Day 139 - A Year to Clear - Change the Channel

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Lesson 139: Change the Channel

Today is about watching some good TV and some bad TV. If you don’t really watch TV, use music. The exercise is to be more mindful and really tune in to how your body reacts to the differences. You want to choose a show or music that really uplifts you – makes you laugh, smile and bring about general goodness. Then you want to watch a show or listen to music that “dumbs you down, scares you, or numbs you”. Write down your experiences and every time you feel a rise or negative thought pop up, you want to note the emotions, the body sensations and what’s going through your mind. Every time a negative thought comes into play, remember to use the words “strike that” to allow the channel to be changed from your monkey mind.

So, when I was at one of my jobs today, I was dancing around in the store because Viking folk music was playing. For some reason it always makes me feel good and want to dance, so I do. Didn’t even care if a customer walked in, I just went with the music. I really enjoy Viking folk music.

I’m not going to listen to the music that makes me feel like insects crawling in my skin and that’s heavy death metal type of music. I can’t stand the screaming and I just want it to be over. I don’t understand how anyone can listen to that type of music, but each to their own. The only negative I know that flows through my head at that point is “this is shit” so I applied a “strike that”. I was shaking my head as I was imagining that music playing, so I applied a “strike that” to that also.

I now understand the exercise – we don’t have to allow negative thoughts to swamp us if we just let it go. Yes, it can enter your mind, but you don’t have to hold onto it and let it dwell upon you. Just have the thought and let it escape as quickly as it entered. Gosh, this is going to be a hard practise but good for our overall mental wellbeing.

There is a lot of work to do and it’s going to take time.

Day 92 - A Year of Spiritual Awakening - To Be Holy...

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Lesson 92: To Be Holy...

“Lesson 92: To be holy does not mean to be mistake free! To be holy does not mean to be perfect! To be holy is to be everything: to hold complete integration of your human and Divine being, in one body.”

— Sara Wiseman

Today is about thinking about the notion of “good” and “bad”. We are all conditioned with this concept - We feel good, we feel bad, that person is good, that person is bad etc. But what would happen if we did away with this? What if things were just as they were, neither good or bad. Whatever our situations or experiences, they just simply are. We make decisions that might turn out to be mistakes, but we should simply treat it as a decision that didn’t go according to plan, rather than saying it was a bad decision. We do things to make us feel really good, rather than to feel bad, but can’t we just categorise it as assisting in our own self-care?

We all are just all encompassing beings. The energy flows and it just is. Everything flows in and everything flows out. We accumulate experiences and it’s about achieving oneness to it all. This isn’t an easy concept to embrace. In fact, I think it’s quite difficult to train your brain into another way of thinking that is governed by society. I am currently trying to do away with the concept of “good” and “bad”, and just accept things as they are. You almost have to apply that saying “it is what it is” to do away with “good” and “bad”. I am trying to accept people as they are as well as situations. You really have to change your ways to be this accepting of this foreign concept and go with it. Definitely easier said than done, but definitely do try it! Let people and situations be as they are without any categorisation or judgement. It’s about being open to it all.

Day 71 - A Year of Spiritual Awakening - Animals Hold No Morality...

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Lesson 71: Animals Hold No Morality...

Like the lesson title suggests, animals do not hold any morality. Reading over the lesson, it talks about how animals have “no shadow” which I believe is true. They love unconditionally and don’t hold malice towards any being. They exist with purest intentions. By accepting this notion of animals, they are said to be “fully integrated beings” which is the same for most creations of nature – the sun, mountains, trees, plants, wind, the moon, babies. The idea is to accept that you can live in this way, accepting who you are and this is meant to be the Divine.

The exercise for today is to look for “good trees” and “bad trees” and see how the concept of good and bad don’t apply. Can you hold the same notion for yourself? Because apparently it is true for you.

I know I have struggled with this notion in previous lessons. And honestly, I just can’t say it’s right in all aspects. I get the concept of getting rid of this idea of “good” and “bad”. I understand that the idea is to accept all of your thoughts and actions as just simply you. It kind of follows the idea that we’re not perfect, we all have flaws and it’s about accepting it all as you.

Where I disagree is that us humans are not all the same. For instance, a person who kills another person, I see as bad. I don’t see how this action is in any way good, but going off this lesson, if we do away with morality, am I or that killer just meant to accept that as Divine? I don’t think so. If this lesson is all about everyone simply accepting ourselves for who we are, shouldn’t I look upon that person as immoral? I don’t think compassion in this instance is necessarily a good thing, when there are some people with psychological issues to purposely harm others. It’s these type of situations I think about where I don’t agree with us doing away with morality completely. I just can’t accept that someone causing harm is their true selves and I am meant to accept that about them.

I think if we want to find some inner peace, we can definitely look at our own morality and do away with it within ourselves in order to reach a Divine state. But to be away with it as a whole, I just don’t think I can do away with morals. I’d like to think we could live with this idealism and sounds like that could be a peaceful society to live in, but it’s something every single person would have to take on in order to achieve something so beautiful. If we are about getting rid of good and bad in ourselves to accept the light and dark parts wholly and truly, then yes, I think it’s an awakening. Do I think we should do away with morality towards others? Definitely not.

Day 69 - A Year of Spiritual Awakening - The Idea of Being Good...

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Lesson 69: The Idea of Being Good...

Today’s lesson is quite controversial but at the same time, it’s not. We tend to live with this notion that we need to be good, being bad is not good and therefore, if we aren’t good then we are bad. We live with negative things in this world with a lot positive also. We live where the Divine touches our lives but also the wicked can also. We can argue that we have bad thoughts but also good ones. There is always a natural flow of the two, and the lesson is about accepting your whole self without the attachment of always classifying yourself as good nor bad.

Today is about thinking about the idea of nice, healthy, good etc versus the idea of rebellion, not fitting in, bad etc. This all whilst asking if we think either is “true”.

This lesson is tough for me to talk about, in the sense that I get what it’s teaching, but I believe doing good deeds go a long way. I get the modality of having a yin and yang type of balance, completely understand that, but I believe in a type of karma of being good to others will allow a positive vibration, which naturally carries to others. I think yes, we have a bad side and I can accept that we’re not perfect in any way. We make mistakes, we get to lows we never thought we could, we aren’t always good decision makers etc. It’s in our make up to learn from failures and grow to overcome them.

I also believe that there are bad people out there whom purposely go out of their way to make other people’s lives miserable. Do I want to consider that I’m on the same level as those types of people? Not particularly, no. The lesson is to do away with thinking “good” is where you need to be. Just accept all the flows of both good and bad within you. Yep I can do that, but do I really want to be without the concept of good when not everyone is good?

As you can see I don’t necessarily agree with this lesson. I don’t think that we all are necessarily balanced in both good and bad, nor should we be. Sure, we go through one extreme to another but some people choose to reside in more good and some reside in more bad. Do I really want to give up the notion of being “good” when it’s placed against a “bad” person? I think we should always tip the scales to good.