Laws of Karma to guide our way to spirituality..

I came across this article from the 'Expanded Consciousness' website written by Raven E. Aurlineus, et al..

I thought these laws of Karma may guide our way to grow spiritually and help us navigate life wonderfully. So, here they are the 12 Laws of Karma: 

1. The Great Law

• “As you sow, so shall you reap.” This is also known as the “Law of Cause and Effect.”
• If what we want is happiness, peace, love, and friendship, then we should BE happy, peaceful, loving and a true friend.
• Whatever we put out in the Universe is what comes back to us.

2. The Law of Creation

• Life doesn’t just happen. It requires our participation.
• We are one with the Universe, both inside and out.
• Whatever surrounds us gives us clues to our inner state.
• Be yourself, and surround yourself with what you want to have in your life.

3. The Law of Humility

• You can’t change something if you refuse to accept it.
• If what we see is an enemy, or someone with a character trait that we find to benegative, then we ourselves are not focused on a higher level of existence.

4. The Law of Growth

• “Wherever you go, there you are.”
• For us to grow in Spirit, it is we who must change, and not the people, places or things around us.
• The only given we have in our lives is ourselves, and that is the only factor we have control over.
• When we change who and what we are within our hearts, our lives follow suit and change too.

5. The Law of Responsibility

• Whenever there is something wrong in my life, there is something wrong in me.
• We mirror what surrounds us, and what surrounds us mirrors us; this is a Universal Truth.
• We must take responsibility for what is in our life.

6. The Law of Connection

• Even if something we do seems inconsequential, it is very important that it gets done as everything in the Universe is connected.
• Each step leads to the next step, and so forth and so on.
• Someone must do the initial work to get a job done.
• Neither the first step nor the last are of greater significance, as they were both needed to accomplish the task.
• Past, Present and Future are all connected.

7. The Law of Focus

• You cannot think of two things at the same time.
• Because of this, when our focus is on Spiritual Values, it is impossible for us to have lower thoughts such as greed or anger.

8. The Law of Giving and Hospitality

• If you believe something to be true, then sometime in your life you will be called upon to demonstrate that particular truth.
• Here is where we put what we CLAIM that we have learned into actual PRACTICE.

9. The Law of Here and Now

• Looking backward to examine what was or forward to worry about the future prevents us from being totally in the here and now.
• Old thoughts, old patterns of behavior, and old dreams prevent us from having new ones.

10. The Law of Change

• History repeats itself until we learn the lessons that we need to change our path.

11. The Law of Patience and Reward

• All rewards require initial toil.
• Rewards of lasting value require patient and persistent toil.
• True joy comes from doing what we’re suppose to be doing, and knowing that the reward will come in its own time.

12. The Law of Significance and Inspiration

• You get back from something whatever you have put into it.
• The true value of something is a direct result of the energy and intent that is put into it.
• Every personal contribution is also a contribution to the Whole.
• Lackluster contributions have no impact on the Whole, nor do they work to diminish it.
• Loving contributions bring life to, and inspire, the Whole.

13 funny lessons learned from the last 13 days without water flowing through my pipelines

1. Water runs downhill (you idiot)! Who has the water has the power!  

2. Live near the water source (to avoid high blood pressure); living uphill needs high water pressure for water to smoothly flow through the pipelines. Hahaha.

3. You can't beat the system. Consumers pay with or without water. Business is business. Kung wala Kay tubig, pangita! 

4. I don't know what "utilities" mean...

5. Sisters & brothers are really meant for adversities! Love them. (I get water from my sister these past 13 days)

6. No water is a personal battle. I ask for help from the system & from friends-- 

7. I still don't have water flowing through my pipelines.

8. I'm still praying for rain. The Rainmaker is my only hope. I'm sure rain comes in due time too!

9. Like water, I flow with life. 

10. I still smell good today.

11. We managed 1pail/pax at home for our individual water needs.

12. I raise my hands & head upwards & smile, "soon water is aplenty."

13. Gratitude is still my attitude!

 

My Prayer: 

Thank you dear God for the lessons & the goodness of the universe. 

