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Tools For Conscious Awareness
Newsletter For
A Next Step...light center for emotional
healing
Vol 71 -Addendum- August, 2006
In Truth, Simplicity Love and Service
ALL ONE HARMONY
I have not really known myself,
or anyone else.
I've tried to do good, and not
just what my appetites wanted,
but that was all infatuation
with this precious, isolated, body.
That you and I were constantly joining,
I didn't know. I didn't know
that even to ask "What are You?"
or "Who am I" breaks the harmony.
- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic
From "Naked Song" Versions by Coleman Barks
Maypop 1992
FEATURES:
Most people spend their entire life imprisoned within the confines of their own thoughts.
They never go beyond a narrow, mind-made, personalized sense of self that is conditioned by the past.
In you, as in each human being, there is a dimension of consciousness far deeper than thought.
It is the very essence of who you are. We may call it presence, awareness, the unconditioned consciousness.
In the ancient teachings, it is the Christ within, or your Buddha nature.
Finding that dimension frees you and the world from the suffering you inflict on
yourself and others when the mind-made "little me" is all you know and runs your life. Love, joy,
creative expansion, and lasting inner peace cannot come into your life except through that unconditioned
dimension of consciousness.
If you can recognize, even occasionally, the thoughts that go through your mind as simply thoughts,
if you can witness your own mental-emotional reactive patterns as they happen, then that dimension is
already emerging in you as the awareness in which thoughts and emotions happen the timeless inner space
in which the content of your life unfolds.
The stream of thinking has enormous momentum that can easily drag you along with it. Every thought
pretends that it matters so much.
It wants to draw your attention in completely.
Here is a new spiritual practice for you: dont take your thoughts too seriously.
How easy it is for people to become trapped in their conceptual prisons.
The human mind, in its desire to know, understand, and control, mistakes its opinions and viewpoints
for the truth. It says: this is how it is. You have to be larger than thought to realize that however you
interpret "your life" or someone else's life or behavior, however you judge any situation, it is no more than
a viewpoint, one of many possible perspectives. It is no more than a bundle of thoughts. But reality is one
unified whole, in which all things are interwoven, where nothing exists in and by itself.
Thinking fragments reality -- it cuts it up into conceptual bits and pieces.
The thinking mind is a useful and powerful tool, but it is also very limiting when it takes over your
life completely, when you don't realize that it is only a small aspect of the consciousness that you are.
Wisdom is not a product of thought. The deep knowing that is wisdom arises through the simple act of
giving someone or something your full attention. Attention is primordial intelligence, consciousness itself.
It dissolves the barriers created by conceptual thought, and with this comes the recognition that nothing
exists in and by itself. It joins the perceiver and the perceived in a unifying field of awareness. It is
the healer of separation.
Whenever you are immersed in compulsive thinking, you are avoiding what is. You don't want to be where
you are. Here, Now.
Dogmas -- religious, political, scientific -- arise out of the erroneous belief that thought can encapsulate
reality or the truth.
Dogmas are collective conceptual prisons. And the strange thing is that people love their prison cells
because they give them a sense of security and a false sense of "I know."
Nothing has inflicted more suffering on humanity than its dogmas.
It is true that every dogma crumbles sooner or later, because reality will eventually disclose its
falseness; however, unless the basic delusion of it is seen for what it is, it will be replaced by others.
What is this basic delusion? Identification with thought.
Spiritual awakening is awakening from the dream of thought.
The realm of consciousness is much vaster than thought can grasp. When you no longer believe everything
you think, you step out of thought and see clearly that the thinker is not who you are.
The mind exists in a state of "not enough" and so is always greedy for more. When you are identified
with mind, you get bored and restless very easily. Boredom means the mind is hungry for more stimulus,
more food for thought, and its hunger is not being satisfied.
When you feel bored, you can satisfy the mind's hunger by picking up a magazine, making a phone call,
switching on the TV, surfing the web, going shopping, or -- and this is not uncommon -- transferring the
mental sense of lack and its need for more to the body and satisfy it briefly by ingesting more food.
Or you can stay bored and restless and observe what it feels like to be bored and restless. As you bring
awareness to the feeling, there is suddenly some space and stillness around it, as it were. A little at first,
but as the sense of inner space grows, the feeling of boredom will begin to diminish in intensity and
significance. So even boredom can teach you who you are and who you are not.
You discover that a "bored person" is not who you are. Boredom is simply a conditioned energy movement
within you. Neither are you an angry, sad, or fearful person. Boredom, anger, sadness, or fear are not
"yours," not personal. They are conditions of the human mind. They come and go.
Nothing that comes and goes is you.
"I am bored." Who knows this?
"I am angry, sad, afraid." Who knows this?
