Tag Archives: intuition

Meditation?

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Meditation?  I was encouraged to start a simple meditation for 15 minutes everyday. Immediately an image of a cross legged, religious person in robes sprang to mind.  No, no, forget any preconceived notions.  This is just you, by yourself.

Dress comfortably, I was told.  Sit comfortably.  Close your eyes and focus on your breathing. Breathe in, deeply, but comfortably (don’t try to hard), and then breathe out, feeling your breath move through your body.  These were simple instructions.  So I decided, this must be doable.

Initially, I set the timer on my phone, relaxed and settled into my breathing.  Then, thoughts, worries and to-do-lists, one by one, popped into my mind.  I was told this would happen and not to worry about it…..just recognize the thought, dismiss it and refocus on my breathing.

The first few weeks it seemed like I wasn’t making much progress; but, gradually, those thoughts were fewer and it became easier for me to refocus quickly.  The only reason I kept with it was the wonderful feeling that encompassed my upper arms and torso.  It was a sort of tingling feeling…..a very wonderful feeling.

The one caution I received was to meditate without an agenda.  Don’t expect answers to questions.  Do it with a completely open mind.  Do it to relax my body and allow my mind to connect with my source, my God, my soul.  What a beautiful thought.

I’ve known that there are activities that are meditative.  I recognize as I paint that often I’m lost in a place without thought.  Many people describe their experiences while concentrating on these sorts of activities as being in a time warp. They are so focused that it’s as if they’ve lost time.  Scientists, artists,  musicians, athletes, well, creative people in any area, talk about “coming to” and realizing they’ve been totally absorbed in their process for minutes, sometimes hours at a time.

In the Tao of Physics, Fritjof Capra said, “During periods of relaxation after concentrated intellectual activity, the intuitive mind seems to take over and can produce the sudden clarifying insights that give so much joy and delight.”  I love that description.  I think he’s as much a poet as a physicist.

We all use words to try to interpret our experience, based on our belief system.  More and more, I’m using “intuitive mind”, imagination, inspiration, soul, source, God, inner being, and still small voice as descriptions of the same thing.  I want to listen.  I want to receive the inner peace and knowing that listening brings.  The problem, for me, is the noise, the everyday noise of everyone else, the radio, TV and my reaction to them.  That’s where meditating comes in.  It provides the quiet.

After months of meditating I can’t imagine ever stopping.  When all of me is quiet, wonderful ideas, exciting ideas burst onto my mindscape, sometimes as thoughts, sometimes as images. I get goosebumps all over my body.  I highly recommend it.

And, so, the thing I’ve learned and the thing I want to share with you is that meditating is fun.  After meditating, I feel more relaxed, happier, more clear about what I want and full of exciting and satisfying ideas.  What a blast!

The Intuitive Mind

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A friend of mine recently SHOUTED gently in my ear that the basis of his reality was intuition, love, joy, creativity and accomplishment…..and added that these five elements should also be the foundation upon which I create my own reality. The impact I felt was not because of  volume but resonance.

As we discussed what reality/our own personal lives are, I became more and more aware that the principles I espouse or maybe it would be better said, the principles to which I give lip service, are not really the principles by which I live.

Exposed!  Okay, maybe that’s a little dramatic.  Because, I face that dichotomy at the end of every year.  There’s always so much talk about New Year’s Resolutions, it can’t be totally ignored.  So I do give thought to changes I would like to have made in years past and whether I did or didn’t make them.

I noticed right off that critical judgements, gossiping, regretting, fear, hate, jealousy, awfulizing and feeling sorry for myself are not included in those five elements.  My friend suggested that perhaps basing one’s life on a clear foundation of criteria would mean focusing on them, on them alone.  That would also mean sorting and eliminating everything else.  And…..so there we are…..that would mean I would have to control my thoughts.

intuition

A few months ago, I was introduced to meditating.  I was resistant at first because my mind was so full of clutter.  Random thoughts seem to pop in and out so quickly and meditating makes me so much more aware of them.  But, gradually my whole nervous system began to cooperate.  Like everything, I guess, “practice makes automatic!”

