The Key to Lasting Happiness by Deepak Chopra

Behind the curtain of your intellect and emotions is your self-image or
ego. The ego is not your real self; it is the image of yourself that you
have slowly built over time. It is the mask behind which you hide, but it is
not the real you. And because it is not the real you, but a fraud, it lives
in fear. It wants approval. It needs to control. And it follows you
wherever you go.

The ego is the prison you have built around yourself, and now it holds
you captive within its walls. Any time you feel discomfort in your body,
your ego, which is e-g-o or edging-god-out, is overshadowing your inner
self.
Fear, doubt, worry, and concern are some of the energies associated
with your ego. And how do you break free from captivity? You break free by
choosing to identify with your inner self, the real you.

You break free when you feel neither beneath anyone nor superior to
anyone, when you shed the need to control other people, when you no longer use
stereotypes or harbor extreme likes or dislikes toward people you
hardly know. You break free when you refuse to follow the impulses of anger
and fear, when your speech is nurturing rather than scathing, when you
choose to express only your love.

You break free when you surrender to the moment, to what is, and trust
that the universe is on your side, when you let go of grievances and choose
to forgive.

Grievances are the melodrama of the ego that overshadows the spirit.
When you relinquish all grievances, you truly break free and find your soul.
The soul is the source of creativity, understanding, peace, harmony,
laughter, and all possibilities. It is a place of stillness, which is beyond
labels.
But as soon as we use labels - good or bad - we create an image that
overshadows the inner self. Without those labels, we are the free
spirit and the free flow of the universe.

The world of the ego is time-bound, temporary, fearful, self-centered,
and attached to the known. It clings to pleasure and recoils from pain. The
world of spirit is timeless and eternal, joyful, undivided, unshakable,
dynamic, creative, powerful, and free of every limitation. The world of
spirit is the source of all power. There never was and never will be
any other source of power. What the world calls power is really fear that
leads to manipulation and control of others, which in turn leads to violence
and suffering. Real power is the power to create, the power to transform,
the power to love, the power to heal, and the power to be free. Real power
comes from our connection to our deepest self, to what is real. That is why
powerful people are self-referred, not object-referred. These two terms
need a further explanation.

Object-referral means that we identify with our self-image or the
objects of our experience to understand ourselves. These objects can be
situations, circumstances, people, or things, but whenever we refer to objects to
define our identity, we are operating out of object-referral mode. By their
very nature objects change, and as long as we identify with objects, we will
never know our real essence. When we understand ourselves through
objects, or through the eyes of others, our life is like a roller-coaster ride.
If our identity is tied to these, then life is always going to be unstable
because everything is constantly changing.

The opposite of object-referral is self-referral. When we are
self-referred, we identify with our inner self, the unchanging essence of our soul. We
feel wonderful regardless of the situation we are in because we don't
identify ith the situation. We are the detached, silent witness of the
situation.
Self-referral is an internal state of joy, and this is different from
happiness for a reason. Of course there's always a reason to be happy.
Somebody says, "I love you," and that makes you feel happy. You win the
lottery and that makes you feel happy. This kind of happiness is an
expression of object-referral: You're happy because of this; you're
happy because of that. But inner joy is independent of the situation,
circumstances, people, or things. When you experience inner joy, you
are happy for no reason. Just to be alive to gaze at the stars, to
experience the beauty of this world, to be experientially alive in the miracle of
life itself is your happiness.

Everything in life is changing; that is the nature of our world. But
when you are self-referred, you enjoy the change instead of resisting it.
People have asked me, "If something bad is happening in my life, how can I be
happy instead of negative and depressed?" Well, by going back to your source,
by recognizing that whatever is happening, it comes and goes. You don't
need to look positively or negatively at a difficult situation.

What is a positive mind? It's an interpretation. What is a negative
mind?
It's also an interpretation. And the difference between a positive mind
and a negative mind is sometimes quite superficial. Both a positive mind
and a negative mind can be a turbulent mind, and sometimes one can switch to
the other very quickly. Courage can become fear in the twinkling of an eye.
Love can transform into jealousy in the twinkling of an eye. These are
turbulent minds. More important than a positive mind is a silent mind.

Why not go beyond both a positive mind and a negative mind to become a
silent, nonjudgmental, nonanalytical, noninterpretive mind? In other
words, the silent witness. In the process of silent witnessing, we experience
inner silence. In the purity of silence, we feel connected to our source and
to everything. In silence, we flow with the tide, and the tendencies that
emerge from here are evolutionary. In silence, inner energies
spontaneously wake up and bring about the appropriate transformation for every
situation.

There's a saying that goes, "The river of life runs between the banks
of pleasure and pain, and one bumps into both." That's not the problem.
The problem occurs when we cling to the banks, either the positive one or
the negative one. When we quietly reconcile ourselves to all of life's
contradictions, when we can comfortably flow between the banks of
pleasure and pain, experiencing them both while getting stuck in neither, then
we are free.

Joy and sorrow, happiness and suffering, are the play of opposites;
they are transient because they are time-bound. Spirit, the essential you, is
independent of the play of opposites; it dwells in the silent bliss of
the eternal. When you truly know who you are, then you are living from your
source, which is bliss. The key to happiness is to stop looking for it,
and to know that you already have it. The key to lasting happiness is to
live and play in the field of intelligence that is beyond positive and
negative.
That field is your source, and it is magical, holy, joyful, and free.

(c) 2006 by Deepak Chopra. Excerpted from Power, Freedom, & Grace:
Living from
the Source of Lasting Happiness. Published by permission of Amber-Allen
Publishing, Inc., San Rafael, California. For more information about
Dr.
Chopra, visit Chopra.com

Citação de Abraham - Força do Pensamento

Sabemos que poucos de vocês podem deixar seu trabalho hoje e começar a idealizar seu caminho para o sucesso porque existe um espaço de tempo para as coisas acontecerem e seus credores logo começariam a bater nas suas portas. Portanto, não estamos dizendo que parem de agir completamente e apenas sonhem. Estamos dizendo para sonhar um pouco mais e agir um pouco menos. Estamos dizendo que 10 a 15 minutos de focalização e visualização até que encontre a emoção do sucesso é equivalente a muitas horas de ação. Quando você sustenta um pensamento puro - sem contradizê-lo - por 17 segundos, outro pensamento semelhante se junta a ele e existe muita força nesta união. Mas porque raramente passam dos 8 segundos sem contradizer o pensamento, você não descobre o poder do pensamento. Muitos de vocês não descobriram ainda que o Universo conspira a seu favor. Trabalham duro a partir da atitude de desvalor, não se julgando bons o bastante e achando que precisam se justificar .

Abraham-Hicks - Boulder, 6/6/1999 - Tradução de Claudia Giovani/07

Entrevista "The Secret" no show da Ellen DeGeneres - 12/01/2006

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cA9exF836k

Jasmine

Jasmine, a very sensual oil, is said to be the bestaphrodisiac that
aromatherapy can offer. It seems toincrease the attractiveness of the person
wearing it.Blends well with Rose, Neroli, Sandalwood,Orange and Ylang
Ylang.

The Winds of Faith

There is a bright sun of benevolence that shines down upon you at all
times. It is love. It is knowledge. It is joy and peace. And it
shines down upon you endlessly, the warm rays always reaching toward you,
to comfort you, to direct you, to love you.



But there are times when the clouds of doubt and worry obscure this sun
from your view. There are times when your own thoughts darken the sky,
as you concern yourself with your future, as you fill yourself with
regrets over the past, thinking that if only you had done things
differently, you would now be happier and more secure.



