" /> Yanni's Blog: April 2008 Archives

« March 2008 | Main | May 2008 »

April 30, 2008

Peace of Mind is a Thought Away: Mastering Your Thoughts, Part VI

This is Part VI of an eight part blog which began on April 14.

Though the concepts I am presenting here may seem a little foreign to you or perhaps you are a bit skeptical about them on some level, I can assure you that as you start to look at your mind differently and your thought patterns differently, you can begin to step away from them and thus create a lot more peacefulness in your life.

Instead of being hijacked constantly by negative thoughts and endlessly being in a mode where your thoughts create a lot of wearisome suffering, you can instead consciously choose the thoughts or the patterns that you do want to have, namely the positive, uplifting ones, minus all the static, noisy, negative ones.

In time, you will have enough expertise and experience not to get lost in an energy- draining series of thoughts. You will learn how not to focus on a series of thoughts that bring you down rather than lift you up. You will learn that you can choose to go up rather than down with your thoughts. You can take the high road and stand on higher ground. You can choose your thoughts and, therefore, you can choose your experiences. You can be a master of your thoughts and, therefore, a master of your life!

So simply stated, your thoughts are objects. You can choose to “own” these objects, to buy into them, so to speak, to identify with them, to bring them into your house, to bring them into the garden of your mind, or not.

Yes, there are some very sticky thoughts we all have; so you begin practicing on the easy stuff and eventually you will be able to separate out or move away from the stickier stuff, too.

My “sticky” stuff appears at times. It hits me from behind, so it seems. But I have learned to say, “OK, here comes this show again. How did I get on this channel again? Let’s just kind of ignore it as much as we can.”

By having this internal dialogue, eventually I can change the channel. I can change my mind! I can turn the mute button on. I can switch channels. I have learned that I can really switch channels.

Sometimes the old “dumpy dumpster” chatter or some other life-draining pattern of thoughts comes in. But I can choose and I can change, if I practice. I can choose joy, happiness, peace, freedom, and enlightenment moment by moment, thought by thought; or I can choose their opposites.

Peace of mind is a choice, my choice!

Peace of mind is really just a thought away!

So next week I will lead you in a Thought Counting meditation which I urge you to use on a continual basis.

This is Part VI of an eight part blog.

Posted by Yanni at 4:00 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

April 28, 2008

Peace of Mind is a Thought Away: Mastering Your Thoughts, Part V

This is Part V of an eight part blog which began on April 14.

So, you can begin to practice this technique with simple things: for example, let’s say you drop something and get annoyed at yourself and then have a strong self critical thought. Instead of getting all upset with yourself, step back and note that you are having a self-critical thought, such as, “I am a jerk,” and distance your self from the self-criticism. Simply note or count the thought and laugh at it.

So, you begin with the smallest or easiest of thoughts and just simply give the thought a number; you count it and you step back from it. You give it a number; no matter where you are with it, no matter how intense you are about it.

Be assured that you are not the first person in the world who has gotten caught up in his/her thoughts, but you now have a way to step back from it all, to dis-identify from it, to not take it personally or seriously.

You would be amazed at the number of self-critical thoughts you have in a day. Just try counting them for one day or for just even one-hour or for even fifteen minutes; you would be astounded!

What you will learn from practicing this technique is how to master your mind. We were never given an “owner’s manual” for our minds. Now we can create one for ourselves. You are meant to make friends with your mind. As Dr. Charles Tart wrote; “We don’t know how our minds operate and hence we don’t operate them very well.”

This is Part V of an eight part blog.

Posted by Yanni at 4:00 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

April 25, 2008

Peace of Mind is a Thought Away, Mastering Your Thoughts" Part II, Podcast


Life Mastery's Friday Weekly Podcast:

"Peace of Mind is a Thought Away, Mastering Your Thoughts" Part II, Podcast”/strong>


Click Here to Download MP3/Audio

(length 8:53 minutes)


Subscribe to Feed Below:

Posted by Yanni at 6:29 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

April 23, 2008

Peace of Mind is a Thought Away: Mastering Your Thoughts, Part IV

This is Part IV of an eight part blog which began on April 14.

