Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Saturday – Listening to the Inner Voice

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Awareness, Conscience, going within, Inner guidance, Inner voice, Intuition, Listen, Peace, Quietude, Tranquility

All of us have an inner voice. A voice that advises us. Some call it your conscience, some call it “the muse”, and some don’t know what it is. What I find most interesting about this inner voice is how it reacts to what you do. If you listen to it, it gets more clear over time and gives you more. If you ignore it, it gets very quiet, almost quiet enough that you forget it’s there.

I believe in the inner voice, but it is easy to be fooled from time-to-time. So you have to ask for a confirmation before you jump at something your inner voice tells you. Sometimes we can confuse that inner voice with our own ego. They are dramatically different. If you listen long enough, you recognize the true inner voice and the one that is just you trying to talk you into doing something you shouldn’t do or keep doing. My inner voice is always succinct. When it speaks, it speaks in very short sentences. That’s how I know when the inner voice is the real deal.

You may call this intuition or the subconscious bubbling up, but I think it’s more than that. You may use your intuition to judge or interpret what the inner voice is telling you, but the inner voice is there. It’s like it is coming from deep within you. A place of perfect calm, peace, and tranquility. A voice that has no self-interest, no interest in gain, and no interest in whether you follow it or not. It is just there, providing guidance constantly. If you let it.

It’s the voice that raises a red flag, saying, “You better be careful with that.” It can also provide suggestions, advice, and interesting ideas, particularly if you are trying to create something. Think about Einstein, Edison, or any other great thinker. They all arrived at their novel ideas by just being quiet and going within. Whether it was Edison taking a nap or Einstein’s thought experiments, it was all about going within and getting the answer. How do you get an answer about something that doesn’t exist?

Hopefully, I’ve got you thinking. The inner voice, for those of you who know what I’m talking about, is a huge advantage. It provides you ways to avoid all kinds of self-inflicted trouble. It gives you ideas. It is always there. You just have to listen.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Saturday – Learning from Silence

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Awareness, Calm, Inner Peace, Quiet, silence, solitude, spirituality

Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself and know that everything in this life has a purpose. There are no mistakes, no coincidences. All events are blessings given to us to learn from. Elizabeth Kübler-Ross, Courtesy: Wisdom Quotes

Silence. Most of us have a hard time with it. When I began my spiritual practices, the mind went crazy. Thoughts arose and off I went running down one of many rabbit holes.

When we think of noise, we think of loud voices, music, or traffic. The thoughts in your mind are also a noise. How do you turn this noise off? You rise above it. You can do this in several ways. One way I use is to create a metaphor. My thoughts become a stream of water running by me at my feet. When you can direct your mind to create these types of pictures, it becomes busy with that and the real you can leave it behind, much like a fussy child who is given a toy to play with in a doctor’s office. As soon as they have this source of entertainment, they pipe right down. The real you is Soul.

When I achieve this silent state, my body is calm. It relaxes to a point of almost going to sleep—almost. The serenity of this state is like floating in a perfectly calm pool with a temperature perfect for you. You could stay there for hours. Time stops. Everything is clearer. Each time you achieve this clarity, your awareness grows. This awareness is like the difference between looking down from a tree and looking down from a skyscraper. The more you can see the better decisions you’ll make. You will see the patterns in life and how everything that you experience was exactly what you needed when you needed it.

Experiences are painful and pleasurable. We learn more when things are painful. We learn what not to do. We see how we caused a situation through our lack of awareness. When we learn from these painful episodes, we avoid doing things that cause these painful experiences. This is wisdom.

Well, that’s it for today.

I wish each of you a terrific weekend.

Until next time…

Dave

 

 

 

 

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday – Awareness

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Aeschylus, Awareness, Hump Day, Intuition, Learning, Wednesday, wisdom

“He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.” — Aeschylus

Credit: Brainyquote

Today’s Wednesday Wisdom is about learning and growth. Look back over your life for a few minutes today. Think about the time you grew the most, learned the most, or made a life-changing decision. I bet these were times of great pain and suffering.

I don’t know why, but these times, although unendurable at the time, are the times we grow the most. The point this quote makes is that it is impossible to grow or learn when things are easy. When things are easy, the human mind likes to live in its repetitiveness. Why change? Everything is wired, and the brain loves repetition. Then–BAM!! You get blindsided.

