Web Log. Sitting Owl - Spiritual Advisor, Shaman, counsellor and Traditional Native Healer">

“The president in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But how can you buy or sell the sky? The land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them? “Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow, every humming insect. All are holy in the memory and experience of my people. “We know the sap which courses through trees as we know the blood that courses through our veins. We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters. The bear, the deer, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the juices in the meadow, the body heat of the pony, and man, all belong to the same family. “The shinning water that moves in the streams and the rivers is not just water, but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you our land, you must remember that it is sacred. Each ghostly reflection in the clear waters of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people. The water’s murmur is the voice of my father’s father. “The rivers are our brothers. They quench our thirst. They carry our canoes and feed our children. So you must give the rivers the kindness you would give any brother. “If we sell you our land, remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares its spirit with all life it supports. The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also receives his last sigh. So if we sell you our land, you must keep it apart and sacred, as a place where man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow flowers. “Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our mother. What befalls the earth befalls the sons of earth. “This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself. “One thing we know: our God is also your God. The earth is precious to him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on it creator. “Your destiny is a mystery to us. What will happen when the buffalo are all slaughtered? The wild horses tamed? What will happen when the secret corners of the forest are heavy with the sent of many men and the view of the ripe hills is blotted by talking wires? Where will the thicket be? Gone! Where will the eagle be? Gone! And what is it to say good-bye to the swift pony and the hunt? The end of living and the beginning of survival. “When the last Red Man has vanished with his wilderness and his memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, will these shores and forests still be here? Will there be any of the spirit of my people left? “We love this earth as a newborn loves its mother’s heartbeat. So, if we sell you our land, love it as we have loved it. Care for it as we have cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land, as it is when you receive it. Preserve the land for all children and love it, as God loves us all. “As we are part of the land, you too are part of the land. This earth is precious to us. It is also precious to you. One thing we know: there is only one God. No man, be he Red Man or White Man, can be apart. We are brother after all."
The Power of Perseverance
I. Why Important Perseverance is perhaps the most important key to success in any endeavor. It can replace deficiencies in talent. While this is widely acknowledged, not many people seem to have developed this important ingredient in their life. Genius is one percent inspiration and 99% perspiration.? Thomas A. Edison II. Perseverance and Its Applications Perseverance is persistence in the pursuit of an end or in an enterprise undertaken in spite of difficulties, opposition or discouragement. It means being able to handle one's reaction to difficulties, and not get carried away by such emotions or reactions: 1. Career or Life Work 2. Building Wholesome Relationship 3. Self-Development, Maturity and Spiritual Perfection III. Developing Perseverance 1. Clarify Your Values Without knowing what is truly important to you, it is almost impossible to be truly persevering. One must have a strong reason for keeping on a chosen path. That reason must be important enough to override less important factors that cause discouragement. Make sure that what you are aiming for is grounded on solid foundations. An objective that is not ethical will create inner conflict in you. Therefore, your aim should be morally sound. It must not cause injury to others. It must not be selfish. Perseverance alone does not assure success. No amount of stalking will lead to a game in a field that has none. -- I Ching 2. Regularly Reaffirm Your Goal Once you have set your goal, then continually reaffirm to yourself that you wish to finish the task or reach the objective. Remind yourself by writing it in a place or a notebook where you will constantly see it. Read materials that will enhance your determination to pursue your objective. 3. Create Greater Leverage That Will Increase Your Motivation To make your body, feeling and mind be more supportive of your determination, deliberately create leverage so that you will be more motivated. Suppose you wish to reduce your weight for health reasons, and you have difficulty resisting good food, and you constantly violate your new year's resolution to watch your diet. Example: Increase your motivation by creating a mental association that will connect sweet and fatty foods to something you dislike. Or reward yourself for resisting sweets, or penalizing yourself for succumbing to it. Make a game out of it. Let your family take part in your resolution, if possible. 4. Develop the Habit of Finishing What You Started Once a person has developed this habit, he has within him a powerful tool connected with perseverance. He will not give up until something is done, no matter how inconvenient. Nothing is so fatal to character or accomplishment as unfinished jobs. - S. W. Sill 5. Be Aware of Your Fears Lack of perseverance is often due fear to do something or face consequences. You may wish to learn how to speak in public, but you are always overcome by fear. Conquer your fears, for they are often our own traitors, turning ourselves against our priorities. All too often people quit when the going gets tough, often when just one more step would have carried them triumphantly to victory. There is one unbeatable rule for the mastery of sorrows and disappointments, and that is transmutation of those emotional frustrations through definite planning. It is a rule that has no equal. -- Napoleon Hill. Never despair, but if you do, work on in despair, -- Burke 6. Make a Timeframe for Attaining the Goal . . .It is said that a goal without a deadline is not a goal. Put a timeframe to what you wish to achieve, say in two years time. Don't be vague. Be as definite in your deadline as you can. Make it reasonable, but stick to it. Make a timeframe for doing the intermediate steps necessary for the attainment of your objective. If you wish to finish a book in two years. Make a schedule to devote time to writing and finishing specified chapters consistently. 7. Stick Closely to your Timeframe Your timeframe is your own appointments with yourself. Do not skip them in the same way that you do not miss your appointments with other people. 8. Realize that there is No Failure There is only temporary defeat. Failure is in not trying to pursue what is worth aiming for. Keep on. Keep at it. Once you know that it is worthwhile, you will not fail. We can do anything we want to do if we stick to it long enough. -- Helen Keller Success in life depends upon staying power. The reason for failure in most cases is lack of perseverance. Men get tired and give up. -- J R. Miller Diligence is the mother of good fortune. -- Cervantes Victory belongs to the most persevering. -- Napoleon The greatest results in life are usually attained by simple means and the exercise of ordinary qualities. These may for the most part be summed up in these two -- commonsense and perseverance. -- Owen Feltham. The secret of success is constancy of purpose. -- Disraeli There are two ways of attaining an important end: force and perseverance. Force falls to the lot only of the privileged few, but austere and sustained perseverance can be practiced by the most insignificant. Its silent power grows irresistible in time. -- Anne Swetchine Some men give up their designs when they have almost reached the goal; while others, on the contrary, obtain a victory by exerting, at the last moment, more vigorous efforts than before. -- Polybius Patience and perseverance are essential in the inner fight. The higher self's war with the lower self is a great struggle. Develop these two virtues to a maximum degree and strengthen them by all manner of intelligent discipline and constant exercise. -- Sivananda The world wants the kind of men who do not shrink from temporary defeats in life, but come again and wrestle triumph from defeat. -- Theodore Roosevelt Tough times never last. . . but tough people do. -- Robert Schuller Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race. -- Calvin Coolidge Aim at perfection in everything, though in most things it is unattainable; however, they who aim at it, and persevere, will come much nearer to it, than those whose laziness and despondency make them give it up as unattainable The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is, that one often comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't. -- Henry Ward Beecher Never give in, never give in, never never never never -- in nothing, great or small, large or petty -- never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. - Winston Churchill Copyright 1995. Permission to reprint is granted provided acknowledgment is made to: Peace Center Theosophical Society in the Philippines, 1 Iba St., Quezon City, Philippines Thank You Kael from Myspace for posting this.
