In Deep Sleep

 Therefore the state of being is permanent and the body and the world are not.  They are fleeting phenomena passing on the screen of being-consciousness which is eternal and stationary.

Ramana Maharshi, (Location 511)

Huh?  What does that mean, crazy lady? And how can such a presumption be made?

Hmm? Well I guess we can start by saying that the body...this form of muscle, bone  and sinew, water and blood, organs and cells  does not last forever, right? 120 years tops but on average around 80 + years if life circumstance does not intervene.  As much as we hate to think about it,  we know that bodies die. Every minute cells in your body are dying...like right now...through a process called apoptosis, numerous cells are dying off and are being replaced with new cells.  The body you had when you were fifteen is no more...it has been completely replaced by a new body of new cells. Eventually, though  the cells will keep dying, we will stop replacing them and the body, this form we are in, will cease to exist. We know that the bodies of  others have died or will die. Our own bodies will someday succumb to this inevitability and go back into the soil, water and earth from which they came. Therefore we cannot deny that the body is impermanent. Bodies come and bodies go, right?  They have a start date and a discontinue date. They are transitory. 

But the world?

Yes, the world too is constantly being born and dying.  What we see and understand to be so permanent is actually just phenomena passing before us. That phenomena is constantly changing, arising and dissolving, being born and passing away...flickering on and off  like the images on a video screen. One day it is sunny, the next it is raining.  One day it is Autumn, the next day it is winter. One day life circumstances are calm and easy, the next  day they are stormy and chaotic. One day this is happening, the next day that is happening. All are just images on a screen. 

Being-consciousness, the state of being,  is simply the screen on which it all is being played. The state of being is who you are. You are. The body and the world are not because they no longer exist once  the lights go out. 

Huh?

You, who you really are, are not the characters that come and go on the screen....not the bodies that are born or die...and  you are not perturbed by the ever changing world and all its  moving phenomena. You are the screen on which it appears to happen. Like the screen in a movie theatre, once the movie is over and the lights go out, you are still there because you are what is real and impermanent beneath the changing scenery.  You, as consciousness,  are eternal. You are there when the movie is flickering over you and you are there when it isn't.  You are the background for it all to happen. You don't go away

You don't Go Away In Sleep, "me" does.

There are three states of  consciousness right? There is the deep sleep state where we are aware of nothing; the dream state where we are aware of the flickering images of  dreams but not what is going on in the body or outside world as we sleep; and then there is the waking state...where we are aware of body, and the world and are still observing many flickering images.  When we are awake we say we are so aware of 'reality'. When we wake up in the morning after sleeping, we may remember and recall our dream state which seemed so real at the time we were dreaming but in the morning we are so aware of its unreality. 

Can you recall your deep sleep state, though?  No... we say we were"unconscious" or  "not aware" during that phase but how do you know you were unaware?  Who was unaware? The body and ego- mind were unaware...that which we call "me" was unaware...and as long as we identify with that we believe we were unconscious during sleep.  But something other than body and mind was there, aware that you were unaware. You must admit that you are the same being  who falls asleep at night,  as you are  when you wake up. Therefore you must be the same being in deep sleep where there is no so called "awareness".  Right? You...you were still there during deep sleep even though there was no phenomena to observe.  You didn't cease to exist just because there was no awareness of body and phenomena, did you?  

Of course not! Something remains when body and mind are silenced and still. This little me that is so identified with body ceased to exist but not you. Who you are is that consciousness that observes the flickering of dreams in the sleeping state, that observes the flickering of phenomena in the waking state and that which observes the nothingness of deep sleep (where the ideas of who we are cannot go).  You are the awareness, the being consciousness on which it all plays out. So all that flickering stuff  which includes the body and mind  is temporary and transitory. That is not who you are. You are that awareness that is always there...eternal and stationary. 

 There is no body, no little  self  and no world in deep sleep because all of that is just fleeting phenomena...but you , as being-conscious, as pure awareness,  are always there because you are what is real!

All is well.

Ramana Maharishi. Edited by David Godman (n.d.) Be As You Are: The Teachings of Ramana Maharshi. Kindle Edition

Hiding From the Heart?

 The mind becomes a place the soul goes to  hide from the heart?

Michael Singer, living untethered, page 104 (New Harbinger/Sounds True, 2022)

The wise words above are very, very true.

Well what does it mean, crazy lady?

There is a common defense mechanism many of use to deal with difficult emotions, or our fear of having to deal with difficult emotions, and that is intellectualization. Have you heard of it? I was quite fascinated when I learned about  this defense mechanism in one of my many psych classes years ago. I realized right away how I "intellectualized" my way through life; how I lived in my head much more than in my heart because it was easier to think and analyze than it was to "feel".  When I felt the first twinges of "pain" I would automatically go running to my head to hide, spending much of my  time and energy figuring it out. I would go over the cause of  the pain or potential pain disturbance,  how it came to be, who or what was to blame, how I could "fix" whatever caused it, how I could prevent it from happening again.  I could spend hours, days, even years doing that instead of just feeling what was there! I did not want to experience the pain. It was easier to think than it was to feel. I was hiding in my head so I didn't have to be in my heart.

Do you hide in your head? 

I nChapter 21 of his book, Singer speaks to this tendency of ours. He explains that the spiritual heart stores our samskaras.

....emotions are generated by the heart. Not just nice emotions-all emotions. If someone does something that hurts you or makes you feel jealous-you feel that pain and turmoil in your heart. Singer, page 104

Unlike thoughts emotions do not talk to us through words or images (the words and images only come after we automatically  pull the emotion into our minds for analysis) and emotions don't come and go..  Emotions are more like non-verbal energetic vibrations that are always there, flowing through the heart. We just don't notice them until they change. As that energy shifts, they may flow up and over us in a second like a wave.  Sometimes that wave may be refreshing and other times it may feel like a tsunami. These changes seem unpredictable and for that reason frightening. Thinking is much less threatening and that is why we often hide out in the head. 

If, however, we could keep our hearts open and stay there rather than in the mind...this emotional energy could wash our samskaras up and out; it  can cleanse and refresh our insides. We just have to be willing to resist the urge to run away from our emotions, to stop judging them as good or bad, right or wrong, should be or shouldn't be so we are not constantly reaching for the pleasant ones and pushing away ( which means pushing down) the unpleasant ones; so we are allowing all the waves to come and go. 

How do we do that, crazy lady?

Well Michael Singer and Maharshi and the Buddha and so many others simply tell us to fall back into the Seat of Self, into that shunyata ( empty spacious awareness) and observe this emotional energy within us from there, just as we observe our thinking.  It isn't who we are...it is just energetic phenomena that we have this wonderful opportunity to witness and experience. We don't have to get all tangled up in it but if we are...we untie those knots from the top layer down and we let it all flow through the heart. 

Hmm! 

All is well!

Already That

Stillness and peace is realization. There is no moment when Self is not...When the not-Self ["little me"] disappears, the Self alone remains. To make room, it is enough that objects be removed. Room is not brought in from elsewhere. 

