“Real peace and happiness can be experienced only when the pendulum of the mind stops swinging altogether. From that stillness, real peace and bliss ensue. This state of perfect stillness is verily the essence of life.”
-Mata Amritatnandamayi

Many of us struggle against unhappiness because unhappiness is uncomfortable. 

​Our minds tell us that if we can just do enough, be enough, have enough, then we will be happy. We constantly struggle to attain more of what we think we need, yet as Wayne Dyer says, “You can never get enough of what you don’t want.”

What this means is, what we think we want is not necessarily what we need for true happiness. The new car, new house, new romance, new job, new hobby, new exercise program, may feel good for a time, but no matter how many activities we do or how many things we have, it is never enough to create lasting happiness.

In our struggle to feel happy we energize the momentum of the pendulum in our minds. The pendulum swings back and forth from happiness to unhappiness, day by day, minute by minute. The seeking and struggle keep it in constant motion.

The Indian saint and great spiritual teacher, Mata Amritatnandamayi (Amma) speaks of stilling the pendulum of our mind. How do we attain the peace and bliss within that stillness?

We attain the stillness by wanting it, wanting it so much that we are willing to release the struggle against unhappiness. To do that we must also release the struggle for happiness.

What? Release the struggle for happiness?

Yes. The keyword here is ‘struggle.’ Release the struggle.

 “When something really, really, really matters to you, let it go! Say to the Universe: ‘You know what I want.’ Give it to me in the path of least resistance…”
- Abraham Hicks

The stillness lives deep underneath like the depths of the vast ocean. The waves and troughs of highs and lows roil about on the surface. As long as you stay at the surface trying to ride the highs of the waves, you are inevitably carried down into the troughs as well. Think of a surfer catching a wave at the top and riding from the height of the wave down to its bottom, only to have to return again to catch the next wave and ride it top to bottom. Over and over again the surfer rides top to bottom. When we constantly seek happiness, we inevitably ride the waves, top to bottom and back again.

While there is fun and excitement in riding the waves in the ocean, riding the waves of our emotions is a constant struggle to get back up to the top of the wave.  We try to fix unhappiness by having more, doing more, being more. We try to ensure happiness by struggling against unhappiness. We are constantly riding the waves of our emotions in an attempt to control what we cannot control.  

It is only in the depths where the stillness may be found. It is in the release of the struggle to keep our heads above emotional waters that we may encounter true peace.

When I was a child, I spent summers in a lake cottage with my grandparents. There we spent many hours each day swimming in the lake. My favorite thing was to be underwater. I would find a heavy rock and use it as a weight. Resting the rock in my lap, I could sit on the sand at the bottom. There I would feel the pressure of the ringing silence in my ears, surrounding me. It was so still and peaceful. It felt deeply restful.

As a child I understood the silence. As an adult I find I have to relearn the art of allowing myself the silence of my soul.

Are you allowing yourself the silence of your soul?

“Are you practicing the art of allowing or the art of disallowing? Are you practicing the art of allowing yourself to be in sync with who-you-really-are; the art of allowing yourself to be the true extension of Source Energy? That is who you were born to be.”
-Abraham-Hicks

“You must forgive those who hurt you, even if whatever they did to you is unforgivable in your mind. You will forgive them not because they deserve to be forgiven, but because you don’t want to suffer and hurt yourself every time you remember what they did to you. It doesn’t matter what others did to you, you are going to forgive them because you don’t want to feel sick all the time. Forgiveness is for your own mental healing. You will forgive because you feel compassion for yourself. Forgiveness is an act of self-love.”

- Don Miguel Ruiz, The Mastery of Love- A Toltec Wisdom Book

Forgiveness is a gift, not just for those you forgive but for yourself. When you feel continuing anger, hatred, fear or any negative emotion for another person, even when it feels justified, it ties you to that person. It creates an energetic cord that binds you together, rather like a sticky, energetic web running from your solar plexus to theirs. The longer you have felt this way, the more negative thoughts you have thought about this person, the more energy you have invested in those negative feelings, the thicker and stronger the web, the more firmly you are bound to this person. What’s more, the cord stretching between you feeds that negativity right back to you.

