He Probably Just Saved Your Life

Faith is learning to be happy in whatever situation God has put you. You may not see good in that situation, but don’t worry about it because he has probably just saved you.

There is a very interesting story about a King. The King and his Minister were in the jungle and suddenly they lost their way. The King stubbed his toes on a sharp stone and he bled profusely. The Minister said, “Don’t worry my King, everything happens for the best”. The King didn’t like this. “My toe is bleeding profusely, I am in deep pain and you say it’s for my good? What nonsense! You are hereby sacked!” thundered the King. So the Minister turned and walked away. The King walked on. He was suddenly apprehended by some cannibals. They saw a handsome strapping King in all his finery and wanted to offer him as a sacrifice. However, as they were preparing him for the sacrifice, they noticed his bleeding foot and because he had already bled profusely, the King was not pure enough to be offered as a sacrifice. This is how his life was saved and he returned to the palace. In the palace, his bleeding toe now tended to, he reflected on what the Minister had said, “Don’t worry, everything happens for the best”. How right the Minister was. It is good to have such deep faith. His pain had definitely been a blessing in disguise. “However, it hasn’t been good for my Minister as he has lost his job and is suffering” said the King.

The next day he called his Minister and said, “My dear Minister, I accept the hurt caused to me as a result of my bleeding toe has done me good, but pray tell me what good did my sacking you as a Minister do. You are without a job now.”. But the Minister said, “Oh my dear King, we it turned out beautifully for me. If you had not got angry and sacked me, then I would have been with you in the jungle and the cannibals would have offered me as a sacrifice because I was without a wound. You actually saved my life!”

This Christmas season, He may send you pain through a bleeding toe or may even render you jobless. Believe it’s for the best and thank him. This is how faith works. The moment you find that you are disturbed you should know that your faith is lacking. We are unable to see beyond the next hill. Only he can. Believe in him. He just saved you more pain or has even probably saved you your life. Start believing...

Have a joyous Christmas and a happy New Year 2010.

Keep the faith. God bless,


Ivan Rodrigues

Life – Get Your Perspective Right on What’s Left

On Sunday, 26 July, my very good friend called from the U.S. of A. at 9.30 am. It was such a pleasant surprise that it actually set the tone for the day. In fact, he is such a great guy that in one meeting at our home, when he came down to India last year, my wife took to him completely and chat today as though they’ve been friends for years!!

As we got talking, we spoke about our respective lives, friends, work, family and many other issues. Something about work was really bothering me and as a result I was spending less time at home. I was feeling kind of insecure too as something that I desperately wanted was not coming through. I was feeling a little low too and was kinda feeling ‘imperfect’.

My friend patiently heard me out and said, “Ivan, one day, all of us are going to take leave of this life on earth. We commonly refer to it as death. Though I have not met every person who has died, I know one thing for sure - Nobody on their death bed ever said ‘I wish I had spent more time at work’. But I can bet you that a lot of them definitely said ‘I wish I had spent more time with family’. So get your perspective right”.

I agreed…..

He continued, “And as for the sense of imperfection that you are feeling, how can you feel thus if you truly believe that God has created you in his own image? Is God imperfect?”. “No”, I replied. “So trust me you are perfect. It’s just that at most times we tend to create images of ourselves and of situations that may not be perfect or real. You are already approved of and that is why you are here. You are perfect and you are not lacking in anything. If you are lacking in anything it is true of all of us i.e. the ability to dig deep and find the answers that lie within. Again, God made you. God knows that for sure, and you better start accepting that” he concluded.

“Does that make sense”, he asked me. “Of course my friend”, I said with a smile. I followed it up with a sheepish “Thank you”.

I sure needed that to ensure that I got my perspective right on what’s left of my life.

Blessings,

ivan rodrigues

We Will Overcome, One Day At A Time

It's been some time now since I last wrote. Honestly, I was wondering what to write as I don’t believe in just ‘another’ article. When I write, I picture each of you reading each word that’s written. There was so much to write about and there is so much to write about.

