A Philosopher of ancient Greece before the time of Socrates, named Heraclitus, used to profess that everything in the Universe is in constant flux and that nothing remains the same. “You cannot step in the same river twice” Heraclitus used to say. This is because all the observable world and even the imperceptible one is changing all the time even if it may appear stationary or permanent from our limited subjective observation.

This is true in so many levels and has been echoed in many philosophies and folk wisdom across cultures and centuries all the way down to modern science. The physical world is in constant movement. Matter and energy is exchanged from one place to the other. Even our own bodies never remain the same. As we grow  each and every atom in our body is changed many times and replaced by new ones. In a way you can say that the body you have now is completely different than  the one you had 5 years ago although it looks more or less the same.

Everything Must Go

Nothing stays the same. This is something that we all observe as time passes by, sometimes to our dismay or anxiety because we cannot come to grips with  change, loss or drastically new things.

We all get through that moment in life when we ponder and reflect back on our past and realize that so many things have irreversibly changed or come to an  end. Of course, aging is one of the most obvious signs although not every one is affected by aging in the same way.

It doesn’t mean that we always get nostalgic or panicky when we look back at our past. We get a lot of nice memories of wonderful moments we passed with loved  ones or friends in lovely places or in special episodes of our lives. But there are other times where we get attached to our past or those happier moments in  life and so we end up getting all emotional especially when the present gets a bit tough or the future is more uncertain than usual. As a line from one of  U2’s old song goes “We glorify the past when the future dries up“.

The Illusion of Permanence

This is normal but can haunt us in more extreme situations. So what is the remedy?

Nostalgia, attachment to the past or fear of change all point to a common, deeper problem: our perspective on permanence.

It is a natural part of our cognitive and mental makeup to attribute permanence to objects or events otherwise we would never make much sense of our  environment. Since we are developing as toddlers we learn that the same object can persist through time and hence learn to recognize it through its  unchanging features and attribute a fixed identity to it. As we color objects or events with emotional overtones, our view of permanence or impermanence,  continuity or loss take on a new dimension of meaning. This is where emotional attachment comes in.

Buddhist philosophy teaches that emotional attachments to things or events, together with ignorance and desire are the root of all human suffering. I tend to  agree with this. So much unhappiness can come out of attachment. In fact Buddhism (the little I know of it at least) recommends meditating on impermanence to  its followers. You might have seen in some documentary a ’sand painting’ made by Tibetan Buddhist monks. Usually it’s an intricate geometric design made by  colored sand in the form of a Mandala. After spending many back-breaking hours creating the piece of art, the monks blow or wipe the sand away the very  second they finish it. crazy? Not really. The significance of it is that everything is impermanent so you better get used to it or you’ll suffer.

When we realize that everything is impermanent and accept with our heart that everything we know, possess, value, love, hold dear or hang on to will come to  an end, we are able to face the ever changing world fearlessly and afresh.

The Power of  Non-Attachment

But what does it mean to accept impermanence or live your life unattached? Does it mean that you cannot love, take care of your dear ones or keep something  if you like it? Not at all. This is where we can easily fall for half truths or falsehoods. On the contrary, living unattached means that you can value, love  or appreciate something for what it really is without the illusions we create in our heads and without being held in chains to the object such as that our  happiness or sorrow depend on it. This is the great irony of it all. We think it’s perfectly human and normal to be in that situation (we even epitomize it  as quintessential human subjectivity and sensitivity) when in fact it means living unconscious and enslaved to your frivouous emotions.

Liberation and freedom means to break free from the spell of illusion and awaken to see things in perspective without being overpowered by emotional and  subjective distortions. It means loving with more power, strength and focus. When you love something or someone without attachment or the constant fear of  losing it, there is more authenticity and power to it. It feels like vibrating at a higher level. There is more clarity and less obsessions or expectation. It’s quality caring or quality loving.

