Freedom From Self Defeating Behavior by Guy Finley

           

An angel has two wings. On each of these wings is written one of these two words: YES and NO. As we are about to learn, these two simple words represent special principles that are the wings of spiritual freedom.
For instance, we must learn to say YES to self-study, prayer, meditation and contemplating God’s great restorative powers. Can you think of other places in your days where learning to say YES to life would help you go higher? For just one example, how about saying YES to those parts of you that know nothing good can come out of judging others for their mistakes, let alone jumping all over yourself!
And we must learn to say NO to those unconscious parts of ourselves that want us to believe that the way our lives have gone is the only way they can go. We must say NO to the lies this lower nature throws at us when it tells us we will lose ourselves if we end that destructive relationship we had been deceived to live in. The truth is it won’t be our life that comes to a close as we walk away from what we now see never worked. No! What will begin to die is the dark nature whose will we had done, because it cannot live in the light of our new wish and inner work to be free.
To help you strengthen the spiritual YES in you, learn to put Truth first, last, and always in your life. This grand YES will grow to have greater and greater meaning to you as you put it into practice. To give you one instance, always say YES to being ruthlessly honest with yourself about yourself. It doesn’t matter where you are or what you are doing, you can always come awake to yourself and remember the truth that there is no truth that is bad for you to know. This knowledge, coupled with your active wish to be free, outweighs any fear that may pop up in you as you observe yourself this way. This remembrance is like liquid gold. It enriches the right parts of you each time you can be aware of yourself through this Aim.
But equally important to taking on this task of saying YES is our inner work of recognizing when and where to say NO. We must never allow ourselves to forget that there are many sleeping parts of ourselves that secretly feel good while they get us to do wrong! Remember: no form of externalized codependent behavior can exist or exhibit itself without some unseen character at work within us providing it the right conditions it needs for its foul life to flourish. With this in mind, here are some common codependent areas where we all ache (often without knowing it) because we fail to stay awake:

1. Making “peace” with people who would punish us:
   There are parts of us that would rather be punished by unkind people than have to spend one minute being alone by ourselves, because the only way these same parts in us can exist is if they have someone to resent or somehow fear. In this case we remain in these ruinous relationships because the fear or emptiness we feel in even considering leaving them is felt to be too much to bear on our own. Here’s the Key to escaping this captivity: This fear does feel real, no doubt; but it belongs to an imagined self. Collecting and then consciously cultivating this new knowledge of ourselves points the way out if we will walk with its truth in our hand. To begin, walk away from anyone who “helps” you to feel that it is necessary to hurt; leave anyone who causes you pain for “your own good”. Here’s the rule to remember: Never make peace outwardly — or inwardly — with anyone or any psychological state that punishes you. Say NO and go! A whole new and independent life awaits you.
2. Blaming others:
   Whenever we allow angry parts of us to cast blame upon others for the conditions we find ourselves in, we enable the sleeping nature within us to stay in its dream that if it weren’t for others doing us wrong we would never be so upset and angry, defeated or depressed. The truth is there are unconscious parts of us that readily find fault with others in a misguided effort to remain infallible in their own eyes. Each time we blame someone else we agree to remain asleep in this misery-making mistaken identity. Saying NO to this nature is saying goodbye to a host of imagined enemies this false self needs to remain itself, as well as to a war that can never be won.
3. Complaining about your life:
   The self that looks out at life and complains about what it sees cannot see that if it weren’t for a false picture it holds of how things should be, connected with the mistaken sense of self created by clinging to this picture, it wouldn’t have anything to be negative about. The more this nature compares what life isn’t to its own idea of imagined happiness, the more it complains, and the more complaints it makes, the more real it feels. Say NO to this codependent negative nature by learning to choose consciousness over resentfulness.

What should be clear now is that we have to do a special kind of inner work if we wish to catch and cancel self-harming codependent behavior. It’s not enough to just talk about achieving a good, contented life. Anyone can talk about that, and most do. Few will really do the interior work it takes to be free, which is why we must be different.
We must learn what it means to put the Truth of ourselves before all things. When we will strive to do this one thing, then little by little we will attract to ourselves a higher strength that has no problem saying NO to what has never cared for us. This new NO then becomes a YES to self-wholeness, the secret source of the happiness we have been seeking in all the wrong places.

