Friday, September 25, 2009

Stop Playing The Game

You are playing a game with the entire world. Sometimes it can be enjoyable and fun, but most of the times it’s hard and complicated. Sometimes it can just be sadistic and cruel.

Your ego loves playing the game. It loves comparing itself to others to see who is winning. To see who has the most money. To see who has the most power. To see who is the best. To see who is happier. To see who is making the most out of their life.

Every person you meet your ego is sizing them up. Deciding who is ahead in the game.

But here is the catch. We may make the comparisons but we constantly feel we are losing. We know there is something out there we don’t have. We may not even know what it is. We just have that empty feeling that tells us it is missing.

Guess what? That empty feeling isn’t going to go away. If we look out into the world to fill the void, the empty space may actually get bigger and bigger. We are chasing something we can never catch.

We are playing a game in which there can be no winner. Yet we keep playing the game and sometimes the game flies completely out of our control.

Your mind has over 50,000 thoughts a day. Are you going to tell me you are in control of all those thoughts? Do you even know what those thoughts are? Most are repetitive and useless. The same thoughts that you have over and over every day, but accomplish nothing. Most just bring worry and misery.

Even though you aren’t consciously aware of all the thoughts you know they are there. You can feel them. There is that underlying current of unease that is in all of us. Sometimes we feel it more intensely. Sometimes in moments of intense anger or grief it can overwhelm us. But even in moments of relative peace we can still feel it lurking in the background.

The game keeps us searching, comparing and fighting for relief but there is none. Perhaps brief flashes of liberation, but they are always fleeting.

So is there anything we can do?

Yes!

Quit playing the game.

Surrender. Just give up. Decide you are not going to play the game anymore.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying give up on life. I am saying end the game. Now watch what happens in your life.

Turn your life over to your higher self. Trust in the part of you that is infinite. A part of you that, believe it or not, is omnipotent – all knowing. Why in the word would you want to limit yourself to your finite mind? A mind so cluttered and full of lies and deceit that it really can’t even see the world for what it truly is.

Accept that you are more than this jumbled mess of thoughts and emotions, walking sometimes aimlessly in a trap of flesh and bone. Realize that you have the ability to access infinite possibilities. Understand there is no need for competition, because everyone has this ability. Everyone is pure unlimited potential. You can coordinate the universe so precise that anything you desire is possible.

How?

Embrace the unknown and uncertainty. Know that everything you could ever want is yours for the taking. Just don’t get caught up in the “how” and “why” anymore. Find the joy in yourself. What makes you feel good? Let that feeling guide you. If you are having fun in what you are doing, everything else will take care of itself.

But most won’t believe it. Most are just going to continue playing the game. For them the struggle is never going to end. Sad.

Stop playing the game.

Paradigm Shift Today

Why Is Tiger Woods So Good?

I was watching Tiger play in the tour championship yesterday. Although I don’t really play that much golf I enjoy watching Tiger play. Never has an individual so undeniably dominated a sport.

I have a friend who is a very good golfer. He actually tried to make it on the pro tour for a couple of years. But as good as he is those guys playing on tour are consistently playing on an even higher level. And then you look at Tiger Woods and he exceeds them all.

Tiger Woods wins about 1 in every 3 tournaments. This year he won 6 tournaments. For many pro golfers 6 may be a lifetime goal.

How does Tiger do it?

Tiger is a master of staying in the Now—of staying in the present moment.

Tiger does not let his thoughts stray to the future or dwell in the past. He keeps his mind centered in the present and the task at hand. Under the pressure of performing in a golf tournament with millions of fans watching your every move, staying as present as Tiger does is nothing less than amazing.

Staying in the present moment brings clarity and focus. Not concentrating on the shadowy phantoms of the future lets you know what needs to be done now.

Tiger is not worried about what the millions of fans are thinking about him. Tiger is not projecting himself into the future concerned with whether or not he is going to win the tournament. Tiger isn’t concentrating on the money he is going to be winning. (Actually, I’m sure money isn’t even a factor for Tiger any more. Which is a definite plus for staying focused.)

Tiger is in the Now. He is taking each step one at a time. Walking from fairway to the green, each blade of grass is crisply in view. He is aware of each footstep. The sound of the fairway turf crushing beneath his Nike golf shoes echos in his ears. Tiger Woods is alive.

With our imperfect, ego addicted minds it is impossible for anyone to constantly stay in the Now and Tiger is no exception. We have seen Tiger have off days. We have seen Tiger scramble around the golf course and miss putts that normally he could have sunk if the hole was twice as small. In those moments Tiger is no longer in the Now. His mind has taken over. The past and future are dominating.

