Thus Begins Our Journey

With Love and Gratitude

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for being a part of this mission, and for all of your loving support. The road is now paved for a new beginning and I look forward to taking every step ahead with all of you!

I am excited to announce that in just a week we will be launching the home for this blog, throughthemeadows.com and I can hardly wait for you to see all we’ve got in store for you there. If you haven’t already, please sign up for our newsletter. Register early and get VIP access to the site and much more!

Let Me Be Honest

First off, allow me to clarify that I always aim, to be honest in my life, and I want my writing to reflect just that. Honesty. Authenticity. I believe that only through honesty can we tune into our greatest selves. That is why they are often referred to as our true selves. If we are not honest with ourselves, what are we? I know when I am doing my best – doing what I know is true to who I am and what I believe about myself, I feel wonderful. It goes without saying it is quite the opposite when I am not.

That being said, I would like to apologize for being so brief (blah) with my post yesterday. I woke up late, did my meditation (cookie), skipped my sadhana (no cookie), and jumped straight to my computer and more or less began tapping away at today’s (yesterday’s) post. It was one of those times when I didn’t know what to write. I would type 500 or so words and then delete them, over and over again until finally I was able to squeeze out whatever you’d call my post yesterday. Blah! What the heck was going on? And it’s funny now because looking back it quite clearly reflects the initial topic I was going to cover yesterday, the Self, and everything I just covered about being honest. If I would have just published what I had initially written I would have left you all with at least a post worthy of being published, not staining the sky with whatever nonsense you would call what I did yesterday. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t that bad but you get my point I’m sure.

The truest self is always there inside of each of us (in fact, it is us, or we are it). Some may refer to it as the higher self. The higher self may seem a little misleading as it implies that the self we speak of is in fact somewhere outside of us, somewhere higher. It just means it is our highest state of conscious awareness. Funny though (sort of), it is so easy to get caught up in semantics and  get confused. Luckily there is a trick to not getting confused and it is as easy as tapping into your true self. Moving away from that part of the brain that psychoanalyzes everything, and while it’s busy processing everything in the background we simply guide our attention to the peace in our hearts. There is an underlying truth to all that we aim to describe with words. Now, don’t get me wrong words are awesome! Language is beautiful! Language is the science of sound, like in mantra. All I am saying is that through the use of language we run into barriers and can easily loose sight of our initial focus as we are often limited by our vocabulary.

The true self exists beyond ALL aspects of ourselves we use to identify with. The truth persists without the need to be explained. That  is what frees us from the need to understand our existence. It is simply a gift. We can be humbled by this truth and left to relish in the fact that we are blessed in this existence and are simply here to express that blessing in all of our beauty! We are free to do whatever we can or want and isn’t it amazing that we can do anything at all? It is when we try to understand something that is impossible to understand that we loose sight of our truest self. It was when we decided that we were human beings and the Universe was something outside of ourselves that we became separate from it. And only through words is this the case. Only through our language of spirit (science). The truth still exists as it was and will always be. That is the thing about free will. We can choose to know or choose not to. We can choose to be happy or not be happy. We can choose to be true to ourselves or choose not to be.

Before I Go

I do want to add that there was one more thing I was going to write about yesterday which I would like to take this opportunity to write about. I wanted to share with you all a bit about what is to expect with the launch of the new site. I have been thinking about this a lot and didn’t want to spoil it all, but I also want to share it because I am pretty excited about it and I hope you will be as excited as me. Maybe you can share the news with some friends and we can all be excited about it together? Please?

Maybe you can share the excitement with a few of your friends and we can all be excited about this together?

So, here it goes.

What to expect

Now, there is quite a bit to it, but the main focus of the site is to offer people a safe haven to learn and share what is in their hearts and minds with others through ou online community. The website is centered around the concept of healing and self-transformation. We welcome all to come and to take a part in the healing as we are one and the fact is we are in this together. Let us break down the walls we set between ourselves as they only keep us from experiences our greatness. If you wish to learn more and stay up to date in these final days of development, please make sure to signup!

Like I said, though, there is quite a bit to it, but…

…here is a list of a few keywords to get your gears spinning.

