Blair Abee's Blog, page 5

Meditation Matters: New Year’s Resolutions? No, New Year’s Vibrations

 This blog is being posted a few days after New Year’s Day, 2021, but the ideas are still relevant.  Lots of people make New Year’s resolutions.  Resolutions to lose weight, to exercise more, to meditate every day.  Whatever.  With every intention of keeping them.  Or least hoping to keep them.  Often these resolutions are not kept and disappointment in one’s self occurs.  

I’m not a fan of New Year’s resolutions.  I like New Year’s vibrations better. That is, I like focusing on my vibrational state around New Year’s because I know that the state of consciousness, I am in at this time of year has some influence on the type of year it will be.  Let’s explore this idea. 

We Create Our Own Reality 

You’ve probably heard the phrase, “We create our own reality”.  This concept can be a little hard to accept looking back at some of our difficult times. Nevertheless, I have come to accept that it’s mostly true if, in examining difficult times, I tell the truth about how I might have had something to do with the outcomes I experienced.  The further back I go the less “bright” I was, and the more likely I was to create trouble “on accident”, as my friends used to say. 

These days I am more convinced than ever that I create my own reality, and that what I do today is setting the stage for tomorrow and the next day and the next.  That I actually attract to myself the good and the bad of my life.     The Law of Attraction says that “like attracts like” and also “like begets like”.  Saying, in effect, that on the whole /on the average our thoughts, beliefs, subconscious urges, ego characteristics, choices made today, and resulting vibratory rates generated, become the substance of our tomorrows.  Like not only attracts like, but “like begets like”—but causes and creates. It makes a lot of sense, then for me at all times, especially around New Year’s, to pay attention to my vibratory rate to attract the best life I possibly can. 

 Conventional Wisdom

There are those that say that “rocks are hard, and water is wet”, and “things are they are the way they are” and that we live in random Universe where anything can happen.  I think anything can happen, but not randomly.  Instead, because we unfolded them that way.  If we want to have an effect, then, on this dynamic soup that is our lives, if we want something more, better, of higher quality in our future, the time to influence that is today.  To change or upgrade whatever thoughts, beliefs, urges, characteristics, and choices requires alterations in our everyday consciousness to have different outcomes.  Not an easy thing to do was we all know.  Upgrading a belief or some “faulty wiring” in our thinking requires some system or process that will work. 

 An Alternative

I advocate for a process that changes our state of mind.  When that state changes other changes will occur, sometimes automatically.  When I realized that my tennis improved when I was able to stay in a neutral state of mind, to be in the moment and not worry about winning or losing, I was able to play better.  From a neutral state my instincts could take over and I could just “let the body hit the ball”, to use the analogy that Tim Gallwey offers in The Inner Game of Tennis.  

Meditation is the best process of this type I can think of.  It allows its practitioners to get to at least a neutral state and to let the natural instincts of our Higher Consciousness take over and let Spirit flow instead of fear.  When this happens, we achieve a higher state of vibration and the Law of Vibration sets in to cause the Law of Attraction to work.

My New Meditation System 

Higher Consciousness Meditation, HCM, the “sit-down” meditation system I developed about 4 years ago, is specifically designed to do just this—to raise my everyday vibration day by day and to set myself on an ever-increasing trajectory such that my sustained vibration is higher next year than my vibration now.  HCM bypasses mind training and goes directly to Soul contact.  Soul contact and the resulting Elevated Awareness that is created is fertile ground good people, things, and circumstances to occur.  My cornerstone book, The Meditation Book, lays out in great detail how HCM to do the meditation practice and how it works to create a better life. 

HCM can be done once or twice a day.  Between morning and evening HCM session, I also employ at least one “mindfulness meditation” exercise to keep the momentum from the morning moving in the right direction.  My Six Second Mindfulness Meditation book offers dozens of such exercises that can be used under specific daily circumstances—when in traffic or before delivering a speech, for example.  “Peace Be Still” or “Illuminate, Elevate” are ones that can be used at almost any time. 

Conclusion 

What’s needed in those few days around New Year’s, when people are talking about resolutions and we are tempted to make some, is to relax and meditate a bit and to raise our consciousness to set the tone for the New Year.  I find it’s better to ease myself into an upgraded state of Awareness which allows for the elevated version of myself to come forth than to try to muscle a New Year’s resolution into existence.  There’s still time to get yourself off on the right foot buy undertaking some of these methods.  They will positively influence the rest of your life. 

 

 What do you think?  How do you like this approach to  beginning a New Year?  Are you interested in trying it out?   Leave your comments below.  

 

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Meditation Matters: Bad Things, Good People. What to Do?

Sometimes bad things happen to good people.  My wife and I consider ourselves to be good people and last week we had a fire in our kitchen which will take 4 months to fix.  And we will be living in a hotel or rented house while the work is being done.

The questions that people of all stripes ask in such situations is “Why Me?” or the questions that we asked–“What’s this all about?”, and “What did  we do to create this?”.  The first is more of a question that comes from victim mentality and the second two from a perspective of taking responsibility and attempting to understand what forces might have been at play that resulted in the “bad thing”.  

This post will examine the issues of “why” and “what to do?” when there is an undesirable something that happens in life. 

“Why?”  Just Because 

Let’s examine the “why” of it first.  And let’s recognize that all the questions above assume that there is some cause and effect in this world.  I submit that there are at four answers to this question.  The first answer is “just because”, not a really satisfying answer.  This answer assumes that we live in a somewhat random Universe and that there is not a really good answer.  Things just happen, especially those seemingly out of the blue sometimes. 

This is similar, in an odd way, to the answer, “God acts in mysterious ways”.   Which assumes that there is a God that is involved in our world and in our lives, but it’s difficult to understand why God might punish us—a mystery.  (Even though we are all imperfect and are always deserving of such punishment).  Again, a dissatisfying answer, because “good” people should be rewarded, not punished. 

“Why?”  Karma 

Though the word “karma” comes from the Far East and is often most strongly associated with religions in India, it as a word now known worldwide.    Wikipedia defines it as “Good intent and good deeds contribute to good karma and happier rebirths, while bad intent and bad deeds contribute to bad karma and bad rebirths.”  Good actions have good outcomes and bad actions have bad outcomes. 

