Today’s favourite poses: Tree, Child (more like fetal)
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 20 or so
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from At Home in the Muddy Waters by Ezra Bayda)
Nietzsche said that every word is a preconceived judgement. Consider the word ego. Using the word ego leads us to view it as an independent thing. But “ego” is just a concept describing a cluster of preconceived judgements that is definitely not one entity. This is an example of how ideas can limit us, imprison us. This individual “self” is just an idea, nothing more. To see through words and ideas is to come closer to knowing who we really are, and to understand what life is truly about.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Day #87
Today’s favourite poses: Child, Cat, Cobra
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 15?
Today’s interesting/thought provoking video
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 15?
Today’s interesting/thought provoking video
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Day #86
Today’s favourite poses: Tree
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 10
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from At Home in the Muddy Waters by Ezra Bayda)
When problems arise in our life, we usually want simple answers: yes or no, this or that. But reality is a world of subtlety and paradox, a world of complexity, continuums, and change. We want to know why (is this happening?) and how (can I fix it?). We want the feeling of perceived comfort that comes when we think we’ve finally figured life out. But the truth is, we’ll never figure life out. Residing in the experiential “what” is the way we find the rock bottom security that is possible from practice.
The reason we’ll never figure out life by asking “why” and “how” is that it’s impossible to say what life is. In fact, life isn’t anything. It’s not meaningful, it’s not meaningless, it’s not a challenge, it’s not an opportunity, it’s not a process, it’s not a nonduality. Life isn’t difficult or hopeless. Nor does it correspond to any of the other colorings of mind we use to describe and explain what we think and feel. Life is what it is.
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 10
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from At Home in the Muddy Waters by Ezra Bayda)
When problems arise in our life, we usually want simple answers: yes or no, this or that. But reality is a world of subtlety and paradox, a world of complexity, continuums, and change. We want to know why (is this happening?) and how (can I fix it?). We want the feeling of perceived comfort that comes when we think we’ve finally figured life out. But the truth is, we’ll never figure life out. Residing in the experiential “what” is the way we find the rock bottom security that is possible from practice.
The reason we’ll never figure out life by asking “why” and “how” is that it’s impossible to say what life is. In fact, life isn’t anything. It’s not meaningful, it’s not meaningless, it’s not a challenge, it’s not an opportunity, it’s not a process, it’s not a nonduality. Life isn’t difficult or hopeless. Nor does it correspond to any of the other colorings of mind we use to describe and explain what we think and feel. Life is what it is.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Day #85
Today’s favourite poses: Plank, Pigeon, Triangle, Warrior I, II, III, Dancing Warrior
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: (a few)
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from At Home in the Muddy Waters by Ezra Bayda)
As we practice experiencing this “what”, with fewer filters, our self-imposed boundaries dissolve, and the bubble of perception of our separate self can burst, even if only momentarily. This is far different from striving to have “enlightenment experiences”, through which we hope to achieve a permanent state of clarity and calm. This is a false pursuit; no single experience makes us permanently clear and peaceful. In fact, the pursuit of this fantasy state is often driven by the very same greed and ambition we are trying to dispel. Instead, I’m talking about the slow experiential dismantling of layer after layer of our illusions about who we are and what our life is. Experiencing, rather than trying to have special experiences, is where real freedom lies. This is how we learn that our normal way of looking at the world is only a description, and only one of many possible descriptions.
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: (a few)
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from At Home in the Muddy Waters by Ezra Bayda)
As we practice experiencing this “what”, with fewer filters, our self-imposed boundaries dissolve, and the bubble of perception of our separate self can burst, even if only momentarily. This is far different from striving to have “enlightenment experiences”, through which we hope to achieve a permanent state of clarity and calm. This is a false pursuit; no single experience makes us permanently clear and peaceful. In fact, the pursuit of this fantasy state is often driven by the very same greed and ambition we are trying to dispel. Instead, I’m talking about the slow experiential dismantling of layer after layer of our illusions about who we are and what our life is. Experiencing, rather than trying to have special experiences, is where real freedom lies. This is how we learn that our normal way of looking at the world is only a description, and only one of many possible descriptions.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Day #84
Today’s favourite poses: Cat, Dog, Cobra, Tiger, Spider?
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: Hours and Hours
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from At Home in the Muddy Waters by Ezra Bayda)
POTATO SALAD
Everything we observe is in some way related to something else, which in turn is related to something else again. In other words, each element of our life is part of a system, and each system is a part of another system. No single theory can ever really explain or even describe the complexity of this interrelatedness, nor can it take into account the subjective filter of the person explaining.. yet we constantly try to figure out our world by categorizing, simplifying, and generalizing.
Furthermore, we think we can experience this world only through our perceptions. But as filtered pictures of a perceived reality, our perceptions are never accurate. We think we see reality, we think we sometimes even know reality, but what we see is our own bubble of perceptions, filtered through the mental constructs of time, space, and causality, as well as our associations, desires, language, and conditioning. We don’ see things as they are, we see them as we are.
On the day-to-day level, when what we perceive fails to match our ideas of how things should be, we experience emotional and physical distress. When what we experience is contrary to what we want – and what we want almost always involves being free from discomfort and pain – we experience suffering.
Suppose for example, that I expect my mate to protect me. What happens when my mate doesn’t protect me? In fact, what happens when my mate not only doesn’t protect me, but criticizes me instead? Most likely, I’ll experience some form of distress – an emotional and bodily reaction that won’t feel good. Reactions like this are frequently based on unfulfilled expectations, rooted in clouded perceptions and simplistic notions of others, ourselves, and human relationships.
Even though we know we’re living in a complex world of interconnections, we tend to focus on just one element of any given situation. Why is this happening to me? Who can I blame? How can I fix this? With a subtle arrogance, we reduce the web of interrelationships to a simplified version of an answer we can never really know. We could just as arbitrarily attribute our distress to the potato salad we ate for lunch.
When life isn’t going as we wish, practice is neither to seek explanations nor to assign blame. We can practice simply being with the “what” on as many levels as we can, rather than looking for the “why”. Once again we ask the koan, “What is this?” the answer to this question is always our experience itself. This standing lies: not in the mental world of “why”, not in intellectual description, but in experiencing directly the ambiguous perceptual complexity of the present moment.
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: Hours and Hours
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from At Home in the Muddy Waters by Ezra Bayda)
POTATO SALAD
Everything we observe is in some way related to something else, which in turn is related to something else again. In other words, each element of our life is part of a system, and each system is a part of another system. No single theory can ever really explain or even describe the complexity of this interrelatedness, nor can it take into account the subjective filter of the person explaining.. yet we constantly try to figure out our world by categorizing, simplifying, and generalizing.
