Story:Laughter Vs Crying

Technique:Yoga Nidra

Just as a car engine needs to be turned off and allowed to cool down after a long drive, similarly, after doing yoga postures, we need to cool our body with yoga nidra. It helps conserve and consolidate the energy from the yoga poses (active) practices. Yoga nidra relaxes the entire system, preparing it for pranayama and meditation. It is therefore important to keep aside sufficient time for yoga nidra after yoga postures.

Let’s Get Ready For Yoga Nidra
In yoga nidra, we consciously take our attention to different parts of the body, which activates the nerves in those areas and helps to integrate the impact of the asanas (yoga postures) into our system.

Here is a step-by-step guide to do yoga nidra.

Tip: It is a good idea to cover yourself with a blanket to keep yourself warm. The body becomes warm while doing postures and a sudden drop in temperature is not suitable.

1. Lie down straight on your back in Corpse Pose (Shavasana). Close your eyes and relax. Take a few deep breaths in and out. Remember to take slow and relaxed breaths, and not ujjayi breaths. (Tip: If you feel any discomfort or pain in lower back, adjust your posture or use a pillow to elevate the legs a little, for more comfort.)
2. Start by gently taking your attention to your right foot. Keep your attention there for a few seconds, while relaxing your foot. Then gently move your attention up to the right knee, right thigh and hip (again for a couple of seconds). Become aware of your whole right leg. Repeat this process for the left leg.
3. Similarly, take your attention to all parts of the body: genital area, stomach, navel region, chest, right shoulder and right arm, followed by the left shoulder and left arm, throat, face and the top of the head.
4. Take a deep breath in, observe the sensations in your body, and relax in this still state for a few minutes.
5. Now, slowly becoming aware of your body and surroundings, turn to your right side and keep lying down for a few more minutes.
6. Taking your own time, you may then slowly sit up, and whenever you feel comfortable, slowly and gradually open your eyes.

How Yoga Nidra Benefits You

• Cools down the body after yoga postures,restoring normal temperature
• Activates the nervous system to absorb the effects of yoga poses
• Flushes out body toxins

http://www.artofliving.org/in-en/yoga/health-and-wellness/restorative-sleep-relax-yourself-yoga-nidra

http://www.speakingtree.in/blog/yoga-nidra-with-sri-sri-ravi-shankar

Story:How you use what you have

Madan Mohan Malaviya was trying to build a good university for students to study at. But there was a lack of funds for it, so he went from town to town, met many rich people and traders to collect donations. He went to the Nizam of Hyderabad (who was then apparently the richest man in the world) to request him for funds. 

The Nizam was furious. "How dare you come to me  for funds? And that too for a Hindu University!" He roared with anger, took off his footwear and flung it at Malaviya.

Malaviya picked up the  footwear and left silently. He went directly to the marketplace and  began to auction the footwear. As it was the Nizam’s footwear, many people came  forward to buy it. The bids kept going up.

When the Nizam heard of this, he became uneasy. He thought it would be an  insult to him if his footwear were to be bought by someone for a pittance. So he sent one of his attendants with the instruction, "Buy that footwear no matter whatever the price may be!"

Thus, Malaviya managed to sell the Nizam’s own footwear back to him, for a huge amount. He used that money to build the Banaras Hindu University. 

Moral: It is not what you have, but it is how you use what you have that makes the difference in your life.

http://www.quora.com/What-are-some-must-know-facts-about-Banaras-Hindu-University-Varanasi-India

Love

This Valentine’s Day, make the Divine your valentine. See the Divine in your valentine and make the divinity your valentine. Have the same love for everyone, with different flavours. You cannot behave the same way with everyone, but you can love all of them. Love transcends behaviour and etiquette. 

Abiding in the Self, you become the valentine for the whole world. Spirit is the valentine of matter and matter is the valentine of the spirit. They are made for each other. If you hold on to matter and do not respect the spirit, then matter is not pleased. If you honour the spirit, then you will care for the world, and when you care for the world, it will take care of you. 

Keep your heart in a safe place; it is too delicate. Events and small things make strong impressions on it. A precious stone needs a setting around it - gold or silver - to hold it; in the same way wisdom and knowledge are the settings that will hold your heart in the Divine. To keep your heart safe and your mind sane, you cannot find a better place than the Divine. Then the passing time and events will not be able to touch you; they will not create a scar. 

