I just uploaded a video on YouTube called “The Journey“. Here is what I want you to do:
Step 1: Watch the Video
Step 2: Write your opinion within 200 words (two-three paragraphs) on what is the message contained within the video and how you think it relates to the journey of our lives. What specific messages you could find that you can immediately implement in your own journey. How did the video change the way you think about life?
Watch the video as many times as you need as it truly contains a profound message that may not be apparent on the first go. Please take the time to construct your reply in a nice way so others can benefit from it also. Feel free to include your personal experience and life stories if it is relevant.
Step 3: Send it to us at ryr.ecourse@gmail.com (or post it as a comment here)
We will receive all your emails and comments until next Saturday (13th December) and then decide on 3 winners. The comments will also be posted on our blog at the end of the result for everyone to benefit from it.
The winners will get the following prizes:
First Prize: A personal 1 hour telephone session with me + The Redefine Your Reality Package with my book “Redefine Your Reality” and access to over 100 HOURS of bonus audio/videos found here:
Second Prize: The Redefine Your Reality Package with my book and access to over 100 HOURS of bonus audio/videos.
Third Prize: A copy of my book Redefine Your Reality.
Have fun and I hope you will find something valuable from this little contest.
Shafin
The Result
Firstly I’d like to thank all of you who submitted their interpretations of “The Journey”. Although we could not publish all them, but we have read each and every one.
And now its time to declare the winner! (All winning posts are in the comments below.)
AND THE WINNER IS…
*************** Lisa Hanson!!! ***************
Thank you Lisa for your wonderful and your heartfelt entry. Your personal experience and depth can be felt through your words. You will get a free telephone session with me along with my book Redefine Your Reality and all the other bonuses. We will get in touch with you via email shortly.
The second prize goes to…. Roseline Fong!!
Thank you Roseline, you words are true and very much to the point. Hopefully many thousands will find guidance from your words for years to come. You will receive my book along with over 100 hours of audio/videos.
The third prize goes to…
BOTH… Janice Scarinci Ph.D. And…
Adesh Goyal
Thanks Janice and Adesh! Both of you submitted a wonderful entry. You are both going to receive a copy of my book Redefine Your Reality.
Okay! So that’s it for now. Please feel free to submit your own interpretation of the Ithaca anytime you want to. Just post it as a comment here. And don’t forget to include your name and website if you have one.
Today’s lesson is Q&A style. Its also going to be a bit lengthy and probably the most important lesson so far, so you may want to take a printout for reading it more than once and for future reference.
Question From A Reader:
Dear Shafin,
My name is Shazia. I am 33 years old. I have been reading lots of articles on Law of Attraction. Amongst all the articles i have read, your articles seem to be one of the best. Thanks for providing this free 7 day E-course.
Shafin, I used to be working for a travel agency. However i quit the job because i really could not take the work load. I have no idea as to how i have to move forward. My mind is blank. There used to be lots of interests before but nothing seems to interest me anymore like the way people call it burning desire. Once upon a time i used to be interested in Drama, Music, etc. I loved to entertain my friends and make them laugh. Now, I have to support my family as my husband does not earn well and i am like wasting lot of time. The only thing i do is to find out if anyone is offering free lessons on law of attraction and read them.
Shafin, i dont know why i felt like opening up to you. I understand that you help lot of people and bring a better change in their lifes. Can you please change mine too?? I intend to lead a beautiful and a successful life. Please advise me Shafin and share your knowledge with me in order to redefine my life. I shall remain grateful to you for ever.
Please take time out to read my mail and reply.
Thanking you in advance.
Regards
Shazia
Answer from Shafin:
Hi Shazia,
First of all, I want to congratulate you for doing two things:
1. Taking the time to look deeper inside, educate yourself and trying to find a solution within yourself, rather than distracting yourself with all sorts of things like TV, food, relationships, children etc.
2. Reaching out to me and asking for advice with honesty and openness. I know how difficult it can be to open yourself up and asking for help.
So before I tell you how to change anything let me assure you: you are on the right track!
Whatever your situation maybe, however desperate, right now you are moving forward, going deeper, asking why, finding answers, seeking help, attracting teachers, learning lessons, getting better, becoming more aware… And that in itself is reason enough to be grateful for all that has ever happened to you so far. What has happened has brought you here. Be grateful for that.
But then, that is not what you want to hear from me, do you?
So here is a little background and then I’ll tell you what to do to go forward.
See one of the most difficult obstacles to cross when it comes to spiritual enlightenment (and financial freedom for that matter) is our attachment to the known. Now as I keep saying to my students: like it or not, your life is probably working better than 90% of the world out there. And it very well applies to you too. How do I know? Well, simply from the fact that you have enough money and education to afford a working Internet connection, enough food in your stomach to think straight, enough intelligence to write a letter like what you have written, and enough stability in life to think about the higher level needs in life like happiness and fulfillment. Anyone with all these things working in their lives is living a better life than about 90% of the world out there. And that, unfortunately, CAN BE one of the biggest obstacles towards going forward in life.
The reason it can be one of the biggest obstacles is because consciously you may not be happy at the moment but your sub-conscious mind knows that what you have right now is “working”. Whatever you have done so far has put you in the upper 10% category in this intensely competitive world right now. And while you are willing to do whatever is necessary to bring about a change, change is something your sub-conscious mind is quite afraid of… especially if it means letting go of old patterns of behavior and belief systems.
