Key To Success

What do you do when you come across a key to success in a book you're reading? You ponder over it. Since I read many books and come across many keys, I thought it would be fun to share the ideas that arise as I contemplate a key to success. Reading is not just about absorbing information, it's also about contemplating, allowing the ideas to blossom within, and nurturing a seed tossed in the rich soil of the inner garden.

Name:
Location: Denver, Colorado, United States

I got my Master's degree in psychotherapy more than a decade ago. Since then I've studied the human condition with fascination. Over the years, I've learned a singular lesson: your life does not work when you oppose your soul nature. If you want a magical life, you have to drop your inauthentic transactions with the world. You discover your own power when you spend time alone to figure out what you really love to do.

Thursday, February 24, 2005

What Is Mastery And Why It Makes All The Difference In The World





Mastery is the art of being at cause over a discipline.

The absence of mastery is the presence of mediocrity, and an even lower stage is failure. These two experiences, mediocrity and failure, create low moods, unpleasant life experiences, and consequences of lack, limitation, negativity, and scarcity. In other words, varying degrees of anguish.

Mastery, then, is a decision to excel at something, putting in the time and effort to achieve that excellence, and creating a positive influence on the world.

Tiger Woods, for example, is a master golfer. Brian Tracy is a master influencer. Anthony Robbins is the greatest self-help coach the world has ever known.

The rewards of mastery so far exceed the efforts to achieve that level of success that the person lives larger than life.

If the pleasure of mastery is so intense, and the pain of struggle and strife so acute, why, then, is mastery such a rare phenomena? It is because people separate themselves from those they admire because they believe that they lack the same talent.

However, while talent certainly has a role to play in making someone excellent, it is perhaps the effort at mastery that creates or brings out talent. Talent then is more the result of effort than innate ability.

Everyone has some area of life that they can master. A mother can master mothering; a saint can master loving-kindness; a hobbyist can master their hobby; and a businessman or woman can master their profession. Whatever your predisposition, however your personality, there is some experience, which if you could master, would bring you a life of superlative pleasure.

When you master something, you discover a precise, exact, and correct way to perceive, intend, envision, plan, act, move, and express your particular skill or endeavor. Over time, you accomplish things that leave others overwhelmed by your finesse. You operate at a high level of truth over your art.

Your knowledge of your chosen area becomes astonishing. You are able to perceive and grasp a new level of awareness. Your acute comprehension attracts others to you; they seek to learn what you appear to know so effortlessly. Your circle of influence can even span history.

When you master your chosen endeavor, your self-perception undergoes a major shift. You act with a magnetic certainty; your ability and competence keeps rising in an accelerated way. Your effectiveness makes winning a matter of course.

During the classical periods of history, during the time of the rise of Athens, and later, during the Renaissance, intellectual and artistic giants arose of such epic proportions that we still, centuries later, look back in awe and astonishment.

Ironically, although our age has never provided so much opportunity for so many to be so excellent, yet the world may never see the likes of Plato or Leonard da Vinci again.

Beyond the distractions of every day life there is always the opportunity to live in a way that makes your life exhilarating. Money, success, and love, not to mention a hundred other desirable outcomes happen when you choose mastery.

Mastery is an expression of joyous self-discovery and an inspirational gift to the human race. You always have the choice to make your life resonate with deep significance.


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Saleem Rana got his masters in psychotherapy from California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, Ca., 15 years ago and now resides in Denver, Colorado. His articles on the internet have inspired over ten thousand people from around the world. Discover how to create a remarkable life
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Tuesday, February 22, 2005

How Albert Einstein Saw Things A Little Differently





Albert Einstein had just administered an examination to an advanced class of Physics students.

As he left the building, he was followed out by one of his teaching assistants.

“Excuse me, sir,” said the shy assistant, not quite sure how to tell the great man about his blunder.

“Yes?” said Einstein.

“Um, eh, it's about the test you just handed out.”

