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Saturday, July 30, 2016

Anger is a gift.



I am grateful for anger. 

This was a hard thing to do. It was a hard thing to come to terms with. I've been angry enough to know that is has lead me to the more conscious person I am today. The crippling rage and hot anger has taught me many things. Those experiences of anger have lead to my inner peace. Anger has given me strength. Not through the mood itself, but through the witness to the mood. 

Through each angry moment in my life, I have learned how to see it. I acknowledged that is a passing emotion. I have tried to control it. Most of the it was bottled, which is a terrible thing to do. Resisting those angry moments only gave it more power. It only legitimized it. I came to realize that most of the anger lived through me because I thought that I needed to control and I chose to identify with it's fallacious nature. 

I told myself I was angry. In actuality, I wasn't angry. Anger was inside of me. I only became that anger when I unconsciously identified with my ego/self. 
I was seeing anger as my enemy and not my teacher. When I realized that the identification with the passing discomfort of anger was the root cause, I had a moment of clarity. A moment of gratitude and a moment to consciously bring myself back into the present. 

That's the key. The ability to bring yourself back to the present. A surrender if you will. A willingness to make yourself vulnerable and uncomfortable with the idea of letting go. We can make that choice conscious. You can also move in the other direction by recognizing that anger has a gifted energy. 

Why did you become angry in the first place? 
----------------------------------------------
Is there something inside of you that triggered such emotional turmoil? 

Well, the answer to that question is most certainly a yes. Since the inner is a reflection of the outer, people can act as door openers for our insecurities. When we unconsciously submit to anger, we look the other way from ourself. We want to blame, shame and scold. Why is that? 

Something in us is unresolved. 

Something in us is begging for us to give it attention. Whether you like it or not, it is for the best. It is here for your growth. Your reaction is the key factor in how you deal with it. Your resistance and lack of self knowledge is what fuels that unconscious anger. 

Anger is part of our evolutionary biology. We may experience it from the imprint of prior generations. It may be in our genes. It may be the conditioning of our childhoods and the legacy of our families. It may be linked to an adaptation to the survival of our species. The great thing is, now we can be curious and look deeper and questions its motives and legitimacy. We can see it as part of the conditioned monkey mind. A work in progress. A chance to improve our lives for the betterment of our health, relationships and the proliferation of the human race. 

"Well, what shall we do to get rid of anger?" 

That is not the point. To get rid of anger is to grasp on to an ideological substrate of false self and comfort. Quickly looking for a solution is not learning. Trying to get rid of anger is the hardy work of the ego. It might tell you, " If I get rid of this anger, I will live a much happier and fulfilling life." 
That is the rabbit that you will never catch. 

"When we are conscious of anger, we can be constructive, proactive and assertive with our intentions. We can notice that it does not serve us in making decisions, but the vibrational byproduct can serve as an awesome challenge to be courageous and productive." 

Instead, you must be vigilantly curious and shine the light of awareness on your internal tornados. Ask yourself questions. Most importantly, tell yourself that you are feeling anger and allow yourself to feel it. How does it feel in your body? Your head? Your thought process?  Simply, breathe through it. Recognize it as one of the best opportunities for you to leave, love and grow as an individual. It is all part of the human experience. We all experience anger. Most of the time, we don't care to be patient or to listen to what it is telling us. 

Anger is a gift. It shows us the dark so the light can come right in. It teaches us so much on how we view ourselves and the state of our inner peace. It is important not to act rash on it, but you can feel that anger and use that energy to do something creative, spontaneous, kind or resourceful. It is standing up for the change you want to see. It is making the conscious effort to relax into your faults and unique quirks. 

Be grateful for your anger. 
Thank your anger. 
Well actually...
It's not your anger. "Your" is a possessive term and the concept of possession deals with the ego. The illusory sense of self. When you say "your anger" it is your ego taking the wheel. Anger is simply a chemical reaction inside of you. Recognizing this is key. Like I have said above, when you identify with anger, that is what you become. You identify with a passing emotion. You simply don't let it pass when anger becomes your identity.  
Let it pass and it shall. 

Let the anger swim like a fish. 
Labeling it as bad is unfruitful and unproductive. See the grace in the experience of the anger. See the amazing opportunity to learn and grow. 

Most importantly, don't forget to breathe !

DG

Saturday, July 23, 2016

CELLy

Doing what's right...




That inner voice calls out to you. You hear and try to shoo it off. You try to push it aside as if it was a hindrance. It is that particular inner voice that is telling you to do "What is right".

It doesn't mean that it is what you "want" to do. It doesn't mean that it is convenient or the path of least resistance. It is the path of growth and strength. It may spur anxiety inside you. It may scare you and make you breathe heavily. It is the resistance that is making you suffer. Since, what you resist persists. 

