Daily practices

Taking a break

Posted on by maswami

So many, many demands come at us seeking our attention, our energy, our actions, our time.  There are the demands that come with relationships. There are the emotional demands of our relationship with ourselves – the time and space we need to properly digest our emotional experiences. There are demands on our bodies and from our bodies. There are financial demands. There is an endless series of actions we can always be taking – the sink that needs fixing, the cleaning that hasn’t been done, the phone call that still needs to be made, the personal project that yearns to be started. 

Then there are society’s demands – to read more, be more, participate more, know more, do more more more – whatever you are already doing plus what everybody else is doing.  To fall “short” in any area, can leave us feeling like we are not good enough, so we push ourselves, force ourselves or condemn ourselves as failures.  Along the way, the tension takes over and we lose our sense of humor, our goodwill, our generosity.  We have nothing to give because all of the doing has left our own inner well painfully dry and empty.  

Sometimes, we need to say, ‘no’ a few dozen times in one day.  No to answering emails, no to answering calls, no to cleaning, no to going on an errand, no to the internet, no to the news that’s going to stir us up, no to social media, no to the friend who is asking a favor (again), no to the family member who is trying to guilt trip us (again), no to the inner guilt trip we are giving ourselves. 

The religion I was raised in emphasized always putting others before one’s self.  It revered sacrifice and suffering. I don’t.

Personally, I have a very clear limit.  When I have passed my personal, emotional, physical or mental limit, I get frustrated. If I keep pushing past that, I get angry.  If I keep going past that, I melt down. If I keep going past that, I get physically ill.

We’ve all lived through crises when we had to simply show up to the demands of life regardless of our needs.  Any of us with small children, know that we repeatedly have to put our needs aside for periods to tend to them. But most of the time, we are not in crisis.  Most of the time, we are simply caught up in the momentum of stress and we choose – however unwittingly – to let its fast-paced, demanding energy rule us. At these times, it’s important that we take a step back, connect with our inner energy and put our own well-being first. 

We get caught up in the fast-paced whirlwind energy of modern life, but we don’t need to stay in that energy. We can choose to shift. We can take a moment to meditate, do some yoga, step into nature and connect with our own inner energy.  This energy source is spacious, eternal and calm.  From this place, we can feel our way through our priorities.  What really needs to get done today? Do I really want to do that or am I just saying yes to avoid a confrontation or to make someone else happy? (If this someone else is a child, it’s worth considering, but if it’s an adult we should take pause).  We can ask ourselves what is really important? To my day? My soul? My dreams? My authentic self? Is having a perfectly clean house as necessary to me as getting some time to relax, to be creative or to play with my children? (If you came over, you would know that for me the answer is definitely no, though it used to be yes). 

The paradox is that the more we answer the demands of the external world, the more pressing those demands feel.  They don’t lessen from answering them, they grow.  It is when we learn to connect and lead from our inner selves that the demands of the outside world recede to a more manageable pace as we grow in strength and clarity as to what our needs, dreams and priorities are.

Working in the meditative space of divine energy, the possibilities for clarity and empowerment are limitless.  There is incredible freedom in this space beyond space that is within me and within each of you.  

We are divine beings in human form. We don’t like to be constrained because we are meant to be free. 

Trusting our intuition

Posted on by maswami

A few months ago, I walked out of a dentist office before the start of an appointment that had been scheduled for my son.  I had my baby with me and trust me, it is not easy at this stage of parenthood to schedule much less get both my children to an appointment. But the moment I walked in the office, my intuition started to tingle and not in a positive way – I felt a sense of apprehension and unease that grew as I interacted with the front desk. Even though nothing serious occurred, my intuition alarm bells were ringing with increased urgency letting me know that this was not the dentist for my child.  When I told the receptionist that I changed my mind, that I didn’t feel this was the right dentist for me and that I was leaving, she responded by rudely scoffing at me.  For me, that served as confirmation that I was making the correct decision.

Still as I walked out with my young son asking me questions, trying to understand the change in plans, I felt guilty and ashamed.  I worried that I was wrong, that I was making a mistake.  I got in the car, reached out to another local pediatric dentist who saw my child the same day.  We had a great appointment and he continues to be my children’s dentist.  Experience gave me the confirmation I needed. I had made the right choice for me.

