Common mistake #278: Your mind is not your enemy

Whether you’re a meditator, an Ascender, or “just” a human (there’s no just about it) here’s something anyone can benefit from even a small amount of practice in having a different attitude. It's the relationship with your own mind.

Here’s the homework topic for you to practice, then I’ll give you my spin on it all:

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Your mind is not the enemy. 

By creating an adversarial relationship with your thoughts you simply keep the ego alive - you'll fight forever. Do you think you'll get to a point somewhere in the future when you will be able to stop struggling? How about right now? Surrender, give up the fight, stop the strain, put a tap on trying. You don't need to struggle. There is no enemy, there never was. 

The problem lies in fighting and resistance itself. 

It lies in the making of an opposition and wrongness. Give up - there lies the end of suffering. Take it easy. Make a different choice, a choice to end the fight. This week your mission is to lay down your warrior's sword. Notice that when you stop fighting, when you stop struggling to control even a tiny little bit, all that there is left is peace.

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Ascension, meditation, mindfulness, life … there are no enemies. Your biggest problem is creating them. The source of a ton of angst and struggle is how you relate to your own thoughts.

Saw a study once that showed people would rather hurt themselves with pretty sturdy electric shocks than sit in a room by themselves, with nothing but their thoughts for company.

Be honest now - if you have a knife and could remove certain thoughts, certain memories, certain judgements … would you?

Of course you would.

However - you can’t. Fighting and attempting to suppress your mind isn’t a great long term tactic, because it's impossible. You just exhaust yourself (pun intended, which you'll find out next ...)

I remember once watching my dad work on his car. He start it up every now and then to tweak it.

So ... I'd sneak around the back and shove a banana up the exhaust. I’d hide as dad would start the car up, and it didn’t take long for the pressure to build and this now blackened banana to go firing across the yard, accompanied by a very satisfying sound.

It took him about 4 bananas to work out what was going amiss. Ha!

Stuffing your thoughts is just the same.

The pressure builds and then there’s an, often messy, explosion. Fighting your mind is like fighting nature. It’s like trying to grab the wind. You can’t, and you expend a ton of energy trying.

So stop fighting. Your mind is not your enemy. It’s just a thing. Your way out is to observe. Watch - step back from it. It doesn’t matter what it says then - it cannot affect you if you don’t let it.

The more you watch, the more you will even find it amusing. You might will find yourself laughing out loud.

But you have to stop the fight. And only you can come to a place where you do that.

Practicing your eyes closed meditation or Ascension is key. Truly - it means you stop fighting what you cannot control.

Go well!Arjuna

PS.If you want a free guide to stop fighting, be less stressed and more alive? I've got you covered. Head this way for your free copy :https://mailchi.mp/60dbe4ffeccf/freedom-from-thinking-so-much

Friday homework - everything becomes an act of love

It’s a very curious fact of human life:You do this one thing, and your whole life benefits.

By prioritising this one act throughout your day, countless problems and struggles are avoided.

By simply engaging in this one small tweak, you bring the best of yourself to whatever is in front of you.

By doing this one thing, you can live a most excellent, "good" life.

Here’s this week’s homework topic for you to explore, based around this one thing, and love.

Topic first, then my take on it all.

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When you become present, filled with awareness and innocence, your whole life becomes different.Instead of struggling through life, insisting, pushing and fighting, you walk lightly and fluidly on the earth.Every act, every word, every breath, every moment becomes an act of grace and of love.You may not even realise it since you're "just" doing your thing and living your life, but your being speaks to everything around you.If you want to help your community, the greater world?Immerse yourself into the presence of Now ... make this the foundation of your life.

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Your life has a chance to become ideal when you actually show up for it, when you get present and alive to it.

It’s not that challenges and problems disappear, but your response to these actual situations becomes ideal.

You also stop creating unnecessary problems for yourself. Problems of the imagination, you might call them. Poof, gone ... simply because you stopped making them.

You step into a way of living that means everyone around you benefits. 

“How can I become less judgemental, more loving?” you might ask.

The answer is: Turn up to now.

You step into a way of living that is not fighting and struggling and pushing through life. Instead, everything you do becomes an act of love.

No struggle, in sync with the natural flow of life = love.

Full acceptance of what is, not insisting on what should be = love.

I love reading a guy called Anthony de Mello, for his straight up wisdom. He once said, "we're not here to change the world, we're here to love it." And that's what happens when you get truly present, to this.

