It is What It Is..

Posted in Perspective · Self Improvement |  Email This Post | by James Rick

It is What It Is.. And All I Can Do Is the Best I Can Do.

Whatever challenges you might be going through – remember that without friction there is no polishing. In other words, the refinement of your soul is in direct proportion to the friction in your life. The more you’re going through – the more potential you have to grow.

It’s not what you’re going through that matters so much as how you’re handling it.  First accept – then do something about it. Acceptance comes in the form of the statement: “It Is What It Is” and now instead of taking a passive stance, you can remind yourself to actively summon your best effort through the statement  - “And All I Can Do Is the Best I Can Do.”

Any time you face adversity that seems too hard to handle, automatically remember to say this to yourself: – “It Is What It Is – And All I Can Do is the Best I Can Do.”

Improving Capitalism

Posted in Perspective |  Email This Post | by James Rick

Until the current financial system is revamped, it’s not possible for everyone to be financially independent. For every million of surplus that’s generated economists estimate there is roughly 7 million in debt. For every millionaire, thousands of people are in debt. For every billionaire, millions are in debt. This will forever create a cycle of ‘haves’� and ‘have-nots’. In its current design, even if everything works perfectly the majority of people will be in debt. Not because they are dumb or don’t work hard – but because the system is designed in a way so that most people are in debt. That�s why in order to get ahead of the system, it�s extremely important you avoid consumer and long term debt like the plague and only take on PRODUCTIVE, SHORT-TERM debt – which we�ll talk about.

While it�s true there is a formula for getting wealthy and if you follow it you increase probabilities of becoming a millionaire or even a billionaire (this book is all about increasing probabilities for whatever your full potential might be) – there are no guarantees. When it comes to wealth, it helps to know the game (the big picture) to play it well.

CAPITALISM AND ITS IMPROVEMENT

Capitalism works when people have capital to produce. The central bank is responsible for providing credit (debt) to the commercial and private banks that then provide credit to businesses and individuals in the form of business loans, housing loans, car loans, credit cards, etc. for the purchase of goods and services. This is how the economy works in a nut shell credit (DEBT) keeps everything flowing smoothly. When credit stops flowing, everything tightens up; this is what you saw happen in the global recession that began in late 2008.

Credit stops flowing for a couple of reasons – either because the banks no longer want to take on the risk of lending or people no longer want to take on the risk of borrowing. When Obama got into office and began buying up stock in banks – nationalizing them, the government began to take a controlling interest in banks overriding the decision by banks to not lend. Basically the government took on the risk of lending because they had to (given the system�s current design.) If they didn�t take on the risk the entire system would collapse. No credit means no spending. No spending means no jobs. No jobs means no taxes. No taxes means no money for government – the economy on a downward spiral. Technically given its current design, the only way out of a recession – keep spending money, keep going into debt.

Interestingly, people will reach a point of maximum burden of debt. When their credit cards are maxed out, their car payments are maxed, their house payments are maxed, their college loans are maxed and they earn just enough to cover interest – this is the breaking point of capitalism. Capitalism in its current form can only survive IF the debt burden can be shared across more backs. In other words if America get�s maxed out, capitalism needs to spread to other countries where people are not in debt yet. This is what you are starting to see happen (with micro-loans), often under the guise of �spreading democracy� which is actually the spread of capitalism. The need for capitalism to spread to new markets is also why the threat of any other financial structure (like communism) is so big. If people start defaulting (going bankrupt) or if an entire country converts to another financial structure (like communism), capitalism is weakened, the economy suffers.

Capitalism (in its current form) is like a dark cloud spreading across the land growing larger and requiring more people to take on debt to keep the economy alive. Fortunately for capitalism there are still billions of people around the world that can take on debt. Unfortunately for Americans they are almost tapped out. And unfortunately for the rest of the world they will soon be enslaved (by debt) to a system that does not love them. But lo� and behold in the process the few value adders, the value producers: the creative entrepreneur, business innovators, inventors and the like WILL be rewarded. They will thrive in the system and become millionaires and billionaires. Production IS rewarded by capitalism better than any other system tried up to this time.

So if you are simply looking to become a millionaire or billionaire – there is a formula, you will learn it and you will become one of the few within the system to make it to the top.

If you are looking to improve the lot of greater humanity – you will to make an important decision and that is to change the structure of capitalism even if it weakens your own personal power; a sacrifice to be sure.

How can capitalism be improved?
* The central bank (known as Federal Reserve in the US) in their current form as unaudited private entities must be dissolved. The central bank should be in the hands of the republic, not a small handful of individuals.
* The new central bank should be fully transparent – all new loans should be accessible by all citizens, real-time online. All interest from new loans should be deposited in the government treasury to decrease taxes and or sent out as a �stimulus� check to ease the burden of inflation.

