Perception

What is your perception of life?

Generally speaking, how do we see life, how do we distinguish between what is important and what is not?

In my twenty’s I was diagnosed with MS, but remembering I was the only person to ever be pulled out of an ice crevasse in Hintertux ski resort alive, my perception was challenged but remained positive about life. Always one to rise to a challenge, my transformation from rugby playing, surfing, skiing hero to the less physically mobile but much more developed emotionally and spiritually human being I am today has been made easier by remembering
how cool it is to be alive at all.

I guess the most important thing in life is living your to the life to the full and avoiding falling down whatever crevasse life may throw at you.

Let’s say the perception is like viewing life through goggles. If the tint of the goggles is blue, the world appears blue, if its black the world too 'becomes' black.

If you see yourself as a degenerative, incurable case, that’s what you’ll get. In the same way if you think life’s so positive and you’re really happy with how you feel about life, that’s what you and your life will be. Whilst it can be difficult or impossible to change reality, you can change your perception of it. By doing this you have in fact changed your own reality.

Damian Houston

A few words....

A few words from recently read books that I want to share with you.

Your spirits plan purpose was agreed upon before your present incarnation and is inscribed in every cell of your body.

Our directive from the Lord of Life is to reactivate what is lying dormant in your consciousness and awaken your Higher Self’s commitment to your true nature.

Always live with an open heart, compassionate, acceptance and unconditional love for yourself and all of the Universe’s Creatures and Creations.

Once a day has passed, that lesson is over and its time to move on to the next. Dwelling on what is gone is the greatest waste of our precious gift of life and serves no useful purpose what so ever.

Have compassionate acceptance and unconditional love and forgiveness every moment of your life. There is nothing more profound, greater or more urgent than this.

Yesterday is History, Tomorrow is a Mystery and Today is a Present.

Divine Magic – The Seven Sacred Secrets of Manifestation – Doreen Virtue

How to Heal Toxic Thoughts – Sandra Ingerman

Soul – Lessons and Soul Purpose – Sonia Choquette

See through transparency

Gepetto, Jiminy and the Blue Fairy by Paul Wolf

(link to original article)

I can tell a lie, and so can you. In fact, lying is often preferable to the truth. It's good manners to lie. It takes maturity to withhold the truth.

Myprimetime.com readers who have voiced their love of a good lie on our discussion boards agree. They think Radical Honesty author Brad Blanton is headed for a life with only the cold hard truth to keep him warm.

Blanton claims that we are all duty-bound to speak our minds at all times - not just for our own sake, but for the sake of everyone on the receiving end of our radical honesty, including the obese woman in front of you at the check-out line, or the co-worker with the grating voice.

"I recommend that you hurt people's feelings, but that you stay with them until they get over it," says Blanton.

Let's see how long your boss will stay with you after you've insulted his wife at the company party.

"Eventually this person is going to realize that they've hurt everyone they care about or like and they will be literally alone," writes myprimetime.com reader Riverdale.

No doubt, alienation is the eventual outcome of practicing pure truthfulness. Civilized existence is all about lying. Cooperation requires we swallow our pride, turn the other cheek, let things slide and let others have the last word.

"Children don't know how to hold their tongue and it is something they are taught as they get older as they learn restraint," says marriage and family therapist Cindy McCrea.

She explains that honesty dwells in a field of checks and balances. Speaking the truth is like any other action that has impact, and its impact must be weighed.

While Blanton makes a strong case that dishonesty can cause stress, muddy true communication and even hamper personal growth, his argument falls apart when he fails to distinguish between acceptable lying and unacceptable lying.

We tell acceptable lies every day, and are probably the better for it. We tell them when our agenda is more important than the truth. Like when Al Gore, in his first debate with George Bush, said he never questioned his rival's qualifications for president, "only his policies." Gore then went on to talk about Bush's policies.

Was it a lie? Of course. He had questioned Bush's qualifications. But he didn't want to waste his two minutes on name calling when the policy differences were more relevant to the occasion.

What about sex? Now there's something worth lying about from time to time. Take Elizabeth Hurley who recently recanted her quote in Talk magazine, the one in which she says that ex-lover Hugh Grant was "less than adequate" in bed.

No doubt realizing she'd crossed the line, Hurley came back saying he was "fantastic" in bed. Someone was lying. In that she never insisted she was misquoted, but only said that there was confusion in the interview, we're guessing Hurley's the one with her pants on fire.

Transparency is (in) the air

The UK Core team has been wrestling with some practical implications of interacting transparently for the past couple of weeks. In the light of this I was intrigued to discover this post from Web Worker Daily (the comments are particularly interesting). The increasing use of social networking via the web has made the lives of many people much more transparent than they would have been a few years ago, but problems are arising because it is an unconscious transparency.

One of the commenters says,

“Don’t write it unless you would say it in front of 100 strangers, your mom, your best friend and your spouse/partner.”

Perhaps that could be reframed to: Don't do it unless you would do it in view of 100 strangers, your mom, your best friend and your spouse/partner.

An issue that is raised that was of interest to me is that there is a responsibility on the viewer of an activity to make conscious choices too. Do I need to know this? Do I want this level of intimacy? By our bravery in breaking our cocoons we force others to make brave decisions about what they want to know.

Another commenter links to a strong article by Molly Holzschlag about her experiences of being transparent in her professional life in IT and how that has benefited her career. These articles are coming from a more mundane approach than our venture, but they are dealing with the same issues we are.

