Our Best 2016 List

[Troy]

Happy Holidays everyone!

Hands down, this has been a rough year for many people. And in our new Trump-fucked world, I don't know if the years will get better anytime soon. So in the spirit of "you can't always control what happens TO you, but you can always control what you DO with what happens to you", I'd love to bring into 2017 a sense of what we learned, gained, shared, loved, what inspired us, what moved us, what made life a little better, or at least reminded us to hang in there.

 

What I want this thread to represent is a resource for all of us to read and reference when we need or want something to remind us of our kindness, compassion, strength, resonance, humanity, aspirations, truth, love, beauty...

 

 Ideas for sharing:

 

a favorite quote or excerpt or new concept from Michael

describe if/how this teaching/Michael mattered in 2016

describe if/how this community mattered to you in 2016

any meaningful moment with someone

any meaningful moment alone or private observation

any inspiring surprises you learned about yourself or others

an inspiring tv show or film

a moving music video

personal story of strength, compassion, triumph, love...

describe your healthiest interpretation of 2016

 

Share anything you think would touch others who look at this thread and need reminders and examples for how to extract the best from life, even when things suck.

 

Let's give each other something that acts as a gift from 2016 so we can start 2017 with strength, remembering, and willingness.

 

I love you all so much. Thank for being one of the best reasons any day is better than it might have been.

 

Happy Holidays!

 

[Guest Matt]

In a session i had this year, i asked michael if they could live one more life, what would they do less of, and more of. They said they would worry less, and get into activism more. That was my favorite session of 2016. Especially about how they would worry less. I go back to that session often. They said worry never changed an outcome. 

 

[Maxim [memorial profile]]

@Matt That makes sense.  What session was that?

[Guest Matt]

10 minutes ago, Maxim said:

@Matt That makes sense.  What session was that?

http://our.truthloveenergy.com/blogs/entry/976-if-you-had-one-more-life/

 

[Timothy J Sullivan]

I am kept buoyant and forward looking, not so much by any one aspect of teaching or disclosure but by the overarching perspective, the Big Picture of unfolding, and our part to play in it, supported by small understandings, and larger frames in which to contemplate it all. The stories of fellow students, so personal and warm allow me to feel a part of 'the whole thing.' I feel encouraged, mostly. Yes, events have not turned out to my personal liking or desire in many ways. That doesn't seem to matter when seen from the larger perspective. And with the felt connection to all Here.   

[Yin-da]

Since Matt brought the topic of worry up here I decided to share from a blog I posted in October.

I asked Michael the following about building my health, here:

 

Question 3): What are the most essential things I can do to build stronger health right now except for what and how I eat.

Very short on this last one if possible, then I can do a follow up later.

 

MEntity: As for 3) your greatest concern at this point is to reduce your worrying. You are taking quite good care of yourself in many ways on many levels, but you continue to worry.

 

MEntity: If you can allow your worry to be quick invitations of alert, but then let them go, you can navigate your days with less stress. If your worry is unfounded, let it be unfounded and comfort yourself. If your worry is pointing you to a valid concern, then see if you can do something about it. If you cannot, let it rest as information not as a drain on your psyche.

[NicholasV]

I found all the articles on "the angles of behavior for transforming chief features" incredibly useful! Very simple to implement in your daily life and quite effective for reducing the effects of chief features.

 

Also the information on body types for me is some of the most transcendental knowledge I've ever learned about. It completely transformed my perception of people and advanced my understanding of the multidimensional fabric which is part of spiritual evolution.

Edited December 30, 2016 by NicholasV

[Guest Matt]

22 hours ago, Ingun said:

MEntity: If you can allow your worry to be quick invitations of alert, but then let them go, you can navigate your days with less stress.

Thanks Ingun for posting that, this is something i work on everyday.  I have gotten much better over the years in most aspects of my life.  This will probably sound corny, but one time i was watching the TV show Frasier and the dad on there Martin was telling someone to imagine your problems as a big red balloon that is floating away into the sky and away from you.  So i tried that myself, and it actually works, at least for a little bit.  It's funny when i read Michael tell you to let them go, because that is what i tried with the whole balloon thing, i let my worries go and float away into the sky in the balloon.  

