How to Love Yourself

Louise Hay offers these helpful suggestions. Try them! They really work.

1. Stop all criticism: Criticism never changes a thing. Refuse to criticize yourself. Accept yourself exactly as you are. Everybody changes. When you criticize yourself, your changes are negative. When you approve of yourself, your changes are positive.

2. Don't scare yourself: Stop terrorizing yourself with your thoughts. It's a dreadful way to live. Find a mental image that gives you pleasure (mine is yellow roses), and immediately switch your scary thought to a pleasure thought.

3. Be gentle and kind and patient: Be gentle with yourself. Be kind to yourself. Be patient
with yourself as you learn the new ways of thinking. Treat yourself as you would someone you
really loved.

4. Be kind to your mind: Self-hatred is only hating your own thoughts. Don't hate yourself for having the thoughts. Gently change the thoughts.

5. Praise yourself: Criticism breaks the inner spirit. Praise builds it up. Praise yourself as much as you can. Tell yourself how well you are doing with every little thing.

6. Support yourself: Find ways to support yourself. Reach out to friends, and allow them to help you. It is being strong to ask for help when you need it.

7. Be loving to your negatives: Acknowledge that you created them to fulfill a need. Now you are finding new, positive ways to fulfill those needs. So. lovingly release the old negative patterns.

8. Take care of your body: Learn about nutrition. What kind of fuel does your body need to have optimum energy and vitality? Learn about exercise. What kind of exercise can you enjoy? Cherish and revere the temple you live in.

9. Mirror work: Look into your own eyes often. Express this growing sense of love you have for yourself. Forgive yourself looking into the mirror. Talk to your parents looking into the mirror. Forgive them, too. At least once a day, say: "I love you, I really love you!"

10. LOVE YOURSELF - DO IT NOW! Don't wait until you get well or lose the weight, or get the new job, or find the new relationship. Begin NOW - do the best you can.

Copyright ©1988 Louise L. Hay All rights reserved.

The Unseen Self

...from the Field Project

The body, the form we see in the mirror and with which we identify the “I” is not inherently alive. This can be a startling idea until one reflects upon it, but the truth is that the body only expresses life as long as it is quickened by consciousness. In these terms, the tongue is not aware of what it is saying, the eye does not know what it sees, and so on. Once the enlivening consciousness is withdrawn, neither the tongue nor the eye is able to express life any longer, and the body’s inherently inert state is revealed. Thus the body cannot die, because it is is never alive, except insofar as the consciousness dwelling within it for a time animates it, and this consciousness, the true and unseen self, cannot die. The ancient Vedas have this to say of it:

The Self is not born; it does not die.
Fire does not burn it; water does not wet it.
Birthless, deathless, it goes on from age to age.

This truth prompted Seth/Jane Roberts to state that “we’re as dead now as we’re ever going to be.” The difficulty in experiencing this comes from the Particle self’s tenacious identification with the body, for it is our nature as Particles to measure reality by what is seen rather than what is unseen, and in this, from a more expanded perspective, the Particle has things exactly backwards.


It is only partly correct, then, to state that the self is “in the body” since, from a more awakened vantage, the body is in the self. The experience of this, however, goes far beyond the mere stating of it. One way to get at this experience is to regard the one we see in the mirror as a construct, a version of us much like the one we might see in a dream. In any dream in which we behold ourselves in this way, in this or that situation and so on, we likely would not notice that there we are existing simultaneously as the dreamer. In other words, we are observing some Particle version carrying out the local action of the dream story, and this Particle version is the self, but the one observing, the one who is not in the dream but from whose point of view the dream is unfolding, that is also the self. As protagonist in the dream and as observer, we are bilocated, with one version of self local and the other, not.


The same model can be “caught in the act,” as it were, in our waking experience, for the one who is aware, despite identifying with the body, is not “in the body.” Rather, the body is in it in the same way that the dream is in the dreamer.

If one catches this angle of vision, something nonlocal turns inside out. It is difficult to lock into language for the simple reason that language is a Particle invention, and as a rule presupposes Particle assumptions. There are ways in which language can point to or perhaps evoke such fringe meanings, however. Poetry, for example, has this power. So does humor in certain forms. Zen koans are famous for this iconoclastic effect.

The point to contemplate here is captured beautifully in a poem by Juan Ramon Jimenez, a Spanish poet who translated the verses of Tagore from the Hindu. The poem is entitled, I Am Not I:

I am not I.
I am this one
walking beside me whom I do not see,
whom at times I manage to visit,
and whom at other times I forget;
the one who remains silent while I talk,
the one who forgives, sweet, when I hate,
the one who takes a walk when I am indoors,
the one who will remain standing when I die.

