Could it be this simple?

[manitou]

I was just sent one of those forwarded joke emails from a friend - I just have to share this with all of you. Although this takes the form of a joke, for some reason my soul really clamped on to Dr. Phil's actual words.

As heady and theoretical we love our discussions to be, sometimes the earthiest has the most dramatic and immediate impact.

 

CALMNESS IN OUR LIVES.

 

"....By following simple advice heard on the Dr. Phil Show, you too can find inner peace. Dr. Phil proclaimed, "The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started and never finished". So, I looked around my house to see all the things I started and hadn't finished, and before leaving the house this morning, I finished off a bottle of White Zinfandel, a bottle of Baileys Irish Cream, Wild Turkey, a package of Oreos, the remainder of my old Prozac prescription, the rest of the cheesecake, some Doritos, a box of chocolates, and a half bottle of scotch.

You have no idea how freaking good I feel right now."......

 

 

As to Dr. Phil's actual advice, does this kick anyone else in the gut, or is it just me?

[Vajrahridaya]

I was just sent one of those forwarded joke emails from a friend - I just have to share this with all of you. Although this takes the form of a joke, for some reason my soul really clamped on to Dr. Phil's actual words.

As heady and theoretical we love our discussions to be, sometimes the earthiest has the most dramatic and immediate impact.

 

CALMNESS IN OUR LIVES.

 

"....By following simple advice heard on the Dr. Phil Show, you too can find inner peace. Dr. Phil proclaimed, "The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started and never finished". So, I looked around my house to see all the things I started and hadn't finished, and before leaving the house this morning, I finished off a bottle of White Zinfandel, a bottle of Baileys Irish Cream, Wild Turkey, a package of Oreos, the remainder of my old Prozac prescription, the rest of the cheesecake, some Doritos, a box of chocolates, and a half bottle of scotch.

You have no idea how freaking good I feel right now."......

 

 

As to Dr. Phil's actual advice, does this kick anyone else in the gut, or is it just me?

 

I'm staying away from this Dr. Phil guy... no just kidding. It's interesting how people can take things in ways that are so far from the original intention.

[Brian]

I was just sent one of those forwarded joke emails from a friend - I just have to share this with all of you. Although this takes the form of a joke, for some reason my soul really clamped on to Dr. Phil's actual words.

As heady and theoretical we love our discussions to be, sometimes the earthiest has the most dramatic and immediate impact.

 

CALMNESS IN OUR LIVES.

 

"....By following simple advice heard on the Dr. Phil Show, you too can find inner peace. Dr. Phil proclaimed, "The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started and never finished". So, I looked around my house to see all the things I started and hadn't finished, and before leaving the house this morning, I finished off a bottle of White Zinfandel, a bottle of Baileys Irish Cream, Wild Turkey, a package of Oreos, the remainder of my old Prozac prescription, the rest of the cheesecake, some Doritos, a box of chocolates, and a half bottle of scotch.

You have no idea how freaking good I feel right now."......

 

 

As to Dr. Phil's actual advice, does this kick anyone else in the gut, or is it just me?

 

Closure can be good. Sometimes that closure is via completion and sometimes it is from release -- perhaps, for a given "unfinished thing", the key is to come to understand it and then NOT finish it.

[Aetherous]

"The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started and never finished".

 

I think that's very helpful advice, even if it was part of a joke.

[Marblehead]

Closure can be good. Sometimes that closure is via completion and sometimes it is from release -- perhaps, for a given "unfinished thing", the key is to come to understand it and then NOT finish it.

 

Excellent!!!

 

(Sometimes no further action is necessary once we fully understand.)

[manitou]

The way the words hit me was to visualize new ideas as baby fetuses. Ideas which die due to lack of impeccability, failure to follow through, laziness, my own fear or marketing myself as an artist - this is what hit me in the gut. These are like lives aborted. I guess it hit me hard because throughout my life I've always been ready with really fine ideas. But not a lot of follow-through. Ouch.

[strawdog65]

Hi everyone!

 

That is some funny stuff!

 

I laughed and then boom it hits you.

 

What we leave unfinished in our lives is usually the epicenter

for the source of all our felt regrets. Those things we think about in a

wistful way, musing over all those what if's in your mind. They never end.

 

I believe that not everything of a personal nature is meant

to be "finished" or completed by what we judge to be completed.

 

Life lessons have a way of taking on a life of their own,

and we can only flow with them to arrive somewhere else, beneficial or not.

The journey is still the lesson to me. Since any apparent outcome is of a

transient nature, depending on where we are being taken in our lives there

will always be a sense of things being unfinished, but what if they are meant

to be finished or completed in ways we can not foresee?

 

Our judgment of something not being what we think it should be is

the only determining factor, for anything being considered complete.

 

Every moment is complete unto itself. If I stopped right here mid sentence ...

 

 

:o :o

 

 

Would it matter if it was complete to me?

Not if I remove my expectation and judgment of what

I believe this moment should be.

 

Choose to be free.

Choose This Moment as your life right now.

And see how it is complete.

You just have to say ...

Yes, I accept this moment.

And need nothing more.

 

Peace!

[Aaron]

I always thought the true way to find inner peace was to, "neither regret the past, nor wish to shut the door on it." Finishing things is all fine and good, but if you have a habit of not finishing things, perhaps the best thing to do is figure out why you don't finish things in the first place.

