Awareness

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Your Choice: Joy Or Suffering

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Recently something became very clear to me. I have known this idea for many years but it has taken time for me to really understand the impact of this statement: We shape our experience of life moment-by-moment by our thinking. 

We all have the opportunity to live a life of joy and happiness. It is a choice we make throughout each day. If joy is not the choice then the results often included suffering. Suffering is a product of our mind running us, not us running our mind.  

The following is a summarization of the mental obstacles to living a joyous life:

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Why Your Addiction To Doing Is Sabotaging Your Life

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If you want to know if you are addicted to doing, here’s the test: Take 30 minutes and do nothing. Watch how your body reacts. Notice where your thoughts go and notice what feelings get stirred up.

As you do nothing: your mind races, your body feels uncomfortable and your emotions are like a rollercoaster. Just like the addicts I use to work with in my previous job.

Actually these reactions are not generated by a true addictive withdrawal but more by the ego-mind feeling it’s loosing control.

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When was the last time you looked in the mirror and saw the infinite?

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Today I have a special message just for you. Yes you, the person reading this. You might wonder, “How do I know you?

Well to keep this simple, let’s say I know you because you and I are one. We share the same collective consciousness. Our souls are connected. Our hearts have the same infinite love waiting to be expressed. We come from the same source.

I could go on but I think you get the picture. Beyond our separate stories there is so much we share.

Not only do I know you, I know what is possible within you. That is why I am writing to you today

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No Me

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Warning: Reading this can throw a wrench into how you view yourself and the world. 

I was standing around a fire with some friends as our weekly morning men’s group was coming to an end. We were offering intentions to the fire as is the tradition in the world of sacred fires. Fires of this nature are wonderful for releasing the past, and seeding intentions for the future. 

I joined in. I wish for safety and success for friends as they headed off to lead a shamanic journey to sacred sites in Mexico. I also offered intentions for the well-being of all on the planet and as I always do, for peace in the world.  When it came to personal intentions, I drew a blank and didn’t think much of it. 

As I was driving home this phrase came to me with resonating clarity, “No Me.”

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This That Is

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I looked at myself in the mirror and had to smile. I have never felt more alive and filled with such joy. These past 14 months of retreat here at the Oregon coast have been such a wonderful gift.

We moved here because my intuition told me where to go. This inner voice even picked out a place for us to live. The house is imperfect like us but the beauty and grace of the natural world is pure perfection.

I have read and written, explored, meditated, walking in awareness and just been at peace for most of the retreat. Over the last couple of months everything began to shift as I move from exploring expansive ideas to being expanded.

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A Meeting With Awareness

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Today was a very sunny day here at the coast, actually warm if you sat in the sun.  I decided to do an experiment in being aware in the moment. I hope this account of awareness might show you what you can notice by being fully present.

The noise of the ocean was present in waves of sound

My stomach talked to me about what I had for lunch

The warmth of the sun on my skin was comforting

I felt the chilled breeze off the Pacific as it surrounded me

There were moments of stillness and then thoughts coming and going

Crows always had something to say

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What Is The Nature Of Your Mind?

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When asked to tune into what is going on in the mind, most people listen for a minute or two and then let their thoughts take over.

In my work I often have people spend time becoming acquainted with what is going on in their mind. Most have difficulty because the mind can hardly sit still especially without practice.

What I have noticed in my own exploration is my thoughts are endless. Research states that people have approximately 50,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day. You can do your own research.

Try sitting down for 15 minutes and noting down each time you have a thought. You will be surprised at how much is going on upstairs.

These thoughts represent a lifetime of programming. About 80-90% of the thoughts we have today are the same thoughts we have had over and over again. Imagine a powerful computer running the same script repeatedly. This is the nature of your mind – it keeps repeating itself.

Would this inner script shape your experience of life?

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Looking For A Little Sweetness In Life?

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I love chocolate, pies and tasty desserts. It was only recently that I made a very interesting discovery. I was exploring a few ideas for an article I was writing when a bolt of insight set me back into my chair.

That insight was about having a life long desire for more sweetness in life. I am going to mix some metaphors here but hang in there. I promise you, this will shed some interesting light and insight into your life.

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How I Expanded Into Vastness While Watching Ocean Waves Come and Go

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I am very excited about the fresh perspective I have gained through my readings lately. One book particularly (Awakening In the West by J. Lumiere-Wins and L.M. Lumiere) shares some fascinating perspective from people like you and me having experiences of spiritual awakening.

I now better understand how we create freedom for ourselves so we can get out of our own way.

These stories of awakening have a common theme of non-dual awareness. Non-dual awareness is realizing that the nature of your mind and the Universe are non-dual, they are one. With this awareness you awaken to the infinite and eternal within you.

My favorite descriptive word so far about non-dual is “vastness.” The most inspirational understanding so far about the non-dual experience is one of stillness-wave-stillness. 

Let me share why this all matters to you.

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Knock. Knock. Who’s There? Awareness. Awareness Who?

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As a seeker, I have been traveling down this endless path that is ever expanding. I keep hoping for something that clarifies beyond doubt the best ways to be “me” in the world. It hasn’t happen. Has it happened for you?

So I am left with this vast expanding awareness that seems to keep breeding more awareness. 

Can't it be simple?

Maybe, maybe not

Why not?

Well it goes like this:

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Where Is Your Soul Located And Does It Have An Email Address?

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In the past few years or maybe it has been all my life, my soul has been trying to keep me heading in the right direction. You know us humans we are always going off course following some tangent of desire or tripping ourselves up with our thoughts.

