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Tuesday 31 October 2023
On this day of your life
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I believe God wants you to know ... ... that all the
changes occurring right now on this planet are leading to a better
life for all. The movement here
is going to be back to basics, back to what
matters, back to our true values in families, in
relationships, in business and commerce, in politics, and in
the world. Do not worry,
therefore. This is the Time which has been predicted. And
only good will come of it. |
A Grounding Embrace (OM)
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If you are feeling anxious, sad, or drained,
try hugging a tree and allow her vast amount of grounding energy to assist
you. Trees are among the world’s greatest
givers. Their slow and gentle life cycles provide the world with clean air,
their roots filter water, and their majestically spreading branches provide
shade. Full of vibrant, natural energy, trees can also give us the gifts of
peace and nurturance. Hugging or sitting with your spine against the trunk of
any tree can ground your body and inspire a profound closeness with nature as
the energy of the tree connects to you. Making physical contact with a tree
can help you relax, alleviate stress, sleep more deeply, and hold on to more
positive energy. Trees can absorb great amounts of energy and have the
ability to soak up harmful energy from deep within you. If you are feeling
anxious, sad, drained, or tense, then try hugging a tree. Go to the woods, a garden, or a park, and
find a tree that you would like to hug. Stand next to the tree and close your
eyes. Relax your senses while breathing in the scent of leaves and bark.
Listen to the creaking of the branches. When you feel settled, open your
eyes, keeping them unfocused, and walk around its trunk. Feel the unique
energy of the tree as your auras meet each other. Ask the tree for permission
to touch it. If you feel the tree saying yes to you, begin breathing in its
energy. Put your arms around the trunk and press your face to its bark.
Embrace the tree for as long as you wish, feeling the roughness of its wood
and the strength of its years. Relax into that strength and let the tree
support you. You may even be able to physically feel a cyclical flow of
energy taking place between your body and the tree. You can sit with your back pressed to the
tree for the same effect if you feel more comfortable doing so. Likewise, if
you are seeking greater comfort, you may want to wrap your legs and arms
around the tree, either at the base or by straddling a branch. Remember to
thank the tree because by hugging your tree you are drinking from the well of
natural copious energy cultivated by the tree’s many years on this earth. |
We Can All Make Miracles (KB)
Karen Berg
OCTOBER 29, 2023
This article on the portion of the week was previously published in 2017.
Human experience reveals that where there is belief and a willingness to do what it takes, people have created incredible realities. Consider the story of the 94-year old woman who just completed a half marathon in June (her first full marathon was at 76), or the incredible feats of mothers who in an instant become powerful enough to lift a car in order to save their child trapped beneath? What this tells us is that we all can achieve miracles in our lives, so long as we have the consciousness to create them. Our reality can only change according to what our mind will allow.
“Our reality can only change according to what our mind will allow.”
So first off, if I want a miracle in my life, I have to really believe it can happen. Because if I don't believe it can happen, then it simply never can. I have always felt that the Biblical portion of Vayera illustrates this idea perfectly. In this story, Sarah had to create the space for a miracle to occur. Avraham and Sarah were close to 100 years old, and well aware that children were not a part of their astrological destiny. And yet, an angel came and told them that Sarah would bear a child. Right away, Avraham was in acceptance of this news, but it says, "Sarah laughed." When she tried to fathom that literally her body was miraculously being rejuvenated and shifted for this incredible feat, she had to ask: Please grant me the consciousness to understand that this is really happening.
“We can all make miracles.”
So often we ask for things we don't believe we really can achieve, and so we don't create a vessel for receiving it. There is something that needs to be rearranged within our consciousness in order to create the fertile soil where that miracle can materialize. In truth, each one of us has been endowed with the energy we need to fulfill our purpose. As Sarah’s story illustrates to us, with the help of the Creator anything is possible.
We can all make miracles. The first step is to simply believe that we can.
Buddhist Insight on How to Deal with our Emotions.
In the past, I had no idea how to work with my emotions.
In fact, I knew little about them. Whenever something upsetting happened, I poured all my energy into changing the outer factors, and I paid little attention to my internal reaction.
Buddhism has introduced me to my internal world. It has taught me that my mind contributes to my experiences of happiness and unhappiness—and that my emotions are often the result of ways I have misinterpreted myself, my life, and the world.
