Fear, Belief-Viruses and the Truth Within

One of the things I like most about the Usui Reiki system is that you don’t need to believe in anything to practise it. Reiki’s success resides entirely on the experience it gives practitioners, and it has survived for almost one hundred years not because it convinces people to believe in anything, but because it affords them a rich experience. Because it heals. Because it enhances joy. Because it helps make people whole.  Like all great spiritual systems, it helps you find the ‘truth’ within, the truth beyond belief systems. This is a critical point, because while belief systems can point us in certain directions, that is all they can ever truly do. They are maps that encourage us to explore certain places, but the maps – as they say in Zen – are not the territory. To know what the territory is like, we can’t rely on descriptions handed to us by others. We need to experience it for ourselves. Only then can we determine whether it is a place we would like to spend more time in or not. The same, naturally, can be said for books, teachers and theories. Indeed, no matter how beautiful they may sound, no matter how eloquent or logically compelling they may seem, we should always use our inner compass to validate them. We should check in with our soul, with our intuition, to see whether what they teach truly resonates. The thing to bear in mind is that humans are not particularly rational. More often than not, our beliefs are simply used to bolster and support our emotional states of being. That is why when we are sad, depressed or afraid, it is so easy to believe things that if we were balanced, healthy and confident within ourselves, we would laugh at. Just like when we are physically or emotionally run-down and catch a cold or flu, when we are physically or emotionally run-down, we are more susceptible tobelief-viruses – viruses that can take over our mental 'operating system'.  When this happens, even smart and loving people can begin to think and act irrationally. As emotional creatures first and foremost, if a belief brings us comfort, we will have a strong desire to champion it, even when it is ridiculous, divisive, dangerous, or worse. But such beliefs never provide true comfort. Instead, they are like a Band-Aid, like alcohol or other drugs. For a short time, they can give us comfort. But ultimately they will not sustain us, because true comfort must come from within, and it must come from something deeper that simply a mental construct or belief. The Fear Virus So why am I talking about this now?  Well faced with a pandemic, faced with what we might call a fear-crisis, faced with fragile emotions, we can all too easily become intellectually vulnerable. This is a time when fundamentalism can easily grow teeth. This is a time when simplistic black and white truths can seem so seductive. This is a time when we so often want to find the one and only truth. Unfortunately, it is this kind of fundamentalism that gives rise to suicide bombers, to the Inquisition, to the Crusades, to world wars and genocides. Of course, fundamentalism comes in many flavours, many of which I know little about, but I have some experience with Christian fundamentalism, and of late I have met more than a few healers who have turned their backs on Reiki because they have ‘found Christ’, because they have been ‘born again’. Now I have nothing against being ‘born again’. In fact, I think we should continually strive to reinvent ourselves. But for me, being born again needs to be the result of a personal experience of something (in this context, the Divine). Think of Saint Paul on the road to Damascus for an example of this. His experience of God in this moment was so profound, it overrode everything he believed. It was so profound that he went from persecuting the Christians to championing them. (He even changed his name from Saul to Paul!). Unfortunately, many people who claim to be ‘born again’ have not undergone this deeply personal experience. Rather, they have let themselves be seduced by a belief system that they can’t truly justify – a belief system that in the depths of their hearts they cannot honestly believe in. And in many cases, they can’t believe in their new beliefs because they don’t make sense. In fact, their new beliefs run contrary to what they know deep in their heart to be true. God is joy. God is love. God is peace. God is acceptance. This is what they know, and yet their new beliefs are judgemental. Their new beliefs cause their hearts to close to people or practices that don’t align with theirs. Their new beliefs typically even condemn these people to eternal damnation. And yet where Christianity is concerned, Christ was an exemplar of acceptance. He spent much of his time with the very people (tax collectors, prostitutes, etc.), that society shunned. He believed in the Christ nature of everyone. He also believed that a person’s virtue resided in the feelings in their heart, not in the rules/belief system they followed. That is why he healed on the Sabbath. That is why he overturned the tables in the temple. That is why he was constantly at odds with the religious authorities of his day. They were too often all rules and no heart, but it was heart that he looked for. So to say someone will only get to ‘heaven’ through Christ the person – and not the Christ Spirit – goes against everything he taught. What about all the people who came before him? Were they all condemned? Of course, having chatted to enough fundamentalists over the years, they do have complex justifications for all of this. The rules were different before Christ, etc., but look in your heart and it will be clear that a good person is a good person regardless of their religious affiliation. The saint in the Amazon Forest doesn’t go to hell just because he doesn’t believe in Christ (and yes, many people do argue for this!). Of course, if it sounds ludicrous to condemns saints to hell, then why are good, smart people ready to do it? Well, as I said at the start of this article, we are first and foremost emotional creatures. So if a belief system or community can feed our emotional longings, then we will often be ready to throw good sense out the window. And where fundamentalists groups are concerned, they typically do offer a lot of emotional support. They give you a community. They give you a sense of belonging. They give you both emotional and intellectual security (you have found the truth and can now relax!). That is why in moments of upheaval, in times like these when fear is so prevalent around the globe, we are particularly vulnerable to these groups and their beliefs. Finding the Truth Within Christ (Matthew 7:15-20 New King James Version) said:  15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.” If we accept that the logic of ‘false prophets’ also holds for belief systems, then we will know the value of such belief systems by the fruit they bear. We will feel their truth within us. If they bring us more joy, if they bring us more love, if they bring us more light within our lives, then these belief systems are beautiful ‘trees’. But if they cause us to fear. If they cause us to judge and close our hearts to others, then that too is an indication of the type of ‘tree’ they are. So in these unique times of upheaval, there is no need to look to external sources for a definition of right and wrong. We simply need to look within. Because when we find our centre, we don’t need to ‘believe’ in anything. We will simply know the truth – the truth of that moment. And if our logical mind questions whether what we have found is the truth, then remember that our inner emotional state will not lie. The truth will not just set us free, it will bring us happiness and joy. But if what we believe doesn’t lead to such things, then we must keep looking, for the truth lies elsewhere. (Article Copyright, Jeremy O'Carroll 2020) To find out more about Jeremy O'Carroll's Reiki courses, visit the Om Reiki Centre website. Or to catch up with his daily reflection, visit the Om Reiki Centre Facebook page.

