Soulshine

“Today become aware of the beliefs to which you are attached; allow yourself to become free of them and to live as you choose.” Don Miguel Ruiz Jr, Living a Life of Awareness Many of us suffer from attachments to beliefs that serve us poorly. And we aren’t even consciously aware that our attachments to these beliefs are making us miserable. For example, we may believe that we have to find Mr. or Ms. Right in order to be happy. Or we may believe that we can’t fully accept the fact that one of our children is gay because the religion we practice won’t allow us to fully love a person who is gay. Or we may believe that we will never be lovable until we are as thin as a fashion model. These are just a handful of bad beliefs that people often get attached to. They then use these beliefs to put their lives on hold. If I am waiting on Mr. or Ms. Right to come walking along and sweep me off my feet so I can then finally be happy, I’m putting my happiness on hold indefinitely...

We vow to put an end to the three obstacles of earthly desire, actions and retribution, and transform the afflictions. We vow to realize the wisdom that sees clearly things as they are. May our desire to put an end to these obstacles be universally realized. Buddhist Chant The average person places many obstacles in his/her daily path. Those of us who suffer with addictive behaviors know that unattainable desires present a serious problem for us. We too often want what we cannot have and we are in serious denial about the fact that we are powerless. It’s our great denial that leads us to believe that we can attain our desires through manipulation of reality. This blindness then leads us down a path of destruction as our focus and our actions become obsessively driven toward attaining the impossible. We desire this particular man or this particular woman and we want them to save us. We want him or her to want us as badly as we mistakenly believe we want him or...

"His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people--his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all. The truth was that Jay Gatsby of West Egg, Long Island sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God... and he must be about His Father's business: beauty... and to this conception he was faithful to the end."                                                            F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby It makes no difference where we have come from, who are parents were or how our past has shaped us. We are not prisoners to any of it, or anything. As adults, we have stewardship-- ownership-- of our own lives. We are all sons and daughters of God an...

Do you give your power away to your “God”? Many people do. Many people still associate with a God or a Higher Power that goes back to their childhood. And often times, this “God” is a false “God” that was taught to them by well-intentioned people who held horrible theological beliefs. It’s also a “God” who has never really been on their side. My parents taught me about God in more ways than one. Sure I heard their verbal stories about God, but I also witnessed their own actions which further illustrated their beliefs about God to me. For example, my mother told me on various occasions “I may not always know what you’re doing, but GOD KNOWS.” In other words, God was a big invisible spy. The “God” I came to know as a child was 007 to the ump-degree, but he really wasn’t on my side. He was out to catch me—and get me—if I did something bad, or made a mistake. There were many times as a child when I also caught my mother spying on me. She was a control freak in that way. And b...