Only some people are able to be in the most brutal of conditions, in the worst of situations and walk around with a smile on their faces. Welcome to my world...
No matter how bad a situation may seem, there will at least be one positive The hard part, is finding that positive and then look at the beauty of the situation. For example, being stuck in traffic to most is irritating and often seen as a waste of time. If you are at ease with yourself, if you have peace of mind, then traffic may be nothing more than hanging out in the car for just a little bit longer. If it is warm, open the window's, enjoy the sun and the breeze on your skin. In the winter time, if it is a clear and sunny day, in the car I like to make it extra warm take my jacket off, and blast my music. Nothing feels quite like relaxing in the heat, the sun and a good tune on the radio!
It may sound simple, maybe even stupid to some. With the radio on, my (bad) singing loudly, I have a blast every time I drive. Most think it is ridiculous but to me, it keeps a smile on my face no matter what my situation is.
Why bother to be positive? Why should we start to look for beauty? It is impossible to be happy within yourself if you are unhappy with the world around you. You must be willing to search for the beauty, and only when you find it on a regular basis will you be able to start enjoying life.
You will not simply wake up one day and discover beauty everywhere. It is something that must be worked on, thought about, learnt and trained. You must teach yourself to look for the beauty of a situation, or a moment. Even if it may seem very insignificant, allowing yourself to pick up on the positive even the vaguest and tiny thing, is a passage to understanding how. Start small, and soon enough, you will be seeing the beauty on your own, even without thinking about it.
Start small. It is simple, but it must be worked on. Try to see the beauty if you feel yourself starting to get angry, irritated or fed up.. it's the perfect time and way to calm down!
Sometimes, slowing down, may be the key and a great starting point. Never in my life have I been on time. My father, for one, is never on time either, and because of it, I grew up doing everything last minute, leaving too late, making lame excuses and being in a stressful rush all the time.
I was constantly late. Sometimes as little as 5 minutes, other times, well over 40 minutes. To me, this was natural, this was normal. That is until, my beautiful gf, one morning got very, very, very upset.
Gentlemen, when a woman get's angry at you, you do freaking anything to make sure that it never happens again.
Since then, I have never been late, and it has been over 4 months that I am late free. I wake up at 5:45AM, shower, get dressed, and go heat up the car. I leave my house at 6:30AM, and take my time all the way to my love's house, where I arrive at 6:55AM to pick her up at 7AM and we go have breakfast somewhere before school. Waking up earlier, I admit is not the greatest. The trade off of being early, and taking my time is more than worth it.
Seems kinda stupid when you write it down. Believe it or not, but I enjoy waking up earlier than I need, and just really taking my time. Try it one day and see how it feels.
What I am saying is that it is important to look for beauty everywhere, and in anything. For instead of seeing negative, thinking negative, think and look positively at this beautiful world we live in. Take care, and until next time, look up, beauty is everywhere. Our journey to reaching a state of bliss in our everyday live's is a work in progress. It is not something that happens overnight, but working on it together, we achieve more. The journey is the purpose and the destination; reward.
Monday 12 November 2012
Thursday 8 November 2012
2. Finding your inner Truth
Finding the truth of your situation is no walk in the park.. but then again, what is?
"Only by creating peace in our own mind and helping others do the same can we hope to achieve peace in this world." -Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
Let us start our journey to inner brightness by creating our own peace of mind. Before we begin to lighten our minds, and free our hearts, we must look to our environment and look for the truth. Sometimes, we kid ourselves and we start to live in our own realities. For example, think of a time you were really worried and scared. What did you tell yourself at that moment? The moment that we are faced with a hard situation, we start to downgrade the seriousness of the situation.
Step one to finding the truth is fairly easy. Let's look at the hard truth. It won't be easy to face the music, but it's the only way. Here are a couple of questions to get you started. Feel free to add your own.
Do you have a job?
-Yes? No?
Are you good at your job?
-Either you are good, or you are bad.. no gray zone.
Are you managing financially?
-Yes you are surviving, or no you are not making ends meet.
Do you have friends?
-Do people really like you?
On a scale of one to ten, how often are you out with your friends?
-In other words, how often do you hang out with people that like you?
Do you have real friends?
-REAL friends.. people that when you are around you are YOURSELF.
On that same scale, how often are you out with REAL friends?
-How often do you hang out with people that respect you and admire you?
How often are you home?
-Do you avoid it when you can? Is it bad at home? Is it great?
I would like you to write down the answer to these questions. I'll explain why later on.
While you answered the questions, I hope you didn't kid yourself. For example, do you have a job? It is either a yes I am currently working, or the answer is no I am not. If you are looking for a job, you don't have one, that counts as a no.
