Zig Ziglar explains how come your faith is so important. Listen to one of the best motivational speakers in the world explain his belief in Christianity.
Greg is currently working on a self help library filled with great subjects on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world. His views on religious freedom are slowly changing the way people think about institutional religion.
Stopped Losing Your Car KeysQuite recently Sri Chinmoy passed the halfway point of his project to write 77,000 spiritual poems. It is a unique project, unprecedented in scale. True the poems are very short perhaps 3 7 lines. They are not poems in the classical sense like the early poetry of Sri Chinmoy. These earlier poems which appear in compilations such as My Flute appeal to our poetic sentiments, offering vivid elucidation's of spiritual experiences through more traditional rhyme and metre. The instructional aphorisms in the 77,000 Service Trees volume are of a different nature. They are targeted to the spiritual seeker and the experiences that arise during ones sadhana (spiritual practise). To one who is unaware of spiritual practise some poems may have little meaning. But to one who looks for encouragement and guidance in pursuing a spiritual life the poems are little nuggets of wisdom that inspire and cajole ourselves to live and practise the essence of spirituality.
To gain the most from reading the poetry of Sri Chinmoy one needs a degree of receptivity. This receptivity is a quite and open mind; a reflective attitude. Receptivity need not be mistaken for intellectual comprehension. Sometimes the greatest poetry requires the utmost concentration to unravel the linguistic marvels the poet weaves. Sri Chinmoy deliberately seeks to create the contrary effect. Words are used with the utmost precision and reserve. If an idea can be expressed in 4 words, then Sri Chinmoy will not create unnecessary noise and linguistic effects by using more. He has also employed the innovative technique of using compound nouns, expressing more with less..The effect is that the service trees are easy to read, they do not tax the intellectual mind but speak to the heart. The style of poems reflects in part their message. - The benefits of simplicity, silence and an open heart.
An unmistakeable feature of reading the Service Trees is that one feels the words are speaking directly to yourself. One particular aphorism may suddenly spring out as being the answer to an inner problem. Another aphorism may feel like ones own conscience speaking. In the back of our minds we know the right thing to do, but quite often we need this good thought reinforced. In the right frame of mind the Service Trees can help us to surmount our own doubts, fears and insecurities.
Meditation is no meditation
When it becomes a victim
To endless thoughts.
Vol 36 #35,193
Is there any seeker who at times does not get distracted by thoughts when meditating? We know in meditation thoughts should disappear, but this aphorism can have the effect of reminding and inspiring us to make redoubled efforts and meditate in complete silence.
"When we speak ill of others,
We definitely enter into
Our mind's darkest abyss.
# 2,114
It is so easy to start criticising others. But gossip about others never gives us happiness or improves the other person. Reading such an aphorism makes us feel uneasy about criticising others.
Christopher Isherwood described the Bhagavad Gita as like listening to a university lecture delivered by God. Reading the Service Trees can quite often feel like a conversation with God, a conversation with ones own soul. Through reading the poems our own negative thoughts and depressed emotions are brought to the attention of ones mind. It can feel like our own conscience gently chiding us for harbouring such ideas.
There is an ancient Chinese sacred text called the I Ching. Using the I Ching a reader visualizes a question in his mind and then tosses some coins to get directed to the particular lines which are supposed to offer advice. With the Service Trees one could similarly visualise a question and then randomly choose a page. It is then easy to come across some poem which seems to offer the right inner attitude for any pressing problem. With problems it is not so much as choosing the right course of action but the inner attitude with which we face difficulties, this is an underlying theme of the Service Trees.
The unprecedented quantity of poems Sri Chinmoy writes is hard to fathom. Writing from an inner source of creativity he finds a seemingly endless variety of ways to express the same basic spiritual injunctures. One may ask why write so many? Sri Chinmoy may respond that he is merely inspired from within to offer these poems. But each poem represents an insight to the perennial spiritual questions. And our mind appreciates the newness embodied in such a choice of poems.
Writing on his own poetry Sri Chinmoy writes
Over 50,000 poems go to my credit. My critics justifiably criticise me for having written so many poems. They say that I believe only in quantity and not in quality. They are perfectly right in their own way or according to their own judgement. But I feel that quantity is necessary as well as quality. I visit the supermarket quite often. The supermarket has many varieties of food, and I am able to choose what I need or want. If the supermarket had only one thing, I would be disappointed along with hundreds of other customers. So quality and quantity must go together.
