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Life…

Full of ups and downs. A never ending roller coaster of challenges, excitement, disappointment, exhilaration, love, and loss…

Our consciousness, created by a magical energetic dance flowing through matter that is magically locked, ever so tenuously, into place in just the right configuration for the sequential flow to occur… The matter itself simply being energy, itself trapped, contained…temporarily, at some point to return back to the stars.

The sense of self we have, created by this energetic dance, based on physical senses…a means for the external to interact with the internal… and our body as a means for the internal to interact with the external. Or model of “the world” being exactly that… a model…a mental flow of patterns that allows us to interact, to “live” within our surrounding energies.

Life, in all forms, being comprised of complex flows of energy…systems of flow… like a million tiny eddies randomly created in an immense flowing stream. Eddies that don’t simply come and go… they flow, move, combine and merge into one another, influence one another, become one and then become many…None being able to exist without the rest…Clearly individual, but indivisibly part of the whole.

Our consciousness is directly bound to the passage of time, to the forward moving flow of the energetic dance. We are unable to see the bi-directional temporal nature of physical phenomena… Our existence is predicated by the balance of past energetic stimulus (sensory input) from both external and internal sources, internal expectations of stimulus, and processing new stimulus based on expectations… The boundary between the two is the present moment… the “Now”.

Eckart Tolle’s The Power of Now is almost entirely built upon removing the internal stimulus (the internal dialog) which is the conscious awareness of expected stimulus, so we can directly experience future phenomena exactly as they are…directly. Somehow that direct experience brings with it a sense of grandeur, a sense of something larger than yourself…We are able to slip out of our mental “model” of the world… life… the universe… and experience existence directly, more fully and completely. It’s in this state that we can sense the echoes of something more, we can sense the falseness of our conscious view of the physical world, and the limited view of reality with which it is bound. We can “free our minds”.

Meditation is one pathway, employed for thousands of years, to the liberation of our consciousness. Available to anyone at anytime… with the right mindset and determination, often fueled by our self imposed existential suffering… is the ability to follow a path of meditative practice that inevitably leads to a falling away of our physical bodies… a separation from space and time…In this space, experience is nonlinear. It’s impossible to fully explain such an experience – words can only be a finite approximation of the infinite…as though one is trying to explain an emotion, a feeling – versus the direct feeling or experience itself.

We become able to navigate the challenges of our day-to-day existence, while realizing the triviality of it all. We no longer feel stress, mental suffering, or worry…We are able to see the beauty in the simplest of moments…

There is no need for all the suffering and worry in our conscious experience, our mental model of the physical world.

The energetic dance of our existence has already come and gone…has always been here and will always be here…is both separate and identifiable, but connected to and part of everything in existence….everything that has been, and everything that will ever be.

Direct experience of this sensation gives one a sense of grace, of calm…transcending the storms and limitations of our physical existence…

One Important Lesson To Kick Off 2016

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Careful How You Compare Yourself…

We compare ourselves to others, often automatically and somewhat subconsciously. We compare looks, our happiness, financial success, professional success, accomplishments, social status, material goods, physical abilities, family, friends, children, and their accomplishments… and 1000 other aspects of our lives – anything that can be associated or attributed to something considered ‘part’ of us, or ‘related’ to us in some way.

This sizing up of ourselves has a very useful purpose. In the business world, knowing one’s competition allows for strategic marketing, and possibly creating a solution that is not provided by your competition. In a physical conflict, it allows one to avoid violent encounters that would otherwise prove likely to be deadly or injurious if we are clearly outmatched by our rival (while seeming irrelevant for many, unfortunately this is a very real subject for many youths, and adults, all around the world – sometimes on a daily basis).

This somewhat automatic act of comparing ourselves to others has evolved from a very real need for survival… much like fear (something I wrote similarly of in Stop Living by Fear.

However, much like fear being useful as well as limiting, self-comparison can also be limiting and harmful when out of balance. In today’s world it is more difficult than ever to see things clearly. Social media, marketing, cosmetic surgery, airbrushing and editing of photography, movies and television shows…our perception of reality is very skewed. Comparing ourselves can sometimes lead to negative patterns of thinking, behavioral disorders, and a severely limited life (entirely self-imposed).

