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Spirituality Archives - Page 2 of 6 - Self-Help, Spirituality & Self-Esteem

Spirituality

The Importance of Being Honest, Spiritual Growth, Telling The Truth

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The Importance Of Being Honest

The importance of being honest cannot be over-stated. Being grateful is a very powerful spiritual growth attitude but wise people also know being honest is extremely powerful.

It is extraordinary how much we lie. Being honest and displaying honesty is something that we somehow hold as scary.  We lie to others and to ourselves.

We don’t always set out and plan this but if you investigated and watched your-self you will see you hardly ever tell it like it is for you.

Why are you afraid to let others know what is there for you? Why is it scary to admit, even to yourself, the truth of your experience?

Here is a short video of Peter Ralston talking about the importance of being honest.

We hold it that some things are acceptable and some are not. We split the world into two sections and are OK about revealing an idea, emotion, belief or desire that we are fairly confident will be agreed with or acceptable.

However, when it comes to being honest about something that is in our experience that may bring shame or isolation, we quickly make that not OK.

All this to uphold the persona and image you mistakenly believe you are and most importantly keep that image loved or try to ensure you are loved.

You learned to withhold honesty and it carries on today. The importance of being honest is not obvious.  What do you think that does to your sense of self and being OK knowing deep down that you have to lie?

Enlightenment Intensive

Charles Berner created the Enlightenment Intensive, which has been successful and popular since the 1960’s amongst people seeking a direct experience of their true nature.

His technique is a retreat, typically three days where the majority of waking hours are sat opposite another person, communicating to them the honest truth of what is there for you now in this moment.

It is a rare chance to communicate what is there for you, now, in this moment, arising in your awareness. This is powerful.

It is powerful because for one it is a safe and validating experience.  The partner is not to give feedback, no nods or utterances or facial gestures, just plain listening and being present for the one speaking.

John Powell in his book Why Am I Afraid To Tell You Who I Am? says ‘Honesty about our emotions, understanding of the roles we adopt to defend the fragile ego, recognition of the games we play with each
other to avoid love – these are the first steps towards a new and richer life.’

The importance of being honest is because through honesty you become more integrated and accepting of yourself. Then, depending on your level of commitment and desire to know the truth, through contemplation
and meditation it can lead you to some profound realizations about the nature of being human.

John Powell again ‘I am afraid to tell you who I am because, if I do, you may not like me.’

Be honest primarily with yourself.

A powerful first step is to resolve to understand yourself and the roles, games and manipulations you employ to keep others liking you.

Even when you do these manipulations, do them with full impartial awareness. Watch yourself do them and just notice. Then at least you are realizing the importance of being honest with your-self.

Don’t put extra guilt and shame on top, just watch like a scientist observing the way your world works.

Bring ever-increasing awareness and honesty to your life and practice being honest.

It all starts with honesty, perhaps even before this is admitting responsibility for everything in your experience of life.

However, being honest and telling the truth as much as possible, no matter the discomfort or how it makes you temporarily feel, will start transforming your life rapidly. Then whenever you are not honest you will remember the importance of being honest.

The Four Agreements Book, Don Miguel Ruiz, Toltec Wisdom

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The Four Agreements Book

The four agreements book comes out of ancient Toltec wisdom that originated in Southern Mexico.

Who Wrote It?

Don Miguel Ruiz was born in 1952 and raised in Mexico amongst a family that had a long line of healers and teachers of Toltec wisdom.  Toltec refers to a collection of people who practiced a way of life and shared common insight into wisdom and knowledge of life in Southern Mexico thousands of years ago.

When Was It Written?

He completed and had the book published in 1997.  In 1987 he began healing practices but began to see that he preferred teaching to healing.  Teaching is more about empowering people to discover themselves what is true, and I fully understand and share his preference in this regard.

I first heard of the book by a fellow retreat attendee in 2005, Napa Valley, California.

What Is The Four Agreements Book About?

  • Most everything that this website is about.  Integrity, honesty, authenticity, personal responsibility for your thoughts, words and actions.
  • Ruiz also writes about noticing just how much we assume is true.  We assume we know how other people feel and think and we are almost always completely wrong.
  • Developing unshakable personal power in the face of other people’s words and behaviour.  Know that other people have a lot of stuff going on and the way they behave towards you is not your responsibility.  You are responsible and empowered about how you behave in return though.  Hint: next time you have a confrontation or situation where you need someone else’s cooperation, quietly say to yourself with your attention on them ‘I love you’ repeatedly.

