Making Your Mind Your Best Friend

While meditating, if you find it difficult to observe your breath - relax. Take a few deep cleansing breaths. As you continue to breathe abdominally (while inhaling take the abdomen out; while exhaling bring the abdomen in), observe each body part, moving from the crown of your head to your toes. Take your time, until you feel a sense of silence dawning upon your mind.

All problems arise from the mind, which has been trained over time to unconsciously support the root of the ego-self, the pseudo-self.

Until the mind is purged of its impurities, of the dross collected over your whole lifetime, until it can find something Higher to surrender to, until it becomes silent; the clinging, craving, crying, demanding, fearing continues to take the individual on a roller coaster ride.

The best way to purge yourself, is to realize that anything that bothers you, is NOT YOU. It is your ego, your conditioned mind, your mind attached to the past and future. It is your mind that is not in the Moment.

To unfetter yourself you need to recognize the Self that transcends all these fleeting thoughts and emotions.

Ego demands endlessly. It has a hunger that can never be appeased. You keep filling it, but it is never content. It only gives you a momentary feeling of apparent fulfillment; then it sends you off on the next pursuit, then the next, all due to its own sense of lacking. The cycle never stops. Ego never wants to die.

When you focus on your physical body, gradually you move into the space beyond the physiology and anatomical knowledge that you have gained over time. You move into direct experience, the experience of the moment. You feel the vibrations and sensations of the body, which become a doorway to the now.

The mind begins to quiet, experience deepens; it begins silencing the mind. When the mind stops taking you to the dead past and the uncertain future, when the mind has nothing more to cling to, it ceases its identification and modifications. There is a sudden stillness. In that stillness, in the now, in the eternal 'moment' is the death of the ego, and the resurrection of the Spirit, the Soul, the Universal Self that is beyond dualism.

You are stressed because your supply of energy is too small. It is like a small well which dries up often and easily. You run out of energy, though the demands on you keep growing. You cannot cope with the increasing complexities of today’s world with only a shallow supply of energy.

There are hidden dimensions of your body and mind, however, that have much to offer you. These dimensions can be tapped by stretching your body and stretching your breath. It does not take much time nor effort to stretch your body and to breathe deeply. It takes only your intention and willingness, some consistency of effort, and your full attention to make a huge difference in the quality of your daily life.

By stretching your body and stretching your breath, your whole being begins to expand. You break the cycle of contraction and constriction of your muscles and energies. As you stretch with your breathing, as you mindfully do breathing practices, you will find that you are gradually connecting to a limitless well inside of you. That well draws on the hidden ocean of all resources. You begin to feel freedom from the stress that otherwise plagues you. With all of your body’s cells invigorated with more life force, you begin to find you are entering the day better equipped to meet its challenges.

Initially you have to convince the child of your mind. You have to help it to understand the purpose of the stretching and the breathing practices. Take a few seconds before beginning your exercise period each day to remind yourself why you are doing this. You are doing these practices to love your body, to acknowledge the gifts of the body, to honor the needs of your body, to re-establish yourself in the creative and harmonious rhythms of the universe which gave birth to you and which nourish you, to establish a conscious connection to the source of all energy through the breath. You are doing these practices to open new portals to natural peace and joy.

If you are consistent, if you practice even 15-20 minutes a day with full concentration, in just a few days you will begin to feel the difference in your body and mind’s energy pattern. Then you will not miss it any more.

Reach for God Through All You Do!

You do not reach God through meditation alone. God is also found in appreciating happiness in your daily life. Enjoy everything you do in life…when you drive to work, when you work in your office, when you spend time with your family. Appreciate everything as a gift from God. When you wash dishes you are doing the work with the help of dishwashing powder, water, etc. Things that are a gift from the universe. Enjoy them thoroughly.

When you continuously enjoy the hours of regular existence, God will slowly reduce your burdensl you will have more time for matters of the spirit. But, if you work hard with contempt towards work, you may get more money or higher promotion, but you make little progress spiritually.

You may ask, can I not get God realization faster through meditation than through work? Do not believe those who do 8-10 hours meditation daily are progressing faster spiritually. Sometimes those people may regress by developing pride. You came to the world not only for yourself. Your wife, son, mother, and society, all have reasonable and useful expectations from you. Do not think you can go to a quiet monastery, or deep in the jungle, and automatically find peace. There are problems there, too. Find God through your daily life, by finding happiness in everything you do now.

Your body cries like a child for your attention and love, your mind longs to have your presence and participation in the thought process, your breath longs to have the company of your watchful loving gaze! If you always deprive yourself at these levels of your life, then you continually suffer from stress and inner dissatisfaction, discontent.

Just reverse the process! Meditate, feel with your heart the gifts of body-mind-breath. See what difference you can create to your Spirit and your overall health. What antidote can you find that will neutralize and eliminate the stress other than RELAXATION?

When you are conscious of your body, your mind and breath, you are relaxed, happy, and calm. When you are conscious of your body, your mind and breath, you do not generate negative stress. You are functioning from the reference point of your Spirit within and not from the capricious ego.

You are stressed because your supply source of energy is too small. It is like a small well which dries up often and easily. You run out of energy, though the demands on you keep mounting. You cannot cope with the increasing demands and complexities of today’s world with a shallow supply of energy.

There are hidden dimensions of your body and mind, however, that have much more to offer you. It does not take much time to stretch your body and breathe deeply. It takes only your intention and willingness to love your own body and mind, some consistency of effort, and your full attention to make a huge difference in the quality of your daily life.

By stretching your body and stretching your breath, your whole being begins to expand. You break the rut of continual contraction and constriction of your muscles and energies. As you stretch with your breathing, as you mindfully do breathing practices, you will find that you are gradually connecting to a limitless well inside of you. That well draws on the hidden ocean of all resources. You begin to feel freedom from the stress that otherwise plagues you. With all of your body’s cells invigorated with more life force, you begin to find you are entering the day better equipped to meet its challenges.

Initially you have to convince the child of your mind. You have to help it to understand the purpose of the stretching and the breathing practices. You can take a few seconds before beginning to remind yourself each day why you are doing this. You are doing these practices to love your body, to acknowledge the gifts of the body, to honor the needs of your body, to re-establish yourself in the creative and harmonious rhythms of the universe which gave birth to you and which nourishes you, to establish a conscious connection to the source of all energy through the breath. You are doing these practices to open new portals to natural peace and joy. If you are consistent, if you practice even 15-20 minutes a day with full concentration, in just a few days you will begin to feel the difference in your body and mind’s energy pattern. Then you will not miss it any more.