Painting of Lao Tzu

Lao Tzu was the most important spiritual Chinese sage. His name, which is also often called Laozi, literally means “Old Master” and is generally considered an honorific.

He lived in the 6th century BC, at the same time as Confucius, who was born a generation after Lao Tzu. He once sought out Lao Tzu who told him “Strip yourself of your proud airs and numerous desires, your complacent demeanor and excessive ambitions. They won’t do you any good. This is all I have to say you.”

Las Tzu is the father of the Chinese spiritual tradition Taoism, mainly because of his text called Tao te Ching (Tao: the way of all life, te: the fit use of life by men, ching: text or classic).

It is based on the Tao (The Way), which is the creator and sustainer of all things in the Universe, and the practice of doing by nondoing (wu-wei) that enables the disciple to unite with the Tao.

Lao Tzu wrote his only book Tao Te Ching just before he walked away from the Chou empire he served. There are a lot of translations of Tao te Ching, which begins with the very first words of …

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Steve Jobs presenting iCal

"Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." ~ Steve Jobs

This is a very practical posting in which I will show you my personal weekly planning process. I hope you can use and adapt it for your own productivity and success. It is basically my own mixture of systems from Anthony Robbins, Stephen Covey and David Allen with a little bit of today’s technology powered by Steve Jobs ;)

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“To give your sheep or cow a large, spacious meadow is the way to control him.” – Shunryu Suzuki

Note: This is a post by Scott Aaron Gaul. Scott is a Stress Relief Trainer. He has studied in India and has a four year degree from Antioch University in spiritual psychology. You may visit his website at QuietMindCafe.com

A quiet mind is the centerpiece of any relaxation technique. And a quiet mind is developed only through skill and practice. Because, stress is automatic but relaxation is learned.

Not all stress is bad. Stress is a necessary and important element of daily life. In an instant, stress can prepare the body and mind for situations that require immediate strength and action. A little stress can improve concentration and job performance. But when stress continues throughout the day or longer, it becomes chronic stress. There is no good side to chronic stress. Chronic stress suppresses the immune system, causes rapid aging, makes the body retain excess fat, dulls thinking, increases pain, is the root cause for more than 80% of illnesses today, and generally reduces quality of life.

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Photo courtesy of Julian Beever

"If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." ~ Wayne Dyer

Have you ever fought about a position you had with another person and you simply couldn’t figure out why he or she just could not agree with you? It seemed so obvious and so darn right. "What is the matter with you? Can’t you see that I am right?"

In this article I want to look closely on the matter of different perspectives and how our own perspective shapes what seems right and wrong. Seeing something from a different perspective can raise your own awareness and enable you to find better solutions, especially if you have a lot of arguments with other people within your work or private life.
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Yesterday I heard this little podcast on the spiritual website elsajoy.com about a peom for Barack Obama . In the introduction he says "This guy isn’t just a politician. He is a teacher, a leader. Obama is to politics what Mozart was to music. "

An amazing statement but it rings true. He is mindful, elegant and with a big heart. You get the feeling that as a politician he not only talks about integrity but actually has it. Looking from the outside (Germany) to the approaching election one dares to say: America, Obama is the best thing that could happen to you now! The only thing you have to do is make it happen.

I actually researched some of his speeches and found the following 10 Quotes to be most inspiring and convincing, I hope you do too.
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“Imagine being asleep in your bed for years and years, having dream after dream. In these dreams you could experience a whole variety of things. You could have wonderful dreams and nightmares. When you’re in the dream, they feel so real. You’re either flying around the world and doing your absolute favorite things or running for your life with heart pounding. It all feels incredibly real!” ~Ariel Bravy

Ariel Bravy is author of his site ArielBravy.com and he writes amazing blogposts about spiritual growth. The content is not only Enlightenment or Spirituality in general, but there are also different insightful posts about creation, manifestation and the nature of reality.

After the first part in the interview-series with Evelyn Lim of AttractionMindMap, which focused on Personal Development and also the Law of Attraction, this interview is all about Spiritual Development.

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Photo courtesy of Made Underground

"King Solomon once searched for a cure against depression. He assembled his wise men together. They meditated for a long time and gave him the following advice: Make yourself a ring and have thereon engraved the words "This too shall pass". The King carried out the advice. He had the ring made and wore it constantly. Every time he felt sad and depressed, he looked at the ring, whereon his mood would change and he would feel cheerful." (The Story of King Solomon )

This is a very personal post today. I want to share one of the darkest periods of my 34 years of life so far. It was the time when I was studying and when I suffered from a clinical depression or major depressive disorder. It was an extremely difficult and numbing time but it taught me a lot and I came out of it pretty strong.

My intent is to show what I have learned from it, how I came out of it and to inspire people who think they are in a hopeless situation right now.
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