Suicidal Thoughts

Ever had thoughts of wanting to wipe the slate clean and totally start over? I have. I never went as far as planning a way to do myself in, but if I were a video game, I would have wanted to hit the reset button.

I'm sure I can speak for anyone who has ever wanted to kill themselves, or at least had thoughts of erasing everything and starting fresh. This way of feeling and thinking is always brought on by a tremendous amount of stress (be it mental or physical).

The times I felt like this were years ago at this point, but I can easily remember what I was upset about and trying to avoid. I don't regret going through this depression stage because it played a role in bringing about an awakening within me. Since my shift in consciousness, I can see how and why this is a feeling more common to a whole lot of people than you may be lead to believe.

At the root of this urge to purge oneself of "life," lies a major paradox. You are life itself and will never die. You can move on past this physical world but will still live. So how can you "kill" yourself? You can't. You are only trying to kill your current situation.

Think about it. Who really wants to die? The ego. The identity you have adopted as yourself is in a huge amount of stress. Once separated from the identity, relief is experienced. Who wants relief from the identity? You do. The real you.

It really is like there are two people there. The phrase, "I hate myself," implies a 'hater' and a 'hatee', so to speak. To be unhappy with yourself/life situation is to be a house divided against itself. The solution is to become whole again. But how?

You can die while still living and gain even more life in the process! Sounds like another paradox, but it's true. Allowing yourself to become more aware of the part of you that is the eternal observer, will bring balance to your perspective. There is the part of you that cares so much about the stressful situations (ego identity) and there's the part of you that is good either way and just observes. Allowing yourself to simply, objectively, observe your ego identity and it's drama, you will watch that part of you die. It will start to seem less and less important and less of who you are. It will lose all power and you will regain it.

Killing your body is a waste of time. You will continue on and have to overcome the same tests that drove you to it in the first place. Killing the attachments that cause you stress will achieve all the relief you desire plus so much more! Meditate on theses words and suicide will never seem logical again.

Related posts:

• Why So Serious?
• Attachment and Identity
• Ego Trippin'
  

Growing Pains

Growing pains. We have all had them. You can not find a person alive who has not had difficulty with something. In all reality, it is so common place; it is sometimes hard to see why people react the way they do to some of life's tests.

A great deal of the pain and stress we suffer is self inflicted. This is due to the egoic identity we mistake ourselves for and the many ideas and concepts we are identified with. All of these things become part of our identity. Our identity becomes our comfort zone.

Beyond the limit of your comfort zone lies nothing but stress and pain. Everything beyond what is considered to be the best scenario for the ego's well being causes you stress. This could be as small as a minor irritation or as major as life and death. If it is a threat to your idea of well being; it is stressful to your ego.

Loss of any kind is usually considered a pain. It is often only through this type of pain that the walls of our comfort zone can be shattered. What ends up happening is your comfort zone becomes wider. You are able to be without someone or something and still recognize that you are good. The pain helped you grow.

This is where sayings like, "Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger," come from. There is a much deeper meaning behind this and many other sayings than maybe noticed on the surface.

It is a regular fact that unexpected incidents and occurrences affect our lives from time to time. These can be seen as horrible experiences in our lives or they can be seen as chances to grow in perspective and adapt to what is.

You can literally change the meaning of pain.

To get more on this in depth; read What Is Really Good? and stay tuned!

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

Related posts:

• What's Done Is Done
• Are You Exactly Where You Should Be?
• What Have You Got To Lose?
  

Why Worry?

Ever notice how useless and futile it is to simply just worry about something? Worry doesn't really have any benefits, does it? Has it ever gotten anything solved or made a situation any easier to deal with? Obviously not. So, why worry?

If we look at the 'good intention' behind worrying, we will see that it is a dysfunctional attempt at gaining peace of mind. The trouble is, it has quite the opposite effect. When you look at what worrying really is, you will notice that it has nothing to do with what is going on at the moment you are worrying, but more to do with another point in time and a situation outside of your immediate one.

If you could let go of the stress you are causing yourself by worrying, I guarantee you will be able to focus on a solution for the problem a lot easier than you could while full of worry. If you understand how visualization works, or if you agree that what you focus on expands; you can see how worrying works against you. Worrying actually puts you right in the middle of a worse case scenario rather than in the middle of a solution.

Worry is as useless a full on panic. The only difference is worry is at a slower pace and is usually more mental than physical. Panic will get you killed while keeping a 'cool head' will get you through most any situation. How do you keep a 'cool head?' Tune in to the intelligence that exists "outside of your mind." Get out the box.

For a lot more on this topic, read the book What Is Really Good? and stay tuned!

Related posts:

• What's Done Is Done
• Attachment and Identity
• Only Your Thoughts Can Upset You
  

A Crown of Thorns

Jesus Christ was a being of higher consciousness. Whether or not you are a Christian is irrelevant. If an objective person takes a good look at his words and teachings, they will find absolute truths.

Personally, I was not raised as a Christian but I was taught many of the Christian teachings and morals. After the profound shift in my consciousness, I can now see these teaching with the true depth they possess. You may also see them with new clarity.

One such revelation that came to me was the meaning of the crown of thorns. About.com says this of the crown of thorns:

The crown of thorns represents the sin and suffering carried by the King of Christianity. In the Bible thorns often represent sin, and therefore, the crown of thorns is fitting—that Jesus would bear the sins of the world.

