Alphabet soup for the soul – “U”

U is for Universe

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

Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

 Universe, God, Source, The Tao. These are all 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, the truth is that She is not pre occupied with what any one of us do. The whole thing is one big connected cosmic joke and each part (good and bad) 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 nothing that is not God. No -thing.

The creator made it this way intentionally so that 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 started in earnest in the 1970’s, however, it sped up at an exponential rate once the internet was widely used.

Before that the knowledge was kept to 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 any where in the world that is connected via internet.

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

When God made Humans the apex of creativity, we became his perfect creation. That holds with it the meaning that you are a perfect creation exactly the way you are at this moment.

  

  

Alphabet soup for the soul – “T”

T is for Transformation

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

– Sadhguru-

An tiny egg turns into larva which then turns into a caterpillar, before finally, transforming into a beautiful butterfly, so too a human being can transform from ugly to beautiful.

The butterfly is a perfect metaphor for the ego. We can transform our ego from the ugly caterpillar that is leeching onto its existence, scared by what it see’s and continuously squirming to and fro in an effort to get ahead, yet barley making any progress.

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

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

Opportunities that were previously unseen to the lowly caterpillar become visible. This beautifully transformed creature not only has a new life but it is also able to explore new dimensions of time and space once thought unfathomable.

From a fresh vantage point the butterfly can travel far across the planet migrating the globe 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.

Alphabet soup for the soul – “S”

S is for Suffering

“Pain is certain, suffering is optional”

-Buddha-

The Buddha famously said ‘life is suffering’ and that is true if you believe it. It does not however, have to be that way. The Buddha also said that suffering is optional. I believe 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 and each individual gets to decide how to proceed. I believe the same goes for suffering. You can decide to suffer or not, it is up to you.

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

That is not suffering however, it is pain. Suffering enters when we start agonizing over the pain and when we attach the human idea of  “woe is me” or start 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 just observe the reality of the situation from a detached point of view then we stop it at the level of pain and we do not suffer.

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

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

A helpful strategy in this situation would be to feel compassion other people and once that happens you are no longer separated by your own 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?

Alphabet soup for the soul – “R”

R is for Remembering

“Can you remeber 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 just know. It also helps that they believe in themselves, have a faith in themselves and desire that is unwavering. Conversley and most importantly they do not doubt themselves.

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

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 how 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 see’s berries on a bush, the child does not try to put the berries in their ears or their eyes. 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. Somehow it is conditioned out of us overtime by well meaning people who want to fill our heads with their dogmas and ideology, 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 the majority 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 feeling for a minute or two and once felt, they are done with that emotion. This is because they allow emotions to move through them and out of them.

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

Adults do the opposite and try to not feel the emotion by either burying it quickly or distracting ourselves with something else so we do not have to feel the unwanted feelings.

Which sceanrio is more helpful? As such we must remeber 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 ultimatley releasing them back to whence they came.

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 truly are.

Question your values, your purpose and your 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 day and not the other 10,000 people you pass on the street or on the train or in your car. Question why certain types of information cross your path and the timing of their arrival. Question everything relentlessly until you find the answers that are true to you and then keep on 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 .

Take all the information, the constructs,  the beliefs,  the values and the experiences which you have accumulated up to this exact moment in your life and question if they serve you or not.  If they do not serve you then softly say goodbye and let them go.

Inspiration and creativity is deep inside you already and so are the answers you seek. It is no accident that you arrived on the planet at this precise moment in time.  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 in the past when we begin to ask open-ended questions our brain has no choice but to bring forth the answer through the nouns you experience in our life. 

If you are not participating in the creation process of the story that is your life then you will end up with a life lived unintentional and not by design. By default you may miss out on the future you want because you will simply walk right past it without ever even noticing.

You will miss the opportunities that are 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, if you are not looking for the answers then you will not see them.

TRY THIS: Ask a question for which you’ve been longing for guidance. Now over the next few days pay attention and you will see some answers. Keep asking the same question until you receive answers. It doesnt take long.

If your unsure where to start here are some questions to ask ourselves;

  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…? 

Alphabet soup for the soul – “P”

P is for Physiology

Lets play a game.

Imagine if you will 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 down on a cutting board and grab a big sharp knife.

First cut the lemon in half and then into smaller wedges like you when added 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 literally affects your body.

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

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 actually happened.

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 have just created our future.

As the saying goes, When life gives you lemons make lemonade.

Alphabet soup for the soul – “O”

O is for Observe

“Observe your thoughts, dont beleive them”

-Eckhart Tolle-

   Do you ever observe yourself having a conversation in your mind and asking yourself questions?

 If your mind can observe itself asking questions then who or what part of you is doing the observing?

Michael Singer talks about this idea beautifully in his book the untethered soul. A must book or audio-book for anyone who has experienced spiritual awakening (or wants too).

 If we can observe our thoughts then the saying “you are not your thoughts” rings true. 

Can you bring your full attention and awareness to your right shoulder ? Can you slide that awareness across your shoulders and down the 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 vessel which carries the spirit. Simply a result of this earthly human experience we are having.

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

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

The idea is to detach from your mind and the identity that has been 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 just 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 that have been laid down over the years or decades?

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

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

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 carefully.

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

The Amazon rainforest alone holds many of the answers to life itself. Answers of how to grow, nurture, breathe, eat. Along with all the healing that takes place under the canopy. The answers are truly everywhere, all we have to do is look.

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

Nature contains duality in everything. Among other things it is both 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 the form of melted water which in turn allows the grass to grow strong and thick. Changing from spring through the summer and eventually to the autumn as the cycle repeats itself endlessly forever and ever.

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 for each other and for good reason. They are very easy to conflate because they are very similar. 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 they are 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 the dog playing 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 by.

Mindfulness is focusing on the breath in and out, in and out. It is forgetting about the past and surrendering any plans for the future and therefore finding 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 with more grace and ease 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 no-thing, no-where in no place, in no time, and 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 and it allows us to quickly get present by becoming aware of our awareness.

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 your up to the crown of the head.

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

Spending time in nature will also breath a certain frequency onto and into us that will help our physiology in a similar way as meditation and mindfulness does.

Some people opt for a guided journey to a mountain top and see 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 of this through personal experience yet to quote Socrates “The only thing I know for sure is that I know nothing”.

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 it would be like to ride alongside a beam of light.

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

The answer is one would have to be travelling at light speed of course (300,000km a second according to Stephen Hawking). That Clock tower sparked the idea for the special theory of relativity which has revolutionized modern physics and the way 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 we are all light waves of energy and we vibrate through space and time.

Some shine brighter than others.  We can even shine brighter than ourselves .  The reverse is true as it is easy to vibrate lower and denser at certain times.

 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. Everyday we choose what goes into our subconscious minds by the music we listen to, the media we consume and even the people we interact with. 

You are raising your vibration right now by reading this and putting your attention 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, blame, just to name a few.

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