6 Practices to Facilitate True Success

Notice many people aspire to success. Many also struggle and wonder what is really important or necesary to get here, and also prolong satisfaction that widely seems out of reach or only comes and goes.  Consider these 6 practices to facilitate true success:

1. Clarify your version of "Success"

For many, "success" is a state of reaching desired goals through careful effort, intention, and growth. Ultimately, success is shaped by your sense of well-being or perceived life satisfaction. Some say that to feel good implies sense of well-being and life satisfaction are high.  In such a case, investing more energy, effort, and intention toward goals feels right. Symbols of success, such as wealth and status, tend to manifest as a result. Yet, do we always get more of what we want? Instant manifestation of desires is not widespread.

This said, not everyone defines success by the pursuit of wealth, fame, measurable material possessions, and social status. At different stages of life and experience, our views about success can change. Some people may link success with inner peace, balance and immeasurable things.  Some experience a shift from an external definition to an inner experience. Its a reminder to clarify success in your own terms, resist influence, realize it by your own rules, and create a life that resonates.

2. Get comfortable with discomfort in your life

This may seem an oxymoron. To sit with our feelings is not really about wallowing in negativity and sharing a tornado with everyone we meet.  Sitting with such feelings with intention is about conscious watching, allowing them to move through.  Wallowing implies we are not interested in a new beginning but prefer to dwell on what is not working. It implies investing energy in holding a position, in recruiting a puty party, replaying a story or reiterating what is unjust, offensive and undesirable.  We all know people who do this.  Observing our thoughts and state is recognizing that our emotions (and even those of others) are not really us.  Rather, it is about recognizing they are a pointer and teacher to what is going on deeper inside us. This is the key to cherishing the teaching and rising above it.

3. Take radical responsibility

So, if we are serious above moving forward in life, however we define this, we must we willing to stop repeating what we do not like or what is not working and instead, direct thought and other energy into conscious co-creation.  We must be willing to be accountable for our thoughts , emotions and life situations, and recognize nobody is going to rescue us. We must take charge of where to go from here, reclaim our power, and change our conditions ourselves.  If, in our heart, we sense what we are meant to do or be and resist, this is an invitation from an expanded version of us to move through our fear and assume our new role in the next stage of our lives. In a journal, it may be prudent to jot down some situations that evoke discomfort, what changes we fear and why, or and how we would like to replace this.

4. Spend time each day on meditation & reflection

The Science Foundation funded a study about journaling one’s thoughts and feelings. The result reveals the practice increases mental performance and helps translate thought into action. Yet, journaling isn’t the only method one can use to gain clarity on vision.  Still, focusing on self-reflection allows for meaningful thought connections. Creative people  devote time in daily meditation and self-reflection.  What matters is developing a reliable channel of communication with oneself. This builds self-reliance and trust, come what may.

4. Prioritize exercise that boosts aliveness

This is not simply about physical movement of the body, but also mental, creative and energetic exercises that stretch the mind.  Brainstorm how you could exercise your altruism, paying it forward or offering service.  Take some time out to innovate, create a vision, painting, sculpture, paper mache or even a sand castle.  Allow those creative juices to flow.  Does iWhat is it that you spontaneously come up with?

5. Understand everything is energy

Certain cultures tell us that determination, strenuous effort, even blood, sweat and tears are required to achieve success.  Another view is that everything is non-physical energy and aligning thought, word and action are the key to materialisation and alchemy.  Whatever "camp" you subscribe to is going to guide your process and experience.  Which resonates and works or does not in practice in your sense of reality?

6. Explore the nature & significance of dreams

Tibetan Buddhist practices as well as diverse experts echo that astral, lucid and dream yoga are the key to the experience of success and enlightenment.  Whether we come to remember our dreams, understand or decode our own messages can go a long way to learning the power of dreams as tools to heal and intgrate fragments of our psyche.  Consider the possibility of strengthing your dream recall and explore unfamilliar options if it resonates. 

Dream Analysis of the Week- Hugging the Sun

(Image: Adam Kadmon Body)

Dream:

I was hugging the Sun in a furniture store. It was very disorienting. What is this about? 

Insight:

A dream may be viewed from our own dominant level of conscious awareness. On one level, the sun may refer to a pillow on a piece of furniture, a source of comfort in the 3D world. Once you embrace your value, talents and strengths, it neutralizes when others think less of or judge you.

On another level, the sun metaphorically embodies many spiritual properties that lead to degrees of awakening, completion and enlightenment. In many cases, this major shift still remains unconscious to the dreamer. The dream sun in encourages us to look inward as opposed to the outer world. To feel disoriented suggests confusion or indecision or self-doubt about some key life area.

The 'Great Central Sun' refers to the sun of the inner heart often missed or completely forgotten. Pay attention to the time of day the dream is taking place. The state or level of Sun mean something is ending, and/or also beginning.

Furniture is often symbolic of ideas you 'rest upon' or believe in.  Letting go of ideas we outgrow is a healthy was to sell or give away 'old furniture.' Reflect on your experience and interaction with different kinds of furniture. For instance, does it have legs or wheels? Is it stationary? Malleable? Is it something you can now do without?

