Searching For the Waters of Antiquity

We spend our entire lives looking for ways to get what we want and to feel good. The fact of the matter is that it’s actually pretty simple. Here we have two choices in life: living a love-based life or living a fear-based life. Many feelings encompass these two areas. The first is anything that brings pleasure: peace, joy, acceptance, and those things that feel good. Then there is anything that brings pain: sadness, disgust, anger and fear. Of course there are many blends within feeling states, but we won’t be looking at blends.

Most of us vacillate between these two complex areas, bouncing back and forth like the proverbial yoyo. In the beginning, feeling good is at the core of all we do, just look at any infant. Infants are easy; they know how to do it without any coaching. They have no problem wanting to feel good: be fed, dry, warm and loved. It is instinctual and they are fully connected to the Source of all things. We know that by watching them because they are full of joy. That is the core of our being. Our natural state is pure joy, pure love and pure peace. You know it’s true. Look at anyone who has recently fallen madly in love. We have boundless energy, a bounce in our step and life is wonderful. Then we grow up or fall out of love. Either way we make subtle movements from our center core. (more…)

In the realm of wishing well to others, we have come a long way baby. In the 80’s we were rather casual in our wish that people have a “great” day and in the 90’s we were admonishing people to have an “attitude of gratitude.” Today we say many things to promote peace and good will to each other in the course of our daily lives. Salutations, greetings and closings have taken on new meaning as we move from jet setting competition, to a spirit based collaboration that welcomes people and bids them well.

We see it in business as people rush through hasty jobs in a frenzied e-mail closing such as cheers, be well, or some such phrase. In the more New Age communities of good folks who seek to bring a spiritual presence to their own world there might be greetings or salutations and closings like have a blessed day, blessed journey, peace and light to you.

The good news is that we are all on some level moving toward each other. We are reaching out to project ourselves to each other in more positive ways. This puts me in mind of an old Jewish Proverb, “Smile and the heart will follow.” That is, if we start with good will even if we don’t mean it, we will eventually feel the emotions behind the words. Why is this important you ask? (more…)

Like a snake in the Garden of Eden, terrorism is slithering down the path once more. Many dates live on in our memories, and the last is looming on the horizon as the anniversary approaches, a date that we as Americans will always remember. Another date that I remember is April 19, 1995, marking the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing. I remember it because I was there on my way to work at a nearby hospital health clinic.

Many of us in the profession volunteered at the large church, a make shift holding area, giving comfort to family members for hope against hope that a loved one would be found.

We live in a world where terrorism intimidates and threatens to strike at the heart of our communities once again. Where world peace eludes us, and keeping up with our stressful daily lives, we find ourselves conditioned to live on the edge of stress and anxiety. Fear is all around us, be it international terrorism, corporate or environmental disaster, or personal tragedy. A day after British ID suspects in terror plot we see more evidence that we lack control, and that even frightens us more.

We juggle between our need to know what is going on, and the constant assaults from the media that create its own havoc with our lives. Where is the peace and joy in living, how do we get control back over our lives? (more…)

Sometimes the best things in life are free… Researchers studying meditation show that stress is a vicious cycle: Unchecked stress turns into anxiety; anxiety turns into depression, which over time turns into a hormone that plays havoc with the internal organs of the body, producing a variety of illnesses and disorders.

Meditation can turn that around, reducing anxiety, depression, and the hormones that damage our body. Both adults and children are using meditation to control feelings and behavior. When you look at how our children interpret the body’s responses, these feelings are externalized as both bodily dysfunction and behavior issues. We are seeing that all of these complaints are endemic in our country and in the world.

Viewed from a hormonal level, meditation can counteract the fight-or-flight response that floods the body with a stress hormone which also shuts down the parasympathetic system. This hormone normally restores order after the fight-or-flight response alert is over. Overtime when it doesn’t restore the system, the hormone reacts with a vengeance on it.
Taking a closer look on a molecular level, meditation slows metabolism in red blood cells and suppresses the production of proteins associated with the kind of heightened immune response often seen in stressed-out subjects. In one study, meditating a mere 15 minutes twice daily reduced doctor visit over a six-month period saving this health-care system $200 a patient.

Now let’s be honest, maybe we are not so concerned with saving the health care system a lot of money. But aren’t we concerned with how we feel on a daily basis and wouldn’t we want our health care costs lower? I think most of us would agree with these outcomes right? So if 15 minutes twice a day can do that for us, would it be worth your time? I would think so, and if proper breathing and some time can do that, it might be well worth the short commitment. See, sometimes the best things in life are free!

A very insiteful, and still relevant book was written sometime in the 60s on the benefits of laughter as a stress and pain manager. The book was written by Norman Cousins, Anatomy of an Illness, he wrote it after his first encounter with a debilitating disease. Over the years he wrote more books on this and many subjects, showing his strong determination not only to live, but to enjoy the life he had left. Norman was the editor of Saturday Review for about forty years. Later he was on the faculty of a prestigious University.

He died 1990, of a heart attack having lived years longer than doctors had predicted: ten years after his first heart attack, sixteen years after his collagen illness, and twenty-six years after his doctor’s first diagnosed heart disease. His books taught me a lot about staying healthy and attitude on having an illness. I still use laughter in-between meditation when I need some fun and to di-stress. Love those belly laughs…The last one I saw that I would recommend is Failure to Launch, a romantic comedy with some great one-liners.

