Category Archives: Motivation

Developing drive, discipline and desire.

Developing Clarity – Awakening Higher Knowledge, Intuition and Understanding

Creating a life with meaning and value requires that we are able to recognize the information that we are receiving. This is the essence of clarity. It enables us to see straight to the heart of things, seeing through all doubts, chattering voices, confusion and fear.

The information is coming through. It is the mind that is interpreting in such a way that the results seems uncertain and unclear. The confused mind is given power because we are focused on it. We are tuning our minds into it. Shifting into the mind of absolute clarity requires that we listen for it.

Work with this exercise:

Observe your body. Notice how you are breathing, how you are holding your posture – feel the weight of your body.

Observe your thoughts and emotions. Notice how they are manifesting in your body. How do the sensations feel?

Notice what it is that you are unclear about. Observe your doubts. Let them flood in on you. Observe your fears. Let them surround you.

Observe how this feels in you. Does it move and change or does it stay still? What is it’s frequency?

How do you react to being surrounded by fear, doubt and confusion? Observe this.

Notice that the observer is able to encompass all fears, lack of clarity, confusion and doubt. It is able to be all of these things but also be outside all of these things.

Allow the swirling mass of consciousness that is confusion and doubt to be as it is now. Observe the observer. Notice how it surfs the waves of the mind and body with the essence of mastery.

Now it is time to direct that mastery.

Observe your breath.

Take a slow deep breath, hold for a moment and release. Do this easily and without strain, yet notice the energy in the breath.

Look for and feel the most genuine, sincere feeling of nourishment and life within the breath.

Observe.

Feel that genuineness again. It is not important how subtle or strong the feeling is. It is not important how subtle or strong your doubts are. Simply observe, listen for and feel the genuine feeling of nourishment within the breath.

Now imagine and feel the beginnings of pure clarity infused in your breath.

Know with certainty that this thread of pure clarity exists here and now simultaneously with everything else that you are. It exists regardless of confusion and doubt. It is absolute clarity in spite of any perceptions that you are lacking any information at all.

It is the feeling and essence of knowing.

Allow your consciousness to move into it. Pull this dimension of pure clarity in to you. Feel it surrounding and soaking your every cell with it’s essence.

Find the effortless mind, the clear mind, the masters mind. Know that it exists here and now.

Recognize it and be open to it. It doesn’t matter if confusion seems to dominate 99.9% of the mind and the feeling of clarity is just 0.1%. Hone in on that 0.1%. Even the smallest opening that leads to purity is capable of opening the way to full realization. Grab onto that thread of clear consciousness and allow it to fuel you with it’s attributes. Allow it give you it’s abilities of effortless clarity and focus.

The power of this exercise is that there is no need to try to integrate knowledge or find answers when practicing. The answers are already there, the knowledge is already integrated. We are simply connecting to the mind state that already understands and knows. The more we connect to this mind state, the more we will allow knowledge and clarity to simply be known and revealed to us. The less we feed our doubts and confusion by hanging around with them, the less we believe and experience their power. Nothing can take our power unless we give it away first.

When we cease trying to integrate and trying to be clear – when we simply be clear, then things become clear. Suddenly information makes sense. What has meaning and value makes sense. Our direction makes sense. Sometimes when we are trying so hard to forge a direction we don’t notice that our deeper self is already showing us a path. All it requires is that we feel.
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From Stagnation to Motivation

Breathing is one of the easiest ways to bring change to the energy of stagnation and apathy. Breathing elicits a physical movement through the body, consciousness of actual movement and flow – which is of course the opposite of stagnation.

Work with this exercise:

Breathe in slowly and deeply. Imagine yourself breathing from your stomach area. Of course we don’t actually breath from the stomach but allowing the muscles there to initiate the movement of the diaphragm is what we’re looking for.

*As a note – breathing efficiently means we take less breaths per minute, one of the advantages of this is that we use less energy to get more energy. Practitioners of breathing such as qigong or pranayama will commonly learn to breathe at a rate of 4 or 5 breaths a minute. Efficient breathing in itself will allow us to channel more energy into motivation as well as bring this energy deeper into our cells.

Breathe deeply and work with the intention of easy, effortless breath.

Look for the genuine feeling of energy and flow within the deep breath.

We want to imagine this feeling flowing through our cells, muscles, brains and organs.

