Author: Bohdi Baba

What makes sharing your feelings with others a “creative action of the spirit”?

 

Diamonds on the Inside – Ben Harper (3:44)

Qigong: 36 Touching Points for Self-healing

Pearl Buck Brief Bio (2:47)

Wang Fei – Ancient Chinese Guqin Zither Meditation (6:59)

 

(more…)

How have any of your past sex relations caused you to feel shame due to “manipulation, ego, lust or false pride”?

Just Can’t Get Enough (The Saturdays)

Shame Can Hurt You More Than You Think

 *Tiesto- Kaleidoscope

Rainforest Nature Meditation LP (8:04:03)

 

In what ways would you say “compassion is the basis of all morality?”

 

It’s A Sin (Paul Anka covering the Pet Shop Boys)

More Sayings from Schopenhauer (1:09)

  Tibetan Singing Bowl Meditation (10:01)

 

What is the “number one offender” according to today’s SFZ and how has it shown up in your own life, lately?

“Everything went well until the day a dollar bill disappeared. One of the brothers had left the bill on the cash register and walked outside with a customer. When he returned, the money was gone.” See full story on resentment below.

Resentment – Beyonce (6:40)

Releasing Anger (7:02)

Tranquility Sounds of the Nature Meditation LP (42:39)

 

THE CAUSE OF SPIRITUAL SICKNESS –

“Resentment is the
‘number one offender.’
It destroys more alcohol-
ics than anything else. From
it stem all forms of spiritual
disease, for we have been
not only mentally and phys-
ically ill, we have been
spiritually sick.” (The
Big Book, p. 64)

 

MAKING A LIST –

“We make a list
of our resentments,
for they often play a
large part in making our
recovery uncomfortable.
We cannot allow our-
selves to be obsess-
ed with hostility to-
ward others.” (It
Works, How &
Why, p. 30)

 

“Holding on
to anger, resent-
ment and hurt only
gives you tense mus-
cles, a headache and
a sore jaw from clench-
ing your teeth. Forgive-
ness gives you back
the laughter and
the lightness in
your life.”

– Joan Lunden (1950 – ) U.S. television personality

 

 

LETTING GO OF RESENTMENT

A story tells of a merchant in a small town who had identical twin sons. The boys worked for their father in the department store he owned and, when he died, they took over the store.

Everything went well until the day a dollar bill disappeared. One of the brothers had left the bill on the cash register and walked outside with a customer. When he returned, the money was gone.

He asked his brother, “Did you see that dollar bill on the cash register?”

His brother replied that he had not.

But the young man kept probing and questioning. He would not let it alone. “Dollar bills just don’t get up and walk away! Surely you must have seen it!”

There was a subtle accusation in his voice. Tempers began to rise. Resentment set in. Before long, a deep and bitter chasm divided the young men. They refused to speak.

They finally decided they could no longer work together and a dividing wall was built down the center of the store. For twenty years hostility and bitterness grew, spreading to their families and to the community.

Then one day a man, in an automobile licensed in another state, stopped in front of the store. He walked in and asked the clerk, “How long have you been here?”

The clerk replied that he’d been there all his life.

The customer said, “I must share something with you. Twenty years ago I was riding the rails and came into this town in a boxcar. I hadn’t eaten for three days.  Then I came into this store from the back door and saw a dollar bill on the cash register. I put it in my pocket and walked out. All these years I haven’t been able to forget that. I know it wasn’t much money, but I had to come back and ask your forgiveness.”

The stranger was amazed to see tears well up in the eyes of this middle-aged man. “Would you please go next door and tell that same story to the man in the store?” he said.

Then the man was even more amazed to see two middle-aged men, who looked very much alike, embracing each other and weeping together in the front of the store.

After twenty years, the brokenness was mended. The wall of resentment that divided them came down.

It is so often the little things that finally divide people – words spoken in haste; criticisms; accusations; resentments. And once divided, they may never come together again.

