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Breaking the Cycle of Self Abuse

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April 12, 2016

“You hurt yourself on the outside to try and kill the thing on the inside.” ~ Unknown

Pain is something every single one of us will have to deal with to some extent or another in our lives.

For some, experiencing life circumstances that don’t seem to go the way they had planned, emotions brought upon because of dysfunctional relationships, loss of some sort, or just low self-worth, causes them to turn the finger of blame around on themselves.

For an ego that feeds on the belief that it is less than others, a seemingly negative circumstance is used as another opportunity to reinforce this belief.

Rather than searching for the bigger purpose behind the circumstances that they find themselves in, such as, “maybe all things happen in order to move me forward or to create space for me to manifest new situations that are better suited to me”, it believes that they once again have been the cause of such negativity. They may see themselves as unworthy, not good enough, or a failure among many other things.

As blaming ourselves begins to become the go-to reason behind everything, it may snowball into an even bigger issue, self-abuse. When a person begins to become repeatedly disheartened by the situations they find themselves in, they may begin to punish the one that they see as the problem.

This punishment may take a variety of different forms and may vary in severity. For example, one person may berate themselves in their own mind by criticizing themselves. While another person may turn to cutting themselves or even taking drugs as a way to either run from the pain or to abuse themselves.

Regardless of what the form of self-abuse is, turning on ourselves in an effort to make ourselves feel something that we are not naturally doing or feeling, is the one thing that perpetuates the problem.

While you may have heard the term “the cycle of abuse,” in connection with people who are in abusive relationships, it is actually quite common for people to experience that within their own being.

These feelings of inadequacy cause the person to partake in a self-destructive behavior. They begin to feel ashamed or guilty because of it and may attempt to stop or promise themselves they won’t do it anymore. But as soon as another painful situation or feeling triggers the inferior ego to turn on itself again, the cycle begins to start all over.

So how does someone break the cycle? How do you get off the merry-go-round of self-destructive behaviors into a space where these types of behaviors are not our natural reaction?

Cultivate Compassion

“Compassion isn’t some kind of self-improvement project or ideal that we’re trying to live up to. Having compassion starts and ends with having compassion for all the unwanted parts of ourselves, all those imperfections that we don’t even want to look at.” ~ Pema Chodron

Oddly enough, when things are not going our way or we are experiencing some sort of painful feeling that we do not want to feel, we don’t realize that these instances are the times where we deserve more love, not less.

If a friend or a family member came to us with a genuine problem or sad emotion, would we tell them that they were to blame for everything and they should be ashamed of themselves for being sad or feeling bad? I would hope not.

We would most likely hug them or offer them some encouraging words and tell them that everything was going to be ok. So why do we not offer ourselves the same level of empathy?

Compassion for our own selves is one of the, if not the very most, important thing that a person can do that will help them come into harmony with life.

Until we offer compassion to the emotional parts of ourselves that we have judged, avoided and shunned, they will stay floating around in our energy field, waiting for the light of our awareness to liberate them. And healing won’t occur in an environment of judgment and self-hatred.

When we are fighting with our own hearts, judging our emotions or behaviors as “bad”, we only perpetuate the war within our own being. In order to truly transform and eventually heal the unhealed emotions, it must be met with more love, kindness and empathy .

Self Inquire, Do Affirmations

Once we have gotten our hearts to accept each emotion as it is, we can start the process of self-inquiry. This may require you to become hyper vigilant about the feelings or situations that lead to the self-abuse.

You may write down on paper which emotions or life circumstances seem to be the catalysts and use that as a reason to partake in the self-destructive behaviors. You will notice the beliefs about yourself are being brought to light through these emotions.

After you have pinpointed what negative belief systems are causing you to turn on yourself, you can then begin to bring awareness to them which will start the unraveling process.

Your higher self knows it’s own power and magnificence. When the conscious mind becomes aware of a thought pattern that is out of alignment with the magnificence that you truly are, it sends you signals and cues that this belief is not in alignment.

