Namaste Way of Life - Part 5

[Ann]

This wonderful thread continues as part 5. Part 4 can be found on the link below.

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...rt-4-a-23.html (Namaste A Way of Life Part 4)

[Ann]

Special hugs, Annie, for keeping this thread alive and sharing your light with all of us.

[stone]

So glad Indie is back!

“Oh soul,
you worry too much.
You have seen your own strength.
You have seen your own beauty.
You have seen your golden wings.
Of anything less,
why do you worry?
You are in truth
the soul, of the soul, of the soul.”
~Rumi

[citychick]

“Oh soul,
you worry too much.
You have seen your own strength.
You have seen your own beauty.
You have seen your golden wings.
Of anything less,
why do you worry?
You are in truth
the soul, of the soul, of the soul.”
~Rumi

and that's the million dollar question....why do we?

when we understand ourselves as part of something vast, loving and powerful....?

I don't really need an answer..just thinking out loud.

thanks for that one Stone, I hadn't seen it before.

[indigo]

I've been missing again my son overdosed once more and he appears to have more braindamage, I am trying to accept that this is his path and still mamas will be mamas!.

I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.
Louisa May Alcott

[Ann]

Oh, Annie, this is so sad. Your boy is in my prayers each day.

That said, as a mama I know how very hard this is for you and am sending big hugs from my heart to yours.

[Rusty Zipper]

indie, i'm saddened to hear this...

my thoughts, and blessings for you both...

[indigo]

Thank you it's in the hands of something greater than I.

Spring comes with its flowers, autumn with the moon,
summer with breezes, winter with snow;
when useless things don't stick in the mind,
that is your best season.

(The Light Inside the Dark )

[Ann]

The Light Inside the Dark

It's always there someplace, Annie, and just a little light can dispel a whole lot of darkness.

[citychick]

I'm glad you're back with us inde, and I'm so sorry about your son.

hugs

[IO Storm]

Indie

A special prayer at this moment from me..to my HP for your your dear son.

And you. I cannot imagine what you are going through, I cannot.

All comfort, strength, healing and power from the heavens be available to

him now..and you as well.

Mamas will always be mamas and they will always be our little boys.

All my love,

Sher

[espresso]

:ghug2 Indie

[indigo]

Oh thank you everyone.

Waiting To Be Found
--by Prem Rawat


Before a war begins outside, it starts inside.

The war on the inside is more dangerous because it is a fire that may never be put out. Wars are being fought because peace is not being found within, because it is not being allowed to unfold. We are all searching for something, we may call it success, peace, love, or tranquility. It is the same thing. What we are looking for has many names because we do not know what we need. To find what we need, we look around us. To know where to find what we are looking for, we first need to ask ourselves where we can find it. Have we considered looking within?

Living is not an easy task, especially if we want the best of it. We have to mine for it. Mining is not easy. We have to take out what we need and leave the rest. If we want to mine for peace, then we have to seek what is precious and discard what is not. The thing that we are searching for is not outside of us. It is within us. It always has been and always will be. [...]

We carry a lamp within so bright that even in the darkest night, it can fill our world with light. This light is waiting to be found. Peace makes no distinctions. It does not care if we are rich, if we are poor, or what religion we belong to. It does not care which country we live in. Peace is waiting to be found. Waiting to once again feel whole, not separated by all the issues that divide our lives.

Peace is when the heart is no longer in duality, when the struggle within has been resolved. When peace comes to the heart, serenity follows. Love comes flooding in, uncontrolled. Joy cannot be held back. It bursts through because it is right. That is peace.

Peace needs to be felt, love needs to be felt, truth needs to be felt. As long as we are alive, the yearning to feel good, to feel joy, will always be there, and as long as it is there, there will be a need for it to be discovered.

--Prem Rawat

[Ann]

Peace is when the heart is no longer in duality, when the struggle within has been resolved. When peace comes to the heart, serenity follows.