The solution, of course, is to let it go. There is really nothing particularly profound about learning to let go of little resentments. But for fulfilling and lasting relationships, letting them go is a must. Refuse to carry around bitterness and you may be surprised at how much energy you have left for building bonds with those you love.

(https://motivateus.com/stories/letting.htm)

 

ZQ:    What surprises have you found once you’ve fearlessly searched for your own part in mistakes and bad situations, lately?

“Truth is the best advocate. Truth and oil always come to the surface. Truth is mighty and will prevail.” Full excerpt on mistakes below.

I Hate This Part – Pussycat Dolls (3:37)  

Awaken to Truth Healing Theta Hz Meditation (6:30)

 

GOING OVERBOARD –

“We do not pro-
crastinate.” “We want
to tell the simple truth, cut
and dried, as quickly as pos-
sible. There is always a dan-
ger that we will exaggerate our
wrongs. It is equally danger-
ous to minimize or rationalize
our part in past situations.
After all, we still want to
sound good.” (The
Basic Text, p. 33)

 

THE FEARLESS PART –

“I can ask myself
to what extent have
my own mistakes fed
my gnawing anxieties.
And if the actions of others
are part of the cause, what
can I do about that? If I am un-
able to change the present
state of affairs, am I willing
to take the measures ne-
cessary to shape my life
to conditions as they
are?” (12 & 12,
p. 52)

 

“There should
be a readiness, on
our part, to investigate
with candor to follow
the truth wherever it
may lead us … .”

– Simon Greenleaf (1783 – 1853) U.S. judge

(more…)

How have you strengthened your own friendships, lately?

I think awhile of Love, and while I think,

Love is to me a world,

Sole meat and sweetest drink … ” an excerpt of a poem on friendships by Thoreau

The Friendship Skit – I Love Lucy (2:04) *

WHAT IS A FRIEND  (0:59) 

Into Africa Nature LP Meditation  (31:24)

 

 

Friendship

by Henry David Thoreau

I think awhile of Love, and while I think,

Love is to me a world,

Sole meat and sweetest drink,

And close connecting link

Tween heaven and earth.

I only know it is, not how or why,

My greatest happiness;

However hard I try,

Not if I were to die,

Can I explain.

 

I fain would ask my friend how it can be,

But when the time arrives,

Then Love is more lovely

Than anything to me,

And so I’m dumb.

For if the truth were known, Love cannot speak,

But only thinks and does;

Though surely out ’twill leak

Without the help of Greek,

Or any tongue.

 

A man may love the truth and practise it,

Beauty he may admire,

And goodness not omit,

As much as may befit

To reverence.

But only when these three together meet,

As they always incline,

And make one soul the seat,

And favorite retreat,

Of loveliness;

When under kindred shape, like loves and hates

And a kindred nature,

Proclaim us to be mates,

Exposed to equal fates

Eternally;

 

And each may other help, and service do,

Drawing Love’s bands more tight,

Service he ne’er shall rue

While one and one make two,

And two are one;

In such case only doth man fully prove

Fully as man can do,

What power there is in Love

His inmost soul to move

Resistlessly.

______

 

Two sturdy oaks I mean, which side by side,

Withstand the winter’s storm,

And spite of wind and tide,

Grow up the meadow’s pride,

For both are strong

Above they barely touch, but undermined

Down to their deepest source,

Admiring you shall find

Their roots are intertwined

Insep’rably.

 

Aristotle on Friendships

(more…)

 In what ways have you been purposeful and deliberate in looking at your own character failings, lately?

 

Creep- “I Wish I was Special”  (Radiohead)

Shakespeare Brief Bio (2:00)

Popular Soothing Music Meditation (9:16)

 

 

How have you taken ownership of your life and discovered a world glorious to behold, lately?

“You are very far—
But were no one
Farther than you—
Do you think I’d stop
For a Firmament—
Or a Cubit—or so?” excerpt of Ah Moon and Star by Emily Dickinson

Bette Davis in Now Voyager (1:46)

Classical Music – Visual Feast Hz Meditation LP (1:00:00)

 

Ah, Moon—and Star!

