5 Easy Steps: Improve The Quality Of Your Life in 2017

A new year brings an auspicious time to reflect on your journey. To take time with yourself; contemplate your own journey, reveals a great key to unlocking the flow of your inner wisdom.

Today we live in a constant media bombardment of the senses. To regain and/or maintain a sense of inner peace, you must have solace with your inner being. That is, the beingness which is eternal and resides in your heart. This is the only parcel, true in each of us, which supersedes religious dogma about what is good and what is authentic.

Perhaps this year, which is coming to a close, has shown you angst or indifference about one situation or another, one relationship or another in your life?

Perhaps you want to improve your life in one fashion or another,

The first step, to any such improvement, is inner clarity. Clarity is a prized tool on the journey of life. It is simple and self evident. Clarity is the evidence of your own Truth and does need the agreement of others. Clarity lives free of the opinion, comments and questions - it's a serene subjective island in the sea of constant objective stimulation.

Are you ready to take your journey to the next level?

If so, here are five easy steps to assist you with walking in your own Truth.

#1 Take time to notice the freedom you have.

We all have freedom to one degree or another. Depending on your lifestyle, you have to declare your freedom for what you feel it to be. As your circumstances change, so to will your experience of freedom.  The nugget here is to declare your freedom in how you feel and thus mold your circumstances and situations.

There is no need to bamboozle or lie to yourself. Simple state the characteristics of you freedom as is. And, most importantly, adjust your observations in waking life to perceive characteristics enunciating freedom as you continue to move forward in your life.

For example, you have the freedom to look where ever you want. You have the freedom to choose your thoughts. You have the freedom to feel good or bad. You have the freedom to choose your own perceptions.

Steeping up to recognize and declare your freedom takes mental discipline and discernment.

Once you understand those basic, core, freedoms you are ready to make your own statement about your freedom. Make a simple affirmation you can repeat often. Repeat it silently to your self until it resounds with you - filling you with the glory living fully.

#2 Bring more allowing of well being into your life.

All creatures are vibrational beings. You are a vibrational being. Very simply, you are made of energy that transmits through this Universe and all Universes.

The energy of life permits natural well being. Period.

Are you ready to get off the roller coaster ride of letting other people and external situations determine how you feel and what you think?

All negative emotion, illness, and disease is a product of shutting off the natural well being available to you.

Make am inner commitment, within your heart, to allow well being into your life. Be steadfast in that alignment.  You will see the difference over time.

#3 Explore your own intuition.

Be patient with yourself.  No gigantic changes are going to occur overnight.

Thinking is a spiritual activity. Yes, the basis of spirituality is creativity. Because we have total freedom in this life, we can choose to be positive or be negative. What a person thinks and believes is totally up to them. Do you want to live naturally or do you want to be part of the herd?

You can recognize the power of your inner wisdom when you understand that thoughts flowing to you are a construct of the Universe. If you choose to be negative and fearful then more of those thoughts will flow to you. If you choose to be happy and see good, then more of those thoughts will flow to you.

There is no mystery here, this is all based on the Law Of Attraction and the Law of Cause and Effect. Two eternal Universal laws.

It's up to you to take the steps in any direction you wish. First, align your inner thinking with your short term and long term motives. Be patient and you will see results.

#4 Soak in your well deserved joy.

Joy is a quality that is not portrayed in the external world very much. Many religions use it as a lure, saying you have to make one sacrifice or another to receive it.

Joy is a natural component of well being. Bring more joy into your life with one easy step: notice more joy around you.

Observe to yourself the joy in other people and/or situations. Most easily, you will find endless joy in the beauty on Nature.

Joy is something you feel. It needs no agreement from another. It needs no comment from another.

To improve the quality of your life, you must always renew your life within which means reduce/eliminate the need of approval from others.

#5 Pay attention to the subtle signs and heed them.

I believe that we are always receiving signs about our journey. It's an art to stop and notice them, then apply them.

Don't expect to see a flashing neon light to guide you.

But, do expect to see subtle signs and signals that will encourage you to go this way or that way. Yes, you will stumble and you will make mistakes. But, in those periods of frustration don't quit or give up. Just fine tune your perceptions. Keep your focus within and don;'t get discussed y the opinions of another.

Maybe the sign will be a insight during a conversation or while you are making an observation. Or, it might be a sudden sensation or feeling.  There are varying types of signals you can receive.

Remember, you are an eternal being.  What you learn and discover here on this Earthly journey will belong with you onto the next journey. There is no need to rush. Each of us is evolving and growing as we move forward in one direction or another.

Find your natural comfort within and relax into a greater sense of Trust and Fatih with yourself; about you.

Summary

Each of the five steps above builds on the previous step(s).

When you are focusing on step #5, you will come to understand that the subtle signs arise are a signature of your intuitive abilites.

As you move forward within you will discern, with greater clarity, the difference between thinking and insights - which is a very fine line. But, as with every practice, it takes your mistakes and experience to see progress.

Words don't teach, only life experience does.

Wishing you and your family a Blessed new year!

Steu Mann
Personal and Business Consulting Services
December 30, 2016                            

What is Personal Leadership?

Personal Leadership is not achieved by a earning a diploma, certificate, or accomplished through a title and income. 

Not all leaders, educators, or business people have obtained it.

In the world today, it's just about guaranteed elusive, until you step out of the main stream media flash flood.

It’s easy to spot someone with Personal Leadership. They are easeful in what they accomplish, not needing the praise of another to feel good; they are driven by their joyful focus at hand. Their ingenuity derives from observing their emotions and always reaching for what feels good.

