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Approaching Infinity: Applying Fibonacci and Phi to the Concept of Enlightenment

Gary Z McGee
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15
Approaching Infinity: Applying Fibonacci and Phi to the Concept of Enlightenment

“The law of conservation of energy, also known as the first law of thermodynamics, states that the energy of a closed system must remain constant—it can neither increase nor decrease without interference from outside. The universe itself is a closed system, so the total amount of energy in existence has always been the same. The forms that energy takes, however, are constantly changing.” ~ Clara Moskowitz

Conscious-Evolution

Everything is geometric. Everything can be measured on a geometric scale, even energy, light, and frequency. From the void (null set) to the vesica piscis to the seed of life to the flower of life to fractal cosmology, the universe is constantly changing.

As demonstrated in The Truth about Who You Really Are, even your existence is simply one of an infinite amount of transformations of the same energy as the rest of the universe.

The question this article asks is: how do we apply sacred geometry and sacred mathematics (using Phi and Fibonacci as a metaphor) to the human condition and to enlightenment itself.

Let’s break it down with a sprinkle of lateral thinking to get our creative juices flowing.

But first, watch this video. It will help make more sense out of what I wrote.

Phi (thesis, infinite):

“Everything you see has its roots in the unseen.” ~ Rumi

Phi is an infinite ratio: it has neither beginning nor ending. It is a symbol representing the golden ratio, golden mean, or golden number: 1.618033988… Phi is the sacred geometric pool of existence.

It can be seen from microcosm to macrocosm, and it is the root sequence of all sequences. It has been called the math of God, the Divine proportion, and the Primary Source.

According to Giulio Tononi, author of Phi: a voyage from the brain to the soul, it is also a theory that links consciousness to the notion of integrated information.

Phi appears in proportions in the human body, such as the distance between joints in the hand. It appears in plants, DNA, art, architecture, and even music.

Phi is the theory of 0 (infinity/nothingness containing all numbers) becoming separated by I (infinity/somethingness expressing all numbers through fractions or difference), and the result is Phi: Φ. First there was nothing = 0. Then there was something = I. Then there was everything = Φ. Or there was always everything and nothing and something at the same time.

spiral_in_nature Fibonacci (antithesis, finite):

“If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.” –Nikola Tesla

Where the Phi ratio is infinite, the Fibonacci sequence is finite, as it has a beginning (1), but it reaches toward infinity (each number in the sequence is equal to the sum of the two preceding numbers), discovering more and more harmony along the way.

It is life’s way of trying to achieve Phi, the golden mean. It is a continuing process that strives toward the Phi ratio, but never quite reaches it since it is infinite. For example: the flower of a plant is closer to the Phi ratio than its seed was.

The Fibonacci sequence of the flower is the closest to Phi that the plant could achieve. Some flowers get closer than others, but all flowers naturally oscillate over and under the Phi ratio through their natural spiral patterns.

This was done on an I-pad. The artist’s only influences on this piece were the numbers 1,2,3,5,8,13 (Fibonacci) and the colors of the chakras.All of life begins as a crude process, very basic, developing its finite manifestations within an infinite reality.

If we can imagine a plant having a Fibonacci sequence and the cosmos as the Phi ratio, we can do the same thing with ourselves: The Phi ratio can be seen as the infinite reality (the universe, light, gravity), and we, like the plant, are the Fibonacci sequence, growing into that reality (blossoming and flowering).

Just as the plant grows through its natural Fibonacci sequence, getting closer and closer to achieving the source of Phi and blossoming into the beautiful golden ratio of its flower, we are also growing through our own Fibonacci sequence, attempting to achieve Phi and the ultimate source of enlightenment.

Like the flower, we are living sculptures made of light. We too are growing through our own Fibonacci sequence.

We go from being a single-cell being to having over a hundred trillion cells. We can even imagine our basic Fibonacci sequence being the rise of Kundalini energy through the seven sacred chakras.