 

Aaron

[3bob]

From a particular time line pov things do not seem to be done, yet everything is already done under and or within the One. And if so what does that really leave you to do?

 

( )

 

Om

Edited December 11, 2010 by 3bob

[三江源]

well, tidying up is good.

 

from an inner point of view, 'cutting the ties that bind' is a good way of finishing stuff that drain / distracts.

 

 

So in terms of not leaking loads of energy in unproductive ways, Dr Phil is onto something.

[hagar]

well, tidying up is good.

 

from an inner point of view, 'cutting the ties that bind' is a good way of finishing stuff that drain / distracts.

 

 

So in terms of not leaking loads of energy in unproductive ways, Dr Phil is onto something.

 

Well, Cat is on to something.

But, in all honesty. Dr. Phil might have a few oneliners, but so does my dad.

I think trying to finish whatever you've started is borderline narcisism.

 

But that's just me.

 

h

[三江源]

 

I think trying to finish whatever you've started is borderline narcisism.

 

But that's just me.

 

h

 

YAY!

 

hagar 1

DrP 0

[manitou]

Borderline narsicism -- would that be because one has the illusion that one's project is important enough to be finished? I'm not quite following on this one...

 

Incompletion, whether this be physically or mentally - is the sign that we first cast our intent out over something, and then we walked away from it. I think this takes a toll on our psyche or our spirit. The original idea or intent was for a purpose. Then life gets in the way or things take on other priorities. I guess what hit me is dross of those aborted ideas. We are not giving Will his due every time we turn our backs on our original idea. We bring Will into the occasion, then we cease to honor him by walking away. By going back and finishing that which is undone, when possible, can only be helpful to our psyche. But this wouldn't be possible in most cases, life has moved on. The only way to rectify it would be to start from this day forward to be impeccable with one's intent, not to throw it out too quickly - to be mindful of finishing something once it's started.

It's pretty easy to see if a person adheres to this balance or not. All we have to do is look at a person's current situation; how do they live? Is their house in order? Is the house clean? This is a direct reflection of what we are on the insides. Is the house uncluttered, or does the man living there have things strewn about? What about the car? When he bought the car, he intended to keep it nice, to keep it clean. Now it's got mud and dust all over it and he hasn't washed it in a year. Again, the man has walked away from his original intent, his original bargain with the energy universe.

There is a direct relationship between one's outer conditions and one's inner condition. I'm thinking if there is not a good balance between the two, this is an indication that there is an out-of-whackness somewhere. But the marvelous thing is that we can change our inner world by changing our outer world. More impeccability with our ideas and honoring the INTENT we bring to our everyday lives. I really do believe that out of the mouth of Dr. Phil came a powerful combination of words.

Edited December 12, 2010 by manitou

[3bob]

Some ideas/examples related to the "law of seven" that Ouspensky wrote down expalain why things often end up not only unfinished but counter to or opposite of original intention or will. For instance many in politics start with good intentions and then end up falling or going going backwards so to speak. (thus becoming the next form of what can go wrong and not just because they didn't finish per-se)

[hagar]

Borderline narsicism -- would that be because one has the illusion that one's project is important enough to be finished? I'm not quite following on this one...

 

Incompletion, whether this be physically or mentally - is the sign that we first cast our intent out over something, and then we walked away from it. I think this takes a toll on our psyche or our spirit. The original idea or intent was for a purpose. Then life gets in the way or things take on other priorities. I guess what hit me is dross of those aborted ideas. We are not giving Will his due every time we turn our backs on our original idea. We bring Will into the occasion, then we cease to honor him by walking away. By going back and finishing that which is undone, when possible, can only be helpful to our psyche. But this wouldn't be possible in most cases, life has moved on. The only way to rectify it would be to start from this day forward to be impeccable with one's intent, not to throw it out too quickly - to be mindful of finishing something once it's started.

It's pretty easy to see if a person adheres to this balance or not. All we have to do is look at a person's current situation; how do they live? Is their house in order? Is the house clean? This is a direct reflection of what we are on the insides. Is the house uncluttered, or does the man living there have things strewn about? What about the car? When he bought the car, he intended to keep it nice, to keep it clean. Now it's got mud and dust all over it and he hasn't washed it in a year. Again, the man has walked away from his original intent, his original bargain with the energy universe.

There is a direct relationship between one's outer conditions and one's inner condition. I'm thinking if there is not a good balance between the two, this is an indication that there is an out-of-whackness somewhere. But the marvelous thing is that we can change our inner world by changing our outer world. More impeccability with our ideas and honoring the INTENT we bring to our everyday lives. I really do believe that out of the mouth of Dr. Phil came a powerful combination of words.

 

Closure in what matters is, as you state important for the quality of life. And in many ways, finishing a project or a task has its own biochemical reward in the brain. I think we're hard wired to feel a sense of wellbeing after completing or reaching a goal. Probably some evolutionary thing.

 

But in all honesty, focusing on this as a life principle? I recall a story of a Daoist hermit tthat after a long time in seclusion on a remote mountain felt it was time to see his only friend, also in seclusion in the other side of the mountain. He hiked the entire day, and reached the hut of his friend at nightfall. But before he knocked on the door, he hesitated, and felt that, no, the need to see his friend was no longer there. He turned back and went home.

 

I've often turned the deaf ear to my inner voice and the chi, and instead let myself be lured into reacting to conditioning, either from within or without.

 

h