People with this genuine artifact are infused with a supreme confidence without being conceited and without seeking an advantage over another.

Personal Leadership does’t require being followed or tweeted. It simply signifies being rooted in satisfaction with all of life - as it is - in your heart of hearts. 

Exercising this social responsibility manifests as being content with what life serves, while not requiring that others share your contentment or even agree with it.

Individuals with Personal Leadership are not affiliated with one group or another to procure social status or endure their economic security.

These natural people have a regimen of trust and faith in All That Is, which spontaneously expresses being in concert with life. While they converse, listen, or congregate they easily decipher the energy and interact appropriately.

Freed from selfish motives, they are not afraid to put them self first and honor their own intentions. They comprehend the matrix of co-joint creation and celebrate its’ fulfillment.

The treasure of Personal Leadership includes the natural upliftment of other living creatures.

Without dogma, Personal Leadership purely reinforces the fundamental law of the universe: We are all connected.


Steu Mann
An educator and consultant with individuals and businesses striving to bring harmony and abundance to their individual effort and their collective endeavors. You can reach him by phone at (541) 200-5269.

©  copyright protected 2014, this content may be reproduced as long as all the content, including this text, is present.

Plan Of Development: making a plan and sticking to it

Life really is easier when you have goals and make a plan to obtain 'em.

What happens too often is losing faith that your plan is not going to work so you toss your motivation and your goals.

Society drills into us a  "2 minute orientation" mentality of life. If we don't see some result in quickly then we give up, well maybe not literally two minutes ... but we sure think we are in control of what needs to happen and when. A good example, public education schedules ring bells to horde students from class to class.

There is mental, spiritual, and emotional enrichment in discovering how to think through ideas completely - independent of circumstances around you.

People who are successful have a plan and work that plan. They don't give up.

As your inner determination grows - from your faith in you regardless of the circumstances or opines of others - you will see a change in the circumstances of you life. And, this takes time - it's not an overnight event.

What they don't teach in school is how to grow your patience, how to grow your confidence in your self.  Believe me, when you have no confidence in yourself you are reducing the possibility for exponential growth in your life.

You must believe your self exactly the way you are.  That is step one. Sounds kinda basic but it's so true. When you consider the fact that most religions, I was raised a christian, say that heaven is not here on Earth but later on when you are "dead". Right there, in that belief system, you are tripping over the value that you are "not worthy" right now - today.

Think and Grow Rich, by N. Hill, says that the three most important characteristics of any person to reach success are:

#1 Autosuggestion
What are you always telling your self? If you don't know the answer, than you are unaware what you are speaking to yourself, which is, unfortunately, the state of many people today. Just too numb to stop and notice what is going on inside you. Anyways,  each of us is always having conversation(s) with ourselves either quietly or the words we speak to others. After all, everything we speak is a reflection of who we are and what we are.  So, what are you speaking and being? When is the last time you stopped to notice or even care?

#2 Faith
What level of faith do you have in your plan? In your life? Are your convictions swayed by the winds of TV news, your friends, your family, your church? Or, are you a rock that allows the current and tides of events and thoughts of others to flow around you?

#3 Desire
What kind of desires do you have? Are they short term or long term? Are they focused on the quality of your experience? Or, do your desires have to do with managing the quality of life for others?  Are your desires evolving your experience(s)? Are your desires making this planet a better place for all living creatures?

Getting Started....
A simple and easy method to get started with your Plan Of Development means getting serious about identifying what you are telling your self each day, comprehending the level of inner faith you have in you and by you, plus selecting desires you want to manifest.

Have fun with this; otherwise, it just becomes more mental gyrations of analyzing and criticizing you and or other people/events.

Creating is the key to a life of success and good times.

Steu

PS: here is some interesting research on the value of forgiving your self - leading a less stressful life - click here.

The Preciousness of Each Moment

A lot has been going on in my karmic movie, or my personal life, whichever terms you prefer.  A lot of different words and ways of saying things designate the same basic thing in essence.  People even have arguments saying the same basic thing in different ways.  Thing is, most people would rather win the argument than know the truth.

What takes us out of the Truth of the Present Moment?  Words.  Thoughts.  Automatic reactions.  Expressing negative emotions.  Living in our own egotistical melodramas.

Let’s begin with words.  Words are immensely more powerful than many of us are aware of.  A certain word or phrase can make us react in some way that we know is not the Truth of us.  After our reaction, we might feel foolish that we reacted to someone’s words.  The Sanskrit term for the power of words is matrika Shakti.  My Guru said, “Do not let the matrika make you dance.”

A group of words leads to a thought.  Rather, the group of words with a coherent meaning is the thought.  A thought is nothing more than a certain group of words that we have given meaning to.
On one level, our thoughts are generally insignificant.  They are not nearly as interesting as we make them out to be.  Also, most of them are, at best, some variation of some aspect of truth, or something relatively true for now.  Most thoughts are just mental clutter.  The space that exists between any two thoughts, or any two words, is very blissful and freeing.  However, it is a great process to gain the simple ability to maintain the gaze between two thoughts.

Most people cannot even conceive of a silent, still space between thoughts, between words.  They might even consider such a space as boring.  Thoughts lead to activity and stimulation, which many people are unknowingly addicted to.  Many people are only comfortable with plenty of activity and stimulation.  This leads to egotistical melodramas, and we get lost in them and lose all touch with the Truth of the Present Moment.

