Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may
be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the
dull and ignorant; they to have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit. If
you compare yourself to others, you may become vain and bitter; for
always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.Enjoy your
achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your career, however humble; it is a real possession
in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business
affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you
to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and
everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical
about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as
perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the council of years, gracefully surrendering the things of
youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of
fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with
yourself.
You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no
doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive him to be, and
whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life
keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful
world.
Be cheerful.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Empathy
A Beginner’s Guide
Empathy in essence is one of the very most basic abilities, though it is far from being unimportant. Empathy creates a bridge between what is said and what is meant. Empathy is a gateway ability that helps us to be more open to abilities such as energy reading, automatic writing, telepathy, medium abilities, and intuition. Even in its mildest forms it is essential in all types of communication and psychic work. By becoming better empaths we can become more efficient in all areas of out lives and get a deeper understanding of the lives we lead.
Every emotion and every thought has a frequency. That means every time you think a happy thought a happy vibration is sent out. And every time you think about a person the vibration of that person is sent out. Empaths learn to pick up on these vibrations and to some degree to “translate” them in to words that can be understood. Though not every thought and emotion is exactly the same, unless other circumstances are exactly the same. So if you are happy because you got an A on a test and you are happy because you just found a $10 bill then you are sending out the vibration of both those thoughts. So the emotion of both of those thoughts is happiness but the other vibrations within the larger emotional vibration tell why that emotion is experienced and what is causing you to feel that way.
Thoughts and emotions are energy and energy vibrates at a frequency. The frequency of a thought/emotion tells you what it is. Knowing what the thought or emotion is about tells you the frequency.
Empathy is a branch off of clairsentience. That means that empaths can feel and know the emotions of others. This allows a deeper understanding of the human mind and of the things that keep people going. Empathy is normally felt primarily in one of three parts of the body. The Head (Third Eye), The Heart, or The Gut. All places contain a chakra or energy vortex that in some way corresponds to the ability.
Empathy makes receiving and sending information psychically much easier. Instead of having to send an explanation of your current mindset you can send a conceptual emotion of your current mindset. Making it easier to focus not only on the target meant to receive but also on the information being sent.
This ability can also be extended to feeling the physical pains of others. Few people ever experience this.
In order to awaken your inner empathy you must be open to the emotions of others. And to understand the emotions of others we must first understand our own emotions and emotional states. In everything there is a base that we build on. In empathy the base of our ability is the ability to understand ourselves.
Exercise #1 (Let It All Out)
Get a few pieces of paper and a pen and sit down somewhere where you won’t be disturbed. (If you have a sacred space that is probably a good place to go.)
Think of about 4 or 5 words that bring up strong emotions in you. The emotions may be similar or totally different. The same applies to the words. You can have people’s names, places, events, dates, actions, adjectives, etc.
Now write each word on a separate piece of paper (if you’re trying to save trees you can probably manage with one piece of paper. Half a page for each word on the front and back)
Okay now focus on the first word. Let all emotions attached to it come to the surface of your mind. Once you have a feel for what the emotion/emotional cluster write down a few words that correlate to the word under the word.
Continue to focus on the emotion(al cluster) and analyze the emotion at hand (if it is an emotional cluster go through as many emotions as you see fit). Why do you feel that way? What cause this emotion in the first place? How is this emotion different from other things I have felt about this before? Why do I experience this emotion in correlation to this word?
Write down the answers to the questions you ask yourself or any other information that may come through.
Continue this with the rest of the words. Being sure to write down everything that is significant (or even insignificant but if you wrote it down its probably not insignificant).
Save the paper and read over it whenever you get a chance. If more words pop up write those down. When you are confident with those emotions move on.
That should have helped with opening up emotional channels in yourself helping you to become more honest with yourself and others. It also helps you understand the many levels of emotions, as well as encouraging you to understand emotions before expressing them.
Being an empath is fun and helps you to grow as an individual. You can also use empathy to help others. Empathetic therapy is a great way to help people deal with emotional stress and problems. Sometimes just being there and listening can be all a person needs. Though In order to truly help someone you must understand their emotions on as many levels as possible. This next quick exercise helps to open up our understanding of others and how their emotional states can differ from ours.
Exercise #2 (Different Point of View)
First think of another person who is close to you. Then choose a problem that they may have.
Now see them being confronted with the problem. What kind of emotions do you think they will feel? How do you think they will handle the situation?
Watch how the emotions change and shift as the problem is fixed and as the problem starts.
