One day Buddha was walking through a village. A very angry and rude young man came up and began insulting him. "You have no right teaching others," he shouted. "You are as stupid as everyone else. You are nothing but a fake."
Buddha was not upset by these insults. Instead he asked the young man "Tell me, if you buy a gift for someone, and that person does not take it, to whom does the gift belong?"
The man was surprised to be asked such a strange question and answered, "It would belong to me, because I bought the gift."
The Buddha smiled and said, "That is correct. And it is exactly the same with your anger. If you become angry with me and I do not get insulted, then the anger falls back on you. You are then the only one who becomes unhappy, not me. All you have done is hurt yourself."
"If you want to stop hurting yourself, you must get rid of your anger and become loving instead. When you hate others, you yourself become unhappy. But when you love others, everyone is happy."
The young man listened closely to these wise words of the Buddha. "You are right, o Enlightened One, "he said. "Please teach me the path of love. I wish to become your follower."
The Buddha answered kindly, "Of course. I teach anyone who truly wants to learn. Come with me."
19.11.14
1.11.14
Thought of the Day: DON'T LIVE SOMEBODY ELSE'S DREAM.
Dear Ones -
I found this picture today that my husband took of me in 2011, doing research for THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS. This photo captures exactly what I did for three straight years. I sat in a chair, reading books about botany, evolution, abolition, women's history, missionaries, Dutch 18th century commerce, and more...in order to fill my brains (and index cards) with enough information to write that novel.
There is no situation in which I could possibly be happier than this — submerged in the vocation that I love, vanishing for hours a day into my work.
Un-showered, greasy hair, eyes tired, totally falling down the rabbit hole of research...this is me, living my dream.
I was thinking today about all the other paths that I did not take in life, no matter how shiny and appealing they may have looked. I've had the possibility of living so many different kinds of life that could have been a dream for somebody else. I never choose those lives. I've never lived the dreams that other people wanted for themselves — nor have I lived the dreams that other people may have wanted for me.
I never had children...because that's somebody else's dream.
I never took the opportunities that were offered to me after the success of EAT PRAY LOVE to have a TV show of my own...because that's somebody else's dream.
I never took a good steady job teaching writing at a nice college...because that's somebody else's dream.
I didn't remain in Bali or Rome, gorgeous as those places are...because that's somebody else's dream.
I turn down 99% of the invitations I get to attend to fancy parties and stellar gatherings...because that's somebody else's dream.
I sold my big beautiful house with its fabulous gardens and lovely library...because one day I looked around at that gorgeous home and realized: "This is somebody else's dream." (Happily, I sold the house to the family whose dream it actually was. So we all win.)
I never hired a team of personal assistants and staff and consultants to help me "grow my brand"...because that's somebody else's dream.
I know what makes me come to life — working on my books — and this picture tells the whole story. Knowing what makes me come to life has helped me to distinguish between my dreams and the dreams of others.
WHAT MAKES YOU COME TO LIFE?
Ask yourself this question, whenever you are given any choice or opportunity. Ask: "Will saying YES to this path bring me closer to the source that brings me to life? Or will it take me further away?"
No matter how alluring, no matter how beautiful, no matter how sparkling and fancy and delicious — do not say YES to other people's dreams.
Do your own thing. Live in your own waking dream. Stubbornly.
Even if it means not washing your hair for a week. (ESPECIALLY if it means that!)
ONWARD,
LG
LG
28.10.14
Dear Ones -
Some of you may remember these lines from EAT PRAY LOVE.
These are the words I said to myself (wrote to myself, actually) when I was lonely and scared in the middle of the night in Rome, far away from all who loved me.
This was a practice I had started about a year earlier, when I was in the worst of my depression — to write compassionate and loving letters to myself in a notebook, saying to myself everything I had always wished somebody else would say to me.
Until I learned how to speak to myself this way, I had no chance of peace.
Other people can love you. Other people can comfort you. But other people often come and go. And if you can't soothe and reassure yourself in your darkest, loneliest hour, nobody can.
