To perceive the world differently, we must be willing to change our belief system, let the past slip away, expand our sense of now, and dissolve the fear in our minds. by William James

Invitation to what you may ask?  This is an invitation to ask you to unravel and bring forth the inner gift bestowed upon you.  Each of us carries a treasure, a treasure to be discovered.  What stands between you and your treasure is your mindset.  Your mindset is a conglomeration of your learned behavior and a little of your own authentic self.  The learned mindset feels comfortable with the familiar and refuses to be disturbed.  The new authentic mindset wants to show its presence.  Thus there is a continuous contention between the two.  The old, the dying and the familiar are persistent since you have developed intimacy and have acquired a habit.  As this contention between the two occurs there is discomfort and agony and at one point it becomes bothersome.  You now experience a contest between the past and the present.

The past is busy justifying and legitimizing itself.  The mindset of the past makes you believe that is who you are.  You attach yourself to it and it becomes your identity.  You become blind to new opportunities since the past hinders you from seeing the reality.  You define yourself as if you are static and even develop a ritual to maintain the old and the dying.  The moment reality shows up you become defensive and shy away from taking responsibility and being accountable.  Then you proceed with your complaint.  You are so attached to your past identity that your denial continues and you miss out from discovering the new and unknown.  It even deprives you  from realizing your capability in creating a new phenomenon.

What is the advantage to holding on to the past and the familiar?  It provides a superficial comfort and really it is superficial since there is nothing in the history of humanity that has remained constant.  Each breath you take is fundamentally different than the one you took a second ago.  There are seamless and invisible changes you go through constantly.   However, the mind makes you believe that everything is permanent and you end up being unchanged.  You wallow in the same mundane thinking and you miss discovering your natural gift.  Your past road map creates friction between the old and the new.  The nonalignment between the past and the present eventually brings frustration.

The past makes you pessimist and shields you from knowing the cause of the discomfort.  Loss of purpose, stagnation, discomfort, remorse, sorrow and a perpetual denial of reality literally eat and consume you.  You exert unnecessary energy.  The effort to maintain the habit requires double fold energy.  It only satisfies your ego.  It makes you resist and what you end up with is internal disturbance and disharmony.  You end up reinforcing a dis-empowering belief.  But the very thing you are resisting blinds you to the present.  Hence, what you end up doing is projecting the past to the present and you continue to resist.  You miss out from entertaining possibilities.  What you resist persists and the cycle will continue until you consciously disconnect yourself from the past.

My invitation to you is to find strength and risk and venture out and stretch yourself.  The process of creation slowly but surely will first bliss you with quantitative change.  And in the spur of a moment you will witness the new beginning leading you to a qualitative change.  You get to raise the bar and step out of stagnation.  Contemplate on my invitation.  Play around with the idea.  You will wake up to a whole new you.  This invitation will help you propel yourself to express your grander self.  by Shashu Habtu

The moment there is a connection to ones purpose there is no vacillating.  The time has come for you to accept and direct your energies towards that which you truly are.  Today you have been gifted to witness your purpose with utmost clarity.  Purpose and passion is what has ignited every cell in your body.  It is what we call your purpose in the world.  Suddenly a shift has happened and you must accept your grander responsibility in this life.  It is so visible that there is nothing that will obstruct your knowing.  For years it has been lying quiet for a very long time but now it has come to presence and jolted itself out.  With honor and nobility accept your good fortune.

You have navigated through life not understanding what your real purpose was and now it is as clear as daylight.   You now have the opportunity to manifest and give your undivided attention to your passion.  This clarity of purpose has now come to you directly and instantaneously.  Do not shy away from it.  It is the feeling that  stirs every nerve in your body.  Considerations and reluctance are now history.  Stand unwaveringly to your ultimate purpose.  You have crossed many paths that made it seem like you were on the right path.   It was indeed the right path because it certainly brought you to your unstoppable moment and has kindled the fire in you.

You have arrived to meet yourself to express your authenticity.  You the most beautiful in this whole wide world as you!

Now is the time to set everything in motion.  Passion and purpose go hand in hand and believe that you are on the right track.  You now have the capacity to act and chart your own course to  fulfill your dream.

