"If a man's faith is unsteady, if he does not know the true law, if his peace of mind is troubled, his knowledge will never be perfect."
-The Buddha
I went to a local orchestra performance last week where some of the finest music of all time was played. For the first time in my life I was able to experience the power and majesty of someone who had maximized their ability within the confines of their passion. Not only was the music beautiful to the ear but inspiring to the soul. I left the concert hall a changed man in some ways, a better man in one particular way - I experienced passion at its purest, it was written all over the faces of those pronouncing to the world their love for music.
I was particularly moved by the cellist, and the way she made her instrument sing with such beauty that I hoped it would never end. It put me in a trance, a state where recognition of my own passion and desire came to the forefront of my conscious thought. It was then that I realized life is not about perfecting a craft or mastering a trade; true inspiration and the ability to inspire others comes from uninhibited passion we allow to freely flow towards whatever calling we're on this earth to be part of.
It made me think about those people in my life who are one with their destiny, and those who have full-heartedly embraced their reason for living. For those people life is easy, the road clear of debris, almost effortlessly they walk alongside their desires and achieve their dreams.
One of the keys to happiness is finding what you're passionate about and stopping at nothing to not only embrace it, but indulging in your passion. Life becomes hazy and chaotic when we veer off course and settle for something less than our highest vision of ourselves and what we're here to do.
Like the cellist, it's not about the music you play but instead it's with how much love you play the notes. Find your calling by looking inside yourself through prayer, meditation or whatever means necessary, then embrace your destiny and your soul will have no choice but to sing and cause others to harmonize.
It matters not whether you reach perfection, for it's not the music that you play that inspires people, but the passion with which it's played. Finding passion in life is the link between dreaming and turning dreams into reality, as well as steadying your faith.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
Seperate Yourself from the Rest
Whatever a great man does ordinary people will follow;
Whatever standard he sets everyone else will follow.
- Bhagavad Gita 3.21
Recently a friend of mine presented me with a radically simple idea that changed my entire outlook on life and my own personal potential for living it. My view on human potential is straight forward for all people - we all have unlimited ability to be, and to create anything we choose. The power behind the choice comes from the choice itself, and the belief that whatever we choose for ourselves we deserve to experience. The only thing that limits our potential is the beliefs we carry about the particular thing we desire. If you want something bad enough, envision yourself having that thing or being that which you desire, what it would feel like to possess it, what it would taste like or smell like etc... Once you have envisioned having that thing or being that person, simply choose to be that which you envisioned from this point on - live out that idea every second of every minute of every hour of every day. If you decide to BE what it is you desire most, you'll eventually have what you wanted most to start with. Life is nothing but the experience of creation, bending over backwards to give us our deepest and most inspiring desires! To get back to my original idea that changed my outlook... I realized the disconnect in my life between what I wanted and what I was getting could be found in the effort I had been giving my entire life towards achieving whatever goal I was pursuing. My friend asked me point blank, "Mason, do you give 100% effort to achieving success in whatever aspect of life you are going after?" My immediate response was a resounding YES, but as I internalized what her question really meant, I realized I hadn't been, and going back as far as I could remember my effort was never really exhausted. The major breakdown for me came in the form of never really knowing what my personal best was and what that looked like when represented. My entire life I based my effort off of those who surrounded me and off of what was acceptable for the situation at hand. I had been living a life based on what was seen as good by others, not what I saw as my 100%
A teacher I had in High School used to say, "It's not that I'm any better than anyone else, I just do what's expected of me given the specific task, which naturally separates me from everyone else involved." That is the attitude I had been using my entire life, that attitude served only enough to keep my living, not thriving. That attitude will serve the masses in this increasingly mediocre world and job force, but what I want for my life is not to be sufficient but magnificent! If you want more from life and you can't understand why the breaks just aren't falling your way, maybe you aren't giving YOUR personal best. If you're like I was, you based your effort off of what others put forth.
If you wish to reach for the stars, learning how to fly with the eagles is essential. We all know successful people in our lives, a major similarity that all of these men and women share in common is they all give their personal best, no matter what, no matter when. Giving your absolute best in the areas of life you wish to excel in is what separates the leader from the follower, the world-changer from those beaten down by the world.
I challenge all of you to look inside yourself and ask if you're giving your very best or just enough to pass off as sufficient. If you're like I was, make the choice to live and BE differently from here on out!
I believe in you!
YOU have what it takes to change the world!
At the root of all things we are all of the same being anyway, meaning we all have the potential to be great. Those who are already great have decided to make the choice to be, they decided to be magnificent.
Until next time...
Peace and LOVE
Whatever standard he sets everyone else will follow.
- Bhagavad Gita 3.21
Recently a friend of mine presented me with a radically simple idea that changed my entire outlook on life and my own personal potential for living it. My view on human potential is straight forward for all people - we all have unlimited ability to be, and to create anything we choose. The power behind the choice comes from the choice itself, and the belief that whatever we choose for ourselves we deserve to experience. The only thing that limits our potential is the beliefs we carry about the particular thing we desire. If you want something bad enough, envision yourself having that thing or being that which you desire, what it would feel like to possess it, what it would taste like or smell like etc... Once you have envisioned having that thing or being that person, simply choose to be that which you envisioned from this point on - live out that idea every second of every minute of every hour of every day. If you decide to BE what it is you desire most, you'll eventually have what you wanted most to start with. Life is nothing but the experience of creation, bending over backwards to give us our deepest and most inspiring desires! To get back to my original idea that changed my outlook... I realized the disconnect in my life between what I wanted and what I was getting could be found in the effort I had been giving my entire life towards achieving whatever goal I was pursuing. My friend asked me point blank, "Mason, do you give 100% effort to achieving success in whatever aspect of life you are going after?" My immediate response was a resounding YES, but as I internalized what her question really meant, I realized I hadn't been, and going back as far as I could remember my effort was never really exhausted. The major breakdown for me came in the form of never really knowing what my personal best was and what that looked like when represented. My entire life I based my effort off of those who surrounded me and off of what was acceptable for the situation at hand. I had been living a life based on what was seen as good by others, not what I saw as my 100%
A teacher I had in High School used to say, "It's not that I'm any better than anyone else, I just do what's expected of me given the specific task, which naturally separates me from everyone else involved." That is the attitude I had been using my entire life, that attitude served only enough to keep my living, not thriving. That attitude will serve the masses in this increasingly mediocre world and job force, but what I want for my life is not to be sufficient but magnificent! If you want more from life and you can't understand why the breaks just aren't falling your way, maybe you aren't giving YOUR personal best. If you're like I was, you based your effort off of what others put forth.