Hugging echoes love and compassion, as wella s a readiness to help yourself and/or another. In another way, you may be in the process of hugging or embracing your own journey deeper into the unknown.

A dream store is often a physical space or building that reflects our state of mind. Reflect on the details of the area- was it tidy?, cluttered?, well-organized? Logical? Shutting down? Financially stable? How would you describe it? Dreams invite us to create awareness of our bodily state, free from any narrative of it being “good” or “bad.”  of curiosity and exploration: “This is a bodily feeling.  It is one I am feeling-this is what it feels like.”

Without this sense of awareness, we often create narratives around our negative feelings that involve blame. We blame ourselves or those close to us for making us feel bad. A loved one or the environment we’re in may inadvertently trigger us, which can lead our body and brain to believe that the person, place, or physical thing is the problem. This creates real interpersonal problems and perpetuates conflict. It can also cause a bias toward negativity in all our interactions, as we look for someone to blame for our bad feelings.

In truth, blame is a coping strategy. But as a coping strategy, it is both easy to fall back on and highly ineffective. To be fully aware of our bodily feelings can guide us to experience these feelings outside the context of blame and, hopefully, understand what may actually be triggering them. This deepens the journey inward.

To make reference to the Tree of Life and Kabbalah, the Ein Sof conceived the general plan of Creation (Adam Kadmon). This general plan contains all the details that had happened in the past, the details happening in the present, and those which will happen in the future. Here time is not a factor. The Adam Kadmon or Primal Man is the general plan of the universe symbolized by the Tree of Life. All universes, from the upper to the lower, are within this general plan. The Keter of  Adam Kadmon is the plan itself; the Chokhmah of Adam Kadmon is the universe of Atziluth (Emanation); the Binah of Adam Kadmon is the universe of Briah, (Creation); the six lower dimensions of Adam Kadmon are the universe of Yetzirah (Formation) and Malkuth of  Adam Kadmon is the universe of Assiah (Action or Materialization).  Adam Kadmon contains all info that Ein Sof or Infinite entail.  

Silence is required to move beyond structures of unconscious influence.  Silence is non-dula and wholesome. To allow thoughts and feelings go by without personal identification is essential.  One cannot see oneself clearly if one cannot see who one is in the present moment.  Clarity sprouts with non-jugemental awareness of oneself.  Attention to oneself moment-by-monet changes one's reaction to the world one projects.  What one is cannot be affected by temporal states of memory.

Among our Individual Services, we offer Dream Consultations  for single and multipole dreams we put in context as well as offer an Astral, Lucid & Dream Yoga Course.  Contact us for more information.

Dream Analysis of the Week- Runaway Train

Dream: I  dream I go to the station to catch a train and somehow miss it.  This happens repeatedly. The scenario plays out over and over. I wear different clothes and each time I reach platform to watch train pull away.  What gives?

Insight:  In human waking life, are you waiting too long to make a decision? Life may show you many examples where you think you are just about to make it, yet don't and are confused, frozen or disappointed.  You may just about reach the mountaintop yet, something prevents it. You almost reach mouth-watering fruit in a tree, and then a bird gets it. You may just about win a race and stumble. You may strive to achieve a certificate that becomes obsolete or just miss getting a promotion.  The repeated 'almosts' are pointers.

The ego mind might echo things do not happen your way because you are not good enough, not experienced enough, not qualified eough, do not have enough stamina patience or whatever it takes. What other reason might exist?

When something happens repeatedly, it invites us to see what we are missing or not seeing clearly.  Reflect on the nature of delays in current experience. What are we postponing and why? Fear of something undesirable is the common answer. Being proactive changes the game. Rather than wait for something we may not want, speak our mind, create boundaries, step up the initiatives. IN chasing what we think we want, we may be missing something else.

On a more universal level, this dream is a metaphor for how the mind functions.  The mind is running after life and somehow seems to miss it continuously. Why? When we shift focus of attention away from the present moment to the past or future, we miss the proverbial boat. The dream itself symbolizes the mind.  It is always missing the train.  The mind is bound to miss what it is reaching for because in taking time to think, that thing is already gone. Time waits for nobody.  Its the analogy of sand slipping through fingers.

So, to live in the moment is to be spontaneous, trust and surrender to the unknown.  It is also to be enlightened, to feel truly alive wherever you are.  To think about anything is to miss it.  In this light, enlightenment (peace, bliss) is not a goal to work toward or something we decide to accept or not after exerting effort.  Its the revelation we only have the present moment to live, to take chances. The mind lives in tomorrows. To truly live only happens right now.  Say what you mean, mean what you say. Be brave Be here now. 

Among our services, we offer Dream Consultations to explore dreams on your wavelength.  We also offer an Astral, Luid & Dream Yoga Course.  Contact us to discuss.

