To really grow you have to decide that, that is what your life is about, nothing else. ..If what you are doing is living for growth, living for liberation, living for freedom, the rest will take care of itself. If what you are doing is living for the rest...living for your name, fame, finance, relationships.... neither they will evolve very high and either will you...you have to devote your whole life to your evolution...
Michael Singer
I have decided long ago, that I want growth over everything else. I just want to do the work of letting go of what is binding me!
Life is not the problem. I am!
I have come to realize that it isn't the world and all its conflicting events that pass before me or through me that is the problem, if I feel I have one, but my mind. Though Life is really, really challenging at times, especially lately, I am committed to learning and growing from her.
...if the world is disturbing you...there is nothing wrong with the world...there is something wrong with you. It is always coming from you...A being that wants to grow uses every single moment of life for that purpose.
Neutral Focus
As I tried to do in the little, far from perfect, mindfulness video I added a few entries ago, bringing our attention to the "neutral" as we experience the life unfolding in front of us, is so important. When we are not committed to the practice of using Life as our teacher, we tend to look past everything that is neutral...meaning it does not evoke a reaction in us...in search of those things, events, people that are either attracting us or repulsing and disturbing us. We bring our attention to that which the mind deems as pleasant, and that which the mind deems as unpleasant, not seeing that the objects of our attention are only pleasant or unpleasant because we deem them to be in our minds.
We need to notice the neutral that exists between our "likes and dislikes", our judgements of "good or bad; right or wrong, should be or shouldn't be". We need to observe that which does not create change or reaction in us. Doing so will help to create a balanced state as we observe the neutral experience with cool, calm detachment. We then expand our attention to all of that which unfolds in front of us, trying to create that sense of equanimity with all that Life provides...grasping none of it, pushing away none of it...and allowing all of it. Here we are being aware of what simply is...
A Practice Of Working on Self
But doing this is a process, a committed practice that involves working on self instead of working on the world.
Yoga is about saying that I only have time to work on coming to the realization that "I can't solve problems by working on things outside." You want a state where you are at peace with everything in the universe....so that all things in life have this peacefulness, this neutrality... [On doing so]you will feel a depth or fullness that people seldom feel
The yogi comes to realize that all of life is beautiful, all of life is fulfilling, every single moment and if it isn't, it isn't because there is something wrong with it, it is because there is something wrong inside of you . If you want to fix that you have to fix what is wrong inside of you. There is nothing wrong with life, there is nothing right with life...it just is. Michael Singer
We need to stop putting all our energy in determining how life should be and going off , attempting to make it so. We need to work on ourselves.
You work on yourself every single moment of every single day no matter what you are doing or who you are with.
The Real Work
We work on ourselves by sitting in stillness and silence, by meditating and being mindful, by learning from the great teachers...but it is so much more than that. We don't just observe ourselves being peaceful and calm...we need to observe ourselves reacting to Life...slipping out of that peaceful center, again and again and again. It is more important to understand what takes us out of the peaceful state than it is to understand how to go there, according to Singer. We need to notice what is happening inside us as we experience Life. How else can we fix what is broken. We cannot stay in meditation forever.
True yoga is about watching yourself in your everyday life...Michael Singer
Life Is The Pathless Path
How do you work on yourself in this pathless path, the path where life itself is the path, the guru, the teacher....all the circumstances are attempting to liberate you and free you? ...The continuity of consciousness across the experience is the real work Michael Singer.(somewhat paraphrased)
The goal is to stay deeply centered in all situations without getting lost...
Life will get thrown away...it is constantly getting thrown away...circumstances, and events will come into our experience, pass and be forgotten. We need to stop clinging to any of it, running from any of it and see it all as neutral so we can practice maintaining consciousness in every given situation.
Life is spiritual therapy
Improving The Gap
I don't know about you but I still get lost all the time despite my commitment to practice. I get sucked in and pulled away. I still catch myself pushing away and squishing down that which I don't want to experience too. I neglect and ignore the stabilizing neutral when I am so lost in this tendency. But I am catching myself doing that again and again and again. When I realize that I allowed myself to get pulled away from center, I pull myself back to the moment with breath or my attention on what is right in front of me. I can release my focus from the object of consciousness and put it back on consciousness...becoming aware, once again, that I am aware. I begin to look at what took me away and why...the roots of it all...and I begin my practice again. I need to ask, as Singer suggest we do, why do I prefer things...why do certain things make me comfortable and why do things disturb me. Then I continue to work on myself.
That act of losing your center and then coming back is a very spiritual thing ...It is the core of your practice.
What it means to work on yourself is to do whatever is necessary to prolong the period of time before you get sucked in and then shorten the period before you come back out.
Care More About Consciousness Than Anything Else
For the most part, I do care more about being conscious than anything else but that doesn't mean it is easy. Oh man, no. I often find myself running after or running from certain things out there. My focus still too often goes onto the objects of consciousness rather than the consciousness. I did get sucked into the challenges I have been experiencing lately...big time... and they seemed to be far, far from neutral to my experience of life. I probably dwelled there longer than was healthy and it took me a little longer to come back, if I am completely back, that is. But I know that any sense of hardship and struggle I feel right now, has nothing to do with Life and everything to do with the fact that I am off center. I am off center. I need to get back to center. These challenges offer me a wonderful learning opportunity to help me master this skill.
Your life is for the purpose of your being able to remain centered, clear, calm, filled with spirit and awareness and consciousness while all of the events of your life pass before you and while you interact with all of them. Michael Singer
Well, that is the way I see it and Michael Singer's words of wisdom have reminded me of the importance of my commitment.
All is well.
Michael Singer/Sounds True. Michael Singer Podcast:The Commitment to Stay Conscious. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auQcBg4SY5A
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