Reading some beautiful words of wisdom from Maharshi this morning on Tat Tvam Asi....

There is no reaching the Self.  If Self were to be reached, it would mean that the Self is not here and now and that it is yet to be obtained. So it will be impermanent.  What is not permanent is not worth striving for. So I say the Self is not reached.  You are the Self, you are already that. 

That really leads to  some "aha" moments, doesn't it?  This understanding of Tat Tvam Asi; "You are already that!" is so essential to yoga understanding. Michael A. Singer speaks to these teachings in his book, living untethered. Singer teaches that the objects that need to be removed are samskaras and Maharishi teaches that what must be removed is  our ignorance as to who we really are, our wrong knowledge or "wrong view"[as the Buddha would have referred to it].  The point is we don't bring more space in from the outside world so we can  have room to do this...we remove what is in the way for the room that is already there to be known. We don't bring in peace and happiness and stillness from out there so we can experience it in here...we remove what is in the way of what was, is and always will be there. These teachings are universal. 

The fact is you are ignorant of your blissful state. Ignorance supervenes and draws a veil over the pure Self which is bliss. Attempts are made only to remove this veil of ignorance which is merely wrong knowledge.  The wrong knowledge is the false identification of the Self with the body and the mind. This false identification must go, and then the Self alone remains. 

Ramana Maharshi, from  Be As You Are( Arkana, S.  Kindle Edition)

So much wisdom to grow with.

All is well!

More on Knots

 I was reminded of this that I wrote a few years ago. I tweaked it a bit as I tend to do when I read poems again after years of not reading them! Good or bad...? All relative right? No need to judge. 

Knots!  Knots!  Knots!

Twining, spiraling,
the strong unfrayable strands
coil around each other,
forming a ball of knotted flesh
at the center of our being.

Like a string of  determined weeds
emerging  in unruly fashion
from the same root system,
miniature versions
of tangled memory,
terror, desperation and regret
 sprout up between
the fibers of unassuming  muscle.

Wrapping their misbehaving limbs,
like deranged  tentacles,
around the sinewy chords
of  shoulders, back and neck,
 they  laugh eerily
with each movement
in reminder
of what was and
of what may never be.

They spread out
into the  throat,
distorting voices,
making it challenging
to cry out "stop'
as they settle in jaws
clenched tight with resistance.
Like the hinges on Pandora's box,
these tired rusty joints 
hold the lid closed
in fear the noisy demons
held within
will be released
and never contained again.

Knots! Knots! Knots!

The past leaves
its lingering impressions
in these fragile vessels
of body and mind
in the form of
multiplying knots.
Knots that constrain and restrict,
knots that add confusion to
what is already confused,
knots that nag and pull at us
like persistent toddlers
who demand our attention,
knots that we skip over,
knots that we stuff away,
and knots that we push down
as we reach upward and outward
away from their menacing presence
to something, anything  
that will bring numbing relief.

Oh,  but  no matter how
intoxicated we get
on the world's  many
elixirs  and distractions,
we cannot seem
to  run far enough away 
from  these knots.
Nor can we ignore the way
they painfully  damn up the vessels
Life is meant to flow so
fluidly and gracefully through.
We can not deny  how they
make us choke and cough up
the beauty and joy
that is offered us
before it ever reaches
its intended destination-  

Knots!  Knots!  Knots!

"Knots," the sages whisper
when we cry out in agony,
"can be untied."
"Just listen for the bell within you,"
they instruct with
their kindly examples.
" And stop...just stop when you
hear its sweet reminder;
stop the busy thinking,
moving and the doing.
Take a breath in,
draw that precious
healing prana
through you,
to the center of who you are.
Let it illuminate
each twisted tentacle
that clings to your idea
of  "me" and "them".

View each knot 
in the light of clear vision,
Observe how  the
distorted lengths  of story
and the  limbs of
judgment and assumption
have braided their way  
through your body and mind,
forming gnarled
and garbled obstacles
between you and this moment.

Regardless of how
your hand trembles,
resist your urge
to push away,

or to hold down.
Resist the need for
knowing and labelling, 
and instead
reach out to touch each knot,
just touch it gently.
Hold it in your hands,
feel its sinewy texture
with your entire being
as you  allow it to be
exactly what it is.
Just allow it, accept it.
Notice how it softens
in you as you
look upon it.
Feel the fibers

release
enough for you
to decipher the truth
each filament within
the tangled mess holds...

one knot at a time.
Listen for its sweet voice
to become clear,
remember its forgotten innocence,
 and embrace every
coiled thread of Dukkha
you discover there,
with a heart wide open.

Then breathe out...
Allow the breath
to fall and relax.  
Observe as it flows
like cool, refreshing  water
up, over and through each knot
that continues to 
untwine  and loosen,
its blurry contents

pushed up and out

by the fluid presence.
Feel your mind soften
into emptiness,
your body ease into release
and allow
the fingers of judgment
to slip off your being
freeing you
from the twisted hold
your impressions 
have  had on you.
Feel the letting go
of each knot
and the opening
of your heart
as you untangle,
unwind
and wake up
to a healed mind. "

We may shake
our resistant heads
at this sagely advice
and turn our back
on this ancient wisdom.
We may continue
to give into
the knotted restriction,
contraction
and retraction
 of our existence
in the comfort zone.

Or 

...maybe,
just maybe
we will  choose to
practice as instructed.
Maybe we will  stop;
maybe we will breathe;
maybe we will
notice and embrace
that which we have
 tried to push away

and down

 for much too long.

Knots!  Knots!  Knots!
 
These knots hold
healing  secrets
within them
but the choice
is ours to make.
We get to choose  
whether or not
we remain ensnared 
in the twisted
net of suffering
or if we are released
by each and every knot
we bravely behold

and surrender.

Dale-Lyn April, 2020

Knots

  

We are sinking and drowning so that to this very day we don't know how our bodies and minds are in knots or how to go about untying them.

Ananda , from the Shurangama Sutra 

I have tears in my eyes this morning as I sit here. I don't understand it but I am certainly allowing it.  It is a release of some of  that pent up energy within me...some deep, stuffed  samskaras are making their way up and I know it is healing.  My knots are untangling and that which they have been constricting between their tight threads is loosening and becoming free. One knot at a time. I just had to stop pulling on either end of the scarf of Self in my frustration to be free. I needed to stop believing that I needed to know each knot by name and how it got there before this mess inside could be untangled. Maybe we do not need to label, analyze, and understand the details of our tangled knots...we just need to be willing, open and appreciative of their releasing. 

Instead of dwelling on each specific thing we have stored in order for it to be released, we just need to allow the top layer to loosen and the rest will untangle. 

The knots and their release have a common cause.....The knots must be untied successively. When the six are released [the Buddha had tied six knots to a scarf to show Ananda], even the one ceases to be.

The Buddha, Shurangama Sutra

We instead often make the tangles worse by pulling and tugging on the scarf. We create "problems" where there is no problems. 

