Wild Life

What does 'wild' mean? It occurred to me how strange this label or description of life really is especially considering it is being used to describe 'life'.

We call animals that have not been tamed, 'wild'. In reality, 'wild' is a natural state unaltered by the mind of man. This state is free of labels like good, bad, perfect, and imperfect. There is a synchronicity and balance that the 'wild' life share with each other.

In contrast, mankind could really be considered more 'wild'. The ego mind causes man to be out of balance with himself and the planet. The untamed and uncontrolled thoughts of wanting are a far cry from the serenity that 'wild' life seems to carry around with it if there is no immediate danger.

The average human has considerably more fear based thought than the average 'wild' life. Fear based thought is the source of what may be called 'wild'. Learning to control the mind brings peace and ceases the wild nature within man.

We can actually learn a few things from what is traditionally called wild life.

It's All Rubble, Rubbish, and Dust

If you could see the future of anything physically solid or material, you would see that it eventually turns to rubble, rubbish, or dust. I'm sure you already know this, but the thought of it is really quite a shift from the way people traditionally see things.

A brand new car will inevitably become a twisted piece of wreckage. A beautiful mansion will sooner or later become a pile of rubble. The most beautiful furniture will have the same fate as a fallen tree. Cash money is sooner or later taken out of circulation because the paper becomes tattered and starts to disintegrate. Even diamonds (which are supposedly forever) will eventually become dust (even if it is diamond dust).

Of course, the physical body is no different. "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust." It may sound a little depressing or pessimistic at first glance, but that is from an ego mind perspective. Looking at it from a more expanded perspective, nothing is ever really lost. Energy cannot be destroyed; only transferred or transformed. The unseen essence of everything is always connected and is eternal.

Essentially, everything came from 'nothingness', is almost really 'nothingness' during it's existence, and will return to 'nothingness' when it ceases to exist. Yes, even during the existence of anything physical, when we take a close enough look at all matter (a view from the quantum level), we see that it is really mostly empty space. Atoms are over 98% empty space. At an even deeper level we will find only vibrating 'strings' that form our physical reality. Pretty mind blowing.

Everything that the ego hold's near and dear is very temporary. Shifting your view of what is to see what is eternal helps tremendously to put life into perspective and brings a feeling of peace, joy, and freedom.

Never Alone

I recently realized the obvious fact that I am often alone. I have great friends and family, but I often spend lots of my free time in solitude. I guess I could be labeled a loner.

I also recognized the fact that though I am often alone, I'm never lonely. I'm never lonely because I never really feel alone. My presence keeps me great company.

Looking at this concept even more, I realized that being alone is just like being with other people in certain ways. When I am in high spirits, I get along with myself just as I would a best friend. I can laugh out loud at passing thoughts that are incredibly funny with the right perspective. I enjoy my favorite music and have lots of good times simply because of the way I am choosing to see life during theses times. Maybe this is strange, weird, or foreign to some people, but I don't think I would be happier in those moments of presence even if I did have the company of my friends.

Being alone being like spending time with others, there is the down side to it as well. With others, there is always the possibility of some type of conflict of interests or misunderstanding. The same can be true of inner conflict and turmoil when the ego is overly involved in the thought process. There have been times when I have witnessed my ego try and control my mind and bring about negative emotions. At times like this, I can see from both the perspective of my ego and from that of my higher self. Soon enough though, the conflict is squashed as I become friends with myself again.

When my mind is still enough and I am aware of my own presence, being alone is the furthest thing from my mind. I am too busy enjoying the feeling of being connected to the present moment and everything in it. I know without anyone trying to convince me that I am truly never really alone.

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My Life

My life is all I have. Because I am life.

When I say 'my life', I'm not referring to the details of the situations that I experience. I know that's what people traditionally think of as their lives, but those circumstances and situations are really just a story (regardless of the validity of the truth to it). My life is really how I feel.

The way we feel is really what determines the quality of life no matter what's going on. It defines our lives. It is first and foremost over any circumstance or situation.

You already know this because you have seen very happy people with very little and very depressed people with lots of material wealth. The only true wealth is how we feel in the present moment. We can not save or store this wealth. We must continuously give it our attention in order to retain it.