Purely from a biological perspective (and not considering other factors), there are two things your sub-conscious mind or your animal side is concerned with:
a. Survival
b. Replication
It is not concerned with spiritual development, law of attraction, building Eiffel Tower, conquering the Himalayas or becoming the world champion in hop-step-jump! It is concerned primarily with survival and secondarily with replication. That’s it! And so far you seem to be managing both quite successfully. But then that is not what makes you a human being does it?
So there are other things you are concerned with. There are other needs you have. Other parts of you that dream of things that no human has ever laid eyes upon, that imagine things that exist beyond time and space, that wants to reach for the stars so far away that even its light will never reach earth… So there is the spiritual part of you, which keeps you awake night and day.
The reason I mention these two sides is to show you that there is a conflict of interest between different parts within you. Remember that to understand what follows.
In a small little nutshell, here are the 6 universal Human needs that drives all our behaviors. These are not mere wants or desires but deep driving needs that makes us what we are. These needs are not found in other animals, not in this specific way at least:
1. Certainty: That you will be alive in the next hour, that you will be loved, that you will have enough food to eat tomorrow etc.
2. Uncertainty: If everything was always how you predicted it to be, you would get bored and die.
3. Significance: That you are worthy of love and affection and success.
4. Love and Connection: From other human beings. Love from a goldfish is not a substitute.
5. Growth: Constant growth is a deep human need. When you stop growing, you start dying.
6. Contribution: To be able to help humans and all other beings in their own journey.
Every time you fulfill one or more of your needs you will feel happy. Conversely, when you are not fulfilling your human needs in life, you will be unhappy. In a nutshell, that is how your emotions guide you through life. Happy = needs met. Unhappy = needs unmet. And life goes on. Got it?
Now understand this: every choice people make in life is to fulfill one or more of their needs, EVERY CHOICE. And remember this: if one of your behaviors is able to consistently fulfill 3 or more of your needs, you will get addicted to that behavior!
Now coming back to your problem, which happens to be a very common problem, the structure is very simple:
You begin life, you make choices that presently fulfill your needs, if you are able to successfully keep 3 or more of your needs fulfilled, you get hooked to that “modus operandi” or strategy for life. And life moves on until one day you find that you are deeply unhappy with what you got, surrounded by responsibilities that are not so much fun!
So what went wrong? See there is a basic problem with this formula. The problem is the formula is not based upon following your deepest desires or what is your true hearts calling, but mostly based upon what others told you to do. What others “approved” of. What others told you was the “right” thing to do. Who are these “others”?
Prepare for some hard honestly here: the others are your family, your friends, the school teachers, the books you read when you were growing up, the movies you watched etc. Now take an honest accounting of all those factors right now and see if you can find how successful, balanced and happy these “others” are in their life. Chances are, as you will find out, they are no better off than you are. And the movies (that taught you the meaning of love and shaped your idea of relationships) with the actors within them, and directors who directed them, along with writers who wrote the stories the movies were based upon, are some of the unhappiest individuals on the planet, trying to drown themselves in the most destructive ways known to mankind with drugs and alcohol (of course this is a generalization but I’m sure you get the point).
Unfortunately, that is the model you probably followed directly or indirectly. And now you find that it’s no longer enough to just get their approval, its no longer okay to just follow the norms, it’s no longer acceptable to allow the “others” tell you how to live your life. Life has become a mess and it needs to be fixed now!
Which brings us back to where we started from which is: having said everything, where you are, is a good place. It is a place where you have, probably for the first time in life, started asking the right questions and that is the most important requirement to find the right answers.
So what is the bottom line? The bottom line is there is no quick fix to this. And more importantly, something that may not be very agreeable to you right now, there is nothing that needs to be fixed either! It is perfect where you are. It is better to have messed up in one lifetime and awaken, than live a thousand lifetimes of blissful unawareness. You have all the basic ingredients necessary to make a leap right now, but will you???
So here are the next steps you could take to chart brand new game plan:
1. Take note of the major decisions in life that has brought you where you are today. Write down the top 5 things decisions you are not so happy with. Then knowing what you know now, analyze yourself with what needs were met having taken those decisions. If you are to go forward, you need to learn from history.
2. Take note of your life right now and write down, which of the 6 human needs are being met or unmet right now. Find out ways to fulfill them. Not knowing what to do is not an excuse. The answers you don’t have will be given if you know how to ask the questions. Most of us have no idea even how to ask the right questions. Here are some right questions to begin with:
a. Am I with the right man? Is he performing his duties as a man? What are his real duties as a man? (Hmmm) Am “I” the man in the relationship? Am I too afraid to even ask this question? (Hmmm) How can I invite him to be that Man so I can be the Woman that he can truly love and worship (without threatening him or attacking him)? (MEN: Go vice versa)
b. What is it that makes me truly happy doing? If money wasn’t an issue what would I do with my time in life? What is it that I was born in this world to do?
c. What do I really feel? What is my deepest fear? What is it really that I want in my life? Money, fame, success and power has time and again failed to make human beings truly happy. Then what is it “really” that I am looking for?
3. Study like a mad woman! Buy books and tapes and videos and audios like you have never done before. DON’T BORROW! If you don’t have money to buy a book this week, sell your toaster or something. But buy a book and read it. It doesn’t matter what you read. The answers will be given as you take the step forward. You will be guided.
