Archive: February 2013

Quieting the mind is the most heroic act.
This is the purpose of all practices.
When you quiet the mind you come to absolute silence where time and space do not exist.
You are instantly anywhere and everywhere.
Everything is within your Being.
~ Swami Amar Jyoti

Each month, I look forward to receiving a Light of Consciousness newsletter from Swami. His beautiful words arrived in my inbox this morning and echoed in my mind as I watched the peaceful sunrise.

Yesterday, I read some very disturbing suppositions concerning the resignation of the Pope. If what they say is true – and I pray it is not – I can’t help but think this is what happens when we place our faith inside brick walls that are constructs of money and power. I used to think God was some third person, something to be feared, something that I needed to confess sins to, something I couldn’t access without being in the presence of a man who had studied “the scripture” inside a building with stained glass windows. I no longer feel this way. If I have sins to confess, ‘he’ already knows because he is part of my consciousness. I don’t have to tell him. I just have to be honest with myself. Through yoga and meditation, I’ve come to find that the Divine is to be found inside, not outside, only through me, not someone else. Actually, divinity is to be found everywhere. In me. In you. read more

“Your life will be transformed when you make peace with your shadow. The caterpillar will become a breathtakingly beautiful butterfly. You will no longer have to pretend to be someone you’re not. You will no longer have to prove you’re good enough. When you embrace your shadow you will no longer have to live in fear. Find the gifts of your shadow and you will finally revel in all the glory of your true self. Then you will have the freedom to create the life you have always desired.”
~ Debbie Ford read more

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
~ Apple Inc. read more

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

–The Unanimous Declaration
of the 13 United States of America

Life. Liberty. And the Pursuit of Happiness.
Shall we be ever so grateful, today and always, to our founding fathers of this great nation, for granting us these rights. Let us be grateful to the divine spirit and our parents, that we were somehow fortunate enough to be born here instead of being born into a life of oppression. And if we immigrated here, to offer ourselves thanks for having the strength and resolution to seek out a better way of life for ourselves and our family. read more

Stillness is what creates Love
Movement is what creates Life
To be still, Yet still moving –
That is everything.
~ Do Hyun Choe

http://blog.gaiam.com/quotes/topics/stillness

There are a number of passages by Eckhart Tolle. Years ago, when I first read his book, The Power of Now, it did not make a whole lot of sense to me. But back then, I did not know how to practice stillness. To be with stillness. It makes complete sense now.

Tolle Says: “When you lose touch with inner stillness, you lose touch with yourself. When you lose touch with yourself, you lose yourself in the world. Your innermost sense of self, of who you are, is inseparable from stillness. This is the I Am that is deeper than name and form.” read more