Sile O'Broin

How Does Abundance Happen?

2011-12-27T14:27:00.002+01:00

Your abundance happens...
When you let go and allow
Let go of ego
Of thinking you are not good enough
Of believing you are limited
Take a look at nature
The power of energy
To seamlessly create
In nature abundance flows
In the natural process
Of allowing
You are the SAME energy
You have the same power
Within you
Remember your MAGNIFICENCE
Believe in your immortal
Ability to create
Know that all abundance
Flows to you
From your belief
As a powerful
Conscious creator
Throw down the shackles of ego
Embrace the power of energy
Live and breathe
Your true abundance.

Doing Something Different

2011-10-29T14:01:00.001+02:00

You know the saying, if you want different results in your life, then do something different. So instead of wishing some things were different, I'm doing today different.Here are a two examples:I'm doing less and finishing everything I start.I'm saying YES to everything today (that's fun, good, healthy and legal) which scares me a little and you know what... I'm doing that too.Let's see what a difference that makes. What I do, has a ripple effect on people around me. I choose to make a positive difference. OK, your turn, what can you do different today?What you do, has a ripple effect on people around you. Make it a positive difference. Namaste.

Finding Your Wings and Soaring

2011-10-19T16:13:00.001+02:00

I just discovered this FREE telesummit that starts Oct 12th and runs for a month. It looks amazing and I thought you'd like to know about it! <3 BE that brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous Goddess you're meant to be!

You should check it out now! http://www.FindYourWingsAndSoar.com

Are You A Howling Dog?

2011-04-16T10:43:00.000+02:00

Have you heard of the howling dog story? It’s not as well-known as other moral stories, but this one packs a good punch. There are different iterations but the essence is the same.

Here’s my retelling of the story:

Tom just moved into a new neighborhood recently. He liked his house and his environment, but there was one thing he didn’t get.

His neighbor, Mr Tan, had a dog that kept howling non-stop. Literally. Day in, day out.

“Auuuuuhhhh………. Aaaauhhhh……….”

Initially Tom thought the dog was just going through a phase, so he ignored the howls, thinking it would eventually stop.

But it didn’t. It continued howling.

“Auuuu…………auuuu………..Auuuhhhhh…….”

1 day passed. Nothing changed. 2 days passed. Still howling. 3 days. 5 days. 1 week. 2 weeks. 1 month. Still howling, with no signs of stopping.

“Auuuhhh………….Oouuuuuhhhhh…….Au au auuhhhhh..”

Finally, Tom couldn’t stand it anymore. One fine day, he walked over to Mr Tan’s house to see what was going on.

Sure enough, there was the dog, sitting at the front porch, howling pitifully to whoever was walking by.

“Auuuhhh…Ouuuhhh….Auuuuuuuuuuuuuu………Au au au auu au au auuuuhhhhh….”

On the other hand, Mr Tan was relaxing on his bench at the lawn, leisurely reading his newspapers and sipping a cup of coffee.

Wondering what was going on, Tom walked up to Mr Tan.

Tom: “Hi Mr Tan, is that your dog?”

Mr Tan: “Which dog?” He glanced around. “Oh that. Yep he’s mine.”

Tom: “Why does he keep howling?”

Mr Tan: “Oh, that’s cause he’s sitting on a nail.”

Tom: “Sitting on a nail?!?” Tom gave the dog a bewildered look.

“..Okay… so why doesn’t he just get away from the nail then??”

“Well, Tom………”, Mr Tan took a slow sip of his coffee before replying.

“…That’s because he doesn’t find it painful enough yet.”

All of us have nails in our lives that are poking us. Some of us have career nails. Jobs we don’t enjoy. Work that’s dragging us down and sucking our life away. Jobs that we complain about, day in day out, yet we don’t do anything about them. Managers and/or colleagues who stifle us. Recognition that’s overdue. Limited career developments. Unsatisfactory pay and benefits. Not having made a name for ourselves yet in our career.

Some of us have relationship nails. Not being able to find our special someone. Seeing people around us get attached/married while we remain single. Having someone but not sure if he/she is really “the one”. Having a partner who isn’t around enough. Having a partner who is around too much. Having a partner who is too domineering. Unsorted doubts and grievances.

Some of us have financial nails. Increasing expenditures that aren’t matched by our income. Increasing responsibilities we can’t handle. Savings that dip month after month. Increasing debt from credit cards. Not enough money to buy what we want. Making do by limiting our expenditures.

Some of us have dream nails. Dreams that we really want to pursue but aren’t for some reason. Dreams that we have been thinking about for a while but haven’t acted on yet. Dreams we are scared to see unfulfilled when it’s too late for us to do anything.

And there are so many other nails. Health nails. Friendship nails. Spirituality nails. Family nails. Habit nails.

Each of us have different nails poking us. Some of us have a couple of big nails that pokes us every once in a while. Some of us have several small nails that poke on and off. Some of us have multiple big and small nails that poke repeatedly. Rather than take action, most of the times we just sit and howl. Cause the pokes aren’t painful enough.

Are there any nails in your life you are not addressing?

Why? Is it cause they are not painful enough yet?

What are you going to do about them?

Act immediately or do something when it’s too late to do anything?

Don’t wait until the nails really hurt before you take action. Because when that happens, that usually means it’s too late to do anything.

by Celestine Chua
http://celestinechua.com

The Samurai Creed

2011-03-03T20:50:00.000+01:00

I have no parents; I make the Heavens and the Earth my Parents.
I have no drive power; I make honestly my Divine Power.
I have no magic power; I make personality my Magic Power.
I have neither life nor death; I make A Um my Life and Death.
I have no eyes; I make The Flash of Lightning my Eyes.
I have no ears; I make Sensibility my Ears.
I have no limbs; I make Promtitude my Limbs.
I have no miracles; I make Rightneous Laws my Miracles.
I have no principles; I make Adaptability to all circumstances my Principle.
I have no tactics; I make Emptiness and Fullness my Tactics.
I have no friends; I make my Mind my Friends.
I have no enemy; I make Incautiousness My Enemy.
I have no armour; I make Benevolence my Armour.
I have no castle; I make Immovable Mind my Castle.
I have no sword; I make No Mind my Sword.

Excerpt from Anonymous 15th Century Samurai's Creed.

7 Ways We Sabotage Our Own Powerful Intentions

2011-02-23T07:42:00.000+01:00

I've just come back from a great networking meeting full of amazing, heart-centered, professional women who are changing the world through their professions and their passion.

It was structured so that we could network with each other for a few minutes along with the chance to present to the group and showcase yourself, your work and your passions.

I listened to their projects and I spoke about my mine (more on that in my next post). The amazing thing during this special structured kind of networking is that we got to witness how everyone had so much to offer and in the room were people who could help and did!

Business cards were exchanged, win-win solutions manifested, interns were sought and dancing partners were found in the blink of an eye!

If only the world would respond so readily, you might be thinking.

Well it does, when you ask with the expectation of receiving. Here is an article that I feel would help identify how to change some of the inner chatter that sabotages your intentions and your success and I just had to share it with you.

Enjoy!

Do you ever feel like you're just way too sensitive?

"Intention rules the earth," says Oprah.

It's true.

The first part of my upcoming workshop next weekend is devoted solely to intention. There are exercises to strengthen clarity and commitment as you answer the following question:

"What do you want?"

This question might totally throw you off. If you're like many of my clients, you've believed your limiting thoughts for so long, that you don't realize you can ask for what you truly want and that you have the power to attract it!

So, naturally, you might do some wonky things at first that actually sabotage an otherwise powerful intention! Here are seven of the most common ways we do that:

#1 - "So that."

Example: "I intend to lose weight and get in shape SO THAT I can be energetic and happy in my daily life."

"So that" says: "I can't have THIS if I don't have THAT." It is restricting. And intentions are about expansion!

Be brave enough to ask, "What do I ultimately want here?" If you want two things, you can divide the intentions with AND or WHILE. "I intend to lose weight while being happy and energetic in my daily life."

#2 - Implementing Bureaucrat Speak Calibrated to Leverage Maximum Capacity Mental Paralysis

Example: "I intend to leverage an incremental degree of financial stability insomuch as I can facilitate a reasonable facsimile of value-added methodology."

When you set an intention, you're speaking to your soul, not to the folks in HR. Intention is supposed to excite us a lot, and scare us a little. Pretend you never worked in corporate, and use language that feels good to you.

#3 - "Ing" Overdose

Example: "I intend that I am becoming clear about my career path while my health is getting better and I am attracting a loving romantic partner."

The Universe always says YES. In this case, it says, "Yes indeed. You ARE becoming clear. And you are, in fact, ATTRACTING a loving partner... any minute now!"

Stick with present tense even though it's scary.

#4 - Scattered, Splattered and Covered

Example: "I intend to get clear about the next steps I'm taking in my life with health, lifestyle, my relationship, and career. Oh, and I also want to lose weight, make more money, move somewhere else and write a novel."

I call this "Attention Splatter." It doesn't work. It's nothing more than sabotage.

Here's what's wild, though. When we allow ourselves to focus on one single intention, often the other things we want will begin to manifest effortlessly. (OR we come to realize that we no longer want all those things!)

Be willing to be unimpressive and boring. Start with just one thing.

#5 - Trying to figure out the HOW.

The reason my call tonight is called "The Unstoppable Power of Intention" is because it's true! When you set an intention, you don't have to know HOW.

Yes, of course, you take action. But you don't "figure it all out" first. Trying to figure out HOW it could possibly happen is just your scarcity mindset trying to take control. (And how's that been workin' for you so far?)

#6 - Worrying about your ego.

"Isn't this just my ego talking? How will I know if I'm honoring my deepest self? Is this intention my TRUE! LIFE! PURPOSE????"

You can spin your wheels for years trying to discover an Academy Award-Winning Life Purpose, or waiting til you're "totally at peace." Don't set this trap for yourself. The simple action right in front of you is all you need to take. (And sometimes, it might be deceptively boring!)

If you can't hear your deepest self yet, then just start somewhere. Maybe your ego's desires will open up a deeper path.

#7 - Removing, obliterating, or ridding yourself of obstacles, weakness, and issues.

Example: I intend to rid myself of all of my anger and addictions and stop letting my ego run the show and never have emotions again.

Dude.

This is SO not gonna happen.

You don't have to focus on your "stuff" just to prove that you're not in denial.

Remember this: Energy flows where attention goes. When you include your "issues" in your intention, then you are, in essence, saying, "Let's really give this my energy. Let's dredge it up, shall we?"

Focus instead on the things that you DO want. That way, the obstacles and issues will naturally come up for release in their perfect and right time.

by Christine Kane, Mentor to Women Who are Changing the World. She helps women uplevel their lives, their businesses and their success. Her weekly LiveCreative eZine goes out to over 12,000 subscribers. If you are ready to take your life and your world to the next level, you can sign up for a F.R.E.E. subscription at http://christinekane.com.

____________

The weekend course that I organise help to dissolve the internal limitations, stress and worries easily along with whatever is limiting your success. After only two days, your energy, your laughter, your focus and your inner sense of calm and purpose will have skyrocketed. (After two days, participants have also found they look 5 years younger. Woo-hoo!).

Join me on 26 and 27 February. Register by sending me an SMS on 3333063833 and I'll send you all the details.

Love, light and laughter!

Business Zen: How to tap into your Creative Intelligence

2011-02-17T10:49:00.001+01:00

Do you feel overcommitted, low on energy, unfulfilled or uninspired?
Is your stress causing those you love to suffer?
Has your health been impacted by stress?
Are you outwardly fine... yet inside you are somewhat unsure of your direction in life and lack decisiveness?

You don't have to leave your corporate life behind to experience the balance you seek – I will teach you proven techniques to tap into your "Creative Intelligence". Accessing and harnessing this creative intelligence will naturally result in:

Improved relationships – with yourself and others
Increased energy, focus and creativity
Improved clarity and sense of direction
Improved health.

This will have a knock-on effect on your work (whether your business or you work in corporate) as well as in other areas of your life. You will experience:

better team work
more efficient team work
better and faster group results
which will also result in:
bottom line results

You can be the calm amidst the chaos... you can be focused while others flutter...

experience the benefits of these techniques for yourself!

Learn them once and apply them for the rest of your life.

Join me in my next training workshop in Rome - 26th and 27th February.
SMS me at 3333063833 for more information.

Til the next post...

Love, light and laughter,

Sile

PS Groups are small and focused, places are limited so book early to avoid disappointment.

Noticing the Abundance

2011-02-17T00:32:00.000+01:00

When we focus on abundance, our life feels abundant; when we focus on lack, our life feels lacking. It is purely a matter of focus.

It is true that we can’t be in denial about the pain in our life. That is damaging to our physical and emotional health. And just as importantly,

We can’t be in denial about the abundance in our life!

I suggest that you create a “Book of Abundance” for yourself. Each night before you go to bed, jot down at least 50 wonderful things that happened to you that day. “Fifty things, Susan! I can hardly think of three!” Obviously, you have not been noticing the blessings in your life! The purpose of this exercise is to help you do so. Some of the items you can include are:

I am able to walk
I have food to eat.
I have hot water in my shower
I’m breathing
The sun came out

In the beginning, finding these 50 things to be grateful for may take you a LONG, LONG time. Soon, however, the blessings will pour easily onto the paper. That is because you will spend much of the day LOOKING FOR the blessings in your life so that you will have new material to add to your Book of Abundance that night. And you will find them! The benefits are obvious…

As you start looking for the good, your focus automatically is taken off the bad…and you feel blessed!

If you can make noticing the abundance a habit, your life will be transformed!

I remember sitting with my mom in her living room on a cold, dreary winter day just months before she died. She was in much pain and was feeling very weak. At one point when I was in pain about her pain, she looked at me and said, “It’s cold outside…I’m warm and cozy inside. My daughter is here… sometimes you get lucky.”

Wow! I was focusing on her pain. She was focusing on her blessings.

by Susan Jeffers

Can You Answer This Question?

2011-02-09T13:42:00.000+01:00

Do you know who you are?

Okay… this is important –

More important than success
More important that money
More important the anything
The most important thing is that you know who you are.

Do you?

Do you know who you are?

I mean at your core…

I mean separate from all successes and failures and material things…

Do you know who you are?

Do you believe in your heart and soul that you are a good person who is acting from good intentions?

THAT is what I mean…

Once you know that — you are free — people may question you (based on their limiting belief sets or past experiences) BUT if you know you are acting from good intentions, that is what mattters…

Know who you are — believe in yourself — and know you deserve all of the abundance, joy, fulfillment and peace that you can imagine (and more)…

Sure, it may take some ups and downs (that’s okay, and natural) –

But the thing that will take you through all of the ups and downs and ebbs and flows, is knowing who YOU are –

I know who you are — You are extraordinary! I am honored to know you…

Love, light and laughter

New Year, New Life!

2011-01-13T13:57:00.000+01:00

Do you ever review your year?

I do, here's a quick summary of mine:

Phew... I got through it! :-)

Looking back on 2010, one word springs to mind and that is 'rollarcoaster'. Every month came with extreme highs and lows. Just to give an example of December on the plus side I won a luxury safari for two in South Africa and was nominated for a 'Woman of the Year' award, while on the not so plus side I was picking myself up from a few major JV disappointments which had me doubting my judgement and wondering if I had what it takes to be an online entrepreneur... after a year of this, you can imagine how grateful I was for Christmas to be able to rest, recover, regroup to run again.

So here we are in January. Two weeks in.

How's it going for you?

I've had a birthday already and this year I know I have the answer to the Ultimate Question of life, the Universe and Everything (see Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy). No small feat eh?

I'm also doing things a little differently. You see, I realise that last year, I was putting a LOT of intention and effort in making progress how I wanted things to be, to achieve, to attain, to feel. It was linear thinking, it was hard work and it was draining. And oh, it didn't really work half the time (enter curved ball thrown at me).

So now for something completely different...!

Instead of reviewing and setting new (or same) goals of what I want to achieve, I'm setting powerful intentions and then letting go, really letting go. What I mean is that I don't worry about how it will happen. I know it will. Now, my main goal is on concentrating on Being Happy every single day. If anything other than Being Happy comes up, I blast it away with the Avatar materials. It usually only takes a few minutes and it's a laugh as well. And then I get busy on really feeling the best I've ever felt every day. Today has been awesome so far!

If you're new to the concept, here's a video that'll put you in the right mood. (if you are getting an email from me - click on http://sileobroin.blogspot.com to see the post and the video)

And in case you're wondering, here are my intentions for the year (not in any order of importance):

1. Fun: Swim with dolphins and learn how to dance tango
2. Freedom: Become financially independent with my online business while working part-time
3. Passion: Using my online business to help as many people as I can to get rid of their migraines and increase the happiness quotient in the world

I have other intentions but I'll spare you the details as you don't want me to over share, do you?! ;-)

I'll let you know how I get on with the three intentions above in a few months.

But enough about me... how has 2011 been for you so far?

What are your intentions this year?

How are you going to ensure that this year will be different from last year?

If you feel like it, leave a comment below to share. :-)

Until the next time,

Sending you all love, light and laughter!

The True Spirit of Christmas

2010-12-21T09:58:00.000+01:00

As the Dawn of a New Year is on the horizon, I thought to send you this poem which touched my heart...

Lots of people
Crowds everywhere
Rushing and pushing and shoving,
Going nowhere.
It's Christmas time again
Have to get all those things done
Hustle, bustle, quickly,
We must beat the sun.
Must get this and must get that
Maybe this nic, maybe that nak
When did it happen?
When did we lose track...
It's a race, yes it is
We are running, yes we are
But let’s not forget
Before we get too far-
What is really really important
Doesn't take much to figure out
Take time to love
and love from the heart.

by Marajo Tenderass

Wishing you a lovely Christmas and all good wishes for the New Year!

A Big Thank You!

2010-12-19T23:25:00.001+01:00

As the weather continues to freeze,

I just want to take a moment to

thank you for reading my blog

and putting up with emails. ;-)

It truly means a lot and I hope

I've helped you in some way with

living the life you want.

As always, I look forward to providing

more valuable content to you in 2011.

I genuinely wish you the very best of success

in your life.

Until next time! Happy Holidays and see you in 2011

Big hugs to you,

Sile

Don't Just Do It

2010-12-09T13:33:00.000+01:00

Ever heard someone say: "Just Do It"?

It sounds like a great idea.

Hard to argue with - seems positive, empowering - yeah!

JUST DO IT!

But - has "Just Do it" worked for you?

Have you ever tried to:

Just... stop procrastinating

Just... be confident

Just... quit your job and follow your bliss

Just... attract a passionate romance

Just... make more money

Just... quit smoking

Just... eat healthier

Just... exercise more

Just... stop worrying...be happy...let go of the past...stop
being depressed...

Think for a moment - what would make YOU happier, richer, healthier?

Are you doing it?

If not - why not?

How come when we try to "just do it" it in some areas of our life -
it seems so stinking HARD?

How many new years resolutions have to suffer a quick, anonymous death...

How many diets need to fail... How many goals have to be set and not come true...

How many dreams have to DIE unrealized...

Until the struggle ENDS and the joy and abundance and passion for life begins?

What does it TAKE for "Just do it" to become...

"I DID IT!"

I had been asking that question for a long time... especially when I was in bed with migraines...

then Avatar course came into my life. Or I allowed it in.

This is unlike any other "personal development" system you've
ever seen.

It gets to the root cause of ALL the blocks that keep us stuck -
and clears them out...

Giving us access to the amazing levels of personal power, energy,
and enthusiasm that have been buried inside.

