Personal-Development

by Aazdak Alisimo

Regardless of religious beliefs or views, it is hard to find anyone that does not find the Dali Lama reverent. Here are 15 nuggets of truth he has uttered over the years. Regardless of when they were stated, they still apply today.

1. If the love within your mind is lost and you see other beings as enemies, then no matter how much knowledge or education or material comfort you have, only suffering and confusion will ensue.

2. I myself feel, and also tell other Buddhists that the question of Nirvana will come later. There is not much hurry. If in day to day life you lead a good life, honesty, with love, with compassion, with less selfishness, then automatically it will lead to Nirvana.

3. We can live without religion and meditation, but we cannot survive without human affection.

4. Compassion is not religious business, it is human business, it is not luxury, it is essential for our own peace and mental stability, it is essential for human survival.

5. With realization of one’s own potential and self confidence in one’s ability, one can build a better world.

6. Whether one believes in a religion or not, and whether one believes in rebirth or not, there isn’t anyone who doesn’t appreciate kindness and compassion.

7. Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.

8. My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.

9. A truly compassionate attitude toward others does not change even if they behave negatively or hurt you.

10. True compassion is universal in scope. It is accompanied by a feeling of responsibility.

11. We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.

12. The ultimate authority must always rest with the individual’s own reason and critical analysis.

13. Only the development of compassion and understanding for others can bring us the tranquillity and happiness we all seek.

14. All major religious traditions carry basically the same message, that is love, compassion and forgiveness … the important thing is they should be part of our daily lives.

15. Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.

Many religious and philosophical figures are considered controversial. By accepting all religions and all views, the Dali Lama appears to transcend such concerns. Give some thought to his views above and how they might improve your life.
Find more free www.dahlilamaquotesdaily.com/buddhist-quotes-sayings”>buddhist sayings at DahliLamaQuotesDaily.com. 

Our brain is made up of billions of brain cells which use electricity to communicate with each other. Since brain cells are alive, they are always generating electrical signals; they are never ‘off’ or shut down. The combination of millions of neurons sending signals all at the same time produces an enormous amount of electrical activity in the brain.
This activity can be detected and mapped using sensitive medical equipment such as an EEG. Such map shows that the brain is emitting specific frequency patterns that relate directly to different mental processes all the way from wide awake and highly focused to deep, dreamless sleep.

Brain Wave Patterns:
The brain produces electrical patterns known as brainwaves.
These patterns can be detected using sophisticated electronic equipment known as EEG devices. Different brainwave patterns are produced during different mental activities.
If external stimulus is applied to the brain, it is possible to ‘entrain’ or change the dominant brain frequency from one stage to another. If an individual in the beta stage is presented with a stimulus of 10Hz for some time, the brain frequency is likely to change towards that stimulus. This is called the frequency following response.
When a brainwave pattern is practiced over a period of time more…

by Nirmala

Ghosts are usaully thought of as something that exists after we die. We imagine a piece of us that haunts all of the places we lived when we were alive. But what if there is another kind of ghosts that is around even while you are alive? What if your self-image is actually a kind of ghost or lie?

As we usually think of them, ghosts are insubstantial forms that come and go. They are not quite solid or real, and most people can’t see them. And yet how substantial or real are our images of ourselves-our ideas about who we are? If you have an image of yourself as an attractive person one day and as an unattractive person the next day, how real was either image? And can other people see your self image? What does it mean if you have a self image of being unattractive and someone acts attracted to you anyway? Maybe they can’t see your self image. Maybe your self image is a kind of ghost.

We may not be willing to learn that our idea of ourselves is not real because we are used to thinking these ghost like images are who we really are. We end up wondering, Who could I be if what the image I have of myself is not real? What else exists here besides these ghostly self images I take to be myself?

There is of course a strong sense that we do actually exist, and that we are real. But where does this sense of existence and reality come from? Does it come from these ideas about oursleves, or does the sense really existing come from deeper within our being? It can be difficult to distinguish since the image and the realness can both be here at the same time, and our ego’s idea of ourselves can simulate that deeper sense of realness we all naturally have.

One way to know what is real and what is not is to ask how substantial are your ideas of yourself. A true measure of how real something is, is how long it lasts. If something last longer, it is more real. And how long do your ideas about yourself last? They faed in and out (like a ghost in a ghost story) and usually don’t last long at all. A thought can be over so quickly that a moment later we can’t remember what we were just thinking.

A new image or thought about ourselves is constantly arising to replace the last thought or image. And sometimes we aren’t thinking about ourselves at all. So all our self-images images and identifications are not very real. They are like ghosts in our minds.

How about the pure sense that you are real right now? Does that sense come and go? Do you ever really have the opposite sense that you don’t exist or never existed? This sense that you do exist is more true than any of your ideas about yourself because it is always here. You always exist, but the thoughts in your mind about yourself are like ghosts. What you are has never been contained in your self-images. Even when your ideas of yourself fade away, like images in a movie, what you really are is always still here .

