Destiny Blog

Volume 5 Issue 1
Destiny Retreats

Finding Your Way Home

www.destinyretreats.com

Destiny 30– September 26-28, 2008 Enroll HERE. Join us in Sedona to focus on your intentions for your life!

Spiritual Peacemaking

Do you want more personal peace in your life? Do you want world peace? How will humans ever achieve peace in the world when every little upset seems to destroy our personal peace of mind?

It is a mistake to think that peaceful, laid back individuals are normal. Maybe they are lucky. Humans are equipped with great survival tactics and these reactions are not equally intense among individuals. The easy going among us may have a less reactive survival system. Those among us who super react to every little change are sort of high survivors!

Whatever system you have, however quickly it kicks into motion due to any change, you have the ability to be more than your reactions. The first step is to take the breath that has now commonly entered our everyday language as “breathe”. Although many will say to breathe, do you stop to think about why you need the air when you are entering your full blast reactions?

What happens when you get triggered? Notice that you will inhale quickly and your body becomes instantly tight. Exhale and relax every tense muscle. Request your body to relax and kindly request your mind to move its focus to breathing and relaxing. Now if a bus is bearing down on you or you are in some danger, these reactions do not need an intervention because they are saving your life. But if you are inhaling, getting tight and thinking aggressive thoughts because a coworker just ‘betrayed’ you, your spouse just forgot you, your child refused to move immediately or some other supposed insult, then you can breathe and stop thinking. DO NOT OPEN YOUR MOUTH TO SPEAK until you feel relaxed and you have asked your mind about its goal. Is the goal to hurt someone or get them to change or comply? You would benefit from looking a little harder for the peaceful goal.

Inner peace is achieved simply by breathing, relaxing and intending to find the peaceful solution. You do not need to work so hard to find peace when no one and nothing is bothering you but many times the only problem you have is what your brain is creating! The brain is a liar. Your brain is really trying to find an explanation and category for everything you encounter. It often looks in old categories and uses creative lies to make new events fit into old ideas. Even though your brain can be a wonderful servant, it is not a trustworthy boss and will torment gladly torment you day and night.

Remember, you can be the director of your brain. It is your tool. In order to find your inner self or higher self, look into your heart. The heart is connected to peace, love and compassion. Allow your heart to give your brain the task of aligning with your higher purpose in life. Ask your heart to bring peace of mind to the brain. The brain is like a three year old and the heart is like an angel setting loving limits on your childish thoughts.

As you experience more and more personal peace, you will find that your peace begins to grow around your personal space like a ripple spreads out around a stone tossed in a lake. Your peace creates peace in the world. You can never have peace by fighting war or by fighting yourself. Peace is found in your heart. It already exists beyond the noise of your thoughts inside your deepest center of being. Relax your body. Release your mental attachments to being right. Breathe into your heart and bring peace to the world.

Love & Gratitude,

Diane Donovan
©05122008

Quotes

“Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us, and the world will be as one.” – John Lennon, 1940-1980, British Rock Musician

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” - Martin Luther King Jr., 1929-1968, American Black Leader, Nobel Prize Winner, 1964 If you are receiving this Ezine as forwarded mail and wish to subscribe, please type the word subscribe as the subject in your reply.Please send submissions of articles and questions to: donovaughn@destinyretreats.comYou are receiving this Ezine as a gift. It is published weekly on Wednesday. The Destiny staff hopes that you will enjoy it! We welcome your comments & questions!

Volume 1   Issue 38    DESTINY - peace through love and compassionFinding Your Way Home   

www.destinyretreats.com DESTINY RETREAT 30 – September 26 -28, 2008Find your dreams in Sedona at Destiny! 

