He who experiences the unity of life sees his own Self in all beings, and all beings in his own Self, and looks on everything with an impartial eye. —Buddha

Yesterday we had the privilege of lifetime, to be conscious of a pivotal point in the history of the world. Yes, it was that big!

On the surface we witnessed a man of African and American descendants assume the most powerful political position in the world. We witnessed the spirit of a nation rise over the circumstances of it fears. Yes, yesterday was that big. Congratulations world we are awake! At least, awaken to the reality that form and function are separate; that is, it’s unimaginative to think that because of the package, the content is no good. We lifted these anchors of prejudice and hope reigns.

So now here we are, the party is over, the clean up crew has served us well. It is time build; to answer a call placed by the man we have manifested to represent us to each other. You see, Barack didn’t work his magic. There was no charismatic voo doo (or obeah if you are Jamaican). In this day, at this time in our evolution, our collective consciousness created the way for Barack to emerge as the spokesperson for love, unity, and service with the latter being the manifestation of the former.

The call that Barack bellowed was to go and serve each other; that we are our brothers and sisters keepers—a knowing that struck me in the most profound way upon completion of my book Reminder to Self. I realized that all we have ever done, all we will ever do is serve each other. The teacher serves the student and the student serves the teacher; the parent serves the child and the child serves the parent; the President serves the people and the people, the President. Even disservice is service. We become resilient and develop survival mechanisms in the face of disservice. Eventually we leverage disservice for service (the disservice of slavery has now produced a President, arguably the leader of the free world.)

If what we have done has always been service, then a call to service is a call to consciousness. A call to mindfulness where we do what we have done with a new understanding. An understanding that the outcome of how we serve will affect our brothers and sisters. An understanding that we manifest joy or pain. That is, upon the many faces of the people we serve, we place a smiles or frowns; tears of joy or tears of pain. And we know that joy is better.

The call to service doesn’t require radical shifts necessarily, it simply requires responsibility. It requires that we release goodness of thoughts and deeds. And it requires that we begin right where we are. The journey of a thousand miles begin with one step but let me offer three. The first step is to be where you are. Magnify yourself if where you are is where you want to be. The second step is to know where you are. Get in to where you are or get out of it. Finally, the third step in your thousand mile journey is to begin where you are, it’s the only place from whence to start. If we consciously serve with our gift, talent and abilities, then we have answered the call of our new President.

I was going somewhere with my two-year old when:

She said, “Daddy, my feelings are hurt.”

Surprised by what I had just heard I said, “Oh honey I’m sorry. Why are your feelings hurt?”

She said, “Because.”

“Because what?” I asked.

“Because I said so.” she said.

There was a kind of pregnant pause. After laughing to myself, I didn’t know quite what to do.

Then she said, ” Can I have a Band-Aid for my feelings Daddy, can I.”

I said, “Yes baby, when we get home.”

And that was my profound dialogue with my two-year old. In my book, Reminder To Self, I write that we are all here to teach each other. In my soul I know this but I am often struck by lessons from unexpected places–and two-year olds.

By the time we got home her feeling weren’t hurt anymore. I doubt if she remembered why they were hurt in the first place. That dialogue could have been the mutterings of a two-year old but the lesson was pretty clear. Sometimes all we need is just a Band-Aid for our feelings; no stiches, no surgery, no couch; just a Band-Aid. And most people can put one on.

None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.

Muhammad (c. AD 571—632) in a hadith

I was getting up out of bed this morning uncertain of how to fulfill a commitment to write a blog per week. I write out of pure inspiration-that’s why it took almost three years to write my first book. I learned some other things about inspiration; it’s a good way to procrastinate for example. But I was helped by my wife this morning. She told me of her mother’s friend who had a near death experience. Apparently he was unconscious for a long time and when he regained consciousness he gave an account of meeting Jesus who asked him asked him, “Did you love others and did you love yourself?”

That’s what it comes down to, are you loving others as much as you love yourself? Better still do you love yourself as much as you think you love others? By the way, you can’t really love others more than you love yourself-it sounds noble but it’s not possible.