The for me is incredibly important because when we trust other people’s opinions and advice above our own feelings and desires or when we let society determine for us what we should do, we lose our connection to our intuition.  

We can imagine our intuition like a golden thread of light that connects up to our higher self.  In the incredibly loud noise of this world – society’s opinions, culture’s “rules”, family’s expectations, friends’ opinions, our own fears – it is easy for our own inner guidance to be drowned out.  Yet, it is this very guidance that like a personally designed GPS system from divine Source, will lead us exactly down the path we most need to walk to learn and grow and accomplish what we most deeply desire to accomplish in this world.  

Following our intuition means being our own person, not who anyone else expects us to be. It means deciding what is right for ourselves regardless of society’s pressures to conform.  It means honoring our highest wisdom and desires.  It means being willing to say “no” when everyone else is pressuring us to say “yes”.  It means being willing to possibly disappoint, annoy and frustrate others in order to most highly honor ourselves.

Meditation calms the distracting mind so that with repeated practice even when we are not sitting in meditation, we continue to have a strong connection with our inner voice, with our soul. We are first and foremost our own best friends and when we tap into our highest, we can not lead ourselves astray. We grow confident in our decision making.  We find we carry with us a secret wisdom.  We feel more supported and less afraid.  We learn to trust in the divine, but also, very deeply in our own Self, which is our own individual piece of divine light.  

It can be scary and intimidating to trust our intuition, especially when we perceive that the stakes are high or when we face others’ judgment and condemnation. But it can also be incredibly freeing.  As I drove to that second dentist, I felt such a sense of exhilaration – I was empowered. I was in charge.  I was fully, unequivocally me.

The person most important for you to listen to is already right there with you, inside you, for you, as you.  Listen….

Going big to manage fear 

Posted on by maswami

It is easy to project our worst fears onto a blank future. It is even easier when the present climate stokes our fears with real and imagined scenarios.  Fear makes us myopic. It drops us into survival mode. We can think of nothing, but protecting ourselves. Our thoughts get increasingly panicked and distorted as our brain assaults us with an endless series of negative and threatening scenarios. Our health and relationships suffer.

We are humans and as humans, we want to escape pain.  Our fear causes us to consider fighting or fleeing.  At different times in our lives, each is a valid option – sometimes we have to stand and fight, sometimes we have to run and seek shelter.  But there is also a path between these two extremes.

If we are not in literal and immediate physical danger, then we have the option of seeking release from our fears while still retaining the will and energy to take positive actions in the world.  

Sometimes we need to step back and get a bigger perspective and when the fear is big, we need to step really far back and get a really big perspective – an eternal perspective, a soul perspective.

Life is change.  We are continuously learning, growing, evolving, creating and destroying.  The earth is our school – the place our souls come to incarnate as humans to deepen our understanding of ourselves as individual souls and as a collective soul.  The experience we have here on earth is very different than the non-judgemental, high vibration experience we have in spirit form.  Here, there is much pain, darkness, delusion, disease, and anger.  

As we each work to connect individually and collectively with our higher selves, slowly the high vibration of spirit begins to raise the low vibration of the solid, human state.  Sometimes, the clashes between these two collective parts of our selves is quite volatile.  It is an earthquake.  A tsunami.  A major energetic surge that presents as violent, upending, and terrifyingly out of our control.

But what if I told you that we designed it this way? What if I told you that when we were in spirit we devised this current earth drama in order to ultimately bring change and light to the human world? What if all that is playing out are steps in the seemingly too slow path that leads us as a planet out of darkness into light? Out of individual ego conaciousness into collective soul consciousness? How does that affect how you feel? How you react?  What you fear? 

Accepting that there is purpose and light and divine love even in the darkness doesn’t make us complacent. It doesn’t make us airy fairy. In fact it does the exact opposite.  It grounds us.  It gives us the energy and hope to keep fighting the good fight, to keep loving, hoping, connecting and moving forward. 

The most frightening challenges in life – death, violence, oppression, suffering – all demand that we get very big in perspective because to stay small is to stay human, to stay delusional and to lose sight of our bigger, more full role as souls in human form.