As Buddha said,

With your own mind, you grasp at your own mind. What is illusory turns into illusion.  If you don't grasp, there is no non-illusion. 

We need to stop working so hard to figure it all out and instead just open our hearts and allow it all to untangle. ..

All is well

The Shurangama Sutra from https://langnghiem.com/en/shurangama-5/

A Billion Unpreferred Things

 There are billions of things that can happen in life that don't match your preferences, and there only a few that do. Under these conditions, the probability that life is going to be a negative experience is extremely high. This is not because life is negative. It is because the only thing that isn't negative to you is that which exactly matches your preferences. 

Michael A. Singer, living untethered, page 96 ( New Harbinger/Sounds True, 2022)

What Yoga Is and Isn't

 

If you can control the rising of the mind into ripples, you will experience yoga.

Patanjali

Yoga isn't a religion. It isn't a spiritual movement. It isn't some type of woo-woo new age trendy "thing". It isn't just a fancy exercise trend either.   Yoga is an ancient science. Like psychiatry and psychology, but far older and beyond these schools, it is a science of the mind. It has been practiced and tested for centuries. Its hypothesis' have been  proven again and again in the inner world of those who practice diligently.  It is an inner validation of its theories that one receives through its clinical and non clinical trials, though there is some empirical external evidence to be observed. It is one of those experiments one has to try for themselves in order to exclaim"By Golly, I got it!" Yet when you do get it...it is so hard to explain and prove what you have gotten..  The results one obtains from yoga are challenging to document in any way that would get published in a scientific journal.  What one realizes goes beyond the scientific jargon, any jargon really. It goes beyond concepts and ideas. It is much, much deeper than that. Hmm! 

Of course, I am not talking about what one gets from Hatha Yoga...one small component of yoga that we have taken out of context. The hatha yoga the west knows now has only been practiced for a  little more than a century where as yoga, true yoga,  is actually assumed to be  over 5,000 years old.  Hatha's origins, as documented in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, were  actually just a few  seated postures and breath exercises developed to help true yogis  test, practice and perfect  their internal experiments longer. There was no such thing as "Downward Dog" or  "Pidgeon Pose" until some Indian gymnasts began tweaking the poses in the late 1800's  to show off their athletic prowess and then it became a "thing"...a good thing mind you... but not the be all and end all of yoga. 

There are eight limbs to yoga...Raja yoga....and they are as follows: Yama(abstinence from unwholesome mental traits and behaviours) , Niyama ( observance, devoted practice), Asana (Posture/where Hatha Yoga originates), pranayama( breath control-also a component of Hatha Yoga), Pratyahara(withdrawls from sense, inner reflection), Dharana ( concentration and focus/"mindfulness"), Dhyana( meditation) and Samadhi( contemplation, absorption, higher consciousness realization).

Doesn't that sound a lot like the foundation of many religious practices?  But yoga isn't a religion.  Its bare bones ( not under the label:yoga) can be seen in many religious and spiritual practices (as well as in many personal/social development and health improvement movements) but it is not a religion. It is a tool we can use to better ourselves , society and the entire world. It doesn't depend on ritual or dogma, fancy fitness equipment or gadgets, social or political activism . What it depends on is simply  the participation of  each individual to study, observe and experiment with their own  mind.  It is really quite a fascinating science. 

Hmm! Felt compelled to share that.

All is well. 

Satchidananda[ Translator and Commentator ]( 2012) The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Integral Yoga Publications

Loving Kindness Meditation Part Three

Let  our hearts be stretched out in compassion for others, for everyone is walking his or her own difficult path.

Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Wise teachings from Thich Nhat Hanh:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ogiYBmS2zE

When we practice kindness and compassion, we are the first ones to profit.

Rumi

All is well!

Dreams and the Brilliant Mind

 The dream is like a hidden door in the innermost and most secret recesses of the soul, opening into the cosmic night which was  psyche long before there was any ego-consciousness, and which will remain psyche no matter how far our ego-consciousness extends. Dreams are the facts from which we must proceed. 

Carl Jung

Speaking of dreams, I slept in again dreaming about work related situations lol.  I need to get back on track.  Tomorrow my so called work week (part time)  begins again after the holidays and I will awaken for that.  I was hoping to establish an earlier beginning to my day with meditation and writing.  Maybe awaken at 5 or 530. I want to prioritize those moments I spend in stillness and quiet....and those moments I spend studying, listening to, writing about what is really important. I do want to "serve" in any way I can and this little job helps me to do that in some way...I would like to find a way to incorporate or maximize that service to those who really need whatever I, as this form and mind, has to offer while this idea of "me" gets smaller and smaller. It is such a challenge...to let "me" diminish though.  It is still clinging and too often in the way of the service I want to provide. Anyway, it all starts with awareness and mindfulness.  I can do that lol. 

Anyway...back to what is really important.

Dreams!!!

How much attention do you pay to your dreams?

I have always been fascinated with dreams.  I am a bit of a Jungian and interested in exploring the shadow selves that emerge in our dream states.  I try to record my dreams and to decipher the symbology within them. I have also learned over the years to lucid dream and for the most part can interject "some" control in my dream state if not complete control. Instead of running from the fear, I have learned to turn and face that which is scary knowing that there is some learning in those eerie shadows.  I call whatever is lurking in the dark corners to step into  my awareness.  Seldom do those shadows emerge... though I do feel more powerful for being willing to face them.  What often happens is some less threatening and  bizzare creatures emerge  and unusual events transpire instead. Weird!! Some healing, however,  takes place in those dreams that I have yet to understand.

I understand now that there are samskaras buried within us all that are too traumatic for the mind to bring , as of yet, to our conscious awareness.  So dreams are wreaked in symbolism that doesn't make complete sense to our limited minds.  Through all that symbolism, our minds are gently healing our wounds in our dream states. Through those symbols and strange events,  we are slowly and gently releasing what needs to be released. Even if it doesn't make sense. 

Wow!

Your mind is doing you a favor.  Your brilliant mind did that in an attempt to stay healthy and release at least some of the pent-up energy. That is what the symbology of dreams is about.  It's truly amazing how brilliant your mind is when left to its own resourcefulness.  Just as your body is always trying to heal itself, so your mind is always trying to release impurities that are stuck in there. 

Michael A. Singer, living untethered, page 93 (New Harbinger/Sounds True, 2022)

Recognizing the Insignificance of Automatic Thoughts

 If you pay attention, you will see that the mind creates most thoughts on its own. They go on all the time....Just as your body is always trying to expel impurities, so your mind is trying to get these mental impurities out. That is what is happening when your mind creates its own thoughts. ...They[samskaras] will continuously try to release pent-up energy, and they will end up determining the thoughts your mind creates on its own. This is the nature of all your automatic thoughts.....