The chakras are like a divine plant growing through us, from the root chakra (the beginning of our Fibonacci sequence) up to the flowering crown chakra (the closest we can get to achieving Phi).

Just as a newborn plant breaking the shell of its seed needs to sprout roots in order to survive and to continue its Fibonacci sequence, we must harness the energy of our root chakra in order to survive and continue our own Fibonacci sequence. And the same applies to all the chakras up the totem pole of the human condition.

Enlightenment (synthesis, consciousness):

“We are the cosmos made conscious and life is the means by which the universe understands itself.” ~ Brian Cox

Governing the precept that the cosmos is the underlying infinite golden ratio of Phi and the idea that the Fibonacci sequence of the human condition (or at least the spiritual aspect of it) could lead through our chakras, it stands to reason that human flourishing is the constant and consistent process of meditating on our chakras in order to strive toward enlightenment.

Each chakra can be seen as a spiraling flower with its own Fibonacci sequence, with the flowering of the crown chakra being the closest we can get to achieving Phi.
A crude spiral chart I designed to show the cyclic process of mastery, which just so happens to be Fibonacci in nature.

Seen in this way, we are literally walking, talking Fibonacci sequences who are striving toward enlightenment (Phi) through the constant fine-tuning of our Fibonacci sequence (chakras). It only seems incomprehensible when we put it all together. But Phi, Fibonacci and chakras are all perfectly explainable in themselves.

Maybe by putting them all together in this way we can figure out a new way of seeing things, and maybe even a new way of being in the universe. Like David Deutsche said in The Beginning of Infinity, “Imagining explicable worlds can help us to understand the nature of explicability.”

Approaching infinity is growing towards Phi is striving for enlightenment. We are finite beings circulating and cycling infinite energy. The energy of the universe moves through us, indeed it is us.

This energy vibrates and oscillates and separates and becomes us: walking, talking Fibonacci sequences dumbstruck by our finitude and awestruck by the infinity that surrounds us.

We throw math at it and it responds. We throw music at it and it responds. We throw imagination at it and it responds. And still we are flabbergasted. Still we are striving to figure it all out.

But we will never completely figure it all out; just as we will never completely reach enlightenment; just as the Fibonacci sequence will never completely reach Phi. All we have are the trial and error of our explanations. And that’s okay.

Like David Deutsch said, “If you reject the infinite, you are stuck with the finite, and the finite is parochial… the best explanation of anything eventually involves universality, and therefore infinity. The reach of explanations cannot be limited by fiat.”

And so the reach of our explanations regarding the human condition and its place in the universe should not be limited by fiat. Hence this theoretical inquiry into the correlations between Fibonacci, Phi, and enlightenment has been written.

Image source:

Chakra evolution
Phi-Fibonacci spirals in nature
Fibonacci chakra
Fibonacci New-layman

Doshas – The Connecting Link Between Five Elements of Nature & Our Body

Sonali Bansal
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2
Doshas – The Connecting Link Between Five Elements of Nature & Our Body

Ayurveda or “the science of life” recognises that a balanced living is an integration of our environment, body, mind and spirit. We are all part of nature. According to Ayurveda, our inner and outer environment is governed by three fundamental energies or doshas.

The three doshas are known as Vata (Wind), Pitta (Fire), and Kapha (Earth) – these primary forces are responsible for the characteristics of our mind and body.

three-doshas-ayurveda

Each of these energies circulate in the body and govern physiological activity, their differing proportions determining individual temperament and specific mental and physical characteristics.

These doshas are derived from the five elements of nature. Fire element is fierce, dry and sharp as the name suggests, Earth element is grounded, slow and subtle. Water element is the most blending, cool, moist and soft, air element is weightless, cool and mobile and Ether or space element is abundant, light and omnipresent.

When Space and Air meet, Vata is born, when Fire and Water meets, it steams out Pitta and when Water and Earth meets, Kapha is born.