Throw off the shackles of oppression. Do not let fear hold your heart hostage. Meditate. Pray. Spend time in nature.  Read and connect with spiritually connected beings. Look deep inside your own heart and you will find what all meditation masters have found before you – that it is an eternal, endless space of wisdom healing and light.  

Earth is like a deep cave we are exploring.  We must bring our eternal light into it so that we don’t get lost and stuck in its darkness.  It is okay to let go of the fear. It will always find you again and try to hold your heart hostage, but it is okay to reject its oppression.  You will not lose yourself, your beliefs or your passion.  Instead it is faith in your self, in each other and in the light that will lead you and us all to freedom.  

The divine light in me recognizes the divine light in you.  For this world’s sake, for all that feel the call of the light in their heart, we can be brave enough to reject fear and go big in perspective so that we can let our lights shine- individually, collectively – a radiant mass, warm and powerful as the brightest sun. 

Love and light to all – MaSwami 

Accepting conflict 

Posted on by maswami

It can be vey difficult for some of us to live with conflict.  Our anxiety and fear yearns for all relationships, decisions and problems to be solved, as if life were simply a series of dangling knots to tie off and move on from. 

But life is not this. It is ever changing. It shifts. It runs up against itself. It encounters friction. It smashes against itself. It creates and it destroys. 

We experience conflict whenever our external life is not a match with our internal life. We experience conflict in our relationships when others don’t feel or act or behave as we think they should or when their actions or feelings create pain that we want to stop.  Some of us fall into frequent conflict with life because we expect the world around us to solve our problems and we do not realize that we are simply seeking outside of ourselves what we need to look for within. 

But all of this conflict serves a purpose. It creates change, self-reflection, examination of ourselves and the world around us.  While we may not feel we always have perfect harmony in our relationships, that is alright. We can seek a greater harmony – acceptance of the world and our lives as it is today with all of it’s apparent unfinished business, dangling ropes, and knotty confusions.  

We don’t have to be Pollyanna about it.  We don’t have to always like it and we certainly don’t have to invite in unnecessary conflict by repeatedly insisting on our way or setting ourselves up as victims. But we can accept it and even see the beauty in it. Afterall, it is the conflicts creatures have with their environments that cause them to evolve and grow stronger and more in harmony with their environment over time.  

We are all evolving.  We are all coming into greater harmony. Even if you don’t feel like we are after watching te news or arguing with a friend, the truth is we are.  Be patient. Trust. Enjoy.  It is happening. Right now. Seek that greater peace. 

The Quiet

Posted on by maswami

There are few things as frightening to us on a daily basis as quiet. Many of us do almost anything to avoid quiet as often as we can – we turn the tv on, check social media, fill our heads with (often horrific and frightening) news reports, chatter compulsively even when we have nothing important to say or when what we are saying is harmful gossip.  We take drugs. We turn the music up. We make as much noise as we can so that we can hear everything, but ourselves.

Why is this? 

Because into the space of quiet rushes every feeling, desire, hurt, and unexpressed passion that we are ignoring.  In the quiet, we feel our fears, our unsatisfied desires, our unreleased resentments, our unprocessed traumas.  No wonder people are afraid of being alone, of meditating, of sitting still and putting their phones down.

Unfortunately, the very act of avoiding these realities within our being causes them to push against us with greater force – we may develop persistent, anxieties, phobias, addictions, or we simply suffer over and over again. We find ourselves agreeing to things we don’t want to do. Befriending people that we have a nagging feeling we don’t trust.  But because we have made a habit of ignoring our inner reality, our external reality suffers- it can grow further and further distorted, disconnected from the true nature of who we are. 

But the quiet is actually our friend.  The quiet is where we find our deepest self.  The quiet is where we find the divine spark that guides us and connects us to all of the universe. If we can just give it a patient chance.

If we can open ourselves up to the possibility that there is nothing within us to fear except the fear itself, then we can open ourselves up to the possibility of sitting quietly in meditation.  When we do, we may find that many thoughts and feelings arise. We may discover that we are angry at a loved one. We may find that a certain thought or situation is nagging us and requires some attention. We may be forced to face and be open to ridding ourselves of the negative thoughts that dance round our head.

