The Life Changers
In this class more
than any other, you will find the methods to make any transformation in your
life. All of us need realignment from time to time, and most of us must make
huge wholesale changes
The strongest
principle of growth lies in human choice.- George Eliot
In my
own life, I came to a point where I was amazed at how little I knew
about how to increase the quality of my life. I was happy, but I was
not getting any happier, and I had no idea how to increase my
happiness.
I decided to ‘stop everything’ until I did understand. I read and went
to classes and workshops, spoke to people, Hare Krishna’s, Jehovah’s
Witness, Muslims, Sufi’s, New Age Guru’s, Christians,
Pentecostalists – and from them all something was gained. Little
insights that drew me closer to knowing a little more about myself.
We live in a fantastic time. We can explore all these philosophies
so easily. Amongst all this I found meditation
and my path.
Tomorrow is the most
important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's
perfect when it arrives and puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've
learned something from yesterday. - John Wayne
That
decision to ‘stop everything’ was the best of my life. I stopped
thinking about my career or my job or my studies and made a solid
commitment to me. I decided to not take another step until I had at
least a pathway to success.
Many
of us are so caught by the ‘things’ we do every day that we never
get time to look at ourselves. We’ve got a job and a family and
‘things’ that take up every moment of our time. It is almost as if
someone decided that if we keep ourselves so busy we won’t have time
to reflect upon what we are doing, or the real reasons for us being
here.
We choose our joys and
sorrows long before we experience them. - Kahil Gibran
So, really be open to wholesale
transformation. Many of us would like to be happy or more loving or
more in control of our lives, but few of us are ready to do anything
about it. That’s not anything more than an idle wish and the chances
of it actually happening are extremely remote. For real
transformation to take place in our lives we need to really make a
solid commitment, a concrete decision and then act
upon it.
Every moment is a
doorway to infinity and eternity. It just needs time to stop to open
it.
The
Heart
We all
know our physical heart pumps our life blood around the body. Blood
supplies all parts of our body with the oxygen and nutrients we need
to stay alive. It also carries away waste and infections. The big
superhighways that transport blood are known as arteries while the
smaller branches are capillaries.
We also have a
spiritual heart. Its blood carries our wishes, our hopes, along tiny
capillaries - very close to the surface of our life. Committed
decisions, however, travel along larger branches and solid
life-directions along huge arteries.
The difference with the
spiritual heart is that it is extremely flexible. New capillaries
and even arteries are created often by us by the conviction of our
choices.
You are now at a crossroads. This is your opportunity to make
the most important decision you will ever make. Forget your
past. Who are you now? Who have you decided you really are now?
Don't think about who you have been. Who are you now? Who have
you decided to become? Make this decision consciously. Make it
carefully. Make it powerfully.- Anthony Robbins
Did you know that
tests have been done with people with what is called multiple
personalities. It has been shown that birthmarks can appear and
disappear, illnesses such as diabetes, appear and disappear, even
eye colour can change from as contrasting as brown to blue.
Do you see how
powerful our committed choices are? How authoritative these
spiritual arteries?
It's choice – not chance – that determines your destiny. - Jean Nidetch
If you think about
these arteries for a moment, these are the freeways that are feeding
every little branch, every little capillary of our spiritual lives.
They are created by our thoughts, intentions, decisions and
intuitions. Can you imagine what might happen if we were to create
arteries that were going in a wrong direction. Arteries that lead
not to a vital spiritual organ, but to a dead end or to an open
wound.
There is no more
miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual but
indecision. - William James
For example, if we
spent all of our time worrying about how others thought of us, we
would direct all of our energy to something that could only lead
outside of ourselves. Spiritually it would be like a dead end. That
energy would be endlessly flowing out of us to something we had very
little control over, continually draining our consciousness or
overall state of mind.
Or imagine if we continually found ourselves
hating people or finding enemies, all of our spiritual blood would
be directed to what are essentially spiritual open wounds. We could
bleed ourselves to our spiritual deaths.