I have decided to write today because I believe that most of us, if not all of us, have in some way or the other been affected by the global meltdown. I am affected. Added to this, each of us is dealing with challenges on the personal and family front. Yes….it’s pretty tough out there and I wouldn’t like to pretend otherwise. I know of many people and families who are actually trying to survive and believe you me, I am not trying to be dramatic here.

For those of us who are not yet affected, we have to be so very grateful. Yet, I’m pretty sure there is the ghost of uncertainty that keeps creeping up in our head from time to time.

What can one do at times like these? My humble advice…..

It is said that ‘many hands make light work’. Likewise, I am confident that many positive words, deeds, thoughts and hands that reach out to help our neighbor(s) will help make our strife lighter. Yes, you read that one right, our strife lighter. So reach out and extend your hand to meet your neighbour’s. In fact, actually open your ears, heart and mind to members of your family. It’s important to keep things simple, ‘believe’ and take one day at a time. Hang in there….there is always the morrow. And even if tomorrow is worse off than today, there is the day after. Eventually, each of us will overcome, one day at a time.

For those of you who believe in God, God be with you always. For those of you who don’t, the universe will take care of you.

You are free to email me at ivanrodrigues777@yahoo.com. I can promise you one thing – I may not be able to offer much, but I can definitely offer you my time. And a smile and prayer from the bottom of my heart.

I wish you positive energy coupled with abundance and love.

ivan rodrigues

Life is in the Details - Subscribe Now!!

The above quote rings very true when I reflect on life, especially mine. For me life exists in the details and in every moment; in the little things that are actually the big things, strange as it may sound. Life is about living, it is about the here and now. It is about the waking up each morning and looking at your wife’s face, as sweet as honey, which makes you smile. It is about me wanting to kiss her on the cheek, but refraining from doing so because you are afraid you might wake her up…she really looks beautiful in her sleep!

Life is about watering all my plants in the morning and enjoying the beauty of the poinsettas as also the aroma of a leaf from the tulsi plant. It is about my wife slowly creeping up behind me as I stand near the window and holding me tight around the waist as we silently watch the beauty of the morning sky. It is the opportunity to read the newspaper in the morning as also not shaving because it’s the weekend, giving my skin it’s well-deserved and much needed rest. It is about being driven to work and savouring the taste of apples and papaya which comprise my breakfast. It is about enjoying the positive feedback the people at the office give you on the t-shirt and corduroy combination you’ve worn and then me calling up my wife immediately to tell her this because she was the one who asked me to wear the particular combination in the first place!

Life is about walking out of your cabin and bumping into a lady colleague who recently had a miscarriage….and the two of us sitting and talking. It’s about sharing the “Surrender Prayer” with her and her smile staying with you as she leaves the cabin assuring you that she would start saying this prayer today.

Life is about sharing a few laughs with your colleagues at work as also laughing at the ‘nicknames’ your friends have used to describe you on Facebook. It is about logging on to Facebook in the evening and receiving sea gardens, elvish wisdom, roses, pokes, super pokes, growing plants, glitter, hugs and kisses online! It is about the people in the positivism group who have posted new items for discussion, reading the replies to existing posts and about the four new people who want to be added to your friends list.


Life is about reaching home and being greeted by a warm smile and hug from narrating all that happened during the day including how excited our niece Rhea was when she spoke with my wife over the phone as she is going for her first overnight school picnic in a few days (she is only five!!). It is about being invited by mum and dad to spend the weekend at their place and us finalising the menu over the phone. It is about going for a late evening walk with my wife…..

Life is about making an appointment with yourself and enjoying every moment.

Ask yourself this question - Are you alive because you breathe? Or do you breathe mindful of the beauty of each breath and consequently, the ‘life’ you are blessed with?

Enjoy each moment, each breath, each detail. If you are not doing that yet, ‘Subscribe Now!!’

God bless…. ivan rodrigues

A Happy Mind and Heart Shine Like the SUN.

