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Friday, December 7, 2018



There are two core fears: losing what you have, and not getting what you want. 
The solution? 
Falling in love with where you are."
We don't always get what we want but we enjoy what we have and where we have it.
The end of one thing is the beginning of another.


Feeling the breeze... be sure to love with all your soul if you can love and be loved....
Keep good company. Commune with those who uplift your spirit and are able to see your beauty and grace.
Stay clear of those who drag you down, disturb your peace, or cause you to doubt yourself.
Value and care for your beautiful and sacred spirit. If you do, others will.


Thank you for the infinite blessing of this life.
I am grateful for all who love me, all who challenge, and all who support my growth.
I am grateful for the beauty of nature, the love of friends and family, and the abundance in all things that nurture my heart and spirit.
I am grateful for the opportunity to forgive and be forgiven and to see the light of your love for me in each breath I take.
I walk this day in gratitude and appreciation for every blessing before me. 




So it is.


We love the holidays! Hope you had a great weekend....I am. Live for today, love for tomorrow, and laugh at all your yesterdays. Never regret the past, always hope for the future, and cherish every moment you have.



ps/smoh




I'm not a genius. I'm just a tremendous bundle of experience.

The minute you choose to do what you really want to do,
it's a different kind of life.

Sometimes I think we're alone. Sometimes I think we're not. In either case, the thought is quite staggering.

We are called to be the architects of the future, not its victims.

“Never forget that you are one of a kind.
Never forget that if there weren't any need for you in all your uniqueness to be on this earth, you wouldn't be here in the first place.
And never forget, no matter how overwhelming life's challenges and problems seem to be, that one person can make a difference in the world.
In fact, it is always because of one person that all the changes that matter in the world come about.
So be that one person. ”


I live on Earth at present, and I don’t know what I am.
I know that I am not a category.
I am not a thing — a noun.
I seem to be a verb, an evolutionary process – an integral function of the universe.









ps/smoh

Tuesday, December 4, 2018

Money isn’t everything, but it ranks right up there with oxygen!

Money is a tool that, depending on how we use it, can bring much joy to our lives or it can bring destruction. 
Be aware of all the possibilities it offers as well as the pitfalls.
Some of the most amazing things have been done because people had the financial resources to fund the businesses have been built, schools started and philanthropic charities founded that have accomplished much good. 
On the other hand, friendships have been ruined, illicit gains profited and lives destroyed all over money.
Earn all you can, save all you can and give all you can.
A person who sees the powerful force for good that money can be will more likely keep their own life in balance by pursuing the disciplines of earning, saving and giving, which, together, create the perfect tension and balance.
But we must also remember that money has a seductive side and tells you it will solve all of your problems, but it won’t. It is great to have money lots of it as long as your life is in balance and you keep the proper perspective. 
It is important that we own our money and not the other way around.
The first way to make sure money doesn’t own us is to deal with the issue of debt.
We would do well to remember the old proverb,
 “The borrower is the servant to the lender.”

ps/smoh

Read All the Books to Rise Above the Ordinary


There is very little difference between someone who cannot read and someone who will not read. The result of either is ignorance. Reading is essential for those who seek to rise above the ordinary. We must not permit anything to stand between us and the book that could change our lives.
A little reading each day will result in a wealth of valuable information in a very short period of time. But if we fail to set aside the time, if we fail to pick up the book, if we fail to exercise the discipline, then ignorance will quickly move in to fill the void.
Those who seek a better life must first become a better person. They must continually seek after self-mastery for the purpose of developing a balanced philosophy of life and then live in accordance with the dictates of that philosophy. The habit of reading is a major stepping-stone in the development of a sound philosophical foundation. And in my opinion, it is one of the fundamentals required for the attainment of success and happiness.
People from all walks of life, people with some of the most incredible life experiences, people that have gone from pennies to fortune and from failure to success have taken the time to write down their experiences so that we might share in their wealth of knowledge. They have offered their wisdom and experience so that we can be inspired by it and instructed by it and so that we can amend our philosophy by it. Their contributions enable us to reset our sail based on their experiences. They have handed us the gift of their insights so that we can change our plans, if need be, in order to avoid their errors. We can rearrange our lives based on their wise advice.
As often as you can, feed and stimulate your mind with the gift of knowledge.
Take care to feed and stimulate your brain and you will expand your mind. The two are inextricably connected.
We need to see the human brain and mind with wonder, awe, and inspiration.
The brain is the equivalent of a human supercomputer. It is more complicated than any computer mankind has ever made, and maximizing its ability is essential to becoming the success you want to be because it controls who you are. It is the command center involved in and controlling absolutely everything you do, determining how you think, feel and act.
Simply put: When your brain is working at peak performance, it allows you to be your best because it controls the rest.


