A blog on understanding your 'self' – and for lovers and teachers of interfaith as inter-spiritual living. It's an ongoing stream of interspiritual Nondual & interfaith resources for realizing happiness by finding our way home to our true Self.
A post by Dr Mercola includes a section on ‘The Benefits of Meditation’ in relation to anxiety. you can find it HERE
The Benefits of Meditation
Meditation is another option that can help you combat anxiety in the long-term. One style of meditation is mindfulness—a directed-attention, waking state practice in which you keep bringing your attention back to the now. It’s a practice of single-tasking, originally developed for monks, who remain focused on the present moment in all activities. Besides improving your focus and boosting your mental cognition, mindfulness training helps relieve feelings of stress and anxiety.
If you think about it, nothing is uncertain in the NOW. You know exactly where you are and what you’re doing right this very moment, so by focusing on your direct experience in the present, uncertainty-driven anxiety can be reduced. With practice, you’ll likely lower your “intolerance of uncertainty” score.
It’s now becoming more well-known that meditation actually changes your brain.16 The increased calm and quiet you feel is not an imaginary effect. Neuroscientist Sara Lazar has used brain scans to look at the meditating brain, which shows that long-term meditators have an increased amount of gray matter in the insula and sensory regions. They also have more gray matter in the frontal cortex, an area associated with memory and executive decision making.
After just eight weeks, people who took part in a mindfulness meditation study, meditating 40 minutes per day, were able to shrink their amygdala—the part of your brain that governs your fight or flight response, and plays a significant role in anxiety, fear, and general stress. A smaller amygdala correlates to reduced stress and anxiety.
ACCEPTING – “You are accepted!” … accepted by that which is greater than you and the name of which you do not know. Do not ask the name now, perhaps you will know it later. Do not try to do anything, perhaps later you will do much. Do not seek for anything, do not perform anything, do not intend anything. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted. – – Paul Tillich
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AMBIGUITY – The awareness of the ambiguity of one’s highest achievements (as well as one’s deepest failures) is a definite symptom of maturity. – Paul Tillich
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ANGER “Anger is a noble infirmity; the generous failing of the just; the one…”
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ART AS SUBJECTIVITY – Since the last decades of the nineteenth century, revolt against the objectified world has determined the character of art and literature. (Paul Tillich)
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ASTONISHMENT – Astonishment is the root of philosophy. (Paul Tillich)
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AUTHORITY – The passion for truth is silenced by answers which have the weight of undisputed authority. – Paul Tillich
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AWARENESS – The awareness of the ambiguity of one’s highest achievements (as well as one’s deepest failures) is a definite symptom of maturity. – Paul Tillich
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BECOMING AS FULFILLING PERSONAL DESTINY – Man is asked to make of himself what he is supposed to become to fulfill his destiny. (Paul Tillich)
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BEING AVOIDANCE – Neurosis is the way of avoiding non-being by avoiding being
~ Paul Tillich
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BEING GRASPED – Religion is the state of being grasped by an ultimate concern, a concern which qualifies all other concerns as preliminary and which itself contains the answer to the question of a meaning of our life. – Paul Tillich
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BEING RELIGIOUS – “Being religious means asking passionately the question of the meaning of our existence and being willing to receive answers, even if the answers hurt.” – Paul Tillich
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BOREDOM – Boredom is rage spread thin. (Paul Tillich)
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CONCERN – Religion is the state of being grasped by an ultimate concern, a concern which qualifies all other concerns as preliminary and which itself contains the answer to the question of a meaning of our life. – Paul Tillich
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COURAGE – The courage to be is the courage to accept oneself, in spite of being unacceptable. – Paul Tillich
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COURAGE TO BE – The courage to be is rooted in the God who appears when God has disappeared in the anxiety of doubt. (Paul Tillich)
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CRUELTY – Cruelty towards others is always also cruelty towards ourselves. ~ Paul Tillich
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CYNICISM – Cynically speaking, one could say that it is true to life to be cynical about it. (Paul Tillich)
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DECISION-MAKING – Decision is a risk rooted in the courage of being free. (Paul Tillich)
