Every man is the builder of a temple, called his body, to the god he worships, after a style purely his own, nor can he get off by hammering marble instead. We are all sculptors and painters, and our material is our own flesh and blood and bones.
Found in The Body Series
Filed Under How To, Motivation, Perspective
We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.
-Teilhard de Chardin
Changing the things that make us who we are seems to be a daunting and impossible challenge. We may often have moments of inspiration and motivation when we stand up to the person we were and take on life with a whole new perspective. Eventually we find ourselves slipping back into our old ways and becoming, once again, that person we tried to get away from being.
This may drain our hope and inspiration and, worst of all, fill us with shame about who we are. Shame drains our motivation and leads to self-loathing. And, if we loath ourselves, why would we want to do anything good for someone we loath?
The first step to changing who you are is to realize that you can’t. …So, why am I writing about changing who we are if it can’t be done? Because, I’m hoping to change your perspective. What we really need to change is not who we are but what we do.
This may seem like an irrelevant, semantic distinction, but when we define who we are by our behaviors, we present ourselves with a huge barrier. For instance, if I define myself as a slacker, I have to become someone who I am not in order to become motivated. If I, instead, recognize myself as a good person with potential to change and grow who struggles with motivation, then I can face the struggle instead of trying to work against my identity.
Another obstacle we face when identifying ourselves with our behavior is that it becomes a difficult, and possibly humiliating, process just to face the truth about our responsibility in our life situations. We may make excuses about why we’re not exercising everyday because we don’t want to experience the pain of identifying ourselves as lazy or wimpy. Instead, we can simply face the objective truth that we have not made exercise a priority, and then we gain the power to examine and change our priorities.
One way to get a glimpse of who we are is to look at our morals, values and motivations. These can help define who we are and what we can achieve and are often at odds with how we actually behave. But, on the surface, even these things can change over time. We don’t usually make a conscious decision to change our values, rather they change over time with experience.
The unchanging definition of who we are lies within our hearts. Each of us has a deep inner voice, or spirit, which guides our thoughts and decisions when we choose to listen. It is when we choose not to listen that we find ourselves confused and discontented with who we are.
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Filed Under Beliefs
It is from within the heart, not just the mind, that we can know God's will for us. God speaks to all of us every day and God's voice is as loud as our willingness to listen.
-Mary Manin Morrissey
Any of us who have practiced any type of religion know how confusing it can be to try to decipher and remember all of the seemingly arbitrary rules that religion can impose on us. We want to live within God’s will for us, but at times it seems nearly impossible to know what that means.
Religious texts often focus on mundane details about the food we eat, the cloths we wear, the length of our hair, the way we pray or worship, or how to act on particular days of the week or calendar day. Cultural changes and the evolution of language make it especially difficult to translate and interpret the context and meaning of texts written thousands of years ago.
Many theologians and religious scholars devote their entire lives to interpreting the meaning of religious texts. Yet, we still face uncertainties and ambiguities which often fuel divisiveness and conflict between and within religious groups.
So, what happens if we miss something? What if something gets misinterpreted in translation? What if we follow the wrong denomination or sect? Will God condemn us? Will we fail to receive the full benefits of our relationship with God? If so, it seems that God’s gifts are available to very few.
A lone, wild daisy in the rough.
A common theme that appears in nearly every religion is that to live God’s will, we must live in love. All of the confusing and seemingly arbitrary rules exist to keep us inline with the principles of love. When the thoughts and action of our lives are a reflection of our love for God, ourselves and each other, we will be living God’s will.
Jesus Christ’s Apostle, Paul, repeats this theme multiple times:
Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not covet,’ and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
When we truly love others, naturally, we will not rob, kill or harm them in any way. Our actions will be charitable. And, our hearts will be fulfilled, thus removing any tendency toward materialism, greed or judgment.
The Buddha stated that one who removes barriers to love and lives in love has no need for rules or laws. Their behavior would be naturally virtuous:
All rule and ritual left behind, all
karma blamable and praiseworthy, not
concerning himself with cleansing nor
with stains may one freely fare.