• Awesomeness 
• More Categories
• Short Stories
• Community
• Badassery
• Discussion Forums
• Support
• Exercises / Practices
• Online / Offline Courses
• Guest Posts
• Videos
• Podcasts
• Featured Content

and SO much more! I can hardly wait to show you it all.

Really, the website is only just a website without you! You are what has inspired it to be and you are what will inspire it to grow. Tell your, family, your friends, your adversaries, the President, whoever! All are welcome. All are loved.

Only through love do we truly heal and it’s time we began this journey to healing together. Shall we?

My First Lunch Date

It’s amazing to me how serendipitous things seem when we allow ourselves to vibrate at a high frequency. Awareness is a key term here. Without being in our stillness enough to be aware we may miss the serendipitous nature of our reality.

Now, I’m not sure exactly when this started, but it was over the past week or so that I decided I would write a post about an experience I had in the 3rd grade that has had quite an impact on my life even to this day. I had been contemplating, meditating, and writing about trauma, abuse, etc. and thought about this experience. I wondered why I always felt weird about the word “lunch”, and why I always had a reservation (no pun intended) about attending lunch when I realized what had happened to me in the 3rd grade. I decided to write about it. I thought about writing about it. I thought more about writing about it, and then a friend made a post about joining him for lunch. The thought came once more and now today as I’m being weird about eating, telling myself the amount of coffee I am ingesting is okay and was prompted by a friend to do something helpful, I thought, “Yup, all reservations aside, it’s time I write it.”

So, without further ado, here we go!

Now, let me begin by giving you a brief history of my experience in a school prior to the 3rd grade. I was homeschooled in Kindergarten by my Mother, which was awesome. So, by the 1st grade, I was really only just beginning to experience what a public school was like. I did okay. Good enough as I remember. By the 2nd grade, I had it all figured out and was making honor roll every report card. Kickin’ butt! Hey, I even taught myself how to write in cursive. Thanks, Ms. A for being such a badass teacher! Now, for the beginning of the end of k(3)-12 for me.

As mentioned before, I was doing rather well at that point. I had it all figured out. I had friends, a good humor, and was generally pretty excited about school. So what could have happened to halt all of that outstanding enthusiasm? Well, let me begin by reinstating the serious effects that even the smallest amount of trauma (Big T’s and little t’s) can have on us. Especially at a young age!

So, I don’t remember exactly when all of this started (other than it was in 3rd grade), or rather what happened first, but it for some reason the teacher did not like me and pretty much let me know that from day one. I remember this one kid Q was always cutting up. He literally sat on the other side of the room, and no matter what, EVERY time I was to blame for what he had done. The teacher would point out to me and the rest of the class that everyone in the class had an ‘E’ in conduct and I had a ‘U’. It was terrible. I was steadily devastated by this woman’s loathing toward me and had no idea what to do about it.

This kind of thing happened daily. All throughout the year, and it actually gets worse. Much worse. The one thing that really stuck, aside of the emotional, and psychological abuse, and was the real kicker for little ole me was that this woman… would literally let every child in the classroom go to the cafeteria for lunch except me. She would keep me in the class room, sit me in a desk over by the window, would turn a desk around to face me, and proceed to sit there and eat MY lunch right in front of me while telling me how delicious it all was. It was disgusting.

I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t understand what was going on. Why was this woman so against me? I told my Mom what was going on and for some reason, she never believed me. I guess she thought that I was just using that as an excuse for being bad in school. Who knows? No one believed me and I felt trapped. I felt powerless. I thought there was nothing I could do but just take it.

I saw the lunch room once that year, and I think it was the day my Mom actually maybe a little bit believed me and told the Principal at my school what she thought might be going on. I’m guessing they must have told the teacher they were watching for me in the lunch room and I that they only looked for that one day because that was it. By the next day, it was back to the desk by the window and that was the case for the rest of the school year.

This whole experience kind of screwed me up and in more ways than one. I never did well in school again (Not until college anyway), have always had reservations about food (specifically lunch), and those are just to name a few of the negative effects this experience had on me.

