Letter to my angel friend

Dearest Angel Friend

somethings just happen for a reason
let them happen
and accept them as they are
just beleive in he ONE who made them happen
Beleive that He would do nothing but the BEST for you
Beleive hat He truly cares for you
and LOVES you more then ne one else ever can
and that HE has better plans for you then you could ever have for your self
He knows that the path you are on
He know that your path have some bumps
lots of short turns
and twists
but you and him both have chosen the path togather
and in times of trials an tribulations
HE will never leave you
Never
infact He will lift you in HIS hands
but some times
He will let you walk
let you make your own choices
and even allow you to fall down
so you can learn to get back up again
but HE knows what HE is doing
just trust HIM and beleive in HIM
but remember
when you beleive
you dont doubt
you just intend
what you want
and let him choose the outcome
thats BEST for you
deep down inside you already know that
He is nothing but GOOD
and all HE does is nothing but GOOD
some times you may have questions
sometimes your path may not be clear
sometimes you would not even know where the next step would lead to
sometimes you would not even know if you should take that step
but HE does
HE can see beyond horizons
beyond time and space
When in doubt
just beleive in HIM
let HIM choose the outcome
and show you the signs
thru co incedences
thru miracles
thru HIS other magical ways
to guide you
to your destiny
of love, peace and happiness
where there is nothing but LOVE
and LOVE is all there is

I know that being an angel is not a easy job
since angels have to go thru tougher paths then rest of us
so they can learn all that they are meant to learn
which inturn will give them the magical powers to deal, feel and heal
you path may be much more tougher then all of us
but so are your rewards
these rewards are beyond what you could imagine
but for that you have to go thru the tought lessons
life sets for you
to make you the very best
and finest of all the beings
GOD's angel

one step at a time
just beleive that HE is with you
and be assured that HE will take care of you
no matter what
He will make sure that one day
You finally pass all the tests
and become a true angel for every one
for what He intends, happens
instantly
you may take time to manifest it, however

just say this little prayer
every time you remember him

Lord, make me a channel of thy peace,
that where there is hatred, I may bring love;
that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness;
that where there is discord, I may bring harmony;
that where there is error, I may bring truth;
that where there is doubt, I may bring faith;
that where there is despair, I may bring hope;
that where there are shadows, I may bring light;
that where there is sadness, I may bring joy.
Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted;
to understand, than to be understood;
to love, than to be loved.
For it is by self-forgetting that one finds.
It is by forgiving that one is forgiven.

It is by dying that one awakens to Eternal Life.

Dear Friend
thanks for being my angel
i already am proud of you
later when you complete your course in miracles
and complete your journey
every one will be able to see the true light within you
and will become proud of you
and be guided by the light within you
the divine light
of a true angel

praying for you

all the time

yours

riz

60 Minutes

What would I do if I was absolutely certain that there are only 60 more minutes left in my life and i will be no more alive after 60 minutes…?

My priorities would collapse in an instant, what was so very urgent and important few moments back, would almost cease to exist, just 60 minutes, I don’t want to spend them thinking what to do, since there is no time to think, I just want to do whatever I want to do

At this juction, Some people would choose to meet their family members and be in their company, some people would choose to take care of their financial matters so their family and children have secure future, some would choose to go deep in meditation, some would choose to contact any and every one and ask for forgiveness, some would choose to do one thing they always wanted to do provided it’s possible in 60 minutes, some would choose to express their love and gratitude to their loved ones, some would remain undecided even after 55 minutes are over, some may choose something totally different then all the above choices. What would i choose, right now, i dont have a clue but really its already making me think...

Whatever I chooses in those precious moments, one thing is for sure, it would not be about the small nitty-gritty’s of life, the small day to day decisions would not even exist in my focus at that moment. It’s a moment of transformation, within an instant, life comes at a standstill, the things which were absolutely important and urgent a moment back, may not even get a chance to make it to my priority list, and things I never ever thought about, take precedence and I might catch myself by surprise.

It’s a wonderful metaphor, 60 minutes, tells me what should be the real priorities of my life, I am sure these priorities would vary from individual to individual, but the fact of the matter is that if I sit back and reflect at the answer to this question asked above, I might come across things I usually don’t choose to think about, the answer would be fueled and influenced by the values of my life, for some people family is their highest value, for others its faith, yet for others its freedom or courage or prudence. As far as I am concerned, its purity of life, giving, family and being one with the ONE that takes precedence over every thing else, in those 60 minutes, which one i would choose, it is still a guess, but choices are very few, atleast for me.

Generally speaking, keeping every thing else aside, the answer to this question would reveal our true nature to ourselves, what we value most in this world, what is really important in our life, what matters most to us deep down inside etc. I asked this very question to one of my friends, and he said, he would choose to apologies to his parents, whom he left 5 years back and have never spoken back to them again, he said, actually this thought never occurred to him before this question, that deep down inside he still loved his parents very much and he still cared about them. As I am writing this, I just chatted with one of my friends in Asia, she said, she would choose to relax and spend time with her son and husband and so nothing else and when I asked, she told me that family is the top value of her life.

The question is not exactly how we end up spending those 60 minutes, the question is are we aware of those priorities, do we have enough courage to do those things right now, when we have ample time at our disposal, though we still don’t know how long we are alive, but at least we don’t have a dead line of time i.e. 60 minutes or so. For someone, it might turn out that they don’t have a will for their family and may choose to take care of that, for others, it might be re uniting or spending more time with families and friends, yet others may choose to pursue their dreams or people like me who would choose to reflect back at life, and start correcting themselves and asking for forgiveness for all the wrong doings of the past, and start a fresh new life, dedicated to others.

