A new friend of mine, Michael Murphy wrote this beautiful article on one of my favorite biblical passages. “Be still and know that I am God.”
Michael offers a gentle reminder we need to be still and live in the present moment. There is only the present moment.
When we live in the past and the future, our lives become convoluted.
When we live in the present, we can feel Gods presence and love.
Why do we live outside of the present moment. The present is indeed a present!
Sending you love and blessings …..
========
By Michael Murphy
A buddy of mine called me
recently. His first words were,
“Where are you?” My rather
quick witted (o.k., it was
sarcastic) answer was,
“I’m right here.”
Most people are not
where they are. Oh,
they might be there
in their physical body,
but not in their mind.
There is no ‘reality’
outside of the present
moment. Yesterday is
a memory. You might
be able to hit the
‘rewind’ button and
replay it; but, its not
part of your present
reality.
Tomorrow (or even
30 minutes from now)
is a creation of your mind.
IT is not reality.
There is no reality except
where you are right now.
Have you ever heard the
deafening silence beyond
all the sounds that you hear
right now? If you can
‘learn to be still’ and
not only hear the sounds
in your three dimensional
world, but listen intently
into the dimension beyond,
you’ll experience what I mean.
Try it if you never have
before. Its kind of a
fourth dimensional spatial
awareness.
In reality, it only allows
you to be present now
in you awareness or
consciousness.
Our lives get quite
convoluted when we
make this huge effort
of living in the future
or living in the past.
When you choose to be
present now and just
become aware, you
will feel a sense of calm
and a presence of love.
The ancient writings of
King David encouraged
us to ‘be still and know
that I am God.’ There
is a divine presence
that you’ll feel when
you do this. God is love
and you’ll feel the
the divine love.
Allow yourself to be
present today and
enjoy the love.
I came across a passage from a wise sage that I want to share with you. I find a heart warming value in this message.
I hope you do too!
A sage asked his disciples ‘Why do people yell at each other when they are upset?’
The disciples thought for a while, and one said, ‘We lose our calm and so we yell!’
‘But explain to me, why do you yell when the other person is right next to you?’ asked the sage. ‘Isn’t it possible to speak to him or her with a soft voice? Why do you yell at a person when you’re angry?’
The disciples gave some other answers but none satisfied the sage.
Finally the sage explained…
‘When two people are angry at each other, there is a distance which arises between their hearts. To cover that distance they must yell, to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the louder they will have to yell to hear each other through that great distance.’
Then the sage asked…
‘What happens when people are in love? They do not yell at each other but talk softly. Why? Their hearts are very close. The distance between them is very small.
The sage continued, ‘What happens when their love for the other grows even more?
They do not speak, they only whisper. Their hearts come even closer with love.
Finally they need not even whisper… they only look at each other and that’s all. That is how close people are when they love each other.
The heart is like one.’
Then the sage said, ‘The lesson here is this: When you disagree do not let a distance come between your hearts. Relationships are far more important than specific outcomes. Do not say or do things that increase the distance between hearts, else there will come a day when the distance is so great that you may not find the path to return.’
Beneath all of the stress, frustrations, fears, and anxieties that you deal with each day, there is an easier, happier way to live. In fact, it is the way you are meant to live – the way your body, mind, and soul have been designed to function.
The key to achieving this higher, happier, easier way of living is to connect and harmonize with the eternal part of yourself. Whether you call it your Higher Self, your Truth, or your Soul, it is that part of you that knows what you need to be deeply happy and fulfilled at all times.
In Harnessing Your Life Force: Using Radiant Energy to Align Your Mind-Body with Your Divine Self, spiritual teacher and healer Barbara Mahaffey shows you how to get into congruency with your Soul, so that you can begin to automatically live the life of ease, joy, and abundance you’ve been structured for.
The techniques you’ll discover in this program are drawn from a wide range of spiritual traditions and belief systems. Simple, powerful, and amazingly effective, they will help you to:
> Understand and utilize your body’s amazing untapped energy sources.
> Rid yourself of the four main ego beliefs that are at the heart of all problems and dysfunctions.
> Release stress from your body, using simple techniques with instantaneous results.
> Get rid of old “imprints” that are negatively impacting your life today.
> Make all the relationships in your life easy and good again.
> Create healthy boundaries and master the art of saying no.
And so much more!
When you discover how to live each moment in harmony with your Soul, you’ll be astonished by the changes you experience and the empowerment you feel. People and problems that once upset you will no longer affect your peace of mind. You’ll be able to stay sane, calm, and centered even in the most challenging situations. The stress and fear you feel today will be replaced by happiness, confidence, and deep knowing that will help you to travel joyfully through your life.
