New Year 3 – Self-empowerment...

You may not know, but the reason you fail to fulfill your purest and highest resolutions for this new year is that you lack power.

Power is what makes you overcome the different barriers that life usually places on us. It is therefore important that you generate a routine of self-empowerment. I share mine as an example:

• Every day I wake up to experience raja yoga meditation for almost an hour. Meditation may not be your thing, but there are several things you can do such as praying, reflecting or walking in the middle of nature, with a clear purpose.
• A short while later, I study daily; it is a spiritual class which objective is to give me elements to change my life and live it better. Instead of receiving news, usually bad, focus on receiving a knowledge that uplifts you.
• During the day, I meditate and reflect on the daily class or other similar sources of knowledge; it is important for me to maintain this state of consciousness. Looking for the continuous flow of knowledge that uplifts you is fundamental in your work, even doing breaks for your self-improvement.
• An important thing I found out and included in my routine is to serve others in some way. Volunteer service generates an enormous amount of power.
• Finally, I OBSERVE MYSELF DAILY; I see what I could change and find out what I couldn't. Self-observation, even if it is not followed up with decisions or changes, may transform reality.

The essence of meditation

When there is a big problem you can’t resolve, it is common that you just let your mind fly a bit, beyond the problem…

When you are so happy that laughter cannot express it and you decide that, instead of sharing with others, you just let your thoughts fly very high…

When you are feeling so peaceful that your mind gets calmed and even reality seems to slow down…

Meditating is basically to abstract yourself from reality and turn your mind – which generates thoughts, ideas, feelings and emotions – towards something else.

By meditating you allow yourself to go out of the box you are at the moment and find other possibilities, other avenues to ride the chariot of your mind.

I have been meditating for almost 40 years and although I can name you at least 10 benefits and I can describe the method to meditating by heart, I still have to capture its essence every single day.

Because every day my mind tries to dive into the problems that come up in my life.

Every time I am happy, my mind generates so many thoughts on how to share that happiness with others.

Whenever I get some moments of peace, I want to go to sleep or just relax by watching or reading something.

To meditate may be a struggle, or a game in which you are the one who will be victorious. It depends on several factors, but with a good method, you will be able to control your mind.

However, the essence of meditation is not about controlling; it is about liberating and focusing. I have learned that, instead of controlling my thoughts and mind, I can free them from several subtle chains and I focus onto something powerful and beautiful.

When the mind finds solutions, pleasure or peace in that direction, meditation becomes natural, the struggle ends and you win this subtle game.

 

Do you want to meditate?

I recommend you go to Brahma Kumaris and check the raja yoga meditation.

The magic in meditation

Less than 40 years ago, I was going through a crisis. Although in hindsight it was quite a typical teenager crisis, for me it was the end of the world.

Then I got in touch with meditation and I have learned a very beautiful technique, raja yoga, imparted by the BrahmaKumaris in my city, Sao Paulo, Brazil. And it was magical…

No matter how much people talk about benefits of meditation, I feel it does not cover the reality because of its impact on my life. Just a few things that happened to me:

• When I started to meditate I clarified my goals in life. In this way, I could manage my existence as a leader of myself.
• My health started to improve in all levels.
• My relationships… I was able to get rid of expectation and start the journey of acceptance.
• I was also able to leave my shyness and start a professional career that was worthwhile.

In relation to meditation, magic is not so much in transforming stone into water, but to shape the stone in such a way that is capable to hold the water.

This is a series of posts on MAGIC…

P.S. Check also this video in my channel - https://youtu.be/ijD9atWiM6M

To meditate is very productive

Many people nowadays talk about the benefits of meditation in terms of productivity and several companies are investing in creating spaces for this practice. But much before all of that, I was already meditating…

To meditate gives me three important things that I think closely are related to productivity:

• Concentration. I will be clear and confess that my concentration power if very poor… but meditation helps in terms of increasing it. When I meditate, I develop a powerful habit of thinking of one thing only, or very few ones, which is useful when I am working or any other situation that implies productivity.
• Detachment. It is not a Zen attitude, it is something fundamental to have a good work life and yet, keep the balance with the rest of your life. But, if you like philosophy, it is said in the Gita: All the time your hands are doing, your mind should be on God.
• Power. If you go beyond the relaxation that meditation provides and the sense of abstract, you will find that to meditate is an excellent recharger. The reason is that connects you with some more powerful source, giving you power just like when you think of someone you admire, you feel stronger.

Now, you may ask which type of meditation is the best. I do raja yoga, and I love it, but I am aware people are different and it is important you do the type of meditation with which you get more benefit.

I hope this helps you to be more productive! Check my post on productivity too.

https://lookingformorethanjob.blogspot.com/2019/06/tips-of-productivity.html

Meditation changes your reality

In 2015, Indian Prime Minister Modi persuaded United Nations to declare June 21^st as the International Day of Yoga. Since then, important celebrations are held worldwide.

I practice yoga since I was 18, but… there is a but here. Almost all the times we talk about yoga, the image in people’s minds is of crossing legs or doing impossible poses. That is not my type of yoga.

Yoga is not only physical; its area is broad and wide. Its practice will depend on what you really want to do with your body, mind and spirit.

For the body, yoga gives a self-control that it is almost impossible to get from anywhere else. It is healthy, but it is not only healthy, it is a healing process. I know many people who practice a physical type of yoga and I tell you, it is wonderful, and even though I don’t, raja yoga also works for my body and I have experience healing many times.

For the mind, the best part of any yoga practice would be the meditation – would be as many people don’t meditate, they just jump into the exercise. That is the reason all great masters of yoga went to very isolated places for their practice, as meditation is revered as key to their success; the first stage of yoga is meditation – and that is what changes reality, as perceptions shift and the person experiences a renew in their lives.

For the soul, meditation reconnects you, after all so much is happening at present and although we are fully connected to the world, very often we find ourselves zero connected to the inner core: what do I really want? Ikigai, other philosophies and techniques try to make people stop and reflect, going back to their source, and so they act as a type of yoga.

When yoga helps you to connect with your own self, reality changes… well, reality will probably be the same, however as you are connected to the purest energy that exists within you, that energy pours through your life, changing your reaction to situations and helping you to focus on the good side of circumstances.

A yogi will look at reality with love, determination and courage, even though reality looks at them in a frightening way…

On this special day, and as much as you can during the year, spend some time in yoga and meditation…