Imagine

“Civilized man prides himself on how far advanced his present state is beyond that of the
primitive savage. He looks condescendingly on tribal cultures for their practice of
endowing trees, wind, rain, and heavenly bodies with human personalities. Now that
science has explained everything in prosaic terms, modern man considers himself wiser
for the loss of his sense of awe. But I’m not so sure that he deserves congratulation. It
strikes me rather that, dazzled by his own technology, he has only developed a new sort
of superstition, one infinitely less interesting. Too pragmatic now to worship, he has
forgotten how to commune. Instead of relating sensitively to the universe around him,
he shuts it out of his life with concrete “jungles,” air conditioning, and “muzak”; with selfpromotion
and noisy entertainments; and with an obsession with problems that are real
for him only because he gives them reality. He is like a violin string without a sounding
board. Life, when cut off from broader realities, becomes thin and meaningless.
Modern technology alienates us from the universe, and from one another. Worst of all, it
alienates us from ourselves. It directs all our energies toward the mere manipulation of
things, until we ourselves assume almost thing-like qualities. In how many modern plays
and novels are men idealized for their ability to act with the precision, emotionlessness,
and efficiency of a machine. We are taught to behave in this world like rude guests,
gracelessly consuming our host’s offerings without offering him a single word of thanks
in return. Such is our approach to nature, to God, to life itself. We make ourselves petty,
then imagine the universe petty also. We rob our own lives of meaning, then call life as
a whole meaningless. Smug in our unknowing, we make a dogma of ignorance. And
when, in this “civilized” smugness of ours, we approach the question of religion, we
address God Himself as though he had better watch His manners if He would be worthy
of a place on our altars.”

p.67, Auto Biography of a Western Yogi

 

Marketing and Egos

Dollars of Life = concepts + ideas + beliefs + origin + nationality + ethnicity + anything that you “think” makes you you…

Money works on two levels, it gives us an imaginary concept

1)  that “we buy” things

2)that things “belong” to us.

Don’t let it make you because its got the power to break you”

-Good Money, Mickey Factz [song]

Thought # 1: I’m a reflection of my own perception:

Thought # 2: Life is simple:

Thought # 3: I’m one of a kind:

Thought # 4: I can’t control the wind, but I can adjust the sails:

Thought # 5: Thoughts are things:

We are formed and molded by our thoughts. Those whose minds are shaped by selfless thoughts give joy when they speak or act. Joy follows them like a shadow that never leaves them.
- Buddha (563 BC-483 BC) Founder of Buddhism.

[-http://www.successsoul.com/2008/05/31/how-i-transformed-my-life-with-these-5-simple-thoughts/]

 

10 Ways to Become More Conscious

I loved this article by Steve Pavlina from http://www.stevepavalina.com:

Previously I wrote about 14 Reasons to Become More Conscious.  Now let’s explore the how.

What does it mean to become more conscious?  It is the progressive realization of conscious mastery over your mind.

The challenge is that it takes consciousness to grow consciousness.  But you needn’t worry about this because you already have the seed.  Think of it like fire.  You have a flame, and you want to turn that flame into a huge blaze.  How do you do it?  You add fuel.  The following list includes examples of how you can add fuel to your flame of consciousness to become a raging inferno of consciousness.  Well, OK, the analogy sort of falls apart there, but you get the idea.

So here are 10 ways to raise your consciousness:

1. Truth

Truth raises your consciousness.  Falsehood lowers it.

First, accept the truth.  Whatever you’re afraid to know lowers your consciousness.  Step on the scale to see how much you weigh.  Have a long talk with your spouse about the status of your relationship.  Take a deep look at your career.  In every case accept the outcome.  Don’t just acknowledge the current status and dismiss it.  Really accept it as the truth.  Think about what it means for this to be true.  Also accept your feelings about the truth, whether you like them or not.

