Leaving A Job Behind, Opening A New Door

The last official day at my job at Public Health Addiction Recovery was today.  The job has been great because I got to be of service to people with severe alcohol and drug issues and often significant mental health and legal issues.  I was able to make a difference with many of the people I counseled and that felt like I was living with a purpose that matters.  I also worked with many wonderful staff who often made this hard work fun.

Now my next step is to move my wife, dog and myself to the Oregon Coast and let the heaviness of that job drain out of me.  I plan to walk the beaches for the first month and release the past into the sand where the emotional baggage will be washed away by the blue Pacific. Water has such a healing quality to it as does long slow mindful walking.  An added bonus to the walks is the negative ions generated by the ocean waves.  Negative ions found in abundance on a beach naturally lift us up through a chemical reaction in the brain. 

A month or so walking the beaches will be very healing and then I will be ready to figure out, how can I serve others next?  I feel drawn to help people who are in life transitions.  I want to assist those interested in opening their minds and hearts, help them be happy, live with purpose, and find personal freedom and inner peace.  I have been doing this work for over 35 years so I know I can help a person enrich their life.  

Today however, there is more packing things up and getting my little truck ready for the trip.  In the midst of all this doing there is time to be mindful.  This moment to moment awareness allows whatever I am doing to be transformed into higher states of awareness which is always an enriching spiritual experience.  Have a good day.



Mindfulness Equals Inner Peace

The Moving Sale went well with money in our pockets but still all this stuff to deal with.  Where does all these things come from?  Yesterday I was packing what I can to give away so I will head to Goodwill for one of my stops today.  Later there will be a run to recycling for the electrical and other leftovers.  Getting rid of this collection of unneeded objects feels good as if I am lightening my life.   It feels good to let go of things but even better to let go of the tangles in our minds and hearts.

During a day there are thoughts and feelings that come up that make a big mess inside of you and I.  Energetically it is so easy to get plugged up from what we are thinking and how we are feeling.  These thoughts and feeling need to be watched or they get out of hand and drain vital life force from us.  We all carry too much of the past; too much unfinished business. 

Let’s talk about how the past can zap us in the now.  For an example: say a relationship went off track and came apart.  There is always lots of debris from these wreckages unless we learn to let go.   When and how you let go is very important.  Imagine we see a friend of our ex-partner and they obviously avoid us.  The mind can jump on the bandwagon of worry about what they think of us and many other uncomfortable stories we can run in our head.  If we don’t let go and purposefully contain the noise of our own thoughts our feelings can begin to escalate and soon we may be fuming even though nothing really happened. 

There is a very slippery slope when the mind takes off in a negative direction.  It can be so slippery that we could obsess for days and weeks over some imagined scenario in our own mind.  We can lose all control of our thoughts and feel the intense discomfort of living inside the thought field we have created.  

We can control the workings of our own mind if we choose to.  If we let the ego-mind run on its own we will be a mess in no time and get caught in an emotionally web that can take a long time to clear away.  If we are mindful instead we can notice when the mind is heading off a cliff and we can stop it, grab the reins, and move in the direction of something more positive.   So back to the example, we see the ex’s friend and we notice the mind going into “poor me” and we instead turn it around and go to the bookstore or yogurt shop and do something that is redirecting or soothing.

The power of being mindful is that we shape our experience of life.  We don’t have to let our thoughts turn our life into a minefield (mind-field) of “poor me”, blaming, complaining, feeling sorry for ourselves, anger and all the other feelings that turn life into suffering.  Suffering is optional if we are mindful.

Simply watching what comes up inside and redirecting it when needed will bring peace of mind.  Take some time today to just listen inward and become acquainted with what is going on in the rambunctious thought parade called our mind.  Keep the focused on positive outcomes and images of the life we want to create and let the rest of the thoughts go.  Be mindfully present with great compassion toward self and send the judging negative mind on permanent vacation.  This way your life will feel much better and need for suffering will shrink away. 



What If The Mind Is Infinite?