You are the knowing, not the condition that is known.
Prejudice of any kind implies that you are identified with the thinking mind. It means you don't see
the other human being anymore, but only your own concept of that human being. To reduce the aliveness of
another human being to a concept is already a form of violence.
Thinking that is not rooted in awareness becomes self-serving and dysfunctional. Cleverness devoid of
wisdom is extremely dangerous and destructive. That is the current state of most of humanity. The
amplification of thought as science and technology, although intrinsically neither good nor bad, has also
become destructive because so often the thinking out of which it comes has no roots in awareness.
The next step in human evolution is to transcend thought. This is now our urgent task. It doesn't mean
not to think anymore, but simply not to be completely identified with thought, possessed by thought.
Feel the energy of your inner body. Immediately mental noise slows down or ceases. Feel it in your hands,
your feet, your abdomen, your chest. Feel the life that you are, the life that animates the body.
The body then becomes a doorway, so to speak, into a deeper sense of aliveness underneath the fluctuating
emotions and underneath your thinking.
There is an aliveness in you that you can feel with your entire Being, not just in the head. Every cell
is alive in that presence in which you don't need to think. Yet, in that state, if thought is required for
some practical purpose, it is there. The mind can still operate, and it operates beautifully when the greater
intelligence that you are uses it and expresses itself through it.
You may have overlooked that brief periods in which you are "conscious without thought" are already
occurring naturally and spontaneously in your life. You may be engaged in some manual activity, or walking
across the room, or waiting at the airline counter, and be so completely present that the usual mental
static of thought subsides and is replaced by an aware presence. Or you may find yourself looking at the
sky or listening to someone without any inner mental commentary. Your perceptions become crystal clear,
unclouded by thought.
To the mind, all this is not significant, because it has "more important" things to think about. It is
also not memorable, and that's why you may have overlooked that it is already happening.
The truth is that it is the most significant thing that can happen to you. It is the beginning of a shift
from thinking to aware presence.
Become at ease with the state of "not knowing." This takes you beyond mind because the mind is always
trying to conclude and interpret. It is afraid of not knowing. So, when you can be at ease with not knowing,
you have already gone beyond the mind. A deeper knowing that is non-conceptual then arises out of that state.
Artistic creation, sports, dance, teaching, counseling -- mastery in any field of endeavor implies that
the thinking mind is either no longer in-volved at all or at least is taking second place. A power and
intelligence greater than you and yet one with you in essence takes over. There is no decision-making process
anymore; spontaneous right action happens, and "you" are not doing it.
Mastery of life is the opposite of control. You become aligned with the greater consciousness. It acts,
speaks, does the works.
A moment of danger can bring about a temporary cessation of the stream of thinking and thus give you
a taste of what it means to be present, alert, aware.
The Truth is far more all-encompassing than the mind could ever comprehend. No thought can encapsulate
the Truth. At best, it can point to it. For example, it can say: "All things are intrinsically one." That
is a pointer, not an explanation. Understanding these words means feeling deep within you the truth to
which they point.
This article was excerpted from STILLNESS SPEAKS by Eckhart Tolle. Eckhart Tolle was born in Germany,
where he spent the first thirteen years of his life. After graduating from the University of London, he
was a research scholar and supervisor at Cambridge University. When he was twenty-nine, a profound spiritual
transformation virtually dissolved his old identity and radically changed the course of his life. The next
few years were devoted to understanding, integrating and deepening that transformation and marked the beginning
of an intense inward journey. Eckhart Tolle is not aligned with any particular religion or spiritual tradition.
He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. To find out more, visit: http://eckharttolle.com
Here is the essence of the Abraham-Hicks message, distilled from workshops with Abraham since 1986.
http://www.abraham-teachings.com/
All-That-Is, or God, is not finished and waiting for you to catch up. You are the leading edge of thought,
here seeking more: more of all that feels good to you, more of that which is fresh and gloriously uplifting.
(You are, in essence, bringing heaven to earth.)
You are here in this body because you chose to be here.
You wanted the opportunity to experience this delicious contrast in time and space, and with great
anticipation you came to co-create with other joy-seeking beings, to fine-tune the process of deliberate
thought. (What, where, when and with whom are your choices, too.)
The basis of your life is Freedom; the purpose of your life is Joy.
You are free to choose to discover new avenues for your joy. In your joy you will grow; and in your growth
you will add to the growth of All-That-Is. (However, you are also free to choose bondage or pain... but
everything anyone chooses is only because they believe it will help them feel better.)
You are a creator; you create with your every thought.
You often create by default, for you are getting what you are giving your attention to wanted or unwanted
but you know by how it feels if what you are getting (creating) is what you are wanting or if it is not
what you are wanting. (Where is your attention focused?)
