Alphabet soup for the soul – “U”

U is for Universe

“Ordinary men hate solitude. But the master uses it, embracing his aloneness, realizing he is one with the whole universe.”

Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

Universe, God, Source, The Tao. All are different names for the same thing.

These are all ways of saying creator or creation.

The Tao describes the Universe as;

everything and nothing

good and bad

up and down

right and wrong

light and dark.

If this is so, then although God has given us all the gifts of creation, she is not preoccupied with what any of us do. The whole thing is one big connected cosmic joke, and each part (good and evil, yin and yang) is necessary for God to experience God.

In this context, God (or the universe) is everything. As that old Santa-looking guy who had conversations with God has told us, there is no-thing which is not God. Nothing!

The creator intentionally made it so the universe can experience itself as one combined conscious entity.

The most beautiful part is that the Universe has started a massive shift to awaken the masses since the turn of the century. It began in earnest in the 1970s. However, it sped up exponentially once the internet was widely used.

Before that, knowledge was kept for churches, universities, politicians, and the ultrawealthy. The internet has changed that. We can find out anything we want and find out what’s going on anywhere in the world that’s connected via the internet.

Now we are all connected, and I can simultaneously talk to people from every country. We are already connected as part of one universal consciousness. Brothers and Sisters made by God for God.

We became his perfect creation when God made Humans the apex of creativity. That holds with it the meaning that you are an ideal creation precisely the way you are now.

Click here to read V is for Visualisation

Alphabet soup for the soul vol.2 -“U”

Alphabet soup for the soul – “T”

T is for Transformation

Self-transformation is not just about changing yourself. It means shifting yourself to an entirely new dimension of experience and perception.

– Sadhguru-

A tiny egg turns into a larva, becoming a caterpillar before finally transforming into a beautiful butterfly. Likewise, a human being can also change from ugly to beautiful.

The butterfly is a perfect metaphor for the ego. We can transform our ego from the ugly caterpillar leeching onto its existence, scared by what it sees and continuously squirming to and fro to get ahead, yet barely making any progress.

We can transform that slow, repetitive, predictable, agonizing route into a multi-dimensional, multi-directional, stunningly majestic butterfly.

Once the metamorphosis is completed in the fourth stage, a butterfly breaks out of the chrysalis and upon its strength, it emerges to explore new opportunities.

Opportunities that were previously unseen to the lowly caterpillar become visible. This beautifully transformed creature has a new life and can explore new dimensions of time and space once thought unfathomable.

From a new vantage point, the butterfly can travel far across the planet to witness the Universe beyond the scope of a caterpillar whose entire life is bound to a couple of trees in a park. Become beautiful; become a butterfly.

Click here to read U is for Universe

Alphabet soup for the soul vol.2 -“T”

Alphabet soup for the soul – “S”

S is for Suffering

“Pain is certain; suffering is optional.”

-Buddha-

The Buddha famously said, ‘Life is suffering,’ which is true if you believe it. It does not, however, have to be that way. The Buddha also said that suffering is optional. I think pain is a bodily experience, whereas suffering is a condition of the mind. There can be one without the other.

Henry Ford has been attributed with saying, “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” It’s a choice; each individual gets to decide how to proceed. I believe the same goes for suffering. You can choose to suffer or not; it is up to you.

Let us use the example of receiving a dozen stitches in your arm from a wound. The cut is deep, and it hurts. There may be lots of blood around the amount, and you may not be able to focus on anything except the hurt and the discomfort that has become your entire world at that moment.

That is not suffering; however, it is pain. Suffering enters when we start agonizing over the pain and attach the human idea of “woe is me” or begin to project the worst-case scenario, as our monkey mind will almost certainly always do to try and keep us safe.

If we remove ourselves from ourselves and observe the reality of the situation from a detached point of view, we stop it at the level of pain and do not suffer.

The irony in this scenario is that suffering is ego-driven. So by placing the attention on Me, My or I, in the act of Suffering, It is the ego taking over.

If that were not the case and you were to accept that this is unpleasant, but the doctor will fix me up, and everything will be acceptable, then you will not suffer; you will simply be in pain.

A helpful strategy in this situation would be to feel compassion for other people, and once that happens, you are no longer separated by your ego. Thus, you become connected again to all that is, and you will see an instant transformation from suffering into compassion. Which would you rather feel?