Be the discipline of Yoga

Notice a dream goes on within us continuously. A man can live without sleep but cannot live without dreams. Sleep is only needed so you can dream. If you are not allowed to dream, you will not feel fresh or alive. If you are in a dreaming state, only then do you listen to me. Dreaming is somewhere other than the here and now. You are jumping ahead. True yoga is the path to consistently be here and now. Yoga means you are ready not to hope or glimpse ahead. If you are hoping yoga will bring something for you, then yoga is not for you. Yoga is about not moving toward the past or future, but about moving within you, being present in your deepest centre. The mind must be here to enter this reality. Yoga does not invite you to learn anything. No belief or faith is required. It is not mental. Simply venture bravely into the unknown, and experience things directly. Only by tuning in, and settling the mind as it is does transformation happen. Yoga is both death and a new life. Unless the old dies, the new cannot be born. Unless you are ready to die, you cannot be reborn from the ashes. This is not something you think about, it is something you must be. Sometimes guidance is useful to get out of the head and into the heart. Yet, the gist must be done, known alone. To grow aware of Now, is to see pattern of life is confusing and meaningless, desires dissolve, deep anguish and suffering arise. If whatever you do brings pure misery then the moment is now. You cannot ask for this but earn it. Only then does one begin to understand the discipline of yoga. You cannot obtain the capacity to know until you obtain the capacity to be. This is not a curiousity or intellectual. It is far deeper. Dissatisfaction is not real and total as long as hope exists. All hope must fall to truly enter yoga. The one who promises to do or do not do is no longer. Who is going to be blissful? Silence is only possible in harmony, when no crowd exists.

Restlessness is a sign of transformation

Notice at the perfect moment, light penetrates like a catalyst to clarify what disconnects from all that is real and matters in heart. By affirming our dignity and allowing others theirs, we are able to honor ourselves, connect as equals, move forward with insight.

Earlier in life, I often heard myself saying things like;

"Everything happens for a reason"

"It was for the best"

"It was a blessing in disguise"

(all of which were relevant in context...)

In passing, such phrases sound optimistic and seem harmless. Yet, with maturity, I realized I had been taught to dismiss very real concerns and feelings worthy of considerable attention. People would cross my boundaries, be hurtful, or behave in ways that went against my core values or intuition and I would be overly tolerant and accepting or too easily forgiving. Making light of difficult situations was a superficial way of glossing over issues. This felt better in the short-term, but ultimately, it solved nothing and left hidden issues to linger. In fact, as I go down the rabbit hole, it appears I mastered the art of pretending things were fine when they were clearly not.

Part of my awakening has involved recognizing I would hide or avoid anger that deserved to be felt and expressed, Rather than working through hard emotions or confronting unresolved issues, I used to simply downplay or dismiss them. Believing traumatic events must serve as “learning experiences” or focusing on the silver lining behind every negative experience, did not allow me to experience the fullness of the wisdom they held. Assuming I had a handle on it was how I hid from insecurities. It was a clever way I pulled the wool over my eyes until I was ready to go deeper.

I went through stages where I was convinced spiritual practices I engage in are always positive. Feeling detached also came to mean I was not fully conscious or present. I was very good at focusing on the positive or being overly optimistic. Had no idea I was projecting negative feelings. At some stage, it dawned positive thinking is not the way to overcome problems. Facing shadows is far more effective. Rather than attempting to “rise above” emotions, I learned to feel, heal and move through them.

Pride is difficult to detect in ourselves because it is a refusal to admit wrong or see a need to change. As the light of our dignity shines more brightly, we realize that we don’t have to be perfect. Showing vulnerability and humility invites stronger connection. We move from the superficial into soul-level relationships. We grow approachable rather than seem intimidating. We don’t see ourselves as better or worse than anyone else. We are the same.

It is freeing to hold ourselves with the dignity that comes from simply being human. We don’t need to achieve “greatness” to have worth and value. Greatness is innate . We might be inclined to seek excellence because it feels meaningful, energizing and expansive, but not because it defines who we are.

It dawns pride that drives us at certain stages of life prevents us from acknowledging our human vulnerabilities. When driven by shame or illusion of inferiority, its uncomfortable to say, “I’m sorry, I was wrong, I made a mistake.” When pride rules, we believe we’re always right or we fear backing down. This makes it difficult to know and sustain intimacy.

A self-centred culture teaches we must achieve self-actualization (enlightenment) to be truly happy. This quest also contributes to a tendency to avoid difficult or painful emotions. Rather than trying to solve problems in environments that cause suffering, self-centred culture teaches people that they alone are responsible for their destiny. At certain stages, maybe you relate?

What stands out is that negative thoughts and feelings serve a purpose. They do not exist so we avoid them. Rather, they point to a diminshed self image, deep hurt, sadness and that emotions that require acceptance and validation. Negative thoughts exist so we use those thoughts to propel positive actions. Simply putting on rose-colored glasses and ignoring deeper issues does not make them go away. Choosing instead to forge friendships, look people directly in the eye, be candid and share vulnerability, are keys to being more assertive, self-loving and decisive when it counts.

Ultimately, discomfort is a soul-level sign that something is not right and needs to change. If you think you lessen discomfort by simply avoiding it, or normalizing abnormal behaviour, situations causing distress will remain. Yet, to recognize the nature of our unconscious behaviours, is to see restlessness is itself a sign of our ongoing quantum transformation. We are catching up with the light.