This technique is amazing and I use it a lot!  In quick time you notice the other person’s attitude change, all because you have changed your energy.  As one of my teachers used to say ‘you must go first’.

  • Either do your best or allow yourself to move onto something where you can do your best.  There are no rules about what you must be good at doing, what you must enjoy or when you should do it.  If you want to do something or it needs to be done and you can then do it.  Otherwise don’t do it.

Across all the teachings and all the ancient wisdom of the world through to modern day psychologists and spiritual teachers, no one says anything new.

Some teachers or some traditions will present and explain the knowledge in a way that resonates with you and helps you transform the way you live.  Your job is to keep seeking and following what comes into your awareness and apply it in your life if it feels right for you.

At the right time the right books, workshops and opportunities will present themselves to you.  The Four Agreements book has been a best seller for many years.  The way you live your life; your attitudes towards yourself and others, is a major determinant of your experience of life.  This book is a great place to start.

The Enlightenment Process

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The Enlightenment Process

That You Are On Now

Wake up to the enlightenment process, which is available to everyone who wants it. 

Many people don’t have any knowing of who they are, they are living inauthentic lives and pretending. 

Is finding instantaneous enlightenment something you desire?  Do you wish you could somehow take who you are; your history and story and particular circumstances and change it?

Then you would be happy and peaceful right?

If you took some time to think and examine this it might strike you as absurd.

Firstly, it is the way it is and secondly why do you have to judge the way it is as wrong or a mistake?

Part of the enlightenment process is being OK with the perfection of this moment.

That isn’t to say it is your first choice preference.  How could this moment always be everyone’s first choice preference?  It can’t.

This enlightenment, or knowing of your essence, may be what you are truly looking for instead of that powerful work position, status, wealth or achievement that you think is the bearer of the contentment and enjoyment of life you seek.

In any given moment you are as you are.  You have strengths and weaknesses, times to shine, times to sit and let others shine.

Simply observe and acknowledge and say yes to what you experience whether you like it or not.

When you look at the judging that goes on you will see comparisons with others.  You will see expectations you place on yourself to live up to someone else’s beauty, charm, wit, intelligence, profession and the list goes on.

So in that moment you have created your own suffering.  You have created your own suffering by not accepting things as they are.

If you are not a fast runner, accept it.  If you are not a beauty, accept that too.  Although in the game of comparisons you will be more beautiful or faster than some.

Say ‘yes I am this’ and ‘yes I am not that’.  So what!

Part of seeing the oneness and the seeing the enlightenment process is to see that everything is as it is and to accept it as ‘not for me to determine this is wrong’.

Resistance alienates you from an awareness of your authentic self and with this you feel alone, separate, anxious and inferior in a big world.

It is easier for you to look outwards and pick people or a situation as the cause of your feelings.  You will point to the fact that you are single and say ah! it is because I don’t have a partner that I feel lonely.

Or you will say in your mind, ‘my husband doesn’t love me enough, which is why I feel lost and alone’.  Or you will pick on your children or your profession or something, anything to blame for your feeling.

This is easier and more normal for the mind to do than look inwards and ask ‘what are my feelings about and how am I creating them or making them worse?’

Really looking inwards and becoming more aware of how you are doing your life experience is the opening to creating some space between you and your world.  This is the meaning of, and the process of enlightenment.

That space is comforting and fulfilling.  The space between the non-judgmental observation of the world and the world is where the enlightenment process is remembered.

You are OK in that space; you have always had that space, you are that space.

You create space by dropping expectations.

You create space by dropping comparisons.

You create space by observing expectations and comparisons and letting it be OK that your mind has created some.

You are not your mind, you are not your thoughts and you are not your self-image.  You have these but you are not them.

You can let them play like children.  You accept you can’t get rid of them and you cease trying.  You watch them play their games while you abide in that space where there is peace and contentment.

You see there is something bigger than ‘you’.  You surrender and give up trying to make yourself happy.

You simply be happy and enlightened now.  This is the enlightenment process and the meaning of instantaneous enlightenment.

Teach Me How To Pray, How To Pray Effectively

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Teach Me How To Pray

How Do I Know What To Pray For?

