Blair Abee's Blog, page 3

Life is But a Dream. How So?

It has been said that from a metaphysical perspective human life is a dream. And that one day we will wake up and understand the truth of this statement that “Life is a dream”. I’ve always been a little puzzled by this idea but have never really delved into it much.

The concept of life as a dream is an ancient one found in Hinduism. It says that “while a man is dreaming, he does not know it is a dream, and in his dream, he may even try to interpret a dream. Only after he wakes does he know it was a dream. And someday there will be a great awakening when we know that this is all a great dream” (Wikipedia).

My Dream

This became a question that I thought was worth exploring several mornings ago when I woke up from a lovely dream and had a flash of realization that I was waking up from one dream into another. I had heard that idea presented off and on over the years but had not paid much attention to it.

It became time to pay attention. And explore the idea for what I could glean from it. And let my Higher Consciousness offer some insights from Spirit.

As I pondered the subject to prepare for writing this post, I got the giggles when I recalled a song from my youth. A do-wop song called, “Life Could be a Dream Sweetheart” by the Crew Cuts. One line, in particular, came to mind, “Life could be a dream if I could take you up paradise up above.” And it occurred to me that this is what my Soul might say to me about my relationship with It. That I could realize a state of “Heaven. Here. Now”, in partnership with It. And that this would be an even higher level of dream than my sleeping dream life, or my waking dream life. My Spirit dream life. The most Real of the three.

Individualized Experience. A Dream?

The idea of life as a dream is bolstered by the notion that we are all having an individualized experience here on Planet Earth that is totally unlike any other person’s. I know what my life, my reality, is like, but I can’t know yours as you do nor can you know mine as I do. It’s a life that has unfolded from my birth until now and will continue to unfold until I leave this plane of existence and go back to the Other Side. Where, undoubtedly, a new adventure awaits. A life, based on my awareness of it, that only I can experience in its fullness.

What About Facts?

It used to be that we could all agree, to some degree, on “facts”–a shared excepted reality. But even that concept has revealed itself to be tenuous. There are those who have, through their thoughts and beliefs, come to accept a “reality” of “alternative facts” in which getting a COVID shot is a terrible idea. And once one starts down that line of thinking, alternative facts, beliefs, and group mind become the building blocks of an indisputable reality. Sufficiently real to die for.

“A Great Awakening”

The Hindu saying that “life being a dream and that someday there will be a great awakening when we know that this is all a great dream” mentioned above, then, takes on greater urgency. Especially when married with the somewhat difficult notion that we all create our own reality. While sometimes hard to accept because the cards that life sometimes deals us seem so unfair, and certainly now what we would wish for ourselves.

Nevertheless, it is an idea that I think is pretty close to “fact”. I ascribe to this idea because I ascribe to the so-called “Law of Attraction”. That like attracts like. More accurately, that “like begets, like” (the Law of Vibration). Cause and effect. The higher a vibration we are able to reach/generate/radiate, the more we will spawn experiences of a higher vibration. For example, if we give love, we get love. If we offer peace to another, we are more likely to get it back.

If we raise our awareness to a level of Higher Consciousness, through meditation, we will beget/attract more elevated people, experiences and things into our lives. This is one of the core principles of my book on prosperity called The Manifestation Book. And this is a way that we can consciously create a better life for ourselves.

Knowing this is what I would call “A Great Awakening” for those who come to know what all of our Master Teachers have tried to teach us throughout the Ages. That “The Kingdom of Heaven is inside” of us. And that if we rise to this level of awareness, the unreality of the 3-dimensional human dream of what Buddha called human “suffering” will give way to a 5 Dimensional life of Love, Joy, Peace and Illumination.

A “Great Awakening”. By altering the consciousness that creates the vibration that creates the circumstances. And dispels the outmoded dream as “child’s play”.

And take advantage, before Friday, of the special sale offer of getting an e-copy of my book The Mindfulness Book for $.99.  Use this LINK.

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Fear Not: Dispel Worry & Concern

Fear.  Our most fundamental emotional driver.  It originally comes from being so vulnerable in the early days of our species’ evolution, when we hid out in caves with only our wits with which to survive.  Having no large fangs, strong jaws, sharp claws, or fleet feet, we were easy pickings for species that did.

Though we have come to dominate the planet, fear is still what causes us to act more like a wild animal at times than the dominant species we are.  Fear of death, fear of being called out, fear of the pain of every stripe, fear of being alone.

Our human minds are uniquely wired to help us avoid these things and the many other things we are afraid of, real or imagined.  This is one element of what Buddha described as human “suffering”, which we all experience in our human condition in our own unique way.

 Why So?

From the time we emerge from the womb, a scary experience in itself, we are taught to be wary of the big, bad world we are born into.  “Dog eat dog world”.  “Only the strong survive”.  Ideas that we are surrounded by, verbally and psychically.  And our minds, fueled by the emotional threat underlying these notions, latch onto them and they become the conscious and subconscious motivators for much of our behavior.

Sad, but true.  And the clues that this is the case are all around us.  Passed on by our parents and their struggle to survive and thrive and emphasized by the lessons we learn at school from our teachers training us how to get ahead and compete with our peers, and our peers themselves, who are often mean to each other.

The images we see on TV and in the movies frequently reinforce the message.  Some national news shows devote a little time at the end of the show for a “good” story to offset the horrible things we see ourselves doing to each other every day, every week, every year.  Leads to the homily, “There but for the grace of God, go I” to soften the blows to our subconscious minds.

And many of us have experienced trauma.  Childhood accidents.  Dysfunctional families.  Less than neighborly communities.  Economic inequities.  Unaddressed difficulties and confusing/mixed messages about how the “world works”.  Offered by others who themselves are bent and twisted.  Few of us escape childhood without our fair share of such trauma.  Not to mention COVID and the train wreck of climate change bearing down on us.

It’s no wonder we end up confused and fearful about the present and about the future.

“Fear Not”

Yet there is another perspective.  One of my favorite teachers, Joel Goldsmith, 20th Century mystic and author, puts it this way, “When we stop to think about it, we cannot help but realize that everything in the world that we have ever feared is external to our own being, whether it is a person or an army, whether bullets or poison, climate, weather or storms…Regardless of what it is it is always something external to us  The first secret, therefore, that we learn in meditation, the very first revelation that comes to us, is that all power is within us and that there is no external power that can act on us.”

He goes on to make the point, which I wholeheartedly endorse, that if we are to live a fearless life, that has to come from within.  He quotes Jesus of Nazereth, who says that the secret to life is knowing that “the Kingdom of God lies within”, the same message that all of our Master teachers have taught.  And that by seeking the Kingdom of God, Spirit, we can to draw to us all the good, perfection, joy, love, safety and security we wish to have.

My Higher Consciousness, my Spirit Within, whom I have come to know and have important conversations with, communicated to me as I sat writing and meditating one night over some concern that was causing me fear, “There is nothing to be afraid of. I am with you every step of the way, and, in fact, am paving the way for you.  Do not be afraid.  It just stops up the flow of Spirit energy through your system and into your world. Your realization of Friday was important, because it is the message I have for you all the time—all is right with the Universe, including your well-being.   I know that sometimes you even doubt the validity of Me and the path you are on.  And that you do not want to admit to these thoughts. Not to worry.  It is a common thought- form somewhere along the Path where you are right now.  It is part of the process of shedding the skin of the you that you used to be, the 3d you.   The 5th Dimensional you is emerging stronger and stronger.  This coincides with your deepening meditations and your more frequent remembrance of who and what you are.  And of our relationship.  And of the safety of the here and now moments where there is nothing going on except Eternity.  Hang in there.  It only gets better.  (More such messages in my book The Manifestation Book).

