The Ultimate Adventure

“God has given you one face, and you make yourself another.” – William Shakespeare

Recently I was going trough some of my old notebooks filled with my thoughts, notes, and ideas. Here is a short entry that never made it to my blog. Hope it inspires you to uncover many of the hidden mysteries that lie in your inner world……

Man was not created equal, he has created to be unique. You are unique and unlike anyone else on this planet. You have something valuable to contribute to the larger whole, but unless you realize your true nature, you will remain unfulfilled.  You will not explore your innate magnificent potential.

Life is dynamic, constantly changing and renewing itself in each passing moment, yet most people resist change because they are more acquainted with the known and comfortable. No matter how uncomfortable it may actually be, the fact that they know it helps them take a certain comfort in it.

The way you will become valuable is through your experiences in the new and unknown. Your own unique experiences will give you the perspective to shed light and give a new understanding that may benefit those around you.

Why is it so hard  for people to actually change?

• We believe and are identified to our thoughts that create our self image. Our self image belongs to society, we have to wait for society to change or accept what we want to become.
• We only blindly believe and don’t know yet how to trust ourselves. We have yet to realize our essence.
• Trusting yourself is expressing your individuality, beliefs are shortcuts. They take the responsibility away from you. You don’t need to think for yourself because someone has already done it for you.
• People are focused on going outward into the world instead of going inward. Life is essentially meaningless, but this is why it’s beautiful, because your the one who will ultimately give it meaning. So you must go inward (meditation) to find any real meaning in your life.

How Can You Change To Find What’s Really Valuable?

• You need to dis-identify form your mind.
• Through a spiritual practice like meditation you will create immense inner space so that you can question and see the reality of your thoughts.  You will see how insubstantial they really are. This will help you remain fluid and unburden you from many of the false ideas that you carry.
• Having a calm mind helps you gently sense and feel your presence in the moment. Being present in the moment you can respond much more intelligently to life’s challenges.

If you enjoyed this post please help me out by passing it along to your friends. Tweet it, facebook it, stumble it.

“I don’t want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.” ? Oscar Wilde

I Can See Clearly Now The Rain Has Gone

Today I would like to share a little story from the life of one of the most enigmatic men of the last hundred years. This man is the often misunderstood mystic hailing from Russia, George Ivonvitch Gurdjieff. This short story has a significant insight into our daily affairs and our psyche.

When Gurdjieff was a little boy, his father, while lying on his deathbed called Gurjieff to his side to impart some last words of wisdom. Gurdjieff’s father was a poor man, but he said that what he was about to share with him helped to live like the wealthiest man on earth. He asked him to pay very close attention and to please repeat everything back to him, because only then could he die a happy man. He wanted to be sure that the young Gurdjieff would remember the advice that his own father had passed down to him from time immemorial.

Gurdjieff’s father advised him that whenever anyone insulted, annoyed, or irritated him, to just remain cool, to not react, to simply tell the person that he has received his message and please give him 24 hours to think it over. Then he would come back to try and resolve the situation.

What is the significance of this advice? Well, one of the things you will discover is just how insignificant most disputes are, when you just give your self the space to see things more clearly. In twenty four hours time, you should be able to see the situation more like an impartial observer.

In a heated argument, people become totally identified to their emotions, to their egos, thereby they act in a totally unconscious manner. By taking twenty four hours you create a distance from the situation, you become unidentified from it. Being unidentified you have the clarity to look into the situation. You may see that there wasn’t any problem at all, but it would have easily become a problem if you had identified yourself to it at that moment. And if there really is a problem and you are to blame for it, you now have the opportunity to thank the person for making you aware of it. You where able to see the situation much more objectively. With this objective view in mind, you may now act in a responsible manner. Responsible, meaning you respond with conscious actions. When you react, you are only half conscious. Only after the fact do you realize what you have done. Often times with disastrous consequences, that we may have to pay for, for the rest of our lives.

Identification is man’s only sin, as Gurdjieff would say. Once you experience this insight on the practical level of your human affairs, you need to observe it within the subtlety of your inner psychological world. You need to be able to see what it means to be in an identified state of being, and also see how it feels to be unidentified to something, yet remaining aware and alert. You will sense the difference in the quality and state of your consciousness. In one state you act intelligently in the other you simply react like a robot.

You learn to see the importance in dis-identifying your self from your body, thoughts (much of which is just your imagination), and emotions. In learning to distance yourself (meditation, self observation, yoga) you create the necessary space for proper self observation. Through proper self observation you gain a deep understanding of yourself. You start to understand what it means to be “self” conscious, which in other words means being conscious of your self. Simply being aware of your presence from moment to moment.

People wrongly believe that they already possess this state of being. We wrongly believe that we are conscious of our selves.

Seeing The Madness of The Mind

Try this little experiment: For 15 minutes, try and remain present to yourself, just be here now, feel all the sensations in your body, but as soon as a thought arises in your mind, just jot it down on paper, don’t censor it. Don’t worry you don’t need to show anyone, you can trash the paper when your done.

