One Can Make a Difference

Life is bigger than just one, but one can make a difference.

You Are Aware. You Are Present. You Are Peace.

You are not entangled in the world of thoughts, ideas, beliefs, what others say to and about you, how other people behave, what others do or do not do. You are not what other people think of you. You are not what other people say to and about you. You do not attach yourself to anything.

You Are Aware. You Are Present. You Are Peace.

~Written by Pamela J. Wells

Death of Self - Awakening

When you get to the threshold, you experience that separateness and you find that it is inherently unsatisfactory; not only for oneself, but very unsatisfactory for the world. You feel that pull. There’s something else, but that’s when you often start to uncover this tremendous fear, because it’s a sort of death, moving beyond the separate self, it’s a death of an identity.

~by Adyashanti

Comparative Judgment

Is not the mind also an instrument of comparison? You know what comparison is, to compare. You say this is better than that; you compare yourself with somebody who is more beautiful, who is more clever. There is comparison when you say, "I remember that particular river which I saw a year ago, and it was still more beautiful." You compare yourself with somebody, compare yourself with an example, with the ultimate ideal. Comparative judgment makes the mind dull; it does not sharpen the mind, it does not make the mind comprehensive, inclusive, because when you are all the time comparing, what has happened?

You see the sunset, and you immediately compare that sunset with the previous sunset. You see a mountain and you see how beautiful it is. Then you say, "I saw a still more beautiful mountain two years ago." What happens when you are comparing is that you are really not looking at the sunset which is there, but you are looking at it in order to compare it with something else. So, comparison prevents you from looking fully.

I look at you, you are nice, but I say, "I know a much nicer person, a much better person, a more noble person, a more stupid person"; when I do this, I am not looking at you, am I? Because my mind is occupied with something else, I am not looking at you at all. In the same way, I am not be looking at the sunset at all. To really look at the sunset, there must be no comparison; to really look at you, I must not compare you with someone else. It is only when I look at you not with comparative judgment that I can understand you.

But when I compare you with somebody else, then I judge you, and I say, "Oh! he is a very stupid man." So, stupidity arises when there is comparison; you understand? I compare you with somebody else, and that very comparison brings about a lack of human dignity. When I look at you without comparing, I am only concerned with you, not with someone else. The very concern about you, not comparatively, brings about human dignity.

~Written by Jiddu Krishnamurti

Chasing Enlightenment – A Never-Ending Pursuit

He didn’t wake up because he found what he was chasing. He woke up because his chasing burned itself out. He didn’t find rest because he found rest as something out there. He found rest, because he exhausted the seeking. And all of the sudden he stopped. It’s like someone running who is looking for rest and they get exhausted and so they can’t run. And so, for a moment, they sort of inextricably stop. And their body at the point knows “oh rest”.

Their mind doesn’t need to know rest. It’s not important, but their body knows. All that running around is not necessary. Rest, all you have to do is stop running. That’s all. Enlightenment, just stop looking around the corner for it. All those things that we think in our mind that we are chasing, stop chasing all of that. If you’re ready for this message, then a stopping will happen quite spontaneously. Enlightenment is not a mystical experience. It’s practical. It’s simple.

~Adyashanti

Thich Nhat Hanh ~ The Buddha & Enlightenment

The Buddha is not a God. He is a human being like us. And the word Buddha means a person who is awake. And if we practice awakening we become a Buddha. When you practice breathing in and out, your body and mind come together, become one, and you are there in the present moment. When you are mindful of what is going on, you are aware, and you are enlightened. Practice breathing in, I'm aware that I have good eyes, breathing out I smile to my eyes. That is awareness. That is mindfulness of having good eyes, but that is also enlightenment.

~Written by Thich Nhat Hanh

Observing the World Around You

Shift your self-perception and cultivate a higher aspect of yourself known as the compassionate witness. Rather than think of yourself as a human being who has thoughts, feelings and behaviors, begin practicing stepping outside of yourself.

I am showing you the way to a new kind of freedom where you witness your life and no longer are a dancer choreographed and directed by others. You have the choice to take on the witness posture in terms of how you view everything going on around you. This includes events in your neighborhood as well as globally significant events. As the witness, you are refusing to identify with what you see taking place.

You are instead being a detached, passive but noticing observer. You are not the event, you are that which is noticing it. When you become the witness to events in the world around you, you remove your self-importance from what you are observing. You do not see it in terms of how it affects you. You simply notice. You are not attached to the rightness or wrongness of it. You have an inner knowing that, in some mysterious way, it is all in order. You are not questioning God in any of it. You simply notice.

Learning to observe the world from the perspective of the detached witness does not, however, mean being emotionless. It simply means being free of immobilizing emotions. Abraham Maslow described the highest functioning human beings in his studies as “self-actualized,” stating that the highest quality they possessed was that they were “independent of the good opinion of others.”

When you no longer need to view the events of your life from your self-centered perspective, or from the point of view of how you should react based on how you will look to others, then you have achieved a measure of freedom. You can extend this witness position toward all of the things that you find so upsetting in the world. The wars will go on and on, independent of your inner turmoil. Being the global witness might actually help to create a collective energy of peace. Certainly your anger isn’t going to eradicate wars.

~Written by Dr. Wayne Dyer

The Law of Detachment

By Deepak Chopra

The Law of Detachment, which is about letting go of our need to control outcomes, our attachment to our desires, and – perhaps most difficult – our need to control other people.

In the Vedic tradition and other spiritual teachings, the path to freedom and happiness lies in letting go of attachment. This doesn’t mean disengaging from life, denying your passions, or living the life of a renunciate. The real nature of detachment is a loving, wise participation in life while maintaining the awareness of an inner core of peace and presence that is our true identity. This is the essence of the Spiritual Law of Detachment.

