Happiness

What blocks happiness?

Today I received a payment from a student who always pays her tuition on time, without even a word from me. This was a very happy payment because she included a note that said, "I think the payments to you are the happiest ones!" I felt happy reading her words, grateful for her gratitude, but also because I know she is paying attention to her everyday life. She knows when payments are due. She is taking responsibility for her life, which is part of our spiritual path. Thank you, dear student! She also said the Open Classroom is her favorite place to visit early mornings! 

I also like coming to Your Open Classroom, especially when I find new messages. And her words make me want to write even more here, since I know there is an early morning visitor stopping by. So if you see more of me here, you can thank her. Gratitude is healing both to give and receive! And thank you to all of you who show up here and participate when you have the time. Speaking of happiness. Do you know one of the biggest blocks to happiness?

I'm Nobody! Who are you?

I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there's a pair of us -- don't tell!
They'd banish us, you know.

How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!

by Emily Dickinson

RESPONSE TO URSEL, JOHANNA, EVA, GABI

I tried to post this as a comment to the comments of the four students below on my post "The White Room" but the comment section wouldn't let me post such a long message! So I'm posting it as a post. If you haven't taken the time to find your own answer to the question of the white room, please do so, before you finish reading this post. Thank you! Hi Ursel, Johanna, Eva, and Gabi, Thank you for your responses. Since you have taken the time and are the first to post your responses and I have a little time this morning, I would like to answer each of you more deeply, intuitively, as I connect with the angelic energy that composes our school.

THE WHITE ROOM

Here is the message I emailed you all today. After you read and contemplate it, click to find out what it means. This is a test I was taught (along with others) when I was in graduate school, getting my training in clinical social work. It is  a simple and valid test of self-discovery.

Dearest Students,

You are in a white room. The walls, ceiling, and floor are white. There are no windows or doors. You do not know how you got into the room. You can see no way out of the room. Describe what you are doing in this room.

HAPPY PASSOVER

Passover began last week. These wonderful spring holy days can remind us that letting go of the old makes room for the new. Our old false nature must die and be replaced by a new nature -- the nature of Truth. 

MAY THE LIGHT ARISE AND AWAKEN WITHIN YOU!

Wishing you all a happy Easter in your heart and soul. We happen to have people of various religions and cultures and no religionhere in our school. Personally, I take whatever chance I can to celebrate life, to honor all the great teachers and saints of all paths. 

Happy Spring!

Happy Easter everyone! Or happy bunny day. Or happy springtime. Happy Passover! Happy Everything! 

I hope your world is turning green and warm and making you glad!

The Legend of the Dreamcatcher

"A spider was quietly spinning her web in her own space, beside the sleeping space of Nokomis, the grandmother. Each day, Nokomis watched the spider at work, quietly spinning away.  One day as she was watching, her grandson came in.  "Nokomis-iya!" he shouted, glancing at the spider. He stomped over to the spider, picked up a shoe, and went to hit it.

UNCLEAR POWER

I haven't done this before, but today I am adding the message I wrote for April on my website. I have written a monthly message going on 3 years for my website, The Clear and Simple Way, and so there are many past messages to read in the archives. This message is about dealing with the many catastrophic events that have taken place across the world in the last years.

April 2011 Monthly Message

60 Ways To Make Life Simple Again

 I didn't create this list. Someone else already did. That is the wondrous thing about being connected in this universe to other people whose minds access other information. We do not have to "do it all by ourself." There is help. We only have to ask. And it shall be given. We must admit what we do not know and open to the answers that flow to us from higher sources. A higher source doesn't necessarily have to be some invisible force of the universe. It can be our next door neighbor, the comfort of a pet, a dream, or a book we happen to read. The list below is clear and simple and I think you will like it. It is not a "perfect" list, but it is a nice reminder. I am happy I found it to share with you.....(I added my own comments in blue parenthesis.)

Life is not complex.  We are complex.  Life is simple,
and the simple thing is the right thing.
- Oscar Wilde

SITTING WITH YOURSELF

Since reading the lesson BEYOND MIND, I have been practicing the exercise "Sitting with Yourself." Here is what I notice. I get very agitated, first, with even the thought that I should sit still and "do nothing." My mind tells me I should be doing something all the time.

When I do sit, I notice that my mind is agitated and my body feels agitated. I notice that I do not want to sit and watch my thoughts, because of the anxiety. I notice that I am living my life with an underlying agitation pretty much all the time. Before starting the sitting practice, I was not aware of this agitation and anxiety that is always with me, even when I think I am feeling calm and peaceful. While sitting, I notice my mind is thinking all the time, more and more thoughts arise. I was never aware of how many thoughts there are. Like an avalanche, they keep on coming. It is not easy to sit and watch them.

