Sunday, October 28, 2007

The Power of Words

The power of words

Words are powerful. It seems that we all know that and yet it seems that few of us have a word behavior that could really stand up to a well meaning scrutiny.
Our behavior with words becomes a standard operating procedure until something comes along or happens that causes us to reexamine how we are doing.
It is helpful to have some guidelines for the words we use.

1) What is the underlying intention beneath the words. It is important for us to be highly conscious of not just what we say but what we intended by what we said.
Sarcasm is a classic example of how intention and words are not always in alignment.
All to often someone says something like, "Excuse me," when something that they perceive as wrong happens and if these words are spoken with sarcasm what they are really saying is quite different then the literal meaning.

2) Beauty - Do all your words create beauty when they are spoken. I myself have a life long habit of complaining that I have been working on correcting over a long period of time. It doesn't matter how good the reason for complaining seems to be because complaining itself does not create beauty.

3) Courage - Do your words evoke courage. Courage is of the heart. It is contagious and it connects us to our inner resourcefulness. The opposite of courage is fear. Words that are filled with fear shut down our resourcefulness and creativity.

4) Compassion - Imagine always speaking about others and yourself from a compassionate place. The opposite of compassion is shame, blame, and guilt. Imagine that you extended a compassionate view to yourself and all those around you. What would have to shift in your words to your self and others to reflect compassion.

I could go on and I am curious about how you are doing in the choice of words that you are using on a daily basis.

Often we become blind to our word habit. It would be interesting to make a game with a friend to tap your arm every time you use words that are not consistent with the above guidelines. Try it for just one day and see where the opportunity is for you to grow your word habit in a good way.

Patrick Ryan
www.AwakenedWisdom.com

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Want to do the right thing!

Want to do the right thing!

What does it take to do the “right” thing?
This is a complicated world we live in. It seems that the more information that I have about what is going on around the planet the more challenging it is to know what the right thing to do, say, or think, is.
An example of what I am talking about is the purchasing decisions I make. As I watch the news, blogs, and other sources of information I am bombarded by requests to not buy from one company or country and to support another.
Two big areas of concern for me are human rights issues and the environment.
Sometimes it is a challenge not to become overwhelmed and helpless in the face of complicated and many sided issues and from that helpless place I want to turn away or distract myself from thinking through what the impact is that I am having on the world around me.
It seems that there must be a point of balance that allows me to sometimes buy a product from a company or country that has a poor human rights record for example and at other times to say, No, without feeling like a hypocrite.
It seems to me that absolute rules box us in, in a way that is not helpful.
I always try to do the right thing I just find that it is not always clear what that is.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

The threshold of Awakened Organizations

The threshold of Awakened Organizations

I am noticing a shift in what I will call the Awakened Factor of organizations. By Awakened Factor I mean the extent to which an organization is willing to create practices and policy that consider the well-being and sustainability of the people who work there, the client base it serves, as well the planet itself. Of course what remains a reasonable and important question for organizations is how do they make a profit from this emerging way of being. After all no profit; no sustainability of the organization itself.
To a large extent this shift is consumer driven. It might seem to some organizations that they are caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place. More and more organizations are being held accountable for their decisions and consumers vote with their spending dollar.
Whatever the reason for this shift, and there are many reasons, people that work in these organizations are finding more and more support for making Awakened Decisions.
One challenge that these leading edge decision makers are facing is how to break out of the old paradigms of thinking and problem solving in order to find new ways of thinking when looking for new products as well as solutions to supply of resources and human power.

What is needed for your organization to break out of it’s old ways and join this emerging way of operating?

Who else is asking these same questions in your organization?

Aung San Suu Kyi, an honorary Canadian citizen.

The CBC in Canada is reporting the following story with regards to Aung San Suu Kyi:

From the CBC website:
"Parliament on Wednesday unanimously passed a motion to designate Burma's democracy advocate, Aung San Suu Kyi, an honorary Canadian citizen.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper presented the motion in the House of Commons, calling her a "symbol of the desire of the Burmese people for political freedom."
Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has been held under house arrest in Burma — also known as Myanmar — for the past 18 years by the military junta governing the impoverished southeast Asian country.
"All Canadians know that what is happening in Burma is an attack on the values we hold dear … and an attack on the values of civilization itself," Harper said, following a standing ovation."

Effectively I am not sure how this helps Burma in the short run but I am very glad none the less that this has happened.