Soul Contact

This occurred in 2016 when I was making a deep dive into my meditation practice and having amazing insights into the nature of my life and who I was becoming, a more aware human being.  This Soul Contact, however, was new and still startling.  Since then, it has become commonplace, a near-daily occurrence.  This partnership has enabled me to write 5, soon to be 6, books award-winning about meditation and related topics.  It was my Higher Consciousness, who I call “HiC”, from whom I learned many important lessons, including my understanding that I am an Eternal Being. Occupying an incredibly complicated bio-mechanical vehicle, not merely a human being.  And that our job, together, is to grow and evolve and express that understanding in the most potent way possible.

It’s also from this Soul contact that I have learned one of the most important lessons that I now understand—that I am deeply and personally responsible for the quality of my life based on the quality of my consciousness.  The more elevated my consciousness, the more clearly I experience my Eternal Beingness.  And the more clearly I experience my Eternal Beingness, the more I attract, as a side benefit, the people, circumstances, and things into my life that I need to grow and evolve to fulfill my destiny on Planet Earth.  “Like begets like”.

Fear seldom darkens my door these days.  When it does, I easily recognize that it is not real and I know how to dissolve it before it takes hold in my psyche.  Issues do come up, of course, from time to time.  Right now, I am experiencing a “vibration” diagnosed as hip arthritis.  It hurts sometimes.  I am aware, however, that in the face of Spirit, this (and all conditions), are malleable and subject to change and improvement.

Some Important Principals to ConsiderEvery condition emerges as an out-picturing of a mental misunderstanding of who and what I am.  On one level, it is a metaphor that intrudes on my natural state of harmony and it becomes my challenge to discover what that is.  I may even see it as an opportunity to dissolve whatever “glitch” has occurred internally for healing.Spiritual healing can occur when we can recognize several things about ourselves. First, that we are Eternal Beings, One with Spirit, and at that level not subject to the rules of human beingness.  Second, that we have a Soul, a Higher Consciousness, to whom we can turn when there is an appearance of difficulty and can involve in solving the condition and the source of the condition.  And third, that we are One with The ALL (God) which is the only power in the Universe and that the condition has no power in the face of the Infinite Intelligence of The ALL.We can’t deal with the cause of what seems to be a fearful condition at the level of the condition. To deal with conditions that cause fear requires a change in consciousness.  A change of consciousness from the level of 3-dimensional human consciousness to a Higher Consciousness at the level of 5-Dimensional Spiritual Consciousness.The Key to Dissolving Fear is Meditation and Spirit Contemplation

While there are many spiritual techniques and traditions that we can turn to for help, the focus of such techniques has to be on a change in consciousness. Which leads to an experience of Higher Consciousness and awareness of the Allness and Power of Spirit. Without that experience, such efforts are just mental gymnastics.

I have found that meditation, both sit-down and mindfulness meditation, and spiritual contemplation are the best, most direct path to such a change.  Primarily because meditation causes one to shift awareness away from human thought, and fear contemplation, to experiences of a 5-Dimensional nature.  To a transformation in thought and understanding of the fundamental nature of who and what we are.  Eternal Beings.

The meditation process I have developed, Higher Consciousness Meditation, as outlined in my book The Meditation Book, is specifically designed to create this recognition.  To result in an experience of The ALL and our Oneness with It.  To have an experience of our Soul, our Higher Consciousness, and our Oneness with It.  And to have an experience of our Eternal Beingness.

Higher Consciousness Meditation bypasses the traditional meditation approaches which focus on mind training and even mental suppression.  And instead, focuses on providing the user a more direct path to the experience of Illumination.

As well as a path to putting aside fear for the experience of peace that comes with putting aside our suffering.   “Fear Not”.

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The Key to Experiencing Abundance

Much has been said and written about experiencing abundance.  It turns out the Law of Attraction is the key to experiencing abundance as I discuss in-depth in my new book, The Manifestation Book.  Today’s post is about the Law of Attraction.  What it is and why it works.  How to create abundance is the subject for a future blog post.

I have come to realize how simple the Law of Attraction is. On one level, it is unbelievably simple: higher personal vibrations will “attract” higher vibration outcomes in life. Said more accurately, higher vibrations “beget” higher vibrational outcomes. I like the latter expression because it shows that there is a strong cause-and-effect relationship between that which is going on Within and the outcomes “without”, out there in the world.

Therefore, higher vibrations in any area of life will beget higher vibrational versions of the same: people, places, things, resources, experiences, feelings, thoughts. Lower personal vibrations will beget lower-level versions of these.

Contemporary Thinking on the Law of Attraction

We have developed many ways to help people improve their lives. One way is to change your thoughts, beliefs, and actions to cause circumstances to change. The theory is “If you would just clear away your blocks and resistances, life will be beautiful”.

Another method, which has gained a lot of attention in recent years, is to try to use and manipulate the Law of Attraction with the goal of manifesting “anything you want in life”. Within certain circles, there has been a flood of claims about being able to manifest or cause things to appear, in various ways.

Using this method of controlling or changing your thoughts, it is said you can manifest what you want. As you think, so shall a BMW appear in your driveway, in some magical way.

Akin to this is the system of putting pictures of those things you desire on poster boards or in a video.

Unfortunately, there is a lot of ego/mind involved in the clearing and programming approaches to the manifesting methods mentioned above. These approaches are deliberate attempts to create miracles, an interesting set of thought experiments. However, truthful aficionados of these approaches will tell you that the results are spotty, unpredictable, and hard to understand or duplicate.

And then there’s prayer — begging a divine being for what you want, verbally or mentally. This means has been used for as long as humans have been conscious beings. We have offered prayers to nature spirits, gods living in some “other dimensional” place, or a single God in Heaven. Offerings, sacrifices, magical incantations, pleas, and demands used in various ways to influence the entity to which such prayer is offered.

The Higher Consciousness Alternative

I think that a more productive approach to improving our lives involves changing our consciousness, our state of awareness, rather than the quality of our ego/mind thoughts, our subconscious drives, or our word prayers. The Higher Consciousness alternative involves aligning with our Souls and is much more likely to result in a favorable unfolding of our circumstances.

Our Higher Consciousness, our Soul, is where truly valuable manifestation can occur. You, in partnership with your Higher Consciousness, have the ability and the clarity to generate the high-level vibrations needed to beget those Spiritual Gifts that will contribute to your well-being.

Developing your relationship to your Higher Consciousness can take time, focus, and skill to accomplish. The mechanism that I have found for this development is meditation.

This approach to abundance is very sacred, a stepping down of the vibration of Spirit into the physical. A Blessing. In working with the Law of Attraction, we must see the work as sacred and Eternal, rather than the activity of the ego/mind to satisfy its wants, which are endless and will never be satisfied.

The better approach to personal well-being and manifesting is to ask Spirit, your HiC, what It wants of you rather than asking, visualizing, or praying for what you want from It.

I have several “gifts” to offer you this week related to the Manifestation BookThis week (January 9-15) you can purchase e-book copy of the book from Amazon Books for $.99.  Just go to Amazon Books using this link: The Manifestation Book Access to the replay of the 1-hour complimentary webinar I made as a supplement to the book. Go to this link on YouTube to see it: “Manifestation—Asking for What You Want, Properly”.And get a free copy of my first book using this link: The Amazing Benefits of Meditation

Blessings

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A Healing Meditation for My Country

There are days that stand out in memory, known only by their month and year. July 4, 9/11, January 6. Days like 9/11 and January 6 where national healing is needed. Different traumas, different days, but painful nevertheless. The one threatened us from the outside, the other from the inside. Both stirred our national reptilian brain. The latter the more dangerous.

