Real Deal Meditation: New Year Again

 New Year Again

We have come upon a new year again, how exciting!  I am looking at making some changes.  I just wrote up a new class about working on changing your subconscious mind.  In my mind’s eye I am creating my vision that my book goes to the four corners of the world and helps a lot of people.  I am seeing, in my visualization, that I am creating part of people’s healthcare by teaching them to use their own minds to heal their bodies.

I am seeing that large corporations are giving back to the world’s people.  I see governments working for their people; providing all with food, safe and healthy living conditions, education and religious freedom. I am also picturing the world’s people giving religious freedom to each other.

So what are you changing? What are you visualizing?  What do you want to see?

Real Deal Meditation:Don’t Be Fooled

Don’t Be Fooled

In my years of doing healing work I have talked to many people about how to heal yourself. I have many people come to me and tell me that they want to get off their medicine or “have to” stop their medicine for some reason.  Then they look at me and ask, “well, what do I do next?” Here’s how I usually answer:

Let’s talk about a little common sense for a second here. First I am going to ask you is this:  Have you told your doctor what you are doing or what you are planning?  Second I am going to ask you, what are you doing right now for your illness?   Third, what are you willing to give up to heal and how much are you going to change in your life?

Telling your doctor what you are doing is very important because the medicine you’re on is trying to heal you in its own way.  You need to know why the doctor has taken that particular route for healing.  Plus you have to look at the side effects of getting off the medicine. Always remember to be smart and see what you’re getting into. 

I have asked you what you are doing for your illness to have you think. For example if you are still smoking and you have lung cancer think about it, does it make sense? What’s the first thing you could do to step toward health?  If you have sugar diabetes and you have not refined your diet to the best of your abilities, then take a look. See what could be your first step.  This is change. This is work.

The last question asks how much are you willing to give up and how much change are you ready to make?  Your life is connected to your body.  Look at the body, it will tell you what kind of life you live.  If your lifestyle is making you sick then you need to change it.

What I have done to heal myself was not easy.  It was a complete change in how I thought, how I treated my body and how I lived. Is it impossible? No, it is very possible! I did it and that means you can too but don’t be fooled.  Make a plan. Use common sense. Use the knowledge around you.  Make the changes that need to be made in your life and stick with them.  Then ask yourself, when you make positive change in your life, don’t you already feel better?

Real Deal Meditation: Finding Your Soul

Finding Your Soul

Finding your soul is the theme of many books that I have seen and read.  As I was driving home from my local bookstore I was thinking about this idea of finding the soul and it made me question:  Can you lose it?  Where does it go if you’re not using it?  Do you have one when you’re born, or do you create it?  So many questions and so few answers. The funniest part of any question of soul is that no one else can answer it for you. 

I am going to share the story of soul that I choose to believe.  Soul surrounds me like the water of the ocean around a fish.  If fish could talk and you asked them the question, “how’s the water,” they would ask, “what’s water?” That is what my ego thinks when asked about the soul.

Now imagine this. Imagine a big wave casts a fish onto the beach and leaves it flopping around on the sand, gasping for breath until another wave comes by and pulls it back into the open arms of the ocean.  What do you think a fish would say then if you asked how the water was?

Meditation is the wave that places me on the beach and brings me back to the ocean.  It is one way to realize how huge and complete the soul is. My ego is a small fish compared to the ocean of soul.  Only once I realized the difference between soul and ego did I truly understand my soul was never lost.

Real Deal Meditation:Time to Sit

Time to Sit

In my last post (Thoughts Can Kill You) I talked about mental toughness.  Today I want to talk to you about having mental toughness in the beginning when you first start meditating.  Meditation is about learning to sit. It is learning to be quiet.  It is learning to understand that the chatter in your head has no power until you let it.

When I first started sitting in meditation I had lots of rules:  “I have to sit like this,” “I have to breathe like that,”  “I have to act like this,” “my room has to look like that”.  The “have to-s” alone were overpowering. Back then after I did all the “have to” rituals I would sit and then the chatter would start. The “really, are you serious” thoughts and “are we done yet” thoughts and…wait for it… “I am going to relive my day at work” thoughts would all start running.

After that it would be, “my body hurts, I am not comfortable” or “hey I’m tired, let’s call it a day and will go longer tomorrow” thoughts.  

This is where mental toughness comes in. I was nuts back when I learned meditation. I started with a half hour.  I sat there in a dark room fighting my chatter until a buzzer would go off. Maybe it was the way to go for me because I would not give up.  I looked at my chatter as a parent sees a misbehaving child. You understand patience. That’s what you should have with yourself in the beginning.  Actually I say always have patience with yourself. If you have ever practiced meditation you must be laughing right now because this is what you went through.  The funny part is that I still go through these thoughts, this chatter if I choose to.