Almost everyone I speak to is frustrated by the sense of helplessness about being able to help.

By the way, where is the money that these corrupt Burmese generals are syphoning off of the Burmese people.
Shouldn't we be able to trace that somewhere and freeze it. That would get their attention. As the old saying goes, "Follow the money!"

The amounts of money that must have been gathered after all these years of corruption must be huge and I doubt that they are keeping it in Burmese banks.

Somewhere out there is a banker who knows were this money is.

Well at the very least I just want to encourage you all to keep sharing information, keep talking about it and praying.

Somewhere out there is a solution.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Living Awake

This website is about living an awakened life. That includes our time at work in our careers as well as how we live our personal life.
Here are a few ideas on how to recognize when an awakened life is happening:
- you are living mostly from a resourceful perspective
- you are able to move your life forward
- you make choices in life that honor all those around you
- your day to day choices create beauty
- you are supportive of those around you
- your life is balanced
- your relationships are clean and bright

How are you doing?

What else would you add to this list?

What are the challenges you experience in living an Awakened Life?

Monday, October 1, 2007

Burma needs us now!


I was once a Buddhist monk in Burma. That was in 1995-1996.

It was an amazing experience to be taken into such an ancient culture and to be offered such old and wise teachings. I have an old karmic link with this amazing land and the people there.

I was most fortunate to be able to meet Aung San Su Kui in her home during a brief period of time when she was released from her house arrest. She is a brave and humble woman who is among many other things a symbol of hope for the Burmese people. She is affectionately referred to as, "the Lady."

When I met with her I asked her what was one thing that anybody, from anywhere, could do to support the people in this troubled time.
Her response was clear and simple. She asked us, the people of the world, to send Meta to the people of Burma. Meta is most closely translated to mean, loving kindness.
This is the place for us all to begin in working to free Burma from one of the cruelest and greediest military juntas on the planet.

The Power of Prayer

There is a lot of anecdotal evidence of the power of prayer. The affect we have when we call in help from the other side. Many traditions have different ideas on what prayer looks like and of course there are as many different views of who or what we are praying to as there are gathering places for people.

The one common theme amongst them all is that prayer works.

So please join us now according to the wisdom of your tradition.

I ask you now to send out a prayer, or a cry, for the people of Burma.
Pray for a peaceful solution - now.
Pray for wisdom to somehow cause the military to lay down their guns and to resist the greedy generals that are using force and brutality and intimidation to keep the soldiers in line.
Pray to have the monks freed from their capture.
Pray that the generals in charge realize that the course of violence, slavery and greed is ultimately doomed to fail.

And, as well as pray add your voice to the global protest that is rising now.
Avaaz.org has a petition going that will reach people that can make a difference.

Please do sign it:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/stand_with_burma/tf.php?cl_tf_sign=1

From the AVAAZ.ORG website:

Burma: From the Avaaz.org website

Stand with the Burmese Protesters
After decades of military dictatorship, the people of Burma are rising – and they need our help. Marches begun by monks and nuns snowballed, bringing hundreds of thousands to the streets. Now the crackdown has begun, but the protests are spreading...

When the Burmese last marched in 1988, the military massacred thousands. If the world stands up and supports their struggle, this time they could win. We're in a race against time-- targeting the dictatorship's main backer China in a global advertising campaign, delivering the petition to the UN secretary-general and sending the Burmese our support via radio--


To Chinese President Hu Jintao and the UN Security Council:

We stand alongside the citizens of Burma in their peaceful protests. We urge you to oppose a violent crackdown on the demonstrators, and to support genuine reconciliation and democracy in Burma. We pledge to hold you accountable for any further bloodshed.

Sign the petition here:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/stand_with_burma/tf.php?cl_tf_sign=1


Journey Happily

Patrick Ryan
www.AwakenedWisdom.com

Welcome

Okay, here I go into the world of blogging.
It is my hope that you will find this blog relevant, provocative, informative and entertaining. We all have an impact in every moment on the people and the world around us and I am going to be using this blog to affect the world according to what my intuition and wisdom tells me is needed.

I expect to cover a wide range of topics from current affairs and trends to how to live life in a highly conscious state of being and have fun and joy in the journey of it.

I have created www.AwakenedWisdom.com as a site that will eventually be a source of inspiration and wisdom, gathered from wise beings everywhere, intended to guide us along a life well lived.

Thank you in advance for playing along.

Patrick