I don’t want to lose my life in a democracy. It always seemed so strongly in place. Who would ever have thought that there might be those who would throw it away for the sake of power? And willing to do anything to gain and keep it. Preposterous, I would have said 50 years ago when I was taking political science classes, and grew to understand some of what went on in the world of politics. Even a mild version of the last couple of years would have been a sure lower grade in the final thesis project.

At the risk of sounding too glib, my life is too lovely to have it spoiled by anarchy. An internal mental/emotional war of tribes sounds dreadful. Not to mention ugly—full of strife, disharmony, and disfunction. The last few years have shown us what a brutish lot we can be under the right conditions.

Spiritual Healing from Our Withiness

My nation needs healing. For those of us who are spiritually inclined, it is a time to come to the aid of the health of our democracy. From our homes, from our Withiness.. And do the work that we would do if we were confronted with ill health in our family.

And swing into action to do the healing work we are capable of in times of crisis. Do what we are capable of doing from our homes.. But do something powerful, nevertheless. More powerful than we give ourselves credit for. But what we can do to influence the outcome of the national stew that is the nation. (One nation, under God—that one). Toward Higher Consciousness. Collective growth and evolution.

One would hope what’s going is a national tantrum on the way to growing up. That we have the sense for national reconciliation to be the outcome just as we have to address climate change and the spectre of perpetual virus outbreaks together successfully.

Active, Personal Involvement as an Event Develops

If you have read my writings since 2017, you have read more than several times about a meditation I did when is used to take Sasha dog on our morning run in the neighborhood. A meditation that was inspired by one of my Master Teachers, Joel Goldsmith, the 20th Century writer, and sage. He encouraged his readers to all take a moment each day to do a world meditation. But, as far as I know, he never said how.

I played with that idea of how to do that for several years. Letting it gestate. Until I hit on it–a meditation process that would centralize the notion of planetary transformation as its mission. One day the mediation process just spang up in my awareness in a complete, detailed form. Since then I have worked on this–letting my Higher Self help me evolve it. It has evolved from a world meditation to a meditation that could apply to my neighborhood or the entire universe,

The Healing Process

Sasha and I set out every day, shine or rain (when I put her little yellow raincoat on). As we started out, I would begin to breathe in and out deeply for a few minutes, just taking the morning. There’s a mockingbird that lives close to our house and who often greets me with a flurry of song, and I reply in kind—he’s much cleverer at it than I, though.

Then I would say to myself, “Illuminate, Elevate”, “Illuminate, Elevate”, “Illuminate, Elevate, Radiate” getting the feeling of each of these words, having the experience of being filled with light, and radiating that light to my surroundings. I find if I say the words out loud, the feeling amplifies, and it grows into an experience that literally causes my vibratory rate to skyrocket.

(The rest of the meditation is a lot of repetition of the words, “Illuminate, Radiate”. Just warning you. Every time is different, though in some large or small way. Creativity at work.)Then, “Illuminate, Elevate”. “Illuminate, Elevate, consciousness. In my neighborhood”. “Illuminate, Elevate consciousness.” Sometimes the neighbors would happen to come out of their homes and we exchange a “’Mornin’”.“Illuminate, Elevate”. “Illuminate, Elevate, Vallejo town” where I live. “Illuminate, Elevate, consciousness”.“Illuminate, Elevate”. “Illuminate, Elevate, my Bay Area. North Bay, South Bay, East Bay, West Bay, Central Bay, Bay Area”. (And in my mind’s eye, I often get a picture of something related to each area). “Illuminate, Elevate, consciousness.”“Illuminate, Elevate. Illuminate, Elevate consciousness in my Californiaaaa. Northern, Southern, Eastern, Western California. Central California. Illuminate, Elevate consciousness” (usually remembering somebody I know in each place).By now we are heading up the hill that we just went down. My sounding of the words comes out with more huff and puff. “Illuminate, Elevate, USAAAAAA. Illuminate, Elevate. Illuminate, Elevate, consciousness. Illuminate, Elevate, Leadership (especially now). Illuminate, Elevate, our Citizenship”. Also, by now, I am really feeling the illumination and sense of Soul Contact that such a healing exercise can bring.And finish with, “Illuminate, Elevate, Planet Earth and all of its inhabitants. Mother Earth, Mother Ocean, Father Sky”. Illuminate, Elevate consciousness. Ho!Then we stop. Sasha would pee. And we would turn into our street and walk the rest of the way home. The Value of Such an Exercise First, thanks to Joel’s inspiration I think I have lifted the vibratory rate of my neighborhood, town, region, state, and nation (and Universe), if only an ounce. I have “prayed” for the elevation of our human consciousness into Higher Consciousness, into Eternal Being Consciousness.I have been doing this for a while and say to myself related to my country, “Illuminate” (meaning raise my consciousness to an Illumination state), “Radiate”, meaning from my illumined state Within, that Spirit “Radiate” out to my country, my fellow citizens, our leaders, and “Elevate”, meaning Elevate our 3 dimensional into 5D Consciousness.And I feel invigorated. Lifted up. Light-filled. Ready to face my day knowing that I, as an individual human being and spark of The ALL, have done all that I know how to do for this day for my country.Conclusion

Often, when events seem out of our control, we don’t know what to do. We feel helpless. Unable to influence the outcome of an event. This guided meditation balances that scale. Offers a remedy. It gives us a format to know what to do. A format that hangs together and elevates everything, and everybody, if only for just a bit. Others doing the same add to the amplitude of the vibration.

What do you think? How do you like this approach to doing healing work outside of your family? Are you interested in trying it out? Give it a try?

Some of these concepts are discussed much more extensively in these two books available at Amazon Books:  “The Meditation Book“ and “The Manifestation Book“ .  Grab a copy.

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2022 Resolution: Reboot Together

If you have read my two other articles in this three-part series “Negotiating the End of 2021, Mystically” you know that this one is entitled “New Year’s Day: A Reboot. Together”. The first was an article advocating for December 21 as the correct day for the end of the solar year, and a time for personal reflection. The second was about taking the opportunity to explore our Christ Consciousness (“Becoming Christ Conscious on Christmas Day“).

Now for the third one.  I think New Year’s Day this year should be more about our collective need to use 2022 as a year for a species reboot. For cultural resolutions and plans rather than personal. This year is likely to see an amping up, if that is possible, of the themes of the last several years of turmoil and division.

It’s a political election year and the rhetoric will get white-hot. Many of the investigations and trials of famous people that are underway will reach a crescendo and outcome, with both sides continuing to vocally make their case. Climate change will be only the more obvious and the paucity of our response more sad.

A Collective Reboot

All of this begs for a more conscious and transformative response from those who are working on outer and inner levels for the benefit of humanity. And to do that in a new, more cooperative manner.

It’s time for a species upgrade from the domination of childish 3-dimensional “homo sapien” thinking and acting, and instead, become the 5-Dimensional “homo spiritus”, Soul driven beings we really are. Beings ready, by necessity, to transition into knowing and growing ourselves into the Eternal Beings, putting away childish things. Until then we will continue, to paraphrase Gautama Buddha, to suffer mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually.

It’s never been more clear that we are all connected, of the same tribe, and inextricably linked in our destiny. No matter who we are, where we live, what our circumstances. If we don’t pull together, acknowledge our Oneness, and address our existential crisis, we may not survive, as the nations we are or as the world as we have known it.

What Can We Do? What Shall We Do?

There are several options we have as lightworkers to address the concerns of the day and to make a difference in our world. The tendency is to undertake activities “out there” in the world, but I am going to suggest some measures that can we can take Within our own consciousness that might make more of an impact.

