Sunday 30 April 2017
To dwell in the here and now does not mean you never think about the past or responsibly plan for the future.
We could say that meditation doesn’t have a reason or doesn’t have a purpose.
We could say that meditation doesn’t have a reason or doesn’t have a purpose. In this respect it’s unlike almost all other things we do except perhaps making music and dancing. When we make music we don’t do it in order to reach a certain point, such as the end of the composition. If that were the purpose of music then obviously the fastest players would be the best. Also, when we are dancing we are not aiming to arrive at a particular place on the floor as in a journey. When we dance, the journey itself is the point, as when we play music the playing itself is the point. And exactly the same thing is true in meditation. Meditation is the discovery that the point of life is always arrived at in the immediate moment.
Clear Space Mind is a method of letting go. Meditational Review
In practicing Clear Space Mind there will be some hard work, especially at the beginning, but if you are persistent, meditation will lead you to some very beautiful and meaningful states. It is a law of nature that without effort one does not make progress. Whether you are a layperson or a monk or nun, without effort you get nowhere.
Effort alone is not sufficient. Effort needs to be skillful. This means directing your energy to just the right places and sustaining it until the task is complete. Skillful effort neither hinders nor disturbs; instead it produces the beautiful peace of deep meditation.The Goal of Meditation is to know where your effort should be directed in meditation, you must have a clear understanding of the goal.
The goal of this meditation is beautiful silence, stillness, and clarity of mind. If you can understand that goal, then the place to apply your effort and the means to achieve the goal become much clearer.
The effort is directed to letting go, to developing a mind that inclines to abandoning. One of the many simple but profound statements of the Buddha is that “a meditator who makes letting go the main object easily achieves samādhi,” that is, attentive stillness, the goal of meditation (SN 48,9). Such a meditator gains these states of inner bliss almost automatically. The Buddha was saying that the major cause for attaining deep meditation and reaching these powerful states is the ability to abandon, to let go, to renounce.Letting Go of Our Burdens during meditation, we should not develop a mind that accumulates and holds on to things. Instead we should develop a mind that is willing to let go, to give up all burdens. In our ordinary lives we have to carry the burden of many duties, like so many heavy suitcases, but within the period of meditation such baggage is unnecessary. In meditation, unload as much baggage as you can. Think of duties and achievements as heavy weights pressing upon you. Abandon them freely without looking back.
This attitude of mind that inclines to giving up will lead you into deep meditation. Even during the beginning stages of your meditation, see if you can generate the energy of renunciation—the willingness to give things away. As you give things away in your mind, you will feel much lighter and more free. In meditation, abandoning occurs in stages, step by step.
Meditators are like birds that soar through the sky and rise to the peaks. Birds never carry suitcases! Skillful meditators soar free from all their burdens and rise to the beautiful peaks of their minds. It is on such summits of perception that meditators will understand, from their own direct experience, the meaning of what we call “mind.” At the same time they will also understand the nature of what we call “self,” “God,” “the world,” “the universe,” the whole lot. It’s there that they become enlightened—not in the realm of thought, but on the soaring summits of silence within their mind.
This attitude of mind that inclines to giving up will lead you into deep meditation. Even during the beginning stages of your meditation, see if you can generate the energy of renunciation—the willingness to give things away. As you give things away in your mind, you will feel much lighter and more free. In meditation, abandoning occurs in stages, step by step.
Meditators are like birds that soar through the sky and rise to the peaks. Birds never carry suitcases! Skillful meditators soar free from all their burdens and rise to the beautiful peaks of their minds. It is on such summits of perception that meditators will understand, from their own direct experience, the meaning of what we call “mind.” At the same time they will also understand the nature of what we call “self,” “God,” “the world,” “the universe,” the whole lot. It’s there that they become enlightened—not in the realm of thought, but on the soaring summits of silence within their mind.
Open Eyed Loving-Kindfulness
Over the ages there have been a number of traditions that have encouraged an open-eyed meditation. it’s not just a way to relax, or to deal with life’s problems. Done correctly, it can be a way to radically encounter the child within and to begin—and sustain—real transformation in ourselves. Loving-Kindfulness is somewhat like Mindfulness, yet without having to suffer uncomfortable body positions, attitudes of seriousness, internal battles, pious aspirations or long faces.It has a range of practical solution to lifes problems that require courage to pursue.