We have embraced an idea that is coming to the surface here and we have with that a great opportunity for positive influence. We will need courage to follow this through but we are not doing this alone, and we have the key element of consciousness in our approach.

Molly Holzschlag includes a powerful quote in her article that is helping me in my battle for transparency;

Never apologise for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologise for truth.

Benjamin Disraeli

One day we will wonder why it wasn't always this way.

On a mission?

If you think a personal mission statement might be useful, but don't know where to begin, try this:

http://www.nightingale.com/mission_select.aspx

Bankruptcy and the universe

I think bankruptcy is the universe's way of saying wake up, slow down and do something worthwhile that makes you happy.

Be sure to pay all those that actually did a job for you, but don't worry about the money lenders- it's all part of their job.

It certainly worked for me, and this new life brings alot of laughter and fun, positivety and healing.

Why wait for your universal bankruptcy, why not follow your own conscious living path and have fun now?

Good luck,

Damian Houston

New social perspective

I love experiencing the forever changing environment we live in.

This morning I went to my local social security office to get a form I needed stamped and wow, I was I amazed. Gone were glass shielded booths and half drunk rolly smoking unshaven visitors (and that was just the women) of five years ago. Instead I was greeted by a modern, open plan environment with comfy seats to sit on whilst waiting and pleasant staff.

Gone was the victim attitude; it seemed you that whether you were there to try and get a better job or check on your benefit payments you felt respected and worthy of a posh job. One's perception of visiting the local social security office has changed to a business like place to help you better yourself, instead of just queuing for money.

The whole experience made peeling the parking ticket off my car outside so much easier to bear...

Damian Houston.

The Universal Law of B*ll*cks by Henk J.M. Schram

Thanks to Peter Shepherd at Metamorphosis (Tools for Transformation - www.trans4mind.com) for pointing to this:

The Universal Law of Bollocks by Henk J.M. Schram

These days you can hardly go through any articles, books, DVDs, movies, films, documentaries with regard to self-improvement or self-help without coming across at least one mentioning of some 'Universal Law'.

Suddenly, there appears to be a Universal Law for anything. Like we haven't got enough Laws to deal with already!...

(whole article)

....But the last thing you need are instructions that are either overly symbolic, or too complex to apply. What you want to keep things simple and straightforward. Or else you may get lost in the details. You want just enough straightforward knowledge for simple application of the principles, while still having a total view on the big picture that is comprehensive enough to not forget about any universal principle, or Law for that matter.

If you want to make life simple for yourself, to start pulling the right strings at once to create the life and destiny of your dreams, then don't waste another second on trying to find out every small, detailed, insignificant 'Universal Law' someone came up with today. You'll be like a cat chasing its own tail: a never-ending story that leaves you exhausted and depressed. Neither should you merely think positive thoughts and then wait for things to happen. There's a little more to it. Just a little, nothing complex, but still extremely important.

Just keep it simple. There are 6 main Universal Principles (or Laws) that cover all universal principles automatically. Attend to them all, which is a simple thing to do without much effort required, and you'll be off living more than your dreams before you can even consciously realize you created such an incredible experience!

Keep it straightforward and easy-to-apply. The game of life wasn't intended to be complex and difficult. The game was supposed to be simple and easy, and most of all FUN! And there's a simple road to it, and it's just a small decision away. Welcome to the Revolution...

Nicholas P. Kidd and Henk J.M. Schram are the instigators of the alleged 'Great Revolution', which provides the members with truthful instructions regarding the universal principles of life.

Barefoot Paths

I have just read an article in this months Natural Health magazine about Britain’s first Barefoot Park that has opened at the Trentham Estate, Stoke-on-Trent, www.trenthamleisure.co.uk It’s a playground for your feet, with lots of different textures to stimulate the feet, they say its DIY Reflexology. There are 7000 nerves and 26 bones in the feet!! That’s a lot of stimulation!! In the East Reflexology paths have been around for thousands of years, and according to the article ‘experiencing the sensation of different textures underfoot is invigorating’. And it reminded me that only last week while playing football with friends three young boys!!! I took off my sandals while running around on the grass, it was so enjoyable, I realised I hadn’t been barefoot on grass for a very long time. The feeling was WONDERFUL.

Watching Pretty Woman yet again last week!! Julia Roberts takes Richard Gere to the park and takes off his shoes and socks and makes him walk around on the grass barefoot, a workaholic who is always at his desk wearing a suit!!! Getting him to connect back with nature.

As a rebellious teenager I used to walk most places barefoot and I had forgotten how good it feels. It is so easy to forget our inner child, and not take them out to play, why not yours out today for a Barefoot Walk.

Also, in the article it talks about Elizabeth Marazita, a doctor of Acupuncture who has designed many Barefoot Paths in America, and has also developed and indoor mat!!! www.pathsofhealth.com like walking on a pebble beach in your own home!!!
And finally a quote from a book by Adele Coombs ‘Barefoot Dreaming’ Going barefoot is the gentlest way of walking and can symbolize a way of living – being authentic, vulnerable, sensitive to our surroundings. It’s the feeling of enjoying warm sand beneath our toes, or carefully making our way over sharp rocks in the darkness. It’s a way of living that has the lightest impact, removing the barrier between us and nature” so why not kick off your shoes and start enjoying today…..