Author: Skip

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THE VIEW FROM MY BEST FRIEND’S BEDSIDE

While I was driving in to visit the old goat, I heard two things on the radio:

  • a news story about a young woman who had just been told she had six months to live, and
  • Scotty McCreery’s country music song, “Five More Minutes”.

Whether my friend has 5 minutes, six months or 46 years left here – think of all we can do in five minutes, let alone six months!

I like the story about the honorable old Samurai walking his last several yards to where – based on the strength of his convictions – he ritualistically committed suicide.

During his final walk, time seemed to slow down. He became more alive: he felt the grass under his feet, the sun and breeze against his skin, the smell of flowers and incense, and the sound of birds overhead.

Be the Samurai: the master of yourself.

None of us are guaranteed tomorrow.

If today were your last day here what would you do? I suspect it has something to do with friends and family.

 

My buddy’s last request before they knocked him out (to – his words – “Crack me open like a lobster”) was to make sure his family had dinner that night.

He’s a Samurai – like Silverstein’s “The Giving Tree”: selfless to the end.

OK Samurai – don’t get complacent. Training starts as soon as your fat ass is up and out of that damned hospital bed!!!

Love, Skip

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YOUR SECRET SELF

If I could give one thing to every person on the planet it would be the understanding of the difference between a) their thoughts and b) the awareness of those thoughts.

Thoughts are evidence of our conscious mind. The awareness OF our thoughts is evidence of our consciousness.

Raja Yoga is a personal, experiential PROOF that our

Consciousness is divine!

 

Students of Raja Yoga eventually experience six energetically-distinct dimensions of themselves (inner & outer physical body, conscious mind, and three states of sub-conscious mind), inevitably [with pigheaded determination] arriving at the conclusion that our underlying consciousness is “not of this earth”.

Consciousness or awareness simply “is”. It’s eternal & unchanging.

 

The awareness OF our thoughts NEVER changes. It’s literally the only thing in our universe that doesn’t! Obviously, WHAT we’re aware OF (our thoughts) changes every second – but not our awareness OF them!

The ancient yogis said that no amount of fire or water can affect this aspect of us.

Does that mean the essence of who we are, our awareness or consciousness, lives forever? FOREVER?! That’s the theory: that neither consciousness nor energy can be created or destroyed.

The key to significantly relieving suffering and reducing stress is to realize that the death of our body/mind is not the end of our journey!

 

While this body/mind will inevitably run out of energy and stop working, part of us lives forever!

The eternal, intangible nature of our consciousness remains unaffected by the death of its host body/mind.

Realizing the eternal nature of our own consciousness takes the stress out of life; it’s HUGELY literally empowering and transformative – because it inspires Faith!

“Yea, thou I walk thru the valley of death….”

 

Who’s to say what will happen when this body/mind exhales for the last time?

My guess is the ancient yogis were right: the eternal aspect of each of us withdraws back into a giant pool of consciousness which:

“sleeps in rocks;

dreams in plants;

stirs in animals; and

CAN awaken in man.”

 

As Amma says,

“Consciousness is essentially divine, infilling everything, pervading everywhere, impelling all. Revealing itself as Truth, Awareness, and Bliss.”

God bless, Skip

❤😊🕉

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DRIVE YOUR BRAIN LIKE A CAR – PART 2

Herein lies the essence of Patanjali’s Raja Yoga:

Continuing with the automotive analogy, last week we said our conscious mind (the aspect we hear; our thinking mind) has three forward gears (correct, incorrect and imagined), reverse (memories) and neutral.

But what fuels those conscious thoughts [aside from the bio-magnetic energy that literally keeps our heart beating, lungs breathing, and mind thinking]?

There are five fuel (energetic) impurities or mental blockages (“emotions”) that affect how well our body/mind functions. To the extent they are present, all five can affect our every conscious thought.

The first is “Ignorance”. This gets right to the heart of Patanjali’s Raja Yoga; overcome this obstacle to continuous clear, correct thinking and you’re virtually home free! Herein “ignorance” has nothing to do with our aptitude or IQ; rather, it simply refers to whether or not we are aware of the distinction between our thoughts and the awareness OF our thoughts:

thoughts are evidence of our conscious mind; awareness OF our thoughts is evidence of our consciousness.

 

The other four impurities to clear, correct, completely objective, balanced thinking are a consequence of Ignorance: Ego, Attraction, Aversion and Fear.

The objective of the mental discipline of Raja Yoga is to continuously think clearly and correctly – recognizing that

our emotions affect our thoughts which precipitate our behavior which accounts for most of what bothers us!!

