Happiness cannot be travelled to

Thank you Pam Sheppard for helping with the email address complications. It turned out well.

Sunday’s Self Awareness Get Together

Sunday (1/25/09) we enjoyed coffee with one another, while sharing a spiritual talk, then we participated in a guided meditation. Together, we shared a very enjoyable and enlightening experience.

The spiritual talk was centered on moving to the edge of human consciousness and “stepping” into oneness with God through Divine Consciousness. We spoke of how understanding the influence of this transcendent point between the two facets of consciousness is helpful to remaining focused throughout the meditation.

The inherent mental resistance to meditation peeks at this crossover point. Awareness of how the mind reacts to this crossing point helps lower the focusing difficulties that arise during meditation.

In the guided meditation we contemplated the transcendence from restrictive thinking, to the universal spiritual law of allowance. In doing so, we allowed Divine Intelligence to facilitate our guidance through the meditation. As always we called upon the Enlightened One be present in our meditation. We were comforted by His presence.

Happiness

Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love,
grace and gratitude. – Denis Waitley

"If we really want to love 
we must learn how to forgive"
-Mother Theresa

Divine Consciousness – Human Consciousness The following excerpt was taken from "The Summits of God-Life: Samadhi and Siddhi" by Sri Chinmoy.

Human consciousness is made up primarily of limitation, imperfection, bondage and ignorance. This consciousness wants to remain here on earth. It gets joy in the finite: in family, in society, in earthly affairs. Divine consciousness is made up of Peace, Bliss, divine Power and so forth. Its nature is to expand constantly. Human consciousness feels there is nothing more important than earthly pleasure. Divine consciousness feels there is nothing more important and significant than heavenly Joy and Bliss on earth. Human consciousness tries to convince us that we are nowhere near Truth or fulfillment. It tries to make us feel that God is somewhere else, millions of miles away from us. But divine consciousness makes us feel that God is right here, inside each life-breath, inside each heartbeat, inside everyone and everything around us.

“We can never judge the lives of others, because each person knows only their own pain and renunciations. It’s one thing to feel that you are on the right path, but it’s another to think yours is the only path.” - Paulo Coelho, Author

To Catch Up
Sunday (2/1/09) in our weekly (7:00 a.m.) self-awareness get together we spoke of the many issues and problems that arise simultaneously. Numerous concerns capture our thoughts, and it’s difficult to give ample attention to solving any single problems. We went on to take a close look at how these problems become amplified because of the worry that we devote to them. Worry fuels the intensity of our problems.

In our get together we looked at a way to move beyond the torment presented by the arising issues in our lives. We looked at a way of moving beyond the problems, but more importantly a way of transcending the value and meaning we give to those problems.

We then experienced a guided meditation, one in which we could clear the mind and take a personal role in communion with the Divine.
It was a great program. The presence of God was with us. Sometimes after completing these guided meditations we sit in silence and are moved by the peace and calm. Given all the anxiety experienced because of the economic state of affairs, its always a beautiful way to experience peaceful, loving moments with others

Sources of Inner Peace
“As human beings we all want to be happy and free from misery… we have learned that the key to happiness is inner peace. The greatest obstacles to inner peace are disturbing emotions such as anger, attachment, fear and suspicion, while love and compassion and a sense of universal responsibility are the sources of peace and happiness.”

“I believe that the very purpose of life is to be happy. From the very core of our being, we desire contentment. In my own limited experience I have found that the more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well-being. Cultivating a close, warmhearted feeling for others automatically puts the mind at ease. It helps remove whatever fears or insecurities we may have and gives us the strength to cope with any obstacles we encounter. It is the principal source of success in life. Since we are not solely material creatures, it is a mistake to place all our hopes for happiness on external development alone. The key is to develop inner peace.”Dalai Lama

Dr. Staci from Chicago joined us this past Sunday – Hope you enjoyed your visit – Staci. Come back, you got good vibrations.