Coronavirus: From Fear to Freedom

Lockdown is coming.

This seems inevitable, the only question is when. One day, a few days, a week. It’s going to happen.

For a lot of people reading this article, a near lockdown is already in operation, and that means that not only are you stuck at home, you also can’t go to work.

In fact, you most likely can’t even work full stop.

From a financial point of view, this isn’t much fun (trust me, I know first-hand as my business has ground to a halt and I still have monthly expenses!), but it might nevertheless be the best thing that has happened in years for many people.

Why?

Because it gives everyone a chance to reset. To begin again. To start afresh. It gives everyone time to reflect on their job and ask whether it truly is the best fit for them.

If you’ve been reading my articles for a while, you’ll know I love to quote Thoreau’s famous line that ‘The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation’.

This resonates because most people I meet (including students of mine) feel stuck in unsatisfying jobs.

Now, we all probably have several missions in life, but one of mine is to inspire people to get the most out of themselves, to dare to live a bolder and brighter life.

This, in a sense, is the idea behind my novels ‘Full Speed’, ‘Call of the Silver Cockatoo’, and ‘The Slob’s Guide to the Perfect Job’ (the last two are still waiting to be published). They pose the question:

‘What happens when you stop living other people’s dreams and have the courage to live your own?’

Reiki, too, addresses this issue with the 4th Precept: ‘Be honest in your work’. 

For me, this means more than just not cheating anyone in business. It means being honest with yourself. It means finding a job – livelihood – that is in harmony with your deepest nature. Because if you don’t do that, then you are not being ‘honest’ with who you are. You are not being true to yourself.

So I am writing today to suggest that you use this forced layoff profitably. I’m saying that when it’s all over (and yes, it will end), it might be time to take a chance, to take a leap.

Time to be truer to who you are.

Time to fly.

Because sure, you can’t ever be certain of the end result. But you can be certain of one thing: if you keep doing what you are currently doing, you’ll keep getting the results you’re currently getting.

So unless you are totally happy with these, you’ve got to try something new. 