But this doesn’t explain why bad things happen to good people, unless you include the notion that at some time in a previous life, we were bad people who did bad things.  And those bad things have appeared in this lifetime because they were not addressed in the previous lifetime, resulting in bad circumstances in this lifetime that to pay for the karmic debt accumulated in an earlier time. 

“Why?”  Like Attracts Like 

Similar to the notion of karma is the what’s called the “law of attraction” which suggests that “like attracts like”.  Good things happen to good people, bad things to bad people.  But again, the question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” must be addressed. 

 The answer here tends to be one that is psychological and metaphysical in nature.  As Jung suggests, we all have a “shadow” side to us—areas of darkness that we are blind to that we don’t necessarily want to acknowledge or do anything about.  This sets up actively hidden or unconsciously suppressed parts of ourselves which have a distinct vibration and emerge at some of the most inconvenient times in the most inconvenient ways.  Ways that match up with the vibration of our shadow sides and emerge for examination and perhaps healing. 

“Why?” To Balance Out Some Energy 

Finally, there’s the idea that my Higher Consciousness, my Soul, presented me with when I asked while in a meditative state.  I have a remarkably close relationship with my “HiC” as I affectionately call it in which we converse about many things.  “What is this fire business about, HiC?” I asked.  HiC replied, “The fire was an activity caused by the need for a rebalancing of energy in the Universe.  And you and Lynne were chosen because you could handle the task given to you and bring about the rebalance.” 

This intrigued me, because it was the only explanation that wasn’t related to some negative trait or “side” of me.  In fact, it was suggested that because we are good people, and people often living from our Higher Consciousness, that we were some of the ones (but not the only ones) who could do the healing work necessary to rectify the energy imbalance. 

This energy imbalance has been occurring for some time in the history of humanity and is coming to an end at this particular time.  This particular time could be called “The Launching of the Age of Aquarius” (not the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius that happened in the 1960s) but the Launching of the Age of Aquarius.  

It is symbolized by the movement of the two largest planets in the Solar System, Jupiter and Saturn, into Aquarius for the first time in two thousand years and lining up in a perfect conjunction of the planets (Saturn is exactly behind Jupiter from the point of view of Earth, on Winter Solstice Day.  A rare occurrence and a very energized time of Transformation.  

This will not be an easy time, as recent events of 2020 easily testify to, but it will be the beginning of a new Age.  And Age in which human beings will begin to grow into our next evolutionary stage—the stage of Eternal Beings.  A time of Spirit occupying human bodies in a conscious way rather than in hidden, unconscious ways.   

Meditation is the Answer to All “Whys” 

In each instance meditation is one of the ways that the situation that exists can be rectified, healed, improved.  Let’s take a look. 

If you are someone who thinks we live in a random universe and nothing means anything. Or if you believe that there is a God personality that punishes some and rewards others; healing is needed.  Meditation can open you up to see that the Universe is much more complex and interconnected rather than random and disconnected.
If you are someone who thinks that bad things happen because of bad karma, you are in luck. Meditation, especially my system called Higher Consciousness Meditation (HCM), is one of the answers.  Diligently practiced over a relatively short period of time, HCM will begin to life you up into your Higher Consciousness, where karma is melted away and diminishes.
If you like the notion of personal vibratory rates and the shadow side of yourself, HCM will, over a short period of time, cause your normal vibratory rate to elevate and cause you to attract higher vibratory people, places, and circumstances. Improving your state of mind and your state of circumstance
If you come to realize that a “bad thing” might have a higher purpose that can cause healing for yourself and your world, meditation can help here as well. Healing is one of the characteristics of a person of Higher Consciousness (along with love, joy, peace, compassion, and gratefulness).  Healing for yourself, your community and your world. 

Conclusion:  The Unfolding 

As I write this our insurance company has put us up in an extended stay hotel until they can rent and furnish a house for us to live in for the four months it will take to repair our home.  Better than ever.  We are taking everything a day at a time.  We have a little more time to meditate.  To practice mindful breathing techniques.  To vibe up.  To do the healing work on ourselves and our World.  To experience the launch and unfolding of the transformation that seems to be under way.  

We can handle it.  And enjoy the process.

 

 

 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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Meditation Matters: Launch of Age of Aquarius, Time of Change in Consciousness

We used to sing back in the Sixties about the Age of Aquarius.  In fact, it was an anthem for my generation.  Especially that part of my generation that became known as hippies.  The thought, the idea, the cultural phenomenon of change, rapid change, happening at another time of adversity—racial strife, the Vietnam way, feminism, etc.  Rapid change occurred for a period of about 10-12 years but then became absorbed into the culture.  But many hippies would never be the same. 

Monday could be 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, on the Winter Solstice (the real new year’s day for those who prefer such things as I do).  

Changes Are Coming 

I think a tide of changes are coming in this country and in this World.  I would like to think it’s a change in consciousness.  Rapid change, which is one of the hallmarks of Aquarius.  Airy, thoughty, culture changers, is already in the works.  The planets support the change with the dance they are doing. 

Last night, before the alter of my word processor, I came to see the human condition from a different perspective than previously.  I have been well aware for several years the depths of the “pain” of human existence, and the need for humanity to spiritually evolve from human beings into the Eternal Beings that we are and will be, consciously, at some point in the future. 

Today, as I spoke with my wife Lynne, I began to see how deep the human wound is and how difficult the road has been.  We have been evolving from individual dysfunctionality to group dysfunctionality to human species dysfunctionality, as we move in the direction of our destiny as beings of higher functioning, Higher Consciousness. 

Our Beginnings 

In the beginning, at the dawn of homo sapiens, we were a very vulnerable species.  Often at war with our competitive species, the Neanderthal, and vulnerable to all of the four-legged predators that wanted to consume our succulent flesh.  And in danger from tribes of homo sapiens that we were not a part of.  Life was dangerous.  Few of us lived beyond twenty years (35 years old was thought to be ancient).  We were often in fear, driven by adrenaline to try and survive.  This most fundamental of drives generated the body, mind, personality construct of today’s humans, who often resort to barbaric behavior that would cause even early humanoids to flush and blush. 

As we evolved, we gathered together in larger and larger groups for increased survival capability.  Most recently we gathered together as nation/states.  Continuing to be intent on survival–national survival, “tribal” survival within nations based on often overlapping ethnic, religious, and economic groupings. Nation groups managing to protect ourselves, more or less successfully, from each other. 

