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A teacher was teaching his student a music lesson:
Siddhartha heard the teacher say “If you wind the string too tight it will break and if you have the string too loose, there will be no music.”Â
Upon hearing these words, Siddhartha came to the realization of the “Middle Way of Life” ~ It must be neither of strict and nor disciplined! Â
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Reading this really struck a chord with me! I’ve been noticing how so much extremism is rampant right now and sensing how important it is to keep centered by not getting so caught up in all the external stimulation. It’s so important to find inner peace and cultivate your calm.
Life is a dance ~ we need to feel, find our center of balance, and get into our own rhythm! Walking the middle ground, we don’t need to choose one over the other.
~ Lana A LaBonte
Look at how many of us are so caught up in the rules. Most of these phantom rules aren’t even written down anywhere but they are there, haunting the minds of many people. People go through their entire lives adhering to these rules never even questioning them but always holding onto a subconscious animosity toward them. Some go so far as to police others into following what they have interpreted as being the right way because you know “There are Rules!”Â
A human being always acts and feels and performs in accordance with what he imagines to be true about himself and his environment.
~ Maxwell Maltz from Psycho-Cybernetics
Remember, “misery loves company” and this rule-pushing has been perpetuated to the state we’re currently in as a society (***I speak mostly on the part of the US but have seen this in other countries, as well). Haven’t you noticed how the rules are always changing while the game remains the same?
Have you ever questioned these so-called rules to find out if they’re humane, necessary, or even apply to you? I can come up simple examples from walking on the right side to marriage.
I can even attest to even having adopted the notion my life should follow what I call the white-picket-fence path. Really! I was convinced, like many other young girls growing up, how a woman should get an education, find the love of her life, get married, have children, and raise a family. For some reason, in the back of my mind this really didn’t sit well with me and looking back, I know it had everything to do with my environment and other outside influences than what I felt in my own heart. This conditioning only led me to chase after someone else’s dream or idea of how life should be and not my own – until the day when I woke up to my own truth!Â
By the way, rules are distracting and take us away from our personal truth. Life was not meant to be as serious as we have made it!
There’s no need to mimic, impersonate, idolize, or copy another person because we are all uniquely who we are. I had to learn this myself. Labels are one way we separate us from them because the conditions, there are those rules again, which apply to these labels give us a generalization of how someone is while we rarely question if this applies to each person. I have personally never really liked labels or associating myself with groups. It’s a complacent way to move through life to just put everything into categories, groups, or labels and relying upon the generalizations to discriminate. Consider how many of us simply just want to belong to a group instead of being an individual. Well, again, it all goes back to what we’ve been exposed to and I believe it’s important to detach from this pigeonhole way of thinking.Â
Each person is born with a unique individuality, and each person has a destiny of his or her own. Imitation is crime, it is criminal. If you try to become a Buddha, you may look like Buddha, you may walk like him, you may talk like him, but you will miss. You will miss all that life was ready to deliver to you. Buddha happens only once. It is not in the nature of things to repeat. Existence is so creative that it never repeats anything. You cannot find another human being in the present, in the past, or in the future who is going to resemble you exactly. It has never happened. The human being is not a mechanism like Ford cars on an assembly line. Never imitate anybody.
~ Osho from The Book of Understanding
Being original is clearly uncommon in this day and age but people do recognize it as we are all naturally drawn to authenticity!
Extreme is extreme no matter what rationalized spin we put on it. If you are compassionate but witness another not being like you, condemning them is no more compassionate than the person you are condemning or judging. Our ideals cannot be imposed upon others nor should we.Â
You cannot help another who will not help him- or herself. In the end, all souls must walk their path — and the reason they are walking a particular path may not be clear to us…or even to them at the level of ordinary human consciousness. Do what you can to help others, of course. Show love and caring whenever and wherever you can. But do not get caught up in someone else’s “story” to the point where you start writing it.
~ Neale Donald Walsch
What makes any of us think what we believe is even real or true? Where did we learn it? Do we even know? Not one of us is any better or worse than another but we’ve been raised to believe old ideas like, it’s us versus them ~ whoever us and them are! As if we have something to prove?
Remember, we learned a lot growing up that wasn’t necessarily beneficial in our lives and some of us have been there before in similar experiences so we should consider compassion toward those who have not yet reached our own level of awareness. We all have to grow into our own awareness in this life at our own time and not at the will of someone else’s. We already live in a state of constant change, much of what we don’t even see, so it only seems fitting to keep a constantly open mind to change because that is where we seem to find the most resistance. It is all about wanting control or order as if we haven’t already created and contributed to chaos.