I still remember this 58 year young man, telling me that when he would die, they would instantly squeeze the blood out of his body so that it can be used to help someone in need, and to my surprise, he told me that he has donated all his body parts that may save or improve life of up to 50 more individuals, Why do I need my body after I leave this world, why not if it can be of help to any one, I would not need it any more. It really opened the new arenas of possibilities in my mind regarding priorities and values.

I also remember this 78 year old young man, who is a millionaire, and had a will, according to which 40% of his wealth would go to establishing trust that would take care of needy individuals throughout the world, when faced with this question it occurred to him that rather then waiting to die and then getting a trust established which may or may not work according to his dreams and aspirations, why not start a trust right away, so he can make sure that it is exactly working as per his needs and requirements. To this day, this young man is happily alive and already helped hundreds of people all around and plan to continue to help thousands more.

Above examples are from very specific individuals and with very specific values and beliefs, you and I may choose to think differently as our values may be different, I may choose to donate my whole big collection of books to a local library where it can help many more individuals rather then staying and gathering dust at my home, you may choose something entirely differently.

Good thing to know is that, more then likely, as you are reading this, you have more then 60 minutes to live, may be years and years ahead are waiting for you, What can you do, what you choose to do, what are your values and aspirations, how you want to pursue them, or do you want to pursue them.

Every hour has another 60 minutes, think of it as another episode of life, that is granted to you, I am sure if those are last 60 minutes of your life, you and I both would choose to live them at our best, do whatever matter most to us, but when we don’t know if next 60 minutes are last 60 minutes in our life, be sure it may be, almost 6500 people die every hour, not every day, every hour, life may not let us know that we have those precious 60 minutes left, in fact the very moment we are living right now may be the last 60 minutes or may be one of the last

Who knows?

How many more episodes of 60 minutes are left in our life?

May be 1, 2, may be few more

May be much more

May be a lot more

The question is not how much more time we have left; it is how we choose to spend whatever is left. Choice is still in our hand

It’s not the time in life that matters

It’s the life in that time that really matters

are we ready to live,

next 60 minutes...

Choice

Where am I?

It’s a maze Rizwan, right now you are only one, but you are not the only one

Who else is here?

You

I know I am here, but who else is here

You, so many of you, all Rizwan

I am the only one

You sure are

Then who are these who look like me, if I am the only one

They are you too

You just said I am the only one, and now you are saying all these are me too

Yeah they are you

How is that possible, how can there be so many of me, while I am here

Why not! What’s wrong with that?

I always believed there was only one me, just one

Yes there is

Now you are confusing me very much, at one end you are saying that I am the only one and on the other end you are telling me that all these millions of other individuals who look just like me, are me too, it’s out of my mind

Hmm

Rizwan, these all are Rizwan too, just that they made some choices that were different then what you did, and that led them to a different path

I am still not getting it, can you explain a little further

Do you remember leaving your ACMA in the middle and go for an MBA instead from one of the finest institutes in the city.

Yeah I do

Do you see Rizwan wearing green suite, he pursued ACMA, he is a financial consultant now, and he just chose a different path then you

Hmm

So is every one else here, at one point or the other in your life, they made some different choices, that led them to a different path then yours, the one standing right next to you, chose to work when you chose to study, he had a different path then yours since you were age 7, his life turned out to be very different,

How is that possible, did they all have the same parents?

Yeah they did

But I thought only my parents are mine

Of course they are, just like so many you are all one, so many of them were also one as well, just that they were in different realm of consciousness then your parents who live with you in this world. It’s a whole new experience

So you mean to say that this is not the only world

No, this is not the only world in the context you are talking, but in reality there is no world, you create your own world with your won conscious choices and experience in your own context.

See right now you are making a choice to have a conversation with me and chose to document it, some other self of yours may choose to spend this time differently and that would lead him to a different path

I am trying to understand what you are saying, but honestly it’s a little complex

It looks, but it isn’t, the only reason is that you are not used to the belief that there could be multiple simultaneous levels of consciousness which run parallel to each other

Hmmm

Let me explain, what were you doing in your country before you came to America

I was working at a non profit organization as career officer

And then you chose to come to America

Yes I did

But there was this other self, who chose to stay there and serve

Ahaaan

Then there is this one self of yours, who chose to get married at age 21, when your father was alive

WHAT

I know you are not married till now and plan to get married sometime next year, but these so many other selves of yours are happily married with children

Interesting

It sure is, it’s just that they chose differently then you, You can go back and talk to your selves who are still living in the past, 10 years back and you can also go in the future and meet your different selves years from now, you can then feel the impact of choices on your life

Can I do that, is that possible?

It sure is, but first I would like you to meet all the millions of other Rizwan present here, so you can have an idea what would have been different in your life had you made a different choice at one point or other in your life

But it’s going to take loads of time

There is no time here, time is a physical dimension, you are present at a place where every thing happens in an instant, all you have to do is to manifest whatever you want and it happens right away, there is no concept of time and distance here

So how do I meet every one, is there a particular order?

Just do it, manifest your meeting, again remember, there is nothing physical or material here, you think and you manifest it right away

Let me try

No Rizwan, you only try when you are in physical world, there is no such thing as trial here, every thing has to be and is perfect, what ever you want to do , you just do it, there is no such thing as a try,

Do you have to try to talk to me?

No

Do you have to try to listen?

No

Do you have to try to breath?

No

You only try when you have a doubt, what if there was no doubt and you knew whatever you want to do would happen right that very instant, would you ever try

No I wouldn’t

You have that magic built in you, but in the physical dimension of the world, you fail to experience it, Its just like the music that is present there in you, you just fail to tune into it and after a while you don’t even know that it exists, though it is there, all you have to do is to get to the right frequency and music will flow out seamlessly, without any effort, all you need to do is to tune into that infinite realm of being.

