The Gift Of Giving

As you prepare for your journey this week into the world. Take a moment to reflect on how much you have chosen to give in your life in my recent journey to grow,find myself, and my purpose this is something I have come to learn is an important part of who I am and for the longest time I was torn with dealing with my spirit, my ego, and the world we live in. I talked to my mother prior to writing this and she told me since I was young I have always been someone who enjoyed giving to others that I always shared everything I had.

When I was younger I did not understand the way of the lonely traveler and at the time the world I lived in did not reward a person for being different for seeing the world differently. Can i remember thinking as a child why can not play with that child ? See I grew up in a very racially segregated part of the US and doing things that were outside of the norm like playing with kids of another color would result in you being treated differently for being different. I never have known how to just go along even when it looked like I was internally I was struggling. I tried to conform to the world and like a boy looking outside a window at life trying to understand the world and my place in it.

Then I learned the most life changing thing for me what I was looking for was never out that window. I had to turn around and look thru my own house. I had to look inside myself as I started to do that I started to see things I remembered doing as a child that I had changed because they didn't go with the world years after growing up in a place where I felt my differences were restricted and I continued to carry this within me to adulthood. As I learn,accept, and release past beliefs to reveal myself I have learned amazing things about me one of those is the subject of this article. I have a spirt of generosity that is a huge part of me and while that flies in the face of convection within the world I know longer care. Giving to me is one of greatest things you or I can ever do.

If I had of stood my ground and never tried to conform I may not have had the experiences I enjoy sharing with anyone who would like to read it. Nor would I have grown and become the man I was supposed to be.

When I went to church last Sunday to hear the word of God I had no idea I would hear the importance of giving and the impact it has in the eyes of god. Generosity is a a simple thing that can be done by anyone at anytime and costs nothing it is free. In the bible according to Isaiah 32:8 it also is considered noble in the eyes of god which is fine but it is and never has been something I considered.

It is nothing more beautiful than giving I have listed a few things that can help you incorporate this concept into your life.

Give a Dinner To People You Care For Without A Reason

Give You Time To Talk To A Friend

Give A Compliment To A Stranger

Give Money For Good Cause.

Give Time To Yourself

Give Time To Your Children

There is only one other rule DETACH FROM OUTCOME this has to happen otherwise it will not be genuine and the meaning can be negated. It is not hard but the impact is huge a simple compliment can change a life by letting someone know you care and see them and appreciate them just as they are.

Until My Next Posting

Namaste & God Bless

The Value In Realationships

Knowledge changes everything in life I truly can say that looking back on my life every true change has happened when I have accumulated enough knowledge to challenge what someone from somewhere who told me that was what i was supposed to do. After years of formal education I expanded by ability to learn further into others including spirituality and relationships. I have learned many things in this process including the topic of this article

Your Spirit Needs Relationships To Grow

When I first heard that I was frustrated because why would I ever think I truly need other people to make me better I have never relied on the good opinion of others if I didn't believe them. As I deepened my knowledge I would learn the following concepts.

• I am not my thoughts and within me is my spirit and it is independent of ego.
• Ego is form based,never satisfied, and does everything it can to protect itself
• I was an extremely ego dominated person

Once I learned the three things above I learned to listen to what my spirit tells me instead of what my ego did and I noticed the difference which could be different for everyone but for me it was hearing the emotion behind every conversation. When I learned what my ego sounded like versus the desire to do the right thing I began to see others much differently. This is what lead me to my next finding

Whenever I would interact with others there would be times when things would get my ego flared up and then it hit me The Way I React To Others is a good indication of things within me that I need to work on for example if I am in a conversation and I begin to get defensive when getting feedback on something I began to ask myself WHY ?

In personal relationships this multiplies 10 fold because they are the closest to you. Everyones partner has that thing that bugs them from leaving clothes on the floor to drinking milk out of the carton. Have you ever wondered the validity of those statements In the past my ego put me in the defensive against those moments as I am sure you may have experienced. I now know my partner was right and had I accepted some of that knowledge I would have grown further in my relationship instead I allowed my ego to guide my decisions not my spirit and my heart.