~How To Release Negativity~
The past cannot be undone. What you change is how you feel about it. How Are You Going To Do It? You're tired of being negative. You're ready to change. You need a plan. Read on, my friend, for this is the process of releasing negativity and restoring your spirit. Change is good. Your body and mind are a continuum. In other words, although they are not exactly the same, a great overlap exists between your mind and body, uniting them. Relieve your mental stress and your body will be happier, too. It's time to unburden yourself of everything that has been blocking progress in your life by keeping you attached to an unhappy past. ~Feeling Better Is a Process~ Negativity accumulates in our lives, in our souls, over time. The process of removing it optimally happens in layers. It's best to release as much of each stored negative emotion as you can during each successive attempt. And of course, you want a safe, private means of release that is as quiet and effective as possible. You can jettison all that old negativity easily and thoroughly by following simple instructions. ~Visualization~ Sports teams have used visualization to improve their level of excellence for decades, visualizing themselves winning trophies, for example. This same technique that so wonderfully installs positive expectation can also be used to eliminate negativity. This means that you can literally let go of old stored feelings of anger, fear, abandonment, embarrassment, and so on, that have been accumulating inside of you all of your life. ~Let a Higher Power Help You~ Do you prefer the word God, Source, Universe, Goddess, Higher Self, or do you have yet another name for that which is all that is? Let your choice reflect your tastes, and let your Higher Power help you. For once you release negative energy, your Higher Power can then transform it into something positive elsewhere in the Universe. ~Humans Store Emotions Physically~ Your body is made of cells, the cells are made of molecules, the molecules are made of atoms, and those are made up of whirling bits of energy; ergo, your body is pure energy. We humans store old memories and emotions in our bodies. That's why the releasing of negativity is a physical, visceral feeling of expelling energy, because energy is what it is, what it all is, what we all are. Ask Einstein. ~Examples of What To Release~ Fear, anger, rage, abandonment, rejection, guilt, shame, worry, blame, numbness, hurt, hatred, jealousy, and disgust are good places to begin. Your unique soul will know which feelings most need releasing, and in which order to do them. You may need to release some of the deepest ones several times to remove ever deeper layers. ~What Does It Feel Like?~ Expelling negativity is not a negative experience, it is a relief. For example, when you let go of a deep layer of fear, you do not feel afraid, you feel relieved of fear. Letting go of rage does not mean that you'll be shouting and thrashing about. Rather, your feelings of rage simply pass out of you, and it is a relief. The old negative feelings are fully released and expelled outwards. Releasing negative emotions needn't involve experiencing the pain inherent in any individual emotion. You've already experienced way too much of that. Getting rid of them feels like what it is: a release. It's like taking a gorilla off of your back. It's removing old baggage that does not serve you anymore. It actually feels good. And you will feel progressively better afterwards each time. ~Follow Instructions Through the Steps~ Get quiet and close your eyes. Be in a quiet, comfortable place without distractions. Visualize that you are standing in a beautiful place with your arms up, way up, looking up at your Higher Power. Select the negative emotion you first wish to release, and make that happen. Feel it physically leaving your body, sailing up your arms, and then being jettisoned out into space, gone for good, released permanently. Repeat with all the rest of the stored emotions you wish to release. Another approach is to phrase it like this: "I release whatever is obstructing me from my goals," and let the stored emotions let you know what they are as they leave. ~Then Restore Your Spirit~ Once the bad layers are released, it's best to fill up the spaces they left with something wonderfully positive. May I suggest that you begin the restoration of your spirit with Personal Power, Love, Acceptance, and Inner Peace. Personal Power restores your boundaries to normal settings, Love returns you to harmony with all that is, Acceptance assures you that you are wanted and welcomed in the world, and Inner Peace encloses you in a wonderful blanket of secure and peaceful feelings. Simply visualize each of these in turn, whatever they look like to you, and bring each inside of you, merging and bonding with it, soaking in its individual positive energy, then radiating its clarity and serenity everywhere throughout your person. Think of these as permanent upgrades to your soul. ~By: Michelle Beaudry Supplied By Sara of Myspace
Yours in Spirit
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