It is easy to avoid when we are driven from unconscious patterns and behaviors. It is easy to cover up with distraction and entertainment. It arises within us without aggression. It is that calm and humbling voice that beckons us to step out of our comfort zones in order to shake us into service. 

What is doing the right thing? 
Is it heavily dependent on our narrow persepctive and the context of a situation? 
Are they small momentary actions that are threaded your life? 

Is doing the right thing a way of life? 
A conscious choice? 
A unshakeable lifestyle? 
A reflection of morality? 

A true action that arises out of "doing the right thing" comes from a place of conscious awareness. When one can be present, still and able to listen to what beckons inside of them, they can act on virtuous and moral grounds. These true actions are void of what the end result is. If the ego takes control, it is using you as a host for it's own proliferation. It may trick you into thinking that you will "be doing the right thing." 

The quiet and gentle inner voice is what we must listen to. The pressuring and loud scathing voice is the ego trying to assert control. 

If you are "trying" to do the right thing, you are trying to manufacture an outcome to please yourself and others. Doing the right thing then turns into an action in order to escape discomfort or out of guilt, shame or other internal pressures. When an action is made out of guilt, embarassment or shame, it is merely acted upon through unconscious motives. It will trick you into thinking that doing the right thing is only pertinent when you in a sense have felt you have done wrong. 

Do we simply do the right thing because we feel like we need to? 

Do we do the right thing to make ourselves feel better? 

Most of this " doing the right thing" revolves around what we feel. We feel like we must do the right thing in a situation. This can come from our intuition or misguided or guided emotions. Emotions play big part in our actions. Are we simply acting under the emotions that are controlling us?

Do what "feels" right. 

We may be guided from our moral compass to enact a right action. It calls to us. It is not something that is pushed for or a check off the to do list. Sometimes we refuse to do the right thing out of convenience, embarrassment or overwhelming anxiety. This is acting under unconscious pressures and not really doing the right thing. 

You cannot push yourself to do the right thing. It must pull you in. It arises out of the stillness of the mind and the conscious compassion that fills in that inner void. It is not an agenda. It is the physical manifestation of inward acceptance and knowledge. 

It is the aha moment without trying to label it as the "aha moment". 

One cannot "try" to do the right thing.
When you label and try to do the right thing, it ceases to be nothing but a motivation based on outward factors, emotions and the desire to fulfill or improve. 

Doing the right thing is much like love. 
You don't love as an action. You are love. 
Pure love. Pure forgiveness and acceptance. You are the right thing and your actions will arise when necessary. 

Doing the right thing is much like happiness, when you try to seek it or obtain it, it floats farther away from you. When you are with what is, you can observe what floats to the surface. Without question, you will know intuitively what "a right thing is" without necessarily committing to it. You will act without question or thought and you will embody "the right thing". Doing the right thing will move through you. Your presence will lay the ground work for conscious and virtuous action. The act of surrender will inform you. Craving will cease and a divine and warming glow will eminate. 

You will receive what you have to give. 
If you think you have nothing to give, then you are still in a realm of unconscious self. The self doubt will rise to the top. When you stop resisting, your idea of your own self worth will dissipate and transmute into unshakeable strength and presence. 

You will soon realize the fallacious nature or trying or even "doing" the right thing. 

DG


Thursday, July 21, 2016

Sunday, July 17, 2016

Thank you for this pain.




Thank you for this pain.
Thank you for showing me how I can grow from this pain. Seeing the pain as a teacher to wake up and grow from.
( Flowers growing from the dead remains of plants and animals ) 
This suffering that is of the mind. 
The suffering that so wants to become the host of my consciousness. 
It wants you to ignore it. 
So you resist it...
It still persists. 
So you try to numb it or drown it..
It comes creeping back in. 
You become exhausted. Both in the mind and in the body. 
We have tried to use this pain as fuel. 
This unchecked energy that drains us and has us reach for things in the outside world. The unconscious seek for comfort through comforting things. 
The lust for sugar and chemicals. The desire for a human to have us unload and vent our frustrations. The desire to escape and just turn off from what is really bothering us.

Discomfort turns into our enemy and not our friend. Discomfort is there for you to experience to become comfortable with. Discomfort is there to show you what is wrong and what needs to be worked on. How grand is it that we can experience such varying degrees of discomfort? How great is it that we consciously change how we react to it? 

I have noticed this pain to be vital. Vital in reminding myself to reconnect with the present moment. To remind myself to simply breathe and let it pass. Not to jump so quick to fix it, but look at it directly. Not with a puffed chest. Not with a cowering bend. But with the surrender of a smile and the closing of the eyes. Let ting it arise. Letting it breathe. Seeing it as the thoughts that have created so much pain in and from the past. 

