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:

“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

What 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.

Inspiration

The End Of Worry

It 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.

So 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.

consciousness

The Mind Magnet

Today 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.

Do 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.

Inspiration

The Cure For Monday Malaise

How 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.

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.

Inspiration

What does your Halloween costume say about you?

Did you dress up this Halloween? Were you an animal, a popular character, a pun, or a “sexy” something? I saw a huge range of costumes yesterday; both children and adults went all out for Halloween. I then found myself asking the question, why don’t we do this all year?

The answer is: we do. While my sweaters and stretchy pants are not as exciting as a panda bear or Hermione Granger costume, I still wear clothes that are attached to an identity.

On Halloween we all ask each other, “What are you?” On all of the other days of the year we wear costumes that are associated with clear roles and identities, so no one bothers to ask what we are dressing as.

The person in a suit and tie is in the businessperson costume, just as the person wearing a mail carrier outfit is in the mail carrier costume. The difference is, we take our everyday costumes very seriously. Our daily costumes are attached to an identity that we hold firmly in our minds, and which portray to the world what we think we are.

In the end, whether dressed as a lion or an executive, we wear costumes that are attached to an identity in our minds. When we change out of our Halloween costumes into different clothes the next day, we don’t think twice about it. But if a job, status, or title changes we can feel lost, distraught, and diminished.

Even though the roles and identities we wear day to day have been taken very seriously, as our absolute truths, throughout human history, we don’t have to buy into them anymore. After all, when at the end of life we discorporate and lose our human costumes, all of the suffering created by our attachment to identities will dissolve, and life will be seen as one big Halloween party.

What roles do you play in everyday life? What daily costumes give you a sense of identity? Create an experiment out of loosening your grip on these thought-created selves. What you end up discovering beneath them will be more truly yourself and more miraculous than every costume Party City has ever sold.

consciousness

Dark matter, the key to the universe?

“About one-quarter of the cosmos is comprised of dark matter — five times that of the ordinary matter that makes up everything we see. Dark matter is often defined by what it isn’t: something that can be seen and something that is energy.

Scientists are pretty sure dark matter exists, but they are not certain what it is made of or how it interacts with ordinary matter. It is considered vital to all the scientific theories explaining how the universe is expanding and how galaxies move and interact.”
Read more: Search for Dark Matter Comes Up Empty So Far | TIME.com

The idea of “dark matter” makes me smile. What makes up most of the universe, but cannot be seen, and isn’t energy? What is vital to all of our ideas about the universe and how things within the universe interact?

To me that sounds a lot like space, or rather, consciousness: that which can be pointed to by explaining what it is not (things), and that which is the platform in which all things arise.

Space is not a thing. If you go looking for it, you will find no-thing.

The awareness that is looking for this key component to the universe is itself the key component, the space of knowing in which all things can be known.

Even if this sounds silly in comparison to all of the scientific jargon surrounding dark matter, I find that letting my mind be blown away is truly enjoyable. It is in that spirit of enjoyment that I share this video, in which Peter Russell talks about these issues in science, and tries to find words to that which cannot be spoken:

Waiting

Eckhart Tolle Tells A Joke

Today I watched the following video of Eckhart Tolle telling a joke. It is pretty funny, but if you do not want to wait around just skip to 2:49 where Eckhart actually makes the joke:

I had to laugh when I saw this. I realized at the beginning that nothing was actually happening and so skipped forward. I just did not want to wait. The joke is truly amusing because waiting for something to happen is a universal experience. It does not matter how many years you have been meditating, you know what is being referred to when you hear the word “waiting.”

I wait for the bus, I wait in line at stores, I wait for food to cook before I can eat it. There are a million other ways to wait, but it all comes down to that familiar experience of waiting.

Then there are more personal things we each wait for. Those might be waiting to grow up, waiting to make money, waiting for a dream to come to pass, waiting for love, waiting to feel happy, waiting for what we want.

A helpful question to ask is, “What am I waiting for?” The answer may surprise you! Waiting can be habitual and turn up in a myriad of ways. Answering this question also makes it easier to see that the condition of “waiting” is more accurately “psychological waiting.” We wait for things with our thoughts and emotions.

“When this happens, then I can start enjoying my life again,” or, “when I’m finally secure, then I can start working on what I really want to do,” or, “after work is over, then I can relax.”

Like many, I wait for things all the time, but waiting can be a helpful reminder to become present. When you find yourself just waiting for something to happen, (if you use the internet you know what I mean), use it as a reminder to become present and narrow your life down to your immediate experience. Use all of your senses to perceive your surroundings. As if by magic, you are no longer waiting! You are experiencing life.

Inspiration

How To Lose Weight Right Now!

I swear this will feel better than any regimen of protein or cinnamon.

What weighs you down even more than half of a leftover birthday cake? What is worse for your health than a fast-food sandwich containing bacon, cheese, pancakes, and syrup in one? Its energy is just as real and contains consequences like any physical substance we ingest. It’s a grudge.

When I was in high school I found little wrong with holding a grudge. If I thought you “stole” my boyfriend, or talked badly about me to friends, that was enough for me to carry the weight of negative feelings for you. It seemed just at the time. My compassion grew after graduating high school a semester early, and finding that the daily lives of others were not at all like I imagined them to be. It took time, but I slowly realized that just as my inner life was incomprehensible to even my closest friends, so too were the inner lives of all people. I found that even though I could be affected by the choices of others, their choices were made from their point of view, in their world, with that person as the main character of the story, just as I am my own life’s main character.

