10 Buddhist Sayings to Help You This Day

Photo: Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images.

1. “All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.” 

You become what you think about or in other words: what you focus on grows in your life and from what you take your focus away from diminishes.

It means that the mind is directing our life in the way we manifest the life around us by the thoughts and directions we take with our mind. Since everything we created around us is first created in the mind, it is the tool or the interface between our self and the material world.

Another quote of Buddha with a similar message here is “He is able who thinks he is able”. This also shows the creative power of the mind and if we are able to consciously use it in that way – avoiding negative thoughts and utilizing empowering thoughts – we use it in a supportive manner.

2. “All wrong-doing arises because of mind. If mind is transformed can wrong-doing remain?”

This is the core of personal development. It points towards the need to train and develop the mind and to free it from limits and negativity.

The other quote “The mind is the source of happiness and unhappiness.” makes the same point with the special notion of happiness. The mind used correctly – i.e. constructive, empowering, solution- and action-oriented, positive, truth-seeking – can create happiness. But used poorly – i.e. blaming, egocentric, negative, blinded by ambition or separation – it will create unhappiness for us. Training the mind is the key here.

The quote may also point to a transformation by awakening directly, where the mind becomes the servant of the self and not the creator of a self-image (the concept of the ego) as a replacement for the true self.

3. “Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” 

This points to the abundant nature of reality. The abundance mentality says there is enough for everyone, we only have to realize and live by it. It is the opposite of a scarcity mentality, where you have the belief that you always have to fight for your part in a limited world.

4. “Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.” 

The essence of living in the present moment, the Now, is focusing the mind here and take attention away from thinking about past or future. The present moment is all there ever is to experience life directly. Past and future are only concepts of our mind and therefore are good for learning from the past or conceptual planning when it is useful, but after this there is no need for them. Especially not to dwell in them and get stuck there in the mind by constant thinking loops.

5. “However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you If you do not act on upon them?” 

Action is what counts. It means to be action-oriented and to actually do what we think, to prove what we believe by applying it in reality. Only if we “walk our talk” we are authentic and truthful to ourselves.

To apply yourself and your ideas in reality is like a proof-test for what we think is right and will work. If there is no action and therefore no testing in reality, the words or ideas themselves are of no real sustainable value.

Another quote for this message is “A dog is not considered a good dog because he is a good barker. A man is not considered a good man because he is a good talker.”

6. “Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely.” 

This is the essence of Carpe Diem – to seize the day fully means living wisely. It means to live to the highest truth we know and to rise to our highest values and capabilities.

Living wisely also means not to believe every thought that comes, but to live more from the space between thoughts, from our essence.

7. “Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”

The so-called Inside-Out approach means to look within oneself to find the inspiration and power to act from this place. It means not to look to the outside world for liberation or happiness, but to take the responsibility for oneself and become that what we are seeking.

His second quote here “No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.” talks directly about this responsibility, response-ability we have inside.

8. “In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true.”

Any perspective we have on anything is only a relative truth. There are always both (or more) sides of any story. An objective perspective or an absolute truth is very hard or maybe impossible to see. But to be aware of this and to be interested to see another perspective from another person can be very mind-opening and valuable.

The matter of perspective (also described in the 7 habits of highly effective people) is a very powerful one and it is the core of most (if not all?) conflicts between people. One things one is right as long one stays in one’s own single perspective – needless to say, the other person has the same reality.

There is a similar quote by The Buddha that fits in here: “In seperateness lies the world’s great misery, in compassion lies the world’s true strength” which shows that if we become able to dissolve the separate perspective to a perspective of oneness with all other, we hold the key to end conflicts and to find solution and agreements suitable for everybody.

9. “If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.” 

This quote is perhaps the most difficult one to really understand. In the first place, it is not about the beautiful nature of the flower or beauty itself. What Buddha is talking about – in my humble opinion – is to see and get in touch with the life in a flower directly, without any interference by our mind by mental concepts and thoughts of the flower.

Eckhart Tolle in “A New Earth” talks about the flowering of human consciousness, maybe you want to take a look …

10. “The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows.” 

If we are not authentic and truthful to ourselves, we build a wall around us that eventually we have to tear down again. It is then literally a resistance to the reality and our own nature where we can hide some time, but life has a way to show us our own faults in the end.

To be true to the best one knows means to come from our own best knowledge and not buy into something outside ourselves blindly, always asking: is this really true to what I know?

In resonance with this quote also is the final one by The Buddha:

“There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.”

Solfeggio Harmonics 528Hz Miracle - Evolution Through Frequency

There are frequencies or vibrations that reveal, heal, enlighten and awaken. The one featured in this audio/video will align your DNA with alternate dimensions and could be helpful in meditation. However, absolute silence under the correct conditions will also accomplish this.

Sleeping is unconscious meditation. We need sleep to provide energy for our daily functioning. But it is never enough, and that is why we feel tired, confused or stressed. Meditation, is conscious sleeping and provides vastly more cosmic energy and has more healing power than sleep alone. Therefore, meditation, at least one minute for every year you have been alive in this dimension is indispensable to health, happiness, productivity and more importantly, the functioning and evolution of your eternal spirit-self. It's very important. We should be teaching our children how to meditate from about the age of five years.

