Stickability

There is a cultural divide between Australia and the North American continent.

If someone in Aus talks about what they are good at they are going to be labeled as being “full of themselves” pretty smartly.

Some years ago a friend of mine won Best Country and Western Guitarist in Queensland.  The major part of the award was 3 months in Nashville.  When he first arrived people would ask how well he played the guitar, he responded “not bad” in typical Aussie fashion, Someone took him aside and told him is he was going to get a gig he'd have to be more straightforward.  From then on he replied “damn good” and doors started opening immediately. Of course he had to be able to back his words

On appearance the American approach is truthful, the Aussie approach is humble.  I think the reality is the American approach is confident, the Aussie approach is self depreciating.

I think my strong point is tenacity or stickability. I'm not given to the spiritual butterfly notion of flitting from this opinion to that, depending on what's in fashion, particularly in matters of Spiritual growth.

Of course I recognise that what works for me isn't necessarily going to work for the next person and so on.  However it has given me a firm foundation for my outlook and my life.  And of course I don't feel threatened by someone else challenging my faith.

It has allowed me to develop a rappore with some of societies most undesirable and least trusted people and help them to see value in themselves, giving them the desire to grow.

These people have no time for false or shallow individuals that won't or can't back up their point of view or that go to pieces at the first sign of a challenge.  Actually I don't have much patience with shallow people or hypocrites either.

I'm always happy to help someone who isn't pretending to be something they're not but I don't suffer fools gladly.

In recent years I've found I can also develop a rappore with terminally ill people.  I've been blessed to spent hours fellowshipping with the dying.  They're not interested in shallow rubbish either.  Many look for a foundation, something upon which they feel they can rest and be secure on what they think is their final journey.

People in that position are not interested in being pandered to.  They want assurance that you know what you're talking about.

Oh, and I'm also good at rambling… on and on…

an eccentric Aussie who is still a work in progress…

Re: Stickability

What a wonderful quality, Andrew. And your work with the terminally ill, so vital.

Love,

Nicole

Re: Stickability

Thank you for sharing, Andrew - sounds like the things you are good at are like reliable companions which you are fond of.

I found i interesting what you said about the 'cultural divide between America and Australia'. I am South African. I find people often have some anxiety about sounding arrogant or 'full of themselves' when it comes to naming their strengths. I guess this is why I put the question up on this board.

It seems important to be able to be honest and frank about oneself - our strengths and our challenges. If we are 'shy' to mention our strengths, we may be no different about our challenges. In a sense it is actually far from arrogant to speak about what we're good at - because such sharing enables ourselves and others to identify where we can be genuinely helpful, fulfilled, etc.

The main reason why I put up this discussion board is because so often people are not acting from their areas of strength in their jobs, etc. Then wonder why they are unhappy, lack motivation and energy. If we become aware of this, we have a chance to make the necessary changes in our lives

love

Re: Stickability

Thank you Nicole and HummingBird.

Nicole you know I have Parkinsons disease.  It's unlikely to kill me but I'll die with it.  When I come across a terminally ill person it's as if we have something in common, barriers of hostility towards the 'living' (how can you know what I'm going through?) disappear and communication flows.

HummingBird, I like your 'reliable companions' analogy.  I hadn't thought of it like that but you are absolutely correct.

I agree with what you say in strengths and weaknesses, in the appropriate forum.  Should I mention the 2nd Test at the MCG?  Allow you as a South African a few moments of glory?

Why not….

Re: Stickability

Thank you too, Andrew, for sharing about your diagnosis and using it as a catalyst for deeper connection with those preparing to leave the body. From time to time I do hospice care and always grow and heal so much from such transformative (heart opening) work.

Thanks, Anna (Hummingbird), for this discussion board on our strengths. Whether we are the stereotypically humble Aussie or the confident American, perhaps we all can use reminders of pur strenghts sometimes.
Maybe this is typically American (the latter part which I cannot deny I am, but typical? Me thinks not!), I love the notion that so-called weaknesses are just areas needing development! I remember the moment someone turned me onto that concept and how liberating it has been since!

Re: Stickability

Andrew, it's amazing how these hardships turn into bonds forged with people going through similar troubles. Yes, I hear you, that makes total sense.