Often, you do not know how to respond, or feel obliged and bound, when someone shows a lot of love. The ability to receive genuine love comes with the ability to give love. The more you are centred and know by experience that love is not an emotion; it is your very existence, the more you feel at home with any amount of love expressed in any manner. 

There are three kinds of love. The love that comes out of charm, that which comes out of comfort and divine love. The love that comes out of charm does not last long. It comes out of unfamiliarity or attraction. In this, you lose the attraction fast, and boredom sets in. This love may diminish and bring along with it a fear, uncertainty, insecurity and sadness. 

The love that comes out of comfort and familiarity grows, but it has no thrill, no enthusiasm, joy, or fire to it. For example, you are more comfortable with an old friend who is a familiar person rather than with a new person. Divine love supersedes both the above. It has an ever present newness. The closer you go, more charm and depth come to it. There is never boredom and it keeps everyone on their toes. 

Worldly love can be like an ocean, yet an ocean has a bottom. Divine love is like the sky which is limitless. From the bottom of the ocean, soar into the vast sky. Ancient love transcends all these relationships and is inclusive of all the relationships. Let love be. Don’t give it a name. When you give it a name, it becomes a relationship, and relationships restrict love. 

Often, one experiences love at first sight. Then as time goes on, it decreases, decays, turns into hatred and disappears. Ancient love never decays. Although its mortality rate is high, love dies very young. After a few days, weeks, months, or years, it dies. In society, you say love is never a tree, it is a seasonal crop. 

When the same love becomes a tree with the manure of knowledge, it becomes ancient love that goes from lifetime to lifetime. That is our own consciousness. You are not limited to this present body, this present name, this present form and the present relationships around you. You may not know your past, your ancientness. But just know you are ancient, that is good enough. 

Pain goes with love. Because you love someone, even a small action can hurt you. And in hurt, you feel very delicate, very deep. Love also creates the same sensation. Separation creates the same symptom. If you don’t love somebody, you will never feel hurt by them. Understand and accept this. Then that hurt will not turn into a sore feeling. Rather, that very hurt will take you deep into dispassion and meditation. 

When love glows, it becomes bliss; when it flows, it is compassion; when it blows, it is anger; when it ferments, it is jealousy. Let love be. Don’t give it a name!
- Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

http://knowledgesheet.artoflivinguniverse.org/2015/02/valentines-day.html

Story:Words

The disciples were absorbed in a discussion of Lao-tzu's dictum: 
"Those who know do not say; Those who say do not know."

When the Master entered, they asked him exactly what the words meant.
Said the Master, "Which of you knows the fragrance of a rose?" 
All of them knew.
Then he said, "Put it into words."
All of them were silent. 

http://chippit.tripod.com/de_mello.html

Story:True Freedom and Enlightened Living

Non-resistance, non-judgment, and non-attachment are the three aspects of true freedom and enlightened living.

"MAY BE" 
This is illustrated in the story of a wise man who won an expensive car in a lottery. His family and friends were very happy for him and came to celebrate. “Isn't it great!” they said. “You are so lucky.” The man smiled and said “Maybe.” For a few weeks he enjoyed driving the car. Then one day a drunken driver crashed into his new car at an intersection and he ended up in the hospital, with multiple injuries. His family and friends came to see him and said, “That was really unfortunate. “ Again the man smiled and said, “Maybe.” While he was still in the hospital, one night there was a landslide and his house fell into the sea. Again his friends came the next day and said, “Weren't you lucky to have been here in hospital.” Again he said, “Maybe.”  

The wise man's “maybe” signifies a refusal to judge anything that happens. Instead of judging what is, he accepts it and so enters into conscious alignment with the higher order. He knows that often it is impossible for the mind to understand what place or purpose a seemingly random event has in the tapestry of the whole. But there are no random events, nor are there events or things that exist by and for themselves, in isolation. The atoms that make up your body were once forged inside stars, and the causes of even the smallest event are virtually infinite and connected with the whole in incomprehensible ways. If you wanted to trace back the cause of any event, you would have to go back all the way to the beginning of creation. The cosmos is not chaotic. The very word cosmos means order. But this is not an order the human mind can ever comprehend, although it can sometimes glimpse it.

