Finding The Miracles In Life's Struggles
Posts tagged love
Do You Know Feng Shui?
01 year
by Alice Lin
in Translated article
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Did you know? Feng Shui is not just for ancestral graves, and not just for the house.
What is Feng Shui? “Feng” in Chinese means “wind, ” and “Shui” means “water.”
“Wind” is the atmosphere and energy, whereas “water” implies the flow and change.
What is the principle of Feng Shui? As it says, “All laws start from the heart .” It is not complicated because the greatest truths are the simplest.
When we talk about Feng Shui, we need to understand how it relates to a person.
The first element in Feng Shui is the human being.
The first element of Feng Shui in the human being is the heart.
The second element of Feng Shui in the human being is the mouth.
The third element of Feng Shui in the human being is the behavior.
Think of human kindness, and the goodness of the others; we say that light gathers. The light moves upward and shows in your face. Because your smiling face is like a yuan bao (a Chinese token of wealth made of gold), and your mouth is shaped like a lotus, it is understandable that you would gain fortune.
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If you think the worst of others, complain and act jealous, then you collect the chi of negativism. This negative chi travels down and gives you an unhappy face. It inevitably brings you bad luck.
Feng Shui is the source of filial piety worship. It is deeply rooted in it, and therefore it helps growth. It gives rise to the prosperity of your business and your family. You will always receive help, and everything will be flourishing for you.
On the contrary, if a person does not practice filial piety, he will not be able to hold a high position because he does not know how to respect the filial piety, colleagues, and in turn, all people. His daily life and work will not be smooth, he will encounter frustration in life again and again, and he will lose at crucial moments.
A blessed one lives in a blessed land. If you are blessed, then wherever your residence is, it will undoubtedly be a blessed place.
Therefore, the most important thing in Feng Shui is to change yourself and your heart for the good. Any problems caused by Feng Shui, such as illness, will naturally disappear.
We all know Feng Shui can help you naturally, but you can also make Feng Shui work through your actions.
Image of lotus is from 台灣之美~2011桃園蓮花季
You will be blessed upon giving. Things will turn smooth upon gratifying. Likewise, you will have more luck upon helping others. You will be more self-content and have more joy. Those who avoid you will not be able to, and the more you share, the more friends you will make.
If you are angry, you will attract more disease;
If you take advantage of others, you will fall into poverty more and more;
If you give, you will accumulate wealth more and more;
If you are lazy and just like to enjoy yourself, you will suffer more and more pain;
If you like to learn, you will gain wisdom more and more.
To truly enjoy your blessing is to realize that you are blessed, and cherish these blessings, then continue to cultivate more blessings.
You must also love your friends and family.
Once upon a time, a person invited a master to check his Feng Shui. On the way, they saw birds were swirling in panic far away.
So he asked the master: “Let’s go back. From the birds, we can tell that the children are picking apricots in the tree, and if we do not go back, the kids may fall and get hurt. That would be a disaster.”
Therefore, Mr. Feng Shui told him: “I do not need to check your Feng Shui. You and your family will have a good and smooth life.” The man could not understand, so he asked him why.
The master told him: “Don’t you know? The best Feng Shui lies in human character!”
A good character comes from a kind heart. No wonder it says that the first element of Feng Shui in the human being is the heart.
Note:
The original text is from http://item.btime.com/wm/03u3t375malkc44vqe5ijkkissn. It is in Chinese.
I think this article will help the readers understand “Feng Shui” better, so I translated it into English to share with you. Hope you will enjoy this post.
A Simple Thought
02 years
by Alice Lin
in informative
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A simple thought can change your environment. It can change your world. If we all have positive thoughts, then it is possible to change the whole world. My friend told me a story about when he was buying groceries in the supermarket. As he was getting a cart, he noticed some small trash in his carts. Before, he didn’t pay much attention, but that day; he unconsciously picked up all of the garbage and gathered it in the front of the cart. He saw the trashcan and threw it in. He told me that as he was pushing the cart into the market, he saw a middle-aged person saw what he did. He did the same thing. The man went the extra mile too: he started to pick up trash from the other carts.
Hearing about this scene, I am enlightened. Your thoughts can change other people’s thoughts. Because we change, our environment also changes. Suddenly, I realized it’s not hard to make the world different to be better. We just need to have the right kind of mindset. As long as our thoughts are positive, kind, and caring, this becomes a sort of invisible energy spread rapidly outwards from person to person. The impact of spreading of this energy on our environment is far beyond our imagination.