Love,

Nicole

Re: Stickability

Nicole, I believe you do understand.

It is difficult at times, I am reconciled to the fact that for the present I have this illness. 

On one hand I would be glad to be rid of it.  It has no right to inhabit my body.  I did not consciously give it permission.  There is no Spiritual principle I can find to suggest it is some form of punishment and medical science can only say what has happened, not how or why.

On the other hand it has given me an insight into a realm I would not have considered, one where to maintain a form of sanity requires me to take medication I had often despised other people for taking (antidepressants - the medication, not the people that had to take them) otherwise I lapse into a form of despondancy, dark and oppresive.  Physically to be able to move with any confidence and sensation reduced from extreme or excruciating pain to “discomfort”, (because that is easier to live with than pain) reasonably sure my left leg will move in sync with my right, if not I fall flat on my face.  It used to happen every day, now just once or twice a week.  Without the medication to manage the symptoms of Parkinsons disease I would not be typing this. The discomfort in my shoulder and neck would be unbearable, my left hand like wood, my left hip would not allow me to sit at the computer and my mind would be numb through lack of stimulation.

Why am I saying all this.  I've never felt comfortable talking about this to this extent outside the doctors surgery, but I feel comfortable and at peace sharing this here, in this pod, and it is a strangely liberating experience.

I'm not looking for sympathy, but it is refreshing being able to speak freely as to why it is such a blessing to be able to reach out to the unlovable people in society with compassion because I can sense what they are feeling and I would not swap the ability to be able to share love with those people for all the healing virtue in the world.

I am truly blessed and I am going to post this before I change my mind.

Re: Stickability

Thank you Andrew - your post is actually so in keeping with your preference that people speak their truth and 'say it as it is'.  This frankness and openness seems to govern the way you speak about 'other' subjects - so I hope it becomes typical rather than an exception regarding the whole of your life. It is as you say, a liberating experience. My own experience is that people respond in kind when one does this.

The question you raise about why you got this illness is an interesting one. I think to some extent you have answered it;

Re: Stickability

I appreciate your thoughts HummingBird.

I've recomposed myself since the above installment.

I don't know how to say this graciously but I tend to get a little uncomfortable when people say they are going to 'pray' for me.  I am grateful but I'm never sure whether people say it to be nice, or think they are offering me comfort, or because they feel sorry for me or whether they feel they are going to bring about a healing. People are always sincere when they offer to pray for me.

HummingBird the reason I become uncomfortable is I don't believe prayers said on my behalf actually go anywhere.  It denies the sovereignty of Spirit.

Prayer to me is not me partitioning God - it is God expressing Itself in me.

Prayer as a form of communication begins and ends in Spirit.

Please, I am not sharing this as a form of critisism but if you wish to pray pray but don't make me the purpose of the prayer, make the prayer the purpose of the prayer and we will all benefit.

If you think I'm in error HummingBird I am willing to be corrected and am teachable but I have come to the above realisation over a number of years of contemplating why to so many prayers the answer is no.

Your friend

Andrew

Re: Stickability

Andrew I appreciate your response to my post. I have long wondered and thought about prayer. May I assure you that none of my motives fall under these which you mention:

Re: Stickability

I understand and I think we are in perfect agreement. The way you have described it is perfect, when the I that is not the I that I am is absent.

Oh BTW I'm not Buddhist but I'm one of his biggest fans.

(I don't have to kill him if I see him in the middle of the road :-)

Re: Stickability

Perhaps the only error in telling the truth is doing so without humility.

Re: Stickability

Ian, can I say I humbly agree???

Re: Stickability

LOL, I love a healthy combination of humour and learning in this classroom of Life.

Andrew, I also loved your bringing sport as an example - which is so not me! But a good reminder that 'it takes all kinds' :) - which our South African rainbow nation embraces.

Ian, it is so good to remember this, isn't it? Humility and honesty ae not always walking hand in hand - I guess lack of humility will always detract from true integrity.

Re: Stickability

HummingBird it is your stickability through any parents worst possible nightmare that has given you such immensely effective compassion and understanding.

You speak with an authenticity that comes from experience. You have chosen to be faithful and have been empowered with wisdom and authority as a result.

