Inspirational Reading

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Comment by Marianne ~E~ 3 hours ago

And, let's have some Squirrel Medicine along with today's Zen:

SQUIRREL

Mr. Squirrel gathers and prepares for long winter nights. As a friendly, quick and industrious worker, he knows the ways to survive. On a spiritual plain, Mr. Squirrel brings us many gifts and lessons to help us gather the blessings of life for our journey into the next dimension.



SQUIRREL MEDICINE

Mr. Squirrel is fast at everything he does and remains in constant motion during three seasons of the year. For those who hear or see squirrel in dreams, the message may be to 'get busy' with your life and stop waiting for good things to happen. The squirrel is a reminder that good things come from our honest labor.

Squirrels do not always remember where they store the hard earned food and forget the best routes to travel to retrieve their stores during winter. If you see squirrel, it may be time to slow down and concentrate on the task at hand.

Squirrels are playful, friendly and chatty. As a sociable animal, the squirrel continually chatters sometimes to the annoyance of his neighbors. If you hear squirrel, it may be a lesson to seek silence or to speak slowly and distinctly.

Squirrels are skittish and at the same time trusting. They will often eat from your hand and come very close to bring a gift. This wonderful quality of the squirrel teaches us to trust one another in personal relationships and trust the Creator in all things. Creating trust where none exited builds on this special medicine.

The squirrel teaches us to gather our energies for the important tasks in life and honor the future by preparing for change.

Marianne (loving the squirrels in my backyard)

Comment by Marianne ~E~ 4 hours ago

Hi Everyone, here's today's Zen Meditation:

Change

Life repeats itself mindlessly - unless you become mindful, it will go on repeating like a wheel. That's why Buddhists call it the wheel of life and death, the wheel of time. It moves like a wheel: birth is followed by death, death is followed by birth; love is followed by hate, hate is followed by love; success is followed by failure, failure is followed by success.

Just see! If you can watch just for a few days, you will see a pattern emerging, a wheel pattern. One day, a fine morning, you are feeling so good and so happy, and another day you are so dull, so dead that you start thinking of committing suicide. And just the other day you were so full of life, so blissful that you were feeling thankful to God, that you were in a mood of deep gratefulness, and today there is great complaint and you don't see the point why one should go on living.... And it goes on and on, but you don't see the pattern. Once you see the pattern, you can get out of it.

Osho Take it Easy, Volume 1 Chapter 7

Commentary:
The symbol in this card is an enormous wheel representing time, fate, karma. Galaxies spin around this constantly moving circle, and the twelve signs of the zodiac appear on its circumference. Just inside the circumference are the eight trigrams of the I Ching, and even closer to the center are the four directions, each illuminated by the energy of lightning. The spinning triangle is at this moment pointed upward, toward the divine, and the Chinese symbol of yin and yang, male and female, creative and receptive, lies at the center.

It has often been said that the only unchanging thing in the world is change itself. Life is continuously changing, evolving, dying and being reborn. All opposites play a part in this vast circular pattern. If you cling to the edge of the wheel you can get dizzy! Move toward the center of the cyclone and relax, knowing that this too will pass.

Marianne (mindful)

Comment by Sarah Sunny 1 day ago

A wonderful meditation to start the day!
Have a wonderful one, EVERYONE!
~Sarah

Comment by Marianne ~E~ 1 day ago

Good Morning Everyone, here's today's Zen Meditation:

Receptivity

Listening is one of the basic secrets of entering into the temple of God. Listening means passivity. Listening means forgetting yourself completely - only then can you listen.

When you listen attentively to somebody, you forget yourself. If you cannot forget yourself, you never listen. If you are too self-conscious about yourself, you simply pretend that you are listening - you don't listen. You may nod your head; you may sometimes say yes and no, but you are not listening.

When you listen, you become just a passage, a passivity, a receptivity, a womb: you become feminine. And to arrive one has to become feminine. You cannot reach God as aggressive invaders, conquerors. You can reach God only...or it will be better to say God can reach you only when you are receptive, a feminine receptivity. When you become yin, a receptivity, the door is open - and you wait. Listening is the art for becoming passive.