There�s more, but we�ll stop here. The factors we will now discuss will show you how to become financially independent within the current system. My hope is that if you ever have the opportunity to influence the way the current system works, you will. I trust YOU, with this information, might one day be in a position to influence millions of lives for the better.

(An excerpt from the upcoming book: Full Potential Genesis)

Centering for Peace, Calm and Control

Posted in Self Improvement · Spiritual Guidance |  Email This Post | by James Rick

CENTERING AWARENESS
I liken the thinking process of the brain like a big heavy wheel spinning around and awareness’ proper place in the center of the wheel where it’s calm and unmoved by the wheel. However over the normal course of the day and weeks the centrifugal force of the wheel slowly pulls at awareness until it gets stuck on the outer wall of the wheel itself. Awareness is now flooded with random thoughts and images – being in this position can be rather chaotic and stressful. The faster the wheel of your mind spins the more chaotic life seems.

To regain control you must move yourself back to the center of the wheel, where it is calm – but how? You must first free yourself centrifugal force – and to do this you must slow down the wheel of the mind. Slowing down the wheel of the mind requires two things:
1) Stop spinning the wheel
2) Hit the Brakes

WHEELS, MONKEYS AND ELEPHANTS
You stop spinning the wheel when don’t let your mind run with whatever thoughts it wants. In Buddhism they refer to the random wandering of the thought as the monkey mind. You have to stop your monkey from spinning the wheel. You do this through conscious intention.

To illustrate intention, there is a story of elephants in training. As babies the elephant trainers put a stake in the ground and chain the baby elephants to it. The baby tries to get away but after many futile attempts it stops trying. The same little stake and chain are used even when the elephant grows up as a full sized adult with the power to rip the stake out of the ground. Now as a powerful adult the elephant doesn’t try to escape. Why? -Because the elephant has been conditioned to accept the stake and chain as limits on its freedom.

The stake in this story represents your intention. Once you put a stake in the ground you stop your elephant from wandering. Now unless you are learning this as a child, your elephant has developed habits of wandering freely that will require more effort to condition.

Do you see the similarities between the elephant metaphor, the monkey mind and the wheel? The elephant and monkey wander, the wheel spins. To control the elephant or monkey you must put a stake into the ground. To slow the wheel down you must create an intention.

THE HARDEST PART IS IN THE BEGINNING
Do not get discouraged the first time you try to put a stake down or slow the wheel down. The run-away elephant will inevitably rip the first few stakes you put down. But each time you put another one down you slow it down just a little bit more. The wheel will inevitably keep spinning the first few times you attempt to hit the brakes, but each time you hit the brakes you slow it down just a little bit more. In the beginning when you create a conscious intention the wheel of your mind will keep spinning – causing you to lose focus and forget your intention. But each time you remember your intention and make an effort again you will be successfully slowing the mind down. It may not be noticeable at first but over repeated attempts you will begin to sense you are regaining control of the mind, the elephant is being conditioned by the stake. Awareness is regaining its position at the calm center of the wheel.

CREATING INTENTION
How do you create intention? Creating intention is quite easy; it’s remembering to do it that’s the hard part. You can say in your mind that you are going to lift your hand and touch a wall – that is creating an intention. You carry out that intention when you do it. The act might seem simple but it’s the process behind the act. You didn’t just touch the wall or act on impulse – you touched the wall with conscious intention. Intention always happens in the now. That is why being present is so important. The breath is one of the best way to maintain presence and keep planting a stake in the ground. The breath is always present. But there’s a big difference between breathing automatically and breathing consciously. Take a deep breath right now – you just created and acted out an intention. You just planted a stake in the ground, the wheel of your mind just slowed down a little bit. You hardly noticed it and you will soon forget, or not – depending on how much you desire to take control of your mind. If you do it again with another breath, and another and another you will soon reach a state of centeredness.

REMAINING VIGILANT LIKE A NIGHT WATCHMAN
The moment you release your intention the elephant will start wandering, the wheel will start spinning. Slowly at first and controllable – but don’t be fooled. Within usually a day the speed and strength will have reached uncontrollable levels again. To make things easier on your Soul you must maintain the stake, you must apply the brakes and keep the wheel at controllable levels at all times. This is very important to remember!

