Traffic Signs Ahead – Traffic Signs in Your Head

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I talk a lot about the triangle of awareness – the equal sided balance between physical, mental, and emotional energy. But the whole balanced triangle itself is more than its component sides. The whole of the triangle is spiritual balance – and it can only be arrived at with true spiritual energy. The problem for almost everyone as I witness it, is that they compartmentalize all sides and angles of the triangle – sometimes never joining them at all. There are those of you who use mentation and intellectualizing to hide from emotional energy, and then those of who react with emotional energy to block out rational thought. Still, there are others of you who seem to think the weakest of all these sides – the physical realm – is the key to wellness. And of course this is the biggest ego-deception of all. Tons of people work every year under the fitness/diet/body-image industry mantra that if you just work on the physical elements of YOU – the emotional and mental elements will fall in-line. What a croc. Many people also use the physical realm as a way to hide from themselves and their lives as well. And they just don’t see it.

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Go Deeper to Live Better... You Can't Change What You Don't Understand

Finding the Center of Peace of Mind – Walking the Tao Path

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It’s funny but I witness more phoniness on-line in the name of “authenticity” than I do in the name of expertise. So many people can seem to talk the talk of authenticity – but their real, non-digital lives reflect a life that is anything BUT authentic. So many people I know represent themselves one way in the digital world – but lead their lives another way in their real-world. And then there are those who love to put fancy quotes beside or underneath their names, to sound either deep, or intelligent. But if you don’t walk the words you write, then it won’t matter much how impressed anyone else may be with your ‘borrowed’ quotes.

I wake up every morning and pray that peace of mind, contentment, and joy will be my path all the rest of my life. I don’t pray to “find them” because I already know and live them. They are my path. I don’t pray to hold on to them, because I don’t need to covet anything that is part of my consciousness. I just pray to remind myself that these things are the steps of my current consciousness. And I live them out daily regardless of circumstance. But what is peace of mind? I know so many people who can quote other people’s versions of it. But they do not know it in their own hearts. Well, I can comment on what peace of mind is to me – from the perspective of someone who lives in it and with it – and has for a long time now. And let me be clear here. What you “know” is of little importance. What you do with what you know – how you live “in” what you know – that makes ALL the difference.

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The Eager Young Prince

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The eager young prince was always ambitious. There was nothing he wanted more than to take over the throne someday. He studied his father’s leadership. He became skilled in both fine arts and the military arts. But he was young – he was impulsive – he was often petulant. The King always tried to explain to the boy that leadership was never about what you could see on the surface. It was about a million things you could not see that were alive below the surface. The King tried to instill in the young prince that leadership was not about power over the people. It was about taking care of the people. The King knew the young prince just could not see it. The young prince was already spoiled with the privileges that befall royalty. He knew well what privilege and entitlement felt like. It was for him a taste of power he reveled in. But since experiencing that taste of being prince - all he wanted was to be King. And make no mistake, even though he was a child of privilege and royalty he worked very hard at all things “royal and kingly” – knowing in his heart he would make a good King someday.

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This then: Is also about Me

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People are always asking me how they can become more introspective, and develop greater awareness for themselves. The process seems so foreign to so many, but it really is not that difficult. In fact I say it should be the most natural part of our being. And yet modern society has us so alienated from our inner consciousness – that people usually die, knowing a lot more about other people than they ever did truly know about themselves. But, that sad fact is in itself, a clue. There is an exercise for developing your own levels of introspection and deeper awareness. All it involves is paying attention to - what you are paying attention to – and then using the title of this Blog as a formula for introspection. In other words whenever you make an observation (evaluation, judgment) on people or the world around you – when you catch yourself doing so – you just say to yourself, without emotion – “this then – is also about me.” And then explore that statement as to how this observation could be about you and see where it takes you. It won’t take you long to get really good at it – and the result will be a deeper knowing of yourself and a very developed level of awareness. Think of it as a “fitness regimen” for your consciousness. Ram Dass said – “everything in your life can be a vehicle to your transformation, use it.” Well this little exercise shows you how.