I know it may sound contradictory or paradoxical to some. I won’t blame anyone becuase it runs counter to what we were always made to believe. The truth is  always a big pain in the ass.

when I look at my beautiful two year old daughter as she is hopping happily around the place and beaming with life and joy, I always get that unavoidable  thought in my head saying: “Alas, what a perfect moment yet so impermanent. Kids grow so fast and this will be just a fleeting memory soon“. Then I always  think back at that thought: “It is beautiful because it is impermanent. (The Japanese culturally recognize this sense of aesthetic that is why such things as  the cherry blossom are so valued as beautiful because they are ephemeral) Instead of wasting your time complaining about it shut up and enjoy it. Cherish  the moment and live it piece by piece!“.

No related posts.

I might be breaking away from the crowd and from the common chatter of all things wordly but today I don’t care.

I feel like writing about one of my long-held spiritual beliefs. If you are a loyal reader of this blog but not in the vein of a deep and non-mundane subject then I humbly apologize!

Put plainly and simply I believe in the reincarnation of souls or to use a Buddhist term – the trans-migration of souls.

This view diverges from the strong ultra-catholic setting of the country I was born in. Still, it is not that uncommon to meet people holding alternative beliefs to the simplistic view of eternal life and heaven and hell in this part of the world, let alone in the more secular parts of the west. More people are believing in reincarnation, or suspect that there is a good ounce of truth in it, even if this is not totally in line with their religous background.

For me it wasn’t a choice of fancy or randomness. I didn’t wake up one morning and said to myself that I would like to believe in reincarnation. It was basically an understanding that ‘clicked’ and maked sense.

To begin with, the notion that we have just one life followed by an eternal life, presumably a spiritual one (although the Christian doctrine never had a clear picture of this and a lot of lines are left blank) never made much sense to me. I was always more convinced of a dynamic and evolutionary stance on life and reincarnation answers that call.

The Spiritual Evolution

I see reincarnation as a necessary part in the evolution of spirit and consciousness. Successive incarnations lead to spiritual growth and evolution at some deeper level. Each lifetime gives us the opportunity to learn & experience, but most of all to step outside our limitations and create our destiny and improve on our past. In fact, I do not believe that we reincarnate into plants or lower animals but the other way round. The norm is an evolutionary path forward.

We all have this basic choice to make: either be stuck in stagnant waters and repetitive behavior or consciously break barriers and go forth and spiritually evolve. All of us have different paths to follow. The funny thing is that this is not apparent in the physical world. We have more or less the same biological inheritance – we all have bodies and subject to the same physical limitations. Yet we are all souls of different ages with different pasts.

Some are old and have lived many lives while others are much younger. Many others are still in their first incarnation. Did you ever notice or suspect a difference? Did you ever talk to someone and said to yourself: “This is an old soul!”. You see it in his or her attitude, perspective on life, wisdom and strength of spirit and heart.

On the other hand you meet people who are as shallow as a puddle and will remain so even if you plant them in the best social conditions possible.

Different Paths

This insight on reincarnation has opened the doors on many other questions in life. Older souls tend to see life with more depth and breadth and hence have more potential to be expansive and creative. Think about the great minds of Science and art. Genius composers, Scientists that changed the world through their discoveries, poets, writers, Philosophers, etc.

What made Einstein such a remarkable scientist and human being? Sure, you might say, it was his contribution to Science as in his General theory of relativity or his work in photo-electricity (to which he was awarded with a Nobel prize).

But his achievements are based on his out of ordinary potential to perceive and conceive life in an out of the ordinary ways. And this is not so because he owned a different brain. All brains are physically the same and work within the same parameters (with the exception of enhanced or impaired functioning). Einstein’s brain was not different at all.

Also, social upbringing can help or counter-help but does not determine human potential. How many remarkable men or women have achieved extraordinary feats but were raised in lots of hardships  and adversary conditions? even siblings are a proof of this. Brothers or sisters in the same household with the same upbringing can grow up to be very different in nature and capacity.

The Distinguishing Mark

So what is the distinguishing mark? My answer is this: The number of well-used incarnations.

The words ‘well used’ make another point: “Someone could have lived 90 times but wasted half of them while someone else could have lived 30 times but have made the very best of each and every one of them.