Over at American Public Media there is a free podcast series by Krista Tippett on Being where I often listen to interviews of leading edge thinkers.  This particular interview was of Richard Davidson about healthy minds.  These ideas came from his research of regular meditators (Buddhist Monks) using the latest neurological testing.  This interview shared a few of the very interesting results.  I want to go find our more.

One of the discoveries was that the mind has more capacities to change and adapt then was understood in the past.  Intuitively that makes sense and now they have scientific research to prove the neuroplacticity of the mind.  Neuroplacticity is the brains ability to reorganize itself.  This ability to change speaks to how much more there is still to understand about the capacities of the brain and mind. 

These new ideas seem to stimulate in me questions about how else can I expand and realize my own capacities?  It also seems to support my ongoing sense that we have infinite capacities and possibilities if we just simple go exploring.  Exploring is fun and makes life very interesting. 

A few specific questions immediately come to mind: What is the difference between the brain and the mind?  Is the brain a physical thing and the mind something more?  What if the mind is the creator of all of our experiences?  What if you and I can do just about anything our mind can conceive? 

We live in a time where there will be many more discoveries about the capacities of our brain and mind over the next 5-10 years.   There is no time to be board with so much yet to learn.  Have a good TGIF.



Change, Energy, Focus and Spreading Light and Love

For the next two weeks there is going to be lots of focus on moving so my posts may enter into a more brief and inconsistency phase.  But this will just be a phase I am going through and before long I will grow out of it.  I love change and I am feeling energized so I my posts when then arrive will have the charge of positive change lingering about. 

The heat here is beginning to get old.  This morning the 60 degrees feel like a godsend.  I am not a believer in concepts like hell but relentless heat does not sound fun to me.  Of course gray skies and rain (Oregon Coast) gets really old too.  But no matter where you end up you still are faced with how you look at the circumstances you find yourself in.  You can focus on what isn’t working and be very unhappy or instead look to see what makes you feel good.

Your experience of life is about where you put your focus.  Recently I wrote about putting your focus on being happy.  That is a positive focus and it will help you be happy.  You could also focus on creating more freedom so you do things that make that happen.  You could focus on finding love in your life that begins with opening your heart.   What is it that you want to create in your life? 

My present focus is to get moved to our next home, then to take a month to release the secondary trauma of this job and get clear what I am going to do next.  My inner sense for now is that I will be writing, teaching self-inquiry/mindfulness/consciousness and leading retreats.  Simply put, I will be spreading light and love.  Would you join me and spread light and love also?  



50 Simple Ways To Feel More Alive and Happy

I was thinking about what ideas I wanted to pass onto my clients as I leave my counseling job.  So I came up with these 50 ways to feel alive and happy.  I thought you might appreciate this list too.  Here is the list I am going to share with them today in one of my last groups:

1. Each day choose to be happy
2. Let yourself be guided by the wisdom of your heart
3. Fully love and accept yourself and let your love spread out into the world
4. Appreciate the beauty around you both in nature and in human creativity
   
5. Spread you light out in the world
6. Think positive thoughts, you’ll feel better
7. Live each moment as fully as you can, be present to life
8. Tune into nature (flow, sounds, vibrations, sights etc) and let it bring you healing
9. Get physical, workout, stretch, build strength and endurance
10. Express yourself creatively as often as you can
11. Read books, listen to podcasts, checkout CD, DVD's that inspire you
12. Be active in a support group or social network
13. Build positive relationships with everyone you interact with
14. Appreciate and express your uniqueness
15. Each day do something to make the world a better place
16. Lighten up and enjoy even your mistakes
17. Be honest with yourself and others
18. Make a commitment to live life enthusiastically
19. Each morning visualize the wonderful results you want to create
20. Explore lucid dreaming and out-of-body experiences
21. Challenge your mind to keep expanding
22. Go for a vigorous walk or a slow meditative one often
23. See life as an adventure and go exploring
24. Make it your daily practice to have fun
25. Volunteer for an organization or cause you believe in
26. Be compassionate for those in need of support
27. Get a pet and care for it, it will keep giving back
28. Take time to be quiet and open to your inner wisdom
29. Pick up a journal and write to express how you feel and who you are, no editing is needed
30. Develop inner practices like mindfulness, meditation, prayer and other ways of going inward
31. Make silence a part of your day
32. Explore alternative healing practices
33. Take a class or study what interests you
34. Explore your unlimited human potential
35. Do service work, help others
36. Focus on what you are grateful for each evening before you go to sleep
37. Make it a goal to set yourself free
38. Learn to relax, take a nap, get the sleep you need and feel rested
39. Learn how to be patient and slow down
40. Question all your thoughts and beliefs, open your mind and go in search of your truth
41. Be curious about life and the world
42. Explore your spiritual nature in ways that are nurturing to you
43. Acknowledge and embrace all your feelings
44. Expand your consciousness and become a more aware human being
45. Be open to all cultures and viewpoints
46. Find time to connect with your higher nature, wise mind
47. Make it your goal to spread happiness each day
48. Find your unique purpose and express it with passion
49. Eat with health and well-being in mind
50. Be at peace with yourself in your mind, body and spirit 

