Every single day you wake up in some place, you wake up in some body, you wake up in some mind and you begin to tell yourself your own story from the beginning, again. You remember where you are. You remember who you are. You remember what you need to do. Remember. It is a nice word but do you realize that human memory is re-created over and over again every time we try to “remember” something?! We do not function like a computer storing memories of yesterday. Every reflection of the past is created anew every time we try to remember it. Amazing! A continuous creative process! Just like our everyday life. Every morning you wake up and create your life again. You put it all together the way you are used to, the way your environment had conditioned you, the way it is convenient or the only way you believe it is possible to do. But of course, you know that there are many, many ways. All it takes is changing your immediate surroundings, social circle, cultural environment, the place where you live or work and it becomes very clear how many different ways of doing things there are. Or.. you can change the way you think. Change the thinking and continuously use this new way, practice, utilize, cultivate it. This is the simplest and yet the most demanding change. It requires our own work, effort, willingness, time and patience. All the things we are constantly running short of. When you wake up – think of something nice, appreciate a good night’s sleep. Stretch and appreciate your body. Get up and appreciate your surroundings. Walk to the bathroom and appreciate the water you have. Go to the kitchen, prepare something healthy, tasty, nutritious and thank for the food you have. Go out, appreciate the world and yourself and do something good, do something nice! ...
What spirituality is and what it is not?
I am sitting on the train watching a father and his ten-year-old daughter. They are so nice. He is so engaged and enthusiastic and has so much fun in a conversation with her. They exemplify how one can be towards another. Full of love. I think it is possible to be like this with everything. It requires attention. It needs cultivation. But it is possible. I think when people see it in someone who doesn’t apply it only towards a family member or a loved one, they think this is spirituality. Perhaps it is. Giving love to everyone. Perhaps feeling love for everyone is spirituality. Perhaps feeling gratefulness is spirituality. Perhaps feeling contentment is spirituality. Perhaps feeling inner peace is spirituality. Certainly showing devotion to a principle, doing things for show, being overly strict to oneself or others, showing no appreciation, showing anger, pessimism, anxiety – is not spirituality. Which one do you practice? ...
Vipassana – again… (memories from the past)
Vipassana – again… This time my destiny led me to the birthplace of Buddha – the town of Lumbini in Nepal. A small place visited by Buddhist pilgrims from all over the world ( there are estimated 350 million Buddhists worldwide ). A relatively small area became a construction grounds for Buddhist monasteries representing different branches of Buddhism. From Japan and China to Sri Lanka, Thailand and Tibet. It was not the Buddha’s place of birth that was the main reason for my visit though. I came here to take part in yet another experience of Vipassana meditation. While many who had come here would enjoy the beautiful temples and monastery gardens, my journey will take me more “inside”, to the fertile gardens of my own mind. It was time to do some pruning and weeding! The fact that I would not be spending much time admiring what’s outside was readily reflected in the stark architecture of the Vipassana meditation center where I was to spend the next ten days. Actually, the place looked more like a prison than anything else.. The purpose of it being – not allowing the distractions of the outside world to weaken the focus on the world inside.. Vipassana – it is not an experience for everyone. Not everyone is inclined to test his or her body and mind with the severity of silence and intense inner work, meditating ten hours a day for ten days straight. The first few days are always difficult but the results of this tremendous effort can be as surprising as the intensity of the effort itself. Intensity that is difficult to compare to anything else. Ten days of absolute silence, nearly continuous meditation and observation of the many inner processes taking place in each and everyone of us, reveals the truths and realizations about ourselves that sometimes we wish we didn’t know. And all of this takes place in the company of twenty to hundred and twenty silent people who just like me, try to learn something about themselves, figure out why they are the way they are and why their life is unfolding the way it does. It is not very often that we have an opportunity to ask and answer ourselves questions like these. It is not very often that we have the time and environment to go this deep inside. Perhaps it is why many European Vipassana centers are booked full well in advance and every year new centers are built all over the world… ...
Accepting life’s changes.
