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Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Mindfulness and Ego

*note* nice site I've found...about mindfulness and ego.  http://www.meditationerfan.com/Page_1.html
-added by danny-
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Remember to be in Present Moment
My dear children, if this is the last day of my life and there is only one thing I had to say to you as the most important message, do you know what that would be?
  • To be in the present moment. Being here and now, here and now, here and now, here and now………………….
  • Because your essence can be felt only here and now. Your true self could be discovered at here and now.

  • All of our Self realizations, meditations, etc, would have no important effect if we allow our mind to run the show again. I had the experience of divinity through meditation; however, when I come out of that peace and tenderness, I would identify myself again with my mind. I thought “I am my mind” that during meditation, I will connect the “Inner divine of mine”. My true awakening happened that I realized that I am that peace. I am that joy that I am connecting to. Once I realized it, I tried to remember it at all the time. I try to practice to remember that silent awareness that I am and let it function through me without the interference of my mind .
  • We need to learn how to use our mind properly. Now a days, we are not using our mind, it is using us. The true boss is not the mind in the body but our true inner core. Our inner self. Our inner silence. Our inner awareness. Our Mind needs to be the servant of our inner self and not the boss.
  • Our mind is like a little puppy who is looking for a little bone to chew on all the time. This means that our mind is looking for a Problem, an Issue. At the present moment, the mind does not exist and this is death to our mind.

  • Here are some of the characteristics of the human mind. See if you have any of these habits, and if you do, please catch yourself there and be aware that your mind "ego” is in charge:

