Motivation is Key. . .

"Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together will go to the making of a genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius." - Mozart

"My religion is kindness." The Dalai Lama (Get well!)

Motivation is key. If you give to get - your motivation is selfish. If you give out of fear - that motivation too will taint even your giving. Once you really enjoy loving and doing for others you will receive treasure and security that the selfish cannot fathom. Once we begin to emerge from our "lower" type of interactions with others and begin to understand the true value of warmth, respect, and compassion for them and for OURSELVES, we may be surprised by the impatience, anger, and simple everyday rudeness of people. Haven't they heard? Isn't the utility and joy of love obvious to them? No. Not yet. Try to remember (without going there) how YOU used to feel about and treat others. While most people will respond automatically to sincere ALOHA energy (even without words) those that choose else-wise deserve to be respected and 'let be.' We are not the corrector of others. We can only love them. The treasure concealed in these very situations is that they provide us with a gracious opportunity to transmute unpleasantness into a deeper acceptance - even the unpleasantness that we have spread ourselves in the past.

A L O H A ! Cloudia

The Shift. . .

" Who cares what banks fail in Yonkers as long as you have the kiss that conquers."-
George & Ira Gershwin, 1932

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's words at his inauguration on March 4, 1933, still ring true:
"This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself - nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."

"The problem with most people is that they lose control of their emotions....The victim represses, the warrior refrains."- Don Miguel Ruiz

We are truly surrounded by wonder and beauty; we live completely within it. But we are focused on other things. It's like that drawing of a vase, or is it two faces? A shift in perspective yields a completely different picture. It is possible to learn to dwell in a wondrous world, by shifting our attention. It begins with noticing: noticing the unexamined circus of automatic thoughts in our minds. How many unexamined beliefs and directives are running your life? We are exiled in practicality, but life is more than eating. Practicality should be our efficient servant not our master imperative. Vigilance and worry were never designed to be more than temporary strategies - they are not a healthy lifestyle. Pause. Go inside to your heart. Think of something that you love. Breathe. Breathe deeper. The still small voice within is patient. It never interrupts. Perhaps it is worth listening to. Anyone, any situation is made bearable once you simply accept it as it is.
A L O H A ! Cloudia

Emotional?

"Peace on earth would mean the end of civilization as we know it." - Joseph Heller









"We have to face the fact that either all of us are going to die together or we are going to learn to live together, and if we are to live together we have to talk." - Eleanor Roosevelt
"Do not teach your children never to be angry; teach them how to be angry." - Lynn Abbot







When I worked with at-risk teens things could get volatile. These kids were not safe at home, and they were guarded at school. Everyone was flamboyant, loud, and cutting school. All of this was OK in their peer group of outcasts. But when one of the kids was talking about something real, and emotions came to the surface, the speaker ALWAYS apologized for it. They had all internalized the social 'norm' that showing emotion is wrong. Certainly it would only make them more vulnerable in their precarious and violent lives. But I started thinking that we ALL apologize for showing emotion. Well, I put my foot down! Usually I was very reticent about stating 'right' and 'wrong' as our group was learning more about that through our shared experience. But in this instance I made it clear that emotions are OK in our group. That for an hour a week they could show vulnerability and get to know themselves underneath all of their (necessary!) defenses. I modeled this by allowing myself to really care and get involved with the kids. Sure there were necessary boundaries, but they weren't like a big cement wall; they were mostly invisible to the kids. Together we grew. Together we realized that emotions are a gift, a warning system, a cleansing system, a signpost to the personal truth that we all seek. Comfort Spiral is about letting go of restriction. It is the furthest thing from putting on a happy front. Joy grows naturally in the right soil.
A L O H A !! Cloudia

Capable of Wonderment. . .

"Anyone to whom this feeling is alien, who is no longer capable of WONDERMENT and lives in a state of fear is a dead man."
-Albert Einstein

"What if I viewed my world from the perspective that everything unfolds in perfect time, and all I need to do is watch and listen for my cues and play my part in the dance of life? If I am so busy rewriting the script and trying to control the flow of time, perhaps I'll miss my cues altogether." - Maureen Pua`ena O'Shaughnessy "My Naked Journey"

Why did the chickens ride the bus?