I have been meditating for a very long time now and here are some things I have learned that are helpful in making meditation feel more natural:

1. Try to meditate about the same time every day.
2. In the beginning find a way of sitting that is comfortable, but not so comfortable that it’s just another place to sleep.
3. If it helps, use music and/or create a ritual that helps you meditate.  The ritual helps you tell your brain it is time to meditate.
4. As meditation begins to feel more natural to you, start to loosen up your rituals a little so that you can bring your meditation into your main stream of life.  Practice reducing your ritual; if you use music learn to meditate without it.  Keep removing the ritual from your meditation practice until all you need is your breath or maybe the sensations of your body or something like that which is with you all the time.
5. Take your meditation on the road; meditate at the mall as you walk around, take it to work.  Meditation is a practice to create silence. Eyes open, eyes shut, it does not matter.  Meditation is real life. It is the eye opener of what you’re missing.

The key is sticking it out to make a time to sit in your life.  You will discover your true self. You will not be disappointed.

Real Deal Meditation: What is the Mean of This?

What is the Meaning of This?

I was talking to a friend today and we were taking about some of the theories out there on all sorts of things. We talked about theories on existence, what is happening around year 2012, theories of God, why the weather is changing, and how the earth was created.  I have read about everyone’s theories and it dawned on me that no one really knows.  Think about it, really. Ask yourself.  “They” have conjectured, tried to prove, and philosophized everything from the beginning of time.

The funny thing is, when did the beginning of time start? Ask that question.  Every week they find a new star, a new atom, a lost city, and everything in between. But does any one person know the truth? Or, do we try to put a picture together that makes us feel comfortable and makes sense to us and does not make us look like a crack pot when we try to share it with others?

As my friend and I talked she asked me, “ok then tell me, what do you believe?”  I said, I believe in change and only I can change for myself.  I learned to make change quickly.  I have learned it does not matter if the world is round or that it’s 2012. It is going to come and it is going to go.  I have learned that I am here to fulfill my body’s survival. How long is that? I do not know. I do believe that I need to take my consciousness to its highest level.  What that is, I have no clue.

The lesson that I do know is this: everyone knows the same about everything that is truly important…nothing.  We can not really share our inner beliefs with the world, because they are going to be scrutinized by the updated theories of the group consciousness.  The human race is a social species that needs to have a common thought to survive.  So I guess to sum this up, what is your truth and do you want to share it with the world?  Or is your truth everyone’s  theories? And does it make you feel good, or have you really ever given it any thought?

Real Deal Meditation: Wisdom of the Ages

Wisdom of the Ages

I have been to many classes on ancient practices, religions, techniques, and theories.   Sometimes I feel when I go to these classes that I am going backwards.  Sometimes it feels when I start looking into their belief system that it is taking away from what I know to be true for myself. 

I know you might say to me: well don’t go to those classes.  You could say: no one is asking you to believe in them.  Or you might say: this is what I choose to believe in, you just don’t know any better. You might say: this is the way to believe and if you don’t, you will be punished.

This post is not here to change you or tell you that what you’re doing is wrong or right or black or white.  What has dawned on me is that many spiritual practices are very old and that these techniques were in some cases created maybe five thousand years ago. It hit me that these, what I am going to call belief systems, have stood up to the test of time.

But, and there is always a “but”… do they work? These old practices were developed to bring cultures together.  They are belief systems with rules, rituals and their chosen right action that you need to follow to belong.  What about now, do they hold up to this day and age?

Do they give you hope? Do they give you freedom to create yourself?  Do they understand when you have outgrown their beliefs and encourage you to move forward to the next step if you feel you have outgrown their teachings?  There is only one person that can do your work to find enlightenment, freedom, or being your own creator and that is you.

I go to these classes because I am looking for tools to continue to create who I am.  It is like going to school for me when I learn from other belief systems. I am always looking to remove one more thought about myself that is not true or replace one thought with a more powerful thought.

We create ourselves everyday with every thought. Speaking for myself I like to be in control by always being hungry and looking and studying and being open to everyone’s different beliefs and also not being afraid to reject or understand if they are coming from a place I have already been.  I still look because all it takes is one word, one sentence that could be the one that creates my next creative thought.

Real Deal Meditation: The Art of Ritual

The Art of Ritual

We all have ritual in our lives.   Ritual might be the side we sleep on, which chair we sit in at supper, or the route we drive to work.  Everything in life, if you do it enough, creates a sequence of movement and thoughts and becomes a ritual.

Now let’s talk about ritual in finding your path to enlightenment. I have rituals. When I sit to meditate I sit in the same room, in the same chair, using the same opening thoughts that I have used for the last twenty years. There is nothing wrong with ritual.  In the beginning I looked for ritual because I thought it was going to bring me a better practice or a better meditation.  I mixed and matched different meditation practices and philosophy, trying to make the right ritual for me.

As I kept adding on to my ritual for beginnings and endings of my meditation, I had less time to meditate. My ritual started to over power my meditation. It became long and a waste of time. Meditation is about finding the silence in between thoughts.  What does ritual do?  One answer that comes to mind is it is for giving thanks to the power outside of yourself that you believe has power over you.  When I realized some of the external routine was just taking time away from my practice and looking within, I adjusted my ritual. Now ritual for me is about having my mind know that in the next few minutes I am going to be meditating and it will be acting accordingly.