Dr. Svoboda in his book ‘PRAKRITI, YOUR AYURVEDIC CONSTITUTION’ MENTIONED, “Vatta, Pitta and Kapha are called Doshas because the word Doshas means “things which can go out of whack.” When Vata, Pitta and Kapha are out of balance with one another the system is bound to lose its own balance. Vata, Pitta and Kapha are all essential to life, but can cause great harm if they are allowed to fall out of harmony with one another.”

Each body will have one predominant dosha and the other two in wavering quantity. Fundamental to the Ayurvedic medicine form, this tri-dosha theory, if understood, we can experience mental, physical and emotional bliss.

Vata Dosha

different-body-types-doshas-vata-pitta-kaphaGoverned by kinetic energy, the Vata dosha is a combination of Air and Space, as stated earlier. Exhibiting characteristics of air, Vata types are highly unstable and enjoy movement.

As per Ayurveda, each body type governs certain parts of the body. Vata governs small and large intestines, feet, forehead, nervous system and movement of the nutrients in the body as well as the expulsion of waste.

Physical appearance:

A dominant vata is characterized by a thin, lean body frame. They have dry skin, a typical Vata may have some dry patches & some oily patches due to the quality of variability. They sweat scantily even in hot weather conditions. Hair is dark/black, less, frizzy, dry and lacks luster & nails too depict brittleness.

Personal attributes:

Fearful and anxious by nature, Vata types when confronted by a stressful situation their foremost reaction is panic due to their dry nature. They are not punctual, love changes, sensitive, flexible and high-strung. They have variable hunger pangs with a considerably small appetite. Low body heat makes them a summer lover. They are light sleepers, often prone to insomnia and poor digestion.

Imbalances in Vata dosha:

Eczema, corns, can be accounted to their dry skin type. They may also face constipation and irregular bowel movement. Vata women have a scanty flow during menstruation and their cycles are often irregular, painful and occur after more than a month. Long term vata imbalance can lead to arthritis, osteoporosis, gas and low muscle strength.doshas-and-related-parts-of-body

Ways to balance the Vata dosha:

Consuming herbs like Cumin, Ginger, Fennel, Coriander, Cinnamon, Nut-Meg, Basil is also useful due to its hot properties.

Yoga practice is always beneficial and nullifies any kind of imbalances. Add these simple asanas to your practice: Child’s Pose, Wide Angle Seated Forward Bend, Seated Forward Bend, Butterfly and Corpse Pose. Meditation daily can help relieve the mental fatigue and the issue of over thinking.

Pitta Dosha

Pitta is composed of two elements – fire (agni) and water (jal). This dosha manifests itself as energy or the fire we need to stabilize biochemical processes in the body. It controls metabolism, body temperature, nutrition, intelligence, and understanding.

Pitta also controls the psychological feelings of hate and jealousy. The stomach and small intestine are two common sites for pitta dosha to accumulate, that’s the reason they have excellent digestion.

Physical Appearance:

People with a dominant pitta have a delicate, slender body frame and are usually of medium height. Their skin is soft and warm and they have lot of body heat, so they sweat even in cold weather conditions. Hair colour is red, blonde or brown with easy baldness or light, fine and thin hair.

find-your-doshaPersonal Attributes:

Hot, intense and irritable, the fire in them generates the tendency to get angry easily. They are determined, dominating, forceful and believe in fair dealings.

They have a very strong metabolism, because of which they have huge appetites. Their sleeping pattern is balanced in comparison to Vata, so they get sound sleep for short periods of time and have a strong sex drive.

Menstruation is normal, regular, heavy and occurs in shorter than a month time with no or less pain. Pitta people also have great management and leadership skills.

Imbalances in Pitta Dosha:

Exposure to sun can easily burn their skin and they get tanned easily. Physical problems include rashes or inflammations of the skin, acne, boils, heartburn, acid stomach, nausea, migraine insomnia, dry or burning eyes. People with an imbalanced pitta can be argumentative and short tempered.

Ways to balance in Pitta Dosha:

Herbs like Jasmine, Rose, Lavender, Aloe Vera, Turmeric, Mint, Cumin, Lotus Seed etc. is useful.

