Tag Archives: Peace

consciousness

The Flamingo Metaphor

James's Flamingo

When I turned on my TV today I was greeted by a woman at the zoo with her children, lamenting her newfound realization that flamingos cannot, in fact, fly.  (While I have seen videos of flamingos flying, these particular flamingos couldn’t.  So for the sake of the metaphor let’s just discuss these non-flying flamingos.)  As I appreciated her heartfelt woe, a poem came to me, as follows:

The Flamingo Situation

vain people become flamingos
they come back all pinked up
standing on that skinny leg
spreading their wings
and pointing their noses
as high as their necks will carry them
as they look up and see
their soaring brothers and sisters
they will bend bony knees
and with a great push
stay exactly where they are

In the poem I refer to “vain” people.  But truer than that, is the plight of those completely identified with their physical form and thoughts.  Before some degree of the realization of being, of the body as a vehicle for consciousness to enter the world of form, the physical world can be a terrible burden.  After all, bodies are vulnerable, and inevitably subject to decay.

While matter doesn’t disappear, it always changes form, manifests as something new.  For the one all wrapped up in the fears of the physical world, peace and joy are always just beyond reach.  Fear is always just a bit too weighty.

The flamingos on TV were beautiful.  But what is it like  to be a bird that doesn’t fly?  What is it like to be a human identified with forms and thoughts?  It is to leave the highest manifestation of your being unrealized.  Your highest potential inoperative.  When those flamingos change form, they will soar to previously unimaginable heights.  When humans change their attention from form, to presence, there are no more barriers, only an endless sea of dreams come true.

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consciousness, spirituality

The Pathway to Peace

Yesterday I talked about knowing the truth versus feeling the truth.  I posited that feeling the truth requires surrender, trust, and being present in the moment in order that evidence of the spiritual truth you are attempting to feel within can present itself.

One of the most miraculous tools for feeling peace, trust, joy, balance, energy, bliss, and anything else you desire, is meditation.  Meditation doesn’t seem fun or interesting at first, and that thought can prevent one from trying it.  But once you start to attempt a short meditation each day, a routine like brushing your teeth or taking your vitamins, it becomes easy and enjoyable.  Not only does sitting in meditation become more comfortable after making it a routine, it starts to create visible positive changes in your everyday life.  The practice of living all of the wonderful spiritual principles, that in your mind you know will improve your life exponentially, begins by simply sitting in silence.

Meditation creates space within that is normally occupied with thoughts and emotions.  When you clean out your inner space, the universe has a vessel in which to express its highest potential. Eventually when meditating you can feel this flow of universal energy as love, joy, and boundless peace.  Miracles begin take place within and without.

To begin practicing meditation I highly recommend Deepak Chopra’s “21 Day Meditation Challenge.”  This particular bout of the meditation challenge is a collaboration between Deepak and Oprah entitled “Miraculous Relationships.”  This is a free online program that offers a new 15 minute guided meditation every day for 21 days. Oprah and Deepak offer invaluable guidance throughout each meditation, and the music is beautiful.  Deepak has done several meditation challenges in the past, and each one has completely changed my life in ways I could have never imagined.  Many blessings as you go forth into the practice.  If you have any questions, comments, or experiences you would like to share about this meditation challenge, or other experiences with meditation, please leave a comment.

Here is the link to get started with your new meditation practice:

https://chopracentermeditation.com/home

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consciousness, spirituality, Uncategorized

The Pain Body Practice and The Beginning of Inner Peace

I’m a huge fan of audiobooks. Every morning I listen to an audiobook, interview, sermon, or anything that will inspire me and bring me more fully into the spirit of the present. I am always amazed by how words of inspiration change my inner state from tired and dreary, to awake, energized, and joyful. As I do my makeup I let the positive words sink in. By the time I’m out the door I feel excited for life. This is the polar opposite of the feeling I have when I first wake up in the morning.

