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McAfee.com KeepItReal now get yourself into a safe and comfortable position and let's begin. Allow your eyes to close easily and gently. As you come back to your body. You come back to your breath. Allow your awareness to rest on your breath for a moment. Imagine your awareness is like A little surfer surfing the wave of your breath. Good. Now I'd like you to bring your awareness up into your eyelid and imagine that your eyelids are feeling sleepy and heavy. You know that feeling when you're reading late at night and your eyes just won't stay open? Imagine that heaviness. And now I want you to imagine that this heaviness is so complete that you can't open your eyes. Now, of course you can open your eyes if you really, really want to, but I want you to to imagine that you can't. And now we're going to test your eyes to make sure you can't. And again, you're pretending, so wiggle your eyebrows while your eyes remain closed. Beautiful. By doing that, and it's such a simple thing, you're entering a whole different room of yourself. As this relaxation around your eyes, this nice heaviness, imagine it moving down into your cheeks, your lips, into your chin, maybe your jaw feels so relaxed your mouth opens. The lower part of your face feeling very heavy and relaxed. And now imagine that heavy feeling in your eyelids moving up into your forehead. Your forehead sort of softening and spreading and letting go. And all the activity that happens behind your forehead, all that energy, it too is moving back into your brain. As your head becomes heavy, heavy. You allow your head to feel so heavy on the pillow. Good. As you imagine warm waves of relaxation lapping up against the beach of your mind. Feel those warm waves of relaxation lapping up against the each of your mind. As all mental tension disappears. That wonderful heaviness that began in your eyelids is moving down into your neck and your shoulders. The muscles of your shoulders are softening, sort of melting into the bed. And all of the responsibilities that you carried on those shoulders today are falling to the floor. Responsibilities you feel to your family, your friends, your work. Responsibilities you feel to the world at large and to the future. And even responsibilities you may feel from the past. They've all fallen from your shoulders and are on the floor now. And you can pick any or all of them up tomorrow morning. For right now, you're free. Free to drift, float and heal and love yourself. Good. As the heaviness moves down your arms now, all the way down your arms into your hands and your fingers feel so good to allow your arms to relax. As you imagine the relaxation moving down into your torso, opening up your inner world, moving down around your heart and your lungs. That wonderful relaxation softening and soothing you from inside as it moves down through your middle organs now deep into your belly as your whole inner being softens and relaxes and expands. As the relaxation moves down your legs now. And your legs are feeling nice and heavy, heavy, heavy. Just imagine they're made of marble because your legs are on vacation now and they're resting, the heaviness moving now deep into your feet, into your toes. And you may be aware of sounds going on around you in your environment. And that's okay, because from this moment on, no sound that you hear will bother or disturb you in any way. In fact, from this moment on, any sound that you hear, like sounds from within your room, maybe noises another person's making, sounds from another room or out on the street, those sounds will actually take you deeper and deeper into relaxation. So bring your awareness to those sounds right now and let them take you deeper. Good. The only sound you need to pay any attention to is the sound of my voice. And even the sound of my voice will sound distant, far away, and it too will take you deeper and deeper. Good. The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran Then said, a rich man speak to us of giving. And he answered, you give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give. For what are your possessions but things you keep and guard for fear you may need them tomorrow? And tomorrow. What shall tomorrow bring to the over prudent dog, burying bones in the trackless sand as he follows the pilgrims to the holy city? And what is fear of need, but need itself is not dread of thirst when your well is full, the thirst that is unquenchable. There are those who give little of the much which they have, and they give it for recognition, and their hidden desire makes their gift unwholesome. And there are those who have little and give it all. These are the believers in life, and the bounty of life and their coffer is never empty. There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward. And there are those who give with pain, and that pain is their baptism. And there are those who give and know not pain in giving, nor do they seek joy, nor give with mindfulness of virtue. They give, as in yonder valley the myrtle breathes its fragrance into space. Through the hands of such as these God speaks, and from behind their eyes he smiles upon the earth. It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked through understanding and to the open handed the search for one who shall receive. Is joy greater than giving? And is there aught you would withhold? All you have shall someday be given. Therefore give now but the season of giving may be yours and not your inheritors. You often say I would give, but only to the deserving. The trees in your orchard say not so, nor the flocks in your pasture. They give that they may live. For to withhold, hold is to perish. Surely he who is worthy to receive his days and his nights is worthy of all else from you. And he who has deserved to drink from the ocean of life deserves to fill his cup from your little stream. And what desert greater shall there be than that which lies in the courage and the confidence, nay, the charity of receiving. And who are you that men should rend their bosom and unveil their pride, that you may see their worth naked and their pride unabashed? See first that you yourself deserve to be a giver and an instrument of giving. For in truth it is life that gives unto life. While you who deem yourself a giver are but a witness. And you receivers, and you are all receivers, assume no