Saturday, January 31, 2009

Peace

Sunset over Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown, New Zealand

It is easier to feel peaceful in nature. However, if we are lost in thought and not aware of the silence within us we will not experience peace. If our attention is on the present moment, we will feel peaceful in the middle of a crowded, noisy city.

Peace is not something to be sought in the outside world. We need to recognize it within ourselves.
Our addiction to compulsive thinking keeps us from being peaceful. By constantly drawing our attention away from our thoughts and towards being present, we will be one with our true nature.

Let's embody peace.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Freedom

Near Russell, Bay of Islands, New Zealand

Freedom does not come from being financially independent. Plenty of people who are wealthy do not feel free. Sometimes, people who have nothing or are in prison are free. Living in a democracy does not necessarily make us free.

Freedom does not depend on external circumstances. Freedom comes from within.

Donald Trump has all the material possessions a person could want. He lives in the United States, one of the freest countries in the world. However, he is not free. He puts his name on his properties and has a constant need to show off because he does not feel free inside. If he did not feel inadequate and unworthy, he would have no need to prove that he was better than everyone else because he has more things than they do. If you have something to prove, you are trying to prove to yourself that your life has value.
Mahatma Gandhi gave away his possessions and lived an extremely simple life. He was free. Jesus was imprisoned and ultimately tortured and killed. He was free.
The bars of our prison do not come from outside ourselves. The bars of our prison are made from compulsive thinking. We are stuck remembering the past and imagining the future. Our thoughts are the product of relentless programming from the moment we were born to the present moment. We are a prisoner of our thoughts.
We can dissolve the bars of compulsive thinking by bringing our attention to them. By bringing the light of awareness (i.e., attention without judgment) to the present, our thoughts fade into the background and eventually disappear.
Let's choose freedom.

Gratitude

Merino sheep, Glenorchy, New Zealand

Gratitude is the key to happiness, prosperity and peace. Gratitude does not mean that we cannot change a situation if it does not make us happy or is not in harmony with our inner selves.

Real change can only occur when we accept our current situation as it is and are grateful for the divine spark which is in us and binds us to everyone and everything around us. Then we can take steps to change the situation. If we attempt to change the situation without first accepting it, the same conditioned patterns will emerge and we will find ourselves in a similar situation.

When we feel that we are lacking things, such as money, a good job, good looks or anything else, we continue to attract that which we seek to avoid. We attract what we focus our attention on. If we feel inadequate, that is what we will continue to be. If we feel impoverished, we will never be prosperous.

If we are grateful for what we have now, the universe will respond by giving us abundance. Of course, we cannot pretend to be grateful in order to obtain things. We cannot trick ourselves. If we are pretending, we continue to have deep feelings of lack. Only by truly being grateful will life open itself up to us.

Let's be grateful, because we have so much to be grateful for.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Intuition

Sunset, Russell, Bay of Islands, New Zealand

When we have a problem, we can try to solve it by thinking. We can list the "pros" and "cons" of each course of action and determine which course has more positive benefits. The problem with attempting to solve problems with thought is that we do not have enough information to determine the "best" course of action. For example, if we have two job offers, we may decjde to choose the one which pays more or has more prestige. But perhaps if we took the lower paying job, it could lead to a spectacular job or we could meet our soul mate. We do not have enough information to know which path would be best for us.

There is another, often more effective, way of finding solutions. We can bypass thought and use our intuition.

By surrendering thought, we align ourselves with the Divine Source, which will guide us to our most beneficial outcome. How do we know that our actions are aligned with Source? We know because it "feels right," makes us feel comfortable, and brings us peace, love and/or joy. When we act in opposition to Source, we feel tense, unsure and our words and actions are tentative.

When are actions are aligned with Source, we feel limitless energy. We also realize that our "problems" do not exist. They were invented by our conditioned thinking.

Let's surrender our thoughts and act in harmony with the Inifinite Energy Source.