The truth will always feel good, so if the belief is “I am unworthy, a failure, or a terrible person,” the feeling of contraction or fear in your body at the onset of such thoughts is the universe saying, “this belief is not true.”

Once these beliefs have been determined, you can then begin to affirm to yourself the exact opposite – “I am worthy of love,” “I am love,” or “I am always doing everything perfectly, even if it feels like I’m not.”

Soon the inferior ego complex begins to feel safe enough to believe that it is amazing, worthy, successful, or important. And when an ego structure begins to believe in it’s own worth, self-destructive behaviors are no longer necessary.

Simply put, the more loving you become to your own self, the more your behaviors will reflect your beliefs simply as a natural by-product.

“A moment of self-compassion can change your entire day. A string of such moments can change the course of your life.” ~ Christopher Germer

The most important thing to remember within all behaviors in life is that we are always doing the best we can. Always. No one wants to be angry, no one wants to abuse themselves or to hate themselves, but these things happen. And they happen to the best of us.

Making peace with the fact that sometimes pain is hard to deal with and sometimes we do things that we regret later or that we don’t know how to stop doing. During these times, offering ourselves more acceptance and compassion helps us to form an almost parent/child relationship with our own heart.

We are tending to our own wounds and hurts like we would to a loved one and because this feeling inside of us is being offered love instead of judgment, it begins to energetically transform on its own. As always, love is the best medicine.

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Self hatred
Scars

Get Bitter or Get Better: A Guide toward Recycled Mastery

Life

Gary Z McGee

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April 9, 2016

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Get Bitter or Get Better: A Guide toward Recycled Mastery

Remaining bitter is easy. Getting better is difficult. Disposition is key, but how do we get to a place where we’re finally able to use the key effectively? How do we achieve a state of awareness where, instead of the key ineffectively turning our emotions despite us, we’re able to turn the key despite fate?

In order to really get down to it, our disposition itself must be dissected. Our disposition is our outlook, our root nature, our essential character, our general temperament, and our basic personality.

And you simply cannot discuss such things without touching on the concept of morality. And perhaps nobody in history has broken down the concept of morality as ruthlessly as philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.

Nietzsche dared go “beyond good and evil” with his concept of “master morality” which weighs actions on a scale of good or bad consequences (strong, courageous, proactive, and powerful), unlike “slave morality” which weighs actions on a scale of good or evil intentions (weak, cowardly, timid and petty).

The problem, of course, is that “power tends to corrupt,” so even the master morality, although much preferred to slave morality, must itself be checked somehow, lest “power corrupt absolutely.”

Nietzsche inadvertently went beyond even the good and bad of master-morality with his idea of the Übermensch and his idea of self-overcoming. And if we take his idea one step further, we get a morality of self-overcoming that goes beyond both good and evil (slave) and good and bad (master).

This type of morality seems inevitably to lead to existential resilience, and what I call recycled mastery.

Here’s the thing: If we are covertly (unconsciously, blindly) moral, there’s the tendency to fall victim to a slave morality: that is to say, a mentality of re-sentiment to whatever the current ideal of mastery is.

And if we are overtly (consciously, willfully) moral, we run the risk of becoming overly prideful and self-serious with both our direct and our indirect power which, even with the best intentions, could inadvertently lead to covert immorality through unforeseen corruption.

But there is a third option: Rise above the linear mastery of the slave-master morality dynamic and embrace the cyclical mastery of a self-overcoming, amoral existentialist wielding recycled mastery.

Let’s break it down…

Get (remain) bitter: nihilistic defeatism and linear mastery

“Real compassion kicks butt and takes names and is not pleasant on certain days. If you are not ready for this FIRE, then find a new-age, sweetness and light, perpetually smiling teacher and learn to relabel your ego with spiritual sounding terms. But, stay away from those who practice REAL COMPASSION, because they will fry your ass, my friend.” ~ Ken Wilber

Bitterness, in all manner of things, derives from a negative disposition toward reality. Life is usually not what we expected, but bitterness leaves us drowning in those unmet expectations, and clinging to what “should” have been.