Great Leap Forward: Conditional

NASA photo

I attended The David Suzuki Foundation's 'Bluedot Tour' recently. If you have not heard about it, I hope you can attend. Very simply, its premise is to work to institute declarations legislated at the local municipal level thru to provincial and then to the federal government level to enshrine the right to clean air, water and food in our Charter of Rights and Freedoms just as 119 other countries on Earth have already done.

Interestingly, the extra-terrestrial species who have been knocking around Earth for millennia are waiting for this, and also for the end to our wars. They're really quite relaxed about it. They even let us develop, test and actually use atom bombs that upset the apple cart here on Earth but also in extra-dimensional universes; so strong is the universal agreement among truly 'civilized' species not to interfere with other worlds the more advanced species will let us destroy ourselves with wars and neonicotinoids rather than mess about with our timeline.

Sure, they may poke and probe us and there's a bit of inter-species DNA floating about, but when it comes to our custodial responsibility to protect our world from bad ideas, it's really up to us. Should we ever attain peace, the hell on Earth we humans have created will almost instantly abate because we will be shown new technologies that will essentially save Earth in the cosmic short-term, allowing us to achieve inter-stellar travel. We prove we will not kill each other with anti-gravity devices and we're good to go. Suddenly, several universes and a few inter-spacial bubbles will be ours to play in. After all, when our Sun goes nova, it's kaput for Earth. We better have earned the Great Leap Forward by then.

What does this all mean? Simple; We stop killing one another, we prove we can use technology to improve our planet instead of destroying it through wars and pollution, and the prize at the fair we get is a Kewpie doll called Utopia. So, what's more important; Peace or an environment that will sustain Human life? Bit of a cosmic horse and cart scenario me thinks. Cleaning things up would be a good way to hedge our bet though. -AN

String Theory predicts a shift to the 4th Dimension

There has been talk for decades about an imminent dimensional shift, as long as humanity can sufficiently raise its ‘vibrations’. But what does it actually mean?

One view is that we are currently living in the 3rd dimension (or vibration), and heading to the 4th. The 3rd dimension is characterised by mass, weight, volume and the lessons of the body’s 3rd chakra/energy centre, representing self-esteem, self-respect, generosity and ethics. The 4th dimension/vibration represents the 4th or Heart Chakra, and involves learning lessons of love and forgiveness.

How does this ‘vibrational’ theory work? Quantum Physics has possible answers to this question, notably the ‘Modern String Field Theory’ supported by many scientists. One renowned physicist is Dr Michio Kaku, whose books on String Theory suggest that the universe started a bit like a guitar string that has been plucked, creating a series of expanding soap bubbles or dimensions all vibrating at different levels. In other words, the subatomic particles that make up atoms are believed to be made up of vibrating super strings, and the notes they emanate then translate into matter. ‘The universe is a Symphony,’ says Dr Kaku. ‘The mind of God is cosmic music resonating through 11 dimensional hyperspace.’

Interestingly, Dr Kaku feels that humanity is poised to shift from its 3rd dimensional state to higher dimensions, if it can overcome its self-destructive nature. This entails, one would deduce, an increase in our vibrational state. Is this something that will happen naturally, or do we have to work at it?

Certain activities have been known to raise vibrations, such as singing, meditating, praying, keeping healthy, growing through life’s challenges, and just doing things that make us happy. But it can also happen naturally, usually the result of inner guidance, where we are instinctively drawn to certain foods, circumstances or lifestyles, and repelled by others.

For example, at a higher vibration we usually no longer want to eat or drink certain foods, such as coffee, tea or meat, which are dense and can affect the body’s energy. We may start to avoid chemical cleansers in the home, and prefer to wear natural fabrics against our skin.

Other temporary symptoms can be headaches, reflecting the expansion of the crown chakra, flu symptoms, as toxins are released, nausea and diarrhoea as the solar plexus chakra releases stored fear, anger and resentment. Muscles can ache, if there are blockages preventing the energy flow, emotional upset for no reason as emotional blocks are released, and breathing problems can occur as the heart chakra begins to open.

Heightened sensitivity is also common, to noises, light, smells, tastes, and people. Similarly, some start to develop telepathy, intuition, see spirits and into other dimensions. To explain this further, it is useful to remember that vibrations operate much like radio signal frequencies. In other words, we will see, feel, touch and perceive only what we have tuned into at any particular stage in our existence. That doesn’t mean to say that other vibrational states or worlds don’t exist.

Fatigue can occur, caused by energy shifting through the spiritual body, designed to heal the physical, mental emotional and spiritual bodies. Temporary sleeplessness is common, in cases where the body is unable to store the excessive energy due to blockage and congestion.

Some report weight gain, which apparently helps to anchor and hold grids of light in the areas around where we live. Body fat becomes crystalline, and distributed evenly around every cell to allow the entire body to act as a tuning fork holding a new vibration.

