tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-285282765644379942024-03-28T07:16:32.538-07:00The Way Through DepressionDepression is not a mental disease. It is a dysfunctional mind condition in which an individual strives desperately to avoid the unhappy and the undesirable experienced in life. The antidote to depression is not an antidepressant drug, which is not the way to cure depression.
TAO is the Way -- the way "through" depression by experiencing everything, thereby instrumental in helping the depressed individual accept and embrace all in order to fully understand why the mind dysfunctions.
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger162125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28528276564437994.post-69561127625092709332024-03-28T07:16:00.000-07:002024-03-28T07:16:00.130-07:00The TAO of Healing<br />
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Millions and billions of people worldwide are suffering from autoimmune
diseases, including <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">myasthenia gravis</i>
which is only one of the many different autoimmune disorders that are causing
anxiety, fear, pain, mental confusion, and even suicidal thoughts in some of
those afflicted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">According to Western medicine, there is no known cure for autoimmune
diseases due to the complexity of their causes. Understandably, patients
afflicted with autoimmune diseases are seeking healing from many different
healing modalities, such as the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the
Ayurvedic medicine, and among many others. In addition, they are desperately
looking for help from herbs, fruits, and all kinds of natural nutrient
supplements, as well as from physical exercises and spiritual practices, to
rejuvenate their failing health due to their weakened immune systems.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Knowledge and Wisdom<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Knowledge comes from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">how</i> your mind perceives and processes
any information available. Wisdom, on the other hand, is how you <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">apply</i> the knowledge acquired to cope
with any disease and disorder you may have, as well as your everyday life and
living. The important implication: being knowledgeable may not necessarily make
you wise or wiser. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The bottom line: you
need <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">both</i> knowledge and wisdom to
heal yourself of any human disease, including <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">myasthenia gravis</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Given that both knowledge and wisdom come from
the thinking mind, your brain is, therefore, the most important of all your
body organs. With its billions of brain cells, your brain is not only most
complicated but also major source of all your health issues and problems.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">So, first and foremost, it is important to keep
your brain healthy as much as possible in order to be capable of acquiring the
knowledge and attaining the wisdom to initiate <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>your self-healing of any disease you may have.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The
Healthy Brain<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">This is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">how</i>
you may keep your brain healthy:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Keep
yourself hydrated because 80 percent of your brain is water. Drink at least 7-8
cups of water per day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Keep healthy
gums, and floss your teeth regularly to prevent any gum disease.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Enhance
and improve blood flow to your brain with your 30-minute exercise at least
several times a week.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Eat a
healthy diet: high-quality lean protein; low-glycemic and high-fiber carbohydrates;
natural and not processed foods.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Avoid
inflammation and the formation of free radicals in your body.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Avoid
sugar and sugary drinks, including all sodas and diet sodas. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Quit
smoking, and limit your alcohol consumption to no more than 5 glasses per week.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Manage
your blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol levels.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Maintain
healthy levels of nutrients, e.g. vitamin D and omega-3s.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Maintain
healthy hormones of the thyroid and the testosterone. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Promote
good mental health, and avoid anxiety and depression.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">De-stress
yourself with correct breathing and daily meditation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Get
quality sleep of at least 7-8 hours a night without the help of medication.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Develop meaning and
purpose in your life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">In addition to having a healthy brain, you
must learn how to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">empower</i> your
thinking mind to seek and acquire the knowledge to heal your body of any
disease. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The TAO of Healing<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1532717849" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk2Q7t_E5vPs9sl0b0lc_JYx9TzuXcI9ZQj51VjV2FEUZoNgsKqDI1YQiYQPb25PzSW6UTlobdxJkjkj9Ny9r-vslhwbj7GJRtWiEtYJsHKuliHWxLkXDkjahSWN_2yCsOfquT8daz3YA/s1600/tao+te+ching.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The TAO is the wisdom of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Lao Tzu</b>
from <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region>
more than 2,500 years ago. Lao Tzu, <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">the
ancient sage, was the author of the immortal classic <b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">TAO TE CHING</i> </b>on human wisdom. The TAO</span> may play a pivotal
role in the healing process of any autoimmune disease, including that of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">myasthenia</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gravis</i>.<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Stephen Lau</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Copyright© by Stephen Lau<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28528276564437994.post-28045318268489819622024-03-27T19:48:00.000-07:002024-03-27T19:48:00.143-07:00The Importance of Happiness in Aging<p> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The Importance of Happiness in Aging</span></b></p><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Are you happy or unhappy? If you are not happy, then why not?</span></div><o:p></o:p><br /><div class="separator" style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Why is happiness important? It plays a pivotal part in the art of living well</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">? The mind plays a critical role in shaping your personality, which is responsible for your happiness or unhappiness. In other words, your personality is all your own thinking, just as </span><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Descartes</b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">, the famous French philosopher, once said: “I think; therefore I am.”</span></div><o:p></o:p><br /><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Erik Erikson</span></b><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">, the famous psychologist, also stated that the evolution of our personality is affected by different life stages of changes and experiences we have gone through, resulting in who and what we have now become. Understanding those life stages may help us understand how we have become happy or unhappy.</span></div><o:p></o:p><br /><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Trust and Mistrust</span></b></div><o:p></o:p><br /><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">In this first stage, from birth to age one, we may experience and develop trust or mistrust that affects </span><i style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">how</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> we feel about the benevolence of the world around us</span><i style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">.</i></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><b><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Independence</span></b></st1:place></st1:city><b><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> and Doubt</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><o:p></o:p><br /><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">In the toddler stage, we begin to develop our self-trust, which leads to independence. With self-trust, we begin to learn how to walk. In this stage, however, we may also develop self-doubt that leads to shame later in life. This may be the underlying cause of failing to take risks in later life, missing some golden opportunities to improve our lives, and thus making us feel unhappy and unfulfilled.</span></div><o:p></o:p><br /><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Creativity and Guilt</span></b></div><o:p></o:p><br /><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">In preschool years, we begin to exercise our minds to acquire initiative and express creativity. The capability to express </span><i style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">freely</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> our initiative and creativity helps us develop the playful and positive side of our nature. Under restraint, on the other hand, we may develop guilt, lack of self-confidence, and inability to get close to others.</span></div><o:p></o:p><br /><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Industry and Inferiority</span></b></div><o:p></o:p><br /><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">From age five to eleven, we experience fulfillment in accomplishment or disappointment in failure. This is often a result of acquiring our society’s work ethics. We begin to believe in our abilities and feel motivated to work hard. On the other hand, if we become lazy, we develop poor work habits that may adversely affect our careers later in life.</span></div><o:p></o:p><br /><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Identity and Diffusion</span></b></div><o:p></o:p><br /><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">In adolescent, we begin to explore ourselves, finding out who we are and what we want out of life. We may channel our energy into a field we love, and derive pleasure from seeing what we have accomplished. This growth in our sense of self determines whether or not we have an “identity crisis.”</span></div><o:p></o:p><br /><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Intimacy and Withdrawal</span></b></div><o:p></o:p><br /><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">In early adulthood, we develop intimacy, which is a quality of an individual, and not the couple. The ability to develop and maintain a long-term relationship is an asset. However, many of us may experience difficulty in achieving closeness with others, or even maintaining a long-lasting relationship, resulting in inner loneliness that causes us to doubt even our own remarkable accomplishments in life.</span></div><o:p></o:p><br /><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Compassion and Selfishness</span></b></div><o:p></o:p><br /><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">In middle age, we become more connected to future generations, as evidenced by being parents, mentors, and supervisors. However, we may also become self-focusing, alienating ourselves from the next generation, and thus creating the “generation gap.”</span></div><o:p></o:p><br /><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Ego and Despair</span></b></div><o:p></o:p><br /><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">In old age, by letting go of the ego, we accept both our successes and failures, and thus have a healthy perspective on life. However, we may also look back at our own past experiences and the world in general with disdain and regret, and thus we become despaired and unhappy.</span></div><o:p></o:p><br /><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Remember, nothing is set in stone. Even if you have formed your own personality over the years, you can still change it to make you become a better and happier person if you have the wisdom and the know-how.</span></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Human happiness or unhappiness is no more than a perception of the human mind, based on an individual's own life experiences. You think, and your perceptions then become your "realities"; with profound wisdom, you can change how your mind processes your perceptions. Change your mind to change your realities, and live your life as if everything is a miracle! Your life journey is uniquely yours.</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Make your own happiness recipe from the happiness ingredients of ancient wisdom, conventional wisdom, and spiritual wisdom. Continue your life journey with your own happiness recipe.</span></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"><b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1976592127">The Happiness Wisdom</a></b></span></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="color: #141414; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Stephen Lau </span></strong></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #141414; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Copyright© by Stephen Lau</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28528276564437994.post-65420505552058966032024-03-27T08:07:00.000-07:002024-03-27T08:07:00.137-07:00Living in Balance and Harmony<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The TAO of Living in Balance and Harmony<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The
mind needs balance and harmony both to control the body and to seek guidance
from the soul, which supervises the mind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Balance
and harmony in the soul is alignment and connection for self-healing of the
body.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Alignment and realignment<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The
body, the mind, and the soul work together as a system of life energy for
healing. The free flow or stagnation of this life-giving energy is dependent on
the balance and harmony of the body, the mind, and the soul at each and every moment.
