Taste the spirit ebook

Taste the spirit

Dharma Gabrielle

© Copyright by Dharma Gabrielle & e-bookowo

ISBN 978-83-7859-281-5

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Wydanie I 2014

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”An inspirational book for young people to be free to do anything they dream.”

written by Dharma Gabrielle

Dedicated to my English teacher who said couldn’t, and to my parents who always said I could.

“Do what you feel in your heart to be right - for you’ll be criticized anyway. You’ll be damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.”

Eleanor Roosevelt

The mind is your biggest dream making machine:

Throughout my travels, and my experiences I have collected some understanding that for every seed there is time to grow. No matter how much you water it or how much sun you support it with or how much you ask it or even scream so that it would grow, it will do it on its own pace and time. I have composed this book to tell you my story, a life story that hasn’t got a regular set of rules or regulations. Which has made me who I am today.

WhenI was teaching yoga many parents used to come to me asking for help. They asked me to help their teenagers. “What is your secret, how is it that you are so mature? My child is so lost, they have no direction, could you tell them what to do.”

My only answer was: “I am a very blessed individual because I have had parents who didn’t limit my creativity, they allowed me to make trails and errors, they supported me in my growth, and gave me their trust, and that in turn made me responsible.” My parents never told me, “you can’t do this, or that”, or “we can’t afford it.” That wasn’t my family vocabulary; instead of it I could hear: “ We shall find a way.” I hate when parents kill their children’s dreams, when they stomp on their imagination and limit them. It’s not about being a millionaire, it’s about saying yes to the possibility of something happening, the moment you say, “Do you think I’m a millionaire? Do you think I can afford it?” at that moment your brain stops working, it shuts off . When you say “I’ll find a way” the mind starts collecting information, and is finding a route to get what you want. It’s the perfect machine, the perfect employee if you know how to use it.

One day my aunt’s little daughter said she wanted to live in a castle, and my aunt started to laugh at her saying: “Well, if you want a castle you’d better marry a millionaire. ”At that moment her daughter was taught that she was incapable of owning anything, that the only way to owe is to marry someone who will give it to her. A lot of mothers use to say such things to their daughters, “Marry rich, and get a lawyer or a banker.” Instead of saying the opposite,: “Marry whoever you want, but make sure you have your own career and are independent financially.” It is sad but true that most people unconsciously are teaching their children every day that their dreams are a joke. I’m telling you right now, that whatever you want to be and do, you can. The moment you set your mind to it, nothing in this universe can stop you. You just have to realize that. At first it seems almost impossible, because of the junk that people and circumstances have made you. The whole surrounding will go against whatever dream you want to pursue. Here is how I have managed to do anything I have set my mind to:

7 Vital ways to become successful in whatever you are doing:

1. Visualization:

As cheesy as this sounds it is a key factor in making any dream come true. The mind is the most powerful tool to human beings. As humans we hardly use up 5 percent of the mind, it is a complete mystery. When you visualize you are tapping into the mind in a way that you have not used since you were a child. Back then you played with dragons and unicorns and now you are visualizing yourself building a corporation, or sailing across the world. Now that you are older you have the capacity and understanding, and focus that you didn’t have as a child, making it extremely powerful to visualize. Dream big, don’t go small. There is no limit, and the bigger you visualize the more your mind will expand, instead of shrink. Yogis have done it for thousands of years, they understood that the mind is man’s best friend or man’s worst enemy. If it becomes tamed it will give you the world. If it enslaves you, you will become nothing. There is a saying in the India in the yogic scripts, “Man jeet juga jeet.” “conquer your mind and you will conquer the world.”

I visualize exactly what I want to do. I see myself in the circumstances 100 percent.

I smell the surrounding, I taste the food, and I have conversations with my imaginary friends.

2. Drawing out and planning:

I draw out sketches and blue prints of what I want to happen. This helps me make it as real as possible on a physical level. Nothing ever happens exactly how you plan it. The universe always brings it in a different way then you have imagined it. But this will help you prepare the foundation.

3. I don’t tell anyone that doesn’t need to know my plans:

This is very important, and has been the door to all my projects. I don’t tell anyone that really doesn’t care, those who are helping me realize it, and they are usually sworn to secrecy. Why? most people don’t want you to succeed in life. It’s sad but true, most people are miserable because nothing is working for them, and if you tell someone your plans, they will literally shit on your parade. This will bring you down. The moment you are brought down, a part of your brain, that is gathering information, and inspiring you to keep going on your way, will close. Have you ever noticed that when you are telling someone a really great idea you have, usually they say something along the ways of, “… mhmm yeah, but that’s risky, and anyway the market’s so bad right now. ”Or they are really nice about it, “aww that’s such a cute idea how’s your mom these days.” Both ways they undermine you, and destroy your self- confidence which is the fuel for your success.