A Course In Miracles takes this a step further by asserting that God and Love are synonymous. And, since we were created by God, God’s love exists in us. We need only remove the barriers to love and we are one with God:
God is but love, and therefore, so am I.
We were born with the ability to recognize good and bad. The need for rules and rituals exists only when we are distracted from our hearts. Most rules of religion aim to remove these distractions. By living in accordance with the principles of love, we can simplify our search for God’s will and know that we are manifesting what God wants.
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For the most part, I’m a practically minded person. I don’t really believe in magic or supernatural. But, I do believe in prayer. Not that I believe if you say, “Dear God, give me what I want,” you’ll get what you want (even if you believe and pray really hard). What I believe is that when thoughtful, sincere prayer is a part of our daily life, miraculous things happen.
When we communicate with our God on a regular basis, we begin to think about our wants and needs as they might appear through the eyes of God. We review our challenges and struggles with the best listener in the universe. We can’t help but gain greater consciousness of God’s presence in our lives. And therefore, our faith strengthens.
Faith is the foundation of all miracles. It inspires us to accomplishment. It motivates us to face challenges we might otherwise fear. Fear is, by far, the greatest obstacle that stands between who we are and who we want to be. Faith squashes fear, and regular prayer intensifies faith.
Reciting a memorized prayer before going to bed each night is better than not praying at all and has some benefits. But, thoughtful, sincere prayer puts us in a conscious conversations with our God, and like any other relationship, our relationship with God grows with good communication.
We don’t pray to God to inform Him of our needs and desires. God is already aware of our desires and knows what we need. We pray to God to express and reinforce our gratitude and our willingness to hear God’s will and to prepare ourselves for God’s guidance.
People who pray regularly live longer, get sick less frequently, heal from illness more rapidly and experience lower stress levels than those who do not pray regularly.
Additionally, prayer …
There are not many things in life that offer so much for such little effort.
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Filed Under Peace and Contentment
Only those who have learned the power of sincere and selfless contribution experience life's deepest joy: true fulfillment.
-Anthony Robbins
There was a time in my life when my thoughts and motivations centered on getting high. I was a junkie. Most of my energy and efforts were spent trying to fulfill my immediate desires. I took what I could get from the world and offered little or nothing in return.
Consequently, I lived in misery. My obsession to fulfill my desires with immediate bliss did nothing but drain happiness and bliss from my life. My family and friends who loved me found that their love was squandered.
Anyone who has lived with or loved an active addict knows that addiction brings nothing but pain and misery for everyone in or near the addicts path. Addiction is a void that consumes everything it touches.
The addict lives on the extreme selfish end of a continuum between selfishness and selflessness. Consequently, they live in misery and bring misery to anyone they touch.
On the other end of this continuum are those who live in service to others: those who give what they can give and ask for little or nothing in return. People who spend their energy and efforts letting go of their own desires are the ones who find themselves living in bliss.
Most of us live somewhere in between these extremes. We fit giving and service into our lives wherever we can, and we spend the rest of our time chasing our desires. Yet, the irony applies to us all. Just as the miserable drug addict feebly chases pleasure, the more we focus and obsess over our desires, the more misery we find in our lives. And, as we let go of our desires and offer ourselves in selfless service to others and to our God, the more pleasure and bliss we find in our lives.
My path through drug addiction to a meaningful life of spiritual growth has made this dichotomy clear. Being of service to others is one of the most significant actions I can take to not only relinquish the pain and misery of addiction, but also to bring joy and meaning to my life that surpasses anything that I would have every thought possible.
The path of selfishness is anything but self-serving. Rather, it leads to self-loathing, which leads to self-destruction and desperation, which in turn, leads to deeper selfishness.
The path of selflessness is not sacrificial. It is the path of fulfillment and bliss.