And most importantly, we may find that there is a quiet place within us that is actually beyond quiet. That once we tap into it regularly and our experience of it deepens, that it moves from quiet and terrifying to clarifying and then to peaceful and then to something beyond quiet – a place within us where we can hear the subtle, beautiful music that pulses through the universe.  A place where we can experience the beautiful music of our divine selves.

Shhh…listen. You’re trying to tell yourself something and it’s worth listening to, I promise. 

Staying positive 

Posted on by maswami

Sometimes, some of us and especially when we are in a foul mood, equate being positive with being annoyingly, falsely cheerful.

But that is not what I mean by staying positive. Staying positive is about making a choice about where we want to direct our energy.  It’s about recognizing the difficult feelings and circumstances we may be experiencing and then choosing to orient our thoughts and feelings in a more loving and hopeful direction.

We don’t do this because we should or because we want to be “good” whatever that means.  We do this because the alternative of orienting ourselves negatively is painful and generates problems for our health and our lives.

The losses, traumas, frustrations, pains and dissatisfactions of life can tempt us to negative generalization. We begin to feel that we are inherently flawed, doomed or worthless. We extend that beyond ourselves and begin to feel that our friends, jobs, families, possessions, bodies are inherently lacking.  We look at the greater world and see it as threatening, hopeless, and rotten.  

And yet by doing so, we are ignoring a huge reality.  The reality of our inherent beauty, worthiness and resilience.

Yes, we are here experiencing very painful and difficult things at times, but we are also here with everything we need to face these challenges.

Often when we feel our worst, what we need isn’t to solve all the problems we see in ourselves, our lives, our world.  Often, what we need is a little quiet, rest, and comfort – food, a shower, a hug.  By taking care of our most basic needs when we are despairing or overwrought, we bring ourselves into the now.

In the eternal now, all is positive and purposeful. In the now, there are no victims, only divine loving purpose.  Connecting with the now, can be as easy as taking a deep breath, feeling the air on your skin, stepping out into nature.

The simple willingness to connect with the now orients us toward the positive. It affirms that we have within us the ability to connect to something greater. That something is filled with healing energy and by opening ourselves to the possibility of it bringing us peace or acceptance for a few moments, we are opening ourselves up to the very positive healing energy that enables us to walk through life’s most difficult times.

Open up, feel the charge of joyful life around you and consider that it really all is happening for a reason, that more will be revealed, that peace is only a few breaths away.  

Routine times 

Posted on by maswami

It can be difficult to adjust to the quieter more routine days of life, especially after we have experienced an exciting time.  The more mundane days of life can feel spacious and into that emptier space can rush all of our insecurities and fears. 

We may fear that our lives are too quiet – that we do not have enough socializing, friends, hobbies, motivation, or success. We may like excitement and fun so much, that anything less than that feels like emptiness or failure or even worse….all of the feelings we haven’t had the time to feel.

When we are caught up in excitement and activity, we are still sensitive beings receiving tons of information, but the pressing excitement of the moment pushes our less convenient feelings deep down.  That is, until life slows down. 

So it is no surprise that when we return to routine, these unacknowledged feelings present themselves wanting to be acknowledged and digested.  

Because we have just been in a period of excitement, these feelings might feel extra icky.  Because we are also run down and tired from our recent flurry of news or activity, the feelings may present as extra heavy, cumbersome, depressive and unwanted.

But the good news is we can help ourselves. By simply acknowledging that we are adjusting from one state of being to another helps. We can be extra gentle with ourselves, knowing that our insides feel tender from the emotional race of activities (just as our bodies would feel sore and tender after a race).  

We can help ourselves move feelings through by meditating.  When we meditate, we can invite buried feelings to release and allow the thoughts and sensations associated with these feelings to present themselves and move through us as we sit for meditation.  We may find after a busy time, that our meditation involves a lot of releasing.  That is fine.  Every meditation is different and feels different, just like each day is different.  

We can also journal, listen to music, or talk to a friend. The most important part is simply acknowledging the change of circumstances in our lives.  Once we see it for what it is, we can make the most of those routine days that are simply there to give us a chance to rest and catch up before the next big wave of activity hits.

I am having a quiet day with lots of feelings moving through it after a big miracle last week.  More about that later this week…..

