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I have this little book called The Law of Success by Parmahansa Yogananda and it’s the greatest bit of wisdom. Very to the point, it’s multi-layered in its depth. The following is a great excerpt about Destiny. Enjoy

YOU CAN CONTROL DESTINY

Mind is the creator of everything. You should therefore guide it to create only good. If you cling to a certian thought with dynamic will power, it finally assumes a tangible outward form. Whe you are able to emply your will always for constructive purposes, you become the controller of your destiny.

I have just mentioned three important ways to make your will dynamic:

1. Choose a simple task or accomplishment that you have never mastered and determine to succeed with it;
2. Be sure you have chosen something constructive and feasible, then refuse to consider failure;
3. Concentrate on a single purpose, using all your abilities and opportunities to forward it.

But you should always be sure, within the calm region of your inner Self, that what you want is right for you to have, and in accord with God’s purposes. You can then use all the force of your will to accomplish your object; keeping your mind, however, centered on the thought of God– the Source of all power and all accomplishment.

And that, friends, is one way to do it. Good Luck.

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When I worked in commercial real estate, I had a boss who once said something very wise to me. He told me that anything you do in this life is like “getting yourself into orbit.” Think of yourself as a rocket-ship or better yet, a satellite trying to get into outer space so that you can orbit around the earth. In order to get out of the atmosphere you have to defy gravity, which takes a lot of energy. A rocket expends a lot of fuel propelling itself upward towards space. However, once you make it out of the earth’s atmosphere, the gravitational pull of the earth starts to work for you. A satellite hovers around the earth, traveling at great speeds with very little to no effort. An occasional thrust to the left or right for correction keeps the ship on course, with earth’s gravity doing all the work. It’s the same thing for anything you want to do in your life. When you begin a journey of destiny, you will meet with great resistance– this is the cost of getting into orbit.

In Think And Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill says once you determine what your definite chief aim in life is, you must demand of yourself “Persistent, continuous action toward it’s attainment.” It’s this persistent, continuous action which is the energy you use to get into orbit. (more…)

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Vegetarian and Vegan baking tips

(to be fair the following was completely and blatantly ripped off from The Post Punk Kitchen - word-for-word. http://www.theppk.com please visit them. There is a ton of great stuff on there.)

Get rid of the eggs
Replacing eggs is the most challenging aspects of vegan baking. Those suckers bind, they leaven and they give structure to our baked goods. However, like a bad boyfriend, they can be replaced, and with pleasing results. Here some info on replacements I have tried.
(more…)

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WAKE UP, WARM UP AND GET UP

SIMPLE THINGS TO DO BEFORE YOU GET UP IN THE MORNING - Yogi Bhajan, March 1992

If before getting up and before opening your eyes, you spend one minute doing the following things, you will preserve your health and prevent disease.

1. Clench your fingers.
2. Move your shoulders in a circle.
3. Tense and release your lower back.
4. Point your toes.
5. With your hands flat at your sides, stretch your whole body.
6. Curl around inuously, like a snake, 3 inches left and right.
7. Put the palms of your hands over your eyes, open your eyes while your hands are covering them, and then slowly move your hands forward and away from your eyes. In theis way your eyes become gently introduced to the first light of day.
8. Massage your mouth and face with the pamls of both hands.
9. Cat stretch left and right.
10. Raise your head up slowly and pull your knees up to your chest.

Now get up and enjoy your day. This routine is very helpful on those days when you have to get up and you don’t want to.

From The Kundalini Yoga Manual: Physical wisdom: Kundalini yoga by Harbhajan Singh Khalsa

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I have often struggled with what it means to be a warrior of a peaceful nature. Having been trained as an officer at West Point and then serving in the Army for five years, I constantly question what it means to truly be a peaceful warrior in this life. At first I rejected my military experience completely.

Then when I found kundalini yoga, I came to know the great lineage of Sikh gurus, such as Guru Gobind Singh, who were often forced to pick up the sword and fight. Still, there was always a gap of understanding in my mind– why would a fully realized being still train to fight and ultimately fight if necessary? Why did Sant Hazarra Singh, Yogi Bhajan’s Master, tell Yogi Bhajan that he would never see him again, and then enter a period of “living hell” as a freedom fighter during the partitioning of India in 1947?

For the longest time, I just took it on faith and continued to do my best to bring my warrior attitude to my practice of kundalini yoga and teaching.

Recently a friend of mine asked me to remove a picture that I had on myspace, because they said, it frightened them. The picture is nearly twenty years old-it’s me, as a cadet, with an M-16 rifle, on patrol in the Panama jungle.

I removed the picture, out of respect for this person. Ironically enough, though, the night before I had come across this following passage which put it together for me. It’s called “Victory,” from a book called 365 Tao: Daily Meditations, by Deng Ming-Dao.

Victory

Can you be both martial and spiritual?
Can you overcome your ultimate opponent?

To be martial requires discipline, courage and perseverance. It has nothing to do with killing. People fail to look beyond this one narrow aspect of being a warrior and so overlook all the other excellent qualities that can be gained from training. A warrior is not cruel murderer. A warrior is a protector of ideals, principal, and honor. A warrior is noble and heroic.

A warrior will have many opponents in a lifetime, but the ultimate opponent is the warrior’s own self. Within a fighter’s personality is a wide array of demons to be conquered: fear, laziness, ignorance, selfishness, egotism, and so many more. To talk of overpowering other people is inconsequential. To actually overcome one’s own defects is the true nature of victory. That is why so many religions depict warriors in their iconography. These images are not symbols for dominating others. Rather, they are symbols of the ferocity and determination that we need to overcome the demons within ourselves.

These words had somehow come and completed the notion in my mind of what a spiritual warrior is and why it’s okay to train and act with soldier-like discipline in life- because ones biggest opponent is always oneself.

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Joseph Campbell’s mantra was always “Follow Your Bliss.” As the foremost authority on mythology, JC scoured the worlds stories and myths and concluded that we are all the same hero in all of these stories. We are simply metaphors for the hero whose journey we follow and it represents the same journey that each and every one of us takes as humans experiencing consciousness on the earth. Thus, the worlds myths teach us how to live as heroes through the symbols within their story.

Follow your bliss.
The heroic life is living the individual adventure.

Joseph Campbell also said that like warriors, we should participate with joy in the sorrows of the world. The only way to completely en-Joy yourself in this life is if you can participate with joy in it all– the good as well as bad. (more…)

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I was re-reading swami Rama’s “Living With The Himalayan Masters.” In it is a chapter entitled “In the world and yet above. ” He talks about being a Swami in India and how everyone in their enthusiasm wants to chant and celebrate you when you come around to a new place. Often he was really tired and just wanted to sleep so he could get up early and meditate. At the end he talks about how he learned to sleep while people around him were chanting and playing drums and singing. Of that, he says:

“Decide that no matter what happens, you will do what you set out to do. If you are determined, possible distractions will still be there — but you will continue on your path and remain undisturbed. Sankalpa (determination) is very important. You cannot change your circumstances, the world, or your society to suit you. But if you have strength and determination you can go through this procession of life very successfully.”

Good Stuff

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What is a friend?
From: The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran

Your friend is your needs answered. He is your field which you sow with love and reap with Thanksgiving. And he is you’re board and your fireside. For you come to him with your hunger and you seek him for peace. (more…)

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