And all of these thoughts are gathering clouds that obscure the loving
and warm sun from your sight. But still it shines. Still it is there
for you.



And there are times when life seems overwhelming, when those dark
clouds gather and grow stormy, when you worry and wonder how you can
possibly deal with all that is happening in your life. And at the very time
that you need the warm glowing sun of guidance and love, this is the
time when the sky may seem darkest, when doubt and fear flash across the
sky and blame and criticism thunder out their warnings.



But still the sun shines. Still it is there for you, blessing you, the
life-giving rays reaching down to you, making their way between the
clouds.



Let us now call up the fresh wind of faith. Feel the breeze freshening
out in the distance, a strong wind of faith to blow through your mind,
clearing it of all doubt, clearing it of all fear, blowing through and
sweeping away all blame and criticism, all fear disguised as regret,
all fear disguised as anger, let it all sweep through.



See the clouds scurrying away. See how they are carried away by the
strong gust of faith that is blowing now across your mind and heart,
clearing you.



See how, with the clouds of doubt and fear blown away, the rays of the
sun can shine down unhindered, full of warm love and the blessings of
grace. Feel the warmth, the love that is there for you. Feel and know
that you are deeply loved and treasured and that this benevolence and
grace is always here for you, always here flowing and glowing endlessly,
endless love, endless grace.



Here is a little prayer for today

I am deeply worth of the love of the universe, of the love that flows
endlessly to me. I allow my faith to be strong enough to blow the
clouds away and expose the great love that is there for me, to bring it to
my view, so that my every moment is graced by beauty, peace and love.



My belief is so strong, that I am able to overcome anything that stands
in the way of my receiving this grace, this love, this joy and peace.
I have the power to do this at any moment, in every moment.



I am power. I am faith. I am the power of faith realized in this
moment. I am.

You Have Yourself

In the end, what you have is yourself, who you are in your core, the
truth and integrity that are you. In the end, this is what you have.



Your success in the outside world can depend so heavily on the opinions
and actions of others that you can become confused, believing that you
make terrible mistakes, wondering if others like or respect you,
wondering what you did wrong, in a state of perpetual worry that you are
somehow not enough. And when this happens and all you feel is some
distorted reflection of what you think others want from you, of what you think
they expect from you in order for you to succeed, then you can lose
your way and become nothing but a bundle of nerves.



Did I do the right thing? Did I say the right thing? Am I dressed
correctly? Did I express myself well? Do I convey the right image? If
you are trying to make your way in the world, whether it is in front of
the camera or behind the scenes, yes, all of this does have an impact
on your success with a given group of people. But in the end, all you
have is yourself and who you are and how you shine out with courage and
integrity when you need to.



Right now, feel your center. Find the spark of peace and calm within
you, the light that glows in your solar plexus. If you have been overly
concerned with the opinions of others, that spark may seem a bit dim.
If so, open the top of your head to your own soul self and fill
yourself again with the glowing golden presence of you, just you and only you,
you in your highest form, you in the most complete and whole way that
you are, deeply connected to love, deeply filled with peace. Let that
golden energy flow into you, let it clear your mind, heal your heart and
then ignite that spark in your center, letting it grow brighter and
brighter.



Now feel it. This is who you are. This is the essential you, this
pool of peace and love, this sure knowing of what is right. This is you.
This rightness is your rightness and it holds, no matter what.



You know who you are. You know the talents that you have, even when
you have not been able to adequately express them to others. You know
the heart that beats true in your body, the incredible wealth of
knowledge and experience you have to share, even if you are not being given an
opportunity to show it right now. You know the deep well of resource
that is you, the way you can get things done, the unique and sure way
you view things, the well of creativity that is yours to tap into. You
know all this. Go deeply into the place where you are absolutely
certain of this, regardless of what anyone else thinks. This is who you are.



And now, shine. Let the glow begin to be brighter and brighter. Let
the feeling of peace deepen until you can feel it as endless. Endless
peace, endless love, endless centering into all that is.



And here, deep inside, where the peace is endless and you feel yourself
connected deeply, know yourself. This is the unchanging you. This is
who you are no matter what happens outside of you. In the end, this is
what you have and who you are.



This is the ever-refreshing source for truth, for decisions, for
actions. Yes, of course you must be aware of those around you, read them and
connect with them, pay attention. But in the end, this is the place
where you must return, over and over, to decide what action you will
take. This is the well of certainty, this is the truth that does not
compromise because it is all there is, this is the choice that moves through
the fire and out the other side, where seeming risk is no risk at all,
because the truth stands always.



This is not a state of euphoria. This is a state of calm. This is not
a seeking for approval, but a certain knowing of what is right, for
you, for this moment, right now. And in the end, this is all there is.



Here is a little prayer for today



I center myself deeply within, opening to the bright glow of my higher
self and refilling myself from that eternal source, building my pool of
peace and certainty, getting my strength and my courage from the
shining light that I am.



I am this courage and this truth. I am this peace and this endless
flowing love. I am the absolute knowing of myself and the shining light
that never dies. I am.

How emotions affect the chakras

There are emotions and states that are able to close down chakras, if
they're not processed adequately. Anodea Judith calls them 'demons' in
her
book 'Eastern Body, Western Mind'. The demons affect the 'rights' that
are
associated with the chakras.

1. Root Chakra
Fear
The right to be here
2. Sacral Chakra
Guilt
The right to feel
3. Navel Chakra
Shame
The right to act
4. Heart Chakra
Sorrow
The right to love and be loved
5. Throat Chakra
Lies
The right to speak and hear truth
6. Third Eye Chakra
Illusion
The right to see
7. Crown Chakra
Attachment
The right to know

10 º aniversário da morte da minha 1ª maezinha

Hoje faz 10 anos que a minha vovó morreu, parece impossível, já passaram 10 anos. Vivi a minha vida toda com ela até a sua morte. A morte dela mudou a minha vida por completo, foi como me tivessem tirado o chão debaixo dos meus pés e estive uns bons tempos em queda livre. Tudo mudou, a casa, as regras, a rotina, a atitude minha família em relação a mim (ela era como uma fortaleza a minha volta)... Infelizmente senti-me como um dos escravos de antigamente vestidos de carneirinhos lançados aos leões... O choque foi brutal e muitas emoções negativas se desenvolverem, tendo provavelmente criado grande parte das doenças que tenho hoje, incluindo a fribro. Tenho ultimamente pensado muito nela e tudo o que passou há 10 anos por esta altura. O que foi dito e o que ficou por dizer, por não ter coragem de fazer o que era certo de se fazer. Sentimentos que ficaram guardados debaixo do tapete até hoje,.

Vovó, lamento imenso a gente se ter desentendido poucos meses antes, mas acho que somos pessoas muito diferentes e não conseguimos nos comunicar. Sei que fizeste o melhor que podias para me criar, mesmo não sendo a pessoa mais perfeita deste mundo, mas pelo menos foste umas das pessoas que ficou feliz por eu ter nascido. A historia da tua vida foi como um exemplo de vida para mim e acho que foste uma grande heroina, fazendo-me crescer com uma base mas madura. Injustamente te acusei durante anos de teres me afastado da minha mãe, mas só quando senti na pele mãe que tenho, que compreendi que fizeste o que era certo naquele momento. Infelizmente sou uma pessoa muito fechada, não sabendo demonstrar o meu carinho e o meu agradecimento, mas isso acho que ganhei de ti, e espero que me perdoes da minha insensibilidade que demonstrei nos nossos últimos encontros, porém foi uma defesa minha para conseguir sobreviver. Só espero que esteja muito bem por ai e que descanses muito para a nova vida que te espera, de novo perto de mim ou não... Entretanto a vida passa bem rapido por aqui, pagando o nosso karma, seguindo o nosso caminho. A vida é dura mas é assim a vida. beijos P

MEDITANDO...

