Last week we talked about the disparities we have in our culture today compared to where we were only a few years ago. We’re being constantly bombarded by our leaders and by the commercials we see very day to buy, buy, buy! Of course, what that does is it keeps the money flowing out of our pockets, the pockets of the majority of us, into the pockets of the huge corporations and the pockets of the financial speculators — and from there into the pockets of our elected officials, governments and other major powerful interests.

I said that this week we’d spend some time looking at some of the ways we might break out of this cycle. When we look at the “big picture” what does it tell us that we need to do? Obviously, we have to make some changes in the way we live. Yes, I can hear you saying, “Okay, I can see that, but how much will we have to suffer to bring about these changes in our lifestyles?”

We can see that we have to control our cravings for more and more of the material and natural goods, the cravings that the corporations use to keep us spending. We need to focus more on developing caring communities, instead of living our lives in complete isolation from our neighbors. We need to figure out ways to bring an end to using war as a method to solve international disputes. We need to find ways to return to our ideals of being a truly democratic society without the current extremes of wealth and poverty. It’s not just us here in America — these changes need to happen throughout the world. Our governmental ideals need to return to the concept of our founders who dictated that governments are managed by the people, for the people, and of the people. And, we the people need to be devoted to our own well-being as well as the well-being of nature.

There is no way we can say we want democracy but we don’t want to make the sacrifices to promote sustainability. There is no way we can want happiness, but turn our noses up at promoting justice. These things are all linked together and there isn’t any room for behind the scenes deal-making.

We live today believing in so many myths about what sort of hardships doing these things will cause. How can a more equitable distribution of resources hurt poor people? Think about all the stories we hear from the nay-sayers about how taking important steps to save our planet will cause us to suffer because life won’t be as fun as it used to be.

Think about this. Wouldn’t it be nice if it turned out that the choices we must make together to survive together are the same as the choices we need to make to create the very world everyone wants? If that were true, then we should be able to just get together and make it happen. Wouldn’t that be cool? Maybe we should start a conversation to find out what people truly want.

Before we close this article for today, I’d like to share this short video with you.

This is a story about a planet which will vanish…if we don’t take some action today to change it. We can help by beginning today to conserve our resources. The video is about 3 minutes long and is well worth your time.

In the event the video doesn’t play for some reason, here is a direct link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h9Uw1K8jJc

Next week we’ll go on and talk about this conversation we could have and what sort of things we’ll actually discuss when that happens. We’ll talk about what some of the fundamental principles are for building a just, sustainable and peaceful global society. We’ll talk about those shared responsibilities we all have for the well-being of the human family and the larger living world.

Stay tuned. Come back next week and join in this important discussion.
=================================================

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.
========================================

I know, this blog has always been aimed at a more spiritual discussion, and I will eventually get back to it. I believe that those of us who are working for more spiritual growth in our world have to be a part of The New Earth, and these latest posts do relate to that. (See Eckhart Tolle links below.) I meditate to help keep me sane in this crazy world of today. 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, I’ve written a series of articles 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 or 15 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 — that’s 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!

I have some new words for you 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!” That’s the truth and 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.

Also, Oprah now has her Soul Series of Webcasts started. There is a series with Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor and more from Eckhart Tolle. You can get these from this site for downloading:

http://www2.oprah.com/spiritself/oss/ss_oss_archive.jhtml

This is also available as an iTunes subscription. I’ve listened/watched all of these so far, and I highly recommend them.
================================================================
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, Mother Earth, sustainability

Last week we talked about the growing disparity between those that have and those that don’t. Our current way of handling this problem is to encourage those who don’t have — to spend, spend, spend. Did you catch the way our government handled the recent economic stimulus check? What did they encourage all of us to do? You got it! It was to take that check and go out and buy something. Don’t save it! Don’t pay something off! Go spend it! Of course, the more we spend, the better off will be those who produce the products, and we spenders will continue to struggle to keep our heads above water. This is the way we’re trying to get ourselves out of poverty - by spending our way out of it.

