THE DARKNESS AND THE LIGHT

Luke Skywalker: "Is the dark side stronger?"
Yoda: "No, no, no. Quicker, easier, more seductive..."

- Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

Humans have always thought in terms of abstract and conceptual mind-created opposites. God and the devil, life and death, pleasure and pain, good and evil, yin and yang; my truth versus your truth, my God versus your God, my religion versus your religion, even duality versus nonduality. Some people see life as a never-ending battle between darkness and light. Some hope that the light will win. Some take the side of the darkness.

But is there really a war? Shadows only appear when there's a source of light. Shadows have no existence separate from light, no true power of their own. Shadows cannot truly oppose light, for without light they are nothing at all. They receive all their power from light. They are utterly dependent.

Light never needs to fear the shadows or long for their death or destruction. True light knows no opposite, no opposition, no mortal enemy. We pay so much attention to the darkness, to the 'negative' aspect, to the shadows, to what we see as the "absence of light", not realising that the only reason we can recognise the darkness is because the light is still very much switched on. No light, no darkness.

And we are that light, the timeless light of consciousness itself.

Do not fight the darkness. Use the appearance of darkness to remind you of the ever-present source of light that you are. Don't oppose the shadows you see, but know yourself as that timeless and limitless light of consciousness with ever more conviction and clarity, and you will come to realize that darkness was never 'against' you at all - it was only a reminder to never forget who you are, to wake up from the dream of opposites and end the division in yourself.

The war between darkness and light can never be won, for it never actually began.

So shine on with courage!

Self-care is often a very unbeautiful thing.

It is making a spreadsheet of your debt and enforcing a morning routine and cooking yourself healthy meals and no longer just running from your problems and calling the distraction a solution.

It is often doing the ugliest thing that you have to do, like sweat through another workout or tell a toxic friend you don’t want to see them anymore or get a second job so you can have a savings account or figure out a way to accept yourself so that you’re not constantly exhausted from trying to be everything, all the time and then needing to take deliberate, mandated breaks from living to do basic things like drop some oil into a bath and read Marie Claire and turn your phone off for the day.

A world in which self-care has to be such a trendy topic is a world that is sick. Self-care should not be something we resort to because we are so absolutely exhausted that we need some reprieve from our own relentless internal pressure.

True self-care is not salt baths and chocolate cake, it is making the choice to build a life you don’t need to regularly escape from.

And that often takes doing the thing you least want to do.

It often means looking your failures and disappointments square in the eye and re-strategizing. It is not satiating your immediate desires. It is letting go. It is choosing new. It is disappointing some people. It is making sacrifices for others. It is living a way that other people won’t, so maybe you can live in a way that other people can’t.

It is letting yourself be normal. Regular. Unexceptional. It is sometimes having a dirty kitchen and deciding your ultimate goal in life isn’t going to be having abs and keeping up with your fake friends. It is deciding how much of your anxiety comes from not actualizing your latent potential, and how much comes from the way you were being trained to think before you even knew what was happening.

If you find yourself having to regularly indulge in consumer self-care, it’s because you are disconnected from actual self-care, which has very little to do with “treating yourself” and a whole lot do with parenting yourself and making choices for your long-term wellness.

It is no longer using your hectic and unreasonable life as justification for self-sabotage in the form of liquor and procrastination. It is learning how to stop trying to “fix yourself” and start trying to take care of yourself… and maybe finding that taking care lovingly attends to a lot of the problems you were trying to fix in the first place.

It means being the hero of your life, not the victim. It means rewiring what you have until your everyday life isn’t something you need therapy to recover from. It is no longer choosing a life that looks good over a life that feels good. It is giving the hell up on some goals so you can care about others. It is being honest even if that means you aren’t universally liked. It is meeting your own needs so you aren’t anxious and dependent on other people.

It is becoming the person you know you want and are meant to be. Someone who knows that salt baths and chocolate cake are ways to enjoy life – not escape from it.

Lose yourself...

Lose yourself in this love.
When you lose yourself in this love,
you will find everything.

Lose yourself,
Lose yourself.
Do not fear this loss,
For you will rise from the earth
and embrace the endless heavens.

Lose yourself,
Lose yourself.
Escape from this earthly form,
For this body is a chain
and you are its prisoner.
Smash through the prison wall
and walk outside with the kings and princes.

Lose yourself,
Lose yourself at the foot of the glorious King.
When you lose yourself
before the King
you will become the King.