Einstein waited patiently.

“I'm not sure that you realize it, but this is the same test you gave out last year. In fact, it's identical.”

Einstein paused to think for a moment, then said, “Hmm, yes, it is the same test.”

The teaching assistant was now very agitated. “What should we do, sir?”

A slow smile spread over Einstein's face. “I don't think we need do anything. The answers have changed.”

And just as the answers in Physics change, so, too, do the answers to your problems change.

While to all appearances you may have the same tests given to you by life, the same recurring problem, consider the possibility that the person contemplating the problem has changed.

Time has passed; you've learned many things along the way.

Rather than keep on trying to force the same old solutions which didn't work before, it might be time to try something else, something that emerges from the new person that you've become.

The tests may be the same, but the answers have changed.




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Saleem Rana got his masters in psychotherapy from California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, Ca., 15 years ago and now resides in Denver, Colorado. His articles on the internet have inspired over ten thousand people from around the world. Discover how to create a remarkable life

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Monday, February 21, 2005

The Circular Blame Game





Mike, his feet dangling above the city, opened his lunch box and groaned.

Todd, his friend, a fellow construction worker on the high-rise, pretended that he hadn't heard the groan.

Rick, more aggressive, asked, “Is it peanut butter and jelly again, Mike?”

“Yeah,” said Mike, his voice heavy with frustration.

“Listen,” said Todd, “You've been complaining about your sandwiches for weeks now.”

“Right,” chipped in Rick. “Why don't you just do something about it?”

“Sure,” said Mike, sarcastically, and tossed away his sandwiches. He watched them make a lazy arc above the city and disappear from view.

“Now you're going to go hungry for the rest of the day,”said Rick. “It wasn't a smart move.”

“Listen,” said Todd, “I'm sick of hearing you bellyache every day. Why don't you just tell your old lady that you don't like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.”

“What old lady?” asked Mike, surprised.

Todd and Rick glanced at each other. It was their turn to be surprised. “Come again?” they said in unison.

“I don't have an old lady. I'm single.”

“Who makes your sandwiches?” asked Todd.

“I do,” said Mike.

In this amusing story, we see something that almost everyone does. They blame circumstances and other people--for what they do to themselves. Because of the element of time between cause and effect, they forget that they did this to themselves.

People complain about their jobs; yet, they are the ones who agreed to be hired on.

They complain about their spouse or their friends. Yet they chose to be with these people.

They complain about their bank account, luck, or any other misery that they're experiencing. Yet they brought all those circumstances into creation.

So, unless a person decides to accept responsibility for where they're at and what's happening to them, things will continue to escalate out of control.

Change happens when we decide to make a different kind of sandwich.



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Saleem Rana got his masters in psychotherapy from California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, Ca., 15 years ago and now resides in Denver, Colorado. His articles on the internet have inspired over ten thousand people from around the world. Discover how to create a remarkable life
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Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Success Is Knowing What You Want





Many people ask me how they can be more successful.

The first question I ask is, “What do you want?”

Usually the answer is vague. I want to make more money, have a great relationship, write a book, be happy, and so on.

The problem with this answer is that it is so vague that it will not yield any results. When you describe your goal, you have to be so clear that the other person can almost feel and taste it. The description has to be concrete, vivid, and rich in imagery. Abstractions will simply not do.

Unless there is clarity, nothing can happen. Nothing begins unless there is acute vision.

The first step to getting what you want is knowing what you want. People get caught up with trying to figure out if they deserve it or how to get what they want. This type of thinking is a way to avoid clarity. Failure to hold a compelling vision is to fail before you even start.

So this knowing has to be very clear, very specific. If you want more money, you have to know exactly how much more money you want. If you want a great relationship, you have to be willing to spend the time to know what a great relationship means for you. Details, details, details.

The human mind is like a smart bomb. It needs specific targets, clearly outlined, before it will make an impact. A focused mind, a passionate mind, a committed mind is one of the most potent forces in the universe.

