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Clarity: why it’s a vital antidote to this mad world

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Clarity? In this crazy world of ours that seems rather remote, doesn’t it? Yet the parlous state of affairs we humans find ourselves in is down to one thing: our collective consciousness.

Loss of clarity is down to inner pollution

The natural quality of consciousness is pure but, like water or air, it can easily become polluted. Everything we think, say or do arises from it and contributes to the collective pool of humanity. As individuals, we cannot change the world, perhaps, but we can take care of our own consciousness. If life seems a bit of a jumble at times, it’s because we have a muddled state of mind. So what can we do?

Fulfilment and peace come through clarity

We have to restore clarity. Once we take a step in that direction, our lives immediately start to become a little more orderly and more pleasant. Well begun is half done, as the saying goes. A peaceful and clearer mind then actually becomes quite an attractive proposition. We find we don’t need to keep looking for things to do.

Stop looking

Constantly needing to be occupied is just habit. In fact, it is far better to identify what we don’t need to do. Doing less actually often does accomplish more. Seeking recognition or approval in any form is pointless. Yet so much energy is wasted on posting mundane activity on social media and wanting to be liked. It all just adds to the clutter, as do all those inspiring quotes and negative political messages. Let’s just enjoy some clarity instead. That will certainly help us, and it may go towards helping the world.

From the book The Art of Not Doing

Free guided meditations

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  3. Motivation: how using Nature’s power can change your life
  4. Simplicity – the root cure for all problems?

Taste with your ears? It makes sense

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Taste an apple, a strawberry or a piece of Wensleydale cheese – or indeed anything you fancy – and a magical process is set in motion. Our whole being engages in the initial assessment, quickly transforming it into appreciation or otherwise. The array of flavours can trigger all manner of reactions in the brain. Taste consciousness absorbs us in the food, and it in us. For a few glorious moments, taster and tasted become one. Unity through food – wonderful!

Taste asparagusMore than a matter of taste

The all-too-brief asparagus season is upon us in the UK. Ah, the noble green spears! Smooth and strong, yet delicate. Mysteriously, not everyone likes it but for those who do, there is nothing quite like fresh, locally grown asparagus. The health values of this culinary vegetable are renowned. According to Ayurveda, asparagus balances all three doshas. What does it taste like? No-one can really tell you – just try describing the taste of a strawberry – but there is more to this than flavour. Sight, smell and touch play their full part in the appreciation of food, too. Even hearing sometimes joins in – the crunch of an apple, the sizzling of food cooked at the table, for instance.

One taste or one sense?

Scientists have recently discovered that the tongue can detect odours. Have you have ever accidentally opened your mouth in the vicinity of slurry-spreading on farmland? Or fetid toilets or garbage? If so, you will already have known this for yourself. More enlightening research will no doubt come. Tasting with the ears may well be possible. Perhaps it will help us to reach a new conclusion – that there are not five senses but one. After all, are the senses not just the pathways of information that, with our mind, give us our picture of the world? There is a perspective in Tibetan Buddhism that invites us, in the quest for unity, to perceive everything in the universe “with one taste”. It frees the mind. That sounds good to me.

Improving our energy and balancing it with the environment is the subject of our next workshop Managing Life on 10th June 2019. A few spaces are still available. More information

Books

Free meditations

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Simplicity – the root cure for all problems?

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Simplicity-mindSimplicity is a wonderful word, I think. It has a ring of freedom about it. Deep down, I suspect that we all have a secret yearning for simplicity in life, to some degree at least. The basis for how we experience life is consciousness – the sum total of our thoughts, sense impressions, beliefs, memory and, particularly, the capacity to observe. It is this last that we tend to forget, yet it is simplicity itself. Being free from judgment, it is also the key to the higher aspects of our minds and to inner peace.

Simplicity of living or of thinking?

There is a wonderful saying in the Dzogchen tradition of Tibetan Buddhism: “May you be filled with comfort and ease.” This has nothing to do with living a comfortable or luxurious life but with having a perfect state of mind. It is the direct experience, the realisation, of simplicity within ourselves. When we have that, it doesn’t matter what our job or responsibilities are because everything is crystal clear. Nothing can faze us and whatever we do or say will be correct because it arises from pure mind.

Gradually, softly is the way

That perfect simplicity is not somewhere else. It is already present. You and I are simplicity now but it is difficult to see that because we all suffer from mental fog. Just as it would be extremely foolish to drive fast along a foggy road, so our progress towards finding inner clarity also needs to be gradual. Soft, not grasping. There is a great deal wrong in our human world but real change for good depends on collective consciousness. That can only happen if we as individuals change, moving towards our own inner simplicity. Then the outer changes will come.

More on simplicity can be found in The Art of Not Doing – How to Achieve Inner Peace and a Clear Mind

Our next evening workshop, Managing Life, is on Monday 10th June 2019.

