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Wednesday, February 24, 2016

What was I thinking ?!?

Hey! 
What were you thinking?!

Most of us have had the experience of asking ourselves this question a few times in our lives. Maybe we did something that made us feel ashamed. Maybe we did something that made us feel guilty. What are we really asking ourselves when we confront our past actions and pitfalls? 

What was I thinking?! 
This question implies that it is in past tense. You were thinking for who you were then, not who you are now. You are in a constant state of flux. You are not the same person you were when you committed the act or methodology of thought. 

It is irrelevant what you were thinking, because you were acting under whatever was presented to you in the moment. It does not mean you can't take responsibility for it, but it shows that you have grown and learn from whatever you did in the past. Get the picture? 

So whatever your mental atmosphere in the past, it has no space for the present. What you think and know now are the only pertinent things in your life. Striving to get to a mental state from the past is rather absurd. It is like trying buy the same car with the same problems. You aren't thinking the same way because you have grown. The resistance to growth is what is creating your turmoil and anxiety. 

So...
What were you thinking?! 
Doesn't matter. 
What matters is how you are right now. 
What matters is how to choose to analyze your emotional reaction to the past. 
What matters is how you choose to let go. 

DG

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

First rule of success

Here! 
I have it! 
It's the first rule of success. 
It is quite simple really... 
If you are looking for success, it is right here. 
Yes, that's right. Right in front of you.
It may be in disguise to you.
It may seem so far away... 

Understandable 
The first rule of success is simply...
Look like you are busy. 

Act the part. 
Be what you are going for. 
Fake it till you make it. 

The first rule relies on the conviction and intention you put forward. Sure it doesn't involve an award or monetary value, but those are just some byproducts of success. Those are the fruits of success, but the true nature of success is simply being. No need for small tasks. No need for sacrifice. No need for long nights at the office. 

You are simply a success when you aren't trying to be successful. Hear me? 

For the presence brings the presents that no outdated success model that promises you success can bring. 

DG

Thursday, February 18, 2016

Science!


No more "I wish"

Wandering humans wonder why their wishy washy thoughts are washing themselves away. The perpetual wishing makes one wonder why we wish in the first place. Is wishing an intention set by desire and the imagination? Is wishing an escape from the present moment? Is wishing a dismissal of gratitude?

I wish I weighed a little less.
I wish I could travel more.
I wish I could get my self together for my career.
I wish I didn't date that one girl.
I wish I didn't start a family so early.

What has all this wishing really done for us in our lives. Wishing implies that you want or do not want something. You can desire to attain something or desire to avoid certain circumstances. Sometimes you may wish that you never did something? Sometimes you can wish you never ate that second doughnut. Now, what does that do for you?

Wishing you didn't do something resonates on the same level as wishing for something in the future. It is a retreat from the present and the departure into monkey mind gymnastics. Wishing you didn't do something is simply not seeing the pertinent lessons and growth it has given you at the moment you wished it. It is not taking in account the gratitude that you could be experiencing.

Because of that bad experience, you have grown. By wishing you didn't have that bad experience, you are inviting anxiety and resistance into your life. It is the blinding light that refuses to let you see the amazing gratitude and the person you are NOW! Sometimes an unconscious wish is a reflection  of the lack of presence and the insecurities in your life.

Wishes are empty. Intentions are the root of change and the expression of gratitude. When you set an intention, you consciously making a mental effort to desire something into your existence while accepting the totality of the now and present situation. When you break it down, you can feel the intention light up your body. You can smile and take a deep breath knowing that whether the intention fades or not, you will still be content and vibrate with gratitude.

Ways to Wash away Wishes:

 Accept Now as it is. When you notice yourself telling yourself " I wish", recenter with your breath and accept that you are wishing. Don't scold wishful thinking. Let it flow through you like a faucet.
When you resist the wishing, you strengthen the persistence of wishful thought. Let that stuff ride on through like an uncle who loves to talk about his cats. He's only passing through.