Cave Clans to Nation States 

Out of the nation state model of relative safety and increasing economic prosperity, individual freedom and self-determination emerged as a potential human right.  Though there many examples of pockets of people where this experiment turned out badly, the middle class in most nations today lives better than kings did less than 500 years ago. 

Despite all of our progress, however, nearly every human on planet earth lives with “pain” of some sort—mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual.   Still driven, most of the time, by adrenaline and the survival/procreative imperative.  Sad but true.  And in our drive to survive we have put ourselves at risk of species survival again with our treatment of our Planet Earth, the only home that most of us, and our grandchildren, will ever know. 

We clearly have a dilemma.  Our drive to survive and our evolution as a species has reached a point where something has to give.  Where our “pain” and our devolution into regrouping into warring tribes within nations, within the context of warring of nations against each other with annihilation weapons and cyber meltdowns, is putting us into hyper survival mode.  

Evolve or Bust 

Something’s got to change.  We must evolve or go the way of the dinosaurs.  Evolve from human beings into the Eternal Beings that we have always been but have not had the maturity to recognize.  The Information Age must evolve into the Spirit Age or devolve back to the Stone Age.  Fear and anger must give way to love and compassion.   Cooperation and the well-being of all humans and animals must replace competition and planetary habitation destruction.  

There aren’t many alternatives.   Merging with robots with the ability to withstand 150-degree temperatures.  Dystopian villages with the few traumatized survivors able to adapt to terrible weather.  Small underground or undersea cities.  Or being dispersed when we reincarnate throughout the Milky Way Galaxy on habitable but alien planets in bodies and cultures that may be vastly different from our current ones.   Migrating to Mars will do us no good.  The dysfunctional “DNA” of the human being will go with us to an infinitely more inhospitable world.  Fear and anger will be in the spacesuits in which we try to survive on a planet with almost no oxygen and -100-degree nighttime temperatures. 

The Path That Must Be Taken 

The path that must be taken would begin (as it has with a small percentage of humans) with individual healing and illumination becoming small group healing and illumination, followed by larger group healing and illumination evolving into nation/state healing and illumination and finally, into Planetary healing and illumination.   And quickly.  We don’t have much time, evolutionarily. Maybe a few hundred years, at most.   It’s as if we have to evolve by jumping out of the water onto dry land, fully formed and ready to take on our challenges.   

We must wake up.  Becoming “woke” is not nearly enough, although it is a good first step for the majority of the population.  Fortunately, we have models of humans who have made this transition before—our Master Teachers.  Men and women who became the leaders of our major religions.  People who became illumined 5th Dimensional beings in their lifetimes, able transcend their limited human consciousness and share their findings with the rest of us.    

How?  Now That’s the $24,000 Question.  Five Avenues 

Meditation, individually and in groups. Ideally, Higher Consciousness Meditation, the Tool for Transformation I developed, which is specifically designed for a person to get in touch with her/his own Christ Consciousness.  This guided meditation process is described in detail in The Meditation Book I wrote last year. 
Service to others, if done well, can lead to transcendence. I once asked a monk if he is able to see the “Buddha Mind” in the homeless people in the Tenderloin of San Francisco.  He said “no”.    That was the gift that Mother Theresa had.  The ability to see the Christ in the face of those she helped to live and die in the slums of Calcutta.  Seeing the Higher Consciousness in others indicates a Higher Consciousness able to see that.  Service can be a vehicle.
Seeing the Higher Consciousness in our children. We all have that ability because we are that–Eternal Beings from the time we dive into the body we elect to inhabit on Planet Earth for a time.  This is most obvious to the blessed mothers and fathers who can “see”, especially before the age of 5 when the ego mind, the human mind begins to develop and take over.  But this ability, this “sense”, must be cultivated.  Remembered in the hectic day to day of trying to manage to shepherd a child toward adulthood.
An attitude of appreciation. The ability to see Spirit in all things and have gratitude for them.  Another skill that has to be cultivated, or for the fortunate, that just “flashes” upon us in a moment of Amazing Grace.  That fortunate one, however, has to be open-hearted enough for the flash to occur.  It’s not for the self-absorbed and the spiritually blind.    Seeing with Sacred Eyes is a prerequisite.  Being grateful for the smallest of things, an experienced experience.    
Some music can elevate everyday consciousness into Higher Consciousness.  Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony does it for me.  It is said he could hear the music of the spheres and was able to capture and transcribe it onto sheet music.  Toward the end of his life when he became deaf, he did not need to be able to hear, with physical ears.  He could hear with his “inner” ear.  And we can too, just by listening and grabbing hold of his perception of what the Universe sounds like.  An Ode to Joy.

Conclusion 

These are some avenues that are accessible to the one so inclined to explore.  They are ways out of the madness of daily life.  Ways to transcend the suffering of endless mind chatter.  Ways to find an island of Peace in the midst of the cacophony of the world.  Ways to “wake up”.  Skills to help the species survive the next 200 years.  Our collective lives depend on it.  Our individual lives beg for it.

 

 What do you think?  Are you ready for some big changes?  Did you feel the buzz of energy on Monday morning, the excitement?  Leave your comments below.  

 

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Spiritual Poetry: World Unfolding

Every once in a while I get an urge to write a bit of poetry.  Sometimes inspired by a conversation my wife and I have.  This is one of those.  The phrases in yellow are my favorite. 

We were reasoning.
“Ride the wave”, she said.
“Surf the wave,” I said.
Full moon pulsing,
Country suffering.
Trump suffering.

A national unfolding,
Of one man’s life.
A reality show,
crashing wave by crashing wave.
“Collective consciousness”, I said.
Happening personally”, she said.

Unfolding and unfolding and unfolding,
World’s unfolding,
With the worlds of all of us.
Individual consciousness
Contributes to collective consciousness.
Collective consciousness
Contributes to individual consciousness.

Hard to say where one ends
And the other begins.
Synergy of both,
Experienced only right here,
Right now, in my awareness.
Only awareness I know.
Dream within dream, this.

But oh so compelling,
This stimuli seems to matter.
Personal unfolding, national unfolding,
Collective consciousness unfolds.
Narcissus sways and lulls us.
World unfolding, solar system unfolding.
Planets dance for us.

Moment by moment,
Darkness and disfunction tempt,
Gnashing of teeth reverberates.
Still small voice reminds,
“It is what it has to be”.
Set in motion by the first whisper.
“Turning out as it must,
Evolution at work.”

