SEPTEMBER

Seeing

Fortunately, we are able to see in more ways than one.
Eyesight is not the only way of seeing.  Nor is it the most
accurate.  We can also see with intuition, imagination,
empathy, etc.  When someone says, "Oh, now I see
what you mean," the eyes can be closed.

Ways of seeing are mainly ways of expecting, hoping
dreaming, feeling.  We see most clearly with the eyes of
faith -- the direction in which our life is moving.  It is in that
sense that we get whatever we are seeing.  Our life becomes
that reality we yearn for; and, if you are about to see what I
am saying, the life we live is in fact whatever we visualize
it to be.  For example:  if you see the world as a jungle where
the basic law of life is a king of "survival of the fittest," then you
will live the life of some king of beast of prey. You will live the
life of the hunted and of the hunter, always on guard,
fearful of being attacked, devoured, defeated.  AND you will
also be living on the prowl, lusting after something to attack,
devour, defeat.  But if you see the world as a lovely garden of
peace where the basic law is love and mercy, then you will
live the life of some kind of angel of joy.  You will live the life
of the gifted and of the giver, always trustful of being given
gifts, fed all you could ever need, crowned victorious.  AND
you will also be living in service, searching after some way
to help, feed and give honor to others.

What you see is what you get because the vision we have
of the world we live in determines the attitude we will have
about other people, creatures, elements of nature.  AND
that is what gives us our sense of selfhood.

Unknown

Smile

Smile upon your creation, as you smile upon all of God's
creation.

- John Morton

Be Positive

Hold positive images in your mind.

- John-Roger
(From: Loving Each Day, Volume 1)

Patience

Exercise patience with others. In times of stress,
our impatience surfaces. We may say things
we don't really mean or intend to say all out
of proportion to reality. Or we may become sullen,
communicating through emotion and attitude,
rather than words, eloquent messages of criticism,
judgment and rejection.

We then harvest hurt
feelings and strained relationships. Patience is the
practical expression of faith, hope, wisdom
and love. It is a very active emotion. It is not
indifference, sullen endurance or resignation.
Patience is emotional diligence.

Zen Teaching

Take good care of yourself. 

Find out what works to fill you and balance you; then you
can give of your overflow and loving to your family.

- John-Roger
(From: Loving Each Day for Moms & Dads)

Begin Your Journey with One Step

The journey of a thousand miles begins with but a single step.

--Various Buddhist and Taoist sources

Stay Strong and Gentle

It is the weak who are cruel: gentleness can only be expected from the strong.

--Leo Rosten, quoted by Leo Buscaglia

Look Inside If You Miss The Mark

The inferior archer, when he misses the mark, first looks for blame in his bow. The superior archer first looks for blame in himself.

--Traditional saying of Kyudo (Japanese archery)

Flow Ultimately

Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free: Stay centered by accepting what you are doing. This is the ultimate.

--Chuang-Tzu, The Writings of Chuang-Tzu

Be Still

Self-control is strength; right thought is mastery; calmness is power; say unto your heart, "Peace, be still."

--James Allen, As a Man Thinketh

Live Slowly

Life is so short that it must be lived very slowly.

--Buddhist saying

Be Soft and Yielding

Men are born soft and supple; dead, they are stiff and hard. Plants are born tender and pliant; dead, they are brittle and dry. Thus, whoever is stiff and inflexible is a disciple of death. Whoever is soft and yielding is a disciple of life. The hard and stiff will be broken. The soft and supple will prevail.

--Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

Discover Yourself

Wanting to reform the world without discovering one's true self is like trying to cover the world with leather to avoid the pain of walking on stones and thorns. It is much simpler to wear shoes.

--Ramana Maharshi

Judging

There's nothing in there that says you can't make mistakes.


Jesus said, "Judge not, lest ye be judged." And if you make
a mistake, get busy correcting it, because he also said,
"Don't talk about the board in somebody else's eye until you
get the board out of your own eye." In other words, go
around and perfect yourself before you start judging
everybody else. After you've got that one out of your eye,
you may realize that you've got other things to work on, so
you don't get a chance to judge anybody else. You can say,
instead, "I'm just so busy perfecting myself that I don't
have time to know who's right and wrong."

You see, every time you judge, you hurt.

- John-Roger
(From:  Forgiveness, The Key to the Kingdom)

Neutral

The neutral state is not a polarized position. It's a
position that is equally available to the positive and the
negative, yet it also transcends the positive and the
negative.

