It doesn’t feel good. Nobody in their right mind ever wants to feel this way. And what makes it worse is that it affects how you deal with the other person, which further aggravates the situation and now you have a vicious circle. But believe it or not, it’s possible to change bad feelings into good feelings - and turn this into a fun spiritual practice! How?

Eckhart Tolle’s, in his books The Power of Now and The New Earth, describes techniques for dealing with negative feelings, primarily through accessing the “Now”, or present moment. It was while practicing these techniques that I discovered something quite remarkable - not only are they effective, but they also make it possible to transmute a negative emotional feeling into a positive physical one!

According to Mr. Tolle, every emotion is our body’s reaction to a thought. By continuing to dwell on a negative thought or memory, we perpetuate the bad emotion that accompanies it and the feeling never goes away. So instead of reliving the offense in your mind, take the opportunity to focus on the present moment. Take advantage of the situation for your benefit by using it to practice focusing on the inner stillness that is behind all thoughts and emotions.

It’s easier to begin practicing this with the little irritations and annoyances. You want to be able to stop letting the irritation continue to feed the negative emotion. It can be difficult because sometimes we seem to have a need to replay the experience over and over again. We can’t let go. That’s why it’s easier to start with small annoyances.

First, decide whether it’s a matter that needs to be addressed right then and there. You might decide that there is no point in taking any action, or it is really too late. If that’s the case, then it does no good to dwell on the offense. Instead, put all those thoughts aside as you focus on noticing the feeling within your body. This is the key. Most of the time the emotion is concentrated in a specific area of your body, such as your chest, stomach, or shoulders. Notice where the feeling is located. Notice what the feeling is like. Is it a tightness? A sharp pain? A racing feeling?

As you notice the feeling, take some slow, deep, breaths to relax. Don’t judge the feeling or try to fight it. Let it be. What is happening to the feeling as you observe it while taking slow, deep breaths? Almost immediately it should start to dissipate as you stop providing the emotional fuel.

This feeling has an energy to it. It’s real and the effect on your body is real. But then something remarkable happens. What I’ve noticed is that, devoid of the emotional baggage, devoid of the negative thoughts, the energy has a soothing vibrational quality to it that I actually find pleasurable. It’s almost like a soothing massage, and there have been times when it was similar to a post-meditative body buzz.

This has a couple of advantages. For one thing, it makes it easier to remain in that state until the energy completely dissipates and you’ve been able to allow the bad emotions to pass through you. Holding on to negative emotions stresses your body and contributes to aging. The other benefit is that it is a useful gauge as to how successful you are in focusing on the present. Being familiar with the present moment and what that feels like makes it easier to go there more and more often throughout your daily life.

And being present is crucial to being awake. It’s no surprise that good feelings are associated with the Now. Perhaps this just demonstrates the truthfulness of the teaching that it’s within the present moment where we find true bliss.

The words, “Aakhan Jor”, come from the first line of the prayer, and mean “no power in speaking”. It echos the message contained in the rest of the prayer - that we have no power inherent within us. All power comes from God, the Most High, the Creator, the Source. Anything that we accomplish we should credit to Him who watches over all and who has power over all. All that remains is for us to accept that fact, and in doing so work with the source of all power instead of against it.

How can we have no power and yet think that we can ever accomplish anything?

The key to understanding this paradox is to realize that the “we” who has no power is actually our ego, our separation from the source. The true Source of power is always moving towards creating, so we just need to realize our true connection with that Source and then, free from ego, accomplish what we wish without struggle.

• The entire prayer
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He is risen in our minds, our hearts, our souls - there is no separation between him and us. ~ Paramahansa Yogananda

Christianity is not the only spiritual tradition that finds meaning in Easter and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And I’m not referring to the pre-Christian celebrations that form the basis of many practices observed today - from the fertility egg and rabbit to the rites of Spring. No, I’m referring to the beliefs of yogis past and present, one being the Paramahansa Yogananda, who brought yogic teachings as well as the practice of Kriya yoga to the west.

And he had a few things to say about Easter and its importance to humanity.

Paramahansa Yogananda took the Biblical account of the story of Jesus quite literally, but his interpretation was not what you’d hear in a church. To many students of eastern philosophies, Jesus was an advanced yogi whose life provided an example of what lies ahead for all of humanity. Through the Biblical account, we see the progression that must be followed in order to achieve true freedom and salvation from the trappings of a life of illusion.

In his book, The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You , Yogananda describes a complex process by which Jesus withdrew his soul from the three bodies - physical, astral, and causal - in order to achieve a permanent resurrection from death, karma, and illusion. The process even continued after the day of his resurrection, and explains why he told Mary, “do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father”. He still had residual karma that needed to be shed, such as the karmic debt incurred in his moment of forgetfulness while on the cross as he exclaimed “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Is this accurate? One thing that Yogananda says in his book is that so much of his understanding of Jesus’ resurrection process came through intuitive insight gained during his own meditations.

It is impossible with mere intellect to comprehend fully the intricacies of the astral and causal passageways to liberation and their correlation with the spiritual eye. They are gradually revealed to intuitive perception by the practice of Kriya Yoga.

