Ask any neuroscientist – our brains generate electricity. Changes in the brain’s electrical impulses can be consciously self-generated. This is called operant conditioning.
When we choose to alter our thinking, we alter cortical rhythms as well as the brain’s structure. In essence, we become our attention.
I think we think too much. Don’t get me wrong, I think the mind is an amazing tool to help us live and survive in this world, but sometimes it feels like my incredible thinking machine has a life of its own!
When I start thinking, thoughts seem to morph from one thought to another. “I need to mow the lawn” and suddenly the color green flashes before me. Now I’m thinking of “money” which leads to thoughts of retirement. Then I think, “who will care for me?” transforms to, “I wonder what it will be like to die alone?”
I have been a spiritual seeker all of my life. I took up meditation 25 years ago because I wanted to become enlightened. I wanted to know the mysteries of life. After reading countless books about enlightenment, I became a vegetarian and tried to control all aspects of my life with a desire to become the best I could be. I would spend long hours in meditation and self-inquiry.
Throughout this process, I’ve discovered that enlightenment is about subtraction. Removing impressions, ego, desires, negative thinking, judgements, etc., in order to allow the True Self to shine through.
It’s dawn and the world is waking up. Eyes open, still drunk from sleep, we stretch and prepare for the realities of the day. As day follows night, we move in tandem with the cycles of nature.
Birth and death, creation and destruction – these are the cycles of life. These cycles reveal themselves in nature, fashion, economies, civilizations, and in the life and death of a star. These contradictions support and relate to each other, in that one cannot exist without the other.
The mind itself is intangible, in fact it does not exist. The surest way to control it is to seek it. Then its activities cease. ~Sri Ramana Maharshi
Enlightenment is your essential being. It is your natural state. There is nothing to be attained, you are already enlightened. When all layers of the onion skin are peeled away, what remains is enlightenment. You will know enlightenment when you experience a quiet allness in nothingness.
Surrender
Let go. Release the past and any desire to want more. Forget your culture, forget your gender. Be open and accept who you are, where you are and where you’ve come from. Be like a freshly fallen leaf at the end of its life cycle, golden in color, gently floating along on the water’s surface, without fighting, without knowing where you’re headed. Enjoy the ride.
When you hold resentment toward another, you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel. Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free.” ~Catherine Ponder
Forgiveness is your response to an injustice either toward yourself or others. It is your conscious turning toward the “good” in the face of a wrongdoing.
It is the generosity of a compassionate spirit, where you make a choice to give the gifts of non-judgment, mercy and love.
I have been a spiritual seeker all of my life. I began practicing meditation twenty-five years ago because I wanted to become enlightened. After reading countless books I would spend long hours in meditation and self-inquiry. In the stillness and silence of meditation, a new understanding bubbled up and revealed who I really am — an individualized unit of pure consciousness.
I’ve discovered an integral part of enlightenment has a great deal to do with subtraction rather than adding more ideation or knowledge. Peeling away subtle layers of conditioned responses, negative self-talk, judgments, compulsive thinking patterns, and expectations, I learned to clarify my awareness and experience my real true Self. Enlightenment is simply waking up to the truth about who you really are. (more…)
I’ve been married to Ken since 1983 and I have seen what meditation and affirmations can do for a person first hand. When we met, Ken was hyperactive, moody and searching. He was the guitar player in a band, and I was the singer.
Ken grew up in Kapuskasing, Ontario, a small northern Canadian town where hunting, fishing and cold temperatures where the norm. Ken was a quiet, mild, sensitive kid with thick glasses. His parents struggled, but somehow managed to raise five kids and two additional foster children. They new he was different and they sheltered him. He focused inwardly and often escaped by playing the guitar. Growing up was painful.
He left his small town, moved to a city and got a real job which he hated. Depressed, he finally quit. He wanted to pursue his real love – music. Ken knew in order to survive he had to do some major work on his belief system. He knew he had to stop believing he was that small town kid. He answered an ad, joined a band and came alive playing music and traveling.
I am a long-time meditator and I am extremely aware of the thoughts I think. Spending time in a “no-mind-content” awareness serves to heighten my consciousness of the thoughts I think on a daily basis. It is like fully experiencing the new, exquisite taste and texture of food after a long fast.
I am the product of my thoughts. My thoughts determine my emotions and feelings, and equally important, they ultimately become how I see myself. Since I am responsible for the creation of my thoughts, I must be intentionally mindful of the thoughts I allow to enter my mind field.
Want to work with me?
404-NOW-MIND (404-669-6463)
Skype: kenlad1