Sorry to break the news to you — but that won’t work. The only way is to fix the root of the problem, not merely apply more band-aids. Our planet can’t handle any more of the same-old, same-old. We need to find ways to redistribute our resources and to move our production from nonessential to essential uses.

Now, that last paragraph may sound a bit communistic. On the contrary. I am a proud American and a firm believer that our country can be the country I grew up to love. Only over the past 20 years or so has our country shifted away from the ideals that made it the envy of the world. There was a time, not so long ago, that we lived in a middle-class democracy without the class extremes that we’re experiencing today. We once believed that equity was the reason our democracy worked. That ideal of equity represented what our country was all about. None of us has the right to take the natural wealth we inherited from our Mother Earth and try to monopolize it — and monopolize it to the extent that our fellow beings are excluded in some way.

In America we elect our government officials by a democratic form of voting. If so, then who’s to blame for the way our elected officials are performing? Is it our fault for not electing the right people? Or is it their fault for not using their power properly?

You know what’s surprising? Neither of those answers is entirely correct. Nope, our world is not governed by democratically elected governments as you might think. Rather, we are ruled by money-power. It’s the huge financial companies and the financial speculators, the gamblers, who are swapping billions (maybe it’s trillions) of dollars every day looking for more and more profit so that their bottom-lines get fatter and fatter. As they get richer and richer, their power in the world grows exponentially. This gives them the power to buy our governments and our elected officials. Plus, they can buy and sell corporations like candy in a candy store. Those corporations and the speculators that own them have an obligation to make more and greater profits to make the speculators more and more wealthy. The way they do this is to get the rest of us to buy more of their stuff than we need.

Looking at the “big picture” tells us quite a bit about what we need to know, doesn’t it? The hard fact about how to fix this mess is that it means we’ll have to make some changes — and we’re all wondering how much suffering we’ll have to endure if we agree to those changes.

Next week, we’ll take a look at what some of those changes are and what effect they’ll have on us and our world.

Stay tuned.
=================================================
How many of you took the time to watch “The Story of Stuff” by Annie Leonard that I gave you the link for last week? If you didn’t take the time — or you’re new to us here at this blog — then here’s the link again:

http://www.storyofstuff.com

Do take the time to do this today. This short video is an absolutely remarkable way to graphically show you how a system like the one we live with today is designed to make a small number of people very rich, without paying any attention to what that system is doing to our human and natural resources.

I’m not done with this rant — but that’s enough for this week. I’ll pick it up here next week on Thursday. I hope you’ll check back and see what else I’m thinking along these lines.

Again, I’d like to urge you to watch this video. It will take about 20 minutes of your valuable time. Even if you don’t feel that you can spare 20 minutes right now, I urge you to make an exception and take the time to watch this. If nothing else, you’ll hopefully see that I’m not alone in expressing the frustration with what I’m describing in this article.

And also, please share it with others.

Here’s the link again:

http://www.storyofstuff.com

C’mon back next week!
======================

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.
=====================

You would think that the writer of these past two articles wasn’t the same person that has been authoring this blog since the beginning. I’m still the same guy, but I also believe that those of us who are working for more spiritual growth in our world have to be a part of The New Earth. (See Eckhart Tolle links below.) I meditate to help keep me sane. 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.

======================
Although I’m on a bit of a rant for these next articles, I still would like you to bring meditation into your life. It sure is helping to keep me reasonably sane. If you’re new to us here, I’ve written a series of articles 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 — that’s 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.

Also, Oprah now has her Soul Series of Webcasts started. There is a series with Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor and more from Eckhart Tolle. You can get these from this site for downloading:

http://www2.oprah.com/spiritself/oss/ss_oss_archive.jhtml

I’ve listened/watched all of these so far, and I highly recommend them. If you have iTunes, you can subscribe to them.
================================================================
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

How many of you were, or are, fans of Star Trek? I know that I certainly did enjoy all those episodes of the far-out problems those folks would encounter on their voyages through space and time. There’s one set of lines that seemed to be repeated often in those episodes that had to do with one of the crew members reporting to Captain Kirk that “All Life Support Systems Are Failing!” I don’t remember exactly the words Captain Kirk used in response, but it was something like, “Shut everything down that isn’t essential and put all our resources into the life support systems.”

