consciousness

Spilled milk: to cry or not to cry?

Today I almost cried over spilled milk, literally. I splurged on fancy organic milk and as I was walking through the door to my home it fell to the ground, broke open, and spilled everywhere. It wasn’t just a trivial problem, it was the trivial problem. Yet, that didn’t matter to my thoughts which easily picked up on why this was an issue I should be upset about. When I am easily upset by small things it is a reminder that I’ve forgotten who I truly am, my infinite true self.

When I try to remember the problems I had a year ago today, or even last Sunday, I have no inkling of what they were. Can you remember what problems you had last year? Can you remember the problems you had five years ago, or ten? The only problems I think about are those I am experiencing now, which will soon fade with the passage of days and be replaced with new issues to be bothered about. The situations themselves are not problems, they are how they are.

Problems are created by thoughts about a situation. Suffering, and negative emotions, are created by judgement of an experience.

It is easy to see how spilled milk is only a problem when I make it so through my thoughts. It can be more difficult to watch experiences without judgment when the stakes are high. I am grateful for this passage from Swami Satchidananda’s Weekly Words of Wisdom, because it is a great reminder to stop grasping at outer solutions for peace and happiness and remember who we really are:

“The teaching in the Bible, just as we find in the Bhagavad Gita is: Don’t look for the fruits of your own actions. You are made in God’s own image. You don’t need to look for fruits from outside. But Adam forgot that he was God’s image. And forgetting is what you call avidya, or ignorance. You forgot your truth. The minute you forget it then you look for it from outside. So Adam thought, ‘Ah, by eating the apple I’ll be happy.’ That was said to be the first ‘sin.’ Eating the apple was not the first sin. Forgetting his true nature was the original sin. Once you forget your true nature, you will commit face many, many problems. So, remember who you are.” (Swami Satchidananda)

Inspiration

“The blossoming of your full potential is made possible by faithful tending to your inner state.”

The inertia of my long winter break has a gravity that I find very inviting. It is easy to want to stay at home in my robe and slippers; in fact it isn’t something I can talk myself out of desiring.

Last night I asked myself if there were any job in the world I would feel like going back to after my year-end break. I could not think of one. If Professional Netflix Watcher were a job I would probably be okay with going back to that, and do quite well, but that is not (yet) in the realm of possibility.

I had two extra days off from work because of the bitter cold here in Chicago, and while I relished the prolonged period of rest, I found that my anxiety about returning to everyday life grew. The inertia of stagnation is powerful. This object needed a force to act upon it.

I decided to commit to listening to another round of “Deepak Chopra’s 21 Day Meditation Challenge,” since any step forward would begin to create my future. While my winter break mentality still lingers quietly in the periphery of my consciousness I can act upon my own state of being by taking just one small positive action at a time.

There is nothing too flashy or exciting about spiritual growth from the outside. In fact everything on the outside seems to get a little bit quieter, even slower. The same is true of the inner experience of spiritual growth at times when you are making the quiet effort to regain balance in life. During today’s meditation the voice in my head was noisy, my eyes even fluttered open a few times. There were no flashes of enlightenment or miraculous insights.

This is the quiet road to experiencing the true, inherent fullness of life. It is in these internal pursuits that the real work of your soul, with its experiences, karmic obligations, and purposes can come to fruition. The blossoming of your full potential is made possible by faithful tending to your inner state. When you ask what lesson you are meant to learn in each life experience, you set yourself on the road to “graduation.” You embark on the path of your reason for being.

In this small moment in my life where I am gently being guided back to balance I am reminded that the only necessary step is this one step. What happens next, what will be required of me, is not my business. My business is the present moment.

Whether it is focusing too much on “the big picture” or losing focus altogether that is causing stagnation in your life, choose one small step to gift to yourself. Each conscious attempt truly will be a gift to your life, and the lives of everyone else, whom you are intrinsically connected to.

