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Entrée: Simplifying
Simple by Eliza
Bloom
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I have a 440-page guide on how to simplify my life, but I haven't found the time to read it.
Like you perhaps, my once-quiet world now clatters with the joy of a large family. Amid the din, I've had to simplify my quest for the simple. The advent of a simpler life can be launched with a concept so simple it takes only a few words, yet its implications and manifestations have given birth to entire institutions and provided intellectual fodder for philosophers for centuries.
Still, it is better, more accessible, easier to implement - at least for me - if I can keep the message simple.
Too much interpretation waters down the message. Too much debate strips it of its power. Too much explanation distracts us from its essence, and gives us an excuse to avoid getting down to the business of doing it, of living it. And to live it is to change our lives in sweeping, everyday ways.
It is this: Live in love. Whatever contributes to the love in the world, do it.
I suppose I've taken the risk of sounding airy-fairy and hippie-dippie. But just for a moment, allow yourself to recognize that love is the only gift you will always have in abundance. Recognize how different you feel when you extend it to others. Recognize how its unrestricted sharing infuses you with new energy in your own everyday life. And allow yourself to see how such recognition could change your life. If, just for today, you made it your simple goal to wholeheartedly extend yourself in love and kindness. To love lavishly. Haphazardly. To smear it all over the place.
Once as a junior in college, I found myself in a bar with a group of graduate students. I was the only underclassman in the bunch and they were debating ethics, lobbing names of dead philosophers like bocce balls with not a small dose of intellectual pride. I was quiet, soaking in all of the ideas and insights, when someone who had too much to drink asked the underclassman what she thought. "Whatever contributes to the love in the world, do that," I said.
Silence followed as they waited for me to expand, to elaborate, to offer proof. "That's pretty much it." I said.
It's not new advice, but it's certainly simple. For me, simplifying your life is not to add another "should." It's simply to recognize that your degree of happiness equals your degree of compassion. If someone curses you, hold her in your mind and bless her. If you feel like cursing someone, bless her, too. Recognize that the feeling of overwhelming compassion is available to you any time you wish to call upon it.
Leading the simple life is to witness how extending love brings you joy in a fundamental down-to-the-marrow sense. A joy you can feel in your belly. And then to surrender the rest. To surrender anything that takes way from that - whether it's an activity, a possession, a relationship, a feeling, or a simple thought.
Gandhi said, "Renounce and rejoice." It doesn't get much simpler than that.
About the author:
Eliza Bloom's new book, The Bloom Method, is now online, and you can read it - in its entirety - HERE. Eliza also invites you to join her private mailing list, where you'll receive an uplifting message each week. To join, visit Momscape.com's subscriber page.
Main Course: The
Look
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Right now, I am unemployed.
In the professional sense, I mean. Not in the spiritual sense, however. In that respect I always have work to do; it is a career that I have thrown myself into, and the projects come faster than I can bid on them. It is joyful work, even when the going gets tough.
I have said before that I love what I do, and that I have never had a bad day at work. Difficult days, yes. It is the same in my spiritual work. Dark days have come, but never one so bad that I wanted to quit, pack up and leave the building, as it were. Never that!
I looked into the face of my newest grandson this last week. Just four months old, and he looks so much like his daddy. Why do I know that? It is because he has that same look on his face that his father did at that age. I am sure of it, because his dad, now in his thirties, still has that same look: one of positive anticipation. Like everyday is his birthday, and the presents are about to be handed to him.
Life's surprises are coming - some may not be what is expected, but expectations are wasted energy (I have learned) that lead to disappointment. Life's gifts are coming - some may be so gratifying as to humble me to my knees in tears; others may knock me off my feet in a not-so-pleasant way, that I may learn humility in that manner, too.
Here comes the present. Like a child, I am learning to live in the moment. Let's see what happens...
I would not wish for this life to be one of leisure. I wouldn't change my subjection to physical law, being exposed to hunger and cold, and the necessity of conflict with the material world. I would not change the weather so that it is always temperate and pleasant, nor would I make the vegetation so lush as to anticipate my every want, or earth's minerals so ductile as to yield to me without skill or strength. I would not wish for everyone to be so agreeable in their thinking or their actions that I could find no difference between me and thee, Heavens NO!