THIS IS SO HARD..
Once you begin to maintain intention for longer periods I can hear you saying right now that this is difficult. Yes it is a real challenge. Buddha says that you must seek enlightenment like you seek air when drowning.
Spiritual desire cannot be taught. Whether it is through enough lifetimes (if you believe in reincarnation) or simply enough frustration in this lifetime, at some point you reach the desire threshold for committing the necessary effort to slow things down and take control. The question is not whether you can. It’s how much effort are you willing to invest?

GET STRONG IN 30 MINUTE ‘WORK OUT’ SESSIONS
One final thing to remember is that while it may not be possible to be consciously intending ALL of the time, just like it’s not possible to work out in a gym ALL of the time – its not completely necessary. To be strong you can work out hard in a gym for 30 minutes a day and maintain that strength throughout the day. You can do the same thing with setting intention: concentrate on your intention hard for 30 minutes a day and you’ll benefit from that mental strength all through the day. But much like what happens if you don’t go to the gym, you can easily lose your strength in focus if you let more than a day or two pass.

SUMMARY:
1) To re-center your awareness you must slow the wheel of the mind down.
2) You can slow the wheel down through creating conscious intentions.
3) Aware breathing is a great way to hit the brakes and regain centeredness.
4) By concentrating on intention for 30 minutes or so you can gain strength and clarity throughout the day.
5) Do not let more than a day or two pass or you lose centeredness and make regaining it more difficult than it needs to be.

All Realities Coming Together to Form One

Posted in Perspective · Spiritual Guidance |  Email This Post | by James Rick

Without the universe (IT) there is nothing for the (I) to experience. The (I) would be floating in awareness, observing a timeless awareness, aware of nothing else. If there was no (I) would the (IT) even exist? If the universe is really just fluctuating energy waves it is our brain that converts them into observable, experiential matter. Without the observing (I) these universal energy states are nothingness (which is still really something!).

The universe (IT) is a series of complex relationships (ITS) from the very tiny to the very large. Vibrating waves in other dimensions (according to string theory) form neutrons, protons and electrons. Neutrons, protons and electrons form atoms. Atoms form elements that make up the physical universe as well as life in the form of molecules that form DNA chains. The DNA has the intelligence or inherent knowing of life creation. The (presumed to be unconscious) elements of the universe come together to form a profound new living reality within it; the observing energy of the universe (I). The observer that must have been there all along comes to life. Together the (I) and the (IT) form an experience of observer and observed; the (I) reality within the (IT) reality.

Out of the (I) the observing energy gains a sense for �me� or my body or my things; individual perception is born.

When you bring together more than one (I) it creates a social (WE) reality. Individuals experiencing thoughts and feelings need some way to communicate desires or dangers and so a technology known as language is born.

With language it�s now possible to communicate more efficiently with the self and so a deeper inner reality evolves; logic is born. As the inner reality evolves so to does the need to communicate it. This process creates a loop between deepening social relationships and deepening individual relationships. Humans become the most dominant species on Earth not through strength but intelligence as a result of their joint social (WE) and (I) reality evolution. As these groups of (I) grow in intelligence they form tribes which become complex societies, as they work together and form specialized labor groups and organizations a new reality known as culture or civilization.

Civilization is now on the brink of a new reality, one in which technology merges with the individual and the borders of �me� and �my� become fused in the virtual domain with others. The boundaries of the old individual nervous system begin to melt away as individual consciousness and communication begins to overlap in space. There may still be a sense of individuality as long as there is a physical body but the virtual domain is evolving its own state of consciousness which will become most evident when emotion and logic is duplicated in technology. What is �I� but a field of organized sensory perceptions? What does �I� become when those sensory perceptions overlap with other fields? It becomes one �I�

Of course the potential for all four realities existed before they came together in the physical domain so the question is for the sake of experience does the individual ‘I’ fragment itself again or evolve into something higher that we cannot grasp?

(Excerpt from the upcoming book: Full Potential: Genesis )

No Arms, No Legs, No Worries..

Posted in Perspective · Self Improvement |  Email This Post | by James Rick

We all take many things for granted and easily lose perspective of what is really important in our lives. Nick was born without arms or legs. He has had to learn to adapt to this, and has achieved the seemingly impossible.

If you’re ready for a heavy dose of appreciation about your own life and a demonstration of the power of thought in spite of physical limitation, watch Nick now:

The core content of this video:
1) Perspective
2) Vision
3) Choices

Get inspired!

Build Your Castle – One Brick at a Time

Posted in General |  Email This Post | by James Rick

Do you find yourself working hard and hoping for a change but not getting the freedom, lifestyle or results you desire? You may want to learn how to use the power of momentum.

Developing the power of momentum is simple; take action today that adds to your power tomorrow.

