tiny shifts

When the mind, body and soul are in balance, life feels more tailored to fit.  I've spent a lot of time working on cleansing and balancing myself through meditation, reading, crystals, reiki, journaling, conversations with friends, self-reflection and, most importantly, mindfulness.  From what I've learned over the past few years of being a dedicated Explorer of the Universe, it's not the big shifts that create beautiful balance, it's the tiny ones.  The ones that are barely noticeable.  And when the subtle shift occurs, perspective is altered and a different picture is revealed.

More often than not, it's one simple yet beautiful thought that deepens my spiritual outlook.  For me, these thoughts are so meaningful and colorful.  So once a week (or whenever :-), I'll share ideas that I find or I have found under the headline "Tiny Shifts".  They may speak to you, they may not.  But to those who are in the right place at the right time, I hope you feel a tiny shift, too.

I won't interpret.  Apply the words below to yourself as you see fit and please feel free to share your feelings here anonymously or otherwise.

An excerpt from Meditation in Action by Chogyam Trungpa first printed in 1939:

I am merely one of the travelers, like everyone else here.  But from my own experience - and my knowledge is, as the scripture describes it, "like a single grain of sand in the Ganges" - I would say that when we talk of "higher" things we tend to think in terms of our own point of view, a bigger version of ourselves.  When we speak of God, we tend to think in terms of our own image, only greater, colossal, a kind of expansion of ourselves.  It is like looking at ourselves in a magnifying mirror.  We still think in terms of duality.  I am here, He is there.  And the only way to communicate is by trying to ask His help.  We may feel we are making contact at certain times, but somehow we can never really communicate in this way.  We can never achieve union with God, because there is a fixed concept, a prefabricated conclusion, which we have already accepted and we are merely trying to put that great thing into a small container.  One cannot drive a camel through the eye of a needle.  So we have to find some other means.  And the only way to find it is to come back to the sheer simplicity of examining ourselves.  This is not a question of trying to be "religious" or of making sure that one is kind to one's neighbor, or of giving as much money as possible to charity.  Though of course these things may also be very good.  The main point is that we should not merely accept everything blindly and try to fit it into the right pigeonhole, but try to see it at first hand from our own experience...

So the whole point is that we must see with our own eyes and not accept any laid-down tradition as if it had some magical power in it.  There is nothing magical which can transform us just like that.

Peace, Love, Gratitude,
V