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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781982223953 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Balboa Press |
| Publication date: | 03/22/2019 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 108 |
| File size: | 191 KB |
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CHAPTER 1
DAY 1
Rules of the Game of Life
It was a wonderfully beautiful, sunny day as Barbara walked along the serene, secluded beach. With every step, the warm sand clung to her feet. Her gaze panned over the ocean. She took in a deep breath. How she loved the smell of seawater!
She sat down on a large rock, enjoying the feeling of the warm sand, as she dug her feet into the soft sand, moving her toes forward and back. She loved the feeling of sand between them.
She tucked her knees close up to her chest, then placed her head gently upon them, casting a gaze over the sea for a moment as she fell asleep. After a short while, she heard a faint rustling and drowsily looked up. A giant turtle was approaching. Barbara thought: "It has to be at least one hundred years old!"
"To be exact, it's been 157 years", she heard the turtle countering. Well, she didn't really hear it. No, instead, it was as if she were able to perceive the words without even hearing them.
Barbara thought, shaking her head: "It's gotten to the point where I'm now communicating with turtles!"
"Yes, you did indeed hear me," said the turtle, who was now right in front of her. Barbara stepped back a little.
"How is it that I can hear you?," she asked.
"Because it's time to clarify some things," replied the turtle. "You are at a crossroads in your life and are asking yourself why everything is as it is. You are doubting yourself and your life. That's why I'm here. It's my wish to pass on to you a bit of wisdom so you can accept and then follow the course of your life. Are you ready for this?"
"Yes, I think so," said Barbara. She continued to gaze in amazement at the huge turtle before her in the sand.
"Well then, tell me about yourself and your life, so that together, we will find out what it all means for you. Each event in your life did have and also does have a meaning. And especially the greater, painful experiences are the ones which are our best teachers."
"I am Barbara, and I was born in Antwerp, Belgium, 45 years ago. I am sitting here and really wondering what everything means. Six months ago, my marriage fell apart after 18 years and I still do not understand why."
"Well, my name is Turtle. I'm 157 years old and that's why I want to be your teacher. They say that when the student is ready, the teacher will come. You called me — even if you are not aware of this. That is why we are both here on this beautiful beach. Do you want to learn a bit more about the meaning of life?"
"Yes, very much so!" Barbara replied enthusiastically and sat down, making herself comfortable to listen to what Turtle had to tell.
"Do you know the rules of the game of life?" asked Turtle, cocking his head and looking inquisitively at Barbara.
Barbara shrugged. "I don't know" she said.
"It is important to know the rules of the game of life so that you can also understand what it all means. People are spiritual beings who have an earthly experience. If a soul chooses to incarnate on earth, it does this with a goal. It wants to learn something.
It's like when you're getting an education and you go to the appropriate specialist or school. Or if you want to go to a university. You choose a subject and then you go to that certain faculty.
On earth, you'll go through the experience you need so that you learn the lessons that you've assigned for yourself. Sometimes we lose our way or we get lost in a rut in our lives. And then we feel like something is missing in our lives. Then, often, there is a dramatic experience that will bring us back again on our way. This can be an illness, separation, job loss, or anything else. As long as we protect ourselves from these experiences, we can learn nothing. Only when we realize that this experience teaches us something, and then we accept these lessons, can we grow.
Barbara, please, consider nevertheless what you learned from the separation from your husband," Turtle asked softly, "Do you know what that was?"
"I think so," said Barbara as she nodded, "When I separated from my husband, I first felt worthless and abandoned. But then I realized a certain strength inside myself, and I started taking charge of my life. I trained to be a laughter yoga teacher and then started giving seminars. I was trained as a naturopath for psychotherapy and started my own practice."
"Would you also have found this power within yourself if you had stayed with your husband?"
"No, I don't think so. In that situation I felt there was no need to change anything!"
"Exactly, for you this way was correct and important! But you had already agreed together with your husband in the hereafter to learn this lesson."
"You mean this was planned?," Barbara asked.
"Yes it was. Exactly how a particular experience will occur in your life is not foreseeable, but the major contours of your life were set by you before you even came to this earth, such as which mother and father you would need in order to learn your lessons. This also includes the environment in which you are born, as well as the social environment, who your grandparents and great-grandparents are, your physique, your brothers and sisters — all of this has an impact on who you'll become as a human being and thus has an influence on your lessons."
"What changed since then for you?"
"I started to think about what I want, and not always what it takes to get others to love me. I finally found myself. I have determined what my needs are and now I am living them out!"
"So you can say for yourself that it was good that you split from your husband?"
Barbara sighed and said: "Yes, it was good!"
"Shall we meet here again tomorrow?", asked Turtle, cocking its head.