So this is the general distinguishing mark: Someone who is in his first incarnation or have lived just a couple of times is very different than someone who has lived say, 200. yet we can only perceive this difference through intuition because at the surface it cannot show. We appear to be equal but the age of our spirit is not.

In many ways your present life is determined by the quantity and quality of lives you have lived before and your next one by how you live this one.

So live well because you definitely don’t live once but have still many more to go!

Related posts:

1. Save the World: Live in Balance & Inner Harmony

We all know at least a person or two with oversized egos. As you might know, it can be very hard to make people with heavy egos understand or appreciate an alternate point of view for the simple fact that their ego stands in the way between your message and its acceptance. This can very often be a problem when that person is your boss, colleaugue, family or friend. Often the ego is very confrontational, a poor listener and unreceptive to other people’s ideas. Its pride will never make it tolerate defeat and it tends to see threat and confrontation even in friendly and familiar debates or discussion.

This is the nature of the ego. I know a thing about this having once been the owner of a sizeable ego myself and which I have now kept on downgrading until it finally reaches way below problematic levels.

The thing about egos is that they almost have a life of their own. Funny, weird but its a truthful explanation. This is one insight I owe to Eckhart Tolle after having read ‘A New Earth‘. People think of the ego as a trait or state in someone’s personality. I think of an ego as a living entity living inside a person who is often unconscious of its autonomous existence. It’s kind of a little alien parasite living in one’s head.

Let me draw the profile of a typical ego to give you a better idea of what I mean:

1. It is driven by its self-preservation and by the want to be better and superior to others. Hence it will attack anything it sees as a possible threat to its continuation (such as personal change, transformation, openess to ideas, spiritual seeking, etc) And it will react if it sees anyone having something it lacks.

2. It feeds upon attention and attachment. Hence it always seeks attention and is a master in attention seeking behaviour. This can show up in a million forms from flashy possession to drama-laden behaviour. It also attaches itself to ideas and systems of thought and totally abhors change and alternative viewpoints.

3. It can be spotted in: Self-centred behaviour, attention-seeking behaviour, the need to be right, showy behaviour, the need to be praised, gossiping, etc.

4. Although big egos are commonly associated with men, women are as much vulnerable to egoic symptoms although manifested in different forms.

But how can we best communicate with big egos without having our suggestions or opinions knocked out or blocked out by its whimsical behaviour?

I suggest the following strategy when dealing with such egos, assuming you care for them or at least have to relate with somehow:

1. Put down its guard: Try not to trigger its defense/attack mode.If the ego spots you as being a particular threat by being, for example, knowledgeable in an argument or possessing a particular object or lifestyle it doesn’t have, it will react by trying to shift the balance in its favour. Keep a low profile and never react to its provocations. Reaction is its game – don’t fall for it. Stay cool and do not show any reactions.

2. Soften it: Always keep a step or two below it otherwise it will be childishly and irrationally stirred up if it sees you at par with it or better than it. The best way is to speak less or argue less. Let the other person’s ego believe that it knows more than you and that it is leading the game. Ask questions and consult him/her. This will relax it and it will stop seeking to overpower you in defence.

3. Distract its attention: redirect its attention to an ego-neutral subject – one that is value free and undebatable. one in which people don’t tend to take divergent views. A common point of agreement or a topic that catches the person’s authentic enthusiasm rather than the need for attention or to be better is a perfect example. This distracting tactic is pretty much like throwing a ball or a stick away from a dog with the intent that he will run away to fetch it.

4. Push forward your message: At this stage you have put down its guard, softened its fierce attitude and distracted its attention. Its time to bring home the message. This is the right time to say to someone anything that usually gets firewalled by its ego. You would have bypasssed it and the more receptive and authentic part of the person’s personality is open to listening what you have to say without the interference of the ego.

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Lately we have heard so much about the global economic crisis, recessions, job cuts, natural disasters, increasing environmental problems and so on. Continuous talk about these things can easily influence the collective psyche in a negative way.

Even before recent events, we have always been bombarded with news, images and video clips of tragedies, wars,disasters, violence, crime,etc  from a very young age. We are not even consciously aware of the extent to which we are exposed to such negative media. We might think that we have grown ‘immune’ to it or that we have become numb or insensitive to such media.

