happiness Archives – Page 10 of 15

Time: why keeping an eye on the clock shortens your life

May 6, 2017 by Andrew Marshall Leave a Comment

Time is a bit of a bugbear, isn’t it? There is either not enough of it or it passes too slowly. Time rules our lives – something has to be done by a particular date or a certain hour. We go about life with one eye on the clock or our watch, or perhaps more these days on our phone. Does this near-obsession improve our quality of life? Of course it doesn’t, and in fact it leaches the quality right out of it.

But surely we need time to organise our lives?

It would be very naive to suggest we could live without time altogether. Once, people lived according to natural rhythms and cycles, as animals and plants do. But modern society has to organise itself, so calendars, schedules, clocks and appointments will probably always be with us. Unfortunately, they can also put us under pressure and it is that – our attitude to the passing minutes, hours and days – that is the problem.

The more we do, and the faster we do it, the less happy we are

Quality of life is not about having or doing more but about satisfaction and fulfilment. The more deeply we experience life, the more fulfilling it is. We may get a temporary buzz from the achievement of doing a lot of things in a short space of time, but in terms of consciousness, it is very shallow.

Do I allow myself time to appreciate drinking a cup of tea or do I take quick sips from my mug while doing something else? Time management might suggest the latter is more efficient, and that may well be our habit. But in doing two or more things at once, we lose the precious gift that those moments are offering us. Instead of gaining, we literally rob ourselves of time.

Take a step back – out of time

Our natural state of consciousness is free and rather like space without any boundaries. It is beyond all concepts, including time. It is simply presence.

Consciousness is like a screen onto which the appearances of daily life, together with our thoughts and emotions, are all projected like a film show or a movie. When we get drawn into them, as we usually do, the concept of time appears. But with presence, time stands still. Fully conscious, we step out of time.

So if I’m fully present, I’ll live longer? Maybe, but that isn’t the point

It is generally recognised that high levels of stress can reduce life expectancy. When we live with full awareness, our stress levels drop immensely. That may or may not affect the length of life in the conventional sense. Quality of life will improve immensely, though.

But should we consider our lifespan anyway? As soon as we think in terms of “how long will I live?”, we have lost our presence. Let’s face it, there are just too many other factors, such as general health, the quality of the air we breathe and so on.

With full awareness, there is no concept of long or short. Lifespan ceases to matter. We simply are. Life just is, and life is full. No matter what, we are free. Unless we keep our eye on the clock, that is.

Thanks for reading this. This subject is explored in greater depth in my book The Art of Not Doing

Pollution: why the real danger is in our own minds

April 23, 2017 by Andrew Marshall Leave a Comment

Pollution is always high on the agenda, and quite rightly so. The planet as we know it is in great danger. But the source of the pollution isn’t in the physical. It lies in the mind or the collective consciousness of humanity. As a race, we have allowed it to happen. We all know this but so far have failed to generate sufficient willpower to reverse it. The problem of pollution, and its solution, lies in the mind. That’s even closer to home than your own wheelie bin.

Like pollution, there is more to the mind than you think

If we ever try to examine the nature of our mind, we will probably find that there is no single thing we can actually identify as mind. Instead, there is a collection of interacting and interdependent faculties or components.

The mindstream

The most apparent and obvious aspect is the chattering of thoughts that we experience almost incessantly. One thought yields another and it is difficult to say when one thought ends and another begins. A better description might be that we have streams of thinking and a rather apt term used in some Eastern teachings is mindstream. As we shall see, this is susceptible to pollution.

We don’t change our minds – the mind is constantly changing

Our mindstreams are constantly changing, being influenced by the mindstreams of others. If we are influenced by something we read or hear, it is an effect of the mindstream of the writer or speaker. In turn, he or she will have been influenced. If we look deeply enough, we will find that there is no beginning and no end to these thought processes. At every stage, too, there is the possibility of pollution.

Choice and responsibility

Just as a stream of water collects minerals, debris and pollutants on its journey, our mindstreams also pick up thoughts, ideas and beliefs as we go through life. Unlike water, we have some choice in what we expose ourselves to, and how much.