Thought sears.
Impossible, at first.
Yet inarguable. Inevitable.
Twistedly comforting.
Mind recoils, Self accepts.
But of course,
How else?
No other way would do.
Could do.

And I’m ok,
As I tippy tap these words.
Old world dying.
The crunching,
Happening in real time.
Culture and history’s the mold
Into which we pour the hot liquid
Of our lives.

One and together,
Immediate.
Can’t look away.
Old man nods.
Ride the curl.
Challenging surf,
This that “is”.

New world birthing.
Universe emerging,
Waves crashing.
No choice really,
Except accept.
And ride the energy.
Takes me where Spirit intends.

Shoulders relax. 

What do you think?  Have you been riding a wave?  How’s that going?  Has meditation helped?  Is there a phrase you particularly like?  Comment below. 

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Meditation Matters. Let’s be About Healing This Nation

Today the Supreme Court said, effectively, “No, Just No” to anymore attempts to use the courts to overturn the proper election of Joe Biden to be president.  No matter who you favored, this the end of it.  It’s time to get on to putting this country back together in a time of great trouble—pandemic raging and the economy in tatters.  Especially among my small business clients who are holding on by a thread, just hoping to be able to get through this time period intact. 

We can go in one of two directions.  Devolve into an ongoing skirmish between the democrats and republicans until there nothing left of the notion of “One Nation, under God.  With liberty and justice for all”.  Or to use this time to create a new version of this country, like a Phoenix rising out from the ashes.  I vote for the latter.  This post will offer my ideas about how. 

Founding Fathers and Mothers

Our Founding Fathers and Mothers were very spiritual men.  (Perhaps I’ll do a book on that one day.)   They asserted that one of our inalienable rights including that all men are created equal, for example.  An aspiration for the Ages. From the biggest perspective they were saying, in effect, that the well-being of each of us is fundamentally dependent on the mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, and economic well-being of all of us.  For truly we are all One.  One People.  One Nation.  One World. 

It is our duties as Sacred Citizens to engage with our Awareness and Compassion against all injustices, illegalities, and sacrifice of our values.  The Fathers would want it so.  They said so.  They fought and died to make it so.  Their plans intended that it be so, that citizens protect the integrity of the highest ideals that were intended.  And that it was necessary, then as well as now, put aside the darkness of earlier times for the politics of Now. 

What’s It Going to Take?  

They wanted no more of the British rule of their lives.  They wanted to put aside the notion of Kings and Queens as the absolute ruler of all others in the “kingdom”.  The end of thousands of years of the way mankind had organized and governed itself.  “For the people and by the people.”  Not for the King and by the King.  An overthrow of the universally (globally) way to doing things.  A transcendence of the paradigm, and a creation of a new one. 

We are faced with a similar turning point in history.  One of the shocking things about the past 4 years is the size, scope, and nature of the shadow side of our national psyche.  Those things that, as is true of the shadow side of group and individuals, that we are unwilling, unable to face in ourselves.  The anger, resentment, and pain that has been lying right at the surface of our national consciousness, yet too scary to address. And, instead, suppressed, and unaddressed.  Add to that the full flowering of the politics of fear—fire that we have been playing with for so many years.  These things at which Justice can’t bear to look. 

We have as big a challenge today as they had then, but one that is different in significant ways.  Their challenge was external to themselves and required armed conflict to oust the tyrant. In our case, the tyrant is internal. Self-created. Caused, in many ways, by our success in becoming the world’s dominant power and the world’s richest country.  We have been able to explore every excess of which the human ego can conceive.  And we are profoundly asleep.  In fact, maybe more than ever because the human psyche, the ego mind has become unfettered from once agreed upon norms.  Any and every fantasy we can conceive can gain traction with a few Tweets that gains momentum.  We’ve taken ego bloat about as far as it can be taken. 

A Renewal of the Revolution 

The solution to problem, like the source of the problem, has to come from within.  Animal human beings have to evolve into Spirit Beings.  The human minds have to give way to our Spirit Minds.  This is difficult because this is a fundamental transformation of which only a relative few have any understanding.  It is akin to the fish abandoning the water to crawl on dry land.  An evolution into Higher Consciousness.  The same kind of consciousness that our Master Teachers possessed.  An experience of Ourselves that puts aside the childish “things” of lower vibrational ways of living and acting.  Our survival as a species depends on it. 

One Tool—Meditation 

How to wake up?  That is the question.  How to evolve to thrive and survive?  Same question.  Our Master Teachers had the answer.  Go Within.  Go inside where our Higher Consciousness, our Soul, resides.  Learn to know and get comfortable with that side of ourselves, and allow that to come forth into reality and expression.  Difficult, however, because the human mind wants to be and to stay in charge.  And to have life be dominated by individual survival of the fittest, always alert for danger, real and imagined.  

Meditation is one of the best tools for transformation.  Because, done right, it takes us out of our minds and into our Higher Awareness.  Out of fear, stress, greed and isolation into joy, freedom, appreciation, and brotherhood.  Our politics have to become the politics of Now.  The seeking out of embodying and Light so as to help raise our Consciousnesses, our awareness, the participation of the higher sides of our natures come forth. 

Rise Up 

Rise up.  Rise up in your Beingness as high as you can.  Invite the Spirit Within to come forth and be about Its work in our individual lives and our national lives.  We have to learn to be Spiritual Actors, involved in the political process.  And use our Sacred Senses in the service of our Higher Selves’ participation in the everyday activity of political discourse and action.  

A healing vortex, a national elevated group mind, is needed, generated by those who know about creating such a thing.  Healing vibrations, healing thoughts, healing meditations, healing intentions.  And then acting from that place to deal with our issues and revolutionize our times. 

Now is the Time

 Now is the time.  Here is the place.  Certain is the outcome.  No need to wallow and take steps back into the shadows that no longer serve us.  Light will win out.  Light dissolves darkness by its very existence.  Lightworkers, each and every one of us who has awakened, must heed the call of our Sacred History of the French ideal of equality, liberty, and fraternity.  The movement of Spirit will not be denied, as it is the fundamental force urging us forward into Heaven, Here, Now.  The manifestation of that which already IS, if we can grasp it.

 

What do you think?  Does these ideas resonate?  Any questions about “Go Within, Stay Within”?  Comment below.