Trauma can come in many forms. Just like there are many forms of abuse. Whether big or small the result can be devastating, especially for our youth, and over time if not dealt with. If you are in a situation where you feel like no one is listening or you have nowhere to turn but towards the abuse, I am here to tell you that you do. Never be afraid to speak your mind and stand up for yourself, and if they don’t listen the first time say it again.

Really, though. Trauma is no joke and is nothing to be ashamed of. If you have been through an experience and are alive to talk about it, you are a SURVIVOR! That says right there what you are made of. That’s YOUR power now it’s time to take it back!

By the way, my mother, before she passed actually apologized to me for not believing me about this. She said she met that woman at a workshop and could tell she was bat guano crazy. I smiled.

Oh, and my last lunch date (as unofficial as it may have been) was, to say the least, amazing! 

As always, with love. Sat Nam

 

 

The Other Three Minds: Part Two

A Three-Fold Approach

This is where it gets a bit tricky (I feel like I say that a lot ;). I guess life’s a bit tricky, though, ain’t it? I like to think of it as pleasantly complex.

That being said, let us dive into Part Two of The Other Three Minds.

Scientifically Speaking

The brain is made up of many parts though scientifically it is divided into 3 major sections. The cerebrum, the cerebellum, and the brain stem. The Cerebrum (the conscious mind) commonly known as the cortex is where all of our conscious actions and thought takes place. Tucked below the Cerebrum is the Cerebellum (the subconscious mind) which controls balance, coordination, etc. and is the home to the Thalamus, Hypothalamus, and the Limbic System.The Limbic System is a very important part of this topic. This is where we store our emotions. Now, below the Cerebellum, we have our most basic, but vital part of the brain, the Brain Stem (the unconscious mind) which is directly connected to the spinal cord and controls vital functions like breathing, and blood pressure.

Really, there is nothing basic about any part of the brain, and my brief description of the 3 mentioned above barely scratches the surface. Please, feel free to follow up and do some research on your own. There is much more to know and to learn about the human brain. Just make sure to read this first.

As you may have noticed, I followed up each major part of the brain with a parenthesis associating each with a specific level of consciousness. Now, this was the result of an impulse… perhaps guided by intuition. Nothing is set in stone so-to-speak and we’ll see where that goes. I am still digging deep and learning along the way.

The reason I mention the scientific approach first is because it demonstrates just how complex the brain is. There is so much going on in there at all times it’s no wonder we get lost in it so easily. This is why I am a big advocate for meditation and the practice of mindfulness. These are tools that can be used regularly and without constraint to help ease the payload we are all due by default.

Where’s Tech Support?

Let’s forget about all of the technical stuff for a minute and think easy does it. I would like to delve into the whole concept of conscious, subconscious and unconscious minds and how they relate to the parts of the brain we are all so used to. Something tells me we may have to drop our guard a bit on this one and be open to expanding our understanding of how things actually work, or rather, look past how things work and look closer at how we’re operating them.

We have already briefly covered the conscious mind and associated it with the Cerebrum, or Cortex, and have loosely associated the subconscious mind with that of the Cerebellum. So what is the unconscious mind, and how does that correlate to the brain stem? As mentioned before, I’m not even sure yet why I did that, but let’s see where it goes. Shall we?

When I think of the word unconscious I think of being, well… knocked out. So what happens when we’re knocked out? Well, obviously not too much. Only a few vital functions of our bodies are in operation. What controls vital functions? The brain stem.

So far so good. 

Now, what else could be going on here? Something is telling me there is much more to the unconscious mind than its relationship with the brain stem. Let’s explore some variables. What else happens when we’re unconscious? Clearly everything around us keeps going, but that’s too technical. What happens with our minds? Again, not a lot aside the occasional turn this way and that. Maybe a moan or two, and of course, dreams. What are dreams? Let’s not tap into that yet, but let’s just say dreams are all of the background processes that need to be closed before we restart. In less technical speak, subconscious thoughts we didn’t get around to thinking that day, or year, or whatever.

But wait, I thought we were talking about the unconscious mind?

And we are, but it’s a funny thing. The subconscious mind is quite literally in the way. We have to uncover one to get to the other. 

But why would we want to be unconscious? Wouldn’t that mean we miss out on all of the experiences of life?

A valid question, but ask yourself this, “How many experiences are you missing out on not living in it?

