Media Coverage That Would Matter

Thank God this Lebron thing is over.  I am a basketball fan but this has been a media circus of little value.  Wow the media sure knows how to pump up things about sports and entertainment.  It is equally good at staying away from what matters like peaceful people, the compassionate actions of others, the awakening of consciousness, ways to well-being for all and other important issues.

Will you imagine with me media coverage that mattered.  What would it be like if the peaceful and caring acts of people got this kind of media coverage so we all can be uplifted by seeing someone who really makes a difference: 

Imagine a well promoted ongoing series about people who make the world a better place through compassionate action. 

Imagine making heroes out of ordinary people doing truly extraordinary acts of caring and kindness. 

Imagine stories about people expanding their awareness and consciousness in ways that uplift us all and their stories get shown as important news that matters.  

Imagine if the healing techniques and practices for optimal health were made available to everyone on the planet through daily programming.

Imagine a world were the people who really cared about each other were highlighted and given great respect worldwide.

Imagine a monthly special about people who where exceptionally good at giving in their communities.

Imagine stories about people who worked to correct the wrongs in the world in a way that showed a big heart and the inspiration of their higher nature.

Imagine there could be the Lebron of social activism, of water preservation, of planetary protection, of fair wealth redistribution, of healthcare for all and many other causes.

Imagine people sharing their stories about profound spiritual experiences free of any religious dogma.

Are we ready for this positive people and positive results kind of media?  Is there enough drama in hearing about the good in people, about the power of the human heart, about what we humans are capable of realizing?  Of course there is because all of us can be touched in the heart and uplifted in spirit.

Have a good weekend and don’t forget to enjoy the blessing of each moment. 



Survival Of The Kindness

Recently I came upon a very interesting article about a very different point of view than has dominated Western thinking for too long. There is now research,challenging long-held beliefs that human beings are wired to be selfish.  In a wide range of studies, social scientists are amassing a growing body of evidence to show we are evolving to become more compassionate and collaborative in our quest to survive and thrive.”

As a counseling professional this research proves what seems obvious to me but not so obvious to those who seek power and control for the purposes of greed, influence, and political advantage.  Of course kindness and compassion are much more powerful for: enhancing relationships, community building, peace making, growing connections with our fellow global citizens, and for making a positive difference in the world.

The old idea of survival of the fittest is about power and rationalizing the need for control.  This method, of winning at all cost, is made ok by those that consider being the fittest (ego-mind at work) as their biological imperative.  This idea is the driving force behind free market capitalism which steamrolls over the masses.  It is the misperception that makes winning the only winners.  This false idea of only the fit survive drives the gun fanatics who live in the fear of their own thoughts.  The huge build up of bombs and the blindness of nationalism are also products of the need to dominate.  Even churches who proclaim they are the only path to God are driven by the ego’s determination to survive through power and numbers.  

Isn’t it time we left behind this old and limited point of view that only the fittest survive?   Wouldn’t the world be such a better place if kindness and compassion were our guiding forces? 

Look around you and see where cooperation and understanding would work better than competition.  Image a world were we worked together to solve our problems instead of taking our point of view and shouting it at others.  Let’s image that the people in our government actually cooperated with each other for the good of the people more than the good of those seeking power and profits. 

If the survival of the fittest remains as a dominating influence humanity will very likely end up destroying itself.  If kindness prevails things will change for the better in so many ways.  It seems the most important question for humanity and a healthy planet is how do we best grow the forces of kindness and compassion?



Finding Harmony With Yourself

As have been stated here in the past, the biggest distractions to the life we want are most often within ourselves.  That doesn’t mean there is innately something about us that gets in the way.  We in our essence are so much more than the limits that we have acquired through the endless, well meaning but limiting suggestions we receive growing up human. 

Any disharmony that resides within us is primarily made up of mixed up thoughts and beliefs, wounded moments of the heart and the body scars of a life full of push and pride.   There are often many disruptions caused by failed hopes and the disappointments of expectations.  Yet none of these really have to matter if we sort them out and head off in a healthier direction.

The following are steps to finding harmony with you:

Use the idea about slowing down by sitting suggested in yesterday’s blog post.

Develop impartiality so you can watch yourself free of the harshly judging mind.

Acquire the skills of mindfulness in daily living and so much will go easier.

Open to the kindness of compassion for self, you deserve the caring of your own heart.

Living in the jewel of moment with the past left behind and the future just a good plan away.

Find where the flow of life is for you and enter into it with the effortless of the downstream.

Listen carefully to and always follow the guidance of your intuition so your experiences can be rich with meaning and filled with happiness.

Look for ways to build healthy relationships with all those that matter to you.

Take good care of your body, quiet your mind and keep open in the heart for your well-being.

Turn your mind into motivating, encouraging and inspiring tool that creates endless positive results.

Find the way to your quiet and wise center, from there you can move with balance and strength.

Look up and around you and appreciate the beauty of your fellow humans, their creations and the wonders of the natural world. 

Each day deepen your relationship with your spirit this connection will make your life soar.

Each of one of these steps have the capacity to transform your life.  Choice at least one to explore for the next few months and by the end of the summer your view of your life and the world will be bright with possibilities.



Sitting To Expand Your Light

In Zen, meditation is often referred to as “sitting.”   Sitting is a simple practice that doesn’t have to do with Zen or any other Eastern form of meditation.  You can sit in a mall, at your desk, in your home, at the airport, or while driving or commuting.  Sitting as a practice means slowing down and becoming present.  Sitting is a simple form of mindfulness.  This is a way of being in the world that can totally enrich your experience of life. 

