Feeling Our Words

Words Have Weight

The more conscious we become, the more we deepen our relationship to the words we choose to use.

Words carry energy and this gives language its power and its potential to heal or hurt. Most of us can remember a time that someone sent a word our way, and it stuck with us. It may have been the first time we received a truly accurate compliment, or the time a friend or sibling called us a name, but either way it stuck. This experience reminds us that what we say has weight and power and that being conscious means being aware of how we use words. 

The more conscious we become, the more we deepen our relationship to the words we use so that we speak from a place of actually feeling what we are saying. We begin to recognize that words are not abstract, disconnected entities used only to convey meaning; they are powerful transmitters of feeling. For the next few days, you might want to practice noticing how the words you say and hear affect your body and your emotional state. Notice how the different communication styles of the people in your life make you feel. Also, watch closely to see how your own words come out and what affect they have on the people around you.

You may notice that when we speak quickly, without thinking, or rush to get our ideas across, our words don't carry the same power as when we speak slowly and confidently, allowing those receiving our words time and space to take them in. When we carefully listen to others before we speak, our words have more integrity, and when we take time to center ourselves before speaking, we truly begin to harness the power of speech. Then our words can be intelligent messengers of healing and light, transmitting deep and positive feelings to those who receive them.

From Daily Om

Love is patient. Love is kind.

"Love is patient. Love is kind.

It does not envy. It does not boast.

 It is not proud. It is not rude. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered.

It keeps no record of wrong doing.

 It does not delight in evil, but rejoices in the truth.

It always protects, trusts, hopes, perseveres."

~ 1 Corinthians 13

Listen to your heart

Your hearts know in silence the secrets of the days and the nights.

Kahlil Gibran said that, and he was right. Listen, therefore, to your heart. Cultivate the ability to do this. Practice it. Produce it. Perfect it.

It is not that difficult. Just be quiet with yourself. And for heaven's sake, stop listening to your mind. You will not find the truth there. You may find the answer, but it will not be the truth unless it coincides with the answer in your heart.

You think there is more to know about life than this, but there is not. Your heart holds the key. Your heart holds the wisdom. Your heart holds the future. Your mind knows nothing but the past. It imagines the future will be just like yesterday, so it makes it decisions based on that. Only your heart can see beyond memory's horizon.

Love, Your Friend.... 

The best things in life are free

"The happiest people don’t have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything. Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.”

Where Science and Buddhism meet

Be childlike

"Be very, very simple, very un-complex, very natural, like very small happy children, undisturbed by what happened yesterday or what may happen tomorrow, but living and enjoying the ever present Now to the very full. Never try to possess anything, never try to hold on to anything, because when you do, you cannot be simple and childlike, for you are full of fear, you are afraid of losing that which you are trying to cling on to. When you can open your hearts and share all the good and perfect gifts, which I pour down upon you, holding on to nothing, then you know the true meaning of the freedom of the Spirit and you really are free. When all is out in the open and you have nothing to hide, what a glorious feeling it is."

Eileen Caddy

Clickability - A skill for Life

88.06.Clickability

Clickability: A Skill for Life
By Dr. Rick Kirschner 
 

“Most of what you need to know about success in life is personal in nature. I’ve learned, through my own experience and that of the people I’ve worked with, that people need each other to have fulfilling work, successful careers and meaningful lives. Regardless of your cultural background, your age group, or your social status, your need to get along with people is fundamental to your happiness. No matter how much technical skill you have in your particular field of expertise, no matter how smart you are, how capable you are, how gifted you are, if you don’t know how to connect, relate and communicate with people, there’s little hope for you.

Whether the times are great, or the economy is in the tank, the people who do the best, who prosper and advance, are the people who know how to connect with other people and have it matter. Whether you are a homemaker, a parent, a business owner, a manager, a waiter or a postal worker, your skill with other people determines everything. And when you have the skill to build relationships and networks of relationships, the world is your oyster, and all options are open for you. Being able to click is just a matter of knowing what to do, why to do it, and how to do it.”

Download |

About Dr. Rick Kirschner | As a motivational speaker and communication skills trainer, Dr. Kirschner delivers artful programs in venues ranging from conference halls to boardrooms to grand theaters, with groups as large as 6000 attendees or as small as 4 executives in an off the beaten track locale. Clients include the world’s best known organizations, from Heineken to NASA to Progressive Insurance to the National Association for Neonatal Nurses to Starbucks to Texas Instruments. He’s been interviewed on hundreds of radio and television programs, including on CNBC, FOX and CBC. His ideas are found in newspapers and magazines including USA Today, London Times, The Wall Street Journal and Executive Excellence.

http://theartofchange.com/

88.03.InnovationYou

Only love can do that

Hidden Gems

All of the events in our lives lead to other events, they are all connected.