If you've been looking for a REAL breakthrough in your life,
something that works - then go watch this video:

http://www.avatarintro.com

If you watched the various video on the Avatar website (www.avatarepc.com), you know how powerful this is. This is not another "me too" Law of Attraction or goal setting program.

It's different, something new, something you can start putting to work for you TODAY and get amazing results.

Join me on 18th and 19th Dec to start your adventure and do it... your way!

Love and light,

Sile
tel: 3333063833

What's Easy. What's Not

2010-12-08T09:06:00.000+01:00

It's easy to be right.
It's not easy to be kind.

It's easy to hope.
It's not easy to know.

It's easy to be a damsel.
It's not easy to be a heroine.

It's easy to complain.
It's not easy to make requests.

It's easy to have the perfect retort.
It's not easy to listen.

It's easy to be busy.
It's not easy to be productive.

It's easy to criticize.
It's not easy to create.

It's easy to say you don't feel like it.
It's not easy to do it anyway.

It's easy to obsess.
It's not easy to meditate.

It's easy to sing your heart out when the audience loves you.
It's not easy to sing your heart out when no one is paying attention.

It's easy to wait for rescue.
It's not easy to rescue yourself.

It's easy to resent people who take up your time.
It's not easy to say no in the first place.

It's easy to make excuses.
It's not easy to take responsibility.

It's easy to worry.
It's not easy to make a plan.

It's easy to come up with reasons why someone pissed you off.
It's not easy to ask yourself how you participated.

It's easy to dabble.
It's not easy to commit.

It's easy to rail on the idiot driver behind you.
It's not easy to just move out of his way.

It's easy to read books about writing.
It's not easy to sit down and write.

It's easy to say no to bad things because you want good things.
It's not easy to say no to good things because you want great things.

It's easy to fire off an angry email or blog comment.
It's not easy to pause and breathe and clarify your feelings.

It's easy to react to an angry email or blog comment by firing one back.
It's not easy to pause and breathe and clarify your meaning.

It's easy to start your idea.
It's not easy to finish it.

It's easy to buy something cheap because it's cheap.
It's not easy to buy something expensive because you love it.

It's easy to say you don't know what you want.
It's not easy to admit what you do want.

It's easy to let a kid watch TV.
It's not easy to find ways to play with a kid.

It's easy to do urgent things.
It's not easy to do important things.

It's easy to say it's too hard.
It's worth it to do what's not easy.

Kristine Kane
----------------------------

Announcement:

Last Weekend Workshop to Destress and Delight in 2010
is happening on 18 and 19 December in San Giovanni.
Book early to avoid disappointment.

The ReSurfacing Workshop (Section I of The Avatar® Course)
produces insights into what Avatar is about and where it leads.
It is presented by Avatar Masters in an informal group setting
that permits lots of interaction and sharing.

Section I exercises take you behind the scenes of consciousness
for a look at the blueprints by which you build your life. The
journey results in an intimate connection with a deeper, more
compassionate and aware state of self.

Section I is offered in an affordable 2-day workshop that contains
information, demonstrations, and experiential exercises to awaken
you to the unlimited possibilities of living deliberately.

ReSurfacing refers to the action of disentangling yourself from
old creations and rising back into awareness. It is a process,
paralleling nature, of revealing yourself to yourself. The rewards
are new insights and realizations about how your life works—
or why it doesn’t.

ReSurfacing is an expedition into consciousness that you personalize
according to your own needs. How far you go is a matter for you to
determine, and the truth you discover will be your truth.

Testimonials

I feel I have a greater understanding about what I need to do to achieve my goal.
This ReSurfacing has been very beneficial in giving me positive ways to improve
my health and quality of life. - Shirley-USA

Now I know better than I ever did before that I alone am responsible for my
destiny/life/experiences. No longer can I point my finger at anyone or anything
out there. It's totally up to me. So here I go! - Phyllis-USA-2007

Call 3333063833 for more information.

Giving Thanks at Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T14:45:00.005+01:00

Today is thanksgiving and to give thanks, here are 49 beautiful gratitude quotes
and a poem of thankfulness:

1. “At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.” — Albert Schweitzer

2. “You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.” — G. K. Chesterton

3. “No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks”. — Unknown

4. “Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” — Marcel Proust

5. “He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.” — Epictetus

6. “You simply will not be the same person two months from now after consciously giving thanks each day for the abundance that exists in your life. And you will have set in motion an ancient spiritual law: the more you have and are grateful for, the more will be given you.” — Sarah Ban Breathnach

7. “We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.” — Thornton Wilder

8. “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” — Albert Einstein

9. “Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.” — William Arthur Ward

10. “Take full account of the excellencies which you possess, and in gratitude remember how you would hanker after them, if you had them not.” — Marcus Aurelius

11. “Real life isn’t always going to be perfect or go our way, but the recurring acknowledgement of what is working in our lives can help us not only to survive but surmount our difficulties.” — Sarah Ban Breathnach

12. “We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.” — Cynthia Ozick

13. “Can you see the holiness in those things you take for granted–a paved road or a washing machine? If you concentrate on finding what is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul.” — Rabbi Harold Kushner

14. “We can be thankful to a friend for a few acres or a little money; and yet for the freedom and command of the whole earth, and for the great benefits of our being, our life, health, and reason, we look upon ourselves as under no obligation.” — Marcus Annaeus Seneca

15. “When we become more fully aware that our success is due in large measure to the loyalty, helpfulness, and encouragement we have received from others, our desire grows to pass on similar gifts. Gratitude spurs us on to prove ourselves worthy of what others have done for us. The spirit of gratitude is a powerful energizer.” — Wilferd A. Peterson

16. “Whatever our individual troubles and challenges may be, it’s important to pause every now and then to appreciate all that we have, on every level. We need to literally “count our blessings,” give thanks for them, allow ourselves to enjoy them, and relish the experience of prosperity we already have.” — Shakti Gawain

17. “Thou that has given so much to me,
Give one thing more–a grateful heart;
Not thankful when it pleaseth me,
As if thy blessings had spare days;
But such a heart, whose pulse may be
Thy praise.”

– George Herbert

18. “(Some people) have a wonderful capacity to appreciate again and again, freshly and naively, the basic goods of life, with awe, pleasure, wonder, and even ecstasy.” — A.H. Maslow

19. “If the only prayer you say in your life is thank you, that would suffice.” — Meister Eckhart

20. “Find the good and praise it.” — Alex Haley

21. “Give thanks for a little and you will find a lot.” — The Hausa of Nigeria

22. “What if you gave someone a gift, and they neglected to thank you for it-would you be likely to give them another? Life is the same way. In order to attract more of the blessings that life has to offer, you must truly appreciate what you already have.” — Ralph Marston

23. “Happiness is itself a kind of gratitude.” — Joseph Wood Krutch

24. “The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.” — Henry Miller

25. “There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy.” — Ralph H. Blum

26. “Gratefulness is the key to a happy life that we hold in our hands, because if we are not grateful, then no matter how much we have we will not be happy — because we will always want to have something else or something more.” — Brother David Steindl-Rast

27. “Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude.” — Denis Waitley

28. “As each day comes to us refreshed and anew, so does my gratitude renew itself daily. The breaking of the sun over the horizon is my grateful heart dawning upon a blessed world. ” — Adabella Radici

29. “For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

30. “Grace isn’t a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal. It’s a way to live. ” — Attributed to Jacqueline Winspear

31. “When eating bamboo sprouts, remember the man who planted them.” — Chinese Proverb

32. “Only a stomach that rarely feels hungry scorns common things.” — Horace

33. “But the value of gratitude does not consist solely in getting you more blessings in the future. Without gratitude you cannot long keep from dissatisfied thought regarding things as they are.” — Wallace Wattles

34. “Blessed are those that can give without remembering and receive without forgetting.” — Author Unknown

35. “If you concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul.” — Rabbi Harold Kushner

36. “Nothing that is done for you is a matter of course. Everything originates in a will for the good, which is directed at you. Train yourself never to put off the word or action for the expression of gratitude.” — Albert Schweitzer

37. “God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say “thank you?” — William A. Ward

38. “Gratitude is a vaccine, an antitoxin, and an antiseptic.” — John Henry Jowett

39. “Feeling grateful or appreciative of someone or something in your life actually attracts more of the things that you appreciate and value into your life.” — Christiane Northrup

40.”The best way to pay for a lovely moment is to enjoy it.” — Richard Bach

41. “Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes of which all men have some.” — Charles Dickens

42. “Both abundance and lack exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend… when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that’s present — love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature and personal pursuits that bring us pleasure — the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience Heaven on earth.” –Sarah Ban Breathnach

43. “Whenever we are appreciative, we are filled with a sense of well-being and swept up by the feeling of joy.” — M.J. Ryan

44. “Gratitude is riches. Complaint is poverty.” –Doris Day

45. “Many people who order their lives rightly in all other ways are kept in poverty by their lack of gratitude.” — Wallace Wattles

46. “Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful.” — Buddha

47. “Two kinds of gratitude: The sudden kind we feel for what we take; the larger kind we feel for what we give.” — Edwin Arlington Robinson

48. “There is a law of gratitude, and it is . . . the natural principle that action and reaction are always equal and in opposite directions. The grateful outreaching of your mind in thankful praise to supreme intelligence is a liberation or expenditure of force. It cannot fail to reach that to which it is addressed, and the reaction is an instantaneous movement toward you.” — Wally Wattles

49. “Gratitude should not be just a reaction to getting what you want, but an all-the-time gratitude, the kind where you notice the little things and where you constantly look for the good, even in unpleasant situations. Start bringing gratitude to your experiences, instead of waiting for a positive experience in order to feel grateful.” — Marelisa Fábrega

Be Thankful

Be thankful that you don’t already have everything you desire,
If you did, what would there be to look forward to?

Be thankful when you don’t know something
For it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times.
During those times you grow.

Be thankful for your limitations
Because they give you opportunities for improvement.

Be thankful for each new challenge
Because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes
They will teach you valuable lessons.

Be thankful when you’re tired and weary
Because it means you’ve made a difference.

It is easy to be thankful for the good things.
A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who are
also thankful for the setbacks.

GRATITUDE can turn a negative into a positive.
Find a way to be thankful for your troubles
and they can become your blessings.

Author Unknown

Letting Go

2010-10-27T16:03:00.003+02:00

Stepping into the new phase of anything requires
letting go of the old phase and your familiar ways
of functioning in that phase.

Like the snake shedding its skin, you need to release
what you no longer need so you have room to grow and
to move forward to the next level of being.

Letting go feels scary, however, which explains why
you often want to know with certainty what is coming
next and how it is going to fully play out before you let
go of what is known. Yet the transformational process
of change rarely works that way.

Often after releasing the old, you experience a period
of not knowing before the new is born from the ashes.

Honoring the transformational phase of a process
requires trust and letting go is just the first stage.

Depending on what you are feeling, choose the opposite:

If you are confused, pray for clarity.
If harshly judging, then forgive.
If afraid of risk, act boldly.
If competitive, recognize abundance for all.
If selfish, reach out to others.
If doubting, imagine what you can really achieve.
If rushed, calm down and put power in each action.

Let go of the old patterns, allow something new in,
balance within to see balance in your life.
Start today. Start with something small and start
with a smile. And pretty soon letting go will become second
nature.

So I hope you will join me this weekend for 30 fun exercises
that have you letting you and soaring to new heights of happiness.

Life Patterns and How to Let Go

2010-10-26T16:42:00.006+02:00

Recently on facebook I wrote a profile status that attracted quite a lot of attention which was:

Getting rid of opinions, judgements and critical thoughts is like getting old and sticky chewing gum off your clothes. Sometimes you need see a good dry cleaner who can help you vaporise the gum off. When choosing a drycleaner, make sure you choose one with excellent 'vaporising' tools ♥ :)

A few friends have asked me to write a blogpost about this explaining it further so here goes.

Have you ever experienced an old life pattern popping up in your life time and time again, yet not being quite ready to change it? Would changing it be a little uncomfortable?

Recently a request came from one family member that I felt strong resistance to. I felt it in the pit of my stomach. A big knot. I totally disagreed with what was requested on many levels, and I struggled for a couple of days about how to respond. I also wondered:

How would the others respond?

Would they be honest in their responses?

What if I ended up being the only one to voice disagreement? Was I willing to be the lone dissenter?

The irony (and perfection) of the request, was that it came just a few hours after I was a guest at a seminar talking about empowerment. At the seminar, I talked about how important it is to pay attention to what your body is telling you. Our bodies often know the answers to questions before we do.

The details are really not important. What I want to share are the voices and choices… and questions I’m asking myself. Am I choosing to stand strong in my truth, or am I relinquishing my voice to others in the form of how I “should” respond?

Stakes are high when choices affecting family relationships are called into view. Changing family patterns can be difficult and painful. Even un-supportive patterns are like an old friend – and letting go of them taps into loss. Over the years I’ve changed many old patterns, and some deep rooted ones have hung on as if for dear life.

Throughout my life, many of the decisions I’ve made that have affected others have been made to keep the peace – at the expense of what was true for me. At least I thought I could get their approval.

What would it be like to let go of wanting approval from others?

Would approving of myself, and being in integrity with myself be enough?

Within a couple of days, it was clear to me that I was, in fact, ‘the odd (wo)man out.’ The others had each stated a position in support of the request. I knew how I wanted to feel, I just didn’t feel that way. I had avoided stating my position, but my body was telling me what I needed to do. I wanted to honor my truth, as difficult as it was to be in opposition.

My choice had nothing to do with them. It does not change the love and support I feel for the person making the request. I had begun coloring outside the lines of pleasing others, or trying to fit in.

I’m guessing my old pattern of not risking who I really am with family has had a huge impact on how I relate to the world, and where I come short of being all I can be.

This situation pushed me against myself. What would it be like if I chose to lean into the discomfort of my fears?

When I sent my response, I knew that I might face judgment and possible rejection. I no sooner pushed the send button, than I found myself wanting to change the words that represented my disagreement.

I also know it is possible that everyone else could be much more accepting than I imagine, and possibly more accepting than I sometimes have been of myself. This felt really big. Yet I’m taking a step toward being willing to stand in my truth, and to grow through it all – whatever that means.

Thank goodness for the Avatar materials that helped me get totally rid of the feeling fear of rejection, and fear of being judged. No more just hoping that those fears will lessen their hold as time goes by.

So what about you? What old patterns get in the way of you empowering yourself?

Are you ready to let go of them?

If not, decide to accept that you’re not quite ready to let go of some difficult patterns. Just start paying attention to how not changing them feels in your body, and ask yourself what must happen in order for you to let them go. Notice how they are affecting the rest of your life. What is the cost of not letting go of the pattern(s)?

I am very grateful for the support of the Avatar Materials and one Avatar Master in particular and family member (my brother!) who have been tremendous help in mirroring back to me my experience without judgment, being supportive and nurturing, and helping me clarify my own next decisions. The process of letting go was not comfortable at all, yet the discomfort I felt pushing through the boundaries has given me a HUGE space from which I can now create a better, clearer and more honest relationship with my family. A better future is well worth 5 minutes of effort, I think. I'm laughing as I write this too now.

Every moment, you have an opportunity to be true to yourself. Just notice what you are choosing, choose your thoughts, choose your attitudes and choose being You!

Love and blessings!

Sile

PS The Next ReSurfacing Weekend Course is this weekend 30 and 31st October. Join me if you want to clear away patterns that no longer serve you. During these two days, you learn 30 amazing exercises that will change how you operate and attract in the world.... if you choose to use the tools! Let me know if you'd like to come, I can't wait to show you the awesome exercises!!

PPS If you're not quite yet sure and yet something within you is guiding you in this direction, you can dip your toe in first... I'm organising an open house tomorrow for anyone who wants to try out an exercise or two to see if this is right for them. You have nothing to lose except stuff that doesn't serve you!

Ecologia delle Parole

2010-10-10T16:56:00.000+02:00

Forse non lo hai notato, ma le parole hanno una forza straordinaria. Una sola parola detta in un luogo qualsiasi della terra può scatenare una guerra a migliaia di chilometri di distanza da quel luogo. Una parola detta in un certo momento tra due fratelli, due amanti, due amici, può provocare la fine di quella relazione e mantenere i suoi effetti per anni o anche decenni dal momento in cui è stata pronunciata.

Le parole sono misteriose e forse ancora non conosciamo abbastanza il loro potere. Per questo ne facciamo un uso spesso disinvolto, spregiudicato. E il più delle volte non siamo nemmeno consapevoli delle loro conseguenze. "Sono solo parole", diciamo. Ma ci sono parole che non hanno neppure bisogno di essere pronunciate. Ci basta pensarle perché ci investano con tutta la loro deflagrante potenza o influenzino il nostro umore o i nostri pensieri per ore o per giorni.

Una parola buona può scioglierti in un pianto irrefrenabile, commuoverti o elevarti nella gratitudine. Una parola cattiva può ferirti più profondamente di una lama o di un proiettile e lasciare quella ferita nell’impossibilità di rimarginarsi. Una parola può farti ammalare e anche morire e un’altra può farti guarire o tornare a vivere.

Le parole sono una realtà potente ed efficace anche prima ancora di avere un significato. Sono una vibrazione di una certa frequenza e qualità e creano risonanze o distonie prima ancora che possiamo decodificarne il senso compiuto.

Ci sono parole che sono state importanti per una certa epoca e poi sono state messe da parte. Parole potenti in grado di esprimere cose grandi. Parole come “Misericordia” oppure “Provvidenza” ci parlano di quando non pensavamo di sapere tutto o controllare ogni cosa. E cercavamo parole per affidarci alla possibilità di una realtà superiore.

Abbiamo parole nuove, adatte a descrivere la vita di oggi, Internet, Wireless, Network, Smartphone, Globalizzazione. Sono parole che ci accompagneranno a lungo probabilmente nei prossimi anni. Ma saranno sempre le parole pronunciate da tua madre per consolarti mentre piangevi o per accompagnarti nel buio del sonno al quale non volevi arrenderti perché ti faceva paura, che risuoneranno per te con una forza straordinaria, se mai avrai la fortuna di risentirle.

Le parole dunque sono importanti. Le parole che pensiamo e quelle che pronunciamo. Ma anche le parole che ascoltiamo. La parola “Grazie” è una parola bellissima. La parola “Amore” è una delle più potenti. La parola “Si” può aprirti il cuore ed espandere la tua anima. La parola “No” può chiudere entrambi per sempre.

Ci sono le parole pronunciate da anime grandi che hanno effetti incredibili anche per millenni. Le parole scelte e pronunciate da Buddha: “Compassione”, o da Gesù: “Perdono”, da Ghandi: “Pace”, da Madre Teresa, “Servizio” da Nelson Mandela: “Uguaglianza”, da Marthin Luther King: “Sogno”, da Papa Giovanni Ventitreesimo “Bontà”. Sono ancora lì a disposizione dell'intera umanità con gli stessi effetti di sempre.

Le parole sono magiche. Sceglile con cura. Quelle che scegli per descriverti la realtà sono quelle che creano la tua realtà, quelle che scegli per definirti, anche quando ti sembrano grandi, sono quelle che creano i limiti dentro i quali ti stai costringendo. Cambia le ture parole e cambierai la tua vita.

Comincia ad essere consapevole delle parole che usi. E poi decidi di scegliere le parole che ti fanno bene, che ti accarezzano, che ti consolano, che ti incoraggiano. Non utilizzare e non ascoltare quelle che ti fanno stare male. Se ascolti o leggi parole che non ti piacciono evitale, non alimentarle, non essere complice, allontanati, fai in modo che il discorso cambi direzione e volgilo al positivo.

