As my life changes, I become aware and realize my own truth along the path. No one can do this for me. I ask myself what I know is true. Although I seek out and listen to teachers of truth, I must search my own soul to know what is true. Pursuing awareness and truth, I manifest joy in my life, and to the joy.
I’ve decided it is time to move my life to the next level of accomplishment. I will need to stay focused and firm.
I must endure the turbulence of change in order to grow.
I will not succumb to my fears and troubles.
I must move to the next level, changing my life habits because:
1. I have not yet tapped into the talents god has blessed me with.
2. I want to leave something more for my children and mankind.
3. I want to live life rather than let gods blessing pass me by.
4. I want to do what brings me joy.
5. I want to fully discover my nature, my life force.
06302009
Calmness is joyful.
I am calmed as I contemplate the long view of life. I reach out and feel god. I realize I am the Universal Mind manifested. As all, I am God manifested. The universe is great.
When my body dies, I will use my experiences to mentor the living.
Master your senses, What you taste and smell, What you see, what you hear. In all things be a master of what you do and say and think. Be free. Are you quiet? Quiet your body. Quiet your mind. By your own efforts waken yourself, watch yourself, and live joyfully. Follow the truth of the way. Reflect upon it. Make it your own. Live it. It will always bring joy.
The following are my thoughts about Church.
Las Lajas Cathedral, Colombia
05292009
I enjoy going to Church. I recommend Church for anyone.
There are many different varieties of Churches.
The greatest lessons taught in Churches are universal truths and apply to all of mankind. The differences I have found in Churches are not universal truths and are easily discovered by the confusion these beliefs generate, so I simply discard and forgive them as errors. Universal truths are not confusing.
I do not go to Church thinking all I hear I will agree with – that is not the purpose. I go to learn.
Learning about God is greatly important to me. My sense of God is heighten when I attend Church.
The size of the Church is not important.
The people who attend, the sermon, the person presenting the sermon, are greatly important.
I have found Churches to be a place were I can go and be with others to talk about God and Good, two great topics.
Churches help me understand my relationship with God and Gods relationship to humanity.
Of all the various Churches I have attended, I haven’t been to a Church I did not like – yet. All the Churches I have attended are working on helping people live joyful lives.
Whatever reasons a person gives for attending a particular Church, in the end, the Churches reason for existence is to help us learn about God (whatever their variety may be).
I hear many people talk about how they do not believe in what Church is all about. Well, I say, keep searching until you find a Church or Churches you find agreeable. You will be better for it.
I currently attend the Unity and Parkside Baptist church in Bakersfield. I enjoy the sermons and the people are very loving.
Of course all Churches are not the same. I primarily follow the teachings of god from Jesus, Budda, and Krishna, so Churches of those basic beliefs I am attracted to, so far.
Better than a hundred years lived apathetic & unenergetic, is one day lived energetic & firm.
As life unfolds, stressful situations arise.
I have control over myself. I decide how to react to challenging situations. I do not allow them to throw me off center. I take them in stride. I am alive! This is gods gift to all.
During meditative prayer, concerns dissipate, answers come, and healing flows freely.
In all of life, one thing leads to another, and all things lead to the one.
One is termed noble for being gentle to all living things, mainly being gentle to ourselves.
Upward and outward, I expand in knowledge, love, abundance, and unity.
I am guided by the will of god and knowledge – the wheel of chance forever chained.
I choose Joy.
Despire is simply an error in thinking. Error is a byproduct of ignorance.
I am the Center of the Universe. Birth-less, Ageless, Deathless – Eternal
When I gently focus my mind, one-pointed, through a regular practice of meditation, I find the supreme glory of the Lord.
When I take the time to thoughtfully contemplate the error in my actions or the actions of others, my emotions diminish. I become forgiving as I learn and understand about the error. Once forgiven, understanding and learning completed, I am free to move to the next moment is my life.
Where there is forgiveness, there is God.
Forgiveness is not something we do for other people. We do it for ourselves to get well and move on.
What I have done wrong or what others have done wrong to me are insignificant compared to the joy I am experiencing now and my next breath, my next thought.