[AnnH]

Being at the Soul Slosher's Gathering was a big highlight of my year. Just hanging out with few plans with a delightful gang of weirdos was reviving and lovely. Hanging around and laughing with people is one of my trues--and it was fulfilling.

 

It's been a hard year for me, both globally, personally, and professionally. I ain't gonna lie. It's kind of hard to think. 

 

I was able to spend time with my late brother in his home in CA. I got to help him in his illness. I've grown closer to his wife and have been able to help her, too.

Christmas Eve with one of my dearest friends. It was safe and peaceful for all of us. Not traveling this Christmas--so much more restful. 

Despite my increased teaching schedule, knowing that I was still able to give things of value to my students. 

To have President Obama as my president, who I supported and voted for when he ran for Senate in IL and as president. Even when I disagreed with his policies, I respected his ethics, his humor, and his grace.

 

I think I've learned to be more comfortable with vulnerability this year. Michael students have helped with this, even if I haven't been a very active member lately. 

 

 

 

 

[Troy]

Thank you guys for chiming in on this thread. It really helps to read this when I start feeling cynical.

[AnnH]

My code word for 2017 is Courage.

[Maureen]

5 hours ago, AnnH said:

My code word for 2017 is Courage.

 

Ann, Courage (for Hugh MacLennan), released 1993, was a highlighted song last year (2016) as the lead singer, Gordon Downie, from the beloved, iconic Canadian band The Tragically Hip is battling terminal brain cancer. Apparently his nurses sang him this song on one of his worst days during chemo treatment  That made me cry. The song's bracketed title references the late author Hugh MacLennan particularly his 1959 novel The Watch That Ends the Night, whose closing lines are paraphrased in the song's final verse. I thought you would enjoy the confluence of Art meeting Art ...along with your choice of word, Courage. Here are the lyrics:

 

Courage (for Hugh MacLennan)

 

Watch the band through a bunch of dancers
Quickly, follow the unknown
With something more familiar
Quickly, something familiar

Courage, my word
It didn't come, it doesn't matter

Sleepwalk, so fast asleep
In a motel that has the lay of home
And piss on all of your background
And piss on all your surroundings

Courage, my word
It didn't come, it doesn't matter
Courage, your word
It didn't come, it doesn't matter
Courage, my word
It didn't come, it doesn't matter
Courage, it couldn't come at a worse time

There's no simple
Explanation
For anything important
Any of us do
And, yeah, the human
Tragedy
Consists in
The necessity
Of living with
The consequences
Under pressure
Under pressure

Courage, my word
It didn't come, it doesn't matter
Courage, your word
It didn't come, it doesn't matter
Courage, my word
It didn't come, it doesn't matter
Courage, it couldn't come at a worse time

It couldn't come at a worse time
No
It couldn't come at a worse time

Courage

 

Edited December 30, 2016 by Maureen

[ckaricai]

So this was a hard year for me personally on top of what's been going on in the world. One highlight was watching new episodes of Steven Universe. One episode in particular was so beautiful it made me cry like a baby. The song from that episode is basically a mental health reminder and just a great song. I might have posted it somewhere here, but thought I'd add it here because I still sing that song when I need the reminder to take a moment and breathe.

 

 

[Janet]

18 hours ago, AnnH said:

My code word for 2017 is Courage.

 

At my Gateway class, one of the exercises was to go into a meditative state and receive the five most important messages for ourselves. Amazingly, during the course of the exercise I did actually receive five messages clearly and succinctly. We got them in reverse order of importance, and mine were:

 

5. Trust the process (this message was received immediately, in response to my doubt that I was going to receive 'important' messages)

4. Love is all (note that it was not 'All is love', but the reverse, which to me implies direction and possibly action on my part)

3. Be brave (this was a little unnerving, but it falls neatly into place with Ann's code word as well as some other information I've received from Michael over the last year)

2. Trust yourself (sometimes easier said than done, and appreciated as a reminder)

1. All will be well (a code phrase that I usually receive as 'All IS well', but a comforting message all the same)

 

