One of the things I like about what I do as an Intuitive Medium is that I get to aggregate out other people’s work that I find valuable and poignant to my reader and listener base. In the next three days, I will be sharing a chapter from Brian Weiss’s book, “Same Soul, Many Bodies”. Brian Weiss is a past-life regression expert, author and motivational speaker.
For those of you who are participating in Mission I AM Possible 21 day challenge, add this blog to your every day practice. For those of you who want to see what this is about and join in, visit www.ctrhotspot.com for our radio show information, or www.kryschendo.com for the challenge outline.
Namaste!
Kristine
The book: “Same Soul, Many Bodies” chapter 11
“I am daily making myself what I am. “ The quote comes from Robert Thurman, the eminent Buddhist scholar at Columbia University, and to me it is an energizing thought. I love the concept of process and flux that it implies.
Every day you are new. Your thoughts, your intentions and actions, your awareness and perceptions are constantly evolving, and with each shift a different you emerges. You are not the same person you were five years ago or even five minutes ago. And neither are your loved ones, your friends, or your acquaintances. One result is that often we react to the old person—and they react to us—as we once knew them, so that, for example, the high school bully remains a bully to us when we see him again even though he might have found spiritual peace and is the mildest mannered of men.
So evolution isn’t much good if you aren’t aware of it. How can you mature if you don’t see the process at work? How can you learn from life if you don’t stop to experience it? How can you embody all that has happened to you physically and psychologically if you don’t give your body and mind the time to ingest it? How can you change as your friends and loved ones change?
The way to assess ourselves and others is through relaxed spiritual contemplation and meditation, and the time to start is in the present. There is a difference between them, although they are close kin. Contemplation means concentrating on a specific subject or object—the idea of loving kindness, for example or the beauty of a butterfly. Meditation requires keeping the mind completely blank, in a state of mindfulness or awareness, free to accept whatever feelings, ideas, images, or visions enter it and letting associations flow to all aspects of the object or thought—to understand its form, shape, color, essence. It is the art of observing without thought, without mental comment. It is far easier for the Western mind to practice contemplation. We are used to focusing our brains on a given subject, thinking about it, and analyzing it. Meditation is more of an Eastern concept, difficult to grasp and requiring a great deal of practice. It takes months or years to be able to meditate whole-mindedly, and you might not be able to fully master it in this one lifetime. That doesn’t mean, however, that you shouldn’t try meditating now. (Remember: In this life, as in all others, you are consciously progressing toward immortality.) The attempt itself brings its own profound rewards, and you will soon find yourself looking forward to the time of aloneness that meditation requires.
You might want to start with contemplation, and the object to concentrate on is yourself. To find out who you are now, think of yourself in the moment. Let whatever thoughts you have about yourself, good and bad, enter your consciousness. Which negative or judgmental images and feelings would you discard as no longer accurate or valid? Which positive and self-healing impressions and feelings would you now add? What life experiences have shaped you most profoundly? When you have another life, what do you imagine would change from this one? The point is not to “like” yourself or, indeed, pass judgment of any kind. You are trying to see what is really there beneath the camouflage of the person you show to the world.
Consider the significant people in your life. Are your images of them outdates? Has your own experience taught you to look at them differently? How have they changed as you yourself have changed? How will these changes lead you to modify your relationship with them in a more positive, understanding, and loving manner? How will they facilitate further change?
We are all works in progress, moving at different speeds along our spiritual paths. But daily we should pause to involve the creative mind on the core concepts that can shape us as humans wishing to rise toward the One: love, joy, peace, and God.
Contemplation and meditation aren’t easy, for the further inward you go, the more deeply felt will be your understanding, and going deep requires digging through layers of defenses. We are so disciplined to think and analyze that attempts to clear or empty the mind defy our training. Yet analysis is counter to contemplation and meditation, and we must shed it as we begin to explore. It isn’t enough to say to yourself, “I’m ridding my mind of all things except the notion of loving kindness,” or, going further, “I’m ridding my mind of all thoughts whatsoever and am aware of nothing and everything at once.” In both cases you will find yourself distracted by the outside world. You might be able to think about loving kindness for a while, but I’ll bet that soon you will remember a time when you weren’t kind or someone wasn’t kind to you, and from that might come the thought: “My God! It’s Mother’s birthday, and I forgot to call her” or some other notion that whisks you back to everyday matters. And if you try to blank your mind entirely, you’ll almost surely find it filling with mundane distractions: your nose itches or there is a housefly in the room or the thought that if you keep sitting much longer, you’ll miss the rerun of Seinfeld.
