Discern what is right for you

Analysis of the week on dream submitted by Anonymous in Halifax, N.S., Canada.

Dream - I was standing beside an outdoor market.  Vendors were promoting their wares. I was disinterested. Someone accompanied me and directed me to three nearby pedestals. Strangers stood up on each one; a pantomime, an engaging actor, and an opera singer.  Each one was vying for the attention of an audience. 

Predominant Emotions-  Hope, astonishment, admiration, desire and focus.

Interpretation - Pedestals imply you admire or look up to certain people. Only you can discern whether your reasons are superficial.  You may be in need of nurturance, mentoring or deeper fulfillment. Consider specific pursuits that you imagine.  Perhaps you desire to create situations which permit you to be more carefree and spontaneous?  Draw your attention to budding talents or growing interests within.

Actors suggest you seek to be acknowledged or recognized in ways that haven't yet come about.  For whom do you put on a show? It may be overdue to discover or reveal the real you.  How you perceive yourself is mirrored in how you project your personality to others.  Rather than shop around for a new face, re-connect with your soul.  Singing reminds you of your connections to Divine power.  The qualities of love, compassion and what it takes to valide your spirit, are all within your reach.  

Regardless of who you are and what you decipher, you exist in part to experience struggle and to learn to find value in that. You can evolve to discern self-worth and value in others that initially escape you.   Each of us can grow to love ourselves for who we are and for who we aren't. Tragedy and loss can be some of the most eye-opening teachers if we can evolve to accept them as part of our education. You can learn from what you've done in the past, from what inspirations currently undertake, and from images and dreams that inspire hope for your future. Sense it's all good.

Further your soul growth wherever you are

We all exist to learn and share whatever abilities we have. No matter what work you choose, no matter what you do now, or what you dream of doing differently, work has value for what it is, and because of what you can learn at each step of the way.

Each of us has gifts. Some people have the ability to heal. Some people truly have a knack for raising awareness in others. Some people are inspiring public speakers. Other people are very effective doing what they do best in the background. Even people who sense no specific direction already recognize their basic gift of humility.

The time may arrive when you sense you've lost focus and seek new sources of meaning in work.  Come what may, its always desirable to apply talents you have.  You can also set out to uncover or develop new skills.  Each person is shaken out of comfort zones sometime. Such an experience can seem dis-orienting, even scary yet, doesn't have to be.  Move beyond society's view of what's most important. 

No matter what happens, you're in the midst of opportunities to grow.  Still, loads of people express unhappiness about work.  You may know people who sense their job is "beneath them" or they feel like "a square peg in a round hole."  You may feel stuck or forced to associate with co-workers you dislike or distrust.  You may do your job mechanically because it pays bills, feels safe and represents security. 

Do yourself a favor.  Recognize you have lots to learn. This year, take initiatives to move beyond your own emotional distractions.  Re-think where you are in your job or career and why.  Consider where you have opportunities to listen more attentively, to give more of yourself, to show compassion, to impact lives for the better. Discover there's more to life than seeking approval and temporary gratification.    

Learn to take the high road

Why is it so many people are preoccupied with failure? How many people do you know who are taught that if they aren't always kind, generous or worthy, that they won't like the punishment that awaits them around the corner?  Why do some people believe evil will triumph over good?  Why imagine evil must exist at all? You can decide to see a bright side where you are.  Positive thinking is the higher road.

1) Justice is dispensed on its own terms.  It is not for us to judge what we could never understand.  Even if people have wronged you and you would like to see them get what's due, its advisable to keep to your own purpose.  This includes lessons in forgiveness and understanding.  Seeking paths that enable you to grow will keep you on track to realizing your dreams. Rise above thinking, "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."  Such a view prevents you from taking the higher road. Positive thinking means sensing benefits in conditions that may initially evoke hard feelings.

2)  Fear and misconceptions are your own creations.  Did you ever think you are the source of your perceived problems as well as your own solutions?  Your own thoughts never intend to harm you.  They aim to raise your awareness.  You simply choose the things on which you focus, from feelings to people or events.  You have reasons for your choices.  They will either keep you on your path or enable you to veer off of it.  Its up to you to get-to-know yourself to tell the difference. 

3) Life is experiential.  Opportunities to use your senses mean you also have occasions to learn valuable lessons.  Conditions of uncertainty where you have no boundaries or rules enable you to uncover who you are.  Consider why some people convince themselves its easier to lie than to tell the truth, why its easier to do nothing rather than to face something your soul tells you must be done.  Why would you choose the easy road or an assumed, more difficult path? It all relates to lessons you wish to learn.  You choose your lessons and means you will take to realize them.