Let’s look at what makes up a sitting practice:

  • Finding a place to sit down and slow down.  It doesn’t have to in a quiet place, or away from where things are going on. 
  • Set the intention to become present to yourself.  Just setting the intention changes the moment and opens you to a deeper experience.
  • A specific practice that is easy to learn is to follow the in-breath and the out-breath and let the hurry be replaced by watching the flow of the breath.  This allows you to step aside for a few minutes from the busy doing.
  • As you find yourself slowing down take in the circumstances around you without attachment.  Notice the beauty, the energy, and what you find yourself appreciating in the now
  • Be in your body and feel the flow of aliveness and emotions, notice the collage of sensations.  Being in your body allows you to nourish your well-being.
  • Bring your attention to your mind and notice the non-stop river of thoughts. As a reminder, tell yourself that your thoughts are not real just a collection of words you give meaning to. 

After a while you will sense that you are in a more expanded state, located in the moment, aware of your higher nature, and feeling lighter and more alive.  At that moment of noticing you can choose to remain in this altered state longer or get up and enter back into the chaos of modern living.

This sitting practice over time will completely alter your experience of living.  Each time you sit you expand your awareness, your consciousness, your compassion, and your healthy being; each time you return to the world you do so with more light.      



Fireworks Fizzle When You Limit You

Today I am off work because of the holiday yesterday.  Fireworks were kind of a bust last night since nature had it’s own fireworks going on as the lightening, thunder and rain filled the sky.  The temperature dropped 20 degrees in the last few hours before the scheduled pyrotechnics.  It was a good evening to spend inside and relax.  Life throws curves at you and I and how we handle those curves defines the quality of our human experience.

What curves have you been thrown lately? 

Where have things gotten off track for you?

What disappoints have you experienced recently?

How has your thoughts shaped your experiences when things are not working well?

How much has your ego determined your reactions to your challenges?

Where have you judged yourself harshly and does that really help you be a better person?

What old ways keep popping up and limiting you going forward in a successful way?

Are you too often run by the struggle of your own mind and emotions?

Where is anger restricting happiness in your life?

What from your past limits you today?

What keeps you from being more present in your life?

What is the more disruptive force within you?

Where are you blocked from learning what you need to learn?

What habits and behaviors are getting in your way?

What limiting beliefs are stopping your forward movement?

How do you limit your connection to others?

Where are you choosing to remain unaware of something about yourself that is a block to having the life you want?

What fears are closing you down?

Where is your heart blocked?

What actions do you need to take that you are stopping yourself from doing?

What kind of planning works for you to move toward greater success?

As you look at these questions and search for the answers that fit for you would you try this experiment?  As go through each question and write down your answers please do so with a sense of compassion and kindness toward self.  Put aside any self-judgment also known as the inner critic.  Then with the desire to be a more aware and conscious human being, seek to understand and free yourself from any limiting ways that you have acquired over a lifetime of living. 

These limiting ways are not good nor bad they are just learned thoughts patterns that can be changed immediately with the light of insight. 

Turn the light on of your intuition, your loving heart, your body knowing, and your spirit and remove with kindness any self imposed limitations.  Patiently one by one you can lift the load of the old ways and lighten up the present moment to all that is possible within you.  This is a journey well worth taking. 



Happy 4th of July, Let Your Thoughts Create Your Freedom

The 4th Of July is a holiday that for me has a deeper meaning beyond the nationalistic one of the freedom to become our own nation.  At a personal level the freedom to become who we are is a wonderful gift. Too often we allow inner barriers and outer challenges to hold back our freedom.  Real freedom begins inside. 

Here are some barriers and challenges that are worth a look at to see if they need to be removed to open you to a richer experience of freedom:

  • Do you set unrealistic expectations for yourself and those in your life?  Unrealistic expectations are traps that confine you and others and stop the flow in the present.  Expectations are about wanting control over things and people, which is totally unrealistic.  Example: You expect your partner to guess what you are feeling and than act appropriately. That is a set up for disappointment and reduces personal and relationship freedom.
  • Are you run by the beliefs and ideas of others?  Past conditioning plays such a huge part in how we see the world.  The messages of how you should live and view the world start as an infant and never stop.  These messages are often inaccurate and untrue but you live by them.  Example: I went to 12 years of Catholic Schools and learned that I am not ok, don’t deserve and have bad thoughts.  None of this is true but I have had to spend many years redoing this programming.
  • Do you have lots of self-doubt or do you fully believe in yourself?  Our society, families, schools, etc. teach us self-doubt from early on and that programming can be difficult to offset.  Self-doubt says that you don’t deserve the freedom you want.  This is not true.  Example: You have a job that you don’t like and have been there way too long but you doubt you can have a better life.  This is your self-doubt keeping you from creating the life you want.
  • Are you too concerned about the approval of others?  It seems this is chronic programming in most of us.  What others think of you doesn’t matter as far as living a good life.  If you are a good person who does your best then the opinion of others is just in their minds and has no need to affect you.  Freedom is walking into a room and not needing everyone to approval of you because you approval of yourself.  Example: You don’t go places because you don’t think you look ok, or have the right body.  This holding yourself back because of the need to others approval is not necessary.
  • Are you stuck in the past or trying too hard to get to the future?  There is no freedom in living in the past and no freedom in living in the future because neither is ever possible.  There is only the now.  If you are not comfortable in the now then you must change your now by changing your thoughts.  The now is rich with opportunities for joy, love, connection, consciousness, compassion, success and freedom.  Example: Someday you think you will have enough money to feel ok.  That seeking stops you from appreciating what you have now.
  • Do you blame others and circumstance for things not being ok in your life?  Blame creates only more things to blame.  The opposite is taking charge of your life and realizing you are the creator of your own experience.  This realizations will bring great freedom.  Example:  I get caught up in blaming our elected officials because it seems we are in a mess.  This is a traditional blaming that is difficult to move past.  The government is a reflection of us and if it is a mess you and I need to find ways to affect positive changes.  Freedom comes from the awareness that we can make a difference.

