The Closet Academic is diving deep this weekend. Always having been certifiable, I am embarking on the road to meditation teacher certification. Often, in our rushed world today, we find ourselves having been trained out of allowing our natural states. We tend to stifle our natural ease subtly replacing it with hurried anxiety. That’s where meditation comes in handy.

It is interesting to note how natural mindfulness is to us and a part of our many innate abilities. Taking just a few short minutes each morning to breathe in and breathe out – quieting our minds and noticing our breath, our breath, our breath, changes everything. Meditation cultivates our natural mindfulness. We can dive deep in mindfulness and reap its endless benefits. We find life growing better and better and better.

Do yourself, your family and our world a huge favor. Meditate every morning. Do it before life takes over for the day. Make it a part of your personal constitution. When we meditate we dive deep and have more room to maneuver. Mindfulness always bobs to the top. It’s only natural.

Today, I’m compelled to cross over to the dark side. Occasionally, I’ll torture myself and binge on reading headlines, watching clips and perusing print media. Thankfully, I meditate which brings mindfulness and calm to my perceptions. It is interesting to watch how easily people can be manipulated. I live in the #fitn state. My fellow New Hampshire, twitter savvy citizens may know that the hashtag means first in the nation, in reference to the Presidential Primary.

Polling is a major resource for rhetorical puppetry. Here in New Hampshire, after having been polled and polled and polled again, I want to see a poll on how many people would like to rip out their landlines and pole the pollsters where the sun don’t shine. Being in the #fitn state what you, the average non-New Hampshire resident, hear about issues or candidates leading the field or gaining or losing points, with their plus or minus margins of error, can be highly misleading. Typically, once the result of a slanted specific poll shows a hint of fodder, it quickly hits the media cycles to suit their particular commission.

This week we saw the product of an antiquated corporate model in the form of a man named Martin Shkreli, former CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals. He’s the guy who bought a drug and jacked the price into the stratosphere. Though despicable, it’s legal. He was brought before a committee of the United States House of Representatives to explain himself. His obvious, blatant contempt was more than palpable. His lawyer said that the constant smirk plastered across his client’s face was due to nerves. I almost believed the explanation until I read what the twit tweeted. His demonstrated disrespect is beyond comprehension.

It can be tough to stay out of the fray of the mindless ugly, at times. Just opening our snail-mailboxes has the potential to, and often does, explode paper commercials directly into our homes. We look at it as we toss it aside and that’s all it takes. The seed has been planted. It must be physically handled just to get it to the recycle bin. Unless there is discriminating mindfulness afoot, you may find yourself embracing the gecko.

Our world is ever changing for the better. We have intelligent, optimistic, enthusiastic and naturally mindful millennials and meditators. Where once our academic institutions supported practices that inadvertently cultivated the dregs we see in the news, we are now much more aware. We know that when we put well-being first that the bottom line automatically falls into place. We thrive and prosper in mindfulness. Breathe In. Breathe Out. We’re in for a wonderful ride! It’s only natural.

It’s here. Twenty sixteen is officially a leap year. We’re taking the leap. Those born on the sixtieth day of a leap year have the opportunity to celebrate their fourth birthday at sixteen years of age. This year is my fifteenth leap year.  Leap years calibrate our calendars saving us from the drift. In the USA, leap years leap us into another presidential election. We leap and drift and leap and drift.

Where do we find the time? One quarter of a leftover day each year breaks down to nearly one single minute every day. Keep that in mind next time you are at a loss to find the time to leap into a quality of life activity, like meditation, for example. Taking the leap, just a few single minutes each day, into a silent meditation provides a positive upsurge and stretches us. We become more supercharged and may feel like leaping tall buildings in a single bound (metaphorically speaking).

Leap years and meditation have a lot in common. Leap years adjust our time/space calculators to align more accurately with the united global understanding. Meditation adjusts our personal time/space calculators to align more accurately with ourselves enhancing the united global understanding.  The time goes by whether we are paying attention or not. We can leap over our time and not give it a single minute’s thought or we can leap into our time and be happily mindful of every single minute. Take the mindful leap and meditate. It’s only natural.

‘Do what you love and everything else takes care of itself.’ As a metaphysician and meditator I have heard this over and over again. A mature American woman living in the early 21^st century, I’ve learned that this philosophy is absolutely correct and see it in action daily. Conversely, our dominant society would have us question the notion of living in love and happiness for the majority of our stay on the planet.

We seem to be tethered here in our physical world, interacting energetically, through our individual belief systems. Those who love the Lord love loving the Lord.  Those who love the path of the Buddha love loving the path of the Buddha. Those who love their pets love loving their pets. Whatever Channel that feeds and provides the deeply felt Connection and Knowing, we as individuals, egos on Earth, appear to be pure Light or the ‘hue’ in human. We are the owner and operator of our life in this time on this beautiful spinning sphere. We walk around in this vehicle we call a body. The body’s maneuvering mechanism steers and directs the ever positive, ever agreeing Light through its steering wheel known as our Focus and Attention.