Inspiration

How To Be Abundant In The Midst Of Lack

In the middle of the night as I lay in bed drifting off to sleep during a particularly humorous episode of Futurama, I had the idea to check my bank account and bills. This one small thought, instantly acted upon, led me to attempt to figure out how everything is going to work out with a looming credit card bill, rent just having been deducted, and a future with a job funded by a grant that is a few months away from ending.

In unconscious moments the ego easily gains a strong hold on your attention. It presents thoughts that you already strongly identify with, in moments where you will follow those thoughts to the point of action, creating a reality not based upon real life, but upon a thought pattern.

It was all too easy to stay awake even longer with a train of thought that I kept running after as if it could somehow help me.

That is the illusion. Identification with thought always seems like it will benefit you, because thoughts are created to promote themselves. Thoughts are quite good at convincing your attention they are important and necessary often to the detriment of your actual welfare and living reality.

I could see, as the night dwindled, I was being taken in not only by thought patterns but also by negative emotions, and however attractive that negative energy may seem at the time, it cannot improve any situation. The night eventually set me about sleeping.

Today Chicago is a blanket of luminescent snow, a task to navigate through but incredible to behold. The abundance of life is making itself impossible to miss. It is everywhere and affects everything around it. An abundance of snow is an outward manifestation of the nature of the universe, of life itself. The fact of the outer existence of form is the evidence of the overflowing abundance of the ether, of God.

Creation, abundance, life begins in the formless, it begins within. The formless is the foundation from which all outer form manifests. For all of the things in this world, like money, love, enjoyment, knowledge, we first must set the platform from which it will manifest outwardly in form. There has to be an inner reality first.

No matter how many reasons your mind gives you to worry, and believe that your immediately perceived situation is your end-all be-all, you will not achieve change or prosperity until you experience the reality of abundance within yourself, as yourself. You are living proof of an abundant universe where we have the opportunity to exist and thrive, and for our needs to be met and exceeded.

Experiment with feeling abundance in the present moment. Look around and see the abundance of things, of electricity, of water, of snow, of people, and know that it is your reality. For me, when I get into a place where all I see is lack I take a little while to snap out of it. Listing in your mind what you are grateful for can help bring you into a prosperous state and give you a real experience of the abundant nature of the universe. Then with a clear mind and an open heart you can observe the transformation of your situation, however it may look.

consciousness

What Just Happened?

New Year’s Eve Dinner at Bop and Mimi’s

It seems only a moment ago I was sitting in front of the fireplace at my grandparents’ house feeling completely at ease with my loving family all around me.

Annually in the weeks leading up to New Year’s Day my cousins from New Jersey stay at my grandparents’ house in the Chicago suburbs, along with my Uncle Joe from California, and we truly have ourselves a time. Every day is filled with one delightful activity after another, always followed by a home cooked meal, and lounging around while enjoying each other’s presence.

Brother Joey, Cousins Jessica, Miriam, and Annie

After our time together we all return to our respective locations; I leave the suburbs and return to my apartment in Chicago. Hopes and dreams for the new year usually don’t begin to creep into my consciousness until several weeks after my cousins have left.

When launching back into my usual situation I have to first focus on acceptance. Good or bad, when change occurs I easily identify with the situation. My thoughts and feelings become based upon the change I experience. Whether I react to the transition with great sadness, or with great expectations for the future, the nonacceptance is the ego taking hold. Because I hold onto nonacceptance, my actions become out of alignment with the present moment.

Joey, Miriam, Katie, and Jessica on Christmas Eve

It is now my intention to send love to what has been, and allow myself to return to the only moment where such joy and love as I experienced with my family can ever exist, right now

Is there anything, good or bad, on which you have a strong internal grip? Take a breath and allow it to be as it was. Now give yourself permission to come back to what is real, come back to the present.

2014

Happy New Year!

Inspiration

How To Make Your New Year’s Dreams Come True

With a new year upon us thoughts surrounding the future are at an all time high. Resolutions, hopes, worries, dreams, and plans for the coming year are at the forefront of our collective mind. What new year’s resolutions are you setting for yourself?