I think the benefit of meditating is that it’s calming and quieting and in that state I can listen.  When I listen, I can even hear myself.

So what I’ve learned and what I’m sharing with you is that paying attention to my own intuition leads to love, joy, creativity and accomplishment.  Intuition is like a trail head.  It’s a starting point that leads down paths of love, happiness and fulfillment.  Wow!  It’s amazing to me that one conversation can cause such a life altering light bulb moment.  I’m so thankful for friends.

Quote Yourself

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I love to happen on to quotes by wise and successful people.  I see them on t-shirts, bookmarks, billboards, plaques on walls, etc, everywhere I go.  Some resonate with my own thinking so much that I find myself repeating them to everyone I talk with for days.  They just keep coming up in conversation.

If you remember a few of the key words and want to find the complete quote or who said it, all you need to do is do a search on the internet.  Alakazam!  So much information pops up to surprise and delight you that you can spend days reading about the context in which it was given, the period of time, the stage of life and mind of the author…..and whether or not he actually said it or who else is given credit for the same quote.

For instance, Henry David Thoreau and Zig Ziglar are credited with the same quote as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe:  “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as who you become by achieving your goals.”  It’s an inspirational quote no matter who actually said it.  The influence these men and numberless others have on our world continues regardless of who gets the credit.

So, I have to believe that sharing these snippets of wisdom and witticism adds to self-empowering contemplation and humor that benefits mass consciousness.  We are all more powerful and influential than we know.

Occasionally, I hear someone say something that I think is profound and succinct and that warrants memorializing .  But, quickly, I forget…..most of the time what was said and even what it was about.  I’ll have a fleeting thought:  what was that again?

So I’m carrying a small notebook around with me now to record the deep thoughts that cross my path and my own musings.  It is, afterall, the flashes of inspiration and feelings of intuition, that move me the most.  Hummmm…..  Don’t be surprised if I abandon quoting others and start quoting myself!

 

What Is Research?

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Generally, research is looking for facts, collecting them, discussing them and coming to conclusions.   I’m not talking about scientific discovery here, just gathering all of the information I can and talking endlessly with my friends and family about it. We talk about it, we think about it and come to lots of conclusions.  It’s a whole lot of fun!

I’m reading a biography of Albert Einstein.  I’m reading about this foremost researcher because I’m doing research on him.  I want to put the many quotes that I love that are attributed to him in context.  He’s quoted as saying “I never said half the crap people said I did.”  So it would be interesting to document where and when these things were said although considering the passage of time and the premise that facts really are just people’s opinions, perhaps I’m chasing the elusive butterfly.  In any event, I intend to have a good time doing it.

I’ve read that he didn’t thrive in school.  Apparently he didn’t even complain about what he saw as a lack of nurturing learning in schools until he was out of school and much older.  When his father asked what vocational training would be best for him, he was told it didn’t matter because he wouldn’t do well no matter what he did.  But, he was curious.  In fact, he said “I have no special talents.  I am only passionately curious.”

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“I believe in intuition and inspiration. … At times I feel certain I am right while not knowing the reason. When the eclipse of 1919 confirmed my intuition, I was not in the least surprised. In fact, I would have been astonished had it turned out otherwise. Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution. It is, strictly speaking, a real factor in scientific research.”

This quote is well-documented.  It was first published in the Saturday Evening Post Oct. 26, 1929.  It appears in an interview with George Sylvester Viereck entitled “What Life Means To Einstein.”

I’d like to sit down with Mr. Einstein and ask him to talk about intuition, inspiration, imagination, evolution and expansion.  I get the feeling when I read about him, his attitude about his work and the many quotes attributed to him that he viewed them all as one process wrapped up all together.  And I think he must have had a wonderful sense of humor, not in a way over my head intelligent sort of way, but in a very simple, down-to-earth way.  Anyway, I love those ideas!