Have a happy mind

Many experiences are universal yet, must be discovered and rediscovered by each of us at our own pace.  We allow wisdom to reveal itself through us when we are ready and willing to accept it.  We each weave our own tapestry of life by making choices. How to maintain a happy mind?

1) Break free of the traps of the mind: Let go of the past, stop focusing attention on fear and the future. This releases you from ties binding you to karma/ family histories (recover the 'original self'). As identities are seen as the masks they are and shed, personal histories shrink and fade.

2) Be aware of and let go of attachment to inner possessions; judgments, thoughts, values, and ideas about right and wrong.  Notice everyone is a teacher pointing to existing contentment.

3) Break free of the traps of the body/ impermanent world. Thinking about doing anything is the hard part. Notice how the mind stalls and postpones things. Taking action itself is easy.

4) Explore the true nature of freedom & what it means to be 'liberated in life.' Notice you deny the ultimate freedom. You only step beyond parameters after you create them and grow aware.

5) Bring together the elements of a fragmented existence.  Each person who is open and receptive grows aware of an inner pilgrimmage and unique experiences with Spirit.

6) Be here in this present moment in mindfulness and kindness. 

"Renounce the self that does the renunciation." -Swami Venkatesananda

Take a lesson away

This morning, in a public place, a friend of mine lost her 22 month old toddler. This woman was frantic. It appeared to her as if everyone around her appeared unaware or simply minded their own business. A few people were helping but not panicking. As my friend raced around, looking high and low, her focus shifted from composure to fear.  I reassured her and yet she felt time was running out and so, started calling the police.

Even so, I continued to search the immediate area. Soon afterwards, I discovered the child happy as can be. This toddler had innocently wandered out of a busy library, unnoticed by a manned reception desk, by automatic doors to the street, run down a corridor, by an open toy library, passed doors to toilets and by people before entering a playgroup area. The child easily blended in and started playing with toys. This child continued acting as if all is well.  How you would respond in her mom's shoes? Feel relieved by a hug and move on?  Come what may, are you always calm as a cucumber? Or do you struggle to let go of fear?

Very often the body is here, but the mind is not.  It gets caught in the net of uncertainty.  It is not totally here.  The past is totally gone and future not yet here. Breathe mindfully to focus on the present.  The next time you are fearful, follow your breath.  You touch the miracle and insight of being alive.  Exhale tension, fear, anger, regret and guilt in the body.

It may surprise you that nobody in the area responded as if a wandering toddler is out of the ordinary.  Even the adults near their children attending playgroup did not look for a missing parent. Its not about others though, is it? Its about how each of us responds to the situations life throws our way. Every situation offers lessons. We can be grateful for guardian angels, and focus on knowing all is well, or assume the worst.  Notice visions triggered in the mind.

What causes you to shift away from peace of mind?  What do you take away from situations that scare you? Who or what prompts you to lose your cool and freak out?  How is each new focus of attention a true gift? When are you 'calm, cool and collected?'

“Happiness is not the absence of problems, it's the ability to deal with them.” -Steve Marboli

"God is happiness and available twenty four hours a day." - Andre Gide

The significance of tattoos

At different stages of life, people get tattoos for different reasons .  Maybe you have some yourself that echo your own learning curve or act as memorials to loved ones.  Maybe you contemplate getting one to recognize a milestone, personal revelation or life change.  Maybe you know someone who has tattoos or have seen images of them on people you admire.  Even if tattoos do not appeal to you at all, your response to them reveals a lot about yourself.

Notice which tattoo symbols stop you in your tracks.  Which emotions do they elicit? What is this really telling you? Is it the prospect of permanence , a distubing fear or anger that surfaces?

Much like symbols in your night dreams, tattoo symbols that capture attention invite you to be aware of the nature of your judgment and the underlying reasons for it.  Notice whether you assume only 'certain kinds of people' get tattoos, whether tattoos evoke painful memories of suffering for you or whether they turn you off for other reasons you are not yet accepting. 

Notice also who you spend the most time with.  How you feel about tattoos is like an invitation to grow mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually. You are better able to do so when surrounded by people who accept you for who you are and who support your evolving choices.

Anything that evokes emotion silently draws attention to love.  Sometimes getting tattoos is a call for love, a gesture of love, an effort to restore balance or to express love.  Even that which has little or no appeal to you echoes your state of mind and state of being.  Peace and tranquility are ever-present.  Everything you do or do not points toward them.  This goes without saying.

“Everyone has secrets. It's just a matter of finding out what they are.”  -Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

What enables you to see nothing?

Notice how you are conditioned to accumulate experience, labels, or words to add after your name to describe yourself.  As someone asks you who you are, what you do or, why you are here, notice how you respond and how you feel. Does the voice of ego or heart respond? Feel confident or hesitate.  Feel impatience for new credentials or, serenity of pure being.  Notice what enables you to see nothing, to watch identity fall away.

Notice how losing what you percieve to be important at certain stages of life actually offers valuable lessons about what truly is. What you appear to be losing is never what you think it is. Beyond your conditioning, the nature of clarity reveals itself. Inner experience confirms nothing is happening here.  True completeness is unchanged.

In essence, everything that could possibly happen is happening.  Your focus of attention shapes what you see and experience.  If you say you can or cannot, you are right.  Notice all perceived troubles disappear in silence. What is present is never threatened.

Lose what needs to be lost

If you sense fear arising, you may also wonder where it comes from and how to eliminate it.  Notice the false is diappearing.  That which is real reveals itself but you only see what you are willing to see.  The real  is always here.  You are simply conditioned to turn a blind eye.

Consider thoughts and busy-ness are required for a false sense of self to exist.  Notice what happens as you view everything through the lens of bliss, knowing all is well.  Discomfort only exists if you believe in it.  Limitation only exists if you focus attention on it. 

Notice how frequently you self-criticize or see something wrong with yourself.  Notice how often the mind has you focus on what does not appear to be going well in the external world.

Take a moment to recognize what happens to you in solitude.  All those people in your life who reinforce your beliefs are absent.  Notice how such an exercise helps you let go of all the illusions you imagine into being and allow the light tor eveal itself.  The truth is here.

"It's the game of life. Do I win or do I lose? One day they're gonna shut the game down. I gotta have as much fun and go around the board as many times as I can before it's my turn to leave." -Tupac Shakur