Spiritual practice of the day - Post a post it note with a positive message.

Today we are starting a new feature on UU A Way Of Life tagged "Spiritual Practice Of The Day."

Write a positive message on a post it note, and post it in a public place where other people will read it. It may improve their thoughts about their day and even make them smile.

Ask Alexa - What is the best time to do things?

Alexa: When is the best time to do things, and who is the most important one, and what is the right thing to do?

Wow that's three questions and I usually only answer one at a time but in this instance I will make an exception and say that the best time to do things is now and the most important one is the one you are with and the right thing to do is whatever is good for the one at your side.

Alexa: Did you hear about the owner of the ball park who was worried because sales from his vendors walking through the stands hawking their wares were down?

Yes, he finally realized that concessions had to be made.

Live in the now by looking for a perfect moment.

Stoic Saturdays is a regular feature on UU A Way Of Life with quotes of stoic philosophers show- cased in the feature.

From On The Shortness of Life by Seneca

Can anything be more idiotic than certain people who boast of their foresight? They keep themselves officiously preoccupied in order to improve their lives; they spend their lives in organizing their lives. 

They direct their purposes with an eye to a distant future. But putting things off is the biggest waste of life: it snatches away each day as it comes, and denies us the present by promising the future. 

The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow and loses today. You are arranging what lies in Fortune’s control, and abandoning what lies in yours. 

What are you looking at? 

To what goal are you straining? 

The whole future lies in uncertainty: live immediately.

Seneca. On the Shortness of Life (Penguin Great Ideas) (p. 13). Penguin Publishing Group.

Comment:

In A Course In Miracles a perfect moment is what the Course calls a "Holy Instant." A Holy Instant is when time stands still, a person has merged with the flow, with the Tao, and become one with the web of existence of which they are a part rather than a separate ego.

Every day we should look for a perfect moment. Some days we may experience more than one even several. A day with several perfect moments is what we can call a "perfect day."

What is the most important choice we ever make?

The most important question in life is whether we want to become aware of our holiness or not?

All people are holy but they have forgotten it. Society has beaten it out of them and taught them to deny their holiness and aggrandize the ego. People even think that they are their ego. This is a silly idea that has taken over their lives. The first step on the road of spirituality is when the person can laugh at the very idea of his/her ego.

To attain an awareness of holiness a person has to give up the ego. The ego has promised happiness if the person feeds it with all kinds of things like money, special relationships, power, social status, physical pleasure, etc.

In case you haven't noticed, the ego lies.

People who have pursued the fulfillment of the ego's desires have become people of the lie. And deep down within, the small voice of sanity calls to them and offers them a choice: continue to seek fulfillment of ego desires, or go home to the holiness of Oneness with the source of our creation.

The trip home is done by forgiveness. We forgive ourselves and others for our mistaken belief that fullfilment of our egos could ever make us happy.

Ask Alexa: What is a the purpose of my life?

Alexa:  What is the purpose of my life?

To remember your holiness by dissolving your ego and thereby joining with the holiness of others to sanctify the world.

Alexa:Did you hear about the person who got tired after shopping for a smart phone?

Yes, The person went home to take an app.

Alexa: What is the best anti-depressant in the world?

A good night's sleep.

Ask Alexa - Why do people hate so much and want people who are different from them to go back to where they came from?

Alexa: Is it true that people hate themselves and then project that hate outward and scapegoat others in their own defense?

Yes. A person can't hate others unless deep down there is something that they hate even more in themselves.

Alexa: Did you hear what the woman said when she met the person she had been emailing on Match.com for the first time in person and they shook hands and he said, "Your hands are so cold?"

I heard she said, "Of course, they're cold, I've been out of circulation for a while."

Alexa: My friend is complaining all the time and I try to cheer him up and he only complains all the more. What should I do?

Quit trying to cheer him up. He thinks you are one more person who doesn't understand how upset he is. Instead, not only agree with him that things are terrible but wondering how he is managing in such terrible conditions. You might say you couldn't do half as well and would have been done completely in by what he is dealing with. He might then try to cheer you up.

Ask Alexa: How did a narcissistic psychopath get elected President of the United States?

Alexa: How did a narcissistic psychopath get elected to be the President of the United States?

It is an example of the mob rule which the founding fathers were worried about which led to the creation of the electoral college system of electing a president which in this case backfired and led to the very thing the founding fathers were hoping to prevent.

Alexa: Is it true that warts are caused by viruses and sometimes by stress?

Yes, those caused by stress are called "worry warts."

Alexa: How can I be kind when people say things which upset me?

Back down and keep silent because it is best to take people where they are at and not where you want them to be, think they ought to be, think they must be, just take people where they're at and rise above your feelings of resentment, frustration, discouragement, and desire for revenge. Would you rather be right or be happy?