Sometimes we have an experience that we don’t understand, but if we look deeply, or wait long enough, a reason for that experience will usually reveal itself. All the events in our lives lead to other events, and all that we have manifested in this present moment is the result of past events and experiences. We cannot easily tease apart the many threads that have been woven together to create our current reality. Experiences that don’t make sense, as well as any that we regret, are just as responsible for the good things in our lives as the experiences we do understand or label as “good.”

This is especially important to remember at times when we feel directionless or unsure of what to do. It is often at times like these that we take a job or move to a place without really knowing if it’s the right thing to do. We may ultimately end up leaving the job or the place, but often during that time we will have met someone who becomes an important friend, or we may have an experience that changes us in a profound way. When all the pieces of our life don’t quite make sense, we can remember that there may be some hidden gem of a reason that we are where we are having the experiences we are having. 

It’s fun to look back on past experiences with an eye to uncovering those gems—the dreadful temporary job in a bland office building that introduced you to the love of your life; the roommate you couldn’t tolerate who gave you a book that changed your life; the time spent living in a city you didn’t like that led you into a deeper relationship with yourself. Remembering these past experiences can restore our faith in the present. Life is full of buried treasures. Chances are, you’re sitting on some right now. 

From Dailyom.com

Heart Healers

By Sally Kempton

http://www.yogajournal.com/wisdom/2535

Set Love Free

I am having trouble letting go of a relationship that is over. We had a soul-mate connection but an unsatisfying and stormy relationship, yet I keep hoping that it's not quite over. I am still in love, and my instinct is to nurture the love. How do I let go?

In our culture there's a basic assumption that being in love means we are supposed to walk off into the sunset together. The truth is that two people can be close, love each other deeply and romantically, and not be suited to have a long-term relationship. In fact, having a soul-mate connection is not necessarily a good platform for a permanent relationship. If you accept the idea of karma, you can view that strong sense of connection as a sign that you share an intense karma from the past. The feeling of being soul mates can actually be the karmas drawing the two of you together so that you'll work out some unfinished business or help each other in some specific but limited way.

Paradoxically, being willing to accept the fact that you may not be a couple is the first step toward keeping the love while letting go of the suffering. There may still be pain—loss and endings are painful. By accepting the loss, however, you open the door for a different kind of flowering, between either you and this person or you and someone else.

So, here's my suggestion: Every time you feel the love and pain of the relationship, formally offer it up to the universe or to God. Do this over and over, and you'll begin to notice that your love is being freed of its clinging, possessive quality and becoming more a tender feeling.

When this happens, another possibility emerges. The soul-mate quality in the relationship can develop into a deep friendship. You can then free yourself from romantic expectations and the pain they engender, and genuinely wish the person well. That takes time and attentiveness to your own mind. I'd suggest working with your mind and heart through the following inner practices.

Set aside 30 minutes when you can be alone in your room or in nature. Go into your heart center. Imagine that this person is there with you and say, as if to him, "I release you. I offer our relationship and the love I have for you to the universe."

Stay with this thought or prayer until you feel a shift or release. There may be tears, emotional release, and pain. At some point you should get a sense of letting go. It doesn't have to be a big letting go—just a small release will do. Then, whenever you think of him, have the thought, "I release you and our relationship to the universe." Send him loving kindness by saying or thinking, "May you be happy; may you be healthy; may you be free." Whenever you wish him happiness, wish the same for yourself.

Second, along with that, I strongly suggest that you keep noticing the thoughts and fantasies that come up around this person. Practice seeing them as passing thoughts, instead of identifying with the thoughts and the patterns of feeling. Once you can see a thought as simply a thought—not necessarily a truth—the next step is to let it go. In Sanskrit, certain kinds of thoughts are calledvikalpahs, sometimes translated as "dreams" or "fantasies." One vikalpah that really hooks us is the dream of the perfect love, the perfect relationship. If we identify with that fantasy, it can become an escape for us—a kind of alternate universe that we enter over and over again, effectively preventing us from inhabiting the places and situations of our "real" lives. Fantasy keeps us out of the present. When we practice the mantra If only I were with him, I'd be happy, we make our happiness unreachable, unattainable, outside ourselves, and outside the moment in which we are living. Working with the thoughts—noticing the thought arising, recognizing it as simply a thought, then letting it go—begins to break this pattern and takes us back into our present.