I do believe that spiritual insight has to be experienced first hand. You cannot benefit from blindly believing in the say-so of someone else. And based on my own meditative experiences, I do know that it’s possible to gain insights into all sorts of matters through meditation. Unfortunately, I must admit that this is a practice I’ve neglected for a number of months now. Perhaps the possibility of understanding the awakening process can be another motivation for me to rekindle this practice.

We each have our own unique experiences and spiritual perspectives. That said, we can all gain something from considering Christ’s resurrection on Easter day. If it moves us to grow in our connection with the spirit, then that’s what really matters.

As you consider Christ’s resurrection this Easter, may you grow closer to the Spirit, in whatever form that takes.
May your faith in your salvation be strengthened.
May you be strengthened in the hope that all things will be renewed.
And may you consider your own awakening.

Amen

Peace

On the surface it might seem as if this results in honing multitasking skills, but recent studies have shown that this is not true multitasking. This type of activity has at least two drawbacks - it actually adds time to the tasks and it also creates additional stress.

Now scientists have learned another lesson on the value of focused attention - this time from Buddhist monks.

Multitasking is not the best approach

During a recent Science for monks training seminar, San Francisco Bay Area scientists used hands-on workshops to train Tibetan monks about scientific methods and experimentation. This is part of an ongoing effort inspired by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to train highly educated monks to also be leaders in science.

The scientists found the monks to be ideal students, primarily because they were “excellent single-taskers”, as one of the staff at the Exploratorium science museum in San Francisco put it. Even though the monks were not experienced with such hands-on learning, their skills in mindfulness enabled them to take to the activity with a focus that amazed the scientists. When faced with a novel situation, the monks were able to explore it without getting bored or without the need for a diversion, and in the process came up with some novel solutions to the engineering problems presented to them.

This is clearly evidence of the benefits of meditation and other spiritual exercises that involve focused attention. If you are able to focus for extended periods of time on a single task or problem then:

• You can come up with creative solutions.
• You gain a deeper and more complete understanding of the issue.

Self-improvement proponent Steve Pavlina believes that the best way to learn a new skill is to “condense your learning into a shorter period of time.” According to his experience, this is more effective than spreading out your study sporadically amongst other activities. While I don’t believe that following his approach 100% is practical for most people - it is incredibly unbalanced in my opinion - it does speak to the value of being able to stay focused on one task for an extended period of time. Or at least to try to spend as much time as possible on one task before switching to another. This flies in the face of the “multitasking” flurry that many of us find ourselves involved with in our daily lives. Is there much we can do about it?

Breaking the Habit

Most of what we do is a product of habit. Even if there is no need to switch our attention, if it has become a habit then we’ll find ourselves having to “take a break” from one task and spend a little time on another. Like any habit, though, it can be broken with a little effort. Every time we catch ourselves getting ready to switch attention unnecessarily, we can fight the urge and stick to the immediate task. Sounds like a lot of work, doesn’t it?

This is where meditation comes in. No, not while you’re working, but the benefit comes as a byproduct of a meditation practice. One way to think of meditation is as a way to exercise your attention muscle. As you focus on your breathing, or repeat a mantra, your mind naturally wanders but you repeatedly bring your attention back to your center. This cements a new habit that you can call upon to help you maintain your focus on specific activities outside of meditation.

Another byproduct of meditation that helps in this area is achieving the ability to live in the present moment. In that state you don’t worry about the future nor dwell on the past. Consequently you become more in touch with who you really are inside, without the trappings of ego, and so you become more secure with focusing on your current task without worrying about what’s around the corner. In fact, you learn to appreciate the beauty in the present and so have a reduced need to look to the future for fulfillment.

But all this comes with time. Some good books to read are Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
and A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose. Other practices, such as yoga in its various forms, also facilitate this state and are worth exploring.

So don’t feel that if you’re not an enlightened monk then there’s no point in even thinking about trying to practice focused attention. Even the slightest shift away from habitual diverted attention can be beneficial. Any amount of additional uninterrupted time spent on a task can help by reducing the amount of time wasted in shifting gears. Once again, ancient wisdom has a thing or two to teach post-modern society.

Read the article Bay Area scientists teach and learn from Tibetan monks in India.

See also my post on meditation.

Encounters with strangers can be very enlightening experiences, full of opportunities for learning about yourself. But often times the overwhelming lesson I come away with is how connected we all are. A couple of occasions - synchronicities and strange encounters - definitely gave me the sense that there is a spiritual connection that is always there, even though hidden from normal awareness.

Soul Recognition

A few months ago I experienced some kind of dissociative state while I was going out to grab a bite to eat. I’m still not sure what happened, but it occurred during a trip to a local taco shop.

The place was Chipotle’s. A place for good, fresh tacos and burritos, that has become a favorite place for a quick bite. You place your order at the front and they make it right there in front of you in assembly-line fashion. At this particular location in Cupertino, there is plenty of seating available and at the right time of day it can be a very lively, noisy environment.

