The Daily Guru

[caressa]

"Question Your Intention"

"Men are more accountable for their motives, than for anything else
...."

-- Archibald Alexander

Why are you doing what you are doing?

Throughout the day, continually ask yourself about your underlying
motivation. Are you doing what you are doing for selfish, manipulative or
fearful reasons, or in honest service? Maybe you will see that much of
your activity lacks purpose. This is a great way to become more
conscious.

Your intention and motives are fundamental to the results you receive.
Set high intentions and your life will blossom.

"A good intention clothes itself with power."

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

[caressa]

YOU ARE WHAT YOU REPEATEDLY DO


First you make your habits, and then your habits make you.
You become a slave to your constantly repeated acts.
What at first you choose, at last compels.

Your habits are either the best of servants or the worst of masters.
Your thoughts lead you on to a purpose,
your purposes go forth in action.

Your actions form your habits.
Your habits determine your character,
and your character fixes your destiny.

Once in motion, a pattern stays in motion.

[caressa]

ALL KNOWLEDGE IS POWER



The most successful people in life
are the ones with the best information.

People with power are people who know how to get things done.
Knowing how to do something is sometimes
virtually the same as having done it.

Knowledge will come to you
when your eyes and mind are always open.
There is no knowledge that is not power.

Power is the product of understanding.
You'll build the power to accomplish your goals by educating yourself.
This power comes from knowing how to do something.

In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king.

[caressa]

DESIRE IS THE STARTING POINT FOR SUCCESS


If you have the desire you have the power to be successful.
You can really have anything you want in life if you go after it.
But you have to want it.

The first thing that will contribute to reaching your goal
is that you simply want to reach it badly enough.
You must learn how to desire with sufficient intensity to be
successful.

As a drowning soul desires air,
as a shipwrecked person craves fresh water,
so must you feel that intense, eager, insistent, demanding,
ravenous desire for your success.

Your desire for success must be so strong within you
that it becomes the very breath of your life.
It must be your first thought when you wake up,
and your last thought when you go to bed at night.

You can have anything you want if you go after it with intensity.

==============================================

"Learn From Experience"

"Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with
what happens to him."

-- Aldous Huxley

What was your peak experience of this past week?
What was your most challenging experience?

Stepping back to review your week can offer many insights. Normally we
can’t see the forest for the trees. Now back away and see the whole
forest. Review your week. Now write a short summary -- whatever comes to
mind for you. If action is required, plan how you will accomplish it in
the next week.

"Ask the experienced rather than the learned."

-- Arabic proverb

"Experience is that marvellous thing that enables you to recognize a
mistake when you make it again."

-- Franklin P. Jones

[caressa]

THE SECRET TO CONFIDENCE IS PREPARATION



There can be no great courage
when there is no confidence or assurance.
Half the battle is in the conviction
that you can accomplish what you undertake.

With practice you'll come to a point of competence in anything.
You'll find yourself accomplishing your goals
with grace and confidence.

It's then that you'll do things
that you never dreamed you could do.
You'll discover powers you never knew existed.

Confidence doesn't come out of nowhere.
It's the result of constant work and dedication.
When you're prepared, you're able to feel confident.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Sing Your Own Song"

"Since you are like no other being ever created since the beginning of
time, you are incomparable."

-- Brenda Ueland

Great forces are directing you to conform to the patterns of your
society. You have DNA that has been handed down from generation to
generation, coding repeated behaviour patterns into your being. You have
archetypal energies setting the standards for how you behave as a man or a
woman, as husband or wife, as father or mother .... You are immersed in
consensual reality, whereby the world around you reflects societal
understanding of how life has been and is to be.

At the same time, you have an even greater force within you inspiring
you to wake up and recognize the reality of who you are. This force, the
creative power underlying the entire universe, is urging you to create
brand new standards of reality.

The status quo is blind to our creative power. Create a brand new world
for yourself, one that meets your deepest needs, and you will help
raise the quality of consciousness of the entire world.

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

-- Gandhi

[caressa]

"Life As A Mirror"

"Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an
understanding of ourselves."

