Good morning!
Below are some little snippets from summertime so far. The sunrise over our beach lately has been my favorite way to greet the new day. This summer has been fueled by countless glasses of iced coffee and many water coloring sessions.
We are still in the middle of renovations. We just started the laundry room renovation but soon the main living area room will be complete! We began the renovations last September so I cannot wait for it to be finished. However, I have experienced a great shift lately in the countless renovation projects we have going on now and the ones still coming ahead. I have began to allow it to be a fun creative outlet instead of always feeling that it is something on a to do list that must be completed. Since we are doing almost a complete remodel of this home, I love that every little last little detail in our home came from our imagination and is filled with self expression and creativity. It is all becoming a true reflection of who we are.
I recently have been listening to the Audio book "A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle. Here are some quotes from the book that I really love:
“The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your
thoughts about it. Be aware of the thoughts you are thinking. Separate
them from the situation, which is always neutral, which always is as it
is.”
“Anything that you resent and strongly react to in another is also in you.”
“Whatever you think the world is withholding from you, you are withholding from the world.”
“A powerful spiritual practice is consciously to allow the diminishment of ego when it happens without attempting to restore it. I recommend that you experiment with this from time to time. For example, when someone criticizes you, blames you, or calls you names, instead of immediately retaliating or defending yourself – do nothing. Allow the self-image to remain diminished and become alert to what that feels like deep inside you. For a few seconds, it may feel uncomfortable, as if you had shrunk in size. Then you may sense an inner speciousness that feels intensely alive. You haven't been diminished at all. In fact, you have expanded. You may then come to an amazing realization: When you are seemingly diminished in some way and remain in absolute non-reaction, not just externally but also internally, you realize that nothing real has been diminished, that through becoming “less,” you become more. When you no longer defend or attempt to strengthen the form of yourself, you step out of identification with form, with mental self-image. Through becoming less (in the ego’s perception), you in fact undergo an expansion and make room for Being to come forward. True power, who you are beyond form, can then shine through the apparently weakened form."
“There is nothing that strengthens the ego more than being right. Being
right is identification with a mental position—a perspective, an
opinion, a judgment, a story. For you to be right, of course, you need
someone else to be wrong, and so the ego loves to make wrong in order to
be right. In other words: You need to make others wrong in order to get
a stronger sense of who you are.
“Once you have decided you want the present moment to be your friend, it
is up to you to make the first move: Become friendly toward it, welcome
it no matter in what disguise it comes, and soon you will see the
results. Life becomes friendly toward you; people become helpful,
circumstances cooperative. One decision changes your entire reality. But
that one decision you have to make again and again and again—until it
becomes natural to live in such a way."
“See the fullness of life all around you. The warmth of the sun on your
skin, the display of magnificent flowers outside a florist’s shop,
biting into a succulent fruit, or getting soaked in an abundance of
water falling from the sky. The fullness of life is there at every
step.”
“The acknowledgment of that abundance that is all around you awakens the
dormant abundance within. Then let it flow out. When you smile at a
stranger, there is already a minute outflow of energy. You become a
giver. Ask yourself often: “What can I give here; how can I be of
service to this person, this situation?” You don’t need to own anything
to feel abundant, although if you feel abundant consistently things will
almost certainly come to you.”
“Ego takes everything personally. Emotion arises, defensiveness, perhaps even aggression.”
“Sometimes the “fault” that you perceive in another isn’t even
there. It is a total misinterpretation, a projection by a mind
conditioned to see enemies and to make itself right or superior. At
other times, the fault may be there, but by focusing on it, sometimes to
the exclusion of everything else, you amplify it. And what you react to
in another, you strengthen in yourself.”