Category: ANI-HU

How the the Divine Presence manifests in our Lives

Matthew 6:22

Finding Meaning Series

Finding meaning is an interpretation ‘class’ that will support you to have more guidance in your life coming from within yourself.

What do we do in the class?

We read text from different ‘spiritual text’ like the Bible, the Baghva Gita, the Torah, or the Koran and interpret the ‘message’ in the text.

We use something called ‘metaphysical interpretation’. Charles Filmore one of the founders of Unity (see more about Unity), an ecumenical Church in the USA, created different metaphysical dictionaries such as the Revealing Word and the Metaphysical Bible Dictionary, offering insight into reading the Bible.

However, you can find your own meaning without someone else giving you their meaning to the words.

What does this class offer?

This ‘class’ offers support in finding personal insight into any spiritual text or poem in order to find guidance.

We often seek out seers or oracles to tell our future or what decision to make in life. The truth is that we all have the wisdom to know how to make our life work. It is also true that sometimes it is hard to access the information.

How do we do it?

With inward-looking meditative, interpretive and affirmative practices we can all learn to understand spiritual text that can guide us towards living with wisdom and clarity.

Spiritual texts do not give us answers to our daily ‘how to’s, but they do provide us with tips and tools that can help us live a more peaceful and fulfilled lives.

What kind of class is this?

By class I mean that you take the time to read the text provided and listen to the material I offer.  You do this class yourself, in your own time, with others. 

In our Facebook group by using #findingmeaning hashtag you can join the conversation. You can join the group to engage in the conversation below

joing the FB group here

READ THIS! TASK

So, our first text is from the Bible, the New Testament. Read the passage below and contemplate on what the text means to you. First read the text. Then close your eyes for at least 5 minutes and think about it asking yourself “What does this text means to me?” Don’t worry if your mind runs in circles at first. Just allow yourself to come up with different answer. And if no answer comes, it is OK, too. (read on)

Matthew 6:22

The eye is the menorah of the basar. Therefore, if your eye is unblurred, then your whole basar will be lighted.

basar = living, livelihood, course of life
manora = lamp

The light of the body is the eye: if then thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be light.

The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.

After having read the text above and contemplated on it, listen to this short meditation.

contemplative and MEDITATIVE TASK

Share your experiences with me in our Facebook Group below. Please remember to use the hashtag! #findingmeaning If you are not on Facebook, please write to me using the message-box below.

Contact us by filling out the form below.

Compassion is HARD!

Audio of the post below

Why being compassionate is hard to do?

The answer is actually rather simple. It is because of our lack of self-care and lack of responsibility. 

Let me explain it!

When we suffer in our lives and our needs are not met, we find it hard to feel compassion towards others’ needs and hearing others’ issues with openness and understanding.

Let me tell you about my journey of discovery!

One day,  I was sitting through a six-hour meeting where people kept on forgetting to mute themselves so they caused a lot of background noise; some peoples’ audio was so bad that they were hardly audible; most of the time I could not figure out what the conversation was about because there was no structure to the meeting at all; people kept on interrupting each other (there were not guidelines introduced at the beginning) and the topics changed so abruptly that I could not follow the meeting. It was utterly chaotic.

Because I am on a practical journey of discovering compassionate insight, before the meeting, I decided to participate fully regardless of the challenges. I promised myself to stay compassionate and interested. I meditated and moved myself out of expectations and into a place of openness just before the meeting started. 

An hour and a half into the meeting, however, I found myself extremely frustrated and exhausted. I was outraged at the way the meeting was conducted and how pointless my attendance was.

It made me think. How could I bring compassionate insight into this situation? What do I need to know now? What am I frustrated about? What are my unmet needs? How am I not taking care of my own needs right now?

I  became aware of the following:  I am constantly short of time. I have different jobs and responsibilities that leave me very little personal time. I am very particular about what I am willing to spend my time with. When it comes to education, I expect good level of education for my money. I need the meetings that I attend to be informative, well-organized, and well-conducted by an expert educator. This meeting, in my experience, was none of these. I was also frustrated because I was in no position to communicate my needs.

