Peaceful Contemplation http://inspirationsmindbodyandspirit.com/nucleus/ words and images for use in meditation practice en-us Nucleus CMS v3.2 © Weblog http://backend.userland.com/rss http://inspirationsmindbodyandspirit.com/nucleus//nucleus/nucleus2.gif Peaceful Contemplation http://inspirationsmindbodyandspirit.com/nucleus/ <![CDATA[Peacefully...]]> http://inspirationsmindbodyandspirit.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=208
My wish is that this note finds everyone practicing peace and creating the space for peace to occur everyday.

I had a profound retreat, I received some guidence to "Create Peace" while I was on retreat... and with this blog I thought that I was doing just that! But no, there is even more peace available for the creating!

I am going to be blogging about "Creating Peace" which I'm sensing is more of an "active" Peace...instead of "Peaceful Contemplations" which has been a "passive" Peace...

The new blog will be beginning sometime in June...

Hope that you'll tune in.....

Peace ~ Beth]]> General http://inspirationsmindbodyandspirit.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=208 Tue, 29 May 2007 18:46:01 -0700 <![CDATA[Diminishing Peace.]]> http://inspirationsmindbodyandspirit.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=190
Let’s explore the definition of diminish:
1. To make smaller or less or to cause to appear so.
2. To detract from the authority, reputation, or prestige of.
3. To cause to taper.

What does it feel like to make a choice and find that your peace has been diminished by it? It feels like you have a lot of work to do! I know because I am in that situation today. I now must choose again, reflect and choose carefully! Please excuse the repeated lesson posted below, I needed a refresher!

A Peaceful person, just one, in any situation can bring balance and harmony. When you are at Peace you are in balance and harmony within yourself and everything outside of yourself. You can not be disturbed or diminished in Peace. You are centered and able to respond from a place of Peace and balance and ALL THAT YOU ARE. Sounds hard to achieve?

It takes practice and witnessing of one's self, how do you lose Peace? Where did it go?
Peace is always a choice and always available. It takes a willingness to choose Peace and to accept life as it is, as it comes and as it goes - over and over again.

Peace is the middle way, the way that Buddha told us was The Path to Freedom - - Peace is Balance - - polarity and duality work together within peace.

We all have the ability to achieve that sort of Peace in our lives. We are offered countless chances to stand and hold our Peace in the face of everyday conflict. We are offered a choice everyday to achieve balance within and demonstrate that balance in the way we live in this world with others. When chaos and conflict become dominant, when polarity shifts happen, we have the opportunity to be Peace, to amplify Peace and to bring balance.

This daily balance is weight training for the Peaceful Warrior, day by day building the muscle of Peace...

I invite you to discover that your true nature is in harmony with itself.

Have a great rest of the week!
Beth

]]> General http://inspirationsmindbodyandspirit.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=190 Tue, 24 Apr 2007 23:32:57 -0700 <![CDATA[Order, Chaos and Balance (Peace).]]> http://inspirationsmindbodyandspirit.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=186 Order is not pressure which is imposed on society from without, but an equilibrium which is set up from within.
Jose Ortega y Gasset
Spanish philosopher & politician (1883 - 1955)


Please consider the following images and meditate on how chaos as well as order play their roles in natural balance.








Have an awesome week~
Beth
]]> General http://inspirationsmindbodyandspirit.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=186 Wed, 18 Apr 2007 12:13:16 -0700 <![CDATA[Resist Not Peace]]> http://inspirationsmindbodyandspirit.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=183 Matthew, v. 38, 39: "Ye have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, Resist not him that is evil"

This week’s blog is fun for me to write, one of my favorite topics is evil. I am living with a teenager who is in love with evil and darkness! I have a lot of practice at not resisting Evil and a real life experiment at embracing it and understanding my daughter in depth, for I know her “good” side as well as the “evil” persona she is currently sporting.

I have encountered other forms of Evil, we all have. I'm here to tell you that Evil come to PASS... not stay and resisting or making a "big deal" out of it will only make it stay longer!

"Evil may be likened to fire. The nature of fire is to destroy everything that comes into its fold. The power of evil is as great as the power of fire, and at the same time evil is as weak as fire, for fire does not endure, and so evil does not last. As fire destroys itself, so evil is its own destruction. Why is it said, 'Do not resist evil?' Because resistance gives life to evil, non-resistance lets it burn itself out."