My ritual is about going into my meditation room and sitting in my chair that happens to be real comfortable for me to sit in as I meditate.  My mind is now conditioned to my ritual so that when I walk into my meditation room and sit in my chair, it knows that it is time to meditate.  I have other short rituals that help me when I am away from my room and my chair too, like when I place my feet flat on the ground and watch my breath.  These actions send a message to my mind telling me it is time to meditate.  When I am walking and talking in life, like at work or home, my ritual is finding a second to feel my breath and notice the silence and understand the silence’s name is Enlightenment.

Real Deal Meditation: Tough Times

Tough Times

It has been tough times lately between the snow storms, everyday problems, jobs, and the price of everyday goods and services going up. It has been a struggle to rise up and smile, it has been hard to find the silver lining in each day.

I too have been finding it hard to smile. I am looking for answers about how to deal with the snow on my roof, the price of everything, and dealing with sickness of a family member. This is when I need to say to myself: “ok Bob go back to the beginning, live by my 4 rules of life”.  These were told to me by my brother and father.

1. If there is a problem make a decision and carry it out as soon as possible and live with the outcome.
2. If there is a problem but you cannot do anything about it until later, do not worry about it and solve the problem when you can solve it.
3. If there is a problem and you cannot do anything about it do not worry about it at all.
4. (This is my father’s rule.)  Have faith god will provide.

These rules give me permission to take a breath and let go of some of the stress of my earthly ego life which includes things like shoveling, paying bills, jobs, illness, and all the trappings which we call survival. When I am caught up in my ego survival it zaps my energy because I am moving from one horror story to the next.  I am playing catch up, try to solve one problem after another.  Even my meditation suffers because I am looking for an escape from my mind and my thoughts.

There is a breaking point when I say ‘screw it all’. 

The question is when do you say you have had enough of worrying about all this? When do you realize the ego is controlling your life and take it back?  When do you say “I have done my best today and it is time for me to create a better day and just smile?”  When do you say in your heart “have faith and god will provide?”  When do you look at your wife, husband, coworker, or a total stranger and smile and say to yourself “it is going to be alright”?

Real Deal Meditation:What Is the Truth?

What Is the Truth?

I have been talking to a dear friend of mine about meditation, energy, soul, ego, and god.  As we debated what comes first, the chicken or the egg, I realized something: is anything really true? 

Does anyone really know what happens when your heart stops?  I know people reading this might have a story that makes them feel safe at night; I have one of those too.  But sit back and ask yourselves to look at the belief you have about what is going to happen when you die. 

Some days that question stares me right in the face and challenges my whole belief system.  I have read so many books and studied many people’s theories and these theories have been passed down from generation to generation until they are passed down as the truth. But are they true?

I have never met anyone that has been dead for a month and then came back to life to give me a detailed report on it.  Let’s go one step further, how did we get here?  How was the earth created? Are we souls having a human experience? I guess it comes back to one thing and that is, what makes my ego feel safe?  What story am I going to choose because my brain can make sense of it?

What is the truth?  Is it what you can accept?  Is it what you have learned through books and stories? Is it science? Is it faith in something bigger than you?  Is it what makes you feel safe at night?  Do these questions make you feel uncomfortable? 

I go with: there is something bigger than me and I have a strong faith in the universe.  That is what keeps me safe at night and keeps me trying to do my best and finding the truth inside of me.  It gives me the strength to keep moving forward when things are tough and give thanks when things are bountiful.

But when these questions stare me in the face sometimes I want to run away and not deal with them.  Sometimes I just want to go on with my little life, with my little job, with my little family.  Then I go meditate and realize there will be a day when I will know the answer and then I will know the truth.

Real Deal Meditation: My Aha Moments

My Aha Moments

I was asked an interesting question today, something like this: “when you meditate, do you have ‘aha’ moments?”

Lately I have been on a chanting meditation kick. I have been using my 108 bead mala and chanting OM.  I inhale through my nose, following my breath down into my belly with the intention to keep my breath slow, smooth and comfortable.

As I exhale the sound OM, my thumb moves a bead toward the palm of my hand (based on the way I hold the mala).  As I inhale, my thumb moves away from my palm onto the next bead on my mala.

My OM sound starts like this: as I exhale I make an O shape with my mouth and start the O sound from my belly, being very present (and being diligent about it sounding like O). I make the O sound until I feel I have exhaled about half my breath.  At about that time I change the sound to the M sound with my mouth slowly closing. I let the MMMM vibrate in my chest and throat like I am humming.  So, I OM 108 times (once for each bead) and then sit quietly for a while and that is my meditation.

To answer this question:  My aha moments happen all the time. Meditation is the tool that helps me find those moments. Aha moments are when I catch myself and become aware of a thought or pattern and choose to react differently to a given situation.  It is not traveling down the same old path with the same old reaction.  For me an Aha is the space between thoughts. It is not being in neutral and going down the same old thought path but rather, engaging in the path I choose.  It is like saying, “aha! this time I am going to do this a new way and create a new thought pathway”, maybe changing your whole life or how you get home at night.