Previously, we covered how living with the positive, negative and neutral minds in unison is essential to having the ultimate experience in life. It’s quite the same with the conscious, subconscious, and unconscious minds. Now, there is SOOO much to cover I can’t type it all in one post and my conscious mind is going this way and that as I am typing. So, let me bridge the gap and type consciously from my unconscious mind while allowing the thoughts I have stored in my subconscious to come and go as they please.

Imagine being in a walking dream state while completely aware of everything around you. You would literally be living your dream. This is the idea behind the 3-fold approach to the mind. Some say it is impossible to clear the mind and if you think about it. A clear mind would be empty. What would be the fun in that? Let’s not get confused with the idea of clearing the mind, but rather tapping into that part of the mind that is always clear. In Kundalini Yoga, this is known as Shunya, the unaffected mind. The goal is to live with the three minds as one.

“You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.”

-Dr. Suess

Okay, so That Wasn’t so Bad

Normally, I wouldn’t close a post with a cliffhanger and I apologize for doing so. Thank you, to my friend Louise for calling me out on that :). I will be sure not to leave you hanging like that again.

Now. Where were we? Oh, yeah, we were using our intuition to guide us through the different parts of our brains correlating each with a level of conscious awareness.

At that note, I would like to thank all of you for standing by me while all of that took place. It was fun to develop an idea while writing about it. It says a lot about what our minds can achieve when guided in our stillness (faith not thought) by intuition.

Now let me try and bridge the gaps for any of you who may be like, dude? The Conscious mind correlates directly with the Cerebrum or Cortex as it is where we operate from a consciously aware level. The Subconscious is tied to the middle brain (bird brain) or Cerebellum and is responsible memory and emotion and ends up being neglected due to the active state of our more developed conscious mind. Finally, the Unconscious mind is directly associated with that of our most vital bodily functions like heartbeat, breath, and blood pressure through the brain stem as it is beyond thought.

Honestly, I’m kind of like, “Dude.” myself. It is a bit bananas, but hey, that’s what this blog is really all about.

No, it’s not about bananas. It’s about helping each other figure it all out. Or rather helping each other figure out how to not have to.

In all reality, I think that’s the trick. Getting to a point where we don’t need to understand so much of everything and why it is the way it is, and just enjoy life for the simple things. Like bananas. Just enjoy being here. Together.

Unbreaking the Mind

As promised, I don’t intend to leave you hanging. That being said, I have no idea how I am going to close this out. I think I’m way overthinking it. Let me just back up a bit and reflect on what started this whole bit. Oh yeah, I was going to hold out a bit before mentioning this but now seems as good a time as any. Can you guess what the 3rd mind is? I’ll give you a clue. It’s not the one we covered in this post. In fact, we haven’t covered it yet. If you feel like it, you can leave your guess in the comments below.

!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!

It’s the gut. Did you know we have over 100,000,000 neurons in the gut?  That’s pretty awesome! In the next post, we will be covering all the fascinating things that go along with those fuzzy feelings we get in our tummy and why wholesome foods and good exercise is so important to consider.

 

For now, let’s do a quick recap and try and piece this whole puzzle together.

There is one thing I really wanted to dive into that for some reason I haven’t covered yet. Maybe a little bit, but it deserves a bit of attention as it has a drastic effect on the mind and our conscious state. That my friends is the middle brain. The emotional mind. The subconscious. The mind that affords us all such interesting dreams and such elaborate fantasies. The mystery of the middle mind is not to be unresolved. It is the link in the key to the door to the truth.

Now, what is it about the middle brain that gives it such a prestigious title. It is the maternal mind. Our protector. The mind that tries so hard to help us and works overtime though we are hardly aware of the work its done. It is our broken mind. And not broken in a sense that it doesn’t work but the opposite. Broken as it has worked so hard to get us through all of the trauma we’ve faced throughout time. Luckily, for our species, as evolved as we are we can help. Now, this isn’t an easy does it kind of fix, and in fact, it takes quite a bit of time, but if you are down to try I got a rag and blog full of polish.