jr/ps/smoh

Friday, November 16, 2018

Everything starts within oneself...



Today
You walk out the door and the wind scuttles leaves across your shoes.
The crackle of fabric wickers in your ear.
Trees bending.
Air so clean the blues and yellows of sky and sunrise are hyperHD.
Piles of seeds from {what is that plant called} shuttle along the bike lanes in rivulets of little not-almonds-but-close by the tens of thousands.
A man in sunglasses walks his dogs, all three of them leaning a slight right.
Near the football pitch, with the "Field Closed" signs all blown over, ten black-tie ravens on their morning commute walking across the browning grass. Every so often a hop attempt to fly up and no luck, whooshed back 10 steps for every 2 forward.
A dust cloud rifles into the air suddenly and you are not yet there to get frosted by it, watching it cross the street alone.
You stop and turn face first into the wind.
You open your arms.
You let it rankle your jacket and scoop out a hollow in the cave of your belly.
You're getting ready to fall and yet not fall, high on the edge of a grassy hill and a planet.
You lean out and laugh.
It holds you for a second.
Then you fall forward at finally that angle where the windy wind has to surrender to your massive littleness.
You laugh and try again.
The ravens try again.
The sun shines.
Everybody falls back to earth.


ps/smoh

love light and peace

Thursday, November 15, 2018

YOU DON’T NEED TO DIE TODAY




"If you feel like taking your own life today, you are not alone.
It is an urge as old as life itself. 
To die. 
To shed the old skin and be made new.
To be rid of the false and touch the real.
To find deep relief from the pain of being human.
The urge to die is not wrong. Many on this planet have felt the urge,
even if they will never speak of it, even if they try to numb it,
You are not numb. You feel everything so intensely.
You are so alive. Not everyone will understand.
Your sensitivity is not your fault.
There is nothing wrong with you.
Feel what you feel today! Bless the part of you that longs to be somewhere else.
Let the mind scream its screams today. 
You are not the mind but the one who hears it.
You are not the one who longs to die. 
You are the space for the hurting self, the despairing child inside.
The one who holds the longing. The one who is still here.
Here, in spite of everything.
Hurting, exhausted, but still here.
Feel your feet on the ground, friend.
Hear the sounds all around you.
Bless your aching heart, head, chest, belly.
Your ancestors are with you now, even though you cannot see them.
Your brothers and sisters all across the world, supporting you now, willing you to go on, even though you cannot feel them.
The Universe is holding you now. 
The Earth and all the stars. 
The mountains and the forests. 
The oceans and the sky. 
All the gods in all the realms.
You don’t need to take your life. Just let your life be taken by all that you see.
Give yourself to this moment. Fall to the ground. Feel your rage, your grief.
Let life in. Cry, scream. Make a mess. There is no failure here.
There is no shame in hurting. A new life is dawning, that’s why it hurts now.
Your pain is calling for change, even if the change seems terrifying.
You will meet the terror moment by moment.
It takes great courage to admit that we’re hurting.
It takes great courage to face our deepest pain.
It takes great courage to say: “Help me, friend”.
You will tell the story one day of how you transformed.
How you faced your deepest pain and found the light on the other side.
How the alchemy happened. 
How love found you.
How you wanted to die, but found hope in a single breath.