Asanas like Camel pose, Extended Side Angle, Fish Pose, Diamond Pose, Shoulder Stand, Corpse Pose etc. are most beneficial to counter the imbalances of Pitta constitution. Wear cool & soft colors, spend time in nature and mediate regularly to keep your cool.

Kapha Dosha

Governed by potential energy, Kapha is a combination of Water and Earth and controls lubrication and stability in the body. A generic pre-disposition to save and store, they are stable, easy going, calm and humble. The body parts governed by Kapha dosha are nostrils, lungs and throat.

Physical appearance:

A larger or broader body frame in comparison to all, they find it easy to put on weight. Their skin is comparatively hotter and is thick, smooth and soft. They are naturally away from any form of skin diseases and they usually do not tan easily but can burn due to overexposure.

They usually have thick, lustrous hair, and are emotionally and physically strong. Eyes are large and soft. The mouth is large, teeth are healthy and rarely needs tending.

Personal attributes:

Cold and sweet in nature, they avoid any harsh conversation and are sensitive, stable and resistant to change. Easily hurt by petty situations, they have great memory. Patience, seriousness and humility, they enjoy a slow paced family life.

They do not desire food as much & have a moderate appetite, but the digestion is slow, regular and with a healthy bowel movement. Women have regular, medium, effortless periods with less or no cramps. Sex drive is steady but they are not so drawn to it as Pitta due to their desire to store energy. They sleep for long hours.

Foods that contain qualities of each dosha.
Foods that contain qualities of each dosha. (Or that can aggravate that dosha if eaten in excess.)

Imbalances in Kapha Dosha:

Obesity is a common cause of worry for this type & they also experience extreme lethargy. Congestion, sinus issues with nasal allergies, depression and asthma are commonly observed as well. Because kapha is the slowest dosha, it takes a long time for kapha to go out of balance. It also takes a long time to bring it back into balance once it is disturbed.

Ways to balance the Kapha Dosha:

Black Pepper, Mustard, Saffron, Cloves, Aloe Vera, Dry Ginger, Sage, Rosemary etc. are beneficial for you.

Try Surya Namaskar, Bow Pose, Head Stand, Bridge Pose, Camel Pose, Locust Pose, Plow Pose, and Corpse Pose for creating a balance in your body type. Wake up with the sunrise, avoid binge eating, wear bright colors and meditate everyday for better results.

It is common for people to have a blend of characteristics and usually one tends to dominate. Once you have identified your mind-body nature, you can make the required changes in your life – diet, habits, patterns – and restore the balance using herbs, aromatherapy, massage treatments, meditation, yoga and music.

Image Source

Doshas
Food as medicine
Body types
Ayurveda
Doshas

Master or Disaster: The Art of Living between Mind and No-mind

Gary Z McGee
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11
Master or Disaster: The Art of Living between Mind and No-mind

“A genuine spiritual path does not avoid difficulties or mistakes but leads us to the art of making mistakes wakefully, bringing them to the transformative power of our heart.” ~ Jack Kornfield

Your ego is an instrument, a tool, the primitive leveraging mechanism of the self. Some would even say it is the self. It is there to balance (master) or dissociate (disaster) our unique energy with the primordial energy of the cosmos.

It is forever in the throes of connection and disconnection, of attachment and detachment, torn between finitude and infinity. When the ego is being used to dissociate, its energy is codependent and it is torn between bemoaning the past and being anxious about the future.

There is a woe-is-me attitude and self-pity is rampant. As a result unhealthy psychosis ensues. However, when the ego is being used to balance itself, its energy becomes interdependent, and it is liberated from the past and free to create the future. As a result a healthy enlightenment process ensues.no mind

There is an out-of-mind experience. Indeed, an above-mind experience of healthy detachment called No-mind.

Our modern day egos typically lean more towards dissociation, since the majority of us were raised in dysfunctional and dissociative cultures, and most of us are not even aware to what degree.

