Creating and maintaining an altar can be a simple and effective way of shifting our focus from an outer world of doing to an inner world of being.
My Window Box
Who ever heard of a shy flower? An introvert of sorts? I was delighted at the discovery - and it made me think of the people I know and their lovely hidden gems - available for admiration by those who give them a chance and who patiently wait and slow down enough to look and discover them.
Stop Talking
As I sat down to take on the challenge to stop talking and stop thinking – because you’ve got to admit – it’s a great challenge – my first thought was, “No talking? No thinking? What else is there to do?”
Restoring Natural Resilience
What if you could restore your natural resilience so you could respond to situations with equanimity rather that react with intensity to stressful situations? The good news is your system is designed to move into harmony and resiliency. This means you can learn to maintain a calm attitude, be at ease, and respond appropriately despite life’s daily challenges.
What Do You Want?
People pleasing and reluctance to notice what I want and risk asking for it is a learned strategy for avoiding disappointment. When viewed this way I have to bow down to the little kid in me who must have figured this strategy out long ago. It worked brilliantly to avoid major disappointment. But now that I’m older – and have the ability to look at this more deeply – I’m thinking disappointment isn’t so scary anymore. I’m thinking the risk of disappointment is definitely worth the gain of living more fully by noticing and feeling free to express my preferences.
Understanding Spiritual Illusion and Mental Distortion
Illusion is a degree of distortion of our thoughts. This is due to our imperfect instrument (the mind) attempting to access and interpret intuitive impressions from the Buddhic plane (the source of our intuition). As we strive to improve our alignment with our soul and the One Life, a meditation practice facilitates contact with the intuitive field. However, we must ‘train’ the mind to enable it to work within the intuitive realm just as we do when we are in training for a sport or vocation.
A Mindful Good-bye
A mindful “Good bye” at the end of life is powerful stuff. It is putting voice to an end without pretense. There is reality and acceptance in knowing that – ‘This life will end soon and we will not see each other again…at least in this form.’ It is a period. It is the last period, in the last paragraph of, the last sentence of, the last chapter of a book.It is the last thing we get before the words, The End. How did I want to hold this period? What did I need for a sense of completion? What was the right way to say “Good-bye” for me? What did I really want to say? How was I going to say it?