Hello, my name is Lynn Kindler and I suffer from “terminal uniqueness”. What that means to me is that I seem to “forget” and/or I am continuously reminded that I am not so very different from many people on this planet, most of the time (if not all of the time)! On the one hand, I am very grateful when I come across a person or a group of “like-minded” people who think, feel and act the same way I do. Yet, I still seem to believe that “we” come from a very small minority of people who feel this same way. Let me give you an example. I really thought that I was one of the very few people who were perturbed, sad, disappointed, frustrated and afraid of the huge amount of development of big huge homes all over our fair city. I really thought that I was one of the very few who was not all that excited about purchasing a huge monstrous home with extra square feet that we don’t need. Then I flip open our city’s version of The Daily Planet, and what beholds my eyes but an article about how many people, your basic average Joe, are tired of the big huge developments going in all over the place and don’t have any attraction to buying a huge home with lots of wasted space.
I still don’t know who is buying all the homes, but that’s another blog. I have also come across people, with very little effort, who are even wearier of the automatic Chili’s Restaurants, Bed Bath & Beyond, and PetSmarts that seem to accompany each new large development that is created. I did believe that I really was the only one that was irritated by the waste and the gross excess seemingly flung about with little or no thought. Yet, someone is buying from these places for these places to be created. Or which comes first the chicken or the egg.
So if there are more people who feel like I do, then what can we do together? It’s not enough for us to sit and kvetch about this behind the scenes. It’s also not enough for us to protest and write nasty letters. It’s about how can we show and act our beliefs through our actions of how we lead our lives? A realization that I had was that although I may not like the behavior of a group of people very much, individually, I am able to want the highest good for people. But put them in a group and I can sometimes become immune to the person behind the mask. Just like I don’t want someone to throw me into a group and define me by that group because of my sex, age, race, beliefs, shoe size nor do I want to be someone who does this to other people.
I am unique and special and different and I’m not unique and special and different. It’s like I used to tell my brother when we were kids and talking about whether there was life on other planets or not, “If we are the only life in this Universe than that is a miracle and if we’re not the only life in this Universe than that’s a miracle”, either way it’s a miracle depending on how you look at it. Where’s your miracle today?
What do you think about when you hear the word, “intention”? In Webster’s Dictionary, “intention” is defined as 1.) a determination to act in a certain way; and 3.) what one intends to bring about. For me, I believe that intention is the force behind our thought which can then motivate us into action which, of course, brings about the manifestation of our intention. Recognizing the power of first having a thought that lights us up, and then energizing this thought with the focus of our intention and finally following through with action(s) is how we can help make our dreams come true.
Posted on : 27-05-2006 | By : Lynn | In : Uncategorized, Yoga
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Ahhhhhh. I just returned from taking an hour and a half yoga class with Murti of Healing in Yoga and then a nice lunch with a good friend. I’m so grateful that Murti has devoted his life to giving yoga instruction to us. I’ve been taking yoga from him since November of 1996 and although I would not put myself out there as a yoga “officienado” by any means, I have learned to accept my limitations as well as my breakthroughs and to grab from yoga all that I can.
Some of my most favorite comedians such as Ellen DeGeneres, Robin Williams, Jerry Seinfeld and the late Bill Hicks all share the ability to translate their awareness of the world around them so that they can connect with us to let us know they saw and/or experienced the same thing that we had (and here all along we thought it was a secret!).
I admit it. I am a huge hedonist who would much rather have the benefits of hard work, without the hard work, the toned body, without the toning and the developed mind and spirit, without the concentration and focus. I’ve learned to clear out all the people, places, things, and activities that have dragged me down in one way or another and have replaced them with people who energize me, places and things I enjoy and activities that motivate me into action such as yoga class (because I feel so good afterwards) and scuba diving (because of the sites I see and because it is fun). However, lately, I’ve noticed that I am sliding on a daily exercise program and so I want to nip that in the bud.
This morning I met a friend of mine (who is also a previous boss of mine) for coffee. Some of the interests we share (besides running an IT company) are movies, theories, and spiritual beliefs. I’m really grateful that we are able to talk at the depth with each other that we do because I know this is a miracle for both of us. Trusting is probrably not one of the highest personality traits for either of us. And that’s okay, we trust each other. What I was reminded of as my friend and I talked about relationships and communication was to remember that when communicating with another person it is helpful to be more concerned with listening (and therefore aware of how we hear) than to be sure that we are heard.
Posted on : 23-05-2006 | By : Lynn | In : Career Stuff
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I believe that everyone on this planet who has a passion in their heart for a specific career path, can do what is in their heart if they will muster up the courage to take the steps necessary (investigate, interview and explore) to find out what action steps they will need to take the plunge. For those of you who don’t think you have a passion for anything in particular, you just know you don’t want to keep on doing what you’re doing now, then listen up, there’s hope for you as well.
Posted on : 22-05-2006 | By : Lynn | In : Mind Fodder
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Some of the great Masters that I study (Paramahansa Yogananda, His Holiness the Dali Lama, Deepak Chopra) all say, in one way or another, that our mind is here for us to use, not for our mind to use us. One way to notice immediately if you have let your mind “runaway” with you so to speak, is to listen to the way that you talk to yourself. What are those voices saying? Are they positive? Are they negative? What is the conversation that you are having with yourself on a daily basis? I realize that paying attention to this can be a lifelong study if you choose it and I believe that just taking this one step towards paying attention to your mind, can be a first step to leading a happy life.
Posted on : 21-05-2006 | By : Lynn | In : Heart Talks
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Yesterday I attended a free seminar, “Overcoming Your Fear of Success” offered by Jeff Rahim Bronner from The University of Spiritual Healing and Sufism. As you can imagine, I was attracted to this seminar because of the assumption that the only thing holding me back from my success, was my fear which meant that I could be successful! I’ve been exposed to Sufism, once in a month long class studying music and dance a long time ago (I loved the dancing!) and then through Nelin Hudani who hosts “The Heartfelt Conversations” group.
Posted on : 20-05-2006 | By : Lynn | In : The DaVinci Code
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I’d like to introduce you to my brain. My husband and I went to see the Da Vinci Code movie last night with some friends (if you haven’t seen the movie, please stop reading now! All night long I tossed and turned and tossed and turned over that movie. And what, oh what you say, could I have been tossing and turning about? Could it have been that Christ was really a man? No. Could it have been that Christ had relations and coupled with a woman? No. How about my mind could not for the life of me figure out why Ron Howard chose Tom Hanks to play Robert Langston!! This, is what my mind was grappling with in the shadows of the moonlight of my mind…