It is this moment-to-moment alignment in the body, the mind, and the soul, as
well as their alignment with one another, that creates your unique state of self-healing
and self-help, which is a miracle in itself. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">What is
your current state of self-healing and self-help? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">If you
are living your life as if nothing is a miracle, most probably your body, mind,
and soul are in misalignment with one another. You might feel your body is not
healing, your mind is strangled with sadness and doomed to despair, and you life
has little or no meaning, without a goal or purpose. On the other hand, if your
current state of being is one of joy, hope, and purpose, you are living as if
everything is a miracle because your body, mind, and soul are not only inter-connected,
but also in perfect balance and harmony with one another.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Alignment
or realignment is inter-connection of the body, the mind, and the soul to
achieve balance and harmony for self-healing and self-help.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The miracle of self-healing is manifested in the spiritual wisdom
of the soul that guides and inspires the mind, which controls the body
living in the physical world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Connection and reconnection<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">According
to entropy, one of the laws of physics, anything left to itself will ultimately
disintegrate, and fall apart. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">According
to <b>John Donne</b>, the famous English poet, “no man is an island,<span style="color: black;"> and every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the
main.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Essentially,
everything in the universe is somehow and somewhat connected, just as man is
connected with one another in a subtle way. The miracle of this connection is
to provide balance and harmony to guarantee their existence and co-existence, that
is, their alignment with one another. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Focusing on others rather than just on yourself illuminates your soul to
see its necessity to express your empathy, generosity, gratitude, and
loving-kindness to others. But the challenge not to do that is as great as your
innate desire to seek spirituality. Therefore, simplicity in living may enhance
your spirituality and increase your strength to overcome the challenge to seek
spiritual wisdom.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">With spiritual wisdom, you may believe in the miracle of self-healing. You
will then see </span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">that all happenings in your life are somehow “connected”
for an unfathomable and unimaginable purpose, and that you can turn any bad
situation into an opportunity for self-healing and self-help. Believe in the
miracle that you are connected with everyone you meet in your life, and that everyone
can be either your teacher or your student. In other words, there is much for
you to learn from any circumstance, as well as from one another. This is the
miracle of alignment and connection.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The
TAO<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">According
to the TAO, not living in balance and harmony is not living for life:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">“When
there is abundance, there is lacking.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">When
there is craving, there is discontentment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Striving
for power to control and influence<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">every
aspect of our lives<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">is
the source of our suffering.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Obsessed
with getting and keeping, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">many
of us never really live before we die.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Following
the Way,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">we
must learn to let go.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">(Lao Tzu, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tao Te Ching</i></b>, Chapter 75)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Letting go is adapting and adjusting
any imbalance and disharmony in your everyday life and living:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">“Following the Way is like bending a
bow: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">one end is pulled up;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">the other end is pulled down.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Excess and deficiency are balanced.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">According to wisdom of the Way:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">we reduce when there is excess;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">we increase when there is
deficiency.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Balance is thus created.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">According to common wisdom: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">we increase excess and deplete
deficiency.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Imbalance is thus created.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">(Lao Tzu, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tao Te Ching</i></b>, Chapter 77)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">But,
given that there are too many attachments in life, letting go is not easy and
it requires profound human wisdom:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">“Stilling our thoughts,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">our needs become few.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Following our thoughts,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">our distractions become more,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">and thus living in chaos.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Enlightenment is our true nature.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Meditation helps us find the origin,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">and thus ending our suffering.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">(Lao Tzu, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tao Te Ching</i></b>, Chapter 52)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Attachments
to the world are only distractions that lead to detours, causing imbalance and
disharmony along the journey: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">“The Way is easy,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">yet people prefer distracting
detours.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Beware when things are out of
balance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Remain centered within the Creator.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Distractions are many,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">in the form of riches and luxuries.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">They allure us from
the Way.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">(Lao Tzu, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tao Te Ching</i></b>, Chapter 53)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">No-stress living is the way to attaining balance and
harmony:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">“So, we no longer
argue with those who are cynical.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">We stop looking for
their approval.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">We cease taking
offense at their unbelief.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">We just sow the seeds
along the Way,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">letting the Creator
reap the harvest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">To be loved or
rejected,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">to gain or to lose, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">to be approved or
disapproved, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">no longer matters to
us, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">when we know who we
are<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">and who the Creator
is.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">(Lao Tzu, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tao Te Ching</i></b>, Chapter 56)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">According
to the TAO, living in balance and harmony is all about “spontaneity" which
is the understanding of the nature of all things. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">According
to the TAO, spontaneity is “doing without over-doing”—which essentially means
“doing without <i>consciously </i>anticipating the outcome.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">In
the universe, there is an all-controlling force that monitors everything. You
breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. You eat and you eliminate. You
grow, mature, and die. Spontaneity is the natural built-in mechanism in each
living organism. Spontaneity creates balance and harmony, expressed in the <i>Yin</i>
and the <i>Yang</i> (the female and the male). Spontaneity is the ultimate understanding
of the natural cycle of all things that are beyond human control: what goes up
must also come down; success is followed by failure; life forever begets death:
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">“The Creator creates one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">One creates two.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Two creates three.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Three creates a myriad
of things.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">All have their original unity<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">in the duality of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yin</i> and the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yang</i>, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">the opposite life forces that
harmonize.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">We experience this harmonious
process <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">in the rising and falling of our
breaths.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">People naturally avoid loss and seek
gain.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">But with all things along the Way, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">there is no need to pick and choose.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">There is no gain without loss.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">There is no abundance without lack.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">We do not know how and when<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">one gives way to the other.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">So, we just remain in the center of
things, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">trusting the Creator, instead of
ourselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">This is the essence of the Way.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">(Lao Tzu, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tao Te Ching</i></b>, Chapter 42)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">With spontaneity, we become babies again, living in
perfect balance and harmony with everyone and everything: </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">“If we are in harmony
with the Creator, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">we are like newborn
babies, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">in natural harmony
with all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Our bones are soft,
and our muscles are weak,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">but our grip is strong
and powerful.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Not knowing about sex,
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">we manifest sexual
arousal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Crying all day long,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">we lose not our voice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">With constancy and
harmony, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">we accomplish all
daily tasks<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">without growing tired.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">In natural harmony
with the Creator,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">we let all things come
and go,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">exerting no effort,
showing no desire,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">and expecting no
result.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Natural harmony is
experienced<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">only in the present
moment, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">when we see the
natural laws of the Creator.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">(Lao Tzu, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tao Te Ching</i></b>, Chapter 55)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">According to
the TAO, living in the present moment is living in balance and harmony:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">“We act without
over-action.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">We manage without
interference.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">We enjoy without
attachment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Effrontery is just <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">an opportunity for
loving-kindness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Great accomplishments
are only <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">a combination of small
steps.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Difficult tasks are no
more than <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">a series of easy
steps.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Therefore, we focus on
the present moment, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">doing what needs to be
done,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">without straining and
stressing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">To end our suffering,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">we focus on the
present moment, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">instead of our
expected result.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">So, we follow the
natural laws of things.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">(Lao Tzu, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tao Te Ching</i></b>, Chapter 63)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Most importantly,
spontaneity shows us the wisdom of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">impermanence</i>
of all things</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">—that is,
nothing lasts despite all human efforts to make them continue:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">“Strong
winds come and go.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">So
do torrential rains.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Even
heaven and earth cannot make them last forever.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">(Lao Tzu, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tao Te Ching</i></b>, Chapter 23)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Stephen Lau</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Copyright© by Stephen Lau<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28528276564437994.post-16469065730542658692024-03-27T03:35:00.000-07:002024-03-27T03:35:00.125-07:00"YOUR LIVING BY FAITH" <p><span style="font-family: inherit;">This is <i>your</i> living by faith. Living in this contemporary world is challenging and difficult. <i>Why? </i>Because there's too much information, disinformation, and misinformation, and thus you're easily led astray. Worse, you're living in your <i>flesh</i>--which means your thinking mind is controlled by your physical desires.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">According to <b>Albert Einstein</b>, thinking is <i>everything</i> in everyday life and living, but people seldom do it. In other words, your human wisdom is inadequate and incomplete. So, you need your spiritual wisdom to help you in your everyday life choices and decision. But believing in God is a tall order. The journey of faith is long and winding with many obstacles, detours, and sidetracks. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">But once you've your faith, <i>your living by faith</i> will help you in your actions and inactions, as well as in your choices and decision, in your everyday life and living.</span></p><p><b><a href="https://your-living-by-faith.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Your Living By Faith</a></b></p><p>Stephen Lau</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28528276564437994.post-74230141975826747672024-03-26T19:24:00.000-07:002024-03-26T19:24:00.251-07:00Adaptability and Resilience<p> </p><p><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Embracing Life Changes</span></b></p><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt; text-align: justify;">Life is forever changing. A static life is not worth living. Ironically enough, many people resist any change in their lives; they desire consistency and stability. Unfortunately, whether you like it or not, changes are inevitable as you continue to age. The only ways to cope with life changes is adaptability and acceptance.</span></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Adaptability is changing the mind's perception of the change you confront, and act or react accordingly to the circumstances. This mental perception requires <i>awareness</i>, without which actions or reactions may not take place, because often times changes are slow, gradual, and even subtly imperceptible. Awareness means knowing why and how changes are taking place.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">.“We need a still and composed mind<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">to see things with greater clarity.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Because trouble begins in the mind<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">with small and unrelated thoughts.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">So, we carefully watch the mind<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">to stop any trouble before it begins.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">(Chapter 64, <b><i>Tao Te Ching</i></b>)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Acceptance is taking the responsibility of the results of the actions or reactions taken. Acceptance may not be easy, especially if you have a pre-conditioned mindset of expectation or comparing the condition before and after the change.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Both adaptability and acceptance requires <i>wisdom</i> -- the wisdom to know and understand that nothing is permanent because everything remains only with that very present moment, and that everything follows a natural cycle, such as success .<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><br />"Success and failure are no more than expressions of the human condition.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">So, accept both gracefully and willingly, with no judgment, no preference.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The Creator loves us unconditionally, irrespective of our success or failure.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">What is meant by “accept both gracefully and willingly”?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Success is avoiding failure; avoiding failure is seeking success.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Both originate from fear and pride: the sources of human suffering.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Seeing ourselves indiscriminately as everything, including success and failure,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">we see not only the manifestations but also the mysteries of the creation.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">(Chapter 13, <b><i>Tao Te Ching</i></b>)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="separator" style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">TAO wisdom is profound human wisdom based on not acquisition of knowledge but self-intuition of the nature of things. Through this self-enlightenment, one become wise, and accordingly knows how to live one's life as if everything is a miracle. Click <a href="http://www.wisdominliving.com/tao-wisdom-resources.html">here</a> to find out more about TAO wisdom.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1500107735" target="_blank">As If Everything Is A Miracle</a></b></span></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><b style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><b style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Stephen Lau </span></b></div><div style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;">Copyright© by Stephen Lau</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28528276564437994.post-12313552762554945472024-03-26T04:19:00.000-07:002024-03-26T04:19:00.260-07:00Drinks to Heal Immune System<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; font-style: normal;">Drinks to Heal the Immune System</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></h5>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Burdock and daikon drink</span></b><b><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1098994183" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="333" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVXz2b0o1_l6ef6L9TpcEVpvo6YvedOIMYfSp0zxoBoF7mvMHrUxSN7aIIhDe_w3_fhlnxHLGvt-ciJLhmpjmbY_FUpJdKXBI-x01c08dIuKsdpHEPLcH7OMzdIB0U3LnfLlyF-T6hbFM/s320/tao+of+healing.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Burdock
root has been used as both food and medicine in Asia and <st1:place w:st="on">Europe</st1:place>
for thousands of years. Recently, it has been used as a nourishing tonic for
cancer, liver disease, and rheumatism. Burdock root is a staple diet of the
Japanese, who are among the people with the longest lifespan in the world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Fresh
burdock root is available at many greengrocers, Asian supermarkets, and natural
food stores in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United
States</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Daikon
is Japanese radish. Its phytochemicals have well-recognized healing and
anti-carcinogenic properties:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">It cleanses the blood (the kidneys).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">It promotes energy circulation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">It increases the metabolic rate (a
weight-loss remedy in <st1:place w:st="on">Asia</st1:place>).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">It treats hangovers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">It decongests the lungs, clears sore
throat, colds, and edema.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The
burdock and daikon drink can be taken any time, and as much as you like.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Ingredients<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">One burdock root (about 24 inches
long)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">One daikon with green tops<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">One small carrot with green tops.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Preparation<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Cut all ingredients into small
pieces.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Place them in a pot with water
double the volume of the ingredients.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Bring to a boil. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Pour out the content, and drink it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">You can repeat the process one more
time. This time, after bringing it to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer it for
another 20 minutes. Let the ingredients steep in the hot water for another 20
minutes before drinking it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16pt;">Four greens drink</span></b><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Bitter
melon, a popular Asian vegetable, is well known for blood glucose control. It
contains a substance similar to bovine insulin, which has been shown in
experimental studies to achieve a positive sugar regulating effect by
suppressing the neural response to sweet taste stimuli.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Celery
is a good source of insoluble fiber as well as essential nutrients, including
vitamin C, calcium, and potassium. In addition, it may reduce blood pressure,
and block cancer cells.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Cucumber
has been associated with healing properties in relation to diseases of the
kidney, urinary bladder, liver, and pancreas. In addition, cucumber juice is an
excellent skin tonic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Green
pepper is loaded with vitamin C (a potent antioxidant) and beta-carotene (to
prevent cataracts).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Make
the nutritious four greens drink by juicing them in approximately equal
portions. Drink immediately.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16pt;">Pine needles drink</span></b><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Pine
needle drink is a perfect drink made from evergreen pine needles. Select your
pine needles by picking the newest green ones from a pine tree. Wash the pine
needles thoroughly. Put them in a cloth bag, and steep it in a pot of boiling
water—if you don’t use a cloth bag, then strain the needles before drinking.
