In this class more than any other, you will find the methods to make any transformation in your life. All of us need realignment from time to time, and many of us would benefit from big changes.
The strongest principle of growth lies in human choice. - George Eliot
In my own life, I came to a point where I was amazed at how little I knew about how to increase the quality of my life. I was happy, but I was not getting any happier, and I had no idea how to increase my happiness.
I decided to 'stop everything' until I did understand. I read and went to classes and workshops, spoke to people, Hare Krishna's, Jehovah's Witness, Muslims, Sufi's, New Age Guru's, Christians, Pentecostalists – and from them all something was gained. Little insights that drew me closer to knowing a little more about myself.
We live in a fantastic time. We can explore all these philosophies so easily. Amongst all this I found meditation and my path.
Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday. - John Wayne
That decision to 'stop everything' was the best of my life. I stopped thinking about my career or my job or my studies and made a solid commitment to me. I decided to not take another step until I had at least a pathway to success.
Many of us are so caught by the 'things' we do every day that we never get time to look at ourselves. We've got a job and a family and 'things' that take up every moment of our time. It is almost as if someone decided that if we keep ourselves so busy we won't have time to reflect upon what we are doing, or the real reasons for us being here.
We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them. - Kahil Gibran
So, really be open to wholesale transformation. Many of us would like to be happy or more loving or more in control of our lives, but few of us are ready to do anything about it. That's not anything more than an idle wish and the chances of it actually happening are extremely remote. For real transformation to take place in our lives we need to really make a solid commitment, a concrete decision and then act upon it.
Every moment is a doorway to infinity and eternity. It just needs time to stop to open it.
We all know our physical heart pumps our life blood around the body. Blood supplies all parts of our body with the oxygen and nutrients we need to stay alive. It also carries away waste and infections. The big superhighways that transport blood are known as arteries while the smaller branches are capillaries.
We also have a spiritual heart. Its blood carries our wishes, our hopes, along tiny capillaries - very close to the surface of our life. Committed decisions, however, travel along larger branches and solid life-directions along huge arteries.
The difference with the spiritual heart is that it is extremely flexible. New capillaries and even arteries are created often by us by the conviction of our choices.
You are now at a crossroads. This is your opportunity to make the most important decision you will ever make. Forget your past. Who are you now? Who have you decided you really are now? Don't think about who you have been. Who are you now? Who have you decided to become? Make this decision consciously. Make it carefully. Make it powerfully. - Anthony Robbins
Did you know that tests have been done with people with what is called multiple personalities. It has been shown that birthmarks can appear and disappear, illnesses such as diabetes, appear and disappear, even eye colour can change from as contrasting as brown to blue.
Do you see how powerful our committed choices are? How authoritative these spiritual arteries?
It's choice – not chance – that determines your destiny. - Jean Nidetch
If you think about these arteries for a moment, these are the freeways that are feeding every little branch, every little capillary of our spiritual lives. They are created by our thoughts, intentions, decisions and intuitions. Can you imagine what might happen if we were to create arteries that were going in a wrong direction. Arteries that lead not to a vital spiritual organ, but to a dead end or to an open wound.
There is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision. - William James
For example, if we spent all of our time worrying about how others thought of us, we would direct all of our energy to something that could only lead outside of ourselves. Spiritually it would be like a dead end. That energy would be endlessly flowing out of us to something we had very little control over, continually draining our consciousness or overall state of mind.
Or imagine if we continually found ourselves hating people or finding enemies, all of our spiritual blood would be directed to what are essentially spiritual open wounds. We could bleed ourselves to our spiritual deaths.
If our focus in our life is not clear than that is exactly what is happening. Many of us are plainly spiritually haemorrhaging. Think about someone you might know. It might be a divorce, or a death, or resentment, or fear of failure. We're bleeding to death with no one to help.
Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently. - Henry Ford
Now be honest with yourself.
We design our lives through the power of choices. - Richard Bach
We need to understand our own heart very, very clearly. We need to know how we can increase blood flow to some areas and redirect it to others.
Your wishes are tiny capillaries, so fragile and weak. I would like to suggest that you never wish for anything again. If it is worth your attention, and you have reflected upon its importance to your life, then create an artery for it.
Practise and practise directing your spiritual energy to it – this includes making an absolute solid and committed choice, a strong and unyielding decision, then acting. Practising until you become very skilled at your spiritual disciplines. Acting over and over again, to reinforce the decision, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward. - Amelia Earhart
For example, if you have decided to meditate every day, physically create a place to meditate, physically get yourself up every morning and physically sit yourself down. Do not think about it, don't procrastinate, act!
Mentally change your attitudes about meditation, mentally visualise yourself as a meditator, mentally practise your concentration.
Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Emotionally lift yourself. Practise creating emotional triggers and associations that are tied to the meditation practise. Get passionate, get excited, get motivated when it is time to meditate.
Practise it over and over again. Identify with how you feel when you are in your highest meditation and use it as the starting point for your next meditation.
Reflect upon how badly you feel about yourself if you don't meditate, make emotional associations with not meditating that make it totally unpalatable.