Secondly, speak the truth.  If honesty is a challenge for you, it’s because you aren’t being honest enough with yourself.  Lies you tell others are shadowed by lies you tell yourself.  Take note of those areas where you feel incapable of genuine honesty, and dig deep enough to find out why.  You’ll find that you uncover a part of yourself you’ve been unwilling to accept.  You don’t lie about the parts of yourself you accept 100%.

The more you’re able to accept and speak the truth, the more conscious you become.  Raise your consciousness by uncovering and dumping all traces of falsehood from your life.  Allow this to be a gradual process.  As your consciousness increases, genuine honesty will come more easily to you.

Yes, there may be consequences when you switch from lies and half-truths to the full truth, but highly conscious people know that crossing that bridge is well worth the effect.  A short-term adjustment is nothing compared to the joys of living honestly and openly.  It’s so much easier and less stressful to be yourself and allow others to do the same.  Not everyone will appreciate the real you, especially if they’ve grown accustomed to a false version, but that won’t matter once you accept and appreciate yourself.

2. Courage

Courage raises your consciousness.  Cowardice lowers it.

Courage is the gatekeeper between unconscious growth and conscious growth.  As long as you remain on the unconscious side, life will keep throwing problems at you until you step up and take charge.  When you face your fear, the fear vanishes, and problems transform into opportunities.  But when you run from your problems, your fear only grows.

A powerful guiding principle to adopt is, “Whatever I fear, I must face.”  The more fears you face down, the more conscious you become.  As you master this lesson, eventually courage becomes less necessary.  Once you develop the courage to face any fear life throws at you, you stop attracting so many fear-based experiences into your life.  This is why courage is the dividing line between unconscious growth and conscious growth.  The mastery of courage gives you the power to decide how you’ll grow instead of being a victim of the whims of fate.

3. Compassion

Compassion raises your consciousness.  Cruelty lowers it.

A great way to become more conscious is to search for signs of unconscious cruelty and disconnection in your life.  This can be very difficult to do since it also requires courage.  We naturally resist facing our own cruelty, but it’s there just waiting to be uncovered.

Compassion is the root of unconditional love, a feeling of connectedness with everything that exists.  Do you feel connected to yourself?  To others?  To animals?  To all living things?  To everything that exists?  The more you develop this connection, the more conscious and aware you become.

4. Desire

Desire raises your consciousness.  Apathy lowers it.

When you get clear about what you want, such as by setting a goal, you raise your consciousness.  Clarity focuses your mind and gives you the power to think and act intelligently.  You can feel this effect whenever you think about something you definitely want.

On the other hand, when your desire is unclear, your consciousness is muddled.  Your thoughts lack focus and direction, and you merely spin your wheels.

Strive to become more clear about what you truly desire most, and your consciousness will expand.

5. Attention

Attention raises your consciousness.  Distraction lowers it.

Improving your ability to concentrate will make you more conscious.  Pick up a rock and give it your full and complete attention, and notice what happens.

But allow your mind to be riddled with distractions, and your consciousness will sink.  A distracted mind is a powerless mind.

Meditation is a great way to practice attention and concentration.  Sit quietly, breathe deeply, and focus your mind as you do your best to tune out distracting thoughts.  This is simple to learn, but it can take a lifetime to master.

6. Knowledge

Knowledge raises your consciousness.  Ignorance lowers it.

First and foremost, know thyself.  Think deeply about your life, and keep a journal to record your thoughts.  Ask questions to which you don’t know the answer, and then search for those answers.

Look around you as well, and soak up knowledge like a sponge.  Interact with your environment with a sense of curiosity and wonder.  Study it.  Learn from it.  Experiment with it.

Strive to understand reality, including your role in it, as accurately as possible.  The more accurate your beliefs about reality are, the more conscious you become.

7. Reason

Reason raises your consciousness.  Irrationality lowers it.

Logic is a powerful tool of consciousness when used correctly.  It lends structure and substance to thought.

However, the great challenge of logic is the avoidance of false assumptions.  A single false assumption can throw off a lifetime of otherwise logical conclusions.  So challenge all of your beliefs, and never have too much certainty about those that rest on clouds.

