Inject your life force with vim, verve and vital
Note: Susan Mckenzie is an incredible organizer of the words. She has successfully reorganized my articles to make a lot more sense than the original. I admire her talents. I am making a few exceptions to this Blog where I post only what I write and I am including Susan’s piece here, this is her 2nd piece. – Mike Ghouse
B: Boldness adds zing (vim, verve and vitality) to your steps.
L: Living in a vital way should be top priority.
E: Every festival opens opportunities to enjoy what others hold dear, and enjoying enhances vim, verve and vitality. Enhance everything by absorbing enormous enlightenment from all excellent sources and enjoy exciting experiences (essence of vim, verve and vitality).
S: Share vim and just watch the extra bounce (vim) in your step.
S: Spice of life is variety and we can spice up our lives by being more open to other cultures’ ways of life.
Y: You can do yourself and others so much good when you see the goodness, vim and vitality in all creation. Your life force is an energy (as is vim, verve and vitality), so when you enhance vim, verve and vitality you are enhancing life force.
O: Open to learning from every possible source.
U: Ultimate enlightenment (upping your vim) takes place when you become Brahma, a state where you do not have any barriers between you and what surrounds you. Utterly enlightening and beautiful are the major religions that explain how to reach a similar state of being.
1. FESTIVE FUN
“My family has come to believe that all festivals are meant to celebrate and share the joy with the people you know.” (Mike Ghouse celebrates all festivals)
2. Wholeheartedly wholehearted
“No matter what you do in life, do it wholeheartedly.” This brings joy to oneself and the others who will consume the work.” (Mike Ghouse).
3. CHERISH THE WISE
Mike Ghouse has always cherished Abe Lincoln’s statement “with malice towards none.” Practicing this bestows peace.
4. OPEN SESAME
“I am open to learning from every possible source,” says Mike Ghouse. Are you?
5. TRUTH BE TOLD
”Don’t let prejudice stop you from learning all the good you can learn from all religious teachers.” I believe learning about other faiths simply enhances one’s search for the truth.
6. ULTIMATE BEAUTY
The ultimate in learning is when you become Brahma, to borrow from the Hindu philosophy, whence you do not have a barrier between you and what surrounds you. That is precisely what the Qur’aan means when it asks you to submit to the will of God.Krishna means surrender to him, or Jesus when he says follow me. You cannot go wrong with their advice and the wisdom of all other beautiful religions. (Mike Ghouse)
7. FAITHFUL BEAUTY
As beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, religion is in the heart of the believer. Each faith is beautiful to the believer and we should honor that.
8. NOURISHING QUEST
“Each one of the holy books nourishes me in my quest for the truth. It is quite inspiring to open each book and draw an enormous amount of wisdom from it.” (Mike Ghouse).
9. GREAT GOODNESS
Think of the good you can do to other beings, the goodness you bring to God’s creation (Mike Ghouse inspired by Prophet Muhammad).
10. PEACE AND HAROMONY
God wants us to live in peace and harmony with his creation; that is indeed the purpose of religion, any religion. We cannot demand peace unless we are peaceful ourselves.
11. I BELIEVE
“I believe each one of us is created by the same creative process with a singular source [GOD] for such creation. I believe that respecting each one of its creations is the best form of praising, worshipping and honoring that creator. I believe knowledge leads to understanding and understanding to acceptance and appreciation of people with a different point of view. If we can learn to accept and respect the God given uniqueness of each one of the 6 billion of us then conflicts fade and solutions emerge.”
12. MIGHTY MENTORS
Mike just cannot sit quiet when he feels he can raise his voice. He was inspired by Prophet Muhammad’s quote that when you see injustice, the least you can do is to speak up. Martin Luther King Jr. is one of Mike’s mentors, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly”. Reverend Moon insists that the world would be a better place if we all care for each other and the Native American Chief Seattle said something to this effect. We are merely a strand in this world wide web, if we mess one, we mess the others.
13. DARE TO DREAM
Ray Bradbury inspires Mike Ghouse: Whatever you can do or dream that you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.
Mike Ghouse
Mike Ghouse is a contributor of www.abetoday
For more information about Mike check out the list of contributors at www.abetoday.com and also http://www.mikeghouse.net/ProfileMikeGhouse.asp
About the author
An I CAN READ English specialist with over 20 years teaching experience, I have worked in the British Council and Linguaphone, well-known language institutions. I am a London-trained lawyer and have been the public affairs officer at the British High Commission, Singapore, as well as an editor in an international book publishing house and a national magazine. In 2006, I was appointed as an Ambassador of Peace (Universal Peace Federation and Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace). I am also co-author of two law books: English Legal System and Company Law, published by Blackstone, Oxford University Press. For enquiries about I CAN READ classes, email [email protected]. FOR DAILY BLESSINGS: www.abetoday.com