Amen, Annie. May our hearts be filled with peace today.

[Rusty Zipper]

lets keep our Heart Shaped Lamps Lit...

[IO Storm]

Mining is not easy. We have to take out what we need and leave the rest. If we want to mine for peace, then we have to seek what is precious and discard what is not.

Peace is when the heart is no longer in duality, when the struggle within has been resolved. When peace comes to the heart, serenity follows. Love comes flooding in, uncontrolled.

Again..

The message "keeps coming back" to me, the hard work of change.

This time..it is mining. Mining my heart and soul...taking out the roots, rocks, and

debris that block the Sunlight of the Spirit to flood in.

Thanks Indie.

[indigo]

The Power of Stopping
--by Gangaji



The trance of conditioned thoughts can be deep and complex, but it has no defense against something as simple as "stop". When you consciously recognize this point of stopping, you have a real choice. Before that recognition, your thoughts are just mechanical actions of mind based on past conditioning, on desire, on aversion. After that recognition, you can consciously choose to tell the truth about what is always present before thought, after thought, and during thought. Can presence be thought? This question, in effect, crumbles the neat patterns of the mind. It causes a dropping, a realease, and relief from the huge illusory world of thought. The balancing, and re-balancing and re-forming and re-inventin of what you call "me" is only a thought, with another thought processed on top of that, and then another thought. The moment of recognizing what cannot be thought is the moment of recognizing who you are. It is a moment of the mind's surrender to silence.

I speak a lot about stopping, but perhaps I haven't yet really spoken about it in a way that can be understood. Stopping is, first of all, recognizing that as thoughts arise you have a choice: your mind can either follow the thoughts or be still, letting them arise without touching them. My invitation to stop is not to build thought, to not fantasize or replay old events. The choice is for the mind to be still, and in that choice is the possibility of recognizing what is always still, whether there are thoughts or no thoughts.

[…] Not following mind activity is different from resisting the mind or repressing thoughts. Not following thought has a relaxing, opening quality. Although it may feel unfamiliar, and the fear of the unfamiliar may in itself generate mind activity, to stop following thoughts is effortless. In following thoughts and further spinning our stories, the simple and profound ease of being is overlooked.

- By Gangaji, from "The Diamond In your Pocket"

[Ann]

I learned to stop thoughts by mentally picturing a big red button that I could push when I was obsessing or heading down a dead end street with my thoughts.

There were times in my life when I felt like my thoughts would drive me mad, that I just could not stop them.

I still use that big red button today when my thoughts are taking me no place good.

Thanks, Annie, for reminding me that I DO have a choice which thoughts I spend time with and just for today I will stick with the happy healthy thoughts.

Hugs

[jurneyman]

Thanks Annie, When I am trying to meditate or just want to quiet the thoughts that are constantly running through my mind like on a continuous tape loop, I use a favorite technique that has proven to work quite well for me. I just picture all the different imiages that are running through my mind up on a stage, then with me observing from a comfortable seat, I close the curtain. The show is over, no more images.

[citychick]

Although it may feel unfamiliar, and the fear of the unfamiliar may in itself generate mind activity,

Sometimes I get to that really quiet place indie, then usually my mind becomes aware of it suddenly and says something like....Ohhhhh! wow!....and thats the end of the silence.lol

I've still got an over developed startle reflex.

[Rusty Zipper]

for me, its kind of like a dimmer switch...

and its up to me, how much light i want to have shine on!

i have tried a timer, and that didn't work, and forget the simple on/off job... ppfftt!

[indigo]

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it
is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”
William A Ward

[IO Storm]

What a great saying Indie..

Thanks for sharing this.

May I remember to express gratitude for even the (seemingly) smallest things.

[espresso]

...and may I be grateful for espressos......
in a silly mood but that's OK and probably good, cos my weekend's been a bit heavy

[indigo]

Let's all show our gratitude for each other....come to think of it we already do!!
I am grateful to every single one of us.