Michael A. Singer, living untethered, page 88-89 ( New Harbinger/Sounds True)

Willful and Automatic Thoughts

We do have a certain amount of power over what type of thinking we do and what type of thoughts we listen to inside our heads.  Unfortunately though, most of our thinking  results from  automatic reflexes of  a mind busy attempting to squish down the painful and unwanted impressions we stored so they do not come up.  That stored energy, however, is determined to come up.  And it comes up in wisps and puffs through  automatic thoughts and dreams,  trying to make itself known. These thoughts and images  all seem so real and important! 

We spend so much time listening to and believing these thoughts, making our choices based upon them that we forget that we have another choice.  We can willfully think. Instead of getting lost in automatic thinking, we can interject positive, life affirming thoughts into our consciousness.  First, we must see  and understand the nature of the automatic thinking reflex in our minds; see where it comes from even if we cannot trace each thought to its specific root. We must recognize their harmful nature and understand that we do not have to believe them.  They are not reality.  We, as the wise observer who witnesses,  can interject more positive and wholesome thoughts in there. 

They are not to be seen as some important truth or great insight into what is really going on. They are simply your mind attempting to cleanse the patterns you have stored in there. 

Michael A. Singer, page 89

Hmm!  Now that is something to think about!

All is well! 

Loving Kindness Meditation for Special Other

 The first element of true love is loving kindness. The essence of loving kindness is being able to offer happiness. You can be the sunshine for another person. You can't offer happiness until you have it for yourself. So build a home inside by accepting yourself and learning to love and heal yourself. Learn how to practice mindfulness in such a way that you can create moments of happiness and joy for your own nourishment. Then you have something to offer the other person. 

Thich Nhat Hanh

Note: You can use a pet or animal as a focus for your practice.

Practice begins 5:26 mins in

From the wonderful teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ogiYBmS2zE

Devoted

 The foundational choice in Life is either constantly control life to compensate for our blockages or devote our lives to getting rid of our blockages.

Michael A. Singer, living untethered, page 83 ( New Harbinger/ Sounds True, 2022)

Are you finally, at this point in your life, devoted to getting rid of your blockages?  I hope so. I am.  I am not 100 % sure how to release all those smaskaras within me but I am willing to put the time, effort and energy into it. I have finally learned  that doing it the other way doesn't work! 

A wise person knows that the world is not going to unfold the way they want it to because it's not supposed to. 

Michael Singer, page 84

I finally see that any sense of suffering I may experience really doesn't come from "out there" .  It comes from my expectations and assumptions about how the world should be for "little me"'s benefit. Little me and all its stuffed stuff is really the only thing in the way of any healing I and the world can do. Hmm!. 

Suffering is caused by the contrast between what you mentally decided you wanted and  the reality of what is unfolding in front of you.

Singer, page 86 

You really need to read this book!

All is well. 

Change Required

 There is a much higher way to live life. But it requires that you change  how you interact with your mind and with the life unfolding before you.

Michael Singer

Put away your preferences for how you assume life should be to serve you, and instead put your energy towards allowing, appreciating and serving whatever unfolds in front of you.

All is well!

Loving Kindness Meditation For Self

 May I be peaceful, loving and light...

Thich Nhat Hanh

The following is a very imperfect explanation and guided meditation for directing loving kindness towards the self.  It comes from a teacher I hold near and dear to my heart and whom I have never met in person: Thich Nhat Hanh.. I will enclose the link for his video below. Namaste!

Actual meditation practice starts 12:48in. These mantras and teachings come from :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ogiYBmS2zE

Devoted

 The fundamental choice we have in life is either constantly control life to compensate for our blockages or devote our lives to getting rid of our blockages.

Michael A. Singer, living untethered, page 83 (New Harbinger/Sounds True, 2022)

Are you constantly controlling or getting to the point where you are ready to devote your life to releasing and letting go? I am ready to let go! Only because I see the other way just doesn't work.  No matter how much we try to control and fix what is out there so it doesn't make us feel uncomfortable in here...we really can't control Life can we? 

We need to release our blocked energies and we must be utterly devoted to that mission.

All is well.

Breath Awareness and the Mala

 

The Impersonal Mind

 ..your mind has a layer beyond the layers of the personal mind.  It has been called the impersonal mind, the abstract mind, or even the purely intellectual mind.  This layer of mind is not distracted by the inner commotion caused by your samskaras.  It is free to soar unhindered into pure brilliance and creativity of a higher expression of mind.

Michael Singer, page 79

We do not have to stay stuck in the personal mind and all its petty woes.  We can extend our awareness beyond the personal...to the impersonal, or Abstract Mind, as Michael Singer refers to it in Chapter 16  of  living untethered. With this abstract or impersonal mind we can create beautiful works of art or solve the most challenging intellectual problems plaguing our earth.  We can do this...as long as the "me" stays out of the way.

But the "me" is the most important thing  to many of us. Preserving it seems to be our major goal and what we tend to use the mind for.

The mind is great; it's just not supposed to be used for storing all your personal preferences and then thinking the whole world is supposed to match what you stored. Singer, page 80

It is our personal preferences that get in the way of the unlimited potential of our minds.  The mind can do great things but too often, these preferences and this idea that "life should be here for me",  gets in the way.  If things on the outside are pleasant and something we, as 'little me' ,  prefer: " Life is great!"...if they are less than pleasant or what we don't want...then:  "Life is difficult!" 

We make our lives about pulling in and clinging to  what is soothing and pleasant to us, as individual self, and resist or push away that which is not pleasant or triggering to our samskaras. That is what we use these minds for. We personalize something so amazing and so universal, that has  so much potential to do so much good for the world, just so we, as individual "me"s,   feel good inside. 

Instead of being in awe that the moment in front of you even exists, you fight with it to match what you want. page 82

What a waste of our time and energy it is to preserve personal over impersonal and /abstract.  What a waste of our minds. Wouldn't you rather be in awe? 

All is well.

Michael A. Singer ( 2022) living untethered. New Harbinger/Sounds True

A New Year's Wish

 Sat-Chit-Ananda is said to indicate that the supreme is not asat[different from being], not achit[different from consciousness] and not anananda [different from happiness]..., 

My wish for you in 2023 is Sat-Chit-Anananda, which simply translates into  being-consciousness- bliss. 

Perfect bliss is Brahman. Perfect peace is of the Self. That alone exists and is consciousness.  That which is called happiness is only the nature of Self; Self is not other than perfect happiness. That which is called happiness alone exists....

Knowing that fact and abiding in the state of Self,enjoy Bliss eternally. 

Sri Ramana Maharshi, Be As You Are (Arkana, S.)

May you learn, in 2023, to live fully, mindfully and blissfully in the moment! 