-- C.G. Jung

We get clues about our unconscious programming if we watch our
reactions, responses, feelings and thoughts about other people and events. Ask
yourself: How do I judge or stereotype people? What pushes my buttons?
What makes me angry or fearful or sad?

The outer incidents that trigger these reactions in me simply MIRROR my
own nature. If I didn't have beliefs around the issues that upset me,
where would my reactions come from? If I didn't have some internal
reference, I wouldn't react at all.

When outer events spark a reaction, we need to look inside to explore
what’s going on.

"We discover in ourselves what others hide from us and we recognize in
others what we hide from ourselves."

-- Vauvenargues

[caressa]

SUCCESS IS CLOSER THAN YOU THINK


Every situation, properly perceived, becomes an opportunity. But you
have to act on them if you're going to be successful.

Distant pastures always look greener than those close at hand,
but real opportunities are right where you are.
You must simply take advantage of them when they appear.
You can start where you are at any time.

Success is all around you.
It's not in your environment,
it's not in luck or chance,
or in the help of others.
Success is in yourself alone.

You don't need more strength
or more ability or greater opportunity.
What you need is to use what you have.
Learn to seize good fortune,
for it is always around you.

You must go to success,
it doesn't come to you.
Open your own doors to opportunity.

[caressa]

"On Violence"

"In violence, we forget who we are."

-- Mary McCarthy

Andrew Schneider describes violence as an issue of power. People become
violent when they feel powerless. Violence is used as an inappropriate
way of attempting to re-establish one’s own sense of power over
whatever or whomever is perceived as a threat.

The antidote to violence in ourselves and in society is empowerment. We
need to empower people to live out their best without fear. When people
feel strong and able within themselves, they do not see themselves as
potential victims. They do not have to struggle against others in order
to feel secure. The curriculum for empowerment is learning and loving.

"Never use violence of any kind. Never threaten violence in any way.
Never even think violent thoughts. Never argue because it attacks
another’s opinion. Never criticize because it attacks another’s ego. And your
success is guaranteed."

-- Mohandas Gandhi

[caressa]

"Laugh!"

"We don’t laugh because we’re happy, we’re happy because we laugh."

-- William James

Why laugh?

Laughter nourishes the soul and triggers joy. It’s a natural stress
reliever. It stimulates the immune system and increases oxygen, stamina
and our breathing capacity. Medical literature is full of reasons to
laugh for the health of it.

Don’t rely upon your funny friends, favorite sit-com or jokes to tickle
your funny bone -- just laugh for the joy of it!

"Laughter is like the human body wagging its tail."

-- Anne Wilson Schaef

[caressa]

SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE MAKE DECISIONS


If you don't run your own life, someone else will.
You're in control of your life
to the degree that you make decisions.

To control the outcome of anything,
you control the action at the point of decision making.
If you let others make decisions for you, you give up control.
When you control the decisions, you control the actions.

Take charge of your life,
so there is no longer a need to ask permission of others.
When you ask permission,
you're giving someone "veto" power over your life.

Only you are responsible for your life.
Take control and start making those decisions.

[caressa]

"Embrace Your Life"

"If there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in
despairing of life, as in hoping for another life, and in eluding the
implacable grandeur of this life."

-- Albert Camus

Have you taken ownership of your life?

When we own our lives, we accept what we’ve inherited and the
experiences we hold in our memories. We also lay claim to our right to create
new conditions if we’re not happy with what’s come before. We assume
responsibility for changing what does not suit us. We acknowledge our own
special talents and skills, and truly comprehend our right to enjoy the
journey. In short, we embrace the meaning and purpose, the mystery and
the beauty of our lives.

"Recognize that life is what you get when you’re born ... living is
what you do with it."

-- Jim Allen

"It began in mystery, and it will end in mystery, but what a savage and
beautiful country lies in between."

-- Diane Ackerman


-----------------------------------

EXPECTATION COMES BEFORE ACHIEVEMENT


Your aspirations are your possibilities.
If you want to be big, you have to think big.
Your only limits are those of vision.
The more you can dream, the more you can be.

Don't ever stop dreaming.
For when you cease dreaming,
you cease living.

Cherish your dreams for they are the blueprints
to your ultimate success.
If you don't have a dream,
how are you going to make it come true?