It takes some effort to think of exactly what you want. You have to be willing to dream boldly, without reservation, without shyness. It has to be a no-holds-barred, uncensored dream. Clarity is a raw power that will shape your future. It is the first step in magnetizing your possibilities.

Once you have that clarity, then a massive power will begin to move into your life. Your thoughts will break all bonds of limited thinking and become a driving force. You will feel an irresistible invitation to explore all possible opportunities. And the realization of your goal becomes inevitable. You will not be willing to tolerate any obstacles or submit to any excuses. When your goal is big enough, and bright enough, and near enough, when it looms in your mind as clear as day, you will succeed.




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Saleem Rana got his masters in psychotherapy from California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, Ca., 15 years ago and now resides in Denver, Colorado. His articles on the internet have inspired over ten thousand people from around the world. Discover how to create a remarkable life

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Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Why Wealth is Loving, Caring, and Sharing





Wealth is more than money. It's abundance, or as the Italians call it, abbondanza, plenty, overflowing supply.

Wealth is health and happiness, enjoyment and learning, opportunity and growth.

When we move beyond a narrow definition of wealth, we find loving, caring, and sharing bring us the good things we want from life.

Loving is much more than an emotion. It's an attitude of accepting ourselves and others unconditionally. It's a willingness to look beyond criticism, blame, and even fear, and to fully appreciate ourselves and others

Once we can focus on the good in people, then we develop an affability and tolerance that brings us peace and success in relationships.

This loving then expresses itself as caring. We start caring for ourselves, and we start caring for our family and relatives, and we start caring for our colleagues; and pretty soon, we're able to be kind and compassionate with strangers.

At this point, money, too, will start to show up. Why? It's because more people want to do business with us. We gain confidence through our self-love and trust through our open and spontaneous relationship with others. If you're employed, you'll start to attract attention as someone to promote; if you're an entrepreneur, people feel attracted to buy your products and services because they can see that you're someone with quality.

When your attitude of goodwill and your financial wealth reach a certain threshold, you'll feel an impulse to outflow your good. Those who hoard build a scarcity-mentality, and just like Scrooge the ghosts of repercussions will haunt you to spread your wealth and help those who need a hand in getting to a better place in life.

Generosity, interestingly enough, will not impoverish you, but it will enrich you. And I'm not just talking about feeling good. More money will start to show up in your life from the most unexpected sources. Many of the richest people on the planet have given with a big heart, and they find that their wealth actually expands.

If you aspire to wealth, you'll find that you can start exactly where you are now. Starting with an attitude change will begin the process. Loving creates caring, caring creates sharing, and along the way, as you win friends and influence people, wealth, in financial terms, also shows up. Success begins with your willingness to love others.


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Saleem Rana got his masters in psychotherapy from California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, Ca., 15 years ago and now resides in Denver, Colorado. His articles on the internet have inspired over ten thousand people from around the world. Discover how to create a remarkable life
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Sunday, February 13, 2005

Reflections On Eckhart Tolle’s Concept Of The Pain-Body





First, there is the field of complete consciousness.

This then expresses itself in an organic form.

From here it loses itself in organizing the physical environment around it.

It begins to split into mind, and mind then splits into ego, and ego then believes itself the origin of consciousness.

As ego, arising from thoughts of limitations, fractures itself against obstacles, it develops what Eckhart Tolle calls the pain-body.

The pain-body then becomes an unconscious entity within. It seeks to feed on pain to survive. It makes a person feel pain and it causes this person to inflict pain on others.

After the pain-body strikes out, it tends to propagate. Soon armies are formed and war propagated. Mind itself now works in service to the pain-body.

The past two world wars are an expression of the pain-body in complete domination.

Release from the pain-body comes from observing the mind; observing how it takes a feeling, becomes identified completely with it, and thinks and acts out that feeling.

