If you want others to be happy, practise compassion. If you want to be happy, practise compassion. — The Dalai Lama

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Feb 16th 2009 This really is news

I have a new job!- It’s in Scotland so I will be moving (gradually) up to Glasgow over the next month or so- hoping to start in April. Have very mixed feelings about going- mainly excited about a new adventure! I will be coming back down to Manchester and hope to stay in touch via this website and I am sure if you are carrying on with NVC we will meet again soon!

For a New Beginning
In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.
For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.
It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.
Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.
Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.
Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.

~ John O’Donohue ~

1 Comment » Posted by Shona / Uncategorized

Feb 10th 2009

The Dalai Lama -

“As human beings, we are all the same. So there is no need to build
some kind of artificial barrier between us. At least my own experience
is that if you have this kind of attitude, there is no barrier.
Whatever I feel, I can express; I can call you ‘my old friend’. There
is nothing to hide, and no need to say things in a way that is not
straightforward. So this gives me a kind of space in my mind, with the
result that I do not have to be suspicious of others all the time. And
this really gives me inner satisfaction, and inner peace.

So I call this feeling a ‘genuine realization of the oneness of the
whole of humanity’. We are all members of one human family. I think
that this understanding is very important, especially now that the
world is becoming smaller and smaller. In ancient times, even in a
small village, people were able to exist more or less independently.
There was not so much need for others’ co-operation. These days, the
economic structure has completely changed, so that modern economies,
relying on industry, are totally different. We are heavily dependent
on one another, and also as a result of mass communication, the
barriers of the past are greatly reduced. Today, because of the
complexity of interdependence, every crisis on this planet is
essentially related with every other, like a chain reaction.
Consequently it is worthwhile taking every crisis as a global one.
Here barriers such as ‘this nation’ or ‘that nation’, ‘this
continent’, or ‘that continent’ are simply obstacles. Therefore today,
for the future of the human race, it is more important than ever
before that we develop a genuine sense of brotherhood and sisterhood.
I usually call this a sense of ‘universal
responsibility’ ”

.

–from Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great Perfection by the
Dalai Lama, translated by Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron, Foreword
by Sogyal Rinpoche, edited by Patrick Gaffney, published by Snow Lion
Publications

http://www.snowlionpub.com/

No Comments » Posted by Shona / Uncategorized

Jan 22nd 2009 Skilful Flirting

Wanting to bring your attention to this workshop coming soon to the Manchester Buddhist centre
www.bodywisenaturalhealth.co.uk/flirting.html
Saturday 14 Feb 10.30am-5pm

£53/Bring a friend £44/Bring 2 friends £35
“Explore the skills of flirting in a safe and playful environment”
I have done this workshop with Jayaraja twice now and I love the depth and playfulness he and Lilamani share. Jayaraja also shares NVC in a way I enjoy and he brings his love of connection to this particular form of communication which I have had great fun with.

No Comments » Posted by Shona / Uncategorized

Sep 1st 2008 Osho - On Aloneness

Aloneness

When you are alone you are not alone, you are simply lonely - and there is a tremendous difference between loneliness and aloneness. When you are lonely you are thinking of the other, you are missing the other. Loneliness is a negative state. You are feeling that it would have been better if the other were there - your friend, your wife, your mother, your beloved, your husband. It would have been good if the other were there, but the other is not. Loneliness is absence of the other. Aloneness is the presence of oneself. Aloneness is very positive. It is a presence, overflowing presence. You are so full of presence that you can fill the whole universe with your presence and there is no need for anybody.

No Comments » Posted by Shona / Uncategorized

Jun 20th 2008 What Happens? 

What happens when your soul
Begins to awaken
Your eyes
And your heart
And the cells of your body
To the great Journey of Love?

First there is wonderful laughter
And probably precious tears

And a hundred sweet promises
And those heroic vows
No one can ever keep.

But still God is delighted and amused
You once tried to be a saint.

What happens when your soul
Begins to awake in this world

To our deep need to love
And serve the Friend?

O the Beloved
Will send you
One of His wonderful, wild companions ~
Like Hafiz.

From: 'I Heard God Laughing - Renderings of Hafiz' - Daniel Ladinsky

3 Comments » Posted by Shona / Uncategorized