Love,
Liina L.

If the title caught you by surprise, I’m going to assume that you thought otherwise … that you thought that you are not necessarily here to be happy … or at least, if that is part of the deal, it comes way down on the list, and not at the top.

We’ve all been told about the Puritan work ethic, many of us were raised within the confines of institutionalized religion, where we are generally taught to not think of ourselves, but of others (and therefore, by deduction, our happiness does not come very near the top of the list), most of us have been socialized over the course of our tender years into learning that being selfless is desirable.

But there is a huge difference between being selfish and loving the self enough in order to want to be in a good place inside, to be happy, to have a high energetic frequency, so that life is good, or better said, so that, even when things are not good, one is in a place where one can choose to deal with the stuff that is not so good, or even very bad (see Victor Frankl’s “Man’s Search For Meaning”) in a way that allows one to maintain an inner equilibrium which, while it may not be happiness, is, nevertheless, a place where one can live in peace, despite those outer circumstances.

So this subject of selfishness and love of self is very important for us to understand because the better off you are inside yourself, which in a sense is tantamount to saying that the better – even the happier – you feel inside yourself, by choice, and not only because today happens to be a good day, and that inner choice that you make has a lot to do with your inner strength and your belief in yourself and your capacity to stand strong and be well no matter what – so the better off you are inside yourself, the better you are for all those who surround you.

I write a lot about the ripple effect of your life on the life of those who surround you, and I do so because that is precisely the reason why being filled with self love is totally contrary to being selfish. Those who truly love themselves are capable of much greater giving, and can have a much greater positive influence on others, than those who selflessly give and give but who leave their own well-being out of the equation, or at best, it comes way down there somewhere on the list of priorities.

Self love is healthy. And being healthy emotionally, psychologically, spiritually and physically brings you closer to happiness – and much more quickly – than anything I am aware of. You are here to be happy.

Randy was professor at the Carnegie Mellon University. On September 18, 2007 he gave his “Last Lecture” at Carnegie Mellon – following a long tradition, but this time it REALLY was a last lecture, as Randy by then knew that he certainly would die.

His heart-moving speech was about life and especially about how to achieve your childhood dreams. I don’t want to say more as Randy says the rest himself…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

Prior to his death Randy published the book “Last Lecture”, which summarizes the speech and also goes into more detail. I read it and found it worth sharing.

Randy left a loving wife and three small kids. Both, the speech and the book, are to be shared for the good of all people being interested. However, Randy’s main intention was to leave an impression for his kids, so that they will be in the position to know who their father was and what he thought about life.

I was impressed and I would enjoy to see all you of being impressed as well.

Love

Günther

Life is too small and that makes us selfish. But we forget our truths are their truths too. We all are in the same boat. We all are infected with a disease called death. We all are dying. We hear statements like – the dying do not tell a lie, they do not harm – probably there is a feeling that we should do something good before we leave. We probably want to create some goodwill for us while leaving this world. It is strange that we do not feel the need of this goodwill when we are alive.

Very nice Story of a Man and a boy. May be this is for me where I was busy for a while moving in to different location…

Anyways, it is always good to hear from you guys and I will also try to give some words of wisdom into this…

-”Life is worth living only when it is worth spending.”

-”Those who work hard for money actually do not work at all.”

-”At present we are doing, in near future we will be memorizing our past with cherising memories.”

-”Those who say I speak the truth, are the ones who have never understood the meaning of truth.”

-”The deep meaning of life is pain and deeper meaning is happiness.”

I am back again…
Cheers !

God bless you all !

The Minefield As A Metaphor For Life

Take one wrong step. Boom.
They’re buried in the ground,
your mistakes, you can’t see them
until it’s too late. You can prepare
all you want, you can study the ground,
minutely inspect each patch for strange
bulges and misplaced sprigs of grass.
The effort of living this way is insane.
You can’t walk at all; I see this
as a paradigm, a social mode,
so much fear.
Prevent heart attacks.
Don’t eat trans fats.
Don’t smoke.
Watch out for prostate cancer.
Wring your breasts once a month
ferreting out tiny extrusions.
Run to the doctor,
run run run!
He’ll prescribe something
to save your life.
He can’t save the joy of it,
he can’t free your heart of the paralysis
you inherited from your TV set.
Achtung! Minen!
Watch how you step. On this very spot
a boy lost his leg. He was just playing,
he didn’t realize how vulnerable
vulnerable, we all are.
Watch out for those hot dog nitrates!
They can explode your pancreas.
The ice cream is loaded with Chinese poison.
Jesus, how does anyone take a single step
with all this crap hanging over our heads?
How long do you want to live?
How much will you spend to ensure
that you live to a miserable tottering hundred,
taking thirty eight pills a day?
It will always be a minefield, life.
Always has been, always will be.
Our obsession with minimizing risk
has made us into timid consumers
of saw palmetto and echinacea.
I say this: March cheerfully to your doom!
March and laugh, march and laugh,
nothing will prevent you from avoiding it,
nothing will save you or improve the odds.
You’re wasting time! You’re wasting your life
considering each step through the field.
Accept it. Any step could be your last.
Any choice could be wrong. How long will you
inspect the ground in front of you,
before you move? How many opportunities
for love will you miss, as you protect your
fragile body from the hurtling projectiles?
March march! Be of good cheer! Bring up a laugh,
for god’s sake, life is a minefield, life is a bombing
range, life is an artillery target
into which you have stumbled.
The soldiers don’t know you’re here.
They’re loading the guns. Fire, fire!
Boom.

Art Rosch
California

Amara Rose, my gratitude for Santana’s project. I saw his Live your Light concert in Vancouver, the energy was amazing, not because of just music, but because it was used for such a wonderful purpose!

Paul from Austria, thank you for the reminder of where our time should belong.

On a trip down to Portland a few week-ends ago I sat across from a Brazilian woman, in her 50′s, and her teenage son. She was going to see a friend and spend the week-end with her. She called her when the train departed, and ended the call saying I love you. Her son was restless, and kept interrupted her knitting, so she asked him to let her finish, first saying I love you. She made several calls, never forgetting to say I love you.

And all this time I was mesmerized on the seat in front of her, because I have never heard these three words spoken so easily, so dense in a matter of a few hours, and every time she would use them they would gain more meaning.
We parted at the train station, her hugging her friend and me dialing nervously to my parents.

~*~*~*~

For some reason, after watching the ‘Gran Torino’ movie today, it flashed to me, in the end of the movie, that the meaning behind a phrase ‘the winner stands alone’ does not neccecarily mean loneliness and sorrow… and having to be alone.

It occurred to me, that ‘the winner stands alone’ can have a positive meaning. It can mean something like – You, who are standing for Your beliefs, Your destiny, dream. You, who dare to fight the good fight. And being able to stand alone in this fight that possibly will turn out to be some other winners fights.

Now I understand, Paul from Austria, why You said under a story about a daisy who was selfish (if I am correct), that the winner is not alone after all. :)

Thanking for today,
Liina L.

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