But more times than not Tiger can calm and silence his mind-- a necessary step for entering the Now.

In most tournaments a new golfer rises to challenge Tiger. Another golfer has entered the Now and is capable of challenging Tiger. Sometimes they succeed. But how many times do you see them leave the Now? When Tiger is trailing in a golf tournament how many times do you see Tiger’s competitors make mistakes and their golf score plummet. They have left the Now.

Tiger has the ability to go into the Now and stay better than any golfer that has ever lived. Tiger can immerse himself so completely into the Now as to seem to make magic happen. When Tiger is fully in the Now, is when he runs away with tournaments. That is when no other golfer in the world even has a chance at beating him.

Tiger Woods is so good, because Tiger Woods is in the NOW.

Paradigm Shift Today

Monday, September 21, 2009

Detach Yourself From The Things You Want

Anything that you really want in life you must first detach yourself from it. It almost sounds paradoxical, doesn’t it? If I want it, how can I detach myself from it so that I can get it?

The secret lies in bypassing your ego. Don’t want something for ego’s sake. Don’t want that million dollar house or expensive new car just so others can see you. That doesn’t mean you can’t have those things or enjoy those things. It just means that you have to know having them doesn’t make you superior or a more special person.

Stop seeing life as a struggle to gain more and more and more. As if the more you gain the more security it will bring you. It won’t. In fact you may find the opposite. The more you gain and the more you are attached to your gains the more insecure you will feel. Not only will you still want more but if you become overly attached you may fear the loss of what you have “gained.”

You can not search and find security. It is already in you if you want it.

Deepak Chopra in his book The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success says, “Without detachment we are prisoners of helplessness, hopelessness, mundane needs, trivial concerns, and seriousness—the distinctive features of everyday mediocre existence and poverty consciousness.”

They key to detachment is being aware of your higher self and a higher purpose. Don’t get caught up in the “how it will happen” and “when it will happen.” Know that by detaching yourself you are opening yourself up to an infinite amount of possibilities just ready to bring to you that which you desire. Don’t limit you self to your vastly insufficient, finite, ego driven mind.

The following steps are paraphrased from Deepak Chopra’s, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success. Use these steps to apply the Law of Detachment in your life.

1. Allow yourself and those around you to be as they are. Do not impose your idea of how things should be. Do not force solutions on problems, thereby creating new problems.

2. Factor uncertainty as an essential ingredient of your experience. Then notice how solutions will spontaneously emerge out of the problem, out of the confusion, disorder and chaos. The more uncertain things seem to be the more secure you will feel.

3. Step into the field of all possibilities and experience all the fun, adventure, magic and mystery of life.

Paradigm Shift Today

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Possessed By Your Mind

If you asked someone in today’s day and age if they believed in demon possession they would think you were out of you mind. But in a sense we are all possessed and it is by our mind.

Did you know you have over 50,000 thoughts a day? Do you have conscience control of all those thoughts? Then what does?

Can you observe your thoughts? Doesn’t the act of observation imply two—an observer and that being observed?

Our mind feeds on worry and misery. Our mind feeds on the past and the future. Our mind loves conflict and turmoil. It wants to be at odds, fighting against everything going on in its world. It is like we are adrift in a little boat in the middle of the ocean and our mind is a hurricane, a raging storm that just won’t stop.

But we can stop the mind. We can learn to silence our mind. We can learn to calm the raging storm and still the ocean and that is when we learn who we really are and all that we are capable of.

Sadly, so many are so possessed by their mind that they are unable to calm the storm. They have never discovered the peace of silencing the mind. Their days are spent in constant conflict and constant struggle with the mind. The worry and fear eats at them minute after minute. They think there is no relief. Sleepless nights and agonizing days are their prison.

We can free ourselves from the prison. We can free ourselves from the mind, even if only temporarily. Perhaps in this life we can’t fully exorcise that “mind demon” that is in all of us. But we can take away a lot of its strength and power. We can escape from it and enter a place of peace of mind, a place where we just know that everything is going to be okay. It’s almost unexplainable unless you have been there.

Unfortunately, many have never been there. Their mind has them trapped. All they can do is worry, fret, and complain. To them the world is a place of fear, a place where everyone and everything is conspiring against them. Their life is a constant nightmare and there is no waking.

They are truly possessed.

Akasha Online

Let us help. Akasha Online is our membership site priced at $19.95 per month. But for a limited time you can get a lifetime membership for just one payment of $19.95. Yes you heard us right.