Then what do I do now?

Just meet every one and learn from what they have to tell you

Ok

Hmm, so how was it

It was the most humbling experience I ever had, it was amazing, wonderful and above all it was eye opening

What else

There was so much to observe and so much to learn, I still don’t believe it

Rizwan, remember this law of the divine, first you have to believe it, if you ever want to get it, if you don’t believe it, you may never get it

Hmmm, you are really picking my words

Your words are expression of your thoughts and your thoughts in turn are expression of your being, all I am interested in is your being and the best way to do is to help you understand what choice of words you have and how it affects your thinking

I got it,

So what did you learn?

Life is full of possibilities; any and every thing is possible

Interesting, life is in fact full of infinite possibilities, all you need to do is to tune into that infinite realm and manifest your own choice,

What else Rizwan?

Even one little choice may lead to an entirely different outcome, the Rizwan I met who chose not to go online on that certain day, I did go online and met this girl who then became a very good friend of mine, he didn’t have her in his life, he never met her or even heard of her, just a choice to go or not to go online on a certain day at a certain time at a certain channel

Hmmm

Then there was this other Rizwan, who chose to start his own business while I chose to study, and I can see how right that decision was,

Interesting

Then I met this Rizwan, who chose to be close to the lord and be an instrument of thy piece, love and happiness, he devoted his whole life to that, honestly, I can not believe that I had a choice of channeling so much love and piece in to my own life

It’s an infinite realm Rizwan, and when I say infinite, there is no end to the possibilities, the only limitations you have are the ones created by your own mind, and otherwise any thing is possible let alone channeling peace and love

Yeah I met that Multi-billion dollar worth Rizwan too, I met the Public speaker, I met the Computer wizard, I met the movie actor, and there was so much I could have done

Yeah, in fact, those lives just represent the choices they made, but again, there is so much more that they haven’t chosen, you haven’t chosen, yet it is possible

Hmmm

You know you are not the only one doing this thing here, all these other rizwans are going thru the same process you are going thru and are presented with the same lessons that you are presented with, some like you would choose to learn while other would chose otherwise, again the choice is yours.

Oh!

Every moment in your life, you are presented with numerous choices, you have to choose one, you do choose one but the problem is that rather then looking at the opportunity as potential of unlimited choices, you have made your thinking limited and therefore you are able to see the very few limited choices you want to see and choose from those, the other unlimited choices remain invisible to your eye

So what can be done about it?

Tap into the unlimited potential and look beyond what seems visible to your naked eye, just like you wear binoculars to see what’s not visible to your eye and suddenly many things become visible, similarly all you need to do is to tap into your unlimited potential, believe that there are no limitations, there are no boundaries, there are no traditions, there is no future or path set for you, believe that you are free to choose your own path and in turn creating your own very future, the way you like it

But some things are just not possible

If they were not possible, how would these other rizwans had achieved what you think is not possible, how come one is a multi billion dollar investor yet you are just happy with your check to check life, how come, there is a Rizwan who has more peace, more love, more happiness and more fun is his life then you ever dreamed of, how come there is a Rizwan, who is already a very big public speaker and you are just thinking of starting public speaking, how come there are Rizwans who are happily married with kids and here you are don’t even have a clue when will you get married, how come there are Rizwans who married the very girl who said No to you,

Rizwan now listen to me,

Every thing is possible

Every single thing

In this realm of infinite possibilities

There is nothing called Impossible or failure

It’s how you choose

If you knew that it’s impossible to fail, would you ever think about failing, its same here, we have discussed this thing before

You are presented with lessons, and faster you master you lessons, faster you move to the next level and so on, look out, see what you need to know, what you need to learn and master and choose wisely

Hmmmmm

Happiness, success, fun, joy, love, they are all results of the choices you make, all you have to do is to tap into the infinite and ask for it, if you are ready you will be presented with it, otherwise you will be presented with lessons to master so when you get what you need, you are able to enjoy

I really don’t have any words to say

You don’t have or you don’t choose to say

I choose to learn and reflect

That sounds great

All the very best

And it all disappeared

Rizwan! Where are you, I have been looking for you all over the house

I was in a maze

You are a grown up now, you have so much more to do then play maze games

I didn’t say I was playing a maze game, I said I was in a maze

Yeah I know, this whole home is a living maze, it took me 15 minutes to find where you were

But why were you looking for me

I need some help in my work, I want get this house back to normal, it’s a big mess or a maze as you call it, you never know where is what

Can we do it tomorrow, it’s a holiday

No we have to do it today, there is no choice

There are choices, there are so many choices

I don’t want to hear about it, I said there is no choice means that there is no choice, if it is to be done now, it means now

And she slammed the door at me again

Do you really have a choice Rizwan?

I guess I do

Means you still have doubt, you are not sure if you do have choices or not

I do have my choices

See when there is doubt; you are cut off from the realm of infinite possibilities, so stay away from the doubt as much as you can

And it disappeared with the following words

Faith is to believe what you do not see,

And

The reward of this faith

Is to see

What you believe.

(St. Augustine)

Real

If you CAN touch it…

It’s not REAL.

Bill Gates

Isn’t he right, isn’t it the same thing God said about us humans that the soul inside us that we cannot see is much more important then our physical body, isn’t it the same thing we all agree on the mind we cant touch is more important then the body we can touch. Well gates is talking about technology in today’s world, he argues that the hardware is getting less and less important and the software s becoming the core these days. Designs do matter but the inside stuff is becoming what teenagers call the “Real thing”. When I go to buy a computer, how it looks, what kind of casing is there, that is one of my last considerations, first I need to have a Pentium M (2005) or centrino in case of notebook, then I look for RAM and hard rive. Now days I look for wifi and blue tooth, all of the things I cant see or touch. I do care about the flat screen monitor or a cool mouse n keyboard but they come after all the invisible stuff, which is primary in my selection process.

