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For nothing

“When someone seeks, then it easily happens that his eyes see only the thing that he seeks, and he is able to find nothing, to take in nothing because he always thinks only about the thing he is seeking, because he has one goal, because he is obsessed with his goal. Seeking means: having a goal. But finding means: being free, being open, having no goal.”

- Hermann Hesse

Meditation gives you what you need, not necessarily what you want, and definitely not what you expect. The same might be said about life.

The trouble comes when we’re not innocent, when we have a demand or an expectation of an outcome. If you become present and let go of your expectations, then the trouble goes.

You have a goal, you have an intention or whatever, but it’s almost like you allow it to fulfil itself. You dream, do, act, say, all of that, just let go of what happens next. Attachment to an outcome shrinks your perspective, creates resistance and then hurts.

So when you meditate, don't do it to get - anything. Don't do it to get rid of your thoughts, don't even meditate to have peace or to rest. Don't do it for any reason or for any result, just do it and see what happens.

In life, don't anticipate any result from anything that you do or say. Notice especially when you do or say something in order to get something for yourself. Instead, choose and let go. Act and let go.

Try it. If you do so, you will find it – ironically to the mind – very rewarding.

Running around like a blue-arsed fly this Christmas?

Take a breather, honestly. What is your reason for the season?

Our whole lives are spent in a whirl wind of activity, of chasing and becoming, of doing. Why not make Christmas a time for doing the opposite? Why not make it about remembering how all of life can be, if we so wish it?

Christmas is about the return of the light. Literally, in terms of the re-birth of the sun after the shortest, darkest days in the northern hemisphere, and figuratively, in terms of the return of the Christ.

Why not make it about return and remembering? Celebrating the big picture. Taking time out. Giving thanks. Giving gifts because you want to express your love, not because you have to.

Instead of rushing about even more, go ahead and enjoy yourself. Be full of presence and stillness. Go slower. Take time to celebrate with your friends and family.

At the end of the day, what is the most important thing to you?

What a difference an attitude makes. The world does not owe you anything. On the contrary, you are absolutely blessed to be here.

Every moment that you are simply alive is nothing short of a miracle.

Realise that and you will be so filled with gratitude and awe you will never demand anything ever again.

Have strong opinions but carry them lightly. Be open, receptive and flexible.

Make no demands. Have preferences, strong ones if you wish, but insist not. Hold onto nothing, set nothing in stone.

Your opinions are not you. Your beliefs of how things should happen are not you. All beliefs are simply an idea of what is true from your point of view at this point in time.

The truth is much closer to you than any belief.

Hold onto nothing - take nothing seriously.

Happiness does not lie in things. Happiness comes from gratitude for things.

Having more things is not the key to happiness. Appreciating what you do have is.







Image: http://singlemomwithlove.com/goodness-gracious/

the courage to be open

“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”
~ Winston Churchill

Following your heart is good, but make sure you're listening to your heart and not your head.
Checking in with the people around you is invaluable. Being that open to reflection is not the easiest thing to do, but its better than getting lost.

Help

Advice for life, for now and forever more:

"Never in pride rely solely on your own strength. Help will come when you need it, even when least deserved, if you but allow it. Be receptive to the good flowing to you always."

MSI

There is help everywhere. There is nothing that you have or will experience that someone else hasn't. You just need to make the first step and ask. 

Don't try and do this alone. This life is not about lone individual strength, its about "standing on the shoulders of giants": Using the support that is all around so you can do the things you are good at.

Surround yourself with people that are better than you are. Follow your heart but also listen to them. That is the fastest way to growth and success.

Peace is everything

Peace is everything.

Without peace there is no effectiveness. There is no clarity of thought, no clarity of action. There is no joy or love.

Without peace there is existence but no Life. Peace is fulfillment.

Living in peace is the most important thing you can do for anyone else - without inner peace there will never be world peace.

Don't postpone your peace.

Joy is spontaneous

Joy is spontaneous, yet the space it comes from takes practice. Excellence in any sphere is a habit.

Keep going towards what you want.




Image: http://www.examiner.com/article/get-creative-with-brain-food-breakfast-ideas

There is more to life

There is more to life.

Meaning, purpose, authenticity, happiness and peace lie within you, already.

If you stop for even just a moment, all those things can finally catch up; life can finally make sense.