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Guy Finley is the best-selling author of more than 40 books and audio albums on self-realization. He is the founder and director of Life of Learning Foundation, a nonprofit center for self-study located in southern Oregon where he gives talks four times each week. For more information get your free Guy Finley Starter Kit. You will receive several free downloadable gifts including a special newsletter filled with helpful insights and encouragement emailed to you once each week

Evolutionary Enlightenment by Andrew Cohen


Evolutionary Enlightenment is a new spiritual path and practice that brings together the perennial mystical insight that the ultimate nature of reality is Oneness and the scientific discovery that we’re part of an evolutionary process that is going somewhere. In Evolutionary Enlightenment, we win our spiritual liberation through the experiential recognition that who we really are is not separate from the primordial energy and intelligence that created the universe. We experience that energy and intelligence as what I call the evolutionary impulse—the life-positive, perpetually creative inspiration that compels human beings to strive to give rise to new potentials. The realization that “I am the energy and intelligence that created the universe and not merely a psychological ego” is the fundamental insight that liberates the self in the new evolutionary spirituality.

Traditional mysticism, in contrast, is fundamentally about the experience of transcendence. Enlightenment, as the great traditions teach it, is about cultivating the experience of freedom from the body, freedom from the mind and emotions, freedom from the world. In the new evolutionary mysticism, we no longer seek freedom from this incarnate existence. Because the source of spiritual liberation is the realization that “I am the energy and intelligence that created the universe,” we find that we want to be here, as ourselves, in the world so we can consciously create the future as an agent of that impulse itself. When we awaken to the evolutionary impulse, as the urge toward higher creativity, it becomes apparent to us that the energy that is driving the process as a whole is inherently spiritual or divine. Spirit created and is creating the universe. What is this ceaseless creative striving in matter, nature, and culture? And where does it come from? What is it that mysteriously compels the universe to exist, life to emerge, and mind to appear? That which compels this complex and singular process to exist and develop is Spirit as the creative impulse. And now that we, as human beings, have developed the extraordinary capacity to be aware of the entire process and that which gave rise to it, it makes no sense for our mysticism to be one of escape. We need a new spirituality that embraces our new knowledge and all of its implications.

How does the concept of evolutionary enlightenment fit in with modern scientific notions about how the brain works?
Evolutionary Enlightenment is a new culturally relevant expression of what I call the “new mysticism.” It’s culturally relevant because it is very much in alignment with science’s most significant breakthroughs in the fields of cosmology, biology, and also the latest insights into how culture is created and how it evolves. It was only very recently that science discovered that the universe is 14 billion years old and that it burst into being in a flash of light and energy. It’s only recently that we are beginning to understand the relationships between cosmic evolution, biological evolution, and cultural evolution. It is the great breakthrough of the western enlightenment and the liberation of our rational investigation into our origins that has made it possible for us to now have this Big Picture perspective on who we are and how we arrived here and now in the present moment. Science is now observing the neural correlates of consciousness in our biological brain. They will never find the deepest and most fundamental dimension of who we are—consciousness—through the lens of a microscope, but it is consciousness that makes it possible for us to make the profound and significant breakthroughs that science is making in so many arenas, including neuroscience.

What is your intent in sharing the 5 fundamental tenets for evolutionary enlightenment with viewers? What do you hope people will come away with?
The five fundamental tenets of Evolutionary Enlightenment clearly describe how we can live our human experience in this and every moment from the perspective of one who is deeply and profoundly spiritually enlightened. They are a pathway that makes it possible to understand the liberated position that the greatest and most realized mystics throughout history, like Shakyamuni Buddha, Adi Shankara, Jesus Christ, Rumi, Padmasambhava, and Sri Ramana Maharshi, were taking in relationship to their own biological, emotional, and psychological experience. The path and the goal are one. That means the position we take in relationship to our experience through the exertion of will power as spiritual seekers and practitioners is the same position we finally manifest spontaneously and effortlessly when we come to the end of our search.

