TheLeaderInside.com

Here’s hoping that you had a great weekend. I know there were holidays in some countries, so if you had one I hope it was good for you. Before we got sidetracked over the past two weeks with our brief excursion into “Ron’s Buddhist 101″ course, we were talking about happiness — and how deeply you truly desire to have it in your life. We looked into our constant need for more — or better — and how those needs were getting in the way of finding the happiness we all seek. It’s that darn ego again. Once we find ways to quiet that craving for more and more, we will find that we don’t need more things to make us happy — because we already are.

Before we proceed with today’s article, let’s do a short meditation. This guided meditation is especially pertinent to what we wrote about today, so I hope you’ll stop here and take these few minutes to dwell in the peace of the Present. It is about 10 minutes in length. I should warn you that it does cut off rather abruptly at the end. Take a couple of deep breaths and relax your body and your mind.
===================================================
Here’s a link just in case the video doesn’t play when you press the “Play” button.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR6bOMeBBd4

====================================================
Yes, we are already happy. That is the truth. I hope you can find it in yourself to believe it. The real you — the essence of you — has always been happy and it has always been possible for you to feel this happiness. Whenever you can stop thinking or stop paying attention to your ego-mind, there it is: peace, compassion, contentment, happiness, and joy. It turns out that the only thing in the way of your happiness is your thinking that takes you away from the NOW and into the past or the future.

As we talked about in the articles about Buddhism, this involvement with this ego part of you is the cause of suffering. This ego-you and suffering go hand-in-hand; you can’t have one without the other. So, the choice is clear: You can be involved with all your egoic thinking and suffer, or you can be involved with the real you and be happy.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been following the discussions on the Oprah Soul Series with Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor. Those of you who have been reading this blog will recall that I showed you a video about Dr. Taylor’s amazing experience when she had a stroke. She experienced complete peace — or in her words, “Nirvana”. You can find that video in the post I did a few weeks ago. Scroll down to the last part of that article and you’ll find it. Here’s the link to the article:

http://www.theleaderinside.com/meditation-finding-the-present.html

I also decided to get her book, “My Stroke of Insight” and am reading it now. I highly recommend it. What Dr. Taylor describes in the video and also in her book is how, since her stroke, she is now able to go to the Present — the Now — at will. She pays close attention to her thoughts and to her feelings generated by those thoughts. If what she’s thinking causes any negative or stressful feelings in her body, she just says, “No thanks! I don’t need that in my life!” She then dismisses that thought and returns to the peaceful present.

The same holds true for any actions she’s considering. If the thought of taking that action causes her to feel discomfort - or just doesn’t feel “right” — that action doesn’t happen. If it does give her a good feeling to go ahead with that action, she moves forward knowing it’s the right thing to do.

So, the goal for all of us to learn to be more aware of our thinking and how we feel about what we’re thinking. If those thoughts are causing us discomfort, stress or negativity, then dismiss them, and move on. If you’re thinking about embarking on some activity, but you have that nagging feeling of negativity in the pit of your stomach, that’s your signal that there may be something in that activity that will cause you to feel unhappy. It may be that you need to say, “No thanks. I don’t need that in my life!”

There’s a quotation from Dinah Craik, from A Life for a Life, that has a phrase worth repeating here.

When it comes to our discursive thinking that takes us away from our inherent happiness ……

I’d love to hear your comments on this. At the very end of this post (after the commercials and the tags) you should see a place where you can leave your comment. It will be a link that says “No Comments” — or “Comments”. Let me hear from you. Thanks.
====================================
Those glimpses we get of peace, love, acceptance and happiness when we’re meditating will soon grow into more than glimpses if we keep practicing. Keep those feelings alive. A meditation can be as simple as one, deep, conscious breath. When something happens in one of your moments to cause you to suffer, just stop and take one of those breaths and remember, “This too shall pass!” Another thing that is wonderful, especially at this time of year, is to have a fresh flower where you work. Just stop from time-to-time and look at it — don’t label it — don’t judge it — just be with it for a couple of moments. It really does work. I’m looking at mine as I write this.

=====================================
If you’re new to us here, be sure read the entire series about meditation. If you look on the upper left of the sidebar, you’ll see a list of the categories. Click the one called “Meditation” and you’ll be able to read the articles you missed. They start with the January 24, 2008 post. The video meditations that I included with the earlier articles may no longer function. I’m sorry about that, but those are out of my control. Hopefully, they’ll all still be working.

Do include meditation in your daily life. If you’re just starting out, make it a 10 minute meditation. If you’ve been doing this for a while, try to do a minimum of 20 to 30 minutes. The longer you can maintain your focus on just your breath, the better. And, remember, anytime you take a deep, conscious breath — a breath where you’re putting your focus on that breath — that’s a meditation. Do it often every day — especially when you’re feeling stressed. I guarantee, you’ll find more peace and happiness in your life if you’ll do this.

Namaste!

And, as I always say in closing — remember these words …

You are special — and you are loved. You are the greatest gift you can be.

Shanti … (A sanscrit word meaning, “Let there be Peace. Peace, beautiful Peace. Peace within, Peace without. Peace in this world. Peace for all beings.”)

~~~ Ron
http://www.theleaderinside.com
http://www.wecould2.com

P.S. Remember, that if you have one of the “readers” — like My Yahoo, My MSN, or the Google Reader, or any of the others, you can get our blog sent to you automatically, whenever I post to it. Just click one of the buttons over on the left side to add it to your reader.
================================================================
Even though the live webcasts of the Eckhart Tolle New Earth classes are now concluded, you can still download the entire course. It’s being called “The Best Summer School Course Ever!” I highly recommend it. It’s completely free. All you really have to do is get the book, “A New Earth — Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose” by Eckhart Tolle. You can access the course online at:

http://www.oprah.com/obc_classic/webcast/archive/archive_download.jsp.

You’ll find everything you need there — all 10 classes. If you happen to have iTunes on your computer, you can also access the course by subscribing to it through the podcast link in iTunes. Check it out. Several million people around the globe took part in this amazing spiritual teaching. I hope you’ll soon be one of them. This is how we can create a new consciousness on the New Earth.

================================================================
In my meditation I often use what I believe is a powerful aide to deep meditation. It’s the The Holosync Solution. I knew that meditation was a vital element to nurturing my soul — to opening myself to the universe — and this tool has allowed me to achieve and receive the benefits of deep, long-term meditation — and to achieve it much more quickly. If you’re having trouble “getting meditation to work for you” - then the The Holosync Solution is what you’re looking for.

Regular, daily meditation can give you …

(1) Increased intelligence and creativity.
(2) Lower stress levels — and with that — increased ability to handle whatever the world tosses your way.
(3) New levels of self-awareness and inner peace.
(4) The healing of emotional issues at the deepest levels.
(5) It is the proven path to finding the peace, love and compassion within all of us –

— it’s definitely worth taking the time for this powerful practice every day.

With a One-Year 100% Iron-Clad Guarantee, you can now do so with no risk whatsoever — just click any of the links that say … The Holosync Solution

— The Holosync Solution
================================================================

====================================================================

Technorati Tags: peace, inner self, inner peace, Buddhism, Buddhist, The Secret, Law of Attraction, dreams, spiritual energy, action, value, inner balance, enlightenment, destiny, manifestation, meditation, patience, gratitude, tolerance, acceptance, body balance, life cycle, beginnings, endings, positive thinking, ego, silence, consciousness, staying grounded, cycle of life