Some might call these measures naïve or “woo woo” but I’m increasingly convinced that the power of my internal world has more of a chance of benefitting humanity and our plight than any outer world activity I might undertake. My suggestions:

1.  First, put aside the overwhelming human tendency to judge others for their mistakes and misdeeds. We are all Eternal Beings dressed up in human clothes and capable of, at any moment, beginning to exhibit the characteristics of such.

One of my favorite mystics and healers of the 20th century, Joel Goldsmith, in his healing process, suggests a meditation that acknowledges the Soul of the other from my State of Soul Awareness, acknowledges the lack of “power” that any human condition has, and allows Spirit to move in Its own way to bring about healing.

We can take the same approach with groups of people and with individuals. The greeting “Namaste” acknowledges such. “The Spirit in me acknowledges the Spirit in you”. And this can be done silently with those whose points of view differ greatly from mine to great effect. And raises my vibration, benefit me greatly in the process.

Similarly, when I go to the grocery store I pause before going in to take a Sacred Breath and put myself in an elevated state of mind. My tendency to judge others melts away, replaced by the ability to “see” Spirit in others instead. And the whole place just seems to light up. People seem friendlier and more likely to say hello or acknowledge me. As Louis Armstrong says, “They’re really saying, ‘I love you’” (in “What a Wonderful World”).

2.  I do a similar thing when I pray over the news in the evening. I turn Within and raise my consciousness before turning on the national news. Rather than “taking in” the sad stories that seem to predominate, I radiate Spirit out into the scene (dare I say “illusion”) before my eyes adding my own energy to the cauldron of mass consciousness that is resulting in the affairs of the day.  (For more on this idea, see my Amazon Best Seller, “The Meditation Book“.)

3.  I also have a process called Best Possible Outcomes, discussed in detail in my new book “The Manifestation Book” at Amazon Books, in which, as it relates to a particularly awful news story, I say “Oh my Soul, I ask for the Best Possible Outcome for this situation for everyone involved. Thank you for your attention to this matter.” And then turn the whole thing over to Spirit for a better outcome than might have been otherwise predicted. This process can be used for any personal circumstance as well.

It’s important to “ask” Spirit to move, in Its own way, and not tell Spirit, from your ego-mind, what outcome you think you want. Your Spirit, your Higher Consciousness, knows what you need for your greatest growth and evolution if you will allow it to take part in your life directly and in partnership.

4.  This also puts me of a mind to “tend to my own business” and work on myself rather than be too concerned about the affairs of others. While this seems contradictory to the above examples mentioned above, it’s not. I only have control and influence, really, over my own consciousness and its State.

In an elevated State I’m giving off higher vibrations and more likely to attract good people, circumstances, and things to me. Creating my reality in a desirable way. Instead of playing in lower-level vibratory rates/states of mind and attracting undesirable outcomes.

Mindfulness meditation practices can be very helpful. Saying to myself, “I am divine love” or “Peace be still” or even “humanity and I am One with The ALL”, can shift any moment dramatically.

5.  From the largest perspective, there is no “bad” or “good” only the “Isness” of The ALL. It’s all Sacred and unfolding as it is meant to. This time of seeming craziness is what is needed for people to vent, act out, and grow up (or move on).

A time for many of us to recognize. the limitations of our 3-dimensional human perspective and evolve, transforming ourselves into the 5-Dimensional beings we are destined to be, together. So, bless it all and observe the unfolding from your most elevated State.

And so may It Be.

Try these and you may also lose 5 pounds as a side benefit. : )

And check out my Daily Vibe at my Facebook page, Higher Consciousness Meditation with Blair Abee for an idea, an image, and a grin every morning for a year.

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Becoming Christ Conscious at Christmas

Many people miss the whole point of Christmas—becoming Christ Conscious. The cultural tinsel and hoopla often drown out the opportunity at this time of year to remember what Jesus became famous for–what he said and did during his sojourn to Planet Earth those many years ago. He became Christ Conscious and then shared what he knew in a way that is still remembered. He showed the way for the rest of us.

What is Christ Consciousness?

“Christ” comes from the Greek word χριστός (chrīstós), meaning “anointed one”, a title given to a spiritual teacher of elevated consciousness. Often associated with Jesus of Nazareth, the word symbolically means “anointed by the Holy Spirit”, or one who has achieved Enlightenment. Therefore, the term “Christ Consciousness”—awareness of, and the embodiment of Spirit. A state of mind which we all have the potential for achieving.

Anyone who has achieved this state of mind can be said to deserve the title, “Christ”. Other religions have a word or title that applies to their most highly evolved, spiritually attuned mystics. Though I have no proof, I think that the name for the Hindu mystic and teacher, Krishna, is as much a title for one of their most revered adept rather than his given name.

Each of the Master Teachers of our major religions was similarly highly conscious and taught that each one of us has the ability to reach Christ Mind or Buddha Mind—Spirit-filled and Illumined. Each said something similar to what Jesus said, “For behold, The Kingdom of Heaven is within you”. Waiting to be recognized, waiting to be allowed to take part in our lives if we only open up and allow it to. In which case, with some spiritual growth, we can become known, even if only to ourselves, as Barbara Christ or Stevie Christ.

Our Master Teachers were Wayshowers, Not Gods

Unfortunately, the thought that we can all achieve anything close to Christ Consciousness is not one taught in any of our cultures. Instead, from birth, we are indoctrinated into the idea that this is a world of competition and only the strong survive. Almost nobody is “awake and aware”. There are few role models for that alternative. Almost no one has a different view from the accepted conventional wisdom. This conventional wisdom is nearly absolute—everybody thinks and acts based on the accepted norm, so it must be true. What other options are there?

What our Master Teachers had to say they about each of us being capable of Enlightenment just like they have fallen on deaf ears. Because we didn’t understand what they were saying, we turned their teachings into dogma and religions. We perverted their teachings because we couldn’t understand them with our ego/personality minds. These teachings undermined the very existence of the body/mind/personality and its stranglehold over our perceptions.

The essence of their Teachings has been discarded by denial— “Enlightenment might have been true for Buddha (to name just one) and sounds great, but that could only apply to him. I could never be like that, not really.” This relegates what Buddha said, and his life example, to being beyond the average human, beyond the capability of the rest of us. Our misunderstanding keeps us from realizing that the Nirvana that he spoke of is only the lifting of a veil which shrouds our clouded eyes.

Take a Little Time to Explore Your Christ Consciousness This Christmas

Mohammed said “Thou art a mortal being, And thou art the Eternal One; Know thyself, through the light of wisdom. Except Thee there exists none.” The Hindu guru Ramana, “The ordinary man lives in the brain unaware of himself in the Heart. The enlightened one lives in the Heart. When he moves about and deals with people and things, he knows that what he sees is not separate from the one Supreme Reality which he realized in the Heart as his own Self.” Carl Jung said it this way, “Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”

Let’s assume that their words are as they seem, intended to wake us up and realize that we are Eternal Beings besides being human beings. That we each have the ability to awaken to our True Selves and this time of year is an especially good time to spend some time exploring our potential to experience Christ Consciousness.

It behooves us then to spend a little time, maybe on Christmas Eve, to explore our relationship with our Higher Self or to experience Soul Contact for the first time.

Make Soul Contact

That first contact can be amazing. Here’s what my that Still Small Voice said to me for the first time as I sat writing my first book, “My Son, I will never leave you nor forsake you. I will be with you until the end of Eternity. There is nothing to fear. This is important. Otherwise, how can you get beyond your fears to the realization that there is nothing to fear. When you get there, there will be, literally, nothing to be afraid of. No matter what your circumstance.” Astonished and comforted me deeply.