I forgive and experience joy now! My emotions vastly improve as I forgive. With a willingness to forgive others, I also forgive myself. When I am able to completely overcome past hurts, I enjoy life in the present moment. My load is much lighter.
“Forgiveness is the fragrance the Violet sheds upon the heal that has crushed it.” Mark Twain
The following are quotes I have discovered along the way I found interesting, at least in the moment. This list was started when I was 51.
06102009 – FASCINATION/CURIOSITY
In spite of illness, in spite even of the archenemy sorrow, one can remain alive long past the usual date of disintegration if one is unafraid of change, insatiable in intellectual curiosity, interested in big things, and happy in small ways.
In spite of illness, in spite even of the arch-enemy sorrow, one can remain alive long past the usual date of disintegration if one is unafraid of change, insatiable in intellectual curiosity, interested in big things, and happy in small ways.
Worry – To feel uneasy or concerned about something; be troubled.
Friend, worrying is an exercise in brevity. Let it lead us quickly to taking action, learning, and/or planning.
Worrying is part of my nature. I sometimes worry.
Worrying can be useful and correct thinking. Worries are transient thoughts that have, and will, lead me to Learning and/or Planning.
I can learn something new about my nature when I worry during contemplation.
Worrying can be useless and an error in thinking.
Unhealthy worrying exist when worries are no longer a transient thought and thus becomes the topic.
Unhealthy worrying exist when thoughts become chaotic and/or fixed on past and/or future events, or most dreadfully, a non-existent present.
Unhealthy worrying chokes the flow of dynamic thoughts and fixates them on narrow minded non-sense.
Learn to abandon worryings course of thoughts before worries have the potential to create anxiety, before worries even set sail.
Learn from the Past, Plan for the future.
To increase morale, be positive, encouraging, and be soft in our criticism (much softer). Encourage every effort.
“In any situation, if you can breathe through it, you can handle it.”
“Let us move beyond clinging desperately to the one thing we can never have in the present moment: what is not.”
“Everything changes and everything will eventually end.”
“Every life has an arc—however prolonged or truncated—and every soul has a path.”
“Watch your manner of speech if you wish to develop a peaceful state of mind. Start each day by affirming peaceful, contented and happy attitudes and your days will tend to be pleasant and successful.” – Norman Vincent Peale
Here are some fav meditation quotes I’ve discovered on the net or others, like you, have contributed. If you like, I would be happy to add yours. Simply leave a comment. I do not include the persons name who claims to be the originator of a particular quote as this is ego and self needing (you can certainly Google the comment and see if it leads you anywhere).
Meditation Thoughts
Meditation, simply defined, is a way of being aware. It is the happy marriage of doing and being. It lifts the fog of our ordinary lives to reveal what is hidden; it loosens the knot of self-centeredness and opens the heart; it moves us beyond mere concepts to allow for a direct experience of reality. Meditation embodies the way of awakening: both the path and its fruition. From one point of view, it is the means to awakening; from another, it is awakening itself.
It is not enough to practice meditation closing the eyes for an hour. One should examine the mind and eliminate its subtle cravings for the world.
From this point on you really know. This is called the pinnacle of Zen, the sovereignty of Zen. It is also called knowledge of what is knowable; it produces all the various states of meditation, and anoints the heads of all spiritual princes. In all fields of form, sound, fragrance, flavor, feeling, and phenomena, you realize complete perfect enlightenment. Inside and outside are in complete communion, without any obstruction at all.
It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.
In actuality, it is not that everything is impermanent, but that impermanence is the only “thing” that there is.
There is nothing so disobedient as an undisciplined mind, and there is nothing so obedient as a disciplined mind.
The state of awakening is being able to enter at will, the state of consciousness that is most beneficial and desirable for any given circumstance.
What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: Our life is the creation of our mind.
What ever responsibilities you feel you have, the greatest is to develop the understanding of your own mind.
A mental wave is never produced by any thing that has not seen or been heard. so the mind of a man who controls his senses is gradually skilled an is perfectly at peace.
He who experiences the unity of life sees his own Self in all beings, and all beings in his own Self, and looks on everything with an impartial eye.
Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.
The mind is the source of happiness and unhappiness.