Everyone, whether atheist or martian, boy or girl, knows of this deeply intimate space, even if acknowledged for just a nano-second.  When one is in conscious recognition of it, a sense of unencumbered freedom and happiness prevails. Freedom from the training, socialization and often perverse and conflicting but well-meaning rituals, procedures and beliefs that have been pounded into us since the day we were born. Like endorphins, freedom and happiness provides an often lasting sense of upliftment and a taste of the savory divine, that we all are at our core.

Pay Attention to what you are Focused upon – in any given moment. Does it really feel good to watch the news every single day? Is it advantageous to fret and feel poorly over something that you have absolutely no control over? Can you give what you don’t have? Of course not! We are always free to choose. We just forgot. It takes Focus to slow this train down and turn it around. Pay Attention to your own happiness first. Ask yourself, ‘wouldn’t it be nice if…’ Keep leaning your Attention toward the better feeling. Nourish and cultivate often your most exhilarating dreams and feel the joy of them. It is safe to let yourself feel happiness. It’s only natural.

The countdown is on. For me and for my country. I’ve recently moved to New Hampshire, USA and 2016 is an election year, a Presidential election year. New Hampshire is the first-in-the-nation primary state. Just four weeks away, residents are continually bombarded with intensive rhetoric and politics. I’m thankful to not have a landline. With our neighboring state Vermont producing a viable candidate for the office I long for my former blue home of Massachusetts right about now. But, that is neither here nor there.

On January 11th I will be entering a contest, submitting a book proposal to Hay House where the first prize is a publishing contract. The countdown just six days away, I have yet to have it pulled together in the polished manner that it deserves. I committed to myself that I must allow the information to flow through me. Meditating for a few minutes every day is a major flow factor in this process. I am at ease and in a receiving mode that enables the words to magically appear on the page. I delight in the knowledge that I am merely the vessel through which the message comes alive. I love that feeling.

Pondering another countdown, the Powerball jackpot tonight is $500 million. Five hundred million dollars boils down to over $100 million in hand. I’ve attracted brilliant and trustworthy souls to help me manage  and do it up right. I’m a mindful blue jeans millionaire who meditates. We are here for a limited time. Meditate and let mindfulness manage the countdown. It’s only natural.

written two years ago…

January 14, 2014 at 2:22am

I’ve been flying pretty high these days, bopping along, feeling good. Enjoying the gifts of meditating and yoga, becoming lighter, almost like the lightness one feels with a great endorphin rush. At times my body vibrates. Come on, I know I’m not alone in this.

Recently, I’ve been playing with my energy focusing a bit more on energy centers, similar to a nourishing mental body scan. Needless to say I love the ride. It is exciting to slide into that Space.

Imagine my thrill when, with the sun shining after a ten day cloud cover and the air thirty degrees warmer, I take a drive. Basking in the beauty around me I reach a summit at 1450 feet. All of a sudden a strong and pleasantly palpable surge runs thru me near the root chakra, the center toosh region. “Wow” I thought. “What a powerful connection!” I was in awe! Then I realized. I was sitting on my vibrating (rotary) cell phone. I Am on the leading edge, though technology is another subject. I laughed the entire descent.

Doors open when we feel good. I stayed present with that awesome feeling for as long as I could. Later that day I found $20, more laughter, more appreciation. If that’s what it takes to get my attention, I’m on board. Life is good!

1/2 inch cellcam capture

Meditating a few minutes every day lets life flow easily and naturally and never lets me down. It’s a form of mindfulness, living from the heart moment by moment. There are gaps between consistent postings on theClosetAcademic.com. In the ‘real world’ that may disqualify me from being considered a viable investment or making the grade. The weather has been so beautiful lately that I can’t seem to bring myself indoors to get writing. When I do (almost) force myself to sit down, my hip starts acting up as if to say ‘Oh ya? So you think you are going to drive this ship of inspiration do you? Well, I’ll show you!’ I love these little reminders to allow myself to be in the moment and only do those things that feel right and kind and good for me. If that means playing in the forest for a few hours while deadlines loom then that’s what I’m going to do. Things always seem to work out better that way and all those (often self-imposed) demands inevitably find their way in getting met. And, the best part is, if things don’t pan out because of the honoring of myself then something even better manifests and is of even greater advantage for all concerned. Lightening up and getting to that higher place where everything always works out – aham brahmasmi baby! Like squeezing an orange and expecting orange juice, we can only offer to the world what we are inside. Meditate and tap in. It’s only natural.

rare alignment
pre dawn 7Nov2015