 

If you take the time to look at these barriers to freedom you can see that they are all about our thoughts.  Mindfulness is a powerful practice to set your thoughts in the direction of personal freedom. 



In Times Of Change, Let Your Light Shine

We are now into July 2010 and life just keeps on changing.  Today is the beginning of four days off for me.  I actually would prefer the whole summer off but have not figured how to do that yet.  Yesterday was my first day of being in charge at work since my boss left the day before.

Off course it wasn’t long before some issues came up that left me not sure what to do.  The first was after a break in our 8a.m. meeting (my first running of the all-staff meeting) when one of the workers felt he was being attacked by a co-worker.  Later another wanted to talk to me in private about a special consideration she wanted now that I was in charge (really now that my boss was gone).

Then someone from a treatment program wanted the county I work for to pay for treatment for one of our clients who is seeking treatment in another county.  The someone wanted me to certify their client as unfit due to his alcoholism so they can get him into alternative housing, and several issues I had never come upon before and would not have today if my boss was still here.  My boss was a great guy, so I will miss him a lot in more ways than I yet know.

The point of this is that life just keeps on changing.  I was asking the universe for some new challenges so I got a boatload on my first day.  Challenges equal growth to me because when you and I are force out of our comfort zone into new experiences we have to grow to meet the new needs.  Learning to me has always been an important part of my life.  If I am learning, I am feeling positive about my life. 

My boss’s life had changed.  My life has changed.  The other people at this job will be changed by this.  And if we have the goal to learn and grow from this we will all be better off.   Moving into new experiences is almost always enriching even when we may at first resist it.  There is no use resisting change because it like to trying to push a stream in the opposite direction.  This push against changes usually never works because all things change and are transformed by time. 

These times invite us to flow, to learn, to grow, to be more conscious, to have an open mind, to be compassionate towards ourselves and those in our lives, and to be more of what is possible within us.  Are you up to the task?  Of course you are because you were born to live in this time of change and to express your unique gifts for the benefit of humanity.  Let your light and love shine and the world will be a better place.



Please Consider Making Your Life About Peace

I started this blog wanting to promote peace both internally and across the planet.  It seems to me that peace is possible if we raise our consciousness and expand our compassion.  The following thought provoking quote by President Eisenhower is just the kind of consciousness we need to end war.  Please read and contemplate these ideas and join me in working for peace as if the world depends on us.  It does.

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. This is, I repeat, the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking. This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron. […] Is there no other way the world may live?”

Dwight David Eisenhower, “The Chance for Peace,” speech given to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Apr. 16, 1953. 

I found this over at Buzzflash.com a great resource for questioning what is going on in our world. Here are some questions I see as important to ask:

  • When will we see the true cost of war to all in this nation? 
  • When will our leaders go beyond the ego’s need for power and control? 
  • When will compassion for all humanity win and end the insanity of war?
  • When will we be awake enough as a nation to see beyond the emptiness of fear and instead choose peace?
  • When will we grow wise enough to see that building for war can only lead to war?
  • When will education, health, and well-being of all of us matter more than the words of the heartless who call for war?

The Iraq War never needed to happen but for the ego’s of those who started it here in our country.  The Afghanistan war is an impossible war to win and yet we poor billions into it at great cost to our economy and to the future of this nation.  Is this ok with you?

When will the insanity end?  Please take a look in the mirror, the person you are hoping will end the madness of war is the one looking back at you. 



Compassionate Listening Is An Act Of The Highest Love.

Just had a friend of my wife’s over for dinner because she called and was having a bad day.  She needed some support.  It is amazing how much a supportive conversation around a meal can help sort out difficult times.  Having people we can count on for support and encouragement is an incredible blessing.  She left feeling much better and so did we because we were able to give. 

Where do you get support when you need it?  Who can you count on when you are having a bad day?  Do you have people in your life who can be there for you in a non-judgmental and encouraging way? 

Some people are always willing to give advice, this is not the kind of support that most of us need.  Advice giving is a poor substitute for listening compassionately to someone in need.  Listening with compassion means as a listener we drop our own agenda and listen with an intention to understand what the feeling, thoughts and concerns are of the person talking.  Compassionate listening is about them and what they need and not about us.  In giving this way we are uplifted.

Supporting and encouraging another always feels good inside because at some level we know this is the right way to interact.  Our heart tells us that kindness and caring for another is such a positive thing to do for them as well as for us.  

The law of karma/ the golden rule is so clearly in evidence when we act with compassion towards others.  When we give to another person we immediately enrich our own experience of life.  What we put out in the way of giving often comes back to us in the next moment.  Actions from the heart usually produces uplifting feelings inside.

When our life is going through a rough spot, focus on spreading kindness, caring and compassion and see how it changes our experience.  The giving of love produces a return of love. 

Today look around and see where we can spread some love and we will feel better for it.

More On Questioning And Observing Your Thoughts

"Each thought, each action in the sunlight of awareness becomes sacred. In this light, no boundaries exist between the sacred and the profane."  Thich Nhat Hahn from his wonderful book on mindfulness called Peace Is Every Step

I came upon this quote after posting my blog yesterday and my first thought "oh no!" this flies in the face of yesterday's post. In truth in the light of awareness everything becomes sacred.  So each thought we have if watched in the present (the only place it can be observed objectively) can bring us into a deeper knowing. This knowing takes place in the higher mind because that is where the light inside resides.  

