Archive for the 'English' Category

Apr 30 2009

Pay it Forward

Click here to see a clip of the movie 'Pay it Forward'     About 20 years ago, Catherine Ryan Hyde was driving alone at night in a rough area of downtown Los Angeles in her old tattered car.

     It was the best she could afford, she drove it all the time and relied on the car for every cent of cash she earned.

     When she braked at an off-ramp, the engine suddenly died. All the lights went out and the car started to fill with smoke. She jumped out to see two men running towards her, one of them holding a blanket - pushing past her, he yanked open the bonnet : the engine was on fire.

     The car could have exploded at any moment, but this total stranger smothered the blaze and saved her car, her livelihood and possibly her life. When the emergency was over she looked up to thank him - but he was gone.

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Apr 23 2009

A Perfect Day In Cape Town

My Father     Five years ago today, Friday the 23rd of April 2004 was a brilliantly beautiful autumn day in Cape Town - warm, sunny and calm.

     The perfection of the universe was showing off in a spectacular fashion and for most people it must have been difficult to see the other, the darker side of the coin inherent in every aspect of the world we experience.

     For me it wasn’t, because my father passed away on that day, just before his 83rd birthday.

     This was utterly unexpected because my father was visibly enjoying his life - he always liked to be active around the house and garden and had the strength to do a million little things every day.

     That’s what he was doing on Wednesday morning, but that night we had to get him to a hospital in a hurry and the fact that he died not even 48 hours later was difficult to understand.

     To cope with a loss is not easy and for most of us, grieving is how we react to a tragic event - we feel helpless and sink into emptiness and despair, questioning the apparent futility of it all to regain our sanity.

     We think that grief and sorrow are inseparable and believe this process is necessary to overcome the pain, to eventually accept what has happened.

     But what if we knew - without a doubt - that there are no accidents in our intelligent universe?

     That we have to experience loss in order to learn a valuable lesson, that we have something to gain even from catastrophe and death? 

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Feb 27 2009

Steh auf!

Dankbar sein     Manchmal finde ich kleine Videos im Internet, die mich einfach umhauen.

     Hier unten ist wieder so einer; wenn ich sowas sehe werde ich daran erinnert, wie gut es mir geht und wie dankbar ich sein kann für alles, was ich habe.

     Wir haben ja alle unsere Hürden und Hindernisse im Leben und im Beruf, aber es gehört enorm viel Mut dazu, sie ohne Arme und Beine zu überwinden und dabei ein fröhlicher Mensch zu bleiben.

     Wenn du nächstes mal etwas Aufmunterung suchst, weil du am Boden liegst und wieder mal alles schief zu gehen scheint … sieh dir den Video einfach nochmal an und steh wieder auf!

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Feb 15 2009

Im Lotto gewinnen

     Spielst du auch Lotto?

     Ich gebe fast jede Woche einen Schein ab - mit einem kleinen Betrag für zwei Tipp-Felder und einen Joker. Manchmal gewinne ich genauso kleine Beträge mit drei Richtigen, einmal hatte ich sogar vier, aber insgeheim träumen wir alle von sechs Richtigen, oder?

     Fast jede Woche gibt es auch tatsächlich einen neuen Lotto-Millionär … warum eigentlich nicht mal du oder ich?

     Heute morgen bin ich über einen ganz neuen zweiteiligen Video-Beitrag von Esther Hicks gestolpert, der das ganz prima über das Gesetz der Anziehung erklärt - der erste ist 10 Minuten lang, der zweite Teil ist noch besser und 8 Minuten lang : Winning the Lottery.

     Beide also auf Englisch, aber Abraham / Esther spricht hier ganz deutlich und nicht so schnell wie sonst; sieh dir das wirklich mal an : es geht ja nicht nur um Lotterie-Gewinne, sondern um das Prinzip der Anwendung vom Gesetz der Anziehung und hier wird es ganz klar erläutert.