In the birdsong. In the warmth of the sun on your face.
In the anger or the grief that burned so hot inside.
In the face of a stranger. 
Someone curious about you.
Someone who listened. Who saw your potential.
The fire has come to burn away the false.
And illuminate something new, something unseen until now.
Trust. Breathe. Have patience with the fire.
You are destined for life."

jf/ps/smoh


Thursday, November 8, 2018

THE KIND OF LOVE YOU DESERVE

More than anything, we long to be seen.
To be held in a safe, nonjudgmental, all-accepting presence, and be seen through loving eyes.
And being seen is what we fear the most.
More than death, we fear intimacy's piercing gaze.
And yearn for it all the same.
It takes such courage to show yourself!
To take off your mask, when you look and feel your worst to take off your mask (the one that was suffocating you anyway) and to say, "Look. Look. Here I am, world".
To let yourself be seen
before you're ready.
When you feel the most rotten, the dirtiest, the most wretched and unloveable, the most unevolved, the most boring, the most confused and lonely and broken and sad and angry and hurt, to let yourself be seen there.
There, in that sore, shameful place.
Let the light in.
Come out of hiding and invite someone into your 'private' world.
Let them witness the real, authentic you.
Before that pitiful defence called 'personality'.
Say, "Look. Look, friend. Here I am".
Take the risk of being loved!
The risk of being rejected, yes.
The risk of being shamed again laughed at again, ridiculed again, maybe.
The risk of being seen as a failure. As sick, or broken, or ugly, or weak.
But the risk of being loved?
Yes. Take the risk today because life is short, and it's exhausting trying to repress your authentic self. Let yourself be witnessed in the raw. The vulnerable you without protection, without answers, without expertise. The imperfect you.
Because the deepest shame is only healed in love's light.
And your flaws were always longing to be touched with an awareness so tender that it would birth entire universes to find itself.
And you can fall now into the arms of a loving friend.
Who will hold you?
Naked. Unprotected. Imperfect.
Loveable.
Just as you are.
This is the kind of love you deserve.
True human love which is also God's love.
The kind of love that bathes you in gentleness when you feel the most ashamed, the most frightened, the most lost.
When you feel the smallest.
A huge love that holds you.
Never settle for less.


jf/ps/smoh








Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Inquiry and assumption...

I’ve been thinking a lot about the meaningful distinction between inquiry and assumption. Those connections that remain inquiry-based - where each person asks the other about their intentions, motivations, and actions have a tendency to last far longer than those based on assumption. 
When we can allow ourselves to remain genuinely curious about why someone behaved as they did, we keep the gate between our hearts open. 
We co-create an ongoing opportunity to grow individually and together. 
When we rely on assumptions as our interpretive structure- particularly those lodged in our own issues and limiting beliefs- we are far more likely to close the door to the connection. 
The simple truth is that there are often countless possibilities for why someone responded as they did. And the assumption that we make is often misguided. Better we inquire- wherever possible- so that the connection has an opportunity to grow in awareness and understanding. Being curious about those that matter to us keeps the fires of relatedness alight.
We often hear people discuss the gift of the gab, where talking or asking is really a key to the job description. 
Asking with genuine curiosity always brings along amazing surprises, friendships and real connection by truly opening more doors and hearts that we can imagine
It is so important to feel into the situation instead of thinking about it, using open inquiry instead of assumptions. 
It keeps us connected in the heart and not separated by our minds.
I guess you can never make assumptions for our needs. We need to communicate even if we don't understand.  
I believe we just need to have the courage to ask the questions.




ps/smoh


Friday, October 19, 2018

Somehow I’M ALWAYS HELD

In my short time on this planet, I have known great sorrow, plunged into the depths of oceanic despair, been thrown so deeply into my loneliness that I thought I would never return.

I have tasted the ecstatic joys of meditation, the fierce intimacy of love, the savage pains of heartbreak, the excitement of unexpected success and the blows of sudden failure.

There were times when I thought I'd never make it, times when my dreams had been shattered so thoroughly I couldn't imagine how life could ever go on. 

Yet it went on, and sometimes I found humility within the devastation, and out of the ashes of imagined futures often grew new and present joys, and no experience was ever wasted.

I have come to trust life completely, trust even the times when I forget how to trust at all, trust that life doesn't always go according to plan, because there is no plan, only life, and even the times of great uncertainty hold supreme intelligence, and sometimes you have to fall to stand more fearlessly, with greater kindness.

And somehow I am always held, in a way I cannot explain and do not want to. I may be crushed yet again before too long, I may experience further seemingly insurmountable challenges and heartbreaks, but somehow I am always held. 