Each year I create a list of resolutions that go something like this:
1. Meditate every day.
2. Practice Yoga every day.
3. Learn how to cook.
4. See a movie every week.

I’ve heard of people following their resolutions for a few days, a couple of weeks, even months. But at the end of each year we often realize we have in some way abandoned our resolutions and then go about making new ones.

My experience differs slightly in that I don’t even begin to practice my resolutions. I make the list, and enjoy myself in the process, but never actually set about the task of enacting the new lifestyle I have envisioned.

There is hope yet for those of us who have no commitment to new year’s resolutions! I find that I accomplish the truest desires of my heart, live the lifestyle I dream about, and find new strength to pursue goals the more I forget about future altogether and pay attention to the moment I am living in.

When I enjoy the sunlight streaming through my shades in the morning, appreciate each sip of coffee, and feel the snow crunch beneath every step on my walk to the bus, I end up living the life I’ve imagined. To a mind that lives on past and future this present moment awareness is meaningless. Yet all positive and fruitful action arises from being completely present to your immediate experience, and creates your future from the miraculous consequences of that positive energy.

Switching your attention from the thinking mind to present moment experience creates an almost alchemical reaction. Anxiety and stagnation are transmuted into peace and prosperity.

This year I resolve to allow myself to be right where I am, and I wish the same for you.

Peace

Merry Christmas!

It is with a heart full of gratitude for you and your loving presence that I offer a gift of relaxation this Christmas. The video below is a guided relaxation, Shavasana, by yours truly with photography and music by Peter Spero. Thank you to Swami Satchidananda whose version of Shavasana this is based upon, and for many of the wise words and lessons included within it.

Click here for a free download of the audio version of Shavasana with Katie Spero.

Inspiration

Why I Changed My Mind About Sam Harris

A few weeks ago my aunt Nancy sent me a video that blew me away. I was about to share it when I discovered the speaker was none other than Sam Harris, a popular critic of religion.

That same evening after I decided posting something by Harris wouldn’t be in keeping with my own views and intentions of peace and unity, I posted an entirely different video and received an email that another blogger had “liked” it along with a list of popular posts to check on their blog. The first post I saw written by this blogger was entitled, “Atheist Sam Harris changed my perception of him forever when he said this.” I was led right back to the video I had tried to stay away from.

I was snapped out of my identification with my own views, along with the thoughts and opinions I had attached Sam Harris to. Human beings are not the thoughts they think, the opinions they hold, or the perceptions others have of them. My perception of who another person is will never come close to the reality of their being. Now, after letting go of the need to know who Sam Harris is, it is clear to see that attaching myself to a judgement about another person will cut me off from experiencing the gifts they offer to the world.

It is with an open mind, and understanding heart, that I gladly share this beautiful moment of presence:

spirituality

Guest Post: Why Greg Spero Doesn’t Fear Dying

I was a little girl with many fears. I wouldn’t go on escalators, or boats, and retreated to the basement every time the wind blew. As I grew up I went about the business of letting go of these fears one by one, but at the root of each issue I knew I was afraid of dying. That fear too can be shed, just like a childhood fear of natural disasters.

Let Yourself Learn’s first guest author, Greg Spero, offers a shifted perspective on death and existence:

Why I Don’t Fear Dying

By Greg Spero

I killed an ant this morning. I wondered if he suffered.

Did he stay alive for a few seconds after I crushed his body?

Did he twitch and realize that he was leaving his consciousness?

Did he briefly mourn over how he failed in his mission to bring food to the queen?

How long did this take?

A second?

A millisecond?

Did it take a billion years?

Or a billion times that?

Let’s call that timeframe an eon.

Where did the ant’s particles go?

Maybe the earth ran into the sun and the molecules exploded in bursts of energy.

Where did that energy go?

What planet did it hit?

Did a piece of the ant become a the energy in a new life form?