**I encourage you to apply these ideas and concepts to your life and to world events such as war where there is great resistance built up to stem an Evil. Any perception of Evil is of itself… just that; a perception. All of our perceptions come from within ourselves. Resisting can actually bring on more or worse enemies, understanding and perceiving are keys to embracing the Evil Enemy!

Understand your Enemy = No Enemy. How can we harm another when we see ourselves in them?

Below I copied a couple of Q&A from an article that is linked HERE.

Question: How can one manage a person who is really bad?

Answer: If a person is 'really bad' it means that the whole surface has become bad, but still the depth cannot be bad. However bad a person may seem, the depth cannot be bad, and for goodness is life itself and a person who is all bad cannot live. The very fact that he is alive shows that there is a spark of goodness in him. Besides, just as there are various objects, so there are various persons. Some show softness outside, hardness inside. Some show harness outside and softness inside. Some have good in the depth and evil on the surface, and some have evil in the depth and good on the surface, because as many souls there are, so many are the varieties.

Question: Is there a system to take away evil?

Answer: That system is understanding life more and more; it is keeping the love element alive, trying to keep an harmonious attitude as much as possible, and then keeping beauty before oneself.

It is difficult, but it is possible when we have the spirit never to be really grown-up, never to close our heart to learning, always to be ready whatever our age, to accept what is harmonious and beautiful. When one thinks, 'What I think is right,' and one finds arguments and reasons to make it right and when one thinks, 'What the other person thinks is wrong' and one finds reasons to make it wrong, one will always remain in the same place. But when one is ready to accept, even from a child, that something one says may be wrong, one thinks, 'Even though it is a child who said it, it is a profit for me to accept it.' God has not spoken only through His prophets, He speaks through every person, if we open our hearts to listen. The difficulty is that we become teachers. If throughout our whole life we remain pupils, teaching will come all the time from within and without. As soon as we become teachers we close our hearts from Him who alone is our Teacher.

Question: How can we help a person who does not understand our kindness and is doing harm?

Answer: Love is a conqueror, and in the end will conquer. It is not only the person outside whom love will conquer, but it will conquer the self of the one who loves. This is the conquering of the kingdom of God. The power of love is penetration, nothing can resist it in the end, and by giving kindness we have not lost anything. It is an element which is never lessened, it is a treasure which is divine. When we consider whether a person is worthy or unworthy we limit our love to a channel, but when we allow that feeling of kindness to flow it will develop into a continually flowing condition. Then kindness will work out its destiny without any intention on our part.

Peace be with you this week!
Beth
** more info on Resist Not Evil]]> General http://inspirationsmindbodyandspirit.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=183 Thu, 12 Apr 2007 08:35:38 -0700 <![CDATA[How to achieve peace through speaking the truth and changing…]]> http://inspirationsmindbodyandspirit.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=177


Truth is not fixed. Truth needs to be told everyday. Change brings about a need to tell the truth again and again. There is no one perfect truth and there is nothing static and fixed in time and space. Our beliefs can feel that way and by our choice our beliefs can be very limiting and fixed. So what tool did our Creator give us to keep our conscious clear and our truth in alignment with how we change as we grow and mature? Perspective is the tool. If our world view is narrow or if we don’t know how to shift our perspective to take in more than one or two sides of a “story” we often get caught up in a conflict loop. Our thinking becomes black or white, we are either right or wrong, others are either in truth or they are lying. The truth is that we are always both right and wrong and other things too depending on the perspective of how we view ourselves and others, situations and the world around us. The greatest Peace comes in allowing others to have their truth without their truth detracting from your truth. We can achieve this Peace with acceptance of what is and perception shifting.



**
The Indian spiritual leader, Mahatma Gandhi, said that, "A votary of truth [a person fervently devoted to truth] is often obliged to grope in the dark." Our challenge therefore lies in our blind spots, not in our vision. Unlike correcting a blind spot in the rear view of an automobile, which can be rectified simply by adding a different kind or a supplemental mirror, we cannot correct our personal blind spots so easily. To correct them, we must grow in our perception and in our acceptance of what is. "Perceive" means to "seize wholly," to "see all the way through." Perception, therefore, is the act of seeing in the mind, of understanding.

**
Truth is perfect understanding of that which is. It is neither the spoken word nor the written word, although these may have a ring of truth to them. Truth cannot be defined; it can only be experienced and lived.