8. Conscious people

Conscious people raise your consciousness.  Unconscious people lower it.

Seek out others you perceive to be at a higher level of consciousness than you are.  Talk to them, ask questions, and enjoy their presence.  Allow their ideas and awareness to infect you, and you’ll find yourself expanding in all directions.  You’ll become more honest, more courageous, more compassionate, and so on.

But spend time with people at a lower level of consciousness, and you’ll gradually sink to their level.  Their thoughts will infect you as well, causing you to become more dishonest, more fearful, more apathetic, etc.

Strive to find a balance between spending time with those who raise your consciousness vs. spending time with those you can help.  Learn from those who are a little more conscious, and help those who are a little less conscious than you.  In this manner you serve the highest good of all, expanding consciousness everywhere.

9. Energy

Energy raises your consciousness.  Disease lowers it.

Take care of your physical body, for it is your primary means of interacting with the world.  Energy gives you an ongoing flow of vital life experiences.  But without energy you starve your consciousness.

Eat with an awareness of what you’re consuming.  Exercise with an awareness of how you’re affecting your body and mind.  Before putting anything in your body, consider its effect on your energy, not just in the short term but in the long term as well.  Always ask yourself, “Will this produce energy or disease?”

10. Intention

The intention to raise your consciousness raises it.  The intention to lower your consciousness lowers it.

Consciousness has the capacity to self-expand or self-contract, just as you have the capacity to grow or to commit suicide.  In any given moment, you have the freedom of choice.

By genuinely voicing the intention (or by offering the prayer), “I intend to become more conscious and aware,” you will initiate the expansion of your consciousness.  Holding the intention to improve in any of the previous nine areas will yield a similar effect.

Alternatively, you are perfectly free to lower your consciousness at any time.  While it’s unlikely you would choose to do so directly, you can achieve the same effect indirectly by lowering your performance in any of the previous nine areas.  By choosing to lie, to succumb to fear, to commit acts of cruelty, to remain ignorant, and so on, you put out the intention to lower your consciousness.  And in so doing, you initiate a process that will attract more falsehood, fear, cruelty, ignorance, etc. into your life.

Every thought you hold serves to either expand or contract your consciousness.  There is no neutral.  So choose wisely.

For more ideas on how to become more conscious, see Erin’s article

 

Are you an Eagle or a Bear?

Sometimes when my wife and I have conversations in public, it looks like the scene from the movie Dogma
where Loki and Bartleby walk through the airport talking about their
previous exploits as angels.  We often look around at all the sleeping
people in the world, noting that they barely register as conscious
beings.  They go through their lives working meaningless jobs, enduring
unfulfilling relationships, and drugging themselves to avoid facing
their unfaceable fears.  Their conversations are nothing but
trivialities in the grand scheme of things.

Whenever we meet someone new, one of the first questions that goes
through our minds is, “Is this person awake yet?”  The vast majority of
people are still asleep, meaning that they aren’t really conscious and
aware of what their lives are all about, why they’re here, or what
their purpose is.  You can easily identify such people simply by asking
them, “Why are you here on earth at this time?”  These bears — we call
the sleepers bears because they’re still hibernating — can’t answer
this question intelligently because it’s outside their normal mode of
thinking.  But conscious people (and those who are becoming conscious)
will consider the question truly important and will be able to provide
an intelligent answer, even if it isn’t fully formed yet.  I think of
the conscious people as eagles because they have huge eyes and soar
above the terrain, taking everything in and being able to see clearly
over a distance.

One cool effect I’ve noticed is that if we get a bear alone with us,
we can sometimes temporarily elevate the bear to the status of
hatchling eagle.  Those make for some interesting conversations — it’s
a real delight to raise a bear’s awareness to the point where they can
discuss the sky.  But until the bear has summoned the courage to go
through the life lessons required to truly awaken, this elevation is
unstable.  Bears don’t like flying very much, and they can’t focus on
the sky for too long without feeling an intensifying urge to either
run back into their cave or to bite your arm off.  Still… it’s fun
while it lasts.

