Thursday 21 February 2013

Are you struggling?


Are emotions different from feelings? Have you ever questioned what role your thoughts play in determining your happiness or unhappiness? What is real and what do I make up in my mind?

Did you know that the very first sign of stress in your body changes your breath into the flight or fight mode, signaling your body to release stress hormones into your body? And if you do not consciously release this pattern your body remains in stress. That your body and mind are intricately linked, every thought you have amplifies throughout your body.

Your world is your creation.  But how can you change it if it is not going well?

You must understand the true nature of your mind. Self knowledge reveals a logical and precise method of coming to understand the true nature of your mind through a process that enables you to question and verify everything for yourself to recognise the truth of who you are, a divine being whose state of being is happiness, bliss and clarity. There is one truth one pathway to eternal happiness and peace. It is recognising that your happiness lays within you.

Namaste

Wednesday 20 February 2013

The need to watch your mind

A Good Story

A man was walking along a road, followed by two foreigners. It happened that this man saw something glittering on the path. He picked it up, observed it and put it in his jacket.

The other two, behind him, saw what he did and one said to the other: "A bad thing for you, isn't it?" But the other man, who was the devil, answered: "No, what that man just found is the truth, but I shall help him to organise it"

All of your suffering, negativity and anxiety stems from what we can call an 'I virus ' in your mind resulting from falsely attaching to thoughts, mind and body. Like any form of great intelligence if you do not understand it, it will lead to chaos. With depression now being predicted by the WHO as the second largest disease after heart disease the 'virus' is growing.

The reference to the devil is simply the 'I virus', the glittering object is the 'truth' which is available to you which rests inside of you, you just can't recognise it at this point as it is buried under layers of falsified thoughts with the associated stories and negativity.

To find the truth there is a logical process through Self Knowledge.
To be able to gain this knowledge without the 'I virus' corrupting it, the first step, the first lesson is being able to quieten and still the mind by choice. You will come to understand that the natural state of the mind is 'silence' with thoughts always available in the recesses of the mind. It is only falsified thoughts that crowd the mind.

One must rest in the silence and space of the mind, in this present moment. The truth of the words shared in Self Knowledge can only be received from this space, not the 'maya' of the mind.

Enjoy silencing your mind.

Namaste


Tuesday 19 February 2013

Know your own mind



 There is a method of communication that you use every moment of your life yet you are most probably unaware of it. It is the language of your energy field that speaks louder and truer then any words you could possibly speak.

You may relate to meeting someone who doesn’t really look any different from any one else yet they exude the most magnificent presence you feel it is a gift and a blessing to be in their presence. And then there may have been times when someone has entered a room and despite their smiles and friendly words you felt enormous hostility or anger perhaps even danger.

You knew something was not right.

What you feel gives a truer representation of the reality of what you are experiencing then your mind will. Most of the people you encounter in life are unconscious, you will no longer be considered the norm.

And how would one define the norm?  As you may recognise most people exist in a state of suffering to various degrees from emotional ups and downs, closed minds, depression, anxiety, exhaustion, anger, abuse, ignorance, and fear.  Is this the norm you aspire too?

Revealing the truth of who you are changes you, clearly in the most wonderful way. Be aware however, that some of your friendships may change. Some will challenge you because you are changing the dynamics of how you relate. You now relate from a place of truth while others may still be veiled in their false emotional attachments. Determine your own worth instead of letting others do it for you. Anyone else will short-change you.

Story: A king decided he wished to find the worth of the men in his kingdom and he set out to find a real man. If a man walks to me as a real man, I will give him a horse, if he comes out as a chicken I will give him a chicken. Word of this went around the villagers. At the first village a man walked out, confident and strong the king was pleased, you should have a horse, he proclaimed. The man then turned around and called to his wife, do you want a brown one or a grey one?
The king turned away in disappointment, you get a chicken.

Hold guard over your own mind, it is precious, there is not another one like it in the world, you are unique. You just need to discover this for your Self.


_________________
Close your eyes and come to the breath


Negative Emotions


In this wondrous journey towards understanding the true nature of our minds and the Self beyond, there are some keys to note that can help support us along the way.

