A Master Practicing

So while I am quoting Smothermon, here's one of my favorite quotes that came from his book (see previous blog titled “some of my favorite books”:

“So, a master practicing starts with the fact that she is whole and complete. Because she says so, and for no other reason. She also starts from the fact that her relationships are whole, complete, and perfect. They are exactly the way they should be. Why? Because she says so, no other reason. As relationships change, that is exactly what they should be doing: changing. When they seem to stay the same, that is exactly what they should be doing: staying the same. When she changes them, that is exactly the appropriate thing to do: change them. When others change them, that is seen as the appropriate thing to happen. How can all this be so? Because a master practicing says so, and for no other reason. This is called living at cause in your relationships.”

“You see, a master practicing lets life be the way it is. When you let life be the way it is, you'll find out that it validates and supports you. Always. So, if life is not validating in supporting you, you are not letting it be the way it is. At that point, when you're willing to let it be the way it is, a certain satisfaction comes over you. Said another way, you create the context of satisfaction by doing nothing. From the context of satisfaction you can absolutely beat life into shape. As you beat it, you're satisfied. As it changes shape, you're satisfied. When you notice the shape you’ve beat it into, you're satisfied. Everything becomes a contribution to your state of satisfaction. So letting life be the way it is doesn't mean not to change it. You will change it totally, but not so that it will get better. You will change it as a game, nothing more. For, you see, if you beat life to change it to be better, that would be coming from dissatisfaction.”

Those are good thoughts worth pondering.

My favorite books

In a book I recently read, titled “Winning through Enlightenment” I came across one of the most profound and true statements I’ve ever seen. The author, Ron Smothermon M.D., says, “You are enlightened in direct proportion to the number of teachers you have in your life.” In other words, as we let others become our instructors, from whatever medium that come, we are able to live more freely.

With that in mind, I wanted to share with everyone my list of favorite books. I’ve been very fortunate to have read a large number of books that relate to our mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of life. And from these books I’ve learned a lot about what other great minds have thought about living well and happily.

Here is the list:

http://faculty.weber.edu/molpin/healthclasses/1110/greatbooks.html

If you have any personal favorites that we all should be aware of that aren’t on the list, please feel free to contribute yours.

From where did that idea come?

It's an interesting thing to be standing in the shower, staring at the wall, enjoying the nice warm water as it rains down my head, neck, shoulders, and back. My mind seems empty, and I'm in no hurry to finish this time to myself. When suddenly out of nowhere, seemingly, an excellent idea pops into my head. It's a thought that hadn't occurred to me earlier in the day, nor recently. Yet it's a thought that has some significance and meaning to stuff that's going on for me.

As I was pondering the uniqueness of this thought, I had to ask myself where do these ideas come from. And why do they come to me at times when I'm least expecting them or trying to get them? In all my years learning about thought, consciousness, and awareness, it has become quite apparent to me that there must need to be a slowness of thinking, or better said, a passiveness of thinking where the mind is not focused on any particular thing in order for new thoughts and ideas to penetrate the conscious mind. It seems the busier our mind becomes, the less room there is for a clear path upon which an idea can come.

This leads to the next question: What is that place from where those ideas, insights, and intuitive thoughts and feelings come? Certainly, it is not a place that has been accurately discovered by modern science simply because it is not observable and measurable. Yet you and I both know that there is a place beyond the physical, the metaphysical, where lies greater wisdom and knowledge than we both have. A brief look at history shows that generally we seem to learn more about many things with each passing generation. All of the “discoveries” that we now enjoy had to be somewhere before they made their way into the minds of the discoverers.

It seems to me, that having the ability to tap into this greater mind on a regular basis should be one of our most valuable practices. The conundrum, curiously, is that the connection with this higher mind requires a different type of effort than we are commonly used to. An effortless effort that occurs commonly in times of meditation, swimming, jogging, while waking up in the morning in an unhurried way, while praying, and while watching sunsets, sunrises, and other beautiful moments in nature. If this is the case, it also seems to me, that we better carry a notebook around with us.