Insights

I had been learning English since I was thirteen.  The times that I am abroad or in English speaking trainings or groups, my English improves fast and I feel very connected to the language. And then come times when I feel like I just did not learn enough.

Among all of the words that I have learned, ‘insight’ was a word I used or was even aware of until I read “The Celestine Prophecy” by James Redfield over ten years ago.  Since I was a kid, I had had experiences of synchronicity, feelings of déjà vu and amazement for the strange coincidences that show up in my life at unexpected times.  Then after reading James Redfield,  few years later, the word ‘insight’ would this time appear in game developed at the Findhorn Eco village in Scotland.  As a part of the amazing “The Transformation Game”.  In time ‘Insight’ became for me a word that meant a world of personal discoveries.

As I look back, I cannot pin point exactly when I started to be more aware of the surprising coincidences in my life.  That there is something to them, about them that needs to be discovered. It probably was after I went to the US for college.

Then books started to show up in my life.  The first book that I can definitely say was an eye-opener for me was “The Road Less Travelled” by M. Scott Peck.  That book stayed touched something in me and made me look for more. I went to Boston for my first Thanksgiving to visit the sister of one of my best friends.  And in Boston Renin gave me this book. “The Road Less Travelled” touched something in me and made me look for more.

Then Erich Fromm and Rollo May started to interest me.  For the first time I was reading about psychology.  In junior high and high school, I had read only novels.  At least one per week.  I loved reading. I loved fiction. In that fall of 1988 in Boston, something started to change.  My focus of attention was starting to change suddenly in my first few months in the US.  I had come to New York to study engineer.  I always thought I loved math and numbers were my calling. And now I was discovering that my real interests seemed to be very different from what I had chosen to learn for my future.  Away from home and in new territories of all kinds, I guess I was terrified to even consider that I was not on the right track.  And I ignored the signs, until I could not.

From that autumn in 1988 in Boston to 2013 naturally a lot has happened.  Looking back, my life seems to follow a path like what James Redfield is writing about in his books “The Celestine Prophecy”, “The Tenth Insight” and his other books. Following and discovering the insights he wrote about.

There are many signs in our lives.  Call them whatever you like corner stones, lighthouses, wake-up calls, warnings, dilemmas, coincidences, synchronicities or insight.  There are signs in our lives that seem to try to lead us to events, people or situations that will makes us happier, healthier and more satisfied.  Listening to them, seeing them, choosing to see them and accept them makes a difference.

And may be the coincidences in our lives are the answers to our prayers.

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Some questions from James Redfield to leave you with for the next few weeks:

1-      Were there any particular coincidences or signs connected with getting your current living space (significant house numbers, encounters with neighbours, delays in negotiations, mixed-up phone calls, special street names, or any other odd detail)?

2-      How did you get your past or present job? Think back to how you found out about it, to whom you talked and what messages you might have received?

3-      Describe how you met your most important relationship. What led up to your being in that place at that time?

4-      Do you see a pattern in how things come to you? What was the similarity, if any, between meeting your significant relationship and getting a job or a place to live in?

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Wishing you many delightful coincidences and sought after insights.

With love,

Zeynep

What Would Love Do Now?

I have been away from Fethiye almost since December. I came for a few days on and off, but I really missed it and missed my friends here. Still, I have a lot of catching up to do. By the way, currently I am back in Istanbul for a project on Life Coaching. Actually, I came back to Istanbul today with a morning flight. I flew with Pegasus Airlines for the first time. And also I used the Sabiha Gökçen Airport in Istanbul for the first time as well. I am amazed to see that London now has four airports, and having a second one was definitely needed in Istanbul. However, I have a feeling this second airport will turn out to be too small for the city’s growing needs for air travel.

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Well, back to Fethiye. I was talking with some friends about my trip to Japan this year in May. That trip has been like a Tibetian bowl in my life. I can still feel its influence, its vibration in my life. I am also trying to understand why I feel this connected to this country…

What makes us connected to a place?

What makes us feel close to, to like, to love a place, a country, a person?

It is about culture, language, or appearances?

Is it about being similar or different?

What are the underlying factors?

What are the reasons, if any?
…

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Fethiye is a place that I am really drawn to. There are other cities and towns that I have been to tens of times and I do not feel a similar connection with those places.
I also feel a very close connection with Japan, more than many of the countries that I have been to so many times.

Why?

Well, there are different answers:
My bio-energy teacher Moshe Abudaram says that sometimes the land, the energy of the physical land may call a person, to complete what is taking place there. Maybe that is why although distant healing works beautifully in many cases, sometimes healer needs to be physically close to the person in need of the healing.
What does this really mean

This can mean several things. First of all, those of you who might have read “The Celestine Prophecy” by James Redfield know that energies of groups of people come together at certain times at certain places to create a higher energy field. A person’s presence might be needed for the formation of such a circle. A circle of two or many. Second, either the person might need the energy of the land or the land might need the energy of that person. And this could be needed for many different reasons.

Of course, there is also the topic of previous life times. One of my friends is going to the US to attend a workshop by the famous psychiatrist Brian Weiss. I also wanted to go; yet I have been travelling so much in the last few months that I felt I needed stay this time. Brian Weiss is a must read for those who are interested in regressions and hypnotherapy.

