One of Gandhi’s most famous speeches begins with the line,
“There is an undefinable mysterious power that pervades everything, I feel it though I do not see it.”
You can listen to the entire six minute speech on You Tube if you click here.
Thank you Robin Rice for posting the link on your Facebook page this morning.
The top inspirational news story of 2009 was the “Miracle on the Hudson.” On Jan. 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 hit a flock of geese soon after taking off from LaGuardia, causing it to fall into the Hudson River. The pilot told the passengers as it was going down, “This is the captain speaking. Brace for impact.”
Fortunately, he maneuvered the 80-ton aircraft away from a catastrophic crash and landed the airplane on the river with it still intact. The passengers, then made their way onto the wings of the plane to avoid falling into the 20-degree water. Shortly thereafter, an improvised fleet of tour boats, ferries and tugboats came over to the scene. They tossed out life vests and began taking people in.
The pilot, Chesley Sullenberger, twice walked the length of the sinking plane to make sure he was the last to depart. All of the 155 passengers were rescued by level-headed New York waterway operations. One of the persons rescued, Molly Schugel remarked, “The most amazing part was, I saw no pushing, no shoving. I saw nothing but help and compassion.”
New York Gov. David Patterson said, “We had a miracle on 34th Street. I believe now we have a miracle on the Hudson.”
Eckhart Tolle TV is an online service that features teachings, commentary and discussion with Eckhart Tolle. This month Eckhart talks about how nature can help us return to the fullness of presence and peace…
No matter how stressful our lives might be, just paying attention to nature – whether it is a pond, forrest or an open field – can remind us of a stillness and calmness that exists and help us to get refocused.
For more information on Eckhart Tolle TV or to watch video clips from past episodes, you can visit Eckhart Tolle’s page on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/EckhartTeachings
The Dark Night of the Soul has appeared in traditional spiritual texts, famous stories and popular movies throughout our history. I believe it has been written about so much because it is a common experience that everyone who is committed to reaching his or her inner and outer potential must go through. It is a period of time where we learn our most difficult lessons because any flaw, inauthenticity or shadow that is holding us back must come to light so that it can be consciously released. Normally, this takes place right before we are about to have a major breakthrough or shift in our life.
A good description of this phenomenon is in the classic novel, The Alchemist, when Paulo Coelho writes,
“What you still need to know is this: before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way. It does this not because it is evil, but so that we can, in addition to realizing our dreams, master the lessons we’ve learned as we’ve moved toward that dream. That’s the point at which most people give up. It’s the point at which, as we say in the language of the desert, one ‘dies of thirst just when the palm trees have appeared on the horizon…
‘Every search begins with beginner’s luck. And every search ends with the victor’s being severely tested.’
The boy remembered an old proverb from his country. It said that the darkest hour of the night came just before the dawn.”
So if you are facing any sort of personal or spiritual obstacle right now, just hang in there and don’t give up. This is a challenging time for a lot of people for a lot of different reasons.
However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. If we can remain steadfast, then whatever difficulty we are facing now will eventually be seen as our greatest friend because it gave us the necessary strength to carry out our life purpose.
“The challenges in our lives are there to STRENGTHEN our convictions. They are NOT there to run us over.”
- Nick Vujicic
Nick Vujicic was born with no arms or legs and given no medical reason for his condition. Still, he says, “Faced with countless challenges and obstacles, God has given me the strength to surmount what others might call impossible.”
There is a great video of a talk he gave posted on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8ZuKF3dxCY
In the video clip below, Sonia Choquette talks about how we can work with nature to change old patterns. She uses the example of a wave crashing to show that we can actually collapse and transform old thought patterns that no longer serve us. And then, simply take a different path in the future towards the thought patterns that will most benefit us.
Ellen DeGeneres gave the 2009 Commencement Speech at Tulane. During that speech, she talked about how a tragic event led her to find her life purpose….
She was 19 years-old and her girlfriend was killed in a car accident. At that time Ellen was living in a basement apartment, had no money and no idea what she wanted to do with her life. She began to do some serious soul-searching and wanted to know why her friend died, what she was going to do with her life and what her purpose in life was. During her talk, she says,
“Wouldn’t it be so convenient if we could just pick up the phone and call God and ask Him all these questions”
This moment of desperate inspiration prompted Ellen to write down her own one-sided conversation with God and what poured out of her was the realization that she was going to do stand up comedy on Johnny Carson and be the first woman in the history of the show to be called over to sit next to Johnny after doing stand up on his show…Well, several years later Ellen appeared on Johnny Carson and was the first and only woman in the history of the show to do stand up comedy and then be invited to sit next to Johnny Carson.
Eckhart Tolle is starting an online TV show. The October show will explore the essence of the Tao te Ching, a spiritual classic that has accompanied Tolle for thirty years. For more information, you can visit http://www.eckharttolletv.com
This summer marks the 40 year anniversary of Woodstock, which brings up stories, images and memories of the hippie subculture. The hippie movement started out with good intentions: Peace and Love…However, their intentions and actions became distracted largely because of excessive drug use and historical events that instilled fear in the minds of people who stood for peace. It is understandable that a culture who aspired to create a society based on peace and love would be distracted – given that the two greatest, public leaders of their time who stood for peace and equality were assassinated for taking a stand for those values: John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr…
Today, I believe we are witnessing a rebirth of a more disciplined and refined hippie movement. The modern-day hippie uses prayer and meditation to expand their consciousness, not LSD. Instead of being wandering vagabonds, today’s hippies are trailblazing attorneys, entrepreneurs and entertainers who are using business, the law and entertainment to create revolutionary platforms, organizations and changes that are making a real and long-lasting contribution to the upliftment and transformation of humanity. Today’s movement shall not be distracted by tragedy; instead we will be motivated to bring Light to darkness.
I think everyone has a sense of destiny in their life — a personal calling to live a life that is greater than what society would expect from them. It is not always easy to trust in this calling because we may be inspired to take risks that lead to outcomes that others would view as failure. When we are inspired to take an action that produces a result that appears to be less than desirable, it is important to remain fiercely committed to our initial vision that prompted us to take the action. We have complete control in determining what these events mean to us and how to interpret them. It can helpful to view these temporary setbacks as stepping stones that are guiding us to fulfill our destiny even if we might not completely understand how.