Hey! It sounds like a victim story!

I had to remind myself that I create my own reality and I am responsible for my experiences. Non-violet communication, or NVC in short, says that we need to fulfill a request like a child feeding ducks, with joy. In short the request was that I attend this meeting and participate fully. The truth is that I could not attend this meeting with joy, so I shouldn’t have! NVC also says that we always have choices and by knowing that we can stop playing the victim. 

I was angry and frustrated because I felt like a victim. My needs for getting a good education was not met. But the truth is that my needs must be met by me. It is my responsibility to take good care of myself by making different choices.

Compassion must start with me!

 

From Fury to Compassion

Listen to the Vlog

One of my greatest achievements as a human being on a spiritual journey is the conscious movement from fury to compassion. 

I grew up in a country where disagreements were retaliated with dreadful consequences and children were train to be insensitive militarized robots. The education system were to take our will, our personality and our humanity. I was told numerous times what a worthless piece of sh*t I was. Mistakes were punished severely and we were only shown an imperfect and intolerant world that wants to shed our blood.

As a result, most of the people I know chose quiet desperation,  I  moved into resistance and fury. All I heard inside of me was: HOW DARE YOU?!? My fury was fueled by criticism and helplessness.

I spent decades criticizing the world around me with the conviction that this is my job to do that. I am a creative with fresh ideas, now I have a voice and I  want to used it. I don’t think that there is anything wrong with communicating a need for change. However, there is a great difference between how this need is communicated. I learnt judgement so I used criticism. And the result was upset and disconnection.

Each time I criticized someone’s ideas or actions, they got upset with me and did not want to work or be with me any more. It is not to say that I did not have the right to express my disagreement but the way I did it was so harsh and critical that people moved into resistance, exactly the same way I did when I was a severely criticized child. 

It took me a long time to understand that if I wanted to generate lasting change I needed to come from a loving and accepting place within myself that gives the other person the right to do what s/he thinks best. I don’t have to agree with it, but I must respect it. 

Compassion is not giving excuses but knowing that everyone at any given moment in time is trying to do their best to meet a need regardless of my opinion on how they may attempt to do that. 

Compassion assumes that everyone wants to meet their needs by the means available to them. These means usually steam from the beliefs systems that they grew up with. 

Moving from anger to compassion removes the judgment. My inner critic who feeds on events that appear to be unjust or not good enough is now replaced by an observer.

In compassion, the observer wants connection instead of separation. The observer wants to generate change in ‘ togetherness’ which also means that it may not be possible. This topic is for another post! 🙂

Moving from fury to compassionate understanding is actually moving from separation to connection. In this action, I released anger about the way I was treated as a child and my fear of people. At the same time, I started opening to connecting and collaborating. 

40 Rules of Love Series – Easter Monday

40 Rules o f Love

Find the videos of the 40 Rules of Love Series here:

read ALL the blogpostS here
INTRODUCTION TO THE SERRIES

IN CONCLUSION

Today, I looked at my journey of the past 40 days. I looked at some of the posts I created and shared and saw my ups and downs. I feel so much compassion and gratitude. I feel compassion towards parts of me who was challenged, who was in pain, who shed tears, and who was angry and upset at times. I am grateful that I was encouraged to walk the journey of release and embrace. I am in awe of that part of me who was willing to show up day after day for 40 days to read the booklet, create a post, and share her journey. I am grateful for those who read the posts and responded to them by sharing their own journey with me.

THANK YOU!

GRATITUDE

Today, I invite YOU to look at your Lenten Journey with Loving eyes and see the amazing work YOU have done. See that in your commitment to creating a closer relationship with the Divine and the Loving that is so impalpable in this word, you have become a representative of God. YOU walk as an ambassador of the Light spreading Loving Kindness and Peace in the world wherever you go. God Bless You!

*Rules are from ’40 Rules of Love’ by Novel by Elif Shafak. See more about the book here (click)  

We have walked this journey together!