It is the real you that matters. You can become more curious about this real you than you are about the false ghosts of identity. What is the real you made of? What is it like? What does it want? What can it do? These are rich and meaningful questions to explore, but remember that the real answers are not to be found in your ideas about yourself. The truest answers can be found in the simple sense that you exist.

Internationally recognised http://www.endless-satsang.com spiritual teacher, Nirmala has been offering satsang and one-to-one spiritual mentoring for ten years. He offers www.endless-satsang.com/Ebooks.htm free spiritual books and many more ways to experience his teaching on endless-satsang.com.

I came across this lovely little poem yesterday that I had to share with you.

Apparently it was discovered on the wall of a doctor’s office in England -

Smiling is infectious,
You catch it like the flu.
When someone smiled at me today
I started smiling, too.

I passed around the corner,
And someone saw my grin,
When he smiled, I realized
I’d passed it on to him.

If you feel a smile begin
Don’t leave it undetected,
Let’s start an epidemic
And get the world infected!

When you are unhappy what do you do? Do you go out for a meal? Go to the cinema?
The theatre perhaps? Do you go shopping? Perhaps you like a drink to overcome your unhappiness. Or do you get a buzz from jogging or going to the gym?

Whatever it is, scientist are in the process of proving that internal change is the only thing that can give you health and happiness. Everything else is an illusion.

What does this mean?

Your brain is the only thing that can keep you healthy and happy.

Richard Davidson, a neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin and Jon Kabat-Zinn from the University of Massachusetts Medical Centre have just completed some interesting research that can actually be of benefit to you and me and the way we run our lives.

They took a group of 41 stressed , but otherwise healthy, individuals working in a biotechnology firm in Wisconsin. 25 were  taught  meditation.  The group met for a 2.5 to 3 hour meditation class each week. After six weeks they all attended a seven hour meditation retreat. In addition each member was asked to meditate, at home, for one hour a day using a guided meditation tape.

The other 16 were held as a control group and did not receive meditation training until the study was completed.

At the end of the eight week programme, in November, they also gave all the participants a flu jab. And guess what. “The members of the meditation group had a significant increase in antibody titers”.
In other words, they have less chance of catching flu.

The bottom line appears to be. If you want to have good health and overcome the day by day blues and maintain happiness, learn to meditate. When you meditate you change the way your brain operates.

In addition, they found, the more you practice meditation the better your daily performance.

”What we found is that the long time practitioners showed brain activation
on a scale we have never seen before. ‘ Their mental practice is having an effect on the brain in the same way golf or tennis practice will enhance performance.
It demonstrates, that the brain is capable of being trained and physically modified in ways few people can imagine”.
(Richard Davidson)

 So give yourself the space each day to train your brain.  It works.

To enjoy all the benefits of  Meditation, to attain fast real results, to discover Your Higher Self, Your Spirituality, to Live in the Flow of Your True Nature, to let your soul be set in harmonic emotional vibrations like the harmonies of meditation music, to meditate easily without obstacles, practice your Meditation-Sessions with scientifically backed brainwave Meditation Music  (instant downloads.)

Related Articles:

Meditation with scientifically backed brain wave music aka binaural beats
What does Meditation Music do to you?

 Good Luck

Graham and Julie
www.desktop-meditation.com

Enjoy that uniqueness. You do not have to pretend in order to seem more like someone else.
You weren’t meant to be like someone else. You do not have to lie to conceal the parts of
you that are not like what you see in anyone else.  

You were meant to be different. Nowhere ever in all of history will the same things be going on in anyone’s mind, soul and spirit as are going on in yours right now.  

If you did not exist, there would be a hole in creation, a gap in history, something missing
from the plan for humankind. Treasure your uniqueness. It is a gift given only to you. Enjoy it and share it!  

No one can reach out to others in the same way that you can. No one can speak your words. No one can convey your meanings. No one can comfort with your kind of comfort. No one can bring your kind of understanding to another person.  

No one can be cheerful and lighthearted and joyous in your way. No one can smile your smile. No one else can bring the whole unique impact of you to another human being.  

Share your uniqueness. Let it be free to flow out among your family and friends and people you meet in the rush and clutter of living wherever you are. That gift of yourself was given you to enjoy and share. Give yourself away!  

See it! Receive it! Let it tickle you! Let it form you and nudge you and inspire you!

The Interview with God

The Poem:

THE INTERVIEW WITH GOD

I dreamed I had an interview with God.

“So you would like to interview me?” God asked.
“If you have the time” I said.
God smiled.
“My time is eternity.”
“What questions do you have in mind for me?”

“What surprises you most about humankind?”
God answered…
“That they get bored with childhood, they rush to grow up,
and then long to be children again.”

“That they lose their health to make money… and then lose
their money to restore their health.”
 