If our focus in our
life is not clear than that is exactly what is happening. Many of us
are plainly spiritually haemorrhaging. Think about someone you might
know. It might be a divorce, or a death, or resentment, or fear of
failure. We’re bleeding to death with no one to help.
Failure is the
opportunity to begin again more intelligently.- Henry Ford
Now be honest with
yourself.
We design our lives
through the power of choices.- Richard Bach
We need to
understand our own heart very, very clearly. We need to know how we
can increase blood flow to some areas and redirect it to others.
Your wishes are
tiny capillaries, so fragile and weak. I would like to suggest that
you never wish for anything again. If it is worth your attention,
and you have reflected upon its importance to your life, then create
an artery for it.
Practise and practise directing your spiritual
energy to it – this includes making an absolute solid and committed
choice, a strong and unyielding decision, then acting. Practising
until you become very skilled at your spiritual disciplines. Acting
over and over again, to reinforce the decision, physically,
mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
<
The most difficult
thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears
are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act
to change and control your life; and the procedure , the process is
its own reward. -Amelia Earhart
For example, if you
have decided to meditate every day, physically create a place to
meditate, physically get yourself up every morning and physically
sit yourself down. Do not think about it, don’t procrastinate, act!
Mentally change
your attitudes about meditation, mentally visualise yourself as a
meditator, mentally practise your concentration.
Once you make a
decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Emotionally lift
yourself. Practise creating emotional triggers and associations that
are tied to the meditation practise. Get passionate, get excited,
get motivated when it is time to meditate.
Practise it over and over
again. Identify with how you feel when you are in your highest
meditation and use it as the starting point for your next
meditation.
Reflect upon how badly you feel about yourself if you
don’t meditate, make emotional associations with not meditating that
make it totally unpalatable.
In any moment of
decision the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best
thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is
nothing.-
Theodore Roosevelt
We need to train ourselves to our highest life.
A real decision is
measured by the fact that you've taken a new action. If there's no
action, you haven't truly decided. - Anthony Robbins
Spiritually value
your intuition. Remember your dreams. Reflect upon your ‘aah’
moments, upon your meditations.
Spiritually contemplate the
coincidences, the chance meetings, the word that was said, the
sunrise, the sunset. Practise and practise and practise.
CHOOSE TO LOVE. . .rather than hate.
CHOOSE TO SMILE. . . rather than frown.
CHOOSE TO BUILD . . . rather than destroy.
CHOOSE TO PERSEVERE . . . rather than quit.
CHOOSE TO PRAISE . . . rather than gossip.
CHOOSE TO HEAL . . . rather than wound.
CHOOSE TO GIVE . . . rather than grasp.
CHOOSE TO ACT . . . rather than delay.
CHOOSE TO FORGIVE . . . rather than curse.
Author Unknown
Nelson Mandela
One
man with a show of courage, perseverance and a committed choice,
peacefully orchestrated progress, development, trust and
understanding not only in one nation but in the whole human family.
Swami Vivekananda
Perhaps the most
celebrated of India's great saints was Swami Vivekananda. He
struggled with poverty and sickness to become what many regard as
the world's greatest orator. "We
want to lead mankind to the place where there is neither the Vedas,
nor the Bible, nor the Koran; yet this has to be done by harmonizing
the Vedas, the Bible, and the Koran."
Buddha
All
great masters have made committed choices. Prince Siddhartha decided
to sit under a Bodhi Tree and meditate until he had found a way to
alleviate human suffering. He did not leave that spot until he
became the illumined Lord Buddha.
Saint Francis
The
great Saint Francis, struggled with being humiliated and ostracised
by his parents, his community and friends, to become one of the most
loved and cherished of all saints. Leaving a privileged upbringing
- he renounced all in a committed decision to follow Christ
Peace Pilgrim
Another very interesting contemporary figure known as 'Peace
Pilgrim' - made a committed decision to walk around the world for
peace. She continued her pilgrimage for over 20 years, surviving
only on what was offered and reached millions with her heartfelt
message