Ocean Of Perspectives

Self Respect

The most powerful form of self respect is when you honor yourself through your words and act from a level of integrity and honesty that reflects your higher self. This means you display behavior and attitudes that reflects the values that you say you believe in. When you respect yourself, you stand by your deepest truth, know your inner most feelings and make yourself the authority of your feelings, instead of giving this authority to other people.

Believe in yourself and know that you did the best you knew how at the time, even if later you saw a better way. Allow yourself to feel good about who you are. Rest, think, take time to be alone and to be silent. Follow your own inner flow. This is how you nurture yourself and increase your self esteem.

Respect Yourself

You don’t have to be around people who don’t respect you or treat you well and if you find yourself around people like this, remember that they are not respecting you because they do not respect themselves. Not everyone you encounter is going to treat you with respect. Relationships you have with other people can only be as good as the relationship they have with themselves and vise versa. There’s no need to get angry or demand your rights. That will only create a power struggle. Accept that they can’t recognize their own greater selves, so they’re unable to recognize your greater self.

Self Worth

It’s easy to feel self worth when other people are being respectful to you. The real challenge is to respect yourself and appreciate your value when those around you do not. Acknowledging that you have self worth, allows you to let go of any need for other people to validate you. If you need people outside of yourself to validate you in order to feel good about yourself, then you’re giving away your power. It may feel good when others believe in, trust and support you; but if you want to keep your power, realize that you don’t need anyone but yourself to validate who you truly are.

Being sensitive to other people’s feelings is not the same as trying to please them. Be more aware of the effect you have on other people. The more you respect them, the more respect you will get back. Respect their worth, their time and values and you will find they will respect yours.

Respect  and value your truth

Your truth may be different from that of other people.  Don’t automatically accept someone else’s truth unless it resonates as truth for you also. You’re a special being whose dreams, fantasies and goals are just as important as anyone else’s.

Tags: personal growth by Lea
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This series of four videos is about what the creator of the series, Rob Cutter, calls the mystical path. I appreciate the first video because he discusses how people can not give us knowledge because we all have the same knowledge, it’s just that we have forgotten. Some of us has rediscovered this knowledge, while others have yet to. Masters can point us to this knowledge, but they can not sell it to us, nor will true Masters try to sell knowledge. Here is an excerpt of what Rob write on this:

Charging for a conference or a retreat is okay when you are helping make up for the cost of the event, but a “guru” cashing in on a large monetary profit should send up a red flag. I pay for psychic readings out of courtesy, but I am wary of those who do this for a business… Something enlightened masters will never do. Real Masters work for the benefit of humanity. They see humanity as their own SELF. Quietly elevating the SELF and not the ego-self is their purpose.

Rob starts the first video with a story to demonstrate how some people will try to sell you what you already have, but are unaware that you possess.

Daily Practices Mystical Magickal Path Part 1

I have used the following exercise several times in my course of developing focus, my awareness and various levels of consciousness. It a simple exercise, yet very helpful.

Daily Practices Mystical Magickal Path Part 2

Rob gives such good, practical information and guidelines that are easy to learn and use as stepping stones to discovering your higher levels of consciousness.

Daily Practices Mystical Magickal Path Part 3

This is the final part of this series. Rob mentions the various benefits of discovering your inner knowledge and power, such as raising your energy vibration, discovering your psychic abilities as you open yourself to your higher levels of consciousness. I hope you find the videos helpful on your journey and I wish you continued success.

Daily Practices Mystical Magickal Path Part 4

Tags: personal growth by Lea
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Anger as a Motivating or Destructive Force

Anger is something we all experience and can be a great motivating or destructive force. Anger can be triggered by feeling offended, betrayed, taken advantage of, being inconvenienced and countless other emotional triggers. Most times, the situation can be cleared up by talking to the other person or people involved. There are times, though, that talking it out is not possible, either because the other person is inflexible in their position, they’re unable to see your side or they’re are unavailable for one reason or another.

As I studied and practiced certain concepts on my path for self improvement and personal evolution, my perception of the things that would have previously triggered anger in me, altered until I found that I had reached a point that people’s words and behavior didn’t affect me as much as they did in the past. That is not to say I never get angry now, after all I’m not a saint or a Yogini, but if I do get angry, it’s usually to a lesser degree and dissipates quickly.

Releasing Destructive Anger

Some techniques I have found useful in releasing anger is to go for a walk. Being outside and in nature is healing, at least for me. If I find my anger is strong and more difficult to release, I will rant to myself out loud. Of course, I make sure I’m by myself when I do this and I don’t talk louder than my normal voice. If I’m out walking and ranting, by the time I return home, my anger is gone and I’m feeling more like myself.

