Is the picture on the right too far fetched and impossible for us to achieve?…No! I firmly believe that it is possibleย for us to achieve, and for some of our readers, I am sure they actually live a life that is somewhat similar to that picture!…..But, unfortunately, this is not the case for the majority living in our world today!
Is the picture on the left a joke?…Or, is it a reality of many places in our world today?……Can we make the change from living on the left side of this picture; to actually living on the right side of this picture?….Yes!…Hell Yes!
As you know, I am a peace loving kind guy, I do my best each day to share positivity, love, peace and respect to all people of our world, I hold out my hands in support of just cause, I share my love in the hope that one day I can really help make a difference to one person’s life, and they in turn help someone else…And on and on it goes…
This is my dream, a dream in which we can wake up and realise the realities of life, the realities of what is really going on in our world, not just what we see with our own eyes, what is going on in front of our faces, in our own neighbourhood.. but what is going on all around the world…Because, my dear friends, life is not so wonderful and so rosy for many millions of our fellow humans all around the world!
War, Rape, Persecution, Famine, Displacement, Genocide, Greed, Slavery, Human Trafficking, Racism, Hate, Religious Bigotry, Terrorism etc continues to go on right in front of our very nose each and every day…!
I want to end this short post on a positive note….Do I see changes happening?
YES, I DO ๐
My Dear Friends, WE…CAN..MAKE A DIFFERENCE, ONE PERSON AT A TIME ๐ FOR EACH PERSON WE HELP AWAKEN, THAT PERSON WILL THEN HELP ANOTHER PERSON WAKE UP, AND SLOWLY, SLOWLY, WE WILL CHANGE OUR WORLD ๐
Thank you for listening, thank you for caring ๐
I wish a Very Happy ไธญ็ง่ Mid Autumn Festival to all my blogging friends around the world. May you all feel the energy rising from the power of the new moon and share the love with you family and friends around the world ๐
The 10,000 Ripples Project: Buddha’s bringing Peace and Non-Violence to a Chicago community. How to work together, transcend Religionsโ and Ethnic Boundaries for the benefit of all. ๐
Knowing others is to be clever.
Knowing yourself is to be enlightened.
Overcoming others requires force.
Overcoming yourself requires strength.
Lao Tzu
A Person of high virtue is not conscious of virtue
and therefore possesses virtue.
A person of little virtue tries to be virtuous and
therefore lacks virtue.
Lao Tzu
Those who look only at themselves see little.
Those who justify themselves are not distinguished.
Those who brag have no merit.
The work of prideful people will not endure.
Lao Tzu
When desires are restrained there will be peace,
and then all under heaven will be at rest.
At the start of the new millennium the Dalai Lama issued eighteen rules for living.
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 Rs: 1. Respect for self 2. Respect for others 3. 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 friendship.โจ7
. 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 your values.
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11. Live a good, honourable 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’s 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.
I thought that for the November Energy Forecast I wanted to treat you to this view (Lee points to hillside behind him in the video). Itโs unbelievable. Itโs in Boulder, Colorado, where I live, and this is a place that I come and walk to rebalance myself. So for those of you who arenโt living in the countryside at the moment, or donโt get to experience something like this very often, I wanted to share it with you the best way I could.
Iโm recording this message on October 31st and weโve just gone through Hurricane Sandy in the US in the last couple days. And it was energetically very, very intense the whole day that we were waiting for the storm to hit. I found it very hard to disconnect from New York and the hurricane, even though I wanted to try and stay centered to hold as much positivity as I could for what was going to happen. But at the same time, I felt incredibly affected by it.
Iโm living in America now, so itโs easy when youโre on the same land mass to feel it. But I also know that New York was symbolic of certain things that weโre going to go through in the next few years. Weโre going to see more of these dramatic weather incidences. And the reassuring thing for me about New York was the amount of preparation and planning that went into how everybody navigated it. Because if you think about a hundred years ago, there wouldnโt have been any warning โ there wouldnโt have been any preparation plans, and people would have just experienced that kind of storm without any forewarning.
Secondly, the thing that is so vital for all of us at this crazy time on Earth, is the power of community and the love and support of community. Iโve emphasized this several times in recent months. Itโs going to be those connections with each other that get us through the next few years and some of the challenges that are going to come up.
And whatโs interesting with Hurricane Sandy is โ nature spoke very loudly, whereas it feels for the last several months, politics, the economy and the media have spoken very loudly, to create fear. And this was instead a very natural experience of human fear of death โ the actual fear of death, rather than death of your financial life or death of the politician that you would like to be in power.