Meditação é a arte de deixarmos nossa mente quieta e descansada.

Quando fisicamente nos sentimos cansados e exaustos, só temos uma coisa em mente: dormir, relaxar, descansar. Essa é a única maneira que encontramos para nos recuperarmos do cansaço, caso contrário, o estado contínuo de fatiga pode nos levar a profundas dores musculares, cãibras e até mesmo à doença. Por outro lado, nossa mente nunca descansa. Ela se encontra ativa dia e noite. Mesmo durante o sono, ela está funcionando, mandando estímulos para que nosso corpo continue ativo, vivo, ainda que se recuperando da luta diária.

O exercício da Meditação permite que você consiga desacelerar um pouquinho a sua mente. Com a prática, você será capaz de 'parar'o fluxo contínuo de pensamentos por alguns minutos, permitindo que a sua mente descanse, se recupere e se organize. Enquanto isso, as suas funções físicas continuarão trabalhando, harmonicamente, sem a interferência positiva ou negativa da corrente de pensamentos que é capaz de provocar alterações energéticas, físicas, químicas e orgânicas em nosso organismo.

Meditar é se permitir não ter preocupações por alguns segundos ou minutos. É se encontrar despido de todos os pensamentos que o induzem a realização de suas ações diárias.


Fácil? Difícil? Por que você não tenta? Sim, aí mesmo sentado na frente do computador. Respire fundo, relaxe, feche seus olhos e tente não pensar em nada por um minuto.

Você conseguiu? Não? Tudo bem.


A prática da meditação exige treinamento. Temos que aprender primeiro a desacelerar o fluxo de pensamentos antes de tentar pará-los por completo. Só o ato de reduzir a velocidade de nossos pensamentos e idéias já nos permite sentir um pouco mais de harmonia e paz. É como se o mundo a nossa volta também desacelerasse.


Como posso começar a aprender a meditar?

Experimente fazer o mesmo exercício sugerido acima, só que dessa vez colocando alguma música calma no fundo. Você vai notar que ainda não foi capaz de parar a onda de pensamentos, mas conseguiu reduzí-los um pouco. Dessa vez, sua mente se concentrou na freqüência vibratória da música que você estava escutando, permitindo que você exercece maior controle sobre seus pensamentos, permitindo que você relaxasse mais.

Com isso, o grande segredo do iniciante de meditação é focalizar a atenção de sua mente em alguma outra coisa, conduzindo, desta maneira, todo fluxo de pensamento para um específico ponto. A música por sí só serve como um estímulo único e focalizado para a mente, cuja frequência vibratória irá se harmonizar independentemente da nossa vontade.

Quando nossa mente se silencia, conseguimos perceber outras vibrações inerentes ao nosso ser. Conseguimos entrar em contato com a nossa criança/divindade/mago interior. E, redescobrindo nosso interior, entramos em contato com os desejos mais íntimos de nossa alma. E, assim, aprendemos a redirecionar nosso caminho em direção de nossa evolução como seres humanos.

Sem a interferência de nossos pensamentos, podemos perceber com mais clareza o propósito de nossas vidas, sem mencionar que o estado de relaxamento que adquirimos com a prática da meditação permite que o nosso corpo funcione de uma maneira mais equilibrada e, com isso, mais saudável.


Como posso meditar?

Você poderá começar a praticar meditação no começo do seu dia. Sim, para começar o seu dia de uma maneira mais equilibrada, dando tempo à sua mente para sair do estado de sono para o começo da luta diária.

Sente-se num lugar confortável, diretamente no chão ou em uma cadeira com apoio para as costas. Para os que preferem o chão, sente-se na posição oriental, de lótus ou de Yoga, com as pernas cruzadas e a coluna reta. Na cadeira, mantenha também as costas retas e as pernas e pés separados, encostando no chão. Fique à vontade para colocar uma música ambiente ou ficar em silêncio. RELAXE!

Focalize sua atenção no seu corpo. Feche os olhos. Comece sentindo seus pés, forçando e relaxando a musculatura dos pés. Sinta o sangue, a energia sendo liberada para o seu corpo. Agora focalize sua atenção na parte de trás das suas pernas, também forçando e relaxando a musculatura. Repare sua respiração e tente respirar tranqüilamente pelo nariz. Continue fazendo este exercício de focalização nas suas coxas, quadris, estômago… até chegar no seu coração.

Dê uma parada, sinta-se relaxado e comece a observar as batidas de seu coração. Perceba que elas começam a se harmonizar com a sua respiração. RELAXE! Tente focalizar toda sua atenção nas batidas de seu coração e na sua respiração. Se você não conseguir se CONCENTRAR de maneira que seus pensamentos desacelere, tudo bem. Com a prática seus pensamentos começaram a diminuir até a sua mente ficar calada. Não tente impedir forçosamente que seus pensamentos venham. Reconheça cada pensamento com tranqüilidade e se despeça dele.

É como se você falasse prá você mesmo "tudo bem, reconheço que estou pensando, que hoje tenho que lavar o carro" ou "reconheço que posso me atrasar". O ato de tomar conhecimento do que está passando na sua cabeça permite que o fluxo de pensamentos venha de uma maneira mais organizada e controlada. Com o tempo, você será capaz de dizer para você mesmo: "Reconheço que mil pensamentos são necessários para eu viver, mas agora é hora de silêncio" e sua mente irá se silenciar.

Quando você sentir a sincronia entre as batidas do seu coração e a sua mente e que seus pensamentos começam a ceder espaço para o silêncio, comece a reparar a linguagem de seu corpo: regiões que ainda precisam de mais relaxamento, onde está dolorido e onde está em paz. Perceba que seu corpo vibra ritmicamente com o seu coração e a sua respiração.

RELAXE! E tente mais uma vez não pensar em nada, diga prá você mesmo: "Tenho consciência do meu corpo, dos meus pensamentos, do meu ser. Eu estou em harmonia. Eu estou em silêncio". No momento em que você perceber que seus pensamentos começam a voltar, concentre-se de novo na sua respiração e no seu coração. Relaxe seu pescoço, sua cabeça e perceba mais uma vez o seu corpo como um todo.

RELAXE! Tente reconduzir seus pensamentos e limpar sua mente.

Quando seus pensamentos começarem a vir de uma maneira insistente ou se seu corpo começa a apresentar sinais de desconforto ou cansaço, comece a despertar lentamente: primeiro conscientizando-se de seus pés, depois de suas pernas, até ter consciência de todo o seu corpo. Perceba sua respiração e, embora ela ainda esteja em harmonia com as batidas de seu coração, a sinta como uma coisa separada.

Escute apenas o seu coração, sem associações. RELAXE! Comece a reparar os sons externos, a música relaxante, o silêncio ou o barulho de sua casa, a vida lá fora. Levante-se com calma ou, ainda sentado, dê tempo para que sua consciência entre no ritmo da rotina diária. Sinta como você está relaxado e sua mente tranqüila.