Sri Chinmoy
Tejvan is an economics teacher in Oxford and is a member of the Sri Chinmoy Centre. Tejvan edits a site on the poetry of Sri Chinmoy
What do hockey player's birthdays and The Beetles early gigs in German strip clubs teach us about MOTIVATION?
They both serve as really great evidence that innate ability is NOT a very important factor in achieving success. When we realize that and take it to heart, we are encouraged to believe that we can indeed accomplish ANYTHING if we are willing to do the work involved, and that knowledge provides us with the motivation we need to pursue our goals with confidence and enthusiasm.
According to Malcolm Gladwell's book "Outliers", a very strange coincidence was noticed in a hockey player roster - an unusually large percentage of of the players on the team had birthdays in January. The remainder of the team had birthdays in February or March. He looked into it and discovered this strange birthday effect in other sports in other countries around the world. And he also found this effect is other disciplines as well - not just sports. The reason people born early in the year were better at sports, and music and chess and school and many other challenges in life was simple - every time you have a cut-off date to join a group when you are young, those born earlier in the year have a TIME advantage over those born later in the year.
So - in our 'clever' system designed to filter through millions of young children to select the best of the best of the best in terms of innate talent for our sports teams, dance competitions, debate teams, piano recitals, etc, what we actually end up doing is simply sorting our kids by month of birth, and singling out those born earlier in the calendar year who are up to a full year older and more mature than the other kids in that 12 month age bracket. When you are 8 years old, 10 months worth of age advantage is a full 10% of your life!
Why is Tiger Woods such an amazing golfer? It is no secret that he practiced like a maniac from a VERY early age. Tiger was playing golf on a regular basis when he was 2 years old. Because his father introduced him to golf at an extremely early age of 18 months and encouraged him to practice intensively, Woods had racked up at least 15 years of practice by the time he became the youngest-ever winner of the U.S. Amateur Championship, at age 18. Did you know that the Beetles used to play on stage in Hamburg strip clubs for 8 hours per day? By the time they became "over night sensations" in North America, then had already practiced more hours than most other bands did in their entire careers!
Same goes with Bill Gates and programming computers. He just happened to have access to a university computer lab that had new, very fast time-sharing mainframe computers, and spent thousands of hours leaning programming. By the time he was in late high school, he was probably one of the most talented computer programers on the planet.
What does this have to do with motivation? Well, it turns out that success in almost anything at all has WAY more to do with the amount of TIME we have to PRACTICE (or WORK at learning how to do it) than innate talent. So, if you really want to be the best drummer in the world, the best speller in your grade, the best chef in your city, the best sales rep in your region, the fastest runner in your age group or simply the best friend you can be, then you need to know that you can do it if you are both willing and able to WORK at it!
Studies have shown that we we BELIEVE we can accomplish something, we are far more likely to invest the time into working toward that goal. Kids in groups who were told they were the top 10%, practiced an average of 30% MORE than the remainder of the group. And this had nothing to do with talent - it's just that those children were slightly older than the other kids in the age-grouping and had the benefit of almost a full year of extra practice time under their belts. Since they were singled out each year as the best in their groups, they eagerly increased their practice time by an additional 30% over the other kids. This has a compounding effect - 30% more time invested each year, year after year, means that when you turn 18, and a hockey scout watches your team play hockey, you are probably going to stand out as some kind of super star.
In my speech Bold!, I say that the first step in accomplishing a goal is to get out there on the edge and make it big. Our boldness toward choosing a goal provides us with the, excitement and passion that we are going to require on our journey. Anything less and we just won't care enough. But the very first step in this process is to boldly BELIEVE that you ARE capable of doing it! Your belief will provide you with the motivation to invest the time and effort into achieving your goal because you will KNOW that you are capable of achieving success!
So what is it that YOU want to accomplish? Is it BOLD enough? And are you willing to go to work? If so, there is no limit to what you can accomplish. Believe in yourself and in the words of Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe: "What you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. For boldness has genius, power and magic in it." BEGIN IT!
Greg Kolodziejzyk is a Motivational Speaker
About Greg Kolodziejzyk:
Greg Kolodziejzyk is a Motivational Speaker , and successful software enptrepreneur who holds 2 Guinness world records for the most distance travelled by human power in one day on both land and on water. Greg has also completed over a dozen Ironman triathlons including qualifying for and competing at Ironman World Championships in Hawaii.
