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Serving a community of private individuals and professionals
who have the desire to cultivate a life of clarity, compassion,
and creativity. We warmly welcome our new subscribers. Thanks
for joining! Your feedback is encouraged. Please feel free to
contact us.
1. Update
Dear Seishindo Community,
First, I want to welcome the newcomers to our newsletter. You
are meeting us at a challenging time and I want to let you know
what's going on.
Inessa, the Seishindo webmaster and marketing director is currently
being treated for cervical cancer. Because of this our newsletters
will not always be arriving every two weeks. Please bear with
us, and we will do our best to return to a regular schedule
as soon as possible.
For our long term subscribers and supporters, here is an update
on Inessa's condition:
Inessa has traveled from Siberia to Germany. She will start
chemo and radiation therapy on Dec. 7th This whole process is
meant to take about six weeks. Your ongoing thoughts and prayers
are greatly appreciated. A number of you have written and said
you do not pray, but that you will definitely send loving thoughts
our way. This is great! Positive thinking, prayer, "sending
love", is all the same to us, and it's all received on
the same channel.
Please also continue to send us notes of encouragement. Although
we might not be able to reply, hearing from you and knowing
you are thinking of us helps us to stay positive and upbeat.
When time allows, I will eventually write about the life affirming
lessons being learned by us. Who knows, I might even be able
to persuade Inessa to write an article for us!
We want to thank all of you who have contributed to Inessa's
health fund so far. Your support means a lot, and it helps meet
our financial needs. The costs of this entire process are running
well above what we expected. About 50 of you have donated so
far which is wonderful, and it would be great if another 100
or so folks could dig down and make a donation. We will make
it through no matter what, and we'll get by much easier, with
a little more help from our friends!
You can make a first or second donation here:
http://www.seishindo.org/making_a_donation.html
Please know that we will do our best to return your kindness
in the future.
Today I offer you an updated version of a story I wrote a couple
of years ago. I present this story again now because it touches
on the process that Inessa and I are actively involved in -
coming to an understanding that our lives ARE going according
to plan!
Warmly,
Charlie
2.
Appreciating life's ups and downs
Do you sometimes lose control of your emotional equilibrium
because you feel you're being victimized by circumstances that
are out of your control? If so, you'll likely find this story
to be of help.
Several months ago a good friend went skiing in Chile.
His plane arrived in Santiago at 4AM, and he was meant to meet
a driver at the airport who would take him to a staging area.
From there he would transfer to a four wheel drive vehicle and
travel up to a mountain lodge with other guests.
After waiting for about a half hour he got anxious and called
the lodge, but the staff was still sleeping, and no one answered.
Finally at about 5:30 he reached someone at the resort. They
apologized profusely, said the driver was a long time trusted
employee, and they had no idea what had gone wrong. They called
the driver on his cell phone and discovered he had been asleep
in the airport parking lot the whole time! Was my friend annoyed?
Yes he was, and likely you would have been also.
The newly awakened driver whisked my friend off to the staging
area at the foot of the mountain, only to find the four wheel
drive vehicle had already departed with three other guests.
Needless to say my friend now felt even more annoyed, and likely
you would have felt the same. He now needed to waste an entire
day waiting for the next ride up the mountain.
As a way of apologizing, the resort promised my friend a helicopter
ride to the top of the mountain the following day, and this
lessened his disappointment somewhat.
Early the next morning the same driver showed up as scheduled
this time, and drove my friend to the helipad. A breathtaking
flight up to the resort helped my friend feel much more upbeat.
Happy to finally arrive he made his way into the lobby and soon
sensed that "something was up." The owner greeted
him and apologized once again, and then cleared his throat as
he looked down for a few seconds. Upon looking back up the owner
said, "Indeed you are a very lucky man."
"Lucky?" my friend replied in a testy voice, "Why
is that?"
"Unfortunately," the owner said, "the vehicle
you were meant to ride in yesterday was overcome by a sudden
avalanche and the driver and the three passengers were swept
away and killed."
My friend was stunned and stood there in contemplative silence.
Here is what he reported to me upon returning:
"For the next two weeks as I skied in a wondrously beautiful
environment I found myself having a new appreciation of my life."
"I realized how narrow my concept of a happy life had been.
Previously, my happiness was based on false mental constructs
of "good" and "bad." When things went good
I felt great. When things went bad I felt lousy. I failed to
appreciate how life flows from one experience into another,
and keeps on changing day by day. Sadness into happiness, anger
into love, health into disease. I realized it was crucial for
me to open my heart to accepting every passing emotion, every
trial and challenge."
"In a moment of time that stood still, I recognized I
did not have nearly as much control over the course of my life
as I had always imagined."
"Paradoxically I found this thought comforting. I realized
that even though I can't control the course of my life, I can
control the emotional response I have to life's many ups and
downs."
"Every time I assign a negative meaning or emotion to
what takes place, I become a victim of my restricted thinking.
I forget that a full life contains some of everything. That
we need a good deal of rain, to balance the sunshine."
"I grieve the death of the driver and his three passengers,
while giving thanks for having a bit more time on earth to live
my own life. I am determined to share my enthusiasm for living
with others."
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