So it brings fear home in a very primal way when these kinds of things happen. Iโve talked a lot about primal fear this year and the one really useful thing about primal fear is itโs even stronger than the fear that comes from the mind.
The fear that comes from the mind and the fear that can be created between thought and emotion tends to sit higher in the body, it doesnโt tend to go all the way down to the base chakra. It tends to sit heart and up, and sometimes accessing the stomach. But the base chakra is where our whole life force center is. So, when you have primal fear, there is this flush through the base.
So in some ways primal fear can be incredibly useful and incredibly powerful. Itโs why people like watching horror movies โ really scaring yourself gives you a flush of fear, so that you are then left clearer.
We know that on this planet we live on, there is duality, there is fear and love, light and dark, and everything in between. The other thing that we know through energy science and understanding, (which is fantastically growing more and more in the last few years), is that we can direct energy.
And thatโs what this month is really about. I tuned-in this morning and I was wondering, whatโs the theme, of this monthโs forecast, and I very clearly was told โleadership and direction.โ And it comes from within each of us.
When youโre having a difficult time in life, it can be hard to find your direction and so the kinder you can be to yourself and the less judgmental, the quicker you recover. Just recognize where youโre at โ if youโre feeling down or feeling low, ask โwhat can I do to support myself?โ Maybe I need to stay at home for a few days, maybe I need to get some support, maybe I need to go for a walk. Try out all the maybes and keep trying the maybes. Donโt give up on allowing yourself to recognize youโll come through it, because you will. We all do.
This is really a month where youโre going to want your leadership to come to the forefront. Over all of the Energy Forecasts this year, Iโve spoken about several areas and elements of leadership that we are being allowed into as a shifting world. So this ranges from the energetic and the spiritual, right through to the practical human, such as finding your voice where your voice has been suppressed.
Suppression is rising now at a world level and so too is all the suppression that you may have carried in yourself โ remember that itโs not just a personal upshift.
We have been a society that has been under the suppression of certain structures, certain beliefs. And as things have got crazier in the last few years, and things are imploding and exploding left and right, what this allows is the energy to return to the body. Sometimes itโs a baptism of fire and many of us already know that, sometimes itโs excruciating.
But if you work with the mind when in fear, and try and identify when the mind is telling you negatives โ thoughts like โthings are going to be awfulโ, then you can shift.
The way I really worked with this was a couple of years ago I went into deep fear about what might happen in the world. I really went there in my fear body, and I played out all the worst case scenarios and the decision that I finally gave myself was, well, I could either live in fear for the next few years and not truly live; or if the worst is going to happen in a few years time I can live now and actually say I truly lived in the last few years of my life.
And that worked for me, as then I had burnt through layers and layers of fear.
And of course, I do not believe that the world is going to end in December 2012 and I do not believe the world is going to end in December 2015. I believe the greatest challenge weโre facing now, is how to rebalance the planet and also navigate a time that, in terms of cosmic events and in terms of the position of the planet, will be challenging, weather-wise and the rest.
Itโs not a coincidence that things are falling apart in the structure of humanity, because we respond a lot more (than many people would like to believe) to everything thatโs going on on a planetary level and in the stars. Because we are as connected to the stars as we are to the Earth โ again, many people donโt believe that and thatโs fine. But for those of you who watch this and who are empathic or sensitive, Iโm aware you will already be aware of that.
So on that note, this month bathe yourself in nature as much as you can, and I donโt just mean in the daytime. As much as you can be out under the moon and under the stars, itโs going to help you to rebalance. And people like me, who live in a very open place, will have to go through his fears of bears and mountain lions visiting him if heโs sitting outside (laughter). But thatโs also useful for me and my ego to get over my fear and my programming, and also to embrace the fact that maybe I will be eaten by something, and that may be the way I go this time. But am I going to stop myself living in the meantime? No.
So, itโs interesting, the leadership piece seems very, very strong as a message this month. Many of you will already be noticing amazing, amazing times. Yes, even amid the chaos. For me personally this month has probably had more of the happiest expanded moments I can ever remember in my life. And then Iโve also yo-yoed the other way which is natural.
So, you have the expansion, then you come down into a smaller place in the ego or the spirit and you have to deal with that (a nearby machinery noise starts in the video) โ perfect timing a machine starts coming into nature at the very moment when I talk about going from expansion into being drilled, whether itโs your mind drilling you, whether itโs your energy drilling you.
We could not be going through this period in history right now and having ourselves stay completely stable and centered the way we were while everything around us that held us in place is changing. We are not separate from the external world.
