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Blogs in the Spotlight
Brenda Hoffman
Adele Aldridge
I Ching Meditations
Posted on May 4, 2013 by Adele Aldridge.
Eva Ilean (Admin)
Michelle Anne
Thank all those you need to
Posted May 25, 2013 by Michelle Anne
Let me thank all those I need to thank. Let me praise all those that need praising. And, let me do it today - lest I forget.
~ Eleesha, Author of The Soul Whisperer

Use today to think about those in your life who, not only deserve your thanks, but your praise also. Sometimes, it is not just your thanks that needs to be heard by another, but your praise too.

Will your praise and thanks help someone else to feel good about themselves
and what they are doing? It certainly will.
Think about how many times you have received both praise and thanks from another and felt so pleased, within yourself, about receiving it.

It is by the same means today, that you must graciously be willing to utilize your power of sharing, by simply bestowing your much needed praise or thanks upon another.

So they may come to experience, through your expression - exactly the same benefits, which were once received, or bestowed upon you.

Perhaps your words will make a big difference in their life today, especially when both these sentiments come from you.

As soon as someone comes to mind, when you think of doing this - make sure that you tell them what you need to tell them - lest you forget.

Regardless of the way; shape; manner; or form; you ultimately choose to share your thanks or bestow your praise - remember to always let it be done in a timely manner.

For it is in the sharing of your thanks and praise that others are not just encouraged; but given the capability to go on and share the same sentiments - with others too.

~ Eleesha, Author of The Soul Whisperer

____________________________
Tags: spiritual
Izabella Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ( Site Owner )
To the ground of presence.
Posted May 25, 2013 by Izabella Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ( Site Owner )



Presence, though singular in its wholeness, has three primary and interdependent components, each one whole in itself. In recent weeks we have studied the will-arrow of presence and the conscious field of presence. Now we return to the ground of presence: sensation.

While our thoughts and emotions often take us into the past and future, our body stays here and now. Body awareness anchors us in the present moment. And the energy of sensation mediates awareness of our body.

For example, if you focus your attention in your right hand for a few minutes and then compare your experience of your right and left hands, you may notice a difference between the two. This difference signals the presence of the sensitive energy in the right hand and shows that the sensitive energy can be moved and accumulated intentionally. Through persevering in the practice of sensing parts and eventually the whole of your body, you establish yourself in the present moment.

Furthermore, the sensitive energy forms an inner platform on which the conscious energy can stand. The stronger and more complete the sensitive energy in your body, the greater your access to pure and clear awareness, to consciousness. As you sit sensing your body as a whole, the silent field of consciousness gradually emerges into your awareness and envelops you. As you become well-practiced in sensing and in entering the still field of consciousness during sitting meditation, you find yourself able to be in sensation and later even in consciousness during ordinary activities.

Consciousness may arise without whole body sensation, but with much diminished stability. Sensation gives us a substantial home in the present and consciousness naturally fills that home.

So the conscious field of presence resides on the ground of sensation. And our will acts through the conscious field. And will, in the form of attention to our body, collects the sensitive energy. Thus the three components of presence, the will-arrow, the conscious field and the ground of sensation, all depend upon and support each other. Though full presence requires all three, we start with the foundation, with working toward robust, visceral, continuing, full-body sensation. From there, the rest becomes possible and evolves organically.
~
For this week, increase your work with the energy of sensation. Notice how it impacts your whole presence.


Izabella Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ( Site Owner )
Everything falls within.
Posted May 25, 2013 by Izabella Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ( Site Owner )



Two of the primary components of presence consist of the will-arrow and the conscious field. These two complementary aspects create the foundation of our inner life, the will and the being of a whole person. Last week we studied the will-arrow of presence. This week we take up the field of presence.

Consciousness, the conscious energy, forms the boundless being-field of presence. Abiding in the stillness of consciousness, the clear and cognizant substance of your pure awareness fills all directions. Everything falls within this vast, timeless, and spacious field of your being. Though always here and available, the ability to recognize and be in consciousness depends on an acquired taste, a perception of the subtle and usually overlooked substance of awareness itself. Once we have this taste, we grow able to enter the conscious field of presence during ordinary activities.