If you want to learn from me, go take a look at the Redefine Your Reality package. We just added over a HUNDRED hours of audio/video on everything to do with success, abundance, law of attraction, business, metaphysics, spiritual knowledge and many more topics! This promotional package is here for a limited time. So get it here while it lasts:
Finally here is what I have to tell you: Follow your heart right now! You don’t need to know all the answers today. But if you follow your heart right now, it will guide to the places that has some of the answers. The way will unfold slowly. It has been a long time of not listening to that faint voice. Listen to it today.
How do you listen? Sit down everyday for minimum 15 minutes (an hour if you can manage it without going crazy) and focus on your breathing. Slowly you will find guidance from here. Listen to it. I know it’s damn scary at times. I know it’s saying all kinds of things that you know will lead you into trouble. But that is YOUR truth. Follow your truth. Take some action. What have you got to lose anyway?
In the end… smile! It’s all okay. You are being guided. You are loved beyond comprehension. You are being taken care of all the time and you always will be. Sometimes we come too far off from what was our chosen way and life becomes a mess. But it doesn’t take a long time to go back to the way once again. It’s all about making a choice… and as I said right in the beginning: you are already on the right way!
This was a letter I originally wrote to a friend so forgive me if I am a bit incoherent at times (more than I normally am that is). Do leave me a comment if you enjoy it.
Today I spent the whole day at the east coast park near the beach. It was so much fun. In the morning I noticed it was all cloudy and lightly drizzling, I checked on the weather sites and it said it would rain all day today due to some low pressure something. This made me decide that it would be the perfect day to spend outdoors! I know, I know, doesnt make sense, why would I want to be outdoors when it was going to rain all day right? Well, I can control the rain you see! Well, not really, but I have learned to trust divine providence in such matters. If my heart says lets go to east coast and weather channels say its gonna rain all day, I follow my heart, which is connected to something bigger than the weather people.
Anyway, so I am at east coast and I had a nice Coffee Bean breakfast with earl gray and started walking. As promised, it was drizzling, but I tried to find a nice bench with a canopy above it that would keep me dry. I walked all the way to the to the end of the stretch (about 1 kilometer) but no lemon. There were many benches but all wet and rainy! Hmm.. thought I could control rain huh? What happened now? Well, I told myself, happiness is something you decide on, not something that happens to you, so I was going to be happy anyways I got in one of those covered sitting areas with an indian fellow enjoying his beauty sleep on one of the benches and I sat on one of the other ones. I hooked up my mp3 player and started to listen to Bruce Springsteen: Streets of Philadelphia.. and it was magic! The world dissolved away for 5 minutes and all that remained was me, Bruce, the endless drops of falling rain, and millions of waves of the sea crashing on the beach and turning into foam.
It always happens like this. Sea turns itself and foams, and with every foaming bit another body, another being takes form. And when the sea sends word, each foaming body melts back to ocean-breath.
I looked for my self, but my self was gone. The boundaries of my being had disappeared in the sea. Waves broke. Awareness rose again. And a voice returned me to myself.
The song came to an end and I started walking again. I had understood a lesson one more time: the magic and the miracles are never out there somewhere, it is always in you. Sometimes in our obsession to control outcomes according to how we want it to be, we forget to trust the wisdom of the Father who weaves away the universal fabric of infinite time and causation in the most inexplicable way. When you learn to trust that wisdom, you can relax, for it is always working out in the best possible way.
I came back to coffee bean, right where I originally started (funny how these things work out), ordered the brewed coffee of the day (anything else is milk in disguise) and a cranberry michel.
I sat outside in coffee bean in the part that overlooks the sea, opened my book on the nature of electro-magnetism and its relationship quantum mechanics, and studied for 3 solid hours! It was so much fun! I made some connections that I had been studying upon for the last 7-8 months and couldn’t connect the dots! I was so happy. It was like for the first time when you learn how to tie your shoe laces. Remember the excitement? Thats how I felt. And it was so beautiful and pleasant. The falling rain, the sea, the ships floating at the distance like old men with umbrellas in a bus station in the rain, the soft music from the Irish Cafe next door singing, of all things in the world, “…what if God was one of us…”
Later in the evening, when my brain was completely saturated with my new found knowledge, I decided to go biking. The bike rental people gave me a water bottle along with the bike for $6 and one hour free ride.
Anyway, I went biking but it was so breezy and chilly that it got too tempting for me. So I sat down on the bench that had a coconut tree exactly 3 feet away and very close to the sea. I sat there enjoying the breeze and watching the ships slowly turn on their evening lights. The waves were crashing and crashing. The one sound in the world, I imagine I could never tire of.
The sky was so big… the breeze was so strong… the sun was setting and the colors were all red and orange. I felt that enormous love inside of me that began to swell my heart. I didn’t know how to handle it. I walked over and touched the coconut tree and said: thank you, I love you, I am so blessed, thank you, I have no more words, thank you, you are my life, my love, my purpose, my everything. Guide me everyday and allow me to unfold you through me everyday. It is such a magnificent and glorious life. And I thank you for giving it to me.
The moment was perfect. But then, once again, I realized… aren’t they all?
A few days ago one of my VIP Program student from Florida told me about this unusual TV program they are showing on the Discovery Channel called The Dog Whisperer! Do you know what it’s about? If not I’ll tell you about it in just a short while but before that I want to tell you something on a little different tangent.
