A new vantage point...

By Vichara

The innocence of the heart can only be revealed when chronic skepticism is torn from the fabric of the person and an open space is created for the heart to discover that it really is not a truly bad world. Bad comes from indifference and the lack of compassion. When your vision is refracted by intolerance and dismissive behavior it becomes myopic and you will always have great difficulty in connecting with the world in a truly meaningful manner. While a innocent heart can be interpreted or viewed as naïve and Pollyanna like the vision from this vantage point is much more expansive and is filtered with much more acceptance. But if you prefer to live in a narrow hallway that has little to choose from or to see that is your choice. My guess is that for the most opening up the expansive window or vision with innocence is preferable and more enjoyable than existing in the hallway of indifference.

The path...

By Vichara

One of the reasons we are “here” is not necessarily to solve things but to discover things that illicite more discussion, more discovery and interaction. It is in this interaction we discover the seeds of communion that unites us. The more union of thought the more there is an opportunity to see beyond the maya that is set up as a stumbling block and to lead one another on to a clearer path. This is sometimes not so easily obtained with the many diversions that are set up in our paths. However we can try to take a collective step back, blow away the smoke and turn the mirrors away. It is here is the vista is much more defined and from here the path is clearer. Remember this is a “buddy” system, when one falters it is up to us all to help the other back on to the path.

Balance...

By Vichara

You can’t take care of things unless you are taking care of yourself. For the most part there is no AAA that can be used; it’s up to you. The methodology for the external is fairly simple. Eat well-balanced nutritious meals, keep yourself hydrated, enjoy some physical activity on a regular basis, try to refrain from excessive abuse in using alcohol or drugs and get enough rest. The maintenance of the internal can be far more rigorous and challenging. The corridors of the mind can be fraught with anxieties and frustration. It can run to the extreme ends of pure joy and love. The key to the maintenance for the internal is not as pragmatic as the external but their success is both based on balance, the middle way. We all know how we feel when we overindulge and for some of us we know when there is a complete void of both love and nutrition. This is not an avocation of an austere lifestyle but a promotion of leading a balanced life filled with exploration tempered with compassion. From this vista you will gain access to the tools that will not only engage you to take care of yourself successfully but also the world around you – internally and externally.

Lesson your suffering...

By Vichara

Right view, right resolve, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration. Some may recognize these from the Buddhist “eightfold path”. Guideposts that leads to the cessation of suffering. Regardless of where they come from they are powerful things to set in place to create a mindset that encourages and helps us lead better lives. Can we achieve all of these, yes. Will it be easy to achieve all of these, no. There are many temptations linked to desires that will be tempting. They are “smoke and mirrors” of Maya presenting itself daily in our lives. While in any culture the desires to obtain, own, hold and collect is difficult to overcome but in those with media manipulation it becomes even harder. Recognizing this fact is half the battle but from that perspective you can gain a better resolve and create a starting point where you can build the foundation of components of the eightfold path and lesson your individual suffering and of course lesson suffering globally.

Your mound of clay...

By Vichara

The day is like clay and you are the sculpture. There are various elements that may be difficult to bend, to twist and to shape the way you want to but it is all yours to create. While there may be some individuals that will try to lend a hand wither willingly or unwillingly the end result is still your responsibility. You are the creator. Take this mound of clay that is your day and create a thing of beauty, grace and compassion and tomorrow you get to create another one.

Smoke & mirrors...

By Vichara

So much smoke and mirrors. We have been conditioned to believe most of what we see is the reality we need. But if we dare to look behind the curtain we will see the wizard(s) pushing buttons and pulling levers to manipulate how they want us to think and feel. For the most part we know this but there is a tendency to ignore this truth and shrug it off like someone shooing away a bothersome fly. The thing is the fly or flies will always come back. Now I’m not saying we should cloister ourselves but always keep in mind that for the most part what we see is someone else’s folly. What I am suggesting, if you are so inclined and up for the challenge, is to take of the day and put aside the smoke and mirrors. Shut it all off and anchor yourself with your own thoughts and feelings and breathe. Find a place, even for a little while, where you can be the “director” and not be controlled by the wizard.

A guide post for today...

