Exploring Life

8/29/19 “If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be a word without meaning.” - C.S. Lewis

8/29/19 All four years of high school, I was really into tennis. Not just kind of, but really into it. I didn't do much besides playing tennis almost year round, and I loved it. This was before my realization that I loved acting and would pursue it, so I had a lot of time on my hands just to play tennis, and tennis did I play.  For some reason, most of my college life, I did not play tennis. I started back up right before my major surgery in the spring of 2017 and was obviously out for a while, but I could've started year 2014, but for some odd reason I waited a good three years before I went back to it. The regret came because I genuinely don't understand how I could not do something I loved so much. What was going through my mind?? How is it possible to just forget something that you did every single day? But when you do some thinking and gather some valid reasons as to why you should not beat yourself up for waiting so long to start again, you'll release yourself f...

8/27/19 Many people have hobbies, activities, food and so on that they enjoy and that is definitely okay. However, when any of those things become an obsession, there is a potential threat for someone to create attachment to that object. For example, watching TV isn't bad. There are a lot of lessons we can learn from the stories told on television. However, when we start to believe we need to watch TV in order to be happy, then that perception leads to a dependency which elicits a response where then one spends hours and hours consumed by episodes after episodes, and then before one knows it, six hours have been spent in bed binge-watching that show. Paul in the Bible said, "Everything is permissible, but not all things are edifying." Watching TV is not bad, eating is not bad, drinking is not bad, but in excess it can lead to a dependency that creates attachment. The problem with finding happiness in that which is outside of us is that the happiness in an object or an ac...

8/24/19 I've come to the realization that anything that is negative, that stirs up fear, that creates division, hatred, anger, jealousy, greed and so on, are not worth of my time or effort. If not saying my opinions or my beliefs keeps the peace around people who can't handle beliefs that differ from theirs, then I will be silent to keep the peace. I'm learning the secret to abound and to be abased. To know when to sit and know when to stand up. To fight for those who are helpless and resist participating in discussions that lead to hatred and anger. I'm learning that there is not enough time in the day to waste by allowing any negative thought to dig roots and to stir negativity within my own mind. I've found the practical ways in which to let go of these thoughts that are not mine and replace them with positive thinking. To focus on the good in people, in animals, in the world and so on. These are just a few things that I've acquired through mindfulness, med...

8/18/29 "He is the King, the King of kings, the Supreme Lord and Master of kings. Nanak remains subject to His Will. Make contentment your ear-rings, humility your begging bowl, and meditation the ashes you apply to your body. Let the remembrance of death be the patched coat you wear, let the purity of virginity be your way in the world, and let faith in the Lord be your walking stick. See the brotherhood of all mankind as the highest order of Yogis; conquer your own mind, and conquer the world."                                    - Sikhism

8/18/19 Meditation leads to awareness, awareness leads to gratitude, gratitude leads to praise, praise leads to glorifying God and glorifying God leads to a life filled with purpose.

8/13/19 “If you love a flower, don’t pick it up. Because if you pick it up, it dies, and it ceases to be what you love. So if you love a flower, let it be. Love is not about possession. Love is about appreciation.”            - Osho "When we don’t find love within ourselves, we oftentimes go looking for it outward. We find someone who awakens or incites the love that is already inside of us. Instead of realizing that the love is already in us, we falsely associate that someone who loves us as being the architect of the love we feel instead of merely the muse.  This is fine and dandy until that person no longer wants to be with us because when they leave, they take those feelings of love with them. Wouldn’t it be much better to love ourselves first, before we got romantically involved with another? That way, if you and your lover split, you’ll still have love because you will have already cultivated it within yourself before you two got together. That ...

8/13/19 So I encountered a situation in which someone's negative words successfully managed to bring up pain that I didn't even know about, and even though it was obviously not fun to go through, I learned a very powerful lesson through my failure and hopefully this will help others to not have to go through what I went through. In Eckhart Tolle's book, The Power of Now, He calls that phenomenon the 'pain body' and describes it as below: "As long as you are unable to access the power of the Now, every emotional pain that you experience leaves behind a residue of pain that lives on in you. It merges with the pain from the past, which was already there, and becomes lodged in your mind and body. This, of course, includes the pain you suffered as a child, caused by the unconsciousness of the world into which you were born. This accumulated pain is a negative energy field that occupies your body and mind. If you look on it as an invisible entity in its own right...

