Maybe it’s because I was raised a Chicago Cubs fan and learned the long and hard way that “we’ll get ‘em next year” may be as delusional as it is positive. At any rate, I know it’s my own stuff, but positive affirmations have always seemed somewhat contrived to me.

But even so, I felt positively compelled to give it another chance. And Louise Hay’s style of writing; simple and concise, has surely not let me down.

As I read, all my skepticism surfaced like a center field bleacher bum at Wrigley Field after his third beer; “If it were that easy…” blah, blah, blah. See chapter 5, affirmations for critical thinking.

But, like a good servant anticipating the needs of others before even they themselves do, Louise Hay had an encouraging response for the doubting Thomas within me before he was escorted out of the park by the security guards.

Of course the nature of the mind is to initially refute a positive affirmation with a corresponding negative thought. It’s part of the process. Were it not so, we probably wouldn’t have to use them in the first place. And, as she says, “The complaining affirmations will always win (in the short run), because there are more of them, and they’re usually said with great feeling.” So we then need to match that feeling with our more rational responses until they become as passionate and therefore as credible.

So I pushed through my resistance and read the first few chapters before I retired for the night. Surprisingly, I found myself using some of the very affirmations the bleacher bum screamed against as I drifted off to sleep. Somewhat more surprising was having the same affirmations wake me up the next morning.

I love her message about the true nature of positive affirmations. Rather than instantly believing them 100%, she says they are a way to open a door to new possibilities other than our unconscious, habitual patterns of negative thinking, which, of course, left unchecked, evolve into our self-defeating beliefs, attitudes, emotions, behaviors and relationships.

But unlike our daily dose of a multi-vitamin, Ms. Hay does well to point out that we must use these affirmations much more than once a day to realize the full benefit they have to offer.

And one of the great things about the use of positive affirmations is that we can use them anywhere, any time, multiple times a day, silently or aloud.

So just as we wouldn’t expect to get by with only a few breaths a day, we don’t indulge in naïve expectations of the benefits of positive affirmations without the willingness to put forth consistent effort with them. Even if we get immediate results at times, we can’t rest on our laurels. There’s just too much momentum to the mind’s negative patterns.

While it may be difficult to accept the fact that we have the power to choose what we think, the alternative is even more difficult. Taking responsibility for our thoughts is like stepping up to the plate. We don’t have control over whether the next pitch will be a fast ball, curve ball, change-up, low and outside or knock us upside the head. But we do have the choice of whether or not to swing at it or even jump out of the way if necessary.

Likewise, we don’t have to automatically accept every thought the mind pitches us as if it were accurately in the strike zone. We can let a lot of them scream right by us and enjoy the sound of them stinging the catcher’s mitt as the umpire shouts “ball four, take you base.”

It’s a pleasant walk to first base, but even on that shorter walks back to the dugout after striking out we can take solise in knowing we exercised our power of conscious choice as best we could in the moment.

So, Fathers, please don’t raise you’re kids to be Cub fans. But all hope is not lost on us recovering Cub fans either. Before your inner bleacher bum gets kicked out of the park, cut him off from the $8.00 Old Styles and check this book out and see if you agree with me that it is as profound as it is practical.

just being with who you really are; all of you,

especially the parts you think rule you out

of deserving the only ture love there is -

your own.

The trouble with waking up

is discovering your chaos and pain,

while others lay blissfully asleep.

You don’t want to stay awake.

Who would?

But you are in the right kind of trouble.

This precious insomnia has gifts to bear

that exceed your wildest dreams.

My ego is stubborn, often drunk, impolite.

My loving, finely sensitive, impatient, confused.

Please!

Take messages from one to the other.

                                                                     Robert Bly

 The four chapters of this compelling book form a quartet of distilled wisdom that well delivers the message of the merits of consciously choosing to evolve our ego-driven selves into our loving, spiritual selves.

Spirituality is a deeply personal subject. I therefore do not readily take to discussions on the matter. I do not judge people for their beliefs or lack thereof. The vast majority of the time I simply practice acceptance, as best I can, out of respect for myself and others.

But having just read my complimentary copy of “The Shift,” by Hay House Publishers, I feel uncharacteristically compelled to weigh-in on the subject Dr. Dyer so gracefully addresses.

Being human is hard! Maybe the reason they call us the human race is because we’re all so busy trying to run away from the challenge of just being ourselves, hence our chronic ambition.

But, as Dr. Dyer points out, it doesn’t have to be so hard if we embrace what he calls “radical humility,” relieving us from the exhaustion of our egos. How do we do this? Quite simply, by finding meaning in life through love. And what better quote could he reference than that of Mother Teresa who said “Love cannot remain by itself – it has no meaning. Love must be put into action, and that action is service.”

I love the premise of this reverent book; that we all originate from spirit, a place where ego holds no hostages, to a world that socializes us out of the very best of our seminal qualities, only to get lost in a world of ambition – what I might call the shaft (sorry).

But alas, we all have the power of choice, as is so poignantly spelled out for us in this profoundly practical account of how to disengage from the trance of our unconscious, habitual patterns in life and consciously shift into a higher place of love. Then we can live our lives in service to others realizing the true meaning of being human.

