The Creative Spark – by @JulieJordanScot

Tags

art, creativity, spark, spirituality

More than twenty years I was a guest teacher in a classroom of adults who were used to studying spiritual topics in depth.  I chose the topic “You are Art.”

What I remember most is before I started when a man who said, “I am a businessman, I am the furthest thing from art.”

I remember the naive, sweet version of myself felt a wave of incredulity sweep over me, “You mean, you don’t see your business as an art form?”

My poet, singing, life purpose coach self may have even gotten tears in my eyes.

I was grieved he didn’t get it. He didn’t understand that business is art. Getting dressed every day is art. Making a meal is art.

I don’t think that one particular hour-long session made a difference in his life, but I’m willing to suspend my disbelief to say “It could have. The creative spark could have risen from what we said and did in that session to invite him into the possibility that his business was, indeed, his creative project. His business was his art, his sculpture, his dramatic monologue, his pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, his photo, his poem.”

The creative spark – the initial entry into making things – beats in all of our hearts. It moves through our veins and is heard through our voices. 

American painter Robert Henri said, “The object isn’t to make art, it’s to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable.”

This wonderful state Henri refers to is where sparks fly and gather into something more than a single light. The creative spark is at the heart of conversations that leave an impression and sit in our memory decades later. It is the space where we go on walks and suddenly see light in a new way. It is when we solve a problem into a solution that benefits more people than we knew it could.

The creative spark opens doors, breezes through windows and wakes us up from a long nap ready to dive into what we were afraid of before we fell asleep thinking we were stuck in a hopeless mess.

At the ripe old age of ten-years-old I first sang harmonies in a girls chorus class. My voice lifted up and hit higher notes than the melody. I could not believe how beautiful it was to join other voices to make such a glorious, blended sound I couldn’t make by singing alone.

It was like suddenly being a part of a divine miracle. Truth be told, it was a part of a divine miracle, never replicated.

By the end of that school year I abandoned my love of acting, a talent I possessed, was praised for and didn’t use again for three decades. 

I only started to act again because of a series of synchronicities and a moment of transcendence pushed me into a space where I could no longer deny this spark within me. 

Osho reminds us “To be creative means to be in love with life.” 

Let’s deepen that love, together, today and on as many days as possible in the future.

Julie

Author bio: Julie JordanScott is a Creative Life Coach, an award-winning storyteller, actor and poet whose photos and mixed media art graces the walls of collectors across the United States. Her writing has appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List, the Amazon best sellers list and on American Greetings Holiday cards (and other greeting cards). She currently lives in a manse in Sussex, NJ, where she is working on finishing her most recent book project, hugging trees daily and enjoys having random inspirational conversations with strangers.

Julie’s blog: Creative Life Midwife / Julie on Twitter: @JulieJordanScot

Julie JordanScott – creating a spark with every hug!

Kumud’s note: I am very excited that Julie accepted my invitation to host the weekly Twitter chat for the #SpiritChat community on Sunday, Nov 21 at 9amET. She has been a long-time participant, inspiration and spark-creator for us, and I know that the community will learn a lot from her as she steps up to her role as guest host. Thank you, Julie! – @AjmaniK

On Creating Contentment

Tags

abundance, contentment, creativity, giving, sharing

It is perhaps not an accident that one of the newest, if not one of the youngest members of the community shared the change that a shift to abundance mentality can bring into our lives. She first joined our monthly Zoom chat in November. In the December conversation, she wisely shared:

“Every morning when I wake up, I say to myself – there is enough for everyone” – @Quratulain

This simple and straightforward affirmation reflects a profound truth that we often tend to forget. Yes, we all have our daily challenges and conflicts. On some days, it may even seem that some parts of us are living contradictions of what we were just yesterday. And yet, it is when we find the courage to be open to the big abundance that is the nature of the universe, we take a small step toward creating contentment.

How is energy of contentment different from the energies of happiness and joy? In order to create and sustain happiness, we may often invoke an energy of ‘doing’. Our accumulated life experiences inform our heart and mind that certain people, communities, things, events, actions, seasons, holidays and such tend to make us happy or unhappy. Our natural inclination to avoid pain feeds into our ‘pursuit of happiness’, no matter how temporary that energy of happiness may be. “Do that which makes you feel good” – haven’t we all heard that mantra?