How do you know if your higher mind is where your thoughts are coming from or if they are coming from your ego mind?  Here are some indicators:

 

Ego-Mind

You need to be right

You feel the desire to be in control

Your are filled with judgment towards self and others

You are closed to those who think differently

You are sure another is wrong and you are right

You are concerned about looking good (Not just in looks)

You feel the need to have the approval of others

You want to win no matter what

You like showing others they were wrong

You see yourself rationalizing behaviors you know are unacceptable

You lack compassion for the suffering of others

Your mind is focused on blaming and complaining

Your mind is filled with fear, anger and distrust

You put more belief is the rational mind than in your heart and intuition

You actually believe all your thoughts as if they are real

 

Higher Mind

You are open to differing points of view

You feel compassion and caring for all beings

You realize your work is to serve others

You have developed humility

You find yourself accepting of others and their differences

You seek awareness and value lifelong growth

You don't feel the need to judge others

You living in accordance to your higher values

You have the ability to find peace within

You realize that happiness comes from inside

You seek to make contact with your spiritual nature

You respect your body and take care of it

You embrace your emotions as valuable feedback

You are able to relax the mind and listen inward

You trust your intuition and are guided by it

You know life is always about further growth and awareness

You seek to become more conscious

You understand that your thoughts are not real and should be questions

You allow the joy of who you are to come out fully into your life

You welcome the light by living in the moment

I hope you find these examples helpful.  Now continue the experiment of either questioning all of thoughts or impartially observe them in the light of awareness.  The more you are mindful of what is going on inside the more you will effect the outside world.



For An Experiment: Stop Believing Your Thoughts

Neither your thoughts nor mine are to be trusted if they come from the ego-mind.

Why not trust them?

  • Much of your thoughts/self-talk is made up of old limiting suggestions you received as a child.  Sure well meaning (and mean) parents, teachers, peers etc gave you these ideas and often they were not true yet they still run your life today.
  • Your mind can rationalize just about anything so it needs to be questioned.  It can rationalize absurd ideas like going to war, the death penalty, having a drink when you’re an alcoholic, and the idea of someone sitting on a throne up in heaven, and so much more.
  • Your thoughts are made up of words not reality.  Words only have the meaning you give them.  Let’s use chocolate as an example.  Chocolate has gone from being bad for you to good for you.  Same chocolate but beliefs have changed.  All thoughts need to be seen beyond the words.  Underneath every thought there should be a question about is this real or not.
  • People with strong beliefs systems actually think they are right and others are wrong.  Beliefs are just thoughts people think over and over again.  Is God a member of only one religion as many religions claim?  Would he actually help your sports team win over another?  The answers are obvious no.  All beliefs must be questioned.
  • If you follow politics you may have noticed that there is very little difference between political parties since both Democrats and Republicans are hugely influenced by money interests.  The media plays up the supposed party differences and plays down the group think of politicians who all seem to be owned by corporate interests.  Many people actually think one party is better than the other, a closer look might inform you that there is little difference once they get into power.  Thoughts are just thoughts and not more real than other thoughts. Liberal and conservative are just words that have become very charged but underneath there is little difference in actions they take in Washington D.C. 
  • There are many more examples of the mind wandering about with thoughts that are not real. Thoughts of not deserving, thoughts of self-doubt, thoughts of specialness or not, thoughts of good and bad, thoughts of needing the approval of others, thoughts of expectations of others, thoughts of judging self and others, thoughts from the inner critic, and on and on.

Question, question, question every thought all the time.

Can thoughts ever be trusted?  Yes there is a higher knowing within us that goes beyond the yakity-yak of the ego-mind.  This higher knowing can be found in the quiet of the moment and nowhere else.   Meditation and mindfulness are recognized practices worldwide that nurture a more expanded consciousness and a higher knowing.  There are people out there through their writings and presentations who are spreading a higher consciousness.  You can tell who they are because when you sit and listen with an open mind and heart, you can feel the truth of their ideas.

The best way to treat you mind is to observe it objectively and note what thoughts and feelings feel right and uplift you and what thoughts and feelings make you feel uneasy and contracted.

Move towards ideas that expand you and away from ones that cause you to closed down in some way and keep questioning your way to a deeper truth.

Great Spirit Resides In You And I

It’s Sunday and it can be a day for thoughts about Spirit.  The Great Spirit is within all of us.  Yes that means you too.  In all cultures there are a variety of religious beliefs.  These beliefs vary in many ways but they all invite us to think of or make contact with a Greater Source than you and I.  Thank God we are not the force that holds together the universe because that would be too much for us.  This Divine Force is not sitting on a thrown somewhere up in the sky because it is not in human form nor does it want to be worshipped, that is a human idea driven by the ego. 

Take the time to go looking beyond the limiting beliefs of religion and find your own way to the Creative Source of the universe.  You know better than any preacher/teacher what this Source is for you.  Religion is more about structure and beliefs systems then about the divine reality of your own true nature.  Quiet contemplation in nature, in a room in your home, even in an empty church is where you will discover and deepen your relationship with the God of your discovery. 

Please commit to taking time each day to connect with your more expanded nature, feel the joy of the infinite within you, expand your heart and open your mind to how amazing you are.  You are amazing in so many ways because your true nature is Divine.  Between Sundays try this experiment, image each day that you open more fully to the Divine Source within.  See in your mind’s eye this holy relationship expanding so that you are filled with peace, love, light and the energy of healing.  Let this healing light and love fill you and fill all those you come in contact with.  Soon you will be a messenger of light and healing for the Divine.  

