Ego

How We Unconsciously Open The Door For The Ego

Divided Whether self-deprecating or self-inflating the mind loves to attach itself to thoughts of “who you are.”  Temporary satisfaction comes with any type of ego inflation, any instance of identification with thoughts about yourself.  The ego can manifest through identification with physical things, situations, and thought forms.

I first heard this explained by Eckhart Tolle and my own experience verifies it again and again.  Yesterday’s post was a great example of how my ego gained strength through identifying with the situation of not having internet access or TV.

Attaching your identity to a thought about yourself, whether it is good or bad, gives rise to the ego.  The good or bad thoughts are not the reality of your being, of your consciousness.

What happens when you compare yourself to another?  How does it feel?

By Peter Spero

By Peter Spero

My loving and talented older brother is a very disciplined and motivated jazz pianist.  I love him and I love his success, for any success is a victory for us all.  I myself have never had a clear path, the motivation to move in a specific direction, or the discipline that would allow me to do so.  All of these things are of course attainable but if I compare my journey to that of my brother’s, I will inevitably give rise to the ego.

All comparison is a doorway in which the ego will enter.  I could inflate my ego by creating an identity of being lost and without direction, or I could go the other way and inflate my ego by identifying with my association with, and the successes of, my brother.  It really doesn’t matter to the ego, which thoughts I choose to identify with, as long as I buy into the identification.

Is there a way out?  How do you disinvite the ego when it has already come in the front door and is seated firmly at the center of your attention?

The way out is to notice the thoughts, and recognize rising identification with thought.  Another brilliant lesson from Tolle is that the moment of seeing is the beginning of the end of the ego.  All that is required is your presence.

The moment you gaze upon an instance of identification with thought, you have stepped out of the ego and into your true self.  And from there you need not create new identification, because you are already in the midst of your greatest power, the present moment.  In the light of the present the highest potential of your being has space in which to arise, to guide your life, and to manifest unimaginable and beautiful dreams.  Instead of seeking to create yourself through identification, you can now sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.

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consciousness

No internet no TV make Katie something something…

SimpsonsOne of my favorite episodes of The Simpsons involves Homer being caught in a situation in which he is utterly without beer or television, and subsequently goes mad.  The past couple of days I have humorously found myself in such a position.

I have no internet access and no television.  As soon as the repair people can make it over to my place they will find out what is wrong and fix the problem, but for now I have neither.  Moreover, I realized a couple of days ago that I am out of cellphone data, leaving me without internet more completely than I otherwise would have been.  So how am I even writing this post?  I’m staying late at my place of work where the internet is gloriously plentiful!

Going without internet and TV is not a problem, but as I have discovered, my ego feels differently.  Last night when I realized that there wasn’t any quick fix to the issue I immediately became stressed.  I started to think about all of the work I had to do that I couldn’t get done, and all of the essential tasks that I had planned on completing which require the use of the internet.  (I am also a big TV fan but I find that a lot easier to let go of).

My boyfriend taught me a great lesson in not perpetuating stress when he left me to myself for a moment and decided not to become stressed out by the situation along with me.  It is so easy to take on the emotions of others you are close to, but it also creates more of that which is causing the pain.  Along with this great reminder of how to stay present even when those around you are taken over by thoughts or emotions, I also found out how attached I was to these luxuries.   I had become identified with my outer circumstance.

I showered and listened to Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth, which I find always snaps me out of identification with form, the ego.  The more present I became, the more I smiled at my ego.  In the calming hot water it became easier to see that the voice in my head was attached to the situation and to the idea that my needs were not being met.

A great teacher recently talked to me about seeing the world as God, or the universe, sees the world.  This means looking at the world just as it is, with complete acceptance.  I didn’t know how I was going to get directions to all of the places I had to visit today.  I didn’t know how I was going to email myself a lesson plan, or write on my blog.  But when I took a moment to look at my situation without demanding it be a certain way there was no longer any stress, there was no longer anything to worry about.  As the invaluable quote, which I often use to comfort myself in times of stress or worry, from the movie Gravity states, “no harm, no foul.”

