What have you done today to improve your spiritual and psychological conditions or in other words, what have you done today to be happy and at peace? If you’re unhappy or at least not satisfied with how you feel and who you are, then this site can help you. However, if you’re just continuing on with your life as usual, hoping that you will become happy and spiritually and mentally fit just by reading a few posts, I believe you will be disappointed. Read more…

One of my favorite topics to discuss is gratitude. This wasn’t always the case, as twenty years ago I didn’t know what it was to feel gratitude. Apparently I wasn’t at all grateful. Nowadays, the gratitude that I feel is indescribable. See that, it is possible to change. Read more…

Teaching and explaining forms of breath meditation, believe it or not, can consume many chapters in a book. This is my first post on mediation and this is a blog, not a book, so I will stick to the basics.

A meditation cushion and pillow are ideal so if you want to get serious about meditation, I would suggest you pick up a set. You could try www.dharmacrafts.com. You’ll at least need a soft area to sit, perhaps some pillows on the carpet and on top of that, a harder pillow, just large enough on which to sit and six to eight inches tall would be ideal. The idea is to put your but on the harder taller pillow while sitting cross-legged or in the lotus position. Because your but is up on a taller pillow, your knees should be below your hips. See the image which also indicates various hand positions. If you cannot get your feet up onto your legs, that’s OK, just do the best you can. Keeping your hips higher than your knees though is important to maintaining a proper, comfortable position. When we keep our hips above our knees and our shoulders back, not rounded forward yet not forced back too far, our body will better support itself and it will be much easier to maintain an erect posture. If you cannot sit cross-legged, get into a kneeling position, straddling the cushion of where your but will be. Then from there, bend your knees until your but is on the pillow. Your feet will be just to the sides of the pillow upon which you are sitting, just below the sides of your but. Read more…

Part II of “Emotional Stability in the Observer”

In my last post, “Emotional Stability in the Observer”, I talked about the observer being aware of our thoughts and actions. Let me expound a bit on just how this awareness increases our peace and happiness.

It’s important to first understand why we experience discord and unhappiness. Basically put, when we don’t get what we want or we lose something or someone that we covet, we get upset in some way. We also get upset at the mere thought of losing what what have and not getting what we want. We’re not usually happy and peaceful while we’re upset as we are angry, afraid, sad, jealous, disappointed, etc. Read more…

We possess an ability to observe what is happening in our own body and mind. Whether this observer is in our minds or somehow separate, it can observe the mind itself. There are our thoughts and that which is aware of our thoughts. There are our feelings and that which is aware of our feelings. There are our mental, emotional and physical reactions and that which is aware of these reactions. It is in this awareness that we can find peace. Read more…

Have you ever gone outside at night and looked up at the moon and stars and realized just how small you really are? It’s almost a feeling of insignificance but it’s not related to low self-esteem. This realization, this feeling of being small, immediately diminishes our self-importance leaving us with a feeling of peace. The vastness of the dark sky illuminated by the moon and filled with millions of stars affords of the blessing of realizing just how small our problems really are. Read more…

Do you ever feel as if you can’t turn off your mind and thoughts? Does your mind race preventing you from falling asleep or staying focused on a particular task? Does your mind run on and on to the point where you can’t take it anymore and you wish it would just stop? Read more…

The more we learn about ourselves the more aware we become of our shortcomings and therefore, the more humble we become. Our arrogance and pride will again reveal themselves until the awareness of our faults hits us head on yet again, sending us back to the reality of our imperfectness while serving us up some humble pie. Read more…

If you are trying to practice the principles outlined on this site in your life, then you may have already discovered that dramatic spiritual and psychological change may take some time. Certainly, we can begin changing immediately but some of the results of our changes will take time. For those of you short on patience who likes to get what they want when they want it, time is probably not one of your favorite words. Read more…

It’s difficult not to be happy when we have a grateful heart. For the first twenty plus years of my life, I had never experienced gratitude so when trying to identify with it, the closest I could come was being glad. Now that I have a grateful heart, I know that there is a tremendous difference between being glad and being grateful. Read more…