

Today, let the rejection in. Feel the burn. Break the shells surrounding your soul. And remember to let go of them once they break. Next!"

http://www.kabbalah.com/tuneups/012708.html?cid=20080127a

The Summit Of Life

Catholic Exchange [...]
Words of Encouragement
Jan 23, 2008 Eucharist: The Summit of Life!

Romans 11:36
For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory for ever. Amen.

"If the Eucharist is Jesus and Jesus is God, then reality all of it, not just the "religious" bits is ultimately eucharistic. We, like the Eucharist, shall be like Jesus taken, blessed, broken, and given. It's the direction all reality is heading sooner or later. The question is not whether we will go that way. The question is how: willingly or unwillingly?
The great systems of evil and injustice from Nazism to Stalin to Radical Islam to American hedonism are, in the end, organized in order to avoid making that eucharistic choice to face death for the sake of love.
The ways in which the eucharistic self-offering is refused are different. But the refusal is monotonously the same.
Conversely, to say yes and make that self-offering in Christ is to enter into the really glorious diversity of the communion of saints and find the point of one's life in a way that is glorious. We discover, in Christ, the meaning of all things, including our own lives, when we give our life away to Him".

Just a Word of Encouragement from Mark Shea and Jeff Cavins.
http://www.catholicexchange.com/

The - DOOR...

"... Some readers complain my messages are too depressing, constantly asking you to look at your garbage.

The reason for this is, the only way to get to heaven, is to go through hell first.

Kabbalah isn't about feeling better.

That's temporary.

It's about changing our spiritual DNA.

It's about getting down into the core of our problems. Any medical, emotional, financial disturbances we are now experiencing stems from a core issue we have come to this world to fix.

Naturally it's not easy.

It means going through a door inside we don't know exists.

It requires digging and pushing through the dark to find that door. It can feel claustrophobic, dark, eerie. But when we find that door - and break it open - on the other side is our personal heaven.

Today, take a risk and open your heart to a trusted friend. Tell them things about yourself you've never dared tell anyone before. Make yourself vulnerable and allow the Light to rest on those darkened parts of your consciousness where your door is hiding.

...woooowwww....

Cfr.: http://www.kabbalah.com/tuneups/011808.html?cid=20080118a

January 15th...

TUESDAY, JANUARY 15

"If you want to know what your life looks like, look at your thoughts. If you don't like what you see, then change the way you think about life.

Most of us are stuck in thoughts of fear, disappointment, anger, and regret. We recycle the same stinkin' thinkin' again and again and again. It feels so suffocating after awhile, doesn't it?

Today, air your mind out. Open the window and let the breeze come through. Stick your head out. (See those people over there? They are potential new friends. Go talk to them. See that Help Wanted sign? That’s your new career. Walk in and submit an application.) Allow new, happy, optimistic thoughts to take over for a change".

http://www.kabbalah.com/tuneups/011508.html?cid=20080115a

life is - SWEET?!?

"The last place you'd find most people is where they are. Most of us spend our lives thinking about what's next, who I'm going to meet, who I'm going to be when I get married, skinny, rich, famous. You know, life is what happens while we're busy making other plans.

But life doesn't happen in the future - or the past. It happens right here, right now. That's why it's important to start each day wherever you are.

Today, shake yourself free of any expectation of arriving. Encourage yourself to be fully in the moment-to enjoy your transformations and to seek out new obstacles. Sink your teeth into the endless dessert that life is serving up every moment of the day".

F.y.i., this, again is taken from:

http://www.kabbalah.com/tuneups/011208.html?cid=20080112a

F.E.A.R.

F.y.i., the following is taken - once again - from : http://www.kabbalah.com/tuneups/011008.html.

False
Evidence
Appearing
Real

FEAR

"Fear is one big bluff; it's an imaginary brick wall we are meant to run through - head first. Think about it. Haven't some of your biggest achievements come as a result of pushing through your terror and anxiety?

Today, jump into the scary moments and know you'll be able to deal. This where the real potential for growth is concealed."

KnOw YoUr SoUl - 1

PRIDE:
When we base our security and self-esteem on ourselves.

Manifestations:
HAUGHTINESS.
Having an elevated concept of myself;
annoyance with those who contradict me;
easily judging others, thinking they are bad and hence easily gossiping about them;
difficulty in recognizing my own errors or knowing when I’ve hurt someone and thus inability to ask, seek or grant forgiveness;
hypocrisy;
unwillingness to serve;
impatience, distance, brusqueness in my daily contact with others;
thinking that I’m the only one who knows how to do things right;
unwillingness to let others help;
over-rationalism, such that anything I don’t understand clearly I judge to be in error, and say so;
not believing practically in my need for God, even though I invoke Him;
activism (doing good works at the expense of prayer).