Okay,…now are you afraid? Does this resemble more the mind of a crazy person? This is just to show that the mind is madness, also to show you how each thought is completely independent of the previous thought, but because we are always looking for associations we give it the illusion of continuity. We give meaning to random thoughts that have no connection.

All these thoughts arise from the various personalities we have, that are shaped by our likes and dislikes, many of them only imagined. If you study your thoughts you can see how they belong to several distinct voices. Yet we believe it is always one personality, this is how you are able to rationalize anything.

This will show you how fragmented we are, and I feel our current fast paced lives are making us increasingly fragmented. The more fragmented we become, the more contradictions we live with, the more contradictions, the more unconscious we become. You will then actually see how much of our day is spend inattentively, how easily we forget our “selves”. If we really possessed consciousness we would have the will power to place our total attention on anything without loosing our sense of self. Your simple feeling of “I am”, your acknowledgment of your existence in the moment.

Going Beyond Emotional Suffering

By constantly observing your self you realize how poorly we really do understand ourselves. Just in the way you are able to see others and judge their actions objectively, you slowly start to see yourself in the same manner. In seeing yourself like you see others, you will expose many of the things which you unconsciously choose to hide. For many of us it is a terribly painful experience to bring our “faults” to the light and no longer run away from them. This is when you learn what it means to voluntary suffer. You see that this is the only way to heal the emotional scars that we carry within us.

We are a slaves to all the various thoughts, moods, and emotions that are constantly changing within us. Our attention is so easily taken wherever the wind blows, all because we become identified with whatever comes within our field of observation. In the act of observation you forget about the observer.

When you learn to be more mindful, more meditative, you will learn to remain aware of the observer and the observed simultaneously, this means you remain unidentified with the objects of your observation. If someone comes and insults you, you remain present to yourself and just passively observe what buttons this person has pushed and the reactions that want you to act on them. Clearly seeing the thoughts of anger rise up within me I choose not to become identified and thus they lose their grip on me and I remain cool.

Developing the right attitude is key, because at first you will see that our emotions are much faster then our thoughts. If someone hits an emotional nerve, the speed is so fast that you will still react in-spite of your new understandings and observations. At this point, it’s important to still observe how you act out your reactions. You will become more intimate with the causes. Later on, through your constant watching, you will be able to stay ahead of your emotional outbursts.

Next time someone comes and insults you, try to remember to stay cool. Take a deep breath. Bring your awareness to your breath. Let the person say what they need to say, give them your full attention, but don’t forget your “self”. Thank them for expressing their opinions, and then tell them you need some time to let everything sink in and you will get back to them tomorrow.

Now, in the meantime just observe anything that arises within you. Don’t judge, just see, like your watching clouds in the sky float by, but don’t give them any importance. Just learn to stay aware of the witness who is aware of the thoughts. Realize that who you really are is just the pure awareness that is aware of your thoughts and not the thoughts themselves. The problem is people have become so strongly identified to their thoughts that they now solely derive their entire sense of self from their endless streams of thoughts.

The mind is just an endless random stream of thoughts. Most people have never experienced the gap between their thoughts. The gap is you. This keeps you trapped in time. The moment is always in the eternal now. Thoughts simply being a response from memory are from the past. Seeing the world solely through the filter of your thoughts forms a slight haze on your vision. You don’t see reality as it is. If you sincerely inquire into this you will realize how insubstantial and empty thoughts really are. Yet your whole life and identity is built on a foundation that is largely only in your imagination. Thoughts only live in the past and project themselves into the future, but your simple awareness always resides in the present moment. Your true identity is beyond words and any mental label.

The more you dis-identify yourself from your thoughts, the more aware and responsible you will become. You will see that how you interact with the world will completely change. You will be able to handle life’s situations much more intelligently.

Next time you find yourself in a difficult situation, just take a deep breath, and remember to give yourself 24 hours. I am confident you will save your self much unnecessary suffering and will gain a deeper insight into yourself. Thank you for reading my post. Please share any personal insights that you may have in the comments below or send me a message.

If you enjoyed this post please help me out by passing it along to your friends. Tweet it, facebook it, stumble it.

“When you have insomnia, you’re never really asleep, and you’re never really awake.”~Fight Club

How To Get Deep Sleep

Aww sleeeeeep, for me nothing beats a good 8 hours of deep restful sleep, except for maybe a nice meditation session (conscious sleep). Deep sleep is blissful and its effects on the body and mind are tremendous. But in this day and age, deep sleep is truly a luxury.

Never in the history of humanity have we had so many people who suffer from insomnia and sleeping disorders.

Why Do We Suffer From a Lack of Sleep?