 

I’m here to help. Blessings, Skip

❤😊🕉

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Shout out to the Witch Rx in Salem

I taught two classes this morning: the first had six students; the second took place over an impromptu cup of coffee.

My heartfelt thanks to the Witch Rx in Salem for opening his shop early so family and friends could practice a few few stress-relieving exercises.

If you haven’t been inside the doctor’s shop in awhile (or ever), you should.

 

Regardless of the reason for your visit, it’s fascinating: the good doctor employs artists who turn out a lot of the pieces on exhibit – and these guys have crazy imaginations & mad skills!

[btw – contact me if you have more than half a dozen employees and would like to offer them an inexpensive “inner” retreat for a change!]

LINK to the good doctor’s glass blowing shop

…..where you’ll find the following – among lots of other handmade glass pieces. These guys are seriously talented artists (for the uninformed, that donut is a weed pipe!!)

LINK to a recent post about the relationship between pot (“weed” in the current vernacular) and meditation; both relieve pain but one doesn’t have any ill effects.❤😊🕉

Namaste, Skip

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POT vs. MEDITATION FOR ANXIETY, DEPRESSION and ADDICTION

EVERYTHING – other than prayer (meditation) and service – has both a light and dark side, including pot.

Putting aside my personal fears and desires, here’s how these two pain relievers work:

MEDITATON

PROS – allows me to drop beneath the noise and stress of my conscious “brain” mind into the quiet calmness of my sub-conscious “body” mind – effectively taking my thinking mind offline, giving it a chance to rest and refresh – deepening my insight and intuition over time.

Meditation provides short and long-term physical, mental and energetic benefits. Like physical exercise, the benefits of mind control practices extend well beyond the time we spend on the mat!

CONS – we can’t live in a state of seated perpetual sub-conscious bliss! First of all, Sue wouldn’t let me – and we have to eat!!

POT

PROS – if appropriately administered, immediately relaxes and calms my “thinking” mind.

CONS – aside from any obvious short-term impairment affects if I overdo it, my short-term memory goes out the window when I smoke (which has its own pros and cons!), and this avenue of short-term mental relief has adverse long-term physical effects (a persistent cough being one of them!)

At some point the cumulative benefits of meditating will trump the short-term relief I find in pot and distractions like comic books (read yesterday’s post)!!

When is that going to happen? I’m not sure, but it’s drawing closer. 😉

Faith comes from meditating. Find it within yourself!

 

Namaste [“The aspect of me that isn’t affected by time and space – let alone anxiety, depression and addiction – acknowledges and honors that aspect of you”],

Skip

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ADDICT

According to the Internet, an addict “devotes or surrenders him/herself to something habitually or obsessively.”

Have I mentioned that I suffer from addictive tendencies? Some good: meditation. Others not-so-much.

Karma:❤

Several years ago, as an under-challenged and grossly overpaid accountant for a large investment firm, I pursued desires with abandon, and often a single-mindedness that would make my Irish ancestors smile.

Before the bottom fell out of our lives economically ten years ago, I collected almost 2,500 girly comic books from the late 90’s. It all started – and ended with Ricky Carralero’s Double Impact – don’t be fooled by imitations; his business partner signed Ricky’s name to lots of sub-par pics – the difference is obvious! Ricky’s pics jump off the page! Just sayin’…….

I methodically organized, cataloged, photographed, labeled and stored every piece of my prized collection (some I even read!) with my usual all-in mentality – until it stopped fulfilling me, and I turned my attention elsewhere.

Fast forward ten years. Corporate America reaches out from beyond the grave and says I owe them $5,000. [I checked; they’re right. Damn!]

Anyone want to buy 2,500 girly comic books? I just told a potential buyer “It’s a teenage boy’s dream – if the boy was born before 1960!”

Easy come; easy go.💔

[You see why I say Sue is divine!]

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EXCERPT FROM A LETTER TO MY BROTHER

……..as an RN (age contemporary) said to me the other day, “Why did they wait our entire lives to tell us this stuff [Traditional Chinese Medicine concepts]?!” Those energy meridians acupuncturists use? They’re very real!

I think the thing that stands out most to me about the Eastern Taoist disciplines is the emphasis on the cyclical nature of our world: everything – including us – in the normal course has five “seasons”:

1) Spring – 2) Early Summer – 3) Late Summer – 4) Fall – 5) Winter.

 

Growing up in Vermont we know each season has a different energy: things bloom in the Spring, hibernate in the Winter. It’s simultaneously sobering and relieving to realize that you and I are like magnificent old maple tress in the Fall: as good as we get. Like an old maple tree that’s been through a lot of seasons and storms, before long our limbs will become more brittle, and our leaves will dry and fall.