It’s very hard to change fixed beliefs; this is the starting point of perception shifting. Opening the mind to other possibilities and actually allowing yourself to have different experiences and outcomes as a result of shifting your perspective can bring on fear. Change is often very uncomfortable; it is natural and necessary for all living things. It is often less frightening to change all outward appearances rather than change a belief or something that you think. We often structure our lives based on false beliefs that may have been passed on to us by our birth family. As we grow and learn we often have to deny the truth that is standing right in front of us in order to keep our fixed beliefs and feel right or in truth with what we believe.

It takes less energy to change your mind; however, changing your mind will leave you without solid beliefs to rely on. Your fixed beliefs tell you if you do this… then this will happen (every time). Often times people will seek hypnotherapy to replace fixed beliefs with new patterns, these are still patterns! The new patterning may work for awhile but will inevitably need replaced, learning how to shift perspective replaces the need to repattern. Without fixed beliefs what will happen? Something different, every time something different will happen, every outcome is not the same… this is what people refer to as “living in the NOW”. Living in the NOW is living with no fixed beliefs and experiencing everyday as if it were brand new and ripe with possibility. Imagine how much energy comes from living in the NOW rather than keeping up a false pretense!



I’ve copied an exercise for perception shifting from the book Illusions, by Richard Bach

The simplest questions are the most profound.
Where were you born?
Where is your home?
Where are you going?
What are you doing?
Think about these once in awhile, and watch your answers change.

I practice shifting my perception with my art work. I’ve found that painting shows me my subconscious, becoming aware of what’s going on in there allows me to shift and view my thinking as just thoughts. Thoughts are like clouds in the sky, they form, make a pretty shape and dissipate, and I can choose not to allow them to remain solid, I can choose not to attach myself to them!

Through painting and meditation, I "see" the deeper understanding in my mind and often bring it out into this world in my art work.

Everyone can find an activity that they enjoy doing that can help them focus (or defocus) enough to gain inward perspective. Peace is possible!!

Have a great week!!!
Beth



Illusions Quotes: http://www.barefootsworld.net/illusions.html
**Truth is Perception: http://www.chrismaser.com/truth.htm]]> General http://inspirationsmindbodyandspirit.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=177 Thu, 05 Apr 2007 09:10:07 -0700 <![CDATA[Circle of Peace]]> http://inspirationsmindbodyandspirit.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=173
When I sat down to write this, I began to think of the “circle of acceptance” exercise from a Cheri Huber book that has become one of my personal bibles. Shirley’s store carries this book, it’s called “The Key: and the Name of the Key is Willingness”. I highly recommend it if you are interested in sitting meditation practice.



The idea is to take a piece of paper and draw a smallish circle in the center of the paper, inside the circle list a couple of things you can accept easily in your life. Then outside the circle list something that is just not acceptable, something you resist or avoid, something that no longer servers your highest good. Even further out, you may have things that are never going to be acceptable, ever, write those things… the exercise is to draw your circle of acceptance larger and larger until you can accept anything and feel centered in doing so. I’ve learned by doing this exercise, time and space have a lot to do with enlarging my circle of acceptance. If I can’t accept something, I imagine myself five years from now, how important is this to me then? Why am I making such a big deal now? Using my imagination often allows me to draw my circle around things I find unacceptable and it often shifts my perspective about things that I find unacceptable. Imagination is an important tool and vehicle for transformation and healing our lives. We are given an imagination and we can choose to use it!

The Circle comes up again and again, it’s a powerful symbol. A circle has power and energy. It represents the completion of a cycle of existence, returning to source, finding your way home. The Circle symbolizes: a cycle, coming full circle, completions, continual movement, progression through time, clockwork and formal structure. The circle is the feminine archetype, the vessel, the egg, from which all is created. The circle is eternity.

Draw your circle and stand in Peace.

Have a great week~ Beth


Metatron's Cube
]]> General http://inspirationsmindbodyandspirit.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=173 Wed, 28 Mar 2007 01:04:36 -0700 <![CDATA[The Bliss of Peace]]> http://inspirationsmindbodyandspirit.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=170
For some Bliss is a randomness that happens once every blue moon. For others it's a way of living life, the great American mystic Joseph Campbell said that the secret of life was to "Follow Your Bliss".

I've given this saying out as advice when asked by friends or relatives who were making decisions about careers or relationships. People get the funniest look on their face when I say "Follow your Bliss"... It sounds very simplistic, it sounds selfish, and it sounds like bad advice! I have had times where I lost my Bliss or it seems that what was Bliss changed in front of me and inside of me and I had to rediscover how to Follow my Bliss. Bliss is not a fixed state of being. Bliss moves.