Evolutionary Pilgrimage by Maureen Moss

Yesterday I spent hours in my backyard in stillness. I needed it. I noticed I have been craving stillness and nature more than food or water.

Surrounded by nature (and beautiful weather) I set myself in my lounge chair, journal, and a few good books to be positioned facing the mountain in the distance, with my rose and butterfly bushes up close. I took several deep breaths of gratitude for this day as a deer sauntered through the yard, and my cat was curled up in his favorite chair.

Within about ten minutes two butterflies started dancing only a few feet in front of me. Enjoying their play and clearly appreciating and honoring their path of transformation into liberation and freedom, I turned my thoughts to humanity.

My heart started thinking about what it has taken and is taking (and giving) for each one of us to go from a 3D seemingly finite human being lost in illusion, to an infinite and Divine human being, setting sail towards a new Reality. Guided to pick up my journal, I started writing about what we said yes to.

Rewiring, rebooting, solar flares, emotional flares, transits, retrogrades, separation anxiety, merging with our I Am Presence, learning how to love ourselves, learning how to love each other, over-lighting our shadows, walking in and out of our dark nights of the soul, moving into our Light Bodies, being happy for no reason, releasing our baggage (somewhere,) staying out of the story, transcending, transmuting, transcendental meditation.

Then of course how to harmonically converge with everything, and everyone, connect deeply and daily to God, get pushed through one eye of the needle after another, (to widen the plateau for our souls growth,) lose everything seemingly sacred, raise our vibrations, expand our energy fields, realize and do something with the fact that we are multidimensional beings, walk through the valley of the shadow of death 1,000 times or more, forgive, forget, and remember.

And then, have a few hundred Light activations, learn about our Mer-ka-Na, our Mer-ka-Ba, become authentic, be present, remain unattached, unaffected and balanced (!) don't take anything personally, stay in gratitude and good health, transform a Planet, create a New World, and become God in form, fully.

I sat and stared at the page, in a bit of shock and a lot of awe.

Then I thought, seriously did anyone attempt to stop us from this Herculean feat? We would stop a child from eating too many cookies for goodness sake! Truth is, even if someone of our illustrious pre-this life Council said, "Perhaps you are taking on a bit too much this time," together, with our souls, we knew we were mighty and powerful, genetically pre-disposed to our Mother/Father God, and we could do the seemingly impossible and change the course of history forever more, and down we came.

How could any one of us, I thought, think we are not amazing, miraculous, powerful, profound, and worthy of everything?!

We are Supreme, courageous, beings of Light!
I AM a Supreme, Courageous, Being of Light!

I said those words out loud and then my heart chakra blew wide open, as tears spilled from my eyes. At the deepest level of my being, I felt an endless amount of love and connection to each one of you for agreeing to take on a feat of such proportion and magnitude, and brailing our way through it, that merely calling it a transformation sounds ridiculous. You are amazing, and I honor and love you.

And, I am deeply grateful for those that chose the experience of the opposite, not to transform at this time, but instead to play darkness and hatred out loud, in order that others would consciously choose otherwise and seek Oneness rather than destructive separation. Sooner than later that unnatural destructive separation will shift (the real reason it is being so starkly highlighted now.)

I deeply feel love for the many that are going through upheavals, pounding energies and 'seeming' loss, not even understanding why. Can you imagine the parts of ourselves that don't understand the reasons why? I thought of our Oneness, in our many parts.

While in my stillness and feelings, I quietly heard Spirit say, "Open your heart wider, and take a breath." I did. As I did I could feel myself being transported deeper into the vibrating resonance of God. There was no place, where peace and Oneness was not. I took a deeper breath. I felt the grace.

"The love and cohesiveness you feel is the vibration of Oneness, the uncomplicated vibration necessary for any of human nature to make their ascension, were it to be sustained. It is from this level of vibration that all Light can easily flow within you, all Love can consume you, all Life can easily be accessed by you, and all that is Me can easily express as you.

Connect deeper. Become the spiral within the vibration oscillating as One. Allow yourself to be consumed within the spiral of Oneness, called forth by your I Am Presence. Connect with it deeper still.

Go beyond the connection now and merge with it as One. (The Voice was coming from inside of my heart, rather than my head.) I continued to merge with the vibration as guided.