Actually, you can literally be hijacked or held-hostage by your own thoughts. Some thoughts are so powerful that they create huge amounts fear or anger in you. And if you were to really feel what is going on in your body when you are having these thoughts, you would realize how insidious and damaging some thoughts are to you physiologically.

They create enormous amounts of tension which is the starting point of all illness. A bamboo stick hitting your fanny causes you a lot less damage physiologically than what you put your body through when you are caught in a negative cycle of thoughts.

So, the point of all this is to be your own loving roshi and to step back and dis-identify from your negative thought patterns. You can eventually learn not to identify with these thoughts. You can learn to see your thoughts as just something happening outside of you, so to speak, and not to you or inside you.

You don’t have to take your thoughts personally or seriously. You are not your thoughts. Thoughts have a very short shelf life, if you ignore them. And by learning to do this, you can truly live in the present and be so much more relaxed and a master of your thoughts.

If you were to look at your thoughts honestly and objectively, you would begin to realize that they are mostly just a rehash, an old tape, of all kinds of old junk. And if you don’t take them personally, you don’t have to get involved or enmeshed in them over and over again.

So, if you all of a sudden find yourself having an angry thought, or a fearful thought, you can become angry or afraid; and say and feel “I am angry” or “I am afraid.”

Or, instead you can step back and say, “I am having an angry thought.” “I am having a fearful thought.” And then let the thought start to dissipate by dis-identifying from it, by not feeding it any focus or energy. This is what it means to not take your thoughts personally or seriously.

You don’t have to get caught up in the drama of your thoughts. There is a huge difference between these two responses. You get to choose how you respond and thus what you experience.

This is Part IV of an eight part blog.

Posted by Yanni at 4:00 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

April 21, 2008

Peace of Mind is a Thought Away: Mastering Your Thoughts, Part III

This is Part III of an eight part blog which began on April 14.

Matter of fact, I’d like to tell you a story now. In Zen monasteries, you are expected to be mindful or conscious all the time and not just when you are meditating. In other words, when you are doing mundane chores like washing the dishes, working in the garden, preparing a meal, etc., you are expected to be in the present and focused on the task at hand and not so lost in your thoughts that someone could easily sneak up on you.

When you are lost in your thoughts someone can easily surprise you. When you are not lost in your thoughts and are truly present, focused totally on the task at hand, you will notice if someone or something has just come into your proximity. You are able to sense what is really happening because you are not caught up in past or future thinking. You are truly present.

The head monk in Zen monasteries, called the roshi, in order to instill the idea of always being present or mindful in his monks, would often quietly and stealthily walk around the monastery with a bamboo stick. He would walk up to a monk unannounced. And, if the monk was lost in his thoughts, he would whack him in the fanny with the bamboo stick.

Now if the monk was practicing mindfulness, if the monk was fully conscious and present, the monk would be aware of the roshi’s presence, turn around, bow to the roshi and the roshi would then bow back to him and would pass him by. If, on the other hand, the monk was preoccupied in his thoughts, his fanny would very well know that the roshi had just snuck up on him.

The most important lesson to learn from this story is that you can be totally distracted by your thoughts and miss out on something really important that is going on right in front of you.

This is Part III of an eight part blog.

Posted by Yanni at 4:00 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

April 18, 2008

Peace of Mind is a Thought Away, Mastering Your Thoughts" Part I, Podcast


Life Mastery's Friday Weekly Podcast:

"Peace of Mind is a Thought Away, Mastering Your Thoughts" Part I, Podcast”/strong>


Click Here to Download MP3/Audio

(length 10:26 minutes)


Subscribe to Feed Below:

Posted by Yanni at 4:00 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

April 16, 2008

Peace of Mind is a Thought Away: Mastering Your Thoughts, Part II

This is Part II of an eight part blog which began on April 14.

