The Big Truth

Whether or not your realize it, the truth follows you around wherever you go.  The big picture is revealing itself.  Clues are always smack dab, right in front of you.  Clues to what you do not need in your life are also right in front of you.  So, what do you choose to notice and how do you act? Notice how your own selective awareness is serving you. 

Ask yourself if you serve other people before yourself.  If your focus is your own personal agenda, if you only help people when you see how this can contribute to your own bigger plans, then you are sacrificing the potential of more meaningful relationships.

If you desire to perceive yourself in a new way, this doesn't require you to be completely selfless. When you think of yourself, you would benefit from thinking of yourself in the context of a bigger picture.  Evolve to see what is best for others is also what is best for you.  As you grow to feel more connected to other people, distinctions fall away.

The soul is like an open sense.  It intuits all choices without judgment.  The mind judges what is best for whom and why. Aligning the mind with soul allows you to feel your way into states that expand beyond self.  The big truth is beyond ego and self-interest.

Rather than see yourself as different, better, more competitive, more strategic or superior, you shift to see what you have in common with others until the sense of other fades. You feel more inter-connected. As you assist and are kind to others, you have no ulterior motive. You act for action's sake. The big truth emerging is oneness.

"Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth." - Buddha

Revise certain thoughts

Neale Donald Walsch suggests that destructive thinking may overwhelm you.  He believes part of our greatest spiritual challenge is to decondition certain ingrained thoughts.  Consider your point of view on each of the following five points and what you might do to revise your mindset:

1) Human beings are separate from each other.

2) There isn't enough of hat human beings need to be happy

3)To get the stuff of which there isn't enough, human beings must compete with each other.

4) Some human beings are better than other human beings

5) It is in appropriate for human beings to  resolve severe differences created by all other fallacies by killing each other.

Invisible wings that enable you to fly

If you travel, or know anyone who does, you hear about the fiascos that go on in airports. Security has been heightened all over the world. This means identification is now manditory when crossing borders. Many people are familiar with paper tickets and electronic tickets and how you're required to have the paper ones in hand before you can get a boarding pass and board a plane.

One businessman friend of mine arrived at the airport only to discover he had forgotten his passport. Imagine his dismay. He had a crucial meeting scheduled in New Zealand that couldn't be postponed. There was no way he could get back through Melbourne city to his home to get the document and return to the airport without missing his plane. With many odds against him, he discovered he had unexpected powers of persuasion. He managed to board that plane and do what he had planned to do in NZ on the condition that someone would have his passport at the airport upon his return. In times of high security, this occurred without a hitch.  He questioned whether his guardian angel had entered the minds of the airline officials who let him board his planes, and whether the angel took human form to bring him his passport and allow him to pass back through security.  He couldn't help but laugh when he found himself driving behind a convoy of Hell's Angels on familiar motorcycles all the way back to his home.

I had a heavenly experience where I arrived at an airport after a plane had already headed down the runway.  Something possessed the minds of those pilots and they came back and pick me up! As I boarded that particular aircraft, I admit I wasn't sure if the glares of fellow passengers revealed they knew a guardian angel had intervened on my behalf? I smiled at them and saw a girl wearing a t-shirt with an angel behind my seat. Funny, her mommy wasn't smiling like her.

Another experience I had was to discover I had forgotten a paper ticket when I had arrived in a busy international airport. This was a multiple destination ticket which required boarding passes and authorisations to land in multiple countries. Part of me thought the itinerary changes had been made electronically, but I had made a mistake and admitted it. At the same time, because of tight connections and events in different places, I prayed that Higher Forces would forgive my short-sightenedness and somehow intervene. It didn't take long to convince me that multiple members of that air carrier were collaborting with my guardian angels.  Not only did the ticket sales manager rebook my itinerary through 8 countries, but he gave me a voucher for a free drink to reduce my stress and didn't charge me for the booking changes. I received an escort through security and my bags were personally delivered to the baggage handlers. My own experience is that positive thinking and inviting desirable outcomes can indeed be very effective, and I'm unconvinced I do these things on my own. 

When I think to airport experiences, the place itself represents a desire for freedom.  We're ready to take off for some destination, and yet, part of us has already done so even before we board a plane.  We may like to visualize angels when situations work out and make us feel good.  At the same time, Forces beyond us may offer us signs to remind us events can unfold in our favor.  Invisible wings may in fact enable you to fly more often than you think.