If you seek money – do something that will add to your ability to make money tomorrow. Read books about how to make money, how to market, how to become an expert in your field. Just one book a month for a year would cause you to know more than 95% of the people in your field.

If you seek to be more enlightened, read books on spirituality, learn how to meditation, invest time in silent contemplation.

Determine what’s most important to you and think about the little actions you could perform on a daily basis that would add up to something significant in the long run.

Imagine your life as though you are building a great castle. At first the task might seem so overwhelming you never even begin. But every day you perform at least one action; placing one brick on top of the other, until one day you step back and realize your dream is a reality.

Time to Go Within

Posted in Perspective · Spiritual Guidance |  Email This Post | by James Rick

I predict that people will some day invest as much time going within as they do living ‘out’ here.
It seems a person awakens proportionate to the amount of time they spend in silent introspection, therefore in order for society to progress it is vital that outward action is balanced with silent self study.

I’m not defining progress as economic or technological advancement though surely there will be great advancement in these areas as well; there is a direct correlation between creativity / innovation and introspection; between prosperity and asking the right questions. The kind of progress I’m talking about however in the realm of peace and love. A spiritual unity that will arise as greater understanding of the self increases. An awakened consciousness on mass scale will allow people everyone to have open discussions about their Ego / personality and it’s curious nature at an early age.

New generations will take for granted the fact that confused Ego’s used to grow up and dominate society. That there was a time people used to sit and stare outwardly for hours at a TV, rather than sit and staring inwardly for hours at their self. That there was once a time children didn’t receive an education on how to understand their self as early as possible. That there was once a time when perceptions were distorted by labels – and people actually believed the story of their life to be the foundation of their true identity.

Rather than feeling isolated and alone defending the Ego self, they will be united by a common understanding that the same awareness flows through them no matter what their appearance, background or class. They will no longer operate from Ego-centric, Group-centric, Nation-centric or even Human-centric perspectives – but rather take up a Universal-centric perspective that takes into account the actions the individual has on any and all life forms, over the long term.

New generations will view their individual existence as a curious thing. They will view their individual lens as a temporary, blink of the eye perspective where all things beheld are temporary glimpses of the infinite. No thing will be mistaken as permanent. No lost love will cause pro-longed torment. Death will come as expected, not as a surprise. And all things joyful will be enjoyed, knowing that for every peak there is a valley. Never rushing. Silently aware within themselves, knowing that even the journey through valleys can be appreciated through the window of an undisturbed mind.

Making Every Motion Count

Posted in Self Improvement |  Email This Post | by James Rick

I was playing soccer yesterday across a full field. The game was more than half over and I was feeling quite winded. I thought to myself I did a lot of running around and felt tired but did I really concentrate on making a goal with every effort? If I wasn’t I was essentially wasting energy for no reason. And I thought about it and many times I was just happy to defend and get the ball further up field. I hadn’t really made a conscious effort to make every motion count. And as I looked around I could see that most everyone else (especially on my team because we were getting slaughtered) had not made a conscious effort to make every motion count. They wanted to win, but they were not playing to win.

Of course half the fun of playing a sport is the experience of it – but in any competitive sport you are playing to win. And winning consists of making every motion count towards a goal. You have to be conscious of what you’re doing and it has to be in alignment with making that goal.

CLEAR GOALS
Think how this analogy applies to your daily life. Do you have a clear goal? If you don’t you’re just kicking a ball across an endless field. On the one hand you might be enjoying the journey but isn’t a journey more meaningful if it has a destination?

DEGREE OF CONTROL
And secondly – if you do have a goal is it something you can control? At least in sports you have a great deal of personal control in scoring a goal, because you control the motions of your body you control the likelihood of scoring a goal. In life sometimes there are systems that overlap your pathway to your goal that you do not control. For example in sports, other team players who might want the goal more than you do.

Now take a goal like money – there is your personal effort towards achieving a specific money goal and then there’s the capitalistic system itself which is designed to be a ‘debt based’ system. This means the system itself is designed to put the majority of people who belong to it, in debt – it doesn’t matter how hard they work or how much they want to score big money goals there is a high statistical percentage that most people will be in debt. So there is your personal control about how hard and smart you will work and then there is the overlapping element that you do not control which is the market and the way the system is designed. (On a side note: Avoiding consumer debt – house, car, etc. is something most often you can control and gets you closer to your goal of financial freedom.)

PRIMARY GOALS VS. SECONDARY GOALS
Primary goals begin with everything you can control – your body, your mind, etc. And secondary goals are outcomes that will happen if everything goes as planned. This doesn’t mean you don’t work hard for them – it just means you realize that not everything is in your control to make them a reality.