Because of this, we are plagued with a plethora of psychological problems that grossly effect our ontological perceptions. In short: we are walking disasters.

To be human today is to be party to a perplexing existential illusion –that human individuals are independent agents– which exacts a heavy emotional and psychological toll on us.

It is the source of all anxiety, envy, jealousy, anger and the violence that inevitably ensues. Modern Man is a troubled species indeed, he can only state what he is not; and what he positively is, remains obscure and shrouded in doubt.

We have become dissociated from finite nature and infinite cosmos: our true self. And we are in need of healing. But as Lao Tzu cryptically opined, “New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings.” The ending of our rampant dissociation is a taming of our ego and a letting go of our attachment to the mind.

Here’s the thing: everything is connected. We all know this. Our boundaries are fluid and blurred. They aren’t even boundaries at all, just the illusion of a boundary. We are all profoundly linked in ways we can hardly fathom.

Like Alan Watts said, “’To be or not to be’ is not the question — because you can’t have one without the other! Not-being implies being; just as being implies not-being. The existentialist in the West — who still trembles at the choice between being and not-being and therefore says that anxiety is ontological — hasn’t grasped this point yet. When the existentialist who trembles with anxiety before this choice realizes suddenly one day that not-being implies being, the trembling of anxiety turns into the shaking of laughter.” (See The Cosmic Joke).

3rd-eyeA master with high humor is needed to resolve the disaster of the self. This master lies dormant inside us all. It can only be found by having the out-of-mind experience of no-mind. There, in the stillness, the master is meditating. The master is connected to the source of all things, her thousand-petalled lotus spinning like a galaxy above her head.

He/she is radiating inside of you, bursting with wisdom and nth-degree-questions. She pirouettes like Shakti. He foxtrots like Shiva. He/she is the all-dancing, all-laughing oracle of the primordial self. And it can only be found there in the silence, between inhale and exhale, between being and non-being, between mind and no-mind.

There, above thought, is the source of human creativity: the place where artists, poets, musicians, and even scientists have discovered the secrets of the universe. Like Leonard Cohen said, “You lose your grip, and then you slip into the masterpiece.”

What is truly needed to become a master of oneself in this life is the ability to disincarnate and incarnate at will, to dissolve the ego and also use the ego as a tool toward higher thought. Disincarnating is dissolving the ego and quieting the mind. Incarnating is leveraging the ego as a force of nature, using it as a tool for further exploration. In between is where the magic is, where Shakti and Shiva dance eternally. The human condition is like a snakeskin that we must constantly shed in order to embrace the new.

Looking at it this way helps us to stretch it, to open it a little wider; a kind of evolutionary self-permeability that makes us more spiritually flexible. The way we do this is first realizing that we are not our mind or our ego. We are our Consciousness. We are the unique-as-our-own-fingerprint wave of consciousness curling out of the cosmic ocean. Our ego, our mind, is just as much a tool of our consciousness as our body is.

In short: we have to be able to lose our mind and then retrieve it – and we have to do this over and over again, like breathing in and out: inhale –lose mind; exhale –retrieve mind. Like Eckhart Tolle said, “Thinking and consciousness are not synonymous. Thinking is only a small aspect of consciousness. Thought cannot exist without consciousness, but consciousness does not need thought.”

Beginner-mind begets learned-mind begets master-complex which must be subsumed by beginner-mind in order to achieve self-actualized-mind, thereby renewing the cycle. Being a master is learning how to unlearn. Being a disaster is not questioning what you’ve learned and believing in it blindly. And it’s okay if so far you’ve been a disaster.

The first step is accepting it, so that you can begin to liberate yourself from the clutches of fear that have held you back. It is your responsibility, and yours alone, to synchronize with your inner cyclic entropies so that you can achieve a place, an inner Locus of Control, where your super-serendipitous creativity is free to erupt into the world.