To a certain extent, this is true but there is a residual effect that acts on our subconscious minds and which can influence us negatively by injecting fear, paranoia, hysteria and anxiety. This has the direct implication of affecting our reasoning and decisions even in everyday life.

More than that it is the ‘collective effect’ which we seem to be more vulnerable to. This means that it is not only our own personal exposure to these stories which affect us most (although they do in certain ways) but it is the way that the general morale of the people around us (even those we do not interact with directly)can leave a sort of after effect on our own mood and attitude.

Since no man is an island, we are all subject to this collective effect. The social environment we live in is a highly connected network of individuals. When a network is highly connected, causes and effects spread out throughout the network very fast and effectively. There is a lot of interdependency.

It should therefore come to no surprise that other people’s moods affect us in many ways. Now although these moods can be both positive and negative, it is the negative thoughts and attitudes that are of a concern. I call it the negativity pandemic.

Get your Vaccine:

As one can have a vaccine administered against seasonal flu, one can also get a shot of ‘vaccination’ against the negativity pandemic. This vaccine is called awareness.

In previous articles I have expressed my belief that awareness is the one most single important thing in self actualization and just about anything related to personal development. It is no exception in this case.

If we are aware of the fact that other people’s attitude on life can leave an effect on us, we can consciously understand the signs when we see them.

By being aware of other people’s negative and limiting beliefs, we can choose to take action before being affected. We can, for example, choose not to be around so-called downbeat people or self-victimizing people who drain a lot of energy and vitality from us.

So, awareness is the first and most important step.

Build up your Defense System:

I am sure that nobody likes to be subject to all sorts of negative vibes knowingly and voluntarily. It is a process which happens on a subconscious level, unknown and undetected to our conscious mind.

By being more aware as suggested in the previous point, we can also be preventive and watch out not to enter into situations or relationships that we know might have a contagiously negative effect on us. For example, a social circle where people tend to always whine and moan about something: be that politics, the degeneration of teenage life, cost of living, the battered economy, etc. Or you might also avoid seeing a particular show or a particular site in which a lot of cynical,negative views on life are expressed.

Turn it Around:

When a conversation or an evening out starts getting downbeat and pessimistic, turn it around by changing the subject of conversation or injecting the positive side of the situation into it. Remember that the other person might not be conscious that the flow is going negative so you have to be in charge of arresting the negative syndrome before it creeps in and bounce it off with a positive twist.

Get your Daily Dose of Positivity:

I know the ‘be positive’ suggestion is a tune which has been overplayed. It’s not the ‘be positive’ factor I would want to talk about here but the ‘be around positive things’. Sometimes we slip into thinking that life just happens as in the thought: “Let’s see what today is gonna bring”.

If it’s a negative day then we stick with it. NO! Nobody is telling you not to eject your seat from that negative train of thought and go surround yourself with things that bring you lots of joy. The shittier the day, the wilder you should go! Go fetch and indulge in your favorite ice-cream, listen and dance to your favorite songs at high volume, freak out for a while with friends or family, watch some hilarious or amazingly inspiring videos on the internet and do and be surrounded by just about anything that’s fun, positive and beautiful. After all, life is beautiful.

Related posts:

1. Lose weight of your problems: Follow a low negativity diet
2. Overcoming Fear and Breaking Free from its Tyranny
3. The Strength of Non-Resistance

I have been annoyed for some time now about the frequent misuse of the term ‘Passion’ in the personal development arena. I must admit beforehand that I was also guilty of the same mistake in one or two of my past articles.

The thing is that passion is most frequently used to mean a positive quality that is essential for personal development, Happiness, goal setting and finding one’s true purpose.

Even the laymen use of the word falls into this misconception. People talk about passion almost with reverence. “He is very passionate about his team” or “He loved her passionately“. It seems as though passion is a very respected quality of a person or of a culture.

