READ: Waking Up to the Wonder of Life by Tim Freke

It’s been a very busy time for me recently, because I’ve got a new book coming out called The Mystery Experience. This book was a real labour of love and I can’t tell you how pleased I am with it. In this blog I’d like to share with you the big idea that inspired me to write it, because it’s essentially very simple but it changes everything! Then if you’re intrigued you can download a taster ebook/kindle verison for free on my new website.

I’ve been exploring spirituality since a spontaneous awakening when I was a twelve-year-old boy. This lead me to study and eventually write books about all of the major spiritual traditions of the world. In my latest book I’ve drawn on this perennial wisdom to create a revolutionary new way to awaken, which combines lucid philosophy with simple practises to make the ‘deep awake’ state easily accessible.

Since Ive been sharing my new approach to spirituality with people, I’ve been astonished by what has happened. Nearly everyone who comes to one of my ‘mystery experience’ retreats experiences a profound awakening over the course of just three days. This has convinced me that the ‘deep awake’ state is available to all of us if we approach life with the right understanding and practical tools.

It’s hard to describe the awakened state with words, but I’m going to give it a go. When I immerse myself in the deep awake state there’s an awe-inspiring sense of oneness with the universe. It feels as if I’m dissolving in an ocean of love. The search for meaning is resolved into a wordless understanding, which is so deep it must be felt not thought. There’s the silent certainty that all is well; and such a feeling of relief… like coming home.

When I am deep awake the familiar world is transformed into wonderland. My sensual body comes alive. I am amazed by all I see and hear and touch. The mundane becomes magical. It feels as if I am seeing things for the first time. And I am overcome with gratitude for my life.

I want to suggest that this awakened state is available to everyone all of the time. It’s available to you right now. The doorway into the ‘deep awake’ world is wide open, we only need to enter in. And the way to enter is easy. We simply need to remember to wonder. We need to rouse ourselves from the numbness we call ‘normal’ and become conscious of the breathtaking mystery of existence.

If we wonder deeply enough we spontaneously start to awaken. It’s as simple as that. In my new book I take the reader on an extraordinary journey that starts with simple wonder … and leads to the discovery of the ‘deep self’ and the bliss of ‘deep love’. But you don’t need to wait to read the book. You can experiment with wondering deeply right now. You can you enter the mystery of this moment as you are reading this blog:

o Pay attention to how profoundly mysterious it is to be alive.

o Recognize the obvious truth that you truly have no idea what life is.

o Be conscious of this moment with that deep part of you that appreciates music and art … that feels the beat and dances to its rhythm … that finds truth in poetry as well as theory.

o Dive deeply into wonder and the world will start to sparkle.

o There will be an experience of intense gratitude that arises when you see how glorious life really is.

o There will be an experience of immense humility that arises when you see how impossible it is to comprehend such a mystery.

If you wake up to wonder you’ll come to life. Try it out … as an experiment … and let me know what happens. This is the beginning of the journey of awakening. If you want to go further, then check out my new website www.themysteryexperience.com. If you look deeper … you’ll find what you’re longing for.

Deep love

T!M

SEE TIM FREKE LIVE! CLICK FOR MORE INFORMATION

TIM FREKE is a pioneering philosopher and the author of many groundbreaking books, which have been translated into 15 languages. These include How Long Is Now? (LINK: http://www.timothyfreke.com/now.php) Lucid Living (LINK: http://www.timothyfreke.com/lucid.php) and The Jesus Mysteries (LINK: http://www.timothyfreke.com/mysteries.php), which was a ‘Book of the Year’ in the Daily Telegraph and a top 10 bestseller in the UK and USA. His cutting-edge work on Gnosticism and pioneering spiritual philosophy have established his reputation as a scholar and free-thinker. He is often featured in documentaries and interviewed by the global media, such as the BBC and the History Channel. Tim runs ‘mystery experience retreats’ internationally, in which he guides others directly to a spiritually awakened state. He also performs as a ‘stand-up philosopher’ – a concept he developed from the ancient idea of a philosopher as a traveling ‘spiritual entertainer’ who transforms people’s consciousness. Tim lives with his wife and two children in Glastonbury, England. For free videos and talks visit www.timothyfreke.com

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THE POWER OF CONNECTING ‘I’ TO ‘I’ by Tim Freke

I am intrigued by the fact that what I experience depends on my state of consciousness.  Something I play with often is seeing what happens when I connect ‘I’ to ‘I’ with other people in my daily life. This means looking below the superficial appearances of things, so that I’m conscious of my ‘deep self’ within … and then connecting with the deep self in others.