Since changing the frame on how I see this topic let me say I have a burning passion to interact with everyone because I see everyone with more value if I can learn about me from how I interact with others there is so much good for both them and I. I now listen at a different level with my own feelings being monitored I am open to truly give back more to people, and when our conversation ends we both can feel satisfied. I am not saying to take others opinions I am saying take your own opinion around why you responded the way you did when you can answer that you will see the thing that you can work on, compare it with your own personal past and if it is true you can change it.

We truly need each other in this journey called life everyone is valuable every interaction is an opportunity for you to be better than you were before it took place which is a concept I love to embrace.

Until my next post

Namaste & God Bless

What Love Could Be

I was listening to Rabbi Shmuley talk about the three types of love during an interview he was doing for Dr Deepak Chopra and the topic was about the future of love in our society the thoughts centered around the types of love that is needed within our own personal relationships. During the interview he stated that one of the main reasons that relationships tend to lose the spark that so often goes away after being to together for a long period of time.

In our society for the average relationships the longer you are together the more likely you are to have experienced the passion fizzle and if you haven't that is an amazing blessing. I would agree with the interview in the sense that there is a general assumption that you must sacrifice passion in a relationship but being a NLP (No Limit Person) I don't believe that at all. Now I am not in a relationship right now but trust me when I say that doesn't mean I don't know what I want and how to get there. So on that note here are some to key points from that interview.

His talks refer to men and women being fire and water and there needing to a blending of the two to soar above what is worldly and traditional. See until I started to take a journey towards my new goal of a adding no more pain to the world I searched for a partner someone who was an equal to me and could help me in my quest to build my wordly empire. This was my ultimate goal and I pushed hard to aquire it thru time and suffering but failed miserably in doing this I hurt other people thru lies,manipulation, and the use of opposites all in a effort to protect my ego. It was only thru my personal awaking that I could be open to receive the information that I now see and realize what I truly want for my personal relationships versus what I once that I should have. Those models are listed below.

The River Model which means love is like a partnership a business deal so to speak. In this model you are looking for another version of you someone who meets your requirements it reminds me of interviewing someone for a job. In ancient times this is what dynasties use to do in order increase there power. This is where at one point where I wanted to be in my relationships because I thought it was safe and would ensure a good relationship.

The Kettle Model means you can compliment each other. And coexist together like a kettle holding water over a flame. You work well together and truly compliment one another but there is nothing that makes the relationship pop it is doing what it should do moving right along. This is where the general population lives.

The Bird Model means that you counteract one another and use each other to soar above it all that you accept one another as you are not what u want each other to be. You compliment talents and use them together and rise above much like a bird who uses all its tools to fly. This is the ideal of where a relationship could be. I have decided that this is what I want out of my relationship.

The last part of the discussion was that men need the fullness of a women's love to balance out their linear thought and self. The compassion of a women's love is something that helps to keep things in balance and as a society we need to connect further to this idea and allow our connection to compassion to shine thru. I sincerely believe this is true and as we do our personal relationships can grow and as a society we can change.

As the bible teaches us it all starts with and ends with love.

Until My Next Posting

Namaste & God Bless

The Way Of The Bow

This a simple read with a lot of great metaphors for life and understanding how to take the most out of situations. When I read the PDF along with the others I thought it would be useful information to share with everyone. The author is one who is of the spirit and has a lot of successful hardcover reads that you can check here as well. If you enjoy the readings below then my next suggestion is going to be for you to read the Alchemist So click on the link below and have a few now moments with the author and enjoy the lesson of learning. Oh there is one other added bonus it is free. Free Internet Books Until my next posting Namaste & God Bless

Shift Of Responseability

I was at lunch yesterday with myself which before I continue into my story was in itself a blissful experience enjoying a meal with me and myself. However as I was saying I am at lunch and I look over to see the young worker cleaning the tables after each person finished, and I have to say he was doing his job with such pride it was easy to see that he took pride in what he did. In watching him I wanted to know how I could serve him and when I searched for the answer I easily found it. I could clean my own table a simple gift of letting him know that he could have a break to chat or whatever. So I approached him with this idea and he responded to me " That's ok its my job" which I expected him to say that and I responded with well it is my response ability to clean up after myself.