***

The Bhakti Sutras, a great text of Indian devotional literature, teaches that any human emotion serves as a way to love God. God can be loved as a friend, as a parent, even as a child. And the sutras say that the most powerful form of devotional love is the romantic style of devotion, calledmadhura bhakti (literally, "sweet devotion"). The intensity and longing in romantic love creates a powerful fire in the heart. When that fire is turned inward and is directed toward God or toward the inner Self, then it can transform our character, open our heart, and move us into great depths of surrender and adoration. I'm telling you this as a prelude to suggesting a way to work with these fantasies.

There are two approaches to dealing with an impractical and potentially dangerous romantic passion. One way is through discipline, self-inquiry, and renunciation—in other words, by cutting off the fantasies when they arise. The other, more inclusive, path is the way of the ancient yoga philosophy known as Tantra. Tantra asks you to focus on the feelings behind the fantasies—the pure feeling of longing for love that we all possess. This longing is activated by our connection to another person, yet it is much larger than that individual. When we find it and follow it, the longing can lead us toward Essence itself.

Both approaches work: One uses discipline to remove the fantasy, and the other moves into and through the fantasy to the longing at its core. By attending to the call of your deepest desire, you can make your fantasies into pointers rather than ends in themselves.

The way of discipline is the basic practice of interrupting thoughts and fantasies, the way you would do in meditation. Begin by making a decision that when the fantasies arise, you'll interrupt them. You may have to do that again and again—perhaps every morning when you wake up. Remind yourself that you don't want to go down the road of fantasy. Explain to yourself that they distract you and ultimately cause suffering. Then, each time one comes up, imagine yourself offering it to a fire in your heart. Just keep offering your thoughts to the internal fire again and again. This is an essential meditative discipline that helps break any kind of cognitive pattern.

To try the Tantric approach, begin by finding a quiet place to sit that's free from distractions. Then spend some time bringing up the fantasies. Fully feel the emotions and inner sensations aroused by your fantasy romance: the pure longing, the pure sexual intensity, if that is how it manifests. Try to feel the sensation deep inside the core of your body. Then bring the sensation up into the heart area and hold your attention there, feeling the emotion expand. Imagine it as light.

At that point, totally remove the image or the fantasy of your dream lover. This is crucial. Instead, concentrate on the feeling state itself. Notice its flavors—perhaps aliveness, sadness, longing, heart-ache, love. Let yourself sit with the feeling state of your heart. 

Recognize that these are yourfeelings, your longings, your love. With that awareness, let the feeling state continue to shift and expand.

The result of this practice is the dawning recognition that what you really are after, what you really long for, is the felt state triggered by your romantic fantasies. The more you can touch the feeling state in your body while letting go of the image that triggered it, the more you'll begin to see that it is your own love, your own internally generated aliveness.

an your lover. Bring into your awareness the image of different people in your life—people whom you love, people whom you're annoyed by, people whom you've seen on TV, people who are suffering, people who are sick, people who are happy and well. One by one, bring those people into your heart space and hold them there within the feeling space that you've created. Or, if it feels more natural, imagine yourself breathing the feeling state into those people.

A second step with the Tantric approach might be to expand the feeling to include people other th

Let the romantic feeling spread to include as many others as you possibly can. Realize that the love you feel can be universal. When you allow your focused, personal affection to expand in that way, you can begin to recognize how many opportunities for loving there actually are in this world.

Take it one step further and acknowledge the truth that is at the heart of the bhakti or devotional path: Inside your feeling is God. A feeling of love—any feeling of love—is God. Be aware that this feeling within you is Divine Presence.

These two practices, the basic mind discipline and the Tantric, both help fantasies lose their stickiness. But the Tantric approach can help you open your heart to love's healing depths.

One kind thing

Helping others makes us happy--and it makes life meaningful.  But how do we foster kindness in children?   

  

Try asking these two questions at dinner tonight:

(1) What is one kind thing that someone else did for you today?

(2) What is one kind thing that YOU did for SOMEONE ELSE today?

Younger kids may need help brainstorming what "kind things" are - the more things in this category the better.  Smiling at a grouchy stranger or hugging a teacher count!

  

May you be happy, 

 

Christine Carter, Ph.D.

Hat Tip: These questions came from Jenny at Doing Good Together   

Speak with the language of love

Listen with the ears of tolerance
See through the eyes of compassion
Speak with the language of love.
Rumi
(Love u all) ♥

Simplicity, patience, compassion

“Simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures. Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being. Patient with both friends and enemies, you accord with the way things are. Compassionate toward yourself, you reconcile all beings in the world.”
― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

Magnetism — Your Buffer Against Hard Times

by Swami Kriyananda

In 2004 a forest fire approached the entrance to Ananda Village and for a while, it looked like it would destroy our main facilities. Village residents converged near the entrance and chanted and prayed. As the fire came closer, everyone faced the oncoming fire and chanted “Aum” with great energy and determination. Suddenly the wind shifted direction and the community was saved. The fire marshal said, “If I had not seen this with my own eyes, I would not believe it.” But we have seen things like this again and again.