Same is many other things in our life, like when buying camera, resolution and zoom come before the looks in my purchase, for cars, horsepower and quality comes well before the color of the car or the interior, In diamonds, quality comes well before size, In books, ideas come well before the thickness of the paper used, in credit cards, the credit is more important then the card it self. It’s getting more and more virtual every day.

When I go and buy gold, the purity of gold is more important to me then the shine and looks. I would prefer a 22kt dull finish gold necklace to a 10kt high polish necklace because I know that purity has value, it will remain there but color can fade away, it can vanish over the period of time. When I was young, I read this quote somewhere that “don’t judge a book by its cover”, I guess now I understand what it meant then or “all glitter is not gold”, well experience is certainly the best teacher.

One of my young cousin, goes to gym, he showed my muscles, telling me see how much strong I am. I just wished if he knew what the true strength means, it doesn’t come from the big muscles, it comes from within, the real strength to stand in adversity, facing the worst enemy head to head, bouncing back from failures and blunders. In short it’s the strength that comes from ones character. Again the real strength is invisible but not impossible.

Intellectual property, it’s a hot subject these days in quality management and in business & law schools specially. 20 years back no one would have thought about it but now it’s the edge companies have over others, patents and copyrights have become now more important then ever before

When parents select the schools for their children the quality of education is more important than the beauty of premises and size of school.

Look at all the aspects of life, where ever we go, whatever we do, intangibles are becoming more and more important, from companies accounts to real life, Service industry accounts for more then 50% of US economy.

Lets come down to micro level and try to find these intangibles in our own life, love, trust, care, help, friendship, relation, these are some very dominant intangibles in our life, which at times shape our life. How much importance we give to these invisibles. I still see how we dress is more important then how genuinely we wear our smile. Letting people know that we care is more important then actually caring for them. Showing up is becoming more and more important then the actual reality, lager then life syndrome has caught every one of us, who rather then exploring inside, is more anxious to show people how big he or she is. Big cars have taken over big character, high rise buildings have taken over high morals, big dollars have taken over the peace of mind and media covered charities have taken over real care and love…..are we going in the rite direction.

Do we have any idea what is really real, the one that we see, or the one that we don’t, We have been raised up in a way to believe what we see is real, but what if every thing we see turns out to be an illusion, a drama, a scene, how would we react?

If we take a closer look at our lives, intentionally or unintentionally, we do place a lot of importance on intangibles of our lives, but do we realize it, are we conscious of it, are we making a intentional effort to work on our intangibles, our character, our feelings, our being, our care, our thoughts, our goals, our wishes and desires and so much more, without all these, merely having a body doesn’t even make a sense, or it does.?

You call it life, life energy or soul, its all invisible, when any thing in seen closely, its made up of molecules, which in turn is made up of tiny atoms, when atoms are watched more closely, they comprise of electron, proton and neutrons and when these particles are broken, only thing that’s unleashed is energy, quantum energy, something invisible, the point is, every thing we see visibly is also invisible at its rock bottom, so is our body and every thing in the world, its all invisible, yet all real

If we go ahead and look for the best innovators, artists and achievers of all times, we would find one thing common in each one of them, they had a drive inside of them, a belief, a vision of something that was not present there, their eyes could not see it, but yet they could feel it, they were ready to manifest it, to make it a reality, all this drive, enthusiasm, is invisible to the naked eyes, but it’s the very force that helps us achieve all our goals and desires. And today the whole world agrees that

Only those who see the invisible can do the impossible!

NOW

I still remember vividly, all my elders, teachers and friends telling me about future, that I should prepare for my future. I should work hard and study well so I can get a good job and in turn a great life style. All my focus should be on developing a great future. On the same time they used to give examples from past about great achievements by different people in different areas of life, who really made a difference. I grew up with all that…

Now when I turn back and see, I realize that all I have ever been taught or trained was either concerned about past or about future, no one really trained me about living in present, the moment I am living right now, and the very moment that IS. I believe for many of us that moment never exists, either we live with memories or with wishes and aspirations, we have so much to worry about and take care that we altogether forget the present moment that is the ultimate reality.

There are people whose life is fueled by memories, good or bad, but they direct the lives, some feel victim of the past and live their life in a shell and others believe that they did too much too good in the past and just take pride in their achievements. Other kind are those who are either too much worried about their future or they are way too concerned to make it better and for that they are even ready to sacrifice their present as well.

Life is moving too fast, no one knows whether he or she will be alive to see the next moment even, terrorism is so much hammered into our minds and our lives that the uncertainty of our own lives has become the biggest reality of the day. None of us knows if we will be alive tomorrow or not. We are not even sure that the oxygen we are inhaling at this very moment, will we be able to exhale it out in form of carbon di oxide. Even knowing this bitter reality, most of us still choose to live in future and prepare for it.

Don’t take me wrong, Not for a moment I am saying that it is wrong to live in future, rather every one should prepare for it and should do it well since its your own life, All I am saying is that sacrificing the very present in which we are living for the future that we are very much uncertain about is not the best idea in my opinion.

Most of us are like that, we use our present to make our future better, but we forget that when that future becomes the present, we are still sacrificing it to make yet another future better and in that way we always live for future and there is no presence of present in our lives. It’s like that individual who always waited for the train to come and take a train to next stop and then wait for another train. He never realizes that he has a life time ticket for the train that he can sit in and enjoy his journey.