In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing. - Theodore Roosevelt
A real decision is measured by the fact that you've taken a new action. If there's no action, you haven't truly decided. - Anthony Robbins
Spiritually value your intuition. Remember your dreams. Reflect upon your 'aah' moments, upon your meditations.
Spiritually contemplate the coincidences, the chance meetings, the word that was said, the sunrise, the sunset. Practise and practise and practise.
CHOOSE TO LOVE. . . rather than hate.
CHOOSE TO SMILE. . . rather than frown.
CHOOSE TO BUILD . . . rather than destroy.
CHOOSE TO PERSEVERE . . . rather than quit.
CHOOSE TO PRAISE . . . rather than gossip.
CHOOSE TO HEAL . . . rather than wound.
CHOOSE TO GIVE . . . rather than grasp.
CHOOSE TO ACT . . . rather than delay.
CHOOSE TO FORGIVE . . . rather than curse.
Author Unknown
One man with a show of courage, perseverance and a committed choice, peacefully orchestrated progress, development, trust and understanding not only in one nation but in the whole human family.
Perhaps the most celebrated of India's great saints was Swami Vivekananda. He struggled with poverty and sickness to become what many regard as the world's greatest orator. "We want to lead mankind to the place where there is neither the Vedas, nor the Bible, nor the Koran; yet this has to be done by harmonizing the Vedas, the Bible, and the Koran."
All great masters have made committed choices. Prince Siddhartha decided to sit under a Bodhi Tree and meditate until he had found a way to alleviate human suffering. He did not leave that spot until he became the illumined Lord Buddha.
The great Saint Francis struggled with being humiliated and ostracised by his parents, his community and friends, to become one of the most loved and cherished of all saints. Leaving a privileged upbringing - he renounced all in a committed decision to follow Christ.
Another very interesting contemporary figure known as 'Peace Pilgrim' - made a committed decision to walk around the world for peace. She continued her pilgrimage for over 20 years, surviving only on what was offered and reached millions with her heartfelt message.
Please read this information on preparing for your meditation
Many people ask us about how to go to sleep easily and to offer the best opportunity for spiritual dreaming.
Try this meditation at the end of the day, you can sit or lay straight down in bed with pen and paper beside you. Remember you can download the exercise to your phone or mp3 player for yourself to use anytime.
The first thing we need to do is concentrate on our breath. As usual we're taking longer, slower and deeper breaths.
Gradually shifting our awareness from our mind to our heart. Once you are comfortable I would like you to reflect quietly on what you have been focusing on today. In your mind's eye you might like to run through the events of the day.
Perhaps there were 3-5 things that you were working on during the day. Please write them down leaving 3-4 lines around each thing.
Then I would like you to look at the first item on your list, and place it inside your heart.
Gently reflect upon where it is at. Is it resolved? Are you worried about a problem with it? Do you need help? If it's not resolved, please decide that you are not going to do any more work on it tonight, so please reflect upon exactly what actions you will take tomorrow to get this issue closer to resolution.
See each action within your heart. Go through a process of signing off each proposed action inside your heart, and then write the action down next to where you have listed it. After you have written down all the actions for that item, feel that you have completed the task for tonight. Let it go.
Work through your list in this manner. Ticking off resolved items with real satisfaction, and those unfinished with objectivity and intuition. Remember that you are not going to do any more work tonight – all we are doing is reflecting upon the actions we will take tomorrow to get those issues closer to resolution.
Then just relaxing for a few minutes begin to reflect in a similar way on any more longer term unresolved issues that may need your attention. You might be worrying about your career, rent or a relationship. In the same way, take a moment and write those things down.
Then let's go through the process again. Gently reflect upon where it is at. Is it resolved? Are you worried about a problem with it? Do you need help? If it's not resolved please decide that you are not going to do any more work on it tonight, so please reflect upon exactly what actions you will take tomorrow to get this issue closer to resolution.
See each action within your heart. Go through a process of signing off each proposed action inside your heart, and then write the action down next to where you have listed it. After you have written down all the actions for that item, feel that you have completed the task for tonight. Let it go.
In this way we are coming to a place where all the things we are worrying about, all the things that are taking up energy when we are trying to go to sleep or even to meditate have been given an endpoint. We are able to say to our mind, to say to our consciousness, 'these issues are resolved for today, these issues are finished for today – this is an endpoint'.
And then what I would like you to do is to lay yourself down on your bed and picture a golden light flowing into your heart. Feel that upon that golden light is travelling infinite love, infinite peace and infinite joy. Feel that any darkness that we have in our lives – whether it be a physical illness, or our mental worries, doubts or emotional pain – just feel that this golden light is illumining that darkness.
Feel that golden light flowing into your heart and see yourself beginning to glow. Feel it radiating right through your body. See that light flowing into your legs and hips and chest and shoulders, down to your arms and hands and each finger. Releasing the darkness, releasing the tension, whether it is physical, mental or emotional tension. Transforming that darkness forever. See yourself as a glowing being radiating light. All the darkness in your life is being transformed by this light.
You are calm and at peace and can drift away to sleep...
1. Grounding In
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