You Can't Bing Buddha

There is an awful lot of information out there.  We're connected to the world in so many ways, especially the internet.  We need an expert in tutoring, we go to the internet.  We need a plumber, we Google it.   We need a mortgage, a new dress, a date, we Google or Bing it.  We want to learn a new language, take a trip, find a new place to meditate or do yoga, we look it up.  This is especially helpful if we're not familiar with what we need, or if we're just branching out of our comfort zone.  The challenge, however, is deciphering through the amazing amount of responses we'd get to any one of these queries.

For instance, I just googled "where can I meditate in NJ" and I received over 1 million answers, places and teachers associated thereto.  Over 1 MILLION.  What's a soul searcher to do?

This kind of informational access can be quite overwhelming.  With the advancement of technology, access to information has never before been this mainstream in the world, and I imagine it will only increase. 

The media plays a very interesting role in providing us with worldwide information.  You might expect that media is a friendly service provider helping humans to be aware, educated and knowledgeable about the world and its happenings but we all know media has an agenda.  Certainly selling newspapers and magazines all the while keeping the 'masses' informed in a controlled manner before the www was definitely an agenda but now that print media has changed has media changed it's agenda?  Not likely.  So the information that we do get can sometimes be watered down, luke warm, corralling and offering a mass mindset more palatable to government and the powers that be.  Okay, but at least we're informed right?  No.  Informed or hypnotised?

The media screens through what it deems important and that gets filtered through, they make the decision as to what's important, or not so much, and when you consistently watch the news you begin to see a pattern.   As when you log onto MSN or Yahoo, the stories are filtered through.  You read what they decide you read.  Hmmmmm.  We've all noticed the uplifting, feel good stories they sometimes report but for the most part it's horrific.  Consistently horrific.  That's peculiar isn't it?  Perhaps a spirit of discernment is necessary to rise above the humans way its decided to run this planet and share information?

So there is a ton of information out there, and most of it is being filtered through to us.  Some is spoon fed, some is force fed through multiple outlets simultaneously.  If one is not careful, one may begin to rely on and believe all this informational data input.  I mean, of course 'they' wouldn't tell us something if it weren't true, right?  'They' wouldn't repeat over and over that something is good for you if it weren't, right?  Who decides?

As with any subject matter, there has to be some common sense but to a certain extent, if you really don't know any better, you'd be forced to trust or rely on an 'expert'.  Typically there are individuals with reputations that precede them in certain arenas.  Those situations speak for themselves and help in taking most of the guess work out of the equation.  But what about spiritual matters or spiritual evolution.  What about our spiritual journeys.  How do we navigate the world wide web of information as it pertains to our real purpose for being here?  Our soul journey?

For me personally, it begins in the heart.  In prayer, I have come to know the deep peace that transcends my understanding.  I have visited this place in my heart and I've learned to trust it.  Through prayer and meditation I can go deep inside to where there is stillness and silence and I can play there.  There is not a lot of Q and A happening, just trust, acceptance and a floating about.  That being said, that's where the discerning spirit comes in. 

In this world as we navigate the real Q and A of life, the answers sometimes fly into us in mass amounts.  Why not try this?  How about that?  What if you went in this direction?  I imagine if you ask anyone anything you'd get an answer.  The question is 'how do you know the answer is right for you'? 

You absolutely need to cultivate your discerning spirit; the ear that hears from deep within all that is light and God and righteous.  This is not about emotions or feelings per se, in fact, in Christianity and Buddhism we're taught to be mistrusting of our feelings and our emotions, after all they are temporary and subject to change so this mindset makes perfect sense and fits in with spirit.  It does not cause friction and it's notion is undisturbed inside of me.  I am not resisting, nor is the spirit within me resisting.  I, therefore, can accept it as truth.  I have to say here that when I was younger I was way more consumed with my feelings and emotions which resisted a lot (emphasis on 'resisted a lot').  They were strong and powerful, so real.  I was depressed and hurt and I was not allowing the spirit of discernment to operate in my life.  It wasn't until I matured spiritually that I realized I was not using the tools at my fingertips.  By the way, spirit will never force you to engage it.  It is sweet and gentle and kind and loving.  It is nothing to fear althought it is very mysterious.  It is the essence of who we are at the center of our beings.  It is more of who we are then our body will ever be although the body itself is a wealth of lessons and information - but that's for another blog.