Now I want you to change perspectives.
Imagine now that you are your friend. Look at you hair (if you can) and see the color it is now that you are your friend. Look at your hands and notice how you feel in their body.
Now bring the problem up. Now from their perspective what emotions do you feel? Do these emotions feel familiar or foreign to you?
Figure out how you will handle the situation from your friends perspective, this may or may not be the same as you saw earlier. What emotions arise with the solution?
Implement the solution. What emotions surface now? How do they feel? Why are you (in your new perspective) feeling these emotions?
Now change back in to yourself. See your own hair and your own hands and feel the familiar sense of being in your own body.
The last step of the exercise is very important. Empaths will commonly lose track of who they are or become caught up in the emotions of others. We feel out of place and out of sync with ourselves because essentially we are. We are another person’s emotions and perspective in our own body. Although we should help others and learn from their emotions we should always remember who we are. Boundaries are not limits meant to keep us in, they are limits meant to keep bad things out. Next is the last exercise and is a general exercise meant to help us tune into ourselves and others.
Exercise #3 (Energy Field Shape Shifting)
Sit down in a way that mimics a dog. Or basically cross your legs “Native-American” style and lay your hands palm down flat on the floor in front of you. This is a very primal position and connects us to the Animals of nature.
Imagine an animal. Think of its name a few times. How big is it? What shape? What color? How many legs? What kind of mouth? Etc.
Now see yourself changing and shape shifting into the animal in your mind. Look down at what you can see of your new body.
Now shift your eyes in to the perspective of the animal. Put yourself in a scenic setting that is familiar to your new form.
Walk around for a bit and if you want you can even ask the animal what wisdom it holds. To ask all you must do is think the question. The answer should come on by itself without your help and will probably be different from person to person.
Now when you are done shift back in to your body and feel your own limbs. Open your eyes and look around now that you are back in your own body.
If you want you can continue on with more animals and may even want to venture in to plants, people, and inanimate objects.
As we become more and more open with ourselves we will become more and more open to others. When we know our own light for its truest beauty then others will know us for our truest beauty. When we can find the good in others, others will find the good in us. Everything you send out comes back to you. So look to help and heal and the Universe will take care of you. You are an empath. You are a healer. What beauty you see and what beauty you create is not nearly comparable to the beauty inside. We are strong. We are powerful. We are beautiful in all ways.
_________________
Empathy in essence is one of the very most basic abilities, though it is far from being unimportant. Empathy creates a bridge between what is said and what is meant. Empathy is a gateway ability that helps us to be more open to abilities such as energy reading, automatic writing, telepathy, medium abilities, and intuition. Even in its mildest forms it is essential in all types of communication and psychic work. By becoming better empaths we can become more efficient in all areas of out lives and get a deeper understanding of the lives we lead.
Every emotion and every thought has a frequency. That means every time you think a happy thought a happy vibration is sent out. And every time you think about a person the vibration of that person is sent out. Empaths learn to pick up on these vibrations and to some degree to “translate” them in to words that can be understood. Though not every thought and emotion is exactly the same, unless other circumstances are exactly the same. So if you are happy because you got an A on a test and you are happy because you just found a $10 bill then you are sending out the vibration of both those thoughts. So the emotion of both of those thoughts is happiness but the other vibrations within the larger emotional vibration tell why that emotion is experienced and what is causing you to feel that way.
Thoughts and emotions are energy and energy vibrates at a frequency. The frequency of a thought/emotion tells you what it is. Knowing what the thought or emotion is about tells you the frequency.
Empathy is a branch off of clairsentience. That means that empaths can feel and know the emotions of others. This allows a deeper understanding of the human mind and of the things that keep people going. Empathy is normally felt primarily in one of three parts of the body. The Head (Third Eye), The Heart, or The Gut. All places contain a chakra or energy vortex that in some way corresponds to the ability.
Empathy makes receiving and sending information psychically much easier. Instead of having to send an explanation of your current mindset you can send a conceptual emotion of your current mindset. Making it easier to focus not only on the target meant to receive but also on the information being sent.
This ability can also be extended to feeling the physical pains of others. Few people ever experience this.
In order to awaken your inner empathy you must be open to the emotions of others. And to understand the emotions of others we must first understand our own emotions and emotional states. In everything there is a base that we build on. In empathy the base of our ability is the ability to understand ourselves.
Exercise #1 (Let It All Out)
Get a few pieces of paper and a pen and sit down somewhere where you won’t be disturbed. (If you have a sacred space that is probably a good place to go.)
