Truth

A note from peter@thewealthyattitude.com for Wednesday June 18 2008

Say "aloha" to the midweek point.

Thank you all who continue to send notes on the meltdown of The Wealthy Attitude website, I appreciate it. One dedicated subscriber was able to point us to a place on Google where they cached snapshots of the site. It gave us a real break as we were at least able to get most of the "spine" of the site, and now we can set our sights on reconstruction.

I'm also deeply grateful to many of our contributors who really came to the fore with offers of neat "readers" so that we can continue this service uninterrupted while the site gets underway.

Today's offering touches on some very interesting points.

Truth...
By Alison Stoodley

I have noticed this many times and it holds true year after year: every word that comes out of my mouth is meant for me. What I mean by that is there really are no accidents and if a client or friend needs coaching in a certain area I need it too, or the opportunity to creatively deal with it would not be laid in my lap.

This week I have met with various egos, once in the form of denial, once in the form of outright lies and once in the form of the victim. All areas that I need to pay attention to. I find denial likes to hide out inside my health and fitness goals, telling me that I can deal with distractions, or that I can miss another workout and still get back on the horse easily.

My ego uses outright lies when someone asks me how I am and I tell them 'wonderful' when it is the furthest thing from the truth and I know it, but I don't want to bother others with my feelings. Of course this feeds perfectly into the state of 'victim' because it allows my ego to fill my head with such garbage as, 'no one careshow I really am', or 'can't they see that I am hurting?' or any number of other BS statements that are designed to keep me from connecting, really authentically connecting, with the people who love me.

So, now is the time for some truth....

1. I am in control of what happens to me.
2. I am surrounded by loving, compassionate people who are concerned for my welfare.
3. Support is simply a spoken or written word away.
4. I am capable of ANYTHING, my life is limitless.
5. Whatever I need, to accomplish my goals, is already within me.

My commitment to me is that when I forget these truths I will come back here and read this or ask a wonderful friend to remind me, because another truth is that the ego slips in occasionally and tries to make minced meat of our dreams and goals, and it happens to everyone. We are not meant to handle this stuff alone, we are meant to reach out and enroll our fellow man in our struggles, our dreams, our desires, our lives. We are meant to make authentic, powerful, loving connections with each other.

It is so true that no 'wo/man' is an island. We are surrounded by millions of people for a reason... remember what I said a paragraph ago? ...there really are no accidents.

Alison Stoodley is a single mom, a writer, a life coach and a speaker. She has been researching self-worth for 20 years and offers invaluable insight through her WORTH Program and private coaching practice. Alison has helped many people realize theirvalue and make positive life changes. She writes a regular column for the Town Cryer and is currently working on her first book. Check out her blog here.

"Truth" is what it's all about today.

The Source of True Happiness

By Gangaji

I have discovered that it is actually impossible to find happiness. As long as you are seeking to find happiness somewhere, you are overlooking where happiness is. Since I have stopped searching for fulfillment in the mind or in external circumstances, my life is now lived on a ground of joy. There are moments of unhappiness, anger, and distress - moods that pass through- yet all is occurring on a ground of joy. No mood needs to be feared, no moment needs to be avoided. Finally, I see that all moods, all states of mind, all feelings, anything that is truly investigated, points back to the same source - that pristine sky of fulfilled consciousness that is the truth of who I am, and the truth of who you are.

As long as you are seeking to find Spirit someplace else, you are overlooking the essential truth of Spirit, which is omnipresence. And, when you seek to find happiness someplace else, you are overlooking your true nature, which is happiness. You are overlooking yourself.

I would like to offer you the invitation and the challenge to stop overlooking yourself, to simply, radically, and absolutely be still-to put aside, at least for a moment, all of your ideas of where Spirit is, or where truth is, or where you are. I am asking you to be still in pure presence. Not to create that, not even to invite it, but simply to recognize what is always here, who you always are, where Spirit always is.

Ignorance is the root of suffering. When I use the word "ignorance," I am speaking about ignoring the truth of who you are in favor of some problem or identification with suffering. Ignoring the limitless truth of yourself, ignoring the eternal presence of divinity, of being-ness itself, is the very source of continued suffering. Continued suffering occurs when your concepts of happiness, truth and freedom are seen as separate from who you already are.

I am not speaking of the compassionate suffering experienced when one witnesses the anguish in the world. In the acknowledgment of that anguish, suffering can be experienced.

This is part of the texture of life, and it is appropriate. By continued suffering, I am referring to what could be called "unnecessary" suffering, when you are wrapped up in replaying your own or the world's dramatic stories over and over in your mind. Unnecessary suffering can be dropped in an instant, yet it is usually perpetuated through cycles of mental and emotional activity as an attempt to escape the direct experience of emotional pain.

To be finished with suffering does not mean to ignore suffering. To be true to the eternal truth of who you are is not to ignore anything. It means recognizing that you have the capacity to realize yourself as not separate from the totality of life. The degree to which you are willing to stop ignoring is the degree to which you are willing to truly know yourself.

Whether you are searching for peace and happiness in a relationship, in a better job, or even in world peace, just for one moment, stop absolutely. There is nothing wrong with these pursuits, but if you are engaging in them to get peace or to get happiness, you are overlooking what is already here. If you will simply be utterly still, even for one instant, you will recognize the inherent spaciousness of your being that is already happy and at peace with itself.

Once you discover this ground of peace, whatever pursuits you then engage in will be informed by your discovery. You will naturally bring what you have discovered to the world, to politics, to all your relationships. Because of our conditioning, we normally dismiss this ground of peace with an immediate, "Yes, but what about my life? I have responsibilities. I need to keep busy.

The absolute doesn't relate to my world, my existence." These conditioned thoughts just reinforce further conditioning. But, if you will take a moment to recognize the peace that is already alive within you, you then actually have the choice to trust it in all your endeavors.

This doesn't mean that your life will be swept clean of conflicts, challenges, or pain. It means that you will have recognized a sanctuary where the truth of yourself is present, where the truth of Spirit is present, regardless of the physical, mental, or emotional circumstances of your life. We cannot possess truth; that would be the mind's idea. But truth can claim its possession, which is us - each soul, each being.

This is an invitation into the core of your being. It is not about religion or lack of religion. It is not even about enlightenment or ignorance. It is about the truth of who you are, which is closer and deeper than anything that can be named or imagined. What we imagine as fulfillment has to do with less pain, less conflict, more pleasure, more peace, more acknowledgment, more love.

But, true fulfillment cannot be imagined; it can only be realized.