And that means not continually putting things off, because the longer you stay in an uninspiring job, the more it will sap your energy, the more you’ll get stuck in a rut, and the more difficult it will be to extricate yourself from it!

Some Personal Examples

Imagine you’re at Melbourne University. Imagine you’re doing a PhD on a scholarship that pays you to study. Imagine you’re doing some lecturing and tutoring. Imagine you even enjoy many aspects of academic life.

But then also imagine that deep down you know your path is another one, that deep down you yearn for something that resonates more fully with who you really are.

Well, that was my situation back in 2002. I was doing very nicely in academia but, having meditated for many years, found that my study was no longer satisfying like it once was.

I needed something more. 

I needed something to light up my soul.

So I walked out.

I said ‘no’ to my PhD.

‘No’ to my scholarship.

‘No’ even to the opportunity of deferring my scholarship for up to a year. 

Instead, I made a clean break and burnt my bridges. 

I did this because I knew my path was something different and didn’t want to be tempted.

I didn’t want to have something to fall back on – as wise as that may have sounded. I wanted to send myself a message that I was committed and would do whatever it took to be true to who I was.

So I went against the advice of every single person I knew.

My parents. 

My family. 

My friends. 

My supervisor at uni. 

The janitor at uni (okay, I’m making this last one up!). 

Everyone.

Most people told me to just finish my PhD (I was already two years into it).

The minority suggested that it couldn’t hurt to keep my options open and defer my place and scholarship for a year just in case I changed my mind.

No one said to do what I did. 

It was a decision I had to make alone – on nothing but the strength of my inner voice.

The Reiki Risk

Teaching Reiki required a similar leap of daring. 

Having spent a long time travelling to remote parts of the world (India, Thailand, Nepal, etc.), I returned to Australia and could have settled for a regular job. I could probably even have worked my way back into academia.

Instead, I chose to teach Reiki for a living.

Now, I did have a bit of financial support from a second business that was operating pretty well by itself at the time (maybe 15-25k per year); but that wasn’t at all guaranteed, and I was about to enter a field where most people find it challenging to make a living.

What’s more, I had a non-working partner and two kids to look after.

But I jumped anyway. I put my energy and soul into my new business, and things worked.

They worked because I was willing to work consistently. And they worked because I was doing something that was in alignment with who I really was (and am!).

As a result, the Universe said, ‘Go ahead my friend, I’ve got you covered.’

Now, I’d be lying if I said it was always easy (my first course had two participants: one who paid $250 and other who was a friend of mine and came for free!); but I never defaulted on my rent, and over time my business has grown and grown.

What’s Stopping You?

You might be wondering why more people (maybe even you!) don’t take a chance.

The answer is that humans tend to play it safe.

I discovered a fine example of this first-hand many many years ago when I learned to count cards at blackjack and, as a result, spent a bit of time at the newly-open Crown Casino.

It was a miserable way to earn a living (sitting beside people who are self-destructing in front of your eyes) and not even a particularly profitable one (gone are the days where they use a single deck of cards!); but one thing I did learn was how wimpy most people are.

Yes, wimpy.

Given a choice between taking another card and possibly going bust and ‘sitting’in a situation that would lead to almost certain death, most people chose to sit and die slowly.

From time to time, I’d offer my advice. I’d know with mathematical certainty that I was right. I’d do my best to encourage the best play; but the fear of jumping was almost always too much. It didn’t matter what I said, almost everyone simply sat and waited for the croupier to beat their hand and gather up their chips.

Of course, it goes beyond simple fear. The other reason it is difficult for people to try a new and daring path is that, like with my decision to leave academia, you typically don’t get much support from those around you.

In fact, quite the contrary.

Most people advise against anything that even has the faintest whiff of going against the masses.

Why?

Well, let’s imagine you do leave the flock and start munching on greener pastures. How does that make the flock feel?

There they are on their barren stretch of land looking over at you who are feasting on fresh, juicy grass and all they can do is either hate themselves for not having the courage to join you or...try to pull you down...or better yet, try to stop you going in the first place so they never have to risk such an event arising!

Transition, Transition, Transition

Okay, I have a confession to make: an Indian palm reader once told me I was a little rash.

Possibly true.

So don’t rush out and quit your job (presuming you still have a job!) having read this article.

