Self love

Venice Beach

It is a constant refrain that "we don't love ourselves." We have all heard that we can't love another until we learn to love ourselves.  But I could never figure out how to do this.  It made sense to me, but I didn't have the slightest idea how to go about it.  You can't just do it, if you don't feel it.

I now realize that self love is not something we can find, do, or achieve.  We do not need to figure out how to love ourselves.

We are already loved in a much larger way than we can ever imagine.  Love is what we are.  We just need to surrender to it.  When we turn our attention away from judgement, thought, and beliefs and towards the present moment, we are aligning ourselves with the Infinite Energy Source.  The Source is pure non-judgmental love.  When we surrender to it, we experience waves of Infinite Love.

We don't need to worry about self love and how we find it.  That just causes more stress and more self loathing when we are unsuccessful.  We need to peel away the layers of conditioned beliefs and judgements and experience our natural Selves.  Whenever we are in presence, we are bathed in Love. We feel it.  Others see it in us.  Our neuroses and anger fall away.

How do we stay in presence?  A daily practice of meditation is the best tool for breaking our addiction to compulsive thinking.

Let's surrender to Love.

Decisions

Notre Dame

Wouldn't it be incredibly relaxing if we never had to make another decision for the rest of our lives? Wouldn't it be terriic if we could sit in the back of the limo and be driven safely and comfortably to our destination?

When we have an important decision to make, we can weigh the pros and cons of each alternative. We can write the positives and negatives on a piece of paper and add them up and choose the one with the most positives and least negatives.  We can ponder the decision endlessly, stressing over whether we are indeed making the right decision with the information we have.

There is a better way to make decisions than through thought.

We do not have enough information to determine which decision is the best for us.  The road which seems the best may be the road where we are run over by an out of control car.  Since we have no idea what will happen to us tomorrow or even in the next moment, how can we make a rational decision?

We can make the best decisions by surrendering our decision making to Universal Intelligence. How do we do this?  By allowing decisions to be made by our intuition, our knowingness. Instead of weighing the pros and cons, we choose the alternative which makes us feel peaceful.  It can be difficult to differentiate between intuition and impulse.  An addict will always be compelled to choose the substance that he is addicted to.

Intuition is a tiny voice which requires stillness to be heard. If we are lost in compulsive thought, we will never hear that voice.  We can slow down our thoughts so that we can hear and feel the messages.  We can become still through meditation.

Lets stop making decisions and instead allow decisions to be made.

Stillness

For the first time in history, all of the information and knowledge on the planet is available to most of the people on Earth.  This power makes us God-like.  However, we do not have the emotional maturity to handle this much power.

Forty years ago, we had seven television channels.  Motion pictures, print, television and radio were the only media available.  The messages were very controlled and the rules for living were well defined and easy to follow.

Now, with infinite access to different cultures, lifestyles and ways of being, we do not know what to think or believe, or how to act.

It used to be that finding a Playboy Magazine was a titillating secret. Now any child has easy access  to every type of pornography.  The access to information is overwhelming.  Isis is very effectively using social media to recruit and train.  The rest of society does not know how to respond to this new and unique threat.

Facebook and other social media has connected us with our friends and other groups in powerful ways which would have seemed inconceivable just a few years ago.  Yet at the same time we feel disconnected, disaffected and isolated.

There is only one solution to this crisis.  Spiritual awakening.

There is too much information to process and too many variables and possibilities to handle.  We cannot figure out the way to live by thinking our way through it.

The only way to handle the ocean of information without becoming neurotic or psychotic is by choosing to turn our attention away from thought and towards presence.

Technology is changing so fast that there is no way to keep up with it.  However we can handle all of these changes by adopting stillness.  When we live in presence, we are in harmony with Universal Intelligence.  Life unfolds exactly as it is supposed to for the highest good of all concerned.  We are able to fulfill our life's purpose.  We experience peace, love, joy and freedom.

Let's be still.

Peace

Asakusa Festival, Japan

With all the turmoil, war, terrorism, ignorance, cruelty, degradation of the planet, chaos, etc, how is it possible to find peace?  

We find peace by turning away from compulsive thinking and towards presence (turning off the news once in awhile doesn't hurt either!).  The more we turn our attention towards being present, the more peaceful we will become.

We choose to bring our awareness (i.e., our attention without judgment) away from frustration, anger and fear towards love, joy, freedom and peace.

How do we become peaceful?  By reacting differently to whatever occurs.  We choose peace.  How can we choose peace?  We choose peace by slowing down our thoughts in order to realize that we have a choice.  We slow down our thoughts by having a daily meditation practice.  It's as simple as that.

Let's choose freedom.  Let's choose love.  Let's choose joy.  Let's choose peace.

Awakening

Zombies at the Pier

Thoughts about awakening are not awakening.  Awakening is simply the shifting of our attention away from thought and towards Present Awareness.

We acknowledge and surrender our thoughts.  We continue to surrender our thoughts that come from the deepest part of our subconscious.  Painful thoughts, happy thoughts, frightening thoughts.  Like peeling an onion, we surrender layer upon layer of thought and beliefs.

We even surrender thoughts of spirituality, thoughts of God and thoughts of awakening.

We surrender our thoughts to the fire of the light of Awareness.

Let's surrender our thoughts and awaken to Presence.

Surrender

We do not have enough information to know what is good news or bad news.  We may be excited about a new job or a promotion, but it does not do us much good if we are hit by a bus the next day.  If we get divorced or get fired, how times have we heard people say a year later that getting divorced or fired was "the best thing that ever happened to me."

Similarly with death, we have no way of knowing whether our consciousness continues to have wonderful experiences or whether our awareness is extinguished.  Why would we assume the worst?

Since we have no way of knowing how life will unfold, what is the best way to live our lives?  When we surrender our desires and expectations, and surrender our will to the Infinite Energy Source, we are in harmony with Universal Intelligence.  When we align ourselves with Source, we will always receive the best outcome for all concerned in every situation.  We see the beauty in life.  We understand our life's purpose.  Unexpected, Divine, positive occurrences  (i.e., Miracles) happen at an increasing rate the more we surrender to Divine Intelligence.  We embody peace, love, joy and freedom.

All we have to do is try it to experience the truth.

Let's surrender to the Infinite Void.

Meditation

Venus in Venice

The more we slow down our thoughts, the better able we are to make the choice between love and fear.  In every given moment we have that choice, whether we realize it or not.  We can choose fear, which makes us stressed, damages our health and causes us to be frustrated and angry.  Or we can choose love, which brings the highest outcome for all concerned, including ourselves.

We do not make a choice, because we do not know we have a choice.  If we did know that we have a choice, why would we ever choose fear and misery over love and joy?

In order to realize that we have a choice, we have to slow our thoughts down so that we have awareness of them.  Only in that awareness, choices can be made.

The best way to slow down our thoughts and realize that we have choices is through meditation.

If we meditate first thing in the morning, the whole day will go differently.  We will make different choices.  When we choose presence or love in the face of "stressful" circumstances, we will experience different outcomes.  By reacting differently to things that occur, not only will we be better able to handle the situation, reality will change.  Things will go our way.  We will manifest more positive and more fulfilling events.

Do we really not have time to spare 20 minutes a day in order for our entire day, and actually our entire lives, to dramatically improve?

Let's meditate daily.  

http://www.feelguide.com/2014/11/19/harvard-unveils-mri-study-proving-meditation-literally-rebuilds-the-brains-gray-matter-in-8-weeks/