Greg's next project is something that has never been done before. He plans on crossing the Pacific ocean from Canada to Hawaii under his own power in a custom made, 24 foot long x 3 foot wide completely encapsulated pedal powered boat.
After 3 years of speaking to school kids about his various world records, adventures, accomplishing goals and the benefits of staying active and healthy, Greg is now passionately focused on spreading his message to a wider audience by building a keynote motivational speaking career.
Greg's motivational speech titled "Bold!" is an impactful commentary about the kind of attitude that it takes to accomplish a dream. Greg has lived his life by the words of German Poet Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe "What you can do, or dream you can do, begin it, for Boldness has genius, power and magic in it." Greg's spirit is contagious and his message is vital.
http://www.human-power.com
The start of the new year traditionally brings out resolutions and promises for a better or different year ahead. Make sure you avoid these "Fatal Flaws of Goal Setting" to make this year's resolutions a reality.
Fatal Flaw 1: Goals are Not in Writing: It seems obvious that we should write down our goals, but most of us don't. Or maybe we don't think it really matters. The truth is it makes a big difference. In sales, research shows that having written goals (personal and professional) is one of the top distinguishing factors between average and top sales performers. This year, avoid this fatal flaw by writing out your goals. Place the written list where you can easily refer to it and begin outlining steps for accomplishing each goal.
Fatal Flaw 2: Goals are Not Connected to a Theme: One of the biggest challenges with goal setting is remembering what the goals are even if we refer to our written statements. By creating a "theme" or "slogan" for the year, it is much easier to keep the mind and activities focused on reaching the goal. Once you have your goals in writing, a natural theme is likely to emerge. Identify it in writing and put a Post It note somewhere handy. For example, the theme may look something like: "Work smarter, make more," or "Balance," or to borrow Nike's famous slogan "Just Do It." If you are a visual person, you may want to consider a vision board made up of pictures that speak to you. The key is to jog your memory about your goals.
Fatal Flaw 3: Goals are Not S.M.A.R.T.: The acronym S.M.A.R.T. stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timed. Once your goals are in writing, check to make sure they are articulated using the acronym. For example, is the goal specific enough? Can you measure it? Is it attainable in the time frame you have set? Is it relevant to your other goals or life plans? Does it have a timed start and ending? A non-S.M.A.R.T. goal may look like this: "Lose weight." The S.M.A.R.T. version of the same goal may look like this: "Lose four pounds in three weeks starting on January 21."
Fatal Flaw 4: Goals are Not Celebrated: It is difficult to keep the momentum going and execute on even the most exciting of goals. A University of Scranton study showed that almost half of Americans fail to follow through on their New Year's resolutions after six months. Celebrating accomplishments and goals met keeps the momentum going. This becomes especially important over time, when we are likely to lose our way and revert to old habits. After each major goal, write down how you will celebrate. Avoid over- indulging and set small attainable celebrations. If this is the year where you commit to setting aside a certain amount in your 401K, avoid a celebration that involves spending a lot of money and consider and annual subscription to Money magazine to keep the momentum going. If your goal is to lose weight, celebrate your goal attainment by cooking a healthy dinner for friends or family, encouraging them to support you and your goals as you keep at it.
2009 Jessika M. Ferm & J.Ferm, LLC
Jessika M. Ferm is a writer, coach, speaker, and consultant on leadership, management, and business topics and is known for her "no frills no fluff" approach to sharing information. She is the President of J.Ferm, LLC, an international leadership consulting firm and is the trusted adviser to leaders and managers ranging from Fortune 100 companies to start ups. For more information or to sign up for the free "Leading Edge" newsletter, visit: http://www.jferm.com/
Habits To Prevent Losing ThingsIncreasing numbers of people in the developed world consider themselves spiritual without belonging to a religion. Some of the dominant world religions believe there is no spiritual life outside their confines. Let's take some time now then to explore the differences between spirituality and religion.
Both spirituality and religion, at a core level are about our relationship with God, the Divine, the Mystery or Absolute truth, by whatever name you give it. From my point of view the similarities end here.