What would add to this list?  Which ideas are you doing already?  Which ones are you willing to explore? Growth and activity always feels positive and uplifting even in difficult times.  Each day is waiting for you to create your own masterpiece. 

No More “Poor Me” If You Want To Be Free

One of the biggest traps to personal freedom is the idea that you are powerless.  It is so easy to fall into blaming others and circumstances and feel sorry for yourself.  The path of complaining only gives you more to complain about and makes you feel stuck and unable to do anything for the better.  The “poor me” state of mind is more adolescent and needs to be left behind.  A mature mind set is about taking responsibility for your life.

You are never powerless.  You always have the capacity to move into action and change things around.  You always have the capacity to change how you think and feel about situations you find yourself in.  You can always step back and observe and become a more conscious human being.

Here are a few ways to leave the poor me behind:

Move into positive action and create positive results

Change your thinking with an open mind to new opportunities

Connect with your heart and find compassion or act with kindness

Let go, release, and move on from your stuck places

Get physical, do something active and change the energy inside

Listen inward for guidance on how to move forward

Find your power and be bold, go for what you want

Look at how you can become a more aware and conscious person from the experience

Step away from what is going on, relax, and go in search of solutions

Seek out the wisdom and support of those who empower you

You are an amazing human being; all you have to do is realize it.



The Dance Of Change

Yeah!!! My wife and I found a place to live on the Oregon Coast.  It is between towns but near Florence, Oregon and we will be about 3-4 football fields from putting our toes in the Pacific Ocean.  This move is about trusting our intuitive sense that boldness is required and that we are ready to have our lives expand in new and exciting ways.  The inner guidance is strong, the ocean is a huge draw, the reasonable cost of living a plus, and the enthusiasm for a new adventure makes this all seem right.  In about 15 days the ocean outside our door will be a reality.  

It has been so hot here in Boulder that a cool day at the beach sounds perfect.  My job is winding down, with a going-away lunch set for Weds.  The amazing people at work have been my closest Colorado family.  In Oregon I have brothers and sister and a Dad just few hours away.  That will be so awesome. 

It is fun to celebrate the changes of life.  The lunch this week, the goodbyes, and the new hello’s all bring spice that fills life with a rainbow of flavors.   I find that when I move into the transitions of life with energy and enthusiasm it makes the journey so vibrant and alive.

I have been incredibly energized now that my wife and I have moved into action.  Change always seems positive to me, even if there is doubts that come up or fearful moments of uncertainty.  Change means things as going to be different; it means the familiar will give away to the unknown and the mystery.  Who doesn’t like an adventure?

My blog themes lately have been on personal freedom and awakening through simple methods.  Change is definitely a direct method for awakening because it brings me out of my comfort zone and provides me with direct feedback about who I am and how I handle letting go and flowing with what is.  If I can watch my inner process, I can meet directly with myself and the lessons of life that come my way. 

The freedom that arrives from stirring things up is fun.  I get to liberate myself from the familiar and go in search of new experiences, insights and awareness.  This is very enlivening and liberating.