Comece praticando por apenas 3 minutos e vá aumentando o tempo progressivamente, de acordo com os seus resultados, até que você consiga meditar por ½ hora. Comece, então, praticar pela manhã e pela noitinha. Com o tempo, você perceberá que será capaz de meditar em qualquer lugar, em casa, no trabalho, no ônibus… e também notará que sua mente irá se desligar pelo tempo que você estabelecer, 5 minutos ou ½ hora.

Você também poderá fazer uma meditação dirigida para buscar a solução de algum problema ou beneficiar alguma condição de saúde. Para isso, focalize sua atenção na questão antes de entrar no estado de meditação, logo após o relaxamento.

Por exemplo, fale prá você mesmo: "Hoje, enquanto minha mente se silencia, minha 'criança interior' poderá me ajudar a solucionar o seguinte problema xxxxxx". Ou: "Hoje, enquanto minha mente se silencia, meu corpo físico irá trabalhar pela cura da minha dor de estômago".

Daí, RELAXE e comece a sincronizar sua respiração com o seu coração. Você poderá receber visões durante a meditação ou terá uma diferente perspectiva do problema ao despertar. Nas condições de saúde, a prática direcionada contínua irá permitir alguma melhora, mas não é possível garantir a cura para o problema.

A prática da meditação permite que você tome um papel mais ativo no controle de suas funções vitais. Com o tempo, você passará observar o mundo à sua volta de uma maneira diferente. As necessidades alimentares de seu corpo também poderão mudar. Muitos começam, naturalmente, a comer de uma maneira mais saudável e equilibrada.

A luz solar também passará a ter mais importância como fonte essencial de energia. O importante é que a prática da meditação permite que nos tornemos pessoas mais equilibradas, menos stresssadas, sentindo maior prazer em viver. Mudando positivamente nossa interação com o universo e com nós mesmos.

Emoções e a lua

Emotions and the Moon
by Donna Cunningham

Perhaps the most crucial human function described by the Moon is mothering - the mothering you give and the mothering you got. We'll see that the two are nearly inseparable. A less sexist word for this function is nurturing - after all, we can get caring, feeding, and loving from our fathers and other people as well as our mothers. As grownups, men hopefully do take care of others (friends and relatives, as well as children), and this is one of the functions of the Moon in a man's chart, although an often suppressed or disguised one in our culture. For most people locked in a traditional upbringing, however, the Moon functions were most often filled by the mother, so the Moon in the chart may be read as the mother. The Moon describes how well we can take care of others, gratify their needs, and how well we can accept those same needs in ourselves. It show how comfortable we are with dependency. Can we tolerate feeling dependent and actively go out to get those needs met? And, similarly, can we respond when others are dependent on us?

With a Moon in Cancer, for instance, dependency is strong. The person may be extremely dependent on others and show it; or, conversely, may hide their own dependency, consciously or unconsciously, by going all out to take care of others. The trap here is that this mother-to-the- world pose can leave the person drained and feeling even more dependent. A Moon in Aries person, on the other hand, places a high value on their own independence and has a very low tolerance for other people's dependency. It gets in the way of all those bright, shiny new things they want to achieve.

Psychology teaches us that our attitude toward dependency in ourselves and others comes directly from our parents, particularly our mothers. If the parent was able to deal with our dependency in a loving but balanced way - neither over-protective nor neglectful - then we will also be able to handle dependency appropriately. A Moon/Saturn or Moon in Capricorn person had a mother (or parents) who was dutiful but cold toward their needs and who pushed them to grow up too fast. A Moon/Neptune or Moon in Pisces person may have had a parent who was outwardly more sympathetic to their needs, but who was oddly elusive when the chips were down. Both of these people might have the same problems in responding to others as their parents did.

Like it or not, we generally become the kind of parents our parents were. As psychologically aware people, we may vow to raise our children differently than we were raised. Nevertheless, when the children actually come along, we are often dismayed to find ourselves sounding and acting just like our own parents. Why is this? The Moon shows the patterns, habits, and memories from our earliest years, many of which are unconscious. We live what we learn, and one of the things we learn from our parents is how to be a parent. Since it is mainly unconscious, these patterns are difficult to put under rational control. Children who were abused, for instance, very often grow up to be abusive parents.

Need for Security

The Moon also rules your basic sense of security, which early parenting influences in a crucial but unconscious way. It is unconscious because it happens long before the infant is able to think in words. It comes from the way the infant is held, how it is fed, and how it is responded to when it cries - whether all these things are done with love, with anxiety, with indifference, or even with hostility. At that time in our lives, we are totally dependent on the parent for our very survival. Thus the type of parenting you get at this preverbal stage shapes your attitude toward the world you live in. Is it a safe place or a hostile one? Do you feel lovable? Do you feel wanted or barely tolerated? An analysis of the Moon in your chart will answer these questions. In the preverbal stage, according to the theories of psychoanalyst Erik Erikson, we either develop or fail to develop basic trust. Basic trust means that we find the world, and the people in it, good and trustworthy. This stage has a very great effect on our ability to allow other people to be close to us, and on our over-all orientation to life.

The person with Moon in Scorpio, for example, learned very early not to trust. The parent may have pretended concern and caring (even to the point of being over-protective) , but there was often some other, less loving motivation behind it. Many times, the parent was manipulative and controlling, while pretending to have only the best interests of the child at heart. Thus, the child learned to be suspicious and, in self-defense, to try to second-guess others and find out their real motivation. As an adult, the person often adopts some of the parents' controlling patterns of behavior.

In contrast, the person with Moon in Taurus, unless the Moon has difficult aspects, had more positive nurturing. The parents were stable and accepted the child's needs. They were more forthright, not so hard to understand or so emotional as with the Moon in Scorpio. As a result, the child grows up secure and feeling that he and the world are basically okay. (Naturally, other aspects in the chart can modify this.) Taurus is the sign traditionally thought to be the best placement for the Moon - its "exaltation" . We always have to ask ourselves, "Best for what?" since Moon in Taurus has its drawbacks also, but for a sense of basic trust and security, it is a good sign.

Each person needs different things in order to feel secure, and the Moon in your chart shows the conditions under which you would feel most emotionally secure. A person with the Moon in the eleventh house would feel most secure when surrounded by friends or in some meaningful group. Someone with the Moon in the seventh usually only feels secure when involved in a long-term intimate relationship. The sign and house position can conflict - to have it in Aquarius means there is only security in freedom and change. The Moon in Aquarius in the fourth? Better invest in a mobile home. Many people may judge themselves harshly. For example, the Moon in Aquarius in the fourth person may say "It's bad for me to be so restless." Astrology can help you recognize those needs as valid and important and help you set out to meet them.

Generally, the Moon's sign, house, and aspects will describe your actual mother - to the extent that sometimes the child's Moon sign is the mother's Sun sign. What is interesting, however, is that children in the same family may have vastly different Moons. In one family, for instance, the older brother and sister both have Moon in Aries, but the younger sister has Moon in Scorpio. The older children were both encouraged to be independent (Aries), but at the time the younger sister was born, the mother nearly died. (Scorpio is sometimes associated with death.) For that reason, perhaps, the quality of the relationship between the mother and the younger sister was very different. She was pampered, overprotected, and called "Baby Doll" up to the time she was 14. We can speculate that the mother unconsciously resented that child bitterly for bringing her so close to death, but covered this feeling up by the overprotection and pampering. (This is one pattern you may find with Moon in Scorpio.)