We want to show you there is a world right in front of your eyes that you can't see. There is a world very few know exist.

There is nothing you can not do. You need to get it out of your mind that anything is hard to do. It isn't. Think about it. Once you learn to do something it might as well be two plus two. Something is hard only if you think it is.

We want to teach you how to progam a computer and the internet. We can't stress how important that will be for you in the future. The internet is just a baby. Control the internet and control your future.

We want to teach you to sing and make music like you never thought possible. When you do you vibrate with the universe. All your dreams begin to flow to you. Yes just singing will bring your dreams alive.

We want you to keep up with what is going on in the world and the changes that we need to make for a prosperous future for all mankind.

And there is so much more we want to show you.

Join Akasha Online Today!

Get a lifetime membership for just $19.95. (Hurry! Limited Time Offer!)

http://www.akashaonline.net/

Akasha Online

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Is Pain Addictive?

Paradigm Shift Today

It seems as if some people are actually addicted to the pain in their everyday lives. It is almost like they get an adverse pleasure from the pain. That may sound extreme but for most of us our pain is hard to get rid of.

When something bad happens in our life our mind wants to dwell on it. The harder we try to ignore it the more intense it becomes. It becomes a huge struggle. We want to free ourselves from the pain but we can’t.

Believe it or not a big part of the problem is our ego. We make the pain part of us. And our ego wants to viciously hold onto anything it sees as part of us. It is as if we lose the pain then we will lose a part of ourselves. Our ego does not want that. And subconsciously we will do anything to prevent that even if it means doing things to hold onto the pain.

So what do can we do?

Don’t fight it. Accept it. Experience the pain. Observe it and let it run its course. Depending on the severity of the pain it may become very intense at times but keep observing. Pay attention to the thoughts running through your head. Pay attention to the emotions that you are feeling.

Don’t try and fight the pain. Just surrender to it. Let it take you over.

This may seem extreme. So counter intuitive to what we are taught.

But guess what is going to happen?

As you continue to just be an observer to the pain you will eventually notice the pain diminishing. Once that happens don’t stop. It may seem easier to fight the pain now since it is not as strong, to just forget it and go on. But don’t. Keep observing the pain. Again don’t fight. Just keep staying in a “surrender mode.” Eventually you will notice the pain will stop, just disappear. It has run its course.

It may come back later. But it won’t be as strong. When it comes back again just accept the pain, surrender and observe. The pain will eventually disappear forever.

Paradigm Shift Today

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Two Mind Exercises

EXERCISE ONE

Can you listen to your thoughts, the voice in your head?

Do you know how many thoughts you have a day? About 50,000!

Can you become aware of the emotions you are feeling right now?

Do you have control of those thoughts and emotions?

Concentrate on your thoughts and emotions right now.

Okay, now you’re observing your thoughts and emotions.

Doesn’t observation imply TWO separate things? The observer and that being observed.

Which one is you?

Do you know what will happen if you just observe an emotion or thought long enough?

EXERCISE 2

What do you need right now?

Don't project yourself into the future. The future is a phantom in your mind that doesn't exist.

What do you need right now?

Not tomorrow. Not an hour from now. Not even a minute from now.

What do you need right now?

Is there anything in your life so pressing that you just have to have it right now, you can't wait one more second?

Paradigm Shift Today

Monday, September 14, 2009

Don't Be Infulenced By How Others See You

When you are trying to accomplish a goal, something big, do faces pop into your head as a reason why you won’t achieve that goal? It’s kind of strange isn’t it? Do we even know why those faces appear? But they seem to be negative, even if the face is a positive person in our life. For some reason that face represents a reason we can’t accomplish that goal.

Do we look at that person as an opposition to our goal?

Do we look at that person as one who just would never expect us to achieve a goal like that? If that is the case are we going to let their belief shape our world?

How many times do we let other’s beliefs about us shape us into who we are? Or at least who we think we are. It’s crazy when you think about it, but we do it all the time. We react certain ways around certain people because that is who they believe we are. And we accept it.

We let others expectations of us influence what we accomplish. That is just un acceptable!

What is your reputation? How do people see you?

Did you know you have as many reputations as people who know you? No two people are going to see you exactly the same.

When you interact with someone it is actually like there are four distinct personalities.

1. How you see yourself.
2. How the other person sees you.
3. How you see the other person.
4. How the other person sees themselves.

Is it any wonder relationships can be so confusing?

No one knows who you are and what you are capable of. And quite frankly you are capable of anything!

Do not let one single person’s single interpretation of you influence what you want.