4. Surround yourself with successful people:

I’m not talking about hanging out with billionaires, (there is nothing wrong with that) but what I’m saying is hang out with people that have made their dreams come true. They will inspire you to keep up with your dreams. Ask them how they did it. If you don’t have any successful people around you check out if there are any courses, or work shops around that will give you more inspiration. What you are doing right now, is rewiring your habit, meaning you have grown up thinking the world works like “this” and now you’re learning to function like “that”. You need to be surrounded by people who want to succeed and who are succeeding. For example all the renaissance artists and writers use to hang out in Paris and rub shoulders, give each other ideas, inspire each other through jealousy, and friendship and love to paint, write, and create beautiful couture.

5. Travel:

WhenI travelI finda lot of people that I would never have contacted with otherwise, also I learna lot about other cultures and countries, and can reflect on what’s going on in the world. It gives me inspiration. It’s the best way to start a new clean sheet. When you feel like everything is stagnant and not moving, leave the place and people. When you come back you will have new ideas, new friends, and a totally new outlook on life.

6. Listen:

This is the toping on the cake, you can do all the five things perfectly but if you don’t get this one, good things will fly past you without you taking notice. What do I mean by listening, listening to whom?

Listen to your surroundings, great things are always happening, people are always saying amazing things. If you listen well you can catch something and use it for your benefit. For example when I was working for 3ho as a teacher trainer in Yoga, we had a meeting about young people attending the 3ho united nation conference. After the meeting I went up to the lady who was announcing it, and said I would love to attend, and represent. She was thrilled. So a week later I was in New York representing 3ho and sitting with some amazing people talking about peace. The universe is constantly throwing gold and diamonds at you, but most people have such low self-esteem that they don’t see that they can use it.

7.Tithing:

The law of when you give you get. This is a very important secret which I learned from my Yoga Teacher.

A lot of people don’t have money and they hoard every penny they have. Tithing is the secret to getting more from the universe. The way I see it there will always be someone less fortunate then you, and there is nothing better than helping them out of their situations. Just like someone will give you a hand, and help you. Tithing is giving a small portion of your income, let it be 10 percent, and donate it to an organization that you are certain is helping the world. It can be your local church, or rescuing the endangered panda bear. Tithing helps you lower your head a bit when it starts hitting the ceiling called your ego.

8. Karma vs. Dharma

Now we all have been hearing the new age Karma and Dharma words flying around, but what exactly do they mean? Well in India in the ancient scriptures, the yogis and saints have stated that our lives revolve around Karma. Karma is an action that has been created by a person. Like let’s say it’s like you have an account in a universal bank and karma is the action of over drawing money constantly, so whatever money we make (with good deeds) we are just trying to bring our account back to zero. Dharma is when we have finally brought our account to zero and are now on the plus. So this is all in a spiritual bank, and why did I put this down as the final secret to success? Because if we are aware of what we are doing we will not be creating any more karma, and will not be causing any more harm to ourselves and others. So whatever you choose to do in life make sure it is not harming any other living by being conscious. Otherwise if you are building your success on other people’s miseries, one day karma will come knocking at your door and asking for you to pay up.

I chose to live a different life to most of my peers, not always I have made the best decisions but at the same time I won’t look back in my life and say, “God, my life was boring.” what I wanted to tell young people is that there is no right road even if they tell you that there is, do not be afraid to be yourself, to be whole heartedly you.

Don’t stop being a child, even if life tests you at every moment. Take the responsibility whole heartedly that you have the right to be here, on the earth. I think most people don’t comprehend that the earth is theirs to take care of. It reminds me the time when Poland was under the Soviets and nothing was done. No one wanted to touch anything. No one could owe anything, people didn’t have respect for things that couldn’t be theirs. The moment the Russians left, Poland blossomed. We didn’t have a feeling like the earth is ours. If we truly understood that it is our home we would not do what we have been doing to her.

