Spirituality

Short and Sweet #113 – Bet on Goodness

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Many terrible things happen in this world every day. We cannot turn on the TV or radio without hearing about a shooting or some atrocity. When we put too much attention on these events, we can lose hope, feel depressed and think that we are on a course for disaster. It makes it hard for us to connect with happiness; instead, we fall into worry and anxiety.

24-hour newscasts have to fill up their airtime, so they speculate and criticize without facts for days, weeks and months on an event, person or subject. This type of faux news does not enlighten the viewer with truth but draws you into a perception about things that is not necessarily even true or real. Sometimes the story just dies out or the truth finally does come out and all the speculation was just that speculation.

We live in a world where everything is energy. Our thoughts, perceptions and beliefs are also energy and they interact with the creative force of the universe. When we focus too much on the negative then this is how our energy interacts with creation and we aid in the manifestation of what we do not want. We do this all the time unconsciously and this is why it is so important to bring the unconscious to light. Once we do, we can let go of those thoughts, perceptions and beliefs that no longer support our highest good. This usually does not happen overnight and requires commitment and practice. In the interim to support this process take your attention away from the negative and focus on the good. Acknowledge the good that you see and hear about. Then look for it, it is everywhere all around you.

When we bet on goodness, we are telling the creative energy of the universe that we want more goodness. We are participating with the creative energy of the universe by shifting our own energy to manifest goodness. This can be applied to anything that you want more of in your life, like beauty, kindness and love. Think of the positive impact you can have on the entire world just by shifting your energy towards what you want and away from what you do not want. This is not about ignoring what is happening in the world but it is about creating the world you want.

The next time your attention is on the negative, bring your attention back to what you want and be the positive and powerful creator that you are.

Abide in peace, banish cares, take no account of all that happens, and you will serve God according to His good pleasure, and rest in Him. – Saint John of the Cross

 

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What’s on your mind? I am always open to questions and comments or for a healthy and supportive discussion about these topics.

Short and Sweet #110 – Go to the Root

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“Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.”-William James

Our pain, suffering, problems and misfortune are often mistaken for their label. We think it is bad luck or that we cannot catch a break. If you are waiting for your good luck to show up you might have a long wait. Even when things are going well we find ways to feel unhappy, lonely or lost. There is always something to keep us from experiencing the fullness of life, even in the midst of that fullness.

Is it life that has to change or do we have to wake up from our slumber? One thing I know is if we do not have a practice of self-inquiry and go to the root, there will always be that next thing to keep us unhappy or feeling unfulfilled.

Know that whatever is happening has purpose. Look at your life or the lives of other people; you can see that what is terrible, tragic and traumatic when used to go to the root always produces positive changes on the other side. This is not just once in a while it is every single time.

When someone does not go to the root and the lesson is refused or resisted, his or her suffering multiplies. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to help people who are in this state, no matter how much we may want to, however we must realize that this too has purpose and allow it to happen. Remember to understand that you do not understand. This may be challenging but a necessity, otherwise we create suffering for ourselves out of someone else’s suffering. Does this sound like a useful thing to do?

Going to the root is usually not our first choice. You would think that after a few times, we would understand the benefit but for some of us it takes more than a few times to win us over. Seeing the benefits repeatedly helps to make it our first choice. Using it consistently on a daily basis reduces suffering, increases happiness, balances the up and downs of life while awakening to our True-Self.

“I went to the root of things, and found nothing but Him alone.” – Mira Bai

 

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Short and Sweet #109 – You Are Powerful

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Too many times, we allow what we think about ourselves to dictate what we can and cannot do in this life. Even more importantly, we allow our past mistakes to guide our future self. The past has no power over the present moment and no power over you, unless you believe that it does. Once you believe what someone else says about you, you are stuck. If a doctor tells you that you will not get better, you won’t. If someone tells you that you are mean or unlovable you could go through your whole life believing this to be true. People are not mean to be mean. They are mean because they are hurting and everyone is loveable, those who feel differently are hurting and anyone who is hurting can heal.

