Teaching and Learning are Synonymous

All the music I write is a search for myself ~ Bruce Hornsby

In a Buddhist text an author confessed, “I have no pretension that I am writing this book for any purpose other than my own awakening. ” This brought realization that I, too, write primarily for the healing of my own mind and spirit. I was surprised to find that countless artists agree that even if no one else ever read their books, saw their paintings, or listened to their music, all of their efforts would be worth the sheer joy of producing the work.

To whom are your creative efforts directed? Do you write, sing, or dance for worldly approval, or are you hearkening to the inner writer, singer, or dancer calling to express and celebrate?

Perhaps we teach what we need to learn? Sometimes teachers are reluctant to admit that they need to study what they are teaching, but that is the very reason we are in a particular position. 

A fitting story; a famous relaxation technique was developed by a renowned psychologist, this man was described as, “most uptight person ever met. ” Was he a hypocrite? Not necessarily. If you teach what you have mastered, even while you’re learning more, you are in integrity. The technique this man developed for his own healing helped many people who applied it.

Your right place is the one in which you are receiving the most edification. The fact that other people receive a benefit is the icing on the cake. Do what is healing to our spirit, and without effort we will offer the world healing in return.

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Excerpt from Alan Cohen's meditation book, A Deep Breath of Life.

Your Individual Destiny

At a restaurant, I noticed a couple enjoying what looked like some very tasty garlic toast. When I asked the waitress for an order of the same, she answered, “I’m sorry, the garlic toast comes only with the dinner.”

“Would it be possible to order some as a side order?” I persisted.

She looked puzzled. “I don’t know if that’s ever been done.”

“Then perhaps this is our opportunity to change history and create a new destiny,” I suggested. She smiled, went into the kitchen, and soon returned with a dish of piping hot garlic toast.

We can transform our lives by changing the way we think about possibilities. We are prone to picture our future as an extension of our past. But we have no guarantee at all that our future will be anything like our past. The nature of a consciousness shift is the release of an old belief system, replacing it with a new and grander one. Just when you think you know it all, life comes along and says, "Here, let me show you a bigger universe!" Thank God we do not know it all; if we did, we would be in big trouble, for most of what we know has made us small. Be grateful that the universe is willing to take away your impotence and replace it with magnitude. 

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

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Excerpt taken from Alan Cohen's meditation book, A Deep Breath of Life

Time to Be Free!

When one of Albert Einstein’s students asked him to explain his abstruse theory of relativity in a way that anyone could understand, he answered, “A day spent with a beautiful woman seems like a moment; an hour at a job you hate feels like an eternity.” Einstein was teaching that our experience of time is determined by the consciousness we are in. Since time is an illusion invented by the human intellect, it is entirely pliable, expanding or contracting to reflect the thoughts we are holding at the time.

We always have enough time to do what needs to be done. Thoughts of “not enough time ” are born of fear and a consciousness of lack. The ego fabricates the belief in lack of time as a sleight of hand to move us away from peace. If we make peace our first priority, all things that need to be taken care of in time will be handled.

We are always free in this moment. It is only when we haul the past or future into the now that we feel bound. Practice surfing on the energy of the now. If you become seduced by past or future thoughts, remind yourself that all is well right now. Handle whatever is before you, and leave the rest for another time or another way.

When we live in love, miracles happen that defy the laws of time. Ultimately, time becomes irrelevant, and, as Jesus stated, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Prisoners are colloquially described as “doing time. ” If you are a servant of time rather than letting time serve you, you are a prisoner. Break free of your watch, and bask in the glory of the present moment. Bring more activities that you love into your world, and you will be a millionaire of time.

Unbeatable

Excerpt taken from Alan Cohen's meditation book, A Deep Breath of Life.

"One of my favorite movie characters is played by Gene Wilder in Stir Crazy. Harry is a man who is perpetually happy, and nothing that anyone says or does can remove his joy. Thrown in prison for a crime he did not commit, Harry is the object of the prison officials’ campaign to break him into the mold. After the guards hang Harry by his wrists for several days, they return to find him with a big smile on his face. “Thank you!” he exclaims. “You’ve finally solved my back problem!”

Next, the officials toss Harry into the hot box, a tiny tin enclosure in the sweltering sun. When they extract him, he begs, “Oh, please, could you give me just one more day was just starting to get into myself.” Finally, they throw Harry into a cell with Grossburger, a 300-pound crazed murderer who even the most hardened criminals avoid like the plague. When the guards return, they find Harry and Grossburger on the floor laughing over a game of cards. Harry just chose joy, and let all else revolve around his choice.

No one can take away your happiness unless you give it to them. People may say all manner of things about you or try to hurt you, but unless you choose to be hurt, they cannot rob you of your good. They are making choices that determine their happiness, just as you are choosing yours. When we feel hurt by another, we are only hurting ourselves. It is said that “offense is something you can only take but never give. ”

Experiment with finding blessings wherever you go. Quickly you will discover that using a vision of love is far more empowering than one of loss. In love you are unbeatable".

My happiness depends on me.

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Poor is the man whose pleasures depend on the permission of another ~ Madonna

Be More Than a Juggler, Be Present

I remember a television entertainer who balanced spinning plates on thin wooden sticks. At first his act looked easy as he added one plate at a time to the array Then his job became tense and hilarious as he tried to keep all the teetering plates spinning without letting them fall and crash.

Many of us try to do so many things at once that we don’t get any of them done well. Instead of expanding with creative joy, we succumb to “Management by Emergency. ” We say yes to more than we can handle and then spend most of our time putting out fires. We take on so many projects that we cannot give any of them the attention they deserve, and we leave ourselves overworked, exhausted, ineffective, and sometimes ill.

When my mother was in the hospital, she was very unhappy. Her biggest complaint was that no doctor would give her quality time; her physicians would rush in and out and treat her like an item on an assembly line. One day I went to visit her and she was beaming. “I saw the nicest doctor today!" she said. "He sat down with me, and answered all my questions patiently. Now I feel peaceful.”

To be a true teacher, minister, parent, business person, or healer,  you will gain more in the long run by giving your clients quality attention. To be successful, no matter what your vocation, you must be fully present with whatever you’re doing. Life is best lived one wholehearted moment at a time.

My presence is the present.
I give my whole heart, and I find true reward.

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Excerpt from Alan Cohen's meditation book, A Deep Breath of Life.