Egotistical melodramas is one of the key terms in our Course of Training regarding Living in the Truth of the Present Moment.  In short time we begin to recognize egotistical melodramas for what they are; not merely in retrospect, but as we are in the midst of them.  We learn to catch them ‘red-handed.’

We must develop the capacity to see what limits us and keeps us in some degree of ignorance, for only after we are able to see what holds us down are we finally able to recognize the very best of ourselves.  Truly, most all people are much greater, in essence, than they conceive themselves to be.  They limit themselves to constrictive or contracting concepts.  This is why we must learn to go beyond all concepts, and open up to the willingness to see something new—the Truth of our own Being, the Truth of the Self.

Briefly, an egotistical melodrama requires words and thoughts (to describe the situation and what is going on—which we take to be ‘reality)’.  The egotistical melodrama usually requires other people—often includes conflict, or an expression of negative emotions, and they take place in ‘time.’  In the present moment, they don’t even exist.  They exists in thoughts, and thoughts require time.

The present moment is absolutely silent and absolutely still.

The present moment is the space between words or thoughts.  If we could rest in that state, we would live in absolute contentment.  Truly, contentment is the highest aspiration.  Once we are content, we have attained all we can attain while dwelling in this physical body.

Due to a rigid conditioning from the past, we cannot be content simply by deciding to be.  We can decide to remain content forevermore, and yet the next time someone says something we don’t like, we are caught up in an emotional reaction.  So a comprehensive and coherent ‘training’ is, if not required, at least highly recommended.  On our own, our head is spinning its tires to get free from snow, ice, sleet, sand, and mud of the mind.  We need something that helps us see what direction
we’re going in and what is the next step.

At least this was my own experience with my own Teachers.  Simply through being in subtle relationship with them, my state would expand to a much greater degree, leading to a greater transformation, than anything I could have possibly done on my own, depending entirely on my own feeble efforts.

Anyway, we each do what we can do, right?  I sit here and write having no idea of where this sentence will go, much less what will be written in the next sentence.  In a sense I am taking dictation, having no idea what I will write next.  I am simply the typist.  All my writings are much more amazing to me than to you, the reader, for you might think you know where these words come from, while for me it is a great mystery.

Some questions have recently come in.  I will respond to them here:

Someone wrote, "I don't feel I value or appreciate the preciousness of each moment.

“Here is my question:

WHY IS THIS LIFE SO PRECIOUS?

“What is it about being in THIS BODY that is so precious?  I want to fully appreciate the preciousness of each moment and am open to fuller understanding."

Being in this body is so precious because it carries a precious cargo.  It is our dharma to protect the precious cargo at any cost.  What if you could actually experience that nothing is inside this body other than God or Consciousness?  What if you were truly aware that you are carrying around the Lord everywhere you go?

If you felt alone with God, would you experience the preciousness of the moment? Well, in truth, you are alone with God right now.  God is peering through your eyes, hearing through your ears, and so on through all the senses.  There is no one in this body but God.  There is no middle-man.
When you fully understand this, you live in the consciousness of the preciousness of life.  You see that each moment is to be cherished and celebrated, because it is a distinctive part of the life you are living here on the planet Earth.  Why not cherish and celebrate each moment of life?  Is something ‘else’ going to happen?

This is how you experience the preciousness of the present moment.

Read More: http://truthofthepresentmoment.blogspot.com

Research: Virtual avatars may impact real-world behavior

How you represent yourself in the virtual world of video games may affect how you behave toward others in the real world, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

"Our results indicate that just five minutes of role-play in virtual environments as either a hero or villain can easily cause people to reward or punish anonymous strangers," says lead researcher Gunwoo Yoon of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

As Yoon and co-author Patrick Vargas note, virtual environments afford people the opportunity to take on identities and experience circumstances that they otherwise can't in real life, providing "a vehicle for observation, imitation, and modeling."

They wondered whether these virtual experiences -- specifically, the experiences of taking on heroic or villainous avatars -- might carry over into everyday behavior.

The researchers recruited 194 undergraduates to participate in two supposedly unrelated studies. The participants were randomly assigned to play as Superman (a heroic avatar), Voldemort (a villainous avatar), or a circle (a neutral avatar). They played a game for 5 minutes in which they, as their avatars, were tasked with fighting enemies. Then, in a presumably unrelated study, they participated in a blind taste test. They were asked to taste and then give either chocolate or chili sauce to a future participant. They were told to pour the chosen food item into a plastic dish and that the future participant would consume all of the food provided.

The results were revealing: Participants who played as Superman poured, on average, nearly twice as much chocolate as chili sauce for the "future participant." And they poured significantly more chocolate than those who played as either of the other avatars.

Participants who played as Voldemort, on the other hand, poured out nearly twice as much of the spicy chili sauce than they did chocolate, and they poured significantly more chili sauce compared to the other participants.

A second experiment with 125 undergraduates confirmed these findings and showed that actually playing as an avatar yielded stronger effects on subsequent behavior than just watching someone else play as the avatar.

Interestingly, the degree to which participants actually identified with their avatar didn't seem to play a role:

"These behaviors occur despite modest, equivalent levels of self-reported identification with heroic and villainous avatars, alike," Yoon and Vargas note. "People are prone to be unaware of the influence of their virtual representations on their behavioral responses."

The researchers hypothesize that that arousal, the degree to which participants are 'keyed into' the game, might be an important factor driving the behavioral effects they observed.

