You're welcome Kaliki! :s) I didn't even think of the pure white of the snow, that color, as being part of what brought that sense of peace. Thank you for pointing that out!

Jo, what an experience. I can picture it. Doesn't the pure white bring such a strong sense of peace? Beautiful. Thank you for sharing that with us.

I wanted to pass this along from The Perfect Calm Deck because we're all a little overwhelmed by the swiftness of the holidays:

"Take Control of Your Time
When you become anxious that you are running out of time to complete something, this calming routine will help to halt any sense of panic and re-focus your mind. Say "stop" out loud and pause from your activity. Breathe in slowly and deeply. Then, imagine that with your exhalation, time is expanding. Repeat this with your next two breaths, each time spending a little longer breathing out. Resume your task with a greater sense of calm."

I also wanted to mention that during the snow storm that hit Saturday night into Sunday morning, I went out onto the front porch later Saturday evening to take some pictures. There wasn't a sound aside from the wind (which was downright Nasty!). The beauty of the snow soothed my soul and brought such a sense of peace & calm I felt tears start. I wanted so badly to stay out there longer but that wind was incredibly harsh so quite reluctantly I went back inside for the night. (Then the thought "Snow is my Yoga" came to mind!") After pealing off the many layers of warm clothes, I journaled for nearly an hour!

I know how you feel Cindy! Thankfully we got the cards & 2 gifts out yesterday (with this big winter storm hitting, I didn't want to chance getting them out today).

Whew! I can mark EPL off my list of things I need to do! My brain is just too full right now to be able to concentrate! Hope you all have a great, fantastic Christmas! I cannot believe it is the Friday before Christmas already....I have to go to the post office tomorrow and just pray my presents and cards arrive on time!

Tanja, I Love that! A Food Hug, what a wonderful way to describe that feeling! (Fortunately & unfortunately I'm having a lot of those in the last week, LOL!)

Yesterday during my sick coma at work, we had a holiday party for the division. Instead of the usual holiday food, we decided on Italian. Unfortunately for me, I couldn't dare stomach the pasta. I nibbled on some deliciously fresh baked bread with some butter and thought back to EPL. If I could explore eating, I think I would wish to taste every kind of freshly baked bread. It's delicious. It's savory. And by goodness it's filling and gives me warm fuzzies to endure the day (kinda like a hug). It's a FOOD HUG!

So during your holiday season as you gnaw, nibble and gorge (for those who do), think back on Italy and what foods you had during feasting that brought on these food hugs.

Absolutely! I was going to give us a bit of a break for Christmas and New Year's so we can all enjoy our holidays without any more pressures than necessary and resume after New Year's. It's not only the most wonderful time of the year, it's the busiest time of the year too! (Or so it seems).

I hope everyone is enjoying their Holiday Season and has had a very Happy Hanukkah and will have a very Merry Christmas & Kwanzaa (or a very Happy celebration whatever your Faith!) and a very Happy New Year!

I missed reading 72-81 last weekend! Too darn busy to relax and concentrate! Hopefully I can catch up before Christmas...but if not, I may wait to finish it till after the first of the year when things calm down.

Is that ok with everyone; JO?

Here's another card I wanted to share with all of you from The Perfect Calm Deck (mentioned in my previous comment here):

"Create A Safe Haven
Fina a special corner in your home to create a safe haven from the pressures of every day life. Choose somewhere quiet. Place some fresh flowers there, or any other natural objects that soothe your senses such as stones or leaves. Add some soft cushions, a candle and perhaps a photo from a vacation that was particularly relaxing. Try to spend 5 minutes alone in your haven each day- sit down, breathe deeply, and allow yourself to be bathed in a sense of peace."

This is a great idea for all of us to do!

It also reminds me of a women who was featured on Liz's second appearance of Oprah in 2007 who had a large empty walk in closet the size of a small room in her home who turned it into a place just for her. She spends a little time in there each day to relax, recharge, read, sometimes meditate. She put her favorite chair in there, hung some of her favorite things on the wall and has an end stable with her favorite scented candle on it along with a reading lamp. She says it's helped her so much and to her proves you don't need to travel around the world as Liz did if you're unable to financially to take your own journey like Liz's.