When enough of us realize and express our higher nature, this light will transform the planet and all humanity.  This Light within you and I is needed today for the good of all of the Earth.



Expanded Capacities – Part 15 Ten Pathways To Personal Freedom

“Breathing in, I calm my body.

Breathing out, I smile.”    Thich Nhat Hahn

This simple practice by Thich Nhat Hahn has been a great inspiration to many who have had this pious Vietnamese monk as a teacher.  I have been so blessed to learn from him both in a retreat and form his many wonderful books.

Personal Freedom is an inside job.  You and I have an infinite capacity to shape our lives and to create true freedom for ourselves.  This is process toward freedom is totally doable and realistic but will take some time, patience, and attention.  As a student of life for close to forty years now, I have studied the ideas and practices that are the most transformative and want to share them with you now.  If this blog is regular stopping place for you, many of these ideas will be familiar but hopefully a new light of insight will be turned on. 

Here are the 10 Pathways to Personal Freedom:

  1. Personal Freedom begins in the now.  If you truly want to be free it can only happen by you living in the present moment.  Yes this moment and then the next moment.  The past no longer matters and the future never arrives because there is only the now.  Mindfulness is a wonderful practice to assist you n being fully present to your life.  Explore mindful practices that work for you.  There are many to choose form like finding a teacher in your community or checking out many internet based resources like the Sounds True link here at my blog.
  2. Argue for your limitations and they are yours.” This is from the wonderful little novel Illusions by Richard Bach.  Most of what holds you (and I) back is your ideas, beliefs, early childhood conditioning, etc.  These ideas are only powerful because you keep playing them over and over in your own thoughts and self-talk.  Take charge of the programming upstairs and you will create incredible freedom for yourself and those around you.  You are infinite in your capacities so quit arguing this isn’t true.
  3. While your mind is part of the discussion, let’s talk about keeping the mind open.  A closed mind is a huge waste of human potential.  An open mind has the capacity to keep learning and expanding for your entire life.  With growth comes the added capacity of realizing your higher mind.  This mind is divine because it is greater than the limited mind of ego and personality.  The higher mind is made up of ever expanding consciousness, intuition, insight, compassion and wisdom.  Activate this mind by simply quieting down and making contact with it.  This higher mind will set you free in ways that you may not have ever dreamed possible.
  4. The body you have been given is an amazing life force that can be an Olympic athlete, do dance performances, ride a skateboard high into the air, move like an animal, be a wonderful source of pleasure, sit quietly in mediation and so much more.  Your built in immune system can fight off an endless assault of disease.  The body is your center of sensation so it is what makes you feel alive.  The wisdom of the body when listened to will guide you to a better life.  A well cared for body will make your life full of energy and aliveness and liberate you to be free to do whatever you chose.
  5. Let’s get to the heart of the matter.  Most of the world’s wisdom traditions say you are here in this life to learn about love.  This learning about love is essential to freedom because you are not free unless your heart is open.  Love comes in many forms for you to explore and express.  You can have compassion for self and others, you can perform random acts of kindness, you can be caring to those you love and those in need, you can love everyone you meet and so much more.  There is no limit to how much love you have inside and how much you can share.  Real freedom is loving with an open heart.
  6. Find your way to inner peace because it is essential to liberating you life from the tyranny of your own thoughts.  Your (and the rest of us) ego-mind is a thought-making machine that is always on full speed ahead.  If you let it, your self-talk will drive you batty.  Inner peace is a key ingredient for freedom.  The way of peacefulness inside is through taking quiet time for contemplation each day.  You can find this quiet time when you first wake up, in the commute to work, a walk at lunch, even a run/bike before dinner, a mindful dinner, a quiet evening, and before you fall off to sleep.  This place of quiet wisdom inside can bring you great peace and great possibilities in your life.
  7. Another important life experience to find inside of you is happiness.  Happiness is not outside of you even though most advertisers would have you believe that is so.  Happiness comes from being with yourself fully in appreciation of who you are, what you have to offer, and your sense of the infinite potential in you waiting to be realized.  In the stillness of you is a greatness longing to be expressed.  Living a life of self-care, having and open heart, creatively expressing yourself, and do what has meaning for you will bring you endless happiness and free you up to enjoy every aspect of life.
  8. Live with passion and purpose if you want to feel free.  Passion is doing things with lots of love and energy.  Purpose is living a life that matters to you and making a difference in the world.  You and only you can do you with passion and purpose.  If you decide to coast the rest of us lose out.  You can do things with passion and light up the room wherever you go.  You can do things with purpose and leave the world a better place.  If you want to know about your passion and purpose that quiet place inside talked about above is just the place to hang out.  In the stillness is an intuitive knowing that can always lead you to your passion and your purpose.  Living with the two p’s always feels like freedom.
  9. Find your place of well-being, your center, you balance point.  You are not like anyone else so drop the comparisons and the unrealistic expectations and instead find your center.  Your center is a place in your body, a place in your mind, a place in your heart and is your higher nature.  Being centered means all parts (body, mind etc.) are aligned to your present moment.  You can’t live anyone else’s present.  Your well-being and freedom needs you to be who you are in your own unique expression.  Living in balance and centered in what is right for you gives you the freedom to be more present to others because you come from strength.
  10. Lastly but most important is your relationship with your spirit, your life force, your Higher Self, your sense of the Great Spirit.  You are a spiritual being having a human experience.  The ego and personality want to argue that you are human who once in awhile goes to church, says a prayer or sits quietly.  This idea of being human is totally limiting to your freedom.  Your nature is infinite, yes the body will not last forever but you will.  If you live as if you are here to love, be more conscious, have more compassion, be kind, and be a light wherever you go then you will soar in freedom in every way.