Think of your brain as a computer, one which you feed with inputs in the form of outside impressions (what your physical senses register), and inner impressions (thoughts, feelings). Since your mind works linearly just like a computer, it try’s to process all the days inputs, and when it becomes overloaded passes a lot of that work to your subconscious mind.

The more attention (awareness) you give each impression without becoming identified to it, the better you’re able to processes it without leaving a trace in your system.

The problem is our attention is very poor, so many of the impressions we receive on a daily basis are processed only partially. Our minds continue to work on lingering thoughts well after we have first thought them. Someone comes and insults us and we keep replaying thoughts and images of anger hours after the incident even occurred.

Many of our thoughts are put in queue; this creates a kind of a mental bottle neck. The mental item’s that where suppressed throughout the day then become the content of our dreams.

Dreams are therefore the continuation of the mental activity that we had throughout the day. The content of our dreams is largely from all the thoughts we repressed or did not process fully; it is the minds unfinished business. Dreams are a way for the mind to finish its work.

The mind will not be calm and relaxed (silent) unless it processes all the data that it was fed. So it is essential that we learn to be mindful in our lives, to live totally, by giving each task at hand the purity of our attention. When we live mindfully we deal with things totally, so no need to think about it later.

When you tell someone, “ hey…let me think about it”, immediately this thought is thrown in your minds ever-growing to do list. It becomes part of the silent undercurrent to our mental activity, very subtlety sapping our minds energy.

This is why many of us have a hard time  keeping a clear train of thought and become distracted so easily. We don’t have the sufficient energy to remain alert and attentive.

This end of day exercise that I am about to share is intended to help you clear and process all of your day’s activity, clearing any lingering thoughts from your system.

This will help you fall into deep rejuvenating sleep, because your mind will be free from the compulsion to continue processing all of its unfinished work.

The second aspect is to help you become aware of your witnessing presence. Living from your witnessing presence means you act and see the world from the deepest part of your being.

A place where you can observe your thoughts without judging, just remaining aloof to your thought process. If you can remain alert yet passive, you will see that your thoughts won’t be carried into your sleep and manifest themselves as dreams.

As many of us very well know, having too much mental activity during sleep causes us to wake up tired even if we technically slept 7-8 hours. Your body was never really totally resting, it still continued to work.

Technique To Help You Sleep Better

At night, before going to bed in the theater of your mind,  rewind your day just like a film strip. Start from where you are now then go back 10 minutes, then half an hour, then 1 hour, all the way until you make it to the morning when you woke up. Replay as much as you can, you will get better with practice.

Do this like you are watching a movie, but don’t judge the movie. As your replaying it make it as vivid as possible , try and intuit everything that surrounds each moment, but all from the perspective of an outsider. You’re on the outside looking in, you see and feel everything but you don’t get involved.

This will be hard if you had an intense situation, you will want to judge the scene. You may have had a fight with your girl friend and will want to analyze and rationalize what happened, try your best to not do it.

Just by seeing the scene clearly you will gain insight into your experience. You may see how silly it was for you to react in a certain way. Seeing it is enough, move on. Just by observing something without labeling it as good or bad will change your relationship to it.

This exercise can lead you into deep restful sleep; because it helps you process and evaporate all the unprocessed thoughts, which become your nightly dreams. Your dreams are simply a continuation of your minds daily activity.

Increase Your Awareness To Go Back In Time

Going from morning to evening most do it without any awareness, going in reverse will begin to sharpen your awareness. You will see how much of our day is spent inattentively.

The more you practice this the better you will be able to recall your whole day down to the smallest details. You will be able to see how your brain recorded every single moment of your day, even if at the time your minds attention was lost in its imagination.

Everyday your actions represent your whole past. If you start rewinding your day everyday (do it for one month) and can see clearly that you where comfortable and deeply at ease with the day, you will see you can go back further in your life. You can then go back year by year and see it passively and detached, in the process you will see that any of your past memories that are causing you conflict will begin to be healed.

Essentially what this exercise does is that it assists you in awakening to your witnessing presence. If you learn to become a witness to your life, many things will be revealed to you. Witnessing is the key of keys and the essence of all the great religious teachings. The more awareness you infuse into your life, the more you will actually live your life. Awareness is life.

If you have any personal insights you would like to add, please join the conversation below and leave your comments.

If you enjoyed this post please help me out by passing it along to your friends. Tweet it, facebook it, stumble it.

“Ever since I was a child I have had this instinctive urge for expansion and growth. To me, the function and duty of a quality human being is the sincere and honest development of one’s potential.” – Bruce Lee

Expanding Your Consciousness

For me, the most uncomfortable feeling in the world, is the feeling of stagnation, of feeling restricted. Just as the greatest feeling, is the feeling of expansion, of growth. Within all of us there is something that longs to be boundless.

Expansion is all we want. If your focus in life is money, love, traveling, whatever it may be, you want to expand it. We hate being restricted in any way shape or form.