See the rest of this blog post, and many more in Scott's New E-Book 

Go Deeper to Live Better... You Can't Change What You Don't Understand

Death Becomes You!

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It seems people have always used the ‘death comparison’ as a means to wake-up to live and pay attention to their own lives. The song “Live Like You Are Dyin” is a huge hit because it strikes deep sentiment in people. You often hear the phrase “live each day as if it were your last” and people think of it like seem deep-seated spiritual sage advice. But is it? I mean, it’s a quaint expression to advise people to live each day as if it were your last – but what does that even mean? And is it even remotely realistic on any plane of existence?

 If today were indeed your last day, would you really be going to work today? Would you be doing all your usual morning preparations and watching your same TV programs or checking your same internet sources? I mean, if you KNOW you were going to die today – that is the only way possible to live as if it were your last, and everything about this day would change. So you cannot truly live like you are dyin – or live each day as if it were your last – because there are day to day things you must do, which include preparing for tomorrow in earnest. So, to my mind, while these expressions seem to strike at the hearts of people – they don’t offer much in real terms beyond that. But I would like you to think and contemplate another idea. How about to live the rest of your life as if you are already dead?

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Go Deeper to Live Better... You Can't Change What You Don't Understand

Are you Being Chased? Then Stop Running!

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Be Still and Know That I AM

There was a man

Who was so disturbed
By the sight of his own shadow
And so displeased with his own footsteps
That he determined to get rid of both.

The method he hit upon was to run away from them.

So, he got up and ran

But every time he put his foot down
There – was another step, so another footprint
While his shadow kept up with him

Without the slightest difficulty.

 He attributed his failure

To the fact that he was not running fast enough.
So he ran faster and faster, without stopping,
Until,
He finally dropped dead.

 He failed to realize that if he merely stepped into the shade

His shadow would vanish, and if he sat and stayed still,
There would be no more footsteps.

 The Chinese sage Chuang-tzu wrote the above. He lived 369-286 B.C. It seems to me human nature has not changed all that much. Above, he uses the word “shadow” of course both literally and metaphorically.

So many people are running from shadows. Shadows of their past, shadows of insecurity and inferiority – so many shadows – running, running, running to escape them all. But running is avoidance, and avoidance never works. People run ‘away from’ and often ‘to’ some other thing. The other thing becomes a substance or activity of dependence. All it represents is like changing shoes to run some more.

 Chuang Tzu also uses the word footprints above to describe someone who doesn’t like himself. Something about himself, he cannot change, but cannot accept, haunts him. So he tries to run from it. He tries to pretend that by running, he can change it. Or, at least by running, he thinks he does not have to accept this ‘footprint’ as part of himself. But of course, it is “his” footprint. He owns it. He cannot change it and he cannot run from it.

 So, the man dies after decades of trying to run from shadows of his life, and parts of himself he cannot accept.

Sound familiar?

If you are being honest it should sound familiar. Most people spend most of their lives this way. And once you start running from pain you set up a mindset of being chased by it as well. If you are lucky enough, the chase is more like a dog chasing a car. But for most people the chase is more of an adrenaline type of chase of running from a hungry lion. Eventually, like anyone running to escape a predator – you get exhausted. And the pain not only catches up to you, but of course it overtakes you. And in your exhausted condition from all that running, for all those years, you cannot do a thing about it. You cannot outrun it anymore. - You realize, you never really could. You can’t resist it, because the running has weakened your resolve, and the pain has caught up to you. All that running. Where did it take you? It’s like putting miles on a treadmill but going nowhere the whole time. Are you ready to just ask yourself if it’s worth it anymore?

 And as Chuang-Tzu points out – if you just step into the shade and stop running – the shadows would disappear. If you just ‘stopped’ and sat down, and turned your mind off for a while, the footprints that you despise about yourself would just stop impacting you. The answer lies in quiet. “Be Still and Know That I AM.” This statement is as much about your inner-self as it is about knowing God. In fact, in some theologies, these two are linked.

