Back home after an awesome 3 months based in Mexico and the US!

Travel is always so transformative, a kind of world between worlds, a pause between life chapters.

Being in a different environment, and this can happen in trips just days long, gifts you with the opportunity to remove yourself from your usual life. Stripped of much of your daily routine and surrounds, you get to BE anew.

This pause is often the circuit breaker that has people coming home to realise parts of their old life no longer fit, while new pathways and expressions of self beckon.

The accelerated energies of our present times being what they are, our 3 months felt like a year. Creatively, spiritually and physically it feels like we've gone through an inner systems re-boot, and I know many of you are feeling the same way.

Linda George, Contributor
Waking Times

The Buddhists tell us that ‘being born as a human is highly unusual.’ It is, they say, a tremendous privilege and a most precious gift, this human life. One of the reasons it is so precious is that within all of us lies the potential for Buddhahood – or enlightenment. That is, the unobscured awareness of the true nature of this reality and this life.

Dharma, or the Buddhist path is a practice of removing the obstacles that cloud our awareness of this true nature. Can we find this path, walk this path – if we are not Buddhist or practitioners of any particular spiritual system?

Yes, it is my understanding and belief that we can find our own Dharma, walk our own path to enlightenment – which means freedom from suffering. And the way to begin is simply to pay attention!

Attention – to what? To life.

Sharon Kelly, DeSmogBlog
Waking Times

A family in Texas, including a four-year old, her parents and her grandfather, were severely burned when their water well ignited into a massive fireball after methane from nearby fracked wells contaminated their water supply, a newly filed lawsuit against EOG Resources and several related companies alleges.

Cody Murray, a 38-year old who previously worked in the oil and gas industry, suffered burns to his face, arms, neck and back that were so severe that he was left permanently disabled, no longer able to drive because the nerve damage has left him unable to grip steering wheels or other objects. Cody’s young daughter, who was over 20 feet away from the pump house when it ignited, suffered first and second degree burns, as did Jim Murray, Cody’s father.

Here we have hand-picked some of the most powerful quotes of all time that can help transform your entire life. These quotes have the power to change the way you perceive yourself and the world, and inspire you to become the better version of yourself, by making you a wiser, open-minded, and compassionate human being.

1. “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” – Albert Einstein

2. “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” – Viktor Frankl

There are some things about ourselves that we find very difficult to accept, believing that they are bad, negative, and harmful. However, there are aspects of our personality which, although apparently might look bad, they are actually good, both for ourselves and our relationships with other people. Here are three main things you definitely need to accept about yourself, even if deep down you think you shouldn’t:

Being Honest.

Many of us feel guilty when we are being honest, becomes, living in a dishonest world, to be honest means to shatter people from their illusions. No matter what your thoughts and opinions are, be courageous enough to openly express them, even if they might go against the thoughts and opinions of others. This way you can stay true to yourself and others and this will relieve your soul from a lot of necessary burden caused by the emotional suppression most people are experiencing.

Scientists are acknowledging that animals are not just autonomous robots, like previously believed, but conscious beings capable of the same feelings and emotions that humans experience. Probably no big surprise there to our readers. On a related note, we've been conducting research as to whether or not humans are conscious beings, though so far the results are inconclusive...

From Psychology Today:

Every now and again I receive an email message I ignore after reading the subject line. I know I’m not alone in following this rule of thumb, but today I broke down and opened a message the subject line of which read “Scientists Declare: Nonhuman Animals Are Conscious“. I honestly thought it was a joke, likely from one of my favorite newspapers, The Onion. However, it wasn’t.

When you are deep in the middle of an emotional clearing, it seems as if it will go on forever.  The negative emotions will become an assault; wave after wave will continue to ravage your being with what will feel like no end.  As challenging as it may be, my lovely child, please keep breathing and know that the conclusion is near.  To use a phrase common to you now, “What for it….”  Once it is over, take a deep breath, mull over what you have learned and rest assured you have completed another step in your soul’s growth. ~ Creator

https://thecreatorwritings.wordpress.com/2015/08/19/emotional-clearing/