There’s something inside us that wants to go beyond boundaries, this is because it is “non-physical”, it can’t be contained by boundaries. But when we only identify to the physical world, the world of matter, we fail to acknowledge our non-physical presence. We then live a life of struggle, of mental anguish, because the essential part of our being is not being touched. Life is not perceived in it’s proper light.

You will only start to become at “ease” with life, when you start getting a taste for the non-physical. When I realized that life was not as it appeared to be, that I was experiencing this reality in a very limited way, my search began into why this was so.

I then devoted my life to learning about myself. I moved abroad to focus on myself without having the day to day influence of my family, friends, and society to interfere. I spent my time: practicing meditation, learning about tantra, kriya yoga, the human psyche, I read and practiced anything that would deepen my understanding. As my awareness to perceive reality expanded, moments of inexplicable beauty would penetrate my being to the core. My inner space felt so expansive, felt free, boundless. When you abide in this space of boundlessness, life just feels good. You walk on air, you are graceful.

Your perception must go beyond the five senses, only then the non-physical will enter your life, you will understand what it means to have a spiritual life. Your senses are designed for the material world and how we perceive reality with the five senses is just an approximation to reality. Used together they are the best tools we have. The problem is we have become identified to them, we don’t question the reality that they present to us, they keep us from experiencing a higher reality.

“All that is seen is You, Lord, the expansion of the expanse. Says Nanak, the Guru has removed my doubts; I recognize God in all.”- Sri Guru Granth Sahib

But if you are able to go beyond the senses, even just a glimpse, you will then be able to sense the immaterial energy that animates the whole world. Every object in your physical world is just a manifestation of the same energy. You begin to understand that every form that appears in reality can only exist because of the formless, it’s the basis of reality. Sure the table in your kitchen feels solid, and we experience it as such, but in reality it is just energy that is vibrating at such a slow frequency that it feels solid. Nothing is permanent, even a stone is changing each moment, it’s just so slow we can’t perceive it, in a few million years it will have completely changed form.

Unless you do the right thing, right things will not happen to you. If you want to penetrate into the formless world, you need to do the right things, meditation is one way in. But before meditation is allowed to happen, we need to get our house in order. A huge part of this is existentially understanding how our minds become attached to sensual pleasures, how these attachments cause us to have endless desires.

This is why Buddha said that one must be desire-less, because a mind buzzing with desires, cant be silent, to make contact with the formless dimension the mind must become utterly quiet. Buddha’s teaching of being desire-less doesn’t really mesh well with people, they don’t see the practicality of it, they don’t understand how it can make their lives any better.

There is nothing wrong with having and doing things, the problem is our psychological attachment to inner and outer objects. You just need to have enough clarity to see the whole process of how your mind becomes attached to these objects. If you can remain aware and unidentified, you can use and appreciate the objects without becoming a slave to them. If you are not able to remain aware to yourself, to your presence, you need to deeply inquire why this is so. You need to find out what you can about it.

One Love

“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” – Albert Einstein

When the mind becomes silent what’s left is an awareness that is free to perceive the subtle dimensions of existence. You realize that there really isn’t an inner and an outer, that in reality it is all just one huge ocean of consciousness. This is why in the scared texts like the Upanishads they declare “that you are that”. Meaning, that you are the very existence itself, the ultimate reality, but this will not have any real significance to people if it remains a purely intellectual understanding. Your identification to the body and mind gives you the feeling that you exist separately and independently from other people, from the world.

When your mental activity becomes less, and your awareness grows, this awareness allows you to rise above and not be identified to your thinking processes. Sooner or later through diligent work on oneself, you will begin to have many mystical experiences, such as feeling the boundaries between you and the world melt. In this deep feeling of oneness you realize what Jesus meant, when he declared that “god is love”. In this oneness you don’t see the other as separate from you, you recognize yourself in the other. How then could you hurt the other?

The more mindfulness, more awareness, that you cultivate in your life, the more you will understand what your “true” needs are in life. Which for me where surprisingly few. Not being pulled in hundreds of contradicting directions, allows your inner space to merge with the outer space, thus you feel this sublime feeling of expansiveness. Expansion is life, is creation, is you.

If you know yourself, you know everything worth knowing. God speed my friend.

I enjoyed writing this for you, it surely was not a waste of my time, so I sincerely hope it is not a waste of yours…what are your thoughts on this post?…join the conversation below……thank you and be well….

If you enjoyed this post please help me out by passing it along to your friends. Tweet it, facebook it, stumble it.

“Don’t frown because you never know whos falling in love with your smile.” 

When living and traveling abroad meeting and getting to know new people is major part of the adventure. At first glance for some of us this may seem like an intimidating endeavor. Especially if you can’t speak the same language and the culture happens to be radically different than what you are accustomed to. Learning to speak another language as many of us know also takes is a significant amount of time and energy.

Fortunately communicating with other human beings is not restricted to the verbal domain. Body language is a universal language that crosses geographical and cultural boundaries.