Whether we’re jaded about unrequited love or devastated by heartbreak or just nihilistic in our general disposition, bitterness can creep in and before we know it our lives become puppets to apathy and the mere playthings of ennui.

As Osho warned, “Mind: a beautiful servant, a dangerous master.”

And so if we’re not careful, the nihilistic defeatism of slave morality sinks its invisible claws into our souls. Such defeatism is characterized by pessimism and cynicism. This defeatist disposition keeps us in a state of despondency where we’re just trying to get through the day, indifferent to the current state of affairs, and blindly tolerable to whoever is in charge (the masters), no matter how ridiculous or immoral their rules are.

No matter how outdated their laws are. No matter how much ecocide is committed by the machinery of their so called mastery. In such a state of nihilistic defeatism, our indifference leads to apathy, and our apathy keeps us painfully unable to experience empathy. And when we cannot experience empathy, we cannot even fathom anything beyond the slave-master dynamic.

We inadvertently kowtow to the slave-master cultural ideal of linear mastery, not realizing that such a cultural ideal keeps the majority of us in rusted chains and the “lucky” minority of us in gilded chains, but chained nonetheless. We break these bitter chains by realizing that true mastery is not mastering others, but mastering the self.

A huge step in getting better is training our mind to become our servant rather than our master. When our mind becomes our servant, we’re less likely to become a victim of linear mastery. We’re less likely to become bitter. We’re less likely to become nihilistic and defeatist.

And we’re more likely to question things, to be flexible in our disposition, to be empathetic to the interconnectedness of all things, and to recycle our mastery with a self-overcoming morality rather than remain victims to the linearity of slave-master morality.

As Sarah Lewis said in The Rise, “Masters are not masters because they take a subject to its conceptual end. They are masters because they realize that there isn’t one. On utterly smooth ground, the path from aim to attainment is in the permanent future.”

Get (become) better: existential resilience and recycled mastery

“You don’t become completely free by just avoiding being a slave; you also need to avoid becoming a master.” ~ Naseem Nicholas Taleb

True mastery is not mastering others, but mastering our former self. We break the chains of linear mastery by embracing a self-overcoming morality. Self-overcoming morality is a flavor of morality that perpetuates itself to go beyond notions of good and evil or right and wrong, and to embrace the immediate interconnected notion of healthy and unhealthy.

It’s being moral despite what the slave-master dynamic claims to be moral. It’s rising above slave-master morality and embracing morality with an interdependent stance, rather than with a dependent, codependent, or even independent stance. Such a stance nixes unhealthy, self-defeating nihilism and brings about a healthy state of existential resiliency.

“Existentialism,” according to Herbert Read, “is eliminating all systems of idealism, all theories of life or being that subordinate man to an idea, to an abstraction of some sort. It is also eliminating all systems of materialism that subordinate man to the operation of physical and economic laws. It is saying that man is the reality – not even man in the abstract, but the human person, you and I; and that everything else – freedom, love, reason, God – is a contingency depending on the will of the individual. In this respect, existentialism has much in common with Max Stirner’s anarchy.”

Here’s the thing: self-seriousness all too often leads to certainty, which all too often leads to a rigid mindset (whether nihilistic or pietistic). Existential resilience pokes holes in certainty and mocks seriousness so as to avoid the tautology of self-seriousness and the dogmatism of self-certainty.

Indeed. Better to shoot yourself in the foot avoiding a rigid mindset, than to be seemingly sure-footed and succumb to one. Existential resilience helps us reach the best of times by getting us through the worst of times by using trial and error as fuel to continue our journey.

As Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen said, “The real struggle of the heroic individual is not solely to liberate himself from conflict with society, but rather to use the conflict within himself as a source for self-regeneration.”

The result of such self-regeneration is a state of self-overcoming which leads to a state of recycled mastery. Recycling the mastery is a kind of intellectual catharsis. It is the means by which the repressed or undigested slave-master morality of linear mastery is metabolized and the inactive nutrients held up within the repression is recycled back into the individual self-overcoming process.