The blindside could be a financial problem, a friend or loved one that betrays you, your job goes away, or any number of disasters. Immediately you go into “scramble mode”. At these times of high stress and trouble we become very creative. We reach out to friends, we read, we do Internet searches, anything we can to find potential solutions to our pain. It is these times that we truly grow.

We learn the things we did or didn’t do that caused our problem. Sometimes we learn that the things we just lost weren’t that important to begin with. Maybe the relationship you were in was on its way out months or even years ago and you’ve held onto it, even though in your “heart of hearts” you knew it wasn’t working for you or them and neither of you could drum up the courage to end it. Maybe you lose your job, again, knowing the company was having financial problems and ignoring the signs. You see, we ignore these signals because our brains want things to stay the way we are. As human beings, we just don’t like change, even though some changes are needed. We just let things go to maintain the status quo, only to discover that they will change anyway—normally at the worst time possible.

None of us want pain in our lives. None of us want change, but life tends to have a way of forcing change, even if we don’t want it. We get sick because we don’t want to change our diet or exercise. We get blindsided by a layoff when we knew we should have started looking for a new job months ago. We knew our significant other wasn’t really into us anymore but stuck around, anyway.

The pain we suffer results from our attachment to the status quo. We like things the way they are and we don’t want them to change, even if the change is happening right before our eyes. So why not make the change ahead of time? It’s hard. We are so good at telling ourselves lies and procrastinating. So what do we do?

The only advice I can give is to be decisive, ask the hard questions, learn what the right thing is and do it. You know when you’re putting on weight, your job isn’t working out, or even a relationship that isn’t fulfilling anymore. You feel it in your bones. You just know. We all have this intuition. We also get warning signs in advance of a real disaster.

These warning signs normally start out as gut feelings. Something isn’t right, but you can’t put your finger on it. Then they elevate. They become more blatant. Now you know something isn’t right but you still avoid doing something. Then, it’s a baseball bat to the head or a kick in the gut. You guessed it. You got blindsided again.

Pay attention to these intuitions. They are not crazy or paranoid. We all get them. It’s important to act on these intuitions, even if it is just looking for more information to test them out. Do not ignore them. I’ve learned this hard lesson so many times and it took so many disasters before I woke up and figured it out.

Now I pay attention to all of them. If something happens that doesn’t make sense or I get the feeling that something is going sideways, I immediately begin digging and looking to verify whether this is something real or my imagination is just overactive. More times than not, the intuition is right. By acting on these intuitions we can avoid a lot of pain and suffering. Being blindsided is no fun. It is better to avoid bad situations by circumventing them now instead of letting them fester.

Well, that’s it for today, folks. I hope all of you have a terrific Wednesday.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Saturday – Grateful for Life

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Acceptance, Awareness, Grateful, Gratitude, Joy, reality, simplicity, spirituality

“When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege, it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love.” Marcus Aurelius

It is a privilege to be alive. I am thankful for each day and all the experiences that come with it. Each of us is here to gain experience and take one more step back to our true home–God. The lessons keep coming and we either learn or fail to recognize the lesson presented to us. The lessons keep coming.

I believe that everything is in its rightful place in the universes of God. It is not reality that is the problem. It is our inability to accept reality for what it is. Some things we can change or avoid, but who can avoid being sick, the death of a loved one, or the loss of a job? No one. These things happen. People get sick, they die, and in today’s business climate will lose work.

There is always a lesson to be learned in every problem we encounter. You can get emotional, you can throw a tantrum, you can ignore the problem, but the problem and the lesson remain. God is persistent. If you fail this time, God will give you ample opportunity to try again, and again, and again. God has all the time there is to help you grow and return to your home. It will happen sooner or later. Why not make it sooner?

I have had a good share of trouble in my life. I’ve filed bankruptcy twice, divorced twice, lost a home, surrendered a few vehicles, lost my job, and a whole host of other things. Did I learn anything? You bet. I realized that happiness has nothing to do with whom you have in your life, how healthy or sick you are, or if you have a soul mate. Happiness is a personal choice. If you want to be happy–be happy. It is that simple.