Open Eyed Kindfulness
Why 'open eye' Kindfulness? Isn't easier to relax, to feel peaceful and not be distracted with our eyes closed? Well yes, that can be true, however our meditation is not just about feeling peaceful.Its to create a real-time safe and secure environment for our released child within
Think about it...a kindfulness meditation that we can do when we need it most! Right in the middle of the challenges of life. No need to wait until we have the right place, the right music, the right lighting, the fragrant candle or be able to close your eyes. This is the meditation for anyone, anywhere, anytime.
It is important to remember that kindfulness meditation is a practice and uses a course of actions. Although to refine a sort of mastery over it can be deeply satisfying, meditation is not actually a 'thing' in itself. It is a practice. In the same way that we practice sport, or calligraphy, or dance, or learning to walk, practice is the time we set aside to hone our skills for when we plan to engage in the full time living.
Open Eye Kindfulnes is a practice for living. Our lives today are so full of demands, that it's easy to lose ourself in the expectations of others. Kindfulness is about taking time out to reconnect with our own child within, with the real you behind the many roles and responsibilities of modern life.
The aim of open eye kindfulness is to carry this state of centred awareness with us throughout our day and our life, as we walk, as we talk, as we do what we do... day to day. To stay connected to our natural wisdom and strength which we have learned from the ten stages.
What it is about
While Open Eye kindfulness offers us a definite reduction in stress, and increase in relaxation and inner harmony, in truth these are side effects of the practice. The real aim is to realign us with our essential, core self, our kindful self the child hidden within.
When we rest in our own true nature that of the child, we feel what it feels like to be eternal, to know absolutely that we can never cease to be. This realisation makes us feel deeply secure. We recognise that although our body will cease to exist one day, we - the child within - will continue.
When we are centred in our origin of peace, in our authentic power, the pressure to perform is reduced enormously because we know without question, our own value and the true value of others. We intuitively know that we have everything, in fact that we are part of everything, for which we have always been searching.
This ongoing feeling of personal security enables us to simply relax into our life. We learn to trust ourself more and more, and we experience a growing sense of our own loving-kindfulness within ourself. We don't have to defend ourself and we don't have to prove anything to anyone any more.No more explanations that cast us into the victims role.
This brings 'our child within' back to us, putting us in creative charge of our own life, our own compassionate new world.
What am we here for?
The other piece of magic that starts to happen is that we naturally begin to align to our life's loving purpose. When we're busy living lives based on the expectation of others, it is unlikely that we will realise that purpose. This inability to do, to be who we were designed to be, to finally have what we were meant to be given in childhood, is possibly the greatest source of sorrow that as a human being we can experience.
Each of us carries within our DNA a unique contribution to the world...and right now our world really needs us.
When you continue connect through Open Eye Kindfulness with the uniqueness of our true compassionate self , the world around us starts to respond to us, bringing to our door the people, the experiences, the facilities we need to do our loving life's work.
It is helpful to remember that our loving life's work doesn't have to be huge and visible. This simple work we know we are called to do. There was nothing at all glamorous about our commitment to help the dissociated passing on our practice with dignity in the arms of compassion.
When we start to align more and more to our life's purpose we may be surprised at how uncomplicated it is. In fact, we will find that whatever we do:
* Is easy for us (though others may marvel at how you can do it)
* We don't notice time passing
* Is of service to others - beyond self interest
* Makes us contented
* Gives us a new sense of meaning to our lives
Moving Beyond loneliness and isolation
The other advantage that Open Eye Kindfulness does is remove the barriers between us and the rest of the world. When we practise with our eyes open, and are able to hold that state throughout the day more and more, we stop feeling disconnected and unrelated to others. Strangers transform into brothers, even enemies become friends. We start to understand that people behave badly because they are dissociated from and lost to their own origin of peace and power of the child within. This understanding enables us to be more compassionate, tolerant and kind not only with others, but with ourself too.
The Child Within
Today in the west, there is a growing resistance to religion which in large part has grown out of institutionalisation, where it was used by many to control and dominate the few. However, in Open Eye Kindfulness, we not only connect to the child within us, but we connect with our real intuitive source.
