Soul Mate

Excerpt from "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert (although I haven't read the whole thing yet but I find this part worth sharing)

"People think a soul mate is your perfect fit, and that's what everyone wants. But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that is holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life. A true soul mate is probably the most important person you'll ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake. But to live with a soul mate forever? Nah. Too painful. Soul mates, they come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then leave. A soul mates purpose is to shake you up, tear apart your ego a little bit, show you your obstacles and addictions, break your heart open so new light can get in, make you so desperate and out of control that you have to transform your life"

Quotes

By Khalil Gibran

I am very thankful to my friend who sent me these to read on December 10th, 2008. :)

"Advance, and never halt, for advancing is perfection. Advance and do not fear the thorns in the path, for they draw only corrupt blood."

"All that spirits desire, spirits attain."

"But let there be spaces in your togetherness and let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love: let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls."

"Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity."

"And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy."

"Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding."

"Zeal is a volcano, the peak of which the grass of indecisiveness does not grow."

"Would that I were a dry well, and that the people tossed stones into me, for that would be easier than to be a spring of flowing water that the thirsty pass by, and from which they avoid drinking."

"I wash my hands of those who imagine chattering to be knowledge, silence to be ignorance, and affection to be art."

"Safeguarding the rights of others is the most noble and beautiful end of a human being."

"Wisdom stands at the turn in the road and calls upon us publicly, but we consider it false and despise its adherents."

"God has placed in each soul a true guide to the light, but man struggles to find life outside himself, unaware that the life he is seeking is within him. "

"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."

“Love and doubt have never been on speaking terms.” And when you start losing trust on your love, then is when the first crack appears in a relationship. If you can’t trust you partner, happiness is gone forever."

"Love is the offspring of spiritual affinity and unless that affinity is created in a moment, it will not be created for years or even generations."

"Your joy is your sorrow unmasked... The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain... I say unto you, they are inseparable. Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed."

Change

Fighting the same crowd everyday
walking the same path day by day
programmed to accept the way things are
but exhaling, inhaling anyway.

Rarely do we seek to improve
Rarely do we feel things matter
jumping from one task to another
always hungry to find the better.

Until one day it happens to you
the blindfold is removed, you can view
you pause for a moment, where are you?
you wonder where you're headed to.

You notice their smiles, you observe their frowns
you feel their pain and their downs
your prayers slip when their hearts drown
ego is silenced, and humility abounds.

the conscience burns over what's missed
you wonder if ignorance is truly a bliss.

My Favourite poem - Beautiful Snow by J.W. Watson

(It's way too long so I will just post my favourite parts of the poem)

Over the crest of the beautiful snow;

Snow so pure as it falls from the sky,

To be trampled in time by the crowd rushing by -

To be trampled and tracked by thousands of feet

Till it blends with the filth in the horrible street.

Once I was pure as the snow, but I fell,

Fell like the snow flakes from heaven to hell;

Fell to be trampled as filth in the street,

Fell to be scoffed, to be spit on and beat;

Pleading, Cursing, Dreading to die,

Selling my soul to whoever would buy;

Dealing in shame for a morsel of bread,

Hating the living and fearing the dead.

Merciful God! I have fallen so low!

And yet I was once like the beautiful snow..

Once I was fair as the beautiful snow,

With an eye like a crystal, a heart like its glow;

Once I was loved for my innocent grace--

Flattered and sought for the charms of my face!

Father, Mother, Sisters--all,

God and myself I have lost by my fall:

The veriest wretch that goes shivering by,

Will make a wide sweep lest I wander too night,

For all that is on or above me I know,

There is nothing so pure as the beautiful snow.