Body, Emotions, Mind - Be Still (2)
"An average man's mind is filled with countless thoughts and, therefore, each individual one is extremely weak. When, in stead of these many useless thoughts, there is only one, it is a power in itself and has a wide influence." (Sri Ramana Maharshi, as quoted in "Concentration" by Mouni Sadhu (Mandala Books, Unwin Paperbacks, London, 1959, re-issued 1986).
SING A LITTLE SONG
Music produces moods, brings associations and the emotions related to them, whether it is background music or music one expressly listens to. Everyone has favourite melodies, often associated with some happy past event or experience, melodies one gladly remembers. Select a few you really like and learn to produce them mentally. Next, hum them softly. Then, when you feel depressed, quickly choose one of those happy tunes and hum it to yourself for as long as needed to calm yourself and uplift your feelings. With a little practice, you will soon experience the beneficial results. Only a few tunes should be used - no more than three, not dozens. This is not denial of your feelings; you are prodding them to change into other, more uplifting feelings, and thus they are not ignored, but transformed. (Transforming or changing one's feelings or mood is the key to emotional health.)
THINK KIND THOUGHTS
When you feel unhappy, troubled, dissatisfied with your situation, your life, your world, it is your attitude that makes you like that. However, if you are willing to change your attitude for the better, and, if you do change it, you will find that everything else changes for the better, by themselves, almost like magic: your situation, your life, your relationships with other people, etc.
Changing one's attitude is not such a big issue as you think - if you know what to do. However, a new attitude should be functional and become a habit. Daily practice for three months at least is needed. When you do the following two or three times a week for at least three months, the results will astound you, I promise! Just follow the instructions carefully.
a. First find a room where you won't be disturbed and distracted by noise, children, adults, animals.
b. Sit in an upright chair (e.g. dining-room chair), in the Egyptian pharaoh position, with your arms on the arm-rests, or else with hands placed palms downwards on each leg with both feet flat on the floor and the legs in a ninety degree kneebend (or as near ninety degrees as possible).
c. In the short sentences you will say to yourself, always use words and sentences with a positive connotation – no "not" sentences or "un-"words; for instance, words, such as "unbiased", which is supposed to have a positive meaning, or strong, negative words such as "fear", "danger", "evil", but their opposites, like "peaceful", "calm", "serene", "happy”, "protected", "well"; you will thus make a greater impact on your conscious, unconscious and superconscious.
Persons who are very self-critical often don't believe any positive statement or affirmation they make to themselves in order to become a positive thinker. Thus, the "power" to be gained by positive thinking is never theirs. The "may" sentences used in our exercise will not "challenge" the critical faculties of your mind.
d. When calling persons to mind, as required by the exercise, it is important not to think of any of their deeds or actions, only of their appearance, with a smiling or calm face. They must all be living persons, not deceased ones.
MIND EXERCISE IN LOVING KINDNESS
Step 1. First turn your attention to yourself and say, clearly and explicitly, things like the following to yourself: "May I be well". "May I feel peaceful and calm". "May I be well protected". "May my mind be open and free". "May my heart be filled with warmth and love". "May I be happy". Take your time and think of more things to say in this vein, then move on to Step 2.
Step 2. Think of a loved one - just call the person to mind. Say explicitly: "May ... (the person's name)... be happy and well".
Step 3. Think of a second loved one and do the same.
Step 4. Think of a third loved one and do the same.
Step 5. Think of someone you feel neutral about. Again, just call the person to mind and say explicitly: " May... (name of person)... be happy and well".
Step 6. Think of a second person you feel neutral about and do the same.
Step 7. Think of a third person you feel neutral about and do the same.
Step 8. Think of someone you dislike or even hate, calling the person's face to mind, nothing else, and saying: "May ... (person's name)... be happy and well".
Step 9. Think of a second person you dislike or hate and do the same.
Step 10. Think of a third person you dislike or hate and do the same.
Step 11. Sit back and cross your hands over you breast, saying to yourself, explicitly: "May I be well and content".
Step 12. Stretch your arms and upper body to get rid of the stiffness of sitting still and concentrating, get up and go!
So simple, so effective, so very important for mental and emotional health. It contains the secret of forgiveness. Keep on doing it, regularly, once a day, until, after some time, you will no longer be able to think of any person you dislike or hate – the ones you used to dislike or hate would all have become "neutral", and you would feel wonderfully free!
Another huge difference this exercise will make in your life, and which you will gradually become aware of, as you develop your neutrality, is that the attitude of other people (new acquaintances and old ones) towards you would be different, or become so, and be much more acceptable to you.
By changing your attitude (wishing yourself and others well), you also change your mood, and if you keep up with it, you change your daily outlook on life. You are the one who's doing it to you, nobody else. You are ordering your life yourself. You are becoming a master of yourself, and your emotions will no longer rule you, because you've learned how to change them and have found out that that does not only make you feel better, but that it also changes the way others respond to you.
