the light

 

An Excerpt from Handbook to Higher Consciousness by Ken Keyes, Jr.

 

"Even if life gives us 90% if what we want and protects us from 90% of what we dislike or fear, the remaining 10% will nag our consciousness, dominate our perceptions, perpetuate the churning of our rational mind to "solve the problem," and otherwise keep us from experiencing the state of happiness. For the state of happiness is experienced only when we have an almost continual experience of accepting whatever is here and now in our lives. Just as one mosquito buzzing around our head can keep us awake at night, it may take only one addiction to keep up from experiencing happiness." Ken Keyes, Jr. 

I found the book "Handbook to Higher Consciousness" in a thrift shop one day. I wanted something to read on the bus ride home and grabbed it because of the way it was positioned on the shelf. I started reading it on the way home and the words brought me as close to home as I have ever been. 

It is an old book but somehow the simple knowledge held within it is still not common sense to most of us. 

When he says "it may take only one addiction to keep us from experiencing happiness" he uses the word addiction in a very general way. He is referring to anything that we seek and are disturbed by when it doesn't go our way. It could be a clean house, more money, social attention. It is eye opening to think about what in our lives we allow to rob us of our peace. 

Imagine, a continual state of happiness. Is it attainable? 

Changes!

I believe greatness is an evolutionary process that changes and evolves era to era.- Michael Jordan 

Wild Child

This weeks submissions are all about being free and being at ease with yourself. 

Try it, even if just for today. 

Submitted by allthespoonsareevaporating

Kites rise highest against the wind, not with it.

Winston Churchill

Submitted by Grace Elizabeth Marrero

Light Up the Sky

One of my personal favorites : )

Quote submitted by Carson.

Believe

I believe in magic;

in wind blowing through smoke,

in grass growing around concrete,

in trees growing from garbage,

& life springing out of decay.

I believe in small miracles, 

 in phoenixes & pixies

in laying in the grass until

the sun comes up again

& counting stars all night

in swimming

in a lake, at night

till we cant feel our fingertips

I believe in talking to someone new everyday,

in coloring a dismal building

with cheerful words

& standing up for the silent

I believe we have to save ourselves,

yet you have & continue to help me

I believe in rocking the line between

loneliness & independence

& finding beauty in the breakdown

I believe in feeling hail, sunburn, & wind.

I believe that roses have their thorns,

& that's what makes them beautiful.

I believe that time waits for no man,

& no matter your circumstances,

the world keeps turning.

Emily Sexton 2010

Thank you Emily for the beautiful submission :)

Waking Heart

photo by *_Abhi_* on flickr

"I never want to be angry, I never want to let fear control me, I never wish to crush another. Sadness will come, it will come. It is a part of life, a part of what makes us us. Embrace it, learn, don't look on those times with negativity and curse all sadness that it should never happen and if it does something is wrong. You are very wrong. Take those things near, hold them, but don't let them overpower you in a way that ends up destroying your entire being. 

Learn the power of love. There is nothing that I hold in a higher respect than love. I am hypocritical of my own words, but I know that I will always always come back to this, my inner being. Nothing or no-one will ever take this from me. So please just know that in all my life, I've tried... to love."

Submitted by James, an extract from his blog (visit here) or check his inspiring music here  : )


Ps. it's nice to be back!
☮ & ❤,
Samm

Hiatus

Hi lovelies,

The Inspiration Tree has been on an unexpected hiatus for the last few months, as you may have noticed.
Thank you guys for still reading, sharing and leaving your comments!

Nonetheless, I have received all your (amazing!) submissions and the posting will restart during the month of December : )

☮ & ❤,
Samm

A Little Pick Me Up

Need a smile? 

watch this : )

Hope

Hope

 by Emily Dickinson

It is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul

And sings the tune without the words

And never gives up at all...

(Submitted by Renetta)

Some Thoughts On Love

[ Submitted by inbedallday, visit her tumblr :) ]

photo by idea ablaze on flickr

Before anything else we need self-love. Otherwise we won’t feel we have anything to offer others, and we will doubt the love offered to us.

It can be felt for people we have just met, or people we have known our whole lives. Not to say they are similar in nature, but you can love everyone you meet, even just a little.

We cannot survive with too little, we will starve for the affection. But in an ocean of love we lose ourselves, we tire and drown.

It can knock you down, and make you feel the worst you’ll ever feel. But at other times it can just as easily pick you up when you stumble and make you feel whole again.

It can be therapeutic and cleansing. When we love someone we give them a part of ourselves, we share the brightest parts of our soul with them. Whether for a few hours, or for decades, we become renewed.

Fear of losing love is perpetrated by the misconception that we are in some way alone in our experiences. Someone somewhere will always love you, and that is strength enough. Enough to forgive others, forgive yourself, and slowly start all over again.

Utopia

"Utopia is in the horizon.

I walk two steps, she moves away two steps and the horizon, ten more.

Then "What is utopia for?"

...

For that.