Several days later my Higher Consciousness said:

“The enrichment of consciousness brings fulfillment. The enrichment of consciousness is fulfillment. It is the highest enrichment that will lift you into completeness. Oneness. With the All at its penultimate. Searing through 3d consciousness. Illuminating. Elevating. A State of Grace.

When this happens, Spirit stirs. Awareness purifies. Mountains move. Christ Consciousness. The Consciousness of Masters. Reachable. Available. Here. Now. Inside. Outside. A new normal if you’ll stay with it.”

How to Do This?

My answer to that is there are a number of spiritual traditions that can lead you to the experience of Christ Consciousness. However, the quickest way is spiritual contemplation, sitting meditation. There are lots of options available, although I am partial to the process I developed called Higher Consciousness Meditation. In my opinion, the quickest way to Illumination.

This process leapfrogs most traditional forms of meditation which are designed to subdue the mind, but which can be lengthy and arduous. Instead, it takes you right to the experience of Illumination. I outline the process in detail in my book, .The Meditation Book.  The goal is the mystical experience of Self-completeness, Soul Contact.

Another answer to “How?” is through mindfulness meditation. This method uses short sayings, mantras, to induce a sense of Pure Awareness without mental distractions. One of my favorite such sayings is “Peace be Still”. Or “I am divine Love”. Simple, powerful words that seem to short circuit the mental chatter and induce a state of stillness and peace. My companion book The Mindfulness Book is full of such statements which can be used for specific purposes to raise Awareness.

The Benefit

What do you think? Is it time to spice up your Christmas Holidays with Christ Consciousness? I found that my Self is always right there, awaiting my turning my attention in its direction. Ready to meet me even before I know I am headed there. More aware of me than I am of myself. This is very comforting because it means anytime I turn in that direction the Universe, and its individualized spark, my Soul, is ready to help me be more awake, more aware, more alive, and anticipating what I need at the moment for my growth and evolution.

What do you think?  Give it a try?

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Spiritual Mastery of Year’s End

In the next few weeks, I will do a 3 part service on “Negotiating the End of 2021, Mystically”.  Part 1 focuses on Solstice as a great opportunity to go Within, meditate on your spiritual goals for next year, confer with your Soul, your Higher Self, and set a course for the New Year at the proper time.  The real beginning of the solar new year.

The series will cover:“The Solstice Opportunity”“Becoming Christ Conscious at Christmas”And “New Year’s Day, a Reboot”

December’s second half is jam-packed with human and spiritual energy. Most of us nearly burst at the seams with the fullness of that energy and its easy to go “unconscious” with the enormity of it:

Hopes and fears of all the yearsThe expectations and memories and leftovers of Christmas’ pastThe frantic nature of getting ready for feasts, gift-giving, parties, and football gamesThe frantic nature of going to feasts, gift-giving, parties, and football gamesThe loneliness if you are alone at this time and the loneliness if you are with tons of people

I’d like to offer a bit of a different perspective on the nature of this time of the year and how to “surf the wave” without getting pulled under.  By seeing the few days around Solstice as an opportunity to live this time with more awareness and purpose. As well as have more fun.

The Meaning of Solstice

Winter Solstice is our Planet’s New Year’s Day as the Earth reaches its shortest day of sunlight (at least in the Northern Hemisphere), and begins the gradual lengthening of daylight hours. To me, this makes more sense as a New Year’s Day because it aligns with the rhythm of our solar system rather than the somewhat arbitrary Julian calendar.

I’ve adopted it as my New Year’s Day as well. And it seems much more like a time of new beginnings, of making plans, humanly and spiritually.  For the next cycle around the Sun. A time for the Son to renew. To commit, not to losing weight but to growth and evolution, spiritually.  A#nd to use my Higher Consciousness Meditation process, as described in my #1 Amazon best-selling book, “The Meditation Book:  The Essential Meditation Book for Beginners to Find Peace, Reduce Stress, and Improve Mental 

A time to spend in quiet and meditation with my Self, my Soul and renew my vow to go Within and commune with my Higher Self as we reach that moment of astrological stillness before accelerating into the next cycle of birth, growth, maturity, and stillness. A time of transformation. A time to listen for your “still small voice” that will Thunder in the Silence if you allow it to.

Solstice Celebration

Several years ago, we went to a Solstice Celebration at the Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Fairfax, Ca, about an hour from where we live. One of the two leaders of the daylong retreat did a talk about personal purpose, followed by an exercise in which she asked us to consider the question “What are you letting go of?” in the upcoming year.

We spent, overall, several hours in meditation over the course of the day. “Resting, Opening, Allowing” was the mantra she offered us to consider during one meditation session. A perfect definition of practicing Presence—being present in each moment, moment by moment, while observing our breathing, in and out, in and out, in and out.

This offers the option of staying Present in the moment; observing not reacting (using a simple mindfulness meditation exercise). Allowing whatever arises out of the Universe to arise and not putting anything on top of that, not attaching any meaning to what arises.

A Little Astrology

The Ancient One’s recognized this time as the end of the descent into darkness and the beginning of light’s journey back toward fullness. At Stonehenge, at sunrise on Solstice Day, the sun shines through the upright stones onto the circle’s center stone and ceremonies were held for the community’s renewal.

Solstice is the astrological shift from expansive Sagittarius, where dreams are dreamed, into Capricorn where dreams begin to be concretized into three-dimensional reality for unfoldment during the next year.

Last year there was a major, major planetary alignment that some in the metaphysical community called the Launch of the Age of Aquarius. Symbolically represented by a once in 2000 years alignment of the two biggest planets in the solar system, Jupiter and Saturn, one behind the other viewed from Earth. At the very beginning of the Sign of Aquarius. Not the “dawning of the Age of Aquarius” which happened in the 60s, but the Launch of the Age of Aquarius.

I wrote at the time, “I think a tide of changes are coming in this country and in this World. I would like to think it’s a time of a change in consciousness. Rapid change, which is one of the hallmarks of Aquarius. Airy, thoughty, cultural changes.” I still think this is true in the long run as the Age of Aquarius buds and flowers. However, I also have to be mindful of the other forces at play in the heavens.  They say that the next 18 months following this Solstice will be accompanied a continuation of vocal warring of different societal points of view (south node in Scorpio) with the solution being the inward journey and care for the Earth (north node in Taurus).

12.21.15 Solstice Poem

Solstice inspired me to write this poem several years ago. In my poems. I take liberty with the genre in many ways including not necessarily rhyming or rhythming. I never know what’s going to unfold, until it already has. Images come, inspiration leaps, ideas flow and go onto the page if I’m lucky enough to have paper around.

I got a vision of the moments before I took my dive into this lifetime. And I realized that each one of us does this, in one way or another, just before taking the Spirit Dive into the womb and into 3d reality. It’s almost like a set of vows, except more sacred. Like a plan, except more filled full already. Like a vision except more real. Like a call to arms, except more full of intent.

This Time

This time I’m going to remember to be who I Am.

This time I’m going to fully fulfill my destiny.

This Time I’m going to clean up more messes than I make.

This time I’m going to recognize my Soul Group and honor them as fellow travelers, mighty companions.

This time I’m going to make contact with my Higher Consciousness and merge with IT

This time I will trust, and love, and be grateful.

This time I will honor Mother Earth and see Her well-being as being as important as mine.

The same with all of my brothers and sisters. I will see our Oneness.

This time I will escape the gravitational pull of 3-dimensional reality and my ego/mind and grow and evolve into my Spirit Mind and Heart.

This time I will learn to glow from the light within and light up the atmosphere around and me.

