Spiritual Gifts for Christmas

Spiritual gifts are a wonderful way to say Merry Christmas to a friend or a family member. But what kind of Christmas gift should you give? That depends. I normally list about 5 books that I recommend, but I know that not everyone likes to read.

So…

I will recommend 3 spiritual CDs or programs that I have personally listened to and I think they are great. If you would like to buy of these spiritual gifts for someone—or even for yourself—please order through the links below. As I am an Amazon Associate, I get paid a small commission and you would be helping to support my blog.

3 Spiritual Gifts for the Holidays

Living a Life of Inner Peace – Eckhart Tolle

This CD is a recording of a live presentation by Eckhart Tolle and I absolutely love it. I have listened to this CD several times, and I always get something new out of it. This CD is informative to both those new to Tolle’s teachings and to those wholly familiar to his teachings. Throughout it all, Tolle’s warmth and humor shines through. He is a great speaker and what he has to say is truly enlightening.

Getting in the Gap – Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

This is a book and CD set from the Father of Motivation, Dr. Wayne W. Dyer. The book explains “getting in the gap,” which is the space between your thoughts where all miracles are born. The CD takes you on an exercise to help you get into the gap. I thoroughly enjoyed this journey.

Meditations for Meditating – Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

“Meditations for Meditating” is a CD adjunct to his book, “Manifest your Destiny.” Indeed, this is one of the many spiritual gifts that keep on giving. On this CD, Dr. Dyer leads you in a morning and an evening meditation, using the sounds of creation. I won’t tell you what these sounds are (I don’t want to spoil it for you), but soon after I started meditating with these tapes I experienced a huge synchronicity!

So order of these spiritual gifts this Christmas—or any other time—and let me know what you think!

Put these on your Holiday Shopping List

Thanksgiving is next week and the day after is Black Friday. Let the holiday shopping season begin! That said, I love to order a lot of my Christmas gifts through Amazon.com. It’s an easy, low stress way to get what I want without visiting countless stores and fighting the crowds.

Below is a list of my some of my recommendations of Spiritual related items you just have to add to your Holiday shopping list this year. I have personally read every book below, and I give all of them two thumbs WAY up. Please order through the links provided, as I am an Amazon associated. Happy shopping and Merry Christmas!

DEEP TRUTH by Gregg Braden

I am half way through reading the book, “Deep Truth,” by Gregg Braden and I am hooked. Gregg Braden has written another winner. This time, he writes about an “uncomfortable truth” not addressed by Al Gore…our planet is facing several crises, each of which could end life as we know it. Unless we wake up. Beautifully written in Braden’s inimitable style, this is a must read for the 2012 generation.



THE POWER OF NOW by Eckhart Tolle
Of course, no spiritual library would be complete without the groundbreaking, “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle.



A NEW EARTH by Eckhart Tolle
This is another awesome work by Eckhart Tolle that you simply must add to your holiday shopping list!



THE DIVINE MATRIX by Gregg Braden
I was first introduced to the work of Gregg Braden through reading “The Divine Matrix.” I’ve been hooked on his books ever since. This is a great, awe inspiring book that you must add to your Christmas list and order today.

Become a Spirit NOW



Image by: Shlomit Wolf

Did you know that you can become a spirit right now, without dying? It’s true. All you have to do is slip into the NOW of your existence.
And you can do this any time and any place.

All you have to do is put your total attention on the present moment. Do it NOW.

Listen to every noise that is happening right NOW.

Smell every scent that wafts under your nose right NOW.

See, feel, and sense the activity of your environment as it unfolds right NOW.

Do not let any thoughts of analysis, judgment, commentary, etc. intrude on your NOW. Just slip into the NOW with total, alert presence and, each time a stray thought intrudes, bring your attention back to the NOW.

No matter how long you stay in the NOW—and in the beginning, you’ll be lucky if you can manage just 5 minutes of total present moment awareness—you will feel what it means to live in spirit.  And you’ll feel wonderful. Try it and see.

But first, you might want to buy Eckhart Tolle’s awe-inspiring book, The Power of Now. He explains this concept so clearly. Plus he gives you some great exercises that will bring you into the NOW almost effortlessly!

Book Review: A New Earth

A New Earth. Eckhart Tolle. New York: Plume Books, 2005. 309 pp

In A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle states that the purpose of this book “is not to add new information or beliefs to your mind or to try to convince you of anything, but to bring about a shift in consciousness, that is to say, to awaken.” (page 6-7). After reading A New Earth, I believe that he succeeded beautifully in this purpose.