If you wish to reach for the stars, learning how to fly with the eagles is essential. We all know successful people in our lives, a major similarity that all of these men and women share in common is they all give their personal best, no matter what, no matter when. Giving your absolute best in the areas of life you wish to excel in is what separates the leader from the follower, the world-changer from those beaten down by the world.
I challenge all of you to look inside yourself and ask if you're giving your very best or just enough to pass off as sufficient. If you're like I was, make the choice to live and BE differently from here on out!
I believe in you!
YOU have what it takes to change the world!
At the root of all things we are all of the same being anyway, meaning we all have the potential to be great. Those who are already great have decided to make the choice to be, they decided to be magnificent.
Until next time...
Peace and LOVE
Saturday, May 1, 2010
What is Love
Erich Fromm put it beautifully when he wrote - "Love is union with somebody, or something, outside of oneself, under the condition of retaining the separateness and integrity of one's own self."
This whole idea of LOVE is so interesting to me because the more you try and wrap your mind around it the more love wraps around you. I truly believe that at the core of all things in existence, you find LOVE as the sponsoring creator. Even in the face of disaster there's a perfectness that can be seen if you look past what bias you have towards whatever seems wrong. When I speak of love in no way am I putting Hollywood quotations around the word because love and compassion and peace all have much more substance than "who finds who's soul mate for the time being." Real-love, God-love, has no weights attached and no strings left dangling to be pulled on. All of creation has been done as the ultimate act of love, and I see evolution as a tool that keeps the collective heartbeat of all people and things moving and beating. When I say God equals love, what I mean is that all things, in every way, point back towards an infinitely abundant and free life-giving source. A secret of life that most have not recognized is the fact that God wants for us what we want most for ourselves; why else would we get what we want so often? We draw near what we hold dear! What we keep our thoughts attached to becomes reality, the universe works that way and God is of, and more than the laws of the universe. A basic mantra to keep in mind is, what we hold clear, we draw near.
The very act of giving everyone of us limitless potential and complete control over our creative process without any demand of reciprocal thanks, proves that we as humans come from, and are sustained by that which is pure love. By definition found through my life, the greatest gift one can give a person is that which frees him/her from all binding, and on top of that asks for nothing in return. We are required to do nothing in this life if we so choose, but out of free will can choose to do anything, our potential is literally, LIMITLESS! We have the ability to bring Heaven to Earth and call it home if we so choose, but often we decide to do just the opposite. Because of our lack of living up to our created potential one can assert that we have perfect and unbinding freedom. Within the midst of chaos, love and perfection can be found if we choose to see life through the eyes of God. Love is constant, but also a choice; a beautiful and comforting dichotomy.
I'll leave you with one last thought - If love is a choice and we know the beautiful after-effects of any decision made out of love, why don't we choose this option more often?
The only thing that separates the enlightened man/woman from the everyday man/woman is the choices he/she makes...
until next time...
Peace and LOVE
This whole idea of LOVE is so interesting to me because the more you try and wrap your mind around it the more love wraps around you. I truly believe that at the core of all things in existence, you find LOVE as the sponsoring creator. Even in the face of disaster there's a perfectness that can be seen if you look past what bias you have towards whatever seems wrong. When I speak of love in no way am I putting Hollywood quotations around the word because love and compassion and peace all have much more substance than "who finds who's soul mate for the time being." Real-love, God-love, has no weights attached and no strings left dangling to be pulled on. All of creation has been done as the ultimate act of love, and I see evolution as a tool that keeps the collective heartbeat of all people and things moving and beating. When I say God equals love, what I mean is that all things, in every way, point back towards an infinitely abundant and free life-giving source. A secret of life that most have not recognized is the fact that God wants for us what we want most for ourselves; why else would we get what we want so often? We draw near what we hold dear! What we keep our thoughts attached to becomes reality, the universe works that way and God is of, and more than the laws of the universe. A basic mantra to keep in mind is, what we hold clear, we draw near.
The very act of giving everyone of us limitless potential and complete control over our creative process without any demand of reciprocal thanks, proves that we as humans come from, and are sustained by that which is pure love. By definition found through my life, the greatest gift one can give a person is that which frees him/her from all binding, and on top of that asks for nothing in return. We are required to do nothing in this life if we so choose, but out of free will can choose to do anything, our potential is literally, LIMITLESS! We have the ability to bring Heaven to Earth and call it home if we so choose, but often we decide to do just the opposite. Because of our lack of living up to our created potential one can assert that we have perfect and unbinding freedom. Within the midst of chaos, love and perfection can be found if we choose to see life through the eyes of God. Love is constant, but also a choice; a beautiful and comforting dichotomy.
I'll leave you with one last thought - If love is a choice and we know the beautiful after-effects of any decision made out of love, why don't we choose this option more often?
The only thing that separates the enlightened man/woman from the everyday man/woman is the choices he/she makes...
until next time...
Peace and LOVE
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