Bliss, what the heck is that anyway? Well in this post I'm going to break it out for you and share some fun links for you to use in applying the secret of "follow your bliss" to your own life! Following you Bliss is an activation of the life force, the stream of life that we are all swimming in... Chi, Energy, the Flow. Follow your Bliss is a way to tap into Universal Lifeforce.

Let's explore what Bliss isn't:
If one imagines bliss to be the satisfaction of day-to-day lusts, and pursues a life of self-centered actions, eventually one will discover that such trivial goals do not bring any lasting sense of true satisfaction. The self-centered path is hollow, unfulfilling and fails to bring any lasting peace. The transient delights are not bliss. Bliss is not a transient place, and bliss is not a self-centered place. True bliss is beyond all such petty, selfish pursuits.

The pursuit of bliss is not at all about being self-centered. There is no bliss in the little self. The real pursuit of bliss is exactly the opposite... it is the setting aside of the little self, a rising above the little self, an awakening to the Divine.

To explain further, what is a little self? It is acting from a place of only getting what YOU want, and yeah sure what you want may be good for a few other people too. Acting from a "higher self" place is coming from the perspective of the whole of which you are included as a part of. Your wants and desires aren't the center of of the Universe. Your life force creates joy, beauty, and bliss for everyone who crosses your Bliss Stream. Connecting with others who are "following their bliss" multiplies your bliss. Connecting with people who are not "following their bliss" can be kind of draining enegetically. That is one way to discern your experiences with Bliss. Bliss lifts you up and moves you!

Now let's explore what Bliss is:
The key to the phrase "Follow Your Bliss" is discovering what true bliss really is. True bliss is not momentary. True bliss is not monetary. True bliss is not self-centered. True bliss makes no demands of anyone. True bliss does not require fame or fortune. It's free! And it's available in every moment. In the simplest of terms, bliss arises when "you" depart.

Bliss arises when one is in harmony with "what is". Bliss arises when cravings and attachments have departed. Bliss arises when the petty desires of the little self have given way to the Divine Harmony of the True Self. The little self imagines that it is very important, has great authority and exercises control over myriad events... but, alas, that is not true. Actually, there is very little that happens each day that we have any control over whatsoever. The workings of Life do not follow our whims.

When one begins to enjoy the witnessing of the awesome spectacle of Life and rises above the little self's petty whims, the Divine Harmony of all of nature becomes apparent. Every person has the capacity, and indeed the need, to discover this Divine Harmony. All of the longing and separation and selfishness of this world can be instantly vaporized by being in harmony with what is.

Don't ask so much what the world needs.
Go out and do what makes you come alive,
because what the world needs most
are people who have come alive.
Howard Thurman


Living a life of Bliss is all about being you and bringing in the gifts that you came here to share and experience with others.

The greatest imaginable joy is in discovering the Divine Song that wants to express itself in a unique way though you. There is no grander pleasure than dancing the Divine Dance that is uniquely you.

For fun try this tool to help you get in touch with your Bliss:
http://www.oneletterwords.com/bliss/

Follow Your Bliss!
Beth

BOLD references: http://wahiduddin.net/views/follow_your_bliss.htmJoseph Campbell: http://www.jcf.org/bliss.php
Bliss Compass: http://www.oneletterwords.com/bliss/
]]> General http://inspirationsmindbodyandspirit.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=170 Wed, 21 Mar 2007 13:47:27 -0700 <![CDATA[Conflict Offers Peace]]> http://inspirationsmindbodyandspirit.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=166
This week's subject is one that has always fascinated me and is relevant to the movie The Synthesis Dialogs and also a continuation of Shirley's blog post from 2/22/2007
Detaching With Love.

In the Synthesis Dialogs they broke the process of the dialogs into three stages.

1. The "in love" stage, where everyone is in agreement. There is Unity.

2. The conflict. Pain and separation. People do not agree with one another, the deeper issues and dynamics surface.

3. The resolution, each person is heard and listened to with an open, non-judgmental, witnessing heart. There is an opportunity for a transcendent resolution, for unity and peace to occur naturally.

Sure we have all had really hard times in relationship to other people, if we are not directly in conflict with someone on a personal level, we can be drawn into conflict easily enough by taking someone's side or reading the newspaper, the war that's raging on and on. We all try to gather allies when we are faced with conflict, this is human nature. Going against our hard wired instinct to protect ourselves or our property, national interest (perceived boundary or whatever)... can feel nearly impossible. What would you do? What have you done in the past?

