A Post from London England

When I found Les Floyd's blog I liked it so much I had to--with permission from Les--repost this segment.  The title of this post is "Rebirthday and Forgiveness." http://lesism.blogspotcom


Three years ago today, in the early hours of the morning, while pinned down under the opening salvos of what I resigned myself to believe would be another long attack of deep depression, I experienced the spiritual Awakening that changed my life, for good.

It took about an hour of spontaneous enlightenment to wash away the associated detritus of more than twenty years of mental suffering; the guilt, anxiety, fear and a whole host of other negative emotions that had ensnared my being were finally gone, leaving me free to start again and live my life with a peaceful mind and open heart.
 
Literally even just a day before I experienced this shift of consciousness, I wouldn’t have dreamt it was possible that such a dramatic change could come about… especially not to me.

It still feels like a miracle, of sorts. I didn’t pray or hope for it. It just happened, out of the blue, without me setting down an intention or attempting to will myself into being happy, at long last. My mind was clouded with self-loathing and gnawing sadness, and, lost in the fog of ego, the urge to destroy myself would have been much higher on the ‘things to do’ list than seeking salvation from the torture I was going through.
 
Although I’m still not quite sure what happened, it felt as though some supernatural force had decided that enough was enough and since I couldn’t find my own way to achieving inner peace, they’d give me a boost. That hour of revelation and the waves of energy I felt pulsate from my crown, down to my chest, made me feel as though I was downloading a secret rulebook on being a happy human.

Without the events of that day, it would be impossible that I’d be writing this now. At best, I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy the extraordinary journey I’ve been on over the past three years, and at worst, I may well have ended up killing myself.

Hindsight’s speculation doesn’t matter, now, though. Whatever happened happened, and here I am, firmly planted in the now. 

I believe that this same enlightenment is open to just about everyone in the world, and – without meaning to sound like I’m full of myself – I know that, through my writing, I’ve helped an awful lot of people towards discovering their own space of inner-tranquility.

There have been ups and downs over the past three years, but the downtimes are simply not comparable to the severe plunges I experienced before the Awakening. I have the occasional bad day – like any other, normal human being has – but I don’t let psychological debris collect in my mind. If unpleasant or negative thoughts enters my head, I have the awareness to shoo them away and think of something useful and positive, instead. 

The greatest lesson I learnt was the gift of forgiveness; the ability to forgive not just those who we consider have done us harm, but also – and, arguably, more importantly – to forgive ourselves.
Forgiveness of oneself is an exquisitely liberating process. It allows you to unchain your spirit from egoic, mental suffering and begin afresh.

Forgiving others does not even mean you have to tell them that they’re forgiven. If you consider someone has hurt you deeply, in the past, letting go of that pain is a gift, first and foremost, to you. Once you learn to jettison the thoughts that hurt you – which are only ever negative and needless – you clear extra space for good and positive energy to enter your world.

When you forgive, do it whole-hearted. Don’t just say it or think it; feel it in your being and know it in your soul. Anchor yourself in the present moment and reject the inane and incessant babbling of the egoic mind. It is generally an idiot.

The same peace within me is waiting for you to discover it within yourself. It’s available right now, if you’ll only see it.

Peace.

Posted by Les Floyd

P.S. from Joyce. Monica Euen reblogged  Peaches' post "The Spark That Was Disney." http://dogblogbypeaches.blogspot.com


If you are interested in life's twists and turns as regards our family, stay tuned.

 

Clink, Clank, Rattle, Rattle

Clink, clank, rattle, rattle—that is a frequent sound around here.

 It’s the sound of Legos.

First in the house were regular sized Lego pieces that Little Boy Darling has become skilled in creating strange and unusual combinations of,  as well an recognizing specific pieces and figures. Ninjago, Chima, Equila, gosh I don’t know what all. Selling them is Daughter’s business.  Now she and I have moved onto Duplo Legos which are the larger sized bricks and pieces safe for toddlers and children before they move into regular Legos.  We are selling on eBay.

Last night it sounded like a train going through the house. Daughter was rummaging--clink, clank, whap, swoosh, a ton of bricks on a wooden floor--through boxes of Duplos looking for specific pieces. Let’s see, can I recognize that piece? Sounds like its inches long, an inch wide, yellow—well, how could I tell the color?

We had a veritable assembly line going on a large fold-up table set up in the living room. Little boy Darling assembled the sets—a crane, a foot high, has a wench, a truck, work men, bricks, the truck can be filled from a gurgling gas can. There’s a Fire Station set, a Polar Bear Zoo, A Farm with a cloth plat-mat with fields, a road, a plowed field, the list goes on and on. I had no idea. I thought we were into the animals with cute figures and bricks, trees, those sorts of things, but now we have popped into such units as an exquisite  Glow-in-the-dark Pirate ship. It is 16 inches long, and FLOATS!

 

Daughter took pictures, looked up prices, and wrote descriptions. I listed the items on-line.

Within the last two weeks we have accumulated a truck-load of Duplos. Honestly, eight large Lowe’s boxes. They filled the back of the pickup. We found a huge lot of Duplos from a seller in Colorado. At first they wanted us to pick them up on site. Right, a trip to Colorado this time of the year. But after checking transport fees, the kind, wonderful owners agreed to ship them for us.

These people have accumulated Duplo Legos since 1978, and have some rare and hard to find sets—and  in their original boxes. Imagine having your kids play with Legos and keeping the boxes intact. (Albeit most are damaged.)  And these people are in the military and have transported their belongings  a couple of times back and forth from Germany.

Now they are happy with new-found closet space. From your closet to my office. Ta Da. It is time to sell.

We are User ID wigglywombat  (Duplos)

Daughter’s ID is nbrancaccio (Regular Legos)

P.S.

Last week for Daughter’s birthday we went to Disneyland, and of course we had to visit the Lego store in Downtown Disney. I sat with Little Boy Darling as he assembled pieces from their play station, and looked down the row at people totally engrossed in their creations. There were two- year-olds, teenagers, young adults, and us people more advanced in years. All love Legos.  What a phenomenon. And this company has remained a privately owned business since its onset in 1932 when Ole Kirk Christiansen began selling wooden toys. He began plastic bricks in 1949.

 The quality of Legos is unsurpassed.

I have to ask though, why or why do all figures have to have a weapon in their hand?

Well, all except for Duplo.



Holy Cow, Trafalger Square make of Legos