All is well 

 

A bit frustrated this morning with technology.  Let me rephrase that:  I am frustrated with my inability to work with and control technology. I  have been having issues with this site for a long time.  I am so grateful for the means it has given me, for free, to express and share that which is really important.  It has been a Godsend.  Yet I have so little control of who I reach and how I reach them. I am not sure how many are reading this.  It seems that few are getting through.  The stats page on site never matches the stats page on Google analytics. (Today the Stats page registered 148, and the Google site registered five) ? People cannot seem to follow me which is okay I do not need others to "subscribe" but if they wanted to, different streams are needed. I am not here to make money but I am here to reach people if they are ready and needing to be reached. Technology does not make that easy. lol 

I also have a  Facebook page for my yoga which I screwed up on royally yet I cannot delete it.  It is connected somehow to my personal web page.... that,  I never wanted. I am never on Facebook any more as I try to avoid social media. I am not sure how to delete it all and start over! I mean...I cannot even delte a picture or change my profile to blank. It is frustrating.

My only purpose was to share what might be useful to someone somewhere...not have all these pages. Hmm! I , whoever I am in this form, will figure it out if I am meant to.  If not...I will just have to  let Life be Life. Whatever unfolds unfolds. Sigh!

All is well

The Brilliant Mind Versus The Personal Mind

 You actually think that the Universe should be the way you want it to be.

Michael A. Singer, page 75

The mind is a brilliant thing and when we use it correctly we can live brilliant lives.  The problem is that we tend to "personalize" this brilliance and thusly misuse its potentional.

The Personal Mind

There are three layers of the personal mind according to Michael Singer in Chapter 15 of living untethered. There is, what he calls, the here-and now layer: That part of the mind that is taking in all the experiences that are unfolding around us and in us in this given moment via the senses. There is the samskara layer: A layer of mind that has stored all our impressions, that which we clung to or tried to push away. And there is the personal-thought layer that is constantly trying to keep those samskaras under control so they don't come up to bother us and in so doing is also policing the here and now layer so it it doesn't trigger the samskaras.  I see the top layer of our consciousness as being the here-and now layer, the bottom layer of our consciousness (our deep subconscious, maybe) as being our samskara layer and the personal-thought layer as being in the middle.  Most of energy is spent in the middle layer trying to "control" what comes in and what comes up. The problem with that is:

If we use our mind's brilliance to develop thought patterns based on how everything and everyone needs to be for us to feel okay, we have limited our lives to serving our samskaras. Michael Singer, page 75

It is exhausting, totally a waste of time and more than a little cra-cra to spend all that energy serving  our samskaras, attempting to make a world that is simply doing what it has been doing for billions of years  work the way we think it should, just so we are constantly comfortable inside. Don't you think? We miss out on  fully expereincing the here and now when we do that.  What we need to do is dig down to the samskara layer and release those impressions once and for all. Of course, that won't be pleasant...if they were stuffed with pain they will be released with pain...but...think of the freedom we will feel in the long run.  We will have all that brilliant mind energy free to do what it is meant to do: process this wonderful Life as it is so we can expereince it  not as a controller of it ( which we could never be anyway) but a joyous  participant and observer of what is.  

How cool is that?

Hmmm! Well that is something to think about .

Michael A. Singer ( 2022) living untethered. (Chapter 15: The Brilliant Human Mind). New Harbinger/ Sounds True

Self- Realized Video or an EgoMotived One?

 

The state of  Self -realization, as we call it, is not attaining something new or reaching some goal which is far away, but simply being that which you always are and which you always have been. 

Ramana Maharshi, Be As You Are

I felt compelled to do a video yesterday...really pulled to the studio with my camera.  Then after I completed it...felt the pull to make it public.  Once it was up I wondered: Was that Redeemer ego that wanted it up there or higher Self? Then when I realized how imperfect it was I pulled it down and then I wondered: Was that shamer ego or higher Self? Man...I am always questioning from where my motivations are coming.

For now it is is "unlisted" and I am not sure if it is at the direction of my silly little "me" wanting to be seen and afraid to be seen and judged at the same time...that it is so  or the higher , wiser me. Will I ever know?  If we are still afraid to put our Selves out there  to be judged...then we are still lost in this idea that there is something about this "me" that is worth clinging to, worth defending. We are still clinginging to a concept. We are yet to be fully realized if that is the case,  aren't we?  All in the learning.

All is well. 

Weak Spots

 Eventually, you will come to realize that it is not the job, the spouse or the car that gets old-its listening to the mess in your mind that gets old. While all these patterns from the past get blocked in your mind [samskaras], you in there can neither experience the miracle of life unfolding before you, nor can you experience the natural beauty within you. Your awareness is completely distracted by those stored mental patterns, and you must devote your days and nights to serving them. You can no longer experience reality- you are stuck experiencing yourself. 

Michael A Singer, living untethered, page 71 ( New Harbinger/Sounds True, 2022)

I want the people around me to be happy and well! I feel so powerless when I cannot help them to feel better. Sigh! How can I help ease the suffering of others who are so blinded by this idea and belief that it is the "out there" that is hurting them; who are still so distracted by their samskaras that they cannot see that truth and feel instead that life is hitting them unfairly...when I have yet to fully acknowledge my own weak spots and to  let go of my own blockages? 

Hmm! All I can do is continue to work on myself, I guess...continue to open and release and maybe someday I will be able to lead by example. 

The truth of life is not hitting your weak spots, you are projecting your weak spots onto life. 

Michael Singer, page 70

All is well!

The Highest State

 The,  highest state is to be comfortable learning and growing from life's experiences. ....That is what acceptance is: nonresistance. It is having the commitment to fully allow reality to pass directly into the higher part of your being. In the end, all you are surrendering is your resistance to reality. You learn to let it come in, even if it is not comfortable as it pours into you. 

Michael A. Singer, living untethered, page 64-65 (New Harbinger/ Sounds True, 2022)

I am sitting here alone in the dark with nothing but the early  light from the windows around me shining in. It is so beautiful out there. The light is filtering through bare branches offering a warm golden hue to a frozen world.  I opened up the door for my pets earlier  to breathe in a crisp refreshing air that felt clean and alive to my recovering lungs. And there was not a sound other than the crunching of snow as my dogs ran across it. Sigh! Winter mornings can be so beautiful, so peaceful. 

I awoke early from what seemed like endless sleep. Man, have I been sleeping with this bug. Falling asleep everywhere. It is such a nice healing sleep for body and mind. Will be doing a practice in a few hours for a friend who is home to visit. I am looking  forward to it and hope my body is too after all that sleep. :) 

Let's look at the quote above. These are some mighty potent words and concepts to describe what freedom entails at the experiential level: acceptance through nonresistance. How many of us are comfortable with all that unfolds in front of us, comfortable enough to allow it all in without clinging or aversion...so it can pass right through us? How many of us welcome all the challenges, so called "hardships", losses and set backs that pass before us into our hearts just as quickly as we welcome the so called "good times", and "blessings", and pleasant experiences? I know I still struggle to do that even though it is something I am committed to mastering. 

I am going to share my sankalpa with you. A sankalpa, you may remember from previous entries, is a statement or mantra...a wish written/spoken in present tense that we wish to achieve or adhere to. It is often spoken like a mantra during certain meditation or yogic practices like Yoga Nidra, for example. 

My heart is opening; my heart is releasing.  My heart is healing; my heart is expanding. 