To be unmoved by pleasant neutral or unpleasant feelings is not the desired result of the practice of meditation. To be unmoved by pleasant neutral or unpleasant feelings if we chose to do so, is the result of the practice
To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one’s family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one’s own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.
Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill.
The thought manifests as the word. The word manifests as the deed. The deed develops into habit. And the habit hardens into character. So watch the thought and its ways with care. And let it spring from love, born out of concern for all beings.
Meditation brings wisdom; lack of meditation leaves ignorance. Know well what leads you forward and what hold you back, and choose the path that leads to wisdom.
Meditate. Live purely. Be quiet. Do your work with mastery. Like the moon, come out from behind the clouds! Shine.
Look within, thou art one with God.
Words have the power to both destroy and heal. When words are both true and kind, they can change our world.
The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.
One thousand breaths without awareness means nothing, one breath with mindful awareness means liberation form suffering.
If “you want peace” eliminate the You and the want and you will have only “Peace”.
Meditation is the gateway, through which you arrive to the world of freedom.
A free and silent mind is always in meditation.
The attention tends to wander. It tends to flow towards whatever attracts it. Tie your attention with resolve and intent, and do not let it drag you where it wants to.
A calm mind is not disturbed by the waves of thoughts.
Calm the winds of your thoughts, and there will be no waves on the ocean of your mind.
Constant inner peace and serenity can be yours. Take the first step today.
Concentrate on your consciousness and find out what it is. You may be surprised at what you find.
When you manage to rise above your mind through deep meditation, you realize practically what all the seekers have also sought.
Enlightenment cannot be attained, nor forced. It can only happen, when given the opportunity to do so, when obstruction by concepts ceases. It can appear only when it is given a vacant space to appear in. If the “I” is already in occupation, how can enlightenment enter? Let the conceptual “I” vacate and give enlightenment a chance to enter.
To see through the way in which we define our selves, that is the only job we have to do
The approach to it ( Mind, Absolute, Void, Buddha Nature, Enlightenment ) is called the Gateway of the Stillness beyond all Activity. If you wish to understand, know that a sudden comprehension comes when the mind has been purged of all the clutter of conceptual and discriminatory thought-activity. Those who seek the truth by means of the intellect and learning only get further and further away from it. Not till your thoughts cease all their branching here and there, not till you abandon all thoughts of seeking for something, not till your mind is motionless as wood or stone, will you be on the right road to the Gate.
…concepts are related to the senses; and, when feeling takes place, wisdom is shut out.
If, conceiving of the phenomenal world as illusion, we try to shut it out, we make a false distinction between the ‘real’ and the ‘unreal’. So we must not shut anything out, but try to reach the point where all distinctions are seen to be void, where nothing is seen as desirable or undesirable, existing or not existing. Yet this does not mean that we should make our minds blank, for then we should be no better than blocks of wood or lumps of stone; moreover, if we remain in this state, we should not be able to deal with the circumstances of daily life or be capable of observing the Zen precept: ‘ When hungry, eat.’ Rather, we must cultivate dispassion, realizing that none of the attractive or unattractive attributes of things have any absolute existence.
What is action and what is inaction? This question has confused the greatest sages. I will give you the secret of the action, with which you can free yourself from bondage. The true nature of action is difficult to grasp. You must understand what is action and what is inaction, and what kind of action should be avoided. The wise see there is action in the midst of inaction and inaction in the midst of action. Their consciousness is unified, and every act is done with complete awareness.
“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but rather we have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” — Aristotle
Plato the teacher alongside his greatest student – Aristotle
Aristotle Contemplating. “Rembrandt imagines Aristotle in all his fame and wealth, looking at a bust of the great blind poet Homer. From the meagerness of the bust, we can see that Homer was poor. He wandered around Greece with his harp, playing at evening parties, and earning a pittance. Homer was true to his genius: he made no money from his art, and he did not care. With the medallion, representing both his great material success and his great teaching failure, swinging between them, Aristotle ponders – and Rembrandt with him: What matters most? How can one be certain that one is not selling out? Of course, I can say nothing about Aristotle, but I am certain that Rembrandt never sold out. Perhaps it was precisely these moments of profound self-questioning that kept him pure.
