Take up your Sword!

"Have pity Lord, on we who seek out and dare to take up the sword that you have promised, and who are a saintly and sinful lot scattered throughout the world. Because we do not recognise even ourselves, and often think that we are dressed, but we are nude; we believe that we have committed a crime, when in reality we have saved someone's life. And do not forget in your pity for all of us that we hold the sword with the hand of an angel and the hand of a devil, and that they are both the same hand. Because we are of the world, and we continue to be of the world, and we have need of thee. We will always be in need of thy law that says,'When I sent you without money bag, knapsack and sandals, you lacked nothing.'"
                                                    'The Pilgrimage'  Paulo Coelho

Isn't it funny how one minute we feel quite puffed up in our pride and ego about something we did that we consider to be meaningful and in the next breath we are humble and denuded and again in ego, feeling undeserving of praise or recognition.

And isn't it funny how both of these dramas need pity.

Don't we need to pity the oppressor and the oppressed, the controller and the martyr, the boastful and the insecure, the obese and the anorexic, those who fear death and those who think they're immortal, those who save the world, but can't save their own lives and those who have triumphed in their own lives, but can't conquer the world.

Isn't there a bit of ourselves in each of these scenarios?

Why do we question our worth when we are so perfectly and wonderfully made in God's likeness. We lack nothing. There is nothing we need to say or do or be that we are not already.

All we have to be is "be".

I mean it is ludicrous to think that we are what we do, because then if we don't, we aren't.
And how silly to think we are what we wear, because if we don't wear anything, we aren't.

Just by getting up this morning and leaving timeously for work and not speeding you may have saved someone's life. Just by smiling at a stranger and passing them a compliment you may have prevented them from taking their own life.

How do we know whether that harsh word of biting criticism is not the very catalyst to cause a person to take action and better themselves or the contrary bury themselves alive.

We don't know!

But we do have to stop doubting ourselves and believe that we are exactly what and where we are supposed to be and that there is a cause and effect, universal oneness to which we are all entwined. Each and every action and reaction is a ripple effect which affects us all. We are not lone rangers. We are all vital players in this amazingly complex macrocosm.

What we must do is take up our swords unapologetically and be who we are!
The world is affected by our being
It is through our being wholly what we are (complete in ourselves) and a part of the whole (team players), that all of creation is.

And I too had to re read that a few times to understand the higher message.

wishing you a week of being exactly who you are
and reminding yourself frequently that your worth is pivotal in the greater scheme of things

love
Nicolette

I'm an Addict

I am a sugar addict and I have been for as long as I can remember.

For me there are so many temptations as they come in the form of : sweets, cakes, puddings, alcohol, muesli, muffins, health bars, ice cream, toffee, pancakes... Ooh stop it already!! I just don't seem to have an off button when it comes to sugar.

Today I thought I'd explore the topic of addictions, because I don't know too many people who are well balanced and addiction free, the very person I strive to be.

Most of us seem to have some or one addiction, be it smoking, alcohol, savoury food, sugar, sex, adrenaline sports, drugs, you name it.

Haven't we observed over and over again that abstinence is not a cure. How many times have we tried to quit our addictions by abstaining only to be offered a taste, a sip or a bite five months or two years later and voila! we're back and uncontrollably binging out. It's almost as if we are needing to get our fix for all those days of abstinence. It's as if all those days or months of denial have built up such a resistance that in just one moment of weakness, the walls come tumbling down.

I am fully aware of the reasons for treating life threatening addictions with full abstinence, but I ask myself the question: If I have to abstain from sugar completely for the rest of my life, so as not to spin out of control, then who wins? Have I mastered control over sugar or does sugar still control me?

I remember Neale Donald Walsch introducing me to the concept of, "What you resist, persists" and I have to be entirely honest with myself here. I gave up sugar for three years and I started again. I give it up for months and then one taste gets me all obsessed again. I seem to swing from one extreme to the other. Isn't abstinence just more of the extreme behaviour, but the opposite?

I looked up the metaphysical cause of addictions in Louise Hay's book; 'Heal your Body' and found the suggestion that " we are running from ourselves. Fear. Not knowing how to love ourselves".

With that in mind, aren't we running away in fear when we rigidly impose complete denial upon ourselves? Abstinence with fear cannot be the answer. Fear of one more drink, fear of one taste because It WILL get the better of me!

But what of another option? Louise Hay suggests replacing our old thought patterns with a new one; " I now discover how wonderful I am. I choose to love and enjoy myself."

Perhaps herein lies the key to balance. If we are true to ourselves and dearly love ourselves, if we spend time each day consciously nurturing ourselves, wouldn't we be more inclined to nurture our bodies with energy giving, vital, healthy choices that are good for us rather than giving in to our cravings?