Unfortunately, some bears are so deep in their caves that we can’t
gently penetrate their slumber.  In truth they’re so paralyzed by fear
that they can’t summon even a modicum of courage to face it.  These are
the bears that will vehemently deny the existence of anything outside
the cave.  You can still wake such a bear up by dragging it out of the
cave by force and pulling it into the light, but that’s very dangerous
work, and it takes some skill to be able to safely handle such an angry
bear.  But anger is a positive step away from fear and towards
awakening, so despite the negative emotions, this is the fast track to
train a snoozing bear into an eagle.

It’s a strange process to coax a bear out of its cave and show it
what the sky looks like.  Many bears don’t like this at all, and they
will ferociously attack anyone that disturbs their slumber.  Every week
some bears get really pissed at me for disturbing their sleep.  Since
bears are afraid to fly, they don’t like being reminded of the
existence of the sky or that some of their brother bears have left the
bear cave to become eagles.  These are facts that stubborn bears do not
want to face, since it means admitting to themselves that they could
have been living as an eagle all along instead of spending their whole
lives in a cave.

Needless to say, the bears have long since voted me out of their
cave, but I’m still able to sneak in by wearing a bear costume now and
then.  This is effective as long as I keep my mouth shut, since even
bears will recognize that I don’t sound much like a bear.  Sometimes I
just can’t resist though — I admit that my favorite form of amusement
involves taking a box of fireworks and a blowtorch into a bear cave. 
You haven’t really lived until you’ve seen how the bears react to this.

Fortunately some bears, upon first being shown the sky and meeting
other eagles, find it an awesome and enlightening experience.  These
are the bears that are ready to train up to eagle.  They’ve grown bored
with cave life, perhaps even depressed about it.  They find no more joy
in the cave, but they’re not sure where else to go, since the cave is
all they’ve ever known, and other bears seem to be OK with it.  With
some prodding these bears are ready to admit that cave jobs are
pointless in the grand scheme of things, relationships with other bears
are shallow and unfulfilling, and getting stuck in bear traps really
hurts.  While they still look like bears on the outside and other bears
treat them as one of their own, on the inside they begin to feel very
un-bearlike.

Unfortunately, since bears so vastly outnumber eagles, it’s hard for
a bear to understand what’s going on when he starts to wake up.  The
bear may experience a sense of malaise, feeling very unmotivated to do
the things that other bears seem to enjoy.  He may turn to other bears
for help, but none of the bear solutions work very well.  In the long
run, things only get worse, and the bear feels more and more
disconnected from his world — the only world he knows.  I have a lot of
compassion for such bears; the process of awakening is not an easy one.

Eagles, however, are trained to recognize these awakening bears, and
such bears will feel naturally drawn to eagles (even though their
fellow bears will warn them not to do this, since other bears that have
gone to see the eagles have been permanently changed and can barely
function as proper bears now).  On this path the bear will meet great
new challenges, many of which will be very difficult to face, but the
bear will ultimately find deep fulfillment on this path.  During a few
years of training, the bear may straddle both worlds, sometimes living
as a bear and other times as an eagle and never quite fitting in either
world.  This can be very confusing to the bear, but if the bear sticks
with it, he’ll eventually leave the bear world behind and join the
eagles.  With the eagles the bear will feel very much at home.

As a bear trainer, I’ve been mauled more than a few times, but it’s
easily worth it for the chance to get another bear started on the path
to eagle.  This world has far too many bears as it is, and the mess
from their caves is beginning to stink up the entire forest.  But the
cool thing is that once one bear trains up to eagle, that bear can then
go out and train other bears into eagles.  Lately I’ve been noticing
more and more eagles in the sky, so I think the effect is beginning to
accelerate.  I think most of the bear leaders are still oblivious to
what’s happening, but it probably won’t be long before they begin
noticing that more and more of their bears are leaving the caves and
never coming back.  Meanwhile, the eagles are stockpiling fireworks.