I want to keep my heart opened to all experiences, "The good, the bad and the ugly!" I don't want to close it for anything. I want my heart to release all stored samskaras, impressions, emotional energies that are blocking me so the Shakti can move.  I want to heal what seemed to be broken on the physical level but was never broken on the deeper level through this release of blocked energies. And most importantly, I want my heart to expand  and grow in love, and joy and service  so other beings on this planet benefit from it and from this life I erroneously call my own. I want this highest state Michael Singer writes about in his books.

What about you?

In order for that to happen, we need to stop resisting what is unfolding in front of us, stop labelling it as "bad, wrong, shouldn't be!" when it is uncomfortable. We need to learn to,  or at least be willing to, open our hearts so it all can come in! It will blow right through like a breeze of refreshing winter air if we let it! We have to let it!

All is well in my world. 

An Idea of Christmas

 My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others.  Come to think of it, why do we have to wait until Christmas to do that?

Bob Hope

It has been a few days since I wrote here. Christmas, sick loved ones, the need to provide care so others could get the care they needed, and getting swept away by the momentum of an intention gone wrong ( our commercialized and  much too busy version of Christmas) ...has left me with little room to just sit and breathe. As a result, my body was unable to defend itself in its naturally inherent way against the bugs flying around.  Other than the hour I spent visiting my daughter yesterday...I slept for almost 20 hours straight. Sigh!  I long for my hatha/pranayama practice and to be able to assist others who also need a post Christmas recovery  practice but fear my body will not let me. Still not 100%. 

I did it again.  I allowed my clenched jawed, tight fisted, and tensed up self to get swept away by something that makes absolutely no sense to me anymore.  Every year it makes less and less sense yet I participate in consumerism, materialism, adding unnecessary burdens to our planet, and a busyness that totally contradicts the quiet stillness of "Silent Night". I tell myself and others on Boxing Day every year..."Okay next year is going to be different!" ...only to find myself caught up in the current again and again when the season rolls around, doing the same thing I did the year before. 

I am not a grinch.  I love to celebrate Christ's presence on earth. I love to celebrate love and getting together and giving and compassion. I love "peace on earth and good will to men!" Making up a day to focus on doing that is okay with me. I just don't like what our culture has done with all that...how it got all twisted around so there is so little peace .  You know? 

Anyway, all in the learning.  I do hope you were able to find some peace and joy  this season and will continue to discover that peace and joy within yourself in the year ahead.

Merry Christmas! 

No Expectations

 Living without expectations doesn't mean you are denying your desires.  It just means that you are open to all outcomes.

Unknown

Have a wonderful day!

Clear Mind

 When the mind is clear, everything comes in that way.

Michael A Singer, living untethered, page 61 (New Harbinger/Sounds True, 2022)

I am asking today...not that things "out there" are pleasant and just the way I like them to be... but that my mind is clear. With clear mind, clear heart...no expectations, just a willingness to accept whatever unfolds, embracing the learning in it...is how we would best serve our days.  

Hope you have a very clear mind today so everything comes in clear before it passes right through :)

All is well.

All in the Learning!

 There are no problems; just learning experiences. No matter what happens, you are becoming greater. 

Michael Singer, living untethered, page 56

In line with what we were talking about, I had another experience yesterday that reinforces the need to respond with neutrality to our circumstances. Instead of being ego and little me enhancing, my day was very humbling and little me  deflating. Things did not go the way I would have liked them to...the way my puffed up ego expected them to.  I was met with challenge after challenge. . My mind and body were not skilled enough to handle these circumstances in an effective way.  It was obvious to those around me. As I reflect now, it was like a scene out of a funny movie about teaching.  As a result, I had to listen to ego whining and cringing in embarrassment and shame all day. "I should be able to manage this situation.  What is wrong with "me"? I must prove to others that I can do this! I must save face! " It became too much  about "me" and what "me" wanted and didn't want...liked or didn't like; how this "me" appeared to others . That is was the only thing that was problematic.  At the end of the day I was so exhausted from listening to little me...I forgot "why" I was doing what I was doing, forgot about my commitment to do what I could to get rid of the "me". Me was too busy resisting the "isness" of my situation, judging it as bad, wrong and shouldn't be simply because t felt uncomfortable.

I later found myself awake at 330 in the morning wondering, "What can I learn from this both on a practical level and on a deeper level?" On a practical level I can speak to those more skilled in this area, ask for direction and advice, reflect on what worked and didn't work etc.  Now I do this every day I work.  I am such a committed  experiential learner. I truly do reflect on and  learn from my mistakes. On the deeper level, I am taken to what we were talking about: I must not invest in "me" and its likes and dislikes into my experiences. I must approach things with neutrality..  This level is much more important than the practical level.  If I master the learning here, the learning elsewhere will come naturally or will lack significance. 

We must remember that personal mind is strengthened , not diminished, when we pay attention to more objects than others based on the comfort level they trigger within us. There really is no "bad" experiences just experiences that feel or vibrate differently within us. If we want them all to just pass through us without getting snagged in samskaras we just need to openly accept them, not from the perspective of a demented little me but from the higher Self. We look at every experience as a valuable learning experience that will help us to grow.

Sigh! So much learning for a mind that loves to learn. It is all good!

Experience

 Your consciousness actually expands because of the knowledge that flows into it. You are learning and growing through the experiences you are having. 

Michael A. Singer, living untethered, page 55

All is well

Being That Which You Always Were

 The state of Self-realization, as we call it, is not attaining something new or reaching some goal which is far away, but simply being that which you always are and which you always have been. All that is needed is that you give up your realization of the not-true as true. 

Sri Ramana Maharshi

These teachings, which are found in a variety of different texts and expressed in a variety of different ways are so simple, yet so complicated at the same time! They are complicated because they are so simple. Our concept addicted minds tend to  want to analyze them to death...and the thing about Self-realization is that it goes beyond the need for words. It really can't be described nor can it be understood conceptually.  It is not about striving and doing anything.  It is all about letting go of something we have been erroneously clinging to and falling back into what is.  We can meditate for 8 hours a day and practice every religious ritual out there at every given moment...but if we continue to hold onto our concepts, our ideas that we are these bodies and personalities and that everything else in the world is separate from us...we will never become Self-realized. The idea of "me" has got to go! This idea we have of being a "me" is not true.  Until we let go of that, we will never realize who we always are and have always been. 

Hmm! Now that is something to think about.

All is well.

David Godman (Editor) ( 1989) Be As You Are: The Teachings of Ramana Maharshi. Penguin (Kindle Edition)

Not Reacting to the Positive!

Life is 10% what happens to you and 90 % how you react to it.

Charles R. Swindoll

Snowing again.  Winter is here to stay :).  As she should be.  

Had an experience , yesterday, that I am reflecting on.  In a nutshell, I had a wonderful day and it was partly that way because my ego kept getting stroked.  I am realizing, once again, that non reactivity goes both ways. 