Why do these discrepancies in Moons in the same family occur? What the Moon describes is not the actual mother, but the child's experience of her. That is, it doesn't show the mother as a total person separate from the child, but only the child's-eye view of her. Parents cannot treat all children alike - some children are better loved, some rub you the wrong way, some remind you of people you love or hate. Then, too, conditions in the home can change, and this can cause a difference in the mothering.

You can actually trace the history of a family through the sequence of Moons in the offspring. For instance, an early child or two may have Moon in Taurus, showing a warm and giving relationship with the mother. After the birth of a third child, however, perhaps economic conditions force the mother to go to work. Perhaps that child is born with Moon in Capricorn, showing that the mother is now more serious and intent on business, with less left over to give the child when the work day is finished. There are still similarities - both Taurus and Capricorn are earth signs - but the third child doesn't experience as much warmth from the mother, and isn't allowed to be a baby long enough. The mother pushes the child to grow up and be less of a burden on her, because she is worn out from working.

To take another example, sometimes a child with Moon in Libra (or other crucial placements in that sign) is conceived because the mother feels it will cement a marriage that is breaking apart (or, if not yet married, in the hope it will induce the man to marry her). This strategy rarely works out, because in reality a new baby puts a great stress on a relationship, even one that is working well. So, when the already-strained relationship breaks up or becomes more distant, the mother turns to her Moon in Libra child for the love and closeness she is missing from the child's father. The child then grows up needing that kind of constant closeness and being strongly motivated to form relationships. This may be a person who can't stand to be alone - it makes him/her insecure and unhappy.

Dealing with Emotions

The Moon in our chart also shows our emotions and how we deal with them, as well as how we respond to the emotions of people around us. This, again, relates back to the nurturing we had as a very young child. How well our parents responded to our emotional expressions has a great deal to do with what emotions we allow ourselves to feel and how we deal with them and with other people's emotions.

Air Sign Moons

In the case of people born with the Moon in an air sign (particularly Gemini and Aquarius, not so much Libra), the mother was often cold to the child's emotions and tended to detach herself from the child when it cried or expressed some other emotion the mother found unpleasant. As a result, the child learned to cut off all emotions and to be detached from them... it was either that, or lose the mother's love and approval. In an extreme case, this can lead to a schizoid-type person, detached from all emotions. Often, with the air sign Moons, the mother could handle feelings only on an intellectual basis, asking the child to explain them away or make them rational. (But, then, there is little that is rational about our feelings.) As adults, these people intellectualize feelings rather than being in touch with them. They want to talk away their emotions and the emotions of other people. I've seen cases where imitative Moon in Gemini people know intellectually that people are supposed to have feelings about certain situations, so may counterfeit emotions that aren't really there in order to be more socially acceptable.

Earth Sign Moons

Earth sign Moons can also have a certain amount of difficulty in dealing with emotions. If you can't see it, touch it, or taste it, it ain't real. Moon in Capricorn and Virgo want to analyze those "irrational" feelings away. Moon in Taurus is more accepting of emotions and of nearly everything else, but will work hard to restore serenity. The primary emotion Moon in Capricorn or Virgo people allow themselves is melancholic self-recrimination over their lack of perfection - an emotion that arises directly from their parents, who were over-critical. Nonetheless, earth sign Moons approach emotions on a practical level - trying to find out what's causing the problem and what concrete steps can be taken to alleviate it. For that reason, they can be a Rock of Gibraltar to others who are going through an internal emotional crisis and who, as a result, are having difficulty dealing with the demands of the outside world.

Fire Sign Moons

Fire sign Moons (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius) respond more actively, and even aggressively, to most situations that confront them in life, and that goes for emotions too. They instinctively mobilize to stop the thing that's bothering them, or to go after the thing they need. Anger is an emotion most of us have trouble dealing with, but here the fire sign Moons are better off than most, unless there are difficult aspects from planets like Saturn, Pluto, or Neptune. The main lack I find in the fire sign Moons is sensitivity to other people's feelings. They are so 'gung ho' about doing their own thing that they don't readily slow down to consider how you might feel about their actions. You first have to get their attention. Then, if you are somehow identified as being part of them (typical of Aries or Leo), or if their ego gets involved, they will respond to your emotions the same way they'd respond to their own - "Charge!"

Water Sign Moons

Water, in occult studies, refers to emotions, and the water sign Moons are the most emotional of all. Some unsympathetic souls even say they revel in it. With Moon in Cancer or Scorpio, a considerable amount of energy is invested in discovering, experiencing, and digesting emotions. Paradoxically, Moon in Pisces, which is potentially the most emotional, constantly attempts to escape from unpleasant feelings, leading in some cases to an addictive personality or to living in a fantasy world. Water sign Moons are also very sensitive and responsive to other people's feelings. Often, on an intuitive level, they feel what you feel. The primary difficulty with water sign Moons is getting so hung up in their emotions that they lose some effectiveness in dealing with the outside world. With emotions, as with most other things in life, we need to strike a balance.

To conclude, the Moon in our birth charts has a very great significance, and the fourth house, which is connected with the Moon, rules roots and foundations. If the Moon in your chart is placed in a difficult sign or receives difficult aspects, then something went wrong in laying the foundations or establishing roots. In such a case, dependency and the ability to trust are deeply affected, and you may also have difficulty in dealing with emotions in a balanced way. Thus, getting a good understanding of the Moon in a chart is extremely important.

Chave para a paz

Key to Peace

When something yucky shows up in your life, which thought do you hold?


1) What in the hell am I doing to attract such a thing in my life?

2) Please take away this pain! I cannot cope with one more thing.

3) Thank you for this sacred opportunity to be of service to someone.

4) Thank you for showing me to myself, that I may heal.

5) A miracle is now unfolding. I surrender to Love.


Be certain of this: Your response to anything that shows up in your life is
the key to lasting Peace.

Yes, it is true that we attract our experiences. But, please do not assume
that everything arriving in a black cloak is meant to teach you your darkness.
It is ALWAYS present to teach you your light.

The Top 10 Steps for Success and Fulfillment

Break through your blocks, unleash your potential, find
peace of mind and freedom, and make a difference by using
these top keys for success and fulfillment. If you're really
serious about change, follow these 10 key steps:

1) Develop personal discipline - It takes discipline --
commitment, effort and time -- to learn and grow and change.
We often know what is best for us, but then stay with old
ways because they are familiar. Change requires that we pass
through a stage of discomfort until we adjust to new ways of
being. Learn to focus your mind and your time on your goals,
and to persevere until you succeed. Master willpower and you
can master anything.

2) Master time management principles - Get the very most
from your time. Continually evaluate whether what you are
doing serves your greatest purpose. Value your time and your
life as priceless commodities. Own your power to live your
life your way.

3) Tap the power of daily journaling - All you need to know
-- all the answers and the wisdom you could ever need --
lies within you. And journaling offers the best tool to
access that wisdom.

4) Set meaningful goals - Goals help us identify what we
want, set priorities, create action plans and attain
results. As you plot targets and achieve them, you will take
control of your life. Your self-esteem, happiness and
fulfillment will grow. Success breeds success.

5) Stimulate your creativity to expand your options - Every
mind is creative. All you need is the training and practice
to get your mind working in new and different ways. With
enhanced creativity, you will solve problems faster and more
easily, and have more fun doing it!

6) Develop your awareness and intuition - When we depend
solely on rational thinking, we lose access to a valid and
highly valuable source of knowledge within us -- our
intuition. With simple awareness exercises, you can
significantly expand the information available to you for
improved decision-making. You can work through the blocks
and connect with imagination and inspiration.