8/12/19 When I'm at my best, I am in a way, detached from all things besides God and therefore nothing, no one, or no situation can take away my happiness because everything I need is found in God. Therefore, I have no expectations about anyone, anything or any event besides from God who meets all my needs and gives me more than I could ever ask. Since all my expectations are from God, then nothing can dissatisfy me, no one can take away my peace, not any situation can take away my happiness unless I personally allow it to. So since all that I need is secure in the One who gives all positive gifts without reserve, I am completely content and at peace. Though the mountains may fall, though the sea may quake, though people may do this or that, or whatever negative situation might be thrown my way, I will remain at peace. If you're reading this, and you're thinking to yourself, dang I want to remain in peace, don't worry it's not hard at all. You must first realize ...

“This magnificent refuge is inside you. Enter. Shatter the darkness that shrouds the doorway… Be bold. Be humble. Ask no permission from the authorities. Close your eyes and follow your breath to the still place that leads to the invisible path that leads you home.” ~St. Teresa of Avila

8/9/19 In lieu with the theme of friends, I have a handful of friendship quotes because I can't just choose one. "A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words." — Shania Twain “There’s not a word yet for old friends who’ve just met.”             – Jim Henson “Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.”              – Anais Nin

Entry 59 - Lesson on Friends 8/7/19 Surround yourself with people who excite you. Who challenge you. Who help you grow. Who understand you. Who love every part of you even when you don't. Find those people and keep them close to you. Those are the people worth fighting for. The ones that will never give up on you, and you know that you will never give up on them. The friends that you know will still be in your life when you're crinkly and old and your hair is pinned back in a gray bun. The friends you can call at 1am, and you know they'll pick up. The friends who know you like honey with your chicken nuggets. The friends you have flamboyant handshakes with. The friends that, even though they might not even be with you at the moment, just a memory with them makes you laugh. The friends who know how you need to be loved. Focus on them. Love on them. Be with them. Make sure they know how much you appreciate them because life's too short for anything less. Entry 60 - Pecu...

8/17/19 There's a similarity in many religions, denominations, sects and so on that have become more clear over time. Even though outward forms tend to differ, within each belief, there seems to be some who focus less on the exact forms and more on the relationship with the Creator. There seems to be a pattern of an outward form, with outward expectations such as "If you did this or that you'll go to heaven or hell", and methods of practicing in that specific religion.  But then there always seems to be a more spiritual, mystical, deeper, more inward part of each religion that goes beyond form and focuses on the formless. It appreciates the stillness. It focuses on the deep connection between man and God that everyone has. It realizes the divine connection between all that is within everyone, and it focuses on that. People might spend their whole life fighting on which doctrine is more right, which interpretation is the most correct, but those who stay "out ther...

8/7/19 You must learn the secret of setting goals, but also detaching from the outcome of those goals. What I mean by that is, say you have a goal to graduate college in 4 years. That's a nice goal to have, but say for some reason, unexpected things happen within your life, or you change your major, or a chain of events makes that goal not reachable. You need to be able to release yourself from that and surrender to the present moment. You must realize not hitting that goal doesn't threaten your success. We run into trouble when we allow our ego to manifest the reaction it's so dying and craving to let manifest. If we fail to accomplish something, even though our true selves know it's not a means to an end, our ego inflames because that failure threatened its survival. However, when we detach from our ego and from the outcome of not reaching the goals we expected to reach, we can move on faster to set the next goal and recover at a quicker rate. It takes time out of ou...

8/7/19 Don't regret anything because all things the way they are have brought you exactly where you are now. One small change in history and you could be in a completely different place, with completely different people. You might've never met your best friend, or had that amazing memory wherever. Everything is the way it should be. Nothing is wrong. The past has already happened, so don't dwell on it, instead place your energy on the now. Being who you want to be. Living your best life. Loving those who've been placed in your life. Showing gratitude in all things. 