I wish I had a six pack.
Why?
Maybe, set an intention to work towards a six pack.
Or question all your wishes.
Put your wishes on trial. Let them talk themselves out. Let them make their own cases.
Observe and just let it soak in.
Are there other valuable intentions in your life that you could be investing more time in?
What holds more value in the long term?
What intentions will work towards are more creative and prosperous life in the future?

Ultimately, wishing has its place in the mind. It is only stuck in one level of consciousness. Mostly unconsciousness. When you wish, you make a choice to step out the present moment. You retreat back into the mind and imagination.  Now, Imagination is important, but wishing is the not best way to use it. Use that imagination to manifest new and creative things. Things that can dance in your head without affecting your psychological state of being. Sometimes saying "I wish" awakens the anxiety monster within all of us. It makes us uneasy and ungrateful. This is because we are not aligned with the present. This is when the mind takes over our presence and authenticity.

I wish that this piece of writing was a little shorter.
I wish that I could stop wishing for so many things.
I wish I had a Cappuccino with Almond Milk right now.

I accept these wishes.
I appreciate these wishes.
I will let these wishes inform me to become more present and listen to why I am wishing in the first place. From beneath this cloudy soot of consciousness, arises things we cannot control. These however are only thoughts.
Thoughts are not you.
Thoughts are in you.
Let them swim.

Don't let them drown..
you.


DG

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Convos 1-3

Plagues of Tradition

You're sitting in that same old dilapidated chair that your uncle bought many years at a flea market. Year after year you find yourself too full to move staring at a sports game you could care less about. 

Each National Holiday turns into an excuse to surround yourself with loved ones and imbibe in excess. We subscribe to the same mundane time markers that are told are important. We use these so called traditions as an excuse to go off the rails while also creating a bubbly illusion that this something that we "should" be doing.

Q: What makes us drawn to traditions?

A: Traditions give us a sense of meaning to our lives. For the most part, traditions are based on social indoctrinated ideologies that are passed down from religion, societies and family values. It is a method of convenience that allows us to reflect and repeat learned habits and actions. 

Traditions perpetuate traditions. Do traditions promote growth? 
Are traditions just a way of keeping a connection to our past? 

We may see some traditions as more important and valuable than some other ones. Some are more specific to our lives. If a tradition is based on the actions or ideologies of a loved one that has passed, it may be seen as a connection to the past and a time to reflect and reminisce on the nostalgia of what " used to be." 

When a tradition is repeated somewhat religiously, it starts to degrade in its value. Some may see the tradition as an obligation or as an excuse for getting out of prioritized and pertinent goals. Think of it as taking a great pen drawing and photocopying it once or even a few times a year. The quality of the drawing degrades. It starts to fade and lose the same effect from the original form. Tradition can act in the same way. When it is mindlessly repeated, it stops stimulating growth within the self and community. 

Christmas is a great example of grave tradition. Christmas has turned into a consumerist and obligatory holiday that is far removed from its original and elusively religious intention. Some of us may see Christmas as way to spend time with family and loved ones. We use this learned and socially indoctrinated tradition to establish a dull sense of meaning in our lives. We obligate ourselves to get presents simply because we are taught it is the right thing to do. Go ahead. Stimulate that capitalist and consumerist economy. It's what you do. 

Can tradition add more values to our lives ? 

This is a great question. Only by questioning tradition can we learn to start to break down value and meaning. By questioning out habits, values and actions, we can see throught facade of unmitigated and sterile traditional practices. In what way can we look through the veil and challenge tradition? 
In what way can we create new habits that aren't built on fallacious and nostalgic events? 

Traditions will still blindly continue unless we stand up in the face of them and ask "why". We can give thanks to our ancestors and remind ourselves that presence is the main key. We can analyze our behaviors and question the necessities of our actions. We can learn from traditions of the past and integrate them into our lives. We can choose to make more conscious decisions on how we want to participate in "traditions". 

If we only follow traditions because we think it is right or because we are told to, we will start to stagnate. We will get lost in the suck of time and unmindfuly repeat ourselves without conviction. Do these traditions promote progress and growth in my family? In my community? Within myself? Will I be ostracized if I choose not to participate in these traditions? Will I be shunned? Will I be shamed? 