Skewer wild mushrooms

Vegetarians have been known to develop an interest in activities that parallel their values and eating habits.  I happen to have a girlfriend in Finland who grew motivated to become a wild mushroom specialist in her area. She didn't grow up with this ambition. Yet, oneday, while hiking in national forest as she often does, she took more notice in the variety of mushrooms she came across. She was inspired by the idea of roasting them with apples over an open fire.  This friend was already an avid naturalist and knew about edible berries. And so, she was prompted to develop a new goal. Soon, she started to read about and learn to classify mushroom species.

Now, if you have ever heard anything about picking mushrooms, you've likely been warned that this can be a dangerous pastime. Many species are poisonous. Eating the wrong type of mushroom can even be fatal. From a young age, I recall being told never to eat the red toadstools with white polka dots. I'd seen these grow near a friend's home. I'd actually become fascinted by them because of vibrant illustrations in storybooks. I admit my childhood curiosity was sparked by the magical fairytale creatures that supposedly lived inside them.

One thing my Finnish girlfriend has told me is that mushroom hunting can be a challenging goal. She learned that real mushrooms don't always ressemble the ones in books. In addition, unusual examples of one species may seem like some species better avoided. To make life more complicated,the same species may differ in appearance and toxicity from place to place.

While visiting Finland during warm summer months, I had the pleasure of mushroom and berry hunting with my knowledgable friend. She knew just under what kinds of vegetation the best ones tend to hide. I was amazed at how flavorful wild mushrooms tasted after being skewered and roasted over a campfire. Never before had I had so much fun.

My Finnnish mushroom expert tells me what motivates her most about her goals is that mushroom experts are finding new ones on a regular basis. As knowledge changes, she is motivated to keep up with it and learn more.  She also tells me that being a mushroom expert in one geographic place doesn't mean she'll be very knowledgable about mushrooms that grow in other places. Learning more about foreign mushrooms is among her future goals.  Sharing what she learns gives her enormous pleasure.

Redundant and happy?

Many people have urged me to bring up a topic that caught them off guard. These people have discovered that being made redundant has enabled them to change their lives for the better. They don't recommend you do what you can to get fired as part of your route to success, but retrenchment has led to a curious increase in their resourcefulness, motivation and self-directed learning.  It's all based on a choice that begins inside of you. You may not control what happens, but you do control how you react to what happens. Once you realize this, you exert real power.

You don't typically have to go very far to speak with someone who has lost their job. The initial feelings of surprise, anger and disappointment often bring up bitterness and a desire for revenge.  The 'poor me' syndrome and 'why me' victim mentality are also known to influence depression. People who lose their jobs may voice negative feelings, but they may not realize focusing on what you have little or no power to change holds you back from everything you actually do.

One woman in the U.S. voiced her anger to her boss. This employee was unhappy about being let go in downsizing. Being fired initially caused her to feel incapable of caring for herself and her infant son. Yet, after reflection at home, she chose to write her boss a letter of apology. She thanked this boss for hiring and firing her because deep down, she desired to return to school and better her skills. She saw her circumstances offered her the chance to do just that. She found paid work to look after herself and her son, and she came to see being fired as a blessing.

A friend of mine worked on heavy machinery in a coal mine.  When that mine closed, his peers were scared about how they would survive on the settlement packages. The work buddies began to spend their new free time drinking at the local pub and bemoaning their situations. My friend surprised them.  He decided to set out and realize his dream to become a physiotherapist. He discovered ways to apply for loans and to prepare for university entrance exams. He found part-time work to support himself and felt motivated to learn new things for the first time in over 20 years. Today, he works hard in a group practice and community hospital in the United Kingdom.

Regardless of the reasons for being told you're no longer needed in a position, remind yourself you'll always be needed somewhere.  You can decide where this place will be or you can let someone else decide what they think is best for you. It's possible to be made redundant and to see the bright side. Think of all those things you told yourself that you couldn't do because of being restricted in time, mindset and circumstance. All that can change in the blink of an eye.  You have the power to make choices, to make the best of wherever you are. Rather than focus on freedoms you don't have, take steps to redefine the choices that you can and already do.