There were nights when I sat up for hours, writing words like this to myself again and again, through a scrim of tears and waves of panic. And often another (angrier) part of me would scrawl at the bottom of the page: "This is bullshit. I don't believe in you." Then I would patiently begin writing again at the top of the next page, "But I believe in YOU. And I will not leave your side. I will love you and take care of you forever..." On it would go, until I could finally fall asleep.
Then again the next night...and so on.
That's how I walked through my darkest valley.
I will tell you this — there are STILL hard nights sometimes when I take out the old notebook and ask, "Are you still there?"
"I am still here," I will start writing, "I'm not going anywhere. I'm right here with you. I love you and I will take care of you..."
My promise to myself is this: I will walk beside myself for as long as I live, holding my own hand, taking care of the soul with which I have been entrusted.
I will do that always, whether anybody else is in the room with me or not.
You must learn how to tell yourself that you are loved. You must tell yourself this again and again until slowly you learn to believe it. Start writing yourself love letters. It feels weird at first, but keep going. Practice. Practice more. Practice EVEN more. You'll need it someday — or you may need it right now.
Life can be hard, but without your own certain love for your own tenderest self, it is simply impossible.
Be good to you.
ONWARD,
LG
LG
22.10.14
The Creator gathered all of Creation and said:
“I want to hide something from the humans until they are ready for it. It is the realisation that they create their own reality.”
The eagle said, “Give it to me. I will take it to the moon.”
The Creator said, “No. One day they will go there and find it.”
The salmon said, “I will bury it on the bottom of the ocean.”
The Creator said, “No. They will go there, too.”
The buffalo said, “I will bury it on the Great Plains.”
The Creator said, “They will cut into the skin of the earth and find it even there.”
Grandmother Mole, who lives in the breast of Mother Earth, and who has no physical eyes but sees with spiritual eyes, said “Put it inside of them.”
And the Creator said, “It is done.”
- Creation Story from the Hopi Nation, Arizona, North America
“I want to hide something from the humans until they are ready for it. It is the realisation that they create their own reality.”
The eagle said, “Give it to me. I will take it to the moon.”
The Creator said, “No. One day they will go there and find it.”
The salmon said, “I will bury it on the bottom of the ocean.”
The Creator said, “No. They will go there, too.”
The buffalo said, “I will bury it on the Great Plains.”
The Creator said, “They will cut into the skin of the earth and find it even there.”
Grandmother Mole, who lives in the breast of Mother Earth, and who has no physical eyes but sees with spiritual eyes, said “Put it inside of them.”
And the Creator said, “It is done.”
- Creation Story from the Hopi Nation, Arizona, North America
I'd like to be many persons in my one person. I'd like to feel infinite but aware that I am finite, though in the end I may indeed be infinite. Because once I'm met by you aren't you a little bit of me and I a little bit of you? We're all particles in motion exchanging bits and energy perhaps.
--Oct 22 2014
--Oct 22 2014
8.10.14
THE MOST STRANGELY REASSURING ADVICE I EVER RECEIVED.
Long ago, when I was in my desperate and confused 20's, a brilliant, independent, wonderful woman in her 70's gave me this incredible piece of life wisdom.
She said:
"We women spend our 20's and 30's so worried about what everyone is thinking about us. Then we get into our 40's and 50's, and we finally start to be free, because we decide we don't give a damn what anyone thinks of us. But you will not be completely free until your 60's and 70's, when you will finally realize this liberating truth — NOBODY WAS EVER THINKING ABOUT YOU, ANYHOW."
They aren't. They weren't. They never were.
People are just thinking about themselves — all caught up in their own dramas, their own fears, their own regrets and tasks and insecurities and distractions.
"You aren't on anybody's mind," my friend told me. "They don't have room in their minds to be worried about what you're wearing, what you're doing, how you're living..."
While it may seem lonely and horrible at first to imagine that you aren't on anybody's mind, there is also — as my wise older friend told me — a great liberation to be found in this idea.
I wrote down her message in my lucky notebook, and I've kept it nearby forever (along with my plucky, self-confident little fox totem.)
You are free, because everyone is too busy worrying about themselves to worry about you.
Go be who you want to be, then.
Do what you want to do.
Dress how you want to dress.