I have something called "The Perfect Calm Deck, 50 Exercises to soothe Mind and Body." NOT A BOOK Perfect Calm Deck 50 Exercises to Soothe Mind and Body For some reason I picked up one of the cards this morning and I wanted to share it with all of you:

"Embrace the Future
When fears about the future play on our minds, they prevent us from fully enjoying the present. Make a list of the specific fears you have about the future. In doing this, your "externalize" your fears, emptying them from your mind. Now that your mind is free, throw your list away - it has no place in your day-to-day life."

Cindy wrote: "No worries Jo! I know it's been crazy at your house!"

Sigh, it really has been! I've caught up on my book of the month (for November!!!) for a book club & finished that within this hour and now I'm getting caught up on this discussion and my fave quotes! Thankfully I'm all decked out for Christmas but having sis.in.law here is really throwing off my whole month.

Beads 64 to 72

"God dwells within you as you yourself, exactly the way you are."

"...to know God, you need only to renounce one thing--your sense of division from God."

"Your treasure-your perfection-is within you already. But to claim it, you must leave the busy commotion of the mind and abandon the desires of the ego and enter into the Silence of the Heart."

"Why have I been chasing happiness my whole life when bliss was here the entire time?"

"When you want to attain communion with God, what you're really trying to do is move away from the worldly into the eternal."

"The hub of calmness-that's your heart. That's where God lives within you. So stop looking for answers in the world. Just keep coming back to that center and you'll always find peace."

"I close my eyes and let the mantra come. I climb down that ladder into my own hub of stillness. When I get there, I can feel the world halt...I am not actively praying. I have become a prayer.

"....I have found acres of grace...."

And
Bead 72 ends Book Two-India and the author's Pursuit of Devotion.

Will be anxious to see what you find Tanja!!!

When I get home, I'm going to randomly crack the book open and select the best quote...just to show how near any page can be enlightening, humorous or intriguing?

No worries Jo! I know it's been crazy at your house!

Kaliki...isn't that great! I thought it was an awesome statement too!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Happy December everyone!

As usual, I'll catch up later today, lol! (I promise to be a better group read leader by the end of this week!)

"...I just want God. I want God inside me. I want God to play in my blood stream the way sunlight amuses itself on water..."

love this...

Beads 55-63

"...the Zen Masters always say that you cannot see your reflection in running water, only in still water."

"...how about you try to meditate right here, right now, right where you actually are?"

"The search for God is a reversal of the normal, mundane wordly order. In the search for God, you revert from what attracts you and swim towards that which is difficult. You abandon your comforting and familiar habits with the hope (the mere hope!) that something greater will be offered you in return for what you've given up."

"Devotion is diligence without assurance."

"Faith is belief in what you cannot see or prove or touch."

"...I just want God. I want God inside me. I want God to play in my blood stream the way sunlight amuses itself on water..."

"Prayer is a relationship; half the job is mine. Destiny, I feel, is also a relationship-a play between divine grace and willful self-effort. Half of it you have no control over; half of it is absolutely in your hands, and your actions will show measurable consequence. Man is neither entirely a puppet of the Gods, nor is he entirely the captain of his own destiny; he's a little of both. We gallop through our lives like circus performers balancing on two speeding side-by-side horses--one foot is on the horse called "fate", the other on the horse called "free will". And the question you have to ask every day is--which horse is which? Which horse do I need to stop worrying about because it's not under my control, and which do I need to steer with concentrated effort?"

"There is so much about my fate that I cannot control, but other things do fall under my juridsdiction. There are certain lottery tickets I can buy, thereby increasing my odds of finding contentment. I can decide how I spend my time, whom I interact with, whom I share my body and life and money and energy with. I can select what I eat and read and study. I can choose how I'm going to regard unfortunate circumstances in my life--whether I will see them as curses or opportunities (and on occasions when I can't rise to the most optimistic viewpoint, because I'm feeling too damn sorry for myself, I can choose to keep trying to change my outlook.) I can choose my words and the tone of my voice in which I speak to others. And most of all, I CAN CHOOSE MY THOUGHTS."

"You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select what clothes you're gonna wear every day. This is power you can cultivate. If you want to control things in your life so bad, work on the mind. That's the only thiing you should be trying to control. Drop everything esle but that. Because if you can't learn to master your thinking, you're in deep trouble forever."

"...this seems a nearly impossible task. Control your thoughts? Instead of the other way around? ..admitting to the existence of negative thoughts (and feelings) understanding where they came from and why they arrived, and then-with great forgiveness and fortitude-dismissing them."