600 years before Jesus’ birth, a man called Lao Tzu lived in ancient China. He was a man around whom many mysteries and myths surround but as far as I can tell from cross referencing history, this man worked for the imperial government as a record keeper or librarian of sorts. According to biographies and legend, he got tired of the city life and the continuous wars and traveled to the west to live as a hermit in at the age of 160! At the gate of the kingdom he was recognized by a guard and the guard requested the old master to write something that would preserve his wisdom. This is the legendary origin of the Tao Te Ching (loosely translated as: the book of the great way). This book, in its 81 beautiful short verses, captures the essence of spirituality like no other text I have personally encountered. Some scholars say that it is one of the wisest books ever written and I very much agree.
The philosophy of this work focused on the following concepts: tao, wu (emptiness), wu -wei (nondoing) and Fu (the return of all things to their origins). The goal of the Taoist philosophy is, to become one with Tao, the great way, by aligning your self with the universal laws and return to origins. But to achieve this, the student has to achieve emptiness and simplicity, practice non-doing, and dedicate his life to the understanding of the great way.
Here is the very first verse of Tao Te Ching for those of you who would like to appreciate the beauty of this master work:
The Tao that can be spoken of is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth.
The name is the mother of the ten thousand things.
Send your desires away and you will see the mystery.
Be filled with desire and you will see only the manifestation.
As these two come forth they differ in name. Yet at their source they are the same.
This source is the mystery.
The mystery itself is the gateway to all understanding.
~Verse 1: Tao Te Ching
The reason I am mentioning Tao Te Ching right at the beginning is this. In my journeys and adventures over the years in search of the truth, I have come to understand that there is indeed a great way (and then eventually found Tao Te Ching and many other similar teachings and saw the parallels of my own realizations). You can call it the universal laws, the archetypal patterns, the natural forces or will of God.
This “great way” is simple and observable in all of nature. It is said in certain secret traditions that there is a language of the world that is spoken by everything and everyone. And if you understand that language, there is guidance for you directly from your Source, or the Universe, or God on every step of your life. Unfortunately, most of the time we are too preoccupied in our material pursuit to notice this guidance, and eventually we turn our entire life into one great struggle.
But this guidance, or the great way, or language of the universe exists. And even if on a small scale, I am a living example of someone who constantly follows that guidance or pays attention to that language which shows you the right way at every turn of your life. I am not saying this to boast, there is still a long personal journey for me before I can feel that I have truly mastered this language, but I simply want you to know that this is the truth. I have lived with this for years now and I would be lost if this guidance stopped making itself known to me for some reason. That is just the fact.
Now what has all this got to do with a television show called The Dog Whisperer? Patience my friend… If you have not already experienced my roundabout way of telling stories, you might as well get used to it. Because I don’t think I’m changing any time soon
So here is the relevance. One of the great realizations that came upon me right from the beginning of my own personal transformations (incidentally through my professional practice of hypnotherapy) is this: the world outside is a reflection of your inside. People, circumstances, animals, relationships, success, failure, work, play etc are all reflections of your inside. All these things and their relationship with you dynamically change according to your own personal and spiritual development. As I keep saying over and over to all my students: when you take care of the inside, the outside automatically takes care of itself. The great way shows its guidance through everything and everyone. And according to how the world is treating you, you can tell quite accurately what is happening on your inside, and vice versa.
Now here is one of the best indicators of what is happening on our inside: our dogs! They will always react according to your inner energy patterns. If you are frustrated and angry and have a scrambled energy pattern within you, your dog will be challenging and undisciplined and have a restless energy within them.
We have been living with our dogs for hundreds of thousands of years now. They have walked with us as a committed friend since we lived in caves and hunted the prehistoric animals. They are our personal direct communication module with nature. And they know more about us that we’d like to admit. They cannot tell us in words what they know, but they sure do express themselves which we most times misinterpret. But one man in California, originally from Mexico, Caesar Milan, has decoded this language and brought us some very valuable teachings through his TV show “The Dog Whisperer”.
The Dog Whisperer is a show where Caesar rehabilitates some of the most impossible type of dogs. The dogs that are sometimes so disturbed that they are flagged as “red zone dog” meaning they can actually kill another dog or seriously harm a human being if they get the opportunity. Caesar rehabilitates those kind of dogs and shows over and over that nearly EVERY dog can be the perfect dog that you want them to be: disciplined, friendly, fun loving, social and able to follow basic instructions. But YOU have to be the leader to lead them to it.
Here are some of the lessons I have learnt from watching The Dog Whisperer about leadership, energy and relationship with our dogs (and children). Please understand these are a combination of my own interpretations of Caesars actions and words and NOT specifically what he says or does. Also a lot of what is given below is literal as well as metaphorical. See if you can find the hidden meanings within them:
Your dog’s behavior is a reflection of you. They are our mirrors.
Your dog doesn’t care how much money you make or what car your drive or how you look like. They care if you are a balanced individual or not and how happy and contented you are. They can’t tell you with words but they reflect your inner being just like a mirror. They feel your energy, not your external personality.
Mother nature does not rule by fear and anger but calm assertiveness. Harnessing calm assertive energy will not only improve your relationship with your dogs, it will improve YOU and your relationship to the world.
Never fight against Mother Nature. Allow Mother Nature to help you rather than dis-empower you.
