I SEE YOU!

I SEE YOU! 

While I know that those words have been spoken before, they have taken on a new meaning and perhaps even more importance ever since they were uttered on the big screen in Avatar and I was reminded how powerful those words are when I watched the movie again here recently.

I SEE YOU!

It is those things that we see as different that separates us and thus can cause conflict. I know one way we can resolve our issues and that is to approach each other from the basic level that we all share together and that is as human beings. If we simply start and end there, then nothing else will really matter.

I SEE YOU! 

For me, when I look at another person, I see no race, creed, nationality, religion or sex, rather simply another human being.

I SEE YOU!

By taking that approach to life, we can heal this world and it's conflicts. We will no longer tolerate any human being starving to death, being tortured or denied the basic necessities of life.

I SEE YOU!

By truly seeing each other we will naturally progress to live in peace and harmony with each other and the world around us. Which means it will no longer be acceptable to treat our home, Mother Earth, with the disdain and disrespect that we do.

I SEE YOU!

What do these words mean to you? Do you see me? To me, it means the end of separation, fear, war, hunger and pain and the dawning of a new world of love, peace, joy, harmony and prosperity for all!

I SEE YOU!

May you be blessed always and in all ways!

Love and light,

Harry

The "Negative" side of life has a purpose.

I was sitting around thinking about how we talk about balance and harmony in our lives and that perfection is not what we should be seeking but yet (and I have been guilty of this myself) we tell ourselves and others to not have any negative thoughts or avoid negative people. While I will acknowledge that keeping these experiences down to a minimum is desirable, if we are truly living they cannot and should not be avoided.

I have come to realize that those things we call "negative" actually have a place and a purpose in our lives. We live in a world full of dichotomies: up/down; left/right; happy/sad, and positive/negative. And if we are truly living in harmony and balance, both the positive and negative are part of the whole. What I have come to learn is really important, is to to embrace it all for it all is part of life. And of course this quote just happened to show up in my email today:
"Someone once asked Norman Vincent Peale, 'Don't you think life would be better if we had fewer problems?' Peale said, 'I'll be happy to take you to Woodlawn Cemetery, because the only people I know who don't have any problems are dead.' The point is we can't avoid problems, so we might as well expect them and embrace them as opportunities to learn and grow." ~ Mac Anderson, author, Charging the Human Battery http://www.macanderson.com/



So truly, we should not be seeking a life with no problems, challenges and/or negative experiences for they also help us on our path. We should not however dwell in that space but rather learn from all our experiences and move onward and upward.

In her book, The Dark Side of the Light Chasers, Debbie Ford makes the truly valid point for acknowledging and embracing the "dark" side of ourselves because we all have it. Some call it our shadow side and while we do not want that dark side to be at the forefront of who we are, it does in fact serve a purpose, if for no other reason than to remind us of who we truly are and what we want to show the world. http://www.debbieford.com/



Negative things happen to us all but if we look at them as another way to learn and grow as Mac Anderson suggested, then are they truly "negative"? I say no, for anything that helps us with our growth must be positive.

So, allow yourself to experience those so called "negative" events. Just recognize what they are and how they can help us. Do not dwell in that space but do not ignore it either for it is part and parcel of who we are as humans. And especially we need not feel guilty or ashamed if we have negative thoughts about anything. We do however, want to acknowledge those thoughts and discover why we are having them. What do we need to work on? How can we learn and grow from them?

I am blessed to have you read my blog and I truly hope I have provided you with some food for thought. Please share your comments, thoughts and suggestions.

May you be blessed always and in all ways!

Harry


Author - Rare Sense, One Day It Will be Common: A Practical Guide to a Fulfilled and Balanced Life
harry@raresenseunlimited.com
http://www.raresenseunlimited.com/

Yes, we can all get along!

I have been saying for years that we have the capacity to look past our differences and those things that we use to separate us and just love one another. Here is a wonderful example of just that from the animal world. Check out this video and you will see what I mean. Then come back here and leave a comment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBtFTF2ii7U

It does not get much simpler than that. I hope this has stirred some deep seated emotions inside of you and that you would help by sharing this with everyone you know, so you too can be a part of the shift in human consciousness happening around the world at this very moment!