Not that you might be aware of creating love, because you’re just doing your thing. And how wonderful, an effortless, unknowing love machine walking this planet.

A beautiful and supremely useful way of living life.

So, this week: get present. Do this one thing, and everything transforms from that.

Go well!Arjuna

PS.I’m opening up my coaching programme very soon. A six-month transformation programme where you’ll work very closely with me to transform your relationship with your mind, therefore transforming every part of your life.

Let me know if you’d like some more, initial information!

Friday Funday Homework Topic – all about love

It’s Friday! Comes around quick doesn’t? Good news – a new topic for you for the week. All to make you more aware, present, mindful, all-seeing, all-knowing, all-great. And veryplayful whilst at it.

Okay? Let’s go … _________

Little Acts of Love - Part 1

Sometimes, we think that we first need to be "full of love" in order to give love. But this attitude makes our experience of love very restricted. It objectifies love as this "thing" we only have access to limited quantities of.

Yet, the more love we give, the more love we experience. Love is unlimited, untangible and always available.

Tap into it. You will see, if you are willing to give it away, that you can't find an end to it.

This week your challenge is to give love. Whenever you see the opportunity for an act of love: Do it, no matter how you feel.

Do not listen to the voice in your head that says you cannot give love right now.

Play, give, serve, be a vessel for the strongest force in the Universe.

Love wants to come out and heal this world. ________

Don’t you love love?

Of course you do … that’s why all the world’s movies, songs, books and wot-nots are all about love. All of them (well mostly all).

The bottom line about our culture’s ideas and beliefs about love?

It’s something you need.

i.e. You need a soul-mate to “complete” you. You have a heart that can be broken. You can lose love.

Like money, you need to invest it wisely. Save it up for the right person!

What if ... and I love the “What If?” question, always:

That was a load of cobblers?

What if, by getting out of your mind you became love? That is never was something you needed, it is something that you are?

Witness a baby ... needs love? Nope. Needs warmth and food and clean nappies and sleep and an education, but not much else.

How loveable is that baby? Oh boy – heart melter, without even trying.

You don't need love, you are it.

That changes things around doesn’t it?

Stops all manner of dependence on other people, on other people behaving a certain way towards you. Freedom!

I know it’s probably not the habitual way of experiencing love, out there in the “real” world (whatever that is).

But what if it could be ... for you?

All you have to do is learn to step outside of your ideas and beliefs around love.

Knowing them, seeing them is the first step. Becoming present – in fact, filled with presence is key. Then these beliefs, thoughts, voices can have no effect on you.

You have the half-step back and no matter what they might say, you knowdifferently.

So -

Give it a go.

How will you know if it works or not unless you do?

Play well! Arjuna

Homework – for more? Every week baby! Here’s Part 2

Continuing a hot streak here, 2nd week in a row! (You have to celebrate the small things, don’t yuh? Heh heh) Some homework for you. Now – don’t get down in the dumps, this isn’t some useless exercise in pointlessness. It is a topic for you to explore in life and in your Ascension or meditation practice so you can be more awake and alive.

Ready?

This week’s homework for you. Enjoy!

HERE OR ELSEWHERE? - Part 2

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Where are you? Here, or elsewhere?

Drifted, distracted? No worries - just return. No recriminations, no violence, nothing.

Make the most of your choice in THIS moment. Disregard all other moments, make the most of this.

Keep it as simple as being on or off. There is only awake to this, or asleep. Don't make it about becoming or getting better, simply tune in when you realise you've fallen asleep.

Do this - remember to remember - and you will forget to forget, but you won't care because you will realise this moment is the only moment you have.

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What do I take from this? Well, first of all I want you to explore this topic and find out what it means for YOU.

The teaching of the Ishayas is always about pointing the finger back at your own heart, and asking you “What is YOUR experience?”.

There are so many experts out there and we give away our power so often to them, instead of owning what we know and living a life based on that. Of course, taking guidance and inspiration from others is important, NOT doing that would be more than a little foolish, not to say arrogant.

But ultimately the buck stops with you. Alrighty?

Back to the topic at hand – making your choice simply about whether you are right here, right now or drifting off somewhere else, means life gets extremely simple, quick.

So often a spiritual path is just that – a path, a journey. And it is, you transform in ways you won’t even realise, and all for the better.