 

Let me know what pathways you are exploring and share any light you have for us.



The River Of Feelings

Friday is my favorite work day because the weekend is just hours away and it seems in general a more relaxed day.  This Friday I need to catch up on some stuff as the month ends.  The 4th is not the far away.  Why does it seem that the summer goes by so fast?

We are rivers of feelings and most of the time we may be mostly unaware of all that is going on inside.  Instead of noticing how alive we are emotionally, we often are bogged down in old thoughts that bang around in our head sometimes for years.  The flow of feelings in us is always new because feelings can only be felt in the present moment.  Everything in the present moment is fresh and alive.

Imagine what it would be like if we could sit along the banks of the flowing emotions and just watch what is going on inside.  We can through the practice of mindfulness.  Mindfulness is not just watching our thoughts.  It is also being aware of our feelings.  Our feelings are a feedback system that gives us moment-to- moment information about how we are doing.  This instant information offers guidance to us about what we are doing that is working and what we are doing that is not ok.   On course thoughts and actions make us feel energized and confident.  Off course thoughts and actions fill us with discomfort and doubt. 

Mindfulness allows us to watch objectively what is going on inside and not get swept down the stream of highly charged emotions.  As we watch we transform what we feel because in the process of watching we find out that nothing stays the same.  In one moment we may feel frustrated with oneself or another, then in the next moment anger arises because we don’t like being in this familiar place then, next comes curiosity because we see something about ourself, and in another moment or two there in a flash of awareness we may make us feel uplifted by our insight.   This stream of feelings do represent who we are in the moment but there is no reason to get attached because they are always changing.  

Feelings are a gift of being present and the more we feel what we feel the more we can experience genuine aliveness.  There are no good or bad feelings, there is just aliveness that we flow with or get caught up in by not being mindful.  Let the flow go and enjoy being alive. 



What Can We do About The Gulf - Choices For A Planet In Need

It was a beautiful summer day here in Boulder, Colorado on Wednesday.  It was also Bike To Work Day and I had a thought that I like doing this so why not do it more often?  The answer that comes up immediately is that having my car is more convenient.  It makes my commute to work and back about 30 minutes more if I ride my bike.   It seems my dependence on oil is for my convenience.  Does that sound familiar?  Am I willing to commit to less oil dependence, less polluting by driving less?  The rationalizing mind is a helpful companion for continuing to do what is convenient.  As I said in my post yesterday, real change takes courage. 

Today I actually need my car because I am driving between two offices in different cities but Friday I could ride easily?  I keep thinking of the oil spill and how our thirst for oil in this country causes us to compromise our values so we can have all the fuel we want.  In many places people are taken advantage of so we can have low cost gas.  When we drive we pollute our precious air and lately very clearly we pollute our precious water.  I think of all the creatures in the Gulf who have had their home filled with contaminants.  It would be like turning our car on inside our house and we have to live with that smell and the harmful air.  Not a pleasant image is it?

That is the kind of dilemma we all face in many aspects of our life.  Are we willing to live by our highest values if it makes us too odd in the opinion of the people in our life?  Are we willing to pay more for products that are less toxic to our environment?  Are we willing to pay more for products that do not take advantage of workers?  Are we willing to live more simply and have less things?  Are we willing to say no to the endless ads and sales trying to get us to buy more and better stuff? Are we willing to take shorter showers?  Are we willing to reduce our waste? Are we willing to live a less car dependant life?  Are we willing to buy local and go with less variety in the marketplace?  There are many questions to ask ourselves if we truly want to be a better global citizen. 

Please consider with me our choices and their impact on the environment.  Also be aware that it always takes a while for an idea we choose to implement to be integrated into our life.  The other thing to keep in mind is that these choices are not worth getting upset over, we can do our best and remember to have fun because life is too short to waste it being too serious.    

 



Real Change Is Only For The Courageous

Do you have the courage to change?  The reason I ask this question is because change can be the biggest challenge in our life.  When facing change many back down and settle for what is or attempt a kind of superficial adjustment.  Real change means shifting from the familiar towards a new way of being.

Are any of these waiting to be changed in you:

  • Looking at how you limit yourself with your own thoughts
  • Noticing how you block your possibility for success by holding onto old beliefs
  • Seeing old patterns that don't work and continuing them 
  • Feeling the fears that limit you and not moving past these fears
  • Continuing relationships that are not nurturing and sometimes in fact hurtful to you
  • Remaining in a job in which you are burnt out and need to change
  • Stopped growing because you lack interest in new ideas and new ways of being in the world
  • Ignoring the low energy you feel about life
  • Trying to make things ok in your mind when they are not
  • Rationalize what doesn't feel ok inside, saying your feeling don't matter
  • Being too afraid to tell someone how much you care about them
  • Not leaving the past behind when it is destructive to your present life
  • Giving others power over your life because it is easier that battling them
  • Not saying no to things that are not working for you
  • Not saying yes to new adventures and new friendships
  • Closing your minds to new ideas
  • Living a life filled with blaming and complaining
  • Having a closed heart for any reason
  • Being unwilling to take necessary action because of self-doubt

What would you add to this list? 

Most of us can identify with bouts of self-doubt and getting stuck at times.  We are all imperfect and many of us have real areas where growth would be highly beneficial. 

How does deep and meaningful change really happen?  Here are 5 powerful ways that you can make change happen at a level that will leave you profoundly different.

1.  Get clear about what isn't working for you.  If you can't see your issues, ask those around you for feedback.  We have blind spots and others can see us more impartially.  Clarity helps bring about results.