Furthermore, we think we can experience this world only through our perceptions. But as filtered pictures of a perceived reality, our perceptions are never accurate. We think we see reality, we think we sometimes even know reality, but what we see is our own bubble of perceptions, filtered through the mental constructs of time, space, and causality, as well as our associations, desires, language, and conditioning. We don’ see things as they are, we see them as we are.
On the day-to-day level, when what we perceive fails to match our ideas of how things should be, we experience emotional and physical distress. When what we experience is contrary to what we want – and what we want almost always involves being free from discomfort and pain – we experience suffering.
Suppose for example, that I expect my mate to protect me. What happens when my mate doesn’t protect me? In fact, what happens when my mate not only doesn’t protect me, but criticizes me instead? Most likely, I’ll experience some form of distress – an emotional and bodily reaction that won’t feel good. Reactions like this are frequently based on unfulfilled expectations, rooted in clouded perceptions and simplistic notions of others, ourselves, and human relationships.
Even though we know we’re living in a complex world of interconnections, we tend to focus on just one element of any given situation. Why is this happening to me? Who can I blame? How can I fix this? With a subtle arrogance, we reduce the web of interrelationships to a simplified version of an answer we can never really know. We could just as arbitrarily attribute our distress to the potato salad we ate for lunch.
When life isn’t going as we wish, practice is neither to seek explanations nor to assign blame. We can practice simply being with the “what” on as many levels as we can, rather than looking for the “why”. Once again we ask the koan, “What is this?” the answer to this question is always our experience itself. This standing lies: not in the mental world of “why”, not in intellectual description, but in experiencing directly the ambiguous perceptual complexity of the present moment.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Day #83
Today’s favourite poses: Dog, Pigeon, Child, Warrior
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 20-25
Today’s interesting/thought provoking video (with one of the sexiest voices i have ever heard!)
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 20-25
Today’s interesting/thought provoking video (with one of the sexiest voices i have ever heard!)
Friday, March 25, 2011
Day #82
Today’s favourite poses: Plank, Child, Plank, Child, Plank, Plank, Child!
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 1ish
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: Tao Te Ching verse 56, 63
Those who know don't talk.
Those who talk don't know.
Close your mouth,
block off your senses,
blunt your sharpness,
untie your knots,
soften your glare,
settle your dust.
This is the primal identity.
Be like the Tao.
It can't be approached or withdrawn from,
benefited or harmed,
honored or brought into disgrace.
It gives itself up continually.
That is why it endures.
Act without doing;
work without effort.
Think of the small as large
and the few as many.
Confront the difficult
while it is still easy;
accomplish the great task
by a series of small acts.
The Master never reaches for the great;
thus she achieves greatness.
When she runs into a difficulty,
she stops and gives herself to it.
She doesn't cling to her own comfort;
thus problems are no problem for her.
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 1ish
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: Tao Te Ching verse 56, 63
Those who know don't talk.
Those who talk don't know.
Close your mouth,
block off your senses,
blunt your sharpness,
untie your knots,
soften your glare,
settle your dust.
This is the primal identity.
Be like the Tao.
It can't be approached or withdrawn from,
benefited or harmed,
honored or brought into disgrace.
It gives itself up continually.
That is why it endures.
Act without doing;
work without effort.
Think of the small as large
and the few as many.
Confront the difficult
while it is still easy;
accomplish the great task
by a series of small acts.
The Master never reaches for the great;
thus she achieves greatness.
When she runs into a difficulty,
she stops and gives herself to it.
She doesn't cling to her own comfort;
thus problems are no problem for her.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Day #81
Today’s favourite poses: Pigeon, Plank, Child, Cobra
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 5ish
Today’s interesting/thought provoking video:
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 5ish
Today’s interesting/thought provoking video:
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Day #80
Today’s favourite poses: Plank, Pigeon, Dog, Cobra
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 5 or 10 (so far)
Today’s interesting/thought provoking videos brought to you by the guy who tells the best (most important) stories! Dr. Dyer
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 5 or 10 (so far)
Today’s interesting/thought provoking videos brought to you by the guy who tells the best (most important) stories! Dr. Dyer
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Day #79
Today’s favourite poses: Pigeon, Dolphin, Plank!
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 10 or 15 (there wasn't a clock in the room)
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle)
Your mind is an instrument, a tool. It is there to be used for a specific task, and when the task is complete, you lay it down. As it is, I would say about 80 to 90 percent of most peoples thinking is not only repetitive and useless, but because of its dysfunctional and often negative nature, much of it is also harmful. Observe your mind an you will find this to be true. It causes a serious leakage of vital energy.
When you listen to a thought, you are aware not only of the thought but also of yourself as the witness of the thought. A new dimension of consciousness has come in. As you listen to the thought, you feel a conscious presence – your deeper self – behind or underneath the thought, as it were. The thought then loses its power over you and quickly subsides, because you are no longer energizing the mind through identification with it. This is the beginning of the end of involuntary and compulsive thinking.
When a thought subsides, you experience a discontinuity in the mental stream – a gap of “no mind”. At first, the gaps will be short, a few seconds perhaps, but gradually they will become longer. When these gaps occur, you feel a certain stillness and peace inside you. This is the beginning of your natural state of felt oneness with Being, which is usually obscured by the mind. With practice, the sense of stillness and peace will deepen. In fact, there is no end to its depth you will also feel a subtle emanation of joy arising from deep within: the joy of Being.
It is not a trancelike state. Not at all. There is no loss o consciousness here. The opposite is the case. If the price of peace were a lowering of your consciousness, and the price of stillness a lack of vitality and alertness, then they would not be worth having. In this state of inner connectedness, you are much more awake than in the mind-identified state. You are fully present.
As you go more deeply into this realm of no mind, as it is sometimes called in the East, you realize the state of pure consciousness. In that state you feel your own presence with such intensity and such joy that al thinking, all emotions, your physical body, as well as the whole external world become relatively insignificant in comparison to it. You yet this is not a selfish but a selfless state. It takes you beyond what your previously thought of as ”your self”. That presence is essentially you and at the same time inconceivably greater than you.
Instead of “watching the thinker”, you can also create a gap in the mind stream simply by directing the focus of your attention into the now. Just become intensely conscious of the present moment. This is a deeply satisfying thing to do. In this way, you draw consciousness away from mind activity and create a gap of no-mind in which you are highly alert and aware but not thinking. This is the essence of meditation.