Lose yourself,
Lose yourself.
Escape from the black cloud
that surrounds you.
Then you will see your own light
as radiant as the full moon.

Now enter that silence.
This is the surest way
to lose yourself....

What is your life about, anyway? -
Nothing but a struggle to be someone,
Nothing but a running from your own silence.

~ Rumi

He is absolute Freedom and She is absolute Love.

Love found herself rejected by Freedom and Freedom found himself imprisoned by Love.

And Love without Freedom is attachment and Freedom without Love is escape.

They turned away from each other, both searching for Enlightenment outside their own Shadow and Pain.

And both Love and Freedom felt lonely and they didn’t feel received.

Because Love is nothing without Freedom and Freedom is nowhere without Love.

But Love needs to Dive Deep on her own and Freedom needs to Show Up for himself

To remember the Truth of who they are and connect to their own Sacred Source

And instead of Falling apart, they are Falling together

In Unity.

Be careful with
a man’s heart.
It is a precious thing.

Vulnerability lives there
in equal measure
to courage.

Let him show you.
Hold him there.
Be openness.
Be space.
Be acceptance.
Be love.

When he has hopes,
say, “Tell me more,”
When he has fears,
say, “Tell me more.”

Let your body
be a cradle.

When he opens,
he may have tears.
Welcome each one.
Kiss them.

When he is
weary, say,
“Come,
put your head
in my lap
I will stroke
your hair
and love you.”

When he
is brave,
shine your eyes
at him
and let him see
your pride.

Open your heart
to him
Trust him
to feel it.

When he loves you,
really loves you,
surrender.

When he is handsome,
which is every day,
kiss him
tenderly,
with love.
Then lingeringly,
with deep passion.
Then more.
More.
More.

Know this:
His heart is yours.
There is no difference.
There is no difference.
When he gives it
to you,
treat it like a treasure.
There is no difference.

Once, I ran from fear
so fear controlled me.
Until I learned to hold fear like a newborn.
Listen to it, but not give in.
Honour it, but not worship it.
Fear could not stop me anymore.
I walked with courage into the storm.
I still have fear,
but it does not have me.

Once, I was ashamed of who I was.
I invited shame into my heart.
I let it burn.
It told me, "I am only trying
to protect your vulnerability".
I thanked shame dearly,
and stepped into life anyway,
unashamed, with shame as a lover.

Once, I had great sadness
buried deep inside.
I invited it to come out and play.
I wept oceans. My tear ducts ran dry.
And I found joy right there.
Right at the core of my sorrow.
It was heartbreak that taught me how to love.

Once, I had anxiety.
A mind that wouldn't stop.
Thoughts that wouldn't be silent.
So I stopped trying to silence them.
And I dropped out of the mind,
and into the Earth.
Into the mud.
Where I was held strong
like a tree, unshakeable, safe.

Once, anger burned in the depths.
I called anger into the light of myself.
I felt its shocking power.
I let my heart pound and my blood boil.
Listened to it, finally.
And it screamed, "Respect yourself fiercely now!".
"Speak your truth with passion!".
"Say no when you mean no!".
"Walk your path with courage!".
"Let no one speak for you!"
Anger became an honest friend.
A truthful guide.
A beautiful wild child.

Once, loneliness cut deep.
I tried to distract and numb myself.
Ran to people and places and things.
Even pretended I was "happy".
But soon I could not run anymore.
And I tumbled into the heart of loneliness.
And I died and was reborn
into an exquisite solitude and stillness.
That connected me to all things.
So I was not lonely, but alone with All Life.
My heart One with all other hearts.

Once, I ran from difficult feelings.
Now, they are my advisors, confidants, friends,
and they all have a home in me,
and they all belong and have dignity.
I am sensitive, soft, fragile,
my arms wrapped around all my inner children.
And in my sensitivity, power.
In my fragility, an unshakeable Presence.

In the depths of my wounds,
in what I had named “darkness”,
I found a blazing Light
that guides me now in battle.

I became a warrior
when I turned towards myself.

And started listening.

Don't go looking for stability in a partner
Don't go looking for stability in a relationship
Don't go looking for stability in a job
Don't go looking for stability in a bank account

If we are depending on anything or anyone
In our external world
To bring us permanent stability...