So, let's ask ourselves:
Do I love myself?
Do I deserve the best life has to offer me?
Do I deserve to be healthy, happy and energetic?
Do I choose to nourish and nurture myself?

If we answer yes to all of those questions, then we must be on the road to healthy choices and perhaps if we remind ourselves daily of our worth, we won't find ourselves reaching for an emotional quick fix because we know we are worth more than that!

Wishing you a week of savouring yourself in love, salivating in self appreciation and being the master of your own choices

love
Nicolette

Black and White

I see love and the absence of love everywhere I go. It's almost as if I am wearing glasses that turn the present reality into a photographic negative. It's black and white and all shades of grey. The shadows or blackness are merely the lack of light or love.

We operate in our black zone and our white zone and often times in many shades of our grey zones. Don't we? None of us can honestly say that we operate in our white zone all the time, can we?

When we are living in the now we are operating out of love. When we are in ego, or focused on the past or future, we cannot transmit love. It's as though we have temporarily stepped out of our earth suits and are not present.

How often do we start out our day with every good intention of being loving and patient and kind (of operating in our white zone) and within half an hour we have got caught up in some egotistical tussle or locking horns with someone over something insignificant and we find we have switched zones. The white light, that is love, temporarily stops transmitting

Do you ever feel hypocritical? I do!

Do you sometimes feel like a push-me-pull-you. For those of you not familiar with Dr Seuss, a push-me-pull-you is a Siamese twin-like character. The one half of the person pulls to the right whilst the other half pulls left. We have every intention of eating healthy today and then we succumb to the temptation of a chocolate. We have set our intentions to be patient and find ourselves blowing off steam at the slightest provocation.

Aren't we all inherently good? We are all full of white light. It's just that sometimes we don't transmit it so brightly and other times we don't transmit it at all. Why is it shameful to lose our composure and make mistakes? Is it not out of these very mistakes that better judgement is born?

Don't we all deserve to have second chances. Imagine a world of having all your mistakes rubbed into your face at every turn. Don't we deserve to change our minds as often as we like without anyone counting. Wouldn't it be sad to be told that you are a hypocrite because you acted such and such a way and now that is how you are perceived to be from now to eternity? You made your bed, now lie in it!

Didn't all sages became wise through their mistakes? Each bull's eye hit is the result of a hundred misses.

Our judgements can only become wrong to us when we shift our perspective and hence our views .Through experience and growth our judgements become better, so there really are no bad judgements, just better ones. We have to get out there and not be ashamed of making a fool of ourselves, of venturing an opinion today that may shift tomorrow. After all we are all works in progress.

So this week, my friend

I wish you a quiver full to over flowing with arrows
the heart to succeed
and the will to never give up trying!
Dust yourself off when you fail
and be quick to forgive yourself

You are beautiful! Don't ever doubt it!

all my love and white light to illuminate your path

Nicolette

As We Are

I love music and its ability to almost gospel like spread the good word across the world.

I was listening to the words of John Lennon's 'Imagine' and thought they are so timeless and relevant to our needs for today, that I'd share them

"Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
living for today...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one"

Wow! Every time I hear those words it feels like the first time. I get goose bumps. I begin to dream of a time when we realise our oneness, that there is no 'me and you or us and them'.

Trying to live by Gandhi's creed of: "we must be the change we want to see in the world", don't we so often see ourselves in the actions of others? Isn't it when we are easily angered by another's doings, that we are simply acknowledging and observing the qualities that we detest in ourselves?

I have an example here. Last week I put my rubbish in one of my neighbour's green bins as I only produce half a bag full of rubbish per week, as I recycle all the rest of my rubbish. It seemed pointless to wheel my whole green bin down the drive for half a bag. Anyhow the short story is, when I returned later the rubbish had been collected and my bag hadn't, so I assume the neighbour in whose bin I'd deposited my bag, had removed it and turfed it onto the pavement.

So the lesson here: Do unto others as you would have done unto you.

I have to giggle because some months ago during the striking of the rubbish collectors, my neighbours had filled my almost empty bin with all of their surplus and we'd been requested to take our wheelie bins back into our yards. I remember cursing as I'd struggled up hill with the overloaded bin of everyone else's waste, especially because I'd had a sore hip.

So, remembering my anger over such a stupid thing, I could only laugh at the absurdity of a neighbour taking my rubbish out of their bin and depositing it onto the pavement.

We certainly do experience the world as we are.

As we are patient and kind, so is our world around us
As we are generous, so is our world a charitable place
As we have no need to judge others, so are we not judged

Wow! I am newly inspired to try again and see myself not as separate, but a part of and inseparable from the ONE universal energy that is LOVE. We are one!

Have an awesome week of loving one and all
and tell as many people as possible including yourself how gorgeous we, you, they are

love

Nicolette