It’s kind of like that for us here on planet Earth, isn’t it? We have to quit devoting so much of our resources to fighting wars and other “pork barrel” projects promoted by our Congresspeople, and instead put our resources into the health of our people and our planet. We need to shore up our life support systems and we need to do it now.

That would mean dumping a lot of the wasteful systems that are in effect these days. Things like manufacturing items that are designed to be thrown away after minimal use — cut back on projects that make the rich richer and the poor poorer. Our dollars need to be spent on education, health care, pollution reduction and peaceful pursuits with all nations. We need to devote more of our resources to our communities. For example, sidewalks, bicycles, bicycle paths and, above all, public transportation, especially in areas where the distances from home to work are too far apart for non-automotive travel. We need to turn our advertising budgets away from all the push for more consumption and into ways to conserve ourselves and our resources.

In other words, we have to start doing almost the exact opposite of what we’re doing today. We have to begin to do the exact opposite of what our current economic systems and our political systems are designed to promote.

I saw a statistic recently that made me happy I was sitting down (not happy otherwise!) when I read it. It was in a Forbes Magazine I picked up while in a waiting room. The articles pointed out that in 2005 there were 691 billionaires in the world. In 2008, there are 1,250 of them — nearly double. They have a combined wealth estimated at $4.4 trillion dollars. Thats’ the kind of inequality we are living with these days — we live in a world where the division between the wealthy and the poor is more and more pronounced. The article didn’t talk about how many millionaires there are, but I’d be willing to bet that the growth in that category is similar to the billionaires. These are the folks that are getting the huge tax breaks. The richest 1% of the people in the world own 51% of all the world’s assets. That’s awful enough, but did you know that the opposite is also true — that the poorest 50% of the world’s people own only 1% of the assets?

This same article gave this example of how the system today is working: A poor family would like to grow some food and they find a small plot of land on which to grow that food. A wealthy family wants the same piece of land to build a 20,000 square foot vacation home that they’ll use for about a month each year. It doesn’t take a high IQ to figure out who gets the land, does it? While this is going on we keep hearing the politicians tell us that the only way to lift up the poor to prosperity is to have more economic growth. Translated that means, get the poor to spend more of their hard-earned dollars on “stuff” that the rich people are producing. As long as they keep spending they’ll stay poor and under the control of the rich.

When we look at the “big picture” all we can truly say is, “There’s something wrong with this picture!”

This disparity will continue to grow unless we start looking at the “big picture” and go to the source of the problems we face and quit letting the current “powers that be” dictate a bunch of band-aids that will have no long-lasting positive effects.

How many of you took the time to watch “The Story of Stuff” by Annie Leonard that I gave you the link for last week? If you didn’t take the time — or you’re new to us here at this blog — then here’s the link again:

http://www.storyofstuff.com

Do take the time to do this today. This short video is an absolutely remarkable way to graphically show you how a system like the one we live with today is designed to make a small number of people very rich, without paying any attention to what that system is doing to our human and natural resources.

I’m not done with this rant — but that’s enough for this week. I’ll pick it up here next week on Thursday. I hope you’ll check back and see what else I’m thinking along these lines.

Again, I’d like to urge you to watch this video. It will take about 20 minutes of your valuable time. Even if you don’t feel that you can spare 20 minutes right now, I urge you to make an exception and take the time to watch this. If nothing else, you’ll hopefully see that I’m not alone in expressing the frustration with what I’m describing in this article.

And also, please share it with others.

Here’s the link again:

http://www.storyofstuff.com

Stay tuned.
====================================================

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.
=====================

One of the reasons why I don’t go completely bonkers with all the frustrations I’m writing about in these articles is because of my time each day in meditation. 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.

======================
Although I’m on a bit of a rant for these next articles, I still would like you to bring meditation into your life. It sure is helping to keep me reasonably sane. If you’re new to us here, I’ve written a series of articles 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 — that’s 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.