The amount of information that is available these days is frightening. We need to be choosy and, the less rubbish in our minds, the better we will feel about ourselves and others. We will be less likely to pollute the mindstreams of others with our own detritus and, who knows, may even inspire with our positivity!

Adapted extract from the book The Art of Not Doing

Bliss: why it is good for health, as well as your mind

April 8, 2017 by Andrew Marshall Leave a Comment

Bliss is one of those words that hasn’t stood the test of time very well. It has become lost in airy-fairy phrases that convey little meaning. A marriage may be very happy, for instance, but to speak of wedded bliss is usually an expression for a state that has little to do with the phenomenon of body and mind. So we tend not to use the term bliss very much. I think perhaps we should.

Bliss can occur naturally in body as well as mind

Bliss occurs when the energy of the body reaches a certain pitch and vibrates through the nervous system. There has to be an alignment of sorts. Everything is in tune. In effect, the body is singing. It becomes melodious. The very cells of our body vibrate happiness. It can be an extraordinary sensation, yet it feels the most natural thing in the world. That’s because it is natural. Sadly, most people don’t experience it.

Why the mind is involved – but it’s better if we don’t think very much

Anyone who has had the experience of bliss will tell you that it is accompanied by great clarity and wakefulness. There is also a feeling of being totally at ease.

Most of the time, our mind is arguing with itself and creating tension. Instead of accepting what life presents fully and completely, our mind argues that there is a better way. Things could be, and ought to be, different. This is an anathema to bliss. Instead of analysing all the time, let the mind enjoy some stillness.

Let your awareness flood your body

Consciousness is the key to bliss but we also need the body. Bliss comes when body and consciousness are united. Rarely does our consciousness fill our body completely. We may be aware of our hands typing or our legs walking. A headache or pain somewhere may trouble us. These everyday things are normal for all of us. But if we let our awareness spread through the whole body at the same time, something wonderful happens.

The easiest way of doing this is to let your consciousness ride the breath. As you breathe out, feel as though your breath reaches all parts of your body. There’s no analysis to do – just enjoy it and let go.

Healing bliss

As the body relaxes, we may have different sensations. It is important not to become attached to them as the whole process involves letting go of everything. As we do so, the blood vessels and energy channels in the body tend to dilate. Qi (chi) and blood can reach all parts of the body more easily, taking the natural healing powers of the body to where they are needed. This is healing as natural as it gets. And it paves the way for bliss.

Can’t stop thinking? Treat yourself to a copy of The Art of Not Doing

Lies: why they are bad for your health

December 4, 2016 by Andrew Marshall Leave a Comment

Lies, lies and more lies – these have been a great feature of campaigning in the US elections and in the run-up to the Brexit referendum in the UK earlier this year. Deception and divisiveness seemed to have ruled the day. The fact is, deceit has always been part of human affairs, sadly, but this year the spotlight on it has been particularly bright, and some of the shadows appear very dark. The consequences have yet to unfold, as they always must.

Although these have been enormous untruths, they can only subsist while there is a collective consciousness that supports them.

Most of us at one time or another have hidden the truth to some degree, albeit on a much smaller scale. We all have responsibility to speak and act with complete integrity. But what if we don’t?

Pork pies and polygraphs

When we tell an untruth, there is a physiological effect. Mr John Augustus Larson was a medical student at the University of California back in 1921 and invented the modern polygraph or lie detector. The basis of the machine is that telling porky-pies has a direct effect on the physiology. Blood pressure, pulse, respiration and skin conductivity can all give the game away. Lying is more than a mere mental process. The body is affected, too.

Lies and consciousness

Lying isn’t natural. Our natural state of consciousness is honest and open. There is nothing to hide or hide from because pure consciousness sees everything as a reflection of itself. There is no “other”. But as we don’t have that pure perception yet, we feel a need to protect ourselves and our interests. When we lie or distort the truth, it stems from that ignorance.

Telling a deliberate untruth is uncomfortable (although repetition is said to make it easier) because we know it is wrong. There is a conflict inside us. In effect, we deny who we are. Knowing A to be true, we deliver B. Like a naughty child ignoring its parent calling to it, we turn a deaf ear to our inner voice.