Thank you for taking the time to read and watch the information on my blog today. I would appreciate your help with any comments, feedback and ideas for future blog posts.

May you be blessed always and in all ways!

Harry
Author - Rare Sense, One Day It Will Be Common: A Practical Guide to a Fulfilled and Balanced Life
http://www.raresenseunlimited.com

PEACE!

When thinking about what to write about today, one thing kept popping up, PEACE! So, as I usually do, I go with my intuition.

"There is no need to go to India or anywhere else to find PEACE. You will find that deep place of silence right in your room, your garden or even your bathtub." - Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

But why is PEACE so important? Because PEACE is a necessary and vital ingredient to our ability to live our life to the fullest. PEACE brings clarity to our minds, vitality to our bodies and calmness to our spirit. PEACE ushers in balance and harmony and removes doubt, fear, anxiety and stress.

"Let tears flow of their own accord; their flowing is not inconsistent with inward PEACE and harmony" - Seneca

In the interest of spreading PEACE, the first thing I want to offer is this poem/mantra by my friend Isabella:

I am peace
surrounded by peace
secure in peace.
peace protects me
peace supports me
peace is mine

All is well.
peace to all beings
peace among all beings
I am steeped in peace
Absorbed in peace
In the streets, at our work,
having peaceful thoughts,
peaceful words, peaceful acts.
sending light and love to end your day!

When I first read this I could feel my body relax, my heartbeat slow down and my mind become silent and clear. In essence peace had found it's way into every cell of my being. What a joyous feeling. Try it, I guarantee you will love it.

"First keep the PEACE within yourself and then you can also bring PEACE to others." - Thomas A. Kempis

Then I came across this breathing exercise:

Slowly, deeply inhale, quietly chanting the word: Peace,
Then, slowly,deeply exhale, quietly chanting the word: Love.

And of course I had to try it and once again I was filled with the overwhelming feeling of peace and love. So, if you are having a rough day and you want to bring peace into your life, you know have two wonderful ways to do it.

"Nothing can bring you PEACE but yourself." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I welcome any comments you may have about this post and any techniques you would like to share for finding peace in your life.

That's all for today.

PEACE!

Harry

What do you see in the mirror?

Today, I wanted to share a story that I read in one of the discussions in the social networking site, Tee Bee Dee. I will add some thoughts at the end.

The House of 1000 Mirrors

Long ago in a small, far away village, there was a place known as the House of 1000 Mirrors. A small, happy little dog learned of this place and decided to visit. When he arrived, he bounced happily up the stairs to the doorway of the house. He looked through the doorway with his ears lifted high and his tail wagging as fast as it could. To his great surprise, he found himself staring at 1000 other happy little dogs with their tails wagging just as fast as his. He smiled a great smile, and was answered with 1000 great smiles just as warm and friendly. As he left the house, he thought to himself, "This is a wonderful place. I will come back and visit it often."

In this same village, another little dog, who was not quite as happy as the first one, decided to visit the house. He slowly climbed the stairs and hung his head low as he looked into the door. When he saw the 1000 unfriendly looking dogs staring back at him, he growled at them and was horrified to see 1000 little dogs growling back at him. As he left, he thought to himself, "That is a horrible place, and I will never go back there again."

All the faces in the world are mirrors. What kind of reflections do you see in the faces of the people you meet?

Japanese Folktale

What I would like to add is that you are the mirror to the world for what is going on inside of you. What are you projecting to the world? If you have a positive attitude, you will reflect that, if it is the opposite, you will project that too.
If you want the world to look better to you need to look better to the world.

May you be blessed always and in all ways.

Harry Shade - Author, Rare Sense; One Day It Will Be Common www.raresenseunlimited.com

You Are a Teacher, Part 2.

Yesterday I wrote about all of us being a teacher and I focused on what we teach others. Today I would like to expand on that thought by turning the teaching inward. What I mean by that is while we are teaching others with our words and actions, we are also teaching ourselves.

How do we do that? Actually in the same ways we teach others, through our words and actions. Self-talk is one of the greatest teaching tools that we have in forming who we are for the rest of our lives. Especially after we leave childhood, our inner dialogue is more responsible than ever for who we are today and who we will be in the future.