Cover and let it sit for 30 minutes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Pine
needle drink is loaded with vitamin C and other nutrients to offer the
following benefits: eyesight; fatigue; heart disease; kidney ailments;
sclerosis (inflammatory nerve disorder); and varicose veins.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16pt;">Stephen Lau</span></b></h2>
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Copyright© by Stephen Lau</h2>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28528276564437994.post-27691618316500110712024-03-25T18:57:00.000-07:002024-03-25T18:57:00.139-07:00Basics of Aging<p><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">Knowing the Ba</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">sics of Aging</span></b></p><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">If you wish to live to 100 and beyond, you need to know <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the basics of mortality: aging, premature aging, and longevity.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">Aging<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">The passage of time is inevitable and eternal. Aging begins as early as from young adulthood (around age 20 to 40) to middle adulthood (around age 40 to 65), and continues to old age (beginning at the age of retirement, approximately at age 65). Aging occurs throughout most of one’s lifespan. The aging process is an accumulation of changes, which may be subtle or sudden, and even drastic, that progressively lead to disease, degeneration, and ultimately death. Truly, you cannot die merely of old age; your ultimate demise is caused by advancing age itself, as well as by the diseases and degenerative conditions that accompany it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">Aging is difficult to define, but you will know it when you see it, or experience it firsthand yourself. In brief, aging is a steady decline in health and wellness, instrumental in shortening lifespan; and the aging process is the duration during which such changes occur.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><u><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">The hard facts of aging<o:p></o:p></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">Whether you like it or not, your biological clock is ticking, and this will happen to various systems in your body:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">Your heart will pump less blood, and your arteries will become stiffer and less flexible, resulting in high blood pressure—a common health problem that often increases with age.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">With less oxygen and nutrients from the heart, your lungs will also become less efficient in getting and distributing oxygen to different organs and membranes of your body.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">Your brain size will slowly and gradually reduce by approximately 10 percent between the age of 30 and 70. Loss of short-term memory will become increasingly more acute and evident.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">Your bone mass will reduce, making it more brittle and fragile. Your body size will shrink as you lose your muscle mass.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">Your biological clock is continuously ticking, whether you are conscious of it or not. Your mortality has been pre-programmed into your biological organisms and your body cells. Theoretically, you may have an indefinite lifespan through the division, the rejuvenation, and the regeneration of your body cells and organisms—if they are still healthy and fully functional. Although your genes may have pre-determined the speed of your biological clock, you can still slow down the speed of aging—if you still have good health.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">So, what is good health? Is being healthy synonymous with the absence of disease?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">According to the United States Public Health Service, good health is “preventing premature death, and preventing disability, preserving a physical environment that supports human life, cultivating family and community support, enhancing each individual’s inherent abilities to respond and to act, and assuring that all Americans achieve and maintain a maximum level of functioning.” This statement probably sums up what you need to do in order to be younger and healthier for longer; it says everything about aging.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">Premature aging<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">The truth of the matter is that you age, just like everyone else does. The point in question is how you can delay that aging process in order to make you not only feel but also look younger and healthier for longer—or, at least, not making you age more quickly than you are supposed to.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">Unfortunately, many of us have fallen victims to the accelerated aging syndrome, or premature aging.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><u><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">Accelerated aging syndrome<o:p></o:p></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">According to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Steven Masley</b>, M.D., the former medical director of the <st1:placename w:st="on">Pritikin</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Longevity</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Center</st1:placetype> in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">St. Petersburg</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">Florida</st1:state></st1:place>, you may have the potentials for accelerated aging, if you have just any three of the following:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">A fast blood sugar level of more than 100 mg/dl<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">A blood pressure higher than 130/85<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">A waist larger than 35 inches for women and 40 inches for men<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">Good cholesterol level (HDL) less than 40 mg/dl for men, and 50 mg/dl for women<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">Triglyceride (a certain type of fat in your blood) levels greater than 150 mg/dl<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><u><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">Factors contributing to premature aging<o:p></o:p></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">There are several factors that increase the predisposition to accelerated aging:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">Your diet: you are what you eat, and you become what you eat.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">Your lifestyle: life on the fast lane often leads to faster aging.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">Your physical inactivity: immobility brings about stagnation and degeneration.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">Your stress level: stress kills your brain cells, predisposing you to premature aging.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">Your disease and physical pain: disease and pain have a devastating impact on both the body and the mind<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><u><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">Damaging free radicals<o:p></o:p></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">Your body is composed of many different types of cells, made up of many different types of molecules.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">Free radicals are molecules that contain unpaired electrons. Since electrons have a very strong tendency to co-exist in a paired rather than in an unpaired state, free radicals indiscriminately pick up electrons from other healthy molecules close by. This chemical reaction converts those otherwise “healthy” molecules into free radicals, and thus setting up a chain reaction that can cause substantial biological damage to cells. Free radicals are highly reactive, damaging not only cells but also chemicals in your body, such as enzymes (for digestion), making them less effective and efficient.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">Aging causes oxidation, which literally means “rusting.” Free radicals cause oxidative damage to cells and tissues. Free radicals do not make you younger and healthier for longer; quite the contrary, they age you prematurely and contribute to many diseases, including cancer and heart disease, among others.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">Free radicals occur naturally as byproducts of oxidation, such as during respiration and other chemical processes. For example, during your breathing, life-giving oxygen is produced while harmful carbon dioxide is released; digestion is another oxidation process, in which your body obtains its energy from food through oxidation, during which free radicals are also generated in the form of waste buildup. Ironically, what gives life may also take away life indirectly.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">Free radicals are normally present in your body in small numbers, without causing too much harm. However, over the long haul, the accumulation of these free radicals may cause irreparable damage to your body cells and tissues, if such accumulation is unchecked.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">In addition, free radicals can also be caused by external factors, such as alcohol, nicotine, chemicals from foods and toxic pharmaceutical drugs, heavy metals, such as cadmium and lead, from the environment, radiation from the sun and other sources</span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">Longevity<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">The word “longevity” has its origin from the Latin word “longaevitas”, which comes from the word “longus” or long, and “aevu” or age. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">Genes do not cause aging but they do indirectly affect longevity in that they may pre-determine the rate of division, rejuvenation, and regeneration of body cells and organisms.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">Consciousness of longevity involves your awareness of preventative intervention and detection of early signs of medical conditions that could potentially affect longevity.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;"><b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C79T4QVT">Your Death and Your Destination</a></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 0in; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0.25in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">Stephen Lau</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">Copyright© by Stephen Lau</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28528276564437994.post-67455220124852654892024-03-25T03:05:00.000-07:002024-03-25T03:05:00.130-07:00How to Avoid Human Conflicts<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><b>Balance and Harmony</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The Way Through Human Conflicts<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1539020304" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="508" data-original-width="453" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifkcC5ZUY9BnwnNxw3NZDaONOdsgmffZ5lz1tktqzf8bFbjkuvDptXiPeLnGhc6CNZ4EXmT1FlwhAiuqHBH2k4WO96i_7V7qLnIuU5yOWIf8luPn962IVqQhIGuXGYZi8h908GCvjxjeo/s320/depression.jpg" width="285" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Human conflicts are many. The Way is the only
way to go <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">through</i> them, rather than
avoiding them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Balance and harmony<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Always maintain your internal balance and
harmony. Remember, the world around you is always a reflection of what is deep
inside you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">“The Way
is easy,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">yet
people prefer distracting detours.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Beware
when things are out of balance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Remain
centered within the Creator.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Distractions
are many,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">in the
form of riches and luxuries.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">They
allure us from the Way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Accumulations
are like extortions of the poor. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">They
bring only disaster and suffering.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Do not
deviate from the Way.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">(Lao
Tzu, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tao
Te Ching</i></b>, Chapter 53)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">“When
there is no desire to be someone that we are not,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">separate
from our true nature designed by the Creator,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">all
things are in perfect balance and harmony.” (Lao Tzu, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tao Te Ching</i></b>, Chapter 37)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Five elements and
natural cycle<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The five elements of the
ancient Chinese are: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">metal</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">wood</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">water</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">fire</i>, and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">earth</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 27.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The five elements
balance and complement one another to create both internal harmony and a
natural cycle. To illustrate, water nourishes trees or wood; without wood,
there will be no fire (which burns wood); without fire burning wood, there will
be no earth (the ashes from the burnt wood); without earth, there will be no
metal (from the earth itself); through condensation, fire heats metal to
produce water; without metal, there will be no water; without water, there will
be no tree or wood. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 27.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">These five elements are
interdependent on one another for their own existence in the form of a natural
cycle. In many respects, human relationships and our dealings with one another
attest to the cyclical nature of the world we are living in. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<u><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">TAO wisdom<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Think about your own
nature with reference to the five elements. Are you strong and independent like
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">metal</i>, bold and pioneering like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">wood</i>, soft and flexible like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">water</i>, fiery and passionate like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">fire</i>, or nurturing and receptive like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">earth</i>?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Also, think about the
different natures of the people around you, or you have to deal with.
Understanding their different natures may result in better and more harmonious
relationships with them. Indeed, the five elements can give you profound wisdom
and insight into many different life situations to help you avoid unnecessary
everyday conflicts and disparities. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The bottom line: learn
to live a life without any conflict and confrontation with others. To do just
that, you need to know not only yourself but also others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">“Knowing
others is intelligence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Knowing
ourselves is true wisdom.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Overcoming
others is strength.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Overcoming
ourselves is true power.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">(Lao
Tzu, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tao
Te Ching</i></b>, Chapter 33)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 33.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Everything
will be in its natural place because everything follows a natural cycle. So why
do you strain, stress, and strut yourself?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">“We stay
in the very center of the Creator,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">and
refrain from controlling our destiny.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Everything
will evolve and fall into its natural place,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">according
to the laws of the Creator.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">(Lao
Tzu, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tao
Te Ching</i></b>, Chapter 37)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Soft and flexible<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">To help you overcome conflicts
and resolve issues, you need the flexibility of TAO. Always be flexible,
instead of being strong-willed and uncompromising.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 32.5pt; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">“The Way
is paradoxical. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Like
water, soft and yielding,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">yet it
overcomes the hard and the rigid.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Stiffness
and stubbornness cause much suffering.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 32.5pt; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 32.5pt; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">We all
intuitively know <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">that
flexibility and tenderness<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">are the
Way to go.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Yet our
conditioned mind <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">tells us
to go the other way.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">(Lao
Tzu, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tao
Te Ching</i></b>, Chapter 78)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">It does not mean that
you let people walk all over you and do nothing. Just step back, giving
yourself some open space to create a detached mindset. If you are combative and
strike back with a personal attack, you are in fact driving a nail into wood
with a hammer; when you pull out the nail, the puncture on the wood is still
there. So do not do anything that you may regret for the rest of your life.
Always defer your anger for later processing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 33.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<u><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">All in all<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="CSP-ChapterBodyText-FirstParagraph">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Having good human relationship with others may
not only afford you joy and happiness, but also heal you mentally, physically,
and spiritually through your own connections with others. On the other hand,
having bad human relationships may make you feel sad, lonely, hopeless, and
depressed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 32.5pt; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">“If we
are in harmony with the Creator, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 32.5pt; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">we are
like newborn babies, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 32.5pt; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">in natural
harmony with all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Our
bones are soft, and our muscles are weak,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 32.5pt; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">but our
grip is strong and powerful.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 32.5pt; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">(Lao
Tzu, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tao
Te Ching</i></b>, Chapter 55)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="CSP-ChapterBodyText-FirstParagraph" style="text-indent: 16.5pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">We are all living in a
world of speed in which nothing seems to last too long, including human
relationships. In contemporary living, there is too much focus on speed. Given
that life is short, there is a great deal to be done and accomplished. As a
result, you may feel the compression of time, and you may have developed a
compulsive mind with a multi-tasking mindset, such as talking and texting on
the phone while driving at the same time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Remember, it is your
compulsive mind that makes you feel distressed and unhappy. Ironically, it is
because you know and believe that nothing lasts, that you want to do more, much
more than necessary, hoping against hope that some of the things that you are
doing may last a little longer. Because nothing lasts, so you begin to look for
new ones to replace the ones that have expired. An example is a love
relationship: if it does not turn out to be what you have expected, you just
let it end itself, and then start looking for another one because it is your
belief that nothing lasts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">According to TAO, truly
nothing lasts, but that is the <em><span style="font-family: "arial";">wrong</span></em> way
to look at the impermanence of things. The <em><span style="font-family: "arial";">right</span></em> way is to look at everything with <em><span style="font-family: "arial";">non-attachment</span></em>, which is letting go of
whatever that happens in your life, be it joy or sorrow, success or failure,
happiness or un-happiness. Letting go essentially means understanding that
nothing lasts, and that what goes up must also come down, because everything in
life follows a certain natural order—just like youth becoming old age, and life
transforming into death. Understanding the impermanence of all things may
change <em><span style="font-family: "arial";">how</span></em> you are