MAKING MISTAKES by Tim Freke

I’m feeling embarrassed because I’ve made a series of silly mistakes.  I run retreats internationally in which people come together to experience a spiritual awakening to oneness and ‘big love’, so I regularly send out emails to tell people about new events. In my last email I managed to get the details wrong, so I sent out an apology and the correction.  Then I realized I’d got other details wrong as well, so I had to send out another email to apologize.

READ: Why Do We Enjoy Making Fun of Others? by Ed and Deb Shapiro

Two men and a woman videoed themselves enthusiastically laughing as they beat up an old man. Nineteen year-old Tyler Clementi committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge after his roommate and a friend secretly video taped him having gay sex and put it out on the internet. Children giggle when another child falls down; when the opposition team wins we call them nasty names; when someone is bloodily beat up in a boxing match we shout hooray. America’s Funniest Home Videos is full of images of people falling, crashing, making mistakes, and the resounding laughter that accompanies them.

Why do we find this so amusing? We may not always agree with others, but why do we need to make fun of their suffering? Why do we think it’s funny to put down, hurt, or even abuse another person?

In the political arena constant put-downs are normal, especially this year with all the Rep versus Dem barbs. Rush Limbaugh has repeatedly called Sandra Fluke a slut for defending women’s rights and said he wants President Obama to fail: “If Obama fails, America is saved.”

When we find fault in someone we feel good, we belittle another as a way of making ourselves look better, finding fault or putting them down makes us feel superior. This tends to happen more when we are down ourselves, as misery loves company: feel bad and we invariably make others the problem.

You would hope that as healthy human beings we would be concerned about another’s good fortune and happy to respect their preferences and choices. When we have a genuine regard for ourselves we naturally extend that by wishing others success. Mudita is a Sanskrit term meaning “sympathetic joy,” or taking joy in other people’s happiness and well-being.

Now, in essence, this sounds very easy and obvious—feeling joyful for another’s joy—but someone else’s good fortune may be at the expense of our own (they got the job but we didn’t) so can we still be happy for them? It may highlight our own lack of good fortune, or challenge our self-worth and value. In other words, taking joy in someone you may have a negative feeling toward certainly does not happen overnight.

Mudita confronts us with those places that are wrapped up in our ego, such as jealousy, envy, judgment and greed. Jealousy isn’t going to get us anywhere other than into further pain and suffering, but how often do we wish someone does not succeed because their success highlights our own sense of failure? We judge others in comparison to our own beliefs and preferences but we can respect their choices, even if they are different to our own. Greed and self-centeredness take us out of the present and stop us from appreciating what we have right now.

Mudita asks that we let go of envy and comparison by seeing the other as ourselves, that there is no difference: we all experience the human condition, we breathe the same air, and we all want to be happy. Releasing judgment means stepping outside of our limited view and letting go of fixed and predictable patterns of thinking and behaving.

As mudita takes root, so we genuinely wish others be well. We actually want them to be happy! It makes us feel good. We want them to be free from suffering and to succeed at whatever they do. We recognize that our happiness and their happiness are no different and so we experience a deep joy in their well-being.

Ed and Deb Shapiro are the authors of BE THE CHANGE, How Meditation Can Transform You And The World, with forewords by the Dalai Lama and Robert Thurman and Winner of the 2010 Nautilus Gold Book Award. Deb is the author of the bestselling book, YOUR BODY SPEAKS YOUR MIND, winner of the 2007 Visionary Book Award. They are featured bloggers on Oprah.com/spirit, HuffingtonPost.com/Living, and Care2.com. They have 3 meditation CD’s: Metta — Loving Kindness and Forgiveness; Samadhi – Breath Awareness and Insight; and Yoga Nidra – Inner Conscious Relaxation. See: www.EdandDebShapiro.com 

 

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What The Buddha Might Say To Mitt Romney by Ed and Deb Shapiro

We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world. Buddha
One of the truly great things in life is to discover our genuine and authentic self, to dance to the beat of our own drum. And so, conversely, one of the greatest challenges is to know what we think, feel, and believe, for ourselves. It is far easier to agree with others, or be influenced by them to believe as they do, than it is to be firm in our own convictions.