7) Empty your mind regularly - Only when you have a quiet
mind can you truly be stress-free, creative and intuitive.
With rest and recreation, you can let go of worldly
pressures and connect with the essence of who you are.
Practice meditation or periods of relaxation daily. Do not
compromise your holidays. Allow your mind to take a break.

8) Know your life purpose - As we align with our life
purpose and unlock our inner power, life becomes easier and
more meaningful. We become more focused and energetic, and
we attract synchronicities and gifts of abundance that help
us fulfill our mission.

9) Track your growth and success - It's so easy to get
caught in busyness, doing what's urgent rather than what's
important. Tracking tools help you focus on what's most
important. They offer measuring sticks so you can monitor
your growth and successes. With this regular discipline,
each year will just keep getting better!

10) Accept yourself fully - It's only when we truly accept
who we are right now that we can change. Why do you want
change? If it's because you think you aren't good enough
now, this lack of self-worth will undermine your efforts to
grow and achieve success. Love who you are, with all of your
strengths and weaknesses. This gives you a solid foundation
to make your life even better! You will turn your dreams
into reality!

Make Sense of Your World
with the Initiation Home Study Program
http://www.totransformyou.com

Self-Esteem versus Self-Acceptance

By Peter Shepherd

A common misconception is that the assessment of a person's competence and ability is equivalent to a value judgement of the worth of the actual person. Any self-esteem that results from such an identification is a house built of cards that may instantly collapse, when the next action is judged as wrong, incompetent or stupid, and the person therefore as "less worthy".

A more logical, realistic and beneficial approach to the individual is an unconditional acceptance of the core Self. The essential worth of an individual is unarguable, but the personality, the adaptive ego, may carry along maladaptive behaviours like tin cans trailing behind it.

The individual and his learned and practised behaviour patterns or beliefs, are not the same thing. Every person is fallible and prone to make mistakes, indeed that is the only way to learn from experience, and every person is trying to achieve goals in life, whilst surrounded by all the difficulties and struggles that survival necessarily entails.

To accept this about oneself is then to be immune to demands upon others' approval, and gives a greater freedom to act in a way that has reason to be right, rather than because a way is approved of by others.

Unconditional self-acceptance is therefore a more realistic and aware form of self-regard, than self-esteem based on peer approval. And this awareness brings with it the corollary: an unconditional acceptance of the essence of others, friend or foe alike.

To consider the essence of a person as "unacceptable" is to insist that somebody should or must be different from the way they actually are, and that is essentially irrational.

The behaviour of self and others, as demonstrated by competence and ability, then remains to be criticised or admired and esteemed, according to the ethics and aesthetics manifested, and this judgement may be rational (when it involves preferences) or irrational (when it involves musts and intolerances). When that judgement is rational then it is a valid criteria for esteem and for self-esteem.

The following is a list of beliefs that are irrational, superstitious, or "senseless" but which are universally inculcated in Western Society and would seem inevitably to lead to widespread neurosis, when used compulsively and blindly, to make the self right and others wrong, or by projecting, to make the self wrong and others right:

It is essential that the person be loved or approved by everyone he or she knows.
This is irrational because it is an unobtainable goal, and if the person strives for it, the person becomes less self-directed and more insecure and unhappy. Even those who basically like you, will be turned off by some behaviours and qualities. The rational person does not sacrifice his or her own interests and desires in order to be admired, but rather strives to express them, with outflowing creativity.
A person must be perfectly competent, adequate and achieving to be worthwhile.
This again is an impossibility, and to strive compulsively for it results in a constant fear of failure, and paralysis at attempting anything. Perfectionistic standards quickly alienate partner and friends. The rational individual strives to be fully alive: to do well for his or her own sake rather than to be better than others, to enjoy an activity rather than to engage in it solely for the results, and to learn rather than to try to be perfect.
People who do wrong must be bad.
"Wrong" or "immoral" acts are the result of stupidity, ignorance or emotional disturbance. All people are fallible and make mistakes. Blame and punishment do not usually result in a less stupid, better informed and less neurotic personality. If a rational person makes a mistake, he or she accepts that it happened and attempts to understand the cause of the behaviour, and does not let it become a catastrophe. He accepts responsibility and learns what the mistake can teach him. He does not seek to st be judged, if law and order are to prevail.
It's unacceptable if things aren't the way I want them to be.
This is the spoilt-child syndrome. As soon as the tire goes flat the awful-ising self-talk starts: "Why has this happened to me? I can't take this!" The result is intense irritation and stress. The rational person avoids exaggerating unpleasant situations and works at improving them, or accepting them if they cannot be improved.
Unhappiness is caused by external circumstances.
When someone is unkind, rejecting, annoying, etc., this is considered the cause of unhappiness. Ascribing unhappiness to events is a way of avoiding reality. In practice, unhappiness comes largely from within, from self-statements interpreting the events. While you have only limited control over others, you are capable of enormous control over your emotive evaluations. Many believe they have no control over their feelings and that they are helpless; the truth is that we can control how we interpret and emotionally respond to each life event.
Anything that is unknown or uncertain is cause for great concern.
Fear or anxiety in the face of uncertainty, imagining a scenario of catastrophe, makes coping more difficult and adds to distress if things do turn out to be threatening. Saving the fear-response for actual, perceived danger allows you to enjoy uncertainty as a novel stimulation, or exciting experience - all part of the game of life.
It's easier to avoid life's difficulties and responsibilities than to face them.
This is irrational because avoiding a task is often more difficult than performing it and leads to later complications and problems, and probably loss of self-confidence. An easy life is not necessarily a happy one; on the contrary, a challenging, responsible, achieving life is an enjoyable one. Life is not necessarily "fair"; pain and suffering are an inevitable part of human life, accompanying tough, healthy decisions and the process of growth.
You need someone stronger than yourself to rely on.
Dependency results in loss of individuality and self-expression. Your independent judgement and awareness of your particular needs are undermined by a reliance on a higher authority. This propitiative attitude leads to insecurity as the person is at the mercy of the other's whim. This is dramatised in the need for a guru or religious father figure. The rational person does not refuse to seek or accept help when necessary but strives for independence and responsibility, recognising that risks, while possibly resulting in failures, are worth taking and that failure itself is not a catastrophe.
Good relationships are based on mutual sacrifice and a focus on giving.
This belief rests on the assumption that it is better to give than to receive, that it is bad or wrong to be selfish, or that one does not deserve fulfillment. It is expressed in a reluctance to ask for things, and the assumption that your hidden needs will somehow be devined and provided for. Unfortunately, constant self-denial results in bitterness and withdrawal. The truth is that no one knows your needs and wants better than you, and no one else has a greater interest in seeing them fulfilled. Your happiness is your responsibility.
The influence of the past cannot be eradicated.
The presumed influence of the past may be used as an excuse for avoiding changing behaviour. Just because you were once strongly affected by something does not mean that you must continue the behaviour patterns you formed to cope with the original situation. Those old patterns and ways of responding are just decisions made and dramatised so many times that they have become automatic. You can identify those old decisions, solutions that seemed valid at the time, and start changing them right now. You can learn from past experience but you don't have to be the effect of it.
Other peoples' problems and upsets are disturbing.
Feeling responsible for others' hardships implies that you have power to control them and the duty to do so. This is an imposition on the others' freedom to experience and control their own lives and feelings, and their freedom to learn from their own mistakes. If requested to do so, the rational person will attempt to help in a way that will improve the situation and preserve the other's self-determinism. If nothing useful can be done, he excepts that as the reality of the situation. By being too protective over other peoples' feelings (because "people are fragile and should never be hurt"), relationships become full of dead space, where conflicts develop but nothing is said. Honest communication of current feelings need not be taken as an attack upon the personal worth and security of others.
There is always a "right" or "perfect" solution to every problem.
This is obviously not necessarily the case but the insistence on finding one leads to anxiety, panic and often dissatisfaction.
A problem can be looked upon as a worry or as a challenge (at which point it is no longer really a problem). The obvious solution may require a confront that restimulates fear (the real problem) resulting in worry. The "perfect solution" is then one which avoids facing up to the challenge. It is more rational to attempt to find various possible solutions to the problem and accept the most feasible one, doing one's best to carry it out effectively and facing up to what has to be confronted.

