Elizabeth Gilbert & 3 points about genius

Elizabeth Gilbert wrote, Eat Pray Love, about a year she spent travelling the world after a difficult divorce. She has written other books, but this one is particuarly engaging for its humor, trans-cultural flavor, and spiritual healing journey.

Regardless of gender or life condition, something about her journey resonates with every reader. It may be something you experienced in common, lost, abandoned or left behind during a stage of your life. It may be a reaction, a passing fancy or, a dream to venture where you had feared to tread. It all brings you back to your core self. Consider three points about genius;

1) Genius is not rare. Most people speak of genius as a prodigy, in terms of things they are not. They use it as a tool for alienation rather than the ket to reconnect to the deepest spirit. Recognizing your own genius is a normal state of mind blocked by a fundamental defect: lack of insight into yourself.

2) Genius is a second insight. The prospect of radical transformation from the inside brings thoughts of revelation, salvation, escape from suffering, solace, peace. To rediscover this is part of a process of liberation from what you thought you knew where you were. You turn to face your demons.

3) Genius is awareness. To discern dysfunction and reactions within is part of a core healing process. New levels of awareness bring new levels of consciousness and grasp of things as they truly are. Some people trigger revelations during long and perilous geographical journeys. Other people realize how they live, how they manifest or perpetuate certain conditions and mindsets, without ever moving. No matter where you think you go, your mind creates illusion. Becoming aware how it functions brings you degrees of sanity.

7 Tips for coping & disallowing

Emotions can stun and paralyze you yet, they also energize and renew you. People are often unaware of the choices they have. You can learn how not to keep situations alive in your mind.

At this moment, you can choose to move beyond thoughts and feelings.  They do not have to shape your identity.  People shoulder unnecessary emotional bagage. This is not who you are. You are still in the process of figuring out the truth.

Every person goes through stages of limiting himself by using negativity, complaints, grievances, guilt, anger or regret. When part of you clings to emotions, they seem to be who you are. Consider 7 tips for coping with what does not serve you;

1) Raise self-awarenss. Many approaches exist to open your senses and faculties.  The majority of people live in an imagined reality. When you act to discover yourself through things, this creates attachment and prevents you from being aware.  Determine where it would help you to shift focus.

2) Believe change is possible. Nothing you have done in your perceived past can prevent you from being present now. Presence is that state of mind which enables you to step beyond ego, inadequacy, fear or, what holds you back from feeling less than you are. Youmove beyond disbelief to faith.

3) Guide yourself with love. Whenever some situation is not explored, understood, accepted and the energy dissolved, the resulting energy forms a chain. This false sense of who you aregrows into whatyou believe is your life. To choose to love yourself empowers you to work through anything.

4) Take back your inner power. A common reaction is to share your story and portray a victim who has given away power or, certain levels ofresponsibility. You may have felt wronged, compelled to defend a position.Many people engage in imaginary or mentaldialogue, accusing or directing energy away from yourself. This is an emotionally-draining exercise.

5) Discern energy differently. Each thought and feeling isa packet of energy you are creating and discharging. This process has causes and every cause has its effects.As you become more aware of those things you consciously identify with, you get closer to grasping how the ego and mind operate.

6) Realize who you are does not diminish. People are conditioned to quantify and measure to determine a sense of value and self-worth.  They visualize needs and forget they do not become less human, less desirable, or in any way dminished by not satisfying perceived needs.  Everyone is in an ongoing process of learning to let go of people, objects, relationships and anything they come to value. Each is a test. 

7) Rediscover the joy of being.  Theory differs from practice and thoughts differ from experience. The ego only knows thought because this is what it is.  Whatever your mind attaches to becomes important, becomes a substitute for what you do not permit yourself to feel. As you begin to recognize you are never attached to anything except for in your mind, you rediscover the joy of being. You forget reasons for bad energy. You move beyond ego to explore consciousness.

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.

5 Tips to develop aikido-monk awareness

Martial artists develop insight into energy, mental and physical strength. They learn the mind and body are inseparable. They see thought and emotion interact together with consequences.  The mind attunes to energy consciousness and sensitivities.

Aikido blends martial arts, philosophy and spiritual beliefs. Practitioners train to re-direct aggressiveness and negativity with precise techniques and loving kindness. Progress arises from using energy fields and learning when not to exert oneself. To harness the flow of energy means one can move out of the way or respond accordingly to heavy energy fields.