SELF-LOVE.
Permitting nobody to contradict me;
growing annoyed if I don’t get my way or if I’m not taken into account;
refusing to assent unless it’s all explained to me;
nursing grudges a long time;
not letting go of minor annoyances;
rebelling against what I don’t like or what seems mistaken to me;
not liking to take directions from anyone;
acting authoritarian;
inflexibility.
thinking of myself first;
my needs or desires take priority over everyone else’s;
being indifferent to others and their needs, tastes;
difficulty in disrupting my plans when someone asks me for something, and thus great calculation in my relations with others and with God;
liking to be heard, always thinking my conversation is the most important;
centering games and entertainment around myself.
(to be continued)

a worm

... a worm inside an apple has a limited view of the world. when it works its way out, it discovers a landscape far beyond what it imagined.

this is how we live. we have limited perspectives, and we don't see what we're missing. we only see what we are - we don't see what we can become.

today, worm your way outside your apple. what do you want to become next week, next month, next year? where can you grove more, do more, be more? dream big and you will be big...

(cfr. www.kabbalah.com again...)

KnOw YoUr SoUl - intro

Taken from a christian (catholic, to be precise) source.

I presume I, like everyone, do get to ask myself of a mening of my existence, of a meaning of my life down here, of a meaning of my actions (and of my non-actions) and words (and silences). Sometimes more often, but less vigorously, other times less often, but with less rigour, other times again, often and very rigorously, and so on.

This period of my life (to define "this" let me say it is the period of time covering my late twenties - early thirties; what? 10 years already? maybe a bit less...) is one of great internal confusion and questioning. Know not why it started, know not when exactly it started, but I know very well it is "here" and I am "in it", as confused and as searching-for-the-meaning as it gets.

So, that's the reason for looking for answers.

For looking for resources.

I thought this one could be one of them.

I think it is one of the better ones.

Of more honest ones.

Just - "try and see":

** In his spiritual classic The Imitation of Christ, Thomas á Kempis writes that if we could rid ourselves of just one vice per year, we would “very soon be holy.” This is precisely what this is about - about getting freed, step by step, from the bonds of sin and weaknesses so as to become those who we are called to be.

Set aside a time to reflect on your behaviors. Ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten your conscience as you try to identify your dominant passion... The simplest way to do this is to make an exhaustive list of all your sins and shortcomings. Those you list are the obstacles between you and God.

Once the list is made, go back over it and ask yourself why you are tempted in those ways. You will find that one of three dominant passions— Pride, Vanity, or Sensuality —is the motive behind each of the obstacles in your spiritual life. All of us have some manifestations of each of these three passions, so don’t be surprised if you get a mixture of answers. However, if you deeply reflect and truly go to the root of your motives, most likely one of these passions will emerge more frequently than the others. This is your dominant passion: the passion which motivates you most of the time.

A simple way to determine which passion motivates your actions is to ask yourself what you were most afraid of or concerned about:

letting myself down (pride);

what others would think (vanity);

or how it would make me feel (sensuality).
So that you’ll better recognize these three passions, below we’ll mention some of their most common manifestations...**

(to be continued)

StEp By StEp

**Spirituality is a bit like running up a down escalator. It’s easy to fall behind.

We’ve all been there. Some of you are there right now, collapsed at the bottom stair, wondering if you’ll ever get up again — let alone reach the top. Pushed down by doubts, laziness, anger, addiction, you may feel like it’s over for you. “This spiritual stuff doesn’t work for someone like me.”

This spiritual stuff works for someone precisely like you. Remember, the dark side of your thoughts has its power. If you side with it, it’ll hold you down, its foot flat on your face. The only thing to do when you slip is to return immediately to the practices that do sustain and give you energy.

What spiritual practice — sharing, scanning, asking the Light for help, etc. — can you recommit to today? You don’t need to sprint for the top. Just take one step. And the next. And the next. You’ll get there eventually.**

(cfr.: http://www.kabbalah.com/tuneups/010408.html)

One more time (and not the last one, I guarantee you), the word that has hit the target... One more time, and surely not the last, taken from kabbalah... Wisdom is wisdom, like the truth, it is universal. Hmm.

Spoken directly to me. Hmm.