Very important: do not be scared to be original; do not resist being a “freak”; it took me a long time to realize that. I wrote this so that in some way maybe you can be inspired; to do something you always wanted to, but were told it was not the smart thing to do or it was not the safe thing. You don’t have to walk the path that everyone tells you to go, you don’t have to follow “The Safe Manual for Young People”. I also wanted to show young people that the world around us is suffering, that nature is dying, that we are responsible and have to take action even if it means making concise decisions on what we buy and use. I hope that it will inspire you to try to live more free, and taste your spirit.

Education shouldn’t start at University and University should start in kinder garden:

Educating oneself should be a pleasure, likea really funny hobby. Most people feel like there is “FUN TIME” which consists of holidays, sports and hanging out with friends, and then there is “WORK and SCHOOL time” and here we have education. Learning should be something that opens your eyes widely and you go, “wow”. Today people don’t go to university for the pleasure of learning; they go so that they can get a job that will pay their bills. Getting through university is a must to secure a safe job, when I talk to a lot of young people after they graduate they usually all say the same thing, “nothing has changed, I’m in the same place I was five years ago, I just have a degree. “If you’re just going to University to get a secure job those times are over. There is no promise after you finish school that you will be doing anything in your area of expertise. That’s why in this chapter I strongly recommend that you keep learning, and educating yourself in as many areas as possible. I know most young people hate learning and I honestly blame parents and teachers. Most teachers hate their jobs and they have no talent in inspiring students to want to learn. There is a big difference between a history teacher who’s just throwing out important dates of wars in a monotonous voice and a history teacher who is taking the class back in time with his imagination and coming up with many ways to get through to all the students. Most parents have ruined education for their kids.

There are three types of parents; the first one is the Go with the flow parent. These parents are way to slack on their kids. They have a hippie mentality and believe that their kids will learn everything from the universe. These kids are ten and still can’t read or write their name. Those parents usually insist that education isn’t that important and it’s better to “just be”. The kids see that their class mates are being more ahead academically then them and they feel insecure and don’t want to continue educating themselves...

Then the second type of parent is the Over achiever .You know those types of parents. When the kid gets a B or a B minus on their exam and they are so proud of themselves, their dad looks at the result and says, “Well, you know that B minus would look much better if it was an A+.” to the kid in grade 2 for Gods sake! There are some over ambitious parents out there, and you know who you are, yes you… You will ruin your kid’s lives with your determination to make your son into the next president. He’s going to be a cripple sooner then he’s anything close to being a president.

The third parent is the Dream catcher parent. Parents that realize that their kids are geniuses at something, “You know, you are good at painting, you should paint, why aren’t you painting, become a painter, you’ll make millions. Paint! Paint! Paaaaaint!”Even if the kid is Leonardo Da Vinci, he’s going to gag every time he takes his paint brush in his hands, so much pressure! These parents take the child’s talent and use it to make them rich or feel good about them. The best example is Michael Jackson and his outstanding talent which had a shadow side; his parents. Even though he became god in the music industry, he could not function as a whole person.

WhenI dropped out of high school for a year, people where freaking out, “what are you going to do? You’re going to be no one. “They used to say it with that concerned face.

People didn’t understand that the last thing that the kids were doing was learning at school. That drugs and sex and rock and roll was all that was going through their little heads. For most of the parents the secure thing was for their kids to stay in school and suffer, then leaving high school and look for another option.

Learning tools:

If

you don’t understand something, get it clarified right away, otherwise it will become

a

nail

in your shoe and don’t feel stupid for asking, only fools sit quietly and agree to everything.

Ask

a

classmate

who’s getting really good marks and let them explain to you how what works. For every problem there is

a

method

to get an answer, it’s like an equation, and some kids have figured it out how to do it faster than others. It’s all about training the mind. You don’t have to be

a

genius

you just need to learn how to study and listen.

Don’t

be

lazy, practice till you are perfect, so that means less MTV and Face book chat and more learning.

Get

an inspiring tutor, it will cost you

a

bit

of money but they will make it fun. It’s their job and you can always fire them if they are bad (none like your teachers.)

If

you don’t have that much money there are

a

lot

of good CDs to learn, and you can keep pressing the clarify button over and over again.

If

you’re learning

a

language, go

to the country where they speak that language. It will inspire you to learn it, and if you can get

a

job

there and work and learn that’s just the best way.

Don’t

put

yourself in the stupid box. There are people in the world that can’t read but run multimillion dollar companies. Never let anyone take your self-confidence away. If you’re not good at one subject, then you are

a

genius

in another subject, your job is to discover what your talent is and harness it.