Compassion The Dalai Lama Way by Ed and Deb Shapiro

Shortly after we were married we went to India and spent our honeymoon in ashrams and monasteries, and then in McCleod Ganj, where the Dalai Lama lives in exile in northern India along with other Tibetan refugees who have escaped Chinese rule in Tibet. Once there we went to the Office of Securities to request a meeting with the Dalai Lama.

Technorati Tags: appreciation, gratitude, Happiness, inspiration, Meditation, Personal Growth, self-discovery, Spirituality

READ: What The Buddha Might Say To Mitt Romney by Ed and Deb Shapiro

We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world. Buddha

One of the truly great things in life is to discover our genuine and authentic self, to dance to the beat of our own drum. And so, conversely, one of the greatest challenges is to know what we think, feel, and believe, for ourselves. It is far easier to agree with others, or be influenced by them to believe as they do, than it is to be firm in our own convictions.

Trying to please others by always agreeing with them, or saying what he thinks they want to hear even if it means constantly contradicting himself, is an obvious trait of Mitt Romney’s. He appears to have no idea what he really thinks, feels, and believes for himself. As a result he is constantly flip-flopping to fit in with current policies. Hence the comparison to Etch-A-Sketch. For instance:

Flip: “I saw my father march with Martin Luther King.” Flop: “I did not see it with my own eyes.”

Flip: “Roe v. Wade has gone too far.” Flop: “I believe that since Roe v. Wade has been the law for 20 years we should sustain and support it.”

Flip: “I respect and will protect a woman’s right to choose.” Flop: “I never really called myself pro-choice.”

Flip: “I have a gun of my own. I go hunting myself. I’m a member of the NRA and believe firmly in the right to bear arms.” Flop: Asked by reporters at the gun show whether he personally owned a gun, Romney said he did not.

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth. Buddha

Another word for flip flop is confusion. When we are confused we lose sight of what is real or where we are going. This is what can happen when money and power take over and add to the delusion that we are invincible.  The Buddha taught of the dangers of greed, hatred and ignorance, that he called the three poisons. Where greed grabs our desires, hatred abuses our fears, while ignorance clouds our vision.

Greed has many relatives, such as jealousy, ambition, self-centeredness, pride, and grasping, which lead to dissatisfaction, irritation, even depression. The craving to possess generates a fear of not having and limits our generosity. Romney personifies greed, not just in his many houses and cars, but in his desperate desire to win, no matter how.

Hate is destructive, indiscriminate, like a snake it can rise up out of nowhere and attack. When we are fixed in the belief that we are right then anything that questions or threatens that belief becomes the enemy to be done away with. Such hatred becomes its own worst enemy, however, for no matter how much we try to annihilate the hated one the hate remains within us.

Words have power to destroy or heal. When words are both true and kind, they can change our world. Buddha

Where hatred closes our heart, delusion makes us believe there is a permanent, separate and fixed ‘me,’ which means we take ourselves much too seriously; it is the belief that ‘me’ is all-powerful, and the ignorance of our essential connectedness with others.  But when we constantly focus on ourselves we create suffering; such selfishness means there is no room for kindness or compassion.

When we met with the Dalai Lama, he said to us: “We are all equal here.” This is something that Mitt Romney seems to have a real difficulty with, as he continues making insensitive comments such as: “I like being able to fire people who provide services to me,” and how his wife Anne “drives a couple of Cadillacs”. Or, as Arianna Huffington said in her last Sunday Roundup blog: “Mitt Romney once again failed to defuse the dog-on-car-roof controversy, conceding that if given the chance he’d do things differently — not because it was cruel but because of the flak he’s received in the ensuing years.”

Surely it’s time for Mitt to stop trying to be loved and convince everyone he is the man of the people. He comes across as hopelessly awkward when he attempts to put himself in someone else’s shoes or equate himself with their problems, such as saying that he too was unemployed while at the same time having $100 million in the bank. Rather, it’s time for him to discover who he is and what he genuinely believes.

