One enlightening read...

Not My Assignment ... if you didn't create it, then it's not yours! -By Edward B. Toupin

Life consists of lessons. Living is continual learning. Therefore, if you take on someone else's issues and responsibilities, or lessons, would that not be classified as cheating? Are you not cheating yourself out of your own life? Are you not cheating others out of their own lessons?At one time or another, we all get involved with someone else's issues. These issues can include family issues, life change, minimal conundrums, or anything that can somehow challenge the foundations and beliefs of an individual. However, we must be able to identify when we are providing assistance and when we are accepting responsibility for someone else.---

Helping vs. Hindering ---Of course, there are times when it is essential, for our well-being and for those we love, that we must set aside our own lives to ensure the comfort of a loved one. In this situation, for example, I am speaking of a loved one who is incapable of caring for themselves. In these cases, it is our desire and obligation as human beings to be there and care for them as we are not only helping our loved ones, but we are also growing within ourselves.However, there is a limit that we, as humans, are expected to give up our lives and directions for another. These cases primarily involve the absorption of responsibility for another person who is unwilling to take care of their own issues. It is in such a situation that we must all learn how to back away and allow the others to handle their own problems and learn their own lessons.--- Please … do this for me!!! ---It is a natural human response to lend a hand to someone in need. It is fulfilling to know that you are helping someone, especially if you've been through a similar situation and you know all of the answers.But, do you really know all of the answers?

You may have experienced a similar situation; however, your perspective and, therefore, your lessons were different. By taking on the issue for yourself and solving the problems of others, you are actually robbing them of lessons that they need to learn for themselves and grow in their own way.Also, realize that people live their own karma.

When they are experiencing various issues in their lives, they are more than happy to include others into the drama or give the issue to someone else to handle. This is because they are walking into an area of the unknown outside of their safety zone. By taking responsibility to resolve their issues for them, you are also accepting responsibility for the success or failure of the issue. Over time you will lose yourself in the expectations of others and eventually become the whipping post for everyone that knows that you will do the 'dirty work' for them.

Finally, you're giving up a time of your own life to deal with someone else's issues when, in fact, you could be using that time to move forward in your own life. But, in many cases, people take over other people's issues when they feel the need to become emotionally stimulated and there isn't enough going on in their own life to stimulate themselves. Perhaps you need more involvement in things that make a difference in your own life. Such stimulation can occur through setting a plan and having a vision set for your life. Without one, we seek out other forms of stimulation to fill the voids in our own lives.I'm not saying that you should ignore the needs of others on this planet. Such a view would be arrogant, harsh, and inhumane. You should always be aware of the needs of others.

However, 'being aware of' and 'being responsible for' the needs of others are two completely different things. It is important to respect the needs of others and allow them the opportunity to fulfill their needs. However, you cannot take responsibility for anyone else's needs. If they are capable of handling their own lives, then they should take the reins and do so.--- It's all your fault!!! ---You have to realize that, if someone else makes an error and throws it into your court, they are expecting you to handle it. Many times, people will blame you for their own issues, also known as 'projection', because they don't know how to handle them. But, your best approach is simply to 'throw it back'. It is actually their own responsibility to resolve the issues and your responsibility is merely to watch your own area of influence and ensure that their issue does not affect you.With such situations, don't fall into 'playing games', which can last for weeks, months, and even years. By toying with games, you're literally wasting your time with someone else's issues while you could be focusing on things of importance to your own life. Ignoring their claims will only create more turmoil on their side that they will have to eventually handle. Consider it a form of voodoo. If you don't believe it in, it can't harm you.