THANK YOU for having joined me and read  the daily blogposts I created – SEE THEM HERE (CLICK) – I hope you have joined the UNITY CONNECTED FACEBOOK GROUP where I also shared about the contemplative questions.  (click on the buttons below to join)

Picture Source Unsplash/ Featured Image: rachel-walker–unsplash

FACEBOOK GROUP
BLOGPOSTs
YOUTUBE

40 Rules of Love Series – Easter Sunday

40 Rules o f Love

Find the videos of the 40 Rules of Love Series here:

read ALL the blogpostS here
INTRODUCTION TO THE SERRIES

Today, we are embracing our journey and God’s Love for us. 

Our Lent Booklet reminds us today that when we look at Jesus’ story we realize that the most important things was his message. Resurrection is a metaphor for renewal. Jesus was an enlightened rabbi who showed the way to abundant living. During our Lenten journey we walked the road to Enlightenment, we have transformed our lives.

We are reminded that we have the power every day to transform our live experiences and rose above the past and turn our challenges into opportunities. 

Today, I invite you to contemplate the quote below. Let me know how you have transformed you life over our Lenten Journey. 

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of
God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2

Today we affirm: I renew my mind with each new day.

download THE LENT BOOKLET

*Rules are from ’40 Rules of Love’ by Novel by Elif Shafak. See more about the book here (click)  

Let’s walk this journey together!

Join me by reading the daily blogposts I create – SEE THEM HERE (CLICK) – and joining the UNITY CONNECTED FACEBOOK GROUP where I invite you to share about the contemplative questions.  (click on the buttons below to join)

Picture Source Unsplash/ Featured Image: rachel-walker–unsplash

FACEBOOK GROUP
BLOGPOSTs
YOUTUBE

Contemplation – Day 40

“A life without Love is of no account. Don’t ask yourself what kind of love you should seek, spiritual or material, divine or mundane, Eastern or Western. Divisions only lead to more divisions. Love has no labels, no definitions. It is what it is, pure and simple. Love is the water of life. And a lover is a soul of fire! The universe turns differently when fire loves water.“

I let go and look ahead with hope.

Today was an interesting day. All I did today was Loving myself through layers of limitations that I have uncovered over the past 40 days. I spent time in Forgiveness – I was being serious about it! – and then it occurred to me that true forgiveness is acceptance and loving what is. Forgiveness does not mean that I can force myself believing in something or doing something differently as of now. In forgiveness I compassionately embrace me with all my flaws  Remember? “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34) In this famous Bible quote I see Jesus’ Love for the world regardless of its great shortcomings. So, I did the same. I counted my flaws and just Loved them with a passion (and a smile)!

Read: DAY40,  40 Rules of Love, form Release to Embrace (click)

40 Days – Day 40

40 Days of Lent – From Release to Embrace

introduction

Rule 40

“A life without Love is of no account. Don’t ask yourself what kind of love you should seek, spiritual or material, divine or mundane, Eastern or Western. Divisions only lead to more divisions. Love has no labels, no definitions. It is what it is, pure and simple. Love is the water of life. And a lover is a soul of fire! The universe turns differently when fire loves water.”* 

Listen to the Rule on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Y6uYAdUJBIo

Today, we are  tuly releasing and letting go and embracing God’s Love for us. 

HOLY SATURDAY

Our Lent Booklet reminds us today that in Jesus’ death we observe the death of all old ideas and outdated beliefs. Like Mary and the disciples after Jesus’ demise, we feel lost not knowing what would happen next. It is a waiting and of uncertainty. 

We pause in stillness, we experience the void then let it go. In that we trust that the flame of home in our hearts will be rekindled.

Today, I invite you to contemplate on Rule No40 and the quote below. Let me know how practicing ‘truly releasing and letting go in the silence’ worked for you today. 

For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him. Psalm 62:5

Today we affirm: I let go and look ahead with hope.

download THE LENT BOOKLET

*Rules are from ’40 Rules of Love’ by Novel by Elif Shafak. See more about the book here (click)  

Let’s walk this journey together!