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 10 or 15 (there wasn't a clock in the room)
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle)
Your mind is an instrument, a tool. It is there to be used for a specific task, and when the task is complete, you lay it down. As it is, I would say about 80 to 90 percent of most peoples thinking is not only repetitive and useless, but because of its dysfunctional and often negative nature, much of it is also harmful. Observe your mind an you will find this to be true. It causes a serious leakage of vital energy.
When you listen to a thought, you are aware not only of the thought but also of yourself as the witness of the thought. A new dimension of consciousness has come in. As you listen to the thought, you feel a conscious presence – your deeper self – behind or underneath the thought, as it were. The thought then loses its power over you and quickly subsides, because you are no longer energizing the mind through identification with it. This is the beginning of the end of involuntary and compulsive thinking.
When a thought subsides, you experience a discontinuity in the mental stream – a gap of “no mind”. At first, the gaps will be short, a few seconds perhaps, but gradually they will become longer. When these gaps occur, you feel a certain stillness and peace inside you. This is the beginning of your natural state of felt oneness with Being, which is usually obscured by the mind. With practice, the sense of stillness and peace will deepen. In fact, there is no end to its depth you will also feel a subtle emanation of joy arising from deep within: the joy of Being.
It is not a trancelike state. Not at all. There is no loss o consciousness here. The opposite is the case. If the price of peace were a lowering of your consciousness, and the price of stillness a lack of vitality and alertness, then they would not be worth having. In this state of inner connectedness, you are much more awake than in the mind-identified state. You are fully present.
As you go more deeply into this realm of no mind, as it is sometimes called in the East, you realize the state of pure consciousness. In that state you feel your own presence with such intensity and such joy that al thinking, all emotions, your physical body, as well as the whole external world become relatively insignificant in comparison to it. You yet this is not a selfish but a selfless state. It takes you beyond what your previously thought of as ”your self”. That presence is essentially you and at the same time inconceivably greater than you.
Instead of “watching the thinker”, you can also create a gap in the mind stream simply by directing the focus of your attention into the now. Just become intensely conscious of the present moment. This is a deeply satisfying thing to do. In this way, you draw consciousness away from mind activity and create a gap of no-mind in which you are highly alert and aware but not thinking. This is the essence of meditation.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Day #78
Today’s favourite poses: Child's pose, and that's all your getting
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: -56
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle)
Although this in no way affects my belief in/about God, I’m trying to be more open-minded spiritually. Just as there are aspects of Christianity that I don’t agree with, there are some new-age theories that also make me sceptical. In both instances, extremes, (fundamentalists) or completely going over the top (such as making proclamations that we are all caught in a hologram like flies in a web waiting for an alien being to come and destroy/rescue us) completely insults my sensibilities. But in the interest of expanding my horizons, I have been looking for the deeper meaning of things while trying to weed out the flakes and the fake prophets and ill-intentioned charlatans. Basically, I pick and choose what seems plausible, uplifting, inspiring, and non-harmful (steering clear of anything that denies God’s existence as that is not in line with my personal belief system). I find many of the eastern faiths/traditions usually meet these criteria.
Perhaps my biggest struggle though, has been trying to sort out how the eastern philosophers state that our “thoughts mean absolutely nothing”, while some of the new age thinkers state that our thoughts are so powerful we can “create and change the ENTIRE UNIVERSE.”??? While I’ve always believed in the power of positive thought, this contradiction seems beyond me. How can something that means “nothing”, be so pervasive and formidable?? And how can we as a species even survive if we cannot rely on our thoughts?!!
Descartes’s “Cogito ergo sum” has always made a lot of sense to me, but so far, the overthinking I do (especially on things that are completely beyond my realm/grasp, which is quite a lot), has gotten me into nothing but trouble. It certainly hasn’t added to the quality of my life (who can lead a peaceful existence when you are so sleep deprived from the anxiety developed from not being able to turn those annoying thoughts off?!)
Besides the world's greatest guru (Erik), I think Eckhart Tolle came up with the best explanation for me as to why our thoughts are so ‘unimportant/unreliable’:
Identification with your mind, which cause thought to become compulsive is the greatest obstacle to experiencing reality. Not to be able to stop thinking is a dreadful affliction, but we don’t realize this because almost everybody is suffering from it, so it is considered normal. This incessant mental noise prevents you from finding that realm of inner stillness that is inseparable from Being. It also creates a false mind-made self that casts a shadow of fear and suffering.
The philosopher Descartes believed that he had found the most fundamental truth when he made his famous statement “I think, therefore I am”. He had, in fact, given expression to the most basic error: to equate thinking with Being and identity with thinking. The compulsive thinker, which means almost everyone, live in a state of apparent separateness, in an insanely complex world of continuous problems and conflict, a world that reflects the ever-increasing fragmentation of the mind. Enlightenment is a state of wholeness, of being “at one” and therefore at peace. At one with life in its manifested aspect, the world, as well as with your deepest self and life unmanifested – at one with Being. Enlightenment is not only the end of suffering, and continuous conflict within and without, but also the end of the dreadful enslavement to incessant thinking. What an incredible liberation this is.
Identification with your mind creates an opaque screen of concepts, labels, images, words, judgements, and definitions that blocks all true relationship. It comes between you and yourself, between you and your fellow man and woman, between you and nature, between you and GOD.
The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly however, it becomes very destructive. To put it more accurately, it is not so much that you use your mind wrongly, you don’t use it at all. It uses YOU. This is the disease. You believe that you are your mind. This is the delusion. The instrument has taken over you. ……The beginning of freedom is the realization that you are not the possessing entity – the thinker. Knowing this enables you to observe the entity. The moment you start watching the thinker, a higher level of consciousness becomes activated. You then realize that there is a vast realm of intelligence beyond thought, that thought is only a tiny aspect of that intelligence. You also realize all the things that truly matter – beauty, love, creativity, joy, inner peace – arise from beyond the mind. You begin to awaken.
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: -56
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle)
Although this in no way affects my belief in/about God, I’m trying to be more open-minded spiritually. Just as there are aspects of Christianity that I don’t agree with, there are some new-age theories that also make me sceptical. In both instances, extremes, (fundamentalists) or completely going over the top (such as making proclamations that we are all caught in a hologram like flies in a web waiting for an alien being to come and destroy/rescue us) completely insults my sensibilities. But in the interest of expanding my horizons, I have been looking for the deeper meaning of things while trying to weed out the flakes and the fake prophets and ill-intentioned charlatans. Basically, I pick and choose what seems plausible, uplifting, inspiring, and non-harmful (steering clear of anything that denies God’s existence as that is not in line with my personal belief system). I find many of the eastern faiths/traditions usually meet these criteria.