Think of about 4 or 5 words that bring up strong emotions in you. The emotions may be similar or totally different. The same applies to the words. You can have people’s names, places, events, dates, actions, adjectives, etc.
Now write each word on a separate piece of paper (if you’re trying to save trees you can probably manage with one piece of paper. Half a page for each word on the front and back)
Okay now focus on the first word. Let all emotions attached to it come to the surface of your mind. Once you have a feel for what the emotion/emotional cluster write down a few words that correlate to the word under the word.
Continue to focus on the emotion(al cluster) and analyze the emotion at hand (if it is an emotional cluster go through as many emotions as you see fit). Why do you feel that way? What cause this emotion in the first place? How is this emotion different from other things I have felt about this before? Why do I experience this emotion in correlation to this word?
Write down the answers to the questions you ask yourself or any other information that may come through.
Continue this with the rest of the words. Being sure to write down everything that is significant (or even insignificant but if you wrote it down its probably not insignificant).
Save the paper and read over it whenever you get a chance. If more words pop up write those down. When you are confident with those emotions move on.
That should have helped with opening up emotional channels in yourself helping you to become more honest with yourself and others. It also helps you understand the many levels of emotions, as well as encouraging you to understand emotions before expressing them.
Being an empath is fun and helps you to grow as an individual. You can also use empathy to help others. Empathetic therapy is a great way to help people deal with emotional stress and problems. Sometimes just being there and listening can be all a person needs. Though In order to truly help someone you must understand their emotions on as many levels as possible. This next quick exercise helps to open up our understanding of others and how their emotional states can differ from ours.
Exercise #2 (Different Point of View)
First think of another person who is close to you. Then choose a problem that they may have.
Now see them being confronted with the problem. What kind of emotions do you think they will feel? How do you think they will handle the situation?
Watch how the emotions change and shift as the problem is fixed and as the problem starts.
Now I want you to change perspectives.
Imagine now that you are your friend. Look at you hair (if you can) and see the color it is now that you are your friend. Look at your hands and notice how you feel in their body.
Now bring the problem up. Now from their perspective what emotions do you feel? Do these emotions feel familiar or foreign to you?
Figure out how you will handle the situation from your friends perspective, this may or may not be the same as you saw earlier. What emotions arise with the solution?
Implement the solution. What emotions surface now? How do they feel? Why are you (in your new perspective) feeling these emotions?
Now change back in to yourself. See your own hair and your own hands and feel the familiar sense of being in your own body.
The last step of the exercise is very important. Empaths will commonly lose track of who they are or become caught up in the emotions of others. We feel out of place and out of sync with ourselves because essentially we are. We are another person’s emotions and perspective in our own body. Although we should help others and learn from their emotions we should always remember who we are. Boundaries are not limits meant to keep us in, they are limits meant to keep bad things out. Next is the last exercise and is a general exercise meant to help us tune into ourselves and others.
Exercise #3 (Energy Field Shape Shifting)
Sit down in a way that mimics a dog. Or basically cross your legs “Native-American” style and lay your hands palm down flat on the floor in front of you. This is a very primal position and connects us to the Animals of nature.
Imagine an animal. Think of its name a few times. How big is it? What shape? What color? How many legs? What kind of mouth? Etc.
Now see yourself changing and shape shifting into the animal in your mind. Look down at what you can see of your new body.
Now shift your eyes in to the perspective of the animal. Put yourself in a scenic setting that is familiar to your new form.
Walk around for a bit and if you want you can even ask the animal what wisdom it holds. To ask all you must do is think the question. The answer should come on by itself without your help and will probably be different from person to person.
Now when you are done shift back in to your body and feel your own limbs. Open your eyes and look around now that you are back in your own body.
If you want you can continue on with more animals and may even want to venture in to plants, people, and inanimate objects.
As we become more and more open with ourselves we will become more and more open to others. When we know our own light for its truest beauty then others will know us for our truest beauty. When we can find the good in others, others will find the good in us. Everything you send out comes back to you. So look to help and heal and the Universe will take care of you. You are an empath. You are a healer. What beauty you see and what beauty you create is not nearly comparable to the beauty inside. We are strong. We are powerful. We are beautiful in all ways.
_________________
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Closing cycles
by Paulo Coelho
One always has to know when a stage comes to an end. If we insist on
staying longer than the necessary time, we lose the happiness and the
meaning of the other stages we have to go through.