Sharing information is one thing but what a person does with that information is their choice and karma that they have to live with.
I see this a lot with political parties, religion, sports teams, war, and such…but truly, who is the better?
If we’re pointing fingers trying to get everyone to be just like us, what good is it doing? Who does it serve? How is it benefiting one’s life? Why do people make it their mission to change others as if they have this special power?
What one does is what counts.
Not what one had the intention of doing.
~ Pablo Picasso
There was a time when I used to attempt to help people with my words of encouragement or advice. Eventually, I recognized where I was wasting my time and energy on someone who clearly wasn’t receptive to it nor did they want that help – even if they ask for it ~ They weren’t “open to receiving!” There has to be a flow; otherwise, you’ll walk away depleted of your energy! Don’t waste your time where it’s not appreciated because there are plenty of people who are seeking and need it. The key is to recognize where there is open communication, receptivity, and a willingness to receive the information.
It took me years to understand:
When the student is ready, the teacher will appear!
In order to thrive in this life, it is imperative to have an OPEN MIND to keep up with and constantly evolve with the changes we experience. It is necessary to question everything, continuously research, learn, and share information. Without the ability to listen to one another, how can we expect others to listen to us!? We must demonstrate this openness to learn, teach, share, process, and grow with each other.
In Many Lives, Many Masters, Brian Weiss spoke of how easy it is to attract people on the same vibrational energy level but we’re also here in this life to help uplift the others who need it the most!Â
This life is about uniting & finding balance. It’s not meant to be a battle of my way or the highway. There are no rules about how we arrive, per se, but the true goal is to come back to Love ~ and this means us all on a collective level! There is no us against them! There is only US and we are ONE even if we don’t like what we see around us.Â
Be the Change You Wish to See in the World!
~ Mahatma Gandhi
Because ultimately, how else can others find the way and permission in doing the same if you don’t lead by example! It’s what we do that’s important and not what others around us do. Our focus needs to be on balancing our own life through living authentically. The more people who do this, the more it will ripple out like waves when a drop of water drips into the larger body of water.Â
Don’t let the EGO Edge God Out, as Wayne Dyer says.
Call forth the Divine within as the strength you need in order to do what you know you must do. Know that what you need already exists within you.
~ Iyanla Vanzant
Replace your Fear of the Unknown with Curiosity!
We also have to consider if we’re happy with who we are. If you’re not, chances are you’re lashing out a others because you see the exact qualities you dislike about yourself reflected in them. How we react outwardly toward others is amplified on the inside. We need to strive for the balance of who we are and how we relate to our environment and those around us. We must establish a deep sense of connection with our Self, contentment with who we are, and peace with what we’ve been through and experienced. The external factors are not who we are even if we identify strongly with our experiences. It’s the way we acted in them and how we showed up for each life lesson that creates the strength of our character.Â
Authenticity is about how we show up in life with our Integrity intact! It’s not about playing roles, building walls, or putting on a mask but removing all the labels, layers, and cover-ups for our pains to expose our vulnerability. We must not allow our Self to get caught up in the distractions of the external world because it hides who we are underneath of it all.Â
BE YOU in your Divine Truth! Take the time to get to know who you are and allow yourself to feel all your emotions; Accept yourSelf for all your past and present emotions, BE with them, Allow them to come through without denying their presence, Make Peace with them, Express them but don’t let them linger or hang around, Thank them for serving you in another life lesson, and Release them from your life. There is always a time to honor emotions but also a time to release them with gratitude for teaching you contrast in life. Allow others to see you and, again, it will set an example to those who do…so they may feel permission to step into their own Divine Truth. Because, what you do may Inspire another to honor who they are!
A signature of vitality is the ability to act consciously and authentically while being emotionally flexible and available to the entire universe of emotions.
~ Yogi Bhajan
Encourage yourself by remembering that any detection of negativity within you is a positive act, not a negative one. Awareness of your weakness and confusion makes you strong because conscious awareness is the bright light that destroys the darkness of negativity. Honest self-observation dissolves pains and pressures that formerly did their dreadful work in the darkness of unawareness. This is so important that I urge you to memorize and reflect upon the following summary: Detection of inner negativity is not a negative act, but a courageously positive act that makes you a new person.
~ Vernon Howard from The Power of Your Supermind
â„ â„ ℠Here’s to Inspiring your Perfect Balance & Harmony Today, as well as, Every Day! ℠â„ â„
Love and Light Blessings,
~ â„ Lana â„