I always remember this story I read in a book when I was young about a couple who saved their entire life for a dream cruise and then came a time when they saved enough so they can go for that cruise, they paid for the 15 day long cruise but realized they didn’t have any money left for the food, so they packed themselves with biscuits, they went to the cruise and breakfast, lunch and dinner they only had biscuits. They were really happy, it was a great cruise, lot of fun, but just biscuits, 14 days passed by, last day they realized that they had some money for the grand dinner, they went to the cafeteria and asked for the menu, it was a great menu, lots of foods varieties but to their surprise there were no prices on the menu, when asked the waiter told them that all meals were free and prices were already included in the cruise ticket………..and they lived 14 days just on biscuits……aaawwwwwwww, that sure was cruel, they didn’t realize that fact but do we? We have a life time ticket to our life’s journey and all the means to enjoy it but still we worry like that couple, strange. Isn’t it?

There are many people who use alarm clocks to help them wake up on time, most of us use it at least once in our lifetime or know somebody who uses them. Any ways, it presents a very simple yet beautiful way to understand our lives, the way we live, take decisions and move on.

When a alarm clock rings, at that time we hear some sound while asleep, we realize it’s the alarm clock and our subconscious mind reminds us that its now time to get up. In that split second each one of us has to make a decision, to get up or not to get up. That split second decision decides the fate of the upcoming hour or day. There are people who get up immediately when they hear the sound of alarm clock, means they decide to get up, and then there are others who just keep sleeping no matter how long the clock goes on, these guys decide not to get up and ignore the clock. There is a third kind as well, a very special kind, including me, we get up, press the button on the clock, the alarm stops and they go back to sleep with no one else to disturb.

Each one of us who uses these alarm makes a decision in that split second, regardless of the decision, we all make one. In our life all of us make thousands of such decisions, each and every day we make millions of decision, consciously or unconsciously. Why don’t we realize that it’s the Choices we make NOW will shape our future, this very moment you have a choice to continue reading, or keeping if off and doing some other work, or sleep or go our and have fun or watch TV, or get yourself a beer and enjoy or hangout with friends, possibilities are numerous, but you will make only one choice, it does not matter what that choice is, the thing that matters the most is that, your choice that you make RIGHT NOW will be a stepping stone to shape your future. Its like a tree, your choice is your stem and from that will grow too many leaves. Your hanging out with friends could make you meet someone new, whom you never met before and your CHOICE to be friend with that person more could result in getting a great friend or even a life partner, just the chain events, any thing can happen, but it will all depend on the choice you make RIGHT NOW. Your choice is just the beginning, to wake up or not in the morning is just the first choice for the day, shaping the rest of the day.

We are nothing, but a collection of choices we have made all our lives, but the good thing is we still have the autonomy and authority to choose what is right for us in this moment and guide our future accordingly, the good thing the power to make that choice is in our own hands, and the best moment to make that choice is NOW, right now, since

PAST IS HISTORY

FUTURE IS MYSTERY

THE MOMENT WE ARE LIVING RIGHT NOW

IS A GIFT OF GOD FOR US
THAT’S WHY IT IS CALLED
PRESENT (GIFT)

Are we ready to embrace our gift by making the right choices?

RIGHT

Someone was right when he said; people would sit all day in front of a wooden magic box and enjoy their days just watching it. Someone was right when he said; water would be sold in packets and bottles around the world one day. Some one was right when he said, earth was round, and sun was the centre of universe. Someone was right when he said, by the end of this decade we will reach the moon. Some one was right when he said I can break the one mile in less then four minute record. I just wonder sometimes, how can those people be right today, when every one else around them believed they were wrong.

I was listening to Bill rancic, winner of the 1^st season of APPRENTICE show, his new audio book, “you are hired”, after being hired by Donald trump, one of the business tycoons of today, Bill said when in school, he used to color outside the lines as and when he felt necessary, he would make the figure big or tall as it would seem more appropriate and he believed he was right, every one else at the school including his teachers thought otherwise. Teachers continuously asked him to color within the lines but he didn’t. All he did was whatever seemed appropriate to make the picture more real. Was he right or were the teachers right. Interestingly, it’s the same schooling system that teaches us to color within the lines, also teaches us to think outside the box. What’s right, coloring inside the lines or thinking outside the box?

When facing each other, your right is my left and my front area is at your back, who’s right. What’s small for me is big for you and short for me is long for you, who’s right. When a poisonous fly and honey bee get the same nectar from the same flower and one produces poison to take lives and other makes honey to save it, two of us see them and one blames the flower and other praises it, which one of us is right. Two men look outside the window and one looks down and says what a polluted view, and other looks to the sky and says, what a wonderful view, who’s right.

Is it necessary that someone has to be right all the time, cant two people be right at the same time at the same moment while thinking upside down. Are we born with a right to be right, is there something wrong with accepting being wrong sometimes, but above all I just cant understand why we altogether need to judge at the first place. Joy is better then Lisa, Who cares, tom is superior then Jim, does it matter. I just don’t understand why there is a need to judge something or someone at the first place.

