A Spiritual Revolution!
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 378
Boy, we speak the same language!!! Love those verses!
I've become a Hafiz fan now, too! Here's some >
How
Did the rose
Ever open it’s heart
And give to this world
All its
Beauty?
It felt the encouragement of light
Against it’s
Being.
Otherwise,
We all remain
Too
Frightened.
Hafiz
(1320- 1389)
I've become a Hafiz fan now, too! Here's some >
How
Did the rose
Ever open it’s heart
And give to this world
All its
Beauty?
It felt the encouragement of light
Against it’s
Being.
Otherwise,
We all remain
Too
Frightened.
Hafiz
(1320- 1389)
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Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: behind the viewfinder...
Posts: 6,278
You know, I've been thinking about your question WW, and there is more that's changed in me since 2008. Material things have lost much of their appeal to me, and that was what made possible my decision to quit my job. For most of my life, striving for MORE was very important to me (I grew up very poor). It seems now I can envision a life with less and not be afraid of it. It's very liberating.
L
L
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 378
I'm throwing this out here into this conversation . . . tell me what you think?
This is how I live, how I choose to view life. I see life as a classroom. One big challenge to learn. Everyone that enters my life comes here to teach me. I can in fact, embrace some of the really hard lessons in my life because of what I've learned, the ways in which I've changed have been incredible.
For me, dealing with my spouse's addiction - well there you go, let me rephrase that - dealing with MY reaction to the addiction and going inside and working on myself has been perhaps the most vital and liberating experience of my life. Yes, and numbingly painful at times. Because I choose to view it as a chance to grow - I've changed in ways I never imagined I could. If we see all of life from a spiritual perspective, this person is here to help ME grow. They're my "teacher". It's my choice to grow from this or not.
I'm a far healthier and happier person that I ever was before this addiction blew up in my life. Only because I saw it as a tool to look inside of ME. Had I stayed the same, I would've walked through life with my own set of dysfunctions, that hamper my happiness. And will always have work to do!
This pretty much encapsulates how I view my life, do you see it that way, too?
I HAD TO SEEK THE PHYSICIAN
I had to seek the Physician
because of the pain this world
caused
me.
I could not believe what happened when I got there -
I found my
Teacher.
Before I left he said,
"Up for a little homework, yet?"
"Okay." I replied.
"Well then, try thanking all the people
who have caused
you pain.
They helped you
come to
me."
Kabir
This is how I live, how I choose to view life. I see life as a classroom. One big challenge to learn. Everyone that enters my life comes here to teach me. I can in fact, embrace some of the really hard lessons in my life because of what I've learned, the ways in which I've changed have been incredible.
For me, dealing with my spouse's addiction - well there you go, let me rephrase that - dealing with MY reaction to the addiction and going inside and working on myself has been perhaps the most vital and liberating experience of my life. Yes, and numbingly painful at times. Because I choose to view it as a chance to grow - I've changed in ways I never imagined I could. If we see all of life from a spiritual perspective, this person is here to help ME grow. They're my "teacher". It's my choice to grow from this or not.
I'm a far healthier and happier person that I ever was before this addiction blew up in my life. Only because I saw it as a tool to look inside of ME. Had I stayed the same, I would've walked through life with my own set of dysfunctions, that hamper my happiness. And will always have work to do!
This pretty much encapsulates how I view my life, do you see it that way, too?
I HAD TO SEEK THE PHYSICIAN
I had to seek the Physician
because of the pain this world
caused
me.
I could not believe what happened when I got there -
I found my
Teacher.
Before I left he said,
"Up for a little homework, yet?"
"Okay." I replied.
"Well then, try thanking all the people
who have caused
you pain.
They helped you
come to
me."
Kabir
Iceberg Ahead!
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Out at Sea
Posts: 1,177
"I have learned silence from the talkative, tolerance from the intolerant and kindness from the unkind. I should not be ungrateful to those teachers."
Kahlil Gibran: Sand and Foam, quoted in ONE DAY AT A TIME IN AL-ANON, March 27.
Kahlil Gibran: Sand and Foam, quoted in ONE DAY AT A TIME IN AL-ANON, March 27.
Iceberg Ahead!
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Out at Sea
Posts: 1,177
In the same vein:
"The deeper sorrow carves into your being the more joy you can contain."
Kahlil Gibran
"Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars."
Kahlil Gibran
"The deeper sorrow carves into your being the more joy you can contain."
Kahlil Gibran
"Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars."