This witnessing is separation from the pain-body, disidentifying from it. When this happens, the light of awareness begins to dissolve the pain. One sees this shadow entity for what it is, an accumulation of past hurts, an expression of renegade life-force particles.

Witnessing is recognizing the self to be other than egoic mental and emotional turbulence. It is a return to recognition of the awareness that propagates thinking, which is a small part of consciousness.

Witnessing is placing the conscious in the moment and observing it express itself through mentation.

Recognizing oneself as the author of mind and not the outcome of mind removes the automation that goes along with a belief in determinism, which in turn arises because of the belief that mind arises out of matter.

This is the movement referred to as spirituality, and it is a movement toward wholeness.

Spirituality itself can be confusing because of the elaborate expressions on what it is; but, in its essence, it is an attempt to return to wholeness.

Wholeness, it will be discovered, can’t be fragmented.

Wholeness is a return to identification with the origin of creation; a return to contemplation of the field of consciousness itself; a return to what is referred to as God, Beingness, or Spirit.

Our journey in life is a journey toward freedom, identifying with what it real, which arises from pure subjectivity, the implicate order. Our entrapment in the explicate order is by virtue of unconsciousness about the pain-body.



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Saleem Rana got his masters in psychotherapy from California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, Ca., 15 years ago and now resides in Denver, Colorado. His articles on the internet have inspired over ten thousand people from around the world. Discover how to create a remarkable life

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Saturday, February 12, 2005

How A Sense Of Wonder Makes Life Richer




It always amazes me when I meet someone who has a disdain for expansion of knowledge.

The other day, over lunch, I was arguing with a girl about a principle of abundance. I illustrated this principle with anecdotes about historically famous millionaires who had applied this principle successfully.

Her response: “I can't use this information. It doesn't come from my experience.”

Since her idea of reality was only what fell into her immediate experience she was discounting the possibility of knowing anything outside it. Yet, unless she was willing to acknowledge the possibility of something outside her immediate circle of influence, how could she invite the actuality of the experience. Unless one has a hypothesis, experimentation is not an option.

Here is another example. During a certain period of time, a friend of mine and I, while working and living in similar circumstances, developed a completely different view of reality. During this time, I read books on super-string theory, quantum mechanics, occult phenomena, and strategic thinking. My mind was exploding with the richness of the world that I had uncovered. She, on the other hand, preferred to live within the range of her limited experiences. My life took a quantum leap for the better, hers remained the same.

Since my college days, I have consumed an average of three books a week. My view of the world since those days has expanded so enormously, and my experience of my life and of myself has grown so exponentially that I barely recognize the person I used to be.

In my view, the development of the printing press and the genius of the global brain called the Internet, have been inventions of such massive importance that they have accelerated the development of consciousness to an unbelievable extent.

In this century, we have experienced more awareness than at any other time in history. Never before have we, as a species, been aware of so much possibility, so much power, and so much diversity. Perhaps, somewhere along the line, there is a distinct possibility that we will even give up our brutality.

Dr. David Hawkins, who uses a unique method to measure the expansion of consciousness using the non-linear dimension, has concluded that at the time of the Buddha, the average consciousness of all of mankind was around 80; during the time of Christ, it was around 100; and during the present day, it is around 200 to 210. To appreciate the enormity of this jump, you have to consider that he uses a logarithmic scale of 0 to 1000, with 1000 being the highest state of measurement on this planet, exemplified by the Christ Consciousness. A rise of well over a 100 points for our species is enormous considering a significant rise in consciousness is about 5 points in a single lifetime.

In Vedantic literature, the highest values are considered to be Jnana and Bhakti. Jnana is knowledge of the absolute; it is recognizing the field of pure potentiality, the quantum soup, from which all manifested things arise. When this Jnana is reached, a state referred to as enlightenment, or satori, or connecting with the Christ Mind predominates; at this point true Bhakti, the unconditional love for all life, emerges.

