Quote for the day

"The more intensely we feel about an idea or a goal, the more assuredly the idea, buried deep in our subconscious, will direct us along the path to its fulfillment." – Earl Nightingale

Dating from the Inside Outby Paulette Kouffman Sherman

If you’ve been single for a long time and yearning to meet someone, this short book is the perfect “how-to” book for changing your social life and finding a partner. Subtitled How to Use the Law of Attraction in Matters of the Heart, the book provides a step-by-step guide on what you must do in order to attract soul mates who are worthy of the person you choose to become. Lots of little light bulbs will go on as you see yourself reflected in these pages, and create the change that will usher in your lover and partner. Sherman is a licensed psychologist who runs a “dating school” in New York. 

You can find this book at www.Manifestbooks.com

Conscious Creation Tip

How Are You? 

Here’s one that I am often guilty of… 

When someone asks you “How are you?” many of us launch into an assessment of everything that’s wrong with our lives. We need to look at this differently. It’s really an invitation by the Universe to be in our positive, consciously-creating mindset, allowing us to pave the way for our future. So instead of launching your usual explanation, say, “Wonderful, never better! Life is treating me very well…” and so be it!      

Meditation for the Meditation Challenged – part 2

In the last newsletter, we began an overview of ways to adapt various meditation techniques to your own personal style, time constraints and enjoyment. Here is the second half of that article.

Mantras & Chants

Spoken-word meditation is the ideal solution for some who have difficulty releasing or calming their thoughts. Focusing on a word or phrase repeatedly, coupled with rhythmic breathing creates the vibration that draws in and anchors spirit, or creates a peaceful space for your soul to express itself.

Try some of these:

• “I am” phrases…I am love, I am joy, I am peace, I am a gift, I am healthy, I am beautiful, I am worthy, I am loved
• Breathing in and out one single word: “peace” for instance
• Repeating phrases of oneness: “I am That;That I am,” “God and me, me and God are One” 
• Recommended by authors Peter Cole and Daisy Reese: “I am always connected” (in breath); “Spirit guides my path” (outbreath)
• Chanting the sacred Sanskrit mantra “om”
• Chanting various other mantras considered powerful aids in manifesting dreams and engendering enlightenment: The Sanskrit chant Aum Namah Shivaya or the traditional Buddhist chants Nam Myoho Renge Kyo or Om Mani Padme Hum
• Do these chants while fingering sacred strings of beads 

Eyes Open/Focused Meditations

Where many meditators prefer to keep their eyes closed and shut out the outside world, others prefer a focused eyes-open approach. One of the goals of such a practice is to

join your essence with whatever it is that you are intensely gazing at. You will be merging and exchanging energy and creating the opening for spiritual inspiration.

Among these:

• Candle flame, which is the spark of life, purifying all things
• Flowers, which represent beauty and the female essence of the planet
• A picture or image of Buddha or Quan Yin, the goddess of compassion
• A crystal or sphere, which embodies certain properties for healing or growth
• Sacred designs that have special meaning to you, sacred geometry or perhaps mendalas
• A card drawn from a “divination” deck, which points the way for your spiritual expansion
• A photograph of someone who’s traits you aspire to attain

Sound Meditation

Audio inspiration is a nice addition for meditators. While silence is golden, sound can be a doorway to heightened awareness and elevated states of consciousness. Some meditators also prefer to listen to guided meditations as a way to relax and bring themselves to a fully present meditative state.

Here are some of the options for Sound Meditation:

•  Singing Bowls—The vibrational sounds of singing bowls are soul stirring and powerful
• Music—New Age, Healing and Spiritually Inspirational music is the perfect accompaniment to meditation, taking you deeper into a peaceful state
• Chants—Recorded chants from Buddhist and other enlightened cultures
• Drums—Sounds of Native American, Asian and other culture’s drumming circles can be a meditation aid for people who wishs to lose themselves in the beat
• Recorded Meditations—There is a wide variety of guided meditation CDs available on the market, many of a general nature, but others which are designed to help facilitate growth or healing in a specific area of one’s life
• Recordings to Change the Brain Rhythm and Consciousness Level—A growing number of companies are offering special meditative CD’s or downloads designed to change your brain wave pattern and take you deeper into altered states of consciousness. What might take you an hour to do on your own, these products can do in a few minutes, especially if played regularly. 