Can you let now be enough?

Can you let now be enough?

It is enough if you allow it.

It’s never the forgetting that counts, it’s the remembering.

The more you rest now in the stillness that exists now, the more the mind vanishes. The mind hates it, because it’s the one place it can’t go. No need to listen to it. It knows nothing, it can tell you nothing about stillness.

Can remembering be enough? Because it is.

If you can be content to remember, you will have everything.

Image from: www.kimberleymackenzie.blogspot.com

What is real? What is true?
How do you know?

The unchanging truth exists within you, right now, closer than your next thought. Everything else is a commentary, an assumption, a hope or a fear. All options, but not reality.

“Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.” - Buddha


In each moment we can start afresh and be born again. It just takes the willingness to let go, and immerse yourself in presence. What matters most is how we are now.

It doesn't matter if you think you have lived a good life or judge yourself to have lived a bad life. Begin again.

Courage

"It takes courage to recognize that we are not victims to anything outside of us. Recognizing that we are perfect is one of the bravest things we can do."
- Priya Ishaya

It is so engrained in our habits to look for what is wrong. It takes a strength of conviction to detach from blaming the outside and turn within.

Though the more you rest there in inner stillness, the more you are able to declare from your lived experience that all is well, that there is absolutely nothing wrong.

The mind kicks, saying “who are you to declare such happiness, such freedom?”

The Silence Self, having nothing to prove to anyone or anything, doesn’t stir. It only rests in peace, perfectly.





Photo from The Telegraph: www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthpicturegalleries/8066662/The-Lion-Whisperer-Kevin-Richardson-plays-with-white-lions-at-a-game-park-in-South-Africa.html

Right in front of you

If the absolute of divine grace and beauty was right in front of you, would you pay attention?

Perhaps if you pay attention, you might perceive the absolute of divine grace and beauty, right in front of you.

This life is only about where you put your attention. You create your reality based on what thoughts you follow. When you change your thoughts, you change your world. When you look for beauty, you find it. When you look for ugliness, you find it.

The Truth is here, right in front of you. It follows you everywhere. It’s just that you are somewhere else, distracted.

Don't spend your life being distracted. Everything is here, already.

Giving It Up

"If you knew what I know about the power of giving, you would not let a single meal pass without sharing it in some way."
Buddha


Giving is the greatest thing you can do to experience more. That is why many traditions' vows, including the Ishayas, are all about service. Service to yourself, service to humanity.

I have some amazing teachers in giving. All of them are constantly looking for places to give, always asking me if I need anything. Its phenomenal when I'm around people like that because largely the rest of the world isn't.

My Teacher once told us that service was the high road to Unity. When you give you are giving yourself away. The concern with me, with lack, with protection.

So I started giving. At first it was because I wanted to expand my experience. I gave conditionally. I gave because it was good for me. But the more I gave, the more I saw how joyful being of service is. Giving became unconditional. I give because I love to.

Ascension is the greatest act of giving we will ever do. We are giving the grip on our minds, the habit of worry, doubt and fear away. We give our smallness away. In exchange we are given clarity, ease, centredness, presence, God. The more you give, the more you get.

We all start Ascending for some result, something we want. But Ascension, like all giving, is most rewarding when done without regard for result, just for the sheer joy of doing it.

When we Ascend with an eye on a prize, we miss out on the beauty that is right in front of us. And when something unexpected happens, we get grumpy, we get angry. But the more you give yourself away, the more you realise this giving is the prize. Everytime you give your attention to the Ascendant, that choice is the beauty.

The incredibleness of being able to experience the Ascendant is unspeakable. Actually giving your full attention to it is even more so.

So don’t Ascend to get. Ascend to give.

Getting It Right

Some of us really spend a lot of energy trying to get life right - to make the right decisions, to do and say the right thing. I used to be almost paralysed in making a decision because I wanted to make sure I did the best thing.

We bring this with us when we learn Ascension - we want to be the best student, we want to get Ascension right, we want the formula to perfection.

When I first learnt to Ascend I was very confused, annoyed even. I loved Ascending, but when I asked a teacher what should I do next, she replied "What do you want to do?".

I was annoyed because I wanted someone to tell me what do to and how to live. When the Ishayas suggested I stand on my own feet and look within, it was a disorientating. I was so used to seeking the Truth without; in books, in inspirational people, in spiritual movements. Those tricky Ishayas, always pointing the finger back to your own heart.

