Category: Uncategorized

Compassion

by Karen Lang, posted in Uncategorized

“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” – Mother Teresa

Compassion is a deep awareness of the suffering of others, coupled with a desire to alleviate it.  Compassion has nothing to do with any self-interest or expectations.

Through practice, we can increase our own capacity for generosity and love, and in doing so, we benefit both as individuals and as a society.  When you only think about what you need or what you can get in life, you will find you have a sense of emptiness that you cannot fill.

Compassion for yourself and others is not always easy, especially when your loved ones are in pain.  When we dwell primarily in the reasoning mind, we often experience other people  as obstacles towards our goals rather than teachers on our path.  When you live each situation with your heart you can embrace and accept all aspects of yourself and of the people around you.

“No one has ever become poor by giving.” -―Anne Frank

Open your heart to yourself first.  If critical thoughts or feelings of unworthiness arise, let compassionate energy flow toward yourself with thoughts of love and acceptance.  It is important to spend time getting this right first as you cannot be compassionate with others if you don’t feel it for yourself.  Catch yourself next time you are in a stressful situation and ask yourself  “Am I connecting to my mind or my heart?” and see the difference.

After practicing and feeling it within yourself then start directing this energy outward again, calling to mind other people you know and embracing them with this same compassion, accepting both their strengths and their shortcomings.

“There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.” – John Holmes

Studies have proven that freely serving others can reduce anxiety and depression, speed up recovery from illness, reduce pain, help older adults stay mobile and increase longevity.  There is powerful evidence that having compassion for yourself and others is good for your health.

2013 is just around the corner, so what a wonderful way to begin this year by practicing your connection to a compassionate heart.  You are likely to gain much more profound insight into your own wellbeing and have more success  in your interpersonal life.  Compassion facilitates meaningful connections with all those around you.

“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.”  –  Dalai Lama

Be Childlike

by Karen Lang, posted in Uncategorized

“Great is the man who has not lost his childlike heart.”

At the end of another busy year, when our Christmas lists begin to grow and party invites begin to flood in.  Let’s remember to stop and take time away from all the busyness and seriousness of life and remember to see life through the eyes of a child.

When was the last time you really laughed or did something just for fun?  We are all under a lot of pressure in today’s society.  We have the demands of family life, work pressures, bills to pay and little time to create the perfect christmas for the perfect family!

Regardless of the illusion that we believe we have to live up to, if you can make time to remember what it is like to be a child again, you will find,  joy, trust, curiosity, imagination and fun and begin to see how serious we are!

“I like crazy, childlike, candy bar filled cakes with gooey caramel, chocolate-covered nuts, marshmallows and the like.”  – Ron Ben-Israel

Find that special memory in your heart that made you feel free as a child.  Grab the keys, head to the beach and sit with an ice-cream or a good book.  Tell your kids a story about when you were young and try to re-create it with them.  Get on some skates or go to a park and just be.

There is so many ways to escape our day-to-day stress.  Tap into your inner child and find the joy in every situation.

None of us know how long we are here, so make all your moments important and precious.  Be spontaneous!

“Never give up your childlike sense of wonder and joy. Nothing is as important as keeping the magic alive. So smile often, laugh, and have a fun-loving spirit of adventure as you travel the road of success.”   – David Copperfield

Connecting to Oneness

by Karen Lang, posted in Uncategorized

“Consider your own place in the universal oneness of which we are all a part, from which we all arise, and to which we all return.” – David Fontana

How many times have you thought or said to someone “Oh they are not like us.”  We have a better way of thinking or live a better life.  I have always struggled with being judgemental of myself and others and from this comes the illusion that we are separate from one another, that we are superior in some way.

If we realised that we are all connected and that we are one with the universe, you would find, you would not judge others but embrace them as your teachers.

“When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself.”
― Wayne Dyer

Understanding oneness is a difficult concept.  We are all so different and have set ourselves apart from one another in so many ways.  How can we begin to understand how to connect.

Oneness is including everything around you and allowing others to live according to their true nature.   It is the gift to see we are connected to our environment, to earth, to sky to all living energy but if don’t look for it you don’t see it.

This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.

It is accepting that we are different and when we allow this difference in others, we learn from each other and live to our true potential.