Love

Posted on by maswami

Love is in our hearts. It is in the world. It is in the earth.  It is on the other side. It is all around us.  It is us.

Love is energy. Love is life, food, nourishment.  Love is healing. Love is creation. 

Love is in beauty, tenderness, compassion, generosity, and joy. Love is even in sadness, pain, longing. Love is beneath and beyond everything. 

And love is everywhere. It is pouring down upon us from the other side.  It is inside of us.  It is outside in nature waiting for us.  It is in our memories.  It is awaiting us in a work of art, an animal, a sunrise, in another human, a god we worship, a child who looks up to us. It is waiting for us in our own hearts. 

We have chosen this life experience and its lessons, part of which is forgeting that we are already loved, one, perfect, eternal.  And then remembering it. 

The slow remembering of our authentic selves, our true nature, our innermost heart. 

The slow remembering and revealing of the astounding amount of love that is a part of us, that is us. 

We see that little piece of the divine in all of these things – the sunset, the child, our spouse, the beautiful music, the touching art – we see it and for a moment, we remember. We feel it. We know it.  It is in us. It is us at our highest. It is love.

And it invites into our lives the most miraculous experiences, so spend some time with it, remembering – you are love. 

Love, it’s more than just a feeling. It’s an energy and it’s the energy that what we are made of. 

The basics 

Posted on by maswami

Our modern lives are so full, it’s easy to lose perspective on how much we are doing.  There are bills, houses, family obligations, social events, haircuts, dentists, doctors, not to mentions our dreams, hobbies and interests.

I feel a little tired just writing that list and it still doesn’t nearly cover all of the many things vying for our attention.

When we find ourselves caught up in the manic energy of doing, when we find we are tense, anxious and driven, we can connect back in with our basics to release our anxieties.  

Cooking simple, nutritious food. Doing our dishes. Bathing. Resting. Sweeping a floor. The most basic forms of our self-care are also powerful therapeutic tools that help us to access a state of divine flow.  As we move through these simple and powerful actions, which root us in our bodies and in the present moment, the neurotic energy of doing, shoulds, and needing more can simply dissolve.

The basics of our lives are not something we need to hurry through or view as a burden.  Connecting with the basics can leave us feeling empowered, capable and satisfied, and from that place, we are in a muh better position to assess or priorities and move forward in flow, in divine connection with our most authentic self.

Our infinite hearts and limited bodies 

Posted on by maswami

We simply can not move through this life without dissapointing others.

My baby is teething right now and when she is in pain she simply wants me right there holding her, fully there, eyes on her, comforting her with all I have until she feels better. When the timing syncs up and I can give myself to her, it is a satisfying and divine feeling for us both.  When I can’t she simply wails miserably and loudly. Of course, that pains us both. 

In those moments perhaps she feels rejected, unwanted, unloved or simple physical pain and discomfort. I don’t know.  But I know that the whole time my physical body is causing her this disappointment, my heart is fully and infinitely loving her. 

Our hearts are infinite in their capacity to love, but in order to become human we have to come into this limited physical body.  Though there are some yogis siddhis claimed to have achieved this, for the rest of us – we simply am not be in two places at once.  On top of that, we need to eat, rest, relax and all of these activities we need to do to care for ourselves limits what we can do for others.

That is okay. In the bigger scheme of things, taking care of ourselves better positions us to love and care for others, but in the everyday we may have to say “no” to our children, spouses, friends, partners and sometimes, others may have a tantrum when we disappoint them.  Sometimes we have a tantrum ourselves, when our own parents, siblings, partners dissapoint us.

In those moments, we can remember our infinite heart that is hiding and loving th even while in the physical, we can not give others everything they want from us without damaging ourselves. We can remind ourselves that others who have disappointed us are limited too – perhaps they were tired or run down or just needed some space.

As humans we tend to draw conclusions. If someone is busy, we worry perhaps that we are not important or loved by them.  We need not go there.  We can trust that we are always in our loved ones infinite hearts even when they are angry, even when we need to take space, even when we are angry.

It is the paradox of accepting both our limitless spiritual nature and our limited human experience that grows our human heart in compassion for ourselves and others so that it is able to reach toward the incredible love of our infinite heart, of our soul.