It’s overwhelming to consider this at first, because we are used to thinking that happiness lies out there—in a person, a place, an object, or a situation. This is why we often neglect our emotions and attempt to change things on the outside, so they’ll suit our own needs.
However, the truth is that we can’t always change the world. When things don’t go as expected, we often become disillusioned. Still, the only thing we can change (or control) is our reaction to the world and what happens in it.
The emotions that we feel—fear, anxiety, hatred, sorrow, jealousy, happiness—are often the result of an outward action. Nonetheless, their nature is ephemeral. If we put aside our mental interference and investigate emotions the first moments they arise, we’ll realize that they slowly dissipate and get destroyed on their own.
According to Buddhist teachings, all sorts of emotions can be harmful—even the good ones. We might think that we become attached to people or objects, but the truth is that we get attached to the emotions they stir up in us (whether they be pleasurable or painful). That said, the desire to feel certain emotions is the reason we get attached and suffer.
The solution isn’t really about whether we should eliminate certain emotions or not. Emotions are part of our human experience, and we can’t stop ourselves from feeling them. However, what the Buddha was concerned about was how to get to a point where our emotions no longer overwhelm us.
Whether it’s happiness or hatred, how do we prevent it from controlling us?
The Buddha advised us to examine life’s experiences and our reaction to them. We must understand that every experience, person, or object is transient—and our emotions are also transient. An emotion is only fleeting, but it is further expanded through our mental judgment and analysis.
S.N. Goenka explains this beautifully:
“Every sensation shares the same characteristic: it arises and passes away, arises and passes away. It is this arising and passing that we have to experience through practice, not just accept as truth because Buddha said so, not just accept because intellectually it seems logical enough to us. We must experience sensation’s nature, understand its flux, and learn not to react to it.”
This is not being pessimistic; this is cultivating a realistic view on life. When we realize the impermanence of our emotions and experiences, our attitude will automatically balance itself. When faced with a new experience, instead of building expectations around it or getting attached to the feelings it inflicts on us, we deal with it from moment to moment.
Now, how do we discipline these emotions—or, as Goenka suggests: how do we stop reacting to them?
Buddhist philosophy recommends the development of self-observation, self-understanding, and insight. When an emotion arises, pause for a moment and bring awareness to your thoughts and reactions. This is the practice of mindfulness.
Watch the emotion as it arises. See what physical reactions it prompts. Don’t judge it, and don’t fuel it with thoughts. Let the emotion be, and don’t react to it with aversion or pleasure. We will notice that the action we take when our emotions are balanced again is conscious and healthy. However, the outer reaction we have when our emotions are running high can often be destructive to us and others.
Additionally, Buddhism stresses the importance of generating good intentions toward others—especially the ones who have hurt us. When someone harms us, we usually blame them—or we might want to hurt them back. Practicing Metta Bhavana is a good step toward learning how to forgive others and process our emotions of anger and hatred. We must believe that everyone is worthy of happiness, including ourselves.
And finally, meditation is a fascinating technique that the Buddha taught. Practicing meditation teaches us to return to our breath whenever we are faced with overwhelming emotions. It grounds us and puts us back in the present moment. Meditation also teaches us to familiarize ourselves with the emotions and thoughts we experience without judging them.
Learning to deal with overwhelming emotions is a process, and we must practice every day. It requires training, willingness, and (most importantly) patience.
~
Mindful Bonus:
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A Gentle 4-Step Practice for Settling the Mind.
“The natural quality of mind is clear, awake, alert, and knowing. Free from fixation. By training in being present, we come to know the nature of our mind. So the more you train in being present – being right here – the more you begin to feel like your mind is sharpening up. The mind that can come back to the present is clearer and more refreshed, and it can better weather all the ambiguities, pains, and paradoxes of life.” ~ Pema Chödrön
~
Having guided thousands and taught hundreds of people how to meditate, I know that coming in “too hot” is one of the biggest obstacles to developing a consistent meditation practice.
We busily go about our days from sun up until sun down, thinking, planning, remembering, and moving hurriedly on autopilot.
When it is time to meditate, we expect our minds to follow our desire for presence and quiet. We are surprised by how the mind bucks against us, continuing its planning and remembering when all we want is peace and presence.