I don’t know much about near death experiences other than what I’ve read but  I do know  that people’s experiences and accounts are real and the wisdom they bring back are life lessons for us to live by. In the first chapter of any book there is a dialogue on self-love. Self-love is love dissected into three parts; self, others, and God. If you love yourself and love others, loving God is taken care of. (Here is where super religious people either tune me out or get, well, righteous). But I know what I know until I know different.

As we start a new year we have ideas about what we’d like to accomplish or at least begin over the next 365 days. If those goals don’t include loving the self and loving others, their achievement will be empty. I have come to discover that the formula for success is pretty simple; master your craft and serve people with it in love. And, here is where I went wrong the first go-around, serve your family, friends, and community with the same mastery and level of commitment that you serve others for money.

We must be mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually fit to serve at our peak. We are lights in the darkness of mere being; we must shine to illuminate our path and the paths of others. The cumulative effect of the achievement of well-balanced goals is joy. Joy doesn’t come from pain. Our goals must be as beneficial to those we serve at a minimum, as they are to the self. What good will you do for self this year? What good will you do for others? How will you know the difference? Look at your goals will they add the betterment of the human experience or will they worsen it? Are you mindful about this?

As for me, last year I was liberated from what I had to do so this year is about what I want to do, and what I want to do is live from my truest self through writing, speaking, and coaching and in doing so, help you live from your truest selves. May God grant you opportunities, guidance, and wisdom to pursue your greatness always in the service of others.

From DailyOM

October 22, 2008
Finding Answers Within
You Have All the Answers

Many of us seek the answers to life’s questions by looking outside of ourselves and trying to glean advice from the people around us. But as each of us is unique, with our own personal histories, our own sense of right and wrong, and our own way of experiencing the world that defines our realities, looking to others for our answers is only partially helpful. The answers to our personal questions can be most often found by looking within. When you realize that you always have access to the part of you that always knows what you need and is meant to act as your inner compass, you can stop searching outside of yourself. If you can learn to hear, trust, and embrace the wisdom that lives within you, you will be able to confidently navigate your life.

Trusting your inner wisdom may be awkward at first, particularly if you grew up around people who taught you to look to others for answers. We each have exclusive access to our inner knowing. All we have to do is remember how to listen. Remember to be patient as you relearn how to hear, receive, and follow your own guidance. If you are unsure about whether following your inner wisdom will prove reliable, you may want to think of a time when you did trust your own knowing and everything worked out. Recall how the answers came to you, how they felt in your body as you considered them, and what happened when you acted upon this guidance. Now, recall a time when you didn’t trust yourself and the results didn’t work out as you had hoped. Trusting your own guidance can help you avoid going against what you instinctively know is right for you.

When you second guess yourself and go against what you know to be your truth, you can easily go off course because you are no longer following your inner compass. By looking inside yourself for the answers to your life’s questions, you are consulting your best guide. Only you can know the how’s and why’s of your life. The answers that you seek can be found when you start answering your own questions.

What do you think?
Discuss this article and share your opinion

Want more DailyOM?
Register for your free email, or browse all articles

�

I often get information that must be shared, this is from DailyOM:

October 9, 2008
Answering The Call
Taking Responsibility For Your Destiny

There are those of us who believe that our lives are predestined and that we should resign ourselves to our lots in life. Yet the truth is that it is up to each one of us to decide what that destiny will be. While each of us is born with a life purpose, it is up to us whether or not we will say yes to fulfilling it. And just like when we choose what to eat, who to keep company with, and whether to turn right or left when we leave our home everyday, choosing to say yes to your destiny is a decision that can only be realized when you take action to make that choice a reality.

Whether you believe it is your destiny to be a parent, an adventurer, an artist, a pioneer, or a spiritual guru, saying yes to your destiny is only the first step. While manifesting your destiny starts with knowing what you want and believing you can attain your goals, there are then the actions that must be taken and the decisions to be made before your destiny can truly happen. When you take responsibility for fulfilling your destiny and begin acting with the intention of doing so, you not only take fate into your own hands, but also you become the hands of your own fate. Doorways inevitably open for you to step through, and every choice you make can be a creative act toward realizing your goals and dreams. You begin to follow your instincts and intuition, recognize opportunities when they are presented to you, and seize those golden moments. You also begin to recognize the decisions that may not serve this greater picture and can more easily push them aside.

