Shifting Sands: Dealing with Impermanence
A Philosopher of ancient Greece before the time of Socrates, named Heraclitus, used to profess that everything in the Universe is in constant flux and that nothing remains the same. “You cannot step in the same river twice” Heraclitus used to say. This is because all the observable world and even the imperceptible one is changing all the time even if it may appear stationary or permanent from our limited subjective observation.
This is true in so many levels and has been echoed in many philosophies and folk wisdom across cultures and centuries all the way down to modern science. The physical world is in constant movement. Matter and energy is exchanged from one place to the other. Even our own bodies never remain the same. As we grow each and every atom in our body is changed many times and replaced by new ones. In a way you can say that the body you have now is completely different than the one you had 5 years ago although it looks more or less the same.
Everything Must Go
Nothing stays the same. This is something that we all observe as time passes by, sometimes to our dismay or anxiety because we cannot come to grips with change, loss or drastically new things.
We all get through that moment in life when we ponder and reflect back on our past and realize that so many things have irreversibly changed or come to an end. Of course, aging is one of the most obvious signs although not every one is affected by aging in the same way.
It doesn’t mean that we always get nostalgic or panicky when we look back at our past. We get a lot of nice memories of wonderful moments we passed with loved ones or friends in lovely places or in special episodes of our lives. But there are other times where we get attached to our past or those happier moments in life and so we end up getting all emotional especially when the present gets a bit tough or the future is more uncertain than usual. As a line from one of U2’s old song goes “We glorify the past when the future dries up“. (more…)
Why Passion is such a Bad Thing
I have been annoyed for some time now about the frequent misuse of the term ‘Passion’ in the personal development arena. I must admit beforehand that I was also guilty of the same mistake in one or two of my past articles.
The thing is that passion is most frequently used to mean a positive quality that is essential for personal development, Happiness, goal setting and finding one’s true purpose.
Even the laymen use of the word falls into this misconception. People talk about passion almost with reverence. “He is very passionate about his team” or “He loved her passionately“. It seems as though passion is a very respected quality of a person or of a culture.
I know something about this being born in a southern Mediterranean culture.Southern European people will openly boast about being passionate, hot-headed and warm-blooded people. In Sicily, for example, there were many cases, in the not so distant past, of murders in which people were acquitted or their sentence heavily reduced because their crime was not just any crime but ‘a crime of passion’. That means that a man (it’s almost always a man who is absolved with a crime of passion) gets away with killing his wife because he caught her having sex with another man and in a moment of blind fury he followed his irrational but ‘justified’ rage. (more…)
Heart Driven Success
Photo by timtom.ch
There are many factors that play a determining role in success. The most commonly identified are qualities such as passion, determination, perseverance, good planning, intuition and creativity amongst a few others.
It is to be said, however, that not all success comes from the heart or leads to happiness.
There is success which comes from taking smart decisions, hard work and perseverance together with a pinch of good luck. But this type of success does not necessarily lead to a happy fulfilled life. It might be the type of success that comes from striking the right six figure business deal or from having your name become big in your area of expertise.
This is obviously a great thing but does not necessarily entail what you really want deep inside.
Authenticity and inner purpose
Heart driven success is the ultimate form of success because it goes beyond limited beliefs about cause and effect, desire for money, fear and expectations and most of all, it is guided from the heart.
When you have stripped off the socially induced values of what is good, bad and ugly and listen more to what your heart is saying, you thrive towards your inner purpose. You would have found your authentic self. (more…)
The little sacred rules of inner peace
Photo by jsbanks42
No matter how different people’s goals, inclinations and social conditions might be, there is always one thing that is common to all humans – the desire for inner peace.
Some might not be consciously aware of this all the time or their life experiences have completely closed their heart to this possibility. Others might think that their highest goals are nothing like inner peace but more like material success and gratification.
Still, whether we admit it or not, we all seek happiness and inner peace. Nobody will ever feel complete with loads of material rewards but a spiritual void. So many life stories are a witness to this.
The rules
If you are listening to your heart’s calling for inner peace and happiness, there are a few rules you can embrace and follow in your life. These rules helped many people over many centuries acquire inner peace, reconciliation with their heart’s desires and happiness.
Here they go: (more…)
Latest log in my travel journal
Photo by China Guccio
I have been in China this week. This is definitely not my first time there. Every time I’ve been in China I always took something back with me – as an experience that is, or as a lesson.
In previous experiences I was impressed by perceptions such as human adaptability and ingenuity in highly competitive and dynamic environments, by greed and power, fragility and the dwarfing of the individual relative to the enormity of the place and the size of its population.
This time it has been a different insight altogether which is not so much tied to the place but to a more general perspective of things. I want to share them here with you because I am sure that most of them will resonate with some of your own experiences (which perhaps you might also want to share 
).
If things go out of plan, relax, reinvent and celebrate change
Quite a few things went out of plan in my last trip. A long delay which made me lose my connection and a day out of my schedule was the main theme. Other unforeseen deviations and little bumps and hiccups were not uncommon either.
But all in all my attitude remained a positive and relaxed one. I had prepared myself mentally for this. I had told myself that a lot of unpredictable variables can get along the way but that’s OK. It’s part of what traveling is about. And it was.
