Enlightenment in Daily Life
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Making Sacred Space At the closing circle of all Enlightenment Retreats I briefly outline a few of the supportive factors that help to make the Enlightenment Retreat a Sacred and Holy Space that is supportive of an awakened life. Many of these same supportive factors can be brought into your daily life to continually nurture the forever young and youthful Awakened Mind. Treat Others With Kindness One of the most important things we can do is treat others with kindness. Refrain from criticising, abusing, making others wrong and trying to change them. The ego-mind wants to get its own way. When it doesn't get its way, it goes into reactivity of one kind or another and projects blame and victimhood. Sometimes it's strategy is to strikes out, sometimes to withdraw and pout. Ignore it. If you want a Divine Life and not an ego-mind life, then surrendering to the divinity in another instead of fighting the ego battles of 'being right' is a life of letting go, forgiveness and acceptance. If you can sincerely open up and at the same time not hurt another, then you can create situations in which direct absolute knowing of your true nature can spontaneously occur. Some call it Love, some call it Wisdom, some say nothing as they embrace the Silence. The "Who Am I" Meditation This self-reflective meditation can be a solo contemplation, a communication dyad with a friend or written in a journal. Breathe, feel and tell the truth about what is arising in your universe. Doing this act of 'truth telling' will clear the mind, soften the heart and open the body. A Simple & Pure Diet The body must have sufficient strength and stamina to continue and persist with the effort needed for intense contemplation and communication at the Retreat. A pure diet that is light enough not to burden the body and mind but nutritious enough to maintain daily activities is best. A Regular Meditation Practise A regular daily meditation practise keeps you connected to the Source, relaxes the bodymind and increases your ability to hold your attention one pointedly on what you want to directly experience. Medical research studies show that two 10 to 15 minute meditation sessions each day stimulates the Relaxation Response in your body as opposed to the Flight or Fight stress response. A Balanced Schedule of Activities The Enlightenment Retreat provides a balanced schedule of daily activities that heal, purify and awaken the body, mind and feelings to the truth of yourself. Meditative activities helps to dissolve the resistance and impurities of the body, mind, and emotions and lessens the opportunities for taking on new impurities and resistences. The Dyad Communication Technique What an incredibly simple, yet powerful technique for clearing the mind, speaking the truth and deepening understanding between yourself and others. The Dyad Technique can be used for clearing relationships, reducing stress, problem solving, spiritual awakening and more. Doing a formal dyad once a week or more with a friend or partner is a great way to nurture and awaken your soul. Check out the Knowing Your Self book of 100 dyad exercises and a gong CD with written and audio instructions on how to do dyads. Surrender & Grace The enlightenment experience is an act of surrender to that which already is. There is nothing you can do to make it happen. You can only be open to the way things actually are. You can do things to support and help create the ideal situation for the Truth to be revealed but you cannot force it to appear. It is beyond ego-mind control and beyond your desire. |
If you’ve taken an Enlightenment Intensive Retreat, you would have had some very profound experiences of transformation, healing and awakening. Those experiences birthed at the Enlightenment Retreat are like new born babies. They need tender loving care to continue their growth into maturity.
They need your attention to thrive in a world environment that is not particularly sensitive to spiritually young, vulnerable and innocent states of being.
Newly revealed states of emotional openness and spiritual elevation can easily be forgotten or covered up in the fast paced, busy, consumer driven environment of alienated modern living. Within months, weeks, or even days of their birth, they can begin to be thought of as only a dream, a fantasy or at best the memory of something past.
How can you best support the development and evolution of the new awakened reality?
You can bring some or all of the elements into your daily life that make up the supportive structure and environment of the Enlightenment Retreat.
Newly revealed states of emotional openness and spiritual elevation can easily be forgotten or covered up in the fast paced, busy, consumer driven environment of alienated modern living. Within months, weeks, or even days of their birth, they can begin to be thought of as only a dream, a fantasy or at best the memory of something past.
How can you best support the development and evolution of the new awakened reality?
You can bring some or all of the elements into your daily life that make up the supportive structure and environment of the Enlightenment Retreat.