going to live your life and interact with others. If nothing lasts, then let go
of everything, and live your life to the fullest, which is in the present. The
past was gone, so let it go; the future is yet to come, so let go of your
expectations. Only the present is real, so live it to the fullest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 16.5pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: .25in; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">“Therefore, we focus on the present moment, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: .25in; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">doing what needs to be done,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: .25in; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">without straining and stressing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: .25in; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: .25in; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">To end our suffering,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: .25in; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">we focus on the present moment, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: .25in; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">instead of our expected result.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: .25in; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">So, we follow the natural laws of things.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: .25in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">(Lao Tzu, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tao
Te Ching</i></b>, Chapter 63)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 16.5pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "garamond"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Stephen Lau</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Copyright© by Stephen Lau<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28528276564437994.post-46747953940678860522024-03-24T17:47:00.000-07:002024-03-24T17:47:00.139-07:00Careers and Depression<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Careers
and Depression<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
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<u><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The bag and baggage<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">To choose a career, to pursue a career, to change a
career, or to end a career—they often come with the bag and baggage of the
signs and symptoms of depression, such as fear, regret, disappointment, and
among others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Career
choice<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<u><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">A case in point <o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16pt;">A Chinese couple in </span><st1:place style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16pt;" w:st="on">North
America</st1:place><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16pt;"> have a son who wants to pursue a career in the
entertainment industry. Their son in his early thirties decided to go to </span><st1:city style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16pt;" w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Beijing</st1:place></st1:city><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16pt;"> to learn the
Chinese language as a prerequisite of his career pursuit. His parents have
opposed to the idea of living in </span><st1:city style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16pt;" w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Beijing</st1:place></st1:city><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16pt;">,
or rather pursuing a career in the entertainment industry.</span></div>
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<u><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The different perspectives <o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">From the parents’ perspectives: a really successful
career in the entertainment industry is few and far between, especially if it
is not pursued at a much younger age.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">From the son’s perspectives: money, glamour, and
quick recognition often come with success in a career in the entertainment
industry. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<u><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The ultimate truths<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">A be-all-and-end-all career based on only one
variable, which is money, </span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">may not turn out that way.<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Any glamorous career is always competitive, but it
does not mean it is unachievable at any age. Have an empty mind that everything
is doable and achievable irrespective of the age.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Recognition should not be the only primary reason
for pursuing any career; rather, passion should be the driving force behind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Easy success in any human endeavor hurts
ultimately,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>especially a career in the
long term, because it does not expand an individual’s capacity and capability
to deal with problems when they get tough, or to have the persistence to go
through them when things do not turn out as expected. Hard-earned success, on
the other hand, may prepare an individual for more success in the future
through persistence and perseverance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<u><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The reality<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">There is no right or wrong in the choice or pursuit
of your career; after all, it is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">your</i>
career, and others may be looking at your career from their own perspectives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Follow your <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">passion</i>,
not people or what they say. Success comes from hard work, and not from wishful
thinking. Spend your internal energy pursuing what you want, not defending or
explaining why you want it; the latter has to do with your ego. Always ask
yourself many self-intuitive questions about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">why</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">how</i> you want to
pursue your career goals. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<u><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">TAO wisdom<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">According to TAO, choosing a career is like digging
a well. Did you choose the right spot? Have you dug deep enough? If nothing
happens according to your expectation, then self-doubt, reinforced by fear and
uncertainty, may make you go for another spot. Going for another spot and yet
another one may only bring you further frustration and more disappointment. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The bottom line: carefully choose your career, apply
persistent effort, and you will find your initial investment of time and effort
rewarding. Even if you choose to move on after a while, you will still find it
very worthwhile because you have learned something from it Just remember that
giving up is not an admission of defeat or disappointment; rather, giving up is
letting go of any resistance when dealing with the chaos of life, and
redirecting your energy to a higher purpose. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">“The Way to the Creator is deep-rooted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Unmoved, it becomes the source of all movement.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Stable, it enables us to act without rashness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">“So, whatever we do, we do not abandon our
true nature.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The world around us is riddled with worries
and distractions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">We remain stable, steady, and steadfast.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">(Lao Tzu, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tao Te Ching</i></b>, Chapter 26)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Do not abandon your true nature: be stable, steady,
and steadfast.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Career
advancement<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Career advancement involves many new challenges and
increasing responsibilities. If this is what you want, it may provide you with
satisfaction and motivation to move on with your current career. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">On the other hand, if career advancement is not
right for you, then you may consider <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">lateral
move</i> within your organization, that is, changing your daily duties but
without increasing your responsibilities. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<u><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">TAO wisdom<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Wanting or not wanting your career advancement is
your choice. According to TAO, your choice should not be based on control or
power.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">“Likewise, our greatness comes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">not from our power or control,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">but from our own true nature,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">which is living as one with the Creator.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">(Lao Tzu, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tao Te Ching</i></b>, Chapter 34)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">During career advancement, your procrastination may
sometimes become an obstacle, causing frustration. <b>Lao Tzu</b> said: “A
journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">“Great accomplishments are only <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">a combination of small steps.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Difficult tasks are no more than <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">a series of easy steps.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">(Lao Tzu, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tao Te Ching</i></b>, Chapter 63)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">So, begin your first step, and one step at a time,
but do not overstep yourself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">“Striving to climb the ladder of success,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">we may seem smart.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">But trusting our Creator,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">we find divine guidance,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">which is effortless along the Way.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">(Lao Tzu, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tao Te Ching</i></b>, Chapter 28)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Climbing a career ladder successfully is never easy
and smooth: involvement with argument and aggression is often inevitable.
Ambition often comes with an aggressive and domineering personality, often
leading to coercion and imposition. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">According to TAO, do what you have to do, but
without “over-doing” it, which essentially means acting without attachments or
expectations, but with effortless efficiency. While climbing your career
ladder, neither push someone over nor use any inappropriate means to remove any
obstacle that may stand in your way. Career success stems from your
contentment, and not your resentment<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">“Resentment breeds more resentment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Only contentment leads to contentment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">True contentment comes from our true nature: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">not from what we do, or how we do; <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">neither from our status nor our control.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The Creator is impartial.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">No one is special.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">(Lao Tzu, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tao Te Ching</i></b>, Chapter 79)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">In your career advancement, you may find the urge to
argue to prove that you are right<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">“The wise learn to succumb, instead of
arguing.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">(<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tao Te Ching</i></b>, Chapter 81)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Arguing with your co-workers or just anyone else can
never bring any worthwhile benefits. When you feel the urge to argue a point
with someone, take a deep breath, bite your tongue, and remind yourself that
any combat is due to your own ego.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Countering any aggression with aggression is just
like fighting fire with fire. According to TAO, when confronted with
aggression, neither fight back nor back down; instead be gentle but firm. The
objective is not to humiliate the aggressor but to transform the harm into
harmony, and the aggression into peace. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">“So, we advance <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">not at the expense of overstepping anyone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">So, we gain <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">not at the expense of making anyone lose.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">So, we accomplish <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">not at the expense of straining ourselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">We have no enemy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">We love everyone as ourselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">We remain in our true nature;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">otherwise, we lose <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">the three essentials of the Way,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">and become our own enemy.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">(Lao Tzu, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tao Te Ching</i></b>, Chapter 69)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">On the other hand, if you find that you have assumed
an aggressive and domineering personality during your career advancement, do
remind yourself the wisdom of not expanding your ego at the expense of others,
because career success, like anything else, can never sustain itself over the
long haul. The reality is that nothing lasts, not even a very successful
career.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Stephen Lau</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Copyright© by Stephen Lau<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28528276564437994.post-89150321918109740462024-03-23T15:07:00.000-07:002024-03-23T15:07:00.400-07:00The TAO in Everything<p> </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3rybTlijfVV9wPwPIerSheI2BzTcPCIYD25y3zkCg_uj7XU8dTbkNaTl7EDD-kvKKTPBPZG6F5YZzEnMbwl1FJzg2SYjgWQaH3a8jmkHo3MU72Y608hliuH1NCzo7NcPNUo57lUMBPQ/s447/TEL.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="447" data-original-width="193" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3rybTlijfVV9wPwPIerSheI2BzTcPCIYD25y3zkCg_uj7XU8dTbkNaTl7EDD-kvKKTPBPZG6F5YZzEnMbwl1FJzg2SYjgWQaH3a8jmkHo3MU72Y608hliuH1NCzo7NcPNUo57lUMBPQ/s320/TEL.JPG" /></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;">The TAO is the profound wisdom of <b>Lao Tzu</b>, the ancient sage from China more than 2,600 years ago. as </span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The TAO has thrived and survived thousands of years for a good reason: what was applicable in the past is still applicable in the present; what was true in the past is still true today. Another testament to this universal truth is that "Tao Te Ching"-- the only book written by Lao Tzu -- is one of the most translated books in world literature -- probably only after the Bible.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The TAO is easy to understand but most controversial. The explanation is that there is no <i>absolute truth</i> about human wisdom, which is all about self-intuition and self-enlightenment. That is to say, your mind is uniquely yours, and your thinking is your own thinking.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFQL78Qq12zGT6qoD4QCPcz5sJlFQ_kDUly1jyElPxoEZb4i1dpRaNqGMq38EH3FAlTXPopuxzetcT1SqNi92xMJeFJdcok2jQT1KFQEaK-R-zctWpNAAEXFZqTq1ZKr7RBnXcwQNMhg/s835/tel2.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="244" data-original-width="835" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFQL78Qq12zGT6qoD4QCPcz5sJlFQ_kDUly1jyElPxoEZb4i1dpRaNqGMq38EH3FAlTXPopuxzetcT1SqNi92xMJeFJdcok2jQT1KFQEaK-R-zctWpNAAEXFZqTq1ZKr7RBnXcwQNMhg/s320/tel2.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The TAO plays a pivotal role in every aspect of your life. With wisdom, you will see the TAO in everything, including the following:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.tao-in-everyday-life.com/don't-die.html">Don't Die</a> <a href="http://www.tao-in-everyday-life.com/letting-go.html">Letting Go</a> <a href="http://www.tao-in-everyday-life.com/immune-system.html">Immune System</a> <a href="http://www.tao-in-everyday-life.com/golden-years.html">Golden Years</a> <a href="http://www.tao-in-everyday-life.com/cancer-cure.html">Cancer Cure</a> <a href="http://www.tao-in-everyday-life.com/yin-yang.html">Yin Yang</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.tao-in-everyday-life.com/no-depression.html">No Depression</a> <a href="http://www.tao-in-everyday-life.com/healthier-younger.html">Healthier Younger</a> <a href="http://www.tao-in-everyday-life.com/miracle-living.html">Miracle Living</a> <a href="http://www.tao-in-everyday-life.com/money-wisdom.html">Money Wisdom</a> <a href="http://www.tao-in-everyday-life.com/living-life.html">Living Life</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.tao-in-everyday-life.com/prayers-unanswered.html">Prayers Unanswered</a> <a href="http://www.tao-in-everyday-life.com/happiness-wisdom.html">Happiness Wisdom</a> <a href="http://www.tao-in-everyday-life.com/nothing-everything.html">Nothing Everything</a> <a href="http://www.tao-in-everyday-life.com/healthy-pregnancy.html">Healthy Pregnancy</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.tao-in-everyday-life.com/aging-revelation.html">Aging Revelation</a> <a href="http://www.tao-in-everyday-life.com/marriage-divorce.html">Marriage Divorce</a> <a href="http://www.tao-in-everyday-life.com/deadly-sins.html">Deadly Sins</a> <a href="http://www.tao-in-everyday-life.com/see-better.html">See Better</a> <a href="http://www.tao-in-everyday-life.com/biblical-wisdom.html">Biblical Wisdom</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.tao-in-everyday-life.com/no-ego.html">No Ego</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Go to: <a href="http://www.tao-in-everyday-life.com">TAO in Everyday Life</a>.</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28528276564437994.post-78968976346526079142024-03-22T17:14:00.000-07:002024-03-22T17:14:00.135-07:00Why Prayers Are Not Answered?<br />
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<b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Why Your Prayers Are Seldom Answered?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Albert Einstein</span></b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">
once said, “Thinking is difficult; that’s why so few people do it.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Thinking is a process of self-intuition through asking
relevant questions to create self-awareness and self-reflection. It’s the natural
habit of the human mind to try to solve all problems by asking questions.
Through the process of solving problems, the human mind may then make things <i>happen</i>.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">So, asking all relevant questions is self-empowerment of
the human mind to increase wisdom because it initiates the intent to learn, to
discover, and then to change for the better. </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Here are some of the questions you may want to ask
yourself concerning why your prayers are seldom answered or not answered at
all:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">What’s a
prayer?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Jesus</span></b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;"> said: </span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">“<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Ask</span> <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">and</span> it will be given to <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">you</span>; seek and you will find; knock and
the door will be opened to you.” (<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Matthew</b>
7:7) Is a</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;"> prayer just your way of
asking for something that you want?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Is
it a personal request to the Creator to make something happen or not to happen
in your life?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Is
it a conversation or communication with the Creator to further develop your
relationship with Him?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Is
it a way of seeking advice from the Creator to help you deal with your own
life’s problems and challenges? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Is
it a means of asking the Creator for His blessings you think you may be
entitled to?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Or
is it none of the above?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">How
often is a prayer said or offered?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Before
you getting up, and before you going to bed?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Several
times throughout the day, such as before your meals?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">While
attending a religious service?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Seldom,
if ever, unless expressing with your condolences to someone you feel sorry for?