Somehow I am always held.



love light and peace

ps/smoh

Tuesday, October 9, 2018

The mind is loud. We have to slow down to hear the wisdom of the heart.

In my experience, the hearts laugh at the mind inventing problems that the heart cannot see.

The mind asks:
What can I DO to escape this moment? 
How can I get out of this experience?

The Heart wonders:
"How can I BE here more fully? 
What is crying out to be loved in me right now? 
What longs to be embraced lovingly in my belly, chest, throat, head?

The heart actually beats a little faster when the mind asks that. Nothing else I can find.



love light and peace
ps/smoh

Sunday, October 7, 2018

VICTORY!



You don't have to be the best.
You only have to be yourself.
You only have to be real.
And speak from the heart.
And know that you have the right
to see how you see,
and think how you think,
and feel what you feel,
and desire what you desire.
You don't have to be a success
in the eyes of the world
and you don't have to be an expert.
You only have to offer what you offer,
breathe how you breathe,
make mistakes and fuck up and
learn to love your stumbling and
say the wrong thing and stop
worrying so much about
impressing anyone,
because in the end you
only have to live with yourself,
and joy is not given but found
in the deepest recesses of your being,
so there can be joy in falling
and joy in making mistakes
and joy in making a fool of yourself
and joy in forgetting the joy
and then holding yourself as you crumble
to the ground and weep out
the old dreams.
Joy is closeness
with the one you love:
You.
You don't have to be the best.
You don't have to win.
You only have to remember
this intimacy with
the sky, the nearness of the
mountains and feel the warmth
of the sun on your face
and know that you are alive,
and that you are a success,
and victorious,
without having to prove
a damn
thing.

jf/ps/smoh

Tuesday, October 2, 2018

“You are precisely as big as what you love and precisely as small as what you allow to annoy you.”

“The most thoroughly and relentlessly damned, banned, excluded, condemned, forbidden, ostracized, ignored, suppressed, repressed, robbed, brutalized and defamed of all 'Damned Things' is the individual human being.
The social engineers, statisticians, psychologists, sociologists, market researchers, landlords, bureaucrats, captains of industry, bankers, governors, commissars, kings and presidents are perpetually forcing this 'Damned Thing' into carefully prepared blueprints and perpetually irritated that the 'Damned Thing' will not fit into the slot assigned it.
The theologians call it a sinner and try to reform it.
The governor calls it a criminal and tries to punish it.
The psychologist calls it a neurotic and tries to cure it.
Still, the 'Damned Thing' will not fit into their slots.”

Human beings live in their myths. They only endure their realities.
We're trapped in linguistic constructs... all that is is a metaphor.

When we meet somebody whose separate tunnel-reality is obviously far different from ours, we are a bit frightened and always disoriented.
We tend to think they are mad, or that they are crooks trying to con us in some way, or that they are hoaxers playing a joke.
Yet it is neurologically obvious that no two brains have the same genetically-programmed hard wiring, the same imprints, the same conditioning, the same learning experiences.
We are all living in separate realities.
That is why communication fails so often, and misunderstandings and resentments are so common.
I say "meow" and you say "Bow-wow," and each of us is convinced the other is a bit dumb

Only the madman is absolutely sure.
The future is up for grabs.
It belongs to any and all who will take the risk and accept the responsibility of consciously creating the future they want.
Work hard to achieve what you need to but remember NEVER become a conformist or sell your soul in return.
Intelligence is the capacity to receive, decode and transmit information efficiently.
Stupidity is blockage of this process at any point.
Bigotry, ideologies etc. block the ability to receive; robotic reality-tunnels block the ability to decode or integrate new signals; censorship blocks transmission.
Human society as a whole is a vast brainwashing machine whose semantic rules and sex roles create a social robot.
Reality is what you can get away with.

As Oscar Wilde truly said, "Disobedience was man’s Original Virtue.”

Every fact of science was once damned.
Every invention was considered impossible.
Every discovery was a nervous shock to some orthodoxy.
Every artistic innovation was denounced as fraud and folly.
The entire web of culture and ‘progress,’ everything on earth that is man-made and not given to us by nature, is the concrete manifestation of some man’s refusal to bow to Authority.
We would own no more, know no more, and be no more than the first apelike hominids if it were not for the rebellious, the recalcitrant, and the intransigent.