Thus the pursuit of knowledge, whether exoteric or esoteric, is of supreme value. Exoteric knowledge allows for a greater power in the world of matter. Esoteric knowledge allows for the next step in consciousness, living beyond conditioned thinking in the pristine quality of the moment.

What I find fascinating is the idea that both exoteric knowledge, exemplified by science, and esoteric knowledge, exemplified by mysticism, appear to be reaching a common consensus about the nature of reality, the nature of ourselves, and the purpose of life.

Since we cannot, due to the limitations of time-space, learn through direct experience, we must rely on vicarious experience. In a single book, a man's condensed knowledge can be transmitted to your brain. It took Albert Einstein many years to formulate the Special and the General Theory of Relativity, and behind his breakthrough was the research and the pondering of hundreds of the finest minds. Yet, in a week, given a 200 page book, I can grasp the essentials of what took so long to discover. This is nothing short of miraculous.

Sometimes, I meet people whom I have not spoken to in years. I find that mentally they have as little understanding of themselves and the world around them as when I knew them before. They even have the same problems that they used to have.

One does not have to be an intellectual to read a book; one merely has to be curious. And if our species were not curious, we would still be in the neolithic age.

Books are magical apparitions. Time-bending messages. The wisdom of Socrates or Marcus Aurelius can inform my decisions today in the 21st century. And now with the advent of the Internet, knowledge will expand so rapidly that before the end of this century hover-cars and the scourge of horrific mental and physical maladies will be a thing of the past.




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Saleem Rana got his masters in psychotherapy from California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, Ca., 15 years ago and now resides in Denver, Colorado. His articles on the internet have inspired over ten thousand people from around the world. Discover how to create a remarkable life
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Friday, February 11, 2005

What Is True Egalitarianism?





Why did the founding fathers of the United States consider egalitarianism to be such a necessary value? True egalitarianism is based on tolerance for differences. It is a principle of integrity much more than a rule of law. The antithesis of egalitarianism is judgment. Judging others does not define them. It defines you.

My friend's grandmother went to the same university in which Albert Einstein taught. Einstein had a friend who was a psychology teacher. This teacher made his judgmental and racists students do a very embarrassing exercise as a class assignment. They had to go up to student on campus that they disliked and say, “What about you don't I like about myself?”

People often mistake judgment for prudence. Choosing not to hang out at bars with chronic alcoholics when you're an abstainer is prudent. Condemning people for being alcoholics is judgment.

Of course, choosing not to judge does not mean associating with people with whom you don't have much in common. You have a right to choose your companions. Poets and wrestlers need not be friends. They choose different ways of expressing themselves about the values of life. This does not mean that either group has the right to condemn the other.

Why is judgment inimical? Since it is so much part of society, existing subtly, almost undetected, it appears innocuous enough.

First of all, we never know all the facts. When someone is an alcoholic, for example, it is because they are seeking to bury a deep pain. Since we don't know the story of that pain, we can't really comment on it.

Judgment also does not help the judged; and it pollutes your own free spirit. It results in gossip, slander, and, if the judger is powerful enough, in persecution.

Second, our view of the world is not the only one that is correct. For a man of one religion, the church of another is not his sacred ground. As Arthur Schopenhauer put it, “Everyone takes the limits of his own vision for the limits of the world.”

Third, it prevents forgiveness when boundaries are crossed. And resentment corrupts the person who resents, diminishing their good-will and light-heart.

More significantly, however, when we choose to judge another, there is something about ourselves that we are hiding from.

As Carl Jung expressed it, “Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to a deeper understanding of ourselves.”

The opposite of judgment is the decision to be free. Releasing judgment gives you and the other the opportunity to be free.

We have to understand that with billions of people on the planet, it's going to be remarkable to find a majority who share exactly the same values that you do.

Joan of Arc was burned at the stake because of judgment.

Jesus Christ was crucified because of judgment.

The great pogroms of the world, where millions have been tortured and killed are due to judgment.

Judgment is the energy of intolerance. When exercised fully, it leads to much suffering.