Also, Oprah now has her Soul Series of Webcasts started. There is a series with Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor and more from Eckhart Tolle. You can get these from this site for downloading:

http://www2.oprah.com/spiritself/oss/ss_oss_archive.jhtml

I’ve listened/watched all of these so far, and I highly recommend them. If you have iTunes, you can subscribe to them.
================================================================
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

As I mentioned last week, for the next few issues of this blog, I’m going to write about something that has been on my mind almost to the point of distraction. I know that a great many of the readers of this blog are residents of countries other than the United States, but I feel reasonably certain that although I’m writing this from my own perspective as a resident of the USA, what I have to say will apply to wherever you live. I would like to write about what the mainstream media in this country seems to want to ignore, and that is the big picture of what is going on around all of us — and that big picture is our own awareness of the crisis that is unfolding at a rapid rate and our current reaction to it.

We have been warned over the past few decades that if we didn’t learn to curb our human ways of living — to change our reckless human ways of living — that there would be a price to pay. We were warned, time and time again, that someday we would reach the point of a “day of reckoning”. For the most part, we chose to ignore those warnings.

Well, guess what, folks? That day has arrived. It’s no longer sometime in the future — it is now. It is now and we know it and it’s time we did something about it.

Here in the United States we’re facing gasoline prices higher than we’ve ever faced before. I know that it’s both better and worse in some other countries, but the point is that our demand has far exceeded the supply of this fuel source. Our environment is in chaos. The ice packs at both poles is receding rapidly. The terrible storms — hurricanes — tornadoes — floods — and the opposite — drought — forest fires — excessive heat — plus earth quakes and other environmental disasters are becoming a common occurrence all over the world. Our economy is nearing the point of financial collapse. We’re engaged in illegal wars and the threat of even more violent stupidity in our world political dealings. Yet despite all this, we would much rather concern ourselves with what some celebrity was up to yesterday — or whether our favorite sports team won or lost the game — or which fashion accessory we should buy to wear to the party — or whatever other habit of consumption we decide to embark on next.

In several of our articles about meditation over the past weeks, we talked about the lifestyle that we should try to adopt for ourselves that would bring us happiness rather than suffering. The time has already arrived where we need to give this lifestyle some serious thought. When we’re talking about the “big picture” in terms of problem solving, it isn’t referring to just treating the symptoms, but rather it’s referring to seeking out the causes of the problem and dealing with it. One of the elements that I described above is the “big picture” of what our current lifestyles are doing to our relationship with our Mother Earth.

A little over forty years ago our behavior in relation to our environment seemed to reach some sort of tipping point. Our growth in consumption and population started to weigh heavily on what Mother Earth could continue to absorb. She began to show signs of wear and tear. We began to see that fresh water was becoming harder to find in some areas. We started to notice a decline in fertile soils. Our world supply of fish was no longer able to meet demand due to over-fishing and environmental changes. We decided we didn’t need all those trees in our forests — we’d rather build stuff on those soils. The levels of toxic pollutions in our water, soil and air have reached the point of being darn serious.

Because of our incessant need for more and more and more, we are destroying our Mother Earth and, even though we don’t seem to notice, we’re also doing ourselves in as part of the process. It’s not so much ourselves who are reading this right now, or yours truly who is writing this, who will bear the major brunt of our foolishness. Rather, it’s our children — our grandchildren and all their children who are going to feel the real consequences for our excesses.

Hmmm, quite a change from my writings over the past few months, isn’t it? I know, this was a pretty negative post. Perhaps it’s my age and the feelings of helplessness that have come with reaching this time of my life — so much to do and so little time to get it done. Perhaps it’s my own personal frustration with the fact that most people aren’t hearing about any of the things I’m writing about today thanks to the way our media has been taken over by corporate interests. Frankly, I don’t see enough of it on the Internet, either. Most of what I see every day is feeding our desires for more — to satisfy our urges for consumption of one kind or another.

We have to grow up, folks. It’s past time. We need to realize that we’re the ones in charge right now. This isn’t something that we can leave for the next guy. Don’t forget, the next guy is our own children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. We’re the adults and we have to accept our responsibilities.