In sports a primary goal is to be in great shape, eat healthy before the game, stay well hydrated so that you can perform you very best. A secondary goal is to put the ball where it needs to go. This is a secondary goal because you cannot control what the other players do, the wind, etc. You can only give yourself the best opportunity to succeed by identifying and carrying out the primary goals necessary to make your secondary goal a reality.

LEVERAGE
In earning money an important primary goal is leverage. Leverage comes in many forms:
1. Time Leverage – Managing time and helping others on your team manage their time well. As a primary goal, you control where your time goes. Time leverage requires clear priorities, and clear priorities are impossible without clear goals.
2. Energy Leverage – Managing your energy and other people’s energy well. As a primary goal, you control what you eat, how much you sleep, how much water you drink, etc.
3. Knowledge Leverage – Managing how much you know and training others. As a primary goal you control what you learn based on where you spend your time, what you read, etc.
4. Connection Leverage – Managing who you know and contributing value to others. As a primary goal you control who you associate with and how much time you spend with them. You also control the quality of the interaction based on how much you’re willing to give. Not in a monetary sense but in a loving, compassionate or shrewd sense.
5. Capital Leverage – Managing how much you spend and where you invest what you’ve earned. As a primary goal avoiding consumer debt like the plague ensures that free capital doesn’t go into paying dead interest. Accumulating debt that offers no promise of return is the fastest way to get locked into a TIME obligation – which is what the current system is built on – debt obligations are a modern form of slavery.
6. Employee / Partnership Leverage – Managing who works for you, with you and what work they do. As a primary goal you control what kind of person you are (character) which dictates whether people want to follow you or listen to you. In most cases you also dictate what field of work you choose to get involved in, which consequently also says a lot about your character. ‘Goodwill’ earned through good deeds is an invisible currency worth many times its weight in gold; a supreme form of leverage.

IN SUMMARY
Making every motion count requires:
1) A clear and definite goal
2) A conscious effort to make every effort a movement towards the goal
3) An awareness of primary goals (actions you 100% control) and secondary goals (outcomes that you do not fully control due to overlapping systems)
4) Identifying and employing ways in which you can leverage / multiply your efforts.

How to Feel Strangely Alive

Posted in Spiritual Guidance |  Email This Post | by James Rick

What if I told you you could experience something that would make you feel more alive, more invigorated and more at peace than anything you have ever done in your entire life and it cost nothing and you don’t have to go anywhere.. curious?

You won’t see this advertised on TV, radio, newspapers, magazines or on the internet because there is no financial incentive to get you to do it.

And you won’t see any religious guru or organization behind this because only you can initiate it yourself so there’s no ‘mind control’ or tithing potential here.

The only reason why everyone doesn’t do it is because it takes a strong commitment and lots of effort – and that’s not usually something you see on books, tapes or pills packaged to appeal to your lazier side in order to sell more.

So what is it and how does it work?

~~

If you can just sit and focus on your breath – you will notice lots of little daily thoughts pop up. Things you need to do etc. But then as you keep refocusing your attention on your breath your life begins to fall away. You have to let go of all these concepts. Concepts like who am I, what time period am I in.. what stuff do I have to do today. There’s just no room for it in the now. That’s what I think it really means to not be attached. You cannot truly just be aware if your brain is constantly reaching (attached) to stuff in this life.

To detach doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it, it just means that when you sit down and decide not to think about it – you do it. You can free your mind to simply be in the moment.

Now what’s the point of being in the moment? You don’t actually get anything done when you’re there. The moment is the point. Now some believe you should live there all the time – I personally find it difficult to live there ALL the time. In fact its more of a space for renewal. This view might change in time but for now it works to simply dip into the now.. okay dive, because you cannot be attached to shore (this life)!

I notice that simply existing in the now does something to the body’s energy. The intention becomes very important at this point. You cannot simply say you’re going to focus on the breath and be in the now. Breathing deep doesn’t count. Because if you are not noticing your intention in those seconds while you’re breathing you are only half doing it. And half focusing is not really focusing.

Now it might take some time to sit and really focus your attention on the breath. Approach the task as if you’re going to watch TV or play a game. Block off an hour or two so you don’t feel like you have to be anywhere -otherwise that thought will keep popping up while you’re trying to focus on truly being in the now. You have to detach from everything including agendas in order to fully immerse yourself in the moment.

Now I realize if you’ve never done this before it might sound a little strange. So I’m really going to try to explain the process and then have you do it. Because you really won’t know what flying is like until you fly.