A hardcore criminal may still be a loving father or husband, a poor sweeper may be too generous at heart, when we label, we just see one part of the situation and that’s it. What we see is what is and that’s right, there cant be any other thing, Stephen covey in his book, Seven habits of highly effective people shares a wonderful paradigm shift example of two ships in the middle of the sea and captains telling each other to move their ship out of the way, Both of them thought they were right and other ship should move out of the way, they just saw one perspective, they believed that they were right, but when the captain of first ship said, I am captain of this Battle ship and therefore I am ordering you to move out of the way of this battle ship, in his thinking he was very right, but when the other ships captain said, Sir! This is the captain of Light house and I request you to please move your ship out of the way, the captain of the battle ship suddenly understood and moved…. Situational “Right”

It’s all the game of perspective, and we never have complete perspective about any thing or any one that we can claim that we can judge it. When two guys in the jungle heard a lions roar nearby, first guy started to run, thinking that he can run fast and try to outrun the lion, probably he was right, but when he saw the other guy, quickly putting on his running shoes, he was puzzled, Why you are wearing this, it’s a big jungle, we cant outrun the lion, the guy with the running shoes on said, I don’t need to outrun the lion, I just have to outrun you, and the whole dynamics on the ground were suddenly changed immediately, Changing “Right”

Robert G. Allen, in his audio book, Nothing down in 2000, gave example of two guys looking at the same piece of real state, first guy sees and empty wear house that is not even properly kept and maintained, the other guy sees a opportunity to redesign the place and make it a fully functioning automated ware house, being right and wrong is just a matter of perspective, a limited perspective. When a guy jumped out of a running train and lost his hand, every one said, he was insane, but when they realized it was a father who jumped to save his kids life, he suddenly became a brave and courageous man. “Right” in different perspectives.

Kim is good at school but not so good in games, while Ron is good at games but not so good in school, they both do well in extra curricular, their dad thinks, Kim is better then Ron while their mom thinks, Ron is better then Kim. Their dad is a college professor, and their mom is soccer coach at a local club, they both see things from their own perspective, But grandma says I love both of them equally, they are both great, I love them for what they are and not what they do, who is “Personal Right”

We all live in a world and we see world with a filter,

So all the truth we encounter is filtered i.e. situational or with past perspective.

But actually the Truth just “IS”,

It never changes, it just IS

But they way we see it does change,

And what we see, we make it our truth

Sometimes, we first make our truths and then see the situation accordingly

Other times, we just view it with our own colored lenses

And mold it our way

And it then becomes

Our truth

Our Right

And when we have the RIGHT

Every one else must have the WRONG

So that we can stand out and say that we have the RIGHT

Or at least we are RIGHT

Are we?

Is it necessary that if I am right, someone else has to be wrong? Is it necessary for us to live in a bi polar world where every north has a south, every tall has a short and every right has a wrong, or in our case, many wrongs and sometimes, all wrongs. The bipolar world creates an urge to dominance, an urge to be right and sometimes this right takes a disastrous turn, where the only way to be right is to prove every one else wrong, and negative energies channel in the world causing fights and wars

Can we just look at other persons views and say, yeah that’s a interesting point of view, never thought in that way, Can we let every one live by their own rights unless that right is causing harm to someone else, can we search the eternal RIGHT that lies within all us, right inside, the DIVINE RIGHT, that just IS, doesn’t need any support or evidence, just plain truth, as Jibran once said

THE TRUTH THAT NEEDS THE PROOF IS JUST HALF TURE…

Was he right ?

Problem

How are you Rizwan?

Oh! You are back, I almost forgot about you

Yeah you do it better then any other creation, you forget,

Any ways, how are things with you

Just like any one else,

What makes you interested in me?

Because I am interested in knowing your perspective about life

What perspective?

Whatever has happened or is happening in your life is a fact, and fact never changes, it’s just your point of view about something that keeps changing all the time and I am interested in your point of view.

I didn’t get what you want to say

Remember when your dad passed away, you were there with him in the hospital room, you, doctor and the nurse

Yes I do

You remember how every one else around you was crying hard and there was no tear in your eye

Hmm!

Why was that, they were more concerned about him leaving the physical world, you were thinking about his soul getting eternal peace. You had a totally different perspective then every one else.

You mean the way we see things

Absolutely, you were able to see things from other side of the door, and that was good.

OK

So I was just interested in knowing how you are perceiving things and events happening to your life right now?

Life is giving me a tough time.

What makes you say that?

I am having problems with my finances, with my job, with my family, my school, I guess rather then trouble following me, I am following the trouble

Are you sure it’s the life that’s giving your trouble

Yup, I sure am

And you think that your life should be trouble free

Absolutely

There should not be any trouble in your life

Not a single one,

Did you ever thought that these troubles are designed for you

Not these, I believe all the troubles are designed for me; in fact I am designed for troubles

You sure are designed & destined to face all these troubles, but not in the way you think

What do you mean by that?

You have been sent in this universe with a purpose, something to achieve, and to achieve whatever you are destined for, you need to posses some skills, attitudes and knowledge, that will lead you to your ultimate destination

I thought we were talking about my problems

Yes we are

I didn’t get you

These problems are specifically designed to guide you in your direction, by giving you lessons

Wait a minute! I am a little lost; you are saying that my inability to pay off my credit card debt is guidance for me or my dropping a course in school is helping me achieve my goals

Yes you are right

How can that be?

How did you learn to walk Rizwan, did you do it the first time you tried to walk, were you able to walk

No

But you kept on trying, if you remember, you use to fell down several times, once when your uncle held your hand are you were able to walk with his support, how happy you were

No honestly I don’t remember

Its ok if you don’t but the point I want to make is that it took you time to learn how to walk, you weren’t able to do it right away, and when you were finally on your feet walking, you were still not done yet, do you remember your first fracture

Yeah my right hand

Hmmm, how did that happen?

I fell in a hole

Ahaaan, and how did that happen

I saw this ice cream truck and started running towards it, and

And you never realized that there was a hole in your way

No

Would you call that a problem, if you get back to that part of life, was it a problem or trouble for you

Yes it certainly was, I wasn’t able to play or go anywhere else, and I had to stay home all the time

Good, but did you ever fell in any hole again afterwards

No, I was very careful after that, my parents also got that hole filled, in fact, our neighbors did the same.