For walking"

- Eduardo Galeano

(Thanks to Ricardo for this submission!)

Happiness is..

[ Submitted by Tara, visit Tara's Tumblr ]

Be the One That..

click to enlarge :)

[Written and Submitted by Jess]

The Power of Forgiveness

Submitted by Dawn, visit her at dawneliseevans.com

      It has taken over fifty years for me to begin to discover the power of forgiveness. A surprising corollary to that understanding has been that, whenever I stop assigning power to the person or event that hurt me, I am a happier person.  Every time I find the strength to forgive someone, something good rushes in to fill the space my resentment once occupied.  It’s as if condemnation, with its far-reaching and evil tentacles, tries to stifle goodness.  It takes persistence, desire and vigilance to achieve forgiveness.

Since Sunday-school teachers drilled it, grade-school teachers recited it, and high-school teachers demanded it, I have tried to live by the Golden Rule to “do unto others as you would have the do unto you.” I have done a fair-to-middling job in that practice.  Where I have been most deficient is in tearing up the list of misdeeds I have suffered. In self-indulgent moments, I imagine a long-robed judge sitting through my recitation of the wrongs I have endured.  Her head nods in silent encouragement as I pour forth with my sorry tales.  Finally, she sets forth her judgment, proclaiming as justified and warranted my feelings of anger and resentment. Her legitimization leaves me righteous and satisfied.   I am left with a twinge of disappointment when my fabricated Goddess fades from view.

                When we suffer an injustice or hurt by another, we rush to judge them and condemn them for having made us suffer.  That anger is pernicious.  Before long, it becomes the dye in which our world is colored.  Hard-earned experience has taught me that forgiveness is like an invisible contract we have to make between ourselves and the ghost of the person who hurt us.

To break it down, there are seven steps to practicing forgiveness.                                                                                                                                    

                                                

Seven Steps to Forgiveness:

1.     Acknowledge your feelings of anger and resentment.

2.     Identify why you have these emotions.

3.     Allow yourself time to experience these feelings.

4.     Desire the release that forgiveness offers.

5.     Picture how things would be without this negativity in your life.

Practice blame-free living in short bursts.

Dig deep and offer light and goodness to the person or people who hurt you.  Repeat    “I forgive you, I release you, I am letting you go.”

6.     Repeat Steps 4 and 5 until you feel detached from the person or people that hurt you.

       7.  Accept that forgiveness is a process. Expect to go three steps forward and two steps back. Blame and resentment can resurface without warning.  Be prepared to renew your efforts.   

Forgiveness is an act that demands that we let go our sense of the injustice we have suffered.  When we release our judgments and seek understanding instead, we are giving to others what we would ask for ourselves.  We must not forgive once, twice nor even seventeen times.  We must forgive until we find only love in our hearts; be assured that love comes back to us and multiplies.  Through forgiveness, there is redemption. In forgiveness, we are made whole.

Life & Love

[Submitted by Anastasiya]

No one

[Submitted by Daniella]

You're Beautiful

[Thanks to Samantha for sharing this song]

I see your power in the moonlit night

Where planets are in motion and galaxies are bright

We are amazed in the light of the stars

It's all proclaiming who you are

You're beautiful, You're beautiful

Decisions

[Submitted by Jess. Visit her at jessnordberg.blogspot.com]

The world around us is consistently changing. It experiences death but then creates life in a matter of seconds. There is constant growth and discovery and the same things never happen twice. Why, then, does it amaze me every time my own life changes? It could be because many times I don't control the change. Yet I have come to see that the greatest amazement comes from the results of my own decisions.

Life. 

Friends move away, family members pass, and we go on. But the minute we decide something that ends in a way we didn't expect, all is lost. The familiarity we had is no longer- our world slowly begins to crumble and then it all collapses. There is still hope, somewhere, but we can't find it. There is air to be breathed, places to be discovered and people to meet, yet we are incapable of seeing and feeling anything outside the physical pain this one, single decision has caused. 

It sucks. 

So what do you do? Do you stop making decisions and hope the world can make them for you? Do you shut yourself out completely and close off to everyone and everything that makes this world good? Maybe you continue with the world, but you become so incredibly cynical towards anything related to this decision that you are unbearable to be around.

No. 

You cry. You scream, you yell, you throw something (preferably not at someone). You talk to yourself because "no one understands you." You listen to sad songs so that you can cry some more. You fall to your knees and pray with all your might. And then, you pick yourself up. You wonder around aimlessly for a while, but you figure it out. Maybe you write about it, or paint, sing, dance, yodel, ANYTHING. 

You breathe.

You embrace the next opportunity you have to make a decision because not everyone in this world has the luxury of options. You chose, whatever it is your heart tells you to. And when you pick the wrong one... again... you start from the top. 

Just Be.

All the Buddhas of all the ages have been telling you a very simple fact: Be - don’t try to become. Within these two words, be and becoming, your whole life is contained. Being is enlightenment, becoming is ignorance.

- Osho