February 29th, 2008

2008 is a leap year, which means that it has 366 days instead of the usual 365 days that an ordinary year has. An extra day is added in a leap year—February 29—which is called an intercalary day or a leap day.

Why is a Leap Year Necessary?

Leap years are added to the calendar to keep it working properly. The 365 days of the annual calendar are meant to match up with the solar year. A solar year is the time it takes the Earth to complete its orbit around the Sun—about one year. But the actual time it takes for the Earth to travel around the Sun is in fact a little longer than that—about 365¼ days (365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds, to be precise). So the calendar and the solar year don't completely match—the calendar year is a touch shorter than the solar year.

It may not seem like much of a difference, but after a few years those extra quarter days in the solar year begin to add up. After four years, for example, the four extra quarter days would make the calendar fall behind the solar year by about a day. Over the course of a century, the difference between the solar year and the calendar year would become 25 days! Instead of summer beginning in June, for example, it wouldn't start until nearly a month later, in July. As every kid looking forward to summer vacation knows—calendar or no calendar—that's way too late! So every four years a leap day is added to the calendar to allow it to catch up to the solar year.

A Quick History Lesson

The Egyptians were the first to come up with the idea of adding a leap day once every four years to keep the calendar in sync with the solar year. Later, the Romans adopted this solution for their calendar, and they became the first to designate February 29 as the leap day.

But Wait! It's Not Quite that Simple!

The math seems to work out beautifully when you add an extra day to the calendar every four years to compensate for the extra quarter of a day in the solar year. As we said earlier, however, the solar year is just about 365 ¼ days long—but not exactly! The exact length of a solar year is actually 11 minutes and 14 seconds less than 365 ¼ days. That means that even if you add a leap day every four years, the calendar would still overshoot the solar year by a little bit—11 minutes and 14 seconds per year. These minutes and seconds really start to add up: after 128 years, the calendar would gain an entire extra day. So, the leap year rule, "add a leap year every four years" was a good rule, but not good enough!

Calendar Correction, Part II

To rectify the situation, the creators of our calendar (the Gregorian calendar, introduced in 1582) decided to omit leap years three times every four hundred years. This would shorten the calendar every so often and rid it of the annual excess of 11 minutes and 14 seconds. So in addition to the rule that a leap year occurs every four years, a new rule was added: a century year is not a leap year unless it is evenly divisible by 400. This rule manages to eliminate three leap years every few hundred years.

It's Smooth Sailing for the Next 3,300 Years

This ingenious correction worked beautifully in bringing the calendar and the solar year in harmony, pretty much eliminating those irritating extra 11 minutes and 14 seconds. Now the calendar year and the solar year are just about a half a minute off. At that rate, it takes 3,300 years for the calendar year and solar year to diverge by a day.

By Borgna Brunner

Friends

Some people say they have lots of friends

But then we need to ask what is a friend?

A friend is someone who will be there when you need them

Someone who will say it how it is

Someone who will put themselves out for you

A friend is not usual if we have one or two real friends then that is already pretty good

And if you have one or two friends do you cherish them?

Do you tell them how you appreciate them being your friend?

Do you put yourself out for them?

Do you see each other when you can?

Interesting how we spend a lot of time with those we do not really care about

How we give our time to those who we do not really respect

Again maybe time to consider how you give your time and to whom

Friends being special take time to think of them

Do something nice for your friend today

Friends

An earthquake

Hit England while most were asleep last night

In Hull people ran into the streets further South most slept on

Not something you associate with England however these things occur from time to time

What is interesting though is the teaching that says that man is responsible for initiating earthquakes

In this teaching earthquakes are a wake up call to behave better

This teaching is not widely known in the Western world so no attention will be paid to the increase of earthquakes around the planet

The scientific understanding of earthquakes is still very rudimentary although scientists might like to have us believe otherwise

In so many areas our knowledge is much less profound than we are lead to believe

Man knows little about where he truly came from, nor the history of those who inhabited planet earth for millions of years before us today

Some of those civilizations knew a lot about nature, much more than we know today

Unfortunately so called spin drowns out alternative points of view on many important subjects

Industry groups deny causing harm to the environment when the proof to the contrary is all around us

Greed is allowed to trump common sense

So called Political Correctness is allowed to distort rational debate

And what might we do?