Thank you for the people that run the system but couldn't do anything to make water flow to my house. That's okay. It's only temporary.

Thank you for those that work for the environment & love the planet. They make a difference in sustaining Mother Earth.

Thank you, just thank you!

Create Happiness with Words

Happy words create a happy mind. They can give us happiness everyday if we choose to use their power. Pick them carefully to change the way we feel. Here are 3 ways to create happiness with your words choices:

1. Inject happiness into small talk. When someone asks you, "how are you today?" Instead of these uneventful answers-- "I'm fine!" Or, "I'm okay!" try answering "awesome" "I'm fantastic!", "I'm fabulous" or say " I'm beautiful, thank you"!

Note the instant change of mood of your listener. You have infected the other person with your awesome, fantastic, fabulous & beautiful nature, and those were happy words! 

2. Keep discussions friendly.  There are many times when difficult discussion turned into arguments that result in miscommunication.

Instead of pinpointing & saying, "you are always..." try "sometimes you have the tendency to...".

Instead of saying "That's not true" or "You're wrong" try "I don't fully understand what you mean, or your point of view."

This gives respect & understanding to the speaker. When you choose words with negative connotations, you create negativity in the conversation or discussions.

3. Maintain a positive outlook about yourself. When we say negative things about ourselves such as "I'm boring" "I'm tired" "I'm sick" or "I'm just like that"... we actually believe those things & those words create a negative effect on our state of mind.

Words can also give us confidence to reach our dreams. 

There is a big difference between saying, "I wish I have a beach house someday," versus "it would be great to have a beach house someday." 

Words like "I wish" makes it seems it is always a pipe dream compared to "it would be great to have..." This gives us the confidence that our dream is possible.

This article is taken from www.theisleofpeace.com. Find your inner bliss with their articles. 

Appreciation Tools

https://www.facebook.com/InstituteofHeartMath/posts/10153027080018669:0

"Way of the Heart" journey: Randomness of the universe

I'm 62 and I close this chapter of my life with sorrow, with sadness and tears because on December 8, 2013 (Sunday) 3days before my 62nd birthday at 5pm, I lost my love, my best friend, my partner of 17 years to a massive heart attack.

It was so sudden I couldn't believe that in less than 24 hours, he was all ashes in a white square box waiting when I will lay him in our land in Siquijor and at sea where he wanted to be.

 It took me 4 months to have the courage to go on the "Way of the Heart" journey.

I spent the whole month of April & 1st week of May in a vacation described as "way of the heart" journey.

It actually means you take a journey back to where you come from with your heart guiding your way. You wouldn't believe how things fall into place; time, schedules, people/friends/relatives you want to meet are in synch.

I traveled to Siquijor Island on April 14 & stayed there for the Holy Week celebration. I went there to scatter the ashes of my husband on our land there and into the ocean. 

John, my hubby wanted his ashes to be scattered there and because he was with the UK Royal Navy & a sailor, the ocean was his favorite place.

Having kept that promised, I stayed in the island for 3 days to heal myself.  

My bosom friend Rizalie and Belinda's family kept me company; hugged and embraced my grief as theirs too. They were there all the way to keep me in check! 

I am forever grateful to them from my heart...

The 2nd promise I have to keep was to take one of my very loyal ward, Gina to Dumaguete City for a job.

Gina has been our house help since she was 8 years old. We sent her to school until she finished college with a degree in teaching major in Special Education last year. 

I have a friend in Dumaguete City that owned a school. I recommended/ applied for her and she was admitted without question.

She's now there doing her OJT & she will be hired effective June 2014.

"Way of the heart" journey also include reconnecting with friends, friends that you've not seen for decades and relatives, siblings, nieces & nephews and those close to your heart. What surprised me though was how random the schedules were. They weren't planned but they were all there at contact & at the right time!

I spent a week at my friend's farm in Sta. Catalina town in Negros Oriental. Erla & I were classmates in college at Silliman university in Dumaguete City, and we lost track of our whereabouts since 1984! We got reconnected through Facebook in May 2013. 

