Shatter myths about peace

Once there was a famous wrestler we'll call “Great Waves.” He was muscular and strong and knew the art of wrestling. In private bouts he defeated even his teacher, yet in public was so bashful that even his students threw him down. He was at a loss for words as well as inner peace. 

Troubled, the wrestler decided to visit a Zen temple for help. There, a wise teacher advised him.

“Great Waves is your name,” said the teacher. “So spend tonight in the temple. Imagine that you are water. You are no longer a wrestler who is afraid. You are those powerful waves sweeping over everything in sight. Do this and you will never again be defeated.”

The teacher left. The wrestler sat still, trying to imagine himself as water. His mind wandered but soon he began to feel more and more like moving waves. As night advanced the waves grew taller and taller. They swept away the flowers and rushed over the statues. Before dawn the temple was nothing but the tide of a vast ocean.

In the morning the teacher found the wrestler in meditation with a slight smile on his face. He patted the man’s shoulder. “Now nothing can disturb you,” he said. “You are the waves. You will sweep everything before you.”

That day, the wrestler entered and won a big tournament, and was never again defeated by his thoughts.

Contrary to popular belief, no peaceful mind exists. Mind itself cannot be peaceful. Its very nature is to be tense and confusing. Mind cannot have clarity. Peace and silence exist without mind. Never attempt to silence the mind. Only as you understand the nature of mind does your life shift. 

Watch and you observe thoughts but never encounter the mind. Thoughts are not one with your nature. Thoughts come and go like visitors. They are like waves in the ocean. You persist as the host. All thoughts are borrowed. As this enters your visceral experience, everything transforms. Awareness is noticing what arises in gaps between thoughts and being that.

Recall martial artist Bruce Lee said, "be like water."  The most challenging adversary is the thinking mind. True confidence and inner peace do not reside in temples or remote places. As we turn inward, go inside our own hearts, here we find all we seek.

Listen to the breath speak

How often do we hear breath speak and truly listen? Here is an insight shared by a Rabbi: 

The name of God back in the day was Yahweh because breath was life. Give it a go.  As we breathe in, we make a sound similar to 'Yah' and out sounds like 'weh.' That's how God got that name. Originally, it was believed that every time a human being took a breath, we are praising the name of the Creator.

Imagine that every creature on this planet, whether they know it or not, says the name of the creator in the language of every breath. Imagine the impact of consciously reminding ourselves this is also the first thing we say when we are born in abody and the last thing said when the physical body dies and soul moves on. Every moment of every day, we are voicing who we are under and through our own breath.

Shift how & what you see

You may have heard that it requires a certain amount of time or number of days to change a habit. To shift how and what you see is not based on time so much as on vibration.  

The familiar five senses you use to decode or interpret life are filters.  They may seem to tell you a lot, and people are taught to rely on them as reliable guides.  Yet, in doing so, you may not realize you block other senses out completely.  

This is not about seeing the world through rose-colored glassess.  Its about being aware of the unconscious lenses you already wear, consciously evolving to see through them. 

At the perfect moment, something shifts or arises within you. When ready, you use a different compass to navigate through life. The language of geometry offers  something different. It is all about recognizing what you are taught and letting go, allowing nature and its ancient wisdom to be your pilot.