Sound familiar? Let’s try a four-step practice for settling the mind that works.
Before we go there, it might be helpful to understand the nature of the mind’s landscape. Simply put, our mind is here to help us make decisions and to analyze events as they occur. Most importantly, the mind is here to search for danger and to help keep us safe. I like to think of this like a boat radar searching for incoming vessels. We don’t know what their intentions are until we gather more information. Until that information is adequately gathered, the mind will stay on alert looking for additional information to keep us safe.
Interestingly, this natural scanning state of mind is both the source of our inability to direct and sustain our attention under our own volition and it is the mechanism by which we can learn to direct and sustain our attention under our own volition!
If you have ever experienced being stuck in a thought-cycle, you know the power of the mind to fixate single-pointedly. Perhaps it was on the love you wish you had, the job opportunity you were pining after, or the words that cut through your heart. Take a moment to remember a time that the mind got fixated on something and you couldn’t shake it. Despite a deep desire to “let it go,” recall the feeling of helplessness as the mind churned. Recognizing the mind is an exceptionally powerful machine that can either serve or hurt is the entry point to the power of meditation.
When we meditate, we are switching out the object of our attention to something of our own volition. Rather than searching like a radar, instead we choose an object to direct our attention toward. This might be a mantra, a flame, the sensation of breath, or something else.
Regardless of the object, when we choose to place our attention on the object again and again, we are using the natural proclivity of this powerful machine to fixate in order to retrain the mind to focus on a certain object. We are teaching ourselves to sit and stay with presence rather than losing ourselves in reaction and analysis. This requires a consistent daily practice.
However, most of us never get to a place where we enjoy our meditation practice enough to look forward to it each and every day.
This four-step practice for settling the mind can change that:
1. Notice your surroundings.
Sit down in a relatively quiet place. Be comfy. Sit in a chair if you like or lie down. Turn off your ringer. Set a timer for 10 minutes. Everyone has 10 minutes to set aside each day to formally practice. Close your eyes and find repose. Take a few slow breaths, emphasizing the exhale. Allow the mind to simply wander for a few minutes by taking in your immediate surroundings. It’s best to move the mind through the five senses. Notice the raw inputs coming in and try not to engage a bunch of thoughts or overlay. What do you smell? How does the air feel on your skin? And so on.
2. Notice…you.
After getting a sense of our surroundings, then we shift to ourselves.
Notice how you are feeling physically in this moment, including the contact between any part of your body and the surface you are seated or lying down on. Notice how you are feeling emotionally. Don’t worry if you’re ever not sure. Sometimes it is obvious; other times less so. Simply notice. And finally, notice the state of the mind in that moment. Does it feel open and vast or racing and small and fixated or something else?
We are simply noticing the landscape of our present moment experience. Again, try to allow the feelings and sensations to shine through without placing judgment or story atop.
3. Bring your attention to the sensation of breath in your body.
Start by taking a few fuller breaths and noticing the movement of your whole body being breathed (Note: if working with the sensation of breath is triggering for you, shift to noticing sensations in the palms of your hands and/or feet). Notice how your upper thoracic and belly moves with breath. Feel the sensation of breath at the chest. Move to any sensation of breath on your face. Is there anywhere interesting that you can notice the breath in your body? Can you feel the sensation of breath in your fingertips or toes? Just notice.
4. Find the sensation of breath at your nostrils.
Finally, move your attention to the sensation of breath at your nostrils and notice the difference between the inhale and the exhale. Note the breath cycle: an inhale, little pause, exhale, and extended pause. Take your time and use this powerful anchor for your mind.
Before you know it, the timer will ring and it will be time to move back into our busy days. Spend most of your time in steps one through three.
With time and consistency, this simple practice will create new grooves in our mind and will allow us to take a pause before spinning out. It will allow us to consider the hearts and minds of the people around us.
It sounds simple, but as anyone who has tried to meditate knows, the mind is a powerful mechanism and it takes concerted effort to consistently find presence. As we do so, the powerful reward chemicals of dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin will help to create an upward cycle and our ability to be here and now will increase, as will our natural desire to sit each day consistently in order to be a helper in this aching world.
~
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