Become clear about your own understanding

Take the time to inform yourself, after all planet earth is as much yours as anyone else's

When you find the truth live by what it shows you

We are approaching the time when understanding the truth of things becomes increasingly critical

What does cause earthquakes?

Is it just physical?

Just the movement of tectonic plates

Or are there some other elements involved

Surely the earthquake is the symptom not the cause?

What is the initial cause then?

What creates the initial cause?

The initial condition.

Mmmmm!

Repetition

Rules our lives

We all have repetition in our lives

Lots of it

From brushing our teeth to wearing clothes

Ever thought about how much is good and how much is bad?

Often we get stuck in our lives and don't know how to get out

Tiding up our repetitions is one way

Look at your repetitions for just one day

Shock horror our lives are just one big repetition

Our thoughts, our habits all is repetition

So clear out the useless

Get rid of the redundant

Move on from repetitions which were put in place for other times

Our most useless repetitions are those we put in place for that one day

That one day that will never come

That one day that now blocks our moving on

Those habits creating an image that is not really us

Repetitions that define who we thought we would be

Reality has shown otherwise

Let them go clear them out

Clear out useless repetitions

Psychology

Psychology is a word many use to describe many different things

Today we want to remind you that it can make or break so many things in our lives

Many hucksters and life coaches know full well that turning us from negative thoughts about something to positive can achieve amazing results

As can medical placebos in their case up to 35% difference can be produced with empty chalk filled pills

Sportsmen today usually have similar skill levels

The difference is usually in their heads

And you?

What do you do that could be changed by a different mind set?

In your life there are things you can improve by changing your psychology

Changing your approach to things

What matters is that you decide to improve your life

You decide to remove the obstacles that are stopping you from achieving whatever it is that you have not been achieving

Review your life and find an area where you have blockages

Examine why others have success in this area

Develop the appropriate skills

Then put these skills together with a new determination to succeed

Others have been there you can too

If they succeeded why not you?

It is literally in your mind so take control and decide to succeed

Mountains can be moved once we understand that usually we are our own biggest obstacle

Our minds are what block us, stop us

Change your psychology decide to be successful

Choose worthy goals

Go for what is worthwhile

Give it the effort and attention it deserves

Stick with it

Practice the component pieces until you are ready for the major effort

Then success can be yours

Do you have any idea of how much you can achieve by changing your psychology?

We doubt it because so few humans have any inkling of what we can achieve

Become consciously involved in your own journey

Do not just float along on a tide of modern noise and fluff

Change your psychology.

Not the same

As a few years ago

Why?

The vibration rate of our planet changed

Increased

Meaning the parameters within which humanity lives are different

Some will say how do you know

Others will say what rubbish

Others so what

Here's the what

An increase in the rate means time shifts for us

Our experience of time changes

It is more difficult to remember what we did only a short time ago

Days just seem to slide by

Our perception of time has changed

The parameters of our comfort zone moved

In simple terms we will find ourselves wanting to sleep at odd times

Just wanting to lie down

We get sick more often, colds, flu and so on

Feel heavy headed

Not so together

Everyone else looks the same as before so we think it must be only us who is feeling this way

Not so it is just that we have never thought to ask others what they are experiencing

Never thought to ask are you experiencing life differently?

Try it

Ask your friends and others are they feeling sleepy at odd or unusual times?

These changes will continue

Other changes are coming along as well

We have to adjust to them

How do we do this?

Be clean and clear with yourself and others

Get rid of your pretensions

The clearer and simpler your life the better

It's not the same any longer and never will be again

We change or nature will not support us any longer

Not the same.

Take me away

From my everyday cycle

By MP3, ipod, cell phone, mobile games and other means we disappear into our own world

A world where at least for a while we are the master of all we hear

All we play

Divorced from those around us

Transported into a space where we feel good

No criticism

No putting down

No controlling

How nice if we could find this freedom in the rest of our lives

Why not?

