When we have negative thoughts, it is the identification with those thoughts that make you suffer, not the thoughts.  But it is our mind that controls the body and if you continue to have negative thoughts – you will become ill.  Our cells reproduce our thoughts and make no distinction as to whether they are healthy or not.  Surrender and then surrender again to “all is well”, over and over again, till you let it go and substitute in positive or redeeming thoughts.  What you say, do or think becomes your future, your story and eventually your biography or past.  What you have said, done or thought led you to be the person you are today, right now.  Luckily, we may still have time to improve.

If you must think, at least think well of yourself.

When you wake up from the dream of separation, you realize you do make a difference in the scheme of things because we CREATE with our thoughts.

Silence can be filled with love.  Stay in your Authenticity when you feel the negative vampires breathing down your neck or as you walk into a room where you feel uncomfortable.  It is not true that you need to go around loving everyone and not protect yourself.  Yes, we are One and the negative lives in us but we do not have to give it time, another thought or an audience.  Instead, we set up healthy boundaries to safeguard ourselves and to give the other person an opportunity to grow.  Even Jesus and Buddha set up lines of demarcations.  It has to do with discernment and maturity or wisdom.  As long as you are cordial and polite or say nothing and walk away,  your part may be finished.  There is no need to engage in incidents that do not elevate or enhance your spiritual, physical or mental clarity.

The responsibility is with us.  Welcome everything as if it is the best thing that ever happened.  Then sow what you reap.

“What we speak becomes the house we live in.” – Hafiz

With Self-Inquiry meditation you bring a question to your mind after a few breaths, eyes closed and into that state of ease.  You break a three word sentence or inquiry into three parts.  For example: What is Happiness?  You imagine the word ‘what’ dropping into the top of your head and into your mind (7th chakra).  Then place the word ‘is’ into your throat chakra.  Proceed with the word ‘happiness’ which enters and radiates into your core.  From here, you let the question – be the answer.

After contemplating and inhaling and exhaling this question/answer, for me, Happiness is No Fear, No Anxiety, No Worry or in other words – “Don’t worry, Be Happy” like the reggae song proclaims.  How true!

And I thought of J and her young nephew who passed and whose motto were these words.  I guess being in gratitude, thinking of others and having close relationships is part of Happiness too.

Try self-inquiry meditation with “Who am I?”  After getting into your relaxed, meditative state, let ‘who’ drop into your mind, breathe ‘am’ into your throat and allow ‘I’ to permeate your body.  And see what appears.  You will have a sense of well-being if nothing else.

“Seeing through to essential nature is the window of enlightenment.” – Roshi

If we want to have Peace, then we need to teach Peace.

If we want to have Love, then we need to express Love.

If we want to have Joy, then we need to spread Joy.

If we want to have Forgiveness, then we need to demonstrate Forgiveness.

If we want to have Abundance, then we need to exhibit Generosity.

We have to learn and share whatever it is we want for ourselves.  These are the lessons of life.  When you see yourself as whole, the others we encounter on our walk through life are a reflection of that fullness.

When we meditate, we create a starvation of input and in that emptiness lies the Truth of what we are and we are One.  That One is Love, the Way (in Taoism), Jesus (in Christianity) and every spiritual path has a name for the same place, entity or energy.  Many people do not like that alone, serene, quiet place of silence but we should seek it and not fear it.  The foundation laid, it is time for the experience.  We are not separate from our experience but rather our experience is who we are.  Embrace and love the experience because it is part of who you are and we are Love.  When you get involved in your story, the turmoil and arguments you have in your head and you are not at Peace, ask for it.  Be still an instant and go back home, back to Love.

We tend to over think everything when we really should be in our hearts.  We may continually abuse ourselves for something we have never even done. Our threshold for pain is very high but it is not limitless.  We have produced the ego and it always tells us we are not okay.  This is our illusion.  Rise above the battleground.  Take the power out of Fear, Irritation, Frustration and Ego.  Invite detachment instead and think differently – think “This is my spiritual wake-up call” and “This is my opportunity to be gentle with self, and be kind to self.”  We do not deny evil, fear, ego and all the anti-forms of Love, we just realize we are effective only if we change our thoughts.

Ask yourself on a daily, continuous and constant basis before you do or say anything…”What do I want to do?”   “Why do I want to do this?”   “How do I want to do this?”   “When do I want to do this?”  “Where do I want to do this?”  This is the study, practice and application of the lessons of life in practical terms and guided by a right mind that has paused first to reflect on these questions.

And so it is.

I do not know what path in life you will take, but I do know this: If, on that path, you do not find a way to serve, you will never be happy.” – Albert Schweitzer

The mountains are alive because … the elegant verdant pines grow and flourish, the azure crystal blue lake generates an environment of life, the grey, stoic boulders impress by marking their endurance, the muddy brown bark stands tall and vertical, the mahogany pine cones hang and drop, the yellow broomstick and daffodil blossoms deliver an effortless spring, the violet blue wildflowers arise out of a carpet of forgotten leafed plants and the clear sky, occasionally dotted with cotton puffs, cleans and amplifies the landscape; generating a reflection of a rugged natural wonder by day and blanketing the evening with glittering stars by night.

