Do your best, surrender the rest.

Do you believe everything happens for a reason? 

Do you acknowledge the possibility of every single detail of reality having a purpose, a meaning, and a trail of stories leading to a higher source? 

Do you believe in God? 

Do you directly experience God? 

Maybe you like to spell the name God differently... Some say Nature, some say Buddha, some say Christ, some say Krishna, some say OM, some say Nothing. 

Either way I know the all powerful force exists and it's elementary( not personal just representing the maturity level of the average human.) to get stuck on the level of names and language... They are all saying the exact same things once you filter out the misguiding flaws that man slipped into each religion known as ego... 

It's almost impossible to teach Calculus to someone who doesn't know how to add... Imagine how the divine being felt trying to explain the laws of nature and concepts of Infinity to our undeveloped ansectors... It's know wonder we have so many different interpretations of Truth... 

Any way back to the point... If you know "God" exists, and I mean truly know it... Then you would be living in a continuous state beyond fear, a state of complete peace ... What is there to fear when you "know" there is an Infinite Divine Being with you at all times... Observing in the shadows of your mind ... Waiting for you to turn around and acknowledge its presence... 

It's awkward calling the supreme "it"... But I find that small word to be more appropriate than attaching a gender... Like he or she. The Creator is both male a female ... Balanced Perfectly... 

Mother Nature

Father Sky (Cosmic Reality) 

So how is this practical in your everyday life?

If you actually know God exists then you have no fear of the future and no resentment towards the past... It has all happened for a precise reason and the future holds many great lessons for us to grow and become closer to the Source... By becoming the Source... 

The power of Acceptance...

I woke up early this morning to prepare for teaching my first yoga class in a couple months... Made coffee, ate some healthy cereal, and slowly starting waking up :) 

I wanted to leave an hour before class started because for whatever reason, In my past I always run into an obstacle causing me to be late, or right on the time ... Granite part of it is because I no longer give Time such an important role in my life , but sometimes that makes things trickier... Although everything always works out for the best in the end... As long as my intentions are good... 

Any how I took my dog out right before I was planning on leaving. I open the door and this picture was in front of me:) 

I've lived here for a year and a half and I have never been blocked into my driveway until this morning :) they were repaving the road! 

It took me a second to realize what was even happening :) then I took a deep breath in and said " well this is one of those situations where I am completely out of control." There was nothing I could do to fix it so I accepted it and called the studio owner to inform her that I might not be able to get out of my driveway :)

Once I got off the phone, I went back outside and too my amazement they had just finished enough of it for me to go around... Ironically my neighbor also left at the exact same time so I just followed him. 

Long story short... I made it to my class early... And I was able to teach it without any negative or stressful energy and now I am very grateful for my practice of surrender... Moments when you are completely out of control and the only thing left to do is say "well then". 

- Much Love

            Know Mind

A different way of seeing God...

All of the continents that we live on are actually just giant islands... If you dry up all the water on the planet it would be a giant valley and mountain range... So techniqually you can think of the earth as a giant round rock with a big puddle covering it that we call the ocean ... One giant ocean... Water is one of the most precious resources in the universe because it is essential for life to exist... 

So how did water end up on our planet?

Not only that but we live in the Goldilocks zone that surrounds the sun ... It is a small area that orbits around the sun that is not too close or too far ... Creating a suitable climate for life to exist... The odds of our planet existing within this zone is astronomical! 

So then the odds of there being a planet in the Goldilocks zone with water and life is so mindblowing ... That for me it is an obvious sign of the existence of an intelligent creator behind the scenes of our reality. 

So at some point in the history of human existence this divine powerful being must have tried to communicate with the early stages of the human species... And it was interpreted in many different ways... Hence the many religions and branches of religion... Yet still it exists in absolute Truth waiting for us to discover its infinite number of forms and create a relationship with it :) 

 Eventually we realize that it is much closer to us than we think... Infact it is us ... When we let go of our limiting stories of past and future and become fully present in this moment we are shifting our identification from ego/form and redirecting into identification of "I am" . 

---Know Mind 

You can only hear one thought at a time... "RAM"

 

Neem Karoli Baba used to hand write the mantra RAM over and over... this picture is a copy of one of his many pages filled with just the sanskrit word Ram. He was known to tell his students... 

"Anything can be achieved in the name of Ram"...

 He is the Guru that introduced this mantra to Ram Dass (BE HERE NOW) and Ram Dass shared it with me... now I am sharing it with you! 

What is a mantra?
It is a sacred sound that is used to withdraw our attention away from repetitive and useless thought patterns... It can act as a reset button... as soon as you realize that your attention is fully submersed in the thinking mind than you can practice repeating a mantra to pull you back into this present moment and to let go of all the unnecessary negative thoughts... which coincidentally allows you to calm down and experience more joy and peace and refreshes your mind so that when it is time to use the tool of thinking again, it will find a solution much more effectively and efficiently.

There are many mantras in our present day... They can be in any language however often they are correlated with an ancient language like sanskrit... which holds its power in the fact that this sound has been repeated billions of times over the span of human history and each mantra holds a specific meaning that the individual uses to replace the unwanted thought. For example... " OM MANI PADME HUM"... this is a popular one and it means to find the jewel in the lotus... to find the wisdom in our life lessons which arise out of suffering and into peace.

One of my favorites is "RAM" its short and easy to remember... pronounced raw-mmm ...  it means many things... God, Bliss, to serve, Divine, Joy... which ever meaning you feel it has is the one for you... the important thing is to remember to say it when you catch yourself thinking to much...

At first repeat the mantra out loud... " ram ram ram ram ram ram" then start to recite it within your mind... this will force out all other thought because... you can only hear one thought at a time...
Traditionally a mantra is repeated 108 times... which is how many beads are on a mala... or they will repeat the mantra from a factor of 9... 18, 27, 54 108, 1008... etc

It is also very powerful to use around spiritual friends... my friends at work all pass it back and forth when we get sucked into the shallow drama of stressful restaurant work... it has a powerful ability to shift the energy of a group :)

Enjoy!

RAM

Accepting the Unacceptable

A powerful tool in the tool kit of any spiritual master is the ability to accept whatever arises in the present moment... The good, the bad, and the ugly... of course this is easier said than done.

At first we may experience a huge sense of relief as we learn to accept various situations in life. Understanding that there are countless variables of reality that are out of our reach of control. So we must surrender and accept them for what they are... The wise understand the fine line between surrender and giving up. Be aware of your ego because it hates "giving up" its pride becomes so strong that it feels it is showing signs of weakness if it admits it is out of control. Yet this is the precise reason such an unacceptable event is occurring in your life... to challenge your ego and give you the opportunity to surrender and transcend what "you" think is best and allow the Universe to unfold its much superior and intelligent will.

So when the next challenge of life arises remember... If you cant accept the situation fully for what it is then accept the fact that you can't accept it.

Oh and remember to remember :)

Much Love,
           Know Mind