There are miracles, yes, but magnetism is what draws those miracles. Magnetism is the most important thing in life. I believe we’re on the eve of difficult times but if you have the right kind of magnetism, even if there’s a depression, it won’t be a predicament for you. Success in every aspect of life depends on the power of your magnetism to attract it. By developing “success magnetism,” you will find victory in all situations even in the midst of widespread difficulties.

Step One: Will Power and Concentration

How does magnetism work?  Magnetism is generated by the strength and quality of your energy flow. When you pass electricity through a wire, it generates a magnetic field. The more electricity passes through the wire, the stronger the magnetic field.

Human magnetism works on the same principle. Whenever you will something to happen, a ray of energy goes out, projected by the power of your thought. That energy generates a magnetic force-field which can attract to you the objects of your expectations. The strength of that magnetism depends on your level of energy. People of low energy generate very little magnetism. Those with high energy can perform miracles.

“The greater the will, the greater the flow of energy” was one of Paramhansa Yogananda’s oft-stated maxims. The more you focus your energy one-pointedly, the stronger your magnetism to attract what you need. Concentration is thus the first necessity in developing that kind of will power. If your energy goes out in many different directions, you have very little magnetism. When you can focus your mind one-pointedly, you are already far on the way to developing a powerful will and the magnetism to attract success.

Step Two: Enthusiasm

For your magnetism to gain power, it is vitally important to summon up strong feeling for what you want to accomplish. Whatever you are doing, do it with all your heart. Magnetism is the result not only of focused energy but also of enthusiasm.

It has been said that nothing great has ever been accomplished without enthusiasm. Thomas Edison, for example, went through 43,000 experiments before he found the right filament for the light bulb—such was his deep feeling for the work he was doing. If you look at the lives of great scientists, you will find that they were passionate men and women and absolutely dedicated to the search for scientific truth. They could never have accomplished what they did without enthusiasm.

Always be careful to keep your enthusiasm from spilling over into excitement. For the will to become will power, it must be directed calmly, with control. As that happens, even when others have failed, somehow you will succeed.

Step Three: Positive Thinking 

To develop magnetism, always be positive in your thinking. You will attract success if your mind is positive, and you will attract failure if it isn’t. A positive attitude will bring a positive response.

I had a very interesting experience of this principle at the airport in 1955, when I was leaving for France. When checking in at the airline counter, I stood behind a man whose baggage was obviously overweight. This man, when told he had to pay more, became very upset and made threats about not using that airline in the future. He even asked to see the manager. The angrier he got, the firmer the airline official became in his refusal to back down.

My baggage was much heavier than this man’s, but as I went up to the counter I thought, “This man is a friend. God is in this form,” and with that positive thought, I smiled at him. He looked at my baggage and said, “Well, what have we got here?” And without another word he allowed my baggage to go through. When your thoughts are positive, when they’re kind and helpful, you will find that others will want to help you.

I passed my music composition exam in college using this same principle. I didn’t go to any classes, but right before going in to take the exam, I read the bold print rules in the textbook. Two rules stuck in my mind, one of which was that a bass line should go in the opposite direction to the melody. Armed with this information, and with a very positive, cheerful outlook, I went in to take the exam.

We were asked to write a melody for a bass line. Suddenly, into my mind came a beautiful oriental melody. Later, the professor told me that it was on the strength of that melody that he gave me a good grade in the course.

The inspiration for that melody came because I was positive in my expectations and free of doubt. If you have doubt, if you think, “Well, gee, I don’t know if I can do this,” inspiration won’t come. But if all your energy is strongly focused in a positive direction, you will develop the kind of magnetism that will attract inspiration, answers to questions—all sorts of things. Even the right, pertinent knowledge can be attracted by the right, magnetic expectation.

Step Four: Solution Consciousness

“Solution consciousness” is another important aspect of magnetism.  Many people have “problem consciousness.” You ask them to do something and their response is always: “Yes, but!”  People like that never succeed. Whenever you have a problem, don’t think of it as a problem. See it as an opportunity. You will be amazed how much you can accomplish when you eliminate the word “can’t.”

