Category Archives: NewThought

toilet paper

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     We all experience points when life takes that turn and everything really starts to go our way. We feel lighter and freer. But – so often we’re encumbered with a sense of guardedness, feeling like this is not going to last, while we wait for the other shoe to drop. We have grown so accustomed to the struggle and daily grind that when good things happen we’re not used to it and we think it is an anomaly.  Well, I’m happy to report that this type of stinkin’ thinkin’ is all in your head. It is only natural for us to feel good and everything is supposed to go our way.
     To prove this point, consider your toilet paper. I have lived in many different locations over the years. Each abode, of course, had a holder for the toilet paper. In one place I became accustomed to turning toward the left to gather this precious reserve. It became automatic to lean in that direction for the much needed item. After a while I didn’t even think about it. The brain pattern was in place and I could be totally mindless when it came time to acquire this useful tool.
     Moving to a new place, I found this valuable commodity to be on the right. How odd it was to automatically be reaching left, reaching left, reaching left. I realized, though without fanfare, that if I wanted to utilize this important resource, I had to open myself to a new way of thinking. I had to allow and create some new brain wrinkles. I had to be mindful and reach right. Those little subtleties can change everything. In mindfulness, the shift is always for the better.
     Meditation cleans things up. When we meditate we cultivate mindfulness and open ourselves to all that good stuff. Each time we meditate we, little by little, train our ever agreeable brain to lean in the direction of our natural inclinations. We become mindful.  We begin to notice that we are turning left when what we want is on our right. We recognize our passions and our brain re-patterns to accommodate our wishes.
     Test your toilet paper today. Take a few minutes each morning to meditate, breathing in and breathing out; paying attention or being mindful of your breath, your breath, your breath. The shift is incremental and it does not take long to become used to and normalize. Life is supposed to feel good, without compromise. Meditate and let it in. It’s only natural.
hearts (3)

(artist unknown)

core intellect

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025I’m taking a 100 hour meditation teacher training which will ‘qualify’ me to share a type of meditation that everyone can utilize. I love it. Oddly, I’ve always been qualified but over the years I had allowed the opinions of others to jade my self- confidence.

We are such people pleasers, we humans, that most of us have trained ourselves right out of our own innate and natural well-being. We’ve allowed the intellect to take over our lives forgetting that we are an energy field at our core walking around in these garages we call a body.

When we meditate we are cultivating that core. It is a distraction for the intellect, which says ‘yes’ to everything we feed it. In meditation we tune in to our inner world where inspiration, simplicity and goodness reside. Meditation leads to mindfulness. Cultivating mindfulness through meditation is a powerful tool for daily living. We are able to soothe that which does not serve us and our perspective shifts.

Emotions are simply the indicator of the direction of our thought. Our thoughts, thought often enough, turn into beliefs. The intellect is comprised of our beliefs. Contrary to what the programmed intellect may offer, it is natural for us to feel good. When we meditate we become equipped to notice if we’re feeling good or if something is feeling off. It is that noticing, that mindfulness, that allows for us to consciously change our minds. We are enabled to slow or stop feeding the off-ness our energy/attention and it slows the momentum.

010.jpgIt is the daily practice of focusing on the breath, the breath, the breath that gently breeds mindfulness. The intellect conforms to mindfulness and you will find your behind in the proverbial sling less and less and less. If you’re in a pinch, breathing and focusing elsewhere, like your big toe for example, helps to find that place of well-being. Overall, once a consistent meditation practice gets a foothold on the intellect, feeling good becomes normal and life gets better and better.

007Cultivate your core and meditate. Open the channel telling the intellect, “I know I have the ability to focus.”  Bring your attention to the breath, the breath, the breath. Feel a type of detachment from the physical environment letting your inner cork float. The more you do it the more you want to do it. It’s all good AND It’s only natural.

power pause

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Deep breath in to the tippy top, holding briefly and a strong exhale out the mouth. Allow a sigh. One more time – inhale and exhale. Now, just breathe normally noticing the rush of air coming in and going out. Just noticing. At the beginning of a practice, meditation students  are often instructed to silently ask themselves three simple questions.

Now, in your mind, as you breathe ask yourself,  ‘who am I?’ breathing in and out, ‘who am I?’ very gently offering the question – breathing in and breathing out. Next question, ‘what do I want?’ And, again breathing in and breathing out, ‘what do I want?’. Ever so easy, ever so natural ask yourself ‘what is my dharma/purpose? What is my purpose/how may I serve?’ And then, let the questions go, breathing in and breathing out. Inhale in the luscious air, savoring it and then exhaling out what no longer serves you.

How easy is that? Very! Now you have launched your practice for the day. Enjoy the peace of natural breath for a few minutes more. Make the best of the rest of your day and watch what comes. ‘Seek (the good stuff) and ye shall find.’ It’s only natural.

mind fiber

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We all know the process. Look for and identify your negatives, make amends and then move on. What typically happens though is we forget to move on. Once those self admonitions are pinpointed we tend to bring them up over and over again. They become excuses. We rarely let ourselves off the hook and usually stay in that disconcerting feeling of unworthiness. It is quite common. Even the 12 steps, as well meaning as they are, keeps one in the swirl of self-deprecation. We are well trained into believing that this is life and without the constant recognition of our pitfalls we are doomed to repeat them. Unfortunately, that mind game constipates our thinking and literally makes us sick. It’s time to recognize your worthiness.

