Realign your senses and transform your reality

Every moment, you engage your senses.  They work together to create the world you perceive.  You may assume things are in perfect alignment.  After all, your world likely doesn't seem upside down or topsy-turvey.  Colors and images make sense . What you may not realize is true seeing isn't done with the eyes.  So, do you wonder how its done?

Let's say you take the stance your perception represents the selective alignment of energy of familiar, everyday things.  Well, then you also recognize you are missing what is "out of the ordinary" or "extraordinary."  What you don't see, you may simply not be ready to see.  When was the last time you disregarded the perspective of your eyes?

Consider as you dream while asleep, your eyes are closed (that is, unless you are a fish). Yet, you perceive.  You visualize and somehow absorb the essence of your surroundings.  How would you explain your means of raising awareness? What if new alignment is taking place? Is this not an example of seeing through what you would assume are limitations?

As you choose to believe that reality may be something other than what you think you know, you are preparing to realign you senses.  What you get out of this process is up to you.  Are you beginning to realize what is really going on inside and outside you?  Its never too late to open your mind.  Learning to rechannel energy is the tip of the iceberg.

Poised for change

Analysis of the week submitted by Anonymous in Melboune, Australia.

Dream- I was in a blue car that moved itself.  The windows rolled themselves down.  The car reversed and went forward without my intervention.  I wasn't scared, but intrigued.  I sensed spirit was present and was giving me signs.  I wanted to "see" clearer.   A woman I had never seen before came through a doorway.  Her presence was peaceful and reassuring.  A man appeared quietly near me and the car.  I sensed he knew the woman.  I also felt threatened by an invisible presence that wouldn't disappear.  I was at a loss.

Predomiant Emotions- distress, interest, guilt, eagerness, dejection, and loneliness.

Interpretations- You are thinking and feeling differently about the direction of your life.  You are learning to stand up for yourself, and to trust yourself more. You may sense confusion as you explore boundaries or, build your internal resources and independence.

It seems that you begin to recognize your responsibilities and a new leadership role on the horizon.  To arrive there, you must refine the ego, and break through negative self-judgment. This requires shifts of consciousness.  You're prepared to do what you need to take advantage of circumstances as they come up rapidly.  You sense new ways to grow.

In key areas of life, you are more introspective, and feel a new connection to your unseen potential.  You no longer underestimate or overestimate, you simply discern a new level of what seems real.  Your mind is your own worst enemy if you permit fear and doubt to obstruct your evolution.  Stop projecting obstacles that hold you back.

The more questions you ask yourself, the less you will be apt to ignore unresolved thoughts and feelings.  As you learn to forgive people who have wronged you,  the shadows will fade.  New doors open as you consciously decide to move beyod the life you know.  You are beginning to listen to your soul, to reassess and re-align your self-view. 

True wisom comes from the mind

A man stood on the edge of a river.  Although it was narrow, the current was strong.  The angry water seemed an image of his mind, throbbing and tossing with the eight material activities.  He decided to let them flow out of his mind into the water.  His mind became calm and his heart content.

Suddenly, he heard a shout for help and in the white foam of the waves he saw a man from the village.  He hated this man because he had sex with his wife, stolen his livestock, and then beaten him at wrestling.  Then another cry for help came to his ears.  In the water, he saw a very holy saint whom he respected greatly.  He had helped him in times of trouble and eased his mind.

Both men were being dragged to the edge of a dangerous waterfall.  He knew they would be drowned.  With great effort, he hurled his hunting rope to the other side.  The noose tightened fast around a rock and he tied the other end to a tree.

Both men caught on to the rope and pulled themselves to safety.  But once on the riverbank they began to fight.  The holy man started screaming, 'I tried to stop you jumping in and you pulled me in with you.  Now look at me! I'm soaking wet'

The other man just laughed hysterically and punched the holy man in the nose.  'You do-gooders are all the same,' he said.  'I never asked you to help me.'

At this, our brave hero became upset and confused, and his body tensed up.  He suddenly realized these men were not real but personifications of the 8 material activities. 