However, a spiritual path is full of paradoxes. The biggest one is that you transform by giving up the idea of progress, instead being completely present and not caring about any other moment in time.

The spiritual path is solely (or should be) about your relationship with the presence of Now.

This here, this moment, is all you need to concern yourself with.

This is it! Are you here, or elsewhere? Are you tuned in? Or asleep?

Don’t make it about getting better at being here. Don’t regret falling asleep. Don’t make it about trying to improve this now, trying to make it match your idea of what it should be like.

Just show up to now, completely and fully.

You will find out a host of things, perhaps one of them being that stress and fear and chaos does not exist when you fully get here.

And that is worth the price of admission alone. Let me know how you go. Next Friday? A new topic – but don’t be getting ahead of yourself now. Just now.

Go well! Arjuna

PS. Want a place on my six-month one-on-one “200% of life” coaching to transform your relationship with your mind, stress, chaos, the past and the future, the presence of Now, aliveness, awareness and freedom?

Send me an email and I’ll let you know.

Homework - for more presence, calm, focus and fun? Every week baby!

For about 5 years now I’ve been writing a weekly “homework” for those good people who practice the Bright Path Ishayas’ Ascension and I decided I wanted to share them with you, regardless of whether you Ascend or not. Now I can already hear people groaning out there: “Homework?! And on a Friday?! What the …?” as all those school memories come flooding back.

Hang on to your horses, don’t get your freckles in a twist. I called it “homework,” but really its a topic or idea for you to play around with while you meditate or live your life, all so you can have more fun, focus and freedom.

I think one of the greatest skills us humans possess is the ability to make anything humdrum. “I’m bored!” are possibly the first words out of a teenager’s mouth, and as adults we kinda still do that, although perhaps not as intentionally.

So I’m actually trying to do you a favour!

Promise - I’m not a fan of boring pointless tasks of any description either.

These topics are to keep each and every moment fresh and alive by giving you a focus, something to do rather than “just” show up to life by being mindful, present and aware (as if showing up to your life could ever be described as a “just”).

If you explore these topics with curiosity and innocence – as I said, whilst meditating or just out about living – you’ll find you’ll discover much about your mind and your attitudes, your habits, and you’ll make this moment so much more rich and alive …

Simply because you’re becoming more and more interested in it.

They’ll come out every Friday, and they're always a two-parter so you have a couple of weeks to really get to grips with them.

Some are deceptively simple, like this weeks. Don't let that fool you into thinking you don't need to give them any attention. Okay?

So watch out for them every Friday… here’s this week’s with a little bonus commentary from me.

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Here or Elsewhere - Part 1

Where are you? Here, or elsewhere?

Drifted, distracted? No worries - just return. No recriminations, no violence, nothing.

Make the most of your choice in THIS moment. Disregard all other moments, make the most of this.

Keep it as simple as being on or off. There is only awake to this, or asleep. Don't make it about becoming or getting better, simply tune in when you realise you've fallen asleep.

Do this - remember to remember - and you will forget to forget, but you won't care because you will realise this moment is the only moment you have.

______

So, as the man said, keep it simple - ha!

Amazing how much we complicate things. I love this homework because it doesn’t make it about any other moment.

It can be so tempting to believe that “if only I had been present for longer in the past, then my life in this moment would be better …”

We make simply being present about getting better at being present. Which happens all by itself, cos the more you remember means the more you remember ...

But how bizarre that our minds can even make waking up to now a process!

Now is now, it don’t happen any other time!

So say “NAH” to the process, don’t look back. Start fresh, start fully, make it only about now. No violence or recriminations, no reflecting on any other moment, just jump in to this moment.

Okay?

PLAY WITH THIS!

Nothing happens if you just read it and forget. The question then becomes: How will you remember to remember?

Go well! Arjuna

PS. As I said last email, I’m setting up a 6 month one-on-one mentoring/coaching programme. I’m pretty excited about it, and lots of people have been telling me they’re interested.

I only want to take a few people so I can give them my full attention whilst still having time for my family and to get away kayaking (yes!), therefore I believe demand will be high.

If you’re keen on really making not only calm, fun and presence but focus and effectiveness the foundation of your life, this is what it’s all about.

Hit reply and tell me you’d like to be on the early bird info list and I can tell you everything about this programme as soon as I’ve worked out the finer details.

Excellent! Have a great old day now.