Mirror Concept

Posted by ineta on Oct 4, 2010 in love, wisdom

When we look at the mirror, what do we see? Do we see tiredness, sadness, wrinkles? Or do we see happiness, enthusiasm, smile? Do we see pain and struggles? Or do we see sparkling energy and love?

Now, let’s look at the outside world. What we notice first? How we relate to people? Do we see them struggling or being successful? Do we encounter sadness or happiness?

Usually, our inner state reflect our outside world. What we choose to concentrate on, that’s what we see. What we feel inside, that’s what we feel and see around us. That’s why it is so easy to feel empathy for people who are going or went through similar situations that we did. We can feel their pain or joy. Now, if somebody is going through entirely different experience that we never been through, we will not understand it; it will feel odd to us.

We are all conditioned by our past, good or bad and by what we know. We’ve been through ups and downs and sideways. We view our world through our past experiences, what is familiar to us. If we been through pain, we view our world through pain. We encounter people who are going through the same pain. Sometimes pain becomes anger, hatred and revenge. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. We want the person who hurt us to be hurt. We want them to suffer the same way they made us suffer. Where does it get us, though? Like Gandhi said, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” It does not do anything good, except it causes more pain.

Now, if we would concentrate from a place of love and compassion, no matter of circumstances, the outcome would be completely different. We would start caring for each other. Instead of war, there would be peace. Instead of hatred, there would be love. One man can make a world of difference. Let that be us. Gandhi is one of many examples. He saw peace for India; he stood for his beliefs and by being himself, he reached seemingly unattainable.

So, how about instead of wrinkles, let’s see lines of wisdom. Instead of tiredness, let’s see rest. Instead of sadness, let’s consciously smile more. Instead of struggles, let’s imagine our dreams come true. Instead of pain, let’s fill our hearts with love. Love does conquer it all. If we change our outlook in life and see our world through new open possibilities, we will change our life for the better. Let’s reflect goodness from our hearts into the mirror of outside world and make a difference now.

Tags: anger, compassion, empathy, energy, enthusiasm, family, friends, Gandhi, happiness, health, inner state of mind, inspiration, joy, life, love, mirror concept, new beginnings, new possibilities, opinion, outside world, pain, past, people, personal, philosophy, photo, picture, post and photo by Ineta Mcparland, random thoughts, reflections, relationships, sadness, smile, struggles, thoughts, tiredness, wonderocity, wrinkles

How to forgive your past?

Posted by ineta on Apr 21, 2010 in starting over

Do you want to feel several pounds lighter? Do you want that huge stone out of your chest? Do you want to go forward despite your hurtful past? There is the way.

We all been hurt by our past at some point in our lives. I know I was. We all had somebody who treated us unfairly, badly and in some cases in horrendous ways. Some of us might been mistreated in physical, some of us in mental and emotional ways. Physical scars most likely healed, but emotional and mental scars are really hard to heal. They say time is the best healer. It’s true. However, the right attitude makes healing faster.

When you are mad on a person who wronged you, you have all these hating thoughts. You think all the ways what you would do and say, if you ever meet him or her again. You might even plot a revenge, or at least you want something bad happen to them, so they would know what pain they caused you. You work yourself up. How could they hurt you? You are in so much pain.

The thing is these thoughts only hurt you. You run through your past over and over again. And, people who you hate are going about their business, not even aware of your thoughts. They even might not be aware of how they wronged you. The only thing that hurting you is you – your own thoughts and memories. We all are controlled by our thoughts. What we think is what our reality is. Now think of this: our past is powerless in regards to our now and the future. The only person that is responsible for our thoughts and feelings – we, and not the person who hurt us. Would we in the right mind choose to hurt ourselves? By blaming and hating other, we only are causing pain to us. We let that person in our minds to still control our thoughts without consciously aware of it. When in fact, we are the ones who make ourselves miserable. It’s time to put our past where it belongs – in the past, clear our head and make a space for now and future. It’s all in our thoughts and choosing.

Some of you might be protesting: “But he or she did this to me!” Let me make this clear. Forgiving is in no way condoning and accepting the hurt you or others received. It does not justify the wrong doing. Forgiving is accepting that all of it happened in the past, and it does not hurt you right here, right now. Forgiving is the healing of your own heart. It is letting go of the past hurts and have a peace of mind. The wrongdoer only knew how to be according his own dealing with his own reality.

Now, look at your memories this way. They are the reminders for your own protection that you would not get into the same situation again. Memories are something to learn from. All the rest – the past – is history and not here anymore. You are not being hurt right now. So, why to torture yourself with thoughts of hate or dislike? Why to bring your past to now and the future?

When you forgive someone, you have the most lightest feeling. As if someone took away that heavy stone out of your chest. When you have no one to blame, your heart is filled with nothing, but love.

I made peace in my heart and got rid of the stone that was crushing my chest. Thanks to my hurtful past, I learned many lessons and I know that it made me the person I am today – the strongest I ever been in my entire life. I even made friends with people who I thought mistreated or insulted me. Some of it was just misunderstanding. Now, as long as I stay present, I’m not going to let anybody to treat me like a dirt.

My heart is full of love and forgiveness.