Inner Peace: the Beauty of Surrender & learning from The Now

Some words of wisdom, re-organized here, as spoken by Eckhart Tolle, 

All  reactions of the mind are ego-driven
In all reactions there is some opposition

Take the stance of non-reaction
Dissolve karmic activity.

Relinquish the ego
This is the liberation from thought
And from the need to be right or wrong.
Chose to surrender
Become a being of deep peace
~~~
You can learn from your past or present suffering.
Suffering may have been your teacher
From this point on, however, your teacher is whatever form this moment takes

The future cannot hold a greater good than now.
Renounce the future.
You renounce it as a psychological need
when you realize the depth and goodness of now.
The future will be taken away from you so renounce it before that happens.

Find Inner Peace through surrender and the lessons of The Now

Lovely Ellen Sings the Truth

Lovely Ellen lives a life of non-reaction
once long ago possesed by a strong attraction
to the power of self, detached
akin to the Buddha for whom she matched
Again and again
Everything was Zen
eternal life and bliss without an end
Nature's beauty she did befriend


For she is of its truth.


Now she is the power she once had sought

Welcome!

A fruit from Eckhart Tolle ~

Welcome in life.
Surrender into pain, hurt, and discomfort
Welcome in life


Think of a Virgin Mary figure
with open arms
Welcome in your reality


Then with a bear's fierceness
Hug!
and welcome in.

Be more aware

You might notice that your eyes shift to a specific location when you are lost in thought.
In this way you are not really seeing reality with your eyes.


When this happens, try to maintain all your facial and eye muscles as they were (while lost in thought) but shift your attention to the here and now. Observe this new sensation.  


You will feel a state of heightened awareness 
With practice you will be able to harness this state allowing you to utilize it throughout your day.

Buddha's Elder Sister

We admirers called her Buddha's Elder Sister for her wisdom. She said things like 'the rivers of thought all flow into a limitless ocean of consciousness" and "we walk the path of predestination with closed eyes." I liked her for her simplicity. Her mind was beautiful. She didn't seek answers, instead, she was always in the here-and-now. Thus, she was untouched by the pangs of desire that normally besiege us. I learned a lot from her clarity:

I learned that ambition is the Ouroboros of the mind. A dragon that grows by self-cannibalizing does not ever mature. We can be happy with all that we have, marvel over our senses, and appreciate the life we were given. I also learned that feelings are the children of our subconscious mind, usually expressing themselves outside of our control. What brings us pleasure does not necessarily bring us happiness, and it often does not. Sadness differs from grief in that one we can temper with rationalization while the other

SWIM WITH THE WHALES

SWIM WITH THE WHALES

~A song for You, by Joshua and Family

Every time you come to me

With an open heart and free

I receive you

Talk about those things so nice

Sharing thoughts, feelings and life

In the moment

Our spirits soar so high

And we know that we can fly

All together

See the one within our space without the veil

See the beauty in the oneness face to face

We go walking on the land

Swim in the ocean like the whales

And we love it!

Play with Yawa now and then

Chase stars’ Mercedes Benz

With some music

It’s so awesome to be free

Knowing all the mystery

It’s unfolding

You’re my Brother (You're my Sister)

Thank you God, I love you both

I just feel my heart with you

It is fragile like a rose

What a privilege to be your Friend

You’re my Brother (You're my Sister)

See my Father in your eyes

In your words and in your moves

And I love you without rules.

Where freedom begins

Behind every mind

A Buddha blissfully meditates

Outside of time

He patiently waits

When we dream

god awakens

We're irrational machines

Fractured creations

We are

The collective conscience divided

Suffering from

Me-me-itis

Wake up 

the child inside us

Will the fire of compassion 

Get Born Again

Here are a few exercises to greatly improve the quality of your life and your perception of it:

1) Synch your morning wake-up alarm to a praise for being alive. If you have alert messages on your phone's alarm, set the note to read when turning off the alarm to 'I'm so happy to be alive. Today I will change my world' With persistence, you will believe it and you will wake up with a smile

2) On your commute to work, do one of three things:
     a) if you walk, in your mind bless everyone you walk past. You have made a connection with them.
     b) if you take public transport, briefly look at your neighbor. If your eyes meet, smile. If not, shift your glance and keep the mental image of their face in mind for 10 seconds. In this time, ask yourself what it is they want.  Then ask yourself what YOU want. Compare your want with what you think is theirs. Move your eyes to the brother or sister next to you and repeat until your arrival!
    c) If you drive, pay attention to the road and be mindful of your driving :-)

3) At all meals. At all snack-times. At all decaffeinated drink breaks: Meditate on each nutrient that goes into your  mouth.  Think on where it comes from, what it took to get to you from the earth. Savor and appreciate

Mental Research

The Hypothesis:

A start is a beginning, but a beginning starting what?
Maybe its the desire to shift from nothing to something,
If nothing becomes no longer enough?
Is action evolved mental build-up, of an over-loaded mind?
Perhaps the cerebellum is a torrid, flooding riverbank
That natures clean-up crew left behind.
The moment thought transforms to action, a genesis occurs.
Every behavior born from man is a reflection of the psyche
Either controlled by self-awareness, or ejected by unchecked force.

The Reality:

We are accountable for the visible outputs of our personality
The good, the bad, and the ugly manifestations too!
Even if we were not always conducting the neural symphony 

Be

be Wisdom
      be Compassion
Enlightened
     be

A zero footprint existence

Conserve the environment, utilize renewable energy sources, and limit reliance on livestock.  

Go vegan
Use solar, wind, and bio-fuels
Plant trees
Buy organic foods
Reduce, reuse, recycle
Actively participate in conservation measures
      Water, heat, detergent/dish soap
Walk, take public transportation
Switch from printing and book/magazine buying to reading on the computer

Beyond the threshold

On crossing the threshold of self- actualization there are three directions one often takes: 


1) Communication with God
2) The desire to share personal experience with everyone
3) Both 


This is not to say that the above does not happen on the road to finding self.
The  conversations with God tend to pertain to how to interact with the environment in accord with God's will and to give thanks for one's life.

The Joy of impermanence

Accept the loss of everything held dear to you. 
Experience the joy of relinquishing attachments
Absolve anxiety by being aware of the ephemeral nature of existence. 

Jesus Christ sumed up his Sermon on the Mount

Be perfect as God is perfect

Perfection is about mindfulness, moral and ethical acumen, finding peace-externally and internally, and finding intrinsic reward for doing whats right. 

Exercise for heightened awareness

A way to increase mindfulness:

Record/note your thoughts -- 1) Do a 15-30 sec observation of your thoughts

                                             2) Capture those thoughts on voice recorder, notepad

                                             3) Reflect on your notes

                                             4) Repeat steps 1-3 until you reach complete awareness

                                             5) Note/sense the duration of your silent mind

Repetition of this exercise will allow you to extend the duration of this awareness and stillness of mind.