 

Blair is a published writer, poet, and consultant who developed a new meditation technique called Higher Consciousness Meditation after many years of meditation and yoga, and a traumatic job loss at the hands of an abusive boss.  His emerged a deep dive into his meditation practice with new and vibrant ways of coping with life’s challenges.

Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/authormeditation

Website link:  HiCMeditation.com, Book link:  Higher Consciousness Meditation

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Meditation Matters: Go Within, Stay Within, No Matter What

I’m writing this post the day before the U.S. election of 2020.  I have my clear preference for the kinder, gentler of the two candidates.  But I am determined that my life is not going to be determined by who wins.  Come January 20, when one of the candidates will be inaugurated, we will all be able to sigh a sigh of relief, hopefully.  In the meantime, it will probably get uglier before it gets prettier. 

In the meantime, I have a life to live, stuff to do, places to go, people to see, and my Awareness to take care of.   Whoever occupies the White House will have little or nothing to do with that.  If my candidate doesn’t win there is always next year (when the next election will start all over again).  My growth and evolution will continue to be my preoccupation, along with teaching my grandsons to play tennis. 

What Does This Mean, “Go Within, Stay Within?” 

That is what this article will discuss, along with how to do just that, and work with it.  One morning my Spirit said to me “To Within, Stay Within”.  I rushed to write that down on one of the 3×5 notecards that I keep handy for such occasions.  This was done in 2016, interestingly, and became one of my most frequently mindfulness sayings I say to myself. 

“Go Within, Stay Within”.  Suggesting that one way to live a life filled with Elevated Awareness is realize the value of pulling back from the world a bit and going Within to gain a larger than ego/mind perspective on this world.  Whether to do this during a meditation or to do this while engaging in my life while it is in the process of unfolding. 

This saying is a takeoff on Jesus’ words in Luke in which he says, “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you”.  With this simple yet profoundly complex saying he swept all notions that God was to be found outside of ourselves.  Instead he suggests that to find the experience of the Divine we must go where that Divine is easily accessed–inside of us where that experience is most available.  Within. 

Different from How I Used to Live 

This so contrary to the many notions that existed in 0 BC, and present-day time, of God being “out there” somewhere, needed to be sought and placated in some fashion in order to find favor. In order to be given the good things we desire as a reward.  No such God exists.  Instead, to find Him, to experience Him/IT the seeking must be where IT can be found and experienced.  Within.  

One of the quickest, easiest, most dependable routes to this Experience is meditation.  For what better way to get the ego/mind out of the way so that the experience of Heaven can be had than becoming quiet Within and allowing The ALL to reveal Itself to us?  Sounds simple, but without a helpful process to pursue like Higher Consciousness Meditation (Book 2 Higher Consciousness Meditation for a full explanation of the process) finding this Place can be very frustrating.  

Many of the contemporary meditation practices, which focus on trying to wrestle the mind to the ground, miss out on the Experience of Heaven altogether unless the practitioner is able to reach a place few reach—Enlightenment.  It doesn’t have to be that hard.  Finding the Within place from which to live out into the world is such an easy, natural place, from my experience. 

 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 with daily life.  To maintain this State of Mind, this Christ Consciousness, while driving my car, brushing my teeth, or engaging with another is hard. 

However, by going Within as often as possible has strengthened my ability to take a Soul dive.  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 Awareness in almost any situation that I don’t get so caught up, co-opted, hypnotized by my experience of this very compelling outer world we live in.  I like it this way. 

The second step in this activity, therefore, is to not only to go Within, and to stay Within.  Be there longer.  Grow in the ability to stay There for longer and longer periods of time.  To luxuriate in Now.  To have being there become more and more the new normal.  This is the realm I am peeking into at the moment.  Longer and longer periods of time in Illumination.  I suspect this going within is an aspiration of a lifetime.  Perhaps for lifetime after lifetime, spiraling upward.  Can’t say. 

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 encountered 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 replete with accounts of Hindu spiritual masters finally reaching the State of Mind where permanent Awareness and Christ Consciousness was achieved. (For truly it is the highest achievement a human/Eternal Being can reach).  

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

That’s Why I Want to Pursue Life This Way 

What’s going on within me is much more compelling than what’s going on “outside”.  Especially US elections.  We should shift to a parliamentary system, like England, and limit ourselves to 6 weeks of campaigning.  That is a much saner way to determine who should lead.  And if he/she doesn’t do a good job, turn the rascal out for a better model.  And leave citizens to their own, personal pursuit, instead of having a White House Reality Show, 24/7 for 4 years at a clip. Yet, as interested as I am interested in politics, my life doesn’t, can’t, rise or fall on outcome of politics.

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 “N’Olens”, as is my mother.  We were there to take part in the bringing together two clans, ably represented by my wife’s niece from New Orleans and a young man from a tribe from Philadelphia.  Fabulous wedding. 

The best that love and 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 from my Higher Consciousness (HiC) 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.  

Ya 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 

Tonight, this nation is atwitter.  Literally and figuratively.  Twitter is ablaze.  We are titillated beyond belief.  Broadcast news is obsessed by the state of the “battleground states”.  Tomorrow the voting will be completed, and we will hold our breath until about Friday, when the winner will be determined, unless things get legal.  Saturday and Sunday will be days to recover from a hangover.  A national political hangover.   Monday we will go back to work and our lives. 

I, for one, do not intend to become giddy if Joe B. wins or morose if he loses.  Washington is a long way from California, in so many ways.  The dishwasher will still need to be emptied, the cats and dog will still need to be fed, the dog, and Book 3, Six Second Mindfulness Meditations,  and 6, Homage to Spirit,  need to be launched this week and next.  Book 4 and 5 won’t write themselves. This nation and this world are in the midst of a major transformation that only adversity is stimulating.  

Conclusion 

I’ve got things to do and people to see. 

 

 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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Meditation Matters: 8 Ways to Give Thanks

 Are you feeling stressed? Can you imagine, for a moment, regaining your equilibrium?  That’s were meditation comes in.   Let’s face it these are stressful times.  A world pandemic.  Millions out of work.  A difficult president (in the USA).  Increasing climate change problems. In addition, many are experiencing personal stress caused by money, job, relationships, traffic, not having enough toilet paper.

 Let us take a look at stress and what we can do about it, a handful of ways to lessen stress and feel better as a result.