Yogananda was very strong on solution consciousness. During World War II, he wanted to build a church in Hollywood, but new buildings were not allowed in Los Angeles.  Everybody told him, “It’s not possible.” He said, “Oh, yes it is.” Since there was no law against renovation, he found an old building that was barely standing and moved it on to property he had bought. The neighbors complained bitterly but he developed the building into a beautiful church.

Don’t dwell on difficulties longer than it takes to define them clearly. With solution-consciousness you can have success. Solution-consciousness actually attracts right answers to itself, whereas problem-consciousness prevents answers from even arising in the mind.

Step Five: Kindness

An attitude of kindness is also important for magnetism. Kindness is very magnetic. When people are kind, they draw other people’s help in return. In true kindness, there is much more giving than receiving. True kindness is an all-giving energy.

Paramhansa Yogananda was all-giving in just this way. Once he went to a cane shop, and being a representative of an organization, he wanted to spend the organization’s money wisely, so he bargained. After bargaining and getting the best price he could, he thought, “This man has such a poor shop. I want to help him.” And he gave him back more money than he had saved!

The shopkeeper said, “You are a gentleman, sir.” He gave Yogananda the best cane he had. When Yogananda came home, he said, “What a poor floor that man had. I think I’ll get him a new floor.” That kind of kindness is what you need to develop.

The more you give generously of yourself—to God, to life, to other people, the more the karmic law supports you in return. Your ability to succeed in business, or in any other endeavor, increases to the extent of your awareness of your kinship with the great web of life.

Step Six: Non-attachment

One of the basic teachings in the Bhagavad Gita is nishkam karma: action without desire for the fruits of action. Many self-help books say you should desire intensely whatever you want, for that very intensity will draw to you the object of your desire. When desire and attachment exist, however, what you attract may not be what you need or it may be much less than you could have had. When putting out energy to achieve a goal, it is much better to focus on the energy flow itself, not the specific objective, even when your need is for a specific sum of money.

Years ago members of Ananda Village were invited to pledge different amounts of money to help with the enhancement of “downtown Ananda.” We needed $3000 to pave the entrance driveway. I knew that no one else could come up with that kind of money so I decided (secretly) to pledge the whole amount myself, even though I didn’t have nearly that amount. The money was needed in two weeks.

Although I made a request for a specific sum of money, in praying to Divine Mother I concentrated on the energy of the prayer, rather than the specific request. With great will power, I projected the energy of the prayer upward from my heart and then out through the spiritual eye. I didn’t visualize a specific sum of money or how the money might come. Instead I focused on the purpose this money was meant to serve with the thought, “Divine Mother knows more than I, and will take care of that end of things.”

One morning nearly two weeks later I saw an envelope lying on the floor inside my front door. In it was a letter and check for $3000 from a friend who had once lived at Ananda and had recently received an inheritance.

When you act with non-attachment, you can be sure of one thing: when success comes, it will be in the best possible way. Whatever you need, send energy outward as a “loving demand.”  Energy flows much more forcefully when you think of it as a flow, without fixed and definite goals.

Step Seven: Attune to a Greater Reality

The power to attract success of every kind increases in direct proportion to your ability to recognize, and attune yourself to, a reality greater than your own. The more you unite your awareness to the Infinite Consciousness, the more effective your power will be. What you can on your own do is limited but what God can accomplish through you is limitless.

It’s absolutely thrilling to live life this way and to experience how much can be accomplished. I want to assure you of this because in hard times, there will be a lot of suffering. But you don’t have to suffer if you put out the right kind of energy.

From an April 2011 talk in Los Angeles, California.

http://www.anandaclaritymagazine.com/2011/06/magnetism-kriyananda-money/

Focus on the Good

Raise Your Vibration

There are many ways to raise your vibration including thinking positive and uplifting thoughts.

Everything in the universe is made of energy. What differentiates one form of energy from another is the speed at which it vibrates. For example, light vibrates at a very high frequency, and something like a rock vibrates at a lower frequency but a frequency nonetheless. Human beings also vibrate at different frequencies. Our thoughts and feelings can determine the frequency at which we vibrate, and our vibration goes out into the world and attracts to us energy moving at a similar frequency. This is one of the ways that we create our own reality, which is why we can cause a positive shift in our lives by raising our vibration.

We all know someone we think of as vibrant. Vibrant literally means “vibrating very rapidly.” The people who strike us as vibrant are vibrating at a high frequency, and they can inspire us as we work to raise our vibration. On the other hand, we all know people that are very negative or cynical. These people are vibrating at a lower frequency. They can also be an inspiration because they can show us where we don’t want to be vibrating and why. To discover where you are in terms of vibrancy, consider where you fall on a scale between the most pessimistic person you know and the most vibrant. This is not in order to pass judgment, but rather it is important to know where you are as you begin working to raise your frequency so that you can notice and appreciate your progress.

