10 Tips to Live a More Authentic Life

Many people ask themselves what it is to live a truly authentic life. One perspective invites us to abide wholeheartedly based on the 5 Yamas and 5 Niyamas outlined in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. 

We are each invited to explore different life areas and discover where we adhere to these universal principles or not.  Working with a mentor, guide or therapist can assist us to deepen soul alignment.  Dreams are realized based on congrumence or inner harmony. If we are out of alignment with these principles, then life issues arise.

Yamas

1. Ahimsa (non-harming or non-violence in thought, word and deed)

2. Satya (truthfulness)

3. Asteya (non-stealing)

4. Brahmacharya (celibacy or 'right use of energy')

5. Aparigraha (non-greed or non-hoarding)

Niyamas

1. Saucha (cleanliness)

2. Santocha (contentment)

3. Tapas (discipline, austerity or 'burning enthusiasm')

4. Svadhyaya (self-study)

5. Isvara Pranidhana (surrender to na higher being or contemplation of a higher power)

5 Revelations to expand inner vision

Some people fear when they run out of questions, they run out of hope. Other people do not choose to ask questions or hope. They are indifferent, miserable or, attune deeply to energy. At some stage, you tap into free-flowing images and sensations you are unable to explain. To become aware is to know you have choices. Consider five revelations to expand inner vision;

1) Acknowledge the mind must transform. Sounds and images congest mental space. Background noise distracts focus. Inside, your mind is occupied and undisciplined. You nurture illusion of hope for something other than what you perceive, want experiences other than those where you are. As you become disillusioned and feel the futility of desire, you experience senselessness and suddenly shift gears.

2) Believe your can exist without self-deception. As you recognize the human mind feeds on lies, you realize you are ready to begin to systematically notice, identify and dissolve them. To feel directions, emotions and events confuse you, means you struggle between thoughts of dissatisfaction and hope for gratification. As you identify and dissolve ego, you prepare to merge with the unseen and unknowable.

3) Recognize the mind feeds on dreams. At some point, you convince yourself dreaming is necessary.  The mind conjures illusions even as you look and listen to a point of reference in the physcial world. You consciously forget dream is complete auto-deception. Hoping still exists. Discipline is the capacity to learn and know. But you cannot know or learn, unless you have attained the capacity to just be in the now.

4) Empty your mind. As you detach from beliefs, you are slowly learning to empty the mind. To experience bliss means absolute silence. You hear snow. This is possible only when there is harmony, that is, when all the discordant fragments of your personality have become one. When you are alone in the house of your mind without distraction, you are blissful.

5) Nurture courage to experience. Yoga is a method used to develop a non-dreaming mind. Its the science of being in the now. To engage fully means you are ready to detach from time, a sense of past and future.  You are willing to reframe hope, and agree not to jump ahead of your being. Yoga means to encounter reality as it is. This path makes it meaningful to uncover and apply depth of mental powers. Learn how to control them and not be controlled by them, and how to use them in the service of others. Do not permit new insight to distract the mind with sensations and focus on form.

Patanjali & 5 steps to master your thoughts

Patanjali offers 196 yoga sutras to increase your clarity and deepen you practice. Thought patterns are gradually mastered through learning non-attachment. Consider these five steps to begin to master your thoughts;

1) Notice whether your thoughts are colored with aversion or attraction. Do not judge. Learn to be an astute observer.

2) Nurture the lifestyle, actions, speech, and thoughts, and spiritual practices that lead in the positive direction. (rather than going in the opposite direction, away from the positive, and towards the negative).

3) Let go of the mental coloring of your thoughts that lead away from the spiritual (rather than going in the opposite direction, giving in to the attachments and aversions).

4) Raise conscious awareness to become more discerning of how you think and feel and the implications.

5) Practice consistency.  Learn to choose the wiser courses of action with deliberate intention.

Deciphering ignorance

The Indian Patanjali suggests you need to return to school in order to rise above ignorance and achieve success.  According to him, we may all access useful knowledge in our minds.  It's what we choose to do with this that creates our version of success. Who is given the authority to determine what kinds of facts and skills are more important or more useful than others? What kinds of reasons do you have for accepting a particular hierarchy of steps to success?

If, by drawing from some of your skills, you're able to acquire more money and you desire this, then it may make sense to pursue this avenue.  However, if someone chooses to apply different kinds of knowledge at his disposal, which brings him less money, this individual is not ignorant, though certain cultures would have us believe that intelligence is measured by level of income.  For some people, success is based on feelings, such as a level of accomplishment or satisfaction.

Ignorance can be felt as what Wayne Dyer calls, "falsely identifying oneself as only of the ego-based world."  How can you reframe views of success such that you unlearn your thoughts to separate yourself from cravings and objects you desire? Ignorance prevents you from experiencing success and fulfillment so long as you continue to pursue what appears to provide it rather than find a sense of purpose and success within yourself without doing anything. 

Your senses may influence your view of success by tempting you with things you think you want but don't really need.  Success may involve overcoming certain self-destructive habits, such as over-eating, addictions, focusing on sources of grief, frustration and pain. 

Come waht may, remind yourself that you are not your experiences. You are not the person who thinks he chooses and controls them. A watcher exists beyond all that is perceived. Know values and habits arise as your own illusions. Reflect on your selected activities and what they reveal about your views on success. Ask yourself whether any belief about success is ever spot on.