Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Saturday – Building Awareness

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Awareness, Light and Sound, Spiritual Exercises, Sri Harold Klemp, The Living Eck Master, The Mahanta

“Life is a series of interconnected wheels. Very little can happen to you without it being known ahead of time by you. All you have to do is learn to be aware.” —Harold Klemp The Language of Soul

Have you ever had a premonition or insight into something that might be coming into your life? There are many stories of people through the ages that have had these types of experiences. Abraham Lincoln and Alexander the Great were two of these people. Even Jesus knew of his impending sacrifice at Cavalry (Golgotha) and the future actions of his disciples. How do we gain access to these insights?

In my religion, Eckankar, we simply do spiritual exercises daily. Spiritual exercises are a little different than meditation. Instead of meditating or waiting for something to come, we contemplate. We contemplate by actively pursuing something, be it an answer, to visit a place, or learn something new. All our efforts are guided by a spiritual guide we call the Mahanta.

This practice of going consciously and actively within is not reserved for those of us in Eckankar. You can experience this as well, regardless of your religious path. Simply pay attention and listen when you pray, meditate, or perform any other religious practice specific to your path. It is that simple.

We sing a word called “HU”. It is literally pronounced HUUUUUUUU. We sing this a few times and then just sit and listen. Typically, a spiritual exercise lasts no longer than 15-20 minutes. Sometimes you will see a light or hear a sound. There are all types of colors and sounds that are available to you. These sounds and colors or scenes are simply what we call the “Light and Sound of God”. The HU is for everyone. Whether you are Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, or Christian. The HU will augment your religious practices.

There is no better person to explain this in a more detailed way than the current Mahanta, The Living Eck Master, Sri Harold Klemp. Here is a brief explanation of how the HU can help you if you would like to give it a try:

Well, it has been a great week! My nephew visited for a few days this week and it was great to see him and hang out. He got me and my Dad hooked on “Hell on Wheels” on Netflix. He left today to enjoy the rest of his summer break from college.

I hope all of you have a relaxing weekend.

Until next time…

Dave

Weekly Ramblings – Remaining Centered Despite Life’s Little Surprises

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Calmness, Centeredness, Emotional, Meditation, Spiritual Exercises, Unconscious

I just got back from my Sister’s home after being there for a few days. It’s always a nice change of pace from the day-to-day. I visit my sister each month for a long weekend to hang out, get some good food and binge-watching TV shows or whatever she wants to do. This last trip we went to a comedy show, featuring Rocky LaPorte and Ron White. It was hilarious.

During this short stay, we also experienced a vehicle break down, which resulted in the replacement of a tire on my car. I was wondering how to react to these little-unexpected experiences. How do we stay in balance when something out of the ordinary happens we had no warning of?

I think the best way to handle the unexpected is to be proactive about those things we know may happen but may not. How do we prepare? We have insurance to protect against an accident, insurance for our health, even insurance for our life. We make sure we have an emergency kit in our car and home in case someone gets hurt. We make sure we have a good spare, jack, and other equipment needed to change the tire. We save some of our money to prepare for any potential emergency.

I contemplated about this over the weekend, after it happened, and realized that the key to dealing with the unexpected is to remain calm and balanced as well. It is so easy to be thrown off balance when the boss hands us a job we aren’t ready for, we get sick unexpectedly, or a car breaks down. Any number of things can happen to us or the things we own with little or no notice. Remain calm. Remain balanced. There is no reason to get out of whack when one of these things come to pass. Use your creative imagination to solve the problem once you’re hit with it. Remain calm. Remain balanced.

I practice meditation daily. My religious path calls this practice a spiritual exercise. Spiritual exercises come in all shapes and sizes as most meditation practices. The key is consistency and to have a purpose or goal when doing them. In Eckankar, we strive to practice these spiritual exercises with an open, loving heart. Sometimes, this is hard, particularly when one of these out-of-the-blue emergencies happen. We are freaked out, scared, nervous, the whole emotional gambit. The practice of meditating or spiritual exercises counter these feelings by slowly building a foundation of calmness and centeredness, both of which allow us to remain in control, despite what is happening around us.