Inner peace is a practice. It requires practice in every single moment. This looks different in every moment. I know that when I’m at work it looks different than when I’m at home. At home I can listen to my audiobooks when I get ready for the day. At work I can allow myself to focus fully on each task, keeping my attention on the “doing” instead of the result I am working towards. When I am at home watching TV and a commercial about some deadly illness comes on and I am about to be afraid of it, I have to practice peace by letting go of fear. Each and every now is an opportunity for greater peace. It is totally fine that not all moments seem as peaceful as others, that is all part of the practice.

Yesterday I began talking about the pain body, the residual energy of past pain that lives within each of us. The pain body creates great opportunities for practice. Of course they don’t feel great, but the awareness gained in the moment of disidentification from the pain body can put you light years ahead of your current state of consciousness. Practicing inner peace with a heavy and active pain body can thrust anyone into a spiritual awakening.

When I was just entering high school I had a very active pain body. I can see now how the emotional pain and the thoughts in my head fed each other constantly. This was a blessing because I knew something was wrong. I knew that the pain and anxiety was not okay. I remember telling my mom, as she was driving home from a friend’s house, that there was something wrong with me. I told her that the voice in my head was always coming up with horrible scenarios about the worst things that could possibly happen to me. It would come up with scenarios where everyone I loved died and play through how I would cope and what it would feel like. While that all sounds quite dramatic, it wasn’t until many years later that I realized everyone had a voice in their head that was making up various scenarios, many of which had negative outcomes. The active pain body was so uncomfortable that it woke me up to that voice as a “problem.” Instead of assuming that the mind is just the way it is, I knew it was causing me too much pain to be in its natural state.

Together the pain body and the voice in the head create the ego. They live their lives through you, and until a little spark of disidentification comes in, they are you. They make your decisions, they create your reactions, and they completely obscure the inner peace that is your natural state. The ego will cease to run your life the moment you realize it is not you. That is all that is required. That is where the practice of inner peace begins.

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consciousness, spirituality

What Is The Pain Body?

For the last two weeks I have been driving my Mom’s car, and what a blessing it has been!  I had totally forgotten when I had to give it back, and was just reminded that tomorrow I would be without a car once more.  Although not having a car was normal for me, hearing I wasn’t going to have one anymore provoked some negative feelings.  I felt disappointment and then it slowly dissipated.

What would have happened if I hadn’t let go of those negative emotions and held onto them?  My mind would have started thinking negative thoughts.  The voice in my head would have been talking about all of the reasons it was anxious about not having a car, describing exactly what would be more difficult, and why this was indeed an upsetting situation to be in.  Those thoughts in turn would have given rise to even more negative emotion than I had felt at first.  When emotional pain turns into thinking, the voice in the head is acting on the assumption that being upset will somehow help it get what it wants.

Eventually that pain subsides, and the mind starts thinking about other things and moves on.  What happens to the pain that subsides but is not let go of?  It is still within, and when an emotion akin to itself is provoked at some other time, it takes that opportunity to arise once more and add to the new emotional pain being experienced.  The new negative energy feeds the old negative energy lying dormant within.  And when that past pain is woken up, it takes the opportunity to feed negative thinking, which will make the negative emotions grow.

Eckhart Tolle describes the negative energy field that dwells within us as the “pain body.”  Deeply negative people are often controlled by the pain body.  That is the deep negativity; the heavy pain body.  It is not who that person is.  Awakening to the pain body is freedom.  The cycles of the pain body no longer have to operate.  You don’t have to feel bad every 3 weeks, or have a fight once a month with your partner.  When it wakes up and you know how it operates, it ceases to control your life.  Instead you have the opportunity to observe the pain body, be with the pain without reacting, and dissolve the past pain whenever you choose to express and let go of a negative emotion.

Consequently, when you awaken to your own pain body, it is easy to awaken to the pain body in others.  For me this has helped me to not take negative comments and actions from others as personally.  When I see it is just the pain body, I am able to see through the person’s pain to their true self. Have there been situations in your life where you can see now that a person had been taken over by their pain body?

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