If you are searching for ‘teach me how to pray’ or ‘how to pray effectively’ the most important point I have found is that asking must be done from the heart.

What Sort Of Things Do I Say?

Pick something you would like to experience and ask that you experience it.  This is a great way to practice being integral, authentic and honest.  It is a perfect opportunity for you to notice how much of a challenge it is to put your truth into words.

You can begin by saying ‘I ask that…’.

The clearer you can get on what it is you are asking the better you will feel about what you are saying.

Things To Watch Out For

  1. Make sure you say what it is you want to experience and not what you don’t want to experience.  For example don’t ask for less anxiety but ask for inner peace instead.
  2. Not letting go, not trusting.  The paradox here is that by asking you imply       that you have at least a little faith that you are connected to something bigger and more expansive yet by not letting go and trusting you imply that you don’t have faith.
  3. Having specific expectations.  It is impossible to know exactly why things happen to us the way they do or why we find some area of life a breeze but are clueless in another.  Therefore, expectations that outcomes should look a certain way or your path to fulfillment and success must look a certain way and holding on to these expectations can hold you back.
  4. Asking for something from your head and not your heart.  Your conscious mind and its ideas are not designed to know what it is you really want.  Ideas in the mind usually come from
    clever marketing and advertising to make you think having certain goods is the way to happiness.  You can ask for possessions but be clear that receiving them won’t make you feel OK for any longer than about 3 days.  Then the mind will set its sights on the next expensive thing, much to the advertisers delight.

I hope this goes someway to helping you if you have been searching for ‘teach me how to pray’ or how to pray effectively.

Spiritual Retreats For Women, Healing Retreats, Detox, Yoga, Weight Loss

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Spiritual Retreats For Women

Why Go On A Spiritual Retreat?

Spiritual retreats for women are a chance to rediscover who you really are.  Women are often more prone to forgetting themselves and making other’s more important.  Then one day they realise that they have no idea who they are or what they actually want.

A retreat is a chance to turn your attention back on yourself for a few days.  It is a chance to nourish your soul and remember what it was you dreamed of as a little girl but since forgot.  They can be healing retreats or yoga holidays or even a weight loss retreat or detox retreat.

It could involve learning techniques such as yoga, mediation or breathing exercises.  It could be a combination of any type of activities such as drawing, writing, contemplating or dancing.  You will know before you go what will be involved.

Attention

You know how good it feels when you have attention from other people don’t you?  That is assuming you desire their attention of course.  Everything in nature loves attention and that includes your inner-self receiving YOUR attention.  Your inner self is likely starved of your own attention and kindness.  It is very healing and empowering to nourish your soul in this way and can open up blocked channels of creativity and insight.

Where Are They Held?

Somewhere still, silent and away from the modern world.  Natural, peaceful surroundings is the normal location.  Their will be minimal distractions so you can reconnect to nature and your spiritual self.  The days events will be mostly organised for you, including free time to sit, walk or talk.  Your meals will be prepared so you can turn your attention back on yourself.

Who Else Will Be There?

You are not the first person to go on a retreat, there are many others like you.  Some people will have been on a previous retreat, some people go on retreats often because spiritual growth and self-discovery is their hobby.

Everyone starts somewhere but the beauty is that everyone will be on a similar path and the connection and compassion for each other on a retreat makes it what it is.

What A Retreat Is Not!

It is absolutely not about…

  • being told what to believe
  • being made to wear anything
  • twelve hours a day chanting while staring at a candle (unless you know this in advance)
  • joining up to anything

If any of these things happen or are asked of you then you can be sure it is not the right thing for you.  A spiritual retreat is about self-empowerment and discovering your truth and your spiritual self.  For that to happen you need to be free from restriction and other people’s ideas.

If you are hosting spiritual retreats for women and would like to contact me to advertise or list on this page then please feel free to do so.

Spiritual Growth, What Is Spirituality?

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What Is Spiritual Growth?

What is spiritual growth? There is a perfectly good reason that the word spirituality does not make immediate sense to everyone, and that reason is because apprehending spirituality is outside of intellectual grasping; it can only be known truly by direct awareness, or direct experience, of Self.

To attain enlightenment we need both direct experience and understanding.  But it is important that the experience comes first and the explanation or the knowledge comes afterward. – Deepak Chopra.