Much has been written similar topics – so I want to focus on two very clear points:

Our knowledge of someone else’s full life experience is always incomplete

We judge our full selves against someone else’s incomplete external image

Our knowledge of someone else’s full life experience is always incomplete

Think about the fact that we often compare aspects of our lives in isolation. We compare our weight or fitness to that of others, yet we don’t compare our full lives. The other person may be dedicating so much of their life to fitness that they have sacrificed their personal relationships, time with their children, and success in their career (and these may be things that for you are amazing). Or, perhaps someone else has an amazing career, but doesn’t have the wonderful kids you have… or vice versa (notice neither is better or worse, but is simply the results of your choices in life and each has their merits).
With social media, our images of others are primarily based on what they want to represent as their lives. We inherently share and celebrate our victories and successes, and quietly hide or move past our defeats and challenges – usually not wanting anyone else to know. So when others see us, and when we see others, the picture is NEVER complete.

We judge our full selves against someone else’s incomplete external image

This is where our ‘automatic’ act of comparing of ourselves to others can lead to problems if we are not present and aware that what we ‘know’ about someone else is grossly incomplete. If we are attempting to start a new business, and we’re comparing ourselves to someone else that has an immensely successful business, we may feel that we can never be as good / successful / famous / respected (insert any adjective you like here). But what we don’t see is the 10 failures they had while creating their success. We don’t see the way they were when they were just starting out – when they had the same insecurities that you have now. We don’t see all their flaws, mistakes, misjudgments, insecurities. We only see where they are now – not how they got there.

There is a VERY different feeling of possibility when one can see that they too can do what someone else has done. Sometimes it’s not all about self-confidence, or self-esteem, but simply knowing that you and they are truly much more alike than you realize…That they too were once just like you, with the same dreams, doubts, and a very unique set of talents, thoughts, and abilities.

The truth is we all have something amazing to offer this world. We are all human, we all have unique talents, as well as doubts and insecurities. Everyone gets tired sometimes. Everyone feels doubts, fears, and sometimes needs a helping hand, and maybe a kind word or gentle guidance from someone that has been there and done that.

So as you go through this coming year in 2016, set your goals high, and don’t limit yourself. You don’t have to know how you’re going to get there, just know that you will and start moving in the right direction. When you see someone whom you may put on some form of a pedestal, try to imagine them when they were just starting out…try to view their whole person. Then learn from what others have done, but don’t worry about who’s in front or behind you… just keep moving forward toward your dreams and you’ll be amazed with what begins to happen in your life

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Be Happy…Now! :D

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Almost everyone is waiting for something to happen… Waiting to reach some goal to be happy. Waiting to find the right person, save enough money for a house, pay down debt… Too often happiness is always around the corner… or, a more accurate metaphor, at the end of the rainbow.

Happiness is a simple conscious choice – and does not depend on your current situation or circumstances. As soon as you base your happiness on anything outside of your own self, it slips through your fingers and is gone. If you reminisce on happy events from the past, you’ve lost the happiness of the moment. You only feel the “missing” of the happy moments of the past that are gone. If you are waiting for some state of life (graduate, new job, pay down debt, waiting to “get” something or “have” someone in your life), then you are in a position of wanting something to happen…waiting for it to happen…putting your happiness on hold. You are again feeling things from a position of lack – living without happiness because it lies in the future. What’s more, the moment you had been waiting for, should it arrive, will at some point be gone. The happiness that was once coming in the future will be gone in the past…again leaving you empty. The answer is that happiness is already within you… here…now.

Happiness is an emotional feeling that comes from within yourself, and is not dependent on anyone else’s opinion of you, does not need anyone else’s approval, and does not depend on luck or current circumstances in any way… Happiness is an enjoyment of life – feeling in the moment… feeling connected, feeling alive… There are wonderful experiences and there are terrible experiences, and everything in between…but you are alive and there is an immense and wonderful appreciation that can be had for all things you experience in life… experiences that make you into the person you have become, that have given you the energy to be and do and create… to live and enjoy life.

A very simple metaphor that I like to use is to think of what makes a great movie great….There is no movie that I’ve ever seen where everything happens perfectly…goes exactly as planned…Where everything works out and nothing bad ever happens. Nobody on this planet would sit through the first 10 minutes. But cliffhangers… drama… action… excitement…love…loss…everything from tragedies to tearjerking romances…. THAT is what grabs us. THAT is what makes for an interesting experience that keeps us on the edge of our seats. Seeing the main character work through the lulls and depressed states, cope with inevitable losses, face challenges, overcome the odds….If that is what makes for a great movie, why would we want anything less for our lives?

Your Higher Level!

Find your HIGHER LEVEL, and LIVE IT!