What we experience and feel is up to us

More so than we realize

Even when being admonished it is up to us as to how it effects us

Just observe yourself being admonished

Be the observer of yourself

Do not allow the attack or harsh words to hit you directly

Observe the anger, violence of the other party as if a spectator

Do not allow this to touch you, just observe

Let it burn out

Let it go past you

If a response is necessary then be measured and polite

No defensiveness

No excuses

Just polite and correct

Stay in your own space do not move into his or hers

Learn to stay in your own space more and more

If you keep practicing then after a while you will truly move towards becoming the master of your own space

A space filled with nice!

Smiling again

Seems like we go through times where our smile disappears

Just goes

Stays away for days sometimes weeks even

We forget to smile

Don't feel like it

No interest in smiling

Nothing to smile about

Pity really because it is a powerful tool in protecting our health

Getting out of the habit just exacerbates our down feelings

Life becomes oh so serious

Nothing to smile or be happy about

We can even believe this for a while

Until someone or something breaks the spell and we find ourselves remembering how nice it is to smile

Make an effort not to go down this serious uptight road

It is not good for your health

Smiling is

It joins us to others

It makes us feel good

How come we forget something so important to our health and well being?

Determine not to do this again

Smile every thirty five minutes please

Hierarchy

Hierarchy is something that surrounds us

In nature all is hierarchy

Some of us though seem to resent this

Some deny it

Competition is also all around us

Again some think this should not be so

Confusion

Or a refusal to deal with reality?

Probably a bit of both

From the Master down to the average person it is hard to argue that humans do not come in all degrees and levels of consciousness, a hierarchy if you will

It is also hard to argue that competition is not all around us whether it be for resources or finding partners

So why the denial or feeling it should not be this way?

Not fair some say

Why should it be fair?

Because most of us carry the innate feeling that we should help those unable to help themselves

Just as we have been helped all our lives by various people

All of us whether we wish to acknowledge this or not

Hierarchy exists everywhere

However the excesses need to be kept to acceptable levels

Who is going to say what this is?

Answer all of us intuitively know what is right and what is wrong

And over time worldwide a body of knowledge and best practice has emerged

We know what is acceptable and what is not

Enter corruption and brutality by those who do not want to play by established rules

And this is where the real problem lies

In the fight to influence and corrupt organisations many are subject to extreme pressure

Countering this we have those trying to find reasonable ways of keeping mans worst excesses in check

Also to fight the continued efforts of government to control evermore aspects of their citizens lives

Only way known so far is to keep throwing out the government at regular intervals so that they cannot get too entrenched and thereby too corrupt

Unfortunately the administrations and bureaucracies in many countries do not get periodically changed

This is our fight all of us are involved one way or another to contain the endless march of ever more controls

Do you just shrug your shoulders and swallow?

Or do you fight?

And in what way have you chosen to get involved?

You are contributing aren't you?

Fear of life

can cripple us

Just a feeling of being unable to cope

Not able to do anything

The period in our lives when everything is beyond us

Feeling paralyzed

No we do not escape such times

All of us find ourselves lost and down at some time or other

It's the nature of life to put us through tough times

No matter who you are you will go there one way or another

Life is designed in such a way that we all have to face ourselves

The dark night of the soul some call it

No matter the name the feeling is one of absolute depression

Did you come out or are you still there?

Some come out after a while and others stay, their lives ruined

Nothing can help those who do not ask for help

One of the great lessons of life is to understand this

If someone does not ask for help then there is nothing much to be done

Sure you might stop them doing something too extreme

You might commit them

You might keep them doped up

You might nurse and talk to them

Devote your lives to them

You might for a while stop them doing injury to themselves

For those facing friends, partners or relatives with situations like this

Accept that everyone has the right to make their choices

Insane as this might seem it is their right to refuse help

Their right to deny their problems

Society may have rules to deal with the most severe outcome

However these are only temporary actions

At the end the person refusing help will go

And this is a life wasted

Maybe maybe not perhaps at the end they see their mistake

It is their choice

Difficult for those who love or try to look after them

It is as it is

If we did our best then that is all

Fear of life is difficult to experience and maybe even more difficult to observe in others