I often heard stories about paying it forward. In the toll road, someone would pay for the ticket of the person behind him or her in line. That person would pay it forward, then the next person and the next. It starts off as nothing. But it became a chain transaction because of one simple thought. It began with one individual being kind and made many people’s days. Isn’t that how we can make someone’s day?
Indeed, a kind and loving thought may not solve any major world crisis. Nevertheless, I believe the loving thought is contagious. As mentioned in his book “The Contagious Power of Thinking“ We don’t need to be on the Internet to be connected. We are all interconnected. Our thought and emotion can be felt by the friends, siblings and the other side of people; they can reproduce in them. Yes, it is that powerful. The simple thought certainly will make our world different and more beautiful.
Miracles Through Love
02 years
by Alice Lin
in Translated article
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(Translated Article for Love of Little Boy for his Uncle, the original text is in Chinese.)
The true God is the love of human beings!
Once there was a little boy named Johnny with a dollar in his pocket who went from store to store in search of something specific to spend it on. In all of the stores, the little boy asked the owner, “Do you have God for sale?” Believed to be a young prankster, he was kicked out of almost every store. However, the owner of the 29th store received the little boy very enthusiastically.
This image was taken from LA art show om January 28, 2016.
The owner of the store was about 60 years old with grey hair and a kind face. He smiled at the boy and asked, “What do you want to buy God for?” Before providing an answer the boy tearfully explained that his name was Johnny and that his uncle had raised him after his parents passed away years ago.
He proceeded to explain that a few days ago his uncle, who was a construction worker, suffered a major accident when he fell from a very high construction site. The doctor had told Johnny, “Only God can save him.” Johnny took this quite literally, believing that if he could buy God, then his uncle could recover.
The owner of the store was so moved by Johnny’s story and asked the little boy how much money he had. Johnny replied, “one dollar.” The owner said, “one dollar is just enough to buy God.” He picked up a drink with the label “Kiss of God” and gave it to Johnny. “Take this and your uncle will recover after drinking it.”
Johnny was delighted, clutching the drink close to his chest like a treasured possession. He went back to the hospital and told his uncle, “I bought God so you can recover soon!”
Several days later, a team of doctors and specialists arrived at the hospital and started trying all kinds of treatments to help save his uncle.They adopted the most advanced techniques to treat his uncle’s injuries and, eventually, they were able to save his life.
When his uncle was discharged he almost fainted when he saw the hospital bill. Much to his surprise the hospital told him that an old man had already paid for everything. They revealed that he was also the same man who had hired the team of specialist doctors to save him. They said that the old man was a billionaire who had recently quit his job as a CEO of a large, international company to open a small grocery story.
The uncle was touched. He took Johnny to go thank this old man who had so graciously sold the God drink to Johnny, but the man had already sold his grocery store to travel the world. Later on, the uncle received a letter from the old man that read, “Young man, you are so lucky to have Johnny as your nephew. In order to save you, he took one dollar and went everywhere trying to buy God…Thank God he saved your life. May you always remember that the true God is the love of human beings.”
Miracles through shifting (2)-A
03 years
by Alice Lin
in My Life Story
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In my last posting, I introduced you to the concept of “shifting.” Essentially, a shift involves the decision to make a specific change in one’s life that grants a more positive perspective on life and the clarity required to see miracles.Now I’d like to share my personal story of how a specific shift in my own life altered my course in a way for which I’m ever grateful.
After my husband passed away, I felt I needed to escape the research world, as that is where we had worked together. I dabbled in the the insurance business for a while, but didn’t feel at home there either. After much internal struggle, I finally decided to take a year off of work so that I could sort things out and figure out what to do next.
One day, during prayer, I heard The Voice say something I’ll never forget: “It is not a job that you are supposed to seek, but you must find out who you are.” I did not know what this message meant at the time, but for a long time after hearing it, I could not find a job.
Despite hearing these words, I persisted until I finally received a job offer as a lab technician at a hospital in Orange County. The pay was minuscule, but I had no choice but to accept the offer. The day before I was supposed to go to work, I received a phone call from the lab informing me that they had found a high school student to fill the position instead. Apparently, they thought I was overqualified and had chosen not to even give me a chance.
A few days later, my daughter referred me to a job in Los Angeles involved with marketing for a home health services agency. Soon after that I was offered a job. And just like that, I packed my things and moved from Orange County to Los Angeles. Perhaps more dramatically was the mental shift that took place within, requiring me to step outside of my comfort zone and enter into a brand new world of public relations. I was scared and not quite sure what to expect, but I knew I had to embrace the opportunity that life was presenting me with.
