Recently I was talking to someone giving some advice. The advice was about being true to yourself and what you like, when choosing a mate. At one point I explained why I made this a practice in the past, when I was single and if I was not married with kids now this would truly be my practice. As I spoke. I thought back on one time when I made a mistake and was not true to my personal liking and how I unnecessarily hurt a woman’s feelings, trying to like her but all the while I knew she was not my type.
The next morning I woke up from a dream in which I was a single man with no kids in a totally different environment. I started dating one woman partially because she was so nice. The only problem was that she was not my type. There was another woman who worked in the same building that liked me who I found myself much more interested in and attracted to. All I could think about was “how can I get out of this situation, without hurting the one who I started dating and is there any way I can date the woman who I am truly interested in?” As I came from one reality of the dream into the reality of this life still feeling bad, experiencing the emotions of the dream, what ran through my mind was “The great sages are very careful about what the say because they know that everything they say comes true.” I was reminded that when I was giving the advice I should not have said what I would do in that situation unless I planned on living through it in some way.
Be true to yourself and only speak on and think on what you would like to see happen.
Water Skiing on Lake Viared (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
When I was fairly young I realized two things. I knew for a fact that I wanted to live life to the fullest, being who I really am while enjoying all the material had to offer and I also knew that I wanted to teach spirituality and meditation. Living to the fullest for me meant feeling alive enjoying what I like. So it included having nice clothes and watches, sharp cars, a beautiful girlfriend etc. and owning my own business. I knew that I had to own my own business because I got a taste of it early on and loved the freedom and sense of creativity and adventure I felt running my enterprise. I also knew that I liked fine things and did not plan on living without what I liked. I truly felt like the world was my playground and I wanted to play.
In addition to the material side, I also was fascinated by spirituality. It started out purely about the material and using spiritual laws to gain what I wanted materially. But it evolved into being fascinated and intrigued by the deeper side of life and the men and women who seemed to have it figured out. I admired the self-help authors and speakers and wanted to have their knowledge and become one of them one day. The books I read got deeper and deeper and I soon found myself stumbling on to the meditation path. At this point I looked up to the yogis and meditation masters and wanted to know all they knew. I also knew in my heart that one day, when I was older, I would be a teacher just like them. I even had an age picked out. I figured it would be when I was 50. This way I would have time to live my other life first.
Luckily for me it did not work out that way. I lived both lives at the same time. I started my own business at 19 and have been happily running it ever since. I enjoyed all the things I liked, cars, clothes, watches, a wonderful social life, with parties, friends, girlfriends and eventually a wife and family which has made my life truly wonderful.
When I was still in my twenties people kept asking me to teach them the meditative path. They would not go and learn from my teacher, like I suggested. They kept asking me. In the meantime my teacher was telling me it was time for me to teach. I was surprised. He had other students who were studying long before me and none of them were teaching, but he insisted it was time for me to do so. So I started right where I was with the people in my world. Now as I think back, I was teaching even before I officially began. I was interpreting dreams on the job. People would seek me out because they knew I was the one to talk to about deep things. I would talk to my friends all the time about the incredible possibilities and the magic and mysteries I was experiencing. The whole time I was just being me. Living both lives the material and the spiritual with them both complementing one another. By the way I am not quite 50 yet, but I have been teaching meditation for 20 years, loving every moment of it. It is hard to imagine who I would be or who my children would be if I didn’t teach. Don’t rob the world of who you are and what you can share. Be who you truly are now.
La méditation (Danse Odissi, musée Guimet) (Photo credit: dalbera)
The latest question for Craig comes from Brenda in Tennessee, USA.
Brenda: When I meditate, during the meditation I will often get great ideas, but then I can’t remember them. Should I write them down?
Craig’s Answer : Yes. I find that I have to write down ideas and information I get during meditation or dream, often. Remember these are ideas from God and your higher self, so you definitely want to pay attention to them. I make it a point to try to write them down right after I finish other wise they will be gone.
Brenda: My problem is that I if I don’t stop meditating right when the idea comes I will lose it. Should I continue meditating or stop and write down the information?
Craig: I would stop and record or write down the ideas that come from the clear mind of your meditation. Then go back to meditating afterwards. But by all means record the information and use it in your life.
Dynamic tranquility: the Buddha in contemplation. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The other day I sat down to meditate. I meditated, and it was nice, but I did not go that deep within. I am not saying that one has to go deep when meditating, or that a deeper meditation is always the object. But I guess I did want to feel more connected at the time. Minutes later, I meditated again. This time I thought about something that meant a lot to me, that I really wanted clarity on, and asked God for more clarity in my mind. Then I meditated. I went so deep so fast and felt so much bliss in the process, it was like night and day compared to the meditation I previously had.
It reminds me of the time I asked a small class “who did you think was the fastest runner in their hay-day, in this group?” Several names were mentioned, but none mentioned the guy I was thinking of . I told the class “yes I am sure they were all quite fast at one time or another, but I doubt any of them ran as fast as Aaron.” They looked surprised. Aaron usually comes across as slow in movement and very laid back. I told them, “Man if you could have seen how fast Aaron was running when that big crazy dog was chasing him you would not believe it. He came around the corner flying, with his knees practically touching his chest, arms swinging, like the guys in the Olympics. He was moving.” They were all cracking up and understood my point. My point was, motivation does wonders.
What is it that means a lot to you? Use it and bring the meditation into your life. Don’t just meditate, but meditate expecting answers, strength and change on things that matter to you. We must add the meditation to our dreams and use or dreams and goals as motivation to reach God within. When we do the meditation becomes much more powerful.
The following post was written by Meditating Muslima. I have never posted a reblog from someone else’s blog, but I felt this was meant to be. Part of the theme for this month on my blog is “the time is now”. So not only was this story appropriate, but wonderfully written and courageous. For 2013 the time is now, to be whoever you choose to be. I thank Meditating Muslima for this wonderful post and hope you all enjoy.
I had a dream of sorts the other morning. I guess you could call it a day-dream because I was awake, and then suddenly I had this dream. I was even awake during the dream and thinking about what it meant as I was having it.
In the dream I saw someone who had made their transition. As I was watching I was being told that he should be dressed well because sometimes the soul will get up and function right after passing and will be clothed as he was clothed in life. Then I saw him living out a similar life in a different dimension. I was reminded of how my teacher Mr. Ambritster would say “where you go in the hereafter, depends on what you go hereafter.”
For some time afterwards, this was all I could think about. I did not think about it in the same sense of the dream alone. I thought about how that happens right here right now. However you want to be in the future, you need to be that way right now. You want to be a writer, be one now. You want to be a preacher, be one now, and improve accordingly. Wherever you want to be you should be functioning in that arena in some way, on whatever level you can start on right now and you will automatically be there in the future. This is karma 101. What you put out comes back, 10 fold, 20 fold or 100 fold, depending on how much you move into to that place, now, and the now’s to come.