This morning was my day off. I had the privilege to be able to sleep in to 7. I got up, had a morning glory pee, went down to the kitchen, made myself a cup of coffee, and sat in the warm sun for 10 minutes. To me, being able to enjoy the sun and a cup of coffee is one of the greatest pleasures I have in a day. My mind is at peace, even if it is just for 10 minutes, I force myself not to think of anything, but instead I force myself to concentrate on the smell of my hot coffee, the feeling of the sun on my face, the warmth of it's heat on my arms. By doing something I enjoy, which isn't much if you think about it.. but to me it allows me to breath for a minute. Facing the music is one of the hardest steps.
Knowing you may be screw financially? Have no place to stay? Friends are not real? It is important that you have a small moment to yourself where nothing else matters, that you can guarantee to have every day. It may be as simple and as beautiful of sitting in the sun and that moment right before you take a sip of coffee and inhale it's freshly brewed smell.
Once you have understood the truth, it is time to start accepting it. To do this is to open your mind. No matter how much your life may be in shambles, it is the start to a great new life. Take one of the problems you are currently facing and focus on it. One problem, one day at a time.
Take it one day at a time, day by day. The important step is to start with the most pressing matter. For example, if you have no job you need to get any job, because you can always "upgrade" at a later time. It is crucial that we prioritize our "to do" list. From the most pressing to the least. Not from easy to hard, etc.
Now that you have come to realize your problems, they won't solve themselves just because you admit they are there. Steps must be placed, a draft of a plan must be drawn to give some sort of a general direction action plan that must be taken. Remember, this point in your life is perhaps rock bottom. You now know that you must do Whatever It Takes to never return to this situation.
Only once you have started to admit the reality of your situation may we proceed to the next step.
Remember to take it one day at a time. I will be here waiting for you, so that we may continue our journey to success and to reaching a state of inner Bliss together.
"Only by creating peace in our own mind and helping others do the same can we hope to achieve peace in this world." -Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
Step one to finding the truth is fairly easy. Let's look at the hard truth. It won't be easy to face the music, but it's the only way. Here are a couple of questions to get you started. Feel free to add your own.
Do you have a job?
-Yes? No?
Are you good at your job?
-Either you are good, or you are bad.. no gray zone.
Are you managing financially?
-Yes you are surviving, or no you are not making ends meet.
Do you have friends?
-Do people really like you?
On a scale of one to ten, how often are you out with your friends?
-In other words, how often do you hang out with people that like you?
Do you have real friends?
-REAL friends.. people that when you are around you are YOURSELF.
On that same scale, how often are you out with REAL friends?
-How often do you hang out with people that respect you and admire you?
How often are you home?
-Do you avoid it when you can? Is it bad at home? Is it great?
I would like you to write down the answer to these questions. I'll explain why later on.
While you answered the questions, I hope you didn't kid yourself. For example, do you have a job? It is either a yes I am currently working, or the answer is no I am not. If you are looking for a job, you don't have one, that counts as a no.
This morning was my day off. I had the privilege to be able to sleep in to 7. I got up, had a morning glory pee, went down to the kitchen, made myself a cup of coffee, and sat in the warm sun for 10 minutes. To me, being able to enjoy the sun and a cup of coffee is one of the greatest pleasures I have in a day. My mind is at peace, even if it is just for 10 minutes, I force myself not to think of anything, but instead I force myself to concentrate on the smell of my hot coffee, the feeling of the sun on my face, the warmth of it's heat on my arms. By doing something I enjoy, which isn't much if you think about it.. but to me it allows me to breath for a minute. Facing the music is one of the hardest steps.
Knowing you may be screw financially? Have no place to stay? Friends are not real? It is important that you have a small moment to yourself where nothing else matters, that you can guarantee to have every day. It may be as simple and as beautiful of sitting in the sun and that moment right before you take a sip of coffee and inhale it's freshly brewed smell.
Once you have understood the truth, it is time to start accepting it. To do this is to open your mind. No matter how much your life may be in shambles, it is the start to a great new life. Take one of the problems you are currently facing and focus on it. One problem, one day at a time.
Take it one day at a time, day by day. The important step is to start with the most pressing matter. For example, if you have no job you need to get any job, because you can always "upgrade" at a later time. It is crucial that we prioritize our "to do" list. From the most pressing to the least. Not from easy to hard, etc.
Now that you have come to realize your problems, they won't solve themselves just because you admit they are there. Steps must be placed, a draft of a plan must be drawn to give some sort of a general direction action plan that must be taken. Remember, this point in your life is perhaps rock bottom. You now know that you must do Whatever It Takes to never return to this situation.
Only once you have started to admit the reality of your situation may we proceed to the next step.
Remember to take it one day at a time. I will be here waiting for you, so that we may continue our journey to success and to reaching a state of inner Bliss together.
Wednesday 7 November 2012
1. Intro to Bliss
Bliss.
What does being "bliss" mean?
Bliss is defined as being in an emotional state of perfect happiness. This meaning feelings of pure enjoyment, pleasure, and satisfaction.
Life is fucked. Life is no walk in the park.. for most. There are some, I hope to be one day, that go through life enjoying the simple pleasures of every moment. These people, not only look into the setting sun and smile knowing it will rise again tomorrow, but go through the night enjoying it as well.