Barbara had to laugh, she thought: "Here I am standing and talking with a huge turtle and arranging a meeting with it, this is so unreal and yet so beautiful!"
"Yes! Very much so", said Barbara, laughing. She stood up, brushing the sand off her dress and walked towards the hotel. After 100 meters, she turned and waved at Turtle, and said: "See you tomorrow Turtle. I am looking forward to our next talk!"
She ran along the water and let the waves splash against her feet. She considered everything that Turtle had told her. Yes, it was true that she sometimes wondered what everything meant, but by talking with Turtle, she also realized that she had achieved a lot since her separation.
She had finally opened up! Yes, Turtle was right, that was her path.
She went to her room and was pleased that her two boys were happily playing together. She loved those vacations by the sea with long walks on the beach.
Task
Find a comfortable place to sit. Find something you can write with. Breathe deeply three times in and out, in and out, in and out.
Now think about which big events have played an important role in your life.
Write down which events have taken place in your life. Start with one event.
Always just take one event at a time and keep track of what you wrote, since you will need these again later.
CHAPTER 2DAY 2
The Unrecognized Gift
When she went to her favorite place on the rock the next morning, Turtle was already there!
"Good morning, Turtle!" said Barbara as she made herself comfortable on her rock.
"My boys are playing over there in the sand, they're building a castle", she said, looking expectantly at Turtle. "Yesterday you said that we choose our parents before we come to earth. I do not understand why I have chosen my mother. She has hurt me so much! And why should I pick a brother who is so briefly on the earth? Also, I grew up without a father and would have rather picked a loving, caring father. Why is this?"
"Wait, stop!", exclaimed Turtle smiling. "We want to work through each point one-by-one! So what was wrong with your mother, can you tell me what she is like and what happened between you?"
"Well, my mother is a good-hearted person, she loves to help people in need, loves to laugh and is very helpful. As a small child she gave me a lot of love, warmth and security. But then, when I was 12 years old, my one dear brother was killed. He was only 13 then! He had a bicycle accident and died on the way to the hospital. Since then, nothing was as it was before. Actually, I not only lost my only brother, but also my mother. She was never the same again. With my brother, a part of my mother died. Then, when my grandmother died a year later, we found ourselves on the street, since my grandfather had thrown us out.
I was 13 and my mother was 35. A difficult time for us had started. We moved six times within two years. And I was in the middle of puberty.
A few months after my brother's death, we joined a strict Christian community. When I was 15, puberty was controlling me. So it happened that my mother and I violently quarreled one day. I don't even know what it was about, I just know that she said that as Christians we should not be viewing any films like 'Dirty Dancing'.
One word led to another and my mother went on to say: 'If it had been the other way around and you would have died instead of your brother, it would have been much easier for me. 'I was thunderstruck, for a moment I felt as if the world would have stopped spinning. Suddenly my rage was gone. I could not believe that she had said that."
"This was a challenging lesson", said Turtle, gazing at Barbara with big, compassionate eyes.
"How did you feel? What did it do to you? Where was the gift in this?"
"I felt unloved and unwanted, I see no gift in that!" said Barbara with a pouting mouth.
Turtle looked lovingly at her: "Everything that happens in life has a meaning and is therefore also a gift. Often people do not realize it.
That's why I want to discover with you what gift you got from your mother. The gift is compassion and love. When did you feel loved for the first time after this dispute?" "That was when I met my husband. I had the feeling he loves me the way I am!"
"Now if you had not had this experience with your mother, would you have been able to appreciate your husband's love so intensely? Besides, you can now understand how people are who feel unloved and you can help them in their situation."
"There's something to it, yes you are right. I often feel a connection to people who are rejected. And I also help them today in my practice and in seminars. Without this experience, I would not at all have been able to develop this compassion."
"Yes, and therein lies the gift!"
Barbara's youngest son came running and tugged at her shirt, "Mom, our castle is finished, can you come look at it?"
"Go ahead", said Turtle, "I think you now have enough to think about!"
Barbara nodded with a wry smile. "You're absolutely right, I have a lot to think about. Tomorrow again, here, at the same time?", she asked while walking, as she looked at Turtle.
"Yes, tomorrow at the same time and same place!" said Turtle chuckling and slowly moving back towards the sea.
Task
Sit down, make yourself comfortable and take out your notes from Chapter One.
Breathe deeply in and out three times. Relax your body.
Now look at the events in your life and think about what gift lies in them. Is it empathy? The ability to love? Is it strength to persevere? Or compassion? What quality was gifted to you by your experience?
This is not an easy task at all. Take your time and if you do not conclude anything, let it go. Eventually it will come to you! Reconsider individual events of your life, not all at once. One by one.