Unless you have an alternative means of support, a more prudent method would be to transition over into something you love doing.

First, learn the necessary skills.

Then go part-time.

Then, when business is booming, jump over to full time.

That way you eliminate risk.

Alternatively, you can jump like a maniac. But if you are going to do this, make sure you have the skills needed to make things work – and make sure you are ready to commit.

Before I leapt into Reiki teaching, I had done over ten years of serious meditation, done untold hours of Reiki practice, learned to build websites, learned to write essays, and also had some important business experience.

In other words, I had the skills to make it work.

Conclusion

Coronavirus is a beast. No doubt about that. But as the old saying goes, ‘Every cloud has a silver lining.’

It’s typically annoying when people sprout such sayings, but it is nevertheless true, and it is true right now.

We are living a unique moment in time, a time where we have all been given a chance to take stock of our lives, a chance to figure out not only what occupation or job would be the best fit for us, but also who we’d like to become.

So don’t waste the opportunity. Use it to reinvent yourself.

Be brave. Aim high. And don’t settle for a life without passion.

Don’t settle for a job that doesn’t inspire you.

Instead, listen to your heart, put a plan in place – and then make it happen.

(The – ahem – disclaimer: Please don’t do anything crazy after reading this article. Be bold, yes; but be strategic. I am not a professional consultant of any variety. So my words are spoken as a friend, not an advisor. Any decision you make is 100% your responsibility.)

To find out more about Jeremy O'Carroll's Reiki courses, visit the Om Reiki Centre website. Or to catch up with his daily reflection, visit the Om Reiki Centre Facebook page.

Coronavirus, Reiki, and the Way Forward

1.25 Million.

291-646 thousand.

2-6 thousand.

8 million.

2.8 million.

3254...

Numbers.

Not necessarily the best clickbait, but they also don’t lie. They are the quiet song beneath the hysterical cries.

They are the reason amid the panic.

They are the calm in the storm.

And they are also – at least the ones above – yearly world death tolls.

1.25 million road deaths.

291,000-646,000 seasonal flu deaths.

2,000-6000 deaths by lightning.

8 million deaths caused by tobacco.

2.8 million deaths caused by obesity.

3254 deaths caused by Coronavirus (COVID-19).

Now in fairness to the laggardly COVID-19, it has only been around a few months, but it has a lot of catching up to do if it wishes to play with the big guys.

But do you hear news of the 21,917 people who die daily from deaths caused by tobacco?

What about the 1100-odd people who die each day from seasonal flu?

Nope. No news there. Rather, it’s COVID-19 all the way. He is the glamor boy. The star of the media show. The seller of newspaper. The social media heartthrob.

Of course, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying he doesn’t have a fine set of claws. I’m not saying his reach isn’t growing. And I’m not saying we shouldn’t take the necessary precautions to wipe him off the map.

But, please, a bit of perspective.

Australia has fifty cases. It has had two deaths. So no need to storm the local supermarket for toilet paper just yet.

Indeed, while the virus is definitely spreading across the globe, there is also plenty of good news. For one, children seem pretty well unaffected. None have died from it as yet, and most have symptoms so mild, they often aren’t even noticed.

What is more, the mortality rate isn’t diabolical. The feeling you get when tuning into the news is that COVID-19 is the Grim Reaper made virus. But of the 95,178 infections at the time I write this article, there have only been 3254 deaths.

But what about exponential growth, you might ask?

Well, take a look at China. Most of the world’s COVID-19 cases are found right there, but the other day they actually closed one of their 16 makeshift specialized hospitals in Wuhan as the last of its patients was released.

In fact, growth in China is slowing despite 75,000 people getting infected there. But if growth truly were exponential, then pretty well the whole country ought to soon be infected. Not happening.

That makes me believe that a lot of the potential danger COVID-19 represents is indirect.

People panic. Fear claims them – and the stock market crashes, businesses collapse, and you can’t find a roll of toilet paper at your local supermarket!

Just as bad, people’s emotional/psychological wellbeing is infected by fear. Constant, growing, daily fear.