The meditation I will lead you in at the end of this mini-course is a Buddhist Mindfulness meditation; it has been around for a long, long time and called by different names in different traditions. What we are going to do in this meditation is really simple. I am going to lead you in learning how to dis-identify from your thoughts by teaching you how to just count them instead of getting all caught up in their content. Thus, you will learn how to dis-identify or soften around your thoughts.

You will sit in meditation and focus on your breath and your breathing in order to distract your self from your thoughts. If any thoughts wander in just count them: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, etc. Yes, just count them.

If you lose count or get caught up in a thought, stop, come back to your breath and start counting again. Imagine your thoughts are just clouds passing in the sky, leaves falling from the trees, freight cars passing by on a freight train, waves on the ocean. You don’t need to pay attention to them and get caught up in their Siren snares, their negative, stressful emotions. Just objectively count them!

You will notice, though, that certain thoughts do grab or hold onto you and immediately cause tension in your body, turmoil in your emotions, and stress in your mind. Usually they revolve around work, relationships, finances, and health.

There are all kinds of thoughts, past, present and future that wander in. Some old junky ones just kind of wander in and you say, “Huh? What is this?” If you can imagine these thoughts as just flies buzzing around your ear, you can release them.

That is why in some of the meditative traditions you are taught that, if a fly lands on your nose while you are meditating, it is no different from a thought landing in your consciousness. You ignore it.

Ignoring a fly on your nose while you are meditating can be a challenge. But you can learn to ignore the fly on your nose. That is the training. You learn to ignore the thoughts that cause you to be tense and the thoughts that are irritating and annoying. By ignoring them you can minimize or eliminate their importance and impact on you.

This is Part II of an eight part blog.

Posted by Yanni at 4:00 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

April 14, 2008

Peace of Mind is a Thought Away: Mastering Your Thoughts, Part I

What follows is an eight part blog in which I discuss why it is so, so important for you to be especially aware of the thoughts you have because your thoughts have a very major impact on every aspect of your life: physically, emotionally, and experientially.

At the end of this eight part blog I will lead you in a meditation on my May 9th Podcast which will help you to become a master of your thoughts.

So, let’s begin: what most people don’t realize is that in order to learn how to truly relax and gain mastery in your life, you must learn how to gain mastery over your thoughts. For your predominant thoughts about your self and your life are what create the experiences, both “good” and “bad,” that you have in your life. These predominant thoughts may be so habitual that you do not even realize that they are affecting you, but they definitely are.

So, to begin, you must understand that your thoughts do not define you. You are not your thoughts. Yes, you have thoughts, but they are not who you are. You are, at your core, what is in between all your incessant thoughts; and what is in between your unremitting thoughts is a profound Peace, Silence, Knowing, Love, and Embrace. The trick is learning how to access this real part of you.

So, therefore, it is so very important to learn how to be a witness to your thoughts and to begin to dis-identify from them.

“That doesn’t make any sense!” You might say. “I am my thoughts.”

No, you are not your thoughts. You have thoughts, but you are not your thoughts.

Even more importantly, though, you must understand that you can choose your thoughts. They don’t have to be the old habitual ones you have been trained in that keep playing over and over again and that cause you so much tension, stress and suffering.

This is Part I of an eight part blog.

Posted by Yanni at 4:00 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

April 11, 2008

The HeArt of Intuition: Live from the Inside Out, Part IV, Podcast


Life Mastery's Friday Weekly Podcast:

"The HeArt of Intuition: Live from the Inside Out," Part IV, Podcast”/strong>


Click Here to Download MP3/Audio

(length 18:46 minutes)


Subscribe to Feed Below:

Posted by Yanni at 4:00 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

April 9, 2008

The HeArt of Intuition: Live from the Inside Out, Part VIII

Some Phrases that Summarize the Class

This is Part VIII of an eight part blog.

This is the last of the eight blog posts for this Mini-Course. Below I review some phrases that summarize this course. Use them as a review and also use them as an opportunity to do a brief meditative reflection on what they might mean for you in your life. You can journal about them, as well.

And as I mentioned on my Monday, April 7, 2008 Blog post, I will be leading you in a lengthy template meditative exercise on my Friday, April 11, 2008 Podcast so you can “tune in” deeply for yourself.