This time I will not let any limitations or circumstances be too big to beat me down and steal my Light.

This time I will develop my Sacred Senses to see, hear, feel, touch and taste differently

This time may be my last on the wheel of birth and earth. It’s possible.

This time the Eternal Being that I Am will flower forth and fulfill its Destiny

This time I will start playing tennis early instead of football.

This time I will not be so asleep that I won’t, early on, begin to wake up and unfold in Spirit.

This time I won’t be seduced by any thought-form of that keeps Grace from being my companion.

The time has come for this time. I’m taking full advantage of what I have come to know. Blessed be.

This time will be different. So help me All.

Holy be these vows.

And a Happy Solstice to you.

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How to Meditate for Anxiety

Are you feeling anxious?  Can you imagine for a moment regaining your equilibrium?  We’ll be talking about how to meditate for anxiety in this post and how that can be helpful.  Let’s face, these are stressful times.  A world pandemic.  Millions still out of work.  Increasing climate change problems.  In addition, many are experiencing personal stress caused by money concerns, job loss, relationship challenges, and having to be our child’s substitute teacher.  

Let’s take a look at anxiety and what we can do about it” a handful of ways to lesson turmoil and feel better as a result.

Meaning of Anxiety

According to Wikipedia anxiety is an emotion characterized by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil, often accompanied by stress. It includes subjectively yucky feelings of dread over anticipated events.  Anxiety is a feeling of unease and worry.  Often related to fear as a cause.  Fear of the unknown, fear of the past, concern for the future.

 Excessive amounts of anxiety may lead to bodily harm, and can increase the risk of strokes, heart disease, ulcers and mental illness such as depression.

Unfortunately, the latter is often the case and does do us harm, physically, mentally, and emotionally. The result is the psychological pain that Buddha spoke of when he said, “Life is suffering”. 

The Impact of Anxiety and Stress

The impact on our lives penetrates all aspects of our existence, as I chronicle in my book The Amazing Benefits of Meditation. Quoting Charles L. Raison, MD, clinical director of the Mind-Body Program at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, “It’s hard to think of an illness in which stress and mood don’t figure,” Raison is quoted as having said at WebMD.  “We know stress is a contributor to all the major modern killers: 

CancerChronic lower respiratory diseasesHeart diseaseDementiaStroke (cerebrovascular diseases)Intentional self-harm (suicide)”

According to author Hanna Braime, in her book, From Coping to Thriving , “Stress and anxiety wreak havoc with our immune system, leaving us susceptible to all kinds of nasties—particularly during the winter.  Developing a regular meditation practice reduces the amount of stress-related chemicals in our body, and also leaves us less likely to turn to unhealthy coping strategies to deal with the stress.” 

The Problem We Face 

Unfortunately, most of us are not very skilled in dealing with stress.   Humans have always had to deal with stress going back to when we lived in caves and didn’t have many defenses other than our problem-solving skills.  Stress was constant and became “hard wired” into our primitive brains.  We became very good at surviving to stay alive. 

Even now, though we are the dominant species on the planet, we still frequently act out of fear of some real or imagined circumstance, often caused by our fellow humans.  Few of us are trained when we are growing up in stress management.  Certainly not by our parents, teachers, friends, acquaintances or workplaces (although a few forward looking companies like Google have begun to train employees to help their performance and well-being). 

This where meditation can help.  Practiced for many centuries as prayer in the West and sit-down or mindfulness exercises in the East, meditation is increasingly being taught in schools, yoga and meditation centers, schools, and in some businesses. 

Tool Number 1—Sit Down Meditation

Dr. Raison, mentioned above, led a study that indicated that meditation improves both physical and emotional responses to stress.  In the study, people who meditated regularly for six weeks showed less activation of their immune systems and less emotional distress when they were put in a stressful situation. Physiologically, it appears that one of the reasons for the improvement in these areas is that meditation “….reduces cortisol (the body’s natural stress hormone) levels in the body”, which leads to lower levels of stress and higher levels of a sense of well-being.   

The substantial increase in the use of anti-anxiety medication in recent years is proof of the impact of stress on the U.S. population and the turning to potentially harmful drugs  to cope with this “epidemic” caused by modern lifestyles.  An antidote is offered by Stanford University researcher Emma Seppälä,  who wrote that, “Meditation allows people to take charge of their own nervous system and emotions…. Studies have shown improved ability to [permanently] regulate emotions in the brain.” 

This type of meditation, usually practiced sitting in a chair, or on a meditation cushion, can be done almost anywhere, at any time.  In its simplest form, sit-down meditation is done by observing the breath as it comes in and goes out for and short or extended period of time. One technique involves breathing in for 5 seconds and out for 10.  This tells the brain that we are “safe”.

This technique is how we meditate for anxiety and it may sound easy, but it is not.  Why?  Because the human mind is a chatterbox, constantly abuzz and commenting on everything we experience, and buzzes loudest when things get quiet.  As a result, most meditation trainings concentrate on mind training as a central focus of their meditation process. 

An alternative is a new process called Higher Consciousness Meditation.  It’s a  simple, easy, quick and effective method I have developed (see my book The Meditation Book), that is suitable for beginners and experts..  It focuses, instead, on a technique that focuses on direct Soul Contact, bypassing and transcending the mind.  Meditation 2.0, if you will.

 Tool 2–Mindfulness Techniques

 A companion practice to sit-down meditation, is the practice of mindfulness meditation, which can be done in as little as 6 seconds, as I describe in my newest book, The Mindfulness Book.  Mindfulness can be done as easily as taking a deep breath, saying “Peace, Be Still”, and pausing to feel the effects of the exercise, often a lifting of the spirits and a relaxation into the moment. I use both, a sit-down session in the morning and in the evening, and mindfulness techniques which I’ve designed for almost every situation, as brief pauses throughout the day. 

John Cabot Zin, former researcher at the University of Massachusetts, is an expert on mindfulness meditation’s impact and has through the scientific method, has lead the understanding and use of mindfulness meditation.   For years, he and his colleagues, pushed out the boundaries of the field into new discoveries and validations of the efficacy of mindfulness. 

 While their steps seem slow and incremental, at times, they have laid the foundation for what I think is a transformation in the way we as humans experience our lives.  A transformation that is evolutionary and will allow us to grow into our new selves as people and as a species.

 This latter point was brought home in a report that was highlighted on an episode of the CBS Evening News.  CBS News confirmed what we have all heard.  Religious services continue to be attended less and less by the U.S. population.   More and more people are saying “I’m Spiritual, not religious”.

 The most interesting thing that was said in this piece is that 5 years ago about 53% of adults in this country said that they experienced peace and well-being at least once per month and that today the figure is 60%.  Largely because of some form of meditation practice.  I was amazed.  I would have thought the percentage to be closer to 20 than 60.  Lots of folks are having at least a glimpse into what I like to call Five- Dimensional Reality, that Place that we all know, where peace and well-being reside.  Where the experience of peace and well-being is a common occurrence.

Why Meditation Works 

The beauty of meditation is that it can decrease the severity and the frequency of stress, and the resulting feeling of internal discord that accompanies stressful situations, large and small.   Why is this?  Here are some of my non-scientific thoughts:

For some period of time, however brief a time of meditation we might undertake, the body/mind/personality disconnects from the three-dimensional reality that is our human lives.This pause allows us to return to our natural state of peace and well-being before returning to the stress inducing world each of us lives in.A mere 6 minutes, twice a day, as outlined in my Higher Consciousness Meditation process, is a sufficiently long enough period of meditation to successfully disconnect and to cultivate the experience of peace and well-being. The HCM process is a fabulous way to begin your day in the right frame of mind before the anxiety of getting out of the door and off to work or before traffic madness takes over.Meditation is a coping mechanism, pure and simple. It is a way to greatly help combat the incidence of stress and its effects. Conclusion

 Meditation can help us evolve as a species, and perhaps faster than any of us are aware.  Evolving into a new species increasingly comfortable with the higher vibrational experiences of love, peace, joy, happiness and the like that meditation can foster. More and more people are learning and using meditation techniques.  Through meditation there may be hope for us as a species  after all, with these two tools for relaxing in a meaningful way and learning to live with a degree of inner richness and  mastery.