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">There’s an old proverb that says: “He who cannot ask cannot live.” Life is
all about asking questions, and seeking answers from all the questions asked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">By answering all of the above questions, you may be able to self-intuit <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">why</i> your prayers are answered or not
answered at all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOMMFCn1pwpmNgF5lifsQHgKBoK8f1fbqEL6glnHSYqjX_BuP0dfB-UuP19KLXiuSjPZfhwp29eEfglImjkLL_0il6H403FxV2d23NU79PWxQohqS_nge9l8_uV5NfJxVP2QfciLOdu-0/s1600/tao+te+ching.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOMMFCn1pwpmNgF5lifsQHgKBoK8f1fbqEL6glnHSYqjX_BuP0dfB-UuP19KLXiuSjPZfhwp29eEfglImjkLL_0il6H403FxV2d23NU79PWxQohqS_nge9l8_uV5NfJxVP2QfciLOdu-0/s1600/tao+te+ching.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Your self-intuition requires not only your spiritual wisdom, but also your
human wisdom, in particular, the TAO wisdom of the ancient sage <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Lao Tzu</b> from <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">China</st1:country-region></st1:place>, who was the author of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tao
Te Ching</i></b>, the ancient classic on human wisdom.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16pt;">Click <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/108585437X" style="font-weight: bold;">here</a> to get <b>Why Prayers Are Seldom Answered</b>.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16pt;">Click <b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1532717849">here</a></b> to get <b>The Complete Tao Te Ching in Plain English</b>.</span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Stephen Lau</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Copyright© Stephen Lau</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28528276564437994.post-13606047919878468762024-03-21T19:10:00.000-07:002024-03-21T19:10:00.125-07:00Self-Intuition Wisdom<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b><u>The Chinese Proverbs</u></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">"Reading without thinking will confuse you. Thinking without reading will place you in danger." Confucius</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">"He who learns the truth of everything in the morning, can die happy in the evening." Confucius</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">"In olden times, people studied to improve themselves. Today, they study only to improve others." Confucius</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Wisdom is not the same as knowledge. You can be knowledgeable without being wise. Wisdom is self-intuition of the information collected and then apply it to your daily life and living. Even the Bible says: "Joyful is the person who finds wisdom, the one who gains understanding. God gives wisdom, knowledge, and understanding to those who please Him."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So, "reading without thinking" is gathering information without your self-intuition, which is validating the information collected with your self-intuitive questions. Likewise, "thinking without reading" is inadequate, that is, wisdom and knowledge must go together with self-intuition.</span></p><p><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">Stephen Lau</span></b></p><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14pt;">Copyright© by Stephen Lau</span></div><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28528276564437994.post-51839510371955141632024-03-21T07:29:00.000-07:002024-03-21T07:29:00.262-07:00Changing Your Thinking<h4 style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Changing Your Thinking<o:p></o:p></span></h4>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Most of us are very self-centred.
Accordingly, we tend to see things from our own perspectives—<i>that </i>often becomes the source of all
human conflicts. To make yourself become a better and a happier individual, you
must learn to change your thinking. To do just that, you need human wisdom, and
one of its essentials is awareness—awareness of what is going on in your mind,
how you think, and how your thoughts create your realities that are responsible
for your happiness as an individual.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Awareness of your own responsibility for humanity may enable
you to rein in your temper and inhibit your anger. Better understanding of
humanity lets you acknowledge the destructive forces of anger, and thereby
instrumental in reducing their strength. Your short temper can benefit from Tao
wisdom, which shows you the importance and necessity of embracing all—the easy
and the difficult, as well as the pleasant and the unpleasant. In life,
difficult and unpleasant experiences not only train but also enhance you mental
stability to control your temper, which often undermines your compassion for
others. Tao wisdom teaches you not to pick and choose but to embrace anything
and everything in life because <i>any</i>
situation in life can make you become either a teacher or a student. Life is
about anything and everything that you can learn from, and this is where true
wisdom comes from.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Understanding that anything is everything may also make you
see things very differently. People and things do not exist independently. When
there is long, there has to be short; they do not exist simply because of their
own nature. Everything in life is not only relative but also related. Viewing
any life situation—whether it is good or bad—with this profound human wisdom
may help you see that anything is everything, In other words, any life
situation is not under its own power but depends on many present causes and
conditions, as well as many past causes and conditions; otherwise it could not
have come into being. With this perspective, you can see much more of the whole
picture, and thus you can see the reality of the situation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1500620041/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1500620041&linkCode=as2&tag=writilearnres-20&linkId=BVMNPNBN7WSK5IJW" rel="nofollow" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=1500620041&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=writilearnres-20" width="213" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">For instance, in economics, if you just go after profit, you
may end up with corruption. Failure to look at the whole picture that anything
is everything means your failure to see the reality of everything in life.
Failure to see the reality means your outlook becomes distorted and
exaggerated, and thus leading to inappropriate actions or reactions.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt;">Always look at self and others from the whole perspective
that anything is everything, and you may then become a better and happier you.</span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Stephen Lau</span></b><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Copyright© by Stephen Lau<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=writilearnres-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1500620041" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28528276564437994.post-12395278568599566992024-03-20T12:40:00.000-07:002024-03-20T12:40:00.244-07:00Depression No Depression<p> </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09VFTFBPS" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="333" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiSLz2iA-SolsN7Lg5LaZW6-jocbdDdEoloJuoLYyw35o85Kg8aD5jus5eTOYyONwMqP9hsPYgEUWgrX1V6A3DaUEI9mgR04dRlm_VxlfOisxLxDmwR8yu4Vka28zG_3SPWL6h7BDgHZYVsB70posuOjspgjyJi9nf6t0eDqJVaJXAdM0LkwW5ZhV3zuw" width="160" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">This is my <b>NEW BOOK</b> on <b>DEPRESSION</b>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">We are living in a world of depression. Every day many are diagnosed with depression, and many even commit suicide as a way out of depression. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">But depression is all in your mind--your "thinking" mind--how it perceives and interprets all your life experiences. So, to avoid and or heal your depression is to "change" the way you think.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">But <i>how</i>?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Use human wisdom--more specifically TAO wisdom, the ancient wisdom from China more than 2,600 years ago. But human wisdom may need spiritual wisdom to live in reality.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Many are not living in reality, but only in fancy and fantasy. That explains why there are so many crimes, sins and evils committed in society. Many have "no accountability" to their conscience or to God; instead, they think it is human right to do whatever they want to do, given that they have the gift of "free will."</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">If you "live in reality with accountability", you will have no depression.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09VFTFBPS" target="_blank">Depression No Depression</a></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><b>Stephen Lau</b></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28528276564437994.post-57057563488895104902024-03-20T06:45:00.000-07:002024-03-20T06:45:00.128-07:00"Books By Stephen Lau"<p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://books-by-stephen-lau.blogspot.com">BOOKS BY STEPHEN LAU</a></span></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">A New Blog about the <b>40 Books Written By Stephen Lau</b> in the past two decades.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">His books include books on <b>Chinese Wisdom</b> and <b>Spiritual Wisdom</b>, as well as books on <b>Learning English</b>, <b>American Idioms</b>, and <b>English Slang</b> and <b>Colloquial Expressions</b>. Some of his books also focus on health, such as <b>Autoimmune Diseases</b>, <b>Vision Health</b>, and <b>Longevity Living</b>.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The Blog gives a brief <b>Book Description </b>and a <b>Sample </b>from each of the 40 books to help you see if </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">any of them is suitable for you.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Go to: <b><a href="https://books-by-stephen-lau.blogspot.com">BOOKS BY STEPHEN LAU</a></b>.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28528276564437994.post-17896369972245599112024-03-19T16:16:00.000-07:002024-03-19T16:16:00.123-07:00Money Fantasies and Money Miseries<br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">If money really matters to you, then <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">earn more</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7koy06m1OF6FTi7vC0cCplBBXCLS8w0NC6dx70NaUvNweAWW5XlApiNAn085F_lWaTYq1OK8HQ9ig6EeDyvv6qad4gwiZjtPcG8R-TEBcXa8UBYbwwyQHm2ZEU6c_pyp-dD2mPHE92R8/s1600/Your+Money+Wisdom.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="489" data-original-width="334" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7koy06m1OF6FTi7vC0cCplBBXCLS8w0NC6dx70NaUvNweAWW5XlApiNAn085F_lWaTYq1OK8HQ9ig6EeDyvv6qad4gwiZjtPcG8R-TEBcXa8UBYbwwyQHm2ZEU6c_pyp-dD2mPHE92R8/s320/Your+Money+Wisdom.JPG" width="218" /></a></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">To earn more, capitalize on the skills you already have, enhance
and improve them, and look for better and richer employment. In addition, there
are likely many other skills you may possess that cannot be or have not been
fully maximized or utilized wherever you are working. Then, harness those
skills and capitalize on them through doing some freelance work on the side to
maximize your current income.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">If, on the other hand, you do not have the basic skills, and you
do not want to learn and acquire them, and yet you always crave money and
wealth, then your cravings are only your <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">money
fantasies</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">What are money
fantasies?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Only <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">your</i> money wisdom
can separate your money fantasies from the money realities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">There was the story of a beautiful and sophisticated woman in her
mid-twenties who wrote to an investment counseling company looking for a list
of eligible bachelors with earnings of at least $600,000 a year. That woman had
money fantasies in her mind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">According to experts, using <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">marriage</i>
as an investment is a money fantasy, and no more than a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bad</i> investment bargain—just like investing into a shrinking
currency. Imagine, the beauty of that woman will shrink over the years, while
the $600,000 may grow over the long haul.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">So, marrying into money, buying the lottery, and winning at the
casino are all money fantasies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">What are money miseries?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Money miseries are also the realities for many, who always feel
dissatisfied, frustrated, insecure, and insolvent. This mental condition
suffered by many is often a result of constant exposure to media news of the
rich and the famous, as well as their own perceptions of “possessions equal
satisfaction.” It is your own mental interpretation of what you see verses who
you really are.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">You have money miseries if you have a job with a modest income but
still living from paycheck to paycheck. If you are struggling with money miseries,
you need <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">your</i> money wisdom to change
your belief system, to stop comparing yourself with others around you, as well
as to identify all the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">whys</i> of your
emotional feelings about and around your money miseries. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Why so many are broke?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">According to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Wall Street
Journal</i>, many consumers (nearly 70 percent) are living from paycheck to
paycheck. More than 50 percent consumers worry a lot about money, such as
retirement. Once they lose their jobs or encounter any financial crisis, they
become broke.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Even wealthy celebrities, such as <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mike Tyson</b> and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Michael
Jackson</b>, go broke.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Mike Tyson, a boxing champion with several heavyweight titles,
earning over $300 million dollars during his successful boxing career, ended up
in bankruptcy in 2003.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Michael Jackson, recording artist, dancer, singer and songwriter,
earning more than $500 million dollars, was heavily in debt when he died in
2009.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Of course, you might say: “If I had those millions of dollars, I
wouldn’t become broke?” But if you cannot change your current spending habits,
it would be a lot more difficult to change them when you have become a wealthy
celebrity, such as Mike Tyson or Michael Jackson. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">So, going broke is no respecter of persons, whether you are poor
or rich. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The bottom line: Everyone needs to have the money wisdom to know <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">how</i> to earn, invest, and spend money to
avoid going broke. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;"></span><br />
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<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16pt;">Click <b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086MJNXMN">here</a></b> to ge your paperback, and click <b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086M9RJNT">here</a></b> to get your ebook.</span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">NORA WISE</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Copyright
© Nora Wise</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28528276564437994.post-64973760285721331982024-03-18T17:29:00.000-07:002024-03-18T17:29:00.247-07:00Depression and Personalities<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Depression and Personalities <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Your ego-self, which is formed by your thoughts, often become your
attachments. Too many attachments to your ego-self may become problematic,
leading to depression.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The Unhappy Personality<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14.0pt;">There are those who are forever unhappy
due to an unhappy childhood, an unfulfilled adult life, and many unhappy life
experiences throughout their life journey. They have made indelible imprints on
their minds, making them see only the problems, instead of the potentials ahead
of them. They do not want to live, but they just do not die. Not wanting or
knowing how to purposely end their lives, they just drift on, or simply live a
reckless life in hope of an early demise.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14.0pt;">They have suffered and gone through too
much in their lives. They do not know how to cope with their life problems and
how to deal with their life challenges. They have despaired and become
helpless, and depression is their only escape from the realities they strive to
avoid. They are forever the unhappy ones because unhappiness has become their
brain chemicals.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The Neither-Happy-Nor-Unhappy
Personality<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14.0pt;">There are those who have always been
only spectators, instead of participants, of life; they are forever sitting on
the sidelines of life, observing others and never thinking that they could be a
part of it. They always believe that life is not worth taking chances because
their minds have been filled with many assumptions that they are not competent
enough to get involved. Inactivity and passivity play a major role in their lives.
