Some of you may know that lately I’ve been working on a project called SYAB or “Smile! You are beautiful”. I will talk about that later.. But I just wanted to tell you that this project is now part of a bigger project called the Conscious Living Store “CLS”. What is CLS? CLS is an online store powered by Zazzle, the world’s leading platform for quality custom…
Understanding Releases and Relief on Your Spiritual Journey
One of the big things that happens a lot during the initial phase of embodying the awakened self is that there are a lot of releases. As this energy that is us and that has always been here melts through illusions, there’s a kind of washing out of old issues. This can cause temporary sickness or discomfort, but when this issue washes out, you feel so much better. People tend to feel more expanded, loving, and open. These are the key elements of an energy release.However, most people have been trained by society to seek relief and not release. This post is part of my ongoing re-definition of different …
The Number One Mistake Women Make When Trying To Lose Weight
On Monday morning, Jenny starts her new diet and exercise program. She measures her initial weight and starts working her butt off and strictly follows her diet. Next Monday, she weighs herself again, only to find that she has gained 1 pound, she swears at her friend who told her about this diet and move on to diet #79 Did you go through this scenario before? If so, you may have fallen for the number one mistake women make when trying to lose weight. What went wrong? The mistake that Jenny did…
Working in the World From Your Awakened Self
I want to start off by writing a few cautionary words about the idea of your “awakened self.” It creates this duality of awakened and unawakened, and a lot of people beginning this path can get lost in the idea of “getting rid of” the unawakened self to experience the “awakened” self. Linguistically and practically, it sets up all kinds …
Why It’s a Great Idea to Have Basic Food Storage
If you’ve ever seen a friend’s perfectly organized kitchen pantry or a closet dedicated to food storage, it can be easy to get discouraged about your non-existent food storage. However, food storage and disaster food prep can be easy if it is broken down into manageable steps. It’s difficult to ignore the various natural disasters occurring worldwide. Sometimes families, neighborhoods, and whole towns are forced to rely on whatever they have at home to get them through an emergency situation before additional resources arrive. Besides being essential in an emergency, food storage is a excellent resource if the breadwinners in the home are laid off and unable to purchase as many groceries as usual. Coming up…
The Fear of Breaking Free
There is a point on the spiritual path where someone knows that they have to make a change. It’s a critical time. It’s right at the edge of breaking free, and while there often are many of these types of moments as the many veils of illusion are shed, there is usually one really key moment where a person knows there’s no going back…
My Two Favorite People
Click to enlarge (c) NoahHamiltonPhoto.com I stumbled upon this photo of Nick Vujicic and Bethany Hamilton (quoteless). I was very excited because I didn’t know that Nick and Beth know each others. The two of them are a source of great inspiration for me. Nick was born with a rare disorder characterized by the absence of all …
The Rhythm of Resting in Awakened Awareness
After the awakening transition subsides, life falls into its more regular rhythms. There are good times and bad times. People still cut you off in traffic, and other people talk about you behind your back. You are in no way a “perfect” human being, but such a phrase means little to you anymore. You are resting in your spiritual awareness. In this place, you can see how people act and react from their unconscious programming. What people say and do to you is rarely ever about you; it’s simply a reflection of the world they see and…
Quick Vegan Mincemeat Cupcakes
These cupcakes are some of the easiest you can make. There is no butter to soften or milk to mix in. The batter mix will also keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks once you’ve made it so you can easily make a few cupcakes at a time if you want. I personally prefer to make these as mini cupcakes so they are bite-size but you can make them muffin sized or standard cupcake size too. This recipe is also great if you have any leftover mincemeat from Christmas. It might be a little harder to …
Meeting Your Inner Skeptic
One of the great gatekeepers to your inner knowing and your spiritual path is the skeptic. Everything is going along swimmingly and then suddenly a part of you says, “I don’t believe that.” And then everything shuts down. The door swings shut. The lock clicks in place, and you can go no further.I bring this topic up today because I recently had a student’s inner skeptic show up in full-force in a session. It was wonderful. It was wonderful in the sense that I could begin to reflect back this aspect of my student. So often, the inner skeptic goes into hiding in the sessions that I have with students. It kinda hunkers down …
On The Power Of Hugs
How often do you hug people? If someone came to you with his arms wide open, would you open your arms too and give them the most intense hug, or would you step back and call them weird, nuts or even sexual harasser? About 2 months ago, I watched Juan Mann’s famous Free Hugs video. Needless to say, I was deeply…
When There’s Nothing Left But Love
Resting in your awakened awareness, everything dissolves. Every desire, fear, expectation, and anything else that isn’t real disappears into this vast ocean of love that is you and that is God. This may happen once permanently, or you may move back and forth from this awareness as you kind of see-saw your way into the abiding state that is simply you and is simply love. Either way, it doesn’t matter the road you take; the end of the journey is the same.But for those of you who may be like …
Controlling the Uncontrollable
It’s been some time since I’ve written directly about control, but it’s another important topic to grapple with. My last blog about it–and I think my only post, actually–was April 2012 in a post called, “The Illusion of Control.” “Control,” to me, is one of the dirty words of the spiritual path …
Eat Blindfolded!