What do you think?  Does these ideas resonate?  What’s your meditation practice like?  Any concerns?  Comment below.

 

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What Does Meditation Mean?

Meditation fundamentally means pulling back from the world a bit and going inside to gain a larger perspective on our world.  To disconnect a bit from the ego/mind part of our brains which is constantly chattering on about what’s going on in front of us and what the goings on mean.  Settling into the present moment, out of time in a sense, where the past and the future are less concerning. 

Our Master Teachers have all pointed to going “within” as the way to find a higher road of life experience and mastery.  Buddha would say it is a way to transcend the mental suffering we all have over the meaning of this frantic world we live in.  

Jesus said, don’t look for meaning over here or over there for“The Kingdom of Heaven (Enlightenment) is within you”.   Suggesting that to find the experience of the Divine, Higher Consciousness, we must go where that Divine is easily accessed–inside of us where that experience is most available.  Within. 

Meditation Means a Different Way to Look at the World

For example, for eons of time God has been thought of as being “out there” somewhere.  A being who needed to placated in some fashion in order that we be rewarded.to find favor.  In fact, no such God exists.  Instead, to find God, which I like to call The ALL, to experience Omnipresence, Oneness, the seeking must be where IT can be found and experienced.  Within.  

What better way to have this experience than meditation.  And, I would like to suggest, a meditation process that is designed specifically to go straight to the the experience of the Presence of your Soul or Pure Awareness.  In my cornerstone book, The Meditation Book, I offer such a process.

Many contemporary meditation practices focus on trying to wrestle the mind into submission and miss out on the Experience of Heaven altogether unless the practitioner is able to reach a place few reach—Enlightenment.  It ‘s not that hard.  Finding the Within place is such an easy, natural place, partially because it is the real essence of we are, just waiting to be discovered through mediation.  This is the answer to “What does meditation mean?”, it means a path to Self awareness.

 What’s to be Found “Within” 

It’s by going Within and staying Within for a while that Heaven can be reached.  An even more challenging endeavor is to try and maintain the experience of Heaven, or return to that experience while engaging in day to day life.  To maintain this State of Mind, this Christ Consciousness, while driving my car, brushing my teeth, or dealing with a cranky child is hard. 

However,  I have found that by going Within frequently throughout the day my ability to take a Soul dive is strengthening.  It’s like lifting weights, the more you do it the stronger you get.  Over time I have learned to reserve enough of my State of Mind in almost any situation that I don’t get quite so caught up in the lure  of this very compelling outer world we live in.  

The second step, therefore, is to not only to go Within, and to stay Within.  Be there longer.  Grow in the ability to stay There for longer periods of time.  To luxuriate in the Now.  To have being there become more and more become the “new normal”.  This is what I’m experiencing these days, longer and longer periods of time in Illumination.  It also helps me cope with life’s challenges from a calmer, more secure, more creative place.

And Then There’s Another Version of “Go Within, Stay Within”  

This mindfulness “saying” or exercise “Go Within, Stay Within” implies that permanent staying is possible.  Inevitable, perhaps, once we truly have out feet securely on the Path.  The greatest number of such I accounts that I have heard of occur in the writings and stories passed down from Indian chroniclers of such things.  The Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramahansa (a title meaning “one who has attained the highest spiritual realization”) Yogananda, is full ofaccounts of Hindu spiritual masters finally reaching the State of Mind where permanent Awareness, Christ Consciousness was achieved. (This is the highest spiritual achievement a human can reach).  

Tantalizing.  I can only take it a day at a time this Enlightenment unfolding.  We shall see.  Not there yet. 

A Personal Story–Trying to Go Within and Stay Within in New Orleans, 2016

Here’s what I wrote at four years ago about Go Within, Stay Within in New Orleans to illustrate the concept in a personal way. 

“Reflecting on the past 5 days, I witnessed the many distractions that come the way of humans living and visiting ‘The Big Easy’.  My wife’s from New Orleans.  We were there for the wedding wife’s niece, also from New Orleans.   

The best that money could produce.  My favorite part was the “second line” march/dance from the Cabildo, where the Louisiana Purchase was signed, to Brennan’s restaurant, one of the best in the world.  (“Second line” being the New Orleans term for the return from the cemetery to the accompaniment of a rollicking jazz band).  White handkerchiefs were waved by the wedding party, traffic stopped, the crowd on Bourbon Street took pictures, and a dazzling time was had by all. 

We saw two other parades go by where we were staying near the French Quarter,  meandered through Halloween revelers on Saturday, were aware of the Voodoo Fest happening close by at City Park, glimpsed Tulane, the Saints, and bare breasts through barroom windows everywhere.  And more drunk people in a concentrated few blocks than I had seen in the rest of my lifetime put together. 

The phrase “Go Within, Stay Within” as a mindfulness meditation technique came to me again only days before we left for the wedding.  It is hard enough to grok and employ such a mantra in ordinary daily life.  In New Orleans, it is particularly difficult. 

The distractions were many:  the symbols of  death and evil spirits, the dancing of the living on the way back from burying the dead, life and the continuation of the species through pledged bonding, children, grandchildren, clans from different parts of the county coming together, love, sex, New Orleans jazz, gladiators, Tigers and Saints, Catholics, Protestants, Voodoo Queens, priests, hobgoblins, spidermen, the Old South, the new South, a revived port city, rivers of alcohol in all directions, and more.  A feist for all senses, and the imagination. 

I Was Determined 

I was determined to “Go Within, Stay Within” to the best of my ability.  Doing so paid off, though I would have to admit that the patterns was more like “Go Within, Stay Within” for a few minutes, “Go Within, Stay Within” for an hour or so, meditate despite the crowd of rowdies going by, “Go Within” to  view the passing parade of human activity with Higher Consciousness eyes.  Then catching myself going “unconsciousness” and sinking into an ego/mind point of view, getting dazzled by the glitter and the glitz. 

The interesting thing about taking a mindfulness phrase like “Go Within, Stay Within” and work with it is that it helps to define the filter through which to view and digest life’s details on the fly.  With continuous stimulation coming at me, seemingly from all quarters and on all channels, reminding myself of my intention was helpful.  When I would go down, the remembrance of and the repeating of the phrase buoyed me up.  The more buoyed up I became the better I was at staying centered.  The more centered I became the less mentally judgmental I was and the more of an observer I became. 

Nothing threw me off for too long.  Keeping my discipline of yoga, meditation, and going for a daily run helped tremendously.  Temptations to run off down rabbit holes became sources of giggling at myself and where my thoughts go darting off to sometimes.  My practice helped me stay focused on the experience I wanted to have, Staying Within, rather than being at the dictates of circumstances and the lure of the 3-dimensional world.  

You know, it was more fun this way.  Seeing the illumination of the scene, enjoying the Higher Selves of those around me, allowing the wonderful sights and sounds to ramp up my vibratory rate, taking in the buzz of the City, and, as much as anything enjoying being surrounded by music.  Music permeates New Orleans, and “NO” has its own particular type of music like no other.  Soul jazz bop. With Cajun thrown in.  Wonderful weekend. 