Per curare noi stessi, la nostra anima e anche la nostra salute dobbiamo prenderci cura del nostro linguaggio, così come dei nostri pensieri. Chi parla male, vive male. Dobbiamo creare una nuova ecologia delle parole. Ritrovare parole antiche e anche inventarne di nuove se necessario. Perché una parola giusta al momento giusto può cambiarti la vita, ma anche salvare il mondo.

Alberto Simone

The Truth About You

2010-09-26T23:46:00.001+02:00

This post comes thanks to my good friend Anita in Hawaii.

Read it over then close your eyes and feel it within your mind and body.

It is the Truth about you.

You know who you are

You have always known in the deepest part of your mind

In the depth of your own heart

You are exactly as you are meant to be

Strong, resilient, kind, loving and wise

See and feel all external definitions of you drop away

Breathe in and release anyone else’s definition of you

Anyone else’s opinion of you

You are.

You always have been

Feel yourself from within

You are a Divine Creation

You are the perfect reflection of Universal Wisdom

There is a part of the Universe that is just you.

See the stream of your own energy flow holding and purifying you

Readying you for your journey forward in time

Placing you exactly where you need to be now

In this moment

You are just where you are meant to be

And the energy stream that is yours

Will take you to where you need to be next

Just let it

Flow with it

Feel your body relaxing in the flow as it take you to

Your next level

You may not see or know where it is taking you,

Just trust.

The Universe and Divine Wisdom are present

All is in Order -Divine Order

Let it happen -Flow to your destiny

You will arrive fresh, prepared and ready

Knowing without having to push

Knowing without worry

You just know – As you just are

In Divine Perfection

You flow

You are good

You are part of all that is good

A part of Oneness

Your life and future stretch out before you in a beautiful ribbon

Before you

You are on your way

Let yourself flow in your stream

Into your perfect future

Blessings and Love

Permission to dream

2010-09-25T15:46:00.004+02:00

I found this article by chance as I decided to write down my goals for the next three months. The article struck me as I used to be like Suzanne a few years back and thought that it might be true for many people out there who don't know that there is another way.

----

How many times have you heard?

“If you don’t know where you are going, you won’t know when you have arrived”
“You must set your goals so you know what you are aiming for”
“What will it feel, sound, smell, look like when you get there”
“How will you know”

I confess I have never been very good at setting goals and more to the point knowing what my dreams are, really to my deepest core knowing what I want. I am sure that some of you will be able to resonate with that. But why is that? Well we are often told by our coaches and mentors that the things that hold us back are our belief systems.

I have had moments in my life when I know what I want and where I am going, but they seem to be for brief moments, they last a few months and then I either forget, write them down somewhere that I can’t see them. I have even created a dream board, which I used to look at and it left me feeling empty, (my coach would tell me that it is because I was being incongruent, I didn’t really know what I wanted). Ironically the dream board got trashed by someone else, which at the time made me angry, but in hindsight it was the best thing because really those desires were forced upon me by pressure of HAVING to set my goals, at that time.

Now this was not external pressure, I take full responsibility as this was my own internal battle, what do I want? what do I want? what do I really want?

Coaches would often say to me close your eyes and imagine what it would feel like if you were doing what you really wanted to do, and I just couldn’t I closed my eyes and all I saw was blackness. Then it would get embarrassing so I would make it up, reciting what I thought would sound good, but never ever really FEELING it.

There are times in my life when I have wanted a big house, flash car, nice holidays, lots of money in the bank. I put the pictures up, but none of it felt right, I put quotes up all over my board to try and drill into my mind that I really wanted these things.

I suddenly realised this morning, why I lost the ability to dream, and the coaches are right, it is all to do with belief systems, which I would like to share with you in the hope that it helps someone, just one person out there to start dreaming again.

When I was a kid all I ever wanted to do was to travel the world, I didn’t think in terms of getting married, having kids, big house, big car. I used to dream about going to work around Europe with my mates, working from bar to bar, living off the land, going to countries to work in villages, I wanted to explore the seven wonders of the world and beyond, I always dreamt of going to Machu Pichu, the Great Wall of China, to go to Phuket, the Maldives, to volunteer help in Africa…………I really wanted these experiences, to my deepest core, I can feel it now as a write the excitement of “this is exactly what I want in my life” I wanted to get a mobile home and travel Australia, New Zealand, Europe. I had a dream of visiting every single corner, edge, centre of the world, not one would be missed.
But I didn’t

Why?

I was conditioned not to dream beyond my parents beliefs………….so I stopped

When my mother was alive she never went outside of this country, and when my father was alive he often worked abroad, when he came home there would always be a row
about how much time he was spending away from home, and Dad would acquiese and say he wouldn’t go again, and “it’s only hardwork anyway, no fun”.

I heard these statements over and over and over…………….

“you have to work hard to earn money”
“As soon as you get the chance you must start working”
“you’ll never be clever enough to get a decent job, so work the hardest you can and whatever you get”
“Don’t even think about travelling anywhere it’s much too expensive”
“Why would you want to leave your family”
“What makes you so special that you think you can JUST go off and travel”
“You must be a secretary”
“It’s not possible to have your own business, you haven’t invented anything”
“You’ll never earn enough money”
“Your Dad works hard to bring in the money, so when you can so must you”
“Your Mum works 2 jobs to bring you up, it would be selfish if you didn’t do the same”

(*^(%*^, no wonder I can be a headcase………ha ha

I then met my husband who had obviously been brought up in the same way, because he would say exactly the same things as above, so my conditioning carried on, into my adult life. I also know that whilst I have earned a lot of money, it has been spent on the big house the flash car, the designer clothes……….NOT on my dreams. Because I forgot them along the way.

So whenever I have tried to sit down and dream and have goals, the little voice at the back of my head, which actually does make me feel phisically sick and hurts my neck for all you NLPers out there. I haven’t been able to really truly find what I wanted because I thought, I wasn’t good enough, it was possible, or that I had enough money. I stopped believing that any form of travelling for me for pleasure was totally impossible (even though, I knew logically it wasnt), confusing!

Well something happened this morning, I woke up thinking about several opportunities that have landed on my lap lately, through hard work (tick) tenacity (tick) communication (tick) unconcsiously manifesting (tick). However, one of these opportunities in particular means that I will be very wealthy very soon.

My mind was suddenly full of places, all the places I had listed above, I couldn’t stop my brain whirring and feeling excited, I suddenly felt that it was possible, I could really do these things, I can go and travel, there is nothing in the world that can stop me.

Now I don’t think it is specifically relating to money, I think it is the knowledge that all good things are happening around me like a whirlwind of goodness that I suddenly took a moment this morning to see it to feel it to recognise the sense of freedom I had, the sense of possibility came back, the sense of knowing exactly what it is that I want for my life. I don’t want the big house the fast car anymore, I don’t want the dinner parties and the false smiles.

All I want is to be happy and my happiness is knowing what I want and what I want is to travel to all the four corners of the world, to experience different cultures. To sometimes lounge around on a beach or in a 5 star hotel, to sometimes stay in a tent and work with tribes, to trek up mountains and down into valleys, to see trees, sun, animals, speak different languages, to smile, giggle uncontrollably and to be happy.

I give myself permission to DREAM.

By Suzanne Barnett

----
(Sile's note) What dreams have you forgotten or tucked away in a drawer? What would you life be like if you actually achieved those dreams? How would you feel?

And now... give yourself permission to go out there and do it!

Frasi Indimenticabili

2010-09-06T10:24:00.002+02:00

Ho perdonato errori quasi imperdonabili, ho provato a sostituire persone insostituibili e dimenticato persone indimenticabili.

Ho agito per impulso, sono stato deluso dalle persone che non pensavo lo potessero fare, ma anch'io ho deluso.

Ho tenuto qualcuno tra le mie braccia per proteggerlo; mi sono fatto amici per l'eternità.

Ho riso quando non era necessario, ho amato e sono stato riamato, ma sono stato anche respinto.

Sono stato amato e non ho saputo ricambiare. Ho gridato e saltato per tante gioie, tante.

Ho vissuto d'amore e fatto promesse di eternità, ma mi sono bruciato il cuore tante volte!

Ho pianto ascoltando la musica o guardando le foto. Ho telefonato solo per ascoltare una voce.

Io sono di nuovo innamorato di un sorriso. Ho di nuovo creduto di morire di nostalgia e… ho avuto paura di perdere qualcuno molto speciale (che ho finito per perdere)… ma sono sopravvissuto!

E vivo ancora!

E la vita, non mi stanca… E anche tu non dovrai stancartene.

Vivi!

È veramente buono battersi con persuasione, abbracciare la vita e vivere con passione, perdere con classe e vincere osando, perchè il mondo appartiene a chi osa!

La Vita è troppo bella per essere insignificante!

Charlie Chaplin

se non riesci a vedere il video qui sopra, vai su : http://sileobroin.blogspot.com

Something to think about

2010-09-02T09:29:00.002+02:00

As an Avatar Master, I consider myself to be a special type of coach or better still a guide.

All Avatar masters, guides and coaches will sometimes face times when the person you are working with is resisting something. It can be extremely frustrating to constantly hear people(or friend for that matter) talk about why they can't do something - and keep bringing up blocks instead of looking for solutions. It's almost like they are committed to staying safe and not going for their goal.

I can sometimes find myself drawn or sucked into throwing out possible solutions that come to mind (not the best coaching).

And still they knock these down. By this stage I realise that you're pushing uphill, and that it might be time to try a different tack. I take their goal away from them!

Here's a recent conversation I had at a restaurant with a person I had just met (let's call him John):

John said: 'Wow - you're an Avatar Master? What would you say to someone who always wanted to play more music, but didn't have the time or money to do it?'

We talked about what he really wanted, and he brought up several blocks in the way: 'Oh but my work takes up a lot of time'.

'How would it feel to cut back work to 3-4 days a week and put time into your music'? I asked.

'Oh - but we really need the money because we have a mortgage'

'Well - would you be willing to devote 7 extra hours on the weekend to expressing yourself through music?'

'Oh no - I need some time to relax and to be with my wife. Plus there's a lot to do around the house'.

After less than five minutes of not enjoying this, I finally said: 'Well how's this for a plan? You keep your current hours at your job, pay off your mortgage, and then when you're 80 you look back and wonder what could have happened if you really followed your passion?'

He sat there stunned for a few moments, and then blurted out: 'But that sounds like a terrible plan!'

'Well - isn't that the one you're currently working with?'

So if you are not happy with the way you are doing things, what would it be worth to you to take two days out of your schedule to learn tools to clear up some space which will propel you towards your goals? Are you ready for that?

I am hosting a two-day weekend workshop in Rome on 4th and 5th September where you explore and if you wish, clear away what is in your way to achieving what you want.

If that sounds like something you are interested in, book your place by emailing me now s.obroin@gmail.com

I can't wait for you to really start living deliberately and living your best life!

Top Five Regrets

2010-08-27T12:22:00.004+02:00

I came across this article this morning and it struck a chord with me about how many people I see who are heading in this direction...

People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality. I learned never to underestimate someone's capacity for growth. Some changes were phenomenal. Each experienced a variety of emotions, as expected, denial, fear, anger, remorse, more denial and eventually acceptance. Every single patient found their peace before they departed though, every one of them.

When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five:

1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people have had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.

It is very important to try and honour at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it.

2. I wish I didn't work so hard.

This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.

By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle.

3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.

Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.

We cannot control the reactions of others. However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly, in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.

It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip. But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical details of life fall away. People do want to get their financial affairs in order if possible. But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them. They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love. Usually though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task. It is all comes down to love and relationships in the end. That is all that remains in the final weeks, love and relationships.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.

When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying.

Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness.

Bronnie Ware is a writer, singer/songwriter, songwriting teacher and speaker from Australia. She has lived nomadically for most of her adult life. Bronnie shares her inspiring observations and the insights gained along the way through the diversity of her work. http://www.inspirationandchai.com.

Don't wait any longer to learn how to become happier and get rid of those resistances that are standing in your way. The Avatar method provides a fun and effective way of doing so. I've seen people transform after only one exercise. Imagine what two full days would do for you? If you'd like to find out more, send me an email at s.obroin@gmail.com

On the Subject of Spoons

2010-08-19T08:38:00.002+02:00

A Holy man was having a conversation with the Lord one day and said,
'Lord, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.'

The Lord led the holy man to two doors.

He opened one of the doors and the holy man looked in.

In the middle of the room was a large round table..

In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew,

which smelled delicious and made the holy man's mouth water.

The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly.

They appeared to be famished.. They were holding spoons with very long
handles that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible to
reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful.

But because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get
the spoons back into their mouths..

The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering.

The Lord said, 'You have seen Hell. They went to the next room and
opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one.

There was the large round table with the large pot of stew which made
the holy man's mouth water.

The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but here
the people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking.

The holy man said, 'I don't understand.

'It is simple,' said the Lord. 'It requires but one skill.

You see, they have learned to feed each other.

The greedy think only of themselves.'

Remember that

I will always share my spoon with you.

Let's really look inside ourselves and see if we really share with
others or we are just good at pointing a finger at the next person!

While one finger is pointing at the next person, there are four
pointing right back at YOU!

Let's not be cosmetic .........Let's 'Walk the talk'!

Surfare Sull'Onda della Vita

2010-07-17T17:49:00.004+02:00

Il nostro universo è regolato da due leggi che non troverai nei libri di fisica, ma se le conosci e ne terrai conto la tua vita migliorerà istantaneamente. La prima legge è che l’universo ha una natura dualistica. Cosa ti dice questa legge? Dice che niente esisterebbe per te se non esistesse il suo opposto. Chiedi a un pesce cos’è l’acqua. Anche se potesse parlare non saprebbe risponderti. Il pesce non sa di essere bagnato perché non ha la più pallida idea di cosa voglia dire essere asciutto.

Invece tu, che non sei un pesce, tutto ciò che conosci lo devi al fatto che conosci il suo opposto. Sai cos’è la luce, perché conosci il buio. Sai cosè il caldo, perché conosci il freddo. Sai cos’è l’odio, perché conosci l’amore. Sai cos’è la guerra perché conosci la pace. Sai cos’è la malattia perché conosci la salute. Dunque non c’è niente che possa esistere per te se non esistesse il suo contrario. Ma queste separazioni sono solo un artificio. Sono solo il modo con cui la tua mente fa esperienza del mondo. La luce e il buio, per esempio, sono inseparabili. Quando tu sei immerso nella luce del giorno, il buio non cessa di esistere. Avvolge la parte opposta del pianeta. E da qualche parte, queste due realtà sono attaccate tra loro, digradano l’una nell’altra, senza soluzione di continuità. Dunque, nonostante la nostra mente percepisca solo una cosa per volta, c’è un’unica realtà, che si manifesta attraverso due aspetti complementari e inseparabili.

La seconda legge è quella dell’impermanenza. Questa legge è più facile da capire. Dice semplicemente che nella vita tutto cambia costantemente e niente dura per sempre. Perfino nel tuo corpo tutto cambia. Le cellule che lo compongono muoiono costantemente e vengono sostituite da nuove cellule a ogni istante. Nel giro di pochi giorni tutte le cellule del tuo corpo moriranno e saranno sostituite da nuove cellule. Dunque per certi versi, almeno dal punto di vista fisico, nemmeno tu sei più la stessa persona del giorno prima.

A che ti serve sapere tutto questo? Semplice! Queste due leggi sono direttamente connesse con la tua felicità. La prima, quella del dualismo, ti dice che se tu eliminassi dalla tua vita le cose negative, dolorose, tristi, non proveresti più niente di positivo, piacevole e non potresti mai più essere felice. La seconda, quella dell’impermanenza, ti dice che quando stai male, anche molto male, non sarà per sempre. Ti dice che quel male da qualche parte è attaccato al bene. Per la legge dell’impermanenza è destinato a passare. Per quella del dualismo è destinato a lasciare il posto al suo contrario. Questa è la vera natura dell’universo. Impara presto le regole del gioco così potrai partecipare attivamente e non solo subirle. Più grande sarà la tua conoscenza, maggiore sarà la tua consapevolezza. E la capacità di fare il surf sulle onde della vita.

Scritto da Alberto Simone

Why Avatar?

2010-05-12T14:13:00.000+02:00

Why do some people attract success in their lives and others attract mediocrity or failure no matter how hard they try? And why are some people successful in one area of their lives, for example business, but can't succeed in other areas of their lives, say relationships?

What if the beliefs seemingly hardwired into our minds create the experiences that we attract into our lives and largely determine whether we succeed or fail? What if we are often operating on a set of default patterns that create our lives as "this is just the way it is"? What if we are operating on beliefs that seem so much a part of us that we aren't aware they even exist!

If you believe that it is possible to change your life for the better, then The Avatar Course is what you are looking for. Avatar is the owner's tool kit and instruction manual for the mind and reveals the secret of how to create the life you want!

The tools and processes you master will allow you to undo self limiting beliefs...

Avatar is practical, not theoretical and not religious. Your privacy is always respected. There is no dogma that one must agree to or rituals that one must perform. It is not a course in meditation, psychoanalysis, affirmations, visualizations or mantras. It is completely self empowering, non judgmental, non serious and you get to laugh a lot and often have tears of joy.

The material of the course is your own unique consciousness which you will explore in a fun, interesting and liberating way. The tools and processes you master will allow you to undo self limiting beliefs and create new empowering beliefs that will change your life without having to fight, struggle against or overcome old doubts and previously held beliefs. And almost all of these tools and processes can be done solo.

The Avatar course is very enlightening and nearly everyone who finishes the course experiences themselves as pure spirit, beyond their bodies or minds or even who they thought they really were!

The Buddha stated that life is suffering. Avatar states that life is suffering only if you remain ignorant of how your consciousness can be altered to create the life you prefer. The question is not "Why Avatar?" but rather "Why suffer if you don't have to"? And, why would you let yourself suffer if it was possible not to? Connect with an Avatar Master, through the Find A Master page, to experience a free Avatar process and start your exploration.

http://www.avatarintro.com

Rand Shipley is an Avatar Master from California

L'Arte di Vivere Bene

2010-04-24T16:33:00.002+02:00

"E' facile star bene quando le cose vanno bene. La vera arte di vivere è stare bene anche quando le cose non vanno come vorremmo. Star bene quando le circostanze sono avverse, non vuol dire essere pazzi, scollegati dalla realtà, non provare sofferenza, sconforto o dolore. Star bene anche quando le cose vanno male vuol dire non rinunciare mai alla speranza che le cose, presto tardi, andranno meglio. Vuol dire avere dentro di te la certezza che qualunque circostanza della vita è destinata per sua natura a passare. Quando un’onda ti investe, specie se è molto potente, non puoi farci niente. E' più forte di te in quel momento. Può anche rovesciarti la barca e tenerti sott'acqua per un po'. Ma se tu sai dentro di te che il suo destino è quello di passare, mentre il tuo è quello di restare, allora, anche sott'acqua, sai che presto tornerai a galla e quello che è capitato sarà solo un ricordo."

Alberto Simone

Sharpen Your Axe, Sharpen Your Mind

2010-04-07T17:21:00.002+02:00

If you are in business, or a business student, chances are that you are familiar with Stephen Covey's 7th Habit - Sharpen the Saw... Here's a story on the same lines to illustrate the logic behind why you should care if your saw is sharpened.

There's a story about an old woodcutter who worked day and night. Yet despite his dedication and hard work, he was not only less productive than his fellow woodcutters who worked fewer hours, but he kept falling farther behind. How can this be?