When a law court judges someone, it is not the same thing. This is a completely different meaning of the word. Evidence is collected, reason is marshaled, and decisions are made about an infraction that is based on what is fair in the eyes of the collective rule.

The judgment I refer to, the one with the sinister side, is the condemnation of another for not sharing the same values. This resentment then leads to subtle or overt expressions of hatred. Egalitarianism is often defined as equality before the law, but it may be wiser to broaden this definition to include equality to be free to be different.


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Saleem Rana got his masters in psychotherapy from California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, Ca., 15 years ago and now resides in Denver, Colorado. His articles on the internet have inspired over ten thousand people from around the world. Discover how to create a remarkable life
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Thursday, February 10, 2005

What Is Perfect Love?




Today, sitting in my pink armchair, reading about how a world-famous medium was able to communicate with the spirit world and our physical world and end the grief of those who had been left behind, I became even more aware of how love is the central theme of the universe itself. This was what the departed passed on to those who remained on earth. Their major regret was that they had not loved or expressed their love when they were alive.

When Jesus said that "he who loves me shall not perish" what did he mean?

Since death is not real, the Soul being eternal, what does he mean? I like to imagine that he means the end of the process of suffering unlovingness. For to be unloved is a kind of death.

Once a soul gets that it is the Allness, lovingness happens spontaneously, because the Beloved is expressing Itself.

The Light and Love are one and the same. In fact, it is the Light that is loving through us when we feel love.

Human love is conditioned by want. The soul, mistaking itself for the ego, the mind, and the body, seeks to possess and to own the object of desire. It seeks almost to want to absorb it into itself so that it can be greater. In romantic love, for example, the lover seeks approval, safety, and control. Wealth and beauty and charm increase the attributes of the lover because the ego of the other wants it for itself.

Parental love is purer, although now there is a desire for the child to exemplify the qualities and values of the parent.

Animal love for its owner is almost completely spontaneous.

When a dog delights in his master's presence, or when cat purrs at the touch of your hand, this is probably as pure a love you can find in everyday life. There is no cunning in this love, no projection of future gain, no thought about manipulating the lover. The love is spontaneous, pure, and a simple appreciation of the moment.

Finally, the ultimate love is when one can love for the other what the other wants for him or herself. This now starts to blend into transcendental love, and we begin to love others the way I imagine God loves us. Love for its own sake, because that is who we are and because the grace in the other is so obvious to us.

I agree with Socrates who says, "It is love alone that unites the soul with God."

St. Teresa said, "What matters is not to think much but to love much."

In the words of the famous philosopher and the cherished saint, we find a great mystery revealed.

Here we touch upon the entire fabric of life, which is, in my opinion, a spiritual journey. Beyond what we think about life, there is the way of the heart, which is spontaneous and pure before it becomes sullied with too much analysis.

What the heart wants is to return Home to the arms of the Beloved. It does this by feeling what the Beloved feels, unconditional loving.

Allow me to finish these reflections with a quote from the Brihad-Aranyaka Upanishad: It summarizes most eloquently what I have been fumbling to say in this brief essay.

“It is not for the love of a husband that a husband is dear; but for the love of the Soul in the husband that is dear.

“It is not for the love of a wife that a wife is dear; but for the love of the Soul in the wife that is dear.

“It is not for the love of children that children are dear; but for the love of the Soul in children that is dear.

“It is not for the love of all that all is dear; but for the love of the Soul in all that is dear.”

The book of life, I contend, is the story of Light and Love. It is a love story between the unmanifest and the manifest; a story about the relationship between God and Soul. And when the Soul reciprocates to the love of the Divine, the earth journey concludes with a contented sigh.


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Saleem Rana got his masters in psychotherapy from California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, Ca., 15 years ago and now resides in Denver, Colorado. His articles on the internet have inspired over ten thousand people from around the world. Discover how to create a remarkable life
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Wednesday, February 09, 2005

The Importance Of Healing The Past




Everyday I meet people who have a chronic upset that runs their lives, and I notice that they are not even aware of it. Often the pain has become buried in their unconscious; or if they are aware of it, they choose to deny any power to combat it.