Every dog can be a great dog (unless it has a neurological problem which is very few). It can be fun, playful, obedient and able to follow basic commands. But it needs to be lead. And your dog needs to be lead by YOU. Remember, just because you and your dog share unconditional love, does not mean you have a balanced dog.
To be a leader you need to be calm and assertive. You also need to make decisions for the well being of the whole pack (or group or family) and lead them accordingly. You need to go above your personal interests and decide what is best for the pack. Dogs get frustrated when you are unable to lead and start challenging you.
Dogs are social creatures, just like human beings. And they are naturally meant to be social, playful, seek to be in packs like human families or groups of other dogs, follow the leadership of the pack leader. If they are hostile, or unfriendly, or hates other dogs, it is because the dog is either scared, or frustrated, or lacks confidence.
Take note of your household: who is the leader? You, your dogs, or your children? Is it truly a happy balanced family where everyone knows their duties, boundaries and roles? Or is everyday another battle with your dogs and children where they do whatever they like with total disregard to others? If that is the case, understand that it does not have to be that way. (Your young children, by the way, also follow the same patterns as dogs as they too are more sensitive to energy and less with logic and social norms.)
Remember: your dog DOES NOT want to serve the role of the leader. It has been biologically programmed over thousands of years to follow human beings. (Your children does not want to be the leader of the house either. They want to enjoy your guidance and protection and love and affection. They want YOU to guide them towards what is the best for them and not the other way round. And if you fail to perform that duty, they become frustrated and express that frustration in many different ways.)
To live a healthy and balanced lifestyle dogs need exercise, discipline and affection. In that order!
Discipline does not mean bossing over your dog. It means taking responsibility and educating the living being that is in your life. It does not “kill” its spirit or make it less playful, discipline only allows your dog to enjoy a balanced lifestyle. Think about it, what would you rather have? A undisciplined playful dog who is unable to participate in social situations (jumps over people, intimidates others, picks fight, or isn’t able to stay still)? Or would you rather have a disciplined dog who is not only playful at appropriate times but is able to accompany you in most social situations as well? It is your DUTY to discipline your dog so it knows its limitations and boundaries. The dog appreciates that because it allows him greater freedom in the long run. (Do you see the parallels with your children?)
Love-love-love does not work. You have to give discipline and boundaries also. Freedom doesn’t mean you need a big open area, freedom is a mental thing.
Dogs live in the present. They don’t think about the past, or worry about the future. They forgive you quickly and love you unconditionally. When you communicate with your dogs (or little children), over everything else be CONSISTENT and CONGRUENT. If you don’t clearly understand what those words mean, do your research, they will do you great good in life. When you communicate anything, keep it simple and precise. Do NOT send mixed messages. If you tell your dog not to chew the carpet, NEVER let him chew the carpet or ignore his mischief just because he’s so damn cute. Be consistent. If he has done something bad and you are disciplining him, do NOT immediately follow up with love and baby talk. I know he has big brown sad eyes which makes you want to hug him like a baby, but remember if you are not congruent with your words and actions, you will only CONFUSE him and nothing else. And next time it will be even harder for him to understand what he did wrong and why you are upset.
Once again, who you are in the animal world is energy, your name and job description doesn’t matter. IF you are calm and assertive, they WILL be calm and submissive. If you are consistent and congruent, they will be disciplined and obedient. Your dog can pick up even the slightest bit of negative energy and that can make a ripple effect on its behavior, remember that.
Never deal with your dogs when you are angry and frustrated. Do not hit them. Remember the keywords: Calm and Assertive.
Anytime you expect your dog to fulfill the role of your missing child or spouse, friend or lover, you are putting undue pressure on him. You are taking away his dignity. His dignity of being a dog. While your dog can give you much love and support, he wants to be a dog before anything else. And unless his dog needs (exercise, discipline and affection) are fulfilled first, he will eventually get frustrated and become an unbalanced dog.
Okay, so that’s about it for now. I hope this article will help you to see some of your relationships in new light. If you have liked what you read, please forward it to the countless mums and dads and dog owners and cat lovers and husbands and wives who are perpetually struggling with their respective relationships not knowing what is going wrong. As you can see, the truth most of the time is pretty simple, but it takes great courage and honesty to accept it.
Have fun and do leave your comment below with your own insights and understandings that you may have gained from this (don’t forget to sign your name).
Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch, who was dying from pancreatic cancer, gave his last lecture at the university Sept. 18, 2007, before a packed McConomy Auditorium. In his moving talk, “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams,” Pausch talked about his lessons learned and gave advice to students on how to achieve their own career and personal goals.
Randy passed away on Friday July 25th, 2008. He was 47 years old.
Short Version: 12 Minutes as Featured on Oprah Original Full Version: 1 hr 16 Minutes in Carnegie Melon University
I hope this gets you to think about your own dreams, about the transient nature of this beautiful life and the “brick walls” that we all face every time we dream of something big…
Have fun! Be grateful for this wonderful adventure called life! And…
Let me tell you a story that happened to me very recently. It’s a true story and quite a weird story at that so please prepare yourself for a ride in the weird world of Shafin because this is going to be quite a glimpse!
The story begins yesterday when I was having a talk with one of my Spiritual Coaching Program students who is at an advanced stage of the program. She is one of my students who has reached a stage where she is simultaneously able to create reality according to her wishes and at the same time face challenges that are given only to people who are destined to help countless others.