Now, instead of jabbering on about this myself, I would like to see how much you all can figure out yourselves. All you have to do is be aware. Be aware of your reactions rather than just act. Take note of when those reactions seem a bit extreme and maybe ask yourself why you think that is. The funny thing about the mind is it works hard even when we aren’t aware of it. Hence, it’s ability to store said reactions to circumstances we don’t even know we remember. All you have to do is light the fuse. Your mind will take care of the rest. It’s an amazing process!

That’s it! All you have to do is three things.

1. Be aware of your reactions
2. Note when the seem extreme
3. Ask yourself what about that situation stirred you up so

Then, simply go about your day.

When the answer comes. I have faith you will know what to do next. As always I am here if you need me. You can leave a comment, or email me directly. As always, love and light.

Until next time

 

The Other Three Minds

Part One: The Heart

Think From Your Heart

Someone once told me to smile from my heart. At the time, as much as I liked the way that sounded, I was exactly sure what they meant. So, as with anything I hear that I don’t quite understand I let it sit in the back of my mind and meditate on it. I’m at a point in my life where I seek truth in all things. Even those I don’t understand. Someone else shared with me recently about the idea of finding gratitude in every moment. Another truth I didn’t quite get right away, but eventually sunk in over time. I could think of a hundred of these types of lessons I’ve learned over the past 2 months alone. What happens is, is that our minds are already so focused on one idea, or they are in the act of processing already and simply cannot process anymore at that time. Don’t beat yourself up about it, just let it simmer.

Anyway, as the days passed, every time I would look at someone and smile I would ask myself, “Am I smiling from my heart?”, and then one day it eventually hit me. What they meant was that to smile from the heart is to smile from a place of gratitude; a place of truth. This concept of smiling from your heart, lead me to think more and more about how much of my life I was actually living from a place of truth. Were my actions genuine? Were my thoughts coming from a place gratitude? Was I being honest with those around me and most importantly with myself? In asking myself these questions I began to see more clearly when I was not. When I was thinking from my mind and not from my heart. A place of truth is not a place of judgment. Truth reflects compassion. This is why gratitude is so important. Because when you can tap into that place of truth you are at peace. True peace.

The more we learn to think with our hearts the more clearly we see when we do not. The ideas that we have about this and that and all of the inner turmoil and commotion just seems so out of place, and it is, because if you are living from your heart but living inside of your head at the same time you are probably going crazy. It is so easy to get confused. Especially for an empath, or someone who shares karma to get overwhelmed and even burnt out trying to examine all of the different thoughts and feelings coming through them all of the time. It’s more than we humans are really built to handle. Good thing we are so resilient and stubborn. The thing is, it does not have to be that hard. We simply breathe in the emotion (or whatever), let it go where it needs to go (your heart center, maybe your minds eye, or your gut), see it for what it is, recognize that it is not who we truly are (it may not even be ours), smile at it, and then let it go. Inhale the self, exhale the truth.

This is the power of your heart. It’s no wonder without the heart we cannot live. Because without living from the heart… well I’m not even going to take it there. I will say this, though, after spending too long in my mind being overwhelmed by thoughts I’ve felt like just giving up.

“Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one’s weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.”

― Mahatma Gandhi

Taking Control of Our Minds

Now, I can guarantee you that if you practice this philosophy and ask yourself every time you think or act “Am I coming from my heart?”, you will begin to see more and more clearly when you are and when you are not. Now, this doesn’t mean cheesy ear-to-ear grinning all day long. Who does that? No, this means being true to you and what you feel, but being genuine and true to those around you too.

Let me share with you an example. Yesterday I decided I would go for a walk. I kept this idea in mind and smiled at those I saw passing by and was kind to those I had the opportunity to interact with. Now, out of all of the people I did see eye-to-eye, only two looked at me like they wanted to kill me. I had no idea why, and surely it triggered all sorts of responses rooted to all sorts of experience that are stored in my brain. However, it was all too easy to catch myself and recognize that when I was getting uneasy I was actually way over-analyzing the strange interactions.

Now, I am going to close with that. Please share with me your thoughts on this subject. I would really like to know what your experience is with all of this. Maybe you’ll give it a try? Maybe you do it already?

