Life 03 (Jun 09 - Jul 09)

[winston]

We cling to the known, afraid of the unknown

So we have separated living from dying. The dying is the end of our life. We put it as far away as possible—a long interval of time—but at the end of the long journey we die.

And what is it that we call living? Earning money, going to the office from nine to five, over-worked either in a laboratory or in an office or in a factory, and the endless conflict, fear, anxiety, loneliness, despair, depression—this whole way of existence is what we call life, living. And to that we hold. But is that living?

This living is pain, sorrow, anxiety, conflict, every form of deception, and corruption. Where there is self-interest there must be corruption. This is what we call living. We know that, we are very familiar with all that, that is our daily existence. And we are afraid of dying, which is to let go of all the things that we have known, all the things that we have experienced and gathered—the lovely furniture and the beautiful collection of pictures and paintings.

And death comes and says, “You cannot have any of those things any more.” So we cling to the known, afraid of the unknown.

That Benediction is Where You Are, pp 64-65

Source: jkrishnamurthi.com

[winston]

Does the “I” continue after death?

Most of us are concerned about reincarnation, or we want to know whether we continue to live after the body dies, which is all so trivial. Have we understood the triviality of this desire for continuity? Do we see that it is merely the process of thinking, the machine of thought that demands to continue?

Once you see that fact, you realize the utter shallowness, the stupidity of such a demand. Does the “I” continue after death? Who cares?

And what is this “I” that you want to continue? Your pleasures and dreams, your hopes, despairs, and joys, your property and the name you bear, your petty little character, and the knowledge you have acquired in your cramped, narrow life.

The Collected Works vol XIII, p 319

Source: jkrisknamurthi.com

[winston]

Desire is the worst enemy and it has to be canalized and reduced with determination until it ceases to bother you.

Besides desire, anger and greed also have to be discarded, for they are present wherever there is desire. When you say "bowman", it is implied that there are arrows too with the bow. Thus desire is ever associated with anger and greed.

Desire is bad even if it is for fame and authority. It is the avarice for power and pelf that ruins many a human life... Life is a long journey. Keep your hearts ever pure, steady and inclusive. Do not tarnish others hearts to make them narrow and vengeful. You must encourage opportunities to enlarge them and soften them through intensive social service.

- Divine Discourse, Aug 8, 1976

Source： radiosai.org

[winston]

On Belief :-

Faith makes us sure of what we hope for and gives us proof of what we cannot see.

Hebrews 11:1

[winston]

Even your soul is not permanent

How eager we are to have everything permanent! We want permanent relationships, don’t we?, a permanent wife, a permanent husband, a permanent relationship with regard to ideas, action, everything. It must be permanent, which is mechanical—all the time being certain.

Is there anything permanent in life, your ideas, your relationships, anything? Perhaps your house is permanent; even that may not be; there are earthquakes. Is there anything psychologically permanent, including your gods, your beliefs, your amusements? Surely, there is nothing permanent, and yet the mind demands permanency, security, because it is frightened to live in a state of uncertainty.

To live in such a state requires a great deal of balance, understanding; otherwise one becomes neurotic. Only when the mind is not caught in the desire for permanency is it free, because there is nothing on God’s earth, or inwardly, that is permanent.

Even your soul is not permanent; it’s an invention of the priests.

The Collected Works vol XVI, p 193

Source：jkrishnamurthi.com

[winston]

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Column By Jim Rohn
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The Best Gift to Give Yourself and Others

I'm often asked the question, "How can I best help my children, spouse, family member, staff member, friend etc. improve/change?" In fact that might be the most frequently asked question I receive, "How can I help change someone else?"

My answer often comes as a surprise and here it is. The key to helping others is to help yourself first. In other words, the best contribution I can make to someone else is my own personal development.

If I become 10 times wiser, 10 times stronger, think of what that will do for my adventure as a father... as a
grandfather... as a business colleague.

The best gift I can give to you, really, is my ongoing personal development. Getting better, getting stronger,
becoming wiser. I think parents should pick this valuable philosophy up.