 But you need to stop and face what you are running from and avoiding. Actually better to turn and face the pain – its shadows and footprints – face them at the beginning when you are still strong. At least do so if you can. To turn and face them after the long chase, when you are so exhausted from running from them – just makes them seem more powerful than they actually are. “Be Still and Know That I AM.”

 Sit on your pain for a while. Free your mind from the chase for a while. Take the running shoes off. Invite the shadows and the footprints in to sit and rest as well. You don’t realize they are tired of the chase as well. Befriend them. They have much to tell you about yourself.

 They may not be looking so much to ‘catch and overtake’ you – but to ‘join’ with you – rejoin with you. Because they are parts of your whole.

 You have the power to end the chase. You do so by realizing if you keep running and avoiding there is no finish line. “That which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” – is a lie. The running and avoidance is exhausting you. It’s making you weaker (not stronger) in so many other areas of your life. Sit and be still instead, and listen. You do not even need to “do” anything. How much the opposite is that, to what you are told about the world we live in. Run, run, run – do, do, do. No. Sit and “BE” still. There is no chase.

 We live in a different time and era than Chuang-Tzu. But as I said at the beginning, human nature has not changed very much -At least not spiritually. This is why all the ancient texts are so useful. They are all about human nature and man’s struggle with spirituality and consciousness.

 But here’s the thing.

 I’ve read a lot about enlightenment, enlightened humans, paths to enlightenment and all the rest. The modern message seems to indicate that you need to surrender it all and go to an Ashram somewhere and ‘seek’ enlightenment – sometimes for years. But the modern reality is not “Eat, Pray, Love.”

For tortured souls of our time, there is another path to finding your own truth. And that is hitting rock bottom. Hitting rock bottom sounds devastating but it actually represents the end of the chase. And it’s better than dropping dead from the running and the exhaustion.

 Hitting rock bottom is a lot like worm-hole to enlightenment and personal awakening. It is a direct Star-Gate if you will – to finding and knowing yourself. But it requires that you stop avoiding yourself. It requires that you turn and face the shadows. It requires you take off the heavy shoes that are leaving such impactful footprints. It requires just facing yourself, right now.

 I came to my personal transformation from the wormhole of rock bottom. If you cannot stop the chase and running and avoidance – sometimes God stops it for you. Pay attention.

 The Universe is always whispering to you, ways you can just “BE Still and Know That I AM.”

Don’t confuse that gentle whisper with just another shadow you are trying to run from.

 Stop. Just for Today. Stop: Rest your feet. Stop:  Rest your head. Stop:  Rest Your Mind. And the “Rest” of it will surely follow. Find the energy of “allowing” “accepting” and then just sit a while and Be Still.

 Or, you can continue running and being chased by shadows of your life, and footprints of your own making. And like the man above, you will surely die, while still running, while still being chased by shadows.

 Some of you will get it – some of you will not – many of you really need to!

For more I suggest you read my book – Your Truth is Calling – Connecting theDots to Self-Awareness.

What do you Want? – Too Often Confused by “The Circle of Want?”

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As I stated on my Facebook page the other day, now more than ever – in our time – it seems we can have anything we want. But our culture of entitlement – and the combination of modern convenience and ease of living – has led to a certain kind of mental greed. It has led to a greed that makes people feel like being able to have “anything” you want – means you can have “everything” you want. And this is a fallacy. It seems people seldom are able to address any more - that “one thing” they want – let alone address in reality what they are willing to do or sacrifice to get it. And the key word in all of the above is the word “want.” We exist in a culture of “want.” And most people do not even realize the effects of this on their psyche.
 If I tell you ‘you can have anything you want’ but you cannot have it as part of ‘everything you want’ most of you nod in agreement and think “well, of course, I know that.” But do you? Have you ever considered how that goal you “want” spirals into so many other wants that you don’t even consider the reality of how little you are willing to do or sacrifice to achieve that goal.

See the rest of this blog post, and many more in Scott's New E-Book 

Go Deeper to Live Better... You Can't Change What You Don't Understand