So while COVID-19 is scarily contagious, and while strict measures should be used to contain it, a bit calm reflection is called for. We need to focus on what we can do. We need to think ‘solution’. We need to think ‘opportunity’. What we don’t need to do is get caught up in the growing hysteria that threatens to drag us down into the low – and debilitating – vibration of fear.

The Coward Dies a Thousand Deaths

There is an old saying that ‘the coward dies a thousand deaths’.

The coward imagines all of the bad things that could happen to him so many times before anything actually happens that on a psychological/emotional level it is like dying a thousand times.

But thinking about it logically, there are only two possibilities for this coward: 1) He ultimately dies. 2) He doesn’t die.

If he is destined to die, better to just suffer once than live (and suffer) his death a thousand times before it actually happens.

If he isn’t destined to die, then what a waste of energy worrying so much about it.

So if we bring the topic back to COVID-19, rather than let fear seize a hold of us, we need to shift our focus to what we can do, to what we can control, and – believe it or not – the potential positives of the situation (I’ll get to this in a bit).

Learn good hygiene practices. Do what we can to lower the chance of infection. Do what we can to build a strong immune system and a healthy body.

These things are all in our power, and this, naturally, is where Reiki, Pellowah, meditation and the like come into things.

Personally, I’d bet that the healthier we are, and the stronger our immune system is, the lower our chances of contracting COVID-19 are. But even if this is not the case, as far as we know, having a strong immune system is a big help in fighting off the virus. That – from what we can tell at this point – is why children are barely affected, and why the vast majority of the virus’s victims are elderly.

Sadly, no one is allowed to make medical claims to the effect that Reiki and Pellowah, etc., do anything for your health. But both my personal and professional experience suggest they are a big help in recovering from a lot of physical conditions, including the flu.

Most likely you either practice Reiki or know someone who has received Reiki (or have received it yourself), so don’t take my word for it, use your own experience.

Or simply think about when you typically succumb to the seasonal flu.

Normally, it is after you have been abusing your body (too much work, not enough sleep, etc.), abusing your emotions (unrest with friends, family, etc.), or abusing your mind (you’ve got stuck in negative thinking, or simply overthinking!).

I’m not saying it can never happen any other way, but look back over your past and you’ll probably find that you tend to catch a cold or get unwell after a period of physical/emotional/mental abuse.

So if you can use tools like Reiki and Pellowah and meditation (or yoga or whatever) to cultivate inner balance and wellbeing, then this is likely to help if COVID-19 does strike.

And if it doesn’t – which, just between you and me, is far more probable – then you’ll also receive the benefits because you’ll experience greater wellbeing.

Opportunity in Crisis

Few people – if any – understand their life journey in all of its details. How often does something seemingly bad turn out to be for our ultimate good? We all have many such stories.

Pain, suffering, challenges – so often they are the seed for greater inner growth, for greater levels of physical, emotional and psychological wellbeing.

Ask the cancer survivor and they will often tell you their cancer was the best thing that ever happened to them (so often, in fact, that it has become a cliché).

Yes, what they went through wasn’t pleasurable, but they emerged from their illness a new person, a person with greater depth and wisdom.

So while we cannot always control what happens to us, we can nevertheless control how we react to it (if only in our thoughts).

We get to choose the meaning an event has and, with that, we get to manage our emotional experience of it.

They say that ‘the only thing to fear is fear itself’, and in the current situation ‘fear’ might be a bigger danger than the virus.

So let’s focus on what we can control. Let’s focus on doing what we can to be the healthiest, most balanced, happiest individuals we can be. Let’s use the threat of COVID-19 as a spur to do everything we can to upgrade our physical, emotional and psychological states.

And let’s remember that we often grow the most in periods of challenge.

Above all, let’s focus on the positive, not the fear.

Good can come from anything, even the challenge we now face.

(Disclaimer: This article is the opinion of Jeremy O’Carroll. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice.

Always seek the guidance of your doctor or other qualified health professional with any questions you may have regarding your health or a medical condition. Never disregard the advice of a medical professional or delay in seeking it because of something you have read in this article.

This article is the fruit of Jeremy’s personal experience, but he is not a medical doctor and is not offering professional medical/psychological advice.)