An emotion, any emotion can be a red flag to immediately dissociate from your thoughts, then your roles and rest in the space and silence of your being, until you find yourself in that welcome state of clarity and calmness. Then and only then will you be able to see the situation for what it is without the veil of clouded emotions distorting it.

This morning I received a call from a student.

This was from a woman who is in the corporate world. She had been struggling with anxiety and depressive thoughts and wanted to start the day off on the right note. She asked me, how can I block the negativity and think positively of my work place?  In her terms she was expressing negativity and positivity as emotions.

I asked her, is your desk, phone or pot plant positive or negative? She said no.
No, each object simply exists as it is. Therefore there is no negativity or positivity in your work place, you are creating this in your mind.

So drop the attachment to the concept, the false thought, now we are neutral.

Now take a breath. Detach from your role and see the people in your work place, as each coming with their own package of what we will call ‘maya ’or ignorance. It is theirs not yours. Observe with detachment do not falsely attach. Then rather than focusing on the objects and people in your work place focus on the space that gives form to their existence. Stay in this ’space’ She understood.

Thursday 14 February 2013

Where can I find happiness?

If I asked you what you wanted in life, you may reply 'happiness'

Then I would say, then be happy!

Your reply may be, how can I be happy when there are tsunamis in the world, my neighbours dog barks all night, the stock market is crashing... my ex wife is suing me...

What you are actually saying to me is that you are basing your happiness on all external events and people meeting your needs. While you continue to do this you will be destined to unhappiness.

Why, because you do not control anything outside of yourself.

Self knowledge is the enquiry into understanding the Self where you recognise that you carry your happiness within you which is never subject to loss.

Have a happy day,

Namaste






Wednesday 13 February 2013

Freedom from anxiety, fear and unhappiness



Can you recall ever been taught by someone who had the knowledge but had also experienced what they were speaking of? Their whole body would be expressing the truth of what they had to share, engaging, fully attentive, present, stimulating your mind. A teacher who was able to impart such knowledge to you that you felt what was being taught?

I was participating in a trek one day. There was a gentleman who was rather vocal and he talked with great authority about treks around the world. Although he had not actually ever left Australia he was clearly well read in the areas he was talking about. However it was a little like someone relating statistics, there was no feeling or experience in his words. He was just recounting what someone else had written.

Later that day we had a break for lunch and I found myself sitting next to an older gentlemen. As we talked he shared some of his life’s experiences. His work with sustainable agriculture had taken him to many countries. When he talked of his travels he brought the countries alive, his words were infused with feeling and meaning. When he spoke of the Himalayas he revealed the beauty and magnificence of the mountains, beyond what any textbook could ever reveal.

Whilst the teacher is able to provide the knowledge and the means of knowledge through his/her own experiences it requires you the individual to use the gift of your thinking mind to then reveal the truth of your own experiences for yourself. No one can give you this knowledge. It cannot be bought or sold, it is priceless and we each have it within us. Your destiny lies in revealing this for yourself. And the result is more magnificent and liberating then anything you could imagine. It brings you freedom from anxiety, emotional turmoil and unhappiness.

Each of us has a divine being within us, we feel this connection through our intuition, our inner voice. Yet we bury this voice in the fear that we manifest in our minds and move through life never quite revealing the magnificence of the Self that we are, never quite realising our full potential of grace and beauty.

We begin to understand the inner self only when we start to understand who we are. The path of Self Knowledge reveals the journey inwards to our ultimate destination, the illumination of the Self, liberation from the bondage of your own mind.

_______________________
Close your eyes and come to the breath

Preparing your mind to receive in openness


Why is it so necessary to spend time in silence in order to learn to master your thoughts? Because this is the only time you have access to realising the truth of who you are. 
To begin to understand the true nature of your thoughts and thinking mind and move beyond the limiting false attachments, which currently prevent you from seeing the truth of who you are.

Often if you wish to write a reflection, you sit quietly and ‘collect your thoughts’. This enables you to remove the multitude of other distracting thoughts racing through the mind and gives you the mental ‘space’ in which to write. Sometimes you may close your eyes to bring your attention inwards. You instinctively quieten the mind in order to be able to ‘think.’ This space or silence provides the substratum for the ‘thinking mind’.