10 Tips to Overcome Morning Stiffness
By Robert Chu, PhD, L.Ac
Do you find it difficult to get out of bed in the morning because of too much pain? Does it take an hour or two for your body to “warm up” and your joints and muscles to loosen before you can tackle the tasks of the day? If you answered yes, you are not alone.
According to the American College of Rheumatology, fibromyalgia affects 3 to 6 million Americans. That’s 1 in 50 Americans, with seven times more frequency in women than in men. And according to the NHIS, by 2030 an estimated 67 million Americans are projected to have doctor-diagnosed arthritis.
Morning stiffness is one of the more common complaints doctors hear about from patients with fibromyalgia, arthritis, rheumatism and those whose bodies no longer rebound after a day of activity — even gardening — like it used to.
Do not let morning stiffness cut your day short by starting it later… And while most people reach for muscle relaxants like Motrin, and pain relievers like Aleve to get them going, you don’t need to.
The Main Causes of Morning Stiffness
The basic causes of morning stiffness are lack of daily physical activity, being overweight, having a poor diet, not sleeping properly, and being in an environment that tends to be cold and/or damp.
Exercising on a daily basis (even walking while swinging your arms) is a great way to release those feel-good endorphins, get the blood moving, and help clear nasty toxins from the body.
Being overweight causes you to carry unnecessary pounds, which puts strain on your joints, muscles, tendons, and ligaments.
A poor diet that is high in simple carbohydrates causes weak muscles, bad posture, and lethargy.
A poor sleeping posture can lock your body in a bad position for hours, causing reduced blood flow to the local muscles, and a buildup of lactic acid, causing stiffness.
Living or working in a cold or damp environment causes muscles to stiffen because the cold or damp affects the blood flow throughout the body.
Relieving Morning Stiffness
You’ll be happy to know that what is causing your morning stiffness can be avoided or corrected…
Here are 10 easy things you can do to make a big difference in your life.
* Be sure to get ample deep sleep so your body can repair and recharge. Forget about those troubles or conversations or tasks that need addressing; they can be handled tomorrow. Also, be sure to sleep either on your side or on your back — as stomach sleeping causes unnecessary stress on the low back and spine.
* If your room is drafty, seal the windows or door. If it is cold, try a space heater or use extra blankets to prevent that cold or dampness from stiffening your body.
* Do some easy stretches while lying in bed, then sitting up in bed, such as bending to the front and sides. This will stretch and loosen the muscles and help flush them with more blood.
* Take a hot shower. This serves as a means to induce sweating, promotes blood circulation, and releases muscle spasms. Simply stand under the hot water and… relax.
* After you are warmed up from the shower, do some gentle knee bends — as far as you can go without falling! You can hold on to something for balance if needed. You don’t have to go all the way down, either. These movements exercise almost 90% of the skeletal muscles. Find a counter, table, or chair and use your hands for support. Exhale and squat as low as you can go, then inhale and stand up again. Do 10 of these to get the morning blood flowing and keep the creaky joints silent.
* Drink the best water you can find. Often the tap water in our cities is not the freshest or safest. Even cities like Los Angeles have traces of psychiatric medicines and estrogen-like compounds in their tap water — and these toxins build up in your system over time, causing pain. It is advisable to drink either bottled water or reverse osmosis filtered water.
* Eat healthier. Cut down on simple carbohydrates and start reading labels to avoid consuming more toxins. Simply eliminate all foods with artificial color, enriched white flour, and artificial flavors/sweeteners (high fructose corn syrup, crystalline fructose and aspartame). If you don’t know what it is, or have difficulty pronouncing it, avoid ingesting it.
* Learn some coping mechanisms and stress management techniques so that you’re not lying awake all night thinking about your problems. Learning how to deal with toxic people in your life will both allow you to sleep better and reduce the stress-induced muscle spasms that cause pain.
* Get some regular exercise. The idea is to go out and do some something physical with your body. Even a simple routine of 10000 steps a day (buy a pedometer!) will greatly improve your health.
* Be the fashion police! You want to dress appropriately for these cold months, and you might do well to sleep in flannel pajamas or sweats. Remember, cold air causes muscles and joints to stiffen.
These simple tips followed with a little dedication, along with some minor lifestyle changes and improvements to your living environment, can help you overcome morning stiffness in no time.
[Ed. Note: Robert Chu, PhD, L.Ac, QME, has studied the Chinese martial and healing arts since childhood. He specializes in Master Tung Acupuncture to help patients with musculoskeletal disorders, pain, infertility, cancer treatment related side effects, cardiovascular problems, diabetes, and thyroid issues. Dr. Chu is a contributing editor and on the advisory board for The Healthy Back Institute.]
David Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D, conducted a 29-year study that demonstrated that the human body becomes stronger or weaker depending on a person’s mental state. He created a scale from 1-1000 that mapped human consciousness. Furthermore, he demonstrated that this map can be used as a blueprint to reach higher states of consciousness that can be identified simply by applying a small amount of pressure on an outstretched arm!
Dr. Hawkins’ research is based on a well-established science called kinesiology, which has to do with the testing of an all-or-none muscle response stimulus. A positive stimulus generates a strong muscle response and a negative stimulus results in a demonstrable weakening of the test muscle. Clinical kinesiological muscle testing as a diagnostic technique has been verified widely over the past 25 years.
Not only that, but this simple method has also been demonstrated to be an effective tool for instantly calibrating human consciousness. Hawkins created a scale of consciousness based on current discoveries in advanced theoretical physics and the nonlinear dynamics of chaos theory. And this “map of consciousness” now makes it possible for anyone to advance toward higher levels of enlightenment faster than ever imagined!
After listening to this program, you’ll be able to:
* Advance your level of consciousness and your understanding of human behavior, just by learning the map of consciousness.
* Gain instant access to information that is beyond the capacity of all the world’s computers.
* Detect the exact point in any complex system where the least effort brings about the greatest result.
* Understand the power of a simple attitude adjustment as well as the consequences of various emotional states.
* Learn how people who calibrate high on the map of consciousness can raise the energy level and calibration of thousands of others just by being in their presence!
* Heal yourself of illness or addiction by reaching the state of consciousness in which it vanishes.
* Learn which foods, environments, companies, books, etc. are harmful (low energy) and which are beneficial (high energy).
* Discover the truth or falsity of any statement, irrespective of your opinions or feelings about it.
My favorite passage in Eckhart Tolle’s ‘A New Earth’ is a chapter called “Is That So?”
I found this writing very powerful. Leave it to a Zen Master to give us a powerful insight into mastering the ego.
Here is how the story goes …..
The Zen Master Hakuin lived in a town in Japan. He was a well respected Zen Master and many people came to see him for spiritual teaching. Then it happened that the teenage daughter of his next-door neighbor became pregnant. When being questioned by her angry parents as to the identity of the father, she finally told them that he was Hakuin, the Zen Master.
The angry parents rushed over to Hakuin and told him with much shouting and accusing that their daughter had confessed that he was the father. All he replied was, ” Is that so? ”
News of the scandal spread throughout the town. The Master lost his reputation. This did not trouble him. Nobody came to see him anymore. He remained unmoved. When the child was born, the parents brought the baby to Hakuin. “You are the father, so you look afte him.” The Master took loving care of the child. A year later, the mother remorsefully confessed to her parents that the real father of the child was the young man who worked at the butcher shop.
In great distress they went to see Hakuin to apologize and ask for forgiveness. “We are really sorry. We have come to take the baby back. Our daughter confessed that you are not the father.” “Is that so?” is all he would say as he handed the baby over to them.
The Master responded to bad news and good news, in exactly the same way: “Is that so?” He allows the form of the moment, good or bad, to be as it is and so does not become a participant in human drama. Events are not personalized. He is nobody’s victim. Only if you resist what happens are you at the mercy of what happens, and the world will determine your happiness and unhappiness.
Imagine briefly how the ego would have reacted during the various stages of the unfolding of these events. How did you react to this story? What emotions did you experience? Now imagine yourself reacting as the Zen Master Hakiun reacted to this situation.
Is there a situation in your life right now that is consumed by the ego? Could you say “Is That So?”
Practice this new reality. Live in the moment and practice the art of non resistance. When you become friendly with the moment, life becomes friendly toward you: people become helpful, circumstances cooperative.
Ultimately as Eckhart Tolle says, the decision to make the present moment into your friend is the end of the ego. The ego can never be in alignment with the present moment. Time is what the ego lives on.
There are many valuable lessons in Ekhart Tolle’s A New Earth.
My New Years Resolution was a bit delayed this year as I prayed and tweeked what I wanted to accomplish in ‘09.
I knew it had to do with love. Last year I focused on Unconditional Love and my life changed dramatically. Definetly my best year ever!
As my fascination and need to explore love grows, I have decided this year to infuse love into everything. As the old adage goes ” let everything be done with love.”
So in ‘09, I will send and give love to as many people, places, things, situations, objects as humanly possible.