Incorporating a good quality source of fiber into our diets really moves things along, doesn’t it. We are relieved and feel much better as we go about our day. When our physical-ness is well nourished life takes on a whole new lilt. We feel free and easy and light and productive and worthy. What usually happens though is we gradually slide back into our old habits. We regress without noticing that our bodies are starting to return to its familiar lethargic pace. It’s only when we struggle to move that we consciously take action and begin the process all over again – back and forth, back and forth.

Meditation is like fiber for our mind. The movement that is mindfulness tends to maintain a wonderful ease and flow that we all appreciate. In meditating for just a few minutes every day we become equipped to recognize when we are returning to the usual grind. Once mindfulness kicks in we never again go back to our old ways without noticing. Life improves, our worthiness and value grows and enhances. The load is lifted and progress comes to us with regularity. Our sense of self continues to brighten and lighten.

Enjoy a balanced diet with mind fiber by adding the simple act of silent, breathing meditation, 5 to 20 minutes a day. The resulting mindfulness flushes out all that stinkin’ thinkin’. It mucks out the stalls and makes room for healthy advancements. We never again feel obligated to bring up all the old stuff. We truly forgive ourselves and let it go.  Our bodies respond in kind. Meditate and enjoy your daily dose of mind fiber. It’s only natural.

019

 

ultimate remedy

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We’ve heard it said that we are what we eat. In a similar way or more accurately stated, we are what we think. Oddly, we have that option – to think. When the average person wakes in the morning chances are their first consumption of sustenance for the day does not include highly toxic poison. Most of us have enough innate self-preservation to avoid instant death. It is not something we really think about, is it? Did you know that when kicking any perceived habit or addiction that it takes only 3 days for your cells to adjust? All the rest of it is in your head. It’s all about how you think. And boy, do we ever think. For most people, we think the same thoughts over and over and over again. When a thought is thought often enough it transforms into a belief. And boy oh boy, do we ever have beliefs!

We often believe everything we are told by the so called experts. We rely on the information we see on the boob tube and the chatter we hear in the media. We mindlessly abide by the prescribed instructions of our pharmaceutical and corporate masters. We ultimately surrender our natural innate abilities to think for ourselves. It’s all so normal.

When was the last time you woke up feeling good and in a state of appreciation? We wake with the same vibe that we go to sleep with. Most people watch some form of cnn (constantly negative news) just before going to bed. We usually turn on the news first thing in the morning and infuse our thought patterns with ugliness. We even subject our beautiful, impressionable children to this normal programming, this intensive bombardment of omg ugly. We absorb highly bogus information under the guise of need to know, otherwise what would we have to talk about and get angry about and wrestle with.

We have long ago surrendered our personal discretion when it comes to thinking for ourselves. In mindfulness we become aware of the types of poisons that surround us and we have the ability to take a pass. For all the illness in the world there is just as much and even more wellness. When we meditate we enable ourselves to naturally tap into that side of life. We start knowing what it feels like to be happy. The morning and evening rituals change shape and the boob tube fades away into personal intolerance.

We absolutely can tip the scales of global ugliness. The way to do that is to be picky about what you allow into your mind. Imagine how our world would be if we took the time to meditate rather than infuse our minds with ugliness. Mindfulness would run rampant! We would see a shift in the very fickle media. When we meditate we naturally clean the lens of our minds. We remember our natural innate abilities. We return to our human being-ness allowing the human doing-ness to naturally fade away. Try it. You’ll see. Meditation is the ultimate remedy. It’s only natural.

Appreciation/Update

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To my Lovely TCA Readers and Followers
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you – I am beyond thrilled and highly grateful for your interest and support in this work with no name. Thank you for enduring the many edits, glitches and overall learning curve as TCA continues to polish and take shape. It’s like doing summer reading in preparation for the new school year.
Staying with my self-bestowed birthday gift of ‘putting myself out there’ I notice myself reverting to old patterns. What I love about that is the noticing part because by noticing I can change my mind. I love directing my focus. I like deciding.
I love the idea of joining the list of HuffPost Bloggers. I can see my titles on the NewYorkTimes best-seller list. I hear my quasi mentor Louise Hay saying to me, ‘Welcome to the HayHouse community!’  And, I can feel once again, that big beautiful bear hug that only Dr. Wayne Dyer provides (and if you’ve ever had one, you know what I’m talkin’ about). How’s that for putting myself out there? It’s all about the journey and I’m realizing ‘HEY, THIS IS REALLY FUN!’
Thank you, pioneering friends for helping me plant the seeds of who knows what. May this work serve in ways that universally enhances all life experience. It’s only natural.
With Appreciation,
I Am, the Closet Academic

Happiness Is Absolutely Safe

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Post #1:  Writing on a Whim
‘Improvement is steady’ had been my main mantra for the past several years. It is amazing how powerfully it has served me. Life breezes along and the direction of thought is the steering wheel. Improvement from what you may ask. Improvement from how I feel now. I’m a happy person most of the time. It is fun to beat the drum of happiness. Happiness has momentum. Allowing happiness into life comes with a feeling of exhilaration.  It’s only natural.
Shifting of thought becomes self evident. Once we’re used to feeling good the only work left to do is to feel even better. Practice being mindful of your train of thought and consciously steer toward the better and better feeling. This leads to even more happiness. Like the folding of a sheet of paper 45 times and reaching the moon, the exponential effect, even with any temporary contrast, is way more than palpable; it is divine.
When we commune within for just a few minutes a day, it is like tasting a spoonful of the most delicious delectable you’ve ever had. Go for it! Happiness is absolutely safe.