weight of gratitude, lest you lay a yoke upon yourself and upon him who gives rather rise together with the giver on his gifts as on wings. For to be overmindful of your debt is to doubt his generosity. Who has the free hearted earth for mother, and God for father. And a man said, speak to us of self knowledge. And he answered, saying, your hearts know in silence the secrets of the days, the nights, but your ears thirst for the sound of your heart's knowledge. You would know in words that which you have always known in thought. You would touch with your fingers the naked body of your dreams. And it is well you should. The hidden wellspring of your soul must needs rise and run murmuring to the sea. And the treasure of your infinite depths would be revealed to your eyes. But let there be no scales to weigh your unknown treasure and see. Seek not the depths of your knowledge with staff or sounding line. For self is a sea boundless and measureless. Say not, I have found the truth, but rather I have found a truth. Say not, I have found the peace path of the soul. Say rather, I have met the soul walking upon my path. For the soul walks upon all paths. The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed. The soul unfold, folds itself like a lotus of countless petals. Then a ploughman said, speak to us of work. And he answered, saying, you work that you may keep pace with the earth and the soul of the earth. For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the seasons. And to step out of life's procession that Marches in majesty and proud submission towards the infinite. When you work, you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music. Which of you would be a reed, dumb and silent, when all else sings together in unison? Always you have been told that work is a curse and labor a misfortune. But I say to you that when you work, you fulfill a part of earth's furthest dream assigned to you when that dream was born. And in keeping yourself with labor, you are, in truth, loving life. And to love life through labor is to be intimate with life's inmost secret. But if you in your pain call birth an affliction and the support of the flesh a curse written upon your brow, Then I answer that naught but the sweat of your brow shall wash away that which is written. You have been told also that life is darkness. And in your weariness you echo what was said by the weary. And I say that life is indeed darkness. Save when there is urge, and all urge is blind. Save when there is knowledge, and all knowledge is vain. Save when there is work, and all work is empty. Save when there is love. And when you work with love, you bind yourself to yourself and to one another and to God. And what is it to work with love? It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart. Even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth. It is to build a house with affection. Even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house. It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy. Even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit. It is to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your own spirit. And to know that all the blessed dead are standing about you and watching. Often have I heard you say, as if speaking in sleep, he who works in marble and finds the shape of his own soul in the stone. Is nobler than he who plows the soil. And he who seizes the rainbow. To lay it on a cloth in the likeness of man Is more than he who makes the sandals for our feet. But I say, not in sleep, but in the over wakefulness of noontide. That the wind speaks not more sweetly to the giant oaks. Than to the least of all the blades of grass. And he alone is great, who turns the voice of the wind into a song made sweeter by his own loving work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love, but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy. For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man's hunger. And if you grudge the crushing of the grapes, your grudge distills a poison in the wine. And if you sing, though as angels and love not the singing, you muffle man's ears to the voices of the day and the voices of the night. Then, said Almitra, speak to us of love. And he raised his head and looked upon the people. And there fell a stillness upon them. And with a great voice he said, when love beckons to you, follow him. Though his ways are hard and steep. And when his wings enfold you, yield to him, though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you. And when he speaks to you, believe him, Though his voice may shatter your dreams. As the north wind lays waste the garden. For even as love crowns you, so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth, so is he for your pruning. Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun, so shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth. Like sheaves of corn. He gathers you unto himself. He threshes you to make you naked. He sifts you to free you from your husks. He grinds you to whiteness. He kneads you until you are pliant. And then he assigns you to his sacred fire. That you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast. All these things shall love do unto you. That you may know the secrets of your heart. And in that knowledge become a fragment of life's heart. But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure, Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing floor into the seasonless world. Where you shall laugh but not all of your laughter. And weep but not all of your tears will. Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself. Love possesses naught, nor would it be possessed. For love is sufficient unto love. When you love, you should not say, God is in my heart, but rather I am in the heart of God. And think not you can direct the course of love. For love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course. Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself. But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires. To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night. To know the pain of too much tenderness. To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving. To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy. To return home at eventide with gratitude and then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips. It. Sa. It. Sa. It. It. Sa. It. It. Sam.
