Nov 11, 2009
Aligning Beliefs and values for personal growth
Many people struggle to find success in life. Have you ever read a self-help book, and say these are great concepts, but you have no idea how to apply them? If so, you probably have values that agree with what the book says. However, you may have limiting beliefs that contradict those values. One of the keys to personal growth is learning how to align our beliefs and our values. They are the lense through which we see the world. Lets us explore the difference between beliefs and values. Learn to see how they shape our views of the world around us.
Know Your Values
Values are the core principles which you believe to be right and wrong. Most of the values you develop during childhood will guide you through the rest of your life. Honesty, integrity, generosity, respect for others, and faith are all examples of values you hold. How you see these and what they mean to you will determine how you behave and judge the behavior of others. They are usually very logical and directly taught to you by elders, teachers, or parents.
There are many ways to find your values. The best method I have found is to write your own eulegy. Say you were to die in 5 years. Write out the eulegy you would like to have written about you. What would it say about your honesty, character, and how you treated others. What would it say about the way you were with money, and friendships. This can take some time and several rewrites to get what you want it to say. Once you are done you can see what it is you value and how you want to express them in your life.
Understanding Beliefs
Beliefs are the subconscious ideas you have about how the world works. Many of the beliefs you have were formed during late childhood and into early adulthood. Once you can find your beliefs, you can change them to fit with your values. Beliefs are much harder to track because they are usually subconcious. You never really think about why you believe them, you just do. Most limiting beliefs are created during a crisis. Beliefs are usually more emotional than logical.Fear is a result of negative beliefs that cause you to avoid certain situations.
One method I have found to map out beliefs is to pay attention to all the choices you make during a day. You will find that many of these choices have no logical reasoning behind them. THey simply are what you do. Try going back in your mind and seeing why you made these choices. write down what you find in a journal.
Changing your beliefs to match your values
Any negative beliefs you have can be changed over time. You can change your beliefs by repeating positive affirmations that are in alignment with your values.
Spend some time in relaxing meditation. Meditation will help relax your mind. It can also help you bring your subconscious mind into consciousness.By meditating on your limiting beliefs, you can replace the old negative ones with new ones which reflect your values.
If you Have a specific limiting belief, the next time you are faced with a choice in that area, remember your values and try to choose to react in a way consistent with those values, rather than reacting out of fear. This can take some practice, but keep trying and you will succeed.
Nov 10, 2009
Energy Meditation For Spiritual Awareness
Energy meditation for beginners
Now that you have become comfortable with the relaxation, we can begin learning to energize yourself through meditation. There are many different ways of using energy meditation for personal healing and growth. You need to begin by learning how to build energy through your meditation practice. Then you can begin learning how to direct that energy and use it to heal yourself.
Energy building will use a combination of meditation and visualization. Visualization is a practice used by many spiritual beliefs to bring
Building Energy
Start your meditation by with the relaxation meditation. Once you are relaxed and your mind is clear, focus on your heartbeat. Feel your heart beating. Feel your pulse as it flows through your body. Focus on that feeling for a few minutes. This will help you to become centered. Now Visualize a white light coming into your body with every breath you breathe in.
Feel the positive energy coming in as you breathe in. As you exhale, visualize a dark cloud flowing out of you. Let all the negative energy in your body flow out with that dark cloud. Let it take all your fear, anger, and jealousy with it. Let all the tension left in your body flow out with that negative energy.
As you let the white light fill your body, feel it choking out any negative feelings you have. Let it fill you up with peace and love. Feel It building in your legs, up your thighs, and through your groin. Continue breathing and allow it to move up your torso. Let it fill your heart and up your chest.
Feel it flowing through your arms and hands. Let it flow up your shoulders and into your neck. As you continue breathing, allow this energy to fill your head, all the way up to your crown. Now allow this energy to over flow out your crown. Visualize and feel it flowing around your body like a robe. See it enveloping your entire body.
Now hold that for a few minutes as you continue breathing. Allow yourself to float in the energy. Feel yourself getting lighter. Allow your body to completely relax if it is not already. Enjoy the feel of the loving energy.
After a few minutes, allow the energy to lessen. Feel yourself coming back into wakefulness. Allow your eyes to open, and feel refreshed and renewed.
Be comfortable with yourself
Spend a few days or weeks practicing this technique. You need to be comfortable with this before you go any further with your meditations. At this point, if you have not found a teacher, or mentor, I strongly suggest you find one. In order to begin any of the higher meditations, you will need someone who has learned how to monitor your progress with your meditations. The reason why is you are starting to get towards parts that can cause yourself some harm if you do them incorrectly. Having someone to monitor your progress and help you correct your mistakes will help you stay safe and not get hurt.
Now that you have become comfortable with the relaxation, we can begin learning to energize yourself through meditation. There are many different ways of using energy meditation for personal healing and growth. You need to begin by learning how to build energy through your meditation practice. Then you can begin learning how to direct that energy and use it to heal yourself.