Join me by reading the daily blogposts I create – SEE THEM HERE (CLICK) – and joining the UNITY CONNECTED FACEBOOK GROUP where I invite you to share about the contemplative questions.  (click on the buttons below to join)

Picture Source Unsplash/ Featured Image: rachel-walker–unsplash

FACEBOOK GROUP
BLOGPOSTs
YOUTUBE

Contemplation – Day 39

“While the part change, the whole always remains the same. For every thief who departs this world, a new one is born. And every decent person who passes away is replaced by a new one. In this way, not only does nothing remain the same, but also nothing ever really changes. For every Sufi who dies, another is born somewhere.“

In acceptance and trust, I practice spiritual surrender.

Today, I was contemplating the cycle of change, balance and the ultimate surrender. Life seems to be like a series of ‘two steps ahead, one step back’s. Every time I need to step back, I find myself off balance and I need to find my way back. Today, I experienced one of those setbacks. Jesus’ story reminded me today of the ultimate surrender and acceptance – of death. I am only asked to release all my  attachments: all my great ideas, my solutions, my judgements and my opinions and hand them over … in practising spiritual surrender. 

Read: DAY39,  40 Rules of Love, form Release to Embrace (click)

The Essence of who I am

People around me, my life experiences, my successes and failures, the shape of my body or the colour of my hair do not define me.

I don’t know why I chose this life. Neither do I know why I chose these particular circumstances and experiences. They are mostly difficult, challenging and often lonely. And still, none of this changes the fact of who I am both as a Soul and as a person. Not even my flaws dim the essence of who I am: the fascinating and loving person that I am.

I grew up with deep seated fear and hatred around me. I learnt to believe that people are nasty and vicious because I did something wrong to hurt them. In return, naturally, they blamed me for feeling wretched. It took me 40 odd years to know that none of this has anything do with me.

I may live in (with) it but I am not of it. At all. I never have been. My experiences do not say anything about who I am, they just remind me of what I need to learn or let go of this lifetime.

In life, we are mostly judged by our appearances but I do not need to buy into that. What I am learning is that all of ‘this’ – the way the world sees me, experiences me, and reflects itself back to me – is irrelevant to who I truly am.

I spent most of my life proving myself and wanting the world to recognize me and see me for the wonderful and unique person that I am. I am now realizing that I chose the wrong crowd because my uniqueness is not of this world.

As an artist, my most precious audience is my source: the indwelling Divine power that supplies both the inspiration and the applause.

I chose a burdensome life but it does not mean that there is anything wrong with me. Actually, my life is teaching me to see what an absolute gem I am.

Featured image is by Kandinsky

This blogpost was originally published on 25 Dec 2021

40 Days – Day 39

40 Days of Lent – From Release to Embrace

introduction

Rule 39

“While the part change, the whole always remains the same. For every thief who departs this world, a new one is born. And every decent person who passes away is replaced by a new one. In this way, not only does nothing remain the same, but also nothing ever really changes. For every Sufi who dies, another is born somewhere.”* 

Listen to the Rule on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/6hNwmWtsS5Y

Today, we are accepting our losses  and embracing God’s Love for us. 

GOOD FRIDAY

Our Lent Booklet reminds us today that when we experience a loss, there is no option other than to accept it. Ends are invitations to let go and behold a more enduring reality, the life beyond the death.  With God it’s never really the end. 

Today, I invite you to contemplate on Rule No39 and the quote below. Let me know how practicing acceptance worked for you today. 

Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Luke 23:46

Today we affirm: In acceptance and trust, I practice spiritual surrender.

download THE LENT BOOKLET

*Rules are from ’40 Rules of Love’ by Novel by Elif Shafak. See more about the book here (click)  

Let’s walk this journey together!

Join me by reading the daily blogposts I create – SEE THEM HERE (CLICK) – and joining the UNITY CONNECTED FACEBOOK GROUP where I invite you to share about the contemplative questions.  (click on the buttons below to join)

Picture Source Unsplash/ Featured Image: rachel-walker–unsplash

FACEBOOK GROUP
BLOGPOSTs
YOUTUBE