That’s it for this time. I’d like to leave you with a short video to watch. It will take about 20 minutes of your valuable time. Even if you don’t feel that you can spare 20 minutes, I urge you to make an exception and take the time to watch this. It’s by Annie Leonard and it’s called “The Story of Stuff“. If nothing else, you’ll hopefully see that I’m not alone in expressing the frustration with what I’m describing in this article.

Here’s the link —

http://www.storyofstuff.com

I’ll be back next week with some further thoughts along these lines and some ideas about what we can do.

Stay tuned.

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

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.

======================
Although I’m on a bit of a rant for these next articles, I still would like you to bring meditation into your life. If you’re new to us here, I’ve written a series of articles 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 — that’s 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.

Also, Oprah now has her Soul Series of Webcasts started. There is a series with Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor and more from Eckhart Tolle. You can get these from this site for downloading:

http://www2.oprah.com/spiritself/oss/ss_oss_archive.jhtml

I’ve listened/watched all of these so far, and I highly recommend them. If you have iTunes, you can subscribe to them.
================================================================
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

Since I already started working on this article last night, I’m going to go ahead and publish it even though I have something else on my mind today. I feel a real need to begin a conversation with you about our world — our Earth — and where we are in our relationship with it today. I’ll begin a series of articles on that subject starting with next week. I hope you’ll be back and that you’ll share in this conversation with me.

=====================================================
For today, let’s once again begin with our meditation. Although this one isn’t the same type of meditation video like the ones I’ve been offering each week, this one is a New Music Video inspired by Oprah & Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth Web Classes. Be awakened and inspired. Know that YOU are awakening! Feel the peace, love and joy of Presence as you watch.

This is about 3 minutes long.

Here’s a link in case the video doesn’t play for some reason:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OBG7GjGHOc

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

One of the things we’ve talked about often over the past several weeks (hmmm, or has it actually been months, now?) is the fact that we are clearly identified with the mind of our ego rather than seeing our true reality. Our personal world, (and the personal worlds of most of our fellow human beings), is/are the reality that what our ego-minds tell us is true. Once we learn to detach ourselves from this ego-world we will begin to get a taste of another Reality, our true Reality. What is that true Reality? It is just “what is”, right now, this moment, without all the mental images that our minds constantly impose on us. It is our Awakened self.

As mentioned before in this blog, our ego way of thinking will do everything it can to resist and reject our true Reality. It will use every trick in the book to get us to believe that our true Reality is false and will work hard to take control over our thoughts. One of the ways it does this is to make us feel as though what our minds are telling us is “right” and most of this other “spiritual stuff” is not real. It makes us think of ourselves as something better in our relationship with the world and others. Where this kind of thinking is used, the people who are believing it will tend to be conceited and insist on always being right.

Then there is the other side of the coin that the ego will often use, and that is to make us feel as though we are inferior to others. The ego will cause us to develop stories about ourselves to reinforce this belief that we’re not worthy. People who are buying into these stories will usually have low self-esteem and are often depressed.

It’s our ego-minds that are making us believe these stories about ourselves. We’ve been hearing the stories since we learned how to understand language. Sometimes the stories will have some partial truths in them, but usually are quite removed from our true, awakened Reality.

There can be a lengthy laundry-list of the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves.

“I am so creative. I am the princess (or the prince). I was abused as a child. I’m just a loser. I always do the right thing (or the wrong thing). I’m really smart. I’m really dumb. I’m different from you. I’m a loner. I’m a “people-person”. I’m special. I’m lazy. I’m very ambitious.”

You see what I mean? These are the stories we cling to because they give us our identity.

What can we do to break this cycle of stories that we allow ourselves to believe? How do we get to that place where we are able to see who we really are — right now — at this moment?

If you’ve been reading here for any length of time, you know that I believe that one way to break the cycle is to develop a regular practice of meditation. In order to quit buying into the ego-mind stories, we have to find a way to turn the thoughts off, even if it’s only for a short while.

As Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor says in her wonderful book, “My Stroke of Insight“, she has the “priceless gift of knowing that deep inner peace is just a thought/feeling away.”