The findings, though preliminary, may have implications for social behavior, the researchers argue:
"In virtual environments, people can freely choose avatars that allow them to opt into or opt out of a certain entity, group, or situation," says Yoon. "Consumers and practitioners should remember that powerful imitative effects can occur when people put on virtual masks."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140210083239.htm

Research: What is fairness - compassion, this is the real deal - does it fit you? (video)

Educational: how people in Egypt had the courage to listen to their conscience and become united (video)

What is your new reality? How can that bring you natural health?

The world is changing. That is a simple fact. Whether we choose to fight those changes or help to create them, change is the nature of our evolutionary path. We are moving away from everything that is familiar to us into an unknown territory that we may call "the New Reality." What does this mean? It means that our familiar behaviors and interactions with each other will not bring the same results. It means that familiar ways of survival in the world will no longer work. It means that our familiar methods of exchange (work for money, money for food, etc.) may no longer be effective. Many of us have lost jobs or changed jobs as we struggle to find our place in the changing world. It means that even our weather can no longer be trusted to follow familiar patterns. (read more)

Ready to be a wonderful change in your journey? One of my favorite video clips ! (4 min)

One Woman's Mission To Create A Peaceful World

Empowered Living! 

Kristina Jansz

Life, in all its grandeur is made up of experiences. In fact, it boggles the mind to even try to compute how many experiences you will have in the course of your lifetime. Some of these experiences will be what you desire, dream about and work towards and certainly, they will bring you great satisfaction and joy. With equal certainty you can expect that some of the things that happen in your life will be other that what you would like. Frustration, anger, bitterness, powerlessness and apathy are often the emotional residue of such experiences.

Nobody could blame you for feeling like a little cork bobbing on the surface of the ocean, subjected to whatever the whims of the weather. Sometimes it’s peaceful and beautiful and at other times it feels like you’re fighting for your life. It’s hard not to feel powerless when it seems as though you have no say in the matter and it’s even harder not to feel overwhelmed when, moment to moment, you’re just trying to survive whatever is being thrown at you.

When you’ve experienced hurtful and disappointing experiences, and in particular, when it seems as though you’ve experienced so many of them, without even knowing it, you may have made an unconscious decision to frame your experiences in a negative context. The instant your pain and fears are triggered, or you think there’s a chance that they may be triggered, you relinquish power over your life and default to a cornucopia of fear- based defense mechanisms, low self-esteem, low expectations and hopelessness all of which allow you to believe that you are powerless in your own life.

And it doesn’t stop there! In a gesture of self-preservation, you may have even gone so far as to expect your future experiences to be hurtful and disappointing, never measuring up to what you want. Lower the bar, don’t expect much, and you can’t get hurt, right?

Read Entire Article: http://kristinajansz.com/articles/Empowered-Living.pdf

Guest Post: I Am Always The Common Denominator Of My Life

If you only knew what you were doing to me. If you loved me you wouldn't act this way. Don't you care about me? You are making my life miserable. Sound familiar?

 “Oh how I love focusing on you. If you would only stop doing this or that or if you'd start doing this or that, then finally, maybe I'd be happy. Relieved of the responsibility of self, it was so easy to be critical, resentful and dependent on you. If you only knew what you were doing to me. If you loved me you wouldn't act this way. Don't you care about me? These were my constant thoughts.”  From “Wisdom of the Rooms,” by MichaelZ. Visit: http://www.theWisdomoftheRooms.com to sign up for FREE.

That description from Michael Z was a wonderful description of me, too, while I still drank. I blamed by boss, my ex-wife’s attorney, my second marriage, my over-whelming job – a lot of things wee the reason I drank. My vodkas anesthetized my feelings until the alcohol, itself, became the problem. My standard line was: “If you had my life and my bad-luck experiences, you’d drink too. “

Early in my recovery program with AA, two learning experiences led me to learn to put down the magnifying glass and start using the mirror. The first was a simple trick of grammar. I learned to stop saying, “If this or that bad thing happened, it caused me to drink.” I learned to reverse that sentence and say, instead, “Because I was drinking, this or that bad thing happened.”

I learned this by listening to an exchange in an AA meeting early in my sobriety. A guy said that it seemed like a lot of men in the group had done truly awful things when drunk. They had gotten caught, went to jail, got divorces, lost jobs, etc. He went on to say that he couldn’t relate because a lot of those things hadn’t happened to him every time he got drunk. When it was his turn, an old-timer said quite simply, “Stop. Think about it. Maybe you didn’t do stupid things every time you got drunk. But, you’ve indicated that every time you got caught doing stupid things, you were drunk.”

After the old-timer shared, I remember thinking to myself – “Wow! Maybe I wasn’t drinking because of all my lousy bad luck. Maybe I was having lousy bad luck because I was drinking.” That realization began to alter my perception of reality and I began to get very much better a lot more quickly. I was able to begin to put down the magnifying glass, which I used to focus on all my lousy bad luck, and began to use the mirror to understand my role and responsibility that contributed to my bad luck.

The second learning experience happened when I was doing my Fifth Step with my sponsor, having completed my “fearless moral inventory,” or Fourth Step. A lot of my inventory had to do with my messed up relationships with my children and with all the significant women with whom I’d had a romantic relationship. As I was going through these failed female relationships, my sponsor asked me to stop and summarize the common denominators of all these women. I thought for a moment and began spewing out a litany of common physical characteristics, common behavior patterns they all seemed to possess, and common issues that kept cropping up. He simply sat there and slowly shook his head. I asked him, “What are you getting at? What do you want me to say?” Again, he just shook his head. Finally, exasperated, I said, “You obviously know the answer. Why don’t you tell me the common denominator?” He smiled and said, “Don, the common denominator of all your failed relationships is you.”