Energy building will use a combination of meditation and visualization. Visualization is a practice used by many spiritual beliefs to bring
Building Energy
Start your meditation by with the relaxation meditation. Once you are relaxed and your mind is clear, focus on your heartbeat. Feel your heart beating. Feel your pulse as it flows through your body. Focus on that feeling for a few minutes. This will help you to become centered. Now Visualize a white light coming into your body with every breath you breathe in.
Feel the positive energy coming in as you breathe in. As you exhale, visualize a dark cloud flowing out of you. Let all the negative energy in your body flow out with that dark cloud. Let it take all your fear, anger, and jealousy with it. Let all the tension left in your body flow out with that negative energy.
As you let the white light fill your body, feel it choking out any negative feelings you have. Let it fill you up with peace and love. Feel It building in your legs, up your thighs, and through your groin. Continue breathing and allow it to move up your torso. Let it fill your heart and up your chest.
Feel it flowing through your arms and hands. Let it flow up your shoulders and into your neck. As you continue breathing, allow this energy to fill your head, all the way up to your crown. Now allow this energy to over flow out your crown. Visualize and feel it flowing around your body like a robe. See it enveloping your entire body.
Now hold that for a few minutes as you continue breathing. Allow yourself to float in the energy. Feel yourself getting lighter. Allow your body to completely relax if it is not already. Enjoy the feel of the loving energy.
After a few minutes, allow the energy to lessen. Feel yourself coming back into wakefulness. Allow your eyes to open, and feel refreshed and renewed.
Be comfortable with yourself
Spend a few days or weeks practicing this technique. You need to be comfortable with this before you go any further with your meditations. At this point, if you have not found a teacher, or mentor, I strongly suggest you find one. In order to begin any of the higher meditations, you will need someone who has learned how to monitor your progress with your meditations. The reason why is you are starting to get towards parts that can cause yourself some harm if you do them incorrectly. Having someone to monitor your progress and help you correct your mistakes will help you stay safe and not get hurt.
Nov 9, 2009
How to Meditate for Beginners
Meditation for personal growth
One of the best things you can do to start healing is to begin meditation. Learning how to meditate for beginners will take time to get used to. Many people become scared of meditation, but it is not that hard to get started. Meditation is simply a way of clearing your mind, and connecting with your subconscious. There are many different forms of meditation, and I recommend you try different styles to find which one works for you.
A Simple Meditation for Beginners
To begin meditation, start with a simple practice to clear your mind. Clear yourself of all distractions. Find yourself a quiet place. Turn off the television, phone and any other distractions. Make sure your family and friends know not to disturb you during your meditation time.
You need to pay attention to your posture, but be in a comfortable position. You can sit in a comfortable chair, on the floor with your back against a wall, or lie down flat on your back.
Begin by focusing on your breathing. Breath in through your nose, hold it for a few seconds, then out through the mouth. Hold after the breath is fully released for a few seconds, then repeat the process. In through the nose, hold, out through the mouth, hold, and repeat. Do this for several minutes.
As you breathe out, feel the tension flowing out of your body with your breath. Start at the top of your head. Relax as you breathe out. Close your eyes and let them relax. Feel the tension leave your eyes. Continue down to your neck. Once again, feel the tension leave as you breathe out. Relax your shoulders, down your back, and your arms and hands. Feel the relaxation move down your waist, hips, and thighs, feel it drain out through your legs and feet.
Now you want to let all thought leave your mind. Focus on nothing but your breathing. When you are starting out, this will take some time to get used to. Do not be hard on yourself. When I started this practice, it took almost 3 months until I could let go. And I was practicing every day.
Just relax your mind, and allow the thoughts to go away. Keep focusing on your breathing. Hold this for several minutes. Slowly allow yourself to center on your heartbeat. Focus on the beat of your heart for several minutes. By now, your breathing should be more natural. Just allow yourself to be.
Now allow yourself to start coming back to full wakefulness. Open your eyes slowly. Continue breathing and stretch for a few minutes, stretch your arms up bringing your hands together over your head. Stretch-out as far forward as you can, comfortably. Do not go so far that it hurts. This is a stretch and it should not be painful. Slowly get up and feel refreshed and relaxed.
Get Started Today
This is a simple relaxation meditation that I use myself. It is a good place to start. When you first begin, spend about 10-15 minutes working on it. I recommend doing it at least 3 times a week, and preferably every day. As you get more comfortable with your meditations, you will find that you are spending more time and it will last longer. Once you have mastered this relaxation you can begin looking at other forms of meditation.
Learning how to meditate for beginners can be difficult. It takes patience and commitment. Focus on your progress, and what you have achieved. The worst thing you can do is focus on the mistakes instead of the progress. Focusing on the negative will demotivate you more than anything.
