Category Archives: Youtube

When Service Becomes Disservice

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With poverty climbing, more people falling under the national poverty level, programs and shelters closing their doors because they cannot meet the demands of the needy, what are we to do with our brothers and sisters who go hungry? Have you ever witnessed the reactions people have towards our homeless? Rude behavior towards them? Have you treated another human being, less fortunate, without respect? Chances are you can answer at least one of these.

The dilemma is not about feeding our homeless, but how we treat our fellow-man. Should we give free handouts? Or is it a greater disservice? While this topic can go round and round, they are still human beings who go hungry. This is definitely a controversial topic and many will turn away.

While the greatest gift we can offer is service, it can turn quickly into a disservice. By providing daily handouts, the homeless never learn to fend for themselves, giving them self-confidence of making it on their own. I am not suggesting we stop helping those in need. Instead we are to feed the hungry, while feeding their soul. It is a greater service to offer emergency nourishment, while giving courage to make it on their own.

 

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day.

Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.

~Confucius

Ani po finds herself in foreign land. Along the main strip, she observes a homeless person along her way. When the homeless person reached to Ani Po, asking for money, she replied, “what is the money for?”

Homeless: “Food.”

Ani Po: “I cannot give you money, but if you are truly hungry come with me. Will you dine with me?”

Homeless: “Sure but they will not let me in there.”

Ani Po: “What is your name? I am Ani Po.

Homeless: “The name is Matthew.”

Ani Po: “Well Matthew, I have money and if they want my money, they will let us both in.”

Ani Po and Matthew enter the fast food restaurant and they ordered food. Matthew was truly hungry, as he ordered a Big Mac super-sized and an extra Big Mac (ok, you can probably guess where we were). They both sat, enjoying each others company but mainly a hot meal.

Ani Po asked the young man why he was homeless, to which Matthew replied, “I just got out of prison and I am a felon.”

Ani Po: “A felon?! What did you do?”

Matthew: “When I was nineteen, I was busted for strong-armed robbery.”

Ani Po: “What the Hell were you thinking?

Matthew: “I was young and my buddies dared me to hold up a gas station. When I got caught, they were nowhere to be found.”

Ani Po: “So what are you going to do now? You going to live on the street forever?”

Matthew: “Well, I would get a job but who will hire a felon?”

Ani Po: “What do you want to do?”

Matthew: “I want to get into construction.”

Ani Po: “Avoid the commercial companies and the Unions…they will not hire you. Your only bet is to go private. Find someone looking for help and work your ass off, proving yourself to not only the boss but yourself. Learn as much as you can and when you are comfortable enough…get your own crew. I see great things in your future Matthew, but you have a rough road ahead of you.”

Matthew agreed to everything Ani Po stated and further added, “You are right about this path, but when I get my own crew I want to branch out into Architecture. I want to design handicap friendly homes. My Brother was shot when we were younger and he has a hard time in his current home.”

Ani Po: “That is a good plan. Check with your local university. Seeing you do not have any money to your name, there shouldn’t be any problems getting assistance.”

At this time a friend of Matthews enters and sits down next to them. Looking hungry Ani Po hands him his Super-Sized fries, “You hungry too? I shouldn’t eat these fries anyways.”

Ani po gets up and extends his hand to Matthew, “I wish you the very best Matthew and have enjoyed your company today. While today’s meal was free, you may have to work for tomorrow’s. You are at the crossroads of your future…do you stay on the streets or do get to work? I challenge you to follow your dream. Whatever obstacles lay before you, step over them and continue your journey towards your goal. You can have anything, but it may require a bit of work.”

Ani Po turns and walks away.

Matthew watches Ani Po leave. Withe a tear in his eye, whispering…”I will.”

Now that is service. Merely feeding Matthew would have been a great disservice. Not only did Ani Po share a life lesson with Matthew, but she showed Matthew that someone authentically cared about him and gave him hope. Had Ani Po not stopped to eat with Matthew, he would have remained on the street. Instead, Matthew has not just one crew but multiple. Not only does he have his own construction company, but also has an architecture firm.

If we, as a collective whole, repeatedly ignore the less fortunate, how will they ever learn a new reality? “Well I did it, why can’t they?” Maybe their reality was slightly different from yours and they need help seeing clearly. In order to change a broken wheel, it often requires an expert to show the way.