When we recycle the mastery we are free to challenge the slave morality, the master morality, and the illusion of power that fluctuates between. We allow it all to decay through our own catharsis so as to be reabsorbed into a flexible disposition.

We free ourselves to, as Eliezer Yudkowsky said, “become more ethical than the society we grew up in.”

Through recycled mastery we’re free to stand on the shoulders of giants, to wear the masks of the gods, and to turn the tables on the powers that be by getting power over power.

As Mark Caine said, “The first step toward mastery is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment in which you first find yourself.”

The environment in which we find ourselves is one of slave-master linearity. Let’s refuse to be captives of it. Let’s courageously evolve. Let’s reveal our hidden existential resilience. Let’s recycle the mastery.

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Shipp quote
Bitterness warning
Unknown quote
Einstein quote

Enlightening Wisdom from 7 Unfamiliar Spiritual Masters

Ester Eckhaus

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April 9, 2016

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Enlightening Wisdom from 7 Unfamiliar Spiritual Masters

“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” ~ Zen proverb

We come across many spiritual teachers throughout time that guide us on our path and challenge our set beliefs; forcing us to look beyond the obvious. To the mind that is open to these teachings, it helps us with our inner work.

Each teaching offers a valuable lesson, and a fresh outlook on life.

Here are a few unfamiliar spiritual masters who have, and still are, spreading light in the darkness.

Don Miguel Ruiz

“Only you can change the world that you create, and by changing your world, the world will change ‘and that is the Truth that will set you free’.” ~ Don Miguel Ruiz

Blending ancient wisdom and modern insights, Don Ruiz’s ideas come from the ancient Toltec wisdom of the native people of Southern Mexico.

He was highly influenced by the teachings of Carlos Castaneda, and has authored books like The Four Agreements, The Mastery of Love, The Voice of Knowledge, The Fifth Agreement, and The Toltec Art of Life and Death, to name a few. The simplicity of his teachings remains a source of great enlightenment and aspiration.

In The Four Agreements, he speaks about the four agreements that each person must make to themselves in order to achieve a more mindful and liberating state in their life.

The Four Agreements are:

1. Be Impeccable With Your Word: “Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love…”

2. Don’t Take Anything Personally: “Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering…”

3. Don’t Make Assumptions: “Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life…”

4. Always Do Your Best: “Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret…”

Later on, he wrote a follow up book, The Fifth Agreement, with an added lesson that he felt was needed to be taught:

5. Be Skeptical but Learn to Listen: “Don’t believe yourself or anybody else. Use the power of doubt to question everything you hear: Is it really the truth? Listen to the intent behind the words, and you will understand the real message…”

2) Clarissa Pinkola Estés

“We all begin the process before we are ready, before we are strong enough, before we know enough; we begin a dialogue with thoughts and feelings that both tickle and thunder within us. We respond before we know how to speak the language, before we know all the answers, and before we know exactly to whom we are speaking.” ~ Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype

Estés is a Jungian analyst, writer, poet, and post-trauma specialist. Among her writings are: Untie the Strong Woman: Blessed Mother’s Immaculate Love for the Wild Soul, Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype, and The Gift of Story: A Wise Tale About What is Enough.

4 Key Lessons from Women Who Run With The Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés

In her book, Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype, she talks about the instinctual woman archetype, and the ways to go about healing and renewing her within each woman. What is unique about Estés’ philosophy is that she has the ability to give truths of the soul in a beautiful way: through ancient stories.

She takes the ancient stories of her ancestors and presents them as unearthed wisdom. Through her stories Estés presents the truths of the unbreakable soul bond, and how to redeem it. She teaches that a true instinctual woman is strong, intuitive, and full of life and creativity. Her stories show the process of rekindling, awakening, healing, and following the voice of the soul.