Click here to read T is for Transformation

Alphabet soup for the soul vol.2 –“S”

Alphabet soup for the soul – “R”

R is for Remembering

“Can you remember who you were before the world told you who you should be”

-Charles Bukowski-

Babies and toddlers innately know what to do. They do not have to be taught or learn; they know. It also helps that they believe in themselves, have faith in themselves, and have unwavering desires. Conversely, and most importantly, they do not doubt themselves.

Have you ever seen a toddler learning to walk? How many times do they fall?

Not only do they get back up every single time, but they eventually reach their end goal. This single metaphor tackles many areas inherent to success, such as;

  1. Always get back up

2. Do not ever stop trying to reach your goal

3. Do not entertain “no” or “impossible as an option

A toddler will learn to walk because they never entertain the idea that they can’t walk. It simply is not an option not to do so.

A wise guru said that if a child is alone and hungry and sees berries on a bush, they do not try to put them in their ears or eyes. This is because the child understands intellectually that the berries go in the mouth, and no one needs to tell the child this.

As children, we knew what to do, how we felt and who we were. Yet, somehow, it is conditioned out of us over time by well-meaning people who want to fill our heads with their dogmas and ideologies based on what they experienced in their lives and what they think they know. Sometimes, the advice is helpful, like not putting your hand on a hot stove or learning not to walk in front of a moving car. More often than not, however, the “lessons” are nonsensical and better be left unsaid.

Young kids are in the present moment most of the time and are almost always in a state of bliss; even when upset, they are fully present with those feelings. They will sit with the surface for a minute or two and, once felt, are done with that emotion. This is because they allow emotions to move through and out of them.

Young kids are naturally in a waking meditation, enamoured with the world around them and not worried about past mistakes or what will happen in the future.

Adults do the opposite and try not to feel the emotion by either burying it quickly or distracting themselves with something else so they do not have to process and handle the unwanted discomfort.

Which scenario is more helpful? As such, we must remember what we have forgotten and be more like the curious children of the world. We must allow all emotions, good and bad, to play their part and feel them before releasing them back to whence they came.

Click here for S is for Suffering

Alphabet soup for the soul vol.2 –“R”

Alphabet soup for the soul – “Q”

Q is for Question

“Question everything. Learn something. Answer nothing.”

-Euripides–

Question everything. Question your thoughts. Question your beliefs. Question the Universe and then do it again. This is how you will find out who you are.

Question your values, purpose and reason for doing the things you do. Ask other people questions and then question the feedback you receive from them.

Question why you notice the same person on your way to work every, not the other 10,000 people you pass on the street, train, or car. Question why certain types of information cross your path and the timing of their arrival. Question everything relentlessly until you find the answers true, and then continue questioning.

The results of your life are a direct response to the questions you have asked. If you are unhappy with your current life situation, it is because you are not asking the right questions, or maybe you are not asking any questions.

Please take all the information, constructs, beliefs, values and experiences you have accumulated up to this moment and question whether they serve you. If they do not help you, say goodbye and let them go.

Inspiration and creativity are deep inside you, as are the answers you seek. It is no accident that you arrived on the planet at this precise moment. Start asking Why? Who? What? Where? When? How? Once you start asking those simple questions, the answers have no choice but to emerge.

As this blog has noted, when we ask open-ended questions, our brain has no choice but to find the answer through the nouns we experience.

If you are not participating in the creation process of the story, that is your life, you will end up living a life unintentionally and not by design. You may default miss out on the future you want because you will walk right past it without even noticing. You will miss the opportunities presenting themselves daily, and you will have to settle for the leftovers that remain after all the creators have plated their desires from the buffet of life.

Once we ask the questions, the Universe will align to answer those questions. However, you will not see the answers if you are not looking for the answers.

TRY THIS: Ask a question for which you’ve longed for guidance. Pay attention over the next few days; you will see some answers. Then, keep asking the same question until you receive responses. It doesn’t take long.

If you are unsure where to start, here are some questions to ask yourself;

Why are we here? What would it feel like to …? How can I…? What would it look like five years from now if …? What will allow me to …? When will I…?

Click here to read R is for Remembering

Alphabet soup for the soul vol.2–“Q”

Alphabet soup for the soul – “P”

P is for Physiology

“If the placebo effect is a function of how a thought can change physiology—we could call it mind over matter—then perhaps we should examine our thoughts and how they interact with our brains and our bodies.” -Joe Dispenza-

Let’s play a game!

Imagine if you find in your mind’s eye that you are holding a bright, shiny lemon.

