TREE TEST

I have this tree analogy when I think of people in my life, be it friends, family, acquaintances, employees, co-workers, whomever...They  are all placed inside what I call my tree test. It goes like this:

 

LEAF PEOPLE

Some people come into your life and they are like leaves on a tree. They are only there for a season. You can't depend on them or count on them because they are weak and only there to give you shade. Like leaves, they are there to take what they need and as soon as it gets cold or a wind blows in your life they are gone. You can't be angry at them, it's just who they are.

 

BRANCH PEOPLE

There are some people who come into your life and they are like branches on a tree. They are stronger than leaves, but you have to be careful with them. They will stick around through most seasons, but if you go through a storm or two in your life it's possible that you could lose them. Most times they break away when it's tough. Although they are stronger than leaves, you have to test them out before you run out there and put all your weight on them. In most cases they can't handle too much weight. But again, you can't be mad with them, it's just who they are.

 

ROOT PEOPLE

If you can find some people in your life who are like the roots of a tree then you have found something special. Like the roots of a tree, they are hard to find because they are not trying to be seen. Their only job is to hold you up and help you live a strong and healthy life. If you thrive, they are happy. They stay low key and don't let the world know that they are there. And if you go through an awful storm they will hold you up. Their job is to hold you up, come what may, and to nourish you, feed you and water you.

 

Just as a tree has many limbs and many leaves, there are few roots. Look at your own life. How many leaves, branches and roots do you have? What are you in other people's lives?

 

THANK GOD FOR THE ROOTS!

 

~ I fall, I rise. I make mistakes. I live, I learn. I've been hurt, but I'm alive. I'm human, I am not perfect, but I'm thankful. ~

_*My Conscience*_

 

_*My Conscience*_

Sometimes in the dark of the night,

I visit my conscience  

To see if it is still breathing,

For its dying a slow death

Every day.

When I pay for a meal in a fancy place.

An amount which is perhaps the monthly income 

Of the guard who holds the door open.

And quickly I shrug away that thought,

It dies a little.

When I buy vegetables from the vendor, 

And his son "chhotu" smilingly weighs the potatoes,

Chhotu, a small child, who should be studying at school.

I look the other way

It dies a little.

When I am decked up in a designer dress,

A dress that cost a bomb 

And I see a woman at the crossing,

In tatters,trying unsuccessfully to save her dignity. 

And I immediately roll up my window.

It dies a little. 

When I buy expensive gifts for my children,

On return,  I see half clad children, 

With empty stomach and hungry eyes, 

Selling toys at red light 

I try to save my conscience by buying some, yet

It dies a little. 

When my sick maid sends her daughter to work, 

Making her bunk school 

I know I should tell her to go back. 

But I look at the loaded sink and dirty dishes, 

And I tell myself that is just for a couple of days 

It dies a little. 

When I hear about a rape

or a murder of a child,

I feel sad, yet a little thankful that it's not my child.

I can not look at myself  in the mirror,

It dies a little. 

When people fight over caste creed and religion.

I feel hurt and helpless

I tell myself that my country is going to the dogs,

I blame the corrupt politicians, 

Absolving myself of all responsibilities 

It dies a little. 

When my city is choked.

Breathing is dangerous  in the smog ridden metropolis,

I take my car to work daily ,

Not taking the metro, not trying car pool. 

One car won't make a difference, I think 

It dies a little. 

So when in the dark of the night, 

I visit my conscience 

And find it still breathing, 

I am surprised. 

For, with my own hands 

Daily, bit by bit, I kill it, I bury it.

...and we call it living.

THE GOOD GOD

 THE GOOD GOD

 

Around the Year with Emmet Fox

 

November 4

 

God knows everything, and at all times.

The Bible sometimes speaks of God

as having changed His mind or being disappointed.

God is supposed to have tested Abraham’s obedience

in the matter of Isaac.

God is supposed to have had His plans upset

by the misconduct of Adam and Eve,

by the general wickedness of humanity before the flood,

and, in fact, He is frequently represented

as being disappointed

and even frustrated by the conduct of mankind.

In orthodox theology,

the devil was continually upsetting God’s arrangements

and bringing his plans to naught.

Indeed, to listen to some preachers, one would have supposed

that the devil was a good deal more powerful than God.

Of course, all this is nonsense.

Such things could not be really true of God.

It was Abraham’s idea of God

 that led him to prepare to kill Isaac.

It was the wickedness of mankind

 in the antediluvian world

that brought on the flood

as a natural consequence,

just as the fears, hatreds, jealousies,

and greed of mankind

over many years have brought on war.

We make an idolatrous image

of ourselves and call it God.

Let us destroy this image today

and worship the true God

who is infinite and unchanging Good.

 

“God is not a man, that he should lie;

neither the son of man,

 that he should repent. . .”

Numbers 23:19

 

Given here are the essence of all the 18 chapters of Gita in one liner.

 Given here are the essence of all the 18 chapters of Gita in one liner.

One liner Gita:

*Chapter 1 - Wrong thinking is the only problem in life .*

*Chapter 2 - Right knowledge is the ultimate solution to all our problems .*

*Chapter 3 - Selflessness is the only way to progress and prosperity .*

*Chapter 4 - Every act can be an act of prayer .*

*Chapter 5 - Renounce the ego of individuality and rejoice the bliss of infinity .*

*Chapter 6 - Connect to the higher consciousness daily.*

*Chapter 7 - Live what you learn .*

*Chapter 8 - Never give up on yourself .*

*Chapter 9 - Value your blessings .*

*Chapter 10 - See divinity all around .*

*Chapter 11 - Have enough surrender to see the truth as it is.*

*Chapter 12 - Absorb your mind in the higher.*

*Chapter 13 - Detach from Maya and attach to divine .*

*Chapter 14 - Live a life- style that matches your vision.*

*Chapter 15 - Give priority to Divinity .*

*Chapter 16 - Being good is a reward in itself .*

*Chapter 17 - Choosing the right over the pleasant is a sign of power .*

*Chapter 18 - Let go, let us move to union with God .*

( Introspect on each one of this principle)

                          

                  || ॐ तत्सत् ||

P. S : Request you to forward this to as many people and explain the importance of Gita.

Growth

 Growth

 

"We admitted that we were powerless—

that our lives had become unmanageable"

and "we made a decision to turn our wills and our lives

over to God as we understood Him.”