Sit down on your bed or somewhere comfortably with the back straight. A straight back means you are lifting your back up as if your head is being pulled up to the ceiling. Now begin by simply breathing deep and notice what your brain does. All sorts of thoughts will now enter the space you have created. Remember, REMEMBER to keep creating the space. Remembering is the most important thing to re-assert your attention. That’s so hard to do when your mind keeps straying because you will actually become the new thoughts and memory is just another thought. So remembering your previous thought (to focus on your breath and be in the now) is important to getting the other thoughts out of your head to create the space again. Every time new thoughts enter – focus can only entertain one thought at a time. So the new thoughts will occupy your thought space and will play around until you REMEMBER that you had another intention IN mind. Keep reminding yourself, don’t get discouraged, just keep reminding yourself you intended to focus on the breath and be aware.

Now the more intent you are on really doing this exercise the better it works. It’s real easy to get lazy and decide that you’ve ’sat long enough’ and go do something else. Don’t let boredom set in. You almost have to bring a work-out like intensity to your meditation. Every time your mind strays turn that frustration into a mental intensity – really notice what it feels like to focus on the IN breath and then the OUT breath. Mental intensity is very different from simply saying you’re going to focus on your breath. Mental intensity FEELS very different. I have noticed real mental intensity makes my inner ear sound like wind blowing through it. Sometimes I can focus on this sensation alone and it grounds my awareness in the present.

But create a real mental intensity to get to 10 breaths without thinking of anything else. If you think of something else, start over to the count of one. Do this only in the beginning until you can get to 10 breaths without thinking of anything else. When you do you will have sufficiently slowed the brain down enough to now simply be aware. Be aware of your awareness – it’s kind of cool. Your mind will keep sneaking thoughts in – but then REMEMBER your intention to simply be aware .. be aware of awareness.

At the point where you can say to yourself I am right here right now and truly FEEL yourself in that moment – you will find yourself at a loss for who you are. When you are simply being you will not be able to carry the concept around of ‘I am’ .. it’s just you aware of yourself and nothing else.

Now this might sound like a cool mind trick – except there are some benefits that come into play. First – you are taking control of your brain and what it creates and it’s not taking years to do it. This step is huge. If this is your first time focusing on the 10 breaths it may either take more time to train your brain to relax OR more intensity. I prefer intensity. Imagine a wheel has been spinning for so long and now you’re going to hit the brakes.. you can either hit the brakes slowly over a long time or really hit the brakes hard and sparks go flying out the side of your head (okay not really, but a useful metaphor!).

Once you’ve hit the breaks hard and the wheel has come to a stop you can observe your awareness. You can be in the moment and remind yourself more easily to simply be and observe breath. And although it sounds boring or abstract – there’s something energetically stimulating about being. There is like a portal there to the spiritual realm and you are standing inside it when you’re in that state of being.

The moment your intention strays from it you move away from it. It doesn’t matter if your body is sitting in the same place and you are still breathing the same.. if your intention strays you move away from it. Everything about this creative energy has to do with your INTENTION.

Buddha once said that you must seek enlightenment as a drowning man seeks air. Now I understand. It’s the intensity behind the intention that really matters.

It will take great effort in the beginning to slow your mind down. That usually becomes the stumbling block for most people because they FORGET their intention to focus on breath, relax and be when their mind barrages them with idle thoughts, worries and concerns. I’ve been meditating for years and it never fails my mind keeps doing what it must have been programmed to do for millions of years. It serves me in this realm, on this shore – but I have to disconnect from it when I dive in. And I can do that with my intention. When I commit to dive away from shore and REMEMBER that intention. When I commit to breath, focus on my breath and TRULY exist in the moment, truly, truly in this moment, in this moment, in this moment, in this moment… breathe … in this moment, in this moment, in this moment.

After an intense mental work out where you have slowed the mind down – it sort of sticks with you through the day. It’s almost like the wheel is now slowing down on its own. Even if it speeds up a little it’s easier to re-enter that state of being and slow it down. That’s why the wheel metaphor is so useful – it’s mental inertia: an object at rest tends to stay at rest – it requires an outside force to get it going again.

If you do this exercise at the start of your day (if you don’t have time wake up earlier) you will notice you feel more alive.

As I write this I notice my head feels very clear. I notice my feet, my groin, heart and head are tingling a bit. I feel happy but in a mellow sort of way.