Recently she was given the challenge of really practicing unconditional love (which is an essential capacity for the conscious creator) by means of accepting and showing love to a person who tried to harm her after she offered him a job, a supportive work environment and compassion (this person was jobless, depressed and on drugs before that). The person in turn came up with ingenious and planned ways to harm this student of mine for his own benefit.
Anyway, in our last session together, I helped her see beyond the material facts and helped her realize that this is an opportunity, not a disaster, to really use all that she has learned so far and make that quantum leap into the next level. (The next level is where she is able to consciously carry the realization that we are all one, playing off one another, and these events that come into our life are only opportunities for learning a lesson to grow into the next level. ) That these people who come in our life bringing these “tests” are only our teachers in disguise and NOT our enemies. That there are no enemies, only reflections of ourselves manifesting in different bodies. That the only way to transcend these tests is to learn the hidden lessons as soon as possible and act from a place of total trust on your “source” and unconditional love. If you are able to do that, the tests transform into some form of serendipity (a fortunate accident) or miracle sometimes almost instantly and some other times in a short while.
So that was yesterday…
Today, I was in my room with my doors and windows open, working on my next book and enjoying the breezy Singapore afternoon. I live on the 30th floor and this afternoon was particularly peaceful with beautiful white clouds all over the sky and a cool breeze flowing through my room. Until the little pest came in from no where!
It was a pretty “scary” looking bug that seemed to me that it could “kill” a horse with its “venom”. It flew in and settled on a lamp that was right next to the window and starting making circles on the edge of the lamp. It was as if it was taking an afternoon stroll!
Now I’m going to be honest here, I don’t like bugs! Matter of fact I have a mild phobia of cockroaches and any other flying object that could potentially sting. I know its ridiculous and I understand the entire mechanics of the phobia but its not something serious so I just accept this as a “known malfunction” that I have.
Anyway, back to the bug who, of all places in the world, had to fly into my 30th floor apartment (God knows how, very few birds come up this high!) and now ruining my perfectly peaceful afternoon which I dedicated to getting some serious work done. Now before I go any further, please take a look at the picture of the bug to understand my situation:
As you can see, it’s NOT a pretty little insect! It has a bulging tummy, which I always safely assume is carrying deadly poison, waiting to empty it on me. I know its ridiculous and most bugs are harmless, but say that to my primitive brain which has some how collected this programming that something that flies and can sting has to be “deadly” and goes on auto pilot every time it encounters something like this. And that’s exactly what happened this time.
My immediate auto-response upon noticing the bug was this: “kill it!” But then I have long ago stopped killing bugs or insects just because I don’t like it. So I told myself “well, that’s not an option so what else can we do?” “Ignore it!” So I tried doing that and tried to concentrate on my writing but if you have any idea about how the brain works you’d know: if there is an impending threat nearby (imaginary or real), a region in the emotional brain called amygdala declares an emergency and overrides the frontal cortex which is the thinking rational part of the brain. In lay mans terms, it was impossible for me to concentrate.
So I decided that I’d chase it out. However when I tried to poke it with a book to make it fly away, it simply fell down on the floor from the edge of the lamp and quietly nestled itself in a corner. It appeared to have lost its capacity to fly and it looked tired. Now I was presented with an even bigger problem: previously I could poke it or make it fly away but now it was on a corner sitting quietly. So what was I going to do? “Wrap it with a tissue paper and throw it out!” Okay, that sounded like something I could pull off. That way I wouldn’t have to kill the bug and also get rid of it. So I got a facial tissue paper and tried to wrap around it but it wasn’t that easy! Somehow it would just walk out as I tried to put it inside the paper. And that’s when it happened!
I experienced something like a pure electric shock in my left leg! It was as if I had stepped into live wire or touched something that was electrified. I didn’t know what it was. I checked around there was no loose wires or anything that could give me a shock but I definitely felt it. I was so taken aback that I decided to quit the bug business and just go back to my study. I figured it couldn’t fly anymore anyway and it was probably here to die eventually because it didn’t look like it was going anywhere soon. The poor creature was just walking around on the corner of the room trying to climb the sealed glass pane that starts from the floor but wasn’t able to since it was too heavy to pull itself up. So it just went back and forth on the corner looking like it would expire sometime soon.
I tried to concentrate on my writing and this time I was able to do so since it didn’t appear to me anymore that the bug would bother me in anyway. However a few minutes down the line a question popped in my mind, a question I keep asking my students over and over:
“What do you think was the lesson involved in this little drama?”
And I wondered.
As I wondered, I remembered what I helped my student realize the day before. Love unconditionally and accept without judgments! Well, I said to myself, unconditionally means the fact its not a human shouldn’t stop you from loving it. Don’t forget, the bug is also part of the same source that you come from. It is part of your creator. It is as “entangled” as I am with everything and everyone. It is a part of… ME!
As soon as the realization dawned upon me, I immediately asked myself what am I supposed to do here? What responsibility comes with this realization? What responsibility do I have being me – Shafin living in a penthouse on the 30th floor – towards the bug which is helpless and dying in my helping range?
The answer was simple: offer whatever relief you can towards this little creation of your Source! Make a gesture of love. Accept unconditionally and love entirely.
So I asked myself, what can I do to make this little bug feel a little better? I figured it must be hungry. But what do bugs eat? I don’t know, don’t they eat fruits?