Here are some questions to ask yourself: How is your inner dialogue? Do you say/think good things to yourself or are you constantly saying/thinking negative things to yourself? Do you encourage or discourage yourself? If a friend talked to you as you talk to yourself, would they still be your friend? Why do we put up with negative talk from our self when we probably would not from others?

To expand on this teaching thing a little further, how we treat ourselves teaches others how to treat us. If we are being negative towards ourselves then we are giving permission for others to treat us badly, in fact we are attracting those that treat us badly and then wonder why it happens. Like a bee is attracted to flowers because of the scent, we are sending our signals to the world (our scent) that it is OK to treat me badly because I don't really like myself anyway. The ironic thing here is that all of it is self-perpetuating. The more we think/say bad things about ourselves, the more we attract negative responses from the world, so the more we feel badly and dislike ourselves even more.

However, we can reverse the cycle by simply saying/thinking good things about ourselves. If you want to have good things happen to you then start by being a better friend to you. Then you will attract positive people who will treat you right, which in turn will build your self-esteem and self-confidence. Since at this point you are feeling better about you, then you will think/say good things about you and in turn you will continue to attract positive things. Once again it is self-perpetuating and will continue to feed upon itself.

Our words and thoughts are powerful things and they can lead us down two very different paths. One path of joy, love, happiness, peace & harmony and the other path of depression, despair, guilt & misery. What path do you want to be on? It is all up to you and you are teaching yourself and the world which path you will ultimately be on.

Well, that's it for today. I'll be back soon with more Rare Sense Thoughts!

May you be blessed always and in all ways!

http://www.raresenseunlimited.com/

It's a Matter of Perspective

Today I was driving out of the parking lot of my local library when a lady pulled out in front of me and then gave me an indignant look like I was the one doing something wrong. I simply smiled because you see I have found out that it is in fact a matter of perspective.
In that moment it did not matter who was right or wrong, well maybe not to me, but it certainly did to her. Now, I could have laid on the horn, gave a gesture and yelled but what would that have accomplished really? Some of you will say it would have made me feel better! But would it have, really? When we allow someone to get us so upset that we feel that we have to retaliate it really does us way more harm than good.

Physically it raises our blood pressure, stress level and brain activity by releasing the hormones that cause our flight or fight syndrome, none of which are good for us. Emotionally it causes all kinds of possibly harmful feelings, like hate and anger, which in the long run does not make us, feel very good and can cause us to not think clearly and possibly cause an accident ourselves.
No, I choose to smile and move on and not just for the reasons I stated above. I try to live my life in such a way that 1.) I only concern myself with things that I can directly control and 2.) I try to look at things from the other persons’ perspective.

1.I only concern myself with things that I can directly control!

With that in mind since I do not control 90% of what happens to me I do not worry about most things, in fact, I do not worry anyway. I definitely give that 10% my attention but in a positive, what can I do to affect this manner, mostly with a clear head and thoughts so that I can come up with a rational solution.

Now, the only thing I control about the other 90% is how am I going to react to what just happened. Of course I have two choices; I can react either positively or negatively. I choose positively as often as I can because I like peace and harmony. Don’t you? Mentally, emotionally and physically those are the better places to be and spiritually it lifts me up! I like that!

2.I try to look at things from the other persons’ perspective.

Even though I really may not know exactly what’s going on in that persons’ life at that particular moment, I try to at least say to myself, hey, they may be having a bad day, got some bad news, are late for an appointment, etc. And even if they just are the type of person who is ticked off most of the time that can only have an effect on me if I allow it too. In fact in most situations where someone else is being what I might consider rude or inconsiderate, I just try and smile for two reasons.

First of all, I feel better (You can call that selfish, I call it maintaining my health!) and secondly, maybe just maybe I may help them to relax and brighten their day. You see if I give into their negativity, it will certainly grow because I am feeding it. But, if I throw something positive at that negativity, I may just diffuse it or at least lessen it some.

I can really sum this up by repeating a wonderfu saying I saw on a t-shirt today, “I am too blessed to be stressed!”