First of all...I started the day like I do must everyday, with the intention to be  open.  I could almost feel my body vibrating with something.  At first I thought it was just a bit of nerves and what not brought on by not sleeping enough the night before and about approaching another "new" situation, not knowing what to expect. Then...out of nowhere, I felt that peace inside me emerge.  I was ready and willing to accept all that came my way and was experiencing a bit of peace and, at the same time, excitement wondering how it was all going to unfold. It started out a little chaotic but I found some joy  in  the not-knowing, in the open willingness to allow all that was, be as it is...brewing within. Then things just seemed to slip into place without me doing anything...people kept coming to me in a very friendly way, offering kindness,  help and support just when I needed it.  They seemed to "like" something about "me" for no reason.  So amongst all that good feeling from within...the "me" was being warmed and watered by outside influence.  It started to become about "me".  I heard myself saying, "Oh this "me" must be doing a good job...this "me" must be likable and worthy of esteem."

I caught myself. I suddenly realized what I was doing.  I was allowing myself  to react to positive outside influences.  "Me" was liking it all, a little too much. I was enjoying the stroke of ego. I was preferring this and losing my way.  I was allowing the "me" to grow when what I truly want is the "me" to leave. Hmmm!

I caught myself  reacting to the outside world...caught up in it, allowing it to define when and how my heart should open.  What I felt when I started my day...what brought these positive experiences to me in the first place...had little to do with ego.  It was what Singer would call "Shakti".  As I intended, this energy was finding its way through me. I was not standing in its way  but it was influencing how the little  "I" approached this gift of day I was given. Because things were going so well...I found myself  rejoicing in it, preferring  the experience over others, wanting more of the same. I...meaning the lower part of my consciousness, the part I call "me" ...was growing and growing from this feeding and I knew if I didn't stop it, it would get to the point that it would be dropping a large shadow over what was really important. Allowing the  "me" to grow creates a huge barrier over the true Self. It really does. 

At this point in my life, I do not want to make "me" and this barrier any bigger...I want to diminish it. I need to keep reminding myself of that fact. 

What I choose to do cannot be based on any "me-ness" .  It has to be about something greater...and the reason why things turned out so well is that when I started the morning, it was all about this something bigger. My intention was to keep an open heart and to leave the "me' at home. "Me" wasn't in the way...at first. Well it got called back in by the positive strokes in my direction.  It was fed and it would have grown to a tremendous size if I didn't realize the error of my ways. But I did.

I reminded myself of the following: What I want is to be unaffected by whatever happens around me...never reacting to the negative, never reacting to the positive....never grasping or clinging, never pushing away or closing down to any of it! Allowing all to be exactly as it is! 

Reacting to the positive is just as destructive to our Self-realization as is reacting to the negative.

Hmm! Something to think about 

All is well!

Sat-Chit-Ananda & One Pointed Consciousness

 When Self focuses one-pointedly on a single object, one experiences the nature of Self- total peace, and overwhelming bliss. This is available to us anytime if we can just learn to enter the undistracted state of one pointed consciousness. 

Michael A. Singer, living untethered ( New Harbinger/ Sounds True, 2022), page 54

Real Self

 ...the real Self or real "I" is, contrary to perceptual experience, not an experience of individuality but a non-personal, all-inclusive awareness.  It is not to be confused with the individual self which.... [is] essentially non-existent, being a fabrication of the mind which obscures the true experience of the real Self. ...the real Self is always present and always experienced but...one is only consciously aware of it as it really is when the self limiting tendencies of the mind have ceased.

from Be As You Are: The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi ( David Goldman, Penguin, Kindle Edition)

The Miraculous Mind

 Your consciousness has the ability to be aware of things that machines can't detect: thoughts and emotions. These objects of consciousness surely exist, but not in what we define as the "physical" world.  Our scientists have shown us that the whole universe comes down to energy.  Thoughts and emotions are simply energy vibrations at such high rates that machines can't detect them. 

Michael A. Singer, 49

Hmm! Most of us are conditioned to believe that the physical world is everything.  In order for something to be real it has to prove itself physically there, according to tests used to measure such things.  If it doesn't show up on a scientific test...it isn't real , right?

We all know that thoughts and feelings are real.  We "feel" them and live in them.  Yet there are no tests a scientist can use to prove their reality... no specific measurement of their physicality...or...no part of the body that can be dissected and placed under a microscope to prove their existence within us. So how do we know they are real?  What part of us is aware of the reality of thoughts and emotions?  Singer explains that the consciousness knows, and is aware of thoughts and feelings. 

Consciousness

What is consciousness, according to scientists, then?  Well that just happens to be one of the biggest controversies  and dividing points in the scientific community right now. There is no way to prove or pinpoint consciousness in physical terms. So many scientists say that because it cannot be proven physically real by scientific means , it doesn't exist. Hmm! Yet these same scientists think and feel everyday and are aware of the fact they think and feel.  What part of them is aware? Something is aware of that...that something is consciousness. 

Energy?

Scientists will definitely tell us that everything is energy...all matter is energy...a copulation of  fast moving electrons in atoms that make up the molecules that form matter. So if everything is energy...thoughts and emotions...consciousness itself...has to be energy, doesn't it?

Singer goes on to say that the reason we cannot yet measure our thoughts and feelings scientifically is because the energetic vibration they are at...the vibration consciousness is at...is just too quick to be measured by our very limited physical means. Yet! Someday scientists may be able to detect them, measure them, and validate their existence on the physical scale. 

The Miracle of Observing Our Own Minds

In the mean time...we have to know they are there.  We have to see that since scientists can't detect and measure them...maybe we have to be responsible for scientific observation of our own minds....each and everyone of us. 

You can think of mind as a very high vibration field of energy in which thoughts can be created. Mind is not your thoughts. Mind is the field of energy in which thoughts are capable of existing. Page 50

Beyond this thinking feeling creation of the mind is what the Buddhist calls "empty mind"...the background of clear blue spacious sky on which the clouds of thought and feeling are formed.  Meditation can help us to access that empty mind...to experience its stillness, its quiet and its peaceful energy first hand.

The Physical World

Singer goes on to explain that regardless of how still the mind is , the outside world world exists independent of it.  (Now this might contradict some of the teachings of Vedanta....just saying.) The energy of the physical world is denser and heavier than the energy of the mental one.  We can, however, be aware of both at the same time thanks to our consciousness. One of the functions of the mind is to let this outside world into our experience through the senses.  We are inside, the world is outside...yet because of these miraculous minds we can bring the outside world in.  The outside  is being reproduced in your mind page 52

The Miracle

The mind is really quite miraculous.  It may be formless but it creates amazing form for us to experience.

