Touch is such an important element in healing and also in our daily life. But how do we touch? One of the most important elements to touch in the right way is our mind, because if our mind is not in the right space, touch can become very different, even hurtful. Let’s look first at touching ourselves because if we do not know how to touch ourselves, then how can we touch others in the right way?
We trade one rigid, constricting way of being for another rigid, constricting way of being. And because we call the new way spiritual practice, we may tell ourselves and others that this is great, this is better, this is how and who we want to be in our practice and in our life.
Many ancient Asian meditation practices have come to the West since the early 60’s. But are they of benefit in this modern day and age? We have lost our groundedness and centeredness due to being more in our heads, we constantly ask why, how, who, what, when? And therefore we are always analyzing and over thinking things.
Most of the time people have a hard time giving away things to others which they themselves really like. Yes, we buy a present for someone and then we give that away. But something that you have bought for yourself often has more attachments to it and therefore is harder to give away. But in essence, it is just energy and energy needs to flow to be healthy.
Let’s hold hands together, let’s practice together so that for the sake of our children and the earth, we can go back to being real ordinary human beings again. Through our practice, and our connection to each other and to all things, let’s put the humane back into being human.
As practitioners of a spiritual practice, we have to be like a lighthouse. We just shine the great bright light of our true identity out into the world so that others can see their own inner light. A lighthouse doesn’t judge, label, or distinguish; it just shines out its light.
Our spiritual practice is like a blooming flower. Often as practitioners we want to quickly have spiritual experiences because we think that that is the real key to it all. But if we have this kind of attitude when we practice, we are in a hurry. And by being in a hurry, we can miss the whole point.
As soon as we switch on the light, the room becomes bright and therefore we can find what we are looking for more easily. This is the same with our innate light which emanates from our true identity. This light gives us clarity, not just clarity on how to live a healthy life, but also clarity on how to be compassionate to ourselves and others.
Big love is our essence, our natural identity. But due to our upbringing, our fears, attachments, you name it, we cover it up. Big love is like a great bright light which flows into all directions; it is like the sun and moon together.
Each time I try to grasp the past, present or future, they slip through my fingers as if trying to grasp air. Try it for yourself. Can you find the now? Can you find the present moment? If we really investigate and look closer, we start to see that both the now and the present moment can not be found.
Often in our normal daily life, we find it very hard to be compassionate to ourselves, let alone others. One of the reasons we find this so hard to do is because our mind, body and energy are like frozen water, frozen with jealousy, fear, worry, anger and ignorance.
Often we look for healing outside of ourselves, for someone who can fix us or heal us. But in looking outside of ourselves, we give our own inner healing power away, leaving us unempowered instead of empowered. In essence, we can only heal ourselves; no one can do that for us, not even a Buddha. Someone can show us the way or can be a facilitator, but we still have to do the hard work ourselves.
I walked through life like a horse with blinkers on the side, not seeing clearly. But after this experience, between the majestic trees, I realized that I was not seeing through blinkers at all. Instead, I realized that my eyes had been covered over completely! I had been stumbling in the dark for all these years!
When we open our hands, minds, and hearts, moving into the flow of the stream, we either can paddle forward to or float back to the bank of our true identity much more easily. Practicing meditations helps us to recognize our mind patterns and habits, and helps us to see our choices.
I look around me and ask myself; is this my world, Greed, destruction, wars, gossip
I look around me and ask myself; is this my world, Beauty, nature, laughter, love
Accepting ourselves is like placing ourselves and our issues in an open hand, the open hand of acceptance. For example, when we have a disease, we often fight with it and this creates worry, fear, and anger; this kind of fighting is a struggle between us and the disease.
The key word here is cling; it is so easy to get caught up in thought patterns. We follow our thoughts when we cling to the past, to the future, and even to the present moment. When we follow our thoughts, getting tangled up like cling wrap, we suffer from anger, fears, worries and all sorts of attachments.
In many spiritual traditions, the essence of the mind-heart is symbolized by space. But why is this? Our true mind-heart is a union with the universe. The universe has no beginning or end and therefore our mind-heart is as spacious as the universe.
In our modern age we live in such a disconnected state of heart-mind. We might think we are more interconnected than ever, with Facebook, texting, Instagram and so on. But that is a kind of external connectedness through gadgets.
A real practitioner or teacher isn’t doing the healing for you. Instead she creates a space in which you can rediscover your own innate healing power. Real healing is about rediscovering your own innate power. Often we give this power away to a practitioner or a teacher.
