When we remember who we are, we engage in The Power of WE.

This wonderful inspirational video from the Association for Global New Thought beautifully reminds us that we are…

One Family

One Heart

One Mind

One Source

One Love

Each day we can choose to look for the bridges that connect us rather than the fear that separates us.

What will you choose today?

We received this wonderful inspirational story from our friend Louise and enjoyed it so much that we want to share it with you.  It focuses on your values and making choices about what’s most important to you. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

A Stranger Is Just a Friend You Haven’t Met

A woman came out of her house and saw 3 old men with long white beards sitting in her front yard. She did not recognize them. She said “Oh dear, what are you doing in my yard, can I help you, are you hungry? Please come in and have something to eat.”

“Is everyone home that lives here?” they asked. “No,” she replied. “My husband is out.”

“Then we cannot come in”, they replied.

In the evening when her husband came home, she told him what had happened.

“Go tell them I am home and invite them in!” The woman went out and invited the men in.

“We do not go into a house together,” they replied. “Why is that?” she asked.

One of the old men explained: “His name is Wealth,” he said pointing to one of his friends, and said pointing to another one, “He is Success, and I am Love.” Then he added, “Now go in and discuss with everyone you live with which one of us you want in your home.”

Which Would You Choose?

The woman went in and told her husband what was said. Her husband was overjoyed. “How nice!!” he said. “Since that is the case, let us invite Wealth. Let him come and fill our home with wealth!”

His wife disagreed. “My dear, why don’t we invite Success?” Their daughter jumped in with her own suggestion: “Would it not be better to invite Love in? Our home will then be filled with love!” “Let us heed her advice,” said the husband to his wife. “Let’s invite Love to be our guest.”

The woman went out and asked the 3 old men, “Which one of you is Love? Please come in and be our guest.” Love got up and started walking toward the house. The other 2 also got up and followed him.

Surprised, the lady asked Wealth and Success: “I only invited Love, why are you coming in?” The old men replied together: “If you had invited Wealth or Success, the other two of us would’ve stayed out, but since you invited Love, wherever He goes, we go with him. Wherever there is Love, there is also Wealth and Success!!!!!!”

The moral of the story… if you have love in your life all else will follow.

Angry Much?

Does your temper ever cause difficulties in your important relationshipsor elsewhere in your life? Have you read books on how to control your anger or even taken anger management classes but still struggle to apply the techniques you learned? If so, and you’re ready to dramatically improve this area of your life now, then here are a few simple tips that will support you immediately.

When You Go Within You Don’t Go Without

Making changes in this area of your life requires you to truly understand your motives, your values, and your intentions. When you are experiencing anger, you are focusing your attention on the negative things in your life–what you don’t want.

In reality, your anger comes from an unidentified value disguised as dissatisfaction with something going on “out there”. Identifying this underlying value is critical for shifting your anger into an opportunity that you can turn to your advantage.

When you learn to focus your attention inward–identifying what’s missing for you in situations–you will discover that you can replace the anger with a sense of inner connection and create a new found determination to experience a quality of satisfaction and happiness that only comes with being present to your most authentic self.

“It is a waste of energy to be angry with a man who behaves badly, just as it is to be angry with a car that won’t go.” ~ Bertrand Russell

Using Your Anger to Everyone’s Advantage

When you learn to do this you’ll find you can get what you really want in ways that can satisfy not only you, but others around you. The next time you experience anger, consider trying a new “anger management” strategy that helps you focus your attention on what you truly want. When you turn your attention to what you want that’s missing in the situation you can stop focusing on what you think is wrong and start directing your energy toward getting what you want.

Your anger can give you the opportunity to gain more clarity about what’s most important to you, and lead you to solutions that will be much more satisfying in your life. Choose to apply consistent, focused attention on what you truly want in life, rather than becoming angry and upset about what you don’t want.

As soon as you make a conscious decision to turn your anger to your advantage, this new technique will begin to improve your life.

If You Value Your Time – Take Time for What You Value

Does the question ever cross your mind as you run through your very busy days, “How could I possibly bother spending the time trying to improve myself when I’ve got so much to do?”