A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose is not a book that you can just idly read as an interested bystander. Rather, it pulls your into its core concept: that we human beings primarily operate from our egoic states which cause great suffering. Moreover, our egoic states, derived from our experiences and from the stories that we tell ourselves about those experiences, are not who we really are. What we are, says Eckhart Tolle in A New Earth, is beyond form. It is beyond the roles we play in life. It is beyond our occupations. It is beyond any labels we give ourselves.

What we are is pure consciousness that needs nothing added to it to be happy. Yes, this concept is a shock to our consumerist egoic minds, but it is our ego that thinks that we need that new car or more money to be happy. In a state of pure consciousness, however, we are happy just as we are and, because we do not need anything else to be happy, prosperity literally rains down upon us.

But this consciousness is obscured by the constant chatter of our thoughts. Our thoughts tell us how we should be and how we should feel and how much status and prestige we should have and…well…they limit us.

In A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle shows you how to silence those thoughts and directly access the state of pure consciousness where true happiness lies. But it won’t be easy. First you have to deal with what Eckhart Tolle calls the “Pain Body.”

In Chapter Five, he discusses this “pain body” in depth, and I was fascinated. It sounds almost as if the “pain body” possesses our mind, behaviors, and emotions until we learn how to exorcise it (so to speak). Step by step, Tolle shows you exactly how to rid yourself of your pain body and return to a state of pure consciousness.

For anyone who wants to become spiritually awakened, I highly recommend this book. Buy a copy, read it, then let me know what you think!

Acceptance of What Is

Today I have a problem, many problems actually.

-          My husband’s health is failing.

-          His ill health has made him miss a lot of work recently, which has not only shortened his paycheck but may have also brought him close to losing his job.

-          We are in deep financial trouble which is bringing us dangerously close to losing the necessities of our lives (such as our vehicles.)  

-          My husband’s truck broke down and is in the shop and, unless I can find a ride to work on Monday, I will have to call off work. This will not only shorten my paycheck, but will also bring me close to being reprimanded for my attendance.

What do I intend to do about these problems? I intend to totally accept every one of these problems as part of God’s perfect plan. I have finally learned that acceptance of what is is the only way to bring peace into my life and to neutralize any negativity. Acceptance of what is means not struggling against events. Acceptance of what is means making friends with life.

I know not how each of these events will play out. I know not how each of these events that I  call problems will work out for the greater good. I know not whether each of these events will reach a point of no return. But I do know that I am never alone and that God and my angels are ever responsive to my cries for help. So I surrender to whatever will be.

This does not, however, mean that I shall remain passive and do nothing. Rather, as Eckhart Tolle says, you first accept, and then it changes. Yes, you can work to change it, but first you must accept your present circumstances. Acceptance is the key.

The Serenity Prayer

I felt it appropriate to quote the famous Serenity Prayer here, so I Googled it. (Yes, I know the Serenity Prayer, but I wanted to make sure that I did not misquote it). Well, I got chills because, for the first time, I read the full prayer and was stunned at how much this prayer really applies to my problems today. In fact, the virtually unknown part of the prayer is even more powerful than the popular first few lines. Here, in its entirety, is Reinhold Neibuhr’s beautiful prayer:

God grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change;

courage to change the things I can;

and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;

Enjoying one moment at a time;

Accepting harships as the pathway to peace;

Taking, as he did, this sinful world

as it is, not as I would have it;

Trusting that he will make all things right

if I surrender to his Will;

That I may be reasonably happy in this life

and supremely happy with him

Forever in the next.

Amen



Mindfulness Meditation Changes the Brain, Study Shows

A new study shows intriguing evidence that mindfulness meditation changes the brain. Specifically, a regular practice of mindfulness meditation appeared to cause measurable changes in the brain’s gray matter of the study’s participants. This is a phenomenal finding that should go far in encouraging people to take up mindfulness as a regular discipline.

What is Mindfulness?

The simplest way to explain mindfulness is that it is complete moment-to-moment awareness of all thoughts, sensations, feelings, and states of mind. Moreover, your awareness of these aspects of your being is completely nonjudgmental. You just notice them in a detached way, as if you were a scientist looking at an organism in a petrie dish. In other words, you do not become hooked by your experiences—rather actual or sensory—you just observe what is.