Ah. I have now infused ‘feeling good’ into the energy of happiness. If ‘feeling good’ equates to ‘optimal health’, then, yes, it would indeed be a welcome infusion. The good health of our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual containers energizes and elevates us towards joy – a more permanent energy beyond happiness. We move from merely ‘feeling good’ towards ‘feeling better’. After moving from ‘good’ to ‘better’, the natural question to ask would be, what’s next? (My gratitude to @GaryGruber for asking that question in our December zoom meeting).  

Perhaps the answer to the “what’s next” question can be found in our attitude towards abundance and  an evaluation of our state of contentment. On self-examination, if we find ourselves in a better state of contentment than we were a month ago, a year ago, or even a decade ago, then we are closer to the answer. If not, then we perhaps need to examine the breadth and depth of our discontent. What is its root? Where did its seed come from? What feeds it? What feeds on it? What role do happiness, joy and abundance play in our state of contentment?

The journey to answer these questions often raises more questions than it answers. And yet, content is the traveler who remembers that joy can be infused in every twist and turn, every spring and autumn, every dawn and dusk, every breath. And that there is enough for everyone. Namaste.

Kumud

P.S. Join us for our weekly twitter gathering – Sunday, December 8 at 9amET / 730pm India. We shall share on the topic of (dis)contentment, and start planning on our “what’s next” for the forthcoming decade. Bring some answers, will you?! – @AjmaniK

A state of contentment flows from a walk along the river (Dec 6 2019)

Spiritual Amateurs

Tags

amateur, creativity, heart, spirituality

The final question that was asked by Sharon (@AwakeningTrue) at the end of Friday’s Zoom meeting was: what are some things that you really love doing or would like to do? A lot of answers came forth and every answer gave a glimpse into the folks giving the answers.

The answers ranged from “I’m going to to take an improv class” to “I love laughing and infusing laughter into life” to “I love giving hugs” to “I love creating special hand-made gifts for people” to “I love drinking tea and reading” to “I love eating dark chocolate squares” and more. The question made me reflect on my own amateur activities outside of my professional work as an engineer.

I am a rank amateur at walking in nature in every season. I walk for the love of walking, and I bring back photos as visual memories of my walks. On last check, my phone tells me that I have 9486 photos tagged “Fall” from the past seven years – 4022 from “Rocky River Reservation” alone. Yikes. That’s a lot of photos and a lot of standing around, isn’t it?! I am also a lover of simply sitting and watching and wondering, weeding and planting, walking the dog, making and drinking tea, dabbling in poetry on twitter, and writing my weekly blog posts.

Over the past three years, I have become a lover of waking up early and starting my day with meditation. This practice has slowly taught me that inward focus on the heart creates the counter current to all the violence, vitriol, anger, acrimony, divisiveness, despair, disrespect and hate that seems to be endemic in the world. How does the heart do this?

Our heart-focus helps us to put a spotlight on the beauty, the goodness, the lightness and the positive traits of the ones that we are often the quickest to criticize, condemn and complain about. The heart helps us remember that our beloveds are so because of their good qualities and because they often do much more good in the world than otherwise.

It is when the heart reminds us of that sweet fragrance of theirs, we can release anger and open the door to forgiveness. We awaken to the realization that we are not spiritual amateurs any longer. We realize that being an amateur actually serves us well — for the root of that word is amore — a lover of life.

What are some things that you are an amateur at?

Kumud

P.S. Join us amateurs for our weekly twitter chat on Sunday, November 3rd at 9amET in #SpiritChat ~ share your love of… Namaste – @AjmaniK

The Spirit of Ideation

Tags

creativity, healing, ideas, nature

Some of you know that I am a ‘nature’ walker, and that I am often looking for opportunities to look at the trails that I walk with new light, perspectives and framing. The results of some of these ‘nature walks’ is often shared in photographs, poetry and short writings.

It wasn’t until this week, sitting in a Biom* workshop over two days, that the idea emerged — there is a deeper, long-term, holistic effect of these walks on my being. One speaker talked about the importance of ideation in the fields of biomimicry, biomimetics and bioinspiration. All of these fields, collectively called Biom*, are connected in the origin of the idea that nature and biology already have created a lot of solutions to some of our grand-challenge problems.

If we are to believe that some of these solutions already exist in nature, then the question becomes – how do we ‘define’ our complex human problems in a language that biological systems can understand? It is in the creation of this common language where ideas and ideation comes in.