“Though fairy tales end after ten pages, our lives do not. We are multi-volume sets. In our lives, even though one episode amounts to a crash and burn, there is always another episode awaiting us and then another. There are always more opportunities to get it right, to fashion our lives in the ways we deserve to have them. Don’t waste your time hating a failure. Failure is a greater teacher than success.”

3) Byron Katie

Byron Katie, an author and speaker, talks about a method she calls “The Work”. While going through a difficult time in her life, Katie came upon an idea that changed everything she believed.

She realized that believing her thoughts made her unhappy, and that by using a method of self-inquiry to look at her thoughts and beliefs she was able to make suffering a choice, and not a given.

“A thought is harmless unless we believe it. It’s not our thoughts, but our attachment to our thoughts, that causes suffering. Attaching to a thought means believing that it’s true, without inquiring. A belief is a thought that we’ve been attaching to, often for years.” ~ Byron Katie, Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life

In her book, Loving What is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life, she relays the basic recipe to turning around thoughts and beliefs that are ruling our lives and attitudes. The four questions are:
1. Is it true?
2. Can you absolutely know that it’s true?
3. How do you react, what happens, when you believe that thought?
4. Who would you be without the thought?
The idea that she teaches is that by putting your thoughts (specifically negative thoughts) through these questions you are able to turn it around and gain a more fresh and healthy perspective on your thought patterns. Her message is that your life and attitude is in your own hands. It is your choice to suffer or to be happy.

“As long as you think that the cause of your problem is “out there”—as long as you think that anyone or anything is responsible for your suffering—the situation is hopeless. It means that you are forever in the role of victim, that you’re suffering in paradise.”

The Work: The Power of Self-Inquiry | Byron Katie | Wisdom 2.0

4) Dipa Ma

“It is important to distinguish between sense-pleasure and sense-desire. There is nothing wrong with sense-pleasure. Pleasure and pain are part of our human experience. Sense-desire, on the other hand, is the grasping at pleasure or the avoidance of pain. This is what creates suffering-grasping and avoidance.” ~ Dipa Ma

Dipa Ma was a student of the Indian teacher Anagarika Munindra, a prominent female Buddhist, and teacher. Her early life brought her much difficulty, and the deaths of her family led Dipa Ma to explore the wisdom of meditation. Her grief drew her towards her own enlightenment, and later, to the enlightenment of those she taught. After studying for many years she started teaching her own students.

Her philosophy was made up of the idea that meditation and enlightenment can be reached in any environment. Her first students were mostly women and homemakers; women who did not have the luxury to sit and meditate for hours.

She helped these women to meditate by giving them meditation practices that can be done while still living life to its fullest and busiest demands. Her belief was that meditation can be something to carry around; a mindfulness to be brought into life, and not the other way around.

“The whole path of mindfulness is this: Whatever you are doing, be aware of it.”

5) Brian Weiss

“The number of days and years one lives on Earth is insignificant. It’s the quality of those days and years that’s important, quality measured in loving acts and achieved wisdom. ‘Some people do more good in one day than others do in a hundred years.’ This is their message.

‘Every soul, every person is precious. Every person helped, every life aided or saved, is immeasurably valuable.” ~ Brian L. Weiss, Same Soul, Many Bodies: Discover the Healing Power of Future Lives through Progression Therapy

Weiss is a psychiatrist, hypnotherapist, and an author, specializing in past life regression. His specialization in past life regression started when his patient began to recount past life memories while she was under hypnosis.

After checking the legitimacy of these memories, Weiss came to believe that bits of us are formed from past lives. He began to use past life regressions with his hypnosis theory claiming that many phobias and patterns are directly related to past lives and can have healing effects on the patient when properly acknowledged.

Weiss believes that by delving into past lives the patient is able to deal with present life issues in a more well-rounded manner; and with less blockages that may have been placed in front of them from past-life issues. He also believes that anyone can reach this knowledge through hypnosis, meditation, or even in dreams.

His teachings are also recounted in some of his books such as: Same Soul, Many Bodies: Discover the Healing Power of Future Lives through Progression Therapy; and Miracles Happen: The Transformational Healing Power of Past Life Memories.