There is a lot more happening energetically than we seem to be aware of. Also, to be aware of the energy exchanges that take place between people everyday have a look at James Redfield’s books. Also, the movie of the book “The Celestine Prophecy” is out, by the same name. I really do recommend watching it.

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Neale Donald Walsch in his book “Conversations with God” writes:
“Do what you love to do and nothing else. Make a life. Otherwise that is a dying.”
And there is also a powerful question that he uses and that I also use when things get difficult. And with that question I would like to leave you this week.
The question is: “What would love do now?”
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I wish all of you the best.
With love,
Zeynep

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Angel of the Week: Intention

Affirmation of the Week:
“As I become the right person, I find the right person.”
From The Kabbalah Centre

Quote of the Week:
“It is necessary to write, if the days are not to slip emptily by.”
Vita Sackville-West

Zeynep’s Book Recommendation of the Week:
“Ask and It Is Given” by Esther and Jerry Hicks
This book is available in Turkish under the title: “Yeter ki İsteyin!”

Burgaz Island, Findhorn, Shambhala and More

This noon I was on a boat with my brother. We went to Burgaz Island in Istanbul for lunch. It was quite a windy and rough weather, but it was also wonderful to watch the waves wash the boat. There were only a few boats out apart from the municipality public catamarans and vapurs, the typical boat that give service in Istanbul.

As we were having lunch at the Barbayani Restaurant, we talked about two books. One of them was by Jack Canfield. The title of the book is “How to Get from Where You are to Where You Want to Be? The 25 Principles of Success.” Although I found the title a little cheesy at the beginning, I need to admit that I really did like the book. I was reading it again on a flight the other day.

Jack Canfield is famous for his part in the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” series of books. I like his other books as well. As some of the might remember, he was in the popular movie “The Secret”.

The second book we talked about was “Eckhart Tolle’s Findhorn Retreat”. This is a book with 2 DVD and it is composed of footage from a retreat in Findhorn, Scotland with Eckhart Tolle as you probably have already figured out. Since I will be in Findhorn for a couple of weeks to attend a training, we could not help talking about Eckhart Tolle’s teachings as well as the role Findhorn played in the world both in the spiritual and the environmental sense.


Where is Shambhala?

I was reading a book by Doreen Virtue this week, and I came across a sentence:
“When you have to make a decision between two directions, take the path that brings you closer to your life’s mission.”

Being an engineer and doing engineering and construction work for years, I was expected to be very logical and analytical. And maybe I expected this from myself more than anyone else. As time went by I found myself on another path, and I am pretty happy with the way things were unfolding.

Life gives us quite a number of clues in its own mysterious ways. How? Probably you have your own ways of receiving these messages. James Redfield’s books are also wonderful in creating an awareness. “Celestine Prophecy” is one of my all time favourites. “The Secret of Shambhala” is also a book I like in the series.

Shambhala is also the name of the Buddist Retreat I will be staying at in June. When I am visiting Findhorn, I will be staying at this retreat for a few days.

Shambhala is a Sanskrit term meaning "place of peace/tranquility/happiness". Shambhala is also believed to be a society where all the inhabitants are enlightened. I feel that I will find peace and tranquility at the Shambhala Retreat in Findhorn Bay.

Where is Shambhala for you? Could it exit, for you?

From Eckhart Tolle

This week I would like to quote Eckhart Tolle a little. It really fits my mood after a day on the sea and on an island:

- You are the sky. The clouds are what happens, what comes and goes.
- When you are present in this moment, you break the continuity of your story of past and future. Then true intelligence arises, and also love. The only way love can come into your life is not through form, but through that inner spaciousness that is Presence. Love has no form.
- The sun never sets. It is only an appearance due to the observer’s limited perspective. And yet, what a sublime illusion it is.
- Let go of excessive thinking and see how everything changes.
- You don’t solve problems by thinking; you create problems by thinking. The solution always appears when you step out of thinking and become still and absolutely present, even if only for a moment.
- Outer space and inner space are ultimately one.
- It has been said that there are two ways of being unhappy; not getting what you want, and getting what you want.
- When you awaken, nature awakens, too.

The Questions of the Week

Many masters say that questions bring about answers. Therefore here are
The Questions of the Week:
Q1: How many times a day do you use words such as “totally” , “always”, “certainly”, “must”, “never” and “absolutely”?
Q2: When you are closing a conversation do you usually end with a statement or a question?
Q3: What roles does each person in your family play?
Q4: How are the roles in the family interdependent?
Q5: Questions for the self:
a- What are my weaknesses, blind spots, and areas for improvement?
b- What are my strengths, my best qualities?
c- What can I do to be more effective, helpful, or sensitive?
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May your questions bring you all of the answers that you seek.

May you find you own Shambhala.

With love and light,
Z.

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Affirmation of the Week:
“I am excited about growing and becoming even more of who I am.”
By Angeles Arrien
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Quote of the Week:
“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark.
The real tragedy of life is when an adult is afraid of the light.”
Plato
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Suggested Reading:
“The Secret of Shambhala” By James Redfield
The Turkish translation of the book may be found under the name “Kehanetlerin Gizemi”.

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