Learn more about Jeremy O'Carroll

To find out more about Jeremy O'Carroll and his Reiki courses, or to pick his free e-book 'Understanding the 7 Chakras' visit http://www.om-reiki.com.au/courses.html. To get Jeremy O'Carroll's latest Amazon best-selling book 'The Perfect Reiki Course: Everything You Need to Know Before Your First Class, visit Amazon.com.au)

7 Key Principles of Successful Professional Reiki Healers

Last week I shared some pragmatic ideas for running a successful Reiki business.

 

Those ideas work, and I got a lot of positive feedback from them.

 

But becoming a successful professional healer requires more than just business knowledge. You also need to master certain habits and inner qualities – certain psychological principles for healing success.

 

Today’s video gives you 7 key lessons I have learnt working as a Reiki professional over the last nine years – lessons that will help you not just have success in the Reiki arena, but also in almost any other endeavour.

Note: For anyone interested in finding out more about Jeremy O'Carroll's Reiki courses, visit his course homepage.

If you would like to learn more about his Reiki Master Level, visit his Master Level homepage.

A Practical Guide to Setting Up a Successful Reiki Business

Namaste Healers,

A lot of you would love to run a Reiki business one day but are not sure whether it is really doable.

Today's video not just shows you how to get going, but even how you could make $18,000 profit in your first year (and I'm not even trying to sell you anything, just show you how it can be done!).

Hopefully, you'll look at my model and say, 'Yep, that could be done. '

Let me know what you think :)

To download the Reiki Business Video Notes, click here.

PS If you're interested in finding out more about my Reiki Master Level, visit the Om Reiki Master Level homepage.

PPS I'm not selling anything in this video, so hopefully I don't need a disclaimer, but in case I do, I'm not making any promises of earnings you might make by following the advice in this video. Every situation is different. Every healer is different. So I will not be held responsible for any losses or lack of earnings you make as a result of anything you learn in this video. I hope this video helps (and my plan is as close to no risk as you can get), but everything you do as a result of watching it is at your own risk.

Are Your Talents Holding Your Spirituality Back?

It's fun being good at things.

You get to reap the fruits of your talents.

You get to wallow in egoic self-congratulations.

You get to savour that satisfied feeling of knowing you’ve got your just rewards for effort put in.

Because when you think about it, proficiency in an art or skill typically requires a lot of practice.

You've probably heard people talk about the 10,000 hours it takes to become a master at something and, while not necessarily a binding law, it does typically seem to apply – even for those people we would consider child prodigies, like Mozart or former American chess world champion Bobby Fischer. (For more information on this, try reading Robert Greene's excellent book "Mastery".)

But as satisfying as achieving a hard-earned reward might be, it's also true that the difficulty of gaining proficiency in something often deters us from even beginning it.

Because as good as we might one day become at something, in the beginning it can be a long climb out of the ‘I suck box’.

Now, I know this is a harsh way to put in. But from the ego's point of view, starting something new is often akin to getting dragged through a seemingly-endless bog of smelly, slimy goo.

And we’re not even necessarily talking about starting something completely new, either. It can just be a variation on something we already do well – a spin on the familiar that sends us reeling back into the ‘I suck box’.

This used to happen to me quite a bit as a kid taking tennis lessons. Every now and again my coach would get me to change my grip and, even if it might only be a few degrees here and there, afterwards it was often hard to hit the ball.

Now, after a while of course, I'd get used to the new grip and start smacking balls better than ever, but before that they would generally fly everywhere: out of the court, into the net, into the ground – all over the place!

In many ways, the spirit world is the same. When you practise a new meditation, for instance, it often feels clunky. You can’t find your rhythm. You can’t find your groove – and you can't get into those deep states you’re used to when you practise your regular techniques.

It is for this reason that meditators often default back to what they already know and do well. They learn a new technique. They give it a brief shot. But then, before you know it, they revert back to the old and familiar.

Now, I'm not saying that the meditation they revert to isn't great. In fact, it might be fantastic. It might even be better than the one they’ve just learned! But the thing is, they already know that meditation and if they continue to practise it, they won't learn anything new.

So sometimes it's a case of needing to take the proverbial ‘one step backwards to take two steps forward’. You try out the new technique. You possibly struggle with it at first. But then, quite often, you get a feel for it, just like I always eventually did after my coach changed my tennis racket grip.