Then it hit me that in life it happens to often that responsibility that should be ours gets shifted to someone else and for some that means even responsibilities for their own life. Then when the shift has been made an awful thing happens blame is placed on the other party for failing to live up to our expectations. That is like me yelling at the young man who cleaned my table yesterday for not cleaning it to my standards when I could have done it myself. This is seen mostly in close personal relationships which I will discuss in a separate posting.

I don't know why this concept seemed to hit me so hard and as I expanded on it so many other things played into it like the reason we have rules are to shift responsibility back to people who choose to do something other than what they know to be morally correct. It is the reason we have supervisors at our jobs to make sure we are held accountable which means to shift responsibility back to the owner. For me it I see how the simplicity of life is lost in this fact because I have truly believe that the universe has design and structure even if we weren't given the rules for it. The goodness of your heart lies in your ability to connect with your soul. This is the golden thread of life and if that was a belief that was truly held by the collective majority we could live a balanced and harmonious life which is what we all strive for anyway on a individual level. Here is the clincher we are all looking for the same thing and it could be easily obtained together yet for some the choice to struggle against what is and the denial that we are as one prevents this concept.

I encourage you to take time in your life to look for areas where you can take more of your responsibility back. You can't do anything about what life will deal you for that is already decided but the power of choice is yours. The power to be able to respond (response-ability) to it all is one of the keys to enjoying a fulfilling and balanced life so don't give that away for it is a precious gift that is designed to help you towards the balance and happiness you so desire.

Until My Next Posting

Namaste & God Bless

The Lonely Traveler

"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, "I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along." You must do the thing you think you cannot do."- Eleanor Roosevelt

The above quote was so powerful for me when I first read it I was in awe of the way fear can be such a wonderful learning experience yet we often overlook it due to the amount of pain and uncertainty that is generated in us by the way we see it. However when you look at the great thinkers the people I like to think of as lonely travelers on this journey called life this was almost born into them. When they looked at situations they saw the same as everyone else but as the quote verbalized they saw something greater than just the fear they saw what was on the other side of the hill.

See in my journey I have come to see life as a long country road. The kind of road you see in the movies that has nothing but a vast amount of open space around it with a long road ahead and an even longer one behind. As we travel this road we go thru different cites some small and simple, some large and complex and require more time than we may have to spend with them. No what we end up in a space where we are alone with nothing but the road ahead and as we travel of course we encounter bad weather the storms are gonna come just like the seasons are sure to because nature is right with her understanding of the flow of life.

It is when we are at our worst our field of perception changes to see only a few things the storm we are in and the long road ahead and the fact that it is getting late and darkness is going to set in. Yet a few shifts in our perception could change it forever and this is what a lonely traveler does with almost a natural instinct they see what we see but they see more like they see in widescreen. They see that by accepting the journey for what it is and not what they feel it should be and by surrendering to life it is easier to weather the storms and that the reward for doing so can be just over that next hill. So they embrace and enjoy the journey for what it is and when this is done courage seems to flow out of them like a river and the concept of fear becomes part of the journey not the focus of it.

In our own lives we spend a large amount of time walking in the crowd with everyone elbow to elbow and neck to neck. Today you can make a choice to walk another road and experience a different road in life. You can start by taking short walks and increasing them as you become one with the process but allow yourself to love the walk that is life for there is no pleasure sweeter than that of a great journey traveled.

Until my next post

Namaste & God Bless

Life Is Random

This is an awesome talk about using the web in a way that is often neglected in our form dominated lifestyles.

Ironman Update# 13

Where is the time going it is hard to believe I have been at this for the last 13 weeks and some. I have to say that it has been one of the single most life changing events that I have ever had and it has become a way of life for me. But it didn't start out that way. It started out as most things in my life have been in the past and that is in an addiction. Yes I said addiction that is such a strong word but i think it is appropriate and I think that most people deal with it more than they know.

See it is the nature of our ego that it attaches itself to worldly things,things that mean something only to the form in a means to protect itself from extinction because it is scared and as I rode my bike for 30 miles this week or ran my 20 miles I realized that even that originally when I started this whole Ironman it was to feed my ego but it has transmuted into something much greater.

