One night, the Shah dressed up as a peasant to enjoy the evening air undisturbed by his rank, and to wander through the streets of his empire unnoticed. He walked through town and reached the poor section of town. The street was quiet, but suddenly he heard singing from a little cottage. As he peaked through the window he saw a man sitting at a table.
He was amazed that such a poor man would be in such good spirits. He knocked on the door and asked if he would be welcome to join the man as a guest. They ate and drank together. After the meal the Shah asked the man how he earned his living.
“I am a poor Jew, I fix shoes in the street, and with what I earn I sustain myself for that day.” answered the man.
“But what will be your fate if something happens to you or you get too old to work?”” asked the Shah.
“Oh I do not worry about that,” the man said happily. “I know God will provide.”
The Shah decided to test the faith of the poor man. The next day he issued a decree that forbidded anyone to fix shoes in the street. The Jew was stunned when he found out this new law, but he contemplated looking inward and said, “God, I am certain that you will provide.”
He looked around himself and saw a man with water jugs on his shoulders, and he saw that he can become a water carrier. So he hauled water from the town well, and sold enough to buy food for a day.
That evening, curious how the poor man made out, the Shah returned to the man’s house.
“How are you?” he asked upon entering. I came to see how you survived the new law.”
“God provided for me today,” the Jew answered happily. “One door closed, but God opened another. I am now a water carrier.”
The following day the Shah issued a new decree that carrying water for pay was not allowed. So the Jew spoke to God, and when he looked about him, he saw men going into the woods to cut trees for firewood. This he went with them and made enough for food for the day.
That night the Shah came again to check on the poor Jew. To test his faith more, the following day he ordered all wood cutters to the palace. When they arrived, with our poor Jew among them, he issued guard garb for them and a sword. They would be paid, but not until the end of the month. Our man was now really puzzled, for he had no food for one day, Continue reading “How to Live More Abundantly… a Jewish Story”
Sharing. The misused word… just share… i.e. sell?
I know the word sharing gets thrown around in these emails quite a bit. Sometimes we become numb to the word. To get back to basics, sharing means giving something of ourselves.
It can be sharing with someone we’re not used to sharing with. It can be opening up with someone we’re not used to opening up to. It can be calling someone with whom we’re holding a grudge and wishing them well and saying something nice, some words of wisdom. It can be anything. It just has to be an unconditional stretch.
As a certified est-hole and Landmark junkie, I have heard the urging “Share, share share.”
In Landmark they mean “Bring more chumps like you so that Landmark can become a World Class Organization, here to stay.” They mean: do our selling for us. Maybe they don’t, but that is how it lands for people.
In multilevel marketing companies (network marketing, MLM) they say the same thing, but mean, definitely, selling. Continue reading “Sharing. The misused word… just share… i.e. sell?”
Get the f… out of my way!
Recovering Victim, get the f… out of my way.
That was on the front of my T-shirt in 1991 at the Communication Commando Course… a week long Landmark Education program.
What was that about?
Here is the story.
In the course, on the 2nd day, if I remember correctly, we were talking about your “default” albeit hidden way of communicating. We formed small groups of five, and we looked at each other and made up a little statement of what we thought the person was communicating under their usual facade. Continue reading “Get the f… out of my way!”
Crave it to have it, crave it to keep it. Money? love? success?
The Zohar teaches us desire is a vessel that holds the Light. The idea is attaining blessings and good fortune is not enough to keep them. We must also maintain our desire for what we already have.
Not always an easy thing to do seeing as how our habit is to focus on what we don’t have.
Today, get in touch with the desire you first felt when you started studying Kabbalah, or dating your husband, or working at your dream job. Crave your life!
I had something happen today that was an interesting aspect of this same thing.
Diana and I are partners in our quest to create a business that would benefit both of us.
We have created seven projects, and all seven flopped.
Continue reading “Crave it to have it, crave it to keep it. Money? love? success?”
Doing The Dishes, Kaizen, Boundaries
As difficult as dirty dishes can be, they’re even worse when you let them sit for a while. And the longer they sit, the harder they are to clean.
This is life. Something that is potentially easy to clean up right after it happens – an unkind word to your father, a lie to your best friend, an insensitivity to your girlfriend – can become a difficult mess if you don’t deal with it now.
Do the dishes today.
I have been thinking about Kaizen a lot. Kaizen can be the saving grace for a lot of people, because Kaizen is a way of life, a non-threatening way, but it is an awake way, and most of us are not awake, but get jolted out of our sleepwalking by big things only. I am awake, and Kaizen is for me.
So I decided to use Kaizen to ease back into exercising. Since I stopped exercising, my face aged 10-20 years. That is a lot. I used to have no wrinkles, now I have folds, and wrinkles inside them… not pretty.
I have no special occasion to be pretty at, Continue reading “Doing The Dishes, Kaizen, Boundaries”