Peace

There is a lot more talk about ‘peace’ now, than there was when I grew up. In those earlier days, talk was more about ‘ending conflict’. And the two are not the same thing. Obviously.

Ending conflict carries within itself an understanding that this can be done pretty much by any means. Therefore, if the conflict is ended by one side successfully suppressing the other side in such a manner that a certain normalcy returned to life in that area ~ that was totally okay.
Nowadays, we want to bring  peace to a conflict or a certain region. And while we seem te be willing to impose this peace by pretty much any means. And when we have done so, we want to give ourselves a pat on the back and return home after a job well done.

Neither solution seems to be working in the long run.
Not in our own, personal lives. Nor on a global scale.

Lasting peace starts within ourselves.
It starts with the ability to take a deep breath ~ and perhaps even counting ‘till ten… ~ when something happens, giving ourselves a little time before we react angrily.
It starts with not taking everything that happens so personally; with an understanding that whatever happened in all likelihood did so because of circumstance, rather than that someone was actively ‘out to get us’.
It starts with placing our ego-selves into a balanced perspective that helps us move forward without having to come out on top all the time…

When we start an interaction from a peaceful intent, the most obvious question when something happens in our lives we don’t like is not ‘How dare they do that to me?’, but rather ‘Why is this happening in my life right now?’ and ‘What can I do within myself to correct it?’

Our path through live is not as dependent on those around us, as it is on how we handle what happens inside of us.
As long as we allow our emotions to take over our thoughts and our actions, chances are we will keep encountering situations on our path through life that will bring that to our attention. Not to be mean to us ~ te get us ~ but rather to give us an opportunity to say ‘Wait a minute, let’s bless them and wish them peace; then take a deep breath and see what attitude, what belief in myself is causing those type of situations to enter my life?’

As soon as we find a way to give ourselves that opportunity, we may find that suddenly our lives become more balanced, more peaceful!

Bless you!
And I wish you peace!
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The naked truth

When we are looking at the naked truth, we are looking at a situation that has been brought back to its bare essence, such that only the facts remain. And observing the factual truth, stripped from any emotional or ego-driven content, then we would see all of the situation we need to see in order to either handle it, or decide it has no longer a meaning in our lives.

However, while looking at the naked truth, we may conclude that the facts of the situation are correct,  we can still decide that the naked truth as it appears in front of us is not something we want to make part of our lives. In other words, that fact that we can see the situation ‘as is’, doesn’t necessarily mean that we resonate with it, or that it resonates with our personal truth.

A third part of the naked truth is how we perceive the facts of the situation. It has to do with the way we interpret the facts.
For instance, we can walk into a store for a specific item and find that it is out of stock. Now we can perceive this as a negative, or we can go to a different store and buy it at a discount. The naked truth is that the item was out of stock. Our personal truth may be the realization of how lucky we were, as now we have been able to buy it at a discount!

This means that whatever the situation, whether it rings true to us or not has as much to do with our perception of it, as it has to do with the presented facts of that situation. Our perception then is based upon our personal truth, while the facts only can be the basis for truth when they are correct. Either side of this ~ perception as well as the facts ~ may require a little research to know where we stand on it and whether the presented facts are, in fact, correct…

So where we might have thought that looking at the naked truth will paint the same picture for each of us, chances are this is not the case. We may still see different aspects, different things; even a different truth in the same situation.

And when we would be with a group of people all looking at the facts of the same situation, the ‘naked truth’ will be formed by taking all the different perceptions and molding them into one.
The naked truth is not a matter of ‘I am right and therefore you are wrong’, but rather a realization that both are seeing different aspects of the same truth, and therefore both are right!

*Art by Inge

Anticipation

There are many things that bring about a sense of anticipation. Things like birthday parties, new homes, new jobs… But one thing that never fails to bring a great sense of anticipation about is travel.

First there are the preparations. Making plans, deciding where we want to go, and when; and then the decisions on how long to go for, and what to do when we get there. Making certain our passports and visas are in order. And perhaps reading up on the different culture; all the ‘do’s and don’ts’…
All of these things add to that anticipation as it grows when the date on which it is all going to happen approaches.

Then, when we are finally about to make that trip ~ between getting everything ready, getting packed, and leaving everything back home all in order, getting a night sleep that is often a lot shorter than we would have liked, and the pressure to get to where we are going in time ~ that initial anticipation is nowhere to be found. There is just the stress of getting everything done.

Yet as we find that we are safely on our way, the anticipation returns ten-fold!
After all the planning and preparations, now it really is happening!
It sets us up to great expectations to make the most of it.