If you see this person as a friend, and you lose this person as a friend because of the situation, then so be it. There's more to life than being drug into a hole because of someone else's inability to handle their own issues. Allow them a chance to learn on their own. Not only will they be a better person for it, but you will be a better friend in the long run.--- How do I know the difference? ---If you allow other's issues, whether they affect you or not, to engulf your life, then you are allowing your life to be controlled by other people and situations. Eventually, your life will belong to everyone else and you can no longer move forward to your own vision because your life is cluttered with everyone else's issues. You must learn to evaluate the issues and learn, more importantly, how to be human without providing your soul as a door mat.One of the side effects of taking on the world's issues is that many people can eventually feel as though they are overwhelmed, beaten, or carrying a huge load on their shoulders. Their 'load' comes from taking on too many unnecessary issues that actually belong to someone else just to fill in the voids in their own lives.The best way to determine if you are busily taking on the world's problems and not focusing on your own life is to make a list of the many issues with which you are faced at this moment in time. For each issue note:

1) Where did this issue come from?Was it you or someone else that initiated the issue? You need to figure out whom or what actually started the issue and what made it seem of importance to you in your life. If it was initiated by someone else, why did you seem to find it important?

2) What are the details of the issue?When examining their own issues, most people have no idea why they're even engaged in certain issues. It seems as though they know where it came from and they know where it's going, but they have no idea why they're even doing anything about the issue. If you don't know what the issue is about, then perhaps there is no real reason for the issue in the first place so, why are you dealing with it?

3) How does the issue affect your life?If you can come up with at least five important aspects of your life affected by the issue in a positive way, then indeed, it is an important issue. But, if there are no real affects, then you need to reevaluate the situation. If a given issue does not directly affect your life and the quality thereof, then why are you dealing with the issue?

4) What is the status of resolution for the issue?Does the issue seem to sag and hang without any real forward momentum? If you don't feel as though the issue is moving forward toward a resolution then you need to stop and see if indeed there is a viable resolution. Perhaps you've simply been caught in a vortex where one issue begets another and another and another. This is a situation where you are searching for problems to solve when, indeed, there are no 'real' problems. This is a common pitfall and one that you should simply step out of as, indeed, there is no resolution.

5) Who is involved and how?Who is involved in the situation and why are they involved? Are you in control of the progress or is someone else 'managing' the issue and its progress? If someone else is 'managing' the progress, then shouldn't this other person be completely in control of the situation? Perhaps you should simply give them the issue to deal with on their own.

6) What else could I be doing?If you're working with a situation that seems useless, then why are you doing it? If you're working to resolve a situation from the past so that you can feel better about yourself in the now, why not work on something that can benefit you in the now and make you feel better about yourself in the future? The past is gone, let it go. Shoot for the future!

7) What is my ultimate vision in my life?Everyone must have a vision for their life. What's yours? If you have one, then how does this issue relate to the success of your attainment of this vision? If you don't have one, then you need to find out how this situation relates to your life and devise a vision for your life.--- What's Next? ---Stick to what's important and let the rest fall aside. There is no shame in dropping trivial situations that are of no use and are at a dead-end. Don't feel guilty about pushing other people's issues out of your life. You're not shirking responsibility. You're simply claiming your own life. You have just as much right to live your life as everyone else. You will encounter issues that you must overcome just as everyone else will throughout their lives. But, while you're dealing with other people's problems, what are they doing? They're living their life because you were so kind to alleviate them of their pressures. The point is that, if you're not careful, these issues can block your paths moving forward.

Ultimately, you remain stuck in the past because you're unable to find a solution. Your best solution is to cut it out of your life and continue moving toward your vision. Make your own path, fix your own mistakes, and take responsibility for your own future. Not only will you find that the load slowly lifts from your back, but you'll see a much brighter future in a life that you own and control for yourself.

Power of Intention

Intention
The dictionary defines intention as an aim that guides action or a course of action that one intends to follow. In medicine the word intention is defined as “the process by which or the manner in which a wound heals.” The word itself comes from the Latin intendere which means to direct attention.In healing, energy follows thought, it is the intention that allows the energy that is healing to follow and take root where it is needed.

Intention is the opening of the cycle of Intention ~ Manifestation ~ Gratitude

EXERCISE On FOCUSING INTENTION from Deepak Chopra's book "The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire"

The best way to focus on intention is to write them down. Although this may sound like an obvious first step, it is the step that many people ignore. As a result, their intention often remain unfocused, and therefore unrealized.

Go to a quiet place where you are not likely to be disturbed. Write down what you want on all different levels of desire. Included material, ego gratification, relationship, self esteem, and spiritual desires. Be as specific as possible.