Love who you want to love.
It's exceeding likely that nobody will even notice.
And that's AWESOME.
ONWARD,
Liz Gilbert
Liz Gilbert
13.9.14
Well I finally have been tapping into it again and I'm glad that dynamic is still alive within my person. It started with my solo drive to my beloved home state. I finally hit a point in my 7-8 hour drive when I rolled the windows down and in came the desert rain smell and a flood of emotions. It was stunning, that feeling. I pulled to the side of the rode to capture the air in which I was now in and the openness.
Secondly, today. Perhaps the vastness of this city overwhelms me; it's just too much to take on at times. But I went to Little Tokyo by myself, to eat by myself. And I indeed found myself to have a fulfilling conversation with a director/producer. Her concept to her film paralleled a tad with my current life situation with my sister.
What I learned: sometimes you need to put yourself on the back burner/to stay the stable one and put your intelligent/curious self forward when dealing with people and their mental framework. People can lash out on you due to their self-projections. It's more productive to not feel attacked and instead turn the question on them.
They think you are 'x quality' of which you don't think you are? Ask them for examples. If none can be stated, say 'I'm curious, are you 'x quality'? Seek it out in them when you don't believe you are the one who is 'x quality'.
13.8.14
"Creation is really a sustained period of bliss — even though the subject can still be very sad.
....Because there’s the triumph of coming through and understanding that you have, and that you did it the way only you could do it — you didn’t do it the way somebody told you to do it, you did it just the way you had to do it. And that is what makes us us."
--Alice Walker
....Because there’s the triumph of coming through and understanding that you have, and that you did it the way only you could do it — you didn’t do it the way somebody told you to do it, you did it just the way you had to do it. And that is what makes us us."
--Alice Walker
7.7.14
"I'm not afraid of failing, I'm not a failure. I'm afraid of succeeding at living a boring existence... which, to me, is the slow death of allowing myself to fail."
--Marcus Omari of Poetic Reform Party
July 7 2014
"It is the nightly custom of every good mother after her children are asleep to rummage in their minds and put things straight for the next morning, repacking into their proper places the many articles have wandered during the day. If you could keep awake (but of course you can't) you would see your own mother doing this, and you would find it very interesting to watch her. It is quite like tidying of drawers. You would see her on her knees, I expect, lingering humorously over some of your contents, wondering where on earth you pick this thing up, making discovery sweet and not so sweet, pressing this to her cheek as if it was nice as a kitten, and hurriedly stilling that out-of-sight. When you wake in the morning, the naughtiness and evil passions with which he went to bed have been folded up small and placed at the bottom of your mind, and on the top, beautifully aired, are spread out your prettier thoughts, ready for you to put on."
Being a showcase director gives me the guts to approach some dang remarkable artists. It's a silly feeling to get butterflies quite frequently while sending out emails or talking with them. I'm the one who is providing an opportunity though what an opportunity to work with them, I say!
--Marcus Omari of Poetic Reform Party
July 7 2014
"It is the nightly custom of every good mother after her children are asleep to rummage in their minds and put things straight for the next morning, repacking into their proper places the many articles have wandered during the day. If you could keep awake (but of course you can't) you would see your own mother doing this, and you would find it very interesting to watch her. It is quite like tidying of drawers. You would see her on her knees, I expect, lingering humorously over some of your contents, wondering where on earth you pick this thing up, making discovery sweet and not so sweet, pressing this to her cheek as if it was nice as a kitten, and hurriedly stilling that out-of-sight. When you wake in the morning, the naughtiness and evil passions with which he went to bed have been folded up small and placed at the bottom of your mind, and on the top, beautifully aired, are spread out your prettier thoughts, ready for you to put on."
One's life and inner world can move so quickly that we lose sight of genuinely connecting and showing gratitude to all of the loved ones near by, and easily the strangers near by as well. There's always so much more love and appreciation to offer. Everyone is entitled to some even when they are wearing a mask and are quiet about it.
July 3 2014Being a showcase director gives me the guts to approach some dang remarkable artists. It's a silly feeling to get butterflies quite frequently while sending out emails or talking with them. I'm the one who is providing an opportunity though what an opportunity to work with them, I say!