Perhaps my biggest struggle though, has been trying to sort out how the eastern philosophers state that our “thoughts mean absolutely nothing”, while some of the new age thinkers state that our thoughts are so powerful we can “create and change the ENTIRE UNIVERSE.”??? While I’ve always believed in the power of positive thought, this contradiction seems beyond me. How can something that means “nothing”, be so pervasive and formidable?? And how can we as a species even survive if we cannot rely on our thoughts?!!
Descartes’s “Cogito ergo sum” has always made a lot of sense to me, but so far, the overthinking I do (especially on things that are completely beyond my realm/grasp, which is quite a lot), has gotten me into nothing but trouble. It certainly hasn’t added to the quality of my life (who can lead a peaceful existence when you are so sleep deprived from the anxiety developed from not being able to turn those annoying thoughts off?!)
Besides the world's greatest guru (Erik), I think Eckhart Tolle came up with the best explanation for me as to why our thoughts are so ‘unimportant/unreliable’:
Identification with your mind, which cause thought to become compulsive is the greatest obstacle to experiencing reality. Not to be able to stop thinking is a dreadful affliction, but we don’t realize this because almost everybody is suffering from it, so it is considered normal. This incessant mental noise prevents you from finding that realm of inner stillness that is inseparable from Being. It also creates a false mind-made self that casts a shadow of fear and suffering.
The philosopher Descartes believed that he had found the most fundamental truth when he made his famous statement “I think, therefore I am”. He had, in fact, given expression to the most basic error: to equate thinking with Being and identity with thinking. The compulsive thinker, which means almost everyone, live in a state of apparent separateness, in an insanely complex world of continuous problems and conflict, a world that reflects the ever-increasing fragmentation of the mind. Enlightenment is a state of wholeness, of being “at one” and therefore at peace. At one with life in its manifested aspect, the world, as well as with your deepest self and life unmanifested – at one with Being. Enlightenment is not only the end of suffering, and continuous conflict within and without, but also the end of the dreadful enslavement to incessant thinking. What an incredible liberation this is.
Identification with your mind creates an opaque screen of concepts, labels, images, words, judgements, and definitions that blocks all true relationship. It comes between you and yourself, between you and your fellow man and woman, between you and nature, between you and GOD.
The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly however, it becomes very destructive. To put it more accurately, it is not so much that you use your mind wrongly, you don’t use it at all. It uses YOU. This is the disease. You believe that you are your mind. This is the delusion. The instrument has taken over you. ……The beginning of freedom is the realization that you are not the possessing entity – the thinker. Knowing this enables you to observe the entity. The moment you start watching the thinker, a higher level of consciousness becomes activated. You then realize that there is a vast realm of intelligence beyond thought, that thought is only a tiny aspect of that intelligence. You also realize all the things that truly matter – beauty, love, creativity, joy, inner peace – arise from beyond the mind. You begin to awaken.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Day #77
Today’s favourite poses: The usual fav.s Dog, Pigeon, Child, Warrior
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 15
Today’s interesting/thought provoking videos that link quantum physics and consciousness (or GOD and SCIENCE):
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 15
Today’s interesting/thought provoking videos that link quantum physics and consciousness (or GOD and SCIENCE):
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Day #76
Today’s favourite poses: Tiger, Pigeon, Child, Cobra, Tiger, Pigeon, Child, Cobra.....
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 25
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading taken from my e-mail in 2010 (thanks Sagey)
Our effect on reality starts with our intuition, our thoughts, and our subconscious. We can measure our thoughts as electromagnetic energy so every thought or word exists as an energy in the universe. Energy eventually manifests into matter and becomes our daily experience, so marshal your thoughts. - G
We are divine. We are creative beings. If our thoughts and actions manipulate the reality around us, that is something. As conscious beings it becomes our duty to figure out exactly what's going on. After all, we are deciphering the course of our planet and, in turn, our solar system and entire universe. - G
Or, as Dr. Wayne Dyer puts it:
We can all draw a map of our own consciousness to show how every thought computes to either weaken or strengthen you. Authentic wisdom is the ability to monitor yourself at all times to determine your relative state of weakness or strength, and to shift out of those thoughts that weaken you. In this way you keep yourself in a higher state if consciousness and you prevent yourself from weakening every single cell in your body.
Emotion is energy in motion. When you move energy, you create effect. If you move enough energy, you create matter. Matter is energy conglomerated, moved around, shoved together If you manipulate energy long enough in a certain way, you get matter. It is the alchemy of the universe. It is the secret of all life. Thought is pure energy. Every thought you have, have ever had, and will ever have is creative. The energy of your thought never ever dies ever. It leaves your being and heads out into the universe, extending forever. A thought is forever.
You have always been, and always will be, a divine part of the divine whole. Your job on Earth, is not to learn (because you already know), but to remember WHO YOU ARE. You have come here to work out an individual plan for your own salvation.
Inquire within, rather than without, asking: What part of my Self do I wish to experience now in the face of this calamity? What aspect of being do I choose to call forth? For all life exists as a tool of our own creation, and all of its events merely present themselves as opportunities for you to decide, and be, WHO YOU ARE. This is true for every soul, and so you see there are no victims in the universe, only creators.
There is only one reason to do anything: as a statement of WHO YOU ARE. Used in this way, life becomes self-creative. You use life to create your Self as WHO YOU ARE and WHO YOU'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO BE. There is also only one reason to un-do anything: because it does not reflect you. It does not represent you (that is, it does not re-present you). if you wish to be accurately re-presented, you must work to change anything in your life which does not fit into the picture of you that you wish to project into eternity.
You cannot change the outer event (for that that has been created by the lot of you, and you are not grown enough in your consciousness to alter individually that which has been created collectively) so you must change the inner experience.
The thought that makes most people the weakest is shame, which produces humiliation. The importance of forgiving yourself cannot be stated strongly enough. If you carry around thoughts of shame about what you've done in the past, you're weakening yourself both physically and emotionally. Removing your own thoughts of shame involves a willingness to let go, to see your past behaviours as lessons you had to learn, and to reconnect to your source through prayer and meditation.
After shame, guilt and apathy make you the weakest. They produce the emotions of blame and despair. To live in guilt is to use up your present moments being immobilized over what has already transpired. No amount of guilt will ever undo what's been done. If your past behaviour mobilizes you to learn from your mistakes, this is not guilt; its learning from the past. But to wallow in the present moment over your so-called errors is a waste of time and energy.