 

Interpersonal Communication and the Awareness Gap

February 14th, 2006 by Steve Pavlina

Have you noticed that when you communicate with another person, sometimes you get a wonderfully effective exchange of information that leaves both of you changed for the better, and other times you just seem to butt heads with both of you only becoming more entrenched in your views?

What’s the difference?

The difference is that when you and the other person are at a compatible level of awareness, communication will be smooth and effortless.  But when your awareness levels are incompatible, communication is largely ineffective.  Anything you say will simply fall on deaf ears.

The Awareness Gap

Awareness incompatibility is a matter of degree rather than essence, a sliding scale if you will.  The bigger the “awareness gap” between you and the other person, the less effective will be your communication.  The smaller the awareness gap, the more effective your communication.  Communication friction is therefore a function of the magnitude of the awareness gap between you and the other person.

How do you measure the size of the awareness gap, and how do you know which person is at a higher level of awareness than the other?

Generally speaking, the higher awareness person is the one who’s more at peace with him/herself.  With a little practice, it’s usually easy to tell which person in any situation is at a higher level of awareness than the other.  For a complete list of awareness levels in order from lowest to highest, see “Levels of Consciousness.”  By using that list as a guide, you can count how many levels separate you and the other person.

The specific reaction you get when you communicate will depend heavily on the awareness gap between you and the other person.  If the gap is narrow, you can expect a reaction based mainly on the content and intent of your communication.  Two people at similar levels of awareness will tend to communicate very effectively.  But if the gap is wide, then instead of reacting to the content of your communication, the other person will react more to the gap itself.

Recognizing the Gap

This is not so much a problem to be solved as a situation to be accepted.  When you recognize the role of awareness gaps in your communication, you will be able to listen more effectively.  You will be able to discern when the other person’s response is actually providing you with valid feedback on your statements vs. when it’s really providing information about the other person’s level of awareness relative to yours.

With the high traffic levels StevePavlina.com receives, you may imagine I get a lot of reader feedback.  You’d be right.  But typically only a small fraction of the feedback I receive will actually influence my actions, even when detailed suggestions are included.  Why?  Because most of the feedback I receive is mainly about the other person’s reaction than it is about my actual content.  I still consider this valuable feedback because it helps me know my readers better and understand the issues they face, but it usually isn’t actionable.  Often the seemingly actionable feedback is contradictory.  An article I write may receive both praise and criticism which has little to do with the article itself but rather with the relative awareness levels of the people reading it.  On the other hand, there are times when I receive feedback that I’ll act on almost immediately because I recognize that the feedback is indeed about my work and not merely the person’s unique personal reaction to it.

For example, suppose I write an article about my views on the afterlife, such as “Life After Death.”  Upon posting such an article, I may receive a scathing 2000-word email from a Christian fundamentalist (wouldn’t be the first time), giving me a list of dogmatic counter-arguments to my statements.  However, such feedback is wasted on me.  I won’t even read the whole thing once I can see where it’s going, and I usually won’t bother to repond, except maybe to say something like, “You amuse me” (which is the truth).  Why don’t I regard such emails as genuinely useful feedback on my content?  Because religious fundamentalism falls at a fairly low awareness level, too low to be helpful to me.  On the levels of consciousness scale, a fundamentalist philosophy will typically fall between the levels of desire and pride, which is below the average level of awareness for conscious human beings (courage).  This is also well below the level of awareness at which I normally write (willingness and higher).  So the awareness gap is simply too large, and such feedback says more about the gap than it does about my actual content.  Hence, it isn’t actionable except perhaps in a very general sense.

What you’re reading right now would likely fall at the level of reason.  If you’re at this level of awareness yourself or one level below it (acceptance), you may find it helpful, interesting, insightful, or even actionable.  Below this level you probably will have already stopped reading, claiming my writing makes your brain hurt.  And above this level you may merely give it a ho-hum nod; your perspective may be such that my statements simply don’t apply to you because you’ve already moved past this level of awareness.