They may not like their current situations, but they do not know how and where
to start to change them. Even if they have the know-how, they do not want to do
it, or unless someone else would do it for them. Life is too much for them;
they just stay back and stay put, not taking any chance or exerting any effort,
while they try to get by with whatever they have. They never see the need to
take the initiative to create a better life for themselves. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14.0pt;">If they just do not die, they just
carry on with their lives with different episodes of high and low, always
wondering why they do not have what they wish they had, or why others are
always having what they are not having.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The To-Be-Happy Personality<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14.0pt;">There are those who are always in quest
of happiness. They have the problematic mindset of “better” and “more” in their
endless quest for careers, relationships, and material comforts that have
become the sole objectives of their personal happiness. Their to-be-happiness
just keeps them always wanting “better” and “more” in order to feel happy or
happier. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The Happy Personality<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14.0pt;">There are those who have the wisdom to
understand that true happiness requires both action and effort, that happiness
is only a moment-to-moment feeling, and that happiness never lasts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Indeed, happiness is <i>feeling good</i>
about oneself, and it requires one to take some actions in order to feel good
about oneself. It should be pointed out that elated feelings, such as
happiness, satisfaction, and fulfillment, are not the natural and normal resting
states of the human mind; therefore, one must take a <i>deliberate</i> action
in order to achieve and activate those innate mental states. The only
explanation is that our ancestors in the Stone Age did not naturally or
instinctively feel comfortable, secure, and satisfied with their status quo.
They certainly did not pass those genes on to us. They had to fight to survive;
by the same token, we all must make a <i>conscious</i> effort to take some
actions in order to feel good, happy, and satisfied. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Remember, true human happiness is a
process, a way of living, involving some actions to change the consciousness of
thinking. It is no more than the ability to experience joy when good things
happen; the ability to feel satisfaction when goals are achieved; the ability
to cope with problems, the ability to adapt to changes, and the ability to give
meaning and purpose to life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<u><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The conclusion<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14.0pt;">In general, the above four different
happiness mindsets are responsible for the creation of different personalities.
Not only the characteristics of one type of mindset may overlap those of
another, but also one type of mindset may become another; it is all in the
consciousness of an individual’s thinking mind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Stephen Lau</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Copyright© by Stephen Lau<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1539020304/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1539020304&linkCode=as2&tag=writilearnres-20&linkId=07364938d2e72ec41168a432197256a5" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&MarketPlace=US&ASIN=1539020304&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL250_&tag=writilearnres-20" width="213" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=writilearnres-20&l=am2&o=1&a=1539020304" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1976592127/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1976592127&linkCode=as2&tag=writilearnres-20&linkId=5b2cd787257363174b25014b8abe301e" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&MarketPlace=US&ASIN=1976592127&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL250_&tag=writilearnres-20" width="213" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=writilearnres-20&l=am2&o=1&a=1976592127" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1500620041/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1500620041&linkCode=as2&tag=writilearnres-20&linkId=9a18be3c5cc24b2a4bf1416073a714a5" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&MarketPlace=US&ASIN=1500620041&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL250_&tag=writilearnres-20" width="213" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=writilearnres-20&l=am2&o=1&a=1500620041" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28528276564437994.post-72644377964300307352024-03-17T13:50:00.000-07:002024-03-17T13:50:00.236-07:00The Importance of Money Wisdom<br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">You are living in a world wanting wisdom. The majority of people
experience the lack and not the abundance, while only a small number of people
feel both the affluence and the wealth. Surviving and navigating in this world
of money disparity require profound wisdom—the perspectives of human wisdom,
Biblical wisdom, and the TAO wisdom from ancient <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086M9RJNT" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="489" data-original-width="334" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihZPhzwxFjbW2V3VTWh6SZjAVkiFakyKB4N2lv0u0XWyhK0e34ian2DKsA1zj5QluIIJpB5aIemM5QXdk_7D0tCC9obezSREeS4KYzK7xhGYDnxDfegjdmoFKLBjqYd3-LFMHmF7CcvUk/s320/Your+Money+Wisdom.JPG" width="218" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">So, always ask yourself many questions regarding <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">your</i> money wisdom, given that money
always plays a pivotal role in this world of both abundance and lack.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Charles
Proteus Steinmetz</span></b><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">, a German-born American mathematician and
electrical engineer, once said: “There are no foolish questions and no one
becomes a fool until he has stopped asking questions.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">So, continue your life journey asking yourself
many self-intuitive questions with respect to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">your</i> money wisdom. The spirit of wisdom demands you to ask as many
questions as possible on how <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">you</i> view
the world today based on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">your</i> past
and present life experiences. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Your</i>
money wisdom is your individual need to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">think</i>
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">more </i>about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">your</i> money. Do not bury your head in the sand! Just be wise on all <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">your</i> money matters!</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Asking-questions-and-seeking-answers may give you <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">your</i> money wisdom. Your own life
experiences are often responsible for your judgmental attitudes, your bias
prejudices, and your assumptive presumptions</span><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">—they may prevent you from knowing your real
self, as well as from separating the truths from the half-truths or the myths
about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">your</i> money wisdom.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The
truth of the matter is that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">your</i>
money wisdom is all based on your own perceptions and interpretations of your
life experiences. That is why <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">your</i>
money wisdom is uniquely <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">yours</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Your
money journey in this world is forever filled with missteps and detours,
irrespective of your abundance or lack. Even if it may seem to be a bed of
roses to you because of your abundance, it is always filled with some thorns.
So, you need your spiritual wisdom to give you hope and guidance on your money
journey.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">To
attain that spiritual wisdom, you need your <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">faith</i>—which
is your trust and obedience to your Creator. According to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Saint Augustine</b></st1:place></st1:city>,
faith is to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">believe </i>in what you do
not see, and you will then <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">see</i> what
you believe. So, if you <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">believe</i> in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">your</i> money wisdom, you will then <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">see</i> your security in every aspect of
your life, whether you have abundance or lack..<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">To apply
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">your </i>money wisdom in the material
world you are living in, you need the wisdom of the TAO—which is the humility
to detach yourself from all attachments that you think define who you are. With
no ego, you may then become self-enlightened: perceiving the “nothingness” of
all things, as well as self-intuiting your “connectedness” to anything and
everyone in the world. So, you are in balance and harmony with anyone and
everyone, and you are no longer at war within yourself with your fear of
insecurity—<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that</i> is ultimately <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">your</i> money wisdom.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Click <b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086MJNXMN">here</a></b> to ge your paperback, and click <b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086M9RJNT">here</a></b> to get your ebook.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><b>NORA WISE</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Copyright © Nora Wise</span></span></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28528276564437994.post-18056457533545745932024-03-16T18:08:00.000-07:002024-03-16T18:08:00.233-07:00How to Pray<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">How to Pray<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Praying is never easy: often complicated, and even
paradoxical.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">You’ve got to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">know</i> what you <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">want</i> so
that you can <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ask</i> what you want in
order to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">get</i> what you want.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">So, before you pray, you must know
your true self: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">who</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">what</i> you really are, and not who and
what you <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">wish </i>you were.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Praying is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">talking</i> to God through your <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">heart</i>,
and not your words; repeating a right set of words isn’t as important as your
heart talking to Him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Prayer is God’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gift</i> to anyone who prays for that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">free</i> gift.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">So, to pray for that free gift, you
must show your desire to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">feel</i> God’s
presence, which is in anyone and everyone, as well as in anything and
everything.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Several decades ago, a former
colleague of mine had the opportunity to meet and dine with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Gladys Aylward</b>, a British missionary to
<st1:country-region w:st="on">China</st1:country-region>, whose amazing story
was made into a Hollywood film in 1958: “The <st1:place w:st="on">Inn</st1:place>
of the Sixth Happiness”, starring <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ingrid
Bergman</b>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">My former colleague told me that at
the dinner with Gladys she found it very “odd” that Gladys had repeated almost
non-stop “Praise the Lord!” throughout the dinner</span><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">—when
someone passed her a dish, some bread, even salt and pepper, or when someone
made a comment. It might not have looked “odd” to someone who’d like to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">feel</i> the presence of God in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">every</i> moment of his or her life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">So,
from now on, whenever you say “Thank you” aloud, maybe you should also try to
say in silence “Praise the Lord!” so that you may <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">feel</i> His presence in your <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">heart</i>.
</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">To feel His omnipresence,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>you must also still your thoughts with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mindfulness</i>, and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">live in the now</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Prayer is how you <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">react</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">respond</i> to His presence in your daily life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Always begin your prayer with God,
and not yourself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Asking for your needs is
self-delusional: God <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">already</i> knows
your needs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Asking for your wants is
self-sabotaging: trying to make God <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">change</i>
His mind about what He has already wanted for you. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">So, don’t pray for “be happy”, “be
healthy”, and “be wealthy.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">If you’re blessed with His presence,
you’ll still feel your happiness even in your adversities. Depression is
humans’ refusal of letting go to receive His presence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">If you’re blessed with His wisdom,
you’ll know how to take care of your body, even when you’re sick.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">If<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>you’re blessed<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>with His
grace,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>you’ll learn<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">to let go of your greed and covetousness
for your wealth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Always pray for your <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">trust</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">obedience</i>: trust that God will give you the power to “respond
positively” to any life challenge you may face; obedience that God will give
you the wisdom to embrace anything and every-thing to let go of your control of
your own destiny.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Remember, your prayers are always
answered, but not your own expectations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">TAO wisdom</b> (the ancient wisdom from <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">China</st1:country-region></st1:place>, based on the wisdom of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Lao Tzu</b>, the author of the ancient
classic <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">TAO Te Ching</i></b>) shows you how to live your daily life, and how
your prayers may be answered.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">“An empty mind with no craving and no expectation helps us
letting go.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Being in the world and not of the world, we attain heavenly
grace.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">With heavenly grace, we become pure and selfless.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">And everything settles into its own perfect place.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">(Lao Tzu, <b><i>Tao Te Ching</i></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">, Chapter 3</span>) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #141414; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Li
Ching-Yuan </span></b><span style="color: #141414; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">was probably the longest-living Chinese in history, who died on
May 6, 1933 at the age of over 200 years. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #141414; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">This is one of his thought-provoking
sayings regarding Zen, an Eastern philosophy about being and a way of thinking:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #141414; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">“Before I had studied Zen for thirty years,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141414; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">I saw mountains as mountains, and waters as waters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141414; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">When I arrived with a more intimate knowledge,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141414; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">I saw that mountains are not mountains, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141414; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">and waters are not waters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141414; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">But now that I have got its very substance,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141414; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">I am at rest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141414; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">For it is just that I see mountains once again as mountains, and
waters once again as waters.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #141414; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Li Ching-Yuan<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #141414; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Li
Ching-Yuan was talking about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">awakening</i>
or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">self-enlightenment</i>, which is
always effortless and spontaneous. So, if you strive to know and understand
anything and everything, the awakening may never come. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141414; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">You may like to pray, but your prayers
are seldom answered; then you’ll see “mountains as mountains, and waters as
waters.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #141414; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Your desire in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">seeking God</i> may somehow change your perspectives; then you may see
“mountains are not mountains, and waters are not waters.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5OVhGJ7c_rbzdHq_2Ui7aWJsEXR8qKtLaRistJgT60knkoffHoMK_HdHnxHd6W_HggSEJH4ljwpVLZXKkndlPHnAjJWb3TRfL-t7PcRH1ce2Mcr51Zm3Uknmeb-4R_-171rlQrTWsdZs/s1600/prayers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="333" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5OVhGJ7c_rbzdHq_2Ui7aWJsEXR8qKtLaRistJgT60knkoffHoMK_HdHnxHd6W_HggSEJH4ljwpVLZXKkndlPHnAjJWb3TRfL-t7PcRH1ce2Mcr51Zm3Uknmeb-4R_-171rlQrTWsdZs/s320/prayers.jpg" width="213" /></a><span style="color: #141414; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">But <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">finding