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Inspiration

The Best Day Of Your Life

 

MY 21ST BIRTHDAY SURPRISE AT THE SATCHIDANANDA ASHRAM

MY 21ST BIRTHDAY SURPRISE AT THE SATCHIDANANDA ASHRAM

What happened on the best day of your life? What did it feel like?

One of my more recent memorable days happened while I was in the midst of the first experiment from Pam Grout’s E-Squared: Nine Do-It-Yourself Energy Experiments That Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality.  I won a raffle that included 30 days of unlimited Yoga classes at studio steps away from the new apartment I was just about to move into.

There is nothing in the world like the experience of pure joy, which in extraordinary circumstances overwhelms all of the thoughts and feelings that had since been covering it up.  Recalling that state and feeling is a powerful tool, and essential aspect, to perpetuating that joy.  Michael Beckwith explains how to use this “WHAT!” moment beautifully in this video.

This morning I came across this series of videos posted on The Huffington Post that made me so happy I cried.  If you can’t recall the feeling of a “best day” in your own life, or you just want to rev up your joy, have an awesome time perusing these ridiculously uplifting videos by clicking here.

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Inspiration

“Follow The Aliveness”

Waterfall by Peter Spero

Photo By Peter Spero

I love to sing and dance.  I sing and dance alone, I sing and dance around friends, I even love to sing and dance in front of an audience.  But thus far in life I have not created a career out of singing and dancing.  While I love to perform on stage, what I truly enjoy is expressing myself through music, whether someone is watching or not.  As a teenager, throughout all of the normal trials and tribulations I experienced going through high school, what carried me through was the thought, “As long as I can play guitar I’ll be okay.”  No matter what life situation I encountered, I experienced joy when I was playing music.

By no means am I a great musician.  Everyday I enjoy listening to musicians whose talent and skills will always be far superior to my musical capabilities.  Does this take some of the enjoyment away from singing and dancing?  Not in the slightest.  On the contrary, I am truly thankful for the musical gifts more talented artists share with the world for our enjoyment.

At the end of the day, I can still sing with my family.  I can always dance around my own living room.  In these instances of action I truly experience life.  Attaching my identity to the thought of “being a singer” or “being an artist” pales in comparison to that felt present moment experience.

This video of Mark Nepo is truly liberating.  If you have a passion going unfulfilled, or are being blocked from your own creative expression, Mark offers a freeing perspective:

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Inspiration

One Domino In Front Of The Other

The SinkThere are a million tiny things we do each day.  Some actions are so small and routine we hardly even notice them.  Things like taking a breath before drinking a glass of water, blinking our eyes to adjust to daylight after waking up, brushing hair out of our eyes, turning the lights on and off, nodding at a passing stranger, saying “bless you” after someone sneezes.  The entire day is composed of minuscule, seemingly insignificant actions.

The following video of an impossible and beautiful display of dominos reminded me that each of us is only seeing from the perspective of one small domino.  In each moment we witness a single domino, the present.  All amazing feats of humanity, like landing on the moon, the creation of vaccines that cure diseases, and the building of the Sears Tower, are beautiful images like those shown in this video of what happened after all of the dominos had fallen.  But their creation was made up of one domino at a time, one small moment, one tiny insignificant action after tiny insignificant action.

When life becomes tedious, and nothing seems to be getting accomplished, think of the domino effect.  You are currently witnessing the slow fall of one small domino, which holds the power of the outcome, the vision, the entire purpose of your being here.  Even though it seems small and insignificant, you need only take one step, for as the old adage truly states, contained in the one step is the entirety of the journey itself.

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Inspiration

“So before we go and transform the world, let us transform ourselves” – Swami Satchidananda

What would life be like if the people you encountered were always happy to see you?  What would our relationships be like if everyone was already enjoying themselves, having a great time?