　“Don’t ask what the world needs;” says Dr. Dyer, “don’t ask what others think you should be doing with your life. Instead, ask yourself what makes you come alive – because, more than anything else, what the world truly needs is men and women who have come alive…”

Reading this wonderful book has certainly refreshed my sense of vitality and enthusiasm for my place in life. It reminds me that when I give away something material, I have less of it; but when I give away something spiritual, I have more of it.

I highly recommend everyone read the potent message contained in this beautiful book; but much more importantly, let’s each then live the message for the inevitable joy it will bring not only to our lives, but to the lives of all those around us, as well. Oh yes, and watch the movie, too.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Shift/Wayne-W-Dyer/e/9781401927097/?itm=8&USRI=the+shift

http://www.amazon.com/Shift-Taking-Your-Ambition-Meaning/dp/1401927092/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265149999&sr=8-2

http://www.hayhouse.com/details.php?id=4672&utm_id=3313

“CHANTS OF A LIFETIME”

 SEARCHING FOR A HEART OF GOLD

 　By Krishna Das

　In a Bill Moyers interview entitled “Love’s Confusing Joy” about the ecstatic poetry of the twelfth-century mystic, Rumi; contemporary Scholar, Coleman Barks said:

“If you think there is an important difference between a Muslim and a Jew, and a Christian and a Buddhist, and a Hindu, and a Shamanist; if you think there is an important difference between those categories, you are making a division between your heart, what you love with, and your ability to act in the world. Because the heart is the same, it leaps beyond those categories. There is some impulse to worship and to love that is common in everyone.”

“Chants of a Lifetime – Searching for a heart of gold”is just such a book to transcend these categories and transport us into the beauty of spiritual unity.

Talk about not judging a book by its cover! I might just as easily have passed on this book thinking it too esoteric for my taste, if a complimentary copy from Hay House publishers hadn’t literally shown up on my front door step recently. Now I am very glad it did.

So don’t be subdued by the title or the cultural diversity of such a masterpiece. Definitely take a chance on this universal story of human development. You will be thrilled you did. You may also be surprised by how much you relate to it even if you’ve never left this country.

Jeff Kagel, Donned Krishna Das by his Indian Guru, grew up in a Jewish family on long Island in the 1960‘s. He attributes The Blues and Rock and Roll as the roots of the evolution of his Kirtan music career.

Like many of us, he was dissatisfied with life, lacking a sense of meaning and purpose in his ordinary, daily life. So he answered his calling beyond the confines of the safety of his familiar, if painful origins, gave up a promising career in Rock and Roll and stepped into the fear and excitement of the unknown.

Through his writing and music (C.D. included with the book) he generously shares with us the fruits of his experiences traveling to India over many years in this beautiful account of his spiritual pilgrimage.

And what better gift to share than love; which is the bottom line of his message. But it’s not just the conventional form of “love” that he learned about.

He speaks candidly and from the heart about his hard-earned, personal experience with the most unique form of love thre is; self-love, from which all other love flows. A love that always exists within us and can only discovered through our unique path. Krishna Das’ self-disclosure of his personal vulnerability throughout his life is one of the many beautiful facets of this gemstone.

My experience reading “Chants of a Lifetime” felt as deeply personal as his relationship with his guru; what we would translate as a mentor.

Of all the forms of spiritual practice, he chose chanting as his path. Or perhaps, chanting chose him. But, as he readily points out, we can choose any path for spiritual practice, as long as we pursue it with pure intention.

The writing is so vivid (like watching the movie “Avatar” wearing 3-D glasses) that I felt like I was accompanying him through his adventures.

I listened to the C.D. of his chanting as I read which augmented the already rich experience of his mystical journey.

I have continued to listen to his chanting as part of my formal meditation practice. But hearing the chants in my heart and soul as I negociate the challenges of my ordinary daily life is the truly liberating gift of his music; allowing them to guide me through my day, as he says, “like a leaf floating on top of a stream of water.

I could go on longer than the book itself, but I will defer you now to the search for the not-so-hidden “gold” in this work of art, as well as in your own heart.

http://www.hayhouse.com/details.php?id=4672&utm_id=3313

http://www.amazon.com/Shift-Taking-Your-Ambition-Meaning/dp/1401927092/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265149999&sr=8-2

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Shift/Wayne-W-Dyer/e/9781401927097/?itm=8&USRI=the+shift

While this section of my blog may not be a daily entry; poetry, prose or otherwise; I am certainly willing to follow the sage advice of lowing my standards to simply enjoy the process of writing.

So here we go with the first entry:

“I recognize my mind as an organ of action and my thoughts as acts.”

We are responsible to work skilfully with our thoughts, which fuel our emotions and behaviors. Today we can choose to think of five (or more) things we are grateful for and experience contentment, “not as resignation, but as a vibrant experience of all of life,” and as a form of reverence for our individual place in it.

Contentment is most applicable to our everyday responsibilities.

What could be more important than the manner in which we approach our daily life?

                                 Excerpts and adaptations from “Meditations from the Mat”    by Rolf Gates