Experts say that the reason given for this discomfort during the transition process is that our higher frequency, non-physical body is shifting out of synch with our denser physical body, causing temporarily uncomfortable sensations. It is an activation of additional strands of DNA (we only use 2 out of 12 at the moment) at a cellular level that causes these changes. To relieve the symptoms, it is recommended to drink pure water, add crystals to energise the water, eat light meals, some light exercise to allow energy flow. When complete separation is made, the symptoms disappear.

Do vibrations rise suddenly? No. We tend to come and go from one dimension to another, until we start to spend more time in one or the other.

By raising our vibrations, we start to live consciously, and open our connections up with our Higher Self, Spirit Guides and higher Light Beings. We start to receive guidance and information from the universal Spirit, which fills our lives with joy, harmony and inner peace. Most importantly, we are preparing ourselves for a more permanent shift into a higher vibration, to a more enjoyable and fulfilled existence, free of the limits and constraints of 3rd dimensional living.

Alphabet for Meditation

zaraskar.deviantart.com

You might use these words and phrases to help with meditation each morning. You could meditate about a single one each day and finish the list in a month with a day off each week before you start the next month... Or you could do all twenty-six every day. Would it make a difference to your focus, your happiness, your balance and your spirit? Try it for a month and see if it has a desirable effect on your life. Email your feedback me.

Achieve that which you believe

Be peaceful

Cultivate love for every being

Deliver miracles to your life and to others

Experience your feelings

Forgive the mistakes of others and yourself

Give unconditionally

Help others, hurt nobody

Indulge lightly

Judge not!

Keep a light within

Learn a new thing every day

Meditate often

Nurture understanding and empathy

Observe  and appreciate beauty

Pray for strength of purpose

Question why

Radiate positive energy

Share what you know

Trust yourself

Unbridle your talents

Visualize your life's mission

Write everyday

X-ray the ‘truth’

Yearn for knowledge

Zone in, not out

Mind Is The Best Traveller

I visit a temple in Tibet every morning. There, I sit before the sun rises with thirty or so Buddhist monks who have become my friends over the past six or seven years.  We chant harmonious overtones and meditate about gratitude, love and peace.

My friends in the saffron robes have only empathy, compassion and love to offer. There is no judging, there is no envy, anger or hatred. There is just peace, and the silence between ‘ohms’ reminding us of the sacred healing power each conscious moment provides when we awaken and listen carefully from within ourselves.

Some years ago, my yoga teacher played a recording early one morning as we meditated. It was the sounds of my Buddhist friends conducting their morning chanting. She had received it from a former teacher and healer on an original real-to-real master tape that she had years before converted to cassette. 

Later in our relationship, she was able to convert the recording to compact disk, and she gave me a copy. I remember it was one of the first digital recordings I managed to copy onto my computer hard drive, and later to various digital devices. This morning, I beamed its signal to a wireless speaker across the room from my cell phone.

No matter what the format, or perhaps how degenerated the sound quality probably is, I can hear my friends each morning as I meditate and chant along with them. The way I listen over the years has changed, but the peaceful essence and powerful effect it has never changes.

Yes, I travel to a monastery thousands of miles away every morning to relax, listen and meditate. Mind is the best traveller.

Good Vibrations

A number of my favourite writers, philosophers and metaphysicians write about the frequency or oscillation of the energy field of beings and things. Scientifically measurable, this field - the etheric if you will, has immense power and can change the course of your life-experience both immediately and over time. It is worth investigating and learning about for that reason alone.

Stuart Wilde is a being I cannot get enough of. The following is from his blog, StewartWild.com 

The oscillations of the etheric force field around has a pulse, a resonance. The higher your resonance the more freedom you have and the healthier you become, you are less confused and tormented. Your resonance is created by the oscillation of your brain cells that give out waves, the slower the waves, like in mediation the more power you have. Then in part, it comes from the flow of blood in your veins and the rest is diet and how you think and of course emotions. The calmer you are, the less emotion you have, the higher your resonance goes.

Emotion causes your etheric field to take on a zigzag edge, like the blade of a saw. The zigzag bounces energy into you in a chaotic way. When you are calm and the edge of your field is clean you get less of the intrusive fields of information and city pulses that can affect you.

Nature cleans your resonance and so does sea water, and animals and love. Sex can raise your resonance if things are kind and normal, or it can degrade you terribly. Porno isn’t good because it is a slaver’s mentality, possession domination, disrespect.

Drugs and alcohol in small amounts won’t affect things up or down, food… learn to eat less and less, remember every meal you have kills you a little bit. Go ballistic on blowing love at people in the street, the trees, animals, and the kids in the park… blow… blow, the more love resonance you express the safer you become. - Stuart Wilde (www.stuartwilde.com)

The Energy of Miracles

Creating miracles in our lives is no more complicated than understanding the metaphysics of the Universal Law. And because that law is indestructible and therefore infinite, we know that the power used by miracle makers in the past is still available today. Yet, in our modern society, we're brought up to believe only in those things we can logically understand. Neither are we taught that the Universal Law has limitless potential or that this power is at our disposal and can be used to work miracles in our own lives.