While asking these questions can lead to a seemingly impossible utopian vision where all people are happy and healthy, creating this world is a lot easier than we ever thought.  Creating an environment of health and joy can be accomplished in your life without controlling or changing those around you.  While at first this task of creation can seem overwhelming, Swami Satchidananda brings our role right down to its essence in this week’s Weekly Words of Wisdom:

ashram“When you fill your system with vitality, with health and happiness, you become contagious. People will sit with you and feel happy and laugh. Fill yourself up to the brim with your good health and energy and let it overflow. Just by your mere presence, you will bring health to others. You don’t have to talk about Yoga and health to others. If you constantly emit that vibration, that will be the beginning of world health. So, where should it begin? With you. It’s not only that charity begins at home, even health begins at home. Individuals make the world. So before we go and transform the world, let us transform ourselves. Let us reform ourselves. Make yourself healthier and happier and pass it on to others. God bless you. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.” Swami Satchidananda

Any TimeWhat do you desire from others?  Do you want appreciation, recognition, love, kindness, help, opportunity, or understanding?  Swami Satchidananda’s message of beginning health at home is also true for anything that we desire more of from our world.

The surest way to experience gratitude from someone else, is to first become grateful yourself.  If you feel a lack of love and compassion in your life, become more loving and compassionate towards others.  The result of giving that which you desire to receive is momentum.  Your action creates an equal and opposite reaction.

As an experiment, think of something you could receive from others that would make your heart sing.  Focus on whatever that may be, and spend a day giving that to all those you encounter.  For example, if you want more appreciation, recognize and thank the people around you.  You may find that what you once desired is coming back at you in larger ways than you could have thought up.

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consciousness

A Silent Surprise

The following video of Marina Abramović’s performance for her 2010 MoMA retrospective speaks for itself entirely through silence.  The most dramatic part of the video is Marina’s encounter with a former great love from the 70’s whom she used to create art with. What truly captivated me about this video were the shared moments of silent staring contents with strangers.

I find the act of staring into the eyes of another human being in silence to be revolutionary in a world consumed with conversation.  Have you ever stared into someone’s eyes without speaking?  Silence provides the opportunity to experience the reality, the fullness, the beingness of another human.  Two humans staring into each other’s eyes in silence is consciousness gazing into a mirror.

http://youtu.be/OS0Tg0IjCp4

Click here to read more about this story.

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Inspiration

The End Of Worry

By Peter SperoIt is so easy to become consumed with worry about other people.  I find myself worrying about the wellbeing of friends and loved ones, worrying about their habits, the path they are on, how their future will affect my future.  Have you ever experienced these thoughts about the people close to you?

When I have these thoughts of worry they seem incredibly important.  I am operating under the assumption that if I don’t solve that which I am worried about right now through my own thoughts I will end up worse off in the future, things will go terribly wrong.

Yet, the truth of the matter is that everything in life will come and go except for myself.  My being.  No matter what happens to those around me, what choices they make, or how they create their future, I will always be myself right here in this one moment called the now.  There is nothing that can add to or take away from the being that I am.  And my own future is determined by the state of my consciousness right now.

IMG_0671So instead of trying to solve the problems of everyone around me, I return to the only true place of power, the present moment.  When you find yourself trying to solve the problems of those around you, and begin to feel overwhelmed, or even start to dread the future, come back to your immediate experience.  Shrink the world to the small space you are currently occupying, the perceptions that you are taking in through your five senses, and the breath. 

This is real life.  This is what is actually happening.

The worries, while they seem so real and important, are no more than thoughts in the head.  Although they seem irrefutably valid, allow yourself to relinquish them, and come into the present.  All of the solutions you will ever need are contained right here in the present moment.  They will arise as needed.  The present moment carries you through life with ease and grace.  By allowing yourself to come back into the present, you are allowing life to work all situations for your good.  Being present is the true nature of trust.  Learn to trust the now, trust life, and all of your needs will be, and already are, met.

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consciousness

The Mind Magnet

By Peter SperoToday I noticed a constant pull within me to scroll through various things on my phone.  I would put on my makeup, and then check my email.  Get dressed, scroll through Facebook.  Sit down on the bus, surf the web.  The magnetic pull of my phone started feeling very obvious so I decided to put it away and not use it.

Then I was looking out of the bus window and I started thinking about what I had said in a conversation last night.  My mind then jumped to what I was about to do at work.  Back and forth, my thoughts fluctuated between past and future.  I noticed sitting there on the bus that just as the phone had a magnetic pull towards it, so did my mind.  I decided to let go of the past and future thoughts and let myself be in the moment I was living.

