Be real

From the moment you are real with yourself, you can be real with others. Even now, you have the means to see things as they are.  You already sense what is real.  The most important thing is to challenge your own mind.  When did you last question your beliefs, emotions or sense of reality?  Be brave.  When you are in denial of reality, life is painful.  Fear and discomfort arise from ill-will. Shift focus. See things as they are.

Notice our desires bend the mind.  You cannot trust your perceptions, expectations or your thoughts.  When you remove attachment and ill will, then all is only ever going well. Challenge your assumptions.  Watch what happens as you stop what you are doing, or do things more slowly.  You see deeper meaning, notice what you skip over when you go fast. You suddenly have time to linger, to know things more intimately.

To find the truth, you must move beyond fear and wishful thinking.  There is nothing wrong with natural course of things, of the evolution of life and death.  Accept that.  It is not the length of life that matters but the quality of it.  This is where you get real. Be still.  The truth erases suffering. Problems do not exist when you love unconditionally. 

"From a certain point of view our real enemy, the true troublemaker, is inside yourself." - Tenzin Gyatso (14th Dalai Lama)

Dalai Lama's Tips for Good Karma

You need not be Buddhist or follow any particular religion to resonate with the idea of cause and effect. Remember what good karma feels like? Or can you at lest imagine it? Watch what happens as you observe your thoughts and behave in ways that invite good karma. What goes around comes around.

Here’s The Dalai Lama's top 20, otherwise known as his Instructions for Life. Notice which tips are already second nature and which tips beckon you to take them on-board...

1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
3. Follow the three R’s: Respect for SELF, Respect for OTHERS and Responsibility for all your ACTIONS.
4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great relationship.
7. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
8. Spend some time alone every day.
9. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of heartfelt values.
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.
12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.
14. Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.
15. Be gentle with the earth.
16. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.
17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
19. If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.
20. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

"We can let the circumstances of our lives harden us so that we become increasingly resentful and afraid, or we can let them soften us, and make us kinder. We always have the choice."-
Dalai Lama

How purpose arises

Purpose arises as you open the heart.  Notice what unfolds as you connect with what you love and willingly share this by serving others.  What happens to that unending quest for purpose as you discover your deepest needs are not what you thought? How does it feel to know all conceivable needs are already met? What happens as you choose to have fun with whatever you do and also infuse joy into the lives of others?  

It is all coming back to you how your gifts and aptitudes are pre-selected at soul level.  Being creative is one of the basic ways to revitalize the Spirit and awaken to what the soul always knows.  Purpose is not what you think.  It is not what mind invites you to believe. Purpose is what you are, every aspect of the journey, and even energy itself.

"The purpose of our lives is to be happy." -Dalai Lama

Review your motives

"If we forget ourselves in order to benefit others, if we are prepared to give our own lives to save the lives of others, and if we are giving them whatever is necessary for their welfare, then we shall gain happiness and all perfection." -The 14th Dalai Lama

When humans forge relationships, they may have a deeper strategic agenda.  You may not be consciously aware of why you spend time with certain people, or, you may consciously seek out people because you hope to gain from the relationship.   It may be personal or professional or, something unknown to your conscious mind. In some cases, people are very clear why they seek a particular mentor, they may wish to model a paricular kind of external success and wish to follwo similar steps to get there.

Some people are very altruistic.  They always put another person first.  This may be your partner, parent, child, friend, colleague or strangers.  In such cases, caring and devotion may come from the heart.  Love and compassion guide us unless people-pleasin, fear of rejection or codependence exist due to soul wounds.

Other people are more self-centred.  They make choices that favor their own interest, consciously or unconsciously.  They only do things if they discern it would be to their perceived advantage.  The nature of their relationships reflects their self-importance.

To fight your own will offers a lesson.  You want to do more than survive.  You want to change part of yourself that seems to be missing.  You are shaping your consciousness with every person you meet.  You stretch to become something you have always been.