So the thing to do around leadership is to choose. This is very important for all of us.
And we will forget, and weโll have moments where weโre consciously choosing and directing energy and thoughts, and weโll have moments where weโre in older parts of ourselves that weโre trying to bring up to date. But if your mind starts going, talk to it. Itโs a really useful practice. If your mind is saying, โYouโre not good enough to do that,โ say โWho says? Where did that come from?โ That thought may have come from seven years ago, but imagine you could be dead in a week, donโt you want to try that thing? Donโt you want to just go and live?
And this is a great time for busting through fear, for going and doing things that you wouldnโt normally do or give yourself permission to do. And the reason itโs important to be this way is that it creates life.
We need life on the planet right now. Weโre facing so much death and destruction around us โ actions that carry the energy of death and fear that carries the energy of death, that those people who are alive and living with spirit, not only infuse others with a positivity and a spirit thatโs important for building, but more importantly, the planet itself is positively affected.
We are not separate from these trees, we are not separate from this ground โ we are all in energy response to each other. However much you may have liked to believe that you as a human are separate from everything else โ it just doesnโt work like that on energy terms. Your identity may feel separate but you really arenโt.
So, the more you can actually bring life through you and be alive in this moment and in this process;
A) The better you are going to feel;
B) The more is going to move for you in your life, and
C) The more you will contribute to the planet right now.
Iโve said this before but many of you will be coming to the end of the road with things that you were doing. And saying/realising, โI donโt want to do this anymore. This isnโt what Iโm here for.โ
And as you go to step into what it is that you want to do, there will be some fear, there will be some โ โWhoaโ from inside you. Itโs great, itโs great, and youโre bang on point if thatโs whatโs going on. Because you donโt tend to get there without going through some of this stuff. But the beauty is, by going through some of this stuff and being aware that thatโs going to be the dance you go through and being positive with that and actually going โNo, Iโm going to walk through some of my fear this monthโ, you will come out the other side bigger.
The opposite is to stay suppressed. And if you stay suppressed you will stay in fear. And again letโs be clear โ some of you watching this might be going through a really hard time right now as a result of something youโve just been through. Thatโs a different case. If youโre simply trying to bring yourself back to zero point, thatโs enough, so you just keep working on bringing yourself back to zero point and youโll get there.
But for the rest, who are kind of in the middle, and youโre kind of ok, but thereโs fear in you or thereโs fear around you, be very aware of empathy.
Empathy is getting higher on the planet all the time. As we get to join into a state of oneness more, we all get better at feeling and picking up and reading other people. So, if you go to friend and a friend gives you an opinion, and you went to the friend feeling fine, and you leave feeling as if youโre โinโ their opinion, donโt judge it โ because maybe you needed to try on their opinion to get clear about yourself.
But do be aware of it. Be aware, โAh I was fine before I went there, and now Iโve walked away from him I donโt feel so fine, is that me or is that him?โ And see where you feel, ask yourself, โDo I agree with his opinion, do I agree with my opinion?โ
And opinions are stronger than ever right now and theyโre very diverse and people who youโre close to will surprise you with what they say. But this is where you have to be a leader with your voice.
We are community based. But for the longest time, we have been to some degree, community controlled. Our fear of being abandoned or pushed out by the group has made lots of us in the past play roles that fitted a certain jigsaw. The jigsaw has crumbled; the jigsawโs not here any more. The jigsawโs gone. Itโs a very new jigsaw now in an energy term.
So what you have to do is trust yourself to lead. And what will surprise you is a lot of what will come back through you are seed energies of who you were as a child. So if you liked playing the guitar as a child and you havenโt done it for 15 years, why not pick it up again and just see what happens? Or, youโll transfer that creativity to something else. Creativity as an energy can be transferred to any area. And it will be important for people to be doing new things at the moment. Creating new life.
So, be a leader of yourself this month and trust that you leading yourself is exactly what youโre supposed to do for everyone else around you. Even if you slightly piss off your friend, who thought the two of you were very close in opinion, thatโs important.
If you express something thatโs very much your truth, you give your friend an opportunity to feel his or her truth around yours. And then we all move forward into a different place together. But if you stay safe and you play it safe and you censor yourself, you and your friend are being held back.
So thatโs the message for this month.
Love to all in New York and everywhere else around the world where there are great challenges going on. Hold love for each other in our hearts. Weโll keep moving, weโll keep going, weโll keep adapting, weโll keep moving with these times. And as itโs revealed to each of us what our personal role in the next few years is, weโll activate those roles.
Weโll keep trucking and weโll see where we can go as a planet and as a people. But the most important thing, regardless of your attachment to future outcomes or not is to live โ to really live.