OMNI'S WISDOM
Consider the wisdom and practical advice of the loving spiritual teacher, “Omni”, as channelled by John Payne in the following excerpt from one of his articles on the webpages of “Spiritweb” (now defunct):
"So what is forgiveness? How can we learn to forgive? Forgiveness is choosing to change a thought, belief and an emotion in respect of other people and situations. Forgiveness is a process of transforming energy. Forgiveness is a choice, as is not forgiving. When there is someone in your life that you think you cannot forgive, then the energy of that person and that situation remains within your aura. There are lines of energy that exists between you and every other person you have ever had an exchange with, no matter how trivial. So, when you find it impossible to forgive another person, you remain energetically connected to that person. Therefore, you are allowing the pain, the abuse and the trauma to remain with you. This is a choice. Forgiveness is not something that you can or cannot do. It is simply a matter of choosing to change your thoughts, beliefs and ideas about a given situation or person in your life. Forgiveness is the most important aspect of your spiritual growth, and it is the forgiveness of the self that hands you the key to the light of your soul. All is energy in the Universe, so free yourself from the question of motivation when it comes to forgiveness. By not forgiving another, or by not allowing his or her energy to leave you, you are allowing the pain and the abuse to continue. It is as simple as that. So the only decision that you have to make regarding forgiveness is this: Am I willing to let go of the pain and abuse, or will I allow this person or situation to persecute me for the rest of this life? Additionally, the act of forgiveness also allows the other person to move on, be they still in your environment or elsewhere. When you change the energy pattern that this person has stimulated you to create in your aura, then you also let go of this person on an energetic level. Until the moment you are able to forgive and release a person from guilt, or from the responsibility for your pain, this person remains energetically aligned with you at one or more levels. In essence, if you have been raped, physically or sexually abused, or verbally denigrated by a parent, teacher or other authority figure, you are still living as the raped, the abused and the denigrated by not forgiving and letting go of these people and situations. You can choose to live your life with another identity if you so wish. This is a choice.”
OMNI'S EXERCISE
“1) Take a deep breath into the lower belly and breathe out again as if you are letting go of all your daily cares and worries. Do this several times. Begin also to breathe into the upper chest and imagine that the back of your neck is opening, creating a tunnel through which energies can flow up through your body into the cosmos and from the cosmos down through your spine into your legs and feet.
2) Next visualize a light in the centre of your chest, your heart centre. See this light become brighter and brighter as you continue to breathe into the upper chest. Start opening your heart even further and allow more and more light to flow in and out of this centre of divine love. Visualize the most beautiful light that you can, be it white, gold or any other colour that you feel would express the love within your heart. Continue with this visualization until you feel that you are centred within yourself and are at peace with yourself and the world.
3) Now imagine that you are standing or sitting in the middle of a triangle that is composed of rods of golden light. See how bright, shimmering, and radiant these rods of golden light are. Notice that these rods are of a higher vibration than you normally experience, and feel the energy that they are transmitting to you as you sit or stand in the middle of this triangle.
4) Now visualize three rods of golden energy coming out of your heart and attaching themselves to each of the points of the triangle. You are now one with the triangle. Place at one of the points of the triangle the image of someone that you love very dearly, and send them your wishes of love and peace, and feel how this love reverberates around the triangle, and feel how every particle of light within the triangle and yourself begins to resonate with this love. In another point of the triangle, place the image of someone or something that you hold very dear to yourself. This can be a favourite pet, your guide, the image of an angel, or your favourite landscape. Use your imagination. Allow the same resonance of love to emanate from your heart towards that corner, and feel how the intensity of the entire triangle is stepped up in vibration.
5) Finally, place the image of someone that you have not yet forgiven into the remaining corner of the triangle and feel how the resonance of love flows automatically towards this person from around the triangle and from your heart. Concentrate once more on the first two corners of the triangle and allow the resonance of love to flow automatically around the triangle, and become this triangle of love.
You may do this exercise as often as you feel is appropriate. The purpose of this exercise is to raise the vibration of any energy that you are holding in your aura that comes from other people and situations in your life that you are yet to let go of."
Click on "feel" below for discussions about emotions, OR on "bridgeoflight" - the first of three articles about the esoteric philosophy and metaphysical background to knowing and mastering oneself. Clicking on "bestill" will take you back to the first part of these simple mind and visualization exercises aimed at balancing and aligning oneself, and calming and changing one's mood and way of thinking. My general introductory page is "innersenses". In "Banning lack" – the link is "banlack" – I talk about what one's mindset really should be in banning lack and creating abundance.
 WebSpawner Page Machine |
| bestill |
| innersenses |
| bridgeoflight |
| feel |
| banlack |
Send E-Mail to: vanzijlsm@telkomsa.netCopyright © 2000 Susanna. All Rights Reserved