I walked out to my refrigerator and found one lonesome but good looking banana in there. I took a bite out of it, put it on a piece of paper and came back to the bug who was still trying its best to climb the glass window and falling down, then walking to the other side and coming back again. I put the little peace of banana in front of the bug and silently offered a prayer of peace to its little heart (does it have a heart?). It took a look at the banana but didn’t do anything and stood still where it was. I figured it will eat when it feels like (if it does at all) and came back to my table leaving it alone to start writing again.
In about 30 seconds or so I saw something that was so amazing that I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The bug simply marched up towards the open window which was about 4 feet above where it originally was on the floor. Without taking a break, it climbed all the way to the outer edge of the window. This was the same bug that couldn’t even lift itself more than couple of inches just a few seconds ago! By this time I realized what I was experiencing was a major lesson and I had to share it with my students. I got my camera out just in time when it was still at the outside of the window, I took some pictures and just when I finished, it went away!
Take a moment to think about this.
So what did you learn from this? Really what did you learn from this? I would like to know. Do leave a comment here to let me know your opinion on this.
Here is what I learnt: I was reminded once again that we are all ONE. That sometimes our greatest teachers come in forms of “pests”, enemies, competitors, even bugs! That when you offer true loving compassion and act from a place of love and not fear, the greatest obstacles can transform itself into a gift. That whatever is happening in our life, is happening for a reason. That our lives are perfectly designed and opportunities to manifest miracles present themselves many times everyday. That no matter how horrible it sometimes look by our material standards, we are always being perfectly guided in every moment of our life. That if we just realized who we truly are and who is always taking care of us every moment of every day, there will never be a reason for us to worry again. That there we are all in this together… the rich, the poor, the Americans, the Indians, the Africans, the dolphins, the bugs, the rain forests and the stars… we are all ONE and we are not going anywhere without each other!
Hope this makes sense…
With you always on the road to love, peace and freedom!
How is it going? This is the last day of your 7 Day E-Course. Have you enjoyed what you have learnt? Have you done the exercises regularly? If you have skipped any of the exercises given to you in the last 7 days, please go back and take note. Carl Jung once said – your shadow is where your personal gold is. Resistance to do something means your subconscious doesn’t like what was told – its valuable information for you. Take note of what you “don’t feel like” doing, that is exactly what you need to work on.
Today is also the day I will reveal to you the “opportunity” that I promised you a couple of times earlier. The chance for you to get on one of the biggest adventures of your life. The chance for you to make a quantum leap into not just personal success but to get ready to give back to the world the true gift you are here to give… Excited? Well, read slowly and carefully, it will be revealed soon…
But first, let us do some review of what you have learnt so far (links to the previous lessons are included):
On day one you learnt that in the next 10 years there will be 10 million new millionaires! I asked you if you wanted to be one of them? What was your answer? You also learnt, albeit very briefly, the basics of Quantum Physics and the 3 levels of reality. You learnt that reality can be redefined and all that you see around you has been created by you! I gave you a little breathing exercise and asked you to watch the movie Matrix.
On day two, I covered aspects of how your personality is formed and you also read about the story of the little girl who was terrified to go to school. You learnt about the “unknown triggers” and “out of control moments” and what causes them. You learnt about why you have such powerful things called feelings and emotions and what their purpose is. On this day you were also given your first mission statement / auto suggestion.
On day three, I explained how looks or money has little or nothing to do with creating attraction; they are just tools which you can use to create or destroy, depending on how you use it. You also learnt that you cannot fall in love with someone out of obligation. Attraction is either created spontaneously or not at all. On this day you were given the task of watching the movie Match Point and take notes of what created and destroyed attraction in different parts of the movie.
On day four, you learnt about the power of belief. You learnt that who you are right now has nothing to do with who you were born as, and everything to do with what you believe you are capable of. You also learnt the very important lesson: “to believe is to not know”. You got your second autosuggestion this day.
Day five covered the first part of Deadly Mistakes We Make. Here you heard the popular story of Paul and Suzan. You learnt that buying things and doing favors are totally counter productive in trying to create attraction if it is not already there. You learnt that when the woman is not attracted to you sexually, trying to “logically convince” her would ensure that she would actually get repulsed by you. You were told that the ideal way is to do things that create attraction from the beginning.
And day six was the second part of “Deadly Mistakes We Make” and you read the other side of the story: how women lose their men. Here you read the second part of Paul’s story and found out what goes on in a married man’s head. You read how a weak man can be a dangerous man to keep. You also learnt a little about the nature of masculine energy and what creates a real man. Finally, you were given the task to observe the couples around you and notice the dynamics that keep to together or push them away.
And now we are on our last day of our E-Course where you are going to learn how to design a meaningful life and the next steps to take towards redefining reality…
So my friend, what is a meaningful life after all? Is it earning millions of dollars? Is it having three super model girl friends? Is it getting married to someone everyone else wanted? Or is it sacrificing your life for a noble cause? What is it after all? Well, I cannot tell you what will bring meaning to you because I don’t know you personally yet, but I can tell you what is meaningful to me.
A meaningful life to me is being able to do whatever I want, when I want, and how I want. It is coming back home at the end of the day and having the feeling that I have gotten one step closer to my ultimate destination. It is knowing that even one person has breathed just a little easier because I have lived. It is earning as much money as I need, doing what I truly love to do. It is making each person’s lives a little better when they come to know me. It is being able to truly feel happy knowing that YOU have been successful. It is leaving the world even just a little better than when I came here. It is knowing that I have done everything in my capacity to help my fellow mates live a little better lives. And finally in the process of all of this, it is enjoying every moment of the day with as much love, passion and happiness as I can manage. To me that is living a meaningful life. And when I finally pass over, I would like to smile and say: This I have done.