2.  When you see how you are getting in your own way than you know change is necessary.  This awareness means you now have the choice to change.  Choice is an empowering step.

3.  Now that you see you have choice, begin to explore what your options are.  Your options are always more than this or that.  Come up with at least 5 other options to increase the potential for success.

4.  Then set up a plan of action and make a commitment to yourself to make the changes you desire.  This plan of action needs to be doable and measurable so you can see what is working and what is not.  A well thought out plan will bring out excellent results.

5.  Take action and see the results that occur.  If the results are excellent than you are on track.  If the old patterns remain as they are and you get the same mediocre results, then call for help.  Now days there are coaches and counselor available in your community and via phone, Skype and the Internet.  Change is easier and more effective sometimes with a support person/team who can lift you up and hold you accountable.

I offer very reasonable prices and results in 2 – 8 sessions, checkout coaching and consulting above.



40 Ways To Keep Things Simple

Feel better about life by simplifying.  The world today is full of stuff, there is much to do, lots of stimulation out there, and the news will fill you with uneasy feelings.  It may be time to look at what you want to let into you and your life and what you want to keep out. 

Everything comes in through your senses, is interpreted by your mind and your feelings flow from there.  If the world around you is supportive and nurturing then you will feel positive and hopeful.  If you are filled with images of anger, fear and blame then you will feel upset, out of balance and uncertain.  What do you want to let into your life experience?

Here are 40 ways to keep things simple, more peaceful and actually more fulfilling:

  1. Spending time in nature has a soothing and claming affect
  2. Going for a relaxed walk can slow you do after a busy day
  3. Turning off the nightly news can eliminate many disturbing images
  4. Read books and watch programs that are uplifting
  5. Spend time in quiet contemplation exploring your higher nature
  6. Feed your soul and up your vibrations by developing and inner smile
  7. Spend less time seeking the approval of others
  8. Walk, ride a bike or take a bus to avoid the stress of traffic
  9. Take a yoga or tai chi class to experience your body in a new and relaxed way
  10. Start slowing down at night early enough so you can easily transition to sleep
  11. Eat food that is not too heavy and feels healthy, your body knows what is right
  12. Explore what simple pleasures make you feel the best
  13. Be kind to yourself and to others
  14. Notice when you tend to complicate things and choose and easier way
  15. Practice flowing downstream instead of always battling upstream
  16. Become a compassionate listening to others and to your own needs
  17. Listening to your intuition always makes life simpler
  18. Find music that is soothing and healing for you
  19. Have more fun by doing what feels good
  20. Have compassion for others and when you can, lend a hand
  21. Take a nap in the afternoon, it will relax, renew and re-energize you
  22. De-stress your day by setting realistic goals and avoid over committing your time
  23. Stop trying to be perfect because it isn't necessary
  24. Get a dog who will want affection and daily walks
  25. Have a quiet space in your home where you can get away from the noise
  26. Turn off talk radio and let your mind expand to greater ideas
  27. Stop blaming and complaining and start appreciating the gifts of your life
  28. Find some music you love to sing along with and do so often
  29. Spread love every day to your partner, family, co-workers and everywhere you go
  30. Think healthy thoughts and experience true well-being
  31. Imagine living a peaceful life and soon you will be living it
  32. Watch the inflow and outflow of your breath as a simple practice of meditation
  33. Learn about mindfulness and explore it each day
  34. Quiet the inner critic, everyday say, "I totally and completely love and accept myself"
  35. See life as a journey and appreciate each step along the way
  36. Spend your day in the now, that is where all the fun and opportunities reside
  37. When you put your head on your pillow take a moment to appreciate your life
  38. Leave you cell phone behind when you need some time to yourself
  39. Be less serious and spend more time laughing with friends
  40. Make each day the best day of your life by letting your light shine

 

Resources to explore:

The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

Learn about and explore tapping (EFT)

Sounds True (see ad to the right)

Libraries and bookstores are full of resources

 

Let me know how these work for you.



Your Life Is Your Message

I often wander through new and used bookstores in search of good reading and sometimes I get lucky.  At one of the used bookstores, I got a book and CD on Lucid Dreaming which I had been looking for, several books I like to hand out to clients and a small little book called Your Life Is Your Message by Eknath Easwaran.  This book will be an inspiration to my blog (as it is today as far as a title goes) because it is full of interesting short essays on variety of spiritual and personal development topics.  I also got a book I haveheard lots about on Shamanism called Awakening To The Spirit World by Sandra Ingerman and Hank Wesselman with contributions by several people I know from graduate school.  It was a good day wander for inspirational reading.

Look around you and see what your message is to those who interact with you.  Is your message one of hope and possibilities?  Is it one of blaming and complaining?  Is it about fear of the future?  Is it about love and compassion for each other?  Is it about failure or success?  Is it about you not being enough or too much?  Is it about past, future or being present?  Is it about loving and compassion for others?  Is it about expanding capacities or playing it safe?  What is your inner message to yourself?  This inner message shapes your outer message.

It is my hope that these questions got you thinking about yourself and your life.  There are no good and bad lives.  There are lives in which we are ever expanding in our learning and consciousness, or lives stuck in the deep groove of sameness.   Sameness means playing it safe and growth means taking risks.

Look around you and see if you are taking risks or playing it safe?  Look around and see if people are alive around you or subdued?  Look inside and see if you are inspired and energized or depressed and numb?  Look around you and see if there is aliveness and growth or sameness and contraction.   

