Life Priorities

When people move on from their physical life, we don’t remember their possessions: the things they had and owned.

We remember who they were; what they gave to us and others in terms of an uplifted feeling. It may have come through the vibrancy of their character, or the quality of their talent.

It is the person we love and hold eternally in our hearts, not their stuff.

Yet in our own lives, we obsess over gaining material wealth. We convince ourselves we ‘need’ far more than we actually do.

It is all so transient, anyway. It occurs to me that the people we love and admire, whose inspiring words we quote and deeds we desire to emulate, are often the people who own(ed) next to nothing. They were valued for their spirit and their actions.

These are our mentors, our role models, our most beloved and respected. It makes sense to shift our own personal focus from chasing money, cars, big houses and fashion statements – to being the full-on amazing person we truly are at our core.

Let’s present this Self up front and foremost.

Setting this as our top priority makes us truly rich. This is the way a single individual can illuminate the whole world.

Life Priorities © November 22, 2015 | Annie Zalezsak

Advertisement

Stepping Stones

We try to control our lives. With every choice we make, we agonize over what will be the best. We’ll imagine entire scenarios well into the future, filled with hazards and mistakes. Likewise, we may picture unreasonably fantastic success. Either way, the likelihood is, it won’t pan out anything like you fear or hope for.

So, we straddle the stepping stones. We keep one foot here, as we step there, and don’t commit to either. Just in case. We can’t let go of the past, for fear of the unknown future. Yet we bounce between the two, back and forth, and forget to live in the Now.

There are so many influencing factors that we simply don’t have to hand right now, and therefore we can’t calculate into the equation. Try as we might, there is no right or wrong about any of it. We have to take the next step. Trust that the next bit of information we need to take the following step will be presented to us. And then we can take the next step after that.

Planning, setting goals, and making the ‘right’ choices in advance is like trying to predict the lottery. Imagine trying to select the winning numbers as if your life depended on it. How stressful would that be? It’s an impossible task. Similarly, trying to predict our future, or what is the best decision, is pretty much futile. We actually don’t know how it will turn out.

We just have to decide. Take action. And build life step-by-step, trusting that each stepping stone will ultimately take us to a good place. And enjoy every stepping stone along the way!

Stepping Stones © September 14, 2011 | Annie Zalezsak

Our Human Family

A rare jewel among our species, Maggie Doyne has done what so many of us deeply desire: to single-handedly attempt to change the world, impact humanity, and utterly trust that the money and the means will show up to accomplish it. She inspires us to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that if she can do this, we are all capable of creating something similar. Let’s all remember our human family, and engage with positivite activity to connect and create a better home for us all.

 

Maggie Doyne — Why the human family can do better from The Do Lectures on Vimeo.

Popcorn Trails

As we live each day, situations arise and people cross our paths. Each one has an impact (if only subtle). Some, we’ll ignore to a large degree; others will positively influence us toward a new direction.

It’s like a popcorn trail: as we pick up a kernel, it leads to the next, and then the next. At some point, we discover we’re in a completely new place, with an entirely different view on where we’ve been, and where we’re headed.

Life has a way of guiding us like this. Call it intuition.

Do you follow popcorn trails?

Popcorn Trails © June 4, 2011 | Annie Zalezsak

Parallel Lives

Every moment of every day, we are making choices that we believe define our destiny. If today I choose a path that diverges off on a tangent, it seems like there is no way back.

Or is there? What if, in some alternate universe, some parallel life, I take both paths? Or all paths, like some kind of ever-multiplying fractal?

We cannot be certain of anything but this moment. Nothing outside this moment can actually be proven. If we suppose that All things are possible, and All things occur in this moment, then does the choice we make here and now truly dismiss all other choices? Perhaps it just enables the human brain to focus upon one choice in a sequence timeline so we can compose a story about it; all the while, every other choice is being played out in infinite layers that are somehow integrated in the quantum field.

The point is, let’s not fret over ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ choices when All things exist simultaneously. We may be focusing on ‘this’, but ‘that’, too, is being experienced on some level.

Parallel Lives © May 27, 2011 | Annie Zalezsak

Master of Your Destiny

No one else can live your life. You are the Captain of your ship, the Master of your destiny. Before you set sail, be sure you know where you are heading. Plot your course accordingly, even if you can’t see it, it is there just on the horizon. Even when you have no energy for things, you have energy… you cannot not have it, you would be dead otherwise. Perhaps you are already dead… dead to the old way of being, and if this is so, say “goodbye” and dream a new dream, a new life. For after all, no one else can dream your dream, or live your life. It is in your hands… so go now, go grab it with a blind faith in yourself that all will be well!!!