Remembering that the decision to fulfill your destiny is always a choice can be empowering. Knowing you are fulfilling your destiny because you want to, rather than because you have to, can make a huge difference. When you are freed from obligation, obstacles in your way become challenges to be overcome, and the journey becomes an adventure rather than the obligatory steps you are being forced to take. Your destiny may be waiting for you, but whether or not you meet your destiny is up to you. Your fate is in your hands.

Call 1-877-2-DAILYOM (1-877-232-4596) to listen to DailyOM messages on your phone for free.

What do you think?
Discuss this article and share your opinion

Want more DailyOM?
Register for your free email, or browse all articles

“Love is what we are born with. Fear is what we have learned here. The spiritual journey is the unlearning of fear and the acceptance of love back into our hearts.”

— Marianne Williamson: Spiritual activist, author, lecturer

I have been thoughtless about whether love and hate can occupy the body at the same time. That is, at the same moment. I have been “thoughtless,” because I have accepted without questioning the idea that if I don’t have love, I have hate. That’s as ridiculous as saying if I don’t have apples, then naturally somehow, I have bananas. Essentially by virtue of not having apples, I have bananas? By virtue of not having love, I have hate? Or deceptively, by virtue of have I not hate, I have love?

Love and hate have never been on the same continuum. Love is the fuel for goodness and hate is the fuel evil. If you have no love then you have nothing, you do nothing, you are nothing. Love is life, movement, growth, and community. Love is the thread that holds humanity together. We are the beneficiary and the benefactor of a universal love that is our oneness. If you have no love, you are lost but it doesn’t mean you hate. It does however leave you vulnerable to filling the void with hate.

Hate is the fuel of darkness. It is a breeding ground for evil and ill towards yourself and your fellow human beings. If your cup is not full of love there is empty space for hate. Love and hate are both contagious and can displace each other. Hate is insidious and preys on the gentle disposition of love. But love is not weak and can only be displaced if is not grounded in God.

When you have God’s love you have light and laughter, you have commitment and purpose, and you are compelled to share it even with a simple smile. Without love you have nothing that love brings. When we are conscious of this love, we recognize that it belongs to all of us. When this love is self-directed, we have self-love. When we have self-love, we become messengers of love. The only way to know love is to show love to self, others, and God. Self-love is the seed of our greatness. Self-hate is the seed of our demise. Love leads to goodness-the light in all things. Hate leads to evil-the darkness in all things.

Love and hate can never be friends. They can exist at the same time in one body no more than light and darkness can exist at the same time in the same space. You can bring light to a dark room without trickery but you can never bring darkness to light without trickery and deception. Ekhart Tolle said, “instead of blaming the dark, bring in your light.” Bringing hate to hate produces more hate (such as the war against….well, anything.) Your love can displace hate just by its mere presence. Love is the universal method of correction, it will always displace hate.

So there you have it; the world is organized to love unless tricked. Even then, you bring the light of your love and the trickery wilts under scrutiny. So who tricked you? When? Whatcha gonna do now?

To know love so that you can show love
To have love so that you can give
To be love so that you can see love

A deep love resides inside each of us. This love is independent of the desires, thoughts, and opinions, good or bad, which are readily offered to us. It is a love that is gentle and kind, accepting and nonjudgmental, playful and spontaneous, courageous and curious. It is always encouraging and always evolving. This love can be discovered only through turning off the noise around us, coming to ourselves in silence, meditation, and prayer. If we listen carefully we will hear the murmurs of our inner voice tell yearnings of our truest selves. What is available to us is a profound understanding, appreciation, and full acceptance of self, all of the good and all of the bad.

Only when we truly know that we are able to tap into this part of ourselves can we begin to love others fully. Love for others is the manifestation of love for self. We cannot love another more than we love ourselves. Life is a mirror. If you want to know what love for yourself looks like, look at your love for others. If you want to know what your love for others look like, look at your love for self. When you love yourself this way, you love God this way. This relationship is the divine love triangle; self, God, and others in any order.