"So I've started being vigilant about watching my thoughts all day, and monitoring them. I repeat this vow about 700 times a day: 'I will not harbor unhealthy thoughts anymore.' "

"You may not come (to your harbor) with your hard and abusive thoughts. This is a peaceful harbor, the entryway to a fine and proud island that is only now beginning to cultivate tranquility."

"...the rules of transcendence insist that you will not advance even one inch closer to divinity as long as you cling to even one last seductive thread of blame."

"...If you bring the right earnestness to your ceremony, God will provide the Grace. And that is why we need God..."

"Keep cultivating gratitude."

"...He called silence the only true religion."


** I really related to this about controlling your thoughts and dismissing that which we cannot control. An awesome thought; if we can't control it-why worry about it?

Jo ~ I just ended up posting it here instead of going into the background of it.

Thanks Cindy. =)

Well good luck Mandy Sue!

Looking forward to it! Let us know when you do!

It's really a 90 day challenge. But 108 is a symbolic number in Buddhism so I am personally doing a 108 day challenge.

• Sit in formal meditation for 20 minutes each day.
• Listen to one dharma talk each week.
• Commit to the sixteen bodhisattva precepts.
• Perform 20 minutes of yoga at least 3 days a week.
• Perform one act of kindness or volunteer work each week.

What's the 108 day meditation challenge all about?

Kaliki wrote: ""Namely, that I am so grateful to be free tonight from the depression that had been gnawing at me like a rat over the years, a depression that had chewed such perforations in my soul that I would n..."

I am grateful that utter despair and sadness don't haunt my every move anymore - I am drawn towards it again sometimes, but I fight very hard not to go all the way back there. It's a conscious effort every day to keep my thoughts positive. I don't want to feed that ugly monster any more than I already have!

Jo...love that one about...that family needs grace....no, that family needs casseroles!
and
...mending my soul!

What exactly is the 108 day meditation challenge? and do you think there is a book that I could start out with as far as Yoga...

Cindy ~ The PoN and A New Earth are about living in the present. It's accepting that the past happened and the future is where it is. To become truly enlightened one must let go of the ego completely and live only in the here and now. I have tried to experience this. Went pretty far but without having earthly attachments I felt lost. I need to be who I am. Eckhardt Tolle is a bit too into his own ego in my opinion to be writing about it but the books were both good, I guess...if you remove Tolle from them. LOL I think that EPL does a much better job explaining the separation without making you feel all panicky and anxious about hitting this point. It is a very deep personal journey.

Yay for Yoga as New Year Resolutions!! I am now doing a 108 day meditation challenge. One similar to what the Buddhists do during this rainy season. It is very peaceful and mind opening. If anyone is interested in joining me, let me know. =)

"Namely, that I am so grateful to be free tonight from the depression that had been gnawing at me like a rat over the years, a depression that had chewed such perforations in my soul that I would not, at one time, have been able to enjoy such a lovely night as this."

This just makes my heart hurt, literally ache with recognition. It hurls me back into that place that I never EVER want to be again. And yet, in some odd way I am drawn to it...

Okay, better late than never, my fave quotes from beads 28-36:

"What do I believe that I deserve in this life? Where can I accept sacrifice, and where can I not?"

""Dear God, that family needs grace." She replied firmly, "That family needs casseroles," and then proceeded to organize the entire neighborhood into bringing that family dinner, in shifts, every single night, for an entire year. I do not know if my sister fully recognizes that this is grace."

"But on the other side of that sword, if you're crazy enough to cross it and choose a life that does not follow convention, "all is confusion. Nothing follows a regular course.""
~This is true even if you haven't had a choice in certain aspects of your life (like having a disease as I do) and not following convention as a result.

"Admittedly, I am not one who looks fantastic in everything, but I still cannot help loving myself."
~I'm not quite there yet! LOL!

"The whole town in peeling and fading like those suites of rooms that one-rich families will barricade away in the backs of their mansions when it gets too expensive to keep the maintenance up and it's easier to just nail the doors shut and forget about the dying treasures on the other side-this is Venice. ...Venice is spooky under its grainy November skies. The city creaks and sways like a fishing pier."
~Wow, such great writing there!

"What was the word in your family growing up?"
~Complicated

"What's your word?"
~?

"Namely, that I am so grateful to be free tonight from the depression that had been gnawing at me like a rat over the years, a depression that had chewed such perforations in my soul that I would not, at one time, have been able to enjoy such a lovely night as this."
~AMEN!