Closing cycles, shutting doors, ending chapters -- whatever name we
give it, what matters is to leave in the past the moments of life that
have finished.
Did you lose your job? Has a loving relationship come to an end? Did
you leave your parents' house? Gone to live abroad? Has a long-lasting
friendship ended all of a sudden?
You can spend a long time wondering why this has happened. You can
tell yourself you won't take another step until you find out why
certain things that were so important and so solid in your life have
turned into dust, just like that.
But such an attitude will be awfully stressing for everyone involved:
your parents, your husband or wife, your friends, your children, your
sister, everyone will be finishing chapters, turning over new leaves,
getting on with life, and they will all feel bad seeing you at a
standstill.
None of us can be in the present and the past at the same time, not
even when we try to understand the things that happen to us. What has
passed will not return: we cannot for ever be children, late
adolescents, sons that feel guilt or rancor towards our parents,
lovers who day and night relive an affair with someone who has gone
away and has not
the least intention of coming back.
Things pass, and the best we can do is to let them really go away.
That is why it is so important (however painful it maybe!) to destroy
souvenirs, move, give lots of things away to orphanages, sell or
donate the books you have at home. Everything in
this visible world is a manifestation of the invisible world, of what
is going on in our hearts and getting rid of certain memories also
means making some room for other memories to take their place.
Let things go. Release them. Detach yourself from them. Nobody plays
this life with marked cards, so sometimes we win and sometimes we
lose. Do not expect anything in return, do not expect your efforts to
be appreciated, your genius to be discovered, your
love to be understood. Stop turning on your emotional television to
watch the same program over and over again, the one that shows how
much you suffered from a certain loss: that is only poisoning you,
nothing else.
Nothing is more dangerous than not accepting love relationships that
are broken off, work that is promised but there is no starting date,
decisions that are always put off waiting for the ideal moment. Before
a new chapter is begun, the old one has to be finished: tell yourself
that what has passed will never come back. Remember that there was a
time when you could live without that thing or that person.
Nothing is irreplaceable. A habit is not a need.
This may sound so obvious, it may even be difficult,but it is very important.
Closing cycles. Not because of pride, incapacity or arrogance, but
simply because that no longerfits your life.
Shut the door, change the record, clean the house, shake off the dust.
Stop being who you were, and change into who you are.
One always has to know when a stage comes to an end. If we insist on
staying longer than the necessary time, we lose the happiness and the
meaning of the other stages we have to go through.
Closing cycles, shutting doors, ending chapters -- whatever name we
give it, what matters is to leave in the past the moments of life that
have finished.
Did you lose your job? Has a loving relationship come to an end? Did
you leave your parents' house? Gone to live abroad? Has a long-lasting
friendship ended all of a sudden?
You can spend a long time wondering why this has happened. You can
tell yourself you won't take another step until you find out why
certain things that were so important and so solid in your life have
turned into dust, just like that.
But such an attitude will be awfully stressing for everyone involved:
your parents, your husband or wife, your friends, your children, your
sister, everyone will be finishing chapters, turning over new leaves,
getting on with life, and they will all feel bad seeing you at a
standstill.
None of us can be in the present and the past at the same time, not
even when we try to understand the things that happen to us. What has
passed will not return: we cannot for ever be children, late
adolescents, sons that feel guilt or rancor towards our parents,
lovers who day and night relive an affair with someone who has gone
away and has not
the least intention of coming back.
Things pass, and the best we can do is to let them really go away.
That is why it is so important (however painful it maybe!) to destroy
souvenirs, move, give lots of things away to orphanages, sell or
donate the books you have at home. Everything in
this visible world is a manifestation of the invisible world, of what
is going on in our hearts and getting rid of certain memories also
means making some room for other memories to take their place.
Let things go. Release them. Detach yourself from them. Nobody plays
this life with marked cards, so sometimes we win and sometimes we
lose. Do not expect anything in return, do not expect your efforts to
be appreciated, your genius to be discovered, your
love to be understood. Stop turning on your emotional television to
watch the same program over and over again, the one that shows how
much you suffered from a certain loss: that is only poisoning you,
nothing else.
Nothing is more dangerous than not accepting love relationships that
are broken off, work that is promised but there is no starting date,
decisions that are always put off waiting for the ideal moment. Before
a new chapter is begun, the old one has to be finished: tell yourself
that what has passed will never come back. Remember that there was a
time when you could live without that thing or that person.
Nothing is irreplaceable. A habit is not a need.
This may sound so obvious, it may even be difficult,but it is very important.
