Once Inspired

Archive for the ‘Motivation’ Category

Two traveling angels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family. The family was rude and refused to let the angels stay in the mansion’s guest room. Instead the angels were given a space in the cold basement. As they made their bed on the hard floor, the older angel saw a hole in the wall and repaired it.

When the younger angel asked why, the older angel replied, “Things aren’t always what they seem”.

The next night the pair came to rest at the house of a very poor, but very hospitable farmer and his wife. After sharing what little food they had the couple let the angels sleep in their bed where they could have a good night’s rest.

When the sun came up the next morning the angels found the farmer and his wife in tears. Their only cow, whose milk had been their sole income, lay dead in the field. The younger angel was infuriated and asked the older angel “how could you have let this happen!? The first man had everything, yet you helped him,” she accused. “The second family had little but was willing to share everything, and you let their cow die.”

“Things aren’t always what they seem,” the older angel replied.

“When we stayed in the basement of the mansion, I noticed there was gold stored in that hole in the wall. Since the owner was so obsessed with greed and unwilling to share his good fortune, I sealed the wall so he wouldn’t find it. Then last night as we slept in the farmer’s bed, the angel of death came for his wife. I told him to take the cow instead. Things aren’t always what they seem.”

Sometimes this is exactly what happens when things don’t turn out the way we think they should. Just trust that every outcome is always to your advantage. You might not realize it until much later.

Let me start off by explaining what The Art of Living is. (The Art of Living does however kindly ask that we do not repeat or teach any of the techniques or methods used, and I intend on fulfilling their request.)

Developed by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the Art of Living involves using various techniques to quiet the mind in order to achieve a greater understanding of one’s existence, giving you the ability to experience a stress-free and joyful life.

“The Art of Living Foundation is a non-profit, educational and charitable organisation that operates in more than 140 countries and is dedicated to serving society by strengthening the individual.

Our self-development programmes offer techniques that eliminate stress, calm the mind, improve health, expand awareness, resolve conflict and encourage people from all backgrounds, religions and cultures to come together in celebration and service.

As the largest volunteer based NGO in the world with a wide range of social, cultural and spiritual activities, the Foundation has reached out to over 20 million people from all walks of life.”

The Art of Living is not religion based. Sri Sri Ravi Shanka has spoken and presented his enlightened knowledge in a variety of holy temples and has presented The Art of Living to Christians, Jews, Islams and many other relions; where he was welcomed and applauded by all.

There is no real reason why you should not experience this for yourself and I would encourage you to attend the Art of Living: Part 1 course. It is however vital that you attend with an open mind as the knowledge you acquire is unique and the benefits cannot be fully experienced by a doubting mind.

I had an amazing experience this weekend at the Art of Living: Part 1 course. The idea of the Art of Living is to quiet the mind to such a state that thoughts are nonexistent, allowing us to become aware of our body and just exist in our most natural form.

It was interesting for me to experience the dynamics of the group attending the course. Some people appeared to be completely serious and had a stern look most of the time, which made little sense to me as part of what The Art of Living is meant to develop is a more child like state; one of happiness and intrigue. These people seemed more like business people attending a conference. Others though were having an absolute blast. They were the ones who took a liking to me and also happened to thank me for my honesty in the questions that I posed.

All in all the Art of Living is almost a must do for everyone. The stress of modern day life has such an extremely negative impact on our lives and most of us can use a little upliftment. Can you imagine being able to just forgive and forget? Can you imagine how nice it would be to be able to just let things go? What would it be like to live a life of acceptance?

The Art of Living can give you all of this. If you’d like to know more please visit www.artofliving.org.za or email gerlinde@artofliving.org.za. The next Art of Living Part 1 course will take place 8-13 December. When you do decide that you would like to attend this course please email me – nic@once-events.co.za. I’d just like know who you are.

I would like to thank Mukesh and Gerlinde for sharing the Art of Living with us and bettering people’s lives through the insight of Sri Sri Ravi Shanka.

One summer his dad tore down a brick wall infront of his business, and told 12-year old Will and his 9-year old brother to re-build it. A job they said was impossible… it took them a year and a half, but they did it.

“and he said, now don’t you ever tell me, there’s something that you can’t do.”

You don’t try to build a wall. You don’t set out to build a wall. You don’t say i’m gonna build the biggest, baddest, greatest wall that’s ever been built. You don’t start there. You say, i’m gonna lay this brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid and you do that every single day and soon you have a wall.

Check out Natalie’s Blog here – http://narrylikes.blogspot.com/

I was having a little perusal of the World Wide Web and stumbled across this thought provoking piece pertaining to the choices we make.