One way you know that you're neutral is when you're not
attached to the positive any more than you're attached to
the negative.

Spelled out, that is releasing any expectations.

- John Morton

Soul

The Soul is your truest reality.

- John-Roger
(From: The Way Out Book)

Freedom

Part of my work is to tell you that it is in your own best
interest to live in honesty.

Be honest with yourself; be honest with others. Live by the
laws. Live by the rules that are a part of your immediate
environment. Fulfill the agreements that you make with
yourself and with other people around you. Fulfill your
agreement to your family, your employers and employees, your
friends, your landlord, your doctor, your dentist, your
creditors, etc.

When you fulfill the obligations that you have agreed to,
you'd be surprised at the freedom you manifest in your life.


When these levels are clear, the energy that you are able to
focus into your spiritual exercises becomes extremely
powerful. When you are free on these lower levels, you can
thrust more deeply into Spirit, because you will not be
distracted by anything. Your focus and your direction become
one-pointed and are hampered by nothing.

You will experience a freedom, a joy and a soaring of Spirit
such as you have never imagined.

- John-Roger

BOUNDARIES

I'm not very fit.
I'm not very smart.
I don't know very much.
And I make a lot of mistakes.

But:

Would I like it if I never made mistakes?
Would I like it if I knew all there was to know?
Would I like it if I could tap into
a source of all knowledge?
Would I like it if I could quickly
understand and solve any problem?
Would I like it if I were so fit I could
meet every threat to my survival?

No!
Why?

Because if I were perfect, there would
not be any surprises.
There would not be anything to laugh at.
There would not be any thrills.
There would not be any fun.
Life would be a bore.

So:

I like the way I am.
I like all the surprises I get.
I like to laugh at these surprises.
I like probing into strange unknown realms.
I like to study and learn from all the data my senses pick up.

Besides:

It's fun to try to make sense of all the
strange unknown realms of the cosmos.
It's fun to learn and discover what these
mysteries of life are all about.
It's fun to feel the sheer joy and freedom
of a new understanding.
It's fun to try to figure things out.

But surely:

I'm not the only one with these limits.
The rest of our kind must have lots of limits too.
And maybe they can enjoy their limits as much as I do mine.

So perhaps:

We all like to figure things out.
We all like to feel the joy of a new understanding.
We all like to learn and discover what the
mysteries of life are all about.
We all like to try to make sense of all the strange
unknown realms of the cosmos.

What's more:

We all like to help each other try to make
sense of the strange unknown realms of the cosmos.
We all like to help each other discover
what the mysteries of life are all about.
We all like to help each other feel the
joy of a new understanding.
We all like to help each other try to figure things out.

Still:

What will happen to us when we
learn that we are not too fit?
What will happen to us when we
learn that we are not too smart?
What will happen to us when we
learn that we do not know much?
What will happen to us when we
learn that we make a lot of mistakes?
What will happen to us when we
learn all these things about our selves?

Surprise!

First, we will try to make our selves more fit.
Then we will take care not to out smart our selves.
Next, when we know how little we know, we can learn more.
Finally, when we are doing all these
things, we make fewer mistakes.

So:

When we know our selves and
our limits, it strengthens us.
It helps us to be more caring and understanding.
It helps us to be more self reliant.
It helps make life more fun.

Thus:

We shouldn't try to deny what we are.
And we shouldn't try to hide it.
Our limits are a treasure.
They're to be enjoyed.
Boundaries are for breaking through.

Unknown

YOU MUST MAKE YOUR OWN OPPORTUNITIES
(c) Mentor Max

Success is something you have to pursue,
it's not something you can wait for.
Your destiny isn't a matter of chance,
it's a matter of choice.

Don't wait for an extraordinary opportunity.
Seize common occasions and make them great.
Your greatest opportunities will often come disguised
in the form of misfortune or temporary defeat.

Start where you are.
Act on your dreams and you can live them.
There are golden opportunities all around you.

JUST FOR TODAY
(Author Unknown)

Decide to be happy today, to live with what is yours.
If you can't have what you like, maybe you can like what you have.

Just for today, be kind, cheerful, agreeable, responsive caring, and understanding.
Be your best, dress your best, talk softly, and look for the bright side of things.