Look around this world and tell me we are not powerful beings. Now look around this world and tell me why you think you are not powerful. Will you go back into your past and tell me a story about how bad things were? Will you tell me all the terrible things that happened that robbed you of your power?

Do not tell yourself that story anymore; it does not define who you are now. The past is gone it may have informed you; even shaped you in some way, but it does not dictate what you can do now or diminish the undeniable power that you have at your disposal. Let go of your story and all the reasons why you cannot do what you want. Tap into the powerful Divine being that you are and heal, create what you want in this life. Give up the excuses and just go for it, because now is the perfect time to find out just how powerful you are.

 

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Short and Sweet #108 – I Am Not Enough

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At some point in your life, you have probably felt like you are not enough. That somehow you are failing your life, yourself or the people you love most. When these feelings of insecurity come over us, we usually retreat inwardly. We run from feeling our truth and the enormity of life. I say rejoice in the fact that you are seeing the light in that moment. You have laid down your story and tapped into truth. From here, you can begin awakening to your True-Self. I am not telling you this is going to be easy but I am saying that you have but one choice if you want to experience the real you. This human life is short so do not waste your valuable time.

When we step into our pain, fear, and suffering and show our vulnerability, grace shows up and guides us from the darkness into the light. More beauty is real in this transformation than anything you can see or do in this world. Do not succumb to your story once again, step into the truth of the here and now.

You never have to worry about your next step. You will know and feel that no matter what is happening everything is going to be OK. This is not wishful thinking on your part but something real that you can trust. Life is not about being perfect, happy or in love. It is about experiencing whatever comes your way and being the fullest expression of who you are. When we can step into the richness of life just as it is, then and only then can we experience the True-Self. From here, we can begin to understand the beauty of creation in whatever form ii takes in our lives. You will no longer suffer from your insecurities but embrace them and recognize the wise lessons that they bring.

 

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What’s on your mind? I am always open to questions and comments or for a healthy and supportive discussion about these topics.

Short and Sweet #103 – Down the Rabbit Hole

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Does your life feel like you have fallen down the rabbit hole like Alice? Well you have, but do not worry this is not a problem if you know that you have fallen down the rabbit hole. The real problem is not knowing it and thinking that who you have become is who you really are. By this I mean, we can allow the events of life and social conditioning to dictate who we become or we can uncover who we really are underneath this conditioning. Some call this shadow work; I often speak about it as energetic patterns or programs. These are developed over time by the events that happen in our lives, social conditioning, genes and other factors. This can all be changed through awareness, self-inquiry and using other modalities made available to us for this purpose.

Our lives are not what we think they are and when we awaken to this, a natural byproduct becomes the need to let go to further our desire to connect with the Divine. I believe that we all fall down the rabbit hole to varying degrees, which means that we live our lives from beliefs and perceptions that we do not question and do not know how or why they were formed. In addition, we have subconscious programs that play out like a recorded message on your voicemail. Something triggers the playback and we act it out from an unconscious state. This lack of awareness does not allow us to let go of the recorded message so it keeps playing repeatedly over the years unbeknownst to us. Once we accept that this is just who we are and we cannot change it, we are stuck. This becomes our fate!

“The psychological rule says that when an inner situation is not made conscious, it happens outside, as fate.  That is to say, when the individual remains undivided and does not become conscious of his inner opposite, the world must perforce act out the conflict and be torn into opposing halves.” – C, G. Jung, in Aion, CW 9ii

With awareness, we can release whatever we want and follow our internal desire for something deeper, more meaningful in life. Do not mistake seeking something outside yourself for this fulfillment because it will not last. The only true way is through our internal investigation and inquiry to uncover our True-Self and ultimately letting go of that part that put us in the rabbit hole, the False-Self.

 

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Short and Sweet #100 – One-Step at a Time

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Well this seems like a proper title for my 100th post. I was not sure what would happen when I started consistently posting in January. Many things went through my mind as I made this intention and commitment. Of course, most of the thoughts were telling me the usual things that we can count on our minds to tell us, just like that unsupportive so-called friend. Unfortunately, you cannot stop seeing this one, however I am learning not to listen to its rhetoric and disengage with it when needed.