FINDING AN ANSWER 

What are the questions that you are asking? Where are you looking for the answers?In your life, you are moving in a direction even if you are sitting in your house. The movement of your life implies that you are attempting to answer questions. The questions would be where are you going and why are going there? Perhaps an even more pertinent question would be why are you here to be asking the questions?If you take a long look at your whole life, you will see that it has always been pointed in certain directions. At some points along the way, you will find that you have been redirected. These points of redirection are choice points, places where you can make new decisions about your direction in life. Sometimes you choose a direction that will take you to an abyss, like the path that takes you down a dark lonely road.Sometimes you choose a direction that will take you to bliss, like the sight of a glowing sunset over the ocean.Other times you could feel completely lost as if life is doing all the choosing for you. At those times you may turn to escape methods or hopefully seek the help of others. You may begin asking God for help. Whether you are consciously looking for a direction or not, at certain times, another person will arrive and give you a few words of wisdom. These words can send you on a new direction toward a goal that you could never have achieved without those words. Much later, when you look back, you can see that these people appeared as angels in your life sending you to a life of meaning.As you look back, notice all the people who gave your life a meaningful direction. You can mentally send that person a little gratitude when you remember the help that they gave you.If you remember that some people in your past helped to redirect your life into painful choices such as the first one that offered you a cigarette or gave you the first beer that started you on a life of drinking, then this is a place of forgiveness. You can mentally send that person some forgiveness when you remember the choice that they offered.Finding the answers to your questions is the result of looking at your life like a movie. Look at the choices you have made and when you made them. When you look at everything that has happened in your life, what lessons do you think you are trying to learn and where do you think you are going? The answers to these questions lie in all the little choices that you have made all along. Today is a new day! With what choice would you like to begin today? Feeling lost?  Look within your heart for the direction.  Someday, today will be the direction with which you chose to create tomorrow. Today you can choose peace for your world. 

Meditation:  Half close your eyes. Take a deep breath allowing your chest and stomach to rise. Relax and exhale through your heart, gently and effortlessly. Imagine that you are walking on a path winding up a hill. This hill has canyons on both sides and is covered with bristlecone pine trees. It is a hot day, but you have water. Have a drink of water as you walk. The altitude is a little high for you and you begin to feel a little winded by this walk. Breathing heavily, you press on up the hill looking for the end of the path. As you walk, looking for the end, you suddenly feel unable to go on. Stop and sit down under a pine tree. Ask the pine tree to give you some energy. As you ask, the tree gives you the energy you need to finish the walk. As you reach the end of the path, you are disappointed to see that nothing happens. The trail simply goes back a different way like a big circle. Somberly, you turn around to return back the way you came. As you reach the pine tree that gave you the energy, you stop. Resting on top of a branch is a strange looking rock. Reach over and pick it up. As you pick it up, the rock speaks to you. “The answer to your question is that the path is where you will find all your answers, not at the end of the path. The path is the answer.” Take a deep breath and relax. 

May you find all the answers to all your questions. May all your answers be peaceful, loving and compassionate. 

Love and Light,Diane Donovan©0531 2000    

Find your dreams. Become one at the DESTINY RETREAT in the beautiful Sedona, Arizona area. The next destiny is September 13-16, 2008. ENROLL HERE. Space is limited.www.destinyretreats.com              Quotes of the Week 

“. . .in following the inner guide you will feel more whole, more integrated, as if you are moving outwards from the very center of your being. If you go with it, this beam of light will carry you exactly where you need to go.” - Osho  

“A real man acts spontaneously. If you ask him a question, your question gets a response, not a reaction. He opens his heart to your question, exposes himself to your question, responds to it . . .”                                                                        - Osho  

                                                                        If you are receiving this Ezine as forwarded mail and wish to subscribe, please type the word subscribe as the subject in your reply.  

Please send submissions of articles and questions to: donovaughn@destinyretreats.com. 

You are receiving this Ezine as a gift. It is published weekly on Wednesday. The Destiny staff hopes that you will enjoy it! We welcome your comments & questions!

Seeking Volunteers for Meditation Research

Volunteers are sought to participate in a Ph.D. dissertation research study at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Benyshek.  This research study focuses on the relationship between meditation practices and immune function.

Volunteers must be healthy individuals aged 18 to 60 years and meet several other health related criteria.  Volunteers in this minimally invasive study will be trained in a specific meditation technique and receive a meditation CD upon completion.  