 Meaning of Stress

 According to Wikipedia phychological  stress is “a feeling of emotional strain and pressure.  Stress is a type of psychological pain. Small amounts of stress may be desired, beneficial, and even healthy. Positive stress helps improve athletic performance. It also plays a factor in motivation, adaptation, and reaction to the environment. Excessive amounts of stress, however, may lead to bodily harm.   Stress can increase the risk of strokes, heart disease, ulcers and mental illness such as depression, as well as aggravate a pre-existing condition”.

 We all experience stress in this hectic world we live in.  Small amounts of stress keep us motivated and sufficiently reactive to the world around us.  Too much of it can cause us harm.  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”.

 A Good Example—My Son

 I look at my 30 something son these days and think, “It’s no wonder he gets stressed out”.  He’s got a high pressure, management level position which requires that he coordinate with his fellow management team members and his staff by video conference to keep the company afloat.  He has two very active and inquisitive young sons, who are at home 24/7.  His wife is fabulous, works part time, and is at the center of his world.  He plays in and co-manages a band that he’s trying to keep together by performing on Zoom. He’s in the middle of a remodeling project on his 1930s bungalow.  They have lots of friends with whom stay in touch by text, these days.

 Sound familiar?  Except for the details, some of which are related to his age and his personal interests, this list could be yours and that of most of the people you know.  He manages all of these activities amazingly well but having so many balls in the air takes its toll.  A toll many of us can relate to. 

The Impact of Stress

The impact of stress 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: 

Cancer
Chronic lower respiratory diseases
Heart disease
Dementia
Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases)
New (or new strains of) infectious diseases (vulnerable to weak immune systems)
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 do not know how to deal with stress very well.  Humans have always had to deal with stress going back to when we lived in caves and didn’t have many defense mechanisms 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 safe. 

Even now as 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 ever 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 comes in.  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, and, as mentioned above, in a few 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.   

We only have to examine the substantial increase in the use of anti-anxiety medication in recent years for proof of the impact of stress on the U.S. population and the use of potentially harmful drugs to cope with this “epidemic” caused by modern lifestyles.  On the other hand, Stanford University researcher Emma Seppälä, notes 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.  While this sounds easy, it is not.  Why?  Because the human mind is a chatterbox, constantly in motion and commenting on everything we experience, and seems to buzz 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 Higher Consciousness Meditation), 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.  

 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, Six Second Mindfulness Meditations:  Exercises to Transform any Moment.  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

 This indicates to me that we are in fact evolving as a species, and perhaps faster than any of us are aware.  Evolving into a new species increasingly comfortable with the higher vibrational experiences:  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 to relax 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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Meditation Matters: Let’s Take Responsibility for Our Own Transition

It looks like each of us and all of us who are inclined to “get real” are going to have to take responsibility for a transition from Trump to Biden, and from an abnormal administration to a normal one, and get ready to move from Neverneverland back to a functioning country.  And our place in it, our place in this time in the Age of Aquarius, which is no longer the “dawning” but the flowering forth. Our personal transformation. 

This sounds weird to even as I sit here writing this, but it’s obvious that Trump and his minions are going to hold on as long as possible, some to position themselves to run for President and others to avoid prosecution and public scorn.  Joe Biden has begun to show us the way.  “Just Do It”.  But just like we took responsibility to vote Biden in, and are taking responsibility to keep each other safe, we are going to have to take responsibility for our own transition.  

Angela’s Right

Perhaps we should talk to Angela Merkel who famously said “We Europeans truly have to take our fate into our own hands.”  (In fact, consulting with our allies is not a bad idea.  We should also ask our allies to help us out and we can re-bond with each other while we do.)

This has been a strange time, this last 4 and a half years.  We have done many things that we never expected to have to do, from wearing masks to babysitting 24/7.  Much of the governmental thrashing about and dysfunction that Trump has forced us to have to go through, and make up coping solutions as we go, are issues and questions that were only theoretical.  Mostly discussed at political science gatherings.  Many of us did not know for example, what the CDC does, really, and now we know a lot about it.  Some of the ground we have broken is so new that nobody ever “gamed” it out.  Like how to remove a reluctant president who appears to not want to go.  These are things we only heard about in democracies with shaky foundations that sometimes crumbled.

In any case, we need to accept that this is one of those times when we are walking into the unknown with a leader who doesn’t know what he’s going to do from moment to moment but has shown himself to be dangerous to many people.  Including his own cabinet secretaries.

Let’s just proceed as if the deranged guy in the park whose shouting at the pigeons is not bothering our conversation too much.  And get on with it.  At all levels of society.  Including ourselves, individually.  From helping the Dreamers who will soon be allowed to proceed with their lives in-country to those who will be planning public education policy at the national level.  

Some Solutions

These are problems seeking solutions we have never considered.  For example:

Biden and his Task Force need to be having informal Zoom meetings with whatever governors want to participate to begin to game out the country’s response to a coronavirus that may be raging like a California wildfire by January.   Additional coordinated responsibility is needed.  Yesterday.    
We are going to need money at all levels to get our governmental infrastructure put back together.  States may need to look to large foundations and major corporations to put up the money to fund the super project of their choice.  Bill Gates, we need you.  Quickly.  The money you’ve been spending and skills you’ve been honing abroad in third world countries are needed by your country before we devolve into being third world ourselves.
We may need to organize super Kickstarter events to help bail out our cities, because we don’t know if there will be a Democrat or Republican Senate to pass a stimulus bill.  We have to assume that it will be Republican and that they are willing to let the economy go to hell before they take one up such a bill.  Instead, they may take up a full-throated defense of our National Treasury from being raided any more than it has been. That horse is already out of that barn and the Repubs held the bridal as they let it out.   Bake sales.  We need bake sales.   A lot of bake sales.  
We also need to develop commissions, lots of commissions, to study and make recommendations to our government about what we want and need. Specifically.  Quickly.  Or let the organizations in their field come forward with plans, plans they may already have in the works.  In any case, such conversations have to have, I repeat, have to have, community input and buy-in.  Democracy from the ground.  We’ve got a lot to do.  Climate change is lurking. Equality begs.  Mothers are pulling their hair out.  And we won’t begin vaccinating the average person until spring flowers begin to pop
Let’s just proceed like we have to move on.  Double time.  Which we do. Let’s flex the newly developed political and ideological muscles we have been exercising over the past 9 months and put the enthusiasm and commitment we generated to work.  And rebuild our country. Back.  Better. Personally.  