I chose to post this, hopefully to provoke some positive thoughts and perhaps even some positive actions.

Here’s the premise: We are all, right now, living the life we choose.

This choice, of course, is not a single, monumental choice. No one decides, for example, “I’m going to move to L.A., and in five years I will be a waiter in a so-so restaurant, planning to get my 8-by-10′s done real soon so that I can find an agent and become a star,” or “I’m going to marry a dreadful person and we’ll live together in a loveless marriage, staying together only for the kids, who I don’t much like, either.”

No. The choices I’m talking about here are made daily, hourly, moment by moment.

Do we try something new, or stick to the tried-and-true? Do we take a risk, or eat what’s already on our dish? Do we ponder a thrilling adventure, or contemplate what’s on TV? Do we walk over and meet that interesting stranger, or do we play it safe? Do we indulge our heart, or cater to our fear?

The bottom-line question: Do we pursue what we want, or do we do what’s comfortable?

For the most part, most people most often choose comfort – the familiar, the time-honored, the well-worn but well-known. After a lifetime of choosing between comfort and risk, we are left with the life we currently have.

And it was all of our own choosing.

Peter McWilliams

I know that where I am sitting right now is not exactly my idea of a perfect life. I sure don’t hate it though but it’s a start, part of a plan perhaps.

Maybe I’m playing it a little safe now but I have many choices… but which one is right? How long will it take to choose?

Could this be one of the biggest problems in fulfilling dreams? Wasting time by deciding which choice to make as opposed to living each choice and experiencing it for what it truly is could possibly be the number one cause of death throughout the world. People die making decisions, in some cases the wrong one. That’s either through stupidity or heroics. My point is though; rather make a decision so that you can continue on your path. Life is only so long. Time waits for no man. If you make the incorrect decision remember that challenge exposes opportunity.

Thanking you for choosing to read this.

I have no idea who this kid is but that is what I call INSPIRATIONAL!

Here is a something great to start your week.

When my son was in second grade I was the leader of his Cub Scout Den. Before his third grade school year started, a Cub Scout Pack leader called and asked if I would take on another boy. We had a large group and I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but so did everyone else in this age group.

The kicker of the deal was that Tray was a cancer patient and an amputee, one leg at the knee. I had a hard time making up my mind about exposing “my” boys to what I was almost positive would surely end in a lot of anguish and sadness for all of us. I finally decided to take him in, but before I said yes to our Pack leader I called all my parents to let them know what I planned to do and get their feedback.

To a person, they all supported my decision. Only one mother verbalized the fears I had for the emotional well being of my little charges, but she too supported my plan. We felt like it would help teach them compassion and generosity, it did and us too!

When Tray came to us I found out that not only did he have severe health and physical problems, his family was incredibly poor. But they wanted Tray to have all the experiences he could in what would most likely be a short life. His parents did their very best to provide it.

Tray was without a doubt the most enthusiastic member of my scout den. There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t try to do. When we did the things for all their little badges he was right in there with us, and most often excelling. ALL of my boys encouraged him and helped whenever they could, this carried over into their school life as well.

Even the physical fitness segment of our program he did well in, better than most other boys save for the broad jump. Tray just couldn’t get far enough to match the standards the Cub Scout Manual said had to be met to achieve this badge. I passed him on this one because I deduced that the skills were written for boys with two legs and since Tray only had one his goal should only be half that of the other boys. Tray acheived that half and a great deal more, in fact was only just a little short of the minimum anyway.

We all progressed along through Tiger, Wolf, Bear, and Lion ranks and went on to Webelos. Over the years our Pack’s leadership made sure that somehow Tray had all the hats, uniform parts, etc. that was necessary for him to be just like everyone else. Most of the time I knew that some of the things required weren’t in his folks budget but they found ways and when they couldn’t we found ways to make sure it just happened.

We all suffered with Tray on days he had just come from chemo and was so sick he couldn’t go 10 minutes without a trip to the bathroom. But he was in there with all of us and insisted on coming to meetings when any one of the rest of us, child or adult, would have been too ill to go.

Just before the end of the Cub Scout program I took them all to a Boy Scout meeting to see how it was and help them make the final yes or no decision to continue on in the Scouting program. Tray was ready. I helped him choose a Troop and introduced him to their leader and such to prepare him for the sixth grade year when he would move to Boy Scouts.

My proudest moment was to watch all my boys go through the Arrow of Light ceremony, Tray included. This ceremony marks the transition from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts if they choose to go on. All my other boys’ interests had changed over the years and they were into sports, band and other things; not Tray, he would be my only Boy Scout.

The summer before sixth grade came and went and just before the next school year was to start Tray was taken from us. I like to think he was just asked to join another troop whose leader is far better than I could have ever hoped be.