8/6/19 "The Guru has given me this one understanding: there is only the One, the Giver of all souls. May I never forget Him! Even if you could live throughout the four ages, or even ten times more, and even if you were known throughout the nine continents and followed by all, with a good name and reputation, with praise and fame throughout the world-still, if the Lord does not bless you with His Glance of Grace, then who cares? What is the use?" "The names and the colors of the assorted species of beings were all inscribed by the Ever-flowing Pen of God. Who knows how to write this account? Just imagine what a huge scroll it would take! What power! What fascinating beauty! And what gifts! Who can know their extent? You created the vast expanse of the Universe with One Word! Hundreds of thousands of rivers began to flow. How can Your Creative Potency be described? I cannot even once be a sacrifice to You. Whatever pleases You is the only good done, You, Eternal and For...

Quote of the day comes from a Sufi poet named  Hafiz: "I am a hole in a flute that the Christ's breath moves through- listen to this music."                                                - Hafiz  

8/5/19 People fall into these rhythms of unconsciousness to the point where they stop living for making a difference and just continue to live until they die. Their existence becomes a pattern of reliving the same old material, just with new days. They don't challenge themselves. They don't go out and learn new things. They instead consume large amounts of television, go their same ways, do their same things and continue on with the same patterns and never break out of the mold. Then before they know it, they're 80 (If they're lucky to even reach that age) sitting on the couch watching the same TV show, with their contribution lowered to the pattern they're unconsciously a part of. Never going beyond that, never exceeding what it is they're confined to, and then dying in that same pattern. Life with unconscious rhythm is living the same day multiple days in a row. It's like a life filled with the same days just packaged slightly different. Same patterns, sa...

8/4/19 As I was reading Numbers in the Bible, something dawned on me. I feel as if there are so many times when I'll forget to realize that not every single verse is meant for us specifically in this time period. They were written at a specific time, for a specific group of people, for a specific reason. There was an action from the people or from God, and these verses were a reaction. There was constant dialogue between the nation as a whole and God, who was their leader. These stories are dripping with specific points that cannot all be applied to us. Though there are verses that we can take out and say, Yes, God is doing this for us as well such as "For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord..." There are other verses that cannot be applied to us because they were timely in their essence rather than eternally held true, such as God's instructions on carrying the Ark of Covenant. Obviously we would not follow those instructions because again, this was for a ...

Entry 50 - Abundant Peace Turns into Abundant Bliss 8/4/19 There is peace in surrender. There is peace in letting go. There is peace in being okay with how things are, and knowing that one day they'll change and that's alright. There is peace in loving all things, without respect to your dislikes or likes. There is peace in giving peace. There is peace in living a life that generates awareness and love into other lives. When you start living in a way that makes you happy by first being happy within, this peace becomes bliss and this bliss changes your life. When you find this inner peace, you recognize that absolutely nothing outside of you could ever be better than what has been generated within you. No amount of buzz from alcohol, no drug whether medical or recreational, no fun memory at an amusement park, no amount of amazing food, and so on. You realize that everything you needed to be content is within you and that within you, you have direct access to God Himself who is ...

8/2/19 Something's changed within me and at times, if I don't take a step back and recognize the shift, I might not fully realize how huge this is. All my life, I've been incredibly afraid of spiders. Even though they're never as big as a full sized human being, I've been scared of all shapes and sizes, and I've allowed that fear to control me up until recently. Today, my doctor told me she was surprised at how peaceful I've become that she could tell right off the bat something was very different from before. But one of those most shocking for me is the dissipation of my fear of spiders. Before, I couldn't even kill a spider without shuddering and maybe letting out a little scream. While moving, I removed around 15 spiders from my luggage and did not experience the same soul shattering fear when I did so. This peace that I've been consciously aware of, which has always been in me, but I've just recently allowed it to be expressed at all times,...

8/1/19 I'm starting a quote of the day because I want to help others see how we can appreciate and learn from all people regardless of culture, ideologies, backgrounds, belief system, etc. To some, this might be threatening because it challenges a long held notion for many that they must stay within the boundary of what they've believed all their life or else, but to others it'll be refreshing to learn we're not that much different than what we may have thought we were.  If you find yourself threatened or feel a desire to judge what you're reading as instantly incorrect, try to release yourself from that fear and recognize it can't stop you from growing or appreciating others, only you can. Also, if you can move past that blockage you've set up unknowingly, then doors will be opened and boundaries that once confined you will be torn down. I'll assure you that you can indeed retain your beliefs while appreciating what others have to say and while you...