The mountains are alive because … the lap of the lake water smacks and resonates with human sighs,  the various Western birds flutter with song and squawk in a composed symphony of chit chat, the chipmunks and squirrels chirp, climb and cheer throughout the woods, scampering, collecting and chomping down on nuts, the leaves rustle, the pine needles swish, the wind blows and you can hear the earth as it breathes and turns.

The mountains are alive because … the smell of pine permeates the thin air as it steams in the sun,  the ground exhales, the breeze carries a steady mixture of soil and flower fragrance,  the lake rises and falls with an aromatic mist, the ducks and geese produce a wild but pleasant odor of fowl and you inhale awareness and a captivating feeling of being among the living.

The mountains are alive because … there exists a whole world inside the lake reeling with fish, multi-colored, wet rocks and plants swaying under the liquid.  The lake tastes sweet and light.  The soil beckons beneath with micro-organisms, fungi and tunnels for discreet mammals to scurry to and fro.  The evergreens poke and prick or brush by with home grown varnish and sap.  The seeds scatter and begin anew.

Come winter, the quiet snow falls from the heavens covering and holding it all in ice white satin.  The angels are amongst us here.  The quality of solitude rests with this mountain top space on a profound and (the quite unexpected), sophisticated level.

THIS realization, is my religion.  This is why it is so alive.

September was originally the seventh month, ergo SEPT for the number 7.  March was the first month of the year and the calendar was ten months all together and correlated with the phases of the moon.  Then, the Romans decided to add July and August for the Caesars, Julius and Augustus.  This sent the later months off by two and hence September for 7, October for 8, November for 9 and December for 10 were name-sacrificed.

September also typically reminds me personally of school starting.  And it is a great time to renew, refresh or restart anything for me.  I like to review my goals and rethink any resolutions I haven’t accomplished.  I remind myself, at this time, that it is high time to get back to work, the party is over, and I need to focus.  I believe after years of training, September is a kickstart for those of us who enjoyed going back to school.  In my teaching days, it just seemed like a natural.  It still resonates to me as a time for learning or beginning or doing anything new with dedication.

It is commitment time.

5 things you can do to ward off depression:

1. Meditation/Breathwork
2. Clean eating/Good Nutrition
3. Exercise/Movement
4. Doing Random Acts of Kindness – Anonymously
5. Gratitude List

Change your mood.  Change your mind.  Change your thoughts and you can change your life.

 “Sometimes your body gives up but your spirit is alive.  Sometimes your spirit has died before your body gives up. ” – me

To my one and only, the love of my life, the father of my children, as I waited your arrival this morning up here in our treehouse, as I worked to get things ready, I kept hearing Close to you by the Carpenters, it always reminds me of you.

“(They Long To Be) Close To You”

“Think with the whole body.” – Taisen Deshimuru

We were created in Joy.  If we are not experiencing or creating Joy, we become blocked, bitter and negative.  Cranky, argumentative, discourteous, disagreeable or just plain mean people die alone, or at the very least, without knowing the Joy of giving and receiving true Love.

Sweet, pleasant and kind people are missed with genuine loss.  Open, endearing and cheery persons are whom we want to spend time with.  All you have to do is be the best self you were always meant to be.  It is up to you.  Be the person you want to hang out with and then hang out with yourself.  Spend time alone reflecting on who you are.

Chris Prentiss writes in Zen and the Art of Happiness, “The more you engage in any type of emotion, the greater the desire for it will become.”  Therefore, choose wisely, I say.

Take responsibility for your emotions, thoughts, words and actions.  Feel empowered that you DO have options on how you respond to life and to others.  But, you DO NOT have control over others.

What is happiness? It is a conscious choice.

Don’t get hooked by negatively charged vampires like a fish gulping the worm.  Remove yourself, do not engage, don’t put on the boxing gloves just because the bell rang and you will instead bring grace to the situation.

How you respond, dictates the quality of your life.

Byron Katie explains that “everything happens FOR us – not TO us.”

The Universe delivers what is perfect for you.  All it takes is willingness to believe all of it is good – All is Well.  Accept what is and give thanks.

Every moment depends on what we think and do, for that becomes our future.  Your thoughts become form on a cellular level.  What you put into your mind and feed your soul affects your biology.  Your body has an intelligence of its own.  What you eat influences you too.  Mental health is important.  Think and act yourself into emotional and physical wellness, not illness.

Once you have been given the torch of awareness about how you decide your outlook on life, all sorts of dark bends in the road begin to appear for you to illuminate.  Challenges become opportunities for practice and growth and obstacles become gifts with positive benefits.

“The highest nobility lies in taming your own mind.” – Atisha