Just as when you run and then stop it takes a while to catch your breath, to slow your heart rate and to return to your normal state. Your day-to-day living may be very similar to ‘running’. Your thoughts, speech and actions are continually ‘running off in all directions, uncontrolled. You are very rarely ‘present’ as your mind is full of distracting thoughts. If your mind is full of thoughts your mind is not ‘free’ to comprehend or receive this knowledge. Therefore we quieten our minds in order to receive. We quieten our minds in order to be 'present' in this moment, which is the only moment we have, everything else is a projection.

Namaste

Monday 11 February 2013

Your Beautiful mind



You have a beautiful mind. While the brain is capable of immense intelligence and logic the mind is able to express the potential and reality of the Self and all it encompasses.

This is the potential however very few of us come close to this realisation because we simply do not understand the nature of our minds we believe we are our minds. The mind is an extraordinary creative instrument. Take a moment now to watch a thought … yes you can do it, a little like a passing image on a screen.

Do you sometimes wonder who is doing the watching, the observing?

Self-Knowledge is perhaps different from any other forms of self-help, meditation, counselling or spiritual pursuits you may have encountered. Unlike other paths of meditation which deal with quietening the mind only, Self Knowledge recognises that quietening the mind in itself is simply the stepping stone to understanding the Self, for thoughts will always be with us, we need them. It is not enough to empty the mind of thoughts, you need to recognise them and see them for what they are. You need to use your ‘thinking logical mind’ to reveal the Self. Thoughts are there for you to choose to use when required, although at this stage of your life it may be more like they are controlling you.

An over stressed executive decides he needs to escape from his demanding work. Suffering from high blood pressure, lack of sleep and in constant conflict with his wife, life is not going well. He goes away for a long weekend retreat. For three days he is taught how to quieten his mind and find the peace within.  At the end of the three days he feels wonderful. He has just experienced two full nights sleep, no alcohol, and no caffeine.  He hops into his car and starts to drive home. However after 10 minutes he drives straight into the back of a car in a highway collision. Infuriated he jumps out of his car. His nice new Mercedes, which he had only purchased two weeks ago, has a full frontal ding in it. He loses his temper and starts to scream at the other driver. ‘You damn fool, look what you have caused! You should get off the road and go to a bloody retreat to get your head in order.

Walking in the street we see people, heads leaning forward following the dialogue of their chattering minds, not even being present in their bodies let alone their minds.

Close your eyes and take this single moment to be present with the act of breathing. With this one conscious action, right here, right now, we can begin a profound journey inwards to understanding the Self.

Wednesday 6 February 2013

Your choice on the path to consciousness



To move beyond all the limitations of body and mind is your choice. Your world is your creative reality. Your destiny is yours to choose and yours alone.

When students tell me that they do not have a choice in certain circumstances. When they say, ‘my personality does not allow this or that or something prevents them’, my response is:

To say you do not have a choice reveals that you are not taking responsibility or ownership of your life. You are either allowing others to dictate or control you or you are doing this to yourself.  You are limiting yourself to an identity that you have created along with all the maya of limited beliefs, attachments likes and dislikes. Whatever the mind becomes identified with, it is limited by. If you believe you are anxious you will be anxious, if you believe you are fearful you will be fearful. You are not what you believe yourself to be.

You have the knowledge to now move beyond all your false limitations of the mind. When you are present, in this single moment, in silence you are with your Self and able to access your higher self.

Mastering the mind sufficiently, so you can choose when you wish to silence the mind, where no falsified thoughts disturb you. You can think of this as kindergarten. This is the first and necessary step required in order to go beyond your false attachments.

The next step is by understanding the nature of your thoughts you can now recognize your catalogue and patterns of falsified emotional thoughts and begin to release.

You can now identify when you experience an emotion by recognizing it and holding it up to the light of Self-Knowledge, then it disappears. Eventually you will attain ‘samadhi’, when you are with yourself in silence as much as when you are with your thoughts. This stage is acquired when you have removed all your falsified thoughts, so thoughts now rest in the recesses of your mind as they were designed to. To be used when you choose.

