The Yin and Yang of Life

Spring actually started!  After a few failed starts, including late starts, cold rainy days and such, mother nature let lose and look what happened!

Frost on ground on April 15t

Dr. Tae Yun Kim emphasizes that there is a time and a place for things.  In winter, do not expect new flowers to come.  In the summer, be ready for the heat!

In our personal lives, there is always the Yin and the Yang.  One of Dr. Tae Yun Kim's dearest friends, whom she had known for a very long time and whom she regarded like her own son, just recently passed away.

It was extremely suddenly - from being diagnosed with an aggressive form of liver cancer, to the day he left this earth, was only 5 weeks.

Prior to his diagnose, he didn't know at all that he had cancer.  In fact, he was barely 60 years old, was in amazingly great health and was in great condition, always working out and eating well.

Here one day, and gone the next.
So we need to celebrate every living breath as our last breath, because it very well could be our last breath.
We need to enjoy life, the happy times and the sad times, the good and the bad.  It's all part of the package called life.

This is the core of Dr. Tae Yun Kim's teachings.  No matter what, know that you are in control of your life, and enjoy every moment!  It is your precious life, live it to the fullest!

HE CAN DO, SHE CAN DO, WHY NOT ME!

Windows in life

Somehow this picture makes me feel so balanced.  I feel as if I was looking out into the world, safely in the arms of mother nature.  It reminded me of something Dr. Tae Yun Kim wrote, in her book, "Seven Steps to Inner Power."  It's about looking at yourself.

"Look clinically a your strengths and weaknesses.  You don't need to make value judgments on yourself.  When you find our strengths, decide to keep them, but do not become overly confident or egotistical.  When you find your weaknesses, determine to eliminate them, but do not fall in a mire of depression, dejection, or self-condemnation." (page 22)

For me personally, this job of looking at myself is always so much easier in the arms of nature.  How about you?

Dr. Kim has been advising me over the years, and one of the most helpful things has been, and always will be, an honest self assessment, and then working on improving myself.  Ready to give it a try?

Beauty everywhere

Spring finally made it's glorious appearance.  During spring, it's easy to see so much beauty! Whether you look up

or down

whether fancy

or more wild

Beauty is everywhere!

I love Dr. Tae Yun Kim's words on what constitutes beauty:

"Beauty, just like love, harmony, peace and unity, is infinite.  That is, beauty can manifest in an infinite number of ways, and have an infinite number of forms.  
Right now, where you sit, look around and see in how many places and in how many ways the idea of beauty is manifested.  The forms of beauty will disappear some time, but the idea of beauty will never pass away."  (The Silent Master, page 60)

No matter where you are, whether in a field or in a city - let's find beauty and treasure it!

About readiness

As I walked outside in the orchard today, I was so excited to see all these blossoms, ready to burst out.  I am always very happy to see the first hint of color, and the first of the buds burst open.
Today, I saw that not all the buds are ready at the same time.  Depending on the kind of tree, and the position of the tree, and the soil, each of them is at a different stage of readiness.

This reminded me of what Dr. Tae Yun Kim says about readiness, and might I add that nature has it figured out perfectly!  You'll see why when you read the following, taken from Dr. Kim's book "The Silent Master" on page 30:

"The first step to take in the readiness stage of self discovery is to take charge of your thinking.  Every response you make to your environment, and every action you take or don't take is propelled by a decision, choice, or response that you make in your thinking.  And the most important aspects of your thinking to take charge of are will, motivation and attitude."

Nature takes charge in subtle ways.  The buds here never argue or decide they don't want to open up and flower.  But they do respond to their environment and if it's too cold to open up, they won't!

So let's be like these beautiful buds and take charge of our lives, and respond to our environment in positive ways!

There is beauty everywhere if we only open our eyes to it

It is such an exciting time of year!  From torrential rainfall, to being snowed in, to discovering opening buds in the sunshine, we are getting it all.  

And whatever nature has to offer at any given moment - it's all beautiful.  Even a frozen raindrop can be source of great beauty and joy.  

I love what Dr. Tae Yun Kim has to say about such things.  As you know, she grew up in horrible circumstances, not only poor but also very much abused.  All she had was nature and the choice to appreciate rather than be depressed.  But you can read about that here.  

Here are her words which can always apply in your life one way or another.  

"Appreciation and gratitude are ways of acknowledging that something is present and real  When you acknowledge and appreciate beauty, you are making it real in your world.  And making beauty real in your world is another way of taking charge of your life.  Because you can see beauty everywhere, let this perception set you free from being a victim of self-imposed ugliness, gloom and depression."

(The Silent Master, page 154)

So let us celebrate every living breath as if it was our last breath!

The importance of taking pictures

Today's thoughts are a continuation of yesterday's - about living in the present moment.  Life is really a series of present moments.  And while no moment will ever come back once it's gone, we can certainly preserve that moment, with pictures and videos, and even in the olden days people tried to preserve moments through paintings and carvings or whatever means they had available.

I never really thought about this much but after re-reading one of Dr. Tae Yun Kim's books, "The First Elements," it clicked.  Let me share the quote with you:

" During a recent natural disaster, sometimes people had only a few minutes notice to get out of their home.  What do you think was one of the most common items people made sure to escape with?  Not the silver, not the jewelry, but photos!  Memories - irreplaceable pictures of moments of joy, moments of love, of victory, togetherness and so on.  How incredible that those intangible memories of moments were so highly prized.  Those people recognized that their joy could last forever, but that ordinary material possessions could go up in smoke or swept away in floods or buried in earthquakes in a few seconds time."
(The First Element page 32)

Also, moments that we think we'll always remember, can and will fade away, but with the help of pictures we'll be able to remember much more than what you see in the picture!  Ever looked through an old photo album and started to giggle, "oh I remember when aunt so and so got married...and we did.....?

Of course, nowadays the majority of pictures live in the mysterious cloud, just remember to print your most important moments and have something tangible just in case the unspeakable were to ever happen.

Happy picture taking and remembering!

Wednesday Wisdom: There is Always only Now

Today was a perfect example of what Dr. Tae Yun Kim means when she talks about "living in the now."

One moment, it was snowing thick, beautiful snowflakes and it was complete winter wonderland.  Less than an hour later, it was like this:

and a little bit later

and then I found this:

These words, by Dr. Tae Yun Kim, were "stuck in my head" when I realized what was happening and how beautiful it all was!  

"You live in a wonderful time called now.  In this moment, everything true about you is waiting to be recognized  and expressed.  Everything in the past is gone  Tomorrow will never come.  There is always only now.  You can take charge, take action, and create freedom for yourself."

( The Silent Master, page 162)

Each of these moments was beautiful in its own right, and each of these moments were "now" when it happened.  So let's celebrate each and every moment of our lives, because they are never going to come back!