And you still think it was a trouble, remember I was talking about perspective

Yeah

You see it as problem, I see it as a guide for you to avoid falling down in future, but you were not the only one who was guided by this event, your parents, your neighbors, and your school people also learned from it and made sure that all holes are filled so no other child gets hurt like you did

I never thought on these lines

I told you, fact always remains the same, it’s the way you see it

I am getting you now

Problems and troubles that you face in your life have something to offer to you, they are your opportunities in disguise, opportunity to learn, to achieve, to be guided, all you need to do is to go ahead and face them, rather then avoid them

But that’s what we are taught, avoid problems, keep out of trouble

Be right back

Ok I am back

Good, tell me one thing, Is it necessary whatever you are taught is right, think about it, but first tell me where you went

I believe now I am getting the picture, why you came and why did you start the conversation

Hmmm, and what’s your guess

My best friend, with whom I am friend with for last 4 years and have proposed her quite a few times, we were talking and she told me that there is this other guy who has proposed her and she is thinking about to marry him, 4 years I loved her. I still do, and she goes with someone else, you knew it was going to happen, didn’t you? And that’s why you started this whole stuff that problems are your guide, you wanted to prepare me before I get the bad news

Hmm, so how do you perceive this one?

She is the only one I ever thought about, she is the one I dreamed about, she is the one I want to marry, I want her to be my life partner

Ahaaan!, why did she say NO to you?

She said the other guy was asking her out for quite some time, and she felt like she should answer him,

Did she answer him?

No, actually she was feeling guilty, before she said NO to me saying that I don’t want to marry any of my friends, I only want to do arranged marriage, and here is this friend of hers, asking her for the same thing, he is nice, likes her, but if she says yes to him, it would be wrong with me

But why him and why not you

That’s exactly what I asked her

What did she say?

She thought that I was not interested in her but she felt compelled to ask me before saying yes to the other friend, since I proposed her first and she was feeling guilty inside

Why did she feel that you were not interested?

Because I didn’t ask or propose her in last few months and the other guy did it almost every time

So you weren’t persistent

Yup

Did you learn something?

When you need something you need to be persistent, you need to be sure its yours and give it your best

Whatever you want, wants you, she wanted you too, that’s why she asked you and told you about the situation before her decision, had you been more persistent in your approach, the outcomes may have been different, may be her other friend wanted her more, think..

You think so

I sure do

But I lost her

No, you just learned a very costly lesson, one you will never ever forget in your life now

It’s the simple rule of nature, higher the price you pay for any lesson, more significant impact it has over your life

What do I do now?

Love her

How can I, If she is getting married to someone else

Love her

She will not love me, how can I love her

Love does not need to be reciprocated, its multiplied by giving, you don’t need to receive it in order to grow it, Just Love her, you don’t need to posses her to Love her, your being is full of love, just glow your self and spread your love, to love something, you don’t need to posses it,

Hmmm

And not only love her, start loving every one around you, people, things, creations, be a symbol of love, more you give, much more you get in return and then you will never need to remember that you are missing someone from your life

So problems are guides

Face your troubles and problems and you will start learning lessons of life, both worldly and divine, once you master one set, you will be presented a higher set of lessons, may be in much bigger problems or troubles, I can tell you there is one more lesson on its way to you since you learned this one, bigger then you ever thought,

WHAT

Yeah, one more blunder, but I believe you have learned well enough from your past, it shouldn’t be a problem for you,

Problem or guide

Very smart, you are going in the right direction, always remember, when you loose, don’t loose the lesson and yeah All the very best, remember life is full of speed breakers, if u slow down, don’t forget to press accelerator once u hit the freeway again

All these small problems are your guides and opportunities in disguise, they are presented to you as you need them, they are lessons that you need to learn all along your way, one at a time, they will keep repeating themselves until you master them, more problems and troubles you have in your life, that means you are chosen by the divine to do something worth while in this world and to be able to do that, you need to learn your lessons, to master certain stuff, otherwise you will not be able to exploit the opportunities

Hmmm

In fact whenever you see a problem, you should rejoice that the divine has chosen you for higher learning and is presenting you with yet another lesson on the way, you should welcome troubles and outcomes not anticipated by you as they are your doorways to the eternity, and when things or events don’t turn out to be the way you wanted them to be, just be sure that someone up there has better planning for your future then you can ever do for yourself, your belief will make all the difference for yourself

I got you

So how’s your life going now?

Awesome

Any complaints from life

Yeah waiting for the next big BLUNDER

Good, all the very best!

And it all vanished again

Rizwan I have some bad news

Good

I said I have bad news

I heard that, tell me what it is

Your girl friend is getting married to someone else

WOW!

Rizwan, She got is finalizing someone else

That’s nice

I thought you wanted to marry her, and here you are happy on her engagement with some one else

No I am not happy; I am delighted, she must be very happy

You have gone out of your senses

No honestly I am happy about her

I guess you have gone insane; you are becoming a problem for your self

And she shut the door

Rizwan, how does it feel to be a problem for yourself?

Incredible,

First know thyself and then guide thyself, all the very best

Being my own guide

But remember, every problem has a solution, all you need is to look for it, or if you can’t find it, ask for a miracle

Ask?

Ask and you may get it, and trust me you may…

And it disappeared with following words

What the student calls the burden, master calls strength training…

Intention

I lost my best friend, I sure did, she told me,

I understood what she said,

But I was still thinking why, How did that happen?