Letting go

Of being right

Of keeping score

It does not help

You might be right

But being right can break relationships

Can destroy what you truly want to find

So many people remember every real or imagined slight

Never understanding that this use of memory is imprinting negative thoughts in their minds

Thoughts that poison and negate the good deeds or actions that might have come along had you not chosen to be aggressive and fill your mind with thoughts of a negative nature

Those who have long term memories for all the real or imagined bad done to them invariably harm themselves more than they could imagine

Isolating themselves in their righteousness

Not for them love and companionship

Just judgement and frustration

.A score card of issues to settle

Violence and aggression

Getting even

Usually leading to loneliness and separation

Do not hold on to bad memories, let them go

Do not keep score

Live life in the moment, this moment now.

Let the past be that, the past, the gone, the finished

Letting go, just letting go

Let go today

It is done, over, finished

Letting go

Can you?

Raise your game

Rise to the occasion

Produce your best when under pressure

Or do you seize up

Freeze

Avoid the situation

Make excuses

So many go to great lengths to avoid pressure

Pressure is part of life, show us an animal in nature that does not know pressure of one kind or another

It is in the natural order of things

Instead of avoiding pressure

Learn to understand it better

Learn to understand yourself better

Pressure can be handled best when you acknowledge why you are frightened of it

For at the root of our avoiding mechanisms is fear

Fear of failure

Fear of ridicule

Fear of others

Enough fear and we avoid things which we should probably face

Do you avoid things?

Can you acknowledge this?

Or do you make excuses to yourself and others?

One way to help yourself over these fears is to observe that others, probably many thousands of others have done whatever it is before you

These people had your fears, nervousness and they overcame them

Now it is your turn to join them in succeeding in whatever challenge it is that you are facing

Just focus completely on what you need to know, what you need to do

Ask those who have done it before you

Prepare yourself correctly, no thoughts as to why you cannot, this is a waste of time

You are going to do it

Take yourself to a new level, a level of success

You can

But only you can decide this

No one but you

Men and women

Do have differences as we all know

Yet we often behave as if we didn't

From the pram little girls will play with dolls

Little boys with sticks, balls guns and so on

Not all to be sure but enough to give us a clue

Yet when we get older we somehow expect that if we like each other then we should think the same way

Understand each other without difficulty

In those early sexually tinged times maybe we do

Later on often we do not

Just walking down the street women will see the flowers, men the new model car

Our focus is different

Our emotions too

Many women could care less about cars, football and all forms of competition

Men could care less about the color of the dress or shoes to match

The point?

We often make things unnecessarily hard for ourselves

We do not observe the signals

We do not pay attention to the signs of frustration and discontent

Look at your relationships today

Are there warning signs that things are not as you imagine?

Living with each other can be a nightmare

It can be the greatest experience combining our strengths and reducing our weaknesses

The statistics today say we are less ready to compromise

As we all know it takes work to make relationships flourish

However being a single in later years is often preferable to staying with someone you do not like

But first choice has to be living in harmony with your partner

Partners who have fears and aspirations

Women have menopause, men too in a very real sense

We all have parents and relatives and they must impact as well

Are you informed about these natural conditions of our relationships?

They are not theoretical ideas they are what we all go through

Inform yourself what is coming do not be caught out through laziness

Living with each other takes effort yet so often we have little idea about what nature brings to us all

Inform yourself

Country sadness

Can a whole country be sad?

Yes and the surprise is that no one says anything

The hand of fear is ever present

No rule of law just a ruling elite who do as they want

Everyone knows it but nothing is said in public

It cannot be for fear of reprisals or worse

Everyone is vulnerable to attack

They grew up with it

Became conditioned, immersed in the cultural propaganda of lies and deceit

And in spite of this they sense things could or even should be different

Just an innate human knowledge that things are not right when so much cruelty is wanton and condoned by the state

The worst is knowing that things need not be this way

Humans need not be so abusive of each other

Lording it over those who cannot defend themselves

Stealing and grabbing all they can

No limits to the greed

State or private assets they make no distinction

Just more and more and woe betide those who get in the way

Anything to do?

