Me, Author at The Art of the Way

October 16, 2019November 11, 2019

Value of Moments

Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment, until it becomes a memory. - Dr. Seuss — Value of Moments

I like this little quote. Too many times people let time pass time without truly appreciating it. Sunshine, sunset, or the fragrance of a rose should be taken in every once in a while.

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

― Ferris Bueller

Ferris Bueller was good at doing this. This movie is the persona of this quote. If you didn’t see this movie go ahead and watch it. You will learn much about life in it.

Many times people are at the end of their life or with someone else at the end of their life and wished they would have taken more time out of their life to notice the little things, spend more time with the ones that they love, and appreciate all of the things in their life that they paid no attention to.

Let me tell you that you don’t want to be in the position where you are with a loved one that is dying soon and want to try and cram in every question and spend time with for all of the time you didn’t in the past. It really hurts and you will be filled with regrets for a long time. Don’t let this happen to you.

Besides stopping to watch a little bird pick up a french fry off of the groud and finding it amusing will bring a smile to your hectic lifestyle and you will be able to face the day and your life much better!

October 16, 2019November 11, 2019

Life is too Short to Spend it at War with Yourself

This is a quote that a lot of people have trouble with. Especially those people who have a tendency to blame themselves and treat themselves too harshly whenever they make a mistake. Generally, people who treat themselves to harshly also treat others the same way with high expectations.

When you beat yourself and waste your time whenever you make a mistake is it really, truly worth it? Of course not! We are human, believe it or not, no matter how high your self-expectations are! Life is too short to beat up yourself over past mistakes and regrets. Just learn from it and move on. If it can be fixed, fix it. If it cannot be fixed then accept it. Otherwise, it is just a waste of time.

October 16, 2019November 11, 2019

We Are What We Think

We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves. — We Are What We Think

I do believe that this was a Buddha quote. On the surface, it is pretty obvious. If we have angry thoughts then, of course, we will be angry people. But this, if practiced enough, will define what we are down to the core.

If you can keep your mind pure with thoughts then people, like-minded people will be more apt to approach you rather than if you have a scowl on your face. It’s second-nature, we determine who we are just by our thoughts and actions and everyone you come across will believe that as well. Joy will follow you and you will feel that you are born under a lucky star if your attitude matches and it becomes your core being then joy WILL follow you like a shadow that never leaves.

As an exercise try to catch yourself when you start having the wrong thoughts and tell yourself do you want to be like the person who consistently has this thought? Then go on with your day and try to catch the next negative thought that you don’t want to be defined as.

October 10, 2019

Wealth Comes to Me

Sometimes I need a reminder like this and I read this before meditation. Particularly in rough financial times.

This can be more than wishful thinking or repeating a positive affirmation. When meditating to this one I do not allow my mind to be quiet. Instead, I think about how fortunate I am when compared to many others. I think about how much better off I am now when compared to 10 years ago and 20 years ago. I let me mind drift and think of new ways for residual income so that I can earn more money while I sleep. I am also reminded that I already earn money while I sleep with renters, web hosting, affiliate marketing, Google AdSense, and more.

This is definitely not a mediation for a quiet mind, but more of a brainstorming session for at least twenty minutes. After twenty minutes when you come up with good ideas and realize that things are not as bad as they seemed at the beginning of the meditation then quiet your mind for another twenty minutes or more to let the universe share their ideas with you. If you put out to the universe how can I serve then the universe will respond with how can I serve you?

Wealth does not have to mean money. You can be wealthy in so many other ways. You can be more wealthy than an unhappy millionaire.

October 10, 2019

What You Allow Inside

This is one of my favorite Wayne Dyer quotes. For me, it was very hard to do. Too many times in grade school and high school where someone would tease me, say bad things about my mom, etc. to get a rise out of me I would take that to heart (let it inside of me) and they would enjoy the turmoil that it caused.

My dad always would say just let it roll off of me, but it was too difficult at the time to do that and I admired how he was able to not let things bother me. He never realized how much abuse that I did take in high school. One time while fishing he noticed someone giving me a hard time and he asked why I could take it. My response was that it was nothing compared to what I took in school.

Needless to say, I got into a lot of fights while in school, even in college. I had wish I read, learned, and meditated upon this quote when I was very young. It could have saved me a lot of hurt feelings. There was someone named Seth in school that never (almost never, I remember only one time but he recovered quickly) let things like him bother him. In return, the abusers did not bother him because of what they did, did not bother him. He didn’t let it inside as the quote said. (There is a big difference between not letting it inside and burying it. Remember that! Burying is only a temporary solution that explodes later.) and he was at more peace in his life.

This reminds me of an old Buddha story where someone tried to get the Buddha’s goat by cutting him down and trying to get him angry. Buddha waited until he was finished and asked if he could ask him a question. When he said yes Buddha asked him if someone were to give you a gift and you don’t accept it, who does the gift belong too? This made the guy think and he left without saying another word. I’m sure that Wayne heard of this story and came up with this quote.

October 10, 2019

What you Gain and Lose from Meditation

Buddha was asked, "What have you gained from meditation?" He replied "Nothing! However, let me tell you what I have lost: Anger, Anxiety, Depression, Insecurity, Fear of Old Age and Death." — What you Gain and Lose from Meditation

Buddha’s response makes the person who asked the question remember it even more just because of the unexpected shock value at first.