Bridging the Gap

Even when the awareness gap is very wide, it can still be bridged if meaningful communication is desired.  In order for this to happen, both people must move to a similar level of awareness.  The most effective way for this to work is that the higher awareness person temporarily lowers their energy to the other person’s level and then gradually leads him/her back up to a middle ground.

For example, suppose you feel very peaceful and happy (high awareness), and your partner comes to you upset and starts yelling at you angrily (low awareness).  Little communication will occur in this situation because the gap is too great.  You may choose to remain in a state of peace and ignore your partner’s temper tantrum, but another option is to lower your energy down to his/her level and start yelling right back, even if you have to fake your anger at first.  Then as you both work through this anger, you can gradually raise your energy back up again and bring your partner along with you.  Once you reach an acceptable level of awareness that feels comfortable to both of you, real communication can occur — a meaningful exchange of information that isn’t merely about the awareness gap itself.

This process works, but it can be very time consuming and unpredictable.  If you’re the higher awareness person, you’ll need sufficient leverage on the lower awareness person (so they don’t simply give up and leave the room) as well as plenty of patience to work through their initial defensiveness.  Face to face communication is almost a necessity.  It might work over the phone too, but it would be really hard to do it via email.

I think of this as the process of resonance.  If I want to help someone raise their level of awareness, first I must resonate with them, so we’re both vibrating at the same frequency, so to speak.  Then if I change my own frequency gradually enough, the other person will come along for the ride.

This is how impactful human communication works, although you may not have been aware of it.  If you’ve ever seen a talented motivational speaker in action, you may notice they often begin speaking at the audience’s level of awareness — a fairly mild opening is common, like “It’s great to be here with you in Vegas this morning.”  But once they’ve built rapport with you (i.e. awareness compatibility), they can lead you on an awareness rollercoaster as long as their shifts are gradual enough.  A common situation is to take an audience that’s at the level of neutrality and lead them to the next level up, which is willingness.  This is what great sales trainers often do.  Whether or not that new level of awareness sticks is a whole other matter; usually the boost is only temporary.

Awareness of Awareness

One of the best skills you can develop is the ability to become aware of your own awareness level.  Check out the levels of consciousness scale, and see if you can identify your level right now.  Then as you encounter people through your day, see if you can identify their awareness levels too.  When you interact with people, notice the size of the awareness gap between you, and compare it to the effectiveness of your communication.  Is your communication deep and meaningful, is it merely superficial fluff that’s soon forgotten, or is it high-friction head butting?

As you gain the ability to identify awareness levels, your communication effectiveness with other people will increase dramatically, at least on a one-on-one basis.  With groups of people, effective communication is always more of a challenge because you must target the average awareness level of the group at first and hope to pick up others along the way.

Don’t waste time butting heads as soon as you realize the awareness gap is the culprit.  If you’re the high awareness person, drop your awareness down to collect the other person, and then slowly raise him/her up to a higher level.  And if you’re the low awareness person, inform the other person your awareness level is too low to have a meaningful exchange, and ask for his/her help, or simply postpone the conversation to another time.  For example, if I’m emotionally exhausted and my wife wants to discuss her day with me, I may tell her my awareness level is too low to listen.  In that situation she knows that if she wants to have the conversation she intended, she needs to stop and help me raise my energy first.  She might give me some space to relax, or she might offer me a massage to help me let go of any tension quickly.  Once my awareness level has rebounded, I’m usually able to listen attentively.

 

A temporary paradise

Quoted from The Quan Yin Method

A temporary paradise

There’s nothing really serious about the world. Sooner or later we’ll all die, and our graves will be covered by plants in no time. So, before we enter our graves, we should try our best to live more happily, do what we love to do, and do it wholeheartedly; serve the world, take care of ourselves, take care of the family; enjoy all the beautiful things that the world provides for us. Sometimes ugly things are also a kind of lesson and have their beautiful aspects. When we observe things through more enlightened eyes, we discern beauty in everything.