How often is it that someone’s ‘new idea’ or ‘new theory’ is laughed at and dismissed? What if there were a repository or knowledge base, where the innovations required to make the new idea a reality, could be compared with existing natural and biological solutions? The goal of Biom* is to create a ‘safe space’ for the the ‘idea person’ and their ideation. It is to provide a canvas, buckets of paint and paint brushes, for ideation to create new masterpieces with the help of nature and her infinitely diversified and brilliant solutions.

The workshop happened on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday morning, after a mixup about the time for my dental appointment, I decided to go walking before I went into work. The idea, the question, that I held in my heart was – how could I apply what I had just learnt over the past two days about Biom*? In search of the answer, I found myself slowing down even more than usual during the walk.

I started a conversation with an ex-marine walking his Siberian husky on the trail. He told me that there were some American Eagle nests in the thicket of trees across the water, but he hadn’t seen them in a few weeks. Fifteen minutes later, I had stopped downriver to watch some bees working with a bunch of flowers who had all their petals folded backwards. A fluttering of wings, and I looked up to see a dozen mallard duck in full and swift flight, traveling upriver. What’s their hurry, I wondered? And then, there they were, a minute or so later. Two bald eagles flying upriver, in virtually silent flight, painting with majestic brushstrokes against a clear blue canvas.

So, what does ideation have to do with spirituality, our spiritual journey? Let me posit that if and when we choose to appreciate our inherent talent for ideation, we can grow creativity. When we grow creativity, we can grow solutions to all of our complex challenges. If we were to be heart-facing towards any idea which is simple, credible, ‘tells a story’, and enhances value for humans and the ecosystems that we live in, then we are enhancing human values, aren’t we?

Perhaps bioinspiration can create a better conversation between our ideals and ideation, between us and our ecosystems, and All of Life that surrounds us. What can be a better spiritual practice than that?

Kumud

P.S. Join us for our weekly chat, Sunday Sep 15 at 9amET ~ I will bring some Qs and tea, you can bring some new ideas! – @AjmaniK

Reference: Ask Nature Database – http://www.asknature.org

On Seeding Friendships

Tags

celebration, creativity, energy, friendship, unity

At 5pm on Friday evening, a dozen or so folks gathered online in a multi-dimensional meeting which included sound, video, and much laughter. Lots of laughter. Many ideas were exchanged about how to best use such meetings in the future. But this first meeting was primarily about getting to know each other a bit better through the spoken word, through smiles and favorite quotes and prayers. It was about planting new seeds of friendship and growing the friendships that have formed through #SpiritChat over the years.

The Sanskrit word for ‘friendship’ is maitri. It is also referred to as <a href=”https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mettā“>Mettā</a> in the Pali language. How and where does a friendship first come to life? There is usually some common ground necessary for two (or more) people to decide to sit with one another. The sitting can be in silence, a primarily one-way communication (lecture), a two-way conversation, or even a multi-way exchange facilitated by a desire to be in each other’s presence.

When friendship takes on the energy of @maggiemistal, the expression of ‘loving kindness’ (@sageandsavvy), or is simply steeped in love (@AwakeningYourTrueSelf) or is a simple yet heart-felt expression of gratitude (@tomarciamae), it transmits the energy of the heart to all present. When it takes on the expression of ‘watching, waiting, working’ (thank you, @mscator), the gentle sharing by @wonderpix, the energy of @maggiemistal, the creativity of @heiddiz, it breathes new life into the sitting. When it is expressed through the Mettā prayer of @intuitiveheal, the wisdom of @southbaysome and the grace of @garygruber, one knows and feels that they are in a special space and time.

And so, the seeds of friendship are nurtured. One question, one answer, one chat, one conversation, one smile, one kind gesture, one zoom meeting at a time.

It is tough to say what will come next, but for today, the heart feels filled with maitri – the benevolence and radiance of those who shared with all of their heart.

The sage Patanjali said in his yoga sutras (aphorisms) – “be friendly towards those who are friendly towards you.” It sounds simple enough, but it isn’t always easy to do (why is that person being friendly? what do they want from me?) However, it is safe to say that we are largely “friendly to all” in the #SpiritChat community, and we extended on that principle in today’s sitting.