Photo credit: yellowcrayola You HAVE to try this! Just now, I was eating an apple.. Just an ordinary apple. And suddenly decided to close my eyes. Simply because I was tired. But to my surprise, the apple went from normal-tasting apple into super-delicious apple instantly! I opened my eyes again.. Back to normal apple. Closed my eyes.. Pure joy in the form of an apple xD I wondered if this works with other food too.. And it did! My theory is that when you close your eyes, you give more attention to the food you’re eating and thus enjoy it …
Spiritual Awakening Blog Posts for Deepening Your Spiritual Practice
This collection of spiritual awakening blog posts is intended to help you deepen your spiritual practice. They’re written with the intention that you’ve already developed a basic understanding, have built a foundation for your spiritual practice, and have done some inner healing already. If not, there are plenty of these posts under the starting out section to help you …
Natural Methods to Stop Anxiety Attacks
by Mike Karowski, author of ‘Perfectly Panic Free’ Chronic anxiety attacks and panic disorder do not always mean that you turn to medication that only mitigates the symptoms and not solve them. You can step up and do something on your own in order to cure panic attacks. You can …
Phantom Physical Pains and Spiritual Awakening
One of the often discussed, but rarely understood topics of spiritual awakening is the pain that many people experience in their bodies as they embody this awakened awareness. I’ve seen plenty of long lists of so-called symptoms, but generally speaking, there’s a limited understanding of what this pain is about. There is also the unfortunate reality that people with actual medical issues may avoid seeking appropriate help by immediately trying to assume that because their issues are on an awakening list that they no longer need to do anything with doctors. This is not true. Western doctors are as much a part of this world as…
My Conscious Birthday: Water For Charity
On the 27th of August, I’m turning 18. And this year, I don’t want presents or “happy birthdays”. I want clean water. Women and children in Rwanda walk for hours every day, up and down mountains, just to collect water from rivers. And the worst part? The water they collect can make them really sick. Terrible right? Well, we can actually do something about it. Just $10 can give someone in Rwanda clean water. So I’m asking everyone for my age in donations. Give $18 or $180 and help me give life’s most basic need. The best part is that 100{2879bc8f2cf0c7badc0ba0b91bc88170008fa0b1cee68ceb4afb7fd46d4bfeb9} of the money we raise will …
Using a Spiritual Teacher to Get to Enlightenment
One of the common misunderstandings about enlightenment or spiritual awakening is that you need a spiritual teacher to get there. This is a problematic idea that unfortunately is a part of more than a few religious and spiritual paths. In the not too recent past, I had someone email a long description about the how the teacher is supposed to transmit some kind of supernatural cosmic energy that will enlighten the …
Just Close Your Eyes
Following on the recent Eat Blindfolded post, I decided to dig more in the world of closed-eyeness. And the results were simply fascinating.. Almost to the point where I began to envy blind people for the numerous opportunities they have. The previous article only covered the effect of closing our eyes on the way we taste and enjoy food. This one though will mention the other areas that closing your eyes could effect. 1. Music I bet you all know this one. Simply put: Obviously, closing your eyes while listening to music enhances your experience and thus making you enjoy the music more. A few days ago, I was listening to live music and I thought I’d try something. I closed my eyes and started…
The Humbling of the Ego
It’s been awhile since I talked directly about the ego, and yet thanks to popular spiritual teachers and discourse, it’s now a regular subject among spiritual path wanderers, wayfinders, and travelers. In truth, the ego is just another facet of being a human being. It is no better or worse than a foot or an elbow. However, in its unconscious state, the ego certainly can cause a good deal of trouble. The more we identify with our ego-selves, the more trouble we can get into. That’s why so much discussion has popped up around destroying, removing, incapacitating, obliterating…
Life Drugs
People usually consume drugs and alcohol not only because it makes them happy for a short period of time but also because it makes them lose track of time. It makes them forget about the miserable life they’re having. Drugs for them is an escape. A way to “ignore” life. When you think about it, the same applies for sleeping, eating, tv, internet.. They’re all…
10 Most Popular Spirituality Blogs of 2012
We’ve officially put 2012 in the history books, but I felt like taking a brief look back to share with you some of the most popular spiritual blog posts that I had last year. Some of them you may recognize because…well, if they were popular, it’s because you were reading them. For newer readers, they may be a welcome compilation to get you started finding stuff on…