Another method I was told about a few years ago and have found to be useful is writing out my anger on paper. After I write until I’ve exhausted all my anger, I leave it until the next day. The following day I read what I wrote, then I destroy it; some recommendations are to burn it. Sometimes I write it as a letter to the person I feel the anger towards. It’s a great way to release anger and to initiate healing from emotional wounds, whether they are old or new. I’ve also heard this method with a recommendation to write over a period of two or three days before reading it for the last time a day later. I think that might be a suggestion if your anger doesn’t show signs of dissipating after one session. Another variation suggests using a timer, set for ten minutes, while writing. Setting a time frame can help you to dig deeper into your feelings and bring them to the surface. Thoughts and feelings that might have been repressed and buried previously, need to be exposed and examined for release and healing to occur.

Some other anger release activities people use is to hit pillows or cushions, even throwing pillows at a wall, do their exercise or workout routine, either at home or at the gym. Some will do chores around the house or in the yard, etc.

Anger does have positive aspects and can be a great motivator for taking action and initiating changes that will improve ourselves or circumstances in our lives. But it also has a destructive aspect in that our emotions can distort our perceptions and thoughts in such a way that we can behave irrationally. It can also lead to feelings of resentment if we’re not able to let it go. This only leads to further misery. These destructive aspects of anger is what makes it important to find constructive ways to release it, so that we can move on to more pleasant feelings and experiences.

Tags: personal growth by Lea
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I’m still doing my online Kabbalah classes, but along with the Kabbalah classes, I’ve started reading the book, Raja-Yoga by Swami Vivekananda. I’m finding the book quite interesting, though some of the terms require me to do more research in order to have a better understanding of what Swami Vivekananda is talking about. In case Raja-Yoga is something new to you, I will give an outline of what it is.

What is Raja-Yoga?

Raja-Yoga is a spiritual discipline that is divided into eight steps:

1. Yama

None killing

Truthfulness

None stealing

Continence (self restraint)

None receiving gifts

2. Niyam

Cleanliness

Contentment

Austerity

Study

Self surrender to God, the Creator of all, or whatever your beliefs are.

Yama and niyama is moral training in thoughts, words and deeds. This includes the whole world, not just other people.

3. Asana

Postures

Asana is a series of exercises, both physical and mental, that are practiced until certain higher states are reached. These are similar to Hatha Yoga, except Hatha Yoga is more concerned with keeping the body healthy and strong. Therefore, Hatha Yoga by itself doen’t progress a person towards spirituality or enlightenment.

4. Pranayam

Control of prana

Pranayama is practiced for the purpose of controlling prana. Prana is the life sustaining force which pervades all living organisms and the universe. Though pranayama is associated with the breath, the real purpose of pranayama is control of prana, with control of breath being usually the first practice towards this goal.

5. Pratyahara

Restraint of senses from their objects, i.e. detachment

6. Dharana

Fixing the mind on a spot

Pratyahara and dharana

The mind is a slave to physical objects

Pratyahara means the withdrawal of the senses from their objects. This practice has to do with perceptions. When an external object and internal body sensors and the mind join together, they attach themselves to the external object, then it is perceived. All actions, internal and external, occur when the mind joins itself to certain centers or sensors.

Swami Vivekananda states, Willingly or unwillingly people join their minds to the centers and that is why they do foolish deeds and feel miserable. If the mind is under control they would not do these things. When we control the mind, it will not join itself to the centers of perception.

Those who has succeeded in attaching or detaching their mind to or from the centers of the senses at will, has succeeded in pratyahara; checking the outgoing powers of the mind, freeing it from the enslavement of the senses. This is a giant step towards freedom.

Practicing pratyahara and dharana

To practice pratyahara, Swami Vivekananda suggests sitting for a period of time and let the mind run. Let it go where it will while you observe its activities. The purpose of this exercise is for you to become aware of the activity of your mind. Because you have to have knowledge of what your mind is doing before you can learn to control it.

After practicing pratyahara daily for some time, then move onto dharana, which means holding the mind to certain points, i.e. forcing the mind to feel certain parts of the body, excluding other parts. Focusing on the third eye, the area between the eyebrows, would be an aspect of this practice. But it could be any part of the body you choose, such as the tip of your nose, or a hand and so forth.

7. Dhytana

Meditation

8. Samadhi

The superconscious  experience

Dhytana and samadhi

Dhytana is a state of deep meditative absorption of the mind characterized by lucid awareness and achieved by focusing the mind on a single object.

Samadhi is when the kundalini energy becomes active and consists of four meditative stages associated with the movement of the kundalini force through the spine leading ultimately to the union with God without the need for bodily fixations or a deep trance.

Though I have and do use Yoga postures, this is my first study of Yoga as a method towards self discovery and mastery as part of my spiritual journey. I also experienced the movement of Kundalini energy through my spine before I left the US to go to India. But because it was accidental, I didn’t know what triggered its movement, how to manage it or how to move it beyond the chest region.  Without a proper understanding of this energy, eventually I got caught up with events that entered my life while in India, and this energy went dormant again. But I remember the experience and have been interested in acquiring more knowledge on this powerful energy force.

I’ve been meditating for a few years now, but I haven’t been experimenting much lately in my sessions. So for my meditation practice, I will bring back the experientations I have used in the past, as well as add disciplines mentioned in the book that I haven’t used before. I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of results I get.

Tags: personal growth by Lea
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