Anything that you can imagine is yours to be or do or have.
As you ask yourself why you want it, the essence of your desire is activated, and the Universe begins to
bring it to you. The more intense your positive feelings, the faster it is coming to you. (It is as easy
to create a castle as a button.)
You are choosing your creations as you are choosing your thoughts.
Your loving, Inner Being offers guidance in the form of emotion. Entertain a wanted or unwanted thought
and you feel a wanted or unwanted emotion. Choose to change the thought and you've changed the emotion and
the creation. (Make more choices in every day.)
The Universe adores you; for it knows your broadest intentions.
You have come to earth with great intentions, and the Universe constantly guides you on your chosen path.
When you are feeling good, you are, in that moment, allowing more of that which you have intended from your
broader perspective. (You are Spirit Incarnate.)
Relax into your natural Well-being. All is well. (Really it is!)
The essence of all that you appreciate is constantly flowing into your reality. As you find more things to
appreciate, your state of appreciation opens more avenues to more to feel appreciation for. (As you think
you vibrate. As you vibrate you attract.)
You are a creator of thoughtways on your unique path of joy.
No one can limit where you can direct your thought. There are no limits to your joyous journeys to experience.
On the path to your happiness you will discover all that you want to be or do or have. (Allowing others their
experiences allows you yours.)
Actions to be taken and money to be exchanged are by-products of your focus on joy.
On your deliberately joyous journey your actions will be inspired, your resources will be abundant and you
will know by the way you feel that you are fulfilling your reason for life. (Most have this one backwards,
therefore most feel little joy in their actions or their possessions.)
You may appropriately depart your body without illness or pain.
You need not attract illness or pain as an excuse to leave. Your natural state coming, remaining or leaving is
that of health and of Well-being. (You are free to choose otherwise.)
You can not die; you are Everlasting Life.
In grace, you may choose to relax and allow your gentle transition back into your Non-physical state of pure,
positive Energy. Your natural state is that of Foreverness. (Have fun with all of this. Lighten up! You can't
get it wrong.) P.S. It is not necessary for even one other person to understand the Laws of the Universe or
the processes that we are offering here in order for you to have a wonderful, happy, productive Life
Experience for you are the attractor of your experience. Just you!
Breathwork involves two things: breath awareness and conscious breathing. Breath awareness means you let
the breath come and go by itself. You dont do the breathing. You simply observe it, watch it, and feel
it. Let the body breathe itself and explore the feelings and sensations that arise; pay detailed attention
to the movements and patterns. Conscious breathing means you do the breathing. You bring a certain rhythm
or pattern or quality or intention to the breathing. You take over from the body. In practice, we go back
and forth between letting the breathing happen and doing the breathing.
Here are a few things you can observe, explore, or play with. (Kids, do try this at home!) When you play
with these exercises, notice what feels easy and natural, and what requires concentration or effort; what
is comfortable, challenging, interesting, fun, or pleasurable.
The opening/channel: Does the breath flow in and out the nose, or in and out the mouth? Does it flow in
the nose and out the mouth? Or in the mouth and out the nose? Or does it flow in and out both the nose
and mouth at the same time? (The nose is meant to breathe through. It was designed by nature for that
purpose. It has hairs that filter dust, and chambers and passages that condition and spiral the air.
But, have you ever tried to laugh or cry with a closed mouth? Have you noticed that when strong emotions
come, you naturally shift from nose to mouth breathing? Mouth breathing allows us to shape the stream of
air and to produce various breath sounds. Different breath sounds light up different organs, and activate
different sensations and emotions, energies and states.
The speed/rate: Can you breathe quickly? (30 breaths a minute? 60 breaths
a minute? Quicker?)
Can you breathe slowly? (6 breaths a minute? 2
Breaths a minute? Slower?)
A healthy balanced person should be able to touch
These extremes with ease and grace.
The volume/depth: Can you breathe tiny breaths, creating almost no movement or sound? Can you breathe
full deep expansive breaths that can be heard in the next room?
The locus/focus: Can you breathe high into your chest? Low into the belly? Can you expand from side to
side? Can you breathe into your back? Can you breathe energy into your arms and hands? Legs and feet? Can
you breathe into your organs, your chakras?
Breath holding/pauses: Do you hold the breath for a moment between the inhale and the exhale? Does your
breath naturally pause after the exhale and before the next inhale? Are there sticky points in your
breathingglitches? Does your breathing lock up or get ragged when you are under stress or in certain
situations? Can you take in a deep breath and hold it in effortlessly? Can you empty yourself and hold
the breath out easily?