For many of us the distance between our ego-thinking mind and our compassionate heart can seem miles apart. While it’s true that some of us can travel this distance easily, others of us are so committed to our “stories” about our angers, our frustrations, our jealousies, our endless mind-chatter, that even the idea that there is this beautiful place of peace, love and compassion in us all the time seems like a foreign idea. In Reality, this place is no more than a thought away.

This feeling of peace can happen only in the present moment. It’s not something that we bring with us from the past or project into the future. The first major step to finding that place in us — that place of true Reality — is our own willingness to be present in the right here, right now.

As always, I have to stress to you that one of the best ways to find that place in us, is through the practice of meditation — regular, daily meditation. Once we begin this practice, we’ll get a feel for what that place is like. Once we feel that deep, inner peace, the easier it will be for us to purposefully move there — to feel awakened — the sort of Awakening that the video above tells us is always ours.

Try it! You will love it!

This will be the last article devoted to meditation for now. That doesn’t mean that I won’t still be encouraging you from time-to-time about the importance of this practice. I’ll probably never stop doing that. It is vital to achieving true happiness in our lives. Next week we’ll venture off in another direction — closely related — something of which we are all aware — and that is the crisis unfolding around us. Come back and see what I have on my mind.

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 — that’s 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.

Also, Oprah now has her Soul Series of Webcasts started. There is a series with Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor and more from Eckhart Tolle. You can get these from this site for downloading:

http://www2.oprah.com/spiritself/oss/ss_oss_archive.jhtml

I’ve listened/watched all of these so far, and I highly recommend them. If you have iTunes, you can subscribe to them.
================================================================
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

I’m so excited about our Vol. 6 films featuring the full length film If I Never See You Again, which was the winner of 6 Ariel’s (the Mexican equivalent of the Academy Awards). Remember, new members to sign up for Spiritual Cinema Circle before June 14, 2008 will receive Vol. 6 for FREE (just pay S&H)!

Father’s Day is right around the corner and your customers are looking for meaning and heartfelt gifts to share with their dads; be sure to promote Spiritual Cinema Circle as the perfect Father’s Day Gift!

I know, I’m a little late in telling you about these, but I hope you’ll act fast to get yours before the deadline of June 14th.

Sometimes asking the right questions is all it takes to make life a whole lot easier or, at the least, more understandable. This month the SPIRITUAL CINEMA CIRCLE’S feature film, IF I NEVER SEE YOU AGAIN, raises the question “Is it ever too late to live our dreams?” The winner of 6 Ariel’s, (the Mexican equivalent of the Academy Awards), this film beautifully demonstrates that no matter what your age, life is always worth living. Three short films accompany the feature which includes MIRA, a delightful heartwarming short film about “trust” that has a surprise ending. In the short film BIRTHDAY, a little girl is told by a dying old man, that life is about two questions: “Who are you?” and “Who do you love?” This collection of films is rounded out with LETTING GO in which a dad learns that sometimes a child will grow up before you are ready.

Would you like to see these heart warming and uplifting films from the Spiritual Cinema Circle? New subscribers can receive a free trial membership (for a nominal shipping fee) by visiting Spiritual Cinema Circle before June 14th. There are links below.

Here’s some information about this month’s films …

If I Never See You Again: Winner of 6 Ariel’s (the Mexican equivalent of the Academy Awards), this touching feature film has us rooting for a group of old codgers who would rather be playing music in night clubs than sitting, bored, in a retirement home.

Mira: A beautiful story about human commonality and kindness, Mira (meaning”Look!” in Spanish) is just the kind of movie we all need to see more of!

Letting Go: In honor of Father’s day, we bring you this sweet vision of one dad who has a tough time accepting his son’s decision to put his “blankey” away.

Birthday: Who knows where we go when we die and if there might be weigh stations where we stop along the way? Perhaps we just need to find the one person who will say the thing that we most need to hear before we pass on.

Are you inspired by Eckhart Tolle’s book A New Earth? Then you’ll love the enlightening and inspiring entertainment from Spiritual Cinema Circle. Join today and receive your first DVD FREE (just pay S&H).