Releasing guilt is like removing a huge weight from your shoulders. Guilt is released through the empowering thought of love and respect for yourself. You empower yourself with love and respect, letting go of standards of perfection and refusing to use up the precious currency of your life with the thoughts that only continue to frustrate and weaken you. Instead you can vow to be better than you used to be.
(Just because you let go of guilt and shame, it doesn't mean you aren't sorry for what you have done. It also doesn't mean that you absolve someone else of their actions either. For a person to ONLY focus on what someone else has done is living in denial though. We all have to look at the mistakes we've made and whether or not we gave someone a raw deal. I guess we just have to take what we are dealt, but sometimes the cards we were shown turned out to be completely different than what we thought we had in our hands. And what we had in our hands, wasn't what we had in our hearts.)
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 25
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading taken from my e-mail in 2010 (thanks Sagey)
Our effect on reality starts with our intuition, our thoughts, and our subconscious. We can measure our thoughts as electromagnetic energy so every thought or word exists as an energy in the universe. Energy eventually manifests into matter and becomes our daily experience, so marshal your thoughts. - G
We are divine. We are creative beings. If our thoughts and actions manipulate the reality around us, that is something. As conscious beings it becomes our duty to figure out exactly what's going on. After all, we are deciphering the course of our planet and, in turn, our solar system and entire universe. - G
Or, as Dr. Wayne Dyer puts it:
We can all draw a map of our own consciousness to show how every thought computes to either weaken or strengthen you. Authentic wisdom is the ability to monitor yourself at all times to determine your relative state of weakness or strength, and to shift out of those thoughts that weaken you. In this way you keep yourself in a higher state if consciousness and you prevent yourself from weakening every single cell in your body.
Emotion is energy in motion. When you move energy, you create effect. If you move enough energy, you create matter. Matter is energy conglomerated, moved around, shoved together If you manipulate energy long enough in a certain way, you get matter. It is the alchemy of the universe. It is the secret of all life. Thought is pure energy. Every thought you have, have ever had, and will ever have is creative. The energy of your thought never ever dies ever. It leaves your being and heads out into the universe, extending forever. A thought is forever.
You have always been, and always will be, a divine part of the divine whole. Your job on Earth, is not to learn (because you already know), but to remember WHO YOU ARE. You have come here to work out an individual plan for your own salvation.
Inquire within, rather than without, asking: What part of my Self do I wish to experience now in the face of this calamity? What aspect of being do I choose to call forth? For all life exists as a tool of our own creation, and all of its events merely present themselves as opportunities for you to decide, and be, WHO YOU ARE. This is true for every soul, and so you see there are no victims in the universe, only creators.
There is only one reason to do anything: as a statement of WHO YOU ARE. Used in this way, life becomes self-creative. You use life to create your Self as WHO YOU ARE and WHO YOU'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO BE. There is also only one reason to un-do anything: because it does not reflect you. It does not represent you (that is, it does not re-present you). if you wish to be accurately re-presented, you must work to change anything in your life which does not fit into the picture of you that you wish to project into eternity.
You cannot change the outer event (for that that has been created by the lot of you, and you are not grown enough in your consciousness to alter individually that which has been created collectively) so you must change the inner experience.
The thought that makes most people the weakest is shame, which produces humiliation. The importance of forgiving yourself cannot be stated strongly enough. If you carry around thoughts of shame about what you've done in the past, you're weakening yourself both physically and emotionally. Removing your own thoughts of shame involves a willingness to let go, to see your past behaviours as lessons you had to learn, and to reconnect to your source through prayer and meditation.
After shame, guilt and apathy make you the weakest. They produce the emotions of blame and despair. To live in guilt is to use up your present moments being immobilized over what has already transpired. No amount of guilt will ever undo what's been done. If your past behaviour mobilizes you to learn from your mistakes, this is not guilt; its learning from the past. But to wallow in the present moment over your so-called errors is a waste of time and energy.
Releasing guilt is like removing a huge weight from your shoulders. Guilt is released through the empowering thought of love and respect for yourself. You empower yourself with love and respect, letting go of standards of perfection and refusing to use up the precious currency of your life with the thoughts that only continue to frustrate and weaken you. Instead you can vow to be better than you used to be.
(Just because you let go of guilt and shame, it doesn't mean you aren't sorry for what you have done. It also doesn't mean that you absolve someone else of their actions either. For a person to ONLY focus on what someone else has done is living in denial though. We all have to look at the mistakes we've made and whether or not we gave someone a raw deal. I guess we just have to take what we are dealt, but sometimes the cards we were shown turned out to be completely different than what we thought we had in our hands. And what we had in our hands, wasn't what we had in our hearts.)
Friday, March 18, 2011
Day #75
Today’s favourite poses: Pigeon, Dog, 3 Legged Dog, Dancing Warrior, Warrior III
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: Ten?
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from Meditations from the Mat by Rolf Gates and Katrina Kenison)
Note – I used to think that it was completely arrogant to consider us lowly humans as divine. Yes, God created us in His image, but how dare we compare our flawed, weak, and ignorant souls to the Almighty Creator?! But as per a post on my other blog, a few months ago, my friend Greg (and later Erik, Nate, Joe and Theresa) said some things to me that convinced me that when my little sister proclaimed “God made me, and God don’t make no junk”, back when we were kids, there was truth to that. I have also read/researched many spiritual/sacred texts (yes, there are MANY of them, not just the bible, although if you think that is the one and only source of divine wisdom, good for you), that reaffirmed my sister, and my friends. The next couple posts are concurring viewpoints.
“We are to think of ourselves as immortals, dwelling in the light, encompassed and sustained by spiritual powers. The steady effort to hold this thought will awaken dormant and unrealized powers, which will unveil to us the nearness of the eternal.” Charles Johnston.
There are two lessons in this beautiful statement about yoga. The first concerns our true nature, “dwelling in the light, encompassed and sustained by spiritual powers.” Either we believe in our innate goodness and beauty or we do not; it is up to each of us to decide. We may spend our entire lives believing a lie about our true nature, or we may put our trust in our own grace. Either way, most of us have to choose what we believe about ourselves each day, each hour, each moment of our lives. The Yoga Sutras suggest that we stand in our divinity, that we consciously experience ourselves as miraculous.