There are many ways to raise your vibration, from working with affirmations to visualizing enlightened entities during meditation. One of the most practical ways to raise your vibration is to consciously choose where you focus your attention. To understand how powerful this is, take five minutes to describe something you love unreservedly—a person, a movie, an experience. When your five minutes are up, you will noticeably feel more positive and even lighter. If you want to keep raising your vibration, you might want to commit to spending five minutes every day focusing on the good in your life. As you do this, you will train yourself to be more awake and alive. Over time, you will experience a permanent shift in your vibrancy.

From Daily OM

The Tao of Travel

• http://zenhabits.net/travel

‘A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.’ ~Laozi

Post written by Leo Babauta.

I’m not the world’s most seasoned traveler, but I have made a number of trips lately and have learned a few things that work well.
This year I’ve traveled to Guam for a month, to Portland, New York City, Las Vegas, London, Paris, Southern California. They’ve all been beautiful trips, and I’ve never taken more than a small backpack.
Travel lightly, with no set agenda, and you’ll have an amazing, stress-free trip.
Traveling doesn’t have to be stressful. It can be simple, if you keep it so.

Essential

1. Pack little. I take a small backpack, and don’t pack it too heavy either. I’ve found through experience that I just need a pair of jeans, 2-3 T-shirts, 2-3 quick-dry boxer briefs, 2-3 pairs of quick-dry socks, maybe a light sweater. I wash things in the shower if they get dirty and hang them to dry overnight. I bring my laptop so I can work for 30-45 minutes every morning. A paperback novel, maybe a small notebook. Minimal toiletries: deodorant, toothbrush, razor, Dr. Brommer’s liquid soap, dental floss. I never wait to check my back or get the bag after the flight, and I can pack in 5 minutes.
2. Have no agenda. I often ask for recommendations from locals, and get a list of incredible things. I’ll also put everything on a Google Map, so I can see where everything is. Then I toss all that out and let the day lead me where it will. Having no set agenda means you aren’t pressured to get anything done each day, which means you can enjoy yourself fully.
3. Walk a lot. The best way to explore any place is to walk. Walk all over, with no set directions. Get lost.
4. Eat lightly. Eat anything you want, but don’t eat a lot. I like to mix fruits and veggies in with the heavier stuff, so I don’t feel so heavy.
5. Find space to relax. Most people try to do too much, and rush around all day. Stroll casually, find good coffee shops or tea shops to relax in, or a good sidewalk cafe with good wine. Find parks and enjoy them. If it rains, walk in the rain. Read a lot.
6. Be present. Don’t be on your smartphone or laptop all the time. Don’t always think about what you’ll be doing later, or work stuff. Be fully present, and you’ll have a great time.
7. Smile at people. Talk to the locals. Ask for recommendations. Find out about their lives.

A Few More

• Do bodyweight exercises. I do a mix of pushups, squats, lunges, burpees in my hotel room or apartment.
• Don’t just stay for a day or two. If you really want to see a city, stay for a week or more. I could have gone to Europe and hit up 10 cities in three weeks, but instead I split that time among just two cities (London & Paris) and really saw those cities.
• Get a short-term apartment if you can. If you can stay for a week, get an apartment if you can afford it. It’s cheaper than a hotel and much more comfortable.
• Read a good novel.
• Bring a metal water bottle. I learned this from my friend Scott: pack an empty water bottle, so you can get through TSA security checkpoints, and then fill up the bottle at the airport water fountain after the checkpoint. I carry the water bottle around everywhere I go so I’m never thirsty.
• Keep a journal. Don’t stress over the journal. It doesn’t have to be daily. Just write out your thoughts, impressions when you have some spare time.
• Travel locally. For years I never traveled, to save costs. I was content where I was, and that’s still true. Be a tourist in your hometown — see the sights, walk the area, explore and try to find new things you’ve never seen before. You don’t need to spend a lot to travel locally.

‘One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.’ ~Henry Miller

Give the best of you everywhere you go

The fastest way to receive is to give, because giving starts the reciprocal action of receiving. We all receive according to how much we give. Give the best of you everywhere you go. Give a smile. Give thanks. Give kindness. Give love.

Your giving should be a giving without expectation of return - a giving for the sheer joy of it.