If the parents are okay, the kids have an excellent chance of being okay. Work on your personal development as parents; that's the best gift you can give to your children.

If you have ever ridden in an airplane, then you might have noticed the oxygen compartment located above every seat. There are explicit instructions that say "In case of an emergency, first secure your own oxygen mask and then if you have children with you then secure their masks."

Take care of yourself first... then assist your children. If we use that same philosophy throughout our whole parental life, it would be so valuable.

If I learn to create happiness for myself, my children now have an excellent chance to be happy. If I create a unique lifestyle for myself and my spouse, that will be a great example to serve my children.

Self-development enables you to serve, to be more valuable to those around you; for your child... your business... your colleague... your community... your church.

That's why I teach development skills. If you keep refining all the parts of your character, yourself, your health, etc. so that you become an attractive person to the marketplace - you'll attract opportunity. Opportunity will then begin to seek you out.

Your reputation will begin to precede you and people will want to do business with you. All of that possibility is
created by working on the philosophy that success is something you attract by continually working on your own personal development.

[winston]

What It Means to Be Truly Rich by Alexander Green

Highlights in this issue:
The real secret to great fortune.
Seven ways to build long-term wealth.
What is the "Secret of Shelter Island"

As a young man in my twenties, I worked as a stockbroker in a local firm. Before long I was earning a six-figure income. Then came the brand-spanking-new lakefront house, the ski boat, the Jaguar XJ-6, and all the other toys.

I saved virtually nothing. When my friends came over for parties - which were frequent - most of them assumed I was rich.

I was nothing of the sort.

Wealth is not the same thing as income. If you earn a lot of money and blow it every year, you're not rich. You're just living high.

Wealth is what you accumulate, not what you earn. And it certainly can't be measured by what you spend.

How does the average person get rich? Not by founding a software company or playing third base for the Yankees, I can assure you.

The Truth About How to Be Really Rich

Thomas Stanley and William Danko spent years studying the lives of "everyday millionaires." (One in every eight households in America has a net worth of more than one million dollars.)

They published their findings over a decade ago in their bestseller The Millionaire Next Door:

Affluent people typically follow a lifestyle conducive to accumulating money. In the course of our investigations, we discovered seven common denominators among those who build wealth successfully:

1) They live well below their means.
2) They allocate their time, energy, and money efficiently, in ways conducive to building wealth.
3) They believe that financial independence is more important than displaying high social status.
4) Their parents did not provide economic outpatient care.
5) Their adult children are economically self-sufficient.
6) They are proficient in targeting market opportunities.
7) They chose the right occupation.

In short, Stanley and Danko discovered that your net worth is mostly a result of the choices you make.

But isn't that true of most things?

Where you find yourself today is partly a matter of circumstances. But it is also about the way you play the hand you were dealt. And the game is not over...

The problem is that we learn looking backwards. Yet life can only be lived going forward.

For too many of us, it is only through time - and trial and error - that we discover what money is really about. What it can do for us. What it is costing us.

And learning the hard way can be awfully expensive...

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the philosophy of money and what it means to become wealthy in the truest sense of the word.

Wealth Isn't Just a Number

In fact, I've just written a book about it. Out this week, it's called "The Secret of Shelter Island: Money and What Matters."

I've included the wit and wisdom of great money masters like Warren Buffett, John Templeton and J. Paul Getty. But I've also drawn on great thinkers from Cicero and Aristotle to Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius.

What can the ancient Greeks and Romans tell us about wealth today? Plenty. As Seneca said more than two thousand years ago, "Money has yet to make anyone rich."

True wealth is not just about the size of your bank balance. Yes, it is partly about financial freedom. But it is also a particular approach to life, a certain attitude.

To capture that, I've divided "The Secret of Shelter Island" into four basic sections. In "A Rich Mind", I describe the mindset that is common to virtually all wealth creators. And I show how it is still possible to become wealthy, even in the teeth of The Great Recession.

In the second section "What Matters Most," I describe principles that every investor should know and use. And I demonstrate how to calculate "your real net worth." (You won't need a calculator or financial statement.)