This is not the pain of a chronic disease of the body. It is chronic if it remains unconscious. This "dis" ease is the compulsion of thought. This vicious style that stirs up the pot. This storm creates the anxiety and the discomfort. This then can lead us into a "depression". We repeat our bad habits. Going for the same things that have never worked for us. Going for the instant relief. We have forgotten about our internal work. We have forget to ask for or even allow ourselves inner peace. 

We can resist or simply feel what all this "mind pain" is doing to us. We can label all we want and analyze, but that only stays in the mind. We can feel with our whole body. We can feel it in our chest right next to the heart. With the heart, it needs no resistance. With the heart, it can surrender to what is and know that clinging to "what was" is what is creating so much harm. 

It is not so much something we should "fix". This pain isn't here for us to fix. This pain is here to help us become more conscious and to reveal how the past and the identity with the past has created so much unconsciousness and turmoil. 

We can invite those dark demons in.
We can be gentle. We can let them make their speeches. Once we see that are passing through, they will transmute into presence. They will dissolve into a peaceful soup of awareness. We can be so grateful for our pain that it is unbearable. These passing discomfort demons become the best teachers for our internal work. Our internal garden of infinite opportunities. Most importantly our inner peace which makes us more present, attentive, engaged and able to unconditionally love no matter what circumstance or passing storm. 

DG

Friday, July 15, 2016

Lessons from Ants




I'm here sitting on the curb. I see ants around my feet. They are wandering aimlessly. Well, from what I can see. I can't get into their little complex brains. It seems that they work together, without question. They exist and do without speculating on whether it is right or not. They work together to lift things way over their own body weights. 

I'm sure their network under all this asphalt is strong. Long tunnels stretching underneath the ground. They have made use of what is available. Something in their way? 
They work around it.  

Their community is for the benefit of everyone. Finding food. Building tunnels for new ants. Making sure the queen is able to produce more ants. Making sure she is protected. 

Although they are constrained to their own genetics, they simply exist without judgment and condemnation. They exist to proliferate the ant existence. Pretty basic biological function. 

What can we learn from ants? 

Although we have thought and a different level of consciousness, we can look at how the ants work together. We have the power to appreciate our differences while doing things cooperatively. In a way, cooperation makes us grow as a community and individuals. 

Unlike ants, we can actually see and promote the strengths in others and see how they can use them for the benefit of everyone. We can be conscious of our behavior and the behaviors of others. How can we utilize our skills for the progress of our own community? 

Conscious action. 
Direct action.
Cooperation. 
Intuition. 
Empathy. 

How amazing is it that we can utilize our own interests and skills for the progress of our own community? 

We tend to forget that the human race is part of nature. We get lost in individualization. We have our own houses, cars, personal spaces, phones and isolated interests. As individuals, we all have unique advantages and differences. As humans, we have a need for socialization and acceptance. We exist together and work together even if we feel lonely or isolated. 
Sometimes we see our work as work, but we tend to look at the fact that we are part of that human network of helping others. Providing a service. Providing a purpose. No matter how small. 

Small steps lead to big things. 
One step at a time. 

That dinner you had last night. 
Where did it come from? 

The grocery store. 
Before that, a truck. 
Before that, a farm. 
Before that, a generation of people focused on proliferating their own self interests in their business or the procreation of the human race. 

All of this from the cooperation of individuals. Each one expressing an economic function. A function to benefit a person down the line. Whether it be generationally or simply a step by step process to your dinner plate. Each person having a specific set of knowledge and skills. They may only see it as a job, but the what they cannot see has a bigger impact down the line. 

Ants and people both have the power to care for their community. To help carry a heavy object. 
To help build new safe places to care for and raise the young. 
To work around obstacles. 
To work with what we have without complaining, casting judgment or condemning others. 

Unlike ants, we can act with compassion. We can focus our attention on each task with grace and ease. We can focus on our breath. Breathe in our stress and breathe it out. Moment to moment. 

We get stuck in our heads. 
We tend to ignore ants because they aren't in our line of sight. They are there. All around us. Living peacefully with what is. Living cooperatively within the Eco system. Look at what's around you. See how the ants move and interact. See how they cooperate. Don't try to label or explain what is happening. Just look at and appreciate. Don't interrupt their movement. Let them be. Let them exist around you. 

Appreciate the abundance around you. It's there if you choose to see it. 

DG

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Friday, July 8, 2016

This or that / All or Nothing





" If you aren't with the US govt, you are with the terrorists." 

" You are either with us or them." 