Whenever you want to make new friends in a foreign land, the easiest way to show that you are open and ready to connect is with a warm genuine smile.

Recently a very special woman has come into my life and one of the main reasons that I even wanted to approach her was because of her inviting smile. She can light up the whole room.

A nice gentle smile conveys a person who is centered and relaxed in her own skin. I can’t even count how many times I have started conversations with strangers on public transportation all because of a sincere smile. They have the power to remove your initial feelings of hesitation to meeting complete strangers.

Touching Others With Your Heartfelt Smile

Nothing shows our humaneness more than a heartfelt smile. The heart knows no boundaries and when you are able to convey your hearts feelings through your smile, you will literally touch the people around you.

The smile is a great way of sharing your inner experience, of sharing your life with others.

Learning to focus your attention to the hear and now, thereby making contact with your intrinsic nature, the feeling of being naturally yourself will arise within you and you will find yourself smiling a lot. When you feel happy, relaxed, and in the moment you will feel a deep sense of connectedness with the whole world. You will smile for no reason. A forced smile is superficial and no one appreciates it.

A heartfelt smile can really go a long way, so please do your part to brighten up someones life. Thank you for taking the time to read my post.

Join the conversation in the comments below, let me know any of your own personal insights.

“Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, or a new country.” - Anais Nin

Starting a New Life

Life is always new, it Is us who make it old and monotonous through unconscious living. When you take a look back at 2011 I can bet that your most memorable moments where the ones where you invited the ‘new’ into your life. Moments where you let life surprise you with it’s infinite variety and texture.

How many of these moments did you have last year? If you don’t have at least one moment in your day that makes you feel grateful to be alive, then it’s safe to say, you didn’t have enough of them.

Everyday you have an opportunity to do, see, feel, think, and experience something new. One of our problems is that we crave certainty, yet at the same time we want a sense of adventure in our life. Life’s very nature is uncertainty, so those who embrace it will be the ones who consequently feel most alive.

It takes courage to live a dangerously, to make the leap into the unknown. To let go of the old for sake of the new. Just remember the new is always better than the old, it’s the only real way we grow as individuals.

Learning To Let Go of The Old

Many of us prefer the old and comfortable no matter how uncomfortable it might actually be. Fear essentially is the cause of us holding onto the old. But living a life of fear is not really living, your half way dead.

Your life can change in an instant the moment you learn to let go, accept life as it is, and respond to each moment with your innate natural intelligence.

One of our problems in this day and age is that we have became a society of spectators. We would rather see other people do the things we want to do. We would rather watch someone else play basketball than for us get a few friends together and get a pick up game going. We would rather watch Rick Steve’s travel the world than for us to plan our own adventure. Not me, the fun is in the doing not in the watching.

Our modern day culture has made living relatively very easy for many of us, we have gotten too comfortable. In my opinion we have become mentally and physically too lazy. I feel that we are becoming second class human beings by having everything given to us.

Mindless Entertainment runs our lives. We need to wake up and take control of our lives. Freedom means learning to be completely responsible for ourselves on every level. Unfortunately many people associate freedom with less responsibility.

Being an individual means following your own inner light and vision, which for many of us might feel very uncomfortable because it may mean for you to stand out from the crowd. Being a part of the crowd can feel very comforting and safe, but to be part of the crowd is to not discover your own unique set of gifts and expressing them to the best of your ability.

Becoming Open To Life

In order to understand how to be open and let the ‘new’ into your life, you need to understand what is it that keeps you from it. Your mind (ongoing thought process) is your enemy in that it has created an invisible prison. It takes an enormous amount of understanding to be able to have direct insight into the minds true nature. To see the incredibly subtle mental gymnastics it plays in keeping you within it’s limited mental constructs.

Through memory your mind wants to hold onto what it likes and push away what it doesn’t like. This creates an enormous amount of inner contradictions that causes us much psychological pain.

The problem is most us think we know our minds, I know I did. It’s kind like if everyday I walk down the same street and I see the same stranger walking on the sidewalk, after some time I begin to think I know him. I only know his external appearance. This is how our minds are to most of us. It’s not until we cross over to the other side and introduce ourselves and invite him over for a cup of coffee that we start to get to know him.

Once you move inward, you will be amazed at the world that was hidden from you and obscured simply because you had become identified to an image that distorted your view of reality. Once you understand how your mind creates and becomes identified to it’s images, your awareness will begin to purify itself to then be able to stop the image making process and learn to just simply ‘be’ and enjoy the moment. Being in the moment free of images is bliss.

In The Moment Life Is Always New

Everyday the ‘new’ is knocking at your door, all you need to do is have a silent mind to let it in. You don’t need to wait for the New Year in order to start living a new life. Each moment is an opportunity to realize the beauty and fullness of the eternal present. Just remember the past and future only exist in your mind. When tomorrow arrives it will show up as the ‘now’, so no need to obsess about it.