Ask yourself what you want on the material level, in terms of abundance and affluence. Do you want to own your own house with four bedrooms? Write that down. Do you want to be able to send your children to college? Write that down. Think also of your desires for sensory gratification--sound, touch, sight, smell, and sensuality--anything that gratifies th senses. Write these down.

Ask yourself what you want in terms of relationships. Write down your desires for all your relationships--romantic partners, children, peers, parents, friends, and professional relationships.

Write down what you want in terms of personal accomplishments or recognition. Note what you want on a more universal level---how can you help? What do you want to do with your life in terms of your society, your country, your civilization? What do you want to to contribute? Write down what you want when you think of discovering your highest sense of self. Whom do you want to be? What spiritually do you want to add to your life? Write down everything you desire on a singel sheet of paper. Add or subtract from the list as your desires change or become fulfilled.
Meditate on what life would be like if all these desires were to manifest. See if you can create inner visions of genuine fulfillment on both material and spiritual levels.

Don't be concern about having these visions in any kind of order, or whether they're very realistic or not. Just see them all happening---feel them with all your five senses. The goal is to have congruent attention on all these four levels of aspiration. When that kind of congruency is in play, the internal dialougue is very powerful and clear and will help you gain unity of consciousness.

Intentions do not need constant attention but they do need to remain focused. This is a habit that you need to develop over time. Look at your list once or twice during the day. Read it over again just before meditation. When you go into meditation, you silence the self. The ego disappears. As a result, you detach from the results and outcomes , you don't get involved in the details. and you let the infinite organizing power of the deeper intelligence orchestrate and fulfill all the details in your intentions for you. The key is to move away from the level of ego, away from the level of the self and self esteem, to let the nonloca intelligence orchestrate the fulfillment of your desires through synchronicity.

In the beginning, you can be as selfish as you want. In the beginning your intentions may be all about the "self" and the little details of what you want to happen in your life. But eventually you will realize that the goal is fulfillment at all levels not just personal or ego level. As you start to see the fulfillment of your intentions, your self interest wil diminish because you know you can have it all. When you have enough food to eat, you don't obsess about eating all the time. It's the same with intentions. When you know that fulfillment is possible, you will think less about your personal needs and more about the needs of the rest of the world. This is a process taht works through stages. Be patient, but watch for miracles to begin!

How to Do Automatic Writing / My Experience

How to Practice Automatic Writing
Source : http://paranormal.about.com by Stephen Wagner

Automatic writing is an old form of divination in which messages seem to come out of nowhere through your hand and onto paper. Whether these messages come from the "spirit world" or the subconscious in unknown. Some who have attempted this form of mediumship have written lengthy messages, songs -- even complete novels.

Difficulty Level: Hard Time Required: 15 minutes to an hour

Here's How:
Find a quiet spot without distractions.
Sit at a table or desk where you'll be comfortable, with paper and pen (or pencil).
Take a few moments to clear your mind.
Touch the pen or pencil to the paper.
Try not to consciously write anything.
While keeping your mind as clear as possible, let your hand write whatever comes across.
Avoid looking at the paper; you might even keep your eyes closed.
Give it time to happen (nothing might happen for quite a while).
When it seems to be done, if and when automatic writing does occur, look over what your hand has produced carefully. The writing may appear to be nonsense or just scribbling, but try to decipher it as best as possible.
In addition to letters and numbers, look for pictures or symbols in the writing as well.
Keep trying. Nothing might happen your first few attempts.
If you start to achieve success, you can try asking questions to see if you can receive responses.

Tips:
There is no guarantee that automatic writing will work for you, but don't give up if it doesn't work the first few times. Give it a chance.
Be aware of psychological dangers. Some messages that come across might be disturbing. If you're at all not able to handle this possibility, don't attempt automatic writing.
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My Thoughts

Some psychics online have claimed that they do their readings via Automatic Writing. I was amazed. I have tried Automatic Writing only once, closely a few months ago. I tried to clear my mind to ward of stuffiness in my system, and tried to relax before undergoing this. I got a clean sheet of bond paper and a pencil, and started with questions that answer with Yes or No, specifically talking about the entity. As I asked each question, I felt my hands forced into scribbling this letter that struggled with a Yes or a No. My handwriting that time was not exactly pretty :P I asked tons of questions, and initially the spirit claimed to be good, but my last question was "are you evil?" and it scribbed YES. I freaked out, thinking that maybe, some spirit had taken over our session with the benign spirit, and stopped.