The other woodcutters didn't work such long hours, but they spent some of their time maintaining their tools, sharpening their axes, and working on other equipment that increased their productivity. When they invited their colleague to take a moment to at least sharpen his axe, he told them, "I don't have time. I have to work hard to make a living and pay my bills." And yet — trying to cut trees without sharpening his axe pretty much guaranteed he wouldn't reach his goals.

What's this got to do with Avatar®? A lot, actually. First, the old woodcutter had self-sabotaging beliefs. Had he taken the time to examine them he would have seen how his beliefs were affecting his results. He would have seen that his consciousness needed sharpening, just like his axe. But, the old woodcutter forgot that his beliefs were responsible for creating his experiences in life. So no matter how hard he worked and how hard he tried to change his life, since he wasn't treating his beliefs as the source of his experiences, he was doomed to failure.

It's not how hard you work, it's how smart you work that makes the difference.

Many people tell us, "I don't have the time to do Avatar and examine my beliefs; I have to work hard to make a living and pay my bills". I doubt that they're cutting trees for a living, but they're making the same mistake as the old woodcutter. They're ignoring the very thing they need to fix if they want to be successful.

Their intentions are good, their action plan is not. People who don't examine and deliberately manage their consciousness operate on default beliefs that will absolutely sabotage their efforts.

Whatever you do in life, you need the best tools you can get, and you need to keep them sharpened up and in pristine condition. The Avatar Course contains the most powerful set of tools available today for living deliberately and creating success. Learn them, use them, keep them in good shape, and they will never let you down.

It's not how hard you work, it's how smart you work that makes the difference.

Take a look at the Trainers' International Avatar Courses page for the next course in your area. We invite you to join us.

www.avatarepc.com

by Rich Brenckman, Star's Edge Trainer from California.

You are Phenomenal!

2010-04-05T11:44:00.001+02:00

In wishing you all a Happy Easter (Buona Pasquetta if you live in Italy) I wanted to acknowledge you as the person I see you!

YOU are Phenomenal ~ a beautiful person, doing an extraordinary job,making things happen for those you love... and although you might not always feel it, you are loved and appreciated.

This video says it all:

♥ Sile

Your Brain is the Hardware, Your Mind is the Software

2010-04-03T08:39:00.001+02:00

by John Toomey

Do you ever feel that your life is like the computer that crashes at that most inappropriate time when you are in the middle of pulling a major project together, corrupting data and losing previously unsaved work? The event sets you back, forcing you to start again, hoping that you can recapture some of that creative power.

You may think that the problem lies in your application software or even in faulty hardware, but really it is deeper and less obvious than that.

When things go wrong in your life you look for reasons. Eventually you move on with a new plan, some new goals and affirmations for success.

But the problem may be caused by a belief, a belief buried so deep in your subconscious that you can not either reach it or detect it with conscious or intellectual effort.

This belief is like a bug in your computer's operating system, an ever present destructive "do-loop" that appears to activate itself just when everything appears to be on track.

Maybe you read a book, do a course or get some counseling. But the bug is still there.

Making mental plans, new goals and creating affirmations is a bit like updating your application software. While it might give you renewed resources, it is still running over the top of, and dependant upon your operating system.

When you get running again, and all is looking good, there is every likelihood that your destructive little "do-loop" will kick in and crash the system again.

Analyzing the event mentally is like searching through the error logs of the applications software. The bug in your operating system, the belief, is so deeply beneath the applications error recording systems that it cannot be detected.

So again you set about upgrading your application software. Maybe you read a book, do a course or get some counseling. But the bug is still there.

Avatar is your answer. It is the diagnostic software that first flushes out the bugs in your operating system, then as a bonus, it expands your systems resources, optimizes your application and installs a feature that allows you to optimize your use of all of your applications' power and features.

Now, it doesn't relieve you of the job of sitting at the keyboard, you are still the operator, but when you do start to type, your power to create will know no limits.

John Toomey is an Avatar Master from Australia. He can be reached at +61 (0) 3 9005 7553, +61 (0) 415 844 919 or by e-mail at johnt@avatarepcpacific.com

Healing towards Happiness

2010-04-01T12:49:00.009+02:00

Your experience is ultimately a product what you choose or allow, consciously or unconsciously.

If its unconscious, you create or allow into your life things, people or situations that are products of your beliefs, attitudes, thoughts and feelings, sense of deserving & self-value, ego agendas, scripts, stories, patterns, unhealed hurts, and so on.

There are many reasons why you may create, or more likely allow, something negative in your life, including bad treatment from another.

Below are just a few examples:

* You may create it to bring up old pain that needs healing.
* It may be a product of existing limiting beliefs about yourself, others, or life itself (which you can of course change - go this link)
* Perhaps you have a victim or martyr story or self-pity agenda running.
* May be you love the drama of it all.
* Perhaps you are avoiding success, love or intimacy, or sabotaging yourself.
* It may be that you are already upset with someone from your past and are repeating the pattern as a means to release buried emotions.
* It could be a situation from which you will learn and grow and become more of who you are.
* Perhaps it is a soul-level contract you have agreed to, whether you are conscious of it or not.

Whatever the reason, and whether you have any idea what that reason is or not, Self-forgiveness (as well as forgiving others) is a way through!

It is a way to let go, heal, change and move beyond to allow more successful loving realities into your life!

We all have 'stuff', yet our stuff is not who we are. Nor is it bad or wrong.

It's what we came here to explore in this lifetime, to learn from, grow, heal, let go of, and evolve, etc.

This does not mean you ever have to experience struggle or hardship, however.

You can learn more through joy, beauty, wonder, laughter, excitement, love and curiosity than through pain.

- Lazaris

There are many ways to heal, release and move beyond inner blocks and patterns.

The more you awaken to the inherent love, truth and magnificence of your being, the more you will let go of what you're not to receive more of your heart's desires. (The Avatar training course enables you to connect to your Higher Self - who you really are).

Self-forgiveness can release much of the negativity, guilt, shame, undeserving, and so on and so forth that blocks happiness and success.

You may not even be conscious of what your blocks are.

Self-forgiveness is a place to start.

Forgiveness is choosing to love. It is the first skill of self-giving love.

- Gandhi

You are loved, loving and loveable, ever and always.

You deserve all your heart desires and more.

Know it in your heart! Open it to receive :-)

If you want to read more and learn how to forgive so that you really feel that those feelings are gone:

Click here: http://www.avatarepc.com/html/mini-eng.html scroll down to the fifth minicourse on Forgiveness.

Happy Easter!

Lots of love,

Sile

PS Next Avatar Course is from 1st - 9th May in Berg en Dal.

Finding the Biggest Secret to Success

2010-04-01T11:45:00.004+02:00

How do you define yourself and your life?

According to the wishes and beliefs of others?
According to how much is in your bank balance?
According to societal norms?

Or according to how happy you feel every day?

Do you feel success eluding you?
Do you give up when you have tried everything?
Do you turn your back and say to yourself, it wasn't that important anyway?

Or do you pick yourself up and try again, this time, more intelligently?
Do you acknowledge the short circuits to your success and then take the long route instead?

You are responsible for your life no one else.
Your are responsible for your happiness, no one else.
You are responsible for your success, no one else.
You are responsible for YOU, no one else.

When you rely, wait and sit around for others to deliver success and happiness for you, you may have to wait a long while. It may never arrives. It may never happen.

WHY?

Unless you can master your thoughts and beliefs, understand yourself, see yourself as you truly are, success and happiness will always be just out of reach.

This video sums it up nicely (see http:sileobroin.blogspot.com)

Wishing you every success and happiness always!

The Opportunity of Adversity

2010-03-30T11:15:00.003+02:00

I recently adopted the viewpoint of looking at what opportunities adversity offered. Opportunities that I would otherwise overlook. It made adversity an easier pill to swallow.

Here's a video that blew my mind on the opportunity of adversity by a very courageous woman.

Did you like the video? I'd be interested in hearing from you so go ahead and post your comment in the comments section of this blog.

Namaste!

The Mission Of Avatar

2010-03-24T13:52:00.002+01:00

The following article has just been released from the Avatar Journal (www.avatarjournal.com) and for anyone who hasn't subscribed yet, I thought it useful to share it here as well (without the snazzy pictures though which you'll find there).

by Harry Palmer

The mission of Avatar in the world is to catalyze the integration of belief systems.

To the people who have taken Avatar or the Avatar Masters' course, this "mission statement" is so instinctively obvious that little is ever said about it. Even when Avatars are countries apart, there is a natural alignment that causes their efforts to forward the mission. Orders and supervision are rarely necessary.

Attempting to explain this spontaneous cooperation to someone who has not yet experienced Avatar is an interesting challenge.

Clearly one cannot draw a circle or circumscribe a quantity or quality without creating an inside and an outside. Whenever a line is drawn, two sides appear. They may be in-side and out-side, as in the case of a circle, or right-side and left-side in the case of a vertical line, or near-side and far-side in the case of a horizontal line.

This two-sided principle is known as dualism or polar relativity, or simply by the Chinese rendition of yin and yang. The light depends upon the dark; the direction "up" cannot exist without also determining the direction "down"; what is "good" is relative to what is "bad"; and what "should" be done determines as well what "should not" be done.

When the primal awareness, which neither contains nor is contained, acts to define itself, it defines as well what it is not. In one brush stroke, two sides appear: the I am and the other. This awareness of definition is the birth of consciousness.

Consciousness knows itself as what it has defined itself as, or one side of the line or boundary that has been created. Thus it has reduced its ownership and control of creation by half.

How many more times can consciousness reduce its ownership and control by half?

If it were to define and deny itself thirty-one times (i.e., thirty-one geometric divisions), the two-billion plus “others” on the planet Earth would be accounted for. If these two-billion plus were then to divide and deny themselves ten more times, every creature and every creation in the Universe would probably be accounted for.

Consciousness knows itself as what it has defined itself as, or one side of the line or boundary that has been created. Thus it has reduced its ownership and control of creation by half.

The life that each of us experiences is an interplay of resisted and desired motion between the qualities and quantities that we create and define ourselves as and the qualities and quantities that we create but assert that we are not. (Conscious intention is merely a knowing shift of identification.) To an Avatar Master who experiences a non-dual essence, life is simple and fun.

An Avatar Master teaches the use of tools and techniques for bringing about a reconciliation between the factors that the student feels as I am and the factors that he or she feels as I am not. This is more than an understanding.

As progress is made, the sides begin to fade and disappear. The Avatar student begins his or her own re-engineering of consciousness––knocking down walls, opening spaces, changing directions and quickly finds a sense of harmony with and wholeness about existence that prior to initiation by the Avatar Master only the esoteric few have ever experienced.

With this harmony and wholeness comes a natural, rational extension of space and genuine tolerance of others.

Communication opens up; viewpoints are explored and modified; separation and difference begin to dissolve into the illusory specters they have always been. An effortless love is born.

The efforts of the new Avatar or the new Master are instinctively in alignment with the mission of Avatar:

"...to catalyze the integration of belief systems."

All content copyright 2010, Star’s Edge, Inc. EPC is a service mark of Star's Edge, Inc. Avatar®, ReSurfacing®, Thoughtstorm®, Love Precious Humanity®, Enlightened Planetary Civilization® and Star’s Edge International® are registered trademarks of Star’s Edge, Inc. All rights reserved.

Before the Beginning...

2010-03-23T18:09:00.000+01:00

Here's a poem that Don Baaska wrote. (http://www.donbaaska.com)

Before the beginning

There was no me or you

And there was no viewpoint

And nothing there to view.

Before the beginning

There was no you or me

Then came the decision

The decision came to be

God was feeling lonesome

And so he made a plan

I’ll split myself in little parts

And so created man.

And each part was a viewpoint

Which created points to view

And that was the beginning

Of me and us and you.

Now God was very curious

And so he thought about

“I wonder what would happen if----”

And “How can I find out”.

“I’ll live inside these humans

And forget just Who I am”

And thus it all got started

Just One Tremendous Scam.

Before the beginning

Time was all the same

Yesterday never happened

Tomorrow never came.

But then man decided

He wanted things to last

And so created future

And so created past

And man created mind

And man created self

And decided he was separate

And God was somewhere else.

So now we have a problem

A god who’s not aware

A god who isn’t here at all

But somewhere over there.

ReSurfacing Weekend Workshop in Rome... 'Explorers Wlecome'!

2010-03-19T08:38:00.003+01:00

The weekend is almost here!

I'm hosting a ReSurfacing Weekend Workshop in Rome and I can't wait to do it!

ReSurfacing refers to the action of disentangling yourself from old creations and rising back into awareness.

It's a process, paralleling nature, of revealing yourself to yourself. The rewards are new insights and realisations about your life works - or why it doesn't work.

Do you need more reasons to come? Watch this short 2 minute video:

(It's an inspiring video I recommend you watch whenever you need some motivation.)

Love, Light and Laughter!

Don't give up because...

2010-02-25T13:50:00.001+01:00

"Your love matters. Each human being creates a spark on Earth that culminates in the glowing Light of Love that can envelope the entire planet. Always add your spark to the flame. Know that it will be felt. Love deeply and completely, and then see the Radiance illuminate all darkness."

It’s All Unwritten

2010-01-05T11:29:00.002+01:00

Excerpt from a post on December 29th, 2009 by Sarah Dolliver in Practical Tips

I love this time of year. It’s so full of possibility and potential. The slate of the coming year is completely clean, ready for us to write what we want upon it.

Yet, too few of us grab this opportunity. You wouldn’t believe that to see all the television commercials for weight loss or gym memberships. That’s not what I’m talking about, though. What I mean is that each of us needs to embrace the potential of our own lives.

Too many people wallow in what is, thinking that it is all they can ever have. They falsely believe that the past creates the future. Not true. Instead, the present creates the future. So what you are thinking and doing now is what you’ll have coming to you.

For years, I was stuck in that false mindset. It felt like life was a penance to be served awaiting something more glorious in the afterlife. As I expanded my repertoire of reading and ideas, my thinking in the present moment changed. I challenged my thoughts and actions. I found hope and optimism in those new ideas, changing what I thinking and doing. I moved onward, creating better outcomes with each step. And I’m not done yet.

Take all this beautiful unwritten potential and write your heart’s desire on it. Let your heart illuminate the coming year because it’s all unwritten!

“Unwritten” Copyright © Natasha Bedingfield

I am unwritten, can’t read my mind, I’m undefined
I’m just beginning, the pen’s in my hand, ending unplanned

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

Oh, oh, oh

I break tradition, sometimes my tries, are outside the lines
We’ve been conditioned to not make mistakes, but I can’t live that way

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten
The rest is still unwritten
The rest is still unwritten

Oh, yeah, yeah

Your only "assignment" this week

2009-11-26T15:16:00.000+01:00

"Feeling grateful or appreciative of someone or something in your life actually attracts more of the things that you appreciate and value into your life."
Christiane Northrup

2009-11-26T14:55:00.001+01:00

Che oggi tu possa avere la pace interiore. Possa avere la certezza di essere esattamente dove vuoi essere. Non si possono dimenticare le infinite possibilità che nascono dalla fede in se stessi e negli altri. Possa tu utilizzare i doni che hai ricevuto e trasmettere l'amore che ti è stato dato.

Puoi essere contenta con te stessa proprio per come sei. Che questa consapevolezza possa stabilirsi nelle tue ossa, e donare alla tua anima la libertà di cantare, ballare, danzare, pregare e amare. L’amore è lì per tutti e per ciascuno di noi.

Insight of the Day

2009-11-26T14:32:00.002+01:00

Do you want more friends in your life?
Give Thanks for ones you already have.
You are loved by so many.

Do you want more wealth?
Give Thanks for the wealth you already have.
You are rich in more ways that you realize.

Do you want more travel, more fun?
Give Thanks for the adventures you’ve already had.
(There’s no way you’ve lived your life in a damp dark cave)

By giving Thanks you open your heart and life to more...
...more Love, Wealth and Fun.

Don’t wait to feel thankful until
you’re where you want to be.
That’s a backwards approach.

Be so thankful now; your energies and life
will open and attract more to be inspired by,
excited about, and Thankful for.

I’m so Thankful for you in my life.
You have blessed me in more ways than you know.
I feel your love and I’m sending you a BIG warm hug right now.
Knowing you has enriched my life. I feel so blessed.

Just by being on the other end of this email
You have gently encouraged me to be more of
myself and express who I am.
I am so Thankful.

Now it’s your turn...pass it on...express your
Thankfulness and let the magic begin.

by Shellie Nelson

Why I Do What I Do

2009-11-21T08:20:00.003+01:00

Anytime I do consciousness work on myself, this song says it all.

It is exactly how I feel. Everytime.

Enjoy!

If you can't see the video above, check it out http://sileobroin.blogspot.com

Love,

Sile

Money Will Come When You Do the Right Things - Prosperity Thoughts

2009-11-17T10:43:00.003+01:00

With so much doom and gloom out there about markets crashing and everyone talking about how little money they have, I came across a refreshing post which looks at how you can tap into an ocean of abundance. I hope you enjoy it!

Prosperity Ideas....
The Buddha said “There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way.”

Money is never the real issue.

When I see coaching clients they sometimes come with an issue involving money. What I have discovered over the years is that money is never the real issue, there is always something deeper going on. This does not mean that you shouldn’t explore better strategies for improving your finances. It means that money is never the real issue to primarily focus on. The real issue is whether or not you are living the life you want to live. The real issue is whether you are on purpose in your life. The real issue is whether you are doing the things you want to do. Whether or not you are making the kind of difference you want to make in the world. In a study of successful and wealthy people, the main finding was that the majority of successful people are both doing what they love and what they are good at.

Prosperity is about having enough

By and large we live in a world that is addicted to scarcity. Even though we have enormous wealth this has not reduced the amount of problems or fear in the world. If anything the world has become an even more anxiety producing place. Prosperity is about having enough it is about having enough money and other good things in your life. It is about having enough inner resources such as creativity, imagination, joy, peace, personal power. It is also about having access to external resources such as money, supportive networks, time, enjoyable and rewarding work. Prosperity is about living a whole and fulfilling life, it is not about fretting about pensions or investments. Prosperity comes in developing a consciousness of knowing that there is always enough.

Prosperity happens from the inside out

There is no universal definition of prosperity, it is important that you define prosperity for yourself. If you were prosperous what kind of life would you be living? What would you be doing that you are not doing now? You will notice I did not say what would you be owning or possessing that you do not now? It is important to know how you define prosperity and then focus your attention towards that and away from how you define scarcity. When you consciousness is more focused towards what you want then you are more likely to set meaningful goals and visualise the things you want. You are more likely to speak about what you want and take steps to create what you want.
Both prosperity and scarcity happen on the inside before it happens on the outside. Both are ways of thinking, feeling, choosing, perceiving, speaking and acting.

Scarcity = internal states such as anxiety, fear, constriction, contraction, helpless, insecure, anxiety, denial, fantasy, serious, heavy, pessimism, cynical, limitation, and problem thinking.

Prosperity = internal states such as adventure, awareness, celebration, creativity, expansion, empowered, fulfilment, hopeful, humour, joy, possibility, playful, and vision.

When you learn how to maintain a high prosperity state on the inside then you cannot help but see hear and touch a different world.

You can learn to be lucky with wealth

Money as energy can be attracted, directed or repelled by the core state of our consciousness. The biggest attractors are gratitude, enthusiasm, passion, inspiration, vision and the great repelling forces are anxiety, confusion, doubt, desperation, fear, guilt, and low self-worth.