May the joy be with you,

Rhonda Byrne

The magic of your subconscious mind

"There is a gold mine within you from which you can extract everything you need to live life gloriously, joyously, and abundantly.”
- Joseph Murphy

After 30 + years of knowing that thoughts become things, I feel as if I’ve just picked up a HUGE piece of the How-To-Get-What-You-Want puzzle.  I now realize that harnessing the extraordinary power of the subconscious mind is a significant part of deliberate creation.

Your subconscious mind is the gold mine referred to in the Joseph Murphy quote above.  And what a gold mine it is!  Your subconscious mind is directly linked to the quantum field of infinite possibilities.  It’s one with infinite intelligence and boundless wisdom.  It’s where intuition comes from.  It’s where inspiration for scientific discoveries, great inventions, artistic masterpieces, and music that moves your soul comes from.  This is the field of pure potential whereeverything is possible and YOU get to choose. 

If you think of the conscious brain as the captain of the ship, then the subconscious brain would be the entire ship’s crew.   Dreams, goals, plans and desires are hatched in the conscious part of the brain, but it’s the subconscious part of the brain that executes these plans.  Your subconscious mind works non-stop according to the programs it has been given.

With three simple steps, you can this very day begin reprogramming your subconscious mind so that it works to bring you what you DO WANT rather than what you DON’T WANT: 

(1) Meditate.  Meditation raises your vibration, releases resistance and trains your brain to focus.  It enables you to tap into the quantum soup of infinite consciousness.  Simply get still, quiet the wheels of your mind, and enter into a sleepy, drowsy state.  In this relaxed, receptive state, you’re ready to plant the seed of your desire in the fertile ground of your subconscious mind.

(2) Visualize.  When you visualize and imagine the fulfillment of your desire, you create a neural network within your brain that corresponds to your desire.  Visualize the experience you desire with great clarity and emotion, making the images vivid and real.

(3) Affirm.  The best affirmations are bold, clear, positive, and stated in the present tense.  As with visualization, when you repeat affirmations of your desires as if you’re living them now, you establish new neural pathways in your subconscious brain.  Continue to affirm your desires and feel the reality of living your dreams, completely disregarding any evidence to the contrary.  

“The great secret possessed by the great men of all ages was
their ability to contact and release the powers of their
subconscious mind.  You can do the same.”
- Joseph Murphy  

As you meditate, visualize and affirm, you systematically impress your desires onto the power center of your subconscious mind as a new set of instructions and the infinite power of the quantum field sets about to bring your vision into physical reality.

As you harness the Magic of Your Subconscious Mind, you’ll be able to access the gold mine within you and extract an abundance of love, joy, freedom, empowerment, and prosperity – anything and everything your heart desires.

Kate Corbin

A Simple Path

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“Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart.” ~ Seneca

Mary Beth and I enjoyed a rare mid-week date last night. The typical Wednesday night is spent shuttling Emily to and from activities, preparing dinner, and making sure homework is finished. But summer’s slower pace found us home, alone, and without the usual chores to do.

With our younger daughter at summer camp, we had time to do as we pleased. My wife and I selected an Italian café where we sat at a high-top table. We shared a Caesar salad and sipped Peroni beer while waiting for our entrees to arrive.

Mary Beth and I chatted about Caitlin’s move to Miami. We both agreed Brandon’s recent visit home was a particularly pleasant one and we started planning Andrew’s return to college.

For a few moments on a Wednesday night, my wife and I took a break from the ordinary to celebrate the extraordinary life we share.

After dinner, we stopped by the new Trader’s Joe. The low-priced specialty grocery store recently opened in our neighbor and we were eager to see what the fuss was all about.

Walking through the aisles of organically-grown broccoli and low sodium chicken pasta soup, we held hands just like we did 27 years ago when our appetites where focused on foods a little less healthy. We settled on frozen mint peas and 2% milk before leaving the store.

Driving home I found my hand still connected to Mary Beth’s. The splendor of our four children, my wife’s thriving practice and the satisfaction of my recent promotion made the evening, on a not-to-so typical Wednesday night, extraordinary.

Sometimes the simple path to an extraordinary life is taking the time to recognize exactly what you have – and then appreciating every moment of it.

Summer will be ending soon. The shuttle service will be back in action and the ordinary Wednesday night’s will return. And on those Wednesday nights when we’re checking homework or checking in with our other children, I will gratefully enjoy every moment because I know we have a life that is extraordinary – a life that is brighter than diamonds.

What is A Simple Path?