Damn!

So simple. Although I thought I had learned that lesson and had “moved on” to bigger issues, here it was again. Over the 25 years of my growth in sobriety, that issue has come back to bite time and time again. If the common denominator is not me but you, if it’s not me but the situation, if it’s not me but the event – then I am a perpetual victim because I can never control you, situations, or events. I always will remain at the mercy of someone or something else. It’s a built-in pity pot.

A Course in Miracles (ACIM) says in dozens of different ways, “Whatever is bothering me, upsetting me, frightening me, angering me, pleasing me, fulfilling me, satisfying me – remember, it is always an inside job. It is always the end result of my perception of my universe. It is always the result of my thinking.”

I am responsible for my happiness and my well-being. When things aren’t going right, my first reaction, still, is to find fault outside me. But, pretty quickly I can now stop and look instead at my behavior, my attitude, my thinking, my assumptions – all of which play major roles in how I perceive, react, respond, or contribute to the situation. That is to be my focus.

I am always the common denominator of my life and thinking. It’s always about the mirror, not the magnifying glass. When I use the mirror the opportunities to my the Holy Spirit increase exponentially.

Thanks for listening, and – as always – feel free to forward this message to your friends, family, and those accompanying you on your spiritual journey.

Don

#1 October, 2012

Copyright, 2012

Read Don's Bolg: http://donaldodell.blogspot.com/

Guest Blog: When My Serenity Flies Away, I Know I’m Believing What I Think About Myself.

When I drank, I developed a truly insane ability to continue drinking, despite its obvious consequences. I thought I drank because of my messed-up life. It never dawned on me that my messed-up life was because I drank. My life revolved around drinking. Didn’t everyone’s? [I learned much later the answer was “No! That’s true only of alcoholics.] I figured out ways to go to the Men’s Room during a testy business meeting in order to take a quick swig of vodka to calm my nerves. I had pre-planned where to stash the pint bottle. I knew how to hide a flask and secretly add vodka to my glass of house or host’s wine. I’d be able to go into the bathroom or go outside to smoke my pipe carrying my glass of Burgundy or Claret and walk back in with my “new” glass of Rose’.

Even though I have a lot of sobriety now, I am still just another recovering alcoholic. I’m not recovered. Never will be. Now, even though thoughts of alcohol or taking a drink are very rare and come very infrequently, I can still go on a mental or spiritual “bender.” It happens when I take myself too seriously – when I’m focused on myself and actually believe in the reality of what it is I’m thinking.

When I am in this frame of mind I am very emotionally fragile. Everything is interpreted as being personal. Everyone and everything around me is irritating. I am tired or depressed all the time. I have little motivation to accomplish anything. I cannot stay focused on much of anything – other than how much my life is messed up. I get disgusted with myself and want to escape.

In short, I am in a spiritual funk.

All this brings me back to the principles both of AA and ACIM: I am never upset for the reason I think and whatever “it” is, it is always – ALWAYS – an inside job. But I don’t have to believe what I think. All I have to do is ask the Holy Spirit to provide me with a different way of looking at things.

I really wish I could tell you that I have progressed so far on my spiritual journey that these spiritual “funks” are things of the past for me. I really do wish I could tell you that. But I can’t. I get frustrated, disappointed, disillusioned and distraught. But it’s all inside me and now I have the tools to begin the repair.

Whenever all I think about is me, I can recognize the resulting spiritual funk because I have witnessed glimpses of my life full of spiritual calm and joy. So, I can be grateful for these “funks,” because I simply recognize them for what they are – my Ego. Then I forgive myself, and the perceptions I have projected onto others, and ask the Holy Spirit for a different way of looking at the situation, people or events. That change of my perception is up to Him, not me.

Whew! What a relief.

Thanks for listening, and – as always – feel free to forward this message to your friends, family, and those accompanying you on your spiritual path.

Don

#3 August, 2012

Copyright, 2012

See Article:

http://donaldodell.blogspot.com/2012/08/part-2-when-my-serenity-flies-away-i.html

When My Serenity Flies Away, I Know I’ve Taken the Focus off Me

I always try to remember the miracle encapsulated in that anonymous saying: “When you change the way you see things, the things you see change.”

In last week’s message (Msg-1-Aug-2012: “Take Care of God’s Will for You for Today and Let God Do His Job of Taking Care of Everyone Else”) an underlying theme was that I welcome virtually anything that will take the focus off of me. Unconsciously, I just seem to gravitate to any and all internal thoughts that will distract me from looking where I really need to be looking – at me.

There are two significant reasons I need to keep the focus on me and my thoughts:

1.     Whatever is causing me an upset is really only my perception of the person, event or situation at hand. Equally, whatever is causing extreme happiness is my perception of the situation at hand. I used to get so frustrated in AA when old-timers would state, “This, too shall pass.” I could fully embrace that saying when I was relaying bad or unsettling news. I found it infuriating when they would say that to me when the news was exhilarating or wonderful to me.

2.     A Course in Miracles (ACIM) teaches: We are never upset for the reason we think. This is one of the initial 50 lessons in the Workbook for Students. It is Lesson Number Five. The first five lessons are: 1. Nothing I see means anything. 2. I have given what I see all the meaning it has for me. 3. I do not understand anything I see. 4. These thoughts do not mean anything. 5. I am never upset for the reason I think.