An accompanying belief is that there is "perfect love" and a perfect relationship. This is expecting people to be infallible and is unrealistic. Subscribers to this belief often feel resentful of one relationship after another - no one matches their expectations.
When people disapprove of you, it means you are wrong or bad.
You may have done something wrong or bad, and this should be taken note of and if necessary, corrected. But preventing this objective viewpoint is the fear of disapproval, which sparks chronic anxiety in most interpersonal situations. The irrationality is contained in the imagined generalisation of one specific fault or unattractive feature, to a total indictment of self. It is a by-product of low self-esteem (based on a lack of self-acceptance) and the belief that if you don't please others, they will abandon or reject you. You usually run less risk of rejection if you offer others your true unblemished self. They can either take it or leave it, but if they respond to the real you, you don't have to worry about letting down your guard and being rejected later.
These fallacious ideas are almost universal in our society, unwittingly installed from earliest childhood from parental and other authoritative influences. They are frequently accompanied by traumatic circumstances that empower their imprinting in the mind, and this results in their repression, so that the efs becomes hidden and unknown.

· When they have been accepted and re-enforced by continual self-indoctrination, throughout life, they lead to emotional disturbance or neurosis, since they cannot be lived up to. People become inhibited, hostile, defensive, guilty, ineffective, inert, afraid and unhappy. All dissatisfaction in life is because individuals cannot life up to their installed unreasonable "shoulds", "oughts" and "musts".
Next week we will continue with Towards, Against and Away

An accompanying belief is that there is "perfect love" and a perfect relationship. This is expecting people to be infallible and is unrealistic. Subscribers to this belief often feel resentful of one relationship after another - no one matches their expectations.

· When people disapprove of you, it means you are wrong or bad.
You may have done something wrong or bad, and this should be taken note of and if necessary, corrected. But preventing this objective viewpoint is the fear of disapproval, which sparks chronic anxiety in most interpersonal situations. The irrationality is contained in the imagined generalisation of one specific fault or unattractive feature, to a total indictment of self. It is a by-product of low self-esteem (based on a lack of self-acceptance) and the belief that if you don't please others, they will abandon or reject you. You usually run less risk of rejection if you offer others your true unblemished self. They can either take it or leave it, but if they respond to the real you, you don't have to worry about letting down your guard and being rejected later.

These fallacious ideas are almost universal in our society, unwittingly installed from earliest childhood from parental and other authoritative influences. They are frequently accompanied by traumatic circumstances that empower their imprinting in the mind, and this results in their repression, so that the source of such beliefs becomes hidden and unknown.

When they have been accepted and re-enforced by continual self-indoctrination, throughout life, they lead to emotional disturbance or neurosis, since they cannot be lived up to. People become inhibited, hostile, defensive, guilty, ineffective, inert, afraid and unhappy. All dissatisfaction in life is because individuals cannot life up to their installed unreasonable "shoulds", "oughts" and "musts".

THE MORE I LOVE MYSELF, THE MORE I CAN RECOGNISE THAT I AM LOVED

One of the greatest problems in the world is that most of us feel unloved. Sad as it may seem, this dilemma will continue unless we love ourself. Even as our family and friends love us, we cannot easily experience it when we do not feel any love for ourself. By this, we give the message that we are not worth loving which naturally puts people off, fuelling the problem. The way to begin solving this unloved feeling is to begin recognising our worth. The worth that we give ourself allows others to recognise it in us; if we do not recognise ourself, no one else can. When we love ourself, we feel loved.

Today, do something that is an act of love for yourself. Not as an act of indulgence, which won't make you feel loved - it actually wears you out as much as sacrifice does. Start by taking a close look at yourself. Where can you respect yourself more and give yourself credit? Where can you recognise yourself and really reach out to yourself? What could you do that would be a gift to yourself? Cultivate this attitude. For the most part, you are much harder on yourself than you are on the people around you. Now is the time to give yourself a break and to recognise how much you deserve. If you begin to feel unworthiness or valuelessness, just feel it until it is gone. Don't turn away from the feeling or try to cover it up. The simplest act of healing is to be willing to feel your feelings until they evaporate. Underneath, you may find even more loathsome feelings. Feel them. When they are gone, you will be open to feeling love for yourself as well as receiving love from others.



Copyright Spezzano & Associates Ltd.

Lightening The Soul

Lightening The Soul
Soul Evolution
From the moment we are born, our souls may feel heavy because they are carrying the weight of all we have lived, loved, and learned in our past incarnations. It is only when we actively seek to work through our issues that we can lighten the load and our souls can evolve. Divesting ourselves of what no longer serves us, such as unwarranted fear, the inability to feel empathy, or self-limiting behaviors, are just some of the many challenges we may face in this lifetime. While some issues we face are easier to deal with because they are the final remains of residue from a past life, other issues offer greater challenges because we are meant to work through them throughout this lifetime.

Often, we expect ourselves to recover quickly from difficult or painful circumstances. When we do not or cannot, we may feel emotionally inept or hopeless. The evolution of the soul, however, is an ongoing process that can take many lifetimes. It is a matter of accepting that even when we do our best there are going to be situations, people, and outcomes that we cannot control. It is also important to remember that your experiences now may be setting the groundwork for future healing-whether in this lifetime or the next one. The more you release in each time, the more you grow and the more your soul will evolve.

Although it is not always possible to work through all of our issues in a single lifetime, it is important that we confront what we are called to face in this life and do the work we need to do. It is also important to remember that the most effective way to let your soul grow is to be an active participant in life. Be present in each moment and your soul will do this work for you.

Sucesso Financeiro

I have an extremely strong desire for financial success
I've been successful in the past
I can be successful again
Being successful is natural for me

Why not read this sequence aloud today
and feel the rhythm of it's progression?

Como amar-nos

How to Love Yourself

Louise L. Hay
1. Stop all criticism. Criticism never changes a thing. Refuse to criticize yourself. Accept yourself exactly as you are. Everybody changes. When you criticize yourself, your changes are negative. When you approve of yourself, your changes are positive.

2. Stop scaring yourself. Stop terrorizing yourself with your thoughts. It's a dreadful way to live. Find a mental image that gives you pleasure, (mine is yellow roses) and immediately switch your scary thought to a pleasure thought.

3. Be gentle and kind and patient. Be gentle with yourself. Be kind to yourself. Be patient with yourself as you learn the new ways of thinking. Treat yourself as you would someone you really love.

4. Be kind to your mind. Self-hatred is only hating your own thoughts. Don't hate yourself for having the thoughts. Gently change the thoughts.

5. Praise yourself. Criticism breaks the inner spirit. Praise builds it up. Praise yourself as much as you can. Tell yourself how well you are doing with every little thing.