Hier im Blog also Teil 1 :

 

Und hier ist der zweite, noch bessere Teil :

Wenn dir dieser Beitrag gefallen hat abonniere meinen KOMPASS kostenlos … entweder per RSS-Feed oder per eMail. 

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Jan 16 2009

Lächeln bitte!

     Dieses Wochenende habe ich einen kleinen Kurzfilm (15 Min, Englisch aber einfach) für euch, der das Gesetz der Anziehung in Aktion zeigt : ‘Validation’ (Bestätigung) - so funktioniert es!

     Sieh ihn dir mal an - er ist lustig und du wirst noch stundenlang guter Laune sein danach :

     Jemand im Forum für das Master Key System wies diese Woche darauf hin - da ist immer was los und ich bin gerne da.

     Viel Spass!

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Sep 11 2008

9/11 - Life in a World of Illusions

9-11.jpg     When was the last time you couldn’t believe your eyes?

     For me that was Tuesday 11 September 2001, seven years ago today, when I saw airplanes crashing into the World Trade Centre in New York on TV, collapsing the twin towers within two hours.

     This simply cannot be happening, I thought. Is this a movie? It was just too outrageous to be real - and yet, as the tragedy unfolded before our very eyes live on TV, I had to accept it as true - seeing is believing, isn’t it?

     As incredible as the 9/11 events were at the time, they are part of our reality today and we see the world with different eyes - life as we know it has changed, not only in the USA.

     Although I lived in Cape Town at the time and I haven’t been visiting New York since then, it never occurred to me that 9/11 might be a gigantic, cruel show. Of course is wasn’t. However, we can believably show anything on screen these days with special effects technology.

     After all, in 1997 a movie called ‘Wag the Dog’ with Dustin Hoffman and Robert de Niro won two Oscars : a clever Hollywood producer and an American politician fabricate a war in Albania for TV, only to divert the public’s attention from a sex-scandal which threatens the re-election of the country’s president.

     Is it ironic that this whole scenario is very believable these days?

     Watching Fahrenheit 9/11 again on Tuesday and last night’s daily soap operas about the election campaigns in Austria and the USA didn’t exactly help, either.

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Jul 18 2008

Happy Birthday, Mr. Mandela

Published by Berend under Südafrika, Inspiration, English

Nelson Mandela     Good morning Mr. Mandela,

     Today is your 90th birthday - as always on the 18th of July, I would like to wish you all the best for your health and wellbeing in the future. I am sure you are going to spend your well publicized day of honour with lots of friends, family, children and admirers again, as usual.

     This year I want to congratulate you in writing, however - as a German expatriate who has lived in South Africa for more than 22 years, I feel it is time to show my appreciation in a more permanent way in return for all you have done for South Africa. 

     My thoughts may well reflect the sentiments of many who call your lovely country “home”, as I once did : unfortunately, my confidence in the successors of your office has dwindled and my wife and I have returned to Europe more than a year ago.  

     We often see on TV, or read in the papers about the well-deserved honours you receive all over the world for what you have achieved in your lifetime, and our hearts go out to you in admiration for a man of such integrity, benevolence and stamina.

     These notions are shared in all sectors of society, everywhere. The honours show a universal gratitude for your abilities as a statesman and the exemplary qualities of a human being - if it hadn’t been for your leadership, your country and indeed the continent of Africa would be a far less prosperous place to live in. Many crucial challenges for the transition to democracy have been overcome, numerous others remain.

     I imagine that it must be very difficult for a man of your caliber, wisdom and consciousness to watch the seemingly insurmountable obstacles of poverty, crime and AIDS threatening the fabric of Africa’s culture - and know that a solution could well be reached.

     Fighting against the symptoms of these excesses, as we do, will only give them more power and make them worse - we need to work on the root of these disruptive indicators which are all based in fear, social and individual separation, and the greed for power. Violence as a means to assert control will only temporarily reduce feelings of insecurity and anger.

     As long as we think of ourselves as poor and victims of history, we will continue to experience violent and corrupt struggles for dominance. As long as we don’t focus on service and contribution instead of segregate and competitive ethnic cultures, nobody will feel secure in any country, community or family.