As I sat watching the radiant colors of the sun, the sky and the clouds merge into the lake waters, it reminded me of the ease with which we all converged on the common ground of friendship today. We came a bit closer to the essence of maitri, of Mettā, of meditation.

Kumud @AjmaniK

P.S. What is (or was) the greatest friendship you have experienced? How were its seeds sown? How did its roots develop, its flowers bloom? And those friendships that withered away – what was their life cycle? Share with us, Sunday April 7 at 9amET / 1pm UTC / 630pm India in our weekly #spiritchat on Twitter. Namaste – Kumud

On Making Work Play

Tags

creativity, integration, play, work

The first Sunday of September is ‘celebrated’ as the ‘Labor Day’ weekend in the USA. It was the first ‘long weekend’ that I encountered when I first here for graduate school. I was intrigued by a holiday that had the word ‘labor’ in it, and I also wondered why they did not spell it with a ‘u’. Over the years, I learnt a bit more about this classic American weekend that marks the passage from summer into autumn.

But, back to ‘labor’. The word itself seems to carry a sense of ‘heaviness’ about it for me. It conjures a vision of coolies carrying suitcases on their heads at railway stations in India, ascending and descending staircases with a seeming ease that defies their wiry frames. As a child, I was always impressed by their superhuman strength, and often felt a bit guilty about the tough negotiations we would do for hiring them. In their work, they seemed like Atlas carrying the weight of their shoulders on their back.

However, we all well know that not all ‘labor’ is manual. In this day and age of technology, our labor is often defined by our ‘finger dexterity’, ‘mental organization’, ‘oral delivery’ and ‘visual acuity’. The ‘gentler’ connotation of ‘labor’ is simply ‘work’. And the even ‘gentler’ connotation of ‘work’ is often ‘play. And some of us have mastered the niche and cultivated the art of ‘making work play’. They are perhaps the enlightened creatives.

So, what is it that defines those masters of ‘making work play’? I imagine that we would have to know what the words ‘work’ and ‘play’ mean to us at an individual level. For simplicity sake, let us assume that ‘work’ leans toward ‘labor’ and ‘play’ leans towards ‘fun and recreation’. When ‘work’ and ‘play’ tilt away from each other, like the two arms of the letter V, they tend to pull us apart. When they come together, as in the letter I, we feel a sense of integration, of wholeness, of wholesomeness.

And then, there is notion of ‘duty’. For me, the word connotes an even ‘heavier’ form of work than ‘labor’. When it first appears to do its bidding, ‘duty’ tends to invoke resistance. It is often inconvenient, and tends to be demanding of what we may be unable or unwilling to give of – which is our sense of freedom. Friction results, sparks fly, unfamiliar words and thoughts and feelings emerge. Play becomes the farthest thing from our hearts and minds when we approach the work of our duty as a burden that has befallen us.

We need not despair, though. It is time for evaluation of our (spiritual) practices. Do they feel like burdens, or like play? It is self-reflection that reminds us of our capacity to love, and it is that love which ‘greases the tracks of duty’. When approached with love, we take the first step on the path (towards doing our duty at hand) with a renewed lightness of heart. This leads to a sense of vairagya (non-attachment to the results), which leads us back to freedom, and to the joy of play!

Love of work. Freedom through love. Play through Freedom. This is our work.

The result? We find ourselves in That ocean where all of our work is a wave of divine play – Leela.

We have come full circle to the center, where ‘labor’ has become weightless. It’s time to celebrate!

Kumud @AjmaniK

P.S. Join us Sunday, September 2nd at 9amET / 630pm India for our weekly community chat on twitter. We will work on ‘Making Work Play’ in #spiritchat – bring your game-boards and game-pieces!

Nature’s (handi)Work – or is it merely Play?!

On Creative Unity

Tags

creativity, spirituality, unity

To speak of the notion of “creative unity” may seem out of time and place on a day (weekend) on which many are engaged in prayer, service, reflection and remembrance of the events of September 11th from fifteen years ago. However, it is when we are greatly challenged, when we are in a literal and figurative struggle between life and death, that our innate sense of strength is reestablished through our sense of unity as a community. For those who were physically present in the USA on that fateful day, this display of unity – visible everywhere you turned – was unmistakable.