The normal is that which nobody quite is.
If you listen to seemingly dull people very closely, you'll see that they're all mad in different and interesting ways, and are merely struggling to hide it.


"Is", "is." "is"—the idiocy of the word haunts me.
If it were abolished, human thought might begin to make sense.
I don't know what anything "is";
I only know how it seems to me at this moment." - Robert Anton Wilson

peace love and light
ps/smoh

Sunday, September 30, 2018

Critical Thinking....

I don't believe in it doesn't necessarily mean it's not true. More so, my truth may, in fact, be unreal.
But my conviction is firm!
I don't let that bother me because I don't have the need to have them agree. I am content that they believe differently from me.
My senses are fallible and subject to deception making me a product of my environment in a cubicle designed by my perception.
Only, my cubicle might just be bigger than yours.
I love the use of the word Reconstructing. Too many times critical thinkers only Deconstruct but they miss the point of critical thinking altogether, to improve the overall construct of meaning, understanding and reason.
The Foundation for Critical Thinking has opened my mind about thinking skills in general and my own in particular.
I studied critical thinking and it was disconcerting to see many critical thinkers only deconstructing. If that is all a person does and never reconstructs, a person is left with virtually nothing. The act of reconstructing meaning from reason and logic is what makes us profound, unique, and amazing.
I use my limited critical thinking skills as a good mental message that tends to soothe my own existential angst.
The problem is to too many people confuse critical thinking with cynicism... that and thinking it must be 'right' because you thought it through.


ps/smoh

peace light and love

Thursday, September 27, 2018

Every minute someone leaves this world behind.
Age has nothing to do with it.
We are all in this the line without realizing it.
We never know how many people are before us. We can not move to the back of the line.
We can not step out of the line.
We can not avoid the line.
So while we wait in line -
Make moments count.
Make a difference.
Make the call.
Make priorities.
Make the time.
Make your gifts known.
Make a nobody feel like a somebody.
Make your voice heard.
Make the small things big.
Make someone smile.
Make the change.
Make yourself a priority.
Make love.
Makeup.
Make peace.
Make sure to tell your people they are loved.
Make waves.
Make sure to have no regrets.



This world will often leave you wishing you had just 5 more minutes. This powerful reminder on perspective and wake up to each day realizing it is a gift and to make the most of it!


love light and peace
ps/smoh

There is certainly plenty of light from my heart to go around and it's done every day

As I look at the world, I see so much light that can be shared. When I have a little extra, I make a point of sending it to someone who needs it. 
Surely there is enough for all of us...





Empty your mind of all thoughts.
Let your heart be at peace.
Watch the turmoil of beings,
but contemplate their return.
Each separate being in the Universe 
Returns to the common source.
Returning to the source is serenity.

~ Lao Tzu




love light and peace

ps/smoh

Thursday, August 30, 2018

Freedom is on the other side of overcoming the fear of shame.....

Taking on an unconventional path has never been easy; with being told many times it’s not a ‘secure’ path. However, staying persistent in my purpose, building the courage to face the struggles is exactly what has shaped me into everything I have become. 
Sometimes we need to get out of our way to make room to allow all possibilities and opportunities. Understanding our own mental blocks is the way forward, inside out. 
Choosing the road less travelled always has several challenges. Being women plus coming from a minority background has different layers of challenges and obstacles thrown our way. Sometimes, it’s the very people we expect to support us that end up becoming hurdles we need to overcome.


"Feel through the resistance" being the most important of all.

It can be so helpful to express our unsaid words, anger and grief to those who have hurt us. There is no good reason to carry someone else's baggage up the mountain. It weighs us down on a journey that is already challenging enough. 
Better to shed it so that we can move into life with greater freedom. At the same time, we have to be sure not to make our healing dependent on how others receive our expression. Many of those we share with will be too unconscious, stubborn or defensive to take in our experience, even if we express it in the gentlest of ways. 
It may be too shocking to their ways of organizing reality. It may be too painful to face. Not everyone is ready or able to do the deep work those self-reflection demands. This is not to say that we hold back- we must express our truth one way or the other- but it is to say that we are best served by sharing it without expectation. 
The liberation lies in the expression itself.