I see goodness in a Plan that places me in a world where labor alone can keep me alive. In the same manner, I see wisdom in a Plan that brings me spiritual growth and prosperity through spiritual labor and trial. I don't want to be a child to which a doting Father provides everything!
What strength would I have if never a muscle, physical or spiritual, were exercised?
I look into my own face, this morning, and I see that same look: one of positive anticipation. Thank God, it is still there after all these years. Today, right now, it is a day just like a birthday, and I am looking forward to today, because it is a gift - the present is here, now.
Yeah, I need another gig - but that will come in the due course of my life. I have things to do, in the meantime. It is time to get back to my other job. Happy Birthday!
Michael Rawls, Friday's Inspiration © 2003
Second Helping: A
Gift from the Heart of a Friend by Steve
Brunkhorst
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She stares at me, and then closes her eyes. A tinge of early dawn plays on her cheek as it peeks through the glass curtains by my desk. I grow warmer, waiting in silence for her first uncertain word and the gentle touch of her hand. She fidgets and rocks in her chair. She cannot hold her thoughts inside much longer.
We've been meeting like this for months. Some days she rambles, pouring out her soul. She talks of yesterday's sorrows and tomorrow's distant shores. She tells me her needs, desires, dreams and passions. Sometimes she teases me with impossible notions that she only wishes she believed. When she's feeling light, she weaves amusing tales and tells me jokes. I accept her as perfect - always perfect as she is.
Finally she opens her eyes, and a tear drop falls. The emotions are about to flow. "Okay." she whispers under her breath. I see her desperation, and project my own inner light toward her. Her eyes glow with expectancy. She pours out her soul, and discovers buried treasures.
She paints a portrait of her father, and rehearses what she will tell him after all these years. She's filled with hope that he will finally understand. Her spirit lifts. My mind dances furiously recording her thoughts and prayers. Perhaps if she explains honestly, he will listen, and they can finally heal the relationship. Today she isn't muddling in the past. She is moving forward. Today is a new beginning.
She connects with the core of her being, and pauses briefly to reminisce. She plays with a vivid memory, and more tears come - tears of joy. She pauses again, and I wait. I grasp every privileged thought and confession. Her emotions rush like unrelenting rivers until she's quiet, still, and at peace.
She whispers, "There's nothing more to say now."
She asks me to remember her most secret longings, to guard them like precious mysteries. Again, I do. She leaves feeling lighter, at ease, and confident. Will she call him or write to him? I won't ever ask, and she will tell me when the time is right.
Sometimes I wish I could feel emotions like she does, and tell her what to say that would make everything alright. But I will not interfere. I have no delicate heart like hers - only a large and finite memory to preserve her most endeared treasures.
I'm simply her computer, a faithful ear in the early morning hours when she pours out her soul through my keyboard - a precious gift from the heart of a friend..
About the author:
Steve coaches talented individuals who want to enhance their sense of personal empowerment, self-confidence, and creativity. He is also the editor of Achieve! Ezine, inspiring, motivating, and entertaining 60-second nuggets to lighten up your day, and help you reach a greater level of achievement. Steve invites you to visit his website today at http://AchieveEzine.com
Soup to Nuts: From the feedback
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C.F. (Sandy) Pofal, from 52Best, wrote "Hi Michael, I just re-read Disappearing Act. What a powerful story." Disappearing Act was chosen for January 2004 First Place Award at WritingandCommentary.com, and has been featured at SelfGrowth.com, OfSpirit.com, IdeaMarketers.com and Zinos.com - it remains one of the most popular articles I have written. Thank you, Sandy. Coming from you, that is high praise for the life of a wonderful man, now passed on to his reward. I miss him!
Sherry wrote, "I enjoyed Friday's newsletter and passed it on... these extended families, finally just all become "family" to those of us who are willing to let that happen, don't they? Lord knows, it took every last one of us, not just a village, to get all of mine turned into viable adults, with still some shred of sanity left, among a few of us....I think. ;)" Thanks to all subscribers who pass on this newsletter!
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