Don’t struggle with the feelings of apathy or stagnation. Just let them be. Save your energy for infusing the feelings of flow and energy moving.

Let your mind follow the energy to the deepest reaches of your cells.

Listen for the feeling and level of deepest nourishment within the breath.

You should start to feel a vibrancy echoing in your body. It may start small or it may be dramatic. These are the embers of movement that we start with. Continue to breathe and focus this energy into the body until you feel that the energy has surpassed that of stagnation and apathy.

Eventually we can bypass the breathing altogether and simply connect to the exact same feeling that we get. It is after all the mind that is connecting to the energy. This is interesting because it is proven that the body and brain need oxygen for energy, but it is through the connection of the mind to specific frequencies of energy such as the one we’ve worked with here that it becomes possible to connect and maintain a sense of energy signatures without using breath as a conduit. One of the advantages of using mind over breathing is that the mind learns to transcend reliance on the breath for mind states. It learns to become flexible and move at the direction of our will.

An extension of this exercise is valuable for developing the mind/energy connection:

Take a few slow, full, deep breaths.

Listen for the genuine feeling of energy within the breath. Feel for the aspects that nourish the body and mind.

Breath in. Hold you breath for a few moments and imagine that feeling of energy is still being inhaled into your body.

Exhale, and when exhaling imagine that the feeling of energy is being inhaled into you body. Feel it infusing your mind and cells.

Externally the breath is the usual inhale and exhale. Mentally the breath is continuous – it is a steady, effortless stream of energy.

Practicing this exercise continuously for 5 minutes can feel like total nourishment and refreshment for the mind and body.

The advantage of using breath is that we are physically coordinating our body and mind. This coordination gives us an object to focus on which is tangible. The breath allows connection to energy. The mind learns to imagine and through imagination to infuse with energetic properties. We then learn to move past the external limitations of inhale/exhale by drawing continuous streams of energy.

Practice working with this exercise for a few minutes the moment you wake in the morning, it will bring new energy and motivation to your day. If stagnation and apathy has been a long-standing practice, then great benefits can be had from keeping 10% of the mind focused on connecting with the breath and particularly the energy within the breath from morning until evening. Usually a dramatic shift will be experienced in a few days of doing this.

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The Struggle to Awaken – Breaking Free of the Matrix – Part 1

Awakening to spiritual consciousness, realization and self-mastery has always contained within it many potential challenges. Some are fun, some are a real pain in the butt. In the end however the skills developed in learning to move through them are the very skills that we used to move further.

A friend once told me a story: he had taken it upon himself to help a butterfly get out of the cocoon that it seemed to be struggling with. Having a good heart he helped to remove some of the trappings that were keeping the butterfly in. Then he went about his day. It was only a few days later when we related the story that he realized that the very muscles developed when the butterfly broke apart it’s cocoon were the ones which were required to fly. In essence he had killed the butterfly.

A similar thread exist in all struggles. There is always the opportunity to develop our strengths and these strengths allow us to explore higher and vaster realms of ourselves. This article will address several areas that are usually encountered at one stage or another on the path to self-realization.

There is the struggle of moving from the societal collective stream of consciousness, to one of an explorer, branching out to new areas and searching new depths. New paradigms usually go through a process. First there is disbelief, then ridicule, then perhaps reluctant acceptance, and finally it will be accepted as norm. As explorers we are usually exploring aspects outside of the norm, perhaps in the realm of disbelief and ridicule. Moving away from a majority consciousness will often require that we work through a certain amount of energetic and emotional resistance – both from within and without. This new direction can be supported by understanding that regardless of doubt and regardless of confusion a way still exists. The essence of effort is that it is and will find a way given time. Creating a sanctuary both in the physical reality and in our own selves will provide us with the support that we initially need to push out from the collective flow. In time we will develop enough of our own momentum and inner strength to be able to maintain our direction regardless of the flow of the collective stream.

“The greatest sanctuary of all is a disciplined and focused mind.”

There is the struggle of moving from programmed patterns of being into conscious awareness. Patterns of emotion and being have within them a very strong inertia. It is this stream of consciousness that we are meeting when we first make the decision to be aware. Be gentle. Awareness in itself is a powerful step and it is often confronting to observe the inner working of the self.

“Awareness gives us options.”

