DO NOTHING

February 20, 2013

To do nothing goes against all the conditioning of the world.  When you think you have a problem, to do nothing to solve it would seem strange to most. Yet it is in the “doing” that one doesn’t see that there is no problem.  The doing creates the problem.  If you can sit, even if only momentarily, you will see that there is no problem, it is all in your head.

Doing nothing in the face of life screaming “do something” begins to take the power away from the mind.  From the thoughts that say “things should be some other way.”  If things are meant to be some other way, they will be, wait and see.

All the action to “make something” some other way, is just wasted energy.  Because as you begin to “do nothing” about the thoughts and situations that appear with more regularity, you will find that the only thing you ever did was “think” you could do something, and that was where the energy was wasted.  What you will do, that you do not know, you must, in a sense, train yourself, to wait and see what will happen.

If you are going to “actually” do something it will happen without your assistance.  It seems as if two things are being spoken about here, and in a sense they are.  Because most think that they are the one doing it, that they are the “doing”, so that is who I speak to when I say “you are not doing it” I am speaking to the one that is actually not doing it … but “thinks” it is.

To some this will sound crazy, but to a small few they will begin to pause.  When the whole world or when the mind is screaming “do something.”  They will stop.  Take a look around and see, is this really happening or am I only “thinking” this is happening.  And if they look around and see that there is not much actually going on around them, a smile will appear on their face and they will wait and see what happens next.  Maybe something, maybe nothing, but they are beginning to know that it is not up to them.

SUICIDE

February 11, 2013

This morning during Meditation the topic came up to write about suicide.  This is not an easy topic to talk about, well it is easy to talk about but maybe it is not so easy to hear, we shall see.  Today is the anniversary of my significant other, of nine years, Mark’s death.  It is not surprising that this would be a topic of discussion, but it is surprising in that it showed up.

All “suicide” stems from one thing.  Suicide stems from the belief in the “I” thought.  Without an “I” there is no one that would commit suicide.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that “I” don’t know how powerful thoughts can be.  Have attempted suicide on a few occasions and do know how dark it can get and how strong a belief can become.  So this is not about belittling the power of the mind.  Instead let’s shed some LIGHT on it. 

Let’s take this slowly if we can. 

Thoughts of suicide appear when one is paying attention to thoughts and not who they ARE.  You are not a thought, if you were, you couldn’t pay attention to it … you would be it.  So when someone attempts suicide it is because they have placed all the attention on a “thought” and in turn created it into a belief and then believe the “belief” is true.  It is always something about a past or future that cannot be changed but is not let go of.  The person imagines something about themselves and/or the circumstance they “think” they are in and see no way out, but how could one, you have to be alive to see it.  Suicide wouldn’t exist if everyone would just wait to see what happens, instead of just assuming they know what will happen.

Let’s look at an example of how a “thought” becomes a “belief.”  Let’s use warts (heh) as an example.  If you have ever had a Plantar’s Wart, you know that it starts out small (like a thought) and then over time it gets harder (like when you keep paying attention to a thought) and then eventually it is so hard that you have to get it cut out or nitrogen to remove it (a belief becomes solidly believed and suicide seems the only option). 

So if you can see this … if you can see the thought become solid and believed in, then you also can see that the undoing of the belief is the undoing of Suicide. 

One does not have to kill the “I” thought or any thought and killing the body will not kill the “I” thought, because the “I” thought is not the body. 

How sucky will it be if you kill the body (thinking it is you) only to come to find out that you weren’t the body and now you are without a body but still *think* you exist.  There is a good book on this, it is not the Truth, but it is a good pointer and can be helpful in seeing things from a different perspective.  It is called “Stephen Lives.”

It writing is not about killing the “I” thought, it is about beginning to see that it is not real. 

Only you can stop paying attention to the thoughts, the quickest way to begin doing this is to look and see who is watching the thoughts. 

You can’t be the thought if you are watching the thought, so who is watching? 

This will take some practice because you have been watching the thoughts for so long, you believe them to be true. 

