m.e.d.i.t.a.t.i.o.n.

(Note: The following post was originally written and published on this blog on 3-30-2009. It has subsequently been under attack from people spamming the comment stream, and today I decided to put an end to it, erase the original, and copy it to a fresh new post. Have a nice day!)

Minihaha Falls, Minneapolis

MEDitation...

"The inspiration received through

meditation is of a nature that one

cannot measure or determine. God

can inspire into our minds things

that we had no previous knowledge

of, if He desires to do so."

meDI-TAtion...

"...There are no set forms of meditation

prescribed in the teachings, no plan,

as such, for inner development. The

friends are urged--nay enjoined--to

pray, and they also should meditate,

but the manner of doing the latter is

left entirely to the individual...

mediTAtion...

"The inspiration received through meditation is of a

nature that one cannot measure or determine. God

can inspire into our minds things that we had no

previous knowledge of, if He desires to do so."

MeditaTION...

"The believers should not be required to use

prayer beads nor should they be prevented

from doing so, as the Teachings do not contain

any specific instructions on the subject."

MMMeditation...

I am completely intrigued by the lack of need for any ritual for meditation in the Baha'i Faith... When I read the Baha'i writings on this topic I feel them saying (even though these are clearly my own words) "don't adhere to some ritual of meditation, BUT meditate none the less!"...

WHY?

I wonder in His infinite Vision He sees

that there are far more effective ways

of meditation than we know, and unless

it is Religious Law by Baha'u'llah to NOT

adhere to one form, maybe we will never

find it...

WHO knows?

God I suppose...

huh. *sigh*

LINK TO ALL QUOTES ON THIS PAGE

Self reflection...

Life is Good.

I have been spending an incredible

amount of time and money on myself

in the past months. I have begun the

venture of finding true health, that is

what I would call it anyhow. I have

really honed in on my diet a lot more

and am much more aware of what I

need to be eating and what I don't,

which, believe it or not leads to

learning what prayers one should

say on a consistent basis, what time

one should take for themselves, what

environment one will flourish in best,

and so on...

I see it like this- once I really began to exert

a lot of energy and intention on one major

factor in my life, in this case diet/physical

health, so many other parts of my life began

to fall in to balance. I should say that this has

all been accompanied by weekly acupuncture

which has helped me onto a more balanced

path with emotional health as well.

I think that this seeking for balance appeared to others as being "distant", and as much as I could be concerned and apologetic, I am not. I have to say I am happy I have taken this time. I want to be able to use this short life to serve humanity, I couldn't do that before, buried in all my own unbalanced crap. So, if you saw my distance from you as rude, uncaring, ill-compassionate, unfriendly, (and I know there are at least a few of you) well please know that a different perspective would really serve you well. In retrospect alone, I know that I totally needed that time, and I think I might just take some more, it feels great! I love it!

The Kiss of Faith

Amidst the peace that has been this new found balance, I have found myself more readily prepared to take on bigger things in life, of course from struggle and striving comes growth. A very close family member recently had a MAJOR operation which would prove to be detrimental to other parts of there system. None the less, faith was there as a gift from the One greater and they are doing very well now, relatively speaking. I still pray and meditate and pray for telling dreams that might guide my understanding as to what will come.

Loss of Life

On the flip side, I also lost someone very close to me at

about the same time the aforementioned operation was

in progress. I know that in the writing's of Baha'u'llah

He states:

"O SON OF THE SUPREME!

I have made death a messenger of joy to thee.

Wherefore dost thou grieve? I made the light

to shed on thee its splendor. Why dost thou veil

thyself therefrom?"

That quote has been a source of comfort and realization as I ponder the loss of this loved one, so precious.

I love my humble human nature, I also love my sacred spiritual nature. It is comforting to know of them both when going through these tests in life.

Get Motivated!

Two words first off- Tunes man! I am finding that Music doesn't play a small roll in motivation in my life, it plays a HUGE one! With it can be summoned untold forces and energies that I don't usually feel. It is so amazing. Last night I made a playlist on youtube of super energizing (to me) hip hop and in no time all the rest of my unpacking in my bedroom was done! Well "no time" is an exaggeration... I think I went to bed at 7pm.

Clarity

So, with my room cleaned, I though "I really need to still work today, but don't want to go any longer without sleep". So, what did I do? Well, I turned to God. I thought of what I would need to do to meet my quota and still get in a good long nap (or nights sleep during the day...) and told God what it was. I then asked that it all work out. I re-posted all the necessary ads on-line in the next 15 minutes, set NO alarm, turned my ringer off, and fell asleep... 8 hours later, I woke up to a bunch of voicemail to check and within 15 mins I had sold my quota for the day and had JUST enough time to get to my wholesaler, buy the necessary appliances for my customers and go deliver and install them. The key to this all working out- FAITH. We must have faith. We are given this life so that we will finally realize it, this is my firm belief.

"And now I give you a commandment which shall be for a covenant

between you and Me -- that ye have faith; that your faith be steadfast

as a rock that no storms can move, that nothing can disturb, and that

it endure through all things even to the end... As ye have faith so shall

your powers and blessings be.

This is the balance --

this is the balance --

this is the balance."

~Abdu'l-Bahá (my emphasis on the word "faith")

Moving on with life...