To drop a grudge doesn’t mean you approve of past actions taken by an individual; it means you allow the past to be as it was, and forgive it for being. To expend energy fighting against that which is already the case is, bluntly put, insane. The past that now exists in the present as a thought in the mind can persist in draining your life energy through your reliving it in the present, or it can be relinquished.

What would change in your life if you let go of a grudge?

What would you receive if you relinquished your non-forgiveness? The reward looks different in each circumstance, but rest assured there is a reward, not to mention the actual of feeling of being lighter. The mind doesn’t know this, because its aim and reward is its own thought-made sense of self, which one grudge can easily keep in place. By letting go, the mind thinks it’s losing. And it is. It’s losing its firm grasp on your attention. It’s losing its stronghold on your sense of self. It’s losing what it thinks is all there is: thoughts. Because of this it has cunning ways of convincing you why you can’t let something go, why it is in your best interest to not forgive. Don’t be fooled, the mind will use its best logic to keep its identity as your sense of self. When it uses convincing logic to maintain its position on the pedestal of your awareness all that is needed is to see it for what it really is. The ego.

The mind-made sense of self pales in comparison to who you truly are. A thought in your head can never come close to the majesty of your being. You are consciousness. You provide the space for thoughts to be created and noticed. And one of the best ways to gently let go of the ego is to let go of a grudge. Who can you forgive today?

spirituality

When The Going Gets Tough

Sometimes the days when you feel the least connected can be the most fruitful. Part of the practice of being present is staying present even when you’re feeling out of sync. There are days when I notice the voice in my head getting frustrated with the smallest things. When I experience a day where a stranger sitting too close to me on the bus gets to me, I find it is a good opportunity to explore where the negative energy is coming from.

Occasionally the thoughts in my head give rise to negative emotions. But more often than not, I first experience a low-level of unhappiness or discomfort emotionally that ends up giving rise to negative thinking. Watching yourself, when you are reactive or irritated, builds the power of your presence even more powerfully than when you are watching yourself have a positive experience. Spiritual growth happens in these uncomfortable moments.

The mind will often try to solve discomfort and in turn create more discord. Noticing this as it happens is a crash course in awareness. The strength of your own presence creates powerful roots of awareness during seasons of discontent. This means that no matter what outer and inner circumstances you witness throughout your life, you will have the anchor of your own presence guiding you and working all situations for your good. This doesn’t make negative energy any more comfortable, but it gives it meaning through the valuable lessons gleaned from it.

Eckhart Tolle provides an amazing free online resource for spiritual awakening and learning about presence. You can sign up for this free online “UnCourse,” as he calls it, here: https://www.eckharttolle.com/uncourse/register/. Whether you are experiencing times of joy, or discord, the opportunity for a more awakened consciousness is always readily available.

Ego

9 Unconscious Ways The Ego Takes Over Your Life

The ego needs a lot of things. Without wanting, the mind made self loses steam, and your true self beyond the voice in your head begins to emerge. Finding out the nature of your true self beyond what your thoughts are attached to is one of the greatest adventures of being a human. But how can this actually be done?

To the mind, it appears that there is nothing beyond itself, because it only recognizes things. Space is incomprehensible to a thought whose meaning is always attached to some-thing. Yet, space is our home. We are consciousness, that which is aware and watching. We are the space in which all things arise. When you balance your life with space you have access to the power that created the universe.

In Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth he offers pointers to help create more inner space, and diminish the egoic mind. One of these pointers is to become aware of patterns that operate in your life which attempt to inflate or repair the egoic sense of self. The list of these patterns literally makes me laugh out loud, because I have seen each one operate in my life at one time or another. Experimenting with letting go of these patterns whenever you become aware of them can at first feel uncomfortable, but then give rise to a powerful feeling of spaciousness and peace. The true self then has room to emerge. I hope reading these “ways in which people unconsciously try to emphasize their form-identity,” as Tolle puts it, is as amusing and enlightening to you as it was to me:

Demanding recognition for something you did and getting angry or upset if you don’t get it

Trying to get attention by talking about your problems, the story of your illnesses, or making a scene

Giving your opinion when nobody has asked for it and it makes no difference to the situation

Being more concerned with how the other person sees you than with the other person, which is to say, using other people for egoic reflection or as ego enhancers

Trying to make an impression on others through possessions, knowledge, good looks, status, physical strength, and so on

Bringing about temporary ego inflation through angry reaction against something to someone

Taking things personally, feeling offended

Making yourself right and others wrong through futile mental or verbal complaining

Wanting to be seen, or to appear important (Tolle)

Let Yourself Learn

SHOWING UP TO THE SCHOOL OF LIFE ONE NOW AT A TIME

Tag Archives: Thoughts

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

The End Of Worry

The Mind Magnet

The Cure For Monday Malaise

What does your Halloween costume say about you?

Dark matter, the key to the universe?

Eckhart Tolle Tells A Joke

How To Lose Weight Right Now!

When The Going Gets Tough

9 Unconscious Ways The Ego Takes Over Your Life