But it is the perfect thing for me, to continually see if there is anywhere I'm trying to get something right, getting involved in "I should", trying to become.

Just take the time to effortlessly go within. Because from the stillness comes Life. From the stillness comes inspiration and joy, love and beauty, creativity and contentment. From the stillness comes the perfect moment.

You can't get that wrong. AND, you can't get it right. You just have to accept it, exactly as it is. There's the perfection.

So enjoy!

www.thebrightpath.com

A Certain Uncertainty

I sat down to write just a few minutes ago and it seems like everything I start to tap away I stop and delete.

I felt in the mood to write something definite, but I'm having a hard time finding anything definite right now.

It reminds me of a joke: I used to be so uncertain, but now I'm not sure...

Anyway... its not the desperate situation it sounds. I'm at peace with this uncertainty, all because of my practice and the experience of inner certainty it gives me. I know there is one certain thing right now: The sense of stillness, of presence and being that is within. I'm definite about that.

Well - I'm definite that it exists right now, I can choose for it right now. Whether its going to be here in the future, again I'm not sure. I'm certain I don't want to take that for granted, I want to enjoy it fully now - not put it on the back burner for later.

But as for everything else, I can't really say for sure.

There is another thing I can think of that is certain: It is my power to decide how I define the events of my life. The power of choice. How do I want to view my life? Is the glass half full or half empty? Is this good karma coming back to me, or is it bad karma? Who knows? Looking back, the events that seemed bad to me back then, on reflection, have put me where I am and made me who I am today. And I'm definitely very grateful for that.

But everything else is so uncertain. Will I be here tomorrow? Will the sun rise again? Will the cat still find away to sit on my lap tonight? Will the strawberries taste as good tonight as they did last night?

Probably, but nothing like a bit of uncertainty to make you enjoy what you have now, to stop you taking things for granted, huh? So why not embrace uncertainty, embrace not sure-ness?

But embrace it only from an absolute foundation in inner certainty, inner sure-ity. Embrace the power of choice, of definition, that you have in how you label the events in your life. Use it to seek to acknowledge that which is beauty, that which is love, no matter how small. Acknowledge it, as it is, right now. Not because it might be here tomorrow, but because you experience it here now.

When you accept this power of choice for goodness, combined with the definite silence and presence within, you tap into the absolute source of love and beauty in your life. And the best bit is that since its up to you, only you can tell me whether or not it is certain. Only you can make this life definite, only you can decide what will last.

I can't think of anything else that creates as much peace as that knowing.

All you need is...

The only thing that will save the world is praise.

Love gets all the publicity, from songs ("All you need is...") to commemorative days (Valentine's Day). Gratitude is famous in its own right with people making gratitude lists and carrying stones to remind them to be thankful. Compassion has its champions in a whole tradition, the Buddhists.

Praise gets very little recognition, yet it lays the groundwork so those superstars of the emotions can flow unrestricted. Praise is like the PA that does all the hard work so the boss can get the credit, the street sweeper that makes the city sparkle, the gardener that weeds and plants and tends so the garden becomes full of beauty.

However, praise is not hard work. It involves only this: The simple appreciation of what is already in your life.

Everyone who ever did something world changing, like Christ or Mother Teresa or the Dalai Lama, knew and lived praise. They always seek to appreciate, to see the beauty in what already is here, exactly as it is, without seeking to change it. Taken to its fullest continued application like these people embody, praise becomes an experience of life as completely full, lacking absolutely nothing.

Some stop short here. They complain that praise is a way of sticking your head in the sand. They say praise is all very nice, but what about reality?

Yet which reality? Everyone lives in their own little universes. Everyone sees themselves and their world through their judgements, through their perceptions, filtered through their past experiences. Reality as it is defined here is what you make it, reality depends on the way you see what you see.

Praise, in its purity of vision, cuts through the surface differences, the surface play and allows you to experience the actual Reality of Life. Praise allows you to see how good life really is.

This is how praise will save the world: A continued choice for praise brings the recognition of the Kingdom of Heaven as being here and now. You realise the Kingdom of Heaven has always been here. It never went anywhere, only we did.

A wise man once said that a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. It all begins with our choice, right now. What kind of world do you want to live in?