People say that what we're all seeking is a meaning for life. I don't think that's what we're really seeking. I think what we're seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonance within our own innermost being and reality, so that the we actually feel the rapture of being alive. -- Joseph Campbell
12.6.14
"Oh, don't take life so seriously!
Because seriousness is a great dis-ease,
and not only a disease but a suicide also.
Be playful -- totally
because that is the only way to be living.
Life is a play, a leela.
If you can act and live as if acting and living in a dream
and still be a witness to it
then you will be in the cosmic flow, the Tao.
And to be in the cosmic flow is to be free --
free from oneself, the Ego.
The Ego is the seriousness, the disease,
and the Tao, the egoless existence, is the bliss,
the ecstasy."
~ Osho
Because seriousness is a great dis-ease,
and not only a disease but a suicide also.
Be playful -- totally
because that is the only way to be living.
Life is a play, a leela.
If you can act and live as if acting and living in a dream
and still be a witness to it
then you will be in the cosmic flow, the Tao.
And to be in the cosmic flow is to be free --
free from oneself, the Ego.
The Ego is the seriousness, the disease,
and the Tao, the egoless existence, is the bliss,
the ecstasy."
~ Osho
8.5.14
It's interesting. To be in our own little worlds and at certain points we have moments that stop us in our tracks to realize there is so so much more. We are such a tiny dot and our dot is sometimes extremely self-focused.
Robots we are at times. To be efficient and "productive". Life is weird. What is there to know? What is there we need to do? To truly feeling connected, appreciated, and to help one another thrive.
5/8/14
You. You have an abundance of potential inside of yourself. You know you do and you can feel it growing. Water it and let it go. May the flowering of your soul surface and always try to reach the sunlight.
Robots we are at times. To be efficient and "productive". Life is weird. What is there to know? What is there we need to do? To truly feeling connected, appreciated, and to help one another thrive.
5/8/14
You. You have an abundance of potential inside of yourself. You know you do and you can feel it growing. Water it and let it go. May the flowering of your soul surface and always try to reach the sunlight.
5.5.14
2.5.14
25.4.14
I should stop trying so hard to be my Self, and just be myself.
February 22 2012
I've just more intentionally decided that with each year I shall perfect being an Anabelle Dimang. Then I got humbly excited
December 29 2012
My heart. My heart sometimes feels like it wants to take care of all of the other hearts.
March 27 2013
There
are relatively grand decisions you'll have to make in your life. The
answer will come to you intuitively...then you may go into a state of
doubt and think of other possible options. A heaviness in your mind.
Layers and layers of thought. But alas thy heart steadies and you hear
what life was suggesting the entire time. A cloud lifts and clarity
presents itself to you once again.
May 15 2013
What mighty and many things my little hands of
23 years have done thus far. We've found loves, we've found craft, and
we've found many thoughts to ponder.
June 22 2013
Cooking
up some breaded chicken, alfredo from scratch, baked brussel sprouts,
and garlic bread while Alex does his law schoolwork across the room.
Classical music overpowers the heat from the oven and all of the windows
are open because it's nice out. Tranquility in our own worlds and in
harmony together. Golly, this is life.
September 12 2013
That moment your mind gets overwhelmed by your own life's potential.
December 2 2013
Time goes by without thinking of waiting for us. I wish I could spend more moments with such wondrous souls that my life has met. I wish I could give all the gratitude I somehow carry but can't ever express enough! This heavenly burden of my time colliding with others. To think of all of the people in the world. To think of all of the worlds in my person.
February 19 2014
An artist I booked today said the word 'momentum' during our talk and now it can't leave my mind. What a great word that seems to encapsulate this particular time in my life. Because I feel.....dare I say it, unstoppable. As if the world is growing and so am I. As the more I pour myself, the more that is wonderfully poured in my life. Everything is limitless as I remain open. Is this weird to share all of these feelings here? Aw well, I hope by you reading this some of this energy goes into your life because I have an abundance! I am mentally hugging the shiza out of the world.
February 21 2014
"If you want to awaken all of humanity,
then awaken all of yourself.