Understanding the Universal Law

To understand miracles, we have to look at two aspects of the Universal Law. First, there lies deep within all humankind an immense power; and second, the power is impartial and unemotional. Call it the Universal Mind, Christ Consciousness, Conscious Energy, or what you will, but it is this power that allows human beings a recognition of the universal life force that we call "God".

 The life force is eternal, and, because of its limitless capacity, it is a part of all things. Moreover, it's a major part of each of us. Consequently, we all have within us an unlimited power. Creating miracles in our own lives becomes a matter of identifying with the power, understanding its characteristics, and learning to use it effectively. This identification is achieved by knowing that the power is within us and acknowledging that fact by saying, "I am eternal, immortal, universal and infinite and therefore I am beautiful." By doing this, and believing it, we lock into the power source and are poised for the next step, which involves looking at its characteristics.

The Universal Law is impartial and unemotional. It has no way of knowing what you want, nor does it discriminate between your hopes and aspirations, likes and dislikes - it is pure energy. It accepts whatever thoughts, feelings, and actions you project and reflects them back to you unemotionally in the form of events that you experience day to day.

In much much the same wayas electricity illuminates both a brothel and your grandmother's tea party, The Universal Law doesn't differentiate between different types of energy in your life. It will give you anything you believe in - no more and no less. Therefore, the key to understanding miracles is to examine closely the beliefs you express as thoughts and feelings. 

Photo: Rachel Hulan "Fying Baby"

When you were born, your thoughts and feelings are limitless because your mind is a clean slate. What a small child projects to the Universal Law is a natural purity unbounded by the constraints of beliefs. Children often attempt the seemingly impossible: they drive off in the family car or walk on a high ledge. It's only later, through education, that they learn the confines of human expectancy.

But these confines or boundaries are illusions. They're formed by belief patterns - most of them born of ignorance - handed down from generation to generation. This pool of belief patterns, or the "collective unconscious," as Carl Jung called it gains validity as it moves through time, and eventually the concepts that later generations experience as physical reality become rigid and domineering. It's as if the billions of people who preceded you have determined what you're going to experience on this Earth plane, and that's all there is to it.

This rigidity doesn't allow for genius or for the understanding that we're now in an era of rapid unfoldment. Fundamental structures are being swept away in an avalanche of awareness, and we're no longer prepared just to read about great miracle makers; we want to have the same experience. For most people, this isn't possible because they're locked within the limitations of the body and mind; their upbringing is so dominant that it encases their entire evolution, and they experience little spiritual growth.

Understanding Life's Mission 

We are not our bodies or our emotions or our minds or any of the structures and restrictions we experience around us. We are an infinite part of the God-Force, using the physical form to experience spiritual development through a special teaching called "daily life."

When you entered the Earth plane or dimension, the energy that is the real you left isa abode in the higher dimensions of pure light, and entered, by choice, the body you're now in. You chose the circumstances of this life because it was the next step in your infinite evolution, and because this life would allow you to expand what you are spiritually so that you could become an even greater expression of the infinite life force or Living Spirit.

Now you may say: "That's nuts! Why would I choose these circumstances of my life - this family, this society, and this neighborhood? Why didn't I choose a more affluent environment or a prettier body or more intellectual capacity?" The answer lies in a dimension beyond the physical plane. As you entered this dimension through birth, you has within your consciousness a heroic mission - a goal. The nature of that goal is firmly written in the very deepest recesses of the inner you; and what you are today, no matter what you feel about yourself, is actually a part of that goal in various stages of completion.

Your mind began recording events, thoughts, and feelings only at birth. It doesn't know of your heroic mission nor does it understand the Universal Law that interacts with your limitless potential. Why? Two reasons: First, if your mind, feelings and emotions knew the nature of your heroic mission in life, there would be no challenge or quest, and your evolution would suffer. Second, most understanding of metaphysics is based on tribal or religious beliefs that do not totally reflect an accurate perception of the delicacy of energy and the way its ebb and flow affects daily life; no real understanding of the Universal Law has ever been incorporated into the various belief patterns of the world's collective unconscious. 

For example, let's say your heroic mission in life is to learn to love yourself and to accept full cosmic responsibility for what you are. And, let's say, you have had a number of previous experiences on the Earth plane in which you were weak and indulged yourself metaphysically by leaning on others rather than contributing to your own energy or support. If you knew this in advance, you'd begin to favour one course of action over another, You'd intellectualize yourself into positions or feelings that you wanted to achieve, and your mind would dominate your every move.

Evolution doesn't work that way. You can't overcome weakness by fighting it or thinking your way out of it. You overcome weakness by leaving it behind you. This means that you become aware of the inner tendencies that bring you down, that don't support a belief in self, and that don't endorse a love of self, and you say, "I don't want to be that anymore." You then move yourself out of the slovenly ways of the collective unconscious, into a discipline of power. From time to time, you may drift back, but once you decide on the side of strength, the power of the Universal Law will always be with you to varying degrees.

It may be a battle at first because your mind doesn't understand these laws or the nature of your mission on Earth, nor does it understand the laws that govern your potential. It will have a tendency to "advise" you logically from its own experience, and logic is death to that part of you that is the miracle maker.

