Brenda Schinke

All of us are constantly striving to become beautiful people. We want to change ourselves, transform ourselves, become perfect in every way. We don’t want to be angry, we don’t want to be judgmental, we don’t want to be jealous, we don’t want to compare, we don’t want to be dishonest; we want to become this beautiful person. And all of us carry within us the image of this beautiful person. The image painted to us by our religion, by our scriptures, by our spiritual tradition, by our society, by our parents.

What is this image? The image of the person, who is never angry, who is never anxious, who is never afraid, who is sweet, full of love, generous, non-judgmental, non-jealous, etc … and constantly you are trying to become this person. You read a book and see you can become this person. You go to a temple, mosque, church, a synagogue and see if you can become this person or you attend lectures like this, seminars like this, hoping you would become this person.

There is constantly a war, a battle of conflict happening within, a conflict between what you are and what you should be like, your present state and the beautiful person you should be, and that is why we constantly find ourselves evaluating every thing into two. Evaluating our thoughts, our speech, our actions, like a referee, saying this is good, this is bad, this should be there, this should not be there. You feel guilty, and then you do all things trying to feel better. We waste so much of our time, our energy and our life, just trying not to feel guilty. And you hope that one day you would become this beautiful person.

1.    Are you aware of when your mind is judging your or someone else’s behavior?

2.    What can you say that will allow you to be ok with you or someone else?

3.    Why would it be important to add non-judgment to your life?

Until next time,
Brenda

We gain nothing talking about the truth, about our true nature, about the unity consciousness. We only flood our mind with more concepts. We are about living life, if we can really live life?

I was speaking to you about this young singer from Mexico. He came to the Oneness University several times. The first time he came, he came with a very profound question – What is the Purpose of my Life? May be if I spoke about that you will probably feel more at home because these are the questions that you expect spiritual people to talk about. This man came with this question. And every few hours he would ask this question to me - What is the Purpose of my Life? I would say I don’t know, Noel. His name is Noel. He kept asking this for ten days.

I had an explanation but that explanation is not the answer, because these questions don’t have an answer. The question itself must disappear, because the question arises from a discontent, from a sense of meaninglessness, from a sense of a lack, lacking a purpose. I offer no explanation because that would not be the real answer. However on the tenth day approximately we were all meditating in the night, a group of 70 people. The room was dark just a candle light at around 1 or 2 in the night we heard a man scream in the room and we all knew it was this person because by then he had become popular in the group because of his persistent question what is the purpose of my life. And what did he scream – "Master! All I want to do is drink a glass of water and eat a banana".

What a profound question – what is the purpose of my life, the ultimate existential question for which every philosopher would die to give an explanation and what an answer he found! He said – "All I want to do is drink a glass of water and eat a banana". This is Life. If we can truly drink a glass of water and eat a banana the question does not exist because the purpose of life is living itself. Because we cannot experience life this way, we try to create a meaning for our life and search for that meaning.

This is life. If you are doing what you are doing when the simple experiences of your day to day existence like drinking a glass of water, like driving your car, like working, like dancing, like watching a movie like playing a sport, when they are transformed into enjoyable experience that is living, that is spirituality.

1.    How conscious are you in everyday life?

2.    Notice the times when you are on auto-pilot. An example is driving to work and then realizing that is not where you were supposed to be going.

3.    What are some actions you will take today to become more aware and present?

Until next time,
Brenda

Here’s a great reminder from www.kabbalah.com.

The number one statement we need to understand this week is, we are not our bodies - we are only our soul.

What’s the body here for, you ask? It’s the car on the road trip of life. It’s the vehicle that allows us to do good actions in the world and to be a conduit for revealing positive energy.

The body is a temporary means to an end. I think all of us have had those middle-of-the-night epiphanies, where we realize the depth of this statement. But it’s hard to keep in our minds, and we all fall into caring what people think about us — good or bad — and we obsess over our reflection in the mirror.

The Baal Shem Tov, a Kabbalist who lived and taught in the 18th century, reminded his students to always feel they are only soul. Yes, the body is a temple, and it’s important to care for and respect it. But again, we have to reclaim our territory and care of our soul.

How? Well, for starters, the soul needs to be fed. What does our soul eat? Energy, of course. The energy feeding our soul comes from the good actions we do on a daily basis. The number one way to have a soul that is harmonious, open and well-fed is to systematically look for people that need help and do what we can to meet their needs.

Another tip for caring for our soul comes first thing in the morning. The Kabbalists recommend waking up each day roaring like a lion. The seed for our entire day begins in the morning. In fact, if we find we’ve been upside down and in a bad mood all day, it’s likely it began in the morning.

But if we change our consciousness, knowing something great is going to happen, excited about the unexpected magic, intending that this day will be the best day ever, we’ll be shocked to see how many incredible things will happen to us. When we wake up energized and ready to go for it, we will be in tune with our soul.

This week, practice waking up each day like a lion. Really put your soul forward from the beginning of the day. And notice the ongoing, non-stop demands of your body. Redirect these desires by looking for ways to share love, time and effort with people. You never know when the Light is going to put someone in your path whose day — or life - you can save.

Pay attention to the yearnings of your soul. It’s the only way to win this race.

1. Remember how you woke up the last few days. 
2. Did you set an intention?
3. How will you wake up differently tomorrow?

Until next time,
Brenda

One of my favorite occupations is life coaching. As a life coach, I love being the raving fan on the sidelines in my client’s game of life.  I get to be their number one supporter, sometimes even before they believe they can achieve their goals.  

Brainstorming with the client in defining their outcome, setting smart goals and creating an action plan is a sure way to get them excited, and also to hold them accountable to their commitments.

Coaching clients requires great listening skills. Sometimes what the client doesn’t say is even more important than what they are telling you. Clients sometimes get confused and think coaching is a problem solving center. They just want you to help them fix what is not working. This can produce attainable results but not sustainable results. If the client does not know the “why” behind his result they may fizzle out before the result is obtained. Finding the “why” will prevent the client from struggling and not reaching their goals.

The beauty of clients consistently achieving or exceeding their goals through coaching is that there is no need for advertising. I work only through referrals and take a limited number of clients so that I can continue to enjoy my chosen occupation.

I invite you to think about the following questions:

1.    In what area of your life do you produce consistent outstanding results?

2.    How do you utilize this in your personal or professional life?

3.    How will you make this something you get to enjoy on a regular basis?

Until next time,
Brenda