Life is such a delicate thing, that it order to appreciate it you will need an attention that is totally aware of the present moment. But first you will need to come to your own realization of seeing the truth that there is no existential truth to thought. It is your belief in your ‘thoughts’ that gives life to them and consequently keeps you trapped in time (the past and future). Thought arising from memory, can only see reality through the filter of the past, thus distorting reality. In the present moment there is no space for thought, you can only be aware of it.

Through meditation, which is the art of learning to watch your mind, if done with earnestness you will come to see how insubstantial thought really is. You will begin to sow the seeds of your freedom from your mind. You will start to purify and free your attention from your body, thoughts, emotions, and moods.

I know everyone is on a different path and what I wrote about about may not resonate with others in a meaningful way. So in the section below I will list more general ways to have a year full of new experiences. But just know that when you make it a priority to be more aware and conscious you will consequently spend more of your time living in the ‘now’. Living in the ‘now’ you will have a deep sense of contentment because you will be tasting the ever new freshness of life at it’s very source.

In the now you are happy because you are ‘being’ yourself. You will discover that what you really are is inseparable from the moment, it’s one and the same thing. In other words you are life itself and you realize this fact by transcending your thought process, you then find yourself in a new dimension that is beyond words and logic.

Things To Do This Year For a New You

• Volunteer your time: Helping others from a place of selflessness is one of the most fulfilling and loving acts you can do. Connecting with people in less fortunate positions can be a huge motivator for both personal and social transformation. There are hundreds of ways you can volunteer your time, here is a post to get you started.
• Lucid Dreaming: This is the act of becoming self aware in the dream state, then being able to manipulate your dreams. Lucid dreaming has been one of my greatest tools in self discovery. Lucid dreaming can also be a great source for creativity, because In the dream world the possibilities are endless.
• Journal: Put your thoughts down on paper. By regularly documenting your habitual thought patterns you may come to discover how rigid your way of thinking actually is. You may then have direct insight into the causes of some of your engrained thought patterns. This clarity could lead to the ending of an internal dialogue that is not beneficial to you.
• Choose to be a leader: Everyone is a leader in some way shape or form. Being a leader is all about taking action. What is your life’s work?…Whats your vision? Don’t be afraid of being the voice for a worthwhile cause. As a leader you will need to continually evolve.
• Start a Blog: This blog has proved to be a great tool in improving my understanding of myself and the world. If you have something to share whats stopping you? Starting a blog is easier than ever, if your not a techie person just head on over to wordpress.org and start a free blog.
• Create a vision board: In college I had a board full of pictures of all the places I wanted to visit one day. It served as a constant motivator to keep working hard so that one day I could go there. One of the most fulfilling experiences was having that weird Déjà vu feeling when I was finally there and realizing I turned those visions into reality. When you meditate you can use your vision board to visualize your dreams. The difference between wishing and visualizing, is that in visualizing in your heart you feel it’s possible. Put your heart’s energy and embed it to the images in your mind when you visualize.
• Clear out the physical clutter: A dirty home and work space negatively influences us in many ways. Having a clean and organized work space will help you think clearly and help you with maintaining a positive mood. For all you pack rat’s out there maybe it’s time to have a yard sale and get rid of anything that you no longer need. I now have very little possessions and it’s a very liberating feeling. It’s amazing to know just how little I really need to live a comfortable life.
• Make healthy meal choices: With out our health we have nothing. Recently I started juicing, I can’t believe I waited this long to get started.
• Create an exercise plan: Life is all about movement. If you are not happy with your physical health it’s your responsibility to take action. Sign up for yoga class, go mountain climbing, or put on your dancing shoes for a night of Salsa. Now a day’s we have so many healthy and fun ways to stay active. Make this the year that you step out your comfort zone and try something new.
• Meditate: Quite simply the greatest tool for transformation.
• Start a new business: We are in incredibly challenging economic times, but with the right attitude where others see limitations you see opportunities. Economic downturns can actually be an ideal time for a creative entrepreneur to start a new business. Discover a need then fill it in the best way you can and you will be rewarded for all your hard work.
• Travel: One of the best ways to gain a new perspective on yourself and the world. Check out my post: Discovering yourself through travel.

“Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10)

Living a Life of Silence

Today I want to give you a little peak into my world, share with you why things around here have been really quiet for the past year.

I have really enjoyed my little  blogging journey, to be honest I never thought I would be doing something like this, but here I am, and the reason I want to continue is that I have learned so much from it.

I am far from being an eloquent or entertaining writer, but I have a feeling that writing is going to be a big part of my life. I would like to get better. I admit my output (quantity of writing) has not been impressive, it’s not that I have nothing to say, it’s just that what I really want to convey feels too overwhelming at times.

I don’t want to contribute useless noise, there’s plenty of that on the net, probably 99 % is not really meaningful.