We all learned a lot from Tray; “my” boys, their parents and me. Yes, there is a plan and purpose for us all and, I think, I am not the only one in my community who has a nine-year-old hero.

Now, when I am in difficult situations I often think of how Tray would have handled it. This makes the going a lot easier because I know he would have tackled the challenge with greater gusto and zeal than anyone else and finally succeed in the end.

By James Garner

www.motivational-inspirational-corner.com

1. Do a cartwheel.
2. Sing into your hairbrush.
3. Walk barefoot in wet grass.
4. Play a song you like really loud, over and over.
5. Dot all your “i”’s with smiley faces.
6. Read the funnies. Throw the rest of the paper away.
7. Dunk your cookies.
8. Play a game where you make up the rules as you go along.
9. Step carefully over sidewalk cracks.
10. Change into some play clothes.
11. Try to get someone to trade you a better sandwich.
12. Eat ice cream for breakfast.
13. Kiss a frog, just in case.
14. Blow the wrapper off a straw.
15. Have someone read you a story.
16. Find some pretty stones and save them.
17. Wear your favorite shirt with you favorite pants even if they don’t match.
18. Take a running jump over a big puddle.
19. Get someone to buy you something you really don’t need.
20. Hide your vegetables under your napkin.
21. Stay up past your bedtime.
22. Eat dessert first.
23. Fuss a little, then take a nap.
24. Wear red gym shoes.
25. Put way too much sugar on your cereal.
26. Make cool screeching noises every time you turn a corner.
27. Giggle a lot for no reason.
28. Give yourself a gold star for everything you do today.

I couldn’t resist. I just had to give you a little something meaningful for the week ahead.

Taken from www.designdisease.com

It would appear that summer is upon us here in Cape Town and yet again, as with every other summer’s day during which I find myself captive within the confines of the concrete jungle, I am frustrated by the fact that I am not able to experience life as an essential part of our greater existence. This greater part of our existence is with reference to the fact that we are actually an energy source travelling through time. Our human form is merely a dimension of our greater existence.

So this frustration has led me to pursue a life less complicated; a life more meaningful where I can merely exist and enjoy the splendors of planet Earth. Bliss, in some form, is what most people are longing for.

A wise man by the name of Kahil Gibran once said: “Your daily life is your temple and your religion.”

What is it that you are doing with your daily life? Are you sitting in an office tapping on a key board all day, thinking how great it would be to be outdoors taking in all the natural splendors of this world? It’s amazing how the virtues of nature can maintain a healthy and stress free life.

Somewhere along the way we have played victim to someone else’s sad perspective of reality. It’s sad to see how life has become consumed by such misplaced obedience. But such is the nature of the modern day system. That is why it is so important to be present. To realize that there is nothing more and nothing less other than the moment you are in right now. In turn this acceptance of the present moment will lead to greater fulfillment in everyday life. So many people believe that being a good mother or husband means sacrificing dreams and living a life that was originally created out of fear and uncertainty.

How is it that sacrificing dreams could possibly make you a better anything? Surely following your dreams would sustain your happiness with greater success than merely living a life fulfilled through the material world? And then, surely this happiness will show itself through your love which you bestow compassionately upon others? This would certainly make you a better mother or husband. Yes there will be times where sacrifices will need to be made in the best interest of others. Make those sacrifices.

Every choice we make is based on love, fear and our dreams. Step back, look at what you are doing and why you are doing it. Are you doing it because you love it? Are you doing it because you fear pain or suffering? Or are you doing it because it is a necessary step or part of a dream?

Either way you look at it we are all the same. We all seek to fulfill the same essential needs. However unconsciously there is a desire to return to our origin and as a result we feel restless. It is a blessing if you are not content with small material happenings in your life. The realization of this, is enough in itself. Without knowing it you are on a path to greater fulfillment. There has however been a spiritual awakening so that this unconscious desire is now realized and has become conscious for some. The divinity which is complete, resides within you.

(This post was complied with a little help from Lauren. High 5… with love.)

This is a very short story with a fairly significant moral. Enjoy it.

“Mom, can I ask you some questions?”

“Sure son. Is there something bothering you?”

“Why do camels have humps?”

“Well son, we are desert animals. We need our humps to store water. We are known to go for days without water in the desert.”

“Okay, but then why are our legs long and thin and feet big and round?”

“You see son, our legs and feet are made especially for walking for days in the soft sand of the desert.”

“I see. One last question though mother.”

“Sure son.”

“Why the hell are we in the zoo then?”

Moral: Skills, knowledge ability and experience are only useful if you are at the right place and are able to use them.

Where are you now?