Closing cycles. Not because of pride, incapacity or arrogance, but
simply because that no longerfits your life.
Shut the door, change the record, clean the house, shake off the dust.
Stop being who you were, and change into who you are.
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Principles of Spiritual Activism
something worth reading...
The following principles emerged from several years' work with social change leaders in Satyana's Leading with Spirit program. We offer these not as definitive truths, but rather as key learnings and guidelines that, taken together, comprise a useful framework for "spiritual activism."
1.
Transformation of motivation from anger/fear/despair to compassion/love/purpose. This is a vital challenge for today's social change movement. This is not to deny the noble emotion of appropriate anger or outrage in the face of social injustice. Rather, this entails a crucial shift from fighting against evil to working for love, and the long-term results are very different, even if the outer activities appear virtually identical. Action follows Being, as the Sufi saying goes. Thus "a positive future cannot emerge from the mind of anger and despair" (Dalai Lama).
2.
Non-attachment to outcome. This is difficult to put into practice, yet to the extent that we are attached to the results of our work, we rise and fall with our successes and failures-a sure path to burnout. Hold a clear intention, and let go of the outcome-recognizing that a larger wisdom is always operating. As Gandhi said, "the victory is in the doing," not the results. Also, remain flexible in the face of changing circumstances: "Planning is invaluable, but plans are useless."(Churchill)
3.
Integrity is your protection. If your work has integrity, this will tend to protect you from negative energy and circumstances. You can often sidestep negative energy from others by becoming "transparent" to it, allowing it to pass through you with no adverse effect upon you. This is a consciousness practice that might be called "psychic aikido."
4.
Integrity in means and ends. Integrity in means cultivates integrity in the fruit of one's work. A noble goal cannot be achieved utilizing ignoble means.
5.
Don't demonize your adversaries. It makes them more defensive and less receptive to your views. People respond to arrogance with their own arrogance, creating rigid polarization. Be a perpetual learner, and constantly challenge your own views.
6.
You are unique. Find and fulfill your true calling. "It is better to tread your own path, however humbly, than that of another, however successfully." (Bhagavad Gita)
7.
Love thy enemy. Or at least, have compassion for them. This is a vital challenge for our times. This does not mean indulging falsehood or corruption. It means moving from "us/them" thinking to "we" consciousness, from separation to cooperation, recognizing that we human beings are ultimately far more alike than we are different. This is challenging in situations with people whose views are radically opposed to yours. Be hard on the issues, soft on the people.
8.
Your work is for the world, not for you. In doing service work, you are working for others. The full harvest of your work may not take place in your lifetime, yet your efforts now are making possible a better life for future generations. Let your fulfillment come in gratitude for being called to do this work, and from doing it with as much compassion, authenticity, fortitude, and forgiveness as you can muster.
9.
Selfless service is a myth. In serving others, we serve our true selves. "It is in giving that we receive." We are sustained by those we serve, just as we are blessed when we forgive others. As Gandhi says, the practice of satyagraha ("clinging to truth") confers a "matchless and universal power" upon those who practice it. Service work is enlightened self-interest, because it cultivates an expanded sense of self that includes all others.
10.
Do not insulate yourself from the pain of the world. Shielding yourself from heartbreak prevents transformation. Let your heart break open, and learn to move in the world with a broken heart. As Gibran says, "Your pain is the medicine by which the physician within heals thyself." When we open ourselves to the pain of the world, we become the medicine that heals the world. This is what Gandhi understood so deeply in his principles of ahimsa and satyagraha. A broken heart becomes an open heart, and genuine transformation begins.
11.
What you attend to, you become. Your essence is pliable, and ultimately you become that which you most deeply focus your attention upon. You reap what you sow, so choose your actions carefully. If you constantly engage in battles, you become embattled yourself. If you constantly give love, you become love itself.
12.
Rely on faith, and let go of having to figure it all out. There are larger 'divine' forces at work that we can trust completely without knowing their precise workings or agendas. Faith means trusting the unknown, and offering yourself as a vehicle for the intrinsic benevolence of the cosmos. "The first step to wisdom is silence. The second is listening." If you genuinely ask inwardly and listen for guidance, and then follow it carefully-you are working in accord with these larger forces, and you become the instrument for their music.
13.
Love creates the form. Not the other way around. The heart crosses the abyss that the mind creates, and operates at depths unknown to the mind. Don't get trapped by "pessimism concerning human nature that is not balanced by an optimism concerning divine nature, or you will overlook the cure of grace." (Martin Luther King) Let your heart's love infuse your work and you cannot fail, though your dreams may manifest in ways different from what you imagine.
