TheLeaderInside.com

“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”

~~~ Buddha

First things first. Just a fair warning, this post is a little longer than usual. I hope you’ll stay to the end, though.

Let’s talk about happiness this week and where to find it. Where are you looking for your happiness? Have you found it? How’s it working for you? (I have to smile whenever I write that phrase or say it. It’s the one Dr. Phil uses all the time.) When you have those moments that feel like happiness, do they last — or do they have a tendency to fade away much more rapidly than you’d like? Let’s get into these questions and a few more …
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… But first, here is your meditation for this week. This is another guided meditation to help you to discover who you truly are. It’s about 10 minutes long. Sit comfortably. Close your eyes. Take two deep cleansing breaths and enjoy your meditation.

Here’s a link if the video doesn’t start when you click the “PLAY” button:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgluJAx8Bn4

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Here’s another profound question for you …

…. Do you truly want to be happy?

That sounds like a pretty dumb question, doesn’t it? However, there’s something going on in that question that we need to think about. You have to really want happiness in order to have it. This means that you have to want it more than you want to be your old ego-self. You know who I mean — the “self” that doesn’t want to let go of all those old stories about who you are — all those old beliefs, opinions, dreams, memories and judgments — that “me” part of you. This is a tough concept for us who live in Western cultures. We’ve been trained to believe that happiness can be ours if only we work harder on self-improvement — or just work harder on our jobs or our relationships — or have more success, or more friends, or more money or more physical strength or beauty — and if only we could be a little younger!

Nope! Sorry folks. It just doesn’t work that way.

It is that ego part of you — that part of you that is always looking for more — filled with various desires for more things and more pleasures — this is the part of you that is keeping you from finding the happiness you seek. That part of you doesn’t have a clue about what happiness truly is. Only when the realization that this isn’t who we truly are sinks in, will we finally find true happiness. Once that discovery is made — once we put that ego part of us to sleep, you will find that you won’t need more things to make you happy — because you already are.

One of the many things we’ve discussed in this blog over the past several weeks is about how this ego of ours is working overtime to get the upper hand. This is why I’ve been promoting the virtues of meditation as much as I have. It’s while we are developing the habit of daily meditation — developing the habit of going onto the silence of the present — the Now — that we are learning to get those glimpses of true happiness. When we are able to turn off the focus on our mind-chatter — that is when we can feel the peace, contentment, happiness and joy of who we truly are.

Those of you who have been readers of this blog for any length of time know that I practice a Buddhist lifestyle. I follow, what I call, a basic Buddhist style of living. That means that I’ve never spent any time in a monastery — I’ve never studied with a Buddhist teacher or guru. I was merely looking for a way to find some peace in my life and my studies of Buddhism seemed to provide the answers I needed.

The one major factor involved is that meditation is vital.

Perhaps one way to demonstrate why I feel this way about meditation is to provide some information about Buddhism and what it means. My approach to Buddhism has (and is), perhaps, not very sophisticated. Perhaps it has been because of a certain discomfort with devotion through ritual. Perhaps it was because my first exposures to Buddhists and Buddhism was a varied one. Before I moved to Ohio, I lived in Vermont for over 35 years. There were a lot of practicing Buddhists who lived in Vermont. Some of the folks I met were following Zen paths – some were following a Tibetan path – some were followers of the teachers from Vietnam — some were associated with the Shambhala teachings. I followed the recommendations of several of these wonderful people and ended up reading a variety of books from these varied teaching paths.

I don’t consider living a Buddhist lifestyle as a form of religion. Many people, Buddhists included, will disagree with that statement. For me, it’s not a religion — rather, it’s a spiritual way of living.

Therefore, while keeping in mind that the primary focus of this series of blog articles is the practice of meditation, I’d like to devote the next few articles on the basics of Buddhism — what it means to me — and why meditation is such an important aspect of this philosophy. Unless I hear comments to the contrary from you, I’ll move ahead with that plan.

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.

“Each flower is a soul blossoming out to nature”

~~~ Gerard de Nerva

Even though the live webcasts of the Eckhart Tolle New Earth classes are now concluded, you can still download the entire course. 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/ane_marketing.html. 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. I did take the course, and I’m on my second reading of the book. For me, this has been life-changing. 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.

“It’s a strange thing how human consciousness is so determined to hang onto the past, hold it in the present, and make it reappear in the future. This is the heart of most of our problems. ”

~~~ James Arthur Ray — Creator of Harmonic Wealth ®

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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 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.

“Those who really seek the path to Enlightenment dictate terms to their mind. Then they proceed with strong determination.”

~~~ Buddha

Namaste!

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

You are the most precious gift you can give yourself. Every day look in the mirror and say, “I’m available to more good than I have experienced, realized or imagined ever before in my life!” Do this every day while you look into your own eyes.

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.”)

“Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”

~~~ Buddha

~~~ DBL-R

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.
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I don’t know if any of you, my fine readers of this blog, have an interest in starting a blog of your own, but if you do, I have something I’d like to pass along to you.

Over the past few days I’ve been reading a new ebook written by Kevin Brown. Now, I know that a lot of people don’t want to start a blog of their own because they think it’s too complicated. Well, after you read this ebook, your fears will be gone for good!

Kevin is something of a WordPress expert and has recently released a new ebook that goes into great detail on how to install and set up WordPress blogs. This blog you’re reading is written using WordPress, and I also use it for my other blog. Kevin’s book, BlogStorm Blueprint, is the most up-to-date book I’ve ever seen about WordPress with screenshots from the very latest version.

I highly recommend it — especially since it’s being sold at a giveaway price of under ten dollars. It’s really a bargain when you realize that you’ll be getting 106 pages of clear, well-written details.

I’ve been using WordPress for a long time and I think I know quite a bit about how to work with it. I can say that after reading Kevin’s book, I discovered that I don’t know everything. Even though some of the information was basic for me, I still learned loads from the book and heartily
recommend it to you.

It’s the BlogStorm Blueprint — and you can get it here:

Click this link —> http://tinyurl.com/4a5ncq

P.S. Oh, and just so you know, WordPress is free! Learn how to use it with Kevins book …

…… Click this link —-> http://tinyurl.com/4a5ncq

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[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[/tags]