By Vichara

“What the outstanding person does, others will try to do. The standards such people create will be followed by the whole world”. Taken from the Bhagavad-Gita that dates back between the 5th and 2nd century B.C. These words have even more relevance considering the moral and political changes we are witnessing. There is a need and cry to cut away the obese malignant weeds of greed and excess and to form a new standard of fairness and compassion. “The ignorant work for their own profit, the wise work for the welfare of the world, without thought for themselves”. Again form the Gita. This short 18-chapter book was used, as the moral compass for M. Gandhi for most of his life and even today still can be one of the many texts to guide our lives. “Perform all work carefully, guided by compassion”.

Even more fear...

By Vichara

There are some days that I am truly frightened with our lives that exist on this tenuous thread. The fragility on many levels where something is here then gone in an instant. Of course this is the nature of life and the built-in impermanence of everything but I still have this fear. But what and how do we deal with this type of fear? Platitudes are merely balm and even if applied generously will still fade away to expose the fear again. Perhaps we take it by the hand and bring it closer and by this intimacy see the fragility in it and realize how small it really can be. It is a process that we sometimes need to enlist to expose that what needs attention and release. We all have this ability; we just need to ensure that we engage this as always with compassion for ourselves.

More fear...

By Vichara

Perhaps you may feel like an island of sanity sometimes when some around you and the world behaves with a self-centered irrational manner. You are not alone. The revving and screaming tires of the car cutting you off today, the pompous self-entitlement look someone may give you and some erratic irrational act that has you shaking your head. All of these are based in fear. Fear that they have not being noticed, fear that they didn’t deserve things in life, fear that no one cares for them and numerous shades of fear. We all have fears in one way or another as the world spins in unpleasant and unpredictable ways. The antidote lies in first recognizing this fact and not over reacting when you witness acts of fear. Instead employ patience and compassion with yourself and others to help disperse fear. It will be with this engagement where the remedy and relief will be found.

Personal legacies...

By Vichara

All our daily actions are tempered by knowledge and guidance given to us by others who have helped or hindered us and of course what is read and seen. All of our senses ingesting and digesting the best and the worst of humanity. If one were given only violence, one would only know violence. If one were given compassion, one would only know compassion. Unfortunately and fortunately the world does not work that way. It is a collection of competing contrasts that present themselves to us and ask us to judge and act accordingly. How we act will be how the world sees us. How do you want to be seen and remembered? Our personal legacies may not be as large as people like Rosa Parks, Gandhi, Einstein and others but it is no less important. Each step, word and deed counts and will be counted.

Are you present?...

By Vichara

We tend not to notice “it” unless “it” doesn’t work. In this case the “it” is time we have been given…life. I was listening to a doctor discussing the many patients he deals with that have Alzheimer’s disease. With each hour, day and week for these people they lose parts of memory and recognition. For those of us who remember old analog tapes (cassettes and yes even 8-Tracks), it is like having complete or parts of songs erased…for good never to be returned or remembered. So yes this turning out to be a “being present” thought. That engagement of love given to you by your husband / wife / friend, be present with it now. That sense of joy of a new discovery, be present it with it now. That song that is connecting with your heart be present with it now. Be present now because this moment will not be here later.

Demarkation point...

By Vichara

If there is an acknowledgement within yourself for a desire to change, you are half way there. If your awareness of the world around you is heightened, the seed is already planted. If you find yourself talking about social and moral values, the shift has already happened. Sooner or later (and hopefully sooner) awareness arises inside you and creates the catalyst for change. It then moves your dialogue from internal to external. From this point you will be drawn to other voices that will encourage your steps and like kindred souls finally meeting will set down a demarcation point for change. Not only for you but the world around you. But please remember to be kind to yourself and move forward with patience, love and compassion.

Do something small that's big...

By Vichara

The world will keep turning no matter what happens. Unless George Lucas knows of a Death Star hovering nearby I believe we’ll go on spinning. So what do we do while on this ride? Bitch, complain, or whine that there is nothing we can do to help out the world condition? If you feel helpless stop and pull back from thinking on a large scale where we may not have all the tools to be effective and refocus on perhaps the smaller. From small gestures and compassionate acts you will build a foundation and see immediate results and a sense of purpose. Try a couple today. Send a sill postcard through the regular mail just to say hi to someone. Put a post-it note in someone’s sock with a message that you care. Call someone for no apparent reason just to let him or her know you were thinking of him or her. Call your brother, sister, whomever. Small things create big things for you and those around you.