But, unity and its display, is often not enough to sustain us as individuals, as communities, as nations. It is a necessary condition, but it is not sufficient. Like everything else that is subject to the vagaries of time and space, that which is brought together and rises with high emotions, can and does get rendered apart and falls when the tide of emotions goes out. The good news is that an event which forges together such intense unity and sense of purpose does reveal that communities are capable of rising together when necessary. We are often not even aware of how strong we are, and our latent strengths are revealed, our resilience is reinforced in times like these.

But why do such events have to happen in the first place? Why is such tragedy and evil even “allowed for” by the energy of a good and loving universe? Why does our healthy inner and outer world get shattered by the diseases of hate, violence and destruction? In the book/essay titled “Creative Unity”, Rabindranath Tagore says:

“The meaning of health comes home to us with painful force when disease disturbs it; since health expresses the unity of the vital functions and is accordingly joyful. Life’s tragedies occur, not to demonstrate their own reality, but to reveal that eternal principle of joy in life, to which they gave a rude shaking”

It may seem like poor consolation, and a heavy price indeed, that we have to allow for tragedies to occur in order for them to reveal that eternal principle of joy in life. And it may all seem like a contradiction in the moments – when we are in the middle of it all – that there can be any possible positive outcome from the tragedy. If anything, personal and societal tragedies can cause suffering that causes a break of harmony between our surroundings and the spirit of unity within us.

So, how do we recover our spirit of unity? How do we restore our sense of Joy? One way to recover our spirit of unity, restore our sense of Joy, is to get creative. The human spirit is not only resilient, but it is very creative too. The ability of the human spirit to creatively transform her energies so as to focus them on the task at hand has been on abundant innumerable times in history. The human spirit does not ever forget that its greatest manifestation is in Reality, Awareness and Joy. Unity promulgated by Harmony is our greatest Truth. The evidence is all around us…

“There is the dancing ring of seasons; the elusive play of lights and shadows, of wind and water; the many-coloured wings of erratic life flitting between birth and death. The importance of these does not lie in their existence as mere facts, but in their language of harmony, the mother-tongue of our own soul, through which they are communicated to us.”
– Tagore

I am sure that we can think of many ways in which to use creativity to restore harmony, to move towards a sense of inner unity in our heart. When we find the unity in our own hearts, it gives us the courage to heal, and in our healing, we reach out and affect the hearts of others around us. Wherever our heart touches the One, in the small or the big, it finds the touch of the infinite – Tagore.

So, let us get creative in our prayer, our service, our reflection, our remembrance, our healing and our loving. Let that be our unified tribute that reaches one and all.

Namaste,

Kumud

P.S. I hope you can join us for #SpiritChat on twitter – Sunday, September 11th at 9amET. Share your healing energy of creative unity. Thank you, and Namaste.

Creating Freedom through Creativity

Tags

creativity, freedom, socialmedia

For virtually every Sunday of my short life on social media, I have had the privilege of spending an hour or so on twitter, being part of the #SpiritChat community. In the form of questions and answers, with guest hosts and friends who step up to host in my absence, we the people have stood fast to our goal of “transforming the spirit with conversations in social media”. Over the years, many (hundreds?) have come through the virtual doors that formally ‘open’ every Sunday at 9amET to share their ‘answers’ to ‘questions’ posed during our gatherings.

As we research and probe and pry open our hearts and minds in the company of those of varying life backgrounds and experiences, we manage to take a deeper look at our beliefs, our faiths, our values and our actions. We may not always like what this self-exploration may bring us face to face with, but my thesis is that we all somehow walk away from our community experience with some agglomerated wisdom that sticks our hearts opens a little bit more every week.

It isn’t that the #SpiritChat community is some kind of homogeneous community with a single mindset. In fact, we are perhaps all grateful that it is exactly the opposite – a kaleidoscope of heterogenity! At the end of the day (or the hour), the issue is not whether we agree or disagree with each other – it is whether we can look at each other with a little bit more love in our heart’s eyes. And if we walk away with a little bit more empathy, a sense of friendship, an attitude of joy, or even a realization of the cause(s) of the pain and hurt that we carry around with us, then it is indeed time well spent in sharing and learning within a safe space.

I have often felt that I am the greatest beneficiary of the community’s loving heart. If the amount of stretching that often occurrs for me – before, during and after the chat – is any indication of ‘progress’, then I have the ‘spiritual stretch marks’ to show for many a new self-birth over the years 🙂 The creative energy of the community ensures that we all keep growing and evolving and involving. I am grateful that my stories of ‘walking’ and photos of being in nature and my attempts at poetry are received with grace by the community. In symbiosis, the creative energy of the community continues to inspire many to experience even greater freedom in their practice and work.