Dr. Brian Weiss and the Perils of Past Life Regression Hypnosis

“Learning the lessons of life can be so simple if you believe in immortality.”

Along with past life regression Weiss is focused on the continuity of the soul. Weiss concludes that the soul is the traveler that unites the many different physical bodies through time, and is the holder of the universal truth; and the truest essence of the person lies in the soul.

“To see and appreciate the soul of others with whom you are in a relationship is a higher state of awareness. To see only their outer characteristics provides a limited and incomplete perspective. Their current personality, just like their current physical body, is a temporary manifestation.

They have had many bodies and many personalities but only one enduring soul, only one continuous spiritual essence. See this essence and you will see the real person.”

6) Jon Kabat-Zinn

“You might be tempted to avoid the messiness of daily living for the tranquility of stillness and peacefulness. This of course would be an attachment to stillness, and like any strong attachment, it leads to delusion. It arrests development and short-circuits the cultivation of wisdom.” ~ Jon Kabat-Zinn, Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life

Kabat-Zinn is a professor, and former student of Thich Nhat Hahn and Seung Sahn. Though his practices are those of a Buddhist, Kabat-Zinn refers to himself as a scientist.

His many years of learning Buddhism and his many years in science brought him to combine the two in a way of bringing more mindfulness, and less stress into one’s life.

Mindfulness - An introduction with Jon Kabat-Zinn

He has also advocated for meditation to be made active in classroom settings and taught to children from a young age. Meditation, he says, is a great way to counteract the many technological distractions that we are faced with in our daily life, and that children are introduced to from a very young age. His book Wherever You Go, There You Are, gives over these teachings.

“Meditation is the only intentional, systematic human activity which at bottom is about not trying to improve yourself or get anywhere else, but simply to realize where you already are.”

7) Alex Grey

“I acknowledge the privilege of being alive in a human body at this moment, endowed with senses, memories, emotions, thoughts, and the space of mind in its wisdom aspect.” ~ Alex Grey

Alex Grey is an artist, author, and teacher. His primary work as an artist revolves mainly around the psyche and the spiritual journey. His artwork depicts the developing psyche and the active relationships between mind, body, and soul.

Afterwards he went on to express different ideas through his artwork; mainly the unique human moments such as human interaction, kissing, making love, giving birth, death, dreaming, and meditating.

His artwork shows the interconnectedness of all by taking everyday occurrences and showing the “magic” behind the veil of physicality. Such paintings as a man praying, dreaming, or painting show clearly how these are not “just” daily things, but a universe within these moments. He shows the viewer that within each simplicity is a moving, breathing universe.

“The infinite vibratory levels, the dimensions of interconnectedness are without end. There is nothing independent. All beings and things are residents in your awareness.”

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Alex Grey art

10 Native American Proverbs for the Wisdom Seeker in You

Pia

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April 6, 2016

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10 Native American Proverbs for the Wisdom Seeker in You

“What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.” ~ Blackfoot.

There may be hundreds of Native American tribes spread all over America even today, still they are all bound by the same love and awe for nature. Their voices are soft and words simple, yet their message is ever clear.

Here are some Native American quotes soaked in the wisdom of the ancient ones:

“I have been to the end of the earth,
I have been to the end of the waters,
I have been to the end of the sky,
I have been to the end of the mountains,
I have found none that are not my friends.” ~ Navajo

The Navajo share a very close relationship with nature, and its revered by the tribe. Nature forms an important part of their ceremonies, as they believe it reactivates our connection to the source and reminds us of our true divinity.

This saying is about understanding that all nature is a gift and when you realise the interconnectedness of all things, you receive its limitless love.

“Our first teacher is our own heart.” ~ Cheyenne

Like Rumi said, “If light is in your heart, you will find your way home.”

Trust your instincts, listen to the whispers of your heart. It may not be as loud as the rage of the mind, but it is the only thing worth listening to.

“Don’t be afraid to cry. It will free your mind of sorrowful thoughts.” ~ Hopi

Crying is an act of letting go and surrendering to the moment. The mind may be confused but the body responds in perfect harmony with the heart.