LITTLE BROWN BIRD STORY

Once upon a time there was a tiny brown bird hopping around Mother Nature, eating little seeds and ruffling its feathers in the wind. And it was happy.

Deep blue sky in April

My dear classmates, today I made a wonderful experience and I want to share it with you.
I went to work by car and when I left the garage I thought what a beautiful and warm day it is today and I was so happy -
at the same moment I heard a voice in my head, saying, that always when I feel "too" happy something bad will happen.
In the same moment I knew that it was not really my thought,
I could feel my mother, more than my father and maybe the generation growing up during the 2. world war, I am not sure, but there were people behind my mother. And then knewing where these thoughts come from they left my body.
(Today is my 21. day without eating, we are drinking fruit juices, tea, water, sometimes buttermilk and I think it has to do with our cleaning).
There was always a sentence in me telling me not to be too happy, now I want to know what is behind my limited thoughts.
It is so amazing that I'm reading so often about "being happy - being you" and there was the whole time this sentence in me and I didn't see it.
It was a great present and I love these moments and thank you that you share it with me.
Love, Antje

Thank You

Think enough and you won't know anything.

---Kenneth Patchen

Peace, Richard

Sweeping

The moonlight of clear mind
swallows the whole world.
When mind and light both go out---
what is this?

---Kyong Ho

Lesson 17 - The tiny stick figure

In a reading I had with Indira a couple of years ago, I was complaining that I don’t like living in a ‘cement’ jungle (the city), and that I want to get out of the ‘cement’ jungle and live in the country. That is when Indira heard the angels joke/laugh that the ‘cement’ is in my head. I had never thought of myself that way, but as time goes by, I can see that there are times I can be hard-headed. LOL! It takes a while for things to sink-in sometimes; it takes awhile for me to see the truth in a situation involving myself.

Exercise at end of Lesson 18

Hi All, Thought I’d share my experience with this exercise. First of all, I want to mention that I am never comfortable with looking at myself in the mirror… I am much too self-critical. LOL! So I was surprised at some of what I experienced.

Farmer's Market

It's going on midnight here in Los Angeles. Today was Farmer's Market day. One nice thing about living in Southern CA is the large variety of fresh fruits and vegetables available year round. If I leave this area, that is what I will miss--but not the heavy traffic and smog. For dinner, I had fresh  strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and an orange. For lunch I ate salad with lettuce and kiwi, fresh juice, and steamed vegetables. I have a juicer and make lots of mostly vegetable juice. For breakfast I had oatmeal, blueberries, and almond milk. I hope wherever you are that you are also able to consume a large variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, because they are so healthy and energizing. Not only will your body feel better, but your brain will also work better when you eat healthy, get enough exercise, and sleep well. Eat rainbows! Hugs also help. 

Are you ever bored? (St. Patrick's Day 2011)

In celebration of the green and orange holiday, I've changed the decor of our Classroom once again. This way, you will never get bored--confused perhaps, but not bored. Speaking of boredom, do you ever get bored? The dictionary defines boredom like this:

"His eyes were glassy with boredom: weariness, ennui, apathy, unconcern; frustration, dissatisfaction, restlessness, restiveness, lethargy, lassitude; tedium, dullness, monotony, repetitiveness, flatness, dreariness; informal deadliness."

What a boring list!

Well, from the angels point-of-view, the world of unconsciousness that most humans live in most the time, is a world of boredom. There is nothing alive, awake, aware, or alert about a bored state, which equals an unconscious state. The angels tell us that boredom is just laziness. When we are bored, we are too lazy to shake ourselves awake to the constant wonder that Great Spirit provides for us. God has given us a playground, to explore, learn and grow from, and have fun with.

Have you ever seen a kitten entranced with a drop of water? Or an angel entranced by a single drop of dew? Certainly, you would not be looking at boredom.

So shake yourself awake whenever you get bored. Tell yourself that boredom is just a state of mind. You cannot stop boredom from arising, but you do not have to stay there, feeling sorry for yourself. You can go against the state of boredom. You are always free to do something new! No matter what your outer state, an inner state of wisdom, love, and compassion always exists. This is what the angels tell us. The only true "fountain of youth" is the realization that your true nature is eternal, joyful, at One with Creation.

I love the new paint in the classroom ! Love to all Monika