Entries from March 2008 ↓

My favorite thing to do is to take my dog Djembe for a hike in the mornings. We’re normally the first ones at the park and pretty much have the trails to ourselves. This allows both of us to enjoy Mother Nature off leash.

What I’ve learned during these walks is that my dog does not care what day it is, all he cares about is that we are at the park.
He doesn’t care which trail we take, he’s just excited to be taking the trail. He absolutely never thinks something terrible could be waiting for us around the corner (like a mugger or a big bad dog.) All he knows is we are at the park and he is happy to be there.  One day we had to return back home right after we arrived at the park. He didn’t complain once. He just sat there smiling in the back of the car….           Meanwhile, I was complaining and fussing about it all the way back to the house and pretty much the rest of the day.
The moral of the story?
Just because you are “holding” the leash doesn’t make you the wiser one.

Bookmark it

In The Know: How Can We Make The War In Iraq More Eco-Friendly?

Bookmark it

Consecration in its true sense simply means obedience to the soul. We have within us something that is always impelling us toward the upward and advancing way; and that impelling something is the divine Principle of Power; we must obey it without question.

No one will deny that if you are to be great, the greatness must be a manifestation of something within and that greatness does not come from the mind, or the intellect, or the reason.

Reason knows neither principle nor morality. Your reason is like a lawyer in that it will argue for either side.

Intellect helps us to see the best means and manner of doing the right thing, but intellect never shows us the right thing.

Use intellect and reason without regard to principle, and you may become known as a very able person, but you will never become known as a person whose life shows the power of real greatness.

But By going back to your own center you can always find the pure idea of right for every relationship. To be great and to have power it is only necessary to conform your life to the pure idea as you find it in the GREAT WITHIN. Every compromise on this point is made at the expense of a loss of power. This you must remember.

We know there are many ideas in our minds that we have outgrown, and which, from force of habit we still permit to dictate the actions of our lives.

Cease all this; abandon everything you have outgrown.

There are many ignoble customs, social and other, which we still follow, although we know they tend to dwarf and belittle us and keep us acting in a small way. Rise above all this.

I’m not saying that you should absolutely disregard conventionalities, or the commonly accepted standards of right and wrong. You cannot do this; but you can deliver your soul from most of the narrow restrictions that bind the majority of your fellow people. Do not give your time and strength to the support of obsolete institutions, religious or otherwise; do not be bound by creeds in which you do not believe.

Be free.

You have perhaps formed some sensual habits of mind or body; abandon them. You still indulge in distrustful fears that things will go wrong, or that people will betray you, or mistreat you; get above all of them. You still act selfishly in many ways and on many occasions; cease to do so. Abandon all these, and in place of them put the best actions you can form a conception of in your mind. If you desire to advance, and you are not doing so, remember that it can be only because your thought is better than your practice. You must do as well as you think.

Let your thoughts be ruled by principle, and then live up to your thoughts.

Let your attitude in business, in politics, in neighborhood affairs, and in your own home be the expression of the best thoughts you can think.

Let your manner toward all men and women, great and small, and especially to your own family circle, always be the most kindly, gracious, and courteous you can picture in your imagination.

Remember your viewpoint; you are a god in the company of gods and must conduct yourself accordingly. The steps to complete consecration are few and simple. You cannot be ruled from below if you are to be great; you must rule from above. Therefore you cannot be governed by physical impulses; you must bring your body into subjection to the mind; but your mind, without principle, may lead you into selfishness and immoral ways; you must put the mind into subjection to the soul, and your soul is limited by the boundaries of your knowledge; you must put it into subjection to that Our soul which needs no searching of the understanding but before whose eye all things are spread.

That constitutes consecration.

Say: “I surrender my body to be ruled by my mind; I surrender my mind to be governed by my soul, and I surrender my soul to the guidance of God.” Make this consecration complete and thorough, and you have taken a great step in the way of greatness and power.

Share your thoughts at Turk Akbay forum 

Bookmark it

At some point on your road to your goals, you’ll need to take some time to reflect and assess where you are, where you’ve been, and how this is affecting where you want to go.One way you can determine how you’re doing and where you’ve been is to journal.  I personally am not a journaler, nor do I think everyone needs to be.  But journaling is a great way to track your progress.  If you feel intimidated by a blank book that’s sold as a “journal,” blog it.  Blogging is a good way to put your thoughts down and out there in cyberspace. Or choose an audio-method:  speak in to a tape recorder.  If, like me, you’re not a journaler, keep track of your progress and setbacks in the form of check-marks or some other recording-method.  I personally like to reassess after achieving some part of my goal.  There is usually a natural denouement that comes with an accomplishment-a little bit of “time off,” as it were.  I use that time to consider what I’ve finished and how it fits in to my goals and success.

Another time to reflect and consider is when you’ve hit a stumbling block.  As you look at the obstacle in front of you, try to figure out where it came from and why you might not have seen it before you tripped over it.

If you have strayed off-course and found this boulder that way, this is the time to determine that.  If you’ve lost sight of your values, you may have found this problem as a result of that.  Reassess now and get back on track.  Don’t forget your key value of integrity and realize that integrity is the most important thing as you pursue success.

Finally, use reflection time to re-evaluate your goals.  Have your goals changed a bit since you wrote them down?

An example is a goal to pursue your doctoral degree and defend your thesis within 3 years of starting your program.  If you were single when you started your program and got married during your education, you might find that your timeline is less important now than it was 2 years ago.  You might find that if you take an extra year to defend your thesis, you’ll have a richer, more productive document to defend, as your spouse may be able to help you consider things you hadn’t seen before. Regardless of how you assess and consider your goals and your path to success, it’s important that you do.  Everyone needs tweaking along the way, and that also applies to the goals we set for ourselves.

Bookmark it