I am extremely grateful for my teachers, my wife, my family, and friends and all my life’s experiences that have led me to this moment. I can not imagine being able to be who I am without them all. It is a challenging time for me now. My dearest mother’s ability to take care of herself is slowly decreasing. Just like I needed her for a big part of my life, she needs me now. The choice is not difficult. I need to be here for her. Traveling or not – makes not much difference. My practice continues in the place where it is needed the most. Surprisingly, I am comfortable with this change. Life continues to amaze and surprise me. In a good way. Thank you all who’ve helped me to get to this place. ...
Relativity of perception. Challenges and opportunities.
It is often difficult to call something “positive” or “negative”. What we call bad is frequently the result of misunderstanding and not following the natural order of things which results in what we generally refer to as ” negative” occurrences. For example: “bad weather”, rain, being tired, cold etc. Complaining about it is like complaining about the fact that we have to breathe. Without these things we simply wouldn’t be able to survive. Imagine that it is sunny and warm all the time. Without rain, the area could quickly turn into a dry, hot desert. What if we don’t do any physical work? We would end up with a weak and underdeveloped body. If we always insulate ourselves from the environment, trying to maintain a comfortable temperature all the time, any sudden change becomes too much for our immune system and we get ill very easily. How come we do not appreciate the gifts of life given to us everyday!? The”bad” or “negative” is nothing but our perception of a lack of harmony, being out of sync with God, Tao, our Inner Voice, our True Nature etc. What do you see around you? Good or bad? Positive or negative? Do you understand why difficulties happen in your life? Do you take advantage of these challenges to work on your own strengths and weaknesses? ...
Hiding in Tao.
When we follow the Tao/God/our True Nature/ Inner Voice… and manage to let go of our ego, even for a moment, Everything becomes easier. There is no longer a need to worry about anything. Everything is the way it is supposed to be. We know our place on earth. Here. We know why we are here. Because. We know what to do. Whatever needs to be done. We don’t even ask ourselves these questions anymore. Empty mind. Happy heart. Joyful smile. When our energy level goes down. When our mood is low. Hide in positive. Hide in good. Hide in love. Hide in Tao. There is no space for anything else when you’re full of love. Blue sky. Sunshine mind. ...
Every day is a test.
Whether one is a lawyer, doctor, worker in the factory or an artist, black or white, poor or rich it is of little consequence for the level of happiness that can be experienced by that person. It only determines the kinds of challenges our soul/personality/character will face in the course of one’s life. Challenges and difficulties that have a potential to shape the essence of what we consider our core being. How do you choose to react to your daily tests? Do you realize that you have a choice whether you react one way or another? Do you know that you can train these reactions?! What you practice is what you develop! We don’t want to concentrate on what we don’t want to do or be. We want to concentrate on what we want to do or be. It doesn’t matter that you can’t do this or that. The very act of trying activates our body and mind in the ways we cannot perceive yet but already significantly changing our reality. ...
Now is all we have.
We tend to worry, consciously or unconsciously almost all the time. When we’re in a “good place”, we worry it might end soon, when we’re in a “bad place” we worry it will never end. When we have stability we worry about instability. When we have instability we still worry about it. We spend a lot of time in the past, future and inside our imaginary world that never actually happens. In the meantime we are missing almost everything that is. Here and now. We forget to appreciate. We are unable to notice the good and beautiful. Our time slips away unnoticed and the imagined moment of happiness gets pushed further away again and again. The moment we turn our attention to the present moment the possibility to find contentment opens up. Just by observing what is, without emotional or intellectual involvement we begin to perceive the magic of our everyday existence. The precious little moments of joy and wonder. The appreciation for what we have. The great satisfaction from sharing and giving. Do you remember to be here and now? Slow down. Take a deep breath. Release all the tension. Appreciate this moment. Smile. ...