Yes get out

Or stay and shift your orientation

Move to an internal world

A world where you live and work in the same place but move your emotions to another place

A place where they cannot be touched by the system you live in

Move to another head space, one where you cannot be touched

Internal worlds can be serene

Become the observer of yourself in the physical world

Live in your own space

Learn to let go everything that repels

Those things that are obligatory you perform

You do not let them touch you

Abstain from fear

This is the only thing they have fear

If you remove yourself from this they have nothing over you

You are gone

You are not there

Live your life in your world not theirs

Yes people who live with the rule of law and take it for granted that they have rights

How lucky you are

For those who do not move into a different space

Until that day when you have the chance to make your contribution to positive change.

Play gently

With those you don't really know

Too often we assume others live by the same values that we do

Too often we presume they have our best interests at heart

Bang!

They abuse our confidence

They betray us

In a world of predators

A world of few moral restraints

It is naive and dangerous to expect others to behave as we do without checking them out

Yes we should trust our fellow man

No we should not be fools

Where to draw the line?

Probably best done by observing these new people carefully before sharing confidences or doing business with them

By checking out how long our friends have really known them

To what level of intimacy

And most importantly do not mistrust that sixth sense

So often we discount that little voice that says be careful

Learn to listen and trust it

Act upon it

To ignore something so accurate is foolish

Play gently with new people and trust your gut or instinctive reactions

Test out these feelings and only then engage more fully

Play gently

What happens

When two selfish people marry or become partners

.
All goes well for a while while the excitement still tingles
.

While they both see personal gain and advantage

.
Then one wants to do something the other does not
.

End of relationship
.

One has gone after another perceived better opportunity
.

The other being left to cry a while before also starting over again
.
And so it can go on endlessly to the end of their lives
.
It does of course get emptier and emptierTill one day they are all alone
.
You see them everywhere sitting alone, walking alone, shopping alone, living aloneNot for you?
.
Then check yourself outAsk others how they find you
..
Nature works on the mirror principleWe tend to find and go with those who mirror ourselves
.
Don't like what you see then sort yourselfDo something worthwhile with your life
.
Not just for self, try doing things for others tooSimple little insight doing things for others brings more satisfaction than grabbing ever more for self
.
Being only interested or devoted to self leads to that emptiness and being alone
.
Helping others brings us to the pleasure of seeing others happy
.
Observe around you who has "got it" and who is always pushing and shoving
.
Be a giver not a grabber

Telling, testing times

Testing times

A world entering new times

For this generation anyway

Socially there are more of us

Economically we are consuming ever more resources

Our planet is showing signs of cyclic change, what we call global warming

Politically we do not want to address many of the serious issues that need attention

In such times it is smart to be prepared

You can worry along with the world's media or let go

Letting go does not mean no interest

Just a little more realism and understanding that worry does not help you

The game of fear is well known and one practiced by the media and politicians for their own ends

Don't play

It damages your health and can ruin your life

In telling times understand that love and beauty are your best protection

Love opens us

Fear closes us

Beauty helps us focus on positive aspects of our world and who we are

Telling times will destroy millions because there are billions of us so millions will be hurt

Maybe not a huge percentage but millions will suffer

Being strong in telling times requires focus on the positive

Focus on letting go the bad and negative

Appreciating what we have and not what we do not

Be prepared for telling times

Good health is the key to telling times

Good health is a function of how you experience life

Worry does nothing good for your health

Let go of worry

Be prepared for more telling times.

I think

Is possibly one of the most abused expressions in the English language...

Why?

Because so few mean that they have actually thought about whatever it is they are talking about

So many merely repeat what others have said on the subject

Most have not thought at all

In fact how much thinking do you really do?

Do you think?

Not being rude but so many seldom think other than in a purely reflexive way

Funny though how thoughts are in our heads all day long

We don't think and yet we are full of thoughts all day long

And so just what is it that we are filling our heads with?

