Onions and Garlics

When life becomes very difficult,
If you are an onion, you must become a garlic
And if you are a garlic, you must be an onion..

Let me explain..
An onion has many layers and a core
(occasionally two cores!)
A garlic has only one layer and a core

Here's the difference:
The thoughts, perceptions and attitudes of onions
Like electrons, can orbit from one layer to another layer..
One minute, it is summer
Next minute, it is spring
Today, it is winter
Tomorrow, it is autumn..
The world of onions can be rather chaotic
Their intents are often maybes and possiblies..
Their paradigms are often anywheres, anyhows, anytimes..
There is hardly any rigidity with onions..
Their limits are only the orbits they are on at the moment..
Onions like chameleons..
Because of their sensible and sensitive nature
Can function on different layers at the same time..
Or function on the same layers at different times..

Garlics have only two layers:
Yes - No
Right -Wrong
Black - White
Can -Can't
Do - Don't
Will -Won't
I - You
Me -They
Mine - Others
On - Off
Simple and precise,
Clear and concise..
No ifs, no buts..
At best, confident and sure
At worse, intolerant and pompous..

So here is why I mean:
Know yourself whether you are an onion or a garlic..
It does well to learn to be both
In order to survive this mad, mad world..

Life is like a cookery lesson..
You cannot use only one ingredient
Neither can you use too many..
Taste and texture..
Method and colour..
Time and speed..
Hot and cold..
And all the others in between..

But one thing remains:
You cannot compromise the common good for self interest
Meaning you cannot jeopardise the whole dish
Just for the luxury of a few or many exotic ingredients..

After all the work and the fire
The end-dish should still be season-worthy
The contribution still be reason-worthy
And this is the meaning of living life

It is an art to learn to be
BOTH an onion and a garlic..
Life for you and others
Will certainly be more flavourful..

Yoda's Seven Pitfalls

I - inertia (I can't...)
M - money-mind
L - laziness (I won't...)
U - untimeliness
V - vanity
D - dishonesty

Yoda's Comforts

C -cyling
O - origami
M- music
F - food
O - organize
R - roller-blade
T - The Word
S - simple pleasures

Tabuk's Wisdom

Feel me.
I am strong and fierce, yet I am soft and gentle.
I have much power, yet I am peaceful and loving.
I can defend myself, yet I remain kind and giving.
Feel who I am.
I have much joy and passion, yet I am not dramatic.
I do not indulge in negative emotions.

Don't try to outsmart your boss.
Take your focus and your energies away from what he is doing to you
Instead, focus on acknowledging who you are.
Become aware of your being, of the 'I AM presence' that you are.
As you turn your attention to building self-esteem,
your love of yourself and capacity to love others,
he will not be able to affect or harm you.

Observe how he is operating in the world -
dishonestly, out of fear and greed.
There is much weakness in the character of an individual who functions this way.
Have compassion for him.

Stand up for yourself, yes.
But do it with a sense of love and compassion.
It is about feeling your heart chakra,
and letting your strength and power come from your heart,
from love - and not from your fears.

Your fears cause you to be scattered, impulsive,
intense and overly dramatic.
The power of love in your heart allows you
to breathe deeply and slowly -
to pause, and then respond, not react.

No one has power over you unles you give them your power.
Take your power back.
Stop thinking and fearing and focusing energy on how he can hurt you.
This is how you give your power away.
Instead bless him.
Bless the outcome of the situation.
Finally, after you take right action and bless the results,
place it God's hands...
And remember your sense of humour.
You take things too seriously.
Tak the life-and-death attitude out of it.
Remove yourselve from indulging in the dramas,
and start enjoying the process of life, of growth.

Bless the good that will come form having to interact with him in your life.
You will learn and grow here.
The universe placed him in your life right now for a reason.
This situation, which you think is disempowering you,
is in truth just what you need to work with
in order to become more empowered.
If he wasn't there, you would have attracted
another situation and another person to treat you the same way,
in order to activate this very same lesson and healing.
So use this experience in this way.
And stop resisting who he is,
stop trying to change him.
Change yourself instead.

It's such a magnificent journey.
Enjoy it!

Excerpt from "Meeting Tabuk" by Ellen Lieberman Weil

To Be Force-Bound

Faith is the centrepiece of a connected life.
It allows us to live by the grace of invisible strands.
It is a belief in a wisdom superior to our own.
- Terry Tempest Williams

The Legacy of the Jedi

He that can only boast of a distinguished lineage,
boasts of that which does not belong to himself;
but he that lives worthily of it
is always held in the highest honour.
- Junius

Yoda's Lightsaber

Perpetual pushing and assurance
put a difficulty out of countenance,
and make a seeming impossibility give way.
- Jeremt Collier