Some people just seem lucky when it comes to money. Luck is a strategy. For over ten years psychologist Richard Wiseman conducted a research project into luck. He researched people who experienced persistent good or bad luck throughout their lives. He worked for several years with over a thousand volunteers examining their personality differences on a number of different levels. His findings were revealing, he found that lucky people are more likely to achieve their dreams and ambitions because they think differently to unlucky people. They expect to be happy and successful and see bad luck as being short lived. Lucky people tend to persevere in pursuit of their dreams or goals and they can turn misfortune into good fortune. Lucky people tend to enjoy meeting and connecting with people, they use body language that people find attractive and inviting, they smile and make eye contact more than unlucky people and they tend to have more open body language. They are more likely to initiate conversations and are more effective at ‘building secure and long lasting attachments.’ They create strong network of friendships and optimise there chances of a lucky encounter. His research points to luck being something we generate ourselves.

To open to prosperity, stop complaining and blaming

One of the greatest blocks to success and prosperity is having a mind that is constantly on the lookout to blame others and complain about life. Stop judging other people and start blessing there good fortune. Stop blaming others and external situations for things not working out as you would have liked. It is important to start thinking in the positive because your unconscious does not understand things phrased in the negative. For instance try not thinking about a pink elephant. Or try not thinking about that problem you have. You see it is impossible. If you judge the rich then your unconscious mind will deduce that you do not want to be rich because you do not want to be judged.

Start to take responsibility for your life, choices and actions. Instead of putting any energy into blaming or complaining put your energy into creating some meaningful goals and look at all the choices available to you. It is likely that you will miss out on some interesting opportunities if you continue to put your energy into looking for what is wrong in a situation. So start to look for what is right instead!

Dream big and set some meaningful goals

It is important to both be able to dream big and to set both short term and long term goals. Focus on what you want rather than on what you do not want. Some people are motivated to avoid pain and problems in their lives. In NLP they call this an away from strategy. Others are motivated towards achieving their goals and dreams, in NLP they call this a towards strategy. It is a bit like the carrot and the stick. The carrot entices us forward and the stick forces us forward. Most people motivate themselves through a combination of the carrot and the stick.

Know your motivation strategy. If it is exclusively around avoiding problems, then start to include something you want to happen. Think about the dreams of your life. What would you love to do if money were not an issue? Many dreams do not require very much money to realise them. When you have a dream such as more travel or more adventure or more fun and laughter then set some meaningful goals to help you move forward towards the dream.

Take Small Steps in Pursuit of Your Dreams

Perseverance is the way. The Japanese philosophy of Kaizen, advises us to take small steps. There are three principles to bear in mind about effective change: Small changes are easier to commit to than massive leaps;

Small changes are easier to instigate and integrate; Small changes add up to incredible change over time. As Lao Tzu says "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

Focus on what you are good at.

In order to move into earning money from what you want to do start to focus on your strengths. Even if you are in a job you do not enjoy what are the things you do well there? Start to know where your talents and gifts are. Then play to your strengths. So if you are good at creating websites focus on that and if you are good at selling then focus on doing that. Do not try and be a jack of all trades, which means trying to do everything yourself. This is particularly relevant if you run your own business. You cannot do everything yourself. A friend of mine gave me an interesting piece of advice he received from a millionaire. Take a piece of paper and write down 7 things you are good at and want to do in the world. Anything that is not on this list do not spend time doing, get someone else to do it for you.

Allow prosperity to come to you from many directions.
When I had a full time job I believed that the only way money could come to me was through my 9-5 job. Now it comes to me from many different directions. The more ways that money can flow to you the better. Even if you have a full time job there are many ways you can make money elsewhere. Particularly with the explosion of trading online you can find many new ways to sell your skills and expertise.

Money is a form of feedback.

Money is one way to gauge how well you are doing in the world. It is not the only kind of feedback available, or the most important. Money is one source of feedback. There are others, intuition, gut feeling, and what other people say and do in response to you. In NLP there is a saying ‘There is no failure only feedback’. Do not use feedback in a failure frame. Instead use it to confirm your course or adjust your actions. Do not use any kind of feedback to confirm that you are a bad or stupid person.
Just important as the quantity of money flowing through your life is the quality that comes with that financial flow. Some people have a rich quantity and a poor quality. The question to ask is how much joy or fulfilment do you experience with your money flow. Do you love the way money comes to you? Do you love the way you spend your money?

You can be prosperous and spiritual.

It's a kind of spiritual snobbery that makes people think they can be happy without money. One of the lessons of life is to be able to marry spiritual and material success. You are here to manifest your reality successfully, to create your life from the inside out. You are here to learn how to have fun, to play, be creative, live life as an adventure, stretch, and be all that you can be. You are here to learn about being in the flow, create miracles and make a difference.

Blessings, Steve Nobel
http://www.stevenobel.com

My next post which will be an up close and personal one will look at how I apply this to my life in light of my recent travels to one of the most beautiful islands with the most turquoise water I have been priviledged to land on.

How Much Ocean?

2009-09-23T23:33:00.000+02:00

Divine Mind is infinite and within it are infinite resources--infinite Life, infinite Love, infinite Wisdom, infinite Power, and infinite Substance. The only question is, how much of these things can you appropriate for your own use?

How much Intelligence can you assimilate and make use of? How much understanding can you grasp? How much Divine Love can you experience? How much Divine Substance can you make your own? The supply is inexhaustible; the only limit lies within yourself.

When you go down to the seashore,you find what is a practically inexhaustible supply of sea water at your disposal. There are billions upon billions of gallons there, yet the amount you carry away will depend upon the vessel you have provided for yourself. If you take a ten gallon can you get ten gallons, if you take only a pint pot you get only a pint,and if you had nothing bigger than a thimble then you would not be able to take away more than a thimble full.

So it is with Divine Abundance. The only limit is the limit of our ability to receive.

peace ;-}

by Curtis Fuller

A Word on Encouragement

2009-09-12T23:54:00.003+02:00

We all want to receive encouragement and yet we sometimes forget to give it to others. The fastest way to bring more and more great encouragers and life-enlargers into your life is to FIRST encourage someone else.

Here are a few ideas:

Smile at someone.

Tell someone you’re proud of them. Tell them why.

Say, “I love you.”

Say, “I believe in you.”

Say, “I appreciate you.”

Lose yourself in other people and watch people enter your life and push you forward.

COMMIT to encouraging at least ONE person in the next 24 hours.

When we look for GOOD in others, we always find it.

When this becomes a HABIT in life, our happiness and success soars.

Be sincere. Be a life-enlarger. Bring more LOVERAGE into your life.

If you agree to this, then I am so EXCITED for you. Great opportunities and people are about to enter your life in a meaningful way. Believe it. I believe in you.

Everyone who is reading this right now believe in YOU.

They do. They see you as hopeful, optimistic, always EXPECTING the best.

Change lives to change your own life.

Feelings Don't Lie

2009-07-20T15:04:00.002+02:00

Your feelings never lie, even if you do. It's like having strong ropes. You can test this theory out.

Take a minute and do the following.

Say to yourself, or out loud if you can, "The sky is Green." Say it with
passion and fervor--"THE SKY IS GREEN!" Hmmm...how did that feel?

You probably noticed, even if you said the statement with passion, it
still fell flat. It still felt like a lie. Well, in this case, that's because it is.

But notice how it FEELS when something DOESN'T feel true to you. This lets you know, it's not in your belief system.

Now try this. Say "I am a fabulous and incredible person." Say it out loud,
with passion and fervor--"I AM A FABULOUS AND INCREDIBLE PERSON!!!!"

How does that one feel? Either it felt wonderful and brought you joy as you
said it--and you are in harmony with this belief. Or, it fell flat and didn't mean
anything to you--similar to your "The sky is green" statement. No wonder you
haven't been getting the things you desire, if this is the case. You probably
don't believe you will.

Or, there's a chance--and this is what it does to me at times--that it brought
tears to your eyes, that it made you emotional--but not in the rapturous-joy way.
It just struck something deep inside you. So what would this response mean?
This means that part of you knows this statement is true, and wants ALL of you to believe it. And when you are in this state of disharmony (part believing, part not)--it can be uncomfortable and emotional.

So now what? Well, I'll tell you next time, but in the meantime, practice
believing this statement. Let your mind think about the things you DO like
about yourself.

Remember, you can use your rope as a powerful tool, or you can tie
yourself up with it. The choice is yours.

Inspiring Quote of the Day

2009-07-14T14:35:00.002+02:00

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

By Theodore Roosevelt

(found via Nicola Cairncross http://tinyurl.com/n7ztme)

A Modern Day Parable

2009-07-14T10:14:00.005+02:00

One day a young lady was driving along with her father.
They came upon a storm, and the young lady asked her father,
"What should I do?"

He said "keep driving". Cars began to pull over to the side,
the storm was getting worse.

"What should I do?" The young lady asked. "Keep driving,"
her father replied.

On up a few feet, she noticed that eighteen wheelers were also pulling over.
She told her dad, "I must pull over, I can barely see ahead.
It is terrible, and everyone is pulling over!"

Her father told her, "Don't give up, just keep driving!"

Now the storm was terrible, but she never stopped driving,
and soon she could see a little more clearly.
After a couple of miles she was again on dry land,
and the sun came out.

Her father said, "Now you can pull over and get out."

She said "But why now?"

He said "When you get out, look back at all the people that gave up
and are still in the storm, because you never gave up your storm is now over."

This is a testimony for anyone who is going through "hard times".

Just because everyone else, even the strongest, gives up. You don't have to...
if you keep going, soon your storm will be over and the sun will shine upon your face again.

What Happens When You Decide?

2009-06-25T16:50:00.007+02:00

In an earlier post, I confessed I was starting out on my wild and wonderful adventure to create my very own online business.

Well, yesterday I had my first lesson (WOOT!). We did some google research and identified the best domain name, my internet mentor Nicola Cairncross has given me access to her own membership site and avail of all the modules there. This is amazing value as I also get to 'meet' the other people who are doing the same thing. I'm looking forward to getting to know them and see where this takes me, and how fast.

(It's a known fact that when you are in a community of like-minded 'cats', you get to where you want to get to much faster. Ask any self-respecting Leopard.)

Anyway, my homework is to buy a domain name and start planning out my ebook for next week. Nothing too startling here (except... I have to plan out my ebook and I haven't a clue how to start) but a few things out of the ordinary have happened since my lesson yesterday which finished at 4pm this which keeps me going and feeling great:

1. A friend of mine rang me up at 6pm to say there was an internet seminar with a particular focus on social media and that a number of Italian internet gurus speaking and that this seminar was 5 minutes walk from my house. She asked me if I'd like to go? (Is the Pope a Catholic, I ask you!)

2. We went, (it was filmed to be shown on sky live and I got my 5 seconds of fame when the good-looking presenter Marco Montemagno asked me what I thought the internet represented to me. I wasn't ready for the question but I blurted out 'Freedom' and he Beamed at me. I found out later he is extremely famous and quite accomplished - look him up!) we met these gurus and I was able to pick their brains on what they do, how they got started, who they listen to - FAB!

3. Another friend from Down Under, David Wolfe who has written a book on how he survived cancer sent me his book for free and I can see how others approach writing books. If you want to read his book for free, it's really good - add him as a friend on facebook and join his group!

4. Another new facebook friend, an established author contacted me today on twitter to let me know that if I needed help writing my book to just ask her!

+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

I guess I saw the signals because I was ready. More magical things started happening once I decided to take action. I feel I am in the flow, not necessarily totally in control but happy that I am moving forward towards my goal. And I find it quite reassuring to feel that the universe is conspiring to help me once I do.

Actually, I'm very very grateful!

The Importance of Listening

2009-06-17T09:16:00.003+02:00

This is one of my favorite stories... enjoy! I took it from Rebecca Fine, The Certain Way.

Toward the end of the 1800s, when the telegraph was still "high tech," a young man in Baltimore, Maryland, woke up one summer morning giddy with excitement. In fact, it had taken him half the night to fall asleep at all.

Today was the day he'd apply for his first job! But what was REALLY exciting was that, if he were lucky enough to be chosen for the position, he'd actually be getting PAID for something that absolutely enthralled him. He'd be a real, bona fide telegraph operator!

His mind was so filled with wonderful pictures of himself sending and receiving important messages, communicating with people miles away -- even clear across the country -- that the possibility of NOT getting the job couldn't get a foot in the door.

He didn't even mind wearing a stiff collar and tie. After all, this was an important job, and he liked the idea of looking the part. Giving his shoes one last buffing, he dashed out the door and raced downtown to the telegraph office.

Inside, the place was already bustling with activity and noise, including the sound of the telegraph clattering away in the background. Several other applicants were already seated in the waiting area, filling out paperwork. Our young man saw a stack of job applications with a sign instructing candidates to take one, fill it out, and then wait to be called into the Director's office for an interview. So he eagerly grabbed one and sat down.

The form itself took only a few minutes to complete, and as he finished and started to look around at the other job hopefuls in the room, the young man suddenly jumped from his chair and with his paperwork in hand, marched over to the Director's office door and went right in without even knocking.

"Did you see that?" one of the other jobseekers snorted. "We're supposed to wait until we're called, and that rube barges in like he owns the place."

"Yeah, that's some nerve, but it just cuts down the competition," said another, and they all laughed.

Moments later the laughter and comments stopped as the Director's door opened and both he and the beaming young man came out into the waiting area.

"Gentlemen," the Director said, "thank you for coming, and I wish you all well. The job has been filled."

Stunned into silence, no one said anything for a moment. Then, the fellow who had started the derisive comments sputtered, "Now wait a minute. This isn't fair! We were here first but we never even got a chance, and he gets the job just like that?"

The others grumbled in agreement, but the Director put up his hand. "Here's the thing," he said.

"All this time you've been sitting here, the telegraph has been clicking away, saying: 'If you can understand this, come on into the office right now. You've got the job.'

He clapped his hand on the young man's shoulder, smiled broadly and said, "This young fellow was the only one of you who heard or understood the message."

Why did this young man alone hear and understand the message?

*****

Listen to what Scottish psychologist R. D. Laing has to say on
the subject:

"The range of what we think and do is limited
by what we fail to notice. And because we
fail to notice that we fail to notice, there
is little we can do to change -- until we
notice how failing to notice shapes our
thoughts and deeds."

You'll probably need to read that a couple of times. (I did!) Then just let it sink in a bit.

Now, wouldn't it be great if you could just put on a special pair of glasses that would magically cause all the OPPORTUNITIES that come YOUR way every single day to stand out from all the background "noise?" To jump into sharp relief against what Mr.
Wattles calls "mere appearances" so that you could notice them?

Just imagine that for a minute. Everything looks normal one moment -- all the everyday hassles, the BIG problems, the regular stresses and frustrations, and so on. Life going on all around, as usual.

And then you put on your magic specs (which, by the way, are EXTREMELY cool and you look fabulous in them!), and -- wow! -- the entire world looks SO different!

Suddenly you see connections you hadn't noticed before. Suddenly what previously looked like a HUGE problem you were trying to put off dealing with has morphed into a lucky break.

And people look different, too -- even the grumpy, disagreeable ones are starting to shape up.

Yeah, wouldn't it be great if you could do that?

Well, you can!

And you don't need magic glasses any more than the young man in our story above needed a special hearing aid.

Why did he, and he alone, hear opportunity knocking?

It couldn't be because he was the only one interested in the job. There were other applicants sitting there with him.

It couldn't be because he was the only one who knew Morse code. After all, it WAS a telegrapher's job they were after.

It couldn't be because he was more experienced. This was his first job.

He listened. He reached out and took action.

... and that's what gets results.

Creare il Mondo intorno a Te

2009-06-12T07:55:00.004+02:00

Questo prossimo video ha catturato l'imaginazione di millioni di persone in tutto il mondo nei ultimi tre mesi.

Il corto e' intitolato "Creatore del Mondo" (World Builder). Mentre sembra di essere un film di fantascienza, Creatore del Mondo e' una storia d'amore e di creazione.

Consiglio di usare i prossimi 9 minuti per vederlo.

Ecco delle considerazioni tratte dal video:

"Siamo tutti degli esseri di energia

Creamo attraverso i nostri pensieri consci -
a volte sono i minimi dettagli che cattura la nostra attenzione

La vita e' soffiata nei petali delicati di un fiore.
Quello che ci ispira e' l'amore!

Scopriamo chi siamo nell'Universo che creamo.
E l'Universo si scopre in noi."

E tu che ne pensi?!

The Tao of Success

2009-06-11T20:07:00.001+02:00

"To live through an impossible situation, you don't need the reflexes
of a Grand Prix driver, the muscles of a Hercules,
the mind of an Einstein. You simply need to know what to do."
--Anthony Greenbank

"It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is
because we do not dare that they are difficult." --Seneca

"The world is not to be put in order; the world is order, incarnate.
It is for us to harmonize with this order." --Henry Miller

"If we do not know what port we're steering for, no wind is favorable." --Seneca

Smile and Move

2009-06-11T17:38:00.002+02:00

Here's an uplifting 3-minute video I came across this afternoon, which I think you'll really enjoy.

It's called Smile & Move (there are 5 ways to smile, 4 ways to move).

It's a reminder of how we can be more valuable to others in our daily efforts.

Keep smiling and keep moving!

Putting things into Perspective

2009-06-08T08:48:00.003+02:00

I found this lovely little message from God in my inbox thanks to my lovely cousin, Isabella. (Isabella, ILY!!!)

Ho trovato questo messaggio nel mio email da Dio, grazie alla mia cugina Isabella. (Isabella, TVB!!!)

Subject: Message from God

To: YOU

Date: TODAY
From: GOD

Subject: YOURSELF

Reference: LIFE

This is God. Today I will be handling All of your problems for you.
I do not need your help. So, have a nice day.

I love you...

P.S. And, remember...

If life happens to deliver a situation to you that you cannot handle,
do Not attempt to resolve it yourself! Kindly put it in the SFGTD
(something for God to do) box. I will get to it in MY TIME.

All situations will be resolved, but in My time, not yours.

Once the matter is placed into the box, do not hold onto it by
worrying about it. Instead, focus on all the wonderful things that
are present in your life now.

If you find yourself stuck in traffic, don't despair. There are people
in this world for whom driving is an unheard of privilege.

Should you have a bad day at work; think of the man who has been out
of work for years.

Should you despair over a relationship gone bad; think of the person
who has never known what it's like to love and be loved in return.

Should you grieve the passing of another weekend; think of the woman
in dire straits, working twelve hours a day, seven days a week to feed
her children.

Should your car break down, leaving you miles away from assistance;
think of the paraplegic who would love the opportunity to take that
walk.

Should you notice a new gray hair in the mirror; think of the cancer
patient in chemo who wishes she had hair to examine.

Should you find yourself at a loss and pondering what is life all
about, asking what is my purpose? Be thankful. There are those who
didn't live long enough to get the opportunity.

Should you find yourself the victim of other people's bitterness,
ignorance, smallness or insecurities; remember, things could be worse.
You could be one of them!

Should you decide to send this to a friend; Thank you. You may have
touched their life in ways you will never know!

Now, you have a nice day...God

Unlock your Greatest Potential

2009-06-07T09:27:00.008+02:00

As I was browsing the web, I came across this lovely article to motivate anyone who is feeling stuck to take heart and take charge.

“I am stuck!”

This feeling of being stuck is very familiar for most of us.

Sometimes you can’t see your way out of the mess.

How easy to think, you will be feeling like this forever.

This moment can be a turning point for you.

Here is a secret.

You are never stuck.

No matter where you are, you can turn things around.

You simply have to be open to change.

The feeling of being stuck is simply YOU telling yourself that there is more that you desire in your life.

The frustration of being stuck, and the negative emotions that are created around it, is often caused when you aren’t sure how to make the changes you want.

Yes, life has created certain challenges for you. But the purpose was not to make you feel stuck. The purpose was to set you free. To provide you with lessons, experiences, and circumstances that would trigger growth and healing.