I think I shall try other methods of meditation and summoning my spirit guides, but I don't know if I will try Automatic Writing again. It is a nice experience, but it is not for the faint-hearted.

Love, Maria

Da Vinci Code Claims - Part 1

With this highly controversial book, and a widely debated movie, Da Vinci code has several issues that refute the teachings of the Catholic Church, as well as claims some facts :

Source : http://www.rbcdavincicode.org

* Goddess Worship

What Actually Was The "Goddess Worship" That Is Portrayed So Positively By The Da Vinci Code?
Written by: Dan Vander Lugt
Goddess worship was a form of fertility religion practiced widely among ancient people. In the Mediterranean area alone, the "goddess" was represented by Astarte, Isis, Ishtar, Anat, Kybele, Demeter, Aphrodite, and many other local deities. We know more about later forms of goddess worship that existed in places about which there are historical records and where there are significant archeological remains.
Fertility religions were based on the passing of the seasons—alternating times of harvest and plenty, scarcity and hardship. Fertility was personified by a goddess, and her consort—often a young god—went through an annual cycle of death and rebirth. Worshipers of the goddess practiced a kind of "magic" that usually relied on sexual ritual and human sacrifice to ensure the continuing favor and fertility of the goddess and her consort (Leviticus 20:2 ; Deuteronomy 18:10 ; 2 Kings 21:6 ; Psalms 106:38 ; Jeremiah 7:31 ; Ezekiel 23:37 , etc.). The Old Testament and a broad range of other sources make it clear that such worship involved the use of both male and female "sacred prostitutes" ( Deuteronomy 23:18 ) and involved ecstatic frenzy, sometimes including self-laceration and self-emasculation ( 1 Kings 18:28 ).

* Holy Grail
HOLY GRAIL
Are the claims in The Da Vinci Code about the Holy Grail, the Priory of Sion and the Knights Templar historically accurate?

According to The Da Vinci Code, the legendary Holy Grail is not the chalice used at the Last Supper of Christ. Instead, Brown uses his fictional "experts" to suggest that the real Holy Grail is a person, Mary Magdalene, who carried the bloodline of Jesus Christ by having His child.

The book also treats as fact the existence of a secret society called the Priory of Sion, which for centuries has kept the secret of Jesus' relationship to Mary. Mary Magdalene, according to this bestselling novel, represents the feminine aspect of God (the "divine feminine")—loved by Jesus but denied by the church for hundreds of years. The Knights Templar are also included as protectors of the secret but were all but wiped out by the church.

The Holy Grail and the Priory of Sion are only two of the many "facts" that need to be subjected to a historical reality check.

The Holy Grail is a medieval legend about the cup of the Last Supper. The first appearance of the term Holy Grail was in 1170 in Perceval, a romantic writing about the legend of King Arthur and his kingdom of Camelot. When Brown suggests that the Holy Grail is not a cup but actually Mary Magdalene who carried on Jesus' bloodline, he alters an existing legend about the historical "cup of Christ" and uses it to advance fictional claims about Jesus and Mary.

The Priory of Sion also has a basis in fact, but not in the sense that Brown portrays it. The title has been used three different times. It was first a monastic order founded in Jerusalem in 1100 that was absorbed into the Jesuits in 1617.

The second and third versions of the Priory of Sion were each under the leadership of Pierre Plantard (1920-2000), an anti-Semitic Frenchman who went to jail in 1953 for fraud. In 1954, Plantard formed a group called the Priory of Sion to help those in need of low-cost housing. The group dissolved in 1957. Then in the 1960s and 70s, he created a series of forged documents to "prove" the existence of a bloodline descending from Jesus and Mary through the kings of France to himself (claiming to be the rightful heir to the throne). He and his associates called themselves the Priory of Sion and deposited these documents in libraries all over France, including the National Library.