RRead the rest of this article: Gospel of Transformation http://donaldodell.blogspot.com/

Got your wangthang on?

I learned a new word this week - wangthang.

This home study course I am participating in just keeps on cracking my shell to let that light shine on in.

It's a Tibetan word that means 'authentic presence' that translates into 'field of power'.

Normally that would suggest to me there is something I have to obtain in order to reach the field of power. Just the opposite here. Wangthang is about being empty and thus able to be fully present to the moment.

 I have been working on gaining more presence in the moment since I was 18 .....

What a delicious experience it is, being present to the moment without carrying the baggage of the past - mental stuff and emotional gyrations ....  yes, I have my moments and they are enriching indeed.

One of my favorites to bring this closer to the surface ....

"My eyes already touch the sunny hill.
going far ahead of the road I have begun.
So we are grasped by what we cannot grasp;
it has inner light, even from a distance-

and charges us, even if we do not reach it,
into something else, which, hardly sensing it,
we already are; a gesture waves us on
answering our own wave...
but what we feel is the wind in our faces."
Rilke
Translated by Robert Bly

May your day be blissful and abundant.

.... here is link to that course I mentioned ...
http://truthofthepresentmoment.blogspot.com/

Blessings, Steu

SaLuSa from Sirius "... follow your intuitive promptings, and they will keep you firmly on the path of Light..."

Message from SaLuSa by Mike Quinsey - January 9, 2012

The energies around the world continue to build up, and are carried by the grid that is lifting up the Earth. All is preparing for the final thrust of energy, that will propel it into the new level of expression and out of duality. It will also fulfill the promises of a new Age that will be unlike anything you have experienced previously. and truly bring about a heaven upon Earth. Only those of you who have lifted your vibrations sufficiently, will be able to join those energies. Thereby lies the outworking of a truth, that only those of the Light can exist in the new dimension. The choice has always been yours, but with it comes the responsibility to carve out your own pathway to Ascension. You can have all of the help and encouragement in the world, but only you can take the necessary steps that will bring it about for you.

It matters little whether you ascend or not, inasmuch that all souls will continue to make progress. All happens in its own good time, and you have no need to feel pressured to do other than what you personally desire. You have an infinite amount of time to make your way back through the higher dimensions, and at all times help will always be there for the asking. In fact your Higher Self is always with you, although when you drop your vibrations it cannot always penetrate them to reach you. However, once you have the intent to rise up the link becomes stronger and more open. You can work together if you follow your intuitive promptings, and they will keep you firmly on the path of Light.

Once you start leading your life with the intent to ascend, your experiences will follow a new path that will enable you to enjoy them and bring peace into it. Your ties to the lower energies will dissolve, and you can break your lifetime habits by denying them the energy to survive. You are changing to a higher level of consciousness, and will take a quantum leap forward with the advent of Ascension. Life will continue as a series of steps upwards as you expand your consciousness even further, never again to experience the feelings of separation from the Source. You will become One with All That Is and a co-creator with God.
For the moment however, we all wait for developments upon Earth, to follow the progress towards changes that will take away the ability of the dark Ones to impose their ways upon you. The interim period will be quite chaotic until our allies have established their own control, and the different countries implement the changes that will clearly indicate their willingness to become part of the New Age. General agreement has already been agreed as it is seen that the world cannot survive, unless the Illuminati are removed. 


We are the Overseers and will accurately monitor the response to ensure that promises are kept. All dealings are to be above board from now on, and with total honesty as a new way of working is accepted. Any deception will be easily found, and their will be no place for anything other than total compliance. The intent is that all changes are for the betterment of Humanity as a whole, and not some powerful countries as before.

On a day to day basis we make adjustments as considered necessary, and are thus ready at a minutes notice to go into action. Our craft are positioned over many official establishments and will remain there fully cloaked in invisibility. That way we can make sure that we are aware of what is being planned by the dark Ones, and can pre-empt any attempt to interfere with our plans. Freewill operates on Earth, but there is a limit as to how far it can go. Your freewill has to be honored, plus the fact that the changes are decreed by authorities much higher than any upon Earth. Not just the Solar System but the Universe awaits the outcome of events that are taking place upon it. Together we are all going to act as One when Ascension occurs at the end of this year, a monumental event that even other Universes follow with keen interest.

As you will know by now life is everywhere around you, and you lack knowledge of it because the Earth has been in quarantine for eons of time, and contact with you very restricted. Also, you have been deliberately misled to believe you were the only life form of your kind within your Universe. Where evidence of our long past contact is still to be found, it has largely been ignored because it does not fit in with your accepted views. For example many artifacts that have been uncovered, have been deliberately hidden away from your eyes to keep you in ignorance of our existence. 


Accounts of our visits to Earth have similarly been ignored, but that will all come out as the truth is made known to you.
Open your hearts and minds to the great future that awaits you, that will see you become Galactic Beings traveling not just your own Universe, but others where different forms of life to your own exist. You will hardly wish to stay on your own home planet, but become more used to life on the massive Motherships that are self sufficient having everything that you are likely to need. Your presence would not be so much as one doing a job of work, but using your own expertise and skills for the good of the team you are with. Life is harmonious and rewarding, and we would say there is never a dull moment and it is certainly not boring.