Visualization

As a Conscious Creator, you no doubt know the power of visualization for manifestation, but visual images can be used for many meditative purposes. To help open you to guidance, to purify, to imbue yourself with some desired trait or state of mind, or to relax.

Here some ways to practice visual meditation: 

• Sacred Scene—Imagine yourself in some beautiful natural place or a golden temple in the presence of God, guides and angels. Transport your mind and heart to a place of wisdom, grace and love.
• Chakra Clearing—Imagine each individual chakra, the beautiful vortexes of energy along your center meridian in their individual radiant colors (red/root chakra/your place in the world; orange/second chakra/sexuality, money, creativity; yellow/third chakra/self-esteem and emotions; green/heart chakra/love; blue/throat chakra/speaking your truth; indigo/third eye chakra/intuition, purple/crown chakra/your spiritual connection to Source). Carefully and intentionally clear each one of any blockages so that it can spin easily and efficiently to support your physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing.  
• Color—See yourself swathed in colorful energy emanating from the Universe in a pyramid of light, saturating every cell of your body. There are a number of books in our ManifestBooks.com inventory which provide guidance on the various colors. Here are the ones I use daily: golden light for empowering Source energy, a mix of sparkling silver and gold for manifestation, sparking pink for love, sparkling peach for joy, yellow for wisdom, green for health, blue for calmness and serenity, purple for spirituality.
• Love Meditation –To increase the love in your life, create a meditation where you are surrounded by love in all ways in all places from all sources. See yourself receiving love. Then also see yourself flowing that love to others.
• Meditation for Health—To improve your health or address a specific health consideration, imagine a little candle flame of spark of vibrant energy illuminating each and every cell that needs healing. Imagine yourself fully healed in all ways, doing the things that your perfect health affords you.

So let me close with two thoughts about meditation. One of the blessings of meditating is that you are letting go of the past and the future, and you are letting in the truth of NOW in this one peaceful moment. The other is a reminder offered by author Caroline Reynolds in her book Spiritual Fitness: “The important thing to remember is to meditate not with your mind, but with your heart.”

Quote for the day

“Self-confidence is a state of mind where you believe that you deserve the best, you are capable of achieving the best, and furthermore, you expect the best to happen.”—Dr. Barnet Meltzer

Book Review

Meditation for Beginners by Stephanie Clements

On the subject of meditation…If you think meditation comes in one brown wrapper, think again! This book has numerous ways to meditate and numerous applications for meditation to improve and enhance specific aspects of your life. I found this a very enlightening tool on making meditation a valuable way to discover the keys to focus, relaxation, securing Universal input, releasing fears, and habit change. Clement’s book is very practical and useful, especially if you’re having difficulty nailing down the concentration that meditation requires. 

You can find this book at www.Manifestbooks.com

Top 10 “Soul Foods” that Nourish the Soul

1. Standing up for your beliefs
2. Purpose
3. Creative self-expression
4. Spending time in nature
5. Communication and spending time with loved ones
6. Satisfying social and cultural activities
7. Laughing
8. Eating smart foods
9. Exercising
10. Meditation

 From Dr. Barnet Meltzer in his book The Best Kept Secrets of Permanent Weight Loss

Meditation for the Meditation Challenged

(The first of two parts) 

So you’ve tried meditating and you’re not sure you’re actually getting it right. You want to meditate for many reasons: you’ve learned that it is the best way to access your intuition, guidance and Universal wisdom; you’ve heard that meditating gives you a doorway to inner peace and tranquility; you’re aware of the studies that reveal the medical benefits of meditation—lower blood pressure, increased sense of wellbeing, faster healing. 

But meditating isn’t that easy. Sitting still for a long time, trying to close out those thoughts speeding across your mind, rhythmic deep breathing…do you visualize your future, do you listen for guidance? How is this supposed to work? 

The answer is that finding the right meditation practice is like finding a therapist. You have to try a few different ones till you find one that works for you.  So in the following content, I will offer you many different options from which to choose. I encourage you to try a variety until you have a growing sense of comfort—and you don’t have the annoying urge to just get it over with! 

