With gratitude

by Sandie on January 2, 2011

boy fetch water 225x300 With gratitude

From time to time, we all feel a little disappointed with our lives and perhaps the people in them. We start questioning our daily routines; a sense of loneliness touches our hearts, and we wonder what life is really all about. When you reach this point in your life, take a moment and forget about what has gone wrong before …. and start believing in what you really want today. It is by redirecting our lives that we can keep ourselves headed in the right direction, and it is by standing still that we allow time to just pass us by. It is looking at a sunrise or a sunset and appreciating its beauty that enables us to understand some of life’s mysteries. No two people see the world the same way, nor do they think or feel or even experience things around them with the same exact perception. Dont try to mold yourself or your life into a design that isn’t you; rather, paint your days with all the colours you so desire and enjoy the artwork that you alone can create.

Everyday I look around me and see people who have problems far greater than mine. Yet they confront life with a courageous and honest determination within themselves. It makes me stop and realise how small my worries are in comparison and how I should try much harder to be happy, tolerant, understanding and caring towards others. It encourages me to believe in my own abilities but most of all to be thankful for all I have every day of my life.

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Wake up call

by Sandie on January 2, 2011

tibetan woman in bus3 225x300 Wake up call

Second day of 2011. This morning I stood looking at my face in the mirror, staring at myself in actual amazement. I looked older, my hair looked tired, and the sparkle that once shone in my eyes as a child had faded. There was a seriousness that had taken place. At that moment, a sense of urgency and determination was awakened in me. That face in the mirror was changing right in front of me. I could have told myself it was just a bad hair day, but deep inside I knew that this was a transition I needed to face, literally …. face to face. I smiled at myself with one of those ‘you-dont-look-so-bad” kind of smiles, but that didn’t work. So I tried to make my smile bigger and brighter, but that didn’t help either.

This was my WAKE UP CALL!!!!
- Time to start doing the things I want to do and need to do
- Time to think about making some changes
- Time to get my life going

As you awaken to the changes that are surrounding your life, you must also stop and reminisce about your past. Who you are is an accumulation of everything that you once were, the total sum of each and every thought you have ever had and every single feeling you have ever known. Let your life be an adventure … look for the invisible, listen to the silences, touch your imagination, and make each day something special. Don’t let that Wake Up Call rudely surprise you.

On a lighter side, I just came back from a new year do with some friends and Geshe La.  Well, the look in the mirror wasn’t bad actually.  I was only trying to wake everyone up to that wake up call.

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Retire from a job, never retire from life

by Sandie on January 2, 2011

tibetan woman Retire from a job, never retire from life
One morning about 2 years ago I had this epic conversation with a friend.

Friend : “what are you doing?”
Me : “I am day dreaming”.

At the end of the day the same friend asked
Friend : “Are you tired?”
Me : “Yes, I’m tired of being tired”.

These replies came spontaneously.  As I reflect on these two answers it tells me that I started the day well with day dreaming. As the day rolled on I began to get tired and by the end of the day I was tired of being tired.

When we curtail mental and social activities we become bored and give up our great expectations, our dreams. Human beings have many needs apart from the daily requirements of food, air, water, etc. They need love, security, need for creative expression, recognition, self esteem, the list rolls on. To these I’d like to add another. The need for more life – the need to look forward to tomorrow and to the future with gladness, joy and anticipation. When we think of yester days and yester years we feel nostalgic. Can we not develop nostalgia for the future? This is to develop an enthusiasm for life, create a need for more life and you will receive more life.

We age not by years but by events and our emotional reactions to them. This is evidenced in widowhood. A widow may feel that her life has come to an end and has nothing to live for. Her attitude gives outward evidence in her gradual withering, her graying hair. Another woman, on the other hand, may blossom. She may embark on a career or a business or she may keep herself busy with an interest for which perhaps she has not had the leisure until now.

Faith, courage, interest, optimism, looking forward bring new life and more life. Futility, pessimism, frustration, living in the past contribute to old age. Which will you choose?

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Reiki is for everyone

by Sandie on December 29, 2010

Flower Reading at Reiki Mastership Course in Cameron Highlands

Flower Reading at Reiki Mastership Course in Cameron Highlands

Reiki is a road for me, a creed, a life. I find its sheer simplicity appealing. It is free from all trappings, no commands or prohibitions. It pares us until only the true kernal remains.

Reiki restores our birthright. It is the prerogative of each of us to unite with our divine center. We each may opt for a life of happiness and joy instead of suffering. That gift will be ours if, day by day, we are prepared to use on ourself the powerful tools placed at our disposal. Enlightenment is not obtained in an instant; you have to work for it.

I have done many man hours of Reiki healing for myself as well as for other people. What kind of people come for healing? From my records those who seek therapy were those who were well advanced into cancer and there were those who had chronic pains that never went away. And not forgetting those who had emotional bouts of depression (family matters, children issues, matters of the heart). What about common ailments like headaches, bowel movement, sinuses, cough & cold, etc? Yes, these are the most common ones. As you can see, Reiki is for everybody, everyday.
Continue reading this article →

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We make mistakes, Mistakes don’t make us

by Sandie on December 20, 2010

 The biggest mistake we can make is to confuse our behaviour with our “self” …. to conclude that because we did a certain act, it characterises us as a certain sort of person.

For example, to say “I stole” or “I failed” (verb), is but to recognise an action, an error and can or may eventually help lead to character transfomation or future success. But to say “I am a thief” or “I’m a failure” (noun), does not describe what you did but what you thinik the mistake did to you. This does not contribute to learning but tends to fixate the mistake and make it permanent.

When children learn to walk, they will occasionally stumble and fall. We term it as “he fell” or “he stumbled”. We do not brand them as “faller” or “stumbler”. Same goes in learning to talk. They make mistakes – repetition in syllables and words, hesitation, etc. Many an anxious and concerned parent will conclude, “he’s a stutterer”. Such a conclusion, not on the child’s actions but the child himself, gets across to the child and he begins to think of himself as a stutterer.

If we want to rid ourselves of such blueprints, we have to learn to stop blaming ourselves, condemning and feeling remorseful over one’s bad habits and that of those around us. Instead let us start each day with a smile and admire all the beautiful qualities of mankind.

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