Love Meditation

Coming Full Circle When we come full circle, there is the feeling that we have come to a familiar place, but we are somehow different. Life is a circular journey through our issues and processes, and this is why things that are technically new often seem very familiar. It is also why, whenever we work to release a habit, change a pattern, or overcome a fear, we often encounter that issue one last time, even after we thought we had conquered it. Often, when this happens, we fe...el defeated or frustrated that after all our hard work we are still dealing with the same problem. However, the reappearance of a pattern, habit, or fear, is often a sign that we have come full circle, and that if we can maintain our resolve through one last test, we will achieve a new level of mastery in our lives. When we come full circle, there is often the feeling that we have arrived in a familiar place, but that we ourselves are somehow different. We know that we can handle challenges that seemed insurmountable when we began our journey, and there is the feeling that we might be ready to take on a new problem, or some new aspect of the old problem. We feel empowered and courageous to have taken on the challenge of stopping a pattern, releasing a habit, or overcoming a fear, and to have succeeded. At times like these, we deserve a moment of rest and self-congratulation before we move on to the next challenge. Coming full circle is like stepping into a clearing where, for a moment, we can see where we came from and where we are standing at the same time. Remembering that we will be tested again is important, but it's also important to pause and take a look at the ground we've covered, honoring our courage, our persistence, and our achievement. Then we can begin the next leg of our circular journey with a fuller understanding of where we are coming from

Releasing Your Expectations The further you distance yourself from your expectations, the more exhilarating your life will become. As we endeavor to find personal fulfillment and realize our individual ideals, we naturally form emotional attachments to those outcomes we hope will come to pass. These expectations can serve as a source of stability, allowing us to draft plans based on our visions of the future, but they can also limit our potential for happiness by blinding us ...to equally satisfying yet unexpected outcomes. Instead of taking pleasure in the surprising circumstances unfolding around us, we mourn for the anticipation left unfulfilled. When we think of letting go of our expectations, we may find ourselves at the mercy of a small inner voice that admonishes us to strive for specific goals, even if they continually elude us. However, the opposite of expectation is not pessimism. We can retain our optimism and free ourselves from the need to focus on specific probabilities by opening our hearts and minds to a wide variety of possible outcomes. When we expect a situation, event, or confrontation to unfold in a certain way, it becomes more difficult to enjoy the surprises that have the potential to become profound blessings. Likewise, we may feel that we failed to meet our inner objectives because we were unable to bring about the desired results through our choices and actions. Consider, though, that we are all at the mercy of the universal flow, and our best intentions are often thwarted by fate. As you grow increasingly open to unforeseen outcomes, you will be more apt to look for and recognize the positive elements of your new circumstances. This receptivity to the unexpected can serve you well when you are called upon to compromise with others, your life plans seem to go awry, or the world moves forward in an unanticipated manner by granting you the flexibility to see the positive aspects of almost any outcome. The further you distance yourself from your expectations, the more exhilarating your life will become. Though a situation in which you find yourself may not correspond to your initial wants, needs, or goals, ask yourself how you can make the most of it and then do your best to adapt. Your life's journey will likely take many unpredicted and astonishing twists because you are willing to release your expectations.

Home Flow Keep the energy in your home vital by treating it as an important aspect of your life. Our living spaces can become nurturing homes for our bodies and souls when we make sure that our surroundings accurately reflect who we are as individuals and who we aspire to become. No matter how positive and creative you may be in your inner world, if your home or work surroundings are contradictory or present energetic barriers, you are likely to find it difficult to manifest ...all that you desire. By paying attention to the flow of energy around you, you can align your inner intentions with your outer realities to make your life a conscious act of creation. We can look to the ancient Asian art of feng shui for guidance. Since the words "feng" and "shui" mean "wind" and "water," you may want to walk through your home and imagine the way these elements would flow through your space. You can evaluate whether or not your home is a balanced ecosystem that would allow a plant to flourish. A straight path between doorways would make nourishing elements rush right through, while a pleasantly meandering stream would instead create a flow that nurtures life. Look for signs of debris that might obstruct the flow of such a river. Clutter acts like hurdles placed in your path, blocking you from creating what you want in your life. Once the obstacles are recognized, however, they can be removed to let energy flow freely throughout your home and your life so that you can thrive. Your home can be thought of as a symbolic metaphor for your life. A neglected space may correspond to a lack of growth in your career or personal relationships. By shifting your perception, you shift the way you direct your energy and attention, which can enable you to make the changes you need to actively create the life of your dreams. If you need some assistance, you can always turn to a feng shui practitioner, but the most important thing is that you understand what resonates with your core being in order to feel alive and nurtured by your home

Sometimes in my meditations, I get to what I call the layer. The layer is when you’re reaching, creating, or intending for that new future, event, or possibility, but perhaps your body wants to quit, your mind is reeling with to-do lists, you’re filled with doubt and frustration, or that internal voice questions whether your efforts will actually produce any results. To pass through these layers is to take the true self out of our hardwired routine programs. Understanding and... defining these moments of friction is key because when you stretch yourself passed the familiarwhatever happens beyond that point a kind of disentangling from a certain level of consciousness or awareness occurs. To do this successfully requires an enormous amount of energy because the body wants to go back to its familiar, baseline state; therefore, we have to not only raise our energy, but sustain it. Since energy and consciousness, thought and feeling, and frequency and information are unified, only when you change your energetic emotional state can you become conscious of other new possibilities. Every time you move through another layer of the veil of ignorance or limitation, the voice in your head gets less and less loud or intense. I always say the first 15 minutes of meditation are like driving down the highway and passing familiar exitsyou know all those places inside and out because you’ve traveled down this road so many times before to deeper statesbut this time you’re not going to get off there because you’ve done it enough times to know there’s nothing new there. The more you work on your practice, the easier it gets to carve a path towards the divine or the mysticalbut nobody’s going to do it for you but you. However, if you’re able turn off the programs, voices, propensities, emotions, agitations, and impulses to quitto me that’s better than any therapy because you're making the conscious choice to prune certain connections and to inhibit the body from the arousal of negative impulses or emotions.