... Not yet, but you will, in your own time.

"... and instead of giving the grade FAIL, I started writing NOT YET, and what a great difference it did in those kids self-esteem (...) you see, there's always space for improvement, aren't we all undone projects? So let's not jut focus on having good grades, and being the best in class, let's focus on finding solutions and being creative. There's always so much space for improvement..."

Who sets up the parameters of life and the standardized correct growth? Who really knows anything about it? Yes, there are very eloquent and great thinkers between us, but, again, another classic saying, "All I know is that I know nothing, for when I don't know what justice is, I'll hardly know whether it is a kind of virtue or not, or whether a person who has it is happy or unhappy."

We don't know what we're doing in this life, we don't know why we're here, we don't know if there's more to it or not, we don't even know if what our parents and schools taught us is really helpful... This leave us with just one trustworthy thing in which we can believe:  Love.
Love for yourself and for others. With Love comes respect, gratitude, humbleness and forgiveness.

“And it is so simple…The one thing is - love thy neighbor as thyself - that is the one thing. That is all, nothing else is needed. You will instantly find how to live.”
_
Dostoyevsky

But we need to start first with ourselves. We won't ever truly forgive or be forgiven if we don't forgive ourselves first. The same with Love and Respect.

Act on it or act it out.

Are we the way we are because of how we think or of what we do? What makes you: your behaviour or your thoughts?

We usually play with the famous Descartes quote "I think, therefore I am" but we think sooooo much, we plan soooo much, we live soooo much on our minds, that if we actually were our thoughts we would be so many things! ...

That leaves us then with what we do as the defining key of who we are.

Have you played pretend? Pretend you're someone else and actually take it to the street, play that Oscar winning role at the supermarket, in a shop, or just wondering around. It's a curious experience in the sense that everything around you seems to change. And it's not just that people will treat you in a different way, but you also treat yourself differently. Your mood changes, the voice you use to either be sweet or bitter resonates inside, and you become a different person... and, tchan nã! your thoughts change... Not your core beliefs of course, but you'll question things within a different perspective.

So, change your behavior to actually change your thoughts.

So many other examples come to mind: people that turn vegetarian, when people start doing sports; when you meet new friends, when you engage in a course, etc... you change because you're learning through your actions. So ACT! Act on it or act it out!

Heard it: "Compassion, spiritual technology..."

... if you ever feel alone, and lost, go into a bookshop. There are great masters or simple curious beings waiting for your companionship.

On being Free

... starting on this new "meditation", the morning tea cup meditation, I've had the wonderful insight on how similar our moral values are with "Nature" values.

We've created Art,  Religion, Education, Politics, Psychology,  Philosophy and so on, to try to establish guidelines on our correct conduct with others, but in Nature, the rules are the most basic ones, and when you think about it, they're actually more honest and sincere than "man's creations".

Of course those same subjects exist for our own intellectual pleasure or adventure, but when they're used as baselines I get the impression that the lines between respect and truthfulness get confused.

If you imagine yourself to be a different creature, wild one, who needs to look for shelter, food and a mate, you realize that your premisses must be very simple and direct. There's no laziness in waking up. You feel it deep inside the urge to eat and there's no fridge. You might have built a little dispenser, but you know it won't last forever, so you get up with the sun, you check out the usual places, you get wiser by watching your fellow friends, you learn quickly, through trial and error, how things work. And if you step on another creature space, or do any harm, immediately there will be consequences. You still feel the freedom and wonderful energy of this world and the great pleasure of just being.
And you'll know, when in front of a potential candidate, if there's any chance for a steamy romance or not. You just simply recognize the traits or lack of them...

That's why we keep recalling the simplicity of things when we were kids. Life wasn't fair or easy. Very rarely would we understand why things happened in a certain way and not another, but at the core, we enjoyed our freedom, the constant possibility of growth, the simple rules and of course, the playing just for the sake of playing, not because it will look nice in some post.

... all real truth and sincerity are simple by virtue of being true and sincere...

on Pain

"The depth of our pain equals the depth of our Love"
_
David Ji

Towards Pain, we can choose:

- to distract from the pain or;
- to go deeper into the pain.

Choose the second, go deeper, feel it, cry and grow from it.
“May roses blossom from your pain." it is said.
It means that from that pain, allow yourself to go deeper inside yourself, to where your dreams and fears live, and in that fragile and humbling place, learn about Compassion.