While I was in Dumaguete, I called her up & she was at home with her kids who are also on vacation. She invited me to spend a week with them. 

 It was such a wonderful heartfelt experience in her home. Catching up conversation, tears, eating, be yourself, and lots of laughter and bonding with the rest of her family! It was exhilarating. 

The goodbyes were happy & hopeful for the next homing experience.

Another random meeting with an artist friend, Kitty. I was about to leave back to Cebu in the evening of April 22. The last time we met was in 1997. 

Thru Facebook again we reconnected about 2 months ago. Randomly, I just called on her home & she was there.

 She was on her way out to go to the bank, the same bank I also wanted to go! 

So we rode in her car, chatting and proceeded to a restaurant for lunch. 

We took photos of ourselves, we ate the kind of meal we used to eat...that was indeed fated! 

We did have a quality time for almost 3 hours, the only time we got for that day & we sealed out goodbyes with hugs & kisses!

Then, I met with my PIA-NegOr office mates, laughed, ate & conversed with them for the rest of the day because that evening I had to go back to Cebu for the next random trip.

The next stop for the "way of the heart" journey was going back to my roots. To my childhood/high school days. Meet with relatives, cousins, siblings and the "Babaylan clan".

My family name is Babaylan. My father belongs to the "Higaonon tribe" an Indigenous Peoples (IP) tribe in the Gingoog-Butuan areas. 

We had a reunion of the Babaylan Clan at Dinah's beach resort where we met our great grand elders, cousins, uncles & most of the clan. 

What was very interesting to me was that I am now a member of the IP "Higaonon Tribe" and I'm called "Bae Manunulat" or a female writer. I have an IP identity card to show. 

I also experienced a  "Higaonon Tribal Wedding ritual" of one of my nieces in the clan. That was really a feel-good/wonderful/ back-to-roots experience and they were all random!

The next 2 weeks were spent on the beach with siblings & reconnecting/spending time with high school batch '68, reminiscing what we did then.

Eat, laugh, live... and love was the overall most profound feeling present in the journey. 

I went back home to Cebu on May 4 full of wonderful memories. I thought that was enough...

My "way of the heart" journey was extended to another week of sun, sea, sand & workshop stint in Panglao Island, Bohol.

My agency scheduled the Climate Change Advocacy workshop for the PIA-DENR communicators from central office & the Visayas & Mindanao regions. It was held at Alona Kew White Beach Resort in Panglao, the little Boracay in Bohol, they say.

The whole stretch of ALona beach was just fantastic! The oceans are blue and calm & in the evening, the beach is a hive of activities.

I donned a bikini, walked barefoot, basked in the sunrise, took a swim in the beach and dipped in the pool. It was purely honest!

After the workshops were done, the tour of Bohol Island began. The team saw the Tarsiers' habitat, had great time taking photos with the nocturnal creature. 

From the Tarsiers off to the geological wonder of the Chocolate Hills at Sagbayan Peak & in Carmen to the Loboc River Cruise, a famous Bohol tourism attraction down to dinner at the Bee Farm where food serve are all organic and from their own garden & all products/meals are honey-based.

My last day of my journey was very random. Called on some friends in Bohol-- Merly, Ardissa & Gaya if they can adopt me for a night. Viola! They took me to dinner, had great conversations, laughed out loud, slept over, and had breakfast at Merly's. 

I went home with a deep tan, packed wonderful memories and some random lessons learned along the way:

1. You must go on a "Way of the Heart" journey in your lifetime.

2. Reconnect with your friends and spend time with them in your most authentic "self"

3. Inhale everything in the universe and exhale gratitude that all these are yours to enjoy

4. Laugh, live, love more because these will make you healthy

5. "Way of the Heart" journey is random & randomness is NOW. 

6. Love is the only constant in the universe

7. Nature is always kind & more generous than you can imagine

8. Nudity is honesty

9. Respect & love your "self" because that is your "soul"

10. I am God's work in progress

Thoughts before I sleep, October 20, 2013

Today's thoughts before I sleep: 

Let me thank my PIA7 staff especially those from Bohol--Rey, Elvie, Yboy and Junjun for continuously sending SMS which I turned into tweets that are being followed, retweeted, mentioned, and favorited by the global/virtual community whose numbers I may never know.