The present discussion is mostly about meditation, but much of what follows is applicable to contemplation as well.
Meditation stills the chatter that normally fills our minds, and the resulting quiet allows us to observe without judgment, to reach a higher level of detachment, and eventually to become aware of a higher state of consciousness.
A simple exercise can demonstrate how difficult it is to keep your mind devoid of thoughts, feelings, to-do lists, physical discomforts, everyday worries, or household or business concerns.
After reading this paragraph, close your eyes for a minute or two. (I suggest sitting in a favorite chair or on a comfortable cushion or in bed. Be as comfortable as possible. Take a few deep breaths, exhaling away all the stresses and tensions you carry around in your body. Try to keep your mind calm and think of nothing, not even beautiful sunsets or gentle seas. The object is to still your left brain, the part that thinks and analyzes. Ready? Begin now.
It didn’t work, did it?
You probably had several moments of relaxation and pleasure, but then you might have thought about how silly you looked holding an open book with your eyes closed. And then perhaps about a report: Would you make the deadline for it? Or did you forget the mint jelly for the leg of lamb you are serving your guests tonight? The stresses of today’s world seem to intrude constantly into our daily lives, and in an artificial-seeming environment—in solitude in a darkened silent room—they seem to pummel us. Under this barrage of stress the physical body seems to function at a higher level of alertness—the so-called fight or flight reaction—triggering a host of psychological reactions. You might even feel fear, thinking that the silence is somehow threatening. (Many of us turn on the radio or television as soon as we get home, often to ward off the dread of the assault of thoughts or memories.) So how long have you been sitting still? Five minutes? It seems a good start, you tell yourself, though you know it isn’t. Perhaps you’ll be able to give yourself another minutes or so tomorrow, as though meditation was something to endure.
Maybe, you tell yourself the next day, rather than meditate you’ll contemplate. Not yourself—it is too dangerous to begin there—but, as Dr Weiss suggests, you’ll concentrate on loving kindness. Contemplation, you have read, will engage your mind, leading you to a deeper understanding of kindness in today’s session, since that is its subject, and eventually leading to yourself and the life around you. And understanding leads to freedom, joy, self-fulfillment, and better relationships: that is, happiness.
To contemplate a thought or concept is to focus on its meaning, and as noted, it is easier than emptying the mind and observing, the essence of meditation. As you focus, different levels of meaning will emerge. Also, your mental associations with the core object or concept will lead you down further avenues of insight and understanding. It is okay to think during contemplation as long as you keep your focus.
What images does the term loving kindness conjure up? Perhaps a person (your mother? grandmother?) or some act you did spontaneously or some act you were the recipient of? Maybe a feeling, a warmth that pervades your body and brings forth a tear of happiness? Once you have located the image or feeling, you’ll come to an understanding of the more general definition of the phrase. Loving kindness is a spiritual act, and to focus on the spiritual can be extremely rewarding.
Your entire value system will change for the better if loving kindness resides at the base of it. You will find that fears and anxieties are reduced or even eliminated. Your thought process will lead you from your basic definition to a clearer understanding of your spiritual nature. (You see, you are contemplating yourself after all!) In time, with the awareness of what that spiritual essence is, a sense of inner peace, patience, balance, and harmony will manifest itself in your daily life.
Physical benefits also accrue. With the diminution of fear and anxiety and the arrival of inner tranquility, the body is strengthened. The immune system is enhanced. I have seen chronic illnesses alleviated in the bodies of patients whose minds are at peace. Some people have noted energy shifts when insights and understandings emerge. The mind and body are so intimately connected that healing one heals the other.