In the second sentence, Charles Johnston returns to us one of the central truths of the Yoga Sutras; that energy is like a muscle; it grows when we use it. We grow in our capacity to do the right thing each time we do the right thing. Steady effort to hold this thought will awaken dormant and unrealized powers within us, which will bring us closer to that which we seek. So our divinity is affirmed, and the manner in which we can make manifest this divinity is outlined. We believe and act accordingly, and as we do, this belief grows in our life. We believe in compassion, live compassion, and compassion grows in our lives. We believe in love, live lovingly, and love grows in our lives. We stand in our light, live in our light, and the light grows within us. We need only make a beginning, and that beginning will foster within us the power to move forward.
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: Ten?
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from Meditations from the Mat by Rolf Gates and Katrina Kenison)
Note – I used to think that it was completely arrogant to consider us lowly humans as divine. Yes, God created us in His image, but how dare we compare our flawed, weak, and ignorant souls to the Almighty Creator?! But as per a post on my other blog, a few months ago, my friend Greg (and later Erik, Nate, Joe and Theresa) said some things to me that convinced me that when my little sister proclaimed “God made me, and God don’t make no junk”, back when we were kids, there was truth to that. I have also read/researched many spiritual/sacred texts (yes, there are MANY of them, not just the bible, although if you think that is the one and only source of divine wisdom, good for you), that reaffirmed my sister, and my friends. The next couple posts are concurring viewpoints.
“We are to think of ourselves as immortals, dwelling in the light, encompassed and sustained by spiritual powers. The steady effort to hold this thought will awaken dormant and unrealized powers, which will unveil to us the nearness of the eternal.” Charles Johnston.
There are two lessons in this beautiful statement about yoga. The first concerns our true nature, “dwelling in the light, encompassed and sustained by spiritual powers.” Either we believe in our innate goodness and beauty or we do not; it is up to each of us to decide. We may spend our entire lives believing a lie about our true nature, or we may put our trust in our own grace. Either way, most of us have to choose what we believe about ourselves each day, each hour, each moment of our lives. The Yoga Sutras suggest that we stand in our divinity, that we consciously experience ourselves as miraculous.
In the second sentence, Charles Johnston returns to us one of the central truths of the Yoga Sutras; that energy is like a muscle; it grows when we use it. We grow in our capacity to do the right thing each time we do the right thing. Steady effort to hold this thought will awaken dormant and unrealized powers within us, which will bring us closer to that which we seek. So our divinity is affirmed, and the manner in which we can make manifest this divinity is outlined. We believe and act accordingly, and as we do, this belief grows in our life. We believe in compassion, live compassion, and compassion grows in our lives. We believe in love, live lovingly, and love grows in our lives. We stand in our light, live in our light, and the light grows within us. We need only make a beginning, and that beginning will foster within us the power to move forward.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Day #74
Today’s favourite poses: Tried doing a few Down Dogs before i went out, but kept spilling my beer
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: (ask the leprechaun. then ask him where he put my shoes!)
Today’s interesting/thought provoking videos:
(Thought I'd better post this early cuz 12-24 hrs from now I'll be shitfaced on green beer. Ireland. One of God's COOLEST creations! Well, that and green beer)
Hey 6! Try the beer with green slurpie in it. Better than gummy bear slurpies. Guaranteed.
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: (ask the leprechaun. then ask him where he put my shoes!)
Today’s interesting/thought provoking videos:
(Thought I'd better post this early cuz 12-24 hrs from now I'll be shitfaced on green beer. Ireland. One of God's COOLEST creations! Well, that and green beer)
Hey 6! Try the beer with green slurpie in it. Better than gummy bear slurpies. Guaranteed.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Day #73
Today’s favourite poses: Child, Cat, Tiger
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: -7
Today’s interesting/thought provoking video
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: -7
Today’s interesting/thought provoking video
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Day #72
Today’s favourite poses: Tree, some Warrior stuff
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: oodles
Today’s interesting/thought provoking video:
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: oodles
Today’s interesting/thought provoking video:
Monday, March 14, 2011
Day #71
Today’s favourite poses: 3 Legged Dog, Sideways Dog, Down Dog, Kardasian
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 10
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from one of my fav. Zen Proverbs and YouTube)
"The obstacle is the path"
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 10
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from one of my fav. Zen Proverbs and YouTube)
"The obstacle is the path"
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Day #70
Today’s favourite poses: Tiger, Cobra, Child, Warrior I, II
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 10-15
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from At Home in the Muddy Waters by Ezra Bayda)
We all carry with us accumulated grief – not just for people who have died, but for every situation that has ever brought about an intense emotional reaction to loss. Each time we feel loss – of a relationship, of our ideals, and dreams, of our heroes, or of our faith – we’re likely to bury the feelings and erect a layer of armour to protect us from feeling groundlessness, despair, and isolation. This is grief.
At some point, the path of practice brings us face to face with these layers of armouring that keep us constricted and protected in our narrow world. At the time we create these barriers, we might have needed them; perhaps we weren’t yet ready to open up to the intensity of our feelings. Protecting ourselves like this can be a good thing. But if we wish to walk the path of awakening, relaxing into the spaciousness of gratitude and loving-kindness, we need to be able to open fully to loss.
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 10-15
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from At Home in the Muddy Waters by Ezra Bayda)
We all carry with us accumulated grief – not just for people who have died, but for every situation that has ever brought about an intense emotional reaction to loss. Each time we feel loss – of a relationship, of our ideals, and dreams, of our heroes, or of our faith – we’re likely to bury the feelings and erect a layer of armour to protect us from feeling groundlessness, despair, and isolation. This is grief.
At some point, the path of practice brings us face to face with these layers of armouring that keep us constricted and protected in our narrow world. At the time we create these barriers, we might have needed them; perhaps we weren’t yet ready to open up to the intensity of our feelings. Protecting ourselves like this can be a good thing. But if we wish to walk the path of awakening, relaxing into the spaciousness of gratitude and loving-kindness, we need to be able to open fully to loss.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Day #69
Today’s favourite poses: Child's pose (the only one this hangover will handle)
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind:
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from Meditations from the Mat by Rolf Gates and Katrina Kenison)
Attachment clouds our judgement, but letting go of our attachment is an enormous challenge to those of us who wish to use the asana as means for spiritual transformation. We can practice yoga simply as a means for physical well-being. If, however, we choose to make the asana an integral aspect of our spiritual path, the stakes become very high. As we invest more of ourselves in our practice, the desire for certainty grows. We wish to enjoy the assurance that we have found the one true way. But such certainty cannot be found outside ourselves, and we are always changing. If we are not steadfastly prepared to let go of yesterday’s truths, we fall prey to the fundamentalism found in any of the major religions; we begin to believe that this way is good, that way is bad. Clear seeing must be more important to us than the comfort of certainty, the power of feeling that we know. The letting go on the mat must be absolute. We must be beyond all opposites, anchored in the real, empty and clear.