I know something about this being born in a southern Mediterranean culture.Southern European people will openly boast about being passionate, hot-headed and warm-blooded people. In Sicily, for example, there were many cases, in the not so distant past, of murders in which people were acquitted or their sentence heavily reduced because their crime was not just any crime but  ‘a crime of passion’. That means that a man (it’s almost always a man who is absolved with a crime of passion) gets away with killing his wife because he caught her having sex with another man and in a moment of blind fury he followed his irrational but ‘justified’ rage.

This of course is a case of a society whose legal and moral system condones an act of passion – or in other words a blind,irrational and short-sighted outburst of emotion.But passion has been glorified in other cultures too perhaps with less drastic implications than the example above.

If you look at the definition of passion, it is obvious that its meaning is far from positive as people tend to attribute:

“a strong feeling or emotion

heat: the trait of being intensely emotional

rage: something that is desired intensely; “his rage for fame destroyed him”

mania: an irrational but irresistible motive for a belief or action

a feeling of strong sexual desire

the suffering of Jesus at the Crucifixion ”

(wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn)

The above are obviously all undesirable and negative traits. Its definition is associated with fanaticism, suffering, rage, strong emotions and irrational or compulsive thinking.

Passion is also the favorite game of the ego. It’s all about the ego’s shortsightedness to arduously attach itself to an object  (be that a person,  an idea,religion, a team or anything ) and over-react when they perceive that something or someone is playing down that object of attachment.

Not being a football fan (Soccer in the U.S), I often ask people who are fanatic of a particular team why is it that they take it so badly when their team loses. I mean why do grown up man, for example, cry desperately when their team loses the Sunday match, spend the rest of the week in a dark mood, carefully avoiding to meet colleagues who support a rival team? Trust me this and worse is true. I even know people who do not even watch their favorite team play because it’s too risky for their heart.

And when I ask these question the answer I get in bright eyes is “You don’t understand…it’s passion!!”

When personal development writers talk about Passion, it’s definitely not the passion as explained above that they mean. What I think they mean is ‘Enthusiasm’ and this is the right word that should be used instead.

Here are some definitions of Enthusiasm from the web:

a feeling of excitement

exuberance: overflowing with eager enjoyment or approval

a lively interest; “enthusiasm for his program is growing”

(wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn)

Enthusiasm (enthousiasmos) originally meant inspiration or possession by a divine afflatus or by the presence of a god. …

(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enthusiasm)

enthusiastic – having or showing great excitement and interest; “enthusiastic crowds filled the streets”; “an enthusiastic response”; “was enthusiastic about …

(wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn)

Hence when bloggers write about passion, what they really mean is Enthusiasm. Passion is a negative trait of ego-driven behavior. On the other hand enthusiasm is not driven by the ego. It transcends the ego shortsighted whims and urge for instant gratification. It comes from embracing our authentic selves and being in alignment with a higher purpose. It is the joy of being that arises when we are doing something that has meaning and resonates with our genuine inspirations.

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Life is in perfect balance & harmony. It is in dynamic balance or equilibrium, meaning that although it is in constant flux, with things coming and going out of existence, the net effect is total balance.

It is also in harmony because its different forms fit in and blend together. Observing nature you can see a lot of example of co-evolution and interdependence between life forms.

One life form depends on an opportunity or set of circumstances put forward by another at the right time and in the right amount.

Even violent burst of nature such as natural disasters are in harmony with the cause and effects of life seen through a larger timescale.

The Predicament of Modern Man

It is partly due to our nature and partly due to the hectic and chaotic environment we have created that we often fall out of balance and lose harmony within ourselves and with nature. This is the predicament of modern man.

Carl Gustav Jung had stated that modern Man is in a pathological state of neurosis because as cultures and civilizations evolved, Man became more rational and control-driven but in the process his psyche became more disassociated from it primitive and spiritual roots. He got rid of superstition but also lost meaning, balance and harmony in the process. He became disenchanted with the world of spirit and soul.

So it seems that as we culturally evolved our consciousness became more separated and cut off from the universe around us. This pathological state of neurosis, as Jung describes it, is the cause of so much stress, anxiety and depression – the three most common symptoms of the modern world.

As we lost our link with the spiritual dimension, we lost our balance within ourselves and harmony with the natural world around us.