There is the struggle of moving from consciousness into directing the creation of reality. Awareness alone affects a change but not necessarily the change that we wish. We must understand what we are seeking and direct our consciousness toward the reality that we desire. In a moment of consciousness everything floats for a moment. In this space we can guide our minds to realize that the consciousness we seek exists here and now.

“Energy goes where attention flows. Realize your desires and they will become apparent.”

There is the struggle of doubt. Imagine trying to see the night sky through a brick wall. This is often the experience when we first attempt to connect with new consciousness. In time we may see just one star, but perhaps so faintly that it is easy to dismiss. Doubt can prevent us from ever looking again, however if we continue to look we will eventually realize that there is in fact a brick wall obscuring our vision. With further enquiry we will discover methods to take out bricks, perhaps one by one at first, but eventually many bricks at a time. One day we will gaze unhindered at the full night sky. We will acknowledge that the presence of doubt told no true account of what did indeed lie beyond.

“Argue for your limitations and sure enough you’ll have them.” R. Bach

There is the struggle of pride. The “master’s trap” has always been pride. The more “advanced” we become, the more understanding we gain, the more our ego believes that it is better, “higher” and more worthy of respect and praise. It is a game. The real power of pride comes from knowing that we can bow our heads to the true quest: the quest for realization and self-mastery. The massive trip of false pride gives us the opportunity to find humility, to know that it exists regardless and to be open to learning and growing. In time a glowing and genuine pride is realized, it is one which is honorable to our “highest” self.

“With a beginner’s mind, see things as they are.”

There is the struggle to understanding how to systematically connect with powerful spiritual experiences on a daily basis. Big shifts occur when we have our first powerful spiritual experiences. We often perceive them as dramatic simply because relative to our usual everyday life they are. In time we may wish for our spiritual experience to become the norm, rather than the exception. When we integrate spirit into our everyday life then everyday life becomes spiritual. “Profound” will have different meaning for different people. For some the stillness and silence they receive from simple meditations will be regarded as profound, for others astral projection or meeting their higher self is what is sought. When spirituality becomes truly important in our lives then we will find that not a moment goes by that we do not seek to be aware, observe consciousness and integrate our spiritual practice. We thirst for more and more knowledge, we question, we study and we teach. Then one day we realize that many of the things that we once sought have already happened.

“Before we are seekers mountains are mountains and rivers are rivers. When we seek understanding mountains are no longer mountains and rivers are no longer rivers. When we have understanding then mountains are mountains and rivers and rivers.”
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Destroying Dogma – Freedom of the Mind

Dogma is belief that is not subject to self-criticism. It is for this reason that dogma must be continually tested and bombarded. Dogma would have us believe that it stands above criticism, that the very thought of criticism is blasphemy or blasphemy’s modern day cousin, politically incorrect. This is the nature of what occurs when we allow power to corrupt us. We seek to keep this power safe, and the safest place is a place that is untouchable.

When we create untouchables we create objects within our minds that are exempt from criticism or observation. These untouchables become so perfect that we skew our own intuition in order to justify what we see. We literally and willingly pull the wool over our eyes. The solution is to actively and consciously test everything.

Real power comes from making our deepest values completely congruent with our actions. Simple in principle, but rapidly degenerates in practice when we actively deny and ignore our growing awareness and perception. This is what happens when we hold on to dogma. It is an active process and the solution must also be active. It is through being alert and critical that dogma is destroyed. We ignore nothing, we let nothing get away. What ability is trained here? The ability of sensitive and aware perception. This is the tool that is required for self-mastery. Many speak of it and yet when it comes to using and developing it they shy away because of what it truly means.

It takes inner strength and courage to realize that illusion and dogma exists everywhere. Each time awareness destroys a piece of it, it feels like part of our dream has perished. In truth, what is really occurring is that we are creating evolution and development that is aligned to our own realization of truth and empowerment.

Destruction is a necessary part of evolution and growth. It transforms what is not useful and expands what is. Dogma when freed from its prison of our perceptions becomes alive and useful information. It then has the ability to adapt, to grow and to fit our own purpose and meaning. Instead of a separation between our own value and that of the untouchable, the untouchable simply becomes touchable and we recognize unity.