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind:
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from Meditations from the Mat by Rolf Gates and Katrina Kenison)
Attachment clouds our judgement, but letting go of our attachment is an enormous challenge to those of us who wish to use the asana as means for spiritual transformation. We can practice yoga simply as a means for physical well-being. If, however, we choose to make the asana an integral aspect of our spiritual path, the stakes become very high. As we invest more of ourselves in our practice, the desire for certainty grows. We wish to enjoy the assurance that we have found the one true way. But such certainty cannot be found outside ourselves, and we are always changing. If we are not steadfastly prepared to let go of yesterday’s truths, we fall prey to the fundamentalism found in any of the major religions; we begin to believe that this way is good, that way is bad. Clear seeing must be more important to us than the comfort of certainty, the power of feeling that we know. The letting go on the mat must be absolute. We must be beyond all opposites, anchored in the real, empty and clear.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Day #68
Today’s favourite poses: Sideways Down Dog and a couple other ones
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: No......(too many Corona's, sweetheart).....obviously I didn't write this part at 5:24 a.m.
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from Meditations from the Mat by Rolf Gates and Katrina Kenison)
A Course in Miracles is a self-study program of spiritual psychotherapy contained in three books. Although the course uses traditional Christian terms, it challenges reader by using them in non-traditional ways, as it seeks to remove “the blocks to the awareness of love’s presence which is your natural inheritance.” In A Course in Miracles, we are reminded that all of humanity’s troubles began the moment we perceived ourselves to be separate from God. We all know the story of the fall of Adam and Eve; we left Eden when we lost our sense of oneness with God and each other. But at the very moment the separation occurred, God also created the solution. According to the course, the Holy Ghost came into being to heal the minds of humans who believed that they were separate from God. God gave us free will, so it is possible for us to choose to be misguided. But in God’s universe the solution to our suffering became possible the moment we created the cause of our suffering.
In yoga there is a similar relationship between the problem and the solution. The all-pervasive avidya, or ignorance, is matched with the eternal vidya, or clear seeing. The moment we become willing to believe in a power greater than ourselves, or in a reality more complex than the material world of our own imaginations, we find ourselves to be embraced as intimately by the true as we have embraced the false. The old definitions of time, power, good, and bad are turned inside out and eventually become irrelevant as we realize that our entire belief system has been predicated on false assumptions. Even a hint of the truth has awesome implications.
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: No......(too many Corona's, sweetheart).....obviously I didn't write this part at 5:24 a.m.
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from Meditations from the Mat by Rolf Gates and Katrina Kenison)
A Course in Miracles is a self-study program of spiritual psychotherapy contained in three books. Although the course uses traditional Christian terms, it challenges reader by using them in non-traditional ways, as it seeks to remove “the blocks to the awareness of love’s presence which is your natural inheritance.” In A Course in Miracles, we are reminded that all of humanity’s troubles began the moment we perceived ourselves to be separate from God. We all know the story of the fall of Adam and Eve; we left Eden when we lost our sense of oneness with God and each other. But at the very moment the separation occurred, God also created the solution. According to the course, the Holy Ghost came into being to heal the minds of humans who believed that they were separate from God. God gave us free will, so it is possible for us to choose to be misguided. But in God’s universe the solution to our suffering became possible the moment we created the cause of our suffering.
In yoga there is a similar relationship between the problem and the solution. The all-pervasive avidya, or ignorance, is matched with the eternal vidya, or clear seeing. The moment we become willing to believe in a power greater than ourselves, or in a reality more complex than the material world of our own imaginations, we find ourselves to be embraced as intimately by the true as we have embraced the false. The old definitions of time, power, good, and bad are turned inside out and eventually become irrelevant as we realize that our entire belief system has been predicated on false assumptions. Even a hint of the truth has awesome implications.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Day #67
Today’s favourite poses: Plank (as in hit me over the head with one)
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 6
Today’s Thought provoking question:
What did you give up for lent?? I gave up chocolate, gummy bears, slurpies and Smirnoff. Oh, and childish things and youthful lust.
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 6
Today’s Thought provoking question:
What did you give up for lent?? I gave up chocolate, gummy bears, slurpies and Smirnoff. Oh, and childish things and youthful lust.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Day #66 - Dedicated to my angel, RICKY
Today is your birthday. You are not ‘here’ to celebrate it with me, but I had the privilege of spending some time with your daughter, which filled my heart with a sense of peace at this beautiful continuation of our friendship. You were one of the most spiritual people I knew. You were one of the very few people on this earth that I could talk with, about God. Since you went to meet our creator, I have been going to the church we used to go to. Sometimes I go when there is no one else there so I can feel like I am alone with you. The first time I did this, I opened a hymn book and found this. (I know you like it because it is similar to the prayers we used to say together):
The Eyes and Hands of Christ
Where two or there are gathered in my name
Love will be found
Life will abound
By name we are called
From the WATER we are sent
To become the eyes and hands of Christ
One we become
No longer strangers
No longer empty or frail
Filled with the Spirit
Every hunger is satisfied
Christ is the center of our lives
One in the Spirit
One in the Lord
One in the breaking of the bread
Life giving witness of our dying
And New Life
Held by the promise in our hands
Not what we are
But what we become
Not what we say
But what we do
Living the challenge
As bearers of the light
We are the eyes and hands of Christ
(I also find comfort in your memorial card, which reads):
When dawn’s first light
Turned into day
Who knew an angel
Would soon call me away
And though I didn’t get the chance
To say goodbye,
I leave you three things
to help you get by.
I leave you Courage
That you might see
Your heart can rebuild
a world without me
I leave you Faith
That you might believe
The spirit will survive
No matter how much we grieve
And I leave you Love,
To comfort you in its healing embrace
until we meet again in another place
Don’t stand by my grave and weep
For I am not there
I do not sleep
I am a thousand winds that blow
I am the diamonds glint on snow
I am sunlight on ripened grain
I am the gentle autumn’s rain
In the soft hush of the morning light
I am the soft BIRDS in flight
Don’t stand by my grave and cry
I am not there
I did not die
RICKY
I miss you
I miss having you to talk to
I miss your smile
I miss your laugh
I miss your arms around me
when I feel small and insignificant
Like I do now
I miss loving nature with you
I miss going on spiritual journeys with you
I miss how you made time stand still
I miss sitting in the quiet with you
I just miss you
But I still see you
In the wind in the trees
The birds in the sky
The dolphins in the sea
The stallion in the field
In the Northern lights dancing
The mountains, the moon,
The oceans, and waterfalls
Though you were gone too soon
You are God’s pure light
Strength, Peace and Grace
And you will forever be,
My love, my friend
"How lucky I am to have known someone who was so hard to say goodbye to."