A Favorite of mine
I have been all things unholy. If God can work through me,
He can work through anyone.
-St. Francis Assisi-

Why do we meet on Sunday
I do so, so I can be one
with the core of my being.
I find that when I am
in spiritual communion with others sharing love, I not only realize who we are collectively,
but also know who I am.
For at this core there is
A Self that mystically
unites with other Selfs.
And, in love and peace, and happiness we become One
with God, perfectly centered in Divine Consciousness.
I could not ask for more.
-Love To You-
-Don Brun-

♬and in the end the love you take
is equal to the love you make ♬
John Lennon/ Paul McCartney

Our Limiting Self-Reality
We may think that problems just automatically show up in our lives, but they don’t.

Oh, I am not saying that problems don’t blind side us and appear unexpectedly. Of course they do. And I’m not saying that we consciously invite difficult situations into our lives. But we are wise to remember that, on some level, we draw into our lives the problems that we encounter. We are creators of our own personal issues. How does this happen? How do we draw problems to ourselves? Here is an explanation for you to consider.

First of all we form a belief system about ourselves, and our relationship with the world around us, then we adapt to it. Next, we try to behave within the boundaries of those beliefs about our self and how we fit into the world. In conforming to this belief system, we draw on many judgments of both our self and others. These judgments, in turn, form personal boundaries for the protection of our self-acceptability.
(Continued on the next page)

Madness is rare in individuals - but in groups, political parties, nations, and eras it's the rule. – Friedrich Nietzsche

We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them. – Kahlil Gibran

When we perceive behavior, or the outcome of some activity that does not conform to our way of believing we judge it as objectionable. It’s a problem.

Lets say that a landlord wants his rent by the fifth day of the month. The renter is already two month behind, and tells the landlord that the rent will be paid in its entirety, but he needs another month before he has the money. The renter, Tom, acknowledges the problem, and immediately blames the landlord for a lack of empathy, and the unwillingness to be patient.

Tom was raised by his parents to believe that bills must be paid on time, and people should live within their financial means. As a matter of fact Tom has criticized a couple of his friends who he claims are in debt because they spend more than they earn. One friend has obligated himself to huge car payments, while the other is deluged with credit card debt.

Tom brought this problem to himself. He created it. Tom has surrounded himself with men and women who perpetuate high-spending lifestyles. He and coworkers are struggling for career achievement recognition. Most desire a promotion, an admirable professional title, and a higher salary. He works in an office inundated with movers and shakers. All of who are hell bent on demonstrating that they are “money.”

Tom not only finds the behavior of debt-ridden friends, competitive co-workers and an insensitive landlord to be unacceptable. But somewhere deep within his self, he realizes that he is the source of his own problems. This knowledge intensifies his frustration, because it increases the level of guilt that he carries.

This whole attitude in which Tom spends his day is incongruent with his own deep-seated values and beliefs.

Tom is in a pickle. On one hand he believes in the values that were espoused by his parents, but on the other hand he rationalizes his thoughts and behavior with the idea that his parents lived in a different time. Life was easier for them. They had more freedom, and experienced less stress. His justifications are tethered to the idea that his parents did not have to live in a world that was as demanding as the world is now. They were not burdened with the idea that they must continually prove their acceptability. They did not have to live above their means in order to attain a higher status.

We learn from our earliest years on, to determine good from bad; and right from wrong. More profoundly however, we learn to differentiate the acceptable from unacceptable. Then we organize our thoughts and activities so we are perceived as acceptable. Any input that challenges these thoughts and activities is seen as a problem.

After learning to make judgments based on pre-determined beliefs about our acceptability and how we fit into the world, we then habitually repeat, in most situations, an automatic way of behaving. This behavioral style is predictable and does not compromise the boundaries established by our beliefs.