"I walk thought the markets of this crumbly town and my heart tumbles with a love I can't answer or explain..."
~I've felt this before, usually when I'm in Pennsylvania, of all places, because that's where my soul feels at home.

"It was in a bathtub back in New York, reading Italian words aloud from a dictionary, that I first started mending my soul."
~I just Love that statement! I think I'd really have to think hard & take a look back to pin point the moment I began mending my soul, though I know when that journey specifically began.

Okay Cindy, Yoga for New Year's!

Just have to say, I read some more of the PoN yesterday evening and Kaliki, I can see now where the whole 'thinking with being' comes from. That "there's a vast intelligence beyond thought'. The whole 'I am' realization... To step back from your thoughts and realize this sense of your own presence that arises beyond the mind. (My question was if it isn't a thought then how can you think it or realize it?) Hmmm.

Liz touches on this in Beads 55-63 when she writes, "I can choose my thoughts". or "If you want to control your life so bad, work on the mind. That's the only thing you should be trying to control. Drop everything else but that. Because if you can't learn to master your thinking, you're in deep trouble forever."

So it seems that thoughts may be a major problem...thinking about the past or the future, thinking negative thoughts, etc. and though I'm not very far into Tolle's book, I have to say that Liz in EPL sure makes this a much easier concept to try and understand. In my opinion!

Practicing yoga and meditation may make this a lot easier to understand too. So yea, Jo....Yoga...our New Year's resolution??? :)

We are organizing furniture now! So I'll be back later too....

I have to go out and get some fresh air and some exercise. But I will be back later too...

Kaliki wrote: "...I could debate this question forever. It is one of the reasons I loved this book so much, and that I adore the author. She never claims to be enlightened. And she is brutally honest about her fallibility in her search."

That's one of the reasons I loved her/EPL so much too!

Wow, some Great conversing has been going on here! I've got to run out but will return later today to catch up.

But I do agree, what is reality for one person may be different for another .. reality as defined by our perceptions anyway. I think that's what makes the world interesting. Never so evident than in politics, or sports analysis. (lol - I was just watching ESPN's NFL Gameday.)

AHHH!! Oh no! STOP! My mind is swimming...

No, I'm just teasing. I love questions like this. Again, why I loved this book. Like you, I loved deeper questioning on my life, my mind, my perceptions.

You ask " how an we see reality without thoughts? " Can reality be found IN our thoughts? There's a school of thought out there that this is impossible. That is is all in our mind. And that the harder we 'look' in our minds, the further we are from reality. I'm not saying I agree with it by any means. But it sure makes for a great deliberation, eh? But then again, what is deliberating, but an exchange of our thoughts...

Seriously, my mind just swirls with ideas like this. Perhaps this is why people use psychedelic drugs? ;)

..and Kaliki, what is reality? Really?? What is reality for one person may be different for another. ..and how can we see reality without thoughts?
Now I'm confusing myself!!

You know every 'Bead' I read brings me to deeper and deeper questions and reflections on my life.
Enlightenment? Not something I have dwelled on I guess. I think as humans, we are all searching for this place of enlightenment, or knowledge...or realization. I also think that it will never happen to a mortal being; not totally or completely.

Wow Cindy. Wow! That may be the best post I've ever read. It speaks so much truth in just a few sentences.

I just popped on here to share a quote I read on facebook this morning (I don't know who to credit it to or I would).

"Enlightenment is when you actually begin to see reality instead of a mentally mediated, thought-constructed version of it."

I have minor issue with the word "enlightenment". Partly because it's overused. But mostly, because while I believe in human beings striving for it, I resist the idea of those who claim to have achieved it. If one has truly achieved enlightenment, would they really need to make that statement? Wouldn't they have passed all attachment to anyone else KNOWING or BELIEVING that they were enlightened? I could debate this question forever. It is one of the reasons I loved this book so much, and that I adore the author. She never claims to be enlightened. And she is brutally honest about her fallibility in her search.

But after your post Cindy, I'm off to deliberate in my mind. WONDERFUL.

--An interesting way to phrase love, "rinky-dink mortal love". Just trying to envision a love deeper and greater than "mortal love" is almost unimaginable. The love for my mother and father, for example, or my children, or grand daughter. How could there be a greater love than that?
But there is.
In that regal silence???

Some quotes from Beads 46-54:

"This guy touched a place in your heart deeper than you thought you were capable of reaching. I mean you got zapped kiddo. But that love you felt, that's just the beginning. You just got a taste of love. That's just limited little rinky-dink mortal love. Wait till you see how much more deeply you can love than that. You have the capacity to someday love the whole world. It's your destiny."