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Spiritual Surrender

What is spiritual surrender? Often we think we need to plan and think out each moment. Learn to give up trying to control and amazing things begin to happen. Bring awareness to how often you wish to control this moment… Read More

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What Is Consciousness?

What is consciousness? At each level of consciousness you know yourself and the world differently. As you move up the levels you become less identified with the content of your life.  Dr David Hawkins has written extensively on the levels of consciousness and the different experiences one has as a human being at each stage… Read More

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A Matter Of Trust

When you trust that there is some path you are on or some unforeseen unfolding to your life, you can live with more peace and purpose.  Ok so I am not so sure Billy Joel is talking about anything more
than the struggles of learning to trust in a romantic relationship, but I like the words in the context of aligning yourself with the way that brings more inner peace… Read More

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Practice Of Contemplation

A very powerful technique is the practice of contemplation. Some might call it navel gazing but these people probably don’t understand how or why this discipline can change your life… Read More

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The Enlightenment Process

Wake up to the enlightenment process, which is available to everyone who wants it.  Many people don’t have any knowing of who they are, they are living inauthentic lives and pretending.  Is finding instantaneous enlightenment something you desire?  Do you wish you could somehow take who you are – your history, story and particular circumstances – and change it? Read More

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The Importance Of Being Honest

The importance of being honest cannot be over-stated. Being grateful is a very powerful spiritual growth attitude but wise people also know being honest is extremely powerful.  It is extraordinary how much we lie. Being honest and displaying honesty is something that we somehow hold as scary.  We lie to others and to ourselves… Read More

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The Illusion Of Being Separate

One massive assumption we make while living this separate life is to assume we are over here and all that is over there.  Being separate, or at least living like you are, is lonely and difficult. The alternative is to notice some assumptions… Read More

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Spiritual Fitness Training

If you have ever reached a reasonable level of physical fitness you know that you can do more activity in your life without feeling overwhelmed and beyond your threshold.  Likewise with spiritual fitness, when you have trained your attitude and way of thinking and relating to the world, you are able to stay calm, relaxed and at inner peace no matter what may come… Read More

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What Is Truth?

What do we mean by Truth? Are we talking about they way you think you and the world are in each moment? Are we talking about judgments such as it was bad to fly a plane into a building? When we talk about Truth it is wise to begin by forgetting about everything you know and ask yourself what would be still here if I had a different life story… Read More
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Teach Me How To Pray

If you are searching for ‘teach me how to pray’ or ‘how to pray effectively’ the most important point I have found is that asking must be done from the heart.  Pick something you would like to
experience and ask that you experience it.  This is a great way to practice being integral, authentic and honest.  It is a perfect opportunity for you to notice how much of a challenge it is to put your truth into words… Read More

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Signs Of Spiritual Awakening

Awakening is funny. In fact those that experience early signs of spiritual awakening often find it hilarious, and so it was with me.  I was new to the world of self help and had no concept or experience of spiritual growth. In fact ironically I booked to go on a workshop that I thought was going to make me understand more about others and how to get them to align with me. In short, I wanted more power… Read More

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Spiritual Fitness Training, Developing Self-Esteem, Finding Inner Strength, Self-Confidence

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Spiritual Fitness Training Empowers You

What Is Spiritual Fitness Training?

If you have ever reached a reasonable level of physical fitness you know that you can do more activity in your life without feeling overwhelmed and beyond your threshold.

Likewise with spiritual fitness, when you have trained your attitude and way of thinking and relating to the world, you are able to stay calm, relaxed and at inner peace no matter what may come.

Is It About Doing Weird Practices?

No not at all.  This is about finding inner strength.  It is about realising that within you there is the ability to be calm and forgiving and loving and compassionate no matter what the circumstances.

It is within you already but it is obscured by the way you think of yourself and the world.

What Are The Benefits?

Apart from developing self-esteem and feeling that you are connected and meaningful it is about rediscovering the truth of who you really are.  The way you feel about yourself and life, and how effective you are at living a meaningful life is determined by they way you think about yourself and life.

How Do I Develop It?

  • Be honest.  Stop pretending.  When you speak let the breath that starts from your abdomen arise up through your centre and push the words out.  The breath carries the words like a surfer on a wave, except the words and the breath are one.  When you do this you are speaking from your truth, your gut, your experience.
  • Realise that you are not in control and trust that it is OK.  Have faith, let go of trying to understand because you never will.  Turn it all over to a higher power.
  • Pray, or at least ask for what you feel in your gut.  Discern between what you imagine you want and what you actually want.  The ego will tell you what to want based on greed and fear, your gut will tell you what you really want deeply to feel fulfilled.