I was surely in shock, OH MY LORD! I don’t want to believe what I am listening to,

NO RIZWAN, WE CAN NO LONGER BE FRIENDS, just like someone is hammering in my head with a big sledge hammer,

YOU BETRAYED ME,

No I didn’t, ,

YES YOU DID, YOU BROKE MY TRUST

Trust me I didn’t,

And it went on, after a while she cried….my best friend, for whom I always cared, I went out of my way to help her out with every thing, her exams, her life, her disappointments, set backs, helped her get motivated for her goals in life, helped her achieve her goals, I did everything I could, sometimes even more then that and here I am making her cry

SORRY, I CAN’T BE YOUR FRIEND NO MORE

Amazing

I didn’t even know how to feel

What to say

In fact what to think, or ………it was a blank

And that blank turned into black and started making my life BLACK

How it all started

We were very nice friends for more then four years

Sharing almost every good and bad in life

Living trials and tribulations of life together

She didn’t know I was interested or in love with her best friend

She knew we (me and her friend) were best friends, but didn’t know I liked her

She was close to me

Shared almost all her troubles with me

Helped me out emotionally whenever I needed it

It was a nice friendship

One day I said to her I want to kiss you

She said why

I said I just feel like kissing you at least once in my life

And she said no

But after sometime, I mean after few days

She said she was ready to do it, but she would never meet me again after that

Tough one…..

After few months when we met, she offered me her hand to kiss

Without any condition

I didn’t

I couldn’t

I wanted her to be pure

I wanted me to be pure for my love

I didn’t do it

It finished there

But I believe the feelings in her remained

Now as I told her that my love said no to me

Out of curiosity she asked who she is

I told her that it was her best friend

And she was shocked

Other day when I was talking to her, she told me

That I used her to get close to her best friend

I used her all 4 years

I was shocked

I betrayed her, she told me

And I was left with no words

RIZWAN, WE CAN NOT BE FRIENDS ANY MORE

And that was it.

My intention was pure, my behavior was not, I respected her, I still do, she has been one of my best friends, I trust her, I love her, but I WAS WRONG at the end of the day, I lost a treasured friendship that took more then 4 years to develop, less then a phone call to collapse

Isn’t it a sad truth of our life, whenever we do something, we judge our selves by our intention, if I wanted to do something with good intention, and it turned out bad, at least I was trying to do something good, we console our selves, the gauge is our intention, the reason or feeling behind, but what we fail to realize is that other people judge us only by our behavior, they don’t know what was the underlying intention behind what we did, and they don’t care, since their gauge is behavior, in their court, the only evidence is behavior and intention doesn’t even count.

I still remember that party, it was my cousins wedding, we were having a party night before the big day, every one was having fun, Son of my cousin sister, was serving water, and drinks to every one, he was just five year old at that time, so he was serving one glass at a time, and I was watching his spirit of service, he was certainly enjoying what he was doing, it was fun for him, this time he was going towards the groom, with a glass of drink in his hand and since he was so much engrossed in his work, he failed to see the bunch of video wires on the floor, as he walked on those wires, his foot got stuck in one, he got dis-balanced and the drink was all over the grooms expensive attire. He was truly shocked by whatever happened, but so was every one else, he could feel so many red eyes looking towards him, he wanted to hide somewhere but he found himself in the middle of every one, he didn’t even had a clue what to do, I could see his wet eyes, every one was upset with him thru ought the party and even the next day, he was not allowed to do any work, or any help, every one was angry at him, when I talked to him, he said, I just wanted to give DULHA BHAI (groom) the drink, it was not my fault the wires came in, but all I found my self saying to him, that it was ok, and don’t worry, he was judging himself by his intention, but failed to realize that every one else was watching his behavior, The thing that hit him the hardest was when he was left out of the small outing for children of the family when every one else went of course sponsored by the groom………….must have been so much pain for him, in his thinking, he paid the price of being nice, other kids who didn’t do a single work, were busy playing all the time, were taken on outing and had all the fun, while he, who took the pains, did do work and helped out was left out,

Strange world, we judge our selves by intentions but others by behaviors, different standards, we don’t even want to know why someone did what he or she did. Was it even their fault, just their behavior matters, my best friend, she just said, IN THE END YOU HURT ME, my behavior, failed to realize that I never ever even thought about hurting her, in the end she ended up in pain her self

And made me end in the pain too

The friend I loved and wanted to marry was undecided

But when she would hear from her best friend

She made would make her decision

On this basis and probably say NO to me

And here am I, still trying to understand

When on earth did I use my friend?

Where on earth was I wrong?

Why me?

Just like that little kid

I was standing right in the middle of no where

Didn’t even know what to do

Ended up blaming and hating my self…

If and only if we try to understand the underlying intention, show empathy, and care and understanding, life would be so much more different, You call it focus, paradigm or point of view, I call it standard, the gauge, by which we judge ourselves and the world, and if somehow we could unify the gauge and gauge ourselves by the same standard that we use for others or vice versa, life could be much more beautiful and easy of course.

When I give you 4 lbs of milk but since there is a hole in the standard gauge we are using, you only get 3 lbs, I am happy that I gave your four; you are unsatisfied at getting only three, but when I talk to myself, I would say that I gave you four, I didn’t know about the hole, but I didn’t cheat you, and there you are feeling betrayed and cheated, and that so very rightly, what’s that hole in our life, that’s the gap between intention and behavior, and the size of this gap differs from person to person.

The key as some suggest is to go ahead and try to step into other person’s shoes, see the things from his/her point of view, feel it his way, listen to his/her side of the story, but are we willing to do that, are we ready to step in someone else’s shoes, or would just end up saying that “at least I thought about it” again leaving a infinite gap between intention and behavior, where we never act to what we intend, are we fooling ourselves or everyone else around us, in fact, does that really matter.

So should we start judging the people by there intention or their behavior, what about judging ourselves, are we going to use the same gauge, do we know which one is better, and which one to go for……..or do you have any clue what I am talking about……

IF YOU WERE GOD, WHAT GUAGE YOU WOULD USE TO DECIDE SOMEONE’S FATE,

His/Her INTENTION

OR

His/Her BEHAVIOR…

The answer lies within you, look inside!