When we return to our own true nature the child hidden within, the pure life energy within the physical body, we are able to automatically connect with our child within. This connection is natural, sustaining, empowering and re-energising as well as affirming in the reflected reality our own perfect child within.
The ache of separation that many of us experience disappears in an instant. This relationship becomes one of loving renewal. The child within being the touchstone that guides us home to our true self.
How to do it
It is certainly a great practice to set aside some time first thing in the morning. Centre ourself in ourself so that as we move throughout the day, we are more likely to create our life rather than simply react to the barrage of input that comes at us from all sides.
We may think that it is impossible to manage 10-15 minutes, but we will discover that the resultant effects to our emotional stability and mental clarity, not to mention our effectiveness, general wellbeing and happiness, are well worth creating the time for our practice.
Often we give up our practice when we feel that we can't control the onslaught of our thoughts that present themselves when we sit to meditate. The clue is to look after our thoughts throughout the day. Be aware as often as possible, letting go to the management of our intuitive voice.
While we wait for the kettle to boil, when we're in the lift, as we put the phone down, simply take 30 secs to look after our child within; lay some peaceful thoughts as the foundation of our inner new world.
We might like to play around with thoughts like our origin is peace, our nature is pure, we are a peaceful child within, we're a powerful being, our destiny is assured, we are guided in each moment under our intuitive voice.
Before we go to sleep at night, we produce loving-kindfulness for our child within. Whatever we are remembering just before sleep, will stay active throughout the night and be present for us first thing in the morning.
Stage by Stage kindfulness
Stage 1: Gently focus our eyes on a static point in our space...an image of light is often a helpful one.
Stage 2: Relax our body.
* Take 3 deep breaths and as you exhale on each, consciously relax our shoulders, our jaw and finally our face muscles.
* Scan our body with our child within's eye and wherever we find tension simply give the order to our body to release.
Stage 3: Become aware of our external world...notice the sounds, the temperature of the air of our skin, the smells in our given space.
Stage 4: Now turn our awareness to our internal child within world...ask ourself "what is my child within thinking?" ... then, "what is my child within feeling?"
Stage 5: Just Accept it all. Don't try and change, or fix, or control anything. Simply accept whatever we are thinking and whatever we are feeling.
Stage 6: If we accept our child withins thoughts and our child withins feelings, then the question emerges "who is our child within?"
We are the observer, the witness, the awareness of consciousness. we are becoming our eternal answer the intuitive voice.
Stage 7: In this state of detachment, of security, experience that awareness - we - as a tiny dot of light...tiny and distinct, yet utterly connected to ourselves.
Stage 8: Imagine this dot of energy that we can merge with our child within, Imagine leaving behind the our constructed self, seeing disappearing becoming smaller and smaller, letting go of our ancestral voices.
Stage 9: This is our original home, the Home of the Child Within. Allow ourself to rest deeply in this silent world of consciousness, feeling the love, the peace of the perfect child within gently touching us, pulling us, nourishing us. Feel how light we feel, see if we can gently allow ourself to feel as one with our perfect child.
Stage 10: When we're ready, allow our awareness to gently reconnect with our space, with our physical form, harmonising easily with our body and the environment around us.
The more we align our personal loving-kindfulness the more we stay connected to our child within - our intuition, binds with our attention, the more we will find this practice becomes easier. As the practice becomes easier we will notice the benefits in our life.
When we're feeling the benefit, feeling good, don't give in to the temptation to miss a day or two. Set it into our routine.
Remember too, if we stop for just one minute every hour, we will have tallied up 15 minutes a day. That's a great advantage.
Be kind, but be firm. Acknowledge the successes no matter how small they may seem. This will help us to keep going, feeling more and more confident as we do.
Persevere with the eyes open, it really is beneficial. Not only will we feel peaceful and relaxed, we will also experience more love, greater happiness and self-respect, we will feel more powerful and more in control of our life.
Why 'open eye' Kindfulness? Isn't easier to relax, to feel peaceful and not be distracted with our eyes closed? Well yes, that can be true, however our meditation is not just about feeling peaceful.Its to create a real-time safe and secure environment for our released child within
Think about it...a kindfulness meditation that we can do when we need it most! Right in the middle of the challenges of life. No need to wait until we have the right place, the right music, the right lighting, the fragrant candle or be able to close your eyes. This is the meditation for anyone, anywhere, anytime.