Most of us have seen the sun. My request to you, post reading this post, or whenever you can make the time, is to watch the sun a little longer, mindful of it’s presence. First, try and watch the sunrise for a few minutes. Then look at it again at noon (but don’t get blinded!). And then again, look at it at sunset.

At each of these times......
What did you see?
And how did you feel?

I’ll tell you what I saw. Before that I must also confess that I had myself never looked at the sun in the manner I am asking you to. So I decided to do so. I woke up to see the sunrise and what I saw were rays of light in a yellowish orange shade peeping through at first and then gradually lighting up the sky and all that existed as far as my eyes could see. Something that was dark and not visible a few minutes back was easily identifiable. Of course, back home in India, it is almost impossible to look at the afternoon sun – it could actually blind you. At sunset, I saw a ball of orange throwing colours with a myriad hues in the sky immediately above itself that I had not seen before.

I’ll tell you how I felt. I felt blessed. I bowed down to the sun. I was grateful to the rising sun for taking away the darkness and helping me to see. I looked at the food on my plate and thanked the sun for having nourished the trees and fields that helped grow the food that has nourished me for decades. I smiled and acknowledged the setting sun for creating magic in the sky that I had not seen before. I felt humbled by the sun and I silently thanked the sun for its presence in my life. I thanked my Lord for the sun. Today, I try to watch the sun as often as I can, which is probably six days a week (Yes, I too love to snooze and laze in bed sometimes….lol).

The sun made me renew my commitment to happiness. And happiness starts with oneself, more importantly, with one’s heart and mind. An unhappy mind and an unforgiving heart are quite often responsible for giving little things very large shadows. It is therefore important to have a happy mind and a happy heart so that it shines, brightens and nourishes both us and those around us, just like the sun. And how does one ‘find’ happiness. A hymn that we used to sing in church comes to mind. One of the verses goes thus....
“Happiness is where you are and what you want to be,
If you look you’re sure to find a rainbow of your dreams,
Tomorrow’s fuller than a thousand yesterdays,
With the vision of a new day in your heart”.

Like the sun, may your mind and heart always shine brightly and happily with the vision of a new day and consequently burn all shadows. This is my wish and prayer for you.

God bless….. ivan rodrigues (ivanrodrigues777@yahoo.com)

Miracles Don't Happen; They Already Exist

Miracles don’t happen, they already exist. Either now, or in the future. I have discussed this with philosophers, scholars, therapists in alternative healing and scientists alike and they hold the same view, albeit put in words that may seem like mumbo jumbo to some and Greek to others. Basically the underlying fact echoed is the same - that miracles don’t ‘happen’, they already ‘exist’.

So why then do so many people believe that this miracle ‘happened’? It’s important therefore to understand what we term as miracles.

Miracles are
a) either manifestations of things we hope will happen (sometimes against hope!) or
b) things we thought would never happen.
When either a) or b) actually happen, we term these occurrences as ‘miracles’.

Here are some examples:
1) A man of African American origin becoming President of America.
2) A plane landing in water and all passengers and crew on board surviving.

If you had to mention these events a decade ago, almost the entire world would have said it’s impossible. When it happened, many termed it as a miracle. Miracles don’t happen, they are already in existence; millions of ‘miracles’ are happening (exist) right now and millions of ‘miracles’ are waiting to happen (manifest themselves).

Barack Obama’s victory was meant to happen – he slogged his butt off for years in preparation for what came his way. Richly deserved. All the passengers on the plane survived because the pilot was trained to land in water, which he did with perfection and the crew and assistance that was provided to ensure that each passenger survived, executed their roles to perfection.

Since we aren't clairvoyant, we tend to term these events as "miracles". If we were clairvoyant and were able to look into the future, we would have "expected" these events to take place. Because we have not noticed them yet (had similar experiences), or we do not expect them to occur because we lack in hope or because we do not believe that it is possible given the depth of our limited human comprehension, therefore when they do happen, we term these events as ‘miracles’.