I am enjoying being part of your experience in this pod.

Did I mention South Africa lost the 3rd Test to Australia???

I'd better not… I don't want to dent your new found enthusiasm for international cricket…. hmmmmmm

an eccentric Aussie

Re: Stickability

Andrew,
When I read what you said about prayer, it really made me think and realize that I've changed my feeling about the subject recently. I totally agreed with you when you said being “prayed for” made you uncomfortable, part of this was old religious stuff that I moved away from along time ago, so I was good with I'll send you energy, or love, but prayer…hmm…I said had agreed. I've changed my perception recently. I've been reading Lynne McTaggarts books “the Field” and “The Intention Experiment” she has done a lot of research/and/or interviewed a lot of scientists, physicists and other remarkable people who have been actually looking into the power of prayer, distance healing, remote viewing and many other areas that previously we had to take on faith. One of the chapters that especially struck me was on in which they showed that thoughts, energy sent with intent to help made a quantifiable difference. I am really excited about the work she is doing. The Intention Experiment helps us understand how intentionality works, so we can hopefully increase our own clarity. The minute I picked up the book I had chills….she's not talking about anything I didn't already know, but she's saying it in new ways, ways that are accessible and take it all beyond faith.

I'm good at rambling too. I'm going off topic, or not. But something I was taught years ago was to send energy…and allow it to be used for the person's highest good…this could be healing, or calm, or peace, or just acceptance….we don't know that answer. This brought to mind an incident many years ago when a friend's father was diagnosed with a debilitating illness. She called and asked me to send healing. When I did, I was shocked to hear him in my mind as he explained to me that he would prefer just intent for his highest good, as for him healing wasn't about healing his body…his illness was to allow him to be vulnerable and open up to his family in ways he couldn't when he was a strong, vital doctor. That has never left me, because I really understood that we have many paths for many reasons. So the most we can do for each other is just be love. For some people that means they pray…okay, I can accept that, because I've tried very hard to remove that from any negative “religious” connotations. I'm new to Gaia, but the minute I logged on I had a feeling of love being shared…and I feel honored to be a part of a community of love and sharing.
Carolyn
PS I love ecentricity.

Re: Stickability

Thank you for your counsel Carolyn.

That there is an area or a mental capacity to send 'energy' I have no doubt.

But if that is considered 'good' energy being sent to overcome the influence of 'bad' energy then are we not back in the religious realm which you correctly pointed out is the source of my discomfort, also?

We or should I say I because each of our walks is unique, I was taught that God was omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent…. which immediately presents a problem where prayer is concerned.

If prayer is the hand that moves the hand of God, then that prayer is either perfectly tapped into the will of God for that instant, or prayer gives you power or influence over God.  I have to tell you if I have that sort of influence over God were all in trouble!!!

Obviously that is not the case.

If God is omniscient then what can we tell God that God is unaware of. The God that I know has the hairs on my head numbered.  I'm making it easier because as I get older so God has less to remember.

God is omnipresent, which makes absolute sense.  For God to be God there can be no other, I am of course talking about the Original Cause.

God only had the substance of Itself to work with.  There can't be God and something, otherwise God could not be the Original Cause.  So logically everything that is - stuff, time, space etc, must be contained within God, made of the substance of Gods being.

In 'Him' we live and move and have our being.

So I hope I haven't trodden on any corns or toes but that is why I believe that only that which starts in Spirit is received in Spirit.

An eccentric Aussie

Re: Stickability

Carolyn, thank you for sharing your precious views and experience of prayer. Andrew, thank you too

It seems so important that expression of our view/perception is respectful of that of another.

We only need to look at history to see how religious and spiritual perceptions differ from person to person and often culture to culture. People are very passionate about these matters.

Although I am happy to share my perceptions, for I do not feel they are ever at the exclusion of another's, sometimes I do not  - for example if I have the sense another person may find it offensive.

All that matters in the end is that we practice loving kindness

love

Re: Stickability

If I have been disrespectful to Carolyn or you HummingBird I sincerely apologise.

I share the truth as it has been revealed to me but I do recognise that truth is like a light shining on a cut and polished diamond. 