Do you know about the reflex points and the neutral points in the natural breathing cycle? If you are
an athlete, performer, or martial artist, these points can give you an edge on the competition. Do you
know that with overly deep and rapid breathinghyperventilation, you can cut the supply of oxygen to the
brain by 40% in less than 90 seconds? Do you know that certain breathing techniques can prolong, or even
save your life? Its a fact!
"...You're on this earth to shine your light for the sake of the entire world. The places in you where
you are seemingly blocked in your ability to do that can be released to God for healing. Once you admit
your defect and ask Him to take it away from you, His response to your invitation will be quick and sure.
He remembers, even better than you do, the pain and suffering that led to your weakness.
He was there for you when it happened. He cried tears as He watched you develop your dysfunction as a
coping mechanism, and He rejoices at the invitation to heal you now.
"Such are the miracles of God, and they will totally transform your life.
"Whatever we refuse to look at in ourselves, we more easily project onto someone else.
One of the benefits of facing our own weaknesses is that it helps us grow more compassionate toward others.
"In any situation there is a focus to our perception. God would have us extend our perception
beyond what the physical senses perceive, to the love that lies beyond. For when we see that love,
we can call it forth. The physical senses reveal a veil of illusion: what people said and did on the
mortal plane. But we lift the veil by seeing beyond it and invoking a truer truth. This is our purpose
in each other's lives, to invoke each other's greatness and work a miracle in each other's lives...."
Silence, they say, is the voice of complicity.
But silence is impossible.
Silence screams.
Silence is a message,
Just as doing nothing is an act.
Let who you are ring out and resonate
in every word and every deed.
Yes, become who you are.
There's no sidestepping your own being
or your own responsibility.
What you do is who you are.
You are your own comeuppance.
You become your own message.
You are the message.
May the Great Spirit Make Sunrise in Your Heart . . .
Hoka Hey!
Leonard Peltier
In an unprecedented move, the American Medical Association (AMA) voted on June 13 to call on the U.S.
government to require salt warning labels on food products and to cut salt content in manufactured foods
by 50% within a decade. The AMA, the largest group of physicians in the U.S., is also asking the Food and
Drug Administration to revoke salt's status as a food that is "generally recognized as safe," noting there
is overwhelming medical evidence that high salt intake dramatically increases risk of heart disease,
hypertension and stroke. Heart disease is the nation's leading cause of death. Foods that would require
warning labels would include everything from conventional hot dogs to some canned soups. The Food Products
Association, a trade group for the food and beverage manufacturing industry, and one of the most powerful
lobbying groups in Washington D.C. said the new policy is "misguided," claiming there is not enough scientific
evidence tying salt to negative health
effects.
Learn more:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_753.cfm
The largest retailers and distributors of milk and dairy products in the U.S. are considering eliminating
rBGH from their products. According to the trade journal Dairy Food and Market Analyst, Wal-Mart and Dean
Foods have begun pressing suppliers for a larger supply of milk produced without rBGH, in response to
increasing consumer demand. The synthetic hormone rBGH is a genetically engineered drug designed to make
dairy cows produce more milk. The controversial hormone has been banned in Europe and Canada due to its
links to increased risks for cancer and antibiotic resistance. Despite these bans, 18% of U.S. dairy cows,
especially those on factory-style farms, continue to be injected with the drug. Over the past few years,
millions of consumers have switched to milk and dairy products from organic farms, which ban the use of
rBGH and antibiotics. Starbucks, by the way, is still serving up coffee drinks across the country that are
laced with rBGH--another good reason to
patronize local independently owned coffee shops that offer organic and Fair Trade alternatives.
Learn more:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_747.cfm
April, 2005 - Tillamook's cheeses: The second largest producer of block cheese in the U.S.
June, 2005 - Eberhard Dairy: Central Oregon's largest dairy processing plant.
Nov., 2005 - Alpenrose Dairy in Portland
Feb. 2006 - Darigold's yogurts: A large western U.S. dairy.
June 2006 - Garelick: A large East Coast dairy processor, producing 45 million lbs. of milk per month.
June 2006 - Meadow Gold and Darigold Farms: Montana's largest milk producers.
EARTHDANCE INTRODUCES THE PEACE WAVE
Go to this website for more info
www.ThePeaceWave.org
In Truth, Simplicity, Love and Service,
Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti, Om Peace
Young Toni Delgado and Young Kelley Elkins
A NEXT STEP.light center for emotional healing
P.O.Box 429
Dona Ana, New Mexico 88032
toni@anextstep.org
www.anextstep.org
505-382-8771
................
Buy Toni's book: Dancing With Death Through Senility Into Eternality ...
http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?isbn=0%2D595%2D24442%2D4
Also amazon, barnesandnoble, borders.
***Order your book today. I have copies on hand.
TO ORDER FROM ME--
EMAIL me at toni@anextstep.org
Thanks, Young Toni
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