The only reason that dogma exists is to protect the investment of power. This itself is a lie also, because what it is really protecting is an illusion of power. Any power that needs protection is just an affirmation of an inner weakness and so is not true power at all. This is dogma, made untouchable because to touch it would make it crumble. Tearing away this perception brings us to the true cause of fear. Facing this fear, not running, hiding or pretending that its flaw does not exist allows us to create the strength, peace and wisdom that becomes in itself true power.

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Spiritual Integration

Integrating spiritual realities into our lives requires at least in principle two things. The first is to send our consciousness through the window that opens and allows exploration of the spiritual realms and then we must train our physical body to experience and open up to this reality. Developing the psychic senses is a clear way to look through the dimensional windows, but in many ways this is simply the gathering of knowledge. The opportunity that a psychic sense such as clairvoyance offers us is to see clearly and truly how energy and entities are interacting and so understand how to affect the result. Likewise a skill such as clairaudience allows us to listen to the guidance of entities and energies and so understand how to create and manifest in a particular direction. The development of these skills is not by any means mandatory for spiritual development, they are simply extra tools for enhancing the journey. All of us have the ability to feel and observe and this is the most important principle of all.

In seeking peak experiences, spiritual realizations and empowerment we are actually seeking union with the true self. The true self is the peak, it is empowerment and it is spiritual realization. The process of observing and feeling allows us to move through the layers that obscure the true self from perception. This is the experience of realization and it is also the experience of true peace. When it comes down to it, it may be said that what we are truly seeking is inner peace and although the paths to realizing this experience are often different the principle is always the same. It is about meeting each atom of experience and allowing it to be exactly as it is. This reality of allowing an internal experience to be exactly as it is, is the energy of peace. We feel and perceive any particular energy and we do nothing. In doing nothing we allow these entities or energies to be exactly as they are. We ask nothing of them and so they experience peace and that peace is being formed and realized from within us. It is being created and shaped within us. The reason why we train our minds to become formless is so that we can take the shape of whatever form is manifested within us. When we hold our form there is a clash as two forms meet. When we allow our form to move and shift then there is no clash, only peace. As our consciousness is directed to connect with more and more energies and is given the opportunity to create peace, less fear arises simply because we know that we can meet and experience whatever comes our way. Without fear our mind and body becomes clear. Through this clarity the experience of our true self becomes effortless and furthermore because the experience has come through directly connecting with everything that comes our way integration occurs at the deepest levels of our being. There is no gap between spiritual and “normal.”

Since the accelerated way is through developing the psychic senses and then turning them within, we need to be aware of times when the development of these senses requires balancing with the physical body grounding and integration. In short I would recommend at least 3 times a week practicing grounding work. The essence of grounding work is connecting to the physical body, feeling and observing it and bringing the mind fully into it. The easiest way is to just observe the body during physical movement. Anything from walking, doing the dishes, showering or doing up your shoe laces. Observe your posture, the way you hold your weight and balance. Notice and objectively observe any physical tension and areas of relaxation. All physical manifestations are connections to consciousness and it is through these connections that the mind integrates with the body. The process of experiencing the physical and alternately experiencing the spiritual and subtle allows the realization of a consciousness that is expanded. Directing the mind to move between the spiritual, mental and physical provides the opportunity to observe the movement, the landscape and the spaces interwoven beneath and through these elements. Within these spaces and flows exist the essences that connect spirit, mind and the physical. Experiencing these paths of power allow us to find a unity between what we have previously perceived and experienced to be separate levels of consciousness. This unity and integration opens up the experience of spirit within the body, the physical within the mind and the mind through the spirit.

Integration is where real empowerment exists because it brings the experience back home to where we live. It is perhaps the most sustainable and realistic means of spiritual life because it does not seek to leave a single iota of being behind. All is met, the dark, the light, the ego, the personality and the higher self. With each meeting there is an opportunity for mastery through the experience of looking straight in the eye of whatever energy it is that exists there. We feel and choose to be open and the feeling and experience is allowed to be as it is. What is gained is a consciousness that is opening to a realization of truth.

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The Quickening – The Acceleration of Spiritual Evolution and Consciousness on Planet Earth

The Quickening is a phenomena being used particularly in spiritual circles to describe a building of energy toward a particular destination. This build up of energy could be compared to the build up of an audience before a rock concert or the gathering of energy as an athlete or groups of athletes prepare for an event. In this case the Quickening refers to the direction of the planet’s group consciousness as a whole. This is not to say that it is everyone’s destiny. It is more to say that this is where the biggest “waves” are happening at this part of the galaxy.