In conclusion, please don’t forget to notice the other miracles that exist all around you; the fact that you were saved from drowning recently, the blooming of a flower, the gift of your spouse and children, the recovery from a near-fatal accident, the fact that you are no longer dependent on any substance – alcohol, drugs or cigarettes, the rising of the sun, the sweet caress of the wind against your cheeks, the fact that your pet loves you unconditionally, you meeting your soul mate, that you didn’t go ahead with the urge to commit suicide, the grades that you secured in school, the smile of your baby and more importantly, the fact that you’ve begun to love yourself more.

God Bless…. ivan rodrigues (ivanrodrigues777@yahoo.com)

The Importance of Prayer for YOU

Ask plant lovers - what would happen if they did not water the plants in their garden?

They would surely die. The plants need nurturing and nourishing by exposing them to the right amount of sunlight, by tilling the soil around the plants, by ensuring that the soil we choose is right for the plant and it has the right mix of manure in the required doses. And of course, one needs to water them. If you love plants like I do, you will agree that the death of a plant or a barren garden will leave you pretty sad.

For animal lovers, be it a dog, cat or any other pet, what would happen if we did not bathe, feed, take the pet for a walk, play with the pet or talk to them?

They would feel the neglect. They would start becoming weak for want of nutrition, care and affection. Obviously, they will not be able to give you the unconditional love and energy they are so very capable of giving. They would eventually die. Ask any pet lover, what the death of a pet does to them. You can be pretty distraught not just for days, but sometimes for a lifetime.

What would happen if we didn’t have God in our lives?

In fact, we already do. Rather than bury himself in the ground or sit atop a mountain, God decided to place himself in each of our hearts so that he is very close when we need him most. Recognize this. Nurture you special relationship with good intent, good deeds, and prayer. Prayer is asking God to transform any situation and become the heart of your life. Take time each day to nurture this connection. Pray. Absence of meaningful prayer will definitely cause us misery just like the death of plants or pets. He is the source of abundance; nurture your connection with HIM.

ivan rodrigues (ivanrodrigues777@yahoo.com)

Write your own Bestseller! Make your own Blockbuster!

Each of us are living, breathing humans made of flesh and blood. All of us also have feelings and emotions. In addition, our Maker has blessed us with talents. Some of us are aware of these talents, some of us are made aware of these talents because they have been noticed by others and in quite a few of us these talents are still latent.

Also, the honest truth is that each of us is unique and irreplaceable. You’ve been specially chosen to spend a length of time on this planet, and that’s the plan for you, whether you accept it or not.

Our life is like a novel or script with blank pages. A pen has been given to us by our Maker. It’s a unique pen. In fact, it’s magical and cannot be duplicated. When held in your hand, it writes like nobody else can and in colours that nobody on this planet can replicate. Some of us have started filling these blank pages with this magical pen. Some of us have made a start, but have given up, whatever the reason.

Each of us has to make a choice today. Do we want to recognize the many positives around us, write on these pages and craft out our own, unique bestseller? Or do we want to leave it blank because we are convinced there is nothing to write. The choice is solely ours. The choice to start your bestseller today or the choice to let the book gather dust or confine it to the dust bin.

What happens to the blockbuster then? Well, it will follow or not depending on how well each of us has written our own book and if we’ve been successful in making our life a 'bestseller'. The script for the blockbuster would finally be extracted from your bestseller, right? -:)

All the best!.... ivan rodrigues

Invocation for when one is drained of Physical Energy

Often, in the past, in my work life, after months of seemingly unflagging energy and being told, “Hey Andrea, what energy, passion and drive you possess!!”, I have been struck out-of-the-blue, by a couple of months of physical stagnation and not being able to move. On one such occasion, a spiritual contact shared with me the following invocation which has never failed me and all too easily, helped me get back on my feet again. Miracle of miracles, each time, as the new renewed Andrea, I have ended up walking 2-3 hours every day at a stretch, joyously going about my various tasks while exploring the bounties of nature which the Universe has thrown along my path.