If you want to eliminate the suffering in the world, then eliminate all that is dark and negative in yourself.
Truly, the greatest gift you have to give is that of your own self-transformation."
The great Lao Tzu
"Shut your eyes to the outside world. Direct your thoughts and words to the inside of you. The Master within you is the key to all the treasures in the world."
"Changing beliefs, emotional reactions, and destructive behaviors is through mastering your point of view, attention, and dissolving the false beliefs in your mind. When you learn to shift your Point of View you can literally move your self out of a Belief and out of an emotion. From a new point of view you will have the awareness to see the faulty logic of the beliefs behind the behavior. With the awareness of the false beliefs behind your actions you will be able to refrain from destructive behavior. Eliminating the false beliefs eliminates the triggers of your emotions. It is the elimination of the false beliefs that will dissolve the fear."
"Wherever you go in the midst of movement and activity, carry your stillness within you. Then the chaotic movement around you will never overshadow your access to the reservoir of creativity, the field of pure potentiality."
"Be careful in your thoughts when you are alone. And be careful in your words when you are in a crowd"
then awaken all of yourself.
If you want to eliminate the suffering in the world, then eliminate all that is dark and negative in yourself.
Truly, the greatest gift you have to give is that of your own self-transformation."
The great Lao Tzu
"Shut your eyes to the outside world. Direct your thoughts and words to the inside of you. The Master within you is the key to all the treasures in the world."
"Changing beliefs, emotional reactions, and destructive behaviors is through mastering your point of view, attention, and dissolving the false beliefs in your mind. When you learn to shift your Point of View you can literally move your self out of a Belief and out of an emotion. From a new point of view you will have the awareness to see the faulty logic of the beliefs behind the behavior. With the awareness of the false beliefs behind your actions you will be able to refrain from destructive behavior. Eliminating the false beliefs eliminates the triggers of your emotions. It is the elimination of the false beliefs that will dissolve the fear."
"Wherever you go in the midst of movement and activity, carry your stillness within you. Then the chaotic movement around you will never overshadow your access to the reservoir of creativity, the field of pure potentiality."
"Be careful in your thoughts when you are alone. And be careful in your words when you are in a crowd"
A public love letter, because who can contain such a love.
You! You are the one who sends auroras through my person and water to my quenched heart! Many wondrous things have come from me through the influence of you. How fortunate I am to be loved by and in love with such a grand person! You open the gateway to facing myself at times when I don't want to and you've calmed many of my seas. Gratitude it is that I always want to send to the world because our lives have met and merged. The past three years would have not been as bright without you. I admire you so.
"And then my soul saw you and it kind of went 'Oh there you are. I've been looking for you."
March 22 2014
You! You are the one who sends auroras through my person and water to my quenched heart! Many wondrous things have come from me through the influence of you. How fortunate I am to be loved by and in love with such a grand person! You open the gateway to facing myself at times when I don't want to and you've calmed many of my seas. Gratitude it is that I always want to send to the world because our lives have met and merged. The past three years would have not been as bright without you. I admire you so.
"And then my soul saw you and it kind of went 'Oh there you are. I've been looking for you."
March 22 2014
""Uncertainty
is the fertile ground of pure creativity and freedom. Uncertainty means
stepping into the unknown in every moment of our existence. The unknown
is the field of all possibilities, ever fresh, ever new, always open to
the creation of new manifestations. Without uncertainty and the
unknown, life is just the stale repetition of outworn memories. You
become the victim of the past, and your tormentor today is your self
left over from yesterday.
Relinquish your attachment to the known, step into the unknown, and you will step into the field of all possibilities.""
"This existence of ours is as transient as autumn clouds. To watch the birth and death of beings is like looking at the movements of a dance. A lifetime is like a flash of lightning in the sky, rushing by like a torrent down a steep mountain.
We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share. This is a precious moment, but it is transient. It is a little parenthesis in eternity. If we share with caring, lightheartedness, and love, we will create abundance and joy for each other. And then this moment will have been worthwhile."
--Deepok Chopkra, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success
Relinquish your attachment to the known, step into the unknown, and you will step into the field of all possibilities.""