“That by thinking anxiously about the future, they forget the present,
such that they live in neither the present nor the future.”

“That they live as if they will never die, and die as though they had never lived.”

God’s hand took mine and we were silent for a while.
 
And then I asked…
“As a parent, what are some of life’s lessons you want your children to learn?”

“To learn they cannot make anyone love them. All they can do is let themselves be loved.”

“To learn that it is not good to compare themselves to others.”

“To learn to forgive by practicing forgiveness.”

“To learn that it only takes a few seconds to open profound wounds in those they love,   and it can take many years to heal them.”

“To learn that a rich person is not one who has the most, but is one who needs the least.”

“To learn that there are people who love them dearly, but simply have not yet learned how to express or show their feelings.”

“To learn that two people can look at the same thing and see it differently.”

“To learn that it is not enough that they forgive one another, but they must also forgive themselves.”

“Thank you for your time,” I said humbly.

“Is there anything else you would like your children to know?”

God smiled and said,
“Just know that I am here… always.”

 -author unknown

“Joy is a return to the deep harmony of body, mind and
 spirit that was yours at birth and can be yours again. That openness to
 love, that capacity for wholeness with the world around you, is still
 within you.”
Deepak Chopra

 Change: towards Personal development

This word is a given in all of our lives.
As we grow, change will occur in both our inner and outer worlds.  Many times we see changes as threats.  We become pessimistic towards the idea of newness, or we allow ourselves to remain within comfort zones to avoid the risk of failure.

We have to view change as an open invitation to enjoy the fullest potential of the present moment.
Resisting  change means resisting growth.
Don’t let uncertainty prevent you from making the necessary changes to persue your dreams.

Those who succeed are the those who take chances, and that means not only accepting change, but embracing it as a gift - a tool for turning your visions into reality.

There is no Being there is only a Becoming.
Focus on a goal and the changes you need to make to get you to that goal. Explore ways to get yourself through any doubts or fears, and empower yourself by making a comittment to work towards these changes each day.
 

The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make heaven of Hell, and a hell of Heaven.
~John Milton

Mind:

The mind is a powerful force, behind the creation of all of our experiences. It can be a powerful tool, or a stealth weapon. Our minds are constantly at work, and our subconscious mind is able to be programmed and reprogrammed, often without our direct conscious knowledge of the process. When we hear the inner critic, we are witnessing one example of a powerful way the mind can manipulate and undermine us. This is because the subconscious mind does not discriminate, it repeats what it is fed, and eventually we begin to live according to these beliefs.

Consciously changing our thought processes through practices such as affirmations, meditation, and other tools that quiet the mind and shift our perspective, is liberating and empowering. We learn to control our lives through a deep connection with our inner world, rather than letting circumstances control us.

A good mind should never be left to its own devices.
Learning and re-learning means progress, consciously working with the power of the mind to create new perspectives enriches life experience, inspires creativity, and boosts confidence. When we respect and nourish the mind, our thought processes will nourish the soul.

Related reading: The Brain and Meditation

Hatha Yoga for persons suffering from disturbs of psychosomatic nature.
Mind-body medicine focuses on the interactions among the brain, mind, body, and behavior, and the powerful ways in which emotional, mental, social, spiritual, and behavioral factors can directly affect health. It regards as fundamental an approach that respects and enhances each person’s capacity for self-knowledge and self-care, and it emphasizes techniques that are grounded in this approach.

Meditation, one of the most common mind-body interventions, is a conscious mental process that induces a set of integrated physiological changes termed the relaxation response.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been used to identify and characterize the brain regions that are active during meditation. This research suggests that various parts of the brain known to be involved in attention and in the control of the autonomic nervous system are activated, providing a neurochemical and anatomical basis for the effects of meditation on various physiological activities.
Recent studies involving imaging are advancing the understanding of mind-body mechanisms. For example, meditation has been shown in one study to produce significant increases in left-sided anterior brain activity, which is associated with positive emotional states. Moreover, in this same study, meditation was associated with increases in antibody titers to influenza vaccine, suggesting potential linkages among meditation, positive emotional states, localized brain responses, and improved immune function.

To use and sustain those powerful effects of our mind you need contemporary to keep up that work of your mind with some physical Yoga Exercise that prepares and free’s your mind to meditation.

The below program (Yoga Poses) is meant to person that experiment psychosomatic disturbs of different kinds.
Hatha Yoga Posture, Exercise or Positions acts through the stimulation of the nervous centers onto all the neuro-vegetative nervous system re-establishing an perfect psycho-physic equilibrium.

See: The Salutation to the Sun an easy yoga beginners  exercise.

Understanding Ourselves

The three marks of existence are crucial to the Buddhist understanding of ourselves and the world around us. The first of  these ‘marks’ or ‘characteristics’ is anicca or impermanence. The second of these is dukkha or suffering, which is also the first noble truth and the third is anatta or not-self. To see the world in its true nature - continue reading