First, feel the softness of the lemon that gives a little when you squeeze it tight (not too tight).

Next, notice the waxy skin on the outer layer and the unmistakable scent of the uncut lemon.

Now place it on a cutting board and grab a big sharp knife.

Cut the lemon in half and then into smaller wedges like you would when adding it to a glass of water.

Finally, pick up one of the wedges and bite into it.

What does it taste like? Did your mouth water, or maybe your eyes squinted at the taste?

You just changed the physiology of your body by thought. What you think affects your body.

If your body can produce that kind of a change just by thinking about lemons for less than one minute, then what do you think is possible for our physiology if we sat alone in thought for ten minutes daily?

After a couple of months, our bodies would reflect the change we are attracting in our meditation, and we would feel as if the dreams we are going after have already happened because, according to our physiology and just like the lemon, we have changed our thoughts to reflect that the event has occurred.

Then, we begin to step into the things we are meditating about. We start to attract the right people, events, and circumstances in our lives, and in doing so, we create our future.

As the saying goes, When life gives you lemons, create your future.

Click here to read Q is for Question

Alphabet soup for the soul – “O”

O is for Observe

“Observe your thoughts, don’t believe them.”

-Eckhart Tolle-

Do you ever observe yourself conversing in your mind and asking yourself questions?

If your mind can observe by asking questions, then who or what part of you is watching? Michael Singer posed this interesting question in his book The Untethered Soul—a must-book or audiobook for anyone who has experienced spiritual awakening (or wants to).

The saying, “You are not your thoughts,” rings true if we observe our thoughts.

Can you bring your full attention and awareness to your right shoulder? Can you slide that awareness across your shoulders, down your other arm to your elbow? The answer is Yes to both those questions. So then, your thinking mind is not who you are.

The real you is the awareness. The real you is a soul, a spirit. The body and the mind are just the vessels which carry the energy. Simply a result of this earthly human experience we are having.

We were a soul before birth and will be a spirit long after leaving the body, having a human experience for less than a nanosecond in the continuous clock of creation.

The fact that you’re observing your mind means you’re not your mind. You are not attached to it.

The idea is to detach from your mind and the identity created for you and by you. With that freeing of the mind, you also get freedom from your body, which is your unconscious mind running programs.

Once you notice the programs are playing on repeat, you can ask questions.

Questions like, Why does the adult me feel the need to continue to repeat the program I followed when I was younger? Can I invent new programs to replace the old ones? Am I just repeating a neural pathway that is on without my knowing and understanding what is happening? Can I disconnect that pathway that is on auto-repeat? Can I disconnect the neurons laid down over the years or decades?

Such questions open the door to your awareness and will lead you down a new path. This path will be very different from the cyclical experience you may have had for your entire life until now—a way of growth and creation.

A result is a new person who has broken free from the chains of the past. A person who can see that the soul has a more significant say in personal evolution than previously known. A person who sees that the human body and mind are capable of much more than ever thought possible.

Click here to read P is for Physiology

Alphabet soup for the soul – “N”

N is for Nature

“Let us spend one day as deliberately as nature“

-Henry David Thoreau-

Nature has the answers to many existential questions if we are willing to sit back and observe.

The examples vary across the animal kingdom, the plant life kingdom and the world’s oceans. Some are subtle metaphors, and some are so stunningly obvious that they make me ask, “How come I didn’t see that before?”

The Amazon rainforest alone holds many of the answers to life itself. Explanations of how to grow, nurture, breathe, and eat, along with healing under the canopy nature provides. The answers are indeed everywhere. All we have to do is look.

It is no mistake that humans are made of the same elements found in the stars, which permeate the farthest reaches of space. It is also no mistake that the human body and the earth are 70% water.

Nature maintains duality in everything. It is beautiful and ugly, gentle and strong, loud and quiet, fierce and friendly, order and chaos.

As the prophet foreshadowed, a day would arrive out of nowhere and with a wallop, winter would be upon us all.

As witnessed through the window, high above the perch where I write these words, the snow blankets the soft bed of rich green grass that lays beneath it. I am reminded that winter has swept in and taken credit for all the work the autumn winds did, whistling the weary down for slumber and putting the land to sleep.

Greatness is similar to snow. It starts with little flakes, which turn into a snowball that fits into a hand, and with a couple of rolls in the sea of snow, it’s the size of a soccer ball. The snowball gets bigger as it continues down the same path with momentum.

