I used to have this really awesome ring...actually I still have it...
I need to find it...and wear it again.
This is a ring I came across over a decade ago or more....The writing is in Sanskrit, and the scripture is Buddhist. Om mani padme hum means the jewel in the lotus.
It is interesting how over time ideas can evolve and become so much more in depth and in meaning. While this ring or the scripture in the ring meant so much to me then, it has come to mean so much more to me now.
After ending a three year relationship and traveling to the ancient Incan ruins of Machu Picchu, the evolution of me became so much more. Through this adventure, I became me again. I became happy again. I found myself. Through this adventure, I learned how to live for the day again. While being a goal setter, a doer, and achiever can produce results, I was had realized some time during the previous month that I was going to drive myself directly to my grave at a very fast pace. My schedule was always full, one day seamed to fly right past the other, and before I knew it....it was always Friday again. While this is what most of us Monday through Friday career people look forward to, I realized that my life was flashing before my eyes quicker than ever.
What aided in the spiritual evolution? Well, not working helped a lot, but it was more than that...traveling to the ancient ruins of Peru, being engulfed in a culture that was so different and so ancient...so rich in history and culture, visiting museums, trekking the country side, driving out of the city, hiking the ancient ruins of Machu Picchu, hashing things out with my now good friends that I traveled with, listening to Opera, and reading...a lot.
On this trip I finished two books. I was very proud of myself for completing these two books on my trip...simply because it had been awhile, since I finished one at all. The first book was The Power of Now by Eckhart Tole, and the second book was called The Monk Who Sold his Ferrari by Robyn Shama. The Power of Now was a difficult book for me to want to read because the ideas were so complex, abstract, and deep that I had to reread paragraphs multiple times to wrap my brain around what the author was trying to say. This made me a little crazy. Now couple that with reading on a flight and the stewardess or pilot comes on to give the flight procedures, turbulence announcements, expected time of arrival, etc., and your brain just goes crazy! It's very frustrating! But needless to say, I finished it! And I was so happy!
One of the biggest ideas that I took away from The Power of Now was this: Time is an illusion. Not totally revolutionary...we have all heard that before. But to truly evaluate how time has affected ones life...dates, calendars, watches, scheduling, planning for tomorrow, the future, and working, etc., it is easy to see how we can forget to live for the day. I certainly had. I was always planning, and still do, but I was so future oriented that I forgot how to tap into the true me that lies deep within. Well, I have regained that understanding, how to lose a clock, the illusion of time, and I am learning how to be that person that I want to be today...not tomorrow, but now.
The second book, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari was such an easy read! I absolutely loved this book! It is by far one of my new faves, and I highly recommend it to my good friends! This book is written as a fable about fulfilling your dreams and reaching your destiny. Through a fable this book reminds us how to be happy by teaching us to live by seven virtues: master your mind, follow your purpose, practice kaizen, live with discipline, respect your time, serve others, and embrace the present. I can't say enough good things about this book! It is definitely one I would reread, and I already immediately loaned it out to a good friend, Greg Amundson, who loved it as well.