There’s Nothing Better to Put our Time, Energy and Attention Into—Country

I’ve just begun to scratch the surface.  This will take a lot of creativity on our part.  We’ll have to continue to take personal responsibility for our country.  Governance and participation from the ground up.   And help our leaders become servant leaders–serving our wishes, not theirs.

We’ve learned both how fragile and how enduring our democracy is.  The challenges of the future, especially a future where everyone participates equally, beacons each of us to step up.  In whatever way we want to.  In whatever way we can.  The way to a democracy we can all be proud of again is through participation.  What else could be more important?  Many of us (though not all) have a bit of time on our hands.

Ourselves

Many of us are also in a time of transition.  Working from home.  Considering moving from high density downtown areas.  Women leaving the workforce to home schooling our kids.  Some having lost jobs that will never come back and others with jobs waiting for us to be able to come back.  Many of will have to reinvent themselves, some are already doing it. 

It’s pretty evident.  Our worlds are never going to be the same.  Even if we get to a point where things seem to have returned to normal.  There seems to me to be an underlying change in context, a change in paradigm.  The energy is quickly moving into the future, at an accelerated rate.  Each us will have to adapt.  Meditation can help.  Here’s how, using myself as the example.

 Reinvention

As some of you might know, I was fired 5 years ago from a high-level executive job which ended my 25-year career trajectory.  I had taken a transfer to San Diego from North Carolina, but my boss turned out to be something of a psychopath.  I did the proper thing and let the higher ups know about the problem.  After an investigation, she was fired, but so was I.  Troublemaker. 

As a result, I took a deep dive into my meditation practice and began writing as a therapeutic exercise about the intriguing experiences I was having.  After 300,000 words into my journal I realized I had something others might be interested in.  An author was born.  An inventor of tools for transformation like Higher Consciousness Meditation.

Including the invention of my new, simple, fast, extremely effective meditation process called Higher Consciousness Meditation.  This process gave me direct access to my Higher Consciousness, to my Soul.  My reinvention process was underway and I emerged a new me.  Grateful that I had been fired and had to consider other options.

Conclusion

So its time to take matters into our own hands.  To take Angela Merkle’s advice.  To dig deep and find Spirit’s intention for you.  It’s gotta happen.  Whether it’s COVID or Climate Control or our kid’s education.  We all have to step up 

What do you think?  Does these ideas resonate?  Are you going to have to reinvent your self?  Comment below.

 

Blair is a published writer, poet, and consultant who developed a new meditation technique called Higher Consciousness Meditation after many years of meditation and yoga, and a traumatic job loss at the hands of an abusive boss.  His emerged a deep dive into his meditation practice with new and vibrant ways of coping with life’s challenges.

Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/authormeditation

Website link:  HiCMeditation.com, Book link:  Higher Consciousness Meditation

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A Guide to Reducing Stress. Meditation Tools That Can Help

 Are you feeling stressed? Can you imagine, for a moment, regaining your equilibrium?  That’s were meditation comes in.   Let’s face it these are stressful times.  A world pandemic.  Millions out of work.  A difficult president (in the USA).  Increasing climate change problems. In addition, many are experiencing personal stress caused by money, job, relationships, traffic, not having enough toilet paper.

 Let us take a look at stress and what we can do about it, a handful of ways to lessen stress and feel better as a result.

 Meaning of Stress

 According to Wikipedia phychological  stress is “a feeling of emotional strain and pressure.  Stress is a type of psychological pain. Small amounts of stress may be desired, beneficial, and even healthy. Positive stress helps improve athletic performance. It also plays a factor in motivation, adaptation, and reaction to the environment. Excessive amounts of stress, however, may lead to bodily harm.   Stress can increase the risk of strokes, heart disease, ulcers and mental illness such as depression, as well as aggravate a pre-existing condition”.

 We all experience stress in this hectic world we live in.  Small amounts of stress keep us motivated and sufficiently reactive to the world around us.  Too much of it can cause us harm.  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”.

 A Good Example—My Son

 I look at my 30 something son these days and think, “It’s no wonder he gets stressed out”.  He’s got a high pressure, management level position which requires that he coordinate with his fellow management team members and his staff by video conference to keep the company afloat.  He has two very active and inquisitive young sons, who are at home 24/7.  His wife is fabulous, works part time, and is at the center of his world.  He plays in and co-manages a band that he’s trying to keep together by performing on Zoom. He’s in the middle of a remodeling project on his 1930s bungalow.  They have lots of friends with whom stay in touch by text, these days.

 Sound familiar?  Except for the details, some of which are related to his age and his personal interests, this list could be yours and that of most of the people you know.  He manages all of these activities amazingly well but having so many balls in the air takes its toll.  A toll many of us can relate to. 

The Impact of Stress

The impact of stress 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: 

Cancer
Chronic lower respiratory diseases
Heart disease
Dementia
Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases)
New (or new strains of) infectious diseases (vulnerable to weak immune systems)
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 do not know how to deal with stress very well.  Humans have always had to deal with stress going back to when we lived in caves and didn’t have many defense mechanisms 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 safe. 

Even now as 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 ever 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 comes in.  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, and, as mentioned above, in a few 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.   

We only have to examine the substantial increase in the use of anti-anxiety medication in recent years for proof of the impact of stress on the U.S. population and the use of potentially harmful drugs to cope with this “epidemic” caused by modern lifestyles.  On the other hand, Stanford University researcher Emma Seppälä, notes 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.  While this sounds easy, it is not.  Why?  Because the human mind is a chatterbox, constantly in motion and commenting on everything we experience, and seems to buzz 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 Higher Consciousness Meditation), 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.  

 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, Six Second Mindfulness Meditations:  Exercises to Transform any Moment.  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

 This indicates to me that we are in fact evolving as a species, and perhaps faster than any of us are aware.  Evolving into a new species increasingly comfortable with the higher vibrational experiences:  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 to relax 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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The post A Guide to Reducing Stress. Meditation Tools That Can Help appeared first on Welcome to HiCMeditation.

Meditation Matters. Go Within, Stay Within.

 “Go Within, Stay Within” I keep saying to myself.  I’m writing this the day before the election of 2020.  I have my clear preference for the kinder, gentler of the two candidates.  But I am determined that my life is not going to be determined by who wins.  Come January 20, when one of the candidates will be inaugurated, we will all be able to sigh a sigh of relief, hopefully.  In the meantime, it will probably get uglier before it gets prettier.