CHAPTER 3DAY 3
Incarnation
Barbara had slept restlessly. Turtle's words went over and over in her head. Everything Turtle told her seemed to make sense. It was as if she would use his words to remember facts about herself.
At the appointed time, Barbara strolls along the water to their rock.
Turtle was already there and appeared to be waiting for her.
"Hello Turtle," she said and stroked its head gently.
"Oh, I like that!" said Turtle, enjoying this with closed eyes.
"What questions are you dying to ask, my dear Barbara?" Turtle asked.
"I have something like 100 questions!" she replied with a smile,
"I would suggest we start with number 1," said Turtle.
"The day before yesterday you spoke about the game of life and that we make a plan before we arrive on earth. How exactly does that happen? Can you tell me more about this?"
"Yes, dear Barbara, I can. Everyone who sets out to relive an earthly incarnation prepares for it a long time in advance. He watches some of his ancestors and selects the family in which he or she can best learn his/her lesson.
There is a place in the hereafter where all life books are stored in a kind of library — the Akashic Records. Here, all lives and everything that ever happened is recorded. Our present life story is described in these — in rough sketches, because by our free will, our lives can proceed in different directions.
If you decide to go to earth, you receive a guardian angel by your side who knows exactly how your lesson plan on earth is laid out. He will then watch over you and the course of your life. If you remove yourself too far from your life plan, your guardian angel will help you to come back to the right path, for example, in case of an illness, a separation and so on. In addition, you receive a spirit guide at your side. This is someone who was incarnated and has lived through a similar experience like that which you are going through. For this reason, this is your spirit guide, someone who is very capable of helping you. He can sympathize with what you are now experiencing. Both your guardian angel and your spirit guide are at your side to help you.
And in every phase of life, you'll be given extra angels at your side whom you will need, especially at this time. You are never alone. God and his angels are always with you. You're a part of God, the divine spark is in you. So dear Barbara, never forget that you are never alone — no matter how alone you feel.
But I can explain everything to you best when we examine your life more closely. Into which circumstances were you born? And if you know now that you chose these circumstances, can you recognize why? Can you recognize a theme in your life?"
"Well, the beginning of my life was not so ideal, I would say. My mother was only 21 years old when I was born. It was a bitterly cold winter, and my hometown of Antwerp was occupied by a pristine, white carpet of snow — which is rare. In addition, the doctors were on strike. It was the biggest doctors' strike Belgium had ever seen. Seventeen months previous to that, my brother had entered the world by Caesarean section. Now it was my turn. The contractions had already started and since I was positioned butt first, I was taken by emergency C-section. Sometimes I think that I often felt out of place, even that I entered the world by Caesarean section and did not have to squeeze through the narrow birth canal where most children learn that there is a lot of pressure on the earth, which one must withstand. This experience was missing entirely. I was ripped out into the bright lights."
"I think you're starting to understand. Yes, everything that happened to you is part of your plan. Can you recognize a common thread?"
"Over and over, there were events in my life that made me feel like I did not belong. This gave me special empathy with the people who live on the margins of society. I'll never forget when I did an internship at the otolaryngologist in Passau. It was a very busy day, and the office was pretty much filled to the brim. A slightly older woman with a black headscarf with colorful flowers was brashly sent by my colleague into the waiting room. I was supposed to measure the pressure in her ear. So I asked her to come with me. Since I felt sorry for this woman, I was especially friendly, since she hardly understood any German. When I was finished, and I asked her again to sit down in the waiting room, she took my hand and kissed it. I was very touched by this gesture.
If I had not always felt so out of place, I would never have been able to develop this compassion. Yes, Turtle, you're right. Now I realize the common thread. A lesson in my life is compassion. It is a feeling that warms my heart."
"I am pleased that you are slowly realizing this, dear Barbara. But I would like to tell you something. The fact that this woman was there precisely on the day when you were measuring her ear pressure has to do with your guardian angel. You have ensured that this woman, who experienced so much rejection, finally got attention. That is why it is very important that people listen to their angels. So if you again have the need to spontaneously take someone in your arms or say something and you don't know why you should say that right now, then just do it or say it!"
"You mean I should talk to someone who is a complete stranger to me?"
"Now if you have a deep inner need to do it, then do it. And do not think: 'What will people say or think of me?'
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "The Wise Turtle"
by .
Copyright © 2019 Barbara Rabong.
Excerpted by permission of Balboa Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Day 1 Rules of the Game of Life, 1,
Day 2 The Unrecognized Gift, 17,
Day 3 Incarnation, 29,
Day 4 The Guardian Angel and What Happens in a Suicide Attempt, 43,
Day 5 In the Flow of Life with Your Angel, 59,
Day 6 Angels and Wish Fulfillment, 73,
Day 7 Consequences, 83,