Participation in this study will require a 1 hour orientation followed by a daily (Mon –Fri) 1 hour meditation session conducted on campus for 3 consecutive weeks (15 days).

If you are interested in participating in this study please contact RASCstudy@aol.com  

________________

M. Diane Hardgrave
Medical Anthropologist
Department of Anthropology and Ethnic Studies
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
4505 Maryland Parkway, Box 455003
Las Vegas, Nevada 89154

Volume 1   Issue 37    DestinyFinding Your Way Home 

www.destinyretreats.com  DESTINY  30 – September 26- 28, 2008Align your life with your higher purpose in Sedona at the Destiny Retreat! ENROLL HERE SATISFACTION

Are you looking for satisfaction? Where are you looking?           

It is said that happiness is found within but oftentimes when you look within, you find pain. The reason that you may find pain or discomfort is because over the years you may have had many disappointments and negative experiences, which you have chosen to ignore. Maybe you thought you would get around to it all later.           

 In therapy, we say that you are stuffing your issues in your psychological garbage can. You may ask, “What is wrong with that? You can’t deal with everything can you?”           

What is wrong with stuffing issues in your garbage can is that the can eventually gets full. And when it gets full, you could feel like a basket case. Some people call this experience a nervous breakdown or you feel like you are going crazy.  You are not going crazy but the sooner you begin processing and letting go of the garbage, the better. Buried beneath the painful experiences of life you will find love in your heart.  It is within the heart that you will experience satisfaction and peace.           

Too often, you are so busy looking for satisfaction away from your insides because of the pain you have disregarded. You are looking for a numbing agent or the excitement agent to distract you from your pain. Remember distraction from the pain does not in any way alleviate the core issues you have stored inside.            

Only by accepting, feeling, integrating and letting go of the pain will you find peace of mind. Then you can go inside to a place that holds happiness. Not only will you find peace, but also you will find love. When you find love, your heart will open.            

When the heart opens, you may feel pain again because it is an unused muscle. Exercise your heart continually and one day, you will find compassion. Then, you will never be able to lose satisfaction again. For within compassion, you become one with all creation. Becoming one, your life expands beyond any trivial distraction you ever found outside yourself. Your life then becomes one of endless satisfaction and peace.  Meditation: You are walking on a cobbled street in the middle of a town. The street is no longer used for cars. Now it is a place for street vendors. They sell everything you can imagine including delicious, exotic and gourmet food, alcohol and caffeine infusions, colorful trinkets, art, clothing, souvenirs and more. As you look around, you become fascinated with the variety of sensory pleasures. You begin to think if I have this it will make me happy. If I have that, it will make me happy. If only I had unlimited supplies of money, I could have all of this and that. As you continue to walk, you notice a place at the end of the street with a bench facing an ocean. Feeling somewhat over stimulated and tired, you sit down to rest. The sun is beginning to set and is glistening off the water. As you sit and look at the sun, your heart feels content. Breathe in the contentment. The sunset is a gift for opening your heart to satisfaction. Breathe and relax. 

May you find  satisfaction within your heart today. And may you remember the peace, love and compassion that you are seeking is within. Love and Light,

Diane Donovan© 05242000    

Find your dreams. Become one at the DESTINY RETREAT in the beautiful

The next Destiny is September 26-28, 2008. ENROLL HERE  www.destinyretreats.com             

Quotes of the Week 

LOVING EACH DAY “When you seek out in the world for happiness or peace, you are moving into patterns of self-denial because you are, in actuality, saying that peace does not reside naturally within yourself.  So you come from a consciousness of lack, and lack is the result.   When you go into the outer world seeking peace, you are looking for sensation.  Sensation, for a short time, can assuage the yearning for peace.  It can distract you momentarily, but it’s not long before the sensations of the world stupefy your physical senses, and you find yourself automatically retreating back toward yourself.  

You find yourself yearning for peace.”– From LOVING EACH DAY  by John Roger                          If you are receiving this Ezine as forwarded mail and wish to subscribe, please type the word subscribe as the subject in your reply.  Please send submissions of articles and questions to: donovaughn@destinyretreats.comYou are receiving this Ezine as a gift. It is published weekly on Wednesday. The Destiny staff hopes that you will enjoy it! We welcome your comments & questions!

