Today I have watched footage of two inspiration teenagers.  The video above does not surprise me that it inspires me.  I felt tears well in my eyes watching this, especially the love and devotion that the Dad has shown and how wonderful it is that we live in a time when we have technology that enables a person to communicate whereas before they couldn’t.  Worth a watch if you have the 9 minutes or so.

The second inspirational teenager made me look at my own biases and judgement.  Yes it was Justin Bieber.  A while ago I read a few comments from people I respect about his documentary that came out last year.  Several months ago I found it in the pre-watched bin for sale at the video store.  I bought it thinking maybe the kids might like it.  Today we watched it.

And while I must admit I have grown past teenage pop (although I will admit if I was 13 right now I can guarantee that I would probably think I was in love with him – memories of posters of Jason Donovan, Bros and New Kids on the Block wallpapering my teenage bedroom – ugh), I actually now freakin admire the kid, his work ethic and his talent.

I had made a pile of assumptions about this kid, namely that he was created and made and pretty much that he was a passive bystander going along with a money making ride.  And I am wrong.  He has musical talent, he obviously is meant to be a musician looking at the videos from him as a younger kid and he has worked his butt off for his success.  He is going along on a wild ride, that much is clear, but he set out to create this and I seriously have had a whole flip in how I perceive him.

And I am just a little embarrassed to see just how much I had assumed that I knew about this kid when I knew nothing.  All I saw was the Hair, the high voice and music that I probably would change the radio station to get away from.  And I won’t be going out to buy his album now, his music still doesn’t appeal, but I am inspired and I admire him for what he has done and achieved in his short life.  And I won’t be so quick to judge next time I hear the next teenage pop sensation on the radio.

“…feelings like disappointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger, jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually very clear moments that teach us where it is that we’re holding back. They teach us to perk up and lean in when we feel we’d rather collapse and back away. They’re like messengers that show us, with terrifying clarity, exactly where we’re stuck. This very moment is the perfect teacher, and, lucky for us, it’s with us wherever we are.”
― Pema Chödrön

I put the above quote on Facebook earlier this week and got quite a response from friends who resonated with it.  This is my lesson at the moment; to sit with what comes up, not so much what is happening in my external world, but my response to it. In the last few weeks I’ve found myself easily affected by the front page newspaper stories and projecting that onto my world and worrying and thinking about “what if”.    Uncertainty about the future has been doing my head in.

I found myself sliding back into “once that is dealt with.., when that is sorted….” thinking.  That doesn’t work.  Life is messy and uncertain and will hurt and yes we will all die and the people we love most will die.  Accepting life’s messiness and impermanence and making friends with the emotions and fears and thoughts that arise is probably the only way to get through.

So today, I start yet again, to sit with what is, to welcome in the thoughts and feelings that are arising for me at the moment and thank them for the gift that they bring.  I will leave you with Rumi who sums this up far better than I ever could.

‘When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.’ - Marcus Aurelius

This morning, this reminder in my inbox is perfect.  How easily my mind swirls into the stresses and pressure of life.  For a long time I would think “once I have…., once I do….., then I can be at peace, then I can enjoy my life”.  But life is about the challenges and the mess and the joy of daily life.  I don’t plan to go live in a cave as a hermit meditating 24 hours per day, so my daily practice while I have this human experience is to accept the swirling and the uncertainty and go deep within to find that well of peace that is inside us all no matter what is happening on the surface.

I am learning more and more that all the answers are inside.  After years of searching for the answers from external factors; books, teachers, anything that promised to give me an answer for the greatest question we all have; why am I here, I am finally accepting that I know deep inside the answer to this, as we all do.  All I have to do is follow it and take the next step and that doors will open.

So today, I start again, as I started yesterday, and last week, and last year.  And tomorrow I will start again. In fact I will no doubt have to start again today, later this morning….  Start again with love and gratitude for this lifetime, for the challenges that hit me today that that will be the lessons I am grateful for tomorrow.

This is the year in which I will chill out and stop aimless worrying that sucks my energy

This is the year in which I will focus that energy on collaborative partnerships creating beautiful businesses

This is the year that I will everyday take time to be grateful for the love and family that surrounds me

This is the year where I will play and create daily

This is the year where I will cherish and treasure my friendships

This is the year in which I will take responsibility for building a sustainable abundant business that serves the world while feeding my soul

This is the year for generosity

This is the year to step into the light and past the fear that has kept me in the shadows

This is the year in which I will trust in the universe and flow

This is the year in which I truly understand that love is the only thing that matters and the rest is merely detail

“Life lived soulfully is not without its moments of darkness and periods of foolishness. Dropping the salvational fantasy frees us up to the possibility of self-knowledge and self-acceptance, which are the very foundation of soul.”
~Thomas Moore, Care of the Soul