Have you ever heard the statement: “He was so angry, he couldn’t think.” Thinking or mentalizing on something is really difficult if your emotions are out of control. The calmness allows us to think, to critically analyze our situation and get to work on solving the current dilemma. What happens when we have internalized solving the kind of problem we are hit with? This solving goes to a higher level. It is literally unconscious, which is what happens when we know how to solve a particular problem without thinking about it. Do you see?

Emotions, come before intellect, which comes before unconscious execution. If one of these is out of balance and control, they make the others that follow impossible to use. If we are too emotional we won’t be able to think about a solution—the emotions won’t allow that. If we are too caught up in mentalizing or thinking about a problem, our ability to apply what we already know is impossible.

By meditating or doing a spiritual exercise every day, we build up an internal centeredness and calmness that becomes more and more difficult to upset our natural balance. Thus, we have access to the creative imagination that would normally be blocked off by a stressful situation. You can find a great wealth of material available about meditation online or read about spiritual exercises at www.eckankar.org.

Have a great week!!

See you next week…

Daily Ramblings – Daily Quote – Happiness is an Attitude

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Attitude, Happiness, Infinity, Love, Reincarnation

“The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things.” – Henry Ward Beecher

Happiness is an attitude, folks. It isn’t about who is in your life, what you own, the places you visit, or the money in your bank account. It is about being in a state of happiness. I talk to a lot of people about this topic, including some of my family members, and it is surprising how many people “chase” happiness. In my humble opinion, you are either happy or you are not. There is no in between.

If it takes outside circumstances, things, or people to make you happy, I’m afraid you’ll be chasing happiness the rest of your life.

Happiness is developed with a sense of gratitude. Happiness is derived from simple things. For me, this life is a treasure–something to be grateful for. I am happy to be alive. I am happy to have had the experiences I have had. I am just happy. Happiness is derived from being thankful for whatever your present circumstances are and is unshakeable, even in the darkest hours.

Sure, we all experience loss. We lose friends. We lose loved ones. We break up and get divorced. These things are unhappy events in our lives, but should not gauge the happiness you feel inside. This reality involves loss. We will all die. Our friends will all die. Our husbands, wives, sons, and daughters will die. There is no escaping this inevitability.

When you think about the finite existence we experience in this life, why be anything but happy. If you believe in reincarnation like I do, what is there to worry about. The real “YOU” never ends–ever. You will be coming back for a do-over, again and again. You will meet friends and family over and over again as each of us returns to this place for more lessons and experience.

Soul is who you are. Soul is infinite. Soul never forgets. Soul is always learning and improving. Experience this life without regret, knowing you are gaining experience and moving forward one step at a time. You have all of the time in the world to experience everything there is. Some of these experiences will be chalked up as bad, while others are good. It takes this opposite nature of our experiences to truly relish what we learn, feel, experience, and gain wisdom from. Without the good or bad, there would be zero difference in our experiences. Be grateful for the bad, the good, and indifferent. They all contribute to you as Soul.

Happiness is an attitude. Actively look for things to be grateful for daily. Actively look for things to experience. Enjoy yourself, regardless of your current situation. Things will get better or worse, but these can’t affect your happiness. Over the long-term, you will get better, the bad and good will fade away into the tapestry of this lifetime.

So, love. Love others. Love yourself. Love the things you do. Love actively. Love. The only thing you will leave this place with is the love in your heart, nothing else. You won’t keep your money, you won’t keep your cars, your home, or even your loved ones. You will pass away and prepare for the next life, forgetting all that happened in this life when you returned, but…

Soul remembers. Love is all there is folks. Love others, contribute, love what you do, and love the life you are living, regardless of how hard or easy it is. There’s always something to be thankful for.

That’s it for today folks.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Daily Quote

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Harold Klemp, Love

If you make a meal, put love into it instead of the frustrations of your day. Because whatever is put into the food is a reflection of what you have inside yourself, and it goes out to your family, it goes out to your friends. And it makes a very real difference. —Harold Klemp – The Language of Soul

This is a very important point. Love is the most important thing in this universe, but many only think about intimate love. The love this quote addresses is an impersonal love or the ability to wish everyone well around you. When you put love into a meal or any task for that matter, it makes a difference to those receiving the benefits of your labor.

Love changes the taste of the food, love changes the quality of the work, love converts everything to a better state.

I wish each you of you a wonderful day, filled with love!

See you tomorrow…