It does not matter what anyone says or thinks.  It is meaningless to adhere to standards and ways of being that you never took part in designing.  Now is the time to be in alignment with your passion.  You have been awakened and there will be no hesitation or consideration to delay what you sincerely stand for.  The spark to life has now been lit and you know it on a cellular level.

You have conceived your destined truth and now is the time for you to act on it.  Preserve your energy and utilize your power to ignore distractions or hindrances.  Move towards the direction of being your true self expression.  Live by your word and deliver that which is dear and authentic to who you are with no consideration to the idiosyncrasies that confront you.

There is joy and fulfillment waiting for you because for the first time in your life you found your true essence.  You are destined to unwaveringly be fully self expressed.  Don’t be considerate but be bold to take up responsibility to lead.  Be true to yourself and stand to be of service to your fellow human beings.  End the game and release and surrender yourself to create that which brings meaning and spark to life.  by Shashu Habtu

The commencement of something of benefit is very exciting.  It takes us to a space of joy and complete elation.  To anticipate the birth of something is incredibly empowering. After the excitement the real challenge comes once that which was conceived as an idea becomes material. It is naive to think that everyone will be on the same page with the birth of something new and beneficial. It is the few that live on the edge who deliver a new vision to benefit us all.

These visionaries will be subject to scrutiny and face many skeptics. They will face resistance because they have nothing to show except their idea. Those that don’t understand or are chained by their old paradigm will do anything to discourage and be resigned from embracing the new idea. The nay sayers are in the negative because they don’t have the level of understanding and cannot fathom a new idea because they are stuck in their old way of thinking.

As a result the visionaries will be small in number and have a tremendous task ahead of them. They cannot afford to spend time to convince everyone but must preoccupy themselves in nurturing, caring and exerting all effort to work towards bearing a tangible result. So they move with determination and commitment creating conducive environments for the idea to be realized

Interestingly enough the path is not smooth. There will be the old, past oriented individuals that will defame, discourage, oppose and create deterrents. They will make every effort to block the new from succeeding. In this entanglement of the new with the old there will be unforeseen sequence of events that will delay the emergence of the new. However, no undermining or skepticism will stop the tide of change. Some delay could be encountered but no force can stop a progressive idea from being material.

It is important to discern the conflict that arises between the dying and the new. The diehards and the dormant will propagate the impossibility whereas visionaries have no time to go tit for tat but to simply proceed to create the impossible.

No new phenomena could be arrested by those that project the present from their old way of thinking. It is certain that visionaries do move forward without being distracted by those that live with the filters of yesterday. The entanglement of the old with the new is a temporary phenomenon. It is in light of the unstoppable commitment and conviction of visionaries that humanity has progressed. Once the benefit of the new is grasped then the old dies. New stories are delivered and we arrive at a new terrain. That is where the new fundamentally different scenario is created into a new landscape.  by Shashu Habtu

There lies a beautiful work of Art. Quiet, but alive. Each structure built with precision, meant to deliver much happiness to the world. She/he is sometimes sad, sometimes angry, sometimes very vibrant but surely jolly. It is incredibly amazing to see such beauty.

So, you think I am talking about the physical. You only think of the outer. Look beyond the physical, go inside, just penetrate and see the work of art. What work of art? You might say. Well, there is a work of art that is alive, ever changing, ever being renewed, ever being built and refined like those ancient palaces. Must I say meticulously created like those ancient places of worship?

Yes, there is a work of art right within you. And where do you go searching to find that work of art? Somewhere, far away where you will be on your own? But do you forget that work of art is with you anyway? The work of art is that being that fears nothing. A work of art that is alive and living each second, each moment and never sleeps. It gazes to the world both day and night. That being has no borders, no walls no dividers.

It is the story of beings. Beings that do not know themselves, that are always looking and ever tiring themselves by looking. The treasure is nowhere else to be found. It is right there inside you. That is what you are looking for. But you have not gone far only changed places. The being is with you. It wants out to be free and be present. Somehow you think the environment is preventing it from revealing itself. No, do not feel cheated. Do not follow the shadow. You are it. You are the being camouflaged by your physical body.