Why Attachment Hurts

Attachment is based on fear and insecurity. When you forget your true Self – which is pure consciousness, pure potentiality – you begin to believe that you need something outside of yourself to make you happy. It’s easy to think, “I’ll feel good when I have more money in the bank, lose 15 pounds, find my soul mate, pay off my bills, or (insert your current desire here). As you’ve no doubt discovered, getting what you want doesn’t bring security. At a deep level, you know that whatever is bringing you happiness can be lost and therefore has the potential to bring you pain.

The only way out of this dilemma is detaching. You set your intentions and take whatever action is needed, and then relinquish your attachment to the outcome.  Here are a few  powerful affirmations you can use to practice detachment in your daily life.  Choose one or two and practice saying them to yourself throughout the day:

• I consciously commit to flexibility and detachment.
• I allow myself and those around me the freedom to be themselves, without imposing rigid ideas of right and wrong.
• I live my life in a state of engaged detachment.
• I release the need to judge or criticize.
• I express myself honestly while releasing any need to impose my beliefs on other people.
• Whenever I notice that I am becoming emotionally attached to a point of view, I take a deep breath and come back to a more centered place.
• I embrace detachment by choosing to be free from the good and bad opinions of others.

In detachment lies the wisdom of uncertainty . . . in the wisdom of uncertainty lies the freedom from our past, from the known, which is the prison of past conditioning. And in our willingness to step into the unknown, the field of all possibilities, we surrender ourselves to the creative mind that orchestrates the dance of the universe.

• I will put the Law of Detachment into effect by making a commitment to take the following steps:
• Today I will commit myself to detachment. 
• I will allow myself and those around me the freedom to be as they are. 
• I will not rigidly impose my idea of how things should be. 
• I will not force solutions on problems, thereby creating new problems. 
• I will participate in everything with detached involvement.
• Today I will factor in uncertainty as an essential ingredient of my experience. 
• In my willingness to accept uncertainty, solutions will spontaneously emerge out of the problem, out of the confusion, order and chaos. 
• The more uncertain things seem to be, the more secure I will feel, because uncertainty is my path to freedom. 
• Through the wisdom of uncertainty, I will find my security.
• I will step into the field of all possibilities and anticipate the excitement that can occur when I remain open to an infinity of choices. 
• When I step into the field of all possibilities, I will experience all the fun, adventure, magic and mystery of life.

Source: How to Let Go: 7 Affirmations for Practicing the Law of Detachment

Image: The Golden Path-II by H. Koppdelaney at Foter.com

The Fictitious Self

The mind, working consciously and unconsciously, is the cause of my problems. Problems cease only when the self is forgotten, when the “me” is non-existent. The thinker is a fictitious entity, an illusion of the mind. The thinker ceases only when there is an understanding of the whole process. The non-action is to see it in its entirety and therefore have an insight into it. When you once see something as false you can never again go back to it.

~Written by Jiddu Krishnamurti

The Old Way of Thinking Did Not Work & Still Does Not Work.

The old way of thinking did not work and still does not work. Ego, self absorption, narcissism, belittling others to raise oneself to a superficial, mentally perceived illusory idea of self, competition, and on and on. All of these afflictions of the mind did not work and still, to this day, does not work. It only creates division, problems, stress, emptiness, and a superficial high that lasts all of 2 seconds.

If one chooses to remain in an egoic state of consciousness then they have chosen to separate themselves from others and will continue to cause their own suffering. Look at our society! It is one, big ball of ego, of backwards thinking, that creates division and turmoil.

Whether others do not change is irrelevant. Acting, reacting to the ego in others keeps our society where it is at and keeps us on an individual, personal level miserable. Peace starts from within each individual person. 

This peace from within us is the only way that people can and will come together. Fighting for peace doesn’t work. Fighting with others, verbally or otherwise, to make a point about peace is placing expectations on others to change, so that people will unite, obviously does not work. Fighting only creates more fighting, within oneself and with others. Thinking about peace does not bring peace. 

Peace cannot be brought or thought. It is felt. It is natural. The mind and the ego interferes with peace. 

Each person has the ability to be at peace and it has absolutely nothing to do with anyone else. Living a life from a place of ego hurts only that person. Anyone who attaches themselves to that person, who is living in an egoic state of consciousness, will suffer along with them. As Wayne Dyer said, “Surround yourself with high energy people.” To add to that: be a high energy person that comes from a place of love and kindness.

BE Self-LESS.

Anything or anyone who offends you shines a light on your insecurities and ego, waking you up to go within and to LET GO of thoughts that you are less than or greater than others. This is your ego and insecurities wanting to be accepted by others.

What they say to or about you has nothing to do with you. It has to do with them, Period. End of story. What they say or think is irrelevant. What  you say or think is relevant. Because, either you allow yourself to be at your natural state of peace, your true nature, or you allow your thoughts to control you, labeling yourself and others. 

Silence Your Mind. 
Thoughts About This, That, or The Other Won’t Bring You Peace.  

Remember, the old way of thinking did not work and still does not work. Remember that when you are struggling with yourself or others.

~Written by Pamela J. Wells

Relationship With Thought ~ Adyashanti

That state of consciousness that is not caught in the compulsive state of mind, compulsive thinking, that state of consciousness which is outside of compulsive thinking, that is the state of awakening. That is the state of enlightenment. That's why they call it pure consciousness. It's just pure. It's pure perception. Pure awareness. No compulsive labeling. To most human beings we have to label everything. Everything is good or bad or beautiful or ugly or everyone is right or wrong or safe or not safe.

~by Adyashanti

Our True Self

"We need to tear down the house of the ego and dig under its foundations in our unconscious to find the treasure of our true Self."

~ Rumi ~