You have each made your decisions to be on the steepest curve of evolution than any species that previously walked before you. You chose on behalf of Love, both for your Soul's evolution, and to allow Me to make a full descent and eventually to have full expression through each of you on your Planet of Earth that are willing to persevere and adjust through such demands.

You are in the highest service you may never imagine while on your Planet Earth. What you do on the outside is secondary to what you do on the inside.

Eventually the inner and outer world will be seamless, having no distinction.

I ask you now to learn to hold the vibration of Me inside of you, steadily, in the days and months ahead, as the final preparations to complete this cycle of time, conclude. Come to me daily. I will help you hold Me and inflame Me within you. You will then cross the threshold between the old world and the new. That is My Promise to you.

You have all of my tendencies and capabilities, Beloved Ones. Remember that. Let your 'self' go so I may enter and have a greater expression as you. If this is to occur I must be in the midst of you, always. A moment of Oneness is but a taste of your fullness.

The next step in your evolution is to experience your fullness, without attachment, through stabilized vibrations of love, peace, harmony and Oneness. I AM a stabilized vibration of each, having neither a thought nor a feeling about it. I simply Am That. And so it shall be sooner or later for each one of you as your craving for freedom takes you over."

And so it is that my evolutionary pilgrimage continues, along with further conversations and guidance. What I know for sure is the desire for God to express in full regalia through us is not just a metaphor or a topic of conversation. It is Truth and if we allow it, it will be our greatest adventure on this Earth.

Know you are loved.

Ahimsa

Ahimsa, The Principle of nonviolence toward all living things.
It is gentleness and noninjury, whether physical, mental or emotional.
 Ahimsa goes much deeper to prohibit the subtle abuse and the simple hurt.
 Even one's thoughts are to follow the principle of ahimsa.

 Now to translate this into my first Ahimsa yoga class. It is a vigorous Saturday morning class, 35 miles from "home" in Northern Ontario. I have absolutely no idea what to expect but I like the thought of 'vigorous'.
Every class is different and this morning we are using the wall for deep cleansing.
 Hip stretches. As we lay on the floor, legs up on the wall, one slides down, crosses over the other, a contortion of bends in the other leg and the class erupts into moans and groans. "Groans"? In yoga? It is the last thing I expected  and come to think of it, I hope that what I am about to say does not create suffering in my wake or 'himsa' but  honnestly, I think it sounds more like the labor and delivery ward.... and to be truthful? Obnoxious. Oops! Thoughts out loud with mouth shut and hips that feel super glued.

 Well, I was taught to breathe through the pain wherever it is, to observe it and my reactions to it which apparently says a lot about how I handle painful/stressful situations in life. Today I am taking it a little easier on my hips than most of the class from the sounds of it anyway.We continue with stretches in the lower body which are so intense by the end of the class I am seriously considering joining in with the gutteral group. When did  I stop taking repsonsibility for the maintenance of this body? Is neglect considered 'himsa'? Or are thoughts about it, guilt, creating the suffering and getting carried away in the mind

 'himsa'. Violence to this moment, this presence, life flowing through us.

 What energies do we hold onto that cause us to tighten up, grip on, become non flexible to the point that we lose the hip hip hooray of life? I cant name specifically what those are for me other than my  judgmental thoughts right now but I can feel the difference. Taking a moment to lie in quiet repose with the rest of the class,breathing a sigh of relief, our teacher speaks of breath, which is the one thing we all have in common. We breathe. Breathing is kind. Our thoughts maybe not always but it's good to notice.

 Non-violence is not a moral code. It is the only practical way to live! Because violence is a double-edged sword. Only a person who is a deeply violent person towards himself can treat another with violence. After all, you can throw out only whatever you are filled with! The mind is not intelligent enough to create violence externally while remaining untouched internally. If we can be a little gentler on ourselves, less judgmental, more forgiving of our own flaws, we will spontaneously do the same with others. Live and let live - because only if we learn to let live can we live at all.