How our mind “makes future happen”
Today I want to share with you wonderful ideas of Tomas Hanna on the role of mind and mental attitude in shaping our life and well-being. In his recognition of vital importance of psychological and mental processes on health and well-being, Hanna follows in the footsteps of Hans Selye, an Austrian-Canadian endocrinologist who formulated the concepts of stress and researched its effect on human system. While Selye was focusing mostly on endocrine response to stress leaving aside neuromuscular aspects of organism’s stress adaptation, Selye’s outstanding contribution was, among others, in singling out two kinds of stress: the one that is potentially harmful for the body (distress) and its “healthy” counterpart, the one that causes about body’s adaptation and strengthening (eustress). It was Selye who first expressed this empowering insight into nature of stress: “Adopting the right attitude to stress can convert a negative stress into a positive one”. The following excerpt from Thomas’ Hanna’s book further expands Selye’s concepts on importance of mental attitude in cultivating one’s health, well-being and shaping one’s life events. Hanna’s research and reasoning is so complete and so in line with what I inherently believe about the power of mind to manifest material reality, that I will just paste pieces of text here without any interpretation or addition on my own. The text is taken from Chapter 12 of Somatics, titled “Expectation: the role of mental attitude”. To read this chapter and the rest of the book, go get the book on any of the ebook stores, it’s available for immediate download. You can also read parts of the book on Google Books ” Expectation is not only a prediction of the future, it also directly contributes to making it happen. This proactive role which expectation plays is crucial to our well-being. Consider the placebo effect. This curious word is Latin. It means “I shall please,” and it was taken from the liturgy of the Catholic Church, in which the priest said, “I shall please the lord . . . ” Later, it came to be applied more generally to any attempt to flatter or please another person. By the nineteenth century it was being used by physicians to refer to any ineffective substance given as “medicine,” not to cure, but merely to please, the patient. Soon, however, physicians began to notice an odd thing. These substances, which were not supposed to have any effect, actually succeeded if the physician cajoled the patient into believing it would. If the patient expected that the sugar pill would help, it did. This is the placebo effect. F. J. Evans conducted a series of carefully controlled studies in pain reduction, which compared the effects of morphine to the effects of a “worthless” placebo pill. The findings were startling: The placebo was 56 percent as effective as a dose of morphine. l What could cause such a powerful analgesic effect? Only one thing: expectation. Almost the same results were obtained in comparing placebo effects with those of aspirin (54 percent), codeine (56 percent), and Darvon (45 percent). It was extraordinary to learn that the placebo effect was constant. No matter what the analgesic drug, the effectiveness of the placebo was always proportional. But, as the information poured in, physicians learned that the placebo effect was not at all limited to pain reduction; it was found in studies of adrenal gland secretion, angina, asthma, blood cell counts, blood pressure, cancer, the com- mon cold, the cough reflex, diabetes, emesis, fever, gastric secretion and motility, headache, insomnia, multiple sclerosis, oral contraceptives, parkinsonism, pupil dilation and constriction, respiration, rheumatoid arthritis, seasickness, ulcers, vaccines, vasomotor function, and warts. Such a list constitutes a massive confirmation of the somatic viewpoint-that human consciousness is an integral part of the human body’s self-regulation. … Because the placebo is so prevalent in clinical medicine, a science called psychoneuroimmunology has emerged. This promising research area presumes something that not too long ago was deemed impossible: that the immune system is not isolated in its functions, but has a working relation with the central nervous system. In addition, emotions, attitudes, and other conscious states trigger certain neurotransmittors which, in turn, affect the immune system- hence, the young science’s name, psychoneuroimmunology. The working thesis of psychoneuroimmunology is that a state of consciousness, such as an expectation, can cause changes in both the central nervous system and the immune system. This is essentially the somatic viewpoint: that the attitudes and beliefs we have about our bodies and our health vitally affect the ongoing state of our bodies and our health. If we expect our bodies to be resilient and healthy, then they will tend to remain so. On the other hand, ex- pectation may be predicated on the myth of aging; that is, a belief in inevitable structural breakdown and functional loss. In this case, breakdown and loss will eventually occur. The prophecy