Understanding the Nature of Beliefs

The next step in creating your own miracles is to look at the nature of beliefs. By reviewing beliefs and feelings, you begin to understand how to use the Universal Law effectively. It's natural to yearn for the impossible, and in so doing, you establish strong beliefs about what can be done and what cannot. You can jump a certain height and no higher, run at a certain speed and no faster, accept a certain position and no better.

Because most commercial aircraft fly at about 600 miles an hour, the shortest time in which you can get from New York to Paris is about six hours. Those are facts in the collective unconscious. But what if we told you of a man who could move his body many thousands of miles in just a few seconds? Your mind would scan its memory banks and draw a blank, whereupon you might think impossible! Then perhaps you might review all the scientific data available and conclude that this feat is unachievable. All scientific knowledge and current thinking are products of the same collective unconscious, and just the fact that a billion people have no concept of a man moving 3,000 miles in a few seconds makes it seem impossible. But the billions of people are wrong.

There is a dimension, right here on the Earth plane, in which such a feat is possible, and there are a few people alive today who know of this dimension and use it. It's a matter of perception and belief. Your ability to work miracles is predicated entirely on how easily and quickly you can give the collective unconscious the slip. It's your attachment to the collective unconscious, or world belief patterns, that holds you back.
Read Stuart Wild's Website. Interesting Stuff!

Dimensions

This painting by Rene Magritte is called Le Blanc Seing (The White Signature).

"Magritte's painting shows in a vertical profile of what dimensions look like. If you look at the strip of the horse that is missing you can imagine an inter-dimensional being, or even a human, walking into 3-D from inside the gap in reality, or even walking out of here. 

This is how the anomalies work, they are gaps in reality caused by a higher vibration, one that is so fast humans can’t normally see them. Humans can’t see a flashing image that is oscillating faster than one pulse per 1/30th of a second. Interesting eh? If you stare at the painting in a relaxed state it starts to take you to another world that we sometimes exist in. It’s so cool." ( Stuart Wilde ) 

There is a lot more going on than many can perceive, and yet we all have the ability to develop perception that will lead us away from trouble and dispare in our lives. Remember, you are not your body, or your mind or thoughts or even what you do. When you get connected with your feelings through concentration, meditation and an openess that will ultimately allow all possibilities, you begin to truly understand yourself, who you are as an infinite being and the beauty and simplicity that comes from a heightened sense of perception. And, you will be humbled when you begin to appreciate the fact that there are literally trillions of dimensions coinciding with ours. We are on the threshold of grasping this both scientifically and metaphysically. Interesting times. -A.N.

The Reality We Can No Longer Deny - A 'Must See' Documentary

The Greatest Question of Our Time…

Is the condition we have created in the modern world actually supporting our health? Is the bedrock of our socio-economic system acting as a positive force for human and social development and progress; or, is the foundational gravitation of our society actually going against the core evolutionary requirements needed to maintain our personal and social well being?

A movement is taking place all around the Earth that will lead to nothing less that the total redesign of human civilization.

You owe it to yourself to watch the full screen 161 minute version Here.

Conscious Energy 031 - The Energy of Self-Forgiveness

In our Western culture, we learn it is a virtue to 'forgive others for their trespasses' and 'to error is human, to forgive, divine'. And while these concepts are helpful, they leave out the most important person who needs forgiving. Your 'Self.' According to many religions, the only person who can ultimately forgive you is God, or your priest, minister, rabbi or imam acting on God's behalf. If you transgress the rules of being 'good' and do something bad to another person, you eventually get forgiven if you ask for it sincerely. Or, you go to hell. In either scenario you have little control over the outcome. That is left to forces outside of you. the ones who make the rules.

The difficulty is that most established rules are wrong! They do not take into account the mindfulness of the individual in contributing to his or her own personal freedom and self-awareness, but instead prey upon fear and insecurity of the collective unconscious to maintain control in a misguided attempt to avoid civil unrest or outright anarchy. 

To live a more enlightened life, we have to first accept responsibility for our own thoughts and actions which includes the need to heal ourselves from the negative self-judgments we have unconsciously made in our past that we so innocently and so perpetually allow to influence our lives. One way to do this is by forgiving your Self for the erroneous self-judgments you have made in the past.

All your experiences in this life are based on how you feel from moment to moment and the energy you share with the world around you as you go about your life. And how you feel is a direct result of how and what you think. But what happens when you process your feelings incorrectly through no real fault of your own because of flawed thinking? What if you were simply too young, too upset, or too angry to really get it right?

When I was a little boy in Kindergarten, I had a vivid imagination which probably came from the fact that I enjoyed hours and hours of playing alone. I never seemed to need many playmates, and instead enjoyed my own company and the imaginary experiences I created to entertain myself. So it was not surprising that one day after school (in the days when children walked to and from school twice a day) I decided to take a detour through my favorite park on the way home. To me, as a five-year-old imaginative kid, the tall grass, forested boundary, and pathways were a magical place where I could fantasize and have a fun after-school adventure. When the sun began to set, and I realized that I was getting hungry, I meandered slowly home from the park to find my mother outside our house, very upset and talking with two tall police officers. As it turned out, much to my surprise, it was me they were waiting to greet. Apparently, I had been AWOL for about six hours. I was sent to my room, where I could hear the continued upset below my bedroom window.