And so, I have walked back to life (literally) on five occasions thanks to this miraculous invocation which I would like to reproduce–

“I invoke the Mahatma energy (all pervasive – The KING energy) to flow through each and every cell and space in my mind and my body, my hands, my arms, my bones, my muscles, my feet, my tissue (add any body parts you wish to particularly highlight - e.g., your knee ligament which might have been broken). Please strengthen my auric fields, my thoughts, my feelings, my emotions, my self-confidence at work, my cooking skills, my driving skills (because I had met with a near-fatal accident while driving my brand new car, and needed to regain my self-confidence at the wheel), and my career.”

Love and abundance always...andrea rodrigues

The Invocation of Abundance

After 22 years of being employed, I went through a life-altering experience recently, one which took me a great deal of time to accept joyously. My husband believed that I was stretching myself mindlessly in the pursuit of the pay check at the end of the month and that I was missing out on the abundance that was in store for me, because I was stuck in a 'job'. While I could see how he could effortlessly do so many things, including handling his work life as Vice President - Marketing, I did not fully trust that there was much in store for me and that status quo was the order of the day. He strongly believed I should take the first step towards making the transition and the first role that we jointly discussed and agreed upon was that I'd graduate to being a full-fledged home-maker. As the deadline of 1st January 2009, the day I would not be walking into the 'office' anymore, I struggled hard with the final decision what with me being in a secure job, the “very real” prospects of a promotion looming large on the positive horizon, the economic meltdown and the related huge insecurities about looking a gift horse in the mouth on the other end of the spectrum.

As my insecurities grew, what I had unwittingly begun doing was doubting the blessings bestowed upon me by the Almighty, who when I came to think of it, was the one who had “allowed” me 22 years of uninterrupted employment, a rare happening in today’s uncertain times. But God ended my misery and forced me to break away. And now that I have finally surrendered to God’s plan for me, what I continue to discover and experience is his unconditional abundance and loads of tiny miracles each moment of every single day (no exaggeration!!!).

I was able to surrender to God’s plan of abundance for me through a very simple yet highly effective invocation which has transformed my life as I live each day through the life-altering decision. It goes as follows – “I invite the peacefulness within my being to help me find my life’s purpose with ease, peace, joy and abundance in every moment”.

It is a universal invocation and you can recite it as many times in a day as you feel like. After some time, you will not even need to utter it, your very being will “manifest” it. Then your heart will just belt it out with unconditional belief, and you will realise that your Maker is enabling every step such that it is leading you to your life’s purpose, one that is the best for you, as per HIS plan, in HIS time, for you.

Please write in with any questions that you might have around the Prayer of Abundance to pereiraandrea71@yahoo.in . We would be delighted to receive them. Remember always that the Universe is just waiting to bless the human beings who reside on it with these tiny miracles, all it takes is our mortal mindfulness and humility to receive them. Abundance always... andrea rodrigues

The Surrender Prayer

Prayer, simply put, is conversation with God. When I first started dating Andrea (my wife now), she narrated a simple prayer to me. At first, I scoffed at it. I ignored it. However, the prayer she had narrated to me kept echoing in my head every day since then. It was nagging me! Was it because the prayer was too simple, or was it because I was too proud to accept this particular prayer? In hindsight, I think it was a combination of the two.

Today, both of us say this prayer before we start our day. We say it when there is a tricky moment that confronts us. We say it when others ask us to pray for them or even when they don’t :). We say it before we retire for the night (more as a thanksgiving prayer). Andrea calls it ‘The Surrender Prayer’. It’s a simple prayer. It does not take more than 5 minutes every day. And the beauty is that it can be said by anybody, from any religious background who believes in God. The framework of the prayer is as follows:

Dear Lord,
I / We ACCEPT…..,
I / We FORGIVE completely…..,
I / We SURRENDER….,
I / We are in deep GRATITUDE….and
May each word that I / we speak be the words that YOU WANT ME/US TO SPEAK.