"IS THAT SO"
The Zen Master Hakuin lived in a town in Japan. He was held in high regard and many people came to him for spiritual teaching. Then it happened that the teenage daughter of his nextdoor neighbor became pregnant. When being questioned by her angry and scolding parents as to the identity of the father, she finally told them that he was Hakuin, the Zen Master. In great anger the parents rushed over to Hakuin and told him with much shouting and accusing that their daughter had confessed that he was the father. All he replied was, “Is that so?”

News of the scandal spread throughout the town and beyond. The Master lost his reputation. This did not trouble him. Nobody came to see him anymore. He remained unmoved. When the child was born, the parents brought the baby to Hakuin. “You are the father, so you look after him.” The Master took loving care of the child. A year later, the mother remorsefully confessed to her parents that the real father of the child was the young man who worked at the butcher shop. In great distress they went to see Hakuin to apologize and ask for forgiveness. “We are really sorry. We have come to take the baby back. Our daughter confessed that you are not the father.” “Is that so?” is all he would may as he handed the baby over to them. 

The Master responds to falsehood and truth, bad news and good news, in exactly the same way: “Is that so?” He allows the form of the moment, good or bad, to be as it is and so does not become a participant in human drama. To him there is only this moment, and this moment is as it is. Events are not personalized. He is nobody's victim. He is so completely at one with what happens that what happens has no power over him anymore. Only if you resist what happens are you at the mercy of what happens, and the world will determine your happiness and unhappiness.

The baby is looked after with loving care. Bad turns into good through the power of nonresistance. Always responding to what the present moment requires, he lets go of the baby when it is time to do so. Imagine briefly how the ego would have reacted during the various stages of the unfolding of these events. 

"THIS, TOO, SHALL PASS"
According to an ancient Sufi story, there lived a king in some Middle Eastern land who was continuously torn between happiness and despondency. The slightest thing would cause him great upset or provoke an intense reaction, and his happiness would quickly turn into disappointment and despair. A time came when the king finally got tired of himself and of life, and he began to seek a way out. He sent for a wise man who lived in his kingdom and who was reputed to be enlightened. When the wise man came, the king said to him, “I want to be like you. Can you give me something that will bring balance, serenity, and wisdom into my life? I will pay any price you ask.”

The wise man said, “I may be able to help you. But the price is so great that your entire kingdom would not be sufficient payment for it. Therefore it will be a gift to you if you will honor it.” The king gave his assurances, and the wise man left. 

This, too, will pass. What is it about these simple words that makes them so powerful? Looking at it superficially, it would seem while those words may provide some comfort in a bad situation, they would also diminish the enjoyment of the good things n life. “Don't be too happy, because it won't last.” This seems to be what they are saying when applied in a situation that is perceived as good.

The full import of these words becomes clear when we consider them in the context of two other stories that we encountered earlier. The story of the Zen Master whose only response was always “Is that so?” shows the good that comes through inner nonresistance to events, that is to say, being at one with what happens. The story of the man whose comment was invariably a laconic “Maybe” illustrates the wisdom of nonjudgment, and the story of the ring points to the fact of impermanence which, when recognized, leads to nonattachment. Nonresistance, nonjudgment, and nonattachment are the three aspects of true freedom and enlightened living.

Those words inscribed on the ring are not telling you that you should not enjoy the good in your life, nor are they merely meant to provide some comfort in times of suffering. They have a deeper purpose: to make you aware of the fleetingness of every situation, which is due to the transience of all forms – good or bad. When you become aware of the transience of all forms, your attachment to them lessens, and you disidentify from them to some extent. Being detached does not mean that you cannot enjoy the good that the world has to offer. In fact, you enjoy it more. Once you see and accept the transience of all things and the inevitability of change, you can enjoy the pleasures of the world while they last without fear of loss or anxiety about the future. When you are detached, you gain a higher vantage point from which to view the events in your life instead of being trapped inside them. You become like an astronaut who sees the planet Earth surrounded by the vastness of space and realizes a paradoxical truth: The earth is precious and at the same time insignificant. The recognition that This, too will pass brings detachment and with detachment another dimension comes into your lie inner space. Through detachment, as well as nonjudgment and inner nonresistance, you gain access to that dimension.

When you are no longer totally identified with forms, consciousness – who you are becomes freed form its imprisonment in form. This freedom is the arising of inner space. It comes as a stillness, a subtle peace deep within you, even in the face of something seemingly bad. This, too, will pass. Suddenly, there is space around the event. There is also space around the emotional highs and lows, even around pain. And above all, there is space between your thoughts. And from that space emanates a peace that is not “of this world,” because this world is form, and the peace is space. This is the peace of God.