It refracts in countless different directions each shaft of light different depending on your perspective, but it is still the same Source, the same truth.

I mean no offense to anyone.

Andrew

Re: Stickability

Hello Carolyn,
Early last century Edgar Cayce stated in one or more readings, “Thought is a thing!”
I too have come to this conclusion though in more depth - and neither of us were/are scientists!! … … . nor for that matter was the Buddha, or the Christ or the numerous others who have stated “Non-Scientific” facts!
In the 1930s the Russians conducted experiments to prove that “thought” was not only a “thing” but travelled instantaneously. There is more about this in my book.
It is good that you are searching for answers, Carolyn. I wish you every success.
()

Re: Stickability

Wow, what a great thread, I had much to say but then as I was reading it was said :)

As for the first post, I had not known that difference between Aussies and Americans, but have now realised how I …what’s the word… dumb down my strengths and things I’m good at (as an Aussie lol) to be more humble and seem less up myself, interesting!

Andrew, it was so nice and I think sobering to see you open up in the way you did. I usually see you as a wise man with much to say which gave me the impression of an almost perfect spiritual life or maybe more as someone who had perfected life, your inner self, I don’t really know how to word it, I’ve only realised it now after seeing a different, maybe more vulnerable side of you.  I think what I saw is that, like the rest of us, you are working on it and that was sobering for me, makes me pause and realise I’m constantly trying to get there when all I have to do is stop and smell the roses :) I may never prfect it but that’s okay aslong as I enjoy this journey.

Thanks :)

Belinda

Re: Stickability

Hi Belinda, thank you for traveling with us on this big read!

A few things pop out at me as I read your post

I wonder why you feel your strengths and things you’re good at are dumb?

I love your sharing your growing awareness of Andrew as human being and your own journey made me think of Dave’s blog - I responded:

Re: Stickability

Hi Hummingbird

Yes, it was a big read but a good one :) I didn’t mean the things I’m good at are dumb, I meant “I dumb them down” which is maybe being confused through our cultural differences, as in I wont say I’m great at something, I’ll say I’m okay at it to be humble. I hope I’m making sense and not just creating more confusion lol. I do think the things I’m good at are great :)

Thanks for sharing the blog post and your comment, I found this very interesting.. To me the story of the Garden of Eden is about the ambiguity

(duality) we experience as humans and the journey we take to move from

ego separation to oneness

Re: Stickability

Belinda, I get you now about ’dumbing down’! Thank you for explaining and for sharing your thoughts

love

Re: Stickability

Belinda you are further confirmation for my theory that all young ladies from the West are beautiful, (as are all young ladies from the North in case Sandy reads this thread.)

I was really touched by what you shared on your earlier post. 

We are no different, we are seeking the same thing and the same Spirit that inhabits me from which I draw life, understanding, sustenance, hope and faith inhabits you.

Smell the roses, that aspect of your being which is eternal is already perfect and incorruptible.  The reason for the journey is to come into a full realisation of that.

At times I might appear to have it all together, and often I think I have.  But the reality is I can be a real larrikin.  Don’t tell me if your ticklish because if or when we meet I would be merciless. 

I’m pleased with my village idiot status because at least people can’t say they weren’t warned.  I take great delight in teasing people which some grownups think is very ‘unspiritual’, but I do it anyway, to annoy them.  The stuffier they are the more satisfying the reaction.

If I keep trying to lead you astray by talking like this HummingBird will make me stand in the time out corner, so I’d better try to be good.

An eccentric Aussie

Re: Stickability

LOL Andrew, you do so love challenging people

- then every now and then someone doesn’t take it well and … well that’s history

but don’t start putting me on the hot spot now!

love

Re: Stickability

Hi Hummingbird, I’m glad I didn’t just confuse things more :)

Hi Andrew

“Belinda you are further confirmation for my theory that all young
ladies from the West are beautiful,..” Oh why thankyou
(as are all young ladies from the
North in case Sandy reads this thread.) lol! You dawg you


I take great delight in teasing people which some grownups think is very ‘unspiritual’, but I do it anyway, to annoy them.
Ahahaha! Sometimes I need to remind myself to just have fun, in those moments where everything has gotten so serious.