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Hi Cool Mel and everyone else!
Nice to meet you! I very much enjoyed your posts, and I even downloaded some stuff for furhter reading. I love to read.
o.k. I will jump in.
For me, there is no difference between spirit, life, and practice. In fact, I spend a good portion of my awareness looking for a spiritual practice in the moment. Just so you know. I have plenty of moments (probably most) where the habitual patterns of conditioning win out. Trying to keep any spiritual ego out of this on the front end. It might be tough. :o)
So from a practice standpoint this is what I do regularly. I read a passage from a book calling my name on that morning. It is spontaneous and sometimes quite time consuming because I am being led to a book whose destination in unknown to me. So, I have to hunt around. Lately though, the book is “Wisdom From An Empty Mind”. The reason I like this book is that it is all about awareness in everyday life.
Then I listen to music and meditate. Again the selection is spontaneous, but lately it has been the Gift of Love by Deepak Chopra putting Rumi poetry to music. The meditation is Inner Smile meditation which essentially brings golden light energy into the third eye and feeling a smile organ by organ inside my body until it culminates in microcosmic orbit. You may already know of this? Essentially, I circulate chi from the hara area up the spine to the crown chakra and down the front. I do this to vitalize and energize my body in the morning. It works really well for me and I often end up in tears and bliss and ecstasy during prayer.
Lastly, I do affirmative prayer to set my intention for my day and how I will experience it, connect with source, ask for healing, express my gratitude, and release it all to receive openly the manifestation of it in ways perfect for me and those I meet.
In my day, lately, I have been expressing myself openly, honestly, and with integrity according to my core values which sometimes does not sit well in large corporate life, but I have done enough good work to get by with it plus I seek understanding and expression and do not attack anyone. That really messes people up especially when I don't engage in trying to prove I am right or how smart I am, and I use active listening to repeat back to them what I think I heard them say. That's a real argument killer, because it brings awareness to everyone what is happening in the moment.
In order to do this, I had to remove the carrot off the end of the corporate stick and say, I don't care if you promote me or give me another raise. I am looking for growth experiences. I will contribute from my heart, and if you (corp. manager) are supporting me great! If not, then we will talk so I can understand you. If any abuse continues, good bye. Funny thing is people leave me alone politically and my projects are harmonious because every gets to play authentically. It is beautiful to watch. The latest gig is 5 years. I'm challenging to work with don't think I am not… just in a good way. :o) Nobody gets hurt. Everyone is heard.
Also, lately, I am seeing the dark nasty thoughts and feelings and trying to understand what they are trying to say to me and what I haven't owned in myself. This is part of the awareness training along with the active listening. Debbie Ford's book “The Dark Side of the Light Chasers” helped me tremendously.
I like Ken Wilber. He is over my head on some of his concepts, and what I know about integral theory. I read a couple of his books a years ago. I am on board with all spiritual paths although Sufi (Divine Love and sensual experience of life) Zen (biting an apple rather than talking about it), Daoism (back to nature) are my favorites. I am exporing the Natural Great Pefection (Dzogchen). A zaadzer is helping me. I appreciate aspects of all spiritual paths and none. Lately, I am going back to the basics and eliminating anything that isn't feeding my deepest purpose or goals.
Sorry to be so wordy. Just wanted to open myself up to the flow from the pump you primed.
I appreciate the Pod and the invite
Zennie
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