Spirituality as I see it is an innate dimension to our existence and our relationship with the Mystery of life. Religions are manmade structures that seek to define and control our spiritual nature. Religion used to be a cultures one size fits all spirituality and in many parts of the world still are. Spirituality is personal, fluid and evolving. Religions are constructed with rigid and moralized belief systems.
Religion is based on faith and accepted beliefs which define the parameters of what is allowed to be believed. Ideas and beliefs beyond these boundaries are often considered heresy and usually punishable one way or another, even with death. Religion has strict codes of what is right and wrong and applicable punishments in both this life and beyond. This polarized moralizing of human behavior is a system of control based on fear. Neitzsche pointedly dispelled this cannon of religious dogma when he said "there are no moral phenomena only the moral interpretation of phenomena".
What is amazing is that despite all of this there are people who are able to find authentic spirituality within the confines of their accepted religion.
Spirituality tends to be independent of religious doctrine and belief systems, although most people who consider themselves spiritual and not religious construct a belief system that they feel comfortable with. If this personal spiritual belief system becomes inflexible and rigid it can be as limiting to spiritual development as those of religion, though less likely to fill you with fear, guilt and shame.
The human mind creates systems of belief one way or another. The majority of these beliefs are received as conditioning from the culture that we grow up in. Spiritual development can be seen as a process of freeing ourselves from the conditioned state of the mind and therefore a limited experience of self. For it is beyond the conditioned state of mind that we experience the Mystery of the Divine. In the depths of this experience of Self beyond mind the boundaries of separation dissolve and the Self is experienced as One with the Divine. This process of spiritual evolution into awakening is the very nature of life itself.
Religion being manmade, being made in the consciousness of separation, places the divine outside of ourselves. This is true even when the source of the religion taught the spiritual truth of unity with God. Christianity is a great example. Jesus in his teaching clearly said that the kingdom of heaven is within all of us. How then did it become a place where God lives and we go where we go after we're dead if we've been good and lived by the prescribed rules?
One answer is that spiritual teachers like Jesus spoke from a more evolved state of consciousness, and those who came after them and formulated religion in their name, were of a less evolved level of consciousness, and interpreted the teachings from this low level of consciousness thus distorting it.
Another interpretation is that religion was identified as a means of controlling an entire population of people, and its teachings were distorted to this end. Taking Christianity is an example again it seems quite apparent to me that both these interpretations are aspects of how Christianity became what it is today. Don't think so? Well how is it that hundreds of years of war and countless atrocities have been committed in the name of religion, when pretty much all religions hold a core tenant of Thou shalt not kill, and Do onto others as you would have them do unto you, or the like?
Spirituality in its nature requires the questioning of beliefs, which tends to set it at odds with religion. Professing being spiritual doesn't necessarily mean that we do question our beliefs, but freed from the confines of religious dogma, life will inevitably provide the circumstances for us to more readily do so. Accepting this opportunity to keep stepping beyond the boundaries of the identity that we hold, is the means of living spirituality. Spirituality then requires forging your own unique path of awakening to our true nature.
Religion requires conformity, discourages independent thought, self inquiry, it requires followers. That anyone finds spirituality in religion is amazing to me, that they do is testament to the power of truth to shine through. So is religion all bad? No, for clearly many thousands of people are inspired to be of service to their fellows by their religious beliefs. And when religion inspires seeing beyond the appearance of difference and is a vessel from which to expand ones beliefs and seek direct experience of the Mystery that manifest and animates life, then it still serves it's spiritual purpose and spirituality and religion unite.
Ray Baskerville is a healer, meditation teacher, certified hypnotherapist, yogi and proud father. He has worked as a healer, taught meditation and yoga worldwide. Ray is also the creator and editor of lifedivine.net an online magazine for yoga, meditation, spirituality and personal development. Please visit for more free quality articles like this.
So you are interested in casting or getting cast for you, magic love spells that you hope will change your love life for the better? Do you know that there is a vast array of differences in magic love spells and each is suitable for a different situation in a person's life? Do you know that the purchase of wrong or uninformed love spell could actually cause you more problem then cure them? Read on to find out.
Love spells are of various kinds. Natural,Astrological and Evocative spells form the gist of the occult love spell genre. These are the three main type of magic love spells used from the new spell caster to the most experienced sorcerer to achieve their various aims in a love working.