If the abandonment of a certain tradition allows for negativity and abandonment in your life, it holds no legitimacy or value. If a tradition promotes strength, it is good idea to keep questioning it to get to the core of why it gives you strength. 

Break it down.
Tear it apart. 
See the root cause. 
See the barriers we have placed on ourselves. See the opportunity in the unknown and the unseen. 

When a tradition dies, discovery flourishes.

DG

Monday, February 8, 2016

Packaging Apocalypse

As I walk down a street in my neighborhood, a gust of wind blows a rogue Snickers candy bar wrapper along side the curb to my left. It moves gracefully doing tumbles, flips and spins. To my right, I see an empty Doritos bag hanging onto a tree branch. It moves as if it was a flag used to claim ownership over a certain territory. I stop to look at all the trash around me. 

What an interesting sight it is to see the "evidence" of human civilization comingling with living and dead parts of nature. Dead leaves dance and cohabitate with throw away packaging that plays so much importance in the westernized product economy.

The packaging that surrounds us in our homes and in the store have become common place in the way we consume and live. We enjoy the convenience of buying easily consumable things that can eaten right away or to take up space in our pantrys. We enjoy the comfort of going into a store and buying a nicely packaged product ( edible or not ) and disposing of the thoughtfully manipulative packaging into a recycling or trash receptacle. 

Sure some of us may feel better about ourselves when we choose to recycle the used packaging, but we repeat the same behaviors contributing to the same waste stream we have been taught to participate in from modern society. In a sense, recycling is only a bandaid. Some of it doesn't even make it to an appropriate center and the amount of energy used to recycle certain products ends up being more troublesome on the environment in the first place. 

It is quite interesting that a whole design industry is focused on luring the consumer eye into buying a product that is attractive, appealing and sometimes obliquely environmentally conscious. It is all designed to be thrown away in the end. It is designed to trigger some consuming instinct in our minds and subconsciously plant seeds that let us remember what we bought and perpetuate the same wasteful and unmindful habits. Is it convenience that drives us to buy things that are easily transportable, easy to open and easy to store? Would it be too much trouble to try to limit packaging in our lives 

When going to a farmers market, the need for packaging concept becomes less important. The product is there right before your eyes. Sure some farms may place a sticker on a container or bag, but it is for the best interest of getting the consumer to remember the name. Basic and to the source business marketing. In any case, you can see the vibrancy of the carrots, the lushness of the greens and the plumpness of root vegetables and fruits. It is right in front of you and most of time you have the ability to have a direct relation and transaction with the person or people responsible for growing the food. The need for a carefully designed and marketed packaging concept becomes unnecessary.

Do we need all these packages products to enhance our lives?
Do we stop to think of how much we contribute to the waste stream? 

If we aim to keep track of what is necessary in our diets and lives, we can start to pick our packaging choices wisely. We start to see the bulk aisle and the produce aisles as absolute staples for establishing a more conscious and healthy human existence. The Awareness of how much packaging we consume, will allow us to grow in figuring out how we can spend our time helping others to make good choices and allow for more important things such as relationships and creativity to flourish. 

Here are some questions to ask: 

Is this thing I am buying a necessity in my life? 
How will the purchase and the packing affect the environment, both on a micro and macro level? 
Is there a way for me to take some bags or jars I already have and use to them buy in bulk and save myself from dealing with waste further on down the line? 
Is this canned beverage a necessity in my life or am I choosing to compulsively spend on something I am desiring within the moment whether it be sugar or sustenance? 

Is there an alternative to a packaged product that I was going to buy? 

Can I borrow? 
Can I trade? 
Can I discover new methods of consuming? 

Am I just buying snack foods to please my unchecked appetite or am I just repeating unmindful habits that I have learned to act on by past states of mind and action? 

In any case, the affect on the environment starts with the action of ourselves. We can only make some type of difference when we analyze and create new healthy habits that actually add value to our lives. Forget about the greater good for a second and focus on how minimizing consumption can save time and money for your future self and the people that help deal with your waste.

