"My greatest wealth is the deep stillness in which I strive and grow and win what the world cannot take from me with fire or sword." -- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
I love visiting waterfalls and creeks and swimming holes in the rainforest.
There is beauty. There is peace.
But also a sense of activity as the water moves through its environment, trickling or roaring, making music of its own and changing the landscape as it goes.
This was a river, one of many, that we visited on our holiday, with all of the beauty and peace and movement. It is a popular tourist place, with facilities for visitors including beautifully maintained walks and lookouts. The river runs through huge rocks and the place is actually called “The Boulders”.
At many of the places we had visited before this one, there were swimming “holes” where people were swimming in the rivers, cold though the temperature was at the time, and other places where tour guides showed their clients how to inch across the rocks and slide safely with the water to a pool below.
It’s something that people do.
I have never swum in these water holes, but I like to see the joy and fun that people have who do.
At a lake we visited there were the usual young men daring each other to feats of daring by diving backwards with a somersault into the lake, off a pontoon.
And in watercourses all around the country on any given day, there are children swinging out over lagoons and waterholes on an old tyre attached to a rope and jumping off into the water.
And all around the country, in any given year there will be accidents – people who want that fun, carefree joy and challenge – but who dive into shallow water or land on something submerged in the water.
There are people absolutely incapacitated because of such accidents or even worse.
In many places there are signs, just like this one …
and on the whole, people abide by them. Not always.
If I were a young man (or woman, though it seems to be young men who are more tempted), would I abide by them?
If I were a young man’s mother, would I want him to abide by them? I know the temptation is strong for the fun, carefree joy and challenge, and I know it is not always resisted.
But at The Boulders, the signs were different. And here’s where the story comes in.
I had never ever before seen a sign that said “Many people have died here”, and it was repeated on signs throughout the area.
People have died here.
That is a four word story.
I like to think it would have more impact than the standard sign.
If you were a young man (or woman), would you be more likely to abide by the rule?
If you were a young man’s parent or friend, would you be more likely to persuade him? I would like to think so.
I know as a mother … I would.
I was caught by this thought every time we passed such a sign.
But then when we walked out of the rainforest into the car park, I noticed this plaque on a rock.
Did he dive … and die?
Perhaps not, but if the story is that he did, imagine his mother, his father, his friends, his family, his community and how they felt when he did not return – forever – just because of that daredevil impulse.
That is a heartrending story of a young man who did not live out his life as he could have and whose death must have caused waves and years of anguish.
If you were a young man (or woman), would you be more likely to abide by the rule … knowing that story?
If you were a young man’s parent or friend, would you be more likely to persuade him?
I would like to think so.
I know as a mother … I would.
Begin your day as if it were your very first and your very last - beautiful video!
Giving the power back to the children. Amazing!!
Once I got past the awe of witnessing Mother Nature’s astonishing power to wreak devastation in Oklahoma, I was awed by something more positive and uplifting: the instinctive capacity of our species to care about, come to the aid of, and — for those caught in the middle of the calamity — to even sacrifice their own lives for others.
Every day we are surrounded by examples of the dark side of human nature — selfishness, greed, dishonesty and cruelty — which make it hard to resist cynicism. It’s a pity that it often takes a disaster and the heroic actions it evokes to provide compelling contrary evidence, to remind us of the best in human nature.
How can one resist tears hearing of the teachers in Oklahoma who put themselves at risk by shielding children with their own bodies?
I suspect lots of other adults would have reacted in a similar fashion, but I think teachers really are special.
With the current focus on competence and accountability in education, we tend to undervalue one of the most important qualities of most teachers: their genuine sense of responsibility and affection for the children they teach.
Over and over we’ve seen the powerful instinct of teachers to protect children in school shootings and, more recently, in the horrific tornadoes.
Teachers willingly and without hesitation treated children as their own and put themselves at risk to protect them.
It should be a comfort to parents to know how much teachers really care.
Henry Adams once said, “Teachers affect all eternity. You never know where their influence stops.” He was referring to the way they shape lives by transmitting information and learning skills, but teachers often do so much more. Though only rarely called upon to risk their lives, they regularly touch the lives of students with their commitment and love.
It’s been said that kids don’t care what you know unless they know that you care. Let’s do all we can to commend, congratulate and celebrate teachers who show how much they care.
Remember, character counts.
Michael Josephson
www.whatwillmatter.com
A beautiful story of a boy overcoming obstacles and the selfless father who is giving his all to help his child become all that he can be.
Patrick Hughes is a young man at Univ. of Louisville who was born blind and crippled and yet now plays the piano beautifully as well as "marches" in the Louisville marching band.
If you'd like to experience a real pizzazz and joy for life, start your day with meditating on your life purpose. There is something magical, super powerful and healing that happens when you are in touch with why you are here, and what you're here to do. All your so called "problems" no longer have a grip on you. You are sooo excited, focused and exuberantly on fire about being ALIVE that you cannot even stoop down to feel anything of a lower vibration. Perhaps the greatest effect of all is that it becomes extremely contagious and everyone around you begins to live with this unstoppable joy inside.