We are constantly going to be living in fear
Of losing our security
We are always going to be seeing ourselves
As victims of circumstance
And we are going to be disappointed
Over and over again

People grow apart
Relationships breakup
Jobs become redundant
Money is never enough

As humans we are continually transforming
Change is the only constant
Life is a journey into the unknown
And nobody can ever promise us tomorrow

We have to become
So empowered in our personal sovereignty
So solid in our inner strength
So grounded in our individual truth

So flowing in our flexibility
So unattached in our thoughts
So trusting in our divinity
So stable in ourselves ...

That we know we are able to rebuild
After whatever tremors crumble our foundations

We know we can fearlessly ride
Whatever tsunamis capsize our boat

We know we will graciously weather
Whatever storms clear our path

And we know
Without any doubt

That no-one
And nothing
Holds the power...

To uproot
Our internal stability

To be happy you have to be able to live from the heart. The courage to trust and follow no matter what. To have the Heart.
In fact the word “Courage” has the same Latin route as the French word “coeur” meaning “heart”.
The Courage to live from the heart. To have HEART. To travel at the speed of Love.
What do you Love? What makes you feel happy, not just think that you might be happy. Follow it.
Your heart knowing will take you there every time.
Be honest with yourself and Trust your Heart and action it.

I So Love You
*****************
PS: And to follow your Heart is not to follow your emotions. which pull you through a "neediness".
Heart propels you through honesty, integrity, authenticity, sovereign Beingness.
And I am told that the speed of love is "the speed of light squared". I have never measured it. All I know is that it appears instantaneous because as soon as I feel it, it is EVERYWHERE.

One year ago, my life changed forever...

Hello, my love! So, today it is exactly one year of my heart and dreams being broken into a trillion pieces! Yet here I am, alive, smiling, happy (sometimes sad) ... you know why? Because I love you... :)

I remember the three days after this day one year ago, I just lay in bed, crying, didnt eat bathe felt like I had died. And how my Father held me in His embrace... He let me vent and fight with Him... and on the 4th day, He just gently picked me up and siad enough, get up and I did. Can I ever thank Him enough for being there for me? My joy and my smile is my thanks to Him.

And you... you who I just love with all my heart and soul, I had hoped body too. But that didnt happened. You who I don't even look at as much as I would like to. Because I know my eyes will give my love away... and now this love is just for me and the whole world, but cannot express to you. So you know what I did? I turned all this love towards myself and started treating myself the way I would have loved you. Because I want this love even if it has broken my heart to be my strength, my smile never ever my weakness (it is sometimes my tears, when I cry and cry but it is only love that I cannot give you so it flows from my eyes). Love is love even when it is not reciprocated. I mean you are a beautiful soul, and I cannot deny seeing that even if you are not part of my life. A good person will always be a good person. And our hearts should be big enough to acknowledge that.

I pray that you never ever know because I would never want you to feel sad in anyway and oh please never feel sorry for me. If anything, be proud of me. That even if I have mothing, I still hope and pray and smile and dance. That I have the courage to keep my heart open. That I trust in love, goodness, smiles, and have faith in everything working out the way it is meant to. Even if we dont always understand it.

And you know how I sit sedately when you are near when all I want to is run and hug you haha I imagine your look if I ever did that. But I never will as your dignity means so much to me. But sometimes I look at you and just want to kiss your nose and bite your hands lolol. I am so grateful for this safe space where I can record my feelings quietly so my heart lightens.

So when the desire to love you just makes me burst I kiss my palms and pray... for your happiness in every sphere of life, for your family as I know how much their well being means to you... I pray that you never have a sad moment and even if you do you always find the strength to live through them, that each day of your life is simple, peaceful, filled with smiles and delightful moments.

I hope my love reaches you without you knwoing its me and it makes you feel just so good about yourself, makes you walk tall and fill your heart with love.

I just love you!

Become loving. When you are in the embrace, become the embrace. Become the kiss. Forget yourself so totally that you can say, “I am no more. Only love exists.” Then the heart is not beating, but love is beating. Then the blood is not circulating, but love is circulating. Then eyes are not seeing, love is seeing. Then hands are not moving to touch, love is moving to touch. Become love and enter everlasting life. Love suddenly changes your dimension. You are thrown out of time and you are facing eternity. Love can become a deep meditation, the deepest possible. Lovers have known sometimes what saints have not known.

My heart, the bird of the wilderness,
has found its sky in your eyes.

They are the cradle of the morning,
they are the kingdom of the stars.

My songs are lost in their depths.
Let me but soar in that sky,
in its lonely immensity.

Let me but cleave its clouds
and spread wings in its sunshine.

Hands cling to hands and eyes linger on eyes
thus begins the record of our hearts.