But if loss of balance and harmony are such a common trait of our time, then it follows that restoring balance and harmony should also be a major top priority concern for humanity and its future. Is it not?

I cannot imagine how the world can survive if the human mind remains eternally unawake or if Man grows more out of balance with himself and in disharmony with his environment.

And this is why so many visionaries, futurologists, spiritual teachers and bleeding hearts are continually reminding us that there must be a shift and evolution of consciousness for humanity to survive. There must be a radical shift in our way of doing things whereby we restore the balance by getting more in touch with our spiritual nature and the intuitive, feminine side of our psyche.

We have to relearn our ancestral paths and regain ancient wisdom blended with life-enhancing technology. But we have to come to that point as a collective by starting from the individual.

Future Possibilities

We must find ways to regain that balance in our everyday lives. And this has become my latest contemplation – is there a universal language, a blueprint to easily teach the path of balance and harmony to individuals regardless of their cultural background or mental disposition? Perhaps this is not possible. If no one came with a simple answer in millennia it means that there is no simple answer period (the simplest and most powerful answer that comes to mind is meditation but this has remained far from being taught and practiced universally as there are religions that do not recognize it – specifically Roman catholic and Islamic cultures).

Or perhaps now is the opportune time as we have more technology and relatively more understanding of the human brain. Who knows? I am imagining a holistic system incorporating known traditional techniques such as visualization, breathing, meditation, basic Tai Chi movements together with highly advanced biofeedback devices with sensors and intelligent software (attached to our brain and nervous system via wireless micro-electrodes) able to entrain the mind into coherent patterns of activity such as those obtained by seasoned meditators. The difference is that instead of needing many years of meditation it takes just few minutes and can be practiced at schools since an early age.

We have programmed humanity for ages through educational and religious institutions with wrong types of programs such as fear, scarcity, competitiveness, greed, attachment to superficial values, and God knows what. Wouldn’t it be better to program it to become more attuned with itself and its environment? To restore balance and harmony?

If the generations to come had pretty accessible ways to learn how to develop mental balance and harmony from an early age through simple ancient and modern practices then it would mean that stress, anxiety and depression not only can be tackled but prevented from arising in the first place. What would this mean on a global scale? Think of drug abuse, suicide, crime, domestic violence, road accidents, bad decisions, sore relationships, intolerance, street violence and a million other things being drastically reduced. Think of more people being calmer and happier. What would the net effect be? Happier and healthier people in society would mean a synergistic positive effect. It would mean (or perhaps I am drifting off too far here) the so much talked about quantum leap in the collective human consciousness.

Related posts:

1. 5 ‘World views’ the world can do without
2. You Only Live Many Times – Part 1
3. The Strength of Non-Resistance

Ancient Eastern Philosophy has taught a lot about the concept of non-resistance. This view has been deeply rooted as a cultural way of life as can be most popularly seen in the martial arts for example.

Most internal martial arts such as Tai Chi, for instance, are built on this principle of non-resistance and ‘action without action’ (Wei Wu Wei) or effortless doing. The idea behind this principle of effortless action is that when you don’t resist or work against the energies around you but actually work or flow with them, you become aligned and in equilibrium in such a way as to obtain a ‘soft and invisible power’.

The adept martial artist knows how to use the power and momentum of his opponent to overcome him with out exerting any force or power.

Non-resistance is like the nature of water. The strength of water lies in its ability to flow around obstacles and in its suppleness. Its force is soft yet powerful.

On the other hand, resistance is friction, an act of opposing, blocking or impeding something. It generally implies working against natural forces as opposed to working with them.

Here are a few points which highlight this negative aspect of resistance to give you an idea of how it might affect your daily life:

• Resistance always involves using energy-dissipating action. Did you ever realize how much effort and energy is needed to resist something as opposed to accept it? This is in line with the Eastern philosophy of effortless action.

• It makes us block the flow of life’s energies. Notice yourself when you are passing through a phase of resisting or opposing something such as an idea or part of your life. Your energy is always on the low side. You are out of balance and moody.

• As an effect of the above stress builds up. You start experiencing inner conflict and anxiety.