We have heard this before in many transmutations. Someone will try to push their agenda by creating a false dichotomy. A false binary and neglects and chooses not to accept the fluidity of nuanced opinion. It subjugates and divides people in order to advance a personalized, biased and non curious fixed pattern of thinking. It's an easy and tricky thing to do, but at it's core is fallacious and ultimately harmful in the long run. 

It is a logical fallacy. 
Here it is from Wikipedia. 

false dilemma (also calledfalse dichotomyfalse binary,black-and-white thinkingbifurcation,denying a conjunct, the either–or fallacyfallacy of exhaustive hypotheses, the fallacy of false choice, or the fallacy of the false alternative) is a type of informal fallacythat involves a situation in which only limited alternatives are considered, when in fact there is at least one additional option. The opposite of this fallacy is argument to moderation.[citation needed]

They want you and us to choose sides. 
One side to advance the ideologies against the "other" ideology. 
Are any of them right? 

Using this fallacy, does not act as a replacement for an argument. It is simply not at argument. It is the end of curiosity, patience, thinking and compassion. Picking sides is detrimental in people focused on growth and education. It closes you off and makes you less inquisitive. It makes you more susceptible to "Group Think". The False "We". 

You must question everything. 

Be a skeptic in everyone's information. 
Investigate how a person thinks the way they think. Why do they think that way? 

What kind of people do they hang out with that influence their methodology of cognition and beliefs? 

Why simply label someone? 
Is it for the benefit of us to simply move on and push people out of our lives superficially? 
We can allow nuanced opinion to widen our perspectives. To widen our understanding. 

 We can allow ourselves to be compassionate and curious with the patience to understand how minds work. 

It begins with coming from a place of non resistance and non judgment. We can switch from an agenda based mindset to a fluid and spontaneous focus on listening. Bringing out attention in, we can witness how our insecurities arise when we feel are views are being challenged. 

No more right vs. wrong. 
It moves towards the common ground and truth. The surrender to accept opinions as opinions and truth as truth. It is the patience to really see why someone thinks something and not what they think.

It's
About making the unconscious conscious. 

The this or that is an illusion that puts us at a stand still. It inhibits growth. 

Let's commune with the acceptance that all of us exist here at the same very moment for a reason. 

The reason to share. 
The reason to awaken. 
The reason to simply accept and surrender that uncertainty exists for the benefit of us to become more conscious of the present moment and the inspiration of being alive. 

So, if anyone puts you in the false dilemma corner, look at them and tell them that they are right. Meet them with compassion. Tell them you fully understand. 

If it doesn't serve in your growth, drop it.

Accept and move on. 

DG

Thursday, July 7, 2016

Sunday, July 3, 2016

I am taking off my shoes.


I am taking off my shoes.
That is the action you perceive me doing. 
In actuality I am not totally taking off my shoes. I'm stuck in my own head. 
I'm use to taking off my shoes in the same type of pattern when getting undressed or simply trying to get comfortable. I tend not to think about it too much. Why would I need to concentrate so much on taking off my shoes? Seems silly doesn't it? 

Well, it's not about concentrating per se. 
It's more about letting yourself be with what you are "doing". It is the action if getting out of your own head. Getting out of your own way. It is about actually being all there. All in. Pacing out each action and doing them fully.

Here is a practice you can do. 

If you are taking off your shoes, simply tell yourself ( in your head ) that you are taking off your shoes. 

" I am taking off my shoes." 

This brings you right into the moment of what you are doing. It clears your mind and merges your awareness into the action going on. It is making the unconscious conscious, shining light onto awareness. This simple practice of narrating your actions can make you more conscious and have a more direct, clear and fluid mind. 

This can work with everything you do. It can also work with your moods and emotions. 

If you are feeling sad or anxious, simply tell yourself what you are feeling. Take a deep breath in and breath slowly out. Observe how you feel. Do you still feel sad? It's ok if you do. Simply telling yourself how you feel will help you feel and navigate your emotions. You can witness your passing emotions and not fall victim to them. This takes quite a bit of repetition to really get the hang of it. This practice will help you strengthen and grow your emotional intelligence. 

See the beauty in the small actions. Pay attention to how you are doing each action. Pay attention to what you are doing. Some unseen things may arise. Things you thought you would have never thought of. Do not over analyze or criticize. Let them inform you. Let them tickle your curiousity. The more conscious you are, the more you will witness the unseen. Each small step is a big step for personal growth. 

If a small action is frustrating you, take a breath and redo it with ease. Reaffirm what you are doing in your mind. Don't rush. Let it breathe. Let the emotions come and go. Do not get too attached to small hiccups or uncomfortable emotions. 

You are nearing the end of this piece. 
You are reading with full attention. 
You will finish this reading with a deep breath in. 
You will breath out the stress. 

You will take off your shoes.
( If they aren't off already. ) 

DG