Every one of us who could make and fairly well

maintain this humbling admission and sweeping decision

had found relief from obsession

and had begun to grow into

a totally and wonderfully different mental,

physical, and spiritual existence.

 

Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age:

page 45, paragraph 2, and line 2.

 

So, these sometimes-frightening experiences

were not bad for us after all.

They helped everybody to grow.

 

Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age:

page 141, paragraph 4, and line 19.

 

...spiritual rebirth may be

the only alternative to extinction.

In the years ahead we shall, of course, make mistakes.

Experience has taught us

 that we need have no fear of doing this

providing that we always remain

willing to confess our faults

and to correct them promptly.

Our growth as individuals has depended upon

this healthy process of trial and error.

So will our growth as a fellowship.

Let us always remember

that any society of men and women

that cannot freely correct its own faults

must surely fall into decay if not into collapse.

Such is the universal penalty

 for the failure to go on growing.

Just as each A.A. must continue

to take his moral inventory and act upon it,

so must our whole society do if we are to survive

and if we are to serve usefully and well.

 

Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age:

page 230, paragraph 5, line 13.

 

The essence of all growth

 is a willingness to change for the better

and then an unremitting willingness

to shoulder whatever responsibility this entails.

 

As Bill Sees It: page 115, paragraph 2.

 

The real question is whether we can

learn anything from our experiences

upon which we may grow

and help others to grow

in the likeness and image of God.

 

As Bill Sees It: page 159.

 

The willingness to grow

 is the essence of all spiritual development.

 

As Bill Sees It: page 171,

paragraph 2, line 6.

 

...the primary object of any human being is to grow,

 as God intended,

that being the nature of all growing things.

 

As Bill Sees It: page 294.

 

It was found that A.A. groups, like A.A. members,

didn't always have to learn through their own experience.

They could learn and grow through the experience of others.

 

Dr. Bob and the Good Old Timers:

page 259, paragraph 6, line 9.

 

...turned this bitter experience

into an opportunity for personal growth.

 

Pass It On: page 257, paragraph 2.

 

Such, after all, is the purpose of the trial and error

by which we all learn and grow.

 

The Language of the Heart:

page 46,

paragraph 1, line 3.

 

If poor in pocket, he could often be rich in spirit,

an eager worker and servant of our Society.

I now see that awakening and growing is something

that never need stop and that growing pains

are never to be feared,

provided I am willing to learn

 the truth about myself from them.

 

The Language of the Heart: page 235,

paragraph 2, line 13.

 

...a God who intends for me a purpose,

a meaning, and a destiny to grow...

 

The Language of the Heart:

page 266, paragraph 4, line 4.

 

A.A. has 12 Steps for recovery and for spiritual growth.

 

The Language of the Heart:

page 301, paragraph 3, line 4.

 

But the future would still lack its full use and meaning

did it not bring us fresh problems and even acute perils—

problems and perils through which we can grow

into true greatness of action and spirit.

 

The Language of the Heart:

page 320, paragraph 7.

 

We have to grow or else deteriorate.

The Language of the Heart:

 page 321, paragraph 4, line 5

The essence of all growth is a willingness to change

for the better

and then an unremitting willingness

to shoulder whatever the responsibility.

 

The Language of the Heart:

page 334,

paragraph 2, line 5.

 

A SMILE IS AN INVESTMENT

 Good Morning!!!

 

A SMILE IS AN INVESTMENT

 

Around the Year with Emmet Fox

 

 

Most people feel intuitively

 that the simplest things in life

are the most important, or, if you prefer,

that the most important things in life

are found to be the simplest.

This is a very profound discovery.

What is more important to us

than breathing, for instance?

Another simple thing

 that is of great moment is a smile.

A smile affects your whole body

 from the skin right in to the skeleton,

including all blood vessels, nerves, and muscles.

It affects the functioning of every organ.

 It influences every gland.

Even one smile often relaxes a number of muscles,

and when the thing becomes a habit

you can easily see how the effect will mount up.

Last year’s smiles are paying you dividends today.

The effect of a smile on other people is no less remarkable.

It disarms suspicion, melts away fear and anger,

and brings forth the best in the other person—

which best he immediately proceeds to give to you.

A smile is to personal contacts what oil is to machinery,

and no intelligent engineer ever neglects lubrication.

 

“Rejoice evermore”

1 Thessalonians 5:16

 

*The Knots Prayer*

 

Here is a Prayer to start your day 

Which is mine every moment of 24/7

*The Knots Prayer*

Dear God, 

Please untie the knots that are in my mind, my heart and my life. 

Remove the have nots, the can nots, and the do nots that I have in my mind.

Erase the will nots, may nots, and might nots that find a home in my heart.

Release me from the could nots, would nots and should nots that obstruct my life.

And most of all, dear God, I ask that you remove from my mind, my heart and my life, all of the am nots that I have allowed to hold me back, especially the thought that I am not good enough.  Amen. - Iyanla Vanzant 

*Enjoy Every Moment of This Precious Day *