God</i>, and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">living in His presence</i>,
you’ll just see that “mountains once again as mountains, and waters once again
as waters”</span><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">—i</span><span style="color: #141414; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">n other words, “prayers are seldom answered or
not answered at all” is not only irrelevant but also inexplicable. What really
matters is that you’ve found the spiritual wisdom to live your life as if
everything is a miracle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9Ud37UeRRjhsdAQTO5iCqnaTtx1M-b_IP0qlG1EmM46BFt5AzICoFIpVE1Yg0EoSJ_y-t2ILhzSsrGyqE5zr3RlsvEbFvprzVXEd20zHjjQLZ_w86mwkKrcJXDARpMeNjUC1jni6WoeY/s1600/tao+te+ching.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="167" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9Ud37UeRRjhsdAQTO5iCqnaTtx1M-b_IP0qlG1EmM46BFt5AzICoFIpVE1Yg0EoSJ_y-t2ILhzSsrGyqE5zr3RlsvEbFvprzVXEd20zHjjQLZ_w86mwkKrcJXDARpMeNjUC1jni6WoeY/s320/tao+te+ching.jpg" width="213" /></a><span style="color: #141414; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">So, don’t use your pre-programmed
causal reasoning to make sense out of the senseless in life. Instead, express
your <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">trust</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">obedience </i>to your Creator and fully live in His presence. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16pt;">Click <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/108585437X" style="font-weight: bold;">here</a> to get <b>Why Prayers Are Seldom Answered</b>.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16pt;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
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<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16pt;">Click <b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1532717849">here</a></b> to get <b>The Complete Tao Te Ching in Plain English</b>.</span></div>
</div>
<b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Stephen Lau</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Copyright
© Stephen Lau<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28528276564437994.post-33145001277574590372024-03-15T06:03:00.000-07:002024-03-15T06:03:00.234-07:00Living Life Wisdom<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Living Life Wisdom<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Live your life according
to your inner intuitive spirit, and not according to the have-to-do philosophy
of contemporary world. There is no such a thing as have-to-do, neither is there
a must-follow recipe for living. That having said, to live well, you must get
to do a lot, much more than you would like to do, but <i>do</i> <i>without
over-doing</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">To live well, you must be
the creator of your own life. Be creative. A creative approach to
transformative life is empowering: it enables you to ask soul-searching and
mind-stimulating questions to get a better understanding of your problems and
pains in your life. Living is a path of self-discovery—discovering your own
false judgments about the world you are living in. These false judgments of
yours have been made through years of self-seeking that, ironically enough, has
created the self-deceptions and illusions responsible for the problems and
difficulties in your life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">According to the TAO, the
ancient wisdom from <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">China</st1:country-region></st1:place>,
based on the ancient sage, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Lao Tzu</b>,
who was the author of the immortal classic <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1532717849">TAO TE CHING</a></i></b> on human wisdom. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">According to Lao Tzu, this
is how the human mind has become distorted and dysfunctional:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">In the beginning, man did not know things existed, and so
he had perfect knowledge.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Later, he found out things existed, but made no
distinctions between them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Then, he began to make some distinctions, but expressed
no judgment about right and wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Now, he makes judgments of right and wrong, and that
leads to his own preferences of likes and dislikes, which then create his
desires and expectations—the sources of his suffering. In short, the human mind
is like an unbridled horse: it makes judgments, making what does not exist,
exist, and what does exist, does not exist. In the process, illusions and
self-deceptions are created, and they become the substances of the ego-self.<span style="background: white; color: #424242;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The only solution is to
change the way you think through your mind. If you can change the way you see
the world, your life will be totally different. Remember, the TAO mind is not
the human mind. The human mind is concerned with worldly things and worldly
life, forever making false distinctions and discriminations based on human
desires to seek pleasures and to avoid pains. The TAO mind is a perfect mirror
that reflects everything perfectly, but it does not hold on to anything at all,
because what it sees in the mirror is just a reflection, an image of something
intangible, unreachable, and therefore unreal. Use your mind like a mirror: it
reflects what you see, but does not retain it, and therefore you learn to let
go of everything that you see because it is unreal. <i>That</i> is the true
wisdom in the art of living well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">A TAO mind, however, does
not stop you<span style="background: white; mso-highlight: white;"> from living a
proactive life but your activities should fit into the natural patterns of the
universe, and therefore need to be completely detached and disinterested, and
not ego-driven. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="background: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Remember, life is but a mirror of yourself and how you live your life..</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The bottom line: <span style="color: black;">There is no recipe for living. If there were, it would just
serve to put together the ingredients of both ancient and conventional wisdom,
to be enhanced and complemented by spiritual wisdom.</span><span style="background: white; mso-highlight: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">True wisdom
has no form and no concept; it has to be experienced and internalized in order
to intuit its essence to cope with challenges and problems in life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Stephen Lau</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Copyright© by Stephen Lau<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28528276564437994.post-56174570782282477482024-03-14T11:30:00.000-07:002024-03-14T11:30:00.131-07:00Consciousness of Living<br />
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<b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; text-transform: uppercase;">Consciousness
of living<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">“Somebody
should tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying. Then we
might live life to the limit, every minute of every day. Do it! I say. Whatever
you want to do, do it now! There are only so many tomorrows.” <b>Pope Paul VI</b> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16pt;">To live well, you must always be conscious of your living.</span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Simplicity in Living<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CWKC8LK" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6p-N6YWJ-_lyy32nzieU_u7uwOiikNtNsYxs9QWohb9lpwqsrgwicIFSxwpLMSIsqfi0BBvtZR2m5RdoetydKvWLj-RlKYFw9WZMMsDUGgToy6RiX2UT9rHKa7OjUACsezkEEjUwDhK4/s320/YHFL.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Consciousness of living a
simple lifestyle is the key to happiness and longevity. In this day and age,
living in this complex world of technology is not easy: The complexity of this
world has taken a toll on the human mind, creating undue stress, as well as
many emotional, mental, personal, and psychological attachments in the material
world. For these reasons, profound human wisdom in living is essential to
overcoming stress and letting go of all attachments. Simplicity is the first
step towards detachment, which holds the key to unlocking the door to
happiness. Live a simple lifestyle, deleting all the trimmings of life and
living, as well as all the attachments that may have a negative impact on your
mind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Epicurus</span></b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">, the Greek philosopher, had this advice on how to lead a
pleasant life: avoiding luxuries, and living simply. The explanation is that
luxurious living may make you into a “needy” person whose happiness always
depends on things that are impermanent and easily lost.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The late <b>Robert
Kennedy </b>once said:<b> </b>“Sometimes I think that the only people in this
country who worry more about money than the poor are the very wealthy. They
worry about losing it, they worry about how it is invested, they worry about
the effect it’s going to have. And as the zeroes increase, the dilemmas get
bigger.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Can you live a
simple lifestyle to help you let go of all the trimmings of life?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">When you were in your
younger days, you might have had many attachments to life that define who you
were, such as the car you were driving, the designer dress you were wearing, or
anything that defined your social status. Can you, at this point in your life,
let go of all these attachments and just lead a simple life?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Living in simplicity
is living a humble life, which is emptying your toxic cravings and attachments.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">“All of us also lived among them at one time,
gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and
thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.” (<b>Ephesians</b>
2:3)</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Attachments create
your ego-self that not only separates you from others but also gives you your
pride, instead of humility.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">“Focusing on status
gives us pride, and not humility.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Hoarding worldly
riches deprives us of heavenly assets.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">An empty mind with
no craving and no expectation helps us let go of everything.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Being in the world
and not of the world, we attain heavenly grace.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">(Lao Tzu, <b><i>Tao
Te Ching</i></b>, chapter 2)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">But with humility, we may
see who we really are, not what we wish we were, and what we really need, not
what we want. Humility is self-enlightening.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">“Ever humble, we see
the mysteries of all things created.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Ever proud, we see
only the manifestations of all things created.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Only the mysteries,
and not the manifestations, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">show us the Way to
true wisdom.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">(Lao Tzu, <b><i>Tao
Te Ching</i></b>, chapter 1)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Live a simple life,
especially as you continue to age, and you just don’t die!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Simplicity gives
your clarity of thinking to see the wisdom of living in the present: the past
was gone; the future is yet to come, and only the present is real—a gift from
the Creator, and that is why it is called “present.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">"Simplicity
is clarity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">It
is a blessing to learn from those<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">with
humble simplicity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Those
with an empty mind<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">will
learn to find the Way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The
Way reveals the secrets of the universe:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">the
mysteries of the realm of creation;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">the
manifestations of all things created.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The
essence of the Way is to show us <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">how</span></i><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;"> to live
in fullness and return to our origin." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">(Lao Tzu, <b><i>Tao Te Ching</i></b>, chapter 65)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Clarity of thinking may let you have the true human
wisdom to know your true nature, thereby ending your craving and hence your
self-imposed suffering.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">In the present
moment, with clarity of mind, you may begin to see the ultimate truths of the
self, others, as well as everything around you. More importantly, you may see
your past follies in identifying yourself with your thoughts that have created
your ego-self, your present futile efforts in striving to protect your
ego-self, and your future futilities in expecting that your ego-self will all
its attachments will continue to exist in the days to come.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1535564881" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="177" data-original-width="118" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5jwjLax5CI7NNRNGYpiCnS2fDbAyHo6ud5Mczbne-XA9XYdAK9zT83ncasBAvCxkwOGB0L8MBZZmFHUb5CX2iqMw2118nxqBjmpDLOtCjMIOxBCFgjzhbyGNcqLCItjVKqxd2_sBhswg/s320/do+not+die.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Living in the
present is an awakening to the realities of all things. It may afford you an
opportunity to look more <i>objectively</i> at any given situation, allowing
your mind to think more clearly, to separate the truths from the
self-deceptions that might have been created in your subconscious minds all
along. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Focusing on the present
moment liberates you from projecting your desires into the future as
expectations that necessitate your over-doing to guarantee their fulfillment. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">“Therefore, we focus
on the present moment, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">doing what needs to
be done,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">without straining
and stressing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">To end our
suffering,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">we focus on the
present moment, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">instead of our
expected result.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">So, we follow the
natural laws of things.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">(Lao Tzu, <b><i>Tao
Te Ching</i></b>, chapter 63)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Stephen Lau</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Copyright© by Stephen Lau</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28528276564437994.post-57413786940573354272024-03-13T19:38:00.000-07:002024-03-13T19:38:00.127-07:00Happiness and the Thinking Mind<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14.0pt;">“If we could get your
subconscious mind to agree with your conscious mind about being happy, that's
when your positive thoughts work.” <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bruce
Lipton<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: -.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 16.5pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: -.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 16.5pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Given that happiness has a direct link
to depression, it is therefore important to understand <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">how</i> the thinking mind may affect the mental state of happiness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 27.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Generally speaking, the purpose of life and living is two-fold: to
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">enjoy </i>life, and to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">expand</i> happiness. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 27.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14.0pt;">But how can one enjoy life if one is not happy by nature, or how
can one expand happiness if one has no idea what happiness is all about?
Therefore, it is critically important, first and foremost, to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">understand</i> how the thinking mind works,
and how it can make you happy or unhappy over the long haul.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The Happiness Myths <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Happiness is only
an abstraction, a far-fetched thought that is often elusive and evasive; it is
difficult not only to define but also to understand. To further the
complication, happiness often creates certain misleading myths.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoHeading9" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoHeading9" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The myth: the happiness sources<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14.0pt;">It is always a myth
that <i>abundant wealth</i>, <i>good health</i>, and <i>satisfying
relationships</i>—what most people crave and pursue in their lives—will bring
them happiness. Abundant wealth, good health, and satisfying relationships are
only the <i>byproducts</i> of happiness; they do not cause or bring true and
lasting happiness in real life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14.0pt;">To illustrate, many
lottery winners attest to their experiences of temporary ecstatic happiness,
and nearly all winners confess that their winning has ultimately made them
miserable and unhappy for various reasons. Maybe once the initial stimulus of
sudden wealth and the drastic changes of lifestyle have worn off, they
ultimately return to their original baseline level of happiness or unhappiness.
Or, maybe, according to some experts, having too much pleasure—what is known as
“eustress”—could also cause stress, just as lacking in pleasure might be
stressful to the many have-nots.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText2" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="X-NONE" style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The myth: the
happiness effort <o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14.0pt;">It is also a myth
that happiness is something that can be pursued with willpower and effort. The
Bible rightly says that pursuing happiness is just “like chasing the wind.” (<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ecclesiastes</b> 2:11) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Effort does not
necessarily bring happiness; it only creates the <i>illusion</i> of an
environment that is conducive to temporary happiness. To illustrate, one may
work diligently in one’s career to excel and to get to the top of the
profession only to find that one has a terminal illness, or has incurred a
debilitating accident. For example, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Steve
Job</b>, the co-founder of Apple computers, had his life cut short by
pancreatic cancer at the height of his successful business career. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Pursuing happiness
may be only a fantasy fueled by temporary moments of happiness, because aging,
illnesses, misfortunes, and ultimately death plague all alike; in other words, <i>impermanence</i>
cuts short all human efforts and endeavors to bring happiness. We are all aware
of the fact that impermanence is an ultimate leveler of everybody and
everything, but many of us still choose to delude ourselves into thinking otherwise.