Choosing Happiness Will Set Your Free

(There seems to be a problem here at my blog.  Sorry for the delays in the site coming up.   I am sending questions to Squarespace but so far no response which is unusual.)

I have been so much enjoying and growing from The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer.  If consciousness if what you seek, I recommend this book more than almost all the other books I have read.  Chapter 15 talks about the only choice we ever have to make and his perspective on this is so clear and enlightened.

That choice is: “Do you want to be happy, or do you not want to be happy?” This question is so clear as to how you shape your life.  If you want to be happy you commit to that and then run all your life decisions and choices through that filter.  Will this make me happy?  If I do this will it support my commitment to be happy?  Am I willing to give up my happiness for this?  And other questions that are about either choosing happiness or not. 

If your not interested in choosing happiness then there is not much to look forward to and little hope things will get better. 

However if you choose happiness then all that comes your way will be opportunities to grow and live happily.  Yes there will be bumps and sometimes canyons in the road along the way but they are just testers to see how committed you are to being happy.  Happiness is not the product of situations or circumstances.  It begins inside and then if you want it can spread out into the world wherever you go.  Maybe your job is to spread happiness?  Nice job and you can have it if you want it.

Looks like we are heading to the Oregon Coast near Florence in two week and that will be our home for a while.  I am so excited and happy about this move and the new opportunities that will present themselves for me to help others choose happiness, find peace of mind and live with purpose. 



Breathing Into Stressful Times

In times of stress I have found it is important to remember to breathe.  I am unsure why we humans tend to breath so shallow when things get stressed.  It seems as though we are trying to cut off what we feel out of fear of the unknown within us.  Fear is a powerful force and we tend to want to shove it down inside.  

Let’s talk about why breathing is so important in stressful times and explore a method or two to focus our breath.  Our mind and our body works best with a good supply of oxygen that seems obvious.  A good deep relaxed breath settles us down not only because of oxygen but also because we are taking control of the breath and our response to what is going on.  A deep breath in the midst of the chaos says to self at a number of levels, don’t worry we are taking back control of the situation.  We have within us the ability to take control of what is going on inside if we decide to do so.  It would be a mistake for us to sell ourselves short on what we are capable of doing.  The breath is a doorway into realizing our inner abilities.

When we decide to slow down the simplest and most direct approach is to begin to breathe consciously.  Breathing with awareness automatically starts to slow us down.  Just putting our attention on the breath brings us fully into the moment where we have direct access to our inner resources.  As we focus on the breath it naturally expands or deepens and this has a calming affect.  The longer we watch our breath the more the claming expands within us.

In addition to watching the breath, we can also deepen it by bringing our attention to the exhale part of the cycle.  The goal is to exhale slowly and completely.  As we exhale in this way we can feel the breath release the built up stuff caused by the tension in us.  The inhale cycle of the breath after a long and relaxed exhale will naturally be big and deep.  This inhale fills us full of the needed oxygen that optimizes our response to the stressors facing us.  

Sometimes it helps to do a count with the breath.  A beneficial count series would be exhale to a relaxed count of 7 then a 1 (between exhale and inhale) and a relaxed count of 7 on the inhale.  Ten cycles of 7.1.7.1 will begin a significantly shift in how we are feeling inside.  Ten more cycles will shift us into an even more positive state. 



Drop Opinions And Search For Truth

I have returned from my one day rant about politics after a long hiatus from the unreality of the political realm.  Politics run deep in me because my family has always been involved.  As I have matured and become a more conscious human being I have moved away from strong opinions in search of truth and a peaceful way to view the world and my fellow human beings. 

Opinion has nothing to do with finding the truth and that is somewhat baffling to me.  People seem to like to find what the think about things and then often insist that others think the same way.  This flaw in this elevation of the importance of opinion has two components.

The first aspect of the flaw is the mistaken idea that we can actually trust what we think about things.  Our thoughts are hardly ever formed in the pursuit of clarity and truth.  Instead these words that pass through our mind are often more stimulated by reactivity and conditioning.  This makes most opinions just words we have in some way become attached to probably for the purpose of being right.  