Knowing and Walking

Knowledge is somewhat subjective. We could just say it’s all thought. Let’s suspend the analysis for a moment and presume there is a kind of supreme knowledge that is the ultimate truth of life. Let’s presume we have been enlightened to that knowledge: we know what it’s all about, what we’re here to do, how it all works. What then?

There is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.
— Morpheus, in the film, The Matrix

 We may ‘know’ what the path is. Are we walking that path?

To know but not to do is not yet to know.
— Zen proverb

A life coach might say: take action! Yet, there are ideas (excuses?) around ‘divine timing’ and ‘allowing’ for the Universe to deliver ‘this, or something better’. We may ‘sit still’, wait to be ‘guided’ or ‘meditate on it’. We may be looking for the ‘flow’, the ‘signs’, or following our ‘intuition’.

It seems to me that thinking, believing and even knowing is not enough.
Walking. Therein lies Reality.

Walking involves Being, with every cell of the body, heart and soul, fully committed to something. It does not even matter what that ‘something’ is. What matters is full and complete engagement.

Until we Walk, do we really Know? Do we really Live?

Knowing and Walking © May 8, 2011 | Annie Zalezsak

Point of Reference

In life, most people are guided by something… perhaps a God, an idea, a belief, or a relationship. In all of these, there are rules to learn and to abide by and there are languages to help us understand the game of life. These things are our safety net, they are what we define ourselves by. Should we act outside of these rules, we may fear being alienated, cast out and alone!

We get to know ourselves firstly through our parents/carers, then our siblings, larger family and to the general population. We join groups, sports teams,  organisations, protests and marches. We fight causes that call to us even if we do not know why and we align ourselves to political parties. We live with material success and the need for approval of others. For the most part, we feel a sense of connectedness, of belonging and unity. We get a sense that this is ‘us’, this is what life is all about. All is good.

But what happens when you find yourself without these groups of people, successes, material gain or causes to align with? What do you do when the world has been pulled from right under your feet? Where is that sense of connectedness you felt to those you believed in? Where is that connection if your God is not what you thought it to be, if the ideology you followed turns out to be an illusion? You realise that no matter what you believed, felt, knew or connected to is no longer there. You are adrift without oars or a compass, being carried along without a north star to guide you. What do you do, who do you turn to if there is no one, no thing to turn? 

Can you trust yourself to be your guide? Do you really believe what you know, feel, see or hear as your own truth? Do you trust in your own innate being enough to guide you on? And if you did, what would you be heading towards if all you knew had gone? No goals to follow, no dreams to dream, no place to run or hide. Where would you see yourself ending up?

This is where we need a new reference point, that reference point US (I). A reference point we set ourselves, one that can NEVER be lost. When our frame of reference is set at US – which is and has always been then  never again can we be cast adrift in a sea of lonliness or false living.

It is said that we come back to the very same place we began. We come back to US!!!

I therefore, must be our frame of reference, our starting point, our guide in life and in death. I, is always with us, even when in disguise. If we use this as our guide, then we can know that we will never be separate, can never be alone even when outside of us the world may be falling apart!

The Mirror of Your Life

Have you looked in the mirror lately to see yourself in all your glory? Did you notice the man in the mirror who showed you your true worth? Did you see the woman who so loved you that it hurt?

Did you see the wonder of  All That Is?

Or, when you looked in the mirror of all those faces you know so well, did you see fear, did you see anger, jealousy, hate, poverty or violence?

What is it you see today in that mirror called ‘this world’ (your life)? What do you see?

In the wonderful richness of this tapestry we call life, we get to choose what we want, what part we will play and in what surroundings that will be.

Be careful what you focus on… that becomes your choice, your way, your life, your story. Choose wisely, dear friend… choose wisely!

Are You New Here?

As I was sitting here contemplating what to write, I saw  “Are you new here?” written in the help box for those new to blogging. It got me thinking about life…

Sometimes I feel as though I have been around forever. I feel as though I know so much, that I have experienced and learnt so very much. Yet, as time goes on, I realise that I know so little and that perhaps I will never know the truth of everything. Maybe I don’t need to, and that is fine. Many times when I come across difficult situations, times when I have felt out of my depth, I do feel as though I ‘am new here’. Never having had the experience and therefore never having had to find a solution to it, it has been quite unsettling.

But, in the far reaches of my being, in that place where peace and wisdom dwells, I am able to find the truth in all things. In this place it doesn’t matter if I am new here. In this place where the ALL THAT IS is, I feel as old as time itself.