 

by Emily Dickinson

 

You are very far—
But were no one
Farther than you—
Do you think I’d stop
For a Firmament—
Or a Cubit—or so?

 

I could borrow a Bonnet
Of the Lark—
And a Chamois’ Silver Boot—
And a stirrup of an Antelope—
And be with you—Tonight!

 

But, Moon, and-Star,
Though you’re very far—
There is one—farther than you—
He—is more than a firmament—from Me—
So I can never go!

When was the last time the battles for a moral choice you made caused you some significant pain in some way?

“God knows that
Joshua fit the battle of Jericho
And the walls come tumbling down.”

 

Joshua Fit the Battles at Jericho – Mahalia Jackson (2:08)

Robert F. Kennedy Brief Bio (3:54)

Courage & Resilience Guided Meditation (3:04)

 

FEROCIOUS FEARLESSNESS IN THE BATTLES FOR OUR SOUL –

“Telling the truth
is a brave act, but
with our faith and trust
in the God of our under-
standing, we find the cour-
age we need to be searching
and fearless. With our cour-
age, we are able to put on
paper those things we
thought we’d never
tell.” (It Works, How
& Why, p. 27)

 

SCALING THE MEGA WALLS OF EGO –

“As soon as he
begins to be more
objective, the newcomer
can fearlessly, rather than
fearfully, look at his own de-
fects.” “The problem is to help
them discover a chink in the
walls their ego has built,
through which the light
of reason can shine.”
(12 & 12, p. 46)

 

“Moral courage
is a rarer commodity
than bravery in battle or
great intelligence. Yet is
the one essential, vital qual-
ity for those who seek to
change a world which
yields most painful-
ly to change.”

– Robert F. Kennedy (1925 – 1968) U.S. President

 

 

Battle of Jericho

by Hugh Laurie

Joshua fit the battle of Jericho
Jericho Jericho
Joshua fit the battle of Jericho
And the walls come tumbling down

 

God knows that
Joshua fit the battle of Jericho
Jericho Jericho
Joshua fit the battle of Jericho
And the walls come tumbling down

 

Good morning Sister Mary
Good morning brother john
Well I wanna stop and talk with you
Wanna tell you how I come along

 

I know you’ve heard about Joshua
He was the son of nun
He never stopped his work until
Until the work was done

 

God knows that
Joshua fit the battle of Jericho
Jericho Jericho
Joshua fit the battle of Jericho
And the walls come tumbling down

 

You may talk about your men of Gideon
You may brag about your men of Saul
There’s none like good old Joshua
At the battles of Jericho
Up to the walls of Jericho
He marched…

 

 

How have you used soul piercing pain in others to identify with a pain you also share, lately?

“If there is pain,
use it as an aware-
ness, as meditation, as
a sharpening of the soul.
And when pleasure is there,
use it as a droning, as a for-
getfulness. …” Continued below.

 

Good Foot, Soul Power & Make it Funky – James Brown (7:32)

Calling the Soul-Home – Cosmic Meditation (6:56)

Kobayashi Maru – Running Up that Hill – Kate Bush(3:21)

 

A GLIMPSE OF OUR PAIN IN THE EYES OF ANOTHER –

“We’re human beings,
nothing more, nothing less.
Our self-obsession blinded us
to this, making us feel unique.”
“Healing can take place when
we  see  a glimpse  of  our-
selves in the eyes of an-
other.” (It Works,

How & Why,

p. 39)

 

THE INSIDE VIEW –

“We finally saw
that the inventory
should be ours, not the
other man’s. So we admit-
ted our humanness, not the
other man’s. So we admit-
ted our wrongs honestly
and became willing to set
these matter straight.”
(As Bill Sees It,

p. 222)

 

“If there is pain,
use it as an aware-
ness, as meditation, as
a sharpening of the soul.
And when pleasure is there,
use it as a droning, as a for-
getfulness. Both are ways to
reach God. One is to re-
member yourself totally,
and one is to forget
yourself totally. “

– Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (1931-1990) Indian Spiritual leader