Train

Whenever confronted with discomfort, the Mind must be trained to find the appropriate path of engagement.  Awakening the energy within is not enough.  The Mind awakens energy all the time.  The key is awakening this energy with Awareness.

Sometimes, it is helpful to reflect on whether we are using appropriate activities to calm the mind.  We can become so busy that we overlook that the mind is constantly seeking places of comfort.

The best thing we can do for ourselves is to train the mind to seek places of comfort that are truly restorative, such as yoga meditation,  prayer, and so on

It’s too easy for the mind to first reach for inappropriate comfort – the rush of a sugar high, endorphins from a too intense exercise session, alcohol, social media and so on.

The Mind needs support and training in finding the right path.

Voice

The Soulful resonance of the Voice requires the holistic support of each chakra.

We often wonder about what we say – if our words are heard correctly, if our words carry the meaning, resonance and intentions we desire.

The reason that such questions arise is that we inherently understand the power of the Voice as reflection of the Soul. Our voices are one of the primary ways by which we share the depth and expressions of our Souls.

The best way to support the Voice, as meaningful reflector of Soulful intentions, is to prepare ways for the Voice to be supported by the other chakras – manipura (self), anahata (heart), swadhisthana (relations) and so on. The Voice is too fragile (and yet, also too powerful) to be left on its own, without the underpinnings of other chakras in place.

If you want a stronger Voice, one in which you feel heard – create spaces to cultivate the heart, the sense of self and the sense of relations you desire. Pray, meditate, move, chant, do yoga- all of these actions create the support the Voice needs.

Syllables

Every syllable of a mantra is a stitch pulling the pieces of the psyche together.

Whenever the mind is in a state of disarray, it will attempt (effectively or not) to heal its self. It will look for places of resonance, things to enable it to feel “better”. Too often, the mind, as the source of the problem, struggles to create successful strategies that complete this desired healing.

The gift of mantras (one of the many, many gifts) is that the energy of the syllables of the mantra supersedes the contextual understanding of the mind. As these syllables are beyond the mind, the normal circumventing of healing energy by the mind is avoided. The syllables pull together the edges of any wounds perceived by the mind, before the mind is even aware such healing has occurred.

Mantras are a way of healing those wounds persisting through our unconscious. Few things touch this space as effectively as these repetitions.

Legder

THE BALANCE

You are tired because every moment you spend creating an identity removes energy.

You are renewed because every moment you spend in awareness returns energy.

The Art of Thoughts

Meditative Mind

Every thought you have carries with it the colorings of
your projections:
the black of fear
the yellow of hope
the green of inspiration
the blue of knowing
the orange of confusion
swirl into the midst, marking your thoughts as your
own Unique Art.

—
I was reading a book that discussed the “coloring” of our thoughts. As we release each thought, it is packaged in the colors of our past experiences and the state of our Mind.

One thing I have found helpful is to picture my thoughts being packaged in colors. Rather than stopping, there, though, I envision the thought from a place of neutrality and picture the thought bathed in white before I release it.

To me, this is the meditative mind. It places a border around our projections and associations and instead releases the thought with no attachment into the world.

Meditative Control

Meditation Man

Meditative Control-
Place the Mind on the precipice
and refuse to let it Roll.

—-
I love this picture. I pictured the mind as a circle, sitting atop a curved point. When I drew it, to me, it looked like someone’s head atop the shoulders.

I thought this is what meditation is all about- keeping the mind centered when it really wants to roll in one direction or another 🙂

Infinite Life

Light

If we only respond to time,
we are stuck in time.

Our infinity becomes lost
as we bind it to time.

—-
As someone who is SO time conscious, I liked this image and words. It reminded me that I can not think in infinite terms if I am always bound to time- past, future, etc. Infinity is beyond such constraints.

The Push

Push

Only when the Mind begins to open does
it first contemplate its state of closure,
and recognize the closure as its own.

This is the opening God seeks and then pushes to make wider.

—-
Awareness and awakening is never a complete process. Each opening reveals what more remains unseen.

What the Moon Teaches

Moon Time

The Sun is the Soul.
Arising every day, unchanged by
circumstances.
The Sun becomes the consistency
by which our faith is trained.

The Moon is the Mind.
Traveling phases, evolved only
to return.
The Moon becomes the talisman
by which our wholeness is trusted.

——
I liked this image. It caused me to pause and think about what I learn from the Moon. The Sun is always so steadfast. It speaks to me as the Soul- forever present and beyond any circumstances.

From the Moon, I learn to honor the transitions, the movements, and the phases. The Moon teaches us the balance of light and dark, the seen and unseen, the revealed and the hidden, always returning to wholeness. It reminds me of the cycles of the Mind- always changing, but there is a wholeness underlying it all.

Silly Thoughts

Roots

The gift of thinking is not to reach outward to the world.
The gift of thinking is the ability to turn
the branches of thought inward so they may
gain depth and become the roots for the tree.