I decided to write this in a very intimate sort of way, just as I experience it. Because the experience is very subjective. I suggest you attempt to do this exercise in the following manner and experience it for yourself:

1) DECIDE to slow the mind down, focus on the breath and be more aware. This is your first intention.
2) Sit down somewhere comfortable and decide to focus on 10 breaths without thinking of anything else, if you think of something else you will start back at 1.
3) Keep REMEMBERING your intention. Even ask yourself “why if I decided to get to 10 breaths am I thinking of anything else? What is more important?” Your brain will fight for the thought-time. You need to commit even more effort to the exercise. Ask yourself, “Am I being lazy with my effort right now, could I focus even more, even more in this moment.” You will find that you can always commit more effort in that moment.
4) After you’ve successfully reached 10 breaths let go of that exercise and make the decision to simply observe yourself. This does not mean you are allowing the brain to think. You are disconnected from the shore remember? Now you are observing the one who is observing, second by second, moment by moment. Exist in this space for a while.

These four steps are a good start:

1) Commit your intention to the exercise
2) Do the 10 breath exercise
3) REMEMBER your intention while doing the exercise above else
4) Disconnect from everything and make a connection with the highest spiritual energy possible your intention. Then notice how you feel.

All in all if you’ve never done any of this before you better be ready to block off a good hour or two. If that sounds like a lot of time sitting with your eyes closed – just think of all the movies you’ve committed the same amount of time to, the only difference is your eyes are open. If you’re in a hurry remember and you need to get this done in less time, you’ll need to come to the table with an even stronger intention and maintain that intention throughout the exercise.

Reality is Whatever You Are Aware Of

Posted in Perspective · Self Improvement · Spiritual Guidance |  Email This Post | by James Rick

REALITY IS WHATEVER YOU ARE AWARE OF

Nobody ever taught you as a child to be curious – you were simply OPEN to what reality could be and because you didn’t really know – anything was possible. A young reality is a magical place.

From the time you were a child your greatest quest has been about discovering what is true. As time goes on you discovered what you considered to be ‘hard truths’ about reality – people dying, people lying and people hurting… you formed beliefs about these truths and that became your new reality. The more beliefs you established about your reality the more this became your internal reality.

After early adulthood – most early formed beliefs become like hardened concrete and change relatively little over the course of life. There are two exceptions: If the life experience shatters hardened beliefs to rubble or if a person continues to seek truth and keeps their belief structures ‘wet’ so to speak, they are always open to change.

Another word for beliefs is rules. You setup rules to help you navigate reality more effectively. For example the first time you see something drop to the floor (instead of float) you setup a rule that says IF I let go of an object, THEN it will fall. (Rules are generally framed if IF–THEN / cause-effect scenarios. IF = Cause, THEN = Effect) You setup rules for your internal reality that correspond with what you observe in your outer reality. This system is quite efficient when it comes to unchanging events such as gravity or sunsets, but what about the variables in reality?

For example if a dog bites you as a child then your brain might associate danger with ALL dogs, until you encounter enough friendly dogs to change that belief. If a man hurts you, then it will associate danger with ALL men or at least until you meet enough friendly men that help you change that belief. If someone from a religious group or foreign country commits a radical act and you don’t know much about that religion or country, your brain will associate radical acts with EVERYONE in that religion or country.

Ultimately the brain’s biggest limitation is that it cannot be in all life, in all places at all times – which is the true definition of reality. And so what does it do? It fills in a lot of blanks with beliefs about reality. The beliefs create the illusion of knowing reality without actually having had the experience of knowing reality.

HUMANS ARE COMPLEX BECAUSE OF THEIR RULES

As you can imagine creating rules for every interaction with the exterior reality (including other people) makes us very complex! If you think about it rules are the very basis of human relationships. Most of our time in communicating is spent understanding other people’s rules and expressing our own.

IF we care about them THEN we will attempt to understand and honor their rules. IF they care about us THEN they will attempt to understand and honor our rules. IF someone doesn’t honor our rules THEN we are upset.

We have rules for love:
IF he loves me, THEN he’ll tell me often
IF he loves me, THEN he’ll buy me nice things
IF she loves me, THEN she’ll call more often

We have rules for hate:
IF someone insults my family, THEN I will take revenge
IF someone kills my dog, THEN I will kill him.
IF someone is from a certain country or religious group, THEN I will hate him.

We have rules for jealousy:
IF my lover looks at another in a certain way, THEN I will feel jealous.
IF my lover gives something more attention than me, THEN I will feel jealous.
IF my lover compliments another on their beauty, THEN I will feel jealous.

We have rules for giving:
IF they aren’t missing arms and legs, THEN I won’t give them money.
IF someone has a good plan, THEN I will volunteer my time.
IF someone proves they are persistent enough, THEN I will give them my heart.

We have rules for happiness:
IF I have a million dollars in the bank, THEN I am happy.
IF I am healthy, THEN I feel good.
IF I am in control, THEN I am happy.