Family Rocks Yoga Rocks

It is amazing what challenges the mind when I miss a day of yoga or meditation or prayer. Ill liken it to 'what happens' when I eat candy...I get a great big rush of energy and then I crash.  I am not 'present' and flounder around at the 'effect' of something I chose that changes who I am when I invite 'IT' in. Sunday, I missed yoga and I took it out on....

monday and engaged in dueling diction; I had words with a dear friend that did not go very well. So what? I decided to challenge myself to a yoga rocks class which is a dynamic series of sequenced postures that seamlessly flow together.This class makes you sweat and burn off toxins and promotes itself as a rock em sock em yoga class. I felt the need to work harder, sweat and bust out the frustration. I was up for the challenge. Aside from feeling feisty I knew this would shake and shift my energy and open me to recieve what I needed to heal the situation.


I set an intention for the class, PEACE. Stepping into the unknown sequences in this class is like going to your first day of kindegarten. One has no idea what to expect. We may feel a little shy so we pay extra close attention or look around a lot to see what others are doing. This reminds me of an incident many years ago when my sister forgot to wear her underwear to kindergarten class one day. That sent the nuns and my mother into a scramble to rectify this little oversight. Noone expected THAT to happen. Today, the memory sends her into hysterics. It's good to laugh!


My words today on the phone call to my friend leave me feeling exposed, like that little girl, no underwear, nothing up underneath me and noone to save me from myself. I would like to delete the day and start all over. I have no peace whatsoever. You can just imagine what I look like in this yoga class with all the residue of anger and frustration going round and round in my brain, hanging on to my story. Limbs flying everywhere. What balance? I am making a universal statement here and when I say that we all get thoughts in our heads, and once in a while hold onto them for dear life and shake them around like a raggedy ann doll. Oh Mad Mind, Manic Mind, Mismanaged Mind and murky mouth. Friends and family are our greatest teachers; There but for the grace of God go I.


The end of class is signalled by stretching our bodies from the mat sitting on the floor. I was in a staff pose, elongating the back and I found the length of my torso quivering, my back not supporting in this very simple sit-up-straight position. This physical workout is designed to create detoxifying heat in the body. The heat helps to losen the blocked energy, much as accupuncture frees up the meridians or access points for chi or life-giving-energy to move through. I could feel the emotions surrounding the telephone incident rising up to meet me, to challenge me and to change me if I would allow. When the energy reached the level of my heart, it felt like a nuclear meltdown of all positions and stories and with it the anger and frustration. The experience felt startling-ly expansive, like taking a nitrogen pill under the tongue when the heart is under attack! Love, liquid grace disolving barriers and absolving wounds leaving only itself in its wake and Peace. Wow, yoga is such a gift!  Listening, letting go and forgiveness even better!

Holding an Edge

Yoga is a discipline that beckons us to dive in and go deep. Whether you are aware of it or not you will “know yourself” if you do this practice for any length of time. I have a better understanding of myself, others and life today thanks to my yoga practice and embracing various psycho-spiritual practices. I admit I have a voracious mental appetite. I love to read. What I've begun to I notice is how I have been carrying myself around like a corn dog on a stick. Kind of stuck up there, if you know what I mean. Yoga, thank God, plucked me out of the air, put me on the ground and gave me a practice to embody the wisdom and walk the talk.

This evening’s class was particularly warm. There was a diverse age group which always feels less threatening to me. The lighting was low and the music was folk inspirational. We are holding a warrior 1 pose, bending deep into the front thigh like a genuflection. The knee doesn’t quite touch the ground, arms high over our head, looking up ...and breathe...still holding...stretching deeper…. burning, quivering... breathing... the teacher is talking to us slowly and deliberately... oh god hurry up...and breathe.... about spirituality which she tells us is a shift in focus. It sounds so simple doesn’t it? Just a shift in focus... oh sugar I can’t hold it...burning and barely breathing....but what distracts us as our body starts to give off signals of distress... Do we stop the pain, drop our focus or just let ourselves “breathe”. SO when the pose is over are we able to let go of that sequence and all the harry parts and flow on to the next one?

This is an extreme workout for me. I find myself in panic and anxiety experiencing a pain that cramps my entire body. I can't catch my breath but I sure catch the drift of this process. Bringing our minds to an awareness of our patterns and habits in stressful situations. Is my first reaction to focus externally on the drama surrounding the pain and emotions or am I able to quietly observe without judging? Is it possible to tolerate a physically awkard situation for just a little while longer?