The following principles emerged from several years' work with social change leaders in Satyana's Leading with Spirit program. We offer these not as definitive truths, but rather as key learnings and guidelines that, taken together, comprise a useful framework for "spiritual activism."
1.
Transformation of motivation from anger/fear/despair to compassion/love/purpose. This is a vital challenge for today's social change movement. This is not to deny the noble emotion of appropriate anger or outrage in the face of social injustice. Rather, this entails a crucial shift from fighting against evil to working for love, and the long-term results are very different, even if the outer activities appear virtually identical. Action follows Being, as the Sufi saying goes. Thus "a positive future cannot emerge from the mind of anger and despair" (Dalai Lama).
2.
Non-attachment to outcome. This is difficult to put into practice, yet to the extent that we are attached to the results of our work, we rise and fall with our successes and failures-a sure path to burnout. Hold a clear intention, and let go of the outcome-recognizing that a larger wisdom is always operating. As Gandhi said, "the victory is in the doing," not the results. Also, remain flexible in the face of changing circumstances: "Planning is invaluable, but plans are useless."(Churchill)
3.
Integrity is your protection. If your work has integrity, this will tend to protect you from negative energy and circumstances. You can often sidestep negative energy from others by becoming "transparent" to it, allowing it to pass through you with no adverse effect upon you. This is a consciousness practice that might be called "psychic aikido."
4.
Integrity in means and ends. Integrity in means cultivates integrity in the fruit of one's work. A noble goal cannot be achieved utilizing ignoble means.
5.
Don't demonize your adversaries. It makes them more defensive and less receptive to your views. People respond to arrogance with their own arrogance, creating rigid polarization. Be a perpetual learner, and constantly challenge your own views.
6.
You are unique. Find and fulfill your true calling. "It is better to tread your own path, however humbly, than that of another, however successfully." (Bhagavad Gita)
7.
Love thy enemy. Or at least, have compassion for them. This is a vital challenge for our times. This does not mean indulging falsehood or corruption. It means moving from "us/them" thinking to "we" consciousness, from separation to cooperation, recognizing that we human beings are ultimately far more alike than we are different. This is challenging in situations with people whose views are radically opposed to yours. Be hard on the issues, soft on the people.
8.
Your work is for the world, not for you. In doing service work, you are working for others. The full harvest of your work may not take place in your lifetime, yet your efforts now are making possible a better life for future generations. Let your fulfillment come in gratitude for being called to do this work, and from doing it with as much compassion, authenticity, fortitude, and forgiveness as you can muster.
9.
Selfless service is a myth. In serving others, we serve our true selves. "It is in giving that we receive." We are sustained by those we serve, just as we are blessed when we forgive others. As Gandhi says, the practice of satyagraha ("clinging to truth") confers a "matchless and universal power" upon those who practice it. Service work is enlightened self-interest, because it cultivates an expanded sense of self that includes all others.
10.
Do not insulate yourself from the pain of the world. Shielding yourself from heartbreak prevents transformation. Let your heart break open, and learn to move in the world with a broken heart. As Gibran says, "Your pain is the medicine by which the physician within heals thyself." When we open ourselves to the pain of the world, we become the medicine that heals the world. This is what Gandhi understood so deeply in his principles of ahimsa and satyagraha. A broken heart becomes an open heart, and genuine transformation begins.
11.
What you attend to, you become. Your essence is pliable, and ultimately you become that which you most deeply focus your attention upon. You reap what you sow, so choose your actions carefully. If you constantly engage in battles, you become embattled yourself. If you constantly give love, you become love itself.
12.
Rely on faith, and let go of having to figure it all out. There are larger 'divine' forces at work that we can trust completely without knowing their precise workings or agendas. Faith means trusting the unknown, and offering yourself as a vehicle for the intrinsic benevolence of the cosmos. "The first step to wisdom is silence. The second is listening." If you genuinely ask inwardly and listen for guidance, and then follow it carefully-you are working in accord with these larger forces, and you become the instrument for their music.
13.
Love creates the form. Not the other way around. The heart crosses the abyss that the mind creates, and operates at depths unknown to the mind. Don't get trapped by "pessimism concerning human nature that is not balanced by an optimism concerning divine nature, or you will overlook the cure of grace." (Martin Luther King) Let your heart's love infuse your work and you cannot fail, though your dreams may manifest in ways different from what you imagine.
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