The list can go on. The point here is that you have established rules for nearly every cause imaginable. And they are not always the best rules. In fact some rules are self defeating. For example if you have to wait until you have million dollars in the bank before you can be happy – you have created a rule that may never be filled, or it might take having a million dollars in the bank before you realize that your rule wasn’t true. So then you will have to create a new rule for happiness – and that might be, IF I have TEN million dollars in the bank, THEN I am happy. (It’s easy to imagine rules that you cannot prove.)

Because the process of rule creation is often unconscious – it’s easy to build your own prison and live in it the rest of your life without ever having realized what happened to the magical reality you lived in as a child. Many times you adopt the rules of your parents, or your close associates, of society. You adopt the image of what success is, what beautiful is and what love is and you setup rules that say unless you are living the ideal image of success, beauty and happiness then you can never be fulfilled. The rules in your head can put happiness out of reach!

The most amazing thing is about rules is this: they are of your own creation! Yes, you may have created them unconsciously, but if you become conscious of them you also have the power to REWRITE them! Why not? Just because you may have been living with some stupid rules for a long time doesn’t mean they are permanent unless you say they are – because that would be another one of your rules! (IF I have lived a certain way long enough, THEN that must be the way things will always be.) As you begin to become more aware of the rules you’ve setup in your head you’ll discover just how complex your rule structure goes. You’ll find that you even have RULES BEHIND RULES. Like the last example – IF my rules have existed long enough, THEN they will always exist; this is a rule behind a rule.

WRITING RULES DOWN DEFINES THEM

Now until you actually put your rules into simple sentence structures like IF / THEN, they are actually not so quite easily defined, in other words most rules are at the level of emotional energies that you CANNOT consciously define. And many rules are in conflict. This is why sometimes you behave in ways that you do not understand. But when you become aware of how you’re behaving and then you finally translate that emotional energy into a sentence such as: “IF I am not getting attention, THEN I do not feel loved.” You can look at it with clarity and realize the absurdity of the rule. Now if the rule were that clear in your head to begin with you would have obviously realized it – but it wasn’t until you did the exercise of becoming aware of your rules and writing them down that you actually become aware of how absurd many of them are. As emotional energies rules will seem very real and very important. This is how in extreme cases people can kill or die for their rules! But when you finally put them down on paper in a form that your conscious mind can understand a simply written IF / THEN statement.. you then have an ‘AH-HA” moment of realization that will help you take conscious control of the rule – keep it if makes sense or discard it if it’s silly.

Now here’s the exciting part – if you want to create new rules you easily upload them into your brain. First you create IF / THEN statements you feel are much more empowering and your brain will quickly adopt them. If for example you want to be happier, create EASIER RULES for happiness. IF I am alive and breathing, I am happy. If I am smiling, I am happy.

HOW DO YOU DISCARD, KEEP OR CREATE RULES?

The very act of becoming aware of your rules is enough. You may not think you’re ‘doing anything’ just because you can’t manipulate them with your hands – but a mountain of evidence suggests that awareness alone can actually rewire the brain. Think about it – even though you read these words no physical interaction takes place between your eyes and these words. It is the conscious reflection upon these words that drives the change in your brain.

CREATE RULES THAT ARE INTERNALLY DRIVEN

The most important part about creating rules is that they MUST be internally driven. You cannot control a million dollars in your bank account – but you CAN control the work you do to create a million dollars. If the end goal is happiness, the million dollars is the outcome of something more important. IF I am serving the marketplace with a valuable product, THEN I am happy. You control what you bring to a marketplace – you don’t control how the marketplace responds.

Rules that are internally driven are easier to control. Examples of internally driven rules:

Internally Driven Rules for Love
IF I am giving unconditionally, THEN I feel love.
IF I grateful for the relationships in my life, THEN I feel love

Internally Driven Rules for Happiness
IF I do my work with integrity, THEN I am happy about who I am.
IF I do work that I choose for myself, THEN I am happy about my freedom.
IF I can bring value to a marketplace, THEN I am happy about my contribution.

Internally Driven Rules for Peace
IF I remember my breath, THEN I feel at peace
IF I remember how short life is, THEN I can let go of petty things

WHAT IS TRUTH?

Truth is what the best rules are for a given scenario. That’s what you really seek, that’s what everyone really seeks – the ‘most true’ rules for navigating reality. Contrary to what you might believe, people love rules; not rules that imprison or limit, but rules that set free. Yes, rules that create rather than inhibit freedom – these are the most sought after. What is freedom? It is unbound awareness. You, the soul as awareness want to escape the boundaries of your container and you must take control of your brain power to create the rules that enable you to escape! Set yourself free.