“Just as an organic gardener knows how to make good use of compost to grow beautiful flowers, so too does a practitioner know how to make good use of suffering to generate happiness.”
—
Thich Nhat Hanh

May we all learn from our own self individual non transmissible pains, and build a more complacent attitude towards ourselves and others. And use the Love that rises from that sorrow towards others. Become that gentle warm candle light that so many of us need in sad times. Be the sweet music that creeps up straight into our soul's need and soothes in.

Abrazo

RECORDAR:
Del latin
re-cordis, volver a pasar por el corazon

Eduardo Galeano

"El mundo es eso, un montôn de gente, un mar de fueguitos.
Cada persona brilla con luz propia entre todas las demás.
No hay dos fuegos iguales. Hay fuegos grandes y fuegos chicos y fuegos de todos los colores. Hay gente de fuego sereno, que ni se entera del viento, y gente de fuego loco que llena el aire de chispas. Algunos fuegos, fuegos bobos, no alumbran ni queman; pero otros arden la vida con tanta pasion que no se puede mirarlos sin parpadear, y quien se acerca se enciende."

_
El Libro de los Abrazos

"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved."
_
Helen Keller

The Fisherman's Son: The Spirit of Ramon Navarro from Patagonia on Vimeo.

Inner Flow

“Your heart is the light of this world. Don’t cover it with your mind.”
—
Mooji

What can We give to this World?
... well, we can volunteer and donate our possessions to someone who needs more than we do. We can turn our Life into a Life that serve others, and hopefully, others will have the same thought and there will be equality, or at least some balance, we will all have enough. Nice thought...

Impossible right? ...
Who isn't afraid of being in the hands of others?
...
we write, speak, post words of beautiful moments and grateful hope, but where's the real truth behind all that show off?

We don't need to go all to Tibet, or Lampedusa and volunteer. Right from where we are we can help and give some relief.

Life can be so much easier if we just accept that no one is perfect, that everyone needs a hug, a warm friendly conversation, a hand, a warm meal. Simple gestures that we can share and make Life easier...

Surfing around social websites you get the impression that everything is already done, reported, explained, shared... but, most of those cool pictures and seducing written texts are just that, one particular moment of vanity that won't really make a difference. Like this post if I don't take it to outside what I'm trying to grasp here with words.

I don't intend to criticize the technical evolution of our society, but rather understand in what way can all this flow of information be used for our inner and social growth. And I choose the word "inner", not in a individual way, but within the sense of deeper inner connections, inner relationships, inner exterior actions.

You know that story of the little girl that had only a little box of matchsticks to keep herself warm in one very cold Christmas Eve Night (Hans Christian Andersen, Danish poet from 1900's).
Shortly it goes like this:

"The girl lights the matches to warm herself. In their glow, she sees several lovely visions including a Christmas tree and a holiday feast. The girl looks skyward and sees a shooting star; she then remembers her dead grandmother saying that such a falling star means someone is dying and is going to Heaven. As she lights the next match, she sees a vision of her grandmother, the only person to have treated her with love and kindness. She strikes one match after another to keep the vision of her grandmother alive for as long as she can. After running out of matches, the child dies and her grandmother carries her soul to Heaven. The next morning, passers-by find the child dead in the nook and feel pity for her although they had not shown kindness for her before her death."

Are we turning into passers-by and not really looking into the eyes of who ever meets our way?

We hear and read the quotes of beautiful thinkers, but when do we really make an expression of those lessons in our Life? Maybe only when we're going through pain do we understand the strengh there is behind an open and giving attitude. We might not be rich in possessions, but we can be rich in our spoken words and in the thoughts we choose to embrace. There should always be an extra plate on the table for whoever might show up and need.

Keep updated with the latest technology and use it, but not only for your own benefit. Use it wisely, freely, disengaged from constraining social behaviors and with your hand upon your heart ask yourself, what does really matter in my Life? Give an honest answer and purpose.

 "Don’t ever go with the flow, be the flow"

I will hear that it's scary to open your Heart, but there's no other way to grow.