The second flaw is that opinions lead to close minds and often closed hearts.  There is nothing liberating about an opinion because our mind gets trapped into holding onto what our ego thinks is right.  Sadly too is that strong opinions often cause us to push people away who thinking differently.  In other words if a person thinks differently then we do then we may close our heart to them.  This pushing others away because of our opinions even happens in families where love is essential to the well-being of all the members.  The sad loss of love is because of mistaken thoughts leading to a blocked heart caused by the ego’s need to be right.

Frankly opinions trap a person into believing themselves and to often pushing others away.  This is not personal freedom but more like a trap set upon oneself because of our faulty thinking. 

Questioning our own thoughts is always a good thing to do to help keep our minds and hearts open.  Our world community needs far fewer opinions and much more heart and clarity of thoughts.



Social Activism Is Need By YOU

I have very little time for a post tonight with running a late treatment group and an early pre-court hearing in support of one of my clients in the Drug Court.  However, I feel the need to make a few political comments even though I have been restraining myself because I don’t like to focus on what is wrong. 

What I want to say is a couple of things: one is that politics has become a very disappointing game with very little truth, lots of misinformation, and the impressively negative influence of money that shapes everything that happens in Washington DC and most of the State Houses.   America is in deep trouble not because government is bad but because our elected officials are owned by those that have all the financial influence.   This is in fact true because every elected representative has to raise so much to get elected and those with resources are glad to pay for influence.  We need a total reform of the election process that eliminates all funds paid for influence.

The second thing I need to say it that we are now mistakenly engaged in three wars which are killing thousands of innocent people and breaking our national budget for the two purposes: one is to satisfying the unenlightened motives of the ego mind and the second is to make money for those who profit from war.   We need to become more conscious human beings so we can evolve past the need to kill each other to show who is boss.  We also need to eliminate the war machine from our economy so people don’t profit from killing other human beings.   

The time is now and we are the ones that need to take peaceful but clear action.

Freedom Through The Realization Of Your Highest Nature

Lately we have been having at least one and sometimes several pounding thunderstorms a day and those really get your attention.  When I was a kid I was told that thunder came from God moving furniture around in heaven.  The things we are told?  Now I see it more as the planet saying respect Mother Nature or we will get burned.  Isn’t it interesting that what we think about things shape how we view them?

I wanted to tie the post to my one this weekend.  The idea of realizing our divine nature keeps whispering to me that I need to pay attention.  I understand now at a deeper level that if I think of myself as divine then I will experience life from that perspective.  Why not focus my thoughts and heart on freeing myself from the haunts of the past and instead expand into the infinite potential waiting within.  

(This collage is from a series I did on Being Here Now by Ram Dass)

Since I am now fully expressing the Divine in human form: I have an endless capacity to love; I am an open channel of heavenly inspiration and creativity; I have fully awakened to my highest knowing; I spread light wherever I go for the benefit of all: and I heal so that I might uplift others to heal themselves.   Wow that a lot to take on and I need to be easy on myself enough to relax and flow into my divine potential and at the same time always be mindful of my intention and attention.

My intention is expressing my highest nature every day in every way.  My attention is a mindset of always showing up, being my best, and having fun doing it.   Any falling back into old ways and limiting self-talk needs to be corrected with loving kindness at the moment of insight and then place myself back on track. 

I am the divine poured in human form.  In an easy and relaxed manner in a healthy and positive way, I am the divine poured into human form spreading love, insight, light and healing.  This expression of the realization of my divine nature is pure freedom to be. 



Divine In Human Form

I am revisiting a favorite inspirational set of talks that I now have as a book called Saints Alive by Hilda Charlton. 

Hilda was a very charismatic teacher who seemed to be in direct contact with a variety of Saints as she lectured in New York City for a number of years.  She inspired many people and her book version is so uplifting to me since I have heard many of her recording talks. 

 Today inspirational words came from an affirmation she shared from a holy man she spent time with in India.  Try this affirmation because it has a power to it that you can feel:  “I am the Divine poured into a human mold.” She says this is our true nature and she wonders, why we spend so much time arguing for our limitations?  