That is up to you. And if you want it you got it.

Paradigm Shift Today

Friday, September 4, 2009

Spiritual Gifts Test

I just came across an interesting site on the internet. A site letting you test for spiritual gifts. A test to determine just what spiritual gifts you were born with or given by God. I am about to let you in on a huge secret. A secret that if you really think about it you have always deep down known. There is no need for a spiritual gifts test. A spiritual gifts test would do you absolutely no good what so ever.

Why is that?

Because you already have access to every spiritual gift you could ever want.

What do I mean by that?

You don’t need a spiritual gifts test because you already have all the gifts.

Impossible you say?

No! Just reality!

Whatever you want to do…you don’t need a spiritual gift test to find out you can do it.

Whatever you want to be…you don’t need a spiritual gift test to find out you can be it.

You have access to become anything and everything you want to be. Yes even without a spiritual gifts test.

The result of a spiritual gifts test doesn’t matter. Age doesn’t matter. Race doesn’t matter. Social class doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you want it. You are only limited by the limitations you set on yourself with your mind.

So how do you access these spiritual gifts?

You access the spiritual gifts with your mind.

Whatever you want to be…create a vivid picture in your mind of you becoming just that.

Whatever you want to do…create a vivid picture in your mind of you doing just that.

Then go out and do it. You will probably be terrible at first. You might not even have a clue what you are doing. But keep doing it.

Find books, internet sites, people, anything that can help you learn more about what you want to be…what you want to do. Learn everything you can about what you want to do. Watch as the image in your mind changes. You will change to. You will suddenly find yourself getting better at what you do.
Each change will just seem to come all of a sudden. It will be as if you have taken a quantum leap and you just realize you are a little better at doing what you are trying to do. So keep doing it.

Now here is the key. Don’t limit yourself with your mind. Don’t make false assumptions as to how far you can increase your new found skill. The only limit to how far you can go is the limit you place on yourself with your mind.

Yes, you heard me right. You can be just as good as anyone who ever lived at anything. You can be the best piano player who ever lived, the best guitar player who ever lived, the best singer who ever lived. Just don’t limit yourself.

Just keep doing it. And yes you are getting better because you are practicing. But don’t limit how far the practice can take you because there are no limits.

Again you will see your increases in skill in as quantum leaps. It’s like one minute you couldn’t do it. The next it becomes easy and you wonder why in the world you used to not be able to do it.

How do I know all this?

I have never had a spiritual gifts test to tell me what I could or couldn’t do.

And even without a spiritual gifts test I have been able to play the piano, play the guitar, and sing all on a professional level and I have never had a single lesson in my life.

So forget the spiritual gifts test. Just decide what you want to become. Keep that image in you mind. Now start doing it!

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

I think I'm Finally Starting To Get It!

They say there is only now. The past, the future, it is all an illusion created by our mind. Our mind keeps dwelling on the mistakes of the past and worrying about POSSIBLE problems in the future. In Eckhart Tolles book The Power of Now he tells us to try and stay centered in the now. The more centered in the now we become the higher we vibrate and the harder it becomes for negative circumstances to enter.

He tells us to stay in the now. To ask ourselves what we really need at this moment. Not a day from now. Not an hour from now. Not even a few minutes from now. And I have to admit even with all my future worries, every time I ask that question, I really don't need anything.

So why do I keep worrying. Troublesome thoughts entered my mind a few days ago. But then I asked myself what do I really need now. And I must be honest and say nothing. Troublesome thoughts entered my mind yesterday. But I again asked myself what do I need now. Again I needed nothing. Troublesome thoughts entered my mind today. But again I need nothing. Just a few minutes ago the troublesome thoughts arise again. But I concentrate on the now and ask myself what do I really need at this moment. Again the answer is NOTHING! So will there every come a time when the answer will not be nothing.

And it makes you wonder if we live in a constant now with no past or present. Then everything we could ever need has to be with us right NOW. Not on its way because that would imply a time frame. Everything has to be here now. It has to be that we just don't see how to get it. Because it must be there. It has to be.

Isn't it amazing how so many of the things we need arrive at just the opportune moment. Almost like magic or a miracle. But it can't be a miracle if it is already there. It just must be something in us has let us see what we need.

It's like we endure an unnecessary struggle. Fighting because we believe in scarcity. When right in front of our eyes is a huge pot of gold. Perhpas it is because we just have to come to a point where we say, "Enough is, Enough! I'm sick of it and I'm not going to play this pointless, useless, unnecessary game anymore." And when the game ends the world is ours!