becomes self-fulfilling: What we expect to happen does happen. If we are at a certain age and feel within our bodies certain discomforts, how we interpret them becomes crucial. If we take them as a sign of serious disease and breakdown expected at this age in life, then we are accepting and giving in to a presumed fatality. To anticipate pathology is, functionally, tantamount to intending it. This unleashes dangerous reactions in the brain and in the immune system, dangerous because apparently the mere feeling of “giving in” to an ailment immobilizes our self-healing capacities. Professor Ian Wickramasekera is a medical research scientist. In his general analysis of the placebo as a conditioned response, he says the following about this aspect of negative expectation: This analysis may be particularly relevant to chronic diseases and functional disorders such as low back pain, diabetes, cardiovascular disorders, musculoskeletal disorders, and cancer, in which the long-term and intermittent reinforcements of the unconditioned disease process, injury, or dysfunction increase the probability of negative conditioned effects that sustain the disorder. In such cases, the chronic intermittent activation of the disease mechanisms by unconditioned physiochemical causes may lead to increasingly strong aversive anticipatory responses that inhibit the motor system even when the unconditioned stimulus is inactive. It is a well-established fact that intermittent reinforcement by unconditioned stimuli will make a maladaptive response maximally resistant to improvement. This statement makes it clear that the myth of aging is not merely a belief about the diseases of aging; it can also be an active cause of these diseases. Thus, by responding to bodily discomforts with intelligent awareness and positive countermeasures, we can directly prevent such a “disease process, injury, or dysfunction” from becoming a permanent condition The word “age” means, quite simply, “a period of existence”. Moreover, even though “age” means simply “a period of existence,” it refers more broadly to that which characterizes a period of existence. It is particularly interesting when it becomes a verb -to age – for then it means “to grow old.” What, we should ask, does it mean “to grow old”? “Old,” in its Latin root, alo, and in its ancient Germanic form, aft, means – quite surprisingly – “to nourish” and “to bring up.” More generally, alo means to strengthen, increase, and advance. It means to become taller and to become deeper. In its root meaning, then, “to age,” and to get older, means “to grow up.” In view of the etymology of “old,” it is fascinating to note that “growing old” has come to mean exactly the opposite of the original meaning of “old”: that is, “old” has come to mean worn out, deteriorated, decayed, dilapidated, and no longer useful. Thus, in plumbing the meaning of the simple but curious word, “age,” we come upon a fundamental ambiguity: “To age” means either to grow, increase, and become both taller and deeper or to decrease, decay, wear out, and become decrepit and discarded. It is most provocative that a word as basic to human life as “aging” can mean either of two opposite possibilities: growth or degeneration. It suggests that what is characteristic to the period of existence of a human’s lifetime is neither programmed nor predictable. It implies that the direction of human life is not fixed but open. If we think of the coming years of our life as a continuing process of advancement and strengthening, it is more than likely we shall experience just that. And it is just as likely that a constant, daily expectation of wearing out and becoming decrepit will be a self-fulfilling prophecy. … We see in this situation an extraordinary truth about human life: Whether we will grow or degenerate during the course of our lives is a question not of known fact but of expected possibility. Time, as the currency of life, is always futurity; it is not yet spent. How we expect it to be spent predetermines the plan for its expenditure. Once we realize that the investment we make in our lives is the same as any other investment, we may adopt a very different attitude about what possibilities we expect for our future years. I do not think it improper to say that what we invest in life determines how much we get out of it. It is a question of whether we think that our lives are at least as important an investment as, for example, real estate or stocks. It is my observation that many humans do not value their personal bodily future as highly as they value the future of their material possessions. The human who knows that his or her being is growing is a human who usually has the strength and endurance to prevail over the defeats and stresses and traumas that occur in each and every life. Such a person knows that the inevitable pains and dysfunctions occurring in the body are not “inevitable signs of degeneration,” but typical adjustments that all bodies go through in regulating and readapting themselves for the future. ” With such thoughts for the day, I wish you to spend it nicely! ...