Anyway, that’s all for now! As always…

… Love and Light!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Universe is Waiting on You

I feel that the more I put it out there to the Universe what I really want to do in my life, the more the universe gives me the opportunity to do just that. Or is it that in realizing that which I truly desire I clear path of all doubt or confusion I may have about what I want, and become open to seeing the world as I was always meant to?

What’s Really Going on Here

I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept that we create our own reality, and have been
awoken to a few other ideas, I seem to have forgotten somehow in my walking sleep. I’ll get to that in a moment (more like the next post), but for now, about the idea of creating our own reality. It’s a tricky thing this mind of ours (ba dum bum). Okay, maybe I’m the only one who got that. Anywhoo, it really is, each of us have a mind of our own, right? And it’s funny because I swear at times it seems like my mind has a mind of its own. It’s this mind I like to refer to as my ego. Now, the ego is a complex thing. As are many ‘things’ we speak about these days, the ego is talked about loosely and is often only referred to as a bad thing. Ie. “What an egotistical piece of…” Well, you know where that was going, I’m sure.The truth is, the ego is a wonderful thing. It is in its essence simply our identity as individual reflections of the greater self. The greater self is the whole, the Ego is the divisor, We are the dividends.

It is when we get stuck on the fact that we are separate from the whole that the ego can get us into trouble.

Forgive me if I seem to be rambling. I think my three minds are all trying to write at once.

A Prequel to the Other Three Minds

That being said, on a more personal level, this same inner conflict can take place. Think of the three minds that we covered in my last post; the positive, negative, and neutral mind. Now, let us reflect on what I like to refer to as the other three minds. The brain, the heart, and the gut. Now, I won’t go off on a scientific tangent here, but do feel free to research as there is much to know about just how connected each these wonderful pieces of machinery are to the whole. Now, so to keep to my point, there are around 40,000 neurons in the heart, and 100,000,000 neurons in the gut. This, of course, is no match for the 100,000,000,000 neurons in the brain, but it says a lot about what is going on in terms of inner conflict taking place amongst one’s heart mind and soul.

Hope I’m not losing anybody here. I promise this will begin to make sense. 

Let me explain with a personal example. It is often (SO often) that I find myself victim to an overwhelming sensation somewhere within either my heart or my gut. A sensation I can best describe as a hurricane. Knowing that a large percentage (some might argue all) of what I feel in my body is simply the result of a chemical reaction taking place in my brain it becomes more and more clear that my own mind is playing tricks on me. Now, I’d rather not look at it in such a diabolical sense, so let’s say, it may just be that my mind is confused and is randomly firing of a complicated cocktail of endorphins and serotonin making me feel like I must be going crazy. Either way, it is simply my mind doing what it does. In its simplicity that is 😉

Okay, So… What Does That Have to Do with the Universe?

Well, I could probably outline an entire book on this subject, but for the sake of this post (and your morning, afternoon, or dream date) I am going to attempt to wrap things up into one solid point. 

My perception of who I am, not only inside of myself, or in this world, but in the universe is strongly influenced by my mind. Keep in mind, that the mind has a lot to do on a day to day basis. Delving too deeply into understanding its many processes could prove to be as neverending an expedition as exploring the depths of our ocean or the even the ground beneath our feet. Let’s not even mention the Universe outside of our Earth (wait I just did). Take the time to remember the simplicity of your heart. Welcome, your busy mind into it. Often times the ego is only trying to hold us back so-to-speak because it’s afraid we will leave it behind. The ego is fragile and needs armor to feel safe. Reminding ourselves of who we truly give us no need for armor. Armoring only weighs us down anyway. It may be scary to drop your guard and be vulnerable but it is in facing that fear that we find all the answers we’ve been striving for. You are the center of your Universe. In your heart, the center of your being is where the magic happens. The two worlds collide into one. The impossible becomes possible. The mind and the soul become one.

“Let my soul smile through my heart and my heart smile through my eyes, that I may scatter rich smiles in sad hearts.”

–Paramahansa Yogananda

 

That’s all for now! Please feel free to leave your comments in the fields below, and don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter. Soon Through the Meadows will be migrating to its new home. You won’t want to miss out on the awesome features the new site has to offer. As always, love and light!

Sat Nam