Yet unless they seek healing, this energy locked up in their mind is a continual drain on their vitality. It is a parasite to their life-force.

The first step to true self-help is willing to be candid, notice what hurts, and find the therapy that is necessary to remove the psychic burden.

Those who do this will find that their whole life will open up. All the things that seemed impossible before suddenly become possible. They realize that they need not be amongst the walking wounded because help is near at hand. All they have to do is ask for it.

Most people deny or push back the events that hurt them, and when they do this, they choose the path of disempowerment.

They are burdened not by what actually happened, but by how they cling to their story of persecution. If it has been awful enough, they even numb out and blank out the persecution.

Their persecutor has indeed won over them; not only then, but also in the now. Their persecutor's malice not only disempowered them in the past, but continues to weaken them.

Often victims think that revenge is a desirable option and they feel that they might draw some satisfaction if they could strike out and hurt as they have been hurt, but often the persecutor is no longer available, and sometimes may even have died a long time ago.

Child-molestors, spousal abusers, terrorists and criminals rank among those who seek revenge, but because the persecutor is no longer available, they act out their rage on others who had nothing to do with their abuse.

Almost everybody has been tormented at one time or another. Those who are psychologically healthy have taken the effort to seek and find healing.

In your case, the cycle of your unhappiness can only stop when you decide that it is time to get your power back Until you make this decision, you will forever be persecuted, because your wounded psyche will continue to do your tormentors work.

Hell, in fact, is never letting the wound heal, but opening it up afresh when thought of your torment comes to mind. And a deeper hell is not even allowing the pain to reach consciousness but express itself through tormented behavior.

How do you let it go? That is the task of skilled therapy.

All psychological imbalances, whether mild, as in a neurosis, or chronic, as in a full blown psychosis, arise from embracing victimhood.

Unless a time comes when you confront your inner tormentors, no self-help course of study can help you “unleash the giant within.”

Knowledge is not enough; emotional catharis is a necessity. Even this article can do nothing for you; it is what you do with it that makes a difference. Do you confront your past, and find a healer? Or do you live with it, and continue along the paths of least promise? We are always choosing, even when we choose not to choose.


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Saleem Rana got his masters in psychotherapy from California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, Ca., 15 years ago and now resides in Denver, Colorado. His articles on the internet have inspired over ten thousand people from around the world. Discover how to create a remarkable life
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Monday, February 07, 2005

The Story Of The Beggar






Once upon a time, in ancient India, a beggar favored a certain foot of land in a village square. He wanted to be rich, but he only knew dire poverty. One day he died on the spot where he had been begging for decades. The villagers decided to bury him on the spot where he had spent decades begging. They marveled when they found that only a few feet beneath the surface lay a treasure chest from an ancient kingdom.

This story is a parable.

The meaning is simple. We are looking outward constantly for the means to our salvation. Yet where we stand is hallowed ground, and when we look within we find all that we need to live a full life.

Where we stand is basically who we are. It is our attitude to life.

For every challenge that life offers us, inner resources are available to conquer those obstacles.

In us all is enough determination to overcome any obstacle.

In us all is enough initiative to master a craft or hone a skill that will allow us to pursue the life we want to live.

Yet our greatest hidden treasure, I believe, is our capacity to express love through kindness. A philosophy of kindness creates better friendship, relationships, and peace in the world at large.

In us all is enough love to conquer the world with our kindness and sow the seeds of a great humanity. For as we do unto others, so we receive. And as we do unto others, so too do our intentions ripple out like a pebble cast upon a lake.

Kindness has consequences that are always good. If the recipient of our love does not acknowledge it, it may have appeared as if our action was nullified. Yet an act of kindness vibrates throughout time for the frequency of our intention lingers in the subtle dimensions.