Tom' desire for acceptability overrides the inclination to conform with learned values and beliefs.
Tom continually contradicts his beliefs. And, he denies that he does so. Tom rationalizes his actions by convincing himself that if you want to have money, you’ve got to look “money,” and he says he is just walking his talk. His self-talk provides the needed justification for living above his means. It promotes the identity that he is so ardently trying to purport. Defining who he is, in a large part, by his home address, gives Tom a needed edge in sustaining the perception of one who is earning a high income. It gives him prestige and makes him feel like he belongs to more acceptable group.

Our identity is, in large measure, defined by the content and boundaries set around our own self-perceptions.

A dog confined to the boundaries of the back yard will eventually revisit and reinvestigate every inch of that space. Like the pet dog, we roam a territory confined within the limits of our own reality. Because we are programmed to remain within the established boundaries of our reality, we do little more than revisit the thoughts that we have previously entertained. We rehash the same thoughts and project the same point-of-view. And, this is why we repeat old patterns over again. We become very predictable in the choices we will make. Thusly we draw into our lives problems that fester because our mental confinement.

It is difficult for us to get beyond our own self-confining perceptions and judgments. Like the dog that eventually finds himself over again in one particular spot or another, similarly we find ourselves re-roaming the same mental and emotional turf. We process our thoughts through an established conduit of preprogrammed parameters, an end up presenting the mind with the repeated expectation to process the same issues, concepts and thoughts. We judge present situations just like we did prior situations. So, our choices seem to be determined automatically. This repeated pattern of choices causes the same problem to surface over and over.

It may manifest itself in a new way, or with a different person. But all the same, each problem grows from the same root.

We may look for a way out of particular problems by jumping from person to person, relationship to relationship, friend to friend, and job to job. We may look for a way out through spending money. It’s not uncommon however to discover that the next romance, person, job, activity or purchase is not the way out. Why? More next time.

NEW TOPIC
We believe that we can discover a way to move beyond our limitations for solving a problem, by seeking out a solution in the world outside our self. But in reality, we perceive the world through the limits of our own established perceptions and judgments. Essentially we lure what we see into our own mental backyard. Then we deal with it just as we have dealt with past situations, circumstances and encounters. The new lover, friend, relationship, job, activity or thing is analyzed with the same old boundaries. The “new” is eventually brought into the same old limited, “fenced-in,” restrictive way of perceiving and judging. So, the pursued solution ends up failing to solve the problem. We continually find our selves back at square one.

Relentlessly, we roam around within the boundaries of the same limited thought patterns. So old self-sabotaging ways of thinking continually arise. Long before the next choice is made, the fate of that pick is set in stone. It is determined by the reality to which we have assigned certain boundaries and limitations.


Our Limitless Reality
All of us possess a transcendent form of consciousness; which is commonly known as spirit. Yes, you do, I do, and everyone does.

This spirit, or Enlightened Power, is the mind of God. God’s mind is accessible to everyone, and by calling on the mind of God, we are enabled to move beyond the limitations of our own predictable judgmental thinking. We possess the Power to access this mind at any time. We can be one with this Enlighten Power at any place of our choosing. To enact the mind of God we need only to call on it, and allow its powers to prevail.

When the mind of God within us, is allowed to enmesh with God’s Great Cosmic Mind, then the thoughts that arise from this unity are our only source for wisdom and guidance.

The mind of God knows only love, so it does not think harmful thoughts. It knows freedom so it does not judge. It knows only strength so it does not condemn or overtake. It is fulfilled, so it doesn’t recognize jealousy. It is innocent, so it is not guided by guilt. Condemnation has neither meaning nor value, so there is no reason to blame.

When we choose to listen to the voice of God within us, we are listing to a message that flows from mind of God. This same Divine Intelligence flows to and through every part of everything in creation.

We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them. – Kahlil Gibran

Madness is rare in individuals - but in groups, political parties, nations, and eras it's the rule. – Friedrich Nietzsche

This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. – George Bernard Shaw