The voice of the soul is a quiet one. It whispers wisdom for me to listen to or not. It can be in the form of an intuition, an inner guide, a flash of insight or inspiration or the knowing messages from an open heart.

How does your soul communicate with you? Do you listen?

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5 Giant Steps To Take Your Life Way Beyond Where It Is Today

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Lately what I thought was real has been dissolving and a new more glorious picture of what is possible has been coming into clarity. This has me shook up inside and very excited. I love change towards higher expression and sharing this journey with you. 

This deeper exploration is about “who I am” beyond any past limiting concepts. I have been pleasantly surprised by the ease at which old self-definitions are giving away to a much larger understanding. 

This exploration is not for the timid. Your personal foundation will be significantly rattled before the dust of self-remodeling settles. Fortunately your inner resources are more than up to the task.

Today I want to share with you five ways of meeting with awareness as you take this journey towards a greater you. These points of contact with awareness each offer you an opportunity to take a giant leap of growth that will change forever the way you view yourself and the world.

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Why Does Awareness Matter? How Can It Maximize Your Life?

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Books have always been an important source of insight for me. They have even flown off the shelf demanding I have a look at them. Recently a book (The Awakening West by L.M. Lumiere and J. Lumiere-Wins) quietly drew my attention. Immediately I knew words of wisdom awaited me inside.

The words that caught my attention drew me back to my work with awareness. I have seen many people's lives incredibly transformed in a moment of awareness.

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The Shocking Truth Of The Expanding Universe and Why Does It Matter To You

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You and I are micro-dots on a tiny wet planet rushing through space at a rate that would blow your hat off. For the Earth to make one complete rotation in 24 hours it must travel at 1000 miles per hour. For the Earth to orbit the sun in one year it must travel 66,000 miles per hour. No wonder life can seem to be speeding past.

The latest astronomical research is offering some glimpses into a much bigger picture than was imagined before. The universe is expanding at a rate that has doubled itself in the last 10 years. Now we are told we most likely live in a multiverse not a universe.

Let’s consider for a moment our relationship with this expanding Universe. We are a tiny life force yet our minds are capable of thinking in ways that are equally as expansive as the Universe.

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6 Life-Changing Lessons I Learned By Taking A Chance On Freedom

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I love living at the ocean. It feels as though I have come home. It has been a year this week since we took a chance and uprooted our lives by moving to the Oregon coast. In preparation, I quit my job, we sold one of our cars, filled a large rental truck to capacity and said goodbye to the great friends we made in Colorado.

My wife Bobbi, Pax our dog and myself headed out on the road late one afternoon for what we thought would be a two-day journey. Not long into Wyoming the rental truck hit some rough roads and began to rock side-to-side. I thought, “Holy Shit! I am going to dump this truck on its side and all our stuff we be scattered across Hwy 80."

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No-Doubt Peaceful Warrior

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I have been bothered by self-doubt most of my life. I thank the 12 years of Catholic Schools as one of the major contributors to this deeply rooted lack of belief in myself. At the base of this belief runs a mixture of ideas that there is something not okay about who I am.

First off I want to say, I know this old message is a bunch of mind-noise BS but that doesn’t stop it from rising inside of me from time-to-time.

Through years of personal introspection and my work as a mental health professional, I have come to understand that the ego-mind uses self-doubt as a way to remain in charge. If thoughts of self-doubt are consistently part of my psyche, I am more readily under the control of my ego.

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Be Aware: There Is A James E Holmes In All Of Us

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The tragedy in Aurora Colorado was terrible. The people who survived that awful night in the theater will carry the trauma for many years. They, as well as the families, responders and community will all need help to release the trauma for their well-being.

James E Holmes is a fellow human being with the same potential as you and I. Somewhere along the way he went off course, down a very dark road. Here are six ways we can end up in a very dark place: 

1.  Anger is a powerful emotion. People who stuff anger can build up huge amounts of stored negative energy. If anger keeps building it will need expression.  Anger needs to be released in healthy ways.

2.  The mind can go off in extreme directions. Thoughts can grow more and more powerful inside. Thoughts can also rationalize terrible ideas. The mind needs balance and harmony.

3.  The ego is run by fear. It wants to be right. When the ego wants to assert more power and control it can come up with very unhealthy ideas to do so. The ego also often wants attention and can go in search of its “fame” in very destructive ways.  The ego needs to be acknowledged and kept in a more neutral place in our daily lives.

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Time To Stop Blinding Yourself and Reclaim Your Full Vision

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Life has a way of blinding us to what’s going on. Things happen and we close down. This is the nature of being human in a world so often powerful and too often overwhelming. What we see is affected by our experience of the world.

A number of years ago I had a very interesting experience and it has left questions in my mind about how much our emotions affect how well we see. One evening before I went to bed, I had a very positive insight and felt uplifted before I drifted off to sleep. In the morning, before I put my contacts in, I looked outside and could read the street sign. The strength of the corrective lenses I wear would make that clarity of vision nearly a miracle.

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Dissolving Past Regrets – Simple Solution # 4

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Maybe you have noticed that regrets from the past can get in the way of enjoying your life now. Here is a simple technique to help put regrets from the past aside.

When a thought of regret comes, kindly acknowledge you are an imperfect human being. Like the rest of us, you make mistakes.

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Taming The Roaring Noise Of Anger - Simple Solution # 2

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The follow is another short concise self-intervention. Take a few minutes to give this anger shifting technique a try.  You will appreciate how quickly anger becomes a manageable emotion.

Don’t deny or ignore anger. Acknowledge it. Simply acknowledging it changes it from a monster in the closet to an awareness of energy in motion (emotions).