It's funny how we get caught up in so many other things besides the way we feel when the way we feel is always the goal of the other things we worry about.
-If we are worried about money, it is because we think we won't have enough to feel the way we want to feel.
-If we worry about romance, it is because we think we won't be able to feel the way we want to feel.
-You name it... it all boils down to the way we think it will make us feel!

My life is all I have. Because I am life.
Your life is all you have. Because you are life.
Everything else is something you allow yourself to feel one way or another about.
Consciously choose to feel appreciation.

Worry For What?

"Remember, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday."
~Dale Carnegie

Was it worth it? Was all yesterday's worrying about today worth it? No. The worry is fear, and it is worse than what we worry about. It depreciates the moments we spend with it.

Here's a few more cool perspective expanding quotes:

"Yesterday is but a dream, tomorrow but a vision. But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, and every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well, therefore, to this day."
~Sanskrit proverb

"An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen."
~Earl Winston

"It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow."
~Bob Goddard

"There are two days in the week on which I never worry; One is yesterday and the other is tomorrow."
~Robert Burdette

"Yesterday is a canceled check: Forget it. Tomorrow is a promissory note: Don't count on it. Today is ready cash: Use it!"
~Edwin Bliss

"Today's opportunities erase yesterday's failures."
~Gene Brown

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Do You Have Enough For Now?

(Archive from October '08)
Some of the words being used a lot these days in the news are: recession, market crash, bail out, possible depression, etc. I understand many people are affected by this "financial crises" that is being promoted at almost celebratory levels; but there is a simple question that many people do not to ask themselves when feeling the stress of a disappearing income stream. You guessed it. "Do I have enough for now?"

This question's importance is major as it sheds light on what it is right now and what you think it is right now. In other words, reality and what you think is reality maybe altogether and entirely different. This tends to happen when you stop using your own perceptual senses and start believing everything you are told. This belief then becomes your experience.

As a result of this fear based perspective; we actually give our energy to what we don't want. If you know the principle of Napoleon Hill's, "Think and Grow Rich," or any number of others who have spoken about the principles of manifesting a destiny of your choosing; you know that what you are feeling and thinking about most of the time is what you will experience and bring to reality. "Think and Grow Rich" would more accurately be called "Feel and Grow Rich" because it is the feelings that you hold that give strength to any vision or thoughts that may run through your mind.

So much of the time; we are worried about a construct of the mind rather than experiencing reality. Right now is of supreme importance as opposed to a hypothetical situation in the future. If you can bring the mind to a stop and take notice of how you feel; you will know for a fact that the "financial crises" only exists when you are thinking about it. This is not to deny a situation that may or may not be happening. This is to effectively eliminate any stress that you would carry around as a result of the situation. To eliminate this stress is already a huge advantage in bringing about a more desirable future. It all starts with right now.

Being a believer and follower of popular opinion puts you at a disadvantage with accepting and adapting to your own reality. It's like the traffic light in "Who Told You To Move?" You can allow others to dictate what you should feel like, or you can be here now. You can be alert and aware enough of your present moment to realize what you really feel with out your mind gushing interference and picturing a negative reality that doesn't really exist right now. It is only when you can grasp and be in the moment that any real change is affected.

So, do you have enough for now? If the answer is yes; don't carry around the emotional baggage of doom and gloom. Simply be grateful for what you have and you will get more. If the answer is no; focusing on the solution as opposed to the problem not only feels better for you; it also leads to a much speedier resolution than focusing on the problem.

Quality of Life

Ever notice how people often confuse the amount of money people can spend with the quality of life they have? The misconception of the amount of money one has and quality of life is a common one.

Notice how a dollar amount can never truly be attached to what actually affects your quality of life. The way you feel at a particular moment is really what defines the quality of your life in that moment.

Excitement, exhilaration, enthusiasm, joy, and peace are a few of the feelings you can have that bring the quality of your experience of life way up. A person can be dead broke and still feel these feelings. A person can be extremely wealthy and still be depressed. You determine the quality of your life in any given moment.

Yes, it is definitely true that more money allows you more choices in life, but it does not determine the quality. Realizing how to feel great more times than not will actually attract more money to you. A happier you is the best and most expensive gift you can give to yourself.