Who wants that? Wouldn’t you rather be free of all that negativity? Gift yourself with forgiveness. In today’s Spiritual Toolbox is a simple visualization that can support you to free yourself through forgiveness.

If the negativity you have felt is deep-seated, meaning the negative thoughts keep returning and reattaching the cord, you may need additional support. Negative thought pathways can be more like highways than paths, if so, you may choose to bring in additional tools to support you in the forgiveness process.*

There are many available on-line if you search on “Tools for Forgiveness.” Also, check out our Resources page for the technique of Faster EFT-V, which can support you to release negative emotions and allow the process of forgiveness.

"Love is not a quantity it is a flow. When you allow love to flow through you, you are then in a place of love for self, then the choices you make are with compassion for yourself and what you create outside of yourself.  There is no need to do the push/pull. It doesn’t become a trade. There are no disappointments. When we are truly in a place of love and forgiveness we are in a continuous energy spiraling and evolving upward."

-Red Feather


​*We want to remind you to seek out professional support if your emotions feel too much to handle on your own.  

​Photo by Kira auf der Heide on Unsplash

“Make the NOW the primary focus of your life.”
Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

Meditation is about getting to know that quiet place inside you, and allowing it to expand more and more in your life. It is about fully focusing in this present moment of here and now and resting in that stillness within.

Is meditation difficult to do? It can be, at least for me. I’ve done the twenty minute meditations, the hour-long meditations, the three hour meditations. I admire those who are able to do this on a regular basis, and know there is great benefit to be gained. Yet I find it easier to attain and maintain that quiet, present moment place inside myself in active ways.

Almost anything you do can become a form of meditation if your focus is one-pointed. That means your attention is fully focused upon what you are doing. For example, you are washing the dishes. You focus your attention upon the feel of the warm water and the slipperiness of soap on slick surfaces, but your mind drifts and thoughts of yesterday’s events intrude. You take a deep breath, let those thoughts go on the out-breath and refocus your attention upon the feel of the dish in your hand, the warmth of the water and swishy, soap bubbles. You keep yourself focused in this way throughout the clean-up, always bringing your thoughts back into the here and now when they wander.

My experience has been that it is easier to keep my active mind focused when I am physically engaged in an activity. When my hands, body, eyes, ears, and nose are busy interacting with the present moment it gives me a one-pointed focus for my attention, here and now. It gives me a specific place to return my attention to.

Can washing dishes be spiritual practice? You bet. What we are talking about here is a form of the Buddhist concept of Mindfulness.

​There are numerous resources available on-line if you are interested in pursuing this topic. You can easily find them by searching on Buddhism and Mindfulness. A great place to start is with the website, Lion’s Roar, Buddhist Wisdom for Our Time.


Photo by Catt Liu on Unsplash

"My Love, leave behind all this fruitless thinking and come lay down here in the silence of Being."
​-Mooji Baba

As I sat outside on the back patio, my early morning mug of tea warming my hands, breathing and attempting to listen for God, my thoughts wandered down well-trod pathways.

The usual question came unbidden to my mind, “What is it that I need to get done today?” Images of weeds in the garden, unplanted daffodil bulbs, messy bathrooms, and my young, yellow Labrador needing exercise, wafted through my mind’s eye.

I felt resistance, not yet ready to leap into the tasks I had assigned myself for the day.  

Resting my hands holding the mug on my lap I leaned my head against the back of the mesh outdoor chair, my gaze wandering up into the branches of the oak tree above me. Black and white Chickadees and gray Titmice flitted from branch to branch, calling softly as the sky peaked through blue in the background. A breeze tickled the leaves and they responded with rustling laughter. I sank down inward feeling a sense of contentment.

A new question arose, “What is it that I need to BE today?” 
​

Photo by Nick Bolton on Unsplash