Look how strong beliefs are; if we didn’t have them, there would be no war, there would be nothing to fight over, if you didn’t believe there was something to fight over.  And how do you begin to see that there is nothing to fight over, by beginning to STOP and take a look, honest look around you and see if anything that you believe or are thinking, is actually happening, or are you just “thinking” about it. 

If you are just “thinking” about it then it is not real, it is your imagination and you must wait and see what shows up.  Stop assuming you know what is going to happen, you don’t. 

Begin to start waiting to see what will happen, you might be pleasantly surprised.

If you are having thoughts about suicide and how awful everything is, you may want to at first, get some help with the emotional part of it, that can be assisted by certain medications and am not saying that everyone should be medicated (you actually do not need it … but it can be helpful in the beginning - just to get you to a place where you can begin to see that thoughts are not real). 

There are benefits to medication as well as some awful side-effects, so watch yourself, make a plan not to be on them for very long and do the work.  Self-investigate.  Do this with the question “Who am I?” and write down everything that comes up.  If it is something that you can change or alter then it is not who you are, do a process of elimination until there is nothing left (no beliefs about who you are, all that is left is who you Are, without beliefs).

Continue to bring yourself/attention back to the moment you are IN.  Not the one you are “thinking” about, the one right in front of your face.

Please feel free to write privately.

There is also a movie called “The Bridge” (that is a link to the full movie) that can be watched online by clicking that link, it is well done and can offer, again, some insights.

SUICIDE ...

(Click for today's Vitamin)

This morning during Meditation the topic came up to write about suicide.  This is not an easy topic to talk about, well it is easy to talk about but maybe it is not so easy to hear, we shall see.  Today is the 11^th anniversary of my significant other, of nine years, Mark’s death.  It is not surprising that this would be a topic of discussion, but it is surprising in that it showed up.

All “suicide” stems from one thing.  Suicide stems from the belief in the “I” thought.  Without an “I” there is no one that would commit suicide.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t know how powerful thoughts can be.  I have attempted suicide on a few occasions so I do know how dark it can get and how strong a belief can become.  I am not belittling the power of the mind.  What I would like to do … is shed some LIGHT on it. 

Let’s take this slowly if we can.  Thoughts of suicide appear when one is paying attention to thoughts and not who they ARE.  You are not a thought, if you were, you couldn’t pay attention to it … you would be it.  So when someone attempts suicide it is because they have placed the attention on a “thought” and in turn created it into a belief and then believe the “belief” is true.  It is usually something about themselves and/or the circumstance they “think” they are in.  Suicide wouldn’t exist if everyone would just wait to see what happens, instead of just assuming they know what will happen.

So let’s give an example of how a “thought” becomes a “belief.”  Let’s use warts (heh) as an example.  If you have ever had a Plantar’s Wart, you know that it starts out small (like a thought) and then over time it gets harder (like when you keep paying attention to a thought) and then eventually it is so hard that you have to get it cut out or nitrogen to remove it (a belief becomes solidly believed and suicide seems the only option). 

So if you can see this … if you can see the thought become solid and believed in, then you also can see that the undoing of the belief is the undoing of Suicide.  One does not have to kill the “I” thought and killing the body will not kill the “I” thought.  How sucky is that if you thought you were going to be done an over with (which you will) and you just find yourself without a body but still thinking you exist.  There is a good book on this, I am not saying it is the Truth (you don’t need to take it literal) but it is a good pointer and can be helpful in seeing things from a different perspective.  It is called “Stephen Lives.”

So it is not about killing the “I” thought, it is beginning to see that it is not real.  Only you can stop paying attention to the thoughts, the quickest way to begin doing this is to look and see who is watching the thoughts.  You can’t be the thought if you are watching the thought, so who is watching?  This will take some practice because you have been watching the thoughts for so long and you believe them to be true.  Look how strong beliefs are; if we didn’t have them, there would be no war, there would be nothing to fight over, if you didn’t believe there was something to fight over.  And how do you begin to see that there is nothing to fight over, by beginning to STOP and take a look, honest look around you and see if anything that you believe or are thinking, is actually happening, or are you just “thinking” about it.  If you are just “thinking” about it then it is not real, it is your imagination and you must wait and see what shows up.  Stop assuming you know what is going to happen, you don’t.  So begin to start waiting to see what will happen, you might be pleasantly surprised.