Denial only fosters the myth that if there is a will there must be a way to
attaining happiness, and that all it requires is the human effort to make any
dream come true.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Stephen Lau</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Copyright© by Stephen Lau<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1539020304/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1539020304&linkCode=as2&tag=writilearnres-20&linkId=07364938d2e72ec41168a432197256a5" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&MarketPlace=US&ASIN=1539020304&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL250_&tag=writilearnres-20" width="214" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=writilearnres-20&l=am2&o=1&a=1539020304" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1976592127/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1976592127&linkCode=as2&tag=writilearnres-20&linkId=5b2cd787257363174b25014b8abe301e" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&MarketPlace=US&ASIN=1976592127&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL250_&tag=writilearnres-20" width="214" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=writilearnres-20&l=am2&o=1&a=1976592127" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1500620041/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1500620041&linkCode=as2&tag=writilearnres-20&linkId=9a18be3c5cc24b2a4bf1416073a714a5" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&MarketPlace=US&ASIN=1500620041&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL250_&tag=writilearnres-20" width="214" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=writilearnres-20&l=am2&o=1&a=1500620041" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28528276564437994.post-3102136075774451032024-03-12T08:08:00.000-07:002024-03-12T08:08:00.143-07:00Money and Marriage<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Money matters<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086MJNXMN" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="489" data-original-width="334" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTE8dhHS2gUCwIFiCKHu2bG3vbIShGBHHaZZt4oyaxmr5X4QQuFS_-3NpVTYpsoTnPvKdZI1SBpy6uEmllCL4W2CnrqWVGKrPkhbOrAKGSoFHBZ_bcKm4WLaDAtKQyVJ6VpkqV_vo6scI/s320/Your+Money+Wisdom.JPG" width="218" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">We all need money to survive. As a result, in many
marriages, many people fight over money matters. The problem is that people
have different perspectives of money-worth. For example, you may think spending
$100 on a pair of jeans is worth it, but your spouse may think otherwise. To
determine the real worth of anything is subjective and difficult, and therefore
should be based on the man-hours spent: that is, if you think you are willing
and be prepared to work those hours for that pair of jeans, then it is worth
it, at least to <i>you</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText3" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText3" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">All your behaviors are your choice, and hence you are
responsible for the consequences—not somebody else, not even your spouse.
Understanding the principle of choice may avoid unnecessary fights over money
matters<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Nearly half of all divorces in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>
are a result of money problems in marriages. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Remember the saying of <b>John Woodbridge Patten </b>about
money: “buys everything but happiness, and takes a man everywhere but heaven.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Money is symbolic of so many things in life—effort,
self-worth, and status, among other things. Money also symbolizes the unity and
oneness of a married couple. If there is no harmony in money matters, it would
be difficult to have balance and harmony in other things that constitute a good
and healthy marriage. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The relationship with
money<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Identifying the <i>real</i> relationship with money, with
neither self-criticism nor self-justification.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">If you want to get rich (it is your choice), remember these:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The essentials of food, clothing,
and shelter are all you need to be content and thankful.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The love of money often destroys a
man’s life and his soul.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">If you want to stay rich, remember these:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The ultimate ownership belongs to
God, who owns all things.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Do good and be rich in your deeds
and generosity. Help those who are less fortunate than yourself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Understanding money
problems<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText2">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Understanding money
problems is more than half way through solving the problems of money. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The principle of spending is simple: Never buy what you
don’t need with the money you don’t have.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Buy what you need, not what you <i>want</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Create a budget to avoid conflicts:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Determine the total net income after
taxes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Decide your basic expenses
(rent/mortgage, foods, bills etc.) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Total income less expenses is the monthly
spending money. Divide it into two. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Spend <i>however</i> you want to
spend it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Do not let money become a stress factor in life: money can
age you more than anything else.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText3" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText3" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Do not let money become a bone of contention in your
marriage: many money fights are in fact continuing fights between partners over
control and power, but thinly disguised in money matters; they are only “fake”
money fights.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://amzn.to/2z4SU3I" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="333" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg10K6lH4iI-8VHFOdcBQZXXQTfN-mVCQEjK5tByRmOV40Ntvg0KhZBVeOIDf81tTsADTRVTSxPbdQGIJ5Oo_E8Lo0BkG7XlyEmTCD2Ch_i0K59ZDqa4749PIWQTShyyfaPqfCIzZLIdsM/s320/marriage.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Destructive marriage behaviors<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Problems in a marriage often occur as a result of these
behaviors related to money:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Playing the blame game<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Complaining and criticizing too much<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Nagging and threatening to get what
one wants<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
<u><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Divorce</span></u><u><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">A marriage is made to last. So do <i>everything</i> within
your power to make it last.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt;">If your marriage is on the rocks, save your marriage and
stop your divorce!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText2">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText2">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Julia Smarty </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16pt;">Copyright© by Julia Smarty</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28528276564437994.post-36382579199707339052024-03-11T17:45:00.000-07:002024-03-11T17:45:00.138-07:00Dealing with Emotional Pain<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Human
life is never pain or sorrow free—that is life, whether you like it or not.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Human
pain is intensified by the human mind, which seeks to deny and to avoid it. To
alleviate the pain, focus the mind on the present moment. Accept it, and cope
with it, instead of fighting against it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Suffering,
pain, and misery are necessary for the co-existence of contentment, pleasure,
and happiness, just as sickness and health are at the far ends of that same
phenomenological spectrum. According to TAO wisdom (the ancient wisdom from <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region>), these
extremes in human experience are not only temporary but also unnatural; they
are just the cycles of nature in which the pendulum swings back and forth from
one end to the other. Therefore, it is human folly to attempt to avoid or to
resist experiencing these swings; by doing so, man throws himself out of
balance with nature, and thus not only intensifies but also unduly prolongs his
suffering. According to TAO, <i>acceptance</i> holds
the key:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Accept misfortune as the human condition. . .<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What do you mean by <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘Accept misfortune as the human condition’?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Misfortune comes from having a body.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Without
a body, how could there be misfortune?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">(Lao Tzu, <b><i>Tao Te
Ching</i></b></span><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">, Chapter 13)</span><b><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
TAO solution to human pain and suffering is <i>non-judgment</i> through
focusing on the present moment.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14pt;">Emotional
pain often leaves behind a residue of pain that continues to live on in you.
Combined with the accumulated pain in the past, the new emotional pain begins
to merge with that in the past, giving it a newer dimension with greater
intensity.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">To
illustrate, we often find ourselves burst into uncontrollable anger when
triggered by an unpleasant incident, and begin lashing at the aggressor with
outbursts of past grudges and grievances that have nothing to do with the
present incident. Our emotional<b> </b>pain can only feed on past pain, and
thus creating more pain—a vicious circle of misery and suffering.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Staying
in the present moment may enable you to confront uour subconscious
identification with the past thoughts deeply embedded in your subconscious
mind. Maybe you are <i>not</i> the person you think you are, and you are simply
afraid to face the pain that lives in you. As long as the fear is not overcome,
you will continue to think you are the person you think you are, and you will
continue to experience the past pain for the rest of your life.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Remember,
emotional pain is caused by emotional thoughts, which generate negative energy
that causes body-and-mind pain.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">For
example, through the subconscious mind, angry thoughts on what someone did to
you become “you” because you identify them with you. The emotional pain then becomes
“you” because where there is anger there is also pain.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
wisdom of TAO is to use the present moment to <i>dis-</i>identify yourself from
your mind; by shattering the deceptive mind identification, you begin to see
the light and the ultimate truth. It is like the Biblical wisdom expressed by <b>Apostle
Paul</b> when he said: “Everything is being shown up by being exposed to the
light, and whatever is exposed to the light itself becomes light.” (<b>Ephesians</b>
5:13)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt;">Stephen Lau</span></b><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14pt;">Copyright© by Stephen Lau</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28528276564437994.post-15344377311297011382024-03-10T13:38:00.000-07:002024-03-10T13:38:00.237-07:00Oneness with All Life<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 16pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Oneness with All Life<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 16pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">With both human wisdom and spiritual wisdom,
you may see <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">anything is everything</i>
not just for yourself but also for others as well. In other words, you may
intuit the wisdom of oneness with all life, which is your interconnection with
others, not just with those who are close to you,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but also with those<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>who are<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>distant and unrelated to you. Life is all about anything and everything.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 16pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">No
man is an island<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 16pt;">According to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">John Donne</b>, </span><span style="background: white; font-size: 16pt;">the famous English poet, “no man is an island”; that is,
every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. Therefore, we
are <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">all</i> interconnected with, as well
as inter-dependent on, one another in many different ways.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 16.0pt;">Connectedness</span></b><span lang="EN-AU" style="background: white; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Oneness
is the law of nature: what we do to others, we also do to ourselves, either
consciously or unconsciously. It is the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">unity</i>
of all life—life is what we all have, and what empowers all of us, giving us
the enlightening experiences and the holistic ways of living. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; font-size: 16.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bible</b> has repeatedly stated the
significance of oneness of God’s creation and salvation to all.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 44.65pt; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: .5in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 16pt;">In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God.</span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 32.65pt; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: .5in 300.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">John</b> 1: 1)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 32.65pt; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: .5in 300.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 44.65pt; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: .5in 4.0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 16pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For in
him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and
invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have
been created through him and for him. (<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Colossians</b>
1: 16)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: .5in 300.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 44.65pt; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: .5in 4.0in; text-align: justify;">
<span class="text1cor-12-13"><span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; font-size: 16.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For we were all baptized by one
Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>slave or free—and we<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>were all<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: .5in 300.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="text1cor-12-13"><span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; font-size: 16.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">given the one Spirit to drink. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: .5in 300.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="text1cor-12-13"><span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; font-size: 16.0pt;">(<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">1
Corinthians</b> 12:13)</span></span><span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 30.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="background: white; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">According
to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Lao Tzu</b>, the ancient Chinese
sage, one of the reasons why nature has continued to exist for thousands and
thousands of years is that all forms of life in nature have their presence,
which depends on one another for their co-existence<span style="color: #4c4c4c;">.
</span>Just think about that: </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; font-size: 16.0pt;">everything in nature does not exist
just for itself, and that is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">why</i> it
can last forever. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 33.0pt; margin-right: 32.5pt; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .7pt; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 324.5pt 5.25in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Each and every being in the
universe. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .7pt; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 324.5pt 5.25in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">is an expression of the Creator.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .7pt; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 324.5pt 5.25in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We are all shaped and perfected by
Him.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="text"><span style="color: black; font-size: 16pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Lao
Tzu, <b><i>Tao Te Ching</i></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">, Chapter 51</span>)<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 16pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Blessed
is he who has no ego-self. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 16pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He will
be rewarded with humility to connect with the Creator.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 16pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Lao
Tzu, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tao
Te Ching</i></b>, Chapter 9)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; font-size: 16.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So,
always focus on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">others</i>, instead of
just on yourself all the time. Focusing on others also initiates your
connection with the Creator, providing you with spiritual wisdom to guide you
along the rest of your life journey.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">According to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Buddha</b>, “Nothing ever exists entirely alone. Everything is in
relation to everything else.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What
Buddha means is that i</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 16pt;">t is not uncommon for humans to blame their problems on all the
things <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">outside</i> themselves—other
people and circumstances that are beyond their control. But the connectedness
with all life contradicts that common but erroneous belief; the reality is that
what we see in others and in our own circumstances is a reflection of our inner
life, of what we believe in—which is the main source of all human<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>miseries<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>and sufferings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The truth<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is that<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>all humans suffer because they do not see the miseries and sufferings in
others, except in themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCspGeHYgrtAhyphenhyphen0unGmh-rWk7dVDE56sFLKEeXjHKoWee7QoHjylOe3f_cL4QgTdOYAi9x64V-G-NJfeZBA0NA5Z8SCGICXnAalMzOabuaCTjpuApeZQ9J1PsdwVt6WtD1VTHCdeLzcWQ/s1600/anything.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="333" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCspGeHYgrtAhyphenhyphen0unGmh-rWk7dVDE56sFLKEeXjHKoWee7QoHjylOe3f_cL4QgTdOYAi9x64V-G-NJfeZBA0NA5Z8SCGICXnAalMzOabuaCTjpuApeZQ9J1PsdwVt6WtD1VTHCdeLzcWQ/s320/anything.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Martin Luther King, Jr</span></b><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">., Baptist minister, and leader in the civil rights movement, once
said: “Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be
what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated
structure of reality.” So, your connectedness to others plays a pivotal role in
helping you become your true self, instead of who you wish you were.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Even <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">John Lennon </b>in his famous hit song
“Imagine” says: “You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope
one day you’ll join us. And the world will live as one.” That the world will
live as one may indeed become a reality, and not just a dream.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">To get your
paperback copy of <b>Anything Is Everything! Everything Is Nothing! Nothing Is Everything!</b>, click <b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1727767608">here</a></b>; to get
your e-book, click <b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07K61QMD8">here</a></b>.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<b style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 16pt;">Stephen Lau</span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 16pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Copyright© by Stephen Lau</span></span><br />
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