When Should I Do This?

This is about being real and therefore being empowered to live a life without overwhelm.  It is to be done as much as you can.  It is about living your life this way.  The alternative is to stay stuck feeling alone and isolated and unworthy.  

Spiritual fitness training is really about living aligned with the truth of your true nature.  Integrity, truth and trust.

Signs of Spiritual Awakening, Peter Ralston, Enlightenment

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Signs Of Spiritual Awakening

Are Sometimes Funny

Awakening is funny. In fact those that experience early signs of spiritual awakening often find it hilarious, and so it was with me.

I was new to the world of self help and had no concept or experience of spiritual growth. In fact ironically I booked to go on a workshop that I thought was going to make me understand more about others and how to get them to align with me. In short, I wanted more power.

So there I was flying half way around the world to attend a workshop on something I didn’t know anything about and I hadn’t even heard the name of the workshop before!

Peter Ralston was running a month-long retreat, the first week of which was entitled an Ontology Workshop, or Experience the Nature of Being

Peter started introducing me and 15 others to the possibility that what we assume is real can be challenged and seen as simply an idea held firmly by the mind.

Throughout the eight days we confronted and challenged a lot. I hated it and was counting down the hours. I didn’t hate the workshop or the teacher or the environment or theother participants but something inside felt confronted and was screaming to go. About half way through the workshop Peter quoted somebody which had a profound impact on me.

Who Am I?

He said if you can hold the question Who am I? in your awareness for three days, the same way a feather would gently sink and sway to the bottom of a lake, you will be enlightened. The last one and a half days of the workshop were to contemplate such a question.

The workshop finished and I left Texas to head for San Francisco. I continued to contemplate Who am I?. On the ride to the airport, at the airport, in the plane, at the hotel, that afternoon, that evening, right up until dropping off to sleep. As soon as I woke there the question was again, and I held it in my awareness until later that morning when the three days were up. Nothing had changed and nothing happened. Oh well, I will just have to try again some other time. Maybe this is more difficult than I thought.

But I do remember reading about Peter’s experience. He held the question for three days and then let the question go and carried on with his life. That is when he got the direct experience of reality. So, remembering that, I happily let go and enjoyed my week in that great city San Francisco. At the end of the week I was heading to Napa Valley, California for another eight-day retreat. This was just as intense and challenging as Peter’s workshop but in a different way. If we weren’t crying we were laughing for eight days straight as we challenged our childhood patterns and beliefs.

The second-to-last morning we were doing a very intense exercise involving confronting everything that we were frustrated, angry and annoyed with about ourselves. This was a dark-side confrontation letting loose with mallets and cushions and a lot of yelling, swearing and intensity. Then suddenly without warning, maybe half way through this 40 minute exercise I changed from bashing to giggling and laughing.

I was awakening. This was one of the very definite signs of spiritual awakening. I was aware of who I am. The one that I thought I was split into two so to speak. The one I always thought I was was still there but now there was another me; the real me. It was hilarious.

How could I have been so blind? How could I have been fooled into thinking I was my inner voice? My story? So this is what awakening is! After a few minutes of laughing while everyone else was still swearing and bashing, I suddenly had the urge to take out the frustration at being tricked.

I gladly resumed bashing but this time I was empowered. I knew I could never suffer again. Nothing had quite the same importance, nothing meant so much about me, I had less to defend. I could simply be who I was and be OK.

The Separate Illusion

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The Illusion Of Being Separate

One massive assumption we make while living this separate life is to assume we are over here and all that is over there.

Being separate, or at least living like you are, is lonely and difficult. The alternative is to notice some assumptions and ways of seeing the world which perhaps are a bit more real.

What do I mean? Well, for starters have a look around and try and find something in the world that you perceive which is not in your awareness.

Pretty silly statement but if you look and notice that your world and the objects in it including other people are experienced within your perception, then it might change the way you think of yourself and your world.

We assume we are separate and exclusive and the world is happening completely outside of us.

The habit of pretending that there really is a tree over there and it is very green and tall will be automatic and beyond your conscious control in each moment.