The important thing to remember, therefore, is that to learn the new technique well, you often have to let go of the old. You have to let go of security, certainty and your need to do things well.

This might sound shocking to the ego, I know, but you can actually reassure it. Because you don't need to let go of the old for good. You just need to tuck it away for the moment while you focus on the meditation at hand. And if things get egoically desperate, you can always go back to it whenever you wish. But if you can hang tough, then as a reward for your humility, you’ll end up with two meditation options instead of one.

So the moral of all this is that when you learn something new, you’ve got to accept ahead of time that you most likely won't be proficient at it right away.

Then you’ve got to refrain from reverting back to what you already know the moment the going gets tough.

Yep, Zen warrior that you are, you’ve got to continue on with the new technique as prescribed, and practise it until you get the hang of it.

Then, with luck, you'll have a classy new addition to your meditation or spiritual practice.

(Article Copyright, Jeremy O'Carroll 2016)

To find out more about Jeremy O'Carroll's meditation courses, click here.

To find out about his Reiki courses, visit his Om Reiki course homepage.

Why Your Mind Doesn't Care If You Meditate Well

Have you ever sat down to meditate, told yourself that this time you're really going to quieten your mind, only to find out that your mind has other ideas?

It's like you sit down and say, "I'm going to meditate," and you mind says, "Is that so?"

At such times, it can feel like whatever you do, you just can't get rid of your thoughts.

This typically leads to frustration – frustration that then makes it even harder to quieten the mind!

So what you do if you find yourself in one of these mental spins?

Well, to begin with, understand that your mind is actually a thought-making machine – one that will seldom (if ever) wish to be silent!

So don't get hung up on the need to experience lengthy inner silence when you meditate, because it's unlikely to happen.

What's more – and this is big! – your mind was never created to make you happy, rather to mastermind your survival.

So if you find your head full of plots and schemes and strategies  when you next try to 'bliss out' in meditation, then don't go beating yourself up, because your mind will simply be doing its job.

And it's not even like you can effort your way to success either.

Because if it is true that what you resist persists, then trying to use willpower to battle and resist your thoughts will only make things worse. Indeed, that will be a sure-fire way to ensure they continue to smash about in your mind.

So what we need is different approach. We need to find a way to make peace with our thoughts.

Tibetan Wisdom

I was pondering this problem years ago up in northern India when I learned of a Tibetan saying: "Trying to meditate without thoughts is like trying to have meat without bones."

This got me thinking, and it made me wonder whether thoughts really were the problem after all. For so long, thoughts had been the bogeyman of my meditation, but was I misreading the situation?

Because what if thoughts were never the problem?

What if the problem was that I either a) sought to oppose my thoughts or b) allowed them to suck me off into daydream?

Pondering such issues made me think about what it must be like to be an enlightened person.

I mean, how do enlightened people deal with their thoughts?

It also got me wondering whether a meditation master really could meditate all the time, and it was here that an idea came to me.

The idea popped into my head as I imagined someone famous like the Dalai Lama entering a crowded restaurant with his retinue of followers. I pictured him strolling in. I imagined all of the restaurant's diners lifting their heads from their meals to stare at him. I heard their expressions of surprise as he moved past them.

"Oh, is that the Dalai Lama?" "Look, it's the Dalai Lama!" "I can't believe it, it's the Dalai Lama!"

All around, there would be a buzz of excitement as he made his way through the restaurant.

At this point, a normal person would typically become self-conscious. But what of the Dalai Lama? Because wouldn’t a spiritual master like him remain unaffected by the hubbub around him?

In fact, better than just being unaffected, wouldn’t he be able to stay in a deep meditative state even as he made his way through the restaurant?

But if this is true to life, how would he do it?

How could he stay in meditative state with so much noise all around him?

Having thought about this, my answer was that he obviously wouldn’t buy into chatter and noise. He would treat them as you would the sound of birds twittering in the trees or a lawnmower going off in your neighbour’s front yard. Noises to be sure, but not noises you need pay any particular attention to.

Of course, you might say this all sounds rather difficult. But when you think about it, most of us have listened to music and remained in a meditative state.

And music is a kind of noise, right?

So sound or noise don't necessarily take us out of meditation. What takes us out of it is our reaction to it.