As a little boy who was simply having a fun time playing after school, I couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. What I did understand was that my Mother was very upset, and that I must be bad, because the police were called. From the moment on, I judged myself as a lot of things, including 'bad', 'forgetful', 'stupid', and 'undeserving'. Although at the time, I probably summed it up in my five-year-old mind as just plain 'naughty'. My response toward my family and friends after that event was to be somewhat timid and unsure of myself. After all, if I was stupid, forgetful and naughty, I was not as good as anyone else. In fact, I had better do everything I could to make people like me. When people approved of me, nobody was upset, the police were not called and I felt safer and accepted by everyone. So, I began to seek approval, acknowledgment and praise from my parents and brothers, friends and teachers by trying hard to make them laugh or feel good. A nice painting, giving away my lunch, doing somebody's homework, etc. Later in life, I began to work so hard at accomplishing my desired result (acceptance and approval) that areas of my life began to suffer. In the words of an old friend, I was not giving until it felt good, I was giving until it hurt.

If things are going wrong in parts of your life, and you feel a drain of energy - a disruption of any kind that causes you to feel sad, angry, depressed or any other low vibratory feeling, it is most likely that you need to forgive yourself for some circumstance in which you judged yourself falsely. Some common self-judgments that can cause major energy disruption in your life are; I am not worthy, I am not pretty,  am stupid, I am foolish, I am naive, I am ineffectual, I am uneducated, I am no good, I am lazy, I am not sexy, I am not good enough ... and so on.

Chances are good, that when you made these erroneous self-judgments, you were incapable or unaware of understanding that they were false, and by treating them as true, your were unknowingly creating a belief system that actually changed your brain's wiring. You were unconsciously planting impulses that would grow into patterns or programs (neuro-programming) that would begin to run over and over in your mind, forming your 'reality' about who you are - your self-image and your concept of Self.

To heal yourself from these false self-judgments, you must first fully realize and believe a few simple truths. They are; You are good. Your natural state of being is happy. You are God in human form and you are essentially therefore perfect. Yes, it is okay to think of yourself in these terms. Contrary to what society says, it is not conceit or an ego-driven superiority complex to believe in yourself as being divine. (Please refer to Conscious Energy 028 to understand this clearly.) Remember, the more universal or cosmic your sense of self, the bigger will be your world! -Deepak Chopra

Exercise: If you have a photograph of yourself as a child, find the photograph and sit down with yourself as the little boy or girl in the photo. Have a conversation with your child-self as you would with any young child. Notice the natural innocence, love and care-free nature of your child-self. Do you see how loving and beautiful your child-self is? It's helpful when dealing with self-judgment and forgiveness to realize that you are the same being as the child in the photograph. You are the same soul in a larger body. That's all!

So, if you are good, perfect and divine, how can you be any of the negative judgments you make about yourself ? You have to believe one or the other. The trick is to cause your energy to vibrate in the higher frequencies of contentment, happiness and bliss instead of anger, sadness and resentment. And there are some very effective ways you can forgive yourself for judging yourself as this or that in the past.

In the next post "The Energy of Self-Forgiveness II" I will describe an exercise you can do to forgive yourself of  the false self-judgments you have made, clear up your energy, heal yourself and get on with living your life in a more effective, rewarding and contented way....The life you are here to live!

The park where I spent too much time is the same park where I met my friend Manfred in a spiritual dimension while meditating one morning in 1993. He is a guardian spirit being or angel. I am sure he was with me that day after school !

Conscious Energy 030 The Energy of Relationships

Relationships are energy equations. Your energy field interacts with another person's energy field to create a dynamic or blended experience. In the same way that two liquids join to create a third form, or solution, our relationships with others form a delicate balance that we experience as 'the relationship'. With some people in our lives, interaction can be effortless, while with others, no matter how hard we try, it involves confrontation. While it is easy to blame the other person as difficult or undesirable, the truth is that our joint experience of the relationship is a mutual creation - developed no more or no less by one than the other.


The beginning of understanding and improving your relations with others is to come into awareness of the energy you bring to your interactions. While you cannot control others, you have complete command over yourself. There is a common saying that is relevant to this energy dynamic: what is the definition of insanity? The answer: doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Think about this. When you change your response, you automatically create a different experience. The very fact that you can control your own thoughts and feelings gives you immediate power to change the experience of your relationships simply because you have shifted one part of the energy equation - you.

Rather than projecting distortion into the other person and wonder why they are the way they are, the question to ask yourself is; 'What is it within me that feels discord around this person?' This is why you can have the experience of attracting the same kind of relationship partner in consecutive situations. Your experience of attracting similar partners is created through the same looping energy pattern.