After fifty-seven years on this planet you would think I would have life wired by now, but there is more to this journey than that. However, by taking one-step at a time we can do anything if we make an unbending intention and do not give up or let ourselves be talked out it by our very own mind. When you get to be my age and look back at life you see just how quickly time passes and how much we miss by moving too fast, not paying attention and not being awake.

One-step at a time seems like a simple concept but we all know that some of the simplest things in life are the hardest to do. I now know that the only way I can help the world is to help myself first. That may seem selfish to some people but the truth is we have more to offer the ones we love when we take care of ourselves. You certainly cannot change anyone else; I mean really, we fight for peace, what a contradiction that is in this life.

I know that if you begin to be more aware of how you respond and react to life, the people around you and even to your own habitual actions, you can wake up from your slumbering. The key is to try, because we often do not even recognize that we have fallen into the rabbit hole. We are just going along thinking everything is normal until we get that wake-up call from the Divine. Aren’t those fun, if you have not had one just wait, because everyone gets to experience it at some point during our life. Moreover, if you are like me then you will get to enjoy several.

Of course, you do not have to wait for that to happen; you can proactively begin taking one-step at a time to awaken to your True-Self. I hope that you do because it is my vision to see peace in this world, of course that will not happen unless we awaken to our slumbering and begin to view the world differently than we do to today. We all know in our hearts where we need to start and I can only suggest that you do because only you can take that first step. Be assured that I am right there beside you with many more who have taken their first steps and one day together we will create our shared vision for the world.

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Short and Sweet #98 – You Are Divine

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Over the last few days, I have had several conversations and emails about different subjects; however, the underlying theme was the same. We are conditioned by beliefs that are handed down from generation to generation and we forget we are Divine beings. We live life based on this conditioning and do not question it because it is all we remember.

Do you think a Divine being is capable of healing, protecting itself and able to create the life that it wants? When we lose touch with are True-Self and take on the stories of our past we begin to believe that this is who we are. I lived for years with physical and emotional pain all while living an alcoholic life, however this is not who I am. I was never the alcoholic; I was the Divine being experiencing alcoholism. Maybe you were abused, raped or had some other horrible thing happen to you. Do not deny that these things happened, but they do not define who you are now, unless you let them. When we can recognize this and release the past as defining who we are, we can uncover the True-Self, the Divine being underneath the conditioning.

Do not forget who you are and always question anything that is a fear-based belief in your life. Fear only arises within when we lose touch with who we really are and continue to play out the story that our mind is telling us. In the work of Byron Katie called The Work, you ask four questions:

1. Is it true? (Yes or no. If no, move to 3.)

2. Can you absolutely know that it’s true? (Yes or no.)

3. How do you react, what happens, when you believe that thought?

4. Who would you be without the thought?

Many of us live our lives without questioning our thoughts or actions. We believe everything our mind tells us which leads to perpetuating the stories of our past and holding onto who we have become instead of living from the Divine-Self. Each moment affords us the opportunity to let go and start living life from this place. If we see this as difficult or hard then it will be. If we see this as our birthright and who we really are, then all the rest will begin to let go. With awareness on your part and a willingness to succeed you cannot fail, because if you are ready to wake up you are going to wake up. If you are not, then you will continue to live out your life from the stories of your past and the False-Self.

 

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Short and Sweet #94 – Living Happy

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Do you believe that your purpose is to live a happy life? Are most of your actions dedicated to trying to make yourself happy? How is that working for you? Society makes us think many things that are not true and sometimes we can live our whole lives from a belief that is a lie. If you believe that your happiness only comes from outside yourself then you have bought a lie. Happiness that comes from anything you seek outside yourself will not last; it cannot last because anything we look for outside of ourselves is impermanent.

Lasting happiness is your birthright and can only be found where it resides, in you. If you do not feel happy then the first thing you must do is stop looking in all the wrong places. We must awaken to our darkness, and then we can uncover our innate happiness. Many feel if they just ignore what they see it will go away. This is like standing next to at a pile of dung and expecting the smell to go away without removing the dung. We do not have to be mired in the muck; however, by acknowledging who we have become we can begin to uncover our True-Self. This rarely happens on its own and requires us to embrace all parts of ourselves, even the parts we do not like.