Laughter is being taken more seriously these days in the medical and therapeutic communities. Research is seeping into professional journals validating the various benefits of laughter. (more…)

Meditation not only heals, but it also keeps our energy strong, balanced and flowing easily and effortlessly. I think this is what true success is, making choices that allow ourselves to live at our highest states of being. Energy is in everything and choosing how we use it means that we are living intentionally and mindfully. Constrict the flow with fear, anger and sadness and life and flow get stuck. As we concentrate on those negative places in life, we only get more negativity, and this does nothing to fix it. We stay where we are and feel like we are going nowhere.

So what do we do?

Practice keeping balance everyday and you will strengthen the flow within you and your Emotional IQ, keeping life humming. A great starting point is to really get in touch with your feelings. Easy enough you say, but that is not how we operate.

Some of us don’t feel our emotions fully enough and usually get into judging our self. Some of us have no problem emoting all over the place and judging everyone else. Most of us were taught by institutions like schools, churches, friends and our family systems that it is not OK to respond with our true feelings, worse yet, look how we feel. This is especially true for the forbidden and very universal feelings of fear. When we don’t know how we feel, we probably don’t know that we are afraid. Then how can we live lives of abundance and prosperity? (more…)

I would like to talk this week about some new movies out that inspire, while giving more evidence to the weight of mindfulness and meditation. There are so few movies out there that set the stage for enlightenment that I felt compelled to share. They may not get an academy award, but they can help you to begin to awaken spiritually and that is a good thing. Both of the movies are selective showings, so they might be hard to find in your theaters, but persevere, it is worth it. I don’t buy many movies, but I would buy both of these movies for the inspirational qualities they can bring to your day.

The Celestine Prophesy — Movie
The Prophesy was produced by the author, James Redfield and his wife Salle M. Redfield and since they kept creative control it was true to the book. I felt torn by the notion of keeping it true to the book, and some of the possibilities that might have been missed due to funding, which also means giving up creative control. One argument might be that a more experienced Director/Producer might have added to the movie overall quality. Nevertheless, The Redfield’s did fine job in bringing this movie to the screen. There were some great visual effects, and the movie still retained the depth of spirit and awesome scenic qualities of Peru. (more…)

The eternal law of life is: What you think and feel you bring into form; where your thought is … there you are. For you are your consciousness; and what you meditate upon, you become.” ~ St Germain

I could list quotes from hundreds of great thinkers that carry the same or similar messages. We are the creators of our lives and what we think we generate. So, if we continue to stay in the same place, it might be prudent to take a look at what you are thinking.

Then it might make sense to decide, yes decide how you want to live your life. What actually would that look like? Who are you becoming? Like a physical training program, take on the challenge to meditate on what abundance looks like to you. Build those muscles for abundant living! Ask yourself, what is abundance anyway?

It is different things to different people of course, but for me it is everything flowing easily and effortlessly. That can mean money coming in, knowledge coming in, friends, the power to do things I want to do, synchronistic events, peace, love, safety, and much more. When we are connected to our higher consciousness through meditation we illuminate our surroundings and know what to do and when to do it.

So meditate thoughtfully…because that is what you are becoming. Get back to the natural state you were born with: peace, joy and love. Everything else is just icing on the cake!

Meditation will get you to your goals quicker than you can imagine. Just let the light into your thinking and see the world through the eyes of the soul. Meditation takes you to the inner depths of you being to witness whatever will bring you to your higher consciousness and potential. But ya gotta let it in! This process can be a guide in your daily life to greater manifestations of light filled observations and the work you truly want to do. Or the things you want to have–ya gotta see it to get it!

As you make meditation a part of your life, (creating the intention for what you want) you are freeing the Universe to act. We all have free will, and can’t get direction and other valuable resources without asking for it. So when you ask for what you want with a questions like, “Where must I go to get the most out of my life?” Or, “I now see that new Jag in my driveway.” ( If you really want one that is…) Acting with and through the Universe, the meditative state and intuitive side of your brain assists you to find the answer or get what you want. Within this inner dynamic the guidance you seek to make right choices, creates the sensitivity to see the right direction.

The right direction to the meditator and sensitive viewer of the landscape of daily activity will be illuminated for you and the choice will be simple. Trust your intuitive self, your higher power, and let your world be illuminated for clear direction.

I frequently ask my clients to set an intention for the day, especially before they meditate. Setting an intention is somewhat like sending a prayerful message out into the Universe. This enables us to meet the day with an outlook that brings us good things. Intentions works best when the quality of the message is strong and clear. Such as, “I now find the perfect house for me that will fill all of my needs.”

When we say things like “Don’t let this (disaster) happen or that (problem) happen. I don’t know why I can’t have a baby (car, trip, new dress, cell phone that works, house, etc.), other people have these things. Why can’t I have X, certainly I deserve it.” These kinds of message keep us stuck. When we focus on what we don’t want to happen we create a self fulfilling prophesy.

Quantum physics say we literally create our reality through our thoughts. Nothing has reality until we process it through our minds since our thought processes consists of ramblings of feelings, sites and sounds. So when the quality of our thought turns negative, then what we get back is also negative and jumbled. Like wiring that gets crossed, the connection just doesn’t happen. (more…)