Did a piece of the energy from the molecule of that ant become me, eons later?

Well, of course it did. After all, what was that piece of energy doing before it was the molecule of the ant?

A billion rays of light from a billion stars from a billion destroyed planets from a billion ants went into each molecule that made up the ant I killed. And the energy from that ant will, and has already, become that which will spread infinitely throughout the universe for the rest of time, which will go on for eons times eons times eons, further than we can comprehend.

Many people have a fear of dying. But I don’t. Because I will never die, and neither will you. That ant was not living. Nor was he dying. He was simply existing. He was not himself, nor was he something else. He was simply the universe, incarnate in a form that we think we recognize as an individual piece, when in reality, our recognition spans a limited moment in an infinite cycle of energy.

The ant I killed is a human, in another time.
The ant I killed is me, in another time.
The ant I killed is everything, in another time.
And so is everything else.
So are you.
So am I.

We are lucky to be conscious in this moment, observing the reality around us, and existing, enjoying, emoting, loving, hating, feeling, lusting, living in the brief time between what we recognize as the existence and nonexistence of our consciousness. Yet, birth and death have nothing to do with existence and nonexistence.

Birth and death are a brief passing place that we recognize because outside of those boundaries we can’t interact with our immediate surroundings in the way to which we are accustomed in this life.

What happened with the ant’s body could very well happen with something deeper than the body; an energy that exists that we can’t pinpoint, from which some draw the idea of God, and some draw the idea of Buddha nature. Another energy, other than what we see physically, that will also be recycled infinitely throughout existence.

Or maybe that energy is the same as the energy that makes up the molecules of the ant I killed.

Maybe it’s all the same.

Maybe the infinite expansion of time before and after this moment allows for every piece of energy in the universe to exist as every incarnation of every possible thing and being in all the universe, including what we see, our family, friends, the bed on which I sit, the other ants scattered about the outside of my house, the solar system, and the universe. Maybe my consciousness is actually just a small piece of the universe as it infinitely reincarnates in every possible formation and has infinitely reincarnated in every possible formation for all of time.

The ant I killed is not a self. It is the universe.
And so am I.
And so are you.
I don’t worry about dying. Because I am not alive. I simply am, and will be for the rest of time.

Peace

3 Ways To Be At Peace Now

Today driving back to Chicago from my parents’ house in the suburbs I was particularly cautious because of the dark flurry-filled highway. Night was fast approaching on my drive home and by the time I reached the city streets there was no longer any sunlight to aid me.

When I had stopped at a light on Lincoln Avenue I glanced out the car door window. Suddenly I realized it was not a low-visibility snowy evening, but a crisp clear night. At this I instinctively prompted the wiper fluid. Lo and behold I had been unnecessarily struggling from something I had expected even before I got in the car, a night where the air was filled with snow, which would be difficult to drive in. The night air was as clear as it had been on any cold cloudless night in Chicago and I just did not realize all I had to do was clean the windshield.

Just as I needed to clean the lens through which my highway journey was viewed, any successful moment starts with clarity of mind and perspective. I had been feeling stress during the week about situations with my cold apartment and a blown fuse, and the prospect of work that had to be done.

Every time I thought I was making some progress, something else would come up and require my attention. As I began to flounder I realized that before anything could be done, like decisions, work, and planning, I first had to relax into a state of peace and perspective. My actions were not yielding positive results. The results were expressing the energy with which I had produced them.

So before you try to fix a situation so that you can be at peace, remember that the only way to create the success you want is to first be at peace and then go about doing whatever it is you have to do. You need to go beyond the mind to untangle yourself from the thoughts that are creating the dis-ease.

When I arrived home I received a “Present Moment Reminder” email from Eckhart Tolle stating the three things you can do to become peaceful at any given moment, “Wherever you are, be there totally. If you find your here and now intolerable and it makes you unhappy, you have three options: remove yourself from the situation, change it, or accept it totally,” Eckhart Tolle.