The awesome thing about these Eastern disciplines is the emphasis they put on restoring, maintaining and replenishing the energy that sustains us. That’ll keep your beautiful Fall foliage blooming longer!

Love you.

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DRIVE YOUR BRAIN LIKE A CAR

We all have two aspects of our mind: a higher and lower frequency if you will:

  1. Our conscious, higher energetic frequency, noisy, thinking, brain mind (the “thinker”) functions like an old fashioned manual transmission.
  2. Our sub-conscious, lower energetic frequency, silent, doing, body mind (the “doer”), which runs the ship so to speak, functions on autopilot: multi-tasking without cognitive input or oversight. Leaving this aspect aside for the moment because it’s silent and runs on auto-pilot…

On any given Tuesday, here’s how our five-speed conscious mind functions:

1          CORRECT                   “TODAY IS TUESDAY.”

2          INCORRECT               “TODAY IS WEDNESDAY.”

3          IMAGINED                  “TODAY IS MURGPHDAY.”

R          REMEMBERED          “YESTERDAY WAS MONDAY.”

N         NEUTRAL                   “                                  .”

In Neutral there are no words!! THAT’S how you know you’re in Neutral! In Neutral you’re aware only of your senses: sounds, sights, smells, tastes, and bodily.

Our conscious mind (the aspect we’re aware of) is where the voice in our head lives – 

but we can drive it anywhere we want to go!!

 

Learn to drive your brain! Meditate.

It’s fantastically liberating!

Blessings, Skip

p.s. you don’t want to be in Park; that’s going to come way too soon as it is!

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The Doctor Transferred HAL’s Brain and Consciousness Into a New Body!

Testimonial for The Digital Docs

My four-year old desktop computer, HAL started acting like an old dog last week: falling asleep; getting up less often; her sparkle was gone.

This is the part I hate: taking them to the vet for the last time.

I called Stephen Bach, the surgeon on call at the Digital Docs.

Stephen kindly spent more time than he billed me for trying to figure out what was draining the old girl’s energy – before she literally died in his arms. Thankfully, this time I wasn’t there.

Farewell HAL.💔 Hello HAL2!❤

The next day, like a stork the good doctor presented me with a virtual replica of HAL (though HAL2 is a little curvier: no muffin top).

The good doctor Frankenstein created a clone of HAL, transferring HAL’s brain and consciousness into a new body!

HAL has been reincarnated as HAL2!

Aside from the arm and leg Apple charged for the new hardware, no one could have made the transition easier, or the grieving process shorter.

Thank you Stephen.

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TAKE YOUR MIND OFFLINE

If you have a friend or neighbor who spends all day every day doing things for other people to the point that they’re not taking care of themselves (e.g., not eating, sleeping and/or exercising adequately – my mother comes to mind)…..

….with love, let them know that there’s a reason the stewardess tells us to put our own oxygen mask on first: so we can do a BETTER job serving others.

Take care of ALL of you, including your non-physical bits!

Learn to distinguish between your conscious and sub-conscious mind….

1  Conscious mind “thinks” – this aspect of our mind:

  • is evidenced by the voice in our head: words, typically of judgment or analysis;
  • functions like our heart and lungs: single, consecutive, constant beats, breaths, and thoughts;
  • has five operating “gears” or functions: 1,2,3, R & N [when we meditate, we’re looking for “Neutral” or observation-only mode]!

2  Sub-conscious mind “does” – this aspect of our mind:

  • “runs the ship” (i.e., controls physical movement: walking, talking, pooping, blood circulation, organ function, etc.) without our having to consciously think about doing those things;
  • stores our memories;
  • is typically taken for granted because we can’t “hear” it; rather, our sub-conscious mind is evidenced by actions, sensations, insights, instinct, and intuition.

……and between mind and consciousness.

 

3  Consciousness “is” – the awareness OF our thoughts (i.e., the witness: the “YOU” behind your thoughts) doesn’t “do” anything, nor can anything be “done” to it! For all intents and purposes, as long as your body/mind is sustained by energy, this aspect of you benignly “witnesses” it all – WITHOUT judgment (which is a product of our conscious mind).

Our deep, calm, quiet, still, underlying, non-judgmental consciousness is a source of indescribable bliss.

Tap into it!

Learn to drop beneath the static and noise (and the voice!) of your conscious mind – and experience a holistically restoring and energizing state of being – AT WILL!!

RECHARGE.  RESTORE.  REJUVENATE.

Take yourself offline! Meditate!

Blessings, Skip

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