Challenge, confrontation, work, time all are to be faced by you, the being. Do not for a moment think your being can’t handle it. Do not say it is impossible. When you say can’t or impossible it is the being that you are scared to face. You yourself are that being. You want to slow it down. But there is no slowing down. The being wants out. Deal with it, Face it, confront it and be present to it. There is no way you are going without it. So, face your challenges and resolve them so your being is fully expressed. Joy, victory, peace become your lot when you are one with your being.

New challenges come into being and you are under the illusion you don’t know how to face them. Don’t undermine your being. Your being is capable of so much you don’t know. It will address anything and everything. It is your inner force, the one that defines you, the one that reflects radiance, the one that heals each strand of your physical body, the one that is empowered and empowers others that is the “Beautiful Work of Art”. Those who see it appreciate it those who deal with it handle it with care and those who have not found themselves fear it.

Why fear? They say “Fear” stands for “False Evidence Appearing Real”. That’s right! When faced with obstacles or hindrances we attribute everything to the environment. The environment contributes but is it really the environment that has the answer to our solution? Believe in your being and you will overcome anything and everything. Failure to see your greatest gift is like stealing away the joy, you are depriving life that is meant to be lived by your being. The joy of oneness with your being and the indulgence with your true essence is you reason for being here to experience and overcome anything and everything. If you choose not to accept your inner gifts it will knock on your door as a challenge. And the challenge will come again and again and again until the oneness with the being is acknowledged.

Go, travel, see the world, acquire wealth, and play with your time. But there is nothing that will take you away from the self. There is nothing that will bring you peace. There is nothing that will console you in the darkness of the nights and in the light of daylight. You will need none if you are one with your being. You will fear nothing if you are one with your being. You will beg no one if you are one with your being. Why? Because your being, is peace, creator, love, happiness, truth, integrity, harmony and all. So, if all is that in the being what is there to search for? Really nothing, everything is a matter of choice. It is a choice to reside in the inner sanctuary of your beingness or not. What is there to look for if all is it, the being?

No one can try to run away from self. Do not be fooled. For a moment you want to numb yourself and escape your challenge. Yes, you will be able to do that temporarily until the honeymoon stops and there you face your being again whom you ignored and shut out. The battle continues. Once again your being struggles to free itself. Again the cycle of issues comes into being.

So, what of it you might say? When you face a challenge deal with it head on. Do not shy away from it. For a little while you will think it is not there.

But you forget that it is not the outer but the inner you are dealing with.

So, wherever you are and whatever you do however you situate yourself if you have not dealt with the inconvenience it will show up again and again until you face it and wholeheartedly deal with it. It is your being, not a stranger, just you, your own true essence.

Once you free yourself and be your being, time, place, event, surrounding will have no place. You become fully expressed no matter where you are. Wherever and whenever you are you become it, your being. It is your being. You walk tall, confident, fully expressed whether it be in the presence of the “mighty” or in the presence of the “weak”. Bold, assertive, unstoppable, radiant becomes the definition of you. The tide, the wave, the sun, the rain, the cold, the heat, the problem, the challenge of life hit you head on and you withstand it all. Why? You have found the true essence of your being. It does not matter where or with who or what you do, you are your being and no one, nothing can steal away that energy of your inner being. It is not the outer but the inner that really becomes present. Once you experience the inner there is nothing in this world that will take you away from it. You are it. So be it, do it and have it.  by Shashu Habtu

Reflection takes us to the land of questioning. In questioning realization unfolds. Today’s reflection will be on how to handle conflict or contradiction. The two occur when there is friction. Friction comes into the picture when an opposite or polarity exists. It is in the polarities that one gets challenged to no end.

There is birth and we rejoice until we face the death of someone. But in rejoicing and accepting birth one’s awareness must be open to the other polarity which is death. There is daylight and no sooner has one been enjoying the natural light when darkness sets in. The moment one empowering insight evolves its opposite emerges to cause resignation. As much as one witness’s euphoria there follows frustration. These polarities become a reminder that life is in a state of positive or negative. Give attention to something and its opposite pops up.

What then becomes our challenge? It is the being mindful of duality that we are presented with an option to either be cause and an agent of change or a spectator. It is in the tension of opposites that one brings forth the new and embodies the idea of bringing the impossible to fruition or that one gets resigned and remains stagnant by focusing and enumerating the past. There is always an energizing or a disempowering path. The question is how present is one to the opportunity presented each moment and to decide what path to take?