So if you are having thoughts about suicide and how awful everything is, you may want to at first, get some help with the emotional part of it, that can be assisted by certain medications and I am not saying that everyone should be medicated, but sometimes it does help just to get you to a place where you can begin to see that thoughts are not real.  So there are benefits to medication, but watch yourself, make a plan not to be on them more than say three months, and do the work.  Self-investigate.  Do this with the question “who am I?” and write down everything that comes and if it is something that you can change or alter then it is not who you are, do a process of elimination until there is nothing left (no beliefs about who you are, all that is left is who you Are, without beliefs).  Continue to bring yourself/attention back to the moment you are IN.  Not the one you are “thinking” about, the one right in front of your face.

Please feel free to write to me privately.

There is also a movie called “The Bridge” that you can watch online by clicking that link, it is well done and can offer, again, some insights.

FEAR OF FEAR

(Click for Blog Post on Pros and Cons of Fear)

This morning it seems to be coming up to write about Fear.  Upon waking there was a great fear of being cold, of everyone in the building leaving and not being able to afford the electric to provide the heat, it was freezing.  This fear of cold continues to come up, and it has been shared that the only way to face fear is to face it, in the willingness to face it something appeared.  What appeared was that there was not cold in the moment that the fear was arising.  There was only a fear of cold, yet the body was actually sweating from the hot water bottle that I slept with.  This obviousness, of there not actually being cold, was overlooked because of the fear “thoughts” about being cold.  And “thoughts” breed/feed other “thoughts” because many stories about being cold appeared, but none of them were actually happening and this is where the Gift appeared.  There was not actual “Fear” because actual “Fear” shows up when something is actually happening…like you are being attacked by a mountain lion or being chased by someone, then actual fear will arise to help you in the situation, but what arose this morning was not actual “Fear” it was fear of Fear (one step removed from actual fear and therefore, not real).

There is a saying “There is nothing to fear but fear itself.”  And that can be overlooked because thoughts can seem very real…like they are actually happening or will happen.  So it takes a great deal of honesty to look around you and see that it isn’t happening.  Take any thought of fear that comes up at any time, whether it is fear of losing a job or a relationship or friendship or that you can’t afford something or whatever the fear is that appears before you and then take an honest look around you, is the fear actual (is it right in front of you) or is it imagined (about the past or the future).  Do you have everything you need (not want but need) to be in the moment you are in?  If the fear is about the past, then it is not in your present moment so it cannot be real, and if it is about the future, then it is not in your present moment and cannot be real. 

What is in your present moment?  Just look around … right here right now, I am in the kitchen, where it is warm the walls have recently been painted and look clean and pretty, Pete my dog is sleeping on the floor snoring away and these hands are typing what is being seen, that is all that is actually going on so any thoughts outside of that, are lies, they are not happening.

Another way of quickly facing the fear that comes, especially when it is something more direct and not so easy to disprove, like say it is a fear that you are not good enough.  Admitting that you do not know if you are, is one of the quickest ways that fear disappears, not that you don't know if you are and trying to find a way to get better or be worse, but to not know and be willing to find out, not through trying to find out, but by waiting to see how life plays out.  Saying Yes, I may be the worst or I may be the best, but I don't truly know (then be willing to find out ... allow Life show you who you Are).

Fear of fear can drain one of their energy and place them in a state of panic and worry and discontent.  All these things will quickly dissipate with the honest look at what is actually happening and not what is imagined to be happening.  Check it out … the next time fear shows up for you … don’t move/react … face it honestly.  :o)

Fear of Fear is learned, a thought of the past or future and is therefore, not real.  Actual fear is instinctual, primal and appears in the present moment to protect the body for survival.