Praise people for what they do and do not criticize them for what they cannot do.
If someone does something stupid, forgive and forget.

After all, it's just for one day.

It will turn out to be a nice day.

Forgiveness

"Forgiveness does not change the past,
but it enlarges the future."

-- Paul Boese

Discipline

A friend was having trouble getting her son to do chores.
She'd tried everything she could think of - no results.  She
sat him in the corner and he spit on the wall.  She finally
told him that when he did his chores by a certain time, he
could have a Popsicle.  Close to that time, she took the
Popsicle out of the freezer and set it on the sink.  If he
got the chores done in time, he got the Popsicle.  If not,
it melted.  There were no second chances. 

Sometimes you have to be creative in your approach to
discipline.

- John-Roger
(From: Loving Each Day for Moms & Dads)

Dreaming

"All of us tend to put off living.
We are all dreaming of some
magical rose garden over the
horizon instead of enjoying
the roses that are blooming
outside our windows today."

--Dale Carnegie

Older

Nobody grows old merely by living a number
of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals.
Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up
enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.

-Samuel Ullman

Wallowing in your lot

Keep doing good things like enjoying and appreciating your
friends instead of wallowing in your lot.   Like serving
others in your work and good nature instead of wallowing in
your lot.   Like taking a moment to be with the Lord in all
His benevolence and adoration for you instead of denying
yourself as the negative power would have you do while
wallowing in your lot.

- John Morton

Happiness

Thousands of candles can be lighted
from a single candle, and the life of the
candle will not be shortened. Happiness
never decreases by being shared.

...Chinese Proverb

Big Mud Puddles and Yellow Dandelions

When I look at a patch of dandelions, I see
a bunch of weeds that are going
to take over my yard. My kids see flowers
for Mom and blowing white fluff
you can wish on.

When I look at an old drunk and he smiles
at me, I see a smelly,dirty
person who probably wants money and I
look away. My kids see someone
smiling at them and they smile back.

When I hear music I love, I know I can't carry
a tune and don't have much rhythm so I sit
self-consciously and listen. My kids feel the beat and
move to it. They sing out the words. If they
don't know them, they make up their own.

When I feel wind on my face, I brace myself
against it. I feel it messing
up my hair and pulling me back when I walk.
My kids close their eyes,
spread their arms and fly with it, until they fall
to the ground laughing.

When I see a mud puddle I step around it.
I see muddy shoes and dirty carpets. My kids sit in
it. They see dams to build, rivers to cross and
worms to play with.

I wonder if we are given kids to teach or
to learn from?

Enjoy the little things in life, for one day
you may look back and realize
they were the big things.

I wish you BIG MUD PUDDLES and
SUNNY YELLOW DANDELIONS

-- Author Unknown

Forgive

When you wrench and gnash your teeth, forgive and forget as
soon as you can, NOW. 

- John Morton

LIFE IS
(Author Unknown)

Life isn't about keeping score. It's not about how many friends you have. Or how accepted you are. Not about if you have plans this weekend or if you're alone. It isn't about who you're dating, who you used to date, how many people you've dated, or if you haven't been with anyone at all. It isn't about who you have kissed, it's not about sex.

It isn't about who your family is or how much money they have. Or what kind of car you drive. Or where you are sent to school.

It's not about how beautiful or ugly you are. Or what clothes you wear, what shoes you have on, Or what kind of music you listen to.

It's not about if your hair is blonde, red, black, or brown. Or if your skin is too light or too dark.

Not about what grades you get, how smart you are, how smart everybody else thinks you are, or how smart standardized tests say you are. It's not about what clubs you're in or how good you are at "your" sport.

It's not about representing your whole being on a piece of paper and seeing who will "accept the written you."

LIFE JUST ISN'T.

But, life is about whom you love and whom you hurt. It's about whom you make happy or unhappy purposefully. It's about keeping or betraying trust.
It's about friendship, used as a sanctity or a weapon. It's about what you say and mean, maybe hurtful, maybe heartening.

About starting rumors and contributing to petty gossip. It's about what judgments you pass and why. And who your judgments are spread to. It's about whom you've ignored with full control and intention. It's about jealousy, fear, ignorance, and revenge. It's about carrying inner hate and love, letting it grow, and spreading it.

But most of all, it's about using your life to touch or poison other people's hearts in such a way that could have never occurred alone.

Only you choose the way those hearts are affected, and those choices are what life's all about.