Volume 1   Issue 36    DESTINYFinding Your Way Home  www.destinyretreats.com 

DESTINY 30 September 26 – 28, 2008Experience your inner peace in Sedona at Destiny! 

The

Volume 1   Issue 35   

DestinyFinding Your Way Home 

Destiny - peace through love and compassion

www.destinyretreats.com   Destiny 30 – October 26 - 28, 20008– Enroll Here. Find your dreams in Sedona at destiny! 

FORGIVENESS

A disagreement or conflict has occurred?  What will happen now?  Do you blame the other person? Do you take complete responsibility? 

Have you ever considered that both parties could take one hundred per cent of the responsibility for whatever happens? Relationships work best when both parties take one hundred per cent responsibility for everything that happens and contribute one hundred per cent love to the solution. If you are tempted to blame others for your problems, then you are avoiding responsibility. If you are taking all of the blame, then you are missing the other side of the story and taking too much responsibility. Neither of these positions allows for good vision! 

Look at what you did to contribute to your problems and look at what others did to contribute. Then, forgive yourself and forgive others. Behaviors can be derived so much out of the subconscious. Often, you do not wish to behave badly. Sometimes, you don’t know how to behave differently. Sometimes, you have given up trying. Bless those who cannot bless you and those around you. But first, bless yourself because you need that blessing.   

Whatever you do that you do not approve of is a problem to be acknowledged and forgiven. Forgiveness does not mean the work is over or that your problem is in the past. Forgiveness means that you are ready to begin the work of staying present with your problems. Issues will not go away because you forget about them. Your issues will improve as long as you accept that you have them and continually focus on the solution. Remember that your issues are there as a type of service for you. What are your issues doing for you? Can your higher power do a better job? Remember that the universe may be trying to give you everything your need. As soon as you think you are cured forever, your problem may return. Don’t let your ego stop you from continuing your journey. Forgiveness allows you to release the feelings you have toward yourself and others that can be distracting you from your mission in this life. 

What is your mission? Tune in next week. Meditation:  Find yourself walking down a road in the country. Survey your surroundings and notice how green and fresh everything looks. Take a deep breath and breathe in the scents of nature intermingling in your nose, that musty green moistness of living plants, the earth and animals. On the other side of a fence, you notice a berry patch. The vines are covered with ripe berries. You are tempted to pick them to eat, but you know they belong to a farmer. What is your choice? Are you good? Are you bad?  Guess what? You are both! Take a deep breath. As you exhale, the farmer strolls up to the fence. He says, “Would you like this extra basket of berries?” Feel a sense of gratitude you have for his kindness. Tell him thank you. Take the berries. Sit down and eat some. Breathe. 

May you taste the sweetness of forgiveness today, forgiveness of yourself and forgiveness of others. And may you walk in the  the oneness that is without need of forgiveness. Love and Light,

Diane Donovan©05102000    

Find your dreams. Become one at the Destiny Retreat in the beautiful

www.destinyretreats.com             

QUOTES OF THE WEEK  “There is no revenge so complete as forgiveness.”     –Josh Billings 

“All unhappiness is the result of excessive expectations.”         –Buddhist saying “Gratitude is the heart’s memory.”    –French Proverb 

If you are receiving this Ezine as forwarded mail and wish to subscribe, please type the word subscribe as the subject in your reply.  Please send submissions of articles and questions to: donovaughn@destinyretreats.com 

You are receiving this Ezine as a gift. It is published weekly on Wednesday. The Destiny staff hopes that you will enjoy it! We welcome your comments & questions!

Volume 1   Issue 34    Destiny -Finding Your Way Home  Destiny – Inner Peace = Life Satisfactionwww.destinyretreats.com  

DESTINY RETREAT 30 – September 26-28, 2008 Click here to enroll today.Find your dreams in Sedona at Destiny! 

INTEGRATION 

Do you feel like you are one integrated whole person?  Many of us are separated into many parts,