Image by Ha Pe_Gera

 And yes, this is also the concept that Eckhart Tolle describes in his book Living in the Now.

This seems simple and, actually, it is simple. But it is so hard for most people to do. Until you try mindfulness, you won’t realize how seldom you live in the present moment and how seldom your thoughts are without judgment.

The beauty of mindfulness is that you can practice it all day—every day—of your life without pausing in your activities. Soon, it will become your primary state of being. But to hasten this state of being, you should set aside some quiet time every day to practice mindfulness meditation

Mindfulness Meditation and the Brain

In this latest study, 16 volunteers were given MRIs to assess their brain structures. Then they participated in the eight week stress reduction program at the famed Mindfulness-Based Stress reduction program at the University of Massachusetts Center for Mindfulness. While participating in this program, the volunteers were instructed to keep track of how much time that they spent actively practicing mindfulness meditation each day. While the volunteers were being trained in, and practiced, Mindfulness Meditation, researchers gave MRIs to a control group of volunteers who did not meditate.

At the completion of the Mindfulness-Based Stress reduction programs, the 16 volunteers were again given MRIs to assess if any changes had taken place in their brains. They compared these MRIs against those of the control group.

And what did they find?

Well, they found changes in the brains of the mediators that were not present in those of the control group.

According to U.S. News Health (Health Day):

“The meditation group participants spent an average of 27 minutes a day doing mindfulness meditation exercises. The MRI scans taken after the eight-week program revealed increased gray matter density in the hippocampus (important for learning and memory) and in structures associated with compassion and self-awareness.

Mindfulness Meditation Reduces Stress

[Moreover], the investigators also found that participant-reported reductions in stress were associated with decreased gray matter density in the amygdale, which plays a role in anxiety and stress" (Source: U.S. News Health).

Imagine…just 27 minutes a day of mindfulness meditation can significantly decrease stress and anxiety, increase learning and memory, and give you a healthy infusion of compassion and self-awareness! Sign me up!

For a more detailed explanation of this study, along with the exciting implications of these findings, please watch the below video from Newsy. If you would like to read the results of this study, it will be published in the January 30th issue of the journal Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging.

Do you have any experience with mindfulness meditation that you would like to share?
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Practice Mindfulness for a Healthier, Happier YOU

Image by Alberto Jiménez

Present-moment awareness, also called mindfulness, is at the root of the teachings of Buddhism, Taoism and—most recently—spiritual gurus like Eckhart Tolle.


But what is mindfulness and why is it so important?

Putting your attention on the present moment calms a mind awash in a flood of thoughts, constant thoughts. Most of these thoughts are negative, Monday morning quarterbacking thoughts. “I shouldn’t have done this. I should have done that. Oh why did I do that?”

These thoughts create an enormous amount of stress which, as we now know, negatively affects our bodies. But practicing mindfulness reduces the health effects of a rambling, anxiety-producing mind.

According to Psychology Today, “Mindfulness reduces stress, boosts immune functioning, reduces chronic pain, lowers blood pressure and helps patients cope with cancer. By alleviating stress, spending a few minutes a day actively focusing on living in the moment reduces the risks of heart disease. Mindfulness by even slow the progress of HIV.”

Such powerful effects from the simple practice of mindfulness are not unusual, they are the norm. I guess Buddha and ancient Chinese Taoist Philosopher Lao Tzu knew what they were talking about!

Beginning Steps in Mindfulness

You can begin your practice of living in the present moment, or mindfulness, with a simple step.

Several times a day, bring your total awareness to the present moment. If you are washing dishes, bring your entire attention to the act of washing dishes. If you are writing a short story, bring your entire attention to the act of writing your story. If you are playing with your children, bring your total attention to your children.

During these brief, beginning practices of mindfulness, your mind will wander. Trust me. When your mind wanders just gently, without condemnation, bring your mind back to the present moment. Stay in the present moment as long as possible each session and then gradually extend those moments of mindfulness.

When you practice mindfulness, notice how peaceful you become. You become peaceful because most of your thoughts are anxious and pointless “what ifs” about the future or anxious and equally pointless guilt or regret about the past.

Only one event at a time is possible in the present moment. Whatever happens in the present moment, you can deal with it.

And then you go onto the next present moment.

Try mindfulness and see how calm, happy, and healthy you will become. Let me know of your results with living in the present moment.

In upcoming posts, I will give you some specific strategies for practicing that state of mindfulness of which Buddha and the Tao Te Ching speaks.