• Resistance makes us unreceptive to new ideas and intuitions. It blocks our intuitive channels.

• It sabotages our creativity, mental clarity and focus

• It stops us from appreciating the moment.

How to learn to flow without resistance:

• Avoid trying to always be in control. This is a cultural habit more common in Western cultures. We want to be constantly in control of our life, work, relationships, finances, etc. We feel that if we lose control, we lose the race, we lose our life. Of course the opposite is true. When we learn not to control everything we embrace life with more power and consciousness.

• When something unwanted happens to you, be aware of your resistance towards it. Shit happens. Calm down and try to shift your perspective to one of acceptance. Ask yourself “How can I use this?” or “How does this affect the bigger picture of my life?”

• Be open to your feelings without criticizing yourself. We all have an internal critic installed which pounces on us when we perceive we did something out of line. This has the negative effect of making our feelings shy away. By allowing more of those feeling to flow out, we encourage the practice of non-resistance.

• In relation to the above point, when you are having an idea, let it flow without trying to classify it, reason it out or evaluate it. We sometimes tend to over-rationalize ideas which effectively has the effect of promoting resistance to it.

• When you are practicing awareness, meditation, relaxation or simply appreciating a beautiful moment you will undoubtedly be bombarded with a thousand distracting thoughts that divert you off course. Don’t try to resist or control anything. Just acknowledge them and let them flow. The very act of resisting trips your circuits and conscious thought kicks in.

• When you are listening to something new that diverges from your opinions and background beliefs try not to resist it or deny it. Think of expansion and diversity of opinion as being healthy, strong and life affirming.

• Do not deny or resist failure. Recognize it and accept it.

Related posts:

1. Overcoming Fear and Breaking Free from its Tyranny
2. How to Survive the ‘Negativity Pandemic’
3. Developing Awareness – Part 1

When we hear about meditation most of us think of a person sitting down in a traditional meditative posture such as the half lotus position with a straight back, closed eyes and a very still body.

Of course the above picture is a very common one and it is a correct one too. This is one of the best ways to meditate and still the mind – with a still body and a quiet mind in a tranquil ambience. But this is not the only way to meditate either. In fact the concept of meditation can be practically stretched to include other forms which do not involve a sitting still posture.

Some meditations are done when the body is active such as when walking or doing some physical activity. In Zen Buddhism, walking meditation is a well known and established form of meditation.

Is it possible to meditate while walking, running or being active?

Yes it is. Meditation is not about switching off your mind but about switching it on. It is about opening up your awareness to your surroundings and inner body. It is about tuning in to the present moment and living the freshness of it instead of blurring in to hazy thoughts and daydreaming.

So it is possible to be more mindful and aware while walking, cycling or running because your mind becomes engaged in the awareness of the surroundings. The body would be moving but the mind would be defragmenting and settling into stillness.

How to do meditation while active?

There are many different ways to do active meditation but all methods depends on directing your awareness into the activity you are doing irrespective of what that activity is. It is about opening up your perceptual awareness and letting your mind flow in sync with your activity.

Here are a few tips to practice mindfulness meditation while in activity:

1. Before engaging the activity stop for a few minutes to prepare your mind on the objectives you want to reach. This is like affirming to your self what you want to achieve. This is an important step for it directs your mind to stay on that track instead of wandering about distractively. I call it the warming up of the mind. Before we start a physical activity or sport we stretch our muscles and warm up our bodies. Same thing with the mind.

2. When you start the activity take some time to direct you awareness to your body. How does your body feel in general? Are your energy levels high or low? How do your muscles feel? Is your breathing deep or shallow? How do your feet feel? What is your general mood? Are you feeling any subtle energies changing in yourself as you do the activity?

3. Now turn your attention to your surroundings. If for example you are walking, enlarge your observation window to include those details that usually go by unnoticed. Patterns in buildings and stone, colors, shapes, sights, smells and sounds. This is mindfulness meditation in action. Your perceptual awareness expands until your mind opens up to a new dimension and everything becomes alive.