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See Beyond the Norm

The power of focus goes a long way! Here's a clip to illustrate how shifting your focus can allow you to see what you could not before. It is a visual puzzle. You may have seen these before. They've been around. It does make a great point though. It first appears at a minute and 40 seconds in (1:40). See if you can solve it.:)

Enjoy.

Ever Seen Yourself?

A person can go their entire life without ever really laying eyes on themselves. Think about it. Can you really say that you have seen yourself?

I know you have seen your reflection in the mirror. I know you have seen photos of yourself or even seen yourself on film, but you may notice that never have you really seen yourself directly. And how could you? Not unless you had some type of out of body experience. And even then, if it was really you that you were seeing, then who was looking?

Maybe you could compare this to the sun never actually receiving it's own light. Even when the light is reflected back at it, it would never be able to receive a direct ray from itself.

This realization came to me while passing a mirror and taking a look at 'myself'. I realized that the way I looked did not accurately portray the way that I felt on the inside. It was as if I just saw someone else with a physical likeness to what I thought (or used to think) I looked like. It made me realize that there is so much more that I am not seeing when I look at my reflection.

I know there are people out there who can see auras and beings who are not in this physical realm. Maybe they can more accurately see themselves. But with the majority of people, it seems the only way to really 'see' yourself is on the inside. Maybe 'feel' would be a more exact word to describe what I mean.

When my senses are heightened and I can feel the life energy coursing through me, I feel exhilarated and extremely joyful, but it seems that on the outside I still look exactly the same. I would say when I feel like this, I am seeing the real me [only I'm feeling it :)].

Ever seen yourself?

Illustration of Consciousness

A quick clip of the awakening process. Enjoy.

See You at the Crossroads

(From November '08)
People often talk about being at a crossroads in life when there is a big or life changing decision to be made. When you widen your perspective though; you can see that beyond the "big" choices, every moment determines your experience of life. The more aware that a person is of how they feel and what the causes are for how they feel in the present moment; the smaller the impact of major shifts in life situations.

Every moment of everyday is a defining point in life. Every moment is a crossroads. There is a decision that we make on a continuous basis. It is if we are in acceptance or resistance to what is. It is if life is our friend or our foe at the moment. It is if we choose to see through the eyes of the ego or the eyes of the Observer.

It is for this reason that the present is a gift. All the power in determining what life is to you exists only in the here and now. The crossroads are only relevant when they are acknowledged.

Relative Reality

If you feel something and it turns out that it is not physically there, does that take away from the fact that you felt something? Does it mean that your experience is not real?

If something is physically there, not affecting you on any level, and you fail to perceive it, how real is the existence of that object? Is it part of your reality?

You will come to your own conclusions.

From my point of view, reality is relative to your perspective. What is real is only determined in the mind and perception of the beholder. In other words, what is experienced inside is more real than any information from an external source. Being that we can only experience a reality that we match with vibrationally, we do more projecting of reality than we may realize.

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Feel The Love

Have you ever received a message, a gift, a letter, or any kind of reminder from another that made you really feel the intent of love with in it? I'm talking about that feeling of being filled with love to the point of overflowing from with in.

This has happened to me recently. It brought to light the realization that we can only ever feel what is already with in us. We always already have what ever we feel.

In other words, the fact that we can receive only a material reminder that can act as a trigger to release such great feelings within makes it only too obvious that the source of love was not external, but internal.

It can be likened to a faucet that we have inside. When opened, this faucet will flow out an infinite amount of love. This "love tap" is totally under our control, but we do not have control over it until we become conscious of it. While aware of it's existence, we can feel this unending flow of love overflowing with in us. While unaware of it, we unconsciously squeeze off the flow, believing the source to be external.

Ever realize that no matter how much they try, no one can actually make you feel their love? Some one can attempt to give you the world and unless you are in the right mood, you will not appreciate it. Once again, the source of all love realized by a conscious being is internal.

You only feel what is already there!

The only reason why you do not feel it at times is because you are closing off the faucet that would be gushing at full pressure all the time. The only way we manage to do this is to lose consciousness of this fact. And the only way we lose consciousness of this is to be overly influenced by the individual ego identity, getting caught up and trapped in the external illusion.

Don't think. Feel. Feel the love.