“Go Within, Stay Within” Applies to Today More Than Ever 

In these of pandemic an unrest, using sit-down and mindfulness meditation practices are needed more than ever.  These days meditation means more than ever.  It is a refuge.  A place to relax and rejuvenate.  A tonic for a world moving so fast.  For me the grass will still need to be cut, the dishwasher will still need to be emptied, the dog walked, and my Book 3, The Mindfulness Book  and Book 6, Homage to Spirit,  still need marketing attention.  Book 4 and 5 won’t write themselves. And this world is in the midst of a major transformation that that require me to stay calm.

Conclusion 

“What does meditation mean?” therefore, is “many things”.  Things of the Spirit–love, joy, peace, well being.  And learning to negotiate the world with Grace.

 

 What do you think?  How do you like “Go Within, Stay Within” as a mindfulness exercise?  Are you interested in trying it out?  What’s your favorite mindfulness exercise?  Leave your comments below.  

 

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How Does Meditation Help?

Buddha said that “life is suffering”.   And that one significant antidote to suffering is meditation.  We’ll explore both of these ideas in today’s post to discover “How Does Meditation Help?”   Buddha was acknowledging a very core fact about human existence.   Life on planet Earth involves suffering by its very nature.  This is a tough planet to be born onto.  Human existence seems to be an endless struggle for survival and feels like we are bound to a wheel of birth and death.   With no way to escape.  So we suffer, mentally, emotionally and physically.   

We don’t know that there are other options besides being a human with wants, fears, worries about the past and the future, and with many concerns that are related to the care and feeding of the body we inhabit, and centered on our ego’s need to be in charge.  This in order to make sure we survive the fierce forces that seem to be at play.

We don’t know that freedom is just a breath away.   

One Major Cause of Suffering is Wanting 

Being trapped inside of a very limited sphere, a very limited personal universe, is an experience we are all very familiar with.  An experience that is the only one we know.  In this limited, personal universe, isolated from the rest of the world, we want.  We want.  And want.  And want some more. 

Whatever our eyes light upon, we want.   I want this.  I don’t want that.  I want this thing.  I want that experience.  I don’t want that.  I want to be happier, more fulfilled if I had……  But when achieved, for  a moment, this wanting, in the next moment it changes.  And new wants emerge, vibrate, to capture notice, and to want to possess. Things necessary for our survival, things perceived as being necessary for our survival, and things that for whatever strange we’ve “gotta have” or if not had, cause regret, a sense of loss, a momentary sigh.  

The Problem–Focusing on What’s Outside 

This wanting is a focusing on the outside.  Even if those things wanted are more “good thoughts’, or good “stuff”.  They tend to be things, often as not, that are outside.  Instead of within where our Selves reside.  

What satisfies the wanting?  Meditation for one, according to Buddha’s Fourfold Path, and which I agree is true according to my personal experience.  Not because it satisfies the wanting, per se, but because the wanting disappears.  For a moment, and then for more, in the Light of Reality. 

Our hunger is satisfied by The All.  By relationship to The ALL.  By an experience of the ALL.  At the moment of experience of the omnipresence of The ALL there is nothing to want.  Not even The ALL.  Because you and The ALL are one.  There is nothing more than That.  In the est training Werner Erhard used to say that “Life is about something being more important that something else (check the quote)”.  When breathing the One, in and out.  When being breathed by the One, in and out, the “something more important” evaporates away in the Light. 

And suffering stops.   If only for a moment.  A Sacred Moment. The spell is broken.  A spring is sprung from which there is no turning back.

Meditation Helps

I’m glad I don’t suffer over it all so much anymore.  My longer view, and my ongoing meditative experience, results in the realization that there is nothing that needs to be suffered over, because everything is all going to turn out.  Not in a way I could ever have imagined, but it does turn out. Some how, some way.  Without trying to impose my desires on the system.  My job, then, becomes about staying centered–as much in a state of awareness and peacefulness as I possibly can be.  This is the most I can do.

Meditation helps.  I keep coming back and back to my higher consciousness.  My Awareness of Presence.  Out of the confluence of forces happening in Blair World.  The world I inhabit.  The world I create.  And the world that creates me. 

Relax

Hey, we might as well relax.  And enjoy the ride.  And be amazed at the story that is getting told.  Day by day.  A reality show.  Like the Kardashian reality show.  What are they going to do in the next episode?  Who knows?  Wait and see.  Participate as a co-creator with eyeballs to lend to the scene.  And participate in my own reality show.  (Glad I don’t have the attention of the world trained on me 24/7.  That has to be exhausting.)

In fact, what I have come to realize, if I relax, if I meditate and make contact with my Higher Consciousness, which all of our Master Teachers say lies within, I will come in contact with Spirit.  The Spirit that fills the Universe with light and life. Which also constitutes my personal individual Soul, has my best interest at heart if I will look to it for freedom and the things I need to grow and evolve.

Recognize the Patterns

The trick to ride the wave of the unfolding Universe, is to recognize the pattern in the wave building up, wave crashing, wave subsiding, wave building back up again.  It helps to meditate on the cycles, the coming and going of the waves in the ocean.  And to not get taken over by the details of the events. 

Observe the waves with great interest.  And keep the vibration of my energy elevated so that I can be of some use to the whole.  While living my best version of a human life from the most peaceful and impeccable place I can come from.  For myself and for the Universe.

Getting and staying peaceful helps all of that.  It calms the mind down.  It engages the personal and collective Spirit.  It enables us to choose light rather than darkness. Spirit awakens and flows.  The hot mess begins to cool.  The fevered temperature of the country, and its leadership, could begin to subside. 

Your Real Guide is not Your Brain 

Your Soul is intended, among other things, to be our Guide in this lifetime.  It is its job to be your companion, your confidante, that which “goes before you to make the crooked places straight.”  And not to be guided by our ego mind.

Ego minds’ job is not to lead, it’s to follow, to follow the lead of your Consciousness in conjunction with your Soul.The ego mind thinks its job is to keep you safe, and it has attempted to do so by using fear to generate solutions to problems that don’t work very well. Because that’s not its job.  Not knowing any better, however, that’s the job we’ve given it, and this is the crux of the suffering that Buddha said we are all party to.  Insanity, defined as doing the same thing over and over again, getting poor results and continuing to do that which doesn’t work.  We do this out of ignorance, ignorance that doesn’t allow us to see the insanity, until it is pointed out to us.  So, I’m pointing it out, for myself as well as you.  I’ve worked with this now for a while, and I still forget, and sometimes get caught up in my ego mind’s dead end.   Only now I recognize the pattern and know how to transcend it.  The more often I do this transcendence through meditation, the more I remember and the less becomes the hold that ignorance and fear have on me.It’s your Soul that will keep you safe, and secure and functioning and peaceful. That’s its job.  That and being the conduit through which Spirit can come into your 3d life and energize it to allow you to shift into a 5D Life. And outpicture a Life filled existence. As you shift your awareness and your allegiance over to Soul you become a new person. You are reborn, in effect, as the Eternal being that you are.  A conscious shift allows the ego mind to go back to doing its job not the impossible one you gave it of keeping you safe.  Your priorities click into place and every part of you begins to hit on all cylinders, each system  doing  what it is supposed to do to all you to have the expansive experience you were meant to have on this planet, not the contracted, fearful one we inherited by default.Conclusion.  The Pendulum Swings

Those who know and practice meditation can ride the wave and not get sucked under.  I can just let the pendulum of light and dark swing back and forth. When I say this to myself from a place of mindfulness, I can also remind myself to “Peace, be still”.  And becoming so myself adds a drop of peace to the pond of outcome.  For me, for us, and for the Universe.

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