I am SaLuSa from Sirius, and always pleased to help advance your understanding about your life on Earth. It is known by some on it, as a prison planet and that is exactly what it is. You have been imprisoned upon it for thousands of years, and the truth of your true selves has been hidden from you. You have been led to believe that you are much less than you really are, and used to serve the interests of those who have controlled the Earth for millennia of time. Now you are rapidly waking up to the truth and quite rightly claiming back your sovereignty, and it will be returned to you. As an experience it will have served you well, as it has been the quickest path to spiritual evolution and understanding. Remember that whatever impressions you have right now, you did enter duality with your eyes open. You accepted the challenge and knew that you would safely come out of it, and now that time has arrived your lives will become full of Love and Light.
Thank you SaLuSa


.
Mike Quinsey.

How To Lead An Intentional Life - Part 2

I have learned that there is one language in life: Trust.  The absence of that language leads to steering life from the perspective of “what others think” and “what looks best.” Don’t get the wrong idea here.  The language of Trust I am speaking of benefits all living creatures in their highest and best good.

The language of Trust doesn't rely on outside circumstance to flourish. It is built upon inner faith and inner courage. It blossoms without needing the approval of outside sources or peers. It's a juggernaut of hope and good fortune - even during the dark night of the Soul. No one can take this language away from you and no one can build it for you either. It is timeless and immortal.
The key to awakening your language of Trust is this: walking your talk. The language of Trust begins and grows as you walk your beliefs that reside in your heart. And, these beliefs provide compassion and understanding for all living things. There is no discrimination and no separation in this vocabulary.

For me, all too often I used to take action with the to escape “uncomfortable feelings.” At that time, I wasn’t even aware that my only intention was escape.  This “action” usually took one of two forms - or both.  One was getting involved in “doing” something or making something. The other was completely ignoring my feelings.  First I had to realize I had those two habits, then I had to learn how to break ‘em. And, breaking them didn’t mean escaping into another bad habit.

My remedy arrived when I begin to sense that I sincerely wanted to gain self growth - self improvement - evolve my Self. The first and most difficult step was apply the brakes,  I had to slow down and embrace what was in front of me to learn from it. This didn’t mean I had to get lost in analyzing data or play the blame and shame game. I just wanted to resolve whatever was present so that I can move forward.  That hunger to move forward freely without carrying around   any buried feelings or thinking allowed me to discover  embracing whatever is on my path in the present moment.

The major shift occurred within me, I realized in my bones, not just talking about it,  that me - all of us - are led by our heart when we stay present to our faith that we will grow and expand. I get into trouble when my mind starts using logic because that process inevitably dissolves whatever level of trust I have established and brings more fear and doubt to the surface.

Fear and doubt always, and I mean always, show up in me as feeling alone or feeling I am separate from whatever is taking place - with a host of reasons. I found “reasons” will arouse the thieves of my heart: anger, greed, jealousy, and fear.  I want more experiences of unity and Love in my life. What about you?

A major habit breaker was redesigning my life style.  I had spent years leading a life of begin accustomed to quick results, pushing and driving to get results, and not spending quality time with myself.  Society has trained us this way - we let it happen. Now, the most important time of my days is creating my intentions each morning.   This refreshed my honor to myself and is a simple act of building a new level of trust within. After all, we don’t need the trust of anyone else. We must learn to accept our own ability to be real with our self - to trust our own self.

A great teacher said to me recently, “Everyone interacts with the people and situations in their life - in the same way and with the same understanding - that they interact with their own Self.”  Just exactly what this means is still sinking in, I am still contemplating this one. How about you?

My measuring stick nowadays is the ability I have to stand in my Truth. This does not require the need or acceptance or approval of another. In that standing, the mystery of who I am and what life is, is replaced with a hunger based in faith and an attention span ruled by my heart.  In my perspective, that hunger is very different from the training and "norms" accepted in the society today.  As a civilization, we need to move away from having every aspect of our lives ruled by the mind, by analysis, by right and wrong. Transforming our life to be led by our heart means taking the time to listen to the pulse within. As far as I can tell in my life, listening to the pulse of my heart breeds only harmony.  What about you?
Respect and honor are codes of warriors from ancient days. Today they are essential components to moving forward and living while listening that pulse. You, I, each person must consistently practice an authentic respect and honor within - first.  When we are in that state, then we have the immense peace and satisfaction resonating from us.   Just arguing the values, pros and cons, of
respect and honor don’t make them manifest. They must be lived. And, this isn’t about waiting until someone else starts living them or just talking about them either.  This is about living them now to remain connected with the pulse of our heart.

The quality of your present moment boils down to the Law of Attraction. We attract what we are being. If we find our self in disagreement with that premise, then we are obviously numb, to some degree or another, or our true state. When one is in their mind they try to reason the Law of Attraction away. When one is attuned to their pulse, they simply adjust their focus and keep moving forward because they understand that life is energy and is very fluid; that by shifting their focus they are truly creating a new way of being that will impact who they are and what they attract.  I have experienced this from the perspective of my heart and my mind. How about you?

Discovering your awareness in the moment and seizing it to express your appreciation, gratitude, or  honor of living is a potent process. It doesn’t happen overnight.  It requires steps, the number and path of which depend totally on who you are - NOW.  For each of us, moving forward with an intentional life requires accepting and nourishing what feels sacred to you - in this step, and then the next, and then the next, and so forth.  At first you may feel uncomfortable and that's okay - you are exploring new ground within you. Keep your heart open and be nonjudgmental of yourself.

In the aura of this sacredness I can create my intention(s) as to what I want to fill my experience with.  How about you? 

The next segment of this article, Part 3, will be posted at shastaconnect.blogspot.com.