This has been a rollercoaster year for me. The unexpected deaths of both my parents in the first two months of 2016 caused me to lean heavily on Michael for support and interpretation of a variety of dreams and experiences. This statement from Michael in March 2016 seems to express how my year has turned out and how I view the future: 

 

MEntity: The death of parents can be the first steps toward embracing and nurturing a facet or side of the self that was long ago forgotten, kept at bay, considered a distraction, etc. This facet of the self may start to become more and more obvious with a shift in expression, attitude, openness, confidence, and a "fuck it, why not" leap. Though your identity was not dependent upon their presence, their lack of presence does change how one sees the self, how one sees the self in relation to the world, and how one navigates that. This is not true for everyone, but for many it is part of the dynamic of existence in a lifetime and when that dynamic changes so fundamentally, it changes "you." Your Life Plan, then, might best be described over the next 5 years as "INTO THE WILD AND AWAY FROM THE MILD."

 

 

[Maxim [memorial profile]]

@Janet I have to agree with Michael.  My perception of you is more confidence and presence. 

This facet of the self may start to become more and more obvious with a shift in expression, attitude, openness, confidence, and a "fuck it, why not" leap.

 

[MichaelS]

Thanks to all who've posted on here, proving that it's up to us to choose our internal weather.

 

The most memorable learning for me was when Michael told me 'you do not exist FOR others you live WITH others.' I'm grateful to have learned this during my lifetime, rather than on the flip side. 

Edited December 30, 2016 by MichaelS

[ViP]

I just finished watching Ghost in the Shell, the classic Japanese cyberpunk anime, 2 days ago (Stand Alone Complex, season 1) for the first time. At the end, there is a dialogue between the main character, Motoko Kusanagi, who is a cyborg networked with the globe-spanning Internet equivalent of the future, and an ultra-talented hacker who was of questionable motivations. To paraphrase, the hacker made a statement to the effect that, when you have lost or given away everything about yourself that makes you who you are - your memories, the external things that are meaningful to you that remind you of your past and where you have been - you lose yourself. In that state, you lose your identity, and there is nothing to keep you going any more. 

 

The response from her was, the thing that kept you going, was Curiosity. That really, really hit a place in me after this year, where I felt lost and questioned who and where I was any more, many a time. It lit something in me again. 

 

Then I thought of Michael, and to Curiosity I mentally added - Imagination. It was very satisfying. I think that's what I want to remember. 

[Bobby]

There are so many things that I am thankful and grateful for about this community and Troy's work that I bog down when I try to even remotely prioritize them in a list.  But one thing that I'm thinking about at the moment that most definitely stood out for me is a video that Daniela shared of the song "Hold Onto Me."  For me, it's a simple reminder of why we're here and how to carry that out into our world each and every day.  With all of the crap happening all the time around us, if we can reach out and help make someone's day better, then it was all worth it I think no matter how big or small.

 

 

[Hjortur]

 

@Ingun and @Matt Thanks, I liked what the Michaels had to say about worry. It's pretty much the only thing I have done lately. I worry about: "Too much workload as Volvo restructures", "Meeting deadlines", "Making mistakes", "Taking care of my family", "Sleep", "Stress", "being constantly tired", "Lack of concentration", "Braking down"...etc.

The tension in the world is escalating with changes in politics and a shift in the power balance due to "certain" choices made.

It looks like we are in for some real reasons for worrying the next year so I am going to take the Michaels advice into 2017.

 

I would like to share the thoughts of one of my entity members with you.
 

 

[NatalieP]

The November Energy Report really hit home and helped me reflect my way out of the stagnation built from my Complacency. Since then, I feel that my goals and visions are more clear, that I have a bit more purpose to my life.

 

My favourite quotes were:

 

"Love is an inspirational element, but Love is not inaction. For love to make a difference in a material world, LOVE must include ACTION"

 

"For our students who are realizing the depth of Complacency that has been in place for most of this life, you have a choice to tap into Self-destruction and Blame yourselves, Blame others, or you can choose to DO SOMETHING for a change."