That’s it. That’s the framework of The Surrender Prayer. This is our daily prayer. It’s not a Christian prayer, a Hindu prayer or a Muslim prayer. It’s a universal prayer. It is your personal conversation with God.

So as an example, just to demonstrate what your prayer can be, it could be as follows…

Dear Lord, My Maker, O Universe….

I ACCEPT your plan for me today. I am off to work and there are some challenging assignments that I have to deal with; some important deadlines to be met. Help me to meet those deadlines. At the end of the day, even if I don’t meet the deadlines, I will not be disappointed as I know that there are no negatives ever in your plan for me and that you will help me to come back stronger tomorrow.

I FORGIVE completely all those who have hurt me…I FORGIVE the doctor who prescribed the wrong medicines for my condition…. I FORGIVE my abusive and drunken spouse…Bless me and give me the strength to stay focused and get on with life because I know that you will grant each of them the wisdom to realize their wrong doings.

I SURRENDER the pain in my lower back to you. It does not allow me to function properly at times. However, I know that you will take care of the pain for me. I also SURRENDER my anxieties, sorrows, fears and financial problems to you because I know that you will take care of them and guide me through each of these challenging moments.

I am in deep GRATITUDE for everything dear Lord! Firstly, for giving me another day to live, to breathe the air, to stretch my arms, to look out of the window and see the trees and the sky, to listen to the birds, to smell the earth, to walk and talk. Between yesterday and today, in the space of a few hours, many thousands didn’t get the same opportunity to see another day. But you gave me the chance to experience your everlasting miracle called life for another day. I humbly thank you and am in deep GRATITUDE to you.

And, as I go about my day today, let every word that leaves my mouth be the words that YOU WANT ME TO SPEAK. Help me, through the words that I speak, to heal, not hurt. And in case I do hurt somebody with my words, please grant me your wisdom to rectify the hurt caused to that person.

This prayer, my dear friends, has completely changed our life. We ACCEPT his plan for us everyday. Honestly, we don’t have a choice but to ACCEPT, knowing fully well that HE will take care of it in HIS time as per HIS unique plan for each of us individually and for both of us collectively. When somebody has knowingly or unknowingly hurt us, we FORGIVE them completely in our conversation with the Lord. The Lord forgives us, everyday and every time we err. So why shouldn’t we? Experience the power of forgiveness for yourselves. We might not be able to do that ‘in person’ straightaway, but by forgiving them in your conversation with God, you get it ‘out of your system’ and prepare yourself for the moment when you will one day truly forgive that person. And who are we to sit in judgment anyway? Honestly, however brilliant, intelligent, competent or worldly wise we might think we are, only the Lord can judge perfectly. When there is stress, pain or confusion in our life, it disappears immediately because we SURRENDER our stress and pain to the Lord. Who better to SURRENDER to? Who better to help us overcome, than the Lord? And when something momentous and positive happens to us, which leaves us completely ecstatic, we celebrate and ‘go over the moon’ with our feet firmly planted on the ground by telling the Lord that we are in deep GRATITUDE to him for creating that magic for us.

The Surrender Prayer has helped us grow as individuals and as a couple. It has brought us closer to each other and to God. It has happened because we keep God at the centre of everything that we do.It’s been the biggest positive of my life thus far and will continue to be the biggest positive everyday. And, here I must thank Andrea for teaching me the same; rather must thank the Lord, who through Andrea, has taught me this prayer.If you want to experience the magic of ‘surrendering’ in your life, start by saying this prayer. Say it in your own words and in your own language. I’m sure quite a few of you are already doing it. If that ‘miracle’ that you are waiting for does not occur in your life, tell me about it and we’ll talk about it a little more. But at the same time, if that miracle does happen, tell the whole world about it :)
Please feel free to share this prayer with anyone you wish to. Also, please feel free to write in with any questions or feedback to ivanrodrigues777@yahoo.com

God bless.

Ivan Rodrigues