A few seconds passed and once again I was reliving an event, and making up scenarios about future events.  I noticed.  I let it go.  I was back on the bus, staring out of the window looking at the rain and a little taco stand in a parking lot.  Even when I had brought myself back into the moment I could feel the pull of my mind on my attention.  It was magnetic.

By Peter SperoDo you ever notice that your mind keeps pulling you in even when you make a conscious choice to be in the present moment?  Do you ever come back into the actual moment you are experiencing and realize you had been wrapped up in thoughts for a long period of time?  Have you ever had the experience of listening to someone, and at the end of the conversation realize you had no idea what they were talking about because you were thinking the whole time?

If you answered yes to any of the previous questions, congratulations!  You are aware of your thoughts!  For many, they never realize they are wrapped up in thinking, because they have been completely taken over by the mind.  The mind is living through them and they have no idea that they are not the voice in their head.  To notice that your mind has a magnetic quality that is constantly pulling you in is the flowering of your consciousness.  You have separated who you are, the one who notices the thoughts, from the thoughts themselves.

While it may seem that there should be a fix for this, a solid solution for the magnetic mind, the solution is already arising if you can notice when you are thinking.  That is your awareness gaining strength.  Each time you recognize you’ve been pulled into thoughts, and out of the present, you have given yourself an opportunity to operate from the only place of true power, the only space where anything actually happens, the present moment.

The more often you gently take away attention from the mind and place it on your surroundings, the easier it will become, and the more the infinite intelligence of consciousness will guide your actions.  In this way the highest potential contained within each present moment has the opportunity to manifest in your life.  Being present now creates a miraculous future.

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Inspiration

The Cure For Monday Malaise

Garfield by Jim DavisHow can we change our reactions to Mondays?  I’m sure there are many who spring out of bed Monday morning, just like any other day, and enjoy themselves.  Yet, the going notion seems to equate Monday with misery.

Do you have any strategies to charge your positive energy at the beginning of the workweek?

For me, one of the main strategies to not dreading the coming of the workweek is to stay very present on Sunday night.  It is so easy to create bad feelings through anticipation, so I bring my attention right down to my current perception of the moment.

It is also easy to create a bad Monday by making up your mind that it is going to be bad.  This is the same momentum in my own life that sometimes prevents me from trying new things.  When I’ve decided in my mind that I’m not going to have a good time, it becomes much more likely that I will create a bad time through my negative perception of the situation.  Letting go of thoughts of the future is another helpful step to curing the Monday blues.

Coffee Love Using Monday to let go of reaction can also change what was once an undesirable situation.  I experience this phenomenon with cold weather all the time.  There is nothing wrong with the temperature starting to drop and feeling that cold wind upon my face.  It is as it is.  What is so unpleasant about the cold is my negative reaction to it. I know many people here in Chicago that love the winter season, and are just fine waiting at the bus stop in 30-degree weather.  

By letting go of my reaction, I can allow the circumstance to be as it is, and even if it isn’t good it is no longer bad by any means.  Letting go of negative reactions to the start of the workweek can transform what was once an unpleasant situation, to a neutral or even enjoyable experience.

For those of us who need a little extra revving up for the start of the week, let’s make a game out of Mondays.  While that day of the week so often gets a bad wrap, lets change “misery Monday” to “miracle Monday!”  Choose something to focus on that would really make your heart sing.  I’m going to look for signs of prosperity.  I don’t know what that will look like, but from the time I wake up to the time I fall asleep on Monday night, I’m going to focus my attention on prosperity and look for it however it may manifest.  You could also have a Monday where you search for things to be grateful for, look for abundance, seek out signs that the universe is supporting you, search for signs of health, focus on finding your passion or calling, or keep your eyes peeled for love and new relationships.  Whatever you choose to manifest for “miracle Monday,” the end result will be an exciting and fruitful first day of the workweek.

Tonight I send out all of my positive energy to you for this coming week.  May you see prosperity, joy, love, and growth!  After all, when it comes to the days of the week, it is you and I who decide the perspective we experience them from.

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