Have you noticed how pretty frogs are? They’re very cute, aren’t they? We can see the lovely side in everything. Sometimes ugly things also have their lovely aspects and are educational. Therefore, let’s do our best to treat this world as a temporary paradise, and treat all the people around us as Gods and enlightened beings. Although they don’t recognize themselves as such, we should still respect them and treat them as we would ourselves; be strict but also forgiving; be loving but also detached.

Then we’ll be more relaxed in our actions, speech and thoughts and we’ll naturally attain the Truth by practicing in this way. Don’t rush, don’t be nervous, and don’t force yourselves. It doesn’t matter what level we’ve arrived at as it differs among individuals. By and by, everyone will understand. I can only promise you that you won’t have to come back to suffer in this world, won’t go to hell, won’t become animals, and will definitely ascend. However, the level that you reach depends on your confidence and sincerity in your quest for the Truth. You can’t hold me responsible; I can only guide and teach you. It’s up to you to go slower or faster, and keep yourself going in the right direction or the wrong one.

 

Big Rocks

One day an expert in time management was speaking to a group of business students and to drive home a point, used an illustration those students will never forget. As he stood in front of the group of high powered over-achievers, he said, “Okay, time for a quiz.”Then he pulled out a one gallon, wide-mouthed Mason jar and set on the table in front of him. He then produced about a dozen fist sized rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time, into the jar. When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, “Is the jar full?” Everyone in the class said, “Yes.”

Then he said, “Really?” He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. He dumped some gravel in, and shook the jar, causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the space between the big rocks. Then he asked the group once more, “Is the jar full?” By this time the class was on to him. “Probably not,” one of them answered.

“Good!” he replied.

He reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in the jar, and it went into all the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked the question, “Is the jar full?” “No!” the class shouted.

Once again he said, “Good!”

Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim. Then he looked at the class and asked, “What is the point of this illustration?”

One eager student raised his hand and said, “The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard, you can always fit some more things in!” “No,” the speaker replied, “That’s not the point.

The truth this illustration teaches us is: If you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in at all.

What are the ‘big rocks’ in your life? Your children….Your loved ones…Your education… Your dreams…A worthy cause…..Teaching or mentoring others…. Doing things that you love…Time for yourself…. Your health….Your significant other.”

“Remember to put these BIG ROCKS in first, or you’ll never get them in at all. If you sweat the little stuff (the gravel, the sand) then you’ll fill your life with little things to worry about that don’t really matter, and you’ll never have the real quality time you need to spend on the big, important stuff (the big rocks).

So, tonight or in the morning, when you are reflecting on this short story, ask yourself this question: What are the ‘big rocks’ in my life? Then, put those in your jar first.

 

Purpose: It’s up to you

“Knowledge itself is power”, Francis Bacon.

Knowledge is power but only if you are in control of it. Most of the things we “learn” these days are only to our disservice. Selectivity is key in what will help you and what will not.

“Write down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought for are commonly the most valuable.”
Francis Bacon

Seemingly random thoughts go through our minds…but in reality nothing can really be random; just unexpected. Its the unexpected things let us glimpse the pictures that we seek but have been constantly missing.

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”
Martin Luther King Jr.

Most people say they desire change but in reality do not want to change or are not ready for it.

Most people would rather sink to new depths rather than climbing to new heights.

“We must use time creatively.”, Martin Luther King Jr.

How much time do we have to lose?

“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.”

You can not have one side of a coin with out the other. Teachers can be students and students Teachers.

What do you decide?

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’”
Martin Luther King Jr.

So focused we are on ourselves ( I am this, I am not that ) that we lose relation to the vast majority of things that lay before use.

Open your eyes or live with eyes wide shut.

Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand-and melting like a snowflake…”
Francis Bacon

“I will never be an old man. To me, old age is always 15 years older than I am.”
Francis Bacon

No excuses.

One step at a time.

We will make it.