And when it comes to Love, “Our relationships give us a real, powerful opportunity for spiritual growth. Love is designed to initially show us everything that is not love: our relationships will trigger all of our wounding from our past experiences from our family of origin. If we have the conscious awareness, then we can start to heal a lot of these wounds. We can start to change our behavior; we can develop new ways of relating to ourselves and other people that support our spiritual growth. Once we’ve moved through that level of awareness, then love can show us everything that is love. If we can understand that our relationships are designed to show us the reflection of everything that is still unresolved in us, then we have powerful opportunities to use them as a platform for spiritual growth.”
_
Andrew Barnes

“When we recognize that we have a habit of replaying old events and reacting to new events as if they were the old ones, we can begin to notice when that habit energy comes up. We can then gently remind ourselves that we have another choice. We can look at the moment as it is, a fresh moment, and leave the past for a time when we can look at it compassionately.”
_
Thich Nhat Hanh 

Loose yourself to find yourself

“Everything will be taken from you on this path. Everything. It’s easier to let go than to hold.”
—
Jac O’Keeffe

When have you felt more awake and receptive of Life's deviant disclosures?

... think about it for a moment.

Was it when you were on top of your game, getting everything you wanted, engaged in a series of new activities, rushing from one place to another, thinking ahead on your next goal, your next wanting, having a plan and putting all your hopes in it, OR

was it when everything you though you knew fell to pieces, and you were left with only one thing, emptiness. The idea of nothing and everything in one single possibility.

Think of the sadness and unbelievable feeling of not owning anything, not even your own Life.

It's desperate, it's too much to bear, it's... you probably can't even put into words the magnitude of lostness. But you don't disappear or smoke away. You stay. Alone and stunted, you stay. And the only thing you can actually hold on to keep yourself alive is Forgiveness...

When we forgive our foolish way of thinking that we know everything we need and embrace blissful ignorance, something changes in our sight. We no longer see others as others, but as part of the same stuff we're made off, and what we gave importance to, like status, like being heard, being seen, makes no sense to pursue anymore. What it makes sense is to give whatever we can still give, and share whatever can be shared. From that sadness of losing what we thought we had, we gain a constant appreciation for what is temporarily in our hands.

“Buddhist monks begin each day with a chant of gratitude for the blessings of their life. Native American elders begin each ceremony with grateful prayers to mother earth and father sky, to the four directions, to the animal, plant, and mineral brothers and sisters who share our earth and support our life. In Tibet, the monks and nuns even offer prayers of gratitude for the suffering they have been given: “Grant that I might have enough suffering to awaken in the deepest possible compassion and wisdom.”
—
Jack Kornfield 

True forgiveness is when you can say, "Thank you for that experience.”

Meeting Schopenhauer...

... "Almost all of our sorrows spring out of our relations with other people." (...) "A man can be himself only so long as he is alone, and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom, for it is only when he is alone that he is really free."
_
Arthur Schopenhauer

Aloneness is usually seen as a sign of failure, of not fitting in, of something wrong or out of the norm with someone, but, only when we're alone, faced with our own delicate existence, can we hear the world around and inside us.

To give yourself some time off from other people voices and mind is the same as taking a really long shower after two weeks of camping in the wilderness. Only after the shower do you realize you really needed it.

So find and give that space. Be gentle with yourself.

We get so easily tracked in what is supposed, should be... so easily tracked in just one or two ways of seeing things, but “Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world."

We know very little about this World and this Life, and how many times are we upset, frustrated or fear what we think we "know"? Indeed, it is through demanding experiences that we learn and grow over old assumptions. We must stay open.

“All truth passes through three stages: First, it is ridiculed; Second, it is violently opposed; Third, it is accepted as self-evident.”

Many of us turn towards religion to find a compass to where we must go and understand Life, but religion is not a free flowing energy, it's mental training. As shown in the news, religion is used as a clever way for mental programming. To be spiritual and open to apparently unattainable realities it's a different attitude. It's a belief that comes from unknown dimensions within ourselves. It's an open attitude, that can, and will, lead you towards a more loving and accepting life.

When not sure on how to proceed facing a difficult situation, use Compassion and Love.

"No children were brought into the world by an act of pure reason alone (...) Compassion is the basis of morality."

Practice Compassion towards yourself and others. Then, keep in mind that what you do with your Life is your choice and only yours. No one else is responsible for the choices and words you've spoken. The quality of your own Life is what you do with it.

“Each day is a little life.”