Bring4th

one of the best ways of staying aware of oneself during the day is to regularly ask oneself -

"how do I feel right now?"

and despite what the current mental thoughts are, or how well you think you might be doing, the 'feel' test is inevitably the truer barometer of how you are doing.

there have been many times where I 'thought' things were going well in my life, nothing on the surface seemed at ill, and yet there were 'hollow' feelings or a sort of emptiness. Other times there maybe an ongoing resentment against another person, cloaked up in having a 'mental conversation' with that individual in your head - you know the type, where you carry on a whole dialogue rebutting each of the person's 'faulty' arguments, and you show yourself to be so right afterall. That feeling of 'winning a mental conversation' where the other person is not even present is not exactly an act of love lol.

so the mind can have many thoughts; the heart only one true feeling; that of Love.

I regularly use the 'how do I feel right now' test to keep me on track as what catalyst may or may not be present. And more often than not, you find yourself thinking about past events rather than current ones - and that offers many clues as to where to dig for the next level of acceptance.

and of course, one can feel great and balanced right now ... and 2 hours later a totally different story. And both states are ok. In the former one happens to be in total alignment with the environment at that point in time, and in the latter, one is less in alignment. But that's just signalling to the self that further learning or adjustments are required, and is an opporunity for further understanding of the self. It is not an 'incorrect state of mind' ... just one calling for further attention.

I usually turn on some music, if my body doesn't respond accordingly the 'alignment alarm' goes off, but, I move around a bit anyway because it's food for the soul.

Plenum the self awareness of feeling technique is so important to self evolution. It cannot be overstated. It has accelerated my growth by leaps and bounds. Thank you for posting this.

When I ask people 'what do you feel' they either tell me what they think (bc thought is more accessible than emotions) or a socially scripted answer such as, 'I am fine' or 'good' or 'bad', etc.,.

Here's my list of check-in questions:
'What's coming up for me at this very moment?' (thoughts, emotions, etc)
'When I scan my body from head thru to your toe, what sensations am I noticing?'
'Using a scale of 0 to 10, 0 being experiencing no distress and 10 being highly distressed, where am I right now?'
'My eye kept twitching when I talked about ____, what is this twitching trying to say to me about ____?'
'What is the strongest emotions I noticed?' Joy, anger, fear, sadness, surprise etc.

I think it is good to practice awareness as much as possible. I am often paying attention to what is going on in my body, mind and emotions and especially when I am feeling a blockage or discomfort I ask myself and/or any of my guides or higher self why I am feeling that way and where the energy came from. I know that everything I experience is a product of all the vibrations that are integrated in to my system and thus harmonizing in kind with the universal field so every feeling or thought comes from some part of the collective consciousness, which is, in fact, the minds and thoughts of every being that is part of the universal mind.

I understand that all vibration is communication and so no matter what energy is currently inspiring my vibrational state of consciousness I realize that all motions of energy are energy transfers and so my very act of existence causes me to be in communication with multitudes of beings and the universe itself. So, I attempt to heal and make peace with whatever part I happen to be encountering and experiencing. There are a lot of beings, so it is a constant work of life.

I get social anxiety when I think about working.
But other than that I'm doing alright.

I can relate to what you are saying with mental conversations haha. I think its easy to gain back focus though. once you can see it for what it is.

I would just like to add to this conversation that the emotions that we feel in any given moment are in direct relationship to the thoughts we are thinking in that given moment.

When you feel ill at ease, it is because you are focused on something negative for you, whether it be a negative perspective, negative judgment, or poor expectations. This emotional indicator is also telling us, in any given moment, what manifestations we are currently attracting. Whatever you place your attention on is being fed your conscious energy.

Always do a gut check. When you feel bad ask yourself, "What am I focused on, in this moment, that is giving me this negative emotional indicator?" Bring the unconscious into the light of consciousness.

(06-03-2013, 01:17 PM)anagogy Wrote: [ -> ]I would just like to add to this conversation that the emotions that we feel in any given moment are in direct relationship to the thoughts we are thinking in that given moment.

When you feel ill at ease, it is because you are focused on something negative for you, whether it be a negative perspective, negative judgment, or poor expectations. This emotional indicator is also telling us, in any given moment, what manifestations we are currently attracting. Whatever you place your attention on is being fed your conscious energy.

Always do a gut check. When you feel bad ask yourself, "What am I focused on, in this moment, that is giving me this negative emotional indicator?" Bring the unconscious into the light of consciousness.

yes, I am in agreement with you here anagogy.

what I have also found it that the mind functions by 'approving' certain things or states of consciousness.

even something like 'disapproval' is an _approval_ of a state that denies something in the self.

the mind can only create (ie 'approve', enhance, validate, energise) a state; it cannot actively 'destroy' or 'negate'.

this essentially is the 'desire' word that buddha talks about. Not desire in the sense of seeking, but desire in the sense of - 'I approve of this', 'I want more of this', 'I want this in my reality despite what the reality actually gives me' ... it sets up future Expectations, and Expectations can always be disappointed, leading to suffering and disappointment that reality 'failed you'. Even when the Expectation is met, it just _strengthens_ that desire or approval even more lol. So the self-created mental cycle continues unabated.

This implicit 'approving' process is at the heart of the exercise (in my opinion) in which Ra speaks of balancing the opposites - ie when you see patience, mirror in the mind impatience, and when you see impatience, mirror in your mind patience.

it is not that patience is in any way not a positive quality; but if your mind 'approves' of it too strongly, it creates the expectation loop in oneself and in one's interactions with others; ie, if I like patience and expect it of my myself, when I see another individual behaving with lack of patience, ie impatience, there is an almost automatic potential for judgement. The judgement came about through the buildup of Expectation.

so yes, subtle point, but a deep one about how the mind works.

it has lead me to the understanding of unity/infinite potential/non polarity which encodes such a statement as this:

"all potentials are equally valid" (ie non-ethical, absence of judgement).

when this is internalised, and applied, one can accept the entire Creation, and one is able to move to the potential or expressed potential that is most in call for that split moment. There is no resistance (ie mental judgement) preventing the movement between the most appropriate potential matching the call of the moment.

this freedom of movement is like the dance of the Creator in full expression; they can perform the move or act in the way most required by the other self ... because there is no ego (resistance) at play.

One has become an instrument in which the One Infinite Creator can play the melodies, as Ra has poetically described

there is service ... and little personality (just a little lol; the unique expressions of the self are ever present lol).

but yes, the Mind is an infinitely subtle place in which to operate.

peace brother; fellow wayfarer

plenum