Life is provoking, promoting, urging you to grow, stretch, learn and heal.

Life is trying to get you unstuck.

If there is one thing to be true, life is in a constant continuous change.

For getting unstuck. Get clear on what you want to change. Set up realistic timelines. Be optimistic about it is you want. Cry when you need to. Rest when you are tired. But give life the space to work its magic.

Get unstuck, this second, this minute, this hour, this life. And live the life you are meant to live.

by Lolly Daskal - www.lollydaskal.com

Doing the Avatar Course (see previous posts for course dates) for some is the first step to getting clarity and getting unstuck. Getting unstuck is probably one of the life challenges of going upstream.

Here's a video below - a talk by Harry Palmer, author of the Avatar materials who talks about being stuck, going downstream and on general life challenges.

http://avatarepcmedia.com/lifechallenges

(Apologies for the link and not the video itself.... I tried for AGES to embed the link but it won't let me for some reason which is frustrating. Technology, bah! so please do click on the link for an interesting insight into the subject:

http://avatarepcmedia.com/lifechallenges

For more videos visit http://avatarepcmedia.com)

For me, it was the best investment in myself I ever made!

If you liked this post, I would love to hear your comments to this blog! (http://sileobroin.blogpost.com)

Getting Unstuck

2009-06-06T10:18:00.007+02:00

(My three wise men)

Do you have a dream? Do you ever think that if you achieved (fill in the blank) some day, your life will change?

One of my dreams or best-kept secrets is to become a successful online entrepreneur. For me this dream translates into financial and time freedom to enjoy a lifestyle that is based on my choices not on me surviving or battling with whatever life throws at me.

Before I go on, just want to let you know that this is a long post so depending on when you read it, it's probably best if you are sitting down with a glass of wine or your favorite cuppa! Apologies for the lack of photographs... my camera is on the blink at the moment...

So here's where I was coming from:

I realised some time ago that having a full-time job was not for me. I didn't like getting up early or being squashed in the metro during rush hours, nor did I enjoy worrying whether my contract would be extended or working for stressed-out people and seeing myself turn into one of them. I didn't coin this acronym, but it really resonates: I hated having a J.O.B. (= Just Over Broke). My life was being controlled by the whims of others.

So back to my dream. Let's look at it in detail:

My online business is fully automated, it runs perfectly whether I work in it or not, it offers a solution to a particular problem people are searching for on the web. I wake up every morning to see that people had bought my products and have sent emails to thank me for the difference I was making in their lives. I have more money coming into the bank than I can spend and I am financially free. I can choose to work on only projects that interest me, I can jump on a plane to visit friends anytime no matter where they were in the world, I can start learning to play the violin and dance tango in Buenos Aires. I am secure in the knowledge that my finances are in order. Every year I travel first-class to the Caribbean for a month to my 5-star luxury apartment which I own to rest and recoup (this last part will be a reality in six years time).

So I started searching for problems that I could solve for people - other than offer the Avatar course (which are leading edge tools and techniques for managing your thoughts and beliefs to create a reality you prefer). I used these tools on my own limiting beliefs that the internet would work for me, that I could do it and kept on going... but the set-up process was so foreign to me and that I was dead scared of making a mistake. (Sound familiar?) I had studied long and hard for two years but was nowhere near close to starting an online business. I hated to admit it.... but I was stuck.

You see, I had attended loads of internet seminars and webinars, read tons of books including Tim Ferriss' book The 4-hour Work Week (an amazing read for anyone who wants to get out of the rat race) thinking that everything I was doing would move me forward. I subscribed to a number of the top online entrepreneurs' blogs, newsletters and was seduced by the idea that by reading everything they wrote I would become ready one day to make it online. I thought my commitment to creating an online business was solid.. but again I had no idea what to bring to market and I didn't want to make a... terrible mistake.

So it slowly dawned on me that I was really just thinking about it rather than actually doing anything. I was just chasing my tail. My dream would always be a dream because I had no deadline to it. I was justifying it to myself that I was getting ready, that I wasn't sitting on the fence, that I was waiting for that perfect idea...

Are you still with me?

So a three things happened. Nope, the skies didn't open with an earth shattering illuminating moment, or bells started to chime, it was more of a wee snowflake gathering momentum down a hill.

The first thing that happened is that I saw yet another video of an internet coach who advocated that in order to improve your game fast, and he was using tennis as a metaphor, you need a coach, whether people chose him or someone else, he didn't care as long as you are serious to improve, he said, get a coach. Hmmm I had heard it before but it really resonated this time.

I know that you cannot become a basketball star by just reading about basketball and that training is crucial in learning a new skill. But I also knew that buying a pre-packaged program wasn't going to do it for me. I had bought one in the past, spent a lot of money on it and after hours of frustration, I gave up since I couldn't understand the technology it taught. So I resolved to find an internet mentor by the end of June that would coach me in the manner I needed to be coached.

The second thing that happened is that I wrote this goal down *in front* of a good friend of mine. In fact I wrote all my goals down including that I would have an online business by the end of December 2009. We decided to keep each other accountable for the other's goals. Yikes - my dream had turned into a goal! I needed to get moving but I still did not have an idea of how I would do it nor did I know who could help me.

Third, I sellotaped the page with these goals where I could see them from my bed and they are the first thing I see when I wake up and the last when I go to sleep. I read them and imagine what it would be like to have already achieved each and every one of these goals... and keep using the Avatar tools whenever I hit a particular resistance. I just zapped 'em out of my system.

Then one of the internet coaches that I admire most (because I KNOW she walks the talk and makes at least five figures online) wrote that she would coach three people over the phone for three months. So biting my lip, I asked her if she would coach me and in that moment I wrote a tentative idea that came to me, thinking 'you never know'.

She replied that day that she found there was a HUGE market for my idea and she'd be happy to coach me. Yikes! OMG... where is that brown paper bag when you need to hyperventilate?!

I was soooo exited I could hardly breathe!!!

I start getting mentored when I get back from the Avatar course and finish in October. If I keep focused and do what she tells me, I could have an online business by the end of October - two months ahead of my goal. I am also ahead of schedule in finding a mentor. It's only the first week in June.

I should recover my coaching investment within the year and start making a small profit by the end of next year. I don't know if this website will set me financially free in the future but it will certainly have me take a giant step towards it and for once I am looking forward to the adventure to learning and BEing an online (apprentice) entrepreneur. Watch this space!

And the techie part - noooo problem, I've decided I'll outsource it to professionals and just manage the process.

So that's my story and thanks for reading so far. I hope this story inspires anyone who is feeling stuck or has emotionally given up on their dreams.

You can turn around the process in a minute:

1. Decide what you want
2. Write it down
3. Feel what it would feel like to already have it
4. When opportunity knocks and it feels right, take action, even if it scares you.
5. Be ready to be amazed.

What have I learned from all of this? That once you finally get off the fence and start taking action in the direction of your dreams, miracles happen!

If you liked this post, please post a comment on this blog. I'd really appreciate it! (http://sileobroin.blogspot.com)

Below The Surface

2009-05-20T08:32:00.006+02:00

A man was exploring caves by the seashore. In one of the caves he found a canvas bag with a bunch of hardened clay balls. It was like someone had rolled clay balls and left them out in the sun to bake. They didn't look like much, but they intrigued the man, so he took the bag out of the cave with him. As he strolled along the beach, he would throw the clay balls one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could.

He thought little about it until he dropped one of the clay balls, and it cracked open on a rock. Inside was a beautiful, precious stone! Excited, the man started breaking open the remaining clay balls. Each contained a similar treasure. He found thousands of dollars worth of jewels in the 20 or so clay spheres he had left. Then it struck him. He had been on the beach a long time. He had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the clay balls with their hidden treasure into the ocean waves. Instead of thousands of dollars in treasure, he could have taken home tens of thousands, but he had just thrown it away!It's like that with people. We look at someone, maybe even ourselves, and we see the external clay vessel. It doesn't look like much from the outside. It isn't always beautiful or sparkling, so we discount it. We see that person as less important than someone more beautiful, stylish, well-known or wealthy. But we have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden inside that person.

There is a treasure in each and every one of us. If we take the time to get to know that person, the clay begins to peel away and the brilliant gem begins to shine forth.

May we not come to the end of our lives and find out that we have thrown away a fortune in friendships because the gems were hidden in bits of clay and we weren't willing to look beyond the clay vessel.

Author unknown

PS If you liked this article, please leave me a comment!

It's Getting Better

2009-05-15T09:28:00.007+02:00

I don't know about you but I am pretty tired of hearing all the doom and gloom that's in the media. But I think everyone's so numb about it that no-one hardly notices anymore.

Sorry I refuse to buy it. Since I know that what I focus on becomes more real, I minimise my exposure to bad news and negative people. I use the Avatar materials to melt away my internal resistances and I happily attract those people, events and things that make me even more happy.

Graziana looks on amused as Sile is acting silly and Giovanni is letting his 'Diva' spirit out at the Wizard Course in Orlando this February.

What am I focusing on? From finding opportunities to invest well and look after my future (ask me about my 5-star pad in the Caribbean - woot!) to coaching to the best of my ability my University students their theses, to researching my next entrepreneurial venture, to exploring new aperitivo places with positive friends etc. the list is pretty inexhaustible... It's a lot more productive than complaining about the status quo.

When you think about the future, how do you feel? How do you feel about the future of the world? Based on what's happening now, what would you predict will happen next? This is an interesting highlight of a talk by Harry Palmer about how we could think about the past, present and future.

If you liked the excerpt, you can see the full talk on the avatarepc website:

http://avatarepcmedia.com/video/62-itsgettingbetter.html

If you liked this article, please leave a comment!

Primo Corso Internazionale di 2009: Egmond aan Zee

2009-04-10T13:53:00.009+02:00

The first International Avatar Course in 2009: Egmond aan Zee

Fast Facts
Number of attendees: over 300
Number of days: 9
Countries represented: 15
Languages spoken: 7 (maybe more)

The Italian table!

Anticlockwise from the front: Valentina, me, Milla, PierPaolo, Rossella, Cristiana, Stefania, Elisa, Rachele, Anne, Giancarla and Paola.

Up Close and Personal

Anticlockwise from the front: Valentina, me, Rossella, Cristiana, Stefania, Elisa, Rachele, Anne, Giancarla and Paola. Behind the camera: Milla.

The Avatar Master and Student

Rossella, smiling and PierPaolo... looking to infinity and beyond!

YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW

2009-03-23T08:51:00.007+01:00

Goood Monday morning everyone...
From Lucca with Love!

Author Unknown

Today is the tomorrow I worried about yesterday

And today was such a lovely day, that I wondered why I worried about today yesterday.

So today I am not going to worry about tomorrow. There may not be a tomorrow anyway

So today I am going to live as if there is no tomorrow.

And I am going to forget about yesterday.

Today is the tomorrow I planned for yesterday.

And nearly all my plans for today did not plan out the way I thought they would yesterday.

So today I am forgetting about tomorrow and I will plan for today but not too strenuously.

Today I will stop to smell a flower.

I will tell a loved one how much I love her (him).

I will stop planning for tomorrow and plan to make today the best day of my life.

Today is the tomorrow I was afraid of yesterday.

And today was nothing to be afraid of so today I will banish fear of the unknown.

I will embrace the unknown as a learning experience full of exciting opportunities.

Today, unlike yesterday I will not fear tomorrow.

Today is the tomorrow I dreamed about yesterday.

And some of the dreams I dreamt about yesterday came true today.

So today I am going to continue dreaming about tomorrow.

And perhaps more of the dreams I dream today will come true tomorrow.

Today is the tomorrow I set goals for yesterday and I reached some of those goals today.

So today I am going to set slightly higher goals for today and tomorrow.

And if tomorrow turns out to be like today I will certainly reach all of my goals one day!

40 good reasons to take the Avatar training

2009-03-05T12:56:00.010+01:00

This morning, at the crack of dawn, I sat down with a notebook and pen. My intention was to come up with my Top 10 Reasons why you would want to attend the International Avatar course in Egmond aan Zee at the end of March. Trouble is... I came up with 40! Honestly, not a word of a lie.

They say I am an optimist of criminal proportions. My glass is always more than half full. And my intention is to bring you the most up-to-date Good News about why you shouldn't put it of any longer and decide now to come along to the next International Avatar course (28 March to 5 April)!

So the reasons are...

1. to understand the behind the scenes workings of your own consciousness
2. to have a quiet mind
3. to find the courage to step out into the light and be the person you came into the world to be
4. to correct or stop the default patterns in your life
5. to boost your goal setting with an added 'umfff' power
6. to really feel good about yourself, about life and about the future
7. to make peace with the past
8. be able to connect with your intuition
9. to find your own personal pot of gold
10. to have inspirational clarity of who you are
11. to move from suffering and despair to joy and purpose
12. to break the victim pattern
13. to let go of limiting beliefs as you would an old coat that doesn't fit you
14. to meet like-minded people
15. to feel connected with your family and friends
16. to break-free from a locked reality
17. to stop reacting to events / people
18. to experience that you really are a remarkable individual
19. to put balance into your life
20. to see the bigger picture of who you are
21. to drop judgement on yourself and everyone else
22. to feel alive focused, relaxed and productive in your life
23. to make a difference
24. to have fun doing work in consciousness or doing anything for that matter
25. to fall in love, over and over and over again
26. to become more responsible in your life
27. to give back
28. to clean up areas that weren't working so great in your life
29. to get back to creating your dreams
30. to be on a course with people from many different countries and cultures from all over the world all working for the good of humankind
31. to learn to use the most powerful self-evolvement tools out there
32. to find out what it feels like to have 'free attention'
33. to do an Avatar exercise with someone who speaks a different language and feel the connection and able to fully understand where they are and feel totally understood
34. to get beyond something you thought you'd never thought you would or handle in life
35. to explore and experience a hundred different ideas in mass consciousness for the heck of it
36. to use the tools and find out that it's not OUT there, it's IN here!
37. to feel inspired and inspire others
38. to start creating what you want to experience
39. to contribute to the creation of an enlightened planetary civilization
40. To Love Precious Humanity

Blessings and Love to Everyone

Scheduling in 2009

2009-03-05T00:54:00.005+01:00

I've just spent two glorious weeks in the sunshine and on the Wizard course www.wizardcourse.com where I was joined by over 3,000 people from 45 countries from all over the world. Half the room was filled with Chinese, Japanese and Koreans and I had an amazing time reconnecting with old friends and making a few new ones. I'll be posting some photos soon.

Anyway, this evening at the networking event by the Professional Women's Association I met Lisa, their editor very kindly offered to include the dates for Avatar courses in 2009. How cool is that?

Then I realised that I hadn't yet included them in my blog - so here they are:

March 28 – April 5 Egmond aan Zee, NL
May 9 – 17 Berg en Dal, NL
June 13 – 21 Egmond aan Zee, NL
July 4 – 12 Orlando, USA
July 11 – 19 Doorn, NL
August 15 – 23 Berg en Dal, NL
Sept 26 – Oct 4 Egmond aan Zee, NL
Oct 31 – Nov 8 Hengelo, NL
Oct 31 – Nov 8 Orlando, USA
Dec 12 – 20 TBA, Netherlands (NL)

I will be at the International Avatar course in March which promises to be absolutely huge (it always is) and the energy is electric!

Antidote to suffering?

2009-01-30T20:45:00.003+01:00

“When we think of failure, failure will be ours. If we remain undecided, nothing will ever change. All we need to do is to want to achieve something great, and then simply to do it. Never think of failure, for what we think will come about.”
–Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

... and on that subject, I wanted to share an article about deciding to do something about what appeared to be a hopeless situation. I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

Altamonte Springs, Florida, January 30, 2009 — An inter-tribal team of Avatar Masters is using The ReSurfacing® Workshop to restore hope to American Indian youth. The consciousness training helps young people to identify the beliefs and attitudes that are the forward causes of life-long problems.

According to Stephanie Autumn, a member of the Hopi Nation and Director of a Tribal Youth Program, “Even though American Indian youth are a small part of the U.S. population, they experience mental health and substance abuse problems at an alarming rate—suicide, alcohol, and drug abuse are all extremely prevalent issues among American Indian youth.”

The Surgeon General and The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have reported that suicide is the second leading cause of death for American Indian youth age 15-24. The suicide rate for American Indians/Alaska Natives is more than twice the national average for other groups.

American Indian adolescents have been found to be more likely than other adolescents to be diagnosed with AD/HD, substance abuse, or substance dependence disorders. All of this occurs in some of the most isolated settings in this country—places that lack access to the educational, economic, and social resources that most of us have come to expect. But even without the access problems other barriers exist. Mental health issues are rarely discussed in many tribes—there are strong feelings of shame that prevents people from talking openly about these issues.

Concerned tribal leaders, who recently completed the Avatar Course, recognized the power of the ReSurfacing Section of the course to help with their youth problem. After many meetings, it was decided that they would share ReSurfacing with the people who could provide new role models to their generation. The ultimate goal is to improve the health and spirit of all the young people who live on the reservation.

A team of ten Avatar® Masters, licensed to deliver the workshop, came from across the United States to participate in the first public health and epidemiology summer camp for American Indian youth. They stayed at the campsite, teaching and coaching the students through the workshop exercises. The first group of twenty youths and eight adults spent four days practicing the exercises from the ReSurfacing Workshop.

The consciousness training in the ReSurfacing Workshop was successful in helping these leaders of tomorrow understand their own life experiences. According to Chris Gray, Rocky Mountain Tribal Epidemiology Center, who hosted the summer camp, “There was overwhelming positive youth evaluations. They were enthusiastic about this workshop. They were very fast in understanding and completing the exercises and everyone enjoyed the experience.”

Developed in 1986, the Avatar Training is delivered in 20 languages and is taught by licensed Avatar Masters in 71 countries. Graduates report reduced stress, increases in personal happiness, and greater success in reaching their goals. Newsletter at http://www.theavatartimes.com

For additional information on Avatar Training, visit http://www.theavatarcourse.com/

ABOUT STAR'S EDGE INTERNATIONAL - Star's Edge International publishes books, videos, online materials, and a series of experiential courses that guide people into and through transformative experiences. The company was founded in 1986 and operates worldwide. Avatar® and Star’s Edge International® are registered trademarks of Star's Edge, Inc.

Why Avatar?

2008-12-13T13:28:00.003+01:00

To answer the question I get asked most often, 'Why should I do Avatar at all?'

Well...

Avatar is the path to self awareness and enlightenment that eliminates all of the hocus-pocus and politics of previous practices (religious, spiritual or otherwise).

For the person who is looking for something more out of life than 68.7 years of suffering, semi-aware-consumerism, Avatar is the easiest, safest and least expensive answer that anyone has ever offered. It's effectiveness is so routinely proven (by over tens of thousands of glowing testimonials and endorsements from graduates) that Section I and II of the course are offered with a satisfaction-or-your-money-refunded guarantee.

So can I ask you this, if I said that I knew a method that is proven to work to help you achieve whatever it was you wanted in your life and that if it didn't, you get your money back, is there any reason why you wouldn't try it out?

The Sun Has Come Out... Today!

2008-12-13T10:19:00.005+01:00

Yesterday the Tiber broke its banks (after two weeks of solid rain and thunder storms) and flooded the city centre, flooding the metro and if that wasn't enough to exasperate the Romans, there was a general transport strike.

Thankfully, the rain has stopped...

There are plenty of rainbows in life, you just have to look, even when it's raining.

Love,

Sile

PS So grateful I don't commute!

Old Habits die hard... or do they?