In truth, consciousness is the most profound miracle. An essence that knows that it knows. Everything else is something you're conscious of-the true magic of consciousness itself. When consciousness is simply experiencing reality as imagined in the mind, that is what we call being in the present moment...The real world is outside, it is being reflected in your mind, and you are aware of the image right in front of you.  In this very simple state, you are experiencing what you are meant to experience: the gift of the moment that has been given you.  Page 53 

So there is the experience and there is you as the experiencer...there is an object and there is you as the subject.  The amazing thing is that there does not have to be a distinction between the two.  The two can actually become one...and that is what the true essence of yoga is all about. This can be achieved through single pointed concentration.  When there is no distraction, no obstacle between the experience and you...you have allowed a merger between subject and object. page 54

How cool is that? 

All is well in my world.

Michael A. Singer (2022) living untethered, Chapter 11: Empty Mind. Boulder: New Harbinger/ Sounds True. 

The Character in the Palace

  The Character in the Palace

Pushing through the flimsy veil

 to grab at scattered pieces, 

strips of plaster, clumps of clay, 

paint of pretty colour, 

 busy hands and minds struggle 

to rearrange the wild and unpredictable  

 atoms  that circle "out there" 

into pleasing structures.

Solid  brick walls 

and sturdy glass fences are created 

to house the "me" 

inside its appealing and  safe palace.

Moats are made with eloquent words 

and fancy ideas,

while  accolades of recognition are chanted.

Latin words encased in black frames   

hang suspended from imaginary walls; 

and  possessions that glitter like gold ,

form draw bridges 

that will open to only that

which reflects the shine. 

It, the ruler of this kingdom, 

 grows , loud and demanding ,

within this well made 

and constantly renovated cage

we have created. 

Like an active and  boisterous toddler 

rejecting parental  attempts at discipline,

it stumbles, and tumbles  and grumbles  

as it moves around the parameter,

grasping and clinging 

to all that pleases it,

rejecting and pushing away, 

with its "defiant "nos",

all that makes it squirm. 

Never satisfied,

 its cries  of "Me" and "Mine." 

and "My" bounce off

the walls ,

 echoing like the twang of country lyrics

into the world that exists beyond.

And a world does exist beyond.

Past the pretty walls,

the angry moat

and through the see through fence

a world  ancient and wise,

perfect and chaotic

is waiting.

Beating with the smooth heartbeat 

of all that is and ever was,

it vibrates through cracks 

and the partially open windows 

mind has created.

Flowing in, flowing out, 

like wisps of refreshing air

that can cleanse, heal and sustain.

Yet this entity we are feeding,

 protected and admired 

amidst all its fairy tale creations,

refuses to breathe in that air 

and reaches up, 

with trembling  

and awkward hand,

 to close the shutter

again and again and again ,

until we are  smothering 

in our creation.

Daley-Lyn (December, 2022)

Quick attempt at sitting with what was coming out.  Far from perfect.  

All is well! 

"Thank You!"

 From now on, everywhere you look and everything you interact with, be sure to say "Thank you."...Can you appreciate the truth that you didn't do anything to deserve the trees, the oceans and the sky? You don't even know where you came from. You're just in there experiencing this amazing gift unfolding before you. 

Michael A. Singer, living untethered, page 44. ( New Harbinger/Sounds True, 2022)

Man, every word in this book seems to be quotable. I can't seem to help myself.  Please read the book for yourself. lol

All is well.

This is spirituality- coming in to harmony with reality, instead of your personal self.  Singer, pg. 44

The Awesomeness of Reality

We live in a world that is so perfect it should constantly blow our minds.  But we are so lost in making it all personal that we miss both the greatness of Science and the greatness of God. 

Michael A. Singer, living untethered, page 43. (New Harbinger/ Sounds True, 2022)

Hmm! Think about that for a minute.  This world is amazing and miraculous.  Yet how many of us actually take the time to notice how amazing it is, let alone appreciate it? We are too busy making it all about "me". 

 You live in a world where a seed falls on the ground, and it has a built-in chemist that knows how to break down the molecules of dirt and water, mix them with sunlight, and combine those substances into a cornstalk or tree. page 43

Mindfulness helps us to get beyond that "me" so we notice, allow, appreciate and experience all of this majesty exactly as it is.

Mindfulness is a natural, effortless process once you let go of personal distractions. Instead of thinking that the moment in front of you has to be a certain way, you start thinking that it's pretty awesome the way it is. In fact, it's amazing that it even exists.  page 44

All is well in my world

Extending and Expanding In Service

 

Keep up the good work! You will be rewarded.

From a Fortune Cookie I ate last evening!

My habit in the morning now is to reach for living untethered and to open it up to find a quote to write to.  I am really absorbing the book and by so doing it is oozing out of every pour of me like life giving nectar. I try to relate it to my own life and to the lives of others I know.  Yet, I question, with my attention on this book and my new adventure, if I am  opening to other avenues of learning...maybe.  I wonder if I am extending and expanding enough in my own learning, growing and in the service I am here to provide.

I mentioned that I was reading The Tibetan Book of the Dead. I got to a certain part of the book, basically the "prayers" for the dying and dead as they pass through the different levels, and my mind just stopped and said, "No! Too much!" Not because of any fear of death I may still be clinging to but because of the religious and cultural specifics in the rituals.  Not judging...but simply stating that my mind won't go there. Hmm! So I put the book aside for now. 

I also realize that I have not written in a long time, other than here.  I was teaching poetry in an English Lit class recently and I found myself missing that means of expression.  I do miss writing poetry. It is who "I" am. Yet there has been no time to just sit and let it come out of me. I have not gone back to my novel after the last rejection either...have not proceeded with other ideas I had. 

My photography is suffering as well.  I put some photobooks together yesterday for Christmas presents, as I usually do,  and the quality of the photos used were sub par. The amount of photos I had to choose from were limited. I have not been shooting and capturing the beautiful world and my grandchildren enough...the most photogenic creatures on Earth, as far as I am concerned lol.  I have not been practicing or dealing with my camera issues. It shows in the work I give as gifts. 

Hmm! I guess what I am saying , is that it is hard to "do" it all...to "be" it all.  For now the new little job undertaking is keeping my attention but I need to somehow add all avenues of my "beingness" to it, like my writing, yoga teaching  and photography. To find balance. I have finally reestablished the yoga teaching into my weekly schedule and am even beginning to teach meditation and mindfulness to people seeking my guidance. I want to extend what I offer to more by renting a hall for a community group once or twice a week, as well. I  will find a way to let all of it...this service I feel inclined to share...to flow from me. Hmm!  

All is well in my world.

What Is Surrender?

 You don't surrender the outside world-you totally accept it. What you surrender is your personal, made up judgement of it. 

Michael A. Singer, page 41

You get that? It is all about accepting what is, not denying it. We put away our "This is good or bad, right or wrong, should be and shouldn't be's" and we simply allow what is to be as it is, realizing it has very little to do with this mind made entity we call "me". 

The total acceptance of this truth is surrender. You must let go of the part of you that thinks it has a right to like and dislike the result of billions of years of interactions. Surrender is letting go of the part of you that is not living the truth. That is true surrender. 

Michael A. Singer, page 41

Michael A. Singer (2022) living untethered. New Harbinger/ Sounds True.