How come we argue for our limitations, our not being good enough, instead of accept and live as if we are Divine?  The answer from my work as a therapist for 30 years is that we are trained and conditioned to believe that we are anything but divine.  In fact most beliefs systems re-enforce every Sunday that we are sinful, and we should pray to help deal with all that is not right about us humans.  These faulty beliefs and the inaccurate lessons of growing up have so mixed us up that we need help to escape from the past.

What would it be like if you and I fully stepped into the truth of our higher nature, if we claimed our Divinity?  How would we live our life if we knew we were spiritual beings having a human experience?  Are we open enough in our minds and hearts to free ourselves to be a bright light in the world?

Try this affirmation for a week or longer and see what it does for you: I am the Divine poured into a human mold.  I like a slight adjustment: I am the Divine poured into a human form.  If we can live this awareness each of us will become an expanded human being and our light will shine wherever we go.



Seeking Support From Beyond

As I was recently experiencing some anxiety about the changes in my life I questioned myself about, who would I ask for help out there in the universe.  I am not a religious person but I still had a thought about praying or doing a kind of request from a great force somewhere in the heavens.  I am however a spiritual person and I do believe in a higher force but I am unsure what that is.  Would a pray help?

In my wondering who to ask for help, I went into a deeper questioning about my own beliefs.   Morgan Freeman (certainly not Jim Carrey) is probably not God although I like the image of him being the One.  Whoever God is seems to be more a collection of Christian beliefs, which I don’t feel aligned with.  So who would I pray to and for what purpose?

My purpose in praying was to soften my anxiety or reach out for a greater force then me to come to my aid in helping to make things work out better.  My prayer was a call in hopes of connecting to the creative and manifesting force of the universe and saying I am ready for a miracle here or something that makes thing happen in a positive way.  Still who/what this was directed toward is not clear.

I have to admit that I have considered so many ideas about this greater force that I am now under the influence of my questioning mind more than any beliefs.  This leaves me feeling unclear but an intuitive trusting resides inside.  What I sense is: that this Force is much greater than I yet not separate from me; that my higher nature, the spirit in me is one with this source; that I have in me unlimited capabilities both Divine in nature and divinely human; that this Creative Source does not sit in judgment in a place call heaven but more likely resides in the hearts of all of us if we are open in our minds and hearts.

I feel the freedom of not being tied to any dogma or so-called sacred text but I also lose out on the tentative confidence of blind-faith.  This leaves me with the hope that as I go deep within the great wisdom of consciousness the consciousness in me will be my guide in whatever form it takes.  This consciousness brings me into my highest expression, which is at least the best position I can put myself to create the results that matter to me.  Any additional help from the universe would be greatly appreciated.

This may all seem unclear because it is.  I suspect that people who are sure they know don’t.  May we all be blessed with uncommon grace by the greater force of the Universe.



Change Stirs Things Up

Today’s post is short and there will be a guest post tomorrow as things have really intensified about where we are moving to and finding a place to live.  It is all very exciting and also anxiety producing.  So now I get to practice being mindfulness as I want to be fully present to this process and able to both by clear in my thinking and also open to the intuitive and higher knowing that wants to guide me in this journey. 

Today’s practice for my personal freedom is to live in the now.  Yes I know that is the only place you can live anyway but that doesn’t keep the mind from slipping into old habits like worrying about the future or obsessing about the past.  With all this move stuff going on it could be easy to move to worry and not settle into the moment.  I know I feel more comfortable when I know where I will be staying when I travel and the same it true about finding a new home. 

The challenge is that my wife and I had in mind a place on the Oregon Coast then we found out some things about this place and we got thinking about other options and that just happened last night so we are in a more anxious mode about.  Anxiousness can be both in positive anticipation and also in the fear of not knowing.  I choose to be in excitement about finding a new place to live and then moving there and exploring it.

Well I will keep you posted and do my best to be full present throughout this day.  I will let you know how it goes and what I learn in the process. 