At the close of Rio+20, CI President Russell Mittermeier reflected on the high points of the conference โ and the opportunities before the global community.
Read Conservation Internationalโs complete statement on the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development.
As the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development comes to a close, we leave this city with a positive spirit and expectant hope for the future of people and our planet.
While participants arrived with modest expectations, viewed in the context of the Conferenceโs purpose and goals, Rio +20 delivered on its stated intent in the negotiating halls and produced some important and hopefully lasting results outside of the government delegatesโ forum.
Of greatest importance was the fact that for the first time we saw both governments and businesses explicitly recognizing that natural capital (biodiversity and ecosystem services) is the essential core element of sustainable development and that healthy ecosystems must be the foundation of human well-being. This is an extraordinary and transformative change in mindset, as it finally moves the environment from a marginal issue to a central component of future development strategies.
Additionally in Rio, the role and voice of business and civil society moved from the margins to the center, with the corporate world taking on a leadership role as a community unlike anything weโve seen before. The green economy was embraced, not as a constraint on development, or an alternative to economic and social well-being, but rather as a fundamental underpinning โ an imperative for the wealth and welfare of all generations and life on our precious Earth.
Over and over we heard global leaders strongly affirm that natural capital (biodiversity and ecosystem services) is central to sustainable development, and the fact that countries have now committed to implementing it through their national accounting systems is a major consequence that we will likely view as historic in years to come. We must now address the issues of perverse incentives and subsidies and begin to account for negative externalities, or the hidden social and environmental costs of business as usual on our balance sheets.
As always, the diverse voices of civil society were heard, both dissenting and supporting, but now more than ever before because of the new social media order. Their demand for action and commitment to hold leaders accountable is vital and valued.
This Rio+20 summit will be regarded as a moment when the global community โ as a collective โ chose not to allow the desire for a perfect political outcome to prevent progress and action and when we recognized that prior agreements on climate, biodiversity and poverty alleviation must simply be implemented with greater urgency. It has provided new tools and a new affirmation that nature is an essential ingredient if development is to be truly sustainable over the long term.
Leaders have set the table for the kind of development redesign we now need to follow. How will we respond to it?
The Future We Want depends on urgent, smart, collective action. It is now up to all of us to get to work to deliver the future we, our planet, and our children all need.
The sun is shining brightly, the sky is clear and blue, itโs a beautiful morning here in Shanghai. I can hear the sounds of children laughing as they play in the kindergarten below, the distant hum of cars travelling on to their destinations and the birds singing in the trees.
Oh I have so much to be grateful for, my life is filled with love from family and friends, I live with joy happiness and peace, so why do we allow our Egoโs (our inner voices) to take control of our lives?
โThis is bad, he/she is bad, donโt do that, donโt go there, I hate this or that, rushing here, rushing there, never stopping to take time out and look at what is all around us, taking a moment to feel the breeze on our face, the warmth of the sun on our skin, to touch and feel the delicate texture of flowers, trees or grass.
Stop! Take five minutes to look, listen, smell and to feelโฆ
Take a look at the faces around you, what do you see? Some faces are filled with happiness, love, joy and peace, smiling faces, they exude happiness in their voices as they speak, they take the time to interact with others, to communicate and enjoy their day, that moment in time because itโs special and it will never be repeatedโฆ.
While others have a stern look, furrowed brows, contempt and anger in their eyes and mistrust for everyone they meet, they rush here and there, barging into people as they go, without a care in the world!โฆ..
Which do you prefer?…Itโs your choice, you are in control of your life, your future and your destinyโฆ. Choose a life of love, compassion and happiness, a life of joy, of communication, live in the moment and enjoy everything that comes to you for what it isโฆa gift from a higher place, from your God.
Start today with a smile, greet your day with thanks, be grateful for what you have and start living your life to the full.
When the intelligent and animal souls are held together
in one embrace, they can be kept from separating.
When one gives undivided attention to the vital breath,
and brings it to the utmost degree of pliancy, he can
become as a tender babe.
When he has cleansed away the most mysterious sights of
his imagination, he can become without a flaw.
In loving the people and ruling the state, cannot he proceed
without any purpose of action?
In the opening and shutting of his gates of heaven, cannot he
do so as a female bird?
While his intelligence reaches in every direction, cannot he
appear to be without knowledge?
The Tao produces all things and nourishes them;
it produces them and does not claim them as its own;
it does all, and yet does not boast of it; it presides over all,
and yet does not control them.
This is what is called the mysterious quality of the Tao.