Osho A Sudden Clash of Thunder Chapter 5

Commentary:
Receptivity represents the feminine, receptive quality of water and of the emotions. Her arms are extended upwards to receive, and she is completely immersed in the water. She has no head, no busy and aggressive mind to hinder her pure receptivity. And as she is filled she is continuously emptying herself, overflowing, and receiving more. The lotus pattern or matrix that emerges from her represents the perfect harmony of the universe that becomes apparent when we are in tune with it.

The Queen of Water brings a time of unboundedness and gratitude for whatever life brings, without any expectations or demands. Neither duty or thought of merit or reward are important. Sensitivity, intuition and compassion are the qualities that shine forth now, dissolving all the obstacles that keep us separate from each other and from the whole.

Marianne (compassion)
NB: Don't forget to watch/tape Deepak!!

Comment by Alexa 1 day ago

a dream angel for tonight

hey, that's great about deepak. I'll keep my eye out for it tomorrow too. bet he'll be talking about his new book! maybe we can call in and invite him to the group!
love the goldfish, btw.
g'nite all! xo

Comment by Sarah Sunny 1 day ago

Heheheha! I thought it was funny...what can I say. I have this strange earge to just laugh..doesn't even have to be funny!

Marianne, thanks for the info, I am going to tape that. The View comes on in the morining here.
To all you guys and gals have a great night,
~Sarah

Comment by Marianne ~E~ 1 day ago

PLEASE NOTE EVERYONE:

Deepak Chopra is in NYC for "The View" on Monday!! That's TOMORROW! On Monday, I'm at the acupuncturist so I'll miss it (or I'll tape it).

Set your tape machines or please watch it!!

Marianne (loving Deepak)

Comment by Sarah Sunny 1 day ago

Loved the meditations today...I want to stay in the NOW today!
May we all celebrate the beauty of NOW
Enjoy the day,
~Sarah

Comment by Maria on November 29, 2009 at 7:22am

Really love today's meditation. At least once a day I need to be reminded to come back to the present and am always grateful to be placed 'right here, right now!'
Someone in my T'ai chi class once shared a quote at the end of class. She said 'As one door closes another door opens, but so many of us spend too much time staring at the closed door.' Lets celebrate living in present time.

Big (((((((((((((Hugs))))))))))))) to everyone on this last Sunday in November 2009. x

Comment by Marianne ~E~ on November 29, 2009 at 4:25am

Good Morning Everyone. Here's today's Zen Meditation:

Clinging To The Past

These tenses--past, present and future--are not the tenses of time; they are tenses of the mind. That which is no longer before the mind becomes the past. That which is before the mind is the present. And that which is going to be before the mind is the future. Past is that which is no longer before you. Future is that which is not yet before you. And present is that which is before you and is slipping out of your sight. Soon it will be past.... If you don't cling to the past...because clinging to the past is absolute stupidity. It is no longer there, so you are crying for spilled milk. What is gone is gone! And don't cling to the present because that is also going and soon it will be past. Don't cling to the future--hopes, imaginations, plans for tomorrow--because tomorrow will become today, will become yesterday. Everything is going to become yesterday. Everything is going to go out of your hands. Clinging will simply create misery. You will have to let go.

Osho The Great Zen Master Ta Hui Chapter 10

Commentary:
The figure pictured in this card is so preoccupied with clutching her box of memories that she has turned her back on the sparkling champagne glass of blessings available here and now. Her nostalgia for the past really makes her a 'blockhead', and a beggar besides, as we can see from her patched and ragged clothes. She needn't be a beggar, of course--but she is not available to taste the pleasures that offer themselves in the present. It's time to face up to the fact that the past is gone, and any effort to repeat it is a sure way to stay stuck in old blueprints that you would have already outgrown if you hadn't been so busy clinging to what you have already been through. Take a deep breath, put the box down, tie it up in a pretty ribbon if you must, and bid it a fond and reverent farewell. Life is passing you by, and you're in danger of becoming an old fossil before your time!


Marianne (living in the present moment)

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