Now you can enjoy and honor the things of this world without giving them an importance and significance they don't have. You can participate in the dance of creation and be active without attachment to outcome and without placing unreasonable demands upon the world: Fulfill me, make me happy, make me feel safe, tell me who I am. The world cannot give you those things, and when you no longer have such expectations, all selfcreated suffering comes to an end. All such suffering is due to an overvaluation of form and an unawareness of the dimension of inner space. When that dimension is present in your life, you can enjoy things, experiences, and the pleasures of the sense without losing yourself in them, without inner attachment to them, that is to say, without becoming addicted to the world. 

The words This, too, will pass are pointers toward reality. In pointing to the impermanence of all forms, by implication, they are also pointing to the eternal. Only the eternal in you can recognize the impermanent as impermanent.

When the dimension of space is lost or rather not known, the things of the world assume an absolute importance, a seriousness and heaviness that in truth they do not have. When the world is not viewed from the perspective of the formless, it becomes a threatening place, and ultimately a place of despair. The Old Testament prophet must have felt this when he wrote, “All things are full of weariness. A man cannot utter it.”

The Three Piggy Banks - Kim Kiyosaki

Last week I wrote about the importance of making sure that every dollar you set aside for investing stays in your investing/asset column. This can be challenging for a lot of people who find that once they pay all their bills, and then spend money each day on food, gas and other living expenses, they have nothing left at the end of the month. I know the feeling well because that was my financial situation years ago.

Robert and I finally came to realization that if we didn’t start putting something aside for our investments – for our future – then we’d end up with nothing. So we made a plan, and the first part of the plan was to commit to this:

For every dollar that came into our household, no matter where it came from, we would take 30% off the top.

In other words we decided to pay ourselves first, before paying anyone else. If $100 came in then we put aside $30. If $1.00 came in then it was 30 cents. 

The second part of the plan was to divide the 30% into three accounts, which at the time were piggy banks. The three piggy banks were labeled:

1. Savings Account (10%)
This account is a cushion for unforeseen emergencies or special opportunities that improve your life.

2. Investing Account (10%)
These are funds looking for a great investment opportunity.

3. Charity or Tithing Account (10%)
As the saying goes, “Give and ye shall receive.” Another saying I heard is that “God doesn’t need to receive but humans do need to give.” Charity is a powerful tool with many benefits to all involved. One line of the Rich Woman’s Creed is “I am grateful.” It’s very gratifying to share what you have and be of service to others.

After we took the 30% off the top, the remaining monies went to pay our bills. Paying ourselves first did not mean that we spent that 30% on clothes, nice restaurants, and vacations. Paying ourselves first meant that we were creating our financial future. 

The key to making this plan work was that we committed to do this with every dollar that came into our household. It would have been easy to slip back to old habits and dip into that 30% from time to time, or to say, “We really need a new couch, let’s skip the piggy banks this month.” The magic comes from the discipline of doing this with every dollar and sticking to the plan every month.

So start planning for your financial future now – create a plan to set aside money exclusively for investing, stick to the plan, and watch your nest egg grow. In the meantime, keep improving your financial education so you can put that money to good use

http://www.richdad.com/Resources/Rich-Dad-Financial-Education-Blog/August-2009/The-Three-Piggy-Banks.aspx

What Will Matter - Michael Josephson

Ready or not, some day it will all come to an end.

There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days. All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten will pass to someone else. 

Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance. It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.

Your grudges, resentments, frustrations and jealousies will finally disappear. So too, your hopes, ambitions, plans and to do lists will expire.

The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away.

It won't matter where you came from or what side of the tracks you lived on at the end. 

It won't matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant. Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.

So what will matter? How will the value of your days be measured?

What will matter is not what you bought but what you built, not what you got but what you gave.

What will matter is not your success but your significance.

What will matter is not what you learned but what you taught.

What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage, or sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.

What will matter is not your competence but your character.

What will matter is not how many people you knew, but how many will feel a lasting loss when you're gone.

What will matter is not your memories but the memories that live in those who loved you.

What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what.

Living a life that matters doesn't happen by accident. It's not a matter of circumstance but of choice.

Choose to live a life that matters.

http://www.inspirationpeak.com/cgi-bin/stories.cgi?record=44