Be unstoppable in your pursuit of Joy.
Success and Triumph rarely come easily and swiftly. When we are first challenged in our pursuit, the race only then begins. Greater in number and magnitude lay the challenges ahead. I accept. I am strong. I am unstoppable.
The decision to be unstoppable is never made just once. It is made moment by moment, again and again.
Get strong! Stay Strong!
God is life invigorated and animated.
God is wisdom revealing the wonder of the simple and the complex concerning all aspects of daily living.
God is peace. God is all. There is nothing lacking in me because God created me with a pattern of perfection within.
I am grateful for what I have – joy, relaxation, peace, my soul. My yearning for new and different things is very secondary.
“Your mental energy is limited by your physical energy. How do you develop more energy of all kinds? You start by putting your body in top physical condition. Unless you do that, all your other activities won’t help much – you’ll be stuck with the mental and emotional energy that you have now.” Tom Hopkins
Being modest is a great virtue – to practice non-pretentiousness and simplicity. Being modest (”reserved”) in speech implies taking the time to consider what is to be said before saying it (or perhaps decide to say nothing).
Being modest can help make a conversation with others pleasurable.
mod·es·ty (md-st) n.
1. The state or quality of being modest.
2. Reserve or propriety in speech, dress, or behavior.
3. Lack of pretentiousness; simplicity.
ENTHUSIASM
en·thu·si·asm (n-thz-zm) n.
1. Great excitement for or interest in a subject or cause.
2. A source or cause of great excitement or interest.
“I prefer the errors of enthusiasm to the indifference of wisdom.” — Anatole France
“You only lose energy when life becomes dull in your mind. Your mind gets bored and therefore tired of doing nothing. Get interested in something! Get absolutely enthralled in something! Get out of yourself! Be somebody! Do something! The more you lose yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have.” — Norman Vincent Peale
“Apathy can be overcome by enthusiasm, and enthusiasm can be aroused by two things: first, an idea which takes the imagination by storm; and second, a definite, intelligible plan for carrying that idea into action.” — Arnold Toynbee
Open My Eyes!
As I seek the resolutions to whatever opportunities and challenges life’s situations may offer me, I trust god to lead me to right action and perfect order. I look forward to recognizing the good in all. Most Paramount, I thank you God for your wisdom, power, and presence making all things clear – the very essence of who I am.
Friend, please consider helping others whenever you can, consider their interests, rather than what will exclusively benefit the self. This is a great action, and provides you a warm companion – joy!
Altruism – Altruistic – People struggle with this word – I do. This word, recognized by most to mean, “help others without benefit to yourself” creates conflict. Well I’m going to end my conflict right here. Now. I weighed the view of the Dictionaries versus the Common Meaning.
Summary: Very Different
Dictionary: “unselfish concern for the welfare of others; selflessness”
Common Meaning: “help others without benefit to yourself”
The Common Meaning is an unrealistic paradox – 1. By benefiting others, 2. paradoxically, you can not derive benefit. This is unrealistic for most. I suspect this is a reality for those who have never experienced selflessness, or perhaps did, but could not put a word to the benefit of their experience.
The self benefits by practicing Altrusim as it results in Joy. Of all my actions, “unselfish action” brings, most easily, Joy.
In the Dictionary, Myself is not pitted against benefit.
In the Common Meaning, I am provided with non-sense.
Altruism is very germane, easily summing the words “help others by giving the self”. In deed anything I do to help another energizes and vitalizes. Altruism is partially actionable Love. Ah Love! We are all wired to feel joy when we simply lend a helping hand.
Embrace the word Altruism. I’ll consider Altruism more, and add commentary when I next revise my Principles Manifesto.
What word would I use for my “help others” script above? Only thought of Altruism. Dictionary wise, makes sense, a good fit.
The Big Picture is most greatly influenced by the choice we make this moment. Friend, live in joy – choose wisdom.
Friend, master the universe. Learn about your nature. Search and learn for the master who can introduce you to yourself.
Friends, we will dream. With focus, dreams can become reality by determination, dedication, discipline, and effort. Do it Now!
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