Shed your tears, they are the physical manifestations of spiritual and emotional trauma. When they are dispersed, the mind, body and heart feels lighter and weightless.

“There is no death, only a change of worlds.” ~ Native American Duwamish

Energy cannot be destroyed, only transformed and transferred from one form to another. The Duwamish believed that ‘death’ was simply a journey to another world.

They also believed that everything was created by the Great Spirit which resides in all things and we all return to that upon death.

“Thoughts are like arrows: once released, they strike their mark. Guard them well or one day you may be your own victim.” ~ Navajo

The Navajo were peaceful people that only fought to defend their land, livestock or community. They understood the power of thoughts and those who were in control of their thoughts, could also control their life.

Once you act on your thoughts, it cannot be undone, and it has as much of an effect on you as it does on the other person or thing. This is why it’s important to make a conscious effort to transcend negative thinking.

6) “Man’s law changes with his understanding of man. Only the laws of the spirit always remain the same.” ~ Crow

Man is limited in his perception, bonded to the physical realm. Therefore, his principles are ever-changing alongside his perception. Universal law is unwavering, all encompassing and does not require thought and debate to enforce.

The Crow Indians or Bird People believed in immersing themselves into the rhythm of nature to be in tune with the laws of the spirit.

“When we show our respect for other living things, they respond with respect for us.” ~ Arapaho

All beings acknowledge the presence and spirit of each other in the wild. It is only mankind that thinks it’s superior to nature. Native American tribes, however, knew that respect was the binding thread for peaceful co-existence.

Before and after a hunt, it was a tradition to say a prayer, thanking the animal for its nourishment.

“Be still and the earth will speak to you.” ~ Navajo

The relationship between man and earth is like a cosmic dance. But man cannot always lead, he must learn to follow and in doing so, earth reveals to him his own intuition.

When the mind is full of chaos, it is clouded by worries and fears. In stillness, the body relaxes enough to let reason come in and be guided by intuition.

“If we wonder often, the gift of knowledge will come.” ~ Arapaho

Like Albert Einstein said, “He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.” Curiosity is bereft of judgment, worry or forethought. Insight comes in a fraction of a second, if we open ourselves to pure wonder.

In this way, the Arapaho believed that we become the way of the arrow we are trying to shoot and the woods we are trying to map.

“If a man is as wise as a serpent, he can afford to be as harmless as a dove.” ~ Cheyenne

With wisdom comes compassion. It was common perception among the Cheyenne’s that those who focused on strength, would serve the tribe as warriors, but those that lead the pack through their wisdom did not have to subject themselves to war.

The wise man’s contribution is a gentler, subtler kind but the most important and powerful.

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Native american art
Eye of the Elder

Eternal Happiness of the Active Mind

Life

Raghav Bubna

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April 5, 2016

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“There’s nothing more liberating than to realize that I am not the voice in my head. Who am I then? The one who sees that.” ~ Eckhart Tolle.

Each one of us holds our own unique interpretation of reality. This reality need not vary in 3D terms (for many of us) but it does vastly vary in the intricacies of perception with which we view our world.

As a result our lives and personalities are like a collage of the various influencers that we are exposed to during the course of our existence.

Living in times crowded with multiple choices, it becomes rather difficult to maintain a single truth in our minds to act as a center. We thus may find times where we question the lives we built for ourselves.

As happiness and fulfillment are not found in extremes like ‘use and throw’ that offer only thrills, rather in simple pleasures and basic values that allow us to observe and relish the depths of subtlety beyond our gross realities.

The role we each need to establish may only be relevant to ourselves but the core idea remains the same, which is; that aspect has to act as a balanced guide and enable the other parts to play out their roles.

The application of this is rather simple, all you need to do is establish at any given point one area that causes rigidity in any part of your life and call it out. This may be difficult to do normally as we may function in our dealings as whole people, but internally we can be victims to the fixations of very specific aspects of ourselves, through our conditioning.