This got me thinking further, and I started to wonder what it would be like to treat our thoughts as if they were no different to the sounds all around us.

Because, in a sense, the only difference is the distance they are away from us.

In one instance, the noises are outside of us. In the other, the ‘noises’ (thoughts) are inside our head. But fundamentally, it’s all just ‘noise’.

So if the thoughts inside our head are no different from the noises outside of it, how should we treat them?

Simple.

We observe them and leave it at that. We don't try to manipulate or change them. We don't rage against them. We just think, "Oh, there's a thought. Interesting." And that's it.

This makes me think of another approach that some meditation teachers recommend: seeing the thoughts and images in our mind like you would images and sounds coming from a movie screen.

In this scenario, characters on the screen might be saying terrible things to each other, they might be shouting and screaming and erupting with all sorts of turbulent emotions but, as a spectator, you never buy in. Nope, when you watch a film, you just sit back and enjoy the show.

Of course, the challenge of all this – as you know – is to observe your thoughts without getting sucked into their ‘story’, without getting sucked into the daydream that results when you get tangled up in them.

You know what it's like: you're meditating, you're aware of everything around you – of your breathing, of the rise and fall of your stomach, of the squishiness of the cushion beneath you – and then, next thing, you jolt upright with a start and realise you've just spent who-knows-how-long lost in reverie.

Now, treating your thoughts like external sounds is a big help for not getting sucked into them, but another interesting approach is to use your thoughts to help anchor you in meditation.

In this approach, your thoughts are like a mantra – but a mantra that has no fixed form or shape.

This form of meditation – what I call "Thinking Meditation" – has many layers to it, but to get going all you need to do is think thoughts non-stop and observe the thoughts you're thinking.

To help train people to do this, I sometimes get them to force themselves to think for one minute straight.

The idea is that for this minute they can't have any breaks in their thoughts.

Weird, I know. But that's the technique.

In the exercise it doesn't matter what anyone thinks, they just need to keep thinking!

In other words, the thoughts could be as simple as "I'm thinking about doing this meditation and can't really think of anything decent to say, but I've got to keep forcing thoughts out so I can keep thinking."

The key to the process is to observe the thoughts as you think them and, if you do this, you'll discover something interesting: thoughts help anchor you in the present moment and generate a meditative state within the body.

What's more, if you have already been practising a modality that works with energy and have a flow of energy in your body, then focusing on your thoughts as you force them out will actually strengthen the energy flow in your body.

What this shows is that thoughts are definitely not the problem when we meditate, because in this instance, the thoughts we are thinking actually help us to meditate! So the problem, as we said before, is simply the way we react to our thoughts.

So if you want to experiment, try doing one of the two things we discussed in this article:

1.    Practise treating your thoughts as if they were the same as the sounds outside your body

2.    Force yourself to keep an uninterrupted flow of thoughts tumbling into your mind, being sure to observe your thoughts the entire time.

What's really neat about the second technique is that you can do it even when your mind is ridiculously busy.

Heck, you can do it when you're busy!

You can do it as you cook, as you clean, as you wait for a bus, as you go for a jog – whatever.

Since you typically have no shortage of thoughts, all you need to do is give them an extra nudge so they continue to flow uninterrupted, and then observe them as they tumble into your mind.

Do this and your ability to meditate ‘on the go’ will likely take on a whole new complexion.

(Article copyright 2016, Jeremy O'Carroll)

Postscript

If you’d like to go deeper into the intricacies and subtleties of these meditations, consider coming along to one of myCBM meditation courses.

The C stands for 'core', and in the section of the course devoted to it, you will learn to connect with your energetic core, i.e. your chakras and Sushumna (an energy channel that goes from your base chakra up to your crown chakra).

The B stands for 'body', and in the section focusing on it, you will learn to connect to your energy body, i.e. your energy field and aura.

The M stands for ‘mind’ and, among other things, the course goes deeply into the meditations we have discussed in this article.

The final CBM meditation course for the year will be held on 3 September, and you can either enrol by clicking here or find out more by visiting the CBM meditation website.

If you have any questions, just reply to this email or call me on 1300 853 356 or 0417 328 457. I'd love to tell you more.