5 Ideas to rethink your own success

Some people assume they will realize dreams when they are no longer ravaged by time, when they finally overcome illness, gain more control, move beyond violence or reasons for discomfort, like anger or despair. Yet, wait a minute. Are you the sort of person who thinks success is limited to a tangible result or an unreachable ideal?

You may equate success with how closely you are able to stay true to a purpose. You may know people who evaluate the good, the bad, and what they term, 'the ugly,' or how many opportunities they feel they have squandered. Ultimately, you are the only judge of your own choices, your performance, and all the results you perceive. Don't forget the value of each step of your journey. Rethink success with these ideas:

1) Spontaneous revelations -when was the last time you experienced an "ah-ha" moment? You know that positive, reassuring feeling. A kind of light bulb goes off in your mind.  You finally grasp an idea that escaped you before. It's like, you're back on track. Nothing comes from nothing.  You learn even when you don't realize it.

2) Reconciliation -when was the last time you made up after a disagreement? You come to sense needless pain alongside necessary struggle. You realize its possible to impact other lives with kindness and grasp this also mirrors how you treat yourself.

3) From pride to forgiveness- when was the last time you shifted from shame to remorse? Have you learned to forgive people and yourself for grudges? You can decide to be polite and tolerant and not permit negative feelings to control you. It can be as simple as saying, "I'm sorry" or, agreeing to disagree without animosity.

4) From accusing to understanding-when was the last time you evolved from judging what used to seem evil and reckless behavior in others to see it as antithetical to what you needed to learn about you? You may sense a person's inner turmoil or shattered dreams are simply invitations for love and comfort. You're in "the same boat." All you need to do is recognize that you cope and learn together.

5) Accept you won't get everything- when was the last time you felt fine about not getting something you asked for? No matter how you pray, what you work toward or desire, its vital to realize circumstances that unfold are the best ones for you. This may not become clear until you learn what you're meant to from an experience.

Have you become too wise for your own good?

Has all the education and knowledge within reach obscured our purpose, the true sense of why we’re alive? What happened? Isn’t it time to wake up from this dream?

Humans didn’t always question whether a power greater than them could exist. They didn’t always believe they could quickly learn everything they needed to know, that they were the centre of the Universe or, that they were expected to be the best at something at the expense of others. When was the last time you excelled such that you looked past external disapproval?, past your perceived mistakes or failures?

It wasn’t always necessary to obtain evidence to prove life forms beyond Earth exist. There was a time when it was generally assumed and accepted. It wasn’t always regarded as bizarre or suspicious if you had faith in things beyond the scope of another person’s logic or imagination. Have you become too wise for your own good?

Role of Science

Science has come to be perceived as a socio- cultural authority. People working in the fields tend to be intelligent, ambitious, well-paid and rewarded with status and respect. More and more people refer to Science and technology for ‘acceptable’ explanations to mysteries and to mask inner fears. Loads of us think of Science as the dependable resource for health care services and advice, both assumed and expected to best improve health and well-being. Each view has its place.

At the same time, why is it that widespread beliefs in the validity of Science and related knowledge, have led humans to judge and criticize more? Why are people necessarily stronger or weaker, faster or slower, healthier or sicker, hopeless and terminal, even, preferably forgotten or discarded? Why do people focus on ego, on paths to quicker self-gratification, and with a lack of conscience or accountability? Why can working longer and harder also mean achieving greater emptiness?

Belief in Spirituality

There was a time when the vast majority of people understood that life in this world was a gift, an opportunity to plant whatever thoughts would enrich our souls. To be exposed to conditions which evoke feelings of intolerance, impatience, anxiety and fear, can be seen as opportunities in disguise. How will you choose to interpret your opportunities? Which lessons will you choose to retain, share and re-apply?

Belief in spirituality is like a choice we make to listen to our hearts rather than to our pride. It’s like choosing to lose your arrogance in favour of realizing who you are. This kind of learning doesn’t have to be seen as self-sacrifice. You may come to believe living without loving, without nurturing peace and hope, isn’t truly what life is all about. Recognize the value of your infinite light and inner power.

The Here & Hereafter

Some people believe in worlds beyond Earth. The Hereafter is one such place. It’s also a synonym for heaven, a place where diseases of hate, violence, jealousy, and other negative energy, simply don’t exist. Pure souls there have learned to only sense reason to experience love and compassion.  They sense without judgment.

From this view, life in the physical world offers opportunities to learn to discern right from wrong.  Passing over enables souls to sense their earthly lessons differently. Raising self-awareness becomes the ability to uncover love buried beneath broken trust, beneath other ‘unlikely’ circumstances. Souls realize to overcome struggle is to transcend their imagined shells of fear. They will help each of us help ourselves, if only we let them. We determine the path of our education.