The greatest achievements always take place
in the framework of great expectations.
Big thinking will always come before big achievement.

[caressa]

YOU ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR PROBLEMS


Your obstacles will always look large or small to you
according to whether you are large or small.

Understanding this will give you the courage
necessary to overcome your problems.
Courage gives you the capacity
to confront what can be imagined.
It gives you the ability to rise above reality.

Face your difficulties directly and you'll always win.
You are bigger than your problems.

[caressa]

"Purpose Brings Joy"

"Our purpose is hidden in our joy, our inspiration, our excitement. As
we act on what shows up in our life our purpose shows up."

-- James King

For many of us, our joy is truly activated when we get a bigger picture
of who we are and why we are here.

Most of us need to enlarge our self-concept. We may see ourselves as a
bag of bones but, in truth, we are eternal, multi-faceted and
multi-dimensional spiritual beings having a human experience. It’s time to think
of ourselves as much larger and grander than just a physical and
emotional being confined in a body.

"There is no more important step you can take than to define your
life's purpose. It develops your sense of belonging to our universe."

-- Arnold Patent

[caressa]

"The Path To Wholeness"

We think that God has blessed us if we don’t have too many troubles. In
fact, religions have erroneously taught us that pain is punishment for
our sins. We often ask, "What have I done wrong?" when things do not go
the way we want.

Yet, to become ourselves in the truest and deepest sense, we must face
our own duality, which of course includes facing our darkness. As souls
we strive for wholeness, not for perfection.

At first, we really don’t know what is going on. We just find life
difficult, challenging and often painful. Eventually, after much experience
and reflection, we start to find meaning in it all. Eventually, we
gladly accept the means whereby we can do the Soul work we have come for.

As we become conscious as Souls, we walk our journey purposefully,
embracing the reality of our earthly nature along with the truth of our
divine nature.

"When we are conscious of our personal uniqueness and our universal
nature we express ourselves creatively. In this way we fulfill our dreams
and our life purpose."

-- Andrew Schneider

-- Gandhi

-------------------------

IF YOU WANT IT, YOU CAN HAVE IT


If you're willing to pay the price,
any of your circumstances will change.
If you want something badly enough,
you're sure to get it.
The key to success is desire.

Obstacles don't matter very much.
Pain, circumstances or other challenges can be there.
But if you want to do something bad enough,
you'll find a way to get it done.

Your desire will in time externalize itself into concrete fact.
Your reality will form around your commitment to succeed.

You only have to love a thing greatly to get it.
Desire is the fire of life.

[caressa]

"Really Be There For Another"

"Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. You can
see that when you think how the friends that really listen to us are the
ones we move toward, and we want to sit in their radius as though it
did us good, like ultraviolet rays."

-- Brenda Ueland

How well do we communicate with others? Often, when we are interacting
with others, our attention in both speaking and listening is focused on
meeting our own needs.

Our communication skills improve when we can open to be aware of the
needs of the other person. When we listen, we can release the filters
that serve our own needs for security and receive the message with our
compassionate heart. And when we speak, we can choose words that the
listener is able to receive. True communication happens when we harmonize
with the other individual.

"So when you are listening to somebody, completely, attentively, then
you are listening not only to the words, but also to the feeling of what
is being conveyed, to the whole of it, not part of it."

-- Jiddu Krishnamurti

"The first duty of love is to listen."

-- Paul Tillich

====================================

YOU ALWAYS HAVE A CHOICE


You don't have to buy from anyone.
You don't have to work at any particular job.
You don't have to participate in any given relationship.
You can choose.

You steer the course you choose in the direction
of where you want to be today, tomorrow,
or in a distant time to come.
You hold the tiller.

You can decide to alter the course of your life at any time.
No one can ever take that away from you.
You can decide what you want and go after it.
It's always your next move.

[caressa]

SUNDAY

Success or failure?
It's always your choice.
You alone have the responsibility to shape your life.

Once you understand this,
nothing and no one can deny you success.
There's really no one to stop you but yourself.

More powerful than all the success slogans ever written
is the realization that everyone has but one boss.
That boss is you.