Take a week or so and do an objective survey of yourself and your interactions with those around you and see what you discover.   If you and those around you are alive then that is positive feedback.  If the energy of life is flat that is ok by there is probably a need for an upgrade of attitude, of emotions, of fitness, of purpose, of compassion and of connection with your higher nature.  All of these are totally workable so there is no need to worry.  A plan of action may be just what you need. 

Remember, your life is your message and the good news is the message can get better and better. 



Expanding Capacities Part 14 – Opening To The Flow

Yes there is so much abundance in the world and if we feel we are not in the flow then it may be time to explore ways to expand.  It may also be time to let go of all that we do that isn’t working.   Flow is often a reflection of inner flow.  If we are open and present than things seem to flow better than if we are closed and distracted. 

The next step in our exploration of ways to expand our capacities is to look at flow as a feedback system.  If the flow is strong in whatever area we are focused on then that is clear feedback that we heading in the right direction.  If the flow is slow then it means time to change course, time to dump the old habits and ways that create the same inadequate results as they always have.  The following are five common barriers to flow and five openings for flow:

Five Barriers to Flow:

Self-Doubt – There is no greater barrier to flow than thinking we don’t deserve or are in some way not enough.  Those lack thoughts are always false thoughts.  We have forgotten our higher nature if we have those thoughts.  It is time to stop arguing for our limitations. We do deserve an abundant flow and we are more than enough.

Past Programming – The self-doubt above comes most often from past programming.  This limited programming mostly from our childhood only exist in our self-talk and thoughts because we carry the past with us.  Maybe it is time to release the past.  We can change the conditioned mind to be much more expansive.

Ignoring Inner Guidance – There is always the highest and wisest guidance within if we are willing to listen.  Ignoring the intuitive guidance inside causes us to not connect to the flow and regularly brings suffering into our lives.  Listening to your higher nature will set you free.

Thought Blocks – The mind is a powerful tool that can serve as a huge dam to the flow of the stream of life.  If the mind is closed there is no learning, with no learning there is always the same results.  Thoughts either expand us or contract us.  Expansive thoughts create expansive results.

Inaction – So much of flow is energy.  If we put no energy toward something we will got no results.  If we live in our thoughts and do nothing on the material plane then we often find ourselves stuck in blaming and complaining (both are deadly to flow).  Relaxed action opens flow.

Five Openings for Flow

Self-Belief – Each of us is so much more than we realize.  It is time for us all to step more fully into our higher nature.  Trust in our sense of what is right and good for us and all beings and go live it as fully as we can each day.  There is a light in all of us that shines brightly when we believe in what is possible in us.

Positive Programming – There has been programming in the past that has limited all of us so we need to change that.  You and I are the programmers of our mind.  Set the programmer code on positive, supportive and encouraging.  Shrink the inner critic to a distant whisper.  Believe in the positive possibilities awaiting all of us.

Intuitive and Purposeful – The intuitive wisdom we all have is a flawless guide to a wonderful flow in all of life.  Listen quietly and deeply throughout each day and the results will bring great joy.  There is a unique purpose in all of us and living that purpose will make our lives full of meaning and change the world at the same time.   Living intuitively and with purpose will expand what is possible in endless ways.

Open Mind and Heart – Open minds and hearts are such powerful forces that they can change the planet for the good.  Watch to see where the mind is willing to open more fully because that is an inner knowing that needs to be followed.  An open heart is a gift to all beings on the planet and has great healing possibilities.  Let our minds and hearts be open to the unlimited potential waiting to be expressed.

Mindful Action – Action for the sake of doing is not near as powerful as action with intention.  When we take purposeful action the universe aligns to assist the results.  All action done mindfully has the potential to activate a rich flow in easy and effortless ways.  The action of fully being present has no limits and endless possibilities.

If we take these ideas and explore and express them in our lives then everyone will be enriched. 



Congratulations LA, You Are The Champions

It is late and I am I am writing my first edition of tomorrow's post.  Game seven just got over.  I must admit to being a Laker fan for many years.  Yes that was an awesome game with both teams playing with lots of heart.  Teams that have excellent players and good coaches are so much more interesting to watch.  The Lakers have possibly the best coach ever and one of the best players ever.  When I am a fan, I almost prefer large winning margins because then I don't have to remain anxious all game.  There however was no time to relax in this game.  After my gym workout I often shoot hoops as a way to reward my efforts, basketball has been a game I have enjoyed most of my life.  It all seems so silly to care about who wins because it is just a game that on the bigger picture really doesn't matter much but being a fan is not necessarily a rational point of view. 

Competition at its highest level can be expansive to consciousness and to expanding possibilities.  There is no question that when we are pushed we often rise to the occasion and perform at a higher level.  Do you find that to be true for you? Michael Murphy author of Golf In The Kingdom has written about the transformative aspect of sports of you want to explore this topic.

I know when I use to run distance races, I would have a little extra in my tank at a big race.  I seem to be able to go longer and stronger when I decided the race had meaning for me.  There was one time in San Francisco’s Presidio, I showed up for a race as part of trying to keep in shape while I worked my way through the challenges of graduate school.  I got out into the lead and my jets took off and I led the whole race and won and was high for a week after.  That was a fun time where competition brought out the best in me and positively shaped me in ways nothing else could. 

Now I am much older and much slower but the competitive self pops up in certain games or in play.  There is a winner in me and still part of me that dislikes losing.  That seems to be healthy as long as my ego isn’t too invested in winning.  Winning is fun but not essential because if I play well it all seems to be satisfying and enjoyable.

Were do you find yourself pushed in your life?  Is there a competitor in you?  What brings out the best in you?  What ways are you a winner in your life?

It is TGIF and the beginning of summer is just around the corner.  Have a good weekend and I hope you get a moment at least to feel like a winner soon.