In the meantime, I have a life to live, stuff to do, places to go, people to see, and my Awareness to take care of.   Whoever occupies the White House will have little or nothing to do with that.  If my candidate doesn’t win there is always next year (when the next election will start all over again).  My growth and evolution will continue to be my preoccupation, along with teaching my grandsons to play tennis.

What Does This Mean, “Go Within, Stay Within?”

That is what this article will discuss, along with how to do just that, and work with it.  One morning my Spirit said to me “To Within, Stay Within”.  I rushed to write that down on one of the 3×5 notecards that I keep handy for such occasions.  This was written in 2016, interestingly, and became one of my frequently revised sayings that I say to myself.  “Go Within, Stay Within”.  Suggesting that one way to live a life filled with Elevated Awareness is to realize the value of pulling back from the world a bit and going Within to gain a larger than ego/mind perspective on this world.  Whether to do this during a meditation or to do this while engaging in my life while it is in the process of unfolding.

This saying is a takeoff on Jesus’ words in Luke in which he says, “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you”.  With this simple yet profoundly complex saying he swept all notions that God is to be found outside of ourselves in the many inventions of man to try to find God/Spirit/The ALL.  Instead he suggests that to find the experience of the Divine we must go where that Divine is easily accessed–inside of us where that experience is most available.  Within.

Different from How I Used to Live

This so contrary to the many notions that existed in 0 BC, and present-day time, of God being “out there” somewhere, needed to be sought and placated in some fashion in order to find favor. In order to be given the good things we desire as a reward.  No such God exists.  Instead, to find Him, to experience Him/IT the seeking must be where IT can be found and experienced.  Within.  

One of the quickest, easiest, most dependable routes to this Experience is meditation.  For what better way to get the ego/mind out of the way so that the experience of Heaven can be had than becoming quiet Within and allowing The ALL to reveal Itself to us?  Sounds simple, but without a helpful process to pursue like Higher Consciousness Meditation (Book 2 Higher Consciousness Meditation for a full explanation of the process) finding this Place can be very frustrating.  

Even many of the contemporary meditation practices, which focus on trying to wrestle the mind to the ground and miss out on the Experience of Heaven altogether unless you reach a place few reach—Enlightenment.  It doesn’t have to be that hard.  Finding the Within place from which to live out into the world is such an easy, natural place from which to do that.

Or worse.  I used to look outside for my clues about how to live and used my ego/mind to figure out how to best be as a person.  No there’s a proposition doomed to fail, as it turned out.  But, who knew?

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 that can be reached and touched and enjoyed when in meditation, to then to maintain or return to that experience while engaging with daily life.  To maintain this State of Mind, this Christ Consciousness, while driving my car, brushing my teeth, or engaging with another is hard.

However, by going Within as often as possible strengthens has strengthened my ability to take a Soul dive.  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 Awareness in almost any situation that I don’t get so caught up, co-opted, hypnotized by my experience of this very compelling outer world we live in.  I like it this way.

The second step in this activity is to not only to go Within, but to stay Within.  And be there longer.  Grow in the ability to stay There for longer and longer periods of time.  To luxuriate in Now.  To have being there become more and more the new normal.  This is the realm I am peeking into at the moment.  Longer and longer periods of time in Illumination.  I suspect this going within is an aspiration of a lifetime.  Perhaps for lifetime after lifetime, spiraling upward.  Can’t say.

And Then There’s “Go Within, Stay Within”  

“Go Within, Stay Within” implies that permanent staying is possible.  Inevitable, perhaps, once we truly have our feet securely on the Path.  The greatest number of such I accounts that I have encountered 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 replete with accounts of Hindu spiritual masters finally reaching the State of Mind where permanent Awareness and Christ Consciousness was achieved. (For truly it is the highest achievement a human/Eternal Being can reach).  

Tantelizing.  I can only take it a day at a time this Enlightenment unfolding.

That’s Why I Want to Pursue Life This Way

What’s going on within me is much more compelling than what’s going on “outside”.  Especially US elections.  We should shift to a parliamentary system, like England, and limit ourselves to 6 weeks of campaigning.  That is a much saner way to determine who should lead.  And if he/she doesn’t do a good job, turn the rascal out for a better model.  And leave citizens to their own, personal pursuit, instead of having a White House Reality Show, 24/7 for 4 years at a clip.

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.

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 “N’Olens”, as is my mother.  We were there to take part in the bringing together two clans, ably represented by my wife’s niece from New Orleans and a young man from a tribe from Philadelphia.  Fabulous wedding.

The best that love and 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 saying came to me again from my Higher Consciousness (HiC) only days before we left for the wedding.  It is hard enough to grock 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 feast 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 were 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 working 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 what 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 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 practices 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.  

Ya 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

Tonight, this nation is atwitter.  Literally and figuratively.  Twitter is ablaze.  We are titillated beyond belief.  Broadcast news is obsessed by the state of the “battleground states”.  Tomorrow the voting will be completed, and we will hold our breath until about Friday, when the winner will be determined, unless things get legal.  Saturday and Sunday will be days to recover from a hangover.  A national political hangover.   Monday we will go back to work and our lives.

I, for one, do not intend to become giddy if Joe B. wins or morose if he loses.  Washington is a long way from California, in so many ways.  The dishwasher will still need to be emptied, the cats and dog will still need to be fed, the dog, and Book 3, Six Second Mindfulness Meditations,  and 6, Homage to Spirit,  need to be launched this week and next.  Book 4 and 5 won’t write themselves. This nation and this world are in the midst of a major transformation that only adversity can stimulate.

I’ve got things to do and people to see.  

What do you think?  Does these ideas resonate?  Any questions about “Go Within, Stay Within”?  Comment below.

 

Blair is a published writer, poet, and consultant who developed a new meditation technique called Higher Consciousness Meditation after many years of meditation and yoga, and a traumatic job loss at the hands of an abusive boss.  His emerged a deep dive into his meditation practice with new and vibrant ways of coping with life’s challenges.

Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/authormeditation

Website link:  HiCMeditation.com, Book link:  Higher Consciousness Meditation

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The post Meditation Matters. Go Within, Stay Within. appeared first on Welcome to HiCMeditation.