What is Enlightenment?This is the elusive state of bliss that is the goal of most modern day spiritual seekers.It goes by many other names such as Awakening,Self or God realization,being saved,knowing your true nature and the list goes on.We all hear the stories of the Yogi who chanted Mantras for thirty years and finally reached the perfect state of enlightenment or the Zen monk who meditated his way to Nirvana,but is all this necessary?
Enlightenment itself can become the very obstacle blocking one from its bounty.We get so caught up in going after objects or reaching goals it puts in the "chasing our tail" mode.We get an idea of what Enlightenment should be,turn it into an object and so starts our journey toward it.This is what makes Enlightenment so difficult for us,never noticing the Samaric circular spin of life.We feel incomplete so we latch on to an idea of what will make us whole,it doesnt matter what is a new car,getting married,wealth or Enlightenment,then we go after it.What happens is we either dont obtain it,or we do and it loses it ability to sustain our happiness and we move on to the next goal or object,always bringing us back to the beginning.
When we can observe our conditioned behaviors we get a foot in the door.Look into the very nature of why we do things,our thoughts,our emotions and start we to see the illusion of it all.We do this by going inside ourselves,our body is the Temple and our heart is our Guru.Enlightenment is "achieved" when we peel away all the layers of illusion until there is only Awareness left.Awareness is your true nature,this is Enlightenment.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
Relationships - Controlling Emotions Spirituality Awareness Oneness
In our intimate relationships our emotions can become the driving force behind conflict with our significant other.Sometimes it seems to be almost impossible to stop the powerful and momentous force that are our emotions.In this blog we will break down the process that leads to the conflict driven by emotion and learn a new technique that will help us gain some control over our emotions.
There is a simple process that leads to conflict,it always seems to follow this four step pattern.
1.A Thought
2.A Story
3.An Emotion
4.A Reaction
Lets set up a hypothetical situation for example,lets say I asked my significant other to clean the house before she left for work.I come home,the house is not clean and I get upset which results in an argument. Lets break this down.A thought arises,"she didnt clean the house" which leads to a story,"why does she do this?,this is so typical,when is she going to grow up?"The story creates an emotion,in this case its anger,The anger is the driving force that creates the reaction.When we can witness this process in our own relationship based conflicts then we have an opportunity to not let it escalate into a conflict.
A technique that I was taught is to detach the "story" from the "emotion" and meet the bare emotion head on.We let go of the story of what upset us,stop the mental dialogue that is reminding us of the cause of the emotion and sit naked with the emotion,which in this case is anger.When we meet this emotion free of its reasoning,it ceases to exist,Every emotion will disappear when we detach the story of its cause,now we can see its illusory nature.
Noticing this process and using this technique is a powerful tool we now can use to create more Peace and well being in our relationships and life in general.I recommend that you and your significant other practice this technique and I promise you will notice a big difference in the amount of conflict in the relationship.Namaste,much Love!
There is a simple process that leads to conflict,it always seems to follow this four step pattern.
1.A Thought
2.A Story
3.An Emotion
4.A Reaction
Lets set up a hypothetical situation for example,lets say I asked my significant other to clean the house before she left for work.I come home,the house is not clean and I get upset which results in an argument. Lets break this down.A thought arises,"she didnt clean the house" which leads to a story,"why does she do this?,this is so typical,when is she going to grow up?"The story creates an emotion,in this case its anger,The anger is the driving force that creates the reaction.When we can witness this process in our own relationship based conflicts then we have an opportunity to not let it escalate into a conflict.
A technique that I was taught is to detach the "story" from the "emotion" and meet the bare emotion head on.We let go of the story of what upset us,stop the mental dialogue that is reminding us of the cause of the emotion and sit naked with the emotion,which in this case is anger.When we meet this emotion free of its reasoning,it ceases to exist,Every emotion will disappear when we detach the story of its cause,now we can see its illusory nature.
Noticing this process and using this technique is a powerful tool we now can use to create more Peace and well being in our relationships and life in general.I recommend that you and your significant other practice this technique and I promise you will notice a big difference in the amount of conflict in the relationship.Namaste,much Love!
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Spirituality-Becoming a Slave to labels.
Why do us as human beings assign labels to individuals in our lives?This is a question I pondered on quite a while,I noticed that even I naturally labeled people in my life that I felt worthy of the title I was bestowing upon them.It seems to be almost hardwired into the psyche of the human to conceptualize objects.The labels come in many Husband,Sister,Neighbor,Friend,etc..They can become our identities,we wear many of these on an individual level,becoming a slave to them.
Let's use "friend" as an example,when we ask someone to be a friend what are we asking them?We are asking them to conform to our Ideological standard of that label,causing the individual to change you they naturally are. If one does not adhere to our idea of the label,it causes suffering for both.We are asking someone to be something they are not.
Our opinion of what a "friend" is depends on our conditioning and past experiences.My idea of what's a friend is different than your idea,different than anyone's.Though some of the qualities can be the same,we each have our own individual idea of what a "friend" should be.We expect others to take on our beliefs,as if they are Law,making them Slaves to our concepts.
Giving up the labeling of others as well as labeling ourselves,gives each of us the opportunity to experience a freedom that cant be identified by any label.When we take a moment to stop the labeling,we can experience this freedom as the truth of your own Being.Namaste.
Let's use "friend" as an example,when we ask someone to be a friend what are we asking them?We are asking them to conform to our Ideological standard of that label,causing the individual to change you they naturally are. If one does not adhere to our idea of the label,it causes suffering for both.We are asking someone to be something they are not.
Our opinion of what a "friend" is depends on our conditioning and past experiences.My idea of what's a friend is different than your idea,different than anyone's.Though some of the qualities can be the same,we each have our own individual idea of what a "friend" should be.We expect others to take on our beliefs,as if they are Law,making them Slaves to our concepts.
Giving up the labeling of others as well as labeling ourselves,gives each of us the opportunity to experience a freedom that cant be identified by any label.When we take a moment to stop the labeling,we can experience this freedom as the truth of your own Being.Namaste.
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