It is possible to detach and reserve judgment, to let go with love. With loving kindness and faith, when we let go the conflict can shift and our firm stances can soften to allow the other person's opinions or values to integrate with our own. This takes strength and faith and willingness. Compassion encompasses all of those qualities.

I took a class in non-violent communication a few years ago, it pushed me right into my "violence". I had a perception of myself as calm, peaceful and non-violent. I thought that I'd just be all over this class, boy was I wrong! I have never cursed so much in my whole life, and yes I cursed AT PEOPLE. I did not want to accept the violent aspect of me even though it was showing itself in a large way! It was through the non-violent communication training that I came into acceptance of myself as a violent human being and this has made all the difference in how I relate when I am faced with violence and conflict. This class enabled me to move to stage two, it enables me to engage in conflict and to traverse this stage and to move into stage three.


This class enabled me to become witness to my own abuse/victim cycle and to disengage from it. It brought out my worst and my best and allowed an integration to occur. Learning non-violent language was harder than learning French or German!!!! I am still learning. This class was based on this book for anyone who may want to try this, here are a couple URLS for info on the book and classes: Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life


the local NVAZ.org

What I learned is that it is at the precise point of conflict that we make our deepest and most intimate connections if we are willing to traverse the painful conflict stage.

We have choice, we can disown our violence and take only the side of non-violence thus remaining in stage one. Stage one being a pseudo-love, superficial love, we only travel in circles of people who are like us and who have the same "mindset" as we do. We don't engage in any conflicts. We isolate ourselves from the real world events and the people that cause us to have conflict and pain. We walk the path of Peace and we aren't willing to "go there" to where the violence and conflicts are, within ourselves or externally. This is a valid choice and many people choose this. I was one who chose this for many years.

Another choice is, stage two, to engage in the conflict, to hold a field of loving kindness of the people, issue or whatever we're in conflict with and to have compassion for ourselves and for the other but to engage in conflict and engage fully and deeply with commitment and loving kindness. This state feels really terrible, like the end of the world. It's very painful, it breaks you open. This stage can last a very short time or a very long time. If you engage, you have lost control. You have surrendered yourself to this process. I've experienced this stage a few times. It has never been the end, it's the beginning of a deeper, more intimate and whole life experience "with" those you strongly disagree with.

Once a relationship shifts to this transcended place of peace, the relating rarely needs to end. It continues on and on, there is an established path of negotiation, respect, care, empathy, this is the infinite love we are all seeking. We are relating from a place of wholeness and connectedness once we have transcended the conflict.
]]> General http://inspirationsmindbodyandspirit.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=166 Wed, 14 Mar 2007 23:14:58 -0700 <![CDATA[Pacific Peace.]]> http://inspirationsmindbodyandspirit.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=165
This week I'm writing to you from San Diego, just along the ocean front. This has been a very interesting week so far, many adventures all around. I would like to share one experience that I managed to capture on my camera.

We went on a whale watching cruise, we saw no whales and they gave us a pass to go again within one year. I am looking forward to coming back next season and spotting a whale! However, we did see hundreds of dolphins swimming in a pod. They stayed with our cruise ship for about 45 minutes swimming and playing. It was the most awesome experience! Our capt. said that he's never seen so many dolphins swimming together and for that length of time. Our history tour guide said never in her 30 years of whale watching had she seen that many dolphins, it was a once in a lifetime event and I have to say that was my first time that far out into the ocean on any kind of ship! We were nearly an hour late getting back to port because we stayed out there with the dolphins swimming around us!

Dolphins March 6, 2007

Sending you all the peace of the Pacific and the joy of the dolphins ~ ~
Beth (and Sarah)]]> General http://inspirationsmindbodyandspirit.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=165 Wed, 07 Mar 2007 22:01:40 -0700 <![CDATA[Peace of Purpose.]]> http://inspirationsmindbodyandspirit.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=161
Yes this week's subject has come up in my day to day repeatedly from various sources so I'm sharing it with you today. Many people are looking all over Creation for their Purpose and then some other people have found their Purpose only to lose peace because they're struggling with all the blocks between them and their "goals".

This is an article that addresses a few issues with finding and being On Purpose and gives some different perspectives on this subject, I hope this is relevant and new information (it is for me).

Life Purpose Click Here!

Peace and Purposeful Living ~
Beth

]]> General http://inspirationsmindbodyandspirit.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=161 Wed, 28 Feb 2007 13:31:31 -0700
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