As some of you know, it was @waynemcevilly (piano viruoso extraordinaire) who inspired me to create the Sunday #SpiritChat on twitter, five years ago. Wayne’s creative, fun-loving and carefree attitude taught this staid, lackadaisical engineer to lighten up and learn to ‘go with the flow’. I have learnt the virtues of ‘practicing patience’, ‘art of showing up with a smile’, ‘this too shall pass for that is nature’s way’, ‘be kinder to yourself than you expect others to be towards you’, ‘don’t try so darn hard because a lot of it is beyond your control’, ‘give people time and space and that includes you’, ‘talk about the good stuff for there are many out there talking to them about the bad stuff’, ‘always and never are like hot chili peppers so use them sparingly’, ‘make time for tea and cookies’, and much more. All this agglomerated ‘wisdom’ from hosting the chat and associating with all of you – every single one of you!

And so, it continues. The need today to have conversations that ‘transform the spirit’ is no less, perhaps much greater, than it was in July 2011. I know in my heart that our conversations have just begun. For if the conversations that I have with myself after the #SpiritChat hour every week are any indication, there is an infinity of creative freedom that remains to be expressed. And who better to transform the ‘spirit of conversations’ in our world at large than some of the most kind, loving and generous-of-heart people that I have had the privilege to connect with?

Namaste, my friends. Stay tuned. For the best of our creativity is yet to come…

Kumud @AjmaniK

P.S. ICYMI The first #SpiritChat blog post (July 29th 2011) – On Slowing Down. And do join us, Sunday July 31st 2016 at 9amET on twitter – bring a sample of your creative energy to share with the community. Cake and cookies are always welcoome too. Thank you!

Creative Energy Practice – HeartFulness

Tags

creativity, energy, meditation

Among all of the creative practices that can help us increase our emotional and spiritual energy levels, mindfulness and meditation are often in the top few. Rarely does a weekly #SpiritChat go by where these to practices are not mentioned in an answer to one or more questions by one or more participants. Lately, mindfulness has become almost a ‘buzzword’ fix-it-all for many of our ‘problems’ that are apparently caused by our perpetually distracted mind. There seems to be an abundance of mindfulness (often labeled ‘self-awareness’) practices available to us. We simply have to choose one, or even many. But what about meditation as a creative practice to raise our energy levels?

In some way or form, I have had a personal practice of ‘meditation’ for a few years. I would call it more like ‘an attempt to sit still and examine what flows through my mind and heart’. It has basically been a ‘roll my own’ method with some partial guidance by sporadic attendance at meditation workshops, reading about meditation techniques and others’ experiences, and so on. To say that I had been simply ‘spinning my wheels’ without much apparent ‘benefit’ or tangible ‘progress’, other than the satisfaction that I had at least developed a regular habit of ‘sitting at a given hour’, would be an understatement. The universe must have felt my silent cry for assistance, for last November, I decided to give ‘heartfulness’ a try.

In a casual conversation on the ‘festival of lights’ holiday, I told my brother-in-law in India that I was ready to begin my heartfulness practice. It wasn’t that he hadn’t asked me to try out what he had been practicing for many years. It was just that I had not been willing (or able?) to listen to his invitation with any degree of acceptance. So, he had left me alone to ‘get ready to ask for help’ in my own way. And when I did ask, he was ready. We began with an introductory session the very next day, followed by two short sessions on subsequent days during the week. And then, it was all up to me, to have the self-discipline to follow the simple instructions.

Six months later, I can say that the practice itself is very simple, straightforward and effective. Like any new practice, it ‘works’ if you ‘practice’ it. I am earnestly working on being creative in creating time to make the practice of heartfulness a part of my daily life. I am getting close. Very close. Why have I ‘stuck’ with it? If the results so far are any indication of what the future will hold, I am eager, willing and present to all the energetic possibilities that heartfulness meditation has to offer!

As part of our weekly #SpiritChat conversation, I invite you to our conversation with special guest @amalik1818 (yes, my #heartfulness coach :)) on Sunday, June 26th 2016 at 9amET/1pmUTC. I am very excited about all of you meeting Alok, and feeling his wonderful energy. We have been trying to coordinate this for a few months now, and the time and space coordinates have finally aligned!