Creativity is sparked, and the culmination becomes a beautiful snowman that children can make come to life and play with as if it were a real person.

The impermeant nature of life returns the snowman to the earth in melted water, allowing the grass to grow strong and thick. Changing from spring through the summer and eventually to autumn as the cycle repeats itself endlessly forever and ever.

Click here to read O is for Observe

Alphabet soup for the soul – “M”

M is for Mindfulness

“Living twenty-four hours with mindfulness is more worthwhile than living 100 years without it.”

-The Buddha-

Mindfulness or meditation? These two “M’s” often get confused with each other and for a good reason. They are easy to conflate because they are very similar. Yet, both offer great ways to stop and break negative thinking loops.

Mindfulness is finding the present moment anyplace, anywhere and at any time. When we do this, we can regulate ourselves on the spot.

Young kids are mindful and almost always in the present moment. They have a limited concept of the future or past.

Mindfulness is playing with a dog or just watching it play by itself. It is watching a bird in a bird feeder or the trees swaying gently in the summer breeze. It is watching the clouds painted in the sky moving by gently.

Mindfulness is focusing on the breath in and out, in and out, to.become present. It forgets about the past, surrenders any plans for the future, and finds the present moment, which is truly a gift.

There are countless ways to be mindful, including breathing, gratitude, compassion and meditation.

Mindfulness is becoming centred, so the flight, fight or freeze stress response is turned off with intent. This allows us to navigate our outer world more gracefully and easily, which spreads from person to person if viewed through the correct lens.

Joe Dispenza teaches us that meditation begins in the present moment when we become nothing or nothing, nowhere, in no place, time, or in no space.

A body scan is a fast way to gain mindfulness and prepare for meditation. A body scan is exactly what it sounds like, allowing us to get present by becoming aware of our awareness quickly.

Start at the top of your body and work down. Focus your awareness on the head, shoulders, chest, abdomen, hips, thighs, calves, feet or any variation that works, including starting at the bottom and working up to the crown of the head.

Quick heart coherence is another excellent trick taught by the Heart Math Institute. This is done by deep breathing while focusing on the chest area, then breathing deeply in and out of the heart.

Spending time in nature will also breathe a specific frequency onto and into us that will similarly help our physiology as meditation and mindfulness do.

Some people opt for a guided journey to a mountaintop and see the light filling the body. Electrical charges will course throughout the body energizing and emanating light in every direction and across many dimensions.

I have learned all this through personal experience, yet to quote Socrates, “The only thing I know for sure is that I know nothing.”

Click here to read N is for Nature

Alphabet soup for the soul – “L”

L is for Light

I should observe such a beam of light as an electromagnetic field at rest.

-Albert Einstein-

While travelling in a streetcar and looking back at the clock tower in Bern, Switzerland, a young Albert Einstein dreamed of what riding alongside a beam of light would be like.

How fast would one have to travel to ride on a beam of light, and what would it look like on the clock? Would the seconds freeze or even possibly go in reverse?

The answer is one would have to travel at light speed, of course! Light speed translates to 300,000km a second, Hawking. That Clock tower in Bern sparked the idea for the special theory of relativity, which has revolutionized modern physics and how we view our universe.

The math equation is more famous than its origin story described above. E=MC2. 

Part of what we learn from the math is that we are all light waves of energy that vibrate through space and time.

Some of us shine brighter than others.  We can even shine brighter than ourselves at different times.  The reverse is also true, as vibrating lower and denser at certain times is a standard modus operandi.

Our thoughts determine how bright we shine and how coherently we vibrate. No matter how low or dense your vibration is at this moment, you can change it with your thoughts.

The world needs more light workers, so be careful of the things you put in your mind. Every day, we choose what goes into our subconscious minds through the music we listen to, the media we consume and even the people we interact with.

You are raising your vibration by reading this and focusing on the spiritual element inside everybody, the soul, which also requires nourishing to flourish.

TRY THIS: Make a list of the things that bring you down to a lower vibration, and beware of them going forward. Be on the lookout for lower frequencies that come with emotions such as envy, jealousy, shame, guilt, and blame, to name a few.

You can start today and work to replace these feelings with higher vibrational frequencies such as love, joy, gratitude, compassion, peace and equanimity. And, when you fall from grace daily (which will happen again and again), dust yourself off, get back up and continue the journey toward your highest self.

Click here to read M is for Mindfulness