"The point of good behavior is to communicate our respect for others." - Chogyam Trungpa



In our culture we equate 'abundance' with finances. As I gain a broader understanding of genuine abundance, truly begin to live and appreciate the abundance already in my own life, I noticed my attitudes begining to shift. I am starting to notice and really experience my unappreciated abundance, instead of focusing on my perceived 'lacks.' Once I began to celebrate and value the gifts already in my life with GRATITUDE, more and more was added to me everyday. Practicing gratitude eventually molds our attitudes and perceptions. Life becomes a gift, not a job to accomplish.
A L O H A ! cloudia

In It Together. . .

"Shared pain is no longer paralyzing."

- Henri Nouwen

"Everyone who enters our life becomes a part of us and we become a part of each of them. We are all the same stuff; we are interrelated; we are inseparable. We experience mutuality all the time."

- Douglas C. Smith

"Our true nature is not some ideal that we have to live up to. It's who we are right now, and that's what we can make friends with and celebrate."

- Pema Chodron

It seems that we live in interesting times. Please turn off the news. Please remember to stop, and to breathe deeply. Stop. Pause. Inhale. Exhale. If this suggestion is irritating, then you really need to do it ;-)

Being in the moment isn't about "winning" over thought. All you need is closer than you think, relaxation invites wisdom. Mental effort defeats itself. "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." This doesn't mean that the 'end' is near: it was written thousands of years ago. No. It means that if you can pause from the movie of your life and your thoughts long enough, you will begin to see that "heaven" is within your reach. If you will, you can remake your life. Do you dare to be happy while others panic? Well, for one thing it is reassuring to everyone to be around a calm presence. Don't just 'do' something. Stand there and notice the beauty all around you. Life goes on. No one gets out alive. We're all in it together.

Kinda cool, isn't it? So go out and VOTE!

A L O H A! cloudia

Peace of Mind. . .

"In my lifetime, I have lost my country and been reduced to being totally dependent on the goodwill of others. I have also lost my mother, and most of my tutors and gurus have passed away; although now I have a few new gurus. Of course these are tragic incidents, and I feel sad when I think about them. However, I don't feel overwhelmed by sadness. Old familiar faces disappear, and new faces appear, but I still maintain my Happiness and peace of mind."

- The Dalai Lama

The Chinese word for 'crisis' means both danger and opportunity. Every wound, every broken place carries opportunities: for us to gain some new understanding, and also for that new wisdom to impact the lives of others. As a hospice volunteer I learned much from the dying. Much about what really matters in life: the value of touching, the meaning of love. They taught me about really seeing, really hearing, really listening, about the precious gift of TIME. 'Musts' & 'shoulds' have lost their power over me a little. The world is so much more than we can see and touch. I have learned that healing comes from wounded healers. I no longer seek perfect people, or to be a perfect person. All healing involves mutual healing. In respectfully receiving, we give. In respectfully giving, we receive.

"We all contain within our hearts that love which is for the healing of the nations. What we lack is the courage to start giving it away." - Cassidy

Aloha to you, reader! Cloudia

I'm RIGHT!

"There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy." - Robt. Louis Stevenson









"Little minds are interested in the extraordinary; great minds in the commonplace." - Elbert Hubbard

"People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of their character."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Why is being "right" so crucial to us? Is it because we were punished as impressionable little-people for doing "wrong?"

Clearly the world is constructed of complexity, of layers, of degrees. View depends on perspective. So why are we SO compelled to imperil even our closest relationships; to suffer, kill and die for "what is right?"

It is "matters of principle" that get us the most unprincipled and unreasoning.

Good parents teach kids that life is often "unfair." Bad parents teach that life always or never is. Which is worse?
We are most effective when calm, so why do we feel a duty to be angry? To "not let them get away with it?"
Do YOU want to be RIGHT or HAPPY?