“The Spiritual Cinema Circle provides a great service to those who want to evolve and be entertained at the same time.”

~~~ Deepak Chopra

Here is a short video for some previews for June’s films. It’s only about 4 minutes — have a look!

Sign up with Spiritual Cinema Circle today and receive your first DVD FREE, simply pay shipping.

Remember, June 14th is the deadline for the June films!

Thanks for letting me interrupt our regular weekly series. I’ll be back a week from Thursday with our next article — I think it will be on Meditation again. Have a great week.

Be Well — and Be in Peace,

Ron Rink

Last week the main topic was happiness and how to find it. We learned that you already are happy and that it’s your choice whether to be involved with the real you, the essence of you, the you that is happiness — or whether to choose the egoic you — the you that is attached to your thoughts of the past and the future.

===============================================
We’ve developed the routine of including a short meditative video with these posts on Meditation. For today, I’ve chosen this one for you. It’s called “Connecting With Nature”. It’s another guided meditation by Sally Morningstar. It will last about 9 minutes.

Take a couple of deep breaths and relax your body and your mind.

Here’s a direct link in case the embedded one doesn’t play for some reason.

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

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

It’s quite easy to see the choice here, isn’t it? It’s clear — one or the other. Making the choice is the hard part. Why? Because we love our stories, beliefs, opinions, judgments, memories, fantasies and other ideas. We love them so much that we find ourselves loving them more than we love the essence of us — the part of us where there is peace, compassion and love.

Why is it that we want to be who we think we are more than we want to put an end to our suffering and be who we truly are? More times than not, when faced with choosing between our ideas and love, we will choose ideas. Before you start berating yourself for this, keep in mind that there is no blame here. Since the day we were born, we’ve been programmed to make this choice. At every point in our lives we’ve been told, or we’ve been shown, or we’ve been advised to choose the direction our ego wishes for us.

However, at some point in the evolution of our souls we need to wake up — look at the way we’ve been programmed — examine how making that choice has worked for us — and make the conscious choice to begin choosing the truth. We’ll know when that time comes because the pull to make that choice will become stronger than the desire to follow our egos.

One of the reasons why you’ve been reading these articles is because you are at that point now. The urge to find another way to live your life will be guiding you to begin to ignore all that old programming. You’ll begin to make new discoveries. You’ll see that teachers will find their way into your life. Teachers like Eckhart Tolle. Teachers like Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor. Teachers like Dr. Wayne Dyer. You’ll discover new books and other articles. All these tools to discovering your true essence will begin showing up in your life. It’s quite miraculous, isn’t it?

You’ll learn that there is a way out of the suffering in your life. However, you will have to make the choice to follow the new way again and again. Your ego won’t give up on the role it has always played in your life. It will be there bugging you constantly even after you’ve begun making these new choices. It will continue to tempt you with the stories, the fantasies, the memories, the drama, the desires and the cravings.

Once you’ve begun to see these egoic thoughts for what they are, that part of you will begin to weaken more and more. Will it disappear eventually? Only you can know the answer to this. It will always be you who makes the choices. Your programming will always be there, but you can choose to change your relationship to it. How long you continue to jump back and forth between your programming and your true self is up to you. It will always be your choice.

Meditation is the best way to advance the training of your mind to let go of the egoic programming and rest in the peace of the present. In order to get beyond the ego we have to become comfortable with what it’s like to be in the power of the now. The more you practice turning off your thinking through meditation, the better your understanding of what that peace is — what it feels like to be in that place — thereby making it easier to choose the real you instead of the ego. Soon you will see that your desire for peace, love and compassion will become stronger than your desire for the old stories.

When that happens you will be on your way to freedom — and you will have found true 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 — that’s 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.

Also, Oprah now has her Soul Series of Webcasts started. There is a series with Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor and more from Eckhart Tolle. You can get these from this site for downloading:

http://www2.oprah.com/spiritself/oss/ss_oss_archive.jhtml

I’ve listened/watched all of these so far, and I highly recommend them. If you have iTunes, you can subscribe to them.
================================================================
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

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.
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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

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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.
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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.

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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 bre