It is not easy, as someone I admire told me, "to get ahead of the curve". In fact, forget about getting ahead, most of us can barely even keep up. Be it financially, emotionally, or any other way. It is hard to imagine yourself sometimes, based on your situation to be ahead of the curve. Imagine, just for a second, what it would feel like to be so ahead in life that everything in a pure joy. Not a worry or concern on your mind.
Simply pure and sincere enjoyment of the present, satisfaction of the past, and no fear of the future. This is being bliss. However, before that can happen, you need to be able to get your shit together in order to get ahead. Fear not, it is rather easy considering the payoff's.
I would like to share a story with you. While on a layover in Singapore, I decided to visit the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum. Since I was there at such an off time, I was lucky that they even let me enter, even though it was technically closed to tourists. Since I was the only visitor there, I had the privilege of being able to have tea with several of the elder monks, whom I had a very interesting and informative conversation with.
They were all very interesting men, men whom, through a lifetime of hardship and experience, had gained wisdom to the means of which I have never seen. Never before had I meet people as wise as these gentlemen. After a few pleasantries, we somehow began talking about destiny and the path the universe had planned for us. I remember saying something along the lines of, "If there is a Path, what if we slip from the Path, how will we know, better yet, how will we be able to notice we have gone off the path and get back on?"
One of the statements I shall never forget was told to me by the wisest of the monks, surprisingly not the oldest. He looked at me and almost whispered in his thick accent, though I couldn't quite make out the beginning, what I caught was this, "...sometimes we may drift or slip off from the Path of life, but never from the journey. The universe conspires the reveal the truth, and make your path right, if you have the courage to follow the signs."
Why did I share this story with you? For me, it's beyond the actual story. The goal, so to speak, is that regardless of what you do, or how you do it, that you can succeed if you want to succeed. There is only one certainty in life. Death. That is the only certain thing you have. However, the road to reach that point is a journey. Not so much the destination as the journey that truly matters. Live each day enjoying the simple pleasures we take for granted. Finding simple beauty in a complex world is the key to being happy.
I ask you, not only to do this for yourself, but for those around you. Be that human that makes everyone smile and want to be around. It is people like us, those who want to please people, and do whatever it takes to help those we love. If this sounds like you, or intrigues you, I invite you to join me on this journey to better ourselves, help those around us, and to eventually reach a state of inner brightness; Bliss.
What does being "bliss" mean?
Bliss is defined as being in an emotional state of perfect happiness. This meaning feelings of pure enjoyment, pleasure, and satisfaction.
Life is fucked. Life is no walk in the park.. for most. There are some, I hope to be one day, that go through life enjoying the simple pleasures of every moment. These people, not only look into the setting sun and smile knowing it will rise again tomorrow, but go through the night enjoying it as well.
It is not easy, as someone I admire told me, "to get ahead of the curve". In fact, forget about getting ahead, most of us can barely even keep up. Be it financially, emotionally, or any other way. It is hard to imagine yourself sometimes, based on your situation to be ahead of the curve. Imagine, just for a second, what it would feel like to be so ahead in life that everything in a pure joy. Not a worry or concern on your mind.
 |
| A highway in the hills of California. |
Simply pure and sincere enjoyment of the present, satisfaction of the past, and no fear of the future. This is being bliss. However, before that can happen, you need to be able to get your shit together in order to get ahead. Fear not, it is rather easy considering the payoff's.
I would like to share a story with you. While on a layover in Singapore, I decided to visit the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum. Since I was there at such an off time, I was lucky that they even let me enter, even though it was technically closed to tourists. Since I was the only visitor there, I had the privilege of being able to have tea with several of the elder monks, whom I had a very interesting and informative conversation with.
 |
| Buddha Tooth Relic Temple in Singapore. |
One of the statements I shall never forget was told to me by the wisest of the monks, surprisingly not the oldest. He looked at me and almost whispered in his thick accent, though I couldn't quite make out the beginning, what I caught was this, "...sometimes we may drift or slip off from the Path of life, but never from the journey. The universe conspires the reveal the truth, and make your path right, if you have the courage to follow the signs."
Why did I share this story with you? For me, it's beyond the actual story. The goal, so to speak, is that regardless of what you do, or how you do it, that you can succeed if you want to succeed. There is only one certainty in life. Death. That is the only certain thing you have. However, the road to reach that point is a journey. Not so much the destination as the journey that truly matters. Live each day enjoying the simple pleasures we take for granted. Finding simple beauty in a complex world is the key to being happy.
 |
| Look at this picture. What do you feel? Warm? Happy? Simple beauty is everywhere. Look for it. |
I ask you, not only to do this for yourself, but for those around you. Be that human that makes everyone smile and want to be around. It is people like us, those who want to please people, and do whatever it takes to help those we love. If this sounds like you, or intrigues you, I invite you to join me on this journey to better ourselves, help those around us, and to eventually reach a state of inner brightness; Bliss.
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