As a people, we are so transfixed on the "out of sight, out of mind" paradigm. We simply consume a product and do not think past the " I must throw this away in the designated receptacle" mentality. We think that our responsibility for the waste vanishes when it is gone from our hearts and minds. We fulfill our needs and desires and let the meticulously designed packaging fall to the way side and go onto to repeat the same process. This vicious packaging cycle keeps going and perpetuates more unmindful consumerist behavior. 

Creativity come into our lives when we limit and question our old consuming habits. We open up space for internal and external growth. When we restrain and become aware of the "why" in our behaviors, we can truly set forth on seeing truth and intellect in the smallest actions and how they can become so BIG. 

DG

Thursday, February 4, 2016

BEANIE

LOGS

A brand new way of thinking !

Listen Up!

I have a great thing to tell you. 
What if I told you that there is a brand new way of thinking? 
This way of thinking could certainly change your perceptions of reality. Perception is reality ain't it? 

This method of thinking can make you really think in new ways. You will think, why didn't I think like this in the first place? You will think, why didn't I think of this? We all have feelings like this most of the time. We think we know what is best for us, but I assure you to think again! 

Who would have thought that thinking could be so diverse? So thoughtful? Certainly, most of us are full of thoughts all time, but does that make us thoughtful? I'm not entirely sure, but I would like to think so? These thoughts of ours never seem to stop. Do they? 

Thinking begets thought. The thoughts you have are perpetuated by other thoughts. This inner connected matrix of compulsive thought has and is driving most of humanity. We are transient creatures stuck in our own heads. Where does thought place value in our life? What good can thought give us in our lives? How can though enrich our lives?

It is curious to think that thinking about thinking could make us go into a thinking spiral. Merely questioning the nature of thought, impregnates a new thought from that thought itself. What triggers such thoughts into being? Are we truly unable to separate our authentic selves from thought? Can we ever be truly thoughtless? 

You are not your thoughts.
You think, but therefore you not are. 
Thinking is of the mind. Thinking are the clouds that float across the sky of awareness and consciousness. Simply trying to get rid or escape thought is an impossible task. Noticing thoughts is a big step in inner growth. Understanding the impermanence and the effect of thoughts upon moods and decision making, is very important in understanding the scope of humanity. 

We share the ability to think. 
What an amazing blessing we have. What a curious existence where we can observe and watch thoughts as they arise within our deep minds. 

If you were to change your thought process or perspective, you would still stay within the same realm as your thought habit beforehand. Simply changing thoughts will only make you less thoughtful of the thoughts and thinking itself. If you see thinking for what it is and do not attach yourself to it, you can see that the thinking is not YOU. Thinking is something that happens to you. Most importantly, thinking is something that happens FOR you. Thinking allows you to remind yourself to be present. It is saying: " I am thinking right now." Or " I am observing that I am thinking." 

The thoughts exist only in your head. They are to be entertained, analyzed and breathed through. They are ways of understanding the inner workings of the mind. They are there for the benefit of expanding your own consciousness.

When you choose to hop on a thought boat, you are choosing to attach yourself to the compulsion of thought. The thoughts will continue as long as you keep thinking. The thoughts will control you if invest most of your focus into thinking. 

Thoughts can inform you.
Thoughts are valuable teachers. 
Thoughts are invaluable masters. 

So this brand new way of thinking is just a deceptive mask of an older way of thinking. This brand new way of thinking is still based on thought and levels of unconsciousness. This brand new way of thinking is not new because it has been thought of before. It is constrained, construed and contrived. It has its limits within the realm of thought itself. Thoughts will all be of the mind. 

Understand the nature of thought. 
Understand how thought can steal your presence. 
Understand how thought can divide from common man. 
Understand how thought can trigger how you behave. Why do we let it run our lives?
Why do we let thinking get in the way of our authentic selves? 
Why do we let thought take over our stillness?
Why do we side so closely with "thinking" and less with "being"? 

These are things to think about. These things that we think about have make us think of the things we think we think about. Look at thought. Is that a thought? 
Is observing a thought a thought itself?

Hold up the mirror to the thought process and one will find the magic and absurdity in the cycle of thinking. Compulsive thought has driven us and we have a choice to break the compulsion. 

Think before you "think".

DG