Kahlil Gibran
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 378
Titanic you can post Gibran to me for days and I'll just be in bliss!!! Thank you! 'The Prophet', I read it first in my 20's, was literally the very beginning of my spiritual jump start. Completely changed my life and still does . . .
Here's another one for you, do you ever feel this way? I sure have! Kind of "funny" considering we're on an addiction board . . .
All day I think about it, then
at night I say it,
Where did I come from, and
what am I supposed to be doing?
My soul is from somewhere else,
I’m sure of that
and I intend to end up there.
The drunkenness began
in some other tavern.
When I get back around
to that place, I’ll be
completely sober.
Meanwhile
I’m like a bird from another
continent, sitting in this aviary.
The day is coming when I’ll fly off,
but who is now in my ear?
Who hears my voice?
Who says words with my mouth?
Who looks out with my eyes?
What is the soul?
I cannot stop asking.
If I could taste one sip
of an answer I could break out
of this prison for drunks.
I didn’t comer here of my own accord,
and I can’t leave that way.
Whoever brought me here
will have to take me home.
RUMI
Here's another one for you, do you ever feel this way? I sure have! Kind of "funny" considering we're on an addiction board . . .
All day I think about it, then
at night I say it,
Where did I come from, and
what am I supposed to be doing?
My soul is from somewhere else,
I’m sure of that
and I intend to end up there.
The drunkenness began
in some other tavern.
When I get back around
to that place, I’ll be
completely sober.
Meanwhile
I’m like a bird from another
continent, sitting in this aviary.
The day is coming when I’ll fly off,
but who is now in my ear?
Who hears my voice?
Who says words with my mouth?
Who looks out with my eyes?
What is the soul?
I cannot stop asking.
If I could taste one sip
of an answer I could break out
of this prison for drunks.
I didn’t comer here of my own accord,
and I can’t leave that way.
Whoever brought me here
will have to take me home.
RUMI
Iceberg Ahead!
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Out at Sea
Posts: 1,177
Originally Posted by WishingWell 
Thanks, WW! I do, especially this part ... up to the last sentence:
I cannot stop asking.
If I could taste one sip
of an answer I could break out
of this prison for drunks.
I didn’t come here of my own accord,
and I can’t leave that way.
Whoever brought me here
will have to take me home.
RUMI
I cannot stop asking.
If I could taste one sip
of an answer I could break out
of this prison for drunks.
I didn’t come here of my own accord,
and I can’t leave that way.
Whoever brought me here
will have to take me home.
RUMI
Trading cards! Here's his quote that got me through early recovery. It really helped with the "codie" impulses to fix and direct things for a great outcome, all with the best of intentions (family, healing, kids, love, etc):
Poem 28
Who makes these changes?
I shoot an arrow right. It lands left.
I chase after a deer and find myself chased by a boar.
I plot to get what I want and end up in prison.
I dig pits to trap others and fall in.
I should be suspicious of what I want.
RUMI
Life had become unmanageable, and I felt powerless despite all my efforts. Now I keep my expectations off the outcomes. That actually has helped!
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 378
Another - throwing this out there . . .
OK, let's just say we play around with this idea that life is a big classroom. Life on earth is a spiritual course and we are students.
In our lives if we need to learn math - we take math classes. We're given very difficult math assignments to solve until we learn them. We need to learn - division. We take a class on how to divide. As we learn it and the more advanced we get, the harder the questions. The more complicated and challenging it gets. If we dive in, we eventually learn division and we advance on. The chapters turn to the next math lesson and we start over again with a new challenge. We end up with a very deep knowledge base and a degree, we can now teach this course to others. Right? If we give up - we stay stuck without knowledge.
OK - life. Same scenario - a classroom. Let's say that we need to learn patience in this lifetime. We're not going to learn it if we're never challenged. So, we're challenged with it and we don't learn it. So the lessons need to get harder, more direct. People come onto our lives that are the most frustrating human beings on planet Earth - push all our buttons. We get the job from hell. What are we learning? Are we turning the pages and completing this lesson? Are we becoming more patient?
Which is why, whenever we ask that simple question of "What is this person or this experience here to teach ME?" Life tilts. It turns on itself and we are handed a mirror and given our lesson plan. We no longer have to take everything as a personal "insult" to our being and in fact start to see most of life as an opportunity - to get happier, freer.