While the pilgrim prides himself filled with change in his pocket, the Warrior prides herself with change in Her heart. Enjoy this next clip on change…

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DXL9vIUbWg&feature=share

Stepping into the Canvas with change of Heart. Pockets may not jingle jangle like they normally might, but fortune is sure to appear. When we give everything we have, we see how rich we truly are. Keep everything to ourselves, we continue seeking that which is missing. Through service to others, we are serving ourselves. How will you serve today?

Change Your Words, Change Your Life

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Every interaction, every moment is an opportunity to either spread Love or Hate and only takes ONE WORD to do it. Depending the word, will determine the vibration of the interaction. Hate vibrates at a lower level, being that of destructive forces. While Love vibrates at the highest of levels, creating only more Love.

In Power vs. Force, David Hawkins discusses different levels of vibration, breaking down our choices into simple, what he refers to as power words. Another idea is that even our words attract more of that we speak. The Secret, discusses the Law of Attraction, teaching us to redirect our thoughts and attracting more of that which we want. Warning us of redirecting our thoughts and words to only use the “Power Words” to get what we want in life. Our thoughts lead to choice of words, which in turn creates the life around us. There is no magic formula to this Law, but will work every time.  Change your thoughts and words, and the world around you will surely return the favor. Enjoy this ancient Korean Poem, as it reminds us to be careful of the words we speak.

 

JUST ONE WORD

Just one uncaring word can spark a fight.

Just one cruel word can shatter a life.

Just one harsh word can sow misunderstanding.

Just one disrespectful word can douse the fervor of love.

Just one kind word can smooth a rocky path.

Just one joyful word can cheer a gloomy day.

Just the right word can lighten an uneasy heart.

Just one affectionate word can show the beauty of the world.

(a centuries old Korean poem, author unknown)

In the Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz discusses Toltec Wisdom at its basics. These four guidelines, if followed, can lead to a happier and more simple life. He discusses four agreements: Be Impeccable with your word, Don’t take anything personally, Don’t make assumptions, Always do you best. While all are beneficial he emphasizes the greatest of these being Impeccable with your Word:

Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean.

Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others.

Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and Love.

How does one person change the words they speak? Re-align your thoughts to that of Love.

There was a man who was at the top of his game and thought he was pretty special, until one day he met a gypsy who told him that he was very negative and needed to change his ways. “What are you talking about? I am not,” explained this man. She explained, “While you are kind a giving to the people around you, you hurt the ones closest to you. You speak negatively towards your wife, use her as the brunt of your jokes. I know she is strong, but every word, great or small, has an impact on the people around us. The more negative baggage we have to carry, eventually we are weighted down by our own negativity. If all you are sending her is negativity, that is all she will fill her bags with. From this day forward, only speak of Love to her…try it for a week and see how much you speak.”

The gentleman accepted the challenge, thinking it would be easy, but realized how negative he was, as no words came out of his mouth for that week. Re-aligning his thoughts and speech, he began looking for ways to speak in loving kindness to her. He continued this for six months, even in the darkest of times. Six months went by and his wife came to him saying, “I do not know what has changed you, but I Love you now…more than ever before. Thank you for always making me feel good! I Love you!” With this surprise discussion, the man learned a valuable lesson in life. He learned that if he can change with just one person, why not expand this knowledge to more people. He went on to be the most positive person around. Still not perfect, but able to stay positive and learn quickly from the many lessons that present to him.

Another story is of a homeless person begging for change, but is not meeting his daily quota to buy food at the end of the day. Being blind, he cannot do anything but sit there and wait for the sounds of money hitting his tin can.

One day a woman, walking by, wrote something on his sign and walked away. That day the man got more in one day then he had in a whole month. What did this woman do? Let’s watch this great video by Purplefeather, and see the power of words in action…

httpv://youtu.be/Hzgzim5m7oU

Stepping into the Canvas re-aligning our thoughts, changing our words. Our thoughts control our actions and words. Whatever our thoughts will be our words. If they align with negativity we emit negativity.  Aligning with only positive thoughts, actions will automatically become that of positivity. Walking in positive thoughts, sharing only that of Love. “Change your words, Change your Life.”

Try it just for a week…see what happens…

Namaste