Does it seem as if your life is so full of just trying to get things done that the ideas of acquiring self help skills, enhancing your spiritual growth, or implementing a new personal development plan seems almost impossible? And yet, is there also a gnawing question that lingers in your mind, “Is this all there is?” “Am I missing out on something even with all these things on my to-do list?”

If any of this sounds familiar, then the next time you’re confronted with the hectic pace of daily life, take a moment and find the time to “bother” with your personal development. Gaining a clearer understanding of ourselves always adds value to our lives and can also increase our sense of significance and purpose in those daily activities.

Finding meaning in our lives starts when we begin investigating who we are and what is going on around us. We are the only one that can say for certain what is deeply important to us, so if we get so very busy that we don’t take the time to stop and look at our life, it may fill up with things that don’t give us the kinds of joy and meaning we truly want.

Is Your Cup Overflowing?

Here’s an old Zen story that speaks to the truth of this:

A university teacher visited Nan-in, a Japanese master. The professor was interested in learning about the Zen philosophy. Nan-in served the professor tea. He poured tea in the professor’s cup until it was full. But he kept on pouring.

The professor watched the tea overflow his cup until he could no longer stop himself. “My cup is overflowing,” he said, “no more will go in!”

“Like this tea cup,” Nan-in replied, “you are full of your own ideas and opinions. How can you learn about Zen unless you first empty your cup?”

To learn anything new, you need some room for it in what you already know. With life’s crazy pace, every once and awhile it’s important to invest the time, energy and attention to let in new ideas and awareness.

That was Zen – This is Now

You can begin emptying your cup by examining what you believe and what you value.

• Do some things just seem “right or wrong”, “good or bad”, or “appropriate or inappropriate”?

• Are your beliefs broader than the set of cultural beliefs permeating our lives on an unconscious level?

• Are you easily able to recognize which beliefs are motivating your actions?

• Do you know the values that are reflected in your beliefs?

• Are you able to recognize when your beliefs are not accurately reflecting your core values?

Unless you occasionally take the time to consciously empty your cup of beliefs that do not fit with your core values, it will fill up with various cultural beliefs that come to you from the outside, which become the unconscious motivations influencing the choices you make and how you live your life.

As you empty your cup, you begin to make room in your life for the question, “Are the beliefs I hold as the truth really my own beliefs?”

Another question to ask is, “Did I knowingly choose these beliefs as my own or did I simply take them on without question?”

You answer these questions by exploring whether your beliefs support what you really value, or if they are just beliefs you learned simply because they have been part of our culture for hundreds or thousands of years.

Bother to Be – Continue to Ask – and Be Willing to Listen

To understand more about how cultural beliefs might be influencing you, look at the principles you live by and rules you follow. Or consider all those little adages you were told growing up such as, life is hard, it’s a dog eat dog world, only the strong survive, etc.

Explore these for yourself. Ask, “Do I truly believe these?”  Do these principles, rules or sayings really support me in living the life I desire, one that is a reflection of what I truly value?

Here are a set of questions you can ask yourself as you go through your day that will help you figure this out for yourself:

• What do I really desire in this area of my life?

• What would I like to experience right here and right now?

• What motivates the action I’m about to take?

• Is what I’m about to do going to get me the results I really want?

• Is what I’m doing now really what want to do?

Take pause and remember that in the process of questioning, there are no hard and fast rules, no good or bad answer, no right or wrong beliefs. The purpose is to begin taking time for your self-improvement and spiritual development, to experience the fact that this is worth “bothering” with.

An Empty Cup Allows Room to Grow

We trust that as you uncover your own personal values, start developing empowering new beliefs that reflect those values, and begin taking actions that are in alignment with them, your discomfort or dissatisfaction with the hectic pace of life with begin to diminish.

You’ll start clearly recognizing which of your daily activities reflect what you value and experience an increased sense of significance and purpose in these. You’ll also start easily pruning away the clutter in your life as you get more clarity about what is important you and what is not.

As your life becomes more meaningful, taking the time for self-improvement will not only be worth bothering with, you will welcome it because you know you have plenty of room for it in your cup!