It is important to remember that kindfulness meditation is a practice and uses a course of actions. Although to refine a sort of mastery over it can be deeply satisfying, meditation is not actually a 'thing' in itself. It is a practice. In the same way that we practice sport, or calligraphy, or dance, or learning to walk, practice is the time we set aside to hone our skills for when we plan to engage in the full time living.
Open Eye Kindfulnes is a practice for living. Our lives today are so full of demands, that it's easy to lose ourself in the expectations of others. Kindfulness is about taking time out to reconnect with our own child within, with the real you behind the many roles and responsibilities of modern life.
The aim of open eye kindfulness is to carry this state of centred awareness with us throughout our day and our life, as we walk, as we talk, as we do what we do... day to day. To stay connected to our natural wisdom and strength which we have learned from the ten stages.
What it is about
While Open Eye kindfulness offers us a definite reduction in stress, and increase in relaxation and inner harmony, in truth these are side effects of the practice. The real aim is to realign us with our essential, core self, our kindful self the child hidden within.
When we rest in our own true nature that of the child, we feel what it feels like to be eternal, to know absolutely that we can never cease to be. This realisation makes us feel deeply secure. We recognise that although our body will cease to exist one day, we - the child within - will continue.
When we are centred in our origin of peace, in our authentic power, the pressure to perform is reduced enormously because we know without question, our own value and the true value of others. We intuitively know that we have everything, in fact that we are part of everything, for which we have always been searching.
This ongoing feeling of personal security enables us to simply relax into our life. We learn to trust ourself more and more, and we experience a growing sense of our own loving-kindfulness within ourself. We don't have to defend ourself and we don't have to prove anything to anyone any more.No more explanations that cast us into the victims role.
This brings 'our child within' back to us, putting us in creative charge of our own life, our own compassionate new world.
What am we here for?
The other piece of magic that starts to happen is that we naturally begin to align to our life's loving purpose. When we're busy living lives based on the expectation of others, it is unlikely that we will realise that purpose. This inability to do, to be who we were designed to be, to finally have what we were meant to be given in childhood, is possibly the greatest source of sorrow that as a human being we can experience.
Each of us carries within our DNA a unique contribution to the world...and right now our world really needs us.
When you continue connect through Open Eye Kindfulness with the uniqueness of our true compassionate self , the world around us starts to respond to us, bringing to our door the people, the experiences, the facilities we need to do our loving life's work.
It is helpful to remember that our loving life's work doesn't have to be huge and visible. This simple work we know we are called to do. There was nothing at all glamorous about our commitment to help the dissociated passing on our practice with dignity in the arms of compassion.
When we start to align more and more to our life's purpose we may be surprised at how uncomplicated it is. In fact, we will find that whatever we do:
* Is easy for us (though others may marvel at how you can do it)
* We don't notice time passing
* Is of service to others - beyond self interest
* Makes us contented
* Gives us a new sense of meaning to our lives
Moving Beyond loneliness and isolation
The other advantage that Open Eye Kindfulness does is remove the barriers between us and the rest of the world. When we practise with our eyes open, and are able to hold that state throughout the day more and more, we stop feeling disconnected and unrelated to others. Strangers transform into brothers, even enemies become friends. We start to understand that people behave badly because they are dissociated from and lost to their own origin of peace and power of the child within. This understanding enables us to be more compassionate, tolerant and kind not only with others, but with ourself too.
The Child Within
Today in the west, there is a growing resistance to religion which in large part has grown out of institutionalisation, where it was used by many to control and dominate the few. However, in Open Eye Kindfulness, we not only connect to the child within us, but we connect with our real intuitive source.
When we return to our own true nature the child hidden within, the pure life energy within the physical body, we are able to automatically connect with our child within. This connection is natural, sustaining, empowering and re-energising as well as affirming in the reflected reality our own perfect child within.
The ache of separation that many of us experience disappears in an instant. This relationship becomes one of loving renewal. The child within being the touchstone that guides us home to our true self.
How to do it
It is certainly a great practice to set aside some time first thing in the morning. Centre ourself in ourself so that as we move throughout the day, we are more likely to create our life rather than simply react to the barrage of input that comes at us from all sides.