Most people graduate with a degree in business but they have never worked in their life, or had any relations with how the world actually functions. One of the best ways to learn is to try as many jobs as you possibly can. Work with as many people as you can. One summer I wasa waitress, a real estate agent, a dog walker, and a yoga teacher. Doing things you are not comfortable with will stretch you. That is what education should be: stretching you physically and mentally, so that when you are done you are a completely different person. If you want to learn a language, go to the place people speak the language. Get a job and learn the language with the culture. Then come home and pass some tests that you need to have it certified. My parents have a friend who speaks 5 languages fluently, she never went to learn them at University, she travelled to those countries and lived and worked there. Now she works at a University teaching languages. With such an experience there will be much more fun and you’ll learn faster than if you would sit in a class room.

“Read, read, and read some more, no matter if it’s good or not, just keep reading everything you can get your hands on.” That was what my grandpa would say every single time I saw him. “What are you reading now?” was another thing he would constantly ask me about.

We have always had books at home, bookshelves, nothing but bookshelves. My grandpa was a collector and had books that where hundreds of years old, on all different subjects. My mom started reading books like by Conrad at the age of six. I wasn’t that advanced, I was reading Winnie the Pooh and The Adventures of The Bear. But as I grew up I kept up with my reading habits. My favorite books were always about travelling to exotic countries. I must say that if it wasn’t for books I wouldn’t have been that inspired to travel.

Most young people don’t read unless they have to, for example at university. I remember telling one of my friends that he had to read a certain book, because it was so inspiring . His replay was, “I don’t have time to read anything; I am reading so much at university.” The truth was he had never read anything before going to university, except whatever the teacher demanded in high school. The only thing he ever read was sports magazines. So reading for leisure was not something he had made into a habit. A lot of University students unless they are getting their Bachelor in Literature do not read at all. They don’t understand that the more you know about the world, the more successful you will be in any career that you decide to take up. So I always tell people to read and read some more, read about subjects you’re not interested in, maybe something will open up in you that will inspire you to do something different next in your life.

Travelling:

I started travelling since the time I was born; My parents emigrated from Italy to Canada. The first time I flewa plane by myself was when I was 4 years old. from Vancouver to Poland. I have been to Canada (all the provinces), United States (New York, L.A, New Mexico, Arizona, Virginia, Boston, Oregon), Mexico, Poland, Sweden, Austria, Italy, France, Hungary, Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, Bosnia, Czech Republic, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, North Africa (Tunisia), Australia, Singapore, India, Japan, Thailand.

All those places I travelled intensively learning about the culture, and submerging myself with the people. I speak Polish, English and French fluently; I can understand Hindi and Punjabi and get around. I can read Punjabi. I can get around with my German (worked in Germany for 5 months.) And I can understand Albanian, and Czech. I personally feel that I don’t havea country that I belong to, each country was my home, and each country gave me something as a present. Travelling will make you a globe trotter and that’s when your home becomes the planet, not just something that they call a country with imaginary boarders. No book will ever give you the same experience as travelling and getting to know places and people, and what is actually happening in the world. I don’t believe in the “I’ll travel when I makea lot of money and retire.” That’s just bull crap, and by the time you’re that old you won’t have the energy to see anything. You’ll want to be laying on the beach in the Bahamas, and not be trekking the jungles of the Congo. A lot of young people think that travelling is so expensive, and they just can’t afford it. Well actually travelling is a lot cheaper than sitting in one place and paying rent, electrical bills, and gas bills and food and all the little stuff that you spend money on like new shoes. I havea friend who always talks about traveling, “Oh, I would do anything to travel, but I just can’t afford it. “she can’t afford going to Europe and staying with friends but she can afford a new motorcycle and new rocking republic jeans. There are so many options nowadays such as couch surfing, woofing, and helpx which you can look into online. Plane tickets are not as expensive if you book them ahead of time, and in Europe there is Ryanair which has great deals and can fly you under 30 Euros from one country to another. The last thing you want to do when you go out into the world to have an experience is to stay in five star hotels and be taken around in a limo.( Trust me I’ve done it and it’s so boring.) You might as well just stay at home and go to your local five star hotel. The best way is to get into the culture that you are discovering. Go on the local bus, talk to the people, stay with a family and help them a bit or stay in a small bed and breakfast. You will be so much richer in your understanding of other cultures. So for all the young people out there, travel first as much as you can, as far away from home, and what you know, and then think about working, think about making money, think about starting a family;