Is it true, is it true,
that our love travelled alone through ages and worlds
in search of each other.

This love between you and me is simple as a song.

~ Rabindranath Tagore
From The Gardener

Often, it takes a cracking open of your outer shell—some part of your life where you can't make sense of things, where you run into an obstacle you can't control or manipulate—to return you to the holy place within that can fuel and source a meaningful life. It is the events, circumstances, and experiences in the outer world that will ultimately expose the illusions that keep you stuck inside your human shell.

You may have to lose your job or your money, experience the loss of a loved one or a betrayal, or become consumed by an out-of-control addiction to push past the closed doors of your ego's mind. I can assure you that all your challenges are there for one reason only: to turn you inward, and regardless of how you arrived here—through a desire to grow, a silent unhappiness, or a painful cracking open of the self—this cleanse bridges the gap between the internal and the external, so that you can return to your soul's deepest purpose by reconnecting to your divine essence.

New Ways of Being

Do you fully realise that the Universe is unfolding perfectly and everything has its place and is in perfect harmony with the whole?
You are an essential piece in this Grande singularity.
Do you get that you are Eternal? Do you get that you are in the perfect place and time ALWAYS? 
So you really can relax.
The Flow, the Divine Flow, is within and around you constantly. It cannot be controlled. That was the illusion, that was the seed of all fears, that was the loss of freedom.
You do not have to try anymore to get somewhere. You are there (Here really).
There is absolutely nowhere else better than where you are NOW.
You are in Earth embodiment recreating your Heaven through the restoration of self and transformation to your Self.
As soon as you stop trying, second guessing, planning, seeking you will immediately begin to see that you already have arrived at that great ‘final’ destination you have been seeking.
It is here and now.
And it is not one point, and yet is IS, One Eternal Flowing, ever moving, changing, expanding, creating. The, Joy, and everlasting peace will instantly show up as the 'background" to your Being, when you have accepted that you are Home and let go to allow it to appear within You..
Now the glorious adventure can continue. Everything is laid out before you in never ending surprise packages of expansion and joy. Fears drop away, blocks drop away, pain is released, suffering, unsafe, lack, need are disintegrated.
Allow feelings to arise and leave, speak to the little mind (*thought patterns ) in tones of your Lovingness. Move from unwakefulness, through the ‘haze, into the Dream of ‘“in between”, to Masterhood.
Relax and allow the New “Game” to unfold.

Love is the key. 
Love is the Allowance of the Grace and the energy of ONE. 
Love is the movement of the Mother through you and the stillness of the Father anchored in you. 
It is the interconnectedness and the state of Divine Union. 
Love is the being of that state of HOME. 
It has descended and you have been penetrated more than you can imagine at this time (Sacred Self Presence). 
Recognising that You are the essence of One, waking up is not just about you rejoining. It is about you CONSTANTLY allowing and remembering the truth and the wholeness of who you have always been. 
You have always carried the essence of Love. The quantum leap is simply you breaking away from the story of “Am I loved, am I lovable. Am I LOVE?” to the full acceptance that you are Love and that everything and everyone carries the same Essence. 
The only thing you are leaving behind is a Drama, a story. The movie of “out there” that was created by a “Shadow” of Humanity in its ‘darkest “hour to control and temporarily prevent Self from remembering. 
It is OVER now. We are not getting or running away from anything. We are stepping into what is real and what has always been, facing the continual choice of the True from the false.
It is entirely different to any other incarnation because you are choosing to allow the Truth of your abilities to Shine through. 
Gaia can now restore her full glory without tolerating the impact of the cruel drama you have been enacting with yourself. 
And as these things are streaming from your body, yu are often feeling lighter, giddy and extremely fatigued. 
Lie down and surrender to the Love of who you are. And because you can only put energy in for short spurts does not mean that nothing is being done.
Haven’t you felt the growing stillness within and the dissolving of the old fears. It is in this stillness where so much is being accomplished. 
In fact much, much more than you ever accomplished working hard all day. 
This is the New Way the way of 5th dimensional Beingness. 
LESS IS MORE because in your Lovingness and the simplicity of Being, there is the Knowing and there is a Miraculous effortless economy of doing and of creating.

Only two fulfilled persons can relate.

To relate is one of the greatest things of life:
to relate means to love,
to relate means to share.

But before you can share, you must have.

And before you can love you must be full of love, overflowing with love.