Finding Freedom Through Mindfulness

In the past I have often written about the power of being mindful.  I have explored mindful practice in different forms for much of my adult life and really would love to get you motivated to explore it for the rest of yours.  Mindfulness is a very simple but powerful method that will set you free in so many ways.  To find out what those ways are you must however be mindful.

Being mindful throughout your day might go something like this: 

You wake up in the morning and take few minutes to acknowledge this is a new day full of endless possibilities.   You then notice your thoughts about this upcoming day.  As you notice your thoughts see where they take you, is it toward excitement or dread, positive anticipation or fear of what emotions might get stirred.  Your emotions are the product of your thoughts.  So you start to shape your experience of the day by what your think and how that makes you feel.

Then as the day gets going you keep your focus on your thoughts and notice also how your heart is doing.  Are you open in your heart?  Is your thinking rigid or open?  What flow of emotions are crowding into your awareness?  If you watch without judging (as good or bad) the workings of your mind and heart much more will come up into your consciousness.  The more conscious you are the more you see yourself as you truly are.   The more true your self-understanding the more powerful your freedom.

Now the day is in full bloom and you get to see how you are fitting in as far as: are you present, are you engaged, are you open to new ideas, are you feeling compassion for self and others, are you closed down or protected in any way, are you afraid of losing control, are you happy or what else is going on? 

The day begins to wind down, where are you energetically?  Have you already shut down emotionally?  What beliefs in your own head have been holding you back? Where have you checked out?  Where have you deepened your own awareness?  What have you looked at more carefully in search of insight?  The questions keep on presenting themselves because you are in the moment fully awake to your process?

What have you learned about yourself from this day of exploration?  Who are you under the microscope of your own watchfulness?  What parts of you are in need of growth and healing?  What parts of you are ready to be set free and gallop joyously through life? 

There is always more to see, more to experience and more to gain insight about you.  This insight means you now are in the world with the wisdom to be truly free.



Finding Freedom Through Awakening

Due to a strong flow of inspiration lately I want to alter this series in a way yet to be determined. The goal is to awaken; the outcome is personal freedom.  Over the past 10 parts of this series on pathways to Awakening there has been a growing realization that personal freedom is the ultimate outcome of awakening.  This freedom is made possible because we have discovered who we are and what is possible within us. 

Freedom is such a wonderful idea because it is what every person longs for in his or her own unique way.  We all want freedom: to live the life we desire; to love and be loved; to be engaged in what has meaning and purpose for us; to find happiness, to wish for a better life for our children; to enjoy some matter of success and whatever else we define as expressing our personal freedom.  

This new series on personal freedom will lay the groundwork for my new emphasis, which is, “how do we free ourselves to be the person we want to be?”  This series will take the practical wisdom presented about awakening and relate it directly to how you and I can live a life of amazing and rewarding freedom. 

The only block to our freedom lies within.  Yes there are political systems, family dramas, past traumas etc that may have influenced who we are but ultimately it is you and I that limit us or set us free.  We don’t have to dig very deep to understand how we block our freedom, just listen inward to our thoughts, our internal dialogue and our heart.  Are we open and receptive or closed and protective?

As we awaken to who we are, we discover the limitlessness of our own nature.  Awakening sets us free because we can see how we get in our own way and what we can do to expand our minds and hearts.

Here is a basic freedom enhancing exercise: take time each day to explore how the workings of your mind and heart hold you back, limit you from being all you can be.  The best way to do this is to commit to being mindful throughout your day, listening to your thoughts and feeling your heart.  This technique will be explored more fully in the next post.



Set Yourself Free, Happy 4th of July

Today is the Fourth of July and I am feeling spunky about life.  Spunky because I feel inspired about a purpose that I know in my heart is worth all the efforts in me and utilizes the skills and knowledge I have acquired over a life of passionate exploration and helping others.  Over the next few months my wife and I are going to put together plan to help bring freedom to everyone interested in moving from ordinary to extraordinary. 

This plan will be based on the idea that if you and I and the rest truly want freedom, we must have our hearts and minds open.  Can we imagine a world where everyone is open in their hearts and their minds are expansive enough to let in all possibilities?  