Namaste,

Kumud @AjmaniK

Resources: Heartfulness Meditation

Bio: Dr Alok Malik retired from the Indian Army after being a practicing surgeon for over twenty years. He is currently the Medical Director for one of the largest hospitals in Hyderabad, India. His meditation practice stretches back over a decade, and he is a certified trainer in Heartfulness techniques.

P.S. If you have been trying to establish a creative energy #meditation practice, or been ‘struggling’ with your current one (like I did for two and a half years), or merely are curious to try something new, Alok @amalik1818 will offer a choice of two thirty minute ‘remote’ sessions to get you started after the chat – Sunday 8pmET or Monday 8pmET (other times may be available on request. please ask). No strings attached. No charge or fee. How to sign up? Leave a comment below or DM me on twitter for the very simple instructions. Come join us!

Update: How To Participate in the ‘Introductory Sessions’ conducted by Alok Malik – @amalik1818 on Twitter in #SpiritChat

Step ONE: Watch and follow the Heartfulness Relaxation video commands for ten minutes, BEFORE start of meditation session (start at 745pmET today)
https://youtu.be/HuiV395xI4I

Step TWO: Login to twitter. Check in to #SpiritChat with a simple tweet confirming that you are PRESENT, at least five minutes before the designated START time of 8pmET. The trainer (@amalik1818) needs confirmation that you are present – we are doing this via twitter/#SpiritChat for now. (we may add a WhatsApp group or alternate way later to accomplish this step).

Sit comfortably, on seeing the Twitter message (or if not on Twitter, start at designated time) to START MEDITATION do the following ——

1. Put your phone on silent mode
2. Ensure that no one disturbs you for at least thirty minutes
3. Gently close your eyes
4. Gently take your attention to the source of divine light within your heart
5. Don’t try to concentrate or try to see the light. Just imagine that the source of Divine Light is within your heart and it is attracting you
6. If your mind wanders to some other thought, then gently push it away and naturally get it back to the source of light within your heart.
7. Slowly you will experience thoughtlessness and absorption in meditation
8. Continue meditation for thirty minutes. You may use an alarm to guide you.
9. Jot down your experiences during meditation and condition after meditation in a spiritual journal.
10. Remember NOT to concentrate on the source of light, or keep repeating the thought about the source of light as a mantra. If you don’t see any light, that’s ok, and if you see some that’s also ok.

Above steps are from the two-minute video for Heartfulness Techinques at
https://youtu.be/xMzZl_7mRpY

Tips:

1. Watch the Heartfulness meditation video

2. Follow the Heartfulness Relaxation script for ten min BEFORE meditation

3. Meditation takes place at the level of subconscious mind. When we imagine in our conscious mind that there is a source of divine light within our heart, the same settles in the subconscious mind and stays there. Now even if this thought were to disappear from the conscious mind it does not matter. We therefore don’t have to concentrate on it, repeat it or run after it.

4. If some other thought comes to our mind AND we give attention to it by actively participating in it, THEN that thought settled on the subconscious mind. Moment we realise that we have got swayed by another thought, then gently push it aside and naturally center back on the source of light within your heart.

5.While you meditate, the trainer focuses Yogic Transmission on your subtle body. Experience its effect and note the same in your journal.

Going Forward: After three guided meditation sessions (thirty minutes each), you may start meditating on your own at a fixed time in the morning. Start with thirty min and gradually increase it to one hour.

One meditation followup session with a trainer will be needed once a week (at least once every alternate week) going forwards.
We can schedule them on a fixed day and time (TBD) for all to join in a group setting.

Questions? Please ask in comments below or DM @amalik1818 or @AjmaniK – thank you!

Heartfulness – Cleaning

1. After finishing your work day, sit comfortably, close your eyes and focus your attention on the complete spine, from the top of the neck to the bottom of the tail bone

2. Continuously imagine that all complexities and impurities are leaving you through the back of the spine, in the form of vapor. Don’t try and see any vapor.

3. After a few minutes you will feel some vibration/heat coming out from a segment of the spine. Now concentrate on that segment of the spine and use your will to accelerate the going out of complexities and impurities, till it stops coming out.