Kindness lingers not only in space and time, as a subtle energy, but deeper still, in our hearts, for we realize our own power to precipitate change for the better.

This intentionality permeates our whole being, for once our heart is opened we heal our hurts and empower our future. Furthermore, when the energy of kindness overflows it becomes a continual blessing to all who meet and greet us in life.

There is a Sanskrit phrase that captures what kindness does: the phrase is “satyam jayante,” which means “truth is victory.”

Kindness is an expression of our truth. And when we express kindness, we have victory over our own wounded past of unkindness shown to us. And if we allow our kindness to expand, it gives us victory over our world.

Kindness blesses all by renewing strength. After it renews our strength, it renews the strength of others. These others then spread the power you have invested in them. Acts of kindness spread

Imagine what would happen if a surge of kindness were to permeate the entire world for a single day. Perhaps, giving a beggar a sandwich in New York might create a chain reaction that results in the handshake between an Israeli and a Palestinian leader in the Middle East. Perhaps, a dollar donated to a Tsunami fund might lower a pistol aimed by an angry man in Iraq. A simple act may have unimaginable consequences. Imagine the ramifications of a World Kindness day!


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Saleem Rana got his masters in psychotherapy from California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, Ca., 15 years ago and now resides in Denver, Colorado. His articles on the internet have inspired over ten thousand people from around the world. Discover how to create a remarkable life
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Thursday, February 03, 2005

How I Met My Angel





Today I was in rather a whimsical mood, and so instead of my usual “how to” article, I thought I'd create a fairy tale for the child within you to enjoy.

When I was just a young soul, on my first incarnation to be a human being, I wasn't sure that I wanted to go to Earth School.

I felt so happy here, in Paradise. I did what I liked and I never ran out of time. I played with my friends and we made art by mixing colors out of rainbows, and made music by waving our hands in certain ways in the wind, and made animals to love out of the flowers in the fields. Sometimes, too, we blew bubbles out of sunshine or created small fountains by collecting the dew from petals.

“I don't really want to go to school, Mother God,” I said. Azna smiled and shook her head. Her dark tresses fell over her beautiful face. “All souls have to go to school so that they can become gods and run universes when they grow up.”

“Why would I want to run a universe when I can just play with my friends,” I said. “And why can't I just learn in the Library Of Light. All I have to do is touch the scrolls and the knowledge is mine.”

“It's not enough, Child. Theory is fine, but you only know love when you experience it.”

“Ha ha,” I said, “I know about love. It's easy. I love everyone and everyone loves me. That's just the way you made me.”

“Yes, but you don't know about love when everyone is opposing you, and you don't understand love when you're tired and cold and lonely, and you don't remember love when everyone else has forgotten it.”

“What else do I have to learn at Earth School?”

“You have to learn how to be wise.”

“But I already know that. If I need to know anything I just have to ask you.”

Azna smiled. “It's different in Earth School, Child. You have to learn to look for how things work all by yourself and teach others in a way that they understand as if they had discovered it for themselves.”

“So then I just have to learn how to be kind and wise and then I can come home again real soon. Other souls have told me that it's over with in just a blink of the eye.”

Azna sighed. “It may take a few centuries to learn these two simple things. They aren't really taught in Earth School and you'll forget everything you know now. I send spiritual teachers to remind people how to be free but they often get killed.”

“Do I have to go alone,” I said.

“I'll send you an angel,” said Azna. “She'll look after you when you're little and even when you're bigger than she is, she'll still look out for you. ”

“Good, I didn't want to be alone,” I said.“I'll need an angel so that I won't forget what it's like to be happy. What's her name?”

“You'll call her Mummy.”


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Resource Box

Saleem Rana got his masters in psychotherapy from California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, Ca., 15 years ago and now resides in Denver, Colorado. His articles on the internet have inspired over ten thousand people from around the world. Discover how to create a remarkable life
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