Whether we end up doing that, tends to be more of a choice than an actual string of experiences.
Of course there are those instances that a trip totally doesn’t work out. A trip when our luggage gets lost, the hotel is dirty, the included breakfast is marginal, and so on. But on average, when we decide within ourselves that we will have a good time; the all of those things we have anticipated for so long will happen in our trip; all the experiences we have read about, or heard about, we will have as well.

We can anticipate great things will be happening, but whether we will have all those experiences we have anticipated for so long, is a choice. Even the best planned, best prepared trip can fail to live up to its expectations when we don’t go for it! When we don’t get out, do things, meet people ~ everything can be perfect without us noticing that it is…

That is the thing about anticipation.
On one hand it lengthens the fun of our travel, it helps us prepare. On the other hand it can lead us to expect things that may not be entirely realistic. And when that happens, it is up to us to make that choice to make it the best trip ever after all!
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What a ride!

Moving through our lives, we may encounter periods when we are pushed to great heights, even when we don’t realize it as it is happening. It is a quiet, ongoing power that brings us ever higher. At times we may think that we are not moving at all, however, if we would take a moment to look around us, we can see for miles around! Almost as if we are perched on the top of a mountain, touching the sky.

And no matter how hard we have worked to reach the top; independent from the fulfillment it brings ~ eventually that quiet power that got us there is going to give way to a turbulent force which seems to set everything in movement. And even when we decide to take a moment to see where we are standing with all of that, everything around us is moving so turbulently that it is hard to see what is going on exactly…

Where our path through life had been quiet, organized and filled with purpose, now we find ourselves on a roller coaster track that doesn’t seem to have an end. It just keep going and going. With so many unexpected twists and turns, moving up or down without warning; it truly sets our lives upside down! And while we may like visiting a theme park in order to enjoy the roller coaster rides, when our entire life becomes a roller coaster we may find ourselves more in a kind of ‘survival mode’, rather than experiencing the joyful ecstasy brought on by the adrenaline rush of the roller coaster ride in the park…

After all, when it is happening ‘in real life’, so much more is at stake!
And let’s face it, when we get tired of the theme park we can leave and go home while looking back on a fun-filled day. But when it is happening to life itself, the only thing we can do is to ride it out.
The best we can hope for is that we start to anticipate the twists and turns as they come up, and move with them rather than feeling like a rag doll without any control over itself.
Perhaps we gain most from it keeping our eyes wide open, so we can enjoy the peaks and may see what the valleys are all about; while holding on for dear life.

Yet when this roller coaster of our lives finally runs out, one would hope that we could take a deep breath and look back at it not recounting how terrible it was, or how we totally didn’t have any control, or even how getting into it wasn’t our fault (Hmmmm…), but rather by letting go a scream of excitement (and relief), and saying ‘What a ride!!”
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The shape of days

Everything has its own shape and form ~ even those things that seem only to exist in energy, or the things that we normally would not look at as having any shape or form.

This way, each and every day has its own shape and form. And today that form is more circular than it may be on a lot of other days, because today is the first day of the year, the first day of the month; and yet as a Friday it is the last day of the week.
On top of that, it is that day on which we pronounce our New Year’s Resolutions ~ we announce our plans for this year to the world! Plans that we will work on from week to week…

And there it is, the circular energy of today.

The circle as a symbol has a wholeness to it. The end and the beginning come together. And for us, this day perhaps more than any other day of the year, we have come full circle as the old year has ended and the new year has just started.
The circle is also a symbol of flow. It has a continuously moving energy, almost os a stream in Spring. Except the flow of the circle originates in the Universe; with the Creative Force even.

This tells us that whatever happens today, it doesn’t make sense to try and ‘swim upstream’. If we find we are not moving in the direction we wish to go, the best we can do is getting into that part of the stream that will get us there more quickly. Or we can trust that the Universe will deliver us right where we need to be at exactly that time that is perfect…
(Which may not be the easiest thing to do, yet can be incredibly rewarding!)

Conceivably, if we observe the shape and form of each day as we wake up and work with the energy of that particular day ~ rather than working against it, or trying to force things into what we think they should be (like ‘swimming upstream’) ~ we may find that whatever we work on or with that day will happen more smoothly. It may come together with less effort and prove to be more rewarding than we thought possible.

Looking at each day like this, a circular day will provide us with the energy of (Universal) flow and wholeness. A square day will bring us the energy of structure. A triangular day has a nice energy to bring the pieces together. And so on.

And just looking at the innate shape of each day, will no doubt help you shape your days!