     Irresponsible, even reckless behaviour cannot be condoned, of course - but ignorance needs to be forgiven because the perpetrators simply don’t know better. There is nothing that has to be changed, except our perception - to recognize that our reality is a mirror-image of ourselves. This is the hardest of all things to do, hence the universal challenge to ‘Know Thyself’.

     You know this and have acted all you life accordingly with enormous courage and strength, which is what makes you stand head and shoulders above other world leaders. If more of them had your understanding, the world would be a much better place today. We will eventually get there, but it is going to take time and effort. In the meantime, you shine as a beacon to others.

     So today is one more occasion to celebrate who you are, and I salute you. I wish you, and us, many happy returns of the glorious day you were born.

     Yours sincerely in gratitude and appreciation,

     Berend Lange

SiteKist

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Feb 29 2008

Simple Truths : Great Inspirational Quotes

Published by Berend under Zeit, Wahrheit, Zitate/Quotes, English

Zeit     Have you got a minute?

     Of course you do - the end of the world week has arrived, relax.

     Yes, I’m writing this in English for a change, just a quickie - if you want the gist of it in German, go to my article ‘African Horizons’ that I wrote in November : today is all about inspirational quotes again.

     Why? Because you told me that you love them just as much as I do - and earlier this week Mac Anderson of ‘Simple Truths’ sent me a link to his little movie ‘Great Quotes from Great Leaders’ in his newletter.

     It’s really very nice, I’d like you to watch it here and no : I am not one of his affiliates trying to sell you something. Maybe I should.

     But Mac Anderson reminded me that I have my very own collection of favourite inspirational quotes with even better photos - its a PowerPoint Show called ‘African Horizons’, you can watch it online here and even download it to your computer safely. 

African Horizons Screen meditation

     I am sure you have a minute - just click, sit back and relax.

     And if you then click on ‘Emal this’ below you can pass this article on to someone else who reads English and wants to relax this weekend - try, it’s fun!

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Sep 28 2007

Sonia Choquette : You Have a Precious Talent

Published by Berend under Talent, Meine Quellen, English

     If you need help, it is always within reach, just ask for it. This was driven home to us again on Sunday afternoon when we attended a fascinating and exciting workshop here in Cape Town - Sonia Choquette’s “Wake Up Your Spirit and Connect to Your Guides”. It gave us four hours of exceptional insight.

     I must confess that I had never heard of psychic Sonia Choquette before she appeared on a local TV show here the previous Thursday. She lives in Chicago and is a world-renowned author, storyteller, vibrational healer, and six-sensory spiritual teacher in international demand for her guidance, wisdom, and capacity to heal the soul.

     She’s the author of eight best-selling books, including ‘Diary of a Psychic’ and ‘Trust Your Vibes’. I her mission statement she says : “As a practicing psychic and spiritual teacher for over 32 years, I’ve spent most of my life helping people on a psychic level to realize that we’re all spiritual beings endowed with six, not five senses, and, even more important, that we need that sixth sense, our psychic sense, to fulfill our life’s purpose and be peaceful and happy.”

     She calls that 6th sense the “throwaway sense” because everybody has this precious talent, but not many people know that or pay much attention to it. We are not aware on a daily basis that we are all psychic.

     Unlike most of us, Sonia grew up in a family where the ability to connect to our unseen help was normal - where acting on the vibes of the moment is the sensible thing to do, where not listening to your feelings in all situations is just plain stupid. She never lost the connection to her full human capacities.

     She has therefore been able to finetune her sixth sense to a degree which is absolutely stunning for me : on the TV show, people just phoned in with their birth dates and immediately Sonia knew their main issues, obstacles, history and life purpose - and had good advice on how to achieve improvement and make progress for these people.

     In her workshop on Sunday, she impressively demonstrated her gifts as a teacher : a lady was called up on stage whose life dream is to be singer, but her considerable fears of inadequacy held her back to pursue her passion. After not even five minutes of confronting her issues with Sonia, she agreed to sing a tune - her voice was absolutely beautiful! None of us in the audience had expected that she could do it so well.