Dependent Relationships

In a co-dependent relationship two or more people come together to create a dynamic where each person expects the union with the other person or group to make them feel better about themselves, — less insecure, more protected, or elevated in some way. In other words, co-dependence is when a person forms dependency or reliance on another person to provide his or herself with something they are not able to provide. The illusion is that we can experience self-completion through another; however, only through complete acceptance of ourselves can we experience self-completion.

Co-dependent individuals operate from a place of deficiency which never allows their relationships to flourish. Co-dependent relationships experience constant conflict because the relationship contains dependent individuals who do not feel a sense of self-containment and are therefore unable to provide any real support or respect for the other person in any sustained way. If co-dependent people do not believe in themselves, how could they possible believe in others? The feeling of dependency and need for the other person perpetuates their own feelings of unworthiness.

There are many variations on this theme. Individuals often get into relationships with a desire to control their partner. They want to feel adored and loved, but they are unable to reciprocate because they run the risk of loss or abandonment. They feel unsafe and cannot extent too much of themselves. They unconsciously play this role in order to feel more in control and less insecure. The person on the other side of the dynamic often gives and gives more and more of their energy away in a desperate attempt to gain love and approval, and so the dance of control and desperation continue, affirming their respective limiting beliefs that 'loving is unsafe' and 'I am unlovable".

Although there is less expectation these days in 'forever' relationships, people stay involved with each other even when their feeling of well-being is not enhanced and their life force is being drained. People blindly sacrifice intimacy for protection of self because they prefer to be with someone (anyone) rather than be alone. They fail to see that they can only cultivate peace from within themselves by making self-honouring (self-respecting) choices as opposed to continually compromising their values for outside approval (a no-win situation).

One of the common excuses people use for living in co-dependent relationships is that they are waiting for their partner or situation to change into something better. If you don't fully accept someone the way they are and are waiting for them to change something about themselves, you will always be unhappy with them and with yourself. What do you think will change the relationship? More space, more money, more time, the right job, marriage, children, etc., only provide short-term relief because on an energetic level they fail to address the issue of dependency versus self-reliance. Obligation also marries us to people through how we compromise ourselves. We think the fact that we owe others something gives them the right to treat us disrespectfully.

Conscious Relationships

A conscious relationship is one in which each individual is self-contained and whole unto himself such that they maintain autonomy and responsibility for their own sense of well-being. For this reason, they are free to objectively look to the relationship as an enhancement to their life, not because they feel weak and incomplete. Also, a consciously motivated person only seeks to be in a relationship with someone of the same consciousness. They do not seek to be in a relationship with someone who is insecure or dependent. Neither do they seek to control that other person nor seek their approval. They are self-contained. 

In a conscious relationship, each person puts their personal core values before the needs of the relationship and honours those values — they don't justify compromising what is important to them for the sake of keeping the relationship together. That doesn't mean they don't lean on each other from time to time. The difference is that each person commands the support and respect of the other and seeks to respect their partner's choices as they respect and honour their own.

Conscious Energy 027 - The Energy of Sanctuary

Living a good life and being kind and empathetic toward other senescent beings - all life for that matter, and deriving a true sense of purpose from your existence requires a deep sense of awareness about yourself and how you are connected with all life and the Universe. In this era of ever-faster moving information, where you are bombarded at almost every moment of the day with sensory stimulus unprecedented in human history, (to our knowledge) encountering the quiet calm needed to become fully aware of yourself can be a great challenge.

Whether you have a space as large as a football field, or as small as a closet, creating your personal sanctuary is prerequisite for finding the inner silence you require before self-actualization becomes a reality. The space you choose must be free from external influences other than those you desire. It must be a reflection of who you are, so be ssure to include the colours, art, objects, lighting and smells that bring you comfort, as you will begin to spend more and more time there reconnecting with yourself.

There have been times in my life where finding a personal sanctuary was very difficult due to travel or new environments. During these moments it is important to understand that a sanctuary does not need to exist on the physical dimension and that there are no boundaries to its size either great or very small. I have had sanctuaries as large as other worlds, indeed as large as multiple universes. And I have had sanctuaries as small as an atom. You are only as far away from your sanctuary as you believe you are, so even when you are abroad, remember; Mind is the best traveller.

If you are fortunate enough to have some physical space somewhere that you can transform into your personal sanctuary it is a positive start to developing a new sense of 'self ' which you must cultivate in order to pursue the virtuous spiritual path of self-discovery.

If you are pressed for space, and cannot find it in the physical world, close your eyes wherever you are, even if just for a moment and envision your sanctuary. Invent the space within your mind, great or small, indoors or out, on any dimensional field or world you wish. Whatever feels right to you is your sanctuary and your starting point to a better, more fulfilling existence.

As you practice spending time within your peaceful sanctuary you will find yourself drawn to it more and more. Don't be confused by this. Spending time alone is not anti-social, in fact it will contribute tremendously toward your ability to be social and to share your experiences and inner self with others. As you think, so shall you be. Take the time to think, reflect, plan, meditate and be creative. The best place to start is your personal sanctuary.