4. Then move to the next segment of the spine and repeat the above process.

5. By the time you’ve covered the whole spine, you will be feeling much lighter.

6. Now imagine that the Sacred Current of Divine is flowing from the Source into your heart and spreading across the whole body, and filling it with Sacredness.

7. Get up with a feeling of being filled with Sacredness. The above process takes 15 to 30 min

Tips:

1. In case you tend to go into meditation during cleaning, break it by opening your eyes and restart the Cleaning.

2. In case you can’t do the Cleaning in the evening, do it before going to sleep.

On Creative Courage

Tags

courage, creativity, spiritchat, spirituality

Our featured guest on our weekly twitter chat #SpiritChat this week is Denise Buchman (@DeniseBuchman), founder of #couragecafe on twitter. We will discuss “Creative #Courage” with Denise on January 25th at 9amET. Denise has written a beautiful blog post about her journey, and the creativity it required of her, to discover and live with courage. Please read, comment, share, and join us. Thank you! ~ Kumud

Courage – by Denise Buchman for #SpiritChat

By Definition

Courage: (noun) the ability to do something that frightens one, strength in the face of pain or grief.

“bravery, courageousness, pluck, valor, fearlessness, intrepidity, nerve, daring, audacious, bold, grit, heroism, gallant, spunk, moxie”

When I look back on the trail I have tread, it’s actually hard to believe I was as scared or confused or as uncertain as I was….yet I still rocked it! How? Because I had to dig deep and use insane courage to detach from others and learn to believe in myself and love myself no matter what mistakes were made along the way and what others perceived of me from the outside.

The place I was searching and seeking for ALL my life was a higher connection to self. I always knew it was to a connection with my Higher Power, I just didn’t know who or what that was for me.

No one in my professional circles knew of my family background, yet, I kept running into people who suggested a program called “Al Anon”. After three totally different people mentioned this, it was a sign to me that I needed to learn more. So I found a meeting in 2010, and never looked back. Most do not know this, but my family is full of alcoholics, both sides, cousins and my ex-husband. All functional, but there is a life of patterns that we learn and take on behaviors and thinking of self that are very distorted ways of thinking. Because of my ex-husband, my children are children of an alcoholic and it’s a cycle I was determined to break by learning about it and opening up myself.

This took me to what I was seeking – closer relationship to a Higher Power. For me its God and The Universe. I always thought I was working on myself but really I would “put out a fire” in my life’s current situation and move on…..never really getting to the core authentic self with my true authentic feelings and validating them. I feared to go to inside for what I would find. That took insane courage. Hence my affair with courage in all things in life became my passion!

From an early age, I developed a tremendous fear of making mistakes. No one would know this on the outside – I made decisions and had many successes. However, they were made not from a place of feelings, self, heart ~ but what would “look good”, “be best for others” ~ not centered from me.

My yearning to have a higher connection with something greater than me was not taught in my childhood by my parents. The message was, on a good day when they wanted to impress the Jones’s, we went to Sunday School and other weeks taking the day off. Mixed messages became a thread in my childhood and followed me to my teenage years, to my own life. I too was giving mixed messages to others because I myself was a mess inside!

Courage is what we need to find a method, a process to live from inside out!

“Harvest the Courage to be You”

I think we have it ALL wrong. For example…..find a job that pays well……how can this work if you don’t know yourself? Authenticity is what people buy both professionally and personally.

I spoke on a panel of women in business who were dead inside and needed courage to change.
Three things I shared:

1. How to be Grateful and Not Fearful (writing a grateful email changed my life)
2. Courage to Detach from People Places and Things (shift awareness of self to do this)
3. Walk Your Thinking – Making Your Own Path and Smiling All the Way

Doing all these on a daily consistent basis took insane courage…..especially for me who is a creative thinker and my mind, heart and soul is all over the place on most days!

When we trust ourselves we allow ourselves to lose everything in order to find our self…….that in its self is scary……aware of how we feel, pay the piper, whatever dues you think you have to pay to be your own authentic self and soar in life under your terms not someone else’s definition.

“It’s only by overcoming the fear of what our ideas may become
that we discover what we are really capable of “ #quote

Denise Buchman is founder of CORE “Consulting & Business Development LLC”. She is a Strategic Business Builder, Social Media Strategist, and Relationship Marketing Consultant. She hosts the #couragecafe twitter chat on Wednesdays at 8pm ET.