Encountering this “I that is not I” illuminates conscious creating from the inside out in a way that cannot be imagined in strictly Particle terms. It is the doorway of homecoming and immortality. To know this less local I is to wake up from the long sleepwalk of Particle life and, as another poet, T.S. Eliot describes, “to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”

http://www.fieldproject.net/realities/?s=field+theory

Man's Bank Quip Earns Him Champion Liar Title

... "I just realized how bad the economy really is. I recently bought a new toaster oven and as a complimentary gift, I was given a bank." ...


Milwaukee - A jab at the woes of the nation's banks has been named the top tall tale of 2009.

The Burlington Liars Club bestowed its highest award Wednesday for this line: "I just realized how bad the economy really is. I recently bought a new toaster oven and as a complimentary gift, I was given a bank."

The quip earned Larry Legro of Sun Prairie, Wis., the dubious - but serious - distinction of being the year's World Champion Liar.

"I was ecstatic," said Legro, 58, a state health inspector. "I told people all year I was planning to win this contest."

Legro told The Associated Press he had been submitting entries for four to five years, even if his wife didn't share his enthusiasm.

"When I told her I won I could see her roll eyes like, 'Why do you want to do this?'" he said. "Because it's there. Somebody's got to do it."

The Liars Club got its start in 1929 when local journalists Otis Hulett and Mannel Hahn fabricated a news story about a lying contest between the Burlington police and fire departments. The police chief won, they said, after he said he'd never be good at lying because he never told a lie.

The club is based in Burlington, a town of about 15,000 about 35 miles southwest of Milwaukee. It has more than 2,000 members around the world, said Joel Weis, the club's president.

Over the years, the top entries have been about random topics. Last year's winning line was: "My grandson is the most persuasive liar I have ever met. By the time he was 2 years old he could dirty his diaper and make his mother believe someone else had done it."

"A good lie isn't just a tall tale or exaggerating," said Garth Seehawer, 72, the Oconto Falls man who came up with that gem. "You have to have something fun, not believable but impossibly true."

But Weis said this year's panel of three judges picked Legro's lie out of more than 100 entries because of its relevance. It alludes to the fact that the government spent more than $700 billion to bail out the banking industry in the last year or so, and more than 100 banks collapsed nationwide.

"It comes down to timing," he said. "I think historically we'll be able to look back at this one and laugh. This definitely will have its mark in time."

The four runners-up include a fib about a man who was so speedy that he could have been a baseball superstar. But his dreams were derailed because whenever he hit a line drive to right field, he rounded the bases so fast that the ball hit him as he approached second base - and he would be called out for interference.

Another said this year's bug season is so bad that even a photograph of his dog had ticks.

A lifetime membership in the Liars Club costs $1. It grants the holder the right to submit an unlimited number of fibs each year.

Legro said he came up with the winning entry while exchanging e-mails with his older brother about the economy. He said he wasn't sure if younger people who don't remember when banks gave out appliances would get the humor.

Still, he's grateful for the notoriety that comes with being a champion liar. "I don't know if this qualifies me to be politician," he joked. "I guess we'll see."

ALL PUNS INTENDED...

1. Two antennas met on a roof,
Fell in love and got married.
The ceremony wasn't much,
But the reception was excellent.

2. A jumper cable walks into a bar.
The bartender says,
"I'll serve you,
But don't start anything."

3. Two peanuts walk into a bar,
And one was a salted.

4. A dyslexic man walks into a bra.

5. A man walks into a bar
With a slab of asphalt under his arm,
And says:
"A beer please,
And one for the road."

6. Two cannibals are eating a clown.
One says to the other:
"Does this taste funny to you?"

7. "Doc, I can't stop singing
'The Green, Green Grass of Home."
" That sounds like Tom Jones Syndrome."
"Is it common?"
"... Well, It's Not Unusual."

8. Two cows are standing
Next to each other in a field.
Daisy says to Dolly,
"I was artificially Inseminated
This morning."
"I don't believe you," says Dolly.
"It's true; no bull!" exclaims Daisy.

9. An invisible man marries
An invisible woman.
The kids were nothing
To look at either.

10. Deja-Moo:
The feeling that you've heard
This bull before.

11. I went to buy some camouflage
Trousers the other day,
But I couldn't find any.

12. A man woke up in a hospital
After a serious accident.
He shouted, "Doctor,doctor,
I can't feel my legs!"
The doctor replied,
"I know you can't
I've cut off your arms!"