     I know that these five minutes have changed the life of that lady, and another one’s whose ambition is to dance professionally - again, enthusiastic applause to some artistic steps that convinced all of us right away that there was great talent on display here which was not expressed previously just because of her insecurities.

     It is tragic that so many of us are climbing the slopes of life thinking that it is a hostile mountain. It is such a pity that we are carrying so much baggage in our rucksack on the way up that it weighs us down, sometimes almost to the point of immobility. So many are discouraged or even defeated by the perceived steep angle of ascent, whilst they only need to lose the ballast of false beliefs on their backs to experience a joyful downhill cruise.

     The workshop was so ‘en-lightening’ for me because I realized that no-one had to be on stage for Sonia to give us the benefit of her talent, wisdom and abilities - we could all recognise ourselves in what she said and demonstrated with others there. We knew that we just had to get in tune with our own vibes to receive the help she facilitated for those up front.

     But we have to trust the process first to use it. To develop that trust we need to hear about, take notice of and experience the reality of our intuition as often as we can - we all have psychic abilities.

     How often did you answer the phone, just knowing that your mother-in-law was on the line before you picked up? When last did you pay attention to a hunch and went to work on a different road, just to find out later that there had been a major accident on your usual route?

     Where does this help come from? I think we don’t need to consult a clairvoyant to tell us what the future will bring, although this guidance most definitely helps to confirm our course in life whenever we are about to make a major adjustment - or when we are so stuck that we need to be jolted out of our position.

     Other than that, just get in tune with yourself, pay attention to your feelings, and you’ll know what to do and where to go.

     Look, I don’t want to make this too long - just go to Sonia Choquette’s website and have a look around, there is so much to discover that I can’t mention it all here - don’t leave out her section on Psychic University Online Courses, just listen to one of her audio clips in the sample lesson offered - it will open your eyes, and your mind.

     Unless … OK, as a fellow storyteller I can’t resist this - do you want to know how Sonia met one of her spirit guides? She told us on Sunday : during a very difficult period in her life, she had virtually crashed with exhaustion and, having been hospitalized, was told by her doctor to take a good holiday-break in Hawaii now.

     One day walking on a beach there, something urged her to turn around and go to the village. Window-shopping in front of a tourist shop, she stepped in and looked at the wares on display when an absolutely gorgeous black man in an immaculate white suit came in from behind a curtain and started talking to her : “Have a look at this poster, it fits your situation perfectly.” He pulled out a rolled up poster from the rack and showed her the beautiful picture of an angel crashed on a beach.

     Surprised, Sonia agreed and after they had chatted for a while, discussing and looking at other items in the shop, she turned around to ask him a question when she noticed that he was gone.

     “Excuse me, where is your colleague?” The shop attendant, a young lady, had a surprised look on her face. “Colleague? I am alone here.” - “The man in the white suit I spoke with just now. He came in from behind that curtain and was with me here in the shop for at least 10 minutes, you must have seen him.”

     She hadn’t, and the man could not be found anywhere.

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Sep 24 2007

Official Language in Europe To Change : “Euro-English”

Published by Berend under Humor, English

     This is hilarious and will make your Monday - one of my loyal readers in Sydney sent this over the other day.

     Read it out loud and you’ll laugh your head off :

Official Language in Europe to Change :
From German to English = “Euro-English”

     The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.

     As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5-year phase-in plan that would become known as “Euro-English”.

     In the first year, “s” will replace the soft “c”. Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard “c” will be dropped in favour of “k”. This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter. There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome “ph” will be replaced with “f”. This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.

     In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.

     Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.

     Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent “e” in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.

     By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing “th” with “z” and “w” with “v”.

     During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary “o” kan be dropd from vords kontaining “ou” and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensibl riten styl.

     Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.

     Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas.

     If zis mad you smil, pleas pas on to oza pepl.

     Ontil next tim, al ze best from : Berend

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