"People think a soul mate is your perfect fit and that's what everyone wants. But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that's holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life. A true soul mate is probably the most important person you'll ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake. But to live with a soul mate forever? Nah. Too painful. Soul mates, they come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then they leave. And thank God for it."

"...this meditation stuff, it's crucial for teaching serenity. It can really save your life. It teaches you how to quiet your mind."

Buddha-"Most of humanity, he said, have eyes that are so caked shut with the dust of deception they will never see the truth, no matter who tries to help them. A few others are so naturally clear-eyed and calm already that they need no instruction or assistance whatsoever. But then there are those whose eyes are just slightly caked with dust, and who might, with the help of the right master, be taught to see more clearly someday. The Buddha decided he would become a teacher for the benefit of that minority -- "for those of little dust"."

"...at some point you gotta let go and sit still and allow contentment to come to you..."

"You have no idea how strong my love is!!!
and then, in that regal silence, finally -- I began to meditate on (and with) God."

"...but I have a brave heart..."

Thanks Jo!

Kaliki, so glad to see you over here! I hope you'll keep popping in!

Tanja, The Power of Now and A New Earth are by Ekhart Tole.

Cindy, I will join you in making yoga my New Year's resolution!

Has anyone decided to have a different focus now that we're in India/Book 2 compared with what you focused on during Italy/Book 1? Or are you going with one focus overall throughout the book?

I swear, my fave quotes from the past couple of weeks beads are coming!

The Power of Now?

I finished EPL. I have resonating warm fuzzies. Last time I felt close to an anxiety attack, I tried the breathing method I read about in EPL. It honestly helped.

I am just going to have to try Yoga. Maybe I should make it a New Year's Resolution!

Oh, I forgot you were starting that! What a combo - EPL and PofN. Wow!

That happens to me too .. when it's time for me to learn something, really learn it deeply, it comes to me from many different places. In that way it's also interesting, and totally fitting, that yoga is a part of this discussion. Yoga is the one way that I can always quiet my mind. I don't sit still well to meditate, but if I'm doing yoga, and focus inward on my body and my breathing, all thoughts go away. Besides all the wonderful physical benefits of yoga, I think it's most restorative for the mind, and the spirit.

Kaliki, It really made me think too...and then it seems this whole thought process involving silence....well it is coming at me from all directions. First-Mother Teresa, then the Eat Pray Love book, and I have to tell you Kaliki...I just started The Power of Now; just like one chapter into it, and once again....silence is written about!

Cindy wrote: "This thought from Eat Pray Love really resonates with me. It reminded me of a portion of a book I read that contained the thoughts of Mother Teresa on silence. I wanted to share it with you:
In t..."

Cindy, I've been following this thread since it started, haven't participated yet. Partly because it's been over a year since I read the book and don't have time to re-read right now. But more because I know this book brings up strong emotions on several levels, and I hold it very dear to me, and didn't want anything to 'cloud' that for me.

That said, I just had to comment on your post. I completely agree with you. This part of the book grabbed me, and held me. I've read about, and attempted, meditation for years with little success. When I got to this part of the book, it hit me like a brick. It's not about 'searching your mind' or working hard at clearing your mind. It's simply about silence. I get it now! I love what you've written from Mother Teresa .. it brings it back home again for me. A good reminder as we all head into the holidays which can be a frenzied time, filled with commercialism, stressful travel, family issues, and more. Thank you.

Here's the updated schedule:

Sun 11/22 - Sat 11/28: beads 55 thru 63
Sun 11/29 - Sat 12/5: beads 64 thru 72
Book 3:
Sun 12/6 - Sat 12/12: beads 73 thru 81
Sun 12/13 - Sat 12/19: beads 82 thru 90

The complete schedule is in the very 1st post in this thread.

Once we get closer to Christmas, I'll see how we're doing and if we need to skip Christmas week or not.

Cindy wrote: "Jo, it is fine with me but I feel I am Behind the reading here. I am just taking each of the 9 Beads separately and this seems to be really helping me find meaning from the book. "

You're not behind at all! I like re-reading things at this pace too, it's helping me to focus more. I'm probably just going to post the rest of the schedule until the week before Christmas and see where we're all at a couple of weeks before that time to see how I proceed with the Beads through New Years.