Some Phrases that Summarize the Class

Listen with your heart and not your head.

Speak before you think.
Feel first, think later.
Speak Your Feel.
Talk your Feel.

Quiet your mind and open your heart.

Learn how to "go within" and you will never be "with out!"

Learn to "see" from the Inside Out and you will "see" the whole picture. You no longer need to skim the surface of life, but now you can jump all the way in!

The true treasures of life are free, but invisible to the physical eye. Come learn to see again!

The final frontier is within You!

After you do the Template Meditation exercise, reflect on the impressions that you received about yourself.

The opening heart is the most beautiful flower of all.
The greatest beauty in the world is compassion,
Love shining free from attachment and grasping.
Tarthang Tulku

This is Part VIII of an eight part blog.

Posted by Yanni at 4:00 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

April 7, 2008

The HeArt of Intuition: Live from the Inside Out, Part VII

Practical Applications for Your Intuition and Templates
A picture is worth 10,000 words.

This is Part VII of an eight part blog.

This week, during my Friday Podcast of April 11, 2008, I will be leading you in a lengthy template meditative exercise so you can deeply “tune in” for yourself.

Today, I will explain a bit more about how to use the template that I will lead in during my Podcast.

If you really want to get an intuitive “read” on a person or situation, the best technique I have found is the following. Close your eyes and imagine that the individual you are focusing on is a rose. Then just see what kind of rose they become: that is, what size, color, texture, luster, glow, etc. Note whether the petals are vibrant or dried out, whether they are open or closed, etc. Notice as well, whether the rose is all alone, in a bouquet, in a rose bush, in a desert, etc. Notice, too, whether it is sunny, rainy cloudy, dark, etc. Just keep looking at the rose and it will, in the picture it paints for you, tell you more than 10,000 words of information about that individual or situation.

Don’t force this process and don’t use your cognitive mind, instead use your intuitive, creative faculties to “read” and “feel” the energies. Feel don’t think. Analysis will lead to paralysis.

You must allow the rose to spontaneously form before you and then just trust whatever intuitions, inspirations or feelings you get. They will give you a truckloads worth of information.

You must first have the knowledge of your power;
second, the courage to dare;
third, the faith to do.
Charles F. Haanel

This is Part VII of an eight part blog.

Posted by Yanni at 4:00 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

April 4, 2008

The HeArt of Intuition: Live from the Inside Out, Part III, Podcast


Life Mastery's Friday Weekly Podcast:

"The HeArt of Intuition: Live from the Inside Out," Part III, Podcast”/strong>


Click Here to Download MP3/Audio

(length 12:26 minutes)


Subscribe to Feed Below:

Posted by Yanni at 4:00 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

April 2, 2008

The HeArt of Intuition: Live from the Inside Out, Part VI

Speak Before You Think.
Feel First, Think Later.
Speak Your Feeling.
Talk your Feel.

This is Part VI of an eight part blog.

Intuition is really a gift. It truly makes it possible for you to know who you realy are. The difficulty in defining it – the difficulty in working with it – is that it's not something you "do." It's something you "allow" to come through you. You can’t “do” it with your mind; you simply allow it to flow through your heart. It occurs as inspiration and not as perspiration. It’s a “non-doing.”

When I teach my Intuition classes I tell my students, "Don't think; Speak before you think. Your mother or your dad may have said to you, ‘Think before you speak.’ In this case, no, ‘feel first, think later; feel first and speak your feeling.’ What are you feeling?"

Again, Intuition is not a mental effort, it's not a striving, it just manifests through you. You start talking your “feel” and you have no idea where what you are saying is going to lead to. You follow the “golden thread” of your feelings. It’s not scripted; it’s inspired. It comes from the heart and not from the head. And it weaves a beautiful tapestry of meaning and purpose right there before your very eyes.

But it does require you to learn to trust in your Higher Self—in the creative, inspired part of you—rather than the limited, scripted part of your ego mind.

This is Part VI of an eight part blog.

Posted by Yanni at 4:00 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)