Life is best shared

The time we pass in the company of our loved ones is valuable because it affords us an opportunity to explore the range of closeness we share with the important people in our lives. As we move through life’s trials and triumphs together, we form the emotionally intense memories that act as the foundation for the bonds of friendship and love. Since we remain in contact and are able to reconnect regularly, we can realistically view our relationships as dynamic and able to evolve. We are thus more apt to make strong commitments and trust that the people we care about will be steadfastly loyal in their dealings with us. The camaraderie you feel today can open your mind to new worlds of closeness that are deeper and more profound than what you have experienced in the past.

Source: The Daily Om





Nothing is more beautiful!

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Five minutes to happiness

Devoting time each day for
happiness will change your day
and change your brain chemistry

It can be so easy to get caught up in the rigors of modern life that we tend to forget that happiness need not come with stipulations. Happiness becomes something we must schedule and strive for—a hard-won emotion—and then only when we have no worries to occupy our thoughts. In reality, overwhelming joy is not the exclusive province of those with unlimited time and no troubles to speak of. Many of the happiest people on earth are also those coping with the most serious challenges. They have learned to make time for those simple yet superb pleasures that can be enjoyed quickly and easily. Cultivating a happy heart takes no more than five minutes. The resultant delight will be neither complex nor complicated, but it will be profound and will serve as a reminder that there is always a reason to smile.

So much that is ecstasy-inducing can be accomplished in five minutes. Alone, we can enjoy an aromatic cup of our favorite tea, take a stroll through the garden we have created, write about the day's events in a journal, doodle while daydreaming, or breathe deeply while we listen to the silence around us. In the company of a good friend or treasured relative, we can share a few silly jokes, enjoy a waltz around the room, play a fast-paced hand of cards, or reconnect through lighthearted conversation. The key is to first identify what makes us dizzyingly happy. If we do only what we believe should bring us contentment, our five minutes will not be particularly satisfying. When we allow ourselves the freedom to do whatever brings us pleasure, five minutes out of 14 wakeful hours can brighten our lives immeasurably.

It is often when we have the least free time or energy to devote to joy that we need to unwind and enjoy ourselves the most. Making happiness a priority will help you find five minutes every day to indulge in the things that inspire elation within you. Eventually, your happiness breaks will become an established part of your routine. If you start by pursuing activities you already enjoy and then gradually think up new and different ways to fill your daily five minutes of happiness, you will never be without something to smile about.

Source: The Daily Om

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Be yourself

"Always be yourself, express yourself, have
faith in yourself, do not go out and look for
a successful personality and duplicate it."

Bruce Lee



What a beautiful quote!

How many of us follow the trends and look just like any other person in the way we dress and express ourselves?  

The key word in the sentence is "follow" . . . are you a leader or a follower?

Why not set your own trend instead of duplicating another one?

Be yourself, be unique and different!

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A Time for Everything

The following article is actually my horoscope for today, but I'm posting it since it applies to every one of us in everyday life. It is all about balance.

There have been times in my life where I let my job take over my life, leaving little time for my personal life and responsibilities. Rather than find the right balance, the result was total burn out and leaving the world of employment.

We can all relate to feeling stressed out about one thing or another. Stress is a natural reaction that can be a good thing if used correctly, however, allowing it to consume you will result in complete overwhelm . . . at least that is how it happens for me.

If you’re preoccupied with your obligations, you may feel stressed today. Your chores, professional duties, and domestic responsibilities may vie for your attention and leave you feeling anxious and tense. Though you may have a lot to do, you’ll likely feel more relaxed and focused if you allow time in your schedule for recreation and the activities you enjoy. If your schedule is quite full or your duties are pressing, you may have only a limited amount of time to put aside thoughts of work and focus on having fun. A game of cards with a coworker or a chat with a friend could restore your equilibrium and help you complete your tasks more efficiently. Including fun in your future agendas could help you commit today to the concept of balance. 

Achieving a life balance that includes both work and play in amounts you find rewarding can help you feel more relaxed. It can be as difficult to concentrate on your obligations while you dream of fun as it is to enjoy yourself when you are fixated on projects and deadlines. 