Find the joy in the moment. Savor that first cup of coffee. Listen to a loved one tell you about his or her day. Talk to your dog or cat and spend time with them. Enjoy every bite of that cheesecake. Happiness to me is all about paying attention to how great we all have it. I have enough food to eat; I have a roof over my head; I have projects that keep me busy; we have a nice dog, a nice home, a great backyard, and the technology we need to interact online, play games, and watch television shows.

For me happiness is recognizing the things I have, rather than thinking about what I do not have. It is literally taking into account all the things I am grateful for and savoring the thoughts that come from that place where all is well. I do this every morning and it is really a great thing to do. Simply write down all the things you are grateful for and keep adding to the list until you feel it–that feeling of comfort, love, and satisfaction, knowing all is right with your world. I do this in my gratitude journal and it is an awesome daily practice. Try it out. Start small and write down 3 things you are grateful for. That’s it. As you establish this habit, you’ll find that you will uncover more and more things you are grateful for. Be as specific as you want or as generalized as you want.

When you have established the habit of a gratitude journal, you’ll begin to notice a shift in your attitude. You will begin to realize that you really do have all you need. Things will rattle you less. Things will roll off of your back instead of sticking to you. When you realize you have all you need, life becomes a true joy to live.

Thank you, to all of my new followers this week. I really appreciate the growth. My goal this year is to get to 1000 followers. I am at 564 so far, so I have some more work to do to gain more. If you enjoy reading Daily Ramblings, send your friends here. I thank you in advance for any help you provide.

Two things I’d like you to keep in the back of your mind as you move forward with your life. All is in its rightful place in the universes of God and God will never give you a problem you cannot solve. These two points should give you great solace as you move forward. I wish you well.

Have a great Saturday everybody! See you on Monday!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday -How We React is What Matters

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Awareness, Balance, Detachment, Filters, Internal Maps, Negativity, Positivity, Reaction, reality

“It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.”—Epictetus

There are so many things that happen to us that are out of our control. We get sick. We suffer during national disasters. The people in our lives betray us.

I’ve been doing a lot of research on the mind and have learned a great deal. Each of us has an internal filter. This filter causes us to miss, alter, or even delete the inputs we receive from our environment. This filtering is both unconscious and automatic. If our filter is healthy, there are no problems. If our filter is unhealthy, there are all kinds of problems.

Some people can look at a situation and see the good in it, regardless of the circumstances. Others could look at the same situation and see the worst. All of us do this. We test our environments and make judgements. These judgements affect the way we interpret our lives.

Have you ever noticed how some people are always experiencing one disaster after another? Everything seems to go wrong. Their health is bad, their outlook is mainly negative, and they expect the worst. The people in their lives cause problems, their decisions cause problems. All of this occurs because of their internal wiring. Because their perceptions and filters are on automatic, they cannot change what they see. Their lives perpetuate a vicious cycle because that’s all they can see.

The opposite of this person is someone who walks through life in bliss. Everything they touch turns to gold. Anything they try to do yields results. Their relationships are healthy. They are healthy. Their outlook is positive. Like their counterpart above, they automatically look for the good and this is what they get.

Most of us fall in between these two individuals. Some things that happen to us we feel bad about while other things happen that we feel good about. All of us have that weakness or outlook that plague us.

Regardless of our internal filters or maps, we all deal with reality. Reality is. Things happen to us. Our reaction to this reality dictates our mood. Some will look at a bad situation and see the good in it. Some will look at a bad situation and only see the bad. Some will rail against this reality and try to change it. They fail, become frustrated, and continue to complain about reality, which will not change.

What’s the solution to this problem? Acceptance and detachment. If we accept reality for what it is, we adapt to it. Detachment eases suffering. We expect nothing; we accept everything as it is. We can still set goals, pursue our interests, and strive for what we want, but remain in a detached state about our results. This detachment allows us to continue to strive and accept the results we have attained. Then we adjust and push forward again. We don’t get pissed; we don’t get ecstatic. We accept things for what they are, make the changes we can, and live with the rest in peace. We are in peace because our detachment allows us to be happy with what we have without expectation.

If you react to something in an inefficient or unhelpful manner, stop. Examine your internal processes. What triggers your reaction? If you can sit back and observe yourself being triggered, you can locate how you create this feeling. Once you understand how you create these inefficient feelings, you can change them. In most cases, once you realize something inside you that does not serve you, it will fade away. Your awareness is key.

I hope all of you have a terrific day!

Until next time…

Dave

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