13. I went to a seafood disco
Last week...and pulled a mussel.

14. What do you call a fish
With no eyes?
A fsh.

15. Two fish swim into a concrete wall.
The one turns to the other
And says,"Dam!"

16. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak
Were chilly, so they lit a fire
In the craft.
Unsurprisingly it sank,
Proving once again
That you can't have your kayak
And heat it too.

17. A group of chess enthusiasts
Checked into a hotel,
And were standing in the lobby
Discussing their recent
Tournament victories.
After about an hour,
The manager came out of the office,
And asked them to disperse.
"But why," they asked,
As they moved off.
"Because," he said,
"I can't stand chess-nuts
Boasting in an open foyer."

18. A woman has twins,
And gives them up for adoption.
One of them goes to a family in Egypt,
And is named "Ahmal."
The other goes to a family
In Spain; they name him "Juan."
Years later, Juan sends a picture
Of himself to his birth mother.
Upon receiving the picture,
She tells her husband
That she wishes she
Also had a picture of Ahmal.
Her husband responds,
"They're twins! If you've seen Juan,
You've seen Ahmal."

(Oh, man, this is so bad, it's good)

19. Mahatma Gandhi, as you know,
Walked barefoot most of the time,
Which produced an impressive set
Of calluses on his feet.
He also ate very little,
Which made him rather frail
And with his odd diet,
He suffered from bad breath...
This made him
A super-calloused fragile mystic
Hexed by halitosis.

20. And finally,
There was the person
Who sent twenty different puns
To his friends,
With the hope that at least
Ten of the puns
Would make them laugh.
No pun in ten did!

Synchronicity: The Profound and the Meaningless

...

Fish Liberation (The Battle for Swear Words) ...

Kaizen...

How to Cut the Clutter and Organize Your Home, the Kaizen Way ...

Our mind works a whole lot better when everything's not in a disarray!

Cleaning, organizing and decluttering our home is not an easy task (especially for the single guy who is tacitly expected to have a messy house!). But keep in mind that there is some truth to the old adage that a messy environment is a direct reflection of a messy mind.

-

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• An open mind
• A willingness to step out of your comfort zone

1. Step 1
   

   Certainly, I can go on and on about all the tips and tricks to thoroughly clean your house but I'm sure we've all heard this from our mothers, spouses, or significant others. However, I think it's more important that we understand that cleaning up after ourselves and cleaning up the way we think are two related issues.

2. Step 2
   

   In "The Kaizen Way: One Small Step Can Change Your Life", the author, Robert Maurer makes the point that we as human beings still act on a "flight or fight" response to life. The things that we do in a repetitive or habitual manner, we're doing in order to keep our world consistent and non-threatening. So for instance, that pile of dirty laundry that's growing ominously in the corner, we can't bring ourselves to wash it because it reminds us of all the other chores we need to do. So one small obstacle causes a cascade of messiness!

3. Step 3

   Maurer solution is a Japanese technique called Kaizen. Kaizen is a production method perfected by Toyota Corporation that raised the Japanese automotive industry from obscurity to world domination. The Kaizen method is to break down a task to ridiculously small steps. The smaller steps in a sense "sneaks behind" our internal fears that we're doing something outside of our "comfort zone." With Kaizen, all success and failures are noted and treated without judgment. In fact, the mistakes are treated as fuel for further progress.

4. Step 4

   As an experiment, try this Kaizen move tomorrow morning. As you finish washing your face and then brushing your teeth, you'll notice that a certain about amount of water has splashed onto the wash basin counter. Try using a toilet paper to dry the counter. As you're drying, put some pressure to clean the counter as well.

5. Step 5

   Now with the wet toilet paper, mop up the floor as well taking up the dirt along the way. Then dispose of the toilet paper because you now have a clean spot on your floor! You don't need to do a lot in the beginning, just enough to get you started on this course. The next morning, you could try and scrub up an even a larger square area.

6. Step 6

   All this may seem strange to you in the beginning but these teeny-tiny steps are essential to allowing you to step beyond your comfort zone. These steps can be applied creatively to other situations such as cleaning your kitchen. With my bedroom, I make myself throw something out everyday (but in order to throw somethings out, I have to put other things away so everything works together!) For me personally, I'm always surprised that it doesn't take any more time out of my day and that I don't pay a maid for my bathroom and kitchen to be clean!

7. Step 7

   These small safe steps are the working basis for developing good habits as opposed to habits that just come upon you by default. It's these small steps which will build the foundation for deep and lasting change.

Abraham-Hicks: "68 Seconds of Pure Thought"