In 1993, however, Plantard admitted under oath to a French judge that he had fabricated all the documents relating to the Priory of Sion. The judge issued him a severe warning and dismissed him as a harmless crank (www.priory-of-sion.com).

The Knights Templar are based in history but, once again, not as portrayed in The Da Vinci Code. They were founded in 1118 as a military religious order, but they did not become wealthy, as alleged in the novel, by discovering the secret of the Holy Grail. And there is no evidence that they were annihilated for having knowledge of it.

The significance of the Priory of Sion is bolstered in the plotline of The Da Vinci Code by claiming a little-known connection with such geniuses as Leonardo Da Vinci and Isaac Newton. Once again, however, Brown bases these assertions on one of Plantard's forged documents called Les Dossiers Secrets d'Henri Lobineau ("The Secret Records Of Henri Lobineau"). Even though a French judge got Plantard to admit his hoax, Dan Brown uses these "secret records" as if they were legitimate.

These facts are important to readers of The Da Vinci Code. If there is no credible evidence that Leonardo Da Vinci and Isaac Newton were secretly involved in the Priory of Sion, and if there is only fraudulent evidence that the Priory of Sion was formed to keep "the secret of Mary Magdalene," other factual claims of The Da Vinci Code also need to be questioned.
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Claim # 1 is actually true. Several historians have noted and have written about goddess worship that came before Christianity. I am reading Merlin Stone's "When God Was a Woman", and the first gods that humans worshipped were actually women, and it was an agricultural society way back then. The book claimed that bloodshed and war came when the northern tribes ( men ) invaded those agricultural societies, and domineered over women, thus, making men gods.

Claim # 2, I think, I have no clear answer to that because up to this age, the Holy Grail is still being searched, and it is almost considered a myth. It was an eye opener to read Da Vinci code that claimed that Mary Magdalene was the Holy Grail.

History, being uncluttered, and being searched through and through is quite difficult since multitudes of human beings live at a certain era, some leave some things behind, some don't. We wouldn't even verify its accuracy. It's mind-boggling, yet the mystery of the past has fascinated many people that they actually choose on what they believe in. The past is a wonderful tale of one's imagination, for people living now.

Love, Maria

MYSTICISM EXPLAINED

WHAT IS MYSTICISM:

source: Ronaldlarue.com

More and more people have been asking me lately “What do you mean by the word mystic?” There seems to be quite a lot of blurry confused notions and outright misconceptions about the word. And yet, it is perhaps one of the most important words pointing toward a fundamental truth about who we are at the soul of matter . Mysticism is about how we can come to live within the fullness of our True Nature.

In a very real sense - and because mysticism concerns the essence of life -- it is audacious to even try and define it. Words are insufficient, often in the way of understanding. That to which the word "mysticism" refers, is a quality of presence that is quite literally beyond and before any words (more on that later). ... Still, and like others, I feel compelled to try and come as close as I can to pointing toward something that speaks of our original nature. And I beg pardon in advance for the terrible insufficiency of language and the limits of my own mere glimpses into these realms of an endless sacred mystery. ...Still, let me try.

A mystic is one who, above all else in life, desires to know (not in the intellectual sense of knowing) the deepest Truth of existence. A mystic is one who senses more to life than making a living or being of service in the world – although these things are both necessary and good. The mystic, however, is looking beyond an exclusive (or preoccupied) focus on these survival/self-actualization desires to something more: he is looking to discover the deepest truth of our being as incarnate souls; to understand our greatest potential as reflections of God; to realize our wholeness within the Ground of All. The primary interest in life for the mystic is to discover truth, to know God, to see into mans whole nature. …The mystic sees all of life as an abundant opportunity to discover, realize, and express the Divine.

Mysticism springs from an insatiable curiosity for understanding the essential questions of Life: matters of God, Creation, the Infinite --- and the human potential for knowing Truth. The mystic is in reality the ultimate scientist who, looking beyond the apparent or obvious in all matters, asks: “Is this that I am seeing reality or the illusions that stem from fear?” “What existed before this sense of reality?” "What existed before my mental constructs, my beliefs, my self identity?" "Who is this that observes and is self-reflecting?" “What is at life's very source?”....