So on this occasion when I stopped in it was one of those busy days with plenty of people seated, waiting in line at the order counter, or walking with their food. I gazed around the room as I approached the end of the line, and then became surprised when the first person who caught my attention looked awfully familiar. For a few moments I tried to recollect where I’d seen him before or why I felt I knew him, but nothing came to mind. I just couldn’t put my finger on it. All I knew was that his appearance, his hair, facial features, and expressions, all combined to give me the distinct impression that I had seen him before.

Finally I gave up trying to figure it out. Then I looked at another person nearby and she, too, looked very familiar. What a coincidence, I thought. But again, I couldn’t place where I had seen her before or recollect who she was. It was at this point that I started gazing over the entire room and, one by one, with each person I looked at, I felt I had seen them somewhere before! And I don’t mean that I had seen them there at Chipotle’s (though that can’t be ruled out), but it was more a feeling that each person’s face was not new at all, not unfamiliar in the slightest. They weren’t all in one group, either, but were the typical conglomeration of several individuals and small groups of people who all happened to decide to eat at Chipotle’s at that point in time. There was no reason I should have known ALL of them. And the frustrating part was that I couldn’t put my finger on where I could have possibly seen them before. I can’t adequately describe how bizarre it was to go from face to face, each time discovering that I had already seen that face, or even already knew who they were.

That has not happened again, and I’m not sure what to make of the experience. I do feel, however, that perhaps I really did know everyone there. Researchers on the subject of life after death have written books describing the process of soul migration, and how groups of souls often decide to incarnate at the same time. Normally there is no memory of previous incarnations, the time spent between lives, or the other souls encountered. Had what I experienced actually been a recognition on the soul level of other souls?

Are you my daddy?

This next account betrays behavior on my part that I’m not proud of. I’ll be open about it here because the entire account ties in with this theme of being connected with others, even strangers, at a hidden level.

I had just finished exercising at a local gym. It was a weekday evening, after work, and I was tired and somewhat impatient to get home. As I walked to the door, a woman with her small children were also leaving, but they seemed to be having problems actually getting through the door. I realize she had her hands full as there were two or three small children and maybe an older child with her that she was trying to get out the door.

Now the entrance to the gym was one of those double-swing doors and they ended up blocking half the doorway and weren’t moving fast enough for my impatient pace as I came up behind them. Actually, they didn’t seem to be moving at all. Since they were only blocking half the doorway (one door), I went around them and pushed on the other door to get passed and then walked right on through.

In my haste to leave, I didn’t notice that one of the children decided to move to the part of the doorway that I had just walked through, and so when I let go of the door it almost swung right into her. In fact, it would have hit her if the mom hadn’t shouted “look out!” and caught the door.

The door didn’t hit her, but then neither did I break my stride as I kept walking.

The mom didn’t seem too concerned, and didn’t appear to notice me at all. Still, I felt bad that the door could have hit the little girl - but not bad enough to say anything as the entire family followed me through the parking lot and right to my car (NOW they decided to move fast). No, they weren’t tracking me down - it just turned out that they, of course, happened to be parked right next to me! Yes, it was a fitting metaphor for my nagging conscience that itself followed me as I walked to my car.

I got in and drove away.

Two days later I went back to the gym, and again, after I finished my workout and proceeded to leave, the same family was leaving the gym at the same time. Another reminder of the events from two days prior. I took a deep breath and determined that I would not be impatient this time. Even though we all exited at the same time, there was no incident.

As I walked from the building I wondered if they recognized me at all. As if on queue, one of the children, a little boy, kept staring at me. He even started to walk alongside me, straying away from his family. Just when I began to wonder what was on his mind, he repeatedly asked me some question that I couldn’t understand. His older brother was walking with him and explained, very matter-of-factly, “He thinks you’re his Dad.” And then the kid showed me his hand-held video game he was playing with, as if wanting acknowledgment or approval. I just smiled, nodded, and continued to the car. That seemed to satisfy him.

I have not seen that family since.

So what forces were at work to bring strangers together in such as minor yet intriguing way? And why did one of them seem to recognize me, or at least think that he knew me?

The doors to that gym have since been replaced - with automatic sliding doors.

Is anyone truly a stranger?

Perhaps there are no true strangers. Spiritual tradition teach of the unity of all people. All we need to do is open our eyes to see the truthfulness of those teachings. We interact with others every day - we see people at work, at the grocery line, at the bank, at school. Some are familiar and others appear as total strangers. I believe that the true original sin is the concept that we are each separate from each other. If, instead, we could view all others as part of ourselves, then we could be happy when good fortune smiles on others. And we wouldn’t feel the need to take for ourselves at another person’s expense.

Several meditation traditions include the practice of blessing others at the conclusion of a meditation session. It starts with people that we care the most about, but eventually expands to encompass the entire world of humanity. That is the part that takes some practice to do with sincere feeling. But if we can open our eyes to the small clues that present themselves daily, we can see the truthfulness of it, and then feel sincere concern for all people everywhere. Such attitudes can go a long way towards healing a planet.