Like Firmin DeBrabander said, “The passions, Spinoza argued, derive from seeing people as autonomous individuals responsible for all the objectionable actions that issue from them. Understanding the interrelated nature of everyone and everything is the key to diminishing the passions and the havoc they wreak.” Indeed, for the same reason that you put an oxygen mask on yourself before a child, you discover a Locus of control before attempting to control the locusts.

Thinking with ego less, and being conscious more, is the key to becoming a master. It’s not easy, by any means. It takes persistent discipline and constant practice. It takes existential vigilance and loving compassion toward the disastrous many. Remaining a disaster is easy. It just requires you to never question anything, especially not yourself; and to simply remain safe and secure in your tiny comfort zone babying your tiny spoiled ego.

There’s a tug-of-war going on inside each and every one of us. It’s between mind and no-mind, attachment and detachment, love and fear, responsibility and complacency, truth and deception, healthy and unhealthy. The list goes on and on. It’s been the same inner battle since the dawn of Man, and it’s fought best in the no-mind state of the detached master.

Like e. e. cummings said, “To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else, means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.”

Image source:

Mark Henson painting | Suzuki quote

Lifting the Burden: Releasing Ourselves from the Responsibility of Others

Lauren
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26
Lifting the Burden: Releasing Ourselves from the Responsibility of Others

Empathy, co-dependency, energy vampirism… whatever you want to call it the sharing of energy and how you deal with others’ energy has the potential to completely overtake your life if you let it.

Although ‘empathy’ is becoming increasingly recognized as a character trait often linked to introverts or the overly sensitive, co-dependency has had its place in the world of psychology for a few more decades.

meaning-of-empathy

And it is for this reason, though distinctly different to more spiritual guidelines, the healing of this particular ‘disease’ can offer us much more insight into our wounds and how they formed in the first place.

Whether we are souls sent to earth to help others, alien life forms who can’t quite get our heads around the depth of human emotion… or not, the root of most co-dependency is a learned behavior from childhood.

Usually linked to having an alcoholic parent, co-dependency forms when we begin taking responsibility for other’s actions from an early age.

As children, we take everything personally and relate the actions of others and external events to our own perimeters of control and influence.

This is how we learn, and forms our instinctual fight or flight reactions that will later ‘help’ us as we develop into adulthood.

But what if those boundaries are formed on false or unhelpful perimeters?

When the adults in our lives are incapable of fully looking after us (or themselves for that matter), then the balance is tipped and children can end up taking on much more than the parent or others around them could ever realize.

Feeling responsible for others as a learned behavior typically occurs like this: the child learns the pattern of the ‘problem’, for example an adult drinking alcohol or crying over the loss of someone close to them, and finds ways to protect them, putting the full weight of this responsibility on their own shoulders.

As children, we are extremely sensitive and often, being more pure and connected to ourselves in the first place, are able to understand much more than the adults around us about what is really going on as well as experience purer feelings of empathy without rationalization and logic clouding our experience.

The act of ‘taking on’ these superhuman acts; essentially trying to control the actions of others then becomes habit and how we deal with those around us is always that little bit off balance, even when triggered by the seemingly smallest circumstances.
empathy
Say, for example, your parents decided to divorce when you were six and a stepfamily moved in.

Any child, particularly one who was sensitive in the first place, might sense how everyone was feeling; the tension between particular individuals, the desire to be liked, the anger at a parent from another sibling, and the need to protect all involved.

This outward mirroring is the beginning of a slippery slope into being unable to mirror oneself and ultimately leads to the coping strategy of trying to control the events that follow. The fear that that parent might start crying again would lead to the child finding some way to distract or console them (often at the detriment to the child), and therefore put that individual’s feelings before their own.

Co-dependent habits can fade in and out of our lives, but usually return in full force in our relationships with others, in particular emotionally abusive and manipulative partnerships. Because of the long-standing feelings of resentment from pushing your own feelings aside from an early age, the more progressive stages of the disease can lead to various forms of depression, eating disorders, abusing or neglecting your own children, and even suicide.