The healing process has a heart of its own, moving at its own delicate pace. Our survival adaptations may be tough, but our wounds are so delicate. 
Emotional armour is not easy to shed, nor should it be. It has formed for a reason: as a requirement for certain responsibilities, as a conditioned response to real circumstances, as a defence against unbearable feelings. It has served an essential purpose. 
To heal, we have to lift the armour carefully- it saved our lives, after all. You don’t trample on it; you don’t hit it with a sledgehammer. You honour its presence like a warm blanket that has kept you safe during wintry times. 
Never rush it, never push up against it, and never demand it to drop its guard before its time. Because it knows something you don’t. In a still frightening world, armour is no less valid than vulnerability. Let it shed at its own unique pace...

I have found that emotional armouring stays in place, sometimes beyond its 'sell by' date for another reason in addition to those mentioned so eloquently. We are deriving something of value from that armour and understanding that is part of the healing process to become ready to drop the shields. There's an emotional food too, for example, self-pity. 
It allows us to always be right about how hurt/damaged we are or to never have to find out how powerful/creative/strong/wonderful we are so we carry around the 'burden of a great potential' without ever having to deliver on that early promise. 
The emotional armour doesn't just cloak us and protect us in silence, its whispering sweet nothings in our ear as well. 
If we don't recognize that, we will have a 'false grief' over the loss of those whisperings when we drop the armour and be all too ready to pick it back up again. 

And I consider that to be part of our survival mechanism. We're habitual creatures who need certainty after all, no matter how uncomfortable it is. 




ps/smoh

love light and peace

Tuesday, August 7, 2018

Train of life

To mutually disagree and then discuss different perspectives in a civilized way is an art only a few develop. I say art as it's not an inborn talent. Maturity and lifelong learning are traits earned consciously.

What I wrote here is how I felt not directed to anybody so if you feel that I am writing about you PLEASE just think for a moment I DON'T even know you!












Love light and peace

ps/smoh


Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Overcome my own Bullshit....

"Oftentimes, despite life seeming to go well - we can be in a much-disorganized place. The world admires our "success" assuming we've got it "figured out" while it merely can a beautiful tapestry of non-cohesive pieces they selective can relate to.
Becoming aware of this reality can be one of the most uncomfortable feelings we'd encounter. After all, who wants to wake up to our bullshit? 
Nobody. 
Nobody until you realize how crucial it is for your own growth and becoming. 
Becoming Self-disciplined with our on time and energy then becomes our greatest challenge and battle. 
The battle within. 
The real FIGHT against and through our own comfort zones, our lethargy, and all our excuses defending our unhealthy habits - the weak and yet strong anchors holding us down... Holding YOU back from the greatest version you are supposed to embody as you overcome our very own resistances.
Overcoming our resistances, which we often conveniently use as excuses by labelling as our "circumstances". 
How we do overcome this self-destructive habit?

By becoming AWARE and acknowledging it exists is the first step to overcome it.

Choose your company wisely - surrounding yourself with those who are committed to becoming the best version of themselves WITHOUT giving creative excuses and blaming their circumstances. They are your friends (online and offline), family, colleagues, mentors and also your sources of information and entertainment. i.e.: EVERYTHING you give your time and attention to online and offline.

DECIDE to figure out your path - Becoming crystal clear of the life you choose you to live. Earning CLARITY is messy to a beautiful journey.

Take RESPONSIBILITY - Doing whatever it takes to become the best version of you in EVERY area of life. Spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, social and professionally.

Never settle till you find your own unique mix of the above - NO MATTER many people or how often you're told to give up or settle! It's never too late to become the better version of you regardless of your "story" and age.


Let's kick some ass becoming the better version of ourselves! We only have this life so LIVE!"


Namaste
love light and peace



Monday, July 16, 2018

Every fear hides a wish.....

When you have to look for peace then you are as good as lost.



 It's the small things that matter the most...









If your answer is 'NO'
Why not?

Do something about it..
 It wasn’t “beautiful.” It was messy, tough, and painful but what a great start to a strong foundation 







I would think you should look at both.









NO one is getting out of here alive....

ps/smoh

love light and peace