Take for example a person who has been the object of affection of their birth family and has received lavish pampering throughout their formative years. This person as an adult may find it hard at times to command their rationality as they have thrived on always getting what they wanted.

This kind of pattern may lead to living beyond means and facing unnecessary hardships. This can be easily avoided, by establishing an inner parent that keeps the childish indulgence in check.

The opposite may be applicable in areas that require us to take a leap of faith; this is a situation where the roles would require a shift in dynamics. As the parent aspect of ourselves may get over cautious and sit on the fence of a decision that’s outside our comfort zone.

This is where the inner child needs to get into action to enable us to jump into anything that appeals to us with honesty and joyous wonder.

“Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play”. ~ Heraclitus

The child can also help us let go of things and emotions, as the child doesn’t hold onto anger or unhappiness for long. Through balancing the roles of the child and parent it is possible to achieve a meeting-ground between wisdom and innocence, enabling us to work from the union of our mind and heart.

An effective way to find these hidden characters within is to open a dialogue with ourselves as we identify the areas in our lives that need their guidance. If we were to see our external world as a reflection of the internal work we have done, then the external reality would presumably hide in itself many peepholes into the internal work we each need to take on.

Quite like the voices that play out in our minds are sometimes mirrors of the opinions and characters that show up in our lives. The fact brought out by this is that the people we come in contact with are here to play out a scene in our memory of life. As every person is the only eternal presence in his or her story, the rest is impermanence.

It would benefit to identify a character behind the voice we choose to listen to or cultivate. As when left to chaos it is easy to listen to our extreme.

However it becomes impossible to maintain lasting happiness, while we are allowing extreme reactions to erupt within our minds to situations and life decisions that require a serious and steady approach to hold their vibrations.

Therefore in order to move our consciousness through the mind to a more grounded state, the conflicting voices of our thoughts could be seen as our characters. Allowing us to call upon these characters when needed and command their role dynamics to complement different situations.

Through such simple application of even commonplace role figures within, we can direct the chaos within ourselves and make the mind work with us rather than our conflicting interests.

This way we can ally with the aspects of ourselves we choose consciously, to a more connected space within our spirit that allows us to access our uniqueness and express as the multifaceted beings which we are.

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Igor Morski
Andy Kehoe

Fractal Enlightenment

Cultivate Compassion

Self Inquire, Do Affirmations

Let’s break it down…

Get (remain) bitter: nihilistic defeatism and linear mastery

Get (become) better: existential resilience and recycled mastery

Here are a few unfamiliar spiritual masters who have, and still are, spreading light in the darkness.

Don Miguel Ruiz

The Four Agreements are:

2) Clarissa Pinkola Estés

3) Byron Katie

4) Dipa Ma

5) Brian Weiss

6) Jon Kabat-Zinn

7) Alex Grey

Here are some Native American quotes soaked in the wisdom of the ancient ones:

“I have been to the end of the earth,I have been to the end of the waters,I have been to the end of the sky,I have been to the end of the mountains,I have found none that are not my friends.” ~ Navajo

“Our first teacher is our own heart.” ~ Cheyenne

“Don’t be afraid to cry. It will free your mind of sorrowful thoughts.” ~ Hopi

“There is no death, only a change of worlds.” ~ Native American Duwamish

“Thoughts are like arrows: once released, they strike their mark. Guard them well or one day you may be your own victim.” ~ Navajo

6) “Man’s law changes with his understanding of man. Only the laws of the spirit always remain the same.” ~ Crow

“When we show our respect for other living things, they respond with respect for us.” ~ Arapaho

“Be still and the earth will speak to you.” ~ Navajo

“If we wonder often, the gift of knowledge will come.” ~ Arapaho

“If a man is as wise as a serpent, he can afford to be as harmless as a dove.” ~ Cheyenne

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“I have been to the end of the earth,
I have been to the end of the waters,
I have been to the end of the sky,
I have been to the end of the mountains,
I have found none that are not my friends.” ~ Navajo