There are many ways to believe. Whatever you believe, you may be sure there is someone who believes the opposite extreme. Life in the world is about opposites of all kinds.
 
Beliefs are one of them. And some people get fired up about beliefs. Some people with strong beliefs will hurt other people because the others’ beliefs contradict their beliefs.
 
People on Earth have separated people because of their color or because of the shape of their nose. Staunch believers are convinced that they are right, and everyone else is mistaken.  
 
They may change their minds later, but at any moment, they are firm in their beliefs. I understand everything, yet it is hard for Me to understand why anyone hurts another, that matters get so firmly entrenched in their minds that they hurt other human beings in the name of what they like to call truth.
 
Here’s what I wonder: I wonder what does it matter what another believes or you believe when there is love? Love is beyond believing in or adhering to.  
 
You must know by now that in life you do not want to be dependent upon what this one or that one thinks. That makes you live a life that may not really be yours. You sacrifice your own heart and mind because of another’s praise or criticism. It doesn’t matter if someone else in the world is considered an authority. Why would you make anyone lord and master over you? Will you agree that it’s not always a good thing to dance to another’s tune?
 

It takes courage for one to tell the story of who they are with their whole heart, allowing the unknown to be known.

Connection with others is why we are here and is what gives us purpose in life. Neurologically it is how we are wired, we are naturally designed to survive together, to exist as a unit.

There is a massive discord in our connection to one another today. When one is asked about love they will reply with stories of heartbreak. When one is asked about connection they will reply will stories of distance.

Why is this so? There is a false sense of shame in the disconnection we experience: ‘If they see this in me will they still love me?’

Feelings of being unworthy or not enough contribute to this disconnection and cause vulnerability to feel excruciating.

Vulnerability means you are acting as your full, real, present self that is aware and engaged.

HJ: Self love is an art… a way of living… a daily practice… that cultivates this quality within you and shines it out upon the rest of the world.  It is a profound state of living and being… a return to your essence… who you really are beyond all the layers of conditioning and pain and trauma.  It is, in a sense, your truest self and we are all on a journey back to this state whether or not we are currently aware of it…

- Truth

8 Ways to Increase Your Self-Love

By Elyse Gorman | Notes on Bliss | Huffington Post

We spend so much time doing our best work on the outside — working on our bodies, careers, relationships, cooking skills and goals.

By Alexandra ‘Earthie Mama’ Du Toit

Guest Writer for Wake Up World

I am a huge fan of Kombucha. It has been brewed and enjoyed for over 2000 years all over the world. Many cultures have studied this amazing concoction and applied it to their health regiments, from Russia to China, and early Europe.

I have been brewing Kombucha at my own home for many years now. During it’s brewing, it naturally carbonates and creates a refreshing and fizzy healthy drink! I attribute drinking this fermented tea on a daily basis to many health benefits I have experienced. And it’s easy to make it at home!

Benefits of Kombucha

Kombucha is an all round natural, healthy fermented beverage full of amazing amino acids, probiotics and essential minerals. Probiotic literally means “for life”. Antibiotics kill ALL of the bacteria in your body, even the good stuff, but probiotics re-establish the natural ecology and order of the intestinal system. Probiotics are believed to boost immunity, mood enhancer, fight allergies, detoxify the body and rid the body of disease.

ASTRAL HUGS     Today we invite you to close your eyes and allow yourself to feel our energy. Relax. Breathe in and out at your own pace, comfortably sinking into a feeling of deep relaxation. Note any feelings of calmness, of love, of warmth and know this is us.

Receive this love as we honor you for being the wonderful and beautiful Being that you are. Remain in this state as long as you choose. Know that you can return at any time to receive more of our astral hugs.

This is how you connect with your Higher Self and Spirit Guides. Once the mind is calm, the heart can expand and allow our energies to flow more freely through you.

You can also increase your ability to make heart-to-heart connections with friends, family and those with whom you have difficulties. Have a wonder filled day!  The Day Keepers

To read this Message in its entirety, scroll to Day 203 at: https://mayanmessages.wordpress.com/days-196-208/   Please include this web address when posting or sharing with others.  Many blessings, Theresa Crabtree

By Frank M. Wanderer Ph.D

Guest Writer for Wake Up World

The Nature of Active Meditation

Living in an isolated state of consciousness, based upon your identification with your illusionary self, you may find that spatial consciousness is not present in your life, so you are unable to experience Consciousness free of forms. But you have read a lot about this subject, so you wish to bring things beyond forms and shapes under the control of your Ego, in order to stabilize the Ego and make it permanent.

You may have read or heard somewhere that meditation is the best method to that end, so you have begun to meditate diligently. But you are approaching meditation the way you do with other objects of the outside world. You believe that meditation is also an activity of the mind, a concentration on an objects (e. g. a burning candle), or your own respiration or a mantra.

Question – Well, I was brought up as a catholic, So how come Jesus is a stranger to me?

Osho – Jesus is always a stranger. It does not matter whether you were brought up as a Catholic or a Protestant or a Hindu or a Mohammedan. The very being of Jesus is that of a stranger, because he is an outsider. He lives on a different plane, he lives in a different dimension: he lives in God, you live in the world. He talks a different language; he talks about things you have not even dreamt about. You cannot trust him. You cannot even understand him; he is incomprehensible.

You may have been brought up as a Catholic; that means you have been taught from your childhood things about Jesus. Those are simply words; you have not been introduced to Jesus, because that introduction is possible only through meditation — not through any kind of teaching, not through the Catholic catechism. It is all rubbish. In fact, rather than helping you to become acquainted with Jesus it becomes a barrier; you become knowledgeable. You know many things about Jesus without knowing Jesus. The more you know about him, the less you think that you need to know him. You become satisfied by and by; you start feeling that you already know him without knowing him at all. That’s what Christian teachings do. And the more you have been taught, the more you become familiar, the more it breeds contempt.