Whatever we hear

Whatever we see

Whatever we feel

All day long every day our senses are bombarded with noise, pictures, advertisements and other highly intrusive invasions of our space

No easy way out as the purveyors of such intrusions find ever more subtle or noisy ways to bombard us with their messages

So we learn to tune out by choosing our own noise, pictures and acceptable advertisements

Thereby changing forced feeding for voluntary feeding

Does this do the trick?

Probably not because at some point we need quiet

Even if we do not pay attention to whatever we have chosen it still invades our space

Become conscious of how much you allow or choose to be surrounded by noise of one kind or another

Give yourself a conscious break

Learn to find silence

Learn to enjoy silence

Notice how your mind still wants to chatter

Which brings us around full circle to why we started allowing ourselves to be bombarded

We do not know how to turn our minds off

Knowing how to do this is not easy and requires effort

Effort that is very rewarding for those who stick with it

Saves a lot of wear and tear over the course of a lifetime

First notice your reality with regard to your mind

Then decide to change to quiet mode for periods every day

Do this by learning to meditate

Then observe do you really think or is whatever just something you have got in the habit of saying?

I think?

Sense

Most Christians believe that we are created at conception with new mind, body and soul and that when we die we become eternal

Living forever in heaven or hell

But eternity cannot be eternal on one end and finite on the other.

If something has a beginning, it must have an end.

If we believe that we will live forever, it must follow that we have always existed, as Origen taught.

Funny how we never even for one minute considered this idea

Leaving thoughts of such things to others

Others who happily spin everything to fit their prejudice or perceptions

Many of whom will lie, cheat and steal to advance their objectives

Why should we believe the fantastical stories about where we came from then ?

And where we might go next

Start thinking for yourself

Others usually have their own agenda

An agenda which often has little to do with truth and a lot to do with their own objectives and power plays.

Think for yourself it makes you feel more comfortable when you arrive at your own understanding about something..

No we do not have just one life followed by eternal damnation for misbehavior

What kind of loving God would do that?

Nor do we go to heaven for ever and ever

What is ever and ever a billion years, a trillion years?

Ever imagined being with your mother in law for a trillion years?

Get real look for yourself

Nature makes sense so if things make no sense then think twice before you buy into it

Sense.

Putting off

Doing this or that is something most people do

However some do this more than others

After a while though it makes sense to look at what is really going on

The answer is simple you do not want to do it

And if that is true then why do you keep pretending?

Answer we do not want to adjust our life to reality

Reality sounds easy

Reality is not easy because it demands honesty

Unfortunately many people are not honest

So they adjust reality to their perceptions

Perceptions that are just that perceptions

This is fine when it only affects themselves

When it affects others it is not so fine

Which is where putting things off comes in

Notice where you are putting things off

Observe this is where your reality is in conflict with that of others

Where doing put off things might force you to acknowledge reality

Rather than your perceptions

So you keep on putting them off

Sort out your reality and you will not be putting things off so much

Because reality being closer to the truth of things will not require the same amount of putting things off

If you do not do this then you put greater strain on your life

Over time this must tell.

Becoming conscious of what you are doing by "Putting off"

Is really a wake up call.

Have you heeded it?

Feeling iffy again?

Something in the air maybe

More likely your entities are pressing your buttons

Iffy days are fear days because at the base of your iffy feeling is fear

What to do?

Get active

Do anything that stops you thinking about yourself and how bad everything is

The more you can stop yourself thinking about yourself the quicker the iffy day goes

Usually they last about half a day unless you are seriously depressed

If you are seriously depressed then get help

If like most of us you can usually feel OK then half a day is about how long it lasts

To reduce their frequency requires that you deal with the causes

The causes are your fears

Know yours?

Probably not, fears are things we hide from ourselves most fiercely because they make us frightened

The last thing we like looking at is our fears

So yes we hide them usually very deeply

Getting them out and understanding them is the way to eliminating iffy days

Yes it is work

No it is not easy

Yes it is worth the effort

Start by finding what you are frightened of

Get help if you do not know how.