In the third section "Attitudes and Gratitude," I share some of the most powerful insights I've received in more than 25 years as a money manager and financial analyst. Many of them have more to do with your state of mind than the state of your investment portfolio.

And you should certainly know how one affects the other.

In the final section "The Search for Meaning," I take a hard look at the many things money can do for you, as well as the things it can't. Before anyone devotes years of his life pursuing a particular goal - financial or not - he should know and understand these things.

This book is easily the best work I've ever done, the most important thing I've ever written. I believe that most readers will profit it - and not just in a monetary sense.

[winston]

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*** Article: How to Recover from a Bad Day - By Melissa McCreery, PhD, ACC ***
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Bad days are a part of life. We all have them. No matter how many yoga classes you attend or how smoothly your life runs, you'll run up against one sooner or later. The secret to thriving is learning how to move forward in spite of bad days, not aiming to never have one (although minimizing their frequency is a good thing).

Here are some tips for dusting yourself off and getting back on track after a bad day happens:

Do you have permission to have a bad day? Make sure that your inner-perfectionist (the one who requires all-or-nothing success) isn't running your show. Are you knee-deep in self-blame or guilt for things that may have contributed to your bad day (or for the way you reacted to it)? As long as you are busy beating yourself up, you won't be able to move on. Why not try on the idea that an occasional bad day is simply to be expected? It doesn't mean you failed; it means it's time to implement the "bad day plan."

Are you ready to move on, and what will you need to let go of to do so? This is an important question. Are you ready to move on from your bad day, or do you need it to continue for a little while longer? If you are busy beating yourself up, or feeling miserable, or drowning your sorrows, or feeling indignant and victimized, you're not ready to stop having a bad day yet. What do you need to let go of in order to start to shift into a different space? Anger, hurt, frustration, and negativity are all common answers.

What do you want to move on TO? How do you want things to be? How do you want to feel? What do you want your mindset or mental attitude to be? Your posture? Your facial expressions? Take a look in the mirror and make sure you aren't still carrying your bad day with you -- it's amazing how often we do this.

What helps you feel grounded? An important step in moving on from a bad day is connecting with the present and letting go of the past. What helps you to be really present in THIS moment -- completely here and alive? For some people, deep breathing or physical activity helps. Some people like to journal or spend quiet time alone. Take some time to get centered and to set your intention for how you want to BE in the present moment and into the future.

What kind thing can you do for yourself? This is what we do for others who are having a bad day. What can you do for yourself? (And no, a pint of ice cream doesn't count.) Can you call a friend or rent a movie? Pick a flower from your yard? Schedule a massage or a long bath or buy some new nail polish? Bad day recovery days are prime times for self-care.

What's one thing you can commit to that is a positive action? It doesn't need to be big. Pick one small step or action that signifies that you are moving in a positive direction. Do a good deed or a short workout or clean out one drawer. You'll know the action that fits. Your goal is to take the first step toward getting on a more positive track, and when that's done, take the next one.

[winston]

If you believe in reincarnation…

And if you believe in reincarnation—as you are supposed to believe, as your scriptures talk about it—then what matters is what you are now. Because what you are now is going to condition your future. So what you are, what you do, what you think, what you feel, how you live—all this matters infinitely.

If you do not even believe in reincarnation, then there is only this life. Then it matters tremendously what you do, what you think, what you feel, whether you exploit or whether you do not exploit, whether you love, whether you have feeling, whether you are sensitive, whether there is beauty.

But to live like that, you have to understand death and not put it far away at the end of your life—which is a life of sorrow, a life of fear, a life of despair, a life of uncertainty.

So you have to bring death close; that is, you have to die.

The Collected Works vol XV, p 79

Source: jkrishnamurthi.com

[winston]

We would demonstrate to everyone that we are cheerful, that we are optimistic, that we are happy, that we are looking for the best-feeling thought that we can find — and that we've practiced it so much that we often find it.

And then, as people say to you, in accusing tones, "Oh, you are a Pollyanna," announce to them, "Pollyanna lived a very happy life."

--- Abraham

Excerpted from the workshop in Atlanta, GA on Thursday, April 28th, 2005

Source: abraham-hicks.com