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Filed Under Attitude, Beliefs, Choice, How To, Peace and Contentment, Perspective, Relationships
This is not a political post nor an endorsement. Instead, I am sharing ideas on how to remain inspired and spiritual at a time when passions and negativity rule the discourse around us.
Here are five ideas on how to be inspired voters:
The core of our political stance lies in our values and beliefs. Our values define what is important to us, and our beliefs shape our perception of truth. Our values and beliefs are as unique as our fingerprints. To be intolerant of one another’s values and beliefs is as silly as being intolerant of one another’s fingerprints.
To be tolerant, it is not necessary to like or even understand each others views, but only to accept that they are different.
Remember, we can not change each other’s values, we can only reinforce them, often by driving a wedge in our relationships with others.
In our personal, day-to-day lives, our relationships with others add much more richness and purpose to our lives than the outcome of any election. Yet, political disagreements have the power to strain family relationships and destroy friendships.
Sometimes it’s easy to become annoyed and hypersensitive when others are bashing our political beliefs, but when put into perspective, differences in political opinion need not take on any more importance in our relationships than differences in food tastes, musical preferences or favorite colors.
Acceptance is the key to peace, serenity and freedom. Our power as voters has limits. We can each cast one vote and have no power over how others choose to vote. When we realize this, we free ourselves from futile attempts to change things we can not change, and we are free to use that power elsewhere.
Be prepared for any outcome. It may or may not be the case that the majority of voters hold our values and beliefs. That’s the nature of Democracy.
Despite the mudslinging and candidate bashing claims we hear, both Obama and McCain have a deep love for their country and outstanding leadership abilities. They would not have gotten as far as they have without these things. Additionally, they have both …
The significant difference between the candidates is how they propose to deal with the issues our country faces. There’s only one question we need to answer when we cast our vote.
Who is going to lead us through the issues our country is facing in a way I agree with most?
Here are a few sites to learn where the candidates stand on the issues they believe are important. Focus on what they say about themselves, not each other.
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Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful.
-Buddha
The decision to practice gratitude one of the simplest and most significant decisions we can make in improving our personal joy, health, peace, contentment and level of inspiration. Gratitude changes our perspective in life, which in turn, changes our lives.
However, it is important to understand that the practice of gratitude does not require that we ignore or deny true feelings of pain or abandon our human emotions. Even when life is lived with inspiration and the best spiritual intentions, grief, suffering and pain still exist.
On the other hand, experiencing grief, suffering and pain does not require that we abandon gratitude. It is possible to experience pain and gratitude at the same time. It is possible to express gratitude through tears.
Here are 7 ideas to help us maintain gratitude during hard times:
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Filed Under Faith, Motivation
Discipline is remembering what you want.
-David Campbell
For most of us, the greatest struggle we have with inspiration is its apparent lack of persistence. We have a vision that motivates us: to have a beautiful body, to maintain a strong relationship with God, to develop a skill or to be successful in some way. The vision keeps us motivated, sometimes for quite a while. Then suddenly, we find ourselves wondering how we managed to go a month without working out, meditating or otherwise taking any action toward our goal.
The problem is that we’ve become distracted. The day to day realities of the path leading to our vision have obstructed our view of that vision. When we think about working out, we no longer think about the beautiful body we are going to have, we instead think of the cumbersome drive to the gym and the limited amount of time we have to do what we want. Because of these distractions, our vision can only sustain motivation for a finite amount of time.
The solution is self-discipline. Self-discipline is a scary word for some of us. This is because it is often misunderstood. Self-discipline is not about forcing ourselves to do what we don’t want to do. That type of discipline can only sustain us for a finite amount of time. And even worse, it often leads us to resent our own goals and visions.
The self-discipline I’m referring to comes from having faith in ourselves. It’s remembering that we set a goal that once inspired us. It’s trusting that our inspiration was well-founded and that it will motivate us again once self-discipline gets things moving again.
When motivation fails, don’t kick yourself in the butt. Have faith in yourself instead.
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