Related posts:

  1. Clarity: why it’s a vital antidote to this mad world
  2. Habits – when and how to manage them
  3. Motivation: how using Nature’s power can change your life
  4. Stop the world? You can’t, but you can stop yourself

Qi power – secrets of internal energy for health and stability

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Qi power vitality Qi power, the product of cultivating internal energy, is the stuff of martial arts fantasy films. Flying onto and across rooftops, walking up walls and performing endless miraculous feats are as normal as a stroll down the road. It could be fun, couldn’t it? As wildly imaginative as such stories may be, tales of fiction are often inspired by something that has its basis in reality. Qi power is one such example, or rather catalogue of examples, of the extraordinary having its roots in truth. Sadly, it is extremely unlikely that we will fly through the air without props of some kind. However, we can learn to harness this amazing energy to better our health.

Qi power for health – it’s free!

Qi is vital energy. It pervades the universe, our bodies and the environment. Qi power is what comes from optimising the flow of qi. Just as diffused light can be focused, and water can be channelled or allowed to dissipate, it is possible to cultivate this marvellous energy for our own health. Wonderfully, it costs nothing, just a little time. There are three key things to its cultivation: posture, breath and, most importantly, mental focus. There are many qigong practices – sets of exercises (or stances) with co-ordinated breathing to develop qi power – but we may not be able or willing to commit to those. Even so, we can do something that is quite simple and very effective.

Qi power mountain

Standing like a mountain

With just a little practice, this simple exercise can build up a feeling of both inner and outer strength. Qi or vital energy becomes more stable and stronger in the lower part of the body. It connects us mentally and energetically to the Earth and our surroundings, calming the mind and pacifying the nervous system. This is the amazing effect of qi power.

The posture
  1. Stand with the feet shoulder width apart or even a couple of inches wider. Adjust the feet so that the toes point straight ahead of you and the feet are parallel to each other. Relax the knees so they are not “locked” straight. The weight should be evenly balanced.
  2. Straighten the back and then relax the shoulders so that they drop. Tuck the chin in a little so that the neck is straight and feel as though you are suspended by a thread from the top of the head. Turn the hands so that the palms face backwards and are slightly out from the side of the body. Bring them forwards an inch or two.
The technique
  1. Now for the inner position. Place the tip of the tongue just behind the front teeth. Relax the abdomen. The gaze should be horizontal, as if you were looking out to a distant horizon.
  2. Breathe so that as you inhale the diaphragm comes down and pushes the abdomen out slightly and when you exhale the abdomen relaxes inwards a little.
  3. Allow the energy in the body to settle, rooting you to the Earth. Let the mind empty.
  4. Sometimes feel the feet or the hands, but always come back to the lower abdomen as it moves with the breath.
  5. Feel as though you are very tall, very strong, and unshakeable. Remain standing in this way for 2, 3 or even 4 minutes.

You can find more on this in The Great Little Book of Happiness, available in paperback and ebook.

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Motivation: how using Nature’s power can change your life

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Motivation Motivation? We just can’t do without it. It is the driving force of change, whether for good or bad. The current chaos in society is caused by conflicting pressures from those with vested interests, political or otherwise. The one thing they all have in common is motivation. As individuals, we become driven by pressure, too – when we feel strongly that something in us needs to change.

Motivation for good

Some people are very good at self-motivation. Others, like me, need to work at it. However, the best type of motivation is not something we should need to think about very much. Rather, it comes from within. Most of the things that drive us to action are desires for the pleasures and necessities of life. At one level or another, we seek satisfaction. Once we have found it, we soon look elsewhere for fulfilment. But if we let the mind become calm and open, the fripperies of life lose their attraction. Then all motivation for action comes from inside, from what some call the soul or inner spirit. What term we use doesn’t matter. What does matter is that we start to reconnect with our true nature and, in turn, Nature’s power grid.

Motivation nature power

The source of boundless energy and intelligence

When we become still, through relaxation and meditation, we become more open. Our natural state is one of openness, where intuition rather than calculation has its home. Instead of thinking, “I want to be like this,” or “I ought to do that,” we simply know the right thing to do. As a result, we stop wasting energy on things that don’t matter and have plenty for those that do. Nature provides us with the energy we need and our boundless field of intelligence, consciousness, gives us all necessary motivation. It really is a life-changer. And all we have to do is stop – just stop and be still.

Releasing the things that hold us back is the subject of our next evening workshop, Letting Go, on the 11th March 2019. More details and booking.

My third book, The Art of Not Doing shows how we can re-train our minds to find clarity and inner peace.

Related posts:

  1. Habits – when and how to manage them
  2. Stop the world? You can’t, but you can stop yourself
  3. Taste with your ears? It makes sense
  4. Life: sometimes we can forget why we’re here