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DEPRESSION – Depression is rage spread thin. – Paul Tillich
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DEPTH – He who knows about depth knows about God. (Paul Tillich)
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DOING SMALL THINGS – We can do not great things – only small things with great love. (Paul Tillich)
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DOUBT AS FAITH – “Doubt is not the opposite of faith; it is one element of faith” – Paul Tillich
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FAILURE – He who risks and fails can be forgiven. He who never risks and never fails is a failure in his whole being. – Paul Tillich
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FAITH – Faith is the state of being ultimately concerned. – Paul Tillich
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FAITH AS BEING GRASPED – Faith is an act of a finite being who is grasped by, and turned to, the infinite. – Paul Tillich
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FEAR – Fear is the absence of faith. – Paul Tillich
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FEAR v ANXIETY – Fear, as opposed to anxiety, has a definite object, which can be faced, analyzed, attacked, endured… anxiety has no object, or rather, in a paradoxical phrase, its object is the negation of every object. (Paul Tillich)
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FREEDOM – Decision is a risk rooted in the courage of being free – Paul Tillich
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GOD – Faith consists in being vitally concerned with that ultimate reality to which I give the symbolical name of God. Whoever reflects earnestly on the meaning of life is on the verge of an act of faith. – Paul Tillich
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HELP – There is no love which does not become help. – Paul Tillich
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HUMAN BEING – The character of human life, like the character of the human condition, like the character of all life, is “ambiguity”: the inseparable mixture of good and evil, the true and false, the creative and destructive forces – both individual and social.- – Paul Tillich
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HU-MAN-ITY – Man is asked to make of himself what he is supposed to become to fulfill his destiny. – Paul Tillich
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KNOWING GOD – He who knows about depth knows about God. (Paul Tillich)
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LANGUAGE, LONLINESS & SOLITUDE – Our language has wisely sensed the two sides of being alone. It has created the word loneliness to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word solitude to express the glory of being alone. – Paul Tillich
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LISTENING – The first duty of love is to listen. (Paul Tillich)
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LONLINESS – Our language has wisely sensed the two sides of being alone. It has created the word “loneliness” to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word “solitude” to express the glory of being alone – Paul Tillich
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LOVE AS HELP – There is no love which does not become help – Paul Tillich
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LOVE AS THE BLOOD OF LIFE – For love … is the blood of life, the power of reunion in the separated.- Paul Tillich
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MEANING – Being religious means asking passionately the question of the meaning of our existence and being willing to receive answers, even if the answers hurt. – Paul Tillich
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MEANING OF EXISTENCE – Being religious means asking passionately the question of the meaning of our existence and being willing to receive answers, even if the answers hurt. – Paul Tillich
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MEANING SEEKING AS FAITH – Faith consists in being vitally concerned with that ultimate reality to which I give the symbolical name of God. Whoever reflects earnestly on the meaning of life is on the verge of an act of faith. – Paul Tillich
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NEUROSIS – Neurosis is the way of avoiding non-being by avoiding being (The Courage To Be) – Paul Tillich
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NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION – We can speak without voice to the trees and the clouds and the waves of the sea. Without words they respond through the rustling of leaves and the moving of clouds and the murmuring of the sea. – Paul Tillich
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PHILOSOPHY – Astonishment is the root of philosophy. – Paul Tillich
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QUEST FOR MEANING – Faith consists in being vitally concerned with that ultimate reality to which I give the symbolical name of God. Whoever reflects earnestly on the meaning of life is on the verge of an act of faith. – Paul Tillich
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QUESTIONING – Being religious means asking passionately the question of the meaning of our existence and being willing to receive answers, even if the answers hurt. (Paul Tillich)