]]> http://www.possibility.co.nz/your-life/a-soulful-life/feed/ 0 http://www.possibility.co.nz/your-life/being-grateful/ http://www.possibility.co.nz/your-life/being-grateful/#comments Sun, 11 Dec 2011 19:03:11 +0000 melissa http://www.possibility.co.nz/?p=654 Today I want to share something.  I am an avid reader of Karen Maezen Miller, both her blog and her wonderful wonderful books.  Today she is asking for help for a lovely family on the other side of the world from me who are going through one of the greatest battles.  I have been following along with this family’s journey and this morning I am grateful that I can help just a little bit.  If you are reading this and feel called to find out more and help if you can, just a little bit, please do.

By the way, I am doing my 3 daily actions every day, just not feeling the need to write them here everyday with the busyness of christmas and family and decisions.  I am glad I initiated this and I am grateful that I can honor myself in terms of how this will work.

Today I release the expectations of how I think things should turn out and instead set my intention on the bigger picture and let that go.  I have had so many lessons now that when we release then things fall into place so easily and with flow.

Today I will also:

1. Follow up to confirm this tenancy (it is taking time)
2. Do yoga
3. Research a tax credit for a friend

“Sometimes what seems like surrender isn’t surrender at all. It’s about what’s going on in our hearts. About seeing clearly the way life is and accepting it and being true to it, whatever the pain, because the pain of not being true to it is far, far greater.” – Nicholas Evans

Over the past few years I have a few lessons of surrender.  And a whole pile of pain before I do finally surrender.  And each time I have reached the point where I have no more energy to fight and push to do what I think needs to be done; when I am so tired and it feels oh so hard; when I let go of holding on to expecting the outcome I think it should be – that is when all of a sudden it all falls into place, – it happens with flow and peace.

Yet to reach that point of surrender, to reach past the need for my ego control, is not instantaneous.  I don’t just decide to surrender and suddenly it all works out (I so wish it did work that way).  Instead I fight this, the relinquish of control, the acceptance that perhaps there is a far greater picture and web that I only play a small part in the formation of.  But I don’t see the gifts when I am fighting this, when I am striving for control and it is only in the aftermath that it becomes clearer.

I struggle with surrender, with the act of letting go how I think things should work out.  It goes against the part of me that is achievement focused, set goals and work your butt off to achieve them.  Surrender can seem weak and giving up to some.  I would argue it is the strongest action you can take.  Life is what it is, and fighting against what is takes a huge amount of energy.  Instead for me, surrender is setting an intention and then getting out of the way so that the Universe (or whatever you choose to call it) can get on and just do it.  I think back to every moment of great pain and strife in my life and see the gifts and the power of these times, that they shifted my life in some way or form and now I feel gratitude for the lessons from these.

Sometimes I do wish I could gain the gifts from these lessons without the pain though.  But then I remember the butterfly and her struggle as she leave the chrysalis.  If she is “helped” and cut out, she dies because she doesn’t have the strength to fly.  It is the struggle that she is called to undertake to break her way out that gives her the ability to soar in the warm air.

So tomorrow, I will:

1. Do a whole pile of work on the financials
2. Exercise
3. Do some business planning with my husband

After all great intentions and expectations, the world swirled last week so apologies for my unintended break.  I won’t go into details but it involved grief and sadness with saying goodbye to a dear friend, the most unlikely scenario happening with a significant area of stress and pressure in our lives and travel.

What was really interesting in hindsight when I think of the previous weeks was how easily I lost my centre and my peace when I felt that things in my life were outside of my control.  It humbled me and I realised just how far I still have to go on my journey.  And last week how my daily practices of quiet time and meditation in the morning were so easily broken.  And yet they are the practices that ground me and when I needed it most, I slipped away from what had been a habit.

I also have felt humbled for other reasons in the past few days.  Voting in the New Zealand general election yesterday and explaining to my children about why we vote made me appreciate that I live in a country where I have the right to elect my leaders.  I also spoke to my daughter about how it was not long ago when women were not allowed to vote and that as a woman I ensure that I demonstrate that right that was so passionately fought here in New Zealand back in 1893 which resulted in us being the very first country in the world to give women the vote.  The other experience that humbled me was assisting people to complete an on-line survey.  I helped people, men and women who had never touched a computer mouse before and who courageously were prepared to be assisted and helped so that they could have their say.  That made me grateful for the opportunities and education I have received in my life.

So tomorrow, Monday, my 3 daily actions will be:

1. Get up at 5:30am to do my quiet time and start the week off with right intention
2. Draw (I am craving art – see the portraits of my kids up on the piano above, I need to do more)
3. Contact all tenant applicants and confirm