A baby wouldn’t look at the tree and call it a tree and green and tall. A baby might not think anything. A baby probably just notices and doesn’t make the distinction of me here and tree over there separate.

However, learning these labels and sounds doesn’t change what is actually there. The labels don’t make it a tall, green tree. It just is as it is.

What use is this? What use is it to challenge the notion that you are
separate?

Well for starters it is the truth. The truth doesn’t need to be of any use, it doesn’t care, it just is.  Sort of like saying what use is it to be aware of gravity.

Secondly, seeing the world in this way brings a unity where you and the tree are together. 

Sure when you stand and look it still appears as if that tree is over there and it certainly seems to hold a location that is different to you, but you can let it be what it is before it is labeled tree.

Likewise, other human beings are just as they are in each moment.

Whenever you label someone, judge them or mentally hold them in some way other than as another conscious being, aren’t you the one adding all that extra stuff to them?

What if you looked at the body and the life that moves the body and saw fundamentally that is all that is there? You might find a together-ness that you have never felt before. You might find you feel part of something bigger and more awesome than you originally thought.

Sit alone and watch any life form. In the past I would wish seagulls would go away, now I sit and watch and just let them be seagulls. Flies are just being flies, cockroaches are just being cockroaches.
Although, that doesn’t mean you won’t protect your survival needs around them by defending your food, water, shelter or body but apart from that you can work to drop the extra stuff you place on top of just noticing them.

More importantly for us is to learn to do this with others. This is more difficult as the pull to be a me and you be a you is strong when we are interacting.

Practice seeing the Being and be curious about their experience as you listen. See if you can see how much you are assuming when you look out your eyes at the world.

With people you know well you will drop into an assumption about them based on how they have been for you in the past. With people you don’t know you will drop into an assumption about them based on your prejudices and projections.

Let go, surrender, notice that they exist within your experience and let them be them.

We have a strong tendency to hold ourselves as separate and exclusive. Seeing the world play out within and watching from the space you create will make you and others feel connected and part of the whole event of life.

Self-Love, Loving

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How To Have Self-Love

What do we mean when we talk of self-love? At some level of awareness we could be talking about feeling worthy, liking being you, or feeling there is nothing to change.

On another level of awareness it could mean really stopping to notice that you have never challenged (asked/sought an answer) the fact that you are doing this thing called living but you have no knowing of what that is.

Self-love for me is experiencing ever increasing amounts of wonder and joy at my own existence.

By really stopping and noticing that I exist and challenging the mind to stay with me it brings amazement, wonder, self-love and a humbleness that is hard to replicate in the world of things.

I mean really realize like you realize you have never actually noticed before. 

A letting go happens that allows you to not care so much about this identity and self image you have been carrying around. The image will still be there to an extent, but the identification with the image as ‘who you are’ will loosen.

As you sit there, see if your mind will allow you to consider what would be different if you were born to a different family.

I believe Buddha said ‘that which changes isn’t real and that which is real doesn’t change’. Here he is referring to dropping and letting go believing you are the collection of memories and personality traits and noticing what would be the same even if you had different memories and experiences.

All you will ever need is ‘you’. There is enough to learn and discover and entertain you simply by becoming more and more curious and aware and in awe of ‘you’.

As you discover the truth you will notice more and more that your awareness of your life flows inside outwards rather than outside inwards.

I distinctly remember the first time I owned the whole world. I was walking to work in 2006 and I realized that the whole world was within. Everything I was aware of was happening in my awareness. For there to be something outside of me, I had to be there also.

It was an amazing experience.

To know the trees along the road and the boats on the water out from St Heliers, Auckland as I walked down the hill to work were all ‘within me’ was liberating and empowering.  I distinctly remembering then the new overwhelming feelings of awe, wonder amazement and self-love.

What lead up to this was a lot of contemplation and work but what opened the door was realizing that anything I feel comes from within me.

That is to say anything I feel is my responsibility.  Outside conditions or occurrences do not come prepackaged with feelings. 

Anything I experience is created and experienced within me.  I had not long earlier really understood and seen this in my own experience of life.

You can continue to operate in your old way and survive but if you really want to live a meaningful life, go for the truth. How do you do that? Find out the truth of who and what you are and the way ‘It’ is.

Watch and see yourself do this thing called living and experience self-love, not just as an idea or a function of positive thinking, but as an experience.