"This existence of ours is as transient as autumn clouds. To watch the birth and death of beings is like looking at the movements of a dance. A lifetime is like a flash of lightning in the sky, rushing by like a torrent down a steep mountain.
We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share. This is a precious moment, but it is transient. It is a little parenthesis in eternity. If we share with caring, lightheartedness, and love, we will create abundance and joy for each other. And then this moment will have been worthwhile."
--Deepok Chopkra, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success
Where you rightfully live
"I will always be safe from the random hurricanes of outcome as long as I never forget where I rightfully live. I don't know where you rightfully live but I know that there is something you love more than you love yourself, something worthy...You've got to identify the best worthiest thing you love most then build your house right on top of it and don't budge from it. And if you should someday somehow get vaulted out of your home by either great failure or great success then your job is to fight your way back to that home. The only way that it has ever been done by putting your head down and performing with diligence and devotion and respect and reverence, whatever the task is that love is calling forth from you next."
--Elizabeth Gilbert
http://bit.ly/1k1jnRu
--Elizabeth Gilbert
http://bit.ly/1k1jnRu
25.2.14
The window of opportunity
I've been trying to be wise, to be logical, to be responsible. What burdens to think about. A heaviness as one would call it on one's shoulders.
I've been having underlying thoughts. A plan that was forming but had no sense to it yet. Clouds were brewing, have been brewing all of my life. There has to be some direction eventually that fits. Everyone is finding their own path aren't they?
I, I, I have been trying to focus on them, them, them. Maybe that switch will do. But oh! How can I do and be more?! A lot of things feel good but not right.
What are these certain thoughts and reasonings that make something feel right.
Pulling my face down in agony of life's questions, life's quest. I want to do it all I say, but what am I doing just sitting there. I did have a thought today. Feeling unsettled with gaps or inconsistencies that don't sit right in me. This is how I arrive at my very mini revelations....and new life callings. Eventually I'll get one that I may pursue.
I want to be a practicing artist, one who is in demand, one who is a master in some way. SO many others do as well and I find many in a rut. Quality, financials, promotion, exposure, will-power, resources, knowledge. How does one "succeed". Maybe this ugly realistic/logistic aspect needs to be pursued. The HOW. Many of us stumble into this vagueness and go through some "rough times". How to be a business and put ourselves out there; we must master this if we want to proceed with full force.
To find my stride as an artist, to understand the business side, to be a part of the community, to be a talent scout, to produce events, to curate gallery shows, to offer a great network, to work with individuals to progress, to teach and be taught, to feel like I have an understanding, some knowledge I can call my own, to ask the good questions.
I've been trying to be wise, to be logical, to be responsible. What burdens to think about. A heaviness as one would call it on one's shoulders.
I've been having underlying thoughts. A plan that was forming but had no sense to it yet. Clouds were brewing, have been brewing all of my life. There has to be some direction eventually that fits. Everyone is finding their own path aren't they?
I, I, I have been trying to focus on them, them, them. Maybe that switch will do. But oh! How can I do and be more?! A lot of things feel good but not right.
What are these certain thoughts and reasonings that make something feel right.
Pulling my face down in agony of life's questions, life's quest. I want to do it all I say, but what am I doing just sitting there. I did have a thought today. Feeling unsettled with gaps or inconsistencies that don't sit right in me. This is how I arrive at my very mini revelations....and new life callings. Eventually I'll get one that I may pursue.
I want to be a practicing artist, one who is in demand, one who is a master in some way. SO many others do as well and I find many in a rut. Quality, financials, promotion, exposure, will-power, resources, knowledge. How does one "succeed". Maybe this ugly realistic/logistic aspect needs to be pursued. The HOW. Many of us stumble into this vagueness and go through some "rough times". How to be a business and put ourselves out there; we must master this if we want to proceed with full force.
To find my stride as an artist, to understand the business side, to be a part of the community, to be a talent scout, to produce events, to curate gallery shows, to offer a great network, to work with individuals to progress, to teach and be taught, to feel like I have an understanding, some knowledge I can call my own, to ask the good questions.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