I’ll begin with my two personal favorites. 

Sending and Receiving

As a Conscious Creator, you know that much of your power in creating your own reality is visualizing how you want your life to be. But if you have a limited time for meditation, say 30-40 minutes a day—how do you do both?  My solution has been to do a sending-receiving meditation. The first half of my meditation is when I send my desires to the Universe, visualizing with emotion the desire I wish to see manifested. The second half I commit to receiving, blanking my mind, putting out my “antenna” and allowing messages and guidance to come forth. I begin that process by asking God/The Universe what it wants me to know that day and then stay open to whatever comes through. 

Just Be

 Oftentimes we think there is a right way and a wrong way to do something. But the blessing of meditation is that we don’t have to do anything. We can just BE.  When you get quiet, simply eliminate any should or shouldn’ts. Release everything that binds you, worries you, demands of you. Just let your soul BE. It’s a profound sense of relaxation to not have to do anything. Breath in, breath out. Just BE. Be with yourself. Be with the oneness. Be with the source. Be at peace. Just BE.

Breathing

There are many, many versions of meditative breathing, but most recommend that you breathe deeply from your abdomen. Inhale and exhale to a steady rhythm. Some suggest breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth. The point is to focus on your breath so it becomes almost hypnotic and takes you away from any outside stimulus.

Here are some options:

• Breathe one beat in and one beat out
• Two beats in to four slow beats out
• Count up to 10 breaths and then reverse the count down to 1. Then Repeat. 
• Count to 100 and start over. Or count from 100 down.

Objective Observer

One way to release yourself of the tyranny of your thoughts is to make yourself an innocent bystander. As your thoughts float by, just notice them as if you were an observer and let them escape. Don’t judge. Don’t shoo them away. Just observe and refocus on your own inner place. 

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is the practice of focusing exclusive on what is going on in or around you. You become totally focused on what you are feeling physically or emotionally to the exclusion of everything else. You notice how your buttocks feels as it is pressed to the ground, where it has contact, if your muscles are tense or released, if it feels cushioned or pressed onto a hard surface. You become aware of what that part of you is experiencing internally and externally. Become aware of all sensations. This forces you to stay present. “All that is asked is that you bring compassionate attention to what you are experiencing, moment by moment,” says Dr. Jeffrey Brantley in his book Calming Your Anxious Mind.

Here are some mindfulness meditations:

• Begin at the top of your head and slowly become mindful of your scalp and how it feels. Then deliberately take individual segments of your body and do the same, slowing moving down your frame until the tips of your toes.
• Do this same mindfulness meditation while walking.
• Scan your body for emotional blocks or constrictions. Wherever your feel constricted ask what it is about.  Then encourage your body to begin releasing the emotion. Scan again to see if it is now feeling more open. Do this until you can feel the energy flow cleanly everywhere.
• Breathe mindfully. Become aware of the breath coming in, going down your body, expanding your lungs and pressing against your belly. Feel it come back up slowly and feel it rise up through your mouth
• Sit quietly in nature and become aware of every sound, every color, every movement, every element—taking each one at a time. Allow yourself to feel you are a part of this natural world.

To Be Continued…

Do you have a shining star in your life? Someone who always brightens your day, embues you with hope, inspires you, provides comfort for you, can always be counted upon, never fails to tell you the truth, and offers their love unconditionally? I am so fortunate to have a whole constellation!—my officemate and associate Rita, my close girlfriends, a number of men who offer me their support and friendship…. Your shining stars may not always be your closest friends, relatives or lovers. Look around…you may even discover a few indispensable supporters in some very unexpected places in your life – venders who always give you a “special discount” just because they care about you, your local librarian who always has a cheerful word, your neighbor who looks after your cat… Your shining stars are a true gift and yet sometimes we take them for granted. This is just a reminder that when you look into the beautiful summer night sky, you should also recall that there are earth-bound stars that are equally awesome–and deserve your praise, love and gratitude. They each gift you with a tiny bit of their heart. So do make sure to make a phone call, deliver a hug, give a gift, say thanks or surprise your shining stars with a bit of YOUR LIGHT! Keep our world shining bright with a glimmer of love.

Quote

“Whoever is happy will make others happy, too”—Mark Twain