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. Dalai Lama

Ed and Deb Shapiro are the authors of BE THE CHANGE, How Meditation Can Transform You And The World, with forewords by the Dalai Lama and Robert Thurman and Winner of the 2010 Nautilus Gold Book Award. Deb is the author of the bestselling book, YOUR BODY SPEAKS YOUR MIND, winner of the 2007 Visionary Book Award. They are featured bloggers on Oprah.com/spirit, HuffingtonPost.com/Living, and Care2.com. They have 3 meditation CD’s: Metta — Loving Kindness and Forgiveness; Samadhi – Breath Awareness and Insight; and Yoga Nidra – Inner Conscious Relaxation. See: www.EdandDebShapiro.com

 

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Compassion The Dalai Lama Way by Ed and Deb Shapiro

Shortly after we were married we went to India and spent our honeymoon in ashrams and monasteries, and then in McCleod Ganj, where the Dalai Lama lives in exile in northern India along with other Tibetan refugees who have escaped Chinese rule in Tibet. Once there we went to the Office of Securities to request a meeting with the Dalai Lama.

What Is Compassion by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

Recently, a woman I met told me about her daughter who is living in South America. Her daughter is being threatened by a powerful crime family for setting up a business in their geographic area. The mother said, “I just told her, when the universe knocks you around it’s because you need to be knocked around. It’s to make you stronger for something coming down the road. You have to take it!”

 

Technorati Tags: appreciation, authenticity, gratitude, Happiness, inspiration, personal development, self-discovery, Spirituality

READ: The Wisdom of the Heart: Learning to Listen to What Our Heart is Telling Us By Patrick J. Ryan

As coaches, counselors, therapists, teachers, HR professionals, organizational leaders, or team members, it is essential we learn how to access and use our Heart Wisdom. The more skillful we become, the better our lives, as well as those around us, become.

We experience the world primarily through the three intelligences of our mind, our body and our heart and they operate in union. It is always worth stating that these three intelligences are linked together, so whenever we attempt to discuss one of them, we must keep in mind that the other two are connected and at work as well.

In short, the Heart Wisdom is the realm of our emotional experience and our interrelatedness to the world and all that is in our life from the past, present and future. All of our emotional experiences are in present time, regardless of what is creating the emotion:
• When we remember a past experience and have an emotional response to it, we are having a present-moment emotional experience of the past.
• When we imagine a future experience and have an emotional response to it, we are having a present-time emotional experience of an imagined future.
• When we are in a real-time situation, we are having a present-time emotional experience of that situation.

Our Heart Wisdom is a gift we can learn to use in a good way, but the vast majority of us never really take the time to learn how to use this gift. Instead we often ignore or push away an emotion rather than embrace it and allow that energy to inform us. With emotional energy, it is important to learn to experience the emotion fully, so as to reveal the root source of the emotion and release that energy. We must allow it to move through us, rather than avoid it or create an addiction to it by attaching ourselves to a particular emotional experience, and then recreating it over and over to feed that addiction.

While the Mind Intelligence leads us forward with great ideas and vision, it is the Heart Wisdom that leads us with resonance, yearning and energies of “being drawn towards” someone or something. The “voice” of Heart Wisdom is not based upon a language nor a rationale that the mind can understand. Therefore, there is often a conflict between what the heart wants and what the mind understands. The Heart Wisdom is fueled by the desire to be in relationship—in resonance—with what is important for the human. It is like radar for purpose and meaning. The heart is naturally open and generous, joyous and loving, and we need to learn how to return to this resonant state.
By Patrick J. Ryan, author of #1 bestseller book, Awakened Wisdom: A Guide to Reclaiming Your Brilliance, which blends Buddhist, Native, and collected wisdoms into a beautifully crafted healing message for our modern culture. Patrick is an executive coach, leadership trainer, Vision Quest leader, author, and former Buddhist monk. To order his book, or to learn about the Awakened Wisdom Experience programs for corporate leadership, coaches, personal development or the new Vision Quest programs, go to www.AwakenedWisdom.com

 

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The Point of Authentic Inquiry by Gangaji

There is a point that appears in a lifetime, regardless of chronological age, when healthy, true doubt appears. We doubt what we have been taught, and we doubt what others insist we must believe. This is the point at which true spiritual inquiry can begin.