Leave it behind...

By Vichara

Over the last number of years there has been an extreme blending of our work lives and our personal, much to the detriment of both. With the increased use of technology it allows those “little notes” that may seem like harmless work issues to follow us home. A wise man said “when we put a leash on our work and bring it home like a pet poodle yapping at our heels, we are neither here or there, neither at work nor at home which means we are not going to be at home anywhere.” Try to separate from it, turn it off. You tend to the poodle for roughly 8 hours a day which leaves maybe 4 hours for you and home before slumber. Leave the poodle at work.

Keep curious!...

By Vichara

For the sake of the future of mankind keep curious! Don’t be spoon-fed ideas, concepts and dreams. Remember the excitement when you would turn over a rock to see what was underneath? Use this same methodology for everyday. The mass media wants you to listen, buy, use and watch what they are showing you unconditionally. Don’t be a sucker to a traveling medicine show and be curious. Ask question and keep those sparks flying in your brain. Engage others, kids, friends and parents to use their brains for more than receptacle for someone else’s ideas, thoughts and stories.

The root...

By Vichara

So much time and energy is focused on the symptoms and side affects but there is sometimes a failure to look at the “root” of the situation. Is there an inability to understand the importance, an emotional disconnecting, a physical challenge, and a reluctance that would expose the inefficiencies of particular situations? We all dance around the causes in an effort not to be drawn into the turmoil but it is in the middle of the turmoil where the strong impetus will lay to initiate the change, the cure and the answers. If we do not address the root(s) of situations it will ultimately create more challenges that will compound on the existing ones and like a flock of sheep run away on you. Round up these sheep and shear them of these situational causes and effects and get to the root.

The fuse is lit...

By Vichara

I would like to take a moment to quote from one of my favorite spiritual writers, Eknath Easwaran. If you are not familiar with this wonderful professor I highly recommend him to you. “So much energy is spent on trying to rise above the fray in order to understand our place in our own lifetime. We are also bound by the limitations that time places on our body and mind. With the fuse lit when we are born we most of the time fail to see the lit fuse until there is very little of it left before we combust from this world to whatever is next”. I know it may seem difficult to do but try to recognize your fuse is lit. Not to create a heightened sense of urgency but to enhance the quality of each moment and elevate the presence of each day from a series of mundane moments to a cavalcade of joy.

A change in perception...

By Vichara

A slight change in perception will often lead you to discoveries that you would normally pass over. In our daily activities there are many elements of repetition and I bet you are nodding your head as you read this. But like a fine craftsman / woman repeatedly buffing a fine piece of metal or wood it will soon reveal a beauty that only comes from diligent and careful focus. While we may view some activities as plainly boring these movements of mind and body could reveal to you and those around you a hidden treasure that will help you and others. Reflect in the mundane and through diligence discover something that could change many perceptions

The cautionary clock...

By Vichara

It’s funny we will gauge from the weather outside what protection we will need for our physical bodies but there are many times that we blindly enter situations without protection for our heart. It may not be totally that reckless but there are times we do not button up the cautionary cloak. We can sometimes see things heading our way by certain emotional tremors that could be radiating but we may ignore them. In those cases you have nobody else to blame if there is emotional upset. You are solely responsible to make that trip to the emotional closet as you encounter situations that could have an impact. We all have experienced those for some reason that seek and exploit the weakness in others. Do not give them this opportunity or pleasure. It is in their deluded actions that will fracture their foundation and lead to their fall. If you wear the jacket of integrity and compassion it will protect you from the elements of emotional storms.

The currency of the heart...

By Vichara

There was this very popular movie where the lead actor stated that greed is good. Somehow amassing a large personal collection of metal coins and paper will solve and can solve whatever you may need. Why yes since our world is set up in a manner where this currency is the means to obtain goods and services no matter how large your collection it will only sustain you, it will not save you. If you are lying in a hospital bed with death nearby this coin and paper will only keep machines going, not you. A dear friend once told me that he had never seen a U-Haul truck behind a hearse. Use these coins and paper to sustain you within reason but remember the currency of the heart is far more valuable to the world. The more you spend of this currency through love, patience and compassion the more it will return on your investment.