May I commend Elvie for standing by at the Tagbilaran City operation center where she gets and sourced out information, situation and updates from all over the towns in Bohol.

Rey, for making tweets/info that lead, guide many teams to access roads, routes and footbridges so that help, relief and rescue are dispatched at least with his first hand experience.

Rey's training as a professional tour guide are reflected on his tweets and, SMS or information on where to pass, detour or what kind of transport best suited for a particular track.

He tweets new routes, dangers of roadslips and landslides, unsafe roads and bridges, as well as the relief needs of people affected by the quake and the indomitable spirit of responders and volunteers.

As I composed these information into official leads/tweets, I imagined myself in those routes, roads, bridges, dangers, death.

It was like a movie I played in my mind...a landscape of vast, massive destruction with children, women, and people against the backdrop of dust, mud, shambles, rubbles and heroism.

I could almost feel the eerie silence of a place that Rey described in his tweets and I could see him in a huddle with his wife and children one rainy night inside their tent perched outside his house that the quake destroyed in half.

This is the image I want to leave you tonight from one of Rey's tweets:

"Rains come tonight, forcing scattered sleeping mats to huddle under one tent as quake fail to break our oneness."

iPhone experience 2: All's Well that Ends Well

My close encounters with iPhone & SMART Communications really tried my patience.

Just as my iPhone 4S got busted, my office, the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) issued me an iPhone 5 that I received on May 10.

Excited to use it, I immediately put the retention SIM in.

Called PIA-regional operations & Admin to request our PLDT/SMART corporate account coordinator to facilitate the activation of my retention SIM.  

I was told to wait for 3 days. The 3 days ran up to 11 days before I could use it because SMART had to change the SIM.

iPhone 5 is wonderful, very much better than iPhone 4S. Apple must have fixed all the kinks in iPhone 4S to come up with this wonderful experience of iPhone 5.

Now, let's go back to my busted iPhone 4S which SIM is still under the P2000/mo plan until May 2014. 

Called Ms. Hazel Amoyan of SMART again, asked her advise on what I should do with this busted iPhone unit, and whether SMART can change it so I can continue with the plan.

Ms. Hazel tried everything and then..a replacement unit was possible! It was a Samsung Galaxy Mega dual core.

"Ah, Android technology," I thought. I heard so much good reviews about the Samsung Galaxy. I was actually excited to try it. 

It's been 3 months now that I'm using the unit. I like its size, just exact for a palm grasp and great for reading ebooks, news, documents, Facebook and everything else. 

This is Ms Hazel and her protégé of SMART-Visayas.  We had coffee after I got the Samsung Galaxy Mega to show my heartfelt appreciation of what she did to take care of my needs.

Ok, now my review of the Samsung Galaxy Mega compared to iPhone 5.  

All apps in the iPhone 5 are very user-friendly. One click for every use and you are on your way.  Steve Jobs must have figured this out. 

For example, at the iPhone 5 I can easily switch from one twitter account to the other as admin to 5 accounts without so much fuss. 

I can't do this in the Samsung Galaxy Mega. It asks too many questions before you can manage your tweets, retweets or quotes! 

This is the same with the other applications in the Samsung Galaxy Mega, even with FB or with blogger or with wordpress.

I'm comfortable using both iOS and android but I mostly prefer the iOS because the keyboard of Samsung Galaxy Mega is too light your words or letters literally jump out and more often get the wrong letter and mis-spelling your words. 

Choices differ from person to person. For busy executives, the iPhone is really handy & fast.

I wish Apple makes the next iPhone unit a little wider than its size now-- even as wide as the Samsung Galaxy Mega, that is perfect for me!

I have actually best of both worlds in terms of smart phones and computer.

The iPhone and MacBook Air are swank, they really are a seamless pair that editors, writers and directors must have!

The Samsung Galaxy Mega serves as a spare when your iPhone runs out of battery.