My question as of late "What is my spouse's relapse here to teach ME about ME?" People use the word soul-mate. A soul-mate isn't just here to make life fun, bring us flowers, give us money, make-out sessions . . . think about it. Going by the name - a true soul-mate is here to help our soul grow. What greater gift is there than that?
Even if we don't believe that this scenario is why we're here on earth - it sure makes for a rewarding and fascinating experience to use it this way. I can attest that deep growth like this in my life has radically changed who I am and my level of happiness. My life, even while dealing with the exact same problems that used to send me down a hole - is lighter and steady. I would call it a miracle . . . (if it wasn't for all the crazy hard work it is!)
Thoughts?
What is your life teaching you?
OK, let's just say we play around with this idea that life is a big classroom. Life on earth is a spiritual course and we are students.
In our lives if we need to learn math - we take math classes. We're given very difficult math assignments to solve until we learn them. We need to learn - division. We take a class on how to divide. As we learn it and the more advanced we get, the harder the questions. The more complicated and challenging it gets. If we dive in, we eventually learn division and we advance on. The chapters turn to the next math lesson and we start over again with a new challenge. We end up with a very deep knowledge base and a degree, we can now teach this course to others. Right? If we give up - we stay stuck without knowledge.
OK - life. Same scenario - a classroom. Let's say that we need to learn patience in this lifetime. We're not going to learn it if we're never challenged. So, we're challenged with it and we don't learn it. So the lessons need to get harder, more direct. People come onto our lives that are the most frustrating human beings on planet Earth - push all our buttons. We get the job from hell. What are we learning? Are we turning the pages and completing this lesson? Are we becoming more patient?
Which is why, whenever we ask that simple question of "What is this person or this experience here to teach ME?" Life tilts. It turns on itself and we are handed a mirror and given our lesson plan. We no longer have to take everything as a personal "insult" to our being and in fact start to see most of life as an opportunity - to get happier, freer.
My question as of late "What is my spouse's relapse here to teach ME about ME?" People use the word soul-mate. A soul-mate isn't just here to make life fun, bring us flowers, give us money, make-out sessions . . . think about it. Going by the name - a true soul-mate is here to help our soul grow. What greater gift is there than that?
Even if we don't believe that this scenario is why we're here on earth - it sure makes for a rewarding and fascinating experience to use it this way. I can attest that deep growth like this in my life has radically changed who I am and my level of happiness. My life, even while dealing with the exact same problems that used to send me down a hole - is lighter and steady. I would call it a miracle . . . (if it wasn't for all the crazy hard work it is!)
Thoughts?
What is your life teaching you?
Iceberg Ahead!
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Out at Sea
Posts: 1,177
Beautiful, WW.
Why would there even be a word like "patience" in the world, if there were no need to learn it and use it.
Question for you. What lessons are best learned first so we don't lose ourselves or die in the meantime?
Why would there even be a word like "patience" in the world, if there were no need to learn it and use it.
Question for you. What lessons are best learned first so we don't lose ourselves or die in the meantime?
Iceberg Ahead!
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Out at Sea
Posts: 1,177
Originally Posted by WishingWell
Titanic - only you know what you are here to learn!
What seems to be the number 1 scenario you keep getting stuck in?
What seems to be the number 1 scenario you keep getting stuck in?
What course, what teacher, what degree and where! Al-Anon, at least on that last one!
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Originally Posted by Titanic
Question for you. What lessons are best learned first so we don't lose ourselves or die in the meantime?
L
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 378
Titanic - in my life, it wasn't just this A business. There were and are continued themes. The same challenges that keep coming up.
OK, what is dealing with someone else's addiction teaching you about you?
(Boy, I could fill a book on that one!) :-)
OK, what is dealing with someone else's addiction teaching you about you?
(Boy, I could fill a book on that one!) :-)
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 378
Get a notebook and start writing, don't think too hard just let it out, no editing.
"His/her addiction is teaching me that I . . . "
And then question your answers with love. "His addiction is teaching me that I . . . am afraid of my future."
"What am I afraid of?" Being alone.
Bingo. What's so scary about being alone? Keep asking ourselves kind questions until we hit on an answer that rings truth to us. You know that feeling?
Amazing how willing we are to help ourselves if asked . . .
"His/her addiction is teaching me that I . . . "
And then question your answers with love. "His addiction is teaching me that I . . . am afraid of my future."
"What am I afraid of?" Being alone.
Bingo. What's so scary about being alone? Keep asking ourselves kind questions until we hit on an answer that rings truth to us. You know that feeling?
Amazing how willing we are to help ourselves if asked . . .
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