by Michael Mamas | Saturday, November 19, 2011 | Personal Growth, Spirituality |
Believe in what is. Anything else is denial.
Even if you want to change things, to be most effective you must start with what is.
Strive to discover what is. Even feeling what is really in your heart and going with it can be most challenging and elusive. It is often not so easy to do. Go whereever it leads.
Believing what you choose to believe (what you are afraid to not believe, what you are told to believe, what you feel you should believe, or even simply what is familiar to believe) and projecting it on to the world is common.
Seeing what is actually there within you and before you for what it truly is… that is rare.
This applies to everything from the most mundane to the most profound. Believing what you want to believe instead of what is… that is the stuff magic tricks are made of.
It is what prevents you from inheriting your birthright… liberation. It is what shrouds your true nature. It is what keeps the world spinning ’round. It is Maya.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Monday, November 14, 2011 | Personal Growth, Spirituality
At first glance the following quote may see ridiculous, but the more you think about it, the more it makes sense and the more life examples you can think of that support it.
It relates well to my previous blog on rule books.
“Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what’s right.” – Isaac Asimov
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Sunday, November 13, 2011 | Personal Growth, Spirituality |
If you are like most people – your rule book is bigger than you are.
Is that really how you want to live your life?
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Saturday, November 12, 2011 | Personal Growth, Spirituality
Dream… but don’t just dream.
Move your life in the direction of your dreams.
Yet do not dream with your ego.
Dream with your Soul.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Saturday, November 5, 2011 | Personal Growth |
It takes a lot of pressure to make a diamond.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Thursday, November 3, 2011 | Personal Growth
~
~
~
Deep doubts, deep wisdom;
~
Small doubts, little wisdom
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Thursday, October 27, 2011 | Personal Growth
Someone spoke to me about this blog yesterday and added a very good point: Once someone goes down the path of irrational anger it is often very difficult to correct it.
For most, it is just too humiliating to admit that they were wrong. They prefer to defend the stance they took even when they have been proven wrong.
It is the rare person that can stand up straight, apologize, and move forward. In actuality, those who can do that need not be humiliated. In fact they should be honored for their strength of character and maturity.
As I am fond of saying, I do not measure the merit of a person by whether or not they ever go out of balance. Everyone does.
If merit is to be measured, then do so by observing if and how fast they can come back into balance and correct their mistakes.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Wednesday, October 26, 2011 | Personal Growth |
Let’s coin a term, “irrational anger.”
You might quite reasonably respond, “Is anger ever rational?” So let’s define rational anger as “anger that exists when you are clear on all the relevant facts.” This does not mean that just because you have all the facts, that your anger is justifiable. However, there is at least a valid rationale supporting it.
Irrational anger is anger not supported by the whole picture – all the relevant facts. The alleged facts are invalid, or there are other relevant facts that you are not aware of or have chosen to ignore.
To my experience that is by far a more common type of anger. With partial, biased, or totally inaccurate knowledge, you make a decision about something, get angry, and are incapable of looking deeper. You have heard enough and do not want to be confused with additional facts or corrections of inaccuracies.
A red flag that you do not want to hear or are ignoring the facts, is when, in your mind, you conclude that people known to be honorable are lying, or spinning the truth.
Now there is another important point here. I have spoken of first response, which is your initial reaction/response to something. I have taught the importance of developing the ability to create a second wiser response. In the case of irrational anger, you may hold on to the first response with great dedication while steam-rolling your way through whatever additional facts and perspectives that may come up.
You may then insist that your anger is now a second response. Not so! A healthy second response is not steamrolling. In fact, in association with first and second response, lets coin another term: “Steamrolling.” You would do well to sometimes ask yourself if you are steamrolling.
I have often associated success in life with the image on the 1793 large cent of Lady Liberty. She is facing forward with dedication and purity of heart while her hair blows in the wind. That wind is, more often than not, irrational anger stirred up by anyone who is accomplishing great things in life.
From Gandhi to George Washington, irrational anger is the wind in their faces. Just drive down the street; look at any building, farm, or banner and know that the wind in the face of that accomplishment was at least in significant part irrational anger.
Does that mean that all opposition is irrational? No, of course not. However, most of it is irrational most of the time. And never is any great thing, not faced with irrational anger.
Irrational anger is exhausting. The only way to deal with it is to keep moving and give the people time to come around.
Rational anger, which is much more rare, at least leads itself to the cultivation of a healthy second response.
Now you are faced with a life-determining question, “Are you willing to face the wind?” Are you willing to have the torrential winds of irrational anger come your way and still move forward with dedication and purity of heart? If not, your life will be blown in the wind like tumbleweed and you will have little to show for your life at the end of your life.
In review, let’s all try to remember the two terms we have coined today and use them when appropriate; “irrational anger,” and “steamrolling.”
Also, it is good to not forget that this is Kali Yuga, the age of ignorance. Ignorance means ignoring. “To ignore” is the stuff irrational anger is made of. Irrational anger is the most destructive sin of this age.
In closing, please remember Gandhi’s words, “Hate the sin, love the sinner.”
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Saturday, October 15, 2011 | Personal Growth, Spirituality |
“Fantasizing about the future is one of my favorite pastimes.” – Richard Branson.
The relationship of many with the future is well expressed here. Future fantasies are made in quantum leaps.
But progress in life is usually made through small, yet continuously patient, nibbles.
Those unwilling to take those nibbles rarely achieve the quantum leaps.
This relates to another quote from a golfer whose name I cannot recall: “The more I practice, the luckier I get.”
You must learn to take the small nibbles day by day. Then, in time you will live the future you long for.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Saturday, October 1, 2011 | Personal Growth, Relationship
In a heated argument we are apt to lose sight of the truth. – Publilius Syrus
I see this quite often, not only by the main participants of a conflict, but also by their supporting friends and family.
I think it was Davey Crockett that said, “First get your facts straight and then go ahead.” However, when things become heated, facts tend to fall by the wayside.
In those moments it is best to settle down and give it the time and space necessary to come from a better place… a healthy second response.
No one has the right to attack another in a heated moment.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