Be Still and Know

Recently the reason I have slowed down with many of my projects, is that I am totally absorbed in my inner world. The people close to me may not sense it, but a majority of the time I just fall into my inner silence. It’s not that I am escaping the world, just moving deeper into it.

This silence is something that now descends upon me without warning, like a cosmic shower, literally it feels like I am bathing in it. This silence is deafening, I am totally engrossed, and I don’t want to do anything but bask in the blissfulness of just existing.

My inner presence feels so alive that my body feels illusory, not real. I will go to a cafe with the intention to write a blog post or work on my ebooks, but then this silence takes over me. I have nothing to say, I don’t want to say anything, this space is so blissful, so enthralling that I don’t.

For a very long time now, I just keep up appearances with the people around me. I do not want to create unnecessary awkwardness by being silent, as I know most will not understand. So I talk and say whatever maybe interesting.

There’s no reason to explain myself. They may think something is wrong, that I don’t like them, that I am crazy. I would prefer to just enjoy each others silent company, it would be the deepest communication, a communion. I love going to public places and just feeling peoples energy, the vibe in the air.

“Silences make the real conversations between friends. Not the saying but the never needing to say is what counts.”- Margaret Lee Runbeck

I also see that most of the time people just talk to talk, we talk too much, we love to talk, why is this so? Is it just to avoid feeling empty? What else can we do?

Silence for many is incredibly uncomfortable. This divine silence I am trying to describe is not the absence of talking, it is the formless dimension making itself known, the soundless sound of existence.

What I have learned over these last few years, is that any effort in making yourself more conscious (meditating, yoga, tantra, self observation) is never wasted.Every effort becomes a spiritual credit. You eventually get to the point where these credits are enough that they make a noticeable difference, they change the very quality of your consciousness.

You awaken and strengthen your attention (consciousness) to a point where it rises above the identification with the mind you have always known.

An awareness begins to bloom in you that is not so easily swayed and taken away by all your mental noise. You realize as soon as your mind begins to wonder and you have the energy to bring yourself gently back. You ground yourself. This pure attention is a birds eye view of yourself and the world.

Once I realized that I was asleep (living unconsciously), waking myself up became my number one priority. I can say that my daily efforts have really moved me into a deeper new dimension of existence. It’s a lot of work, most wont do it, they are not aware they need do.

“Silence is the true friend that never betrays.” - Confucius

I don’t know how deep this rabbit hole goes, but I will go wherever it takes me because it is so sublime.

I am also not advocating that anyone follow me, with any path you decide to take make sure you verify everything yourself, never accept anything blindly.

I just know that I am in the midst of a deep transformation, and I will let it unfold and mature no matter how much time it takes. Reality tastes so good.

I don’t know how long I will be in this space, but I am extremely delighted to see how life miraculously unfolds.

I may write 100′s of posts this year or maybe only a handful of them. If you read my blog regularly, I am sorry, I just don’t know, and that’s ok. I am deeply at ease with life. Life is so beautiful to me.

The whole world is in the midst of unprecedented changes, something is definitely in the air. I am just trying to make the most of this cosmic play called life.

Don’t worry about me (I would not expect you to), I am not going to renounce the world and retire to the Himalayas. Life is an art of moving between the opposites, and currently I am really enjoying my alone time…soon enough I will emerge energized and inspired. Peace…one love….

If you enjoyed this post please help me out by passing it along to your friends. Tweet it, facebook it, stumble it.

“Not all lucid dreams are useful but they all have a sense of wonder about them. If you must sleep through a third of your life, why should you sleep through your dreams, too?” – Stephen LaBerge

(disclaimer: before taking any new supplements please consult your doctor)

Toto, I’ve a Feeling We’re Not In Kansas Anymore

“Dreams are today’s answers to tomorrow’s questions.” - Edgar Cayce

As many of you know, I am a big fan of lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming truly is one of the most amazing experiences that one can have. They literally have the power to change your perspective on life and yourself. It truly is something that everyone should experience and you wont understand the significance of it unless you experience it for your self.

Lucid dreaming is the experience of becoming self aware in the dream state, and then being able to maneuver and manipulate the dream-scape consciously. The movie “Inception” introduced the masses to lucid dreaming.

If you are new to lucid dreaming check out my introductory post which will teach you some of the main ways of inducing and navigating this fascinating world: How To Lucid Dream Easy

Recently I have begun taking several natural supplements to increase the frequency and vividness of my dreams. At first I was quite skeptical as to whether they would really be effective or not. I am now happy to report that they have indeed worked beyond my wildest dreams .

I have been lucid dreaming for many years now and believed I had experienced what it was to have an extremely vivid dream. With the aid of these supplements the intensity, length, and vividness has been ten fold. My ability to think in the dream has dramatically improved as well. Just the other night I had a dream which lasted nearly two hours and maintained clarity of thought throughout the whole dream. I consciously went directly into the dream and consciously brought myself out of it.