2008-12-13T09:07:00.005+01:00

At this time of year, many people are planning on over-indulgence, eating too much, drinking perhaps a little more than is wise. And we hear others say, "I'll make my resolution to change in the new year". But, habits are difficult things. Most often the term is associated in a derogatory sense. i.e. these are bad habits as any smoker will tell you!

There are good habits of course, but for the moment, let's work on the basis that the habitual way you are playing includes some bad habits that you'd like to be rid of.

So, how do we rid ourselves of habits? Well, it can be a lengthy process:

See, if you get rid of the 'H', you still have 'a bit'.

You get rid of the 'A', and you still have a 'bit'.

You get rid of the B, and you still have 'it'.

To get rid of the 'I', you have to look to the 'T' and choose what is central to your life, your game and not at the effect of the whims and fancies of your feelings, other people or the environment.

If you truly want to improve your game, come to Doorwerth (about 2 hours train ride from Amsterdam) and take the Avatar course, you gain the ability to transform your life in nine days!

International Avatar Course: 28 December to 5 January 2009 - to start the new year with success!

Reel Transformation

2008-11-15T18:56:00.002+01:00

This is an Amazing video! If you are inspired but not 100% sure how to make the transformation, the Avatar Tools will empower you to live deliberately and overcome all of those self imposed limitations.

We know that we only use 10% of our potential. The Avatar tools will teach you how to unlock that 90%.

"You work on your job you make a living , work on yourself and you will make a fortune" Jim Rohn.

Our next Avatar presentation will be on Friday evening 28th November (venue to be confirmed) If you'd like to come or know someone who might, contact me via email: s.obroin@gmail.com and get ready to be inspired!

Installation of Love

2008-11-05T22:07:00.002+01:00

Easy when you know how...

Tech Support: Yes, how can I help you?

Customer: Well, after much consideration, I've decided to
install Love. Can you guide me through the process?

Tech Support: Yes. I can help you. Are you ready to proceed?

Customer: Well, I'm not very technical, but I think I'm ready.
What do I do first?

Tech Support: The first step is to open your Heart. Have you located
your Heart?

Customer: Yes, but there are several other programs running now.
Is it okay to install Love while they are running?

Tech Support: What programs are running ?

Customer: Let's see, I have Past Hurt, Low Self-Esteem, Grudge
and Resentment running right now.

Tech Support: No problem, Love will gradually erase Past Hurt from your
current operating system. It may remain in your permanent memory but it
will no longer disrupt other programs. Love will eventually override
Low Self-Esteem with a module of its own called High Self-Esteem. However,
you have to completely turn off Grudge and Resentment. Those programs
prevent Love from being properly installed. Can you turn those off ?

Customer: I don't know how to turn them off. Can you tell me
how?

Tech Support: With pleasure. Go to your start menu and invoke Forgiveness. Do this as many times as necessary until Grudge and Resentment have been completely erased.

Customer: Okay, done! Love has started installing itself. Is that normal?

Tech Support: Yes, but remember that you have only the base program. You need to begin connecting to other Hearts in order to get the upgrades.

Customer: Oops! I have an error message already. It says, "Error - Program not run on external components." What should I do?

Tech Support: Don't worry. It means that the Love program is set up to run on Internal Hearts, but has not yet been run on your Heart. In non-technical terms, it simply means you have to Love yourself before you can Love others.

Customer: So, what should I do?

Tech Support: Pull down Self-Acceptance; then click on the following files: Forgive-Self; Realize Your Worth; and Acknowledge your Limitations.

Customer: Okay, done.

Tech Support: Now, copy them to the "My Heart" directory. The system will overwrite any conflicting files and begin patching faulty programming.

Also, you need to delete Verbose Self-Criticism from all directories and empty your Recycle Bin to make sure it is completely gone and never
comes back.

Customer: Got it. Hey! My heart is filling up with new files. Smile is playing on my monitor and Peace and Contentment are copying themselves all over My Heart. Is this normal?

Tech Support: Sometimes. For others it takes awhile, but eventually everything gets it at the proper time. So Love is installed and running. One more thing before we hang up. Love is Freeware. Be sure to give it and its various modules to everyone you meet. They will in turn share it with others and return some cool modules back to you.

Customer: Thank you.

Tech Support: You're Welcome, Anytime.

- Anon

Balance Sheet of Life

2008-10-10T12:42:00.001+02:00

The happiness of life is made of little things - a smile, a hug,a moment of shared laughter - it's not the wealth you amass but what you give to others & the lives you touch that you take with you for eternity!

Our Birth is our Opening Balance!

Our Death is our Closing Balance!

Our Prejudiced Views are our Liabilities

Our Creative Ideas are our Assets

Heart is our Current Asset

Soul is our Fixed Asset

Brain is our Fixed Deposit

Thinking is our Current Account

Achievements are our Capital

Character & Morals, our Stock-in-Trade

Friends are our General Reserves

Values & Behaviours are our Goodwill

Patience is our Interest Earned

Love is our Dividend

Children are our Bonus Issues

Education is Brands / Patents

Knowledge is our Investment

Experience is our Premium Account

The Aim is to Tally the Balance Sheet Accurately.

The Goal is to get the Best Presented Accounts Award.

What does your balance sheet look like?!

The Best Type of Communication

2008-10-01T23:04:00.001+02:00

"The most important thing in communication is to hear what
isn't being said" -- Peter F. Drucker

Thoughts to Live By

2008-09-30T09:13:00.003+02:00

I came across these inspirational quotes thanks to a friend in India called Hans. Namaste!

Change yourself first. Reform yourself and you will reform thousands...Be actively calm and calmly active... Whatever your present circumstances, make the best of it...Take care of today and the future will take care of itself - Paramahansa Yogananda

The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes - William James

To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit - Stephen W. Hawking

Universes are emerging from nothingness scattering stars like dust - Jalaluddin Rumi, a 13th Century Sufi saint

If quantum mechanics hasn't profoundly shocked you, you haven't understood it yet - Niels Bohr

Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but usually manages to pick himself up, walk over or around it, and carry on - Winston Churchill

A little tip

2008-09-30T00:57:00.001+02:00

When in a hurry, step #1 for changing the entire world, is falling in love with it as it already is.

Same for changing yourself.

You like? I do!

I'm baaaack from Egmond aan Zee and ready to rock and roll!

Il Piu' Bel Regalo Che Mi Faccio...

2008-09-17T09:56:00.011+02:00

Vado a fare il corso Avatar ad Egmond aan Zee, questa volta non come Master ma come Studente... e non vedo l'ora di partire!

Non vedo l'ora anche perche tre anni fa' mi ricordo del salto nel vuoto che feci quando mi sono fidata di Anne, la mia Master (che mi aveva fatto provare un minicorso tempo prima). Ma mi sono fidata nonostante non avevo le certezze che mi poteva dare un corso su tutta la mia vita.

'Ma se le persone stanno anni ed anni a fare terapie su terapie... cosa ti puo' dare un corso in 9 giorni? Ma Daiiii... Non puo' essere cosi facile.'

Mi ricordo che questo e' quello che mi girava in testa. Eppure qualcosa mi diceva che ero stufa di girarmi intorno, non ero felice e non sapevo perche', e dentro di me, sapevo che qualcosa di diverso dovevo fare.

Cosi' mi sono sorpresa in questi magici 9 giorni, tre anni fa' di essere riuscita a districarmi dallo stress che mi creavo internamente, dalle relazioni che mi facevano male e migliorare di un salto quantico le emicrainie diariamente che mi stavano rovinando la salute (tre anni e tanti esercizi dopo, non ho quasi piu' emicranie... Evviva!).

E sono andata avanti con i corsi sempre piu' leggera, sempre piu' entusiasta anche perche' vedevo come tolte le mie convinzioni trasparenti ed auto-sabotanti, e mettendo la mia energia ed attenzione libera su quello che volevo invece sperimentare usando questi esercizi fichissimi, diventava tutto piu' facile, piu' divertente, la mia vita scorreva molto meglio, delle porte inaspettate si aprivano su delle opportunita' meravigliose, e concordavo con altri Master,

'questo metodo e' troppo bello per tenerlo segreto!'

Cosi ho incominciato a coinvolgere altri: famiglia, amici e contatti vari, perche' loro potessero godere dei tanti benefici che il corso Avatar offre a coloro che sono pronti per vivere meglio, raggiungere i traguardi che sono giusti per loro, a migliorare le relazioni, a sentirsi meglio. Ad aiutare le persone a capire che loro stessi possono prendere controllo dei loro pensieri anziche' subirne e quando imparano a fare questo, possono fare tutto quello che... si mettono in testa!

Devo dire che questi tre anni sono stati una sfida a conquistare la fiducia delle persone, anche a me care, a provare un metodo nuovo, diverso, rivoluzionario si, ma che funziona con effetti immediati. Sono riuscita ad organizzarmi insieme con altre Master per dare delle presentazioni, dei laboratori di RiEmergere e corsi Avatar a Roma ed a Orte anche se il tempo era (relativamente) poco per via delle altre responsabilita' lavorative che mi ero impegnata a far funzionare. Ma basta volerlo e si puo' fare tutto, giusto?!

Ho fatto tanta strada in tre anni ed adesso mi vorrei regalare qualcosa di veramente prezioso che mi ha aperto gli occhi ad un mondo infinitamente piu' bello tre anni fa'.

Mi voglio regalare nove giorni di viaggio interiore, privato, sicuro...

Dove posso andare in profondita' a spazzare via le mie resistenze anche quelle che ora non mi sono tanto chiare, per riacquistare la fiducia di poter raggiungere due traguardi che avevo accantonato ma che ora rimetto in prima priorita'!

Ed anche per potermi rilassare, divertire con vecchi e nuovi amici che incontrero' per strada, per guardarmi e guardare il mondo con occhi nuovi, per prendere uno strato ancora piu' ampio di responsabilita' per tutto il passato e per incominciare a guardare e creare il mio futuro con gioia ed assoluta certezza, e poi per tornare a casa, a Roma, per poter giocare un gioco piu' grande, piu' consapevole di quanto non abbia fatto finora.

Non mi costa niente e ho tutto da guadagnare!

Perche' fare Avatar?

2008-09-16T09:28:00.004+02:00

Alcuni di voi sapranno che insieme con i Master Avatar, Anne e Giorgia, abbiamo appena fatto un altro RiEmergere meraviglioso a Roma. In questi giorni, mi sono divertita, mi sono commossa e mi hanno ispirata le mie colleghe e studenti... ma e' sempre cosi: ogni corso, imparo quanto le persone che lo seguono per come meglio Vivere Deliberatamente.

Infatti, in questi tre anni che studio ed insegno il metodo Avatar, vedo che non appena le persone hanno un assaggio di come funzionano gli esercizi sulla propria vita, lo scetticismo che avevano al principio si scioglie e questo viene rimpiazzato da meraviglia ed intusiasmo:

'Ma questi esercizi sono geniali!'

'Non ci posso credere! Tutto questo l'ho creato io!'

'Oh Mamma miaaaa... ora capisco! E' tutto chiaro.'

'E' stata un esperienza molto diversa... al di sopra delle mie aspettative.'

'Interessante. Non ho capito proprio tutto ma mi sembra valido e voglio continuare.'

'Non pensavo che mi sarei divertita cosi tanto!'

'Dimmi quando e' il prossimo corso ed io ci saro'!'

'Ma perche' non me lo hai detto prima?!'

'Ora devo continuare ad esercitarmi... non vorrei mica tornare indietro a com'ero prima.'

Un assaggio ha fatto si che loro si ricordano di essere i piu' potenti e onniscienti creatori della propria vita.

Si accorgano che prima senza rendersene conto creano sofferenza per se stessi e poi cercano di darsi ragione di questa sofferenza scegliendone come origine il mondo. Vedono come hanno ridotto il loro potere creativo al debole mormorio di mere suppliche per essere sollevate dalla paura e dalla sofferenza che riempono le loro giornate.

Intuiscono che c'e molto di piu' da scoprire e che questo assaggio e' solo il principio di una esplorazione leggera e piena di sorprese!

Avatar ha chiuso per sempre le spiegazioni obsolete delle terapie e delle ideologie del passato confermando l'antico sospetto sul potenziale creativo dello spirito umano!

What a Setback really is...

2008-09-10T00:23:00.003+02:00

As you probably know, my dad was diagnosed with cancer some months ago. He is actually doing fine now in our wee country house north of Rome. I was there at the weekend and found him diligently drinking organic juices, taking his prescribed medicine and best of all, his deadpan sense of humour is alive and well.

At first, the news of his cancer had an impact on me of course.

Apart from all the emotions that accompany this kind of news about a family member, I saw it as a setback - but only for a little time.

I looked at what I had learned with the Avatar materials to help me get through this period. Much of what I have learned in the past years really came back to cushion the blow.

I realized some things the last few months.

Here are some of the things I realised:

1) All a setback is, is a launching platform, for a comeback-bigger and stronger.

2) All a setback can do- is what you allow it to do.

3) All a setback can say-is what comes from your mouth.

4) All a setback can affect is what you have said it can.

5) All a setback can create- are the emotions that you have allowed to either build you-or build a barrier around you.

6) All a setback can take- is nothing. That is where the deception lies.

7) All a setback can ever really impact-is your willingness to either create a breakthrough – or a breakdown.

Breakthrough?

Or breakdown?

I choose a breakthrough as ALL Success in my various areas of life (health, relationships and work) comes from a decision to break through the resistance-not breakdown within it.

As my friend Zig Ziglar says, “Embrace the struggle - and win the battle.”

Turn your setback into a platform for a wildly successful comeback - in your life, relationships and work.

If you want to know one tried and tested method that really works, get in touch!

Love, light and laughter!

Il Video di Ieri

2008-09-06T09:40:00.002+02:00

Se vi e' piaciuto il video di Iyanla Vanzant (blog post di ieri) e siete curiosi di provare un metodo che aggiusta o mette bene a fuoco quello che vedete per poter migliorare come poter vedere quello che desiderate nella vostra vita..... bene, oggi ho buone notizie!

La settimana prossima ci saranno presentazioni con esercizi che *tu* fai per vedere se il corso Avatar fa per te. Le presentazioni si terranno a San Giovanni a Roma: mercoledi, giovedi e venerdi e tutta la presentazione dura 3 ore.

Chiamami per saperne di piu'.

Un abbraccione ed a presto!

Sile

Il Laboratorio di RiEmergere si terra' 13 e 14 settembre con i master Avatar, Anne Caspari, Giorgia Sinicorni e la sottoscritta (Sile O'Broin)! Vi aspettiamo a braccia aperte.

This Is About You

2008-09-05T09:38:00.001+02:00

Who said this....

2008-09-04T21:11:00.003+02:00

Quick quiz:

"You have to see yourself winning before you win."

"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody."

"You cannot become a basketball star by reading about basketball"

If you think you know the answer, just post it underneath in the comments box.

ReSurfacing: How, What, When?

2008-09-04T11:15:00.002+02:00

Some of you have asked me what exactly does the ReSurfacing Workshop entail?

Here is an abridged version:

During the 2-day ReSurfacing workshop you set up a personal profile that will give you insight into the foundation of your own life.

Then you will be given a taste of the Avatar exercises and insight into the underlying theory. Reading will alternate with doing exercises and sharing experiences with the other participants.

You will discover patterns in your system of perceiving, thinking and acting. The way your attitude and (unconscious) beliefs determine your life will become crystal-clear.

Finally you formulate goals that will make your life more worthwhile and you discover which steps are necessary to realize them.

All in all, it is a fascinating, spellbinding journey of discovery through your own consciousness.

The minimum results you can expect are:

* a new outlook on yourself and your entire life
* reinforcement of your own free will and the power to make your own decisions
* formulation of personal goals
* certainty about whether or not to take Avatar Sections 2 and 3

When: 13 and 14 September (ReSurfacing Workshop) in Rome with at least two Avatar Masters Anne Caspari and myself. From 20 to 28 September in Egmond aan Zee in Holland with Avatar Masters from at least ten countries.

Cost: Euro: 250+VAT

RiEmergere: Come, Cosa, Quando?

2008-09-04T11:00:00.003+02:00

Alcuni di voi mi avete chiesto che cosa ci si puo' aspettare nella prima sezione di Avatar?

Ecco qui una mia sintesi:

Durante i due giorni del laboratorio RiEmergere elabori un profilo personale che ti dara' delle intuizioni sulla fondazione della tua vita.

Poi, avrai un assaggio dei esercisi Avatar ed un perspettiva della teoria sottostante. La lettura alterna con il fare gli esercizi e condivisione delle esperienze di altri partecipanti.

Scoprirai dei schemi nel tuo sistema di percezione, pernsare e attuare. Il modo in cui il tuo atteggiamento e le convinzioni (inconscie) determinano la tua vita diventera' chiarissimo.

Finalmente formulerai degli obbiettivi per farsi che la tua vita abbia piu' senso e tu scopri quali passi sono necessari per realizzarli.

Questa e' un viaggio affascinante di scoperte attraverso la tua conscienza.

I risultati minimi che ti puoi aspettare sono:

* ottenere una nuova percezione di te stessa e della tua vita
* rafforzare la tua volonta' libera e il potere di prendere le tue decisioni
* formulare degli obbiettivi personali
* avere la certezza di fare o non i seguenti sezioni di Avatar (2 e 3)

Date: 13 e 14 settembre a Roma (con i Master Avatar Anne Caspari e la sottoscritta) e dal 20 a 28 settembre a Egmond aan Zee, Olanda con una rete di master avatar di piu' di una decina di paesi.

Costo: 250+IVA euro

Doing it Anyway

2008-08-29T17:06:00.001+02:00

"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing. "

George Bernard Shaw

Irish playwright who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925. He also received an Academy Award for Writing the Adapted Screenplay for the film Pygmalion in 1938.

Do It Anyway

2008-08-28T23:37:00.000+02:00

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centred.
Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the
smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.

People favour underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.

© Copyright Kent M. Keith 1968, renewed 2001

Changing Perspectives

2008-08-28T12:49:00.002+02:00

"Whenever encountering a troublesome person, do not identify him as being cruel or stupid or rude or anything else like that. Instead, see him as a frightened person." (Vernon Howard)

Cultivate Your Curiosity

2008-08-27T18:20:00.002+02:00

Curiosity opens up whole new worlds.

It gets you thinking and challenging ideas.

It helps you find out the way things work -- and why.

And it makes life more exciting to live!

Find out how your experiences are linked to your beliefs and discover a time-tested method for living the life you decide:

ReSurfacing Workshop in Rome www.avatarepc.com

Sat 30 and Sun 31 August
Sat 13 and Sun 14 September

International Avatar Course in Egmond aan Zee, Holland www.avatarepc.nl
20 to 28 September (9 days)

You Get What You Give

2008-08-22T13:26:00.006+02:00

How do you spend your energy?

Do you use it shouting, being silently judgemental or do you sneer at your spouse / workmates / roomates? Are you being a critic and annoyed at things / life / circumstances / yourself? Are you always surfing the web? Watching television?

Or do you spend your energy working hard? Helping people? Laughing? Reflecting? Connecting? Learning new things?

Whatever it is you work hardest on, you wind up having. That's one of the laws of this universe. Whatever it is you devote your energy, that is what you get.

For example, if you spend your energy on parties or sporting events, you end with memories of parties or sporting events. If you work hardest at making your enemies wrong, you end with enemies who are wrong. If you spend your energy worrying about being penniless, you end up being broke.

If, however, you spend that same work and energy doing something that makes you money, you end up with more money. If you spend your time finding a house, you get a house. If you spend your energy learning new skills, you have new skills.

How do you spend your energy? On what do you work the hardest? That is what you have, right?