1. It is looking for problem , Issues, mistakes, misconducts, flaws.
2. It does not accept the present moment . Something is always short, or wrong and not enough and not pleasant at this moment. It wants to escape it as much as it can by going to the past and searching for our mistakes and harping on it and be regretful about it and judge it or to go to a unknown fantasy of the future to have a better life and fix our those pains and issues of the past. Because of that, it does not let us to enjoy the present moment that is given to us with all reality and joy built in it.
3. This future never shows up because we are always at the present moment. We need to learn how to enjoy the moment just the way it is at this moment and now. It is what it is. Leave the life alone. Accept the moment the way it is and imagine this is exactly what your soul asked and designed it. This is exactly what you asked for. When we say accepting, that does not mean accept any wrong doing or malfunction in the life just the way it is. For example as driving if your car falls into a huge puddle and your are stuck, you would not say oh well I will accept it and will not take any action. At that time the acceptance means “No judgment”. Do not allow your mind to take charge to judge the incident. No thinking and judging whatsoever. Accept what happened totally. Then when there is no judgment, the right solution will come from within spontaneously. You don’t know how it came but our conscious will be in charge and show us the way rather than our imperfect chattering and judging mind. So just Accept then Take Action. Accept, Take Action. Accept, Take action.
4. It is not enough . The house is not big enough, the money is not enough, the title is not enough etc. The knowledge is not enough.
5. More, More, I need more ….. More money, more vacation, more everything
6. Mind likes separation, I am separate than the universe due to survival mechanism in the mine. Due to the concept of survival, our mind sees nature as an enemy and it needs to fight against it to survive. It also sees others as separated entities and it needs to fight them to succeed.
7. Mind wants to compete . It wants to beat others in everything to feel better. Temporarily, it will get satisfaction due to being better and bigger and wealthier than others; however, deep down since separation is not our nature, it will get isolated and sad.
8. Mind is into “What if”. What if I lose my job? What if my parents die? And so on.
9. Waiting is the characteristic of mind. Waiting for a better job, or a vacation or better future. True life is here and now.
10. Where is the enemy? Mind everyday is looking for the enemy. Who it my new enemy today? This is again due to illusion of separation.
11. The Mind is looking to prove others to be wrong to feel bigger and better even though as a temporary basis.
12. The Mind is looking for approvals from others. When people approve him, he is blown up and happy, when the people criticize him, he will shrink and unhappy. His happiness depends upon other peoples approval.
13. Mind tries to show us the way to be happy. Our mind tells us to find happiness outside of ourselves. The mind tells us that we need to identify with our culture, family, material belongings, our title and power etc. The minds sees these as our source of identity and happiness and since we learn to know ourselves and find our identity in them, we always feel threatened, fearful, anxious, not in peace and insecure. Because anything manifested outside is constantly changing and if we are identified with them, we are always if fear of losing them or not to achieve what we want it future. Our belongings are always changing. (We are not our belongings).
14. Same thing with our physical body. If we think that we are just this body and mind, by getting old, the body gets older and weaker. If we identify ourselves only with the physical body, we will get obsessed with our look and aging would be disaster for us. As we see some movie stars who get into deep depression or even suicide, since they can not tolerate the pain and fear of being old. Meditation will show us clearly that our true self is within this body which functions as a temple. Our True self never gets old and never dies. (We are not this body.)
15. Since our mind is in charge of all these in our life, we falsely identify ourselves with our mind. We think we are our mind and all the thoughts that are going through it. Whereas when we meditate we will realize that although our mind stops, but our true authentic self and consciousness is still there.
16. The Mind needs this consciousness to survive; however, consciousness does not need the mind to survive. (We are not this mind.)
17. Due to our chattering mind and 60,000 thoughts that on average comes to our mind per day, we will have different emotions. Good feelings due to positive thoughts, and bad feeling due to negative thoughts. So our feelings at any moment is also subject to the kind of thinking that we had at the moment. So our feelings also changes and is not part of us either. (We are not our emotions.)
18. Our mind likes to go back to our past and make stories from the past. These stories could be very sad and some of them big tragedies; however, they happed to us so we could grow form them and learn our lesson and move on. They did happened to help us grow spiritually and discover our authentic self. They are not made for us to cling to them and identify ourselves with them. They are past. They are gone. They do not exist at this time. Anything that is not exist at all the time and cannot reproduce is not part or us. (We are not our history).
19. The Mind can not show us how to live. To live and feel life, no mind is needed. To discover the inner joy and peace which is our true essence, no mind is needed.
20. Being in the present moment and living at this moment and now, will teach us that our identification is this pure silent watcher who is a witness and acts spontaneously when it is needed here and now. No previous knowledge is needed. Especially at the time of danger, we notice that mind totally stops since mind functions based on the previous data and knowledge that has been accumulated. And since the danger that we are facing at this time was not predictable and part of the mind’s database, mind would stop and our True self will be in action and always the best choice and outcome will come out of this.
21. We need to be at the present moment and be very alert. When we are aware and here and now, we can handle anything that come on our way intelligently and easily. We will respond much better and faster at the time of danger. Whereas if our energy is sucked into our chattering mind and thoughts, at the time of respond in a dangerous situation, we may not be able to respond properly since the mind was occupied.
22. Living in the mind will bring us horizontally to the past and future. The direction of our energy is horizontal and is constantly using all the life energy to light what it was in the past or projecting something in the future. Being at the present moment moves the energy from Horizontal to Vertical. The line of energy will flow in us Vertically. This is a divine energy which will be in action for us when we need it. It will talk, walk, act through us with ease and in peace.
23. The Mind is constantly craving. Wanting things. Not necessarily things that we truly need. The mind thinks that the more it craves, the happier it gets; however, since achieving all those wants become very challenging and difficult, the mind starts contracting painful feeling in the body. We need to be aware of these cravings at all times to see they are real fundamental needs such as air to breath, food to eat, shelter to live, close to wear etc, or some unnecessary cravings such as having this expensive. piece of jewelry and wishing to bring us true happiness. Or having these designer clothes or shoes or expensive car etc.In this regards, Rumi says, Whatever you think will bring you happiness, “that” thing is actually your pain. So we need to relinquish our needs towards those useless things.
***Remember: The human's misery is in the mind. No mind no misery. ***
***Remember: Pleasure or pain are created by the mind. Our true essence is Joy. We forget our True Self (Silent watcher, awareness) and imagine the physical body or the mind to be the Self. This is a false identity that gives rise to misery.***
***Remember: Reality(awareness) lies beyond our mind. As long as mind is chattering, there is duality(perception of separation and division). Once the mind is absent (quiet), Reality(awareness) and Oneness will shine forth. ***