Discovering your REAL life purpose is possible by doing this exercise down below. The first step is to understand that you may be operating under a false pretense that you are living your life purpose fully now. If you are not jumping out of bed with total elation and orgasmic joy for being alive, then you are probably fooling yourself that you're living on purpose. As children you were conditioned by your parents, friends, and siblings who told you what you SHOULD do with your life. Following their ideas about what will make you happy, successful, or a "good little kid" became your new habits for receiving acceptance, love and approval. This soon became what I'll call your Imprinted Life Purpose, that only can lead to a life that's robot-like, unconscious and produces no real fulfillment.
The more awareness you can bring to seeing what your Imprinted Purpose is, the less power it has in shaping the rest of your life. Finding your life purpose actually comes from revealing your "Imprinted Purpose". Did you ever see the movie, "The Wizard of Oz"? When they were in the Emerald City, the wizard had a tremendous influence over Dorothy and her friends until they found out that a fear-based little man was behind the curtain pulling levers on a machine creating a lot of smoke and special effects. Once you begin to 'pull away the curtain' on your Imprinted Purpose, your true life purpose will begin to reveal itself and you can tap your red sparkling shoes 3 times to find your way home.
A few tips to help you first see your "Imprinted Life Purpose"...
- It is a reason for living, doing, thinking and being that is all based in fear, in a need to survive. It's what makes us think we should do to be able to "make it" in the world.
- It always leaves you with a sense of "Is that all there is?" When your life is shaped by your imprinted Purpose, we're constantly left unsatisfied and unfulfilled with everything we do.
- It is a deep part of you that is very transparent, like water is to a fish. The fish isn't aware it lives in the ocean, yet the waves have tremendous influence on the fish's direction in life.
- It's what runs the show when you're on automatic.
5 STEPS TO DISCOVER YOUR LIFE PURPOSE
- Watch the Movie of Your Life. Starting with your earliest memories, take several hours (or as much time as you can afford) to sit down, relax with a bucket of popcorn and watch the whole movie of your life from beginning to now. It's a really great show so you'll want to take some notes! Imagine yourself as a movie reviewer sitting in the seats of your fantasy movie theater watching The Life and Times of . Your job at the end of the movie will be to write a review of it. You'll want to take at least 30 minutes to write this review. Below is a format to help you write this review, just be sure to include lots of fun juicy details!
- The first thing to write is the Movie Script. On a blank sheet of paper, draw a straight line in the middle of the page from the top to the bottom. This line represents your Life Line. Write the high points on the right side of the line and the low points on the left side. Write out the catalytic events, the pivotal turning points, from your earliest memories, large and small, include everything that has truly shaped your life.
- On the top of the page write out your Movie's Theme. To do this, scan through your list of events along the Life Line and look for what could possibly be this Movies' Theme. Every movie has a theme -- boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back, etc. What's the MAJOR theme of your movie? Write out 2-3 sentences that sum up the major theme of your life.
- Look to see how your Life Events created your Imprinted Purpose. Review the criteria of an imprinted Purpose and begin linking it to feelings and memories you identified with in the movie of your Life. Identify the role you were playing in this movie and connect it with your imprinted Purpose. Be real and be specific! In 2-3 sentences write down what you think your Imprinted Purpose is. Use words you heard from people who impacted you the most in your childhood experiences (when your Imprinted Purpose was formed) and write down what you believe your Imprinted Life Purpose has been. Notice if there's anything missing or anything extra needed and if it fits the qualities of an Imprinted Purpose.
- It's time to be creative and discover your real Life Purpose! Take a deep long look at your Imprinted Purpose and see if you can first imagine what would be the opposite feeling, vibration or mission of this experience. Ask yourself what makes you feel free, alive, excited and on fire! What actions, behavior, gifts or service to the world will make you jump out of bed every morning with JOY even if you're never paid for it? Imagine a way of being, thinking and doing things in the world what that makes your heart sing your greatest song.
View all the inspirational aspects that were responsible in you for all the high points you listed on the right side of the page. What was really driving you to create those amazing experiences? What is the contribution you were wanting to make to the world all along? Write down a few trial statements about what kind of life would truly inspire you to be living that make you feel warm and tingly inside. Make a list of possible ideas and read them OUT LOUD. Then create one general statement to the world for what you FEEL your life purpose truly is! Don't get stuck on it, it may grow and change. You will most likely refine it later if needed. Just have fun and be creative! You cannot mess up, just do whatever makes you feel super happy and alive!
By Jafree Ozwald
Learn proven techniques for easily manifesting acceptance in your life with the 90 Day Manifesting Programby Margot Zaher and Jafree Ozwald. What would you manifest into your life if you knew you could not fail? How will you spend your time after you've discovered how to access a natural unlimited source of energy inside you? Imagine what it would be like to feel as fearless and unstoppable in your life as Superman. This may sound unbelievable, yet many are finding extraordinary outcomes from experiencing our Super Manifesting Package.
This program shows you exactly how to tap into your highest manifesting powers. You will learn how to awaken that "sleeping" part of you and actually experience your full manifesting potentiality in your life! The Super Manifesting Package is so effective that it will produce dramatic results in anybody's life in 90 days or less!
"You must understand the whole of life, not just one little part of it.
That s why you must read, that is why you must look at the skies,
that is why you must sing and dance, and write poems and suffer and
understand, for all that is life."
~~ Jiddu Krishnamurti