Being on a spectrum that most people – more likely than not – have had experience of to some degree, it can be difficult to spot co-dependent habits, let alone fix them. So how do we go about protecting ourselves?

Though the advice for empaths can be extremely valid; building energy fields around ourselves to block out negative energy or cleansing ourselves as a daily ritual, often we need to get the mirror out and have a good old dig in order to begin the healing process before we can even approach such practices.

Detachment begins with locating the moments – situations, particular people, particular places – where we feel drained or caught off guard. When are we rescuing others and ignoring our own feelings?

Doing what you want at all times is a really helpful and a bold statement to start off with, but it can take a while for this to trickle through the cracks. This kind of self honesty can typically be alarming as we might find, having turned the mirror on ourselves, that caring for, blaming others for our feelings and/or constantly looking outwards appears to be the full extent of our identities and that, without it, there doesn’t appear to be very much there.emotion

This can be an incredibly liberating moment and, if we have enough courage to do so, it can be the moment we begin to rediscover ourselves again.

Rather than protecting yourself against that ever-present and continuously unpredictable presence of ‘other people’s energy’, try completely blocking it out for a while.

Tell yourself that nothing is about you. This will give you the space to begin examining your own feelings.

Every time you feel a strong emotion, examine it. Allow it to pass through you. The only way to release emotions healthily is to recognize and accept them, and so building up the habit of naming the core emotion to yourself can be the start of this wonderful practice. Keeping it simple – as you would for a child – will help you to avoid analyzing it. ‘Sad,’ ‘scared’, ‘happy’, ‘angry’… most things can be stripped back to these four core emotions.

Once you let these emotions pass through you, you might find that the ‘solution’ to what to do about them will usually present itself of its own accord. Just recognizing them is actually a huge leap forward in self-respect; it is honoring your feelings.

You will also probably find yourself ‘uncovering’ the person who caused those repressions in the first place and, with your new-found honesty, be able to forgive them. As we know, we attract from the universe at the frequency we are giving out, and so the more honesty and honoring we treat ourselves to, the more others will stop walking all over us and begin to give us the respect we deserve.

Removing the victim and simply taking responsibility for ourselves can be a lengthy process, but will ultimately lead to a brighter future and is the answer for any empath and co-dependent. Once we have come to terms with this new way of being, we usually find we actually are able to help others, having lifted the burden of it from our shoulders.

butterflyDetaching from ‘reacting’; seeing someone has a problem and then trying to rescue them from it… leading to feelings of resentment when they aren’t grateful or act accordingly, which then leads to suppressed anger and persecution (co-dependents can often seem controlling and dominant), is the only way out.

The lack of reaction is often the best way to help anyone, and is the ultimate way to mirror back to them how they are acting.

People feed on each other’s reactions, and so if we are always reacting; answering questions as soon as they are asked, becoming angry when we are undermined or taken advantage of, each party will never find wisdom.

Becoming receptive and listening to the gaps between other’s words and actions leads to compassion for them. Then we become The Master; watching ourselves acting in these situations in order to learn from them, and detaching ourselves from taking it personally, more fully able to understand the soul’s purpose and the lessons we are here to learn.

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Empathy
Emotion
Ascension

Coming Alive: Finding Inspiration in the Mundane

Nikki Sapp
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Coming Alive: Finding Inspiration in the Mundane

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ~ Howard Thurman

Life is too short to not spend it doing things that you love, with people that you love in places that you love. When we love something we are in the moment, we are inspired and we feel alive. We’ve all had the feeling of doing something or being with someone so intensely and passionately that we don’t realize how much time has lapsed.

In these moments we are truly one with life. Life is being summoned through us and we are completely in the moment, without letting any mental constructs of analyzing the moment or counting the minutes on the clock. These moments are truly what makes life worth living, and if we become super aware, we can call upon these inspirational moments at any given moment in the day.

It doesn’t matter where you are, when we switch our perspective on things, we can identify the beauty and inspirational in the normal mundane activities of our day to day existence. Then, life doesn’t seem so humdrum anymore.