The Quickening or for that matter any acceleration of energy is about pressure. It is simply a build of momentum and direction. Spirit refers to a subtler energy and because it is subtler it is able to penetrate into more substances. For example if we were to look at a stone: it’s energy is quite dense it’s structure is unable to mix with dirt very well. Spiritual energy refers to an energy that is finer than air – it is able to mix with and infuse with dirt, stones, humans, this planet and the kitchen sink. For this reason spiritual energy is said to be everywhere and in everything. This is also congruent with the practice of raising our vibration. What we are actually doing is making our density finer. The finer or subtler we are capable of becoming the more options we have to move our consciousness around the place. We also gain the opportunity to shift into a different dimension which is essentially what the Quickening is about.

Alchemy describes everything as being on the path to the original Source – give or take a couple of scenic routes and rest stops. Being true to ourselves seems to minimize the rests stops, decrease time spent in areas that aren’t congruent with the our truth and generally accelerate our journey toward the Source. This is expressed on this planet as more people wanting to realize life purpose, have meaningful relationships and generally waste less time experiencing things that have little meaning to us. This would also be the reason why interest in personal development, spiritual growth and so on is becoming more popular. When people are unsatisfied they either put up with it or look for answers. The growing trend in interest towards personal and spiritual development means that there are more people looking for answers. The really interesting thing is that people are finding them. There was a time where the personal and spiritual development field was looking a little flaky. There was a lot that seemed like pure fantasy and other stuff that people just found too difficult to integrate into their daily lives. The desire for methods which were effective and applicable for everyone, began to manifest the resources that we have available today. In truth the door to the higher self, spiritual realization, emotional mastery and effortless manifestation has always been there for everyone. It is just that understanding how to open that door is becoming easier and simpler. This too is something that is becoming more obvious as we seek to be true to ourselves.

There is a period of adapting where the body and mind in general is “stretching” and getting used to accommodating the expansion of consciousness. The body is learning to be open to the finer and faster frequencies of energy. This energy has always been available to us – the ears and eyes of our body and mind are just learning to see and hear it. It’s part of our truth and so as we seek our truth it is revealed. Energy is a communication – a cause and effect. Whether dense or subtle all energy interacts. Our body and mind is simply learning to interact at another level. We are adding another dimension to our consciousness. We are not necessarily detracting or diminishing the denser realities – we are simply adding more. Hence the term expanded consciousness.

Having issues within relationships, workplaces and so on is not always directly the issue with being true to ourselves – more to the point it is the perception that we are unable to experience certain truths while in those relationships or workplaces. Sometimes we may need to close those doors in order to open up others. Sometimes we may need to work with what and where we are in order to gain the wisdom which is inherent in all experiences. This enables us to experience a part of ourselves that perhaps had been hidden. The external world of experience leads us to the internal world of cause and effect.

Work with this exercise for adaptation to the Quickening:

Observe yourself. Notice your posture, breathing, thoughts and emotions.

Let the thoughts, feelings and emotions come at you as fast as they need.

Grasp nothing. Allow all that comes to ebb flow.

Invite it to come faster. Seek to comprehend nothing. Let comprehension come and go.

Let thought and feeling, sight and sound to move through you at the speed of light.

Intellectualize nothing. Let ideas, thoughts and inspiration come and go.

Let go of letting go.

Allow yourself to be open to the full acceleration of consciousness.

This method is seemingly the opposite of the detailed investigation which occurs in deep observation. In actual practice they are the same. Acceleration and deceleration of energy is happening simultaneously in our consciousness. By specifically following the path of acceleration we are simply directing the mind to one specific stream of what exists in the consciousness. When we come back to our “normal” consciousness we find that our range of motion has lengthened and expanded. It’s all about stretching the mind. With each stretch we explore new knowledge and ground, moving closer and closer to inner freedom. This is what the Quickening is truly about.

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*Those of us who are experiencing tumultuous times may notice that this exercise helps to create a feeling and aura of inner peace – in spite of the chaos. In essence this is because the practice tunes us into the frequency of the Quickening. We are connecting and moving with the flow instead of resisting it.