The Eyes and Hands of Christ
Where two or there are gathered in my name
Love will be found
Life will abound
By name we are called
From the WATER we are sent
To become the eyes and hands of Christ
One we become
No longer strangers
No longer empty or frail
Filled with the Spirit
Every hunger is satisfied
Christ is the center of our lives
One in the Spirit
One in the Lord
One in the breaking of the bread
Life giving witness of our dying
And New Life
Held by the promise in our hands
Not what we are
But what we become
Not what we say
But what we do
Living the challenge
As bearers of the light
We are the eyes and hands of Christ
(I also find comfort in your memorial card, which reads):
When dawn’s first light
Turned into day
Who knew an angel
Would soon call me away
And though I didn’t get the chance
To say goodbye,
I leave you three things
to help you get by.
I leave you Courage
That you might see
Your heart can rebuild
a world without me
I leave you Faith
That you might believe
The spirit will survive
No matter how much we grieve
And I leave you Love,
To comfort you in its healing embrace
until we meet again in another place
Don’t stand by my grave and weep
For I am not there
I do not sleep
I am a thousand winds that blow
I am the diamonds glint on snow
I am sunlight on ripened grain
I am the gentle autumn’s rain
In the soft hush of the morning light
I am the soft BIRDS in flight
Don’t stand by my grave and cry
I am not there
I did not die
RICKY
I miss you
I miss having you to talk to
I miss your smile
I miss your laugh
I miss your arms around me
when I feel small and insignificant
Like I do now
I miss loving nature with you
I miss going on spiritual journeys with you
I miss how you made time stand still
I miss sitting in the quiet with you
I just miss you
But I still see you
In the wind in the trees
The birds in the sky
The dolphins in the sea
The stallion in the field
In the Northern lights dancing
The mountains, the moon,
The oceans, and waterfalls
Though you were gone too soon
You are God’s pure light
Strength, Peace and Grace
And you will forever be,
My love, my friend
"How lucky I am to have known someone who was so hard to say goodbye to."
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Day #65
Today’s favourite poses: Tree =)
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: TBA
Today’s Thought provoking quote/video:
“Trees are poetry that the Earth writes in the sky”
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: TBA
Today’s Thought provoking quote/video:
“Trees are poetry that the Earth writes in the sky”
Monday, March 7, 2011
Day #64
Today’s favourite poses: Plank, Child's Pose, Sunrise Salutations
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 6
Today’s interesting/thought provoking vid:
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 6
Today’s interesting/thought provoking vid:
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Day #63
Today’s favourite poses: Plank, Pigeon, Rock the Baby, Bow and Arrow
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 6 (give or take 1 or 2)
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from ZEN)
Practice
Just detach from all sound and form, but do not dwell in detachment, and do not dwell in intellectual interpretation – this is practice.
As for reading scriptures and studying the doctrines, according to worldly conventions it is a good thing, but from the perspective of one who is aware of inner truth, it chokes people.
Inherent Nature
Inherent nature cannot be named. Originally it is not mundane, nor is it holy; it is neither defiled nor pure. It is not empty or existent either, and it is not good or bad.
When it is involved with impure things, it is called the two vehicles of divinity and humanity.
When mental involvement in purity and impurity is ended, the mind does not dwell in bondage or liberation; it has no mindfulness of striving or non-striving, or of bondage or liberation.
Then, even though it is within birth and death, the mind is free, ultimately it does not comingle with all the vanities, the empty illusions, material passions, life and death, or media of sense.
Transcendent, without abode, it is not constrained by anything at all; it comes and goes through birth and death as though an open door.
Pai-chang
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 6 (give or take 1 or 2)
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from ZEN)
Practice
Just detach from all sound and form, but do not dwell in detachment, and do not dwell in intellectual interpretation – this is practice.
As for reading scriptures and studying the doctrines, according to worldly conventions it is a good thing, but from the perspective of one who is aware of inner truth, it chokes people.
Inherent Nature
Inherent nature cannot be named. Originally it is not mundane, nor is it holy; it is neither defiled nor pure. It is not empty or existent either, and it is not good or bad.
When it is involved with impure things, it is called the two vehicles of divinity and humanity.
When mental involvement in purity and impurity is ended, the mind does not dwell in bondage or liberation; it has no mindfulness of striving or non-striving, or of bondage or liberation.
Then, even though it is within birth and death, the mind is free, ultimately it does not comingle with all the vanities, the empty illusions, material passions, life and death, or media of sense.
Transcendent, without abode, it is not constrained by anything at all; it comes and goes through birth and death as though an open door.
Pai-chang
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Day #62
Today’s favourite poses: Pigeon, Child, Dog, Cobra, Tiger
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 6
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from the Tao Te Ching)
The Tao doesn't take sides;
it gives birth to both good and evil.
The Master doesn't take sides;
she welcomes both saints and sinners.
OMG - I LOVE THIS BAND!!!
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 6
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from the Tao Te Ching)
The Tao doesn't take sides;
it gives birth to both good and evil.
The Master doesn't take sides;
she welcomes both saints and sinners.
OMG - I LOVE THIS BAND!!!
Friday, March 4, 2011
Day #61
Today’s favourite poses: Pigeon, Tree, Child's Pose
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 25-30
Today’s interesting/thought provoking video:
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 25-30
Today’s interesting/thought provoking video:
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Day #60
Today’s favourite poses: Warrior I, II, III, 3 Legged DOG, Double DDog .....OH! and that tantric dance thing happened again.........I must have been taken over by the DEVIL or something! LOL!
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: At least/most 3-5
Today’s not so interesting/thought:
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: At least/most 3-5
Today’s not so interesting/thought:
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Day #59
Today’s favourite poses: Warrior III
Minutes with a relatively racing mind: Lots
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from Zen Proverbs)
The infinite is in the finite of every instant”
Minutes with a relatively racing mind: Lots
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from Zen Proverbs)
The infinite is in the finite of every instant”
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Day #58
Today’s favourite poses: Warrior II
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: Absolutely less than zero
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from Zen Proverbs)
"Knock on the sky and Listen to the sound."
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: Absolutely less than zero
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from Zen Proverbs)
"Knock on the sky and Listen to the sound."
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