With a yell, he pushed them back into the river.  They plunged over the waterfall down into the seething water.  He sat on the riverbank exhausted, the screaming still echoing in the rocky gorge below.  True wisdom in the mind creates its own freedom.  Or, does it?

Doubt sneaked into his mind like a thief.  He started panicking about pushing the two men back into the waterfall.  What if he was wrong?

-Traditional  Bon story from The Tibetan Art of Living by Christopher Hansard p. 87-88.

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How are you conditioned by 8 material activities?

Do you feel shame, loss, guilt, suffering?  Do you seek achievement, fame, approval and happiness? Energy generated inside is the core of all our perceived troubles.

What's the lesson at hand?

At any given moment, each of us is faced with some perceived threat to what we think we know.  Each situation is itself a wise teacher, providing we are willing to recognize it.  Human beings will often rationalize their conclusions or begin to doubt.  What about you? 

Something is always affecting our senses.  We perceive as we do as the result of adopted conditioning.  To realize the world we initially see isn't what we think it is, is a key step to recognizing lessons that become available.  Its easy enough to say, " I wouldn't do that again" or, "I would see that coming next time," but you can also benefit in the now.

For example, if a parent grounds a child as a form of punishment, that parent could decide to be more or less strict the next time around.  Yet, that parent could also choose to reflect on the reflex to judge and control, and choose to communicate differently.  Opportunities to learn lessons about ourselves crop up all the time.  Yet, do we listen? 

Consider a scenario where your partner loses a job or forgets a special occasion.  What is your initial reaction? Do you reject and reprimand or love and forgive? What do your choices tell you about the attention or disregard you give your own inner wounds?

Who could forget that memorable period at the office? Another case where you didn't get the promotion or responsibilities expected.  You may still hear echos of self-destructive comments in your head, "I didn't deserve it anyway" or, "They don't appreciate me!" 

Aside from that, you can't ignore your recent fender bender.  You may try to convince yourself you weren't paying enough attention to the road.  In your head, you fervently deny you were imagining an x-spouse as the target or some other unresolved calamity.  

And the unexpected break-in of your home? Its easy to say now it would be in your interest to have copies of key documents in places other than on your personal laptop. Why do you keep questioning what you didn't do? Shift instead to focus on what you can.

Its easy to begin to discern the common reaction.  You focus on something other than yourself, your pain, suffering and disillusionment. This relates to situations other than those that seem to bother you now.  The real reasons behind your feelings and behavior often stay hidden.  You choose not to face them.  It may seem easier to project lingering discomfort and anger on something or someone else.  You always have other options.

The lesson at hand invites you to question why you turn away from your true self.  Acknowledging and accepting it is the key to peace, contentment and wavering love.  The situations you create and experience are clues to how you truly feel. No matter what the situation, you always have the choice to look inside yourself.  How can you shift your mind to help you grow and expand awareness? When will you feel grateful for all you are?

Why does life seem to hard?

People will readily admit aspects of their lives are hard.  The same people will expand on these beliefs and unknowingly hold themselves back from living a different kind of life.  Does this sound like you or, anyone you know?  Would you like to shift things inside you?

Life doesn't have to seem like an uphill battle.  Make an effort to listen to yourself.  How are you thinking right at this moment? What kinds of words are you using to describe your feelings and experiences to other people?  The more you realize your action shapes your life, the more informed you will be, and the more prepared to change your thinking. 

Imagine how your life will be from the moment you decide things are easy.  Would you be motivated? Would you feel driven? Would impetus become unnecessary? If you're already where you need to be, does hope lose meaning or, shift to take on new significance?

One of the most shocking things to realize is you always find in life what you are looking for.  That is, if you choose to find challenges,  they will find you.  You may choose to be stretched, to be confronted with situations you have never experienced before. 

We all make conscious and unconscious choices.  Everything happens exactly as it should, even if part of you is reluctant to accept you get what you asked for. Why would you hesitate to accept value in discomfort? Realize balance requires two sides to perception.

Each experience is bringing you face-to-face with hidden fears, misplaced pride and inflated self-importance.  Dissolve them. You may need to taste the unknown to learn to stop manipulating or misinterpreting the world you think you know.  What is it you think you are meant to learn from your hardship? What have you already gained? Is it worth it?