You will find that your happiness will spontaneously rise to the surface when you are in service to others. This of course has to be genuine which means it comes from a kind and loving place. Being of service happens in many ways; maybe it is opening the door for someone or picking up some trash. You cannot go around saying how thoughtless someone else is while picking up the trash because this is not being in service; it is called complaining and judgment. Being in service comes from the heart; anything less than that and you will not be able to experience your happiness. Remember even a smile can be in service to someone who is having a bad day. Send them love with your thoughts and energy. You can find many ways to be of service to the world, be creative.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, and to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”

While it is true, the purpose of life is not to be happy, when we are in service with honorable intentions our happiness just shows up without looking for it. This is because our innate happiness grows exponentially when we are in service to the world. Now you know what to do the next time you find yourself feeling unhappy.

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What’s on your mind? I am always open to questions and comments or for a healthy and supportive discussion about these topics.

Short and Sweet #93 –You Do Not Understand

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Simply understand that you do not understand. Many things become known when we open up to this truth. We can never know what someone else is going through or why they are acting the way they are. Look at all the wrong things people do under the pretense of understanding. When we can admit that we do not understand instead of creating a story in our own mind about why things are happening the way they are, then we can begin to attract the light of insight. We have become too attached to what we think we know and understand; from here, the door of intuition is closed and receiving insights of real understanding rarely happen.

How do you know if you really understand something? You can feel it in your body. This is not about going up into the mind. We must connect with the body and go down into the heart. There is no judgment, anger or retaliation and you will feel the truth through empathy, love and kindness. Know that until you know your understanding is not fixed it will change. This is why you always want to be in a state of not understanding. Do not be deceived by THINKING that you understand because your mind will tell you that you do.

Please know that we live in a world that is full of empathy, love and kindness. Look for this, focus on it and do not put your attention on the negative. Now I am not telling you to ignore what you see but you do not have to put all your attention on it. This will only make you fearful, sad and depressed. We choose the path we walk and so it is up to you. Remember to understand yourself first and then you will understand others. If we allow ourselves to go up into the mind and we listen to the carefully woven story that it creates, we lose touch with our body and the True-Self, then we react from the story instead of responding from truth. Know that our spiritual path is a journey of ever-deepening honesty with oneself. In addition, you get to choose how you respond to each moment. What will you choose today?

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What’s on your mind? I am always open to questions and comments or for a healthy and supportive discussion about these topics.

Short and Sweet #92 – Labels

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We have labels for everything in this world, even the things that we do not understand. I read a quote by Jiddu Krishnamurti (12 May 1895 – 17 February 1986) he was a speaker and writer on philosophical and spiritual subjects. He constantly stressed the need for a revolution in the psyche of every human being and emphasized that such revolution cannot be brought about by any external entity, be it religious, political, or social.

“When you call yourself an Indian or a Muslim or a Christian or a European, or anything else, you are being violent. Do you see why it is violent? Because you are separating yourself from the rest of mankind. When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition, it breeds violence. So a man who is seeking to understand violence does not belong to any country, to any religion, to any political party or partial system; he is concerned with the total understanding of mankind.”

This really resonated with me because I have written many times about the use of labels and our beliefs formed around these labels. Like Krishnamurti, I agree that the only way the world is different is if we tap into our true nature and that only happens through self-inquiry or as he puts it a revolution of the psyche.

Anytime we label ourselves or someone else in any way we create separation. This separation is not just from the other person but also from truth and from God. We are all fallible as human beings because this is part of the human condition since the beginning of our existence. When we live from the True-Self, we no longer need to label a person or ourselves as this or that. Separation disappears and all that remains is the Divine, which resides in everyone from the baby just born to the murderer on death row. What would we label this new species, one that does not kill for profit or beliefs but only expresses loving kindness? Perhaps at this level of evolution there would be no need for labels. So the next time you catch yourself labeling someone else stop, connect with your heart center and remember who you really are and then act from this place and see what happens.

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What’s on your mind? I am always open to questions and comments or for a healthy and supportive discussion about these topics.