<a href="http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Rick2.jpg"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-1249" src="http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Rick2-275x300.jpg" alt="" width="275" height="300" /></a>
<div>Pain invited my ear, "Listen to me, for I have knowledge of Truth hidden in what you fear."Fear roared, "Do not listen to pain, it will only lead you to more discomfort!"Shame whimpered, "Remember everything that has happened to you, everyone despises you. This will not work."Courage invoked, "All fear is an illusion, walk straight ahead!"Pride demanded, "You have everything you need already, this is a waste of time."

Love whispered, "Go into this pain, it is safe. You will only discover more to love."

Ever notice how throughout a day your feelings  interpret? As you become aware of these feelings they usually lead you to thoughts. It appears that these thoughts are constructed as demands for answers to arise; such as why is this happening to me? Why did I not get noticed? These thoughts are ideas about yourself, others and how life is either giving or taking from you. Few question these thoughts, or face the idea's of being separate, alone and unwanted.

<strong>What would life be like if we embraced all of it? What would we be like if we stopped avoiding pain and ran into what we have been taught to fear.</strong>

Why do we stop going to the gym? Because we no longer engage with the benefits the pain brings us. This benefit is strength.
Why do we fear the dentist? His cleaning, shots and drilling give our teeth longevity.
Why do we fear conflict or confrontation with people? Will it not expose the lies and assumptions we hide behind.

<a href="http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/pain1.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1171" src="http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/pain1-300x226.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="226" /></a><strong>SEARCHING IN THE WRONG PLACE</strong>
A neighbour found Jon on his  hands and knees.
“What are you searching for Jon?” “My key.”
Both men got on their knees to search.
After a while the neighbor says, “Where did you lose it?”
“At home.”
“Good Lord! Then why are you searching here?”
“Because it’s brighter here.”

<strong>The key to discovering Love is searching where you left it</strong>.
Until you have the courage and the an environment which allows you to fall apart, breakdown and let go, you will not experience the Life/Truth/Experience Jesus spoke from. Jesus was not a command but an invitation to give up the meaning we have given our lives. To lose it all for the Truth. The Truth that you have never been alone, you have never been unloved, rejected and hated. People always gave you their best, since they could only give you what they had.

Search for Love where you lost it. Where did you learn to stop loving yourself? Where did you learn that what you did was not good enough? Who told you that you were worthless, meaningless and annoying? Let anger come up, let grief stay for a while, let all the desires pushed down and forgotten come up and cry aloud.

We have worked hard seeking love in the places we were told it was hidden. Our careers, education, titles, accomplishments and activities were supposed to be the givers of meaning to our lives.

As an exercise slow down for a minute and look at these phrases below. Honestly observe which one seems to resonate with your heart:
<ul>
	<li>I work to have value vs. my value determines my work.</li>
	<li>I seek love/acceptance from others vs. I love and accept everything as it is now.</li>
	<li>I am only noticeable when what I do matters vs. I notice the effort and meaning the people around me are contributing.</li>
	<li>My body/beauty are determined by comparing myself to others vs. I view the world from this body, not for it.</li>
	<li>I will get what I want my way vs. I will be kind to everyone and everything no matter what.</li>
</ul>
The next time you find yourself in a painful situation, instead of looking for a way out, face it, welcome it and allow yourself to feel it deeply. Give pains cry for attention your full focus. You might be surprised at the amazing discoveries that await you on this journey inward.

</div>
<strong>WHY BAD STUFF HAPPENS
</strong><em>by Elsa Joy Bailey</em>

If it weren't for my beautiful sad mother
drinking a beaker of cold cyanide when I was three,
I wouldn't have learned
she could both love and abandon me
in one hot severe breath.
Nor would I have grown flowers in my heart
for people who urgently want to die.

If I had not broken my leg in a wild fall,
I wouldn't have learned that stark physical pain
is, to my great surprise, not permanent.

If I hadn't fallen in love with someone
who didn't love me,
I would never have realized that unrequited love
is still an ecstatic dance of the heart.

If I hadn't encountered praise and blame,
success and failure, heat and cold, darkness and light,
blows and kisses, pain and bliss,
never would I have found out that through it all
there is a Spirit within me
which remains unceasingly alive and loving.

If I hadn't received the gift of knowing you,
I would not have come to realise
that our stories are different in details,
but never in essence.

If I hadn't lived through an era of hurting
I would never have met the miracle
of being fed with kindness by a friend.

If I hadn't discovered that you and I
are two threads in the same vast cloth,
I would have remained forever lost and imprisoned
in my separate universe.

If I hadn't seen both good and evil
occupying space in the same event,
I would never have met the hand of humour
painting over these polarities
with new clarity and light.

If I hadn't wept a thousand tears
over the loss of a beloved,
I would never have been driven inward
to find the eternal companion,
my Soul.

If I had not witnessed cruelty
and man's inhumanity to man,
I would not have been forced to look
beneath the ugliness of fear,
and encounter the common Heart
that lies beneath it.

If I hadn't encountered our myriad differences,
I would never have discovered that you and I
are not two,
but infinite sparks of love ever arising
from one indestructible Flame.

And if I hadn't felt abandoned and heartsick,
I would never have heard the wordless whisper
of an abiding, unseeable Friend,
who translated the feeling of alone
into All One.