See in training this week I have learned that I don't need to train for my ego I don't need to be addicted to anything other than the love of my spirit our spirit. Like many before me I truly never new there was anything more than the ego I have protected for many years. I was blessed with a strong understanding of myself and have felt conflict for many years between my form and spirit and my understanding of how to marry those two. My whole life I have worked to protect my ego from destruction from the world because I felt that if I lost it I would lose myself. See I knew that if I ran a triathlon that would satisfy my egos need to be special that it would be large enough. If I did this or that I would satisfy a need but on my journey to living an enlightened life I have learned that feeding my ego is a meal that will never end a bill in which I can never truly pay the cost.

I learned that by being attached to things of only just this world of just my form I had lost touch with knowing the things that equal true satisfaction I longed so desperately for the things that make up my soul,my humanity, me and once I truly was able to grasp this concept it was only then I could shift from a nature of addictiveness to one that is choosing to use my works for greater purposes like becoming further grounded in the present moment or as examples to the world around me of the limitless possibilities that are presented when you start to connect and work with the world versus forcing the world to work with you.

I walk away from this week of training physically better as well as mentally better.

My suggestion from this is simple look at your life and find your addiction and be honest about it, remember it may not be what you want to hear at first, and know that you are not whatever it is that you may find and use it as indicator that maybe you have lost connection with the part of you that connects you to the oneness of it all and allow yourself to break free of the mental hold it has if you do the simple act of being aware it will help to start the healing process towards release of the addictions that slightly stop us from being great.

Until my next post

Namaste & God Bless

Remember How To Be A Child.

I am sitting in the lunch room with my son the other day and I am watching him interact with the other kids and as a means to show him affection I leaned over and told him. Son remember to enjoy the moments you have today and gave him a kiss.

He then gave me the look that as parents we all dread and you know what it is the one where they glare at you like mom or dad what are you talking about ? Then it hit me that what I had said means nothing to him because kids already live that way they don't worry about the future, and barely know the past exist. They are truly an example of living in the present. I mean have you ever met a child that said man how am I gonna pay the mortgage, or how are we gonna eat, I have to pick up stuff from the cleaners, etc. Of course not and we tell them they shouldn't have to yet we don't free ourselves from it when we can.

As parents we sometimes get caught up in being the teacher but the first rule of learning is always being open to learn and we tend to forget that with our children and how they can teach us so much. As adults we tend to become a big ball of our perceptions about people and situations instead of using perception in the way it was meant to be used it became the thing that blocks us from appreciating all life has to offer.

Now I am not saying all perceptions are wrong there is truly some purpose for their use but we are not suppose to let them be the ruler of our lives however it is easy to forget this and therefore we forget what our children have yet to learn and that is this. The only moment we have is right now and making that now moment the best minute to minute day to day will become the life we one day look back on. That the moment your making right now in 10 min will be your past and 5 minutes before it happened was your future. Growing up I heard the following statement "Dom don't grow up to fast you have your whole life to be an adult" I didn't know what that meant until now and honestly I have to disagree with you mom there are parts of my childhood I am happy to reconnect with. This entry is an example of one of them. See you don't have to give up being a child you have to give up childish behaviors and that makes it ok to focus on the now and add some playfulness to this thing called life.

So I encourage all of you to take a few moments today and be a kid again your soul will appreciate you for it and you may find you like what you see when you take a moment to connect with yourself.

Until my next post

Namaste and God Bless

Managing Reistance

Recently I have taken on a very interesting challenge I have made a personal commitment to minimizing and removing additional pain from my life and the lives of those that I interact with. This decision is part of a greater picture. To most people what I just said is a very daunting challenge and I totally understand why it feels impossible because I understand the level of thinking that the collective majority resides in. I use to reside their too and I never felt to bad about it because it is not until you realize their is a better way, a different perspective can you begin to look for a different way.

How does something like this happen?

It happens with pain once you reach a certain level of suffering or pain depending on your word choice you snap something in you gives way and forms a decision making point and a choice will be made that will change how you view life forever. This can be either a positive or negative choice which is the subject of an entirely different conversation but a choice is made.