Right off the bat, this field was totally strange to me. Even stranger was when my daughter, who had been with this same agency for several years, told me that I needed to update my wardrobe. When she had seen my “professional attire,” she sighed and said, “Mom, your clothes are outdated, and they should go to the museum. They won’t work for marketing.” The first thing she did was to take me to the nearest department store to buy all the shoes and dresses I would need. To top it off, she took me to the nail salon and gave me a total makeover. Within a few days, I was an entirely changed person on the exterior.
Next, my daughter took me out and introduced me to all of the doctors who we solicited our company’s home health services to. The route that we drove to get from office to office was rather vast, taking us from the San Gabriel Valley all the way to West Los Angeles. I not only had to shift myself mentally, but I had also changed physically. She added that if I ever felt stressed or unhappy, I shouldn’t go to the doctor’s offices. Apparently their job is already stressful enough that the last thing they need is to see someone else in a stressful state.
To be continued…
Miracles Through Shifting (1)-A
03 years
by Alice Lin
in My Life Story
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Sometimes our thoughts limit our potential, our wealth, our wisdom and our health. More often than not, our thoughts are influenced by the view we have from where we stand. However, if we shift vantage points, our perspectives, too, may change. Learning to take a look at any given situation from various angles will allow us to see that some provide us with narrow views, while others have the ability to broaden our perspectives and our outlook on life.
I am so blessed in that nearly every year I get to go on trip to Maui with my daughter and her family. We usually stay at the The Westin Maui Resort & Spa, Ka’anapali, which brings me close to everything I love about that island: the beach, the palm trees, the scenery and the sunset. But one of the places I love visiting most at the resort is its tranquil meditation center.
I was sad that I couldn’t visit the meditation center last year because the site was under construction. This year, however, I was able to spend some time there while I was on the island attending a writer’s workshop. As I strolled through the newly renovated meditation center, I noticed a beautiful waterfall made from three different-sized pots. Water would trickle down from one pot, into the one below. It was so simple and calming.
I sat down in a sofa to take it all in when my eyes landed upon a small window encased by a large frame. It was as if the window was framed to be a work of art. It was not there before. My curiosity drew me closer to this work of art until I found myself centered upon the frame, standing directly right in front of it. Soon I realized that moving around provided me with different views of foliage on the other side of the window. Standing at the far right of the window I could see just a couple of leaves. It was simple and plain, nothing spectacular. But if I moved to the center of the frame, the scene grew to include more leaves. When I stepped all the way to the left, I could see a wealth of leaves from many different plants.
All of a sudden, the purpose behind this new installment became clear to me; it was there for us to discover that the slightest shift in position can provide us with an entirely new perspective. While whoever designed this window did so in a way that enticed physical movement as a means to shift vantage points, I also think that he or she wants us to understand that we can apply this “shifting” to our thoughts as well; Shifting our internal views of the world will also help us to broaden our perspectives.
Many years ago my late husband received an offer for a research position at the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. Working at the University of Southern Alabama at the time, he decided to accept the job in LA. Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with cancer just as we were getting ready to move to California. After undergoing about two months of treatment, he quickly recovered and was ready to begin his research work in Los Angeles. However, we found out that one of my husband’s colleagues that was in need of work at the time had contacted Children’s Hospital in LA and told them about our battle against cancer. Not understanding that my husband was in remission and had been approved to go back to work, they rescinded their offer and awarded the job instead to his colleague.
My husband had already submitted a letter of resignation to his department at the University of Southern Alabama. My husband and I discussed at great length and decided that we would proceed with our plans to move to LA, even though we knew that we were facing uncertainty and we had four kids to feed. We knew that if it was our destiny to go to Los Angeles, the door would open. So, we decided to put our house on the market. The real estate agent wanted 10% of the commission, which was completely unreasonable, so I decided to attempt to sell the house myself.
My friend went with me to buy a “for sale by owner” sign. As I handed over the 25 cents it cost for the sign, she cackled, saying that it wouldn’t last a week. She even went so far as to suggest we bet on whether or not I would sell the house before the sign would fall down. She was sure the sign wouldn’t last more than a week.
Four days later, she called me and started to laugh over the phone. She said, “ Alice, didn’t I tell you that your 25 cent sign would fall? I do not see it anymore on your lawn!” I told her that had I just sold the house and that I had taken down the sign myself. I could hear her jaw drop on the other end of the phone. She was not the only one surprised at what had taken place.
To be continued.