Your life will always be to a large extent what you make of it.
No one can cheat you out of ultimate success but you.

You can be successful if you want to be successful.

=============================

"Be Aware Of Your Thinking"

"There is a thought in your mind right now. The longer you hold on to
it, the more you dwell upon it, the more life you give to that thought.
Give it enough life, and it will become real. So make sure the thought
is indeed a great one."

-- Ralph Marston

Most of our self-talk comes unconsciously from our subconscious. Yet
every thought that exists in our subconscious got there through a
conscious decision to accept that thought.

We need to become conscious of our self-talk so we can at will choose
to replace negative beliefs with positive ones. We have the power to
choose an identity we love, but we need to do the work. The process of
changing our subconscious beliefs requires awareness, diligence,
consistency and repetition.

"Man is made or unmade by himself. In the armory of thought he forges
the weapons by which he destroys himself. He also fashions the tools
with which he builds for himself heavenly mansions of joy and strength and
peace."

-- William James

[caressa]

"Overwhelmed?"

"Life does not happen to us, it happens from us."

-- Mike Wickett

Are you easily overwhelmed? If so, answer this question in your
journal:

While growing up, what did you experience too much of?

Experiencing too much of something leads to feelings of overwhelm. When
we’re young, overwhelm can lead us to believe that we are not capable
or that we are not good enough. These are power issues.

Awareness of when we are feeling overwhelmed can help us go inside,
claim our power and change our experience of any situation.

"When we know that the cause of something is in ourselves, and that we
(ourselves) are one of the few things in the universe that we have the
right and ability to change, we begin to get a sense of the choices we
really do have, an inkling of the power we have, a feeling of being in
charge... of our lives, of our future, of our dreams."

-- John-Roger and Peter McWilliams

"Be thine own palace, or the world’s thy jail."

-- John Donne

[caressa]

"Valuing All Work"

"We honor life when we work. The type of work is not important: the
fact of work is. All work feeds the soul if it is honest and done to the
best of our abilities and if it brings joy to others."

-- Matthew Fox

What value do we unconsciously (or consciously) place on different
kinds of work? How do we rank the status of different jobs? How much more
do we value the big-paying jobs over others?

Just as we need to honour ourselves for doing what needs to be done, we
can equally honour all others who look after life through their
efforts, no matter what they may be. We can release judgment that assigns more
importance to some occupations than others.

"Now in order that people may be happy in their work, these three
things are needed: They must be fit for it: they must not do too much of it:
and they must have a sense of success in it -- not a doubtful sense,
such as needs some testimony of others for its confirmation, but a sure
sense, or rather knowledge, that so much work has been done well, and
fruitfully done, whatever the world may say or think about it."

-- John Ruskin

[caressa]

"What Depletes Your Soul?:

"Certain activities, attitudes, foods, and persons support the
cultivation of an unconscious life. They draw us away from our center. They
throw us off-balance. They deplete the soul."

-- Patricia Lynn Reilly

Some activities we think are restful are, in fact, draining. Set an
intention to really become aware of how you feel after you’ve engaged in
different activities. Solitude and awareness help us make better choices
for ourselves.

"Enlightenment is not about imagining figures of light but of making
the darkness conscious."

-- C.G. Jung


==============================

YOU HAVE TO GIVE BEFORE YOU GET


It's a universal law: You only get to keep what you give away.
You must plant your seeds before you reap the harvest.
The more you sow, the more you will reap.
In giving to others, you will find yourself blessed.

The law works to give you back more then you have sown.
The giver's harvest is always full.
Those that obtain have little.
Those who scatter have much.

Nature does not give to those who will not spend.

[caressa]

"A Hot Tub For The Mind"

"Imagine a hot tub for the mind. That is what meditation is; it can
bathe your mind in relaxing thoughts."

-- Eknath Easwaran

With today’s fast pace of life, too many of us don’t have any sense of
how it feels to be free of stress. It’s difficult to relax if we have
physical pain or irritation, strong negative emotions or scattered,
worrisome thoughts.

The practice of meditation helps us find the peace within that is so
elusive in our outer world.

"Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take
between two deep breaths, or the turning inwards in prayer for five
short minutes."

-- Etty Hillesum