One of the best things you can do to start healing is to begin meditation. Learning how to meditate for beginners will take time to get used to. Many people become scared of meditation, but it is not that hard to get started. Meditation is simply a way of clearing your mind, and connecting with your subconscious. There are many different forms of meditation, and I recommend you try different styles to find which one works for you.
A Simple Meditation for Beginners
To begin meditation, start with a simple practice to clear your mind. Clear yourself of all distractions. Find yourself a quiet place. Turn off the television, phone and any other distractions. Make sure your family and friends know not to disturb you during your meditation time.
You need to pay attention to your posture, but be in a comfortable position. You can sit in a comfortable chair, on the floor with your back against a wall, or lie down flat on your back.
Begin by focusing on your breathing. Breath in through your nose, hold it for a few seconds, then out through the mouth. Hold after the breath is fully released for a few seconds, then repeat the process. In through the nose, hold, out through the mouth, hold, and repeat. Do this for several minutes.
As you breathe out, feel the tension flowing out of your body with your breath. Start at the top of your head. Relax as you breathe out. Close your eyes and let them relax. Feel the tension leave your eyes. Continue down to your neck. Once again, feel the tension leave as you breathe out. Relax your shoulders, down your back, and your arms and hands. Feel the relaxation move down your waist, hips, and thighs, feel it drain out through your legs and feet.
Now you want to let all thought leave your mind. Focus on nothing but your breathing. When you are starting out, this will take some time to get used to. Do not be hard on yourself. When I started this practice, it took almost 3 months until I could let go. And I was practicing every day.
Just relax your mind, and allow the thoughts to go away. Keep focusing on your breathing. Hold this for several minutes. Slowly allow yourself to center on your heartbeat. Focus on the beat of your heart for several minutes. By now, your breathing should be more natural. Just allow yourself to be.
Now allow yourself to start coming back to full wakefulness. Open your eyes slowly. Continue breathing and stretch for a few minutes, stretch your arms up bringing your hands together over your head. Stretch-out as far forward as you can, comfortably. Do not go so far that it hurts. This is a stretch and it should not be painful. Slowly get up and feel refreshed and relaxed.
Get Started Today
This is a simple relaxation meditation that I use myself. It is a good place to start. When you first begin, spend about 10-15 minutes working on it. I recommend doing it at least 3 times a week, and preferably every day. As you get more comfortable with your meditations, you will find that you are spending more time and it will last longer. Once you have mastered this relaxation you can begin looking at other forms of meditation.
Learning how to meditate for beginners can be difficult. It takes patience and commitment. Focus on your progress, and what you have achieved. The worst thing you can do is focus on the mistakes instead of the progress. Focusing on the negative will demotivate you more than anything.
Nov 8, 2009
The difference between spirituality and religion
There is a major difference between spirituality and religion. Spirituality is your personal relationship with your creator. Religion is a man made form of worship. My biggest problem with religion is that many religious leaders try to teach that their way of teaching is the only way. Just because someone calls their creator by a different name than I do, it does not mean they are talking to someone else. They simply have a different understanding of the creator than I do.
You can be a religious person, and follow all the physical proscriptions of a given faith, yet still have no personal relationship with your creator. On the other hand, you can have a very good close personal relationship with your creator without being a part of any organized group or form of worship.
Prayer and Meditation
Payer can be one of the most healing things we do. However many religions only teach one side of prayer. That is the part where you sit and tell your creator what you want from them. However, do you ever take the time to quiet yourself, and listen to what your creator wants from you? This would be the second part of prayer. It can be achieved through simple meditation, as well as by simply being still and listening to your inner self.
Meditation is the practice of clearing your mind and listening. There are many types of meditation that you can practice. You can do a meditation to simply clear your mind. You can meditate on a certain mantra or thought, or you can allow yourself to drift, not forcing a clear mind, but allowing your thoughts to flow. I practice all 3 types depending on the situation.
When you use the two together, you are able to develop a close, personal relationship with your creator. You will find that many of the things that trouble you will fall away.
You can be a religious person, and follow all the physical proscriptions of a given faith, yet still have no personal relationship with your creator. On the other hand, you can have a very good close personal relationship with your creator without being a part of any organized group or form of worship.
Prayer and Meditation
Payer can be one of the most healing things we do. However many religions only teach one side of prayer. That is the part where you sit and tell your creator what you want from them. However, do you ever take the time to quiet yourself, and listen to what your creator wants from you? This would be the second part of prayer. It can be achieved through simple meditation, as well as by simply being still and listening to your inner self.
Meditation is the practice of clearing your mind and listening. There are many types of meditation that you can practice. You can do a meditation to simply clear your mind. You can meditate on a certain mantra or thought, or you can allow yourself to drift, not forcing a clear mind, but allowing your thoughts to flow. I practice all 3 types depending on the situation.
When you use the two together, you are able to develop a close, personal relationship with your creator. You will find that many of the things that trouble you will fall away.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
Posts
