Day 220

Thoughts: Everything that exists has Being, has God-essence, has some degree of consciousness. Everything is alive. The sun, the earth, plants, animals, humans.

Words from The Power Of Now by Eckhart Tolle

Look at the millions of life forms on this planet alone. In the sea, on land, in the air- and then each life form is replicated millions of times. To what end? Is someone or something playing a game, a game with form? The ancient Indians saw the world as a kind of divine game that God is playing. The individual life forms are obviously not very important in this game. In the sea most life forms don’t survive for more than a few minutes after being born. The human form turns to dust pretty quickly too, and when it is gone it is as if it had never been.

Becoming present and being the watcher of the mind. The event is called – the end of the world.

To listen to the silence, wherever you are, is an easy and direct way of becoming present. Even if there is noise, there is always some silence underneath and in between sounds. Listening to the silence immediately creates stillness inside.

Direct you attention into the body. Feel it from within. Is it alive? Is there life in your hands, arms, legs and feet, in your abdomen, your chest? Can you feel the subtle energy field that pervades the entire body and gives vibrant life to every organ and every cell? Can you feel it simultaneously in all parts of the body as a single field of energy? Keep focusing on the feeling of your inner body for a few moments. Do not start to think about it. Feel it. The more attention you give it, the clearer and stronger this feeling will become. It will feel as if every cell is becoming more alive, and if you have a strong visual sense, you may get an image of your body becoming luminous. If you cannot feel very much at this stage, pay attention to whatever you CAN feel. Your body is coming alive. Never loose touch with it.

Please examine where your attention is at this moment. You are listening to me, or you are reading these words in a book. There may be things happening around you, busy street, people, noise. See if you can be in touch with your inner body at the same time. Keep some of your attention within. It is almost as if you are listening or reading with your whole body. Let this be your practice in weeks to come.

Do not give all your attention away to the mind and the external world. By all means focus on what you are doing, but feel the inner body at the same time whenever possible. Then observe how this changes your state of consciousness and the quality of what you are doing.

Whenever you are waiting wherever it may be, use that time to feel the inner body.

Attention is the key to transformation and full attention also implies acceptance.

Emotions-
In a fully functional organism, an emotion has a very short life span. It is like a momentary ripple or wave on the surface of your being. When you are not in your body, however, an emotion can survive inside you for days or weeks, or join with other emotions of a similar frequency that have merged and become the pain-body, a parasite that can live inside you for years, feed on your energy, lead to physical illness, and make your life miserable. So place your attention on feeling the emotion, and check whether your mind is holding on to a grievance pattern such as blame, self pity, or resentment that is feeding the emotion. This is the minds refusal to accept uncertainty, to accept that the future is ultimately beyond its control. Forgiveness is to offer no resistance to life- to allow life to live through you.

There is a simple but powerful self healing meditation that you can do whenever you feel the need to boost your immune system. When you are unoccupied for a few minutes, and especially last thing at night before falling asleep and first thing in the morning before getting up, ‘flood’ your body with consciousness, Close your eyes. Lie flat on your back. Choose different parts of your body to focus your attention on briefly: hands, feet, arms, legs, abdomen, chest, head, and so on. Feel the life energy inside those parts as intensely as you can. Stay with each part for fifteen seconds or so. The let your attention run through the body like a wave a few times, from feet to head and back again. After that feel the inner body in its totality, as a single field of energy. Hold that feeling for a few minutes. Be intensely present during that time, present in every cell in your body. Don’t be concerned if the mind occasionally succeeds in drawing your attention out of the body and you lose yourself in some thought. As soon as you notice that this has happened, just return your attention to the inner body.

If you find it easy to visualize, close your eyes and see yourself surrounded by light or immersed in a luminous substance, a sea of consciousness. Then breathe in that light. Feel that luminous substance filling up your body and making it luminous also.

CREATIVE USE OF MIND whenever an answer, a solution, or a creative idea is needed, stop thinking for a moment by focusing attention on your energy field. Become aware of stillness. When you resume thinking it will be fresh and creative. We could say; don’t just think with your head, think with your whole body. Ask the universe for answers.

LISTENING – when listening to another person don’t just listen with your mind; listen with your whole body. Feel the energy field of your inner body as you listen. That takes attention away from thinking and creates a still space that enables you to truly listen without the mind interfering. You are giving the other person space, space to be. It is the most precious gift you can give.

Don’t think about it, feel it.

MEDITATION- ten to fifteen minutes. Make sure there are no distractions. Sit on a chair, spine erect. Make sure body is relaxed, Close you eyes. Take a few deep breaths. Feel yourself breathing into the lower abdominal. Observe how it expands and contracts slightly with each in and out breathe. Then become aware of the entire energy field of the body. Don’t think it, feel it.

DO- when you can feel the inner body as a single field of energy, let go, if possible, of any visual image and focus exclusively on the feeling. If you can, also drop any mental image you may still have of the physical body. All that is left then is an all-encompassing sense of presence or ‘being ness’ and the inner body is felt to be without a boundary. Then take you attention even more deeply into that feeling. Become one with it. Merge with the energy fields, so that there is no longer a perceived duality of the observer and the observed, of you and your body. The distinction between inner and outer also dissolves now, so there is no inner body anymore. By going deeply into the body, you have transcending (risen above, gone above) the body. Stay in this realm of pure Being for as long as it feels comfortable; then become aware again of the physical body, your breathing and physical senses, and open your eyes. Look at your surrounding for a few minutes in a meditative way-that is without labeling them mentally- and continue to feel the inner body as you do so.

Spiritual practice, now let your spiritual practice be this: as you go about your life, don’t give 100 percent of your attention to the external world and to your mind. Keep some within. Feel the inner body even when engaged in everyday activities, especially when engaged in relationships, or when you are relating with nature. Feel the stillness deep inside out. Keep the portal open, it is quite possible to be conscious of the un-manifested throughout your life. You feel it as a deep sense of peace somewhere in the background, a stillness that never leaves you, no matter what happens out here. You become a bridge between the un-manifested and the manifested, between god and the world. This is the state of connectedness with the source that we call enlightenment.

Challenges: Egos are drawn to bigger egos. Darkness cannot recognize light. Only light can recognize light.

Triumphs: When I am present life is blissful and joyous. Life flows with ease and grace :) "Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment." - Buddha

What I Ate Today:

Food fest 1: Avocado!

Food fest 2: Blackberries and blueberries.

Food fest 3: Some grapes.

Food fest 4: Sweet rockmelon (cantaloupe).

Food fest 5: Avocado.

Food fest 6: A beetroot (beet), apple, carrot, celery and ginger juice.

Food fest 7: A orange and grapefruit juice.

Food fest 8: Another avocado and some walnuts:)

Exercise: Working, moving, stretching, on film set "Squid Man"!

145 days to go!!!

Visit:
www.eckharttolle.com
www.thegardendiet.com
www.theearthdiet.org