Taking breaks when you are engrossed in an important task affords you an opportunity to clear your mind of clutter so you can return to your duty with a clear mind. Likewise, giving yourself permission to put aside all thoughts of work allows you to immerse yourself in recreational activities. Finding time for both fun and work today will ensure that you get the most out of both.

Source: The Daily Om

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Savor each moment

Making life faster does not make it better. Enjoy the opportunity to savor each moment, each encounter, each experience. Having too much of something does not add any real value to your life. Choose to enjoy freedom from the excesses that would weigh you down. Pretending to be someone you're not will gain you nothing. Live authentically, and put the power of truth on your side. Worrying, fretting, fighting and resenting will never help to move you forward. Keep peace in your heart, in your thoughts, in your actions, and you'll add real value to your world. Your life is a unique and most precious thing. Choose to live it with quality in every moment. This is your day to fill with richness and meaning. Do what is right, what is real, what is true and what is you.

Ralph Marston



Quality of life that brings a balance of peace, love and happiness is what it is all about for me.

Love this quote :)

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Worry, paranoia and intuition

Difficult times have helped me to understand better than before how infinitely rich and beautiful life is in every way and that so many things that one goes worrying about are of no importance whatsoever. (Isak Dinesen)

Worry is one of those emotions I could do without. It has been brought to my attention that worry is nothing but waiting for something bad to happen in the midst of good times.

Ironically, sometimes the self-fulfilling prophecy leads to not being happy unless the thing I worry about happens. Otherwise what I perceive as "intuition" is wrong. In my world, there is a fine line between worry and intuition. It is a lose/lose concept of thinking.

I'm starting to realize the concept of the above quote . . . life is way too short to worry about something that may not even be an issue to worry about . . . so why worry about it?

There is also a fine line between worry and paranoia . . .

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Desire is the cause of suffering?

The cause of suffering is desire. So taught the Buddha 2500 years ago. This was his second Noble Truth called samudaya, meaning arising. It is desire and associated feelings that arise within us as a response or reaction to our affliction, challenges or suffering. As long as we are alive we will always respond to what we experience. The initial responses are automatic reactions. These reactions need to be acknowledged, accepted and understood before any conscious decisions can be made regarding action.

Everyone has needs and feelings. An enlightened person too has needs and feelings. So don’t think that if you eliminate needs and feelings you will be enlightened. You, in fact, would be deluded.

Desire is necessary to help us grasp life in order to experience it more fully. The purpose of desire is to take us to the need, but usually our desire is a longing for things to be other than what they are. When desire is not used as an indicator to reveal and fulfill need, it will cause suffering, because we are using it for something other than what its purpose is.

Desires are of two types: cravings and aversions, both of which lead to suffering. It is through these opposite attachments that we lose ourselves and lose the reality we are experiencing. We thus end up with inauthentic and superficial living. The suffering that results is to get us to live more deeply and to become more authentic.

Living authentically means, in this application, to attend to what arises within us in a welcoming way, seeing that what arises is the need we have. To attend to the need is not the means to enlightenment. Attending to the need is enlightenment. Denial, shame, escapism, manipulation in relation to what arises is anti-enlightenment.

The path to enlightenment involves the complete acceptance that suffering (dukkha) in the form of being born, working, handling relationships, growing old, and so on is an essential part of what makes us human. Desiring to escape from this reality, rather than embracing it as part of our journey inhibits our learning and blocks our expansion of consciousness.

There is a solution to the suffering we experience, which is to let go of desire and to practice detachment so that compassion may flow and the Divine Presence be contacted.

All Soul Perspectives are authored by Andrew Schneider.
(C)Reproductions on Soul Perspectives Permitted: http://www.thesouljourney.com
QUESTIONS/COMMENTS: support@thesouljourney.com




Although much of the above article makes sense to me, it is my opinion that letting go of desire and practicing detachment is not being true to yourself. How does letting go of desire allow compassion to flow? If our desires are realistic, how can they end up hurting us? Can't anything in life have the potential to hurt us?

Be true to yourself . . . be realistic . . . never let go of desire. Desire is part of what makes us alive!

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