4. When your activity is over, take some time to observe how your mind feels different now. Are you more relaxed and focused? Are your thoughts more coherent? Is your general state of being more peaceful and calm? This exercise is important to extend your awareness also into the benefits of the meditation itself so that it becomes reinforced into our mind.

Related posts:

1. Mindfulness Meditation: My Path
2. 10 ways to improve your meditation significantly
3. Learn the programming language of your mind: Learn to meditate

This is a Guest Post by Joseph Philips of Lifelong Project

Did you know that most people ditch their resolutions before January is over and many more give up on their resolutions before springtime? That’s a result based on a survey from FranklinCovey.

And when we fail from a resolution we feel lousy, depressed, and deflated. And then December rolls around and it’s the same resolutions all over again: improve finances, lose weight, start a healthy habit. Before long, the resolutions fade and the process repeats.

I know. I’ve been there over and over and over. And then I learned something amazing: Life will repeat lessons until you learn them. Once more: life will repeat lessons until you learn them.

If you’re on the treadmill of resolutions year after year you need to learn a lesson: Change your approach.

Create Goals, Not Resolutions

First, replace your resolutions with goals. Goals are clearly defined statements of what you will accomplish in a given amount of time. For example, I will lose 25 pounds of weight over the next fifteen weeks. Or, I will save $12,000 over the next twelve months. These are clearly-defined statements with a due date, and that’s the first step to achieving a goal and ditching resolutions.

But here’s a secret: it’s great to have goals, but it is paramount to have the right goals. If you create a goal just because it sounds impressive, but your heart isn’t invested in the goal, it’s going to be a constant struggle to make the goal a reality. If you create a goal to run a marathon, but you secretly hate running, you’re going to be the angriest runner on the road. Goals must be backed by passion, determination, and an overwhelming desire to give your all to all your goals.

Put Down the Grocery List

I’m constantly amazed at how people will write grocery lists, to-do lists, and keep a calendar of events, but these same people won’t write down their goals. Which is more important? The granola bars and bananas on your shopping list or the goals you want to accomplish this year?

It’s true that goals locked between your ears may eventually find their way into your life, but take charge: write down your goals and initiate achievement. Success is not an accident.

When you write down your goal, include the reason why the goal is important to you. Why must you achieve the goal? How does the goal make you feel? Are you inspired by your goal? Are you thrilled at the possibility of your achievement? What will you gain by realizing the goal? Link the excitement of your goal to the hard work, sweat, and effort you’ll need.

Plan For Achievement

Resolutions are usually nothing more than meaningful wishes. The primary problem with resolutions is that we resolve to change some facet of our life, but we don’t create a method to get from the desire to the actual achievement. Unless you create a plan to reach your resolution, it’s probably not going to happen. You can resolve to lose weight, resolve to improve your finances, or resolve to give up smoking, but unless you know how to complete the resolution it’s just an exercising in wishing.

That’s not a subtle point, right? If you want to improve your life then you should create a plan. A plan to create your goal basically breaks down the goal into smaller, achievable chunks. Then define what actions you need to take to get the smaller chunks done. The aggregation of goal components, when completed, equates to the realization of the goal.

The Real Secret of Achievement

While a plan is ideal for every goal you establish, it’s really the execution of the plan that’s the most important. You can create complex, integrated plans for your goals, but until you take action, nothing is going to change. Executing your plan, according to plan, is what you’ll need to achieve all of your goals.

Finally, you don’t need to wait until the next year to create a goal. Unlike New Year’s resolutions you can create a goal for your life at any time – like right now. I encourage you to get to work defining your goals, creating a plan for achievement, and then doing the work your goals require. The real secret to achievement is in the constant, persistent, and logical effort of doing.

Joseph Phillips is the author of the goal achievement book The Lifelong Project. The Lifelong Project helps individuals achieve goals, find passion, and create joy. He has led seminars, keynote speeches, and workshops about goal achievement for organizations, churches, corporate clients, and individuals around the United States and Europe. Visit Joseph’s blog for more details.

Related posts:

1. Proactive resolutions for 2010
2. Putting Life Purpose in Sharper Focus: How I re-aligned Goals to my Mission