Iffy days get less and less in proportion to the fears you remove

Not just fears your honesty with yourself and reality

If you are not honest about things then the iffy days can multiply because they have fertile ground to feed on

Simple equation iffy days = my fears and honesty with myself

How often do you have iffy days?

Tells you where you are

No pretending you are different

If you have frequent ifffy days then time to recognize what is going on

There is no fooling nature she sees right through your games

Work to eliminate the causes

It makes life so much nicer to have fewer iffy days

Why so few?

Amazing beings

Where are they?

Are there any?

Plenty of photogenic smiling posers

Plenty of bullshit artists

However it seems there are few if any really amazing beings

Every time we think we have found one we also find out his or her hidden flaws

Big sigh until the next time

Maybe we need instead to think for a moment

Will there ever be plenty of amazing beings?

Or like seeds will only one in many hundreds of thousands take root?

And then again what does the amazing being bring?

Example

Morality

Strength

Courage

So really if we have one every few hundred years or so maybe that's more realistic

And of course the big feature of the really amazing being is the ideas they bring

Buddha, Christ are remembered for their ideas

Ideas that transcend time

Ideas that resonate within all of us

Ideas that do not go away

So maybe they are always with us the truly great beings

For sure they are

They never go away nor do their ideas

It is us who go away

We who do not want or have the courage to follow their ideas

Instead of whining about their absence

Let's get honest and admit it is us who went away

So instead of crocodile tears

Live your own life to their values

Nothing changed

Only your reluctance to acknowledge and live by their message and ideas

No more sighing it's in you not out there somewhere

Their ideas are always with us

Simply stated love and compassion are the basis of all they bring

Not so hard to take on board really

More difficult to live it though

Is your life lived in love?

Or is it in fear?

Heard it all before?

Then maybe this time is your time

We hope so

Throw it out

All those useless items sitting around you

That means physical junk, the things you don't use, yes you know what they are

Clothes you don't wear, yes there are plenty of those too

Books, Cd's, DVDs, pictures, magazines, furniture and the rest

Throw them out, sell them, give them away.

Clear out your life

It gives you a very clean feeling, fresh almost

Ever thought of all the negative and other energies in all those objects?

And while you are at it let go of your useless relationships .

Stop meeting people you do not like

People with whom you have nothing in common

Use your life to advance your own agenda not someone else's

Throw it all out

Free yourself

Not tomorrow because as we all know tomorrow never comes

Start today

Enthusiasm

Did you know

Enthusiasm is something you need if you want to come across well on TV?

It projects and lifts the viewers perception of the performer

Just like real life

It's infectious

A love of life

A zest for living

Enthusiasm is what turns us all on

Check out yours

Are you enthusiastic about life and what you do?

Be enthusiastic it's a great investment

Nature reciprocates our enthusiasm

Love life and life will love you

Sounds corny maybe because you have never really let it all hang out

If you have then you know what we are talking about

Enthusiasm not only lifts you it lifts those who are with you

It carries us through situations

It lifts our energy

It colors our experiences

Shapes our perceptions

Enthusiasm

Little things

Are what many focus on

Little things that annoy them

Things that distract and disturb them

Others may not notice

This drives them crazy because to them all these little things are important

Are you one such?

.

Do little things annoy you?

If so then consider why are these things so significant for you?

Are you really a control freak?

Can you only feel secure if all these little things are in order?

Here is another way to understand little things

Until you learn to let go little things will continue to bug you

Once you learn to let go little things will no longer bug you

.

The little things will disappear from your life

Little things are only significant because you make them so

Only you decide their importance

And only you can let them go

Look at your life why do so many little things upset you?

Is it because you do not want to see the big things left untouched?

The big things that you do not want to acknowledge or address?

Is this true?

Sort out what is truly going on in your life

Little things or is it really untouched big things?

Listening

And wondering why you have no interest.

.

Is it because the speaker is not sounding coherent

Nor knowledgeable

Waffling her way through

Dreary even in tone

What to do?
.

You cannot (often) just get up and walk out

Mind swings into action

Wondering what is for lunch

What makes that other person waffle like that?

Spend a moment and think about how you sound to others

Are you persuasive and coherent?