So what is a meaningful life to you? What would you say when it is time to move on to another beginning? Would you look at it and wonder “what have I done with my life, where have all the years gone? Did I just spend a life time working in a job that I didn’t like, giving away the most valuable thing: time? Did I just spend a life time in a relationship with someone that I did not love? Did I sacrifice daily happiness for the promise of a great future that never arrived? It makes no sense!” or will you say “I have lived a life with love, appreciation, freedom and complete joy! I have followed my dreams and I have offered my gift. I have earned as much as I could and given as much as I could and I am still left with some more! I have taken risks, lived passionately, loved achingly, sometimes won and sometimes lost. And today its all so worth it!” What will you say my friend when its time to return to God?
Remember your life is a gift from the Source, the Great Spirit, from God, to all of us. God doesn’t want to know if you have visited a special building once every week, God wants to know if you are ready to give the gift that you were sent to give! God wants to know if you will follow the truth in your heart or are you going to follow the crowd? Are you going to go where everyone else is going or are you going to dare?
If you dare, then we will all go one step closer to our common destination: to become one with the Source. If you don’t, then we will go one step back.
As you read this today, we are experiencing a world wide increase of people who are willing to commit themselves to what is the truth, whatever it maybe. And as more and more people commit to the truth, we are moving faster towards enlightenment, towards understanding our common purpose, towards true freedom, towards love.
And if you would like to become one those people, I suggest you start fast. Time is of essence my friend. In a world where millions are killed for oil, countries are crippled for gas, and planes crash into buildings, our planet needs more people like you who are willing to see beyond this material insanity. You, as a being of light, are not here to spend your life in the little maze running like rats. You are much more than that…
You are here to teach. You are here to help others realize what they are capable of. You are here to love. You are here to manifest miracles. You are here to create. You have a purpose. And that purpose is calling you from deep within. That’s what makes you restless. Makes you uncomfortable. Makes you ask for more. Dream of the impossible. Want to reach for the stars. Change the world!
Are you going to listen to that call? Are you going to dare? Are you going to open your eyes and see? Are you going to remember… who you are truly are?
You have a responsibility, dear child of God, you have a mission, you are powerful beyond measure, your mediocre living benefits nobody. It is time to wake up now. Will you listen…?
Unfortunately, I realize all that I am saying may not make a lot of sense right now. As I said in the beginning of this E-Course, we rarely realize what an infinitely magical universe we are living in. The truth is not only stranger than you think, it is stranger than you CAN think!
Anyway, as the ancient Chinese saying goes “the journey of a thousand miles begin with the first few steps.” Let’s take the first steps first. I had begun one day a few years back and I didn’t know where to go. I went from teacher to teacher, spent the last few thousand of dollars that I had, crashed and burnt, made mistakes, made it big, lost it all, broke my heart, got featured on newspapers and television, almost got killed and in the end learnt what I needed to learn. I learnt what the true purpose of my life is and why I am here. And I learnt that just like the Wizard of Oz didn’t give anything to the Tin Man that he already didn’t have, all that I was looking for outside was always right here in me. I just needed to learn how to look…
So before we finish this last day of the E-Course, as I promised you in the beginning, here is a way you can take your journey to the next level and get on a brand new adventure…
The nature of this journey is such that the more important lessons can never be taught but you will have to experience and become. Read the last sentence one more time to understand what it means. The deeper secrets of the universe are not something that you can read in a book or even learn from a teacher but experience as a personal transformation. But then teachers are important – because they help you in removing the obstacles that lead towards the experience that teaches you the deeper secrets. These are things that cannot be communicated over this 2 dimensional media like a webpage but has to be given directly from the teacher to the student. There is no one size fit all solution – this is the true journey within.
Are you interested? Would you like to take yourself to the next level? Would you like to learn from me directly? Get your questions answered and find your personal guidance? If so visit the link below:
Day 07: Exercise 01: For the next 7 days, take at least 30 minutes a day to meditate and ground yourself. While it may not make a lot of sense at this point, this practice is at the heart of any “real” breakthrough. If 30 minutes is too much for you, quit watching TV for the next 7 days. Amazing but true, you will find that your life still goes on even if you don’t watch TV for the next one year. I personally don’t watch TV, period. How do you meditate? Visit the link below and follow the instructions to get our famous guided meditation “Miracles Today” right now. Believe it or not, this practice alone will begin a process that is so powerful that it will probably be unfathomable for you right now. So trust the process and do it regularly, the questions that will surface will lead you to the answers you will need. Day 07: Exercise 02: Follow what your heart truly desires. Follow the dreams within you, for you have them for a reason. If you go no further and never learn anything else from me, learn this: anything you desire in the deepest parts of your heart, you already have the capacity to materialize it. You may not realize it yet but that is the truth! I wish you well on this amazing journey… Never, never, never, never give up! Shafin — Shafin de Zane, CHT, MH, MNLP Hypnotherapist, Author, Spiritual Coach www.redefineyourreality.com
Well, not really, but I have learned to trust divine providence in such matters. If my heart says lets go to east coast and weather channels say its gonna rain all day, I follow my heart, which is connected to something bigger than the weather people.
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