Blessings, may your days and nights be filled with peace and your own inner wisdom.
Steu Mann is a Reiki Master and private consultant. He has over 35 years of professional experience and several careers in business and education, including a Masters in Curriculum & Instruction. He has authored dozens of articles in supporting natural people to live a whole being lifestyle and how to expand one's skills using the internet and computers. His work includes the Mount Shasta Resource Book, A Whole Being Magazine, and services that promote expanding your online presence.  Copyright Protected, 2011

World Leader Talking About The Power of Women (video)

Watch and listen as the Dalai Lama talks about why women should take a more active role in society around the world. He gives an explanation of what happened to exclude women and what needs to happen to bring women into a more present mode - now. http://www.dalailama.com/webcasts/post/222-the-power-of-women

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Shasta Connect: Mount Shasta area solutions, including free community directory of businesses, visitor resources, and healing arts.


Discernment Times Magazine: educational material on whole being living.


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Dealing with Anger (video)

The Dalai Lama present a talk (video) on releasing anger and living a peaceful life. This is an excellent elf improvement tool. Share it with your friends as a holiday gift. http://www.dalailama.com/webcasts/post/220-dealing-with-anger

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Shasta Connect: Mount Shasta area solutions, including free community directory of businesses, visitor resources, and healing arts.


Discernment Times Magazine: educational material on whole being living.


Custom videos to market your products and services plus web site design: EzWebManifesting.com

21 meditation exercises: audio and/or reading

This site has 21 different exercises of meditation. An excellent source to explore what technique works best with you. Meditation is proven to reduce stress and provide more relaxation to you: your body, your mind, and of course your spirit. Check out this article and enable you - your Self - to discover what works best in releasing letting go. http://www.soundstrue.com/guide/meditation/#!state_list_page

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Shasta Connect: Mount Shasta area solutions, including free community directory of businesses, visitor resources, and healing arts.


Discernment Times Magazine: educational material on whole being living.


Custom videos to market your products and services plus web site design: EzWebManifesting.com

What type of meditation works for you?

Traditionally, meditation was situated within the context of a set of religious beliefs, teachings, and practices. The objective was to alter everyday consciousness to reach a state of receptiveness to the goals of the tradition. The customary meditation posture involves sitting in a cross-legged position on a cushion with an awareness of bodily position. There are variations that include lying down, standing, and walking as well as other forms of movement such as yoga and qigong. 

Modern meditation groups may sit in chairs. Eyes can be closed or open and unfocused. Meditation may be performed individually or in groups. Some meditation teachers emphasize that meditation is a state of mind involving awareness and acceptance, and can thus be done at any time in the midst of any activity. There are countless forms of meditation, but most fall into three or four general categories: concentrative, open awareness, and guided – as well as the broadly defined practice of mindfulness.


Concentrative Meditation In this practice the objective is to cultivate a single-pointed attention on some object, such as a sound, an image, the breath, or a flame. Through the training of consistently returning to the object of focus, the mind develops the capacity to remain calm, stabilized, and grounded. Many Western meditation teachers start beginners with this practice, most commonly focusing on the breath. In some advanced practices, states of bliss may be reached. The most well-known and researched form of the concentrative type in the West is Transcendental Meditation (TM).

Open Awareness The objective of these forms of meditative practices is to open the mind into a panoramic awareness of whatever is happening without a specific focus. Often this awareness is compared to the spacious sky or a river with objects floating by. The capacity to be present with whatever arises is developed through this practice. The Zen sitting practice zazen, or shikantaza, is an example of this form of meditation practiced in the West.

Mindfulness The most popular, widely adapted, and widely researched meditation technique in the West is known as mindfulness meditation, which is a combination of concentration and open awareness. Mindfulness is found in many contemplative traditions, but is most often identified with the Theravadan Buddhist practice of vipassana, or “insight meditation.” The practitioner focuses on an object, such as the breath, bodily sensations, thoughts, feelings, or sounds. The focus is not as narrow as in concentrative meditation, for there is a simultaneous awareness of other phenomena. This mindfulness practice is often extended to daily actions, such as eating, walking, driving, or housework. The contemporary Western adaptation is typically removed from the rigorous contemplative training method of empirical introspection traditionally associated with Buddhism, which has as its objective the development of equanimity and clarity of perception.

Guided Meditation All forms of meditation can be guided, and many are often practiced with recorded or in-person guidance at first, and then later with decreasing need for explicit guidance. In one form, called guided imagery, the practitioner follows auditory guidance from a teacher or recording that elicits certain images, affirmations, states (such as peacefulness), or imagined desired experiences. Guided imagery is popular in the West to facilitate health and well-being and is often used to rehearse successful outcomes of procedures, such as surgery or an athletic performance.
There are scores of variations of meditation, most of which range along a continuum of some combination of concentration and open awareness techniques. Defining and understanding the type of meditation being practiced represents some of the most important and challenging factors in the field of scientific meditation research. The difficulty of creating clear and consistent definitions of meditative practices is evidenced by the discrepancies found in many academic descriptions of meditation.

For a more in-depth, historical and contextual perspective on the roots of meditation and its evolution in the West, click to download a pdf of the Introduction to The Physical and Psychological Effects of Meditation: A Review of Contemporary Research by Steven Donovan, Michael Murphy, and Eugene Taylor.


Source: http://www.noetic.org/meditation-bibliography/meditation-types/
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Shasta Connect: Mount Shasta area solutions, including free community directory of businesses, visitor resources, and healing arts.


Discernment Times Magazine: educational material on whole being living.




Custom videos to market your products and services plus web site design: EzWebManifesting.com