6. Support yourself. Find ways to support yourself. Reach out to friends and allow them to help you. It is being strong to ask for help when you need it.

7. Be loving to your negatives. Acknowledge that you created them to fulfil a need. Now you are finding new, positive ways to fulfil those needs. So, lovingly release the old negative patterns.

8. Take care of your body. Learn about nutrition. What kind of fuel does your body need to have optimum energy and vitality? Learn about exercise. What kind of exercise can you enjoy? Cherish and revere the temple you live in.

9. Mirror work. Look into your own eyes often. Express this growing sense of love you have for yourself. Forgive yourself looking into the mirror. Talk to your parents looking into the mirror. Forgive them, too. At least once a day look into the mirror and say: "I love you, I really love you!".

10. LOVE YOURSELF - DO IT NOW! Don't wait until you get well or lose the weight, or get the new job, or the new relationship.

BEGIN NOW - Do the best you can.

copyright 1988 Louise L. Hay

Como organizar os sentimentos de novo

Por: Izabel Telles -
Aqueles que vivem disputando espaço dentro da sua mente

Todo mundo sabe que nosso corpo é feito de partes: cabeça, tronco e membros e mais todas as partes que existem dentro destes compartimentos. Dentro da nossa mente também estamos divididos em partes. Temos aquela parte adulta que está plena de sabedoria e consciência. É com ela que, geralmente vencemos nas nossas profissões, fazemos boas e sólidas amizades, andamos por este mundo sem nos perdermos.

Temos também aquela parte que parece ser primitiva e que muitas vezes aparece sobre a forma de impulsos violentos e nos faz agredir os outros, sentir ódio, raiva, ranger os dentes e muitas vezes literalmente “avançar” contra o “inimigo” como se fôssemos um jaguar pronto para atacar o caçador.
Na mesma mente pode também existir um ser crente em Deus, um místico que conversa com os anjos e que reza antes de dormir. Veja quanta guerra existe em nome de Deus. Quantos fanáticos religiosos colocam a metralhadora no chão, ajoelham-se para Meca para rezar e depois levantam-se pegam a metralhadora e saem disparando fogo contra tudo e todos.

Dividindo espaço com todas estas partes pode existir uma outra parte que é a nossa porção infantil. Uma parte que teima em não crescer e que se comporta como criança mimada e nervosa pedindo comida, pedindo brinquedo, não querendo compartilhar seu território. Vemos adultos fazendo manha, ”batendo nos irmãos”, segurando de forma egoísta o curso da vida, teimando em não ceder, de ombros encolhidos e boca cerrada porque o outro não correspondeu às suas expectativas. Do gênero “não brinco mais”.

Existem nas empresas muitos chefes que expõem este lado criança. Eles querem ser os donos da bola, das regras, do jogo e do apito e se eles não forem os juizes não tem nada para ninguém. São os insaciáveis. Exatamente como as crianças. Você dá um brinquedo e ele brinca cinco minutos e depois já quer outro, outro, outro e isso não tem fim.

Imagine todas estas partes interagindo dia e noite dentro da sua mente. É mesmo preciso ser um mediador bem treinado para fazer com que cada parte ceda na hora certa e componha com as outras partes buscando paz, justiça e bem estar. No entanto, temos que dizer que é esta parte criança, na sua parte positiva, que nos dá alegria, criatividade, vontade de conhecer coisas novas, que brinca e se diverte, que nos leva para correr riscos que podem mudar nossas vidas para melhor. Esta criança sendo bem orientada pelo nosso adulto interno pode também fazer maravilhas por nós.

Mas voltando à guerra destas partes, pense, por exemplo, que hoje você acorda com seu leão rosnando dentro de você. O primeiro que aparecer para dar bom dia já é recebido com um rugido. Entra no carro e vai para o trabalho com o leão a toda. Corre, breca, persegue o outro que fechou, grita com o celular que toca até que vê na sua frente uma criança pedindo esmola. Confrontado com esta imagem o leão acalma porque o samaritano piedoso surge de dentro da sua mente e junto vem uma enorme pena daquela criança abandonada passando fome e frio (que espelha sua criança interna). E você abre a janela e estende a mão para ela. O sinal abre e você começa a se lembrar dos seus filhos e a grande mãe ou o grande pai surge então lá do fundo da mente e junto vem um enorme sentimento de culpa por deixá-los tanto tempo sozinhos nas mãos de babás e programas de TV. Algumas lágrimas escorrem pela sua face.

Com isso, a fera já cedeu lugar para a tristeza e a dor. E um coquetel de enzimas já está atuando dentro do seu corpo físico acionando desde dor de estômago até frio nas mãos, dor de cabeça, taquicardia e uma série de reações orgânicas a este verdadeiro laboratório químico que são nossos hormônios tentando nos manter prontos para ficar ou fugir. E assim o dia passa e os personagens da nossa mente vão surgindo e fugindo, revezando ou interagindo todos de uma vez e quando chega a noite nossa energia se foi e somos seres absolutamente exaustos. Queremos dormir, esquecer a guerra do dia, fechar os olhos e sonhar com imagens de beleza, amor e alegria. Como se isso fosse possível. Sabemos que nossos sonhos são reflexos da forma como vivemos.

Nossa mente é povoada por imagens. Imagens que tem simbolicamente as caras das nossas partes. Daquela parte criança que ficou presa lá nos cinco anos de idade e que se tornou anoréxica porque não quer crescer. Aquela outra que ficou presa na eterna desculpa de que “só os ricos tem chance de vencer”. Aquela outra que foi fotografada pela nossa mente como uma imensa prisão “da qual eu não consigo sair”. Ou daquela em que estou presa dentro de uma garrafa de bebida por isso não posso parar de beber. Ou daquela em que uma parte adulta pilota um avião enquanto leva ao seu lado um co-piloto do tamanho de uma caixa de fósforos que treme, tem as mãos suando e não consegue alcançar o manche. Imagens de dois lados de uma só mente que, geralmente, não conseguem se entender ou negociar uma saudável convivência. Afinal, aqui fora as coisas são como aqui dentro. Temos todos os dias que nos exercitar na arte da convivência com os mais diferentes tipos de pessoas e suas reações.

Harmonizar as partes. É esta a proposta deste artigo. E aqui está para você um exercício curtinho de visualização. Com ele você poderá conseguir criar paz e harmonia entre alguns personagens da sua mente (uma vez que é impossível matá-los).

Faça o exercício pelo menos por 21 dias sempre ao acordar. Sente com os pés no chão e as palmas das mãos apoiadas nas suas pernas. Feche os olhos, respire lentamente três vezes e:

Veja, sinta, imagine ou perceba que na sua mente existem muitas partes que falam ao mesmo tempo criando stress e ruído. Se você precisa perder alguns quilos imagine, por exemplo, sua parte professora falando brava para a sua criança que ela precisa parar de comer tanto. E imagine a sua criança chorando porque não consegue. Imagine agora, e continuando no exemplo, que sua parte sabia, sua fada, sua mãe amorosa, seu guia interno, Deus (ou quem você considera ser um anjo bom) aproxima-se desta criança e mostra a ela com calma e carinho que comer demais pode ser prejudicial à saúde e à estética. Perceba esta criança entendendo isso e concordando em trocar o excesso de comida por uma gostosa brincadeira no parque de diversões. Sentindo que harmonizou o conflito, respire e abra os olhos.

E, para terminar, lembre-se de que a vida é maravilhosa, especialmente quando aprendemos a esquecer e a perdoar o mal que nos fizeram e que nos fizemos.