Conscious Energy 026 - The Energy of Clarity

Most people are walking the earth plain in a perpetual state of blurriness. It's as if someone has rubbed petroleum jelly on their eyeballs and sent them on their way to make their way through the labyrinth of this existence called life. Not being able to see where they are going, many simply exhaust themselves by running into dead end after dead end.

When you are unclear about something, and the event is disrupting how you feel, (disrupting your energy flow) you need to be clear about what is really going on. The best way to get clear is simply to ask enough questions about the circumstances that are causing the disruption so that you can understand the situation - whatever it is, and for what it is, and get on with your life.

The natural windfall of this choice is that you end up teaching those around you how you wish to be treated. Try it the next time you feel something is going wrong in your life over which you feel you have little control. Usually once you understand clearly by asking questions to get at the truth, you are no longer upset by the event and you CAN get on with your life without too much unnecessary energy drain. -AN

Conscious Energy 025 - The Energy of Karma

Our ultimate aim as human beings is the fully enlightened and omniscient state of 'Humanhood'. Most of us take being alive as relatively healthy human beings for granted. In Buddhist texts, human life is often referred to as extraordinary and precious. It is the result of an enormous accumulation of virtue, accrued by us over countless lives. Every human being has devoted a great amount of effort to attaining this physical state. Why is it of such value? Because it offers us the greatest opportunity for spiritual growth: the pursuit of our own happiness and that of others. We must appreciate this human vehicle and do all we can to ensure we protect our virtue for the good of ourselves, and all those around us.

So, it is important to develop a degree of spirituality which is done through walking an ethical path. There are ten non-virtuous actions noted in Buddhist writings and each of these actions has many levels. To give ourselves more reason to desist from them, we must understand the workings of the law of cause and effect, known as karma.

Karma which means "action," refers to an act we engage in as well as its repercussions. The consequences of various non-virtuous acts determine the circumstances of one's life in different ways. Sexual misconduct such as adultery, results in your experiencing difficulty with the company you keep as being untrustworthy and in which you yourself will suffer infidelity and betrayal.

When we weigh a particular act, to determine whether it is moral or spiritual, our criterion should be the quality of our motivation. When a woman for example, makes a resolution to sleep with a married man, is she simply motivated by physical attraction, selfish pleasure and the fantasy of false love, or can she make a moral and spiritual choice to resist this non-virtuous act by considering the ultimate negative effects? What about the suffering that will be caused to the man's wife, his family, children, his reputation and employment, and what of his own karma? Then there are the effects such an act will ultimately echo in her own life which themselves, could later harm others.

When we consider our acts in the light of their effects on others instead of the effects they may have on us, it becomes easier to avoid a non-virtuous path and make our choices more self-honoring and more spiritually fulfilling. These choices ultimately lead to more long-term happiness for ourselves and those around us.

But, it is said that knowing the detailed aspects of the workings of karma is limited to a spiritually aware mind. It is beyond our ordinary perception to fully grasp the subtle mechanics of Karma. But when people come into our life who are more interested in our well-being than their own interests or personal gains, it is important to see these highly realized and self actualized beings as the teachers they are.

Correcting karma is not easy. We can't return bad karma to the store for a full refund. But we can exchange our non-virtuous actions for more mindfulness and more consideration for others instead of our own limited, self-serving, temporal desires. Sometimes we need to surround ourselves with good people who are already aware of the inner workings of karma and who are willing to assist us to change our ways and walk a more virtuous and fulfilling life-path. You can choose your path. One way is to welcome others who can help you, and avoid those who may lead you down a less-than-virtuous path. - A.N.

Conscious Energy 023 - The Energy of Contentment

The Tao Te Ching says:

To understand others is to have knowledge;

To understand oneself is to be illuminated.

To conquer others needs strength;

To conquer oneself is harder still.

To be content with what one has

is to be rich...

When we begin to constantly lean into the future, always looking for what could or should be, instead of cultivating a reality of contentment with what we have, we degrade our energy much like adding water to wine. We have more wine but the intensity and flavour suffers.

Take some time today to live in the moment. This may be as simple as closing your eyes and feeling your breath move in and out. Or it may be looking at a loved one as he or she sleeps and marveling at the intense beauty that is animated life. Find a way to draw yourself from the past or the future and experience now.

Here's a good exercise; Sit in a chair. Now, experience the chair. Feel it. Be aware of your body as it is pulled into the chair by gravity. Experience your feet on the ground in front of the chair. Feel yourself as your consciousness increases and begins to experience the 'now' of the chair. You will become weightless. You will realize the chair, the floor, your body, the wall...they are all one experience at one moment. They are all one thing. Try it! Weightless is fun.

As you begin to practice this over and over, you may find the floor and walls around you beginning to take on a sort of soft, elastic, spongy appearance. That's normal. By coming to grips with the now of this dimension, you begin to see glimpses into other mirror universes that co-exist with the dimension that we call reality. You will begin to realize just how easy it is to experience happiness and contentment by being aware of this dimension and you will want to experience it over and over again, just like any pleasurable experience.

Remember these words as you practice being present in the now moment;

Breathe. Relax. Feel. Watch. Allow.

We'll explore those wonderful ideas soon. Now, go find a chair to sit in. And really sit in it!