Let us look at a definition of 'samadhi', when you are with yourself as much as when you are with your thoughts.  This is a level of consciousness where you see everything as it is, that is…. you exist at a level of higher consciousness where you can 'see the nature of your thoughts for what they are'.

Remember the seer as opposed to seeing, the hearer as opposed to hearing. So while you exist in silence you also witness everything. 

Think of the blue sky above, in its totality and existence it can see the clouds (thoughts) and the people, trees and houses. Nothing disturbs the sky, in its existence all can be seen as it is, it does not try to become a tree why would it when it can be a witness to all?

So why do you wish to limit your Self to your body and mind? Your beautiful body and mind together, provide a refined vehicle for the realization and expression of the Self beyond any thing you could comprehend at this point.

So sit in silence and once you have silenced your mind you can begin to access your higher Self and question.

If I recognise my happiness is not dependent on external people or things then why I am I still suffering? If a thought is just a suggestion why am I falsely attaching. The Self enquiry is constantly inwards, use your notes, and question, question, question. Minds can have very strong patterns, that is fine but in Self -Knowledge you can hold them up to the light and verify them, then you choose in clarity and wisdom not ignorance.

If you read your notes they keep these new ideas 'fresh' in your mind, at the forefront of your mind, therefore in the silence and openness these suggestions arise as insights or realisations.

Self-knowledge is the recognition of the truth of who we are beyond all identities. We feel this truth throughout our lives, you could call it our intuition. Some come through this life time accessing this truth early in their lives most only glimpse it and some come to a place of openness with their minds to receive this knowledge.

Once you come to this point you will begin to see evidence of this higher knowledge around you. It will be like you have had shaded glasses on all your life and a new reality opens up before you.

So now I say to you, if you wish to live peacefully then live in peace. Focus on your potential not your falsely imposed limitations. Do not judge yourself on this journey, see every experience as an opportunity to learn something from.

The first step required to coming to understand the true nature of your mind is to clear your mind of the scattered constant flurry of activity and mindless projections that take you away from being present and exhausts you.


_________________
Close your eyes and come to the breath

Being Present


Do you make a cup or tea to enjoy the tea or do you make a cup of tea to make a cup of tea?

If you are making a cup of tea to make a cup of tea, the odds are you will not be able to enjoy the cup of tea because your mind is already thinking about what you will eat for breakfast and then the chances are you will not be able to enjoy your breakfast because the mind will be thinking about the work day ahead of you. Thus we travel through life never really being able to enjoy the beauty of each present moment.

Next time you make a cup of tea choose to be present with the act of making the tea. Close your eyes and feel the texture of the teapot, the smell of the tea leaves. Let your senses stimulate the memories of what your knowledge and experiences bring to you, without the emotional attachments. The fields where the tea is grown, the clay being moulded into a pot, the processes that have brought everything to your kitchen.

It is a beautiful process where you will be filled with gratitude and love. And present to enjoy your tea in all its entirety.


Namaste

Saturday 2 February 2013

The pathway to lasting Happiness


Moksa – resolution of the individuality of the ‘I’ – liberation from all suffering. Moksa is the final extrication of the soul or consciousness from Samsara –the cycle of life and death.

This liberation is only possible for human beings because the sense of the ‘I’, the individuality that exists. If there is no ‘individuality’ there can be no search for liberation, freedom. In other bodies such as animals there is no conflict, there is no sense of the ‘I individuality’…there can be no search for liberation/freedom. 

This is what distinguishes us from the level of animals. What we have in common with the animal kingdom eating, sleeping, reproduction, survival…. the order of dharma, we alone have the ability to use the faulty of discrimination, viveka

Viveka the ability to discriminate the real from the unreal, the immortal form the mortal, the finite from the infinite, to verify the truth for ourselves.

When I ask you what do you seek in life? There is that indefinable search, desire, to return home, to return within to the source of all, we can call it the search for happiness, for fulfilment, for peace it is all one and the same, it is returning to the Self.

Namaste