Laying low in the 'Couv'

As you might know, the head of a major company survived the tragedy of “9/11” in New York because his son started kindergarten.
Another fellow was alive because it was his turn to bring donuts.
One woman was late because her alarm clock didn’t go off in time.
One was late because of being stuck on the NJ Turnpike because of an auto accident.
One of them missed his bus.
One spilled food on her clothes and had to take time to change.
One’s car wouldn’t start.
One went back to answer the telephone.
One had a child that dawdled and didn’t get ready as soon as he should have.
One couldn’t get a taxi.
The one that struck me was the man who put on a new pair of shoes that morning, took the various means to get to work but before he got there, he developed a blister on his foot. He stopped at a drugstore to buy a Band-Aid. That is why he is alive today.

Now when I am stuck in traffic…
– miss an elevator…
– turn back to answer a ringing telephone…
– all the little things that annoy me…
– I think to myself…
this is exactly where God wants me to be at this very moment.
The next time your morning seems to be going wrong,
– the children are slow getting dressed,
– you can’t seem to find the car keys,
– you hit every traffic light…
– don’t get mad or frustrated;
God is at work watching over you.
May God continue to bless you with all those annoying little things – and may you remember and appreciate their possible purpose.

My son's words today: "Eu sempre fico com muita dó dos idosos aqui que não tem ninguem para cuidar deles... quando voces ficarem bem velhinhos, voces vao morar na minha casa e vou estudar para ter um emprego bem bom para que eu possa cuidar de voces...e nos vamos passear para todo lugar. Nos vamos fazer altas comidas!! "
When you spend time with your kids, when you love them and cherish them and take care of them this is what you get. It's so important to listen to them, to understand and sometimes to be tough too.It may seem that it's not working and you don't make a difference but you do! It's hidden in their minds somewhere back there and one day when they grow up and become adults, all that you have engraved in them will flourish and you'll see beautiful things happen. I'm so grateful to be able to be awake sometimes and see the wonders of life. Few people are awake in this world and some like me have moments once in a while, and see past everything what life is all about. These are the little presents in life that God gives you. It's not money, expensive things, status...exterior things...its the present that shows: you made a difference, you are teaching your kids to be real people. It's not about religion, social status or anything thing else except love, gratitude, character.
From a movie I like very much:
Patricia: "My father says that almost the whole world is asleep. Everybody you know. Everybody you see. Everybody you talk to. He says that only a few people are awake and they live in a state of constant total amazement."
an interesting article I found online:

In the movie, Joe vs the Volcano, Joe Banks played by
Tom Hanks is a loser. His life is despicable and the news is:
Joe is selling his soul to his boss for a measly 300 bucks
a week.

Joe is also a hypochondriac which leads him to a doctor
that tells Joe he has a terminal brain cloud and only a few
months to live.
So this is the wake up call Joe needs to start living. He
quits his job then runs into an eccentric billionaire played
by Lloyd Bridges who promises to give Joe the lifestyle of
a king if he will end up jumping into a volcano.

Joe agrees and it's fun to watch him go on the shopping spree
going around in the white limo. Then he is transported first
class by air to Los Angeles, where he meets up with the
billionaire's daughter Patricia played by Meg Ryan, who is
going to transport Joe to a remote island on her yacht.

One night on the yacht with the breeze gently blowing, Joe
and Patricia are talking and Joe says that Patricia's life.....
and life..... seem so unbelievable to him.
Patricia responds:

"My father says almost the whole world's asleep.
Everybody you know, everybody you see, everybody you talk
to. He says only a few people are awake. And they live in
a state of constant total amazement."
The whole world's asleep.....think about that for a minute.

Why was that put in there?
If you watched the move, did that strike you as being
unbelievable it was even there?

What being asleep and what waking up means is what we are
going to explore for the rest of the article.
Waking Up that's what it's about. It took a death sentence
for Joe to begin waking up. When he did, he found himself
entering into a world that was unbelievable and a world
that most folks don't even know exists.

Let's flash forward in the movie to the scene where
it's night and Joe is on a raft and the moon begins to
rise overhead.
The moon seems so huge and awesome to Joe that as a movie
watcher you become so caught up in the vastness of the moon
and the drama of the movie that you almost become one with
the entire experience.
Before this in the movie he is asking himself and others
the question does God exist. Joe is awestruck, and in that
moment of realization, he just knows that God exists and
becomes so grateful for his life. The moment is one of total
amazement for Joe and the movie watcher.

In that moment when Joe becomes one with the experience,
he now understands.....the need for questions to be answered
isn't there.....he wakes up to the present moment and all
the present moment is trying to convey to him and finally
the understanding he has been seeking comes.

Most of us are lost in thought. Now we're not talking about
practical thought, those thoughts you need to drive a car or
solve problems, we're talking about all those thoughts which
aren't needed for life - thoughts that are painful to us.

Being asleep means being lost in painful or unwanted thoughts.

The best way to explain this is for you to begin watching
your thoughts. You'll see that some of these thoughts aren't
very nice at all. You may be having a fight with your boss
at this very moment while reading this. You may have found
yourself a thousand miles away.

Many of these thoughts we have are unkind and detrimental
to our well being. How many times have you found yourself
putting yourself down for something you didn't do right,
or found yourself getting angry or upset over some event,
or even found yourself in a mental fight with someone?

Someone cuts you off on the freeway and you immediately
go spastic and begin to shoot mental bullets at them.

Those thoughts put you in a state of sleep and prevent
you from being fully aware of the present world around you.

In the beginning of the movie, Joe was in a constant state
of psychic slumber. He had no amazement, no awe, no wonder
of life. His life was despicable.
When Joe began waking up, his life began to turn to a state
of amazement and awe and wonder at what was happening in the
present moment around him. Just watch the scene where he is
with DeDe at dinner and you'll see the difference between
a man at sleep and a man that is awake.

In fact DeDe says, "What's happened to you. This morning
you were like a lump, now..... You're So Alive."

It is in this state of amazement that you often find children
playing. They are having fun with life because they are not
lost in thought about some fear, they are totally within
and alive in the present moment and awake to what they
are doing.

These unkind thoughts we have draw us farther away from
the awe and amazement that life really is.

And as you begin to wake up and live in the present moment,
amazing things can and do happen.

Which way would you rather live?

In a world where you are lost in painful thoughts or a world
where you are in a state of constant total amazement?

Go watch a cat. Cats are fully awake and aware in their
own present moment. What creature is there that more lives
a life of amazement than a cat?

Cat's don't get lost in thought like we do, they are fully
aware of themselves and their environment all the time. Now
a cat may stare intensly at a predator, but it is not lost
in thought.

To be fully awake to the present moment, begin to watch
your thoughts. Some of them may be ugly. When you practice
watching your thoughts, you'll begin to see yourself going
off in all different kinds of directions over nothing, it's
these thoughts that keep us asleep and away from a state of
wonder and awe.
Don't try to change them, don't begin to put yourself down for
having them, for now, just watch them and see how you react
to them.

Next work on being present in the now. Watch yourself
as you do everything. Become aware of where your arms are,
where your legs are, what temperature is it. As you read this,
watch yourself reading and be aware of where and who you
are doing this.

Become fully awake to you and the experiences of this present
moment and you will begin to see the amazement and wonder of
your life as it should be.

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Dave Cole
Prosperity: The Choice Is Yours
Copyright © 2005