How we make use of this opportunity depends upon the degree of our participation, how much we are prepared to give ourselves to the work that needs to be done, to the freedom that needs to be lived.

The realisation that every act, every word, every thought of ours not only influences our  environment and each other.

The tremendous responsibility of it is huge.  Most of us believe that this disconnection will not affect our own life.

If all of us only knew that the smallest act of ours, or a tiny thought, has such far-reaching effects as to set in motion forces which perhaps could shatter a galaxy…If we know it deeply and absolutely, if this realisation becomes engraved permanently on our hearts, on our minds, how careful we would act and speak and think.

How precious life would become in its integral oneness.

Don’t try to understand Oneness. You can know it only when the mind is still. When you are present, when your attention is fully and intensely in the Now, Being can be felt, but it can never be understood mentally. To regain awareness of Being and to abide in that state of “feeling-realisation” is enlightenment. – Eckhart Tolle

 

Speak your truth

by Karen Lang, posted in Uncategorized
“Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts.” -Albert Einstein
How many of us are willing to share our truth with others?  To let them see who we really are.  Do you honour your personal truth?
Most people are disconnected from their inner reality.  They don’t know what they are experiencing within themselves as they have never been taught to connect to that truth.  It takes a conscious effort to be comfortable with our feelings.
If you feel angry, sad, anxious or joyful we need to acknowledge these emotional states.  Each time we tell the truth about our feelings, we have the opportunity to look at a deeper truth about the nature of reality.
“It’s time to care; it’s time to take responsibility; it’s time to lead; it’s time for a change; it’s time to be true to our greatest self; it’s time to stop blaming others.”– Steve Maraboli
Following your own heart and your own intuition is always right.  Following the opinions of others will always leave you feeling more confused about what you should do.  When we don’t trust ourselves or honour our personal truth and say how we feel, we cannot grow internally.
When we allow others to speak for us or put us down, we disconnect from our truth and self-worth.  Affirming our worth and speaking the truth to others about the choices we have made in our life, allows others to know we are worthy of consideration.
Speaking up no matter how difficult it may seem, helps us grow in confidence and conserves our vitality and integrity.
You can respect what your friends’ are pursuing even if you have no interest in those pursuits for you. You can respect what others highly recommend for you to do, knowing full well that you cannot love those pursuits either. Showing respect to all things while choosing only the things which you love, that is the way to follow your heart and to be true to both yourself and others.
Sadly this week I was told of two suicides, one was a 19 yr old boy and the other was a Father of two.  In light of the pain and shock that is left after a suicide, I cannot help but wonder if both these men had felt they could speak the truth of their deep suffering to someone who could have helped, rather than keep it hidden from family and friends, then they still might be here today.
“It takes strength and courage to admit the truth.”  –  Rick Riordan
Of course we have no control of what others do but if we allow each other freedom to speak the truth and to allow others to share their opinions and feelings, then maybe we can all be comfortable with who we are and allow our dreams to manifest.
The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart. –   Elizabeth Foley

Practice Stillness

by Karen Lang, posted in Uncategorized
In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you.  – Deepak ChopraSonia Choquette is a world-renowned intuitive and spiritual teacher who specializes in helping others recognize that we are all endowed with a sixth sense that we can count on. A masterful teacher committed to strengthening intuition in our daily lives, she is the best-selling author of seven books: Diary of a Psychic, The Psychic Pathway, Your Heart’s Desire, The Wise Child, True Balance, Your Psychic Pathway to New Beginnings, Your Psychic Pathway to Joy, and numerous audio editions.  Listen below to her wisdom.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwPi33S2yFk&NR=1

When you have accessed a regular time for stillness and emptiness, you are then able to feel how much stress and pain you are carrying around.  You are then able to make a conscious choice in your daily decisions.  You have complete control on how your life is unfolding and complete responsibility.  Once you understand that power you carry within, you will then be able to make the right choices in your life.

When you surrender enough to the moment, then there will not be all this pressure and anxiety that you walk with everyday.  The choice is ours.  Don’t miss out on having a life that allows your full potential to shine!

 “Your innermost sense of self, of who you are, is inseparable from stillness. This is the I Am that is deeper than name and form.” Eckhart Tolle