Now, monks are spiritual masters of self-restraint. They do not permit egoism, attachment or vanity to control their decisions. They sense the flow of core energy and keep the peace. Monks subdue intense passions and are aware of the right thing to do. They set a standard for wisdom and self-control.

Aikido-monks attain a level of spiritual refinement that combines key traits of both monks and aikido. This hybrid perspective sheds light on inner power and reconciliation. Consider five tips to develop aikido-monk awareness;

1) Set your mind on your vision. Those who seek self-mastery do not find it. Those who master themselves grasp every being has degrees of awareness, but does not always grasp inner power or the paths and guidance to develop it.

2) Step back and observe. The simple step of choosing to become more aware helps you tap into inner knowing. You begin to identify and explore your conditioned responses.

3) Re-pattern instinctive responses to fear. Fear and insecurity are core beliefs that reinforce selfishness. Where these traits are not recognized and addressed, peace and compassion are less likely to become responses to conflict.

4) Synchronize thought, emotion and movement.  Gaining insight into emotions enables you to foresee what is coming or erupting and curtail it. Restraint in the senses can translate into restraint in conduct. That which cannot always be said or expressed in words can still be done. Be consistent.

5) Discipline the spirit. The path to personal harmony invites you to discipline your spirit and to explore power found in action and inaction.  Take steps to reconnect with chi energy and strengthen links between mind, body and spirit. Learn how the storage and sudden discharge of energy is possible without the use of muscular force. Learning is perpetual your way.

6 Strategies to leave your comfort zone

Many people will speak about comfort zones, but that does not always mean they understand their own or how to get out of them. Comfort zones are situations that are familiar and often turn into habits. Who truly knows what is good for the self? You know what's best for you, but you do not always listen to what the heart knows.  Venturing beyond comfort zones enables you to grow.

When it comes to stepping outside a comfort zone, each person is capable, but that does not mean they are always willing or have the awareness to know how it helps.  To get the ball rolling, you benefit from learning to follow the thread back to understand your current mindset and the underlying reasons for it.  Consider these strategies to step outside your comfort zone;

1) Notice where you are.  Self-awareness has many levels. To recognize the obvious as well as subtle nuances helps you to clarify how and why you feel as you do where you are. This includes decriptive things like physical address, geography, conditions. How you describe this adds layers and labels to your perceived identity, that is, how you view yourself as a point of reference.

2) Pinpoint the why. Environments and self-image begin to feel comfortable due to mental conditioning.  This relates back to how you feel. Some part of you begins to believe it is good for you, desirable or helpful for you to stay where you are. Your perceptions may reflect elements of truth or illusions, but your action will align with beliefs. In essence, you imagine reasons for anxiety and insecurity with mental limits when none of these things exist.

3) Identify a sense of risk. A sense of risk triggers fear of threat or loss.  As you imagine new kinds of experiences, part of you may be receptive, but if a more dominant side resists changes, then you are less likely to do so.  The irony is that how you think and feel may not be grounded in reality.  You may assume making a certain choice will necessarily have negative repercussions when this is not the case.  All or none of your assumptions may be true. Yet, without further investigation, you may be permitting fear to control you.

4) Attune to energy. To become more self-aware of energy flow requires you to connect your actions and self-conscious awareness with what seems natural or going against the grain.  Review how a sense of time, perceived abilities and self-confidence, all play a role in your decision to perceive challenges and take steps to repond or not.  How you experience energy influences whether you take steps to exert control or respond differently.

5) Align the body & mind. Ever heard the phrase the mind is willing but the body is not or vice versa? Adjustments are required to coordinate the functioning of different parts of you.  The answers lie inside.  Sometimes guidance is helpful to navigate through obstacles. Getting back in touch with your natural state requires you work though conditioning on many levels to dissolve what no longer works.  No single recipe is the answer for all. Embracing change is a process.

6) Awaken to sources of joy. From the moment you choose to reframe struggle, you begin to realize the very experience itself is like powerful medicine.  To get this far helps you to realize you already access wisdom.  Make smooth transitions. Guide yourself to empowerment with love.  

"Comfort zones are most often expanded through discomfort." -Peter McWilliams