Oh Ya Baha'u'l-Abha! I am so excited for tomorrow, the next day and the week after that and next year, and forever... Through all of this I think I have become much more hopeful, I suppose that is the result of faith... duh Benjamin. Anyhow, yeah, hopeful. What a refreshing feeling. I am anxious for more tests to see how much more I can grow, I know it can be different when you are in the midst of one, none the less this is how I feel right NOW.

So, in no particular order music,

acupuncture, diet, prayer, family,

faith and authenticity seem to be

the current keys to balanced my life.

what are the keys to yours?

Lastly, I want to say that I have been getting better and better in general at not comparing myself to others, life is relative ya'll, and you NEVER know what others are going through completely, so let us take a breath, thank God for our individuality. Through knowing thyself we realize our part in Oneness.

Top ten blessings in my life:

TOP TEN LIST

From least important (10) to most important (1), these are the things I feel are my top ten blessings overall in the macro vision of my life. Please reply with your own! I would love to see! Or at least do it on your blog and comment on this post with the link to your entry. Feel free to click on most any one of them and see what I came up to link them all too if you feel so inclined, or board... lol Love you all, thanks for the blessing of having you in my life!

10. Material Resources

9. Entrepreneurial Drive

8. Common Sense

7. Music

6. Education

5. Creativity

4. Humanity

3. Friends (This was taken a week and a half ago in Alexandria)

2. Family (this is a pic of my immediate family like 6 years ago)

1. Baha'u'llah

Zombies. What a blessing...

I love zombie movies.

I wouldn't say "I love

zombies", that would be

dumb, they aren't even real

(just so you know).

So I just saw Zombieland with Stefano,

Christoph and Roshan (all hilariously

fun movie going friends) and it ROCKED.

Hands down best movie of the year. Eat

your heart out Snakes On A Plane' fans!

This movie was double the fake gore,

double the slapstick, and double the fun!

Oh, and did I mention it has Little Miss

Sunshine's own Abigail Breslin (Little

Rock)!?!

Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson)is the MAN. I love his sensitivity and stupid wit (also, breaking stuff is cool). At one point, in all seriousness he says "I haven't cried like that since Titanic!". Brilliant.

The incident with Bill Murray?

Even more brilliant (I loved that scene).

The love story was GREAT- Overall, good, clean,

mostly chaste fun! I loved the silly corny-ness of it (if

you will). The "not telling each other real names cause

they don't want to get attached to each other" sort of

thing made sense... I mean that's what I would do if I

lived in Zombieland...

The sickest thing about the whole

experience of corn syrup fun- As

they were killing all the Zombies, I

have to say I thought once or twice

"Ya know, I'd love to have a go at

that myself!"... kinda bothered me,

but I'm sure I'll get over it.

Thanks Zombieland!

New entry.

I am inspired by Cindy to write (click on her name and read her entries, one really funny one is called "My Boss". Anyhow, you will see that she has some beautiful things to say. I dare you not to be inspired.)

It is 1:24am and I need to get up in a few hours...

Do I care?

Apparently not right now.

• I want to grow closer to loving myself the same way I love all things God has created.
• I want to get my life coaching certificate.
• I want to see my family more.
• I want to sing with my brother.
• I want to be in touch with my father more instead of spending so much time being scared of loosing him.
• I want to love people without them thinking it is too much.
• I want to just be trusted that my intentions are pure, they are.
• I want to put aside my desires and seek something Greater.
• I want to change all my "I want to's..." to "I will's..."

Thanks for the inspiration, that felt good.

I have been encountering a ton of tests lately.

I

feel

like

they

are

showering

down

on

me.

And I am soo happy (mostly) that in the midst of them (at times)

I am becoming more and more aware of the necessity to

be thankful for this time and these tests (instead of scared).

For if we are given food by our Creator that offers us strength,

focus (and a little/lotta pain), who are we to not be grateful (or fearful)?

Now- to be real, I totally know I am not the grateful human

that God is giving tests too all the time; probably more often

than not, I'll be the first to admit. At times I feel myself

kick and scream, mope and whine, get angry and upset over

situations... Then there are those moments where the Sun of Reality

shines on the situation and you sense your abilities and you

realize the great origin of the test and you become encumbered

with a feeling of thankfulness that you had never previously known...

I love that moment.

The following is worth the read... I assure you.

...To the sincere ones,tests are as a gift from God,

the Exalted, for a heroic person hasteneth, with the

utmost joy and gladness, to the tests of a violent

battlefield, but the coward is afraid and trembles

and utters moaning and lamentation. Likewise, an

expert student prepareth and memorizeth his lessons

and exercises with the utmost effort, and in the day of

examination he appeareth with infinite joy before the

master. Likewise, the pure gold shineth radiantly in

the fire of tests. Consequently, it is made clear that for

holy souls, trials are as the gift of God, the Exalted; but

for weak souls they are an unexpected calamity. This

test is just as thou hast written: it removeth the rust

of egotism from the mirror of the heart until the Sun

of Truth may shine therein. For, no veil is greater than

egotism and no matter how thin that covering may be,

yet it will finally veil man entirely and prevent him

from receiving a portion from the eternal bounty.

(Bahá’í World Faith—Selected Writings of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá - ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Pages 371-372)

In closing- Thanks for the tests God, however much I may kick and scream. These blessings are totally helpful and I pray that my capacity increases to handle more difficult tests, however scared I may be to say this to You.

-me