Several of the following supplements I will recommend will:

• Even if you are not successful in inducing a lucid dream they will dramatically enhance your dream recall.
• Increase the intensity and length of your dreams beyond anything you may have ever experienced.
• Help you become more self-aware while dreaming therefore allow you to explore your dream world in a meaningful way.

Please keep in mind that these supplements are meant to be just an aid to lucid dreaming. If you are serious about lucid dreaming you should learn as much as you can about inducing them all on your own.

Powerful Lucid Dreaming Supplements:

1. Galantamine:  It is an alkaloid that is obtained synthetically or from the bulbs and flowers of Galanthus Caucasicus (Caucasian snowdrop, Voronov’s snowdrop) and Lycoris radiata (Red Spider Lily). It  is commonly used for the treatment of mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease and various other memory impairments.

Galantamine is a cholinesterase inhibitor that increases the levels of active acetylcholine levels in the brain. Decreased levels of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine have been correlated with memory deficits. Galantamine effectively utilizes acetylcholine in the brain to maintain healthy levels critical to memory and normal cognitive functioning.

It was suggested by Duvoisin in 1983 that the mysterious magical herb moly that appears in Homer’s Odyssey is actually snowdrop.

Galantamine has a half life of 48 hours, so you should not take it more than a few times a week as you will develop a tolerance and reduce it’s effectiveness in inducing lucid dreams.

2. Choline: is a water-soluble essential nutrient. It is usually grouped within the B-complex vitamins. Choline must be consumed through the diet in order for the body to remain healthy. It is used in the synthesis of the constructional components in the body’s cell membranes.

How do I use it? Not without Galantamine. Alone, Choline does nothing in terms of dream recall and vividness. All it does is the same thing it does everyday: help make acetylcholine. But when combined with Galantamine, it intensifies the actions of Galantamine.

3. Alpha GPC: Alpha-GPC is a chemical released when a fatty acid found in soy and other plants breaks down. It is used as medicine. Alpha-GPC is also used for improving memory, thinking skills, and learning. I have found that the main benefit has been in increasing the time that I remain self aware while in my dreams.

The Tri-fecta combination: Galantamine used with choline bitartrate and Alpha-GPC can dramatically increase one’s odds of becoming lucid and increase memory consolidation during dreaming. I have had my most vivid and longest dreams using this combination.

How I use them to induce a high level lucid dream: I mainly use 4-8 mg of galantamine and 500 mg of choline as the main trigger supplement and then will alternate on each lucid dream attempt by adding ALPA GPC (300 mg), Yohimbine (0.50 mg), or Mucuna pruriens (100 mg) to the mix. By always trying a different combination it keeps my body guessing and reduces the chances of building tolerance.

My preferred method: I set my alarm 4-5 hours into my normal 7 hour sleep cycle. When my alarm goes off I take the supplements and then get up to use the bathroom. I will then read in bed for 20-30 minutes or read a script several times on the type of dream that I want to have.  Then I will do a progressive relaxation excerice and attempt to do the “WILD”  technique. Wild stands for  Wake Induced Lucid Dreams. These techniques are unique in that they involve entering the dream state directly from waking consciousness while still maintaining consciousness and stepping directly into the dream world.

Where to get the supplements: I am currently living in South Korea, so I have been ordering my supplements through iherb.com. The prices are some of the best I have seen and their international service has been awesome. I have received my packages in about 8 days without any problems.

** Use this discount code:  PUZ602 to receive $5 dollars off on your first purchase.

Other Supplements To Experiment With

Yohimbine: is an alkaloid with stimulant and aphrodisiac effects found naturally in Pausinystalia yohimbe.  Yohimbine has been used as both an over-the-counter dietary supplement in herbal extract form and prescription medicine in pure form for the treatment of sexual dysfunction. Take less than 1mg with Galantamine just before entering REM sleep.

5-HTP : is a naturally occurring amino acid and chemical precursor as well as metabolic intermediate in the bio-synthesis of the neurotransmitters serotonin and melatonin from tryptophan. As a dietary supplement it has been used as an antidepressant, appetite suppressant, and sleep aid.

5-HTP is a valuable aid in lucid dreaming because it suppresses REM sleep in the first half of the night helping you get quality deep sleep. Due to the REM-rebound effect, you will experience vivid dreams after 5-6 hours of sleep when used in conjunction with the supplements I mention above.

Featured Lucid Dreaming Book

This is the book that introduced me to many of the supplements that will assist you in lucid dreaming. The book is very well written and gives you in scientific detail why and how these supplements are effective in producing vivid dreams. I suggest reading this book by Thomas Yuschak called Advanced Lucid Dreaming: The Power of Supplements.

Hope you enjoyed my post, happy dreams

If you have any personal insights you would like to add, please join the conversation below and leave your comments.

If you enjoyed this post please help me out by passing it along to your friends. Tweet it, facebook it, stumble it.