The first step is to realize how you live your life and how you make decisions.  When faced with a challenge, do you create lists and gather information by exhausting all outward resources until your head explodes with every possible scenario?  Do you make a bunch of phone calls calling all guru's picking brains and getting advice from the experts?  Do you watch Dr. Oz if it's medically related while simultaneously googling WebMD?  Do you call your Mom to see how Grandma used to do it?  Well, of course you do, and so does mostly everybody to some degree or another. 

And then reality sets in and the big decision needs to be made.  You've tossed and turned, your mind consumed with millions of letters createing many words and possible outcomes but you still don't know what to do.  This is the time for spiritual discernment.  I love the bumper stickers WWJD "what would Jesus do"? but it's way more than that.  You can't Google Jesus, get His number and call Him to ask if you should stay or go.  You can't Bing Buddha and ask if all is as it should be.  No, you can't use the internet to connect to spirit.  You can use your heart though.

Through meditation and prayer you can connect thoroughly to spirit to enhance your peace factor thereby affording you stability of mind (emotions/feelings) to connect with and make the best possible decisions for your life.  There is most definetly a voice within and it mostly speaks in silence.  Its voice is inaudible.  It is a knowing deep in the core of our being.  It is a vibration and a light.  The light is always on and the vibration is also ready to be amped up if you are so inclined.  Walk into the light and you will be illuminated.  Tap into the center and silence of your heart and silence and peace will become your friends.  They are the best teachers and the spirit of discernment feeds off of and becomes the source of all decisions and knowing.  You never need to go outside of yourself to make critical decisions about your life.  Knowing this creates a love affair steeped in trust, humility, a willingness to go within.  The outter becomes easier to navigate when we realize the source of all life comes from within.  The decisions, the passion, the choices, the dreams, the visions, they all come from within too.  We are creating this life along with it's challenges if only to realize that waking up to spirit is the only real decision that needs to be made.

The rest is for spirit to choose, maintain, operate, advise and assist.  Without the spirit of discernment we are ships without orrs.  We are floating about with no direction.

Embrace the best possible scenario the first time around by engaging spirit in the next decison you have to make (spirit wants to assist you whether the decisions are big or small).  Don't be surprised if you get the answer in the middle of the question.  Spirit is waiting to help you, as are the Angels and all of Heavens Hosts.  There is a spiritual community at your beck and call.  Don't be so disillusioned by the mirage.  Reality is just a mOMent away.

Mighty Lessons Learned

One of the biggest mistakes that I've ever made was not allowing myself to feel something, whatever that may have been at the time.

Perhaps I was going through a painful experience and instead of facing it head on, praying about it, talking about it (with the right people) I would either pretend I wasn't feeling it, or numb myself by getting into even more trouble.

That set me back monumentally. It's self sabotage.

I realize we do these things because it's hard to feel bad feelings, sad feelings, insecure or frightening feelings. Sometimes life is not all sweetness and air. Sometimes it's damp and heavy and musty and depressing.

I have found that over time it is best to acknowledge and accept whatever it is. You have to eventually anyway if you want to lead a healthy, productive, evolved, illuminating, conscious, forgiving, nurturing (to yourself as well as others) and gift filled life.

If you allow yourself to turn away from that which haunts you, you will only continue to be haunted. Perhaps it will show up when you least expect it.

We trick ourselves into thinking 'this or that' doesn't bother us. That it's all under control. But then the ripples on the surface of our lake break, and the cycle of pain and denial begins all over again.

It becomes a re-living of that very experience that you thought you'd put behind you. It taunts you. It teases you. It has all the power over you as long as you choose not to face it.

Once you do face it head on, however, the flood gates of anxiety, fear, pain, sorrow, remorse, anger, they all release and come to the surface. At that point, you can either turn away because it's too much or you can work through it. You might get sicker before you get better, but like any infection with a little care it will clear up.

I have many emotional scars that I tend to. All mighty lessons learned. I don't try to deny that they exist or that I once felt a certain way in particular. I am who I am. I went through what I went through. Life happens to all of us and it makes us stronger in the end, I am convinced because I am proof.

Today, I am living in the present moment. If something arises on the surface and bothers me, I tend to look deeper to find the root (if there is one). I will allow myself to feel. Feel the sorrow. Feel the loss. Feel the insecurity of it all. If it is a deep rooted feeling and I know the origination, I pray and meditate and give that over to God. I 'give it over' to God by releasing it into the air, into the Spirit, into Grace.

God waits all day for us to give Him our struggles and He happily takes them and replaces them with peace, strength and a sense of space where there was none before. That space can then be used by God to teach us about the true essence of the strength in growing and evolving from humanity into Spirit.

Embrace the evolution and rejoice! What you are to be you are still becoming.

Love & Namaste