I am very wobbly in a half moon pose,out of balance and not so sure I can allow myself to just let go and be flexible with the moment knowing a crash landing is imminent. I observe myself controlling everything I do in this class like an athlete with a “do it right” mentality. This I am told is ego. Corn dog on stick shows up in lots of places once you know what you’re looking at. Hard edges, Feeling competitive with myself, with others, Not being good enough, Thoughts of not succeeding, Failing, Falling…. These hard edges I hold are gathered from a lifetime of beliefs and experiences and of course, what I made it all mean. We all store our 'stuff' in cellular memory. Yoga exposes and exfoliates our deeply held emotions associated with “our stuff”.

Further expanding our breath into the crevices between our rib bones and the spaces between our vertebrae we are now making room for other things. A memory surfaces from 15 summers ago when my husband and I took our three children on a picnic in the middle of a summer resort day. We snuck out from a busy schedule, loaded our boat up with food and drink and water rafts, ski ropes, life jackets and children and off we went to our favorite island to picnic and play. Those were the best days and the best memories.  soft edges linger here with this passing memory.

We make choices every moment. In yoga through the poses we get to experience more often than not our hard edges. Those inflexible, stubborn places inside us. SOme memory is triggered, feeling arise and we find ourselves  modifying a pose as the integrity of a muscle or limb or body part is being compromised. Sometimes our edges are letting go and not being so perfect but being kind, listening to our bodies, as we build strength and endurance.
 It is the same with relationships, family dynamics. Compassion, listening and reconsidering our attachments to positions is helpful if we are willing. It may be necessary to modify the places we are standing from if the physical, spiritual or emotional integrity involving our siblings or loved ones or co-workers is being compromised. Letting go, breathing, inward focus, surrendering, leaves me in a wide open space feeling a little like Gumby with wobbly legs. I am on my edge, not knowing more than this moment, right now. Breathe!

Light and Shadow

I am enamored with yoga. It is so much more than a physical workout. It is wise beyond any book I have read. It sharpens the senses and challenges the mind. The essence of the practice is the BREATH, a bridge of awareness from the body, to the mind, to our (my) world. Yoga might sound so cliche to some and while the 'fad' has been around for many years I am just getting around to IT! It is my mentor for the bumps and potholes that blindside me, reminding me that I chose how to get up, get over and get going. Just like that!

Today the theme for class is clarity. I know. What does clarity have to do with yoga? Well, when the mind is clear, holding a pose is not so distracting that we lose our balance and collapse. Some poses wrap our bodies up into a small ball making breathing difficult and trigger past memories or perceptions of a situation. It sounds rather random but with objective awareness its amazing to witness what needs our attention to heal. I call these energetic knots that can block our chi. The energetic life flo. We all experience the lightness of being we carry some days and the darkness of confusion and complications other days. Yoga creates the context for us to notice and experience some of these life patterns and habits and change them if need be.

I had a flash of insight when the teacher expounded on the light and the dark in terms of opposites in yoga. Stretching our limbs way out there in either direction and using opposing muscles squeezing them towards one another creates strength in our core foundation. From this center we create a holistic balance in our lives.

When I was walking the Camino in Spain last November I was coming into a small village in the very early morning. The sun was coming up over the hills and I was just fascinated watching my shadow which was just off to my right side. I thought to myself, wow, the shadow doesn't diminish  the sun. The shadow is just an effect of light at play that seems to block the sun. but In fact, the sun doesn't know whats happening down here at all! Nothing can take away  or add to the Sun. Do you find yourself judging or taking sides when it comes to opposites? Something's good, something's bad, this is right and thats wrong? Yoga teaches me to pause and consider everything and come to think about it, opposites attract!

`Embracing both the light and the dark, opposite dimensions of words and meanings are all necessary and I believe  imperative to thrive and expand possibilities.  Acceptance, even in the form of surrender, loving what is, beautifully expresses the potential being of our divine nature, our authentic selves.
This is yoga. Loving my light and loving my shadow and loving life that always shows me what needs to be embraced, changed or re-considered!