If not then less judgment and determine to tighten up your own talking

Learn to listen better too
.
What are they really telling you about themselves

.

What is behind the bluster?

Use each obligatory situation to learn

All of us have to listen to others

So be it

Use the situation to learn

Time passes quicker that way too!

So used to rushing

That even one day without seems weird to many

Tighter than a drum

So many of us have no idea how wound up we are

No TV, no DVD, don't use the cell phone and we walk around confused, frustrated

What to do without?

Yes when you cannot be quiet for one day then for sure you are wound up

While young this is fine although there is of course no free lunch and you will pay in later life

So make it your business to monitor yourself from time to time

Can you stand quietness?

Can you enjoy being alone?

Even for a day

Check yourself out because if you cannot then time to learn why not

Find out what is going on

Being wound up tighter than a drum is certainly not healthy

Besides your absorption in trivia or noise at all times

Always having to have the TV on, the radio playing

Never driving without radio or music

Is in a manner of speaking no less than avoiding yourself

Avoiding yourself on several different levels

Levels that are most useful to understand

Because if you do not understand them then nature will bring them to your attention in a more forceful way later on in life

Much smarter to face yourself now

You might even find it enjoyable to learn who you really are!

Take time to learn yourself

Understand your avoidance mechanisms

The way you avoid spending time with yourself

The little tricks you use

The games you play

They merely put off what must be faced

No one walks out of life without being brought face to face with themselves

Do it on your terms it's easier

Endless summer

.





...

...........and then there was "On any Sunday"

Both are old movies today

Both classics

Both should be seen as they convey something special.

The one about bikes the other about surfing

And both about friendship

About sharing, helping each other

Experiencing that special rush of adrenaline when facing yourself

When facing danger

There are other films that also capture that special something

People doing their thing for the sheer pleasure, risk, danger and sometimes for a living too

Most people do not do what they truly care about

Let alone for a living

Notice those who do what they truly love get something out of life that others do not

Particularly when they share that special experience with others who do the same activity

The wonder of the perfect wave or storm

The amazing desert on your bike, that sunrise, sunset
.
The camaraderie of tiredness after a long day of doing your thing

Something that stays with you for life

Something that shapes your values

Takes you beyond greed and selfishness

Takes you to the edge

The point where you absolutely know yourself

Beyond any doubt or equivocation

You know yourself

Shame really how many never know or experience this

And you?

What are you doing to shape your life?

To take it to another level

To experience those things about yourself that stay with you for life

That can never be taken away

That define your self to yourself

That open the doors of perception about nature

That allow us to be truly part of nature

With respect and humility

Awe even for the wonder of seeing inside ourselves

Seeing our courage and learning how to respect this insight

The peace of mind it brings

The change to our lives

Becoming one with ourselves even if only in this one dimension

Many stay at this level content in the pleasure and satisfaction it brings

Others oh so few will push on to master their minds

So few we never or seldom read or hear about them

They walk amongst us radiating that unusual power

A sereneness

This is what life is truly about for those who have the courage and discipline to keep searching

To travel those paths trodden by the few throughout history, pre history

By those unusual ones seeking the truth

There is no barrier to entry

Only your own fears

What is your life about?

Male or female, black or white, young or old the journey is the same

Think twice before letting your life seep away

Unused, untested, cocooned in the fears of modern man

Take your life to another level

Mmmmm - 55

‘Inharmonious thoughts not only poison the air, but they also poison your very bloodstream, poison your body; and disease is the resultant.

What are inharmonious thoughts?

They are selfish thoughts, evil thoughts, mean thoughts, thoughts out of tune; and they arise in a heart which lacks love.

Perfect love in the human heart tends to build up a strong body, psychologically clean, because the inside of you is psychologically and morally clean, harmonious in its workings,

for in this case, the mind, the soul, the spirit – the true man – are harmonious in their workings. ...

‘The greatest preventive of disease is a selfless soul working through a selfless mind –

a self-forgetful heart.

Nothing brings disease upon a human being so quickly as selfishness with its concomitant temptations, and the succumbing to those temptations

GPE 42-6.