This is an excellent way of teaching that will make the student remember the lesson even more. Buddha was good at this. I know there are some Buddha quotes out there on the internet that is not actually from the Buddha. There is a site dedicated to straightening this out at https://fakebuddhaquotes.com/, but who knows how accurate this website is? Be careful of what you read and believe on the internet. Question everything! Even this website! These posts are my own opinions that I like to share hoping that they will help whoever is reading them. The real truth is inside of you, you will never find it outside of you. One way to practice this is to read something and ‘feel’ how it resonates with you.

Despite the quote, I have gained peace of mind and relaxation when meditating. The only thing I am guilty of is that I do not spend enough time meditating giving the excuse of having to do too much in my life.

“You should meditate twenty minutes a day and if you don’t have enough time then you should meditate for an hour!” – From an old Zen book I read.

October 10, 2019

Whatever you Accept

This quote by Eckhart Tolle is a good one. I am not sure if it is from the book, “The Power of Now” or not but it is a quote that makes you think twice and re-read it.

When reading this quote I first thought what if what I accepted is about the negative in life then I realized that fully accepting something even if it is negative puts a lot of pressure aside and it feels like a weight has been lifted off of your shoulders. You no longer have thoughts like, “How could she/he do this to me!” and “Now what am I going to do!”. Instead, your mind will accept it and you will find that your mind will switch a flip and start thinking of ways to solve it instead of coming up with ways to make yourself feel even more awful. While deep in a meditiation I was told that the two most important words were acceptance and understanding. They may not be the best words for you but I have found to help with my own self issues and to better myself, they are the best words for me.

I would recommend sitting down and meditating and let your mind go blank and notice where your mind wanders too. Is it a good place or a bad place? Notice that, accept it, understand it, then let it go and go back to leaving your mind blank. When your mind wanders again repeat the procedure and try to go a little longer the next time before your mind wanders. Eventually, with practice, you will be able to sit still long and quiet enough that the universe/God will speak to you and give you what words are the best for you.

October 10, 2019

What’s on your Mind and Heart?

If you want to know where your heart is, look to where your mind goes when it wanders. — What’s on your Mind and Heart

This particular quote really got me and I have included it with my meditations.

Think about it where does your mind wander most of the time? Is it a good place or a bad place? Is it full of positivity or negativity? This is where your heart is!

Meditating/Pondering on this quote can be a real good wake-up call for anyone. You may come to a realization that you have to change your life for the better after thinking about this quote.

If you are stuck in a rut not enjoying the job or career that you are in sit down and meditate upon this quote and think about where your mind wanders when you are in a good mood. If you discover where your heart is when you are in a good, pleasant, excited, or feeling worthy kind of mood then maybe that is the type of job or career path you should look towards. Where your mind wanders when you are in a good mood. What kind of career can you do that relates to this? How can you make money on the place where your mind wanders when you are in a great place emotionally? If you want to turn this into a business instead of a career how can you put this out to the universe in a massive way to as many people you can at once?

Wayne Dyer once said in a taped program I listened to that he was being interviewed at a station where the last day everyone was going to be there because the radion station was changing the format and everyone was getting laid off. Needless to say, everyone was down and out and told Wayne, “Isn’t this terrible! This is my last day here!”. Then Wayne would say, “Congratulations!” They looked at him like he was crazy and then Wayne explained that this might be God’s way of kicking them in the butt to start doing what they really should be doing and that within one year’s time this all wouldn’t matter because they would be in a better place. He asked one person what he REALLY wanted to do in his life and he said that he always wanted to write an opera. Another person said they always wanted to open a small metaphysical book store, etc. He touched base with a few of them later and found out of the few that he contacted a year or two later that all of them were much happier now than when they worked at the station after following their dreams.

Of course, there may have been some that ended up in a job they didn’t like. But you have to think did they follow their dreams or did they grab a job that they thought would pay the bills better? What do you think?

October 10, 2019

Where to Seek Happiness

Happiness is your nature. It is not wrong to desire it. What is wrong is seeking it outside when it is inside. - Sri Ramana Maharshi — Where to Seek Happiness

A lot of times we seek happiness outside of ourselves. We won’t be happy unless this happens or until that happens or until this person does this, etc.

When you put conditions on being happy you will end up spending life with the goal of being happy out of your reach.

“Happiness is like a butterfly. When pursued it is always beyond your grasp but if you sit still it enlightens upon you.” I am not sure but I think I read that quote in the book, Zen and the Birds of Appetite by Thomas Merton. If I am wrong and the quote is not in there the book has a wealth of information in there to take the confusion out of life and make you look at life in a different way which in turn makes your life so much better. It is one of the most favorite books that I have ever read. This is the book that I read that helped me reach a level of enlightenment.

Wayne Dyer paraphrased a famous quote, “There is no way to happiness, happiness is the way.” This is so very true! For too many times in my life, I have always put conditions on my happiness. This has given me great drive to succeed in almost every area of my life. But at what cost? I have missed out on a lot of happiness in my life with this limiting self-belief. I could have been happy the whole time and just as ambitious. The funny thing about this quote is that if you seek happiness from within and become truly happy success will follow you like a shadow that never leaves.

October 10, 2019October 10, 2019

Will it Matter?

Before getting upset always ask yourself: Will this even matter in next six month, in a year, or in five years? If the answer is No, JUST LET IT GO. — Will it Matter?

I have found that a lot of times when I get anxiety over something and I ask myself the question, “Will this even matter in six months, in one year, or five years?” the answer is almost always no.

In fact, many times the things that I worry about or get anxiety about won’t matter even 15 minutes from now!

When I gave this quote to a group of people in Wabeno one realized that it applied to him just today.