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The Purpose of Life, Part 3: Solutions to Overcome Obstacles

Having identified ‘internal’ issues as the most prevalent and challenging obstacles to achievement of our life purpose, the conversation turned to possible solutions.

Now I have to admit that were rather running out of time by this stage, but in fact this didn’t have much of an adverse effect on the discussion, as it all really comes down to one thing: Taming the ‘jumping monkey’ which is our creative, active but often wild mind.

If we are able to calm our thoughts, we can get much better perspective on the past (which goes a long way to dealing with regret) and also achieve focus for the future (and, as I wrote in my post on “The Power of Now”) the future becomes the present.

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The Purpose of Life, Part 1:  The Fundamental Question

At the Raja Yoga workshop I attended a few weeks ago in Cambridge, one of the activities for the two small discussion groups was to consider the following questions:

i) What is the purpose of life?
ii) What are the obstacles which get in the way (or might do so)?
iii) What are possible solutions which may allow these obstacles to be overcome?

These are big questions, and perhaps there are no easy answers. I’ll be writing about the obstacles and possible solutions in later posts to this blog, but for now I’ll just address the first question: What is the purpose of Life?

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Push Yourself to Success (Motivation)

This video clip is inspiring….

You CAN push yourself beyond what you currently perceive to be your limits.

Remember: the Law of Attraction rewards those who TAKE ACTION and DON’T QUIT!!

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Mantras, Chanting and the Law of Attraction

Many spiritual traditions include mantras and chanting as part of their practice.

The world of Tibetan Buddhism is replete with many mantras, usually in the ancient language of Sanskrit, each having a different purpose. At the Siddha Yoga ashram in India, Elizabeth Gilbert spent many hours chanting in search of personal insight and spiritual enlightenment, as described in her book Eat, Pray, Love which I wrote about yesterday.

In most of these religious contexts, the words of the mantra have a specific meaning, although we may not be able to fully understand it (even in English translation). In many cases the words are an affirmation of devotion to a deity or sacred spirit, or they are a request for assistance or solution to a problem.

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Law of Attraction Working

This real life experience has come us from Australia. The story goes that a dentist, Veronica Roller was driving home around midnight recently in her silver BMW 330. She was listening to the audio book of “The Secret” and sending her wishes out to the Universe. Suddenly she was shunted in the rear by another car. She had been rear-ended.

As she got out of her $100,000 pride and joy she was faced with three hoodlums wielding baseball bats. The hoodlums explained in very simple and expressive language that they wanted her car and they could not be bothered with the more usual methods of buying a car they had visualized, her BMW, and they wanted it now. They were following the mantra set out in the Law of Attraction – ask, believe and receive.

“It was one of the most terrifying things that I have gone through” Veronica is reported to have said. So how does this enlightened positive thinker rationalize the traumatic car-jacking. Veronica then went on to say “Most people think that the car-jacking was bad but God, no. The way it all turned out and the way that it came together was just miraculous”

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How Strong is the Power of Place?

Recently I was thinking about the extent to which we as human beings are affected by our environment and how we can also be independent of it.

On the face of it, it’s easy to believe that we will generally feel better if we are in a beautiful place, close to nature, away from the noise and pollution of the urban sprawl. And perhaps that is generally the case when we are on vacation, ‘getting away from it all’, when we are not only in a more pleasant environment but are also away from the stress of the workplace. But life’s not that simple, and there’s not necessarily a direct link between the place where we are and how we feel, especially if all is not right in our internal world.

I clearly remember a conversation I had with a European couple a few years ago. They had left their high-stress careers in advertising in a crowded capital city to run a dive centre on a small Indonesian island near Bali, a real paradise of white sand and palm trees.

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A smile costs nothing, but gives much;
It takes but a moment, but the memory of it usually lasts forever.
None are so rich that can get along without it;
And none so poor but can be made rich by it.

A smile enriches those who receive, without making poor those who give;
It creates sunshine and fosters good will,
and is the best antidote for trouble;
Yet, it cannot be borrowed or stolen, for it is of no value, unless …. it is given away.

If some people are too busy to give you a smile;
Give them one of yours;
For the Universe knows that no one needs a smile so badly
As he or she who have no more smiles left to give.