Our lives are the products of what we think. What we put our attention on grows. With every thought we direct the ship of our lives in a new direction. When the mind is clear and focused the ship will sail true no matter how turbulent the seas. When we are thinking depressed thoughts our bodies produce depressed hormones. We feel tired, heavy and sluggish.
When we view our life with appreciation, gratitude and love our body functions in a much different way. When we are in Love more of our DNA is triggered than when we are afraid. I remember once taking a walk along the lake where I grew up, and I was absolutely in love. I took a step and soon found myself falling in the air as I had just stepped off of a 10 foot high retaining wall. The next moment I was upright walking along the beach looking up at the stars without pain or injury. I had somehow flipped in mid air and somersaulted upon landing. The thing that sticks in my mind most from the experience was that my awareness was flooded with Love. I felt no fear and didn't even have a spike of adrenalin or speeding of the heart. My body just moved and reacted with a skill that I could not have mustered in any other circumstance. It's funny what Love can do. That is just the tip of the iceberg. There is so much more to be experienced, and to the degree that we are present in the Here and Now we do. When our minds are busy with the past and the future it is very difficult to experience much of anything that is happening, but if we can be fully present, even for one instant, the world becomes a magical place. If we live consistently in the Here and Now the universe will open up in undreamed of ways. Doors will open that before were walls and the path will rise to support your feet (unless, of course, you walk off of a retaining wall, I cannot guarantee a universal result).
When we are children we view the world with an innocent wonder. As we grow older we fill our minds with all sorts of assumed knowledge. Some of it is helpful, like knowing that touching a hot stove with your hand is not necessarily the best idea. Most of this knowledge is built on. . . assumption and is certainly subject to change. For centuries we believed matter to be a very solid and dense thing. After all, if a boulder falls on you it will most likely crush you (unless you are a Shaolin monk and can crush it with your fist). Then we discovered that matter was made up of tiny particles called atoms. These were the next bedrock of physics. Later we found that the atom is made up of smaller sub-atomic particles; protons, neutrons, and electrons. Next we discovered that the atom is really only 99.9 percent space with the nucleus taking up the .1% and the electrons coming in and out of existence in a probability cloud, sometimes behaving as particles and sometimes behaving as waves. The most amazing thing with this phenomenon is that the scientists' observations have an effect on whether the electrons behave as particles or as waves. Our very attention plays a role in the workings of the universe. Modern science is coming closer and closer to matching the understanding of the ancient Vedic Rishis. This phenomenal world is more mind than matter. It is but a dream of Narayana. As conscious beings the universe it not a fixed structure, it is very fluid and mutable. Our decisions affect the world so much more than we know. This world is built of magic, not of rocks!
It is a natural tendency of life to move towards greater happiness. If we allow the natural course of life to move us, we experience a constant evolution into greater levels of Joy. This evolution can be as fast or slow as we choose. Every moment in life we have a choice to expand or contract. This choice is a choice purely of awareness. It has very little to do with how we are feeling and everything to do with where are attention is and what we identify with for our suffering is only a case of confused identity. If we identify ourselves as our thoughts, our feelings, and our bodies we are bound to suffer as these are always subject to ups and downs, sickness, aging and death. We were not meant to be tossed about by the whims of circumstance. We have a greater estate if we so choose. We are here to discover who we really are. Human life does not have to be lived solely from the platform of the ego. Human life can be based in Love, Joy, and Omniscient Wisdom. There is an ocean of Consciousness that sits under the frenetic movements of the mind. This Consciousness is Eternal, Omniscient, Omnipresent, and Omnipotent. The experience of this Consciousness is Perfect Peace. The more we experience this Consciousness the more permanent this Peace becomes until it engulfs our whole life. When this happens the duality of subject and object is erased and a fundamental Unity is experienced. This is living in the world, but not of it. This is Enlightenment.
By Ishtar ishaya
Six years ago I learned a meditation technique called the Ishayas' Ascension. It is simple, easy, and incredibly effective at effortlessly connecting anyone to the Pure Consciousness within.
For more information on Ascension feel free to visit <http://www.theishayatradition.org&gt;
Ishtar Ishaya is a monk of the Ishaya Tradition and a teacher of the Ishayas' Ascension. The Ishayas' Ascension is an ancient, simple, and highly effective means of eliminating stress, expanding awareness, and realizing the full potential of human life. This life is meant to be one of Bliss and Joy. The only boundaries to living that life are those we have constructed ourselves. They are merely habit. Living life in a new way is not hard, it is actually much easier. Ascension is a wonderful tool for transforming life. For more information feel free to visit our website at <http://www.theishayatradition.org&gt; or calling anytime 1-888-474-2921.