So knowing that you have to have a enough pain in your life to change anything also know that is not the only way to create change you can use your awareness and just make a choice which sounds so easy right ? It isn't not even when you know you should. Understand there is nothing wrong with any of this or with you and how you feel about it. If you are looking for more balance in your life though this is one way of getting that.

So here is what I am doing to stop adding to the cycle of pain that is in my life.

Acceptance Of Life Situations

Oneness

Expanding My Personal Understanding of Me.

When you accept life situations for what they are which is a situation you are having in your life and allow them to be just that a situation you can learn and gather information from it removes resistance and allows for you to approach things from a place of understand and clarity which is needed to create a positive outcome. You also eliminate energy loss caused by resisting what is. The second concept of oneness is simple everyone is the same we may have different forms but what is inside is all the same and while some people use emotions and reactions that you may not they still have the same emotions and reactions that you have and when you remove the vail that separates you from them you allow compassion in. The last piece is the hardest of the three it is understanding why and what causes you to react the way you do to people,and life situations. See our reactions to things are a great indicator of our own personal fears,insecurities,issues, etc. It is usually a reflection of our own conflict about a situation the more you know why you are feeling the way you do when you react to people or things the easier it will be to remove the resistance that blocks the love,compassion. With resistance gone so shall pain be removed and your more likely to make choices that generate as minimal pain as possible.

I plan on none of this being easy but I feel that it is a step in the direction of making my life better and making the lives of those around me better and that makes it all worth it.

Until my next post

Namaste, God Bless

Letting Go

When you here the phrase let go you lots f things of come to mind it is such a universal statement one that transcends both past and present it is a statement that lives in both places. Yet until a few weeks ago I never realized the freedom in letting go and massive power received from it.

In celebration of my 30th birthday I decided to go sky diving and with it I found, and experienced a freedom yet known to me.

As I have reflected on the entire event a few life lessons came to me.

1. When faced with no option other than to succeed it is harder to fail. See when the instructor told me death or servere injury was the result of failing to listen things changed. My energy became shifted on the present moment with no regard for what the outcome in the future would be or how I might mess like I had in the past only that I needed to focus on what I was doing in order to prevent any harm that may come to me.  
2. During this process there was no fear I mean I couldn't be afraid because I was so focused that fear showed up when it was supposed to until then it was only the simple task of remembering that step by being completely in the NOW. See with our goals we sometimes end up thinking about fear before the simple next step that needs to be taken and miss valuable information.
3. Letting go is always the hardest part. Everything comes down to your confidence with letting go I trained for almost 8hrs just to feel confident to do what I needed to do. But when on the wing of a plane going 113 miles an hour, 6000ft above the ground, and a instructor waiting on u. Your only option is to LET GO.
   

One day your goal will require u to do the same by being present in every moment u make the most of them so when u let go u know exactly what to do. Just like I did. There u have it folks all the insight without the adrelaline.

God Bless and Good Luck.  

Ironman#12

I have been away from posting my weekly findings and I could give a million excuses on why I have but the reality of the situation is I have not had much to write. I have been learning as I train that life can be understood by sports training and things as such this is nothing new. Metaphors and statements have been used for years in the same vain.

My latest update of what I learned is that you can only push so hard see in training you can do everything your supposed to and be as strong as you possibly can and still only go so far. See in life you can do all the right things and say all the right things and no matter how how you try still be wrong.

So what do you do ?

Learn to be better and more efficient with what you have work smarter instead of harder my trainer told me he could not make me faster even if I was to build more strength but that he could teach me how to use my body better and that would equate to me being a more efficient runner,swimmer, and biker.

Thats when I realized I have all the tools in life I need and so do you. It is not a matter of looking for the next tool that will help you or the next big thing that will come and rescue you. You are the only thing that is going to help you. What you feel you need or desire is already within it it is just a matter of time before you learn how to find what you need from within.

The answer is that you learn to generate and get every feeling you think you need from someone else from yourself and then choose who you want to share that with it sounds simple but it as we know it is complicated.