The anointing and use of candles as those used in "wicca" love spells,the use of honey jars to sweeten someones disposition to the target as seen in some folk-voodoo circles and the use of mantras and various words of magic repeatedly while visualizing the aim of the mantra are all examples of Natural or Psychic magic love spells. What this means is that such methods bring into account the natural energies and vibrations of the world to bring about a situation where the desired outcome is manifested naturally.
The effectiveness of these methods depend not only on the single mindedness of outcome while doing the spell and the clarity of the visualization with emotions during the spell, but also the ability to let go of the outcome after the spell work is done. It means that once the work is done, the caster must not lust for the results or even think about it. Instead he should go about his daily work believing his desire will be fulfilled by the universe.
The type of magic love spells above works best if there is no enmity between the two people involved, if there was no bad breakup before or anything that would have led to feelings had been hurt. If not the target will resist the forces of nature and hate the other person even more as the person keeps coming to mind, bringing about emotions of past hurt.
In astrological and planetary based magic work (such as the use of talismans charged by the specific planetary energy), the birth date and time of all those involved are taken into account. This is to see what planets were in the targets life when he/she was born and how they are affecting him/her now. For example if Mars is in a bad position in the targets life (meaning strife and conflict), doing natural magic love spells would make things worse as the target will resist them with all their might. An experienced spell caster would thus make a talisman that counters the effects of mars and also promote opposite planetary energies like venus and thereby going pass the conflicts.
No matter what magic love spell one does,it is best to incorporate astrology into them to really make them effective and to get a bigger view of what is going on. An inefficient spell caster on the other hand might read the now ineffective western astrological chart and plot the wrong solution,turning the love situation in on its head.
Lastly but definitely not least we come to Evocative and entity based magic love spells. Only the most experienced spell casters are able to do this category of magic as it means calling forth spiritual entities (be it angels, demons, deities or planetary spirits) and the caster must have enough spiritual power for the entities to allow him leeway to get what he wants.
Because these entities are able to forcefully affect change in ones life almost instantaneously spell casters who do such work are the most sort after by celebrities, politicians and the like. Also only by working with these entities for some time does the spell caster know what part of love they effect. Using the wrong entity (For example Asmoday is actually the entity of lustful love while Kamdev is someone who deals with spiritual soul based love) might worsen the situation then help it.
It is therefore essential to know that when it comes to magic love spells,an experienced hand is required and the use of trial by fire magic could have disastrous results.
Rishi Bhrigu is a Practicing Sorcerer and Magick Worker for over 45 years who has had vast experience with Goetia Work, Necronomicon work, Hindu Rituals and even worked with the Nature Shamans on many occasions.
He has a vast clientele of people who seek his help from Businessmen, Politicians, Celebrities and every day folk as well. He is available for custom spell work at http://www.forbiddenblackmagic.com
My mom was "sandwiched" when I was and teenager. She still apologizes to me for "neglecting" me when I was a teenager because she was providing care for her parents. My mom like many other parents was caught in the dilemma of being "sandwiched" between taking care of her parents and her children. Unknowingly, my parents taught us some of the greatest lessons of spiritual devotion and service when they were washing out bedpans and changing soiled linens. My parents still don't recognize what a positive impact their devotion to my grandparents has made on the lives of the kids on the other side of the sandwich. My mother still occasionally apologizes to us for "neglecting" us when we were kids because she was caring for her parents. No matter what I say to my mom, she doesn't seem to understand the positive impact her devotion to her parents had on me.
One of the greatest legacies of caring for my grandparents was the deepening of spiritual faith. As a young child, I snuggled up against my granddad while he read his Bible and held my grandma's hand on the way to Bible class. I sang church songs with them and climbed over both of them during worship services. As I got older, I observed the hospitality of my grandparents and their commitment to caring for other people, but nothing impacted me like helping care for my grandparents in their last years.
Witnessing the physical decline of my grandparents provided a rare window into how faith impacts and influences the final years and days of life. I heard my granddad beg God to let him die so he could come home. Years later, my granddad's pleadings echo in my mind . . . what a powerful understanding of the yearning to go home. As I get older, I appreciate more and more that longing to go home myself. I understand the common faith I share with my granddad. My spiritual faith grew in the environment of a sandwiched family.
Dr. Beth Robinson is the Assistant Provost at Lubbock Christian University and is a licensed professional counselor, speaker, and author. If you are sandwiched, sign up for a free newsletter for sandwiched families at http://www.drbethrobinson.com.