Is Your Health Powered by Love? by Mache Seibel, MD

Huey Lewis sang about “The Power of Love.” Now a relatively new field called interpersonal neurobiology is proving your brain is constantly in a state of being rewired based on life and love. And the basis of it all is our interpersonal relationships; those contacts we love deeply, and those we love, well, a whole lot less.
The thought is that all our relationships change our brains. The hard wiring may not really be that hard wired after all. From our first reactions following birth with our mothers, brain scans reveal an unspoken bond between mother and child that imprints his or her brain so powerfully that many of our future relationships evolve from it.

READ: If You Could Question God? by Panache Desai

I received a thought-provoking email that I would like to share with you… someone wrote and asked: If I could ask God three questions… what would they be?

My mind immediately jumped to questions like: Who killed John F. Kennedy? Did you really make Mickey Rourke in your own image? And do you think Morgan Freeman does a good job of playing you in movies?

Then, after spending some time getting in touch with the deeper meaning of what I was being asked, I came to a surprising conclusion… I honestly don’t feel compelled to ask God anything!

At first I was honestly and deeply surprised by this revelation. The conversation in my head went a little like this: “Come on Panache… if given the chance, you really wouldn’t ask the most omnipotent being in all creation about anything? No questions at all? ”

No, I really wouldn’t. Not about the past. Not about what is unfolding right now. Not about what is going to happen in the future.

The simple truth is this. The daily interaction I have with God has shifted dramatically as I have progressed along my vibrational journey. As my own vibrational density is lovingly integrated I’ve reached deeper levels of internal harmony. Rather than questioning how life is unfolding, I simply say “thank you.”

My daily practice is one of gratitude.

From my vantage point, I have humbly witnessed that life is about trusting in the experiences I am having. Rather than getting caught up in what ifs, I chose to focus on where I am right now. If this moment is exactly where God wants me to be then who am I not to embrace and accept what’s unfolding? It is all a Divine journey and in truth I’m just along for the ride.

When you reach the point where you can accept that all that is transpiring TODAY is leading you to a greater TOMORROW, something shifts. The profound recognition and loving acceptance that you are whole and complete is unveiled. And with this realization there is nothing more you need to know.

Indeed, at this level of conscious awareness the only question left to ask is, “What’s for dinner?”

Panache Desai is an inspirational visionary and contemporary spiritual master whose gift of vibrational transformation has inspired and shifted the lives of tens of thousands. He shares eternal truths, inspirational insights, and vibrational tools to create the life of your dreams. Panache is a modern-day avatar who acts as a direct link to Divine consciousness empowering people of all ages, economic and educational backgrounds to transform their lives by connecting them with their limitless Divine nature. Young, hip and funny, Panache brings his global community together weekly via LIVE webcasting.

http://panachedesai.com/

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SCHMALTZING MY WAY TO GOD by Jeff Brown

On my spiritual journey, I searched for God everywhere: the yoga studio, the holistic workshop circuit, the shiatsu mat. A well-practiced head tripper, I hunted for God in my thoughts, somehow certain that God would arise in the form of a concept. During my materialistic phases, I imagined God a slick car, large house, a Hugo Boss suit, as though God himself wore Gucci. And for some time, I looked for God on the skyways of self-avoidance, mistaking the short-term benefits of the ungrounded bliss trip for enlightenment itself. I went down this road for some time, seemingly joyous on the outside, but a bubbling cauldron of unresolved feelings and memories in the deep within.

God is IN the People by Jeff Brown

At the heart of Soulshaping is a profound faith in the human experience, in the karmic significance of our personal identity. This stands in real contrast to some of the detachment models that are gaining favor in Western culture. These models present true-path as something distinct from the emotional body, as though our usual self-identifications are inherently inauthentic, as though our physical forms are inferior. At the extremes, they seem to suggest that God made a mistake when she placed us in human bodies. These models worry me and present an image of heightened consciousness that often feels more robotic than human, more heady than hearty.

 

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