Each “scene” of our life becomes a beautiful piece of living artwork that we are observing. Watching the sunrise, seeing birds fly, watching our loved ones laugh, observing a butterfly in flight, really anything… can become an amazing experience if we bring ourselves into the moment and see how miraculous everything really is.

In order to truly recognize the magical in the mundane, we must see the world from new eyes. We must look at something or someone so differently that we actually see it from an entirely different point of view, at which point it becomes fresh and new to us.

Here are a few ways we can switch our paradigms so that we see the world through a new set of eyes ~

1. See Beauty in the “Ugly”

Society has tried to deliver us this picture perfect little package of what we are supposed to believe is “beautiful.” Airbrushed photos of people who look like supermodels living in luxurious homes driving nice cars with picture perfect families. But who is to say that is what’s “right” and what we should strive to be?

If we challenge our culture’s constructs of what is beautiful, and instead look for the beauty in what appears to be “flawed” or representation of people “struggling” we are able to challenge the program that society has tried to embed in our heads.

Go somewhere you wouldn’t conventionally think of as a beautiful place, and try to find the beauty in the realness of life. Real people, living real lives, maybe they’re struggling or maybe they’re completely grateful for something that most people would take for granted.

Either way, when we can train our mind to see beauty in reality instead of what society has told us is “perfection”, we can find inspiration almost anywhere we look.

2. Experience nature

observe natureTo be in nature is probably the most inspirational place one can be. Nature is not hurried, or anxious or angry or resentful… it just is.

Nature has no ego, nor is it living in fear. If we become fully aware of nature as it is in the present moment, we find that there is so much beauty around us just waiting to be noticed at any given time.

Just seeing the sunset, or studying the bark on a tree, watching a group of birds in flight or leaves on a tree swaying in a soft wind are absolutely amazing experiences. These are things most people take for granted day by day.

If we just spend 5-10 minutes a day observing these tiny little gifts that nature has given us, we will find that we naturally start noticing them more on a regular basis. Then we become grateful for these private little moments between us and the life force of the “all that is”.

3. Observe people without judgment

We are all more alike than we think. Besides the obvious differences like hair color, race, age, gender etc… we all have fears, dreams, the desire to be loved and appreciated. If we start to observe people that we see and try to experience their essence instead of living in our minds experience of them (which is always judging, comparing, and analyzing), watching the human species becomes an amazing experience.
observe people without judgment
Watch how people talk, laugh, feel confident, feel insecure, without judging it, but just observing it. Some may call this “people watching”, and when we try to look at people from a different perspective we realize that most people are all really the same, it’s just the details may be different. Watching people can be entertaining and bring life to a normally mundane waiting room or sitting in the airport, for instance.

4. Pretend like you’re new here

Spend an entire day seeing everything as if you’ve never seen or done it before. On your way to work, look at the streets and the trees and the buildings that have become so routine that you don’t even notice they are there anymore, through the eyes of someone doing it for the first time.

Eat food that you love like you’re just tasting it for the first time and experience it all over again. Get dressed, brush your teeth, take a shower in a completely from a state of complete awareness, as if you just got to this planet and everything you do is a completely brand new experience.

There was a time when all of these things were brand new to you, and they all seemed so interesting and mysterious… but over time they became routine. If we bring ourselves back to a place of presence we can become completely inspired by sensations we have become desensitized to over time. This makes life fun again.

Getting inspired is what life is really about. Inspiration is the precursor to motivation which is the precursor to change and moving forward. Finding beauty in the mundane injects love into our life. It makes the dull seem interesting, the boring seem fun and it challenges us to see this world through a completely fresh lens.

We must always be doing this in order for our lives to be new and exciting instead of stale and stagnant. So challenge yourself today… re-experience everything in your life as if you have never done or seen it before.

You will undoubtedly be pleasantly surprised to find how much love and inspiration you’ve had in your life all along, just waiting for you to notice it.

Image Source

Nature Pictures by Bhavika & Clyde

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