This post is in A Simple Path, a series of short pieces inspired by my own life experiences. Each post is a simple path to experiencing something wonderful: maybe seeing life from a different perspective, or celebrating its beauty. Click here to read all posts in the series.

http://www.thebridgemaker.com/a-simple-path-to-a-life-brighter-than-diamonds/

Alex Blackwell
The BridgeMaker Founder

What Comes After Enlightenment

Enlightenment has become a fuzzy word, so for the purpose of this article, let’s define it as the realization of Oneness. Not the knowledge nor mind-level understanding that “yes, we are all One; isn’t this wonderful” but the realization based on direct experiences. When you are enlightened, you know it as clearly, solidly, and directly as you know your heart is beating. There is no doubt, no room for discussion, period.

So you want to be enlightened?

If you are still in the illusion of separation, enlightenment (again, meaning this realization of Oneness), especially the first glimpse of it, can be wonderful. You’ve been looking for ways to come home and suddenly you realize you are already home. No more struggles to find your way.

However, the truth is enlightenment is not the end. If it is, we didn’t need to bother to be incarnated at all. As I explained in this article of who we are, we started as the one being.

What would be a good analogy? It’s like making jigsaw puzzle from a picture. If appreciating the beauty of the picture is your purpose, you wouldn’t want to break it up to puzzle pieces. You already have the complete picture. Yet some people actually like to make puzzles — because they want to play with puzzles. It’s fun.

Truth is in ambiguity

So enlightenment is only half the truth. For example, Eckhart Tolle’s “A New Earth” is a great book. I agree with everything in it. But it’s only half the truth.

The other half is about our individuality.

We tend to think “If one is true, the other is wrong”. Well, in this case, both of these statements are true in its full meanings;

• We are all One.
• We are individuals.

This may be hard to grasp because we are so conditioned in the monic thinking. Take your time to get use to this perspective.

Because otherwise, you could be stuck in enlightenment.

After Enlightenment

Many so-called spiritual people are stuck in enlightenment. After they see the Oneness, they cannot make sense of their life as it unfolds on this Earth.

Surely, we are better off by dropping certain ideas. So if you find yourself not caring about worldly achievements or how you might appear in others’ eyes, great. It may take some changes in how you steer your life and you may feel disoriented for a while, but that’s just usual with major changes.

This kind of change is common after enlightenment and not what I mean by being “stuck”.

What I mean by being “stuck in enlightenment” is ignoring the meaning of why we are incarnated with physical bodies, with different interests, likes, etc.

The nature of life

By definition, being in this physical world means we choose one over the other. Whereas you have both male and female energies as a spirit, physically you are either a man or a woman. Whereas you could be anywhere and everywhere as a spirit, physically you are either here or elsewhere.

As a spirit, you already know Oneness and you can experience everything that ever happened and ever will. You have every possible perspective. As a physical being, you experience one thing at a time from a fixed point of view.

Being physical is restricting but also fun. We choose one piece of the puzzle over the other.

Being fully here

After enlightenment, it is essential to learn to be fully here. To experience what is happening right here and now.

Learn to switch the modes. I have three modes: my individual existence mode, my psychic mode in which I choose specific perspective other than my own, and the Oneness mode.

You may have just two (without the psychic mode) or may have more that I don’t know yet. That’s okay. The point is to realize that all these modes are equally important and to be able to consciously switch the modes.

If you have prejudice, such as one favoring the Oneness mode, you miss the joy of this physical world. You also fail to exercise your power you potentially have. This undermines the purpose of this incarnation.

If you cannot switch modes consciously, you are at the mercy of whatever is happening around you or in the shared common consciousness. This is super disempowering.

How much time to spend in each mode? This is up to you, but for most people, I recommend spending sufficient amount of time in your personal mode, while spending enough time in the Oneness mode so you won’t forget it. (Here is another article about the two modes, the absolute and the relative, that you may find helpful.)

True Enlightenment

Come to think of it, true enlightenment should mean this conscious and free shifts in our awareness. Realizing there is another mode besides the separated individual mode is only the beginning.

And what happens when you have this true enlightenment? Freedom! You realize very few things, if any, matters and you can be fully yourself.

You could be singing and dancing all day long. (By the way, this is close to what I’ve been doing since I got a piano. I am on voluntary sabbatical, not making any money, just going crazy with music ♡ I heard Rumi did something similar, too.) Or maybe you have something else you like doing — isn’t it wonderful we each have different likes?

And if you think I’m so conceited — well, what do I care? This is so much fun!

Also I have forgotten most of the things I use to write. Seeking cannot be a part of this being, and even the memory of it means so little now. (And mind you, this blog has been my life.) In order to place some links in this article so that it would be helpful to some readers took quite a lot of time because of this.

Soon, I will forget enlightenment. That is true enlightenment.

(photo credit)

July 3, 2011 by Akemi
http://reallifespirituality.com/after-enlightenment/