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RAGE – Boredom is rage spread thin – Paul Tillich
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REALITY – Faith consists in being vitally concerned with that ultimate reality to which I give the symbolical name of God. Whoever reflects earnestly on the meaning of life is on the verge of an act of faith – Paul Tillich
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REFLECTION AS FAITH – “Faith consists in being vitally concerned with that ultimate reality to which I give the symbolical name of God. Whoever reflects earnestly on the meaning of life is on the verge of an act of faith.” – Paul Tillich
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RELIGION AS ULTIMATE CONCERN – Religion is the state of being grasped by an ultimate concern, a concern which qualifies all other concerns as preliminary and which itself contains the answer to the question of a meaning of our life. – Paul Tillich
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RISKING – He who risks and fails can be forgiven. He who never risks and never fails is a failure in his whole being. (Paul Tillich)
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SINGING YOUR SONG – If my tongue were trained to measures, I would sing a stirring song. (Paul Tillich)
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SOLITUDE – Our language has wisely sensed the two sides of being alone. It has created the word “loneliness” to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word “solitude” to express the glory of being alone – Paul Tillich
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SPEAKING OF GOD – I hope for the day when everyone can speak again of God without embarrassment. (Paul Tillich)
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SYMBOLIC EXPRESSION – Man’s ultimate concern must be expressed symbolically, because symbolic language alone is able to express the ultimate. (Paul Tillich)
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ULTIMATE REALITY – Faith consists in being vitally concerned with that ultimate reality to which I give the symbolical name of God. Whoever reflects earnestly on the meaning of life is on the verge of an act of faith.” – Paul Tillich
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WORK AS PLEASURE – The joy about our work is spoiled when we perform it not because of what we produce but because of the pleasure with which it can provide us, or the pain against which it can protect us.- Paul Tillich
The Credit Crunch and Managing Motivation: goal-set to motivate your success through ‘singing’ your ‘uni-verse’
In my work as a life-coach I energize people to get from where they are at, to where they want to be.
Getting in tune with your self and your life’s purpose is central to such achievement and success. Getting in tune with you self and your life’s purpose is a matter of harmonization.
Chinese wisdom places great emphasis on harmony. Inner and outer harmony are both important.
Outer harmony depends on inner harmony.
Inner harmony depends on being, doing and having in relation to our life purpose – i.e. getting alignment.
We need to get alignment between head and heart, and between the activities of our inner and outer lives. Then we get ‘flow’ – when we are able to function in energized harmony – like an athlete ‘in the zone’. Episodes of silence are vital.
If we are in a situation we don’t see as getting us toward our dream then ‘see it differently’ – that is see it as a stepping stone, as opposed to a mill-stone!
Decide on your life’s purpose – don’t worry it will evolve via experience – and further reflection.
Just DECIDE and START! (‘Ready. Fire. Aim!)
Set your goals – and work your goals day by day. How? – here’s one way great way.
For every day draw 4 circles. 1st circle = My Lifelong Dream,
2nd circle = My Year,
3rd circle = My month,
4th circle = My day.
Keep the 4 circles of your personal universe in harmony via working to your daily goal-setting.
The ‘universe’ as Wayne Dyer reminds us means ‘one song’.
Live your life singing your single, harmonised, song and you will succeed.
Harmony here is what enables us to be focused, and motivated.
Plan and work every day to achieve toward your monthly goals – etc.
Periodically adjust them all according to each other, so you have the motivation of always operating in a single, harmonized universe.
Keep the dream sharply visualized.
Don’t be afraid of adjustments – think of life as a ship’s journey – course corrections are inevitable and necessary.
Occasionally remind yourself of these two quotations;
1 “If you don’t think about the future, you won’t have one.” Henry Ford
2 “The future enters into us, in order to transform itself in us, long before it happens.” – Rainer Maria Rilke
Rainer Maria Rilke’s statement takes us even deeper by telling us that we create our future by what we are. The current master of ‘being’ is Eckhart Tolle.
Have fun singing your song. Keep the dream – even if a ‘credit crunch’ means you have to do stuff that is a temporary delay.
Sometimes just surviving is the biggest step you can make that particular day – but that day in the future will be seen as being just as important – because you didn’t give up!
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NB This article was inspired by Steve Chandler’s brilliant ‘100 Ways to Motivate Yourself’, one of my Top 10 Personal Development texts.
Soul Needs - One Garden 