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Yoda: Enlightened Being

Recently, I watched the Star Wars series of movies from beginning to end (all six episodes). I was amazed, but not really surprised to see how much of the teachings of Yoda, an old and wise Jedi Master, were exactly in line with what I now know to be the way of enlightenment.

The whole philosophy of the Force and the Jedi teachings are taken from Zen, Buddhist, and other eastern teachings based on the same premise of oneness and higher consciousness.

Here are a few quotes from Yoda:

Do or do not... there is no try.

Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.

Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not. For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes. Even between the land and the ship.

Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force. Mourn them do not. Miss them do not. Attachment leads to jealously. The shadow of greed, that is.

Named must your fear be, before banish it you can.

True wisdom in the guise of entertainment! I have noticed this in other films as well. The Matrix trilogy is another prime example. Even in many songs I love to listen to. Once you have the eyes to see it, you will see the truth everywhere!

Look for it.

Time

The time is NOW.

The present is a gift.

There is no time like the present.

There is no time... like the present.

There is no time. Only the present.

There is nothing but the gift.

The Destination Is The Journey

Enjoy the journey.

All too often, we get our sights set on a specific outcome or goal and everything else between now and reaching the desired destination becomes a lot less important.

We all have the ability to take a step back and realize that every single passing moment is as valuable as the next. As a matter of fact, the only moment that ever truly counts is the moment we are experiencing right now. Every other moment is either a memory or an idea projected into the future. In other words, no moment is real except the present.

When we put more importance on a moment in the future, we depreciate the current moment.

Of course this does not mean to wander aimlessly through life with no goals. A sense of purpose can and does add tremendously to our experience. But realizing that the present is just as valuable as the goal (if not more) increases the overall joy and peace we may feel all the time.

We are here. We have arrived. No matter where we are, we are home.

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The Mask

Imagine putting on a mask, and suddenly forgetting who you really are. Then you start to identify with the attributes of the mask, mistaking them for your own. Soon, you are so totally engulfed in this identity that if any one tells you that it is not who you really are, you take them for a lunatic. Now you can stop imagining because this is the average human experience.

To make it even more interesting, not only do we mistake ourselves with this mask, we also believe we are all the concepts and ideas we identify with. We believe we are poor or rich. We believe we are good or bad. We believe we are right and others are wrong. In other words, we take what is relative for the absolute truth.

Sometimes life events cause a perspective shift. We are able to become detached enough from who we think we are (the ego identity) are realize that we are so much more. No matter how brief a glimpse this might be, it is like awakening from a dream like illusion. It is also the beginning of a process that will continue to take us closer and closer to a fully awakened state.

We are all in the midst of this awakening process, no matter what level or stage. The most beneficial thing we can do for ourselves and everyone else is to embrace and enjoy the journey. Enjoy the mask. Enjoy the dream like illusion. When you know you are so much more, it becomes fun.

When I Die

Death is not always the end of our existence here in this physical plane. Death, however, is always the end of a particular identity.

I have had many deaths during this lifetime. Every time I passed through from one chapter in my life to the next, a part of me died. Every time my consciousness shifted from one mode to another, a part of me died. Every time I lost a particular status, a part of me died. Which part of me? The part of my ego that identified with that particular identity.

These deaths, depending on your perspective, can be either painful or joyful experiences. If we are in full acceptance of them, joy is experienced. If we are in resistance to them, pain is experienced.

Once we realize that death is not the end, but only a transformation, all death can be seen with acceptance. Death is the beginning of a new life. When a particular identity comes to an end, we may lose our identification with it, but we also gain the freedom from restriction of that identification.

In other words, when a person loses the identity of being married, they also gain the freedom of being single. When a person loses the identity of being financially well off, they also gain the freedom of not worrying about losing that wealth. Depending on your perspective, you will always be able to see what you have gained as opposed to what you have lost with a death.

Realizing this, I discovered that every time I die, I get a little more heaven. Being grateful for life situation changes allow us to feel good and get the best out of them.

Realizing that the essence of who I really am is not any of the identities that my ego presents allows me to feel larger than any and all identities. Being in tune with this true essence brings great joy and appreciation for life experience.

With the right eyes, loss can be a friend. When I die, I am free. When I die, I experience heaven.

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