Happiness is Freedom

"According to the Buddha's teachings, the most basic condition for happiness is freedom. Here we do not mean political freedom, but freedom from the mental formations of anger, despair, jealousy and delusion."

~ Thich Naht Hanh

Service: The Work of the Soul

Helping, fixing, and serving 

represent three different ways of seeing life. 

When you help, you see life as weak. 

When you fix, you see life as broken. 

When you serve, you see life as whole. 

Fixing and helping may be the work of the ego, 

and service the work of the soul.

~ Rachel Naomi Remen

New Era for Positive Psychology - Martin EP Seligman, PhD

What is Well-Being?

"Well-being cannot exist just in your own head: Well-being is a combination of feeling good as well as actually having meaning, good relationships and accomplishment.  The way we choose our course in life is to maximize all five of these elements."   ~  Martin E. P. Seligman, PhD

Happy

Rejection Re-direction

So Often Times

"So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains,

And we never even know we have the key. "

~The Eagles

Lyrics from Already Gone, Album: On the Border (1974)

Seven Blunders of the World

The Seven Blunders of the World is a list that Mahatma Gandhi gave to his grandson Arun Gandhi, written on a piece of paper, on their final day together, not too long before his assassination. The seven blunders are:

Wealth without work

Pleasure without conscience

Knowledge without character

Commerce without morality

Science without humanity

Worship without sacrifice

Politics without principle

Resilience

"The leaders I met, whatever walk of life they were from, whatever institutions they were presiding over, always referred back to the same failure something that happened to them that was personally difficult, even traumatic, something that made them feel that desperate sense of hitting bottom--as something they thought was almost a necessity. It's as if at that moment the iron entered their soul; that moment created the resilience that leaders need.” Warren G. Bennis

Painting: The Magpie, oil on canvas, Claude Monet, 1868-1869

Monet often thought of himself as this magpie sitting alone in a frigid art world as his soul revealed the light of impressionism upon canvas after canvas. Always perceived as one of the leaders of the impressionistic movement, he defined resilience in his time.

Destiny

Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice;
it is not to be waited for, but a thing to be achieved.

~ William Jennings Bryan

Merry Christmas

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.

Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!

~ Goethe

The Prayer of St. Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness, joy.

Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

St Francis of Assisi was a Roman Catholic friar and the founder of the Franciscan Order. He is known as the patron saint of animals, birds, the environment and Italy. He lived from September 26, 1181 - October 3, 1226.

The Prayer of St. Francis is attributed to St. Francis of Assisi. Regardles of your religious preference, I hope you read and integrate this prayer today. Images of St Francis frequently demonstrate his love for animals. Perhaps it is for this reason that I have loved this prayer since childhood. Today, as an adult and integrative healer, within these words I find two core values of a hope-filled and gracious life: It is in helping others heal that we are healed and While visiting, we should walk gently upon this earth.

Atomic Tom's Stroke of Genius

Technology is a wonderful thing. Universal Republic's latest rock project Atomic Tom would probably agree with that sentiment after the band's instruments were stolen recently. In a stroke of genius, Atomic Tom members improvised with their iPhones. Good for you, gentleman!



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