Two seeds cannot relate, they are closed.
Two flowers can relate; they are open,
they can send their fragrances to each other, they
can dance in the same sun and in the same wind,
they can have a dialogue, they can whisper.

The Yogi looked so serene and inviting, that the snake wanted to pour his heart out. All he could utter, was, “I am known to bite even those who feed me, so no one accepts me anymore.”
“Come! Wrap yourself around my neck in embrace”, said the Yogi. “I am known to accept those who are shunned”.
“You ask for me to embrace you simply on the premise that I feel shunned?” asked the snake.
“Yes, I ask everyone to embrace me”, said the Yogi. “Everyone is shunned by someone else. The poor, for example, are shunned by the rich. The rich by the religious, some people shun themselves; even the spiritual are shunned by many. I am a lover of all”.

~The Yogi And The Snake

'When a man is ready to discover his true self, the journey will usually take him in the opposite direction to which he has been traveling … away from the highway of the ego-mind, to the narrow path that leads to the heart.

If he is open to loving a woman, it’s in this place he recognises that she is pivotal to the growth of his soul; that she has such a deep réservoir of love within, waiting for him to experience, far beyond anything he has ever imagined. And he comes to understand that this secret paradise has remained hidden from him because the eyes of his heart were not open to see it. This is where he hears her call his name from the depths of his soul. And for the first time, he becomes conscious of what it means to passionately love and adore a woman with his whole being.

There, together, the man and woman’s souls are joined as they enter into what can only be described as divine love ... that which the Creator always intended for us to enjoy. In this beautiful place of surrendering to each other, the two love with a new spiritual and intimate understanding, while at the same time, unlocking their own greatness as they discover their oneness and united purpose for being.'~

~ Daniel Nielsen

On listening to gossip or facing an argument.

Gossip and under cover, finger pointing, judgement and separation is rife in so called "spiritual communities".
What is in it for you or the other. Do you really have to participate? Think peace rather than noise.
LOVE is not jealousy, name calling, "I'm better than you" "I'm more on the path than you". I have better tools" "I've been doing it longer". "I coming from a higher dimension"... and so many more subtle and not so subtle ways of judging others against yourself or judging yourself against others.
Haven't you realised that your path is totally and perfectly mapped out for your perfect alignment if only you would Trust and follow your own Heart and Higher Self promptings?
And "Mind you own business".

Choose to be with your internal Smile. And always silence over trying to be right.
Say “No” when it is necessary that the other know where you stand but otherwise find the place of Presence within yourself, see that same place in the other and hold your tongue.
And never be afraid to walk away without judgement but with Love in your Heart, or “walking tall” in your Lovingness for All.

PS And it is not about convincing me that you are beyond all this. It is about your own inner knowing of how loving you are and can be.
If you want to break your own dramas stay out of the dramas of others for a start, and be unafraid to be seen to withdraw. What kind of pleasure is it to enjoy the sharing of others misery?
Next stop repeat telling of your story. What kind of glory do you create by forever dumping your moods on others. There is a subtle pressure for your past misery mastered to become a badge of merit that gives you bragging rights to puff yourself up. 

Everyone wears a pearl gladly.
But Shiva,
He wraps the snake around His neck as call.
Everyone takes measure of their kingdoms,
large or homely small.
But Shiva,
He looks skyward,
embracing All.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B76PUvlzzB0&list=PLXdNI5smwBLI6cyCFh4TO2-bqFc-6U0lQ&index=3

http://reveredhinduism.blogspot.com/2016/07/suvarnamala-stuti.html

Unending Love

I seem to have loved you in numberless forms, numberless times...
In life after life, in age after age, forever.
My spellbound heart has made and remade the necklace of songs,
That you take as a gift, wear round your neck in your many forms,
In life after life, in age after age, forever.

Whenever I hear old chronicles of love, it's age old pain,
It's ancient tale of being apart or together.
As I stare on and on into the past, in the end you emerge,
Clad in the light of a pole-star, piercing the darkness of time.
You become an image of what is remembered forever.

You and I have floated here on the stream that brings from the fount.
At the heart of time, love of one for another.
We have played along side millions of lovers,
Shared in the same shy sweetness of meeting,
the distressful tears of farewell,
Old love but in shapes that renew and renew forever.

Today it is heaped at your feet, it has found its end in you
The love of all man's days both past and forever:
Universal joy, universal sorrow, universal life.
The memories of all loves merging with this one love of ours -
And the songs of every poet past and forever.”

― Rabindranath Tagore, Selected Poems