Truth or lies which is better for health and wellbeing?

The key here is energy. As the mind thinks, energy follows. Positive thoughts tend to increase vitality and increase wellbeing, and so on. If the mind is tense, our energy is constricted; if it is relaxed, the body and its energy system tend to relax also.

A lie is negative in nature. It creates a distorted pattern in our consciousness and consequently in our energy. The body responds as being stressed – the polygraph shows this. Our sense of wellbeing takes a downward or inward turn.

So does telling fibs make you ill?

Every day, we do things which have a positive effect on our energy and some that are negative. Being untruthful, which can take many guises, is largely an internal matter because it is generated in the mind. There may be external effects through what we say or write, which we will have to put right with other people, but first we have to be honest with ourselves.

Unless and until we resolve that, negative energy patterns will continue. They may not make us ill but we will not have a completely happy heart. To live as complete human beings, our hearts need to be open and full. The world will be a much better place for it. And maybe healthier, too.

Mental karma is explained more in the book The Art of Not Doing: How to Achieve Inner Peace and a Clear Mind which is available in print edition and as an ebook.

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Rest: how to get what you really need

November 19, 2016 by Andrew Marshall Leave a Comment

Rest is not something we talk about very much, is it? We just keep on keeping on, like the rabbit in the Duracell advertisement. Rest, after all, is for wimps, the aged and the infirm. Real men and women keep going. The secret of success, whatever that is, is to push yourself and then push some more. Or at least, that’s the message that often comes across for aspiring high-achievers. So we become a little conditioned to the idea that rest is for the idle. Feeling guilty if we are doing nothing is the usual result.

Even nature has a rest

The trouble is, we lose touch with our own natural cycles. From where I’m writing this, I can see trees. Lots of trees. The funny thing about the majority of these trees is that at this time of year, they take some time off. And they don’t seem to have any emotional hang-ups about stopping and having a break. The leaves change colour and fall to the ground. There is much beauty in this and nobody has a go at the trees for being lazy.

Less than an hour’s walk from here are oak trees that are hundreds of years old. Centuries of growth and rest have ensured these mighty trees continue to flourish. There is enormous power in knowing how to be still, and nature knows this very well.

Cycles of activity and rest

Because our minds are so busy and our emotional side so complex, it is easy to lose touch with our natural stillness. Natural patterns of life fade and lose priority. But everything in nature has a cycle of activity and rest.

Our bodies require rest as well as exercise, and our minds do, too. For sure, we can keep going when we are tired. Most of us have to. But we also need to listen to what our body (including the brain) is telling us. If we ignore fatigue, nothing works as well as it should. A motor car might run without servicing and maintenance for a long time. For reasons of economy, many car owners run their vehicles in this way. It can be done. But eventually, things wear out. The car breaks down.

Isn’t sleep enough? Meditation can supercharge you

If we enjoy good quality sleep at night, we get several hours of rest. But sleep isn’t always enough in this noisy and hectic world of ours.

We can also experience a better quality of profound rest consciously from a short but regular meditation. It may be a simple one, such as sitting quietly observing the flow of the breath. Or we may use a mantra or visualisation. Whatever meditation we do, it will give our minds and bodies the nourishment of very deep rest. This is not instead of sleep but a natural adjunct to living a full life. Many people find that meditation improves sleep as well as our waking hours.

But I don’t have the time to do that

Meditation changes the quality of life but for some people it seems too far a leap. The usual reason is being too busy. (Refer to the first paragraph!) For those who are too busy, there is an easy practice that anyone can do, whether they meditate or not. Stop. Stop what you are doing for a minute or less. Turn the computer screen off. Put your pen or book down. Whatever it is you are doing, take a break for a few conscious breaths. Notice the breath as you breathe in and as you breathe out. Do it once, then a second and third time. Maybe once more for luck. It’s important that you stop to do this and breathe. That’s all. And it works.

More like this in The Art of Not Doing – How to Achieve Inner Peace and a Clear Mind

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