To acquire the taste of consciousness, however, meditation proves indispensable. Sitting quietly and patiently, letting go of our physical tensions, relaxing our emotional stress, and noticing the mesmerizing whisper of our thoughts, we enter the silence. Thoughts and images, though, continue arising, captivating us, and thus keeping us from our place in the still waters of awareness. In the stillness, any train of thought is suspect. Am I on that train or am I seeing it pass by? Again and yet again, we get off the train and return to just sitting. We allow the thoughts and images to come and go as they will, seeing them without being caught by them, without being them, without thinking them. Even as the thoughts and images continue, the stillness grows beneath them and the silence emerges. Thoughts float by on the surface of our mind, while we enter the quiet depths.

Becoming accustomed to that silence, we begin to know it as more than just a lack of thoughts and inner noise. We feel the palpable, substantive quality of the silence itself. And then it dawns on us that the silence is none other than the very substance of our awareness, our consciousness. That silent field, that stillness is consciousness, boundless and eternal. We become the silence. Thoughts, images, and sounds may pass, but we rest in and as the silence.
~
For this week, find times to sit quietly and relax patiently. Step off the train of thoughts, open to stillness, enter wholeness, and become the silence. Remarkable peace and joy await you here.


Izabella Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ( Site Owner )
In our usual mode of living.
Posted May 25, 2013 by Izabella Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ( Site Owner )



In our usual mode of living, nearly all our perceptions and actions occur without us being here in ourselves to receive the perception or to participate in the action. This is like a half arrow, with a head that points toward the perception or action, but no tail, no stabilizing source behind it. The arrow points toward every perception and action, but the arrow is incomplete. By our inner work, by the work of presence, by being here at home in ourselves, by being ourselves, we can add the tail to complete the arrow.

I…see. What I see is at the head of the arrow. The seeing is the shaft. And the I that sees is the tail of the arrow of presence.

But the story does not stop there. The arrow is in truth long and deep, extending back beyond us as perceiver-decider, beyond us as individual, toward the roots of our soul in the Sacred. Ultimately there is only one Perceiver-Decider, in Whom we all share and from Whom we all derive. So when we become present as the tail of the arrow, we earn the opportunity to reconnect with the hidden reaches of will, back along the arrow shaft through our individual perceiver-decider-director of attention, toward the arrow’s fundamental stability in the Source. We can approach this truest form of prayer in deep meditation, in reaching out behind and beyond ourselves to our sacred roots.
~
For this week, remember to be the arrow of presence. During your day’s activities, work to be the stable tail, the individualized source of this arrow in your perceptions and actions. And in your quieter moments, look back behind you along the arrow’s shaft toward your true identity in our shared and sacred Source.


Izabella Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ( Site Owner )
Toward our desired destination.
Posted May 25, 2013 by Izabella Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ( Site Owner )



The tides of our spirit ebb and flow. We relish those days when the currents carry us smoothly toward our desired destination. But the hard truth includes other days of swimming against the tide through choppy waters. Perhaps events conspire against us or our body weighs us down with inertia or pain, while inwardly we grow agitated or despondent. To maintain our inner work on those days, we reach deep into our reservoir of commitment and momentum from our previous efforts, reconnect with why we practice, remember the sacred heights that await us, and recall that help will certainly meet us if we bootstrap ourselves upward despite our difficulties.

Those times of unbridled thoughts, destructive emotions, painful sensations, and unwanted events leave us little room to maneuver. We can, however, pick a simple and familiar practice and then do our best to work at it, stay with it, and return to it again and again. The very hardships of the day can provide a source of energy, perhaps an uncomfortable energy that, nevertheless, we can use to positive result.

More subtle opportunities arise in the midst of bleak days. We can examine our reactions, see what it is we dislike and cannot bear, and in so doing gain invaluable insight into our attachments and identifications. We can approach the crucial choice to let go of our clinging and displeasure, to let go the constraints of our self-centeredness, and to widen our horizon beyond the merely personal. Working from the specifics to the more general, we practice non-clinging on those down days of hanging onto our preferences of how life should be. This does not mean we give up trying to improve our life, inwardly and outwardly, but rather that we learn to do so without the unnecessary layers of attachment and anguish.

When the undesirable assails us, instead of seeing only at what we deem undesirable, we also look at the source of our attitude toward it and thereby loosen its grip. And we use that resulting bit of freedom to reengage our spiritual work of sensing, presence, prayer, kindness, meditation, and equanimity.
~
For this week, if and when necessary, practice swimming upstream.


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