This holiday today is about freedom.  On a personal level this is freedom to shape our own destiny, freedom from the tyranny of limiting thoughts, freedom to love and have compassion unending.   There is no freedom when our hearts are protected, guarded and closed.  There is no freedom when we hold ourselves back by having limiting beliefs, by focusing on negativity, and by living in fear because of our own thoughts.

Soon this blog will evolve in a number of unique ways, new resources will be made available, and movement will begin to expand inviting everyone to participate.  Stay tuned and by the end of Summer things will be cooking.   You won’t want to miss this new expanding direction because it will be fun, energizing and freeing on may levels.

Well with July in full bloom it is time to start making this move happen.  Move to the coast, move inside to higher levels of expression, and move out into the world to invite everyone to find their way to personal freedom.  Have a wonderful holiday!



Part Ten: Awakening Through Change

This way of awakening is particularly of interest to me as I move forward with my wife and venture into a new and exciting life free of the restrictions of employment but also without a safety net.  Think Indiana Jones having to trust in the invisible bridge over an endless abyss.  Think also have the passion of knowing what is the next right step and the confidence of doing something I have been waiting all my life to do.

The awakening part comes not in reaching the goal but in the journey.  The bumps and potholes along the way are the thoughts of self-doubt, fear and the unknown.  The replacement blacktop is the never before experienced expanded level of confidence, the trust the universe is lining up in support, and a knowing sense of this is my purpose now. 

Watching the thoughts, the resultant emotions and the past tendencies trying to resurrect themselves are ample material for the work of awakening.  In other words change is a button pusher, change gives you feedback about how flexible, how open, how willing you are to take life straight on.  Now this life of change is not about trying, it is about doing from a place of consciousness (also called being).  If you really want to see what you are made of, just move into change mode and watch the fireworks go off inside. 

The inner practices to go with change are mindfulness, slowing down and just be present to what is arising.   As you watch yourself in full blown reactivity to the unknown you meet, you get to observe dispassionately and see what needs a splash of growth and what needs a major overhaul.  Fortunately you have the capacity to learn and grow in ways that will transform you more easily then you would ever imagine.  If you find yourself adapting slowing/resistantly, you can view that as helpful feedback.  With that feedback you can go in search of ways and practices that free you up so you can express all that is possible within you.

  

Change can be stressful if you hold to the past, have mixed feeling, or question yourself.  If you are clear, then the way of awakening is to go for what you intuitively know/sense is true for you.  Each step is a window of opportunity to see if the past and conditioned mind are the driving force or the inner knowing and heart are showing you the way.  Just remember that awakening is the goal and personal freedom the reward.



Exciting Changes!!! More To Come Soon!!!

Tomorrow, I will bring you Part 10 of my simple ways to awaken series.  Today I am excited because my wife and I have decided to take a big leap of faith and make a major move.  I am ready to expand what I do because I feel my purpose is calling me do express myself in new and more expansive ways.  My wife too is ready to leave old patterns behind and to explore her intuitive and creative callings.   Within 30 days we will have a U Haul loaded up with all our possessions and heading to the West Coast.

What I mean about my purpose calling me is that I feel the need to get out into the world more and spread consciousness, compassion, assist others in opening their minds and hearts, finding their purpose, peace of mind and the freedom inside necessary to live a full realize life.   

The plan is to continue my blog (most likely changing the format), offering more services, do more writing, and begin what we feel is the most important work of our lifetime.  We have in mind to start a movement (not sure if movement is a good word here) that will spread out into the world and encourage and inspire people to find their own freedom.  Freedom is our birthright if we choose to live with an open mind, open heart, with a clarity of purpose, and in alignment with the guidance of our spirit/soul/higher self.  

We will share with all those interested the skills needed and helpful practices to open minds and hearts, to show how to live with purpose and in harmony with our highest nature.  We are confident these ideas, skills and practices are so needed at the times we live in.  We are confident that the joining of this movement and the exploration of personal freedom will be very liberating and make a very positive difference on the planet.

Soon there will be more, a website, books, lots of inspiration and a way to join with others to set ourselves free.  

Would you join us?