It is in the realm of duality that opportunity exerts itself. One either seizes the moment and creates and becomes cause to a new beginning or vegetates to be stifled with the old becoming passive and submissive. There is always a choice and the result becomes a success or a failure depending on the choice one makes. It is also a fact that wrong choices will be made, however, it is in the act of being cause that the opportunity arises to correct wrong choices.

Taking the path of being cause allows one to create the condition to go to uncharted territories and open up new frontiers. There is never a comfortable moment. Thus, there is no time where anything remains the same, it evolves and undergoes change. That in short is the path in life.

In reflecting on duality and knowing how to exploit the tension brings us to understanding that each one of us are cause to everything. It also becomes relevant to embrace both the negative and positive. When the negative shows up it becomes a queue to recognize that it is time to be the cause to create something new. If one misses the opportunity then one has really become stifled with the old and equipped to only tell stories of the past and the dead in essence becoming an admirer of those that have been bold and brave to change the course of history. To be cause is to be alive and alert to construct and design something that never existed. Do you want to create or react? A wise person once said “Life is not about reaction, Life is about creation”. Which do you choose?  by Shashu Habtu

I start off my topic in how to be vigilant. I wonder what it all entails. Vigilant for what purpose? Vigilant to accomplish what? Vigilant to what end? These are valid inquiries that anyone would make. I stand in the space of emptiness and in the space of unknowing and I am here to simply witness what it is that I am supposed to learn and know. Trust I say, trust what? Aware I say, aware to what? Integrity I say, integrity to what? Committed I say, committed to what? Then I sift through my experiences and I say I have been privy to trust, awareness, integrity but what of it? Wow, all these inquiries and I wonder to what end?

It is by standing naked in my truth that I could have the stamina to actually inquire with boldness. What is my purpose? What is it that I am destined to do with this life? What does it mean to give my word and stand by what I believe in? Inquiries after inquiries and really who is supposed to deliver the truth to me? It could only come from my heart. However, excruciatingly painful it is, I am the one that is supposed to be in sync with what it is I believe in.

And so I say, may there be integrity. May there be transparency to stand in one’s own truth. And may there be stamina to be congruent with one’s words. I must say, action speaks louder than words!!!!!!!!!!!!!  by Shashu Habtu

We are offered each moment to step into presence. This presence is an opportunity for each one of us to chart a new course into our life. What happened is gone but what is present is an incredible opportunity to put a new blue print to live by. Each moment, fresh and new brings us to a place where we have a chance to undo the things that we did unintentionally. Each moment helps us live by our impeccable word and in close alignment with our actions. It is a graceful moment that we enter into to accentuate what works and to bring forth into expression what is congruent to what we stand for.

Life is beautiful. Beautiful and delicate it is and with care and deliberate intention we arrive at a juncture to deliver magnificence. Life is like a present in a box. You peel through the cover and peel through it and you discover a jewel and that jewel itself has to be peeled for us to find an undiscovered jewel.

I commit myself today to live by the grace of Life. I intend to be in the space of creation and to think, speak and act according to my word. My word is to be in the space of presence with gratitude for the bliss of each breath that I take.  by Shashu Habtu

Each moment we are given an opportunity to create anew. Do we remain in the new space and allow something to emerge from within or do we gravitate to replaying the yester years. The new and emerging however much it wants to reveal itself finds it hard to make itself visible because it gets interrupted by the familiar and the already there. The question then is how is it possible one could allow the new to emerge? What does it take to create a path to the unfamiliar? These are ideas that have been pondered upon by many. There are ample tools to learn how to draw out the unfamiliar.

Can the birth of the new come naturally? This inquiry will take us back to our memory lane to sift through how on earth we have been able to lead our life thus far. We are not stagnant, unless we are. We have somehow managed to allow changes to take place in our life. Were the changes that we brought into our life done through awareness or we somehow haphazardly developed them. These are my areas of interest and if you are in the same path as I then join me and let us discover together. I call it a discovery calling. In the process of discovery we will arrive at the most simple way of allowing for the new and unfamiliar to emerge.  by Shashu Habtu

To the most beautiful, loving and generous mamma in the world! Happy Mother’s Day Yene Konjo!
-Yosef