I will infuse love into my body including every appendage, organ, muscle, cell, atom. I will learn to love myself deeply down to my core. I confidently expect this love to keep me physically healthy. As I deepen my love of self, I will share it with others. Becoming a love radiator!
I will infuse love into my business, credit union, bank account, finances. I believe this love will make a difference and prosper me.
I will infuse love into my family and friends. I believe my family and friends will notice a difference in me and themselves.
I plan to infuse love into people and situations. I will infuse love into challenging people and emotions. I fully expect this love to make a change in people and situations.
I am infusing love into my blog and online business. I expect my blog to grow and my networking to expand. I am planning on meeting hoards of people from around the world this year because of this shared love.
As I infuse love into every area of my life this year, I will also infuse love into anyone I come into contact with. That is you!
I expect this year to be my best year ever. Love changes everything!
She has a simple EFT sequence here to offer. After doing this clutter clearing sequence,
I felt a huge shift and immediately purchased her new program. I think you are going to
like her new program that allows abundance into your life. Once we clear the emotional
issues as to why we hold on to clutter, abundance can flow into our lives.
First try this short EFT clutter clearing sequence and feel the changes. If you need
assistance with the EFT tapping points, go to www.emofree.com andd watch the
video.
Happy clearing to you!
If you like this post, please click on the ‘ twitthis’ button to your right!
Have you ever noticed that the clutter in your life — too much stuff in your office, a schedule filled with appointments you don’t want, extra weight or pain in your body, or friendships and acquaintances that are no longer a vibrational match for you — gets in the way of your attracting abundance? Well, you’re right, it does!
If your mind is cluttered with resentful thoughts, there’s no space for the vibration of abundance. If your life is cluttered with needy people, there’s no room for joyful, uplifting relationships. If your office or home is totally cluttered with papers and junk you haven’t been able to throw away, there’s no room for manifestation of the abundance you have been asking for.
What if you cleared the emotional clutter from your mind?
What if you let go of your outdated relationships
and allowed healthy friendships into your life?
What if you cleared the physical clutter from both
your body and your home, how much room would
there be for abundance now?
All I can say is that if you try clearing clutter from your life by tapping on the underlying emotional conflicts and needs that are keeping the unhealthy patterns in place, you’ll notice the energetic difference right away. Then you’ll notice the material difference, then the health differences and so on. Here’s the key: Find and eliminate the emotional reasons you are attached to clutter, and you can happily let it go and allow abundance back into your life — where it belongs.
Notice why you hold onto negative thoughts, stuff or relationships… notice why you can’t let go…try to understand why you won’t release something old and outdated. What’s the purpose of all this clutter? How has it been serving you? What’s the “downside” of letting go?
There are so many ways to get your emotional needs met in healthy ways without collecting clutter!
Try the EFT setup phrases below to help you start to clear the clutter from all parts of your life…
1. EFT SETUP PHRASES:
The EFT SETUP Phrases for this topic are as follows:
While tapping the karate chop spot on either hand, repeat these phrases out loud, (or change the words to fit your exact situation).
“Even though I hold onto clutter because I feel empty inside without it, I deeply and completely love and accept myself anyway.”
“Even though I feel safer when I have a cluttered life, I am willing to release this pattern that’s blocking my abundance.”
“Even though being cluttered is a way to fill all my emotional voids, I deeply and completely love and accept myself anyway.”
I have indicated where to tap while saying each of the phrases below. You may repeat the positive round more than once if you wish. (Those of you who are new to EFT may view a chart of the spots on my web site under the EFT pages.)
***Now for the phrases that focus on the problem***
Eyebrow: “I have so much clutter in my life.”
Side of Eye: “I’ve always had this bad habit of collecting clutter.”
Under Eye: “I like my clutter and don’t want to let go.”
Nose: “I would feel anxious without my stuff!”
Chin: “Don’t make me let go of my clutter.”
Collarbone: “I developed this habit over years.”
Under Arm: “I am afraid of feeling empty without my clutter.”
Head: “I’m willing to consider my safety issues around this topic.”
***Now for the positive focus on the solution***
Eyebrow: “What if I could release my clutter and still feel good?”
Side of Eye: “What if I cleared out the clutter and felt better in my life?”
Under Eye: “I want to let go of the clutter and feel safe anyway.”
Nose: “I choose to release my emotional clutter.”
Chin: “I don’t need all my stuff any more.”
Collarbone: “There could be so much room for abundance.”
Under Arm: “I’m willing to start releasing the clutter in my life.”
Head: “I appreciate its purpose and now I’m ready to let some of it go.”
Keep tapping, and enjoy the clarity and peace of mind that comes from these efforts!