We may think that it is impossible to manage 10-15 minutes, but we will discover that the resultant effects to our emotional stability and mental clarity, not to mention our effectiveness, general wellbeing and happiness, are well worth creating the time for our practice.
Often we give up our practice when we feel that we can't control the onslaught of our thoughts that present themselves when we sit to meditate. The clue is to look after our thoughts throughout the day. Be aware as often as possible, letting go to the management of our intuitive voice.
While we wait for the kettle to boil, when we're in the lift, as we put the phone down, simply take 30 secs to look after our child within; lay some peaceful thoughts as the foundation of our inner new world.
We might like to play around with thoughts like our origin is peace, our nature is pure, we are a peaceful child within, we're a powerful being, our destiny is assured, we are guided in each moment under our intuitive voice.
Before we go to sleep at night, we produce loving-kindfulness for our child within. Whatever we are remembering just before sleep, will stay active throughout the night and be present for us first thing in the morning.
Stage by Stage kindfulness
Stage 1: Gently focus our eyes on a static point in our space...an image of light is often a helpful one.
Stage 2: Relax our body.
* Take 3 deep breaths and as you exhale on each, consciously relax our shoulders, our jaw and finally our face muscles.
* Scan our body with our child within's eye and wherever we find tension simply give the order to our body to release.
Stage 3: Become aware of our external world...notice the sounds, the temperature of the air of our skin, the smells in our given space.
Stage 4: Now turn our awareness to our internal child within world...ask ourself "what is my child within thinking?" ... then, "what is my child within feeling?"
Stage 5: Just Accept it all. Don't try and change, or fix, or control anything. Simply accept whatever we are thinking and whatever we are feeling.
Stage 6: If we accept our child withins thoughts and our child withins feelings, then the question emerges "who is our child within?"
We are the observer, the witness, the awareness of consciousness. we are becoming our eternal answer the intuitive voice.
Stage 7: In this state of detachment, of security, experience that awareness - we - as a tiny dot of light...tiny and distinct, yet utterly connected to ourselves.
Stage 8: Imagine this dot of energy that we can merge with our child within, Imagine leaving behind the our constructed self, seeing disappearing becoming smaller and smaller, letting go of our ancestral voices.
Stage 9: This is our original home, the Home of the Child Within. Allow ourself to rest deeply in this silent world of consciousness, feeling the love, the peace of the perfect child within gently touching us, pulling us, nourishing us. Feel how light we feel, see if we can gently allow ourself to feel as one with our perfect child.
Stage 10: When we're ready, allow our awareness to gently reconnect with our space, with our physical form, harmonising easily with our body and the environment around us.
The more we align our personal loving-kindfulness the more we stay connected to our child within - our intuition, binds with our attention, the more we will find this practice becomes easier. As the practice becomes easier we will notice the benefits in our life.
When we're feeling the benefit, feeling good, don't give in to the temptation to miss a day or two. Set it into our routine.
Remember too, if we stop for just one minute every hour, we will have tallied up 15 minutes a day. That's a great advantage.
Be kind, but be firm. Acknowledge the successes no matter how small they may seem. This will help us to keep going, feeling more and more confident as we do.
Persevere with the eyes open, it really is beneficial. Not only will we feel peaceful and relaxed, we will also experience more love, greater happiness and self-respect, we will feel more powerful and more in control of our life.
Saturday 1 April 2017
In the face of love's potential destructive fury, you're left with three options.
Our beliefs about ourselves are the result of our early experiences.
Most of us have experienced at least some of the following.
We were mistreated, punished regularly in an extreme or unpredictable way, neglected or abused.
We were constantly criticised or had our weaknesses pointed out to us on a regular basis.
We felt we didn’t fit in to our family or school, perhaps because of a brighter sibling or because our talents weren’t valued.
We were teased or ridiculed by our peers for the way we looked or acted.
We bore the brunt of our family’s distress even though it wasn’t directly related to us, eg. death or illness of a family member.
Our family was seen to be different in some way or socially unacceptable.
We didn’t receive enough praise, encouragement or attention. Perhaps our parents were emotionally distant.
Repetition of similar experiences results in us creating a set of core beliefs about ourselves. As adults we might question whether these negative beliefs are valid, but as children, we were too emotionally immature to understand that it was our parents, caregivers and peers that suffered from low self-worth, and we were just on the receiving end of their issues.
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