Try this simple, yet powerful idea to get what you want from life.

1. Write down three things that you want. Do you want a successful business? Love? A healthier body? Happiness?

2. Devote your energy just to those things. Work hardest on those and nothing else.

3. Don't be too surprised when you suddenly get them.

Love, light and laughter,

Sile

Chinese proverb

2008-08-19T23:41:00.001+02:00

If you want happiness for an hour - take a nap.
If you want happiness for a day - go fishing.
If you want happiness for a month - get married.
If you want happiness for a year - inherit a fortune.
If you want happiness for a lifetime - help others.

Moments... Momenti

2008-08-19T16:03:00.001+02:00

Every moment is a golden one for those of us who have the vision to
recognize it as such.

Ogni momento e' prezioso per coloro con la visione di riconoscerlo come tale.

I Grandi Sogni

2008-07-28T09:55:00.002+02:00

I Grandi Sogni quelli che suscitano emozioni che diventono Realta' hanno bisogno di Ali di Fede e Cuori Saldi.

Chi Crede Vola

Chi Mente Cade

Ti auguro di allacciare le cinture di sicurezza del tuo cuore, e che ogni respiro sia un respiro di Fede e di Volare sempre in alto con il vento che ti trasporta alla riva dei tuoi Sogni piu' belli.

It's so easy to....

2008-07-24T15:24:00.002+02:00

forget how easy it can be to connect...

Who could you hug today?

The Cracked Pot

2008-07-23T20:55:00.003+02:00

This is a lovely story which I hope you'll enjoy. I did even though I felt that it had very little to do with Avatar and conciousness training until I read it a second time where it was all clear.

The Cracked Pot
Author Unknown

A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on the
end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the
pots was perfectly made and never leaked. The other pot had
a crack in it and by the time the water bearer reached his
master's house it had leaked much of it's water and was only
half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer
delivering only one and a half pots full of water to his
master's house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its
accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its
own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to
accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure,
it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. "I am
ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you."

"Why?" asked the bearer. "What are you ashamed of?"

"I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only
half my load because this crack in my side causes water to
leak out all the way back to your master's house. Because of
my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don't get
full value from your efforts," the pot said.

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in
his compassion he said, "As we return to the master's house,
I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path."

Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took
notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the
side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end
of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out
half its load, and so again the pot apologized to the bearer
for its failure.

The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were
flowers only on your side of your path, but not on the other
pot's side? That's because I have always known about your
flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on
your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from
the stream, you've watered them. For two years I have been
able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master's
table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not
have this beauty to grace his house."

Each of us has our own unique flaws. We're all cracked pots.
Don't be afraid of your flaws. Acknowledge them, and you too
can be the cause of beauty. Know that in our weakness we
find our strength.

(Sile's notes) For me the messages are quite many: too often we want to change and manifest our dreams, and in doing so, we fail to appreciate the journey which can be just as wonderful as the end destination or goal. When we are also dissatisfied with ourselves, we are also stopping ourselves from truly experiencing that which we want to become. Once we learn to appreciate ourselves (the good and the bad) and experience it fully can we move on to the next thing. Well, that's what I got out of the story. What did you get out of it?

Sending you much love!

How to Have the Wind at your Back

2008-07-20T14:35:00.001+02:00

"The winds of grace are always blowing, but it is you who must
raise your sails."

--Rabindranath Tagore

"In the mental realm, enter at once into full enjoyment of the
things you want."

--Wallace Wattles

"How would I be doing this differently if I were willing to let
it be easy?"

--Alan Cohen

The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination

2008-07-16T21:53:00.000+02:00

... what follows is J.K.Rowling's Commencement Speech at Harvard, delivered last month. It is deep, articulate and moving. It is copyright J.K. Rowling 2008.

You can watch a film of her delivering it at http://harvardmagazine.com/go/jkrowling.html ... or just listen while multitasking ...

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Best wishes

Sile

President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, members of the faculty, proud parents, and, above all, graduates,

The first thing I would like to say is 'thank you.' Not only has Harvard given me an extraordinary honour, but the weeks of fear and nausea I've experienced at the thought of giving this commencement address have made me lose weight. A win-win situation! Now all I have to do is take deep breaths, squint at the red banners and fool myself into believing I am at the world's best-educated Harry Potter convention.

Delivering a commencement address is a great responsibility; or so I thought until I cast my mind back to my own graduation. The commencement speaker that day was the distinguished British philosopher Baroness Mary Warnock. Reflecting on her speech has helped me enormously in writing this one, because it turns out that I can't remember a single word she said. This liberating discovery enables me to proceed without any fear that I might inadvertently influence you to abandon promising careers in business, law or politics for the giddy delights of becoming a gay wizard.

You see? If all you remember in years to come is the 'gay wizard' joke, I've still come out ahead of Baroness Mary Warnock. Achievable goals: the first step towards personal improvement.

Actually, I have wracked my mind and heart for what I ought to say to you today. I have asked myself what I wish I had known at my own graduation, and what important lessons I have learned in the 21 years that has expired between that day and this.

I have come up with two answers. On this wonderful day when we are gathered together to celebrate your academic success, I have decided to talk to you about the benefits of failure. And as you stand on the threshold of what is sometimes called 'real life', I want to extol the crucial importance of imagination.

These might seem quixotic or paradoxical choices, but please bear with me.

Looking back at the 21-year-old that I was at graduation, is a slightly uncomfortable experience for the 42-year-old that she has become. Half my lifetime ago, I was striking an uneasy balance between the ambition I had for myself, and what those closest to me expected of me.

I was convinced that the only thing I wanted to do, ever, was to write novels. However, my parents, both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing personal quirk that could never pay a mortgage, or secure a pension. They had hoped that I would take a vocational degree; I wanted to study English Literature. A compromise was reached that in retrospect satisfied nobody, and I went up to study Modern Languages. Hardly had my parents' car rounded the corner at the end of the road than I ditched German and scuttled off down the Classics corridor. I cannot remember telling my parents that I was studying Classics; they might well have found out for the first time on graduation day. Of all subjects on this planet, I think they would have been hard put to name one less useful than Greek mythology when it came to securing the keys to an executive bathroom.

I would like to make it clear, in parenthesis, that I do not blame my parents for their point of view. There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you.

What is more, I cannot criticise my parents for hoping that I would never experience poverty. They had been poor themselves, and I have since been poor, and I quite agree with them that it is not an ennobling experience.

Poverty entails fear, and stress, and sometimes depression; it means a thousand petty humiliations and hardships. Climbing out of poverty by your own efforts, that is indeed something on which to pride yourself, but poverty itself is romanticised only by fools.

What I feared most for myself at your age was not poverty, but failure.

At your age, in spite of a distinct lack of motivation at university, where I had spent far too long in the coffee bar writing stories, and far too little time at lectures, I had a knack for passing examinations, and that, for years, had been the measure of success in my life and that of my peers.

I am not dull enough to suppose that because you are young, gifted and well-educated, you have never known hardship or heartbreak. Talent and intelligence never yet inoculated anyone against the caprice of the Fates, and I do not for a moment suppose that everyone here has enjoyed an existence of unruffled privilege and contentment.

However, the fact that you are graduating from Harvard suggests that you are not very well-acquainted with failure. You might be driven by a fear of failure quite as much as a desire for success. Indeed, your conception of failure might not be too far from the average person's idea of success, so high have you already flown academically.

Ultimately, we all have to decide for ourselves what constitutes failure, but the world is quite eager to give you a set of criteria if you let it. So I think it fair to say that by any conventional measure, a mere seven years after my eduation day, I had failed on an epic scale. An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless. The fears my parents had had for me, and that I had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew.

Now, I am not going to stand here and tell you that failure is fun. That period of my life was a dark one, and I had no idea that there was going to be what the press has since represented as a kind of fairy tale resolution. I had no idea how far the tunnel extended, and for a long time, any light at the end of it was a hope rather than a reality.

So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had already been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea.

And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.

You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all - in which case, you fail by default.

Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above rubies.

The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more to me than any qualification I ever earned.

Given a time machine or a Time Turner, I would tell my 21-year-old self that personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two. Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone's total control, and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes.

You might think that I chose my second theme, the importance of imagination, because of the part it played in rebuilding my life, but that is not wholly so. Though I will defend the value of bedtime stories to my last gasp, I have learned to value imagination in a much broader sense. Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathise with humans whose experiences we have never suffered.

One of the greatest formative experiences of my life preceded Harry Potter, though it informed much of what I subsequently wrote in those books. This revelation came in the form of one of my earliest day jobs. Though I was sloping off to write stories during my lunch hours, I paid the rent in my early 20s by working in the research department at Amnesty International's headquarters in London. There in my little office I read hastily scribbled letters smuggled out of totalitarian regimes by men and women who were risking imprisonment to inform the outside world of what was happening to them. I saw photographs of those who had disappeared without trace, sent to Amnesty by their desperate families and friends. I read the testimony of torture victims and saw pictures of their injuries. I opened handwritten, eye-witness accounts of summary trials and executions, of kidnappings and rapes.

Many of my co-workers were ex-political prisoners, people who had been displaced from their homes, or fled into exile, because they had the temerity to think independently of their government. Visitors to our office included those who had come to give information, or to try and find out what had happened to those they had been forced to leave behind. I shall never forget the African torture victim, a young man no older than I was at the time, who had become mentally ill after all he had endured in his homeland. He trembled uncontrollably as he spoke into a video camera about the brutality inflicted upon him. He was a foot taller than I was, and seemed as fragile as a child. I was given the job of escorting him to the Underground Station afterwards, and this man whose life had been shattered by cruelty took my hand with exquisite courtesy, and wished me future happiness.

And as long as I live I shall remember walking along an empty corridor and suddenly hearing, from behind a closed door, a scream of pain and horror such as I have never heard since. The door opened, and the researcher poked out her head and told me to run and make a hot drink for the young man sitting with her. She had just given him the news that in retaliation for his own outspokenness against his country's regime, his mother had been seized and executed.

Every day of my working week in my early 20s I was reminded how incredibly fortunate I was, to live in a country with a democratically elected government, where legal representation and a public trial were the rights of everyone.

Every day, I saw more evidence about the evils humankind will inflict on their fellow humans, to gain or maintain power. I began to have nightmares, literal nightmares about some of the things I saw, heard and read. And yet I also learned more about human goodness at Amnesty International than I had ever known before. Amnesty mobilises thousands of people who have never been tortured or imprisoned for their beliefs to act on behalf of those who have. The power of human empathy, leading to collective action, saves lives, and frees prisoners. Ordinary people, whose personal well-being and security are assured, join together in huge numbers to save people they do not know, and will never meet. My small participation in that process was one of the most humbling and inspiring experiences of my life.

Unlike any other creature on this planet, humans can learn and understand, without having experienced. They can think themselves into other people's minds, imagine themselves into other people's places. Of course, this is a power, like my brand of fictional magic, that is morally neutral. One might use such an ability to manipulate, or control, just as much as to understand or sympathise. And many prefer not to exercise their imaginations at all. They choose to remain comfortably within the bounds of their own experience, never troubling to wonder how it would feel to have been born other than they are. They can refuse to hear screams or to peer inside cages; they can close their minds and hearts to any suffering that does not touch them personally; they can refuse to know.

I might be tempted to envy people who can live that way, except that I do not think they have any fewer nightmares than I do. Choosing to live in narrow spaces can lead to a form of mental agoraphobia, and that brings its own terrors. I think the wilfully unimaginative see more monsters. They are often more afraid. What is more, those who choose not to empathise may enable real monsters. For without ever committing an act of outright evil ourselves, we collude with it, through our own apathy.

One of the many things I learned at the end of that Classics corridor down which I ventured at the age of 18, in search of something I could not then define, was this, written by the Greek author Plutarch: What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality. That is an astonishing statement and yet proven a thousand times every day of our lives. It expresses, in part, our inescapable connection with the outside world, the fact that we touch other people's lives simply by existing.

But how much more are you, Harvard graduates of 2008, likely to touch other people's lives? Your intelligence, your capacity for hard work, the education you have earned and received, give you unique status, and unique responsibilities. Even your nationality sets you apart. The great majority of you belong to the world's only remaining superpower. The way you vote, the way you live, the way you protest, the pressure you bring to bear on your government, has an impact way beyond your borders.

That is your privilege, and your burden. If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped transform for the better.

We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.

I am nearly finished. I have one last hope for you, which is something that I already had at 21. The friends with whom I sat on graduation day have been my friends for life. They are my children's godparents, the people to whom I've been able to turn in times of trouble, friends who have been kind enough not to sue me when I've used their names for Death Eaters. At our graduation we were bound by enormous affection, by our shared experience of a time that could never come again, and, of course, by the knowledge that we held certain photographic evidence that would be exceptionally valuable if any of us ran for Prime Minister.

So today, I can wish you nothing better than similar friendships. And tomorrow, I hope that even if you remember not a single word of mine, you remember those of Seneca, another of those old Romans I met when I fled down the Classics corridor, in retreat from career ladders, in search of ancient wisdom:

As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.

I wish you all very good lives.

Thank you very much."

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Avatar but Were Too Afraid to Ask...

2008-07-08T00:37:00.002+02:00

A long lost friend of mine, Fred (not his real name) asked me these questions about Avatar and as I sat down and attempted to answer them, it occurred to me that they might also be running in your minds. It's not exhaustive Q&A session (thank God, says you!) but hopefully will give some clarity around some of the more burning questions people may have.

So, here they are along with my answers.

Question: How many people at one time can participate in the course?

Answer:. The course size varies. Since the Avatar course is a personal journey into your own consciousness to unlock your potential and get rid of whatever is holding you back, whether you take it one-on-one with your Avatar Master or you attend a course with over 600 people from all over the world, it remains a private, personal and transformational experience. I have to say that I love bringing participants to International Avatar courses either in Europe or in US because the energy there is sizzling, and you see how we are all connected, how you can do exercises with other students despite not speaking the same language, you make new friends, sometimes these are friendships that last a lifetime.

Question: Does it 'work' for everyone are does one have to be a certain type or category of person?

Answer: Avatar does work for those people that want to improve and understand that by changing their beliefs they can alter the experiences they attract in their lives. It doesn't work with people who insist on being a victim of circumstances. If you'd like to know what Avatar will do for you, just answer this question for yourself: what qualities you would like to have (or strengthen) in your life? Write that down on a piece of paper. Now ask yourself, what is stopping you from developing these qualities. Write those down. Congratulations, you've just answered your own question!

Question: Can Avatar cure... maybe that's not the right term, how about help, people with mild mental disorders such as depression, anxiety, fear, sloth, etc.?

Answer: Avatar is not a substitute for professional health counseling. So you should always check with your doctor before coming to the course if you have a medical condition requiring professional help. Avatar will help you identify the beliefs that are the culprit for you having these experiences and then you use the tools you learn to address these conditions. People have had great success using the Avatar tools on all areas of their life.

Question: Do you stay in contact with your previous 'students' to see what progress they've made throughout their life upon completion of the course?

Answer: I usually stay in contact with Avatars, not to monitor their progress, more because we become good friends and enjoy each other's company. After so much laughing together, it's hard not to! :-)

Question: Can you monitor a person's level of improvement or deterioration over the Net, for example, can I as an Avatar graduate (if that's the right word) in the US log into a website, answer a series of questions or perform certain tests and expect a report from you which might indicate whether I've become more in-tune with my sub-consciousness or if I've drifted away and no longer sensitive to my inner thoughts?

Answer: After the course, you acquire a set of amazing tools. You will know by yourself if you are drifting away or whether you are on track. You don't need to outsource this to the internet. :)

Question: What is the ideal age that one should undergo this type of course?

Answer: Ideally, when you are curious, when you recognise that what you experience may be affected by what you believe, that's the perfect time and age to do Avatar.

So, I hope that takes care of some of the major queries. If you have other questions about Avatar, the course, the course dates, let me know and I'll be more than happy to answer them (if I can). On the subject of course dates, I'll probably organise one or two ReSurfacing workshops here in Rome, which will probably be towards the end of August so if you are interested in joining us, watch this space.

That said, and just so that you know that I haven't melted in the heat, I won't be blogging for a few days as I'm off to the countryside near the lake Trasimeno for a couple of days to be with my parents. I was hoping for cooler weather but I'm told it is just as hot. :( Back on Saturday. Take care til then!

Thoughts Become Things

2008-07-07T09:15:00.003+02:00

"Your outer world of form and experience is a reflection of your inner world of thoughts and feelings.

As above, so below. As within, so without.
That is the Law."

John Randolph Price

10 Tips on Freeing Your Attention

2008-07-05T17:42:00.006+02:00

It's boiling in Rome. The heat has wiped me out in the past couple of days, that and a few other things. :-) I always get a surge of energy once I declutter, clean or tidy up any part of the house and have some Greta Garbo time ('I vaaant to be alone'). Clutter and untidiness saps my energy further.

Order gives me free attention.

Peace of mind is not produced by pleas or supplication, but by achieving command of your attention. (Basic Attention Management Mini-course)

The most obvious area to tidy, in my house at least, are closets. Closets are also great metaphors for minds... but for an entertaining view on closets and minds, click on the website shown at the end of my post entitled 'Who do you hang out with' which goes into this in more detail.

I love the idea of getting rid of everything you don't need (clothes and/or thoughts) even if you think they might come in handy one day. Metaphor aside, I do think that our physical surroundings mirrors somewhat how we think, or not, as the case may be.

Back to the present: you cannot expect to have free attention if your mind is cluttered and weighed down with thoughts. As I said, I felt weighed down.

To feel better, I started with the attention minicourse and then got to work on my surroundings, viceversa is fine too, but I find way that is way slower.

So here are Ten Hints for Creating Free Attention for you to start creating more free attention. You can find these in the Basic Attention Management mini-course which I just did earlier today.

1. Clean out your closet

2. Put appointments / bills due on a calendar

3. Forgive someone

4. Confess a transgression

5. Break down a big project into smaller goals

6. Divide a long term goal into smaller goals

7. Throw away a broken appliance you were going to fix

8. Organise the garage / kitchen cabinets / closets / desk drawer / old files

9. Make a 'to do' list

10. Decide to put something troubling behind you (for help, see ex. 6 step 3 in the minicourse)

Go on, try these out and let me know how you feel afterwards.

The Paradoxical 10 Commandments

2008-07-04T22:44:00.001+02:00

Life is Beautiful

2008-07-04T20:55:00.003+02:00

Feel Phenomenal

2008-07-04T20:25:00.001+02:00

Who Do You Hang Out With?

2008-07-04T15:34:00.004+02:00

An interesting exercise.

Pour yourself a coffee, a cold beer, or a nice glass of chardonnay, and...

Simply answer the questions by answering YES or NO.

Then add up all your NO responses to create a final score.

1. The people you hang out with listen to you?
2. They don't put you down or make fun of you?

3. They try to understand your feelings or moods?
4. They help you solve a problem?

5. They give you compliments?
6. They disagree without hurting you?

7. You know you can depend on them?
8. They encourage you and uplift you?

9. They are trustworthy?
10. They care about you?

11. Are they loyal or change personality depending on who they are with?
12. They find time for you?

Who you hang out eventually will rub off on you.

So how do you define yourself? Your friends?

This video explores perspectives as to why "who you hang out with matters." Click on the link below to find out:

http://avatarepcmedia.com/dontsellyourselfshort

A Caution to Everybody

2008-07-04T10:42:00.005+02:00

Consider the auk;
Becoming extinct because he forgot how to fly, and could only walk.
Consider man, who may well become extinct
Because he forgot how to walk, and learned to fly before he thinked.

Ogden Nash