Because true meaning and experience often get lost in the translation to words (Words Can Not Express...) many of the things Christ said have been misinterpreted and a less accurate meaning has been passed down. I, like many others, have gathered that the true meaning of sin is far from what we have been lead to believe. True sin is to forget our true nature. True sin is to be bound by the perspective of the ego mind. True sin is to forget about your divine essence and to wallow in the mire of attachment and false identity. When you stop and take a good look at what the root cause of all suffering and pain in the world today stems from; the ego mind perspective is the seed. This is the root of all sin.

The crown of thorns is an appropriate symbol of what it means to sin. Just as stated in the related posts below; it is your own mind that presents to you all the thoughts that are the source of pain and suffering. Your own mind can be a crown of thorns. It takes a being of higher consciousness to illustrate to the world how everyone is the source and the bearer of their own suffering in this way.

More on this in future posts.

Related posts:

• Only Your Thoughts Can Upset You
  
• Attachment and Identity
• Either Master or Slave
  
• What's Done Is Done
  

You Gotta Laugh!

Ever thought about what laughter really is? What is it that makes us laugh? Why does it feel so good? Why does it have healing qualities? How or what makes it such a universal experience? Well, your in luck. Here's some food for thought.

It has been stated in many philosophies and spiritual teachings that one's experience in life is all dependent on their chosen perspective. Don't take mine or any one else's word for it. Simply look at your own life and you will have no choice but to acknowledge this truth.

To be a little more specific though, a person's perspective can be split into two main groups. The first is acceptance. This has many degrees or levels of intensity to it. Acceptance may range any where from simple contentment to ecstatic bliss. The second group would be resistance. This too has many degrees or levels. Resistance may range from minor irritations and low level background stress to major life and identity threatening, pain and stress. Acceptance of what is leads to adaptability to any situation and the perspective that allows one to be optimistic and feel good if not great. Resistance of what is leads to stress of varying degrees.

So what does all of this have to do with laughter? Laughter is a very high form of acceptance. It is one of the strongest and most evident ways we acknowledge that we are in acceptance of what is. Think about what actually makes us laugh. No matter what your sense of humor is like, people always laugh at what they are willing to accept. Resistance to life situations crumble before the power of laughter.

To illustrate this, think about a good comedian's material. A good comedian can make people laugh at some of the toughest and/or most awkward situations a person can go through. People often say, "It's funny because it's true." When you really look at it, the comedian is making light of a situation that a lot of people would be in resistance to. He or she is literally relieving the stress of resistance and replacing it with a high dose of acceptance. This is why laughter feels so good. When people are in any form of acceptance, they tend to feel good. The higher the form of acceptance, the better you feel. When we laugh at any incident or situation in life, there is a feeling of lightness or levity. We acknowledge what it is and at the same time embrace it with all of its ramifications, consequences, and repercussions. It is your spirit showing how it can really adapt to anything possible.

Being in good spirits of any kind is always good for a person when it comes to their health. It has been continuously proven how stress is the main reason our bodies succumb to sickness. Even the word "disease" points to this fact. 'Dis-ease' is lack of ease, better known as stress. Of course a high dose of acceptance is a major stress reliever and goes far beyond that to the process of healing.

Laughter is such a universal experience because we all have the spark of life known as Consciousness within us. It is what animates each and every one of us. It is the Observer before thought, labeling, and judgment. Therefore, the choice as to how we perceive our experience is universal. It is always a choice of resistance or acceptance. Laughter, among many other perspectives and emotions, does not discriminate.

So have you had a good laugh lately? Sometimes you can have the best laugh just observing your own self and how you might react to some life situations. Attitude and perspective is everything. You gotta laugh. :-D

To get more in depth on a lot of the concepts mentioned here, read What Is Really Good? and stay tuned!

You Scared? Have No Fear

Fear, pain, and stress are almost synonymous. They are all resistance to what reality is right now. They are all ways for us to interpret the experience we are having in that moment as something that should not be. They are all defensive modes of being that are actually there to protect us. Think about it yourself. Don't take my word for it.

Think about you own experience of fear. What is it really? What does it come from? What is the relationship with pain? What is the relationship to stress?

Here is an excerpt from What Is Really Good? on the topic:
The root of all stress is fear. Of course fear is a survival instinct. It is imprinted on the design of your ego (your sense of 'I') to motivate you to take protective action.

This is true for both physical and mental stress. Physical stress is
physical pain; subtle or blatant. It is a signal that something is wrong and to remove yourself from the situation. Mental stress is mental pain; subtle or blatant. It is a signal that the situation does not meet the ego's definition of well being. In both cases fear is the motivating factor that brings the signal of stress/pain.

Physical fear is always short lived and only comes from a direct physical threat. Mental fear is the real issue. It is at times mistaken for physical fear and it is actually over 99% of the fear you experience. The fear produced by your mind attempting to keep the ego and its many identifications in a state of well being is produced at disproportionate and dysfunctional levels.

Fear is supposed to keep us safe. Problem is, it has gone way past doing for us what it does for the animals. A wild animal gets scared; they fight or take flight. Then it is complete. A person fears about the future and stresses about the past. A person holds on to fear like a ball and chain.

Ironically, the fact that the animal doesn't hold on to the fear after the cause of it, is the same reason that we are so much more advanced. Their minds can not hold the ideas and concepts that ours can. As a result, their egos can not identify with ideas as ours can. Their only sense of identity is their physical selves and maybe offspring. Our egoic identity spreads as far as our concepts and ideas can take us. My stuff, my money, my house, my country, my business, etc. Our fear is magnified by the identifications.

To live without fear; live without stress; and minimize all physical pain is not as far off as you might think. As a matter of fact, you hold the key right now. It just needs some attention.

Learn how to be free of all fear. Read What Is Really Good? and stay tuned!