It’s nice to observe the bitter sweetness of having your plan scrambled up due to one unforeseen circumstance. But then after you accept it and reinvent yourself, it all takes shape perfectly and you realize that one blunder brought you along a more interesting course that you would have missed if your plan went unaltered.
It is in those moments when you open yourself to change and see an underlying force at work. You don’t deny it. You celebrate it. (more…)
How to find and recognize your inner voice
Photo by Temari 09
Have you ever been in a difficult moment where you needed to take an important and quick decision but didn’t have the answer there and then? And did it ever happen to you that in such a situation you suddenly ‘hear’ an answer in your head out of nowhere that leads you out of your predicament? That’s your inner voice.
The inner voice is that subtle message that you sometimes pick up but feel is coming from somewhere different than your thoughts or the usual internal commentary in your head. It has a different tone and a different purpose.
Your inner voice can be your guide, your ally and your friend in need that speaks up in those moments when you really need an answer. Sometimes we have to take an action or a decision but the information we have is limited. Your inner voice serves as a priceless feedback.
Your inner voice helps you take wiser decisions and it keeps you in perspective by guiding you in the right direction and giving you information in the form of hints which you would otherwise have missed or overlooked.
How to find you inner voice:
A common question that I’ve been asked when the subject of inner voice comes out is “So how can I find my inner voice?”
To be exact, we don’t find our inner voice but our inner voice finds us. What we can do to facilitate this is to open up and tune our ‘internal antenna’. I’ve noticed that although some people like myself have always found it very natural to be inward looking and sensitive to subtle things, most people are more externally driven, so listening to their inner voice could be a possibility that they never opened themselves to.
If you are such a person you need to start forming some habits that help you redirect your awareness inwardly – to your feelings, ideas, energies, motivation, etc. Here are a few things to do: (more…)
A shamanic saturday afternoon
A Shamanic Saturday Afternoon - Photo by Gilbert Ross
Last Saturday I went for a bit of Soul Hiking up in the northwestern part of the island (see here). I didn’t take much with me…just my camera, some water and my soul.
The weather was fantastic. That part of the island has some magic in it which I can’t explain better than a picture I took (above) and a poem I wrote here below:
The north-westerly wind chanted prayers in my ears
Its salt-laden mouth weaved words in languages strange
The waves below crashed into riddles of brittle sound
A prelude to tales of near and distant seas unbound
The heavens echoed white plumes of remembrance
Clouds of fleeting memories against a darkening canvas
Wild thyme incensed the air with seductive smells
An offering to the skies born out of rituals and spells
I descended down the rocky hills as faithful as a pilgrim
Mindfully securing my feet in a slow apologizing pace
The rocks were in slumber, entranced by the moving shadows
Silently I walked into the secrets of these enchanted meadows
The mystic light played with the clouds for a while
Then lit up the sea with pools of incandescent gold
Dazzled I sat down on the edge of this weathering land
My disentangled heart floated away like shifting sand
I hope you liked it. If you did I wouldn’t mind if you share it along just to light up those unispiring Mondays
Reboot your life: 20 mental barriers you should let go of
photo by admitchell08
You are in an imaginary hot air balloon. It’s just you and all of your belongings in the wicker basket. Something went wrong and you are losing altitude fast. You will hit the ground in less than ten minutes if you don’t come up with something quick.
The only immediate solution is to get rid of excess weight and throw off at least half of your belongings. It’s that or hit the ground in ten. You look at the things and hesitate for a few seconds but then you do what you have to do and start throwing the things you have gathered half your life one by one. The cargo gets lighter, the descent slows down then you are floating up again back to altitude. You are relieved beyond comprehension.
This happens to all of us in less dramatic circumstances. We attach ourselves to things that we have accumulated over the years. Some of them might have some practical value. Others we just have attached ourselves sentimentally to over time. Some others are just clutter.
Our mental life follows the same fate. We carry with us a lot of things in our heads along the years – Our life story, emotional attachments, beliefs and other things which can linger in our minds for many years.
Some of them are useless ideas that drag us down considerably. Some are emotional debris from difficult moments in our past. Some are just beliefs which we have attached ourselves to for no apparent justifiable reason. Some others are just self-destructive habits and fears.
So if you were in the hot air balloon situation, which of these mental barriers should we let go? I have listed down 20 here. Do you have any more? (more…)
Expanding consciousness through compassion & loving kindness
photo by Mara ~earth light~
The notion of practicing compassion for other fellow humans has been with us since the beginning of time. After all, Man is a social creature in need of meaningful social connections in order to grow on all levels of his being.
The concept of compassion however has in recent times been appraised in value. Its importance is starting to be understood under the new light of a drastically changing world where people are getting more connected, economies collapse and new global crisis emerge. Compassion is becoming increasingly tied to the future of humanity. In order for Humanity to keep the balance against the impounding waves of change we need to grow collectively in mind, awareness and in consciousness. One essential ingredient for this growth is cultivating compassion and loving kindness
Compassion compels action and social change
“You know, there’s a lot of talk in this country about the federal deficit. But I think we should talk more about our empathy deficit — the ability to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes; to see the world through the eyes of those who are different from us — the child who’s hungry, the steelworker who’s been laid-off, the family who lost the entire life they built together when the storm came to town. When you think like this — when you choose to broaden your ambit of concern and empathize with the plight of others, whether they are close friends or distant strangers — it becomes harder not to act; harder not to help.” Barack Obama
